The Calm Before The Storm ➳ Avengers Age Of Ultron

C H A P T E R 10

Chapter 10: People Watching

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   I sat cross-legged on the desk in my office. My fingers pinched the hologram in front of me, enlarging the words. I had been working my ass the last few days. After going over the last set of files, videos, and medical records I was met with cold leads.

   A low, almost animal-like, grumble left my mouth as I angrily waved my hands to dismiss the information in front of me. I threw my head back, refraining from cursing.

   "There has to be something I'm missing."

   Inhumans have gone missing at an alarming rating. There was an increase in filed missing person cases in the first few months of the outbreak, and they've only grown since then. Between hate groups taking the law into their own hands and organizations like HYDRA performing experiments on us, the number has only grown. It sickened me. Literally.

   My range for channeling was small in comparison to the larger universe. It had grown since I first received my abilities but in moderation. Despite my limitations, I always feel the greater whole. Whether I feel the whole universe?... I'm not sure yet. But all seven billion of the people on Earth, I feel on a daily basis. Like a low hum at the back of my skull, I sense it all. Anger, pain, frustration— all-consuming forces in their own right— magnified to weigh down unsuspecting empaths.

   It is like a headache that never goes away, some days one emotion dominates the rest, causing my migraines to rapidly manifest. The medication I take only numbs it slightly. I do the rest. Training and meditation helped to drown it out, allowing my brain to focus on something else. Something like justice. Justice for those silenced and abused. The people on these tapes deserve that much.

   There was a knock at my door. The milky white privacy walls of my office prevented me from seeing who it was, but I knew by the exhaustion who it was.

   "Jarvis deactivate privacy mode."

   The white tint covering the glass walls dropped and my suspicions were confirmed. Clint stood, his eyes locking with mine once I became visible.

   Still sitting on my desk, I gestured for him to come in. As he passed through the threshold, the ache in his head mirrored in my own. Sometimes his hearing aids would give him headaches, an uncomfortable throbbing. Instead of asking him how he was feeling verbally, I sighed with him.

   A small smile pulled at the corner of his mouth, holding up his hands to reply. He signed that his head hurt. Clint's gestures were fluid as he smirked. Your signing is still better than mine, he mouthed.

   I shrugged, "that's because I practice."

   Clint raised his middle finger and smile sweetly. He threw his tired body into the couch along the wall. His feet kicked up on the coffee table and he sank into the new cushions.

   "What crawled up your ass?"

   "Excuse me?"

   His eyes squinted as he attempted to read my lips from his position, "You have a look on your face."

   I sighed, saying I was frustrated. He asked when the last time I had eaten something was. I answered truthfully, saying dinner from last night. He gave me a stern look, scolding me slightly, adding that that was fifteen hours ago.

   Look at you, you can add. I quipped, quickly apologizing, "Sorry, I'm a bitch when I'm hungry."

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