The sun peaked over the city skyline and illuminated an empty rooftop; the kitchen was like a ghost town as was the lab. Pepper and Tony's bed had remained un-slept in. It was six thirty and Stark Tower was oddly quiet considering the undertaking that was supposed to be getting underway.
Steve gave a respectful nod to Thor who was already waiting in the living room. They had all said they would understand if any of them couldn't go through with this plan, but the fact that Steve and Thor were standing in the living room together proved that they might just be good at the whole team thing after all.
"Are we ready for this kids?" asked Tony as he strode into the living room with his espresso in hand. The others eyed his coffee wondering when Stark had gone out on a coffee run.
"We're really going to do this?" asked Bruce as he joined the team.
"Looks like operation Maltese falcon is in effect," declared Stark.
"We all know what we have to do?" asked Rogers.
The group nodded and Iron Man glanced at his watch; it was time to get the show on the road.
"Good luck," called Banner as Tony left to put his suit on and fly to the helicarrier to meet his surreptitious ride.
Iron Man touched down on the deck of the helicarrier where Romanoff was waiting. She was good at hiding her feelings but their quick interaction betrayed her frustration.
"Here," she said as she placed a microchip in Stark's hand. Tony stood there silent as she then turned and stormed away to parts unknown.
The chip was small but its weight was enormous. If anything was going to exonerate their friend and team mate it was on the tiny device. Tony plugged it into his suit and had Jarvis download the data. Making his way to the command deck, he wanted to have a final word with Fury.
The Director greeted Tony as he entered the room and signaled him to follow. The pair walked down to the hanger deck in silence. The flight crew was preparing the quinjet and Fury put his hand on Tony's shoulder to stop him a few feet from the jet. He glared a serious look at the Avenger.
"Do you think you can do it?"
"We both know he doesn't deserve this Fury. I honestly don't know if highlighting his virtues is going to sway these people, but if anyone can we both know it's me," offered Stark. He knew the rest of the team were still holding out hope that this was going to be settled with discussion, but Tony had known betrayal first hand. The things people were willing to do to come out on top never ceased to amaze him and he doubted if anyone of those shadowy figures that claimed to know what was best for the universe would lose a moment of sleep or shed a single tear when they condemned a hero to death in an attempt at nothing more than saving face. The lie however seemed to offer hope to Barton's supporters so he continued to tell it.
"Do whatever it takes Stark; and I mean whatever it takes."
"If I didn't know better Nick, I'd say you have a soft spot."
"You don't know better."
"Right." The silence conveyed everything they needed to know and Tony was glad because they might need what the Director was offering when everything went to shit. "Here I go."
Dismantling his suit Tony it folded into a carrying case. He walked aboard the quinjet choosing a seat in the back. The co-pilot approached and nervously cleared his throat; Tony cocked his head to the side and looked at the anxious young man.
"Excuse me sir but the council insisted you put this on." The co-pilot reached out and offered Stark a black hood.
He glanced at the hood then back at the agent. "Can we get any more clichéd?" Seeing the rather insistent look on the man's face, Tony begrudgingly grabbed the hood and put it on. Barton was going to owe him so much when this was all over.
The journey had Stark changing planes three times and cars twice. The only thing that would be the cherry on the sundae would be to find out he was in a building next to Stark Tower; it would almost be fitting at this point, but he would definitely being sending a letter to someone if it was true.
"Welcome Mr Stark," said an agent as he pulled the hood off of Tony's head.
Stark eyed the man up and down, deciding that the agents were pretty much interchangeable with one another. "Snappy dressers all around I see. Seriously, you should give some thought to adding some color to the uniform."
"If you'll follow me. We have set up a room that I'm sure you'll find satisfactory. After you've had something to eat and drink you will be escorted to see the prisoner."
"Clint," corrected Stark.
"Excuse me sir?" asked the agent who was rather confused at Stark's quick objection.
