My Hero

My Hero

You waken feeling weak and light. As you slowly regain consciousness, you notice that you can’t feel the ground beneath your feet. Confusion fills your thoughts as you look around, taking in the dark and gloomy dungeon you’re locked in. You panic as you realize that your arms are suspended above your head, your wrists on the receiving end of skin-tearing shackles. You bite your lip as tears continue to stream down your cheeks – you hadn’t noticed the dried tears until now – and blood dripped down your wrists as barely-healed scabs reopened, thanks to your wrists rubbing against the rusty restraints.
Your vision is blurry from your tears, you feel lightheaded from being suspended for Odin-knows-how long, your stomach feels as though it’s been empty for ages – which it very well may have been. All you want to do is collapse on the floor and pass out, but you can’t. All you can do is hang from the hook that protrudes from the ceiling and hope that whoever did this will let you go.
Two dark, bulky figures step into your vision. “She’s awake,” one states.
“Time to answer some questions,” the other says gruffly, stepping closer to you.
You grunt in response – apparently you can’t talk either.
“Where is Captain America?” the first one asks, his voice higher and less intimidating than the other’s.
“I… I…” you began, unable to form a single word, much less a complete sentence.
“Speak, you wench!” the other cries, his large hand coming down hard on your cheek. Surely there’ll be a bruise there later.
“Ungghhh…” you groan, your head falling forward. Your energy is completely drained, making you unable to do much of anything.
“She won’t be speaking any time soon,” the lighter one states.
“She has the information we need,” the gruff one argues. “She needs to speak.”
“She can’t,” the other insists. “She’s too weak. She’s been in here for two weeks. It’s a wonder she’s awake at all.”
The other huffs, clearly upset that you’re unresponsive. “Let’s tell the boss.”
With that, they leave. You hear the shuffling of their heavy boots across the concrete floor.

“Where is she??” a worried Steve cries as he enters the science lab where Tony and Bruce are looking at a computer screen.
“Working on it,” Tony replies, shoveling blueberries into his mouth.
“Got her,” Bruce states, pointing to the screen.
“Oh, no…” Tony sighs as he looks.
“What?” Steve inquires worriedly. “Where is she??”
“HYDRA’s got her,” Bruce states apologetically.
Steve freezes. HYDRA. One of the worst organizations in the world, and they’ve kidnapped the love of his life.
“We can find her,” Tony insists. “We know what city she’s in, all we have to do is pinpoint the building they’re occupying and break her out.”
Steve nods slowly, his thoughts zoning in on how to save you. He knew he shouldn’t have let you take that mission alone. He wanted someone to go with you, but Fury insisted that you were capable of handling yourself.
Of course, tracking down or infiltrating HYDRA’s base was not part of the mission.

The trio decide to inform Fury and the others of your situation.
“What do you mean, she’s been captured?” Natasha inquires, unbelieving that a highly trained SHIELD agent such as yourself could be kidnapped so easily.
“HYDRA’s got her,” Bruce sighs as eyebrows fly up across the room.
“We have to go after her,” Clint states, jumping to his feet.
“Agreed,” Natasha nods.
“(y/n) is a skilled agent, but even she can’t take HYDRA on herself,” Fury says with a sigh. “Time for the Avengers to assist her.”
“What is this HYDRA?” Thor inquires, confused.
“It’s a long-lived band of bad guys bent on world domination,” Natasha explains. “They were a big deal in the 40s, when Captain America here first started out.”
“They call themselves HYDRA after the mythological monster,” Bruce adds. “They pride themselves on the fact that they can recruit new members every time one of their own leaves or dies, much like how the mythical monster can regrow two new heads for every head that gets cut off.”
Thor nods slowly, brows furrowing together, deciding that a young maiden such as yourself should not be caught up with such a group.
“Let us go rescue her!”

