Hey everyone, here it is, the last part of Captain America: The First Avenger. I can't believe it took me sixty-three chapters to get here. Then again the first twenty something chapters were just character development and the first two Iron Man movies. I cried writing this Chapter. Every time Nora cried in this chapter I cried. I wanted to say thank you to everyone that's stuck by me these past couple of months. I also wanted to say that I'm not following the MCU timeline exactly from here. Remember Nora is the unknown daughter of Tony Stark. So that being said, here it is.
I remember the first time I asked Dad about Mom…
November 1997
It was a few days before my fifth birthday. I was playing outside with dad during one of his visits. I was trying to fly a kite and dad and I were talking about aerodynamics and how we could probably build a better kite than the one we bought. Eventually we got the kite up in the air and we were quiet just staring up at the sky.
"Dad, What happened to mom?" I asked
"Where's this coming from?" Dad asked trying to avoid answering the question.
"Everyone has a mom. I've never met mine. Where is she?"
Dad got quiet and he had this look in his eyes. For a minute I could have sworn I saw tears. "Um, your mom's name was Eliana and uh, she died a few years ago."
There was a silence between both of us. "How?" I asked.
"About five years ago, before you were born she was getting ready for bed and she started feeling bad. I took her to the hospital and she started to get worse. They had to operate to get you out and Ellie didn't make it." Dad said sadly. His voice cracked a bit toward the end.
I felt guilty and sad after I heard that.
"I'm sorry." I said tearing up a bit.
"For what?" Dad said kneeling down so we were eye to eye.
"It's my fault she died." I said crying.
"Kid look at me," Dad said wiping the tears off my face, "That isn't true. Things like that happen. It's not anyone's fault." He said pulling me into a hug.
"What was she like?" I asked.
"Ellie was… special. I met her at a party." Dad said.
"A birthday party?" I asked
"Um not sure, it might have been" Dad said getting this weird look on his face. "It was a few months after your grandparents' accident. I was really… lonely and she was the first person in a long time that didn't give me special treatment because of who I was. We got together that night and three months later we got married at a courthouse. We kept it pretty quiet. We had a lot to deal with. Me starting to work at Stark Industries, and her getting pregnant and being in school but no matter how busy or how tired she was, she always found a way to be there when I needed her. When I lost her I was completely alone. Nothing made sense anymore and there was no point in anything." Dad had this faraway look in his eyes like he wasn't there at the moment. Like something inside of him was missing. His eyes were sad.
"It's okay Daddy, I won't leave you alone." I said hugging him. Dad forced a small smile on his face.
That was the same look I saw on Steve's face as he looked back at us before he went to 'knock' on Schimdt's door. The look of someone who had nothing left to lose and only kept going because those around him depended on him. Steve was going to go in there by himself while the rest of the auxiliary forces were on standby. The team was stationed on a cliff overlooking the window of Schmidt's lab. We stood there waiting for the signal.
"How's he doing?" Dum-Dum asked.
"As well as you'd expect him to be." I answered.
"Should we be worried?" Falsworth asked.
"Only if you're wearing a Hydra uniform." I answered.
"How are you doing?" Dum-Dum asked.
"It's time," I answered hooking myself up to the line. I can't believe I'm doing this again.
"GO!" Our lookout told us and we were off.
We zip lined down the line and crashed through the window. Schmidt was taking aim at Steve. I used my powers to move the gun, making him miss and hit one of the grunts instead. Everyone started shooting at each other. I put up a force field to block the bullets. Before pushing them all against the wall.
Falsworth grabbed Steve's shield and tossed it to him. "You might need this," He told him.
"Go!" Dum-Dum, Falsworth and Gabe told Steve.
"Thanks," Steve said before running after Schmidt.
After we finished taking out the soldiers in our way we ran after Steve. We took out any stragglers and followed him. Lucky for us the auxiliary forces managed to get in just as we were starting to get surrounded.
"Need a hand," Peggy said sarcastically.
"I had it under control." I said throwing a hydra soldier up to the ceiling knocking him out.
"I can see that." She said.
We ran down the hall where Steve was being pinned down by a guy with a flamethrower. I projected a shield around him shielding him form the flames while Peggy shot the Hydra grunt.
