Chapter 4: Blood is thicker than water…or is it?

I had never been in a situation like this before, but that doesn't mean I didn't know what to do. Step 1: determine orientation. I mean positional orientation, not like, the other form. The best way to do this is to dribble, if the dribble goes down you're the right way up. Step 2: determine what you can and cannot move. If you can move an appendage it gives the possibility of escape. I could wiggle my feet, which was something, but nothing else in the leg region. My arms were completely tied behind the chair I was in and apparently tied at the wrist. The kick in the groin was that my hands had been tied together so no wiggle room. Step 3: use your senses to gather information. Well I couldn't hear anything so that was out, unless you're a dog smelling is useless and it seemed like there was a bag over my head. So yeah, everything was going great. And apparently I needed to pee – this was turning out to be a very good day.

It felt like I had waited for hours, but I was being deprived of my senses and my bladder was full, so it was more like 30 minutes before I finally heard footsteps. The door opened and a man (judging by the footsteps) walked in, placed stuff on a table then removed my hood. After my eyes had re-adjusted I got a good look at him. He was young, which was surprising and of Indian (?) ethnicity. He introduced himself as Agent Patel after taking the seat opposite me then proceeded with the questions. What was my name? Where was I from? How old was I? Who did I work for? All very predictable. I wasn't surprised. My plan was to stay silent – it was my constitutional right to plead the 5th. Most interrogations went like this. They start off with all the predictable crap before pulling out their trump card. It was the trump card I was waiting for. But after the predictably crap questions and a routine DNA test…the trump card never came, which left me very confused. Agent Patel was then replaced by 2 SHIELD goons who proceeded to sedate me.

This time when I woke up I was clearly horizontal, my limbs were free and I was busting for a piss. Thankfully, there was a toilet just a few feet away. The cell was…small and unbelievably bare. There was no window and must have been no bigger than 7ft by 10ft. The walls were white and there was a shelf, I'm gonna call it a shelf, that housed a wipe down mattress and the thinnest pillow I have ever seen in my life. Then there was the tamper proof toilet that I was currently sitting on. They'd also taken anything that could possibly be used as a weapon and apparently this included my shoes. I expected I would be there for a few hours but I wasn't expecting that I would be there for 3 days. Don't worry, they kept me fed and watered but I hadn't showered and I was bored out of my mind. I didn't look good.

After 3 long, long, long days I was finally escorted from my cell, in handcuffs and leg chains, back to the room I was initially questioned in. 5 minutes later, a new agent walked in. He was older, possibly in his 60s, balding and about as ordinary looking as a toothbrush in a bathroom. Despite this, I could tell that this guy was important – he had that 'I'm in charge' look about him. He introduced himself as Director Coulson, head of SHIELD. So I was right about him being important.

"You've thrown us a curve ball, kid."

I had?

"We've been tracking you and your little unit for some time now. Unfortunately, we weren't able to grab the other 2, but you're here so that's something."

He proceeded to open a file that contained only 5 pictures. One was me, 2 were my parents, and the others were a woman and a man in their 50s, maybe 60s.

"You were brought up by these 2 here." He pointed to my parents. "But you were born to these 2 here." He said whilst pointing to the other 2.

I remained silent, the gears in my mind were working away furiously. I think my face was giving away my confusion but in all honesty it was something that I had wondered about since I was very small. Even kids know that they are supposed to look like their parents, and I just, didn't…People say in these situations that they never believe it until they see hard evidence but I did believe him, I believed him completely.

"Do you know who your birth parents are?" I shook my head. "Well, this woman is a current SHIELD agent formerly known as the Black Widow and this man is also a current agent formerly known as Hawkeye." He stopped talking.

The blood drained from my face, ringing started in my ears, white spots appeared in my vision, and I fainted. As I went down, I realised that this was one hell of a trump card.