Note: For those who did, in fact skip the last chapter after my suggestion, or those who read it so long ago that you've half forgotten what happened (really, I'll try to get the next bit up faster, but then I say that every time and it still seems to take months…at least this chapter is a longer one than the last), Tony and his friends were kidnapped by an unnamed organization. The other children were given a tranquilizer so they'd sleep through it all but since Tony reacted so badly the last time someone gave him something, they didn't give him anything at all. They just stuck a wide awake Tony into a small box and carried all the children away. Later, one of the nicer kidnappers named Andrew lets him out, but a man in a yellow suit gets tired of Tony crying and has him put under since they have equipment to monitor him. And that brings us to this chapter.
Chapter 7
Tony wakes up in a white room and someone is holding him tightly and someone is screaming. Tony's brain is heavy and wants to fall back into sleep but someone is screaming and maybe they are hurt and maybe there's danger and maybe Tony needs to be awake. So he keeps his eyes wide wide open and looks at the white room. It's a small room and he can see a small child's bed that's empty and a white chest and a white Tony-sized table with two small chairs. There are windows high on the walls all around the room and one door. He doesn't see the screaming person. He thinks they must be in a different room.
"Shorty?" whispers a soft voice from behind Tony's head.
"Not short," Tony answers, even though his tongue is heavy and fluffy and not like a tongue is supposed to be. The person holding him lets out a puff of air that ruffles his hair. They lie together like that for a moment, and Tony listens to the screaming, and he doesn't go back to sleep even though his arms are heavy and his legs are heavy and his head is heavy and his eyes want to be closed.
"Who's screaming?" he asks after a long moment of not sleeping. The arms around him tighten.
"I think it's Bruce," the person behind him whispers, "or Natalia." The person sounds like Clint, and Tony twists himself around to look up at his face but he's too close to see anything but a grotesque parody of a face with three noses and one eye. The person who is probably Clint keeps talking. "Don't be scared, Tony, but we've been stolen. I woke up here and they told me I had to watch you in case you… in case you didn't wake up. Because tranqs make you sick. Do you feel sick?"
"I'm floaty," Tony answers, frowning. "They put us in boxes. You were sleeping. They were going to kill you if I made noise." Then suddenly he sits up because someone is screaming and screaming and what if they're being killed? What if Tony was bad and they decided he was too noisy and now they're killing his friend? They told him to be quiet and he wasn't quiet and they made him sleep and now someone is dying and it's all his fault!
Just as quickly as he sits up, his heart going thudthudthud, his brain goes fizzy and he's throwing up before he knows he's going to. He doesn't even lean over the bed; he just gets sick all over his front and the bed and Clint's hand.
Clint doesn't push him away though, he just kind of leans him over and rubs his back and says, "It's ok, Shorty, it's ok."
"Not short," Tony mumbles again when his stomach stops heaving but his voice is all raspy and his eyes all wet and he feels ill. He can feel his limbs trembling and Clint tightens his grip again, not letting go.
Suddenly the screaming stops.
They both freeze at the sudden silence and they listen and listen. Then the screaming starts again. It isn't really like someone screaming in pain but it goes on and on, high pitched and loud, even as muffled as it is by the walls.
Tony is feeling a little bit better now but he doesn't like the screaming. He covers his ears.
"Here," says Clint, "Let's clean up the bed if you're done being sick."
"Kidnappers don't like messes," Tony agrees. Clint climbs out from behind him and jumps to the floor. Tony starts to follow but he feels wobbly and suddenly he's lying sideways instead of upright.
"You can just lie there," Clint tells him, but Tony doesn't want to lie still and the bed smells and he smells and he doesn't like it. So he pushes himself up again and this time the world isn't too wobbly and he slides until his feet are on the floor. Clint stares at him but he doesn't make him get back on the bed. He just grabs the bed sheets and pulls until they're all in a big bundle in his hands. He drops them on the floor and wanders around the room. He goes to the door first and grabs the handle. Tony thinks the door will be locked but it opens easily. It doesn't go outside though. It goes to a small bathroom with a Tony-sized toilet and a too high sink and a shower.
"Oh good," Clint says when he sees the toilet and he uses it. The sink is just a bit too tall for Clint too even though he's a big kid but Clint just jumps so he's balanced against the rim with his legs swinging in the air. Then he can turn it on and he washes his hands, especially the one Tony was sick on.
