Chapter Text
The Avengers Tower was a relatively calm place on a random Thursday afternoon. Various Avengers were lounging around; Tony tinkering in his lab; Steve and Bucky were sparring in the gym; Banner studying a new variation of genetic testing; and surprisingly, Thor had decided to hang around after a mission instead of going back to Asgard. Loki had offered to take the reins of Asgard for a couple of days so Thor could spend some time with Jane on Earth for once.
So when Coulson sent a Tower-wide alarm – it only momentarily sent the Avengers into a panic. His voice boomed over the Tower’s speakers,
“All Active Avengers please report to the conference room.”
Normally, the Avengers were able to tell how Coulson was feeling based on how he called for them; this time Coulson’s voice was stoic and cold. That caused Tony to have a little more urgency when he walked up the stairs to the main floor and then down the corridor to the conference room. When he walked in, he noticed that Bucky and Steve had gotten there before him – but Bucky… There was something off about him.
And not like the normal high tension, social awkwardness, that he usually has. He seemed distant in a way. His eyes seem to drift off similarly to how they were when he had first shown up at the Tower. Tony's eyes slowly moved to another figure in the room somewhat huddled in the corner. The fiery red hair gave it away as Natasha but her composed yet high-strung posture could’ve done that.
Before Tony could try and psychoanalyze what those two attitudes meant Coulson spoke up, “S.H.I.E.L.D. has asked that all active Avengers help with a mission regarding over 50 missing girls,” Coulson turned to the unnecessarily large screen Tony had installed, that Tony had also insisted was necessary, and clicked a button to bring it to life. Across the screen, 62 I.D.s of young girls popped up with only short names given as a description.
“These girls have been connected to the organization known as The Red Room, as well as Hydra, whom we have had many issues with, to say the least.”
Tony then immediately understood the two super spies' behavior; both Natasha and Bucky had been subjects of abuse from the organizations that had most likely kidnapped these girls. Tension rose throughout Tony’s body and as he looked around it seemed to encompass everyone else in the room.
It was now that he only realized who was actually in the room; he’d been so occupied with Barnes that he didn’t care to see who had walked in after him. Thor, though not completely debriefed about the two spies' history, seemed to understand the gravity of what Coulson had just declared. Bruce seemed to almost be hovering over Natasha, those two were undeniably close and had some love for each other: which type, Tony may never know.
Clint stood close to Bruce and Natasha, looking like his hands were itching to do something. Wanda was closely huddled with Vision; Tony guessed Wanda had been visiting Vision in the Tower when the alarm rang off. Tony didn’t know if Coulson had contacted anyone else who was closely related to the Avengers but he also didn’t know if the mission called for anyone else.
Coulson further explained, “These girls were somehow able to get into contact with S.H.I.E.L.D. and let us know their location, some insight on their situation, and what they need. We were able to get an encrypted message,” Something resembling an email appeared on the screen, “We were told that the location is somewhere in the Eastern Appalachian Trails, coordinates 36.894322 N, -81.081823 E. roughly. We have confirmed that there is an abandoned factory there that was purchased by an unnamed third-party company. The girls have offered names of officials that were in association with the Red Room in return they wish for help escaping and dismissal of their crimes.” At that, some murmurs of distaste arose in the room.
The girls on the screen: most of them looked barely in their teens. And they were in danger of being charged with crimes? Bruce seemed to voice his discomfort, “They’re kids who have been forced into something horrible and S.H.I.E.L.D. is thinking of charging them with any crimes?” Bruce’s voice was on the verge of shouting and his voice took on a slight tinge of green. Tony didn’t expect Bruce to be any form of angry about this situation. Maybe uncomfortable but not angry. He guessed that Natasha had opened up to Bruce more than he had initially thought, and to be fair Bruce had worked with Tony for his initial evaluation of Bucky when he first arrived.
“No, or at least we are not trying to. The WSC, on the other hand, wants to have the of-age girls put into a secure isolated facility and the younger ones put into some form of juvenile facility: all of them taking responsibility for their crimes. Fury doesn’t want to do that but if he goes against them he could be charged as a war criminal or harboring them.” Coulson tries to explain but it barely helps Bruce’s anger bubble down.
