Metallic Lights {Metallic Charms Book #3}

Chapter 23: Trickster

Chapter 23: Trickster

~~~~~~~~~~~{Noel’s Point of View}~~~~~~~~~~~

A month in a cell was enough to drive anybody mad. A month in a classified, underground S.H.I.E.L.D cell? That was enough to drive anybody to literally die of boredom. After that rather explosive and revealing interrogation by Nat and Fury, I had pretty much been left alone. No one had gone within a ten foot radius of me.

I felt like I had rabies or I was a leper or something. All I wanted and dreamed about these days was the moment that Thor finally came clean and I was let out –hopefully.

What was taking him so long? Why was he hesitating? Way back when I’d landed, I could see that Thor was going to tell Tony everything, but in a split second, he’d changed his mind and I didn’t know why. And I couldn’t find out why either.

I was in solitary confinement. Yay.

“Hey!” I called out to the guard at the end of the hall that I knew was there, even if he never replied. “Hey, Frank –can I call you Frank? I mean, I don’t know your real name, so I’m just going to call you Frank. Unless you want to tell me your name?” I tried.

Silence. Nothing.

I sighed. “Okay. Well, Frank, have I ever told you about the time when I was fourteen and Clint found out I was going to this school dance thing with a guy? Well. Let’s just say, Clint wasn’t happy. When we got to school the day after, he smashed in the trophy cabinet and threw the smallest football trophy into the poor kid’s arm! I mean, it was just a bruise in the end, but... Man, I wish I’d thanked him for that. The guy had been a real douche bag.”

I still had no reply. That wasn’t going to stop me though. I could talk to myself all I wanted; it was going to change anything. I wasn’t getting out and I wasn’t getting any visitors anytime soon –definitely not Clint, anyway.

S.H.I.E.L.D would have him on lockdown; keep him as busy as possible so even if he was allowed to visit, he wouldn’t have the time. Family was a risk, the biggest liability, right up there with spouses.

“It’s like I have so many things I wanted to say and do. I have so many apologies to make and not enough time, Frank.” I leaned my cheek against the freezing concrete and shivered. “I’m on death road, aren’t I, Frank? They’re going to leave me in here for a while, wait until they think I’m clinically insane, see if I crack under the pressure and loneliness and spill my secrets, but either way I’m going to die.”

I hadn’t meant to start crying. I’d promised myself that I wouldn’t show weakness while in the agency’s custody. It would give them something to bargain with.

Tears slipped down my cheeks and I felt a sob building up.

“I’m too young to die, Frank.” I whispered. “I didn’t do anything wrong. You believe me right? They can’t do this unless they have proof. But they can –because they’re S.H.I.E.L.D and everything they do is classified. Swept under a rug and censored.”

I pulled my knees up to my chest and moved my head from the wall and rested my forehead onto my kneecaps. My dirty hair fell in a curtain around my sides and face. Sobs wrenched through me and tears stained my grey prison clothes.

It lasted for a while. I let everything out. All the anger, all the fear, all the abandonment and loneliness. I breathed in deeply and breathed out again, tried to remember what Loki said about letting everybody go –that it was the best thing for me.