"You're late." Steve told Peggy just like she had told him in Azzano.
"Aren't you supposed to…" She said looking at the door Steve's shield held open.
"Right." He said running to go through the door, grabbing his shield on the way.
Meanwhile we started looking around and found a side entrance. I saw the plane started to take off and Steve running after it.
I looked around and saw the Peggy and Philips also saw, I saw the car behind colonel Philips.
"Car!" I yelled over to him to him. He looked over and got in. Peggy and I got in after him. Lucky for us the car keys were already in the ignition so we didn't have to waste time hot wiring it. Philips drove over to Steve as he stopped running when he realized he wasn't going to catch up in time.
"Get in," Colonel Philips ordered. I was sitting in the back seat. The plane started speeding up and the hanger doors opened. Philips pressed a button and the force of how fast we were going pushed me back in my seat.
"We're still to far from it, I can't make it." Steve said.
"I can give you a boost just keep the car steady." I said.
"Good." Steve was starting to get up about to jump.
"Wait!" I said making him turn and look at me. I pulled him down for a kiss. The last kiss I'd ever be able to have with him. It was short and we pulled apart pretty quickly.
"Go get him." I told him. I took a deep breath and focused on Steve giving his jump the extra boost he needed to reach the wheels of the plane before they took off.
Philips turned the car around just in time so we didn't fall off the ledge.
"We have to find the communications tower." Peggy said "Find a way to contact Steve."
I couldn't say anything. I just sent my soul mate to his death. I was never going to see him again.
"Nora!" Peggy said raising her voice. She snapped me out of it and pulled me out of the car. I followed her back inside the hanger where the remaining Hydra grunts were being rounded up. There was a glass window raised above the rest of the hanger.
"There," I said pointing at it.
"Let's go." Peggy said.
We ran through the hanger and hallways opening each door to see if that was the right room. I finally found a door with the words radio room on it in German that I knew was the right one.
"Found it." I said. We went inside and I found Morita, Gabe and Dernier looking around and messing with the radio seeing if we could communicate with Steve's radio or the plane. It was pretty quiet just the sound of everyone messing with the radio and looking through the papers to see the exact flight plan of the plane.
Until finally a voice came through the radio, "Come in this is Captain Rogers can you read me?"
Peggy was talking to Colonel Philips about what we had found and what to do with everyone captured and the base. They both turned to look at the radio when they heard Steve's voice.
Morita answered him, "Captain Rogers what is your lo…"
"Steve is that you? Are you alright?" I said interrupting him and making him move out of his seat.
"Nora! Schmidt's dead!" Steve said. Maybe there's still time!
"What about the plane?" I asked.
"That's a little tougher to explain." He said. I could hear wind running through the plane where he was as it hit the speaker.
"Give me your coordinates we can find you somewhere to land." I said getting a map to start looking.
"There's not going to be a safe landing but I can still try and force it down"
"Steve we still have time. You don't have to do this." I said tearing up because I knew what his answer was going to be. "I can get Gramps, he'll know what to do."
"There's not enough time. This thing's moving too fast and it's heading to New York." Steve said. I could hear him flicking switched and buttons beeping.
"Steve…"
"I got to put her in the water." Steve said.
"Steve please, don't do this. We can find another way." I said crying a bit.
"Nora, you know there isn't." He said. "Right know I'm in the middle of nowhere, If I wait any longer a lot of people are going to die." He wasn't asking he was already going for it. When a commercial airline falls from max altitude to the ground it takes anywhere from three to four minutes. I had about half of that left to say goodbye.
"Nora…this is my choice."
"Please Steve, don't do this. Don't leave me alone." I said crying. I heard him move the plane handle down.
"It's okay Nora, you'll be okay. This was always supposed to happen. The three of us together to the end of the line. At least this way I can see him again. He won't have to wait alone." He said, his voice cracking at the end. "Maybe this time he'll have enough time to teach me how to dance before we meet again."
I was inconsolable at this point. "I guess I should probably take lessons so I don't knock you guys down again." I said chuckling sadly.
"You could wear that dress again, the red one from Christmas. It's your favorite." Steve said.
"It's only my favorite because you two liked it." I sobbed. "I love you."
