*This evil plot bunny attacked me so I thought I'd post it. So, here ya go!*
Nick Fury was on his (seemingly always) angry way to SHIELD's 5th Lab on the Helicarrier. One of his best agents, Natasha Romanoff, had just informed him that one of her teammates had been acting... suspicious. And of course, it just had to be Stark! Who else!?
Nick sighed as he opened the door to the lab. He found multiple of their best scientists (excluding Banner, and that damn Stark) celebrating. That is until one of the younger ones noticed him and quickly and completely un-stealthly sushed and elbowed the others in the room. The room fell silent and one of the more confident scientists stepped forward.
"Sir! We were right about to inform you! We just got carried away in all the excitement and then we-" Nick cut him off "I understand that much . Now, what may I ask, were you celebrating!?" He half growled bringing the Doctor's confidence down considerably. "W-well Sir, we ah... we completed the serum... not even the strongest of wills could denie it." The Director smiled. "Perfect. How much would you dose the average male with?" Another Doctor from the back of the group spoke up "12ml. Also most do not notice the taste, and it has no oder. And as an upside, even if one is not directly asked a question, but is given a choice between answering a question and not, the subject to this serum will be inclined to tell the truth. No matter the temptations or options. Does this fit your requirements Director?" The Director nodded and said "Yes. Now I would like one dose of this on my desk in ten minutes flat... did I stutter!? Now!"
Nicholas Fury then left the room speaking through the headset "Agent Hill, get Agent Romanoff to my office now." He then headed to that very destination.
~~~~~~~~magicnesss!~~~~~~~~~~~
Natasha Romanoff made her way through the air in one of the quinjets unknown to most of her team. She landed on the Helicarrier making record time from Stark Towers. She simply held her breath with no problem to the entrance and closed the door behind her.
Within three minutes she had made it to the Director's office. As she sat down in a spare chair the Director spun his towards her, very Dr. Claw style.
"Here. Take this. You will give it to Stark, and find out what he is hiding. Otherwise it could take a while." She took the small vile from his hand and nodded. "Will do". With that she left and headed back to Stark Towers.
~~~~~~~~~~~Magicness!~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Natasha got back she went straight to the top most lounge. After the tower got rebuilt, Stark added a large flat-screen TV and upgraded the landing pad for his suit, amongst other things.
Everyone was setting up for the teams annual game night (mostly video games, but they also played the original version of Monopoly for Rogers sake) and Natasha volunteered to get drinks and snacks as she walked over to the bar. Once there she called out to the rest of the group who was surprisingly cleaning up what looked to be the reminiscent of a pillow fight.
Thor was the first to answer "Lady Natasha, Ale please. Oh! And some of that dehydrated corn that explodes!". Across the room Stark winced. Thor hadn't exactly mastered his 'Inside voice' so says Stark.
Next came Clint's voice which undoubtedly came from the ceiling "Coke please! And some of those pickled eggs!" Stark took this as an opportunity to reply "Okay, first of all, isn't that cannibalism? And secondly, Pepsi is better than Coke!" Clint dropped gracefully out of an air vent in front of Stark, startling him. "No. It is not cannibalism. And Coke is better!" Stark then 'puffed up' so to speak "Pepsi!" "Coke!" "Pepsi!" "Coke!"
Bruce walked by them towards Steve saying "My horse is bigger than your horse!" As the two kept bickering Bruce asked for Tea, and Steve asked for coffee. Natasha sighed as she made the others things while waiting for Stark's 'order'. After handing everyone one their things (excluding Clint and Stark). She went back to the bar and poured herself a glass of stereotypical Vodka.
Finally having enough, Natasha raised her voice over the two having WWIII in the room "Alright, boys. Your both pretty! Now, Stark. What do you want?" They both stopped fighting and Clint sat on the couch after grabbing his things. As Stark walked past him he whispered just loud enough for highly trained ears to hear. And superhuman ears. "...Pepsi's better." Clint opened his moth to respond when Steve simply said "Don't" and Clint's mouth shut. With Clint still glaring at him he sat in a chair at the farthest end of Clint's couch.
For some reason Steve finds the furniture arrangement odd, a large rectangular coffee table, two couches, one on either long side of the table, and two chairs on either short end. The TV was behind Steve and Bruce who were sitting opposite of Clint. Tony was to their leaft and Thor had just plopped down in the chair on the right. Its a good thing the chairs were on the larger side of things, otherwise he might not of fit.
Tony sighed and rolled his head to Natasha at the bar "I think I'll have ...hmm...aaaaaa...ehhhhhhh...(A/N insert chirping crickets)...ahhhhh... Scotch on the rocks! Please!" Natasha rolled her eyes but didn't protest. A moment later she came over and handed the scotch to Tony and sat with her Vonka beside Clint.
Tony took a drink, a long one, and said "Alright. What game we gonna play first? Oh! I know! How about one of those little kids school games! Like 'Would you rather' or 'Truth or dare'?!"
