Tony drifted off as Fury went on about how Couslon died still believing in the Avengers and what not. Sure, he was sorrowful at the loss of the agent, but compared to what he had lost, that meant nothing. He lost his best friend, one of the only people that ever understood him, his anchor. He lost Lex. She died still thinking that he hated her. He could never forgive himself for that. He stood abruptly and made his way to the place where Coulson had been killed.
Once he reached his destination, he stopped and just stood there. He didn't know what to do or how to feel. He was alone in the world once again and he didn't know how he could move on from this. "…I hate you, Alexis Barton." Those words rung through his head along with the look in her eyes when he delivered them. She probably had hated him too. He let his ego get in the way of seeing that she meant no harm in not telling him. Not only was she protecting herself, but also him… She knew what kind of reaction it would pull out of him and she tried her best to avoid it. She had a reason for not telling him, a reason that was justified. He pushed her away from such a stupid reason. Her past was her past, it had nothing to do was the Lex he knew. The Lex that was the center of his whole world. He hated to admit how much she meant to him, but there was no getting around it now.
"I'm sorry, Tony. I know you two were close." Steve said as he enter the room
"She died thinking I hated her." Tony claimed. Steve crossed his arms and he leaned against the rail.
"She knows you didn't hate her. You said it out of anger. There was no meaning behind it. She was just upset at the fact that you didn't let her explain. Besides her brother, you were the only person she truly ever cared about." Steve tried his best to comfort the mourning billionaire. Lex had told him all of this before she had to interrogate Loki. Tony didn't show it, but it made him feel just the slightest bit better hearing that there was a good chance that he was just important to her as she was to him.
"Has anyone told her brother yet?" Tony asked. If he felt like this he couldn't imagine how Clint would take it.
"Natasha's giving him the news when he wakes up." Tony continued to stare blankly at the wall. The super solider padded over to the genius. "We have to keep fighting, Tony. We're at war and-"
"We are not soldiers!" Tony snapped, locking eyes with Steve. His expression was unreadable. There were to many emotions coming off of him to get a lock on just one. "I'm not marching to Fury's fife."
"Neither am I." He assured. Tony didn't realize that Steve had lost her too. Sure the bond wasn't as strong, but she still meant something him. "He's got the same blood on his hands that Loki does. But right now, we got to put that behind us and get this done…for Alexis. We owe it to her." Steve tried to continued on. "Loki needs a power source. If we can put together a list.." But Tony interrupted.
"He made it personal." He stated looking over at the blood stain left by Couslon on the wall.
"That's not the point," Steve said, trying to get Tony back on task.
"That is the point. That's Loki's point. He hit us all right where we live. Why?"
"To tear us apart." Yes, Loki tore them apart with lost of the two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, but in Steve's eyes it made them a stronger unit together. They had a common goal now, a common cause.
"Yeah, divide and conquer is great, but he knows he has to take us out to win, right? That's what he wants. He wants to beat us, he wants to be seen doing it." Tony walked around Steve. "He wants an audience."
"Right. I caught he act in Stuttgart." It seemed like they were finally piecing it together.
"Yeah, that's just a preview. This is opening night." Tony said matter of factly. "And Loki, he's a full-tilt diva, right? He wants flowers, he wants parades. He want monuments built to the skies with his name plastered…" Tony paused for a second as an epiphany literally smacked him in the face. "Son of a bitch."

