Disclaimer: I don't own The Avengers.
Note I: Hey! I know, I know, I should be finishing the last chapter of Doubts (which I should post by Tuesday) but I had the idea for this and I was pretty excited, so I wanted to know what people would think. Personally, though, I love writing in Stark's POV because that means getting inside his head, and it's just so much fun in there!
Note II: Just as a warning, there is a little bit of bad language in this, because it's Tony, and he wouldn't be in character if he didn't spout a few curses every once in a while.
That said, read on!
Stark Outlook
Chapter I: Capture
Tony was in trouble. It wasn't the oh-shit-I-pissed-off-Natasha-I-am-so-screwed trouble or even the oh-shit-I-pissed-off-Pepper-I-am-so-screwed trouble. It was the I've-been-abducted-beaten-and-tied-up kind of trouble. Granted, it wasn't the first time it had happened, and it wasn't as bad as the first time with respect to the fact that he pretty much knew what was going to happen. Also, there was the fact that this time, he'd only been shot in (well, grazed on) the leg. On the other hand, his situation wasn't exactly sunshine and roses.
He was in a cave (and wasn't that just fan-flippin'-tastic, he was having flashbacks already), and it was dark, wet, and cold. It wasn't doing anything to help his leg (which hurt like hell, to put it very mildly). He wished for the thousandth time in two days that he'd taken the superspies up on their offer of self-defense training, but between missions with the team, contributing important discoveries to the scientific community (aka fooling around with Bruce and Jane in the lab), and board meetings (he couldn't really believe that he went out saving the world and he still had to attend them) he just hadn't had the time.
Only his left hand was chained to the cave wall, so at least he'd been able to put pressure on his leg wound. He didn't like that the ceiling was so low or that the walls were so close together, and everything just seemed so cramped.
A couple of mooks strolled in, laughing. The tall one had an arm slung around the other's shoulders. Tony wanted to see their faces but they, like all the other guys he'd seen in this place, were wearing ski masks. The shorter one spat as they passed him, and Tony wrinkled his nose, pulling off an annoyed expression he'd been practicing for years. The mooks only laughed harder, so Tony switched tactics and chuckled along with them. "Real funny, right, guys?"
That shut them up for a few seconds, and they continued on their way into the maze of passages that all caves seemed to have.
He still didn't know what the hell they wanted him for. He could guess, of course, but it would be better to know for sure. Making weapons, maybe? Nah, they probably knew better than to let him have access to anything mechanical, and besides, they'd used state-of-the-art stuff to capture him. Money? Could be they were low on cash and wanted a ransom. Then again, if they wanted that, why hadn't they asked him?
His mind was replaying his capture on a constant loop. He'd been doing simple reconnaissance just to be safe, flying over what SHIELD had assured the team was a barren stretch of land in Egypt. (Why was it that the recon agents were always so damn wrong, anyway? He was starting to get why Clint and Natasha always complained about them.) The rest of the team had been finishing up a scuffle, and he hadn't wanted to leave them but the fight had been so minor that they hadn't had to do much convincing to get him to start the next stage of their mission.
One minute, he'd been blasting through the sky, scanning for any threats, and the next minute he'd been zapped by blue energy that reminded him unpleasantly of the Cube, and the suit had powered down so fast that he'd barely had time to head for the ground. He'd dropped the last six feet or so in free fall (if you ignored the air resistance factor, anyway), which had hurt. A lot. Then, about six guys had restrained him and ripped off the armor, and when he tried to make a break for it, they'd shot his right calf. That had hurt a hell of a lot more, and he must have blacked out because the next thing he remembered was being dragged through the dirt and handcuffed to the wall.
That had been about six hours ago. Maybe the team would have realized something was wrong by now, but he had no way of contacting them and they'd only have a general location to start with. He couldn't depend on them to rescue him, anyway, because they were on a very tight schedule, tracking a bunch of Chitauri-like extra-terrestrials who had delivered a pretty scary ultimatum (something about blowing up the Earth) to SHIELD a couple of days ago. So, he was going to have to get himself out of this, and the sooner, the better, because he had a bad feeling about whatever it was they were planning for him. His leg throbbed, sending waves of pain through his body, but he forced himself to think.
The minimal lighting in the cave was decreasing even more, so it was probably getting towards night. If he could just find out what their motive was, he'd be able to start making solid escape plans. Too bad info-gathering was Spider Woman's job.
