Memories
Itsy Lil' Secrets
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"She's hiding something Cyclops. Like it or not, Dragon is withholding information. The FF were almost killed last night and one of your men is preventing a criminal from being apprehended."
"Nick, just…just give Tora space. She's not herself right now. Last night, we had Nightcrawler sleep in a chair in her room. She's on suicide watch, even if she doesn't know it. We have someone watching her at all times. If she was hiding something, we'd know about it."
"Cyclops, it's time to admit that woman has her priorities in the wrong order. For her, and most ferals, it's mate first, then children, the rest of the world be damned. She's hiding the fact she knows where Logan is. Don't lie Scott. We were monitoring calls into the Baxter Building. We recorded Tora ringing Sue Richards and telling her, and I quote, 'Get the kids out Sue. Get them out right now. He's in there with you'. And if that wasn't enough, we looked at your security footage and what do we see? Your Dragon saying 'No, that's not Johnny, that's Logan, that's Logan'. And the accident wasn't reported for another three minutes. Cyke, your precious team-member is either working for the enemy or helping them. SO GET HER IN HERE NOW!"
Scott sighed and pressed the comm-link.
"Tora, Nick wants to talk."
"Yes, it's about Logan."
"Look, just leave the kids with Hank."
"Please. Thank you."
He glared at Fury, his glasses glowing ominously.
"She's coming. I hope you're not going to scare her."
"That woman is pretty much Shadow reincarnated. Nothing I could say will scare her."
Scott sighed.
"Tora isn't much like Etana."
"You didn't know her sixty years ago. She changed after the war. Part of her heart went out of it. In the Thirties, she was a lively, passionate woman, if a little mysterious at times. I swear she got a kick out of teasing us about her past. And when SHIELD was formed, she wrote most of the code, telling me 'It's based on the Brotherhood of the Shield's code.' You've heard of the first SHIELD director? The Fallen Angel? He was Etana's choice. Handpicked, trained and guided by Etana."
"Scott? Nick? You called."
Tora was standing in the door fiddling with a silver ring. Fury gestured to a seat.
"Cyclops will you leave?"
Scott opened his mouth to protest but Tora gave a barely perceptible nod and he left. Nick moved to the other side of the desk and glowered at Tora.
"You're hiding something from us."
"What?"
"You know where Logan is."
"I don't."
"Fine, you don't but you know almost where he is."
"I…I…"
"Look, loyalty is a wonderful thing but this isn't helping us. Tell us what you know or how you know it. It may stop more deaths."
"I don't know where Logan is."
"Right. I'm taking you to the Helicarrier. And we'll either call it protective custody or arrest for aiding and abetting an enemy of the USA. Your call."
"I'd like to see you try."
"Do you know what I could get you for? Withholding evidence, that's obvious. Possibly aiding a fugitive. Maybe even espionage. So tell us what you know!"
She continued to fiddle with the silver ring and Nick caught a glimpse of a blue stone. He snatched her hand.
"Where did you get this?"
"It was a wedding present."
"From Etana."
It was a statement, not a question.
"Maybe."
"Don't play games. That's one of Etana's soul bands. The one she wore to be precise. Oh, don't lie. I know about them. She used to wear it to keep in touch with an old friend whose name she never mentioned. Logan has the other, doesn't he?"
She froze then nodded.
"Take it off. TAKE IT OFF NOW!"
"No…"
"Tora, take it off. We can wire it back to find out where he is."
"NO!"
Nick snarled.
"FINE! The blood of every person who dies is on your conscience then."
She sighed then slid the silver ring off.
"He'll know."
"I don't care if he knows or not, all we need is a tracer on him."
Tora sighed and slumped back.
"I couldn't tell about that. I love him, no matter what those evil twisted connards did to him."
Nick shifted uneasily.
"I know. I know. Just…stay out of trouble."
She gave a weak smile.
"With Logan working for HYDRA and The Hand? We're all in deep, deep bouse."
"Dung? We really need to work on your swearing."
Phoenix laughed oddly.
"Dung? Oh dear. I thought spending all the time with Logan would give her a much richer layer of vocabulary."
