Snowflake von abgemeldet ================================================================================ Kapitel 10: 10 - The Iron Retriever ----------------------------------- "Aaaah, careful! You're hurting me." Natasha frowned in concentration, willing herself to ignore the pain. "I'm almost in, steady now. Stop wriggling!" If he had known she would be such a sissy about this, Clint would have refused, he told himself. But then again, she had always known how to get everything she wanted from him. Loki sat beside them, his face showed mild interest in their activities, he did not feel the need to join them in it, though. "There, got it.", Hawkeye finally exclaimed, holding a tiny piece of equipment in a pair of tweezers he had just pulled out of a tiny wound in Natasha's ankle. "Some piece of advice. Don't let anyone tag you. Way too easy to be used against you." "Well, let's just hope it got as fried in the teleport as our little test suggested." "We couldn't trace Stark's phone after he was taken, right? "But it still worked, he called his AI." Loki shifted in his seat, drawing the attention to himself. "Whether they can track you or not, my shield is strong enough to keep them out now. If they even manage to work through the disinterest this place should trigger in them, that is. There are more important things that need to be done at the moment." "We know!", Hawkeye snapped at him. "Stark needs to be saved from the evil claws of Fury, which is obviously a trap set for you. It was before, it will be again. Fury wants the Tesseract more than anything, he needs to go through you to get it, and he will. And to get to you, he needs Tony, whom he has. So unless you want to play directly into his hands, you better relax and let us figure something out." The rant was rewarded with a glare, but Loki wasn't as stupid as to go rushing into S.H.I.E.L.D's headquarters, as his heart was so ready to suggest. He knew they were right, yet it did not do much to quell his anxiety. He needed Tony, and he needed him unbroken. He had been reminded of that, as the battered body had hung in his arms and he had thought the man lost. Everything had fallen apart in that moment, he could not allow anything like it to happen again, no matter what. "Do your scheming then, and get on with it. If you need anything, let me know." His voice sounded rough with held anger. Not a sound he was used to in himself. He felt like screaming, but knowing that the two mortals in his care would not take kindly to it, he kept silent and quietly gnashed his teeth instead. The Black Widow and Hawkeye, one of the- Scratch that. The deadliest team earth has ever seen, it would be a disgrace for their kind, if they couldn't figure out a way to do this. But they had, despite Loki's nagging, all it took was time. They had started by stealing equipment, taking full advantage of Loki's oh so convenient 'Don't look at me'-spell. Then they had begun hacking and faking messages, infiltrating and communicating. And somehow they had managed to bring HYDRA and A.I.M to the table, uniting them against the common threat that S.H.I.E.L.D faced and it was only a matter of time until they would have readied their troups and were going to attack the Helicarrier that currently held Stark It also was only a matter of time, until the two would figure out, that S.H.I.E.L.D did not in fact have the Tesseract in their possession. They had to move quick now. If the distraction was severe enough and with half the Avengers gone and not one, but two super villainous terrorist organisations at their door step, the hit should prove distracting enough for two master-assassins to sneak in and retrieve Tony. That was the plan and in their minds, it sounded good enough to do the trick. Now the only thing left to do was to hope that the two highly unpredictable parties would react as planned. It would not do to have them fighting against each other on Fury's doorstep, the super-spy standing by and laughing his ass off at his enemies' failure. Which may also provide a distraction of sorts, but not the kind they were hoping for. When they did hit, they hit hard. Luckily the HQ was still around, probably desperately trying to find them, and so they did not have to move this far. The Helicarrier had crashed, two of it's giant rotors taken out by missiles from octopi-shaped submarine-robot-thingies. It did not look good for them, but could not have been better for the two infiltrators. Entering an aircraft would have proven quite the challenge, even for the best of the best, now they simply had to hijack a smal motor boat and get close enough without taking a rogue missile to the hull. They managed to do so just fine and it wasn't long until they could sneak onto the asphalt landing place that made up most of the carriers surface. From there on it became difficult. Chaos or no, their faces were well-known to be hostile by now and so they decided to take it slow, stayed in the shadows, until they managed to subdue two S.H.I.E.L.D-agents in full battle gear, including helmets. That would do nicely. They continued to scuttle through the seemingly endless hallways on their way to the hostile containment area. What they found were the usual suspects, that had been caught recently and no one had had the time to process on