I never thought I'd say it but time traveling is like riding a bike. You can feel the changes in flow of energy, you instinctively know when to brace for a landing and you're ready to move without a second thought when you know a hit is coming before even seeing it.
Unfortunately Wren did not agree with me so when we landed back in 2015, mere minutes after Aya had first picked him up from he stumbled a bit and took me down with him.
"Whoa!" Wren said tripping and making us fall to the ground.
"Ow." I said.
"Sorry. Headrush. Forgot how disorienting that feels." He said smiling down at me.
"I used to think the same thing about teleporting." I said.
"We've come a long way haven't we?" Wren said.
"Who would have thought we'd go from dodging bullets in Afghanistan to jumping through time…" I started.
"To faking being in love and married, then actually falling on love, before dying, and somehow finding out I'm going to be a dad, meeting a son that was born after I was dead, going to said son's wedding and finding out I'm going to be a grandpa all in the same day." Wren said.
"Yeah time travel is complicated and you never get to do things in the right order but you get to everything eventually." I said.
"And we really did. We did it all and we did good didn't we?" Wren said tearing up.
"We sure did." I said tearing up before we sat up and Wren hugged me. We stayed like that for a minute before seeing the video camera and the notes he had spread out. "Keeping busy?"
"Uh sort of. I wasn't sure I was going to be here when you get back from the past or future or whenever Aya sent you…" Wren said awkwardly.
"The goodbye video." I said putting it together.
"You saw it?" Wren said.
"I did. Multiple times. Saved it on my laptop too." I said.
"Did I do it right?" Wren said as I looked at the speeches he had laid out. I say speeches because he had more than one written down. "There was a lot I wanted to say I just didn't know how to say it."
"You said exactly what I needed to hear when I finally got to see it." I said and Wren looked at me confused. "I was a wreck like crying over the last lasagna you ever made and not getting out of bed."
"I was afraid that was going to happen." He said sadly.
"It has to happen. It was all part of the grieving process it didn't last forever though." I reassured him.
"Wren?" He said.
"No actually Aiden." I said and Wren looked surprise. "There's a reason I named out son after him. I know he's a bit of a mess right now but he always keeps his promises though not in the conventional sense. He's really good at fencing."
"Aiden's never met a problem he didn't try to stab first." Wren said with a chuckle.
"Don't I know it." I said.
"I'm glad you two and Sam stuck together, through everything." Wren said. "Things always work out in the end."
"Big picture." I said tearing up. "I need to tell you something that I never got a chance to tell you before because when other me gets back I'll be a bit of a mess for a while and this might be the only time I get to tell you this. Just know that even if I don't say it, I love you. I'm in love with you and maybe I don't have your name on me but that just proves that you are the epic love of my life. We didn't do things in order and unfortunately it's a curse in this family to never have enough time even though we're all time travelers but the time we did get, the good times and bad meant everything to me and my only regret is not telling you this sooner. My timing's never been great."
"Your timing's always perfect." Wren said kissing me. "You don't have to regret anything because I wouldn't change a damn thing. Our life is a mess but it's our mess and I wouldn't have it any other way. That being said there is one thing I need you to fix when you get back."
"That list is getting pretty long." I said.
"Nora." He said looking me in the eyes. "You need to forgive Steve."
"I was not expecting that." I said.
"Yeah I didn't think I'd ever say that either but I mean it." Wren said. "I've seen a lot of things over the past week or day… but one thing that is so obviously clear is that he loves you, they both do."
"You make it sound so easy." I said.
"None of this is easy. Look Steve has made mistakes, many mistakes and don't get me wrong he is an idiot but the idiot does love you and more importantly he loves our son, they both do." Wren said. "I would give anything to be able to see Wren grow up but if it can't be there it should be Steve and Bucky. He isn't perfect but he's a good man, they both are. You've seen the three of them together, you know I'm right."
"They're a big reason our son is the extraordinary man we met." I admitted.
"Not to mention you're going to need their help to keep Wren safe. He's our son that comes with a lot of baggage. Like people that would love nothing more than to hurt us through him." Wren said.
"Not to mention Aya." I said. "Though was it just me or was she nicer to him than she was to us?"
"She gave him us as a wedding present. We didn't get shit except cryptic messages." Wren said.
"I kept your wife alive and took you to meet your kid. Your welcome." Aya said popping up.
"Well thank you." Wren said before giving her a sincere look. "Really."
"It was nothing and I may have slightly missed you. Nora's a bit more bearable to be stuck with when you're around." Aya said.
"Of course." I said sarcastically.
"Now if you're done professing your love for each other, we have places to be, people to take out and things to set in motion for the next 30 years." Aya said.
"That you do." Wren said before I remembered something.
"Speaking of…" I said reaching into my pocket and taking out what Aiden snuck into my pocket when I said goodbye to him. I was surprised to see a folded-up piece of paper.
"What's that?" Wren asked as I unfolded the paper to see the message in Aiden's very recognizable writing. I smiled as I read it. When all was said and done I was going to frame it.
"Spoiler." I said smiling as I folded it back and stuffed it in my pocket. I put my arms around Wren and kissed him one last time. He hugged me back tight kissing me with everything he had as I felt the temporal energy in me start to shift around me. "I love you."
"Love you and give our son a hug for me." Wren said pulling me back again, kissing me one last time holding on until the last second before letting me go.
2016-
The sirens were going off and all nonessential compound were barricaded behind designated safe rooms. The goons were making their way through the compound searching room by room for Abernathy. All the avengers were holding them off as best as they could while the heavy hitters were outside dealing with the helicopters shooting at the building.
"They're after Abernathy!" Steve said.
"No shit!" Aiden said stabbing one of the agents.
"How the hell did they find him?" Bucky said.
"I'd say it was the giant A on the side of the building that gave it away." Aiden said. "Friday status?"
There was no answer.
"Friday's offline but they're making their way down to the interrogation room." Tony said through the comms.
"Sam and the kids?" Rhodey asked.
"Clint and I are on it." Natasha said.
The fight went on but when they shot out an EMP blast taking out Tony, Rhodey, and Sam, they were overwhelmed.
When I appeared time was paused by Aya to get me a second to get my bearings.
"What the hell?" I said looking around at the damage.
"Snow's here to retrieve Abernathy, maybe even Aiden if he thinks he has a chance to get him back on his side." Aya said.
"Doubt it. That's just bad strategy. Using the same move more than once is sloppy. Snow's a lot of things but sloppy isn't one of them." I said looking at a frozen Steve and Bucky. Looking at them now they didn't age a lot in 30 years but the signs were there. "It'll be faster if we do this part without them."
"We?" Aya said surprised.
"Oh don't get me wrong I'm still pissed at you and we were going to have a talk but were in this together. That's not changing anytime soon." I said.
