Worth It

Thirty Four

They left her body there for two hours before it was finally dragged out. I stared at the pool of blood it left in its wake, unable to move.

"It seems that did the trick." Chase quipped.

Normally, I would have some witty comeback but I don't have that in me right now.

"Come with me." He ordered. When I didn't move, he grabbed my right arm and pulled me up. I didn't resist.

I've never been out of the cell before so it was weird seeing the cleanliness that the halls were home to.

I was strapped to a hard table and various things were injected into me. They were painful but I didn't mind. I felt a little fuzzy when I was unstrapped and led to a large room with a scary looking chair in the middle.

"What's this?" I asked hoarsely.

"She speaks! Don't worry about this." Chase pushes me down into the chair and straps me down.

They put a mouth guard into my mouth and metal plates come down around my face.

The machine is switched on and all I felt was pain.

Tony's POV

"What did you find?" I ask Nat.

"The bases we destroyed are all inactive. There's been some activity in Canada but we can't be sure it's HYDRA."

"So what do we do?" Steve asks.

"We wait." Nat answers.

"Seriously?" I question. "We can't just wait it out. My daughter and her girlfriend are being tortured by a nazi organization and you just want to wait it out?" I try hard to control my growing anger.

"Tony's right." Nat sighs "we need to put in the work to find them. Waiting it out is just gonna give HYDRA more time to do whatever it is they're planning."

"We'll leave to check it out tomorrow." Steve stands up and leaves.

3rd person POV

While the avengers were working tirelessly to find (Y/N), she was spending every day in that god forsaken chair.

The first day, her memory was cloudy. She could remember faces and names but not details. She could recognize Tony Stark from a photograph but could not tell you that he is her father.

The second day, she only remembered one name. Ophelia. She remembered the soft grey eyes that went with the familiar name, but could not remember why this name was important.

The third day, she was clueless. She was scared and didn't know where she was or why she was there.

The fourth day, she was led to a small room with a table and two chairs. She sat in one and the man who led her there sat in the one across from her.

"Who is this?" He held up a photo of a young boy with curly brown hair.

"I-I don't know." She admitted.

"And this?" A picture of a muscular blonde man in a red white and blue uniform was placed in front of her.

"I don't know."

"And what about this?" The final picture was of a brunette man in a finely tailored suit. She thought for a moment, he seemed strangely familiar.

The man noticed her recognizing him and put the photos away.

On the fifth day, she was brought to the chair again. When she was brought back to her cell, her mind was blank. She couldn't remember a single detail of her past life. Not her name, not her home, not her family.

Nothing.

The HYDRA agents were monitoring her day and night, making sure she wasn't faking the memory lost to trick them.

"Sir," one spoke to Chase. "Is she ready for the next step?"

"Not yet. We need to make sure she is truly a blank slate before continuing the process."  

The agent nodded and walked off.

Chase stood looking at a computer screen displaying footage from (Y/N)'s cell. She was sitting in the corner with her head in her hands. She was trying hard to remember anything. She tried and tried but it was too much for her. Memories seems just out of reach. Every time she got close, they slipped out of her grasp and the cycle repeated itself. It was exhausting but to Chase it was a sign of success.

He smiled to himself before boarding a HYDRA jet. He had business to attend elsewhere.