He had walked, and walked, and walked. He couldn't remember how far or for how long, but he could remember the numbness in his legs, or the softness of the dogs fur as she wiggled in his hands and tried to get away from him. He remembered the scorching hot sun that blazed overhead as he kept swaying from side to side.

And one moment it all stopped. He couldn't remember how he had fallen, or where. He couldn't even remember if it had hurt him. But he could remember the yelping of the dog as she fell on top of him.

Once he came to consciousness, William could only hear the singing of birds above him. The air was still slightly humid, but it wasn't as hot as it was before.
It didn't take him long to realise there was something cool pressed against his wound. The panting of the dog sounded beside him, but this wasn't the only thing he heard.

“It's alright doggy, he'll come soon.” a youthful voice cooed close by, giggling as the dog nuzzled the human.
William grunted through the sleepiness, trying to get his limbs moving to access the threat. The vulnerability made him anxious.

“Get away from them!” a male voice snapped, making the human being kneeling beside the dog take a sharp intake of breath.

“But-”

“Step away from the corpse darling.”

She whined under her breath, but she got up nevertheless.

“Look, I placed mud on the wound.”

“Of a dead person? Peach-”

“he isn't dead.”

“Only one way to find out.”

Will cracked his eyes open slowly, feeling an awful headache almost making him blind. He snapped his eyes shut as a tiny stone suddenly made contact with his temple, grunting at the uncomfortable pain that pierced his head.

“Well, he's not dead. We'll take the dog and leave him, he looks shady. And darling, we don't do shady anymore.”

“no.”

“listen to your elders, child.”

“I'll tell mom you've been drinking twice the amount of black coffee lately.”

“Thats not nice!”

“You're not nice.”

“Rude” the male huffed under his breath.

The footsteps grew nearer and Will tried to push himself up, but he was too sore all over. The coldness of the earth had made his back numb, he was vulnerable. His eyes fluttered open and he wanted to swipe at the man kneeling beside him.

He wanted to tell him to leave, to step back, to turn away and forget he even saw anyone.

He wanted to kill the man.

Though maybe he didn't? He wasn't sure what he wanted anymore. But one thing was for sure. He was terrified, he was incapable of moving his limbs, incapable of shifting, incapable of protecting himself and the dog. Bad things happened to him when he couldn't protect himself.

“All's good, I'll bring my truck closer and we can take you to the house alright?” he said, almost nonchalantly as he scanned his injury.

William could barely see him through his blurry vision, all he could vocalize was an incoherent word that he knew was leave, but it didn't even sound like a word.

“Darling, push this button if he somehow tries anything alright? You know where to shoot bad people.”

“Yes dad.”

They exchanged a couple of more words before Will's hearing disappeared again. For a brief moment, the pain disappeared. And oh was that a moment of peace. It was as though the darkness itself had wrapped it's long, slithering limbs around him and pulled him into its soft embrace.

A flash of bright light and pieces of earth appeared before his dreams. There was ringing, and although he couldn't smell it, he knew it reeked of gunpowder, mud, and rotten flesh.

“Shut up you arse, stupid-looking American child.”

“John? Fuck. Here, lean on T, Frank the medic is with the other group, he'll get you to him. The drunkard and I will meet up with the captain, we'll burn those rats to ground.”

He wheezed as someones strong hands curled around both of his biceps.

“All good buddy, just me and my dog.”

“Hey!”

“Open the car door darling.”

He groaned as he was pulled up, the man grunting at his weight as all air seemed to have left his lungs. He tried to lean on his legs, although they gave in as soon as he tried.

He blinked his eyes, seeing the green hill and the long grass that reached nearly all the way up to his hips. The man who kept dragging him backwards huffed heavily, seeming to be struggling quite a bit.

He felt his upper body making contact with something soft, groaning at the sudden movement as he felt his side pinch in throbbing pain. It had been numb before, but now the irregular movements irritated the wound again.

He lulled between reality and unconsciousness, breathing heavily as he smacked his head against the car window. He was powerless. And so, so tired. At some point he felt a furry body next to his, a wet nose nuzzling his upturned palm.

He had an odd urge to soothe the creature, tell her he's alright and just needed to sleep a little.

But be could barely keep himself conscious. He heard talking and felt the soft rumble of the car engine purring. He wasn't sure where he was heading to, or who those people were. He could barely concentrate on scenting the air. The smell of old sandwitches, wet dog and blood almost suffocating him.

He was once again pulled into the quiet slumber as the warmth and softness of the seats brought him unwanted comfort. He could identify cookies and chocolate. And something else, candies? Marshmallows, perhaps? With a touch of spilt coffee on the seats.

He could almost feel the panic system in his brain telling him to run, to attack as he felt someones hands pulling him out of the car.

He wanted to fight, wanted to run so bad. But he was tired, so awfully tired.

”Yep, thank you for cleaning it for me Peach.” the man dragging him mumbled under his breath, sounding as though he was carrying a whole cow instead of a person.

Will tried to get his limbs to work, his eyes fluttered open yet the world kept spinning. He nearly hissed at the way his upper back made a heavy contact with a table.

