"Wait! Wait!" the Doctor exclaimed, wriggling in his chains. The creature stopped, one eyebrow raising. "Okay, look, I know you're scared-"
"I am not scared!" it hissed, lip curling in a menacing snarl, "I am never scared!" The sword in its paw gleamed.
"Okay, okay." The Doctor took a deep breath, exchanging a quick glance with Tony, who was watching with large eyes. "Yes, I'm all of those things. But they're just names. Now, why don't you tell me yours?"
The cat-like creature paused, shifting; sword still in hand. Its gaze flicked between the door and the Time Lord before settling on him.
"Tyro," it responded roughly.
"Right. Since I can't just call you an "it" the whole time, I'll just stick with "he." Makes things much easier," the Doctor said. Tony looked with appall at him.
"Don't make him angry! He's obviously a boy!" Stark shouted.
"Um, no, Tony, actually. . . Zyriuns aren't male or female. They're kinda, well. . neither." The room went silent. Tyro took a step towards Stark, a blank expression on his face. When he was only an inch away from him, he stopped. Then without warning, his hand reached up and took ahold of the Arc Reactor. His claws unsheathed and dug into the skin around it. He then yanked the Arc Reactor right out of Tony's chest with a sudden motion, the whole violent act taking no more than a few seconds.
Tony gasped, his pupils shrinking. His chest heaved. Blood dripped down and stained his t-shirt. He let out a long shuddering sigh and fell unconscious.
"No! Tyro!" the Doctor yelled, struggling violently in his bonds.
The cat looked back at him. "What?"
"You can't take that! He didn't know!"
Tyro raised an eyebrow. "He must pay for his insolence."
"But he'll die without it!" The Doctor looked at the man chained next to him on the brink of death. "It's the only thing keeping him alive."
"Hmm. . ." Tyro seemed to ponder this, rolling his eyes around in his head. "Nah." A tail-hand came up from his back and grabbed the Arc Reactor from his paw.
"Please? Come on, what do you need that for?"
"Meh, I don't know." Tyro shrugged, then approached the Time Lord. A grin then made its way over his face. "Unless. . . I get something from you, perhaps. . ."
An eyebrow slowly rose on his face. "Uh, what would that be?"
"I don't really know. . . there's never been a Time Lord here before that presented themselves in such a manner. Maybe some physiology lessons are in order."
"What kind?"
"Just regular. Heart, brain, lungs. . stuff like that." Tyro grinned maliciously.
"I-I guess. Just put that back in Tony and fix it," the Doctor said uncertainly.
"Nuh uh. After," Tyro growled.
"He'll die in a few minutes. You have you put it back now."
Tyro glanced back at the unconscious human that was paling every second. ". . Fine." He walked over to Tony and stuck the Arc Reactor back in his chest, tuning it back to glory before healing the wounds from his claws with a single flourish of his paw. The color returned to Tony's cheeks and he relaxed, going slack against his chains.
The Doctor smiled slightly, but it vanished as soon as Tyro turned back to him.
"Now," Tyro started, his voice gaining a hint of malice, "I'm going to go converse this matter with my boss. I'll be back shortly." He swung himself around and opened the cell door, exiting. The metal door slammed shut with a clang.
"I think- I'm think I'm gonna go unconscious. . ." Barton muttered, his face bright red. Natasha looked at him.
"Just stay awake. I'm going to call for help," the agent told him. She looked at the cell door, trying to see if there was anyone- or anything- that could help him. "Hello? Is anyone out there? We need some help in here!" She rattled her chains.
"Silence in there!" a loud, gruff voice snarled. Natasha retracted, her fists clenching tighter.
"Can you just put him right side up?"
"What did I just say?" A face appeared in the light that was emanating from the door. Natasha put on her best "please help me" face and made tears well up in her eyes.
"Please! I don't want him getting hurt! Please. . ." She released a tear from her eye and looked at the creature.
It glanced between her and Clint, whose eyes were now barely open. Giving a loud, bored sigh, the brown-striped cat started unlocking the door. A belt of keys hung from its waist, jingling as it entered. It headed towards Clint. Before anything could happen, however, Natasha's boot-clad foot came up and knocked the alien in the jaw, a cracking sound echoing in the cell. The cat fell to the floor, hitting its head and laying motionless in an ever-growing pool of blood.
"Clint?" Natasha's eyes roved to the man hanging upside down in chains. He was unconscious. She blew out a breath and navigated her feet to the cat laying in blood. She maneuvered her feet to grab the keys it had dropped, then kicked up, sending the keys into her waiting hands. Her eyebrows were creased in concentration as she fiddled with the key. Her diligence was rewarded with a resounding click. Giving a small smirk of satisfaction, the Russian spy felt herself drop to the stone floor. A small splash of blood spattered across her boots and the surrounding stone. She grunted and shook her boot.
"Okay, Clint, let's get out of here," Romanoff mumbled, stretching up to unlock the chains. Forgetting totally about catching him, Clint fell into the blood and dust littering the ground. Natasha sighed. She then reached down and picked the unconscious man up under his arms before slinging him over her shoulder. With him in that position, she wobbled towards the prison door.
Now that Banner was calm, the three assessed their situation. They had no access to their weapons or anything. They were stuck.
"What are we supposed to do? We need a plan," Steve said.
"We're on an alien planet. Chained up. There is no way we can get out alone. We'll need help," Fury said.
"I'm not sure of the amount of help we'll get from the Doctor. He's in the same situation as we are," Bruce added.
"We can't just sit here and wait, can we?" Steve asked.
"And you won't have to," Natasha said from outside the cell door. The three men glanced up at their savior.
"Natasha? How'd you manage to escape?"
"A little thing called women's charm, boys." She unlocked the door and then set Clint down in a corner before moving her way to the other's chains.
"Is Clint alright?" Fury asked, rubbing at his wrists where the chains had chafed away at his skin.
"Yeah," Agent Romanoff responded, casting a glance at the downed agent, "just knocked out. He was upside down. Not sure why, but yeah."
"Okay then."
Rogers peeked out into the hallway. He returned with a smirk on his face. He looked over at Natasha. "I can see you've already taken care of the enemy." The two other men exchanged glances and looked out into the hall. What they saw was a bunch of cat bodies littering the floor.