𝚃𝚘𝚗𝚢 𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚔 𝙳𝚎𝚏𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚂𝚚𝚞𝚊𝚍

ɢᴇᴛ ʜᴇʀ ᴏᴜᴛ

ꜱᴜᴍᴍᴀʀʏ: They were just waiting for something to happen with the Rogues. The New Avengers were prepared to step in if needed.

So of course it happened when most of them were out of the Compound.

Of course Tony had to deal with it.

===============

ɪᴍᴘʟᴏꜱɪᴏɴ

"Boss? There's a problem in the East Wing."

Tony looked up from his work in confusion. He was pretty sure the others had all teamed up and told Friday to never call Tony for any Rogue-related problems.

So this was odd. And his AI sounded worried.

"What is it Fri?"

She was quiet for a moment. "It's Agent Barton. He appears to be having a breakdown of some kind."

Tony froze. "What? Do you know what triggered it?" he demanded, standing up quickly.

"No Boss. He had been acting rather withdrawn since his visit with Mrs. Barton. About an hour ago he returned to his room and has not moved. A few minutes ago he started to harm himself in his panic."

Tony was already running out of his lab. "Shit Fri have you called anyone else?"

He wasn't sure he was ready to face the Rogues as a group.

"Miss. Jones is the only other New Avenger in the building currently and she is on her way. The others have been contacted but they are some minutes away." Which meant she thought it was time-sensitive if she told him.

Well, at least he had backup.

Or maybe he was the backup.

By the time he got to the East Wing, Jess was already there shouting in Rogers' face. Tony squashed memories of Siberia and ran past them, yelling at Jess to cover him.

He knew she would. He trusted her.

He ran past Barnes who was coming into the room to see what was happening and headed straight for Barton's room.

The genius felt sick when he opened the door. Clint was sitting against the opposite wall, banging the back of his head into the wall and muttering to himself. Blood was dripping down his neck and the wall behind him.

As Tony got closer he could make out what the archer was saying.

"Get her out get her out get her out."

Tony's stomach twisted with guilt. How didn't he notice that something was wrong?

"Barton?" he stepped closer. "Clint?"

He was close enough now to see the tear tracks down the archer's cheeks.

He'd hated Maximoff before. For what she did to Bruce and her role in JARVIS' death. But now it was just renewed.

Because Tony had never seen Clint cry. And it was heart-breaking.

He heard a distant crash outside but kept his focus on Clint. Jess could handle them. And if she did have trouble, he knew that Friday had already called in reinforcements. They wouldn't be long.

"Clint," he called again, putting a hand on the other man's knee. That seemed to finally startle the archer back to awareness.

He sucked in a sharp breath and his eyes snapped up to Tony. They immediately closed again as he pressed a hand to his temple with a pained grunt.

"Clint?"

"She's in my head. I thought... cognitive recalibration worked before..." he gasped and hit his head again.

Tony quickly darted forward and pulled him away from the wall.

"No Clint, stop that. This isn't the same as what Loki did. She's... she's had too much time to dig into your head."

"You knew?" he asked, slumped against the genius and shaking slightly.

Tony shook his head. "No. Daredevil... Daredevil figured that there was something wrong when he met you in the gym. Stephen and Loki were the ones who came up with the theory that she might be influencing you. And Vision confirmed some manipulation when he came by with Carol. But our hands were tied without evidence. Stephen said confronting you about it might make things worse."

He tried to check the damage Clint did to his head while keeping the man upright.

"I trusted her," Clint sounded pained. "Why did I trust her?"

"I think she got to you early Clint," Tony murmured.

He took a deep breath and tried to get the archer to focus on him. "Clint. Listen. Stephen and Vision can clear your head. Loki excused himself since he said you wouldn't be comfortable if he was involved. But they need your permission to cast any magic. Can they help you?" his desperation leaked into his voice. He knew what Clint was feeling. He'd fought Maximoff's magic as well. He was pretty sure that after Ultron her magic was pushing him towards a more permanent end than retirement. If it wasn't for Stephen he didn't know what he'd have done.

"Yes," Clint gasped. "Fuck just get it out, please. I can feel it Tony, I can feel it changing my thoughts," he shuddered against the genius. "Fuck make it stop!"

"Friday!" Tony called to his AI urgently. "Call Stephen."

"Already done Boss. He's portalling to the Compound as we speak."

"Come on Legolas, up you go," Tony grunted as he hauled the archer onto his feet.

Clint slumped heavily on him. "Haven't heard that nickname in a while..." he slurred.

"Well, you were kind of a dick lately," Tony muttered.

Clint let out a broken laugh. "Yeah, I was. Laura's going to divorce me."

"No she's not. What she is going to do is kill Maixmoff."

Tony practically dragged Clint out of the room and down the hall, trying to keep him conscious. Barnes was still on the outskirts of the action so he spotted them first, eyes widening.

The others all quickly followed suit.

"Clint?!"

"What happened?!"

"What did you do Stark?!" Romanoff started towards him threateningly but, surprisingly, Barnes stepped in her way.

Tony put that little action to the side to study later. He met Jessica's eyes.

"Take her down Jess. Stephen's on his way."

And just like that, Jessica was on Maximoff like a predator. Maximoff may have been a powerful magic-user. But when facing down Jessica Jones? She didn't stand a chance. Her mental attacks did nothing and Jess bulldozed through her telekinetic ones. She held the screaming witch down on the floor as Maximoff threw off bolts of red magic, setting off all the alarms.

Before Rogers could intervene, Logan was there, slamming the super soldier into the wall and keeping him there with little effort.

Daredevil stood in front of Romanoff, silently daring her to lash out like her leader. She wisely (for once) backed down, still glaring daggers at Tony.

The other Rogues had been too shocked to move so Tony dragged Clint through the crowd to where Stephen was entering the room. The Sorcerer Supreme didn't even say a word. He just opened a portal to the other side of the Compound.

"Jessica," he called out. "Loki will be here soon to take her into custody."

"What are you doing?!" Maximoff wailed.

"What we should have from the start you mind-raping bitch," Jess snarled.

Tony didn't pay attention to Rogers' complaints or Romanoff's demands as he dragged Clint through the portal.

This was a mess.