Lay Down This Armour.

Ten

'Who the fuck forcefully removed you from your family, Barton? Even Cap here doesn't take the prize for that, coz newsflash, you are a grown ass man!' Tony barked.
' You brought me out of my home when you started this whole Accords shit show!' Clint spat back at Tony.
Natasha stood a little distance from them, her phone at her ear. A voice spoke from the speaker. Nat almost sagged in relief at the voice.
' You better get here fast. Tony and Clint have finally gone for each other's jugular and I need reinforcements,' she said quietly.
Natasha had been waiting for the two knuckle heads to fight since Tony had more control over his deadly alter ego. She was actually surprised it had taken them this long. Aside from Steve, Clint could inspire the biggest blow outs out of Tony. They were close almost like brothers and such familial feelings always came with louder fights. Back then, she let them have at it, but back then Tony didn't have murderous rage issues and the lethality to act on them. Clint was now out of his depth and did not have the tools to hold his own. He was an expert at riling people up and his lack of self preservation in his anger tired her out. Were the hell was Pepper when she was needed. She could not use Antonia to temper her father in such a situation. Putting her in the middle of this would be inviting disembowelment from Tony.
' I did not convince 117 fucking countries to come up with that document. Besides, you were retired remember. You and your family were perfectly tucked away,' Tony hissed.
' You supported a document that would have enslaved us,' Clint spat back. Tony shook his head and moved to a wall, his back to Clint. The archer continued to lay into him,' You started all this the moment you brought Ross and the damn Accords into our home. You might not see it, but you are to blame for all of this. Rhodes would not have been hurt if it wasn't for your selfish guilt,' he sneered viciously. A roar from Tony filled the room and his metal fist went through the wall. Natasha moved from the corner of the room she was in.
'Clint you have said enough,' her eyes on the heaving back of the genius. Clint was too pissed to read the room.
' No Natasha. He needs to know what he did. He thought he knew what was best for us but all he did was destroy our family,'
' Get out right now,' Natasha said harshly as Tony's body subtly shifted, telling Natasha that his rage was now at the fore. He turned to face Clint and the archer's ire drained out of him as he realised he had gone too far. Tony's face was an ugly mix of rage, pain and hunger to tear into something. His eyes were narrowed and zeroed in on Clint. Predator and prey faced each other.
'Do not move, Clint. Not till I say so,' Natasha walked into Tony's line of sight. The genius' eye twitched. His attention not wavering from the target of his ire. Clint felt hunted. His best friend was right. If he moved, Tony would be on him in an instant. The atmosphere was heavy and Natasha knew that it was a tentative balance between defusing the situation and escalating it. If Pepper did not get here, the rest of the team would come back from their outing to two dead bodies. Natasha was not fool enough to think she could hold her own against Tony for long. The black widow almost sagged with relief when Pepper walked in. She walked slowly, projecting her every movement to stand next to Nat, effectively blocking Clint from the deadly stare.
' Hey babe, are you okay?' the tall red head asked softly,' Come on, tough guy. We use our words when we are angry, remember. We talked about this,' as she took a step towards him. His eyes zoomed in to her movement. She whooped internally at catching his attention. She knew that if she did not make him simmer down, she would have to take the brunt of his aggression. She took another small step and smiled.
' You really are grumpier than usual today I see. I would have made you speak by now. You need to calm down, luv. Clint was not trying to challenge you or hurt you. You are friends and you usually argue, remember?'
His eyes narrowed further into steely slits. ' He did not mean to hurt you, like you do not mean to hurt him. I know you don't want to, so just come here, luv. Please. Come to me,' she pleaded, her arms stretched out in a welcoming gesture. He tilted his head at her. She knew that gesture. He was calculating something in his head. She counted it as a win. It meant the angry fog in his mind was weakening enough to let some rational thoughts pass through it. She was almost getting through to him. Then she heard chatter coming to the room and she closed her eyes and cursed under her breath.
Steve, Bucky, Sam and Scott walked in talking loudly and the twitch on his eye returned and Natasha and Pepper flew into action.
'Everyone get out now!' she yelled as she pushed Clint towards the door they were standing at. The growl made them see Tony lunging to their direction, but Pepper intercepted him, barrelling into him as she wrapped herself around him. His displeased growl resounded as he turned to slam her back against a wall, crushing her to it. The fools had interrupted her before his anger was dispelled, and now she was in the line of fire. She wasn't scared, she just knew she would be sore for a while. Tony's stamina was difficult to keep up with on a calm day. Now she had to deal with it doubly increased due to his pent up aggression. The rest of the team would have to avoid the common room for a few hours. She looked into the wild eyes focused on her, trusting Natasha to close off the room for them. Natasha did as was required. She made Friday seal the doors to the room before turning to glare at Clint.
' Do you have a death wish?' she hissed dispassionately at him. He flinched at her tone but held his chin up stubbornly.
' He needed to be told the truth of what he did,'
' Not when he is thrumming with rage he is not. You forget one thing, Clint. At some point you could argue with him knowing you could take him down, but that time passed. What Pepper has to deal with in there can and would have torn you limb to limb without breaking a sweat. If he stopped there I would be tempted to let him have at you, but here is the thing, he would not stop at you. Do not put the rest of the compound at risk to convince yourself that it's his fault your family is in jeopardy. It is all on you,' she spat.
He grimaced.
' What is going on?' Sam asked.
'This imbecile decided to argue with Tony and did not know when he crossed the line. Which baffles me. Does a fist through the wall not scream warning to you?' she continued to lay into him.
'Dude, I get you have to work through your issues, but you have to realise it was never all on Tony. Its on all of us. You need to take a step back and look into yourself man. This anger is just destructive,'
' The Accords...' Clint started.
' Were not his brain child. He did what he thought was right. We all did. Noone should persecute him for it,' Steve interjected.
Natasha stepped up to Clint.
' You are my friend, but if you ever bring Rhodey's injury up to Tony and blame him for it, you will deal with me. Don't act like you don't know what it feels like to have a friend get hurt on your watch,'
Sam visibly bristled.
' You are an ass, but this was the lowest I have seen you be,' shaking his head.
Barnes looked at the sealed door to the common room.
' If he is in beserk mode, then why is Pepper locked in with him?' he asked.
' What do you think? Violent rage can be expelled effectively one of two ways. We denied him his preferred one, which was deserved,' eyeing Clint, who looked down, 'so she is the obvious candidate for the latter. Friday will be prohibiting access in there for a few hours.
Scott whistled suggestively.

