The compound that Fury set me towards was nestled in the mountains. We fly towards one of the mountain peaks and as the alarms blared proximity warnings, Fury only smiled. So we flew directly into a mountain. Or rather, a hologram of a mountain.
"Hit the green button for the autopilot and it'll land us in the hanger," he instructed when we passed through the hologram.
"Left or right?" I asked, my hand hovering over the two buttons.
"The green one," he repeated slowly as if I was hard of hearing.
"Left or right?" I said just as slowly, getting annoyed.
His eyes narrowed slightly as if he couldn't tell if I was genuinely asking, "left," he finally said. "Do they not have green on your planet?"
Pushing the button I glared at him as best as I I can with the blindfold. "I wouldn't know, I'm colorblind."
"Really?" He asked, surprised.
"Yup, can only see in shades of gray."
Fury stays silent for a moment then asks, "what's with the blindfold? Why keep your eyes covered if you aren't blind?"
"Took you long enough," I mutter. "I can't look at people."
"Why not? Will they explode or something?" He asks with genuine curiosity.
I sigh, "something like that."
He make a small huh sound but doesn't ask anything else. It doesn't take long for us to land in the hanger of the compound. "Follow me," he said briskly as he got out, not bothering to wait and see if I actually followed.
Reluctantly I did.
Jogging slightly to catch up with him, I take in the hanger. Rows of helicopters and jets, cars and even tanks, not to mention the people running around everywhere. The sights, smells and sound almost overwhelming. But I wasn't about to let any of them know that.
Catching up to Fury, he leads me out of the hanger and down a few halls until he stopped in front of a door and turns to me. "This is where I leave you. Good luck kid."
He turned and left and I watch him go, stunned at his abrupt departure. Once he disappeared around a corner I sighed and went in. A white room greeted me with a desk, two chairs, a two way mirror behind the desk and a very attractive woman.
She smiled at me when I entered, "Welcome to intake, I'm agent Hill." She said after I had sat down, "I'll be asking you a series of questions and you are expected to answer them in full honesty."
"And if I don't?" I asked, sitting stiffly in the chair, my head down as if I was focusing on my hands in my lap. A trick I learned in a past life. Appear meek and subdued and they'll never expect it when, or if, you need to fight your way out.
"Then your mind will be cleaned of everything you've seen since your escape and you'll be sent to a higher security prison for your crimes." She pulls out a stack of papers and looks at me, "shall we begin?" At my nod she begins with the first question, "full name?"
"Marzda Eudora Cadanar."
"Planet and system of origin?"
"Calzor-19, Andromeda system."
"Reason for leaving?" When I didn't respond she looked up from her paper, "reason for leaving?" She asked again.
This was not something I wanted to get into, "difference of opinions." Not technically a lie.
"What difference?" She asked, still looking at me.
"Not one that concerns you," I tell her forcefully.
She sighs, "will it compromise your ability to do your job?"
"No."
"Are you wanted for intergalactic crimes?"
Not that I knew of, "no."
"Fine." She looks down at the next question, "age and birthday?"
"Twenty-six. I'm not sure of the day on your planet."
She accepts my answer with a nod and moves on, "powers?"
"Sound waves." Again, not technically a lie.
"Example?"
I click my tongue getting a picture of the room behind her, "two men with semi automatics, one has a beard and the other is clean shaved." Agent Hill smiles, turning to the mirror, and it becomes transparent, revealing the men I had described. They were standing there, stunned expressions on their faces.
As the mirror goes dark again Agent Hill turns back to me, "what else can you do besides the echolocation?"
I grin at her, "I can melt peoples brains with a whistle."
"Impressive. Is that what you did to that guard?" At my shocked expression she said, "we were watching your escape on the prison cameras."
"You were watching?"
She smiled smugly, "of course. Fury orchestrated your escape, you never would have made it out otherwise."
Anger bubbled up in me, "you're telling me that Fury broke me out? I did all the work."
"He made it so that your path was relatively clear. He does it for all the new comers, a helping hand and a test all in one."
