Disclaimer: I do not own anything, I'm a poor girl with college loans to pay back and bills to pay
A/N: I started to try and write this chapter at ten this am but was having problems doing so and so I just read some fanfics and finally, after writing some parts that are going to be happening in this story in the future I was able to get the motivation. So yay!
A/N2: I love all of you for reading this, i appreciate you all and well, you all are completely amazing and I hope you all keep it up. getting reviews makes me get butterflys on the inside!
Chapter Ten
When Clint had said that they were heading to a safe house Norah had thought that maybe they would be heading to some sprawling metropolitan city that was so large that it would be hard to pick out where they had gone to, she had pictured maybe a warehouse that Clint had stored some weapons at and used to sleep at when he was on his way to missions, she thought of a Susie Homemaker suburban home even but not even with her wildest of imagination did she imagine this of all places. A farmhouse in the middle of nowhere Indiana. The place looked pretty lived in and homely even; there was an old truck that was at least twenty years old parked up on a dirt road that led to the house, a barn that was behind and to the right of the house, there was even a garden with what looked like vegetables growing on the opposite side of the barn and a field a yard or so behind the house and scattered throughout the yard were toys a basketball, one of those old red wagons and a foam sword.
"Clint," Norah said as she and the rest of the Avengers followed him towards the house which had a nice wraparound porch and a bench swing to the left of the front door. "When did you become old Mcdonald?" she questioned as she noticed a chicken coop on the land as well.
Tony nodded his agreement with Norah's statement, "Yeah Legolas, what kind of cover is a farmer anyways? It smells weird here." He said as he took a big whiff of the air with a scrunched up nose.
Clint looked behind him at Tony and gave a smirk, "That's called fresh air Stark, I know you don't get it that often living in the city but I promise it won't poison you." He joked and went up the stairs of the porch while aiding Natasha who seemed to have really been affected by remembering her past with the Red Room.
"What is this place?" Thor asked as he looked around and studied the strange place that Clint had brought them to after the incident in South Africa.
"Safe house big guy." Tony responded as they stepped inside the two story farmhouse and was led past the entry way and into a living room that looked more than warm and welcoming and definitely not something you would expect for a safe house of a former SHIELD agent.
Looking around the room Norah saw the worn but cared for furniture, there were pictures around the room and it…well it felt very friendly and it made her confused, more than confused even. Norah was befuddled over why Clint brought them to this 'safe house' of his as he called it, this place was definitely not a safe house not with the pictures that were up along the walls of a couple kids, of Clint and a woman and the few toys that were scattered in the room. No, this was definitely not a safe house, it was Clint's actual home.
"Honey! I'm home." Clint called out once they reached the living room and keeping his hand pressed against Natasha's back, hoping it helped ground her and kept her from lingering on her memories.
It only took moments for whoever Clint had called to appear out of the kitchen, it was a woman who had long dark hair and was quite obviously very pregnant and was more than likely just weeks away from having the baby. The moment she saw Clint she gave a wide smile and then looked over towards everyone else with a welcoming smile who were standing there and looking at her as if she was some sort of science experiment (excluding Natasha).
"Hi. I brought company." Clint said a bit sheepishly to her for randomly bring people around to their home without even a warning. "Sorry I didn't call ahead." He apologized to her.
Rather than saying anything to that statement the woman stepped closer to Clint and pulled him into a loving hug before she leant up a few inches and pulled him into a quick kiss and gave a warm smile. "Hey." She whispered. "I've missed you."
While Clint and the dark haired woman were getting reacquainted Tony looked at Thor and then at Clint and the woman again and shook his head to himself, he couldn't wrap his head around what was happening at the moment with Clint and whatever this place was. "This is an agent of some kind." He said to the others but most of everyone just ignored him and any witty or sarcastic remarks he had.
"Sure she is." Norah placated with an amused smile at what her father said. "I'm sure Clint goes around kissing random former agents of SHIELD all the time, pregnant one's at that." She teased with a smirk on her face knowing that Tony hated, absolutely hated not knowing everything about anyone and everything.
