Disclaimer: I do not own anything, as usual.
A/N: I've bee trying to get this out for a while so yay! Here it is. Enjoy.
Chapter two
It's been almost three years since Norah left Romania and headed on back to America with Patchy and Clint, at that point she hadn't been back to the States since she was seventeen years old and no matter how much Norah loved travelling and living in Europe it was nice to be back in the homeland so to say. Patchy came through on his promise and had a few SHIELD agents work with Norah and helping her control her powers so that she could access and use them without even having the need to think and concentrate on using them. As if her power of blowing things up, or as one of her trainers had called it Molecular Combustion was more of a subconscious effort which in the end would be much less exhausting than having to concentrate or accidentally blowing something out. She may or may have not accidentally blown up one of the jets into scraps of metal which she didn't mean to do but her trainer – Braun – was being a complete douche to her, so technically it wasn't her fault but Patchy didn't exactly see it that way. Oh well.
It had also been nearly three years since Tony had first met Norah and since he had all but dragged her from SHIELD's New York field office and insisted that she was going to be staying with him and Pepper from then on our and not at some sad excuse of a dorm that in his opinion was more suited for a prison than a twenty year old girl. He didn't even care what Patchy had to say or any of her trainers, Tony linked his and Norah's arms had her head to her room to collect her belongings and brought her home and gave her any pick of the rooms that she wanted – other than his of course. Even now Norah still didn't know why Tony decided to take her in back then, especially since she was basically a stranger to him but Norah hoped that it had been her sparkling personality and innocent looks but she more so thought it was because she called Nick Fury, the Director of SHIELD, Patchy instead of his actual title which seemed to tick Nick off like nothing else. It was safe to say that Tony liked Norah from the first moment that he met her.
Over the years Tony has made Norah a daughter to him in every way but adoption. There's no doubt that it's been an interesting three years; Tony building new and improved Iron Man suits, the whole Alien Invasion thing that went on in New York, Tony's numerous projects that he decided he needed Norah's input for even though she knew jack squat about engineering, science, chemistry….or any science really. But Norah would never regret any moment that she has been living with Tony and Pepper – her family. Tony, showing a kindness that not many see him being decided to pay for Norah to finish her schooling at New York University and refused to take even a cent from her and no matter how sneaky Norah tried to be he would always be able figure out when she would sneak money to him or into his bank account. After a few months of attempting to sneak him money Norah eventually gave in and let Tony have his way.
"Come on Tony! I'm on vacation. The first actual real vacation that I have had since you took me in." Norah said into her Stark Industries phone in annoyance, a dark scowl on her face at the fact that Tony was demanding for her to come back. "I'm in Hawaii and at this exact moment I'm sitting on the beach watching all of the hot half naked men that I can feast my eyes upon. So come on, what is so important that you need me on the soonest flight back to New York. Seriously." She said in a deadly tone of voice that meant business, if Tony didn't give her a good enough reason she was going to do everything to make his life hell when she came back to New York.
Norah grinned proudly when she heard Tony groan in disgust at her words, "Okay one, I never want to hear you talk about feasting your eyes on hot naked men…ugh. I can't get the visual out of my head. I can't. You're my daughter, I don't need to hear or think about these things." He said and Norah could have sworn that she heard Tony mumbling to himself about imagining Fury in Pink boxers and bunny slippers to get the image out of his head of Norah staring at men and probably even a bit more than that, his imagination was a bit too wild at times.
"At least I didn't mention Steve." Norah pointed out as she dug her toes further into the sand, knowing the rival or annoyance that both Steve and Tony held for each other.
"Ughh, Norah!" Tony whined like a small child into the phone. "Did you have to go there? Did you really?" he complained loudly from the phone making Norah hold it away from her ear for a moment. "How can you call yourself my daughter when you do things like this?"
"This is exactly something that you would do Tony." Norah said and looked towards the ocean and saw a rather…well a very attractive man around her age with tanned skin and dreadlocks coming out of the water and man, did he had some mighty looking legs on him, must have been gifted to him by the gods or something. "Look….uh Tony. I'm gonna have to go if you aren't going to tell me anything important. I have a man to go feast my eyes upon and maybe sink my teeth into. Haven't decided yet." She said distractedly as she watched as the ocean water dripped down from the man's chest and headed southwards towards the band of his swim shorts which were leaving nothing to the imagination.
