Hey everyone, I've been working on this one for the past few days. Updates might get a bit slow in the upcoming weeks. I'm supposed to start school again in a few weeks but my financial aid got cut and know I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to pay for my last year. Anyway enough about that. Writing's always been a way for me to vent so here you go, a pretty long update. Let me know what you think. Enjoy :)
"We need to talk." I said walking into the living room.
"Who specifically?" Clint said.
"I have a lot to get through so alphabetical order, Aya you're up first." I said.
"Now you want to talk? What brought this on?" Aya said.
"Aya just go, you've dying to talk to her." Future me said.
"Fine but if you try and blast me again I'm sending you to the dark ages see how you deal with the Spanish Inquisition." She said walking to the dinning room.
"She's joking right?" Dad said.
"Nope." Future me and I said.
We walked in to the dining room with the Avengers behind us. Future me sat at the head of the table and Aya and I sat on either side across from each other.
"Wait a second." She said getting up and grabbing a box. She walked over to my side and pulled a gun out from under the table. She unloaded the clip and emptied the chamber before putting it in the box. She did the same with the two knives and guns I had under my chair and the chair next to me. Then she went over and did the same thing with all the weapons on Aya's side of the table. She walked over to the chimney and reached in. She pulled out two grenades.
"That's a bit much don't you think?" Clint joked.
"I killed someone where you're standing." I deadpanned. That shut him up.
"Ehem." Future me said standing next to me holding the box with one arm and the other hand out to me.
"What?" I asked. She looked down at my boots and moving her hand in the gimme motion. I sighed and put my leg up to the chair. I reached in to the boot and pulled out a Chinese ring dagger Wren had gotten me as a gag gift for Christmas. I twirled it in my hand before handing it over.
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"Other boot." Future me said.
I sighed but repeated the gesture.
She held the box and made it vanish. "Now where were we?" Future me said taking a seat at the head of the table.
"You want to talk, so talk." Aya said.
"I want to say I'm sorry." I said.
"What?" Everyone said.
"You're sorry?" Aya said.
"I want to negotiate our arrangement. Because this, can't continue the way it's been going. You can't just send me off into the past on one of your whims and I can't keep going on blasting myself or you for that matter. You once said I never understood what a burden you have on your shoulders and honestly I don't. I got a peak at it but I don't think that was the entire picture." I said.
"I'm an all powerful being that predates the universe, I can wipe your existence from the fabric of time in the blink of an eye. What makes you think I want to negotiate?" Aya said.
"Because you've dealt with more shit from me that you have from the ancient one, Katya and all your other previous hosts combined. You never dealt with any of their crap. Hell I had to talk you out of killing Katya for almost spilling the beans to me. I've done way worse than them yet I'm still here." I said.
"That doesn't mean my patience isn't wearing thin." Aya argued.
"Then go for it." I said.
"What?" Aya said.
"Nora…" Steve said.
"If you're tired of dealing with me then go ahead. Get rid of me." I said.
"I will." She said eyes glowing.
"Nora stop!" dad shouted.
"Nora please don't do this." Steve begged. Future me put up an energy field and kept them out.
"You should listen to them." Aya said
"Hit me with your best shot." I said. Aya stood there unmoving making me smile "Thought so. You've spent years telling me that I'm just a blip in time and that I was expendable but that's not true is it?"
"I thought you learned your lesson, maybe fifty years with some time during the black plague would do you some good." Aya said eyes glowing and a hand pointed at me.
"What is she doing?" Clint asked.
"It doesn't look good." Bruce said.
I started feeling the familiar chills.
"Oh no you don't." I said I focused the biggest energy blast I could and blasted myself knocking me off my feet and Aya down as well.
"You idiot, you have any idea how dangerous that is!" Aya yelled.
"Me? You wanted to send me to the dark ages Aya! What did you expect me to do?!" I yelled.
"Will you both shut up!?" dad yelled.
"Butt out!" Aya said before pushing him and everyone else out and closing the partitions. "I don't care what you think you are not calling the shots, you don't get to have power over time."
"I don't want to control time I'm not cut out for that responsibility." I said.
"Then what do you want?" Aya asked.
"You know I could say that you need me more than I need you and make your life a living hell." I started.
"You already do." She spat.
"In some ways that's true but not completely." I said ignoring her comment. "I want to be treated as an equal. I'm not saying we make every single decision together, I'm saying we talk things out. Every time you cause a jump its for a reason. Fine I get it, but what I don't want is to be sent into the middle of a gunfight not knowing who's shooting Who and why. You want to send me back in time do it but before you do would it kill you to say hey Nora I'm sending you here, you may want to wear a coat or a bulletproof vest."
"You want me to let you know so you can plan accordingly?" Aya said.
"It's not so much to ask." I said. "It's not like I'm asking to go back in time and kill Hitler as a baby."
"She does have a point." Future me said.
"Why are you here again?" Aya asked.
"Think of me as a mediator, I'm here to make sure everyone gets a say and that you two don't kill each other." Future me said.
"Bang up job you're doing." Aya said sarcastically.
"Sometimes you have to let it out, and now you're both too weak to throw any punches and you wouldn't dare hurt her now would you?" Future me said giving Aya a look.
"Why do I have a feeling I'm missing something here?" I said.
"You'll figure it out later." Future me said.
"That does nothing to reassure me." I said.
"I can agree to give you a heads up about where I'll sent you and even when I'll be sending you but in exchange you have to promise not to blast yourself or me when I appear. If we're angry we talk it out." Aya said.
"Agreed." I said.
"I'll be giving you the rest of your abilities, Temporal fields, illusions and everything else that will come with it and I'll be the one training you." Aya said.
"Really?" I asked.
"You figured out the trick to the temporal field you just haven't perfected it. You can slow things down but you can't stop it or hold it for long. You're going to need to learn how to control that." Aya said.
"Wow, thank you." I said. "But why now?"
"I haven't exactly been fair to you either and I can't say that I haven't brought your hatred out on myself. This conversation would have all been easier of Wren were here he just knew how to call us both out on our crap." AYa said.
"I miss him too." I said. "So this is it."
"It is, you're not going to hug me are you?" Aya asked.
