The Shock of Sudden Silence

All Alone

There was no air was in his lungs. Gasping, Tony slid to the floor, his vision blurring as he clawed at his chest. He could hear a voice, but it was too garbled to understand. He didn't know how much time was passing, unable to focus on anything other than the crushing weight he felt on his chest.

Then a voice pierced through the haze. "-lease, Tony, just take a deep breath." A warm hand pressed against his chest, forcing him to take a breath in. "Good, that's good," Steve murmured, brow furrowed as he looked at Tony. JARVIS had alerted him that "Sir was in incredible distress." He had dropped everything and ran to the lab, not knowing what to expect. He shifted Tony around so he was cradling Tony between his legs, arms wrapped tightly around his chest as he helped Tony breath. They sat like that until Tony's breathing became more normal, no longer gasping for air. Just as Steve was about to ask what had happened, Tony burst into tears, turning to bury his face in Steve's shirt. Startled, Steve held him close, whispering sweet nothings in his ear as Tony sobbed.

Steve was incredibly concerned. Tony, while more willing to show Steve his true emotions than others, still kept things hidden. This was pure, raw emotion, and Steve vowed that whatever had made him sob like this, he would destroy. Slowly, Tony's sobs slowed, only the occasional sniffle interrupting the silence that had fallen over the lab. "Tony," Steve said softly, "what happened. Talk to me." Tony merely buried his head further into Steve's shoulder.

"JARVIS. Play the video." His voice was muffled, but the murmured command was quickly acknowledged by JARVIS. Steve grabbed his phone, and watched with baited breath as the video of his best killing his soulmates parents played on his phone.

***

It felt like months since that last day in the tower, with no concerns over anything other than what coffee to get, or how much Jane had eaten that day. The first time she had been taken to the room with the chair and strapped down, she had screamed herself hoarse. But that only brought more punishment, and she soon learned that keeping her mouth closed and her whimpers small made it better. She was now allowed to sleep, but only for short intervals. Her skin was covered in bruises and burns, her mind exhausted, and any hope of rescue she had once had was now beaten out of her.

Sometimes she was taken to a padded room instead of the room with the chair. There, members of what she had eventually realized was Alpha squad, would take turns beating her, all while calling it "practice for the field." She got better at dodging the blows, but never attempted to strike back. She knew it wouldn't have ended well.
Pierce had made her watch countless videos of Bucky, killing target after target. It seemed that she was taking the wrath of Pierce for loosing his favorite play toy, but she tried to never give him the satisfaction of crying, or begging for release. They asked her questions, about the how the team functioned together, which soulmate bonds seemed weaker then others. She had responded verbally the first few times, but soon learned this brought more pain. She wasn't sure why they didn't want her speaking until she glimpsed a unspoken soulmate tattoo on one of the masked men who wheeled her from her cell to the room with the chair. She only caught the word 'Tony Stark', but it was enough to get her to understand. They didn't want her speaking because they were afraid she would be someones soulmate.

She began finger spelling any answer she gave, which was often in the form of a string of curse words. This didn't cause the same reaction as speaking did, but her captors were never pleased that she refused to answer their questions. It seemed to be an endless cycle, with a schedule she never managed to figure out. The periods of the time between leaving her cell soon became all she looked forward to. While she might not be able to sleep, she was given her own space, food, and water. She had stopped worrying about being drugged through the scraps she was given after the fifth tranquilizer dart.

Sometimes she dreamed that she was being rescued, that Tony or Nat would come crashing through the door to cell and take her far, far away. But soon, even those dreamed left her. She no longer believed she would be rescued. She had taken off all the jewelry she had been left with after a while. It was too painful to look at them, remember when she had been given them, who had given them to her.

One day, there was no wheelchair or tranq dart. Instead, Pierce came in and explained his plan, and in great detail. He was actually a quite boring person to listen to, often going on random tangents before remembering what his point was. "I feel, Miss Lewis, that it would be remiss of me not to explain exactly what you are doing here. You see," he said, beginning to pace the small confines of her cell, "I was, and still am incredibly frustrated that we lost the Asset. Of course, good things can't last forever, but this one seemed like it would thanks to the brilliant development of cryochambers." Here he went on to explain the exact science behind said cryochamber, and exactly how HYDRA had gotten their hands on it. Darcy zoned out a bit, but refocused as soon as he looked at her. It was something she had learned to do after the second time he had caught her staring off into space, and the punishment for it guaranteed she never made that mistake again.

"Of course, that is unimportant. The important thing was the chamber. It meant one super soldier could last us decades. Which is good, as we struggled to reproduce the exact process of what happened to the Asset. Now, this is where you come into play." He turned to her, shivering on her mattress, hair matted and face gaunt. "When we learned from inside sources that the Asset was not only inside Stark tower, but friendly with the Avengers, we knew we had to grasp this opportunity. The only problem was that he never left the Tower. Until we learned of you, Miss Lewis. A weak link in the seemingly indestructible chain wrapped around the Asset. Now, I know what you're thinking. Why on earth do you matter? And you don't, not really. You are merely a small puzzle piece needed to complete the puzzle. You see," he said, a dangerous glint in his eyes, "I am angry." Here he paused, seemingly lost in thought.

'Why?' Darcy finally signed, tired of the silence.

"Because, Miss Lewis," he snapped, coming in closer, "the Asset is my property. And I want it back. Darcy blinked. Whatever she had been expecting, it wasn't the level of crazy now seeming to radiate from Pierce. "I have poured billions, BILLIONS, into that thing. It is mine and I will have it back." He suddenly stepped back, a calm falling over his features, the insanity he had been exuding moments earlier seemingly gone. "I will get him back, Miss Lewis. The video I have sent will destroy the team from the inside out, and then they will discover this base. But the Asset will remember this place. And it will come alone, because you are his friend and it will have no one. Full of guilt, an emotion we fully intend to relive it of, it will show up here. And here we will be waiting. We will get the Asset back Miss Lewis. And when we do," he whispered, once again coming in close, Darcy able to smell the stench of his cologne, "we will no longer need you." He grinned, eyes full of pure joy. Darcy couldn't help but flinch a little at that, which only made Pierce grin harder. Good day, Miss Lewis." He spun on his heel and strode out of the room.

The door slammed shut and her single light bulb went out. She was once again alone with nothing more than her thoughts.