Written for the following AvengersKink prompt:

"Tony betrayed, Team Angst, Attempted suicide - A while back I read a fic for another fandom in which the main character is imprisoned for his own safety.

So what I want is: A telepathic villain makes threats against the Avengers, specifically Tony. SHIELD and the Avengers decide that Tony is safer not knowing about the threat, because he'd go off on his own and try to fight the villain. SHIELD comes up with the idea to place Tony into a room with protected walls against telepathic attacks, essentially isolation. SHIELD agents do a in-the-middle-of-the-night kidnap thing and Tony doesn't know why this is happening to him. The rest of the Avengers are reluctant but ultimately agree. It won't be anything like Afghanistan, Tony will be getting three meals a day and no one will be hurting him. He'll be fine right?

Tony needs interaction, he needs to ramble and to tinker and to create. He's not only isolated, he doesn't know why he's there and he thinks his team is going to come and get him. But they never show and he starts losing it. So, the only logical thing to do is to hurt himself, so he can get some medical attention, and if he happens to die in the attempt, well, that works too.

He's elated to see the Avengers in the hospital. Until he discovers that they knew. What happens next? Does Tony ever forgive them?

Lots of angst and guilt, happy ending is OPTIONAL!"

Time is very fluid in this story, with multiple flashbacks, time skips, half-truths and skewed perspectives.

Main title and chapter titles come from John Casteen's chilling poem "Night Hunting"

"Look, Captain, I completely understand your reservations. But given the evidence, I still recommend that the threat is too great to simply do nothing."

"I understand Director. The point is that it's been two weeks since the threat was made and nothing has happened. No one on the team agrees with the idea of containing Tony."

Fury stands, abandoning his desk as he moves to the large window taking up almost an entire wall of his office.

"Sometimes, certain situations force us to take measures that are undesirable and unpleasant, but that, in the end, serve a greater purpose."

Steve smiles bitterly at that, the logic without input of emotion, something he desperately hates about this time.

The memory flickers into his mind unbidden, of the nuclear missile fired at Manhattan because the ends justified the means.

And then he remembers what happened directly after, the gleam of red and gold, the man that knew what he was doing and what it meant but did it anyway, every bit the hero few believed him to be.

"We will cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, my team has spoken. Tony isn't going anywhere."

Fury doesn't reply for a moment and Steve is at the door when the Director speaks again.

"This isn't something I want to do either Rogers. I've been around for a long time and I know how these things work. How they end up. Now, I hope to whatever God is out there that my instincts are proven wrong. But if not, I need to know that you are prepared to do what is necessary."

Steve wants to say something to that. But he can't. He can't just answer on the spot.

Not for something like this.

Official Interrogation Transcript: EXCERPT 003

Accused: Sandhurst, Basil

"The Controller"

Psychiatrist: Dr. Samson, Leonard

Samson: Mr. Sandhurst, you hold PhDs in electrical mechanics and chemistry, is that correct?
Sandhurst: Straight to the boring questions is it? Not why I did it? My motivations? Future plans? Why I chose good ol' Tony Stark?
Samson: [pause] We are free to talk about anything you wish.
Sandhurst: I watched 'em you know. Watched 'em closely, tracked them like animals because it was just so very exciting. I watched them on the news, their heroics, their antics. And you know who intrigued me the most? Tony. I glanced at all their minds, in passing, just as a stranger on the street. The soldier out of time, the monster and the assassins and the prince and I saw into Tony's brain. Just a little, itsty, bitty taste. And it was just so fucking delicious I had to have more.
Samson: Who sent you?
Sandhurst: Back to the boring questions again, huh, doc Sam? Mind if I call you that? Sam? Sammy? Think I'll just spill everything, tell you every dirty little secret?
Samson: Mr. San–
Sandhurst: This isn't the end of it. There's something larger at play here, something beyond you, or SHIELD or even your precious Avengers. Something far larger and far stronger and when the time comes I will laugh as I watch you all bleed.

"Hey, Cap," Tony's voice is rough and tired but he looks like a man who has been in the desert for months and has just spotted an ocean.

The genius's eyes flicker and then he's smiling, pulse-ox covered index finger twitching against the hospital bed and it'd be so easy to just forget, to pretend that everything is okay and that the team didn't get called in the middle of the night because one their own almost succeeded in bashing his brain in.

"What took you guys so long?"

And Steve's heart shatters.

"Get out of my way Rogers, I don't want to have to say it again."

Tony is leaning heavily on his crutches, he's thin and weak and trembling, hands shaking so badly and eyes that are dark and livid and so utterly shadowed by hurt that Steve wants to look away.

"Tony, please–"

"Stop! Okay? Just fucking stop! Look you did what you had to, what was necessary. What more do you want from me? A medal? A thank you?! Do you want me to kneel and clutch your hands, 'Oh, Captain America, thank you ever so much for saving my life?'"

Tony's chest is heaving and he stumbles and Bruce reaches out to steady him and Tony flinches, hard, and his eyes go wide like he can't believe his own body's response.

