A down on her luck coffee shop worker is aided by a regular customer named Kevin Fawkes. Sonya soon finds herself at a secret government ran facility working on an even more secret experiment. Little does she know of the cunning trickery at play that will land her smack dab in the middle of a life she wasn't prepared for all because of one man named Arnaud De Ferhn. Mostly rated T, but will eventually be rated M for graphic violence and adult content.
*FOREWARNING - This story will primarily focus on a female OC like most of my fan fictions do. It will also primarily follow the villainous side of the television series rather than the good guy side of things.
THE COLOR OF CHAOS
1 – A Chance at a Second Chance
Small iced chocolate mocha. Small Latte Macchiato. Large vanilla Frappuccino. Large caramel Frappuccino. Medium dark roast. Now a medium caramel latte. One type of coffee right after another was made and given to its ordering customer by the hands of a young woman in her mid-twenties. Dark circles lined the underneath of her hazel eyes brought on by stress-induced sleep deprivation. Her dirty blond hair was pulled back in a neat bun with a few rogue strands being a constant hinderance by hanging in her face. She'd just tuck them behind her ears when filling orders and go about her way.
A stocky, balding man approached her from behind and bellowed, "Sonja, where is that medium caramel latte for the drive-thru?"
The woman sighed and snapped the lid on a clear plastic cup. "It's right here, Mr. Hewlett." Sonya turned and handed it to the inquiring man.
"Why are you giving it to me? I'm not the one who ordered the damn thing!" He pointed at an impatient customer seated in the driver seat of his grey SUV at the drive-thru window. "Take care of it! And make it snappy! More orders are coming in, and everyone has to move quickly since we're undermanned this morning! So chop, chop people!"
Sonya put her most professional smile forward and rushed to the window. She handed it to the irritated customer, speaking. "My apologies for the delay, sir. We're short-handed and doing our best."
The man scoffed. "Thanks to you people taking your sweet ass time I'm going to be late to the morning meeting!" He jerked the cup out the woman's hand and sped off. Sonya didn't bother to notice two other women co-workers tinkering with the coffee mixer.
Sonja rolled her eyes at the speeding away customer and sighed again.
There's a saying that goes, 'It gets worse before it gets better.' Whoever said that must have been off his rocker because I've been waiting for it to get better all of my life. It only keeps getting worse. You might be thinking, at least you have a job right? That's more than what a lot of people have. Yeah, sure if you want to look at it that way. But I'm looking at it like this.
Two weeks ago, my now ex-boyfriend of three months named Roger stole all my money I had saved up from the past month in an envelope to use for rent and utilities. Rent was due last week, and my electricity was cut off yesterday and my water scheduled for shut off today.
Then last week, some dumbass not paying attention wrecked into my car and totaled it. Now it's sitting in a junkyard somewhere for scrap metal, and I don't have the money to get another one. My insurance company dropped me since I'm still two months behind on payments. Go figure the guy who wrecked into me didn't have insurance either. Oh, and he was driving without a license too. On top of that, I live three miles from work, so it's walking to and from work in the mornings and afternoons. Rain or shine, hot or cold… I'm hoofing it.
As if it couldn't get any worse…
Sonya grabbed a large clear cup to begin working on the next order. She was almost finished when she closed the top down on the mixer and turned it on. Vanilla coffee went everywhere; all over the counter, floor and even herself. She quickly turned off the machine and stood there, frustrated and dripping. Behind her, her two co-workers pointed at her and snickered.
Sonya's jaw clenched, and she closed her eyes to refrain from going off. Here came Mr. Hewlett again. "What in the world is this mess? Sonya?!"
The woman inhaled a deep breath and slowly exhaled it. "Yes, Mr. Hewlett?"
"You're fired!"
Sonya's head dropped dejectedly.
I just had to jinx myself.
Sonya sat outside the coffee shop on the curb's sidewalk with her head in her hands. She didn't care about the world around her or the whispers of customers going in or coming out of the shop. She felt so hopeless with everything that nothing mattered to her. From here, it was trying to figure out what to do now. Trying to find another job would take too long, and she needed to get her late rent payment in by next Friday, or it was an eviction. At least Mr. Hewlett gave her her last paycheck. Sonya groaned to herself. Three-hundred and twenty-five dollars wouldn't be enough to pay what she owed on her five-hundred and seventy-five dollar rent.
