Insanity

Chapter 13

Song: Wake Up by Hush Kids

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"Open my eyes, there 
are stories outside."

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The next day. . .

Natalia would never admit it, but she quietly sobbed almost the entire flight to New York. She had begun to wonder if James was right, if that was the last time they'd see each other. But she knew she couldn't allow herself to think toxic things like that; no, she would get this job done and she would go home, it was as simple as that.

Hydra had already managed to track down Rebecca Barnes, so that was at least one less thing that Natalia had to do. She wasn't grateful for Hydra's work in finding the old woman, however, because she really, truly didn't want to kill her. Natalia, being the naturally nosy person she was, had snuck a peek at the file regarding Rebecca, a widow who currently worked in a book store in New York City, or NYC as the Americans called it. Natalia assumed she kept her last name upon marrying, or she took it back when her husband passed away. She was born May 2nd, 1925 and was currently 77 years old and according to the file, had several other siblings - the eldest being a brother named James Buchanan Barnes.

The thought of having to kill James's own sister, a sister he didn't even know he had and a sister who thought he had died in the war, made Natalia nauseous. So she tried not to think of it. She tried not to think of it as she loaded her pistols with ammunition or put new batteries in her earpiece. She tried not to consider where the first bullet in her gun would be in just a few hours. She wasn't killing James's only surviving sister, she was assassinating a threat to Hydra's security. She told herself over and over again that this was just another mission, just another day at work. Just another thing she could get through.

But she was wrong.

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Agent Clint Barton was new to S.H.I.E.L.D. and was rather surprised when he was called to Director Fury's office that warm morning in May. The coffee clutched in his shaking hand had grown cold from the nerves of being unable to take more than a few sips, so he opted to set it down before going into the room. He gave himself a careful once-over, smoothing his impossibly untamed hair back with his hand and making sure his hearing aids were firmly in place; he didn't want to miss a word, after all. But even then, he still had yet to find any hearing aids strong enough so a majority of the time, he either read lips or watched an ASL person signing madly away in an obscure corner so as not to rudely distract those with crystal-clear hearing. He chuckled to himself at the thought of some angry woman coming up to him at the end of a theater show to complain that his disability had disrupted her show, as if he didn't pay the same price she did to get in. He always found it amusing how the moment someone wasn't the center of attention, anything unusual that happened was suddenly a disruption or an unprofessional look.

Clint always liked to say his poor hearing was why he wanted to be someone different, because clearly being ordinary would never work out for him. Maybe that's why he joined the circus; the kids at school had always called him a clown, anyway. Go big or go home, right? And Director Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. had even offered him a position as an agent for the agency, after seeing him perform archery and tricks with his circus crew and afterward defending a kid who was being teased by a group of teenagers. It wasn't Clint's best performance and he wasn't sure why Director Fury even bothered but so far, it seemed to be working out.

Clint knocked on Director Fury's door twice - he felt twice wasn't too eager, but also not too unwilling. A strong, booming voice from the other side called "Enter!" and Clint took one last chug of the bitterly cold coffee before stepping inside.