Hey everyone. I've been on a role lately. I've lost track of how many times I've updated in the past two weeks. Anyway, I got this one done two minutes ago and I have to say Time traveling is really complicated. On a sad note this is the last chapter with little Nora as many of you have dubbed her but we get to see a bit of Tony. Well sort of. thank you for all the reviews and please keep sending me comments I love hearing from you all. Also I'm still waiting on suggestions to start the one shots series so please shoot me a message when you can. Side note it was recently brought to my attention I should probably get a beta reader so if anyone's interested send me a message, I would really appreciate it. That's all for now thanks again. :)
After the light cleared Nora opened her eyes and she saw that she was no longer in the lab with her 'Uncle' Howard. Instead she was in some sort of warehouse. There were boxes and crates stacked all around her. She was standing at a clear aisle and at the end of the aisle was a dark skinned man dressed strangely. He had on red tinted goggles and a backpack of some sort that looked to be metallic and pretty high tech. His outfit was black and dark grey with a bit of red on it as well.
When Nora turned to look at him he was shocked. He put his hand on his ear and said, "Uh guys, we have a problem. We have a code Cronus."
Nora just stood there not taking her eyes off the stranger.
"That's the thing she's really young, like four years old young." He said.
"Three and a half actually." Nora mumbled.
"Alright I'll be right over." He said. He started walking closer to Nora but once he was a few feet away Nora started backing up slowly.
"Hey its okay, I'm not going to hurt you. My name is Sam Wilson. What's your name?" He said kneeling down to seem less intimidating, something he had learned in one of the first psychology classes he took to become a counselor.
"Nora Stark." She said softly.
"Okay Nora. We're in a warehouse in New Jersey. My team just took down some bad guys that were hurting people. We're checking the warehouse to make sure we got everyone but it's still not safe to be around on your own. Can you come with me, I'll leave you with a friend of mine that can take care of you?" He said giving her the choice, trying to get her to trust him.
She thought about it for a minute. He seemed nice and he looked like he was telling the truth. He didn't talk to her like a baby like other adults did. She made her choice, she gave him a nod and he gave her a small smile. He held her hand and led her outside the warehouse. There were a bunch of cars and some sort of plane.
Everyone was dressed in strange uniforms, Not like police officers but similar. Sam walked her toward the plane and standing outside the plane was someone very familiar to Nora.
"Uncle Rhodey!" Nora shouted happily as she let go of Sam's hand and ran to her uncle.
Rhodey turned from the agent he had been talking to and was surprised. "Nora?!" He kneeled down to scoop her up into a hug.
"You weren't kidding about her being younger man." He said to Sam.
"Yeah, did not expect this."
"She's so cute." A girl dressed in red said in a thick accent making Nora smile.
"Yeah she is, Is he…" Sam asked.
"He's getting a ride back in one of the cars." Rhodey said.
"He said we're clear to go. Natasha and Agent Smith are already inside." The girl said.
"Thanks Wanda. Come on kiddo, lets get out of here." He said carrying her on board. Rhodey strapped her in to her seat. As soon as the plane was in the air a woman with short red hair came out to check on everyone.
"This is her?" She asked Sam.
"Yeah." Sam answered.
She turned to Nora and gave her a small smile and nodded. "Did you call Tony?" She asked Rhodey.
"Yeah he said he'd head to the base with Vision as soon as he was out of his meeting, but knowing him he's probably waiting for us there already." Rhodey answered catching Nora's attention.
"Dad's coming?" Said Nora, who got really excited at the mention of her father
"Yeah kid, He's going to be really surprised to see you." Said Rhodey.
"More like shocked." The woman muttered going back to the front of the plane.
"Uncle Rhodey, where are we going?" Nora asked.
"We're going to… the place I work at." He said hesitating a bit.
"I thought you were in the army?" She asked.
"Air force." He corrected.
'And you flew planes."
"I got promoted." He answered quickly.
"Then why aren't you flying the plane?"
"Nora if I give you a candy bar will you stop asking questions until the plane lands?" He asked getting annoyed. He forgot what she was like at this age and worst of all, she had a point.
