Thank you to all those who participated in the contest! (and those who didn't, yet still reviewed!)
WITH JACKSON:
Jackson slumped in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest, "So, you're the Dr. Acula that everyone keeps complaining about."
The therapist raised an eyebrow, "Yes, I guess so. But we're here to talk about you. How are you feeling?"
Jackson sighed, "Better… I haven't been able to sleep since… you know."
"Is it painful to talk about?"
"It's painful to think about!" Jackson snapped. "Every time I try to sleep, I just keep hearing him scream. I remember… I wanted so bad to lead that team, and when Brantley, the one who got what I've been wanting for months, couldn't take that shot… I just thought, that I could step up, you know? Show everyone I could be more than her… that I was the better choice to lead. But you know what?"
"What?"
"I don't want to be leader anymore." Jackson whispered, "After I got home, I started bawling me eyes out. I couldn't stop crying. It was… Brantley's job to make sure no one on our team got hurt… and she did good, for the most part, but me… I don't think I'll ever be okay again."
"I see."
"And that was just one shot she didn't take! One mistake she made! What if… what if there had been more? What if She hadn't figured out Clyde had gotten kidnapped and taken outside? What if she hadn't ordered Jade downstairs? When you're leader… everyone's life depends on you… we all depended on Brantley and… she got through it."
Jackson looked up at Dr. Acula, "I don't want anyone to ever depend on me like we did on her. I know now, why they chose her to lead this team. I don't blame her for not taking the shot… if I had known how much it would have hurt afterwards… I wouldn't have either."
"Brantley resigned from her position."
Jackson looked up, "Wait, what!?"
"Apparently Agent Evans felt she wasn't suited for S.H.I.E.L.D. Special Ops, and she moved to S.H.I.E.L.D. Investigations."
Jackson jumped up, "No!"
WITH CLINT:
Clint hesitantly knocked on Brantley's office door, "Uh, kid?"
"Come on in Clint." Brantley called.
Clint stepped in, it had been two days since Brantley had gotten her office, and she had practically moved into it. He hadn't seen her much, and the stacks of paperwork all over her desk were to blame. Brantley had overestimated how much paperwork came with the job, but she had risen to the occasion. And had found herself the victim of several agents who despised paper work, seen her knack for it, and had bribed her into doing some of theirs for them.
"Congratulations on the new office Brantley." Said one such agent, stepping in, setting another stack of papers down on Brantley's desk. She had to stand on tip toe to do it, Brantley's desk was about three feet off the ground.
"Thanks Rebecca." Brantley responded, holding up the finished blue binder she had been scribbling in for the past twenty minutes, "Here, take this to Elisabeth for me, will you?"
"Which Elisabeth, the one we all call Liz, or the one we all call Beth?"
"Liz."
"Oh! Is it about her advances in hacking into an Afghanistan Terrorist facility?"
"If I told you, I'd have to kill you." Brantley shot down.
Rebecca took the folder, "Got it. Top secret, by the way, that's my summary of your friend Jade's mental evaluation, done by DR. Acula, if you want to edit it to make sure she passes her official induction into S.H.I.E.L.D. Special Ops, I won't tell a soul."
"Doubt it's necessary." Brantley mumbled. "Jade can make that guy give her a perfect evaluation."
Rebecca nodded, "Oh yeah, I know. Jade's profiled me before.. Out loud, in front of a lot of agents… I never knew I was gender confused until she told me… now I'm just… confused."
Brantley rolled her eyes, "I'm gonna have to talk to Jade about brainwashing agents just to amuse herself."
Rebecca paused, "Wait so, I'm not gender confused?"
"No, Jade was just bored, and when Jade is bored, suddenly a completely sane man is a sociopath, and a humble agent is suddenly convinced she's an egomaniac." Brantley groaned.
Rebecca sighed in relief, "Oh thank God!"
