"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Clint Barton stared at Tony Stark, his eyes slightly wide and full of distrust and skepticism.

"Really, Barton, did you lose your hearing during your time in this insane asylum?" Tony scoffed, rolling his eyes, "I said we're going to blow this pop stand, I got clearance to get you out of here."

"What's the catch, Stark?"

"Always so suspicious, aren't we?" Tony groused.

"You know, when it comes to people who've stabbed me in the back, I do tend to be a little leery," Clint shot back, "call me what you want, but I think I've earned the right."

Heaving out a long sigh, Tony ran a hand over his face. He knew it wouldn't be easy, but he hadn't even gotten to the difficult part of the conversation yet, he had hoped this would be easier. He listened to the sound of the water rushing around the prison, trying to clear his head and focus on the task at hand.

He had to do better, had to be more convincing, to get Clint Barton on board, and he knew that. If he were able to get him to agree, it would likely be much easier to get the others to do the same.

"Come on, Legolas," Tony tried, forcing his tone into jovial familiarity, quirking an uneven grin onto his face. "I'm trying to help, how does that make me the bad guy?"

"You made yourself the bad guy, Tony," came the cold response, "when you turned your back on your team over a petty feud with Cap. Pretty sure that makes you the bad guy, you know?"

"I wasn't at fault when it comes to what happened with Captain Rogers," Tony snapped, irritation seeping back into his tone as he threw his hands in the air, "and that wasn't why I did what I did."

"Oh yeah, right, uh-huh, it's not like you were so quick to turn everyone in, or anything," Clint narrowed his eyes at the man standing before him. "Did you even bother trying to figure out what we were doing? It's not like we weren't doing exactly what you would do, if the situation was reversed. Look me in the face and tell me you wouldn't undermine the Accords if you thought it was in the best interest of other people. Tell me you wouldn't do it, Tony."

"That isn't what this is about-"

"That's exactly what this is about," Clint yelled back, swearing before putting his hand against his head, "ugh, you just... you can't even... Do you even care?"

"Stop!" Tony snapped, angrily, "just stop."

Thick silence and tension snaked through the cell block, Tony stood with his fists clinched. He had to get a handle on this situation, he couldn't give up this easily, he would prove them wrong. No matter what he had to do, he would get his team back.

"I'm trying to get you out of here, maybe atone for putting you in here in the first place, what's so bad about that?" Tony shot, looking Clint squarely in the face.

"Do I gotta sell my soul to the devil to do it? Because I get the feeling that's exactly what I gotta do," Clint remarked.

"Why did I even bother coming to you first?" The snippy reply almost made Clint laugh out loud, a bitter sort of laugh, but he managed to hold his tongue.

"Did you? Should I feel honored? The great Tony Stark bothered coming to little ol' me first?" Clint deadpanned.

Frustrated, Tony practically stomped away from the archer. Mentally he scolded himself for being childish, but he was unable to continue trying to negotiate with Barton, he would start somewhere else, hopefully somewhere easier.

Sam Wilson.

"Hey, Sam," Tony tried, tentatively.

"Nah, don't start on me now, I don't want anything to do with what you're cooking up, either," Sam responded, shaking his head.

"Come on, I'm trying to get you out of here, you know that's what dear Cap would want," Tony pushed, "he wouldn't want his team to wither away here."

Sam leveled his eyes on Tony squarely, sizing up the unusual inventor before him.

"Your face looks a little worse for the wear, what happened anyway?"

He didn't miss the flinch that flashed across Tony's face as he looked away, shaking his head as he pulled a mask back around his features, schooling them into a casual smile.

"Nothing out of the ordinary."

"No?" Sam inquired, skeptically, "then what happened with you know what?"

"Ah, yeah, that went fine, great, actually," Tony stammered a little, "couldn't have gone better."

"You're a bad liar."

"No, actually, I'm a really good liar, it's just there's usually not a reason to lie, I'm better at the whole charming thing," a shrug and Tony smirked. "So, Sam, what do you say, do you want to get out of here?"

"What do I have to do?"

"Sign the Accords, and we can all go home," he offered the best smile he could offer. "Pretend this never happened? Start over? You know, we can sing kumbaya by a fire, all that jazz."

"I'm not signing the Accords."

Letting out a dull sigh, Tony began pacing slightly around the room. Why was everyone making this so difficult? All he wanted to do was get his team home, but it seemed that they just wanted to fight against him.

"What, did Steve corrupt all of you? You'd rather rot in a floating prison then sign a piece of paper and go home? What is the matter with all of you? Geez!"

"We all have standards," Barton said from behind him, and Tony could feel his face go red as he turned around to stare him down.

