So it goes with saying that only things I own with any connection to MARVEL I bought on Ebay or Etsy. MARVEL COMICS & MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE are their own creatures and I have nothing to do with either of them aside from the fact I enjoy reading or watching them, and am grateful for the ability to play in their world. I claim nothing, and I receive nothing for this, expect the pleasure of putting something out into the world.
You can also find this story on ARCHIVE OF OUR OWN under the same title and pen name along with a place to post suggestions.
Don't forget to check out the Photobucket album listed on my profile page too.
DAY THREE
CHAPTER FIFTY SIX
THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012
0904 HOURS
SUBTERRANEAN BUNKER
LOCATION UNKNOWN
NORA
Clint has seven inches on me, and he is using every single one of them to hinder my mixed attempt of dead weight and squirming to get my feet back on the ground. I never thought my height would be a problem, let alone something that would get in my way. If anything it made me feel safe, because yes, I was short and to some people that made me seem like an easy target, until they see the toned bodies of my tall friends.
I tried not to be a snob about it, but when some punk is forced to tucks his tail in at the sight of a guy built like super hero coming to your defence, it's impossible to completely smother the haughty tingles. It was always a good thing for me.
Now that good thing has soured just like everything else, with one of the strong arms holding me up by my waist and carrying me against my will toward the smoldering ring that Duncan is carving into the floor. His fingers fused to my jawline by my tears only lets me watch as the circle dips at the side before the last inch just gives with a snap before he can cut the concrete all the way, and the echoing crack spews a dust cloud out of the hole.
There's something incredible about tears, they're just water and salt, but they burn the strength right out of you like they're fire. While Duncan was cutting that hole, his head tilted to the side and his jaw tensed as he tried not to be affected by the acrid dust. I just gave up my weight into the unwelcome security of Clint's grip.
That changed when Duncan stood and offering a nod to Clint bent his arms up in a boxer's block and tucking his head behind his arms to protect his face, he dove feet first down the hole. I wasn't going to be passive anymore. They were taking me away from the person who knew! I can't lose her again! Please! No Clint please!
THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012
0904 HOURS
SUBTERRANEAN BUNKER
LOCATION UNKNOWN
CLINT
I knew the fight was going to come back, even in the short time she just gave up and went limp in my hold. She wasn't quitting, she was just saving her strength, and sure enough as he jumped down that hole first so he could catch her she started straining her muscles against mine again.
"Shh." I try without expecting any results. "Shh, its okay Nora. I'll drop you true. Just keep your arms down and you won't get burned. He will catch you, but just count past the fear Princess, you're gonna be okay." Her answer, whatever it is, is smothered by my hand because as much as I want to trust her I can't risk her drawing attention with a scream.
The nails of her free hand try to dig through my skin as she tries in vain to pry off the vice hold of my arm from my waist. Her other hand made it halfway out of the position I pinned it in originally, but when I caught her again her forearm ended up in her lower back, the knob of her fist unable to uncurl and preventing her from sliding her arm free past her spine. Its her legs that worry me the most. Because I'm walking forward I can't exactly pin them down, so she is kicking out trying to find purchase on something to give her even a little bit of an advantage.
Its a huge relief when I get us squared over the glowing edges from the mousehole that she has the sense to stop kicking. She may never have seen that tech in action, but red hot rock is pretty self explanatory, and even as upset as she is she doesn't want third degree burns.
THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012
0904 HOURS
SUBTERRANEAN BUNKER
LOCATION UNKNOWN
NORA
I spent three years doing a lot of things I didn't want to do, so I got very good at it, even when I was upset or scared. I learned to push aside my wants and wishes, focusing instead on what I needed, which most of the time those needs were told to me by others. I needed to take my pills, I needed to show up for my tests, I needed an escort, I needed to check in, I needed to stick to the story, I needed to keep my mouth shut. I needed to be protected.
I needed to be afraid, always afraid. They kept me so afraid. The thought gave birth to the realization of that truth. It wasn't just the phobia, that was probably just a lucky coincidence for them even if it wasn't enough. They said people wanted to kill me, people that already tried, people only they could protect me from, and people they never seemed to find! Even when I was happy I was always checking my shadow.
I'm afraid now too, because I'm doing what I don't want to do. But I'm only going to do that for a little bit longer. I know Clint's not going to take his hand off my mouth, just like I know that I'm not going to break out of his hold on me. Clint's too strong and skilled for me to actually believe I'll be able to wiggle free. I was really just stalling if I was doing anything at all but now we are over that hole and if I don't stop struggling he is just going to make the jump with me. So I let myself go still.
The hole is barely big enough for both of us, so Clint's best option is to drop me down first, and follow after, his best option is to let me go for a few seconds. That's a few seconds with no hands covering my mouth or pinning my hands. That's a few seconds I actually have a chance where I might be able to get away from both of them if I can just keep their hands off me.
Even though Duncan was already down there waiting to steady me, he wasn't risking a light so I couldn't see what was beneath me. It screwed up my landing.
The piece of ground I landed on, which was probably part of the floor that Duncan cut out, was angled down and covered with a layer of dust fine enough that it was slick. That means my weight continued to settle as it was resting on my heel, and before my feet could even flatten out on the tilted surface, my round heel did what round things do on a angled surface and moved.
