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Avengers Compound
Morning
"Okay, report," Steve ordered as The Avengers, including Clint, stood in the conference room, "Where are we on Samantha Grayson?"
"I watch her at work and Pepper has Happy and the rest of security discreetly watching her in the halls when I can't. She just seems to do her job." Barry explained.
"And when she's not at work, Clint and I keep watch over her." Vision added.
"Cap, if she's the mole, then we're not gonna catch her by watching her. All she's done is go to work, go home, go out with friends, and go out for dinner." Clint added.
"Well, I'm open to suggestions," Steve said, frustration clear in his voice and Natasha opens her mouth, "No Nat, we're not torturing her."
"Well Steve, I don't know how else to get a confession out of her." Natasha said annoyed.
"Natasha may be onto something," Barry said and everyone looked at him with varying degrees of surprise, "not the torture bit, that's a bit extreme. But to get a confession out of her, we may have to resort to something…drastic."
"Define drastic." Steve asked wearily.
"Well, a friend of mine back on Earth-one told me once about how she and her team faced a very similar situation," Barry began and he had their interest, "Their leader, a guy named Oliver, discovered that his mom was involved with something illegal, so they watched her for a couple days. When they couldn't find anything suspicious, they drugged her and brought her to warehouse. They had her and Oliver tied up to two chairs while another member of Oliver's team 'attacked' Oliver to make her come clean."
"And did she?" Sam inquired.
"She sang like a canary." Barry told him and the Avengers looked to Steve.
"It's not a bad idea Steve." Sam said as Steve considered it.
Stark Industries
Afternoon
"Hey, Sam!" Barry raced up to Samantha, at human speed, as she walked down the hall. "Would you like to grab some lunch? There's a burger joint not far from here to die for."
"Thanks, but I'm not interested in a date. Plus, I'm old enough to be your mother." Samantha smiled at him politely.
"Oh, no, not like that! I just meant you don't seem to interact with a lot of people at work." Barry explained as they neared the elevators.
"The last person I was close with at work was my husband. Given the outcome of that, I decided not to get too attached to my coworkers." Samantha said as she pushed the elevator button.
"Understandable, but not very healthy." Barry said as the elevator door opened for them.
"No offence Sabastian, but you don't get to tell me how to live my life…and is there a reason you're following me?" Samantha asked as Barry followed her onto the elevator.
"Oh, I'm just headed to the lobby. I'm headed to the burger place I mentioned and just wanted to see if you wanted to join me." Barry lied smoothly as the elevator doors closed and the elevator began moving.
Before Samantha could respond, the elevator suddenly stopped and the lights went out.
"What's going on?" Samantha asked, looking panicked.
"I'm not sure," Barry lied as he pushed the emergency call button, "power's out."
As Samantha reached for her pocket, most likely to grab her phone, Barry's sprang into action. Using super speed, Barry made a precise strike to the neck, where Natasha had taught him. At the hit, Samantha collapsed to the floor, out cold.
Unspecified location
Night
Samantha groaned as she came to. She tried to move her arms but quickly discovered she couldn't, as she was restrained. She was in a chair, ropes tied tightly around her arms, pinning them to the arm rests.
"Where the hell am I? And what did you do to Sabastian?" Samantha demanded, the memories coming back to her.
"Your friend is fine." A low voice spoke up.
The owner of the voice stepped into view and Samantha could see it was a man whose features were nearly impossible to make out beneath the black ski mask he was wearing. He was not overly muscular but Samantha can see he was above average height and well built without being too bulky.
"We weren't after him, only you." The man told her.
"Why, what do you want from me?" Samantha demanded bravely.
"We believe you are working with a group of mercenaries who intend to take a new piece of technology Stark Industries is working on." The man said and Samantha stared at him blankly.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." She told him.
"I don't believe you." The man said before clapping his hands.
The door to the dark room opened and Samantha looked behind him as two men entered, dragging a third. As they stepped into view, the third man looked up and Samantha gasped.
"Carl?" She asked softly as she stared at her thought to be dead husband.
"Samantha." Carl gaped as he stared at her.
"This is trick; you killed yourself almost seven years ago!" Samantha said in denial.
"Yes, weapons designer kills himself two months after losing his job. Or did he?" One of them men holding Carl said mockingly.
"They faked my death; I've been forced to work for them for the last six years." Carl told Samantha, who was in shock.
"Now, tell us who you're working for or hubby here gets it." The first man told her menacingly.
"I don't know what you're talking about; I only work for Stark Industries. No one else." Samantha said after coming out of her shock.
The first man looked at the other two. If she hadn't been so scared and worried, Samantha would have seen Carl tilt his head to one side in an almost nod. The men holding him toss Carl to the floor and one of them begins to punch Carl violently, to Samantha's horror.
"Please, stop!" Samantha begged desperately.
"Tell us who you're working for!" The second man snarled as his partner paused in his beating of Carl.
"Please Samantha, just tell them." Carl begged.
"I'm not working for anyone other than Ms. Potts!" Samantha cried out, clearly at the breaking point.
"Tell us who you're working for or I'll blow his brains out!" The second man said as he pulled out what appeared to be a pistol and took aim at Carl.
"I swear to god, I don't know what you're talking about!" Samantha shouted the desperation and fear on her face clear to everyone.
The second man whirled towards her and fired. A tranq dart hit her in the neck and she jolted before slumping into her chair, out cold. Sam, Clint, and Barry all took of their masks as Carl stood up, placing one hand on his face. The Photostatic veil shifted to reveal the face of Steve Rogers.
"You sure she won't remember anything?" Steve asked and Clint nodded.
"Sedative that induces short term memory loss. She won't remember anything that happened today." Clint assured him.
"Which was nothing," Barry said, tossing the tranq gun to the floor in frustration, "she wasn't the mole. I was so sure…"
"The point is there's still a mole in Stark Industries." Sam pointed out.
"Barry, you need to get back to Stark Industries. Somewhere in that building is a mole waiting to go to these mercenaries. Find out who it is and then we will deal with them." Steve ordered.
"But first, maybe you should drop her off at her apartment." Clint said as he gestured at Samantha.
Barry's apartment
Later
"I must have overlooked something." Barry said in frustration, on the phone with Wanda as he unlocked his apartment.
"Do not blame yourself, it won't help. That is what you often told me whenever I start feeling guilty over Ultron." Wanda pointed out and Barry sighed.
"I just…I hate feeling useless. Steve gave me this mission so I could find the mole and I feel like I let him down." Barry admitted as he opened the door and started to walk in.
"You have not let anyone down. You are doing everything you can; don't be so hard on yourself." Wanda told him kindly.
"Wanda-" Barry began.
But Wanda would never know what he was about to say. Someone from around the corner swung a baseball bat at him and it hit him in the head. Barry went down, out cold as his phone clattered to the floor.
"Barry? Barry?" Wanda said worriedly.
The one who knocked Barry out walked over and picked up Barry's phone and said two words. To words that were ingrained in Wanda's memory, two words that made her blood run cold.
"Hail Hydra."
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