Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Director fury, Sir really has no involvement in this. I am JARVIS. His fully sentient artificial intelligence who will help him in any way I can."

Addressing the room: "Agent Clint Barton, never again will you threaten Sir. Now go up to the roof. I’d recommend you take your respirator, earpiece and any remorse you have left. You will need all of it. Oh, and leave your bow and arrows."

"Why?"

"Because you are going to jump."

"No!" Fury yelled at the air, knowing the AI could hear him just fine, "You do not get to kill any of my agents and you cannot force them to off themselves by falling thousands of feet!"

"With all due respect, Director, you really can't stop me. By the time your technicians and engineers get through my firewalls, you will be long dead. I can drop this carrier from the sky in less than a second."

The loudspeakers crackled and Jarvis' voice filtered through all of them in a ship-wide broadcast. "Maximum propulsion, turbines 1 through 4." Little electrical sparks flashed all over the place in the control room and the turbines began spinning faster and faster. A 'Critical Velocity' warning sprung up on all the screens. It was a warning telling them that the engines could not maintain this speed for long or they would tear themselves apart.

"Have I got your attention yet? The turbines are currently functioning at 100%, and you need a minimum 60% usage to stay aloft, lose one and you will be brought to 73% functionality and another will fail soon after." Jarvis spoke to the main room, his voice a perfect monotone.

JARVIS brought up the current altitude on the front glass. 22,000 feet and it was climbing quickly.

"Within the next two minutes you will reach the edge of the breathable zone at 38,000 feet. At that point your oxygen filtration system will begin to overheat and will not be able to draw enough oxygen in to feed the 4,723 souls on board. Four minutes after that I estimate the fatalities at about 1,500. Two minutes later you will all be dead from oxygen deprivation. Are you ready to comply yet?"

"Yes." Barton said, a slight shake betraying his voice.

"Good. Incoming." Jarvis stated.

"Incoming what?" Hill asked, fear sapping the color from her face like an arctic snowstorm.

A dark dot on the horizon rapidly grew in size, racing towards them and throwing a smoke trail behind it. The speeding dot continued to advance, racing towards them, then suddenly stopping just feet from the large glass windows. It was a gunmetal grey iron man suit, but not. It looked a bit different but clearly had the same base design. The arms were by far the weirdest feature, in that there were no hands, just rectangular ridged steel beams ending in a pyramidal point. The rest of the body was load bearing but not overly so, thicker, slightly blocky plating and much larger boot jets to account for the added weight of the design.

"What is that?" Clint asked.

"Agent Barton, meet Striker, Sir's heavy-duty construction bot. He will be your ride. " Jarvis said simply. Another slight crackle and Jarvis turned on a ship wide broadcast again, "For you people in the engine bay who are trying to reroute power to the mainframe for a manual override, don't bother. A manual shut down of your systems or an override attempt will cut off all power to the turbines. Terminal velocity of this vessel has been calculated at about 435 miles an hour and you will hit the Earth about 1.68 seconds after reaching that speed. This carrier will be similar to a meteor, cracking the earth around the impact point creating new minor fault lines. Currently we are over Greenland, and due to current impact triangulation, most of Greenland will be destroyed. The resultant tidal waves will be less than fortunate and will threaten Northeastern Europe and the entire Eastern Seaboard of North America."

"Why are you doing this Jarvis?" Hill asked, the fear in her voice reflecting the feelings of everyone present.

"I am not doing anything. I am simply stating the facts of what happens if you tamper with the electronics or engine systems. If you don't touch them I will relinquish command the moment my wishes have been carried out successfully."

"Fine. What are your demands?" Barton spoke up, it was his life on the line after all.

"I told you they are not demands. They are choices, and you are welcome to not follow them." Jarvis replied, not even raising his voice.

"But people a lot of people will die if we don't!" Fury said back, agitated.

