STEVE

It's been a little while since Tori and I have been home, two weeks to be exact. Of course, we're called to go to the underwater prison for a meeting-like thing and to try to crack Anderson after those two short weeks. Tony and Natasha are coming along with us. I would bring Bucky, but it would just be way too hard on him to be there.

The four of us arrive at the floating palace after a bumpy ride. It wasn't too bad, but Tony seemed to be holding back a little vomit whereas Tori's face was essentially green. I kept making sure that she was all right, but she insisted that she was okay every time I asked. We get out of our aircraft and amble through the hallways until we reach the main meeting area room.

I can't stand being here. Memories of my friends and my wife in chains just hurt, especially when I can remember every detail, even if I was drugged. I can tell it hurts Tori even more. She has to avert her eyes from anything that could trigger a bad memory, like cameras and even closed doors. I catch her closing her eyes to flush back tears a few times.

We sit in the chairs, waiting for Ross to show. I set my hand on Tori's thigh, forcing her to look me in the eyes. Her brown orbs are more than just sad, but they seem tortured.

"It's gonna be okay," I promise her. I take her hand in mine underneath the table, tracing circles on her delicate skin with my thumb.

She nods in response, breathing out a sigh.

The door opens, revealing Ross and his horde of guards. Sharon Carter steps in behind him, holding a file close to her. Her eyes are fixed on Tori, who shift uncomfortably in her seat.

"Commander," Tony nods to Ross in greeting. "It's a pleasure to see you again."

Ross just nods to him, quickly making eye contact with everyone instead of saying hello. "All right, everyone, you willing to go on a couple of missions for the next few weeks?"

Tori glances up at him, nodding slowly. Everyone else does the same, including Sharon behind him.

"We already have Wilson back in Paris, but we need people here for a while to try and crack Anderson. Based on all of your reputations, I think that it should hopefully come easy." Ross takes the file from Sharon, who stands obediently behind him. He slaps the file down on the table, opening it to show its contents.

There are photos of people and places, records showing the history of those things, and so much more. It seems like a difficult case already.

"If you do manage to break Anderson's shell, you head back to New York to watch for any suspicious activity. That's the only thing we've been able to get from HYDRA recently," Ross orders. "So I'll have someone lead you to Anderson and a few of the others we found to squeeze whatever you can out of them."

"I can, sir," Sharon pipes up.

"Yes, Carter, you show them to the cells."

After Ross is ushered out of the room by his practical body guards, Sharon leads the four of us down the the prison cells.

"So, how was the honeymoon, you two?" she asks us, turning around to face Tori and me as we stride through the halls of the underwater prison.

"Good," I breathe out. "Definitely something that prepared us to get back in action."

Tori nods next to me in agreement, staring down at her feet as we continue to pace the halls.

As we enter a specific room, Sharon warns us about the HYDRA agents' attitudes. All of us just shrug it off, stepping inside as she walks away from the door. We walk down the hallway of cells, prisoners shouting insults or completely ignoring us as we scan for a specific cell. We eventually stop at one holding the kid with auburn hair and glasses.

"I knew it wouldn't be long before they had you crawling back to do their dirty work," Clay mutters, sitting in the corner of his cell. "How long has it been? Two weeks? God, so pathetic."

"So you're Clay Anderson?" Natasha asks, stepping up to the glass. "You don't have the look of a HYDRA agent."

"Weren't you ever taught to never judge a book by its cover, Romanoff?" Clay spits. He glances up at us with his piercing gray eyes. They stop once he spots Tony. "Ah, the Stark. Pleasure to see you again, mate."

"Pleasure to see you in a cell, mate," Tony imitates with a smirk. "I'm going to assume that since I'm here, you know that we aren't playing games. So I highly suggest that you talk."

I bite the insides of my cheeks, tuning out the threats that shoot back and forth between Tony and Anderson. Natasha joins in every once and a while, getting them to come up with more insults. Tori and I keep quiet, trying to stay inside our heads. I try to pinpoint some of Clay's movements that come as a response to Tony's rambling. Tony, being smart for once, spits random questions during their argument, and Clay absentmindedly gives him an answer. I take mental note of his replies.