"Didn't you hear about the swearing incident?"
"No. What happened?"
"Logan was attacked by Sabretooth, came home spewing bad language left, right and centre and Jamie repeated a word, resulting in Logan sleeping outside. Again."
Jean's hand flew to her mouth as she started giggling.
Tora stood in silence as the attack was planned, tears sliding down her face unnoticed. They were discussing how to stop Logan. Words like 'lethal force' and 'restraints' were being bandied about with abandon. She turned and left the War Room, walking up to her room with the two cots that had been moved in as well as Kurt's campbed. She placed Jamie on her bed and cradled Eva in her arms before curling up with Jamie.
"Maman? Where Dada?"
"He's coming home darling. Maman promises."
Happy, the boy snuggled up to his mother and sister, ignoring her tears. Tora pressed her head to the unruly black hair that was beginning to show signs of slight points at the back. Eva squirmed and she loosened her hold on her. The two children snuggled up closer to the warm body that comforted them and was always there. Tora ignored the sounds of the fight outside, shut off her senses. In a few minutes, she would know the outcome. Either Logan would be carried in dead or alive or he'd be standing at the door, claws out or in. Half the ways would break her heart, one would crack it and the fourth would heal it. She shuddered. And then she heard the unmistakable sound of metal shield cracking on metal skull. She curled up tighter, ignoring the tears. And three-fingered hands touched her shoulder.
"He's being taken to SHIELD."
"He's not back then?"
"No…"
"Kurt? What's wrong?"
"Northstar… was…KIA."
She didn't answer, just curled up further.
"Logan attacked Kitty, she phased and Jean-Paul was right behind her. He never stood a chance."
He saw another tear trickle down her face.
"It's ok. Everything's going to be okay."
He hoped he wasn't telling a lie.
A gloved hand touched the water and a salty tear caused a ripple to spread out. Kurt's face wavered then solidified, gleaming, eyes soft and full of care.
"My friend."
"My friend."
"My…er…er…little helper, especially when it came to sorting people out. What?"
"You can go in now."
She stepped into the room where Logan sat on the other side of the reinforced glass. 'Deprogramming' had supposed worked but Nick was taking no chances.
"Hey."
He smiled, blue eyes soft, not the ice the images had shown.
"You were right. I need to be more careful."
She placed her hand on the glass and he put his on the other side.
"I kept seeing you. Mainly just standing there looking at me. With The Look."
"What Look?"
"The, 'Oh Logan, how could you?' look you get far too often."
"I don't!"
"You do."
"Look, I'm…I'm sorry. I've had Nick, Steve and Scott yelling at me for three hours solid for not telling them about the soul-band earlier."
"It's fine. You know what the…the…evil %£*s did to 'deprogram' me?"
"No. Nick wouldn't talk about it."
"They ran me through a simulation over and over again where I had to cut through SHIELD agents and then…you were there. With the kids. And every single time… I just cut you down without a second thought. Eventually, I started leaving the kids, then you and then the pregnant officer until they decided I was back to normal. But…I keep remembering the look on your face. The fear as you…"
She hushed him with a gesture.
"Later. I have a bad guy to track down and give hell for hurting my husband."
"WHAT! I getta stab the $%£*&!"
"I'm going after him. You are staying here."
"Not a chance."
"Logan, you will stay here."
He snarled and then saw the sparkle in her eye.
"Yer teasing me."
"Oh no! I'm far too afraid to do that."
"Yer teasing me."
"Yes, I am."
Nick stomped in and glared.
"I have two of my best agents monitoring this conversation and they've both fallen off their seats laughing. Tora, stop teasing Logan, Logan don't rise to it."
A tiny spark danced into Tora's eyes.
"Oui…Papa."
Logan wasn't able to stop himself from snorting at the look of outrage on Fury's face and burst out laughing when Nick arrested Tora. He swore he could hear two SHIELD agents screaming in the observation room.
The three woman burst out laughing, the concentration of the host breaking so the water returned to glassy normality. The hand touched the water and the image returned, sharper than ever before.