Chapter 146-
"I hate to interrupt…" Aya started.
"Then don't." Aiden said giving the stone a look.
"We're wasting time…" Aya said watching the Wren hold his son and stare at him as he slowly rocked the infant to sleep.
"The guy just found out he's a dad give him a minute." Tony said. "He deserves at least that."
Natasha took her phone out and took a picture of the two Wrens. Wren finally looked up and noticed the redhead.
"Nora might want that for the baby book." She said.
"That's probably the only photo of the two of us that'll ever exist." Wren said watching as his son drifted off to sleep. Natasha frowned when she said that.
"Where can I…" Wren started.
"There's a basinet over here." Rhodey said pointing to the basket next to the corner of the room. Wren walked over and gently put the baby down. He didn't even fuss.
"Where do we start?" Wren asked Aya.
Nora's POV-
I woke up on the couch with my head on the arm rest and the worst headache I have ever had. I miss Aya speeding up my recovery. Whatever serum was in my blood was too diluted to even help me avoid a hangover.
I sat up and noticed the empty bottle of vodka and the pizza box with crusts along with Aiden groaning on the other end of the couch.
"Friday dim the windows please." I said.
"Yes boss." Friday said and everything got dimmer.
"Better." Aiden grumbled.
"I feel gross." I said.
"Yeah…" He said. "Friday coffee."
"Already done." She answered and he got up.
I leaned back and started rubbing circles on my temples to try and soothe the headache. It was quiet until there was a loud annoying ringing making the both of us groan.
"Ah!" I cried out.
"Fuck!" Aiden said grabbing it and swiping his finger to answer it. "What?!"
"Mh." I groaned.
"I'm fine." Aiden said before turning to me. "Right now?... We'll head over in a bit." With that he hung up.
"Everything okay?" I asked.
"Yeah, we just have to head over to the compound for brunch." Aiden said.
"Right now? I can't handle another lecture." I whined.
"It's non-negotiable." Aiden said. "Let's go get ready, meet you in the hallway in half an hour."
"Sure." I said standing up.
Sure enough one quick shower and a quick blow out I was ready to go. I grabbed a short black dress and a blazer with some sheer black tights and black heels.
faiiint/faiiint/images/JBR_1676_
Okay I was starting to see what Aiden was getting at. It was a bit… dark. But I did currently feel like death so it fit.
I walked out at the same time Aiden walked out of his apartment. I slipped on my glasses and tapped the side to turn them into shades at the same time Aiden slipped his shades on. We headed downstairs in silence and got in the car.
As soon as he started it the radio started blaring music.
"Ah!" We both cried out.
"Fuck." I groaned.
"I told you it was too loud." He said after he shut it off.
"Okay, I'll give you that." I said turning the radio down and leaning against the door. "Any word on why brunch was 'non-negotiable'?"
"All they said was get here or get teleported here." Aiden said. "As for your plan to hide and work, I think we may have to put that on hold. Let things cool off."
"If they bring up me moving back to the compound…" I said.
"They are going to bring it up." He said. "Just stay calm and we'll talk them down."
"Going into deep cover isn't a bad idea." I reminded him.
"It's not but let's keep that as a last resort." Aiden said and I looked at him confused. "You know you don't want to leave them Nora."
"I don't but I also don't want to be locked away in the compound again." I said.
"It won't come to that." He said as we pulled in.
"It better not." I said getting out of the car. "And there better be coffee."
I looked around and the first thing I noticed was that there were more cars in the garage than normal. Most of the employees parked on the other side of the compound. Connor lived here and Ellie never came here without Wren so they never brought a car.
"Wait." I said.
"What's wrong?" Aiden asked.
"I think we're walking into an ambush." I said looking at the cars. Aiden followed my eyes and noticed all the cars.
"Yeah we might be." He said before going back to the car and pulling out a pair of metallic cuffs with strange engravings on it.