"Course not, handshake?" I asked.
"I can live with that." Aya said as we walked to the end of the table.
"Thank you, for coming into my life when you did." I said.
"Haven't had a reason to regret it yet." Aya said "Before I go there's something you should see." Aya put two fingers on my forehead and everything changed.
I was in a dark road and I heard gunshots suddenly a car crashed into a tree. A motorcycle passed by and turned back. The man got off and I recognized him immediately.
"Bucky?" I said.
I looked over to the car he was walking to and saw as the driver got out.
"Jarvis help Maria." I heard Gramps as he got out of the car.
"Grandpa?" I said walking closer.
They looked over and saw Bucky walking towards them. "Help my wife. Please. Help." Gramps begged. Instead Bucky strode over to Jarvis and broke his neck before putting him back in the driver's seat.
"Oh no. no no no." I said.
Bucky walked over to Gramps and Gramps recognized him.
"B-barnes? Sergeant Barnes?" Gramps said.
"Howard!" Grandma yelled for help. She was stuck in her seat.
Bucky grabbed Gramps by the collar and beat him with his metal arm until Gramps was dead.
"Howard!" Grandma screamed as Bucky picked up grandpa's body and threw him back in the car his head slumping over Grandma's lap.
Bucky then walked over to the other side of the car and put his metal arm around Grandma's neck.
Then everything disappeared and I was back in the dining room.
"Please tell me that was some alternate future that didn't happen." I said.
"Not this time." Future me said.
"Why show me?" I asked Aya.
"In the spirit of cooperation. If this is going to work we both have to be honest." Aya said.
"What am I supposed to do? Does dad know? Steve?" I asked.
"You need to figure that out on your own." Future me said.
"I here to help you think things through but I won't run your life not anymore anyway. It's up to you how you want to handle this. You know where I'll be if you want to talk." Aya said disappearing.
"That was more painful than I remember it being." Future me said.
"You know you can let the force field down right?" I said wiping the tears away.
"Oh right." She said snapping her fingers and suddenly everyone came running in.
"What the hell is wrong with you?!" dad yelled but Steve just pulled me into a hug.
"Don't ever scare me like that again." He said.
"Steve really need you to let me go right now." I said feeling nauseous.
He hesitated but let go and I ran to the closest bucket I could find and puked.
"Uh that's so gross." I said.
"Yeah, don't do that again. The energy blasts don't just hurt Aya they hurt us. If you keep using them there'll be so much damage even our accelerated regeneration won't be able to heal it." Future me said. Her eyes briefly glowed before turning back to normal. "It's time for me to get back. Past me, remember what we talked about. Dad, don't freak out. Steve talk it out dude and please think about what you're going to say before you open your mouth, you'll avoid a lot of misunderstandings that way."
"Thanks for the help and by the way love the outfit." I said.
"What can I say we have great taste." She said before she started glowing and disappeared.
"Uh it's been a long day." I said.
"We need to talk." Dad said.
"That phrase never ends well." I said. "Can it wait until after dinner? I have a ziti waiting to go in the oven and I'm kind of hungry."
"I'll do it." Clint said. "Have a nice talk."
"Yay. Let's do this." I said. I put a hand on dad's shoulder and teleported us to the lab.
"Uh, I'm gonna be sick." Dad said grabbing a bucket and puking.
"Takes a while to get used to that. Forgot to warn you." I said puling up a stool. "So you want to start or should I."
"I think you said it all." Dad said.
"And then some…" I said. We were both quiet until I remembered a promise I made to him as a kid. "be back."
I teleported up to the game room and grabbed the box I needed and went back downstairs.
I put the box down in front of him. It was a blu-ray edition of Return of the Jedi. "I owe you a movie." I said.
Dad picked up the box and smiled. "I've never seen Return of the Jedi." Dad said.
"What? You're kidding right?" I said.
"I was waiting for you and by the time it came out I was already starting to work with Howard and getting ready for MIT. It didn't feel right watching it with out you." Dad said.
"Sorry, I didn't know I was going to get sent back. It was only a month ago for me we went to go see Empire Strikes Back." I said.
"What happened?" dad asked.
"Did you read the Journal?" I asked.
"I stopped around the time you help Howard hook up with a bendy dancer." Dad said.
"Yeah, I may be a tad bit overly detailed, three pages later he sleeps with that same dancer's twin, first twin tries to kill him and I had to help sneak him out of their parent's hotel." I said.
"I could have spent my entire life not knowing that."
"And I could have spent my entire life not knowing I was conceived in the parking lot of a Burger King." I said.
"How did you…"
"Mom was very detailed." I said.
"You met Ellie?" dad said.
"You remember the day you drove her to campus and you met her friend with a Beatles band tee that happened to have your same taste in music?" I said.
"That was you?" dad said.
"Yeah, we had a girl talk, mom was actually the first to point out Wren and I acted like we were more than just friends. Said a guy doesn't give a rock like that if they don't care about a girl even if it's just to keep up appearances especially with family heirlooms. She was really observant." I said.
"Yeah she was… So movie?" dad said.
"I'll set it up." I said.
"I'll get the snacks." He said going to the mini fridge and putting a bag of popcorn in the microwave.
That's how Dad and I avoided addressing the giant elephant in the room, at least for a little while then that scene came on…
"I think I got it. I got it!" Han shouted. The wires sparked as they connected. There was a whoosh as the second blast door crashed down in front of the first. Han frowned and tried again.
Princess Leia was firing at a group of storm troopers when she gets hit and cries out in pain.
"Oh, Princess Leia, are you alright?" C3PO asked.
"Let's see." Han said rushing over to her.
"It's not bad." Leia said.
"Freeze!" One of the storm troopers said pointing his gun at them while they were distracted.
"Oh dear." C3PO said.
"Don't move!" The storm trooper said.
Leia held her gun ready being Han. The two of them exchanged a look
"I love you." Han said sharing a look.
Leia smiled up at him and said, "I know."
That was all it took for it all to come crashing down.
Flashback- Three Weeks Before- Paris, France
Wren and I had just left a small bakery that had the best pistachio macaroons according to Wren. He was right of course but I still preferred chocolate macaroons.
