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Chapter Sixteen

Elizabeth walked by herself through the lighted streets of New York, and the longer she was by herself, the more she regretted not letting one of the others come with her, or drop her off.

All of them had moved into what was the STARK Towers, which was now the Avengers Towers. Elizabeth was no different, she had been the third out of the Avengers to move in, Bruce being the second, and obviously Tony the first. After that everyone just eventually migrated in. It had been hard at first moving in, the thought of selling her Grandmas house, but she had managed to convince her parents to move in there.

That was where she she was heading, to go have dinner with her parents, because despite her new job as a full time tech for the Avengers, and Tony, along with an Avenger, she didn't have much free time. She didn't have time to dance often either, which was slightly depressing.

For some time now on her walk, it felt as if someone had been following her. So when she spotted her parents house, she didn't hesitate to start running to the door. She couldn't help but sigh in relief when she walked in through the doors, and everything was fine.

That night, she stood by the fire as her parents were asleep. Even after all this time, Elizabeth was still interested in the jewel that she was now turning around in her hands. Many times she had contemplated getting rid of it, but something kept stopping her. Perhaps it was the beauty.

But, something didn't feel right, and as she turned around she was greeted by someone standing in a black hoodie, it was just like a scene out of the horror movies that Clint had sometimes suggested they all watch. "Who are you?"

"You've done good trying to track us Elizabeth," the voice was low, deep, and smooth.

Right away, she knew it had to have been someone from HYDRA. "What do you want from me?"

"All in good time Princess." 

Elizabeth had no hesitations from socking him in the face. If there was one thing she hated, it was pet names. It had only made him angry and soon they were fighting. She kicked, hit, and did the best she could.

But the man was quicker than her, he grinned down at her, grabbed her hair, and slammed it against the corner of the table. Quickly, he brought up his knee while she was down and kneed her in the chin, causing her head to snap. She groaned as she felt to the floor, her vision blurry as she brought her hand up to touch her sticky head. The man had pulled out a needle, and despite the pain, she brought her hand up to help herself up. Elizabeth had managed to pull herself up, almost fully standing, when he stabbed her in the neck, injecting her with the liquid, and with that Elizabeth was falling again, this time unconscious.

----

Sure, Elizabeth was childish, but she took her work very seriously. So when she was 15 minutes late, questions began to arise between the Avengers. She had never been late before, she was always early, or walking in with one of the other's.

"We told her about the meeting, right?" Tony wondered for a second if he had forgot to tell her. He wouldn't put that past himself really.

"Yeah," Natasha nodded. "She knew." 

Tony rolled his eyes, "Jarvis, call Elizabeths cell." he knew she wasn't in the building. 

The phone rang, and everyone grew confused as her parents picked up. "Is Elizabeth with you guys?" Phillip had sounded rushed, but nonetheless hopeful.

"No, we thought she was with you."

"No," her dad muttered through the phone, there was a shuffling sound and then her mom was speaking, "We woke up and she wasn't here. There's blood, but she's gone."

When they hung up Steve was the first to speak, "This has HYDRA written all over it."

"We can't jump to conclusions," Tony shot back.

"No," Natasha shook her head. "It makes sense. We've been tracking them, specifically she has been doing the majority of the tracking, has she not?"

Tony knew that all three of them were meant to, ans they did spend a lot of lab time together, but he also had a business to run, because Pepper could only do so much. "Well, yeah."

"Why would they take her?" Clint wondered out loud. "And just her? The rest of us are all here."

Bruce breathed in, fear, anger, and a bunch of other emotions he couldn't comprehend began to take over. "She was by herself, and she is her, she isn't us. Would they actually be able to get any of us? She also knows the tesseract."

Steve rose an eyebrow as concern for his team members arose, "Bruce you might want to go calm down."

"No, I'm staying." he shook his head turning to Tony. "We need to find her, wherever she is, is also where the scepter is going to be."

-----

Elizabeth woke up, her head throbbing. As she began to gain consciousness, she  took in her surroundings. She was in a dark lab of sorts. Panic arose in her, and with that she was up, looking around to the man stood in the corner.

"Move," she spoke. The man only laughed at her. "Move!" she tried again with more force, but her necklace barely even lit up.

"Your powers won't work, an energy field, greater than you is blocking it." Her heart pounded faster. As the man entered the light, she recognized him, it was Dr. List. "It's great to have you awake, Miss. Tolen."

"What do you want from me?" Elizabeth was scared, she couldn't deny that. She was practically useless right now, unable to defend herself, in the hands of her enemy.

"You aided the S.H.I.E.L.D. in the Battle of New York. You still actively help, a member of the Avengers. You worked with the tesseract, and the scepter, along with Stark and Banner. We need you."

"Why me?"

"We couldn't have gotten the other two. However, we could get you. And you will help us with the scepter. You have a power similar, but you don't have the stone, yet you still wield it. You will help us interpret it, and recreate it." The only breakthrough they had was an energy wave large enough to block out all powers, even those of the twins.

"I-I don't know how it works," she admitted. All she knew was that her necklace, and the stone in Loki's scepter, was capable of mind control. As if she knew anything else. She may be smart, but by that much? No.

"Don't lie!" he snapped. "You will help us with the scepter, and you will ensure that  we stay hidden from your fellow workers, or I will kill you."

Elizabeth gulped and only nodded, unable to speak, the threat of death utterly terrifying for her.

"Good girl," his voice was condescending and when he put a hand on her shoulder to lead her, she couldn't help but flinch. "This will be the lab that you're working in, is that okay?"

It was rhetorical, but Elizabeth nodded her head anyways, her mind too focused on ways to get out of here.