Pain Is The Enemy

"It's not just me, right?"

It was a Saturday afternoon and everyone was in the lounge to watch a movie when Clint had spoken up, apparently out of the blue.

"If you're talking about the craving for Cheese Whiz, then I very strongly agree," Thor stated enthusiastically.

Clint rolled his eyes. "No. I'm talking about Tony."

"Tony?" Steve repeated with a frown. "Tony Stark? That Tony?"

"Yes, that Tony. I can't be the only one who's noticed, can I?" Clint said, looking at them all as if they were meant to know what he was talking about.

They didn't.

Clint sighed in exasperation. "So none have you have noticed just how 'evil' the guy is?"

The other's exchanged looks with one another.

"Well," Bruce mumbled. "Now that you mention it..."

"He is rather, um..." Steve bit his lip as if trying to think of the right word to explain the villain.

"Soft?" Natasha suggested unashamedly. "He's a complete and utter softy."

"At least towards us," Bruce agreed.

"Yeah, I don't want to think how he'd be if we were on his bad side," Clint said, shaking his head. "But still, you'd think for a villain with the amount of power he has, he would try harder but he just...messes with us."

Everyone nodded in understanding. They had all noticed that.

"He..." Steve swallowed, glancing down at his lap. "When he kidnapped me, he didn't hurt me. Didn't torture me or anything. In fact, when I was pulling at the chains to distract him, he told me to stop because I was hurting myself. What kind of villain does that?"

Clint snorted. "Yeah? You know what he did when he kidnapped me? He asked me if I was hurt. He looked guilty about smacking me in the head with his flying robot. And when he realized I couldn't hear him, he signed for me," Clint sighed, shaking his head. "Villain's don't do that. Proper villain's torment their captives about their weaknesses. But he didn't. Hell, he even...you were asking about these new hearing aids I got? Yeah, they're from him."

Steve looked as if he wanted to scold Clint for taking tech from the enemy but Thor spoke before he could even start. "I have always found Anthony's company most joyous even if whenever we are in each other's presence it is because we must fight one another. But I highly enjoy our battles. He's never harmed me during them. At least, not to the point that it would be permanent. If Anthony wished then he could cause me damage despite me being a god but he never has."

"There is clearly more going on," Natasha stated firmly. "On one of the missions, when I found him in the building we infiltrated, he could have killed me. He had a robot armed with guns aimed at me but he didn't order it to shoot, only to keep me there so he could finish what he was making. And then he let me go. He gave me an escape and I took it. He knew I would escape and he let me while pretending he didn't notice but he knew."

Bruce shifted in his seat. "Actually...I needed to tell you guys. That building we went to the other week? The one I said was empty?"

Clint looked like he was fighting a grin. "He was there, wasn't he?"

Bruce nodded, looking apologetically at the other's. "I would have told you but...something was wrong. When I got there, to his lab which is huge, by the way. The things I could do in that lab—"

"Bruce," Steve cut across him. "Focus."

"Oh, right. Sorry," Bruce mumbled, flushing a light pink. "Anyway, when I got there, Tony was asleep on the couch and...he looked exhausted. Like he hadn't been sleeping properly in a long time. His AI—"

"He has an AI?!" Clint exclaimed, astonished. The other's looked much the same.

Bruce nodded meekly. "The AI is called Jarvis. He told me he would have woken Tony up but he wanted Tony to get rest since apparently he's been stressed about something. That he's being pressured by someone. It didn't take a genius to realize someone has been threatening Tony."

"Wait, so you knew Tony was there and didn't tell us because the AI said someone was threatening him and he wasn't sleeping well?" Steve asked, Bruce flushing a deeper shade of pink that was almost red.

"Yeah, Banner. Why didn't you tell us that? Someone is threatening our favorite villain and you decide not to tell us? For shame!" Clint exclaimed dramatically before he realized everyone was giving him weird looks like he'd lost all sense. "What? You got a different favorite villain or something? Because if so then we're no longer friends."

Steve sighed, shaking his head. "You should have let us know. We could have done something to help."

"But," Bruce chewed his lip, looking unsure. "He's a villain. I didn't think any of you would..."

"Care?" Clint finished with an offended sounding gasp. "Oh, Bruce. You are beyond wrong. I'd do anything for that smol genius villain."

Natasha rolled her eyes, ignoring the fact that Clint just called Tony Stark smol. "So, let me get this straight. Tony is being threatened by an unknown person and because of that he's barely sleeping, correct?"

"Or eating," Bruce added, looking pained. "He's so thin."

Steve grimaced. "Maybe we can help him? Figure out what's going on and who's threatening him. If we can sort this out then maybe...maybe he'll trust us to help him in the future?"

"I already offered him help," Bruce told them. "If he needs our help then I told him it's there for him. There's not much more we can do than that."

"So, what? We're just going to sit here and hope he calls while some asshole threatens him? Somehow that doesn't work with me," Clint said with a scowl.

"If he calls then we can help," Steve murmured, glancing up at them all. "For now, the best we can do is do what he's been doing for us."

"Which is?" Bruce asked with a frown.

"Not hurt him," Steve said simply. "He's never hurt us so we should make sure to do the same. Tony isn't our enemy."

"Then who is?" Thor asked, eyebrows knitting together in confusion.

Steve sighed, reaching for the remote to start the movie. "Pain is the enemy."