Games of Deception (Hawkeye/Avengers)

Chapter 9 - '70 Dodge Challenger

　

-Clint's P.O.V-

"What do you mean a list?"

"I mean, a list of agents, the majority of them still active, and alive. She's got this planned out much further along than we thought."

A frustrated sigh came from the opposite end of the line, and I scanned over the paper in my hand another time while waiting for Fury to continue. The note I'd gotten from the bar the night before had in fact proven to be very important. It was obvious that Jacqueline wrote things in a way that would be near impossible for anyone to make sense of, so I'd had trouble realizing what exactly the list meant. There were still some things that were unclear, but I'd be sending a copy of it back to S.H.I.E.L.D. so they could attempt to fill in what I hadn't been able to figure out. What was most confusing, however, was if she already had her targets planned out several months in advance, why had she decided to go after Agent Marshall next almost randomly? I informed Fury that he was not on the list, which of course frustrated him even further.

"Are you sure?" he asked, and I checked over the list yet again, standing up and walking toward the windows, which were now illuminating the otherwise dark room with the bright morning sunlight. I briefly scanned the busy city streets below, just to make sure nothing out of the ordinary was going on.

"Nothing seems to even hint at him," I replied, "I have no idea what she's thinking at this point. Maybe it has something to do with the possiblility of her po--"

"We'll deal with that when we get her here." Fury interrupted. "The important thing now is to make sure that none of our agents are in any immediate danger. Has anything changed about our date of motion?"

"Not that I'm aware of. Like I said, she's set on not really focusing on it all that much for the time being." After saying this, I groaned inwardly. This meant I really had no reason to be here, at least in my own eyes. Fury seemed to think it was important, which I suppose was true; with situations like this, things could always change, and do so pretty quickly.

"We'll see about that. We'll check over the data you sent us, and if you find anything else out, let us know immediately." He put emphasis on the last word, and I resisted the urge to reply to it. He was referring to the fact that I'd waited until the next morning to report, but if we're being honest, I was a bit buzzed the night before. It wasn't like I'd gone overboard, but when you haven't consumed alcohol in a while it tends to get to you pretty quickly.

"Stay focused, Barton," he added, and with that, the line went dead.

Stay focused? Who the hell did he think I was?

Very rarely had Fury ever said this to me, he knew I was completely dedicated to this position. I let out a heavy sigh and walked into the bedroom of the apartment, blindly tossing the phone somewhere onto the bed and walking over to the bag I'd left in the corner of the room. I pulled out a white t-shirt I'd bought a couple days ago and pulled it over my head, pondering over what I should do next. I sure as hell wasn't going to just sit around in this apartment all day long. Talking to Jacqueline again today probably wasn't the best option, as I'd just seen her the night before.

The thing was, I actually wanted to talk to her again. I didn't understand it, and the thought of the whole thing just pissed me off. I was supposed to be preparing myself to maybe have to fight or even kill this girl in the near future, and I was sitting around thinking about how I wanted to be in the same room as her just because she was. . .well, she was intoxicating. I couldn't deny that. Everything about her was intoxicating, and I hated it. But why? I was one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s best agents for God's sake, and I was getting distracted by my own target.