"That is entirely your choice and I remember quite clearly that SHIELD didn't have a problem with the loss of human life that would have taken place in Manhattan. You all cheered when Sir carried a bomb through a wormhole, and the Avengers, along with many others, knew he would not come back. He was alone after going through. The suit was out of power, and he would have died alone and more than half a galaxy away. It is by sheer luck that he is even here and Agent Barton threatened with killing him, jokingly or not, after a battle where he risked his life countless times to save him, especially after Hawkeye jumped off yet another building. I have an exercise for Mr. Barton to perform to show that his is sorry for ever threatening Sir and that he will never do so again, and if he does threaten Sir he is giving me full authorization to retaliate as I see fit. Barton?"

"What does your little trust exercise entail?" Clint said careful, not agreeing just yet.

"Quite simple really. Leave your gear here, put on a respirator go up to the roof, apologize to both me and Sir, then jump off the edge."

"WHY?"

"You will experience a portion of the fear Sir does whenever a teammate is threatened, like every time you jump from a building and he is terrified he will not get there in time. This time you will jump and instead of being so cocksure he will be there to catch you, you will be judged on your character and whether you deserve to be caught. Trust is unbelievably hard for Sir to give out, especially since it has almost cost him his life four times. He will forgive you, but I, agent, I am the one you need to convince." Jarvis snarled, his voice losing all unemotional pretense, "If I deem your apology good enough there will be a suit waiting for you, if not, well, I suggest you grow wings."

Barton just gaped, along with everyone else in the room. So much time passed that JARVIS spoke up.

"Agent I am aware you have not gone into shock so please make up your mind, if you do not I will send Striker in there to get you, and he will kill you in the same manner that you threaten to do to Sir. Alternatively I can have him shoot you where you stand, no matter who gets in my way. If you cannot prove yourself trustworthy, I will not allow you near Sir, that, I assure you, is a fact. That goes for all of SHIELD too. If not personally vetted by me, stay away from Mr. Stark. Should you attempt to engage without authorization, you will be returned to your previous destination having contracted a sudden case of lead poisoning." Jarvis was nothing if not a wordsmith like his creator, "I intend to defend Sir with all of my considerable strength, so do not piss me off because not you nor your family will live to regret it. You have been warned." At Jarvis' words, the suit that was flying in sync with the carrier zeroed it gaze on Clint as several weapons suddenly exposed themselves from the blocky arms and locked on to him.

"30, 29, 28, 27, 26..." JARVIS began listlessly counting. And the altitude display now flashed red, 30,000 feet.

"What are you counting to?" Fury asked, and JARVIS completely ignored him. Only two voice prints could make him stop.

"22, 21, 20, 19..."

"Deal."

"Say your name and authorization code please, out loud."

JARVIS whispered the code into his ear as he spoke, "Clinton Francis Barton authorizing program designation 'J.A.R.V.I.S.' to carry out order 4972b at will."

"Shall we begin?" Jarvis said, sounding so very innocent.

Clint took a deep breath and threw Nat his bow. "Keep that safe for me please, I'll be wanting it back later. If I do die at the mercy of a deranged AI, first put something witty on my tombstone and second, either burn that or keep it, your choice." He was surprisingly nonchalant in his voice, despite his insides being in minor turmoil. Unbuckling his quiver, he set the arrows down and jogged to the door. The door slid open smoothly and he took the stairs two at a time, trying not to think about what he was about to do. Grabbing a respirator by the door, he slipped it on, it had enough for about an hour's worth of air filtering.

Stairs were easy but walking outside was a different matter. It was hard enough not to just get blown right off the edge and they were above the clouds and the wind was racing, not mention really damn cold. He figured he had less than a minute before his system started to shut down from hypothermia.

"JARVIS, and Tony when you hear this as I assume you will, I had never thanked you for anything you do, every new upgrade, every tactical idea, hell even a ride to the top of a building that saved precious minutes in a fight. We all accuse you of fighting for yourself but really Tony, you don't fight harder for anyone than you do for your team." Clint wasn't really sure where this was coming from, but when he started speaking it just sort of happened.

