Memories
Avenge the Dead
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If you want to use Tora, or any of my other characters, PM me.
She sighed.
"What do you want Steve?"
He stared at her then nodded.
"I want you on an Avengers team."
"What?"
"I want you on the New Avengers team."
"Why?"
"Because we need someone with your experience and ability in espionage on the team."
"Get Natasha."
"Tora, I'm going to tell you something highly classified. Do you have somewhere we can go without being heard?"
She nodded and walked in silence to an empty room then turned.
"Talk."
"Publicly, I'm setting up two teams. The Avengers, headed by Tony and Bucky and the New Avengers, headed by Cage. I'm also setting up a strike team, the Secret Avengers, which I'll be heading. Natasha's on that. And Natasha's computer skills are nothing compared to yours."
"Steve, I'm busy. I have a family; I have X-Men duties; I have clean-up to do; I have a memorial service to organise for the dead; Ariel, another a girl who chose to fight instead of sit back. Come Steve. I want to show you our new forest."
She walked out of the room and along the corridor, Steve having to break into a jog to keep up.
"Tora, I appreciate you have a lot to do. But Cage and Jessica are thinking of hiring a nanny. You could leave Eva and Jamie with them?"
"I have my own problems Steve. I have a great deal on my plate right now."
"Tora, please."
She stopped and Steve gasped at the clump of ancient looking trees.
"How did- How did this all grow?"
"Come with me. I'll show you."
They walked along a path that was lit up with candles placed along the way.
"What's with the candles?"
"This has become our memorial grove. Here."
She pointed at a tree, a tree with a face in it. A young woman, carved eyes closed, an expression of serenity on her face.
"That is all that remains of Cia. She was a girl who lived on the streets and protected mutant children. Her gift was to talk to plants, control them and turn her DNA into that of various plants. She helped me find Curt, she came when Wanda destroyed us, and she became our early warning system, despite her powers deteriorating. I liked her. She was this strong, thoughtful, altruistic woman, who had gone through too much. Her guardians burnt her arm, turning it into ash when they found out she was a mutant. She was trapped as a wooden figure for over two years, until I healed her. And then…"
"What?"
"Magneto was preparing to defend Utopia and she went with him. She caused this forest to grow in a matter of minutes; saved heaven knows how many lives. And she was hit with shrapnel. Died in agony. Her last act was to encase herself in one of her beloved trees. She represents everything we are fighting for. This is the Tree of Sacrifice."
Steve reached out and touched the wooden face, suddenly seeing it in a different light, seeing warm colour and dark eyes, long hair falling over the face.
"She wasn't even an X-Man. She was just a girl who thought she could protect her people. Magneto comes here quite a lot now. He talks to her. I think he liked her. She called him old man. She was always like that. We don't even know what her real name was."
He could see the sorrow in her eyes, as she too reached out and ran her hand down the list of names.
"Everyone who has died for our cause is listed here. Changeling, Thunderbird, Banshee, Phoenix, Caliban."
He bit back a remark and instead stared at the list of names, running a huge length of the tree. And then at the bottom, five names.
Ariel
Telford Porter- Vanisher
Kurt Wagner- Nightcrawler
Sack
Cia
The last two names made him feel the worst. He knew from Tora that Ariel's name was actually Ariel. But Sack and Cia? They didn't deserve to be forever remembered by codenames, aliases. The girl's face seemed so peaceful, but she was dead, just another name on the list, one more mutant on the road to extinction. Then Tora turned and smiled sadly and Steve whipped round in time to see Magneto, limping slightly, arrive.
"Oh. Tora. I didn't realise."
"It's fine Erik. We were just leaving."
And as she pulled Steve back along the candlelit path, he could have sworn he saw Magneto pull out a flower made of metal. But Magneto wouldn't do something like that. Would he?
"Please tell me that was what I thought it was. Was he actually cut up about her death?"
"He felt that he had been the one to kill her. Oh course, he was mistaken. The shrapnel wasn't manipulated in any way by him. She simply wasn't fast enough to dodge a Nimrod she had broken."
"How old was she?"
"Twenty. She was twenty."