"Okay." She said happily as Rhodey handed her a candy bar. Wanda and Sam couldn't help but laugh at their interaction
Ten minutes later they were landing at the base.
"Wow, what type of engines do those use?" She said string in admiration at the plane taking off.
"Those would be a modified electro magnetic turbine powered by the arc reactor. Less noise, no pollution, half the flight time." Said someone walking toward them.
Nora turned to see who had said that and a grin broke out on her face. She ran to them. "Dad!"
"Nora?!" He said surprised as he hugged her. Tony looked up to Rhodey confused as to how his adult daughter was now a toddler. Sudden flashes from a camera made them break apart.
"Who let the paparazzi in?" He snarked.
"Had to record the look on your face when you saw your daughter as a four year old after nineteen years. At this rate I'll have enough for a scrapbook." The red head from before answered.
"Romanoff, let them be. I'm sure Friday will get all the compromising pictures we need for later." A brunette teased.
"Go ahead, just remember I'm the one that designs all your cool gadgets." Tony retorted
"Dad, why are you so old?" Nora asked noticing the wrinkles on Tony's face.
That made everyone stop bantering and look at Tony as he looked at them, hoping one of them knew how to answer that.
He decided to go with his usual response with things. "Nora, I'm not old I age like a fine wine." He said.
She just tilted her head and gave him a look, letting him know she wasn't buying it. "Well, you are what you eat." She said, making everyone start laughing.
"Di-did she just burn you?" Sam asked not being able to stop laughing.
"She did, way to go Nora." Rhodey said raising his hand for a high five, which his niece gave him.
"Is that any way to treat your old man?" Tony said pretending to be offended.
"You did just admit you were old." Nora deadpanned.
"I can't win with you." He sighed. "Come on mini me, I have a friend of mine you should meet."
He said leading her out. The rest of the group looked at each other and exchanged a few words before they realized they probably didn't want to miss what was about to happen so they decided to go with them to the common room.
They walked out of the hanger and through a few offices and hallways receiving a few strange looks from some of the people they passed by on the way there.
When they arrived at the common room there was a red skinned man dressed in slacks and a sweater vest. Nora instantly went to hide behind her father.
"Nora come on. Its okay. He's a friend." Tony said trying to get his daughter to stop being so shy. He looked at the red skinned man and nodded at him. He walked over to get closer to them. "Hello Miss Stark. I am Vision." He greeted. Nora just peeked at him from behind her father and gave him an awkward wave.
"Hey Nora, do you know why Vision's red?" Tony asked his daughter. She just shook his head no. "He's an android." Tony said knowing that would peak his daughter's curiosity.
"Really?" She said moving to his side to look up at him.
"Really. He can do a bunch of neat tricks. Isn't that right Vision?" Tony said giving Vision a looks.
"Yes, I am able to manipulate density making myself intangible, have increased durability and project energy beams." He said.
"So you can walk through walls, make it so no one can touch you and you're super strong." Nora simplified
"That is correct." Vision said.
"That's not all he can do." Tony said giving Vision a look. "Close your eyes, it's a surprise." Nora smiled and closed her eyes. Vision stepped closer and put two of his fingers on her forehead.
Nora's POV-
After the incident in the lab, I started glowing except I didn't go anywhere, Well my body didn't my conscious mind got locked in my subconscious. It was like a really creepy out of body experience. I saw a four-year-old version of myself talk to Gramps and Peggy and read stories with Bucky and Steve. It was adorable but being stuck inside your own head is not fun. Especially when your unwanted tenant pops in to give you the "how many times have I told you not to mess with things you don't understand." Talk or the "Actions have consequences." Speech.
By the third day of being trapped in the fake version of my living room in my house watching myself on the TV I was done waiting around. I started looking around the house for hints or something that could get me out of here. I once saw a movie where certain things in a person's subconscious could trigger them to wake up or to become more self-aware. It was probably a load of crap but at this point I didn't really have a lot of options. Instead all I found were empty drawers. All of them except one. One of them had a very familiar red notebook. The same journal I started back in 1944, the one I left in the house where Wren goes to look through every time I pop up unexpectedly in the future.
