This chapter is a little boring, but it's necessary to keep it moving.

CHAPTER 4

Tony Stark, genius, billionaire, ex-playboy, philanthropist, and now irritable and hungry, was roused from his much needed slumber by an odd thumping noise coming from his window. He shuffled to the window, groaning and ready to insult whoever it was that very rudely interrupted his sleep. Tony went over to the window and slid the panel open, immediately pulling himself backwards when something dull and hard struck his forehead. He caught himself on the corner of the bookshelf and rubbed his eyes.

"What the hell just hit me?" He said out loud.

"It appears to be an arrowhead, sir." Jarvis supplied.

Tony looked down to see a rubber arrowhead wrapped neatly in a paper ball. He picked it up and carefully removed the paper. It was a note.

"Let us in.

-Clint & Natasha."

Tony rolled his eyes and stuck his head out the window, finally awake enough to catch sight of the two assassins below. He waved and commanded Jarvis to let them in and show them the way up.

Deciding he needed to freshen up a bit, Tony wandered over to the bathroom and splashed water on his face. After brushing his teeth and throwing on a fresh pair of clothes, he made his way to the living room and wasn't very surprised to see the pair of SHIELD agents already waiting for him.

"Morning Tony," Natasha said politely as Clint smirked, proud of having had the chance to hit Tony in the head with a toy arrow.
Tony nodded his head in reply and scowled at Clint, obviously not feeling his good spirits.

"Couldn't have sent a text, Barton?" Tony grumbled, motioning for them to sit.

"I forgot to bring my phone. Besides, you probably wouldn't have answered." Clint replied.

"About that." Natasha interrupted suddenly.

"I was sleeping," Tony said defensively, having caught Natasha's switch from friendly to serious.

"That does not explain why you haven't picked up any calls in the past week." Natasha reprimanded.

Tony rolled his eyes again. "I have."

"That's not what SHIELD has been saying!" Clint said, almost singing.

Placing a hand on his hip, Tony complained, "You came here to ask me why I haven't been answering Fury and Coulson's calls?" He waved his hand dismissively. "Since when have I ever willingly answered their calls?"

Natasha rubbed her temple with one hand, ignoring the urge to smack the child out of Tony. "Tony, you know the situation you're in. We're only trying to help you, you know. You don't want to give Fury any more reason to be suspicious of you."

Are they joking? Tony's eyebrows shot up."What situation?" Tony scoffed. "There is no fucking situation. Nothing has changed that SHIELD needs to worry about."

"There are a lot of things that SHIELD has to worry about with you." Clint muttered.

Natasha glared at him and motioned for him to shut up.

"Look Stark," Clint started, ignoring Natasha's glare. "I don't care how pissed you get. You know what this is about as well as Natasha does. What you said back at the meeting, after Loki le-"

"Barton!" Natasha warned. "That is not what this is about."

"It's not?" Tony spoke up. "You mean to say you haven't been around my tower snooping around, and trying to hack my system, and trying to convince yourselves that somehow I'm being controlled by a god who's on another fucking planet?" Tony took a step forward threateningly.

Natasha raised both palms in the air. "I trust you Tony, and I can only hope that you can trust us too," She said sympathetically.

"You want me to trust the best liar this world has to offer. That's asking too much, even for SHIELD." Tony looked at the two with disgust. He was getting sick and tired of their games.

Natasha quieted, a look of resentment filling her eyes. Tony snickered. She hates being pointed out what she is and always will be.

Clint decided to take a different approach. "We just want to make sure that what happened to me isn't happening to you, Tony. I hope you understand. All I want to understand is why you said what you said about Loki. Your recent behavior hasn't proved to be good news to me. Loki is the enemy, Tony, not a teenager whose life can be changed by a visit to the therapist."

Tony opened his mouth to shout something but stopped as his phone vibrated in the way it only did when Jarvis was texting him discreetly. Tony opened the message and discarded it just as quickly.

Natasha took the pause as hesitation. "Is there anything you'd like to share, Tony?"

Tony eyed the both of them, malicious intent and hatred growing with every spoken word.

"What I mean is that we're here if you need to talk. We won't judge you. We're just trying to help." Natasha said trying to appease Tony before he grew fur and raised his hackles.

Tony shook his head. "Get out."

"What?" Clint said, not terribly surprised.

"Are you going to stand here and accuse me some more or are you going to get the fuck out of my tower?" Tony snapped.

"Come on, Tasha." Clint sighed. "Clearly we woke him up with a stick jabbed up his ass." He was still angry at Tony, and he didn't care if Tony or Natasha knew it.

"Hold on a minute. I'm not trying to accuse you of anything. Why can't you just tell us what you're feeling? That's what teammates are for, Tony. That's what friends are for." Natasha said, paying no attention to Clint.

"I'm getting sick and tired of people ignoring me." Clint whispered to himself.

