"What do you mean-." 

The door behind Jake slammed open, and Mia's smiling face popped out, interrupting his words. "Hey Jake, I was wondering where you went to..." her voice died out as she noticed me standing there, wings out on full display. Taking a step closer, she gaped at me. Well, more like at my wings. "What are those... those things?" 

I flinched at the raw revulsion in her voice, but tried to calm my emotions. Get yourself under control, Agent 5. "They're wings," I uttered lowly, shifting my tear streaked gaze towards the ground, swiping at my eyes. I didn't want to look at the expressions on their faces anymore; I knew it was a mistake to come here in the first place. 

Mia barked out a laugh, and raised her eyebrows. "Wow. That's a good one. I know what wings are made out of, and it's certainly not metal." She cocked her head to the side, her curly, dark brown hair falling over her shoulder. "And why are you wearing them? Was there a costume party or something that I didn't hear about?" 

"Mia." Jake spoke harshly, still staring at me. I couldn't identify the emotion that was shining in his eyes. "Enough." 

Mia turned towards him, shocked. "What?" 

Jake turned fully towards her, and I looked up, shifting my wings into a resting position. "I said enough." 

Mia looked taken aback. "Why are you telling that to me? Shouldn't you be questioning her or something?" She gestured towards me. "I mean, don't you think that it's weird that she suddenly reappears, back from the dead, at the same time that the scientists do?" 

Her words hit me like a slap to the face. This person, who I didn't even know, was talking about me conspiring with the enemy. And how did she even know who I was? Or that I was even here? Plus she's saying those things while working at and with the only people that I thought I could trust in the whole world. You know the saying, the enemy of my enemy is my friend? Well, not in this case, it seems. 

Jake turned back to me, assessing me with lowered lids. After a few moments, he spoke, not meeting my eyes. "You're right."

He continued talking, but I couldn't hear anything anymore. One of the people who knew me best in the entire world was siding with a trainee, against me. He took a step forward, but I took one back. Ah heck no. Call me bipolar, but now I was hella annoyed. No more crying. 

"Ben," he sighed, and suddenly I could hear again. "Come on." He stretched out a hand. "You'll only be there for a few days." 

I frowned. What was he talking about? He must've seen my confusion, as he sighed again and continued walking forward, explaining. "We need to put you in detainment for a few days. Just until we can sort this whole thing out. It won't be bad, I promise." 

I slowly lifted my eyes up to stare into his. Detainment. This was it folks, I had hit the lowest of the low. But what could I do? Sure, I could fly off this building right now, but where would I go? My home had been destroyed, and my old agency was compromised. And if I was out there, the scientists would surely find me. Plus, I was tired of always running away. Looks like I was safer here, in detainment, than I would be out in the world, with freedom. I let out a chuckle, but there was no humor in it. Oh, the irony. 

"You promise?" I didn't break my hard stare. Mia had crept closer, unclasping handcuffs from her belt. 

Jake finally reached me, and gripped my hand tight, not breaking his stare either. "I promise." Mia also reached us, and roughly grasped my hands, pulling them behind my back and handcuffing me. 

I decided to not retract my wings, as the others would soon learn of their existence anyway. Mia steered me towards the door, and I looked back, noticing that Jake hadn't accompanied us. 

He was standing still, watching us go. His silhouette was stark against the city skyline, and as our eyes met, I couldn't help the small, dead smile that crept onto my lips, nor the thought that accompanied it. Oh, Jake. Didn't you know that promises were meant to be broken?

---

Welp, I lied. Out in the free world, even with mad scientists trying to hunt me down and experiment on me, would be better than staying in this room. 

Wait, Ben, you might be asking. What happened after you left the rooftop? Well this is going to be a long story, so get comfortable. 

As Mia dragged, I mean led, me down to the detainment room, I got a lot of stares and whispers. Let's face it, it's not everyday that you see a respectable agent like me being led through a foreign agency with two large metal wings on full display, handcuffed. 

I managed to ignore all of them, until a very familiar voice rang out, causing my head to snap up.

"What is going on here? Mia? Where are you taking Ben?" Lydia's angry face came into view, and she skidded to a stop next to me, hands on her hips.

"Agent Pinoni." Mia nodded her head respectfully as she said Lydia's last name. "Agent Sandell has ordered me to take... Ben... here, down to the detainment room." She said the last part as she hid her smug smile behind her hair with a dip of her head.

Lydia's eyes flashed furiously, and at least Mia had the common sense to take a step back. "He did now, did he? Well, I'm going to have to talk to him. And it's Agent Waters to you, trainee. Show some respect to your elders."

I smiled slightly as Lydia reminded me why she was my best friend. "Agent 5," I said softly. They both looked at me, confused. I cleared my throat. "Call me Agent 5." Something flashed in Lydia's eyes, but she nodded her head. 

"Agent 5." She smiled sharply, pushing past us to the staircase that led to the roof. Raising an eyebrow, she looked over her shoulder, but continued walking. "Don't think that this is over with." And with that, she disappeared through the door, the slam ringing through the silence of the office complex that we were currently walking through.

"Well," Mia mumbled sarcastically, rearranging the knuckle pads on her hands. "She's in a pleasant mood."  

I smirked. "That's the mood she's usually in, so you better get used to it."

Mia twirled around toward me, grasping my arm tightly. "Well, it doesn't seem like you'll be here long, but I will, so thank you, I will get used to it." She turned back and continued weaving through the desks, ignoring the staring agents and trainees, and left me frowning to myself. 