"God damnit Norah, really. Just stop. Please, for my sake and sanity please stop." Tony begged her as if his life depended on it which made Norah snicker. "I do not need to have these sorts of visuals in my head that involve you and other guys, it does things to my emotional state. It makes me want to lock you up forever." He told her and Norah couldn't help but give a heartwarming smile at how fatherly Tony sounded, this was how Norah had always wanted her actual father to act like but he always ended up disappointing her one time too many.
"I'd like to see you try to keep me locked up. Whatever you'd try to lock me in wouldn't be able to hold me, I'd be able to blow it up in two seconds flat. Tops." Norah told him confident in her powers and the control she had over them now after working with SHIELD agents and with Tony on honing her power. "Now come on Tony," she said distractedly as she continued watching the hot guy with dreadlocks make his way out of the ocean with his surf board. "You know that I deserve….need this vacation and now you are interrupting it by calling me three days in. And for your information this is really cramping my style, it's keeping me from talking and watching all of the hot guys. So not fair." She said to him as she brushed sand off of her pale calves and gave a slight pout, even though she knew Tony couldn't see her doing the actual pouting made her feel a bit better.
For a few moments there was nothing but silence on the other end of the phone that Norah thought that she and Tony had been disconnected somehow but she could still hear background noise of New York City through the phone so she figured Tony was thinking of the best way to word whatever it was that he wanted to say to her, so while Tony was doing that Norah took her time to soak in the atmosphere of being in Hawaii and sitting on the beach and watching as the waves crashed against the sand beach. It was beautiful. The ocean was calming for Norah; feeling the sand between her toes, the water lapping at her and the heat on her skin, the combination of it all helped her to not think about things that troubled her mind once in a while. Mostly her past and her family that though she ran away from and hated how they viewed Mutants, she still loved them and missed them desperately.
"Norah," Tony said breaking his silence and sounding rather serious which immediately got Norah's attention; he barely ever used that tone. "We got information about a Hydra base in Sokovia where we believe Loki's scepter is located at. And, well, we think this guy Strucker is experimenting on people with the help of the scepter." He told her reservedly, his joking and sarcastic attitude nowhere to be found.
"Like…like they did to Steve's friend Bucky?" Norah questioned somberly, remembering the stories and files that she read about what happened to Steve's childhood best friend and hoped it was nothing as drastic and horrific as that.
Tony swallowed deeply over the phone, "Yeah." He answered simply.
"So you want to bring me in on this mission to Sokovia?" Norah questioned curiously, though she already knew why he wanted her in Sokovia, so that she could help them defeat Hydra with the added benefit of her powers – Blinking from one place to another and blowing things up and people away from where they were was quite an advantage. "You know Pepper hates it when you guys drag me in on these Hydra missions, she thinks that I'm too young to be joining you guys and that it's much too dangerous for me." Norah said and gave a half smile at remembering the few times she did go with the Avengers only to return back to the tower with an irate Pepper who would give both herself and Tony a good tongue lashing making both feel as if they were small children once again.
"Pepper's out of town for a while." Tony interjected. "She'll be overseas on business for a while and will never know that you were with us taking down Hydra. We'll be in and out before she finds out what happened." He said flippantly, as if they were talking about the weather or in Tony's case some simple engineering…thing.
At that Norah raised her brow in doubt, Pepper was perceptive and had her ways of finding things out even when Tony did all in his power to hide it from her. And Norah had no doubt that Pepper will find out what transpired while she was gone, and when she did come back home to the tower she would not hesitate to rip into Norah for agreeing to go to Sokovia and then would rip into Tony for asking and allowing Norah to go there with him and the rest of the Avengers, and then she would turn on everyone else and tell them how stupid and selfish they were being for allowing a young girl to accompany them on a dangerous mission. Norah was not looking forward to when Pepper finds out.
"You know she's going to kill you, right?" Norah questioned as she ran her free hand through her long, messy and wild curly blonde hair which never seemed to want to cooperate with her.
"Yeah." Tony said with a tone of dread, Pepper was going to chew him up and spit him back out.
"Hopefully she won't feel sadistic enough to try and make Jarvis ban you from your lab for a few days, you'll be running around like a chicken with its head chopped off." Norah said as she stared at the half naked dreadlock guy once again, her eyes were basically pulled to his form.
"Norah, I wonder about you sometimes." Tony replied with amusement in his voice. "But, anyways. I think I'm willing to suffer the consequences and Peppers anger if it means you'll join us. We need all the people we can get Norah. This is a big one for us." He said, the serious tone he'd been using earlier returning once again.
