Fated Marks

“Berlin? What’s in Berlin?” Kol said.

“Delilah.” I said getting up and going towards the bride and groom’s table. “Hey Pepper, Daniel.”

“Hayley how are you?” Daniel asked.

“It’s good, Congrats again on the wedding. I’m sorry to do this but something came up and I have to go.” I said.

“Is everything okay?” Pepper said.

“Just something personal I have to take care of.” I said.

“Aw, Well if there’s anything you need please call.” Pepper said before hugging me.

“Thanks, Enjoy your honeymoon.” I said before going to meet up with Kol. We quickly headed over to the villa so I could grab my things.

“Hales.” Tony said trying to get my attention.

“Unzip please.” I said turning around.

“Hayley slow down.” Bruce said.

“Jet leaves as soon as we get there.” Kol said.

“Slow down.” Steve said.

“Can’t really slow down this was probably just a slip up, she can disappear any minute.” I said going into the bathroom to get my things.

“Then give us five minutes and we can be ready to go.” Tony said.

“No.” I said. “You guys can’t exactly keep a low profile.”

“Hayley you said it yourself she’s an assassin, she won’t think twice about shooting you.” Natasha said.

“Which is why I’m taking this.” Kol said taking out a gun.

“No you’re not.” I said.

“Hayley.” Kol said.

“Dude no guns.” I said as I grabbed a change of clothes and went back to change.

“Then what are you going to do? Talk her into staying put because I distinctly remember you mentioning she wasn’t particularly fond of you?” Kol said.

“Hayley this is insane.” Bruce said.

“I’m not going to talk to her. All I need is a photo and the exact place she’s living at. I send the intel and by this time next week we’ll all be having a beer and wings at MacLaren’s like this never happened.” I said.

“You don’t seriously believe that?” Tony said.

“It’s one of the few things keeping me going at the moment.” I said coming out wearing olive shorts and a flowy white top with a denim jacket. “I can do this. Just give me a chance.”

“This is a really bad idea.” Steve said.

“It’s a really stupid idea.” Natasha said.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence guys.” I said zipping up my bag.

“Hayley you got kidnapped and tortured and you want us to just let you go like nothing ever happened?” Clint said.

“No just…” I sighed. “Just trust me, I’ve got this…”

“Don’t finish that sentence.” Tony cut me off. “Because you don’t have this handled you have gone so far off the rails Hales.”

“I don’t have time for this and you can yell all you want at me after this is all over until then we’re on pause.” I said grabbing my things and heading out the door.

“The quinjet’s faster.” Natasha said making Kol and I stop.

“Come again?” Kol said.

“We can get you there faster.” Natasha said.

“How fast?” Kol said.

“Half the time of a jet, less if we really step on it.” Tony said.

“Hayley?” Kol asked. “We are on the clock.”

Oh she was good. Nat was giving me what I wanted but at the same time worming herself in. Damn super spy skills.

“Let’s go then.” I said. That’s all they needed before they moved. I spent the entire car ride and plane trip hacking into the surveillance feed that had spotted her.

“We’re almost there.” Tony said giving me a concerned look.

“Okay.” I said continuing to type away on my laptop.

“Are those building plans?” Bruce asked.

“Yeah, needed to see how many exits there are.” I said.

“How did you get those plans?” Steve asked.

“Berlin City Planning Department.” I answered. “Front and an emergency exit via the stairwell in the back. The building’s been abandoned since… oh that makes sense.”

“What makes sense?” Tony said.

“It’s one of the Romani’s former safe houses or where they kept anyone they held for ransom.” Kol said.

“Cash stores along with fake id’s, weapons maybe.” I said.

“Weapons?” Steve said.

“Doubt they’re still there. Who took over the gun trade over here?” I asked Kol.

“Russians, mostly just pass them through here not store them.” Kol answered.

“Of course they would.” I said looking through some of the blue prints. “Huh.”

“What now?” Tony said.

“Warehouse got remodeled into an apartment complex.” I said.

“How many units?” Kol asked.

“Fifteen, five per floor.” I said.

“You’re going to have to check each one.” Natasha said.

