Butting Heads
Douxie awoke in a blindingly white room, three walls were lined with LED lights that pulsed hotly. The fourth was a clear wall of glass, nearly 6 inches thick. He stood up and swayed dangerously on his feet, narrowly catching himself against the corner of the room.
Douxie took stock of himself, he was barefoot and his clothes had been changed for white sterile cotton pants and a tshirt. His head wound had also been cleaned and dressed, a thick white gauze bandaid plastered to the side of his forehead, hidden under his hair. Douxie pressed his fingers to the tender cut and hissed in pain, pulling his hand away. That's when he noticed his armband cuff had been removed as well, he felt naked without it and nervously wrung his hand around his bare wrist.
He approached the glass wall and squinted through the blinding light to bring the next room into focus. Tony stood just on the other side of the glass, his arms crossed staring down at the boy looking like an angry parent about to yell at a disobedient child.
"Morning sunshine!" Tony called. "Before we get started, let's set some ground rules shall we?" He said "I've tuned that collar around your neck to the exact frequency of your magic, you try to use that magic for any reason and the collar will go off. Do you remember how painful it was last night? Imagine that, then multiply it by a factor of 10."
"Douxie's hand flew to the collar around his neck and an electrical current surged from the collar shocking the young wizard. He tensed and cried out in pain, his legs gave out and he fell to his knees hunched over the cold concrete floor. He took several deep breaths trying to calm his racing heart then leveled the most defiant glare he could muster at his captor.
"That brings us to rule number 2, you touch the collar or try to remove it, and it will also shock the shit out of you. You try to fight back or attack for any reason and again, the collar will use you like a lightning rod. Are you getting any of this sparky?" Tony taunted
"Torturing children now eh? I expected better from the great Tony Stark." Douxie said, trying unsuccessfully to keep the fear out of his voice.
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Tony kept his stance, glaring right back at the young wizard.
” Tony please, we got off on the wrong foot, I can explain." Douxie began, clearing his throat.
" You can explain?!" Tony mocked, throwing his hands up in anger
"How can you explain destroying our only chance of getting everyone back? My only chance!!!" He turned on the spot, squeezing the bridge of his nose in frustration. Tony had many regrets, losing peter had been the icing on the cake.
" I had to do it " Douxie sighed heavily, his shoulders dropping in defeat. This wasn't supposed to happen, it could alter the timeline even further and cause any number of alterations.
" If I had let you go back in time, it would've altered the future and caused worldwide devastation. We have all lost people in the blip, but this is worse than anything you could imagine."
" Nice try 'Quantum Leap,'" Tony jeered, as quick as ever at his comeback game.
"Now here's how this works, you tell me everything starting from the beginning, where you came from, who you are, why you're here, why you have a flying talking cat that shoots fire, and I'll think about treating you as more than a lightning rod and making your stay here more comfortable." Tony paused, waiting for a response.
Douxies annoyed glare was back in place "you of all people should know, I cannot reveal details of the future. It could cause a time paradox, I have already revealed too much."
At least Archie was safe and that mattered most, he could endure anything this man did to him, this wouldn't be the first time he had been tortured, but why did it have to be Tony. Tony is a dear friend, or at least he is going to become one. He just didn't know it yet.
Tony smiled at the kids' defiance. The magical brat had destroyed their only hope of fixing what Thanos had done to the universe. He could rebuild the time machine, of course, it's only a matter of time ( no pun intended) but it still irked him that this kid had set them back months.
"Nothing? Perhaps a few days without any sleep will change your mind." He pushed a button on the chamber and a wall closed in front of the glass, more LED lights clicked on from the new wall and douxie threw his hands up to shield his eyes from the bright assault.
Tony watched the monitor for a few moments to see douxie remove his shirt and attempt to tie it around his eyes. He let the teenager take a minute to get settled on the cement floor and just as he looked like he was relaxed, Tony turned on the sound.
AC/DC music blared through the sound system startling douxie, he jumped and his hands flew to his ears. He turned, pressing his face into the corner of the room in a futile attempt to minimize the blinding light assaulting his eyes.
Tony cranked up the sound and left the room, headed for bed.