*deep breath* Hey guys, I just wanted to let you know that I am the sorriest sore person on the continent right now, because I made you guys wait like two months for this chapter. All I've got to say is that I haven't been feeling my best for the past few months, and fully neglected my writing schedule, among other things. I don't know if I'll have any time to write the next chapter for a while, but this one was half finished so I sat myself down and finished it for you guys, I truly hope you like it. (Maybe a review will get my motivation back, pretty please?)
"It's kind of ugly isn't it?" Delana said, craning her neck up to try and see the height of the Avengers Tower.
Steve sighed beside her, although the small smile tugging at his lips told her that he wasn't completely annoyed. She was prodding him, trying to see where his line could be drawn, what annoyed him and what didn't. Steve, of course, picked up on this straight away and remained calm and cool throughout a series of dry and poking comments as they all walked back.
"Believe it or not, Steve said almost the same thing. But I think he phrased it as 'that big ugly tower in New York?' and he said directly to Tony's face."
"Yeah!" Clint chimed in. "The look on Tony's face was priceless!"
Natasha snorted, shoving him in the side and rolling her eyes. "You weren't even there."
Clint twitched slightly, flinching away from the Black Widow's words, before he pouted. "Yeah, but I saw the tapes…"
"Wow! So you actually told him that his tower was ugly? That must've ruffled his feathers a little." Delana commented, peering at Steve with accusing eyes.
Steve merely smiled at her, trying to refrain from rolling his eyes at her dry comment. "Yes, it did, but we got over it and have been friends ever since."
"Even though he's fled to Asgard now?"
Steve gritted his teeth, feel his patience begin to thin. He didn't like it when people talked about the other Avengers like that. They were his friends, and the dozens of belittling reporters and annoyed News Channels did nothing but criticize the people that had saved their lives a hundred times over, for deserting the Earth when there was nothing they could do. It didn't sound as forceful as some of the other questions she'd asked, more curious than anything. "All of the Avengers live happily in Asgard with Thor and his family."
Natasha, sensing Steve's discomfort, leaned forward a little as they walked, catching Delana's attention. "Tell me Delana, if you had the choice to escape this world, would you?"
A little taken aback, Delana stumbled over her own feet. Of course she would have taken the offer, it's no wonder why the Avengers left so soon. She guessed she may have had a little resentment towards them for abandoning everybody they had once sworn to protect. But wait! There was somebody who had remained, and he was walking right beside her, scanning the darkening horizon for potential threats.
Steve turned and caught Delana's eye, giving her a wary smile before he looked over to Arielle and then over to Natasha and Clint. Very quickly, his face turned to one of confusion, then one of pure horror.
"Clint! Get inside, quickly! We don't want you to catch the disease, you might not survive!" Clint didn't look too fazed however, and only gave a lazy smile.
"Chill soldier, Tony and Bruce whipped up a shield that wards off the disease for almost 24-hours. Actually, it's the closest they've gotten to a cure."
An overwhelming sense of relief washed over Steve's face, making Delana smirk a little. It wasn't every day you get to see America's darling act as a mother hen over one of his team mates, and Delana found it quite amusing. In the posters, magazines, television interviews and what not, Captain America was a stony-faced hero who would gladly give his life for his country, always fought for freedom and justice, was generally quiet and let the others take over interviews, he didn't seem like the kind of person that really worried about people and found his life's joy in fighting and planning battle strategies.
As it was turning out, the media had only really scratched the surface of his persona. True, he was an excellent fighter and probably a skilled strategist, but all Delana could see right now was a big guy trying to calm himself down after receiving such a scare. And the way he constantly checked over everybody, checked for threats as they walked, and generally seemed to care a hell of a lot about two girls he only just met, well it made Delana a little less wary and a hell of a lot more curious.
