Chapter 9 - I'm home (Part 1)

Hospital Room, Somewhere.

Natalia's P.O.V.

Nodding slightly, Clint declared decisively. "I understand. Whatever you do though, don't push it too far. After all, with your current lifespan and his, you're not pressed for time." Nodding to his words, she replied. "I know. I'm not even certain of what I'm feeling, so I'm not stupid enough to go all in right now." After talking with Barton, she felt lighter, as if a burden was lifted, making her ponder as the two kept moving toward their next mission. 

Ben's P.O.V.

With his healing factor at work, it only took one more day to be fully healed from his injured state, and after the doctor in charge gave him the green light, Ben was authorized to leave. Under escort, blindfolded, with earplugs, and in a special van, of course. Although he had no proof as to who was in charge of creating those security measures, from what he learned the day prior, a certain paranoid person appeared in his mind, drawing a small smile on his face.

Not that it would be as useful as they thought, since his senses have apparently been cranked up to eleven, which gave him an incredible awareness of his surroundings. Thankfully, his mind seemed to have improved with his physical prowess, enabling him to quickly become used to the changes after he woke up from his week-long coma. At least enough for day-to-day tasks.

 As he was guided toward the van that was supposed to take him to his house, he focused on his body and the feeling of his strengthened muscles responding to the tiniest of impulses. He did not truly test himself as he preferred doing it later at a place where no one could see the results. 

'I'll wait until I reach home and try a few things.' He decided inwardly, before exclaiming in his mind. 'God, I feel so great! Compared to the me of now, my previous body was... So weak...' He thought wryly. 'It's an improvement anyway, so I won't waste time thinking about it.'

With wonder and a bit of a bitter feeling, the silver-eyed man reached the van, before climbing up and sitting on the middle back seat, not bothering to put on his seatbelt, finding it mostly useless with his current capabilities.

Not only that, but he did not wish to have his movements impeded in any way, especially now as he left the Realm of 'Normal human' to reach the 'Superhuman' one, the level of danger he would find himself in would surely spike, and thus he had to be on guard. He was aware that his file would most likely... Scratch that! It would without a doubt 'inopportunely' find itself on the desks of many people he wanted nothing to do with. Some would try to recruit him, and others would try to get rid of him. After all, only a living superhuman has value.

How did he know that? Simply because it happened before when he was deemed as the best Green Beret [A/N: American Special Forces] of his generation. That and he was more or less certain that his brother and sister-in-law were involved in some shady conspiracies due to their job. Thankfully (for him), that only ended up with a few hitmen disappearing from the surface of the Earth, their bodies 'evaporating' in a variety of ways, with their names forgotten by everyone. 

His whole military service was punctuated by the occasional attempt on his life until he retired. The problem was that it was when he was 'only' a Peak human. Now? 'I better find a way to protect them or those bastards might use them against me... Thankfully, no one knows the exact extent of my changes, and how much and how quickly I can still improve from here... Ironically, what put me in danger is also the best solution to resolve the said danger. Life is full of surprises, I guess.' He pondered, while also keeping a part of his focus on the outside.

What surprised him slightly though, was the fact that his surroundings were a lot fuzzier in his senses than they previously were before he was in the van. Something was clearly used to prevent him from learning about the hospital's location. Was it technology? Or maybe some kind of superpower? He had no idea, but that only reinforced his idea of being cautious. 'Mmmhh... I just got those powers, and they don't make me invincible. Not by a long shot. For now, at least.' He thought deeply.

As many plans for the future were created, revised, or even discarded in his mind, the vehicle drove on until Ben felt it halt. Or at least, he felt the impediment on his sensory faculties disappear. And indeed, the previously silent man on his side declared. "You can take off the blindfold and earplugs, Mr. Parker." 'Ah! It seems that they knew those toys would not work on him. Why bother, then? To make themselves feel better?'

Shaking his head inwardly, the black-haired man followed the other man's instruction and thus took off the 'toys' from his eyes and ears, leaving his sight finally unhindered. "Much better!" He muttered in satisfaction while looking at the familiar house in front of him.