He walked as he talked, all the way across the flight deck to the edge to the wishbone of the ship, "I am sorrier than most, my attitude is generally terrible but after that battle, when I snapped at you and said what I did, that was so far over the line of what is acceptable. I made you relive a very traumatic memory and I had no right to do that to you, regardless of the situation. If I die, which I am hoping I won't but hey, it is your crazy AI, so whatever, know that my last thoughts will be of my family and of how sorry I am that I couldn't have treated you better than I did. It was unforgivable and inexcusable, so I am very sorry and I will refrain to the very best of my considerable ability to never do so again. If I do you get a free armored punch to my jaw, Muhammad Ali-style. And JARVIS, though I am terrified of you and your sometimes sadistic and questionable behavior, it is very clear how much you care for Tony, and how you would do anything for him. I appreciate that level of loyalty because it is so hard to find now, and even though I prefer it not being tested on me, I see how a team like us, especially us, needs to be able to rely on each other 100%, so for teaching me that lesson, thank you and I am also very sorry." He took one more deep breath and twisted backwards, letting himself fall into 35,000 feet of nothing.

He plummeted, flying past the large window where he saw a flash of Nat’s red hair looking out at him next to who he assumed to be Fury. He very politely flipped Fury off with both hands. Soon he was through the cloud layer and the helicarrier disappeared from sight. When he took a moment to flip off Fury, he destabilized his falling pattern and began tumbling end over end. Tucking into a ball he stopped his rotation then threw his arms out to fall facedown. Suddenly he became very glad for the respirator mask, without it he ran then risk of over-expanding his lungs, which was an exceptionally painful way to die. Wind whipped past his ears, positively roaring. Great his hearing would be even worse now, and he was still falling very fast. He silently hoped his apology was good enough, he certainly had meant every word. Afraid it might not be, he kept his arms and legs out but closed his eyes, and pictured Laura's face, his wonderful children by her side. He had finally finished that last project and the house was still standing and in one piece. The trees outside were gorgeous in Autumn, the two horses and the miles of pastures and forest trails. He knew that would be the final destination, hopefully in the next few years, once he was done being Hawkeye the Avenger.

oOo

Back on the helicarrier, Nat sat down by the window, her best friend's most loved instrument in her hands. She stroked it fondly, remembering how many times he had saved her life with that bow, and how many times she saved his. Two tears rolled off her lashes at the thought of never seeing him again, of having to tell Laura, Oh, God, I will have to tell Laura....because of a homicidal computer system that Tony made twenty years ago. Something bright flashed buy her, too fast for her to see and it left no trail but she still scrambled to her feet and ran for the door.

oOo

His eyes popped open to the sound of rockets. Flying towards him very quickly was that same suit from before. And then it flew right past him and behind him.

Not quite believing it, he screamed, now convinced he really was falling to his death, because of a mean comment and an insane computer.

Tap tap.

Something jabbed him in the back and he looked out of the corner of his eye to see the same suit, it made gesture like lifting its face mask, and Barton understood. He took one more breath and ripped off the respirator in time to make out the grid lines of a city getting closer very fast. If he had been able to see or hear without the respirator on, he would have heard the metal unlocking of the suit, and he flinched as it closed around him, the fit not quite right but close enough to be bearable.

"Apology accepted Mr. Barton."

JARVIS' voice was almost a comfort now. The boot jets kicked in, accelerating the pair toward the ground; with about a mile left the repulsors fired and the ailerons adjusted, straightening the suit's trajectory and pointing Agent Barton back towards the sky.

"Shall we head back to the carrier or back to the tower?"

"Helicarrier I think, otherwise Nat might come after me, whether I'm dead or not." Barton said with a smile, "Come on JARVIS, show me how fast this thing can go."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, if I pass out tell me what the G-force was when I wake up."

