Nora was sure and nervous all at the same time.

She had contacted Fury as soon as she can, after the failed assasination attempt on her, telling him that she had think it through and she now so wanted to continue with their previous plan– to return to that god forbid base that has been her biggest hell, and destroy it from it's core– all the while hoping this, or after a few, it will be the end of HYDRA too.

For a second, she could feel the fatherly concern of his that he rarely shown, wondering why she changed her mind suddenly, when she was positive telling him the other day that she would be staying in Avengers without any condition this time, all the while telling him that she don't want to go back to that place, if it meant relooking in her past, when she had got everything she ever desired right in the palm of her hand.

It was quite obvious for her, she was tired, and she hadn't realized how much until those two tried to snatch away her life with her. She was tired of living in a constant state of alertness–seeing every lingering eyes as potential threats or a return of her past. She was tired of living in a world where there was always a fear that HYDRA would somehow again come and meddle in her life.

She was tired, because somewhere deep inside her heart, she felt afraid. The broken voice of her inner child that she never bothered to face and talk to, shuddering, fearing what if they do get her again.

And so she decided, maybe it was about time she confronted her past despite how daunting the topic seemed to be.

Or...maybe that if she turned that base into nothing–the base that was the only source of her past, she possibly never have to confront it.

Tomorrow was the day.

She leaned against the railing, looking at the sky that was covered with stars that night, their gentle presence a constant remainder of light. She clenched and unclenched her fists, her mind and heart in a turmoil that constantly waged a war if her ideology was right, what if something went wrong, something went off track...

There were more questions that she dared confront or think of, she knew that believing in herself wasn't her best suite but, now when she made a decision that would involve the whole team with her leading it, because she knew the base best.

It was haunting.

Only then, can she think about what Fury feel when he announces a new mission concerning agents that he had started caring about, or what Steve feel when they are on the field, everyone on his command, their life on lines.

"Tony," she whispered, when she felt two warm hands wrapping around her waist. His strong frame engulfed her in a back hug. The scent of his aftershave tickled her senses and she sighed, her body relaxing almost immediately in his embrace, feeling the gentle rhythm of his heartbeat against her back.

Tony leaned his head against her neck, placing a soft kiss on the scar just above her carotid artery, the one which represented her freedom and fears at the same time. He was of course, very worried the night when JARVIS finally getting his signals back informed Tony that Nora was on the rooftop and the situation there.

To be honest, he didn't know he had ever felt so overwhelmingly relieved and angered at the same time in his life. Relief because she was ok, alive and angered because she was injured, and by the fact that she hadn't told him about the distinct flashes she got in her dreams–which she told him after he repeatedly pressed the subject of her irregular sleep intervals.

"I am nervous," she admitted, her voice only meant for him to hear as she turned around in his embrace, resting her head against his heart, "about my choices, and tomorrow both,"

Tony drew circles on her waist with one of his hands, as the other tightened its grip bringing her closer, it hurt him physically to see her doubting herself so much. "It's alright, it's natural," he said, before he gently lift her chin up, his molten gold eyes staring into hers with such tenderness–that he thought he might never have possessed, "and, you don't need to be, whatever happens tomorrow, the team is with you–they...consider you family you know so they despise the base as much as you do, and moreover," he gently took her hands in his, "even if no one is on your side, or the world is against, I will be always on your side, we are in this together, remember?"

* * * *

"What I would like to mention at last, is stay alert this would be one of the biggest HYDRA base we will be tackling, keep a eye out for extraordinary capabilities– I am not sure, but there would be possibly experimented childrens or agents," Nora said, after briefing about the plan and layout of the base once again, as they soared into the sky on Quinjet, she shoot a quick look at Tony, "and, do not try to take them on, please, just inform me,"

"Why am I the only one getting that instruction," Tony grumbled, rolling his eyes.

Nora raised an eyebrow looking unimpressed, "Because, love you are the only one here, who despite being a genius sometime act like a idiot and think he can take all problems on his shoulders,"

Tony opened his mouth, but Nora interrupted, "and just to be clear, I did meant it for everyone,"

He sighed.