Natasha puts her hand barely on top of Bruce’s and that seems to make him return to his normal skin tone but not before he looks away from Coulson with a huff.
“Right now the main focus is getting these girls into S.H.I.E.L.D custody and on the main ship in a secure station. S.H.I.E.L.D could try and take them in themselves but knowing this station has been working with Hydra they never have had any problems going to extreme lengths to protect their operations. Fury is requesting that the Avengers assist in the operation: everyone in this room with Falcon and Spiderman on standby.”
Bucky only seemed to further tense at the idea of going to the location with Hydra possibly being on this operation. He held his arms across his chest, head slightly down with his eyes glued on the screen. Tony could only guess what was going through everyone's head during this debrief and knew it would most likely be Cap’s decision whether to accept or pass this mission on.
Tony looked over at Rogers and already knew there was no room for any argument. The Avengers were going to take on the mission and help these kids not become international criminals like he once was. Before Tony could ponder about it anymore Rogers voiced his thoughts.
“The Avengers will help S.H.I.E.L.D. with the girls escaping but I believe that these children should not be seen as criminals. They were forced into this organization and these acts. I want us to be a part of the investigations that the WSC will inevitably want done, and I think everyone else agrees.” With that explanation, there was no room for argument from anyone else in the room, and it didn’t look like anyone wished to either.
“Then it’s settled. I’ll let Fury know you agreed and that you want to be a part of it. Wheel’s up in fifteen. The jet will leave with or without you.” And with that, Coulson made a swift exit through the double doors of the conference room.
Before Tony left to put on his suit he took one more look at the screen; littered with faces and names of these girls. They had to be codenamed with how short they were.
Gemini, Oleander, Hermes, Nightshade, Jupiter, Garnet, Maine, Rosemary.
Just names, that’s all they were to these girls with no homes or faces, empty names and faces.
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Isadora was always glad there were no mirrors in The Facility. She doesn’t know what she would do if she saw herself: probably feel like she was looking at someone else. On missions she tries not to look at any windows, mirrors, or any reflective surfaces for that fact. If she ever did happen to catch a glance at a mirror all she tried to look at was her eyes. Those didn’t ever change and that was the one thing that she could stand. Her eyes were just a bland dark brown, bordering black. 80% of the population had brown eyes, her eyes didn’t tie her to anyone: didn’t show any relations, any family members, no history.
Now though she wished she had a mirror in the sleeping quarters because a shard would come in handy right now. Instead of a mirror shard, the girls came up with a shiv made from Hemlock’s bed post, and disinfected with a lighter stolen from one of the guards. Isadora’s internal clock told her it was probably around eleven in the morning despite the low lighting of the room.
The only reason the girls decided to act now was since the guards decided to take a rare step away from the doors and most of the staff was most likely in a meeting about keeping The Facility open. The Outsider appointments had picked up recently in the past couple months and Isadora and a few select other girls have been going to The Lab more as well. The funding has been going down the girls guessed and that made a perfect opportunity to try and execute their escape plan. And that started out with taking Isadora’s tracking chip that was in the back of her neck.
The chip was implanted the first day that she arrived at The Facility; when activated it forced the girls into some form of a subdued state where they could practically be convinced to do anything, or forced into anything. It also acted as a tracking device for the girls. In order for the girls to even get a chance at escaping the girls needed to get the chip out of Isadora’s neck and make sure it stayed on. Otherwise soldiers not from The Facility but rather Hydra soldiers would barge in and drag her back to The Lab.
Isadora was Hydra’s current favorite patient from The Facility. She had been their biggest breakthrough since Wanda Maximoff, and she had partly been the reason that Hydra took a liking to Isadora. When Wanda had been exposed to the Mind Stone, it had fractured and Hydra had been able to get their grimy hands on it. They had tried it on other patients from any organization that would spare them: war prisoners in desolate prisons, politicians wanted gone by their opponents, loudmouth protestors governments want to disappear, and soon enough, spies that The Facility didn’t exactly care about once they lost funding.
