Tony woke up slowly. His head felt like it got split in half, kinda like one of those mornings after those "cocktail" parties he used to attend just to have the excuse to drink til he was sure his liver would suffer from it later on. A groan escaped him as he tried to move his head, his neck barely being able to support the movement, and even though his eyes weren't even open he could feel as if the room was spinning around him.

Someone somewhere was saying something, but the ringing in his ears made it impossible to understand. The lights seemed blinding when he groggily opened his eyes. He saw shapes moving around him, blurry shadows that made vomit pool at the bottom of his throat when he tried too hard to concentrate on them.

"Hey…" Tony tried calling them, but his tongue felt too heavy.

He realized that he was sitting on a chair, and moved his hand to rub at his temple but he was still not strong enough to pull up the weight of his arm. He tried again and froze. It was not the effects of whatever drug they used to subdue him.

He was restraint.

Luckily, his surroundings were finally coming into focus. The shadows moving in front of him turned out to be three different men, all in complete SPEC OPS suits, or something of the kind. They had automatic rifles pointed down.

Tony figured asking for his suit would be pointless if they managed to rip it out of him. Meaning FRIDAY was as compromised as he thought. So his priorities right now were; escape, find his suit, and get the fuck out of wherever they were being held. They could figure out the logistics of the how once they were alone to discuss it.

They? Tony was suddenly completely awake, and turned to look around the room, panic rising quickly. And realized, with a heavy weight on his chest, that Steve wasn't with him.

"Stand up, walk, do not make attempts at escaping, we will kill you." One of the men said, startling Tony.

He tried to mask his panic. And scolded himself for even thinking they would even consider putting both Avenger leaders in the same cell.

"I'd raise my hands if I could." He quipped instead. The man hit him over the head with the barrel of the rifle, and Tony groaned at the pain added to the headache he already had. Keeping his mouth shut was probably the best option.

"Stand up, we won't ask again." The two men behind him raised their rifles towards him, and Tony had no other option but to obey.

He followed them down a set of very long corridors. Each corridor had around 10 metal doors on each side, it looked like a prison, if said prison was made of just isolation chambers. It seemed painstakingly clean, with pristine white walls and pristine white floors, the smell of disinfectant and chlorine was consistent, permeated in the air. It made Tony feel uneasy.

A logo was imprinted in most of the doors, as well as embedded in the guards uniform. It was very simplistic, a circle with three arrows pointing to the inside and a line surrounding it. An acronym could be read under it; "S.C.P.". Tony tried not to feel distraught at the notion that he couldn't, for the love of anything, recognize it.

"Where am I…" He whispered to himself.

One of the guards snorted, but quickly composed himself. Tony gave him a side eye, wondering what was so funny, but chose not to speak just because he wasn't fond of being hit again.

The walk had now been a serious 5 or 6 minutes and it was becoming pretty repetitive. They kept walking through more corridors, the doors becoming more sparse as they seemed to cross important thresholds that led them to other areas of whatever this facility was. They stepped on an elevator and Tony noticed how the numbers were placed on the buttons from lower to higher, which meant they were underground.

After a few minutes the elevator opened to another similar corridor. This one had just one big intersection, leading to three different steel beam doors. The guard in front leaned in front of what appeared to be a facial recognition software. A small compartment opened below it and Tony couldn't believe he was about to enter the password with him so close before he felt another sharp pain in the back of the head. He groaned and fought to keep his balance. When he turned he was faced with the muzzle of a rifle pointed uncomfortably close to his forehead. And at that moment it dawned on him that whoever they were dealing with, were far more dangerous than he originally thought.

They stared each other down and Tony heard the password being accepted by the security system and the screeching, thunderous sound of the door opening. The guard gestured with his rifle and Tony turned to continue following.

After another corridor, they entered a very large empty room, here were no windows, just one door at the very other side of the room. Two chairs were placed not that far away from where they came in.

"Sit." The guard ordered.

Tony complied, and after one of them locked him onto the chair, the three men stood behind him with their rifles trained to the ground.

"He's here." One of them probably said into their comm.

He sat in complete silence. The restraints on his wrists didn't feel weak at all, but he still had to hold back the temptation of testing their strength, the hair at the back of his neck rising as he felt the guards stare boring holes into it.

After another couple of minutes of hearing his own heartbeat, he jumped at the sound of the door opening, and immediately slumped over, a small laugh leaving him, when he saw Steve being escorted into the room.

Tony was about to speak when he felt the muzzle of the rifle, yet again, pressed against his head. "Don't say a word." He heard.

