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Since the Avengers had moved into the Tower, Tony had done everything he could to make life as easy for them as possible. They each had their own floor, personalised to suit their needs. A private gym just for the Avengers; including a shooting range, an archery range, and super-strength-proof punching bags. Bruce had been given his own lab. All of their food, clothing etc was provided for; with special attention having been made to everyone's preferences.

Tony was used to expressing himself with his money, as it was very rare that the people around him wanted anything else. But in the case of the Avengers, he honestly thought he had the chance to expand his family beyond Rhodey, Pepper, Happy and his bots (including JARVIS), and he wanted to ensure that these people were safe and protected. People he already thought of as friends, and hoped would become part of his family.

Unfortunately, it did not appear that all of the Avengers felt the same. Although none of them seemed unhappy with what they had been provided with, there had been little gratitude beyond the initial (and from some feeling somewhat perfunctory) thanks given when they first moved in.

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Tony and Bruce had clicked pretty much immediately, and they had great fun 'sciencing' together. However, their temperaments were very different, and Bruce could not deal with Tony's constant movement and tendency to talk incessantly (often without actually being aware that he was speaking aloud) for extended periods, and so had calmly and quietly expressed to Tony his need for structure and limiting their interaction to no more than a few hours at a time.

This did not mean that Bruce was not grateful for everything Tony did for him; providing him with a safe space, somewhere he thought he could actually call home – as well as being only the second person on his life to not be afraid of the big green monster inside him. But Bruce was no better than Tony himself when it came to expressing his feelings, so Bruce tried to show his gratitude in small ways – always bringing a cup of coffee with him whenever he came to Tony's lab, and conspiring with JARVIS to ensure that Tony ate – often bringing him a plate of whatever food he had prepared for himself.

But as for the others....their behaviour was another story. Natasha's treatment of Tony was what could only reasonably be referred to as 'gaslighting'; constantly demanding upgrades and improvements to her fighting equipment; her suits and Widow Bites etc. And if Tony dared to comment that he was too busy due to his responsibilities as Head of R&D and Owner of SI, she would be quick to talk down to him about how he should be able to manage given that it was Pepper who did everything at SI anyway and he was no more than a figure-head. She also made constant remarks as to his ego, belittling any contributions he made and never expressing any gratitude for the sleepless nights he had to upgrade her equipment. Despite not being a trained profiler, and her profile having been based on the actions of a man who was dying of heavy metal poisoning (and hence not acting like himself), she stood by her comments in her report, and her negative perception of Tony tainted not only her behaviour, but that of Clint and Steve, to whom she had given a copy of her report.

Clint was, to put not too fine a point on it, an absolute dick to Tony. Like Natasha, he demanded constant upgrades on his equipment, and was always berating Tony about the time it took him to provide new arrows. He also quickly got used to the luxury lifestyle offered to him by the Tower, having no qualms about spending Tony's money on whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. This included repeatedly taking money out using the card Tony had provided to each of them, and squirrelling it away into various accounts...or occasionally taking money out so that he could by expensive clothing and lingerie or toys to send to the wife and children he kept secret. He assumed that by taking money out of the account and paying cash for those items he could not be tracked, but neither of the spies had registered the extent of what JARVIS could do.

Steve had taken the file he had been provided on Tony as gospel, and interpreted all of Tony's actions to fit the information he was provided. He had expected an egotistic, arrogant rich playboy, and so these were the only traits he registered. So when Tony's actions totally contradicted his perception of him; with him making the sacrifice play and flying the nuke into the Portal, and then being so flippant about his own actions and safety and instead focusing on making sure everyone was fed, and then offering them a place to stay, Steve was flabbergasted. He did not know what to think. On his sojourn around the country he took some time to really think about his actions and how wrong he was about Tony. He did not like the man he saw himself to be in his treatment of the son of his friend, and he was ashamed of his actions. By the time he returned to New York, and upon being told the other Avengers had taken Tony up on his offer to reside in the Tower, he decided that he would apologise to Tony, and work on making amends, and getting to know the real Tony Stark.

However Tony, being Tony, did not know what to do with a heartfelt sincere apology, and so brushed him off; focusing on showing Steve the apartment he had set up for him; including a vintage 40's record player, and babbling to him about the art equipment he had set up in the art studio Tony had built for Steve – including details of various art classes he could sign up for if he wanted. He also told Steve that JARVIS would be more than happy to help him in any way he wanted with regards acclimatising himself to living in this time period.

Steve was overwhelmed by Tony's generosity, but also started to feel like Tony was trying to buy him, and that maybe there was some ulterior motive. He also took offence to the fact that Tony thought him incapable of dealing with the changes for himself, and that Tony thought he would resort to asking for help from a computer rather than seeking guidance from real people. The fact that Tony refused to talk about Howard Stark – pretty much the only thing that the two men had in common, simply underlined for Steve that clearly Tony was not looking to be friends, so he stopped trying. Steve quickly got into the habit of emulating Clint and Natasha's treatment of Tony.

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But despite their (incorrect) perceptions of Tony, they were still a Team, and in living in the Tower, they had ample opportunity to work on team dynamics, and ensure they got to know each other well enough to function effectively as a Team. They all utilised the common floor regularly, and Steve set up a schedule for Team Movie Nights where they would take turns to choose movies, and a weekly Team Dinner – where they would all take turns to prepare a meal (or in Tony's case – and usually Clint's too, order take-out).

Steve's hope was that this would bring the team closer together, and for the most part he felt this was successful. He had quickly become close friends with Natasha and Clint, and could take their teasing about his 'old man ways' and gaps in his knowledge; although for some reason, every time Tony made a similar joking remark, it always seemed to get Steve's back up.

Steve knew that Bruce was a very intelligent man, but he was nevertheless very shy. Steve was sure his alter ego made him all the more wary of how he interacted with others, so did everything he could to try to show Bruce that he was not afraid of him, and that he wanted to get to know him better. Their friendship seemed to develop from Bruce being prepared to update Steve's cooking knowledge and experience, so the two men were often found in the kitchen, preparing meals. These meals often resulted in Natasha and Clint appearing so the four of them would eat together. Bruce always set aside some food to take down to Tony, but it did not seem to register with him that none of the others ever thought to invite Tony or to ask where he was during these meals.

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Nightmares would usually result in the Team wandering to the common floor rather than staying alone in their rooms, and night-time meet-ups also brought them closer together, as they eventually started to confide in each other somewhat about their nightmares. Although Natasha never went into detail about why she was awake, she was always prepared to listen and prepare tea or pour a generous measure of Russian vodka.

Through comments between the men, they had come to realise that they shared the history of abusive fathers; albeit Steve had been fortunate enough that his father did not stick around for long, and his mother was wonderful and caring and he also had the care and support of Bucky and his family. But nevertheless, having this in common brought all of them closer.

Having known Howard during the War, and considering him a close friend, Steve would never have thought for a moment to question his ability as a father, so considered this to be just another thing that brought him closer to the other men on the team whilst further distancing him from Tony – as he was adamant Tony could never understand what they had gone through.

Clint could have gathered from what he had been told about Stark's history (by SHIELD and Natasha) that Tony's relationship with his father was far from good, but he just never thought about it; never making any real effort to find anything in common with Tony Stark, and rather focused on what he could get off him, and what he could poke fun at him about.

Bruce knew about Tony and his Dad, but just never thought about why Tony was not part of their little group commiserations. It just did not register with him that this was simply yet another occasion when the opportunity to include Tony was missed. A few times during these discussions he opened his mouth to make a comment about Tony and his relationship with his father, and remembered that every piece of information he had obtained from Tony about this had been when it was a conversation with just the two of them, or once or twice with Rhodey too. This made him think that it would likely be information Tony would prefer to remain private, and therefore that it was not his place to share such information with Steve and Clint. His thought was that if Tony wanted to share this information with them, he would. He didn't think about how Tony never had the opportunity to do this.

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Tony was away from the Tower (and consequently the Avengers) for a few weeks, whilst he did some actual work for SI; visiting various SI sites, spending some time in the R&D divisions outside of New York, and even attending some meetings, much to Pepper's delight. This meant Tony spent a lot of time around people who did not know him amazingly well, but had been employees long enough (and had enough intelligence) that there was no gushing over him (or glaring and/or pointed passive aggressive remarks). He just got to spend time with like-minded people who clearly respected him, and spoke to and treated him accordingly. The fact that at no point was he on tenterhooks awaiting a disparaging and/or debasing remark, expecting to have to defend himself for something, or expecting to be asked to leave, and that he was actually having fun getting back to what he loved, meant that he was sleeping much better than he thought he ever had at the Tower. And that, along with the shock he felt at people being nice to him, being polite and respectful and actually wanting him around, really confused him.

Tony ended this time away from New York with a few days in his remodelled Malibu home with Pepper and Rhodey for some long-overdue quality time. And so, relaxed by having a full belly, and feeling safe and content in the company of his favourite people, he relayed to them his confusion and surprise at how he had been treated, and how much better he had been sleeping whilst away from the Tower (and the Avengers)

Pepper and Rhodey looked at each other over Tony's head, and gathered him closer, the three of them snuggling together on the sofa as Pepper started running a hand through Tony's hair – the easiest way to get him into a mellow puddle and loosen the filter he had on his feelings. As Tony relaxed further and Pepper and Rhodey managed to maintain a facade of calm, they got him to explain how the Avengers had been treating him; pretty much since they first moved in. The constant talking down to him, debasement of his actions and abilities, the pointed remarks and oft-times insults thinly disguised as banter – especially if there had been anything even vaguely negative about Tony in the news. The constant attacks about his ego (paying no heed to the fact that Tony was in fact incredibly insecure, and that his public facade was precisely that!) The fact that the Team never actually seemed to want to spend time with him, and never included him in any plans they made as a Team. The fact that despite him being a business owner and having a full-time job, they made constant demands for things to be sorted now, and of course, the fact that they had him pay for absolutely everything without so much as a please or a thank you.

By the time Tony had finally drifted off, Rhodey and Pepper were stiff from trying to keep their anger in. They managed to carefully extricate themselves from their sleeping friend, and after ensuring he was still asleep and tucking a blanket around him, they crept out to the kitchen so that they could vent accordingly. They felt fortunate for the soundproofing Tony had installed, as both of them were so angry as to feel unable to keep their voices down as they vocalised all the expletives that felt necessary in light of what Tony had told them. Unfortunately, this was not enough to calm them down, as JARVIS felt that they may benefit from more information than the vagaries Tony had given (and the fact alone that JARVIS implied it was worse than what Tony had relayed, only incensed his friends more).

It was some time later that JARVIS felt that they were fully informed as to how poorly the so-called heroes had been treating their Tony. And JARVIS had included within his summation not only how the Avengers had treated Tony, but also SHIELD – providing footage of Natasha stabbing him with a needle without his consent, Fury having stolen and kept some of Howard's things (which he only provided after hacking JARVIS and keeping Tony prisoner in his own home), and Colson threatening to taze him.

