"Layla! Wake up!" I heard someone yell through my bedroom door. I groaned and sat up. I blinked the sleep out of my eyes and got out of bed. Shuffling to the door in my socks, I opened it and was almost blinded by the bright lights of the hallway. Clint stood in the hall wearing a skin-tight black shirt and jeans with a leather jacket with the SHIELD symbol on the lapel. His hair was neatly combed and spiked up in his usual style. "Hey, nice PJs." He grinned, gesturing my black tank top and Hello Kitty pajama pants. I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, what do you want?" I signed. I've been mute my whole life. When I joined SHIELD, I was taught sign language for just about every word in existence by Clint and Natasha, who are like older siblings to me.

"Did you forget we have a meeting with the Director in 10 minutes?" he asked, looking at his watch. I gasped and face-palmed. Clint chuckled. "It's fine, Lay! Just get dressed and meet me out here." He instructed. I nodded and shut the door. I went to my closet and grabbed my agent suit. After slipping on the flexible suit and pulling on my tall black boots, I went to the bathroom and brushed my long black hair. I looked into the mirror. Bright green eyes against a pale face looked back at me. Sighing, I pulled the small loops at the end of my long leather sleeves around my middle fingers comfortably and ran out of the room. Clint was waiting, leaning against the wall next to his room, which was in front of mine. I gestured for him to lead the way. I've lived on this ship since they found me 4 years ago in a New York alley and I still don't know my way around. We started walking to Director Fury's office. When he wasn't a huge stick in the ass, he was like a father to me. I looked over at Clint and he looked back at me. I shrugged my shoulders and gave him a quizzical look.

"We are 2 of the 3 of the best agents in SHIELD. Nat's on another mission, so it's just us. All I know is that we're being set out for a security detail. Don't know anything other than that." Clint explained, looking back in front of him. I nodded and did the same. We walked quietly to Fury's office. When we got to the door, Clint hit the button to open it. It opened with a slight rush of air. Fury sat at his paper-crowded desk in his bland office, nothing personal in sight. He looked up when we entered. "Director?" Clint asked, me staying my usual silence. We stood at attention as he stood up.

"Agent Barton, Agent Jackson. I have an extended mission for you two. The 2 of you will be at one of our secret research facilities on security. The details are on tablets in your quarters. Your jet is leaving in 3 hours. Pack up and meet me up there. Dismissed." he ordered. Clint and I saluted and left. When the door closed behind us, Clint turned to me. "You want to go get breakfast? Then we'll get ready?" he questioned. I nodded and we made our way to the cafeteria. We grabbed our normal breakfasts of eggs, bacon, and pancakes and went to our normal table. "So, what do you think Fury wants us to protect?" he asked as we sat down.

"I don't know. The real question is why us? Why did he choose us for a security detail?" I signed.

"I have no clue. Must be a big deal." he shrugged. We continued to talk and sign until we both finished our food. We walked back to our neighboring rooms. My room had dark grey walls and light grey carpet. I had a dark green bed in the middle of the back wall with a metal nightstand next to it, a bookshelf in the corner on the left of the bed, and a bathroom/walk-in closet on the right. Since I was one of the lucky agents with a window, sunlight reflected off a spot on my bed. A black tablet sat on my forest green bed. I strolled over to it and picked up the light device. Sitting with my legs folded underneath me, I faced the window on my bed and turned on the tablet and typed in my password. A picture popped up on the screen that made me gasp in awe. There was a glowing, bright blue, cube. It had swirling colors of blue and white inside it. Apparently, it was called the Tesseract. Some Asguardian treasure. Found in 1942 by HYDRA; World War II; Captain America; Howard Stark. Everything on the Tesseract's database. I started to read about the scientists on the project. I was so focused on reading; I didn't notice my door open.

"RAAAH!" Someone yelled behind me. I squeaked and felt myself go invisible. Swinging around, I saw Clint rolling on the floor laugh. I scoffed and kicked him playfully. I turned visible again and crossed my arms over my chest as I sat on the bed. After about 5 minutes, he finally got up and sat next to me.

"Sorry, Lay! I couldn't help it! Natasha said I sucked at being stealthy." Clint explained. I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, Yeah. So funny, Hotshot. Did you read the tablet?" I asked.

"Did you?" He answered with a question.

"Yeah? Did you?" I repeated.

"You did. Then I did. You can give me a run-down later." He smiled. I rolled my eyes.

"Anyway. Lets get packed." I signed, getting up.

