Mechanical Love ~ A Hawkeye Fan Fiction

~Chapter 4~

Things have been pretty quiet the past few days. Rumlow was definitely gone. Pierce was scarce around the office. I didn't see Clint during the day, and he wouldn't tell me what he was doing during the day. I'm assuming he wasn't sharing as a way of protecting me. The less I know the better, I assume. I mean, I was great at keeping secrets, but it was his business if he wanted to share with me or not. Last night I fell asleep before he came to the apartment.

Today I was wearing a pair of fitted black slacks and a blue silk blouse at the office. Rosa had just brought me my second cup of coffee and I was working on some spreadsheets. It was the necessary evil part of this position. This was the love hate part of my job. I had just finished putting in the last batch of number and hit enter when Rosa came through the intercom.

"Dr. Lacey, there is a call for you on line one."

"Did they say who they were, Rosa?"

"No ma'am, just asked to speak with you."

"Alright. Thank you."

"You're welcome."

I hit the button for line one and picked up the phone; "This is Dr. Lacey."

"Lower deck number eight."

I didn't recognize the voice.

"Excuse me?"

"Go to lower deck number eight."

"Right now?"

"Yes, Dr. Lacey. Go to lower deck number eight right now."

"Who is this?"

"Better for me not to tell you who I am. Just trust me. Go see for yourself."

The line went dead.

"How strange," I said and put the phone down.

It was time for a walk any way. Picking up my cell phone, I dropped it into my pocket and walked out of my office.

"Rosa, I'm going for a walk."

"Yes ma'am."

As soon as I got out of her sight, I tapped my right ear; "Lower deck number eight. Just had an anonymous tip. Checking it out."

I knew he heard me even though he didn't respond. I got on the elevator and opened the lower panel that Pierce didn't know that I knew about. I hit the eight button and down I went and went. I went from seeing the natural scenery of the outside world to the dark cold concrete wall beneath the earth. I could feel the butterflies in my stomach, but knew I needed to see what was going on. Finally the elevator stopped.

Slowly stepping off, I hear the chattering of people, but couldn't make out what they were saying. Luckily, I had soft soled shoes, so I kept them on and just stepped very carefully. Making it to the edge of the wall, I stopped and listened.

"This is it, Mr. Pierce," I heard a man say. "Mr. Rumlow has passed every single test we have put him through. It is time to give him the injections."

"Rumlow, are you ready," Pierce asked.

"Yes sir," Rumlow responded.

Shit... this isn't good.

"If you'll lie down onto the table for me so we can strap you down for safety precautions."

I slightly peeped around the corner to see Rumlow getting on the table and medical people strapping him down onto the table. Man, that was a huge ass needle! Better him than me. No thank you. I watched as the head doctor gave Rumlow an IV. I watched as Pierce and a few others walked into a room that had a glass window so they could watch from there. I wonder where Clint was. Oh, the doctor was injecting the fluid into the IV.