Hydra scientists were able to find an X-gene in Isadora’s blood marking her as a mutant, making her a perfect patient for their test trial for the Mind Stone again. She was subjected to various tests, injections, and amounts of exposure to the Mind Stone. Eventually the mutation was activated and she gained powers; Isadora initially thought that this might give her some freedom; it rather ruined her life more. The chip was updated to numb her physically even more and caused her more pain. She was at The Lab constantly, practically being tortured to see the extent to which her powers traveled.
In the end they deemed her with having multiple abilities: Telekinesis, Molecular Manipulation, Energy Manipulation, Neuroelectric abilities, and an extreme empathy letting her both give and receive emotions and their physical effects. She was almost an exact copy of Wanda ability wise, physically she was younger and easier to manipulate: or that’s what they had thought. Rather the hatred she had harbored for the Red Room and all its associates kept her sober against any drunken hope she let soak into her.
The chip had subdued her powers as they were able to create a new program that could keep them somewhat blocked. Hence why the girls were now trying to get it out, no matter how painful. The removal would let her use her powers in full effect, disable the others, and make an escape a hundred times easier.
But the scientists wouldn’t make it easy, the chip was laid on top of the connection between Isadora’s brainstem and spinal cord. If those bundles of nerves were nicked or severed in any way she would end up brain dead or paralyzed. Isadora trusted Hydie with her life, and she would in any situation ever. Hydie had a mutation and was a Hydra patient as well, but she was able to hide it enough. It was a basic power, X-Ray Vision, and made her the best medic in The Facility. She could see the various nerves that the chip laid upon and moved them hopefully delicately enough not to ruin Isadora’s life further.
“Stay very still Nemi, we’re gonna be here for a while with the way this is lodged in your neck, no one else’s chip is this intricate.” Hydie whispered.
Nemi came from Isadora’s codename, Nemesis. All the girls had code names and real names were never permitted within The Facility nor on missions. The girls followed the rules no matter what just to ensure their safety in The Facility as well to make sure they kept a part of them to themselves. Hydie was short for Hydrangea, codenames were truly random but the girls were able to find some relation between the girl and the name. Hydrangea was an emotional, heartfelt girl who was always grateful for what she got. Isadora always made things even, she gave what she got. The most famous codename out there though was Black Widow.
Black Widow was an ex spy that was one of the greatest women that The Red Room has ever seen. She was a legend within the organization, their greatest triumph and greatest defeat, highlighted by her dramatic overtaking and destruction of The Red Room headquarters. Some girls in The Facility had hoped that it meant the end of the girls’ anguish but others knew the reality: The Facility would need to find new funding and they would take it from whoever they could get it from. Angel Jacobson was the head of The Facility and couldn’t let go of the income it gave, so instead he turned to Hydra.
The thought constantly ran through Isadora’s head, “Hydra did this. They ruined us.” played in her mind on repeat. It ran through her mind even now as she laid on the floor risking her life to take her revenge. Her alias, Nemesis, had supposedly been random, but she's appeared to have grown into well.
“Your nerves are practically on fire, relax Nemi. Or I will stop this operation right now.” Hydie insisted and tried to rub a soothing hand along Isadora’s arm.
Isadora laughed in her head, “operation” was a funny word for what she was going through right now. She was laid stomach down on her bed, surrounded by her sisters, with Hydie on her knees next to Isadora’s head, using a shiv to take something out of her neck. Isadora did the procedure she knew that would calm her down.
She let her eyes shut and let her body go limp; trying to relax Isadora tried to recollect how the constellations looked. She hadn’t been outside in weeks so it was almost difficult but she promised herself to commit them to memory. As she was recounting Pollux a searing pain lit up her body from head to toe. She immediately tensed up and the pain had stopped.
“Nemesis, if you cannot relax I will stop this immediately and we will have to figure something else out.” Hydie’s voice pierced through the sound of blood rushing in Isadora’s ears.
