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 FOUR
CHAPTER NINETY SEVEN
FRIDAY, MAY 4TH 2012
0916 HOURS
CENTRAL PARK
W 72ND ST
AR(NORA)
I left him in the park, I left him bleeding and dying, and now he's here in front of me, in a HOODIE AND SHADES! I remember smashing his face in before the blood loss and drugs overcame me, and I passed out. I remember 'Nora' caring about him, caring about his safety. I remember 'her' relief when he found 'her' in that forest. 'her' certainty they would all be alright before he revealed he was the shooter. I remember how 'she' felt when my blood lust welled up and saved us both. I'm not Nora, and Nora is not me, the only thing we share is our body.
A body this bastard put his hands on. He stabbed me, struck me and choked me! I thought I killed him for that, for Clint! I won't make that mistake again, this time I'll take his head off just to be sure. He bound me with leather and cotton, he bound me with nothing.
FRIDAY, MAY 4TH 2012
0916 HOURS
CENTRAL PARK
W 72ND ST
DUNCAN AKA ALEXANDER
I can almost hear the cotton grating against her teeth as I watch the muscles in her jaw tense so much they pulse. I'm really glad I decide to do that, even if part of me does feel wrong about doing that to a woman. A deeper part of me recognizes that the life form in front of me is closer to a predator than a woman. She looks small and helpless, but that distant holdover from when humans were apes sees a tiger in the woods.
"Now you got every reason to hate me, I know." My instincts are pretty much screaming at me for still hunkering down on my heels, not standing in the less vulnerable position above her. The agent in me knows better. Putting myself in a dominant position right now will definitely destroy my chances of convincing her she shouldn't kill me. "But none of that was my fault."
Right... I recognize it even as that horror story rolls off my tongue like a bad case of verbal diarrhea. ...Let's just make her want to murder you more man! The scared primate part of me was a little stronger than I thought. "I wasn't in control back there, that wasn't my choice. Now I'm gonna take that gag out..." That warning bell I'm ignoring sounds pretty much like a screaming monkey in my head. "...So we can talk, and I'll tell you everything cause there's a lot going on you don't know."
That big cat analogy gains ground when her snarl sinks into the skin of her nose, but I don't let it stop me. I have to stand to walk across the clearing, but I make it as non threatening as possible. I got my arms up, and out. Not behind my head. from that position I know she's smart enough to know I could reach something strapped to my back. I also keep my pace slow, and I try to keep my eyes on her as I kneel back down. The flash of an electric explosion still hooks my attention though.
FRIDAY, MAY 4TH 2012
0917 HOURS
CENTRAL PARK
W 72ND ST
AR(NORA)
It took a fraction of a second, and the power of my rage. I did nothing to the gag, because it would give me away. The belt that touched my skin had already crumbled to dust though, so when the explosion pulled his gaze to the left I swung at his right! He caught it, or at least the leather part. His reflexes were fast, but not enough to stop the belt buckle from cracking him in the ear. Not your fault?! You'll tell me everything?! You think you get to come here and talk like MY BROTHER after you shot him?! I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!
FRIDAY, MAY 4TH 2012
0917 HOURS
CENTRAL PARK
W 72ND ST
DUNCAN AKA ALEXANDER
Ah-shit. Even as a thought the words sort of slur together in my head as the blow sends my balance reeling, and my body stumbling. It's smart of her, and it gave her a chance to wrap her fists in my hoodie. But I've been training since I was a kid and hand to hand is muscle memory at this point.
I switch my grip to slip inside her arms, and grabbing her own collar I start the roll. My feet find their place in her stomach automatically, before my legs unbend, and throw. She lands a good five feet from me.
I'm back on my feet before she is, my arms out at a defensive guard and my stance squared for balance. She on the other hand rolls awkward to a stop before she gets her hands and knees under her with heaving breaths. Come on lady, don't do this. You were just in a car accident. "I don't want to hurt you lil hen, stay down."
So much for that idea, she literally growled at me past the bandanna. Right, no more using that nickname.
