Chapter Five: This World Can Beat You Down (Nine Inch Nails: I Do Not Want This)

I'm losing ground/ You know how this world can beat you down/ I'm made of clay. I fear I'm the only one who thinks this way/ I'm always falling down the same hill/ Bamboo puncturing this skin/ And nothing comes bleeding out of me just like a waterfall I'm drowning in/ Two feet below the surface I can still make out your wavy face/ And if I could just reach you maybe I could leave this place.

I smirk a little, trying to hide my amusement at the irony- a secret organisation full of professionals (or so they like to claim) who love to wear dark suits and shades have hired an- obviously- unprofessional to do a professional's job (A mouthful I know).

The mystery man in the corner crosses his arms over his chest as he looks on incredulously at the doctor. I start inching my way towards the only door that I can see- it's on my right. I move ever so slowly, trying not to attract his attention. As my hand wraps around the handle, I hear a slight crackling noise before an authoritative voice fills the room, "Barton!"

I look up as the agent (I'm assuming) looks up sharply at me. Fuck. Yanking the door open without a second thought, I dash into a deserted hallway. While sprinting down a second corridor at the end of the hallway, I chance a glance behind me and stop dead. There's no one behind me. What the hell? I heard him running after me only a few seconds before.

Dread starts to set in me as I try to come up with a viable explanation for his sudden disappearance while I walk towards a door to my left. I can't think of anything. Fuck it, the building ate him. I grin a little as I put my ear to the door. Hearing nothing I open it quietly. Rows of empty toilet cubicles grace me with their presence.

Now that I think about it, I do need to take a leak. Hopefully, my captors will look for their dangerously sexy and amazing prisoner by the front doors... Or at least closer to the exit. So I should be safe. If I'm lucky.

Noticing that the cubicle at the end, furthest from the door has an air vent above it, I walk over to it, judging it to be my best option- it's far away from the door to allow for a swift escape if the need arises and the air vents will definitely lead out somewhere. I go into the small space and meet my companions: An old, scratched, silver toilet with the lid up and a matching, stunningly stained sink. I bet the big shots don't use these toilets, they don't look like they have been given attention since they were installed.

After locking the door and making sure that the toilet lid is down, I take a quick leak before cleaning myself up at the sink. There's no soap. I scowl at my hands and decide on scrubbing them with hot water. Three times. Each hand. The right first and then the left.

Once I'm satisfied that my hands are clean, I switch off the water and wipe my hands on my clothes. Now they are probably dirty again. Great. Fucking great. Knowing that if I go down that road I will never stop cleaning my hands, I try to convince myself that my shirt is in fact a highly sterile bacterial cloth. Doesn't work. Oh well.

I place my head on the cubicle door and groan quietly, 'What am I supposed to do now?' I whisper to myself. Squeezing my eyes shut doesn't help the headache I can feel coming as the back of my head starts to throb.

The throbbing starts to get worse as I hear a slight thud behind me. Before I can turn around, someone wrenches my left arm behind my back, pushing me towards the door, while their free hand snakes around my neck, squeezing hard. I'm effectively pinned to the door. Shit. My body tenses of its own accord- testing his reaction is as natural as breathing to me. All he does in return is pull me back slightly and slam me into the door. Hard. I stop fighting, trying to think of how the guy managed to get in without me noticing and who the fuck he is.

Trying to turn my head proves futile. I feel his breath on my cheek as he leans in, speaking calmly and authoritatively, 'Calm down and don't fight, you're outclassed kid'. I can hear the grin in his voice. Smug bastard.

'How-' I start to ask but he cuts me off. 'Don't talk'. I hear him speak to whoever's in charge (I'm assuming seeing as I can't see behind me, otherwise he's a crazy person talking to thin air), 'I've got the kid. Yeah, I know. No, same floor. Okay Director. Up to you guys? Alright. No I'm fine'.

I clench my jaw when I hear him talk. Shit. What have I got myself into? Deciding to play the innocent, scared kid I relax my body, surprising him.

'What the hell are you trying now kid?' He speaks more to himself, musing amusedly.