Isadora shook her head and laid back down, insisting herself to stay calm and still because these girls have no other viable option.
“I’ll stay still and if you see me moving, hold me down. Get Viper to do it. We all know she’s strong enough. We need to get this done.” Isadora asserted.
Hydie still looked hesitant but gave a curt nod showing that she would continue. Isadora also noticed that Viper and Saber moved closer to her bed in case she needed to be held down.
Isadora turned her head back to her pillow and tried to breathe and relax, she tried to prepare herself for the pain she knew was to come. She had really tried to remember the pain and prepare to push it away but it came back with a force she couldn’t handle. With her powers she’d be able to dull it, make it feel like a papercut; with her powers she could get these girls out of her, with her powers she could get revenge on everyone who ever hurt them, with her powers she could do a lot of things. But she doesn't have them now.
The pain had come back with a vengeance. It swam like magma through her veins and lit every nerve on fire. Her breath came out hot and in small puffs. Her eyes felt like they were about to bulge out of her face and were being pushed onto needles. The tests she had done in The Lab couldn’t compare to this, this felt never ending. And she knew, she knew that it may have only been minutes but it had felt like hours. Her fingers itched to grab something, to push her torment onto anyone else, to make them know how she feels. Tears burned and stung her eyes and soon fell onto her scorching cheeks. Her vision began to tunnel out and before she fell into the darkness that was calling her she heard Hydie murmuring to others and Isadora’s sisters coming closer to her bed.
The next few hours Hydrangea diligently worked on Isadora’s neck, her fingers had cramped within the first hour but she couldn’t give up. Isadora was her sister both in arms and in family, this was her little sister who she had taken under her wing six years ago. No matter how much Hydie’s arms burned; no matter how much her back ached; no matter how much her eyes felt strained, she would do her best to care for Isadora. Hydrangea knew Isadora before she had known Nemesis, she knew the scared ten-year-old girl who had first come to The Facility only hearing rumors about what would happen to her.
Hydrangea had felt no resentment for Isadora when Isadora had announced the powers she had gained from the testing in The Lab, nor when Isadora had become some natural leader when she had revealed her powers. This was her sister: and she would not let her get hurt again.
Isadora had woken up suddenly, only it didn’t feel sudden. All her senses lit up and her eyes opened in an instant but thinking felt like swimming in molasses. It almost hurt at a point: the bright lights singed her eyes; her skin felt like it was constantly rubbing against sand paper; her head felt heavy and hard to lift up. Her ears were ringing and she thought that the groaning that she was hearing was her own. She was thirsty and she realized her throat started to make noise, it felt like she had a sore throat.
Isadora felt a hand pet through her hair and stopped on the base of her neck, her neck felt bruised and sensitive. She guessed she made some noise of distress because the person petting her hair started to coo at her: soothing her.
“Hey, hey Nemi, the operation went well. It’s been about four hours since we started and we finished about an hour ago. The girls are making sure the guards are still in the meeting, your chip still has the red light blinking so we’re guessing it’s still intact. Plus Jacobson hasn’t stormed in so we’re good.” Hydie finished off with a small puff of breath resembling a giggle.
Isadora smiled but hissed out in pain because her neck felt as if her whole body was bruised. She slowly went to raise her head to touch her neck; her hands were shaking as her fingers lightly brushed her neck. Her skin felt lumpy and stiff, stitches she could only assume.
One of the girls, March, stuck a small sewing needle between her top lip and gum. Using the needle some of the girls took apart a bed sheet to get thread to do stitches. The thread probably wasn’t as sterile as it should have been but they tried to somehow seal it with the lighter.
“I’m sorry but we need to get a move on with this plan. I know, I know you’re in a lot of pain but if we don’t finish the rest of the plan otherwise this’ll be for nothing.”
