In Exile

Chapter Six

You spent the next few days unable to focus on anything but the letter you received, at first it was a casual shrugging of uncaring but as the day drew closer, you found your stomach giving a small bubble each time you realized you were being called for.

It was like that time you had to make a case with Paypal to try and get some money back, the closer to closing date for the case got the more anxious you were about the result coming back and saying you had no right to a refund.

Despite your distracted mind, you managed to avoid any calamities at work and time continued to speed past like the white rabbit until the day finally arrived.

It felt like you had hardly slept at all when you woke up in the morning, your alarm blaring out loudly beside your pillow and your curtains pulled just that bit too far to the side so daylight shone into your face.

Your head was groggy and your eyes were still heavy with sleep, had you not had to get up and get ready to leave in an hour you probably would have rolled back over and gone straight back to sleep.

That's what the luxury of a day off typically is, damned forced appointments.

Peeling yourself from your warm and comfy bedsheets, you begrudgingly turned off the alarm you were tempted to put on snooze for ten more minutes then got up and started your day.

And by starting the day you meant getting washed and dressed, having a bite to eat and then sitting on your couch to stare at the wall opposite you while thinking that this was going to be a huge scam right up until the doorbell went.

Exactly on time, exact to the second which was far too precise from your liking, though you were probably just projecting and it was a mere coincidence.

Getting up and unlocking the door to possible strangers spiked your heart rate a little and you tried to convince yourself, rather weakly, that it was just the post person with a package too bit to fit through the letter box.

When you pulled open the door, you realized how wrong you were.

Stood there with an immediate air of importance were two men, both donned head to toe in fetching black suits and intimidatingly tall, one even completed the look with some sunglasses.

They looked like two FBI agents, or maybe even MIB, and your stomach flipped and heart jolted as you realized that the letter was far too real.

One of them, the ever so slightly shorter one with a voice that sounded like sandpaper on gravel, confirmed your name and asked to see the letter, which you had to rush to the living room to grab and sate them before they would let you out to the awaiting SUV.

The car ride was long and uncomfortable, not because the seats of the SUV were particularly hard or anything, but because you were stuck sat between two burly guys who didn't talk and left you feeling more intimidated than an irrationally angry customer who was in the wrong but wouldn't admit it.

Any conversation topics died at the tip of your tongue, even though you didn't think they'd indulge you if you started one and instead you contented with fiddling your thumbs in your lap, feeling awkward and completely out of place.

You wished you had been given the chance to grab something to listen to on the way out, but they were eager to whisk you away to some unknown destination that was too far from home for comfort.

What felt like an eternity later the car finally pulled up to a heavily secured building, the surrounding wall was huge and the black gate stood tall with imposing mean on either side of it, seemingly an added measure on top of the security booth stood to one side.

The car sat still for a minute as the security guard chatted with the driver and then you were buzzed through to drive up the long road, trees and a large field seemingly stretched on for miles despite how close the building looked from behind the gates.

You recognized the building as one you had passed a few times but thought nothing of, it looked like any other kind of corporate building and nothing stood out about it in particular apart from its vast size.

Finally seeing beyond the black gates was an experience you'd never forget.

As you were driven towards the entrance you saw workers in various styled suits rushing about outside, some carrying peculiar looking objects, others wearing what looked like stereotypical lab coats and holding clipboards.

It was like something out of a film and for a flickering moment, you began to wonder if you were invited here to be used as some kind of military experiment.

The car had barely pulled to a stop when you were hastily rushed out and being led into the entrance, which opened into a wide area of too white walls, gleaming glass and the most insane architecture you had witnessed and this was where you were met by a woman with a stoic expression and brown hair pulled into a ponytail,

You wanted to be happy that you were finally being passed off to someone who was at least a little less intimidating, but even this woman had you on edge.

"Thank you," she spoke to your two security guards for the past hour, "I'll take it from here."

The two men who had escorted you gave curt nods and headed out without a word, you were beginning to suspect that one of them couldn't talk at all.

Her eyes turned to you and she seemed to give you a brief once before.

"Sorry for the abruptness of this, but Director Fury had to see you urgently," she said, her tone clipped and to the point.

"I see," you nodded, not entirely comfortable with what was going on.

"If you'd like to follow me."

Maria immediately turned and walked across the room then down one of the many corridors that the main entrance broke in to, you had to rush a little to keep up as she barely gave you time to register what she had said.

More silence followed and you were led through a maze of stark white corridors, supremely high-tech elevators and security doors until, after what felt like an eternity of walking, she finally stopped outside a grey door.

Behind which sat an awaiting Director Fury and the beginning of a turn in your life that you would never forget.