"Right. I'll be back in 30 minutes. Then, if you want, we can go train." he told me, jogging out the door. I smiled and walked to my closet, pulling out my duffle bag. I stuffed a few uniforms, pajama pants with tank tops to match, a couple sets of workout clothes, undergarments, my make-up and other necessary toiletries in the bag. Throwing the full bag onto my bed, I walked over to my nightstand. I pulled open the drawer where my weapons were stocked. I buckled my weapons belt loosely around my waist and strapped my thigh holsters to my upper leg. Securing my guns inside them, I brought out my knives and hid them in their hiding spots. At the bottom of the drawer, was a picture. It was of my older sister and my so-called parents. All dead. Memories rushed before my eyes. 'No, I can't have one of my episodes right now.' I squeezed my eyes shut and slammed the drawer shut. I opened them a moment later and checked the time. I still had 10 minutes before Clint would come strolling into my room. I walked to my bookshelf, which had transparent windows covering the books in case the ship jerked. Skimming through the titles, a certain one caught my eyes. I pulled open the window and plucked it off the shelf. It was pretty big and looked interesting. I jumped onto my bed, lay on my stomach, and started to read. A few chapters in, I was faintly aware of a knock on my door. Groaning, I rolled off the bed and jogged to answer the door. Clint stood there with his quiver on his back, bow in hand.

"You ready?" he asked. I held up a finger, indicating I needed a second. I dashed back to my bed and put the book in my duffle bag. Clint chuckled behind me.

"Good book?" he questioned. I nodded and smiled.

"It's awesome!" I signed, passionately. He laughed again.

"C'mon, bookworm. Lets go shoot things!" he exclaimed, pumping a fist into the air. It was my turn to laugh as we left the room. We walked to the large training room. For the next 2 hours, we shot our bows, our knives, our guns, and a bunch of other weapons.

"Clint. Time?" I signed. He looked at his watch and sighed.

"Almost time. Let's go get our stuff," he said. We were almost out the door before Clint blindly shot at a target several feet away. Bulls-eye. "Yes!" he cheered. I rolled my eyes and smiled.

"Show off." I signed.

"What? You jealous?" he teased as we jogged to our rooms. We went in and out of the rooms and met back in the hall. We made our way to the deck and easily spotted the Director. He stood by a quinjet, observing the other agents running around him.

"Director Fury." Clint saluted as we approached and stood in front of him.

"Agents. You two ready to go?" he asked us.

"Yes, sir." Clint answered for both of us.

"Very well. Good luck." he stated, stepping aside. We saluted and walked up the ramp. We threw our bags in the back.

"I call flying!" Clint yelled as we were closing the ramp. I snapped my fingers.

"Damnit." I signed when he looked at me. He laughed as he sat in the pilots seat. I sat next to him and we put our headsets on. We got the all clear and we took off. It was clear skies the whole day of flying and we got to our destination that night. We landed the jet and exited. A guard was waiting for us.

"Agents Barton and Jackson?" he asked as we approached.

"That's us. Where are we going?" Clint asked.

"Right this way." the guard turned and led us to a large room. The roof was mostly girders, with a few catwalks and large dome in the center. In the middle of the room, a large device was set up, holding a bright blue light. It must be the Tesseract. Farthest away from us, a platform with panels curving into a sphere sat. Rows of computers were set up on our side. Numerous scientists were shuffling about, but one man seemed different. The guard led us to him. He was sort of plump in a plaid shirt tucked into his slacks.

"Dr. Selvig?" the guard asked as we stopped behind him. The doctor turned away from the computer he was working on and turned to us.

"Oh, hello. You must be the 2 agents stationed here." he stated, walking over.

"Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye." he introduced, shaking Selvig's hand.

"Erik Selvig." the doctor responded. He turned to me and shook my hand, expectantly. I looked to Clint, who got his cue.

"This is Layla Jackson, aka Silence." Clint told him.

"Its nice to meet you, Doctor." I signed, praying he knew sign language.

"Nice to meet you, too, Miss Jackson." he smiled, sympathetically. Damn. I hate that look.

"So what are we here for, Doc?" Clint questioned. The doctor looked annoyed at first, but motioned us to follow him.

"This is the Tesseract. Director Fury hired me to study it and figure out the usual questions- Is it dangerous? or What does it do? You guys are basically here to make sure nothing happens when I'm not in the room." he explained.

"Okay, we'll be here tomorrow morning." Clint told the doctor. Next thing I knew, Clint had my arm and was dragging me out the door. I smiled as he led me up a few flights of stairs and through a large door. He pulled me onto a metal catwalk with yellow safety bars.

"Oh, yes." Clint smirked, looking down. I laughed as he admired the view.

"Layla. This is going to be fun."