Meant to post this earlier today but I feel asleep. I have plans to finish this before Christmas but more times than not, my plans fail... Who knows what will happen. But, review and wish me luck. ^_^
For the second time in who knows how long now, Clint woke tied to a chair. His battered and abused mind pieced together what happened with Loki rather quickly but he couldn't remember how he had gotten here. Sighing deeply, Clint leaned his head against his chest. Remembering Loki made him want to regress back into his shattered mind but he held firm. This new situation just proved the point that blacking out was not good. He had no idea where he was or what was happening.
Shaking his head to clear it of negative thoughts, Clint focused on looking around. The room was dark but still bright enough to see all four walls. They were all grey and completely solid except for the door which was placed just barely out of sight behind him. Clint twisted as he looked about and noticed that, outside of the chair he was placed in, there was no furniture. So this wasn't an interrogation, or so he believed. He just hoped he wasn't going to be tortured. His mind would definitely not be able to handle it.
"Hello, Agent Barton," a voice suddenly called. Slightly surprised, Clint blanked his face of emotion and turned toward the source. Before him were four screens with blackened faces. Having seen these faces a few times before, Clint knew he was before the actual Council.
"Am I here for a specific reason?" Clint growled, trying to act as much like his normal self as possible. Even though he was scared to death, Clint braced his shattered mind with new warn walls. It wouldn't stand well against torture, but the Council may not be looking for that.
"Debrief on Manhattan," someone else answered. Clint frowned and shifted in his seat. He knew this was coming but it sure as hell wasn't supposed to be like this. Sullenly, he wiggled the chains on his arms. The Council sighed.
"So, is this new for everyone? Or just me?" Clint questioned.
"Just you," the lone female Council member warned. Now the archer could tell that this was going in a way they didn't like. He had to smirk at that. Even though he was mentally shattered, he could still act normal.
"Hmm. Does it have to do with the fact that you want to kill me?" Clint added. Someone groaned. "What! That's a valid question!"
"No," the female retorted. Her voice said otherwise. Clint frowned and hummed as he tried to focus on all of the members at once. "Will you answer our questions honestly?"
"Depends," Clint freely admitted. A Council member snarled and slammed his hands down on, what Clint assumed was, his desk. The other members' gazes shifted at their screens, showing they were now watching the angry man. Clint patiently waited.
"We should just kill him and be done with it! I knew that questioning a traitor would be a horrible idea!" the member cried, nearly shouting at the others.
"We agreed that if we had the chance, we would talk to him. Director Fury made a good point. He is a valuable asset and we have lost too many recently as it is. We need him," a Council member to Clint's right. The archer smirked and focused on the still angry member. Even though his face was blackened, Clint could tell he was fuming mad. It made the young agent feel better. But what really made him feel good was Fury, the man he had willingly shot in the chest, was defending him. Maybe Clint wasn't so evil after all.
"I never agreed to this! This is ridiculous! We know our agents could handle a little mind control-" the man began but stopped at Clint harsh bark of laughter.
"Little? Hell no, sirs! What Loki did was not a little mind control," Clint snapped, his body beginning to shiver as memories of blue tinged vision engulfed him. The Council was silent for a moment. "Professor Xavier's attempt at mind control was nothing like this."
"Agent Barton, if you wouldn't mind. Please tell us everything you remember beginning from the day that Loki appeared," the female member gently encouraged, her motherly instincts taking over her once harden exterior. Not one of the other members argued, they just waited. Clint was shaking harder now, his menial wall beginning to crack apart. He wouldn't be able to hold back the memories soon. All he could hope was to get through it all as fast as he could.
"That morning, Cou- Agent Coulson woke me up with a bucket of cold water. I can remember that so clearly in my mind because it's one of the last times I see him until... Breakfast was already finished. I had been up late the night before, hence why Coulson had to wake me. For lunch, the food was mostly shit so I just had a crappy little sandwich," Clint told them. He just about barely heard the intake of breath at his swear. Wincing, Clint decided he might want to watch that. "After eating, I reported what I saw the night before and then went off to my shift. About six hours later, the Tesseract started acting up. From my nes- post, the scientists were scurrying around like ants for a good half and hour before sounding the alarm.
"Fury came in after that. He made me report what had happened and I told him what I saw, nothing on our end," Clint explained just like before.
"On our end?" a Council member inquired. Clint hissed lightly at the interruption but nodded. "Please explain."
"Like I told Fury, the Tesseract is a door. Doors open both ways, someone on the other side had to have activated it. Loki. Loki activated it. And he came through. I can't remember much of the fighting. The staff made my memories of that too hazy. But I can clearly remember Loki..." Clint said and shuddered. His chains rattled slightly. 'You have heart.' Clint heard echoing in his mind. "The pain from having the point stab near my heart had quickly dulled. But my mind was feeling as though a million hot pokers were jabbing into it. Each time I fought, it got worse. The pokers dug through my mind and began poking things loose and hiding it into a crevice in my head until finally, all I felt was my tactical ability to fight, my memories of my bow, and the need to follow orders left. Everything else was gone. I was gone. All I could do was follow Loki's orders.
"Sometimes the orders were verbal, other times it was discreetly hidden in conversation. The worst was hearing his voice in my head. He told me to find a safe place and then promptly forget the location after telling him. I was ordered to find agents and others who would be willing, or not, to help build Loki's war. Loki demanded that I tell him everything... And I couldn't stop," Clint was near a whisper by his last sentence. It was harder and harder to admit what had happened to him. "I tried to fight him. Tried to stop following him but I couldn't. None of my training helped. For two and a half days, I was a passenger inside my own head. Even after Nat's... Agent Romanoff's cognitive re calibration. I still wasn't fully in control but Loki never tried to retake me. It wasn't until after Loki left that I felt normalish again..."
"So, you admit that Loki can retake control of you!" the previously pissed off Council member pointed out with sharp, condescending tones. Clint shook his head.
"No. Stark had JARVIS scan me just after the battle and then Banner did it again after Loki left! The two scans showed different activity in my head... I can't explain it like them, but the three of us agree that I'm clear and we swear to talk to Thor when he comes back!" Clint pressed. The member scoffed.
"He hasn't reported in either! How can we be so sure we can trust his word either?" Clint stiffened.
"Thor fought beside us! Against his brother!"
"Adopted, as we learned from others. Are we so sure that they are close as they seem? Did we all forget New Mexico? Was that also not brotherly conflict?" the member mentioned. Clint froze as he heard the others mumble in agreement.
"We are not here to judge Thor Odinson. We are getting a debrief from Agent Barton," the female called loudly over the din of voices. The angry member scoffed. "Please, Agent Barton. You mentioned that during the actual battle that Loki never re took control. Are you certain of this? Is it possible that he has snuck in and is hiding in the back of your mind?"
Clint went to quickly answer, believing himself to be fully cleared of the god, but his voice caught. What if she was right? What if Loki was hiding in wait? That might explain him trying to shatter the archer's mind. Make it less of a fight to retake control. His body tensed as Clint mentally searched for the proper answer. He had no idea what to tell them.
"Well, agent?" the still furious member demanded. Clint hesitated again, his grayish blue eyes turning away from the screens.
"I have no idea."
Wow, just realized that I missed hitting 50 followers. But at least I caught 60. ^_^ Wonder if we can get to 100 before I finish... Who knows. I aso enjoy the 40 reviews and 20 favorites. ^_^
Anyways, please review to help me rush through finishing this and then I can post the second story. ^_^