American Born

The Jester : II

Song : Are You Ready For It? - Taylor Swift
3 Months after Chap 1

Scottie sat with Clint and Natasha. They were getting told about a mission they had to do.
"Nikolai Tsaklov. He has been a huge threat for years. Now, we've tracked down his business partner, Caroline Xavier, also known as, The King." Agent Hill explained. "And what? You just want us to kill him? Take him down?" Scottie asked, "Stop his operations. Scoot, you'll talk to him alone, Clint, Nat, you two stay back, make sure no one interrupts them."
Clint and Natasha nodded in agreement. "You want me to take the lead? Shouldn't I be backup?"
"I went through your files. You and Xavier have history... it'll be good."
Scottie scoffed, "Oh? So just because me and Caro had history, you think it makes me a good match to talk to him?" "You'll be able to get into his head. Make him tell you his plans. You got this." Natasha spoke up, "I know." Scottie replied.

"You head out soon. Be ready." Agent Hill said, leaving the meeting room.
"You ready, Scoot?" Clint asked, "I'm always ready." Scottie says, adjusting herself in her chair.

"Are you sure? You're facing someone from your past. It's okay to feel unwell, or nervous." Clint asks again... "I'm not nervous. If I ever feel nervous, you'd be able to tell." Scottie says, kicking her feet up onto the table. "How do we know you're not nervous right now?"
"Like I said, if I were nervous, you'd be able to tell, very very easily."
Clint just sighed and nodded.

The three waited until it was time to go.
Scottie was in the locker room, suiting up in her new and improved Jester suit. Purple fabric, black and white diamond patterns. Even a little collar with a bell. "That's... colorful." Natasha says, walking into the locker room. "Indeed it is. A questionable choice, I wouldn't normally wear something like this." Scottie replies. "I know."

"Scoot, are you sure you're okay? You're not going to spiral out or run away last minute?"
"Listen, Nat, I haven't seen Caroline in over like 5 years. Maybe longer, but I am not nervous about seeing him again. We ended things off on a good note." Scottie says...
"What if you'll have to kill him?" "Nothing can be worse than unofficially killing my father three years ago." Scottie reaches her hand out, Natasha grabs her hand and Scottie pulls her towards herself. "I'm sorry I didn't do anything to stop it." Natasha says.
"You couldn't do anything about it." Scottie says softly, pulling Natasha closer towards her.

The two share a quiet moment... staring into each other's eyes... lovingly. "Not right now, Scoot." Natasha says, slowly starting to back away. "Why? Afraid you won't be able to resist?" Scottie says, pulling Natasha closer to her by her waist. "Scoot." Natasha says, not being able to hide her smile.
"Not right now." "Damn it, fine. Not right now." Scottie says, letting go of Natasha's waist and backing up. Scottie sighed, "Let's just hope Caro's happy to see me, yea?" Natasha nodded, "Yea."

After a while of waiting, it was finally time to go. The three of them headed to the armored truck and drove off to the meeting point.
When they arrived at the meet up point, Scottie hopped out and walked into the abandoned warehouse. Even though she knew everything, she still kept her distance and moved cautiously.
"Well well well. If it isn't the monster, hm?" A man with a British accent says, coming from behind a wall with a couple of grapes in his hand. "What brings you here, Scooty?" He says, stopping in front of Scottie. "Still calling yourself 'The King'? Caro?" Scottie says, looking down on the short man. "Well, I didn't know what to expect from you. You've always been like this, hm? Answering a question with a question." , "I'm not here to get back with you, you know?"

"Oh? You're not? Makes sense, then do say, why are you here?" , "Nikolai Tsaklov, you work with him, right?"
Caroline took a step back, "Yes. I do. What about him?" , "I've been tracking him for a while. It's about time for him to come in for a chat."
Caroline laughed, "A chat?! You want to bring Nikolai in for just a chat? Oh, you're as funny as back then. Do you really expect me to believe you want him for just a chat?" He laughed, "Yes. I do expect you to believe me. Otherwise, it won't be pretty." Scottie replies, putting her hands behind her. "Scooty, oh baby girl. You're more foolish than expected. Of course I don't believe you, after everything you did to me back then, how could I ever trust you again?".  Scottie flinched at his words, "Just tell me where Nikolai is.". Caroline continued to laugh, "Jeez, you really are my favorite humorous monster. It is so very sad I have to kill you."