"Nora, I'm so sorry baby girl. I didn't want this for you. I'm sorry. I lov..." and that's when the signal went out. All I could hear was a loud buzzing of radio static.
"Steve?...Steve" I sobbed. And just like that he was gone. I thought that learning that my soulmates had died and that I would never meet them felt horrible but it was nothing compared to what I was feeling right now. I felt empty, there was nothing for me to live for anymore. I lost it all and I was alone again.
I started to feel a pain in my chest and I had a hard time breathing, probably hyperventilating from how much I was crying. Then it happened. The chills down my spine but this time I felt them everywhere. I stood up from my chair trying to get help. At that moment Peggy walked inside.
"Nora?" She said looking concerned. I couldn't breathe and it felt like there were needles poking every inch of my body.
I felt a pain in my gut and I fell to the ground. I started glowing; Peggy started to slowly fade away.
"Pegs, I'm ahh!" And then everything got too bright and I was gone.
When the light finally died down, I was back. Back in the conference room at CERN Headquarters in Geneva. In 2011. The lights were off, and the room was wrecked. Everyone was lying around on the floor unconscious. I saw another glow and the time stone was standing in front of me.
"Welcome back." I said.
"Now you send me back." I said wiping my eyes. I looked at my sleeve and noticed that I wasn't wearing my uniform anymore. I was wearing the same clothes I came to the presentation in except now I was wearing my engagement ring on my right ring finger and I was also wearing my pocket watch necklace.
"You did what I sent you there to do." It said.
"Do what? Watch Steve and Bucky die?" I said through tears.
"To grow up. To find out what you're capable of. To find out if you were the right choice and you are. And most of all to get you ready for what's to come." It said.
"You keep saying that, What the hell is so bad you had to put me through all of that?" I yelled.
"Nora, in the upcoming years you are going to face all sorts of challenges, challenges that will test you a lot more than anything the past year or day in 2011 ever did."
"Why me?" I said.
"Because you're the only one who can. All of my previous hosts cracked under the pressure, you on the other hand, were born for this."
"You think I haven't cracked under the pressure? I'm a fucking train wreck. You let me fall in love with two amazing guys only to watch them die. I have nothing left. You didn't just crack me, you broke me. And if you think I'll be your puppet, or savior or whatever the hell you had planned for me, you can go fuck yourself because there is no way in hell that's happening." I said.
"You will, you're too good not too." It said. "My time's almost up. The temporal field I put up can't be sustained any longer. To everyone else it's only been a few minutes since the collider exploded. They'll never know you were gone and they can't know you were or where you went."
"Not like they'll actually believe me." I snarked back.
"Or they actually will and the results won't be pleasant." I said, "Now to make this look convincing."
"What are you…" It placed to fingers on my forehead and I felt weak. I fell to the ground. The last thing I saw before I lost consciousness was the door bust open and someone walk into the conference room. I saw their feet move towards me and then nothing.
Third Person's POV-
Tony kept moving through the last corridor standing between him and his daughter. He blasted through the last remaining beam and repositioned it to reinforce the structure. After he placed the last remaining beam and removed the last bit of rubble the door was clear. He tried to open it but it was jammed.
"Oh screw it," He raised his arm, took aim and blasted the door open. He walked in and saw the room in shambles. The remaining working lights were flickering. There were people lying around on the ground. No one looked seriously injured.
"Jarvis scan the room." Tony ordered his AI.
"Miss Stark is lying six feet ahead of you." Jarvis answered.
Tony walked forward and saw her. He dropped down to his knees and looked her over. He grabbed her hand. "Check for vitals." He said.
"Heartbeat detected." Jarvis said.
Tony let out a breath he hadn't even realized he was holding. "Get Coulson on the line."
"Stark, where are you?" Agent Coulson answered.
"I'm in. The structure's supported it's safe to come in and start evac. I'm heading back now." Tony said.
"We're heading in now." Coulson said.
"Let's get you out of here kid." Tony said looking at Nora. He picked her up and walked out of there. When he finally got outside he took Nora straight to an ambulance.
"I just got her out, she was unconscious when I found her." He told the paramedics. They snapped out of their shock and got to work immediately.
"You know her?" Coulson said.
