Shadows and Secrets Book Three (A MCU FanFic)

Prologue: Blood

This fic is now available on ao3! The story is not changed, but the ao3 version is more edited and slightly better. Both versions will remain available and free to read, but I recommend the ao3 version. Please check it out! (If the link gives you trouble, there is also a link in my linktree in my bio.)
https://archiveofourown.org/works/54379909/chapters/137740033

(AN: This is the third book of a series. Reading the first two first is highly advised! If you have not read the first books, you can find them on my profile.)

trigger warning: dark themes that may be offensive or upsetting to some readers

Steve's POV

    Steve woke up first.

He scanned the room for his friends. Steve was in some sort of cell, fully closed off with a wall entirely made of a clear glass-like material. He could see that his cell was in a circular room with ten other cells.

Six cells were occupied. Going clockwise, there was Steve, Bruce, Nat, Sam, Marjorie, and Tony. Each Avengers had their own cell, and there were four cells in between Steve and Tony's.

Everyone was unconscious but him. Due to Steve's high metabolism, the drug used on all of them via injection had worn off on him first.

After doing a quick search for injuries on himself, (Steve was a little bruised, but nothing serious), he checked his unconscious friends for visible injuries.

Bruce looked a little battered but fine, Nat had a few bruises and a nasty cut on her right cheekbone, Sam had a swollen eye, Marjorie looked pale and weak, and Tony had a slash of blood down his right forearm.

No one was restrained, but they all had black, metal anklets on their left leg that had a blinking red light. Marjorie also had an additional bracelet on her right arm, and a... collar.

It made him even more angry. Steve was furious that they had been captured, and the collar they had put on her made him feel outraged. It implied she was somehow less than the rest of them. And god knew what the electronic did. Steve only hoped it wasn't an electro-shock collar.

In the cell to his right Bruce was stirring. (He had the next highest metabolism) "WhereamIwhathappened?" he slurred.

Steve calmly explained what he thought happened, and what he knew of the situation. He and Bruce talked through the situation until Bruce felt calm enough to declare that the Hulk wasn't going to make an appearance.

Steve was trying to pry the anklet off of his ankle when Sam woke up, closely followed by Tony, and then Nat.

Marjorie woke up a minute after them.

Tony said that the anklets were probably some sort of tracker, and that Marjorie's extra bracelet was probably a particle-shield to keep her from teleporting. He confirmed Steve's worry that the collar was electro-shock.

Marjorie confirmed she could not teleport, and then curled into a ball in the corner of her cell, hugging her knees to her chest and refusing to speak.

Tony was trying to mess with his anklet, but couldn't do much without tools.

Nat was pacing around and muttering in Russian.

Sam and Bruce were quietly talking to each other, perhaps to avoid mental breakdowns.

Steve was fruitlessly trying to break the clear glass-like material. He hadn't made a dent in it, and he hopelessly wondered if it was vibranium, or some other super-material.

~

Eventually, they were visited by four "doctors" in lab coats, who attempted to take blood samples and inject another sedative in them.

Bruce let them inject him with the clear liquid that unfocused his eyes and relaxed his body without struggling (Steve bet he didn't struggle to avoid the Hulk) and the "doctors" took his blood.

Sam sat still and just glared while they took his blood, so they didn't sedate him.

Tony struggled, but three "doctors" held him down while the fourth drew his blood.

Marjorie didn't move from her curled up position while they took hers, but the "doctors" injected her with the sedative anyway.

Nat managed to stab one of the "doctors" with the sedative, punch one in the face, and drop kick another before she got sedated herself, and they drew her blood while wincing.

With one "doctor" drugged, and two injured, there was only one for Steve to take down. But he caught Sam's eye, and he signaled for Steve to stand down. He reluctantly let the remaining three "doctors" take his blood.

"Why?" he asked Sam when they had gone.

"We barely have half of us functioning," he whispered. "Marjorie, Bruce, and Nat are drugged–" Bruce gave them a sluggish thumbs up, which Sam ignored "–and Tony is injured. If we did get out of the cells, we can't fight while carrying Bruce, Nat, and Marjorie, and Tony can't fight while injured."

"I've been trying to figure out the anklets," added Tony in a hushed tone. "And I think I could disable them if I had a screwdriver, or something similar. But I don't know how long it would take to get the collar off of Marjorie, and it would activate the moment she left her cell. There might be a remote switch that they can activate it with, too..."

Steve sighed. "So we wait for Clint and Bucky. Until then, we wait. And be ready."