"Admit it they're good." Wren said.
"They are for pistachio." I said.
"Don't knock pistachio." Wren said.
"Pistachios are great but there are some things they shouldn't be in." I said.
"Name one example." Wren said.
"Pistachio ice cream." I said.
"You're just saying that because you haven't tried the right brand of pistachio ice cream."
"It's the same flavor with green food coloring." I deadpanned.
"You're such a smart ass." Wren said.
"But you love my ass." I said with a smirk.
"I really do. I love you Nora." Wren said pulling me close.
"I know." I said with a smile before kissing him.
End Flashback
I was crying the rest of the movie. When it finally ended dad finally said something.
"You were right, Leia in a bikini, mind blowing." Dad said chuckling until he turned to look at me.
I was sobbing.
"Hey kid it's okay, it's not the last one, I heard their making a new one." Dad said.
"I never told him I loved him too." I cried.
"So not about Star Wars." He said getting up. "You want to elaborate? Last time we talked you made it very clear you and Wren…" I started crying even more. "Were just friends."
"We slept together and I realized I fell in love with him without realizing it and I never told him that." I cried.
"You slept together? Took you two long enough" dad said Coming over and pulling me into a hug. "I'm sorry, I should have been there."
"I didn't deserve him." I cried burying my head in dad's chest.
"Don't say that, you may not have said it but your actions said it all. The way you two looked at each other now that's love." Dad said "You made him happy and even if you never said it he knew you did."
"Then why do I feel so guilty?" I cried.
"Probably a mix of everything you're keeping bottled up and the fact that Spangles is upstairs. I don't think you're actually mad at him I think you're just taking out all your guilt over being happy he's here even though you think you should be mourning." Dad said.
"You talked to Future me didn't you?" I said.
"What, no." dad said. "I can be insightful on occasion." I gave him a look. "And Future you may have given me a push in the right direction"
"What am I supposed to do?" I cried.
"Well for one you should probably stop bottling it all up. You dared a force that predates the universe to wipe you from existence without flinching for a second I could have sworn you wanted her to go through with it. What were you thinking Nora?" dad said concerned.
"I was thinking she was bluffing and she wasn't going to go through with it, which as it turns out I was right." I said.
"But you didn't know that did you?" dad said.
"If she wiped me from existence then that's that. No one would know I existed and no one would care because they wouldn't know the difference but that didn't happen so that's the end of it." I said.
"Not the end of it, you can't pull stunts like that. It's almost like you wanted Aya to end you." Dad said and I didn't say anything. "But that isn't what's going on right? Right Nora?"
"Can't say the thought didn't cross my mind but I knew it wasn't going to go that way. You want to know how I knew that? A future version of myself was sitting at the head of the table. If Aya was going to end me, she wouldn't have been here." I said.
"I don't even know what to say to that." Dad said.
"I considered it for a second, want to know why I didn't do it? Because I remembered what I had to live for. I hit rock bottom before I'm not going back to that." I said.
"You're going to therapy." Dad said.
"I'll go when you go.' I said.
"Fine, Friday make an appointment for tomorrow morning with a therapist, hack into their appointments if you have to." Dad said.
"An appointment with the best reviewed family therapist in Dallas is set for tomorrow at nine am." Friday said.
"Hear that nine am be ready by eight thirty." Dad said walking out of the lab.
"Well that went well." I said.
'This is going to be hilarious.' Aya said in the back of my head
"Oh shut it." I said.
I teleported upstairs and grabbed a glass of iced tea before heading to the pool to dip my feet in.
The weather was starting to warm up and the water was still a bit warm from where the sun had been.
I heard footsteps and then Steve sat down next to me and dipped his feet in the pool.
"I know you don't want to talk to me and that you're angry…" Steve started.
"I'm not angry, at least not anymore. It's been a freakishly long day." I said taking a sip of my tea.
"That's for sure. I want to apologize for everything. After Bucky fell I-I didn't know what to do with myself it felt like…"
"Like a part of you was gone?" I said. "That's what it was like for me. Except I didn't just have to mourn him, I had to mourn you too."
"I'm sorry, I didn't know." Steve said.
"I know you didn't and you didn't have it easy either. Must have been a giant shock waking up seventy years in the future." I said.
"It was. Still hard sometimes, work's a good distraction. What happened… when you showed up in my apartment?" He asked.
"It was April 2012, I was at home getting ready for my Medical School exit exams and there was a time jump. I got sent back to 1946 and I saw Peggy fighting with this woman I didn't know but she managed to get the upper hand and knocked Peggy out. So I went after her and we went at it. She managed to inject me with some sort of neurotoxin that gave me hallucinations and triggered a time jump and that's how I ended up at your place. It wasn't until months later that Aya told me you weren't a hallucination and that I actually saw you and New York happened that I realized it was actually you." I said. "Of course by the time I realized you were alive I was on a plane headed to Afghanistan. I wanted to come back but Aya forbid it. Said you had a part to play and I couldn't be in the way. The only time I got close to you she gave me a giant headache and a nosebleed."
"When was this?" He asked.
"Masquerade gala after DC." I said.
"So you saw me with…"
"The blonde yeah I saw." I said.
"If I had known you were alive I would never have…"
"Save it, you thought I was dead and I got married we moved on, that's the end of that." I said.
"It's not the end, I never stopped loving you or Buck. Sharon was just… I don't know what she is. I was alone and Nat kept saying I should date and she was around…"
"Okay I'm stopping you right there, you don't talk to your ex about your current girl friend. It's just wrong." I said.
"You're not my ex you're my soulmate and one of the loves of my life. You and Buck you're it for me. I lost you once I won't do it again." Steve said reached to put a hand on my cheek.
"It's not that simple Steve." I said.
"Yes it is. I love you and I know you love me too. I want to be with you… and Bucky when he comes back.
"We're not the same people we were back then. We've changed and I don't think we can pick up right where we left off." I said.
"Then we don't. Steve Rogers pleasure to meet you ma'am." He said sticking his hand out.
"I won't be the other woman, your girlfriend is a real piece of work but no one deserves that." I said.
