Okay guys, this is it! Second chapter of my story. Hope you enjoy!
He was pushed along through his own house, making sarcastic comments the whole way, until they reached the main area for the team to hang out, their giant living room of sorts.
Tony was quickly tied down. He went to call out to Jarvis to activate the bracelets when he realized he took them off for his shower. Dammit.
"So…where's the giant floating baby head?" Tony asked, "Jarvis, please feel free to call the rest of the team anytime."
"Jarvis won't be answering anytime soon, Stark." One of the agents with a fairly terrible voice modulator said.
"Oh, so now you guys are touching my stuff too?" Tony said, thoroughly pissed now, "Well, now I have another reason to kick your asses as soon as my team gets back."
"Oh, did I forget to tell you? They won't be back anytime soon either."
"Oh, because you're so big and bad that you not only broke into the single best security system in the universe, but you also took down Fury's five pet superheroes? How did you do it, by the way?"
Tony was no idiot. He knew that it would take more than just AIM to capture the Avengers. So either they were working together with a more powerful someone, or they were lying. Tony was leaning towards the second, because when did evil supervillians ever tell the truth?
"Oh, it was simple. After all, we have…leverage." The agent walked behind Tony's head, and he felt the icy metal of a gun metal brush up against the back of his head.
"No, they're a bunch a sentimental idiots. How did you get in here?"
"Ah, Tony. So closed off, so private…yet, so trusting. When will you realize that not everyone is your friend?"
Tony opened his mouth to give a comment somewhere between "I have no friends" and "About the same time you get off your ass and out of my face", but another agent dressed in the typical AIM yellow jumpsuit entered.
"Now, now, be careful. Tony Stark is not alive due to his skill, but the mistakes of others." The new agent said dismissively. It was obvious that these two ran the show, and Tony went over his options. He knew the tower better than anyone, having designed it himself. He knew exactly where each of the weapons were, and he could probably take a leaf out of Clint's book and take the air vents down to his armory. But that meant getting untied first.
"So, who do I have the honor of addressing? No doubt AIM has some new friends." Tony used the only weapons he could at the moment; his wit and his brain.
"You'll find out soon enough." One agent said.
"Haven't you learned patience is a virtue?" The other said. They looked so identical that Tony no longer could tell which was the first, and which was the second.
"Hey, are you two even male? In those suits, I can't even tell. Why do you even wear something like that? Sure MODOK has some kind of fashion sense. Where is the big floating ball of ugly, anyway?"
"MODOK is waiting. Something you seem to not have learned." One leaned too close to examine him, and Tony curled his lip.
"Why don't we just wait for the Scientist Supreme?" Tony was pretty sure that nervous-sounding one was the first one in the room. He tried to use the build of the two to identify them, but the suits were appropriately bulky.
"Master! Message from the Scientist Supreme!" A obvious underling ran into the room, barely looking at Tony. The agents took the letter, but not even a few seconds later, a second underling ran in, crying, "Message from MODOK!"
A few heartbeats later, a third ran in, but this time something was obviously wrong. Blood was running down a cut in his suit. Tony perked up.
"Masters! The Avengers, they…they're…"
"What? Spit it out!"
"A few of them died!"
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"No, no, no…no, this won't do at all." The non-nervous agent paced angrily, kicking Tony's chair (and Tony) when he passed the billionaire. Tony wanted nothing more than to strangle the men, or at least flip them off, but he was firmly in place.
"Fuck," He growled, when the man landed a kick on a place where he had already formed a nice purple bruise, "Do you mind?"
"DO YOU?" The man screamed, turning to him, "DO YOU ALWAYS RUIN EVERYTHING, Anthony?" His voice modulator did nothing to make him sound more pleasant, and Tony was pretty certain he was the kind of demented that even insane asylums give you the electric chair.
"Um, I'm sorry, have I inconvenienced you in some way? Here, why don't you fill out a complaint form, and I'll get back to you around…oh, how about…never?"
"Shut up! Just SHUT UP!" Tony's face was whipped to the side and the man finally punched him. He had been waiting for it all day, wondering when they were going to move past just letting him sit there and move onto the torture. That's how kidnapping/hostage situation usually worked, right?
It still made Tony's heart sink that it would be happening very soon. Soon, they would tire of his comments, or something else would happen, and they would take it out on him. Why not? He was basically helpless, and they needed to vent some frustration.
"If you need anger management, I know this person." He still managed to spit out, "I can hook you up, because I'm guessing that's better therapy than marring my handsome face."