Another minute of walking found the group of stragglers walking into the ruined lobby of the tower, with Steve letting everybody into the elevator before he squeezed himself in, muttering a number and sighing as the metal box took off. Arielle clutched tighter to her older sister's dirty pair of jeans, making Delana put a soothing arm around the anxious young red-head and pull her close to her, feeling a little edgy simply because her sister was edgy. She took a deep breath to calm herself, scowling a little when Natasha smirked at her from where she was wedged between Clint and Steve.
The elevator arrived at an open looking room with pristine-looking white couches, a television taller than both her and Arielle combined, and small touches of cream and light olive green that gave the room a settling feeling. Delana could see a door on the other side of the room and another to her left. In the midst of it all was a group of four. One burly blonde man, a dark-skinned kid a little younger looking than her, and two giggling young boys, most-likely brothers by their similar appearance and the way they sat leaning against each other, looking over one-another's shoulders occasionally.
The older boy from the duo was the one who noticed them first. He had unruly curly hair that was a deep chocolate brown-colour, and his most noticeable feature, was the startling streak of gold that was cut straight across his iris. Delana squinted, sighing in relief when she made out the small black dot in the very centre. The kid let out a shout of surprise, grabbing his brother by his arm and scurrying behind the burly blonde, who had shot to his feet when the kid had yelled.
"Steve, Natasha, Clint! How fare your battle? Was it worthy of your efforts? It must've been to be waged for such a lengthened period of time." He walked forward and clapped Steve on the shoulder, before glancing down and blinking in surprise.
Delana met his curious gaze with one of a fiery wariness. She wasn't going to let somebody so big intimidate her, even if he hadn't appeared threatening yet. Her gaze didn't waver from his, her stubborn gaze communicating a silent message. 'Make a move and I won't hesitate to fight back.'
After a few moments of seemingly the most intensely confusing staring contest either participant had ever engaged in, Thor broke the gaze by letting out a deep rumbling laugh. Delana blinked in confusion before backing up a little and hunching her back.
"She is skilled in spirit this one friend! Such a small thing, refused to back down when faced with a person twice her size! That is very admirable young maiden, but beware, it-"
'Who are you." Delana asked, trying her hardest to keep the growl out of her voice. This wasn't her domain, and obviously Steve knew this person, so she had to try to be nice. But it was hard when she felt her younger sister clutch her shirt as the man spoke, most-likely feeling the rumble of his voice as he spoke. To her sister, rumbles and vibrations meant explosions and danger, so if this guy didn't learn to lower his voice soon she would do her best to make sure he didn't speak at all.
"Hey!" A voice shouted from behind the mountain of a man, who looked a little taken aback at Delana's interruption of what was sure to be his version of a lecture.
"Don't be mean to Thor! He's nice and he tells good stories!"
"Yeah!" Another piped up, "Who do you think you are!"
Delana cringed, and hunched even lower, gently nudging her sister back into the elevator and slowly backing up. She didn't like feeling attacked like this, there were too many ways it could go wrong. She had just interrupted and had an intense stare-down with Thor, the Norse god of thunder and lightning. Now there were two other kids getting closer and closer and- oh god, was that one glowing?
"Boys, that's enough. Back away and give these girls some space please."
"Girls? I thought there was only one of them." The dark-skinned teenager muttered from his position on the white recliner. He hadn't moved an inch from when Delana had originally observed him being, besides turning his head in their direction.
Delana rolled her eyes and let her defence drop a little seeing that both of the boys had backed off, even Thor had taken a few steps back. "Good, thank-you boys, that was very civil of you." Both of the boys grinned and gazed up at Steve with open adoration. It was obvious that both of these kids idolised the guy.
"Now, time for introductions." Steve said as the pair of assassins walked over to one of the couches and flopped down onto the soft-looking cushions, with Clint draping his legs over Natasha's.
"Girls," Steve said, crouching down and facing Arielle as she emerged from her place behind her older sister. "This is Thor, Chad," the man listed, mouthing the words clearly and pointing to each person as her said their name, "Ryan and Chris." He finished.