"Jewelry?" I asked confused. "Cute."
"They're special. Got them from Val a while ago after a run in with a psychic." He said putting one on my left wrist before putting another one on his. "Blocks anyone who tries to get into your head. I have a feeling we're going to need them."
"That'll probably just make them suspicious." I said.
"Suspicions we can deal with." Aiden said. "Opening the can of worms that we're still dealing with and you can't even say out loud is not an option right now."
"Yup. Let's do this." I said pulling my sleeve down to cover the cuff.
We headed inside and the closer we got to the common room the more we heard laughter and banter. I stopped before we got in.
"I've got your six." He whispered.
"And I've got yours." I answered before we walked in.
"There better be coffee." Aiden greeted.
"Seconded." I said as I walked in and everyone just stared at me.
"Nora." Someone said.
"Dad?" I asked seeing an elderly Rhodey sitting at the other side of the counter. He got up on shaky legs and walked over to me. He slowly reached up and put a hand on my shoulder as he teared up before pulling me into a hug.
"It's good to see you kid." He said letting me go.
"Good to see you too." I said.
"And you're blonde." He said.
"I know it's bright." I said.
"It's a good disguise." Someone else said. I'd recognize that smirk, the emerald green eyes, and that fiery red hair anywhere.
"Hey Nat." I said.
"Hey yourself." She said smiling at me before someone just threw themselves at me and hugged me. "Woah!"
"It is so good to see you." Wanda said in a less accented voice.
"Hi Wanda." I said hugging her back.
"It is good to see you again Nora." Vision said except he didn't look like vision.
"Vision?" I said confused. He wasn't red anymore and he was wearing a button down and khakis with a cardigan. He also didn't have the mind stone anymore.
"Yes." He said.
"You're… Human?" I asked confused. "Like did you pull a Pinocchio or something?"
That made everyone laugh.
"No I simply learned to alter my appearance." Vision explained.
"Okay." I said still staring. "Can't wait to get to that point in the timeline."
I turned and saw a man throw a cheerio in the air and catching it in his mouth.
"Some things really don't change. Hey Clint." I said.
"Hey Nora." He said with a wave.
"Sam." I said hugging him.
"Hey you." Sam said hugging me. "How's the future treating you?"
"Oh you know, loud annoying music, new food trends, awesome tech, it's the same and completely different at the same time." I said with a shrug before I smelled coffee. "Oh coffee."
"I got it." Steve said handing me a cup.
"Uh you're a god." I moaning as I drank it black.
"Breakfast is ready." Bucky said taking a platter of French toast out of the oven just as Wren and Ellie teleported in.
"Morning." Wren greeted.
"We got the pastries." Ellie said lifting up a bag.
"And you're here just in time." Steve said taking the bags from Ellie and Wren.
"You okay mom?" Wren asked sitting next to me. "You look a bit off."
"I'm okay. Nothing coffee can't fix." I said smiling at him.
"Just like your dad." Rhodey said smiling.
We all ate and made small talk reminiscing about my times before Rhodey brought up yesterday's incident.
"Heard you got into some trouble yesterday." Rhodey said.
"Trouble would imply I did something wrong and I didn't…" I said.
"Your face was on the news." Natasha deadpanned.
"Small local network and no one died." I pointed out.
"I think what she's getting at is your face shouldn't have been on the news in the first place." Sam said.
"Isn't that against one of your rules or something?" Clint added.
"Well the normal rules of time travelling kind of went out the window when Aya shot me through time by myself with no way of getting home." I retorted.
"That doesn't mean you should completely ignore the rules." Wanda said. "It's not fair but it is how its supposed to be."
"While this is a strange circumstance there are consequences to take into consideration." Vision said.
"Guys its not like I went back in time to kill Hitler as a baby or steal priceless artifacts. It was just a heartbroken kid I talked off a ledge. There was no damage to the timeline. Yes I took a risk and yeah my face being on the news being seen by thousands is not a good idea and is probably causing trouble for future me but its not going to rip a hole in the space time continuum." I said. "If it was Aya would be here yelling."
