" as long as you care, something will always hurt. "
TRIGGER WARNING: BLOOD, TORTURE, INJURY.
Christmas had passed and Ash had been called in for a mission with Natasha and Clint. They were being sent to hunt down a woman named Lady Rouge that was the head of a terrorist organisation that had been steadily appearing on SHIELD's radar. She was rumoured to be over eight feet tall according to files and possibly enhanced. They were arriving at a base in the Swiss Alps, which had been connected to Lady Rouge. The trio left the quinjet they arrived in and headed to the base, they infiltrated the building fairly easily. Ash ignored Nicotine singing 'We'll Meet Again' as he went through the corridors.
"Any ideas on where she is?" He whispered.
"Nope." Clint said.
"I do."
They spun around and found a young man smirking at them. He suddenly disappeared and reappeared above them, he dropped on Natasha and she was kicked into the floor. He disappeared once again and kicked Ash into the floor as well from behind. Another voice interrupted them, it had a heavy French accent.
"Now, now, Rift. That's not how we treat guests."
The young man they now knew as Rift, disappeared and reappeared next to the owner of the voice, an eight foot tall woman who looked down at them menacingly. She wore a black hat that covered half of her face when she looked down, she wore a suit and a black trench coat that draped over her shoulders.
"I'm guessing you're Lady Rouge?" Ash questioned as he pulled himself up.
Natasha was doing the same and Clint drew his bow and arrow. Lady Rouge smirked and green suddenly pulsed around her hands, with a quick and smooth motion, he was pinned to the ground in a green mist. Ash and Natasha looked at him in shock, looking back at Lady Rouge, they drew their weapons. Ash charged at her and leaped into the air, a blue spike forming in his hand. She caught him by the throat and held him in the air, he struggled and gasped. Lady Rouge pouted,
"Hm, not so intimidating now are you?" She said.
Natasha began to fire her gun and Rouge sighed, using her powers to stop the bullets and turn them back at her and Clint. Ash's eyes widened and watched as the bullets they couldn't dodge graze them. He turned to Rouge and kicked her in the side, she let out a shout and he was dropped to the floor. Ash shuffled away and pulled himself up, he went over to Natasha and Clint's sides. Rouge narrowed her eyes and used her powers to pull Ash towards her by his leg while Rift appeared behind Natasha and Clint.
"You didn't forget about me did you?" He smirked.
He kicked Natasha into the floor and kicked her nose to keep her down for longer while he teleported behind Clint and wrapped his arm around his throat, choking him, while he was immobilised, he grabbed his arm and effectively broke it. He screamed and Natasha attacked Rift, who shoved Clint into the floor. They exchanged blows and Rift drew a knife from his thigh, he teleported behind Natasha and held the knife to her throat.
"Now might be a good time to surrender, Lady Rouge is going to kill your friend ya know? Imagine if you were too busy fighting me to help him." Rift smirked.
Natasha gritted her teeth angrily and gripped his arm, throwing him over her shoulder, he crashed into the floor and quickly moved, he teleported and reappeared standing further away from her. He sighed and drew a gun, Natasha's gun, her eyes widened and he smirked.
"Surprised you didn't notice." He said.
Suddenly, a scream ripped through the corridor, they turned to see Rouge holding Ash by the throat, successfully tearing Nicotine from his body. Natasha's eyes widened and an arrow ripped through the air between them, it collided into Rouge's hand and she stopped, Nicotine retreated back into Ash and he fell to the floor. Rift turned to Clint who was now holding his arm in agony, and fired a bullet at his leg before turning back to Natasha and charging at her. He roundhouse kicked her into the floor and shot her in the shoulder and in the abdomen.
"Are they finished with, Rift?" Rouge growled.
"Just about done, my Lady." He shrugged.
Ash looked at his friends and used Nicotine to grab them and throw them through the door at the end of the corridor, Natasha and Clint managed to pull themselves up watched as Ash destroyed the door lock after it slammed shut, the small window in the middle of the door showed him being grabbed from behind and held in the air. Rouge tearing Nicotine from his body as he screamed, tears streaming down his cheeks.
"We need to get out of here." Natasha whispered, coughing up blood.
