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.
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DAY THREE
CHAPTER SIXTY TWO
THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012
0948 HOURS
WINONA DRIVE
CARMEL INDIANA
NORA
I tried for Clint. I was so mad at him at first. I was mad at the idea that Clint knew, that he knew all along and he kept me in the dark about my own child, and I'm still not sure if I believe he didn't or I just want to believe him because there is three years of trust and friendship that not even a revelation as big as the fact he lied to me can't shake off.
I tried for Clint's children. If the weight wasn't heavy before it was now that he dropped another mountain on my shoulders with that one. Clint had a kid, two kids, a son and a daughter, and a wife too I guess. I didn't think Clint was married, but sometimes I suspected there was someone. Before he went on a mission, he always called someone, and if it wasn't for the fact that a few times he was going on the mission with Natasha, I might have been sure that the person on the other end of the line was her. He never told me who but I always got the feeling it was probably a girlfriend. But I never pushed harder then some light teasing when I caught him making these phone calls because I knew if Clint didn't tell me it's because he had a good reason.
I tried for Duncan. For Alexander Pierce Jr. I should have recognized him, the only difference being he was less tan and had more hair, but there was no way in hell I was going to recognize him, not as scared as I was trapped in that room. I remember being so grateful to that STRIKE captain for stopping his subordinates harassing behavior. I wanted to thank him somehow, but I couldn't decide what would be appropriate, and eventually as time moved on I forgot about him entirely. Then he was here, first as a friendly stranger, then as my anchor to sanity, and then as an ally helping me escape.
But I didn't want allies, and I didn't want to escape. I kept moving because they were my friends and I knew if I stopped they would die. I knew that without a doubt, so I tried. In the tunnels, in the theater, in the streets, I just kept telling myself I was doing it for my friends, just a little longer for my friends. I kept trying until I saw something small in the grass.
They sat me down against the inside part of that decorative fence and they started getting the car ready, I saw it before Clint came over to me and I hid it so tightly in my hand it hurt. It was some little girl's happy meal toy barbie, forgotten and abandoned in the grass. There were probably other toys scattered around this yard too, since there was a swing and slide set on the other side of the shed.
I don't think they saw it, either of them, or if they did, they didn't realize what that would do to me.
I tried, I did, I tried so hard to make myself go with them. But I knew myself better than that and I knew I wasn't being honest. I waited until Clint started around to the other side I took the door handle in my hand and tugged on it, letting the latch slide open as quietly as I could without actually pushing the door out, then as soon as he was contained by the front seat I threw my own door open and started to run!
I didn't want to leave them, they were going to be so angry with me for this, but that stupid cheap barbie ruined everything! I knew I only had one chance, and if I didn't take it right now, I'd never get another one. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!
I'm running like hell, there's no real plan, or direction, I'm just running a slightly different way than the way we came, hoping that by cutting through people's yards I can either avoid being seen or attract so much attention that Clint wont think it's worth the risk of following me.
That's why I waited until they were in the car, until they had a getaway vehicle. I knew Clint wouldn't just let me go like he had too, like I wanted him to. I told him to leave me behind in that damn 'hospital room'. I told him to just leave me behind and take Erik instead, to just get out alive. But instead he took me, the one person Loki would never stop looking for, and this time nothing I said would stop Loki from killing them for it.
It's why I push my muscles even harder as I hear one of their doors slam behind me. I can't stop. Not for the pebbles or dirt digging painfully into the bottom of my raw feet, not for the branches lashing at my cheeks and arms as I sprint between a row of spaced out bushes, and definitely not for the chance that I might have just heard my name! Don't follow me, please don't follow me!
THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012
0948 HOURS
WINONA DRIVE
CARMEL INDIANA
CLINT
It was going so well, it was going too well. I knew it felt too easy, this escape, and I was just waiting for things to get difficult because nothing ever runs this smoothly for this long. But I didn't think the trouble would come from her, not after we made it so far! With each step that separated us from Loki my concern that she might change her mind shrank. I mean, a daughter... but she kept on walking on those blood feet, silent and without complaint unless you count those tears. She even let me put her in the backseat!
But then she ran, and my fucking seat belt took her side and tried to tie me down until I cut myself free from it! In the second longer it took me to get out, the MI-6 guy was already out of his seat too, but instead of running right after her like he should have he is distracted by our now other problem. The back door of the house sliding open abruptly with a loud thud and the emergence of some pissed off middle aged man. Fuck!
"STAY HERE! WE NEED THIS CAR!" I don't have time to think about it, or be any more specific in those instructions then that, because I have my little sister to catch, before she does what I think she is doing and runs back to an alien sociopath!
THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012
0949 HOURS
WINONA DRIVE
CARMEL INDIANA
DUNCAN
"STAY HERE! WE NEED THIS CAR!" He didn't waste any time chasing after her, his departure sort of trapping me here since I wasted time being distracted by the shifting of the vertical plastic curtains when the owner looked out the slider door.
The guy walking toward me with a bad attitude and a baseball bat isn't really anything special. He is a semi in shape thirty something year old with short brown hair, wearing a white tank top, some shorts that look like a black and blue version of the american flag with some plaid strips, and a pair of flip flops.
He becomes even less special as his eyes go wide half a second before his head snaps back from the force of the silencer round as it bores through his forehead, his body falling back stiffly like a tree, an oily looking pool forming a dripping halo around the man's head from where he lands on the wooden steps of his back porch.
The thing that does catch my though with a frustrated sigh is the shrill squeak that followed the first inch of his fall back, and the stuttered shutting of the back door. Great. Children. Sparring on more glance around to make sure none of his neighbors are stupid enough to step out on to his back porch I decide its safe enough to step away from the car for a second.
I can't help the huff of amusement when my hand tests the door. I was completely prepared to break the door to get in, but it doesn't look like I have to. This kid must be really young if they didn't even think to lock the door. With that thought in mind I check my pocket for what I have in the way of tranquilizer. Nora wouldn't be happy with me if she found out I killed a kid.
There is one more pause before I step across the threshold, closing the door quietly and sliding the vertical curtains back in place, twisting them closed. There is a large dog bed next to the door so it looks like I'm not putting the silencer away just yet. I hate dogs in situations like this, they're so loud. Now then, if I was a dumb kid, where would I hide?
THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012
0950 HOURS
WINONA DRIVE
CARMEL INDIANA
NORA
Oh shit!
NOTES FOR THE READERS:
So I have one question for everybody. "You didn't see that coming?"