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A fist from the thickset alpha on the right impacted with the omega’s jaw forcing his whole head to move with the blow lest his jaw break. The following knee to the stomach drove an ‘oof’ of pain as all the air was swiftly expelled from his heaving stomach.

The first sound the omega had made despite the fact that this ferocious beating had been going on for at least half an hour. His skin was covered in red marks and abrasions that were clearly going to deepen into bone-deep bruises that would need hours of icing. Clint was certain that the man’s wrist was surely badly, badly sprained if not broken. He had been heavily favouring his right ankle too, last time he’d been able to stand upright.

Tony was not given a moment to recover before a further succession of blows assailed him, the chains encircling his wrists and ankles making it impossible for him to do little more than sway in place so as to try to absorb the impact. It worked to an extent, though the little gasps of pain he was unable to hold in clearly demonstrated how poorly.

A fourth man, still an alpha, but taller and skinnier than the others observed the beating dispassionately that the three alpha’s were gifting the omega. His hazel eyes, obscured slightly by glasses, showed the barest hint of pleasure with every sound his victim made. His thin, bloodless lips remained pressed firmly together, though the same sneer that he had born every time he even glanced at the omega will still present.

“My friends.” He spoke after far too long a period, his hand raising almost languidly and calling the others off. Without hesitation or argument the three alphas immediately halted their actions and took two steps back before falling into an ‘at rest’ position with military-grade precision.

As they moved, two figures who were chained tightly to a nearby tree were revealed; the other human residents of the Avengers Tower.

“My friends,” the man repeated once he was certain that the pair of assassin’s attention was on him as opposed to the battered omega trembling on the filthy ground. He compulsively wiped one hand on his fitted, pin-stripe suit, clothing that looked awkwardly out of place in the dusk-coated forest they were currently occupying.

“You have seen what I can order at no cost to myself, and you have seen that the price paid will not be …borne by you.” His words, Natasha noted with displeasure, bore no trace of an accent that offered any indicator as to where these four came from. Indeed, none of the voices she had overheard while they were in the darkened van had shed any insight. She didn’t even know why they had been picked up and brought to this forest.

It was becoming swiftly obvious that they hadn’t been invited to a tea party, or for a gentle stroll through the admittedly beautiful environment surrounding them.

It was best to play along for now then.

The female alpha, carefully ignoring her instincts that were raging at her to check on her beaten team-mate, fixed a steady gaze on the man who seemed to be in charge and spoke, careful to coat each word in adequate levels of disgust.

“So what do you want then?”

“It is simple. You both are agents of the entity ‘SHIELD’. There are some files that I want concerning some weapons of unusual origin that are held within the SHIELD databases. I wish to have access to these files. Mr. Stark is here, I’m afraid to serve as leverage. You see, I have a rather high level of detestation for omegas. I find them to be manipulative, uppity beasts who hold far more power than they deserve. Some have said my values tend to a more…traditional nature. I do not view this as an insult. It truly will be a pleasure to keep one such as Mr. Stark in line whilst gaining information at the same time. I must confess that I am hoping that you will be…difficult about giving me information. I assure you, I feel absolutely no hesitance at providing Mr. Stark with plenty of pain to keep you both motivated.”

Natasha subsided into silence, for a moment completely uncertain what to do. She could not, of course, give them any information. She didn’t even know which weapons the man was talking about! SHIELD had access to many alien artefacts, and she couldn’t exactly ask him to clarify precisely which ones he wanted!

Her fingers curled inwards until her hands were balled into tight fists of frustration.

But she couldn’t precisely back-chat the man as it was obvious that Tony would pay the consequence. Thankfully Clint seemed to have had the same idea going by his silence – it was unusual for him to remain silent in a situation like this after all!

Evidently she was taking too long to come up with a reply as the suited man nodded at one of his acquaintances to step forward and plough a foot into Stark’s chest, right below where the arc reactor was positioned causing yet another muffled shriek to emit from the man in unison with the overly-familiar crack of a rib.

“Stop!” Clint growled, infusing every trace of command into his tone that he could. The alpha who had just punched his friend raised an eyebrow either in mockery of the Widow or in genuine, sardonic amusement, and sent his foot flying into the downed man’s chest once more. “Please. Just leave him alone. Take on someone on your own size! You want to get those answers, then you’d better start wailing on me rather than him. We won’t say a word!”