I barely felt the sting as my skin was sanded off the back of my foot, because the powder of the dust filled the cuts right away, tricking my nerves for a second before the blood started to wash it out, but I wasn't really concerned about that. Feeling myself falling I pinwheeled my arms out, both to stop my fall and block the moving shadows that I knew must be Duncan trying to catch me.
The mixed attempt accomplished one of those. Duncan couldn't get a grip on me so I hit the floor, the impact an awkward angle that involved the edge of my hip and my tailbone, and sent a shockwave of compression pain up my spinal column.
It distracted me just long enough for Duncan's shadow along with the other shadows to fall over me as he reached out to pull me up, but his efforts were a bit hindered by my intentions to kick his teeth in!
THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012
0904 HOURS
SUBTERRANEAN BUNKER
LOCATION UNKNOWN
CLINT
Once I dropped Nora down that hole I stepped away from it for a second. Sure I could just have jumped down the hole after her, but I trust that the guy down there with her is skilled enough to gently subdue whatever fight she throws at him. That's why I looked around the wreckage of the room. I need something big.
They might be a bit distracted right now, but any minute they're going to remember her, and they're gonna find the hole in the floor. It won't stop them, but I want to at least cover that hole with something, preferably something big enough that won't follow me right down and crush me when I drag it behind me with a rope.
Honestly, impressively, Nora left me with very limited options in that regard. She pretty much murdered the chairs and the tables, and even if the desk is still mostly intact, that might be too heavy and fall under the 'will crush me' category, so I choose the bed frame instead. Its wide enough and intact enough that it will make the hole impassable until they drag it out.
Unweaving the last inch of the survival bracelet, that I've been working on ever since I let her go, I tie a figure eight double loop on each each end because I don't have time to get fancy with the knots, on around the leg of the bed, and the other for my hand so I can give it a good yank to make sure it wedges itself tight.
Even though the ground is angled and dusty I stick the landing by letting my knees compensate with the momentum, but as for my plan to secure the bedframe, it evaporates at the muffled sounds coming from one dark figure pinned under another.
THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012
0904 HOURS
SUBTERRANEAN BUNKER
LOCATION UNKNOWN
DUNCAN
It took her longer to start fighting me then I thought it would, but I was expecting it. That made the first kick toward my face easy to catch even if my eye still hadn't finished adjusting to the lack of light. The warm wetness that came with it wasn't what I was anticipating though. The fact that she was bleeding did not make me happy for multiple reasons.
First being that the blood is on her foot and that wasn't injured before, so it must have just happened in the jump. Second being that's gonna get blamed on me, which it should, but it's going to be blamed more aggressively than it should, I bet given the other guy's bad mood. Third is blood is pretty trackable even without a dog, and down here on cement we don't exactly have anything to camouflage it. Then fourth and most importantly is blood means she is hurt, and I don't want her to be hurt.
We're in a hurry though, so I shut all that down and focus on catching her. She is crawling away on the back of her arms, not daring to to roll over and actually get up because she knows if she does that she isn't going to be able to deflect my hands. Not that she has much of a chance to do that anyway.
Despite her kicking and blood slicked skin I get a good hold of her lower leg, and dragging her back toward me I crouch down over her in a straddle quickly so my other hand can smother the scream I know she's gonna let out. "Shh, shh, stop, you gotta shut up okay!" I hiss quietly as I hear another thud from combat boots. I'd been waiting for that sound, but I wasn't expecting the kick to the face that came right after it!
THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012
0904 HOURS
SUBTERRANEAN BUNKER
LOCATION UNKNOWN
CLINT
The reaction was stupid and instinctual, but he had her trapped on the ground and whimpering, and all I knew was red. I could 'feel' the grade of her carpet through the material over my knees, and I could 'feel' the soft warmth of her waist against my inner thighs. Her skin was so soft as I trailer my calloused hand up her thigh, ticking the end of her shorts before I wrapped my hand around the rougher cut grooves of the metal grip and twisted it. I felt the heat of fresh blood well up against the side of my hand as I heard her flesh tear! Then I tasted it too. Sweat, and blood, and the salt from where her goddamned tears rolled down her neck, were on my tongue as my hands felt cotton snap under their strength.
I drove the tip of my boot right into the soft spot beneath his jaw when I kicked him. I could have just pulled him off by hand, or even told him to let her go, because in the back of my head I knew he was just trying to keep her from running away. But I kicked him like a soccer player because the aggression had to go somewhere, even if it was just someone unlucky enough to match the memory of myself!
The gagging snort he releases makes it pretty clear he did see it coming at all, not with his eyes or his situational awareness, but he still was smart enough to move with the blow to diminish the damage. After the first half an inch of pressure, which is a lot given the taut flesh down there, he started rolling to the left to avoid the potential of my kick breaking his jaw, or snapping his neck from the force. The second his weight left her waist, Nora was moving but surprisingly it was right towards me.
I figured she'd run away, whatever Loki filled her head with made her want nothing to do with us, to view us as her enemy, and with me at least I couldn't blame her for that. But instead, she ran right at me, with tears in her eyes and her hands beating at my chest. I let her land every blow, not because she deserved to hurt me, but because of what my ears heard her scream at me. "WHERE IS MY BABY YOU BASTARD?! WHERE IS SHE?! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH MY BABY?!"