New York 4am
It had been nearly a year since anyone had seen Tony Stark. The Avengers thought Tony had run of crying since he wasn't an Avenger anymore and had told Friday to not speak to them because they hadn't heard from her in just as long. But it wasn't until 11 months 3 weeks 2 days and 13 hours that they were clued in on where Tony actually was. But whos counting, right?
"This better be good if we're being woken up at 4 am" grumbled Clint. All the Avengers where in various degrees of exhaustion, they had had a massive battle yesterday which had failed spectacularly (nearly every battle had failed since the disappearance of Iron man) and they were all still banged up and tired from. However they all woke up slightly when Fury and Coulson walked in concerned. When something visibly concerned the two super spies it meant that it was really, really bad.
"What's happened, Sir?" asked Nat, Fury looked grim.
"Hydra" everyone stiffened "we resently found a new base in Afghanistan, right in the middle of the desert"
"Then we need to go and destroy it" said Steve casting a look at Bucky. Coulson gave him an unimpressed glace before continuing on from where Fury stopped,
"That's just it. It was destroyed half an hour ago. By one of their captives no less"
"If it's destroyed why do we have to know about it," yawned Bruce. Fury paused, seemingly lost for words, that meant this was very bad.
"We have photographic evidence that that the captive in question is Stark."
Afghanistan 12:30 pm
It had been nearly an hour since Tomy had managed to blow up the Hydra base and escaped. Since then he had been wandering the desert, coming to terms with the fact he will probably die, especially considering the fact it was freezing and the state he was in. Tony's right arm and wrist were completly broken. His left arm was curled protectively over his chest where a prototype arc reactor had been jammed by some hydra goons. On top of that, during the explosion a large piece of debris had smashed him across the head nearly knocking him unconscious. Also Tony knew that Hydra hadn't just been physical, that had also tortured him psychologically has the only things he remembered in great detail were the past few months he had been held captive. All his other memories were distant, as if he was looking at them through muddy water. A noise from over head snapped him out of his thoughts. A jet was flying through the sky at a great speed, it hovered for a moment before coming to rest on the ground. Two men jumped out, a third close behind. Tony didn't move. He knew that he knew these people but again, it was like the memorise where just out of reach. However, looking at them, all he felt was betrayal and pain meaning they had done something bad to him. They definitely weren't as he could remember every hydra soldier who had been at that base and also none of them wore the symbol. All of his instincts were telling him to run, but he was exhausted and in agony. He kept his face blank and eyes guarded, a skill he had perfected during his time at Hydra. They had always hated it how he never showed the pain he was in. Tony just waited and excepted his fate.
When Rodgers looked out of the helicopters window and saw the small figure of Tony Stark, he couldn't help but feel relief. As soon as Fury had broken the news that Tony had been taken by Hydra they had all pushed away the negetive emotions they had for him, no matter what they felt for he they had never wanted him to be tortured by Hydra. So they had all jumped into action. Friday had managed to track Tony to a desert in Afghanistan. Rhodey looked sick when he heard that Tony was in Afghanistan. The first person out of the jet was Rhodey. He may have ended his friendship his friendship withTony but he couldn't help that is intinct took over seeing his once best friend standing injured in the same desert Rhodey had resuced him from in 2008. Steve was close behind him and they headed straight for Tony who was just standing there with a blank expression and distrust in his eyes, he resembled Bucky when he was still Hydra's puppet too much for Steve's liking. Just before they reached Tony his legs gave out and he sat heavily on the sand, clearly battling for consciousness. Rhodey reached him first and pulled him into a hug. Tony flinched away at first but seemed to tired to pull away so he leant into the embrace. Rhodey then pulled Tony up by his unbroken arm and placed it over his shoulder so he could help get Tony to the jet. Steve hovered on the other side but Tony leaned as far away as possible from him. They never imagined that their actions could have harmed Tony so much.