Through the Realms

Chapter 4 - Not Again

Agent Mcloud barked orders to his men as the quinjet landed, directing them to leave the ship and surround the prisoners. The Asgardian warrior was nearly unconscious, the ice dart having drained all her ability to fight back. It was the other girl, the one named Squeaky, that he was worried about. That wasn't her real name, he was sure. They didn't know her real name, or even where she was from. Just that she had the means to travel worlds, and often did so frivolously.
     Recently they'd captured her, along with a group of her cohorts, but they'd escaped. Shield had been unable to pick her up on the trackers again until now; actually, they'd been on the way to come capture her before the police had even called. The ability to hack any camera anywhere in the world came in handy, especially since the portal had opened right near a street camera.
     Mcloud watched Squeaky for a moment before nodding at one of his men, who held the icer, to shoot her too. The truth was that if Squeaky were awake, she'd be much, much harder to control and keep from escaping. Heck, she could bury them in cheesepuffs and run.
     "Woahhhh now," Squeaky raised her hands, the unpleasant feeling of the icer fresh in her mind. "You don't have to-" Too late. Three agents fired icers, and she fired cheesepuffs in return to try and stop them. Two were halted, but the other struck her side, working instantly to make her numb and weak. As the painful, biting chill spread through her body, she collapsed, her vision starting to fade. Great. Captured by Shield again, this time without her friends to help her escape. Even worse, Shield now knew all her secrets from the last time she was caught.
     Roland and Squeaky were cuffed and loaded into the quinjet, and the ride back to base would take several hours. The agents had flown from a nearby mini-base, about a half hour away, but they'd received orders to transport the prisoners to a facility in Utah. Mcloud wasn't sure exactly what they'd do with the prisoners. The Asgardian would probably be interrogated, then disposed of. As for Squeaky, who Shield believed to be mentally unstable, she would be interrogated, then placed under close watch.
     Mcloud opened Squeaky's small cell inside the jet, entering with a few other agents, and shut the door behind them. Thankfully, they'd put the magic inhibiting cuffs on her, so she couldn't bombard them with cheesepuffs if she woke up. During Squeaky's last imprisonment, they'd discovered her belt that allowed for incredibly large pockets. They weren't sure how big exactly her pockets were, but they did know they were magic based and could hold a ridiculous amount of weapons.
     "I'll get the belt." Mcloud said, rolling the unconscious prisoner onto her back and instantly finding the belt. It was a dark brown color, made of who knows what kind of leather, with silver and orange gemstones glimmering on it. The stones were set in intricate patterns that spread across the buckle, forming a beautiful Asgardian pattern. It was gorgeous. And now it belonged to Shield.
     'CLICK'. The belt made a satisfying sound as Mcloud unlatched it. He held it carefully and stepped back, letting his men remove any surface weapons from the prisoner. They managed to locate a can of pepper spray, two guns, three knives, a couple pieces of candy and a pack of gum. Mcloud noticed one of his men slip a piece of gum into his mouth and shot him a glare.
     "You don't know how many worlds that's been in, Smith. Use some common sense." He huffed, shaking his head. "Did you get everything?" He asked, crossing his arms. The men nodded, and Smith tried blowing a bubble with the gum. Mcloud scowled. "If we weren't in a compressed aircraft, I would shoot your stupid bubble." He turned to head out. "Take her boots and let's go."
     After removing Squeaky's boots, the men left the cell, locking the door once again. Upon searching the shoes, Mcloud discovered knives in the soles of each, and decided it had been a good idea to take them. He'd probably get demoted if one of his men got stabbed, after all. The dark haired agent finished packaging the confiscated items, but managed to slip one of the candies into his own pocket. It was a Butterfinger; he couldn't help himself.
     Squeaky woke with a groan, blinking awake slowly. Everything hurt. Her torso felt like someone was stabbing an icicle through it, which was almost accurate. The huge dart was still in her skin, but she didn't dare remove it. That would make it worse. She'd have to wait until the medical staff could properly get rid of it. Until then, it was going to be miserable.
     She found herself staring up at the bright light at the top of the square cell, and huffed quietly. The box was probably seven feet tall, and about that wide, with a black frame and grey, almost blue walls. About the size of an elevator. It was well lit, and probably sturdy. She weakly lifted her legs and kicked, wincing as the movement sent a fresh wave of pain through her cold body. Yep, sturdy. And even if it wasn't, she lacked the strength to break it.
     Sighing, she closed her eyes, deciding she might as well take a nap and sleep off the headache. She wasn't quite sure how she was going to get out of this one. And what about Roland? The little jerk that had got them into this mess in the first place. Squeaky knew she might not be able to save Roland, she wasn't even sure they were on the same quinjet, or going to the same place.
     Well, hopefully escaping wouldn't be too hard, as long as she had her pockets. Uh oh. Her weapons were gone, had they taken the belt too!? Though her hands were cuffed, she managed to feel around her waist, her heart sinking as she realized it wasn't there. Her pockets. Her cheesepuff orb. That thing gave her the abilities to shoot cheesepuffs as long as it was in her pocket. So all her stuff was contained in the consciousness of the belt. Great.
