Unexpected

The Triskelion

The alarm that woke me up the next morning seemed cruel to me. I was exhausted, having gotten very little sleep. I'd had a nightmare that I was driving to my meeting when a giant alien eel monster came crashing down the street towards me. I had gotten out of my car and started running away, but I couldn't move fast enough with my ankle cast, especially as it grew heavier and heavier with each step like it was turning into cement. As I dragged myself from the hotel bed I glanced around trying to find something that I could use to scratch an itch that had sprouted on my foot encased in the royal blue cast!

Once my itch was scratched to satisfaction I flipped through my phone's music library until I found Back in Black by ACDC trying to use the song to wake me up. Bobbing and stepping a bit to the music I pulled off my pajamas and switched them with a new dress my grandmother had insisted on buying me saying that 'a first impression is important'. It was a stunning dress, professional black with a modest round neck and short sleeves, with a pop of bright red in a thick band along the hem. A thin, shiny black belt with a small golden buckle went around the waist. I loved how the colors looked against my skin that had been gaining some summer color in the last few weeks once I was released from the hospital and the golden blonde of my hair. The next half hour or so consisted of a strange assortment of songs from Imagine Dragons, Lindsey Sterling, Kelly Clarkson, and Michael Jackson as I straightened my hair, brushed on mascara and eye liner, and performed my other morning toiletries. By the time I was done, I must say, I looked good! I had been living out of the same suitcase that my grandmother had packed for me when I was leaving the hospital, so to be wearing something new and classy felt great! The only detractor from my professional appearance was, of course, the clunky blue cast.

Turning my phone from music to GPS I left the hotel room, hopped in the car, and made my way through the streets of Washington D.C. It didn't take me too long to arrive at the Triskelion. It was a huge, fancy building sitting in the mouth of a river like an island connected to land by two bridges. Driving along one bridge I had to stop at a guard post.

"Name and business?" The uniformed man asked with a bored tone.

"Penelope Copper, I'm supposed to be meeting an Agent Maria Hill?"

He tapped a few keys before nodding, "Yeah, here's a visitor day pass, this hangs from your mirror for your car and this one you keep with you; it will work as a key to locks. The visitor's parking is down that way to the left, there'll be a sign to guide you."

"Thank you." I accepted the papers and drove away to the parking spot in the visitor lot that was closest to the main entrance. Even though I had been hobbling around the house without my crutches for the last week, I had decided to bring them here with me considering that I'd probably be walking around a lot. Pulling them out of the car, I made my way inside. The building seemed even more humungous when I was inside it, the lobby was decorated with a sense of modern design and it had a statue that resembled a bird in flight in the center. Ripping my attention from the room, I took a deep breath top calm my nerves and hopped over to the front desk. Catching the eye of a young black man, I started, "Excuse me?"

"How may I help you?"

"Um, my name's Penelope Copper, I was told that I'd be meeting with Agent Mar-"

"There you are." A familiar woman's voice came from behind me. Looking over my shoulder I saw a young woman wearing a simple, yet classy grey pantsuit with a pale blue button up shirt stand up. She was pretty with a kind face decorated with blue eyes and dark brown hair twisted and clipped in the back of her head. However friendly her expression was, she had the countenance of a leader and a professional poise. This woman was powerful, no doubt about it. "I'm Maria Hill, second in command to Director Fury."