Tony ignored Norah's quip and instead looked over at Clint and the very pregnant woman that was pressed into his side with his arm wrapped over her petite shoulders. It bothered Tony, he couldn't help it but it bothered him that in the last few years that he had known Clint that he never mentioned a family and that there hadn't been any signs hinting to the archer having a life and family outside of the Avengers and whatever missions SHIELD decided to send him on. Okay, so he and Clint weren't best of friends like he and Bruce were but he thought they knew each other well enough to at least tell one and another about families that they had and the fact that they lived out in the buckass of nowhere on a farmhouse in Indiana. Not exactly Tony's style but kudos to Clint for wanting to live somewhere peaceful and quiet with his family.
"Gentlemen, and Norah," Clint said gaining their attention as he looked at the people who he considered friends. "This is my wife Laura." He introduced.
Laura gave a welcoming smile to the Avengers and Norah, "I know all of your names already." She said with a small laugh.
Before anyone had a chance to say anything else there was the sudden sound of running footsteps coming from somewhere in the house and coming closer and closer to the living room, hearing the footsteps Clint gave a wide smile knowing exactly what, or rather who the footsteps belonged to.
"Ooh, incoming." Clint said as he crouched down a bit and not even a moment later a young girl and boy came around the corner and yelled 'dad' at Clint who just grinned down at the girl and picked her up in one of his arms and kissed her on the side of the face. "Hi sweetheart." He said in a lighter and happier tone of voice and then hugged the boy who looked to be around nine or so. "Hey buddy." He said as he mussed up his son's hair. "I've missed you guys."
Tony looked at the children that were hugging Clint, "These are smaller agents." He said.
Norah just raised her brow at him before turning her attention back to Clint and his family with sad eyes that she tried to hide but knew she wouldn't be able to; this was the sort of family that Norah had dreamed of having when her parents had first started fighting and when she had learned of their intentions of divorcing. She couldn't lie and say that it didn't make her jealous or feel a stab of pain whenever she saw a happy family who had a mother and father who quite obviously loved one and another and who had kids they cared for no matter what, because it did hurt and she did get jealous and wished that she could have had something like that when she had been growing up. Instead, she grew up with a single mother who worked two jobs to support herself and her children, had a father who was barely ever there and whenever he did make plans with Norah he would either forget or break them because he had to do something else. Norah didn't hate that her mother divorced her father or the fact that her mother had to work two jobs, in fact she was proud of her mother for that and found it amazing that she was able to make it work and still be able to have time for her kids on the weekend but that didn't mean that the little kid in Norah didn't get jealous of these sort of moments that she saw families have.
She had Tony though and Pepper, Norah loved those two as if they were her family, as if they were her actual parents rather than two people who decided to take Norah in three or so years ago. She loved Tony as if he was her father and she appreciated everything Tony did, she called him father once in a while and some people may think that she is saying it in a joking way but she was serious when she called him by that title, he was her father. He may not have had any hand in making her but he did treat her as a daughter and that was all that mattered. Norah was thankful for what she had; Tony, Pepper, Thor, Steve, Bruce, Clint and Natasha and the handful of friends that she had. She was thankful for the family that she has created within the Avengers.
Clint's daughter looked at him, "Did you bring Auntie Nat?" she questioned hopefully, her childlike innocent and curiosity still intact.
Natasha stepped out from behind Steve who was standing a bit in her way and plastered a smile on her face, "Why don't you hug her and find out." She said to which the girl gave a giggle and jumped out of her dad's arms and into the arms of Natasha who hugged her tightly.
"Sorry for barging in on you." Steve said as he looked away from Natasha and the little girl and over towards Clint's wife Laura.
"Yeah," Tony said as he looked at some knickknacks that were around the room. "We would have called but we didn't know you existed." He pointed out scathingly as he looked at Clint.
When Tony said that Norah looked up at Tony with a dark look, unimpressed at the tone he used and elbowed him sharply in the side. "Tony" she hissed. "Be nice."
