Chapter 9

Tony and Clint are very good boys for breakfast, even if Tony feels so hungry and empty that his tummy says it doesn't want food. It's funny because Tony didn't know that tummies did that. He thought being really hungry meant he would want to eat everything. Instead he felt sick and small and shaky.

He holds in the horrible sick feeling and eats his porridge. He sits up tall, and he holds his spoon just like Mr. Jarvis always tells him to instead of in a fist like he thinks is better. Neither of the boys wrinkle their noses or ask for sugar or make a mess. They smile and say 'thank you very much' and 'Mmm, yummy. You must tell us the recipe for this porridge', and 'I love how grainy it tastes.'

After breakfast, when the scientist teacher people come and tell them to play with the toys, Tony obediently plays with the toy bow and arrow while Clint plays with the blocks.

"Don't you want to play with the arrows, Clint?" the scientist woman asks. "I heard they were your favorite. Why don't you let Clint have a go, Tony, and you can try building something with this. Look! We have robotics for you to play with! Why don't you try building a dog?"

Tony and Clint look at each other.

"No thank you," says Clint. "I don't like shooting things. It's very violent, isn't it? I prefer creating things."

"No thank you," says Tony. "I don't care for building things. I enjoy destroying them." And he shoots at Clint's block tower with an arrow. The arrow misses and both boys smile politely and Clint continues to stack his blocks.

Next door, a very hoarse voice starts to scream.

"Clint. Tony." The scientist woman is not happy and she has to talk loudly to be heard over Natalia. "Good little boys play with the toys they are given."

"I'm sorry," says Tony, "I didn't know we had to play with those toys. I'll build a dog."

"I'm sorry," Clint says, "I can shoot things if you want me to."

Tony gives Clint the bow and arrow and goes to where electronics and other parts are laid out. Clint shoots at his block tower. He misses. The scientists attempt to smile. They aren't very good at it.

Natalia stops screaming. Everyone pauses in the sudden silence. Then the thumping starts. It's quite loud. The science teacher man strides over to look through the window. He's tall enough to look into the next room quite easily.

"Ah," he says. "It seems your young friend has taken to beating her table with her chair."

"And aren't Roberts and Troy going to put a stop to it?" the woman asks. Her smile is very odd, like it's trying to be a frown.

"I believe they're hoping she will wear herself out," the man answers.

"She could do with a good spanking…don't you think, boys?" the woman asks, her smile hardly a smile at all now. Tony and Clint look at her.

The thumping goes on and on. Natalia does not seem to be getting tired. Clint shoots all of his arrows at his tower. He misses. Tony puts together his dog's legs. When he presses the button to make them walk, they all walk in different directions and the whole thing falls over.

"Tony," says the woman, keeling down to look at his dog, "Are you sure you are really trying hard? A smart little boy should be better at making robot dogs."

"I'm playing a game," answers Tony. "I'm making a backwards dog."

The woman frowns. She is probably going to tell Tony he is being bad. It makes him feel funny, because it feels scary and happy inside his tummy at the same time. He really doesn't want her to hit him and he really, really doesn't want to be in time out. His legs still feel achy and hurty and he doesn't even want to stand up. He tries to smile at her and show her he's a very good boy.

Clint shoots her with an arrow.

"Oops," says Clint. "I don't think I'm very good at arrows. I'm sorry Mrs. Teacher."

"Call me Mistress," the woman answers sharply. She isn't smiling at all now. Her eyes are shifting between Tony and Clint.

"And call me Master," the man says, making both boys jump a little bit. He doesn't loom like Mistress does so they almost forgot he was there.

The secret door slides open and the nice kidnapper is there.

"I'm to take Tony to the lab?" he says.

Clint and Tony look at each other. Clint doesn't cry this time or try to hide Tony behind him. Tony stands up very slowly and takes small, painful steps.

"Why are you walking funny?" Mistress demands. Now her voice sounds angry, but her face looks smiley. Tony does not like her at all. She is confusing.

"My legs are all hurty," Tony answers. "I think it's because I stood forever and ever yesterday."

"Well," she says, still smiling, "If you are a good little boy, that won't happen."

"I am a good little boy," Tony tells her, and he tries to smile really big so she will think he means it. "And so is Clint."

Tony walks very slowly and carefully into the hall and then Andrew picks him up and carries him. They go by windowed rooms, turning twice, and then through some doors into a big room with people in yellow doctor robes with doctor masks. There's a hard bed covered in paper and Andrew puts Tony down on that.

There are more hard beds and white curtains and lots of cabinets and bright lights and things that belong in doctor's offices. On a nearby bed, there is a small boy who is sleeping and he has wires taped to him. On another bed, there is an older boy who is sitting up and he has a red tube coming out of his arm.

"Steve!" Tony says, "Bruce!"

Bruce is still sleeping but Steve looks at him. Steve looks really pale and tired and his eyes go very big when he sees Tony sitting on the hard paper bed.

"Tony? Are you alright? Have you seen…"

"Shush!" a yellow robe doctor shouts and Steve stops talking. Tony doesn't talk either because he is still being a perfect angel, but he nods his head at Steve and tries to smile so Steve won't be upset. Tony doesn't know if he's very good at smiling, though, because Steve doesn't smile back.

The yellow robe doctor who said 'shush' walks up to Tony and looks at him, but he has a grownup look that means he isn't really looking at Tony. He doesn't look at Tony's face anyway. He looks mostly at his chest, where the flashlight is glowing through his shirt. Then he looks at a yellow robe doctor woman.

