Korie's POV
A cloth was over my mouth, I couldn't call out. My eyes were covered as well, but I could feel the people around me. I flailed around trying to hit one of them, no use. My powers wouldn't work because I literally just woke up and I need energy to use them.
A grunt came from one of them, male, i decided. The people had tied me up while asleep, really? I can sleep like a rock when I least want it, fabulous. They started to drag me across the cell, must be more than one, or just a super strong man with amazing stealth.
Struggling did me no good, so I tried to yell. To the people's luck no sound came out, so that also means singing is out of the picture. My eyes felt like they were drooping out of their sockets. I felt so tired so I decided to wait and see where they would take me.
Sixty seconds passes by, the men pushed open a door, I think. Cold air wafted around me, making shivers go down my back. I could smell salt, but not waves. We were still flying, but not to far from the ocean.
"Woosh!" Something flew past my ear and one of the men dropped me, landing with a thud I fell, maybe two feet.
The other man dropped me. I heard the sound of metal, he must've been armed. Someone ran at him, I could hear them battle, but i couldn't do anything. Not being tied up. One grunted and fell, the other came over to me. I wiggled away. If it was the man who captured me, I had to at least try to get away.
My blindfold was ripped off my face, revealing my savior. Clint Barton.
He undid my gag in pure silence. I looked at his features, lines marked stress, and the circles under his eyes told the story that he hadn't slept in a while. For a strange reason I felt jealousy. He got to stay up, worrying about others that weren't himself. And risk death and injury for the good of the world. I, however, got to worry about nothing but myself, and nap. Somehow he seemed like a great person, compared to what I had met first.
Plopping down next to me, he sighed. "How in the world did that just happen?"
"I'm sorry, I have this crazy life that I dragged you into, you don't deserve this! You are probably a great man but with me." I babbled, "Maybe if I never came here, maybe if I had jumped into the ocean, I could have just stopped this crazy trainwreck." Disappointment rushed through out me, I had been a freakin terrible person. The world did not deserve this.
"Hey, don't say that," Barton cut though my thoughts, "You do count in this world. Perhaps we could start at the beginning and talk?"
"Okay, you start."
"Um," he paused to think, "Tell me a bit about yourself that you like?"
"Well," I started, "I love that I'm strong enough to do things normal people can't, like to do good pullups. Also, uh, I'm tougher than I look, so I can kick butt. But personality wise, I like that I'm pretty quick thinking." He nods seeming to take in all of it. "What about you?"
"I think I like that I have a great sense of humor, and that I am good at picking awesome friends," Barton gave a dashing smirk, triggering an eye roll from me.
"How about bad things?" I suggested, It's not as great as a topic but I guessed it helps get to know someone.
"Sometimes, I feel that I don't make a difference, and with my job, it might involve," He breathed in a shaky breath, "Killing someone, and that scares me." He laughed, not a nice laugh, one before tears. "That makes me sound wimpy."
"It doesn't," I told him, "the worst things about me are," I pause, "Well, it's my past."
"Your past?"
"Yeah," I look at him, "it is always there, I can't change it, and it tries to make me someone I know I'm not."
"How so?"
"Things happened to me that forced me into blame. And I couldn't stop it. I know that I can't control the whole world but it makes me feel like I can't control anything."
"BUt you can," He said looking at me. "You have these amazing abilities that you can use for good! You could use your talents for good, you can shove your awesome accomplishments in your past's face. You can control things, Korie, you just have to put your mind to it."
The alarms suddenly went off, shoving light into my face. I could more clearly see where I had ended up. I was near the propellers, i knew what the men were going to do. They were going to throw me off.
Agents flooded the deck, holding guns, fully armored. They point their guns at us. Barton grabbed my arm and dragged me up. "I got it!"
"My ass you got it!" Fury walked out from behind the agents. "What the hell?"
"I can explain everything-" Barton started
"Not up here." Fury gave him a look, then he glared at me, "take her to her cell." The agents behind him filled back into the helicarrier. Barton's grip tightened around my arm.
"Come on."
He dragged me down into the helicarrier. Not being as kind as he was earlier. As we went he took too many turns. I knew it was to confuse me on where the cell is. And it worked, even though I wasn't trying to get out.
We passed agents, they glared and looked away. Like I was a disgusting animal. Which I'm not. After a few more minutes we got to the cell. He pushed in the combo nation and the door opened. Barton shoved me inside. And the door closed immediately behind me. I turned to look at him, he was leaving. Not looking at me.