Delana turned and signed each letter everybody's name, also including Natasha and Clint, so that her sister nodded in understanding. They were all pretty simply spelt, so Delana hoped that she got them all right.
Steve waited until she was finished to start speaking again. "And everybody, this is Delana, and her younger sister Arielle. They are guests in the tower, and we are going to treat them as such, okay?"
Everybody, including Thor and Clint, nodded their heads obediently. Natasha smiled warmly from her position on the couch, before undoing the laces of Clint's boots. Clint grunted and gave her a small kick, which caused her lean over and elbow his shin, causing the archer to let out an annoyed grunt of pain.
Steve eyed the quickly escalating fight, and turned towards the kids and Thor, who were either looking at one another or watching Clint and Natasha fight like deadly, highly trained two year olds. "Alright everybody, who's hungry?"
If he heard Delana's sigh of relief, he didn't acknowledge it.
"Are you sure you don't want to stick around for the movie?" Clint asked, chewing on a piece of dehydrated fruit.
"It's been a long couple of days, and Arielle's wobbling on her feet. I think that we'll just go to bed." Delana replied, trying to smother the yawn that bubbled up in her throat.
Steve nodded, having already acknowledged the dark circles under the each girl's eyes. If Clint hadn't of spoken first, he would've already suggested that they got some sleep. "I'll walk you to your room, all the rooms are on my floor anyway. You're lucky, you got the last one." Steve joked, trying to lighten the mood. Arielle, who had been reading his lips, smiled brightly before bringing her hand up to smother a yawn.
After a brief ride in the elevator and a short walk down the hallway, they arrived at the door of the last empty guestroom, and Steve cleared his throat. "So uh, this is my floor, so don't, uh, wander around or anything. I'll give you two the tour tomorrow, if you need anything, Jarvis can help, I've already introduced you to him right?" Steve asked, the exhaustion he was feeling making him mumble a little.
"Yes, you did. We'll come down for breakfast tomorrow." Delana replied.
"Uh, yes, okay. Well, sleep well then… oh! There are a few of Natasha's old clothes she put in there for you, Chad and I'll go get some proper one's for you both tomorrow."
Delana arched an eyebrow at him. "How are you going to do that? It's not like the local Department Store's open at the moment, is it?"
Steve's eyes lightened and he chuckled slightly. "We know a place. Thor and Clint are staying with Chris and Ryan, but Chad and Natasha are coming. After today's events, I really don't want Arielle out in the open with us, but you're quite welcome to join us if you like. This place, we've only been there once, but once you go, you won't really need to go again. There's things like shoes, clothes, pens, Chad even found a brand new phone. I got Jarvis to upload some games onto it for him…" Steve trailed off when he noticed Arielle sway slightly on her feet.
"Well, then, uh… sleep well and we'll see you in the morning." Delana nodded her head once and nudged Arielle into the room, quickly following and closing the door behind her. Steve sighed lightly, and began walking back to the media room. He paused, hearing Delana's door open once again.
"Hey, Steve." Came the low murmur from the doorway.
He turned around quickly and spotted Delana fidgeting in the doorway. "I… uh… we just want to say th… goodnight. Goodnight, Steve." The teen muttered before swiftly disappearing back into the room. He would take the sentiment as it was, and couldn't help the small smile from tugging at his lips as he stepped into the elevator.
"Well, I saved the best for last. It's one of my favourite parts of the tower, and everybody else seems to like it." Steve said, swinging open the door to reveal the quinjet landing pad.. Arielle gasped slightly and Delana smiled. She's always loved high places, could never get enough of them, in fact. Looking back at Steve for confirmation, Delana took her sister's hand and stepped out into the cool breeze the swept over the rooftop. Steve followed behind them at a respectful distance, scribbling something down in a used-looking leather-bound journal, his brow furrowed in concentration.
At first, Delana had been a little wary that he was writing some kind of report about them, and was in the middle of her plan to snatch the book away from his hands when she stopped herself. Steve had helped them escape the gang members, had given them food, and place to sleep and nothing but kindness, and had even mentioned – though very casually – that there was plenty of room if they wanted to stay a little longer. Delana had already talked to Arielle about this, and the redhead seemed to love the idea. Delana was still making up her mind.