"Don't bother, all the pages are blank." I looked up to see the stone standing in front of me.
"Then why is it here?" I asked.
"I thought you could use it to take notes on what you've learned." It told me.
"Let's see what have I learned. Gramps is doesn't have patience for kids. I can get Peggy to get me an extra scoop of ice cream if I tell her how awesome she is and I hope to one day be like her. Not flattery actually the truth. Steve and Bucky are going to make great parents one day. Oh and the best one of them yet the time stone is a vengeful bitch." I snarked.
"I'm a bitch, as you so aptly put it, because whether you believe it or not I do care." It said.
"So you turning me into a four year old is you parenting me?" I said unbelievingly.
"I prefer to think of it as a tutoring session"
"Tutoring? Really? There are other ways to tutor you know. I get it, I shouldn't have tried to trigger a jump and risked messing up the time line but it's not like you're giving me a lot of options. The jumps and powers are starting to take its toll on me okay. I can't sleep or I sleep too much. I'm hungry all the damn time and every time I try to practice controlling not shattering glass I get massive migraines. What did you expect me to do?"
"I expected a lot of things you being stupid enough to try and trigger a jump is by far the worst one of all." I said starting to raise its voice with its eyes staring to glow.
We were quiet for a minute before I finally broke the silence. I sighed and said, "You're right. I should have handled things differently and I'm sorry."
"You're sorry?" It said shocked at it.
"Yes but I do have to say turning me into a four year was a bit excessive don't you think."
"Oh that wasn't to punish you that was to punish you're grandfather. He needed to be taken down a peg." It said.
"Did you just make a pun?" I said shocked.
"I've been around humans for the past few thousand years some of their humor, may have rubbed of on me."
"I can see that."
"I may have been a bit impulsive in locking you in your subconscious, but before I let you go I need your Grandfather to learn his lesson."
"What does that mean?"
"Just keep watching." It said before it disappeared.
I went back to sit down on the couch and watched on the TV as Steve and Bucky had to leave and they said good-bye to me. I started getting worried about what she was planning but then Gramps and Mini me started to take apart and how she started glowing.
"Oh crap." I muttered. I saw as she met Sam and how he called in a Code Cronus. What the hell? Then I saw as she saw Rhodey and ran up to hug him. Rhodey was standing on his own, without the mechanical braces. This must be before the last time I jumped into the future. Whatever caused Rhodey to become paralyzed still hadn't happened.
The plane ride was pretty uneventful except for mini me raising some very good points. Then when we landed I saw the planes and was very impressed.
"Modified electro magnetic turbine powered by the arc reactor." I said looking at them at the same time Dad did.
They started bantering and when the group started getting involved.
The surprises didn't end there. Dad took mini me to a common room where the red alien that sounded like Jarvis was waiting. He put two fingers on mini me's forehead and then the screen went bright.
"What the hell?" I said getting up.
"Miss Stark" I heard the android's voice.
I turned around and saw him standing behind me. "Vision?" I said confused as to what he was doing.
"Yes, I am here to get you back to your correct age."
"Oh thank goodness. I was not looking to going through puberty again." I answered. "How does this work?"
"Just stay calm and take a deep breath." He said.
"Nora." I heard the stone. I turned around and there it was. "Don't forget what we talked about."
I turned back to Vision and nodded. He put two fingers on my forehead and everything got bright. I closed my eyes and when I opened them I was back at the living room mini me was at.
I looked around and saw everyone just staring at me. "Hi Dad, miss me." I said.
He didn't say anything he just hugged me, taking me by surprise. When he finally let me go he said, "We need to talk." He said very serious maybe even a bit angry.
"Sure but, uh can I get a change of clothes." I said looking at myself. The clothes I wore as a kid were still on me but torn and freakishly tight.
"Oh, right. Can one of you.." He asked Wanda and a red head whose name I just found out was Natasha.