Isadora knew Hydie was right, they had to move otherwise this would be for nothing. Isadora went to try and reach for her powers, she found them and almost cried from relief. She hasn’t been able to use her powers in what felt like so long. She could practically feel Hydie smiling behind her; her glee bled through body and practically soaked into Isadora’s skin. “Like sunshine.” she thought and pushed herself to continue with the rest of the plan.
Hydie worked as a crutch for Isadora and helped her walk to the rest of the group. The girls looked at Isadora expectantly and moved aside so she could reach the code pad. Isadora truly didn’t know if this would work, she didn’t know that just because she could feel her powers they would work. Heavily leaning on Hydie, she raised her hand to hover over the code pad. With a slow breath she tried to use her powers to disable the keypad; a small spark of electricity hit the code pad, disabling it.
Isadora took a curt breath, “Heron, Genesis, βρες το γραφείο ασφαλείας και επικοινώνησε με το S.H.I.E.L.D. και πες τους τι συζητήσαμε. Μείνετε εκεί και περιμένετε απάντηση. Η Viper και τα κορίτσια σας τα φυλάνε. Όλοι οι άλλοι έρχονται μαζί μου, χωρίς να αφήνουν κανέναν επιζών.”
All the girls just nodded and walked out of the sleeping quarters and went wherever they were told to. Isadora pushed off of Hydie and stood in the corridor for a moment. She shrugged her shoulders back and closed her eyes for a moment, she couldn’t be in pain anymore. She had to be her persona now, she had to be Nemesis to wipe this place out. She opened her eyes and let out a breath and walked into the hallway: straight to a group of guards.
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On the Quinjet everyone stayed quiet from the moment they got on. All Tony could hear was the thrum of the jet’s engines and everyone’s breathing, he had started to become used to the whir of his arc reactor so he barely registered it. Tony kept his eyes down on his feet and only raised them when his neck had started to hurt. The ride to the location would take barely fifteen minutes at the speed they were traveling and they were almost there. Tony decided to just keep his eyes up and let them linger on Bucky.
Bucky didn’t like people staring at him, Tony knew this. Yet that didn’t stop the billionaire from staring at the spy. Bucky’s way of dealing with any major emotion was to distract himself – specifically his hands. He currently was cleaning his various weapons he kept on him: butterfly knives, pistols, expandable batons, and more that Tony couldn’t even begin to name. Tony admired the job that Barnes was doing on his weapons, rivaling Tony’s talent when he cleans his armor but Barnes can’t beat it.
Bucky had noticed Stark staring a while ago but chose to continue his menstruations. “Stark has a staring problem.” Bucky thought, it wasn’t the first time Bucky had caught him. Right now though he really didn’t care for Stark staring since he was just trying his best to block out any emotions he has going on right now. Even the name Hydra was enough to cause a stir in the calm that Bucky had started to establish in The Tower.
The rush of anger he felt made him push on the gun he was cleaning a little too much and have it pushed it through his hands. The gun clattered to the floor and the clang it made echoed throughout the still jet. Bucky’s hands went still – his eyes stayed glued to the gun on the floor.
Everyone’s eyes turned to Bucky and he felt like a slide under a microscope. Bucky’s hands began to hold a slight quiver and he willed himself to stop, almost trying to speak it into existence. Before he could continue to spiral, a warm steady hand landed on his shoulder which took him from his daze. Bucky flinched away from the hand before he realized that it was Steve who was steadying him. Before anyone could say anything Coulson turned away from the console and faced the Avengers.
“Team, we have arrived about a hundred away from the actual factory. The Quinjet will remain in the air as it would cause too much trouble for the agents on the ground. Your coms will be turned to Channel 6 with the rest of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents so you can hear what’s going on. We haven’t heard any more communications with the girls so we don’t know what’s happening inside, be careful. Alright,” Coulson opened the back hatch of the jet, “head out guys.”
Everyone stood up and tried to look as ready as they could to go into this situation. Bucky picked up his gun and walked to the back of the jet, straightening his back. He just tried to be prepared to face the horrors that he knew were on the ground. Bucky's eyes caught a flash of red and gold – and he knew Tony would be making stupid comments over the coms in a matter of minutes, and only then did he let his lip twitch a little bit.