Tony looks at all of them, gauging their stares. They can all see how fast Tony is retreating into himself, walls slamming up and locking into place, the facsimile of carelessness and unbreakable confidence rising forth with such painful familiarity.

"I'm fine okay. I'll be just peachy, so thanks but no thanks for the concern. It's unnecessary. Completely unnecessary. Fury's got me on a shrink, the old dome is healed and I'll be on my way," A smile then, brilliant and wide and oh so fake as Clint clenches his jaw and Thor is at a loss.

"I'll uh, see you guys at the next city disaster ok?"

And with that Tony is gone.

Official Interrogation Transcript: EXCERPT 006

Accused: Sandhurst, Basil

"The Controller"

Psychiatrist: Dr. Samson, Leonard

Sandhurst: It was simple enough. I knew I could bait him, get him close to me. I wasn't interested in anyone else. I studied how they worked, their team dynamics. I almost went for the super soldier you know? Almost nabbed him instead. You know what I would have done had I taken over his mind? I would have made him hurt Tony in so many different ways it would have been glorious. And then I would have let him go, to see what he had done. To live with the guilt.

Tony's rehabilitation is long and arduous but he makes steady and rapid progress, once more achieving the impossible.

It might be easy to overlook that everything else is falling apart.

The descent is slow at first. Tony not setting a foot in SHIELD headquarters, which goes on for a few days before a letter arrives from his legal team.

"Due to the circumstances outlined later in this submission, Mr. Anthony Edward Stark will no longer participate as a consultant for the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, effective immediately…"

What follows is around 20 pages, give or take, of legal loopholes and grandiose speeches and sweeping declarations. Attached is a large check to cover the breach of contract and that is that.

Tony never sets foot in the Tower again and JARVIS returns, monotone and flat.

A few days later, they learn that Tony has moved back to his house in Malibu.

Official Interrogation Transcript: EXCERPT 007

Accused: Sandhurst, Basil

"The Controller"

Psychiatrist: Dr. Samson, Leonard

Sandhurst: I just couldn't resist you know? Have you ever wanted something so bad you would do anything to get it?
Samson: No. There are certain lines that must not be crossed. Codes of ethics and morals.
Sandhurst: Oh, doc, who the hell lied to you? Man, do I feel sorry for you! There are no codes and no lines and nothing that can't be blurred or stepped over or completely ignored. You say these things because you are afraid, afraid of the monster inside you, that nasty, bloodthirsty creature that wants to destroy. You use your morality as a blanket, a child fighting impulses, when the things that go bump in the dark are your very own creations.
Samson: You acted on such impulses?
Sandhurst: I was recruited. Someone, someone picked me up and opened my eyes and then set me free. They pointed me to my target and let me go and I was wild at first, I couldn't decide who to go after! I was a dog chasing cars. And then I tasted Tony's mind, so beautifully damaged and complex and I just had to have him. And I did.

Before they know it, they're surrounded and separated. The Hulk's roar is far off, blocks and blocks down the street.

"Thor's not responding," Natasha says from behind him, simultaneously shooting one of the spider-shaped robots nearly point-blank.

Steve is about to respond when another one is upon him, having fallen from above. He barely has time to bring up his shield as the thing tries to claw him clean across the torso.

They're outnumbered.

"Hawkeye, status?"

"There are a lot of these bastards. I'm running out of arrows and we still haven't located Stark. The idiot needs to stop running off on his own."

"Keep me posted," Steve replies, hears Coulson mutter something in the background before the comm. unit is muted on Clint's side.

His heart is thundering with worry because this is exactly what they'd fought so hard to keep from happening.

But Tony, damn his curiosity and his stubbornness, he'd gone ahead and hacked into the SHIELD databases. He'd learned of the threat, of the covert efforts of the team to keep him out of the loop.

JARVIS had warned them all, just minutes after Tony had taken the suit, of what had happened, no doubt seeking to save his creator's life.

It was one of the few times Steve had heard the undertones of panic in the A.I.

Steve can feel the foreboding roiling in his stomach, an awful, intense feeling and he knows that they have to find Tony now.

And then his comm. unit flares to life.

"Cap, we got a situation here, it's fucking bad. We need you here ASAP–"

"Hawk, we're on our way, what is it?"

"It's the motherfucker, he's got –fuck! He's got Stark. I repeat, Stark's been compromised."

Steve is running then, running as fast as he can, pushing forward because his heart is in his throat, beating far too fast and too hard, God, please, please–

"Stark –Tony, this isn't you man. Trust me, I know, I know what it feels like. You've gotta kick it. This isn't–"

And Clint's put his comm. unit on speaker because Steve can hear it. He can hear everything that is happening and he can't do anything about it and that is just the cruelest injustice in the world.

There's the high-pitched whine of Iron Man's repulsors and clattering, movement, running, the repulsors again and Clint cursing heavily and Coulson screaming in the background.

Words, rushed, alarmed, begging.

Clint is begging.

"Tony–"

And then silence.

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