'Fuck… Fuck!' Tony screamed in his mind. The chair and rope pulled his body towards the ground but the noose kept his head high, strangling him. Tony attempted to take deep breaths, focusing all of his effort on inhaling as much oxygen as possible. But it wasn't working out. His broken body only made the process work. '2 minutes. Okay, I need this rope off my neck before within two minutes. If not, I go unconscious. I die.' Tony felt his body going number as the precious air continued to escape. A few short breaths made it past the rope, giving him enough of a bump to think. He tried his best to look at the man pulling the rope. He was big. Like Thor big, with enough fat to give him a couple dozen extra pounds. 'I need him to let go. How the fuck is that going to happen?' Tony gazed into the lap top; it was still connected to the boardroom. But everyone was gone. Everyone except Fury. A depressing thought hit him. 'Huh. Maybe they finally gave up. Maybe they realized that I'm a lost cause and now they're back to their daily schedule. Brucie's probably in the lab talking to JARVIS. Damn, I miss J. Steve's probably whacking away at that punching bag. He probably thinks he's lost another soldier and is blaming himself. Idiot. Everyone else. Well, they probably don't notice.' Images popped to his mind: Natasha and Clint continuing on their mission, always straight faced and terrifying; Thor eating some Pop Tarts. 'They probably don't care…'

For a split second, Tony considered giving up. He thought about giving up his struggle and letting his body fall slack, allowing the rope to choke him out. That's when the idea struck him. 'So I guess I'm not dying today. If this plan works out…'

Tony stared at Fury, looking worn on the lap top screen. Fury was glaring intensely at the man holding Tony's rope. If looks could kill, the mad would surely be dead. He didn't blame Fury. This wasn't a situation in which he could give out orders. There were no orders to be given, no information to work with. The SHIELD director finally looked at Tony and stopped. Tony tried his best to get his thoughts across, glancing back at his executioner every few moments. He sagged his body down in attempts to show Fury his plan. A plan that desperately needed the director's help if it was to work at all.

Tony winked at the man, asking if he had caught the message. Fury gave a curt nod.

'Alright. Hopefully none of that got lost in translation.' Tony laughed to himself morbidly. If this plan didn't work out, well, he was screwed either way. He gave up struggling, closing his eyes and letting his body go still. To anyone else, it looked like he had lost consciousness and was on the brink of death. Or at least, that's what he was going for. He struggled to keep himself awake. He needed to reserve his strength for the next part of the plan.

"Fuck! Stark!" Fury yelled. Tony caught the noise of a metal chair moving and pictured Fury leaping to his feet. The guy was a dedicated actor. "I'll give you… I'll give you the goddamn codes."

Fury's words caught the strangler's attention and Tony felt the rope loosen. The strangler assumed that Tony was no longer a threat; he was unconscious, beaten, and dying. Tony made use of that and in the sparing seconds of his executioner's ineptitude, he pushed his body down to the floor with all of his might.

It took the guard a moment to realize what was happening. He was shocked by the sudden burn in his hands as the rope was rapidly pulled from him. He immediately let go, only remembering his purpose when it was too late.

Tony crashed to the ground. As he fell, he turned the chair so it cracked down the middle upon impact. But he couldn't avoid the back of his head slamming into the concrete. He fought to keep his consciousness, the adrenaline pumping him through. Before he even started to breathe again, he whipped the noose off of his neck by flipping his head back and forth. He fought the urge to throw up, his concussion arguing with him the whole time. Then, free of the knot, he gasped down air, sounding like a fish out of water. As he struggled, he shimmied out of the ropes tying him to the chair. They were loose from his previous struggled and the wooden chair was cracking from his landing. He heard the guard approaching.

"Now would be a good time to get up, Stark." Fury's voice noted from the lap top.

Tony ignored him, still struggling on the ground. Just as he got his right arm free, a foot landed on his chest, blocking out the light from the arc reactor.

"Listen here, chump. I'm sick of you. Now let me string you up nicely so you can die and V will give me my money."

Tony stared at the man looming over him. He was paunchy and the stink of sweat came off him in waves. His skin gleamed with perspiration which Tony didn't understand since he felt incredibly cold – though it might've been the blood loss. The foot was pressing on his injured ribs but Tony was past the point of feeling pain. His body was numb and his mind was racing, thinking only of his survival. Without a thought, he jammed his newly-freed fist into the side of the man's knee. Tony didn't know where the strength came from, but a sickening crush filled his ears. The man collapsed and as he struggled with his knee, Tony took the time to free the rest of his body. He moved to stand, the backing of the chair still tied to his torso. The guard seemed to have caught himself and swung a fist at Tony. Tony dropped, dodging the punch and then some. A knee moved up to meet his face, and he jumped. As he jumped, his entire body complaining in the process, he swung his head back and with all the rage that he had built within himself from the past few days of torture, Tony slammed his forehead into the guard's nose. Another crunch filled his ears and Tony felt a new layer of warm blood touch his face, but this time it wasn't his, at least, not for the most part. It was his guard's; the blood belonged to his executioner. The man fell to the ground and a part of Tony realized that he'd probably killed the man. He had probably broken his facial bones so badly that they had punctured his brain. But Tony didn't acknowledge it. He didn't have the time. Instead, Tony ran to the lap top.

