Lie To Me

This is it! The third installment of the Your Lie universe! This is sadly a work in progress. Mostly because I don't have it all written out…it's all plotted though…it's just a matter of me writing it all out. I have a pretty hectic schedule so I can't promise my updates will be as fast as my normal pace. I'm thinking one post per week.

Support is appreciated! Also if someone wants to be my beta for this that would be highly appreciated. I have tough classes this semester and I don't know how much time I'm going to have to reread my work and catch everything (and my grammar could use work even if I reread things ^^)

Thanks so much! I hope the wait was worth it!

Chapter One

They stayed up on the roof for hours. Clint hadn't spoken to them the entire time and he was grateful that they didn't push him to talk. Behind him Clint heard low voices and on some level he knew he was the topic of discussion, but he didn't particularly care what was being said. Instead he sat near the edge of the roof, as far away from the strangers as possible and watched the sky.

The stars were brilliant. Like tiny light bulbs punched through black and blue painted paper. It wasn't like he didn't know stars were made of plasma and held together by gravity – or something like that. He knew the facts; he'd just never seen it with his own eyes. At least not since he'd lost his memory.

Now that Clint had witnessed life outside of concrete walls he was less willing to give it up. The idea of going back inside made his heart hurt even though the night air had chilled him to his core. What if they never let him outside again?

"Damn it's cold." He heard someone announce behind him, but Clint didn't turn around to see who it was. Vaguely he realized he must be cold if he couldn't match names to voices. It had been easy for him to remember names and faces before.

"Clint, are you cold? Maybe we should go inside?" It was Tony, Clint decided. The owner of the voice was male and had too much confidence to be Dr. Banner.

He shivered in reply but didn't move to stand up.

"We could always come back up here tomorrow." Stark persisted. "You know, when it's not freezing as hell."

"I was under the impression that hell was hot." Clint replied flatly.

There were a few snickers before Tony responded. "How would I know? I've never been to hell. The point is we should go inside where humans live."

Clint sighed and he was surprised when he could see his breathe. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to go back indoors. He looked behind him and saw three worried faces. Well, two worried faces and Natasha who seemed like an expert at hiding her true feelings.

"Fine." He responded and moved to stand. He lost balance rather spectacularly as the world tilted at an awkward angle. Hands appeared and helped him stay upright as Clint's world righted it's self. "Thanks." He mumbled and looked back into Natasha's concerned eyes. Maybe she wasn't as good at masking her emotions as Clint thought. Or maybe for some reason she didn't care if he saw what she was really feeling.

Or maybe he just knew her more than he could remember.

"You may have stood up too quickly." The doctor suggested with a wince. "Or you could be experiencing the first signs of withdrawal."

"I'm not taking any more pills." Clint growled and Dr. Banner seemed to accept it.

"I'm not saying that you have to, but we need to flush your system with water. It'll shorten the rather unpleasant experience."

Clint's eyes dropped down. "I'd rather be alone." He announced softly and Natasha stepped back to give him space. "I mean, is there a room – you said I lived here?" He glanced at Tony imploringly.

"Your room, right!" Tony clapped his hands together loudly and Clint flinched back as the sharp sound assaulted his ears. "Sorry. I know what it's like to have a killer hangover."

Dr. Banner frowned deeply. "Withdrawal is far more serious than a hangover, Tony."

"I'll live." Clint shrugged and Natasha, for some reason, smiled. "What?" He asked her curiously as they started to lead him back inside.

"Nothing." She said but her smile barely faded. "You just sounded like 'you' again." She shrugged a shoulder and they walked down the stairs to the elevator. Clint hesitated and fidgeted. "Is there another way down?" He asked. Although he was fairly sure that his former self didn't mind using the elevator he wasn't particularly fond of how cramped it was.

"Um." Stark fumbled but nodded. "Yeah, there's the emergency stairway." He pointed towards a door. "Regulations and all that, every building has one."

"We'll meet you guys down there." Natasha announced and moved to open the door. Clint dropped his head a bit and followed, silently relieved that no one had really commented.

