Welcome to my World (WAYHAUGHT)

Chapter 17

Standing on the station platform, needing movement, needing action, something to take her mind off everything, she felt a hand touch her shoulder, turning to find another young woman smiling at her, holding out a brown envelope. Without thinking she grabbed the woman by the throat, kicking her legs away, pinning her to the ground. "No, you hear. I said no."

A group gathered around them, two men attempting to prize Nicole from the woman struggling for breath on the ground. Someone grabbed Nicole by the neck, holding the position long enough for her to know she needed to release whoever was beneath her. Another put his knee on her spine, pinning her arms behind her, a simple manoeuvre would have got her out of that position. Except, she no longer wanted to fight.

Now in the back of a police van, heading to a police station to be booked for assault, her life was quickly unravelling before her eyes. "Name," the duty officer barked.

"MI6."

"Really," the police officer replied. "And, I'm Captain America. Name."

"MI6."

"If you are pulling my whatsit, I'll book you for assault with a weapon."

"Call them."

Leading Nicole to a cell she sat waiting for whatever was going to happen next. The hours ticked by, no one coming for her, assuming M had washed her hands, deciding she was too much of a risk. In many ways, that was exactly what Nicole wanted, to cause enough chaos and in doing so leave M with little choice but to dismiss her in disgrace. It no longer mattered leaving MI6 in a respectable fashion, she simply wanted out, to stay alive, for Waverly to stay alive and for the Widow to go fuck herself, literally. And M, and Cleo, and anyone else who wanted to fuck with her. Or, fuck her.

The door to the holding cell opened, M marching in with J, both looking at her as if she was the biggest fool ever. "You are being released," M said, the brown envelope the woman attempted to give Nicole on the station platform now in her possession. "Into my custody."

"I can't," Nicole replied. "I'm done."

M sat on what passed for a bed, more a concrete bench. "OOH, this is what you were trained to do. This is your moment."

Nicole held back the tears, refusing to let M see her cry. "Let someone else do this."

M motioned for J to step outside, waiting for him to close the cell door. "Good and bad is simply a question of which side we choose. I will ask you to choose a side. The Widow wants you to choose too. You need to be clear what each side offers."

"You want me to join her. Then what? Call me a traitor."

M glanced at the cell door, lowering her voice. "What if JOSHUA is the way forward?"

Nicole heard the words. "Don't do this to me. I'm not you."

"I too have a choice," M replied, her voice louder. "Let you go after the Widow, or leave you here."

Nicole's whole body shook. "Who are my friends?"

M stood. "No one OOH. That's the price you pay."

Leaving the cell Nicole was faced with a simple choice, go after the Widow, or be cast out by MI6 and serve time at her Majesty's pleasure for a very long time. Part of her wanted to destroy the tracker still in her wrist and vanish, knowing it would only be a matter of time before someone caught up with her and Waverly. Left in the cell for another four hours, by the time she was released her will had been beaten into submission, taking her belongings from the tray, walking out into the early evening, people passing her on their way to the pub, or on their way home.