Pepper knew that Extremis was stable, but the sheer severity of her anger made her feel like she was burning (and to be honest the anger kind of made her wish she still had some of her Extremis powers to unleash on those who dared treat Tony so horrendously). Seeing the footage of what Natasha did, on top of hearing and seeing her constant gaslighting, abolished any even vaguely friendly feelings she had had for the other woman. But seeing what Phil did hurt, as he had helped to save her from Stane, and she had trusted him; she had counted him as a friend. No more.
She instructed JARVIS to prepare detailed files on all of them, gathering detailed chronological records of every slight towards Tony. He was to prepare the necessary documents to file assault charges as well as corporate espionage against Natasha (as well as accessory charges for Fury in addition to theft, false imprisonment and B&E), and to look into whether criminal charges could be brought against Phil for the threat to Tony's life.
As for Clint, when JARVIS advised not only how badly he treated Tony, but that he also was siphoning funds for his hidden family, she told him to uncover everything he could about this family along with all the evidence showing Clint for the heartless bullying bastard he really is. She hoped that Clint had married a decent enough person that she would be ashamed to see such behaviour, but if not, Pepper had no qualms about making his actions public – including the fact that he was a husband and father who acted in such a callous manner.

Of all of the Avengers, it was Steve's actions that hit Rhodey the hardest. He had never trusted Natasha, and he didn't really know the others, but he had grown up with Captain America, and even as a adult in the Air Force he was someone everyone knew of and respected; a paragon they all aspired to be more like. But not anymore. Rhodey thought he'd seen the last of users managing to wind their way into Tony's life after Tiberius Stone and Sunset Bain back in Uni, and was outraged that Tony had to go through such treatment yet again.
Rhodey had been present in the Stark Mansion for a few weeks one Summer Break and had the misfortune to witness one of Howard Stark's drunken ravings about how amazing Steve Rogers was and how his own son would never be as good. And even though Tony was only 16 at that time, Rhodey was aware that was far from the first time Tony had been subjected to such a tirade. Tony had been told by Howard that he was not good enough for his entire life, and Howard continued with this behaviour right up until the day he died. So Rhodey had totally understood Tony's feelings towards Captain America, and had expected any issues between them to have started on Tony's side; but after JARVIS showed them footage of their initial confrontation on the Hellicarrier, he could see that Captain America had already made up his mind about Tony before even meeting him. The rose-tinted glasses were definitely off for Rhodey as far as Steve Rogers was concerned; for all he held himself to be 'looking out for the little guy', he had shown himself to be nothing more than a self-absorbed idiot, who punched first and thought later (if at all) and seemed to consider everyone who disagreed with him to be a bully – and consequently acted towards such people in a way that could only be referred to as bullying! For someone who was supposed to be a Master Tactician, such conduct was concerning, so Rhodey asked JARVIS for details of the Captain's service records; which was when he discovered that Steve Rogers was not even a Captain! Rhodey was a Colonel, so he was fully aware that a University Degree was required to attain a higher level of office in the military, but he'd just never thought about it when it came to Captain America – who had in fact not even graduated High School, due to the amount of time he had been absent because of his multitude of health conditions. In addition, Rogers had not even completed Basic Training; having only been on base a few weeks when he was chosen as the guinea pig for Super Soldier Serum.
Captain America clearly did not live up to his stories. Rhodey's anger on behalf of his friend far overshadowed any disappointment he felt. As a person of colour, Colonel James Rhodes had had to work twice as hard for half of the respect automatically given to Steve Rogers upon his return. But unlike Rogers, Rhodey had earned his title. And he would have no qualms about ensuring his Air Force colleagues were fully aware of what a fraud Captain America really was.

By the time the three of them sat down for breakfast the next morning, Pepper and Rhodey were fully prepared to rain Hell on the Avengers.
They calmly and carefully explained to Tony that the way he had been feeling the last few weeks; safe and respected and content – that was how he should always feel in his own home, and how he should be treated by any decent human being – especially people who call themselves team-mates and friends. They spent considerable time making sure that he fully understood, until he promised that he would not take it from them anymore. In fact, they managed to drum it into him so forcefully that he got past being shocked and upset at how the Avengers had been treated him, and finally started feeling angry. But despite his anger, they were not able to get him to agree to destroy the Avengers; after what he had seen in the wormhole, Tony was adamant that he needed them, that the world would need them. But they did get him to agree to create a protocol with JARVIS; which he instantly and aptly named 'Operation Had Enough'. Enacting the protocol would allow Tony a break away from the Avengers whilst a combination Pepper, Rhodey and/or JARVIS 'had a word' with them, and outlined how and why their behaviour would not be continuing.

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Tony had returned to New York, and had managed to avoid all of the Avengers bar Bruce for almost 2 weeks now; and even Bruce he had only seen in the lab (and not for long enough for Bruce to ask any questions or for them to go any deeper than science-related topics). He had not spent any time on the common floor at all, and clearly none of the Avengers had tried to come up to the Penthouse to look for him, as he had blocked their access and none of them had realised thus far.
He recognised that he was still angry about the way they had treated him, but he was also angry with himself for allowing it, and for the fact that his own issues had meant he had not even recognised that the way they were treating him was wrong! He was more than a little embarrassed that despite his genius, this had to be pointed out to him by his real friends. However, this had been what had finally made him accept that he needed professional help with his issues; not only in respect of his PTSD, but all the other issues that had stemmed from a childhood of neglect/abuse, repeated kidnappings, repeated emotional manipulation, numerous mentally abusive relationships – culminating in the gaslighting, emotional manipulation and frankly mistreatment he was subjected to by the Avengers (and SHIELD). JARVIS had already done the necessary research and security checks and had someone picked out ready when Tony finally conceded to go. He had already had a double session and found Ms Smoak remarkably easy to talk to – maybe because in addition to her psychiatric qualifications she also had a degree in computer engineering, and vast knowledge of computer code which meant that no only could she follow some of his tech-speak if he went off on a tangent, but she freely admitted her fascination with JARVIS, and the miracle of him creating a sentient learning AI that clearly had emotions. She also took no shit, and did not allow him to flirt and otherwise deflect to try to avoid the issues that needed to be addressed. Her knowledge of computer code also meant that her records were very secure, so this time he was not concerned that she could be hacked and his therapy sessions be made fodder for public ridicule as had happened in the past. He started to feel like he might actually be able to get the help he needed.

The therapy sessions made Tony start to hope that he might be able to deal with seeing the Avengers without expressing his anger towards them; for all he continued to do what he could to avoid them for as long as possible. Unfortunately, that was certainly far from a permanent solution – if nothing else he would have to see them as soon as there was a call to Assemble. And that's exactly what happened.
Fortunately, he had been at a dinner meeting with Pepper for SI, so was able to arrive separately to the others using his suit, rather than travelling in the quinjet with them. He did not speak to anyone on the comms unless necessary; rare as usually he would be quipping about whatever they were battling. Clint had made a pointed remark about him thinking himself too good to even speak to them now, but Tony did not rise to the bait, and was sure that the Captain was appreciating the lack of 'chatter' on the comms, as he would usually ask Tony to refrain from such at least once on every mission.
As the battle had been quite minor; no aliens, simply Hammer drones being utilised by a disgruntled former Hammer employee trying to get him in trouble (hence the attack taking place outside the Hammer Industries building), Steve had declared that a debrief was not needed, rather everyone should submit their separate reports of their assessment of what happened, and Tony would provide a report which included a copy of the footage from his armour and everyone's stats (in terms of how many bots each person eliminated, and how much property damage was caused). Glad that he did not have to spend any more time with them, Tony simply confirmed that Cap would have his report in the morning and flew off before anyone could even consider suggesting he return with them in the quinjet. He had returned to Pepper first to update her and to check whether he needed to do anything to make up for running out on the meeting. They both know that he could have called or even relayed this information via JARVIS, but he felt Pepper deserved to see him in person and have that visible reassurance that he was alright. In any event, they all (JARVIS too) knew that it was also an excuse to avoid returning to the Tower whilst the others were wide awake on post-battle adrenaline.
By the time Tony had got back to the Tower, removed the armour, showered, changed and made his way back to his lab, it was to find that the Avengers had already been by – leaving their equipment flung outside the lab door ready for cleaning and repair. JARVIS confirmed that Steve had decreed that this should all be sorted for the next day, and then outlined what repairs/improvements had been demanded. Tony sighed, resigned to the fact that they were clearly either entirely ignorant or just did not care that he had his own repairs, as well as having the mission report to do, ongoing SI projects and actually needing to sleep!

Fortunately, JARVIS could sort the mission report; including collating the necessary footage and stats; as well as be of great assistance in actually dealing with the repairs, which meant Tony was actually able to achieve the demand of everything being sorted by the following day. However, this was at the expense of the SI work (which fortuitously he was in fact ahead on) and his need for sleep. He had managed a few hours on the sofa in the lab, but that was far from preferable to 6 hours real sleep in his own bed.

When he awoke, JARVIS confirmed that all of the repairs had been completed, and that the suits and equipment were ready to be returned to their 'owners'. JARVIS also confirmed that the mission report had been completed, a copy submitted to SHIELD, and a hardcopy of the report printed out (along with with a DVD of the required footage) for the Captain. Tony groaned as he slowly manouvred off the sofa and stretched, hearing the cracking and popping of bones resettling. He started to walk towards the bathroom off the lab as he asked JARVIS to arrange for bots to deliver all of the completed items. By the time he had come back out of the bathroom, freshly showered and in a change of clothes, the items had already been delivered to the rooms of the respective Avengers with no response; either gratitude or disdain (and JARVIS had most certainly given them the opportunity to express gratitude, as he had verbally informed Natasha, Clint and Steve separately that their items were outside their rooms fully repaired to their specifications; and in Steve's case that Tony's Mission Report was also there). Tony was still too tired to consider getting annoyed, and focused on getting caffeine in his system as soon as possible. He had not thought to ask JARVIS what time it was or where the others were, he just got off at the common floor and staggered towards the coffee-pot, looking rather zombie-esque as he did so whilst quietly muttering about his need for coffee.
He did not register Natasha and Clint on the sofa in the living area, or Steve's presence in the kitchen, he just focused on the coffee-pot; which JARVIS had already started as soon as he exited the elevator. Muttering his thanks to his computer-friend, Tony started opening the cupboards looking for his favourite mug; a white mug which had a child's drawing of Iron Man on it – a gift from a fan that he treasured. He grumbled as he saw it, handle-side in, on the very top shelf of one of the cupboards – out of his reach, meaning that one of the others (likely Clint) had put it up there as a 'prank'. However, before he could say anything or try to get it himself, a strong muscled arm crossed his vision and plucked the mug from the shelf. He turned towards Steve to take the mug and thank him, but before he could do so, Steve snatched the mug from Tony's reach and held it above his own head in a childish 'keep-away' fashion. “Nah ah ah! What do we say Tony?!”

This was not the first time the Team had moved his things or otherwise 'pranked' him about his height; in fact, it happened pretty much any time his shorter stature was brought to their attention. A while back, there had been a photo taken of the Team post-battle, with Tony out of his suit doing some emergency repairs as they stood around him. As they were all in their uniforms (and in Bruce's case, still hulked out) and given the angle of the photograph, they all appeared much taller than him; even Natasha. The press had had a field day, with discussions on his height, him having a Napoleon complex, and numerous derogatory height-related nicknames – the most common being 'Tiny Stark'. This had resulted in a good week of 'pranks'; with various items of Tony's being placed out of his reach for the Avenger's amusement. So, not only were the media poking fun at Tony's height, the team had taken to doing it also – even Bruce had patted him on the head patronisingly.

All of that flashed through Tony's memory at the sight of Steve holding his mug above his head, and he growled inwardly. THAT IS ENOUGH! Tony just stood there for a moment, staring at Steve, who faltered at the look on Tony's face and started to lower his arm. By the time the mug reached the counter, Tony's watch had reformed into the gauntlet, and before Steve could register that, Tony pulled his arm back and punched Steve straight in the face.