"Where's the door to outside?" Tony asks while Clint makes him take off his dirty shirt. Tony doesn't know where the shirt came from. It's all white, or it was before he was sick on it. He also has on white pants, like pajamas. Clint has on white clothes too.
"Didn't see it," Clint answers and swings up to wet Tony's shirt, "They dumped you on me and said to watch you in case you stop breathing. I didn't see them leave. You were really really still." He swings back down and wiped at Tony's face. Tony squirms. He's tired of getting sick and needing to be cleaned. He also hopes there's another shirt in the room. It's a little bit chilly. And all the while there's the screaming from next door.
"I think it's Natalia," Clint says after a moment of silence between them after he's all clean. "She's probably angry. Hey, are you thirsty? Want me to boost you up so you can drink?"
"Yes," Tony answers because he is. So Clint tries to pick him up and Tony tries to balance on the sink like Clint did but Clint isn't really big enough to pick Tony up that far. Steve probably could have, and green Bruce definitely could have, but Tony did not think it would be a good idea to say so. In the end Clint kneels on the floor and Tony steps on his back and then his shoulders and then his head while Cline makes annoyed noises about Tony being too heavy. He doesn't say it in a mean way though and he doesn't drop Tony. Luckily Tony's arms and legs aren't feeling so shaky and wobbly anymore and he manages to climb all the way up into the sink. This is the easiest way because he's not good at catching water in his hands but he's ok at catching it in his mouth. He drinks a lot of water because his mouth feels yucky and he wants the yuckiness to go away.
"Hey," Clint says after a moment, "Do you think you could stand on my shoulders and see out the window?"
"I don't know," Tony says, because he still feels a tiny bit wobbly and he doesn't want to fall. But he wants to see who's screaming and the only way to do that is to be high enough to see through the window. But the numbers in his head say they won't be tall enough, even if Tony is standing on Clint's head.
"We're too short," he says to Clint. He thinks Clint might say something about Tony being too small, but Clint has a thinking look on his face and his eyes are looking away at the room. There are still two beds, one minus its sheets, and a chest and a table.
"I can stand on the table," he says. "You can put your hands on the wall so you won't fall and stand on my shoulders."
Then the numbers in Tony's head say that he would be tall enough. He still doesn't know if he can stand on Clint's shoulders, because just climbing into the sink was hard work and Clint wasn't even standing up. The person in the other room is still screaming. Maybe Tony is a little bit afraid to look. He doesn't want to see his friends dying. But if he never looks, then he won't know what is happening, and he really needs to know.
"Ok," says Tony. Clint helps Tony climb out of the sink and they go back into the other room.
Clint drags the table over and Tony looks inside the chest because he wants to know what's inside. What he finds are toys. There's a box of crayons and paper and a toy gun and a toy bow with arrows and some plastic dinosaurs and some blocks. There's also a pile of clothes and he finds another white shirt that's just his size and he puts it on.
Then Clint helps him up onto the table. They are both taller now and Tony looks up at the window and then he looks at Clint and he wonders how he's going to get onto Clint's shoulders.
"Here," Clint says, "Lean against the wall. Ok, now, step onto my hands." And he clasps his hands together in front of him. Clint has to bend his legs so that his arms are low enough for Tony to step. When Tony has a foot in his hands and is still leaning against the wall, Clint stands straighter, making grunting noises.
"K," Clint says in a funny strained sort of voice, "Climb up to my shoulders." He stands very close to the wall so that Tony can lean against it and not fall, and Tony puts his hands on Clint's head and pushes and Clint grunts and pushes with his hands and somehow Tony manages to go up and up and then his feet are up but his body is almost sitting against the wall. He has to use his hands to straighten up.
Finally, he's on Clint's shoulders and his head is level with the window. Unfortunately, he's standing the wrong way around.
"Do you see anything?" Clint grunts from below him.
"Not yet," Tony answers, and then his fingers find the window's edge and he holds on tight and tries to twist and one foot goes in Clint's face and Clint goes 'oof!' and then the other one hits Clint's ear, but Clint never yells or drops Tony so he's probably alright.
Then Tony can see through the window.
He sees another room. It is like their room, all white, except it has only one bed instead of two. It also has a grownup man and a grownup woman wearing lab coats and the man is sitting in a too small chair and the woman is standing and both of them look unhappy.
Standing in the middle of the room and screaming is Natalia.
"It's Natalia," Tony tells Clint, "She's just standing there and screaming. And there's two grownups."
"Are they hurting her?" Clint asks. His voice sounds better than when Tony was climbing him and kicking him in the head but it also sounds worried.