Back when her ex-boyfriend, Roger, was still a reliable roommate shortly after they started dating, they shared the cost of rent and utilities. Until he up and left, taking her money with him. Since the apartment was primarily in her name, as well as the utilities, that made her solely responsible for everything. Meanwhile, Roger was able to walk away scot-free with almost five-hundred dollars in hand.
Sonya was so absorbed in her own woes that she didn't immediately notice a silver sedan pull into the parking spot right next to where she sat. That was until the driver got out. The overhead sun beamed on his headful of brown hair as he squinted his brown eyes behind thin-framed glasses on the emotional woman.
Kevin Fawkes tilted his head to the side and stepped closer to her. "That bad of a day, huh?"
Sonja looked up at the man to say something snarky, but when she saw who it was, her choice of words changed. "More like, that bad of a month."
Kevin took it upon himself to join the woman seated on the curb. "Want to talk about it?"
While working at the coffee shop, employees were told they couldn't get too close to the customers. It was stressed professional working relationships only. We could listen to what they had to say and offer the usual responses like, that's good to hear! Or, I'm sorry to hear that I hope it gets better for you. I guess that didn't pertain to me anymore now that I was fired, and this particular man had been one of my best customers for about two years.
Sonya steepled her hands in front of her face and leaned her forehead onto them. "Where to begin? Should I start with the crazy ex-boyfriend that pawed off with damn near five-hundred dollars of my money two weeks ago? Or maybe the fact I have no car and am now out of a job. Not to mention I'm most definitely expecting to get evicted from my apartment now that I can't pay an already delinquent rent payment."
Kevin thinned his lips in a sympathetic frown and patted the disgruntled woman on her shoulder. "Sounds like you've had a hell of a time."
"Yeah. I just need to figure out where to go from here. Know any places that need someone to make their coffee in the mornings?" Sonya gave a joking laugh to the situation and rubbed her face with both hands.
Kevin studied Sonya for a moment before he spoke. "Maybe not to make coffee, but…I know where I work can use an extra pair of hands with keeping the science labs and overall place clean. Sweeping and mopping the floors, emptying the trash cans at the end of the workday, that sort of stuff."
Hazel eyes met warm brown ones. "Let me get this right. You're offering me a job as a cleaning lady at your workplace?"
The man shrugged. "Unless you have a better plan? But as it sounds to me, you don't. You need a job; I can help with that. You'll need a place to stay soon, too, and I can help with that as well. As far as a new car, eh…that I can't help you with. But where you'd be going, you won't need one." He smiled at the baffled expression reassuringly. "Where I work is at a compound that has everything you would need. There's a chow hall that serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner as well as a gym with various exercise equipment if you're into that sort of thing. There's also a commissary and private living quarters are provided on the premises."
Sonya blinked at the man. "Chow hall? Who do you work for? The military?...With places like chow hall…commissary…and private living quarters."
Kevin gave a light chuckle and shook his head. "I can't give you that information. All I can tell you is, it's a lot better than here."
Sonya couldn't argue that fact. So far, everything she was hearing sounded like an improvement over her current predicament. No rent to worry about paying. No utilities… She knew some stuff about government contracted work after hearing her electrician of an uncle talk about his job. It would at least provide her an opportunity to get her crap together. In a few months, she'd probably have enough money saved up to get a new car and comfortably afford another apartment and all its expenses.
Sonya shrugged. "Sure. Why not? I mean, what do I have to lose?"
A broader smile stretched across Kevin's features. "Perfect! I'll send a moving team to your apartment to prep your belongings for storage." He withdrew his cellphone from his suit coat pocket, continuing. "In the meantime, I suggest packing the essentials and what's important to you. You're only allowed a suitcase for your clothes and two boxes no larger than twenty by fifteen by twelve inches for everything else."
The woman took a moment to absorb what he had just been told. "It's official. You definitely work for the military with restrictions like that."