"Sam told me the same thing." Steve said. "He said if I don't feel anything for her I should stop holding her back. That it wasn't fair to her or to me."
"The Sams in our lives are very wise." I said finishing my drink before taking me feet out of the pool.
"I need to ask you something and I need you to be honest." I said.
"All right." Steve said getting worried.
"Did Bucky kill Gramps?" I said.
Steve stayed quiet. "You already knew." I said.
"When we found Zola's consciousness he said Hydra was involved I just didn't know it was Buck who did it." Steve said.
"Have you told my dad?" I asked.
"No." Steve said.
"He has a right to know." I said.
"I got Natasha to delete the file when it was decrypted. He's better of not knowing, it would just hurt him." Steve said.
"You're hurting him by betraying him like this." I said.
"I'm protecting him." Steve said.
"I know my dad and I know that's not how he'll see it." I said getting up. "It's getting late and I have to be up early tomorrow."
"Got plans?" He asked.
"Something like that." I said getting up. "Good night."
"Wait." Steve said. He got up and pulled me into a hug. "I love you." He said kissing my forehead before letting me go.
"Night." I said before teleporting up to my room. I got dressed in my pajamas and went to bed.
.
I woke up the next morning to this:
"GOOD MORNING VIETNAM!" Dad's voice rang out through the speakers.
I literally jumped out of bed and fell onto the floor.
"Uh, It's too early." I said.
"COFFEE"S READY!" Dad shouted.
I stood up and teleported downstairs. I grabbed dad's phone out of his hand and used an energy pulse to shatter it to pieces.
"Hey!" He yelled.
"You lost your Friday privileges." I said. Going to grab my favorite mug and filling it with coffee.
"I'm making breakfast." Steve said.
"Oooh bacon." I said grabbing a slice.
"No time. Why aren't you dressed yet?" Dad said. "We need to beat traffic if we're going to get there on time."
"What traffic? I can teleport us there in a second." I said.
"Oh no, we are driving there is no way I'm teleporting again." Dad said.
"But driving's such a hassle." I said. "I could use the time stuck in traffic to sleep."
"It's quality time together." Dad said.
"You want to spend the first quality time together we've had in a year stuck in traffic?" I said.
"Why not? As long as we're together and it'll serve as a good recap time." Dad said.
"You're not going to let up on this are you?" I said.
"Nope go put on pants and lets go. We can stop by Burger King and get cinnamon rolls."
"No way in hell!" I said before teleporting upstairs.
"Friday pick out an outfit for today please." I asked.
"Already done." Friday said.
I quickly showered and dried my hair. I looked at the clothes Friday picked out navy, red, and white print dress and a blue blazer. I grabbed the tan heeled sandals and the matching bag before going downstairs.
.
"Let's get this over with." I said.
"I'm not that horrible."
"We're going to meet with a quack that's going to try and make something up that he put together from watching us for a couple of minutes. So we're going to tell him the truth and say that I'm your secret love child that you've kept hidden for twenty two years who also happens to be a time traveler because chances are the minute we walk in there and say that he's going to try and have me committed. Then he's going to try and get you into rehab or try to get you to open up about you're daddy issues and tell you how they relate to mine. Psychology isn't a science dad. We may as well go to a palm reader." I said.
"And they say Doctors make the worst patients," dad retorted. "Let's go."
"Good Luck." Steve called out and I through him a glare over my shoulder.
He led me to the garage and looked at the cars. He stopped at an empty space.
"Where's the Audi?" He asked.
"Got totaled in a car accident last year. Don't really drive anymore, not very convenient." I said grabbing the keys to the BMW.
"You were in a car accident and you didn't call me?!" He yelled.
"I did call to ask about the insurance but you forwarded me to Jarvis." I said getting in the car.
"This guy has his work cut out for him." Dad groaned.
The car ride was awkward to say the least.
"Car accident Nora? Really? You didn't think I'd want to know?" He said.
"I did call you from the hospital." I said.
"You were in the hospital?" He said. "Why wasn't I notified I'm your emergency contact?"
"Actually you're not, you don't live nearby and it was just more practical for Wren to be my emergency contact considering we were married and we worked and lived together. Not to mention it would raise a lot of questions as to why Tony Stark was on my contact list." I said.
"You are unbelievable!" dad said.
"Dad, I think it would be better if we waited till we wait for the guy we're paying three hundred an hour to deal with these issues." I said.
"I thought you said he was a quack?" Dad.
"He's an expensive quack but honestly we can't get into this while we're stuck in traffic so I say we call pause." I said.
"Fine pause." He said changing the radio and blasting ACDC.
We got to the therapists office and sat in the waiting room for ten minutes before we were finally called in.
"Mr. and Ms. Stark." The therapist said.
"I'll go in first." I told dad. I went in and got to it. "Hi so before we start this session I need you to sign these nondisclosure agreements. I know you're obligated the keep whatever happens in the confines of this room in this room but this is more for Mr. Stark's benefit."
"Oh of course." He said signing the forms and initialing where he needed to.
I gave dad the okay and he came in.
"Morning." Dad said.
"Mr Stark can I say it is a pleasure to meet you." He started.
"You're on the clock Jack, you can get an autograph later." I said sitting down.
"Right so can I start by asking what your relationship to one another is." He asked.
"He's my dad." I said.
"What?" Jack said.
"Nora's my daughter and everything said here is confidential so remember that when we tell you everything." Dad said.
"All right then, What brought you in here today?" Jack said.
"Unpause." I said and we let it rip.
"You kept your soulmarks a secret for ten years!"
"You put me on hold, I was crying over my dead husband and you hung up!"
"You married a fucking assassin!"
"You created a murder bot?!" I shouted.
"Enough! Will you both please take a deep breath and count back from ten." Jack said.
"But…" Dad and I both started.
"COUNT!" He yelled.
"Ten … nine.. eight sevensixfivefourthreetwoone." Dad and I sped through.
"Good now from the beginning, Tony why don't you start." Jack said.
"I was married before and I had a kid. I didn't want her to grow up like I did so she lived away from me and I visited twice a year." Dad started. "The arrangement worked because even when we didn't see each other we talked over the phone or texted recently that changed."