“No, I know exactly which one she’s going for.” I said pulling out the specs. “One bed one bath unit. Closest to the back stairwell. End of the hall so you’d never have to see any neighbors if you didn’t want to perfect for sneaking in and out for drop offs or pick ups. Lucky thirteen.”

“Doorman?” Kol asked.

“Not that type of building. Freight elevator, Edison lamps, hard wood flooring, steampunk theme. The perfect hipster paradise.” I said.

“Sounds nice.” Tony said.

“Doesn’t beat the views from the tower, that’s home.” I said not looking up as I hacked into the live feeds. “She hasn’t left,”

“She’s either staying there or waiting for something.” Steve said.

“Or someone.” Natasha said looking at me.

“We’re going with you.” Tony said.

“No you’re not.” I said. “Low profile.”

“It’s an easy job. Just watch. Look for an opening to plant a tracker and get out.” Kol said.

“Rooftop across the street has the perfect view.” I said.

“And it’s a bar.” Kol said with a smile.

“Wrong roof and we’re not here to party.” I said as we landed. “I guess I’ll see you all next time.”

“Hayley.” Steve said.

“Meet you at MacLaren’s.” I said as I dragged Kol out.

“Hayley.” They all said at the same time.

“Bye.” I called out over my shoulder.

Third Person’s POV-

“What now?” Bruce asked.

“Not yet.” Steve said.

They watched as Hayley disappeared from their line of sight before Tony pressed a button on his phone and Natasha started opening up her weapons locker.

“Can you get all the files Hayley had open?” Steve asked.

“Already ahead of you Spangles. Buildings in the center of the city. Burrough of Alexanderplatz.” Tony said. “And in case we get lost I’m tracking Hayley’s phone.”

“I put a tracker on her just in case.” Clint said.

“Let’s move.” Steve said.

Hayley’s POV-

We were in a taxi heading towards the bar after we had dropped off our things in the storage place at the airport. The car ride was quiet but I didn’t miss the looks Kol kept giving me.

“Whatever you want to say, say it.” I said.

“Have you ever stopped to think what Hadrian is going to do once he finally gets Delilah’s location?” Kol asked.

“Never got that far.” I said. “Hadrian is a sociopath but if there’s one person he ever truly loved besides my mom, it’s Delilah.”

“You think he just wants her back?” Kol said incredulously.

“I don’t ever think I’ll understand how his brain works,” I said thinking back to the goodbye message Delilah left him. “But I do know that she didn’t leave on the best of terms and she was afraid. I also know that if he didn’t want her back he wouldn’t have let me live. What he does once he does get her back… Let’s just focus on finding her.”

“We could have used the back up.” Kol said.

“The less people involved the better.” I said.

We got out a block before and started scouting the area. People were out clubbing or eating. Must be nice to be normal.

“That the building?” Kol said looking across the street.

“That’s the one. And the corner apartment is Lucky Thirteen.” I said.

“Lucky Thirteen?” Kol said.

“His birthday is July thirteenth, Her’s is December thirteenth, and they met August thirteenth. It’s their thing.” I said.

“You’re birthday’s on the thirteenth.” Kol said.

“Nothing good ever happens to me on that day. Hadrian’s Christmas in April." I said sarcastically.

“Well maybe after all this is over you can break the string of bad luck and actually celebrate it.” Kol said.

“Maybe.” I said as we started making our way up the stairs. We walked down the hall and stopped at the door with the number thirteen on it. “This is it.”

“I still think we should just shoot first ask questions later.” Kol said.

“She’s an assassin, if you had brought that gun she’d probably just take it out of your hands and shoot us with it.” I said. “You want to…” I said looking down at the doorknob.

“First check if it’s unlocked.” Kol said putting his hand on the doorknob and slowly opening the door.

Why the hell would anyone leave their door unlocked especially when you’re on the run?

“Wait.” I said stopping the door.

“What?” Kol said.

“It’s too easy.” I said taking out my phone and peeking the camera to look inside. Sure enough the place was empty. I moved the phone down and saw something. “Slowly.” I said opening the door.

The door creaked open and we slowly walked in. Kol took the lead and made his way down the hallway into the living room. I saw the light reflect on some sort of string and I grabbed Kol before he stepped on it.

