Games of Deception (Hawkeye/Avengers)

Chapter 19 - Vices

-Clint's P.O.V-

It was some time in the evening when I made my way down the series of halls on the Helicarrier leading to where they were keeping her. Fury had sent out Nat along with Captain Steve Rogers to Germany in one of the jets to hunt down Loki.

Sending a guy who's been trapped in ice for 70 years to fight some supposed god that has possession of an energy source that could potentially wipe out the entire planet. Because that's gonna work out well. And Tony Stark still had yet to show. I was beginning to wonder about the actual reliability of this so-called 'team' Fury was putting together.

I turned the final corner and stopped in front of her cell, looking through the window before deciding whether to open the door. She was sitting in a corner, appearing deep in thought and staring down at her hands. I watched as they flashed for a moment, then faded back to their normal color. She was still having trouble, then. Fury had already told Dr. Banner about what was going on, so while searching for the Tesseract he was also working on something that would hopefully help Jacqueline be able to control her power. If she agreed to help us and could figure out how to utilize her power within the next couple days, Fury had agreed to let her go if all went well. If not...

I let out a sigh when I realized that she'd seen me, her expression instantly changing although she didn't make an effort to leave her spot at the back of the room. I was a bit hesitant to be in the same room as her, not knowing what she was still capable of doing.

But she'd already seen me and didn't seem intent on trying anything, so taking in a breath I unlocked the door and stepped inside. She wasn't planning on acknowledging me, but settled on staring at the wall across from her. As I moved closer to her I saw how much different she looked from the last time we'd been together. Her face was nearly colorless, her eyes bloodshot, her entire body showing that she had finally been defeated. It was like all of the life had been sucked out of her. Knowing I was in part to blame only made it worse. When I joined S.H.I.E.L.D. I knew that I would be obligated to do things that would go against my own conscience, but nothing had ever affected me as much as what I'd done to her.

"I'm not going to try anything, if that's what you're wondering." She broke the silence in the room, her voice distant and empty. I stared down at her for a moment, easing my hand off the gun at my side and sliding my back down the wall across from her, sitting on the hard metal floor.

She was staring down at her hands again, refusing to look at me. I didn't know what to say to her. Hell, I didn't even know why I'd gone down there in the first place. There wasn't much I could do at that point.

"Is it all really true?" she asked, more quietly than the first time she'd spoken. I nodded once, although she didn't see me.

"Afraid so." I answered, making sure to choose my words carefully. "You really didn't know?"

I tensed when I saw sparks shooting from her fingertips, but she huffed in frustration when they flickered out. "I always knew, my fucked up mind was just keeping me from seeing it. And now," her hands began to glow again, "I can't even figure out how the hell to control myself." The blue light faded out again, and she cursed to herself.

"We're going to try to fix that." I stated, not knowing if she was already aware of the fact. She finally met my eyes for the first time, and I waited for her to reply as she looked at me questioningly.

"You want me to believe that? You're just keeping me here until you figure out a creative way to kill me." She said it as if the idea of the words coming out of her mouth meant nothing to her.

I let out another sigh, searching my thoughts to find the right words. "Fury just wanted to make you vulnerable. He does that. The truth is, we need your help. But it's going to take your willingness to let us help you first."