Chapter Twenty
Delaney chewed on her bottom lip as she read through the numerous reports she, Nat, and Clint had drawn up over the past few weeks of spying. Guard movements. Time changes. Entrances. Cameras. People who went in and out.
People who went in, and didn't come back out.
Delaney exhaled heavily and ran a hand through her hair. Her parents had a skilled defence in place – they'd noticed that as soon as they arrived.
Staying undercover wasn't easy, but with Natasha and Clint, the best in the business, by her side, they managed. It helped that Natasha had brought several wigs and other means of disguise with them.
The hideout of her parents was in the middle of a thriving city. And, she'd learned, it was the perfect guise. Their guards dressed like ordinary people and wandered around the sidewalks, handing out brochures or eating in coffee shops. At night, they posed as homeless people, pretending to sleep in sleeping bags. It was such a clever ruse.
They'd learned most of what they needed to know. And now, it was all a matter of putting it all together, and getting Evan to work his technological magic on the matter.
The door clicked. Delaney glanced up to see it shouldered open to reveal Natasha.
The redhead leaned against the doorframe, arms folded over her chest. "Why are you so serious?"
Delaney didn't grace the question with an answer. Instead, she shot her best friend a withering look.
Natasha responded with a roll of her eyes. She stalked over and perched herself on the corner of Delaney's bed. Delaney flicked her eyes up as Natasha patted her on the leg. "C'mon, Lane, it's your last night with us," she implored, sending Delaney a pointed look. "One night off the job isn't going to jeopardise the operation."
"Don't jinx it, Nat," Delaney mumbled, rubbing her eyes. She was too proud right then to admit that the words were blurring together on the page. She flicked her hair behind her head and smiled. "But I think you're right." She threw the notes on to the bed. "We basically have everything we need to know, ready to commence operation soon after Evan and Cristina arrive."
Natasha winked. "That's the spirit. Clint's already making food."
Delaney's spirits soared at the news, and she at once leaped off the bed. "Definitely a cause to celebrate, then," she chirped. Clint's cooking was always a treat. "Is it pasta?"
"What else?"
Delaney beamed. "Perfect."
If Mexican and Indian was her favourite food, then pasta came after. Especially when spices were added, and it was a vegetarian dish to boot. And – she took a deep inhalation of the air and the scents on it – she grinned.
Clint definitely knew her, inside out. Her favourite pasta dish was being cooked tonight. Her mouth salivated in anticipation of the food.
Sure enough, when they rounded the corner, Clint was piling steaming pasta onto three plates. He grinned. "Dinner is served."
"Clint, you wonderful man," Delaney sang. She didn't even wait to sit down before she inhaled a part of the dish, moaning as the numerous spices hit her tastebuds. And not just moderately spiced, but strong, just the way she liked it.
Clint laughed. Chewing, her mouth full of food, Delaney gravitated toward the table and was soon joined by the other two.
"This is delicious," Delaney said after a few more mouthfuls. She pointed her fork at Clint. "Worth having you by our side just for this."
Clint snorted. "Good to know I'm appreciated."
They finished the rest of the dinner in comfortable silence – mainly because Delaney was too focused on devouring Clint's cooking to focus on any conversation.
After their plates were clean and stacked, ready to be washed at some later point in time, they migrated to sitting area of their cramped room and, gazing at them both, Delaney realised just how incredibly lucky she was to have two such incredible people in her life – people she could trust without thinking.
"Thanks so much for always having my back, guys," Delaney breathed, smiling. "I wouldn't have gotten through this without you."
"Please," Natasha sighed. She leaned back on the couch and crossed her legs over each other. Her hair swung behind her head in a red curtain, almost theatrically revealing her chest. Delaney sometimes envied her friend's confidence in her own body. She wished she could be as comfortable in her own skin. "You would've done just fine without us."
"I would've died of boredom without someone to make fun of on those watches," Delaney retorted sweetly, as sweet and mischievous as a fairy.
Clint rolled his eyes. "At least we're useful for something, right Nat?"
"Right," Nat drawled, and they all laughed.
Nothing spectacular marked the final night Delaney had with her friends, but that didn't make it any less enjoyable. If anything, it was exactly perfect: nothing outlandish, but simple, the way she liked it. The two most important people by her side, all talk of her parents dissipating into thin air, and instead replaced with light teasing and cushions being thrown across the room at particular comments.
The only thing that could have possibly made the night any better, would have been if Steve Rogers had been with them, too.
+++
Natasha and Clint left in the morning. Delaney forced herself out of bed at some ridiculous time in the morning to say goodbye to them, both of them promising to kick H.Y.D.R.A. butt on her behalf. When they left, Delaney collapsed in her bed and slept for another few hours before Evan and Cristina arrived.
Some people asked her why she still trusted the two after S.H.I.E.L.D. had gone down, and they had no way of knowing who had been loyal and who was a snake.
Delaney had no concrete reason, other than that they had been by her side through so many things, and she trusted them with every fiber of her being.
Apart from Natasha and Clint, they were the two people in S.H.I.E.L.D. she had known best. They'd trained together, willingly let Delaney touch their minds, and had been by her side through numerous terrible missions. Delaney had saved Evan from being held hostage by controlling the opponent's minds. Cristina had taken a bullet for her once. Evan didn't join them on the field, but was always nearby with his technologically expert mind at the ready, and had gotten them through numerous sticky situations. When Clint and Natasha were on missions, they were the people Delaney trained with.
They had a bond that ran deep through trust and life-and-death situations. And sometimes that counted for more than logical reasoning and evidence.
So when Delaney arrived at the airport, she was more than ready to meet her friends. And when she saw Cristina's dark hair and Evan's thick-rimmed glasses, she couldn't stop the grin that spread across her eyes.
"Cris, Ev!" she cried, waving frantically, before she ran up to meet them.
Cristina was the first to see her, her almost-black eyes glowing. "Lane!" she called back. She nudged Evan in the side and dragged him forward toward her.
Delaney embraced Cristina first, then passed on to Evan. "How are you, Hypnosis?" he asked, bright and playful as always.
"Just fine." She stepped back and frowned, eying the bulging bags he carried with him, and the computer he carried under his arm. "Did you carry your entire computer station with you?"
Evan smiled sheepishly and readjusted his glasses. "Possibly."
"As well as his additional laptop," Cristina added, rolling her eyes. "And recording camera. And his iPad and iPhone and about every piece of technology that exists."
Delaney pressed her lips tightly together so she wouldn't burst out laughing. "Because that doesn't look at all suspicious," she said drily.
"It doesn't," Evan responded pointedly. He gestured to his getup: messy hair. Thick glasses. Old jeans and a faded shirt, with a video game logo printed on. "Because I look like a geek. Pretty good disguise, huh?"
"Don't stereotype," Delaney chided, though she was impressed. Evan was not a 'geek' per say – this was a clever disguise, to allow him to carry so much technological equipment without causing people to look twice. "And you're not a geek," she added fondly.
Cristina raised her eyebrow. "Didn't you say you had to debrief us?"
If Cristina was good for one thing, it was keeping them all on course. Delaney nodded hurriedly. "Yeah," she said, glancing around them. "Come on. I've got coffee at my apartment – tea in your case," she said, nodding at Cristina. "I'll let you know everything then."
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sorry for the mega long delay, guys! i just finished my first week of final exams so i've been buried in study - but soon, i should be free to keep updating!