"Obviously. How do you want to do this?" Aya said moving bullets that were frozen in mid air.
"You take the bottom, I'll take the top, meet in the middle deal and we'll with Abernathy from there?" I proposed.
"Sounds like a plan but I'll take the top. You know how I like taking down helicopters." Aya said with a smirk.
"Of course." I said as I teleported downstairs to start taking out all of the intruders. I took away their weapons and teleported each of them to the usual place Aya and I teleported people in these situations, Siberia or the middle of the Sahara.
It seemed like it had been hours before I finally finished with my half of the compound and met up with Aya.
"Was that everyone?" I asked.
"Almost." Aya said as we appeared outside of Abernathy's cell there were about ten men keeping guard as two of them used a battering ram to try and get the door open.
"Predictable." I said tapping them on the shoulder sending them away. Once they were gone I stood by the door.
"Ready?" Aya asked.
"I already did this once." I said giving her the go ahead to restart time. Once time started moving I blasted the door open knocking Abernathy off his feet.
To everyone else all they saw was a flash of light and all the intruders were gone. Vanished into thin air.
"What the…" Bucky said blinking a few times before looking around confused.
"Where did they all go?" Wanda asked.
Steve looked to Bucky and at the same time it hit them.
"Nora." They said running out of the room.
"You took longer than expected." Abernathy couched thinking it was his men.
"Sorry, got a bit held up." I said walking in.
"You." Abernathy said.
"Me." I said with a smile as I walked into the interrogation room. "I sent your men away. I have to say the quality of henchmen has really dropped a lot in the last 40 or so years."
"They really don't make them like they used to." Aya said.
"You bitch!" He snarled before Aya blasted him into a wall while I flipped his chair up off the floor and pushed him into it.
"Now where were we?" I said taking the seat across from him.
"Nora!" I heard Steve and Bucky call out from down the hall. I waved my hand and slammed the door shut so we wouldn't be interrupted.
"I won't tell you where Snow is. I'm not going to let you end this on your terms." Abernathy said. "I want you to live in fear. Looking over your shoulder never knowing when…"
I pinched my fingers together using my powers to force him to shut up.
"That's enough out of you." I said as Bucky and Steve started banging on the door which Aya reinforced with a forcefield. "You know I promised Aiden he would get to decide what to do with you? After everything he deserves to make that choice but I've had some time to think it over and I changed my mind."
"Nora." Aya said warning me.
"I want you dead. I could snap your neck like a twig just like that." I said snapping my fingers. "I would be doing the world a favor. You and Snow have ruined so many lives and I know that if I were to lock you up in any prison you'd find a way to crawl your way out. That or you'd die way too soon. You're old as hell."
"Nora Stop!" Aya said in Old Norse. One of many languages I had picked up over the years. She only used it when she wanted to freak someone out or talk smack about someone in front of them to be extra annoying.
"Aya this is what was supposed to happen to begin with." I said.
"it's not his time and you know it." Aya said.
"Okay I just… I have to say it because even if I saw it I can't believe it actually happened." I said turning to her.
"Believe what?" Aya said.
"Seriously Aya?" I said in disbelief. "In sixty years we have lost so many good people."
"Death is a part of life." Aya said making me groan.
"We lost the commandos, Dottie, Gramps, Grandma Maria, Jess, for fucks sake we lost Wren. All good people we could have saved and even more we could but aren't going to and this is the asshole you're choosing to save? Fucking Abernathy?" I said.
"I didn't save him, we did." Aya corrected. "Nora you know the rules."
"Aya the rules flew out the window when I saw my own grave, found out my kid's going to be an orphan sometime in the next five years and you picked up my dead husband and bounced him around everywhere from 2015 to 2045." I said.
"I did that to fix my mistake, the consequences of which I now have to live with." Aya said. "That being said you've seen the future and you know that he will eventually get what is coming to him."
"He becomes a cult leader." I deadpanned. "That tried to kill us."
"Half the people closest to you have tried to kill you at some point. Two of them actually did." Aya said. "But you forgave them and you chose to save them because you truly believe that everyone deserves a second chance."
"Most people but this guy…Aya even you have to admit he's beyond lost." I said.
"I wouldn't say he is completely lost. The Lianist were obsessed followers but they did a lot of good in a world that was complete chaos before they were corrupted by Abernathy's ambition." Aya said.
"I'm not buying it." I said.
"Nora you gave Aiden a second chance after he killed you, Nothing changed with Wren when you found out about his past, You helped Dottie defect, you gave Howard more than one second chance to pull himself together and to this day you're still holding out help that he pulled himself together towards the end." Aya said. "I've have existed and lived among humans since the dawn of time. I have seen humanity at it's best and worst and you are the best of the best. Your life has not been an easy one and it would have been so much easier for you if you had just given up on the world but you didn't because you know as well as I do that no one is born truly evil, life is what makes evil."
"And you think giving him more life is going to fix him?" I said.
"Time has a way of fixing itself… in this case, you." Aya said.
"Bigger picture." I said understanding what she was getting at.
"Exactly." Aya said. "And if that isn't enough just remember he's going to have to go through puberty and toilet training all over again but all while having a fully grown conscience."
"He'll essentially be stuck in a prison he won't be able to escape." I said and the thought of that did make it slightly better.
"So?" Aya said.
"Yes." I said before turning to Abernathy who was just looking back and forth at Aya and I.
"So any last words?" I said.
"You're not going to kill me." Abernathy said confidently.
"No, not today but I promise you I will be the last face you ever see." I said with a smirk.
"You're weak." He said with a smirk.
"No, I've just seen the bigger picture." I said grabbing his hand tight.
"I'll never tell you where Snow is." Abernathy said.
"You don't have to. I already know." I said as my eyes started glowing and I focused on moving time backwards through him. Slowly the changes to his appearance started occurring faster and faster.
The door to the room slammed open.
"Nora!" Bucky said.
"NO! What are you doing!" Aiden screamed but I didn't stop. "Stop! Stop it!"
I didn't let go until laying on the table in front of me was a small bald new born Abernathy.
I picked him up and kept him at arms length before handing him over to Sam Wilson.
"Drop him off at the closest fire station for me. And tell them not to give him to any religious nutjobs, I don't want him getting any crazier." With that I teleported up to the common room where Sam and the kids were waiting.
"Oh there's mommy's little angel." I said taking Wren out of Sam's arms.
"Ah!" Wren cheered and I blew a raspberry into his cheek.
"Auntie!" Connor said hugging my leg.
"Hey buddy." I said ruffling his hair before kneeling down to hug him tight.
"Welcome back." Sam said rocking Ellie in his arms.
"It's so good to be back." I said before standing up and waving my hand towards the window reversing time to put all the glass back together and fixing the room. "Aya you mind?"