"Rebecca, you're a twenty-seven year old woman, who's never been confused about that once in her life!" Brantley pointed out, "And suddenly just because some therapist says you're gender confused, you believe it?"
"Well… she was really convincing." Rebecca mumbled.
Brantley paused, "I just might have to edit her evaluation after all."
Clint cleared his throat, "Uh, Brantley…"
Rebecca got the message, "Right, out I go!"
"Whacha need?" Brantley asked.
"Well, I wanted to ask if-"
The door suddenly opened, "Uh, Brantley, there's a Mr. Weaver asking to see you."
Clint stared at the woman, late thirties, dark brown hair kept up in a bun, black pencil skirt, white blouse, high heels, typical desk job attire. "You have a secretary!?"
"Well, she's not my personal secretary, she works for my whole unit." Brantley explained, "All the Investigations agents who just start out, she's like a nanny. What's he want Eleanor?"
"To talk to you." Eleanor said, "And he's quite handsome."
Brantley gave her a look, "Keep your skirt on Eleanor."
"Sorry, but he's quite the catch." Eleanor said mischievously. "Far to young for me though, though he is in a bit of a hurry."
"Well, I don't know him." Brantley mused, "What's his rank?"
"He's an agent from the council." Eleanor said.
"What line is he on?" Brantley asked, picking up the desk phone.
"Oh he didn't call, he's here in person."
Brantley paled, "Oh crap."
Clint raised an eyebrow, "What?"
"The only time people the councils send come to see you in person is if they want to fire you!" Brantley explained, ducking under her desk, "Dear God, what did I do!?"
Eleanor turned and walked out, "I'll send him in then."
"No!" Brantley protested, popping up from under her desk. "I can't get fired Clint! I just got this job! I can't go into forensics, I have no school training!"
"You can come back to S.H.I.E.L.D. Special Ops." Clint offered.
Brantley sighed, "Well at least I have that in my favor." Her expression of panic turned into one of rage, "I bet it was that bitch Rian who turned me in! She hates me!"
"Why?" Clint asked, finding this all oddly funny.
"She's jealous I got a bigger office, because I just joined, and she's been here for two years! It's not my fault Fury likes me better." Brantley snapped.
"Oh yeah kid." Clint laughed, "You're his favorite little sidekick."
"Excuse me?" Asked a heavily Russian accented voice, as a very young man poked his head into the door, a small smile on his face. "Are you Agent Evans?"
He couldn't have been older then twenty, and that was pushing it. Dark brown hair in a crew cut, and big grey eyes. He had a muscular build, Brantley could tell that much, even with his three piece suit on. He didn't look like he had much training to back it up though. Brantley was positive she could take him.
Clint stepped farther into the room to allow the young teenage access, taking up one of the seats below Brantley's desk.
Brantley nodded, "Um, yes."
He sat down in the other chair, looking up at her, "Interesting office."
"Uh, thanks." Brantley offered. "So, what exactly id the meeting about."
He laughed, "Relax, dis is merely a small interview to decide if you're ready to, vat is de term… uh, bait de bigger fish."
"You mean, more important cases?" Brantley asked.
He nodded, "Oh yes, you see, de council is greatly concerned vith your recent change in position. Dey send me to test you. Nothing to vorry about, sure you'll pass."
Clint raised an eyebrow, "How old are you kid?"
"Sixteen sir." He answered, "Und my name is Thain. Thain Weaver."
Clint nodded, ignoring the outstretched hand, "And you think that the kid I trained isn't fit to compete with the old ladies who run this department?"
Thain shook his head, "No, not at all. I've over looked your mission reports, and I am certain dat dis will be over quickly. All I need to do is talk vith your therapist, your coworkers, former team mates, simple enough."
"Oh, okay then." Brantley said, feeling a bit more relaxed, "Well my therapist id-"
"Dr. Acula. I do my homework." Thain said, standing, "Dank you for your time, I need to speak vith him."
He left the room, and Clint turned to Brantley, "Still afraid of being fired?"