Steve's shout of pain and surprise causes Clint and Natasha to look over, and immediately start towards Tony – to berate him or fight him he was unsure, but he was not going to take it. He held out his arm with the repulsor lit up in warning; “No. Just, no. Either of you take one step towards me I will fire. I've had enough. You all just stay away from me.” Grabbing his mug with his his other hand, he kept the repulsor pointed at the two SHIELD agents as he poured his coffee. Stepping backwards towards the elevator to keep the three of them in his sights, as Steve seemed to get over the shock and was staggering back upright, Tony had the arm make it's whirling pre-blast warning sound as he continued to back away. Upon reaching the elevator, he stated clearly; “JARVIS, enact 'Operation Had Enough'” before stepping into the elevator as JARVIS replied in the affirmative.

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Once the elevator doors closed and they could hear it rising to the Penthouse, Natasha and Clint turned back to Steve, who was still leaning against the kitchen counter with a look of shock on his face. Natasha went to the freezer to get some ice for his eye, that was already starting to swell. Once Steve was sat at the counter holding an ice pack to his eye, the SHIELD agents sat with him to find out what had happened. They were not impressed when Steve explained Tony punched him in response to some light-hearted teasing about his height, all agreeing that such a response was most certainly excessive. Within minutes their conversation had gone from being confused and dissatisfied with the severity of Tony's response, to just talking amongst each other about how awful Tony is to be unable to take such teasing; generally being rather disparaging about Tony and blaming it on his ego. Clint starts to get riled up, and says that they should go to Tony and make sure he knows he cannot get away with this behaviour; with a dismissive comment about punching Tony himself to see how he likes it!

As they all start to rise from their seats as if in agreement, JARVIS advised that they do not have authorisation to follow Tony and that if they try to force their way he will have to take action. Natasha was immediately wary, but Clint just scoffed, making a comment about JARVIS just being a computer as he goes to follow Tony – only to fall as if tasered when he reaches the doorway.

Natasha and Steve both make sounds of alarm that are cut off by JARVIS' response; “You were warned Mr Barton. I confirm that Operation 'Had Enough' is in effect, and as such none of the 'Avengers' are to approach Mr Stark until he says otherwise.”

This is what Bruce walks into, and hearing the tone in JARVIS' voice and seeing Clint groaning on the floor, he immediately goes over to check he is alright as he exclaims; “What the hell did you do?!”

Clint is groggy as Bruce helps him up and supports him over to the sofa, Natasha and Steve following. As Bruce takes out a penlight and starts to check Clint for a concussion, all three of them declare to Bruce that they had not done anything; claiming that it was Tony who was at fault –
pointing out Steve's blackening eye and claiming that Tony cannot take a joke and overreacted. Given that the Protocol had been initiated, JARVIS was not prepared to stand for any more adverse remarks against his Creator, and so interrupted to provide Bruce with the facts.

“Doctor Banner, Mr Stark has been belittled, talked down to, berated, blamed and quite frankly bullied by you so called heroes since the beginning. And he has had enough. We have all had enough”.

The other three Avengers immediately got defensive, and started spouting forceful denials – Clint's starting to be interspersed with angry mumblings about evil AI's as well (albeit ensuring he was not anywhere near a doorway where he could get tasered again).

JARVIS ignored their comments, and asked “Mr Rogers, prior to the serum, you were 5'6”, were you not?”

Steve confirmed (somewhat sheepishly) that this was true and started to ask what that had to do with anything, when JARVIS continued; “And your height made you the subject of ridicule and debasement did it not? You were made to feel inferior, not good enough due to something you could not change.”

Steve could see where JARVIS was going with this, and felt quite defensive. “Yeah, but the people who said such things weren't my friends!”

“Mr Rogers, to be quite frank, I am unclear as to when you have said or acted in any fashion towards Sir that would give an indication that you considered him to be your friend. You regularly talk down to him and blame him for things outside of his control, you never seem to consider what he does to be good enough, and you frequently leave him out of any group activities. Neither your words nor actions reflect that of a friend, so why would Sir consider your comments and actions today to be friendly teasing rather than malicious?”

Natasha took that pause to respond, as she could see that Steve was frustrated and yet floundering. “With Tony's ego, it is best to be straight with him JARVIS, you more than most are certainly aware of that. And -”

JARVIS cut her off before she could continue with her attempts to talk their way out of this. “Ms Romanoff, I must admit that I am finding your repeated comments regarding Sir's ego rather tedious, as well as both incorrect and hypocritical.”

Natasha was unable to hide her surprise and offence at such a comment, and both Clint and Steve were quick to try to defend her; “That was uncalled for JARVIS”, from Steve, while a still groggy Clint was just swearing.

“I am unclear as to how stating facts is uncalled for Mr Rogers. Ms Romanoff has made repeated comments regarding Sir's ego, claiming he is arrogant and narcissistic, whilst seeming to be completely oblivious as to the size of her own ego and her hypocrisy in such comments. Her ego is so large that despite having no training or qualifications in psychology, she considers that her assessment of Sir is a 100% accurate summation of Sir in his entirety. The report solely considers his public persona – which is exactly that, a persona that he puts on for the media as a form of protection, and in no way an accurate portrayal of Sir's true character, and consideration of his actions whilst he was dying of heavy metal poisoning – which of course adversely affected his behaviour.”

Before JARVIS could continue, Bruce cut him off (the shock in his voice echoing the shock on Steve's face) “Dying?! What do you mean dying?!”

JARVIS was quick to clarify “Well Dr Banner, at the time Ms Romanoff had committed corporate espionage to become an employee of SI under false pretences in order to make a report to SHIELD as to Sir's suitability for the Avengers Initiative, Sir was not acting like himself as he was dying of palladium poisoning.”

Before Bruce could respond to any of that, Steve jumped in to ask how Tony had been poisoned.

“As I presume you are all aware, Sir has the arc-reactor because the bombing in Afghanistan left him with shards of shrapnel in his chest that are too small to remove safely, but if left, would pierce his heart and kill him. The Arc-Reactor prevents this from happening. However, Sir created this in a cave in Afghanistan, so had limited resources. At the time, an Arc-Reactor run by palladium was better than a car battery, which was what he was originally attached to after the surgery in a cave by a non-medical professional without anaesthetic.” Despite JARVIS technically not being human, and hence expected to sound factual and unemotional as he relayed such information, the care and concern he had for his creator was evident in his tone.

Bruce had been aware of the purpose of the reactor, as of course was Natasha – who had relayed this information to Clint, but Steve had had no idea – presuming that the reactor was simply to power the suit, and not really registering that it was actually inside Tony. Hearing a summary of what Tony had gone through caused Steve to take on a slightly grey pallor. He had to swallow and clear his throat before he could ask JARVIS how Tony found a solution.

Steve was focused on JARVIS' response, so missed the flash of guilt that crossed Natasha's face; although Bruce certainly caught it; as did JARVIS, who continued with some relish, hoping that Natasha continued to feel such well-deserved guilt at the reminder of her actions.

“Well Mr Rogers, it transpired that after Mr Howard Stark had passed away, SHIELD had taken it upon themselves to remove some of his belongings from Stark Mansion, and so, after Ms Romanoff injected Sir with an unknown substance without his prior knowledge or consent, Director Fury trapped Sir in his home under SHIELD guard, returning a box of the stolen belongings for Sir to peruse, with a comment that some information that may assist could be found therein. Despite being fully aware that the poisoning was affecting Sir's behaviour and cognitive abilities, he was left with nothing more than a veiled hint to go off, along with Agent Coulson threatening to taze him if he tried to leave.”

Bruce growled at that, taking deep breaths to try to calm himself. Clint had been quiet and somewhat removed from the situation until that point, but had to ask why Bruce had such a visceral reaction to something so minor.

Bruce was immediately back to trying to hold back the Hulk as he responded; “Minor?! Coulson threatened to kill Tony!”

All three of them immediately objected to that, but Bruce cut off such objections forcefully; “The Arc-Reactor is essentially a self sustaining electrical source, constantly working to keep the shrapnel from moving to Tony's heart. If Coulson had tazered Tony, this would have either shorted out the Reactor; resulting in the shrapnel piercing Tony's heart and killing him or have caused an electrical surge which would have electrocuted Tony – to death.”

That shut them all up fast enough. Even Clint, who was closer to Phil than any of the others, could not find anything positive to say, simply muttering “No wonder Stark doesn't trust SHIELD.”

The reminder of the late Agent (as well as the revelation that he was not perfect in the way people oft remembered people once gone) resulted in several moments of silent melancholy, before JARVIS was asked to continue with the explanation.

“Sir took the box down to his workshop and proceeded to discover; well more accurately to rediscover, a new element. The elder Mr Stark had discovered it in theory, but like his son, he was ahead of his time, and did not have the necessary equipment to make his theory reality. Sir however, was not so limited. Whilst dying, he built a particle accelerator and created an element that has since been registered on the Periodic Table as Starkanium – albeit at the time of discovery Sir had wanted to call it Badassium.” That quip managed to raise a smile from them all. “He replaced the palladium core with the Starkanium – of which the clearest descriptor would be a form of man-made vibranium. This provided a permanent power source that requires no replenishing or recharging, and will continue to not only run the reactor, but helped to purge the poison from Sir's body.”

Steve was aware of what had happened at the Expo, and asked “So how long after he found this cure did he have to deal with the Expo?” He expected it to be at least a few days, if not weeks, and felt his jaw drop as JARVIS confirmed “It was the middle of the night when Sir removed his last Palladium core, and the incident at the Expo was that afternoon. So, less than 12 hours.”

There was a few minutes of silence as they registered the sheer depth of the hell Tony had gone through, before JARVIS queried; “So Mr Rogers, do you still have any objections to my comments towards Ms Romanoff?” The reminder of where the conversation that had resulted in this deluge of information had started from resulted in Natasha glaring at the floor whilst Steve rubbed his hand over the back of his neck as he looked somewhat sheepish.

But the reminder caused Bruce to ask another question; “Getting back to that - what report were you talking about JARVIS?”

There was a clearly feigned surprise in JARVIS' tone as he responded; “Oh, has Ms Romanoff not provided you with a copy of this report Dr Banner? She certainly did to both Mr Barton and Mr Rogers, as well as submitting it to Director Fury after she committed corporate espionage in order to obtain the information to draft said report. Would you like me to forward a copy to your email?”

Bruce frowned at Natasha as he confirmed he would appreciate that. “Is there a reason it was provided to the rest of the team, but not to me?” As Bruce did not specifically state who he was speaking to, despite him clearly directing the question to Natasha, JARVIS responded before she could “I can only assume that it was a combination of hoping to manipulate the others into echoing her opinion and hence treatment of Sir, in addition to the fact that with your knowledge and education clearly exceeding hers in respect of psychology, you would clearly see the errors within such a report. And she is aware that you actually do consider and treat Sir as a friend, and that you would likely feel compelled to discuss the matter with him.”

Bruce's frown deepened at JARVIS' comments, as he pulled out his tablet to see the report already waiting for him to start reading. At the same time, Clint's offence at being considered so easy to manipulate was evident on his face, as was the confusion on Steve's.

“Natasha wouldn't manipulate us JARVIS, we're her friends, her Team! She was just providing us with the same information she provided Shield. I am sure Bruce not getting the report was just an oversight.”

If JARVIS could, he would roll his eyes in response to the sheer ignorance of that comment. Clint himself, despite his offence, could barely contain a snort of derision. He knew Natasha better than pretty much anyone, and he was fully aware that not even he would be spared from her manipulations if she deemed it necessary. He just felt that he would know if she was doing it.