"You're not my host anymore." She said appearing. "I don't get to yell at you."
"Didn't stop you last night." Aiden muttered.
"Nora you set up a system so that if there ever was a code Cronus we'd know how to handle things." Natasha said. "And we know how to handle things."
"But we need you to let us." Sam said.
"This is an intervention." I said knowing what was coming next. I stood up and went for a refill.
"Nora you weren't listening." Steve said.
"For good reason." I said.
"Doll we just think that you're letting your issues from the past…" Bucky started.
"For fucks sake I'm not mad!" I shouted. "I talked it out. Apologized. We even hugged it out. We're good."
"Yet you're shouting." Sam pointed out.
"Because you're all trying to keep me locked up in this compound until I can finally go back to my time but its been months and I don't feel like being under hours arrest." I said. "I can handle myself."
"You don't have powers." Wren said.
"That's never stopped me before. Half the people sitting around this table don't have powers and that didn't stop them." I said. "And its not going to stop me."
"Ehem." Clint cleared his throat putting his hand out. Sam begrudgingly took out his phone and swiped up.
"I get it. You're trying to look out for me. I appreciate it. I really do but I'm good." I said. "I'd go stir crazy if I had to be on lock down again."
"Again?" Rhodey asked confused.
"You've only been here a few weeks…" Natasha said turning to Steve and Bucky who were both avoiding looking at Natasha.
"You didn't tell them?!" Sam asked Steve.
"You knew?" Wanda asked.
"Patient-therapist confidentiality." Sam said.
"We were trying to keep the circle small while we figured things out." Steve said.
"Wren Aiden Spencer Stark." Rhodey said glaring at Wren. "Have you been lying to me?"
"Oh you got the full name…" I taunted and Wren cringed .
"How long have you been here?" Clint asked.
"Uh four and a half month?" I asked Aiden to double check and he nodded.
"Four months?!" They all said turning on Steve and Bucky.
"Hey Connor, you said you wanted some input on that suit you were making…" Ellie said turning to her brother.
"Yup." Connor said.
"Good luck." Ellie said kissing Wren's cheek before they ran out.
"Guess now's a good a time as any to try out those new knives." Aiden said standing up.
"Yup." I said following after him out of the common room. "Let him rant and get it all out of his system. He'll go easier on you." I told Wren patting his shoulder before following Aiden out.
"Did not see that coming." I said.
"That makes two of us." Aiden said. When we finally got to the armory we grabbed a pack of knives and went to the target range.
"We're not really going to practice are we?" I asked.
"Course not." Aiden said handing me his phone. "Let's see how well your computer skills hold up against current tech."
"You do remember I helped program Friday?" I said typing in a small algorithm before we had access to the common room's live feeds.
Third Person's POV-
"So in the past four months you weren't busy with work or at conferences or stuck in another time you were stalling?!" Rhodey yelled at his grandson.
"Wasn't my call Gramps." Wren said. "Aya suggested to keep the circle tight to make sure mom wouldn't find out about… you know."
"Well at least she doesn't know. That would really screw things up." Clint said.
"What exactly has been going on the past four months?" Natasha asked.
"Mom showed up crashing through a wall." Wren said.
"Spent the night and then we started checking leads about getting her back." Steve said. "Went to Asgard."
"Thor and Bruce knew too?" Wanda said annoyed.
"Shuri and T'Challa too." Bucky said.
"So your small circle included everyone but us?" Rhodey said frustrated. "Don't you remember what happened the last time you decided to start keeping secrets from the team?"
"It wasn't like that Gramps." Wren said. "It's been a tough couple of months. We didn't exactly know how to handle being around mom. Her journal didn't specify how long she was here or what exactly happened while she was here."
