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. (My apologies. I didn't realize FF removed the links. I have corrected the problem in what way I can, so for those who like the visual additions, feel free to check them out.)
DAY THREE
CHAPTER SIXTY FOUR
THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012
0953 HOURS
E 126TH ST
CARMEL INDIANA
CLINT
There's blood smeared on the steering wheel. Even after wiping my hands off on his clothes I couldn't get all the blood off because there wasn't enough dry material left of his uniform and I didn't have anymore time to waste. I knew there were civilians cowering inside that Domino's Pizza and they had their phones out, but they were a kind of innocent I wasn't gonna touch.
I didn't even want to kill those army reserve boys, they were innocent too and only doing their job. I couldn't let them take Nora in though so I'll shoulder the weight of that because it was MY choice. I made it, not some blood thirsty monster or someone brainwashing, me, and I'll make my amends for that later.
I'll most definitely make amends for the bloody strip of fabric with the name LOWELL sewn on to it that is currently balled up inside my pocket. If he had people, I'll make sure they are taken care of, it's the least I can do after what I did.
I said Nora wouldn't hear him scream, and I made sure of that when by severing his vocal cords before I filled the next nineteen seconds.
Fury once said that a woman with the right story was my kryptonite, and that bastard just had to be right. I will do all sorts of horrible things for a woman in need.
I did it for Laura back before we got married and were just dating. Her ex owed a loan shark a whole lot of money, but even losing his house couldn't clear his debt so the shark sent three thugs to Laura's door. One died when I broke his neck. One died in the ambulance from head trauma. Then the third died from blood loss because he was so high on heroin that he didn't feel the pain when I cut him, and because Laura was behind me I had to keep cutting him.
I did it for Natasha, Natalia, a kid little more than thirteen sighted in beyond the fletching of my arrow. The 'Black Widow' just an alias and a threat to national security that had to be eliminated. It took four days for me to run her down, the constant unrelenting pursuit defeating her more than skill. I didn't give her a chance to stop for food or rest, and once her employers realized she had been made they abandoned her as a lost cause, which meant if she went back they would kill her too just to keep me from following her trail to them. She was sitting in an alley with her eyes closed, waiting for me to finish my mission. Instead I turned a homeless girl into a woman with new purpose.
I did it for Nora too. When she woke up the first thing she did was scare the World Council, because despite the fact a person who had been in a coma for 60 years should barely have the muscular strength to tear paper, she managed to snap a man's arm like a twig before they tied her back down and sedated her. So because we had no idea what she would be capable of, let alone what she even was, the Council ordered Fury to put an assassin on her and he chose me. I was restricted from field work due to an injury at the time, and the Council was pleased with the choice because my body count and my mission count matched.
But Fury never really did things the council's way, and it didn't take me long to realize he had his own motives in choosing me over any of the other specialists. He was the one who recruited me off death row, and knew I killed those men to protect a woman, just like he knew I defied my orders to protect a slightly younger woman. He was hoping for a repeat of history.
By putting me in charge of her he was hoping I would make decisions with her well being taken into consideration. He didn't have anymore of a clue what she might become then the council did, but he knew that HYDRA thought she was something special, and if what made her special came back someday he wanted it for S.H.I.E.L.D, but you can't recruit a corpse, no matter how gifted it might be.
I did what Fury wanted, I did it for almost three years, and somewhere in there it stopped being done because it's what Fury wanted and started being done because it was what I wanted. She called me her friend, she called me her brother, she called me her goddamned hero! Me, a friggin assassin!
Somehow I became a cornerstone in her world, and nothing could make her budge on that. Even when she learned exactly what the word assassin meant, she didn't turn away from me. She actually defended me when people talked about me. It didn't matter that most of it was true. She had no fear of me, and then I gave her a reason to be afraid.
I never followed my gut and told her the truth because I knew the Council would turn S.H.I.E.L.D on her if they found out, I left the door wide open for Loki to walk through, and he used me to do it.
She had no idea what I was capable of, until I showed both her eyes and her flesh just how dangerous an assassin really is. That's what following my orders got us, guilt, fear, and betrayal. So I'm done with that shit. I hated it even when I was doing it. No more lying, and no more S.H.I.E.L.D. Not for her. I don't know where I'm going to take her, but I'm not taking her back to that, she deserves better than a life that was probably gonna end with her 'brother' notching an arrow to put in her heart.
THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012
0958 HOURS
HAZEL DELL PKWY
CARMEL INDIANA
NORA
I can barely breath past the tape; I'm crying so hard but I can't stop and I don't even want to! I couldn't do it! I couldn't run fast enough to get away from Clint, I couldn't get back to Loki, I couldn't defend myself from those men. I can't do anything right!
