Chapter Text
Wenwu loves his two children, but being able to get away with Ying Li and leave the one and four year old with their nannies is a luxury he has never appreciated so much.
Granted, Ying Li wrangles their children more than he does, since his work environment does not allow the presence of children. But the time he spends at home, trying to keep Xialing from bullying Shang-chi too much, solving their disputes, rocking them through illness, being driven to madness trying to keep them from breaking every bone in their tiny bodies.
Yes. A vacation is long overdue.
They’re in Iceland, just them, and their first stop is the Northern Lights, which they watch from the comfort of the hot springs. Ying Li leans against him, lazily gathering water around her with one hand, and sighs.
“I’ve forgotten what silence felt like,” she says.
“Hmmmm,” he responds, wanting to close his eyes, but that would be irreverent to the sight in front of them.
He watches the swaths of green light above, amazed at the natural wonder, and turns to press a kiss to Ying Li’s lips.
“Happy Anniversary, I love you,” he whispers, kissing her on the cheek.
“Happy Anniversary. Love you too,” she says, kissing him back, an arm raising out of the water to smooth down the back of his head.
“Beware of polar bears,” Ying Li says, as they get ready to go horseback riding on cute furry ponies, “Once you’re tracked by one it won’t stop until it eats you.”
“Thanks,” he replies drily. “I’ll do my best to not get us eaten by nonexistent polar bears in Iceland.”
“You never know. One might get lost and come to Iceland. And then it’ll drag you away, and I’ll chase after you, and then we’ll never be seen again.”
“You know we’re going sightseeing in the wilderness right? And you want me dragged away by polar bears?”
She cackles.
“What’s a bit of adventure without the threat of danger?”
He leans over to kiss her forehead.
“Let’s save the adventure for when we’re back with the terrors. Just a boring ride today, I hope.”
She urges her pony forth. And he follows after her.
“We’re supposed to go the opposite direction!” he calls.
“We can circle back!” she replies.
He doesn’t get his wish. He doesn’t get dragged away by polar bears. But they both get dragged away by people instead.
The zip ties keeping his wrists behind his back are cut, and he’s shoved into a room, stumbling to hands and knees to avoid smashing his face into the floor.
He scrambles up and back, but not before the door is shut in his face, plunging him into darkness. He bangs on it, kicking it, shouting at it, but nothing happens except split knuckles.
And he pleads.
“Please, let my wife go. I’ll give you anything you want. Anything. Please.”
He begs at the door until he’s hoarse, but still no one comes.
They’d taken them in a field, and separated them into separate cars. He doesn’t know where they’ve taken Ying Li, and he doesn’t dare think what they could be doing to her. There’s no reason for them to take her, he reasons with himself, and their goal is him, so if he cooperated they should leave her alone.
Unless they don’t intend to let either of them live.
He tamps down the panic at that thought, and pretends he never had it.
He leans his shoulder against the door, not sure how long has passed, running his fingers against all the edges searching for a weak spot. But the edges all around have a strip of metal covering them, and he makes no progress except for broken nails.
A slot that he had thought was welded shut opens, tossing in a water bottle and exposing him to a strip of light before it’s taken away, and he scrabbles at it, trying to get it open again, resuming his pleas.
But he’s ignored.
Eventually he feels for the bottle and twists open the cap, feeling his way along the room he’s trapped in as he drinks. It’s not large - 12 steps by 9, and completely empty. Maybe they don’t intend to hold him here long - and that’s a relief.
They just have to contact his company, and they’ll pay, and then they’ll let them go. They were careful to keep their faces hidden and talking minimal, and that’s a relief.
If only logic could override his frayed nerves. What if they don’t? He has no answer, and it’s eating him up from inside.
The door knocks him to the ground when it opens. He’s fallen asleep against it, and he turns around to squint into the bright light being shined directly into his face.
He squeezes his eyes shut in pain, holding a hand up to shield himself, but they grab him, drag him backwards into the chair they bring in, and stab something into his arm.
Hands hold him down as he struggles.
“I’ll pay, we’ll pay, just please, no violence.”
They ignore him. He opens his eyes only to see nothing but white still and grunts in pain.
A beeping sounds in the distance, and he floats away.