Everyone looked at him with different expressions; Steve and Thor confusion, Bruce amusement, Natasha forever straight faced, but with a glean in her eye, and finally Clint. Who stared at him with a look that the modern world would describe as WTF?!
Bruce responded first "Sure, why not? But I am telling you now, its the only non-nerdy thing I did as a child. It was actually enjoyable". Clint smirked "I've got a few ideas for dares". Steve spoke up "Umm, I don't exactly know how to play that, sorry..." Thor agreed "Yes, what is this 'Truth or Dare' you speak of". Tony guzzled back the rest of his drink, almost getting an ice cube up the nose. "Here, we'll show you. Some one truth or dare me!" Clint grinned "Truth or dare?" Tony looked thoughtful "Ahhh... I'll go with dare first!" Clint's grin widened "I dare you to go hide SOMEONE'S GREEN underwear!" He spoke quickly and Tony understood before the sentance was done and took off running. A moment later Bruce bolted up from his seat swearing and running after him. This caused Clint to crack up and even Natasha to smirk. Steve interrupted Clint's laughing fit "Umm... I still don't get it..." Clint sobered up for a moment "Well I just dared Tony to hide Bruce's underwear. It just took a sec before Bruce realized it. And when you dare someone they have to do it. If they don't they are declared a chicken!" Steve chuckled in understanding and Thor joined the all out laugh fest with Clint. A few minutes after the laughing died out Tony came back in the room and sat in his seat smirking as Bruce pouted back to his seat. Steve patted his shoulder and turned to the rest of the team.
Still smiling Tony sat forward "Alright someone truth me!" Before anyone could react Natasha spoke up "You acted suspicious the other day, and multiple days before and after. Why?" Shocked, Steve responded to this question "I don't think he should have to answer that. We all trust each other, don't we?" Natasha didn't take her eyes off of Tony. "No, he does have to. Every question you ask him for the next 12 hours he will answer completely truthfully. So, ask away." Tony turned to her "I was planning a birthday party for you". She momentarily looks confused "Nobody knows my birthday. Not even SHIELD. If you know it, then when is it?" Tony simply states "April 10th." (A/N First appearance, April 10th, 1964 'Tales of Suspense' #52). She looked at him in shock, then narrowed her eyes at him. "You want to dig through me, I'll dig through you. As a child, what was the most painful part of your past. And I'll consider up to 15 as a child". Not even Clint hade ever seen her speak with such attitude. Tony looked deep in thought and Steve was about to speak up when Tony spoke instead. "I was 8. I had spilled fathers glass of rum onto the floor. It hurt so much. And he laughed while beating me with the first object he could find. As my luck would have it just so happened to be a heavyweighted wrench. Mother heard me scream and ran in. But instead of stopping him, she casually leaned against the doorway,smiling." No one interrupted. "Her smile seemed to widen everytime I'd scream. And Father hit harder when I screamed. So instead, I stayed silent. I would not give them the satisfaction to hear me scream. Eventually he stopped. Then he brought me to the top of our two story spiral staircase. Luckily it had railings on both sides. Father leaned over and whispered in my ear. The warning he always gave me. 'You tell someone, and your going to die. Besides, explanations are simply pity filled excuses. Don't explain yourself. It weakens you. Now, why don't you go have fun!' Then I was shorter than the width of the stairs so he simply laughed and pushed me. I stopped about two thirds down the stairs. Somewhere around three minutes later our butler, Jarvis, found me and immediately called 911. He didn't move me, afraid that he could hurt me even worse. I passed out after that. I woke up two days later in the hospital bandages everywhere. I had broken my right ankle, left leg, right arm, left wrist, all my fingers. Thirteen of my ribs. A concussion. Multiple cuts. My entire body was covered in bruises. It hurt to breath. The doctor had said I was lucky I didn't puncture a lung. The story the press got was that I simply fell down the stairs. And they believed it, so it was okay. I guess."
The room was silent. Bruce turned to Natasha as Tony slowly pulls his legs up to his chest. "He has to answer everything truthfully? Right?" She just absentmindedly nodded at him "Yes. He took the truth serum." Bruce turned back to Tony and spoke unbelievably kindly to him. "Tony? When did those kinds of things start? When did they end?" Tony looked like a lost child. Alone and defeated. "It, it ended when he did. Then all I had left was Obadiah, until I had to end him. And it began when I was four. As far as I can remember. Stane. Yinsen. God I screwed." He put his head in his hands.
Speaking of hands, Bruce's were taking on a green ting to them. He stood and left the room.
Thor looked like he wanted to hug Tony. But he was smarter than that. Contact now was a bad idea.
Clint looked outraged. Steve was a mix of anger, shock, betrayal, and confusion. But the most interesting was Natasha. She stared open mouthed at Tony. Crying silently. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
Then Steve realized something, at about the same time Bruce sat back down. And he said it out loud. "We need to ask a few more questions. If we are going to be a team we are going to need to understand each other. And we all know the rest of us would explain. Tony just stays loud and obnoxious. Compensating for that that his stubbornness would not normally allow to be shared. Tony. What were the next most painful parts of your life. And I'm sorry". The team gapped at their Captain, but nodded encouraging Tony forward.