Before Tony had time to respond to that Clint began to talk, "Fury helped me set this up when I joined. Kept it off of SHIELD's files and I'd like to keep it that way." He told them with a half-smile on his face. "I figured this was a good place to lay low." He said with a shrug of the shoulders.
Laura moved from Clint's side and went over towards Natasha who had let the little girl down, "I've missed you." She said and looked closely at the younger red-head and could see that something had happened on this mission of theirs. "How are you?" she asked as she pulled Natasha in for a hug for a moment and then released her.
Natasha gave a half-hearted smile at Laura and then looked down at her very pregnant belly and then back up again, "How's little Natasha?" she questioned as she laid her hands gently on Laura's belly.
At that Laura looked at Natasha with a slight grimace, "She'…uh…Nathaniel." She said with a wry grin on her lips.
When Natasha heard that she looked bent down towards Laura's Belly, "Traitor." She whispered in feigned anger.
While this was going on Thor looked around the room at his friends, his comrades and thought of the vision of sorts that he had because of the female Sokovian and then without a word he left the house and headed outside, intending on leaving Indiana and finding someone who will be able to help him with what he needed to do.
Norah was standing beside Clint and hip bumped him and crossed her arms under her chest and looked at him with an almost affronted look on her face, "What the hell Clint!" she said and lightly slapped him upside the head. "You have a wife, an adorable daughter and a son and you didn't bother to tell me even. Hmm, what's up with that?" she asked while giving him a look and pursing her lips together in slight annoyance, she wasn't really angry but a tad bit insulted.
"Hey!" Clint said as he rubbed at his head where she hit him. "For such a small and unassuming thing you can be quite violent at times." He told her. "Well, when you don't take your explosive power into consideration that is." He said offhand.
"You're damn lucky I'm not using my power on you right now," Norah grumbled to him. "I mean come on, I'm trustworthy." She said and gestured to herself.
Clint laughed at that and patted her head, "Yes you're a trustworthy, loyal and can even feed yourself. Good dog." He joked to which Norah glared at him heatedly and pushed his hand away from her.
Later on while Clint and Laura were upstairs talking alone after finally being reunited with one and another both Natasha and Norah were seated in the living room playing with Lila, Clint's five year old daughter who Norah thought was one of the most adorable little girls that she had ever met in her life. Being around Lila reminded Norah of some of her younger cousin's and some of her second cousins who she used to play with and watch once in a while when she had been younger.
"Norah!" Lila yelled in excitement as she went over to where the blonde haired twenty-two year old was and dropped a pile of Barbie's near her. "What Barbie is your favorite? Did you play Barbie's a lot when you were younger? My favorite is Skipper!" she said to her with a wide grin spreading across her face, a grin that looked eerily similar to the one Clint has at times.
For a moment Norah just stared at the younger girl with wide eyes, she wasn't used to having so many questions at once being thrown at her by a hyperactive childlike Lila seems to be. Lila reminds Norah of a much younger version of Kitty actually, just as hyper and talkative and friendly.
"You know what," Norah said as she looked down at the little girl who looked up at her with rapt attention. "I can't even remember what my favorite Barbie was. It's been so long since I've played with them." She told her with a playful smile on her face.
When Lila heard that she gave an over exaggerated gasp, looking at Norah as if she had just told her that Santa wasn't real. "What! You need to have a favorite! You have to!" she told her and then thrust a Barbie into Norah's hands with a pile of clothes to go with it. "Here. That's Kelly." She told her and then turned her attention back to her original Barbie and began to take the clothes that were on her off and instead pulling on a fancy ball gown on her.
"Uhh, thanks." Norah said in a questioning tone of voice.
"So, Barbie and Kelly are going to a ball with two of their other best friends." Lila said as she looked intently at her Barbie and then produced two other Barbie's that were already dressed up in sparkly dresses and high heels and bows in their hair which Norah assumed was Lila's doing. "You can't wear red though," Lila said to Norah suddenly with a serious tone of voice. "I'm wearing red and we can't wear the same color. It's against the rules." She told her conspiratorially.