I wouldn't be here long? Well, that doesn't seem like her call to make, now does it? Turning my attention back to where we were heading, I caught myself as I nearly tripped on someone's foot. Never mind, that was thin air. Glaring at the people who started snickering, I curled my shoulders slightly inward, making my wings flare out slightly. 

Snickers turned to gasps, and I congratulated myself on making more people stare at me. I didn't need to be embarrassed for long, though, as we soon reached a metal door that had an electronic security system panel next to it. 

Mia turned to me, raising and eyebrow, and I brought my my hands in a placating gesture, and looked away. Well, I tried to raise my hands, put it was a pretty hard thing to do in handcuffs. 

As the door was pretty narrow, I decided that it would be a good time to make the wings disappear. Retract, I whispered in my mind. Familiar clicking noises sounded as the wings folded in on themselves and slid back through the slashes in my suit, and the metal slots in my back.

Soon enough, hissing sounded, and I turned back to see the door sliding open. Mia grabbed hold of my arm again, and led me through the door and into a concrete hallway. After traveling a short distance, we eventually stopped at what looked like to be a locker bay, only more prison-like. 

My eyebrows flew up. "What's this?" There looked to be about ten lockers, all iron and rusty, with fingerprint security panels on them. 

Mia turned towards me, placing her hands on her hips. "What's it look like?" I stared blankly back at her, and she sighed. "It's a holding bay. As in, holding bay for your weapons and such. Everyone who goes into detainment is only there for a limited period of time, so their things are only locked up here, not taken away forever." 

I looked around the small room again. "Oh," was all I said. I guess my bag with all my things was still on the rooftop, so it was just the weapons that were on me, then. 

"So?" She held her hand out. "Are you going to hand them over now?" 

I sighed, already missing my weapons, even though I had yet to give them over. "Yeah, yeah," I muttered. "Hang on." People these days. So impatient. 

First I unbuckled the belt on my waist that held my holster and gun, two large knives, one smaller knife and a pocket knife. Handing them over, I waited until she put them in a locker and turned back to me. Next, I pulled out another knife from one back pocket, and a throwing star from another. 

After she had put those away, she turned back to me, still holding out her hand. 

"What, I don't have anymore!" I tried to look innocent, but I guess I failed as she just stared at my with her big, charcoal grey eyes. Sighing, I looked up at the concrete ceiling and pulled out a small pocket knife from my bra. 

Looking at it longingly, I handed it over, then waited. Mia turned back, raising an eyebrow. I just stared at her, and she stared back, not budging. Groaning, I rolled my eyes. "Fine," I hissed. "You win this round." Knocking the heel of one boot, then the other, on the ground, I bent down to retrieve the two small knives that appeared. Grumbling, I stood back up and handed them handle first over to Mia. 

"That's it, I swear," I said, as she turned back and raised an eyebrow. Looking at me through narrow eyes, she contemplated for a second before nodding and shutting the locker door. 

"Then let's go." She gripped my shoulder, the one that was still very, very sore from the gunshot wound. 

"Hey," I roughly pulled away from her grasp, rubbing my shoulder, hissing at the pain. "Watch it." 

Mia rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Follow me."

Leading me through another concrete hallway, she finally stopped at what I guess was the detainment room that I would be staying in. 

Fingers flying over another panel, she barely looked at me as she said, "Get in." 

"Yes Your Majesty," I muttered, stepping into the room. I had barely gotten in when the door banged shut, and I spun back around. Mia stood on the other side of the transparent doorway, waving her hand sarcastically at me, after flicking the light to my room on. "Wait-." And she was gone. 

Groaning, I turned back around, but froze as I finally got a good look at the room. It was white. All. White. Everywhere. Bed, trashcan, wood chair in the corner, everything. Heart pounding, I quickly rushed over to the small door that led to what I assumed to be the bathroom. My assumption was correct, but it was white in here, too. I could feel the color draining out of my face as I slid down the wall. staring blankly at the opposite wall. 

This wasn't a detainment room; this was a psychological torture room.

The corner of my mouth twitched. I guess Jake broke his promise after all. 

---

So that's the story. I'm in that same position on the floor, resting my back and head against the wall. My eyes are shut, and I'm humming the tune to "It's a Small World."  I take back my statement from earlier: this is my new low.

 I'm stuck in a room, the same four white walled room, that I've been stuck in for three days. No food. No water. Well, that they've given me. After the second day, I resorted to drinking out of the sink in the bathroom. 

There also used to be a mirror in the bathroom, but after the first day, I'd gotten so sick of seeing myself, greasy, chestnut hair dangling around my shoulders, empty blue eyes, pale skin, that I'd punched it straight in the center, breaking it. 

And the funny thing is that I should be used to this. It was the exact same thing that I had to go through with the scientists. The women, Insanity and Delirium, would always escort me to and from the operation room to another adjacent room; it was white too. I remember doing the same thing there as I was here; loosing my mind. 

Tap. Tap. Tap.

My eyes snapped open. I looked across the cell to the transparent door, and beyond to the cell, which is what these were, across from mine. 

I waited a moment. Nothing. I sighed, resting my head back against the wall again, and began to sing softly. 

"It's a small world after all, it's a small world after all, it's a small world after all, it's a small, small worl-"

"Agent 5?" 

I groaned at the voice. Great. Someone was here to finally collect me. I guess Lydia hadn't forgotten about me after all. Note the sarcasm. 

I was about to say something very unladylike to the rude person who had interrupted my own personal hell, when I opened my eyes and looked across the room. Then blinked my eyes. Looked again. 

"What. The. Hell."