Avengers Imagines

Devil's Due (Pt. 1/5)

{A/N: You will not necessarily be shown in the best light here, I teased this prompt on my message board about a month (two months?) ago}

A tight backhanded slap sent Natasha's bones rattling in her arm and split your bottom lip right under the canine. She flexed her fingers, applying pressure over the knuckles with her other hand.

Blood had pooled in the space between your lip and teeth, which, when you smiled, dribbled over the top. In spite of the eerie ordeal, at least you had stopped struggling. The cuffs on your hand were linked to the hoop bolted to the table without unnecessary trouble. Alone in the locked cell, you appeared calm, for the time being.

Natasha had to be taken outside and even so, the calm failed to take effect on her. Your gaze remained trained on her still, as though you could see right through the one-way glass, complete with the smile that would be out of place anywhere at all. She shuddered. "This might be the first instance ever of her being in custody. What even is she?"

"I don't know." Steve was carefully assessing you when your eyes shifted, ever so slightly, and now they were fixed on him. He knew it was impossible to see through the glass from the inside yet a chill ran down his spine. "Immortal until killed, I would assume. She has been around since I have been around, probably even longer. Worked with Red Skull, Hydra, AIM, the KGB."

Steve could not look away from your eyes. They were empty - with nothing behind them and in some such way, everything there was to know. The smile endured, the blood dribbled down to your neck. He felt incapable of staying in environment wherein you could still see him. "Something has to be done about her lip. I'll see who I can find."

"We have to tell someone she's here. In case things go wrong." Natasha curled her fingers around Steve's arm, halting him in place when he had already taken a couple of steps with full intention to leave.

The validity of both arguments stood its ground. All the same, you could not be left unsupervised. Two pairs of eyes searched for a substitute, someone who did not have the full extent of knowledge as to what you had done or what you could do. Someone who would not be needlessly afraid, thinking you were staring at them through opaque glass.

Quite convenient for them, Tony strolled in - very naïve and very distracted. Before he could so much as produce a greeting, Steve placed a firm hand on his shoulder, a firmer look in his eyes. He looked at you once, then centered his attention right back at Tony. "Keep an eye on her. We'll be back shortly."

Alone in the observation cell and arms crossed over his chest, Tony was still mid-processing. 'So much for coming in here to ask them if they want coffee.' For the sheer lack of alternative, his curiosity settled upon the woman sitting on the other side of the glass. You were entirely engrossed in the seemingly endless and futile task of curling and uncurling your fingers.

Until you looked up, with no clear purpose, and your eyes landed on Tony. Then your smile fell, for the first time, not that he would know. You stood up and walked, unconcerned of anything but the man you were seeing before you. Portrayed on your face somewhere was amusement - pupils dilated, lips trying their best not to lift upward in a snare.

The whole thing was oddly reminiscent of a predator stalking its prey. When you had ventured far enough, as far as the link connecting your handcuffs to the table would allow, the metal snapped in two, with no direct effort on your part. You endured without cease until you were as close to Tony as possible, considering the glass that stood in between.

"Howard Stark? That cannot be. It has been too long." You took him in in the same way a man starved for months takes in his first meal. Under your scrutiny, Tony felt seen in a way he never quite had before, although he hardly suspected it to be a good thing. "Howard Stark was my dad. Would you happen to know what threat level are you? That would be of so much help right now."

"Howard's firstborn." You put your palms up against the glass and for a dreadful moment, Tony feared you would break through. Only then did he notice the cuffs on your hands were not ordinary handcuffs, they were the kind that curbed enhanced abilities, should the wearer possess any.

He highly doubted if they had ever realistically been holding you back. The blood on your lip had dried and when Tony looked closer, there was not even a cut to begin with. This time when you smiled, it was worse than the one laced with blood he had almost grown accustomed to seeing.

In your eyes was a challenge proposed and a challenge won, both together. "Mine."

The air created by your words made Tony physically take a step back. Clear as day, he felt a bead of sweat trickle down his spine. His mind was overpowered with thoughts that felt like ice. He had to break it - do something, say something. "Just to clarify, can you see through this one-way glass? Because you're not supposed to."

"They didn't warn you, my dear?" You tilted your head to one side, the question reflecting in your eyes. Behind your smile, Tony noticed your teeth - sharp enough to be unsettling but not enough to be labelled different. "I suppose not. And now it's too late."

The glass cracked beneath your palm, radiating from the center outward, like a flower bloom. The sound of shattering glass came almost in tandem with the lights going out, plunging the building into darkness and chaos.

-

"What in the-" Steve looked around in the absence of light until the futility of the exercise hit him. "JARVIS, can we get the backup power running?"

"Sure thing, Captain." Only a few seconds passed before the A.I. was equipped with updates. "I'm afraid the backup generator will be of no use. It seems as though whatever happened caused the light fixtures to implode upon themselves."

With you in the building, Steve was having a hard time believing what had transpired to be a mere coincidence. Natasha had the same suspicion, acting upon which she was headed towards the holding cell with Steve in tow, guided by the flashlight in her phone.

The place was empty, littered with tiny jagged pieces of glass. Natasha flashed the light in every which direction, calling out Tony's name. An escaped convict, she could handle, but not a missing teammate. "JARVIS, can we have a location on him?"

There was silence for a little too long. Steve had almost come to believe that in light of all that had happened (oh, the irony), the A.I. had also malfunctioned in some such way. It had not, but when the reply came, he wished it had.

"According to his signals, Sir is supposed to be right where he was before the power surge. He should be standing next to you."

-

"Where are we?" Tony squinted, trying to focus but it was quickly lost, as though the setting was preventing him from assessing itself. All he saw was blackness without end.

You turned around and the darkness welcomed you - rose you up until he had to crane his neck to keep your in sight. The darkness was yours to command and the darkness was all there was.

There was derision in your smile, there was satisfaction. "Home."