HOME | DD

Description
“Who the h-”
“Mr. Monroe, it is advised that you put the belt down and step away from your step-daughter,” a voice yelled from the front room.
Moving slowly, like a cornered animal, he put the belt down on the floor at his feet and put his hands above his head. I heard the sound of footsteps and looked at my doorway as a well-dressed man walked in followed by two secret agents clad in an all-black uniform.
“Who the h-”
“-are we? Agent Phil Coulson, SHIELD, and these are two of our field agents.”
“SHIELD?” Even through his drunken stupor Joseph seemed to be genuinely confused.
Agent Coulson chuckled, folding his badge in half and sliding it back into his pocket. “I’m surprised Laurie didn’t tell you,” he said.
At this Joseph grew aggressive. “Don’t you dare-” he began, lunging for me. Surprised, I extended my arms towards him and felt my hands tingle on instinct.
As soon as my hands contacted my waist, I felt a jolt like that when you touch a socket transfer from me to him. Like he was tased, Joseph fell to the ground.
“Oh my god, what did I-” I started.
“What did you do?” he finished for me. “Well, for starters, we have reason to believe you are what we like to scientifically call a thermopath.”
“Heat?” I asked. “Like, a superpower?” I looked at my hands.
“Well, heat and energy, yes.” I looked at him. “Have you heard of the god Thor?”
I nodded. “Of course, I read his comics and I know Norse myth. Storms and lightning, yeah?”
Agent Coulson nodded. “Yeah. We’ve got some experience dealing with hotheads like yourself.” When I spluttered in response, he gave another short chuckle. “I’m joking, Miss Evans.”
I pointed at him. “You know-”
“Yes, we know your name. Yes, we’re the suit-and-tie government. Yes, I know, it’s creepy. Now, would you mind coming with us?”
Looking at Joseph’s form on the floor, I considered for a second. “What’re you gonna do with him?”
Agent Coulson shrugged as I looked at him. “Arrest him on counts of child abuse, and I’ll see if I can swing a sentence longer than usual. We’ll keep the house on lockdown and I’ll see when you can return.”
“No!” I cried. When he looked at me, confused, I continued, “His only flaw was that he loved my mom too much. Well, her, and now alcohol.” His expression showed he understood. “Give him the regular child abuse counts, but get him into a rigorous grief and substance abuse counseling. He was only alcoholic around me after my mom died.”
He put a hand on my shoulder, and I found the gesture strangely comforting coming from someone I’d only known for about ten minutes. “I’m sorry,” he said. “We’ll do everything we can to make this right.”
Another agent came in and escorted me back to what looked like a tricked-out Suburban. “I understand that what you’ve just been through is hard, but we’re going to take you back to base and assess you there.”
I nodded. “How long is it going to take for us to get to base?”
“About 12 hours,” a brown-haired female agent responded, looking at her from the front shotgun seat. Tossing a familiar messenger bag back at me, she added, “I took the liberty of packing some of your things. We’ve got a long trip ahead of us.”
I opened the bag and saw inside the agent had pulled some of the things from my school backpack, namely my thick writing journal along with my heavy fountain pen and box of ink cartridges, several of my most prized comic books, sketch book and pencil, two manga books, and I counted three full changes of clothing along with my pair of black Converse high-tops.
“Thanks, Agent…?”
“Hill. Agent Hill,” the woman responded curtly.
The agent in the driver’s seat with the aviator sunglasses started the car, and, I noticed, was following and being followed by more black cars.
“Did you know about your powers?” Agent Coulson asked.
“Not really,” I said. “I mean, I noticed my hair liked to attract static electricity when it was stormy out and even sometimes when it wasn’t, but also that I had this strange urge to touch the Bunsen burner in Chem class this year.” I paused. “And also that the bubbles of the methane hand-lighting lab that we did seemed to want to burst into flames when they sat on my hands.”
Agent Hill turned her head slightly, and I could tell she was listening by the way her eyes flicked towards where we were sitting. “But on the whole, no,” I answered. “I’d never have guessed. To me, superpowers were best left in the comic books.”
“That’s what we thought about the rumors of a supersoldier until some SHIELD agents fished him out of the drink,” Agent Hill added.
“You mean, when he woke up?”
“No, the fact that we found Captain America,” she stressed. “Dead or not, he’s still a national icon and hero, rumors about whom have been circulating for decades. Of course, they did start up again after he dashed into the middle of New York City.”
I nodded, then glanced out the window to see us driving alongside Lake Michigan. “I’m going to miss this,” I sighed, leaning against the window.
“Chicago?” Agent Coulson asked.
“Yeah,” I replied. “I was raised here all my life and I love the city.”
They fell silent at this, and I had a feeling that the 12 hour journey would take me halfway across the country to somewhere like New York or Pennsylvania.
The sun dipped beneath the horizon, and as the darkness settled outside of the car I felt my eyes begin to droop. I tugged a pullover out of my bag and balled it up, laying it in between my shoulder and my head.
Even with the car rumbling beneath me, I had an easy time falling asleep. However, I knew that it was going to be staying asleep that would turn out to be the issue.