Still, he turned to look at Steve. Who looked fine, mostly. Only a split lip and some bruising at the side of his head were showing. The restraints he had were more complicated, and Tony figured there was a reason for that. He had a military shackle, with cuffs around his wrists connected to other ones around his feet. Small cuts splattered around Steve's knuckles, with dried blood plastered around them. Which explained the four guards around him, three of whom were constantly aiming their rifles at him.

Steve sat down next to him and raked his eyes over him. He kept his scowl through it, even though the tapping of his foot incessantly against the floor betrayed the fake stoicism. He didn't try to say a word to Tony. Steve, too, had probably learned that keeping his mouth shut was the only option.

Like the other guards, once they finished locking Steve into his chair, they stood behind him with their rifles pointed to the floor. Tony heard the same words uttered by another guard into their comm, and they were back to being submerged in uncomfortable silence.

Fortunately it didn't last too long, the door in the far end of the room opening. Two men in lab coats entered first, followed by a small ensemble of guards.

The first one was a ginger, he had glasses on and wore his coat like it was a jacket. His posture relaxed as he carried a smile on his face. Tony almost flinched when he saw his eyes, which were red. But what stood out the most about him was the necklace he wore. It had a gigantic golden pendant holding a massive red crystal in the center. It shined extremely well under the fluorescent light.

The second one was lean in comparison, seemingly a head taller than the first one. He had some scars around his neck and jaw, and he carried himself with a perfect sense of professionalism, he even carried a stack of papers in his hands, a perfect pen sitting in the pocket of his lab coat. His face was devoid of any emotion.

Tony raised both of his eyebrows at Steve, who just frowned at the scene developing in front of them.

After a couple of seconds another set of guards entered the room, and following closing behind came in-

"Fury?" Steve uttered.

Tony felt like his eyeballs were going to pop out of his sockets as he stared at no other than the director of SHIELD, his boss, someone he could even consider a friend, coming into the room.

With his chin up high, and hands behind his back, Fury looked like he always did when he was in for business. He spared a small glance at them, and didn't show any sort of amiability towards them. It made Tony's blood boil.

"Now that we are here, as per your request, Dr. Bright." Fury started, the ginger one, Dr. Bright apparently, nodding at his acknowledgement. "Would you please be so kind to explain to me why you have two of my most important agents under your custody?"

It was the tall one that spoke. "Mr. Stark caused a breach in our communication system." He said reading one of his documents. "He found our communication channel and decrypted it. We found the source quickly so we could retrieve him and contain the breach before it would become worse. But, upon our personnel getting there, we learned he had shared said delicate information with Captain Rogers."

Fury raised an eyebrow at him. "I thought you were good at handling minor breaches."

Dr. Bright was the one to answer to him. "If you think that the leaders of the Avengers knowing this type of information isn't something I'd prefer to handle with my own hands, then you underestimate our interests very poorly." He grinned.

Fury lips thinned quietly. He breathed through his nose, as if just hearing Dr. Bright speak got under his skin. "Ok. Stark caused a 'communication' breach, so what?"

Dr. Bright's grin turned wider. "Please, Director Fury, acting coy won't help this situation. You must know the gravity of this." He said "This is, afterall, a violation of our contract."

The last word took a moment to settle into his brain. Tony remembered very well how it felt to be betrayed by someone close to him. He, now, just chastised himself for falling back into thinking he could ever trust someone enough to place his life into their hands. Obie taught him well enough to know how stupid that mental state is and where it can get you.

"Also, you must know," Dr. Bright continued, "Captain Rogers is very lucky to be here with us right now, given the fact that he tried to escape and killed one of the guards assigned to him."

Fury glanced at Steve, who in turn just stared him down. Tony had the feeling they were going through a very similar thought process.

Fury turned back at them, and breathed in deeply. "What do you plan to do, then." He asked, jaw set.

Dr. Bright dismissed him with his hand. "Don't look so worried." He said." We'll simply contain the breach, and everything will go back to normal."

"And, how exactly are you going to contain it, Bright?" Fury retorted.

Dr. Bright visibly brightened. "Well, Nick, it's simple really. First, you'll surrender Captain Rogers to us-"

"I beg you pardon?-"

"Where he'll become another SCP, contained in one of the facilities where we store humanoid anomalies, under the care of Dr. Gears, of course." He gestured to the other Doctor before continuing. "Regarding Mr. Stark, we have two really simple solutions. The first one being; we kill him right here, after this conversation ends, and the breach is contained at the instant-"

"What?" Tony spat.

"- And you make a press release, stating the absence of both leaders. Or, we give him a powerful amnestic, return him to the compound, and you'll make the same press release sans Mr. Stark."

