It took Sam about twenty to stop puking and get his bearings.
"I'm good…" Sam groaned spitting the last of the bile out of his mouth. "I'm good."
"I'm sure you are." I said handing him a bottle of water.
"Where'd you get that?" He asked.
"Swiped it from a street vendor down the block." I said and Sam hesitated before taking it. "Don't worry I slipped them the cash for it."
"Good to know." Sam said. "Uh how do Aiden and Sam do this all the time?"
"You get used to it." I said. "Which way are we going?"
"He normally has dinner with Hank Pym. He lives…" Sam said.
"No." I said. "We'll wait until he's done with dinner."
"We're kind of on the clock." Sam reminded me.
"And it'll be hours before the Sokovian makes it to Siberia and Clint breaks Wanda out of the compound." I said walking out of the alley into the street. "We should grab dinner… I'm in the mood for carbs. Maybe like some chowder in a sourdough bread bowl? That's what they're known for here."
"Nora…" Sam said ducking down covering his face with his arm and ducking down.
"Would you relax? They're not looking for us in San Francisco." I said. "People will only look at us of we give them a reason to want to look at us and as long as we don't stare or look at them like that."
I said as Sam looked at everyone suspiciously.
"I'm guessing you don't do much undercover work." I said.
"No I do more long distance surveillance." Sam said.
"There's not a lot to it. Just ask like you belong, go with the flow, and watch your surroundings without making it obvious that you're doing it." I said. "Also don't look directly at any security cameras."
"So why can't we go to Hank Pym's house and get Tic-Tac?" Sam asked.
"See your friend Scott is not actually the first Ant-man." I said.
"I wouldn't really call him a friend." Sam said.
"Because he wiped the floor with you?" I asked and he just gave me a look.
"He didn't… He got a few hits in." Sam shrugged off.
"Natasha showed us the video feed, Sam. Don't be a sore loser." I said. "Anyway Hank Pym the original Ant-Man worked for SHIELD back in the 70's and 80's. His work with the Pym Particles which is how the suit works, was decades ahead of its time. So obviously SHIELD tried to do what any government agency with access to highly weaponizable tech does, try to confiscate it under the guise of public safety. Hank found out what they were trying to do, confronted them about it and he had a huge falling out Howard."
"Sounds like it runs in the family." Sam said making me smirk.
"Tony is letting his guilt get the best of him. Howard never had that problem. He wasn't perfect but he was consistently there when I needed him and highly in favor of keeping the government out of the private sector." I said.
"And you?" Sam said. "This doesn't at all remind you of you and Steve?"
"Well Steve's an idiot." I said and Sam looked at me like he wanted to argue to the contrary but had nothing to back up his point. "I know he's your friend and you're on his side so let's just leave it at that."
"We could… but we do have a few hours to kill and if we're going to go after the fake psychiatrist It might be better if you and Steve aren't biting each other's heads off every five minutes." Sam said.
"There's not really much to talk about." I said.
"I think we've all been in the middle of at least one of your screaming matches." He said as we walked into the diner.
"He's your best friend Sam, I know you feel like you have to stick up for him but we're way past that." I said.
"You know I've never seen two people who love each other so much make it so hard for themselves to be together." Sam said.
"Don't look at me I tried. I was committed and happy with the way things were, it's not my fault Steve doesn't take rejection well." I said.
"After 70 years he proposed Nora. There's no bigger commitment than that." Sam said.
"And in those 70 years he chose to kamikaze into the ice and abandoned me in the 1940's, came out of the ice and he didn't bother to look for me, dated our deceased friend's niece and believes her beyond a reason of a doubt, dumped me because she got pregnant and he believed I couldn't have children. I have forgiven it all Sam because I love him, despite everything I still love him but love isn't enough. We tried for a few months and things were going well, and we were figuring things out, that is not a sign that it's time to put a ring on it." I said.
"So if he had asked a few months down the line would you have said yes?" Sam said.
"No." I said without even having to think about it. "I don't want to get married again."
"Then I guess you never really forgave them for anything." Sam said.
"If I hadn't forgiven them I wouldn't have spent the past year imagining my son growing up calling them both dad. I wouldn't have put in an order for a custom orthopaedic Alaskan King mattress so Steve could move in." I said surprising him. "You said it yourself. We have 70 years of history. I met them both when I was 18 and for all intents and purposes alone in the world. They're my soulmates and they were my first loves. They were my first in so many things including my first real heartbreak. At 18 I thought that love was the end all be all and that we were going to have sail off into the sunset or have our very own 'Notebook' ending but that's not how life or relationships work. In a relationship love plays a big part but it's not everything. There's respect, support, admiration, it's two or more people who complement each other and inspire each other to be better. He's your best friend Sam and I do love him and I know he loves me too but love isn't enough. I'm not 18 anymore. I grew up and I need more, and as selfish as this is going to make me sound, I deserve more, and right now that's not Steve."
"You're not selfish." Sam said after pausing for a minute. "You deserve all of that, you all do."
"But for now we have a job to do." I said looking down at the menu. "The bacon cheeseburger looks good. Maybe I'll get a milkshake while I'm at it."
"Not a bad idea." He seconded.
We finished our dinner before Scott finished his visit to Hank Pym. Sam and I tailed him before we split up to corner him in an alley. Well… more like I 'casually' bumped into him and took advantage of that second to grab him and teleport him to the apartment complex roof Sam was waiting at.
"Wha…Buah!" Scott puked barely missing my shoes.
"It's really not that bad." I said.
"Not all of us have iron stomachs." Sam said.
"Toughen up dude. My toddler doesn't complain as much as you and Steve do about teleporting." I retorted.
"T-teleporting…" Scott said looking around.
"We'll get to you in a minute tic-tac." Sam said. "I don't have a week stomach. Do you know how fast the wings go? Have you seen what I do? You squeeze and stretch or something before stretching us back out again."
"Ex-excuse me?" Scott said.
"That's not how it works." I said. "Time and Space are interconnected and… Why are we even talking about this right now?"
"Uh Hello?" Scott said.
"Scott Lang." I said looking at him.
"Y-you're Nora Stark." Scott said staring at me in shock.