The agent who had hit him took a deep breath. In fact, Tony wasn't even sure the nervous-one was even in the room.
Only one of the messengers was one the room, the last underling with the injury.
"Tell me what happened." The agent turned to him. Tony tried to look relaxed and nonchalant on the outside, but inwardly he was straining to hear every detail. If someone on the team really was hurt…
He stopped the thought right there. They weren't, and neither was he. Everything would be back to normal in a few hours, surely.
The underling glanced uncomfortably at Tony, and the agent waved his hand to continue, "Don't mind him. He's not going anywhere."
"There was a few people with them, master." The underling began, and instantly Tony began to sweat.
Pepper. Pepper Pepper pepper pepperpepperpepperpepper…..
How could he forget that they took Pepper with them? Was she…was she hurt? Was she dead? Not Pepper, not his redhead.
It became very hard to breathe all of the sudden.
"We tried to divert them, but they put up a fight."
"And?"
"We did all we could, but in the end, the one big green one was too strong. I'm pretty sure he's dead."
"Any others?"
"Maybe the redhead…" Tony actually blanked out for a few moments when he heard that before he remembered that Natasha was also a redhead, although that was hardly better, "and definitely the blonde one. He was annoying."
Blonde. That could be either Cap or Thor. Tony couldn't imagine either of them falling, and he had to remind himself to keep calm. There was nothing he could do, but Tony Stark has never been good at waiting. Patience was a virtue, but since when has Anthony Edward Stark been virtuous?
"I'm hurt," Tony heard himself say, "You didn't even bother to learn our names before you so kindly invited yourself into our home."
"I know you, Anthony, and that's all that matters."
"Okay, okay, enough with the flattery. Unless you're a hot girl under all those ridiculous suits, it's a little creepy. Even though I am awesome." Tony was well used to acting casual and sarcastic when under a lot of stress.
The agent seemed surprised at how well Tony was coping with the news of the destruction of the Avengers. Tony couldn't see it in his face, of course, but his tone inflected a little uneasiness. And that spoke a million more words than anything the agent and his underling could discuss.
"Are you not concerned about the fate of your friends? They died for you, after all." There it was, a little uneasiness mixed with cautiousness. The agent obviously thought Tony should be losing right now. Tony smiled grimly to himself. The team must still be alive then, by that reasoning. If they were dead, the agent would have no reason to be uncomfortable.
"Last time I checked, I was not the leader of this team. I don't order them around, they're big boys and girls. They can handle themselves. Well, most of them. I'm not so sure about Romanoff and Barton, can't keep their hands off each other for more than a few seconds…"
"That is not what I meant, Mr. Stark."
"Well, look who's getting serious! Should I call you Mr. The Agent now too?"
"Wouldn't you like to know what I did mean?"
"No, because this is the time where you go into that ridiculously long supervillian rant about 'revenge' and 'honor', and honestly, I've heard it all before. We can skip forward to the part where you make a stupid mistake, I escape, and you go to jail."
"They wouldn't have had to die. I had no problem with the Avengers. A silly notion that six people can save the world, but people want to believe in a higher power, as always."
"Is that you, Loki? Are you under all those layers? C'mon out, Reindeer Games!" Tony taunted him, but the idea was just the same as what Thor's brother believed in.
"No, I have a problem with you, Anthony. Believing getting rid of your weapons would help the world. Do you realize how many jobs you cost? How many more people died due to your sentiment? The US can no longer feel confident in her ability to win wars, Mr. Stark!"
"So, is this a personal vendetta or a public one?"
The agent finally turned on Tony, obviously angered by the genius's flippancy. The blow to his jaw was hard enough to send his chair toppling sideways, which bruised his shoulder too.
Tony shook off the stars quickly, wincing at the new wave of pain that was bouncing through his head.
"You, Mr. Stark, will prove your loyalty to the ever righteous cause of AIM and bow down to the man who makes Einstein look like a kindergartener, King MODOK the Absolute."
I want to take this moment to say that from here on out, the activities and goals of AIM are of my own invention. I'm pretty sure that no comic book writer would be this lame, but I wanted to do something different.
And if I haven't answered your review yet, I promise I'll get there! I love reviews since they really do help me know what the reactions to my story are. A favorite doesn't tell me much (but I like those too :D) Feel free to tell me if there is anything you want to see happen, and or any thing I messed up on. I am, in fact, made of carbon and water, so I'm sure there's a few!
Thanks again!