Nightingale | An Avengers Tale

Chapter 9 ~ special delivery

I glanced around my room one final time before I headed out. While years had passed, everything looked the same. Flossie still sat in the corner guarding the room from any possible intruders. As I walked out of the room, I ran my fingers over the hole in the wall that was next to the dart board. I smiled as I remembered missing the target completely. Unlike most of my safe houses, this place had memories, and because of that it was the closest thing to a home I had.

I took a deep breath and bounded down the stairs; I was finally ready to face the two boys and head out into whatever the future may hold. The plan was simple. While I was annoyed that both boys had decided to watch Star Wars last night, it had actually proven to be helpful in the planning process. Tonight just happened to be the city's annual Star Wars Con. It was being held in the convention center at the Plaza Hotel, which conveniently had a helicopter landing pad on its roof.

Jack and Peter were being sent out as Luke Skywalker and the Darth Vader. They would blend in perfectly with all the other Star Wars nerds in the city until it was time for them to catch their ride from the rooftop. They were thrilled with both the plan and their costumes. After hearing "Luke, I am your father" way too many times, I had finally resorted to threatening them both with hooking up the comms in their suits to repeatedly playing quotes by Jar Jar. After that, both boys suddenly became extremely helpful.

As for me, I was tasked with delivering the message to Peter's aunt on where the Avengers could pick up the boys. So while the boys were cosplaying tonight, I would be delivering a pizza. It sounded like I got the worst end of the deal, but to be honest I was thrilled. I needed time to think over everything that had happened over the last couple of days, and this would present the perfect opportunity.

Ever since my melt down last night, Peter had been acting almost overprotective, and it was seriously messing with me. Most people kept their distance from me. The two people I was close with had quickly learned to give me my space.

Lissie knew things about me that most people didn't, but she never pried me with questions about my past. Over the years, I had slowly divulged a few things about myself. But even after knowing her for five years, she probably knew as much about my past as Peter did.

Jack and I were almost like siblings. Whenever we were together, we constantly argued, and most people thought we hated each other. We also had an almost a weird form of mutual respect for one another due to our similar backgrounds. But again, neither one of us volunteered or questioned the other's past. We both equally understood and respected each other's goal on trying to forget the past.

But for some reason, Peter didn't get that. He wanted to know about my past, and no amount of sarcasm seemed to deter him. But unlike Lissie and Jack, I inwardly knew that if Peter ever learned everything about me, he would never view me the same way again. Even though I hadn't known him for very long, I didn't want that to happen. It was nice having someone who thought of me as just a normal teenage girl.

"You sure you'll be ok?" Peter's worried voice broke through my anxious thoughts. I glanced over at him to see him dressed as the Darth Vader minus the mask. His brow furrowed as he intensely stared at me.

"Yeah. I'll be fine." I replied with a smile. I glanced down at my ensemble. Black jeggings. Red polo. Black zip up hoodie. And a red cap that said New York Pizza. I looked like a typical pizza delivery girl.

Peter slowly nodded. "You have everything?"

"Yeah." I nodded in response as I pulled by backpack closer to myself. "If I have any problems I'll call you on the burner." Hopefully that would help him calm down. I had distributed burner phones to both Jack and Peter, while I had kept one for myself. If anything went off tonight, we could easily communicate with each other without worry of being tracked.