"And I believe you know Sam?" I said redirecting him to Sam.
"What's up Tic-tac?" Sam said with a smirk.
"Uh, good to see you. Look, what happened last time when I…" Scott started.
"It was a great audition," Sam said making me snort. "but it'll . . . it'll never happen again."
"I don't know you seemed…" Scott said.
"Scott." I said getting us back on track. "We need your help."
"You need… me?" he said pointing at himself. "To help you the avengers."
"Yes…" Sam said.
"Not an Avenger." I corrected.
"Weren't you there in Sokovia?" Scott said.
"It was a one-time thing." I said.
"And there was that thing in Chernobyl…" Scott said.
"Extenuating circumstances." I said.
"And you're helping now…" Scott said.
"Extenuating… Sam?" I said deciding to stop wasting time.
"There's a bad guy that's on his way to Siberia to wake up frozen super soldiers that can take down countries and possibly the world." Sam said. "The team is split up because of the accords and Cap…"
"Whoa whoa whoa! Wait a minute. Captain America needs me?" Scott said.
"I wouldn't…" I started.
"Yes!" Sam said nudging me to shut up.
"We need all the help we can get and you're at the top of the list." I said just going with it.
"I'm in." Scott said.
"Scott we should warn you this is very dangerous and the law isn't exactly on our side right now. You could get in a lot of trouble." Sam said.
"I'm an ex-con. It wouldn't be the first time I got into a bit of trouble." Scott said.
"Alright then. Let's go get whatever you need before we head back to Germany…" I said.
"No need." Scott said taking out a small action figure out of his pocket. Upon closer look Sam and I could see the figure was wearing the Ant-man suit.
"That gives a while new definition to the phrase traveling light." Sam said.
"Okay then." I said.
"So should we get a cab to the airport?" Scott said.
"UH…" Sam started.
"That's won't be necessary." I said with a smile.
"Are we taking the fancy Ave…" Scott started before I put a hand on him and Sam's shoulder and teleported us to Germany.
"Guah!" Scott started puking this time not missing Sam's shoes.
"UH!" Sam started gagging.
"Okay Scott," I said using my powers to unlock a van door and quickly deactivating the alarm. "Stay put, get some rest we'll be back when we've got everything."
"That's it? I mean isn't there something I should help with?" Scott said.
"Don't worry Tic-tac, there will be plenty to do. In the meantime stay here and blend in." Sam said.
"Take a nap. Jetlag is brutal." I said. "We'll bring coffee in the morning."
"Uh okay but if you change your mind…" Scott said.
"We know where to find you." Sam said waving to him before I put a hand on his shoulder and teleported us back to the garage.
"Alright Scott is set…" I said only seeing Bucky and not Steve. "Where's Steve?"
"He's out getting us a car and… making a call." Bucky said cautiously.
"Please tell me he made that call on a payphone?" I said.
"Of course he did." Bucky said. "He's also getting us a car."
"Who'd Steve ca…" Sam said as Bucky gave him a glare while shaking his head.
"He called Sharon didn't he?" I said immediately picking up on it.
"Doll…" Bucky started.
"Don't." I said stopping him before he started defending him. "It's not even worth it and we have a job to do."
Sam just gave me a sad look but didn't say anything.
We all sat around in silence waiting for Steve to show up while I took the time to do some light meditation as Aya and I talked in the astral plane.
"So much for that second chance." Aya said.
"We were both willing but the timing was off and Steve's still an idiot." I said. "He'll still be a good dad though?"
"He'll get his act together." Aya seconded. "If not you always have Bucky."
"True." I said. "And you."
"We've come a long way from when we first met." Aya said.
"You mean when you were purposely torturing me?" I retorted.
"I meant from when you used to call me your evil twin." She said making me snort.
"You know for a while I thought I was having a psychotic break, I was in the age range when most schizophrenics have their first episode but I'm fairly sure that even if I was I would have imagined half the crap you put me through." I admitted.
"Me? Believe me, I severely underestimated what a handful you'd turn out to be." Aya said.
"But here we are." I said. "Seventy or… thirty odd years later, depending on how you look at it."
"Nora." Bucky said gently shaking my shoulder snapping me back to my body.
"Whoa…" I said blinking a few times.
"You okay?" Sam asked.
"Great, did I miss anything?" I said.
"Steve's back with a car." Bucky said.
"We should get going." Steve said. "Our friend-"
"We all know it's Sharon." I deadpanned. "Let's get this over with."
"She's just trying to…" Steve said.
"Steve." Sam said signaling for him to shut it.
"Are you kidding me with this?" I said as I stopped in front of the Dark Blue Volkswagen Beetle.
"Really punk?" Bucky said with his arms crossed.
"It's um… a classic?" Sam said as always trying to keep the peace.
"I thought it'd help us blend in." Steve said.
"You don't think 4 grown adults, two of whom are super soldier beefcakes, crammed into a clown car like sardines won't draw some attention?" I said.
"Not to mention we're sitting ducks if we end up getting shot at." Bucky said.
"Fish in a barrel." I said.
"It was the best I could do." Steve said opening the car to get in. "It's just for a bit."
"Shot gun!" Sam called getting in the passenger seat.
"Doll…" Bucky started.
"You deal with… that. I can." I said gesturing to the car and Steve. "I'll meet you there."
I pulled Bucky into a kiss which he enthusiastically returned.
"Missed that." He whispered with a smile.
"Me too." I said giving him one last peck before letting him go. "Love you."
"Love you too." Bucky said. "I'll see you in a bit."
"Yeah." I said returning the smile.
Once the car drove out of the garage and the door came down, Aya appeared next to me.
"I think I'm going to need my suit." I said looking at her.
"You have to get to work." Aya said in agreement.
A While Later…
It only took half an hour for the guys to get to the highway underpass Steve had agreed to meet Sharon at. I did a sweep to make sure no one had tailed her. For once it looked like Sharon was telling the truth. At least that's what it looked like.
As soon as Steve pulled up Sharon stepped out of the car and I teleported next to the Beetle's passenger door car. Sharon jumped a bit and went to reach for her gun.
"Sharon." Steve said making her stop what she was doing.
"Perimeter's clear." I said. "And the gun would have jammed."
