Calm Wanderer
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(MNIBP)Chapter 30 - Finally arriving at the safe house
🕑 Added 2023-12-18 19:58:42 +0000 UTCSouth Brooklyn, NYC, USA.
Ben's P.O.V.
Those words brought out a warm feeling from the depths of his heart. “Sure.” He said while basking in the presence of his closest people for a few moments before they were interrupted by the others' voices. The group chatted a bit before they all embarked in the three vans, with the Parkers and Agent 28 getting into one of the bulletproof vehicles with 28 driving.
Natalia, agent 25, and the new additions to Ben's team were in the other, with 25 driving, and Clint was alone in the Moving truck since Ben was not able to drive due to his arm's injuries. They also kept the previous configuration of having Ben's car in the middle, the Moving truck behind and the last van in front.
Once everyone was ready, the silver-eyed man heard the voice of Natalia coming from his earpiece. [”Widow here. The mission is a go.”] [”Copy that, Ma'am.”] The two numbered agents replied before the three vehicles started moving toward their destination. Speaking of which, Ben still did not know their exact destination.
“Agent 28?” Ben questioned from the seat stuck to the right back door. “Yes, Sir?” The other man asked while still keeping his eyes on the road. “Agent Romanov did not mention it, but what's our exact destination?” The charming brunette lying in his embrace also looked interested in the answer to his question.
Chuckling, the black-skinned agent who seemed to be in his late 20's, or early 30's, responded. “It's not a secret, Sir. Well, not for you guys at least. Our destination is the Highlands, New Jersey. Our ETA, if everything goes well, is one hour.” “Isn't this place right by the sea?” Nodding his head, the amiable agent retorted.
“The safe house is located at the end of Sandy Hook Bay. I haven't seen the place yet, so I can't really give you more details about it.” “That sounds nice. I was half expecting to be sent to the middle of nowhere, but instead, we get to live by the beach.” Chuckling at her cheerful realization, Ben replied.
“I was expecting the same thing, to be honest.” He then paused for a second before adding. “But we might not get to stay there for too long depending on the time it takes them to build the permanent safe house.” Nodding her head, May responded while moving her body a bit in his arms. “You're right. But that doesn't mean we can't enjoy it, don't you think?” He let out a grunt of approval, before falling silent.
The rest of the journey went very smoothly. Even the traffic was lessening as they closed on their destination as if the universe felt that the previous events were enough actions for that day. Ben spent the whole ride enjoying having the warm body of his wife stuck on his, with the top of her head reaching just below his chin.
The two did not share any more words but instead communicated through their bond by sending and feeling each other's emotions. At one point, Ben even dozed off briefly and only woke up when they were about to reach their destination, The Highlands. “Honey, we're almost there.” May's soft voice, coupled with her dainty hand tapping gently on his arm woke him up from his short nap.
“I'm awake.” “Did you sleep well?” She asked with concern. “I did. I think I pushed myself a bit too much out there.” He responded in a sleepy tone. Letting out a sigh of helplessness, the brunette retorted. “I know you won't listen, but you really need to pace yourself. You're not a God, my dear husband.”
Tightening his hug slightly, he stated. “I know. I'll... I'll try to do that.” The weak promise did not seem to have alleviated her worries, but she just let it go, probably because she knew she would not get anything better from him. After this short conversation, Ben started examining the scenery around them.
Unlike the economic center vibe with its high-rise buildings of Manhattan and the normal city vibe with its mid-rise buildings of Brooklyn, The Highlands had more of a feel of a residential area with its numerous houses and condominiums. For people like Ben who preferred the town's experience over the city, it felt pretty great. At least, from what he could see so far.
Less than two minutes later, the convoy drove to a large two-story beach house. Once the van in the lead arrived at the gate, it automatically opened, letting the three vehicles inside the fenced-out property. Less than 30 seconds later, the vehicles parked themselves in front of the house's entrance.
Everyone then exited the vans, with the Parkers' children looking super excited, the adults looking very pleased, and the trio of ex-robbers having envious looks on their faces. The others only sported indifferent looks. While the new house's inhabitants were admiring their new lodging, Ben caught the sound of Natalia instructing the two numbered agents to leave with one of the bulletproof vans.
After a brief bout of thinking, he understood her thought process and inwardly applauded her carefulness. After the two left, the redhead and Barton came to their location and Barton commented with a smile. “Not bad Parker, uh?” Nodding his head, the silver-eyed man responded. “I gotta admit, I wasn't expecting that kind of safe house.”
Chuckling slightly, the other man retorted. “Well, you weren't supposed to get it. That kind of safe house is for Level 7 Agents and up. But Nat here demanded that particular house from Fury and he agreed.” Cocking his eyebrow, Ben turned his gaze toward Natalia and asked. “Is that true? Thanks, Nat.”