Tony flew out of the Quinjet with no words and a small smile on his face. He was itching to punch someone in the face. Both The Red Room and Hydra had been a pain in the ass for the Avengers and he wouldn’t mind releasing a little bit of the anger he held. As soon as he flew out of the jet, he was blinded with the bright light of the afternoon sun and the tops of large oak trees – almost decapitating him.
“Woah shit! Shit, shit, shit!” Tony exclaimed as he was nosediving in the trunk of a tree. And as quick as he had cursed he blankly said, “Language, I know.” It had almost become second nature after being on consistent missions with Rogers where the American symbol commented on Tony’s vocabulary.
Tony was able to catch himself before he absolutely demolished the top of his head. “Jarvis pull up a 3D map of the terrain, find a route to the factory that won’t kill me, and apply it to what I’m seeing.” Tony barked inside his helmet.
On the ground Tony saw dozens of men fighting; the only way he could distinguish the Hydra/Red Room and S.H.I.E.L.D agents was from the face masks that the Hydra agents were wearing, plus the bird insignia on the S.H.I.E.L.D. The agents’ uniform was a dead giveaway. Anyone who Tony noticed was trying to shoot him down; he blasted from his safe height – forty feet above the ground. He knew Capsicle would argue that every mission should be executed with the least amount of casualties but – it seemed like no one cared that much right now.
Natasha usually didn’t care much for Roger’s rule and it was clear that she still didn’t. She was fighting about five men at once, seeming not even to be breaking a sweat. Before Tony turned away from her, he saw her shooting tasers from her cuffs into a man's neck. He gave a slight nod in admiration and continued to scan the ground. The Hulk was working back-to-back with Thor to plow through the spies and some poor trees. Hawkeye was up in the trees, Tony had no idea how he had gotten there, Clint was using his lethal arrows today. He also was wearing the custom made coms that Tony had made for him that acted as a hearing aid as well. Tony made a mental note to ask him later how they worked for him – well if Clint even remembers how they fit. Wanda was making these spies look like they were paperweights, throwing them into trees and Tony could swear he heard their spines crack. Vision wasn’t to be seen so he guessed that Vision stayed on the jet to avoid major physical conflict if it wasn’t necessary. Tony was able to spot the entrance of the abandoned factory and in front of it was Barnes and Roger, Sun and Moon.
They did some type of dance when they fought: their backs turned to each other in complete trust; it seemed as if they only held feather-like touches for each other; they never collided, they only united. Cap threw his shield in a swift agile motion, the shield moving through the air left a small ring in the space between them. The shield was thrown with enough force that it broke multiple mans’ necks till it was back in Cap’s hand. Anyone left standing was being torn down by the bullets that Bucky was putting in their faces. Both their eyes’ were dark and clouded with rage, frustration, fury, and even some heartache. It was all in fairness, Hydra had ruined both their lives, and it kept popping up.
Tony lands right in front of the towering double doors of the factory. They had a chain lock on them and Tony simply let out a short blast to melt it. He then grabbed the seal of the doors and tore them open; he may have used too much force as the doors were barely hanging onto their hinges.
All of a sudden dozens of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and Natasha appeared by Tony’s sides. On the floor, there were two doors that almost looked like doors for a cellar but they were about three times bigger than a normal cellar. Tony turned to Natasha and lifted his face plate up, “You wanna do the honors or should I?”, he said with a lifted brow. He knew it probably wasn’t the most appropriate time for comedy but it was his safe place, being the funny guy was easy. Natasha turned to him and he could see it in her eyes that she didn’t exactly like his comedic remark, but she seemed the tiniest bit lighter. See – comedy helps!
Before anyone could try and rip the doors open, they were being pushed from the inside. A cacophony of voices sounded over the coms, all shouting different things and Tony tuned them out.
He was really good at that for a fact!