"So, Sokovia. Are we absolutely positive that is where the scepter is?" Norah questioned but continued talking before Tony had a chance to answer her question. "You do know that Sokovia isn't exactly the nicest or happiest places in the world, right? It's been through a lot of war and rioting in the last two or three decades. There's not really war going on there anymore, but the people are still angry and are fighting with their government. Fighting for their people. Fighting for a better place and a better government. To have freedom." Norah explained sullenly to Tony. "How dangerous is it going to be?" she asked straight to the point and waiting expectantly for him to answer.
Tony gave a heavy sigh before answering Norah's question, "Jarvis did a few preliminary scans and dug a bit deeper for some info on the base and well, the results were that there's a good deal of soldier's that are working there for this guy Strucker, he's the one doing these experiments on the people of Sokovia. There are bunkers and watchtowers spread all over in those woods that lead to the Hydra base. I won't lie to you Norah, this will be dangerous. Pepper will kill where I stand if I bring you on this mission, but we need you Norah. But I…I care for you and if you don't want to do this I'll leave you alone for the rest of your vacation and call you when we get back. Promise." He said sincerely to her, not hint of a lie in his voice about leaving her out of this mission if that was what she wanted to be done.
Norah appreciated Tony being willing to do that for her but she couldn't not go, they needed her. "You need my powers Tony, don't be an idiot. You'll need the advantage, especially if this guy is experimenting on people and making them…different." She told him honestly.
"Thank's Blinker," Tony said teasingly, using his nickname he gave her when she showed him her power of Blinking from one place to another. "We'll keep you safe Norah, you'll stay with someone at all times to be sure nothing happens to you." He promised.
At that Norah rolled her eyes at Tony and his overprotective father routine, "Tony, I'm not a child. Besides, I'm sure I can get myself out of a majority of any situation that I might find myself in." she reminded him, a smirk forming on her face.
Norah was almost twenty-three and even though she was considered an adult by modern society she still ended up being treated like a small child or fine china by Tony, Thor and a good portion of everyone else as if they didn't think she could take care of herself. The only people who seemed to think she could take of herself were Clint and Natasha who would go on missions without needing to ask Norah if she was alright – at least not without hearing her scream or cry out in pain from an attack. Besides, before SHIELD fell and revealed that HYDRA had infiltrated them Norah had been training in more than just learning how to control her powers better, but also how to protect herself and how to use weapons if there ever came a time when her powers failed and was unable to use them to defend herself. By orders of Patchy.
"When do I leave?" Norah questioned a bit disappointed that her first vacation in years was ending so soon, but she'd make sure Tony would make it up to her and send her on one again, maybe to Bora Bora.
"Two hours from now," Tony replied with hesitation, feeling sorry about having to cut his daughter's vacation short. "A car will pick you up from your hotel." He explained to her.
Hearing that Norah narrowed her eyes, "You already had all of this arranged, didn't you?" she questioned him. "You assumed that I was going to say yes." She accused.
Tony gave a chuckle, "And you're surprised at that why?" he questioned teasingly. "Now go on and hurry up and pack your things up, it takes you females forever to get ready." He said to her.
"Whatever." Norah said with a roll of her eyes.
"Just go get ready kid, I'll see you soon." Tony responded amused.
Norah shook her head, "Don't worry dad, I'll be ready." She said and then hung up the phone and gave a heavy, disappointed sigh.
Norah had wanted to enjoy her time in Hawaii, she needed a vacation and deserved to have one after she had earned her double Bachelor's degree in Linguistics and in Public Relations. Apparent that wasn't in the cards. Giving a small pout at the unfairness but understanding why she was needed Norah looked back over towards where the hot guy with dreadlocks had last been and gave an immediate sour attention at what she saw. The guy was still on the beach but he was sitting on the beach with a skinny bottle blonde chick in his lap, yeah, life was definitely unfair at this moment in time. It's not like Norah was really all that into overly muscled guys anyways. Or hot half naked surfer dudes.
So Norah stood up from her seated position in the sand, wiped her bikini bottom off from any sand that was stuck there, pulled her simple lime green dress on, slipped her flip flops on and grabbed her tote bag with her stuff in it and headed back towards her hotel to pack the few things that she had strewn about the room in her epically short visit to Hawaii. Yeah, she wasn't going to be getting over that anytime soon.
~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~ Sokovia ~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~
The one important thing needed to have a surprise attack was having the element of surprise, and that, was one thing that Norah and the rest of the Avengers lacked ten minutes into making their way into the woods as they headed towards the Hydra base that was located in some moderate sized town that was about a twenty-five to thirty minute drive from where the Avengers had agreed they would head on in to attack the Hydra base.
