Chapter Text
“Golden child,
Lion boy;
Tell me what it’s like to conquer.”
Everything was great. Truly. The avengers had moved into his tower, (Tony dedicated a space for each of them upon their arrival) the world had not been stormed by the aliens yet again, and Pepper was back from her business trip.
But Pepper came back from the trip with tears clouding her eyes and a breakup on her lips. Everything wasn’t that great after all. And then the accords started to form and not only did most of the team turn on him, they continued to be in the tower. Which was fine, he wasn’t upset about that.
Except that he was. He was upset that he had to start seeing a therapist again because he couldn’t meet Steve’s eyes, couldn’t stand to be in a room when his best friend was there, and started to flinch when anyone came too close. Who probably would’ve been more helpful if Tony decided to go to the last three appointments. Rhodey was still recovering from the injury and Tony wasn’t mentally around to do anything about it. His mind just screamed guilt, over and over when he was talking to him. His brace idea started to work and James left him with space.
Then everything stopped being so great. Fury had the great idea to start some team bonding exercises, including designated work out times, movie nights, and fake kidnappings plus more. The kidnappings were just for the experience, so they wouldn’t get flustered when something actually happened.
Tony didn’t get the memo the first time. Nor the second or third. He didn’t like the disappearances of what used to be his friends. Not that he didn’t consider them friends now, he did, it was just harder to get any words out around them, harder to breathe and harder to think.
“It was just a drill.” Steve told him after his ‘kidnapping’. But tensions were high and Tony didn’t know that.
Still, he celebrated with him, Clint, and Natasha after theirs. He thought that they might’ve taken it as a rite of passage. Tony hated it. Every little part. Everytime one of them went away, a fist squeezed its way into his chest, crowding the room with the reactor. It didn’t work like that for them.
Those nights that his teammates were missing, he’d wake from nightmares, drenched in sweat and terror.
That’s why tonight he took a walk instead. His workshop was dirty, (he hadn’t left it in three days) and his mind was cluttered. Nobody was gone. In fact Nat just came back yesterday. Fury knew when to space it out so it always came as a surprise.
The night air was cold and biting and left Tony wondering why he didn’t bring a jacket. It was starting to turn from fall to winter, already? , but time flies when you aren’t so coherent most of the days.
Speaking of which, there was a freshly opened bottle of wine downstairs. He didn’t realize how far he was until the tower was short from the distance. Tony sighed before moving to go back. He walked past the shadows of the fountains on the grass, past the bed of flowers, past the other walkways that would’ve taken him farther away.
“I want to put all of that behind us. I want to still have a place here with you. I want all of us to.” Cap told him once, after the mess in the worst place on earth.
“Am I taking that away from you?” Tony had asked.
“I want us to still be friends., for all of us to be a team. I can’t do that without you,” Steve responded easily. In his eyes, they probably had made up. Steve most likely didn’t notice the flinches and periods of time where Tony hadn’t been seen. He wondered if the others thought the same. If they did, they didn’t say anything.
Not when Barnes moved into sight just behind Steve. Not when Tony could no longer look up, instead focusing on his shaking hands pouring the coffee he no longer wanted. Not when his chest tightened and his breaths came short and fast. Not when he spilled the littlest bit of the drink on the counter and then retreated out of there without the mug.
The air was much more friendly inside.
“Sir, there’s an intruder in the tower.” FRIDAY informed him and the rush of panic flooded his veins again.
“Where? How?” He kept his suits downstairs, but the wrist bracelet was on him. (He resided to never take it off again after Siberia. Never again would he only have one suit at the ready.) But Tony didn’t even get to tap them to life before everything went black.
*^*
There wasn’t any part of him that wasn’t pounding. His wrists hurt the most, with his knees at a close second.
Opening his eyes only increased his headache, but it was something that needed to be done sooner rather than later. The room was just barely lit, a dull white light blinking poorly at the top. It was small and empty, nothing on the walls or the floor except the door, which had no visible handle from the inside. There were cuffs binding his hands together, hanging on a hook that resided above his head. His knees, which had now gone numb, rested on the floor and most likely had since he got here.
This wasn’t the first time he found himself in a position like this, and it definitely wasn’t going to be the last. His neck hurt from the position of his drooping head.
