If you recognise it… I don't own it.

1234567890

For a moment Barton froze.

"Why would he do that?" He breathed, "Why would Iron Man do such a… A suicidal act?"

Suddenly it hit Clint – Barton – Hawkeye, whoever he was, at that moment. All three aspects of his life saw the truth.

The little detail that his brain had been trying to tell him for so long. It crystalized into being right there.

It was so simple. And yet, so complicated.

But it was only a theory. He couldn't prove it was true. There was so much circumstantial evidence to support it. But it was only circumstantial.

However, he knew how to prove it. He activated the Avengers private channel.

"Hawkeye to Coulson," And he was Hawkeye right then, "Do you still have the Collectors' Edition preserved?"

"Yes." Coulson's voice was terse.

"Get it dressed."

"What?"

"Get it dressed. Get it up to the top deck."

"Are you crazy?"

"No. You trust me to never miss. Well, I'm not missing right now. Do as I say."

Hawkeye's feet flew over the floor as he wove his way to the top deck… To the flight deck. He could hear and feel the shocks of the attacks as he went.

He paused as he came to the door leading out to the flight deck. He swung the Shield round onto his arm. His left arm. He didn't want any misapprehensions from Iron Man. He knew with the Shield hampering his left arm he couldn't draw his bow. He basically couldn't fight at full ability.

It was the closest thing he could do to going out there unarmed. And he wasn't going to do that.

Just in case he was wrong.

He could hear the constant communication of the various STRIKE teams fighting on the deck over his comm unit. Hopelessly outmatched, but still trying all the same.

"Coulson," He switched back to the private Avengers channel, "What's your ETA?"

"Twenty minutes."

"I'll stall as long as I can."

Taking a deep breath, he stepped out onto the deck, making sure that the Shield was visible.

Walking across the deck, he refused to flinch at the shots travelling all around him. If he was right, he wouldn't be hurt.

God, he hoped he wasn't right. But deep down… In his heart… He knew it all made sense.

"I know you can hear me." He called out.

There was no response.

"I know you can." He tried again, "And I know why you're doing this."

This time there was a response. A Repulsor blast, not landing close enough to cause damage, but certainly close enough to intimidate. But he refused to react.

"I know." Once more he spoke, "I get it. And I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry! I'm sorry that we drove you to this. I'm sorry that we lied to you. And above all…"

He lowered the Shield, so that he had both hands on top, keeping it positioned upright on the deck.

"I'm sorry that Captain America is dead."

Iron Man's full attention seemed to be focused on Hawkeye. The blasts of the STRIKE team were being ignored. But they weren't getting through the shielding, so it wasn't as if they were any real threat.

"We lied to you. God, how we lied to you. But we're the same like that. We value honesty above nearly everything else. Because we know lies so well. It was all you heard as a child… You were taught to lie before anything else. Because that was all you heard. You were told lies over and over and over again. Until you learned that that was what people do. They lie. And so you lied. You lied with your words, with your voice, with your mouth, with your face and with your whole body.

"Just like me. I never meant to lie. I didn't think of it as a lie. It just wasn't the truth. Not the whole truth. I thought it was better that way. I forgot that lies of omission are still lies. And they hurt just as much. I thought I was protecting… I didn't realize I was harming. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. But I see it now. I see what I was lying to myself about. I was so wrapped up in my own lies that I didn't see through them to the truth. Somewhere along the way, amongst all the lies, I forgot the truth.

"But you didn't. You just didn't know about all the lies. And we had everyone lying to you. And lies became your truth. Until you discovered them. When was that? After the battle, I know. But was it before the funeral?"

There was no response from Iron Man.

"We never meant to harm you. You realize that right? All the lies… They were meant as protection. We didn't realize the harm we were doing. And I am so, so sorry."

"Hawkeye!" Rumlow's voice cut across the deck, "What are you doing?"

The STRIKE team stopped their firing. They were clearly confused as to the situation.