Tony didn't know how to answer that. How was he going to explain this? Then he thought things out. He and Nora both went to MIT. Both were kid geniuses. And he happened to own a billion dollar tech company.
"Met at MIT some mentorship program Pepper signed me up for. I offered her an internship at Stark Industries but she turned me down. Said she wanted to do something with meaning and actually help people. We kept in touch. It's good to have someone you can bounce ideas off of." Tony answered.
"You don't seem like the mentoring type." Coulson said.
"I'm not but she's a special circumstance. From one kid genius to another it was easy to relate." Tony said.
"Mr. Stark, we're taking her to the hospital to get checked out. She's stable, just a bit dehydrated but we're taking her just to be sure. Would you like to come with us?" A paramedic asked.
"Yeah, I'm sure Agent Coulson can handle things from here." He said walking towards the ambulance.
"Mr. Stark you will have to be debriefed." Coulson said.
"Call my assistant and make an appointment." He retorted. He got into the ambulance and sat down next to his daughter.
The paramedics closed the door of the ambulance and drove off. It was a quick ride to the hospital. It was lucky that no one from the press had seen him get in the ambulance because that would have been a problem of its own.
Once at the hospital, Nora was taken to go get checked out and have a few tests done. Meanwhile Tony took off the suit and had it fold up into a briefcase. He was in the waiting room when he got a phone call from Rhodey.
"Hey man, you got her?" Rhodey asked.
"Yeah, they took her to check her out, run a few tests. She's stable, a bit dehydrated but she'll fine." He told her.
"That's great." Rhodey said relieved. "I don't want to spring this on you but Pepper saw the coverage of what's happening in Geneva and she saw you fly in. She's asking why you're there."
"Just tell her, SHIELD called me in to consult." Tony said simply.
"I thought she wasn't supposed to know about SHIELD." Rhodey said.
"You really think she doesn't know already?" Tony said sarcastically.
"Of course she does, you really don't know how to keep a secret." Rhodey says.
"Yeah I really don't" Tony said with a smirk. A doctor entered the waiting room and looked over to Tony.
"Got to go Doctor's here." He said hanging up.
"Mr Stark, Ms. Martell…" The doctor started.
"Doctor Martell actually." Tony corrected. Ms. Martell reminded him too much of Ellie.
"Oh right, Doctor Martell is doing fine. Her tests were all clear; she's a bit dehydrated, and her blood sugar's a little low but she's hooked up to some fluids that'll help with that. We're keeping her under observation over night as a precaution but she should be awake soon." The doctor said.
"Can I see her?" Tony asked.
"Of course, follow me." The doctor said.
Tony followed him down a hallway past the nurses' station and turned onto another hallway until they finally made it to Nora's room.
"If you need anything or if she wakes up press the red call button." The doctor said.
"Thank you" he said before walking in.
Nora was in a white hospital gown covered by a pale blue blanket. She looked pale and thinner than Tony remembered. The dark circles under her eyes let him know she was wasn't getting much sleep but considering everything he had put her through the past few weeks he knew that was on him.
He decided to turn on the TV in the room to try and drone out the sound of the heart monitor. It was mostly just infomercials and soap operas until finally he came across Nora's favorite childhood TV show, Bill Nye the Science Guy. He couldn't help but smile as he remembered all the times Anna would call to tell him of a mess Nora made trying to recreate and experiment she saw as a three year old.
Nora's POV-
I felt like I was floating. Everything around me was dark. I should have been scared but I wasn't I felt nothing. Then I wasn't floating anymore, I was lying on something. It was flat and soft. A bed of some sort? I could hear people moving around me. I smelled the familiar scent of antiseptic and I knew I was in a hospital. Someone took my pulse and drew blood. Then I heard a really annoying beeping. That was the only sound I heard for a while until I heard the beginning of Bill Nye the Science Guy. I was not expecting that.
I slowly opened my eyes and saw really bright fluorescent lights. "Urg" I groaned.
"Nora? Kid can you hear me?" I heard someone ask. I opened my eyes again and saw Dad.
"Hi." I said.
"Hey." He said I could hear the smile on his face. "You feeling okay?"