"When Obadiah had me kidnapped, by the Ten Rings. They, they put a whole in my chest that I had to fill. But in a cave, in the middle of the middle east, what's left to fill that whole is horrible. But people with car batteries attached to their chests can't be choosers. The tried to force me to build them one of my missiles. They killed the one man had been nice to me. No, I guess you could say I killed him. He helped me make the mini Arc. And the first suit. But of course, the suit needed to boot up. So, he...Yinsen ran out, a gun in hand. He simply wanted to by me time, even if he knew the toll. By the time the suit had booted up, and I had made it to him he...he was...dead. So then I escaped. But not before slaughtering everyone there. And at the time, I felt nothing. No sympathy, no guilt, no pride. I was simply indifferent to killing so many. By the time I made it back that had warn off. But then, I...I...I realized what my weapons really did. The entire time I thought I was doing good. So I took to the heart what Yinsen had told me once. What I have never told anyone before. 'Don't waste your life' I stopped making weapons. It was so much easier to let the world close in on me in the lab, where the only one to see was Jarvis. I was soon diagnosed with Narcissism and my PTSD worsened." There was silence and shock left in the room. Tony continued. "The next would be, would be when I found out I was dying. It scared me and... and I looked for a cure. A way to stop the palladium core that was keeping me alive, from killing me. But there wasn't any other element or element combination that would work. My blood poisoning increased, and I lost hope. I got attacked, had to use the suit. But every time I used it, the poison spread quicker. I made Pepper the CEO of Stark Industries. I did what ever I wanted. Rhodey stole one of my suits, I never did get it back though. Then, someone gave me a hint. And a new path appeared. There was another element to discover. Well, rediscover really. I worked to make the element, giving up on trying to tell people that I was dying. The part after that's not that important, just fighting Vanko. Then Pepper almost got blown to smitherines! My Narcissism had faded some, but the PTSD had increased. Then, when I was going through the portal and... and Pepper didn't pick up the phone. My first thought was 'She is a terrible assistant, not taking calls from her own boss!' And then, the situation sank in and my only thought was 'Fuck' before I passed out."
Steve didn't know. He didn't know what to say, what to do, anything. Bruce broke through the silence "Tony, how bad is the PTSD?" Tony swallowed nervously and sunk further into the chair, as if it could hide the open and vulnerable child he had become. He lowered his head "Delayed Onset..." Bruce sighed as he put his head in his hands. "I figured that much Tony, but how BAD is it?" Tony hide his face in his knees "Frequent. Long. Graphic. There horrible." Bruce ignored all the confused looks he was getting "God Tony, when was the last one?" Tony looked thoughtful for a moment "I... I'm not sure..." before anyone could say anything, Jarvis interrupted "The last attack was Tuesday, being four days ago. It was one of the worse attacks. Therefore Sir was unaware of the time and went to sleep, waking up hours later to help battle Doom". Bruce sighed once again "Thank you Jarvis."
Clint was completely confused "Umm, what does all that mean? I don't speak... whatever language that psychology stuff is". Bruce responded, voice straining to stay level "It means that Tony gets something along the lines of a mix between anxiety attacks and LSD flashbacks. Its like he is living through traumatic moments in his life all over again. Sometimes they even warp a little. Its been going on for a very long time. He had one so bad on Tuesday that he was incoherent to his time and location. They might even get worse. Sometimes interventions do more bad then good. And given by his past he's not one to trust easily. Tony, have you taken any medication for it?"
Clint nodded absent-mindedly but frowned to see Tony shaking. "I... I tried. They didn't work. I... guess I deserve this though... all those weapons... all those children... human beings... my Father was unknowingly justified... I'm glad. I deserve the pain, for death would be too painless. I deserve to suffer. Death would be to good for me. I deserve the pain. I've wasted my life, I'm a man with everything and nothing. Always have been, always will be."
Tony's body began to shake as sobs washed through him. He always knew that he was getting the pain that he deserved. He just didn't want to admit it. He was surprised when a hand touched his back, and he instantly and unconsciously jumped out of the chair. Out of arms length, and away from the sad, disappointed look coming from the last teammate he'd expect.
Natasha approached the shaking man before her slowly. Expecting the shell of a man, with only the scared child left, to run like a frightened animal. Instead, he dropped to the floor, on his knees, his head bowed in his hands "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. 'M sorry...'m so so sorry..." soon his mumbles became sobs as the broken man's team embraced him.
They would no longer question his trust issues. No longer question his dislike to being handed things. The lack of pools and bath tubs. How jumpy he was when surprised. Why he spent so much time in his lab. And they would try their best to understand one another, to make sure they would always be together. As friends. As a family. As, the Avengers.
Even though Tony won't remember this tomorrow.