It was foolish to be here. But her face was staring down at him, so peaceful and calm, lost and alone.
"It's me. It's the old man."
He wanted her lips to twitch up in a small smile. She reminded him of Anya in a way. Anya had teased him, like Cia had. Anya had called him Stary in jest. Old man.
He pulled out the metal flower he had made.
"Here child. So they will remember you forever."
Melded into the iron was her name, her face, on every single petal. Cia. Cia. Cia. Cia. Anya.
"He… He had…"
"Magneto subconsciously substituted Cia for Anya in his mind. They both called him the same name. And he failed to save either of them."
She sighed and handed over the mug.
"No. That's my final answer. I'm not joining any Avengers team."
"You'd get American citizenship."
"I already have French and Canadian citizenship. Anymore and I'd start getting confused."
"I want you on the team."
"And I don't want to be on it."
"Fine. I'm always open to you changing your mind. This is the number to call."
She barely glanced at it before ripping it to shreds.
"I've already said, Not. Interested."
"Sure. Nice uniform by the way. Bit…dark, but quite…potent."
She nodded. He turned to go but she called out.
"If she were still alive, Steve, would you know?"
He turned and gulped.
"She was there. I was dead and she was there, waiting."
"Was there anything…odd about her?"
"She was… I can't even remember what she looked like then…"
Tora nodded curtly.
"What are you trying to tell me?"
"I… I don't think… I think the human part of her is dead and gone. But something remains."
"What?"
"I'll…I'll send you the files."
He stared at her but she turned away and walked out.
"And then he cheated. He really, really cheated."
"Actually, he didn't have a part in it. He just told one of his subordinates he'd do anything to get her on the team and the subordinate decided to take matters into his own hands."
Tora dropped the letter, staring at it in horror.
"What? What's wrong?"
"R-r-read it…"
"Er… Ms Circen. It has recently come to our attention that you have been living and working in the United States of America without a visa. Unless you can produce relevant paperwork or provide proof of American citizenship, then you will be deported, to either of the countries that you claim nationality to. Oh brother…"
Tora snarled.
"Excuse me, I just have to go and ring a number that Steve Rogers gave me, then bawl down it about blackmail and coercion."
"Huh?"
She had already memorised the number. The glance had been enough. It was picked up on the second ring.
"Ah. Tora. You've changed your mind?"
"You manipulative, power-hungry *skreee*."
"What?"
"Sending that letter, threatening to get me deported."
"What?"
She sighed as she heard the genuine confusion in his voice.
"Fine. I'll come on the team. I want the proof of citizenship through by tomorrow and I want whoever planned this stunt fired. I won't work with people like that."
"Huh?"
When she had explained, Steve's voice seemed icy-cold.
"Bring me all details on people accessing Marie Circen's file. Now!"
"Thanks Steve. Oh, and I want input in choosing the nanny."
"Luke and Jessica are planning interviews. You can go along as well."
"Sure. Steve… I might not be able to do this full-time. Just so you know."
"I don't expect you to. But X-Man doesn't pay, does it?"
"Logan's got a lot in private accounts."
"Yes. But here's the deal. The money gets put in a savings account. It goes towards your kids."
Tora smiled.
"Steve. You just said the magic words. Consider yourself up one Avenger."
"I knew I could count on you."
She hung up and sighed.
"Too bad no one else can."
Jean reached out and brushed her fingers across the glassy water.
"I always counted on you Tora."
The face in the water turned, almost as if she had heard. Jean pulled back.
"Are you linking this back? You aren't allowed to do that!"
"No. I'm not linking it back. She can sense us, when she's in her lowest moments."
"Is this the reason she was so paranoid at times?"
A.N. There is unlikely to be much, if any, Avengers interaction. It may be referenced, but on the whole, this is an X-Men fic, and X-Men it will remain. Also, YAY! Exams are over! So expect updates... actually, I'm unlikely to speed up as I'm starting new courses with about twice as much content and only half the time to do them in, so I'll most likely be rushed off my feet.
In other news, I'm going to repost Just a Kiss because of a minor problem with the last one. I'll try and update the new version once a week so that once I've finished, I can post the next one in the trilogy of AUs.
I think that's everything...