Fractured

2012, Helicarrier, Somewhere over the Atlantic…

Alarms were still blaring all around the Helicarrier, despite the fact there was no longer an active threat to the post in question. The danger was over, at least for now, but it seemed like nothing compared to what lay ahead of them. Sure, engineers were working hard to fix all the damage that had been caused, Loki had escaped and Coulson….well, Tony didn’t want to think about it. Fury’s speech was enough to throw any man off their game. But Tony did know one thing – Loki was going to pay for this.

But in order to do that, he knew he needed to get to New York, stat. The problem was his suit had sustained a lot of damage from the engine. He could get it functional at best but JARVIS was in the process of rebooting and Tony needed to make a visit to a potential asset.

He couldn’t think of anything better to call the SHIELD agent in holding right now.

Tony was a genius and he knew that if he was going to head into a fight with a demigod with other worldly powers, he could not jump into this blindly. He needed to get all the information he could about Loki and his plan as well as any weaknesses or flaws that may be in them. However, he wasn’t quite sure how he was going to get it out of this Agent Barton. The man had done a lot of damage to the Helicarrier with such primitive weaponry and frankly, Tony was glad Romanoff had subdued him. God knows how much harder this would have been if Barton had been able to escape with Loki. Based on his file, the man was more than just a circus act with a bow. His kill number almost rivaled that of Romanoff herself. Getting any information out of him was going to be hard, but Tony had to try. According to his file, Clint Barton was observant. He could see anything, even from a distance. Even under Loki’s mind control he surely saw something that would help. And according to the medical team that was observing him when Romanoff brought him in, he still was….sort of. He had moments of clarity but he would slip back under. Hopefully Tony could use that to his advantage.

He stepped off the elevator and approached the cell with the assassin in question. Honestly, after reading Barton’s file, he felt slightly unnerved by him. And when he got closer to the cell and heard the weak muttering, it made him slightly more on edge. Sure, he was just that – a man. No super powers, no strange mutations or anything. Just him and a deadly skillset that SHIELD had deemed worthy enough for Fury’s initiative. And maybe that was what bothered Tony most about him. What else could this man do?

Tony couldn’t understand whatever the mumbling was coming from Barton’s cell, but to him it sounded like a soft change. Eery and low and almost desperate. But as horror-movie-like as it sounded, it was nothing compared to what he saw when he came in front of the door. The archer was sitting on the floor, his head bowed and arms resting on his knees. Due to the fact Barton could turn almost anything into a weapon the room was void of all but a gurney. Maybe in case they needed to restrain him. But that wasn’t the only thing he noticed. Tony could see how pale he was. How the dark circles under his eyes were and how sickly the man appeared. The struggle for control, no doubt. Taking both a mental and physical toll on the poor man. And when Tony got closer, he could finally hear what the archer was muttering.

“Get out of my head…”

Tony wasn’t sure what to say as he stared into the cell. How did one start to interrogate a mind-controlled individual with certainly years of anti-interrogation techniques? Maybe just let him talk? Tony needed to learn how to do this kind of stuff from Romanoff. Instead he cleared his throat, waiting to see what the archer would do.

Clint kept his head bowed, even when he heard the clearing of the throat. “Come back for more, Romanov?” he taunted, finally looking up at and seeing that it wasn’t the fiery spider. “Well, well, well, if it isn’t the famous Tony Stark.”

His eyes swirled the icy blue as he sang his words, finally yet slowly pushing himself to his feet. As he approached the door Tony instinctively took a step back. He read how deadly the hawk could be and didn’t want to test that theory. “And to what do I owe this unexpected visit. If I had known I was going to be graced with a celebrity, I would have washed up.”

“Oh, you know,” Tony replied haughtily and with a shrug, as if this was nothing new or foreign to him, “Just wanted to check up on you. Wanted to see how your hypnosis induced mass murder mind was doing after hitting it. Apparently not hard enough, though.”

“I’m flattered that you would come see little old me.” His eyes were scanning the man in front of him, trying to assess him and any moves he could potentially make. He had read Stark’s file back when Fury had looked at recruiting him. A genius civilian was Clint’s assessment of him. Little to no self-defense training. Easy enough for him to subdue if he could just get his hands around him. But alas, he was just out of reach. But that could easily be remedied. “If you’ve come for information, you’re wasting your time. I’ve been trained to withstand the harshest of tortures. You won’t get anything from me.”

Tony laughed as he shook his head. It was a great guise to cover how uncomfortable he was with how Barton was staring at him. He was pretty sure he saw a lioness look the same way at a gazelle on the Discovery Channel. “Yeah, yeah, blah blah, and you’ve killed a man. I’ve heard all of this from Romanoff already. You two might want to talk about shared material. No, see, I came down here because you took down all the servers on the Helicarrier and now I have nothing to watch. And according to your file you were a circus performer once upon a time so I’m sure you got some entertaining acts to showcase.”

“Ah, the typical Stark defense mechanism. Hiding behind humor and sarcasm to mask what lays underneath. I’ve read your file too. It was quite boring, actually. The question is, though, what exactly is it your are trying hide?” He leant closer to the bars, almost pressing his face against them as he all but whined, “Come on, you can tell me. I really want to know.”