Waving his gratitude away, she had a seemingly indifferent look on her face as she responded. “Don't worry about it.” Shaking his head at her reaction, he was about to continue the conversation when May, followed by Madeline and even the kids thanked her a few times for what she had done.
That seemed to break through her 'aloof' facade as a small but genuine smile appeared on her visage. She did look a bit overwhelmed at their gratitude, but since Ben knew that it was not a bad thing, he did not intervene. Instead, he turned toward Clint and said in a tone as disinterested as he could muster. “Clint, why don't you show me around the property while the girls talk?”
Cocking his eyebrow, the tall SHIELD agent responded with a question that made it obvious that Ben failed in hiding his excitement. “You just want to see the car, don't you?” Narrowing his eyes at the other man, he asked. “Are you implying that the thing I'm most interested in this house is my new car?”
Nodding his head, the other man retorted. “I'm not implying anything. I'm explicitly saying it.” Waving his hands in defeat, Ben replied. “Fine, you got me! So! Where are they?!” The unbridled excitement in his voice was unmistakable for the other man who retorted with an amused smile on his face. “Follow me then!”
Since the two were close to the other people, they did not have to explain themselves to the others, and the two redheads and one brunette just had an amused smile on their faces. Ben did not really care about what they thought about his reaction. Not when he was close to realizing his dream of many years!
The two then left the group before moving toward the massive garage door on the left side of the house. It was not a long trip since they were previously close to the house's entrance, but instead of going toward the middle of the door to open it manually, the two went to the gate's right-side recess.
Hung on the wall, around four and a half feet (Around 1m40) from the ground, there was a square metallic device that Ben could not discern the use for. It did not take long for him to understand its uses though as Clint went on to explain it. “It's both an iris and a fingerprint scanner. You're registered as the master of this house, so you're the only one who can give privileges to someone else.”
Pausing for a second to let his words sink in, he then added. “There are two kinds of privileges you can give, so be careful about it. The first one is permanent and the second is temporary. I don't think I need to tell you what they are, right?“ Barton asked with a chuckle echoed by Ben who replied. “I think I'll be fine.”
“I knew you were smarter than you looked.” Rolling his eyes at the man's remark, Parker retorted calmly. “One of us needs to be the smart one and since you seem reluctant, I'll volunteer myself.” The other burst into laughter at the quip before retorting. “Damn, Parker! You're getting better and better at this game.”
Shaking his head, he remarked with an amused smile on his face. “I've got to up my game with a chatty guy like you as my brother.” That brought a pleased smile to the other man's face who responded, this time in a genuine tone, while patting Ben's uninjured shoulder. “Fair enough, my brother. Fair enough.”
Unlike with his family, Ben was not really used to sharing his emotions like that. It was only since he recovered a big part of his previous life's memories that expressing his feelings became more natural to him. It was more apparent with May, but even with the kids and Mady, he could feel himself loosening up. He finally put back some life into his own.
In any case, he still felt a bit awkward doing it, so he simply chose to change the conversation's topic. “Did you register my family inside?” The other man seemed to have caught on to his meaning and followed his lead. “We did. The permanent kind. Although it's just fingerprints. You'll have to register their iris yourself.”
Nodding his head, the silver-eyed man responded offhandedly. “I'll do it later. I'm guessing the garage is not the only place with this scanner...?” “You guessed right. Every door has one of those babies. Also...” He continued while knocking on the garage door with his folded left index. “...The doors, windows, walls, etc. are all reinforced.”
He paused before adding. “Still, don't rely on that too much. I've seen Supes breaking buildings with their bare hands and Aliens do the same with their weapons, so it's not entirely safe. But it would still protect against low to mid-caliber bullets. As for high caliber, it will only last until a certain point depending on the bullet and weapon using it.”
“Don't rely on the reinforced wall. Got it!” Ben remarked. Clint then stated. “Actually, there's a safe room inside the house and it's made from some very strong alloy that can stop a few rockets. At least for a while. So if the outside gets too hot, just get in there. And don't forget to tell your family about it later. Just in case.”
Nodding seriously at his words, Ben responded. “Don't worry! It's one of the first things I'll do. That's the main reason why I signed up for SHIELD, so I won't play around.” “I got you. I'm the same.” The two fell silent for a few seconds as they were lost in their thoughts before Ben started rubbing his hands in anticipation.
“Shouldn't we move on to what we came here for?” Chuckling at Ben's reaction, Clint replied. “You're really excited about it, aren't you?” The following look of 'Why are you wasting time' from Ben seemed to have been clearly transmitted as Barton started showing how to work the scanner and how to register users before Ben could finally use it.
After putting his eyes and thumb on the machine, the door instantly unlocked itself before rising to the room ceiling, breaking itself into 3 or four-foot chunks of metal horizontally until it reassembled on the garage's ceiling, unveiling the three vehicles parked inside it. Ben froze for a few seconds as his gaze fell on one of the two cars, letting a few absentminded words escape from his mouth.
“What a beauty...”