Due to Bruce's speed reading, it did not take him long to read through the so called psychological profile. “What the fuck is this Natasha?!” Swearing, or even raising his voice, was incredibly rare for Bruce, and given what happened when he was angry, they all immediately focused their attention on him, watching for the slightest tinge of green. “Seriously?! I mean, do you have any psychological and/or profiling qualifications?! If you do I would throw them out now as they are clearly worthless!”

Steve once again leapt to Natasha's defence, claiming that she obviously had the necessary knowledge and experience to draft the report or Fury would not have asked her to do it. Clint could not refrain from rolling his eyes at that.

“OK, so you are happy to take the word of a man that you already know from the Hellicarrier is keeping things from you, and attempting to manipulate the situation to suit his own agenda. So, did she do your psych profile too? I mean, if this worthless piece of crap is Tony's report, I dread to think what mine says. JARVIS, where are the rest of the Team's profiles? And who did Natasha's?”

“I am unaware of any other members of the Team undergoing an assessment Dr Banner. Only Sir.”

Bruce took a step back from the others, as he could feel his anger surge at that. “What?! So, you're telling me that a man whose mind was messed with by a magic God, and a man who has missed almost 70 years and clearly has PTSD from the war, neither of them underwent a psychological assessment or any form of therapy before being added to the Avengers Roster?!”

Both Clint and Steve piped up to object to that. “I was cleared from Loki by Shield!” Clint barked, whilst at the same time Steve shouted “I'm not crazy!”

“No-one said that you were crazy Steve. But PTSD is a medical condition that requires treatment, and you've got that to deal with on top of waking up completely alone in a different century, where pretty much everything has changed. Of course you need help with getting acclimated to your new situation.”

Steve seemed to be struggling with that information; it sounded perfectly reasonable, and of course he trusted Bruce to know better than him about current medical issues, but at the same time, he was a product of his era, and even the mention of the potential for him having a mental health issue made him shudder inwardly at the thought of strait-jackets and electro-shock treatments. But he swallowed that back and asked for clarification; “What do you mean; getting acclimated? And who says I have PTSD anyway?!”

“Steve, calm down. I don't think any of the Avengers apart from possibly Thor, have never had any issues with PTSD. I certainly have and I know for a fact that Tony does too. The Hell Clint was put through by Loki must have caused some trauma that would likely be placed in the PTSD region, and I am too afraid to even consider Natasha for fear she would gut me, but I am certain she's had some traumatic experiences in her life. But you, you went through a body transformation, went to war, lost friends, lost your best friend, then went plummeting to what you thought was your death in an attempt to save the world from Hydra, only to wake up entirely alone almost 70 years in the future. The entire world had changed, and you were alone. The thought of that alone is heartbreaking, but to live through it, I am sure I cannot even begin to imagine what you went through. And upon waking up, you should have been assessed by a medical professional – not just to ensure you were physically healthy, but mentally healthy too. You needed to have someone go through key historical, cultural and medical developments to help you come to terms with and acclimatise to your new world. But instead, you were thrown into another battle, this time with aliens, and monsters and assassins and a man in a metal suit. I am quite frankly appalled at the lack of guidance you have had, and am concerned that without such guidance you will have some serious issues in due course.”

Steve sunk back into his seat and put his head in his hands. Clint plonked himself down next to Steve and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “Yikes Doc, I get where you're coming from but that was a lot to throw out in one go.”

Bruce sighed heavily, “Maybe, but it was clearly necessary Clint. Steve, I am not a medical Doctor, but I certainly have more knowledge in psychology than Natasha, and as a victim of PTSD myself – as well as dealing with friends who have PTSD – like Tony, I can identify the signs. And as you are my team-mates, I feel it my obligation to say my piece. You have been manipulated and mislead after being unmade – be it by an alien or by being frozen in time. You deserve to be fully informed, to receive the care and treatment you need in order to have the freedom to make informed decisions moving forward.”

Clint and Steve listened, and registered Bruce's words. As did Natasha. The men had forgotten that she was still present; which given the disdain she had heard in Bruce's words about her report and consequently her actions, she was glad about. But Bruce's words made her stop and consider what he said. Clint was the closest thing she had to family, and yet she had not ensured he was okay after what happened with Loki; rather, she just wanted to pretend he was fine. In fact, she found him more malleable after what happened, and focused on that as a positive, rather than even considering the possibility that Clint could still be suffering, could be anything other than 100% himself. She felt ashamed of herself, and it made her think; if she missed something that with hindsight is so obvious about her closest and dearest friend, is it possible that she could have been wrong about her assessment of Tony?

JARVIS was impressed with Bruce; he seemed to have actually got the other Avengers to think. Although this was maybe not the path he had intended, he could work with it. He let them all sit and stew in their thoughts for a good 10 minutes before he spoke up again; “I believe you all have much to think about. In light of the Protocol Sir enacted, you will be having a meeting at 10am tomorrow with Miss Potts, and possibly Colonel Rhodes. I suggest that you all have a serious think about your actions and treatment of Sir to date, and whether you would deem such behaviour reasonable if it was aimed at you, or your partner, or your child. I have ordered your preferred meals to your rooms. They should arrive within the next half hour. In light of this Protocol, I will no longer be accessible to you unless Sir or one of his Proxy's orders otherwise. Good Luck.”

Chapter Text

Pepper and Rhodey receive an email from JARVIS, with the subject title 'Operation Had Enough' has been enacted. Pepper calls Rhodey immediately, and they agree to open the email together. The body of the email is simply JARVIS reiterating that the protocol had been enacted, and that in light of the same he had booked a conference room for a meeting with the Avengers at 10am. However, there were also 2 attachments to the email; a video entitled 'reason', and a word document entitled 'transcript aftermath'.

They ended up watching the video numerous times, as it took a while for them to get past their anger at Steve's actions before they were really able to enjoy the sight of Tony punching Steve like he so truly deserved! By about the sixth watch, they were both chuckling, and Rhodey was beaming with pride. 'Go Tony!'

They agreed that they would read through the transcript separately, and use the information they gather from it to ponder over the plan for the meeting tomorrow; which they would discuss over breakfast before the meeting. By the end of the call they had calmed down, and were resolute in their determination to protect Tony, and to ensure that the Avengers grasped the magnitude of their actions, and hopefully, see the error of their ways and the need to apologise to Tony.

Meanwhile, each of the Avengers had returned to their respective living spaces.

Bruce was quite proud of himself for standing up for Tony, and managing not to Hulk out despite how angry he had felt at the other Avengers on his friend's behalf. But as he ate the curry JARVIS had provided, he started to think over all the interactions he had witnessed between Tony and the Avengers, and even his own behaviour towards Tony – particularly when they were all together as a group. He was ashamed as he recollected numerous occasions when the others (Clint and Steve in the main, but Natasha too on numerous occasions) had made derogatory comments to or about Tony and Bruce had said nothing in his defence. Times when they had moaned about Tony being 'too good' to hang around with them, or commented that he was self-absorbed, that he had no friends accept those he bought.... And then there was the 'playful' teasing. Clint in particular tended to pass comment on Tony's playboy status; Bruce could recall more than one occasion of Clint commenting about Tony whoring himself out for any kind of affection. But the instances that Bruce kept flashing back to where all the times the Team; himself included, had passed comment on Tony's height. For all Bruce really had meant it in a friendly teasing manner, clearly this was not a sentiment shared by all of the Team. And looking back, he could see that it was a trigger for Tony; as he would always leave as soon as possible, and would likely lock himself in the lab for at least a day.

In addition to his shame at his actions (and inaction) and his own anger at how the rest of the team had acted, he could feel Hulk's anger – he was shouting at Bruce for daring to hurt his 'Tin-Man'. Bruce knew that if he let Hulk out he'd end up doing serious damage; not just to the Tower, but likely the Team too. And for all a small part of him felt the team deserved it, he acknowledged that it was not fair that they be beat up by the Hulk when he cannot be; and more importantly, Tony should not have to suffer even more due to property damage caused by Hulk's anger.

Bruce decided it was better safe than sorry, so after thanking JARVIS for his meal (and receiving no response), he decided that he would spend the night in his Hulk Room and try to meditate and calm both him and the Hulk down to prepare for the meeting in the morning, and brace them both to face the wrath of Pepper Potts.

Chapter Text

Uncharacteristically for him, upon returning to his floors, Steve had headed straight for his laptop. He needed answers, and as he could not ask JARVIS, he would have to resort to the far more common and impersonal way to gather information; Google. Sitting there with his slow two-finger pecking on the keyboard, the first question he asked was 'am I a bully?' He was lead to an article on newsweek.com listing signs of bullying according to a psychologist. He decided to go through the list, specifically thinking about the way he acted towards Tony:

• Repeatedly upset him; which you would notice by him getting angry or complaining about your behaviour. Right from their very first meeting, Steve could recall a multitude of occasions where Tony had got angry with him. He was aware that Tony had an aversion to 'feelings', and that Tony was far too proud to complain about how he treated him. But Steve noted that although him and Tony still argued, outside of work related arguments during debriefs (which were mainly Tony trying to defend himself when he gets blamed for whatever may have gone wrong, or for disobeying an order), Tony had gone out of his way to avoid any lengthy interactions with the team.

• Lacking any empathy towards him; with hindsight, other than when Tony went through the wormhole, Steve could not recollect a single occasion that he had expressed any degree of concern for Tony; which he himself found most concerning, as he had always considered himself to be a kind and empathetic person. He considered himself a gentlemen; who held open doors and always said please and thank you. Who would smile kindly when he was served a drink or a meal, and always tip well. He would learn people's names and ask about their day. But when he thought back, he could rarely remember a time he actually called Tony Tony, rather than 'Stark'. He could not recall a single occasion when he had sincerely thanked Tony for anything he had provided him; his suit, his home, his clothes, all the tech he had, the purpose-built gym equipment and the abundance of funds he had been give access to.

• Getting aggressive by openly shouting, threatening or humiliating Tony in front of others. He knew he did this in practically every debrief. He always seemed to have a negative comment to make about Tony's actions in the field, and always voiced this in front of the rest of the team. Rather than taking Tony aside or having a private meeting with him, he would shout at him and blame him in front of everyone.

• Making himself feel better by evoking discomfort or insecurity in a colleague. Now this one was clearly what he did every time he commented about Tony's height. Steve could clearly remember being made to feel small and insignificant, like he was less of a man due to being of smaller stature. Even friendly teasing from Bucky had hurt at times. So he could only imagine how it felt for Tony; to get it not only from the press and complete strangers, but from the people he lived and worked with, people he had hoped to call friends?

• Spreading malicious rumours. He wasn't sure if he could say that he had done this specifically, but he had tended to believe everything negative he read about Tony in the press, and he could recall several occasions of talking about Tony with Clint and/or Natasha and them all having their opinions (none of which were positive) about the man. With hindsight, he used the information about Tony he got from the SHIELD spies to bolster his own negative opinion of the man, to the point where he never registered anything positive.

• Misusing your power or position; such as deliberately and persistently ignoring or excluding someone. He felt heavy with shame as he acknowledged that he had most certainly done this. They often went out for Team meals or had movie nights without inviting Tony; despite being in Tony's home! Even in his own thoughts, his knee-jerk response was to tell himself that 'Tony wouldn't come anyway', but he knew that was not the case. Tony had initially attended every team session mentioned, but quickly started to come up with excuses to arrive late or leave early or just not come at all - because he was clearly not welcome. They would tell Tony to shut up if he made any quips about the movie, and Steve could recall several occasions when they talked amongst themselves and completely ignored any comments Tony made to try to insert himself into the conversation.