Tony laughed as he stepped back from the cell a bit more. He pointed at Clint, laughing, “See, see, you almost got me there. Although I am starting to think that maybe your IQ test was right. Abnormally high for someone who didn’t go to high school.” Tony shook his head as he moved his arms back across his chest. “See, I have nothing to hide. I’m an open book. You, on the other hand, you have a bit, don’t you? A lot of your information was redacted, but I wonder what your brother would say if he could see you now? A lap dog for some crazed demigod from outer space. But I guess we’ll never know since you left him to die.”

On the outside, Clint let out a haughty laugh. Internally, though, he felt a punch as the real Clint Barton fought to get out. He was screaming to be let out of his cage but he managed to silence him effortlessly. “What, Barney? What, do you really think you’re going to get a rise out of me? Please, maybe before but no…that Widow tried the same shit on me. You think finding my humanity is going to do something? Perhaps before, but that part is gone. You’re looking at the new and improved Clint Barton.”

“New and improved? Hm, can’t say I’m impressed. How about I talk to the old Clint Barton. I’m sure he would have some interesting conversation topics.”

Clint clicked his tongue off the roof of his mouth as he shook his head. “Sorry, he can’t come to the phone right now. He’s locked safely up here.” His left hand rose and pressed a finger to his temple. “Your Widow did really do a number, though, he’s been a bit more feisty as of late. But he’s never coming out. He’ll never see….agh!”

Clint buckled against the bars, groaning and breathing heavily as his hands gripped them in such a vice grip Tony thought he might actually pry them off. Tony was watching curiously, wondering if this was a tactic by the mind control. That is, until Clint looked up at him and he noticed the swirl of ice fading only to the outer circle of his irises. “Go, Stark, you have to warn Fury…he’s going to…agh!”

“Warn Fury about what? Barton! Barton, answer me!”

But the brief moment of clarity had worn away and the blue hue had returned to his eyes. Damn it, Romanoff, why hadn’t you hit him harder? “The bird still has some fight in him.”

“Seems to have a bit more fight then you give him credit for. Maybe you should let him walk around a bit.”

Clint shook his head. “Not while I have you in such a riveting conversation. I’m sure….” Once again he buckled and Tony stood helplessly by as he watched the agent fall to the floor. There was a part of him that wanted to open that cell door and help him but he knew he couldn’t. He didn’t have the ability to overpower a SHIELD agent of this caliber. Natasha, maybe. Where was the Widow when you needed her?

Clint kept his eyes shut as he fought the internal battle in him. He was pulling hard at the blue chains in the back corner of his mind. He had been forced there and watched all the horrors that the monster Clint had tucked away had been unleashed thanks to Loki. Natasha had weakened the hold but he had to do the rest of the work. He pushed his way to the front again as he called out. “Go, before he comes back.” He paused, opening his eyes to his normal grey color as he stared at Tony. “He’ll kill you if he has the chance. I can only hold him off for so long…”

“He’s not going to kill me, and you are going to fight it, Barton.” Sure, Tony didn’t know the man very well but he knew enough. He could see how much this fight was taking its toll on the agent. He was trying and every appearance was a victory. “I know you are trying to snap out of it, just hang in there, I’ll go when Romanoff comes back. You shouldn’t stay alone with it. Let him have his focus on me, it will exhaust him eventually. And if not, I’m sure our Russian will give another beating to get it out of your system. “

Clint – the real Clint – managed to laugh shallowly and nervously. “Tasha was right about you….” He yelled out in agony again as Loki took control once more. “How sweet - you care for this assassin. Do you even know anything about him? About what he’s done? The people he’s killed for no other reason except money? How he enjoyed every time he took a life? They’re all here,” he taunted, pointing to his head, his tongue running over his lips. “He’s a cold-hearted killer. Oh, you should have seen the things I’ve made him do.”

Tony let the façade he held break for a moment as he heard the venom being spat from Barton’s mouth. He was glad Natasha wasn’t here for this. “I’ve read some of his work.”

“You mean the redacted pages in his file? That barely scratches the surface of the work he’s done. He’s not worth your sympathy, Stark.”

“GET OUT OF MY HEAD!”

Clint fell to the side, convulsing hard against the floor. “Oh shit, HELP!” Tony yelled. Maybe it was stupid and reckless but he couldn’t let the man suffer like this. He opened up the cell and rushed inside, holding onto Clint to keep him from banging his head. SHIELD agents and Natasha were quick behind him and Natasha pulled Tony away while the guards got Clint onto the gurney and strapped him down with the restraints. “Tony, what happened?” Natasha asked, watching at how Tony seemed to keep staring at Clint.

“He came out a few times. Your boyfriend is a fighter, Romanoff.”

Natasha smirked as she shook her head. “He’s not my boyfriend.” She gently laid a hand on his shoulder and said, “JARVIS finished the reboot. I can take him from here. You go stall Loki as much as possible.”

“Wow, Cap, I didn’t know you could fit into Romanoff’s outfit so well. How do you do it?”

She shook her head and gave him a push. “Go. We’ll meet you there as soon as we can.”

Tony nodded and turned to walk away. “If bird-brain wakes up in there and wants a shot at Loki, let him know he’s more than welcome to come out and play.”

On that note he went to his workshop and finished the final touches to get his suit airborne. While he didn’t learn much about Loki’s plan, Tony did learn one thing from his visit with Barton.

He was happy to make Loki pay for what he did to Clint Barton.

TBC….