Games of Deception (Hawkeye/Avengers)

Chapter 20 - Decisions

-Jacqueline's P.O.V-

When Clint led me into the lab, a nervousness I hadn't realized I was withholding began to make itself known by the knots in my stomach as I glanced around at the various high-tech equipment and computers that filled the room. Off to the right in the center of one of the tables, some sort of gold spear-looking thing was propped up from the surface of the table. It looked pretty important, so I assumed it must have had something to do with this other guy that S.H.I.E.L.D. was apparently after. They better be explaining some things if they expect me to do anything. Clint moved his hand away from the small of my back as he opened the door and let me inside, glancing at me to make sure I was still okay with being there. As a silent answer, I stepped farther into the room.

Most of the walls were all glass and anyone could easily see in or out of the room, so I'd already caught a glimpse of the two men inside. One that I didn't recognize had his head down, typing on one of the computers off to the far side of the room, and the other I immediately recognized as Tony Stark.

"This her?" he asked, nodding toward me as he looked up from yet another computer screen. Clint nodded back in response, and Tony took a few steps over to where we had stopped, scanning me over.

"You don't look like I thought you would." he commented, glancing down at his cell phone that he held in his hand and pressing a few keys, obviously already busy with something. Or just rude, I wasn't sure yet.

I blinked back at him. "What's that got to do wi-"

"You look better," he lifted his head up again. "Tony Stark." he added, not really acknowledging my question and holding out a hand to me. I noticed Clint send a slight glare to him out of the corner of my eye, but his intention for it wasn't really readable. I shook Tony's hand anyway.

"...Jacqueline." I replied, smiling back weakly at him. By this time, the other man in the room had stepped over, adjusting his glasses as he did so.

"Dr. Banner, but you can just call me Bruce." I shook his hand as well, finding that it was easier to return his kind smile to him than with Tony.

Clint sent me another quick glance. "I'll be on the bridge." he stated. Bruce nodded to him and he turned and left the lab, closing the heavy door behind him. I turned back to Bruce, who rubbed his hands together in a somewhat anxious manner.

"So, I guess you know why you're here?" I nodded, and he gestured toward a chair off to the left side of the room.

"Have a seat, then." I did as told, dropping down into the chair and letting out a quick sigh. A few agents passed by as I sat there, a couple giving me peculiar glances but the rest seeming to rush back and forth.

A few moments later Bruce stepped over to where I sat, and I tensed upon seeing the syringe he was holding in his hands. He seemed to notice this a gave me a small, reassuring smile.

"Just taking blood," he explained. I still sucked in a nervous breath, however, and leaned forward in the chair a bit. Although I didn't get why he was trying to be nice, considering he knew the circumstances as to why I was there, he made me feel a bit more at ease with the situation.

"Oh." I rolled up the right sleeve of my shirt a bit and forced myself to keep my breathing steady as I felt the needle break through my skin; this wasn't an environment I was exactly comfortable being in. Not that I had a choice.

"So what, you read minds too?" Tony asked, and when I looked over to him I saw my name at the top of the computer screen he was looking at. Was it really that easy to find information about me now? Had it always been?

"No," I replied, unsure of how to answer. "More like...I see things that are going to happen. Sometimes I can change the outcome of things, but I'm never sure." I thought back to the time Mariah's ex had come into the café a couple months ago, and wondered for a moment if somehow she would find out what had happened to me. No, S.H.I.E.L.D. wouldn't put out information like that.