Beauty is a Beast

Chapter 17: A Lesson in Lying101

Once again, I found myself training with one of the Avengers, Clint. He had woken me up early Sunday morning, pulling me out of that odd dream where I'm running through a forest. He told me to get dressed, not giving me any clues to what we were doing today. Clint met me in the lobby dressed in regular clothes and sunglasses over his eyes.

"What are we doing today, Katniss?" I questioned as I followed him out the doors.

"You'll see, Claws." he retorted.

We walked towards the busiest part of the city. People crossed the streets in clumps, taxis honked at other drivers and shop owners were opening their businesses. Clint said nothing as I followed him across a cross walk and down a few streets before he stopped next to a corner store that had a special on coffee.

"Okay," he turned to me. "Time for a lesson."

Clint's eyes moved through the crowd, deducting people and ruling them out as he moved onto the next. His eyes settled on someone behind me.

"Him." he finally said.

"What am I learning?"

"Acting. Sometimes you'll have to lie to a police officer or a regular man. You have to act normal under pressure and not give into the lie."

"What do you want me to say?" I asked as I glanced over my shoulder to see the man sitting on a bench as he tapped his phone.

"Ask to borrow his phone because you don't have yours, convince him to help you look for your lost dog, something that isn't true," Clint stated, putting his hands on my shoulders. "You've got this."

With that being said he turned me around and shoved me forward. I caught myself before I could face plant into the pavement. Clint was leaning against the building I left him at as I crossed the street to reach the bench that the man was sitting at. His head was still down, keeping his eyes on his phone in hand.

"Excuse me?" I spoke up, deciding to play the clueless maiden role.

The man's head shot up and gave me a questioning look as he asked, "Yes?"

"I-I'm new in the city and I was wondering if you knew where I could find the closes library." I made my voice stutter in the beginning and pushed my hair behind one of my ears.

"Yeah, sure," he gave me easy directions to follow but before I could thank him and leave he asked, "Did you move here alone?"

"No, my brother lives with me," I gestured to where Clint was standing. "He just got out of the military and our parents are here so it was a good fit."

"Some advice. Don't ask random strangers for directions by yourself. The city is still dangerous in the daylight."

His voice sounded sincere but there was a bit of warning and threat located in there. You wouldn't have noticed it if you weren't listening.

"I'll keep that in mind." I smiled politely before thanking him and walking away.

"Done." I said when I reached Clint.

"What did you ask him?"

"Where the library was. He also thinks your my brother." I answered and we started walking towards the library to find my next assignment.

Two hours later we were sitting in front of a cafe to eat. I had convinced a young man that I was an Italian model, a sales clerk that I didn't know English, a woman with an odd hat that I have royalty in my blood and an old man to help me look for my dog. That last one took half an hour before he handed me a small black dog with a white patch above its left eye, exactly how I had described it.