I just wanted to get away from Clint so his daughter would never have to lose her father, and to get back to the father of my own daughter, but instead I just got five men killed and brought back the 'man' who shot out my door and started all of this. Or did I?
'Clint's' eyes were glowing just like they did in the shadows of my entryway, but even though I kicked and struggled against him as he picked me up, he didn't punish me for it. It wasn't like before when he hit me to make me stop struggling. I was so scared I wasn't really acknowledging it, but I was still aware of the way he cradled the back of my head to keep it from hitting the door frame when he put me in the back of the humvee. But that wasn't what really made me question who I was dealing with. It was the sad expression in the glowing eyes as he called me Princess.
That's what has me unable to catch my breath, not everything that happened before or the way my bound wrists are caught on something and the position makes it uncomfortable to inhale. Nope, one word. Clint's word. It's what he calls me when he is really worried. I don't even think he realizes it's the only time he does it, and it breaks my fucking heart!
Even with that light burning behind his eyes, he is fighting for me, and even though I tried to run away from him! Clint, Duncan, they both treat me like I'm some kind of treasure and I hate it so much because I want them to act like they are treasures too!
It can all stop any time now. I can't even roll over because my wrists are still completely stuck on the black box bolted between the seats in the back, and my hips are stuck at an elevated angle from where they rest on top of it, but that doesn't stop me from turning my face and burying it in the crease of the seat. Please just let it stop.
THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012
1004 HOURS
ALLISONVILLE RD
CARMEL INDIANA
CLINT
The sound of her sobs evolving into hiccuping makes me grip the steering wheel even tighter as I let my eyes close just as tightly for a second. I want so badly to be back there holding her through all the pain she is clearly feeling, but I know that I can't do anything better for her then what I am, which is keep driving.
I still haven't quite figured out what I'm gonna do. Not since I decided I wanted to do the impossible. Not only am I trying to keep her out of the hands of a 'god' but I also decided to keep her out of the hands of S.H.I.E.L.D, and that's probably going to be the harder of the too.
After all, once I get us far enough away, keeping her free from Loki will just be a matter of not staying anywhere for too long. S.H.I.E.L.D on the other hand though is already EVERYWHERE, and unlike Loki who may be far stronger than I could ever could be, are numerous, not one person!
So I need more people on my side too. I already know I can count on Natasha. As loyal as she has proven herself to be when it comes to S.H.I.E.L.D, she has always been a little more loyal to me, and to her ledger. She will definitely help me protect Nora, if I can get a hold of her without tipping off S.H.I.E.L.D somehow in the process.
There's another person I am pretty damn sure will help me too. I never actually met him in person, but I know how he feels about Nora, even if the awkward idiot doesn't seem to know it himself. When I teased Nora about being the Captain's girl I was only half kidding. I may not have been her active S.O since I was reassigned to the P.E.G.A.S.U.S base, but that didn't mean I wasn't kept informed. He took her her to an art garden, on New Year's Eve, and they watched the countdown on her phone with hot coffee and Hershey's kisses for shit sake!
If he isn't in love with her he at least loves her, and if he is standing with us the Council will think a little harder about hurting Nora. Even if the 'world' doesn't know about Captain America being in the world again, all of S.H.I.E.L.D does, and I can't think of an agent that wouldn't stand behind that red white and blue bastard, just breathing the same air as him makes you want to be a better person.
It's a huge risk that I'm taking, and I'm not oblivious to the fact that I'm not in it alone. It's not just Nora's life, and mine on the line. Going on the run from the Council like this does put some heat on my family too, but I'm just going to have to place my trust in Natasha with this one. She knows about my family, and I'm sure she is already keeping an eye on them since I went 'missing', so the Council won't be able to sneak one past her.
Now the next thing I need to do is get us off the grid, and the first step is to ditch these wheels. Turning onto E 106TH ST I quickly take us off the road into the trees of the woods. We are ditching the humvee, because eventually the army is going to start tracking this thing, and I got bigger plans than just sticking to the pavement for the rest of this trip. Those plans include Tarmac and a pair of wings.
Once we are deep enough into the trees to not be seen from the road, we reach the really difficult part. I find myself literally unable to pry my hands off the steering wheel for a moment, I want to skip this part so much. But after a second I man up and with a quick check I'm relieved to find my eyes glow free and make myself get out of the drivers seat. She is my sister, I can face her, even after that parking lot, I can face her. My hand doesn't even hesitate on the door handle.