In which I am evil, and yall gonna have to wait until next year to find out what happens
"Alright Stark, this is quite simple. You have until 11:59:59 tonight to tell us what we need to know, or you won't see the new year."
"Woah, I am completely terrified," Tony deadpanned.
"You see that little red dot right there, right on your heart? Well there is a gun on the other side of that dot, and it will go off as soon as this clock hits 12," The man gestured to the giant ticking mechanism around them.
"You know what I never understood? When the bad guys kidnap the hero and threaten his life. Like give us this thing that could kill millions of people or we'll kill you! Like, are you stupid? Or just bad at math? Like there is literally no decision process here. I think I will keep my super dangerous weapon plans to myself, thanks!" Tony smiled at the armed man standing before him. The man frowned and slammed the butt of the gun into Tony's face.
"Agh! Damn it! that was my face!" Tony cried in pain. Blood slipped down the side of his face, and out of his nose.
"If you like your face then maybe you should keep it shut unless you're going to tell us what we need to know."
Tony rolled his eyes.
"All I'm saying is that you could have at least let me die with the dignity of a beautiful unbroken face," Tony muttered. He had many times been told he needed to learn when to shut up. He still hadn't managed to learn, "Oh, thanks by the way for pointing that thing at my chest and, and not my head. Now I might actually get to have an open casket at my funeral. Don't worry about my nose. I am pretty sure they can make it look okay."
"If you don't shut up, your ribs are next," The man barked.
"See, the way I see it, I can either spend the last what? Three hours of my life sitting here in a horrible awkward silence, or... OR I can enjoy these precious few hours making your life miserable," He spit out a mouth full of the blood that had dripped into his mouth.
"Or you can shut up or I'll make it so you can't talk!"
"See that seems like a bad idea. You want me to talk, so doing that is a little counterproductive don't you think? Like if you are going to make it so I can't talk you might as well just kill me early," Tony reasoned.
"Fine! If you keep talking, I'll make you scream! How do you like your kneecaps? Or how do you feel about not being able to have any more kids?" The man growled.
"I don't see that it really matters since I will be dead in a little-" The man cocked his gun, "WOAH! WOAH! It was a joke! I'm done! I won't talk anymore!"
"That's what I thought."
Midget watched the humans pace back and forth around the room.
"What's wrong with them?" Midget demanded. Sapphire looked down at him. She could understand human words. Midget could only sense the smell of fear, and the anxiety and tension in the air.
"Your human is missing," Sapphire replied. Midget hopped to his feet.
"Who took him?!" He hissed in dismay. His tale fluffing out.
"Hydra, they think. They are trying to track his phone."
Midget hissed at the mention of Hydra. They had hurt him as a kitten, before Tony had found him.
"What's Hydra?" Jax asked.
"Evil," Midget growled.
Peter paced angrily. They had next to nothing on where Tony was. They had the last location of his phone, and they had already checked out the warehouse, and found it empty. They needed a way to track him from there. Peter flopped down next to his dog, and began stroking his head. All three of the animals had gathered as if they knew something was terribly wrong. Jax let out an anxious whine. Peter looked at him. The dog let another whine.
"Peter, would you tell your dog to shut up?" Natasha spat from her place staring at the map of the city.
Jax barked and stood up. Oh. OH! He got it!
"Guys! We can use Jax to smell him out!" Peter exclaimed spring to his feet. He had been training the dog to smell things out.
"That's genius!" Pepper exclaimed, "Suit up team!"
Tony glanced down at his watch. He was grateful that these hydra guys hadn't duct taped over his watch. 11:50. How could he enjoy these last ten minutes of his life? One of the kidnappers approached him.
"You got ten minutes buddy. You should speak up."
"Nah, I would like to be intact for my funeral thanks," Tony smiled.
"Suit yourself."
He really didn't want to die.
"You know, I was just thinking about what you said earlier. You know about keeping your mouth shut being the obvious choice. Well I was thinking, would your daughter see it the same way?"
Tony's blood ran cold.
"Like what if daddy isn't around to protect her?"
Tony swallowed hard. Would she resent him for making this choice? Would she understand? He really really REALLY did not want to die. She needed him. He banged his head on the back of the chair.
"You son of a bitch..." Tony hissed.
11:55. He had five minutes.
"You know I also heard you have a cat."
That was low even by Hydra standards. Threatening a cat? Really?
"You know I think that your cat actually belongs to us-"
"All your threats are empty. You don't have any of them. They are safe from you," Tony spat.
"You thought you were safe from us."
11:58. He had two minutes left.
Tony closed his eyes and relaxed himself. Things hurt less when you relaxed.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
"What you don't have anything to say to that?!"
"No, I don't, now can I ask this one simple favor? Can you please just let me die in nice simple peace and quiet?"
"Fine!" the man snorted.
"Woah, he's really just going to sit there and let it happen," One of the younger Hydra agents whispered.
30 seconds. Tony took in a deep breath, and exhaled. He would miss this.
15 seconds
Fourteen...
Thirteen...
Twelve...
Eleven...
Ten...
Nine...
Eight...
Seven...
Six...
Five...
Four...
Three...
Two...
An eternity passed.
One.