“What?!” He said getting annoyed. I pointed down and he saw it. “Tripwire, this place is rigged.”

I looked over and saw a gun pointed toward the exact spot he would have been in.

“She did always have a thing for booby traps.” I said. We slowly stepped over it and looked around.

“Uh hales?” Kol said tapping on my shoulder.

“She was waiting for us.” I said looking at what had him so freaked out.

Scribbled on the wall in what looked to be the blood of the dead cat on the floor was a message.

Stop Looking for me Chauncey.

“Shit.” I said. She knows how much I hate my middle name. She used to call me that as a taunt. “She knows we’re looking for her.”

Kol walked over to the living room and saw a laptop with a live feed of all the traffic feed outside the building. I walked into the back room and it was pitch black, when I turned on the light I wished I had left it off. There was blood splattered everywhere, on the walls, carpets, and bedspreads.

“Hayley what… oh shit.” Kol said walking in.

“Don’t touch anything.” I said.

“You need to see this… look at his face.” Kol said.

“It’s a dead body that’s all I see right now.” I said.

“You may recognize him.” Kol said.

I swallowed a breath before taking a step forward. “That’s Javi Roman.”

“Was, I thought Hadrian killed everyone.” Kol said.

“So did I, Then again some of those bodies were so mangled and torn apart they were hard to identify.” I said.

“Why would Delilah kill her own Uncle?” Kol asked.

“That’s not our problem finding her is.” I said.

“We need to move, it’s only a matter of time before he starts stinking up the place.” Kol said.

I ran into the bathroom and grabbed a bottle of bleach and towels.

“Wipe our prints and spray this around. I’m going to have a look at the laptop.” I said walking out and sitting down in the living room. I saw the reflection of the message painted on the wall and felt the chills run down my spine.

Now was not the time to freak out, find Delilah, turn her over to Hadrian and go back home.

I started looking through her history and saw that she was looking up the history of the building. There was a reason the Romani used this building specifically to store all their weapons. During the cold war there was a tunnel in basement that led to the sewers. It was used to smuggle supplies in from West Berlin and by the Romani to move drugs and guns around without being spotted.

“Bathroom and room are clean, we need to move.” Kol said and the computer screen turned black.

“Hey Cal.” I voice played out.

“Delilah.” I said.

“How is she doing this?” Kol said.

“Don’t know.” I said tapping away and trying to track her down.

“I thought you were smart enough to pick your own battles.” She said. “But then again the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree now does it? I don’t know why you’ve been looking for me and I don’t care.”

With that the screen lit up and there was a live feed of the basement tunnel.

“I’m downstairs, catch me if you can.” She said.

“Move.” Kol said and we ran down stairs. My leg was going to kill me after all this running. Maybe I could have Doctor Cho fix it when I get back to New York.

As we walked into the basement I noticed that the ground was actual dirt not concrete. That’s weird. We saw the entrance to the tunnel and standing in front of it was the wicked blonde bitch Hadrian called a wife.

“Delilah stop, we just want to talk.” I said but she didn’t move.

“Stop looking for me Chauncey.” Delilah said before starting to laugh. Something was wrong.

“Alright you bitch, I’m done playing nice.” Kol said taking his gun and shooting her. The only problem was she didn’t stop laughing. There wasn’t any blood or wincing.

“You really thought I’d stick around for you dumb brat.” She said.

“Where are you?” I asked.

“Not in Germany anymore and before you even think about trying to come after me I’d look down if I were you.” She said.

Kol and I looked down and saw that we were standing on circular plates.

“Both of you idiots are standing on active land mines.” She said. “Any shifts in pressure on those plates and you’re both blown to bits. You should have stayed under whatever rock you were hiding under Cal. Enjoy you’re last hours of life or however long it takes for one of you to start cramping up and move.”

With that the voice clicked off.

“Please tell me she’s bluffing.” Kol said.

“That’s not a bluff I’d call. She’s insane enough to actually do something like this.” I said.

“Any chance you can work some computer magic and deactivate these?” Kol said.

“Don’t think they work like that and if they have a trigger it’s not here.” I said.

“So this is it? This is how it ends.” Kol said.

“No it’s not.” I said taking my phone out.

