Games of Deception (Hawkeye/Avengers)

Chapter 16 - A Change of Plans

-Clint's P.O.V-

I swerved my car off of the road and into an empty, abandoned parking lot, turning off all of the light coming from the car except for a screen which, after a few quick button presses and passwords revealed itself from behind the radio, Director Fury's usual stone-cold expression seeming to be on the edges of cracking. He was in one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s trucks, and I could see a glimpse of Agent Coulson as he climbed into the driver's side and slammed the door shut, the brief frantic spinning of wheels could be heard as he began to drive. Both were obviously shaken up.

"Orders, sir?" I asked, not even yet being informed of the details of what had happened. I knew that whatever it was, it definitely wasn't good.

"You are to stay where you are for now. We're going to make some adjustments to our targeted agent's schedule, so that we can still set up Adams and get her contained here. We don't need any more lunatics on the loose. Coulson will be in the city tomorrorw night to consult with Mr. Stark, you're going to follow him out then. As far as your mission goes everything else is to stay the same.

"Consult with..." it was then that I fully realized the weight of what he was saying. "So you're saying that the Avengers Initiative is--"

"This isn't about the Avengers, but we're going to need a response team of their believed caliber to handle this. I'm sending Scagilla and Romanoff for Doctor Banner, and I'll take care of Rogers likely once you're out of town. This isn't anything like we've ever dealt with before. We'll need to be on high alert at all times, but I want your main focus to be on Adams until she's with us." He glanced out the window, then turned back to the screen, casting an unusual glare. "Not that that will be a problem for you, will it, Agent Barton?"

If that was his way of saying he knew about the things that had been going on between Jacqueline and I, I was most likely screwed. For once, I had no idea what to say to him. "Uh, no, sir, I--"

"Save it, Barton. We've got bigger things to deal with right now. I'll have someone send you the details so you'll be completely up to speed with things." He let out a heavy sigh, leaning slightly as Agent Coulson swerved around a corner. "Get some sleep tonight while you can, you're going to need it."

I was in darkness once again. I still wasn't entirely aware of what had happened, and it was already a hell of a lot to take in. A war? And now, they wanted everyone back at base, and Jacqueline...I had no idea what Fury would want to do with her now. Not to mention the whole idea of bringing back the whole Avengers thing...yep, this is bad.

Sure enough, as soon as I'd gotten back to the apartment, several files were sent to me about what had been going on. I pulled all of them up at the same time and projected them onto the wall, watching in shock as the scene that had taken place perhaps just a few hours ago played out in front of me. I saw a man with black hair and strange looking armor wielding some sort of staff that shot down several of the workers in the lab where the Tesseract was being held, which was now completely destroyed and buried under what was probably hundreds if not thousands of feet of rock and rubble. According to the files, the man was Loki, another god from Asgard and apparently Thor's brother. He'd taken Dr. Selvig and several S.H.I.E.L.D. members under some sort of mind control and made off with them and the Tesseract. They were still searching for them now, still unsure of what exactly he planned to do with the Tesseract's energy, but knowing that it definitely wasn't something in our interests.

"Focus on your mission, Clint." I mumbled to myself, scanning over the information again to make certain that I hadn't missed anything important. The good news was, all I had to do here was make sure that Jacqueline would be aware of the change in her own mission so that we could finally get her in our custody. I wondered how she would deal with it, knowing how she had been acting for the last few weeks. We would have to be especially cautious, because now that she had discovered her powers there was no telling how she would react. It was strange to remind myself of how dangerous she truly was, after all the time that I'd spent with her trying to convince myself otherwise. I knew I'd have to face the truth at some point, which was why I was so angry with the fact that I'd allowed myself to fall into the trap; I couldn't be with her after this. I couldn't discern if it was just a game anymore, or if it was real.