Third chapter and here we go! As you can already tell, yeah, the organization she is talking about is the one named after the mythical Greek serpent, but the reason why none of it is actually mentioned is, well, it's complicated. Honestly, when it life never complicated? I mean, it's not everyday someone suddenly gets sucked inside another dimension/universe through some unknown means, ends up in some hellhole with nothing but baddies left and right keeping you company, and it certainty isn't freaky that now that you got away that they will do everything they can to get you back.
Huh, doesn't that sound a teensy bit familiar? Anyway, enough about hypothetical scenarios, let us move on to the chapter you all have been undoubtedly waiting for. Just remember to leave a review, I would leave to hear what anybody has to say about the story, questions that seem to pluck on your scalp with wonder that you can't help but want to reach out and ask. Ask away! So, thanks and enjoy!
Disclaimer: MCU belongs to Disney and Marvel Studios/Comics, I only claim ownership over my Original Character(s) and a little bit of the plot!
Warning: Language, Violence, Adult Content, possible Triggers (there will be heads-up for these things), and whatever comes to mind.
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ᴀʟᴏɴɢ ᴄᴀᴍᴇ ᴀ sρïdєя-ωσмαη
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The small airport was dark, save for the distant luminescent lights shining from the building's window panes that contained people to get in and out of the country. The airport apron looked completely deserted with only a handful of people running about in their haste to help planes land safely or double-check for fuel and engine. The small planes flew as they came and went with their passengers on board, usually the passengers being tourists looking for a wonderful and exciting vacation on foreign soil. All that was happening deeper inside the airport when night fell, pilots needing all the help they could get when flying in the dark despite the headlights their planes carried.
The rest of the runways were utterly isolated 'til come morning.
Which served as perfect spots for illegal business under the cover of darkness.
"Arturo!" hissed a voice from the darkness. "Arturo!"
As soon as I had finished hissing out the name, I heard hurried footsteps make their way towards the bushy side of the fence I was currently ducking low behind. The sound of the linked fence cut through my ears before I finally saw who I had been waiting for when I had made a hasty call in a payphone for a hasty meeting.
"I'm here!" called out a lanky-looking man with short, dark curly hair as he scanned the darkness for me. "Señorita?"
Standing from the hiding spot, I watched the dark man slightly jerk from my appearance before quickly composing himself as he strode towards me while giving another scan to the area. What we were doing could cost him his job, and from that, not being able to provide for his hungry children and sickly wife. I met Arturo when I had been wandering around the fenced area, looking at the planes with contemplation of whether I should take a risk or not. The man spotted me, warning me off with threats of calling the police to detain me. I quickly defused the whole thing with a few awkward words I could manage from recalling my Spanish classes, and it must have really helped because the next thing I knew, Arturo was putting some effort in talking some English to me.
Arturo wanted to work as a flight attendant, but that costed a lot of learning with money he didn't have, so he had to make due as a small time patrol officer that made sure nobody would get through the fences.
So far, I was the only one who bothered to do that.
Every now and then, I would come by to have some small talk with him. I didn't share my life-story with him, but he didn't have no problems sharing his own. Having accidentally impregnate his girlfriend, the then teenage Arturo was forced into a marriage to save the honor of his girlfriend rather than let her face the wrath of her furious father. It had been difficult for the teen parents, and it only got worse when his young wife fell pregnant again. Money was tight for the couple, and it got even more worse on their luck when his wife fell ill from constantly overworking herself at the restaurant she worked.
I felt horrible about taking advantage of a poor man and his struggles with life, but I had to think about myself. The organization that was after me were dead-set on bringing me back to their underground labs full of insanity and pain, and I really had no time to think about other people's problems when I had my own to tackle. There was a huge possibility that my trail could lead them right to Arturo's doorstep, and maybe it didn't have to end violently on the man's part (or his family)... but really, I was going to be the one responsible in putting him and his family's life at risk if I went through with what I had been planning.
"Here's all that I have," I said as I opened my duffel bag and handed him the notes and coins in his hands. The wide-eyed look on his face was priceless as he took in the colored bills that sat messily in his trembling palms. It probably felt like a ton to him at that moment.
"You have no idea how much this means to me, señorita..." Arturo stuttered, eyes glittering with tears that threatened to fall from his eyes.
The money wasn't really a lot. Yet, for Arturo to be left with stars and hope rising from his shaggy face, it told me that it was more than enough for him to get by that there wouldn't be too much trouble for him to feed his children and care for his wife properly.
"Don't thank me yet." I said, stomach twisting uneasily at the imagination of men in dark suits knocking on his doorstep.