"How often do you talk now?" Jack asked.
"This is the first time in a year we've heard from each other." I answered.
"Was there a fight?" jack asked.
"No fight."
"Well that's not exactly true." I said "there was that one sided fight before I got married."
"And this would be the assassin?" Jack asked.
"Wren and he was a reformed assassin. I met him in Afghanistan back in 2012." I said.
"The first time we went months without contact." Dad said.
"That wasn't the first." I said.
"It wasn't?" dad said.
"2008 before Kandahar." I said.
"Right." He said.
"What happened then?" Jack started.
"We got in a fight." We both said at the same time.
"We were talking but we were off. Whenever we talked he was either drunk and partying or hooking up with random women that would be old enough to be my sister." I said.
"I was not that bad." Dad said.
"Really? Weren't you the one that tried to build his own version of the playboy mansion until he got a cease and desist letter from Hugh Hefner himself?" I said.
"Point taken." He said. "We fought about her taking an internship at Stark industries. She said she didn't want to build weapons."
"I'm a surgeon it's kind of a conflict of interests." I said.
"Right, how'd you guys settle things?" Jack asked.
"I got kidnapped and held hostage for three months." Dad said.
"I was kind of too happy to see him alive to care about a dumb fight that happened nine months before." I said.
"What happened after that?"
"We went back to the birthday Christmas arrangement. Things got complicated after that." Dad started.
"Well first someone forgot to tell his own daughter that he was dying." I said.
"Says the girl that kept the fact that she was soulmates with Spangles for ten years a secret."
"I thought he was dead and that I'd never meet him, there was nothing to talk about." I reiterated.
"We're talking about you two right now we can come back to spangles? Later. So you obviously didn't die, how did that change your dynamic?" Jack asked.
"Well after he found a way to cure himself, I didn't see him until the Geneva incident." I said
"Geneva incident?" Jack asked.
"I was at CERN headquarters when the super collider malfunctioned." I said.
"That must have been extremely traumatic." Jack said.
"She wasn't inside the entire time." Dad said.
"Come again?"
"When the collider malfunctioned it triggered a time jump, I got sent back to 1943 Italy. I didn't come back until a few seconds before Dad finally got into the room to rescue everyone." I said.
"Are you telling me you're a time traveler?" He asked.
"Yup." I said making him scribble down in his journal before looking up at dad and writing some more.
"How did you react to this news?" Jack asked dad.
"I didn't find out until yesterday." Dad said with a sarcastic smile.
"You kept the ability to time travel a secret from your father for four years? Why?" jack asked.
"Didn't really get a say in the matter. Aya was completely against dad knowing especially after Grandpa tried to trigger a time jump and she turned me into a four year old." I said.
"Here we go again with Howard." Dad started.
"Would you stop already I met him in his twenties he was a different person than when you knew him." I said.
"Yet you talk about him like he was the greatest man who walked the Earth. You knew what he was like in end." Dad said.
"I know! Okay but that doesn't erase all the good times we had before. Gramps was my best friend those years. He was just like you so it felt like you were right there with me. But that doesn't matter to you does it?" I said.
"Nora…" dad started.
"No dad be honest, I look just like Grandma I know because I met her. And every time you look at me your reminded of all the times she stuck up for you with gramps. I was there the day you were born. I was the one that dragged Howard away from his lab to go meet you. I know you didn't want to be a dad. You kicked mom out of your apartment when she told you she was pregnant. So you know why you hate me? It's because you know I'll turn into you just like you turned into Howard." I said crying.
"That is not true and you know It." dad said.
"Then why are you never around? Why is it that anytime I do anything you remotely disagree with you turn your back on me but when you need something you expect me to jump on command?" I said.
"Name one time I turned my back on you because I didn't agree with you?" Dad said.
"2008, When I married Wren, shall I go on?" I said.
"I apologized for 2008 and I sent Elton to your wedding." Dad said.
"You ever think that I didn't care about a wedding gift? You ever think that maybe I wanted my dad to walk me down the aisle? Or maybe have a father daughter dance? You ever think that when I had to give that eulogy I wanted you there for support or to at least lie to me and tell me everything was going to be okay even though it felt like my entire world was falling apart. That when one of the few people that loved me unconditionally and was by my side thick and thin died all I needed was to know that I still had you even if you weren't around but that didn't matter to you." I said.
"I though we were past this?" dad said.
"So did I." I cried.
"Tony how would you describe your relationship with your father?" Jack asked.
"You're really going to go there after all of that?" Dad said.
"This is part of the reason your relationship with your daughter is so strained. I've seen a lot of parallels between what Nora said about you and Howard and you and Nora." Jack said.
"My old man wasn't much of a father. The only thing he cared about was work. The only time he showed any interest in me was when he wanted to brag about my genius to the press or when I actually invented something he could sell. Other than that I was handed off to a nanny or Jarvis." Dad said.
"Sound familiar?" jack said.
"It's not the same." I said. "Dad wanted me safe Howard just didn't have the patience for kids."
"Even when you're fighting you defend him. Your relationship is toxic and completely one sided. And Tony you're a self centered narcissistic high functioning alcoholic. Don't think I haven't notice the way you've been eying the bottle of scotch on my desk. And Nora you not only have abandonment issues you easily form attachments with people to compensate for the attention you don't receive from your father you're suffering from a severe psychosis and delusions that you're capable of the impossible. You married an assassin? For god sakes you have any idea the amount of red flags you two have raised in the last twenty minutes? I'm seriously considering having you both placed in a seventy two hour hold."
"Screw you asshole," Aya said appearing out of nowhere.
"H-how did you?" He started but Aya froze him.
"Where did you find this guy? He's done more damage in the past twenty minutes than I have in the last four years." Aya started.
"You're the reason we're in this mess in the first place." Dad said.
"All things considered this was a long time coming." I said.
"You're defending her?" dad said.
"I'm just stating an observation. Think about it these issues have always been there it's just that there's always a global catastrophe or some other personal issue distracting us." I said.
"Then where do we go from here because you made it pretty obvious it's all my fault." Dad said.
"The root of why I'm so emotionally stunted comes from the fact that my entire life all I've seen you do is drown your emotions in booze or projects. And in all honesty you learned that from Howard." I said.
