"Tony," I said, leaning against the wall with a bowl of cereal.
Tony jumped at the sound of my voice, he glanced at me, grabbed the remote, turned off the mute button and rewound the footage.
"New York's 'Spider Man' made an unexpected appearance in Washington, D.C yesterday afternoon at the Washington Monument when an elevator malfunction threatened the lives of touring high school students," a female newscaster spoke. My mouth dropped open with shock and I walked further into the living room. "Spider Man was able to save all of the students from a deadly fall. The New York hero disappeared from the scene shortly after."
"Holy shit," I muttered.
"He could have gotten himself killed." Tony pointed at the screen.
"Yeah, but he did save those high school students-" I began.
"He also put his identity at risk, he's putting a lot at risk- what was he thinking?"
"Tony," I spoke softly, putting my hand on his shoulder. "Take a breath, you're stressing yourself out. Yeah, Peter acted out of line, but if he hadn't been there those students would have died."
"Those were his own classmates." Tony looked up at me.
"Oh, I guess that is really out of line." I looked back at the screen. "Still, he saved lives."
"You seem to have gotten a hold of yourself since the last time I saw you," Tony deduced. "Did you do some meditation with Clint?"
"Yes, actually," I replied, walking around the arm chair and sitting on the couch. "Just like SHIELD training again. Clint really took the position of my S.O to the max."
"How is he doing?" Tony shifted in his seat to face me.
"He's good," I imagined. "Still pissed at you."
Clint and I still called each other so that much was true.
"I thought so." Tony nodded.
Our conversation was cut short when a beeping came from the conference room. We had a call. Tony stood up headed towards the glassed in room, tapped the key pad on the table, and Secretary Ross appeared as a hologram.
"Great," I muttered.
I turned away from the two of them to avoid any sort of socialization with Ross, but Tony called my name.
"Ellie." I turned to look at him, giving a visible expression of 'I don't care'. "He has a mission for us."
Well, now I do care.
I followed Tony into the conference room. Secretary Ross watched as I sat down and waited till Tony was seated before he began.
"You both know I wouldn't be calling you in if this was not of utmost importance." He gave a wry smile. "One week ago we received an anonymous message containing death threats and threats to steal government information. We were able to trace that message to its sender's location in the New York subway systems."
"The subway systems?" Tony repeated. "What'd you find down there? Alligators?"
"No, Tony, the alligators are in the sewers," I corrected him and Ross cleared his throat.
"Sorry, go on." Tony nodded.
"We sent in a team of six men to apprehend the sender, but they did not return," Ross continued. "We tried contacting them, but all we got back from their comms was static. We sent in another team three days ago, they have not returned either."
"Was there any sign of resistance when they entered the subway systems?" I asked.
"Shouting, gunfire, the works," Ross replied. "Just yesterday we received an S.O.S video from one of our unit members."
Ross looked at the screen behind us and a video pulled up of a man's beaten and sweaty face. From the video quality I could tell that he was in a dark area, the only light was coming from his camera, and an ominous glow in the back corner.
"We've been compromised, they have us kept in the subway systems and they have weapons. These guys are crazy, I'm not sure how long they're going to keep us alive-" The man looked off camera, his breathing got heavy. "Don't send in anymore men, it's too risky. I have to go."
There was a voice shouting from off camera and the screen shook before the video stopped. I breathed out, white vapor clouded around my face and I waved it away. Tony and I looked back at Ross.
"We haven't received any more videos," Ross said, his lips pressing together to form a thin line.
"So, you're wanting to send in Iron Man?" Tony asked.
"Actually, I'm wanting to send in both of you," Ross said and my eyes widened. "Miss. Flint has been on numerous rescue missions during her time with SHIELD and... There are rumors going around here that the source of these threats may be HYDRA."
"And I'm the closest asset to HYDRA, makes sense." I nodded.
"When do you want us on the field?" Tony asked.
"As soon as possible," Ross answered.
"You got it, chief." Tony raised his hand and made a swiping motion, Ross' hologram disappeared.
I looked at Tony, my mouth open in shock at Ross' decision to put me back in the field, even after how rude I had been acting and the events of the Accords.