Mr. Stark and Dr. Banner both remained in the elevator as Natasha lead the way down the first flight of stairs.

"I'm sorry." Clint spoke after a while.

Natasha looked back at him as she paused for him to catch up. "You don't have to explain." She offered kindly.

"No, I – I just felt closed in." He shrugged and avoided her gaze. For some reason he wanted to talk to her, but he didn't know why. Maybe it was like with Reese. There was something about her that drew him in. "Trapped. Was I – uh, claustrophobic before?"

"No." Natasha answered – there was no pain. Maybe it had gone away, Clint thought to himself. Maybe whatever the chemical had done had been cured. Maybe he no longer could tell if people were telling the truth.

Clint honestly wouldn't miss the 'gift' at all.

When Clint didn't respond Natasha continued. "Actually you quite enjoyed wandering around in the air ducts."

"Is that even safe?" Clint asked with his eyebrows knit together with question. They both continued their slow decent as Clint fell in step beside the redhead.

"You were really good at it." Natasha informed him with a wink. "It was a handy skill for what we do."

Clint swallowed thickly and stopped on his step. Natasha looked back at him curiously and he forced himself to talk. "What is it that we do?" He asked as he felt beads of sweat break out on his forehead.

Natasha looked almost sympathetic as her mask crumbled. "You are an Agent of SHIELD."

"SHIELD? And what does an agent of SHIELD do?" Clint's eyes narrowed as his heart twisted in anticipation.

"We do a variety of different things." Natasha answered lightly. The back of Clint's mind prickled, but it wasn't painful – not yet.

"Please?" Clint just wanted an answer. Preferably a truthful one not that he could tell anymore.

"We're spies. Assassins." Natasha answered.

There it was. Affirmation. Reese wasn't the first person he had killed. His heart bleed silently, maybe he didn't want to remember who he was before.

"Okay." Clint answered, too tired to deal with the revelation in the moment.

Natasha looked skeptical. "We killed those who threatened the safety of others." She told him, there was that prickling feeling again. It made Clint think that she was skirting around the truth, but in what direction?

He shook his head and brushed past her silently.

They continued without further conversation, which was acceptable to Clint. Eventually Natasha whistled to alert him that he was about the pass by the correct door.

They exited the stairway and Clint was surprised to see a rather homey looking room. Large floor to ceiling windows lined the wall and the open space had couches and a large flat screen TV.

Natasha caught his eyes after he thoroughly looked around the room. "This is the living area, we share it."

"We? Mr. Stark, the doctor and you?"

"And Captain America," Natasha added. "And a demi god."

"A – what?" Clint's jaw dropped.

"Well, when he visits." Stark joined their conversation easily as he and Dr. Banner entered the space. "He actually lives off world."

"Off world." Clint repeated with a deep frown. That was a lie. It had to be. It also answered his unanswered questions. Clint sighed at the realization; they were all lying to him. Clint's eyes dropped as he let the truth sink in. At least the lies didn't hurt like the truth had. Maybe it was for the best that they weren't telling him the truth.

Still, everything had felt almost right, up until now. Gods on other worlds – it was a bold lie with blinking neon lights.

"Tony, don't overwhelm him." The doctor scorned lightly before he offered a smile to Clint. "Your room is just down this way."

"It's across from mine." Natasha added as the group headed in that direction.

Clint nodded, but didn't feel relieved at the idea of sleeping across the hall from a killer. Were they all SHIELD assassins? Dr. Banner didn't really look like the killing type – but what did Clint know?

He frowned when he remembered she had been lying – there had been no pain, after all, so maybe none of them were killers after all. Well except for him. He killed Reese with his bare hands.

Clint was confused.

"Here we are." Tony announced and stood on the other side of the door. The others gave Clint space to open the door himself.

Nervously Clint reached out and turned the knob. Inside Clint looked around the space that was supposedly his. There was little to no personal looking items – at least nothing that a normal person would have. Well, what Clint believed should be normal.