"I could have done it myself," I grumble.
"Yea I'm sure you could have," Agent Hill said as she shuffled her papers. "Shall we continue?"
•••••
Several long hours later and I'm in a new room that resembles a large locker room. Showers along one wall and lockers along the others with benches in front of them. Agent Hill had brought me here with instructions to shower and change, "you're locker 54," she told me before leaving me alone.
I was glad for the shower. The guards had gotten blood on my clothes and it was starting to smell. Thankfully I seemed to be the only who needed to shower at the moment and I took my time, it had been a long time since I'd had unrestricted hot water. Or enough privacy that I dares to open my eyes, the unfiltered light hurting them slightly. I'm not sure when the last time I'd had them open was.
After almost an hour I reluctantly left the shower and went to my locker, finding all the clothing and toiletries I could need. After getting dressed in an ugly gray jumpsuit, I go to the row of mirrors and brushed my hair. It had gotten a lot longer then I liked. I stared at my reflection and sighed, I could almost pass for human.
Almost.
The only thing that marked me as alien was the double iris of my eyes. Sometimes I wondered what color they were but had never asked, and with any luck I'd never find out.
Pushing away from the mirrors, I head to the door labeled dorms and after reluctantly putting back on my dirty blindfold, push through to find Agent Hill on the other side. "Nice shower?" She asked as she lead me down a hallway.
"The best one I've had in years," I admit.
"The water pressure is fantastic here."
I hum in response and we walk in silence for a moment before we stop in front of a door marked 86, "this is you," she tells me. "Your schedule and map of the compound are in a welcome basket on your bed. If you need anything don't hesitate to ask," she pauses before saying, "welcome to SHIELD trainee."
Smiling slightly I go into my room and immediately drop my smile. Sitting on one of the beds is a boy and when he sees me he springs up with a childlike grin.
"Who are you?" I asked the boy. Had they actually sent a man to be my roommate? Typically not a good idea in any culture. But an especially bad idea when it came to me.
"I'm-" he began.
"I actually don't care," I said, cutting him off. "This is my room, get out. I don't share."
"Looks like you do," he said with a grin and an accent. "Er- well.. I guess you can't?" He asks, suddenly unsure.
"I can see, just not with my eyes asshole," I hiss at him. Looking at the camera in the corner of the room I yelled, "you expect me to share a room? With a boy?" If Fury though that I was going to have a roommate he had another thing coming. "I just spent five years in solitary confinement and I rather enjoy my privacy Fury."
"As do I," the boy chimes in. "But I'm used to sharing, my sister and I shared a cell in Hydra but this is much nicer."
The way he said it so matter of factly and without malice made me turn from the camera and back to him. "You were in Hydra?" I may have been in prison but even I've heard stories about that place.
"Oh yeah for a couple of years until we broke out. We being me and my sister Wanda. You'll meet her soon, we look close in age. Maybe we could all be friends! It's been a while-"
"Enough!" I say cutting him off. "I have no interest in being friends or roommates. With either of you." I go to my bed and take the basket off it, giving my schedule a brief glance. "Now, I'm tired, had a big day breaking out of prison so I'm going to take a nap." Laying on my bed on top of the blankets and facing away from the loud boy I try to ignore the sounds and images coming to me.
When it became apparent that I wasn't going to be able to sleep I got out of bed and opened the door, "come here," I tell the boy. He slowly gets up and stands in front of me in the door frame. "Thanks," I say with a sweet smile before I sskaaa him down the hall and close the door. I smile a genuine smile as an intercom beeps in my room.
"That wasn't very nice," Fury scolded.
"No but it was fun." I flop back in bed and try once again for a nap.
"You will have to share."
"Good luck with that," I tell him. I could almost hear his eyes roll but he stayed silent.
I finally fell asleep only to be woken up sometime in the night by the boy sneaking back into the room. To his credit he was being quite until he noticed I was awake and then he loudly dropped his shoes on the floor and made a big show of getting into bed. It was almost comical and I couldn't help but smirk, game on.