"Wait!" I called to him, he stopped. But didn't look at me.
"What?"
"What's wrong?"
"You don't really understand," he snapped, "You are a prisoner and not to be messed with, and I didn't bring you back immediately. My job is to keep you here. And I failed." He looked back at me. "My job is on the line."
He turned and left. I fell back into the floor, the adrenaline rush gone. I felt sad. I had been so rude to Barton, he's just a man looking out for himself. And I'm just a lazy good for nothing piece of crap with no purpose.
I curled up, deciding sleep was better than an existential crisis.
Clint Barton's POV
I had royally messed up. I couldn't believe that I had forgotten to take Korie back to her cell! It was like I forgot she almost killed me and that woman! And now Director Fury was going to whoop my butt for it. I turned the corner to my doom, Fury's meeting office. He never used it for anything except special meetings. Yep, I was in trouble.
I walked in, other than Fury there were three other people there. Of course there was Agent Hill, Fury's right hand woman, Agent in training Lilly Lagrone, and Natasha. My best agent friend, back from her last mission. Her presence might've made me happy. But now I felt like my grave was only being dug deeper.
"Nice that you're on time." Fury sarcastically said as I walked to the desk. He motioned me to the only empty seat. I sat, not letting myself respond back. "We have an issue that we need to discuss more thoroughly. And I'm pretty sure most of you know what." I looked over to where Lagrone was sitting, she nodded, so I nodded too. Agent Hill put a file down on the table. Fury opened it, a picture of Korie layed smack dab in the middle of the page.
"This is Korie," He started, "She is our most dangerous prisoner yet, she has incredible abilities, and somehow got out of our most secure cells in the helicarrier. We need to find out how, and if those men are her accomplices."
"Sir I think-" I cut in, but stopped when he gave me the death look.
"What, do you think?" He said dangerously.
"I don't think they were with her. She was clearly being taken away against her own will." I told him, "They gagged her, blindfolded her, and carried her. That doesn't sound like it was her idea."
"But it could be her people acting like they are stealing her and bringing her to safety. Where she'll go back to working with them, with new information she gathered while at Shield." Lagrone Deadpanned.
"Do you really think that-" I tried to fire back, but Natasha shut me down.
"Clint," She gave me the 'shut up NOW' look. "I think you've been around her too long, you are starting to trust her. That's not what we do."
"That's right Barton," Fury said, "We need to get on task, we clearly need to do something with her. Whether you like it or not."
That's when they started to discuss what to do with her, I kind of toned them out. I felt terrible that I was failing my job, and that I might've fallen into Korie's trap. She could just be trying to make me trust her, make me help her. 'Or she could be genuine.'
There was always that voice bugging me that she could actually be a good person. I had followed her around for days, and then kept watch of her for nearly two weeks. Even if all she did was nap and do yoga. And on the night of the attempt 'escape' it didn't look like they were trying to help her. It looked like they were trying to kill her. If it hadn't been for me, Shield would've found her body parts in the propellers. And we would've never found out if she was good, or if she was not.
I wanted to force myself to think like the other agents, but I had the feeling, Korie was much more that what they were saying. The agent's suggestions sometimes interrupted my thoughts. Just get rid of her, or interrogate her until her minds gush out. I hated that so much, that my brain decided to make my own plan. One that I would carry out. No matter what Fury said.
"How about we first talk to her like normal? Then start to force the truth out?" Lagrone suggested. Causing me to cringe.
"Like what?" Hill asked, ignoring me.
"Like I go in and talk to her like normal, but ask more questions. We'll see how she answers. Then adjust accordingly. And continue the cycle." Lagrone explained, looking to Fury.
"That's the best plan all day!" He looked to his watch. "We will put that in place, Lagrone," He looked to her, and I went leave. " take care of it, Barton!" he calIed before I could leave, looked to him, "stay back and talk to me." I sighed and stayed back while the girls filed out.
"Yes?"
"You trust Korie too much, don't make any stupid decisions."
"But sir," I started again, feeling a rant coming on. "You haven't been around her the past few weeks, you don't know what kind of person she is-"
"Exactly, you don't either. Spies have a way of making you trust them. And you trust too much." He told me.
"Look at what happened last time!" I wanted to shout, "We got Natasha on our side, and she's amazing! What if Korie's the same!"
"What if she's not!" Fury looked me directly in the eye, "You haven't seen her explode. You've seen her calm. What happens when she's not, when she's angry. What will she do? Do you know, Barton? No!"