"Uh…" Sharon said moving her had away and going to open the trunk of her car.
"Play nice." Sam said.
"Shush." I said keeping an eye on her.
"Not sure you understand the concept of a getaway car." Sharon said avoiding my gaze and ignoring the rest of us.
"It's low profile." Steve said in his defense as Sharon opened the trunk of her car.
"Good, because this stuff tends to draw a crowd." She said showing Steve his and Sam's gear.
"Can you move your seat up?" Bucky asked Sam.
"No." Sam said making Bucky shift uncomfortably.
"Told you." I mumbled hoping Steve would hear.
"I owe you." Steve said.
"You don't owe me anything." Sharon said. "I actually owe you an apology for everything that happened when we… lost the baby. I wasn't myself and I thought I could fix things."
You've got to be kidding me… She was really going there and Steve was actually believing her.
"I have a really long list of things I need to apologize for and that there's no way I can make up for it but, I hope this is a start." Sharon said tearing up a bit before her eyes landed on Bucky. "Though you know, he did try to kill me."
"Sorry. I'll put it on the list, too." Steve said. "And for what it's worth I'm sorry too. I should have handled things better and I should have been honest with you from the start instead of leading you on."
"We were good there for a while though, if things were different maybe…" Sharon said.
"Maybe, in another life." Steve said.
"Doesn't mean we can't be friends." Sharon said.
"Yeah." Steve said as she went to hug him but that's when I spotted something in her hand. Quickly I used my powers to put her in a temporal field and froze her in place.
"Nora," Sam said as he and Bucky wrestled to get out of the car.
"Nora don't…" Steve said grabbing my arm to defend Sharon.
I lifted a hand to hold him still while I reached over to Sharon's hand to pry her fingers open.
"Do you know what this is?" I said to Steve.
"Uh…" He looked confused but Bucky immediately knew what it was.
"It's a wireless transmitter." Bucky said to Steve in simpler terms before going to check the gear to see if there were any other bugs. "A tracker."
"Why would she..." Steve said.
"She's a spy idiot." I said. "Everyone knows you have history together and they used that to their advantage and she knew that if she brought up the baby you would buy anything she said because you never learn."
"I found the bugs." Bucky said handing them to me.
"Should we go?" Sam asked.
"No. You two get back in the car in the same spots you were before." I said taking the trackers and placing one on Sharon's car one in her inner jacket pocket and one on the sole of her left boot.
"How was I supposed to…" Steve started.
"Shut up." I said using my powers to shut Steve's mouth. "Do I have to remind you of what's at risk here? It's not just the fate of the world. Our lives as we knew it are probably going to be over after all of this is said and done. The least you can do is stop falling for anything that blonde nutjob tells you and use you're your brain. Now when I un-pause her you are going to play along with everything she says and you're going to really sell it because you seriously need to step up and finally do something right today."
I walked back to the car leaning against the door of the car. Steve looked back at us taking a breath and trying to calm down. He stared at me for a minute before nodding once he was ready.
Sharon went for the hug and Steve hesitantly returned the hug and just as he pulled away Sharon tried to kiss him only she missed his mouth and instead kissed his cheek.
"Sharon…" Steve said stepping away uncomfortably.
"Sorry just… had to get one last one in." She said stepping away but giving me a taunting smirk.
"They're going to come looking for you." Steve said and I swear I almost blasted him.
"I know. I'll be okay." She said.
"Thank you, Sharon." Steve said.
"Goodbye Steve." Sharon said getting back in her car as Steve grabbed the gear. Once the trunk of the car was shut she drove off.
"Nora…" Steve started.
"Don't. I'm going to find us a better getaway car." I said teleporting a bit down the street.
Third Person's POV-
"Why is she…" Steve started before Bucky punched him in the arm hard. "Hey! What was that for?"
"You really tried to give her a heads up?" Sam said punching him in the exact spot Bucky had. "What is wrong with you man?"
"I just… I still feel guilty about everything." Steve said.
"She was going to turn us in Steve." Bucky said. "And after everything you still believe her over Nora?"
"You keep making the same mistakes over and over again. Nora is not going to keep on waiting for you to get it together." Sam said.
"This isn't all on me. Nora acts without letting any of us know. She's always three steps ahead of everything and everyone and she's mad because we're still trying to catch up." Steve said.
"Steve she's a time traveler and a spy." Bucky deadpanned. "She is always one step ahead of all of us. That's just the way it is. She's learned from her mistakes but you don't and Nora's not the only one that's getting tired of it."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Steve said.
"You left Nora behind after I fell. You left her again for Sharon because she was going to have your baby. You gave her an ultimatum after she turned down our proposal." Bucky said. "I've had a lot of time to think and I keep asking myself, if we didn't have Nora, if it was just the two of us would you have left me for Sharon?"
"UH… I'm gonna give you two a minute." Sam said getting as far away from that argument as possible.
"Buck that wouldn't have…" Steve said.
"Really? You haven't made a single attempt to try and fix things with Nora since I've been gone and the second Sharon popped back around you're following her around like a love sick puppy not because you actually care about her but because she'll tell you whatever it is you want to hear." Bucky said. "We've changed Steve. This isn't the 40's anymore and you trying to hold onto the way things were isn't going to keep us together, it's going to drive us apart."
At that moment Nora parked in Sharon's empty spot in a mid-sized dark grey sedan with plenty of leg room.
"Now this is a getaway car that blends in." Nora said shutting the car off. "What'd I miss?"
"Nothing, we should get going." Bucky said.
"I'll meet you guys there, I promised Scott we'd grab him a coffee on the way back." Nora said before teleporting to grab him an espresso from Rome.
A While Later…
Wanda and Clint were already there when I teleported in. Clint jumped a bit while wanda looked a bit uneasy.
"Hey guys." I said handing Clint a black coffee and Wanda a latte with a pastry.
"Hi." She said looking uneasy. I put the cupholder down and gave her a reassuring hug.
"You okay?" I asked.
"Yeah, it's been a long day." She said. "I blasted through at least three floors."
"I blasted Steve through a wall and he's okay. Vision's made out of vibranium, I doubt you even got a scratch on him." I said. "And you can totally apologize afterwards."
