Disclaimer: Still not mine.
A/N: Okay, so I debated whether or not to combine this chapter with the next. I decided not to because of the length, but since this chapter and the next are basically the same, except for POV, I'm going to post them both at once. So chapter 3 will be up soon, and it'll be from Romanoff's POV.
There were four things about his current situation that Tony Stark knew for sure. The first being that their captor knew that Romanoff was a SHIELD agent and knew her as Romanoff, not some other name. The second was that the only door in or out of the room was most definitely secure. Thirdly, his head really hurt. And last, but certainly not least, Godzilla, as he'd nicknamed the muscle man, had a mean right hook.
Tony coughed as one of his ribs pressed against his lung. For a moment the room titled and little black dots filled his vision. With one hand splayed across the arc reactor he pushed himself up. Only for a booted foot to connect painfully with his abdomen and instantly send him back to the floor, effectively knocking what breath he'd managed to get out of his lungs all over again.
His right side burned and his back ached as if reminding him that this was not the proper way to treat a human body. Unfortunately there wasn't much he could do about it at the moment. He protected the arc reactor from the abuse as much as he could, but every time a boot landed a blow to the little glowing circle he felt himself wince and his chest explode in agony. He was pretty sure his entire torso was just one big mass of bruises and swelling at this point.
"All I wanted…." he breathed out as he tried to catch his breath again. "Was a chocolate on my pillow."
Another fist, this time to his lower back.
With a look around, Tony noted that the Boss Man had yet to return. After the first five minutes or so he had left the room, leaving his minions behind to do the physical labor. He had no idea where Boss Man had gotten off to, but he had a feeling it was wherever Romanoff was being held. He hadn't heard her say anything since Boss Man and the steroid enhanced goonies had shown up.
"Seriously, guys…."
A boot swiped his legs out from under him just as he started to get to his feet. The reactor casing scrapped against the concrete floor as his vision swam in and out of focus.
"You all have some serious anger management issues," he continued. "Remind me to introduce you to a friend of mine. You might know him. Big.…green….has a bit of an attitude problem."
A couple pairs of hands suddenly lifted him up just enough to drop him down onto his back. He blinked through the haze of lightheadedness only to come face-to-blade with a knife. The tip of the knife hovered just above his nose in a rather threatening manner.
Shame really. He liked his nose.
The knife didn't start slicing and dicing though. In fact it disappeared from view and he felt himself release a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. The relief was short lived, however. A second later he discovered where the knife had gone.
It was in his leg.
His lower left leg, to be exact. And he was pretty sure the blade had scraped a bone. Fire exploded up his leg and he bit the inside of his cheek to keep the instinctual scream from tearing past his lips.
'Happy thoughts,' he told himself. 'I lived through Afghanistan. This is a walk in the park.'
A park with nails and shards of glass sticking up from the sidewalk apparently.
He was pretty sure he blacked out for a few seconds, but when he started to become coherent again he realized the goonies were no longer surrounding him. He lifted his head in time to see them retreating from the room.
"What? We're done already?" The words slipped out on their own. He just couldn't help himself sometimes. The boot shoved into his hip in passing almost made him regret it. "I guess that means no chocolate, huh?"
The door closed behind them with a resounding 'thud' and he let his head rest back against the floor again. He breathed as deeply as his protesting ribs would allow for a few seconds before forcing himself into an upright position. A quick glance down at his torso confirmed his earlier assumption about bruising.
"Romanoff?" he called.
There was no answer for a few seconds, but then a voice met his ears and it definitely was not Romanoff.
"Agent Romanoff is unharmed, Mr. Stark," Boss Man said over the intercom.
"Uh huh. How about you let her talk for herself?"
"Shut up, Stark," Romanoff quipped.
He smirked tiredly and slowly got to his feet. "So what's the plan now, blondie?"
"Blondie?" Boss Man asked with a scoff. "Not very original. The plan hasn't changed, Stark. Agent Romanoff and I were discussing it while you were otherwise engaged."
"Going to fill me in?"
"I don't think that'll be necessary. Once Agent Romanoff cooperates you'll both be free to go, so hopefully you won't be here much longer, Mr. Stark."
Tony frowned as his mind started spinning. "You want something from Romanoff?"
"I know this is hard for you to believe, but the world does not actually revolve around you."
Okay, so that explained the chair and video feed. It wasn't actually him that they wanted to start spilling secrets. Bit of a change for him really. But if it was Romanoff they were after, why go this far to capture him and make it seem like he was the target?
