December, 2008

Benji blinked as the bright lights of the room flooded his pupils. It wasn't a big room, maybe 12x12, and just a table with 4 chairs. His head was on a table. It felt heavy. His head, not the table. But it looked heavy too.

"Hello, Mr. Dunn." Came deep voice from the corner. The lights didn't hit that side of the room, and a tall man dressed in black stepped forward, suddenly revealing himself.

Benji sat up, scared out of his mind. Shit. This was it. He was toast.

The man sat down, showing his full face. OH SHIT. He had a freaky eye patch over his left eye with deep scars radiating out from the eye socket. This was just about the scariest person he had ever seen. Then he spoke. The voice was even scarier. "Mr. Dunn, you were recommended by some friends in Washington."

"R-r-recommended for what?" Benji cringed.

"You've been transferred to another agency." Said the man in black as he leaned back in his chair and smiled.

"W-w-what agency?" he didn't really want to know.

"SHIELD. It''s probably not a name you've heard of."

"No. No. I don't think so." He said, shaking his head. "Are we still in the United States?" he asked, hoping to hell they were, because at least they didn't allow torture in the U.S.

"At present, we're in a warehouse at a harbor in Maine."

"Maine?" He gasped. "When? How? How did I get to Maine?"

"I had a team bring you in under sedation. Sorry about that. When the ship gets here, we'll fill you in on what you need to know, Benji. I can call you Benji, right?" he asked, almost friendly. Almost.

"Uh huh, call me Benji." He stuttered again. Thinking that of course there was ship coming. What with the pirate thing going on and all… Wait. This was just a dream. Some kind of weird dream. It make sense…

"So, Benji." The pirate began "You seem to have made a name for yourself as a tech expert. We can use an agent like you."

Benji decided to play along with the pirate. Maybe it would help him wake up faster…"I –I'm not an agent sir. I'm not sure what they told you, but I didn't qualify as an agent." He hung his head.

The pirate smiled. "I look for different qualities in my agents, son. Smarts, problem solving, courage. We'll teach you the other skills, don't worry."

Benji swallowed hard. "They tried that. Didn't work out so well." He confessed.

The tall man stood up. "The IMF wouldn't know how to train a dog, Dunn." He declared, saying IMF like it tasted bad. "You work for me now, got that?"

Yep, this was a dream! Benji looked up at him. Was this pirate dude being nice? No, he must be imagining it, but he couldn't help but think that the man was serious. He nodded "Yes sir, but sir?"

"Yes, Dunn?"

"What's your name?" Benji squeaked

The tall man held out his hand. "Nick Fury, Agent Dunn. My name is Nick Fury."

Interesting name for an imaginary pirate, though Benji.

Fury chuckled and walked to the door. "You'll do just fine here Dunn." He said, and opened the door. A woman was standing in it. "This is Agent Hill. She will tell you what you need to know. And Dunn, I don't recommend disobeying her. Got it?" he questioned.

Benji gasped at the direction his dream had taken. The pirate had been replaced by a super model in a ninja outfit. He looked at her, hoping the dream might last a little longer…

"Dunn? Your name IS Benji Dunn, right?" she was asking.

"Huh, what?" he stumbled. "Yes, call me Benji."

"Follow me Agent Dunn." She commanded and turned out the door. Yep, women even dismissed him in his dreams, he thought.

He stumbled out after her, "You're a pretty ninja, ya know that?" he drooled.

She spun around while touching a comm in her ear. "Sitwell!" she yelled. "How much sedative did you give this new r and d idiot?"

"Uh, just the standard, Agent Hill." He quickly replied, really hoping she wasn't going to blame him for whatever had just happened.

"Well, get down here and help me with him because he's tripping." She snapped in exasperation.

Sitwell hurried down from his position at the end of the wharf. He arrived a minute later to find Maria Hill trying to fight off the advances of the rather geeky looking tech guy that Fury had ordered picked up. Yes, she was definitely going to blame him for this.

Fighting back laugher –that would NOT be good- he pulled Dunn off of Hill and helped him walk along the dock, towards the boat they used as a transport ferry. "Sorry, man. But you don't want to go THERE. Trust me." Said Sitwell.

"But, but, she's the ninja of my dreams?" Benji whined.

Sitwell hid his chuckle from Hill, who was stalking slowing behind them. "More like a nightmare, man."

"It's my dream, I think she's nice." Continued Benji.

"Not a dream, dude. This is not a dream."

"But what about the pirate?" asked Benji.

Sitwell almost stumbled at that one. He heard Hill chuckling behind him. Good, at least he could laugh now, because it was about to bust out of him.

"Dunn, you're a riot. Just don't say pirate too loud, ok?"

"Is it a secret?" stammered Benji

By this time, Hill had stepped forward to help Sitwell get Dunn in the boat. "Yes, it's a secret." She whispered to him. Sitwell started convulsing in laugher. But Hill kept a straight face. She looked at
Sitwell, "Just get him to the carrier, ok." she snapped. He nodded in obedience.

He was face down again. This time he was lying on cot of some sort. He heard mumbling in the background.

"Atif! Greg! Who the hell is that?" snapped a male voice.

One programmer spun around to look at the lump lying on the cot. "Dunno boss, Darth Hill and her storm troopers dropped him off about 30 minutes ago." Said Greg with a bored tone.

"And he's been out since then?" questioned Gunderson.

"Yep." Said Atif, without looking up from his monitor.

"Well, did SHE at least leave papers or something?"

Greg nodded to Gunderson's desk. The older man reached for them. He skimmed over most it, but his eyes landed on the resume. "Oh, so this is the RF expert they promised me."

Atif and Greg exchanged looks. "Yeah, a newbie" said Greg sarcastically.

"This guy's not a newbie. He's been transferred in." Gunderson walked back out the room. "Come find me when he wakes up."

"Sure thing, boss" said Atif with a mock salute. He was still looking at his monitor.