Ashamed was an insufficient term for how he felt as he thought about his actions in conjunction with this list. He had not acted like the Leader, or even the 'good man' he posited himself to be.

He could feel himself getting choked up, but swallowed back the tears; feeling that he did not deserve to cry; these were tears of guilt and shame for his own actions. If Tony was not able to feel safe enough in his own home to show his upset at the treatment of his teammates, Steve most certainly does not have the right to cry over his own appalling behaviour.

He took some time away from the computer to eat the shepherds pie JARVIS had ordered for him; but found himself unable to eat it all, as it reminded him of his mother, who he felt he had dishonoured by acting in a way so opposing of the man she had hoped he would become.

When he returned to the laptop, it was whilst pondering about a term Bruce had used towards Natasha that he had not understood. Having been led to a site called verywellmind.com in response to him asking the question 'What is 'gaslighting'?' upon accessing the site he saw a list of things someone does when they are gaslighting another person:

• lying to you

• discrediting you

• deflecting blame

• minimizing your thoughts and feelings

• shifting blame

• deny wrongdoing

• using compassionate words as weapons

• twisting and reframing conversations

Steve was actually quite concerned by how aptly this fit Natasha's behaviour. Although he understood that she had of course been damaged by the Red Room, and could understand why she might need to act in this sort of way whilst on a mission, the fact that she continued even at home, amongst her Team, was worrying. But at the same time, the behaviours were predominantly aimed towards Tony, and he had to admit that he was culpable of some of them towards Tony also; although he would not say he had been deliberately trying to 'gaslight' Tony (as Steve had never heard of the term before that day), he knew he had done several of the things on that list to Tony.

As he retired to bed, it was with a heavy heart, certain that he would not sleep well due to the weight of the guilt on his mind. He was dreading the meeting tomorrow, but knew that he would have to use it to admit his faults and confirm that he would be granting Tony a well-deserved apology when he returned.

Chapter Text

Natasha was not happy with the current situation. At all. Although JARVIS had not explicitly debarred them from leaving the Tower, JARVIS himself being pulled away severely restricted their ability to traverse the building. And without access to JARVIS, there was no entity for her to attempt to hack – meaning that she was not able to access any of Tony's systems, so could not find out where he was or what he was doing. In her opinion, this was a bad thing – part of her job was keeping an eye on Tony; not only to ensure SHIELD was fully abreast of what he was developing (mainly to assist them in procuring it for themselves if it would be of use to them), but also to ensure that Tony doesn't go too far. So with Tony out of her reach, she was concerned about her consequential inability to keep her superiors informed about what he was doing.

Immediately upon reaching her floor, she went to her laptop and emailed Director Fury (cc'ing Maria Hill into the email) to notify him of the current situation. She was aware that SHIELD had several monetary funnels from SI that were not legitimately acquired (she had set up a few herself), so thought it best to ensure Fury was aware as soon as possible so that he had the opportunity to either shore up the security on those funnels so that they remained undetected, or to empty the accounts.

She was focusing on the minutiae of reporting to her superior, to try to avoid thinking about what Bruce had said about her report; and what JARVIS had said about her ego. But after sending the email, she could not stop thinking about it.

JARVIS said that she was the one with the ego, not Tony. But Tony's ego was the basis of her assessment. She had spent considerable time undercover at SI to draft the report, as well as reviewing articles and footage of Tony over the years. The idea that she had been wrong in how she had treated Tony, and/or that she had been incorrect in her assessment of him, was unfathomable to her. But she could not disregard Bruce's comments, as she had to concede that he was more knowledgeable than her when it came to medical issues – including psychology. But after she thought that, it registered with her; she was prepared to accept that Bruce knew better than her, but would previously have never even considered that Tony would (or that JARVIS would, as he was a product of Tony's creation). Tony was a literal genius, but Natasha's knee jerk reaction was to disregard this fact.

Her main asset was her ability to manipulate undetected, and JARVIS had exposed her to the rest of the Team. Clint may have thought he was aware of her abilities, but even he had not been immune; she had manipulated him from the beginning – into considering that she was redeemable and worth saving.

Over the remainder of her evening, she sharpened her knives and repeatedly checked her email for a response, to no avail (of course, she did not know that JARVIS had in fact stopped the email from going out – he was not about to have SHIELD attempting to storm the tower – so to speak).

When she went to bed, she was unable to sleep; unable to switch of her thoughts regarding Tony, and questioning whether she had got it wrong, whether she was not in fact as good as she thought.

Before, there was one person that she might have considered going to with such a quandary. Even after he died, she could not bring herself to remove his number from her cellphone. So, despite it being around 2am at this point, she tapped out a text to a dead man, asking; Did I get Tony wrong? Is my report REALLY so off? Feeling better for having asked the question, she lay back down and was almost asleep when her text alert sounded.

Of COURSE your report isn't accurate Romanoff; it was meant to MANIPULATE Stark, not provide an ACCURATE report! If I'd wanted that, I would have asked an ACTUAL psychologist, or at least a qualified profiler! Don't ask stupid questions.

She sat there shaking for several minutes as she stared at the response she had received from the number of the late Phil Coulson. She felt ashamed that it took her several minutes to realise that of course Fury had got the number diverted – likely to him directly based on the tenor of the response.

For all her feelings about Tony, she had always liked and respected Pepper, and had wondered numerous times what such a competent woman could see in Tony. But previously, she had failed to take into account that someone like Pepper would not care about someone who didn't deserve her attention – so clearly Natasha was the one with the wrong perception of Tony.

She sighed. She was actually going to have to apologise; and sincerely too. She was wrong, and her being wrong had affected the way Steve and Clint treated Tony, as well as her. She was not looking forward to the meeting, and the deserved dressing down she was going to get from Pepper. But she knew she had to take it with her usual stoic reserve, as she fully deserved it.

Chapter Text

Clint stormed off to his room, still feeling achy from being tazed by JARVIS. He did not deal well with guilt; he preferred anger. He wanted to blame Tony for everything; he stormed out like a baby after punching Cap for just a bit of teasing! But at the same time, he could not ignore that both JARVIS and Bruce had made some valid points.

Natasha had never told Clint about how Tony had been actually dying whilst she was working for him, or that the symptoms of the palladium poisoning were factors as to why he acted the way he did whilst she was assessing him – she just gave him a copy of her report and basically told him Tony was a spoilt dick who tried to buy people's friendship.

And he knew deep down that Bruce was right; both him and Steve should have been assessed and cleared by a psychologist, and had some counselling before returning to the field. All Clint had had was an assessment from a SHIELD shrink, and over the years he had become a pro at passing those kinds of assessments. SHIELD didn't really make sure he was fit for the field, they just wanted him back out ASAP.

Clint was also aware of the fact that SHIELD didn't really care about how the rest of his colleagues treated him upon his return; he killed SHIELD staff whilst under Loki's mind control; of course his colleagues were not comfortable around him, some were angry and some were outright cruel. Tony had been the one to help him out of that toxic environment, not anyone at SHIELD. And Clint was aware that he had never expressed any sort of gratitude to Tony for that, or for anything actually. Not for providing him with luxury rent free accommodation, food, clothes; even upgrades to his bow, arrows and protective gear!

Clint acknowledged that he was not a thinker, he was a doer – he was good with instructions, he could improvise on the fly, but he wasn't one for thinking for himself. So he knew, as he was stuck in his room and basically told to 'think about what he had done' like a child, that the best person for him to talk to, to tell him what he needed to do...was his wife.

JARVIS may have stopped Natasha's attempts to contact SHIELD, but he was not going to stop Clint calling his wife; both because it would be the fastest way to make Clint explode, but also because based on his knowledge of Laura Barton, JARVIS considered she would be the person best equipped to talk some sense into the archer.

Clint ate the meal left for him (trying to force himself to ignore that it was his favourite meal from his favourite Chinese place) before calling; noting that the kids would be in bed, so him and Laura would have more time to talk. They went through the usual initial checks, Laura assuring him that both her and the kids were OK. But when she would usually go into more detail, start relaying anecdotes about the children, she just stated bluntly; “Clint. Just tell me what's happened, and I'll tell you where you went wrong and how to fix it.”

“.... and then JARVIS sent us all to our rooms to 'think about what we've done'! We've all got a meeting with Pepper tomorrow due to some Protocol Tony actioned before he stormed off,” Clint finished.

Laura sighed deeply. “Clint, to be frank, I've always thought that you were abit of dick to Tony.” Clint let out an offended squawk, but she continued regardless. “Seriously, after what happened with Loki he gave you a safe place to stay; not only that, he let you into his home; actually he built an entire floor especially designed for you! He pays for your room and board, your meals, provides your weapons – in fact he kits out the entire team, even the quinjet! He does that even though he's not an Avenger, he's just a consultant. And I have never heard you express any kind of gratitude for all of that; in fact I don't think I've ever heard you say a single positive thing about him.”

She let him stew in guilty silence for a few minutes before continuing; “Let me put it this way, if one of our children was treating and speaking about one of their classmates the way you treat and talk about Tony, I would not stand for it. So I need you to have a good hard think about how you've treated Tony. He deserves an apology for your dickish behaviour, and he deserves your thanks for everything he has done for you. Tell JARVIS that I want proof that you've done this before I am prepared to talk to you again – in fact, I'd like Pepper to call me.”

JARVIS cut into the call to assure that he would relay her request to Miss Potts.

Clint sat there in shock as she concluded with “And Clint? Until I have proof, I don't want you around the kids. So don't come home until you've spoken to Tony.”

Laura hung up once she had said her piece, not giving Clint a chance to respond. He tried to call her back once he came out of his shock, but she must have declined the call, as he went straight to voicemail. He didn't bother to leave a message – knowing that there was nothing that he could say – and, that Laura wouldn't listen to it anyway.

He felt his anger swell, wanting to blame Tony for Laura's actions, but the anger was quickly drowned out by guilt; knowing that his current position was his own fault. He sat there at the end of his bed with his head in his hands, trying to work out what he was going to say at the meeting tomorrow.

Chapter Text

Pepper and Rhodey met in the conference room an hour before the meeting is due to finalise their plans over breakfast.

JARVIS provided them with highlights of what the Avengers had done (or in Natasha's case, tried to do) with their opportunity to 'think about what they had done'.

Bruce's response, to go to the Hulk Room, surprised no-one. They agreed that based on what Bruce had said to the other Avengers, they expected him to be supportive. However, they were prepared to acknowledge what Tony would not; that Bruce was a fair-weather friend – who they were not expecting to remain to actually support Tony and back him up any further than what he had already said. Bruce's fear of The Hulk was bigger than any friendship he may feel for Tony. But what he had said the day before had them agreeing to give him a chance. If he apologised and showed true remorse for his action (and inaction) towards Tony, then they would have no issue with him; and they remained hopeful that he might be extra support during this meeting.

Steve's reaction really did shock them. They were aware that the internet; tech in general, was not something Steve felt comfortable with. So the fact that he went to the internet for help – and it was about the way he had treated Tony!? They could see that what had happened the day before had actually managed to register with Steve, to make him think about what he had done, and to consider the possibility that he might be wrong. However, this did not forgive or otherwise absolve him for his previous behaviour. Tony should not be subjected to such treatment in his own home, and a blasé apology and excuse of 'I didn't know/understand' would not be enough. Their hope was that he would acknowledge his failings, and be prepared to both admit to the same and to admit that he needed help. If that was the case, they would consider not completely writing him off. Anything less.....