"That's enough out of both of you. That jackass let you both yell out and say the first thing that came to mind. You've both made some major mistakes. Nora you bottle up so many emotions because you're afraid that if you're honest you'll lose the people you care about. Tony you need to get your priorities straight. You care about your daughter, I've seen it but you lose sight of what's truly important to you. You forgot Nora during her birthday and Christmas. Even when you were dying you remembered and made elaborate plans. You both love each other and would tear the world apart for one another but communication wise you two are lacking and that's what you need to work on before you can deal with everything else." Aya said.
"I've been a bit distracted with Hydra the past year and lost track of time. Pepper's mentioned it a few times but I didn't realize how bad it's gotten until yesterday when I saw how much I didn't know about you." Dad said.
"I though I was dealing with everything but I'm not. I haven't gone into Wren's room since the morning of the day he died. Three weeks ago I got drunk on my own and woke up hugging the urn with his ashes. I'm so screwed up." I said.
"I did the same with your mom's ashes almost everyday for a month after she died." Dad said,
"How'd you stop?" I asked.
"I spread her ashes and went back to work. Speaking of I'm surprised you haven't been called in." dad asked.
"I quit six months ago." I said. "Had bigger things to deal with that two year olds that swallowing weird things."
"I didn't know." dad said.
"Didn't know you were looking for Loki's scepter. I thought you were just going after Hydra." I said.
"It started that way until Thor showed up." Dad said
"Figures." I said.
"Was that so hard?" Aya said.
"Not really." I said.
"No." dad said.
"Then do you think you two can keep this up?" Aya said.
"I'm moving to New York and I'm only a ten minute subway ride away from the tower." I said.
"I'm thinking of taking a back seat when it comes to Avenging, just paying for everything and helping with the tech focus on what's really important." He said.
"Good. Keep it up. If there's anything I've learned the past four years from seeing you both together is that you are better together than you are apart. Remember that. I'm going to let that moron out already and next time don't use Yelp to find a therapist." Aya said before disappearing.
"I'm a professional… What the…" Jack started.
"Yeah session's over." I said standing up.
"This oughta cover it and remember not a word." Dad said handing him some money and walking out after me. "I can go for some French toast."
"Sounds good, the usual place?" I said.
"Of course." Dad said.
"Dad wait, there's something I need to tell you." I said.
"What? Another time jump?" dad said.
"After DC I found out Bucky was alive and I needed to look at his files but you put up that decryption firewall so Wren and I kind of broke into your lab and took the decryption key." I said.
"Anything else?" dad said through clenched teeth.
"I found something I think you need to see." I said grabbing my phone. And opening up the file. I handed it to him and he read through it.
"Is this…" dad asked.
"Mission report December 16, 1991." I said. "I found it by accident. It just said Hydra had them eliminated to take something Gramps was transporting. It doesn't say what."
"How long have you known?" dad asked.
"Last night, I couldn't sleep so I started decrypting files again." I said. "There was a video but it was corrupted and I couldn't get it back."
"Must've been Ultron. Thanks for telling me." Dad said handing me back the phone and putting on a pair of shades. I know what that meant, he didn't want me to see his eyes water. "Let's go get some breakfast."
We found a diner on the way back to the house and we sat down.
"So Ultron, How exactly did that happen?" I asked.
"Kid…" dad started.
"No judgment, I'm tired of yelling just want to know exactly how this all happened. You wouldn't have brought everyone to the house if t wasn't bad." I said.
"It started off as a peace keeping program. Stop the threats before they even happen." Dad said.
"You mean like Project Insight was supposed to?" I asked.
"I thought you said you weren't judging?"
"I'm not just pointing something out." I said.
"Anyway, when we brought in the scepter and analyzed it I saw that it similar to Jarvis' frame work but more advanced." Dad said.
"What do you mean more advanced?"
"It looked like it was actually thinking. Neurons firing connections being made the whole nervous system in one gem. I thought if we could somehow find a way to apply the stone's framework to Jarvis we could make something new. Hence Ultron, of course it didn't work out that way and now I created a murder bot that wants to kill us. Oh and he happened to get the wonder twins on his side." Dad said.
"Wonder twins?" I asked.
"The Maximoff's, Speedy and the Witch." Dad said.
"Oh wow." I said suddenly smiling.
"Ok what's that look?" dad said.
"Nothing just realized that the distant future I've been to isn't actually that distant." I said smiling.
"Was it a good future?" dad said.
"Spoilers." I said.
"Let's go." He said putting money down on the table.
Once we got in the car he finally asked. "Yesterday you said you killed someone in the dining room… You want to elaborate?"
"Right so you know Wren was an assassin? Well the people he worked with Not only trained him, they trained Aidan. Of course Wren managed to break out of their control and took them down or so he thought. Aiden was brainwashed and came after Wren and me to get back at Wren. One day he showed up at the house with some help. The help came after me. We fought and I ended up shooting her. Of course at the time Bucky broke Aiden's neck and I thought he was dead. Wren took a blood sample and we discovered that Aiden was being controlled by someone else. We found him and broke the control they had on him and he's been stopping by on occasion since." I said.
"We're really going to have to talk about you're choice of friends." Dad said.
"He's not that bad, I mean he killed me once but he apologized and has been helping out." I said.
"He what?!" he said pressing the breaks on the car.
"He stabbed me I died and Aya brought me back. Not the first time its happened probably won't be the last." I said getting out of the car.
As I was walking into the house my phone started ringing.
"Go for Nora." I said.
"Bloody hell about time you answered." Aiden greeted.
"Didn't know you called." I said and then there were gunshots. "Where the hell are you?"
"Kinda what I wanted to talk to you about, I'm kind of pinned down and could use a hand." Aiden said before I heard more gunshots.
"Where are you?" I asked.
"New Orleans, warehouse 15 by the waterfront." He said before he groaned. "You may want to hurry up."
"I'll be there." I said. "Friday give me an image of warehouse 15 close to the waterfront in New Orleans."
"Sent to you phone boss." Friday said.
I went over to the kitchen where everyone was sitting down. I went over and opened the childproof locked drawer.