Kevin laughed.
Two mornings later, Sonya was curled up asleep in her bed. Piled around her bedroom were boxes labeled with a list of their contents on the side in black sharpie. The rest of her apartment was much the same way. Boxes containing dishes and silverware were stacked on top of the dining table and boxes full of CDs, cassette tapes, VHS tapes and books filled more boxes in the living room.
Fervent knocking, more like pounding, on the apartment's front door startled Sonya awake. She habitually looked over to see what time it was but forget she had packed her alarm clock in one of her personal boxes the night before. The woman rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as she got out of bed and trudged to the front door.
When she opened it, the mid morning's bright sunlight blasted her full force in the face. She groaned and covered her eyes, unable to see who it was at the door. "Can I help you?"
"Ms. Baker?" came a gruff man's voice in question.
"Yeah, that's me." Sonya slowly peeled her hand off her face to see her visitor.
He was a tall man in a military uniform with a traditional burred haircut. She had no idea what branch of the military he was in since she wasn't familiar with what service wore what uniform. Nor was she familiar with the rank stripes on his sleeves.
"I'm Master Sergeant Brevard. I'm here to supervise the moving team Dr. Fawkes requested be dispatched to your apartment." He reached for a closed file tucked under his left arm and tapped on it with his fingers. "And to discuss this; the paperwork for your relocation to your new job post."
Sonya's expression was placid. It was too early in the morning for this. "Sure, okay. Do what you need to. I already have my personal boxes packed and ready by the front door." She stepped aside to allow the sergeant entry.
Before he proceeded inside, he whistled over his shoulder to two men standing beside an unmarked moving truck in the parking lot. They bounded up the concrete stairs and entered the single bedroom apartment.
Sergeant Brevard pointed to the two boxes and hunter green suitcase by the front door. "Everything except those three things goes. Get to work, gentlemen." He brought his attention back to Sonya. "Let's discuss business," and handed her the folder.
Sonya followed him to the kitchen as she unwrapped the string securing the folder closed. Judging by the thickness of the file, there was going to be a lot of signing papers and even more to hear.
The first stapled stack of papers to greet her stated Non-Disclosure Agreement on the top of the first page. "What's this about?"
"Where you'll be going is a top-secret science research and experiment facility. Before I can tell you anything else or you nose around anymore in that file you have, you'll have to sign that. It basically states, you open your mouth to anyone outside the facility without a need to know, you disappear. Should you decide to skip town with confidential information, you disappear. You go poking around on an agency-controlled computer for information you don't need to be knowing-"
"I disappear," Sonya interjected. "I get it. Keep my hands to myself and mind my Ps and Qs."
"Correct." The sergeant sneered. He removed a pen from his left shirt pocket, clicked it, and handed it to Sonya. "If you'll do the honors, please ma'am, we can get started. The sooner, the better."
Sonya accepted the pen held out to her and signed her name at the bottom of the last page.
Two hours and a completely empty apartment later, Sonya was seated in the backseat of a black suburban with the sergeant. Driving the car was another uniformed soldier looking much younger than the sergeant and with fewer stripes on his sleeves.
"Where are we going?" Sonya asked. The sergeant stared at the woman confusedly. Did she not listen to a single thing he had told her the past two hours? "As in, are we going straight to the facility? Are we going somewhere else first?"
"Have to pee already?"
Sonya scoffed a sigh and shook her head. "Never mind."
"It's a nice little drive from here if that's what you're asking." Sonya said nothing but instead, kept her watch outside the window. "But don't worry. It's about to go by a whole lot faster." Before the young woman could ask the sergeant what he meant, a sharp stabbing pain hit her in the side of her neck. "That's it, sweetheart. Just go night, night. Can't have you knowing how to get to where we're going without the proper security clearance." Sergeant Brevard watched the civilian passenger succumb to the syringe's drug as she gradually fell asleep.
I was a bit nervous on posting this story since it doesn't follow Darien and Hobbes in their many misadventures. I quite honestly expect this story to be shot down and rejected. Whatever the case, please leave reviews letting me know honest opinions.