Tony pretended not to notice when a man who looked kind of familiar (beyond the black uniform and ski mask, that is) walked into the cave from one of the winding passages. Maybe Tony recognized him because of the way he carried himself: ramrod-straight back (must've been military), right arm always near the gun at his side, chest puffed out slightly. Clearly, he had a high opinion of himself. Takes one to know one, Tony thought, a little bitterly.
The man approached him, stopping only a few feet away. Tony thought about what the others would do if they were in his place. Most of them (barring Thor) would probably decide to stay silent and let the tall man make the first move, but that wasn't really Tony's style. He looked up and forced a grin, hoping it looked like a grin and not like a manifestation of excruciating agony. "Hey! How're you doing?" He cringed internally when he heard his voice - it sounded more like a squeak.
The man's face - at least the part Tony could see through the mask, which wasn't much - didn't change, and he didn't say anything, either. Tony raised his eyebrows. "Okay, awkward silence. You know, that's okay. Some people are just socially incompetent."
That got a reaction - the guy's eyes flashed in annoyance. "Socially? Fine, I'll grant you that. But you take the prize for incompetence, Stark." He had a subtle accent that Tony couldn't place.
"I do?" Was all Tony could manage through gritted teeth. The pain was increasing, and the fuzziness at the edge of his vision was starting to spread. The only thing he could see clearly was the man's head, and even that was beginning to blur.
The man nodded, the picture of tranquility, although Tony suspected that there was a lot of emotion just underneath the surface - a lot like Bruce, and a little like Natasha. Only thing was, they knew how to channel their feelings (well, Bruce did, and at least Natasha didn't go around randomly kidnapping people). "You were shot straight out of the sky. You think someone with any measure of competence would have been captured as easily as you?"
Tony didn't get a chance to answer, because the man kicked his wounded leg with the hard toe of his boot, and unconsciousness grabbed him and dragged him down.
-Scene-
"It's not right," Natasha said. "He never shuts up; he'd never miss a check-in, if only because he likes hearing the sound of his own voice."
Bruce shrugged. "Maybe he just forgot." He knew Tony, and the man marched to the beat of his own drum. Something might have come up that he wanted to check out, or maybe he didn't have reception. Well, the latter one was a bit unlikely, but still. Just because he wasn't in contact didn't mean that he'd dropped dead.
"What, and then he 'forgot' to respond when we called him?" Clint asked, shaking his head. "Nope, Nat's right. Something's wrong." And there he went again, backing Natasha. Bruce was starting to think that Tony's hypothesis was right and that the two spies did have some kind of telepathic mind link.
Thor crossed his arms. "I agree with Hawkeye. Stark is missing, and we must find him."
Steve held up his hands. "Hang on, everyone. We still have a mission. We've got less than seven days left to locate and neutralize the aliens."
Right, the aliens. They apparently had super bombs planted all over the world, and they had vowed to detonate them because Earth was becoming too much of a nuisance. (The aliens had let Fury know about their plan because they apparently wanted humans to "cower in fear" during their last days.) It was nothing personal, though, they had told Fury - they'd done this to plenty of other planets. Thor had dropped in from Asgard less than an hour later, with reports that the same type of aliens were massing in other parts of the galaxy, and he'd confirmed that in the past, certain other planets in the far reaches of the universe had been rendered lifeless by mysterious explosions on their surfaces.
Natasha dipped her head towards Steve. "Point taken, Cap."
Thor and Clint shared disappointed looks, but Steve started to talk again. "That said, we're not going to abandon Stark."
Bruce let out a sigh of relief. Steve always had a solution. Thor nodded. "We will split up?"
"Exactly, Thor," Steve said. "Now, we're going to need to keep our strength on the alien tracks, so we can catch them and find out where the bombs are, and how to disable them. Bruce, Thor, and I will do that. Clint and Natasha, that leaves you to find Stark."
The spies exchanged a quick glance, then looked at the rest of the team. "Right," Clint said. "We'll have him back in no time." Bruce sure hoped so. While it seemed like the only viable course of action, he didn't like the idea of separating, especially not when the power divide was so large. He knew that the spies could take care of themselves, but sometimes situations got too big for them to deal with on their own. He worried about them (and the other guy did, too, when he was out and about). They were in much more immediate danger compared to the rest of them, because they were so human. They had said that they wouldn't have it any other way, but sometimes he wished it wouldn't be so easy to lose them.
"Good," Steve said. "But be careful. And I want us to stay updated on everyone's progress, so we'll stay in touch through hourly check-ins. That clear?"
"Yes, sir," they chorused, and started to prepare.
So, that's it for now. I hope you enjoyed it. I really appreciate reviews so let me know if you'd like to see more!