"Seriously?" Aya said.
"Do I need to say the words again?" I said.
"Uh." She groaned before walking out of the room repairing all the cracks and damage as she walked past them.
"Did you see Wren?" Sam asked.
"I did." I said smiling. "We got a few extra days together."
"Days?" Sam said surprised. "How long were you gone for?"
I was about to answer when Dad ran in.
"Nora!" Dad said pulling me into a hug. I hugged him back tight remembering the promise I made my little sister not to mention really missing him.
"Dad." I said.
"Don't ever do that again." He said.
"No promises." I said being realistic. He gave me a look before he looked at the jacket I was wearing and recognizing it.
"Is that…" he started.
"The future is now." I said with a shrug.
"Nora!" Aiden screamed storming in. "What the fuck were you thinking?!"
"Aiden calm down." Bucky said.
"NO! We had him. We had him right where we needed him and he was our only lead…"
Aiden ranted and lectured and shouted and I let him get it out of his system because it had been a tense day for him all things considered and he need to get it out so he could focus. It took about twenty minutes before he started calming down.
"And a fucking baby Nora? A baby? He won't talk now hell now I can't even kill him." Aiden said.
"Are you done?" I said.
"That's really are you going to say about it?" Aiden said. "We have spent years…"
Before he could start again I pulled the folded paper out of my pocket and held it out in front of his face.
"What the hell is that?" Aiden said.
"Souvenir from the future." I said insisting he take it.
"You really think a postcard is going to…" Aiden said yanking it out of my hand.
"Open it." I said.
"Whatever it says…" he continued.
"Open it." I said I said firmly. He glared at me before doing as I said.
He read it over and his eyebrows furrowed in confusion before looking at me.
"This… This is my writing." Aiden said.
"It is." I said confirming it.
"Kick his arse -A" Sam said reading it. "Coordinates?"
"Snow's location." I said. "Your welcome."
"You got that from the future? Isn't that like not good in a butterfly effect sort of way?" Rhodey asked.
"Normally but this is an exception." I said.
"We have him." Aiden said. "Let's just pop over and…"
"Wow, take a breather. It's been a really long day and I haven't been home for over a year so Snow can wait until tomorrow." I said.
"But…" Aiden started.
"Wait you've been gone a year?" Bucky said eying me up and down finally noticing the difference.
"More like 15 months, two weeks, three days. Roughly." I said.
"But Wren went to get you." Steve said.
"He did but without a host Aya can't really aim right and she overshot it a bit." I said before I noticed the sleeping speedster on the couch who had apparently slept through the entire attack. "Could be worse. Uh is someone going to tell me what happened to Pietro? Or when he even got here?"
"Oh well he sort of took Aya to get Wren or well a Pietro went to the past." Sam Wilson said.
"huh?" I said confused.
"Time remanent." Aya said popping up out of nowhere.
"A paradox?" I said.
"An accidental one that fixed itself." Aya said before Pietro started screaming in pain.
"Pietro!" Wanda said.
"Aya? What's happening?" I said.
"I don't know. It shouldn't be happening the remnant's already been taken care of." Aya said.
"Are you sure you took the remnant and not the real Pietro?" I said.
"What sort of question is that Nora? Of course I took the remnant. I knocked out the real one just to be sure I could keep them apart." Aya said.
"Nora do something!" Wanda said.
"I've never dealt with a remnant before Aya?" I asked as she formed a temporal field to reverse the damage and keep him stable but then the strangest thing started happening, he started bleeding. I handed Wren to Aiden and went to look him over.
"This shouldn't be happening." Aya said.
"These are gunshot wounds." I said putting my hands on the wounds traying to stop the bleeding.
"Shit." Aya said realizing what was happening before stopping what she was doing.
"Aya do something!" I said.
"I-I can't." Aya said and Wanda cried out.
"Pietro!" Wanda screamed in pain.
"Aya!" I said but Pietro's heart just stopped and he was gone. "Starting compressions we need to get him downstairs…"
"No." Aya said.
"We can…" I started.
"Nora he's gone." Aya said.
"No!" Wanda cried.
"Aya what the hell?" I said as it started sinking in as I moved out of Wanda's way and went to Aya. "He was fine a minute ago."
"He was not injured in the fight." Vision said.
"No but he did get injured in Sokovia." Aya said.
"No he didn't. I was there. Nora shielded him." Clint said.
"But I wasn't supposed to." I said remembering the fight we had on the helicarrier after.
"In the original timeline Pietro was meant to die in Sokovia saving Clint but Nora interfered when she wasn't supposed to." Aya said.
"That doesn't explain why he still died." Tony said as Wanda sobbed over her brother's body. Sam took the kids out of the room.
"A time remnant is a paradox. Essentially it happens when two identical copies of a person exist in the same plane of time." I said. "It's rare almost impossible for it to happen."
"It's only happened once before." Aya said.
"What happened then?" Steve asked.
"Pompeii." Aya and I said at the same time. Everyone looked at us horrified.
"But the remnant was already gone." Bucky said.
"Yes but the possibility of creating more wasn't." Aya said. "I told you before he was supposed to die and time wants to happen. Remnants create the possibilities of infinite paradoxes that would splinter the flow of time and in order to prevent that time has a way of correcting itself."
"By moving time through Pietro back to when he was originally supposed to die thus preventing any more paradoxes from being created." I said.
"We've really made a mess of things." Aya said.
"That's one word for it." I said.
I took Sam and the kids home before heading back to the compound and filling out the death certificate putting down the cause of death as him being caught in the crossfire of the fight that occurred hours earlier. Wanda had shut down. Last I saw her she was curled up in a ball on the living room couch staring at the spot where her brother's body had been before being moved into the morgue.
"Hey." Steve said as he and Bucky appeared in the doorway.
"Hey." I said finishing up the medical report to go with the death certificate.
"You okay?" Bucky asked.
"Not even close but what else is new." I said.
"It wasn't your fault Nora. You couldn't have known." Steve said.
"Aya tried to warn me but I didn't listen." I said typing away.
"If you had listened he would have died in Sokovia. You gave him time he wouldn't have had any other way." Steve said.
"That doesn't make it any better." I said looking at the time. "I'm going to go drop this off and head home."
"We should talk." Bucky said. "We need to talk."
"And I need to make sure Aiden doesn't try to go after Snow on his own without any back up, and plan a funeral, and deal with any other consequences of screwing up the timeline and go to work and get my baby to start formula instead of breast milk which is going to screw up his sleep schedule which means I have to do all of that on almost no sleep." I said. "I know we need to talk just… not right now."
"Of course." Steve said apologetically.
"Sorry, didn't meant to snap it's just been a hell of a day." I said standing up and teleporting out.
By the time I got home Sam had already taken the Connor and Ellie home and Aiden had already put Wren down.
