Chapter Four
He was tied up.
Tony frowned mentally as he awakened to the feel of his hands bound in front of him, one hand encased in a familiar warmth that just sang of Bucky's touch.
Around him, he could hear three heartbeats, each as recognizable to him as his own and he sighed, hazel eyes fluttering open to meet the worried blue gaze of his mate.
For a moment, he didn't speak, trying to recall how he had ended up in Silas' room, then his gaze found Jeice's.
Jeice had escaped and betrayed him.
Jeice thought he was holding him captive.
The thought hurt more than it should have, but he covered it up with an arrogant smirk, masks firmly in place.
"Finally carting me off to the crazy house?" He snarked and Bucky frowned at him.
"Babe," He started but stopped as Silas stepped forward.
"We aren't sending you anywhere, Kael. But you aren't leaving this room until you talk. We have waited patiently, and we have tried to be understanding, but you aren't getting better, Little Prince. The Sanguis Ira is never far from your gaze and you are becoming more manic. You are self-destructing and we refuse to watch it any longer."
Tony stared at them all for a moment, his expression blank before he smiled widely.
"Okay."
Jeice blinked, as did Silas. They had expected him to fight more, to make a smartass remark to try and deviate from what they had said. Only Bucky remained suspicious, more in tuned with his mate's devious nature than either of his brothers. So much more that he saw the dark gleam in the smaller man's gaze even as it tried to hide itself behind false compliance.
Tony wasn't going to cooperate as easily as either of the elder dampyres thought he would.
True to Bucky's prediction, his mate began to talk as they wanted him to, but bypassed the subject he was supposed to speaking of completely. Instead the genius began to rattle off scientific theories and philosophies, words leaving his lips in a torrent that in any other situation would have amused him. This wasn't even in the same realm of any other situation, however and Bucky interrupted him.
"Tony." His voice was stern and brooked no arguments and the youngest Salenyme fell silent.
Jeice kneeled at his brother's side and took one his bound hand in his own.
"I heard you," He admitted softly. "I heard everything you said to me when you put me under and I know you're scared, little one. I know, and I should've never said what I did, But Tony," He gentle forced the genius' gaze to meet his own, able to see ever emotion in his brother's shattered gaze. He'd never seen their youngest so broken, not even as he and Silas had lain dying, so long ago. "Kael, we are afraid of losing you too. Those people out there, The Shield, The Avengers, all of them got to see you grow, and live. They got to see you…as you were. Me, Silas, and James just got you back. Don't make us live without you."
Tears gathered in Tony's eyes, before overflowing and streaming down their owner's nearly hollow cheeks, the genius' façade completely shattered.
"It hurts." He whimpered and Jeice wrapped his arms around him.
"I know, baby. I know." He crooned, stroking the other's hair like he had when Kael was just a fledgling being comforted after their parent's death. Silas watched them, his heart hurting for his brothers, both of whom he had failed immensely. Neither of them deserved this kind of pain.
"Talk to us, Tony." Bucky pleaded. "Talk to me."
"I- I can't say everything tonight." The genius whispered softly. "I'm not that strong. Just…don't leave me?"
"Never." The three older men resolved firmly and Tony took a shuddering breathe, curling further into Jeice's embrace and bearing his bound limbs no thought. After a moment's hesitation he began to speak.
"I guess the best place to start is the day I got your KIA letter. Peggy delivered it to me and I just…snapped. I couldn't take it. I had finally let someone in after years of being along and you were gone. Even with Pegs and Howard, I was alone again and it hurt so much, so I worked harder to shut it out. I started taking more mission, each one more dangerous than the other until I was running nothing but suicide missions. I just, I just wanted it to stop hurting." He shivered when Bucky's hand tightened around his.
"Howard, he didn't like that. He knew I wanted to die and he didn't want to lose his greatest creation so he had Peggy drug me and he locked me away. I spent ten years in a small cell under the SHIELD's first base, only one visit every two days and never anyone but Peggy and Howard. My food was delivered one of them on those days and I spent my days in a- a haze. I grew depressed with every passing day, and one day, about three or so years in, I just stopped. I stopped eating, stopped moving, stopped acknowledging the world around me. Howard, in a last ditch effort to save me, put me into a stasis of some sort. When he woke me seven years had passed and he had me evaluated."
Tony paused to take a breath then continued.
"I tricked them. Anything to get out of that fucking room. But Howard, he had one last trick to play. He knew I wanted to be free but he also knew that I had tricked the psychiatrists, so he offered me a deal. If I became his heir, I would be free to take over his company and do as I please. I took the deal."
Bucky pulled his lover out of Jeice's arms and into his own, pressing a chaste kiss to the man's temple.
"Think you can keep going?"
Tony nodded. "For a while, everything was fine. I posed as an alcoholic playboy and designed the weapons he wanted me to, and I was fine. I was still hurting but it wasn't as painful as it had been. It was like it was getting better. Howard and his wife were killed and I took over the company. Then Obadiah, Howard's business partner, sent me to Afghanistan to promote one of the company's latest weapons."
Tony stopped abruptly, shaking his head.
"I can't. Please, I can't."
Bucky soothed him, sunning a hand through his hair. "Shh, I'm here. Keep going."
"We were attacked and I was captured," He whimpered. "They wanted me to build them a missile but I refused. I didn't do it. I didn't."
"Shh, I know, darlin'. I know. Shh, Tony. No more tonight. No more."
The elder Salenyme brothers nodded in agreement, curling protectively around their distraught brother and his mate.
"Sh, we're here, Little One." Silas coaxed, gently removing his brother's bindings. The younger didn't even noticed, having immersed himself in Bucky's embrace completely.
"Just rest," Jeice added. "We're here now."
TBC…
A/N: So Tony's finally talking…but trouble is looming in the near future. Very big trouble.