“help me Dum-U” a whirring sound made the hairs on the back of his neck rise. The sound itself cut through his bones and almost made him want to puke. Machines, it was a machine.

William hated machines. They never did him any good. All he could remember of machines like that was that they ruined reality.

“Jesus Christ man, you need to sleep now. I can't work if you keep on babbling like that. Right, good, now just think of unicorns and rainbows. Peach? Don't touch the dog ye-” William couldn't hear what it was that the man above him said since everything once again felt as though he was underwater.

Swaying in the black abyss, in water, dark murky water. There was fog, lots of fog. It was impossible to really see. Behind the fog, in the far away distance, warm light flashed in fast rhythm before stopping, only to fire again. He could bear them again, them cries of soldiers. Suddenly the water was red and sticky and drowning him.

Will's eyes flew open and his hand shot up, his fingers curled around the mans throat as he started at him with fury. Instead of the middle aged man, he saw German doctor with long, green coat and blue lights flickering above. He squeezed his throat.

Suddenly something hit him hard, making him lose his grip and flinch at the pain that flared through his head. He squeezed his eyes shut, allowing the pain in his torso flow. He had woken up halfway through the procedure. The heavy scent of blood almost made him sick again.

“Dou-double t-the doze, now!” the man wheezed, having stepped away from the table.

The wooden ceiling didn't emit cold lights, the man speaking was American and not German at all. Will felt something heavy clasp around his wrists.

“net” Will growled, feeling an annoying pinch against his shoulder as once against, the world started swaying. He didn't want to go back to sleep, he couldn't go back to sleep!

“ne delay etogo so mnoy.” he slurred, getting a whiff of chocolate and coffee. He could feel the man getting closer again. But his instictd were all messed up, whatever drug was in his system, made everything in him weaker.

“I'm just trying to help you damn it, why does everyone always try to kill me when I do that!” as the man started working on Will's injury again, the soldier relaxed as he once again fell into a horror filled dream, stuck under the influence of the drug.

The next time William came to consciousness, he felt better. Alive even, if someone like him could feel alive it is.

He blinked, trying to raise his hand to swipe his eyes only to realise he was stuck. It was thin plastic band that bound both of his wrists together. They hummed so quietly he almost missed it.

His body ached, but the wound was cleaned, and bandaged. There was something smeared underneath his feet, easing the burnings he felt earlier. He started at the wooden ceiling until it stopped swaying. Solid wood, not a cement basement. Just ordinary, breakable ceiling.

“Good afternoon Sunshine.” Williams head whipped to right, staring at the man slouching on the sofa just near a large window that showed off a beautiful lake. Will didn't answer, just stared at him dumbfounded. Everything seemed so ordinary, except the device in his bands and the weird chains that weren't chains at all?

“There I was, trying to have a nice morning and then a half-dead tourist falls from the sky on my property.” be went on, sounding annoyed and not angry like Will expected him to be.

Who was he? The government? HYDRA? KGB? CIA? He sounded American, so CIA? FBI? William ran hundred scenarios through his mind but none of them seemed to fit. He scanned the room, trying to find a weapon he could use.

Eliminate the threat, run, disappear.

“Nothing comes up on you, so I start to think. Who the hell are you Tarzan?” the man finally looked up from the device, taking off his glasses as he placed the device on the sofa and leaned back.

Was William supposed to answer? Say anything?

Suddenly laughter echoed, making William jump as a little girl came running in, a dark Labrador on her tail as they both ran up to the man.

“Daddy the dog licked my face!” she said happily, crawling to sit on the mans lap. He ignored Williams bewildered look and pulled the girl up “Peach, you had to bring food to the dog yeah? I need to have a word with the bad owner alright?” he said firmly, stroking the girls black hair as the dog tried to fit between the couch and the table.

“But-”

“Nuh-uh, go now.” he kissed the crown of her hair and allowed her to slip off.

As fast as the girl came, she was gone.

“Dont you even think about hurting that girl. If I even see you talking to her, I will stuff that fork right though your nose and pull out that brain. I will make a minced meat out of you, are we clear?”

Weak spot: the daughter.

Will nodded, still trying to figure out who the hell that man is.

“So, you understand English. Tell me who you are.”

“Who are you?” William asked after a tense silence. Nothing made sense. Why had he cleaned the wound? Stutched him up? Why was he feeding the Dog? Why wasnt there any guards?

The man looked startled or almost offended at the question.

“Look, I know I haven't been in the picture for a long time, but seriously? I'm Tony Stark. Stark industries? Doesn't ring a bell? No? Nothing?” at Williams stoic or somewhat confused expression the man - Tony, sighed dramatically and lulled his head back.

“Well, I don't have to worry about you running off to tell the whole world where I live. So, I think the question here is who are you?”

He though about it, who was he? He knew his first name, but there was no way he would tell that to the odd stranger.

“I'm John”

The man raised a quizzical brow at that, his dark eyes accessing everything about the strapped down soldier.

“Oh lordy.”

Gah I've been trying to fix it for three days but I'm still not completely fine with this chapter.
But y'all demanded an update so an update you shall get.

I mean, I did ask if he should meet buck or Steve first but then I kept watching a lot of picture of Tony.

Besides, it was RDJ's birthday!!!!