Day Nine: Buried Alive

"How do I always end up in these situations," Tony mumbled to himself.

Currently he was being led through the forest with his hands cuffed behind his back. What was worse was there was a shock collar wrapped around his neck. The last thing he remembered was leaving the bar (he didn't drink a lot, it was just a quick meet-up with Rhodey) and heading to his car. The next thing he knew, there was a sharp sting in his neck, arms wrapping around his neck, losing air and then blacking out.

He woke up in the back of a pick-up truck in the middle of a dirt road he didn't recognize. An older man, perhaps in his fifties, with a scruffy beard and dark eyes dressed in camouflage threw him out of it and started forcing him to move. By that point he was already cuffed and had the shock collar on.

"What do you want?" Tony asked.

"Just keep moving." The man who he decided to dub 'Camo' just to piss him off, shoved him forward almost making him trip over a tree root.

"Fine. Where are we going?" he asked.

"Do you always talk this much?"

"Do you never answer questions?"

Little did Camo even know he had his cell phone on him, he could feel it in his pocket. This meant he could be tracked. Someone would realize it wasn't natural for him to be gone this long and get FRIDAY to do some tracking. Camo was stupid to not search him.

After two frustrating hours of walking, Camo stopped them at a very conspicuous pile of leaves and Tony could see where this was going. Camo kicked the leaves out of the way and revealed a trap door. He opened it up and Tony peered inside and noticed there was little to no room and wasn't too deep.

Camo removed the shock collar finally. He gestured to the hole.

"Get in."

Tony scoffed. "No. I'm not a gopher."

Camo shoved him. "Do what I say, or you'll regret it."

"I already regret this whole night." Tony rolled his eyes.

Camo was the one who was going to be regretful. Picking up a billionaire off the street was one thing. It was another thing to not search him and get rid of his phone. He wanted to mock him but stopped himself.

Tony stumbled as Camo gripped his shoulders and forced him inside the hole. It was almost the perfect size for him. It fit, as odd as it was to think, snug around his body. The hole was still deep enough to the point where his head wasn't even halfway out. He was, needless to say, in a dirt coffin. At least until he was traced. If he could be underground.

"You'll need this." Camo kneeled and pulled out a metal pipe. "Open up."

Tony was going to say no again but realized that that pipe was probably going to be the only thing he could get air in his lungs when the hole would be filled again. He scowled and opened his mouth. He immediately wanted to spit out the pipe, his taste buds already despising the metallic taste.

"If you're lucky you won't be down here for long."

Tony really wanted to wipe that shit-eating smirk off his face. Tony shut his eyes as Camo started to fill in the rest of the hole. He could still feel a slight chill so he didn't bury him completely but just enough to be unnoticed. Great. Now he couldn't hear or see anything that was going on above.

He tried to distract himself with thoughts of what he was going to do when he got out of the hole. At least this wasn't entirely his fault. That was to say, he didn't get drunk and wander off in the forest like a drunk bambi and then fall in a hole. He was forced in there so no one could blame him for being careless.

His plan before getting kidnapped and forced into a damn hole was to see about trying to put together another robot. Another friend for DUM-E. It wasn't going to be an overnight process but he at least wanted to get some ideas down.

A quick surge of panic flooded through him as there was a sudden tremor. Loose dirt fell in between the little space he had, making him more stiff and trapped than he already was. His lips felt gross and dry and it was hard not to spit out the small bits of dirt that entered his mouth. He tried to calm himself down by reminding himself he still had access to air, albeit not as much as he'd prefer. But it was better than nothing.

He didn't know how much time passed but he slowly started to feel his consciousness slipping. It was hard to keep himself awake, especially when he kept his eyes shut to avoid getting dirt in them. If he fell asleep there was a chance he'd let go of the pipe and lose his air. He'd only have an hour or so if not minutes before dying from lack of air.

How sad would that be. Tony Stark, Iron Man, dying from suffocation because he fell asleep in a hole.

"Is FRIDAY sure this is the way?" Peter asked incredulously.

"Yes, Peter," Karen responded.

Peter felt more like Tarzan than Spider-Man as he swung through the forest with his webs. He couldn't imagine Tony going out for a drink with Rhodey and then going for a drive in the middle of the forest. But that's what FRIDAY told Karen when Peter asked where Tony was and why he wasn't back at the Tower.