"I don't understand what has driven you to do this." Hawkeye kept his eyes on Iron Man, "Only that it is our fault. We are the ones to blame. We drove you to this. Talk to me. We can sort this all out."

"Hawkeye," Rumlow was firm, "Disengage. Now!"

"You can't hurt me." Hawkeye ignored him, "Just like I can't hurt you. You know that."

Iron Man finally acted. He lowered himself down to the surface of the Helicarrier. Walking towards Hawkeye, before stopping, only just out of touching reach.

"It's okay," Hawkeye smiled, "I know it's not your fault. You were pushed to this. Not just by us. But by everyone. We failed you. It was our fault. If we had just… If we had just trusted more, this would never have happened. It wouldn't have gotten this far."

"He's compromised!" The cry came only moments before the single shot.

It wasn't aimed at Iron Man. But instead at Hawkeye.

However, it never landed.

Iron Man shifted his position to bock Hawkeye from the shot.

"See?" Hawkeye closed his eyes for a moment, "You can't hurt me. And you can't let me get harmed. I'm right. I didn't want to be. But I'm right. And since I'm right… I know you have a reason for all of this. I may not know the actual reason. But I know you have one. And I know it's a good one. It has to be. Else you wouldn't be doing this. You're too good of a man to do any of this without a reason. Even if what I thought I knew was a lie… Which I know it isn't… You've shown us what a good man you are. Did you know that Thor called you a Valiant Warrior after New York? He said you didn't have the heart of a villain. He was right. I bet you couldn't even have actually hurt the Falcon when you kidnapped him. It was all just bluff."

Iron Man stayed still and had no visible reaction.

"Talk to me." Hawkeye pleaded, "Please. I can't do anything to help. Unless I know who I am fighting, I can't help you."

"Hawkeye," Coulson's voice came over the comms, "I cannot gain access to the flight deck. STRIKE teams are not allowing anyone topsides."

Hawkeye tensed. He needed Coulson. This whole situation could be defused with the Captain's presence. But Iron Man wouldn't take his word for it. Not after all the lies.

Even if his suspicion was correct, he couldn't tell the truth. Iron Man was desperate enough that it might push him over the edge. And Hawkeye couldn't allow that to happen. He was quite literally holding Iron Man back from suicide with his very presence, he knew that for a fact.

The Helicarrier shuddered underneath their feet. Throwing more than a few of the STRIKE team to the floor.

"Three engines have failed!" The cry came over the speakers, "Evacuate. I repeat, evacuate. This is not a drill. Evacuate!"

The STRIKE team didn't even stop to pause as they started to run. Not that Hawkeye blamed them. Iron Man wasn't attacking them. He wasn't a threat. And every moment they spent trying to fight him was one less moment they could be spending getting off the Helicarrier. Already the sinking was obvious, and it would only get worse as the last engine was overloaded by the weight.

They were lucky that the last engine had held out. If it hadn't… Well they would be in free fall right then.

Not to mention that the Helicarrier was rigged to explode if necessary and Fury wouldn't want it falling into Iron Man's hands, so no doubt it was going to blow up in the near future.

"You're expecting me to run." Hawkeye matched Iron Man's stare, "Well, I'm not going anywhere. Unless it's with you. I will go down with this ship. I won't hold my hands up and surrender."

Hawkeye slipped the Shield on his back.

"I mean it." Hawkeye was firm, "Coulson can call all day and all night. You're my priority right now… God, I told you… Next time you feel like this… You come to me. And if this is your famous last stand… Well, I will not let you go alone into the dark."

"Better clench up, Legolas." Iron Man finally spoke.

Then he shifted and grabbed Hawkeye's shoulders.

It was almost relaxing, soaring through the sky. Knowing that he wouldn't be dropped or come to any harm. The speed was incredible, as well.

Moments later, they were inside what looked to be a large aircraft hold. Or at least part of one, it had a good portion of itself cordoned off behind walls. But it hadn't been on SHIELD's scanners or it would have caused an alert, Hawkeye knew that.

