The White Feather- A story of infinite worlds

Agent White Ready To Roll

When Thomas woke up, he had a slight headache. But he was feeling much better and energetic after getting a long nap. He was ready to bust some heads, but there was a problem.

After Thomas suffered from the anxiety attack, the agency took it very seriously. Thomas was an old dog, and hence a tough one. If he fainted from anxiety, the issue was not to be overlooked. The other agents looked up to him and his badass tales of insane courage. Also, he was their best bet if the agency ever faced with a direct threat.

So he went through all the different types of tests while he was asleep. As it turned out, his body was functioning quite normally, so the problem was in the head only. But they couldn’t do anything about it until he woke up.

“How are you feeling, agent White?” The doctor said, looking at some test reports.

“I’m quite fine. But I still don’t know what happened to me back there? Did I have an heart attack?!” Thomas asked, looking around his room. His vision was still a little blurry.

“No no, you were struck by something way more dangerous in the long run.” The doctor said without putting any butter on the tough talk.

“And that is….?” Thomas asked and his pupils dilated.

“It was a panic attack. Usually the one like you suffered are announced by other minor ones in the past. But if I’m right, you haven’t gone through a panic attack at any point in your life. That’s what makes us worried.

There can be a number of reasons for this to happen, what’s yours?” The doctor asked.

“Uh…I didn’t get much sleep after I arrived here. In fact, I received no sleep at all. And I did some pretty horrific things back in the city. So you can figure what the mixture would do to the brain.” Thomas said and smiled brightly.

“Yes, it can be pretty difficult to adjust to loneliness under those circumstances. Well, you seem to be doing better now.” The doctor said and closed the file in his hands.

“Absolutely, I feel like I’m reborn. I think it was just the lack of sleep. I’m ready to conti……” Thomas was saying but he suddenly froze.

“Go on now, don’t mind me. I had nothing better to do in the grave, so I figured that you might like to see me again.” Veda said, leaning back on the table lying just outside the room.

Thomas could see him through the transparent glass, just like the time he first saw him.

“I…I….” Thomas was trying to speak but he just couldn’t find words. He was unable to look away from Veda, and his burnt face which had a smile pasted on it.

The doctor looked around to find out what Thomas was staring at, but after some time he figured it out.

“You’re facing hallucinations too, aren’t you?” He asked gravely.

“Ye….No…..I don’t know what I’m seeing anymore doctor.” Thomas said and hid his face between his palms.

“It’s alright, this is just a side effect of the tranquilizers. It will go away after some time, as soon as you're ready to step out again.” The doctor said, comforting Thomas.

“And how long would that be?” Thomas asked, not looking away from Veda. Veda was also looking at Thomas with patience, not saying anything.

“Just a few hours at max. There’s no rush anyways, you won’t have a mission for at least another five months.” The doctor said and went out to check on other patients. Mental diseases were pretty common among the agents and thankfully the doctors were expert at that stuff. But there was no time to rest. Every minute he wasted here would be days for Tony, and he didn’t have that much time. So Thomas got his s**t together, tried hard to ignore the dead people in front of his eyes, and walked towards his cabin.

The sleep inducers were still in effect, and Thomas was having a hard time walking around the corridor. Luckily, the agents who came back from recent missions were allowed to drink a permissible dose of alcohol. And hence the people who encountered Thomas just thought he was drunk. After all, everyone in the building knew what he had went through out there.

“Think this through, Thomas. If you go on this mission, you will be breaking protocol. And there’s no forgiveness for breaking protocols, no matter how loyal the intentions or how good the agent is.” Amanda said, helping Thomas put his stuff together.

“It’s for the safety of the world. If I don’t stop it soon, the plague of terrorism will not only spread in their world, it WILL eventually find its way back to this world and the agency. And when that happens, they will simply be too powerful for us to stop.

What can they do, I don’t fear death. For what it’s worth, I actually want to die. And I would die happily if I knew that it was for a good cause.” Thomas said, putting an end to the conversation once and for all.

“What if you f**k it up? Don’t you think the kids can handle it?” Amanda said, looking at him innocently.

Thomas stopped abruptly. She had a point after all. The kids had proved to be skilled and talented on the battlefield.

"I'll rather take the chance to die out there rather than sit here like a cripple an hope a group of rookies does the job for me." Thomas said and sneaked his way to the world transporter.