47 hours and 34 minutes remaining

"We can't just leave her there," Steve said again.

Clint looked up, sharply. "If it was any other agent, neither you or Tony would even care." He glanced downwards as another loud noise came from the basement. "Now you've been repeating that and pacing for who knows how long, and Tony's never going to get past the Stark defense. It's learning technology, they stole it from him."

  Tony's voice was, yet again, yelling from the basement. "Work, dammit!"

  Steve sighed. "I'm going down there."

  "I wouldn't do that," Bruce cautioned, "he'll probably beat you to death."

  He shrugged and headed for the stairs. Cautiously, he opened the door to Tony's domain, and called questioningly, "Tony?"

  "Not now, Rogers! I've nearly go-" Tony slammed his fist into the table. "No, no, no, no! Why the hell did I make this?"

  Steve glanced up at the ceiling and lowered his voice. "Look, we need a new plan. We can get her out of there ourselves."

  Tony paused and looked at Steve, smirking. "Captain America wants to break the rules?"

  "For Livvy, yes." Steve shuffled his feet. "But the thing is - neither of us are exactly stealthy."

  "I can do stealthy!"

  Steve raised an eyebrow. "You are literally the only reason we can never do stealth as a whole group. And also the only reason that before every single mission we have to plan a grand entrance."

  Tony waved his hands as if pushing away Steve's words, desk abandoned. "But who can do stealthy and cares about -" Tony gave him a look. "He could help us."

  Steve looked scandalised. "You can't be serious. He's dangerous. And - and -"

"And he's also a contender for Livvy, although I'll never understand what she sees in that psycho," Tony finished for him. "Would you rather have a dead Livvy or a living one that belonged to somebody else?"

"A living one, of course."

"Was that hesitation, Rogers?"

"Don't be ridiculous."

"Anyway, let's break him out."

Steve hesitated, breath hitching in his throat as he considered.

"To save Livvy?" For once, Stark's face was serious. "You said you love her too, Steve. And you wouldn't break him out to save her?"

He sighed, then nodded. "Okay."

*

She wouldn't talk. She wouldn't talk. She wouldn't talk. She repeated it to herself like a mantra, or a prayer, begging herself to stay strong and not tell the Hydra scum any of SHIELD's secrets.

She screamed.

"You going to tell us now, sweetheart?"

"N-never." Gasping for breath and then screaming again as pain tore through her back. It was a lie and she knew it. With this kind of new technology for pain, she was almost certainly not going to last forty-eight hours.