𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐌𝐄━︎━︎ C. Barton

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐫

CHAPTER FOUR:
❝︎What's Your Price?❞︎

THERE'S A LOT OF THINGS THAT THEODORA WANTED TO DO IN HER LIFE. She wanted to have a family, believe it or not. She wanted kids, but she also wanted to live long enough to try and find away to get rid of the burden that rested in her hands. She wanted to be able to remove the gloves from her hands without feeling any fear, but she knew that wasn't going to happen if she continued to hide out in the middle of the forest like she had been doing for several years now.

Maybe that's why as she listened to this Clint Barton describe to her about his so called work place, she couldn't help but be intrigued. Would she ever admit this out loud? Absolutely not. She sat there on her front porch, second cup of coffee placed gently between her glove-covered hands. She was listening intently, her eyes narrowed ahead of her as she listened to the agent sitting beside of her talk. She was positive he was about to start rambling, and if there was one thing that Theodora Knox despised, it was rambling. 

     Finally, she decided to stop him. She held out her hand, a chuckle of amusement leaving her lips, "Alright, I believe you've made your point." Clint closed his mouth. "Your boss will actually murder you if you don't bring me back. I've never been one that enjoyed the murders of innocent people, but before I even think about agreeing to go with you, I have to ask you one question. If you lie, I'll know, and I'll turn you insane." Clint nodded his head, silently agreeing to the terms. "If I chose to do so, am I allowed to leave on my own terms?"

     Clint looked at the woman for a few moments before he pursed his lips. He didn't think Fury would agree with his next words, but nonetheless he said them. He didn't want her to feel like if she came with him, then she would be nothing but a prisoner that they did tests on. Clint's sol reason for coming after her was not just because Fury wanted him to, but because he wanted her to feel safe and to be protected from the hands of HYDRA. "Yes."

      It was as simple as that. She turned her green eyes to look at him and for a moment, she thought he was going to say something else instead of the one worded answer, but he said nothing else. She didn't know what to do, whether or not she should go with him. So she made a decision―︎one that she always came to regret. A sigh fell from her lips as she slowly started to remove the glove from her right hand. She nodded towards Clint's hand. "May I?" He was confused for a few moments before noticing the glove clutched in her left hand.

     "Oh, yeah, sure."

He moved his hand over and watched as Theodora hesitated before she reached out and grabbed his hand. A small gasp fell from her lips as she watched the images pass before her eyes. All the people he's killed, the talk that he had with his boss―︎she assumed―︎and how she discovered his name to be Nick Fury. She watched his training, and by the time she had pulled away, she knew his entire life story, and she couldn't help the tear that escaped her eye before she quickly swiped it away. She placed her glove back on her hand before she nodded her head.

     "So much blood." She whispered. But she knew that he was simply following his orders, and that those people he killed were undoubtedly bad people. She had heard Fury's words, his worry about her. How HYDRA would undoubtedly come after her once they found out about her powers. She had heard the rumors, the awful things that HYDRA had done. And so maybe that's why she finally nodded her head, agreeing to go with him. "Alright. I'll go with you. Maybe you can pay me back by helping me out with something."

     "Alright. What's your price?" He questioned.

Theodora looked down at her hands for a moment, feeling the fabric clinging against her skin like it had been since she was a little girl. It was a curse that had been placed upon her during her birth. She didn't know how she had managed to get it, as far as she knew no one in her family had had this curse before. But then again, she had never really known anyone outside of her mother, father, and siblings. They never went to family dinners, family holidays, all because of her. Because of the questions that would arise when they saw the gloves that covered her hands.

     "If it at all possible, I want to try and get rid of this. . . these powers. It's done me more harm than good. It's a reminder as to why my brother is still in a mental hospital. It's brought me nothing good in my life. And now that this HYDRA organization is possibly after me. . . I just can't deal with it anymore." She bit the inside of her cheek, swallowing her tears before she turned her head to look at Clint once more. But despite her efforts, tears still filled her eyes. "I don't want this. Take it from me, please. I can't take the weight of it anymore."

     Clint looked at the woman, the one he'd known all of an hour. He could see the tears trying to escape, and how she was trying so desperately to hold them back. He couldn't imagine how much of a burden this was one her, but he knew she was stronger than this. So he shook his head, a frown on his lips. "So, you're just going to give up? You can't do that, I won't let you."

     A scoff fell from her lips as she wiped at the brim of her eyes. "You can't possibly know what it's like, Clint."

     "You're right, I don't." He nodded. "But I believe you can over come the horrors. That there's a way to control what you can and cannot see. And I plan on helping you with that." He stood up and she followed him with her eyes. "Pack what you need, Ms. Knox. We've got to go so that we can figure this thing out." He held out his hand to her and Theodora looked at him for a moment before the smallest of smiles pulled at the corners of her lips, and she allowed him to pull her up.