His eyes just zoned in on the cellar doors that were about to be broken and then he swiveled his head around to see who was around him. All the Avengers that had been on the mission were there; Tony assumed that only meant that things had gone smoothly so far and reinforcements weren’t needed – even Vision had made his way down to the factory. All the Avengers were tense and the agents all held their guns towards the doors.
With a pop they opened and everyone held their breath. Initially all anyone could see was darkness, and the next few seconds felt like agony. The air was still – almost static – and no dared to move or breathe. Soon enough, lots of heads started popping out, no one started breathing still.
The girls.
It was all the girls. The empty names and faces that had littered Tony’s screen not even an hour before, were all here.
Natasha wanted to throw up. Despite all her training to make sure she stayed numb, she wanted to hurl all over this stale floor and bawl her eyes out. In these girls she saw herself, Yelena, Antonia Dreykov, and all the other girls she let free. After she killed Dreykov she had thought it was over: she made her amends, she avenged who she needed to, she forgave, and yet these girls were still here. They were covered in blood, clearly not all of it was their own, and some were clearly injured.
She knew the look in their eyes, rabid and wild to most. But to the trained eye, they were terrified and mad. They should be home, with families who loved them beyond belief. Yet they were standing here, reflecting Natasha’s worst fears. It wasn’t even seeing them – huddled together and clearly protecting their injured – that stung the most. It was the fact that she had abandoned them and gave up looking. God the world was going blurry and she could barely hear Steve saying something. It was all just muddled.
“Put your guns down! Don’t shoot,” Steve turned to an agent that looked at little trigger happy and in a lower voice continue, “Don’t you dare fucking shoot, agent.” Tony knew it was serious when he cursed. This mission seemed to have dug into an open wound and rubbed some salt into it. Steve moved back to the center of the room and stood about a foot in front of everyone else. The crease in his brows seemed to melt away when he looked at the girls, and all tension seemed to be drained of him. Right now when Tony looked at him he just looked tired, he seemed as if he had constant aches in his bones.
“Hey, hey, we’re not gonna hurt you.” Steve had tried to say in a soothing voice but with his stature it was hard for him to come across as comforting to scared kids. The girl in the front seemed to think the same as she held tight on the gun in her hand, and she made her wariness even more clear when she pointed the gun directly at Rogers head.
“Don’t you fucking or I will blow your brains out.” The girl had spat with venom, eyes almost in a permanent glare. Bucky and Tony had stepped closer to Rogers, but Bucky practically glued himself to Steve’s back. Rogers seemed unfazed and continued to try and get the girls to calm down. The girls still held the varying weapons they had in a tight grip in their hands but kept their eyes on the girl that was about to try and apparently murder Steve.
It seemed that Thor decided to pipe in and give his opinion on what the girl was gonna do, “Young girl, the captain is practically invincible. Your measly bullet won’t do much and rather make things worse.” It seems Thor’s attempt at being the voice of reason failed. The girl seemed to take some offense at Thor undermining her ability to harm The Captain America. Her eyebrows cinched for a moment and then her whole face went blank, relaxed more. Her gun had momentarily switched to Thor when he had started talking but then she moved it back to Rogers head. Before anyone could say anything to her, a ringing shot went off.
“This girl really tried to shoot Captain America..” Tony thought, and he turned his head to Rogers and Barnes. He didn’t expect to see a bullet in Cap's head and there wasn’t one when he turned to look at Rogers face. Rather he saw a more furious Bucky and a shocked Steve. With Bucky on Steve’s left, he blocked Tony’s view of anything other than Rogers face. In his ear piece, he heard Coulson scrambling to make the agents not shoot but he couldn’t focus on anything other than Steve.
Out of the corner of his eye Tony could see that the girl put the gun down and it was smoking. She did shoot it. And when Rogers turned to face Tony he saw what made Steve so gobsmacked to say the least.
The girl had actually shot The Captain America.
Steve was now facing Tony with his right hand on his right ear. Blood coated his fingertips and it looked that a part of his ear had been shot off. Tony couldn't believe it.
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Isadora had shot Captain fucking America, and holy shit she didn’t feel bad about it – at all actually.