“Saying goodbye?” Kol said.

“SH.” I said before dialing Tony. He picked up right away.

“Changed your mind?” Tony said.

“Not really.” I said.

“Hayley!” Kol shouted.

“Everything okay over there?” Tony asked.

“Uh, just have a question. Did you ever design any landmines when you were in the weapons business?” I asked.

“Uh no they were banned by the UN not to mention they were too unstable for transport.” Tony said sounding confused.

“But you do know how to say… hypothetically deactivate one?” I asked.

“If I scan it and get the schematics sure. Wait why are you asking?” Tony said.

“Cause I may be currently standing on an active one.” I said.

“What!!!!” Tony yelled.

“We bother are!!!” Kol yelled.

“Not helping.” I said giving Kol a look to shut it.

“We need to move fast.” Tony yelled. “Where are you?”

“In the basement of the apartment building we were looking at earlier.” I answered.

“Be there in two minutes don’t move.” Tony said.

“Not like I have much of a choice.” I said before he hung up. “Don’t say it.”

“We’re currently standing on an active landmine, I’ve earned the right to say I fucking told you so.” Kol said.

“Uh.” I groaned.

“Some back up is never a bad idea.” Kol said.

“You know why they couldn’t come.” I said giving him a look to shut it as I heard footsteps coming closer.

“Hayley!” I heard them shout.

“Hold on we’re coming to you.” Steve said.

“No!” Tony and I said at the same time.

“The mines could be scattered around the entire basement. Don’t get any closer.” I said.

“I’ll fly over and start scanning.” Tony said. “We’re having a really serious talk when we get back to the tower.”

“I can’t go back to New York.” I said.

“I wasn’t asking you’re going end of discussion.” Tony said.

“I don’t have Delilah, she knew we were coming.” I said.

“You don’t say.” Tony said sarcastically. “Okay we need to sever the connection to the detonator which is directly under your foot.”

“Any shift in pressure and it’ll go off.” I said.

“Not if I lock the plate to stay exactly the way it is.” Tony said.

“Magnetize it?” I asked.

“Need to get the attraction and repulsion rate right or else…” Tony started.

“Boom.” I said. “Do it.”

“I’m going to do die and I don’t even have a drink in my hand.” Kol said.

“You’re not going to die.” I said.

“If we get out of here I’m going to beg Davina to take me back.” Kol said.

“You also may want to cut back on the booze, that’ll help your case.” I said. “Got it?” I asked Tony.

“I’m going in. Doing both at once.” Tony said.

“You got this.” I said reassuring him and myself.

“Three, two…” then there was a click. “Done.”

“That’s it?” Kol said.

“It’s still active just not exploding.” Tony said.

“I’m getting the hell out of here.” Kol said taking two steps toward the back.

“Kol don’t!” I said as he stepped on and off a plate. “What the hell?”

“Is it a dud?” Steve asked.

“Jarvis?” Tony asked.

“All of the mines seem to have been locked into the same position and the detonator removed.” Jarvis said.

“So we were never in real trouble?” Kol said.

“Apparently not.” Tony said.

It was quiet until Kol and I started laughing.

“Uh Hales?” Clint said concerned.

“This is serious you shouldn’t be laughing.” Steve said.

“Steve it’s a nervous response to the adrenaline wearing off.” Bruce said. “they can’t control it.”

“Okay Hales up you go.” Tony said picking me up. “Bomb squads on their way. We should clear out.”

“We still need to call in the dead body upstairs.” Kol said in between laughter.

“Dead Body?” Natasha said?

“And the bloody message. You did wipe everything right?” I said as my laughter started dying down and I started getting really tired.

“Wiped or bleached.” Kol said rubbing his face. “You should probably warn them about the shotgun booby trap.”

I started laughing again. “How the fuck are we not dead right now?”

“I don’t know. I’m so tired.” Kol said.

“Okay we need to get these two out of here.” Bruce said going into doctor mode.

“Yeah.” Tony said.

“I’m getting sleepy.” I said as my eyelids started feeling heavy.

“Go to sleep hales.” Tony said as he carried me out.

“Tony?” I said.

“Yeah?” He answered.

“I don’t have this handled.” I said and before he could answer I knocked out.