Project Vita Nova || Yelena x oc

Chapter 8

 "So, I have a plan." Valary announced, finishing up her plate of eggs.

Natasha and Yelena looked up from their food, mouths full of either hash browns or coffee.

"Well...the makings of a plan. Or the general idea of one?" Valary stammered, picking up her coffee cup.

"And that would be?" Natasha asked after swallowing her mouthful of coffee.

"To play Delick's game." Valary took a long drink from her cup.

"You know that's crazy dangerous, right?" Natasha asked with a know-it-all look.

"And a shit ton of work." Yelena adds between mouthfuls of hash browns and eggs.

"Fighting against Delick's plan is a shit ton of work. Going with the flow is easier." Valary said, swirling her coffee in her cup.

"Ok...how do you propose we go about this?" Natasha pushed her plate away from her and took another sip of coffee.

"We return to the site of the explosion. Look for another lead." Valary placed her coffee back down on the table. Her idea of a plan caused Natasha to choke on her coffee. She tried setting her cup down, coughing.

"You want to do what?" Natasha spluttered. Yelena tried to suppress her laugh at her sister's reaction.

"I want to go back to the explosion site." Valary repeated with a smile on her face.

"Why? Fury has already searched the entire area for Delick and found nothing." Natasha countered with a joking tone.

"But that's the thing. We shouldn't be looking for Delick. We should be looking for another lead." Valary said as if it was obvious.

"Why do you say that?" Natasha was now very interested in what Valary was saying.

"It's like I said, this whole thing is Delick's game. We won't find him simply by looking for him. We have to follow the trail of breadcrumbs he's leaving. The broadcast, tracing its signal back to its source, that was the first crumb. We need to go look for the second one." Valary's voice was serious now.

Natasha just stared at her in amazement. "How did you figure this out?"

"It's like Vision said...I was with Delick for twelve year. I know him the best." Valary was now very confident, finally feeling like she was doing something helpful.

Natasha nodded at her comment. "Alright...I'll contact Fury, tell him to start looking for a new lead."

"What?" Valary and Yelena said in unison.

"Fury and the Avengers will look for a new lead. You need to stay here, out of danger." Natasha was firm about the matter.

"No! I need to be the one to conduct the investigation." Valary countered.

"Why?"

"Because if someone other than me goes after him then he will kill them all until he gets to me."

"You don't know that." Natasha stood up and pulled out her phone. She begins walking away, typing in Fury's number.

"Yes, I do! I'm the only one who knows that. I know the way Delick thinks. I can't let any more people get killed or injured because of me!" Valary snapped, standing up from her seat. Yelena stared at Valary with a small bit of fear. The usually calm girl had snapped, and it was slightly frightening. 

Natasha freezes in place. She exhales and turns around to face Valary.

"You blame yourself, don't you? You blame yourself for what happened to Steve, Sam, and Wanda." Natasha's voice was clamer now, realizing what this was all about.