I stood next to the crib looking down at my sleeping baby as he slept peacefully. He was going to grow up to be an extraordinary man but I wouldn't be there to see it.
Five years.
I only had five more years with him before I would be gone, killed by a purple space dinosaur.
Everyone dies but in all the ways I expected it to happen, that one was one I never considered or even thought possible. Wade was always a bit off… he was probably not being literal but that just raised more questions I was not going to get any answers to anytime soon.
"Hey." Aiden said.
"Hey." I said gently rubbing Wren's cheek with my thumb before turning off the lights just leaving on the starry nursey light before walking downstairs. Aiden poured me a scotch and took a seat.
"You look like you need it." He said putting it down in front of me.
"That's an understatement." I said picking up the glass. "It's good to know some things never change."
"Kind of like my handwriting." Aiden said holding out the note his future self had slipped into my pocket. "Should I even ask?"
"There's not a lot I can tell you." I said.
"But you can tell me about this." Aiden said.
"You slipped it into my pocket before I came back without anyone seeing it. I didn't even see it until I dropped off Wren." I said.
"Well it was for nothing since my contact came through. You just verified the intel was right." Aiden said.
"Good to know I didn't create another paradox." I said.
"It wasn't your fault Nora." Aiden said.
"Tell that to Pietro." I said. "Or Wanda."
"You gave him time he wouldn't have had any other way and if you hadn't you'd still be stranded in the future with no way home and your son would have to grow up without both of his parents." Aiden said and I felt sick to my stomach realizing that was still going to happen. "What's done is done. Now we need to focus on what comes next starting with Snow since Abernathy is now in diapers."
"Abernathy's been handled." I said.
"Handled doesn't mean dead." Aiden said.
"Whether he's in diapers or six feet under he's not our problem." I said. "Guessing you already looked up where this is exactly?"
"Yeah and you're not going to like it." He said typing something into his tablet.
"I've been sent to Nazi concentration camps and Hydra bases with no back up or powers wherever it is can't be that bad." I answered before Aiden handed me his tablet showing me the satellite images for the corresponding coordinates. I shouldn't have said anything. "You've got to be fucking kidding me. Chernobyl?"
"It's the last place anyone would look, the one place no one ever wants to go and…" Aiden started but stopped.
"And I buried his son alive with nukes and he wants to repay the favor." I said finishing his thoughts.
"Eye for an eye." He said. "I'll head to Kiev tomorrow and do some scouting…"
"No." I said sipping my drink.
"Nora he could be on the move as we speak." Aiden said.
"You are not going after him alone." I said.
"I won't." he said.
"You will. You and I are way too close to this for either of us to go off on our own. Not to mention going into a place like Chernobyl without any backup is a death sentence. We either both go or neither of us goes." I said.
"We've been after him for years Nora this is the chance we've been waiting for." Aiden said.
"And we will but we need to stay level headed. Come up with a plan before…" I started.
"You mean like what you did with Abernathy?" Aiden said. "We agreed I would be the one to deal with him."
"You got your turn and I know I jumped the gun but its better this way." I said.
"How? You turned him into a baby. He's going to grow up and he'll pick up right where he left off." Aiden said. "The plan was to end it once and for all."
"Abernathy was a foot soldier following orders. If or when…" I said correcting myself before feeling a bit drowsy. "He pops up again you can take him out and rub it my face all you want. Snow will be dealt with."
"You said the same thing before." Aiden said angrily before sighing. "Nora, I understand this isn't easy for you. You're a doctor, your job is to save people not kill them."
"I've killed before." I reminded him.
"It's not the same for you and me. Any sympathy, remorse or guilt was beaten out of me but with you I saw it in your eyes when you were going through those files. You remember every single one of their names and faces, how you did it, how they begged, you probably even know the names of everyone in their families. And that's not a bad thing, it just means you're a good person. Too good." Aiden said as my hand started to shake my the grip on my glass started slipping.
"Aiden…" I said as my vision started blurring.
"I know that when it comes down to it you will do what needs to be done but you'd hesitate and that's a chance I can't afford to take. Not with Snow." He said standing up.
"You spiked my drink." I said realizing what was happening.
"I made a promise Nora." He said.
"Aiden don't do this." I said standing up as the room started spinning.
"As long as Snow is breathing you and Wren will never be safe." Aiden said as I started falling and he caught me. "I'm going to do what needs to be done, you can yell at me all you want when I get back."
He put me down on the couch and kissed the top of my head.
"Have a nice nap sister." Aiden said as everything went dark.
Third Person's POV-
Aiden walked to the door grabbing the bag he had already packed before Nora arrived.
"You should really listen to her." Aya said.
"Are you going to stop me?" Aiden said.
"That's not what I do." She said.
"You know I'm right." Aiden said.
"So is she." Aya said.
"You know her better than anyone, can you honestly tell me that if I waited for her she wouldn't hesitate?" Aiden said.
"She'll do what needs to be done. But I also know that if it came down to choosing between keeping you alive and taking down Snow, she'll always pick you." Aya said.
"Then you know why I have to do this." Aiden said glancing at the couch where Nora was knocked out. "Whatever she saw in the future, she's off. Keep an eye on them while I'm gone."
"That's all I ever do." Aya said watching Aiden walk out. Of course as soon as he did Wren started crying. Aya teleported upstairs and looked down at the crying baby. "You and your mother are a handful."
Wren whimpered before reached up for Aya.
Aya sighed before picking him up.
"We both shared your mom for nine months and did okay. Think we can handle a few hours by ourselves?" Aya said before a smell hit her. "That's disgusting. If I hadn't already created one paradox today I'd move time forward a bit so Nora could clean this up."
"Ah!" Wren started crying.
"Alright, alright." Aya said walking him to the changing table.
That's how Aya spent the following 12 hours.
Nora's phone went off more than once during that time but Aya let it ring mostly because she didn't feel like dealing with people. Nora was the one with the emotional endurance to put up with everyone.
Around the twelve hour mark Bucky walked in with Steve determined to finally have the long awaited talk with Nora.
"Nora we brought coffee and bagels and I know there's a lot going on but we need to talk." Bucky said.
"Hate to burst your bubble but that talk is going to have to wait." Aya said as she fed Wren some baby food.
"Nora I need to say it. I know I screwed up and I have a habit…" he started.
"You really need to…" She continued.
"No! No we are doing this now because if we keep putting it off until things calm down we're never going to do it because our lives are messes and you get blasted and lost in time and Steve rushes it and says something stupid so we are doing this now Nora." Bucky said. "Steve talk."
"I say the wrong thing and I screwed things up with us but I never stopped loving you and I should have told you that to begin with because there is nothing to think about. I love you and if you give me a chance to I'm going to love Wren too because even if I'm not his dad and I'll never be a replacement for Wren I'd be the luckiest man on earth to have a family with you." Steve said.