"Lights are too bright and that stupid beeping is giving me a headache." I looked over to the window and saw someone stop and take a look in before walking away.
"I'll call your doctor. He wanted to check on you when you woke up." He said leaning over to press the call button. In less than a minute a man wearing a lab coat walked in.
"Doctor Martell, you're awake. How are you feeling?" He asked.
"Like everything's too bright and too loud." I groaned.
"That's Normal considering how long you were in the dark." He said. "You blood work came in."
Oh crap, the gamma signature, I thought to myself. 'Stop panicking its taken care of" I heard the stone's voice echo.
"You were a bit dehydrated but we gave you an IV to replace some of those fluids along with a glucose solution to deal with your low blood sugar." I looked over to the window and saw the same man as before looking in.
I looked over to dad and said, "Can you pass me my phone please?" He looked confused but did so anyway.
"Doctor when can I leave?" I asked.
"I'd like to keep you overnight for observation." He said.
"I feel fine, I'd like to leave right now." I said sitting up.
"Doctor Martell, you just went through a very traumatic experience, you may not be thinking clearly." He said.
"Can you give us a minute?" Dad said giving the Doctor a look.
"I'll be at the nurses station if you need me." He said before walking out of the room. I got my phone out and sent dad a text message.
"Kid, you need to stay the night. They need to make sure you're okay." He said.
"Tony," I said getting his attention. Dad and I had this code we used when out in public to let each other know when we had to cut down on the father daughter behavior. "You're not my dad, I appreciate you being here but I'm old enough to make my own decisions and I want to get out of here. I don't want to be here, I want to go back home order pizza and cuddle with my dog on my couch watching some Sci-Fi or action movies. So can you please go get my release forms?" I said giving him a look. Dad looked like he wanted to argue but then his phone buzzed and he looked down at who sent the message. He walked out of the room.
I got out of bed and unhooked all the wires attached to me. I saw the person from before walk by but this time I locked the door and closed the blinds. I found my clothes in the coat closet." I got dressed and then there was a knock at the door. I walked over and unlocked the door. Dad walked in followed by my Doctor.
"Mr. Stark tells me you are adamant about leaving." He says.
"I am, why take up a bed someone else in worst shape might need if I'm perfectly fine." I said with a shrug.
"Even so, if you insist on leaving I need you to sign and extra form stating you're leaving against medical advice and that you know the possible risks. It also states that if something were to go wrong the hospital will not he held responsible for it." He said. I walked over took the pen and signed an initially everything.
"Is that everything?" I asked.
He sighed, "Yes it is."
"Okay, thank you for everything." I said grabbing my bag and walking out of the room. Dad just followed me out.
"Nora. Hey, Nora!" Dad called out to me.
"What?!" I said.
"You're going the wrong way." He said before putting an arm around my shoulders and leading me to one of the back exits. There a car was waiting for us.
One we got in the driver drove us to the airport.
"I checked you out of your hotel and had your things picked up." He said texting someone.
"Thanks, sorry I interrupted you during your lab time." I said.
"Don't be, It was good to get out of the lab." He answered.
I felt my phone buzz. I opened it and there was a message from Dad.
Did you see who it was that was watching you?
"How's the tower coming?" I said keeping up the small talk.
Didn't get a good look, He was bald, a bit short, wore glasses.
"It's going good. I'm working on adapting the central power grid so it won't interfere with the reactor." He said.
"Are you using a bypass to reroute the power away from the tower or just finding a way to block it?" I asked at the same time I received another text.
He sounds like one of the Shield lackeys that was at CERN with Coulson.
"I'm trying to cut the tower off the central grid." He said.
"You'd probably have to do that last. Cut it off too soon and there won't be any power for the construction team."
Shield was at CERN?
"Were here." Dad said. Apparently he had apparently gotten Stark Industries' jet sent to Geneva ahead of time.
My things were loaded in and we boarded.
As soon as we were up in the air and we were free to take off out seatbelts Dad started the interrogation.
"Ok spill. What's going on in that head of yours?" He said.
"Uh.." I looked towards the front of the plane wondering if the pilot could hear us.
"Relax the Cockpit is sound proof. Had it done a few years ago after a certain incident," he said taking a drink.
I got up and walked over to the bar and poured myself a scotch neat.
