Chapter 6: Sometimes, it's the truth that hurts the most.
We had plans for something like this. If anyone one of us were to get captured, the rest would go into hiding until more information would be obtained after which they would continue to move round the safe houses until all traces of possible tails had been lost. We had 11 safe houses – in America. With many others scattered across the globe, a lot of which were shared with others in the game. It was a rule we had that we couldn't be further than 500 miles from a safe house at any one time. That's roughly the distance between London and Geneva. I had been traveling across the states in a stolen pick-up truck when I pulled up to our 3rd safe house. This one was looking more promising. The previous 2 had been recently vacated by my parents, but despite this, they provided good resting stops on my search.
The 3rd safe house was in Chicago, in an old apartment block that needed serious work done to it. In terms of a hiding place it was perfect – they all were. Contrary to popular belief, it is much easier to hide in cities than it is to hide in the country. In the country, everybody notices anything new and everyone cares; in the city, nobody notices and nobody cares.
My heart was pounding walking up the steps to the 3rd floor. I kept a hand gun within easy reach, I was never sure who was gonna open the door when I gave the knock. It was my mother that opened the door, she pulled it open fast when she saw it was me, gripping me in a tight hug. This was quickly followed by a hard slap across my right cheek, I was gonna have a mark there the next morning. I was finally brought into the apartment to see my father, who had come out of the kitchen after hearing all the noise. He gave a small "good to see ya, kid" before retreating back to the kitchen.
I knew what the drill would be; keep on moving and don't stop until they give up looking. The problem was that we weren't dealing with some ordinary government agency, we were dealing with SHIELD – not just SHIELD but the Avengers too! Nobody wanted to say anything, but we all knew that we would probably be running for the rest of our lives. The avengers were never gonna give up looking for one of their own family. We moved from property to property, from identity to identity, across every corner of the states. Never daring to stay in an area for longer than a few weeks. My parents were unable to take jobs due to the risk of being caught and as a result, the money was starting to run out. The stress, the pressure, it was all making life impossible. Tensions were running seriously high, my parents would fight over anything, and right in the middle of it all would be me – the cause of all of this trouble.
My father started to look at me weird, always at times when he thought I wasn't looking. He was making me nervous, it was the same look he would give to clients. He was studying me, watching my every move. It had been 6 months, could it be possible that he was beginning to lose it? I didn't think it would be as simple as that. He had stopped openly discussing the plans in front of me, I was always having to find out where we were going and what we were doing from my mother. He had even starting carrying his gun with him everywhere, including around the apartment, which included the bathroom.
On the night in question, I had woken up at 3 am after the front door had closed, I am a light sleeper and would never have missed something like that. When I got out of bed to see what was going on, I found that my door was locked. I started to panic, it was a rule that we were to never be locked in our rooms. I tried to look for something to pick the lock but in my desperation I couldn't find anything. Minutes passed. My head whipped around as the glass from my window was blown in and the gold and red suit of Iron Man descended to my eye line, tranquiliser gun in hand.
The sedative wasn't strong, wasn't strong at all. I was awake when I was pulled past my parent's room, still containing the lifeless body of mother on the bed. Her arm was hanging over the side, a small trickle of blood making its way down her fingers. As we exited the apartment, with Iron Man dragging me by the arm pits, the darkness of unconsciousness approaching, I saw my father standing next to Director Coulson. As the darkness enveloped me, I felt the cold, sharp sting of betrayal.