Chapter Text
Sitting on the floor of his cage, because that’s what it was, a cage with bars and everything, he decided that if he had designed the cage, he would have made it smaller. He was glad he hadn’t designed it, though, because a smaller cage would have meant he would be cramped and even more uncomfortable than he already was, which was exactly why he would have made the cage smaller in his design.
“How long until they realize we’re gone, do you think?” asked Tony hating the silence.
Steve, Clint, Natasha, Thor, and Bruce were each in their own cage, though Bruce was drugged to the gills and not coherent, as was Thor, which was the only reason they were all still in their current predicament. At least the Bad Guy of the Week was smart enough to do that, even if they weren’t into the finer details such as cage size.
“Who?” asked Steve, voice tense as he scanned the sparse room for the 128th time - Tony knew, he counted.
“SHIELD,” explained Tony. “I mean, I doubt they would notice me missing and Thor does goes where he wants and Bruce is usually in other countries doing his good deed thing, but you three are their favorite pets. They are bound to notice you missing.”
“They will already know,” said Natasha. “They’ll have been looking for several hours.”
“Then we haven’t any time to waste,” said a silky voice from the only door.
The man could have been Thor’s twin brother with slightly more red in his hair he was so large.
“Hello,” greeted Tony with his customary smirk. “Let’s just save everyone here some time and agree that you’re an idiot, you set us free, and we in turn will promise not to kill you.”
“Tony Stark,” said the man with a grin that sent shivers down Tony’s spine (and not the good kind of shivers). “You haven’t changed a bit since college.”
“Oh, so we have met then,” said Tony, his mind racing through his immense file of faces, trying to locate the man who had moved to stand in front of his cage.
“I’m hurt,” said the man. “How can you not remember me? We spent a magical night-“
“Tiberius!” yelled Tony, stomach twisting horribly as he realized who the man was, all the memories associated with him rushing to the front of his mind.
“I knew you couldn’t forget me,” whispered Tiberius so that only Tony heard him. “You never forget your first.”
“On second thought, I no longer promise not to kill you,” said Tony, moving as casually as he could to the back of the cage, farthest away from his captor.
Steve, Natasha, and Clint exchanged surprised looks; Tony had only once before expressed aloud that he planned on killing someone and that was after Happy had been put into a coma. It took a lot for the billionaire to say he wanted someone dead when he wasn’t in the midst of a firefight.
“What do you want?” asked Steve, trying to take the attention off of Tony who was clearly unsettled.
“I want to access codes to every secure SHIELD file out there,” said Tiberius, not taking his eyes off Tony.
“We don’t have them,” said Natasha calmly. “You kidnapped the wrong people. Try SHIELD tech.”
“I also want to play a game with you,” said Tiberius, tearing his gaze from Tony at last. “It’s going to be fun. You’ll see. It’s a game of life or death.”
Steve felt the beginnings of misgiving in the pit of his stomach. He knew how to fight soldiers, power hungry villains, and even aliens, but this man, this Tiberius, was giving off an entirely different air. Tiberius practically radiated insanity and that was one thing Steve couldn’t fight because some people just wanted to sit back and watch the world burn and they couldn’t be reasoned with or predicted.
“Let’s play the game first,” said Tiberius, clapping his hands in excitement like a small child. “Here are the rules. One of you has to stay awake for 6 days in a row without sleeping. That’s an easy one. If that person fails, I kill however many days were left worth of Avengers. And, to prove how kind I am, I’ll even let you all pick who you want to stay up.”
Tiberius walked out of the room.
“You know him, Stark?” said Natasha immediately.
“His name is Tiberius Stone,” sighed Tony, eyes scanning the cage yet again, looking for a weakness and catalogeuing the components. “We were in college at the same time and he was just as insane and vindictive back then. He really has no motivation here besides toying with us. He’s like a cat, he wants to play with his food until it begs to die and only then will he devour it whole. And he won’t follow the rules he sets down. In all reality we probably will be out of here before the end of tomorrow what with SHIELD working on it and me having motivation to get the hell out of here.”
“Is he smart?” asked Steve.
“He’s not on my level - not that anyone truly is - but he’s not completely useless.”
“So my pets, have you decided who will stay awake?” asked Tiberius, walking back into the room with purpose.
“Yeah,” said Tony, making all heads in the room swivel in his direction. “I’ll do it.”
“It’s always you, isn’t Tony?” smiled Tiberius. “Well, then, let’s make this even more interesting, shall we?”
“How about we don’t but say we did,” said Tony drawled.
Tiberius laughed.
Tony sighed.
“Oh Tony,” chuckled Tiberius. “Always so funny. No, I want to make it more interesting by letting you have free reign of the room.”
Tony froze. He could see Natasha and Clint eying Tiberius with misgiving. No one with half a brain would allow Tony free reign of any room, especially not when trying to hold him hostage. The billionaire had a habit of finding a way to turn regular objects into weapons because while he was a genius, he was also a mechanic. He built things but he also took things apart. Things like locks and cages.
“What’s the catch?” asked Tony warily.
“There’s no faith and that stings. You can always stay in your little cage, that’s an option. I have already left you all with enough food to last the six days because I do have better things to be doing than sitting here watching you not sleep. But you also have the choice to be out of the cage and in this room.”
Tony thought about it. He knew Tiberius. There was a catch, but Tiberius didn’t want him dead. A dead Tony would ruin all his fun.
“Okay,” said Tony, running a hand over his face because he knew he wouldn’t like the price he would be paying. “I want out of this damn cage.”
“I knew you’d want that! Hands on the bar in front of you first.”
Tony did as he was told. As soon as his hands were on the bar in front of him, there was a loud snap as handcuffs tightened on his wrists, holding him in place, his back to the door, eyes locked with Clint.
There was no warning for the first hit. One moment, Tony was staring at Clint, silently reading the archers face for his opinion on the matter, the next Tony’s right leg was snapping under the force of what felt like a metal pipe.
A small gasp escaped Tony before he bit down hard on the inside of his cheek, refusing to give Tiberius the sick pleasure of hearing his pain, just like he had so many years before. He put his weight on his good leg, only to have it smashed as well, causing him to crumple down, broken legs unable to take the pressure, and the handcuffs bit painfully into his wrists, blood bubbling around the edges.
Tony kept eye contact with Clint, if only to remind himself why he was putting up with the pain. It also grounded him, kept him from flashing back to the cave, reminding him that he wasn’t alone. Clint, for his part, didn’t look away. The archer kept his steady gaze on Tony, face unreadable, inwardly furious that with all his training and skills it was still Tony, still a civilian, who was being tortured. Any one of them could have said they would stay awake but Tony had beaten them to it and Clint hadn’t protested because Tony was an insomniac and stood a better shot at making it six days with no sleep.
Tiberius finished beating Tony, unlocked the handcuffs, letting Tony fall to the floor with a low moan, and left, locking the door behind him.