"Seriously!?" Norah yelled as she glared hatefully at her surroundings, at the Hydra members that were trying to kill them at the moment, a bullet had just lodged itself into the side of the Jeep that she was sitting in the back of, Clint firing away in the front seat while Natasha drove said Jeep, all of the others taking on their own Hydra agents.
"You okay Blinker?" Tony asked through the comm in her ear.
At that Norah scowled, "Stop calling me that," she growled out as she waved her hands out towards a Hydra vehicle that was fast approaching the one she, Clint and Natasha were in and smiled a bit sadistically when it slammed hard into a grouping of rather large trees. "But yes, I'm fine Tony. Just, you know, almost got shot. No biggie." She said sarcastically.
"Norah." Steve admonished. "Keep your head in the game."
Norah shook her head at Steve, always acting like the parent and leader of the group. But he was right, she needed to keep her head in the game and pay attention to her surrounding's, she'd rather not get shot or get killed because she was bantering back and forth with her pseudo-father. She'd be pretty put out if she ended up dead because of that.
Norah was glad that she dressed for the colder weather of Sokovia; a light brown colored long sleeved scoop neck shirt, a pair of dark wash skinny motorcycle style jeans, a pair of wide black boots that reached a few inches below her knee, a green colored army style jacket that looked as if it had seen better days.
Suddenly, without any warning Hulk suddenly jumped over the Jeep Norah was in and crashed right into the bunker that was to the left of them and grabbed inside of it and threw a few guys out of it and at the tree's that sat to the side of it. Thor was in charge of taking out the watchtowers that had armed guards and soldiers up there, Tony was in charge of getting inside of the Hydra base and having Jarvis figure out if the scepter was there or not, Steve was on his motorcycle taking guys out on the ground level same as Norah, Clint and Natasha were doing. And Hulk, well Hulk was smashing any and all enemies that came towards the others.
"Shit!" Tony's voice said suddenly over the comms and it sounded as if he ran into something.
Within moments of Tony swearing did Steve pip up, "Language." He scolded.
Norah couldn't help but snort at that but decided to not comment on how much Steve just sounded like a grandpa who would yell at all the young whippersnappers to get off his lawn and to stop playing that weird rap music of theirs and said that music was much better in the good old days. Shaking her head at herself, Norah kicked one of the Hydra agents that had jumped on the back of the Jeep and flung her arm out and made him fly at least ten to fifteen feet away from where they were. Why can't they ever have an easy or at least moderately easy mission. Was that too much to ask for?
"Jarvis, what's the view from upstairs?" Steve asked.
"The central building is protected by some kind of energy shield. Strucker's technology is well beyond any other place we've taken." Jarvis answered immediately.
Norah gave a sigh, "Oh, yay!" she said sarcastically.
"You know," Clint said as he shot his gun off at people from the jeep. "I've seriously wondered sometimes if you and Tony were really related, you both are too sarcastic for you own good at times." He mentioned as his eyes narrowed and lined up his gun and took out a man that was heading straight for Steve who was driving a few yards ahead of them.
"I think I'll take that as a compliment Legolas." Tony answered.
All Norah did was smile, Tony was her father as far as she was concerned. Blood be damned, Tony was her father and nothing, absolutely nothing in the world would be able to change that fact.
Natasha suddenly spun the vehicle around and slammed it into one of the Hydra vehicle's as hard as she could and then jumped out of the vehicle to take on some of the agents on foot. Giving a sigh Norah jumped out of the Jeep with ease and then followed after Clint who they had dubbed as Norah's babysitter for this mission, they did not want her to get injured while on this mission, or worse, captured by Strucker to be experimented on like the rest of the people of Sokovia. Norah shuddered to imagine what Strucker would do with someone like her, with someone who had powers such as she did. It wouldn't end good, Norah knew that for certain.
"Come on," Clint whispered to Norah as he grabbed her coat clad arm and pulled her along with him to the left of where Natasha had run off to.
Norah ducked as a bullet suddenly whizzed by her head and missed her by mere centimeters and pursed her lips in annoyance at how many times she's been shot at. She wasn't a fan of guns in any fashion but knew how to use them because Natasha and Clint insisted, but this, being shot at for the millionth time that day was making her dislike them even more than she did previously.
"Loki's scepter must be here." Thor said suddenly, the sound of grunts and his hammer Mjolnir hitting things. "Strucker couldn't mount his defense without it." He explained. "At long last." He said in relief at finally being able to get his hands back on Loki's scepter which had been stolen out from SHIELD.