They both thoroughly enjoyed watching/listening to the well-deserved dressing down Clint got from his wife, and Pepper was looking forward to speaking with the formidable woman. They were hoping that the conversation may have actually gotten through to Clint, but ultimately felt that he had still been a total dick to Tony; without Cap's excuse of ignorance due to being misinformed and misplaced in time. However, they were prepared to consider the possibility that Clint could have been misinformed by SHIELD and/or Natasha about Tony's personality (as Steve clearly had been), and this coupled with the fact that SHIELD failed to actually get him treatment after what happened with Loki could have affected him could be factors to be taken into account when considering his behaviour. Still, that was not sufficient to make up for how much of a dick he was towards Tony; OR for actively stealing from him. They were prepared to listen, but considered it highly unlikely that he would actually apologise for what he had said and done; and that it was more likely that he would either make some bullshit excuse and/or make some snide remarks about Tony being able to afford it. Even wife's cannot perform miracles after all. Rhodey was looking forward to Clint's reaction to Pepper revealing that they knew all about his thievery – and his kids.

Natasha though, they all agreed. She was done. She had infiltrated the company, injected Tony with an unknown substance without his knowledge and consent, written an unsubstantiated offensive and hurtful report about him with insufficient knowledge, experience of qualifications to back up her conclusions, then proceeded to manipulate the others into assisting her with her gaslighting of the man feeding and clothing her. And in response to being pulled up on her terrible actions, she just tried to manipulate the situation further by getting SHIELD involved. She had tried to pull the wool over their eyes one time too many. She would leave, before they squished her like her namesake deserves.

JARVIS had collated all of the necessary evidence to bury Steve, Clint and Natasha for the way they had treated Tony; as well as having the legal documents all ready if needbe – in respect of both Natasha and SHIELD, but also the potential criminal charges that could be brought against Clint. What action would be taken would depend entirely on what they all chose to say.

The Colonel, CEO and AI felt no guilt at looking forward to the schadenfreude of it all.

**************

The Avengers met up on the communal floor in the time before their appointed meeting time with Pepper, but made no attempts to speak to each other; all more focused inward, and all equally dreading what was to come.

The disembodied voice of JARVIS that they had not heard since their dismissal the evening before announced that it was time for the meeting and confirmed that the elevator would take them to the 50^th floor, and that the meeting would take place in Conference Room B. None of them looked like they had slept well; even Natasha, who was as perfectly poised and blank-faced as always, had a slight slump to her stature that could be easily brushed of as tiredness, but that was in fact due to her confidence having taken a well-deserved knock. Similarly, the men had also tossed and turned with different concerns; Steve and his concerns about having potentially acted in a way outside of the 'good man' he so wanted to be, Clint and his concern for his family and Bruce, his guilt – a constant since the creation of the Hulk, but feeling all the heavier now because it was him, not Hulk, who had acted wrongly. He had spent most of the night being told of by 'The Other Guy', and being reminded of the many ways in which Tony had helped him, and had clearly been both a better friend than he clearly deserved, and just an all-round better human being.

As the elevator dinged and the doors opened on the relevant floor, upon JARVIS confirming which direction they were to go in, they all just looked at each other for a moment before Steve gestured to Natasha in his usual 'ladies first' manner, allowing her to exit first before following her down the corridor, with the other man not a step behind. They all stopped at the door of the meeting room, exchanging glances again as they felt a heavy sense of foreboding come over them.

Steve took a deep breath, straightening up and pulling his shoulders back. He was the Team Leader, and he would act accordingly. Stepping forward, he rapped on the door sharply 3 times, before turning the handle, and stepping into the room, the others following obediently behind.

Chapter Text

They were greeted by the sight of Pepper in her CEO finest, face cold and unscrutable. Rhodey was sat beside her in full uniform, clearly attempting to be equally stoic, but his disdain and anger at them was nonetheless evident. Pepper gestured to the seats on the opposite side of the table, and they sat down silently; the room quiet enough that the fact that the door was electronically locked behind them was heard by all.

“Well, your actions towards Tony are why you are here, and these actions need to be addressed. However, before we do so, we consider it would be prudent to explain how 'Operation Had Enough' came into existence.” Pepper declared. Between her and Rhodey, they spent the next 20 minutes summarising how they had found out about their mistreatment of their best friend; and how it had taken Tony a few weeks away from them, and the shock at being treated with respect and decency to realise that he was in receipt of the total opposite in his own home. They explained that due to their actions, the billionaire felt uncomfortable and at times even unsafe. They went over the conversation that they had had with Tony, and how he had continued to try to defend them, blaming himself, and cover for them by not revealing their worst transgressions. They confirmed that they were in fact aware and had physical evidence of such behaviour, thanks to JARVIS.

They confirmed that it was in light of these revelations that they had to sit their friend down and explain to him that such behaviour was deplorable and that he did not have to put up with it; that it was far from unreasonable to expect basic human decency, civility and respect from the people that he had invited into his home, and was supporting entirely without question, and without any expectations. They expressed their dismay at having to confirm to Tony that it was not unreasonable to expect them to be gracious and pleased with what he had so generously provided, and that their failure to have the common courtesy to thank him was a deficit on their part, not his.

Rhodey then looked at each of them in turn, his disdain evident. “As JARVIS mentioned yesterday, Tony has spent his adult life being belittled for his height; a facet of him he is unable to change; no more than I could change being a Black man. He was made to feel that he was less of a person due to his smaller stature; and in part, this impacted his media persona – if he is the loudest, most charismatic person in the room, it would be more difficult to consider him lesser. And as JARVIS said yesterday Rogers, you more than most, should have been able to recall and empathise with that; as you were treated similarly pre-serum. But instead, you all continued the bullying Tony is already subjected to by the media, villains, and any and all business rivals who think they will feel better by making Tony feel smaller. And you did this to him in his own home! And you did this repeatedly. So, is it really a surprise that talking down to Tony and making a crack about his height after he had been up all night dealing with your post-battle demands – noting that none of you asked if he was okay post-battle or made enquiries about the damage to his suit and consequently whether he had the time to adhere to your ludicrous demand of everything being sorted by the next day, was the straw the broke the camels back?! Seriously?!”

Clint crossed his arms, a mulishly stubborn expression on his face, and Natasha remained blank-faced, but Bruce and Steve were clearly guilt-ridden. Steve looked down in shame, having to clear his throat before he responded “You are entirely right Colonel. I do remember how it felt to be deemed weaker and lesser because I was smaller than all the other guys, and how much that affected me. Remembering this, I am ashamed at how I have treated Tony, and consequently allowed my Team to act. I am the Team Leader, I should have set a good example to follow and should have taken action when I saw a teammate being mistreated. But, because it was Tony, it didn't even register. And I agree that that was wrong.”

Natasha and Clint were unable to hide their surprise at their Leader's comments, but Bruce was nodding along in agreement. “I agree with Steve. I was also subjected to ridicule when I was younger for my height, and looking back on the times I witnessed the team ridiculing Tony and did nothing, or occasionally joined in, fills me with shame – and angers The Other Guy.” Bruce added, his eyes flashing green for a moment at the mention of the Hulk.

Pepper nodded at them both, before focusing on them all as a whole. “I am glad to hear that some of you are prepared to admit you were wrong, and seem prepared to change. However, especially given that this does not seem to be an opinion shared by everyone, before we go onto the consequences of 'Operation Had Enough' having been enacted, we need to ensure that everyone is aware of Tony's history, as it appears that either people have been misinformed, and/or they have not bothered to do any research or actually ask Tony anything about his life to clarify why he acts the way he does. Before we go into this I will remind you that you all signed NDA's when you first moved in, so this information about Tony is to remain private; meaning that it is not to be relayed to SHIELD as further ammunition to attempt to manipulate Tony, do you understand Miss Romanoff?” Under the forceful and unforgiving glares from both Pepper and Rhodey, the unflappable Black Widow could feel a shiver of unease wash over her as she nodded once, not meeting anyone's eye.

They went on to summarise Tony's childhood – neglected by parents who never spent time with him; no cuddles or day trips or family vacations. The family and friendship and support he found in Edwin and Ana Jarvis – the parents of his heart. How Howard only paid attention to Tony when he created something that Howard could use as media publicity (pushing Tony into the spotlight from the age of 4)– and how Howard quickly grew envious of Tony as he realised his intelligence was far above Howard's own. How Tony grew up being told by his father that he was not good enough, that he would never be as good as Captain America. How Howard used to lash out at Tony when he was drunk – be it for his envy of Tony's genius, or for his unfettered belief that Tony would never be as good as the amazing Captain America. How Howard used to demand Tony take anything he handed to him; regardless as to whether it was burning hot, freezing cold, sharp etc – the causative factor of Tony's issue with people handling him things. How Howard gave him his first glass of Scotch at the age of 8, telling him it was what 'real men' drank. How Tony was not allowed to play, or express any extreme emotion, as 'Stark Men are Made of Iron'. How Tony was not allowed to return home from school for either of the Jarvis' funerals. How Tony went off the rails after his parents death with no real parental figure in his life beyond Obadiah Stane – who took advantage of Tony's grief to get a stronger foothold into SI, then gaslighted and manipulated Tony into going even further off the rails, into more drink and heavier drugs and destroying Tony's public reputation in doing so.

Then, they talked about Afghanistan. How Tony had been manipulated by Obadiah into making the Jericho in the first place, then talked into going to the presentation – which they now know was because Obadiah had arranged for his kidnapping. How Tony was almost fatally injured by one of his own (stolen) bombs going off and throwing shrapnel into his chest. How the terrorists operated on him without anaesthetic (or his consent) to remove what shrapnel they could, then attached him to a car battery. How he was tortured when he refused to make weapons; not only beatings, and whippings, but water-boarding – all the more terrifying when he was still attached to a car battery. How Tony managed to use his genius to escape – creating a rudimentary Arc Reactor to allow him to stop having to rely on a car battery, and then make Mark 1 of the Iron Man suit out of scraps in a cave. How guilty Tony still feels that the man who helped him in that cave died in doing so. How Tony found out that is was Obadiah that had been double-dealing and selling Stark Weapons to terrorists – when Stane came to Tony's home and used an item Tony had invented to paralyse him before pulling out the Arc Reactor and leaving him to die. How it was due to DUM-E's devotion and Pepper's sentimentality that Tony was able to once again avoid dying and save Pepper, Coulson and the city of Malibu from Stane in a bastardised version of the Iron Man suit.

They then went on to explain why they have such an issue with SHIELD – that Fury broke into Tony's home that night – after Tony had nearly died there once already, and then again fighting Stane, just to threaten him. And then he sent Natasha to infiltrate SI and 'keep an eye' on Tony, to write her ridiculous profile – despite not having the qualifications or experience to do so – and despite already having cemented her opinion of Tony as nothing more than a rich playboy that she would easily be able to manipulate due to her appearance. How SHIELD were fully aware of the fact that Tony was dying of palladium poisoning from the Arc Reactor and that they had information that could delay his deterioration – as well as research of Howard's (that they stole whilst Tony was grieving his parents deaths) which could help him find a cure, and deliberately withheld it from him. How Natasha failed to take into account that such poisoning causes both neurological and behavioural changes – meaning that any assessment undertaken whilst Tony was poisoned was not a true or accurate reflection of his actual self, even if it had been prepared by someone qualified to do so! How Natasha injected him with Lithium without his prior knowledge or consent because it would delay the poisoning for a short while whilst he looked at the stolen research that they returned so he could save his own life – by yet again breaking into Tony's home, keeping Tony prisoner in his own home, and Coulson threatening to taze him.