"Right," he sniffed while pushing the money down his pocket. "Let us get you a plane."
"Yes." I nodded, staring at the airport beyond the fence. "Lets."
Two hours later, after bypassing some lazy security and going through a disguise, I was seated inside a plane with a forged ticket in my hand while Arturo was standing outside, watching the proceedings nervously as the luggage was loaded into the plane. The plane was half full of passengers, and I was somehow glad that Arturo landed me a ride that was a little private than most planes.
"Once you land, señorita, you're on your own." he warned me, his face tight with apprehension.
He was right. Once I landed on American soil, there would be security measures that far surpassed this airport, and I was going to have to depend on my own skills to get myself out of the mess. Arturo was depending on me to succeed, 'less my trail lead the authorities right back to him (and the organization that much closer in finding me).
I watched with anticipation as I sat in the plane for another hour, handful of people entering until finally, I closed my eyes with relief, the hatch closed. I ignored the announcement of the captains and flight attendants and their safety drill, my eyes focused on the man standing just below my window. His dark eyes locked on to me, both of us frozen before a small smile spread across my lips.
"Thank you," I mouthed to him.
His response, pulling a rosary from deep inside his collared shirt and kissing it while offering a prayer for my safe passage back to America. I felt my eyes dampened at the gesture, my fingers sliding under my lids to stop the tears while the heavy feeling in my chest gradually lightened.
I wasn't safe anywhere, I knew... but it was nice to find people who were willing to lend a hand.
Our eyes kept locked on one another as the engines whirled to life, his figure growing smaller but my eyes could still see his mouth quietly voicing his prayers. He finally disappeared when the plane began to drive towards the runway, nothing but darkness with flashing lights blinking in the distance. I closed my eyes as the plane started to go faster and faster, the feeling of my ears about to pop kept away as I swallowed thickly. The force of the plane making me press against my seat, my eyes picturing the plane lifting off in the air as the feeling of weightlessness overcame me.
Up in the air we went, as the plane chased after the fading sun.
For a moment, I wondered if this was me chasing after my freedom.
"Perdóname? Señorita?"
I blinked awake, my vision coming clearly as I looked up to find a flight attendant standing over me with a small bottle of water and a can of soda held in each of her hands.
"Oh, sorry," I croaked as I straightened in my seat. "I-I'll take the water if you don't mind."
She acceded with the request and easily relinquished the bottle me. I thanked her before opening the bottle and took several sips of the water. My gaze flickered back into the darkness, the wings blinking in the darkness as it weaved through the clouds that occasionally drifted through us.
"Excuse me," a voice cuts through my tired mind.
Instead of some flight attendant offering small meals, there stood a man with an apologetic look on his face. Dark brown hair with small peppers of gray, his light green eyes open and expressive that I felt myself calm despite my wariness with strangers. He was dressed in a simple light blue dress shirt that was covered by his brown pea coat and some rumpled-looking slacks. He looked like a businessman rather than a tourist who was finally heading back to the states to rejoin his company and/or return to his awaiting family.
'Or,' my mind dangerously whispered. 'He could be one of them.'
"Sorry to bother..." he started out quietly as he looked around. "Do you mind if I sit here? The guy I was with looked like he was seconds away from puking and... well..."
This could be a cover up, I thought as I looked around to find several empty seats ahead of the small plane, but I too wouldn't want to bother with walking all on the other side of the plane that could possibly disturb some people. Reluctant as I was, I had no excuse to turn him away... besides, if he did try and pull one over me, he was the one who was going to find himself in a world of hurt.
"Go ahead, sir." I gestured at the empty seat next to me.
"Thank you."
The older man settled down and flicked down a tray that was folded up from the seat in front of him. Setting his laptop down, he opened it and pressed the power button for it to start. Keeping a subtle eye on him, I listened to him tap away on his smooth keyboard while gazing out the inky darkness from my window.
I startled when the plane became bumpy, my fingers digging into the armchair of my seat before slowly settling down when the turbulence ceased with the disturbance. I let out a shaky breath, momentarily closing my eyes before inhaling deeply to gather some courage. I was quick to notice the lack of fingers tapping on keyboards. Opening my eyes, I glanced over to find the older man looking openly at me with (seemingly) genuine concern.
"Not fond of planes, are you?"
I shook my head.
He hummed, looking away. "If it's any consolation, we're about less than four hours away from landing in Atlanta."
Against my will, I smiled. It was like being with my dad again, how he would talk and lecture me about planes rather than ignore me like some parents would with their children. Of course dad wasn't scared of stuff like planes, his job often revolved around planes, jets, helicopters, and other aircrafts, but he held my trembling hand none the less with his much bigger, warmer, and affirming palm. Just hearing him babble so casually made me feel safer, my heart calmer, and the trip across the ocean little less daunting without my brother's teasing about the possibility of our plane being hijacked and shit.