XXX
Clint began to strain against the restraints, his face contorting in pain. "Clint. You're going to be all right." Natasha sat a few feet away from the recovering agent.
"You know that?" Clint chuckled darkly. "Is that what you know?" Again, Clint pulled against the restraints. "I have to flush him out."
"You got to level out. Its gonna take time." She knew this was going to be hard for him. He had been through a lot with Loki and now he was going to face even more once she broke the news about Lex.
"You don't understand. Have you ever had someone take your brain and play? Pull you out and stuff something else in? Do you know what its like to be unmade?" He looked like a puppy, to be honest. A puppy in a lot of pain.
"You know that I do." Natasha poured him a cup of water.
"Why am I back?" He questioned. "How'd you get him out?"
"Cognitive recalibration." She walked over next to him. "I hit you really hard in the head." She sat by his side on the bed.
"Thanks." She gave him a small smile and undid the restrains.
"Natasha… where's Lexi? I remember I was choking her… I was about to…" The look on Lex's face was burned into his mind. She was begging and pleading him to stop. The look on her face would haunt him for the rest of his life. He was about to kill his own flesh and blood and there was nothing he could do about it.
"Don't. Don't do that to yourself, Clint. This is Loki. This is monsters and magic, and nothing we were ever trained for." She wasn't ready to tell him. She couldn't. Lex meant so much to him. She was only thing that mattered to him. Everything was second to Lex when it came to Clint.
"Loki, did he get away?" She was relieved when he moved on to a different subject. She knew Lex would come back up though and she would have no choice but to tell him.
"Yeah. I don't you suppose you know where."
"I didn't need to know." Natasha got up and walked over to the door, looking out of the window. "I didn't ask." Clint sat up and reached for the cup of water Natasha had poured him. "He's gonna make his play soon, though. Today." Clint wished he could be of more help.
"We got to stop him." Natasha turned around to face him.
"Yeah? Who's 'we'?" He had a good idea of who she was talking about, but he was pretty sure after Loki's attacks they would be scattered.
"I don't know, whoever's left."
"Well, if I put an arrow through Loki's eye socket, I'd sleep better I suppose." Just shooting in general would make him feel better, but taking a shot at Loki would be preferable. Loki needed to pay for putting him up against his own sister. He knew the only reason they managed to drag Lex back into this was because of him.
"Now you sound like you." Natasha smiled as she once again took a seat next to him.
"But you don't. You're a spy, not a soldier. Now you want to wade into war. Why?" Something was off about her. She seemed in pain. Not physically, though. Something had happened that he didn't know about. "What did Loki do to you?" He tried to make eye contact with her, but she refused to look at him.
"He didn't. I just… It's Lex, Clint. She…" She couldn't…but she had too.
"What? What's wrong? What happened? Is she okay?" Clint began to freak out. If anything happened to Lex he didn't know what he would do. She didn't want to answer him. "Natasha…"
"She was shot during the raid on the aircraft… she fell overboard… I'm so sorry." The look on his face broke her heart.
"No. I don't believe you. She's can't be dead, she can't be." His eyes begun to water and his chest began to tighten. She can't be gone. "She's all I have!"
"I'm so sorry, Clint. She's... gone."
Clint buried his face in his hand, trying so hard not to cry. "What am I supposed to do, huh? My sister is dead and its all my fault…" Natasha placed a hand on his arm to tried and comfort him, but he just shook it off. "It was my job to protect her… I failed…"
"There was nothing you could have done. There was nothing anyone could've done."
"That's a lie and you know it!" Clint stood, trying to wipe his eyes. He looked at Natasha, pain, anger and heartbreak filling his eyes. "She was out. She was happy working with Stark. She was safe! She didn't want anything to do with S.H.I.E.L.D.! You all dragged her back into this life and because of that she was killed!"
"Clint.."
"No! You used me as leverage! You knew that if you told her I was in trouble she wouldn't hesitate to come back. I should have left with her last year… I should have put this place behind me, but no, I stayed and it cost Alexis her life..."
XXX
"C'mon, Clint. Come with me. Start fresh."
"You know I can't, Lexi."
"And why not?"
"Because with you gone, S.H.I.E.L.D. needs me. They lost one Barton, they can't afford to loose another."
Clint and Lex stood out in front of Stark Tower. Today started Lex's new life and new job as Tony Stark's personal assistant. Things wouldn't be the same without Clint around. For the past ten years they were always at each other's side.
"Its always been you and me… I don't know anything else." Sure for those years in school she was on her own, but it wasn't like this. Clint would come see her every other week while she was at MIT. Now, he was about to go on a mission that dragged him all the way to New Mexico. She wouldn't see him for quite some time. "You could work security or something." She insisted.
Clint smiled at his little sister. Yeah he was going to miss Lex and he didn't want her to leave S.H.I.E.L.D., leave him, but he couldn't be selfish. He knew how much she wanted this. He didn't want to hold her back. "Lexi, I would be bored to death. Civilian life isn't for me. S.H.I.E.L.D. is all I know, and the only place I fit in. I love you, but this is your life now, and I know you'll do just fine without me."
Lex closed the gap between them and embraced her brother. "I love you too." She pulled away just enough for their blue eyes to meet. "I'm really gonna miss you."
"Same here, kiddo." He kissed her forehead. "Now, get up there and give Tony Stark a run for his money."
"Just promise you'll stay in contact."
"I promise."
XXX

Clint slammed his fist into the wall. The pain in his hand was nothing compared to the pain in his heart. He leaned his forehead against the wall and the tears came without warning. "What do I do now?"
"You go out there and save the world." Natasha said. She got up from her seat and came up next to him. She placed a hand on his back trying to comfort him, hoping he wouldn't push her away this time. To her relief he didn't and she began to rub his back gently. "You gotta go out there with your head up high and kick ass." She reached over and grabbed a towel. She handing it to him so he could clean his now tear stained face.
"Thanks." He stood up tall again and took the much needed towel. He wiped his face. Lex wouldn't want to see him like this. She wouldn't want him to cry over her. He wasn't a little boy, he was a grown man who was one a mission. A mission to avenge his sister.
He headed into the back bathroom to get cleaned up. As he finally finished up, the one and only Captain America walked into the room. "Time to go."
"Go where?" Natasha questioned.
"I'll tell you on the way." They didn't have time. They needed to go now. "Can you fly one of those jets?" He knew she could fly with a co-pilot, but didn't know if she could do it on her own.
"I can." Clint announced, walking in from the back.
Steve looked over the assassin. He had a lot of similar features to Lex. Steve could tell that he was in pain though. They all were. The super solider looked over at Natasha, making sure that Clint was all clear and that he could be trusted once again.
She gave him at nod. "You got a suit?"
"Yeah."
"Then suit up."
XXX

Tony took off with the quinjet, but quickly bypassed it. He would be at Stark Tower in half the time. He tried his best not to let his mind wander as he shot over the water.
"Sir, you have an incoming call." Jarvis informed him. Incoming call? Only a handful of people had the direct number to his suit.
"Well, it must be important. Let it through." When the call was excepted there was nothing but silence at first. A few seconds pasted before a familiar voice rung through his helmet. He was so taken back he nearly dropped out of the sky.

"Hey, Boss."