Timeline – Saturday 23rd November 2013
Authors Notes
The visit to Clint doesn't go well, but Ainsley encounters an unusual young woman who has reason to be grateful to him and gets to discuss options with an old friend.
Natasha's encounter with Coulson and his team has borne fruit but raised more questions.
Steve and Bruce discuss strategy and weird science while three different perspectives on Thor are shared.
Hiboux (fr) Owl
Ma Tante (fr) My Aunt
Tonnerre Blond (fr) Blond Thunder
Le Faucon (fr) The Hawk
Clint waited until Ainsley sat down in the In-Patient's lounge before deciding to come in. He chose a seat on the far side of the coffee table from the doctor, deliberately out of arms reach. Unshaven, dressed in jeans and a button-down denim shirt, he looked tired and sullen. He sat with his hands resting loosely in his lap, not making eye contact or returning Ainsley's nervous greeting. This was his fifth day here. He glanced at the clock on the wall, exactly 102 hours and 17 minutes since Thor, the man he thought was his friend, had held him down while they stuck a needle in his arm. Everything was a bit blurred after that until they started cutting down on the meds, explaining to him where he was and why he was there. They hadn't needed to do that, he knew he was in an institution and the people he trusted had put him here.
"You here to take me home?"
Ainsley took a deep breath. He'd come in no expectation of hugs or smiles; hostility, resentment and suspicion weren't uncommon reactions in these circumstances. There had been plenty of times in clinical practise when he'd advised visiting friends and relatives what they were likely to face in the period immediately following involuntary admission. Knowing that didn't make it any easier to face.
"I'm afraid not, Clint." The archer folded his arms and turned his head slightly to one side, visibly shutting himself off. "Helen would like you to stay for a bit so she can be sure you're going to be okay. We don't want you here any longer than absolutely necessary."
"Why'd ya have to put me here, then?" His tone was truculent, aggressive. Ainsley hadn't heard it in Clint's voice before but it was familiar from watching the recordings of Natasha's interviews with Abel. Clearly Clint's fear and distrust of institutions, born of his experiences as an orphan, was resulting in a degree of regressive behaviour; something he was already prone to. He'd need to discuss this with Helen afterwards.
"We had no choice, you were breaking apart in front of us. Agent Hand wanted you relocated to the clinic at the Hub. I thought Science & Tech was a better option."
Clint looked him in the eyes for the first time. The pupils were still slightly dilated but the fogginess wasn't there, neither was any affection or sign of forgiveness.
"We got safe houses. Coulda taken me to one of those."
Ainsley shook his head
"We were losing you, Clint. You needed help. If we hadn't made the call you would have shut down completely."
Clint had dropped his gaze again
"All I'm hearing is lots of words saying I ain't going home soon. Why're you here?"
The doctor was struggling hard to keep his voice under control as he tried to navigate around the wall of hostility between him and Clint.
"I wanted to see you, to make sure you were okay; and I brought some stuff I thought you might like to have with you while you're here."
He put Clint's sketchpad, pencils, and sPod down on the table.
"I got you another charger and some new toiletries; I know you don't want people going into your room without permission. Is there anything you want me to get from in there?
Clint shook his head. That was something at least, they were still respecting his privacy. He waited until Ainsley sat back before pulling his stuff over.
"Thanks. Where's Tasha?"
She hadn't stopped them taking him, but sometimes Tasha played things slow and sly. Maybe he could still trust her at least.
"She's away for a few days, chasing up a lead before it goes cold. Do you want to see her when she gets back?
Ainsley didn't want to give out too much information just now. Clint wasn't in a state to get worked up over their investigations, but he also hoped it might help shift the heavily one-sided exchange into something closer to a conversation.
Clint just nodded. The man's body language indicated he was thinking of leaving. That was why he'd wanted to see the doctor in the patient's lounge rather than the more private visiting lounge on the other side of the clinic; from here he could go straight to his room, freeing him up to end the meeting any time he wanted.