Norah looked at the little girl in amusement before she reached over and gently tugged on a strand of her hair playfully, "Okay, I'll do my best to not feel disappointed." She told her jokingly.
When Norah said that Lila seemed to look at her seriously for a moment and be deciding something, but soon enough the little girl nodded and then looked into Norah's dark colored eyes. "Well, if you really, really, really want to I 'spose you can wear red too. Just this once though, okay?" she questioned.
"You know what," Norah said as she picked through the Barbie dresses that Lila had given her. "I think I'll choose blue. I like blue." She told her as she grabbed a random dress and proceeded to put it on her Barbie that Lila gave her.
For a while both Norah and Lila played Barbie's, they put on a fashion show for Natasha as Lila was the announcer and was telling them the clothes were all the rage in Paris or somewhere like that. It was nice to be around someone like Lila, to be around children in general who were so curious and so happy with the world and didn't know much about all of the bad things that happen – things that the Avengers fight.
"You'd be a great big sister," Lila said suddenly as she looked up at Norah who was sputtering on her drink of water and attempting to not spit it onto the wood floor of Clint and Laura's home. "I can tell these sorts of things. You played Barbie's with me." She said as she bounced in place between her and Natasha on the couch. "I always wanted a big sister, always, always, always. I asked mom and dad for one but they said they can't give me one, that it doesn't work like that. Callum is a big meaning head at times, a sister would be much better." She said as she crossed her arms and then looked up at Norah. "Do you have a big sister?"
For a few moments Norah didn't say anything, in her mind she pictured a girl who was in her early twenties with straight dark brown hair pulled into a ponytail, a tad bit darker skin tone than her own, and murky blue eyes. That was her sister – Niki.
"I do," Norah slowly admitted and saw from the corner of her eye that Natasha was looking at her in concern; she knew how much Norah hated talking about her birth family. "But I haven't seen her in a very long time."
Lila looked up Norah with a slight frown on her face, "Why? What happened?" she asked curiously.
When the little girl had asked that Natasha decided to step in, "Lila, it's not appropriate to ask questions like that." She told her and leveled her with a stern look.
"Tasha," Norah said as she looked over at her friend. "It's fine." She told her before turning her dark eyes back to Lila who looked properly reprimanded. "Things happen sometimes Lila, and well stuff happened with my family and I haven't been able to see them in a long time because of that. But someday, someday I hope to see my sister again." She said to her and took a deep breath before she moved to get up and off of the couch. "I'm going to see if the shower is free now."
And with that said Norah headed upstairs to where Laura had told them the one shower in the household was and hoped that some steaming hot water would do her good, help calm her down. And help her to not think about Pietro and how great of a kisser he had been and how tasty his lips had been and how much she felt drawn to him even though he was on the wrong side of good and bad.
~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~ _~_~_~ Tony ~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~
After talking with Fury about Ultron, about how stupid Fury thought Tony was for using the scepter to experiment with this Ultron project of his which had backfired horribly, asking Tony why exactly he thought that Ultron was a good idea and after talking to Fury about his nightmare of where all of his friends had died but him. Well, after that stressful talk Tony decided to seclude himself to the barn for a while so that he could sort through his thoughts and to try and forget about those images that were put in his dead by the Maximoff girl.
Tony had lied to Fury, the worst part about his nightmare or whatever you want to call what that girl did to him wasn't still being alive while Steve, Clint, Natasha and Bruce were dead, the worst part about that whole nightmare was the fact that he had seen Norah dead. He had seen Norah's prone body lying limp on the ground, her hair splayed out and matted with blood, her eyes staring lifelessly at him and that terrified him more than anything in his life ever has. Norah and death should never be in the same sentence, if he had to Tony would fight tooth and nail just to be sure that Norah lived if he could not and he knew without a doubt that Pepper would want that to be done as well. Norah was his daughter, she mattered just as much to him as Pepper did, she liked joking around, she was playful, she bantered back and forth with him and kept Tony on his toes, she understood his humor and if she….if she died Tony wasn't sure what he would do.