"Well that was really nice but pointless considering Nora didn't hear any of it." Aya said before turning to Wren. "Ah."
"Am." Wren said eating his food and smiling.
"What?" Steve and Bucky said before Aya turned to them with glowing eyes.
"Aya!' Bucky said frustrated.
"If you two are going to be around you really have work on that." Aya said picking up Wren and burping him.
"Where's Nora?" Steve said.
"Asleep on the couch. Aiden drugged her last night before he went after Snow on his own." Aya said.
"What?!" Bucky said running to the living room.
"Uh…" Steve said debating whether he should go check on Nora or keep an eye on Aya who was still holding the baby. "Should you be…"
"What?" Aya said as Steve kept glancing at Wren. "We lived inside Nora together for nine months, and he lives under the same roof as two former assassins but sure I'm the problem."
"I didn't mean… just thought you and Nora." Steve said picking his words very carefully.
"She'll be up in a few minutes." Aya said just as she felt Wren's dirty diapers. "But if you want to get back in her good graces you can take care of that."
She said handing the baby to him.
"He." Steve corrected before he heard a very loud poop sound while the baby just giggled as Steve's bewildered look. "Oh that it."
Steve went upstairs and quickly cleaned up the baby before walking downstairs.
"Nora." Bucky said gently shaking her urging her to wake up.
"Mhm…" She groaned still deeply asleep.
Aya then teleported over and splashed a glass of water on her face.
"Ah!" Nora gasped accidentally blasting Bucky into the wall by accident.
"Bucky!" Steve said while Wren cheered out loudly.
"EEEHHHH" Wren cheered grasping on tightly to Steve's shirt.
Nora's POV-
I felt the water on my face and I just reacted only for the light of day to burn my eyes and for me to come to in my living room with bucky on the ground, Aya looking down at me with a smirk and Steve… Steve was holding my baby who looked very comfortable in his arms.
"Oh good you're up." Aya said.
"What?" I said confused before it hit me. "Oh shit Aiden!"
"He's probably in Kiev by now." Aya said.
"Kiev?" Bucky said standing up.
"Snow." I said standing up and feeling a bit light headed since I stood up too fast. "He knocked me out last night and went after him on his own."
I took Wren from Steve.
"I need to go make sure he doesn't get himself killed." I said running to the coat closet and pulling out my go bag.
"Nora just hold on a minute…" Bucky said.
"Bucky he has a…" I said looking at the time on my phone. "Twelve hour head start. Twelve hours, really Aya?! You couldn't have woken me up sooner?"
"After causing one paradox I thought I'd give the space time continuum a chance to pull itself together before meddling again and you looked tired." She said.
"Oh you think?" I said mildly annoyed as I entered my phone password and tried calling Aiden only for the call not to go through. "Shit."
"I've got to go, if I hurry maybe I can stop him before he goes into Pripyat." I said.
"Pripyat? Why would he go there?" Bucky said.
"Because that's where Snow is." I said.
"Nora wait we can get the team and…" Steve started.
"I've got it handled besides Wanda needs you more." I said taking the bag and teleporting to the tower.
"Nora!" Dad said jumping off the couch.
"Need you to babysit, going to Chernobyl be back later." I said handing him Wren and the diaper bag before teleporting to the compound for weapons. I quickly activated the tracker I had put on Aiden a while back for situations like this as I went through the weapons locker at the compound.
"Nora!" Natasha said running in with Clint as I was loading a gun while my phone pinpointed Aiden's exact location so I could teleport right to him. "What's going on? Steve just called hysterically…"
"My brother in law's an idiot." I said running out after picking up a few knives before going down to medical.
"He's going for Snow?" Clint said.
"Yeah and the asshole drugged me last night so he could do it so now I have to go to a radioactive wasteland to stop him from getting killed so I can kill him." I said.
"Did she just say radioactive wasteland?" Sam said as I quickly looked through the medicine locker.
"Where is it…" I said speeding through it.
"Are you going to drug Aiden or…" Natasha started before I grabbed the iodine pills and quickly swallowed one dry.
"Precaution." I said staffing the bottle into my pocket before my phone dinged. "Got him."
With that I teleported to an abandoned road in the middle of nowhere as a car started coming towards me speeding down the road. It came to a screeching halt while I stood there glaring at the driving.
"Shit." I heard Aiden curse. He quickly opened the car door and walked towards me. "I had to do it."
"You're an idiot." I said.
"Snow needs to die and you would have done the same thing in place especially after everything that happened yesterday..." he started.
"No because after everything that happened yesterday, getting lost in time, the compound getting attacked, seeing Wren again my priorities are clearer than ever. Snow needs to be stopped, I'm not arguing that but it's not all or nothing." I said.
"Taking him out is the only thing that matters." Aiden said.
"No it's not. You, Me, Sam, the kids that's what matters. He's a monster and he needs to be stopped but you can't forget why you're doing this because if you really think that taking him out is the only thing that matters then I hope we never find him and if Wren was here he'd tell you the same thing." I said before taking the pill bottle and tossing them at him. "Now stop being an idiot and drink your iodine pill because if we make it out of Pripyat I don't want to die of radiation poisoning later.
"Okay." Aiden said.
"Oh and if your ever drug me again I'll cut your balls off." I said.
"Sorry." He said getting back in the car before we drove the rest of the way.
It was quiet for the next half hour or so. Aiden just kept his eyes on the road while I typed away on my phone.
"Are you really going to ignore me the entire way there?" Aiden said.
"I'm not ignoring you, I'm coming up with a plan so we don't go in there guns blazing and die." I said flicking my phone up to put up a hologram of Pripyat. "Okay so Pripyat is 2km southeast from what used to be the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, here. This little green dot are the coordinates future you gave us. And this is a map of the radiation levels in the city."
Suddenly everything changed color from red to orange and yellow and some light barely some form of green on the edges.
"Let me guess, red is dead?" Aiden said.
"Red is horrible gruesome death within the next twelve months." I said.
"And it happens to be where Snow is now?" he said.
"No, Snow is here at this former Soviet Bunker in the yellow zone." I said.
"How much damage is yellow?" Aiden said.
"I'll put it to you like this, I'm really glad I already have a kid and that I got it right on the first try because after this it might not be possible." I said.
"You know it's not too late. I can do this on my own." Aiden said.
"That's not happening." I said. "We're doing this together."
"What about Steve and Bucky? Don't you want to have a family with them?" He said.
"I already have a family." I corrected. "Even if that includes stubborn idiots that think going into a radioactive wasteland on their own is a good idea."
"Did I mention I was sorry?" Aiden said. "Looks like we can jump the fence here and go through this very nice forest over here."