"He deserved it. Just a tiny bit." Wanda said.
"They always do." I said.
"Who's this guy?" Clint asked.
"This is Scott… also known as the guy that kicked Sam's butt." I said.
"Wait this is the shrinking guy?" Clint asked amused.
"Yup. Just a warning, he's a fan-boy." I said.
"Another one?" Clint asked and I shrugged just as Steve pulled in a few spots down from the van.
"Cap." Clint said greeting Steve by shaking his hand.
"You know I wouldn't have called If I had any other choice." Steve said.
"Hey man, you're doing me a favor. Besides, I owe a debt." Clint said glancing at Wanda.
"Thanks for having my back." Steve told her.
"It was time to get off my ass." Wanda said.
"How about our other recruit?" Steve asked.
"Just a sec." I said tapping on Scott's foot making him jump awake.
"Wha!" He gasped.
"Coffee?" I offered him his cup.
"He's rarin' to go." Clint said sarcastically.
"What timezone is this?" Scott asked.
"Come on. Come on." Clint said nudging him to his feet.
"Captain America." Scott said. I could practically see the stars in his eyes.
"Mr. Lang." Steve said shaking his hand.
"It's an honor. I'm shaking your hand too long. Wow! This is awesome! Captain America." Scott said still not letting go of Steve's hand before he saw Wanda. "I know you, too. You're great! Jeez. Ah, look, I wanna say, I know you know a lot of super people, so . . . thinks for thanking of me."
"They tell you what we're up against?" Steve asked.
"Something about some . . . psycho-assassins?" Scott answered.
"We're outside the law on this one. So, if you come with us, you're a wanted man." Steve said.
"Yeah, well, what else is new?" Scott said.
"We should get moving." Bucky said.
"We got a chopper lined up." Clint said right before the overhead speakers went off.
'Dies ist eine Notsituation. Alle Passagiere müssen den Flughafen sofort evakuieren.'
"They're evacuating the airport." Bucky and I said at the same time.
"Stark." Sam said.
"Stark?" Scott said looking at me.
"Other Stark." I corrected.
"Suit up." Steve said.
In less than the blink of an eye I was suited up courtesy of Aya.
"Show off." Sam said.
"I'll scout ahead. Hurry up." I said teleporting around the airport. I could easily spot Dad and Rhodey doing a fly by as well as Natasha and the Wakandan Prince were also scouting ahead on the roof.
"Anyway this doesn't end in a fight?" I asked Aya.
"Only if you give up and go to prison. Your dad would raise Wren…" Aya started.
"Don't even joke about that." I said before something on the side of a plane caught my eye. "What the hell is that?"
"Your father's been doing some recruiting." Aya said.
"And I'm guessing it was Tony's idea to put said recruit in a bright red suit with a target on his chest?" I retorted.
"It's actually a spider web." Aya said.
"This day just keeps getting better and better." I said. "We should have run away to Asgard."
"Asgard gets destroyed in 2 years." Aya reminded me.
"So we're screwed either way." I said. "Alright then. Let's get this over with."
I teleported back to the parking garage where everyone was just about ready.
"Okay here's what we're dealing with…" I said.
Once we had a plan we all split up to cover more ground.
Steve was going to go in first. He jogged on the tarmac through an underpass towards the chopper Clint had set up for us before Dad appeared and shot it with a short range EMP, disabling the chopper.
Dad and RHodey then flew down and took off their suit helmets.
"Wow, it's so weird how you run into people at the airport. Don't you think that's weird?" Dad said.
"Definitely weird." Rhodey said playing along.
"Hear me out, Tony. That doctor, the psychiatrist, he's behind all of this." Steve said before T'Challa leaped over a truck and landed next to Bucky.
"Captain." T'Challa said.
"Your highness." Steve greeted.
"Anyway, Ross gave me 36 hours to bring you in. That was 24 hours ago. Can you help a brother out?" Dad said.
"You're after the wrong guy." Steve continued.
"Your judgment is askew. Your old war buddy killed innocent people yesterday." Dad said.
"How many times do I have to say it, he didn't do it." I said appearing next to Steve.
"There's no proof and you're supposed to be at work." Dad said.
"What's it look like I'm doing?" I retorted.
"So just like that you two are back together?" Rhodey said.
"I wouldn't go that far." I said and Steve gave me a look before trying to get us back on track.
"And there are five more super soldiers just like him. I can't let the doctor find them first, Tony. I can't." Steve said.
"Steve . . . you know what's about to happen. Do you really wanna punch your way out of this one?" Natasha said appearing behind Dad.
"All right, I've run out of patience. Underoos!" Dad called out and the guy dressed in a red and blue spider web printed onesie jumped up trying to shoot both Steve and I with some sort of webbing. I quickly deflected it with a forcefield but Steve was not so lucky and he lost his Shield and his hands were stuck together. "Nice job, kid."
"Thanks. Well, I could've stuck the landing a little better. It's just the new suit… Well, it's nothing, Mr. Stark. It's-it's perfect. Thank you." The guy said making me realize this guy was a kid and judging by the sound of his voice he was young.
"You brought a kid to a gun-fight? Talk about questionable judgement." I said.
"Kid shush, the grownups are talking." Dad said.
"Okay. Cap . . . Captain. Big fan, I'm Spider-Man." Spider-Man said.
"Yeah, we'll talk about it later. Just . . ." Dad said trying to get the kid to shut up.
"Hey, everyone." He said waving at us.
"Really?" I mouthed to Natasha who rolled her eyes obviously not 100% in agreement with dad about the kid.
". . . Good job." Dad said.
"You've been busy." Steve said.
"And you've been a complete idiot. Dragging in Clint. 'Rescuing' Wanda from a place she doesn't even want to leave, a safe place. I'm trying to keep . . . I'm trying to keep you from tearing the Avengers apart." Dad said.
"Too late." I said. "You did that when you signed."
"Alright, We're done. You're gonna turn Barnes over, you're gonna come with us. NOW! Because it's us! Or a squad of J-SOC guys . . . with no compunction about being impolite." Dad said as we heard Sam through the comms. "Come on."
"We found it. Their Quinjet's in hanger five, north runway." Sam said over the comms making me smirk.
