A/N Once again thank you guys so much for all of the reviews! For those of you who are wanting a lot of Tony!whump don't worry I will not disappoint. There will be plenty of Tony getting hurt. For those of you wanting Clint!whump, there will be a decent amount of that too but not until later chapters. Also I had a few people ask when Clint is going to wake up. Don't worry he will but it will be a little bit later on in the story.
Now, in this chapter we need to focus on the rest of the team. But never fear, Tony and Clint will be back in the next chapter. :)
Thanks to the awesome Maralexa for the excellent beta!
Chapter 4
Natasha set the quinjet down on the deck of the helicarrier before she, Bruce, Steve and Thor disembarked.
"I wonder what all of this is about," Bruce said.
"I don't know, but let's find out," Steve replied as they headed toward the bridge.
They practically burst onto the bridge where Fury and Coulson were in deep discussion over something. They looked up at the team's arrival.
"What are you three doing here?" Fury asked Bruce, Steve, and Thor.
"I brought them," Natasha said.
"You weren't ordered to do that," Fury snapped.
"Tony and Clint are part of our team. If they're in trouble, then we're going to help," Steve stated.
"What makes you think it's about Stark and Barton?" Fury deflected.
"They went on a mission, and we haven't heard from them, and they're not here so it stands to reason that something happened," Bruce said.
"How did you know they were on a mission?" Fury asked, starting to grow frustrated with all of the information they seemed to have.
"They called and told us before they left," Bruce answered simply.
"Doesn't 'classified' mean anything to you people?" Fury asked, exasperated.
"We're a team. We don't keep secrets about important things like that," Steve explained.
"So what is going on?" Natasha asked, bringing the conversation back to the subject at hand.
Fury and Coulson shared a look before Phil heaved a sigh and began filling them in.
"Tony and Clint were on assignment in Afghanistan. They had completed their mission and were about to head back when there was a surprise attack. Clint was knocked out and before Tony could get to him, their attackers grabbed him. They threatened to kill Clint if Tony didn't cooperate," Phil explained.
"Phil, where are Tony and Clint?" Bruce asked, already knowing the answer.
"They're gone. They've been taken captive."
"By who?" Natasha asked.
"We don't know that yet," Fury interjected. "But we're working on it."
"We've got search teams on the ground," Phil added.
"What do these men want with our friends?" Thor asked.
"We're not sure of that either, but it can't be anything good," Phil replied.
"Well, what do we know?" Steve asked irritably.
"We know—"
"Sir, we are receiving a video transmission," one of the SHIELD techs said to Fury.
"Not now!" Fury snapped at the interruption.
"Sir, it was sent by someone claiming to have Mr. Stark and Agent Barton," the tech said.
Six heads snapped up, instantly alert.
"What are you waiting for? Put it on!" Fury ordered as he and the others turned to the monitor.
The screen was blank for a moment before an image flickered onto it. They all froze at the sight before them. On the screen, they saw Tony standing in the middle of a room shirtless, with his hands tied to some chains and hanging at chest level in front of him. He was a little rumpled with a split lip and a bruise on his face but otherwise seemed to be fine. There were two masked men in the room with him and as they watched, a third masked man entered and signaled one of the other men, who began to crank a handle on the wall. The chains rose and a minute later Tony was dangling about a foot off the floor.
With another unspoken command from the third man, the first two moved forward and began beating Tony. They pummeled his chest, stomach, and face for several minutes. Through it all, Tony refused to make a sound, only grunting occasionally. At one point, one of the men landed a particularly hard hit to Tony's side, causing the billionaire to let loose a muffled cry of pain.
After a few minutes, the third man signaled them again. They stepped away from Tony, allowing the viewers to see the billionaire's state. Tony had a bloody nose and his lip had reopened. He had a cut on his cheek and another bruise forming on his jaw. His torso was already bruising and one rib looked out of place, probably broken. Tony hung there, panting.
"That all you got?" Tony said.
The third man, who was obviously the leader, held out a hand and goon number one placed what looked like a coiled up strap or rope in his hand. Bruce suddenly sucked in a sharp breath, causing the others to look at him.
"What?" Natasha asked, worried that Bruce might be losing control.
"It's a whip," Bruce said, his voice barely above a whisper.
The others' faces took on looks of horror as they looked back at the screen. There was a loud crack as the leader popped the whip, causing those on the bridge to flinch involuntarily.
"I can't watch this," Bruce murmured, but he didn't look away. He felt like he would somehow be betraying Tony if he did.
