MIND GAMES|PETER PARKER

prologue part 1

"Hi! Wanna play with me?" The five year old girl asked the man who had entered her room.

It was an all white room.

Or so she thought.

In all actuality, people could see through the glass only from the outside.

Fury had put her there under close speculation to make sure she and everyone else around her was safe.

"Sure. What are we playing?" The brooding man asked as he sat down on the floor in front of her.

"Checkers!" She said excitedly and giggled as she moved her first red piece.

"I'm Clint, by the way," He said and moved his black piece forward.

"I know who you are, silly," She smiled and moved her red piece closer to Clint's. His eyes narrowed in confusion at how she'd picked up his name. Fury had already updated him on what her powers were. He just wasn't expecting her to gather his name so quickly.

He looked at her and then back to the game. They played in silence until Clint's piece was about to jump over hers. She looked up at him and his hand paused over her checker piece.

He looked up at Jessie with a shocked expression after his arm went the opposite direction than he had anticipated. His checker piece landed in the clear square next to hers and she jumped his with another awaiting checker.

"Did you make me do that Jessie?" He asked looking back at the small girl. She looked up at him and her smile instantly dropped into one of pure disappointment and worry.

"I'm sorry. I cheated, didn't I?" She said and brought her hands to her face as she started to cry. Clint leaned forward to comfort her, but was stopped by his own eyes watering. He suddenly felt disappointed and ashamed as well, but he didn't know why.

"Jessie, it's okay. No one is punishing you. We can just continue to play," Clint said softly as he took her hands away from her tear stained eyes.

"Ar-are you sure? I don't want you to feel bad," She told him and he nodded letting her know it was okay. They continued to play the game silently once again.

Meanwhile, Nick Fury, the head of SHIELD was outside of the glass with Agent Phil Coulson looking in and taking notes on what was happening.

"She needs to improve her control," Fury grunted and shook his head as he looked at Coulson. Phil was keeping his eyes trained on the young girl who he tended to have tea parties with.

"She's five. She needs a friend," He replied whilst glancing at Fury and back to Jessie. Her face became shocked and a wide smile spread across her lips as she said "I won!". She hugged Clint Barton, better known as Hawkeye, and began to set the game up again.

"I should probably get going. Nat is probably-"

"Waiting for you to practice fighting? Yes, I know. Thanks anyway for playing with me while you could. I hope to see you tomorrow. Tell Laura I said hi, please," She smiled and he hesitantly nodded before walking out.

He walked over to Coulson and Fury with a weird look and let out a laugh.
"That kid is no joke," He said pointing his thumb at her through the glass. She was putting away her checkers game and pulled out another Dr. Seuss book from her collection.

"She will definitely make a good weapon," Fury agreed.

"No. Not a weapon. An agent. You should put her in a little bit of training. Nat wouldn't mind training her. The sooner the better," Barton suggested and Coulson looked back at Fury with a knowing smile.

"An agent? Do you really think she'd be able to handle herself out in the field?" He asked Barton.

"With Nat's combat training and a little bit of control practice with her mind powers...hell yeah. She'd be great," Clint chuckled.

"Okay. We'll think about it."