"That's a bad idea." I said.
"Are you afraid you're going to ruin your shoes?" he teased.
"No but that nice forest you want to go through is called the red forest of death and is very radioactive." I said.
"Never mind." Aiden said.
"We're going to have to go around and then walk the rest of the way." I said.
"Shouldn't be too bad as long as it doesn't rain." Aiden said.
Of course that was exactly what ended up happening because just being in a radioactive city just wasn't enough it had to rain too.
"This week just doesn't want to end." Aiden said.
"I'm ready to get off the emotional rollercoaster." I said as we took shelter in abandoned apartment building I put the duffle bag I was carrying down as Aiden did the same. He unzipped the bag and took out two water bottles and protein bars before tossing me one of each.
"We're so close to the end." Aiden said with a smile.
"Are we?" I asked him remembering that Abernathy would come up and the future Aiden was still doing the exact same thing although a bit more jaded. The only time he would ever really smile was when he was with the kids, mostly Morgan. He had a soft spot for her and Wren.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"After we take out Snow what are you going to do?" I asked him.
"I never thought about it." Aiden said sitting down in a worn-down wooden chair. "I guess I'll retire if there's even such a thing in this line of work."
"It's rare but it does happen." I said. "Dottie used to say that spies don't retire they get retired."
"That's still true." Aiden said. "You never talked about her."
"There wasn't much to say." I said.
"You worked with her for over ten years, she trained you after you convinced her to defect, there's a lot you can say." Aiden said.
"Dottie Underwood was an alias she was using in the late 40's. She lived in the same boarding house as Peggy, on assignment of course. The first time we met was during a time jump and she drugged me with a hallucinogen so when I time jumped in front of Steve a bit after he got out of the ice I didn't think it was real." I said.
"She sounds fun." Aiden said.
"She was." I said smiling as I remembered all the trouble we got into. "I met her again when Aya left me stranded in the 1950's when she was trying to teach me a lesson. I was pissed at Howard and Peggy and the rest of the SHIELD founders for recruiting Zola, for giving him a chance to continue his work knowing what he was doing to Bucky but not being able to stop him. I was so mad I ran away and lived in a temple for a year."
"Sounds like you." He said.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I said.
"Running away from your problems? You're here with me when you could be making up for lost time with Steve and Bucky." Aiden said.
"This isn't running away, this is unfinished business." I said.
"Like Dottie?" Aiden said.
"There's nothing unfinished there." I said.
"Not according to her file." Aiden said. "There were a lot of gaps in between missions, time unaccounted for. Strange for an agent that used to work for the enemy."
"Most of the work I did was off book." I said. "I was in a legal grey area since I technically didn't exist at the time. I was sent in when they needed something done without any possibility of it leading back to SHIELD."
"Doesn't sound like something the great Peggy Carter or Howling Commandos would do." He said.
"They didn't." I said. "Most of the Cold war was fought in the shadows by spies not by soldiers. If there was one thing America did not have back then it was good spies, at least not any working on our side. When I saw her again I saw an opportunity. I didn't trust SHIELD for obvious reasons, I couldn't tell Gramps or Peggy without disrupting the timeline so I brought in a ringer."
"A widow." Aiden said.
"She trained me, taught me everything she knew and in return I gave her a chance to be in control of her own life, to be the one pulling the strings not getting her strings pulled. Officially we were partners but unofficially she worked for me. Peggy, Gramps and everyone else knew what they needed to know, the two if us knew the truth." I said. "And for ten years that worked."
"You were close." He said.
"You keep calling her a widow because you think she was like the 1950's house wife version of Natasha." I said.
"She wasn't?" Aiden said.
"Natasha is genuinely good. She's done some things she's not proud of and she regrets them. She lives her life trying to make for those things. Dottie on the other hand wasn't." I said. "She never regretted the things she had done. She was conditioned not to feel regret. It was the job, it was what needed to be done everything else was collateral."
"Yet you worked with her." Aiden said.
"She reminded me of someone." I said giving him a look.
"Me?" Aiden said.
"In the beginning." I said. "But she wasn't you because you are a better person than she ever was."
"That's kind of harsh." Aiden said.
"It's the truth." I said. "She taught me everything she knew and it was great because that was what kept me going. What she taught me was what helped me get up every morning when there were days where all I wanted was for it all to end but it also made me numb, it made me cold, I got the job done no matter what I mean you saw the files."
"You did what had to be done." Aiden said.
"That's what I told myself every time and look at where we are." I said. "What I did during those 30 years are why we're here. You blame Snow for everything that happened to you and Wren. Being tortured, trained to be killers, Beth, that's not just his fault, it's mine."
"Do you want me to hate you?" He said. "Or tell you that I blame you for everything? Because I don't and Wren wouldn't either."
"You should." I said.
"Well I don't. Never have never will." Aiden said. "You were at war and you made a call that no one wanted to make but had to be made. Soldiers die everyday but not all parents of soldiers spend more than thirty years plotting their revenge and hurting hundreds if not thousands of people to do it. Snow made his choice not because he had to but because he wanted to."
"I still did it." I said.
"Yes but now you're here making things right like you always do. You could have turned your back on Dottie, on Wren, on me, Bucky, or even Aya but you didn't. Dottie may have accepted your offer for selfish reasons but she died doing the right thing, Wren was a mess when you met him, I killed you and was an even bigger mess, Bucky killed you and Aya… honestly there isn't enough time to list all the shit Aya's done but you never gave up on us and we're not giving up on you so whatever the hell happened in the future shake it off and focus on what's happening right now." Aiden said.
It was quiet for a minute before I looked at him.
"Since when did you get so good at pep talks?" I said.
"You've rubbed off on me. Don't tell anyone." Aiden said.
"My lips are sealed." I said before it got quiet again.
"A vacation." Aiden said.
"Hm?" I asked confused.
"You asked what I'm going to do after. I'm going on vacation. A long one. A beach somewhere sunny. Brazil maybe." He said.
"Argentina." I said smiling as I remembered something. "Nice beaches not as crowded."
"Argentina then." Aiden said nodding. "I'll get a tan, meet a girl or two?"
"One. A good one. It's about quality not quantity." I said.
"Where's the fun in that?" Aiden said.
"The right one will be everything you could ever want." I said.
"I know better than to bet against a time traveler." Aiden said with a smirk as we listened to the rain outside. "It shouldn't be too much longer."
"Let's hope. I don't want to be here a second longer than we have to be." I said grabbing a knife from the duffle bag and sharpening it.
Within the hour the rain had stopped and we headed out again.
"It's an underground bunker with one entrance." Aiden said. "So that's our way in."
"Or we could be smart about it and not take the obvious route." I said looking over the area and the satellite thermal images.
"There's one way in." Aiden said.