Would this be the best option for them? Was there anywhere else they could go? If there was, they haven't found it yet. The only other place that would offer them three square meals a day and a place to sleep was the 'rehabilitation centres', as they so eloquently put it.
She shivered, remembering her time sitting in the drab classrooms, being told over and over again that she was a blemish on the face of society, that her powers would never do anyone any good, and the severe punishment that followed for anybody who dared try and use their newfound abilities.
She had only spent a few weeks there before learning to get a hold of her powers and getting herself out of that hellhole. She just wished that she could've taken everybody else with her. Nobody deserved that kind of brainwashing.
It was only by pure accident that she found Arielle. She had returned back to her old family home to find it ransacked and upturned, photos and dirt from the pot plants scattered all over the floor. Delana had gone back to her room to retrieve the small Swiss army knife that had always been hidden under her bed. That was when she heard the distraught sob from under the blankets of her bed, and discovered Arielle curled up under the covers. It was an emotional reunion, to say the least.
Eventually, the two girls sat down on the very edge and let their feet dangle freely as they leaned on the guardrail. Steve joined them, and for almost an hour, they all sat and admired the view. Or what was left of it anyway.
Steve sat and finished writing in his journal about everything that had happened since he last put pen to paper. He finished the entry with a detailed sketch of Delana standing in front of her sister, with Arielle poking her head slightly around to get a better view. He was pleased that he managed to capture the fire in the teenager's eyes and the sweet innocence in Arielle's.
The captain was just putting the final few touches on the drawing when Arielle leaned back a little, looking past Delana's back and at the journal Steve held in his hands. Her eyebrows furrowed as she tried to get a better view of what was on the paper.
With a light smile, Steve held it out for her to see, and grinned at her delighted gasp. She tugged on Delana's shirt, causing the older sibling to turn around, her eyebrows rising. Arielle pointed at the book Steve held in his hand, causing the soldier to duck is head in embarrassment. "I was wondering what you were cooking up in this little thing.." Delana mused, trailing off when she caught sight of the amazingly detailed sketch - of her and Arielle – that covered about half the page. She briefly skimmed over some of the writing, confirming that it wasn't – in fact – a report on them both, before returning her attention to the drawing.
"Wow," She breathed, "I didn't know Captain America was an artist in his spare time."
Steve ducked his head, though he couldn't keep the smile off of his lips. "I'm not an artist, I just like to keep a personal record of everything that goes on nowadays, and the sketches help me remember smaller details."
Delana let her eyebrows rise. "Oh yeah, and what 'small details' did you capture in this little sketch, huh?"
Steve didn't skip a beat. "It's your eyes. I tried to draw them to show how fierce you looked, how you looked like you were ready to take me head off if that was what you had to do. I also tried to capture the curiosity in Arielle, if you look closely." Steve spoke, making sure to speak a little slower and mouth the words clearly. Delana studied the drawing and nodded, letting Arielle look for another minute or so before handing it back. Steve nodded his head in thanks and tucked the small book back into his jacket, before rising to his feet.
"C'mon ladies, we've spent the whole day avoiding everybody and looking around the tower, I believe it's time for a little bit of socialisation." Steve teased, holding out his arm to Delana, who shook her head vigorously. He shrugged and offered it to Arielle instead, who giggled and took it gladly. They both laughed as he lifted his arm and swung the smaller girl slightly, making Delana smile. Was this really the battle-hardened super soldier she had read about in the magazines? No, she realized with a smirk as he looked back at her for confirmation before lifting the smaller girl up onto his shoulders, no it wasn't.
"So…" Delana rolled her eyes at the younger teen's obvious attempts to start a conversation. He had said 'so…' about three times now, and it was getting annoying. Steve had stayed true to his promise of meeting up with everyone else and had shover her in a corner with Chad to 'get to know each other." So far, neither of them had talked much, and Delana has promptly sat down with her back against the door and glowered at the back of a certain super soldier's head.
