In Exile

Chapter Seven

You sat in the chair opposite him, your leg bouncing as he flipped through a folder that had been sitting on his desk when you'd stepped in.

He made you nervous.

His entire demeanor gave way to his authority and it was more than clear that this man was a man of power, one not to be questioned if you valued your life.

The eyepatch didn't help with lessen the image either.

The constant silence was beginning to grate on your nerves and you found yourself clearing your throat and shuffling, this pulled his attention to you and for a minute you wouldn't have been surprised if he had forgotten you were there.

"Hey, relax," he said in a friendlier tone that you had anticipated, though it still wasn't without its edge of slight command.

"I'm trying, I'm just getting a little antsy about everything."

"I can imagine you are."

Fury set the folder down and rested his hands on top of it, his fingers lacing together as he regarded you.

"It says on our records that you work in a bookshop, correct?"

"Um, yes?" You replied hesitantly, frowning at the mention of a record.

Why would this strange man and his FBI-looking associates have any sort of record on you?

Sure, maybe you weren't the perfect, squeaky clean human being, but you had never been in trouble with the law and didn't know of any other records outside of work documents that they could have access to.

It was a strange beginning to a conversation that didn't help you decipher why you were here, but at least you were finally talking.

"Of course you do," he said in a tone that seemed too self-assured, as if he was just asking to find a way to make conversation, "and you were the one who served someone under our observation, tall man with dark hair, bit smug looking, goes by the name Loki Laufeyson."

Your confused brow deepened, and you shook your head with a little shrug.

"I serve a lot of people, so many faces come and go and I don't remember taking an order for anyone with that unique a surname."

"I see, this would have been around," he flipped through the sheets in front of him before looking at you with his uncovered eye, "September 27th."

Leaning back in your seat, you cross your arms and drum your fingers against your elbow as you think back to that particular day.

It wasn't easy to keep track of certain customers or events when at work, days would blend into one another and certain events were skewed to the point beyond recognition.

Heck, there had been times you'd confused the years in which things had been shifted around within the shop, time was an odd concept that slipped by too fast and it made memories easy to confuse and muddle.

At your lack of response, Director Fury pulled out another sheet of paper from among the many others and set it down in front of you.

Staring up at you, with a look of complete loathing that had been aimed at the camera when the photo was taken, was a face you were surprised that you had forgotten.

Was it really the 27th you'd served him?

Wow, how time slipped by.

"Oh, that's him? Yes, I remember him," you looked at the Director, who seemed to have a perpetual scowl that unnerved you. "Did he do something wrong?"