"One obvious way in." I said. "It's an underground bunker meaning they need to have other openings to the surface so they don't run out of air, specifically vent shafts."
"You want to climb all the way down one of those? That's a couple hundred meters… We don't have the equipment for that." Aiden said.
"We don't need it." I said opening the duffle bag to reveal smoke bombs and C4. "We block the vent shafts and force them out."
"That sounds better. How many shafts do we need to take out?" Aiden said.
"They're scattered around the area, 24 to be exact." I said.
"12 and 12 meet you at the entrance?" Aiden said.
"You really want to split up?" I said.
"Don't tell me you're scared now." He said.
"No but nothing good ever happens after someone suggests splitting up." I said.
"We're taking him out. Whoever gets an opening takes it. Don't hesitate." Aiden said loading his gun.
"Be careful." I said before he walked out of the building in the opposite direction. I made my way to the twelve points on the map. I set off a small controlled explosion on each one after throwing a smoke bomb to speed up the process a bit.
I found Aiden right where we said we'd meet up as we waited for the first of the henchmen to come out of the bunker. Except they didn't. No one did.
"Are you sure we got all of them?" Aiden said.
"I got all the ones on the plans for the building that hasn't been updated since the 70's." I said and Aiden just gave me a look. "I'm sorry I didn't have a lot of time to prep between being drugged and tracking you down."
"Looks like we're doing this the hard way." Aiden said walking through the remnants of a park before I heard a metallic thud with each of his steps.
"Wait." I said swiping my hands to use my powers to clear the leaves and dirt covering an entrance to the city's sewers. "During the cold war it was really common for subways and sewers to have fallout shelters built into them. Especially in Eastern Europe."
"It'd be its own separate bunker." Aiden said.
"That shared a wall with the neighboring bunker." I said. "A wall I could easily break through."
I hadn't even finished the sentence before Aiden was already pulling open the manhole cover. We went inside and found the bunker entrance. I put a hand on the wall and sent a small burst of energy to get a feeling as to how thick the wall was.
"About a meter, meter and a half of solid concrete. I should get it in two or three concentrated blasts." I said. "Put on the gas mask and get ready."
"I've been ready for years." Aiden said doing as I said before I took a breath and focused on compressing temporal energy into a solid mass shaped like an orb before I slammed it against the wall before doing it two more times blowing the wall wide open.
I coughed a bit as the smoke started pouring out. I walked into the bunker with Aiden right behind me. As the smoke cleared I could see that we had blown a hole into what seemed to be some sort of lab. There were water tanks with some sort of deformed chimera creature floating in it.
"What the bloody hell is that?" Aiden said.
"Nothing good." I said. "We need to destroy all of this before we go."
"After we kill Snow." Aiden said.
"Yeah." I said not liking what I was seeing. Especially when one of those things popped its eyes open revealing very familiar blue eyes.
I shook it off as we walked out of the room into the hallway.
"It's too quiet." Aiden said as we found our third empty room in a row.
"Something's off." I said as the ground started shaking. "Very off."
With that the sprinklers in the room went off soaking us both before a marble dropped from the ceiling.
"What was…AH!" He cried out as we were shocked with electricity and we both went down.
"This happens way too often." I groaned trying to move but barely being able to lift my head and inch.
"Aya couldn't have giving us a head up?" Aiden said trying to pick himself up only to fall again.
I heard marching footsteps getting closer. I slammed the door shut and put up a forcefield just in time for them to try and use a battering ram.
"Do we have any smoke bombs left?" I asked putting up another forcefield to block the second hit from the battering ran on the door but I was having a hard time keeping it up since I was still recovering from the shock.
"No But I have something better." Aiden said holding up a pair of grenades. "On three?"
"One shot is all you'll get." I said sitting up against the door while I tried to get to my feet.
"That's all we need." Aiden said pulling out the pins and giving me a nod. I counted with my fingers to three before opening the door and as soon as they were past the door I ducked behind a desk with Aiden as the explosion went off and with that the alarms went off through the bunker.
"If he didn't know we were here before he does now." I said getting up.
"Tired already?" Aiden panted.
"Are you kidding, I can do this all day." I said as we jumped to our feet and ran out of there fighting our way thought all of Snow's grunts.
"If you were an evil piece of shit hiding in a bunker which room would you be in?" Aiden said stabbing one of the grunts in the chest.
"Control room or the most fortified room there was." I said.
"Upstairs then. Only one room. Only one way in." Aiden said.
"Nothing is ever that easy." I said.
"What part of this has been easy?" Aiden said as suddenly all the doors sealed themselves shut and water started flooding in from the drainage pipes on the floor.
"Looks like we don't have a choice." I said following Aiden up the ladder leading upstairs.
I don't know what I was expecting but a fully furnished office with a fireplace, afghan rug and a wall projecting a snowy mountain landscape was not it. I was looking at the projecting touching it when the pixels blacked out of a second altering the clarity of the image.
"The Ural Mountains. It's not exactly the same, but it's as close to the real thing as I can get." Someone said and we turned to the desk pointing out guns at the man sitting in the chair. "I've waited a very long time to meet you face to face Nora Stark."
"You call it waiting I call it stalking." I said.
"Enough with the chit chat." Aiden said. "It's over."
"You've never been patient Aiden." Snow said. "One of your many flaws."
"All things considered he's waited long enough." I said.
"That's really you have to say for yourself?" Snow said. "You killed my son and thousands more but I'm the villain in this story?"
"I made a judgement call during a war to prevent the conflict from escalating. You stole children, tortured them and raised them to kill in an attempt to get revenge." I said.
"I was at war too!" Snow shouted as he stood up from his seat.
"A war of your own making." I said.
"No of yours." Snow said. "You go around professing to want to do good but in reality, you just cause one disaster after another in the name of the greater good. How many children did you bury alive in Ferdows? How many people did you let die in Afghanistan when you chose to save Wren instead of them? How many people died because you allowed Hydra to flourish in the shadows of SHIELD? You let your own grandfather die and you let his murderer live under your own roof like it never happened. You surround yourself with these pathetic lowlife creatures acting all high and mighty when in reality you are the worst of all of them."
"You're right. I probably have more blood on my hands than everyone I know combined but I'm still better than you because despite the fact that I don't regret that I buried your son alive I do feel guilty about it. I wish it hadn't come to that, if there had been any other way I would have done it but there wasn't and if I had to make that decision again right now I'd still do it. Every single time and even if I hadn't we'd still be here right now because you'd still be the exact same sociopathic asshole." I said.
"On that we can agree." Snow said as suddenly the walls opened up as his men surrounded us. "Because I have imagined every possible scenario for this moment. I thought of every possible way you would try to come at me and there is only one option is acceptable to me. You buried my son and an entire city alive it seems only fitting you meet the same end."
