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/art/ Quick-Art-Over-my-dead-Body -376221867?q=gallery%3Adreamer-alicia&qo= 0 just take out the spaces!
Avengerscrazygal: Happy Birthday! Glad you like this!
leoness: I've been working on them. On a older story I was told I needed to visualise the characters surroundings more. So I did!
Noel K-K: DONT DIE!
No one moved. The Avengers stared at Tony with surprise and confusion written across their faces as they gazed at him. He hung his head in shame, he hadn't wanted them to know and he was going to be asked a bombardment of questions as soon as the beekeepers left the still and quiet cell. It didn't take long for them to get bored and leave however, and it was a good ten minutes after their departure that Tony finally spoke.
"Hi." He murmured, still staring at the ground shamefully.
"Tony." The word came from Bruce, who looked the least shocked out of all of them as Tony lifted his head to watch their reactions.
"Why didn't you tell us Stark!?" The venom and horror in Natasha's voice made Tony want to run away. But he was chained to the wall tightly, and he therefore had to stay put, under the confused, hurt and mad gazes of his teammates. Tony opened his mouth to speak, but shut it again when he forgot what he was going to answer with. Instead he watched as Natasha glared at him.
"Natasha-" Clint finally spoke up, but was cut off by the other assassin.
"No Clint! I want to know why he didn't tell us! Didn't trust us to keep that certain secret!"
Tony was starting to panic and Bruce and Steve, who were still watching the genius, could see this clear as day.
"SHUT UP!" They roared, and suddenly the two assassins, who had been bickering, fell quiet. Thor still looked confused.
"I too wonder why the Man of Iron has not told us. But I fear if you continue yelling he may not talk at all!" Thor said, using his 'inside' voice, which was quieter than his normal volume but still relatively loud. Tony looked up and, seeing them all staring at him sighed.
"I didn't tell anyone. I didn't even tell Pepper I was the Eagle. Yeah she knew about the wings, but not about the other…activitys."
"But why haven't we noticed them before? You've only started wearing that trench coat recently. We would of seen." Clint asked, still slightly calmer than Natasha, though his anger was aimed at the other assassin who was making Tony panic.
Tony sighed. This was going to be a long conversation.
"When I was ten I woke up one random day, with a pair of bumps producing from my back. Mum and Jarvis found me on the bathroom floor. We never told Howard…." He paused and Steve took this as a opportunity to break in.
"You had a AI when you were ten?" Tony chuckled. Even in a bad situation Steve could still be so confused sometimes.
"No. Jarvis was the family butler. He was my best, and only friend. My AI was named after him. Anyway, Jarvis died when I was fifteen and mum and Howard died when I was seventeen. My wings were fully grown by then. Thats when I started as the Red Eagle. At first it was easy to hide the wings. But shortly after I hired Pepper, she walked in on me with no shirt on. Thats how she found out. Then in Afghanistan they tortured me." Tony shuddered and now Clint broke in.
"Water Boarding and Whipping right?" Clint murmured, though the look on Steve, Thor and Bruce's face was sheer dread.
"Yeah. But that wasn't the worst of it," Tony took a deep breath, knowing that what he now had to say would likely make the others either angry or guilty, though they really shouldn't, "They got a blow torch and they… cut them off." He looked down at the floor, the memory in his mind as he looked back up.
They all looked vaguely ill. Bruce had gone green, though whether that was the Hulk or he was feeling ill was a mystery. Steve, Thor and Clint looked horrified, and Natasha's anger seemed to of vanished, replaced by guilt and dread. they were all still staring at him, tears in some of their eyes. They all nodded at him to continue.
"Then two weeks ago, just after the invasion, the bumps came back. They grew quite fast into the wings I used to have and they're actually longer than they used to be." He said, slightly lightening the mood.
"But how did they grow back?" Questioned Steve, who looked a little green himself. Tony shrugged.
"I think that when Loki touched the Arc Reactor, instead of his magic controlling me it sped up my healing factor. Maybe he did this on purpose…" The last part Tony murmured to himself. He was well aware that Loki had known he was different, and he had most likely wanted to break the team apart.
The story telling was interrupted though by two beekeepers arriving, one pushing a trolly with what looked like weapons of torture laid across its metal top. Each of the avengers gulped, wondering who they would choose, and each knowing who it would be.
To their surprise the Beekeepers walked around the room, watching the Avengers though ignoring Tony, as if they were picking the best sheep from a flock. After five minutes Tony couldn't handle it anymore.
"You hurt them and you'll have to go through me first!" The venom was laced through his voice, and the Beekeepers turned around and, though Tony couldn't see their faces he knew they were having some kind of sick fun. They walked up to Tony and one unlocked his feet and arms, though left his wings still loosely chained. He pushed Tony forward, so that he now stood in the middle of the room, his wings forcefully pulled back. Tony didn't bother struggling, for the other beekeeper was holding a sharp blade to the part of his left wing that joined his back. And he didn't want to loose them again thanks you very much.
The other than grabbed Tonys arms, forcefully turning him around, and pulled the above his head, again chaining them to a free shackle in the ceiling. He also chained his feet again, and again Tony could barely touch the floor. Then they released his wings and he flexed them gently, before they were once again stretched out and chained either side of him.
Now he was facing the wall, and he could only see three of his teammates, Natasha, Clint and Bruce, the former two sitting near enough next to each other, whilst Bruce sat opposite. Steve and Thor were behind him, along with the one beekeeper who had held the knife to his wing. The top of his eagle battle suit was ripped off, revealing the scars on his back to the two behind him and the Arc Reactor to the three in front. The heard Steve and Thor gasp in both rage and horror at the scars, and Tony had to admit they were quite horrible. Because his new wings hadn't grown directly on top of the scars of his old ones, you could still see said scars running down his shoulders.
He heard a clank as something was picked up, and then saw the sheer shock on Clint's face before he almost cried out in pain. Almost anyway. he could hear the crack of the whip as it was brought down on his back and could feel the sharp sting as it made contact. The blood was running down his back now but the whip still kept falling. He only cried out in surprise when it hit the bridge between his back and the start of the red feathers, but after that he was silent. He bit his tongue once or twice and now the crimson liquid was pooling in his mouth, overpowering his tastebuds with the taste of metal.
He never noticed when the whip failed to fall. He never heard when the door slammed as the beekeepers left the dark room. He never smelt the fear rising in the scents of his friends.
But he heard them.
He heard them calling his name. His team- no his friends were calling his name in utter despair as the blood continued to drip down his back and pool on the floor.
Slowly, slowly he became aware again. He shook his head in discomfort, rising it weakly to see his teams shocked faces. Sometime they had all been moved in front of the genius, billionaire, philanthropist, mutant and they all seemed worried enough to clog the air with the sweet scent.
" 'm fine" He murmured woozily, the world spinning around him.
"No you're not Stark. We're not stupid you know." Came the commanding, yet soft voice of the Black widow. Seeing Tony was nearly asleep Bruce decided he needed to do something.
"Tony you need to stay awake. Please!"
Tony tried. He really did. But his instincts told his body to shut down and he saw the terrified faces of his team before the world went black.
