Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel Comics or any of their characters, nor do I make any profits from the online publication of these works.

Warning: dark themes, psychological trauma, allusions to PTSD, psychological warfare, homosexuality (why, exactly, is this a warning? Oh yeah, not everyone's okay with this. Whatever), language, alcohol use, alcoholism, major character death, explicit content, the warnings just keep going. Don't say I didn't warn you?

Author's Note: I am so sorry about how long this took to get to you guys. The end of 2012 was supper busy for me, but it looks like I've got a little bit for free time again, so here's the next chapter! Hopefully it was worth the wait.

BITTER SIRENS

PART VI: NECESSARY EVIL

CHAPTER II: CRIPPLING

There was a shadow. Now, whenever there was the presence of light, there would always be shadows. That was a proven point of science. This wasn't that kind of shadow, though. Shadows like that didn't watch you.

Maybe he was just being paranoid. He'd been doing a lot of that lately.

Tony leaned back, kicking his feet up on second thought. His personal jet. His rules. Simple as that. Tony flicked off his shoes while he was at it, letting them flop wherever they felt like. Slowly, he flicked between screens on his tablet.

For the first hour, everything should be complete radio darkness. Anyone seeking responses wouldn't even get error messages. It was like the servers were fried. Well, like was… a weak word for that.

They were fried. All important data on the Stark Industries servers was fine. He'd made backups. No groundbreaking research was going to be lost. Tony snorted at that thought, continuing to flip.

It didn't look like anyone had figured out what was going on yet, nor had they rerouted the power, keeping everything nice and dark at the Tower. A few of the buildings around the Tower had security cameras, and he was watching them carefully. Now and then, he'd see a faint light, probably a flashlight, not enough to really pay attention to.

"Warm towel?"

Tony glanced up, eyeing the towel and the tongs holding it out. He shook his head, quickly waving the stewardess off. She didn't seem to notice anything was wrong. Then again, he had plugged JARVIS in the moment he was on the plane, because otherwise, all their systems would have been offline. It was a quick save. He was good at those.

Now, the backlash on his "quick saves" was looming. That always happened. The smoke would clear eventually. He couldn't just keep SI's systems down indefinitely. That'd be crippling him far more than it would be crippling S.H.I.E.L.D. Hell, keeping it down this long was walking the line.

Tony tapped his finger on the glass screen, expanding the view from one camera before flicking it aside. Still no lights. He glanced at his watch.

Three.

Two.

One.

The sign sputtered to life, one letter after the next, until STARK was lit up in bright blue again, the SI slash joining it. The lights started at the top floor, working their way down.

The smoke was clearing. He had to get on damage control pronto.

0

They all threw their arms up at once. There was no point denying it; Coulson was right there with them, shielding his eyes from the sudden bright light. The last time he had been in the penthouse, he didn't remember it being that bright. There must have been modifications. Either that, or they were always turned on low.

Slowly, everyone recovered. Well, they recovered from the light. The news was an entirely different matter. He was doing his best to keep a straight face, the type that won poker tournaments, as to not influence the situation negatively.

That was, of course, very difficult. From the look Agent Romanoff was shooting him, with one of those bright red brows arched in a silent question none of the others would likely get, she saw right through the mask. He didn't budge, though. She knew the line they needed to tread with S.H.I.E.L.D., knew the pace to which Fury required they waltz.

She wasn't the issue.

"You think this is Tony's fault?"

Coulson closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, swallowing his immediate, gut response. Following his gut had ended with an alien spear driven through him, right above his heart, nearly severing an artery and some very important vascular tissue. He had to keep it in check.

"This is not open for discussion."

"Is this because of his testimony?" Captain America pressed on, chiseled features set, authoritative, demanding. A year ago, he would have caved to anything the good Captain said. Things were different now. Even as Captain America kept glaring him down, Coulson couldn't give.

"No."

"There's gotta be more to it."

"We need to get back down to central command. From there, we can start organizing—"

"Organizing for what?"

"Steve." Agent Romanoff cut him off. She straightened herself, still holding her pistol and flashlight between her hands, entirely ready. "He's right. We can figure out what's going on when we get down there."

