Chapter Thirteen : Family Reunion

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     Valencia stopped at a park bench to check her bag and see if she had any money left. She considered flagging down a taxi to her family's address but sighed when she realized that she didn't even have enough for a five minute trip. All she had in her bag was her extra clothes and cheap food and bottled water from the convenience store. Could she just walk there? Maybe she could sneak some cash out of the unsuspecting pedestrians' pockets and when she had enough, she could take a taxi the rest of the way.

     She was getting tired of hiding in the shadows but what else was she supposed to do? She was supposed to be safe at the Avengers Tower but that clearly wasn't going to work. Another option would be to finally face her family, that is if they didn't already catch up with the information about HYDRA that was leaked a year ago, which also included her transformation process and all her mission reports within two years.

     She had already taken out her hair tie a long time ago so her hair was out and it looked like black curtains around her face. She was still in her grey sweatpants and black long sleeve and she was more exposed than usual. She always had her hood on to hide her face but now all she had was her black pin straight hair. Even just sitting on a public bench with her backpack in her lap, she was right out in the open and exposed for the world to see. Maybe someone would recognize her but it was possible that nobody would. After all, she wore her mask on every single mission so if anyone did see her, they only saw her eyes. But, what if they knew her name and put all the pieces together? If someone did know who she was, then they would've called the cops already but a whole year had gone by and she hadn't been chased by one police officer.

     Valencia looked at the giant A on the side of the Avengers Tower that was just a few blocks away but still in her line of vision. All this time, she knew what she needed to do to survive, whether that was following HYDRA's orders or moving from one motel to another and pickpocketing people on the streets for money. But now, she didn't know what to do. Maybe she could just go back to the Tower where Rogers said she would be safe and earn their trust. Or she could go back to her family's house and hope they will take her back.

     She didn't know what she was going to do. She didn't even know who she was anymore. Three years ago, she was going to go to NYU for linguistics with a plan to apply for an internship at Stark Industries. And then she was a trained mercenary for HYDRA with mutant powers. Now she was just a nobody wandering the streets alone eating packets of beef jerky and microwaved ramen noodles for dinner with no place to call home. She didn't even know if Rogers really wanted to help her or if he just pitied her.

     "I thought you would've been halfway to Siberia by now," Rogers said while standing behind the bench she was sitting on.

     "I wish. Maybe then I wouldn't be causing you and your coworkers so much trouble," Valencia said without turning her head to look at him.

     "What trouble could you be causing us?" Rogers asked as he sat down next to her.

     He was dressed in regular clothing this time instead of his Captain America suit so he looked like any other civilian.

     "I tried to kill you, Romanoff and Wilson. And yeah, maybe it was my mission but I still did it," Valencia said while playing with the zipper on her bag.

     "Yeah, you still did it. Would you have done it if they didn't threaten your family?" Rogers asked.

     "If the consequence for saying no was simply immediate death, I would've told them to go straight to Hell in a heartbeat," Valencia said while turning her head to look at the blonde man. "I would've sooner chosen death than be their puppet."

     "But that wasn't the case. If you said no, they wouldn't have only killed you but instead they also would've killed everyone you loved. Your options were to do what they said or let them kill your family. Your hands were tied and you did what you could to protect your family," Rogers said.

     "The thing is that I destroyed over a dozen other families just to save mine. You sacrificed yourself to save all of New York. I gave into HYDRA and let them turn me into a monster," Valencia replied. "You saved people and all I've done is hurt people."

     "You were just as much a victim as those other people," the blonde said.

     "Do not call me a victim," Valencia said as she stood up and Rogers just looked at her. "I am not a victim."

     "You're not a monster either, Valencia," Rogers said as he stood up as well, easily towering over her.

     "Then what am I?"

     "A human being."

     Valencia swallowed the lump in her throat as she looked at the ground to avoid eye contact. After a moment of silence, she looked at him and his bright blue eyes looked right back at her.

     "Can I ask you for a favour?" she asked.

     "Anything," Rogers replied.

     "Do you think you can give me a ride to my parents' house?" Valencia asked.

     "On one condition," Rogers said and Valencia nodded. "You come back to the Tower and we'll teach you to use your skills and powers to help people."

     Valencia sighed as she bit the inside of her cheek. "Are you sure that's a good idea? Won't your friends try to push me down the stairs the first chance they get?" she asked.

     "Don't worry about that. Do we have a deal?" Rogers asked and Valencia nodded.

     "We have a deal," she said.

