No-One But You (The Mystic Consultant) - Part 1
Chapter 53: Parallel Universe (Part 3)
Clint Barton considered himself stuck between a rock and a hard place. They were still waiting for Steve Rogers to show up and lead the circus, while one of his hands started itching.
His hands were all strapped up beneath the boxing glove. The baby archer felt annoyed, and he kept hearing someone's smug voice...
That made it even worse. "Agent" Barton kept staring off toward one of the doors while the others carved out some sort of conversation.
Waiting for Steve opened the door up for the group to work out some of their teamwork issues, but Clint Barton wasn't a fan of going down memory lane.
He was the only person in the room that wasn't engaged in the discussion.
Nick Fury, Ezekiel, Bucky, and Natasha were talking about a young woman named Rae-Ann. She tried to attack Ezekiel back in the day, and he plunged a piece of his armor right through her throat.
Natasha was deeply affected, because she knew that Rae-Ann only wanted to end Ezekiel's control over trafficking young women.
He worked for S.H.I.E.L.D. after he was identified, but in her opinion he wasn't doing enough to erase the crimes that he committed for his father.
Natasha was convinced that the crimes were being committed WITH his father, not FOR him. See the difference?
Bucky didn't agree. He felt Ezekiel was only doing what he had been conditioned to do since he was a child. He was aware that throwing those "crimes" in his face had led him into several mental breakdowns in the past.
He was far more fragile than most would think. Ezekiel sometimes seemed a bit, deranged.
Ok, so...
Bucky was witnessing an exchange that was getting heated only on one side of the spectrum.
Natasha forced her point across about Ezekiel, but his lack of empathy made everything fall pretty flat.
He cared about what she was saying on some level, but not on her level. That was the problem.
Bucky couldn't believe how late Steve was, and he chalked the conversation up into being a giant waste of time.
The "White Jackal" was hearing Natasha. He heard all the issues that she had with his father's crimes, and Ezekiel understood that he hadn't done enough to correct them.
He became, distracted.
Ezekiel tried to function like a normal human being instead, and he actually tried to have some sort of "life" out there in the wild. Well, he tried to achieve what he monitored all his life.
He grew up watching Tony Stark, and he wanted to feel out what he had observed.
The son of Obadiah Stane figured that he didn't deserve such things, but it was worth a shot. Natasha's talking points started bothering him.
Ezekiel kept looking around the space between them, and he began to feel a little overwhelmed.
Bucky noticed that. He also noticed as Ezekiel's focus settled on Victor's "friendly roommate."
...
Clint Barton rolled his eyes and he stepped off toward Natasha and Bucky. He wondered if they could somehow protest what was happening.
I meannnnnn...
The baby archer was in a terrible mood. He made sure that he put a ton of distance between him and all the other people in the pack. He didn't care about what was happening.
He didn't care about Ezekiel either, and he wanted to LEAVE.
The baby archer kept to himself, and he seemed pretty bothered. He kept looking over in Ezekiel's direction when the others weren't looking. Bucky saw it happen several times.
He even felt all the anger seeping from the youngest person in the pack.
It was kinda exciting.
The tension was building up faster than anyone thought because the friendly archer decided to ask his "teammate" something before Steve Rogers showed up.
The baby bird took three steps toward Ezekiel Stane, and he finally said something to him.
"HEY."
Clint's voice was pretty loud. He had been extra quiet since the body snatching fiasco happened at the apartment. The archer felt ready to say something about it to that "White Jackal", so...
Ezekiel wasn't paying attention to the others at that point. He turned his head slowly when he heard Clint's voice. The Jackal kept staring forward at first.
He wasn't surprised in that moment, but he took his time acknowledging him.
"Why did you use my body? Back at the apartment. Victor told me what you did."
Don't lie. Clint wanted to kick him in the face if he lied. It felt like Ezekiel's behavior happened a long time ago, but Clint remembered. He wasn't a fan of what he did at all.
He didn't want to speak to him at any other moment either. Clint wanted the conversation to happen and end right there at the S.H.I.E.L.D. base.
The archer planned to confront Victor's precious boyfriend if he ever saw him again. It was the perfect opportunity to get the job done.
Ezekiel heard the question. He did use Clint's body while he lived with Victor.
He did it more times than they actually knew.
The Jackal glanced at the others. According to Fury, they were going to negotiate some sort of truce down the road.
Ezekiel would have the freedom that he expected to have when it all started. Clint Barton was interrupting the conversation, but...
...
"I said, why did you use my body?"
...
"I was practicing."
"Do you plan on doing it again?"
...
The baby archer needed to know, and he tried to supress the impulse to shoot an arrow through Ezekiel's friggen face. He just gave the archer a little smirk. He didn't answer the second question at all, and it really pissed the baby bird off.
"I don't want you doing that."
Ezekiel's access to his body was officially DENIED. Clint wanted to make everything about that crystal clear. The statement he made caused his smirk to strengthen. Ezekiel seemed amused, and everyone watched him respond with a gentle shrug.
"I don't care."
What exactly was Clint Barton, field agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. going to do about it? That was the first question that entered Ezekiel's mind.
The Jackal maintained a calm smile for a bit longer, but then he turned away. He turned from that baby bird and his little tantrum.
Chapter: END
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