Hello, Who is this?

46) Six Months

Riley thought about everything that had happened over the last six months and was quickly losing faith in ever finding help. 

Apparently nobody thought to check the tracker. Maybe they decided I wasn't worth it after all. I can do this alone if I have to. I might just have to become a queen to do it though. None of this is good. The army of enhanced super soldiers is almost complete. How do I get a message out? Who do I send it too? Do I bother fighting anymore? Maybe this was always meant to be my fate. Happiness was never really in my cards anyway. It doesn't even matter anymore. Wait, yes it does. It will always matter so long as one person is willing to fight for what is right. Hydra was able to hide within Shield for decades, maybe it is time I start recruiting help from within the army too. 

With that thought in mind, she went to the training room like she did every morning. There sat Rumlow and Michael, always those two and nobody else. She was only allowed near the recruits and soldiers with the two of them present and only for a few minutes to help calm those adjusting to the new strength and changes from the injections. 

Without saying a word, she dropped into a fighting position as both men circled her. They had made her stronger but only out of fear of the punishments. Every hit they landed on her was counted against her. Every loss meant excruciating pain. She embraced every punishment as a reminder of why she needed to get out. They were the reason she needed to keep fighting. If she managed to land a hit against either of them, it would counter the strike towards her punishments. She knew she had to keep fighting, if only to keep living. After they were done, Michael decided she hadn't lost since it had ended in a draw. "Michael, may I please go and see the newest recruits today? I want to make sure that we don't have a repeat of last week. Those men didn't need to lose their lives."

Michael expressed that he had too much to do to take Riley himself but she could go so long as Rumlow remained at her side. She agreed and offered a polite smile. Michael hadn't deluded himself. He knew she didn't want to be there with him but she seemed happy whenever she was helping their people and for that, he would never begrudge her seeing them. What he hadn't seen was the raised brow Rumlow offered Riley as soon as the door closed, separating them from the prying eyes of the Archangel.

"What are you planning Ry? I know better by now and oddly enough, I stand with you on this."

Riley was surprised to say the least but masked it quickly. "Is this another trick Rumlow? I need this to work so if this is another trick and many lives are lost, you better believe that I will end you before you ever experience true happiness, got it?"

Rumlow nodded with a serious face, not doubting her for a moment. She had grown strong and calculated. She no longer lashed out blindly as she once had all those years ago. She was always a fighter but now she was as calculating and calm as she was deadly. "Don't doubt yourself. You have truly become a strong leader."

Riley explained her plan to use Hydra the same way they had used Shield and to help the new recruits only spread the word through reliable, sympathetic, soldiers. Not to outright speak out against the Archangel because their lives depended on their discretion. Rumlow helped her get the word out and she encouraged the recruits to believe her through her empathic ability as well as calming aura. She wanted everyone to do this of their own free will so she only helped ease their fears of the plan being a trick to weed out the unfaithful. Overall, the pair were doing well. They told the recruits that the next time it was just the two of them to return, she wanted an update on numbers and strength. It was almost time to take the Archangel down from the inside. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"It's been six months Tony. How have none of us been able to locate anyone? I mean there was a small army that Riley and Fury had been able to find before. Now even those are gone. What is going on here?"

Clint and Banner were in the lab with Tony trying to see what they could find. There was nothing new though, just like the last six months. Six months of hoping she was okay, of not being able to feel her, of not seeing her smile or hearing her laugh. The entire team was beginning to lose hope. Thor and Loki had returned to Asgard to see if their friend had found any new information but even that was a dead end. Fury had been searching high and low, feeling responsible for the entire situation. Steve and Bucky trained almost nonstop not knowing how else to help. Sam sent out fresh feelers to his military guys while Logan and Wade talked to the merc community. Wanda and Nat had been in communication with their own people whereas Strange had been awfully quiet. Everyone was starting to lose hope, until a message came over the internet. Tony read it twice before screaming about how dumb he was and continued to berate himself as he looked through other screens. 

The entire team in the tower came running to him. "What is it? What happened?"

He showed them the screen with the message. 

TRACK HER

The entire room went silent as all of Riley's mates began yelling at themselves for forgetting she had placed a tracker in her own arm. 

"Call Everyone. I have her location. Let's go get our girl."

With that, everyone grabbed their phones and called everyone they could think of. The army would have grown and they would need everyone in order to get her back. They hoped it wouldn't be too bad. 

"Only waiting on the Asgardian Princes Sir." Friday's voice seemed to add tension to the room. Two words broke the silence when the bifrost struck outside the compound.

"Suit up."