Glass Walls

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"You don't look scared."
"Yeah, well, you'd be surprised at how often I wake up tied to a chair." Tony retorts, his voice calm and still, but the panic in his eyes breaks his facade. "Honestly, this is a normal Tuesday for me. There's two ways this can go, you ask me for something, I say 'no' and you hurt me, then I escape. Or, you hurt me and someone else comes to save me. I've been in this situation more times than I can count."
"You're so smug, Stark."
Tony just sighs and continues, "Can you just tell me what it is that you want so we can get this over with?"
"I don't want anything from you." The man says plainly.
"What?"
"I don't need you for anything, I just have to hurt you to get what I need."
"That doesn't make any sense. You just wanna hurt me?" Tony asks, confusion in his eyes.
"I don't want to hurt you, I need to, you don't need to know anything else. See you in a minute, Stark." He says, leaving the man in wonder of what's going on.

Ten minutes later-
In the next room, a hero hangs from his wrists and struggles against the restraints.
"Fuck." Steve huffs, "Hey! Let me go!"
The door opens and three men walk in, all in black suits with fancy hair and they walk confidently towards Steve.
"Captain America! Look at you!" The one on the left speaks up, his accent is thick and German.
"What do you want?" Steve says, gritting his teeth and sticking his chin out defiantly.
"We want the location."
"Of what?"
"The tesseract. You know exactly where it is, we know that. Tell us now."
"Oh please, why the hell would I know where it is?"
The man on the right just laughs, he takes his phone of out his pocket and plays a video. It's Steve from a few days ago, he's talking to Fury, discussing the tesseract.
"You're gonna go retrieve it, and bring it back here. There's a plane thats going across the Atlantic in two weeks, and you're gonna find it."
"Yes, sir."
"This is important, Rogers, there's three people in the world who know about this. Me, you, and Hill. Don't fuck this up."
"I won't, sir."

The video comes to a stop and the man puts the phone back in his pocket.
"How did you get that footage?" Steve asks, a little bit more nervous now that he knows that they're competent.
"Doesn't matter. Where is it?" The man in the middle asks, a frown plastered on his face.
"Go fuck yourself."
"Language, Captain. I'm gonna give you one more chance to tell us, or you're gonna regret it."
"I won't tell you anything."
"Fine. The hard way."
He takes a remote out of his pocket and the wall in front of Steve begins to change from a dark white to a transparent sheet of glass. Tony's sitting in the next room, Steve can see him but it's clear that the other man can't see through it.

"Can you please just tell me what I have to do to get out of here?" Tony's voice comes through a speaker in Steve's room.
'Please don't kill him.'  Steve thinks to himself, he can't do this.
"You don't need to do anything, just scream for me." The man standing beside Tony smirks and looks towards the opaque wall, knowing full-well that the others in the next room can see him.
"What are you looking at?" Tony asks, almost to himself, his voice in a whisper.
"I'll be back in two minutes, 'Iron-Man.'" He says as he steps out of the room again. Steve watches in fear as Tony begins to look for a way out of the bonds, but it's hopeless, they're strong enough to hold a super solider, a regular person didn't stand a chance.
The man walks back in with some type of machine and wires attached to it. "You know, Stark," He starts, plugging the thing into the wall and walking back in front of the man. "My father worked in a hospital for most of his life. And do you see this?"
Tony looks down and inspects the machine, panic rising in his chest.
"This is what he used to ensure people listened to him. He was able to change their opinions, not willingly, of course. They used to use these things on the mentally ill as a form of treatment. But, obviously, it was banned for being too brutal. It's called ECT. Electro convulsion therapy." He takes one of the wires out and peels the paper off the small device, what's left is a sticky pad that he presses onto Tony's forehead.
The hero squirms backwards as far as he can, but ultimately there is nothing he can do but let out a nervous laugh. "I got enough therapy when I was a k...kid." He can't stop the scared stutter that comes with the dark feeling in his stomach.
"Stay still." The man says, he grips Tony's wrists and connects another pad to each of his arms, and then puts four on his stomach and another two on his ankles.

"Wait." Steve says, his breath caught in his throat. "Don't hurt him. Okay? Please. I... I don't know the exact location."
One of the men in front of him leans down to whisper into his ear. "Liar."

