Lost in the Mirror (Avengers Fan Fiction)

[ 7 ]

Clint knocked on the door to Hill's office, glancing up and down the hall to see who all would see him enter the office. It wasn't like he was hiding or anything, he was just paranoid.

"Come in." Hill called from the other side. He opened the door and walked in to her office.

"How's Valente?" Clint questioned instantly.

"She's okay. Captain Rogers is with her right now."

"What happened, Maria?" The Hawkeye sat down heavily on a chair in front of her desk and rubbed his temple. "Did I do something?"

"No. At least not directly." Hill shook her head, tapping a pen against her desk for a moment. Clint furrowed his brows together and turned his head just slightly.

"What is that suppose to mean?"

"Barton, I need you to distance yourself from her." Hill sat back in her chair, folding her hands together on her lap.

"Why?"

"She's remembering the 2005 mission."

Clint's shoulders straightened and his jaw locked.

"You said she'd never remember it. All those doctors and Director Fury said that her memory was totally screwed up from what happened. She shouldn't be able to remember anything."

"It was. However, we always knew that there was a possibility that she could remember who she was."

Clint locked his jaw, lifting his head a little more and squaring his shoulders.

"She isn't that person anymore, Maria."

"I didn't call you in here to discuss who Valente is as an individual. You're being sent on an assignment to Sri Lanka. Should take a little over three days."

Hill slid a folder across her desk but Clint made no efforts to pick it up.

"I.... I don't understand why I have to be the one who gets punished for what someone else screwed up—,"

"You aren't being punished, Agent Barton." Hill cut him off. "This is just so that I can get Valente's mind on something else."

Clint took a step towards the desk and reached out to take the folder but hesitated. He clearly didn't want to take the mission.

"She's having dreams about the warehouse." Hill looked away for a moment to the coffee on her desk. The coffee was in a mug that she had given to Hill as a Christmas gift one year. 'Black like my soul' was written on the coffee cup. "She wakes up shaking and sick to her stomach because of it."

"I don't understand why you want me to stay away from her." Clint picked up the folder and tapped it against his opposite hand for a moment. "She'll notice something is up. Valente's not stupid."

"You were the only agent who survived that mission, Barton. I don't want you to trigger any memories she might have tucked away."

Knowing very well that arguing wouldn't improve where he stood, Clint nodded his head, turned away, and moved for the door but then rubbed the back of his head and stopped.

"You know, we shouldn't have kept this shit from her. We should've came clean from the get-go."

"It wasn't my call, Clint." Hill shook her head, bringing one hand up to brush along her chin. "And it's still not my call."

•*•*•

Delaney had work to do. She couldn't linger on her own problems when there were things to be filed and people to be taken care of. Once she managed to calm down, Delaney fixed her hair and her makeup to make it look like she had never been crying to begin with.