Sorry for the long wait between updates, I've put the following message on my profile but am also putting it on all my the next instalments of my fics because it has been a stupidly long time and you all deserve at least some explanation:

Update 19/10/13: I am aware I haven't updated anything for ages and thought you all deserved an explanation. Firstly, though, none of these fics are, or will ever be, abandoned. I've just got a lot on, I've just started the first year of A Levels, which is very stressful and takes up most of my time and I've spent a week abroad. As well as this, I'm struggling with very frequent migraines, so am ill a lot of the time so I'm finding it really hard to update. I'm hoping to get a few more updates out in the next week or so though. Thanks for your patience.

Love you all, DFTBA

-TheWordThief xx

Hope that helps explain things, I'm really sorry about the wait but hopefully everything will be sorted soon!

Without further ado then, part three:

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of the Iron Man and Avengers franchises or any part of the Marvel universe.

Part 3

"Stark. We need you to come in."

Tony almost drops the phone he's so shocked. Almost. But not quite. Because he's Tony freakin' Stark and he doesn't drop mobile phones in shock.

"Fury. How about no?"

He can practically sense Fury's glare down the phone and totally doesn't flinch. Because he's Tony freakin' Stark and Tony freakin' Stark isn't in the least but intimidated by Fury in his big black coat and matching eye-patch.

"I'm not fucking around Stark. This is serious. We need you to come in."

"Why?"

The barely concealed boredom drips from his lips like honey.

"It concerns the Avengers Initiative."

"The what? The Avengers Initiative? You mean that little superhero club I'm no longer part of? Or do I have to remind you Fury? I quit."

He feels kind of bad for being so scornful about the others but he pushes that aside. He needs Fury to understand. He can't just drop everything and come in anymore. He has Pepper. And no Arc Reactor.

"We need you to-"

"No. No. I quit. That wasn't a 'I'm just gonna take a holiday now guys'. That wasn't a 'I retire from active service but feel free to keep me on as a consultant, odd-job man or as back-up for when the rest of you can't do your job properly', that was an 'I quit'. As in for good."

There's silence on the other end of the phone and for a minute Tony thinks he's done it, Fury's finally accepted that he's gone and not coming back. Then there's a sigh down the other end of the phone and Tony knows with an awful sinking feeling that this is Nick Fury and he doesn't give up that easily.

"Tony. Please."

And Tony listens because even when Loki declared war on Earth and aliens came out of the sky, Fury had never sounded this desperate. This defeated.

So Tony listens.

And hears Fury tell him that the others are gone, taken, that he's the only one left.

'But I'm not even an Avenger! I quit, I fucking quit!' he wants to scream but he doesn't just nods dumbly when Fury tells him there'll be a plane to pick him before remembering he's on the phone and croaking out 'Ok.'

And then he hangs up and goes to find Pepper because he might be Iron Man, but she's the one made of steel.

"What the fuck is going on?" he demands as he walks, no, strides into the room.

"Ah, Stark, glad you could you could make it."

"Cut the bullshit Fury, why am I here? Where are they? And what mess are they in this time?"

No-one bothers to remind him that he's usually one of the one's in the mess.

"It was a routine mission. Should've been simple. But in retrospect it was too simple. Too textbook."

"It was a trap." He knows he's right and the words taste sour in his mouth.

Fury nods.

"Yes. They were meant to infiltrating a warehouse used by a minor extremist group."

"Let me guess, it didn't exactly go to plan."

"No. an hour ago, we received this."

He picks up a remote and points it at a screen, which flickers to life. Tony's heart turns to ice and he can't look away as the film starts.

Earlier…

Steve can't really remember where it all went wrong. One minute they were all in correct formation and everything was going textbook perfect. The next, they were surrounded, super powers and superior skill no match for surprise and sheer numbers. Bruce didn't even have time to change before he was rendered unconscious- clearly they wanted to get the most unpredictable threat out of the way first- and though the others fought, the surprise nature of the attack meant they were trying to make up lost ground from the start. Eventually, they all met the same fate as Bruce.

They came round chained to the wall of a small, dark storeroom. They've barely adjusted to the new surroundings when someone is pointing a blinding light at them and the small red recording dot of a camera starts flashing in the semi-darkness.

The film starts with darkness and a few indistinct noises. Then a light flashes on, a torch, though a powerful one, shone round what is now revealed to be a small, bare room. Bare, apart from the sickening glint of the flashlight on chains wrapped around the faintly stirring figures of his former team-mates. Tony feels sick just looking at the pain and confusion written clearly across their faces, though in seconds, that brief flash of vulnerability has been replaced with cold, steely professionalism.

The cold, steely professionalism mask stays firmly on as the kidnappers show they mean business. As they hit Steve round the face with his own shield, as they break each of Clint's fingers (Tony has to admit, that one was neat- he won't be able to use a bow properly for weeks.), drag Natasha up to the camera by her hair and threaten her with her knife. Clint almost cracks at that one but doesn't because the two of them are veterans at this. Tony watches this as it gets worse and knows it will be worse when they turn the camera off. When there's no-one watching.

The team's masks may stay on but his doesn't. And then come the words that strike a cold, dead fear into Tony's chest.

"Give us Tony Stark. Give us Tony Stark and his precious Arc Reactor and the rest can go free. If not…then how slowly do you think we can kill them?"

The film ends and Tony is aware that he is pale and clammy and has been since the lights went up on that sick show and he was reminded of a cave in Afghanistan, only this time, it is his friends who are in chains.

Fury looks at him.

"Stark. We're not going to hand you over. Whether you've quit or not, you're an asset. Or a liability in the wrong hands. Either way, we can't risk it."

Vaguely, Tony realises that Fury, the one who said he didn't play well with others, who wasn't suitable for the Avengers, has just called him an asset. But it doesn't matter.

"Give us Tony Stark. Give us Tony Stark and his precious Arc Reactor and the rest can go free. If not…then how slowly do you think we can kill them?"

But the Arc Reactor's at the bottom of the ocean.

Slowly Tony turns to Fury.

"I threw it away." He whispers, the full horror of what he's done hitting him like a bomb blast.

"I know." Fury replies.

"Then what." Tony asks numbly. "Do you want me to do?"

Hope you enjoyed it, please drop me a line to let me know what you think if you have a moment, I really appreciate it.

-TheWordThief