"Sure. Come on Nora." Wanda said leading me to one of the hallways. As it turns out Wanda actually lived here at the compound. She'd only been here for a few months. She and her twin brother Pietro were actually from Sokovia. She was very happy when I started talking to her in her mother tongue. I only knew a few phrases but she appreciated the attempt.
When we got to her room she told me to wait there for a minute. She came back five minutes later with jeans, a navy long sleeve V-neck, undergarments and black suede ankle booties all in my size. I didn't ask how she knew I was just grateful to have clothes in my own size, especially jeans. I never realized how much I missed wearing pants until now.
I came out of the bathroom fully dressed and dumped my clothes in a trashcan. Wanda had also gotten dressed in black jeans with a red crochet knit sweater and black leather combat boots.
"You look cute. I love your sweater." I said making her laugh.
"I thought you would. Sorry I shouldn't be laughing it's just, you're a lot different then…" She started.
"When I was three and half?" I said smirking.
"That and…" but before she could finish what she was saying Vision phased through the wall making Wanda scream and me jump in surprise.
"Vision!" She yelled out.
"My apologies, I'm here to take Miss Stark back to the common room. Her father is waiting for her." Vision said.
"Oh right, he wants to talk." I said grimacing.
"It'll be alright Nora. You've survived worse." Wanda said reassuring me.
"I guess you're right. Let's go Vision. The more I make him wait the worse he'll get. Thanks for everything Wanda" I said heading to the door. I followed Vision down the halls. Everyone kept giving me strange looks but one caught my attention the most. There was a blonde woman with shoulder length that stopped what she was doing and just glared at me. What the hell? I'm already getting shit for things I haven't even done yet.
"Ignore her." I heard Natasha say.
"What's her deal?" I said.
"Relationship issues." She answered.
"Oh." I said not asking her to elaborate. When we got to the Common room and everyone was sitting around. When dad saw me he stood up and said, "You're grounded."
"Uh Two things. One I'm eighteen, you can't ground me anymore and two what for?" I asked confused. He got my hand and pulled up the sleeves to show the soul marks on my wrists. Oh shit.
"Oh that…" I said.
"Yeah that. What the hell Nora? Why didn't you say anything?" He said upset.
"I wanted to tell you but I didn't think you'd react well." I said
"Why would you think that?!" He yelled.
"Well for one, the conversation we're having right now and the fact that you're yelling." I answered calmly but getting a bit scared. Dad never yells at me.
"Okay I'll give you that one." Tony said and then sighed. "I shouldn't have yelled."
"I should've told you years ago and I was but when they showed up Nana said to keep it between us and then I found out I was never going to meet them so what was the point of telling you. Then life happened and here we are. On the plus side your handling the time jumps way better then I did when they started."
"I've had a couple of months to wrap my head around the idea that my daughter time travels."
"Yeah, so have I." I said with a sad smile. Tony looked at his daughter and saw right through that sad smile. It's the same smile she would give him anytime he would leave after a visit.
"You know what sounds really good right now? Surf n' turf. A big juicy steak and some lemon grilled shrimp." He said.
"That sounds amazing." I said, my mouth was already watering.
"Let's go then." He said getting up and reaching for his sunglasses.
"Seriously,"
"Of course, let's go I know a place in Montauk." He said like it was nothing.
"Dad that'll take us hours to get there."
"Not if we take my helicopter, which just so happens to be on the roof." He said with a smirk. "Or we can stay here and eat whatever it is Rhodey's baking." Oh no I'm not staying for that. The last time I ate something Rhodey cooked I spent Memorial Day getting my stomach pumped.
"Let's go!" I said standing up following my dad. One helicopter ride later we were eating surf n' turfs at a beachfront seafood restaurant.
"God, this is so good. They don't have steak like this in 1944. You have no Idea how hard it was to get the ingredients for a chocolate cake since everything was being rationed." I said as dad's phone started ringing for the third time since we left the compound. He put the phone down and I saw that the contact info of the person calling came up as Spangles. Dad muted the phone and put it down. He seemed annoyed when he saw who it was. I grabbed the phone from the table.