There was a sound of a grenade going off through the comms, "At long last is lasting a little long boys." Natasha said through her end.
Following Clint as he made his way through the woods Norah crouched down by a tree and looked around the tree and gave a flick of her wrist and the Hydra agent that was approaching Clint suddenly went flying quite painfully into the tree that he had previously been standing a few feet in front of not moments before. Norah knew that if she concentrated hard enough she could probably literally blow these agents up, but that was something that Norah would rather not do and would rather not know for certain if she could do so or not. Once you go there, once you go that dark and do something that horrific it's hard to come back from it.
"Come on Norah," Clint said from his hiding spot a few tree's in front of where she was still hiding.
Nodding in understanding, Norah looked around herself cautiously and then hurried up and ran to where Clint was and then took cover behind a tree that was close to where he was. Taking an arrow out, Clint aimed at the bunker that was in view and then fired it off into the bunker and took cover behind the tree once again as the arrow exploded on impact into the bunker.
"I think we lost the element of surprise." Clint said above the sound of gunfire and shouting.
"Wait a second," Tony said butting into the conversation. "No one else is going to deal with the fact that Cap just said Language." He mocked in amusement.
There was an annoyed sigh, "I know. I know. It just slipped out." Steve said to them.
Norah gave a giggle when she heard his exasperated sigh at Tony's teasing and couldn't help but join in a bit, "Still an old man I see Steve." She stated.
"You two are going to be unbearable," Steve said through the comms to Norah and Tony, the latter who was thoroughly amused by Steve's slip up. "I can tell." He said rhetorically.
As stealthily as they could Norah and Clint made their way further into the forest and closer to where the other bunkers full of Hydra people were at, while making their way Norah was using her powers to blow people into tree's and away from where her and Clint were heading and making sure that Clint didn't really have to waste any of his arrows on people who were trying to stop them. He needed them for the bunkers.
Hiding herself behind a tree a few feet away from where Clint had suddenly stopped Norah watched as Clint notched an arrow and took aim for the bunker and gave a sigh at the fact that Clint was having all the fun, it would take her a few moments at the most to take out the bunker and yet, Clint wouldn't let her. Because Clint had to be a man about it, he had to say no to Norah and act all manly with his exploding arrowheads and use it on the bunkers, because apparently Norah's way was too easy and it gave Clint a reason to use his arrowheads. Norah narrowed her eyes and yelled all sort of mean names at Clint inside of her head; she had powers for a reason – to be used.
Clint fired one of his arrows at the bunker and then quickly took cover behind a tree, Norah mimicking his actions but after a few moments of silence passed without anything happening Clint turned back towards the bunker with a confused look on his face.
"You sure that's not a dud?" Norah said with a smirk on her face as she watched Clint pull out another arrow.
Clint griped at the tease, "I don't have duds." He said simply, a hard look on his face refusing to believe that he had a dud – inconvenient time to have one too.
Shrugging, Clint notched yet another arrow (hopefully this one will go off) but before he had the chance to release it into the bunker a blue blur shaped an awful lot like a person suddenly knocked him into the ground quite painfully. Norah moved a bit to go and help Clint but she held herself back, waiting to see whoever this person was and hoping he would slow down so that it would give Norah the chance to attack him.
Giving a slight groan of pain Clint got up onto his knees and just breathed for a moment, he may be a skilled fighter and be skilled with a variety of different weapons but that didn't mean that he couldn't get the wind knocked out of him and get a bit of bruising from a person who seemed to be able to run at the speed of light. He wasn't a twenty-five year old kid anymore.
The pale, silver/blonde haired guy grinned down at Clint as he sauntered past him, "You did not see that coming?" he asked.
Seeing this as her chance, Norah blinked herself form her hiding spot behind a tree that was a few feet away from where Clint and the silver/blonde haired guy were, and made herself reappear in front of him and couldn't help but smirk when she saw the surprised look on his face but before he had the chance to say or do anything Norah punched him in the face. "Tell me," she mocked. "Did you see that coming?"
Rather than being angry like Norah had suspected he would be for getting punched in the nose (especially by a girl), the guy who seemed to be around her age just smiled in amusement before taking off further into the woods, more than likely heading back towards the Hydra base. Norah always loved a challenge. So, Norah did something that she knew Tony, Clint, Pepper and everyone else would yell at her for, she turned her ear comm off, ignored Clint yelling at her to not go after the enhanced as they called them and took off into the woods following the path the silver/blonde haired guy had just gone in. Norah looked ahead at the blur and Blinked herself into the pathway that she saw him going and appeared suddenly in front of him and grabbed onto his dark jacket so that he could not take off without her being taken with him.