Sure Tony lived a life before Norah, he had his money and his company and he had Pepper but when Norah came to live with him and Pepper and when she finally started to open up to him and show her personality...well that was when things were cemented. That was when they truly became one and another's family, that was when Tony felt as if he was complete. He had Pepper and he had Norah and he was happy with that.
"Stupid…god damn…Fury." Tony grumbled to himself under his breath and then dug into his pants pocket and took out his wallet and flipped it open and there staring at him was a picture of both Pepper and Norah on a beach in Italy from when they all had taken a vacation together, it was one of his favorite memories since Norah had come to join their family.
Keeping a picture of your family was something cheesy, Tony would admit that and he never thought he'd do something like that but, having this picture to look at whenever he went off on missions kept him grounded and helped him keep his common sense and reminded him to not do something too reckless – he was Tony Stark after all being reckless was in his blood.
Tony hoped that nothing bad would happen to himself or to Norah, already he knew that he was going to be getting one hell of a lecture from Pepper when she was finished with her business trip. God, Pepper was going to chew him up and then spit him back out again.
~_~_~_~_~.~_~_~_~.~_~_~_~._~_ ~_~._~_~_~_~._~_~_~._~_~_~.~_~
"Thank you Laura," Norah said as Laura grabbed her plate before she had the chance to take it up to the sink herself. "You make amazing food." She told the older dark haired woman with a genuine smile, it was true, the food was pretty good.
At that Laura smiled at her, "Thank you Norah and thank you for helping make it, it really helped." She told her as she looked around the room at the numerous people that seemed to have invaded her home over the last twelve or so hours.
Norah shrugged her shoulders, "I don't mind, I used to help cook for an army of kids at my old school." She said remembering Xavier's school and all of the mouths of the kids and teachers and Mutant's that passed through that they ended up feeding.
Laura just gave a laugh at that and took the remaining plates into the kitchen and was about to start doing the massive amount of dishes that they just used up but before she had the chance to do so Fury had come over and banned her from the kitchen and told her that he would take care of the dishes since she opened up her home to all of them without question and without complaint, knowing when shew as about to argue a losing battle Laura thanked him and instead headed into the living room and settled down on the couch to relax and to sit with her two kids while Clint, Fury and the others talked about Ultron and what they needed to do next. What they needed to do to take down Ultron and make sure that he stays down for good.
"Ultron took you guys out of play to buy himself time. My contacts all say he's building something." Fury said as he was drying some of the dishes that he was washing for Laura.
Everyone was spread throughout the kitchen and living room area; Natasha and Norah were sitting at the table, Tony was playing darts while listening to the conversation and adding input, Bruce was leaning up against a wall behind Norah and Natasha, Clint was sitting near where Tony was playing darts and Steve was standing near the kitchen entryway.
Fury looked at everyone, "With the amount of vibranium he made off with I don't think it's just one thing." He told them with a serious tone, not one emotion escaping his face.
Steve leant up against the wall and looked at Fury, "What about Ultron himself? Do they know anything about what's going on with him?" he asked.
"He's easy to track. He's everywhere." Fury told them honestly, though considering the fact that Ultron was able to escape through the internet no big surprise there really. "The guy is multiplying faster than a Catholic rabbit. Still doesn't help us get an angle on any of his plans though." He said with a half shrug of his shoulders at that small fact.
Tony looked over from where he was throwing darts at, "Still going after launch codes?" he questioned as he almost was able to throw a dart into the bullseye part of the board but missed but millimeters.
Fury nodded his head at that, "Yes he is. But he's not making any headway." He said to them as he finished drying the last dish of the night and then turned his full attention to the Avengers that were sitting around and looking at him as if he had the answers to everything, as if he had some special weapon hidden up his sleeve that will give them the upper hand against Ultron, but he didn't.
Tony looked over at everyone once again, "I cracked the Pentagons firewall in high school on a dare." He pointed out boisterously, proud of that fact.
