The Soulmate Initiative: Book 2

1. Mini Story 2

LOCATION: NEW ORLEANS

The Avengers were on a mission, when things went very wrong. The people they were up against had a weapon that can stop those with powers. Stop them, contain them and control the ones they love. When Stacey, Nian, Tasia, Regina and Ashley wake up, they're scared as Lavina, Warren and Prisha were nowhere to be found. 

Nian, though panicking on the inside, is the calmest on the outside, so when his phone rings, he's able to answer it. He doesn't recognise the number at takes the timing into consideration "Put one of them on the phone." The person who answers is a man "How do you know they aren't dead already?" There's a pause "I'm just teasing, Nian. Where's your sense of humour?" The man, who they had already met earlier, who's name is Miles, is driving a vehicle. He leans into the back, where Warren and Prisha are laying unconscious, and Lavina awake, all of them tied up with glowing silver ropes "Here. Say hello to your teammates." He holds the phone towards Lavina, who glares at him, but speaks nonetheless "All three of us are here. We're in a silver va-" She gets cut off and Nian asks "Lavina? Lavina, where are you?" But all he gets is the man chuckling "You got that for free. You'll have to earn the rest." Ashley grabs the phone from Nian "We're gonna find you! We're gonna hunt you down  and we're gonna kill you." "Well, you know what? I look forward to that, Ashley. It's a game. You like games, don't you? Spin the bottle, truth or dare, naked twister. This one's called 12 Rounds. Round one, I took your stuff-" The team take note of the fact that they don't have any weapons, including Stacey's shield or the Iron Woman suit, they don't have any technology, like Friday. The Avengers who carry a phone on missions are Nian and Regina, so they at least have two phones. 

"Round two, I took your teammates and soulmates." It's not public knowledge that the Avengers are soulmates, and the few people who know, wouldn't give that information away. So they realise Miles must have been watching them for a while. Miles continues "The only way to keep them alive, you do exactly what I say, when I say it. If you're still standing after all 12 rounds, well, then you'll have won them back." Ashley protests "You gotta be kidding me. You can't expect us to believe that you're gonna keep-" "Well, you'll believe what I tell you to believe, Ashley. I don't think you've got much choice. Okay, round three. In 20 minutes I will be calling a particular cell phone in the nearest city. Why don't you return to where you first met one of my associates?" He then hands up. Regina gets straight down to business "Okay, uh, Lavina said they're in a silver van, okay?" Ashley takes the phone from Nian "We'll call Coulson and put out an APB. I'll see if I can trace the phone that called this one." Stacey nods "We need to start moving now, we have less than 20 minutes, we're gonna have to hurry." They run for the quinjet, but find it has been blown up, so they have to run into the city of New Orleans.

When they arrive at the location they first came across one of the men who they fought earlier, they search the area for anything different, they find a set of coordinates painted on a wall. Having had no luck on tracing the phone and passing the task to Coulson,  and there being more than just one silver van in the city, they're not having much luck. They hotwire a van and drive towards the coordinates, but as Ashley is figuring them out, she realises they're for the city's fire station. She quickly calls them, using Coulson to get them an immediate direct line. The man who picks up is confused, but listens "Uh, hello?" "This is Ashley Stark, with the Avengers. Get everybody out. There may be a bomb in the station. We'll be there in three minutes."