"No," Tony says, "They're just watching. She's screaming all on her own. The grownups don't look happy. One of them is waving crayons and paper at her."
"Do you see Bruce or Steve?" Clint asks.
"Not in this window," Tony says, and he turns his head to see if he can look through another window but all he sees through them is the ceiling and the top of a far wall. Everything is white.
Then while Tony is looking around, a wall slides open into a doorway and two lab coat people enters and a green suit person. The green suit person has white spikey hair.
"Andrew!" says Tony because he remembers him. Then Clint tries to turn around but Tony doesn't and his foot slips and for one terrifying moment he thinks he's going to fall and it's going to hurt.
Andrew catches him but it still hurts because he grabs his arm too tight. Andrew puts him on the ground. A lab coat man is frowning at them.
"There is no climbing on the furniture," he says sternly.
"Who are you?" Clint demands, jumping off the table and pulling Tony closer to him and away from Andrew and the lab coat people.
"We are here to talk to you," says the woman lab coat person, "And…ahem…Andrew is here to take Tony on a little visit."
"No!" says Clint, backing away and pulling Tony with him, "You aren't taking him away."
"Just for a little bit," the woman says, "He won't be hurt. I promise."
"Come on, kid," says Andrew, "it's okay." He holds out his hand, but Tony doesn't want to go with him. He wants to stay with Clint and to find Steve and Bruce and get Natalia and he wants them all to go home. He thinks Clint wants the same thing because Clint pulls Tony behind him and backs them towards the bathroom. Maybe if they get inside they can shut the door and no one can take Tony away.
"Come on, Tony," Andrew tries again and then gives the two lab coat people a helpless look because Tony won't go. Tony does not think he knows much about kids. Mr. Jarvis would be using the Voice right now if Tony wasn't listening to him. Even Daddy knows how to do the Voice and so does Mr. Phil and Miss Pepper. Mr. Fury is so good at the Voice that even grownup men listen to him. Andrew doesn't have a good listen voice.
"For goodness sake, Addams," says the lab coat man, and then he says to Clint, "Either we take Tony now or we drag him out, and if we drag him out we can't say he won't be hurt. Now, do you want us to hurt him, or not?"
"I think bad little boys need a spanking," says the lab coat woman, folding her arms, and she's very good at the Voice.
Tony doesn't want anyone to hurt him and he doesn't want them to hurt his friends either. Clint is being bad because of Tony and they're going to get mad at him and maybe they'll hit him.
"One," says the lab coat woman, "two…"
"I'm sorry, don't hit Clint!" Tony yells and he pulls away and runs to Andrew. He looks back and Clint is crying even though Clint is a big boy, but he's still very little next to the grownups and kidnappers don't like it when you cry. He looks angry but tears means he's sad or upset, and the kidnappers will get angry, and Tony wants to tell him to stop and wipe away his tears but he can't because Andrew picks him up off the floor and walks out the door before he can.
Leaving when Clint is crying makes Tony's tummy feel funny and unhappy, and now Tony is all alone with Andrew and he doesn't have any of his friends with him at all. He doesn't know if the kidnappers are hurting Natalia or hitting Clint or even where Steve and Bruce are.
"Shh, it's ok," says Andrew, and Tony clings. He wants to go home.
Andrew walks down white hallways and takes him into another white room. This room doesn't have any beds but it does have a big table with paper and crayons and a box in the corner and a man sitting in a chair. It's a big person chair so he doesn't look silly. It's the yellow suit man, and he's still wearing a yellow suit.
"Hello, Tony," he says and he smiles. The smile is all wrong on his face, and his eyes look Tony up and down and Tony holds onto Andrew tighter. It doesn't help though, because as tight as Tony holds on, Andrew is letting go and putting him on the floor.
Andrew leaves and shuts the door and Tony is all alone with the yellow suit man.
"Come here, Tony," says the man, pointing at a chair next to him, but Tony's feet don't want to move him any closer and his eyes don't want to look at the man so they look at the ground. The ground is white, like all the room, and tiled with squares. Tony's hands pull at his new white shirt and he can feel his flashlight in his chest and he remembers the angel lady who wasn't an angel and he tries to feel brave.
"Come HERE," says the man forcefully and Tony shuffles a little bit closer. The man leans over and grabs him by his shirt and drags him so hard that Tony's feet have a hard time following and standing under him. He looks up but the man isn't glaring or angry. He looks calm. That's scary because he's acting angry but he doesn't look it. Then the man lifts Tony up and sets him in the big grownup chair next to him.