"Morning." I said pulling out a hand gun and loading a clip.
"Morning?" they all replied.
"I got to head out for a bit." I said a pair of boomerang knives. "Make yourselves at home while I'm gone."
"Where are you…" Steve started but I teleported before he could finish. I was on Bourbon Street when I opened my phone. I saw a picture of the warehouse and I teleported.
I could hear the gunshots from outside.
"Aya." I said.
"Take the side entrance and stay to the left, you'll find Aiden there." She said.
"Thank you." I said pulling out my gun and walking in. there were two guards at the entrance. I used an energy blast to slam them against the wall and knocked them out. I blasted the entrance open and walked in. There was a firefight and they had the upper hand. I took a few of them out, but it didn't do much to slow them down.
"I made a run for it and they started shooting. Lucky for me Aya shielded me from the while I got to cover. I jumped over a crate and landed next to Aiden.
"You sure know how to make an entrance." Aiden said clutching his side.
"Shit, you're bleeding out." I said.
"It doesn't matter, we need to get him." Aiden said. "We need to get Snow."
"Doesn't matter, if I don't patch you up you will die." I said.
"I don't care, if I take him down then it's all over." Aiden said.
"Not worth it. You can find him another time." I said.
"No we can end it now." Aiden said.
"I'd rather you live to see another day than die here taking him down. Wren wouldn't have wanted this for you Aiden. Let me help you." I said.
"Do it." He said.
I took his hand and teleported us to the house.
"Ah!" He groaned when he hit the floor.
"Shit sorry." I said helping him up.
"Nora?" Steve said coming in with everyone else.
"Hey, Got to patch him up." I said.
"What happened to you?" Natasha asked.
"Snow." Aiden said clutching his side.
"I'll be downstairs patching him up." I said before teleporting us down to the lab.
I put him down on one of the lab tables.
"Hold still, Fuck you're losing a lot of blood." I said getting a pair of gloves.
"Three units of O neg." Aya said putting them down and bringing in the IV stand.
"I'm think I'm delirious. I'm seeing two of you." Aiden said.
"You're not hallucinating, Aiden meet Aya the time stone, Aya you know Aiden." I said bringing out some anesthetic.
"Oh shit, I thought you were kidding." Aiden said.
"Not joking. I need to get in there to fix the damage. I'm gonna put you under." I said.
"No, no sleep." He said.
"Aiden I have to get in there, it's gonna hurt." I said.
"I'm used to it now get on with it." he insisted.
"Fine but if you start struggling I'm knocking you out." I said.
"I'd like to see you try." He joked.
"Really shouldn't joke about that while I'm holding a scapel." I said making the first incision.
I was impressed Aiden was clenching his teeth but he didn't move a muscle or screamed at all.
"I got it." I said. "Just a bit longer."
"Nice job." He said.
"Just need to close up and you're done." I said placing the last stitch.
"Wren trained you well." He said.
"He did." I said. "I'm gonna move you upstairs but I should tell you the only room that's open right now is Wren's."
"I'll take it, and maybe some more painkillers." He said.
"I got you covered." I said injecting him with a small dose of morphine.
"Thanks Nora." He said falling asleep.
"Don't mention it." I said as he knocked out. I teleported him upstairs and dressed his wounds.
"Friday monitor his vitals and let me know if he wakes up or needs anything." I asked.
"Yes, Boss." Friday answered.
I teleported back downstairs where everyone was outside.
Dad and Steve were chopping wood and Clint was touching up paint on the railing.
"You two do know we're in the middle of summer and that the fireplace is electric right?" I said.
"I'm going to go check on the back up generator." Dad said walking to the barn.
"How's Aiden?" Steve asked.
"He's a fighter. Patched him up. He's asleep right now." I said.
"What happened?" Steve asked.
"Got cornered by people from his past and he bit off more than he could chew. He'll be fine in a day or two." I said. "He survived Bucky breaking his Neck this was nothing compared to that."
"Well I'll be damned." I heard someone say. Dad walked over to us with a tall man wearing a black leather trench coat.
"It's been a while Nick." I said. "Almost forty years if I'm right."
"You two know each other?" Dad asked.
"Bogota, 1977." I said.
"She recruited me to SHIELD. Pierce promoted me." Nick said. "How are you here? And you look just the way you back in '77."
"Time traveling." I said. "Nora Stark, good to meet you again Nick."
"You died in Ferdows, I was at your funeral." Nick said.
"Did you ever actually see my body?" I said.
"Son of a bitch." Nick said.
"More like his daughter." I said looking at dad.
"What?" Nick said.
"Yeah, We have a lot to catch you up on boss." Clint said.
"I bet you do." Nick said.
A Few Hours Later-
"Ultron took you folks out of play to buy himself time. My contacts all say he's building something. The amount of Vibranium he made off with, I don't think it's just one thing." Nick said.
"What about Ultron himself?" Steve asked.
"Ah. He's easy to track, he's everywhere. Guy's multiplying faster than a Catholic rabbit. Still doesn't help us get an angle on any of his plans though." Nick said.
"He still going after launch codes?" Dad asked.
"Yes, he is, but he's not making any headway." Nick answered.
"I cracked the Pentagon's firewall in high school on a dare." Dad said.
"I did it last week because I was bored." I said.
"Yeah, well, I contacted our friends at the NEXUS about that." Nick said.
"NEXUS?" Steve said confused.
"It's the world internet hub in Oslo, every byte of data flows through there, fastest access on earth." Bruce explained.
"So what'd they say? Clint spoke up.
"He's fixated on the missiles, but the codes are constantly being changed." Nick said.
"By whom?" dad asked.
"Parties unknown." Nick stated.
"Do we have an ally?" Natasha asked.
"Ultron's got an enemy, that's not the same thing." Nick said
"In my experience the enemy of my enemy is my friend." I said.
"Still, I'd pay folding money to know who it is." Nick answered.
"I might need to visit Oslo, find our "unknown."" Dad said.
"Well, this is good times, boss, but I was kind of hoping when I saw you, you'd have more than that." Natasha said.