'Look, wh-where am I?' I start to say, purposefully stuttering as I try to sound desperate, 'And who are you? I- I was coming back from school and-'

He snorts, annoyed a little as he keeps me pinned. 'Don't play me for a fool kid, the Red Room taught you better'.

I freeze. My eyes widen as I take a shaky breath. Gulping slightly, I try to reign in my feelings. Three seconds later, I'm calm as I speak, 'I have no idea of what you're talking about'.

He stays silent for a while before he turns me around so my back is resting against the cubicle door and I'm facing him. It's the same agent from the room I woke up in- Barton. With his hands firmly on my shoulders he gives me a look, warning me not to try anything. Not like I will anyway, I'm not stupid- attacking someone while they have the upper hand in a highly enclosed space isn't the cleverest of things to do.

"Look kid, I don't know what they've done to you but we can help you", Barton says, his voice screaming sincerity.

My head is still facing him but I shift my line of sight to my right, my glare stony as I keep my eyes on the sink.

He carries on, sounding almost desperate, "Come on, you can't be older than 16, 17 at the most".

I look at him, my gaze still cold, "We?" I question.

He nods, trying to contain his relief at me responding, "Yeah, SHIELD. We can fix whatever-"

Rolling my eyes, I cut him off by scoffing, "SHIELD can't do shit for anyone".

He sighs, "I'm going to let go of you okay?" He waits for me to nod, "Don't think of running or fighting because you'll just end up in deeper shit".

I nod again as he releases his hold o my shoulders. With his eyes still on me, he pulls the toilet lid down and sits on it. I stay where I am, standing, as I watch him. I swear to God if he tries anything I'll rip his eyes out.

"You don't sound American, you sound more English" He comments after a long awkward minute of silence. When I don't respond or even acknowledge that he had spoken, he sighs again.

"Have you ever heard of Phil Coulson?" He asks me, his eyes begging me to communicate with him.

After a few seconds, just when his shoulders droop slightly out of disappointment, I answer him curtly

"I met him on the rooftop".

He grins a little at me but my face stays emotionless and passive, "It won't be SHIELD helping you, not really. It'd be Coulson and his team, and possibly even me and my team mates".

I open my mouth to speak but he raises one hand, motioning me to stay quiet and hear him out. He carries on, speaking faster as he gets a little excited. "Coulson isn't like the rest, trust me. He only has your best interests at heart. I'm not joking, give him a chance. He's like a dad to me. He won't ever betray your trust and his team is awesome too".

I give him an incredulous look, "Slow the fuck down mate. So you're saying I should get help off a guy I don't even- and who's to say I even need help? There's nothing wrong with me" I finish a little angrily

Pursing his lips, he stares at me intensely. After a few minutes he breaks eye contact with me and tiredly runs his hand through his hair, cursing under his breath.

"Please kid, all I'm asking for is one chance. Just trust him once".

Yeah Right. Like that's going to happen. I look at him blankly as he stands up.

"Come on, we have to get you upstairs to the meeting room".

He seems more relaxed around me now so I play on that, by nodding slightly, hoping he mistakes that as compliance. Latching one hand around my forearm, he unlocks the cubicle door and walks out, moving me with him.

"Hey, you're hurting me", I complain, lacing my voice with fake pain so he loosens his grip.

"Sorry kid", he says quickly, concerned as he loosens his grip.

As soon as his grip is loosened I strike. I elbow him in the stomach with the hand he is gripping lightly, making him double over in pain before grabbing his neck and kneeing him in the face. Blood drips everywhere as he hold his broken nose with both hands, groaning slightly. I feel guilty as I hit him again, kicking him in the side of the head with my foot. Hard. I even wince at the sound it makes.

Running my hand over my face, I curse under my breath. I turn around and see him slumped on the floor, seemingly out unconscious. After I search his pockets and find nothing I can use- no gun, knife or anything dangerous apart from an arrowhead (which is a bloody weird thing to keep on your person), I turn around and start to walk out but before I even make it to the door, something heavy tackles me from behind, slamming my entire body into the wall by the door. Barton has me by the waist as he punches me in the stomach, winding me.

"I don't want to fucking hurt you kid", he speaks through clenched teeth.