They decided to stop there, both taking a drink of water; both due to the amount that they had been talking, and to try and calm down the anger that had built up as they went over all of the horrors their best friend had endured. The four Avengers in front of them had all paled – even Natasha, who was already aware of most if not all of this; although her reaction was most likely due to the fact that the story did not portray her in the best light, rather than any concern for Tony.

Bruce however, although clearly paled, had a greenish tinge, and it was clear that Hulk was most upset by how his Tin Man had been treated. JARVIS suggested a brief break for them all to get a drink, and JARVIS suggested that Bruce go and stand out on a balcony for a few minutes and JARVIS would provide Bruce with his preferred meditation music, to which he quickly agreed and scuttled out without looking at anyone else.

Pepper glanced over at the other three and nodded towards the kitchenette in the corner; “Help yourselves to tea, coffee, water, and there are some baked goods in that box there. Jim and I will step out for a few minutes, and then we will resume.” JARVIS opened the door for them as they marched out, and swiftly locked it behind them before anyone else could even consider attempting to leave.

Chapter Text

Natasha went straight to the kitchenette and started to prepare drinks, not wanting to be within arms reach of either man after everything they had heard.

Steve sat there with his head in his hands, overwhelmed at both the sheer amount of information he had just been given and how said information hit him smack in the face with how wrong he had been about Tony. The footage he had been provided by SHIELD was clearly hand-picked to give him the worst possible impression of Tony, and knowing what he does now provides context for a lot of the footage which negates the negative aspects that he had been 'warned' about. He was ashamed of and angry at himself for being so gullible as to take the word of a secret government agency rather than actually coming to his own conclusions about Tony.

By comparison, Clint was glaring at the table, silently fuming at Natasha. Everything negative he knew about Tony was relayed to him from Natasha, and now, he knew this was all untrue; a completely inaccurate assessment by a narrow-minded egotistical manipulative selfish woman he had called his SHIELD partner for so long. He had always known that Fury often gave her additional tasks when they were on missions, and that he was not always privy to the same information as her. It was one thing on a mission, but when it concerned the people they worked with, they lived with; he honestly thought that she wouldn't manipulate him at least. He remembered how only the day before he had been so sure that he was the exception, that he would know if Natasha tried to manipulate him. But here was proof that he was wrong.

Natasha set a drink in front of each of them before sitting down at the other side of the table with her own. She knew she had to strike before either of the man could begin to lay into her for failing to accurately inform them of all the salient facts about Tony.

“Before either of you start, think for a minute about how much truth there is to what we were told. I mean, Tony never told any of us any of this, and they've provided no proof to support what they've said. So what's to say this is not just Tony spinning things to show him in the best light, and his two closest friends just swallowing whatever story he tells them?” That comment made both men start, before looking at her in consideration.

“Tony has been in the public eye his entire life; if he was being abused by his father, don't you think someone would have noticed?!” As both men had suffered at the hands of their father's, the idea that someone would make that up in a plea for sympathy angered them, and their expressions darkened to reflect this.

“And in respect of Afghanistan, Tony has never gone on record providing any detailed account as to what happened. It cannot be disputed that the arc reactor was installed whilst he was there, and given that he was in a cave, the part about the surgery without anaesthetic is probably true, but the torture, the water boarding....where's the evidence? He didn't go to the hospital when he returned to the US, so there are no chest x-rays or any other investigations that could prove he was waterboarded, or any records of any evidence of whipping or any other torture. And if he had undergone such torture, as a civilian he would have most certainly have suffered from PTSD; but he never sought medical assistance for this either. No evidence to support this story makes me wonder how much truth is in it.”

She can clearly see in the expressions of the men sitting before her that despite Steve's earlier comments, she was quickly turning them to her side in respect of her assessment of Tony. So the final nail in the coffin - “And Stane? Tony killed him, and with his death there went any chance to actually prove he did what Tony alleges. What's to say it wasn't Tony double-dealing, and Stane died trying to prove that. SHIELD provided Tony with a cover story in respect of both Stane's death and Iron Man. If Stane really was the bad guy, why did Tony allow them to bury that story? I mean, he was fast enough to tell the world he was Iron Man, so why not tell them about Stane too?”

The men agreed, and within moments the three of them were back to their usual mutual murmurings about the terror that was Tony Stark. They were talking amongst each other about how manipulative Tony was, telling such terrible unfounded lies to his friends and having them parrot it back to them; like they were going to fall for that!

Unfortunately for them, this is what Bruce walked back into, and all his balcony meditation quickly became moot, as hearing them return to their usual practice of calling Tony everything under the sun and blaming him for everything brought all that anger back to the forefront. He slammed the balcony door in anger; fortunate that the Hulk was not so close to the surface as to cause damage, but enough to immediately get the attention of the other three in the room – who all froze as they noted the green pallor to Bruce's skin.

“Are you guys fucking serious right now?! After everything that happened yesterday and what we have been told today, you still have the gall to talk about Tony like that?!”

Pepper and Rhodey came in half-way through his sentence, both equally curious, but one look at Bruce and it was clear calming him down would have to take priority.

“Dr Banner, if you would prefer, we are happy to speak with you separately.” Pepper stated, her focus entirely on Bruce, who nodded and agreed immediately. “OK, if you would go with Jim into the conference room next door, I will follow in a moment.”

Bruce nodded at Pepper and walked over to Rhodey. Before they walked about, he glared at the others before turning to Pepper and stating “You need to hear what they were saying about Tony before you speak with them further, but JARVIS will have to fill you in, as Hulk won't stay hidden if I try to tell you.”

The three of them froze at the reminder that their discussion would have been recorded, but before any of them could even try to raise any objections, Pepper responded “Thank you Dr Banner. JARVIS, if you would pull the footage ready for Jim and I to view once we have spoken with Dr Banner, that would be much appreciated.” JARVIS confirmed he would do so, and she then turned her steely gaze to the people before her.

Natasha opened her mouth; clearly to try and spin some more lies, but before she could start, Pepper spoke again, confirming that they should not be long with Dr Banner but that it would depend on how long it takes him to calm down from whatever they said/did to upset him. She offered that they remain there or return to the common floor, and her and Rhodey will come speak to them there.

Steve answered for them, stating that they would return to the common floor and she nodded – telling JARVIS to make sure they remain there and then walking out before any of them could even try to raise any objections. They returned to the elevator, and thereafter the common floor in silence; each thinking something different – Clint remaining mullish and stubborn in his negative stance of Tony Stark, Steve dithering between what Natasha had said, and the guilt he had felt previously (which had resumed when Bruce reprimanded them), and Natasha trying to think of ways to manipulate perception to explain away the discussion that they had just had.

Chapter Text

Rhodey and Pepper were extremely curious as to what was said whilst they were out of the room to anger Bruce so much. JARVIS did little to assuage this curiosity (and stoking their anger towards the other three) by simply confirming that what Dr Banner heard was actually not the worst of what was said, that he understood Dr Banner's response and agreed that they should view the footage before speaking with them further. He assured that the footage had been retained and that he would have it ready for them to view once they had spoken with Dr Banner; as well as confirming that he had a copy of said footage saved with the evidence he had compiled in respect of Sir's mistreatment by the three people in question.

Rhodey and Pepper walked into the room to find Bruce sitting there with his elbows on the table, holding his head in his hands. The sound of the door clicking shut behind them made him raise his head. Before either of them could speak, Bruce did first; “I know you need to speak to me about the way Tony was treated, and how I did nothing about it, and I deserve anything you are going to say or do. And I know I don't deserve it, but I need your help. I cannot be around those...people anymore without risking breaking my Hulk-free streak. They are absolutely detestable, and I am ashamed that it has taken me so long to realise. I know I have not shown it, but I do care about Tony, and he deserves better. After all this, I assume Tony is leaving the Avengers. I need to do the same, but its unlikely SHIELD will let me do so easily. So please, I am so sorry for not being a better friend to Tony, but I don't want to hurt anyone – however much they may deserve it for how they have acted.”

Seeing the genuine remorse in Bruce, as well as his anger at the other Avengers, and his fear of said anger, caused the majority of the anger they held towards him to dissipate. Rhodey looked over at Pepper and nodded, letting her deal with this.

“Bruce, we were understandably angry on Tony's behalf about all of this, but your apology is appreciated – although Tony deserves to hear it directly from you.” Bruce looks both guilty and sheepish as he nods in agreement. Pepper went on to remind him that Tony was not even an Avenger, but that the plan was to revoke his consultancy status from SHIELD; especially given that they had discovered the SHIELD had been stealing from SI to fund themselves. They had to wait a few minutes for Bruce to calm himself down as Hulk clearly took umbrage to such action. Once the green had faded away, and Bruce nodded and gestured for her to continue, Pepper did so.

“I honestly believe that with the actions we intend to take against them, SHIELD will be far too busy to raise up a stink about your resignation, but I am prepared to submit your resignation to them at the same time as I end Tony's consultancy contract if you wish. In any event, as you are a Stark Industries employee as well as someone Tony deems a friend, you have access to the Stark Industries Legal Team in the event they do endeavour to take any action against you. You also reside in one of the most secure buildings in the country. JARVIS will be able to protect you.”

Bruce sat there staring in confusion, before expressing his surprise that he was remaining an SI employee or a Tower resident.

“Bruce, I may not agree with your actions – or lack thereof, but that does not give legal grounds to fire you, or to evict you. You are an SI employee and you have signed a contract; which I expect you to honour. You also have legal rights in respect of the lease you signed as part of your employment contract. I do not intend to attempt to breach these rights. However, part of your employment contract does include a no bullying policy – which includes a duty to report if you see an employee being bullied. You were present on numerous occasions when the other Avengers were mistreating Tony and you did nothing to stop it.”

Bruce nodded in agreement, the guilt returning to his face as he confirmed “I know, you're entirely right. I should have said something, done something. The Other Guy is angry with me for failing to protect his Tin Man.”

Rhodey and Pepper nodded, acknowledging Bruce's admission, before Pepper continued. "You are on a final warning. If you mistreat or allow anyone to mistreat any SI employee, your employment contract will be terminated immediately; resulting in the termination of your lease. You're an SI employee, you're entitled to utilise SI resources for therapy and/or counselling. We can find a suitably qualified specialist to help you with the Hulk, but you need to be prepared to put the work in, and not just run away.” The guilt was once again clear on Bruce's face, before he lowered his head in shame.

Rhodey stepped in at this point. “Your treatment of and concerning Tony needs to change. He deserves better than a fair-weather friend, who is quick to flee rather than fight for him. If you wish to remain Tony's friend, you need to step up and start acting like one. Tony really cares about you Bruce, you're his 'Science-Bro'. But if you don't start putting as much into that relationship as Tony has, you're going to lose him. As Pepper said, he deserves better.”

Bruce nodded again, and sat staring at the table for a few minutes before taking a deep breath, straightening his shoulders and pulling his head back up to face the people sitting in front of him. “You are right. I've been a bad friend, and Tony does deserve better. But if Tony is prepared to give me another chance, I am fully prepared to try to be more deserving. I know how lucky I am to be Tony's 'Science-Bro', and despite how I have treated him, I do consider him to be my best friend. He is important to me, and I know I need to tell him that. And to apologise. And I will – if he is willing to listen.”

Pepper and Rhodey nodded in acceptance, and JARVIS stated that with Bruce's permission, he would provide footage of this discussion to Tony, so he can decide whether he wants to speak to Bruce. Bruce immediately confirmed that he had no objection, before turning back to Pepper and confirming that he would like to take her up on the offer for therapy in respect of the Hulk, asking whether it would be possible for such treatment to take place in the Hulk room incase he gets triggered. Pepper confirmed that she would file his request with Human Resources.

