Here you are, my faithful readers. Here a shorter chapter. Not thrilled with how it turned out, but it is what it is.

Please comment and let me know what you think!

Thanks to TheOneAndOnlyHooman for her continued encouragement!

Day 6

Natasha - Hydra Base

Natasha closed her eyes. They had found Steve and Tony. It had certainly taken long enough. Maybe too long. If Steve was really dead... She didn't even want to think about it. Shaking her head and taking a deep breath, she stood up and took off after Clint and Hulk.

~A~

She silently moved through the halls. An alarm was blaring, she barely heard it. She was more interested in the sound of footsteps coming to meet her. She pulled out her guns, one in each hand. Standing in the centre of the hallway, she waited for the footsteps to round the corner.

When a group of five Hydra agents turned they hadn't expected to meet her. She quickly eliminated them. She noticed cameras hidden in various places and avoided them with ease. Moving through passages, she found a small room to the side.

Hearing voices, she placed her ear to the door. She couldn't quite make out what they were saying, but she could tell an argument had broken out by the way the voices had raised.

Realizing the people were occupied, she slowly cracked open the door.

"How should I know where the girl went!?" She finally heard clearly. "She's one of the most highly trained agents in all of S.H.I.E.L.D. If she wants to avoid being seen, she will!"

"I don't care!" another voice yelled. "Just find her. We can't risk her finding us!"

Smirking, Natasha pushed the door open the rest of the way. "Then you might want to remember to lock the door next time."

Eyes widening, the two men reached for their weapons. She nearly rolled her eyes at how simple it was to disarm them.

"Now," she said, pointing a gun at each of them. "What's been going on here?"

"We don't know anything!" said one of the men, who looked to be in his mid-forties. Natasha easily recognized him as the second voice - the one who had been worrying about her finding them. "We're the tech guys, they don't tell us anything."

The other, much younger, man nodded emphatically.

"If you don't know anything, then there's no reason to keep you alive."

She smiled at the look of terror in their eyes. She slowly walked up to them and pointed the gun between their eyes. Swiftly, she knocked each of them unconscious with a hit to the head. She quickly tied them up.

Natasha turned to the large screen on the wall. Sitting in one of the chairs, she watched as the monitor showed Hulk smashing what looked like a medical lab, Clint trying and failing to calm him down. A different part of the screen was showed Hydra agents scurrying around.

Talking over her comms, she said to Clint "Forget Hulk, twenty agents trying to escape in the room to your right. Take care of it."

"Got it," he said, leaving the room.

Trusting that Clint would do his job, she ran her eyes over the rest of the screen. Her eyes stopped as she saw a small room with chains and two chairs. A tray was beside the chair. She couldn't see what was on it. She pulled the feed up so it was taking up the whole screen. Seeing some of the instruments on the tray, she felt anger rise up inside of her.

Natasha set it to play the feed from earlier that day. Fast forwarding through the video of an empty room, she stopped when she saw Steve being practically carried through the door. He was placed in one of the chairs and promptly chained to it. He saw a man walk in, smiling. He went over and whispered in Steve's ear. It had an obviously negative effect on the soldier and he stiffened, his eyes dulling. Moments later, Tony was dragged in and placed in the seat across from him.

She watched as Tony and the man who was standing began to argue. Suddenly a gun was placed to Steve's head. Natasha watched the scene play out. Natasha watched the scene play out with growing dread.

Tony continued to argue with the man until Steve fell forward. The man removed the gun. It appeared that Tony started to scream at him. Then the man and the two guards walked out.

Natasha paused the video. Tony was right. Steve was dead. It was sickening.

She would find the man who had done this, the man who had killed Cap. Then she would show no mercy.

~A~

Unknown

He watched them scurry around the base. He had known the Avengers would show up eventually. It was just as well though. It gave them an excuse to proceed with their plans.

Rubrem had done surprisingly well. He was pleased with the man's progress with Stark but was also surprised at Stark's resolve. Not that it mattered. It would have been nice to have been able to simply push a button and watch all of Stark Enterprises crumble, but if his plans went as they were supposed to, it wouldn't make a difference.

He heard the helicopter land and smiled. Now was the time for phase two of his little project.

Rubrem came in, two guards trailing him with a limp body between them.

"Mori," he acknowledged with a sick grin. "So good of you to join us. How is the test subject?"

"We have made much progress, sir," Rubrem responded.

He nodded, "Good, good."

The limp body began to stir.

"Oh good, you're awake." He smiled a warmer smile. "I wanted to welcome you myself."

The still-rousing man gave the speaker a wary look.

"It may be hard to believe, but we want to help you. You've been drugged, your head may still be a little fuzzy. I apologize, but of course, there was no other way."

Still no answer.

"Very well, Mori, please take your friend here to his room. We will have to reconvene tomorrow."

Rubrem nodded and motioned for the guards to follow.

"Oh, and Captain." They met each other's eyes for the first time, "Hail Hydra."

In a conflicted whisper, Steve Rogers responded, "Hail Hydra."

The man's eyes lit up as they left.

"Yes, Captain America is mine."

Well, that completes part one! I've really enjoyed writing this and can't wait for part two!

Part two coming soon!

Make sure to comment and vote!

God bless,

Shout out to eyeofthetigress for the absolutely amazing cover!