to the Raft for long term containment, with the Chitauri invasion and all. No Stark, though. They managed to get hold of one of the agents out of battle gear, probably a newbie or responsible for this place. None of them had seen him before. "We are to extract Stark for emergency transport. Where is he currently being held?" The man looked startled. "He.. isn't he in interrogation or something? I haven't seen him for hours, he is probably in interrogation, still.. yes..." Newbie or in dire need of firing, definitely. The two infiltrators thanked the man with curt nods and let him proceed with his task, which apparently featured scrambling around in imitation of decapitated poultry. They knew the place interrogation usually took place and they hoped, they hadn't come too late. Fury had tried to capitalize on Tony's demise, that much they knew. The idea with the nuke had saved them all, but it had come at a high prize. Fury must have known of the plan before it came to fruition. Natasha expected the Captain to be behind this. Always eager to please his superiors, wasn't he. She doubted he had known what would become of the information he had given the director so willingly. She knew he meant well. That did not change the fact, that it had led to the capture of Stark instead of Loki and if Fury suspected his captive to know anything about the Tesseract and its whereabouts, he might not be stopped by petty things like the Geneva Conventions and such restricting devices, seeing as he had already so conveniently dubbed Loki's theft of the cube a declaration of war. When they found Tony he was curled in on himself in an armchair. Natasha knew that particular interrogation room, knew what it was commonly used for, and she dreaded to get any closer. They did not have time for such hesitation, though, so she pulled herself together and saved the horror for later. They needed to get him out of here. He looked like hell. Pale, sickly, his face sunken in and when they motioned to pick him up he jerked awake, eyes wide in terror. They quickly opened the visors on their helmets and he relaxed instantly. "Oh hell, you're late!" Never too messed up to be a smart-ass, though his tone suggested otherwise. They did not waste time on a lengthy reunion, instead they grabbed him by the arms and made a run for it. Tony was too weak to support his own weight and so they had to drag him, arms around their shoulders. In the chaos of the attack they managed to get all the way to the hangar without anyone recognizing them. It wasn't until they had hijacked a quinjet, that the agitated voice of Nick Fury blared across the helicarrier, ordering the hit on Widow and Hawkeye, should they be seen extracting the captive. 'Too late, old pirate.' Natasha thought to herself and could not help recognizing Tony's voice within these words. They managed to close the airlock and get the already running vehicle up in the air before the assault started. If any of them had been in any way spiritually deeper than they were they might have called it a miracle that none of the three parties firing away at them hit their target. Tony would later blame it on his involuntary design input regarding the quinjets S.H.I.E.L.D liked to use. The cloaking device worked perfectly and they managed to set her down in the courtyard behind the movie theatre they currently inhabited and let her roll the last few meters into an empty garage that accompanied the run-down building. As they half-carried the once-again unconscious genius through the back entrance they were greeted by their resident trickster god rushing towards them. "Is he alive?!" He did not wait for an answer, instead he all but ripped Tony from their grip and proceeded to carry him inside, the head cradled in the nook of his neck. "We think he has been deprived of sleep for means of torture. He needs to sleep now, badly." Natasha tried her best to keep up with Loki without running. "We don't know what else Fury has done to him, better be safe than sorry." The god nodded as he laid the unmoving body down on one of the cinema chairs, that had been broken into a horizontal position alongside several others to create a comfortable flat surface to lie on. He motioned Hawkeye to get him one of the blankets from their bedroom, not even caring to lock eyes with him, as he issued the command. His gaze was fixed on the sick being in front of him, that has now instinctively curled up by his side, brow furrowed in his sleep and wincing at every little movement and noise. Clint returned with not one, but all the blankets soon after, figuring how they probably had to move camp to be close to Loki anyway. They would need all the magical shielding they could get, now that Fury would really be on their asses after the attack. If there was a S.H.I.E.L.D left, that is. None of them had thought about that, had they? No use worrying about it now. Better safe than sorry. There's no such thing as overkill. Natasha and Clint went to sleep soon after. Tony didn't seem to be severely injured and there was no immediate action that could be taken, so they left the task of watching over him to Loki, who gladly sat vigil over his lover. At least that's what Tony seemed to be to him. Natasha hadn't asked, Loki did not seem to be the kind of person that took kindly