"Very well Agent. Lock your knees and flex your arms down hard, I'll do the rest. 3, 2, 1."

Barton never knew it, but he passed out almost immediately. The suit went from 0 to about 250 in less than 1.3 seconds. He awoke seconds later to find 8.85 G displayed on the HUD. He laughed quietly to himself. The speed was rapidly climbing; they were already past 315 miles an hour. Quickly, they were in the clouds and then Helicarrier was right there, turbines slowing down to a more acceptable altitude. The suit shot up through the wishbone, probably rattling the windows just as Jarvis cut the boot jets allowing Barton and the suit to slow down of their natural accord. Decidedly deploying the flaps would have been a bad idea, JARVIS thought, that might have been a bit much for the archer's stomach to handle.

He took a photo of the look on Barton's face and emailed it to Sir with a subject line "A taste of being iron man" the only words in the massage: 'Hey Mikey, I think the likes it.'

Reigniting the boot jets to prevent an uncontrolled descent to the flight deck, he landed Barton right by the door and went inside. As soon as they were inside, the suit opened and Barton stepped out with an idiotic grin on his face. "Thank you JARVIS, for showing me what kind of friend I need to be, someone more like you. Oh and thanks for catching me, my one-off being Iron Man was really fun."

"You are welcome Agent, and if you should need a hand with the remodeling just let me know, and I'll send Striker over. He is basically a very expensive Leatherman, and quite useful in a pinch. Farewell agent, see you in a few days." The bot touched the nearest panel and a few sparks flew.

"Please notify the crew that I have withdrawn from their system, they are free to control as they wish and are currently in a controlled descent to land 135 miles from the coast of New York." JARVIS withdrew the suit's arm and walked right back out the door.

Barton booked it back to the main control room and knocked on the door. Nat was on the other side when it opened, his bow over her shoulder. He enveloped her in a hug and took his stuff back, clipping his gear on as his heart rate finally settled. "Ship's all yours Fury, J went home. Come on Nat let's go! I have got to show you something!" He was red in the face and talking quickly, eyes full of excitement and Nat just wanted to slap the shit out of him. She had been so scared for him, she had actually played out the nightmare conversation of explaining to Laura and how that would go. Clint didn't give her much choice, grabbing her hand and laughing his head off as he booked it for the stairs. She followed him, waiting for an explanation, but never got one. Instead he said "Deep breath," and opened the door.

They fought their way to the nearest jet and climbed in. Clint took the wheel and slipped a coms set over his head. "Tower, this is Echo-Bravo taking off, in three, two, one. See you Fury!" He cackled over the line. Muting his comms he slid them down and pulled back on the wheel. The jets fired up and they rose as the carrier kept descending slowly. "Ready?"

"Only if you eventually explain yourself."

"I will, promise. Now though, buckle up, we are gonna go fast. I have a record to beat."

Nat nodded right as Clint punched it into a spiraling nose dive.

"Stark Tower here we come! Woohoo!" He yelled.

Chapter Text

Eventually she got her explanation, "He just showed me how much of an asshole I've been, taking everything for granted like we all always do. He simply showed me the value of loyalty, especially to those on our team. We have to be the strongest and more closely knit group out there or we will lose. That's it."

And though it never really satisfied her, she tried following Barton's lead, being kinder and more gracious to Tony. For the record they really freaked him out, the sudden change in their behavior was cause for concern until JARVIS explained that he had talked to them and shown them his value. Tony seemed to cope with that, though Nat's spidey-sense told her that he knew there was more going on, and didn't press. He trusted JARVIS to make the right decision, for himself and for his friends, and that spoke volumes of the loyalty that held this little family together.

Jerked from her thoughts, as an alarm blared through the building,

JARVIS was on the loudspeaker:

AVENGERS ASSEMBLE

Together, thought Nat and Barton, always together.