She tries a kick next, and I'm goddamn glad I dressed wisely for this encounter. I'm in a hoodie and jeans, wearing gloves because she seems to need physical contact for what she does. That's why when I step into the attack I wrap my arm around her thigh before she can get her right leg all the way up. I don't want it to touch my head and kill me right away. Then I hook my leg around the back of her left one, and driving my palm into her chest I knock her off her feet.
I could have dropped into a leg lock too at that point but I let her go. I don't want to hurt her after all, and I don't want to give her a chance to get her hands past my clothes.
Her recovery is even slower this time. Her eyes go wide as her back lands on a rockier section of the terrain. The breath getting knocked out of her, with droplets of bloody spittle. Then those eyes squeeze so tight they ring out tears, and her arms wrap protectively around her knee. On the leg I grabbed her by.
My maneuver shouldn't have been enough to do any real damage to her leg. I don't know what got hurt when that semi started rolling with her inside it though. I want to do something about that pain, but I also know that approaching her right now is the worst idea ever. She's more like a wild animal right now, and you don't approach those when they're hurt. "Nora, you need to stop. I'm not your enemy anymore. Just listen to me, please?"
Her knuckles crack as they dig into the dirt, the breathless hate overcoming the pain in her eyes as she looks at me again. Then she crawls a few feet farther and dishearteningly struggles to her feet with a branch in her hand. "Please?"
FRIDAY, MAY 4TH 2012
0918 HOURS
CENTRAL PARK
W 72ND ST
AR(NORA)
Please, stop, listen, not my enemy. He's got too many fucking words, all he ever had was too many god damned words. Those words are going to stop, I need them to stop. Everything I felt for him before I knew who I was, it's still in my head, and it won't go away until he does.
When he sees me start to move so does he, and that's his mistake. He's better than me at this, but that's okay, because I don't have to play fair.
He drops down in for a leg sweep as I start to swing the piece of ash tree in my hand, and his foot breaks right through the earth.
I can affect organic matter, tree roots and soil are nothing but organic matter. He chose a park, the idiot! He either didn't know, or didn't understand the extent of what I could do. I suspected that when he chose what he used to tie me up with, and was sure when my first strike surprised him.
I rotted the ground when I dug my fingers into the earth, creating a sinkhole to catch him in, and it worked. All I had to do was draw him close enough for his weight to break the ceiling. cradling my half healed knee in 'agony' certainly didn't hurt my plan.
The pain there was definitely real though. Cracked bone takes more time and energy to to heal, and I didn't have enough of either before he knocked me out.
One leg sinks all the way down into the hole while the other leg bends at the knee trying to catch his fall. Then before those hands can start to pull his mass out of the hole I take my turn. He successfully catches the branch as I swing it, and he also catches my ankle. That's his biggest mistake.
As he yanks his leg out from under me and sends me falling on my back again, I wrap my fist around his wrist and take it with me. One leg lands beneath him but my other leg landing over his throat as I put him in sloppy arm bar. I have his skin in my hands now. I win.
FRIDAY, MAY 4TH 2012
0918 HOURS
CENTRAL PARK
W 72ND ST
DUNCAN AKA ALEXANDER
FUCK! Her leg's not even that heavy, but it still feels like someone laid a metal pylon on my neck. A really hot one! I can feel that burn again. I messed up. I thought she needed blood contact for what she does. But I can feel that acid race in from where her has me by the wrist, and sinking into the veins in my neck. I can't even breathe, my lungs seem to have locked up. NOT AGAIN, NOT LIKE THIS!
I used to beg from God a lot, praying to him for help when I realized how horrible my life was destined to be. Eventually though when all I got was the next level of worse, I stopped deluding myself. Hope like that only got you hurt. God, please, not like this, don't let me die like this. Hopes really hard to kill though I guess.
Turns out maybe god finally listened, because she screamed and let go.
FRIDAY, MAY 4TH 2012
0918 HOURS
CENTRAL PARK
W 72ND ST
AR(NORA)
It wasn't just my chest this time. My ribs on the left side, my shoulder, my chest, my arms, and the brow bone of my left eye all erupted in sharp pain. each not even a second a apart, and the last one splitting the skin.