After a moment, what looked like a very hard fought one, Captain America finally stood down, giving a small nod in concession. Good. Coulson really didn't want to pull out his taser.

0

The shadow was still there. The more he ignored it, the more he seemed to notice it. Great. Just what he needed. Tony pursed his lips, glaring down at the tablet in his lap.

A lot could happen in the span of a few hours. Even more when S.H.I.E.L.D. was directly involved, which he'd seen firsthand more than once. He wouldn't deny their productivity. It was a bit too important to ignore. He had to keep tabs on everything.

He did have tabs for everything, at least. Tony flicked through them, resyncing himself with all the security cameras manually, since JARVIS wasn't in there to jack him directly through. It was a distraction, which was what mattered.

Sadly, distractions didn't make the shadow go away, either. It was still there. Sometimes it was by the windows. Sometimes it was by the table. Others it was by the long, low couch, which he was currently sprawled out on, hunks of armor all around him. That last one gave him the chills and made him a lot more nervous than he'd ever admit out loud.

Still. Virus. Go.

Tony pressed the button, leaning back. He'd just hook his arms behind his head and watch it go. Kind of like fireworks, only more… him.

0

"Computers are all booting up. We've got lights, heat, and a way to get information. Get to it." Fury set his radio down, testing his ear piece again. It was still static. Damn. He should just take the thing off already. Systems likely wouldn't be at full speed for a few hours—then again, it was Stark Industries. Their half speed was faster than the rest of the world's full speed.

"Reporting in, Director." Coulson stopped not far from him, his merry little group of Avengers and Agents just behind him. They weren't smiling. "There is no sign of Mr. Stark."

Fury narrowed his eye, giving Coulson a quick one-over. On second thought, he turned his gaze over to Rogers, giving him a deeper look. Rogers wasn't trained to keep his cool. He was trying his damnedest, but Fury could still see through it.

"Looks like there is more to the story."

"We can't say anything conclusively yet." Coulson turned his head slightly to the side, enough that Fury could tell he was fighting hard not to glare at Rogers. They were on the same page. Good. That'd make things easier. "It appears as though a majority of Mr. Stark's equipment is missing."

"Missing?" Fury paused, hands on his hips. "That much equipment doesn't just go missing. Seven Iron Man suits don't just go missing."

Coulson finally looked down. Defeat. For him, at least. This was a victory, at least a partial one, for Fury. Maybe he'd get some straight answers now.

"If the computers are up and running, we can see if there are any records of his equipment being moved." Romanoff stepped forward, swiveling neatly on a heel for the nearest terminal. Coulson actually did shoot her a glance, but everyone ignored it, because this was the first lead they'd really have. Romanoff had a point. That much equipment would leave a paper trail.

Fury motioned towards the other computers, taking a station for himself. Even Rogers tried helping, though the man probably wouldn't get far. He could use a computer, and was actually settling in to the Twenty-First Century quite nicely, from all the reports which had crossed his desk, but this was a bit more advanced.

That, and Fury's log-in wasn't working. Romanoff was frowning something fierce, so hers must have been locked out as well. There went Coulson. Rogers was still bent over his station, but it'd only be a matter of moments.

"It looks as though we are locked out." Coulson tapped his fingers beside the keyboard and then tried again.

All the screens lit up right about then. The S.H.I.E.L.D. logo melted. Fury blinked, turning off the screen, turning it on again. The logo was still gone. Blue screened. All of the computers were blue screened.

"Anyone have access to anything?"

"No, Director. Everything's locking up."

"How's StarkTech running?"

"SI servers are all stable. It's just the S.H.I.E.L.D. ones." Romanoff kept typing, brows pulling in further and further as she kept at it. From where he was standing, it didn't look like she was getting too far, though it was leaps and bounds past the rest of them.

After a moment of silence, other than the keys, she finally straightened, letting out one of those long sighs that just sung of bad news.

"He's crippled us."

0

This wasn't like Tony. Okay, maybe it was, but it wasn't like Tony now. Tony now didn't randomly move all his stuff and grab a jet whenever it pleased him, right when all of SI's servers went haywire and the news stations were going crazy about the Tower in NYC going dark. Tony before the accident, maybe.

