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 NINE
THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012
0921 HOURS
SUBTERRANEAN BUNKER
LOCATION UNKNOWN
NORA
After Clint finished wrapping me up and getting me on my feet he spared me one more evaluating look to reassure himself I wasn't going to run, then when he found something strong enough to satisfy that need he turned away and started pulling supplies from what looks like a small weapons cache.
'Duncan' must have put that there in preparation for all of this. Thinking of him seems to bring him back into my reality because right after that thought passes through my head I feel a weight settle on my shoulders. It surprised me, but his smile and his hand on my shoulder offered me a warm sense of security as I realized he was giving me his coat so I wouldn't be cold.
His smile lost a lot of its warmth when Clint told him to take it off me though. Even I was a little upset by that order, until we both registered what Clint was waiting to put on me. Duncan 'respectfully' smothered his irritation because while his jacket would keep me warm, the bullet proof vest Clint wanted to put on me would keep me alive. There was a short argument about just putting it over top, but Clint made the point that if it was visible a shooter would just aim around it, and that made me take his side, because he was right. So Duncan helped me shrug the heavy jacket off my sticky skin and let Clint carefully secure the vest under it.
The next thing, that both agreed I needed to take, was another gun. I didn't want to touch it, but Clint convinced me in the end. Its safety was on, and it would make him feel better if I had it. They weren't gonna let me have a chance to use it, I just needed to carry it. So carried it.
Then we were moving. At each door we came to one covered the other as they breached the next room, and they melted the door jam shut with the heat cutter too. It wouldn't stop anyone for long, but it would at least slow people down. Then we came to the service ladder, and the next fight.
Clint told Duncan to go first, because I was in a skirt. Someone with a gun needed to breach the hatch, but they weren't going to leave the tail of the line undefended either. That wasn't what offended Duncan, it was the way Clint's words made it clear what he thought of his character.
I knew Duncan didn't like Clint, even if he held it in for my sake, and I knew his reasons were good. Duncan was connected to S.H.I.E.L.D, and really no one who knew Clint from S.H.E.I.L.D seemed to like him because he was an assassin. But then there was also the fact that Duncan probably saw him walk in covered in my blood.
I knew Clint didn't like Duncan either, because whether or not he knows who Duncan really is I get the feeling they only actually met in person here. So Clint views him as a wild card, and because he is being so protective of me he isn't going to trust him even if he is willing to work with him. Both reasons made sense, but when Duncan hissed out
"What, you think you're better than me, better for her then me?! Out of the two of us which one tried to kill and rape..." When Clint's knuckles turned white and moved for his knife, it's Clint I sided with when I directed my angry scream at Duncan. I didn't know how else to save his life!
THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012
0927 HOURS
SUBTERRANEAN TUNNEL
LOCATION UNKNOWN
CLINT
Her scream shattered the hold, and as much I still think the curly haired bastard had it coming, I'm glad she it did.
I couldn't miss the way he looked at her if I tried, and I was but he had it bad. Nora isn't ugly, she's one of the farthest things from it, but it's not just her face that attracts attention, its her voice, its the way she holds herself, hell I can't really think of anything that doesn't make her attractive. I'll even admit that for a little while I felt the same way, but I have a wife and two kids. And as pretty as Nora is, the fact that she wasn't human made a pretty big bridge I wasn't willing to cross.
That didn't mean I wanted him to walk it in my place. Sure she clung to him like a rock in the rapids, but that's because I wasn't 'here'. I'm here now though, and taking care of her is my job, it doesn't belong to some puppy eyed agent from some foreign intelligence agency!
Part of me knows I'm not seeing the situation through calm collected lenses, but even knowing that I'm still coiled too tightly to stop myself, so when he stepped behind her in the climbing arrangement I let a little bit of the irrational out. I wasn't going to let him get a good look up her skirt, not that I wanted the view either but at least I knew where my thoughts would be.
Then he got pissed back, and whatever chains I had holding the cork in place gave up their fight, and the stopper on my emotions didn't even try. He accused me of trying to rape her, and I don't care if my body did, no one was gonna say to that me without paying the price.
Then she did the bravest, stupidest, most impressive thing I've ever seen her do! She stepped between us, she offered me her unguarded back and though I couldn't see it, her face must have been like a lioness when she screamed at him, her voice so angry her shoulders continued to heave as she stood with her arms out defensively between us. She put herself in danger to protect us from each other!
THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012
0928 HOURS
SUBTERRANEAN TUNNEL
LOCATION UNKNOWN
DUNCAN
Her flinch hurts pieces of my heart I thought had decayed away a long time ago, but it doesn't stop the angry guilt from rearing up as I watch the archer surprise her with his touch, pulling her around and hugging her against his chest.