"Nora, don't." He said as I answered.
"Listen up Spangles, My dad and I are in the middle of a nice dinner. I've had a long day and I'm enjoying some father daughter time for the first time in a very long time. So for the rest of the night you're going to delete this number from your contacts list and leave us the fuck alone. And if there's a global threat, you and the rest of your top-secret boy band can deal with it. You have an android with a freakishly high IQ figure it out." I said and hung up not giving the other person on the line to talk.
Dad just stared at me. For a second I thought he was mad that I did that but then he started laughing. Like falling off his chair, crying laughter.
"That that was amazing. I can imagine the look on Spangles face right now. I really hope Friday recorded the entire conversation." He said with his laughter finally dying down.
"Work friend of yours?" I asked
"Something like that." Dad answered.
"Sounds like quite the character. Why do you call him spangles?"
"He's the epitome of everything American." Dad retorted.
"He sounds hot." I said.
"Oh no, you're not allowed to say that."
"Why?"
"Just, no."
The rest of dinner was us just joking around, talking about the few things we could. His current projects. My growing powers. Nothing that could disrupt the timeline more than I probably already had.
After dinner we headed back to the compound. We agreed we needed to minimize the risk of me interfering with the future too much. The compound was the safest place to make sure that didn't happened.
Of course after I told dad about the few times I had gotten drunk with Gramps he said it was unacceptable that I had done that with Gramps and not him so we drank, and drank, and drank some more until it was finally last call. We managed to find the helicopter and somehow we got back to the compound. Then everything gets fuzzy. I remember falling in one of the hallways and leaning against the wall. Then someone with blonde hair picked me up and carried me somewhere.
"Mhm, you're comfy." I said resting my head on the strangers shoulder. "You're like Steve. You look hard but you're just a giant teddy bear. Nice, and soft and warm." I said sighing a bit.
I heard the stranger chuckle a bit. "Go to sleep Nora." They said.
"I wish Steve and Bucky were here. I'm scared." I mumbled.
"Scared of what?" the stranger said.
"I need to save them. I'm running out of time. I don't want to loose them. They're the best thing that ever happened to me. I don't know what I'd do without them."
"You can't save everyone Beautiful. Just let it happen, it'll work out in the end." He said.
"I can't, I love them." I said falling asleep.
Third Person's POV-
Steve put Nora down on the couch in the Common room. He moved her hair off her face and kissed her forehead. Tony was already asleep on the other couch after Rhodey managed to get him there. He had watched his soul mate from a distance since she appeared on the mission to take out the enhanced human trafficking ring in New Jersey earlier. He had to stay away to avoid interfering with her timeline.
He knew there was a possibility of this happening he just wasn't expecting her to be three and a half when she appeared. Then Vision managed to get her to turn back into her eighteen-year-old self and it got harder. She was walking around the compound, forcing him to stay in his office and observe her from the camera feeds. The ultimate hit was when she answered Tony's phone and angrily told him off.
He stood there and watched her sleep peacefully. Steve got a throw off the back of the couch and draped it over Nora.
"It's hard isn't it?" he heard Tony say. He turned around and saw that he was sitting up. "Seeing her like this?"
"Yeah, At least you get to talk to her." Steve pointed out.
"It's not as easy as you think. I never realized how much she's grown until today. She's so much lighter."
"She's younger, still has a lot to go through." Steve says.
"Is she happy, back in 1944 with you, and everyone?"
"Yeah, she's happy. It wasn't all bad, there was a lot of good too."
"Good, she deserves it." Tony says. "You should go, can't take the chance."
"Yeah, I know." He leans down and kisses her one more time before walking out.
The Next Morning- Nora's POV
I woke up the next morning with a massive headache and a huge appetite. Dad was still asleep on the other couch so I decided to get started on breakfast. I made coffee and then started beating the eggs and milk to make the batter for French toast. After all the toast, eggs and bacon were ready, Rhodey, Sam and Wanda walked in.
"Something smells amazing." Sam said.