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     Valencia fidgeted with the zipper of her backpack as she sat in the passenger seat while Steve followed the directions to the address she gave him. She started rehearsing in her mind what she was going to say to them once she saw them. She was going to have to tell them that her death was staged so HYDRA could capture her. She was most likely going to leave out the details of being experimented on, beaten, tased and so much more. She may or may not have to admit that she killed for them but she hoped it never came up. Overall, it was most likely going to be her telling them what happened the day she was captured, how she no longer had to work for HYDRA anymore and how much she missed them over the years.

     "Are you sure you wanna do this now?" Steve asked as he made a left turn at the intersection.

     "I'm going to have to face them sooner or later. I can't keep hiding from them," Valencia said while looking around for her old house.

     "Do you want me to go with you or do you want me to wait in the car?"

     "It's probably better if you just wait here in the car."

     Steve nodded as he made a final turn and pulled up right in front of Valencia's old house where she lived before everything that happened. He turned off the engine and Valencia exhaled slowly through her nose as she took off her seat belt. She decided to leave her bag in the car as she got out and wiped her clammy hands on her sweats. She could feel her knees were knocking as she took shaky steps towards the door and stopped right on the doorstep. She took a deep breath as she lifted her hand and knocked on the wood. Did I knock too hard? Did I knock hard enough? She thought about knocking again for good measure but the door was already being opened.

     Her mother stood right there and she looked like she had just seen a ghost. She had clearly gotten a haircut since her hair now reached her shoulders instead of her ribs. It was obvious Valencia got her dark hair from her mother while her brothers inherited their dirty blonde hair from their father. Valencia had been told her whole life that she had always looked like the younger version of her mother, a spitting image in fact. And now, she was standing right in front of her and she didn't know what to say.

     "Hi, Mom," was all she could breathe out while her mother covered her mouth in awe.

     "Val?" she asked and Valencia nodded while her mother grabbed her arms and pulled her inside. Valencia looked around and sighed when she realized that nothing had changed in the last three years and then looked back at her mother. The older woman's shoulders jerked as she choked back a sob while rubbing her hands up and down Valencia's arms. "It's really you."

     "I missed you guys," Valencia said as she felt the tears forming in her eyes and her heart started to pound when she saw Daniel coming down the stairs.

     He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw his sister standing right there in front of him. He looked at his mother, silently asking if what he was seeing was true and all she could do was nod her head. "Holy shit!" he said as he took long steps over and pulled his sister into a tight embrace.

     Their mother didn't even have the heart to tell him to watch his language and the tears fell down her cheeks as she watched. Valencia herself was about to cry any moment and it was all starting to become overwhelming. She heard lighter and smaller footsteps coming down the stairs and she pulled away from her teenage brother. She saw Jaden standing by the bottom of the stairs with a smile on his face.

     "Valencia!" he said as he ran over to her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

     He had grown about two inches since she was gone but regardless, she was beyond happy to see him again and to have him remember and recognize her. But that was a discussion for another day.

     "I missed you guys so much," she said while running her fingers through her little brother's hair.

     "I missed you too," Jaden said.

     She looked around and waited for her father's footsteps to come downstairs to see what all the commotion was about but there was nothing. She turned to look at her mother confused.

     "Where's Dad?" she asked. Her mother's eyes were suddenly glued to the floor and Valencia feared for the worst. Her mother sighed as she looked back up at Valencia with tears in her eyes. Valencia shook her head as her own tears started to form. "No," she said as she shook her head.

     She looked at Daniel who could only look at the ground in sorrow and all Jaden could do was hold onto her waist more tightly.

     "I'm so sorry, Val," her mother said and all Valencia could do was shake her head in denial.

     "Please tell me this is someone's idea of a sick joke," she said and her voice cracked. Her mother only pulled her into a tight hug and the dam finally broke. Valencia couldn't stop the tears or the violent sobbing after figuring out the pieces. "What happened?"

     "It was a carjacking. I'm so sorry, baby," her mother said while holding back her own sobs and tears.

     And what made it all worse was that she didn't get to see him and now she never would. The last memory of him she had was the day she left for her interview. That might as well have been her goodbye to him forever but she never would've known that. While she still had her mother and her little brothers, her father was gone and she was never going to be able to tell him how much she missed him while she was away.

     "How long ago?" Valencia asked as she pulled away and wiped her eyes.

     Her mother hesitated but she answered the question. "Six months," she said.

     Valencia felt another wave as she thought about everything. Her father was being carjacked and where was she? Running and hiding. She could've been walking down the same street where it happened for all she could've known. She could've helped him but she didn't know and she wasn't there. Life was just so unfair. She had given up her body, mind and soul to save her family and yet, it still wasn't enough.