Chapter: 5
Clint Barton had always hated medical and probably always would. He hated the way it smelled, the anxious feeling it produced, but mostly he hated the loss of control. He always felt an overwhelming lack of control when forced to wait in the medical center's waiting area. He wanted answers that people wouldn't give give him at the moment. He wanted to do something but there was nothing to be done, at least nothing that could be done by him. The only thing he knew at the moment was that she collapsed. He tried to get more information from Coulson but he had been called away by Fury and had promised to talk later. So, Clint found himself sitting in the place he dreded, Sitting in a fairly uncomfortable chair and staring at the blank wall in front of him. He'd only ever had to stay in the dreadful place once or twice. Most of the time when Clint had to visit Medical he was the one on the other side of the doors being treated then planning his escape. Being an actual patient was hell, but being the one in the waiting area was almost just as bad if not worse at times. The room was completely silent apart from the occational nurse walking by, so when Coulson finally showed Clint had heard him well before he actually came in the room.
"Barton," he said and took a seat next to his agent.
"What the hell happened Phil?" Both of them talked with a calm and cool voice. It was like they were disscussing the weather on any normal day. Coulson sighed and rubbed his eyes. It was clear he was tired of the topic, Fury hadn't called him away to talk about nothing.
"I don't know Barton," He said shaking his head slightly. "We were talking, she kind of stared off into space, then she just collapsed."
"What did you say to her?"
"I asked what organization she worked for." He said as he loosened his tie from around his neck and laid back in the chair. Clint liked his handler, he was like a father figure to him, and he liked that they could relax around each other. "I still don't know what you where thinking bringing her here." Clint followed Coulson's example and leaned back in his chair.
"I saw something in her Phil," both of them stared at the ceiling as they spoke "There was something there screaming at me not to take that shot." Coulson turned his head to look at him when Clint fell silent after that.
"And that was?" Clint shrugged but didn't look back at him.
"I don't know." He sighed and Coulson looked back to the ceiling. "I honestly don't know." Silence then snuck it's way in and settled over the two. The conversation dropped for a moment but both knew that it wasn't over, even before Coulson spoke again.
"You're just lucky that the Council has agreed to go with this, otherwise you'd both probably be dead."
"I know," Clint replied.
"I swear, I don't think I'll ever understand how your mind works." Clint just nodded in agreement.
"Hear from the doctor at all?" He asked suddenly and Coulson shook his head.
"Not much more than you have," Clint nodded.
"Do you think this will work out," Clint asked "do you think she'll be ok here?" Coulson sighed and rubbed his eyes again both out of fustration and exhaustion.
"I don't know, for all we know she could very well be here to kill us all," he said "but if it's worth anything I'll hope for the best." It was Clint's turn to look over at his handler when a thought suddenly came across his mind.
"What changed?" He asked and Coulson looked back at him.
"What do you mean?"
"When I first showed up here with her you looked like you'd shoot her yourself that very moment. Now you're hoping for the best? What changed?" Coulson shrugged and they both turned to look back upwards. There was another short pause before Coulson spoke up again.
"Damn kid didn't even know how old she was," he said quietly.
"What if she was faking?" Clint countered.
"She wasn't."
She was falling into the darkness. It surrounded her like a thick blanket that made her feel like she was suffocaing. In the distance she could hear screaming. It was the only thing that penetrated the darkness and it echoed loudly in her head. Long, painful screams from the people of her past. It felt as if her head was going to explode from the sound. Occationally she would hear a voice from her past. She could make out some of them but others were completely lost to her. Mostly it was her instructors. They were telling her to be better, threatening her with their torturous ways if she didn't improve, telling her to kill and that emotions only made her weak. They taught her to be nothing, forced her to be nothing but a killing machiene doomed to be in their control for the rest of her life. She could hear their taunting voices, feel their touch on her skin, and could see the evil looks in their eyes. She fought against it as best she could. She tried to block out the screams and their voices, but it was no use. The images started after a while. Images of a dark room and several other girls. Images of blood on her hands and the many victims shes had over the years. Images of cold winters all alone in the wilderness, of water completely surrounding her as she quickly ran out of breath, of fire and thick smoke. She screamed but it didn't make a sound. All the faces of her victims stared back at her screaming with pain and making her wish she were deaf. She felt her heart speed up to an alarming rate, could feel a layer of sweat forming on top of her skin, she couldn't breathe. She was trapped. Then everything slowly began to fade away again.
"Sir," Fury laid down the file he had been reading and looked up to see Agent Hill staring down at him. "They've managed to get her stable again," she reported.
"Do they have any idea what made her crash this second time," he asked.
"The doctor found something that they think you should see." She said and he stood from his chair.
"What is it?" They walked from his office and towards the medical center.
"Dr. Martain thinks it's some sort of device," she said "they found it implanted in her skin."
"Any idea what it does," he asked and she shook her head.
"No sir, they were just starting to take a look at it when I left." She said then took a breath before continuing. "Barton requests that you allow him to be part of this."
"Part of what?"
"Part of monitoring Ms. Romanoff, the interviewing that will take place if and when she wakes up, all of it." Furry didn't reply until they had reached the doors to medical. He then stopped and turned to look at her.
"She is going to be his responsiblity...Fine." With that he walked through the doors and left her to go deliver the message. A nurse immedeatly came to lead him over to the doctor in question. He was hunched over a microscope when they walked into the room. The man's head snapped up when he heard them and the nurse left, being sure to close the door behind her.
"Director, I'm afraid I can't tell you much." Dr. Martain said as he shook the director's hand.
"I hear that you found some sort of device." Fury said and the doctor nodded.
"Yes, unfortunately that is what I was refering to. I don't know what it is, I've never seen anything like it before." He pushed his wire rimmed glasses further up his nose. "I don't quite understand how it works but I believe it was created to silence Ms. Romanoff if she were ever to be captured by an opposing organization."
"Then why is this just happening? She's been here for just about twenty four hours now."
"I don't know. It could be that it's a slow working process or maybe it has to be triggered somehow like..." he ran a hand through his graying brunette hair and thought hard "like maybe a smell?" He didn't seem very sure of himself.
"She collapsed during an interview about her past." Fury pointed out.
"Well, maybe something brought up a certain memory or maybe it was a question that was asked."
"The last question was the name of the organization she worked for." The new voice startled the doctor but didn't seem to affect Fury. Coulson stepped into the room followed by Clint and Agent Hill.
"That could possibly work." The doctor replied "I don't know how but it would have to be something of the sort. It's a bit much to be a coincidence don't you think?"
"How do we know this device caused this at all?" Fury asked crossing his arms over his chest.
"Because it was only after the device was taken out that her body stopped fighting us and aloud itself to stablize," Martain replied "I'm afraid it would have killed her if given a little more time. She was fighting it but it did seem to be winning."
"So," Clint cut in "your saying that whoever she worked for implanted this device to ultimalty kill her when triggered so that their organization wouldn't be revealed?"
"Not that unbelievable," it was Hill's turn to cut in "smart actually."
"I'm just not sure how they did it. I am hoping that Ms. Romanoff wakes up shortly, maybe she can shed some light on the subject." Martain said.
"If she even knows," Coulson said under his breath.
"They sure as hell take the loyalty of their agents pretty damn seriously," Clint said.
"Or they're very serious about keeping their organization a secret," Coulson said.
"With the hits that she performed, the ones both confirmed and suspected, I can see why," Hill said.
"When she does wake up," Fury's voice cut through the chatter and silenced them "give her a few hours then continue with the interview." He said looking to Coulson who simply nodded. "Keep me updated," and with that he left the room.
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