Tony moved his legs slowly into a different position to make standing up easier, and to his surprise, the cuffs had only been on his hands and not connected to the wall. He took a better look around the room, after the first day, he usually didn’t have this much freedom.
But no fruit was to be found and his first conclusion was proven correct: the room was bare.
They had found Steve in a padded room smiling at them when they finally arrived, not cuffed. Next, Clint was in an abandoned prison cell. And Natasha was in an apartment building’s basement. All of which seemed pretty amused when the rest of them burst through the door. Tony was not amused. He was pretty far from it.
“Fury! Get your ass out here, I’ve got more important shit than this every month for the rest of my life!”
There wasn’t a chuckle from behind the door, or footsteps coming closer, or an intercom system sparkling to life. He didn’t give it up; relentlessly calling sentences more panicked than the last. It didn’t take long for the dizziness to be replaced by anxiety and nausea. Thank god he didn’t have anything in his stomach, otherwise he’d have to establish a shit corner a lot sooner.
“ Nick, this isn’t fucking funny! I don’t care if it’s just another drill, let me the fuck out! ”
This time, footsteps ran quickly towards his door. The door creaked open as three guards in black armor stormed in. This wasn’t what he was expecting. He should’ve asked Clint how his went, of course he would’ve only replied with ‘confidential’.
One of the guards stood rigidly in front of the door, others on his sides. Suddenly, Tony had a feeling this wasn’t SHIELD at all. Not Fury or his agents. Did they wear black? He couldn’t remember. His chest was tightening again, a first literally squeezing the air from his body.
“Where’s Fury?” His voice sounded smaller than he remembered it being, though he willed his face to remain the same.
They didn’t answer. Tony asked again, more demanding now. Still nothing.
“Tell him I’m done playing his stupid games. I’m out.”
“Ooh you’re not done playing anything,” The intercom buzzed. “In fact, we haven’t even started.”
Nothing could get worse, he concluded. I’ve hit rock bottom.
“Who are you?”
“Mmh.. don’t recognize this voice?” An idiotic question, at best, because the intercom was clearly older than Tony himself and was it so staticy he wasn’t sure how it worked at all.
He didn’t respond, wracking his brain for past ‘enemies’.
“Oh come on! There can’t be that many people.” The man seemed genuinely upset. “I went to prison for crimes I did not commit. You had your girlfriend arrest me. The expo?”
Holy shit.
“Justin Hammer.” He said finally, voice strong and loud.
“Ding ding ding! That’s the one. Do you know what a guy like me does in prison? Money doesn’t get you out of that place quickly, you know.”
“Yeah I heard it’s a real bummer in there, say how did you get out?”
“I’ve got new friends Tony. Better friends. I won’t make the same mistake twice. You’ve made sure of that. Now, you’re going to suffer everything I had to. I’ll make sure of that. Go ahead boys.”
Before he could think of a retort, the guards started to advance. Tony tried to put his chained hands up in defense but it didn’t matter. Taser lights came and connected to his chest quickly.
He fell to the ground still twitching hard.
*+*
The pain must’ve been too much because the next time he comes to, a cold breeze hits his bare back. He registers faintly that there are hands everywhere and not enough clothing. Although his mind is foggy, he feels every moment of skin on skin contact.
He can feel the hands trailing down his back and upper thighs. Grunts and moans fill the air along with skin connection. He can’t take it. He really doesn’t want to.
“Come on, Stark, you had more than that in you right?” A round of laughter crowds around him. His body is flat on the ground now, any erection long past over, and a puddle of warm liquid squirms down his legs.
His eyes are still firmly shut as the tears break free, running hardly down the sides of his face.
“Stop,” he moans weakly, earning another round. Something like chains holds his wrists in place, another across his feet. He flinches heavily when hands start to pick his back up again, back into a half kneeling position. “Stop,” he pants again, shaking.
“Come on, you can’t tell me you didn’t enjoy it? Look at what we’ve done together.” They don’t listen, taking turns to run their dicks into his ass. Grunts and groans take the air again.
Tony shuts up quickly, not wanting to make it any worse.
“Let’s see if he can go another round boys,” One of them chuckles.
*+*
“Fearless child,
Broken boy;
Tell me what it’s like to burn.”
(-via Maddie-bane)