Pietro winced as Zaine forcibly fixed the straps around his wrists.

The man the laid a metal wire over his chest, attaching it to either side of the mesh-table.

Pietro was lying on his back on a metal slab, tilted slightly so he could see the door. At the first look at it, Pietro had immediately thought torture. There were leather straps holding his arms and legs down. To the side of the metal mesh, there was a kind of lever, which Zaine was now standing by. Endurance test. That's what he had said. It was when Zaine put his hand on the lever did Pietro realise what he was going to do.

The lever was pushed down.

A jolt of pain shook Pietro's body and he shut his eyes tightly, gritting his teeth to hold back a scream. A clunk met his ears and he fell limp as the sensation halted. A hand took hold of his jaw and roughly forced his head up.

"Does…" Pietro paused to catch his breath. "Does Fury know what you're doing?"

Zaine smiled cruelly. "No." He waved a hand to the lever. "This isn't legal." His eyes suddenly hardened. "And you're not going to tell anyone. Because they won't believe you. Your word against mine… Fury'll take mine."

"So I'm just supposed to sit back and let you kill me?" Pietro asked scathingly.

"Oh, I don't want to kill you Maximoff." Zaine sounded almost hurt as he released Pietro's jaw, walking back to the lever.

"No?"

"No." A cold smile split Zaine's features as he put his hand back on the lever. "I want to break you."

He held it down for a long time, ignoring Pietro's screams of pain. When he pulled the lever up again, Pietro was shivering with exhaustion, his heart racing. Zaine put a finger to his chin, lifting his head. Worry flashed in his eyes for a heartbeat, but it was gone so quickly Pietro wondered if he had imagined it. The man obviously wasn't intending to kill him, just scare him into running away.

"That'll be enough for today." Zaine muttered, unstrapping the holds.

Pietro fell from the table, collapsing onto the floor. He pushed himself up onto his hands and knees and Zaine tried to help him up. Finding himself too weak to stand, Pietro fell to his side. Zaine let out a frustrated breath, picking him up and slinging him over one shoulder.

He walked out the room, marching into the elevator and taking it up to the floor Pietro's room was on. As he opened the door to the young man's room, a voice sounded from down the corridor.

"Pietro?"

Zaine quickly slipped into the room, dropping Pietro on the bed. He blinked up at his mentor, his blue eyes flickering.

"Don't say a word." Zaine hissed into his ear.

The door opened and Pietro's eyes fluttered shut, his head falling to the side a little. Wanda poked her head in, rushing to the bed as she saw her brother. She sat beside him, laying her hands to each side of his face.

"Pietro?" She whispered, growing afraid when he didn't respond. Turning to Zaine, the man saw no anger in her eyes; she obviously suspected nothing. "What happened?"

"It was my fault." Zaine admitted, lowering his gaze to make his guilt act more believing. "I think I've been working him too hard. I noticed he was looking tired during our session today so I asked if he wanted to take the day off. He said he was fine and I believed him. But after a while he just… He just collapsed. I thought it might be because he hadn't taken his injection but he took it earlier…"

Wanda shook her head, shutting her eyes. "I-I knew he had trouble sleeping… But I never imagined he'd been making himself sick because of it."

"I'm sorry, I should've realised sooner." Zaine mumbled, sitting down beside her.

"No, it wasn't your fault." Wanda insisted quietly. She stroked back Pietro's hair. "I think he just made himself tired."

Zaine lay a hand to Pietro's leg momentarily before getting to his feet, muttering something about going to see Fury. At Wanda's nod, he left the room, shutting the door behind him.

Wanda stroked her hand to her brother's cheek. She frowned. There were fresh cuts and bruises on his pale skin. A bruise was only just beginning to form near his left temple. He looked like he'd been beaten. It's probably just from the battle with Ultron, she tried to convince herself. How else would he have got them?

She shook away a nagging thought in the back of her mind. There was no way Agent Dyson could have done this. No way.