"Stark. Are you okay?" Fury asked. Secretly, he was impressed. Sure, Tony had gotten lucky with only one guard watching him, but he still managed to take the big man down despite his obvious injuries.

"Nope. Are you going blind in your one good eye?" Tony cracked. He had a habit of poking fun during stressful situations, it was a coping mechanism.

"What are you doing?" Fury asked as he watched Tony type at the keyboard, giving the camera a clear view of the bloody shirt on his torso.

"Every computer has a tracking signal. This one's been jammed. I'm opening the flood gates." Tony explained, his fingers moved with the same speed and certainty as a trained pianist.

"They didn't leave you, by the way." Fury noted, filling the silence.

"What?" Tony asked, already knowing who Fury was talking about.

"The superhuman brats. They're on their way to a jet right now." Fury said.

"What the hell do they expect to happen? That some miracle wind will send them to my location." Tony snorted at their idiocy. He had expected Natasha at least to make the group see logic.

"You're at a computer right now, Stark. Make a miracle." Fury commanded and Tony was happy to deliver.

"It'd be a nice nickname: God. Though the religious backlash would be to much a pain to keep it up."

Fury snorted.

"Hey, Jarv?" Tony asked aloud.

"What are you doing-?" Before Fury finished his question, the familiar English voice spoke up.

"Greetings, sir. It has been far too long."

"Don't tell me that your AI has been watching this the whole time." Fury frowned.

"Then I won't tell you anything," Tony directed to Fury. Then, his tone changed as he spoke to JARVIS. "Been a while, buddy. But I just sent out a flare from this lap top with our… signature. Take the co-ordinates and give it to those idiots before they start flying to Arkansas or something."

"Of course, sir. Do you need anything else?" JARVIS asked. Some of his processors were already busy searching for Tony's flare. He found it in the form of a string of binary that was repeating in a remote corner of LA, just by the borderline of Nevada. It read, "0100100100100000010000010100110100100000010000010 10101110100010101010011010011110100110101000101"

"Call Pep and Rhodes for me. Tell 'em I'll probably be back soon." Tony made room for the possibility that the Avengers didn't come in time to save him. "Also, have a diner reserved for me when I come back. I'm talking milkshakes, fries, and an actual American burger. None of that Burger King of McDonalds crap. Understand?"

"Of course, sir. The reservations are now made. Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Thor, and Bruce are on their way to your location." JARVIS informed Tony.

"STARK! TURN AROUND!" Fury yelled as he caught sight of the familiar figure behind Tony.

"What?" Tony turned and was met with a pistol whip to the jaw, which sent him sprawling on the floor in an instant.

"Tsk tsk." V clicked his tongue as he looked at the unconscious Tony disappointedly. "I'm not very happy with you, Tony. You were supposed to be swinging on a noose by the time I returned. Instead, you're chatting with Nicholas and Pritchard is dead. You've certainly ruined my tea." V shook his head and lectured, uncaring that Tony couldn't hear him. "And Nicholas. I suppose you haven't given those codes. But you have sent your most precious band of empathetic heroes, lead by the golden boy with a big heart. How quickly do you think they'll succumb when I welcome them with a gun to Tony's head? My bet is extremely fast. Then you'll lose your superheroes, your defence against aliens, not to mention that they are the only thing that makes a government agency as wasteful as yours look at all profitable. How soon do you think your funds will be cut off after you lose your idols? Give me the codes, Fury. I expect them on my computer before the days out, or I'll kill the Avengers."

"How do you expect me to leave the codes on your computer?" Fury asked through gritted teeth. V was right but there was still no way in hell he was handing over those codes. SHIELD might need to end, the Avengers may be over, but he wasn't handing the rest of the world to a lunatic.

"I'll let you figure that one out. You have Stark's AI helping you out, non?" V slipped in some friend then laughed. "Toodles. Hopefully you see the light of reason, Nicholas. Before it's too late."

Then, V shut the lap top, cutting of the stream.


A/N: WHOAAAA! Two updates in two days! What is happening?! ?! I'm dead set on finishing this fic. If you haven't noticed, it's nearing it's end… just a year later then planned. Once again, I beg you guys to leave some reviews, they honestly give me the inspiration to continue this fic. Plus, they just make me super happy. See ya at the next chapter~ :D

A/N #2: Also, this entire fic is unbeta'd and I apologize for the typos and grammar mistakes. I'm just churning this out in a mad-dash to complete. Hopefully it's still understandable.