Clint nodded and they helped each other out of the base, running through the snow to the quinjet where they contacted Fury. Meanwhile, Ash had been dropped to the floor, shaking like a leaf. Rift teleported away and returned with a container, Rouge shoved Nicotine inside it and closed it.
"We'll need to relocate, our position's been compromised. I'd rather not have to call in assets to assist us. Make the preparations while I bring our guest to his room." She ordered.
"Will do." Rift smirked.
Lady Rouge used her powers to cuff Ash's hands together and made him float mid-air, she walked to a room that was dark and pristine. She opened the door and dropped him on the floor. He managed to lift his head up to look at her and she chuckled.
"Here is what's going to happen. Your symbiote is going to fix things and you will give me information." She said.
"I'm not gonna tell you anything." He growled.
"You don't need to."
Rouge walked out of the room, locking the door behind her.
***
Clint and Natasha landed the quinjet on the helipad at Avengers Tower. They had managed to bandage each other well-enough just for the journey. They rushed out of the jet and into the building. Steve had come to greet them but his eyes widened in shock.
"What happened? Where's Ash?" He questioned.
"He's been captured." Natasha whispered.
They went to the lab to get Bruce, who was working on something with Tony. They turned to them in shock and Bruce rushed over, leading them to the infirmary, where he got to work on their injuries. After some time, he finished and they were both just sitting there in silence. Josh and Thor walked in with Thor the dog after seeing Natasha and Clint with no Ash, they began to worry.
"What happened?" Thor asked.
The agents hesitated to speak and Josh teared up, hugging Thor II.
"Fury sent us and Ash on a mission to hunt down Lady Rouge, she's this head of a terrorist organistion that got on SHIELD's radar. She attacked us and her agent fought us while she dealt with Ash." Clint explained.
"He got us away so we could contact Fury. Rouge managed to separate him and Nicotine before we ran." Natasha said quietly.
Josh started to cry and Thor was silent, the rage he was feeling could be sensed by anyone. Suddenly, they got a notification signalling someone was arriving, it was Fury. They left the infirmary, helping Natasha and Clint, and went to the briefing room where he was waiting. He looked pissed off.
"There's something you should see." He said.
"What is it?" Tony questioned.
"See for yourself." Fury replied, using the screen in the room to show a video.
It showed Lady Rouge, her black hat obscured half her face and they could see her lips being pulled into a smirk. Rift was behind her leaning on the wall, Ash was on his knees with his hands bound together with Rouge's powers.
"Hello, Avengers. I hope Black Widow and Hawkeye enjoyed their parting gifts. I'm not here to ransom, rather, this is a warning. Come for him and you will die, so will your friend. If you don't believe me, allow me to enlighten you all." She grinned.
Rift walked over to Ash and gripped him by the hair, pulling his head up, he drew his knife and stabbed Ash's shoulder. He moved to his face and slashed the bridge of his nose. He dropped his head and electrocuted him with a device that had been put on his neck. Ash screamed and Rouge just smiled. The Avengers could only watch in horror as he was tortured. She eventually told Rift to stop and he did, he moved back and smirked.
"This is your warning but I have a feeling you'll ignore it. I'll see you soon." She said.
The feed cut off and there was dead silence.
"Jarvis, scan their faces." Tony ordered.
"Yes, sir." The A.I. replied.
He scanned Rift's face and found all the information but couldn't find anything on Lady Rouge.
"The man is known as Isaac Carter, otherwise known as Rift. He was an agent of SHIELD before he was ruled as dead during a mission three years ago." Jarvis reported.
Fury sighed and looked over at the Avengers.
"What about Rouge?" Steve asked.
"There is no information I can find. She's like a ghost, she doesn't exist."
There was silence, no one knew what to do next.
An hour before the Avengers watched the video, Rouge had sent it and the preparations had been finished. Ash was taken to the helipad on the base's roof, Rouge walked up the stairs leading to it. A military grade plane was sitting there waiting. She stopped and a cage-like container was given to her, Ash was put inside. Metal slinked around his arms and legs, including his throat. He leaned his head back and tried not to panic. He put in the plane and Rift walked over holding the container holding Nicotine.
"Let's go." Rouge ordered.
They went inside and the doors closed, taking off a second later. Ash sat in the cage and felt himself losing control over his powers. He could only wait for what was waiting for him at the end of the journey.