"His name is Clint Barton; well actually you can call him Agent Barton and he's innocent so we can do away with the whole prisoner thing and give the man the respect he's owed."
"If you say so sir." The agent turned and proceeded down the corridor with Tony in tow.
The clunk of the lock sliding over grabbed Clint's attention. Slowly and painfully he pulled himself into a sitting position; the chains shackling his hands and feet together jingling at the movement. The door moaned as the guards pushed it open and in strode Agent Mason.
"Mr. Stark is here to work on your defense with you. The conversation will be monitored and any untold activity on your part will signify your forfeit of this opportunity the council has graciously provided you and will automatically find you guilty. Is this understood?"
Clint simply nodded his head; there wasn't really a lot he could do in his condition, especially if they were going to hold Tony over him. Agent Mason walked out and Stark sauntered in. The door slammed shut behind him giving the pair the allusion of privacy and all the comfort of being stealthily watched.
"You look like hell Barton. If this is what the good guys do to you, I don't want to see what the bad guys do."
"What the hell are you doing here Stark?"
"You think you'd be a little nicer after the trek I had to take to come and visit you. Next time you should ask to be transferred to a prison a little closer to home. In case it wasn't obvious, I'm here to save your ass."
Clint knew what Tony thought he was doing but it wasn't going to turn out the way the team wanted; it never could with him bringing them down. In a very subdued voice he replied, "it's not worth it."
Tony couldn't say he was surprised by the archer's attitude. One look at the man and Tony knew he'd have thrown in the towel if the situation was reversed. "I didn't know you were a quitter Barton."
"I'm not quitting, I'm just being realistic."
Stark shrugged nonchalantly; although he felt anything but when looking at the state of his friend "sounds a lot like giving up to me."
"Look Stark, you've done your good deed for the day. You stood up and offered to help the hopeless, cause now go home and forget I ever darkened your door."
"I'm a billionaire, so a little charity work is good for my PR; therefore consider it helping myself and not you."
"There's nothing you can say that's going to make this alright. I did everything they said I did, and I'm going to continue to bring you all down if no one puts an end to it."
"Now, if we were all condemnable for our past transgressions there would have been no Avengers to save the world; well except Cap, but nobody else can be that moral all the time. I know what it's like to want to take responsibility for the damage you're responsible for; but for God's sake Clint, Loki wasn't your fault and that whole thing with the holding me at gun point and trying to beat Cap to a pulp wasn't either! And if you were anything like those sanctimonious blood suckers claim you were you wouldn't have got your shit together to help us save New York, and you wouldn't have even considered taking yourself out to protect us during the Keres incident. If you're not going to fight for yourself then fight for us, your team. Fight for Romanoff, because I'm not going to be the one to tell her you gave up when we could have won this one."
Barton just stared at the floor as Stark went on his tirade, but looked up at the mention of his partner. He would kill for one more day where they just took time to quietly study mission briefs. No words were ever exchanged, they didn't have to; but just being there in the calm before the storm made him feel like he belonged somewhere. He sighed "why are you doing this Tony?"
"I don't know, but I blame Rogers."
"Why Steve?"
"I blame everything on him. His morality has a horrible habit of rubbing off on me and maybe because..." Tony trailed off in thought. Changing direction he said with a shrug "we just really need to get better at this whole team thing."
"But why would you do it for me?" Barton implored "I've tried to kill you – twice now."
"I think if you were really trying you would have succeeded by now, unless SHIELD excels at employing incompetent assassins. Besides, you'd do the same for me. Now, do you need some kind of chick flick hug or can we get down to trying to save your ass; 'cause I'm telling you right now, I don't do hugs."
"They're going to lock you up when this fails Stark," warned the archer.
In an equally subdued voice Tony answered, "They can try. It's not going to fail, we can't afford for it to fail."
Clint knew Stark was right, they were past the point that iron man could safely walk away. Even if he didn't agree with it, he was going to have to escape punishment in order to protect the team. Barton took a deep breath, it was going to be a hard fight but they had to prove him innocent.