Chapter 1
"...37...38....39...." counted Tony in his head, while he watched a spider run back and forth over the ceiling. He laid on bed with his arms under his head, thinking about everything that happened the last months...
The... horrible breakup with Pepper, which had left him pretty depressed, the shocking news that everything and everyone had turned against him once more and... to his opinion the worst... Being locked up in his own house.
"This sucks! 41... I'm so bored.... 42" said Tony to no one in particular... It wasn't the first time he talked to himself... He just felt really lonely. He couldn't even talk to Jarvis...
So... the past weeks, Tony had spent laying on bed and watching TV.
"I wonder... isn't it stupid to hide me in my own house... I mean, isn't that the first place where they're going to look? 45... Man.... 46....47 I'm so bored!...48... Seriously.... 49.... I want to get out!" he said, again... to no one in particular.
Tony sat up, facing the window... If he ever said that he couldn't feel worse.... He was wrong...
His thoughts went to Pepper and made him feel even more miserable.
"No, I'm over her! Why am I feeling bad?!" he said... but he knew he was lying. He always said he 'was over her' when he thought of Pepper, just to make the pain disappear but it never worked...
"Stark, it's time..." said a familiar male voice.
Tony turned around and looked at the slightly sweated face of Fury. "So... Let's go."
Before Tony could ask a question two SHIELD-agents grabbed him by his arms and pulled him downstairs.
Once down they let him go, followed by an unhappy reaction of Tony, "What the hell is wrong with you?! Couldn't you just...ask to come downstairs?"
But nobody responded... They were all quiet...like they were nervous.... It kind of freaked Tony out...
All of the sudden a young girl with fiery red hair came to them.
"All is clear, Fury and... the helicopter is waiting...." she said, ignoring Tony and all the other men.
"Thank you, Miss Gold... Okay, let's move!" Fury said as he grabbed Tony by his arm and dragged him to the door... It all happened so fast that Tony didn't had the chance to see what the helicopter looked like.
Before he knew it, he was in the air next to Fury and the new girl.
He looked out of the window and saw streets, houses and trees flash by in a blur of green and grey. He didn't knew how high they exactly were but it was pretty high...since the apartments and skyscrapers looked like pebbles. Tony became pretty nervous as the helicopter ride became longer than expected.
Where were they bringing him to? What was the plan?
Thousands of questions danced through his mind... He got a little scared. Who knows what they were planning to do with him.
Just as Tony was about to go in a panic attack, the helicopter started on his drop. Not many longer the helicopter was landed in an ally and Fury pushed Tony and the girl out of it.
"Follow me and don't speak." whispered Fury... even when he whispered he still sounded commanding...
The girl seemed as confused as Tony but did what Fury told her... And because Tony didn't feel like staying behind in a dark alley, he followed them as well.
Fury disappeared through a heavy metal door of an old apartment with brick walls full of graffiti. And so did the girl... Tony at the other hand was pretty suspicious and didn't felt like going inside in that building. But he hadn't had much of a choice. The girl, on order of Fury, dragged him inside and pulled him to a dusty ramshackle-looking stairs. Tony saw that Fury stood at the top of the stairs, waiting for him, and he didn't looked happy... at all...
"Come on, hurry up!" whispered Fury impatient. "And... be quiet."
Tony looked behind him, searching for an opportunity to escape, but the girl stood in between him and the only way out... She gestured upstairs and he went upstairs... Against his very will of course...
The stairs creaked so loud that Tony wouldn't be surprised that if there lived someone here, that they heard them loud and clear... Tony followed Fury further and further on the stairs, until they were on the highest floor.
It was a pretty depressing looking floor... Everything was covered in dust, spiderwebs and dirt.
Fury beckoned Tony and the girl and showed them a room...
There was not much there... A bed, a couch, a TV and one laptop... And probably a bathroom but for some very obvious reason, Tony didn't wanted to see it.
"Alright guys..." began Fury as he closed the door. "This will be your new home for a while, Tony."
Tony immediately felt the urge to complain, "Wait! What! no! I want to go home!"
"Shut up!" shouted the girl, who said something again for the first time.
"Thank you... Listen, Tony. It's safe here... if you follow my tips of course..."
Tony's face told everybody what he thought of everything but he remained silent...
"The smartest thing to do is keeping the curtains closed and the lights out... especially at night. Also remain inside at night, if you really, really need to go outside do it during the day. That's easier for us to keep an eye out for you... What more? Oh yes!"
Fury swallowed and stared at the girl for some reason.
"She is going to be your guard and she has to do as good as everything you ask... But don't make abuse of that because she'll show you when she's not agreeing on something." he said , pointing at the girl...
Tony saw her cheeks color as red as her hair before she shouted, "NO! I DON'T WANT TO!"
Fury gave her one look, what made the girl shut up... That look of him meant that they haven't got a choice...