"You want to know what I'm feeling?" Tony replied bitterly. "I feel like my teammates, the people I'm supposed to be closest to and trust my life with, don't trust me. I feel that no matter what I do you'll always find a reason to doubt me. I feel like the rest of you blame me for things just to convince yourselves you're better than I am, because being better than me means you really are the good guys. You're not the good guys, and you're not my friends. I never needed you." Tony paused to let his words sink in. Well, mostly he paused because he liked to add a bit of dramatic flair to everything.

Natasha opened her mouth to counter but was interrupted by Tony.

He raised his hand to stop her and continued. "Listen to me first. I never came to you. SHIELD called me because they needed me. I don't need to be in a team to be Iron Man." Pausing to take a breath, Tony gave them one last hard look. "I saved your asses, all of you, yet you've failed to make me wonder why I didn't just let the nuke fall." He waved his hand, motioning for them to leave. "Tell Fury I said our little contract is over. SHIELD is not welcome here. And, Jarvis, see that they find the exit."

Natasha and Clint stared wordlessly back at Tony, mouths agape. Tony almost had to pinch himself to contain his laughter. Can't ruin the act, he reminded himself.

Tony stood stubbornly and pointed to the door. He kept his eyes on Clint and Natasha until they disappeared behind the closed doors of the elevator.

After they left and Jarvis made sure that they were out of his property, Tony smiled to himself. Even they can feel guilt.

His monologue hadn't been a complete lie, but it was definitely a little exaggerated. He knew it'd get them to leave him alone, even if just for a little while. They'd come crawling back, though, like they have before. After all, the Avengers were nothing without him.

"Jarvis," Tony summoned. "Make sure to block all incoming calls from SHIELD and inform them that I will no longer be their consultant."

"Of course, sir. Would you like to state a reason why?"

"No. Don't mention the recording." Tony was referring to the reason for his sudden outburst of anger: Jarvis' text message. Jarvis detected a recording device hidden in Natasha's clothes and promptly intercepted the device and informed Tony. He couldn't destroy what was already recorded, which wasn't much since Jarvis had detected it seconds after they had entered, but he manipulated it so that the rest of the recording came out as static and jumbled noises.

"Where would I be without you, Jarvis?" Tony mused out loud.

"Most likely dead, sir." Jarvis replied arrogantly.

Tony sighed. "Always so humble, Jarv."

"I am only as my master created me."

Of course he had been the one to invent the only Artificial Intelligence system that was able to sass him. He was just about to dismiss him when Jarvis interrupted.

"Sir, Miss Potts is on her way up."

"See what she wants." Tony demanded.

There was a pause and then, "Miss Potts says to let her in and she'll explain. She said it was not bad news."

"Let her in." Tony mumbled, not really wanting to see his CEO sort-of-girlfriend.

Pepper stepped out of the elevator with no visible documents present. Tony was relieved. He was in no mood for Stark Industries paperwork.

Pepper walked over, a worried expression on her face. "Tony," she started.

"Nope!" He interrupted. "You said no bad news."

"This isn't bad news." Pepper smiled reassuringly. "I just want to talk to you about your behavior towards your friends."

Tony narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "Did you meet Natasha and Clint on the way up?"

"I did." Pepper confirmed. "You didn't mean that, did you?"

"I may have." Tony replied coldly, annoyance already building up.

"I know you better than anyone else, Tony. Don't you think you may have said that just to-" Pepper began.

"You don't know me. You think you know me, but you don't. Stop trying to change me!" Tony shouted dramatically. "I'm not in the mood for it."

Pepper took a step back, clearly startled.

"I'm sorry." Tony said softer than before. He didn't think she'd take him that seriously, but he couldn't help that she was contributing to the foul mood he was in.

Pepper shook her head. "I think you should apologize to them."

Tony was a little less sorry now. "Why? They're trying to keep me under surveillance. I hate that! How are they my friends when they don't even trust me and won't admit it?"

"Tony," Pepper said, her voice stern with a hint of demanding that Tony didn't like one bit. "Agent Barton and Agent Romanoff seemed very concerned about you."

She was beginning to give Tony a headache. "They're spies, Pepper. They're Fury's rats. Any visible emotion on their faces is anything but genuine."

"Stop being such a conspiracy theorist, Tony. No one is out to get you! What's gotten in to you lately?" Pepper started babbling. "I hardly see you anymore!"

Tony shot her a scornful look letting her know that he was not amused. "Oh, poor me!" He said in a high pitched voice meant to mimic Pepper. "Tony is so busy saving the world that he doesn't have time for me anymore!"

Pepper's face reddened and she huffed angrily. "I've had enough."

"Then please see your way out, Ms. Potts." Tony smiled charmingly.

"I guess you're better left alone." Pepper remarked indignantly. She knew he only called her Ms. Potts when he was angry at her.

