I just want to thank you all for the 2,000+ views. I really wasn't expecting this. Thank you very much.
To clear up a few things; things will come to light eventually. You find out when Steve finds out, so try and piece it together with him. It's meant to be confusing until things click into place, have fun with it.
This chapter contains some sexual references that may be a trigger warning. Please stop reading if you have to, or skip the first part. Thanks.
He watched as dirty hands grasped the silky skin. He could hear the muffled pleasured moans fill his ear and he wished he was blind and deaf.
Red hair was gripped in those hands, as the pig mercilessly grinded into her in front of him.
This was the fourth time.
Tony had given up shouting, telling Pepper to not subject to this, to go home, get help. His voice burned and he swore his throat was scarred with shouting for so long. Instead, his mind went blank as he watched her.
He never got to see her face.
She always wore a mask, it seemed the theme around here.
She wore one of those kids ones, the Iron Man one's that they sold.
He could hear her breath hit the plastic. She sounded like she was enjoying it.
He tried not looking, tried anything, fall asleep, knock himself out. But nothing worked. She'd moan louder, or the sound of skin slapping on skin got worse.
The pig grunted on her, hands over her body, which fueled Tony's rage to no end.
No pig should be allowed to touch Pepper.
Pepper was his once; he remembered her body well enough.
No one should know those moans, or the way her back arches. Not unless they loved her, took care of her.
Him and Pepper may have been through, but that didn't mean he didn't love her anymore.
He felt another part of him become undone as the pig dug harder inside her. They kept most of the clothes on.
Then it started. Tony banged his head against the concrete wall he was bolted in to. He did it over and over and over. It hurt, but black edges were starting to come across his vision.
Pretty soon, he couldn't see or hear anything.
Sail
VI
The Investigation.
Steve had walked into SHIELD, it was week 4 of the investigation, and since Tony's little incident on the sofa, he'd been able to eat a lot more – if and only Steve offered him the food and took a bite of it prior.
He still didn't speak a lot. But he answered sometimes. Said 'okay' or something a long those lines.
Fury decided it was enough to try and coax more information out of him whilst Pepper was under strict surveillance.
The psychiatrist never got so much as a peep out of Tony, but he followed Steve now without even being asked to. Stood never too far away from him and was quiet.
Today was no exception.
SHIELD had places everywhere, even a small office downtown. That's where Steve led Tony today. He'd taken Tony to more places. Parks, the zoo, even the small fair ground that dared to show up in the weather.
Tony just followed him, never got on anything, didn't feed any animals. He just stood near Steve, eyes down and distant still.
The weather had taken a dramatic dip and it was getting colder by the day. They where expecting snow soon. The cold always agitated the soldier. Brushed him the wrong way, but the snow itself was beautiful.
A lot of people thought he was afraid of it, or hated it. He didn't mind it so much as long as he wasn't frozen for another 70 years. He'd just made a life here.
Steve moved in, Tony not far behind. He gave a small smile to Natasha who waited at the head office. It seemed just like a police officers. Several small desks containing agents, but in more casual clothes.
Natasha mentioned something about this being a more intimate team, that SHIELD had them based in almost every major city. Like a network that fed information. It made sense.
"Steve, Tony." She nodded with a small smile on her lips.
"Natasha." Steve smiled warmly, but Tony didn't say anything.
"Hello, Tony."
"Hello."
They had to be direct with Tony. You couldn't speak to him and another at the same time. If you wanted a response, you had to be direct. Even then, he only responded to the Avengers. Never to anyone else.
They led Tony into a small boxed off interrogation room. Steve stood behind him as he sat down, and placed his hands on Tony's shoulder. He felt what tensed muscles where there - loosen at his touch and he let his thumb take in small circles across his shoulders.
Natasha sat opposite, leaning forwards and taking Tony's hands with hers. Fury had expressed that Natasha had already tried and failed twice to bring Tony to talk, and to bring in a different agent. But Maria had argued Tony's psych reports and how he didn't respond to anyone but the Avengers. Reluctantly, Fury agreed.
Tony was still dressed in warmed coat, scarf, and thick gloves he hadn't taken off. He wouldn't have even put them on if Steve hadn't done so before they left.
"Tony?" She said softly, her own hands taking warmth from Tony's. He didn't say anything, only lifted his eyes to her, which caused red curls to fall from her shoulder with a tilt of her head. "Can you talk about what happened?"
"No."
The response gave a short sigh from Steve, who found it hard not to say anything at all. He wanted to coax him, urge him on. A guilty part of the super-soldier told him that he was the most trusted out of all of them.
"We need to know, to stop the men who did this to you." She was gentle with her words, like silk. Like everything she said was just a safety net that you'd land on no matter what you confessed.
"Pepper." He replied dryly.
"We talked to Pepper, she said it wasn't her."
Tony's eyes glanced down, and he didn't say anything.
"Tony, can you tell us what they wanted from you? Why they took you?"
"They wanted to know about me."
"Why?"
"To break me."
"Are you broken?"
Silence after that. Steve had half wanted to stop her from asking. He could feel Tony tense up with each question, like locking himself away. They'd already gotten him to eat and drink (as reluctant as that might be) and he was making slow but good progress.
"Marble."
And Natasha looked confused. She allowed herself to show emotions on her face, be completely open with Tony. What she had on her face was real – not false. Steve could tell, he knew her well enough.
"You mean the cat, Tony?" Steve asked, leaning forwards if only a little to catch his face.
"In the box." Tony shifted his eyes to Steve. "Not alive or dead until you look."
"Schrödinger's theory?" Natasha frowned. She'd heard of it before, but what did that have to do with anything? "You want us to look inside your head to see if you are there?"
"No."
"Can you just tell us?"
"No."
"Why?"
"Because of Marble."
"I'm calling in Banner." Natasha admitted. She sat in what seemed like a mess hall for the SHIELD network agents, homely, warm but still too standard for Steve's liking. Too sterile. Too fake.
"You think that will help?" Steve asked quietly, pushing some food towards Tony. He took a small bite out of the tuna sandwich that was put before him, and had given it to Tony. Sure enough, Tony watched Steve, and then began to eat it.
"Whoever did this to Tony was really something." She watched Tony eat, the first time Steve had done it, she almost felt her eyes well up with some happiness. He wasn't looking so skeletal anymore. It was a good sign. "Tony is the sharpest mind I know. If he was able to break him like this…"
"Tony's leaving us a clue though." Steve expressed, letting his hands warm across his sweetened coffee. "The cat."
"That's why I'm calling in Banner." Natasha flicked a finger towards Steve, stating as-a-matter-of-fact. "He's the closest thing we have to Tony's mind."
Steve felt something riddle up his spine like jealousy. Bruce and Tony spent a few months in R+D, they'd gotten close, but eventually Bruce decided to travel a bit, knowing he had a home back where Tony was. He remembered Tony was 'upset' when he left.
He gave the stiffened collar look and just shut down any question when it came to Bruce.
"Yeah," Steve smiled simply. "Maybe he can help."
Natasha's eyes fell across Tony as he worked his way through the second half of the sandwich, those eyes still distant and staring down.
"Do you think we'll ever get the old Tony back?" She gave a small smile whilst looking at him. "Never thought I'd say I would miss him but…"
"We will." Steve said reassuringly. "We will because Tony's in there, somewhere. And he'll come back to us. Won't you, Tony?"
"Yes." Tony replied simply.