"Really, mister super spy? What about your wife and kids? Don't you think they miss you?" Tony knew it was a low blow as the words tumbled out of his mouth, but if he were honest, he didn't care. A low blow was what he needed, and he hoped that it would hit its mark.

When Clint started at him impassively, he pushed harder at the soft spot he knew existed, despite the spy's calm expression.

"You've always disappointed them, how do you think they're going to do, growing up knowing their dad is a criminal who was never there for them?"

"That's enough, Tony," Clint hissed through clinched teeth, his fists balled up as he lifted them and pressed them against the glass.

"And for what? Captain America? The star spangled man with a plan? Ha, you're no better than my father was, bet your kids grow up to be just like me. You'd love that, wouldn't you, Katniss?"

A loud bang echoed through the prison block as Clint punched the glass with as much force as he could muster. Pain instantly shot through his hand and he almost regretted it, but as he let out a breath that shook with rage, he couldn't bring himself to.

"I said shut up, Stark, shut up!"

"I'm trying to help you, and you won't let me. I'm trying to get you all out of here! They're even letting me take Wanda back with us, isn't this a good thing?"

"What's the catch, besides signing the Accords?" Clint growled.

Silence filled the air for a second before Tony heaved out a breath, shaking his head slightly. Slowly, he started, "you all will be under house arrest for some time at the compound, like a probation, but it's better than being here and you know it."

"Out of one prison, into another," Scott Lang rolled his eyes.

Tony bluntly ignored the Ant-Man, uninterested in bringing him into the argument. It was one thing for Steve to bring the man into the fight, but he sure wasn't going to bring him into this one.

"Your family will be there, Clint, I won't even let you lose that cozy little farm house of yours, and until you can go back they'll be there, you'll have them and they'll have you," Tony tried, softening his tone as he lifted his head to look at the archer again.

Narrowing his eyes and staring at the ground near Tony's feet, Clint carefully weighed his options, clinching and unclinching his fists, rather painfully after the abuse they'd suffered, as emotions tore through him. On one hand, he could be with his family, but on the other it almost seemed hypocritical to accept 'help' from Stark now.

"I don't know," Sam said slowly.

"Rogers would feel a lot better knowing you all weren't here too, I'm sure,-" Tony almost bit his own tongue as he realized what he had said.

"Steve is here?" Sam asked, his voice stunned, "what happened? What's he doing here?"

"Ah, yeah, he's here, um, I was a little surprised to see he wasn't in the same cell block with you all, but maybe they thought he would incite a riot," Tony rambled, purposely avoiding the question.

"You said you were going as a friend!" Sam blanched, feeling betrayal work its way into his chest, and guilt followed quickly, "you told me you were going to help."

"Going to help?" Clint asked, quirking his eyebrow upward as he shifted his glance from Sam to Tony.

"Look," Tony said, holding his hands up, "it's complicated."

"How is it complicated? You lied, you went to bring him in, didn't you?"

"No!"

"Can't stop backstabbing people, can you?" Clint shot, rolling his eyes, "you're the problem, Tony. Stuff like this is why you're the problem!"

Tension flared back into the air and all Tony could do was turn and walk out the door, running a hand through his hair and grinding his teeth as he did so. The hallway stretched out before him seemed to mock him for his failures.

It seemed like no matter how hard he tried the situation went from bad to worse, just when he thought he had won them over, he had to go and stick his own foot in his mouth. He had done the same with Rogers when trying to convince him to sign the Accords.

So close, yet so far away, that's what Steve had said about Bucky, wasn't it? Maybe in that aspect, Tony could sympathize with him, nothing he did was ever truly enough. He was never enough for anyone, never enough for Howard, never enough for the team, never enough for Pepper, never enough for himself. Nothing he did was ever going to be good enough for anyone.

As he stalked back towards his helicopter, wondering what his next course of action should be, a thought occurred to him. He couldn't get them to come to his side, but just maybe their Captain could? Rogers might be willing to help him, if it meant getting his team out of here. He was loathed to talk to him, loathed to see him, but it was possible that it might just work, and then he would never have to see the man again.

A smirk flashed across his face as he made his way to Secretary Ross, his shoes clicked as he practically pranced down the corridor towards the older general. As he approached him he pushed boredom into his tone, a placid look plastered across his face.

"So, I have an idea I may need your help with. Actually, scratch that, I have an idea that I need the help of one of your prisoners with."

Ross looked at Tony with disdain, and Tony felt amusement well up inside of him. He didn't like the man, or trust him any farther than he could throw him, but he proved to be useful at times.

"What do you want, Stark?"

"I need to talk to the good Captain, he's gotta give me a hand with his little ragtag group of vigilantes."