"Do you know where you are, Tony?" the man asks him.
"Is it a lab?" Tony asks, because a lot of the grownups wear lab coats, and lab coats mean labs, and scientists who hold beakers of fizzing liquids and have bushy hair and do mean things to mice. The yellow suit man smiles at Tony.
"Close," he says. "This is a school, Tony, a school for very special boys and girls. You have to be very smart to go to this school."
Tony frowns because that makes no sense at all, and if they were supposed to go to school then Mr. Phil would have told them. But he doesn't want to say that because maybe the kidnapper man will be angry if Tony tells him he's lying. So Tony doesn't say anything and he just stares at the crayons. The crayons are familiar and safe and don't make his tummy feel fluttery or make his chest go so tight that his breathing hurts.
"In fact," says the man, "We're going to have a test right now. You want to show me how smart you are, don't you Tony?"
The man opens the crayons and pulls out a piece of paper to push in front of Tony. The table is too high so only the top of his head peers over, but the man doesn't offer him a booster seat or a phonebook to sit on.
"Let's start easy," says yellow suit man, "Can you count to ten?"
Of course Tony can count to ten. That's easy. He can count to a trillion even except it would take forever and ever to count that far. But he doesn't want to count for the yellow suit man. If this really is a school for smart kids and that wasn't all a lie, then maybe if Tony pretends to be really stupid they won't want him and he can go home.
"Go on," says the man, "Count Tony."
"I don't know how," says Tony and he tries to look at the man in the eyes and say it in his most factual voice so that the man will believe him.
"No?" the man answers with wide eyes, "Well then, how about the alphabet? Can you say your ABCs?"
"I'm sorry," Tony tells him, "I don't know how to do anything. I'm only four and, and, and a day. Just barely four. Only a tiny bit four. I don't know how to do anything. I'm stupid really. I don't think I'm smart enough for your school."
"Oh?" says the man, "Well that's too bad." He sounds sad and disappointed. Tony doesn't like disappointing people. It makes him feel a bad feeling like he is too small and he's going to fall into a hole and disappear and no one will look for him and he'll be gone forever. But disappointing kidnappers is a good thing so Tony doesn't feel small except that the table is too big and the chair is too big and the man is too big so maybe he is a bit too small.
"What about your friends?" asks the man, "Surely they are smart?"
"No," says Tony, "We're all stupid."
"Well, do you know what happens to stupid children at this school?" asks the man.
"Do they get sent back home?" Tony asks.
"No," says the man, "Stupid little boys and girls who don't know how to count or read or build get taken into the labs. If you can't take a test, you can be a test. Maybe we'll cut you open to look at your little arc reactor. Or maybe we'll see how long your green friend can run before he passes out from exhaustion. Or we'll see how long it takes all of you to heal if we hit you with a stick. It's really too bad you're too stupid to be in our school."
"We're not stupid!" Tony tells him, "I was…I was just kidding! We're really smart!"
The yellow suit man gives Tony a severe look. "Were you lying, Tony?"
"No...I was…I was just kidding," Tony answers quickly because lying is bad and grownups always get angry when you do it.
"Do you know what happens to little boys who tell lies?" demands the man, and Tony's heart is beating hard against his flashlight and what if he's going to hit him or say that all his friends are going to be experiments after all or he says he's going to kill them like he said he would when he first told Tony to be quiet and be a good boy. He doesn't want to answer but the man is staring hard at him so Tony shakes his head.
"Bad little boys who tell lies get punished," says the man, and he grabs Tony roughly under the arms and pulls him out of the chair. Tony squeezes his eyes shut and breathes hard and waits for things to hurt.
He opens them again when he's being set down on the ground. He is facing the hard white edge of one of the room's corners.
"Now," says the yellow suit man, "You stand there facing the corner until I say you can come away and you just think about what I've said. Then we'll have our school tests and after that will be dinner time and games."
The yellow suit man makes Tony stand in the corner without fidgeting or turning or moving about for a full ten minutes. Mr. Phil never makes him sit in time out for longer than four.
Tony thinks being hit might have been easier. The yellow suit man keeps starting the counter over again too if Tony moves, and Tony has to stand so forever long that his legs feel tired and achy and his tummy says its hungry.
At least his heart stops beating so hard, and he stops feeling all shaky and none of his friends are being hurt or experimented on. In the end the yellow suit man says the punishment is over and that Tony is a good boy. He still wants to go home.
