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 FIVE
THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012
1005 HOURS
E 106TH ST
CARMEL INDIANA
NORA
My feet moved when the door opened, not because I willed them to but simply because the solidness of the door was no longer there to offer them any resistance.
Nothing else offered him any resistance either. Not my leg when his hand found the back of my knee, or the other one that rested on the part of my thigh just below my hip to keep the skirt from sliding up as he pulled me down the seat. Even the bindings on my wrist that stopped me so completely just moved away from what they caught themselves on as he guided me into a sitting position on the edge of the seat, slipping his arms beneath the bend of my legs and behind my back as they take over my weight and we abandon the backseat.
THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012
1005 HOURS
E 106TH ST
CARMEL INDIANA
CLINT
She wasn't fighting me. I should be happy about that, the fact she isn't resisting, but I'm not because this isn't cooperating this is just crushing resignation. She's just given up, she doesn't even have the will to open her eyes or breathe harder despite the fact I have my hands on her naked legs and arms as I make quick work of picking her up out of the back seat.
Even after I kneel down with her in my arms and set her on the ground against a tree, she doesn't bother trying to adjust herself into a more comfortable position when my arms slide free. And that's about as much as I can take.
"Nora?" Her name, and the concern I spoke it with gets me nothing. Her chin rests just as heavily against her collarbone, her eyes don't open, and her chest just continues its in its steady shallow rise and fall. Her damn hair doesn't even move in the breeze, tacky from blood and completing the image of a broken doll far too perfectly.
Come on baby, give me something please. "Princess?" Putting one of my hands against the column of her neck I tip her face up with a push from my thumb, wanting to hold her head in both my hands but thinking better of forcing that much skin contact on her. I want a reaction from her, but I don't want to make that reaction fear. "Come back Princess. I need you." A bead glistens free from between her eyelashes.
'There you are." I huff out, my lips stretching in an open mouthed expression of relief even though that glistening drop turns into a small stream, and she starts breathing out a struggling sob past a bloody nose and a band of grey tape.
That makes me reconsider my stance on cupping her face in both of my hands, and I do it to get her attention, smiling a little softer at the sight of those wet eyes opening for me. "I'm gonna take that tape off, but you have to swear you won't scream first okay?" And that sentence hurts us both, I can see it in the fresh ridge of tears that rise and spill over, and I know they exist for the same reason as the sense of betrayal lingering in my heart. She shattered my faith in her the second she ran from the back of that car.
And as much as I hate it, even though she nods yes with such intensity I still doubt it a little. As if her betrayal was any worse then mine, as if I have any right to feel betrayed after everything I did to her.
"Okay." But I make myself move past it. If she does scream, I'll put the tape back, and endure the guilt a little longer. I just need her to be safe, she can hate me as long as she safe. "Pull your lips in, it will hurt less. You ready? I'll pull on four?"
It takes her a second before she nods, which I can guess she worked her lips into as tight a line as the duct tape would allow.
Working an edge of the tape free I carefully free as many strand of her hair out of its sticky grasp as I can before I unwrap the rest of its stacked loop until I reach the part that connects to her actual skin. I pause there, to give her a questioning look and pressing my fingers over top of the split they put on her cheek so it doesn't tear the skin anymore then it already has been.
After the nod I surprise her by jumping the gun and pulling on the 't' sound of the two, because I knew she was going to tense up the farther I counted down. She let out a sharp cry the second the tape released her lips. "Y-you forgot three." This time the sound that fills the air is from me and its a chuckle.
That's my girl. I forget all about not touching her, I'm so happy and relieved to hear a small piece of the old her in that moment, even as broken and sad as she is, she tried to make a joke, and I love her so much for it. "I know, I'm sorry Princess." I offer back after a second, as I gently lean her back one hand coming up quickly to thumb away another tear before the salt water can burn its way into her broken skin. "Let me look."
I don't wait for her consent, even though I see her give me a small nod anyways. Her skin that was under the tape is now a rosier shade that wraps around from one side to the next and melds into her hairline at the back of her neck, while the part of her broken cheek that was under the tape is beading with a few fresher drops of blood; it isn't as bad as it could be. She's only going to need one stitch to close it back up. It's nothing compared to the rest of her skin.
The guilt hits me heavily again with that thought but I shove it behind the mask before it can even peek around those edges. I'm burning seconds I don't have here. "Okay sweetie, I'm gonna cut your hands free okay?"
Her answer is true Nora. "I won't run, I swear." She sniffles out, another wave of tears rising so thickly they distort my view of her eyes before the water tension breaks and they stream down her cheeks.
"I know you won't" I offer back, no smile or sadness on my face, just an expression of determination. "because I'm gonna carry you, Princess." I love her, but I can't trust her to do what's best for her, and her feet are still bleeding anyway.
Her reply was a hiccuped sound that came closest to 'Ahehn' and what ever it meant I didn't wait to find out. Instead I just pulled her forward by her shoulder, tucking her chin over the top on my left one, and praising her faith in me I made quick work of sliding the blade through the plastin of those zip tie cuffs.
My reward was her arms wrapping around my neck in a desperate hug, and even if I'm half concerned she might try to choke me in this position I view her hug as a blessing, because I know Nora, and I know how much a single touch from her was a minor miracle. So if she is going to embrace me, I'm gonna let her, and I'm gonna hold her too. My arms slipping behind her back and under her legs for support as I do what I said I was going to do, and lift her up out of the dirt to carry her out of this place.
THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012
1009 HOURS
E 106TH ST
CARMEL INDIANA
DUNCAN
The weather's not bad, its actually rather pleasant. The temperature is somewhere between the high sixties and low seventies right now. The wind that is blowing is not that bad either, even up where I am.
After I killed the dog, I found the kid, a little girl, and pinning her down with a hand over her mouth I waited for the tranquilizer dart to kick in, then I dragged the dad's body back up the deck and left him just behind the closed wall of the vertical blinds. Someone will notice the blood on the bottom step of the deck eventually but they will notice that a later then they would notice a body.
Now I'm really just waiting, singing along to the nice Cat Stevens tune running through my head to pass the time.
"In the midnight moonlight hour I'll be walking a long and lonely mile, And every time I do, I keep seeing this picture of you."
I've taken up residence in a cell phone tower for the time being. It gives me a nice clear view of the sky. The sun isn't really out at the moment, scattered cloud cover hiding it while casting long shadows over the ground, but what is visible of that enormous burning rock in the sky is giving off enough heat to still feel warm against my skin when a beam falls over me in between the shadow of the clouds.
"Well, here comes my baby, here she comes now, Walking with a love, With a love that's oh so fine. Never to be mine, no matter how I try."
Its a pity though that we had to seperate. As lovely as the sunlight is after so many hours underground I doubt that Agent Barton is stopping to let her enjoy it too. But that problem will be solved soon enough since she is what I am really out here waiting to see. It shouldn't be too long now. Not if I guessed it right.
"You'll never walk alone, and you're forever talking on the phone I try to call you names, but every time it comes out the same."
Humming quietly I finish attaching the scope before unfolding the stock and testing that the cheek piece is in the right position before I adjust that too. The clip is the next thing I check, making sure all the bullets are lined up even in it, so it doesn't run the risk of jamming. The only thing left is dropping the stand down and getting into a comfortable position.
"Here comes my Lil Hen; here she comes now, And-a it becomes as no surprise to me with another guy." I murmur with a grin when my eyes look at the lines quartering my view of the world through my scope, eagerly waiting for the sight of something special to step into view.