"Thor's here with me" Ainsley said hesitantly "Would you like to see him? He's brought you a present"
Clint stood up and picked up his stuff, shaking his head
"Don't want anything"
He left without looking back. Ainsley stayed sitting for a few moments. His hands were shaking slightly and he needed to steady himself before going to find Helen. The voice beside him came as a surprise.
"He doesn't really hate you"
It was the auburn-haired girl who'd been watching cartoons on the other side of the lounge, he hadn't heard her come over. Her voice was soft but with a thick Eastern European accent.
"Pardon me?"
She sat down on the arm of the seat and smiled at him, her expression gentle and distant
"He doesn't hate you. He just cannot tell yet who are the monsters and who truly loves him. He will remember you love him very soon"
Ainsley smiled back, that was a remarkably perceptive analysis of Clint's mental state and he hoped her prognosis was as accurate.
"Thank you. You're very kind, Miss…?"
"My name is Wanda" she leaned over and whispered in his ear "and you are one of those who the monsters should fear."
Ainsley looked at her in surprise, reminded of what his grandmother said many years previously. Before he could speak further a nurse appeared in the doorway
"Miss Maximoff? Time for your afternoon session."
The girl hopped of the arm of the chair with a smile.
"I hope I see you again, Good Doctor. I like you."
As she left the nurse came over to Ainsley
"I hope she wasn't bothering you, Wanda can be a bit fanciful at times"
"No, no she wasn't" he picked up his coat and made ready to go find Helen, still pondering the girl's strange words "She was just being kind, that's all."
As expected, Helen was in her office. She looked up with a raised eyebrow when he entered
"As bad as you expected, Hiboux?"
"Every bit, ma Tante, I'm not used to my charm falling so flat" he smiled thinly and accepted the coffee she offered, prepared in the Viennese way they both enjoyed. "You've noted the regression towards adolescent behaviour patterns?"
Helen nodded and handed him Clint's file
"It's all in here. perhaps you could review it and give me your opinions?"
Ainsley looked at the stamp on the cover
"Ma Tante; this is Level 6…"
Helen shrugged her shoulders. Where patient care was concerned the niceties of SHIELD clearance levels took second place for her.
"You were Karl-Heinrich's last and most gifted student. He trusted you and that merits my absolute trust, a rare thing in this organisation."
Ainsley glanced through the synopsis on the first page.
"It goes without saying, but he needs to be given as much freedom of action as possible within the circumstances. If he believes he's being un-necessarily restrained it's just going to drive him further into that cycle. Intense physical activity is best for him; Clint always says he thinks better with his body than his brain."
Helen chuckled as she made a note on the treatment form.
"Most men do, Hiboux, I'll make sure he gets plenty of gym time booked in. Take the file and have a good read through it, there are some details of his previous clearance process that trouble me and I would like your guidance."
"Certainly, it'll be my pleasure." he slipped the file into his bag "By the way, there was a girl who spoke to me after Clint left; Wanda Maximoff. What's her story?"
Helen thought for a moment, then it came back to her.
"Wanda is one of your Index cases. There was a question mark over whether she was Gifted or just delusional. You took the side of compassion and engineered her transfer here from that other place."
He remembered now, a young Sokovian refugee girl; some odd phenomena associated with the case but nothing that merited her confinement. He'd meant to follow up on it but the attack and his hospitalisation intervened.
"Of course, yes, the suggestion of poltergeist activity; possible connected with extreme trauma. I'd like to review her file once I'm back in the office."
"Definitely, I think it will interest you greatly." Helen leaned towards him conspiratorially "You are getting a bad reputation in SHIELD, Hiboux. Some consider you too humanitarian, too liberal."
She grinned, a mischievous twinkle in her eyes
"They have even suggested you might be European!"
Ainsley laughed and made a shushing gesture. Helen had always known how to cheer him up even in his darkest moments. He finished his coffee
"I ought to go and see Thor now" he sighed "Clint doesn't want to see him, that was made very clear."
