Ghost (Hawkeye's Daughter)

Ch9: The Man with a Temper

A/N: Because there is a lot of Hindi spoken in this chapter, I will not be putting it into the language with a translation beside it. Instead, I will write the English word but it will be in bold so when you see bold text, it's in Hindi. Enjoy :3

Riley's POV

The mission was in action. I sprinted down the busy street towards were the Doctor was located. I was wearing a plain beige dress as I tried to blend in with the locals. Through the com system, I could hear Natasha directing me. She didn't want me to have to do this, especially after what happened but work was work and if I didn't do this, we would get no nearer to finding him and the Tesseract. Once I arrived at the house Dr. Banner's patients lived in, a woman spoke to me and it was time to put on my act. "Who are you? Get out! There is sickness here!" she didn't sound angry but concerned for my health, she must be the mother. "Are you a doctor? I need help, please!" That got the man's attention who stood behind her as I continued, "My father is sick! He won't wake up and has a high temperature and sounds in agony but he won't stop sleeping!" "Slow down." he says kindly in his less perfected Indian accent. I took a breath, "My father needs help..." "Like them?" I looked to where he pointed and saw two sick children. I felt a pang of guilt for taking the Doctor away from them but it was a few lives to save millions. I nodded and asked in a desperate voice, holding up the money in my fist, "Please..."

He followed me to the small shack we were based at the other side of City. Avoiding military, for both our sakes, we finally reached our destination. As we entered, he soon realised it was empty. "I'm sorry I wasn't honest but I still need your help." he turned to me as I spoke in perfect English in an American accent he realised it was a set up. He sighed and muttered to himself, "You should've got paid up front Banner." "You know, for a man who's supposed to be avoiding stress, you sure picked a hell of a place to settle." Natasha finally showed herself. "Avoiding stress isn't the secret." "So is it yoga then?" I asked with a slight smirk. He looked back at me as the cogs turned in his head. "You brought me to the edge of the City," he walked towards the window and glanced out, "I assume the whole place is surrounded?" He was anxious, I could tell, and searching for an escape as he walked. "Just you and me." Nat seemed to forget me. Don't insult his smarts Natasha, it's obvious it's surrounded. I thought as he turned and acknowledge I was still there (unlike some *cough* Natasha *cough*).

"And your actress buddy?" He pointed to me and asked me, "Are you a spy, too? They start that young?" I looked down and muttered, "It's a long story." "I did." added in Nat so he wouldn't ask about it. "Who are you?" he questioned as the tense atmosphere lessened slightly. "Natasha Romanoff." "Riley Barton." We both answered. He was silent for a moment as he rubbed his hands. "Are you here to kill me, Ms. Roman and Miss Barton? Because that's not going to work out for everyone." His use of language let me know he knew people were listening in. "Don't worry Doc, we're not here to hurt you. We're here on behalf of S.H.I.E.L.D." I reassure him, or at least attempted to. "S.H.I.E.L.D." Bruce muttered, trying the word out, before questioning, "How'd they find me?" "We never lost you, Doctor. We've kept our distance. Even helped keep some other interested parties off your sent." Geez, Nat, can you sound any more like Fury? "Why?" "Nick Fury seems to trust you, but now we need you to come in." I don't think Natasha realised how threatening that sounded, it was almost like she was arresting the man for no apparent reason.

"And what if I say no?" He was even more on edge than before. "I'll persuade you." He paused and said, almost threateningly, "And what if the... Other Guy says no?" "It's been over a year without an incident and I know that you don't want to break that streak." I answer calmly. He was testing us, I knew it so I didn't let him phase me. "Well, I don't every time get what I want." Enough with the chit-chat, we need to get moving. "Doctor, we are facing a potential global catastrophe." He chuckled, "Well, those I actively try to avoid." Nat walked to the table to sit down, "This," she pushed her phone toward him, "Is the Tesseract." "It's energy could potentially destroy the earth." I finished for her as he looked at the picture on screen. "What does Fury want me to do? Swallow it?" "He wants you do find it. It's been taken." she let me continue as I knew the technical stuff. "The Tesseract gives a gamma signature that's too weak for us to trace. We have many great scientists but you are the most familiar with that field of work. If there was someone better, we'd be there instead."

He took in the information before checking, "So Fury isn't after the monster?" So many damn questions! "Not that he's told us." "And he tells you everything?" "Talk to Fury, he needs you on this." Nat was getting more desperate and I saw Bruce was planning something in his head. "He needs me in a cage?" "No one's going to put you in a-" but she was cut off from a sudden outburst from the doctor. "STOP LYING TO ME!" I didn't flinch or move. I knew what he was doing. Natasha on the other hand cocked her gun and directed it at his face. I tried to keep in my laughter but I couldn't. "Loosen up, Nat. He's just testing us." I chuckled to her reaction. He smirked, "I'm sorry, that was mean. I just wanted to see what you'd do." Her gun was still raised so he continued and I stopped laughing. "Why don't we do this the easy way where you don't use that, and the Other Guy doesn't make a mess, okay? Natasha?" She took a moment and dropped her gun to her side as I spoke, "Stand down, We're good here," into the coms. Banner smirked again. "Just you and me." he quoted. After those events, he agreed to help so we escorted him to the quinjet and flew back to D.C.