Chapter Fifteen: Kill Me

"Stark, do you need someone to cover for you?" Clint asked tiredly for what felt like the fiftieth time since they had departed for Russia via the Quintjet. They had been flying for hours, yet it seemed that Stark had hardly taken so much as a bathroom break.

After he and Peter had viewed the video from HYDRA that Pepper was currently being held hostage, he had immediately ordered Fury to give him a Quintjet. If Fury thought that this was a bad plan, he didn't say anything. Instead he had given the ok to Wanda, Vision, Sam, Clint, Steve, Natasha, Bruce, Bucky, and even Peter to follow Tony into the unknown to get rid of HYDRA finally and to rescue Pepper.

But Stark had been driving since they had left New York and had hardly talked to anyone, while the rest of them seemed to be huddled against the corner of the Quintjet talking strategy and every so often looking at Stark.

"No," he said. "I'm fine."

Clint looked back at Natasha who was giving him a sharp well-do-something expression. Clint tried again, briefly wondering why Nat wasn't giving Tony the evil eye instead of him. "Stark, you just got out of the hospital, you need to rest. You can't be all sleep deprive when we finally get to Russia."

"I'm fine, Barton." Tony said. "You can assure everyone else that I'm fine too and that I can hear the murmuring about me behind my back. Why don't you leave me to fly in peace and why don't you and the rest of the team talk strategy or at the very least help Peter with his English homework instead of worrying about me."

Clint went back to the team and said defensively. "Hey, I tried my best. The guy doesn't budge. Have we gotten anywhere yet with the plan of attack?"

"No," Bruce snorted. "I can't believe we have been at this for hours and we still haven't figure out what we're going to do."

Bucky shrugged. "It's not that hard to believe. We have no idea what these people are going to do and where. We need to find out where their headquarters are first."

Peter put down his Grapes of Wrath book that he was supposed to be reading for his English class. "And then we're going to attack, right? Better them than us, right?"

"You're staying far away from them," Natasha said. "I want you with one Avenger at all times." Peter pouted. "I'm serious Peter this is not the time to show off. These guys are dangerous."

Peter murmured something about handling himself and Natasha choose to ignore the remark. Wanda raised her head as she looked out the small window and she stiffened slightly and only relaxed when Vision placed a reassuring hand against her shoulder. "We're here."

A few minutes later Tony parked the plane in an area in where it would not be easily visible. The air was cold as they got out and it stung their cheekbones. Wanda shivered, she couldn't see anything but dirt, piles of rocks, and trees. "What now?" she blurted out.

"Tony's chip said that their headquarters was around here somewhere." Bucky said.

"Vision? Friday, see if you can find anything," Tony ordered as his Iron Man helmet fell across his face. He felt anxious which in an honesty wasn't rare especially these days. But now he was worried about Pepper. He would rather get tortured himself than watch Pep suffer.

"I found something sir," Friday chirped. "An unknown location is located 7.2 miles from here."

"Great," Tony perked up as he looked in Steve's direction. "Cap?"

Steve nodded, taking command. "Right, I think we need to go in the direction that Friday pointed out. Like she said the unknown location might be a part of HYDRA headquarters. Peter, you'll stay here and you'll let us know if there is anything strange going on."

"Oh, come on Cap!" Peter pouted. "Surely, I can do more than that, I mean you saw me at the airport."

"We all saw you," Sam said with a small eyeroll. "Look, Kid I agree with Steve. Things are going to be much safer for you here."

"I'll stay with him," Bruce offered. "I think I would cause too much of a commotion if. . .the big green guy made too much of a mess. I'll be here with Peter though. So, if things get crazy call me."

Peter still looked disappointed, but Tony wasn't moved by the kid's pouting, Parker might hate him now, but he was trying to keep him safe. "All right, team then I guess- "

A loud explosion interrupted Tony's monologue as they turned around to where the explosion occurred. They heard another one behind them and smoke was quickly appearing as it stung their eyes. "It's an ambush." Bucky coughed slightly.

Natasha let out a small gasp of pain as something pierced her leg. She pulled it out and saw that it was a small knife. She dropped the knife to the floor and gripped her gun. "There are a lot of them here. Guys, prepare yourself. Peter stay close to everyone at all time."

"Stark," Steve murmured. "Go with Pepper. My guess is that she is where Friday told us she was."

"Rogers, be serious I can't leave you guys here." Tony murmured back.

"Trust me, there are plenty of us and we can't risk those guys hurting Miss Potts or anyone else. Just go, Tony now before anyone sees. We'll take care of this."

Tony nodded. "Thanks, Cap."

Tony felt bad that he was leaving his teammates to fend for themselves, but there were many of them and only one Pepper and besides they had more than enough teammates to kick everyone's asses, not to mention that HYDRA members would be too busy trying to destroy the Avengers that they wouldn't give a rat's ass about where Tony was. "Come on, go faster." Tony murmured to himself, but he was going as fast as he could possibly go. He made a mental note to make repairs as soon as he got home and Pepper was safe.

"Approaching the target, sir." Friday said as Tony finally saw a small building that looked no bigger than a schoolhouse and that was covered by the heavy snow. "Friday, calculate the best route for me to enter the building unseen."

"Calculating," Friday said and a few seconds later she spoke again. "There sir, by the small tower on the East side, there are no guards there."

"Got you." Tony said as he landed where Friday had indicated, the small tower had a small door to get in and out and Tony knocked it down without a second thought. Tony was surrounded by gray walls and a couple of handlebars, but nothing special, there just seemed to be a bunch of empty rooms. "Friday," he murmured. "Search for any life force quietly."

"Searching." Friday said. "First floor. Third door on the left. The presence of a woman Coast is clear. You're safe sir."

Tony felt himself relaxed. "Thanks Friday. Now let's go get Pepper."

-End of Chapter Fifteen-

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