Tony started struggling against his restraints. "You will certainly not give me an 'amnestic'. And you will absolutely not take Steve-"

"Tony-" Steve started.

Panic was settling in the forefront of his nerves. "I won't let that- We won't let it-"

"Stark, it would be extremely wise for you to shut the fuck up right now." It was the first time Fury fully acknowledged any of them.

He closed his mouth shut. Tony had never seen Fury's eyes look so hard. He almost looked… defeated.

Fury turned away from them again and a full long minute passed before he spoke. "I want to speak to the O5 council."

The tall one- Dr. Gears- blinked at Fury, as if he had said something idiotic "You may certainly not. The council has much more important business to attend to than this petty problem."

Fury's head tilted up. "Problems like Kondraki?" He said.

Dr. Gears froze, Dr. Bright turned his head quickly at the statement.

"Don't act so surprised" Fury continued "Of course I knew about the containment breach. I've been monitoring it for a week now. And I certainly know that you wouldn't give a shit about whoever is inside and would've destroyed the place with the size of this breach if it weren't for the fact that someone down there is important." Fury gave into a coy smile, and turned to Dr. Bright. "It also is your facility, isn't it Dr. Bright?"

There was a very important part of this conversation that Tony and Steve were being left out of. An underlying sense that they were standing on top of a floor about to collapse into an abyss. Tony couldn't seem to wrap his head around many of the things they were speaking about. But it all seemed too saturated in this empty room. Tony turned bug-eyed to catch Steve's expression, who was just looking more and more confused by the second.

The strain on Dr. Bright's figure was noticeable from across the room. There was something building up inside him, it could be seen on his tense posture, the fists on his sides tightening. Tony was ready to see him punch Fury but instead, Dr. Bright smiled, full teeth on show.

"You know what?" He said, almost laughing. "I just had an idea that may benefit us both."

Fury tightened his lips. "Oh yeah, and what is that?"

"Let's negotiate. You want your agents back, you can have them, but we ask something from you." He gestured. Fury stared at him unwaveringly, at no sign of any answers Dr. Bright opened his arms. "What? Don't you trust me?"

"With all due respect, Dr. Bright. No, I don't." Fury sneered.

A cough interrupted their conversation, Dr. Gears stepped forward, narrowing his eyes at his counterpart "Dr. Bright, I highly suggest we don't deviate from our standard protocol." He said matter-of-factly "Especially not when we have more important matters to attend to."

Dr. Bright raised a hand to stop him. "Gears, let me finish and then I'll accept your input."

Dr. Gears assessed him for a second and nodded at him. Who in turn just turned his smile back at Fury, and encouraged him to speak.

"What is it you want?" Fury asked.

"A rescue mission." Dr. Bright answered simply

"A rescue mission?"

"Yes. What I want is for them to go get Kondraki back to us, safe and unharmed."

Fury fully gaped at the man for a moment. After turning to Dr. Gears for an answer, he went back to Dr. Bright. "Are you out of your goddamn mind?"

Dr. Bright's smile turned impossibly wider. "Literally speaking, yes." And he gestured to his pendant.

Tony was suddenly very interested in that necklace, which only seemed to be incredibly brighter by the minute, brighter than any other type of metal, let alone gold, could ever be. As he looked at Dr. Bright, at the way he carried himself, at the red that seemed to reflect from his eyes whenever they hit the shallow light of the room. The thought that, maybe, Dr. Bright, wasn't even human formed in his head. Tony felt his stomach drop and turned to Steve, wanting to see if he saw it too, but he was too invested in the conversation happening.

Fury blinked, and spoke again after a moment. "They wouldn't survive an hour down there."

"Come on! The world's most intelligent person coupled with the best strategist and his strength? You have less faith on your team than I thought." And, bizarrely, punched Fury's arm in a joking way, all while Fury stood there and just stared.

Dr. Gears stepped forward. "Dr. Bright, this will be a complete waste of our time, and nothing guarantees that Dr. Kondraki will come out alive from this as well." his voice laced with the slight undertone of exasperation.

"Maybe. But we will be saving a lot of our resources and military personnel, plus we'll be making a displeasing situation into a useful one. It'll no longer be a waste of time, and if it works, we could extend our contract to other means and ends." He shrugged.

"Dr. Gears, please think." Fury interrupted. "This will not benefit anyone or anything but the amusement of Bright."

As no one spoke up, Fury's eyes jumped between the other two. Tony fidgeted with his restraints. He seemed desperate, and that didn't bode well for anyone in this situation. Specially theirs.