Thinking about him, about my mum and my brother, made me feel even more lonelier than I had ever been.
I had been lonely as a child before I met Lucy and Sarah, my two mates since childhood that (had) kept in contact with me via internet after my family moved from the country to America. I was lonely during my first few days in the new school, shy and speechless until a few had practically forced themselves under my gloomy cloud and introduced themselves as my new friends that I grew to love and cherish. I was lonely when I finally moved out of my parents home, not being able to sleep well because I couldn't hear my mother's soft music playing through the night to lullaby everyone to sleep, and then my brother invited himself over so many time to my place that he just moved in with me after he complained about not wanting to go back and forth so many times.
Now, I bit my bottom lip, I was the only one in the world who didn't truly belong. And it was so damn lonely.
"You meeting up with some family on the other side?" the older man asked.
'I wish.' I thought sadly.
Without thinking, I shook my head.
"Oh," he paused from his work on the computer. "I know countries like to use propaganda to paint how nice it is on the other side of the grass, but I seriously hope you're not traveling by yourself, kid."
I closed my eyes, chastising myself. Exhausted both physically and mentally from barely escaping the organization, I forgot about what sort of situation I was... and how it looked from the outsider's point of view. A scrawny, knobby-kneed teenage girl who had no adult supervision and admitted to not meeting with relatives waiting at the end... that spelled a neon sign of runaway. If the nosy bugger next to me kept at it, I was going to find myself in deep shit once the plane landed, and the next thing I know, I was going back into the cold clutches of the organization.
All that careful planning going kaput!
While that scary scenario was running in my mind, there was another thing to consider about the man next to me: was he an agent? was he a concerned adult? Or maybe the man was a pervert who preyed on vulnerable-looking girls who were by themselves (if he tried something that was remotely sexual, I was going to break his prick in half!).
I rubbed at my temple, feeling a migraine from the frustrations of having to deal with this.
"I hope you don't take offense, kid, but you look like you haven't had a proper sleep in weeks." the man continued on as he turned back to his computer.
'Well, you arse, when you're on the run from an underground group made up of megalomaniacs you tend to miss some hours of good night's rest. God forbid you sleep just a little longer only to find yourself with guns aimed directly at your face!' I scowled.
"And... you look like you're in trouble." he finished as he closed his laptop and faced me properly.
Any pretense of politeness vanished from me as I openly glared at him.
"You don't beat around the bush, do you?" I gave him the most deadpanned answer I could conjure.
He shrugged. "I can read people really well."
"Oh?" I feigned surprise interest before glaring murderously at him. "Can you read me now?"
He chuckled. Chuckled. In my face!
"I really offended you with that sleepless zombie remark, huh?" he sheepishly grinned at me as he rubbed the back of his neck, a gesture I sometimes saw my brother do when his girlfriend called him out on his bullshit (or when mom had found his hidden stash of dirty mags).
I opened my mouth to give him a piece of my mind, but instead let out a groan from the throbbing pain that came from my head, reaching up to rub my temples again as if that would help soothe it.
"Are you alright?" he asked as he saw my curl up.
"My head..." I murmured.
"Rick?"
The man and I looked up to see a woman with layered dark hair standing over the man beside me. She was lovely-looking, but she seemed ill from the way she clutched onto the top of the seats as if to keep herself from falling over while her one hand rested against the side of her head. Well, the airplane we were in wasn't exactly the smoothest ride, but I felt something of alarm bells go off when I continued to stare at the woman.
"Mary?" the man straightened in his seat, his voice brimming with concern when he reached out and held the woman by her waist when she began to sway dangerously on the side. "Mary, what's wrong?"
Seeing the woman feel like she was on the verge of falling into unconsciousness, I rose up from my seat and was about to flag down a flight attendant—when I saw many other passengers clutching at their heads in a similar manner, some of them already passed out.
"What's going on?" I demanded in alarm, looking all around to see only less than a handful looking about with just as much as bewilderment I was feeling.
"The water," the woman slurred as she finally fell over. The man was quick to catch her, getting up off the seat and placing the woman where he had sat. "Th-they drugged the water and drinks, Rick."
I looked down at the small water bottle in my hands for a moment before hurling it away.
"Rick..." the woman whispered as her eyes fluttered closed despite the man's pleas for her to stay awake for him. "They're coming."
I felt my entire insides freeze up when I heard the woman breathe one last word before joining the other passengers in the deep sleep.
"HYDRA."