Worth It

Twenty Nine

Tony's POV

"Are they back yet?" I ask FRIDAY.

"No, sir. But there's something you have to see." The AI responds.

The screen lights up and shows CCTV footage of two young girls walking down a dark street. Ophelia and (Y/N).

A group of men come up behind them, shooting (Y/N) in the head and injecting something into Ophelia's neck. They drag the two girls into a van before speeding off.

My heart stops, I can't even form a coherent thought. I fall off of my work stool and clutch my chest. Tools go clattering to the ground.

"Tony!" Steve runs into the lab. "What's wrong?" He asks.

"They're gone."

(Y/N)'s POV

"Wake up." Someone slaps my face. "Come on."

My eyes flutter open to see the blonde standing over me.

"Where am I?" I croak.

"Nova Scotia." He tells me.

"Why am I in Nova Scotia?"

"You're at a HYDRA base, you and Ophelia were kidnapped."

"Ophelia, where is she? Is she ok?" I shout.

"She's fine for now. She's still unconscious and I can't give her the old slappy slap."

"Why did they take me?" I ask.

"I don't know."

I sigh and lean my head against the wall. I only then notice the cold metal around my neck.

"What's this?" I ask Pietro.

"Power dampening collar."

"But I can still interact with you?"

"It's dampening your other power."

"Oh."

We stay silent for a few minutes. Just enjoying each other's company.

"Hey, (Y/N)?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"Everything, you're an amazing person and I don't deserve everything you've done for me."

I look over at him and see tears sliding down his cheeks.

"Hey hey hey, where is this coming from?" I sit next to him and he hugs me tight.

"I don't want to lose you." He cries into my shoulder.

"What makes you think you're gonna lose me?"

"I heard some guards talking about taking your powers. If you don't have powers, we can't talk anymore." My heart drops. I never realized that while Pietro is a small part of my life, I'm basically all he has. I'm the only way he can talk to his sister and he doesn't deserve to lose that.

"I'm not leaving you." I reassure him. "I promise."

"Thanks but...you can't control that."

Pietro and I sit in the ground of my cell for hours before I get a visitor.

"Hello there." A tall man in a black uniform greets me. I ignore him completely. "You will speak when spoken to." He hisses while gripping my hair. I just spit at him and he throws me hard on the floor. "You will learn respect, even if we have to beat it into you."

"Good luck, lesser men have tried."

"I'm sure they have." He fakes a smile.

"Before you go all torture on me, you mind spelling out your evil plan?" I ask "if it's not too much trouble, I just don't like getting left in the dark."

"Well, of course." He answers. "I am a gentleman after all."

"Clearly." I mumble.

"You see, the powers you gained on that faithful day were not a miracle of science. That truck was an undercover transport vehicle for HYDRA. Those 'chemicals' were multiple serums that we designed. You took our whole supply. And we can't make more without you." He smiled. "But since you're here, we might as well replace what the avengers took from us."

"What did they take from you?" I spit.

"Our most prized possession. Зимний солдат." The winter soldier.

I didn't need a translation to know what he said.

He left without another word and I stayed on the cold floor.

"Do you want me to figure out what they're planning?" Pietro asked.

"No," I answer. "Just stay here with me."

"Ok."

I don't know when , but I eventually fell asleep while Pietro was holding me. Before a group of giant men came in with a set of syringes and a chair with leather straps.

"Please!" I screamed. "Stop it!" They didn't listen.

They strapped me to the chair, tight. They took my blood first.

Next, one of them held up a syringe full of blue liquid. Why did it have to be blue? Blue is not the color of something you want injected into your body.

"This is a very special serum, kind of the opposite of what is in you now. See this," he taps on the syringe. "Is going to take away all those fun powers you have." He obviously saw the panic in my eyes. "Oh yes, that means bye bye to your ghost friend and bye bye to immortality." He laughs at me while I squirm against my restraints.

"I'm not gonna lie, this is going to hurt quite a bit." He give me a grin that makes me sick to my stomach.

"Hold my hand." I whisper to Pietro and he does so. "I'm so sorry." I sob to him.

"I know." He reassures me. "Good things can't last forever. Right?" He laughs through his tears and I grip his hand tightly while the painful serum is injected into my bloodstream.
I expect Pietro's hand to disappear with my powers but nothing happened.

"Ha!" I laugh through the pain. "It didn't work! You failed."

"No, no." I notice where the main guy's eyes are. "This worked perfectly." He smiles. "Take
Mr. Maximoff to a separate cell and set up the cameras in Ms. Newman's cell." With that, he walks off.

"Wait!" I scream as they drag Pietro away from me. "What just happened?" I mumble to myself as they undo my restrains. Usually, I would fight against them but all of the strength that usually flows through me is gone. I'm weak. I'm powerless. And now I'm completely alone.