Brantley let her forehead smack down onto her desk top, "Oh no… he's talking to my therapist! I never tell my therapist anything! Dr. Acula knows I've got a few screws loose! He knows about my anger issues, I practically explode on him every single session I go to! Every. Session. I dodge questions, I insult him, he's going to tear me apart in that interview! Make me out to be some kind of lunatic that needs to be taken off of active duty! I'm screwed!"
The door opened again, and Jackson rushed in, "Brantley, you can't quit S.H.I.E.L.D. Special Ops!"
WITH THAIN:
I sat down across from Dr. Acula, "So, vat do you have to say about Brantley Evans?"
Dr. Acula smiled, taking up his notebook, flipping back a few pages, "Well, she needs to have a regular sense of control, that much is obvious. The first few times she came into see me, she simply insulted psychology, and basically everything I stood for."
"So, she has issues, ya?"
"After our first few sessions, when she came to grasp that I was beginning to get her close to a break through, she displayed symptoms of Schizophrenia. Before I could be positive though, it switched to Bipolar Disorder. Then three days later she perfectly matched the description of a person with a Personality Disorder." Dr. Acula chuckled, "Took me awhile to figure out she was using her friend Jade's help to hip hop her way through nearly every mental disease known to man, just to throw me through loops."
"So, she's has perfect mental health?"
He shook his head, "No, after observing her for these past four months, I've come to grip that she had a low level of OCD. Nothing to worry about. The minute she goes on a mission, it's gone. It's more of a relaxing tool she uses once she's back. It focuses mostly around numbers with solid square roots, like one, four, nine, sixteen, twenty-five, thirty-six, and so on."
"Would dis in any way affect her mission performance?" Thain asked.
"No, she knows when to put it away, like I said, it's very low level." He said, "Though, I should mention, she's got severe mental demons to deal with. Based on her past, she's very touchy about several subject, such as family, anything to do with parents in general, authority figures, and so on. She reels at the thought of having any type of parental figure, yet doesn't realize she's already set one up for herself."
"Hawkeye?"
"Exactly." Dr. Acula chuckled, "She insists their relationship is merely teacher student, but what happens very often with teachers and students, good students, a deeper bond forms. However, that's not what's happened here. He has thrown himself into the role of her father since day one, and I think it has something to do with his background as well."
"Vat exactly are you getting at?" Thain asked.
"Clint Barton also participated in a circus, for a time. It's where he got most of his skills. I believe, because of that connection, he might have known her beforehand." Dr. Acula concluded. "Therefore, because of this bond, I advise you, whatever the council has planned for this girl, be sure Clint Barton is involved as much as possible."
Thain cleared his throat, "Vell, that's very interesting, but I'm more concerned about her last mission in Special Ops, they all reported that she had a clear shot, but she didn't take it? In Investigations, sometimes suspects run, und you have do shoot dem. Can she shoot?"
Dr. Acula sighed, "Brantley has been one of my more… interesting patients, but certainly not the most difficult, nor the most dangerous. One of the reasons she couldn't take that shot, why she couldn't shoot a man from a distance… it's most likely that whenever she tries to, she sees her fathers, tied to that bullseye, and she's aiming at him."
"But, she has no problem vith killing-"
"Yes, up close." Dr. Acula agreed, "But form far away, she wouldn't shoot anyone, not even if they had a knife to one of her friend's neck. She's simply un able to, it's quite literally a physical impossibility."
WITH BRANTLEY:
"Alright Jackson, what's this about?" Brantley asked. "Why can't I quit?"
"Because you need to be there!" Jackson begged helplessly, "You have to still be on the team! What happens next time we're in that kind of situation? Huh? Am I supposed to kill another man!? I can't do it Brantley, I can't!"
"Jackson, I'm sure Jade or Tyson can-"
"I already asked them!" Jackson screamed. People from outside glanced curiously through the glass windows, wondering what the commotion was about. "They've never killed anyone before Brantley, no one! If they have to kill someone too, then… they'll go through exactly what I did, don't do that to them!"
