Bird Set Free | Natasha Romanoff ✓

Chapter Nineteen

Aquila breathed in quickly, trying to calm her nerves before her fist knocked three times against the wooden door of the warehouse, meters away from where the symbol sat. 

"Who is it?" A rough voice asked from inside. 

"My name is Aquila Cadman. I've come to ask if you know anything about the Uzumati tribe." Aquila said clearly. 

The door was roughly pulled open and the second she was inside it shut solidly behind her. 

"How do you know about the Uzumati tribe?" The rough voice demanded. 

"I used to be a member," Aquila said smoothly, pulling her arm out of her leather jacket, revealing her eagle tattoo that lay on her right shoulder. "And I know you are a member as well, Addax." Her own eyes despite the darkness of the room, had easily picked up the tattoo of the antelope that graced his upper neck. 

The man who Aquila had revealed as Addax reviewed her, looking at her up and down before finally speaking up.

"I know you."

"So do many others," Aquila responded sarcastically as usual. 

"You're an Avenger."

"I am. But I was part of the Uzumati tribe first. So please Addax, tell me anything you know. I'm desperate, I want to know the truth."

"You said your name was Aquila Cadman, right?" 

"Correct."

"A...B...C..." Addax muttered running his fingers down the dusty pages of what looked to be an old directory. "Aquila Cadman." He finally said. "Only daughter of Conan and Paloma Cadman."

"Correct," Aquila muttered in return. 

"At your parent's enhancement's ceremony, what animal did they have an immediate connection with."

"My father's was a grey wolf and my mother's a dove."

"Ok then. Please follow me, Aquila, we have been waiting for you."

"What?" Aquila asked in confusion following Addax down a narrow downhill passage.

"You are the last one of the remaining survivors to finally make it back home."

"I am?"

"There have been plenty before you but none that were as important as you were in coming home. You are the last link, Aquila. The last person to ever partake in the animal enhancement ceremony on our homelands. Your importance to our dying culture is vital."

Aquila widened at Addax's words before her mouth dropped open at the sight of the monstrous cavern in front of her. What appeared on first glance to be houses dotted the walls, built into the huge slabs of rock. In the center, hundreds of table set up, every seat filled while the rest of the space decorated very similar to what it had been in Aquila's childhood. 

"What is this?" Aquila asked in shock.

"This is what's left of the Uzumati tribe."

"Woah."

"Now let's find your parents so you can reunite with them."

However as Addax led her through the tables, filled with plenty of people, children and adults,  gaping at her as she passed. Some familiar faces flickered by but there wasn't a single chance to stop. 

Eventually, the search was hopeless, so Addax pulled her up onto a small stage that was mounted at the front of all the tables, clearing his throat so he could be heard above all the noise. 

At the sight of Addax who very rarely came downstairs to join them, preferring to stick in his job of protector and not letting the wrong people realize that a whole community was living right under their feet, the noise quietened immediately. 

"I have come to announce that Aquila Cadman, who you all know as an Avenger as well as the last person to ever participate in the enhancement ceremony on our homelands before we were forced to relocate has finally returned home," Addax said to the crowd, who immediately began to stomp and clap in their excitement as Aquila's sharpened eyesight picked up two very familiar figures making their way towards the stage.

Once the excitement had eventually calmed down to a reasonable level, Addax spoke up again.

"Could I please have Conan and Paloma Cadman come up here?"

"There's no need, Addax, we are already here." A voice spoke up from behind Aquila who quickly whipped around, heading straight into the already opened arms. 

"We are so proud of you sweetheart." A voice whispered in her hair as Aquila sighed in relief at the familiar feeling that she had gone without for far too long. 

"I missed you both so much," Aquila said, swallowing the lump in her throat, smiling up at Conan and Paloma.

"And we missed you."

It was a special moment, one that Aquila had craved for so long and at long last, she finally had what she had wished for. 

"I'm so glad, you finally made it here." Conan eventually spoke up. "You were gone before most of the destruction happened, you never realized that the few of us that were just about clinging to life was still alive, you thought we were-."

"All gone," Aquila replied grimly. 

"You had nothing to tell you otherwise until Addax slipped a file into S. H. I. E. L. D. with the hope that Director Fury would give it to you. I knew you would figure it out eventually."

"That was you?" Aquila asked in disbelief turning to Addax who stood a little ways away.

"It was. It wasn't in my plan for Director Fury to be killed but it made its way to you eventually."

"Yeah."

"But you must come, Aquila," Paloma said, smiling broadly at her daughter. "There are so many people who want to meet you and there was always a bed ready for you here, although that's just until you can get your own place." Paloma rambled on.

Aquila smiled sadly at her mother who was clearly overjoyed to have her daughter back. "I can't stay here permanently, mum."

"I know that," Paloma said, smiling sadly as well. "You have your duties as an Avenger. I just never thought I would see the day when the fate of the world, rested on my daughter's shoulders."

"I don't think I saw it coming either if I'm being completely honest here."

"But you can stay for the rest of the day, right?" 

"Of course, I can, maybe even tomorrow or the day after that. The team has managed without me for this long, as far as I'm aware, I'm sure a few more days won't hurt."