His comment drew a small chuckle from the other agent, a fit and tall twenty-something-looking male with short brown hair. Weirdly, Ben had the distinct feeling that the man in front of him was older than his looks implied. There was also something else about the man. Something wrong. However, he could not put his finger on what it was exactly.

As he was thinking, the man held his hand out for a shake, a harmless smile adorning his face as words left his lips. "Presentations are long overdue, it seems. I'm Agent Phil Coulson. I've to say when I learned what you did to protect your family during the Alien attack, despite being outgunned and alone, I couldn't help but be extremely impressed. Your loved one must be very proud of you." 

While shaking his hand, he noticed a small object in the other man's hand. As he looked into the other's eyes, understanding instantly came to Ben, prompting him to discreetly grab the item as soon as Coulson took back his hand. There was something else, though. A sort of hard-to-describe feeling in his head while he was talking to him. 

'Is it the fabled mental superpower I read about in my previous life? Damn it! I hate those! Thankfully, I got my ultimate shield perk, or I might not even know what hit me. I didn't think that a random agent in SHIELD would be a superhuman with mental powers. I must be even more careful than I first planned. No wonder Fury became so paranoid.' He thought while hiding his suspicion under a neutral smile.

"Nice to meet you, Agent Coulson. I don't think I need to tell you my name, now, do I?" That drew a chuckle from the harmless-looking man who replied. "Of course not. But you can call me Phil." Nodding his head, Ben added with a small smile. "Then Phil, you can call me Ben."

"I will do that then. I'll leave you to your family. They probably can't wait to see you after what happened." After a brief pause, he added. "Also, be careful about what you say out loud, as eyes and ears are everywhere." His meaningful gaze, his words, and the device now hidden in his pocket made it abundantly clear that his house was compromised and that he had to be careful from now on.

'Not that I planned to do anything else, but it's never a bad thing to be reminded of those things.' He thought without letting any of it show on his face. 'After all, I did have some spycraft training for several specific missions, so I more or less know what to expect. But it's true that compared to people like Natalia, I'm akin to a newbie in the field.'

Giving a knowing smile with a nod, Ben said out loud. "Thank you for the advice, I'll follow it. But I'm sure that no one would care about an old retiree like me, even if I have some slight qualifications." It was his turn to signify to Coulson the fact that he knew about their information security being... slightly porous. 

'As my Mom always said: 'If you want something done right, you better do it yourself.' I'm not about to trust my loved ones' life to people I know almost nothing about.' He declared inwardly with determination. 

Thanks to his experience, the kind-looking man in front of him seemed to understand the implied meaning of his sentence, twisting his smile slightly with what seemed to be guilt. 'A secret agent with a conscience? How rare...' Ben thought, wondering if it was a performance or his true feelings. 

Not wanting to waste his time on someone he just met, he decided to end this conversation and go see the others. "Alright, Phil, I'll go now. Have a good day. And you too." He said to the other agent that was a bit left out of the conversation. After saying his goodbyes, he started moving toward his house while the other two climbed into their vehicles and drove off.

As Ben arrived in front of the door, his hand lifted to ring the bell, halting for a second, as the man took a deep breath, before pushing the button, letting him hear the ringing sound from inside. As they were informed of the time he would be home, everyone was present. There were even a few more 'everyone' than he thought. Or did he secretly expect them to be there? 

Ben felt a bit conflicted as three kids jumped on him in a hugging position as soon as he opened the door. Thankfully, his strengthened physiology helped him avoid the painful fate of falling to the ground. Instead, the three little ones were the ones being hurt by the backlash of their 'reckless charge'. 

Nonetheless, they did not let off their hold on him as they kept repeating some variants of 'Uncle', their words a bit distorted by the tears flowing freely from their red puffy eyes. Looking at their current state of distress, Ben could not help himself from feeling heartache, especially as he noticed the two beautiful mature women standing a bit further, looking at him with complicated eyes which immediately turned misty as he declared with a genuine smile, his voice cracking slightly.

"I'm home!"