"And she was still mad at Steve for the whole Sharon thing." Bucky said and Steve just gave him a look.
"Dad's ex-girlfriend?" Wren asked. "Does this have to do with mom blasting you through a wall?"
"He deserved it." Everyone around the table said.
"Anyway…" Steve said changing the subject. "We tried keeping her at the compound but she wouldn't listen and Aiden moved her out of the compound into his second apartment. She's also working with him which is how she ended up on the news yesterday."
"She's been working in the field?" Natasha said. "That's a disaster waiting to happen."
"Who's bright idea was that?" Rhodey said.
"Who do you think?" Bucky answered.
"Aiden." Natasha said.
"Nora seems well." Vision said. "Optimistic, hopeful…"
"And hungover." Clint added with a smirk.
"Like old times." Wanda said with a sad smile.
"Has she been talking to anyone?" Sam asked. "Just to make sure she's adapting well…"
"The only person she talks to is Aiden." Steve said.
"And Uncle Sam." Wren added.
"Sam knew too… come on, man!" Rhodey said annoyed. "She may be your soulmate but she's my kid! I should have been told the minute she showed up."
"Rhodey we didn't know what to do. We had the rules and the protocols but she showed up and it was like… it didn't matter. We had her back and that's all we could think about." Steve said.
"Gramps everything you're feeling right now is what we felt four months ago." Wren said. "I couldn't even be in the same room as her for the first couple of days. Dad couldn't even get a sentence out."
"Dude." Sam said looking at Steve.
"She was still mad at me." Steve said.
"We screwed up." Bucky said. "We're a team and we should have called when she showed up and we're sorry."
"What's done is done." Sam said. "Where do we go from here?"
"What do you mean?" Wren asked.
"She can't keep going out into the field. Her face was plastered all over the news." Natasha said.
"It would be unwise to put her in the field considering the risk of changing the timeline." Vision said.
"And the fact that half of the people at this table would be dust without her." Clint said.
"We can't keep her locked away." Steve said. "That backfired on us last time. Badly."
"Then don't tell her. Lie. Send her on a milk run. Keep her busy just keep an eye on her." Natasha said.
"And keep her out of sight." Sam said.
"What do you think we've been doing?" Bucky said. "Nora's not going to sit still and she's not going to go for busy work. She's good at what she does and for the most part Aiden has a handle on her."
"You really think Aiden's the best person to handle Nora?" Clint said. "He was out of the field for months and when it comes to Nora he has a soft spot."
"Don't we all?" Wanda retorted.
Nora's POV-
"Are they freaking kidding me?" I said annoyed.
"Well that was my plan in case Steve and Bucky didn't go for you working with me." Aiden said and I glared at him. "I was going to lie to them and we'd go off an do our thing."
"I know you said to wait but I think it might be time we seriously consider it." I said.
"You want to go off for weeks, even months at a time." Aiden said.
"Call it deep cover." I said. "Go to Europe or Asia dig deep for the First Order come back when we finally have solid leads. I used to do it all the time when I worked with the Mossad."
"We still have options." Aiden said.
"Short of going to more church sermons where they preach about the miracle of my multiple resurrections we have nothing." I said. "Say we go on sabbatical. Vacation somewhere and we do our own thing for a few weeks while everything dies down."
"There's no way they'll go for it." Aiden said.
"Which is why we're not telling them." I said "We can't get any headway in this with Bucky and Steve constantly looking over our shoulders. Oversight is good but not this much oversight."
"Okay we'll go deep." Aiden said. "We'll be on our own for months on end, working in the trenches. No back up so if we get in over our heads we're on our own."
"Wouldn't be the first time." I said.
"No it really wouldn't." He said.
"Aiden your presence is requested in the common room." Friday said.
"Time to go face the firing squad." Aiden said sarcastically.
"I can go with you if you're scared." I teased but genuinely offered.
"Ha ha." He said before walking out.
