Memories

Once More Unto the Breach

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She sat in silence, waiting. What else could she do? She was helpless in this environment. Wait. Listen. And then, finally, the jury filing in. Some stared. Others refused to look at her. She expected that. She just wanted to retreat into the space between realities but she couldn't. She closed her eyes.

"Have you made your decision?"

"Yes."

She could feel her heart beating rapidly and the soul band on her left ring finger was tightening, believing Logan to be in peril.

"Whilst there is no doubt that the defendant, Ms Circen, committed the acts she has been charged with; due to the testimony of Hope Summers, Ms Circen's mental state and the fact she was not fully responsible for her actions, we find her not guilty of the kidnapping offence and not responsible for the other offences."

Tora started. That wasn't meant to happen! That wasn't meant…!

The judge looked down at her.

"However, I request that her alpha level security clearance, as befits a New Avengers member be downgraded to beta level and that her sessions with her psychiatrist are doubled. I would have also requested that she be removed from the Avengers Academy teaching role except for a request from Dr Pym."

Tora was shellshocked. No. Way. None of the signs… Everything had pointed… She couldn't be walking free… No… She had to be taken… She needed to be somewhere where no one could harm her... And then Tigra –in her human form- was waving from the stalls, a look of terror on her face. Tora mouthed 'What?' and Greer looked even worse. And then Pym was hurrying over, pushing his way in and looking embarrassed.

"Tora! The kids! They've been taken!"

And Tora –who had been determined to be taken- suddenly knew why she was free.

"Laura…"

"We need a tracker. Tora, you've got to help!"

She glanced over at Logan, who was frowning.

"Pym, get the dimensional door open, now."

"On it. Jocasta…"

And Tora ran straight into the Infinite Mansion, hoping against hope Logan would understand.

Phoenix gasped.

"Oh no… She loved Laura like she was her own child…"

"Yes. I think this was when the Avengers Academy saw exactly what she could be capable of. Rather unsurprisingly, it terrified them."

Tora leant down and inhaled. She cursed softly.

"What is it?"

"Lemon. They were teleported out."

"You mean we can't find them?"

She went bright red.

"You can't find them. Let's just say… I worry about Laura. A lot."

And she pulled out a phone, glancing up and down at it.

"Tora…?"

"Yes, Henry?"

"Did you plant a tracker on Laura?"

"I worry about her."

"You track her!"

Tora shrugged.

"She knows all about it. Et voila!"

The phone was beeping.

"Laura's activated the distress call. Three, two, one. Homed in. Oh…"

"What?"

"You got any Pym gates to Antarctica?"

"Of course. Four or five to the Savage Land, one to that old base of Magneto's… Why?"

Tora turned the phone over so they could see the map and the little red blip directly over Antarctica.

"Oh, I hate Antarctica."

"Oh, Phoenix. I rather liked it."

"That's because you were never almost sacrificed to a T-Rex."

"I was almost dropped in a volcano, remember?"

"Oh. Yeah. That was funny…"

"Jeanne…"

"Go away."

"Finesse…"

"I said, go away."

"Listen, I know what happened between you and Laura. And you have to understand something. Laura is too like Logan. She says things in the heat of the moment that she doesn't mean."

"She was the only friend I ever had and she took that away from me."

Tora squeezed into the air duct and sat facing Finesse.

"Just because she said that, doesn't mean it's not true."

Finesse looked up, her eyes dark was sadness.

"She meant it."

"Jeanne, I've been known to tell those I love that I hate them. But it's never true. I still care for them deeply. And Laura misses your friendship."

Finesse glared at her.

"How do you know that?"

"Because I know Laura. And I never got to tell her that. I never got to tell her that to me, she is my daughter. And I love her as such. And I know what she means to you. To you she is your greatest, your only friend. So look me in the eye right now and tell me you don't want to help me save her."

Finesse looked at Tora. Tora stared right back.

"I will help."

Tora grinned.

"Good. You'll enjoy this. Lots of inventive moves I've been thinking up. Oh, and when we get back, remind me to fix your memory loss. I know it's starting. But I can stop it."

And she walked away before Jeanne could ask her how.

Phoenix rolled her eyes.

"She never could give a straight answer."

"Oh, and you were so good at that."

"Shut up."

"You shut up!"

Death sighed.

"You're bickering again."

They were standing together, staring at the huge dome. Tora was the only one not wearing a thick coat, her bare arms covered in goose pimples. She frowned, pulled out binoculars then swore softly.

"Hank, Greer. You ever run into an assassin named Arcade? Crazier than a box of frogs, obsessed with video games, created a deadly amusement park to kill people?"

Hank shook his head.

"Heard of him. Never crossed paths. Greer?"

"No. Sorry. Tora?"

Tora nodded curtly.

"He was one of the first villains I ever faced."

She looked up at them and there was something akin to fear in her eyes.

"He almost killed me."

"Tora…?"

She shrugged.

"He pumped me with enough tranquiliser to kill a herd of elephants then dumped me in with a load of killer robots with my face. I can't really remember it that well."

She shrugged.

"Okay. Greer, Jeanne. I need you two to find the control room. Hank, you're with me."

Tigra didn't look pleased.

"Why?"

Tora turned.

"Because the pair of you have the skills required to get into the control room. Hank and I are better for getting into the main section. We'll need you to get up through the air vents. And listen. You can't go in until I manage to distract Arcade enough for him to leave."

"What makes you think he will?"

Tora smiled harshly.

"I can make him come to me. It's not too hard. You just have to know what to say."

She tensed up.

"Trust me. Arcade is insane. But that makes him all the more dangerous. He's got an incredibly twisted sense of honour. If you beat Murderworld, he lets you leave. If not… Well, you're dead."

And she glanced at Hank.

"If you could be so kind as to get us there a little quicker."

He grew and let the three of them clamber into his hand. Four steps got them there. Then they shrank back down and Tora lightly leapt down, moving her hands along the dome.

"Air duct here. I'll open it for you."

A quick flash of claws and Tora inhaled.

"One second. I'll disable the security alarms."

A wave was sent up the metal pipe and she was swaying, moving her hands and then she smiled.

"Done. Up you go. See you."

She turned back to Hank.

"I need you small."

"Why? I can cover more…"

"Hank. Trust me. Arcade will only go for me. There's probably an entire ecosystem in there. You go Ant-Man, and while I distract him, you find our students."

He sighed then shrank down, allowing Tora to raise him up. He tangled himself into her hair and whispered into his comm unit

"Is this okay? Not too heavy?"

"Are you hidden?"

"Yes."

"Then it's fine."

Claws tore through the metal, into a sudden blast of heat. She entered what could almost be a rainforest, then turned around to heal up the wall. She heard Hank hiss.

"What are you doing?!"

"A sudden change in temperature could catch them unprepared. I can't afford that."

And with one of of the founding members of the Avengers clinging to her hair, and still dressed in the uniform she had on under the clothes she had worn to court, Tora set off into the jungle to rescue her daughter.

Phoenix sighed.

"She loved Laura with all her heart."

"She loved all her children –real and adopted- just the same."

"And that was what destroyed her."