Fury had the urge to roll his eyes at Tony but refrained, if Norah saw that he wouldn't let him hear the end of the fact that he did in fact have actual emotions, he was a SHIELD agent and he needed to keep his emotions intact, that was what he was trained to do.
"Yes," Fury said to them. "I contacted our friends at the Nexus about that."
Steve gave a look of confusion, never hearing of this Nexus place before. "Nexus?" he questioned.
Bruce was the one to answer, "It's the world's internet hub in Oslo." He replied as he cleaned his glasses with a cloth. "Every bit of data flows through there, the fastest access on Earth."
Looking over at the darts Tony was playing Clint grabbed one and threw it directly in the bullseye before Tony had the chance to throw his dart; Tony looked over at Clint who just gave an innocent look. "So, what'd they say then?" he asked as he looked back at Fury.
"He's fixated on the Missiles, but the codes are constantly being changed." Fury explained as he leaned against the counter of the kitchen and looked at the team.
Tony turned, "By who?" he asked.
No one would be changing the codes just on a whim, whoever was doing it needed to know about Ultron and needed to know what his plan was exactly and thus far Ultron hasn't exactly gone out into public view as of yet. At least as far as they knew he hasn't but they hadn't exactly been keeping track of the news for signs that he was letting people know who he was and what he was planning on doing.
"Parties unknown." Fury told them.
"Do we have an ally?" Natasha asked hopeful, they could sue another person on their side.
At that Fury gave a pointed look. "Ultron's got an enemy. That's not the same thing, still, I'd pay folding money to know who it is." He said to them.
Norah looked over at Fury with a raised brow, "Patchy, come on. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Isn't that how the saying goes?" she questioned and leaned back into the kitchen chair she was sitting on which was really starting to hurt her poor ass.
Fury looked over at the girl who he and Clint had found in Romania, a girl who had leveled a housing development with one flick of her hands, a girl that has become quite powerful and skilled after being trained by SHIELD agents to control her power…a girl who he grudgingly admits has become an asset. The girl pissed him off at times but he respected her and trusted her power.
"That's not the same thing Norah," Fury told her as he looked at her intently. "Not in this business it isn't." he told her quietly.
"You shouldn't rule it out though." Norah pointed out, this person or whoever was an unknown and if they were trying to keep Ultron from gaining power then Norah thought that they should view them as an ally rather than someone who was an enemy like Ultron was.
Tony smiled at his daughter before looking at everyone else, "Might need to visit Oslo to find our own." He stated.
Giving a heavy sigh Norah looked over at Fury with slight annoyance that this was all he had brought to the table, "Well this is all good times boss but I was kinda hoping when I saw you that you'd have more than that." She told him with an expectant look on her face.
Fury looked at her as if she lost her mind, "I do. I have you." He said in a light tone of voice which confused everyone that was in the room at the moment. "Back in the day I had eyes everywhere and ears everywhere else. You kids had all the tech you could have dreamed of and here we all are back on Earth with nothing but our wit and will to save the world." He said and walked further into the room with an air that commanded everyone's attention. "Ultron says the Avengers are the only thing between him and his mission. And whether or not he admits it his mission is global destruction. All this laid in a grave. So stand. Outwit the platinum bastard."
Hearing that Norah couldn't help but look over at Steve and then back to where Fury was all but giving an encouraging speech , "Steve doesn't like that kind of talk." She said slyly, looking over at Steve who shook his head.
"You know what Norah." Steve said in a joking tone of voice as he looked over at the young curly blonde haired girl.
"So what does he want?" Fury questioned, a brow rose as he made his way towards the table and sat at one end and looked at everyone expectantly.
For a moment there was nothing but silence as they all ponded that question, it was Steve who finally answered. "To become better, better than us. He keeps on building bodies." He said to them in reference to the iron legion like army that Ultron created to help fight against the Avengers with.