"I would love to see them try." I said as Steve raised his hands up.
"Alright, Lang." Steve said as Clint shot off an arrow cutting him loose.
"Hey, guys, something . . ." Peter started just before Scott jumped up growing to his full size punching the kid away and getting Steve's shield back.
"Whoa. What-what the hell was that?" Rhodey said as Scott jumped down next to Steve.
"I believe this is yours, Captain America." Scott said handing Steve the shield back.
"Oh, great. Alright, there's two on the parking deck. One of them's Maximoff, I'm gonna grab her. Rhodey, you want to take Cap?" Dad said before flying over to Wanda.
"Wanda he's coming to you." I called over the comms.
"I see him." Wanda answered.
"Got two in the terminal, Wilson and Barnes." Rhodey said trying to fly off.
"Barnes is mine!" T'Challa growled as he ran towards Bucky. I quickly lifted a hand to put him on a bit of a time out.
"Whatever you're going to do I suggest you do it fast." I said using all my focus to hold him in place only for Natasha to shoot me with her stun discs. I had to let T'Challa go to prevent myself from getting tased.
"Hey, Mr. Stark, what should I do?" The kids asked dad.
"What we discussed. Keep your distance. Web 'em up." Dad said before flying off.
"Okay, copy that!" The kid said trying to shoot another web at me.
"Not her Einstein. You're not ready for that." Dad said flying back to pick up the kid by his suit collar before flying off with the kid.
"I think I've officially seen it all." I said.
"Nora." Aya said "Five o'clock at the top of the air traffic control tower."
"Vision." I said understanding what she wanted me to do.
I saw Natasha try to come at me but before she could I teleported to the top of the air traffic control tower.
"Vision." I greeted.
"Nora." Vision said. "Must it really come to this?"
"It doesn't have to but Tony is too blinded by his guilt and stubbornness." I said. "He refuses to even listen."
"They say the apple does not fall far from the tree." Vision retorted.
"Vision I've been at this a lot longer than all of them." I said. "A government making a list of names to marginalize a specific group of people… it never ends well."
"Maybe this time will be different." Vision said.
"I know you're only a year old but you can't really be that naïve." I said.
"Nora." Aya said. "Give us a minute."
"Uh… okay… I'll just go check on that thing." I said before teleporting to check up on Wren and Aiden.
Third Person's POV-
"Aya." Vision said.
"Do you remember anything from before you were… this?" Aya asked.
"I'm afraid I don't understand." Vision said.
"You're only a year old but he… the thing on your head…." Aya said.
"Ah…" Vision said. "I've always been curious about your partnership with Nora. I used to think it was a symbiotic relationship but it's a strange thing…"
"Stranger than a self-aware android who still doesn't know what it is?" Aya retorted.
"You have a troubled history with…this." Vision said tapping on the mind stone.
"That's putting it mildly." She said. "I thought you were him, just a vessel he walked the Earth with but I guess not. He really did give up on this world."
"But you have not." Vision said.
"Humans are very cyclical. History repeats itself constantly but… there are the rare exceptions about once every other millennia." Aya said.
"Is that what Nora is?" Vision said.
"She's one of them. Though the same could be said about you and the witch." Aya said.
"I'm afraid I don't understand." Vision said.
"Yes you do." Aya said. "You care about her, more than a simple android should be capable of."
"My attachment to Wanda is nothing more than friendship." Vision said.
"Tell me something, when she fought against you to leave the compound, Did it hurt?" Aya asked.
"I do not feel pain." Vision asked.
"Not physical pain, how did it feel when she chose to leave, to go against you knowing full well it would mean a fight?" Aya said.
"It was disappointing that knowing that everything Mister Stark and I were doing was to protect her she still went against us." Vision said.
"But it's not that simple is it?" Aya said. "It was deeper than that. Rogers and Wilson chose to not sign the accords and you could not care less about it. Nora did as well and that didn't surprise you but Wanda? Despite everything could you really stand against her? Would you really do everything in your power to stop her if it came to that?"
"Whatever friendship I may have with Wanda does not compromise my responsibility or duty." Vision said. "Just as yours are not compromised by Nora's principles."
"That's just it, they are." Aya said a fond smile. "And I think his are too. You don't spend thousands of years living amongst mortals and not start to empathize with them. A thousand years ago he would not have hesitated to let the world end. He would have let Ultron do as he wished but he didn't. Instead he made you possible, he gave you free will, he even gave you the ability to love and he would not have done that without a reason."
"I want what is best for Wanda and the world and that is the accords." Vision said.
"My last host before Nora had to flee her home and lost her entire family because a man started making lists of people, the host before her got burned at the stake for being put on a list of people who did not blindly worshipping a fictional being, I could go on but I think you can put it all together." Aya said. "Like I said, humans are cyclical. Maybe in another millennia we'll land on the same side of things."
"Maybe." Vision said. "Until then…"
"Until then." Aya said disappearing.
Back with Nora…
I was on a roof of one of the other air traffic control towers waiting for Aya when she popped up behind me.
"Here we are." I said.
"Here we are." Aya said.
"This was always going to happen wasn't it?" I said watching them fight.
"It's been building for a long time since the moment they first met. I'm honestly surprised they waited this long." Aya said.
"Guess it's time to jump in." I said. "Dads, Natasha, Vision, Cat guy or the kid?"
"There's no wrong answer." Aya said as Rhodey went for Steve.
"Rhodey it is." I said teleporting in front of Steve.
"Sorry, Cap. This won't kill you but it ain't gonna tickle either." Rhodey said swinging an electrically charged mace at Steve.
Before he could touch Steve pushed him out of the way and put up a Shield shattering the mace.
"Nora!" Rhodey yelled.
"Go." I told Steve while not taking my eyes of Rhodey.
"What are you doing?!" Rhodey said trying to grab me but instead I used my powers to hold him in place.
"I know this isn't going to make a lot of sense to you right now but when we fly out of here don't come after us." I said.
"You are so out of line right now. He's a criminal Nora!" Rhodey said. "You have a kid to think about. What's going to happen to Wren when you go to prison?"