"Is that…" Rhodey said his eyes wide open.
"French Toast, fruit, Eggs, Bacon and Waffles. The Coffee's also done if you guys want some." I said. I grabbed a mug and poured some coffee in it. There was no way dad would wake up unless there was coffee. I walked over to him and put the coffee mug on the coffee table before I shook his shoulder, waking him up.
"Urg." He groaned.
"There's coffee right in front of you dad and breakfast is ready. I made waffles." That made him open his eyes and sit up right away.
"How are you so functional this early?" he asked.
"Don't know. Just woke up with a giant craving for carbs." I said walking back to the kitchen. I plated the food and served everyone. I was just about to sit down for food when someone appeared out of thin air in the middle of the kitchen.
"Dad, I've been looking everywhere for you." she said until she saw me. "Shit."
"Fuck." I said. Standing in front of me was well, me. She was a bit taller than me and with shorter hair. She wouldn't take her eyes off of me. I couldn't take my eyes off of future me. She was dressed in professional attire. A white-buttoned tunic top with black slacks and black Louboutins heels. Her hairstyle was a bit asymmetrical with it being shorter in the back and longer in the front. It was a bit short with it going down to a bit above her shoulders and it was curled. It framed future me's face nicely.
At that moment I started getting the chills but more intense than normal. My knees started to buckle and I fell to the floor. I started getting intense abdominal pains. "Ahh!" I said screaming in pain.
"Nora!" I heard dad yell. I started glowing and the last thing I remember seeing was dad's worried face before everything got too bright. When the light faded I opened my eyes and I was back in Gramps' lab.
I groaned a bit. I felt sore and stumbled a bit before I managed to get up and take a few steps. I heard footsteps and then someone drop a bunch of papers on the floor.
"Nora!" I heard them say. I looked over to see Gramps standing there speechless.
"Hey Gramps, I finally grew up." I said and he ran and hugged me spinning around. "Ow Gramps, can't breathe." I grunted. He put me down and steadied me.
"Where the hell have you been? And how did you turn back to an eighteen year old?" He asked.
"I got sent to the future. I saw my dad; he had a friends that managed to turn me back. It was a long day. What about you? How long have I been gone?"
"Um I don't know how to tell you this so just come with me." He said walking out of the lab.
"Gramps where are we going?" I said following him down the hallway.
"Nora!" I heard in a very familiar accent.
I turned and saw Peggy walking as fast as she could over to us.
"Hey Pegs" I greeted before she pulled me into a hug.
"Good to see you too Pegs." I groaned.
"Where the bloody hell have you been? Do you have any idea how worried we've been?" she yelled out.
"I got sent to the future by the stone. Being close to the weapon's energy source triggered it. Little me didn't remember that. Lucky for me my dad had a friend that knew how to reverse it." I explained.
"Come on." Gramps said, "We can catch up later."
"Why are you in such a rush?" Peggy asked him.
"They're back." Gramps said. We made another turn to get closer to the debriefing rooms.
As we got closer I saw that the team was waiting outside of the conference room. "Nora?" Dum-Dum said standing up.
"Hey Dummy, how was France?" I asked.
He looked confused and then turned to Gramps. "She doesn't know?" He asked.
Before Gramps could answer the door to the conference room opened. "Nora!" I heard someone shout. Before I could do anything Bucky had his arms around me and was hugging me really tight. He let go and I asked " Buck what's…" But he interrupted me by kissing me. When he finally let me go I was grabbed into another hug by Steve. "You're okay." He hugging me and nuzzling my neck.
"Yeah, sorry about that but on the plus side I'm not a toddler anymore." I said with a shrug. They looked at each other confused before they looked at Gramps.
"She doesn't know?" Bucky asked.
"She just got back three minutes ago, I brought her straight here." Gramps explained.
"Can anyone tell me what's going on?" I asked confused.
"Doll, how long were you gone?" Bucky asked.
"About a day. How long was it here?" I asked starting to get a bit worried.
"Sweetheart, you were gone, two and a half months. It's the end of October." Steve said.
"What?!"