(no subject)

[starkingenuity]

When the battle for humanity started, it was in a small castle in Scotland, well removed from Tony Stark’s usual stomping grounds. His world had been one of espionage and terrorism, of opposing government factions and super humans all jostling for control. No one, not SHIELD or HYDRA, not AIM or the Ten Rings, not the kingdom of Wakanda or the United States president had ever truly understood that their petty squabbles and races for technology meant nothing in the grand scheme of things.

When Voldemort won, when the Boy Who Lived lived no more and the powerful wizards who might have faced him were slaughtered, it took some time to trick over to the other hemisphere of the globe.

But once it did, the changes happened almost overnight.

Tony was never happier to have had the arc reactor removed a year before. A silence charm that functioned like an EMP over the muggle world stopped the use of all electronics at once. Planes fell out of the sky. Cars crashed. Lights and elevators stopped working. The internet went down. Satellites burned up in the atmosphere.

High on the 98th floor of Avengers Tower, Tony sat in the dark for a long while, feeling the presence of a friend who had only just returned from wherever it was his sorrow and betrayal at Black Widow’s hands had taken him. “Uh…” Tony frowned. “So, this is cozy. FRIDAY? How’s the rebooting coming?”

All was quiet. All was dark. The city was black.

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[starkingenuity]

"A plane--" All of those people. Steve had mostly just seen feet. A lot of feet. They had been scurrying at first and then less and less walked by. When they did, they were in different sorts of clothing. Long skirts. Boots. Nothing modern society tended to wear. He couldn't see much since their windows were mostly street level. But it was enough to know that a lot of bad things had happened.

Steve didn't try to sit down. Tony wasn't even looking at him. Bruce looked afraid. He had to be strong for the both of them.

"There's no way out of this place. I've been trying to fight my way out for days. You can't even damage the fire place. They bring meals three times a day. It's always this boy. He wears a mask and a full length hood but he's spoken to me a few times. He sounds young."

The smile he wore was nothing sort of tired.

"I don't have a plan here," he confessed. "But if there are three of us, we can get that stick off of him when he comes next time." He wasn't going to call it a wand either, Bruce.

[aggravated]

That was a plan, as far as Bruce was concerned. He thought about it, then sighed quietly. "Alright." He couldn't have been more grateful for Rogers not calling it a wand. His mind was having trouble with all of this as it was. Once in a while logic had to take a back seat to sanity.

"Are the times approximately the same? Could we be ready for him?" There was a sickening feeling on the idea of attacking a child, but they didn't have a great deal of choice in the matter. "The whole cult of these people wear those masks and robes. Other than their leader, I've seen Malfoy without one - might be his right hand man - and LaStrange without them. ...Sounds more and more like a damn cult, getting children involved."

His fingers clenched as the feeling of anger-panic tried to well up again, all almost alien without the pressure of the Other Guy behind them, but like him, it was something he could force down. For now. He looked back towards the fireplace, eyeballing it. "If one of us, maybe two of us, stayed beside the fireplace to either side, get him as soon as he pops out? If he has food, he wouldn't be able to grab for that stick."

Making plans to try and escape, or find out more, or anything while he wanted to make sure Tony was okay. It would have to wait, but Tony sitting over there made his stomach churn in concern.

[starkingenuity]

"Say we get the wand." Tony spoke up, voice right and eyes still dead set ahead. "Then what? We can't use it. We don't know how to. Someone notices the kid has been missing-- No."

"Tony--" Steve said, but was immediately cut off by an angry glare.

"I won't do something that's just stupid for the sake of being stupid," he snapped back, finally standing up. "Are you keeping anything else from us? You're famous for that need to know stuff."

Steve just lifted his hands. Placating. Perhaps a little defensive.

[aggravated]

Hell, he was going to end up with another war in here. Bruce actually shifted himself slightly to stand between the two, his own hands slightly raised. With a look back and forth between the two, he finally looked back to Rogers and said quietly, "if there is anything else you know, tell us now. We can't get out of this with anyone holding back information." Giving Rogers a chance to speak up. He looked back to Tony and went the other way. "We can't just sit here and do nothing, either. We need more information, and we have something we could potentially do. I don't like it, but what would you rather do? Stay here as their prisoners? Wait until they tire of us or find some other horrible thing for us to be used for?"

[starkingenuity]

"That's all I know. You're the first people, other than that kid and the man without a nose in days," Steve said, his hands slipping into his pockets. He was the good, All-AmericN boy. There wasn't a bone in his body that was capable of lying. Tony rolled his eyes at the thought and turned his attention back to his hands.

"We need more information. They want Thor. Why? They crashed the entire planet. How?" He stood up, pacing his way to the fireplace. The lining of his stomach felt like it was melting.

He paused at the mantle and leaned against it.

"We need to keep anyone from taking Banner. That's our only two priorities."

"But you said yourself," Steve interjected, "they banished the Hulk."

"They didn't," Tony insisted. "They just have him caged until they're ready to use him."

[aggravated]

"Wait- you saw him?" Bruce latched onto that first comment, surprised but then realizing immediately after, "so that was who was asking you about Thor?" Which would make sense. His brows came together though, searching his memory before making a quiet sound of disgust. Had the monster-man put Rogers through that same torture? Bruce couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy if so.

"...I think Tony's right," Bruce said quietly, "about the Hulk, I mean. I don't think just putting a collar on me is going to get rid of him, not when the ramifications I think would come with the process." His fingers crept back up to the collar again, but he forced them to drop. "If they can control me," the churning inside his stomach at saying it out loud, "then they'll be able to control him, and they have a weapon as strong as their powers."