"I'll be in the lab." I called out. I headed down the hallway past Connor's lab where he was showing Ellie some plans. Kind of reminded me of when he's show her picture books while Sam cooked dinner and tell her stories. Specifically the kid version of my life story.
I smiled before heading to the lab I'd been using. I put on some gloves before pulling out Aiden's blood samples. I put in a vial in the centrifuge.
I was currently working on identifying what parts of his DNA were changed because of the mutation that gave him his powers and what part caused him to stop aging.
In a normal person aging is caused by the degradation on telomeres. Each time DNA is replicate they get shorter and shorter until its gone.
In Aiden's DNA it replicated normally getting smaller each time but after each replication there was an enzyme that attached to DNA working in the opposite direction from all other enzymes. If I could isolate that enzyme I could analyze it better and hopefully find a way to inhibit it.
I looked through the magnified images of his blood to see if there were any other changes. I looked through Aiden's medical history.
I could recognize the writing from the scanned pages as my own. There was the blood analysis I took off his body when he was playing possum. The high levels of narcotics and halogenics Snow was using to control him. The blood report from after we got him clean that Wren did on him. Everything was fairly normal.
As far as injuries went, Aiden had a few incidents but the only big one involved a tear in his aorta that Doctor Cho managed to repair using the cradle. It was pretty close though. He had to have multiple transfusions and it took weeks of recovery but he lived. There were a lot missing parts. There were no surgical notes. No details about how he got injured. Not even a date.
An aortic tear in the field…
"He should be dead…" I mumbled.
"Working on a project?" Rhodey said coming in from behind me. I quickly switched to another
"Something like that." I said. "Putting that PhD to some use. How's retirement?"
"Its good. I fish now." Rhodey said.
"You fish?" I said. "Like sit in a boat for hours waiting to get something?"
"Its nice and quiet." Rhodey said. "Mind coming on a walk with me? I have to get my steps in."
"Sure." I said. "Friday keep an eye on the centrifuge please."
"Of course boss." She answered before I put back the blood samples and took off my gloves.
"Ok ready." I said walking out with Dad.
"Wren's been nagging me to walk more." He said as we walked outside.
"High blood pressure? Cholesterol?" I asked slipping into doctor mode.
"All that steak finally caught up to me." He said making me chuckle.
"Guess that's not a problem anymore with all the fishing you've been doing." I said.
"Wouldn't be if I had actually caught anything." Rhodey said making me laugh.
"I think you might need a new hobby." I said.
"I think you're right." He said. "Birdwatching?"
"Do you actually like birds?" I asked.
"They fly? That's one thing we have in common." He said.
"Well it'll get you outdoors. Lots of hiking. Won't have to worry about not getting enough steps in." I said.
"What about you? Thinking of getting a new hobby?" Rhodey asked.
"Well surgery isn't currently an option." I said. "Research is good but it is a lot of waiting around…"
"I forgot what a workaholic you used to be." Rhodey said.
"I love what I do." I said. "You know what that's like."
"I do." Dad smiled. "But there's more to life than work."
"You're not talking about surgery or research. You're talking about field work." I said. "Dad I'm not going to stop. I'm good at what I do. I can't help people by fixing them but I can helping out in the field."
"Nora you did your time." Rhodey said. "You did thirty years in the field during the cold war and what you did…"
"I did what had to be done." I told him. "It's no different then when an F-22 fires a missile to take out one person and civilians get caught in the explosion."
"What you did followed you." He finished. "You did what had to be done. It was a judgement call and you made the best choice but you can't look me in the eye and tell me that it didn't change you because it did."
"I was trained to make hard choices dad. It wasn't easy but that's the job." I said.
"And you want to put yourself in that position again? Why?" He said.
"Because that's what we do Dad. Dad got kidnapped and held hostage in a cave for months and when he got out he fought to make things right for the rest of the world. Your entire career was in service to the country and then the world. Putting others first, saving the world, it's what our family does." I said.