The answer wasn't hard to grasp. It was a clever plot really.
"So you purposefully let it 'leak' that someone was coming after me," Tony said. "You used me as bait. Which I resent, by the way. How did you know it would be Romanoff who came after me?"
"I think the better question is what do I want from Romanoff?"
"Revenge. SHIELD secrets. A redheaded wall decoration. The list is endless really."
Boss Man chuckled. A practiced laugh that matched his fake, press worthy smile from earlier. "In this case, we would like Agent Romanoff to fill us in on some SHIELD codes and all the Stark Industry information she has. Yes, Mr. Stark, we know all about Natalie Rushman's time in your company."
Tony's face darkened, but he kept any further emotion off his face. At least part of this was his fault in a way. "I think you picked the wrong spy, blondie. You realize she's a trained assassin, right? And one of the best spies I've ever come in contact with. Did your research miss that little fact? You'd probably have more luck getting information out of Captain America."
"Everyone has a breaking point. Everyone."
The man's voice was nonchalant, but the icy undertone caused Tony's back to stiffen. It was true, he knew. Romanoff, despite her extensive training and history, was still human. Humans could be broken.
"Why me?" he asked simply, ignoring the man's comment.
"We want some of your designs, Stark, but I wasn't about to make the same mistake they made with you in Afghanistan. Giving you anything to work with? That would just be idiotic. And you don't have enough self-preservation to care about death threats to yourself. So who else would we capture? Pepper Potts would result in Iron Man charging in here with repulsors blazing. And abducting the Hulk?" Boss Man scoffed at the obvious stupidity of that idea. "An alien prince or super soldier? Also not too wise. So that leaves three people. You, Ms. Romanoff, and Mr. Barton. Unfortunately, Agent Barton couldn't be located. If Agent Romanoff cares about your well-being at all, she'll cooperate. And while you may not have much self-preservation, I think we both know where your weakness lies."
Tony felt his jaw tighten. He didn't know where this guy was getting his information or how he seemed to just….know things. He didn't like it though. Not at all. He made a show of rolling his eyes, acting for the camera. Something he was good at. "And where's that?"
A soft, barely audible but obviously female grunt came over the intercom, echoing through the empty room. Boss Man's icy voice followed. "With your teammates, Stark. With your friends."
He didn't like the way 'friends' was stressed. Almost mockingly so.
He also decided that he didn't like not being able to see Romanoff. Not knowing had to be worse than seeing what was happening.
"You obviously don't know me all that well," he commented lightly. "I'm pretty well known for my narcissistic qualities. It's a thing."
"Whatever you say, Tony. Whatever you say," Boss Man said with another chuckle.
Tony felt a cold chill go down his spine at the man's use of his first name. There was something familiar about it. Something….
Oh no.
"Who are you?" he asked darkly.
"I'm surprised you didn't recognize me, but I guess when you've met as many people as you have, placing a face can prove challenging. Admittedly, you and I didn't know each other as well as you knew my brother."
Tony stared at the camera in the corner. "Marcus Farus. Your brother is Andy."
"Was, Stark. Andy is dead."
"I can't say I'm sorry about that."
"I didn't think you would be." There was a pause before Farus continued. "I have things other than you and Agent Romanoff to take care of, so if you'll excuse me. I'll return shortly. In the meantime you and Romanoff can discuss my brother since, according to my sources, there's no mention of him or the…well…incident in your SHIELD file. Or talk escape plans I suppose, but honestly that would just be a waste of time. Which is something you should probably start appreciating, Stark, since at the moment it's looking like you won't have much of it left."
"Nice catching up with you too, Marcus."
There was no reply. Only the sound of a door scraping against concrete and closing with a 'thud'. Tony waited a few more seconds just to make sure Farus was gone. "He gone?"
A second passed with no reply.
Then another second.
And another.
"Yeah," came a slightly slurred reply after what seemed like eternity.
"Still in one piece, Romanoff?"
"I'm fine. Tell me about Marcus Farus."
Tony tapped the reactor absently and stared at the opposite wall as various memories he hadn't thought about in years returned. "Gossip doesn't suite you."
"Stark."
He told himself it was just intel. Need to know information for the mission. Romanoff wouldn't pry for the fun of it or to appease her curiosity, especially not right now. Still…there were reasons he didn't talk about personal aspects of his life from before Iron Man had taken to the skies. People knew what he wanted them to know, and that was enough.
Until now apparently.
Tony settled back against the wall and pushed away any and all emotion associated with Andy Farus.