     She felt the plane descending and groaned, tugging at the cuffs. Without her cheesepuffs, weapons, and portal gun, all she had was her athleticism and some taekwondo skills. The cuffs refused to slip off and she growled, leaning against the wall with a puff of air.
     "Ow." She winced, once again causing pain to rapidly spread through her body. The dart was still highly effective, and making her feel light headed again. This was going to be quite the adventure, she noted grimly as she felt the jet land. The door opened, revealing Mcloud and two other guards, both who looked ready to keep her from running. She glared at them.
     "Don't try anything funny." Mcloud said sternly, grabbing her arm and pulling her to her feet. Squeaky clenched her jaw at the pain, moving to yank her arm away and stopping. It hurt too badly. Dang it. She was led briskly down the ramp and across the flat roof of the base, then through the doors. Roland was nowhere in sight.
     Squeaky found herself being pulled through one hallway after another, the dart still projecting from her side. Shield knew what they were dealing with this time, they weren't removing the dart until she was safely locked away. Her feet dragged a bit, but she managed to stay up, not willing to collapse infront of her captors. Finally they made it to a room on what appeared to be the bottom floor, where she was deposited into a metal chair, and her hands were locked behind it.
   "Please, make yourself comfortable." Mcloud said smoothly. "Director Fury will be in to speak with you in a moment." He added, hiding his amusement. Fury was 101% certain that Squeaky was mentally unstable, and for good reason. She'd released leprechauns into his office multiple times, and the incident with the half-robot carebear would not soon be forgotten. This was all minor of course, in comparison to the time she'd let a stampede of my little ponies loose in Russia. That had been messy.
     "You're too kind." Squeaky replied stiffly, the pain obvious in her voice. She was no superhero, and this icer dart was making everything hurt. "I've never felt more welcome."
     "My pleasure, I insist." Mcloud replied dryly, moving to stand by the door. As he'd predicted, Fury appeared at the door, entering with his usual, unamused expression.
     "Squeaky, so glad you could visit." The director greeted with his biting sarcasm. "And I see your leprechauns aren't here. I'm so disappointed." Squeaky snorted.
     "Bob was disappointed. He really wanted to spit in your coffee again." At this, Fury frowned.
     "Ah yes... Such a pleasant little fellow." He said, not the least bit genuinely. "I hear you've been causing trouble again, this time with an Asgardian. Care to tell me what that's about?" Here, Squeaky began muttering about what a jerk Roland was, and how stupid it was that they'd  been caught. Fury cast a sidelong glance at Mcloud. This was evidence to support his claim of Squeaky's disconnection to reality. The director cleared his throat.
     "Squeaky," He spoke as if he was talking to a child. "Focus." Squeaky seemed to snap out of a distant thought, looking back up at him. She instantly noticed the disapproval in his eyes and frowned.
     "Don't give me that look, you one eyed grumpy butt." She fired the insult and Fury rolled his eye.
     "Again with the kindergarten level insults, Squeaky? Have you grown up at all?" He shook his head, and Squeaky chuckled.
     "Let's keep this rated G, director. I could call you some pretty nasty things, I pick up a lot of slang in all my travels. For instance, in Leprechaunica, you would be considered a-"
     "That's enough. I'd rather not know." Fury replied coldly. "Enough chat; why are you back on earth? I thought we made it clear you aren't welcome here?" He said, crossing his arms. "Not only are you back, but you brought a buddy, and you're causing damage within two minutes of arriving."
     "Hey for the record, she's not my buddy. She wasn't even supposed to follow me here. The brat's name is Roland, and she's the one who blew up the car. Come on man, you think I'd purposely hurt civilians?" She raised a brow, challenging the man. His blank stare in return told all. "Fury, dude, I really wouldn't-" He cut her off again, rubbing his temple as a headache began to form. Squeaky always gave him a headache.
     "Do not call me dude." He huffed through clenched teeth. Why couldn't someone else deal with this kid? Determined not to let any more annoyance show, he continued. "Why are you here?" He asked. Squeaky seemed a bit more serious now, the pain of the ice dart still very much there. Fury decided not to remove it yet, maybe that would keep her focused enough.
     "Dude, don't crash my party dude man, dude my buddy my dude." Squeaky chanted, closing her eyes in pain as she managed to flash a fake smile. It was more of a grimace really. Fury set his jaw.
     "This doesn't have to be violent." He tried to keep his tone even. "Just answer the simple question, why are you here?" He watched the prisoner with a frown, ready to just be done with her.
     "I have a simple question for you, where's my belt?" She shot back in irritation. Though it wasn't overly obvious, she was quite worried about how to escape without it. It was like the time she was playing skyrim and accidentally cleared her inventory before infiltrating an enemy base. No weapons, no health potions, nothing. Only in real life, she couldn't go back to a save and do it over again, like in video games.
     "You won't need it where you're going." Fury replied with a shrug, and Squeaky frowned.
     "Yeah? And where am I going?" She replied stiffly. Fury looked her in the eye, completely uncaring when it came to her personal life.
     "You'll be staying at Shield's very own psychological research facility, so we can study your... Unique, mind. The outside world doesn't have room for someone as unstable as you. Welcome to the program."