Helen got up to go with him. He took her arm and they walked down the corridor to the visiting lounge where Steve and Thor were waiting. Steve had kindly driven them up this morning. Tony had the jet this weekend, attempting to reconnect with Pepper, while Ainsley didn't feel up to making the long drive himself; there was also the problem that the doctor's vintage sports car was a bit of a tight squeeze for Thor.
Thor stood up as Ainsley and Dr Zabriski came into the room. The warrior's expectant smile faded as Ainsley gently shook his head
"I'm sorry, he doesn't want to see anyone else today…"
Thor picked up a package from the table. He turned it nervously in his hands, looking hurt and confused.
"Did you tell him I brought him a present?"
He'd managed to find a sleeveless Superman hoodie for Clint to wear when they went out on runs, it would match well with his own Batman one. He hoped it would remind Clint of all the good times they had together before this terrible week.
Dr Zabriski held out her hand
"I will give it to him, Tonnerre Blond, and makes sure he knows it comes to him with your love"
Thor handed the garment over to her. He liked this plump, grey-haired woman who scarcely came up to the level of his chest. She was kind but had steel in her and he was glad this was the doctor caring for Clint
"Thank you, Dr Helen. I am grateful to you."
She smiled and patted his arm.
"Clint does not want to see anyone yet, except Agent Romanoff when she returns. It took me a lot of effort to persuade him to see Edward for a few minutes"
Despite Dr Zabriski's excellent command of English there was always trouble with pronouncing 'Ainsley', so she was the only person permitted to use the doctor's middle name.
"It is a long journey for very little. It would be best perhaps to wait until he is in a better frame of mind for company."
"Helen's right" Ainsley said to Steve and Thor "I know it's hard to hear, but there's so much hostility and resentment in the initial period that it's not beneficial to anyone. She'll keep us up to date on Clint's progress and when he's ready for us to visit again."
Steve scratched the back of his head
"What do you want to do now, Dr Kerr?" He glanced over at Thor, the Asgardian stood with his hands thrust into his pockets, staring miserably out of the window. "We can go for a turn around the campus if you want to catch up with Dr Zabriski."
Ainsley glanced at Helen, the two of them had said most of what they needed to and he knew she had a very busy schedule, even on a Saturday.
"Thanks Steve, but I think we ought to start back. It's a long drive" He kissed Helen on the cheek "I'll call you on Monday, ma Tante, and I'm back on Thursday to meet Ann so we can talk properly then."
"Of course, Hiboux, travel safely" she turned to the other men "I will take good care of Le Faucon for you."
"What's with all the French nicknames?" Steve asked as they pulled out of the campus onto the main road. Ainsley laughed
"She's always done that, easier to remember than names at first she says. I became 'Owl' because of my glasses and the late hours I like to keep."
"She didn't have one for me" said Steve, sounding a bit put out.
Ainsley glanced sidelong at him, an amused twinkle in his eyes
"Steve, you're a national icon. It would be like calling the Washington Monument 'Mr Pointy'."
"Thanks!" Steve snorted and switched on the radio "Just for that it's going to be big-band all the way back."
Ainsley checked the rear-view mirror. Thor sprawled across the back seat with his headphones in, intent on his sPod as he selected his personal soundtrack for the journey back. The Asgardian had obviously been deeply upset by Clint's refusal to see him. He could still be quite simplistic, sometimes even child-like, when it came to confronting difficult emotional situations; Thor was far from stupid but he liked things clean and straightforward. Black and White he could handle easily, the complex spectrum between was harder for him to process. In his lover's mind an honest gesture of friendship should solve many things and he'd hoped this would be the case with Clint, even though on a deeper level he knew the feelings of anger and betrayal in the archer's disturbed mind would not be banished so easily. The doctor began to prepare himself for a conversation later, one that would last deep into the night.
###
"Leon Kruger is now Jerome Struthers?" Coulson swiped through the photographs Natasha had taken "We're going to need a flow-chart before much longer."
"He had a drop-box in the bus station at Flagstaff; passport, driving license, money. It looks like he's heading east. Ward has his trail just now."