Tony furrowed his brow as he left his game of darts and went further into the kitchen, "Human form isn't efficient. Biologically speaking we're outmoded, but he keeps on coming back to it."
Frowning, Natasha looked over at Tony with annoyance. "If you were programming him to protect the human race you've amazing failed." She said to him with dark eyes for the problem that he caused not only the Avengers but the world as well.
For a few minutes there was nothing but silence, the only sounds were coming from the living room where Laura, Callum and Lila were. Everyone was uncertain of what their next plan of attack should be, they couldn't exactly go back to the tower at the moment with the Hulk situation but if this went on for much longer they would have to chance it. Ultron was planning something, doing something but what was he doing that he needed all of that Vibranium. What was his end game?
Bruce looked down at the butterfly drawing that Clint's daughter had given Natasha and he had a sudden realization come over him. "The human race doesn't need to be protected, it needs to evolve." He said which gained him curious looks from everyone else as they waited for him to get to the point. "Ultron is going to try and evolve."
Fury took a drink of his water and then set it back down on the wooden table, "How?" he asked.
Bruce looked around the room, "Has anyone been in contact with Hellen Cho?"
~_~_~_~_~_~.~_~_~_~.~_~_~_~_~_~.~_~_~_~.~_~_~_.~_~_~_~_~.~_~_
It was around ten thirty or so at night and Norah had decided she didn't want to be cooped up in the house any longer and had made her way onto the room of Clint's farmhouse and looked up at the night sky and enjoyed looking at the vast amount of stars that were above her, it was beautiful here in Indiana at Clint's farm out in the middle of nowhere and far away from the light pollution that most big cities gave off nowadays. Out here the stars were beyond vibrant and Norah loved having the chance to be able to go outside and look up at all of them and do a half-assed attempt at picking out all of the constellations that were up there – she was never all that skilled in astronomy, that was her sister's forte.
Tony on the other hand was inside the house sitting in the kitchen drinking coffee and realized that it's been at least an hour or two since he's seen his daughter and since everyone had disbanded from the kitchen and headed towards their designated sleeping spots for the night, so Tony got up and decided to go and search for his daughter but after tiptoeing quietly through the house so to not wake anyone or Clint's kids there was not one sign of Norah being in the house. Giving a sigh, Tony went outside and walked a bit away from the house and saw that Norah was sitting on the roof, roofs were her go to spot when she was feeling down or wanted to get away. Grumbling to himself about how he was too damn old to be climbing up the side of porches and onto the roofs of houses Tony finally managed to make his way up there and carefully sat down beside Norah who gave a quick glance to where he was sitting beside her but turned her attention upwards and to the stars.
After sitting in silence for a while with Norah, Tony decided to break the silence between the two and figure out what was going on with her. "You've bene quiet, kid." He said as he turned his head and looked at her with the concern of a father. "Do I have to call Pepper and get her to interrogate you? I'm banned from doing that since I'm too much of a softy when it comes to you, so says Pepper but what does she know, she's a bossy little thing." He joked to her with a shake of his head and gave an internal whoop of victory when he saw a brief smile appear across Norah's pale face.
"You are a softy when it comes to me," Norah supplied to him and gave another smile. "That's how I get away with saying what I do to you." She said softly, not sounding anything close to her usual playful and joking tone.
At that Tony nudged Norah with his shoulder playfully and when she looked up into his grey colored eyes Tony couldn't help but give an inaudible groan at what he saw, Norah's eyes were nowhere close to being the usual bright and happy ones that he was used to seeing. The mischievous sort of eyes. The determined and stubborn filled eyes. Instead they were filled with sadness and pain, they held a deep hurt in them at the moment that Tony had only seen in Norah;s eyes a handful of times and he knew that it was the fault of the female Maximoff who he wanted to make suffer even more for putting Norah through whatever she had seen in her mind. He wanted to make the Maximoff girl suffer as his daughter has suffered.
"Blinker," Tony said fondly, using the nickname he gave her when he saw her power for the first time. "What happened?" he asked as he looked at her intently, wanting….needing to know what happened to her and what she saw.