The shock of it was enough to make me lose my grip, and I'm half aware of him rolling out of my reach gasping for air. I almost want to laugh at that. I had him, I was winning, but at least I'm not the only one who is coughing up blood.
Maybe when he shoots me, it will take Loki too. I want to kill him myself, but that will be enough for me.
FRIDAY, MAY 4TH 2012
0919 HOURS
CENTRAL PARK
W 72ND ST
DUNCAN AKA ALEXANDER
There's a scared animal in my head, and all it wants to do is live. That's why after I got air back in my burning lungs, I un-holstered my pistol and aimed it at her head. She tried to kill me, she almost killed me!
But now, a couple breaths farther into calm, I can think past the adrenaline again. She's on her hands and knees, one arm so weak its holding her up by the elbow. I see blood on the dirt under her as she chokes on her own laugh, the sound hollow and resigned. "Ju...just do it."
Just do it. Just kill her she says. Just blow her damn head off she says as she is drowning in her own blood for some reason I clearly missed. And I should. The animal in my head says I really should have minutes ago, because this woman is a some kind of monster! But I know, I know some of what made her that way.
I'm Alexander Pierce's son. I'm the kid he adopted so he could groom a man to take his place. I'm someone who has read her files. HYDRA took a beautiful 24 year old woman and shot her in the stomach at a dinner table. They filled her veins with chemicals and poison to see what would happen. They carved out pieces of her while she was awake, because they didn't want to waste the anesthesia! They used nerve gas as a method to control her if she got out of hand! They thought they couldn't kill her until they did. She lost so much blood her heart stopped and she suffered brain damage. I'd be a wild animal after that too. That's not even counting what might have happened with Loki when I wasn't around. I'm gonna regret this.
FRIDAY, MAY 4TH 2012
0919 HOURS
CENTRAL PARK
W 72ND ST
AR(NORA)
He sets his gun on the ground in front of me. That's what made me look up at him, my confusion and anger blurring as they fought each other for control. What kind of bad joke is this?
He set the other one down, this one smaller, a concealed carry. Four tactical knives joined the pile. Then so do his gloves, and his hoodie, and his shirt. Then he peels the bandage away from his left eye.
There is no left eye. There is an egg shaped metal frame, rimmed in broken skin, with nothing inside.
There are bruises on his skin, I could see more of them then skin. Marks varying from black to yellow. Dark lines flowing the veins in his body and matching the bones nearest to the surface. Some spots were even swollen with blood pooling so close to the surface it blistered.
"Lady, I know it sounds fun, but please stop trying to kill me. I already know you can."
FRIDAY, MAY 4TH 2012
0919 HOURS
CENTRAL PARK
W 72ND ST
DUNCAN AKA ALEXANDER
Since she didn't put her hand in my empty eye socket and rip off my skull, I'm gonna go with she is willing to listen. So I'm gonna keep talking before she changes her mind.
"I've been living with a camera bomb in my skull for more than 5 and a half years now. I've been following the orders from it so I don't die for more than 5 and half years, until you beat my face in with a log, and broke it. I don't know how that didn't kill me out-right, but Lady, you set me free. From that bastard Loki's control too."
That really got her attention. "Yeah. He did to me what he did to Barton, used some sort of magick trick on my eyes to keep them from glowing I think. Point is Lady, if I was smart I'd be running the hell away from all this, but I owe you. So if you want to kill me, I just gave you six more options."
Please, please don't take those options. "Or, you can let me help you get the hell out of here before more bad guys show up?"
I swear to Christ, watching her take two minutes to think about it put me twenty years closer to a heart attack. Then when she does speak it's my laugh that sounds a little crazy. She wants to keep the serrated knife.
Oh, I'm an idiot. "Lady, at this point, you can have whatever you want." Please God don't let her kill me with my stuff.
NOTES FOR THE READERS:
If you're wondering what the pain she felt was from, it's the scene right after Loki shoots the quinjet out of the sky, and Thor rains a series of blows on him in response.