For a few moments both Norah and the guy just looked at one and another without saying anything, Norah's dark brown eyes looking into his crystal blue colored eyes both filled with curiosity. "You are like myself, yes?" the guy asked her as he cocked his head a bit. "Enhanced?" he questioned with honest eyes.
Norah chuckled a bit at that, "Something like that." She responded, Mutant's were born with their abilities rather than being given them by a psychopathic scientist who decided to use Loki's scepter to experiment on people.
The guy stared into Norah's face for a few more moments before he shook his head, as if he was waking himself from a daydream. "They should not send someone young to this dangerous place. Sokovia is not safe. Not for outsiders." He said to Norah and tensed himself, readying to get out of the girls grin and to run off once again and head towards the base.
"I'm the only one who can keep up with you." Norah pointed out giving him a look for calling her young and watched him carefully and waited for him to make any sudden movement to get away from her which she was definitely not going to make easy for him. "I'm not that young." She said in annoyance and gave a slight huff.
"I do not wish to hurt you." He said to Norah as he wrapped his large hands around her wrists which still were clutching onto his jacket. "You are like myself and my sister – enhanced. So I will leave you unharmed. You stay and do not follow." He said to her seriously, his blue colored eyes looking at Norah intensely which made her lose her concentration for a moment which gave him all the time he needed to loosen Norah's hand from his jacket and sped off to about ten feet from where she was standing. "I may not want to harm you, but I will if I must." He said with a smirk and then gave her a wink before taking off into the woods once again.
Norah gave an annoyed sigh that she let his crystal clear blue eyes distract her and took off after him once again, she was a stubborn thing and refused to admit defeat and besides, he was someone that she had the ability to keep up with so she may as well do her part and chase after him. Any one of the other Avengers would have done the same thing.
So with that Norah took on a determined look on her face and took after the guy, Blinking herself closer and closer to his general direction. Norah would fully admit that this guy, whatever his name was, was a playful thing and was attractive and had a hot as fuck accent. There was no denying those facts.
"Damn it Norah." Norah admonished herself as she chased/blinked after the Sokovian and ignored the voices coming over her comm asking where she was. "Now is not the time to get the hots for the bad guy. You work with the Avengers, he works with Hydra. Bad idea waiting to happen." She lectured to herself.
Yeah, it was official, Norah so needed to get out of and away from the Tower and away from all the guys if this was how she ended up trying to find prospective boyfriends. Even by Tony's standards finding a Hydra agent attractive was a big no no. Though, Loki would have probably been a much worse pick so at least Norah got points for not going for the crazy psychopathic god who wanted to rule Earth.
Once again Norah Blinked herself in front of the hot Sokovian – not hot, Norah reminded herself, he was not hot in any way whatsoever. When he saw her he gave her a pointed look for not staying like he told her but before he was able to run off again she suddenly grabbed onto his jacket once again and Blinked them to a spot further in the woods. Seeing as this guy has never experienced what Blinking is, he tumbled a bit from the experience which resulted in the two of them rolling on the ground a bit before finally stopping with Norah lying on top of him with their chests pressed tightly against one and another and Norah's legs folded up on either side of his hips.
"Sorry. Should've warned you about that." Norah said with a smirk that showed that she wasn't really all that sorry about having him go through what Blinking from one place to another felt like.
Rather than commenting on that…..experience, he looked up into her face. "I thought I had told you to stay." He said smirking at her wolfishly as his hands settled near her hips, as if he was readying to throw Norah off of him so that he could run for it.
Norah gave a small half-smile at that statement, "I don't exactly take orders from people all that well, especially from people that I don't know."
At that the guy gave a bit of a laugh, "That I understand." He said to her.
For a few moments all Norah and the guy did was stare, neither sure what to say to one and another or do. Norah knew that if she moved even the slightest that this guy – calling him guy was getting really old – would jump up and run off and try and lose her before she could even blink.
"I admit," he said as he looked up at Norah. "This, not bad sight." He said flirtatiously to her.
Norah shook her head at him and lightly slapped the side of his head, "Ah ah ah, no. Bad. No flirting." She said to him with a pointed look, narrowing her eyes at him suspiciously. "You're Hydra, no fraternizing with the enemy and all that. Didn't you read the fine print." She said to him in a faux-appalled way at the fact that he didn't know about that.