Thankfully, Happy picked up the phone, and they were on the way to the airport within half an hour.

Pepper kept checking her phone. No updates. No messages from him. He wasn't picking up, either. The systems were running again, and the preliminary reports she was getting back said everything was perfectly fine. There was a full back-up made just before the outage, so that saved it all.

There was nothing wrong. She just had to take a few breaths, a few deep breaths, and everything would be all right.

Right?

Happy finally pulled to a stop, and almost before he had it parked, her door was open and she was out. They were pulling the stairs up to the jet. Perfect timing. Pepper straightened her hair, smoothing her hand over it a few times before finally pulling it back. She probably should straighten her suit, too. She'd thrown it all on so fast. She tugged at her jacket a few times, and then just settled on it, posting herself like a smiling statue at the base of the stairs.

Maybe she should be frowning. Or meet him at the door. It was too late, because the door was already open and there was Tony, a briefcase in one hand, tablet in the other, a pristine business suit finishing it all off.

"Is everything okay?"

Tony glanced up, eyebrow immediately shooting up. Pepper took another deep breath, forced her smile back, and clasped her hands together hard. There. That would keep everything in check, she just had to take this one thing at a time.

"Um… yes? Why wouldn't it be?"

See, there was nothing to worry about at all. Pepper looked down at her heels, then back over her shoulder. Happy was waiting just outside the car, watching, probably listening, too. She had to keep calm. "What about the Tower?"

"Implementing some new features. It needed a hard reboot. Don't worry about it."

"Oh." Pepper didn't remember any software updates. And why would the power go out if it was just software? She opened her mouth to ask another question, but Tony was already waving her off.

"Long day. Can I catch a lift? I mean, you did take my driver." Tony smiled and waved awkwardly to Happy, who didn't budge. "Of course I can. Let's go." And off he went. Just as usual.

0

"Slow down. One at a time. What's the status?"

They were in the conference room, even though the screen behind Fury's chair was frozen, scrambled code flashing across it. Everyone was assembled, for the most part. Clint had come back, and was sitting next to her, getting the first glimpse of the mess they were in now. Rogers was across from him. Agent Hill was next to Fury, Coulson across from her.

The three empty seats, one for Stark, one for Bruce, and one for Thor, seemed bigger than ever, elephants in the room, and no one would look directly at them. She couldn't blame them. She didn't want to look at them either.

What could they have done differently?

Did it even matter now?

Probably not.

"It's a virus. An extremely sophisticated virus. Every time one of our technicians gets a lock on where the code is running, it scrambles our systems and mutates, so we have to start from square one again."

Fury frowned deeper, much motioned for Agent Hill to keep going.

"Stark Industries servers are fully operational and 100% stable. This virus is only attacking S.H.I.E.L.D. databases. Any computer which tries logging in to the S.H.I.E.L.D. mainframe is instantly infected and locked out entirely."

Silence fell again. It was a silence in two parts. One, it was the silence of deep thought. Everyone was extending every bit of tech savvy they had to try to find an answer none of them were likely capable of. Two, it was the silence of the shaken. None of them were expecting this. None of them could have expected this, much less have been ready for it.

Three, it was the silence of betrayal.

"There's only one person I know of who would be capable of not only creating such a virus, but of gaining access to the S.H.I.E.L.D. server to plant it." Natasha glanced up at the ceiling, waiting for some kind of rebuttal, some kind of built in defensive response.

That was the last part of the silence. It was absence. A void. Everything had been gutted, and now they were left with nothing.

"Initial reports are suggesting that." Agent Hill let out a huff, looking directly at Stark's chair. Everyone followed her line of sight and knew, if they didn't already, who they were talking about.

"Right now, our hands are tied. We're going to have to do this the old fashioned way until we can get some form of information system running that doesn't rely on Stark Tech."

"And we're going to have to find Loki." Clint cleared his throat, standing up. "I'll keep an eye out. Someone else is going to have to keep the media blind."

Fury's eye widened. Agent Hill went stiff.

If the media found out they'd lost Loki…

"I'm on it." Natasha stood as well, hurrying off. They had to act quick, otherwise those riots were going to be back, and a lot worse.