VAIN | Inside the Universe

Chapter Eighteen • Take Me to Church

U N K N O W N

Nearly drowning in the ice water had brought me back to life. Senses heightened, eyes keen, yet I have no sense of where I am or who holds my head down so mercilessly.

My consciousness was quickly acknowledged with the swing of my arm hitting flesh to my right. It packed the strength of a waking giant and the loud, muffled yell heard from beneath the water was pissed. The hand that held me under gripped a fistful of my hair and pulled my head up.

As quickly as I broke the surface, the man throws my body into the chair behind me, denying my gasp for air before I could even think about taking it. I didn't have time to fight the restraints before they tightened around my wrists, bounding my arms to back of the seat. The men—now five—fought the struggle I could send to my ankles, but they ultimately dominated.

A breath found me just before I choked on the water lodged in my throat. One cough sent a trickling flood to the floor in front of me, which seemed to utterly repulse the chorus of shrieks to follow.

"Hah...What..did you think..would happen, huh? If you..try..to fuck..ing drown me?!" The rise in my voice triggers another coughing fit, sending each of the men two steps back in such a dramatic synchronization that they must have coordinated that routine beforehand.

They didn't make any attempts in whispering their outrage, as if it would make any difference. I was fluent in over twenty languages and their main dialects, but these voices were unrecognizable. They couldn't work for any government with a language so distant. That leaves me with the more unsettling fact that I have more enemies in the shadows than I thought.

I should really keep a list.

"That's enough."

An English speaker, with the undertones of an Italian fluency, silences the room with a voice that is no doubt deceivingly calm. A tall man emerges from the doorway into the drafty, industrial space. It's difficult to see with only the moonlight to pour its glowing definition, but his silhouette was enough of an indication that he was the mouthpiece of the operation.

With the hint of salt in the air, it's safe to assume we are on the coast. An abandoned boat house perhaps, but even the general region of where we are is lost on me. My expertise aren't finding me quickly enough.

I'll allow myself the failure. With the events of my last conscious memories coming back to me, it very well could be that I am drugged out of my mind. And that's without the regard to this impromptu kidnapping.

He walked vainly across the spacious floor, slowing as he neared. He seemed thrilled, the exact reason unbeknownst to me, but the way he raked over the chair length showed he was immensely satisfied.

"Ms. Natalle," he chuckles deeply under his breath after testing the name in his mouth. "You have been careless."

He plays with the cuffs of his suit, one too expensive to be worn during an interrogation, but I digress. He turns to the other men with a grin plastered across his face.

"The woman burns every trace of her existence when the price for her head is at an all time high, only to surface two weeks later to help Captain America." He spits the name in disgust as if it be an insult to me. "Finally feeling patriotic, are we?"

I flash him a quick, fleeting smile, one too forced to look anything other than spiteful. The knot on my wrists finally begins to budge. I subtly start to work on my ankles, but his invested attention makes any move a dangerous one.

"I'll tell you what Ms. Natalle..may I call you Safiya?"

"No."

"Ah, she speaks!" He smirks, theatrically throwing his hands out from his sides as the other men mirror his cheer in obligation. I definitely cut into some kind of play practice.