"I am not one to follow rules." He admitted as he rubbed his fingers against the bit of skin that was peeking out from the layers of Norah's clothing.
Reacting immediately, Norah pushed herself into a seated position on the blue/silver haired guy and gave him a pointed look. "Keep your hands to yourself." She said as she wagged her finger at him as a school teacher would to a child who was behaving badly.
"You are one sitting on me." He said to her in amusement.
All Norah did in response to that was roll her eyes and took on a somber expression, "I don't know what they've told you, those people you work for but they are not nice people. They do not do good things. They-"
"They offered chance to myself and my sister. We took it. They say they help us, help us fight for country. They help us live, find us place to live. Give us food. That is nothing what bad people, evil people would do." He said, his accent coming on thicker as he got emotional about what he was talking about.
"You don't know them, not really." Norah said to him. "They may be helping you, but they are helping you for their own benefit. Have you been able to do something that would help your people yet? I've seen what Hydra has done to people, I've read what sort of…..things they've done. Don-"
Before Norah had a chance to finish her sentence the guy suddenly grasped her more firmly around the waist and switched their positions so that she now laid out on the ground and he was on top of her, looming over her with a fierce look on his face.
"You do not understand what we've been through." He said in an almost whisper and then pushed himself off of Norah and ran off once again.
Norah glared in the direction he ran off to, she was seriously getting sick of him running off on her and her having to chase him, again. Quickly following after him once again Norah Blinked herself further up where she knew the Sokovian was heading, she ran a bit and then Blinked herself closer and closer to the Sokovian until she was finally close enough and then launched herself at him and tackled him to the ground and pinned him where he laid. Admittedly though, Norah knew that if this guy wanted to get up and take off once again she wasn't really stopping him, he was a bit taller and stronger than her from what she could tell.
Breathing heavily, Norah looked down into the amused and surprised crystal blue eyes of the guy and tried to regain her breathing to a more normal and steady level than the erratic breathing that she seemed to be doing at the moment.
He grinned up at her and tugged playfully on a very curly strand of hair that escaped the side braid she pulled her hair into, "If we were not opposite side of this, this would be a time to take advantage of our situation." He intoned heatedly, a flirtatious glint in his eyes as he suddenly bucked his hips a bit into Norah inhaled sharply at the feeling, god she needed to find a boyfriend…..a non-Hydra allied one.
Leaning down towards his ear, "If we were in a different situation there would be less clothing involved." She breathed heavily into his ear, god why did he have to be so attractive and have an accent, she was a sucker for guys with accents.
"Promise?" he questioned with darkened eyes.
Before Norah had a chance to respond to him her ear comm went off again, "Norah we need you. Barton's been injured. We need you to take him back to the quinjet. Do you copy." Natasha's voice said into her ear from the ear comm.
Norah didn't respond for a moment, thanking the gods that she had muted her ear comm. "Sweets, I wouldn't hesitate to be in a situation where we would have less clothing involved." She told him playfully as she tapped the bit of facial hair he had around his mouth and chin. "But, alas. You are with Hydra and I am with the Avengers. Too bad."
"NORAH!" The voice of Natasha yelled once again, a tone of panic coming through.
Norah did something rash then, something she would not be admitting to anyone on the team. Norah leaned down close to the rather attractive silver/blonde haired guy who seemed to be studying her at the moment and stared into his blue eyes for but a second before she gently grasped his chin into her hand and then kissed him quickly but fiercely and leapt off of him and Blinked to about a yard away from him.
"It's too bad," Norah said as she watched him zip right up into a standing position while looking at her with a raised brow, curiosity clear in his eyes. "You're quite tasty."
He took a few steps forward, at a much slower pace than what he liked. "You gave no time for me to respond."
Smirking at him, Norah gave a half shrug in his direction. "Snooze you lose darling." She said and listened to her ear comm."Well speedy, till next time. I got a friend to go help right now." She said and grinned widely at the expression of confusion, wonder, curiosity and amusement and Blinked herself out of the vicinity of the rather attractive man and to the last place that Clint and she had been so that she could take him up to the quinjet.
Blinking back to that wooded area Norah's eyes widened when she saw the state of Clint, he looked a bit paler than usual and there was a good amount of blood on his side and on his hands where he tried to stop the bleeding by putting pressure on his wound. But before Norah could approach Clint and ask him what happened a rather broad and tall chest appeared in front of her line of vision. Looking up from the chest Norah gave a small grimace at the expression that was on Steve's face at the moment, he was definitely not a happy camper at the moment and was more than likely beyond pissed at her.