"Go." Tony replied harshly. He leveled her with a look that made it known it wasn't a suggestion.

Having never received that look from Tony, Pepper remained silent for the better part of a minute. She didn't want to leave, but Tony wasn't giving her any options.

"Dead weight." Tony said to Pepper's back as she retreated into the elevator. If it weren't for her usefulness as CEO, he would have lost interest in her long ago. Things just aren't the same after you risk your life and your girlfriend yells at you for almost dying to save the world.

"I'm really beginning to dislike her presence." Tony muttered to Jarvis. He threw himself on the couch and finally began to relax now that he was alone.

Natasha sat down on her own couch adjacent to Clint. Both were sitting at an angle silently facing each other. Natasha sighed. She hadn't meant for it to go that badly. Dealing with Tony Stark was like watching for lightning. You never knew when or where it would strike.

Clint reached over and took Natasha's hand in his. "Don't feel bad." He murmured. "We both knew he wouldn't take it well."

"I know." Natasha sighed. "It's not that. You know Tony hasn't been acting the same, but he's not revealing enough for us to place it."

"Yeah," Clint agreed. "I don't mean to keep prying at the Loki idea, but what if he did do something to him?"

"I don't think so." Natasha assured. "Fury does, but I don't know. I think having a near death experience changed him, again."

"But the first time it was a good change, I guess." Clint then tapped his chest where the arc reactor would be. "I don't think it's possible for Loki to control that. It's mechanical. It's not his actual heart."

"His arc reactor isn't what we should be focusing on." Natasha looked troubled.

"What should we be focusing on, then?" Clint noticed the troubled look. Natasha didn't mask her emotions to those close to her.

"You know what Tony is capable of." She waited for Clint to nod before continuing on. "Tony Stark alone, aside from being Iron Man, is a threat."

"His intelligence, his past, his state of mind." Clint nodded again. "And with Iron Man, he wouldn't have to try too hard to take the world down with him."

"This is why SHIELD stepped in when he revealed himself." Natasha commented.

"I know. Fury didn't like the idea, but Coulson convinced him that we'd rather have him with us than against us." Clint paused and then continued. "Was he different? When you were undercover, I mean." He was referring to the time Tony was being poisoned to death by his own arc reactor.

"He was self destructive." Natasha shook her head in remembrance. "Now he seems like he'd rather be the cause of destruction. He wants to be alone. You heard him today. He wants nothing to do with us."

"He said he wants nothing to do with SHIELD." Clint corrected. "I don't think he meant he'd stop being an Avenger. You saw the look on his face."

"Yes." Natasha considered. "But he wasn't lying." Clint nodded as Natasha continued. "He was guarded. He was choosing his words and trying to drive us away."

"Pepper said Tony was being distant from her too." Clint reminded.

"Yeah, but he always has been. His infatuation with Pepper was because she was someone he had but couldn't have. He needs her for the company, but he doesn't need her in the way that she wants him to."

Wanting to return to the topic before Pepper, Clint decided to ask for the recording. "Did you get it?" He motioned to her chest.

Natasha pulled out the device, rolling her eyes at Clint's ogling of what her hand had been digging into. "Barton." She warned.

He rolled his eyes in response. "Let's hear it."

Natasha pushed play and handed it to Clint. They listened to each other greet Tony before the recorder exploded into a mad jumble of horrible noises. Clint turned it off and, bewildered, looked at Natasha.

"Is it broken?" He wondered.

"It can't be." Natasha said dumbfounded. "I checked it a dozen times. It's SHIELD standard issue." She tested it again, speaking into it and playing it back to make sure it was indeed functional.

"It does work." It was Clint's turn to look troubled.

"Stark." Natasha and Clint said in accord.

"That must have been what he checked on his phone suddenly." Natasha said, not having missed the detail.

"That explains the outburst." Clint shrugged. "We should have expected no less of him. Of course he'd find out."

"We keep underestimating him." Natasha mumbled. "It's not a good thing."

"I don't know what we can do. Tony's not going to let us keep an eye on him, you know. Not after today." Clint stilled. "Do you think he'll try to get back at us?"

"No." Natasha decided. "I don't think he wants us to actually leave him alone. We have to be there for him or he'll turn against us."

"That means we can't tell Fury." Clint deduced.

"He'll find out eventually, but I'd rather it be later than sooner. We have to inform Steve and Bruce on the situation. They can help us reason with Tony."

"Let's call them over." He tossed his phone to Natasha. "On a secure line not under SHIELD's control."

"Now?" Natasha said, mildly surprised. "I wasn't aware that you cared that much for Tony."

Clint snickered. "I care that we don't have a teammate being brain fucked by Loki."

Natasha pursed her lips and picked up the phone, dialing both Steve and Bruce.

Thank you for reading!

Note: If you haven't noticed, Coulson never died in this fic. :P