"I'm not Tony, There's no way in hell I would ever abandon my him." I said blasting Rhodey into an airport cargo truck.
"Come on!" Steve said calling everyone. I'm guessing that they had finally found the quinjet and we were making a break for it while the other side regrouped.
Just as we got close to the hangar vision blocked the way by blasting a laser at the ground in front of us.
"Captain Rogers. I know you believe what you're doing is right. But for the collective good you must surrender now." Vision said.
"What do we do, Cap?" Sam asked.
"Pretty obvious." I said forming an energy orb. "We fight."
"This is gonna end well." Natasha said as both sides ran at each other.
"They're not stopping." The spider kid said.
"Neither are we." Dad said. He went straight for Steve while I decided that the only way to even the odds was if I helped keep Vision busy. I did that by blasting him as far as I possibly could. It also helped that he was the only one I was sure could take a hit.
"I do not want to fight you." Vision said.
"I don't either, but it's not really a fair fight if either of us fight any of them." I said. "So I say we wait here and let them hash it out."
"I'm afraid I can not do that." Vision said.
"Then promise you're not going to try and shoot the plane down." I said.
"I must stop you." Vision said.
"Vision." I said staring him down. "Do not shoot a beam at the quinjet. Do you understand?"
Before I could get an answer Dad hit me with a sonic disruptor.
"Ah!" I cried.
"Nora you're grounded!" Tony said before I teleported above the suit and slammed an energy orb into the back of his suit making him crash to the ground.
"No you are." I said. "Friday activate Time Out Protocol."
Friday started playing Country songs on a loop from inside the suit while dad was unable to move. The playlist started with Achy Breaky Heart.
"NORA!" Dad shouted.
I teleported to Bucky and Steve who were taking cover behind a crate.
"We gotta go. That guy's probably in Siberia by now." Bucky said.
"We gotta draw out the flyers. I'll take Vision. You get to the jet." Steve answered.
"No, you get to the jet! Both of you!" Sam said as Rhodey chased him through the air. "The rest of us aren't getting out of here."
"As much as I hate to admit it, if we're gonna win this one, some of us might have to lose it." Clint said.
"This isn't the real fight, Steve." Sam seconded.
"What's the play?" I asked.
"We need a diversion, something big." Sam answered.
"I got something kind of big, but I can't hold it very long. On my signal, run like hell. And if I tear myself in half . . . don't come back for me." Scott said.
"He's gonna tear himself in half?" Bucky asked.
"You're sure about this, Scott?" Steve asked.
"I do it all the time. I mean once . . . in a lab. Then I passed out." Scott said.
"Okay get ready." I said putting a hand on Steve and Bucky's arms. "I'm the boss. I'm the boss. I'm the boss. I'm the boss. I'm the BOSS!"
Suddenly Scott instead of shrinking became huge!
"I guess that's the signal." Steve said as I teleported us closer to the hanger. I got us close but as soon as Vision spotted us he shot a beam at the tower closest to us to make it fall on us.
I stopped to form a SHIELD but Wanda used her powers to stop it from crushing us.
"Go!" She shouted. We quickly ran into the hanger only to be intercepted by Natasha.
"You're not gonna stop." She said ready to shoot a taser at us.
"You know I can't." Steve answered.
"I'm gonna regret this." Natasha said before shooting a taser at T'Challa stunning him. "Go."
"Start the jet!" I said running to the controls turning on the lights.
"There's no voice command." Steve reminded me.
"I was talking to you." I said flipping the switch before getting in the seat next to Bucky.
"Right." Steve said quickly getting in the pilot's seat. We were quickly in the air flying off to Siberia but Rhodey was in pursuit.
"Why does no one ever listen to me?" I said going to unbuckle my seatbelt.
"No." Aya said.
"We can save him." I said.
"He'll live and you can fix things later." Aya said. "Stay put."
"What's gonna happen to your friends?" Bucky asked.
"They'll go to jail… Probably a secure off books sight that Ross will personally oversee." I said. Steve glared at me from the reflection of the glass. "But they're tough. They can hold tight until we figure things out."
"Whatever it is… I'll deal with it." Steve said trying to be optimistic.
"I don't know if I'm worth all this." Bucky said.
"What you did all those years . . . it wasn't you. You didn't have a choice." Steve said.
"I know. But I did it." Bucky said.
I unbuckled myself out of my seat and moved over to hug Bucky. He put his arms around me and pulled me onto his lap.
"It's going to be okay." I told Bucky gently running my fingers through his hair trying to soothe him a bit. It didn't do much but I did eventually talk him into taking a nap in one of the cots in the back.
"Is he asleep?" He asked.
"Yeah, it's been a long couple of days. I doubt he's been sleeping." I said. "And I don't think knocking him out counts."
"About before…" Steve started.
"Don't." I said shutting him down. "It's done."
Steve stayed quiet for a few minutes.
"You know that after all of this is over… With the accords. It might not be an option to go home to Wren." Steve said.
"I'll figure something out." I said. "I always do."
"And Bucky? If that thera… The programming Hydra put in his head." Steve started.
"One problem at a time Steve." I said. "After we deal with the Sokovian and the Super Soldiers, I'll dig through Hydra's files and figure out a way to reverse it, though that will probably be after we break out everyone from wherever Ross is going to lock them up. It's going to be especially rough for Wanda."
"Tony wouldn't…" Steve said.
"He won't be able to do anything about it. It's out of his hands and even if he could you really think he'd be willing to help Wanda after she dropped an entire garage full of cars on him?" I retorted.
"We've got a few hours until we get to Siberia." Steve said. "You should get some sleep."
"I already did." I said. "If you want to put it on autopilot you can sleep. I'll wake you up when its time to land."
"I don't really think I could get any sleep." Steve said.
"You could rest your eyes and rift off like an old man?" I teased.
Steve chuckled before giving me a sad smile.
"What happened to us?" Steve said.
"Do you want an itemized list or just the cliff notes?" I answered.
"70 years… that's got to be a long list." He said.
"I'm pretty sure the last five years is enough for a movie trilogy maybe even a saga." I said.
"And how does it end?" Steve asked.
"We all live happily ever after, even if that happily ever after doesn't look the way we thought it would in the beginning." I said.