"It is so very sad that you can't."  Scottie scoffed. 'We'll see." Caroline says, backing up, a few mercenaries come walking in from the doors. Scottie turns and looks at all of them.
She sighed, cracked her neck, and spoke, "Are you ready for it?"
The mercenaries lunged with knives, but their weapons turned into vines that gently ensnared them. They tried to regroup, but every tactic they employed was effortlessly countered. Scottie reshaped the warehouse with a thought, turning their cover into transparent glass, leaving them exposed.

As they scrambled, she whispered a command, and the ground beneath them shifted into a soft, unyielding cushion. Struggling, they found themselves immobilized, floating inches above the ground. Scottie sighed, she touched her finger to her ear, "Go around the back. He's there." Scottie says into comms. After a moment of silence, "We got him" Clint replied over comms.

-Back at HQ-

Caroline sat in an interrogation room, He smirked while Scottie and Clint stared at him.
"He is so uncomfortably attractive." Scottie says, Clint glares at her,  "I just want you to stop saying odd shit." Clint says... "You can see why I dated him, right?"  Scottie protests. "No I can't. He's a criminal." "He wasn't a criminal when I dated him." Scottie huffed.
Then, Natasha walked into the room, "Start talking, Xavier." She says, crossing her arms, looming over him.
"I've got nothing to say." He says, his head slowly turning towards Natasha. "I call bull. Listen, Caro, it's not so hard to tell them what you're hiding. We're practically doing this the easy way." Scottie says, adjusting the way she sits. Caroline laughs, "Feisty, aren't you?" , "Stop messing around, Caroline!" Scottie banged her fist, "Innocent people, millions of innocent people will die." She said, her voice raising just a tad bit. "Why put limits on your power, Scooty? You didn't have them before, so why now?" Caroline says, smiling, almost as if he's enjoying Scottie's reactions.
Scottie grinds her teeth, "I've got people to protect, same as you. Let's just do this the easy way, I don't want to see anything I don't need to, inside of that twisted little brain of yours."
"oh, so you're making them do all the hard work, all because of your own selfishness?" , "I'm selfish?" Scottie stood up abruptly, "I'm the selfish one? Where were you when Creek turned me into this? You were my best friend, you were my love, and where were you? You were caught up in your self-righteousness... yours. And I'm the selfish one? I'm trying to help people, and you're helping to kill them." She says, smacking his cup out of his hand. "Scoot, take a walk." Natasha says, placing her hand on Scotties shoulder. Natasha moved to her ear, "Take a walk, baby." She whispers. Scottie glares at Caroline, before leaving the room.

Natasha watched as Scottie left, then turned to Caroline, "You've got some nerve messing with her like that." She says, leaning over the table. "You and her had history, yes?"
"Yes. What of it?" "Mhm, so you know exactly how to get under her skin. Hm, that could be useful, honestly." Natasha looks towards Clint, "So, tell us, where's Nikolai?"

Scottie sat outside of the room on a bench, trying not to listen to their conversation inside.
She became restless after a while, "Damn it." She mumbled over and over, waiting for the conversation to be done already. She starts pacing back and forth, biting her nails. She is extremely restless. "Damn it. I could literally go inside his mind, what am I doing? Limits.. limits." She starts repeating that word, 'Limit'. 'I've never had them before, so why start now?' She thinks.

An hour passes, and Scottie is knocked out on the bench, she suddenly feels someone kick her leg, "Wake up, sleeping beauty." She sees Clint as he opens his eyes. "We know where Nikolai is, and you're gonna get him. But, you're not gonna like how it's done."

"I dreamt about it, is this really the only way to do this?" Scottie asks, "This is the only way he'll do it." Clint says, his gaze leaving Scottie and towards Caroline, leaning against the doorframe, smiling devilishly. "He is so uncomfortably attractive." Scottie mumbles, watching Caroline.