to people prodding at his personal life. Tony awoke with a start. He had slept, and from the way his limbs tingled it must have been a long period of time. His eyes failed to find anything that would have helped placing himself in any location he knew, from his limited point of view, that is. It was dark and all he could see were shadows. The fabric underneath him felt familiar, yet it was all off, all just that little bit different, rendering him unable to put his finger on the realisation. He struggled to obtain a sitting position, hands were there, gripping him by the shoulders in a firm yet gentle hold. No matter the nature of the grasp, it reminded him and he freaked. He was then pushed back into the cushioned surface, his legs got tangled in a blanket as he kicked frantically and it scared him even more, to be constricted, to be caught and held. He cried out, tried to lash at the man holding him down, but his blows were taken without effect. He heard his name called out, but his mind denied him all recognition, which he was sure would have come to him, if he weren't so.. he knew that voice. Exhaustion finally stilled his resistance and he was left to struggle helplessly, as he felt tears streaking his face, again. The hands on his shoulders loosened their grip and he turned to his side to hide his shame, his helplessness. "Tony, snap out of it.", he heard that voice again, a female voice. "It's us. Natasha, Clint, Loki. You know us, we won't hurt you. You are safe now, please understand this. No one is going to hurt you." It toke some seconds for the words to sink in. His mind could be playing tricks on him, a sick hallucination, the next stage of the torment. But he had given Fury all he had, had he not? He had betrayed- He had betrayed Loki. He couldn't face him, not like this. His mind traveled back a couple of seconds to the hands that had held him so effortlessly, that must have been him. "No...", he finally managed to press out. More to himself than to anyone in the room. A hand brushed his shoulder, but was pulled away almost instantly. "We better leave him alone until he's ready.", the woman (Natasha?) whispered. "We should give him something to eat, he looks starved.", a man. Hawkeye... could it be? "Food? Seriously? You have a traumatised man in front of you and you want to make it better by.. what... feeding him pizza?" "What? It would be a start. He needs sustenance, or else he won't be traumatised for long, he'll be dead!" "Would you stop your quarreling or take it elsewhere? He needs quiet, I think." Silence ensued. Silence, in which his back was stared at and everyone waited for him to do something. He did not even dare to breathe. "He is not broken, is he?", Loki. "They certainly tried to break him. He just needs time to recuperate." "And food." "Stop it with the food already!", she hissed. Then again, silence. "Tony. Could you... could you try to talk to us? We will leave you alone, if that is what you wish, just tell me if you're... broken." There was anxiety in the god's voice, it was... weird. "You mortals break so easily." He would have overheard the last sentence, hadn't it been for the eerie silence that lay over them all. They would not go away, it seemed. Might as well, you know, talk. "I-", he croaked. Damn, he sounded like hell. "I don't want to talk about it." He could practically hear their disappointment. "I will be alright, eventually.", he added in hopes of shutting them up, "Food might be a good idea, though I don't know if I can keep it down." He rolled over and onto his back and faced them, warily. Those stares. His mind had started to clear itself from the haze these last few days had left him in. Those looked like the Black Widow, Hawkeye and Loki. Time to relax, probably. He remembered the moment those three had disappeared and suddenly he was angry, so very angry. "Where the hell have you been?!" They just exchanged looks like they knew something he didn't. "Loki was weakened, we had to bide our time to... plan, you know. We couldn't just rush in through Fury's front door and take you, you know that.", Natasha explained, but she looked pained doing so. "Do you think it was easy to leave you there? Sick as you were?", Hawkeye narrowed his eyes at him, obviously annoyed. Loki said nothing. He didn't even try to defend himself and it was maddening, the even gaze and the slightest hint of a smile on his lips. "You are not broken.", he finally uttered, quietly, quelling all the rage that had started to build up in Tony's stomach with those simple words. A tiny noise that sounded suspiciously lika a sob made it out Tony's mouth and he hid his face between both hands, as emotions took him once again, wrecking his body in a crying fit. This time he let himself be held, protected. He slid his arms around the other and sought comfort in the strong chest that he was being cradled against. Soothing words were spoken, all of which held no meaning to him, but helped calm his mind nonetheless. And with the soft strokes on his back and Loki's gentle voice at his ear he eventually drifted of again, to sleep some more. To forget the horrors he had lived through, the pain that had been dealt to his mind. Right at this moment he was safe, that was all that counted. Hosted by Animexx e.V. (http://www.animexx.de)