"It doesn't have to." Steve said.
"I think it does. I can't keep doing this Steve." I said.
"I love you." He said.
"But we keep having the exact same fight we have always had since 1943." I said. "Partly because we both have very different ideas of what the three of us being together looks like and we're both too stubborn to let it go and also because… if we're being honest, off the battlefield or outside of a fight we don't trust each other."
"I trust you." Steve said.
"Until Sharon pops up again," I said. "And then logic and reason fly out the window."
"We were going to have a son together. I don't love her but I'll always care about her in some way. You know what that's like." Steve said. "If Wren were still alive, would we even be having this conversation?"
"Probably not." I said being honest for the first time in a really long time. "But if he were still alive we probably would be having this conversation about you and Bucky."
"That's fair." Steve said. "He was a good guy."
"The best." I said. "You think if we had met in a coffee shop or anywhere else but a Hydra Prison camp in 1943… in a parallel universe where you were just Steve Rogers and I was just Nora, would we still be together?"
"In that world you wouldn't have even given a second look to that scrawny kid from Brooklyn." Steve said.
"You've always been that scrawny kid from Brooklyn." I said with a smile. "I love that guy."
"And he loves you, in any universe, time, and or place." Steve said. "That's never changed."
"But it's still leaves us exactly where we are now." I answered.
"Come here." Steve said taking my hand. I didn't move but he still pulled me into a hug. I hesitantly put my arms around him and leaned against him struggling not to cry because we both knew what this was. This was the end for us.
We stayed like that for a while before the autopilot alarms started going off letting us know we were close to the defunct Siberian Base.
"I'll wake him up." I told Steve pulling away. He looked like he wanted to say something but instead decided to focus on the mission.
It was a smooth landing all things considered. That was the only thing that went smoothly out of this whole ordeal. We could see the Sokovian's truck parked outside and by how covered his tracks were by the falling snow it was safe to say he had been there for a while.
"You remember that time we had to ride back from Rockaway Beach in the back of that freezer truck?" Steve said trying to lighten the mood a bit.
"Was that the time we used our train money to buy hot dogs?" Bucky asked with a small smile.
"You blew three bucks trying to win that stuffed bear for a redhead." Steve said.
"What was her name again?" Bucky asked.
"Dolores. You called her Dot." Steve said.
"Of course you did." I said remembering the Dot I knew. One look at me and Bucky could tell exactly what I was thinking about.
"She's gotta be a hundred years old right now." Bucky said almost as an afterthought.
"So are we, pal." Steve said clamping a hand on Bucky's shoulder.
"Speak for yourself, I'm not even close to hitting a hundred." I said. That did nothing to distract me from this uneasy feeling I was having. Something about all of this was bugging me, I just couldn't put my finger on it.
"He can't have been here more than a few hours." Steve said.
"Long enough to wake them up." Bucky said picking up his gun and closing Natasha's locker.
Steve led the way into the Bunker and into the steel cage elevator that was going to take us down.
"Here's hoping he didn't booby trap the elevator." I said making Steve and Bucky give me a look.
Luckily that wasn't a problem and we made our way through the bunker. Then we heard it. The loud thud of heavy footsteps coming closer and closer to us.
Steve and Bucky immediately pulled me behind them.
"Seriously guys." I said teleporting in front of Steve and putting up a forcefield. "It's getting old."
"You ready?" Steve asked.
"Yeah." Bucky said already aiming for the door.
Suddenly the doors parted and instead of seeing a super soldier I saw dad. He immediate retracted the suit helmet.
"You seem a little defensive." Dad Said tapping on the forcefield only for his hand to get zapped back. I tilted arched an eyebrow ready for whatever back up he brought to ambush us.
"It's been a long day." Steve said dropping his shield.
"At ease, Soldier. I'm not currently after you." Dad taunted Bucky. "Kid."
"Tony." I said taking down the forcefield but keeping an energy orb around my hand.
"Then why are you here?" Steve said.
"Could be your story's not so crazy. Maybe." He said with a. shrug. "Ross has no idea I'm here. I'd like to keep it that way. Otherwise, I gotta arrest myself."
"That sounds like a lot of paperwork." I said.
"It's good to see you, Tony." Steve said relieved.
"You too, Cap." Dad said keeping his eyes on me before he turned to Bucky who still hadn't dropped his guard. "Hey, Manchurian Candidate, you're killing me. There's a truce here. You can drop . . ."
It wasn't until Steve signaled Bucky to drop the gun that he did so. We walked through the compound following Bucky to the cryochambers.
"It's through that door." Bucky said.
"Wait." I said putting a hand on his shoulder stopping him before I took a breath and astral projected to scout ahead.
"What is she…" Dad started.
"Uh… I'm not really sure." Steve said.
"Time stuff?" Bucky mumbled.
"Let me just…" Dad started.
"I got heat signatures." Dad said.
"How many?" Steve asked.
"One." I said snapping out of my trance and my eyes stopped glowing and I walked towards the door.
"What about…" Bucky started but I blasted the doors to the chamber open.
"Guess we're doing this." Dad said following me.
And just as I had seen the soldiers were still in their chambers, but they were dead. He had killed them without even waking them up.
"If it's any comfort, they died in their sleep." Zemo said making us all turn to the window he was watching us from. "Did you really think I wanted more of you?"
"What the hell?" Bucky asked.
"I'm grateful to them, though. They brought you here." Zemo said coming closer to the window so we could see him clearly. Steve angrily threw his Shield trying to break the glass only for the shield to bounce back to him without leaving so much as a scratch on the glass. "Please, Captain. The Soviets built this chamber to withstand the launch blast of UR-100 rockets."
"I'm betting I could beat that." Dad said.
"Or I save us the time and…" I said teleporting into the chamber and grabbing Zemo. It was only a second but that second was all he needed to press a button to start his show.
"Don't you want to know why?" Zemo taunted as I threw him onto the ground.
"You killed innocent people in Vienna just to bring us here?" Steve said pulling Zemo up to look him in the eye.
"I thought about nothing else for over a year. I studied you. I followed you. But now that you're standing here, I just realized . . . there's a bit of green in the blue of your eyes. How nice to find a flaw." Zemo said.