"See? He doesn't hate you." Tony gestured to the spot that Ross' hologram once stood.
"You sure? He might just be trying to get his men back," I replied.
"We aren't going to discuss that right now, he have a mission." Tony stood up from his seat. "Do you still have your STRIKE suit?"
"Yeah, why?" I narrowed my eyes.
"You should wear it, the dark colors might be helpful in the subway system," Tony replied. "And I think black makes a really cool contrast with your pale complexion and white hair..."
"Tony..." I stopped him. "You're not designing me another suit, I like the blue."
"Just a suggestion." He shrugged.
"Still a no," I laughed.
~~~
Of course Tony had his own access to secret tunnels in the New York subway system. So why was I surprised? Well, I'm sure that plenty of people would be surprised when billionaire, Tony Stark, said: "This is where kids put up a lot of graffiti, just down here are the secret tunnels I use to surprise troublemakers."
A light attached to Tony's suit lit our path down the dark, unused tunnel systems. My left hand was placed on my gun handle in its holster, prepared for any sort of surprise attack to come at us.
"Any heat signatures?" I asked Tony, keeping my voice low didn't make any difference as it echoed off the concrete walls.
"None so far, it's a bit hazy down here," he replied, surveying the area around us. "Wait.. I got one."
"Where?" I stopped walking and looked around. "Is it a hostage?"
"Straight ahead and a couple of turns, there's more popping up, I got four now," Tony stepped ahead of me and we continued down the tunnel.
"If we're close these people are really bad at resistance," I stated, checking every dark corner for hostiles.
"So, it's not HYDRA?" Tony asked.
"Can't be sure, they love their surprises."
As we made our way towards the heat signatures. I slowly pulled out my gun, steadied my breathing and made each step more cautious than the one before. Tony and I made multiple left and right turns until we came to a tunnel entrance that was blocked off by a chainlink fence, a padlock hung on the gate to keep anyone from entering, but that wasn't going to stop us.
"Beyond this tunnel is where they should be," Tony's helmet went retracted, revealing his face.
"Is it still just four signatures?" I asked.
"Yeah. Think you could freeze that off?" He gestured towards the padlock.
I nodded and pressed my hand against the padlock until ice covered it. I took the handle of my gun and knocked the lock off the gate, catching it before it clattered on the ground. Tony pushed the gate open, his helmet returned and we cautiously walked into the tunnel.
"Tony, something doesn't seem right, if what Ross said was true, we should have met some resistance by... Now..." I trailed off with my words as I felt the muzzle of a gun on the back of my head. "Oh. There it is."
Tony turned and held up his hand, the repulser beginning to glow. I slowly held up my hands in surrender, not wanting to give Tony any more trauma than he already had in his life.
"You shoot and I shoot," the owner of the gun spoke. It was a man, and there was a slight accent in his voice.
"Where are the hostages?" Tony asked.
"What hostages?" The man asked.
"The government agents, don't play stupid," I spat.
"Oh, them," the man laughed. "They're dead."
"Since when?" Tony demanded, taking a step forward, causing the muzzle to press to my head even more.
"Since we captured them, those S.O.S videos sent out were staged."
"Wait, what?" I turned my head slightly to look back. "They willingly staged those videos?"
"Of course not, we threatened them, promised that compliance would be rewarded."
My heart raced at those words. Compliance will be rewarded. The last time I had heard those words was in a not so nice place, and my gut was telling me something that I didn't want to believe.
"Who do you work for?" I asked.
"I don't work for anyone," the man answered. "But, they work for me."
At his words three other men stepped out of the shadows, all armed with guns. There's the other heat signatures. I knew we should have brought Rhodey in.
"Are you HYDRA?" Tony questioned.
The man laughed, the other men joined in and I rolled my eyes, not wanting this to take any longer than it needed to. Once the laughter stopped, the leader spoke.
"You could say that. I admire HYDRA's ideals, but they were too weak, they were easily stopped and their plans lost. I want to pick up where they left off and fin-"
"Finish what they started, blah, blah, blah." I interrupted and Tony looked at me in shock. "I've had enough of this HYDRA crap, honestly you're really stupid for thinking that you and three other guys who know how to shoot and fight are going to pick up where HYDRA left off. But if there's more please tell us."