The room was filled with silence. Dr. Gears and Dr. Bright were staring each other down. Tony wondered if they were communicating telepathically. And he was almost 80% sure of that when Dr. Bright's smirk directed towards Dr. Gears turned wolfish.

Dr. Gears' gaze slided towards them. He seemed to assess them, before turning back his gaze at Dr. Bright and breathed deeply before speaking.

"I refuse to participate in this. Dr. Bright, if this is what you think is better, I won't stop you. But don't expect me to be a part of this. If this 'plan' of yours fails to bring Dr. Kondraki to us, I will not defend you against the Overseers." He warned.

Dr. Bright's smile didn't waver. "Is that a yes?" He said, looking at Dr. Gears from under his glasses. After a moment of not getting an answer, he turned to Fury "Perfect! Do you agree on this, Director Fury?"

Fury's jaw was tight. "It isn't much of a choice, is it?" He snarled. After a few seconds, he looked at Steve and Tony, and he looked sorry "You should ask the ones heading to their death sentences, not me." He said quietly.

"Sure!" Dr. Bright smiled.

Tony felt the need to run as soon as he saw him starting to step closer to him. He squashed that impulse down, opting instead on glaring at him. Dr. Bright stepped uncomfortably close to him, squatting down so his eyes could be at the level of his.

"Mr. Stark, do you agree on the new terms and conditions?" He asked, almost politely. Upclose the red undertone looked vivid.

Tony made a show of looking him up and down. "Nice necklace, what's your soundcloud username?" He smirked.

Dr. Bright cackled. "That type of snark will surely help keep the group morale up once you are down there."

"I haven't agreed to anything." Tony retorted, ignoring how put out he felt by the sound of his laughter.

"Not yet." He quipped, wagging his finger as if reprimanding a child.

Tony glared at him. He really wanted to snap that finger off with his teeth.

"What makes you think I'll even consider playing your game?" He grinned.

Dr. Bright stepped back, smile always on his face. "Hmm, let's ask Captain Rogers what he thinks then."

He stepped towards Steve and bent down slightly this time, since Steve was almost his height sitting down.

"Captain Rogers." He began, "considering you are lucky you are alive right now after the stunt you pulled back at the cell, what do you think of our arrangement?"

"I don't negotiate with terrorists." Steve answered simply.

Tony seriously wanted to slap the righteousness bullshit out of him, especially right now, when he didn't need to be polite at all.

"And I thought you were the rational one here." Dr. Bright lamented, and stepped back.

He backed off and started walking around with his hands behind his back, like he was surveying the room, before stopping dead center in the middle. Dr. Bright stares at them for an uncomfortable minute, and neither of them look away. Then he makes a small sound of amusement and his smile is back on his face.

"Okay, let's try again, shall we?" He said and then did a small signal with his hand, which made every single guard in the room point their rifles directly at them "You either do what you are told or you will get killed at the spot."

"What-" Tony choked.

"You have 10 seconds-" Bright ignored him, and started counting "10… 9..."

"Dr. Bright I think this is utterly unnecessary" Fury protested, his hands up.

"8…"

"Are we now lowering ourselves to threats?" He barked.

"7… 6..."

Fury was screaming at this point. "Bright! Do I need to remind you we have a contract-"

"Which you broke- 5 and counting, boys."

"This is low, even for you- "

"4… "

Fury took a step forward "Stop! Bright, I accept it-"

"You said it yourself, their decision- 3…"

"2… "

"FINE! I'LL GO" Tony blurted. He was panting, and he could feel Steve's eyes boring holes on the side of his head. "I'll go, no need for this whole dramatic showdown you just did." He continued. "Just let Captain Rogers go- "

"Are you insane-"

"Don't worry Captain" Dr. Bright interrupted, "You both have to go." And he walked back towards Dr. Gears, hands in pockets, nodding with his head towards the door they came through.

"Before this all of this starts," Steve announced, but he wasn't looking at Dr. Bright, looking directly at Fury "We'd like to speak to Fury… alone."

"Of course." Dr. Bright complied, waving his hands at them as he walked towards the exit. "Let's get going." He stopped before the door and offered another smile to Fury. "Nick, always a pleasure doing business with you."

"Can't say the same." Fury snarled back.

And with that, Dr. Bright was out of the room.

Dr. Gears also stopped in front of Fury. "We will be waiting for you. The guards outside the door will escort you to the conference room once you are done. The armed men stay here in the room with you. You have 10 minutes." He stated. "Release them" He ordered the guards.

And finally, they were left alone in another horrifying silence.