The Tear of Celeste

Chapter 4: Kidnapped

When you got to your room you realized just how much it sucks not having anything. You got provided a clean plain shirt and a few shower products to just freshen up a little in the shared bathroom in the hall.

After a quick shower and changing into the shirt and old clothing, you did not feel tired enough to sleep, you had been sitting in the office for a while before you got a room so you had rested that way. So instead you checked back in with the office, just to check how long they were expecting you to stay before there was a chance you could go home.

The answer was a long time, apparently, there was a server problem, but they were kind enough to let you go out to buy some essential stuff, with an escort to make sure you did not get into more trouble.

The shopping happened pretty uneventfully. You didn't go to a big shopping mall, just a basic store to get some clean clothing you could change into, some bathroom stuff, and very few other essential stuff. You were on a tight budget, but thankful you at least got something!

You were on your way back to the car with the escort, a young fella that looked more like an intern than a bodyguard, but choosers can't be beggars. He made his way to the driver's side, you lacking a bit behind since you were carrying the bags with your stuff.

It all happened very fast. You hadn't noticed the people coming up behind you until you got grabbed. You didn't even get a scream out before a hand was slammed over your mouth.

Your escort noticed even slower what was going on. Before he even looked up someone stepped in behind him and knocked him out.

Before you could fully register what was going on, you felt the prick in your neck and everything started going black.

The theory of you having been kidnapped to Germany was looking extremely likely right now!

༺☆༻

Steve and Tony stepped out of the helicopter as soon as it had landed in the clearing, joining the other agents.

"Status report," Steve said, in full Captain America mode, not just because he had put on his uniform, but because of this place. For him it felt like icy cold fingers were running up and down his spine whenever he had to be in one of these places, the memories still clear in his head.

"Looks like it had been abandoned for quite some time, sir! Years in fact. The only sign of activity is footprints leaving the bunker sir!" The agent reported back, showing Tony the digital report they had of this place.

Cap looked at the report too and gave a nod. "No signs of the artifact?" He checked with the agents "The footprints most likely belong to the person who retrieved it then" He speculated, to which the other agent agreed. That was the most obvious answer.

"Wow wow hold on!" Tony said, looking at pictures taken from the bunker. "There is only one set of footprints!" He said seriously.

Cap looked at him and frowned. "So? If the artifact is not that big they could have sent just one person to get it?"

"No that is not what I meant," Tony said, looking at Steve and the agent "I meant that there is only one set of footprints, and it's leaving the bunker, none is coming in?"

They all froze, Cap looking at the pictures as he realized what that might mean. No one had come to grab the artifact that was teleported here, because someone had teleported into the bunker along with it.

༺☆༻

Okay, so you had probably been kidnapped to Germany, which still made no sense to you for multiple reasons, but you had just been kidnapped from a parking lot, in broad daylight, with a person from the American Embassy escorting you. There was no question, someone wanted to kidnap you.

You just had no idea why!

You had woken up in what you assumed to be the back of a van, rubbing your head as you started sitting up. You were alone and not tied up. Either the kidnappers really sucked at their job or they had thought you would be knocked out for longer.

You would have started looking for a way to escape, but quickly your biggest concern became your safety.

The van was speeding and swirling all over the place, and you had no seatbelt! Or even just a seat for that matter!

The van luckily had a rim around the wall, big enough that you could grab a hold of it so you were not tossed around the inside of the van like the ball in a ping-pong machine! You had yourself in the corner beside the side door of the van, ready to kick whoever opened the door to grab you.

You were just praying they didn't have any guns!

The van had been driving for a while when suddenly it got hit by something hard!

You could feel the impact making the van swirl and then abruptly come to a stop, very glad you had found stuff to hold onto before that!

People were shouting outside, and you quickly realized that the police or something like it must have stopped the van!

But before you could hope that meant you would be saved soon you heard gunfire, and you swore to whoever you could swear to that you just wanted a break already!

And they did! The side door to the van slid open, the man who had opened it busy shouting orders or something at the others, you were not sure! It was in German and your brain was too high on adrenaline to even remember if you understood German right now.

So you quickly grabbed onto the railing for support and kicked him hard in the face. Knocking him back before jumping out of the van.

The scene around you was chaotic! To your right were more black vans like the one you had just been in, and on your left, there were more vans but also police cars, the cops using doors to shield themself from the gunshots coming from the vans.

You wanted to run to the police, but most of your kidnappers were between you and them, currently focusing their firepower there.

So left was not an option, right was not an option, and you were not about to jump back into the van! So that just left one option.

Forward!

The van had made it out of the city, so the side of the road on each side was just forest. And so you quickly dashed toward it before the kidnappers in the other vans could notice you were escaping.

You had just made it to the tree lines when they noticed and started chasing you.

You could not hear them fire any guns, so you just kept running! You didn't have a destination, you just needed to get away from your kidnappers! If you managed that you could probably make it back to the embassy!

But you didn't get far before you were surrounded again, and some part of your brain was wondering why so many people were trying to kidnap you.

The forest was not that dense, lots of open space between the trees so you had no good way of avoiding them! They were gonna capture you again!

Until suddenly you heard the sound of something whistling through the air quickly and they all seemed to just randomly collapse.

Your brain was so fried at this point, you probably should have started running again or something, but your legs had locked down.

And then suddenly someone landed close by to you. No, not someone. Something! Something you could only describe as a red and golden robot had landed beside you and was doing a quick sweep before turning to you.

You were on edge, and so you did the thing your brain logically deemed the right response.

You screamed.