Games of Deception (Hawkeye/Avengers)

Chapter 10 - Bullets, Arrows, And Other Distractions

-Clint's P.O.V-

I had gained her trust.

Well, maybe not entirely, but enough to get the chance to test her skills a bit. I was honestly surprised at the fact that she had actually agreed to this, and I knew there was the high possibility that she'd think I was crazy for where we were going.

But I suppose I was crazy. I had spent a week, and would be spending several more, with someone who would kill me on the spot if I let a single piece of the wrong information slip. I was only following Fury's orders, trying to get inside her head, so really this was all his fault, right? I allowed my mind to settle with that option for the time being.

We were a about ten minutes away when I noticed a change in her demeanor. She leaned forward slightly and pressed two fingers to her left temple, and then glanced over at me oddly from behind her sunglasses. I realized that she now knew where we were headed at this point. So it was true, then; she did have that 'sight' or whatever the hell they called it. I could tell that she wanted to say something by the way that she had shifted in the seat, but she remained silent, the only noise between us the music playing in the car and the hum of the engine as I continued to drive. Neither one of us had spoken all that much during the ride, but I already knew by now that Jacqueline, like me, wasn't really one for words.

Jacqueline. My mind had started referring to her as that more and more, rather than just 'Adams'. I knew this wasn't a good thing. Fury's words from our last conversation continued to ring in my head.

When we had reached our destination, she finally spoke what I assumed she had been holding in. "This is where you were planning to take us?"

I turned off the car and looked over at her. Her sunglasses were still covering her eyes, so now that I was facing her I couldn't entirely read her expression, but her tone suggested that she wasn't all that pissed, just mostly confused. I was beginning to this that this might have still been a terrible move after all when she chuckled and removed the black aviators from her face, the light reflecting off her eyes and causing them to almost glow.

"You're not so bad, Barton."

Well, that was unexpected.

I took her response as a good sign and got out of the car, walking around to the passenger's side and opening the door before she had the chance to do it herself. She stood up out of the car and I dropped the keys into her hand.

"And you can be a gentleman too?" she added, locking the doors as she did so. When she turned back around to face me I shrugged.

"I wouldn't say it's impossible. But let's not look over the fact that you have a damn nice car and there's the possibility that I could just be subtly trying to convince you to let me take it off your hands."

She began walking across the parking lot toward the grey building ahead ahead of us, purposely brushing her shoulder into me as she passed. Her brown hair swayed slightly as she walked, and I noticed underneath the small silver gagues in her ears when she turned her head back around to where I stood. "Well, if that's the case, you're not being very subtle. How'd you know I actually liked coming here?"

"I didn't. But you seem like the type of person that would enjoy shooting a few rounds to let off some steam every now and then." I followed behind her as we neared the entrance of the shooting range, which was about twenty minutes outside of the city. Of course she liked going there. It was a place she could train to kill, and get away with it. I had checked the place out a couple of days after I'd first arrived in Manhattan, but as with almost everyone else I'd spoken to, no one there knew of anything different about her other than that she was a pretty good shot from what they had seen. Really? I had no idea.