Let Me Love You

Distracted

Tony's POV

"So.. Do you love her?" I ask Steve as the elevator heads to the top floor.

"I don't know, love is a strong word." He sighs as he looks down at the ground.

"Oh please. You definitely love her." Bucky nudges Steve.

Steve looks at me with a worried look on his face. "Tony, I-"

"No, I get it. What's not to love about her?" I cross my arms, containing how I actually feel. "Let's go, they're probably waiting on us."

The three of us walk into the quinjet and sure enough everyone is already strapped in and ready to go. Natasha sets the coordinates and we're on our way.

***

"Does anyone see anything?" I speak into my comm, scanning the building from above.

"Negative, it looks empty." Steve speaks.

"Alright then, let's get what we need and get out before they get back." I say, landing inside the building.

We work quickly to copy their files onto a hard drive before destroying everything. Once we're back in the jet, we exchange glances at how simple this mission was. Too simple.

"Fury, come in. We're on our way back." Natasha says through the comm in the jet. But we only receive static.

"That's weird. His channel is always open." Clint points.

"Something is wrong." Steve says.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious." I sass. "FRIDAY get Fury on the line." I say in my helmet.

"Sir, it seems we've lost all connections with SHIELD." She speaks.

"What about the tower?" I ask, my heartbeat quickening. It takes a few moment before the line begins to ring.

"What is it, Tony?" Kate's voice asks and I let out a breath of relief.

"Kitten, are you okay? SHIELD's communications are down." I explain.

"I'm obviously fine if I answered the phone." She sasses, making me chuckle.

"Okay, okay. We're on our way back."

"Alright, see you soon." She says before hanging up.

The call ends and my mask lifts up to reveal the rest of the team staring at me. "She's fine." I say, the rest of them look relieved. "But I have a bad feeling so let's get there quick."

Kate's POV

After Tony's call I can finally relax knowing that they're all okay. I hear an aircraft land on the roof and quickly head downstairs to the living room to wait for them. The elevator opens on the 10th floor and I step out to see agents dressed in all black.

"БOT OHA! [There she is!]" I hear someone shout in what sounds like Russian and turn to find a group of them pointing their weapons at me.

My heart begins beating out of my chest and my hands begin to glow. As they get closer, I shoot streams of fire at them, not caring if I ruin the walls or furniture. Their guns begin to go off and a bullet goes through my hand, making me shout in pain. I clench my jaw and look at my hand as the hole in it heals within seconds.

"Don't shoot!" A voice yells. I see a dark-haired woman stepping in front of the soldiers and realize that she's the one who did this to me. "It worked." She breathes, a wild smile on her face.

My entire body begins to glow and my eyes turn bright yellow. "What did you do to me." I growl as I clench my fists.

"Oh darling, I made you so much better!" She steps toward me. "Is this any way to thank me?"

I let my anger take control as my entire body goes ablaze. "WHAT DID YOU DO?" I yell, the fire in my throat playing at the tip of my tongue.

She steps back in horror before grabbing an interesting weapon. "You'll thank me soon enough." She says, pressing the trigger on her weapon to release a similar substance to a fire extinguisher. I feel myself become weak and begin to see black spots before falling to the ground.

Steve's POV

"Oh God.." Natasha says as we arrive at the tower.

I jump out of my seat and run to the front of the jet to see what she was talking about. Through the shattered windows I can see small fires and lifeless bodies laying in our living room. Natasha lands the jet and I'm the first one off as I run into the building. The sprinkler systems are on which means this couldn't have happened too long ago.

"KATE?" I yell, searching the floor for her. I run up 5 flights of stairs instead of waiting for the elevator and straight to her bedroom. Nothing. The rest of the team soon appear on the 15th floor after searching the rest of the tower. "She's not here." I hold my head in my hands. "It's all my fault, Fury was going to let her come but I didn't think she was ready.. If I had just-"

"You didn't know, Cap." Clint says.

"I knew it was too easy." Tony says, pacing around the hallway.

"Where would they bring her?" Bruce asks.

"I have an idea." Bucky says, my head snaps in his direction. "When um.. When we were in Russia, I saw a room that looked like it was prepped for some kind of experiment."

He glances at me and my eyes widen. I run back down the stairs and onto the quinjet.

"Rogers! Where do you think you're going?!" Natasha yells after me as they run toward the jet.

"You think you can take a fully armed HYDRA base? Alone?" Sam asks.

"If that's what it takes." I say, quickly reprogramming the coordinates.

"Steve." Bucky places a hand on my shoulder to stop me and I shrug him off. He quickly pulls me away and looks me in the eyes.

"I have to get her back, Buck. I.. I have to." I begin to cry.

"I know, pal." Bucky sighs and pulls me into a hug. "You're too emotional right now. Maybe you should leave the rescue mission to the rest of us."

I give him a look as if to call him crazy. "You're joking, right?"

"He's right Steve. We can't risk getting caught if you get hotheaded." Natasha says.

I cross my arms over my chest. "I can handle myself. They knew we were leaving Kate here, they'll be expecting all of us. How are you going to handle all of them with a missing member?"

I look at all of them and they realize that I'm right.

"If I hear as much as a hint of anger in your voice, I'm pulling you out." Bucky says, I nod.

"Let's go."