"Since when do you drink scotch?" He said looking surprised.
"We're still in European airspace, got to take advantage of the lower drinking age." I said taking a drink.
"What happened in there?" He said.
'Don't tell him about time traveling' the stone's voice echoed in my head.
"It was a pretty normal day. I got up, had breakfast, and went to CERN. I chatted a bit with Doctor Hawking then we went down for the presentation. Everything was okay until the collider was activated. Red lights started flashing, the alarms rang and the collider exploded. Everyone was knocked out. Then I was waking up in the hospital," I said.
"Are you sure that's all that happened?" He said looking concerned.
"Yeah, that's all." I said.
"You need to eat something. Doctor said you had low blood sugar, Might have been why you were out so long." He said getting up to look for snacks. He came back with a box of Granola bars and popcorn.
I grabbed a granola bar and dug in.
"You should spend a few days in New York. It could be fun. Go out watch a musical, visit a few museums, work on the tower." He offered.
"Thanks but I need to get back to Boston. I left Axl in a dog hotel and I have class and hours at the clinic." I said finishing the last of my scotch.
"You sure? You know, no one would say anything if you took a few days off."
"It's fine, I'm kind of looking forward to going back to school. I'm starting my internship at Mass Gen in two weeks." I said sadly. I'm not sure if I could keep myself together without Dad noticing something was wrong for too long.
"I could spend a few days down there." Dad offered.
"I think you already have enough to explain to your girlfriend with out adding a getaway to Boston." I said.
"What is it with you and Rhodey calling Pepper my girlfriend?" He said.
"Well you two are together." I said and he looked away. "Dad, you two are together, right?"
"Kind of. We kissed on a roof so I guess we are." He said.
"You two haven't made it official yet?" I said shocked.
"Well…"
"Dad!"
"I'm working on it okay." He said making me laugh. He reminded me so much of Gramps.
"Dad can I ask you something?" I said.
"You already did but ask away."
"After mom died, how did you deal with it?" I asked.
"Where's this coming from?" He said getting weirdly serious.
"After today, I just started thinking. I saw my whole life flash before my eyes and I thought that if I didn't make it out of there… What would happen?" I said.
"Nora, don't. You made it out. You're okay, that's all that matters." He said deflecting the question.
"How did you do it though?" I asked.
"I had you." Is all he said before going back to his phone.
"I'm sorry." I said. "I know you hate talking about it." I said before grabbing a pillow and a blanket and curling up in one of the seats. Dad got up and went to throw away the wrappers. He came back with a pint of ice cream and two spoons. He moved my feet over and sat down before putting them on his lap and handing me a spoon.
"Ben and Jerry's Fudge Brownie?" I asked.
"After the day you've had, I figured chocolate was my best bet." He said. We sat there eating in silence until finally dad started talking.
"I didn't get a lot of time with Ellie before everything happened. I wasn't exactly the best person to be around but she didn't let that stop her. We were both kids when we met and I wasn't ready to be a parent. She knew that and I knew she was terrified but she never let it show. When she died, I didn't have time to mourn or think of myself. I made her a promise and that was what kept me going. You kept me going."
"Is that why it's taking you so long to finally make things official with Pepper?" I asked.
"It's part of it. I've been alone for a while and I'm not exactly an easy person to be around." He said.
"Dad, she's worked for you for almost fifteen years, waited for you when you got kidnapped in Afghanistan and has stayed by your side after you became Iron Man and blew up your house. I don't think she's going anywhere." I retorted.
"Why are you supporting this?" Dad asked.
"Because I want you to be happy and she makes you happy dad. I can hear it in your voice when you talk about her on the phone." I say.
"Sometimes I ask myself how I ended up with such a good kid when I'm so screwed up."
"You're not screwed up, you're a work in progress and trust me when I say I'm not as good as you think." I said thinking of Steve and Bucky. I start to tear up.
"Kid you okay?" He asked.
"Uh yeah." I said sniffling a bit and wiping my eyes. "Just been a long day. I thing I'm going to try and get a bit of sleep. Wake me up when we land in Boston." I said moving the seat to be flat and rolling over to face away from Dad. If I started crying in my sleep I didn't want him to see it.