"I do, I have you. Back in the day, I had eyes everywhere, ears everywhere else. Here we all are, back on earth, with nothing but our wit, and our will to save the world. So stand. Outwit the platinum bastard." Nick said.
"Steve doesn't like that kind of talk." Natasha joked.
"You know what, Romanoff?" Steve said making Nat smile.
"Some things never change." I said with a smile.
"So what does he want?" Nick asked.
"To become better. Better than us." Steve said.
"Person bodies. The human form is inefficient, biologically speaking, we're outmoded. But he keeps coming back to it." dad said.
"When you two programmed him to protect the human race, you amazingly failed." Natasha said.
"So what he's jealous?" I said.
"Possibly, might be why he keeps the twins around." Nick said.
"Then find the twins, from what you've said wherever they are Ultron's right there with them." I said
"We tried anytime we try to track them nothing comes up. Ultron's probably erasing the feeds." Bruce said.
"Then make your own feeds." I said.
"What'd you have in mind?" dad said.
"You remember that project I told you about that you suggested I stop working on?" I started.
"You mean the one you said you stopped working on?" dad said.
"Yeah about that…" I started.
"You actually finished it?" dad said.
"What are you two talking about?" Steve asked.
"Any of you ever seen The Dark Knight Rises?" I said before walking to the door leading to the basement. I entered the passcode and Friday unlocked the glass doors.
"You redid the basement." Dad said.
"Yeah, had a free weekend." I said walking over to the lab table. "Friday Bring up and activate project Echo."
"Fail safes are still in place." Friday stated. "User Identity required."
"User Nora E Stark. Passcode: Winter is Coming." I said.
"Hand scan and Genetic markers required." Friday said and a hand scanner popped up. I put my hand on it and flinched when the needle pricked my thumb. "User Identity confirmed."
The wall where the TV was mounted on opened up and another room was revealed.
"Whoa." Clint said.
"Say hello to Project Echo." I said walking into the room.
"What is this?" Steve asked.
"It's essentially an algorithm that turns any electronic device on the planet into a sonar device. Sonar works by emitting sound and when the sound waves hit something the waves are reflected back. Using that reflection this device recreates images of the rooms." I said.
"And that's how you'll find ultron." Bruce said. "That's brilliant."
"And extremely dangerous in the wrong hands." Dad said.
"Which is why I installed a fail safe that erases the algorithm and fries this device after one use." I said. "Where the twins, Ultron is there so Friday calibrate Echo location to find the Maximoff twins."
"Calibration complete, Echo location started." Friday said.
"And now we wait." I said.
"Why did you build it?" Natasha asked.
"I was looking for someone."
"And now?" Natasha asked.
"He found me before I got to use it." I said and Steve realized who I was talking about.
"You should all get some sleep, It'll be a few hours before it gets the exact location." I said.
"Right. Friday wake us up when you have the exact location." Dad said.
"Yes boss." Friday said.
Everyone walked out of the lab and I started cleaning up a bit.
"That was supposed to find Bucky wasn't it?" Steve said.
"Originally, then it was supposed to find Aiden back when he was still trying to kill Wren and I. Of course he ended up coming to us before I finished it so it's just been here." I said.
"You know how to stay busy." Steve said.
"It's a habit." I said. "How are you doing?"
"Okay," He said coming closer. "Missed you today."
"Had a few things come up." I said.
"Noticed, brought me back to all the times you patched Me and buck up." Steve said.
"The good old days." I said.
"The good and the bad ones." Steve said coming closer.
"Everything didn't seem so doom and gloom back then." I said.
"That was probably because we had each other. Even when things were bad we could still find a way to make each other smile." Steve said.
"You remember that town in Italy where every building was orange." I said.
"You called it Cheetos town." Steve said smiling. "It had the same colors."
"Ironically they didn't have any cheese." I said chuckling.
"I love your smile, makes your eyes brighten up." Steve said getting closer.
"Your flirting's gotten better." I said.
"I missed that." He said leaning closer, "You not being able to take a compliment, the way you blush when you get embarrassed."
"It's not as bad as yours." I said looking up at him. Slowly he leaned down and kissed me. He broke the kiss fairly quick.
"Sorry, I know we agreed to take it slow." He said.
"It's fine, it's just a kiss." I said reaching up and giving him a peck on the lips. "You should be getting some sleep."
"I'd rather be here." He said.
"You have a big day tomorrow." I said.
"I can sleep on the way there." He said.
"Come on." I said taking his hand and sitting him down on the futon. I sat him down and sat down next to him. "What's on your mind?"
"Ultron," Steve said.
"What about him?"
"He said the key to world peace is the Avenger's extinction." Steve said.
"Do you agree with him?"
"We wouldn't be in this mess if Tony and Banner hadn't created Ultron in the first place."
"Their hearts were in the right place the execution was off." I said. "Also you didn't think it might be a good idea to check in on those two and see what they were working on?"
"They were just running logistics and making sure the scepter hadn't tampered with anything." Steve said.
"You do realize they didn't need the scepter for that? They could have just looked all the files you found in Sokovia." I said.
"So it's my fault?" Steve said.
"Hindsight's 20/20. What's done is done, just learn from this and don't make the same mistakes in the future." I said.
"The search is complete, the Maximoff Twins have been found." Friday said. I got up and went to the monitor.
"Where are they?" Steve asked.
"Seoul, South Korea." I said. "Friday wake everyone up."
"Yes boss, the Project Echo Termination Protocol has started." Friday said. As soon as she did all the monitors started to over heat and spark.
"Is that supposed to happen?" Steve asked.
"Yup, it's the built in fail safe." I said leading him out of the lab.
"Where is he?" Dad asked.
"Seoul. Any Idea why?" I asked.
"Has anyone talked to Helen Cho?" Bruce said.
After everyone had regrouped and thought things through everyone split up. Nick took Bruce back to New York. Steve, Nat, and Clint were heading to Seoul to stop whatever Ultron wanted with Doctor Cho. And dad was headed to the Nexus.
"Hey." Dad said.
"Hey you heading out?" I asked.
"Yeah. I wanted to ask, is it too late for take your daughter to work day?" He asked with a smirk.
"I thought you'd never ask." I said grabbing my jacket.