I'm quiet, and I look down at the floor. But I feel a surge of protectiveness, "Why won't you listen to me for a goddamn second? I have a plan! It will show how she is! She could act the same as always, and you can continue your plan, or she could show how evil she is! Then we can do something about her. Or she could show how amazing she is! And we can help her!"
Fury sighs, deleting back into his chair, "Fine, tell me."
So I told him my plan, each thought out step, and how I would get her to crack. Each step Fury leaned towards me, looking more and more thoughtful. When I finished he had this look in his eye, a look of thoughtfulness.
"Okay," He thought a second longer, "Alright, we'll do it."
"What?" I stumbled a little back, "Really?"
"Yes," He smirked, "But Lagrone will get to go first, then you can do it."
"Yes!"
"Under one circumstance," Fury said, " You have to have Romanoff."
"Done and done!" I said, celebrating internally, I turned to leave. But I swear I could feel Fury smiling behind me.
The next day.
Korie's POV
I woke up to food sliding into my cell. It hit another thing. I pushed myself up, and saw that the tray was the second one in my cell, I had missed breakfast.
"More food for you." Lilly said, standing a good five feet away from the cell. "You need to fuel up, you had a rough night."
"Thanks." I started eating , Lily was quiet. I was almost done with the first tray when she spoke up.
"Was it for someone?"
"What?" I asked with my mouth full.
"Why you tried to run?" She told me, "was it for someone? Or yourself?"
"Lily," I said, "I didn't try to-"
"Then hypothetically," she switched, "if you hypothetically tried to run away."
"Umm," I thought, "if I was to try to escape, it would be-" just then my mind exploded. Who would I leave for? I hadn't thought about leaving ever since I warmed up to the place. Now she wanted me to tell her why I wanted to leave. The question kind of scared me. Shield thought I tried to run away. Now they wanted to know who I would leave for. And I had no one. I didn't want to say for myself, that would make me sound like a total dirtbag. I guess I didn't have a reason.
"Well," I tied again. "If i would, hypothetically try to leave, it would be for… for… it would be for the people of this ship." I told her. ANd man, her face gave away a LOT. She looked super surprised. I knew she wasn't expecting that.
"WHat?" I almost wanted to smile at her response. But I kept my face straight.
"I'm dangerous, Lilly." I told her, "If I wanted to I could probably destroy this whole ship."
"Is that a THREAT?" Lily moved back toward the controls. "I won't hesitate!"
"No no no no!" I said, standing up, putting my hands out to try to calm her. But it only seemed to make her more scared. "Lily, I didn't mean that!"
"What did you mean?" She growled.
"I meant no harm! I haven't done anything!" I told her, "Don't you know that I'm really just a stupid kid?"
She continued to glare at me, but she released her grip on the control. "Until tomorrow Korie." And she waltzed out of the cell room. And I flopped back onto the ground. Man, now I really made it worse. She was going to tell the whole of Shield that I threatened to kill everyone and then they were going to vote to get my head shot off.
I can't remember how many times I've been stupid. There's just too many to count. But this, this was the royal mess up. Well, if they decided to kill me, I wouldn't hurt anyone after. Also I was kinda okay with dying, I would see my mom.
"Would you stop moping?" The snarky voice I remember asked me.
"Clint!" I shoved myself off the ground. "What are you doing here?"
"I've come to ask you a question."
"I thought you hated me."
"You jump to conclusions too fast." He told me.
"I know," I looked at the ground. "Whats up?"
"My superiors want to know if you are willing to redeem yourself?" He asked.
"Really?" I jumped up, going closer to the glass. "Are you serious?"
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"I dunno."
"Alright," He said, walking closer to me, "Listen carefully, this will probably be your only chance. You are going to be put through a number of tests, if you pass them, there is more of a chance of your redeement. But, you'll have no idea what those tests will be, so act wisely."
"Got it." I sat back down, preparing for these tests.
"Nope," Clint said, "You aren't sitting for this."
"What?"
He walked backward. Toward the controls. "Think of this as a pre-test. If you pass, you get to go to the tests." his hand went to the keypad. He typed in a code. And the door slowly slid open.
My jaw dropped. I hadn't expected him to open the door without having hords of guards. He stayed next to the controls, and nodded to me. Slowly, I stepped out, onto the cold floor panel. I shivered, it was crazy. Just a few seconds before, I thought I was never getting out of there. Then, I was standing outside of my cell. With Clint Barton smiling at me.
"Okay," I said, trying to get used to the fact that I was no longer in the cell. "Did I pass?"
Clint smiled, "With flying colors."