"Uh-"
But before Norah had the chance to string together a coherent sentence Steve crossed his arms and looked down at her with narrowed eyes, that was sign enough that she was about to get lectured which made her internally sigh. Norah liked Steve, she really did. She wasn't like Tony who had a vendetta against him – though Tony did because his father as obsessed with finding Captain America after he went down in the ocean – but whatever, she liked Steve. He was nice, he cared for other people, and he would sacrifice his life for others and protect those that needed protection. But Norah hated it when he treated her like she needed constant protection, as if she was a child who couldn't protect herself.
"Where were you?" he demanded as he looked at Norah seriously. "You were supposed to stay with Clint; he was supposed to keep you safe in case something happened. But I come to find out from Clint that you had run off and chased after the male enhanced." He said, a tone of worry in his voice which made Norah feel guilty for taking off and muting her comm but she was sick and tired of the majority of them treating her like she didn't know what she was doing, like she couldn't handle this. "What were you thinking?"
At that Norah sent an exasperated look to Steve, "I was thinking, Captain, that I was the only one who would be able to keep up with him." She pointed out to him without hesitation; Steve liked order and he liked orders to be followed but Norah being Norah didn't always do that and sometimes situations called for orders to be broken. "Look, I know you guys all worry about me but I can take care of myself. I have powers, two powers that give me an advantage in almost any situation that I may find myself in but you don't seem to understand this, you don't seem to understand that I can go out there without having a damn babysitter." She yelled at him, her eyes narrowing at having to constantly have someone with her when she went out on missions with the Avengers. "I am not a child and I am sick of being treated like one by everyone, Clint and Natasha seem to be the only ones who don't treat me like a child when we are out here, fighting." She said gesturing wildly which made Steve take a step back, afraid that her power will get out of her control.
"Look, Norah." Steve said raising his hands in a peaceful gesture. "Let's calm down," he said to her watching her hands closely. "And please, put your hands down." He told her quietly.
At that Norah gave him an unbelievable look, "I'm in control!" she said to him as she shook her head at him. "Jesus, I've worked hard to be able to control my power where I wouldn't have to worry about blowing something up. You act like I just got this power or something." She said and then stepped away from him and looked towards Clint. "Whatever. I don't care." She scoffed at him and walked past him so that she could get Clint to the quinjet so that they could patch him up the best they could until they got back to the tower.
"Norah-"
Norah shook her head and stepped out of reach of Steve, "Don't." she said shaking her head vehemently. "You guys asked me to come and help, and when you do that you need to treat me like a team member and not as a child." She said softly to him and then walked forward and wrapped her hand around one of Clint's and then Blinked out of sight.
Groaning, Steve ran his hands through his hair. He remembered a time when dames used to be happy to be taken care of and worried about like he was doing over Norah and her suddenly disappearing and chasing after an enhanced who she didn't even think was dangerous. Women nowadays were very independent and didn't like to be told what to do and didn't like to be helped when they believe they can do something – like Norah.
"She's right you know." Natasha said suddenly appearing beside Steve making the enhanced Soldier jump in surprise. "You guys all treat her as if she can't do anything to help, as if she needs to constantly be watched in case something happens." She said with an amused smile on her face. "Sometimes you just gotta let things happen, if she gets stabbed, shot or beat. You just have to let that happen. She's almost twenty-three and you all are acting like a mother hen. It's suffocating for her."
"She's just a kid." Steve said to her, as if that explained why he and everyone was so protective of her.
At that Natasha looked up at Steve with a raised brow, "Technically speaking, you are maybe four or so years older than her." She pointed out to him simply.
"That's different." Steve said. "I've got super soldier serum in me, she-"
"She's a Mutant." Natasha said bluntly to him. "She's different. She has powers, one of which she can use as in a defensive way. She can take care of herself, it's time you all realize that." She said and then glided away from where Steve was standing.
Steve sighed once again, this new world, this…..modern world was confusing and fascinating all at the same time. The food and music was better but he didn't have a clue how to interact with some of the people – females especially. No matter what time he was in females would always be confusing.
"Come one Cap," Natasha said as she looked back at Steve. "We got work to do."
~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~ Author's Note ~_~_~_~_~_~~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~
Quotes:
"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.
"We do not grow absolutely, chronologically. We grow sometimes in one dimension, and not in another; unevenly. We grow partially. We are relative. We are mature in one realm, childish in another. The past, present, and future mingle and pull us backward, forward, or fix us in the present. We are made up of layers, cells, constellations."
― Anaïs Nin