She'd parted company with the agent near the New Mexico border. Working with him had been interesting. He wasn't quite in Clint's league, few people were, but there was an efficient ruthlessness about him and he was definitely more than just competent. Behind that was something she couldn't determine. There were secrets in Ward that he couldn't completely hide, at least from her. That was never any surprise in SHIELD. No-one ever had the whole picture, possibly not even Fury, but something about the agent made her uneasy. She clearly had the same effect on him, he'd been very glad when the time came for them to go their separate ways. Coulson trusted him though, and Maria rated him highly as an agent if not a person. Airing her doubts would only be counter-productive at the moment but she didn't plan on letting them lie fallow.
"Anything from Thor about the artefacts?"
"He thinks they're old, and when an Asgardian says that we're talking ancient in our terms. The designs don't mean anything to him though." She glanced at Coulson with a sly smile "Ainsley would hate me for saying this but, as you've probably noticed, Thor isn't always the brightest. I think he ignored those parts of his education that didn't involve fighting, feasting or fucking."
Coulson laughed. It was a harsh assessment, typical of Natasha, but not completely untrue.
"No chance he could call home?"
She shook her head
"That's a sensitive point, I gather he's not exactly a welcome face just now. It would take more than this to justify him showing up without an invitation. Seems Asgard is just like everywhere else when it comes to politics."
"Nice to know we've got some things in common" he grunted "You staying around or can I give you a lift anywhere?"
"I have to get back to New York, you going near there?"
He shook his head
"Unfortunately, no. I can give you a ride to the airport though" he grinned "I'm sure you've missed Lola."
An Arizona November was still warm compared to New York and driving with the hood down was pleasantly refreshing.
"Did Fury really believe he could keep your resurrection under wraps forever?" Natasha asked "It's not as if you were being kept in hiding."
"I honestly don't know" Coulson replied. He'd wondered that himself, despite the level 7 classification they'd interacted with plenty of agents below that level at the Hub, the Academy and elsewhere. It could only have been a matter of time before something or someone slipped. In hindsight, running into Natasha was the best possible option.
"No doubt Fury has his own contingency plans for this type of scenario."
Natasha's look was openly cynical
"No doubt it'll involve him being 'unavailable' until the storm's blown over."
Coulson laughed, for an unpredictable man Director Fury had some very predictable habits.
"You don't believe him about Tahiti, do you?"
He'd been waiting for Natasha to ask that. He pulled over to the side of the road and turned to look at her. The haunted, questioning look was back in his eyes.
"No, I don't" there was a note of anguish in his voice "whatever they did to me has been buried deep. Where I was treated, when and by who? None of the details match up. They changed me, and I don't know how."
Natasha stared off towards the horizon, hearing the depths of Phil's pain
"I'll try to find out what I can, even Fury can't have erased every trace, and Ainsley has a gift for problem solving."
"I know" said Coulson starting up the engine again "I think that's why Director Fury doesn't want me anywhere near him."
###
Bruce was in the living room, watching an old black and white movie, when Steve came in
"Jekyll & Hyde?" The surprise in his voice was plain
Bruce turned round with a grin
"It's only bad taste if anyone else watches it. I've always enjoyed it; kinda ironic don't you think?"
"A bit" laughed Steve, hanging his jacket up
"There's stew on the stove and fresh rolls in the cupboard. Nat called to say she'll be back around midnight; also, a zillion messages from Hill and Hand asking you to return their calls."
Steve had felt his phone vibrating against his hip all day and deliberately avoided checking it.
"Oh, is that what those were?" he said with a look of perfect innocence "I just though Stark had set up another dating profile for me."
He pulled out his phone. Voicemail full and over thirty text messages, all from the two agents.
"I think I can guess what that's about."
Steve nodded. Victoria Hand, with her usual grace and tact, was already pushing for the Captain to begin shortlisting candidates for Clint's replacement. In her opinion the archer's committal obviated any further need for review or evaluation. Hill was more circumspect, talking about contingencies and secondary options, but the message from both women was clear.
