Lay Down This Armour.

One

The Avengers sluggishly walked into the compound's common floor. Their spirits were even more dampened than the past three battles they had fought since being amalgamated into one unit. Clint was not with them. He was the one who had been injured the most and it had really shaken them. They all slumped around still wearing their combat gears. Wanda was being consoled by Peter. She was blaming herself for Clint's injury.
' He is getting more brutal,' Hope Van Dyne muttered.
' It was a specific reaction to Wanda's powers. He got more crazed instead of being incapacitated. What did they do to his mind?' Natasha asked quietly.
Bruce walked in pushing Rhodey's wheelchair in as Wanda spoke.
' I managed to glimpse it a little before he...' she broke off,'his mind is constantly twisting in on itself. I do not know how they control him with what I saw. It is too mangled for traditional brainwashing methods they used before,'
' What happened? I don't see Clint,' Rhodey asked in concern.
' He is currently at the SHIELD base's medical facility. He has a broken left arm and broken ribs,' Scott answered. Bruce's eyes bled alarm.
' How did that happen?'
' Wanda tried to subdue the Mechanic by immobiling his mind. Suffice it to say the effort had an adverse effect we did not expect. He was throttling Wanda when Clint intervened as he was in closer proximity to them. His arm got broken and ribs intentionally fractured before he was flown into the air. He was dropped from over fifty thousand feet, but I managed to intercept his fall,'
' Jesus,' Rhodey swore.
' We are running out of plays. At this rate, we are going to be forced to stop trying to apprehend him and neutralise him,' Bucky spoke.
Rhodey visibly bristled and wheeled himself forward.
'Excuse me?'
' I am saying what Ross is going to come and tell us soon, not what I want. He is easily the greatest thorn in American security's backside. He is almost impossible to kill, easily matches Steve, Natasha and I in combat and he can mentally command any tech on the planet. I am just saying it is only a matter of time before they decide to cut their losses and make us gun for his head, not his capture,'
' Glad to see that you are easily adjusting to the possibility,' Rhodey smirked, voice dripping with sarcasm.
' Hey. None of us are to blame for this. Let's all take a breath,' Reed spoke as he was seated with his wife, brother in law and his best friend.
'Ohhh, I beg to differ Richards. We all know what and who started all this,' Rhodey spat as his eyes shot daggers at Steve and Bucky,' neither of the two of you get to even entertain the thought of putting him down. If you had not left him in Siberia to die out there, we would not be in this mess and he would have been running his company and doting on his daughter!' his venomous tone made Steve visibly flinch. A silence swallowed the whole room at the outburst.
Rhodey wheeled himself out, leaving the swirl of anguish in his wake. Bruce spoke out softly.
' Rhodey may have just given us an idea in his venting,'
Eyebrows were raised questioningly in his direction.
' We have tried all angles save one. The person who is the least threat in his mind,'
Natasha caught on first.
'And if he kills her as soon as she is in his sights?'
The rest of the team caught up quickly. They all started protesting at once with vehemence. Peter's whistle brought the verbal tirade to a halt. He eyed Bruce, who continued.
' He is still in there somewhere. Hear me out,'he said as voices threatened to erupt again.
'Yes, he went a step further today, but don't you realise that means a great deal? He has never outright set out to maim or kill you. He only entertained you while he got what ever it is he had come for and disappeared straight after. It was only after an attempt at his mind that he went ballistic and even then, he cracked ribs that will heal, broke an arm he definitely knows is not Clint's dominant one and dropped him out of the sky in the presence of two flyers that could catch Clint,'
Understanding dawned on the group. Bucky supported the theory.
' He is on to something. At my worst, knowing full well that Clint is weaker than me, I would have just snapped his neck,'
' He might be killing government agents, but he hasn't even maimed any of you till today. If he retains enough to do that, what do you think Pepper would be able to incite in him?'
' You have a point. You do the talking though. She won't even listen to a word from half of us. Peter she likes but he can't talk to her about this and the other half are still too unfamiliar to her,' Natasha said.
Bruce nodded.