Chad finally caught onto her gaze and rolled his eyes a little, though not as exaggerated as Delana had done. "Geez Delana, if looks could kill..."
The girl in question simply raised a delicate eyebrow in her direction, causing Chad to grin a little. God, he reminded her of one of the incessantly annoying computer geeks that had sat behind in Chemistry. She had mostly ignored them, but that doesn't mean that they didn't get on her nerves a little. Whenever she lost her temper and twisted around in her seat to tell them to shut up, they'd be sitting there grinning and looking for all the world like they were thoroughly enjoying themselves.
After another few minutes of the cold shoulder, Chad ran a hand through his short cropped hair and sighed a little. He didn't want to leave it like this, and wanted to at least say something that wouldn't make her look at him like he was a complete idiot. "Listen, I know you may be a little mad at Steve for sticking you in a corner and making you socialise with a kid, but he means well. I mean, he kinda saved us all from an inevitable fate of either dying or being taken in by Hunters."
"Or being sold on the slave market." Delana intervened dryly.
"Yeah, that too."
There was a moment of awkward silence, and despite his fear that Delana might not want to really talk too much, he pressed on.
"Take me for example." Chad began, peaking at Delana to check if she was listening. Her head was tilted slightly, but that was all. Chad took it as a good sign.
"I was being chased by a hunter, had been running for a good twenty minutes. I was exhausted, and couldn't use my powers, so I just ran. I ended up in an alleyway, and was hiding behind a garbage container. I was so exhausted, by that point, all I could do was try to breathe and hide as best as I could."
He saw the girl's head tilt slightly and her eyes flick over to him before she turned them back.
"And then, out of nowhere, there this loud bang, and then a thump, and then everything was quiet. And all of a sudden, Steve was there, babbling about how he took the hunter out, but didn't actually kill him, and then offered me some food. I took it, and he began explaining what it was. So you know what I did?"
Delana summoned the interest to grunt in response to the question. "I freaked out, threw it all back in his face, and made like a hockey player and got the puck out of there."
The red-headed girl could barely hold back the snort of laughter that bubbled at her throat. She could imagine Steve sitting there, looking dazed and covered in some kind of Asgardian food. It was just too funny. Finally, she couldn't hold back her curiosity and tore her gaze away from the back of Steve head and over to Chad.
"So, how'd you end up here then?"
Chad gave a happy grin, and continued his story.
"I snuck into the tower via the 39th floor and made myself comfortable. Somebody," Chad accused, looking toward the roof, "ratted me out, and Steve found me out."
"Always a pleasure talking to you, Mr. Chad." Came the automatic response from Jarvis overhead, obviously having been listening into the conversation.
"So Steve gave me a meal and eventually a place to sleep. I've called it home ever since."
Delana remained silent, but her angered gaze softened towards Steve as she began to see him in a different light. This was a man who the media had portrayed as a selfless hero, a team leader and a total hard-ass (among many other things).
"Those two boys over there, Ryan and Chris, their parents were shot by hunters trying to protect them, Steve not only knocked the bastard that shot them out, he rescued the two boys and managed to escape the backup that was coming in fast. I like to think that Ryan and Chris see them as a wise old Grandpa, if not something close."
A quick glance over to where Chad was sitting told her all she needed to know about the teen's admiration for the man. It wasn't just admiration that this man had saved the world a million times over, no, it was admiration and a debt that could never be repaid, because Steve had saved their lives. And whether she knew it or not, it was something that Delana would never forget, because her prayers that she'd finally find a safe place for her and her sister to live in this world, had come true.
Except, instead of finding it herself, it found her, in the form of red, white and blue and a kind smile.
A/N: I truly hope you liked this chapter. As I said before, It might be a while before the next one is up, so please don't get your hopes up. But maybe a review or two will clear the cobwebs out of my head?