Author's Note; Sorry for the cliffhanger again and thanks for reading can't believe this story have 300+ reads! I'd love to hear your feedback so please conment and vote as always, FanGirl8ygc3804
"Whoa there," Steve held her firmly as her thin form striking out at everything within reach allowing me to see her unique tattoo; Norse Runes.
"Nora?" I asked. She stopped struggling and really looked at me.
"Liz?" She paused as Steve let her go realizing I knew her.
"Oh thank goodness!" She put her hands on my shoulders, "They took her."
"What? Who?" I asked confused.
"They took Fern."
"Who took her, Nora?" I asked holding her up as she swayed tired suddenly.
"HYDRA, Liz they thought she was you." She said speaking shakily.
"It's all my fault." I whispered pulling my hand through my hair.
"Hey, no it's not." Steve reassured me with an arm around my shoulders as Bucky and Tony stood in the doorway. I turned to look at him tears stinging my eyes, "We have to get her back Steve."
"I know, and we will." He said kissing the top of my head.
"But we don't even know where she is." Nora said saddened.
"I do," Bucky stated, "but it'll have to me and small team."
"I'll call Coulson get it cleared with SHIELD," Steve said walking into the other room.
"I'm, coming, with." Nora spoke carefully as she was short of breath.
"No." I argued.
"Yes." She retaliated.
"You only just escaped last time!" I shouted in return.
"I didn't sacrifice myself so she could be reacquired later. She's not some asset Liz, she's our best friend!" She leant on the wall catching her breath before she continued, "Whose fault is it that she got captured? Yours! By rescuing me! You made yourself known to them, on their radar. They took her either draw you in or by mistake."
She finished so weak that she nearly fell luckily Bucky's reactions were quicker than mine and he caught her.
"Just one problem with that theory, HYDRA don't make mistakes," Steve chimed in returning from the other room.
"Thanks a bunch, that makes me feel so warm and fuzzy." I said to Steve sarcastically, "Just the three of us then." I said just as Nora came around.
"Four you're not going without me, Liz. You and Fern mean too much to me."
"Well this is all tragic but I gotta go." He said expecting to be stopped.
"Let him go, it'll attract too much attention if he comes along." Steve said and Bucky nodded in agreement, a small voice in the back of my mind nagged that this was more than a numbers thing.
* * * * * *
A few minutes later a quinjet arrived to pick us up, but Nora had fallen asleep in the meantime. Steve and I were arguing the pros and cons of having her with us.
"We should leave her here with a SHIELD guard," I suggested not wanting her in harm's way.
"No." Bucky said entering the room.
"Excuse me?!"
"I've been doing this since before you we even a twinkle in your father's eye or even a distant thought for that matter but that's a whole other story." He smiled thinking back to another time, another person. "She should come with us."
"If she escaped before she has our more valuable inside information, to reinforce that my knowledge is still viable." He stated.
"He's right isn't he?" I sighed looking at Steve, who nodded. "Fine but she stays with me."
"Why?"
"She's the one I couldn't save for a while, she's my Bucky, Steve. She sacrificed herself for me." He hugged me while Bucky picked Nora up and carried her to the waiting quinjet, the pilot deplaned.
We dawdled and sat closer to the rear of the bird while Bucky sat near the cockpit with Nora lying on the seat beside him her head in his lap.
Seeing her so vulnerable I made the decision to tell Steve what had happened, speaking about it aloud for the first time,
"Fern was my roommate at the Institute, the first person to see my markings and find them beautiful. Ironically she hated her own and once I gained my telepathy she asked me to hide them for her."
I winced internally at the memory of earning my telepathy, but continued another story for another day. "Which I did up until the incident when I set the school on fire. When I came back from my time with Bruce, she was still the same bubbly person I'd always known but confidence enhanced all because of one boy, Warren.
After he'd joined the Institute she caught him staring at her and apparently stung him up with vines until he would admitted he thought she looked like a freak. Which he refused to do. So she asked why was he staring, his answer was he'd never seen something so beautiful before.
From that moment she embraced her markings when they were alone and when we were alone, after a while she convinced me that not everyone was like John. That was about three weeks before I came here." Shoot! I wasn't supposed to be mentioning that, I hurriedly carried on hoping Steve hadn't noticed.
"During my time away I was only called back once. There was an incident when Fern was captured by SHIELD." I whispered in his ear, "Well HYDRA but that was when there was no difference, not for us mutants anyway. Nora was a SHIELD agent who had stumbled upon Fern and agreed to help her escape, in turn she called the Professor. He rang me and learning of my best friend's capture Bruce and I flew home.
The Professor agreed I was still too unstable for a mission so I spoke to the SHIELD agent myself, she told me all I needed to know and even offered her help. Despite being told by the Professor that we could do nothing but hinder we went in anyway. It went to plan until I got a bullet lodged in my wing, then all hell broke loose.
We were cornered and all that was stopping them capture us was my force field, seeing no other option she stepped out and engaged in hand to hand combat, yelling at us to run. I was stuck at the Institute until the Professor could get me back out of the country without someone noticing. Fern wasn't herself anymore not bubbly but she was getting there she just felt guilty that Nora had sacrificed herself to save us.
I made her a deal, I'll free Nora and she'll stop blaming herself. I overheard the Professor telling Logan that a new mutant had appeared on Cerebro and where she was, he said he's get me and the Professor said not to.
He was going to cut me out, if I hadn't have got shot she'd have been alright. Logan smelt me as soon as I was on the Jet but didn't say anything until we were airborne. Without even looking he just said, kid, I can smell the anger on you, I'm going to drop you off and pick you both up OK?"
"Just like that?" Steve said smiling and I nodded. "I can imagine it."
"As I dove from to plane my battle uniform formed for the very first time all by itself he shouted 'give 'em hell!' Using all of my powers at their most powerful, which was very after they had gone used for so long. I found Nora in the middle of a corridor with only a sheet around her. She just looked at me confused before hugging me and suddenly we were back in Fern's room in the Institute, floating."
Steve looked at me dumbfounded. "SHIELD unlocked her genetic potential and gave her teleportation powers, which truly became unlocked as her natural mutant power surfaced; the ability to manipulate gravity, as that happened the Runes appeared on her wrist."
"Wow, she's been through a lot. For a world that loves superheroes they sure hate mutants." He said, "by the way what are Runes?"
"Norse writing; the one like a lopsided archway means Power, the cross means Gift and the one that looks like a three-way fork in the road mean Protection." I stated, "Nora just knew that when I first asked her, she didn't know how she knew that she just did."
"Are you talking about me Liz?"
"Why are your ears burning?" I asked sweetly as she gazed up at me from where she was.
"Only the left one," she winked.
"How are you feeling?" Bucky asked her still stroking her hair. She rolled onto her back so she was facing him.
"Better thanks, my stamina's normally much better just teleportation takes it out of me." She smiled, innocently although that comment was anything but.
What?! He's hot. She thought knowing if she thought it loud enough I'd hear even without concentrating.