"You have a kid." He reminded me.
"Yeah and he's older than me." I said. "With powers. The Wren that needs me is about thirty years in the past. There's nothing I can do but wait and I may as well be useful while I wait."
"There's no way to talk you out of this is there?" Rhodey said.
"Nope. Mind's made up." I answered.
"You know ever since I met your dad freshman year it feels like my entire life's revolved around keeping Stark's out of trouble." He said making me laugh.
"And there's no where else you'd rather be." I said.
"I don't know Hawaii… Fiji…" Dad said. "That could be nice."
"You wouldn't last more than a couple of days." I said. "And you'd be on the first flight back."
"That's probably true." He said. "If you're going out in the field you need to be careful."
"Always am." I said.
"I'm serious." Rhodey said. "And no more going viral. I don't want to see your on a news release first thing in the morning."
"It was a one time thing promise." I said.
"And would it kill you to call every once in a while." Rhodey said. "I'm your father, I worry."
"I promise I'll call and it won't be because I'm in trouble." I said as we walked back inside.
"And if you are in trouble…" He said.
"You're on speed dial." I said. "First call I make… after I stitch myself up."
"Nora." Rhodey said giving me the dad look.
"Kidding…ish." I said.
Third Person's POV- 2016
"Magic? That's your solution." Wren said looking at Aya like she had gone insane as he looked at the page with the spell written on it.
"The mystical arts have been around since before the universe came into existence." Aya said.
"So you pull a Houdini…" Tony started. "Say abra kadabra and you get my kid back?"
"No." Aya said. "We can get to Nora with Wren's help but we need to know where to go first. If we can get this spell to Nora then she can send us a message back with the date. Then we'll go get her, she comes back, and we can deal with Abernathy and get Snow."
"Abernathy?" Wren said looking at Aiden.
"Long story. Nora and I captured him which led to all of this." Aiden said. "I've been working on getting him to talk."
"Wait… Abernathy's here?" Wren said in the building.
"Interrogation room downstairs." Natasha said handing Wren a live feed of the room. Wren took the phone and let out a whistle.
"The years have not been kind." Wren said handing. "Tell me you're giving him hell."
"I'm just getting started." Aiden said smirking. "Want to help?"
Wren chuckled. "Thanks but I made Nora a promise I was going to enjoy the time I had left instead of obsessing over finding Snow and I'm keeping that promise."
Steve frowned at the mention of a promise. The way Wren talked about Nora, the same way she talked about him. Bucky gave him a concerned look but Steve just shook his head.
"Besides you have more important things to do." Aya reminded him handing him the folded page containing the spell.
"I'm British but I went to Oxford not Hogwarts." Wren said looking at Aya confused.
"He beat me to it by like ten seconds." Tony said.
"You're not performing the spell." Aya said. "You trained Nora, You know how she thinks, you know her better than anyone else including me. So you know exactly where to leave that where she'll find it."
"I can think of a couple of places." Wren said walking to the corner of the room to look at his sleeping son. "If she's in the future she's going to try and stay close to what's familiar. You two have any idea?" Wren asked Steve and Bucky.
"Uh…" Steve said shifting awkwardly.
"She spends all of her time at work or at home." Bucky said.
"Okay, that narrows it down." Wren said. "Her journal?"
"No, She'll still use it too often after she gets back." Aya said.
"So something she'll see but not mess with." Wren said "Can I go see the house? See if Nora's found any good hiding spots?"
"Sure." Aya said.
"I'll need an image of one of the rooms." Wren said. "So I don't teleport myself into the couch."
"Here." Aiden said showing a photo of Nora, Sam, and him that Connor had taken of them at brunch. It showed the open spaces in the kitchen.
"It works." Wren said before walking over to Steve and Bucky. "Clench up."
"What?" Steve said before Wren put a hand on his shoulder and teleported them to the house.