Pepper's back hit the kitchen island. They were an hour into it and Tony showed no sign of calming down. His body was still thrumming with pent up energy and his silence was telling. Tony was a conversational lover and silence was always a sign of him being upset. It did not mean that she had to be quiet as well, though. He pulled himself over her and slid into her. She moaned into his neck.
' You are okay, baby. I am here for you. I am never leaving you and you are not to blame for what happened, okay?'
A low growl escaped him as he moved in and out of her at a measured and controlled pace.
Pepper internally accepted the growl as a win. It was the first response to her words and eventually words would come back to him. She took a mental note to rip Clint's head off that night.

She stroked his hair as he lay on his stomach on their spacious bed. After three hours they had retreated to their room and the common room was open for all again. He rolled on to his back and looked at her, eyes searching.
' You need to stop doing this,' softly.
' Doing what?' feigning innocence.
' Don't act coy, babe. What if I snap your neck instead of fucking you into exhaustion the next time something like that happens?'
Pepper sighed. Tony was nothing if not blunt.
' You won't. We are walking a very thin line with your recovery, Tony. If I am the last line of defence against you tipping over into the darkness, I will plant myself in front of you every time,' stubbornly.
He sighed in frustration.
' If I lose you, for any reason including myself, I will burn the world to the ground or die trying. Don't die on me, Pepper, even for me,' voice deadly serious. His eyes held promise with no ounce of hesitation. Anger erupted in her. HYDRA had taken him and twisted him. This new side to him that had embraced his capacity for violence scared her at times. In the past, he had boundaries on how far he would go to protect those he cared for. Now she could see the lines had blurred for him. She smiled down at him before kissing his forehead.
' You need to sleep,' she whispered.
' You need to more than I do,' he countered.
' I will. I just need to put Antonia to bed okay,'
He nodded. She stood and walked out. The elevator took her to the common floor. She made a beeline for her child who was lying on Natasha's chest. She was grateful the girl did not put up a fight like she usually did. The team quietened at her entrance. Steve cleared his throat.
' Um. How is he?'
' Fine,' not in the mood to talk to them. She turned to leave, but then turned to Clint. Eyes narrowed. She closed her daughter's ears.
' The next time you decide to pull that shit off, I will gladly cheer him on as he hangs you from the ceiling with your own entrails. Do you understand me, Barton?' she hissed.
Clint visibly swallowed.
' I do,'
Pepper turned and walked out. Natasha glared at Clint as she stood up to leave.
'And I would make the popcorn,' as she left.
Scott was fascinated.
' That is a tough crowd, man,' he chuckled. Clint groaned.
' Remind me to keep my mouth shut when it starts running off,'
' When has that ever stopped you before?' Steve snorted in a very un-Captain America way.
'Since the person I used to pick on without worry turned into one of the scariest people I know,'
' Bucky is just as scary and its never stopped you before when you are a jerk to him,'
' No offence, Bucky, I have been in your cross hares before, but being in Tony's is a different thing entirely. The Winter Soldier is clinical and cold. Tony, both sides to him, is a bloody massacre waiting to happen. Its pure viscous red rage and savagery. It's like they tapped into something deep within him and let it loose,'
' "I don't trust anyone without a dark side". Tony told me that once. I guess they found his,' Steve said, thoughtful.
' The good thing is that he has an anchor,' Wanda spoke, ' Should he lose it, no one is safe,'
They all knew what and who she was talking about.

A figure stood at the edge of the cliff looking down at the lighted city in the dark of night. A woman approached him and stood beside him.
'The others grow impatient. We need to put our plans into action,' she spoke.
'We will, but when the time is right. The last piece to our game is not quite in place,' an old gravelly voice responded.
'The world has almost forgotten we exist,' she spat.
'A little anonymity goes a long way sometimes. I wouldn't have it any other way at this point, my dear. Worry not. We come into our own soon,'