Chapter Twenty-Three
(apologies once again for bad action sequences)

"You deal with my father!" Delaney barked to Cristina. "Only I can take on my mother."

Being invisible didn't stop Sara Esquivel from having a brain. In such close proximity, there was no way Delaney couldn't sense Sara's presence. Though she didn't know the exact position of her mother's body, she could guess due to the position of her mind.

She could deal with that. Cristina could only deal with what she could see – and that was Robert.

"You got it!" Cristina ground out from between gritted teeth, and ran toward her father, guns equipped and firing.

Delaney willed herself to block out all other noise and distraction as she focused solely on her mother's mind. She let her mind guide her, not her vision – that would only distract her.

Though Delaney could sense the presence of her mother, she couldn't see her body, which put her at a disadvantage. She didn't know what weapons her mother held, and knew that the best thing to do would be to fight from a distance. She did not want to risk being knocked out. If that happened, all would lost, since Cristina couldn't see her.

Delaney hurled a knife in her mother's direction – which only missed. She heard Sara cackle in delight as she forced her daughter to continue retreating, with no ability to fight her hand-to-hand.

Delaney felt her mother approach at an alarming rate and ducked, though it wasn't enough. A hand grasped the collar of her shirt. Delaney cried out as her mother held her in a choke hold, and her access to air rapidly decreased.

"Oh, sweetheart," Sara crooned as Delaney struggled. "You really didn't think you were a match for us, did you?"

Those words, ironically, were the ones to make Delaney calm down. Delaney forced herself to calm down. Natasha and Clint would be disappointed in her. Escaping a choke hold was a basic of S.H.I.E.L.D. training. She knew she could do this – if anything, her mother had just signed her own death.

Delaney pretended to go slack, all the while searching for another knife from her belt. Her mother's breathing increased in anticipation, as though she could see the goal she had envisioned within reached.

Delaney felt her fingers close around the hilt of a knife.

"I learned a few tricks when I was free from you," she breathed, and before Sara could react she yelled, burying her knife in Sara's thigh. Sara screamed and Delaney kicked herself free, turning once again to bury her knife in her mother's body. The air flickered and soon Sara's ability to remain invisible disappeared and she was collapsing on all fours, blood blossoming from the wound in her stomach.

Cristina dumped Robert's body beside his wife's. Sara and Robert Esquivel trembled on the ground before their daughter. For the first time in all her years, Delaney's parents were terrified.

"You're our daughter," Robert gasped.

Delaney glared at them, as though they were nothing more than vermin. "You never treated me like one," she spat, acid flying from her words. She crouched down to their level, eyes ablaze. "You know what you saw when you looked at me? A weapon. Someone to be used. You didn't love me, you loved that I could be used for your personal gain. You brainwashed me, locked me away..." She spat at their feet. "I'm my own person now, and that's what terrifies you. Because I can't be controlled. Because I no longer belong to you. I belong to me. And I'm about to show you what I can do."

With a flash of silver, both her parents suddenly ceased to live.

They didn't utter another word. Their bodies collapsed to the floor as Delaney rose, calm, staring at the lifeless bodies of the people who had threatened her freedom for so many years, who had wanted to burn down the world and didn't care how they did it.

Without so much as blinking, Delaney turned to Cristina, who stood breathless on the sidelines.

Delaney smiled.

"Threat eliminated. And it's not even lunchtime."

+++

It almost scared Delaney that she felt no remorse over killing her parents.

When she walked away from their dead bodies, instead of feeling guilty, she felt an overwhelming rush of relief and liberation. She had never loved them, not really. They had used her for so long, brainwashed her, kept her isolated and alone and dependent on them. She had been bred, prepared for the destruction of worlds.

There was no love between herself and her parents. No matter what they said, she hadn't been their daughter. She had been their weapon. She had no remorse in walking away from people who had treated her so atrociously, so had taken away her freedom like a possession that could be owned.

Once and for all, she had ended any claim anyone else might have on her. She was no longer anyone's weapon.

She was Delaney Esquivel, and she was her own person. She was strong and she was a survivor, and she was not succumbing to the clutches of any person ever again. She walked away with her head held high and knowing exactly what she was worth, and knowing she had complete control of her own destiny.

She was Delaney Esquivel, and she was never looking back. There was only the future now, and her own decisions, and family and friends who treated her like their equal.

When she arrived back at the hotel, Evan burst the door open and hugged both Delaney and Cristina tightly.

"You did it!" he crowed. Delaney thought she was in more danger from dying from the pressure of Evan's arms around her lungs than she had ever been in her parent's lair. "Congratulations!"

Delaney smiled wearily. "Thanks, Evan," she said, and faked a yawn. "Excuse me, I'm rather tired... All the adrenaline, you know."

He stepped aside. "Of course."

Perhaps it was fortunate that Cristina was also tired, for Delaney's need to be alone didn't look like she needed to grieve. Still, she walked back to her room with her head held high.

She was Delaney Esquivel. No one would ever again control her power or limit her actions. Never again would she stomach it.

Delaney only wanted to be alone now because she had to contact Steve and tell them of her success, that she'd be travelling soon – so soon, she would be back with the Avengers, hugged by them all, her hair ruffled by Clint, and Steve would be there with his gentle smile and strong arms and she would be truly home once again.

Home wasn't four walls for Delaney – her home was within people. Home was with the Avengers. She'd be with them again soon.

Steve? She smiled as she spoke. You there? Mission successful. I'll be meeting you tomorrow.

His response was instantaneous.

Delaney! Thank goodness. We need you more than ever.

At once, the smile disappeared from Delaney's lips.

How come? Has the situation with Ultron worsened?

Slowly, with deep regret, Steve recounted everything that had occurred since they last talked: the Avenger's fight with Ultron and the enhanced – the Maximoff twins. The girl, Wanda, planting visions in everyone's head. Bruce going out of control in response, and he and Tony tearing up a thriving town in response.

The media, the people – the Avengers were currently in the spotlight, and not for the right reasons.

Oh, Steve. Delaney had sunk onto her bed as he spoke. She groaned, holding her head in her hands. That's bad. That's... That's really bad.

It was a disaster.

I know, Steve responded heavily. We're having to lay low.

I'll still be able to reach you, right?

Of course. We're waiting for you.

Where?

Clint's farmhouse.

Ah. Delaney smiled, thinking of two tiny figures running up to hug her waist, and Laura awaiting her with a warm smile and the best tea Delaney had ever tasted. Auntie Lane will once again be introduced.

She wouldn't be returning to the Avengers in ideal circumstances, but right then none of that mattered.

No matter the circumstance, she was going home.

And once she was reunited with her family, she could handle anything thrown her way.