A mock-grimace of apology flitted over the alpha’s lips before it was morphed into a grin of true contentment.

“It looks like Mr. Stark is about to have an exceedingly painful day, then. A shame.” Came the cold reply “Just so you know, I am not above using sex as a method of controlling omegas. I find it to be a most efficient strategy.”

“Feh.”

All eyes focused on Tony as he spat a mouthful of bloody phlegm to the ground before levering himself to his knees using little but his stomach muscles and resting there, muscles visibly fluttering in protest at being forced to keep him at least partially upright.

Just as one of the guards took a step forward to punish him, Tony fixed his eyes on the guard causing the man to falter in his step. Clint was unable to see his friend’s expression as the man had his back to them, but something in it caused the guard to freeze in a way neither himself nor Natasha had managed.

“You think this is pain? You can break my bones, and colour my skin, but that is not true pain. I know something about that, let me tell you. Pain is having unwanted sex that then results in a child being conceived. Pain is struggling to decide whether you should keep the child or not. Pain is seeing fountains of blood come gushing from where no blood should be and know that you have failed.

You have failed to do the one task that your body is hardwired to do. Bring a child into the world. A child that was born for you to care for it, to cherish it. You’re hardwired to feel responsible for others, to care for them and keep them safe. Can you imagine what it must be like to know that you have failed at that? That. One. Simple. Task.”

Clint winced at the sound of loathing that his friend’s voice was layered in. How had he not known about this? What sort of friend was he… If only he could have seen Tony’s face right now! It was keeping the other alpha’s spell-bound as they listened, seemingly unable to move.

“You speak of pain, yet what can surpass that? You seemed shocked earlier at how unafraid I was, and I laughed at you. Let me tell you, that is because I am not afraid of pain or death, even. I am already dead, after all.”

Clint didn’t even try to supress the wince that spread across his features at hearing Tony’s deadened, lifeless tone. He didn’t think he’d ever wanted to hug the man more.

“You wish to rape me? Do it. It’s already happened before. I’m not afraid. There is no unknown there for me. You wish to beat me up? Again, nothing new there, sorry to burst your bubble. You know the only thing that’s new about this situation?”

Somehow Tony seemed to darken his tone, the sheer level of danger it now held barely contained within it caused a shiver to run down even the hardened archer’s spine.

“You’re doing this in front of my friends. That was an error. I care for them. Respect them. You’re now hurting them through me. Surely you realise the stupidity of that. You are hurting mine.”

Tony's voice lowered to a truly terrifying growl as he spoke, his tone alone causing one of the alpha's to take a nervous step back.

Clint found that if he stared hard enough into the closest alpha’s eyes, he could see the feral, bloody grin that Tony was sporting reflected there. It didn’t settle the coldness that was laced deep within the archer’s belly.

“I have a lot of anger…contained within me. You’ve now just let some of that loose. I hope you appreciate the stupidity of that. I really do.”

The alpha who was clearly in charge of the operation continued to eye Tony with speculation and very definite traces of fear. Despite the fact that the omega was in chains, and clearly in no state to be doing anything, he could not help the thrill of fear and unease that was now racing through him.

“Add further bindings,” he spoke loudly to his minions, trying to cover the snorted laughter that the billionaire omega was now emitting, “And a gag. Then…. You.” He gestured at one of the alphas, “take him. Remind him of his place.”

Some time later Tony was returned to his two chained-up team-mates, even more bruised and bloody than before, let alone the specks of other fluids that covered him, he initially refused to look Natasha or Clint in the face, let alone the eye. The scent of shame reeking from him like nothing else causing the two alphas to glance at each other, concerned.

Clint stretched to the outer limits of his chains; his hands and ankles beginning to tremble with the strength that he was pulling at his chains. One of the guards watching took a step forward growling a low "Watch it." as he did so, but was halted in his steps by the look of sheer contempt that Natasha shot at him.

Clint laid his cheek against Tony's lower calf - the only part he could reach from his current position, and gently rubbed it against the ripped clothing in a mock nuzzle. "Your ours too, Tony." he murmured, quiet enough that only Natasha could hear. They would discuss the rest of the information Tony had revealed at a later date, but for now, that would have to be enough.