I bring my knee up, hoping to meet my goal between his legs but he grabs my leg with both his hands, using my body weight against me as he pushes me to the floor.

I land on my back and roll out of the way as he delivers a swift kick to where I was laying previously. As his foot connects with thin air, I tangle both my feet around his ankle and twist, forcing him to lose balance and fall. I grab his head and slam it three times against the tiles floor- knocking him out for good this time.

Adrenaline pumps through my veins as my heart thumps louder and quicker. Fucking great. Remembering how he was contacting someone before, I look over his body more closely. I notice a small, black earpiece in his left ear and take it out. It's a comms unit. Taking one last glance at him and suppressing my guilty conscious, I leave the room as inconspicuously as I can, putting the earpiece in so I can hear whatever's going on.

I walk down a few different corridors, all of which are empty before the earpiece crackle to life, scaring the crap out of me for a second until I remember what it is.

"Barton, report. It's been 15 minutes".

I stay silent. Can I pretend to be him? I muse it over before coming to the conclusion that that would probably have been the most dumbass thing I would have done today and choose against it.

Again, someone speaks. This time it's a female. "Barton, I swear to God, stop trying to, I don't know, connect, or whatever else it is you're trying to do, with him. He's a killer. Plain and simple. He's Red Room through and through. So get his and your ass here now!" She demands.

I grin a little, tapping my fingers lightly against the walls closest to me as I continue walking. Barton sure has a wild chick in his nest.

A male voice speaks up now, "What Natasha means to say, Clint, is that you need to bring him to meet us so that we can all work together with him. Tony and Bruce are in the lab, they left after the first 5 minutes but as soon as you two get here, they'll come as well".

So that's all I am to them huh? A project. Fucking great. Here I was, nearly believing the crap that Barton was selling me. For fucks sake, I'm getting soft.

There's a door close to me. It's high tech and looks important. Let's see where this goes, I think, as I place my hand on the door, looking for a handle. As soon as my hand comes into contact with the door, it slides open and slides back shut after I walk in.

Holy fuck. I freeze as I stare at two men. Both have stopped whatever they were doing and are looking at me.

One of them, the more confident one obviously, walks forward. "Is there something you want?"

Shit. Shit. Shit. I'm in deep shit. I try to stay calm but it's hard as I've noticed a bright blue light shining through his top over his chest area. Tony Stark. I remember the man on the comms saying that 'Tony and Bruce were in the lab'.

I play it cool, smiling at him. "Urm, yes actually" I say, trying to accurately play the part of a lost, newbie. "See, I'm new, I only started last week, and it's really amazing to meet you Tony, I mean Mr Stark".

Both Tony and the quiet man at the end of the room relax and I could swear that Bruce's eyes were green only a second ago but when I looked again, they were back to normal.

Tony smiles at me, "If you're new it's fine. I know how mind-blowing it is to meet me. Maybe when you're on your lunch break we can hang out and I'll even sign something of yours" He offers. The egotistical prick.

I nod enthusiastically, "That would be so amazing Mr Stark, thank you so much".

I take what he said as inspiration and continue, more confident now. "Well, it's actually my lunch break now and I was wondering if one of you could show me the way out, I feel like eating outside headquarters, you know, real food for once" I grin.

My grin drops as Bruce tenses up again, looking at Tony who just starts walking slowly towards me, grinning lazily.

"You know, let's say you were actually a new recruit here, fully uniformed and all", he says mockingly, "and you were the dumbest person alive", he continues, "You would still know that there is no way off the helicarrier once it's in air. Simple logic".

Crap. I look at him wildly, noticing Bruce is talking to someone on a phone. Turning quickly, I sprint out of the lab, running down the hallway I didn't come from. When I feel like I've run far enough and he's stopped following me, I slow down to a brisk walk, trying to seem as if I'm a busy employee and not a crazy, criminal who's escaped. I turn the corner and notice a redhead walking towards me. I hold my breath as she notices me but doesn't acknowledge that she knows who I really am. As she passes past me, she nods curtly at me and I smile slightly. I let out the breath I was holding and continue walking. The next thing I know, something hits the back of my head and everything goes black.