Brantley stood up, jumping down from the small ledge, "Jackson, look, there was a reason I couldn't take that shot!"
"Then get over it! This is all your fault." Jackson snapped, "You were the leader of this team for a reason! Everyone trusted you, and you let me… you let me kill a man! I'm twelve Brantley! Twelve!"
"And I'm fifteen!" Brantley yelled. "Jackson, you're the one who didn't even want me on the team, as I recall, it was an insult to your intelligence right!?"
"That was before I knew!" Jackson screamed, stomping his foot. "Before I knew why they put you on this team."
"Well then tell me Jackson!" Brantley demanded "You tell me why I'm so important, because I've been asking myself the question from day one!"
"Because no one can do what you do!"
"W-what?"
"You're the only one of us who can go there Brantley, the only one who can cross that line, and come back. You've killed people before Brantley, I know you have. I can see it in your eyes. Please Brantley!" Jackson lunged forward, wrapping her arms around Brantley's waist, sinking to his knees, "Please… don't make me… make me kill someone again… Please!"
Brantley froze, not used to the physical contact, before laying her hand in his slicked back, overly gelled hair. "Jackson, I think you heard wrong, I'm still on the team."
Jackson looked up at her, "What… really?"
"Yeah, I'm just in a new sector, with different authority." Brantley explained, "There's gonna be certain missions I can't go on, and intel you're allowed to hear, and I'm not, but other than that, nothing's different. And I still outrank you, free lancer."
Jackson stood up quickly, brushing himself off, "Uh… well then, um… just forget this ever happened. Alright?"
Brantley laughed, grabbing Jackson's shoulders, and turning him around to point towards the corner, where a small security camera was nestled. "Jackson, that's going on youtube. Just warning you."
Jackson growled, taking out his phone, "I'm hacking that, right now!"
Clint just laughed.
Jackson frowned, "How long has he been sitting there?"
The door opened once again, and Thain poked his head in, "Congratulations Brantley, you pass with flying colors."
Brantley's eyebrows shot up, "Wow, really?"
"Da, although it appears you have schizophrenia, ADHD, Bi-polar disorder, high functioning autism, and multiple personality disorder." Thain said, chuckling.
Clint raised an eyebrow, "Is that all?"
"Although, there's one question I have left to ask." Thain admitted.
"Uh, what?" Brantley questioned.
"Vould you like to go out for dinner vith me?" Thain asked.
"As in… an interview?"
"No, a date, if you vish." Thain said, straightening his tie a little nervously.
Brantley smiled, "Uh, okay."
Clint's eyes bulged, "What? But you still haven't talked to me!"
"Tomorrow Clint." Brantley promised, following Thain out of the office "Don't wait up for me."
Clint paused, staring at the door as it closed. Jackson looked at him uncertainly, "Should I call Natasha for you?"
"… That would be great. Thank you."
TO THOSE WHO SENT IN NAMES:
I an very sorry if your names were not used, I put in as many as possible, I honestly did.
Fear not, there is still a possibility of the unused names being brought in later, and random S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Do not expect them to be anything other than passing faces though.
To those who are angered about Brantley being in the soul spotlight: THE STORY IS ABOUT HER!
I know that you all love Clyde, and trust me, he's going to be used a lot more, especially once the characters have grown enough, and the REAL PLOT begins. I have the whole story planned out, NO SPOILERS! And I plan to constantly keep shipping Jade/Tyson.
Jackson and Tama both play necessary roles, and Jackson is getting his little spotlight time, alright? Tama probably never will. Sorry.
If anyone is interested in how these characters look to me, there is a link on my profile that will take you to my Photo bucket album, search around a little, and you'll find them all.
I am not a good artist, but I am a great writer, so if you don't like my pictures or the fact I used bases, draw me some fan art people! I have no digital art skill.