There was a bit of silence before the leader breathed in. "Start walking." He pressed the muzzle again and I took a few steps, nodding to Tony so that he did the same.
The four men brought us further into the tunnel systems before coming to an open room that looked like some sort of conspiracy theory headquarters. The place was lit up by light stands and all over the walls were photocopies of files, photos, and newspaper articles all related to HYDRA. Along with those were computers, guns, and seven more men.
"Oh, so you're HYDRA groupies," Tony mocked.
"Say one more thing and I'll blow your head," The leader now pointed his gun at Tony, one of the other men pointed his gun at me.
"What do you want from us?" Tony asked. "You've kept us alive this long."
"Her." The muzzle poked the back of my head again and I let out an exasperated sigh.
"Great."
"Yeah? Well, I'm not gonna let that happen because, I kind of need her too, and sharing isn't really my thing." I could hear the edge in Tony's voice.
"We researched projects that HYDRA was working on but never finished, all of them had components that we couldn't get our hands on, except for one," the leader explained.
"Frostbite Serum," I huffed.
"Precisely."
"Sorry to spoil your plans but that stuff didn't work, it killed all of the test subjects," I said. "You're running a wild goose chase here."
"It didn't work because they didn't have you," the leader replied.
"I beg your pardon?" I looked back, finally getting a glimpse of the leader that liked to hide so much.
Something about him was familiar, the tall and broad build, the dark hair, the almond shaped eyes that had no expression to them.
"You are the only person in this world to have survived powers like these, you can activate them at your will. So we thought, you need to activate the subjects."
"I'm sorry, what was your name?" I asked.
"Maxim Lakovitch."
A small smirk pulled at my lips, the irony. Oh, the irony.
"What, is this some sort of dynasty?" I asked.
"If that's what you want to call it," Maxim replied.
"Do you really think that I'm going to let you take me?" I glanced around the room, trying to find some sort of escape. Tony seemed to be doing the same thing as his eyes darted around the room.
I glanced up at the ceiling at a hot box that branched out system of pipes trailing down to each of the light stands. The pipes most likely were protecting the electrical wires. Okay... That could work.
"No, but you know full well that compliance will be rewarded," Maxim spoke. "Don't you, Frostbite?"
"Wait, are you really trying to-" I began.
"Take a deep breath. Calm your mind," Maxim circled around so that he was now facing me. My shoulders began to relax and I exhaled slowly. "You know what is best. What is best is you comply. Compliance will be rewarded."
I stared at Maxim blankly. Tony stepped to the side so that he could look at me, only to have the muzzle of a gun pressed against his head.
"Eleanor, will you comply?" A smile curled at Maxim's lips.
"The Faustus Method? Really?" I chuckled and Maxim's smile disappeared. "You know, for all this research that you did, I'm surprised that you didn't catch the fact that I wasn't brainwashed by the Faustus."
Maxim let out a frustrated growl and aimed his gun at the center of my forehead. He grit his teeth and lowered the gun's hammer.
"You have two choices, Eleanor. Comply, or I blow your pretty little head."
"Awe, you think I'm pretty?" I mocked, glancing at Tony sending any sort of message that I could.
I glanced up pointedly at the hot box, then around at the lights, but making it look like I was panicking. Only Tony could see through that. Once we seemed to be on the same page, I looked back at Maxim and smiled.
"Shoot."
"Alright," Maxim took a step forward and pressed the muzzle to my forehead. "Have it your way."
As soon as there was even the slightest pressure on the trigger I reached up and grabbed Hans' wrist, pushing it upwards so that he shot up at the ceiling. There was a flash of sparks and then darkness. Men shouted and I took a gut instinct to throw a punch right in front of me. Thankfully, Maxim had not moved yet and I decked him right in the face. He let out a shout and there was a thud as he hit the ground. The sound of gunfire echoed as the soldiers aimlessly fired, perhaps even shooting each other. Don't get shot, don't get shot... I looked around blindly, my eyes catching the glowing eyeholes of the Iron Man helmet and the glowing arc reactor.
"Tony!" I shouted, reaching my hand out.