"I'm not replacing Barton" he said, as much to himself as to Bruce "Not while there's still a chance for him to sort himself out."
Bruce got up and joined him by the kitchen
"It couldn't hurt to have a back-up though, isn't that the whole idea behind the Academy Project?"
Steve put his phone back in his pocket. He wasn't in the mood to talk to either agent this evening
"That's still only on paper, and they wouldn't be doing this if Barton had broken his leg or been shot…"
Bruce finished pouring coffee for the two of them and put his hand on Steve's shoulder
"Mental illness has still got a big stigma round it, and there's plenty who'll see this as a good opportunity to finally get rid of Clint." He thought for a moment "Play their game for a bit, it'll buy us all some time."
Steve looked at him questioningly. He sometimes forgot Dr Banner had spent years hiding from and evading various intelligence and military groups, developing a strong and cunning survival sense in the process. The scientist continued
"Take your time in selecting half a dozen or so plausible candidates, then we can hum and haw over them until Clint's in a position for a proper review to take place. In the meantime, Ainsley and Dr Zabriski can push for a full investigation into the quality of the mental health care available to field agents while you and Stark make Fury's life a misery with submissions and counter submissions."
Steve smiled broadly
"You know, Dr Banner, that sounds like a pretty good plan of attack. We'll run that past the others but I think they'll like it."
"Speaking of the others" said Bruce "looking towards the elevator doors "did Ainsley and Thor stay up at the Academy?"
Steve shook his head
"They went straight to their apartment. Clint didn't want to see Thor and he's pretty broken up about that. Didn't say much the whole journey back; for a 1200-year-old warrior demi-god he can be a bit of a big kid at times."
Bruce tilted his head in thought, this was something he'd been wondering about for a while and his conclusion was so off the wall as to be almost plausible
"This'll sound a bit crazy, but relatively speaking Thor's probably the youngest member of the team."
"You're right" Steve gave him a puzzled look "That does sound a bit crazy, how'd you work that out?"
Thor was only one example of his race, and with the tendency to excel physically rather than intellectually, but he'd never struck Bruce as having the level of mental or emotional development that might be expected from someone who'd lived nearly twelve centuries. He'd come to the tentative conclusion that Asgardians experienced the flow of time differently to humans. Based on what Thor had told him, the average Asgardian life expectancy was around 4,500 to 5000 human years. Translating that into human terms it put Thor roughly in the equivalent of his early 20s, which was certainly compatible with the way he looked, thought and acted.
"Plus, take into account he grew up as a royal prince in a feudal court; so he still has an expectation that one word or gesture from him should be enough to solve any problem."
Steve nodded to himself as he ladled himself out another bowlful of stew. That did make a strange sort of sense
"If that idea's true it sounds like the Nine Realms he talks about may be different dimensions, rather than other planets."
Bruce took off his glasses and polished them on the tail of his shirt. They were straying well into weird science territory but it was a welcome distraction.
"That's entirely possible; certainly, the normal laws of physics don't appear to operate in some of them. We're still taking baby steps in this new order of things. I think a lot more of the old ideas are going to vanish out the window before we even begin to start understanding the world we now live in."
He laughed at the slightly uncomfortable expression on Steve's face
"Wishing they'd left you in the ice after all?"
Steve nodded with a wry half-smile
"Sometimes I think that would've been simpler."
###
Carmen Ortez enjoyed night cleaning at the clinic. It was always quiet and there was never much to do. Most of the patients seemed pretty good at tidying up after themselves. The bathrooms were the biggest job but she and Pavla always doubled up on those, made it easier and quicker. The last thing to do was empty the wastebaskets the patients left outside their bedrooms every night, then she could spend the rest of her shift drinking coffee and watching TV in the nurses' break room.
Tonight, she'd scored a bonus. One of the wastebaskets felt heavier than it should. She'd checked carefully, and underneath the balled-up newspaper was a brand-new hoodie, still in its shrink-rap; top quality too. She checked the size on the label, just right for Channing. That was one Christmas present less to worry about.