Chapter 22:
Tony didn't ask any more about me or my title the rest of the limo ride to the hotel. To make them less nervous, I did give everyone a run down on the Dursley situation. I just left out the magic parts of the story. They seemed to take it in stride. Pepper actually gave me an approving look. We reached the five star hotel that had been booked for us a bit later. There weren't any SHIELD agents waiting for us, but I didn't think there would be for a few hours. SHIELD was deficient, but not that efficient. Everyone was still jet lagged so we headed to our rooms to crash. A small detail I noticed was that Pepper and Tony had separate rooms.
Even with never ending physical energy, I hadn't slept in over a week. I was mentally drained and that plane trip had pushed me over the edge. I conked out in my hotel room as soon as my head hit the pillow.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
I was awoken from my nap by some incessant pounding on my door. With a final yawn, I raised myself from the amazingly comfortable bed and went to answer it.
A familiar redheaded spy was standing on the other side of the door. She looked just as radiant as the last time I saw her. Standing next to her was another agent. One I could somewhat recognize as her usual partner Clint Barton. He didn't look exactly like his MCU counterpart. He was noticeably hardier and he had quite a few notable scars. This was a man who had been sent to war zones across the world with nothing but a bow and arrow and always came back victorious.
"Hello again Natalie whatever-you-made-up-last-name-was. Interesting seeing an agent of MI-5 in Monaco. Aren't you a little far from your jurisdiction?" I said to her with a smirk before I turned to Clint Barton AKA Hawkeye. "And greetings to you as well. I'm Layla of the Fallen."
He let out a small laugh. "Right now you look more like Layla of the Bedhead." He said jokingly. I reached my hands up to my hair and could feel various strands sticking up all over the place. I blushed slightly at my less than immaculate appearance before I invited them inside. I headed to the washroom to clean myself up.
A bit later, I exited the restroom. The two agents were sitting at a table looking perfectly content. I internally scoffed. While I was in the restroom, they had probably placed listening bugs all over the hotel room. I sauntered over to them and sat down at the table with them. Neither of them batted an eye, but with my enhanced vision I could see their muscles tense. They were both ready to spring up and attack me if I made a move.
"Relax you two, we're on the same side here." I said calmly and they did relax a little bit. I don't know why they appeared to be so tense in my presence?
[It was the 50 ninjas you killed…]
'Oh right…'
"Sorry," Clint said. "It's a force of habit when dealing with unknowns. Especially dangerous ones like you."
"As you probably suspected, I'm not actually MI-5. We are both with SHIELD. We, along with a few dozen other agents, have just arrived in Monaco in response to your tip off of an attack on the Grand Prix. Your information on the Hand turned out to be disturbingly correct, so we've chosen to believe you this time as well." Natasha explained. I nodded along with her explanation.
"Where did SHIELD even hear my title from? When I introduced myself to you it was only as Layla. I figured that you would think it was a fake name since I have to paper trail in the human world." I asked.
"Petunia Dursley told us all about you. She was terrified that you would return to finish off herself and her husband." Natasha said.
I scowled a bit at that. I thought I had made her scared enough not to blab but I guess I was wrong about that. "Did her husband at least turn himself in like I told him too?" I asked. If he didn't… I'd have to pay them another visit. I wouldn't want to be called a liar about not making good on my threats.
Natasha grimaced. "Both of them mysteriously vanished from the hospital. All the cameras in the facility shorted out. We suspect they were abducted." She explained.
There were two suspects I already had in mind after hearing that. Either they were taken by Voldemort or Dumbledore's order. I was leaning more towards the latter. Voldemort should still believe Heather to be dead, so there'd be no reason for him to go after her muggle family. I don't know why Dumbledore would take them either. Unless it was just to cover up Heather's abuse when the Aurors start to investigate her disappearance.
"It wasn't just the camera's though," Clint added. "All the power to the whole hospital went out. Even the back up generators. A few people on life support ended up passing away because of that." He seemed angry at that fact. "You wouldn't happen to have any suspects would you?" He asked me.
"I do, but they're two groups I would be hesitant to tangle with at the moment. I've set them aside to deal with later."
They both looked annoyed that I wasn't sharing more but eventually relented. We had more important things to focus on. That's when my meeting with the two spies truly took off. We started discussing the imminent attack of the race track. Natasha had a very keen mind as she pointed out areas that were most likely to be hit if we were facing trained professionals. These areas where the most casualties could occur would have SHIELD agents interlaced in the crowd ready to counter attack at a moments notice. Clint would be stationed in the upper stands on overwatch. I meanwhile, would try to stick as close to Tony as possible during the event to protect him.
…
Whoever showed up tomorrow, hopefully we'd be ready for them.
XXX
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