"I know you're there, Stark." Tony's eyes widened in shock at the sound of Steve's voice. "I can hear you breathing, so just come out."

Slowly, Tony stepped from the shadows, hands clasped behind his back, his eyes downcast. "Hey, Cap." He strode forward, circling around the chair to which Steve had been handcuffed with his hands behind his back. The Captain was prone, completely disabled and locked tight with his head hung forward so that blond locks fell into his eyes.

"Got you on guard duty, huh?" Steve asked without looking up.

"You could say that."

"Heh."

"Why'd you do it, Steve?"

He didn't answer, so Tony squatted in front of his friend, forearms resting on his knees. He tried to look in Rogers's eyes but Steve purposely looked away. Tony waited a few minutes, desperate for an answer, but heard nothing, so he stood back up and began to circle again.

"They have you on tape," he began again, modifying his voice so he didn't sound accusatory. "They've got witnesses. One of the bystanders was an undercover SHIELD agent." He stopped again and stared at Steve, eyes hardening with hurt. "I was there."

"I know."

"I saw you do it, saw you let him go."

"I know."

"So tell me why."

"I can't," Steve sighed.

"Why not?"

"You wouldn't understand."

"Bullshit." Tony spat the word, his pain evident. "That's a cop-out answer if ever I heard one."

"It is what it is."

"Am I really that unimportant?" Tony asked, reverting to dirty tactics to get the answer he wanted. "Did our friendship mean so little that you can't even tell me the truth?"

Steve said nothing, and Tony felt his heart crack just a little. "I trusted you," he whispered, eyes hard. "I told you so much, about my past and Pepper and my dad. I let you hold my little girl and watch her and play with her. I invited you to family dinners because you were family. You were the brother I never had."

"Please, stop," Steve begged.

"And you betrayed me," Tony continued. "He killed again, just like I said he would, and when we were sent in to clean up and mete out justice, you let him walk."

"Tony-"

"So explain that to me, Steve. Tell me why you did it."

"I told you. You won't understand."

"Try me."

"Because I love him."

Tony waited patiently for the rest, but it never came.

"You love him," he repeated, incredulous. "He killed forty innocent people and you let him go because you love him."

"Yes."

He didn't say anything. He couldn't. He understood love - he had Pepper and his daughter, and he loved them more than anything in the world - but something about the whole situation made him so raw, so hurt, that he was disappointed. He was disappointed that his brother, his Captain, his friend, had fallen victim to such a human emotion and had failed to be just because of it.

"It didn't even work," Tony whispered. "You let him go to save him but we found him anyway. All you did was damn yourself."

"I know." The words were profound, and in that instant, he knew that Steve Rogers had willingly accepted his fate, that Captain America didn't have any fight left, and that hurt most of all.

They'd broken him.

"I hope it was enough," Tony said as he headed for the door, his tone businesslike once more. "Your sentencing's tomorrow at noon. Loki's execution is at four. Director Fury has specifically requested that you be there." At this, Steve's head whipped up and he looked at Tony, his eyes desperate as the words sank in.

"No, Tony, I can't. Please."

"I'll be the one to escort you to the injection," he continued, knuckles rapping lightly on the metal door, "so please don't try to fight back or escape."

"Tony, please don't do this-"

"It's too late," Tony replied over his shoulder as the door opened with a creak. "You made your choice, Steve. Now you have to live with it."