They then asked whether Bruce could explain what the others had been saying to anger him. Bruce took a moment, as if centring himself to ensure Hulk did not burst through, before confirming that he did not believe that he would be able to keep 'The Other Guy' back if he tried to explain. He again advised that they watch the footage, as he has a feeling that he did not actually hear the worst of it.

He also declared that hearing them was the last straw for him; not only does he no longer want to be an Avenger, he wants nothing to do with any of them. JARVIS assured him that he was willing to assist in ensuring Bruce saw as little of them as possible. He confirmed that Bruce's floor was private, and until Bruce said otherwise, the only person apart from him who had authorisation to access his floor was Tony. None of the other Avengers would be able to access his floor without his permission – not even the vents. Bruce immediately looked like a weight had been lifted, thanking the three of them for listening, accepting his apology, and helping him. They confirmed that they would let Tony know he would like to speak with him, and that he would likely be in touch shortly. Bruce also confirmed to Pepper that he would have his written Avengers resignation to her before the end of the day. Bruce thanked them again, and said that he would go down to his lab to clear his head. Before he could even think it, JARVIS assured him that he had the same access rules in place at the lab as on his floor. Bruce thanked him again as he left, marvelling at the genius of his best friend for the marvel that was his AI.

As soon as the door shut behind Bruce, JARVIS turned on the holographic screen, footage already readied for them to view. The swiftness of Steve's turnaround concerning Tony was both angering and disturbing; but not as disturbing as how swiftly both Steve and Clint could be manipulated by Natasha. The footage angered all of them, but Pepper was so angry JARVIS had to lock them in the room so both he and Rhodey could calm her down so as to talk her out of marching up there and stabbing them with her Louboutin heels!

Chapter Text

Once Pepper had calmed down, they discussed what they were going to do with this information, and how it would affect their plans. They agreed that this was the final nail in Natasha's coffin. Pepper confirmed that the paperwork was already with Legal, but that rather than a cease and desist final warning, she would be served. The others were in agreement, and JARVIS confirmed that the paperwork was already in place; he had been collating the necessary paperwork for charges against the Black Widow from the moment she first entered Tony's life.

JARVIS explained that there was sufficient evidence against her to establish not only the clear charges of fraud, misrepresentation and corporate espionage in respect of her time at SI as Natalie Rushman, but also fraud and theft, as during her time at SI, she had hacked into SI and consequently Tony's accounts, in order to funnel funds for SHIELD. JARVIS advised that additionally she also seemed to have checked into already existing funnelling in place for SHIELD – meaning that they had been stealing from Tony before he had even known they existed. He also confirmed that there was video evidence of her gaslighting and manipulating Tony; both whilst he was dying and after the Avengers moved into the Tower. JARVIS also advised that her repeated actions of stealing from Tony had not been limited to acting on SHIELD's behalf; but she had also funnelled funds to hidden account in the Caymens under one of her alias', as well as stealing Tony's credit card whenever she chose, to purchase items that were likely too expensive for her to purchase herself on her SHIELD salary.

Both Rhodey and Pepper had to take time to calm down from that information. Pepper took the time to speak with Legal and verify all of the necessary paperwork was in place and could be submitted to day. She also asked that they ensure that the FBI was informed of the conduct of SHIELD, and that they would be taking legal action against them. Rhodey also get in touch with his superiors, to advise them of SHIELD's misconduct and the intent of SI and Tony Stark's legal team to take action against them accordingly, to avoid any potential backlash against him, SI or Tony if they were blind-sided. Their entirely justifiable anger, and the actions they chose to take, they conceded would take time to work through, so they asked JARVIS to update the remaining Avengers that an SI issue had arose that in Tony's absence Rhodey was assisting with, and that they would resume their meeting at 2pm. Pepper was very specific in stating to JARVIS that he was not to allow any of them to order lunch; the communal kitchen was fully stocked and as full grown adults they were perfectly capable of making food for themselves. It may have been somewhat petty, but the vindictive glee in Rhodey's eyes reassured her that it was entirely justifiable.

The Avengers were not impressed at being kept waiting, but at the same time, they were all secretly relieved to get a break from Pepper's wrath. Their sense of peace was short-lived, when they enquired about lunch and JARVIS stated, in remarkably cold tones for a purportedly computerised voice; 'I do not have the authorisation to purchase and further meals for you at this time. However, I am aware that the communal kitchen is fully stocked, and given that you clearly do not intend to spend your time productively in terms of considering your actions against Sir, then might I suggest you endeavour to be productive in a less mind-consuming task of preparing your own meals?'

JARVIS refused to speak to them for the remainder of the time they were waiting, but he of course remained 'present'; continuing to record everything; including Natasha's comments about Tony's ego yet again causing problems and more work for Pepper, Clint's derisive remarks about how petty Tony was being, and Steve confirming that he would 'talk to him and get Tony to drop all this nonsense'. Clint suggested that Tony had likely not actually left the city, was just off somewhere licking his wounds and leaving it for his friends to clean up his mess and sucking them into his lies. The others seemed to agree, and settled down to eat the omelettes Steve had prepared, all seeming to be in a much better mood that they they had worked out a way to once again blame their current situation entirely on Tony.

Chapter Text

I'm really struggling to write Steve's talk with Pepper and Rhodey, and so I was hoping someone reading might have some ideas!
If anyone does, please email me - [email protected]

really want to keep updating this as I am actually quite proud of it, just might need abit of help to get through this bit.

*crosses fingers*

Chapter Text

JARVIS had added the latest footage of them blaming Tony to their respective files of evidence he was now building against each of them, and made sure to make Pepper and Rhodey aware of the latest once they had concluded in getting the necessary paperwork against SHIELD and Natasha started, and informing all the necessary parties of their intentions. Neither Pepper or Rhodey were surprised any more by the words and actions of the three, but this did not lessen their ire. They decided to channel their anger into the productive action of crushing them all with the truth; allowing the men one final opportunity for redemption – even though the latest footage underlined their feeling that the chance was not deserved.

Pepper had already informed security of their intended actions, and so they were on standby ready to enter when needed. Once JARVIS had confirmed as such, he sent the elevator up to the Avengers common floor.

The sound of the approaching elevator was all the warning they received of Pepper and Rhodey's approach; a sound that was only registered due to Steve's enhanced hearing; as JARVIS was no longer interacting with any of them.

The sharp click clack of Pepper's heels alongside the Colonel's military march and the stone-faced expressions on the faces of them both as they approached were appropriately intimidating to the so-called heroes. Natasha remained blank faced, as ever refusing to give anyone the power by being aware of her emotions. Clint had no such qualms, and sat there with his arms crossed, getting annoyed by the fact he felt intimidated by people he considered no more than Tony's lackeys. Steve tried to pull on his 'I am Captain America and I deserve respect' face, but the fear and confusion he felt was still clear in his eyes.

Before anyone else could speak, Steve blurted out; “Where's Bruce?”

Pepper turned to him and responded sharply; “Dr Banner has been spoken to about his behaviour towards Tony and has expressed the appropriate remorse, accepted the consequences and I believe went straight from the meeting to the Hulk Room. He confirmed he did not wish to be party to any further discussions has he no longer wishes to be around people who cannot treat the man housing and feeding and clothing them with the common decency reasonably attributable to any human being.” Steve went to cut in to refute this remark, only to be stopped dead by the twin glares from both Pepper and Rhodey. Pepper's voice was freezing cold as she channelled her most intimidating business manner to state; “Do not interupt me Mr Rogers. You are standing in a building that I partially own, and even if you feel unable to treat Tony with respect you will accord me the common decency of allowing me to state my piece. In any event, before you try to refute my comment regarding your treatment of Tony, do not forget that we have video evidence of every instance you have mistreated him in this Tower; as well as recordings from the Iron-Man armour, and even your first encounter on the Hellicarrier. Mr Rogers you may have been born in the 20's and hence not be aware of the impact of the media in the 21^st Century, but trust me, if your actions were to be made common knowledge, your adoring public would turn against you like 'that'” she snapped her fingers before continuing, “I am the CEO of a multi-billion dollar company, one of the most sort-after companies in the world. I have the power to destroy you all, and it is only the depth of Tony's Stark's decency that is stopping me. For Now. So you will sit down, be quiet and listen.”

Steve Rogers was pale, and fell back into his seat without another word, clearly terrified of the red-head in front of him. The redhead beside him tried to revert some of the power back to her; “Pepper, I don't know what footage Tony has shown you to misrepresent the situation but you need to understand that you can't-”

Pepper could feel the anger rising as she held up a hand and stopped Natasha in her tracks at the sound of the anger and disdain in her voice; “No Rushman, you have no right to tell me what I can and cannot do, and certainly no right to address me so familiarly. And how dare you have the audacity to claim that Tony would attempt to manipulate the situation in his favour. You of all people! You infiltrated his business - committing fraud, misrepresentation and corporate espionage whilst doing so, you manipulated his behaviour whilst he was dying, kept information that could help him cure himself from him until SHIELD deemed it the right time, stabbed him in the neck with an unknown substance and without his consent, and then proceeded to move into his home and went on to lie and manipulate in order to turn his own teammates against him. You are despicable. Nevertheless, to clarify; Tony has not been involved in this process at all. As soon as 'Operation Had Enough' was enacted, Tony left the building, and will remain at one of his other properties for the next two weeks whilst we undertake the necessary steps. That means that he has had no involvement in what footage we have reviewed – which, before you try to say cannot be disclosed, it can. You all signed waivers when you moved in, declaring that you were aware of and understood that you were being constantly monitored by JARVIS, and that any evidence of a criminal offence or of any misconduct towards Stark Industries or Tony Stark could be utilised and released as required.”

Pepper revelled in the sight of the Russian's poker face cracking as she registered what Pepper had said; clearly they had either not read the waivers before signing them or at least not read them thoroughly. “If you try to make such accusations public, you will suffer the full force of the SI legal team in a slander and defamation suit. And don't forget, we have footage of the meeting in which you were provided with those waivers – before you try to claim you were misled about the contents. So be, quiet.”

Clint had never seen anyone outside of his family be able to break Natasha's poker face (and that was the love she had for his kids), nor had he ever seen real fear in Natasha's eyes until that moment. The sight was truly terrifying. And Steve? He had always appreciated a strong woman; it was a large part of what he loved about Peggy. But the sight of the strongest woman he knew in this century being ripped apart so ruthlessly was truly chilling.

Pepper accepted Rhodey's hand on her arm as a sign she needed to calm down, so took a deep breath, straightened her shoulders, and patted Rhodey's hand in acceptance before turning her attention to the men.

“Having watched the footage of the conversation between you three that led Bruce to making his decision to resign, I was seriously concerned at how easy it was to manipulate you. Even after having JUST outlined what she did to Tony, all that Romanov had kept from you, you were STILL so quick to forget all of that and jump on the 'blame Tony' train as soon as she so much as hinted at a way to try to pass the buck back to him. You at least Mr Rogers, I had started to believe may have registered the error of your ways, but given how quickly you changed your tune, I am starting to wonder if I can believe a single word you say.”

Steve opened his mouth to defend himself, only to freeze as he recollected how Natasha had been so brutally crushed by this woman only moments before. He knew that he was not good with words, and given what he had just seen, he was most certainly no match for Pepper Potts. So, no matter how much her words hurt, he would just do as she had ordered; sit there (quietly) and listen.