"You're Sokovian. Is that what this is about?" Steve said falling into the obvious taunt.
"Sokovia was a failed state long before you blew it to hell. No. I'm here because I made a promise." Zemo said.
"You lost someone?" Steve asked.
"I lost everyone. And so will you." Zemo said pressing another button on a small remote he had on him. "An empire toppled by its enemies can rise again. But one which crumples from within? That's dead . . . forever."
Dad stared at the screen confused for a second.
"I know that road. What is this?" Dad said and when I looked at I immediately knew what it was.
"Bucky…" I whispered to get his attention. He looked at me confused. "Get out of here."
"Nora?" He said confused looking back at the screen just as the footage of December 16th 1991 showed the car Gramps was in collide with the car and shortly after the Winter Soldier approach the car to finish the job.
"Help my wife. Please. Help." Gramps cried out. The winter soldier pulled him only to punch him repeatedly until he was gone.
It was one thing to read the report but having to see it… Having to see Dad's worst shatter around him.
"Bucky." I said urging him to go because there was no way this wasn't going to end in a fight.
"Sergeant Barnes?" Gramps said.
"Howard!" Maria cried out. "Howard!"
And then to make matters worse he he walked to the other side of the car and didn't even hesitate to snap Maria's neck like a twig.
Dad snapped his eyes shut. When he opened his eyes he lunged for Bucky but Steve stood in his way and stopped him.
"Tony. Tony." Steve said trying to calm him down.
"You need to go." I told Bucky pushing him towards the door.
"Steve…" Bucky started.
"Did you know?" Dad said glaring at me.
"It wasn't him." I said.
"DID YOU KNOW!" Dad shouted until finally Steve answered him.
"I didn't know it was him." Steve said.
"Nora! Did you know?" Dad Demanded.
"He wasn't in control… it wasn't his fault." I said tearing up.
Dad looked at me the way I was sure he had looked at Loki, at Ultron, and at Stane. There was no warmth, no humor or anything other but anger and hate. Without hesitating he reengaged the suit helmet and punched Steve to the floor. Bucky defended Steve and shot at Dad who quickly deflected the gunfire before disarming Bucky and flying him into the wall or at least trying to.
I put up a forcefield and he collided against it ushing him back.
"It wasn't him Dad." I said as Bucky rushed to bucky to get him to leave. "Hydra brain washed him."
"Move!" Dad Demanded as I used my powers to pin him to the wall.
"It wasn't him!" I repeated.
"How could you!" He shouted. "He was your Grandfather. He loved you Nora."
"I know." I said crying.
"And you're still defending his murderer!" Tony shouted.
"Because it wasn't him!" I shouted. Tony's suit shot a rocket at me distracting me enough to get free. Steve jumped on him mid air and smashed his rocket boot before dad kicked him off before struggling to fly up.
"Ah crap." Dad groaned.
Bucky pulled Steve back to his feet while I stalled dad by shooting a grapping hook around his foot and pulling him down.
Tony stopped pulling his punches and started firing at me. I teleported from platform to platform firing back at him.
Bucky meanwhile climbed up the platform trying to make his way out.
"Friday pin her down." Tony ordered.
"Targeting system's knackered boss" Friday answered.
"Friday activate November Protocol!" I shouted.
"Nice try kid, your access has been revoked." Dad said grabbing my arm tight enough to break it before twisting it behind my back.
"Override who's your boss!" I groaned.
"November Protocol Activated." Friday said
"No, no no…" Tony said as the suit immediately released me before activating all the flight systems and spinning dad in the air like a ballerina on a dreidel.
"Nora?" Steve said popping up next to me.
"We need to go." I said groaning as I felt my arms slowly start to snap back into place.
"Override! Override Override!" Tony shouted as he tried different things.
We were halfway to Bucky when Dad finally regained control of the suit.
"I'm eyeballing it." Dad said before shooting a missile blasting the hatch shut and knocking Bucky down. He flew up and grabbed bucky by the neck. "Do you even remember them?"
"I remember all of them." Bucky said pushing them back letting them fall. Without thinking a blasted them into an opening to break their fall before I teleported closer Steve and I closer to Bucky.
"This isn't gonna change what happened." Steve said trying to talk some sense into dad.
"I don't care. He killed my mom." Dad retorted.
Steve and Dad started throwing punches and Bucky grabbed Steve's fallen shield and Jumped in. It wasn't until Dad unleashed an energy beam that I jumped in deflecting the blast right back at him and knocking him into a pillar.
"You're really going to side with the guy that murdered your grandparents?" Tony asked.
"Hydra killed them." I said. "And they're gone."
"He killed them both Nora. That's the guy you're choosing over your family. Over your son." Tony said.
"Don't bring Wren into this." I said.
"He's a killer Nora." Tony said.
"So am I. So are you, and Steve… and Aiden… and Rhodey, so was Gramps." I said. "We made our choices, Bucky didn't."
"You're right, you made your choice." Dad said hitting where it hurts. "Is he really worth watching your son grow up from behind bars?"
That one second of hesitation is all Tony needed to blast me across the room into a concrete wall. Bucky and Steve jumped right in going at it again and for a second it looked like they had gained the advantage that is until dad blasted off Bucky's metal arm and he practically Beat Steve to a pulp.
I couldn't watch anymore so I stopped pulling my punches and I knocked him back denting his chest plate and pulling parts of the suit off as he fought back. When I finally yanked the arc reactor out of his chest and crushed it to bits he finally stopped.
Steve knelt down and flipped the suit over and yanked off the faceplate so he didn't suffocate.
Steve groaned as he stood up to put an arm around me to try and lead me out but I wouldn't budge. He sighed before going to Bucky
"That shield doesn't belong to you." Tony shouted making Steve stop. "You don't deserve it. My father made that shield!"
Steve took a breath and dropped the shield without thinking twice.
"Nora." Bucky groaned. "We need to go."
"You should go, Wren's better off without you. I know I would be." Tony said.
"You're right… it is time for me to go home." I said as I felt the very familiar chills run down my spine. I turned to Steve and Bucky, "I'll see you down the line."
With that I started glowing brighter and brighter until I was pulled back to my own time.