"I can't give you what you want if you don't tell me what it is." Tony says more urgently than before.
"I don't need something from you, I need something from your friend." He replies calmly, he takes out another remote and the opaque wall turns transparent as Tony can see exactly what he means.
"Steve. Steve?" The man calls out, struggling again now that he knows his friend can see him looking so weak.
"Tony!" Steve shouts, but it's obvious that the two men in the next room can't hear them.
"Steve! I don't know if you can hear me but don't tell them shit!" Stark yells.
The man on the left in Steve's room walks out of the door, clearly angry at how Tony is trying to stop them.
"Don't hurt him!" Steve shouts at him, he shakes the chains but he's just as helpless as Tony is.
The man who had just left Steve's room barges into the room opposite, he takes out a wooden stick, it's not very big but it's thick enough to gag the billionaire stuck to the chair.
"Open your mouth." He says, trying to force it in, and for a few seconds, Tony can hold him off, but the other man pries his jaw open and grants him easy access to force the wood into his mouth.

"I can't tell you! I can't! Just stop!" Steve yells, practically begging the man left in his room.
"Shock him." He replies simply into a walkie-talkie.
Tony's brain can't process the pain as his whole body feels like it's engulfed in flames, everywhere burns so much. Steve just watches in horror, shouting out and listening to his friends muffled screams.
"Stop." The man in charge tells them. They turn off the machine and pull Tony's head up by his hair. His eyes flutter from open to shut but it's clear he won't be conscious for much longer.
"Is he cooperating?" One of the goons beside Stark asks, as the one next to Steve asks him another question.
"Where is it?"
"I don't know! I swear! I just know it's in the Atlantic!" The super soldier replies, tears building up in his eyes.
Tony shakes his head wearily, he can't be the reason these assholes get the Tesseract, it's too powerful. But all he gets from the defiance is a slap across the face.
"I'll give you one more chance. You better take it. These machines weren't designed to tickle, another few minutes and your friend dies."
"I'm telling you the truth! I swear!"
"Shock him." The man says plainly, his sadistic side truly showing as he has no remorse for either of the two captives. Tony screams out, but the pain doesn't stop. It lasts for so long, he thinks he's already died and went to hell. He can't take it much longer.
"STOP IT! THE COORDINATES ARE ON MY PHONE!" Steve screams, watching as Tony's head falls in front of him, he's unconscious, he doesn't stop pulsating though. The shocks still wrack his body as the man presses stop on the machine, finally pleased with an answer.
The door bursts open as a dozen agents push in and surround the villain. The same thing happens in the room directly next to them. Steve's chains are shot off and he almost collapses onto his knees before catching himself and running in to see his friend.
There's two agents undoing the binds on Tony's arms and legs, he still hasn't woken up though.
He pushes past the agents and bends down, catching Tony when he falls forward and almost off his chair.
"Hey. Hey." Steve says quietly, "you alright?"
Tonys eyes flutter open gently and he takes a moment to process what's happened. There's electric shock marks across his chest and up his neck, and he's sitting there with Steve's hands on either side of his face.
"I'm okay." He mumbles.
"Thank fuck." Steve sighs, pulling him into a hug.
"Language." Tony coughs out, a weak smile on his face as he gets help to walk out to where he's finally safe.

Fury is waiting for them outside, he looks pissed off but also relieved.
"Rogers." He starts, "You were really about to let them have the coordinates?"
"Look..."
"He saved my life." Tony speaks up, his face pale and black bruises already forming on his forehead from where the pad was stuck to him. "Can you just leave him alone?"
"Fine. But only because you look like shit and I don't wanna argue with a man near death." Fury replies, "Rogers, you better be more careful until that plane leaves."
"Yes, sir."
"Good. Get well Stark."
Tony nods at him and continues to put most of his weight on Steve, he has his arms underneath his shoulders and is practically lifting him.
"You like me." Tony lets out a dry chuckle, coughing a little as he tries to keep his balance.
"I do not. That was a professional courtesy." Steve mumbles.
"You love me." Tony smirks.
"Shut up. I'll just drop you."
"You wouldn't hurt someone you love."
"Oh my god. I'm never gonna hear the end of this." Steve groans, helping the other man get into a car before sitting in beside him.
"Where are we going, sir?" Happy asks from the front of the car.
"The tower, I gotta tell the team that Steve loves me."
"No! Happy take us to a hospital."
"You work for me, Hogan." Tony retorts, a smile on his face.
"Jesus Christ, Tony. You're crazy."
"Crazy in love."
"Shut up!"

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