The room they had walked into was large and open with one wall made of huge windows that over looked the city. Two rooms were visible off to the right from where he stood. One appeared to have an arsenal of weaponry and the other was a simple bedroom. The bedspread was black and like in the main room it had a floor to ceiling window overlooking the city. It was breathtaking. Much more open than his cement cell had been before.

More and more Clint was at a loss of what to believe. Randle's threats weren't realized. Clint still had what little memories he had managed to gather and his life seemed to be improving instead of his freedoms being taken away.

Carefully Clint looked around the space. There were no personal pictures to prove his friendship with these people but a few abstract paintings of bird feathers.

"Those are an inside joke." Stark informed him when Clint's eyes lingered. "You refused to decorate so I got Pepper to order these for you."

Clint frowned and turned back to him. "Pepper?" He caught the tone when Stark said the name – loss. Maybe a girlfriend who died? Or wife?

"Um, old girlfriend." Tony answered. Once again there was a prickling sensation in the back of Clint's mind.

"Okay." Clint accepted quietly.

Dr. Banner stepped closer again. "You need to drink a lot of water. I'm not sure what exactly they had you on but I suspect that the withdrawal isn't going to be pretty simply by the amount of drugs in your system."

"I'll handle it." Clint replied. "I'd like to be alone, though."

"Are you sure?" Stark asked with concern.

"Clint," Doctor Banner spoke hesitantly. "I know that what you went through was traumatic, but you don't need to do this alone. We can help you."

"I just – " Clint looked away stubbornly. "I don't know who to trust." He admitted.

In the reflection of the glass window he saw the group exchange looks.

"If you need us, just ask Jarvis." Stark finally spoke up.

Confusion slipped over Clint's expression again as he turned to look at them once more. "Jarvis?" He asked with a lost sigh. "Is that the demi god?"

"Certainly not, Agent Barton." A male British voice filled the room and Clint jumped violently.

"The hell?" He yelped and looked around – no one new had entered the room.

"My apologies, Agent Barton, it was not my intention to frighten you." Jarvis's voice sounded again.

"Oh yeah, you don't remember." Stark said. He actually sounded remorseful for overlooking – whatever was happening. "That's my AI. Jarvis. He's like a butler but not. Ask him anything and he'll answer you."

"Can – " Clint swallowed and took a minute to look at each of them. "Can I? Please, I just want to be alone."

Even Natasha looked crestfallen after his request.

"Alright, Clint." Natasha spoke after a long pause. "We will leave you alone, but if you need us for anything just ask Jarvis. He can tell you where we are or he can call us to come help you."

"I would be happy to assist you." The British voice spoke again.

"Yeah, fine." Clint responded and took a step back, he felt crowded again.

Reluctantly Natasha shooed the other two out of Clint's 'room' and finally he was alone.

Clint looked at the door as it closed and his eyes lit up when he saw the lock. Immediately he stepped forward to slip the lock into place. Before Clint hadn't been able to choose who came and went into his room; this was a nice change. Although Clint was certain that the people beyond the door could get inside his room if they tried, it was nice to have some semblance of protection.

Alone Clint looked around his apartment once more.

Nothing felt personal to him. He walked into the arsenal room and glanced at the different weapons mounted on the three walls inside. There were three bows mounted, two sniper rifles, one shotgun, several handguns and a small but impressive collection of knives – all of which he knew the names to and what caliber of bullets they required but had no memory of when or why they were purchased.

There were a few cases stacked and several boxes – all filled with ammo.

"Fuck." He cursed to himself. He really was an assassin – spy, whatever.

Did that mean they were telling the truth? A demi-god, really? Clint's head felt like it was about to explode.

That or all these weapons were planted, but who would do that? It wasn't exactly safe to give someone the ability to defend themselves in a hostile situation. Not that Clint was sure he'd be able to use any of the equipment.

Nausea made itself known and suddenly all Clint wanted to do was lay down until everything went away. With a heavy heart he left the weapons room as he entered it and closed the door so he wouldn't be reminded of how easy it had been for him to snap Reese's neck.

Clint moved into his bedroom and without much exploring lay down on the bed.

I've missed you guys! ^^