"I want full vitals first," he says, "Then let's see what we can get when it's still in the subject's chest. It's a pity they want it alive; I'm sure I could get a much better look if the subject's body weren't in the way."

Tony is glad they want the flashlight to be alive too, because he doesn't want to lose it. It's his gift from the not-angel lady. He thinks he'd have a very hard time fighting monsters if they took it away. Also, Dr. Shaw said it was his heart protector, and that sounds important. Tony doesn't want to have a sick heart.

The yellow robe doctor woman puts Tony on a scale and does doctor things like looking in his ears and inside his mouth. She isn't a very good doctor. She doesn't talk to him at all like Dr. Shaw does, or explain anything, not even when she puts the squeezy thing on his arm that goes really really tight on top of his arm, the arm that's still a little bit hurty and yellow, and he wants it to stop.

He doesn't say a word, though, because he's being a good boy. He just tries to smile really really hard and maybe makes an ouch sort of noise. Steve doesn't know about how they are acting good, though, and he does talk.

"Stop it!" he says, "You're hurting him!"

"Shush!" says the doctor man again. Then the squeezy thing stops squeezing his arm and the doctor woman takes it away. She writes things down and she doesn't give him a sucker and Tony has to smile really hard so he doesn't miss Dr. Shaw and home.

He has to sit on the hard paper bed for a long time while the doctor people look at their machines and look at sleeping Bruce and ignore him and Steve. Steve and Tony look at each other but they don't talk. Maybe Steve realized they are being good.

Then the doctor man comes over and says, "Get his shirt off," and no one waits for Tony to pull off his shirt, hands just grab him and yank roughly at his shirt until they force it over his head and off his arms. Then both doctors are staring at Tony's chest. Tony doesn't like it and he wants to put his hands over his flashlight but he doesn't think that would be being good. Instead, he digs his fingers into the paper and it makes a wrinkle noise but no one says hush this time. They just stare at his flashlight and the doctor man reaches out and touches it, gently.

The door opens and the yellow suit man walks in. He looks at Tony and at the doctor people and he smiles.

"Are you being a good boy, Tony?" he asks.

"Yes," Tony answers quickly. "We're all good."

"Glad to hear it. Dr. Travis? What's this I hear about you requesting our young genius's presence?"

"You promised I'd have a go at the reactor," the man answers. "If Iago gets to play with the super soldier serum, why can't I study the reactor technology? Everyone knows robotics is the future, not biology."

"You'll get your turn when I say you do," yellow suit man answers, and he doesn't sound angry, but the doctor man looks away anyway. Tony wonders if the yellow suit man is going to make the doctor man stand in time out.

Instead he looks at Tony again, then at Bruce and Steve.

"You can keep the little monster here, at least until you know how to stop his little green problem from happening. I want these two in the playroom. It's time we have some lunch, and then lessons."

The doctor man looks so angry that Tony thinks he's going to shout or say they can't go, but he doesn't say anything.

"Well, come on!" the yellow suit man shouts. Steve slides off his bed then, except the red tube is still stuck to his arm, and Tony realizes the yellow suit man is shouting at them. Tony has to slide off his bed too, and it's really high up and when he drops onto his feet it feels like he landed on something really hard. He thinks it's the wire he hid in his shoe from his robot parts.

The doctor woman takes away the red tube from Steve while Tony pulls his shirt back on. She isn't very good at it because his arm is bleeding. She sticks a Band-Aid on. It's the boring kind without any cartoons.

"Come on!" the yellow suit man tells them, and he wants them to walk really fast because his legs are really long and he doesn't like going slow. Tony tries to walk fast too, but his legs are stiff and achy like someone hit them, except no one did. The foot with the wire is not nice to walk on, either.

"Stop with the sniveling!" the yellow suit man says, "Do I need to put you in time out again?"

"His legs are little," Steve says, "I can carry him and go really fast."

"You will not!" says yellow suit man, "He needs to learn to move faster. If his legs hurt, it's his own fault."

Tony clinches his teeth very tightly to try and not make any noise. He makes jogging steps and tries to keep up. Steve looks like he's clinching his teeth too. Tony hopes his legs aren't sore.

They go into a nearby room. It is the same sort as the bedroom, except instead of beds there's just a long table and shelves of toys and art supplies and boxes. Clint is sitting at the table. Natalia is there too. She isn't screaming or hitting her chair. She's sitting up and smiling like a good little girl.

Mistress from their bedroom is glaring at Natalia. The other man is a new scientist man and he looks very tired.

"Well," says the yellow suit man, "I've found our wayward students. Let them have lunch and we'll start our afternoon lessons."

"Are you sure they should be allowed together?" Mistress asks, her voice low and angry and hissy.

"Nonsense," says the yellow suit man, "I want them to learn to work together. They are a team aren't they? And besides, you've observed them. They're proper children. Ready and willing to be molded to our cause."

Tony, Steve, Clint and Natalia are perfect angels all through lunch. They smile and they sit up and they say 'thank you' and 'please'.

After all, this may be their last meal for a long while. So they clean their plates and they look at each other and they smile. Yellow suit man doesn't watch them eat. He comes back after they are done.

"And are you ready to learn and be good little children?" he says.

Tony looks at him, and suddenly all his lunch feels really heavy in his stomach. He swallows. Kidnappers don't like it when kids cry or throw up or make messes or when they don't listen and do as they are told. And so Tony knows that yellow suit man is about to become very angry. That's scary. But somehow, it's also very, very hard not to laugh.

"I'm sorry," Tony says out loud in Russian, "I've forgotten English."

If being good is never good enough, then it's time to try being very very bad.