A rough hand grips your chin none-too-gently, forcing your eyes to meet his. Your eyelids droop tiredly as you have even less energy than the last time these goons came to bug you.
“Speak, wench!” he growls. You winced at the foulness of his breath and the roughness of his grip. All you could manage was a small gasp.
“She’s not going to know where the Captain is,” the other goon states. “She’s been unconscious for three days – she may not even remember who Captain America is.”
“Do you?” the rougher man demands. “Do you remember him?”
You try to look up at the man, but your head falls back and your eyes rolls back into your skull, ready to fall unconscious once more.
“She’s still useless!” the rough goon cries, letting your face go with a shove and stepping away.
“How nice of you to reveal yourselves,” a familiar but faded voice calls smugly. You try to look in the direction of the voice but you’re too weak.
“Who the hell are you?” the rough goon demands.
“You’re than Iron Man loser, aren’t you?” the lighter man guesses.
“I. Am. Iron Man,” the very Tony Stark voice replies, lifting a metallic hand to shoot a plasma bolt at the goons. They go flying into the opposite wall and he, Thor, and Bruce – who is currently in the process of Hulking out – stand and face the goons while Steve, Clint, and Natasha find you.
“Oh, (y/n)…” Steve sighs miserably. “I’m so sorry.”
You groan in reply unable to speak.
“There’s plenty of time for apologies later,” Clint states, looking at your restraints. “Let’s focus on getting her out of here.”
Steve nods and, being tall enough to easily reach your shackles, examines them carefully. “Hey, Thor.”
“What is it, Captain?” the god inquires as he sends his hammer hurtling towards the rougher henchman.
“Do you think you can snap these shackles without hurting (y/n)?” Steve asks.
Thor rushes over to examine your restraints. “Yes, I can.” He takes a hold of one shackle before looking at Steve. “You may want to hold onto her; she will fall when the restraints are broken.”
Blushing, Steve wraps his arms around your waist, ready to support your weight. Thor snaps the cuff in half easily, letting your arm fall limply to your side. He moves around to snap the other cuff, watching as your entire body fell into Steve’s. He tightens his arms around you, gently lowering you so that your feet touch the floor.
Your knees buckle due to your lack of strength. Steve notices and removes one arm, moving to hook it under your knees. He lifts you up bridal style, looking down at you sadly.
“Get her back to the Tower and into the infirmary,” Natasha orders him. “We’ll take care of HYDRA.”
Steve nods and runs, dashing past various henchmen that come barreling at him in a failed attempt to stop him.

You waken a few days later in the infirmary. You blink a few times, your eyes adjusting to the warm light enveloping the room. It’s been a long time since you’ve seen such a pleasant light. The dungeon you were locked in was always dark and cold. You’d almost forgotten what light and warmth felt like.
You turn your head to the side with a gasp, realizing just how sore your neck is. Thinking back, you recall how your head always hung, pushed down by your arms being suspended above your head. You never really moved your neck. You can guess how that would affect your muscles.
Gently turning your head to the other side, you find an exhausted-looking Steve passed out in a chair. A blush rises to your cheeks as you wonder how long he’s been sitting here with you.
As you stare at who you presume must have been your savior, he wakens and smiles at you.
“Thank God you’re awake, (y/n). I was so worried.”
“I didn’t mean to worry you,” you mumble tiredly.
He scoots his chair closer and you now realize that your hand has been enveloped in his. It’s warm and inviting, and you hope he doesn’t move it.
“We were all worried, I mean,” Steve corrects. “You were missing for two weeks. We had no idea where you were.”
“Two weeks?” you manage. “I had no idea it was that long.”
“I guess you couldn’t really keep track of time in there, could you?”
You shake your head weakly. “It felt like weeks being in there, but at the same time, just a few minutes. I couldn’t even tell if it was day or night.”
He presses a soft kiss to your forehead. “I’m glad we found you before worse things could happen.”
You offer a small smile. “Me too. I was too weak to give them any information, so they settled for hitting me when I didn’t talk… Who knows what they would have done if I’d stayed longer.”
His brows furrow in worry, clearly upset by what HYDRA’s goons put you through. He presses a longer kiss to your temple, sighing softly against your head. “I will never let that happen to you again, (y/n). I promise.”
“It’s fine, Steve,” you reply, unsure of his intentions. “I won’t get caught again. I’ll make sure not to take any lone missions.”
He pulls back just enough to look at you. You look back quietly.
“I need to tell you something,” he whispers. You continue looking at him, silently urging him to continue.
He looks down, hesitating, before looking back at you. “I love you, (y/n). I’m in love with you. I want to be with you and protect you and keep you by my side for the rest of my days.”
Your heart warms as a new blush claims your face. A smile forms on your lips. “I love you too, Steve.”
He smiles, pulling closer to you. “Will you be my girlfriend, ma’am?”
You nod. “Of course I will.”
He leans over you, gently pressing his lips to yours. His free hand moves to cup your cheek, deepening the kiss.
“Well, it’s about time,” Tony calls from the doorway. Steve pulls away to look at him.
“Go away, Tony,” he calls, turning his attention back to you. He kisses you again, ignoring the wolf whistles coming from the doorway.