"The only person dying here today is you." Aiden said clicking the safety off his gun and pressing it to Snow's temple.
"And I die with a smile on my face with the satisfaction that I took you down with me." Snow said with a smile as he slammed a button on his desk before Aiden shot him. Of course at that moment all hell broke loose in the sense that the men started shooting at us while explosions rocked the bunker
"What the hell is that." Aiden said as I activated Friday on my phone.
"Something really bad. Multiple explosions that cracked open the east side of the bunker and the floodgates connected to the decommissioned power plant. We're about to be either buried alive or flooded with radioactive water." I said. "And another set of explosions are set to go off any minute."
"Get us out of here." Aiden said.
"We sealed the entrances. If we open them up the runoff will leak into the river contaminating the water of not just the rest of Ukraine but… half of Europe." I said.
"Fucking Snow." Aiden said as the grunts started shooting at us.
"There's a second detonator. If we can get it we can stop the explosion and keep the flooding contained here." I said.
"Where's the detonator?" Aiden asked.
"I'm guessing one of the idiots shooting at us has it." I said.
"Let's hurry it up shall we?" Aiden said getting up as we started taking them out one by one. We were just about done when the last straggler made a run for it with the detonator.
"Shit!" We cursed running for it of course the doors started closing and I had to start blasting my way through walls. Once we finally had him cornered and Aiden stabbed him through the stomach he cursed us with his dying breath setting off the detonator.
"It's too late." Aiden said collapsing as the adrenaline started wearing off and I finally noticed the blood staining his shirt.
"Aiden!" I said pressing my hand on the gunshot wound.
"Okay." He said getting pale. "It's okay. He's gone and you and Wren will be okay now. You have to go."
"I can't." I said.
"You have to." Aiden said squeezing my hand.
"The water can't make it to the river." Aya said appearing.
"You choose now to show up?" I said annoyed.
"I'm trying to minimize any damage…" She started.
"Aya!" Aiden and I shouted.
"You need to bury the bunker It'll work as a dam and…" Aya started.
"Stop the flooding." I said finishing her thought. "You need to get him out of here."
"I can't." She said.
"Aya I have to do this." I said.
"And I can't teleport someone that isn't my host and you can't teleport him up because you're about to destroy the entire city. He's safer next to you." Aya said. "I can keep him stable but not for long so work fast."
"I've spent years trying not blow up cities only to have to do it again." I said.
"At least this one is deserted." Aya said putting a hand on Aiden to put him in a temporal field.
I closed my eyes and focused on all the bad I've tried to keep buried. All the pain and heartbreak and anger and then I just let it out. All I saw was a flash of blinding light before everything came down on us.
Third Person's POV-
Steve, Bucky, Sam, Rhodey, Natasha and Clint were on the quinjet following after Aiden and Nora. The city had come into sight but suddenly it all started fall apart almost as if the grounds was swallowing it all up.
"Uh Cap?" Clint said.
"What the…" Sam said.
"Oh no." Bucky said as Steve and him both remembered the only time they had seen something like this happen before.
"There's nowhere to land the jet." Clint said.
"It is not an earthquake. Friday's picking up intense thermal readings similar to an explosion and the radiation levels are spiking fast." Rhodey said. "Its not safe to land."
"What about Nora and Aiden? Anything?" Steve said.
"No sign of them." Natasha said. "We can circle around see if we find anything."
"We can land and walk back." Bucky said.
"What part of increasing radioactive levels did you two not hear?" Natasha said.
"It's Nora." Steve said when suddenly in a brief flash of green light Nora appeared on the quinjet with Aiden passed out and bleeding profusely.
"Great timing guys." She said panting
"Nora!" Bucky said rushing to her side.
"Get a med kit and start an IV line right now." Nora said.
"What happ…" Steve started.
"Now!" She shouted as he eyes glowed indicating she was using her powers to do something to Aiden. Natasha quickly moved pulling out a bag of saline and setting up a line while Sam who had some basic field medic training cut off Aiden's shirt to get a better look. He froze when he saw the wound with no blood pouring out. He immediately checked his pulse and his eyes widened.
"He's not dead. He suspended in time." Nora explained before he could say anything.
"You mean…" Sam started.
"Frozen in time and yes I know I've messed with timeline lately and there are going to be consequences but he currently had two bullet wounds extremely close to his heart, we both received large doses of radiation which means he's going to bleed out faster than normal so right now I'm probably the only thing keeping him alive and it is taking everything I've got to because time really wants to happen." Nora said wincing in pain.
"Nora? Shit." Bucky said gently lifting her jacket to see that she was also shot and was bleeding out too. He quickly grabbed some gauze and pressed on the wound making her grunt in pain. "You're not healing. Aya?"
"I can't heal her while she has freezing Aiden in time." Aya said.
"I've never done anything like this." Sam said. "I wasn't trained for it."
"But I was. I'm going to walk you through it but you have to move fast." She said.
"You sure about this?" Sam said.
"There won't be as much blood as there normally is and I'm right here. You'll just me by hands. Take the scalpel make a diagonal incision connecting both gunshot entry points." She said closing her eyes to slow her breathing.
"Done." Sam said.
"Now you're going to put your hand in and pull the skin apart." She said.
"Isn't there a…" He said.
"It's not a fully set up OR, there aren't any retractors and we're on a time crunch." Nora said as her nose started bleeding.
"Right." Sam said doing as he was told while Bucky exchanged worried glanced with Steve. Nora had bled through the gauze he had pressed on and she was getting paler by the minute.
Sam was almost done when Aya came up to Nora.
"Nora you need to stop right now." Aya said.
"Not yet." She said through her teeth.
"You're bleeding out. Temporal fields were never meant to be sustained this long." Aya said. "You're not just damaging the space time continuum, you don't know how it'll affect Aiden."
"I'll deal with it later." Nora said feeling sick.
"We're ten minutes from the compound. Doctor Cho and the med team are ready. Decontamination procedures have been set up…." Clint called out.
"Nora baby you need to let go." Bucky said moving her hair off her shoulder and noticing she was bleeding out of her ear as well.
"Just a little bit longer." She said.
"You don't have a bit longer." Aya said. "Let go."
"Not Yet." She said.
"You're no good to Aiden if you're dead." Aya said.
"Then you'll bring me back." Nora said barely managing to get the words out.
"I might not be able to after everything we've done. Time wants to happen and it will take you out to happen so let go." Aya said.
"Nora please." Bucky said. "You did everything you could and more. I can't lose you. Please."
"We're landing in one minute." Clint said and that's when she gave in and collapsed.
"Nora!" Bucky said picking her up and putting her on a gurney.
"I can't feel a pulse." Natasha said.
"Shit." Sam said going to help her. Steve and Bucky stood next to her clutching Nora's cold hand praying she would wake up.