So instead he watched as the leader whipped Tony, causing grunts and cries of pain to come from his friend. He watched as the whipping ended and the chains swung and twisted slightly, turning Tony just enough to get a glimpse of his bloody back before he was turned back around again. Bruce felt a little green and not in the Hulk way. One look around the room told him he wasn't the only one.
His attention was drawn back to the video as the two men that had beaten Tony suddenly walked off screen and returned a moment later holding something in their hands. It didn't take the team long to realize that the objects were knives.
"Is there any chance that's for cutting some cheese to go with some wine?" Tony asked.
Those watching the video couldn't help but roll their eyes. It was just so Tony, throwing out insults, angering his captors, and being an all-around pain in the butt.
Goon number one moved over to Tony and without warning swiped the blade horizontally across Tony's chest. Tony grunted but otherwise held his tongue. The second man brought his knife down sliding the blade across Tony's chest right below the first cut. Again and again the knives cut Tony's skin, until he had six cuts across his chest.
Through it all, Tony somehow kept quiet, refusing to give his captors the satisfaction. It wasn't until the sixth cut that he let out another muffled scream. The goon pressed the knife to Tony's torso but this time he didn't just cut Tony. He slid the blade painfully and agonizingly slowly across Tony's ribcage, making the cut last as long as he could.
Finally the guy stepped back and Tony relaxed just a bit. But as soon as the reprieve came it was gone, as goon number one dumped some kind of liquid over Tony's shoulders, causing it to run down his back and chest. Tony let out a horrible, agonized, bloody-murder scream.
Those watching the video realized with sickening horror that the liquid that had been poured over Tony's open wounds was in fact isopropyl alcohol.
"Sorry about that. We don't want your wounds getting infected. Now do we?" the leader said with a tone of amusement in his voice.
Just about everyone in the room felt their blood boil; even those who weren't particularly fond of Tony felt anger rise up in them. No one, regardless of how irritating, or self-absorbed, or how big of a jerk they were, should be submitted to something like that. And if the people who didn't like Tony felt that way then it only took one look at the four Avengers in the room to feel completely terrified. Even mild mannered Bruce Banner had such a dangerous and frightening expression—the likes of which could rival even the Hulk himself. The dark and murderous expressions on their faces made every last person, including Fury (though he would never show it or admit it), feel extremely glad that they were on the same side as Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
To the immense relief of the viewers, a few minutes later Tony was lowered back to the ground.
"I believe Mr. Stark has had enough for now. Go get Barton," the leader ordered.
Tony came to life again. His head jerked up, and he glared at his captors with a fire that the others were used to seeing in Tony but that had been disturbingly absent since the start of the video.
"You can't! You said you would leave him alone if I submitted!" he cried hoarsely.
The others stood, stunned. Tony had apparently willingly submitted to the treatment in order to protect Clint. He was doing that, going through all that pain, for Clint. The others didn't know whether to be proud of the snarky billionaire or angry at him for being so self-sacrificing.
The leader paused a moment before holding up a hand, stopping the goons. "I did say that, didn't I?" he said. "All right, Mr. Stark, your friend is safe. For now."
Tony seemed to almost pass-out with relief. From what Tony and the leader had said, the others guessed that Clint must have been all right, or at least they hoped so. But the fact that Tony had managed to sacrifice himself for Clint worried them a bit. They knew the archer well enough to know that he would have fought kicking and screaming before letting Tony face torture.
They knew from Phil that Clint had taken a blow to the head, and they were concerned to say the least, since they had no idea how serious the injury might be. Obviously Clint was still alive, but in what condition, they didn't know.
Back on the screen, the two goons picked Tony up and dragged him from the room. Then the leader walked toward the camera until his face filled up the screen. Although they couldn't see anything but his eyes, those watching swore the man smiled before the screen went black.
Everyone stood, shocked and horrified, staring at the blank screen. It was almost completely silent, and the only sound in the room came from Bruce as he breathed deeply in search of control of his overwhelming rage. The silence was eventually broken when Fury spoke.
"Do we know where this was sent from?" he demanded of the techs.
"We're working on it, sir," the tech who had played the video said, "but it was bounced all over the world before reaching us. We're trying to back-trace it, but it's going to take time."
"Make it sooner rather than later, Agent," Fury commanded angrily. "And start on a voice analysis on the leader's voice. See if it matches any we have on file."
"Yes, sir!"
"Fury," Bruce said, surprising the others. He almost never addressed the director by his name alone. "You had better find them or I will. Even if I have to let the other guy destroy every city in the world one-by-one until they're found."
Without waiting for a reply, Bruce turned and walked out of the room, murderous anger rolling off him in waves. No one doubted the sincerity of the scientist's words.
Let me know if you liked it! :)