The part that bugs me more though is when the angry edge of her heavy breathing gives way to heavy sobbing, and a broken chant of 'don't fight please don't fight, just don't' as he shushs her and whispers reassurance. His eyes catch mine to get my own answer.
"Yeah, we won't fight." I give it, but for her. I still want to beat his face in for thinking he is a better person than me after what he did to her. But what I want a whole lot less is to keep being the reason she cries. I don't know why the hell she is choosing him, a man who almost murdered her, over me, but I can bite my tongue until we are safe. After all there's another message in his eyes she is completely unaware of. "I'll take the lead." Its the promise that we will kick each other's asses later.
THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012
0929 HOURS
SUBTERRANEAN TUNNEL
LOCATION UNKNOWN
NORA
Because Duncan was the first up the ladder, when I finally got the clear to start climbing up and through the service hatch of the floor, it was Duncan who held out his hand to help me out of the way hole. It was accompanied by an apologetic tug to his smile before I actually took it.
But once I was out of the tube and in sight of the room I found it stole all my attention. Clint took me to a carnival once, talking our way in after the place had closed with the influence of a badge and the fact that he knew the guys who ran it. Among all the amazing things I got to see that night, a soundboard was one of them. It was the only time I saw one up close, unless you count the ones I'm looking at now.
THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012
0930 HOURS
SOUND ROOM, THE PALLADIUM THEATER
CARMEL, INDIANA
CLINT
"Clint?" I knew she'd ask the question eventually "Where are we?" But the answer is still just as awkward as I knew it would be, I can tell by the way her eyebrows draw together and the way I rub the back of my neck lightly.
"You're not gonna believe this, but..." Rolling my eyes I take a deep breath before I continue. "We're standing in the Palladium." Sure as I knew she would she recognizes that word, and makes the connection. The problem is, the connection isn't true. "No princess, we aren't that lucky, this isn't a Stark place." Not really at least. Its named that, because not too long ago a certain multinational tech conglomerate contributed a lot of money to the arts in Indianapolis and its surrounding counties. Hell, if I remember right they went a little overboard with Ironman fever. One of its smaller theaters is called the TARKington, all it's missing is an S in the front.
As for the reason it's connected to an old cold war bunker, that's because the company that was contracted to build it was named SHIEL Sexton Construction Co. I don't know who named that shell company, but I'd fire them for lack of creativity.
"Pepper is into culture." I add with a smirk, surmising my thoughts into a quick explanation for her. "Welcome to Carmel, Indiana. I'm never bringing you back here again though, if you like theaters we'll go somewhere else okay?" Even I'm not so stoic and anxious that I can resist the chuckle that leaks out with how hard she nods in agreement. That's my girl.
THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012
0931 HOURS
BACKSTAGE, THE PALLADIUM THEATER
CARMEL, INDIANA
NORA
The back of the stage, with all the ropes, heavy electric cords, and giant spotlights was interesting, and the theater itself was beautiful with the rich red wood floors and velvet seats contrasted by the white boxes and pale blue walls decorated dark blue with trimmed pink panels. The lobby and staircase with marble and taupe walls trimmed with brown in white were lovely too, but Clint was right; I never want to see this place again.
I don't think I ever want to see the city this theater is in again either, I might not even wish to set foot in this state either, I want to be away from that underground room so badly. So even though I can't help but see this place because my eyes have to be open so I don't trip over my feet, I'm only looking at is obstacles to avoid, and I continue with that determination until we clear the stairs and I can see daylight spilling in through the glass of the outer doors.
"Hey, hey Princess." The daylight stole all my senses for a second it took Clint shaking my shoulder slightly to get my attention back. He has one of his hands on the door handle, but his other is now shifting to my cheek and making me look at the echo of his amused but understanding smirk. "Okay Princess, now you run when I run, you stop when I stop, you fall..."
I try to shake my head at that guessing what's coming after that but Clint doesn't let me. His fingers hook my chin lightly, steadying my face. "You fall, I fall with you because I'm not leaving you, behind, ever. You understand?"
I nod a yes to his question, sniffing softly and wiping away the beginning of more tears in my already hot puffy eyes, but that's not good enough. "Say it Princess." I nod again, but I do as he asks me to, I say it and I make it a promise by saying it. "I understand, I'll run just as fast as you do, and I won't fall, I won't."
His hand is almost rough as it shifts and hooks the back of my neck, making my face dip forward as he quickly presses a kiss to the top of my head. But then his focus shifts to the other person in our company. "If I fall, you knock her out and carry her you son of a bitch, because if you don't leave my ass behind, I don't care what she thinks of you I will find you and kill you!"
He didn't even wait for my protest or Duncan's answer because as soon is the last word was said one of his hands wrapped around my wrist and the other shoved open the door so his moving feet could drag us through, redefining what I thought running was.