At that Norah swallowed hard, she wasn't going to go into detail about what she saw in her mind because of Wanda's power, Tony would never find out about that. "I..I saw things Tony." She finally answered after a few tense seconds, but her voice was very quiet and meek and Tony didn't like it, she was strong and fierce and a stubborn she-devil at times. "Things from my past, something bad had happened to me when I was younger. Something I don't like to talk about." She said and sent Tony a silent command to not ask her what it was that happened. "I've tried so long to not think about that, Xavier helped me to try and lock those memories up so that I wouldn't have to be affected in my day to day life. So that I could live a normal life." She said and then gave a small dry laugh at that statement. "Well, as normal as a Mutant can have I suppose. I'm not saying that I don't think or remember what had happened because I will always remember what happened to me but I've been able to deal pretty damn well and get over what happened but…she made me feel as if I was there all over again. As if I was experiencing that incident all over again rather than almost eight years ago. I hate that she did that to me, I hate that I had to see that all over again but I wouldn't wish that on anyone, not even her." She told him honestly and then dug her fingers into her messy blonde hair and sighed heavily as she leant forward and rested her elbows on her crossed legs and closed her eyes for a few moments.
Rather than pulling Norah into a hug like he had the urge to do at the moment, Tony instead let her be for a moment and let her sort through her thoughts for a moment. It pained him to see Norah having to experience something horrible all over again, she shouldn't have had to go through whatever it was that she did all those years and now, now she had experienced it all over again. If Pepper was here she would know exactly what to say, it was a fifty/fifty chance of Tony ending up saying the right thing to make Norah feel better. Sometimes he said the exactly right thing that she needed to hear and other times Norah told him that he needed to leave and that he was making it worse.
"If you want to talk, I-" Tony began but before he had time to finish his sentence Norah immediately interrupted him.
"I don't." Norah said without hesitation.
"But if-"
Norah sighed and slapped a hand over Tony's mouth, "I won't Tony. Trust me I will not want to talk about this subject with anyone, ever. Okay. I love you like a father, I really do but this is something only four other people know about. It's something that's in the past and something that I don't want to talk about ever again after this moment. Okay?" she questioned as she looked at him fiercely, as if she was daring him to go against her wishes.
At that Tony nodded reluctantly, he wasn't happy about what she told him but he would respect it. If Norah wanted and if she got angry enough with Tony she could use her powers on him, but she didn't.
"It's late Norah." Tony said as he looked at her worriedly, wondering if maybe she should stay behind instead of coming with them to Seoul. "Think we should maybe head in and get some sleep before tomorrow. We got an early morning and I'm not against throwing a glass of water on you." He told her a smile playing on his lips.
Norah scoffed at that, "Bring it on old man." She said and nudged him a bit with her shoulder before she eventually laid her head down on his shoulder and looked out at the peaceful night sky. "Can we just stay out for a little while longer? Promise I'll go in soon."
Tony wanted to say no and wanted to take her inside to make sure she was fully rested for whatever may happen tomorrow but like Pepper said, he was a softy when it came to Norah. "All right but you better not drool on me if you fall asleep." He told her.
"I'll try my best." Norah answered with a laugh.
~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~ Author's Note ~_~_~_~~_~_~_~_~_~_~_
Yay! Another chapter! I'm about halfway through the movie now! Kickass or what, and once I'm through with the movie we get to more Norah/Pietro stuff and maybe Steve finding Bucky, depending on what I want to do!
Review as always it makes me all melty on the inside
Quotes:
"We bury things so deep we no longer remember there was anything to bury. Our bodies remember. Our neurotic states remember. But we don't."
But the memories that hang heaviest are the easiest to recall. They hold in their creases the ability to change one's life, organically, forever. Even when you shake them out, they've left permanent wrinkles in the fabric of your soul."
"Endurance-Suppression of the pain. The pain is severe at threshold. After the threshold, capacity is built to sustain the pain. The pain is lessen when the strength of might is achieved. Mankind can endure all things."