Chapter 7: To be the apple of their eyes

I woke up back in that same goddamn cell, or at least I thought it was the same one. For all I knew they could have had more than one cell that looked like this. That's when my mind caught up with me and I remembered exactly what had happened last night. My mother…she was, she was dead. I was never going to see her again. Killed by that bastard I called a father for 15 years.

I choked back a sob, the lump in my throat pushing its way up trying to make me cry. I sat up from my piece of shit bed (if you can call it that) and noticed that they'd left me a sandwich and some water. I didn't have the appetite to eat anything.

I leaned back against the wall and tucked my knees up to my chin. My fight was gone from me. I didn't care what happened to me now. I couldn't even bring myself to care about whether they were gonna throw me in a cell forever, or worse. I didn't care what interview tactics they used, what trump card they had set up, whether they would even go as far as torture. I just didn't care. All I wanted at that moment was to have my mother here with me, alive.

After a while I was taken back to the interview room. My head remained focussed on the ground, my shoulders hunched over, remaining that way as I took a seat across from Director Coulson. I knew he had a speech prepared which didn't bother me, I wasn't planning on saying anything anyway.

"I'm sorry about what happened to you."

That lump in my throat was really making its presence felt now.

"Believe it or not, the people in the Avengers tower want to help you. They want to help you get a normal life, or at least a life that's a bit more normal. But you have to let them help you. They won't help if you're not willing to be helped."

I nodded, my gaze still focussed fully on the table. I didn't dare open my mouth, I knew what would happen if I tried to talk.

"For the sake of bureaucracy, I have to you a choice as to what happens now. We're gonna let you leave if you want, you can walk right out of here. We'll even give you 24 hours head start before we come after you and we hunt you down like any other rogue assassin. Upon capture, and you will be captured, you'll be treated like any other criminal we bring in, your destination upon arriving would all depend on whether you were alive or dead. Walk out of here now, and we will wipe it off your record who your parents are, Jessica Barton will be formerly declared dead, and you will be treated as an unknown.

"Or, and this is the option I recommend you take, you go back to the tower. We'll have to tighten up security obviously, we'll probably even confine you to your parents' floor for a while, but largely the same rules as before apply.

"Give them a chance this time, Jessica."

He got up, came over to my side of the table and undid my handcuffs and leg shackles. He left the room, taking them with him, leaving the door wide open.

I looked up for the first time since coming in here, staring at the open door. He was right, I could just walk out of here, start a fresh, maybe even set up my own mini assassin business. But even as I was considering all the possibilities of potential freedom, I knew I just didn't have the fight left in me to carry it out. I didn't have the energy to go on the run, and deep down I knew I didn't even want to anyway.

So I just sat there, waiting for something to happen. But the lump was still in my throat and now I had no reason to hold it back.

I burst into tears.

After what felt like about an hour I calmed down and tried to clean my face. That was when Coulson came back, stood at the door and simply said, "You made the right choice." before walking away again. A SHIELD agent then entered to re-cuff me and take me back to my cell.

During my 'questioning' they had put a fresh set of clothes on my bed, I guess they wanted me to look nice for my return to the real world.