"Why are Mr. and Mrs. Rogers being so quiet, hm?" Anderson asks randomly.

Tori glances up at him, giving him a deadly glare. "Because this is all quite entertaining," she tells him. "So, go on, Mr. Anderson. Talk some more."

Anderson scoffs, pacing his cell. "I debate on whether or not I should be glad that I was chosen to do this, to deal with you people. I should've just kept my mouth shut and stayed being the nobody I was. It would've been so much better.

"I've tried so hard to stay low since the bombings, but no, I had to be drawn into this mess," Clay mumbles. "Stuck here now, waiting until they have use of me. You should've kept your mouth shut, Victoria! If you were quiet and let your brother kill me, I wouldn't be here!"

Tori clenches her jaw. Although her actions and body language seem defensive, the gleam in her eyes tell me that she has a clever idea brewing. "You really aren't useful, are you?" she says softly to Clay, getting closer to the glass. "They just decided to give you information and leave you with the burden of carrying it while they pretty much sit by the beach sipping piña coladas. You pathetic little thing. Then again, you are the worthless one. You don't have anything to lose whereas they want to save their own asses, so they left you here to deal with us. God, what were they thinking?"

"I am worth something unlike you, you murder," he growls. "You are just a ticking time bomb waiting to explode. Actually, you already have a few times. Yet you're still here. You still are alive for saving the world from your own problems that you created. Why do you get all the credit though? I've never been able to wrap my head around that."

"Why are you still here then?" Tori asks, her tone getting darker and more aggressive as each word leaves through her lips. "All your kind has done is kill just for the fun of it. Hell, you originated from Nazis."

"I'm not like them!" Clay shouts. "I have a family and I have a heart!"

"Liar."

Clay presses his fists against the glass, baring his teeth at Tori. "I have a mother, a sister named Eloise, and a home. I care about them more than anything."

"Would Eloise approve of your decision of joining HYDRA?" Tori asks him.

"How would I know? She's been in a coma for the past year. That's why I'm even in HYDRA."

"What would you do if she came back?" Tori inquires softly. "What would you do if she came back to you?"

Clay scoffs. "I'd be overjoyed. My mother would speak to me again and I would have my baby sister back. I would leave HYDRA if I could."

Tori nods slowly, processing everything he just said. "I would too," she says. "But what about the information? Would you just keep it and have the government on your tail?"

"Why would I tell you? You are the government."

"Ha, yeah, no. Honestly, I despise those people. I would do anything I could to get away from them."

Clay smiles. "I would tell them if they promised to keep away from my family."

"Then I have an offer for you," Tori says. "If we are able to wake your sister up, you give us the information and we leave you and your family alone. If you give us the wrong information, we return your family back to the state we found it in. But if you give us the correct stuff, you can live a little apple pie life."

"If only," Anderson sighs. "It's a coma. How can you just magically pull her out of it?"

"The government has some pretty incredible scientists who can. Plus, it's not magic. It's science."

Clay nods. "You have yourself a deal."

•••

"How the hell did you manage all of that?" Tony asks his sister as we all exit the cell corridor. "I mean, you just made a deal with this guy that wasn't willing to talk last week. How did you do it?"

Tori smiles, shoving her hands in her pockets. "Prior knowledge and experience, my dear brother. And maybe just a dash of manipulation."

Tony laughs. "That's incredible."

"You do realize that we have to get a child out of a nasty coma now, right?" Natasha asks. "I mean, it's not necessarily our problem, but still."

"Hey, we have some way to get information. I'd rather take that than no info," Tori sighs.

Sharon scurries off to tell Ross the good news, leaving us to find our way back to the helicopter. I wrap my arm around Tori's waist, looking down at her.

"You doing okay?" I ask her softly.

"Yeah," she breathes. "I'm not ready to go back on that chopper though."

I laugh, kissing the top of her head. The anxiety that was radiating off from her has been replaced by an aura of relief, causing the emotion to rub off on me. We hop onto the chopper, not waiting for Ross to find us. I take a seat next to Tori and we begin to fly off back to New York to prepare for the anticipated attack.