"You know what I think about that," the tone was hard, and Tony could tell he was going to have to debate with the man.

"Well, I couldn't care less what you think about it, sir," sarcasm dripped from him as he breathed out the word 'sir'. "Y'know? It pays to be a billionaire, because of that some people above your head said I can take my friends home, with a little bit of negotiation, so if you'd do me a favor and don't get in my way, it'd be helpful."

"I can't stop you, that doesn't mean I have to help you."

"Where is Capsicle, anyway? Seems a little weird he isn't with the rest of his team."

"He's in his own ward, like Maximoff, surely you realize it would be an incredibly ignorant idea to put him in with the others."

"Sure, sure, now where is he? I want to see him, I need him," Tony pushed a little harder, looking at Ross firmly.

Sighing and rolling his eyes, Ross shook his head. "Wait here," he responded, walking down the hallway and disappearing through the door at the end of it.

It seemed weird to Tony that Ross hadn't allowed him to simply follow, to talk to Rogers in his cell as he had the other prisoners. Was there something different about Steve's cell, something he wasn't meant to see?

He didn't have much time to mull it over before Steve was being led out, a guard at each arm, and the entire air about him seemed off. He seemed stiff, as if his body still ached beyond anything tolerable, which was definitely strange considering his healing ability.

Tony watched the way he walked, an obvious pained limp in his step, and he almost found himself frowning. There should have been no reason for the man to still be that uncomfortable, he should in the least be mostly healed by now.

As they stopped in front of him, Steve seemed to compose himself and tilt his head upward, he forced a smile onto his rather usually pale face while Tony ran his eyes over him, looking for any obvious source of pain.

His face looked a bit thinner than usual and oddly ashen, but the bruises that had lined his face before were nearly completely gone. Obvious injuries didn't seem to be present, but it didn't take a genius to recognize the pain the Captain was in.

"They not feeding you enough, Rogers?" Tony tried to keep any form of concern out of his tone, urging ice into it, "you look awful."

"I'm alright," Steve managed after a moment, and his weak voice had Tony more convinced that something was going on.

"Look, I'll cut to the chase. Got the chance to get your team outta here, but they won't come with me because they're too devoted to you and all your patriotic glory to listen to me."

A flash of curiosity danced through Steve's eyes as he looked at the inventor before him.

"All of them? Even Wanda?"

"Even Wanda," Tony confirmed, nodding his head, "just need a little help from you, Spangles, what do you say?"

"How did you manage that?" Tony knew the question was coming, and he endeavored to prevent himself from botching this once again.

"Oh, wasn't hard, you know, throwing around a bit of money works wonders in the government and court now-a-days."

It was almost funny, the disappointment that flickered across Steve's face, it seemed it was hard for him to accept the corrupt judicial system. Tony could agree with him there, too, it turned his stomach how money seemed to work for people who deserved to be in prison, but of course would never see proper justice. In this occurrence, however, at least it worked in his favor.

"That's..." Steve trailed, shaking his head lightly, "why won't they go with you? There has to be a reason."

"They have to sign the Accords, and of course, since their fearless leader refuses, they refuse," Tony arched an eyebrow, looking at Steve.

Silence greeted Tony Stark, silence that he had expected but hoped wouldn't come, he was tired of arguing with people today and he simply wanted this to be done. It looked as if he was going to have to argue with Captain America again, and he doubted that it would be a pretty sight.

"They'd be out of here, where would they go?" The question actually startled Tony and his head shot up to stare at Steve oddly.

"The compound, they'd have to be under something of a house arrest for a while, being criminals and all. The public wouldn't stand for them just getting off scot-free, you know?"

"They didn't do anything."

"They destroyed an airport."

"We destroyed an airport."

Tony winced, that was true, his team did have something to do with that as well. "Yeah, well, still, you know how it goes, Captain. It's better than here, don't you agree?"

Hesitation was clear on the mans face, his blue eyes clouded with uncertainty.

"Yeah, I agree it's better than here. What can I do to help?" He finally responded.

Tony chewed on his lip, staring at Steve's face. Something was definitely wrong, he would have to be blind not to see it. From Steve's appearance, to his unusual attitude, there was something desperately wrong, because it had to be very bad for him to be so desperate to get his friends out of here he was willing to help Tony without a fight.

It was almost enough to make Tony want to look into it, despite everything that had happened between the two of them.

Almost.

Authors Note:

I'm almost sorry for all the argumentative tension between characters in the beginning of this story, but I feel like after everything that is exactly how it would play out. Let's be real, the MCU Avengers fight each other a lot anyway, probably more than they fight the bad guys, and with everything that's happened that's only bound to get worse realistically. But if you hang with me, it'll ease up, at least a little within the next couple or so chapters!