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 SIXTY
THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012
0936 HOURS
THE CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
CARMEL, INDIANA
CLINT
Natasha says it best, "First rule of going on the run is: don't run, walk." And she's right, running is the dumbest thing you can do when you're on the run. But we got a pissed off alien with the god stick and the world's craziest battery who is still behind us somewhere. There's a Subterranean fight going on in a city that didn't know it had Subterranean levels. We are two men toting guns and tactical gear, and then we've got Nora. She's a being a fucking saint about it, my little princess, but the more we're moving the more that movement is making her cuts and scratches bleed and she is starting to look like she is doing a Carrie impression under his jacket.
That's not even the worst of it, though it definitely ranks at the top of the emotional shit list. The worst part is it's daylight. Its 10am, and even in a little city like this, that's late enough that there are people on the streets. Now normally that wouldn't' be a problem, I'd just break in somewhere to get Nora cleaned up properly and put in new clothes, but like I mentioned we have a pissed off alien with a god stick somewhere behind us, whose only reason for not finding us is he's probably still busy playing whack a mole with the Indiana SWAT team.
The fact that they are keeping Loki busy, definitely at the cost of their lives, would be a much more appreciated sacrifice if they didn't also have the regular PD canvassing the streets until the local army reserve, and whatever S.H.I.E.L.D forces close enough to swarm in shows up. This is bad, and when I say bad I mean this is 'my life needs its own acronym' bad.
On second thought, screw this 'my life needs an acronym' crap, my life is one. We have a paved courtyard to cross, and unless you count the service side of the walls to a shopping center as cover, which I don't, I just view that as something to stop the bullets after they go through us, then we also have an overgrown construction sight. Flat and open, this is why I hate little towns. There's not even anything tall enough for me to get a good vantage point.
God stick, God stick! But even if we had a second for us to stop and find a different route I have no intention of doing that. Running across open flat ground in the daylight sucks, but so do all our other options, so I just hang on and silently pity her feet as I feel so proud of how well she is keeping her promise to keep up with me.
I'm even more proud when we reach the outside walls of the shopping center, and she forgets to stop! I have to adjust my pace since I was in the earliest stages of slowing down and dropping into a crouch on the other side of the loading ramp, but soon enough I closed the distance between us, cutting in front of her and letting her weight run into me, instead of pulling on her arm and having the sudden resistance make her fall backwards.
She collides with me so hard that my bracing foot scratches a short line in the dirt. "Shh, shh, its okay, its okay, I got you." I whisper after my arms wrap around her in a gentle lock, just strong enough to keep her here with me as I talk her out of her autopilot state of mind. "You forgot to use your breaks, it's okay, I got you."
But breaking someone's autopilot doesn't always do them any favors, and with the 'few' scares she had before 'me' I know Nora is good at coming down off an adrenaline high, so before she clears that crest I'm gonna make us start moving again. "We got a building to hug and one more big road to cross before we get to some trees, you ready?" That's my girl. She nods so hard.
THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012
0936 HOURS
BEHIND RAISED PARKING LOT
HANOVER PLACE, CARMEL, INDIANA
DUNCAN
Let it be. He saw her keep going. Let it be. He moved first. Let it be. He caught her first, her face burying back against his shoulder, her own heaving and her knuckles white on his coat. Let it be. Let it be. Let it be!
We are running for our lives, for her life. It doesn't matter how much I hate what I'm looking at, it's still not enough to make me think even for a second that fighting will get us anything but caught and killed. I am just going to keep biting my tongue until it bleeds. I'll worry about how I'm going to deal with Barton and what he did to her after we are safe. After she is safe, then that's when I will let my priorities change.
It makes it easy for me to remember that her life is on the line too because of the line of blood she is leaving in her wake. I'm the back end of the line, which means I'm the one who gets to see every bloody print left by her dainty feet. She's hurt, you let her get hurt, you won't let happen again. God bless a mission statement.
THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012
0936 HOURS
BEHIND RAISED PARKING LOT
HANOVER PLACE, CARMEL, INDIANA
CLINT
When we reach the end of the wall and the entrance of the parking garage I stop our little procession and spare a quick glance to the guy in back, getting a nod and knowing he understands by the why he tucks his firearm out of sight while still not taking his hand off it. Now its Nora's turn.
There's not a lot I can do about her appearance, no matter how much I wish to, because we are back to the matter of not having the time, there is a little I can do. Sliding my gun back into its unclipped holster to free up both my hands I order her, "smooth down your hair a little Princess" and only half see her shocked look as I move my eyes right along the way to what I'm pulling out of my pocket.
After I woke up, it was real easy for me to move around, even if it hadn't been for all the chaos going on. I was supposed to be there as far as everyone else was concerned. Then there was the fact that most of the time down there I spent around Loki and Erik, not the mass of Merc and scientists, so most of them weren't ever familiar enough to notice that my blue eyes weren't 'blue' anymore. It gave me the chance to grab a hat.
I wanted two of them, because it would make it just a little harder for S.H.I.E.L.D's facial recognition to find a match from a satellite photo, but situational haste made me settle for rolling up the old slouch hat I saw sitting on a crate and calling it good enough. I'm giving it to her because I know without question I'm going to be much better at ducking cameras then she is.
THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012
0936 HOURS
BEHIND RAISED PARKING LOT
HANOVER PLACE, CARMEL, INDIANA
DUNCAN
My jacket, and the dress I pulled out for her, and now he just put my hat on her head. Lucky chance has her practically dressed in me and I like it. I like it even though I find myself a little disturbed by the possessive undercurrent of that feeling. I shift my thoughts away from that with the mission at hand instead. I can see just what he is doing, so as he adjusts the hat to a better angle I help out a little.
"The jacket's got a few inner pockets lil hen, tuck your gun hand in one, like you're hugging yourself." He shot me one hell of look when he heard me call her that nickname, and it was intense enough for her to give him a look too, though her's was nervous and that made him settle down. Even if he hates me back he's willing to dance till the shows over because he doesn't want to be the reason she is upset either.
"Yeah, do as he says." His concern for her is strong enough to make him say that without gritting his teeth.
"See that street?" The next parts a quick lesson, for her. "See that street?" He asks, nodding over his shoulder at the four lanes while still locking eyes with her. "That's our street." There's something interesting about the human mind... "We're 'walking' across that street." ...It doesn't matter how much evidence there is to the contrary... "We own that street. Okay? There's nothing wrong with us being there." ...All you have to do is act with a little certainty and people just assume it's okay and look away. "We're just crossing the street."
THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012
0936 HOURS
BEHIND RAISED PARKING LOT
HANOVER PLACE, CARMEL, INDIANA
NORA
We're walking across the street! They're insane! It's four lanes and two way traffic. Its people in cars who are going to be looking at us, at me from both sides. I have bleeding legs sticking out of the frayed end on a silk dress and am wearing a man's blood stained camo jacket. Even if they overlooked Clint and Duncan how the hell do they think anyone is going to overlook me! Just because they put a hat on me?!
"No..." My feet are moving but they're not moving forward. They're moving away from Clint's concerned reaching ones, and back me right up into a different pair. The weight of Duncan's hand rests on my shoulder for a millisecond, and quicker then Clint can stop him he gives it a tiny squeeze as he skirts in front of me and catches my eyes with his. It's okay. I am going to keep you safe. Don't worry, just trust me and take a breath. is the message I see in his eyes. The message I hear from his mouth is a bit different. It makes me huff out a laugh before I close my eyes and nod. "Yeah, I could really use a drink." He said he had a bottle waiting for me on the other side of that street.
THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012
0936 HOURS
BEHIND RAISED PARKING LOT
HANOVER PLACE, CARMEL, INDIANA
CLINT
Hearing Nora actually want a drink was like a sour kick in the teeth, but I took it because it got her moving again. Didn't mean it hurt any less.
After S.H.E.I.L.D let Nora out of that hamster cage, it was almost four months short of a year since she woke up, and the first time the holiday rolled around for her I had a terrible idea. Nat talked me out of it the first time, but that didn't make me any less interested. It was Saint Patrick's day, and I was in charge of a someone not human. I really wanted to see if I could get her drunk. It was stupid and childish, but I'd bet money it would cross EVERY other agent's mind if they were in my position.
Later the desire to get her drunk morphed into something a bit more mature and caring. It was a few months later I got my chance, and it was because of Nora's curiosity. She asked me what the difference between vodka and rum was, so I decided to show her instead, with a side of Sam Adams. I actually wanted her to get smashed and maybe even sick, but it wasn't because I was being mean.
I figured out early on that the best teacher for Nora was first hand experience, and eventually would be out in the world making her own decisions and doing things without me around all the time. So I wanted her to know exactly how stupid someone can become with a few too many drinks in them. I ended up racking a pretty bill, but she ended up in the bathroom, and I counted it as a win.
Even the fact that I had to deal with an angry Russian woman after that and a week's worth of the silent treatment, I didn't regret my decision. But that was the last time she ever touched anything related to alcohol, and that included wine. If she knew wine was used to cook a dish, she wouldn't even consider eating it, and with her love of food that was sort of big, and I was sort of a jerk for that because there are some amazing things cooked with wine.
But now that's changed. I wasn't looking, I couldn't see her, and in that absence she changed. It's not just the tears, or the blood, or her anger. She's not 'my' Nora anymore. Things happened, things I don't even know about and she's never going to be the same person again. And I did that. I don't give a damn that I wasn't in the driver seat. I started it all the second I followed Loki's order.
But she still smiles just like the old Nora. She saw me glance back at her, her eyes trying so hard not to look scared as his hand on her shoulder kept her walking slow but steady, and her hand shook behind the flap of that jacket. She saw me check on her and she forced a smile. And I can't even hold that gaze.
THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012
0936 HOURS
S RANGELINE RD
CARMEL, INDIANA
NORA
Don't run, don't run, don't run! They'll definitely see if you run. They're just bloody footprints, its not a big deal, don't run. God, I want to run, but Duncan's hand is hooked just enough into the shoulder straps that the tension is slowing me down. But I feel like this is too slow, because I know, I know there's danger behind us, and if we don't hurry they're gonna get hurt. I don't want them to get hurt.
Calm. You have to stay calm. You do that and there's a bottle of booze waiting for you. That's what he said, it's so stupid that I care about that but it's a port in the storm, and any of those will do. I just need to wait a little longer, and it will all work out. I can do that, I know I can. I'm doing it for my friends.
Clint took the lead of our little line again as we crossed the street, and he looked so calm about it. His face held edge of a scowl, but I know him well enough to know thats just how his neutral expression was, and he just looked toward either side of traffic long enough to avoid catching the front end of a car and walked across like he wasn't hiding a gun in his pocket.
After we cleared three of the four lanes he looked back over his shoulder at me, and I tried to smile. Then I tried not to cry. His face wasn't just resting in the semblance of a scowl, it started turning into one before he looked back toward the road. He couldn't even smile back at me. It's all fucked up. I just want this to be over.
I almost started walking too fast again, but Duncan's hand tightened a little on my shoulder and when I looked up he disguised the worried behind a convincing smile for the traffic and shook his head a little. I wished I could do the same, but I knew better, so instead I let the cotton of Duncan's long rolled up sleeve become my cheeks new best friend. That made his hold turn to less of a restraining one, and more of a comforting one as we finally reached a part of the city with houses and yards. I just need to wait a little longer, and it will all work out. I can do that, I know I can. I'm doing it for my friends.