Feet moving lightly on the floor, Hawkeye took control of his own balance.

Iron Man strode a few steps ahead of him.

"Jarvis," The helmet folded down into the main armour, "Plot a course for DC."

"Course set, Sir." Jarvis' welcoming voice was a balm to Hawkeye's soul, "Should I inform our friend of your continued survival?"

"No." Tony breathed, "He won't take your call anyway. I told him not to. Not for another forty-eight hours. I had to give him time to get started."

"Apologies, Sir." Jarvis replied.

"That's okay, Jarvis." Tony waved an armour clad hand in the air.

"Tony." Clint breathed, "Oh God, Tony. Why? I told you. You got suicidal again. You come to me!"

"And where were you?" Tony stopped in his tracks, turning to face Clint, "Where? You haven't been there for me for a full week! Besides… I told you, I wouldn't go like that as long as I had Steve. And I don't have him anymore."

"This was more than a week's planning."

"True enough. Been planning since the funeral. I wouldn't have changed it. You know… This is Coulson's. Or it will be."

"What?"

"This plane." Tony raised a hand to wave around generally, "It's his. It's in the Will."

Clint's forward motion turned into a stumble for a moment. This wasn't just some wake up in the morning and decide to die suicide attempt. It had been planned sufficiently that Tony had had time to adjust the Will.

"Figured since I was destroying the Helicarrier I should give him something new to start from." Tony carried on, "Figured the Avengers would need it."

"When did you figure it out?"

"Day after Thor got me drunk." Tony shrugged, "When I was reviewing the footage I managed to get hold of. Nothing made sense, until I fitted that little detail in. I… I never went looking for that information in SHIELD. It felt too much like cheating… And I didn't want to know. If I knew… I knew I'd slip up. I'd tell one version of you or the other, when I got stupid. Even if I didn't know the civilian version of you, I would have found you."

"And you didn't get angry?"

"I did at first. For about ten minutes. But then I realized it didn't matter. It didn't matter if Steve only got involved with me for access to Stark Industries… For access to my brain… It didn't matter if it wasn't real for him… Because it was real for me!"

"It was real for him." Clint was quick to respond, "He didn't know who you were until I told him. And that was long after the two of you started dating. He started a whole relationship with you without reporting it up the chain of command. Which was completely against protocols. I found out by accident. And covered for him. None of this was planned. At least not by us."

"When did you figure it out?"

"About a minute after you attacked the Helicarrier. I haven't yet told anyone. I came straight to the deck to talk to you. If anyone else knows… I don't know. But you hid it well. We thought it was Yinsen for a while."

"He's dead."

"Didn't know that then." Clint shrugged, "Though I guess the Cyclone was right. They said Iron Man was based in Stark Tower."

"Go figure." Tony snorted, "They actually got it right. You never came looking though."

"Figured we knew everywhere in the Tower… But you built that place. You must have hidden sections we don't even know about. And couldn't hope to find."

"I'm good like that."

"Sir," Jarvis interrupted the conversation, "I feel obliged to inform you that the broadcast goes out in approximately thirty seconds."

"Well," Tony breathed, "We'd best find a seat. We could do with some popcorn."

"Broadcast?" Clint cocked his head to one side.

"Kinda like what I did before I tried to retire the first time." Tony grinned, "Only this one?… Mine's going to be seen like a splash compared to the Tsunami that's about to hit. Winter is Coming."

1234567890

Please Review.

Thanks to my reviewers:

LiulfrLokison – Thank you very much. Hope you like this one too.

Howling2themoon – Glad you liked.

DaemonWolfe – Happy dances are good!

Saphrae – For Steve it was on the tip of his tongue. It was more the other stuff he'd figured out that made him a target.

Minecraft Guardiansaiyan – Not yet.

Ventusleone – Correct! Nat's going to be a bit shaken when Clint meets up with her, so she might not be on the top of her game.

YYHfan-KB – Not planning on leaving you hanging for too long.

Once again thank you.