Apparently all FRIDAY could track was that he was in this forest somewhere but was unable to reach an exact spot. The reception must've sucked but they were pretty far out. Peter stopped swinging and dropped to the ground when he came across tire tracks. They weren't Tony's car tracks. He'd seen them too many times to know the difference.

The tracks were thick and appeared recent. He decided to follow the tracks to see where they'd take him. It was getting dark and Peter felt like he was walking into a horror movie situation. A Wendigo might pop up out of nowhere. Crazier things had happened to him.

He shivered at the thought of some kind of freak or monster ambushing Tony. He didn't have his suit on him and if the cell phone reception was cut off, he wouldn't be able to call for help. Peter picked up his pace and kept his eyes solely focused on the ground making sure to never lose sight of the tracks.

After a number of miles Peter didn't bother counting, the tracks stopped. There was no sign of the vehicle anywhere in sight. He looked around, uncertain. This seemed like a good ambush spot but his great hearing only picked up the sound of birds and leaves rustling in the wind. He heard no heartbeats or people talking.

"Karen, see anything I don't?" Peter asked, not moving from his spot.

"There seems to be a marking on the tree to your right side. Three scratch marks."

"And you don't think they're from animals?" Peter asked but headed to the tree anyway. He fingered them lightly to make sure he didn't tear his suit. "I guess they are pretty light."

Peter looked around and followed more marks he saw. He doubted Tony made these. He's more extra about it. He was Tony Stark after all. Most of what he did was extra. He walked for at least five miles until the marks stopped. He looked around to see if anything was out of place. Then he looked down. There were a bunch of leaves piled strangely in one spot.

"That's conspicuous."

He knelt down and pushed the leaves out of the way. There was a circular thing, a pipe perhaps, that was barely sticking out of the ground. There was also an open trap door. Peter's stomach dropped as he put one and two together.

"Mister Stark?" he called. He started digging but made sure not to get any dirt in the pipe. "Mister Stark!"

He dug as hard and fast as possible not caring that he got his suit dirty. He dug deep enough and finally found Tony's head. He was fit so tight in the hole it was almost scary. What was scarier was Tony's body was barely moving and his eyes were closed. Who knew how long he had been down there for?

Peter dug a little deeper and gripped onto Tony's arms and tugged him out of the hole. He dragged him away from it. The pipe left his mouth. He reached over and used his enhanced strength to rip the cuffs off his wrists. Peter shook him.

"Mister Stark! Wake up, Mister Stark!"

It took a moment before Tony started coughing. Dirt left his mouth along with tiny pebbles. He placed a hand on his throat and took in deep and fast breaths. Peter frowned and placed a gentle hand on his back. He rubbed it gently.

"It's okay, Mister Stark. You're safe now."

Peter knew how frightening it was to be buried alive, although he hadn't been surrounded by dirt. He was surrounded and covered by debris from a building and the thought of being buried like that again put him on edge.

"Kid, what are you doing here?" Tony asked once he composed himself. Peter could still hear how fast his heart was beating.

"I came looking for you when you didn't show up at the Tower. FRIDAY told Karen you were out in the forest."

"I knew my girl would track me. What a dumbass."

"What?" Peter frowned. "Who's a dumbass?"

"Oh, the guy who buried me in there. He didn't think to take out my phone. I had the feeling someone would realize something was wrong and get FRIDAY's help."

"Much longer and you probably…"

"Yeah. I'm alright though," Tony said.

"We also got the police searching around the city, in case FRIDAY was wrong," Peter said. "But who are we kidding? No one can beat FRIDAY."

Tony laughed. "Yeah. That's my AI," he said. "Thanks for coming out here."

"Do you know who buried you down there?"

"No but I remember what he looks like," Tony said. He shrugged. "He said if I was lucky I wouldn't be down there for long. It sounded like a poor attempt at a ransom case."

"No kidding...You're the richest man ever. This kind of thing is usually the other way around. A guy taking someone you care about, not taking the source of the money."

"Some people are just dumb." Tony shook his head. "We'll get him. Then he won't do something sick like this again."

Peter nodded and helped Tony stand. Tony brushed the dirt out of his hair.

"Let's get you taken care of first and then get him."

"Sounds good, kiddo."

Author's Note: This was another day I was thinking of using a true story on but again, this isn't the place for that. The only part that I used related to the true story was Tony being cuffed and being led through a forest to be buried. That, and the guy giving him a pipe to breathe out of (except in one of the true stories it was only a straw).

That's all for now. I'll see ya'll in the next chapter.

Thanks for reading!

~Kurosaki