An iron hand grabbed mine and I was pulled forward, almost hitting my forehead against the arc reactor. Once I found my bearings, I turned so that my back faced Tony, holding out my hands as the gunfire stopped.
"Hold your fire!" I heard Maxim shout from a distance. He had moved. "Get some power in here, now!"
"Got any lights, Tony?" I asked.
"Yeah, one. But only for a few seconds, I'll let you see for a second to get everyone's location," he replied.
I caught on to his plan quickly.
"Oh, smart." I nodded.
"3... 2... Lighting up."
From the arc reactor came a white light that lit up the room, I spun around, caught sight of every standing man, the light went out, and I dropped to the ground, pressed my hands on the concrete flooring, inhaled and-
"Freeze!"
There was a cracking sound, some gasps or grunts, then silence. I slowly stood up, not knowing where to look in the dark, the only bearing I had was Tony's location. There was a loud clank and one light stand lit up, causing me to squint my eyes and once they adjusted I was staring at a bloody nosed Maxim Lakovitch standing at a large switch. Icicles jutted out from the floor and walls, all of them impaling a soldier except for him. Maxim began to laugh.
"You just don't give up! Ruining everything HYDRA has worked so hard for! You could be on top of the world, and instead you protect the weak!" Maxim spread out his arms, gesturing to all the files and pictures that were hung on the walls. Yep, he's crazy.
"Well, you aren't giving up either so that makes two of us," I reached for my gun.
"Cut off one head, two more-"
Before he could finish he crumpled to the ground with a bullet in his head. I lowered my gun and sighed.
"Yeah, I know. Heads. Heads everywhere."
"That was fast." Tony's helmet retracted.
"Yeah, well, he didn't have a lot of conviction, just a grudge against me," I replied, putting my gun away. "I killed his great grandfather, let's just hope they don't have a Maxim Lakovitch II. That would be awkward."
"I'm going to scan the area, see if there's anymore hostiles," Tony said as the helmet returned on his head. "Maybe even find the dead bodies."
"Right, I'm going to look at all these files they have stocked up, see if there's stuff we could put use to." I walked up to the wall covered in HYDRA files, stepping over a few bodies along the way.
Most of them were files that I had already seen before, a couple were about the Frostbite Serum; the trials and errors that went through testing, plus a few add-on notes from Hans. None of it was anything I thought would be of any use to us, so I moved on to the computers. This will be quite the story to tell Bucky.
"Ellie," Tony called my name before I could even touch a keyboard.
"Yeah?"
"I've got six heat signatures." Tony stood facing a tunnel, his helmet still on.
I quickly came to his side and put my hand on my gun, Tony began slowly entering the tunnel and I followed close behind. Tony halted, the light on his suit turned on illuminating the tunnel and shining a little light on the six men sitting on the ground lined up against the wall. They squinted against the light that Tony shone on them, one man lifted up his hands that were zip-tied together to shield his face.
"Oh, my God." I went forward and kneeled down in front of the man closest to me.
"FRIDAY, we're going to need medical service," Tony said.
"Paramedics have been contacted and are on their way," FRIDAY answered.
"Are there more of you?" I asked the man.
He wearily shook his head in reply. "I don't know what they did with the bodies."
I glanced at Tony and nodded towards the other men. "Start helping them up."
~
Along with the paramedics, FRIDAY had also contacted Secretary Ross and he arrived with the FBI. Tony and I stood outside of the subway entrance. Multiple agents were running in and out, escorting paramedics and giving information to Ross. Tony placed his hand on my back and took me with him to meet with Ross. Currently an agent was speaking with him.
"We still haven't found the other agents' bodies, we're checking every tunnel system that we can find," the agent said.
"Don't stop searching until you find them," Ross replied.
"Yes, sir." The agent nodded and returned to the tunnels.
Ross turned to us, a thin smile was spread across his mouth, his hands were folded behind him, he looked relaxed.
"Do you need us to go back in and help with the search?" Tony asked.
"No, I think my men can handle it." Ross shook his head. "Thank you, both of you. HYDRA isn't really our specialty."
"I don't know if we could call it HYDRA, sir." I
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