It was a few minutes before they would reach the location, Nora stood near the window looking at the scenery that whizzed by, her foot tapping rhythmically on the floor.

"It must be difficult," Steve said, as he came to stand beside her.

She closed her eyes as she looked down, "You do this every mission though,"

"And I have been doing this seventy years in past too, Nora," he said, "Nonetheless, leading a mission to a base where everything changed would be difficult for anyone,"

His voice managed to soothe some of her worries–worries that said that she was being irrational by her nerves and worries.

* * * *

Tony doesn't think that he had seen Nora being so...deadly before.

Sure, he has used many adjectives for describing her in the past, beautiful, cute, sexy, thoughtful, kind, dangerous, daring and on and on. However, deadly wasn't the one he had used till now. Not when she had never shown that side.

After infiltrating the base with a partially offensive attack while Natasha and Clint secretly infliter the areas where innocent lives were kept, and Nora was quite literally–looking like a war goddess.

Her silver hair was tied in a high ponytail now containing a few specks of red–other's blood. Her eyes were blank and yet filled with a kind of emotion he had never seen in her's, they were filled with veganance and mercilessness, as if just setting foot into that liar had filled her heart with the blooms of revenge she thought had wilted long ago.

And with her stopping trying to control the power that flows inside her, it has made it quite a lot stronger than before–now free from her bound and willpower–it can flow and change and demolish with intensity and expertise.

She flicked her hand, as the ground open up to several feets swallowing all the ten HYDRA guards that were about to fire, their surprised screams and gasps getting lost in the macabre as the ground close again, plants sprouting from the same ground–and with their growth, the soil was covered with red.

"Remember me, to never get on your bad side," Tony muttered over the com, as he helped in freeing the kids from the base while Natasha and Clint guard the entry– using their expertise skills to handle whoever come.

Nora sighed, as she removed the locket from her neck, the blue stone glinting with a beep before losing it's glow as she stuffed it in her pocket, "Focus, Tony, stop looking at the macabre and do the rescue,"

Tony frowned, as the screen of her locket vanished from the front of his eye panel, now only her voice reaching to him. He wondered if he should also gift her a bracelet that would keep track of her heartbeat like the necklace does– he hoped at least she would not remove that too during missions.

It was not easy, per se. There were many near misses for all of them, some of the agents there were exceptionally trained, Natasha even suffered through a gunshot in her forearm–that cause her to led away by Clint back to Quinjet.

But at the end, after spending a lot of sweat and blood the base was demolished. And not demolished in the traditional sense– it was destroyed, turned to dust and ashes. Nora didn't move until the whole base had burned down to the ground, and the leader was captured, her father was captured, as that devil likes to call himself.

It wasn't until they had reached New York back, Natasha was shifted to the med bay for Dr. Cho to heal the wound, all while Steve had worried lines all over his face more than anyone, that the reality finally caught up with Nora. The foggy haze of bloodlust that had covered her mind in that base fading away, shrinking by edges until they faded to oblivion.

Tony had wrapped an arm to support her when it did, his hands tracing soothing circles on her forearm while she release some shaky breaths, her head resting on his neck, "It is done, It is done, It is over," her voice was a stark mixture of relief, satisfaction and pain.

Everything seemed solved.

Good.

Finally something relieving.

All that was over.

The source was over. The source of,

The loss.

The nightmares.

The pain.

And the theft of her childhood and youth, all of its source was over.

It was over.

Or...so she thought.

It all happened very fast the next day, Natahsa was in rest–that she opposed but was forced to by Clint and Steve, Bruce had gone for urgent work to India, that he apologized for and that left Nora and Tony to handle that. They were in the cell where that devil of a human was kept, with a mixed purpose of transferring him over to SHIELD and maybe, just maybe, saying all the things (with a mix of slight torture) she was never able to when she was there.

"Erica," he had said, his voice was ever so same, but his smile–was mocking, even after he was the one in bounds, "what makes you think you don't have a code in you? Sure, you know your mind was tampered with,"

"Your point?" she asked, her cautious eyes meeting Tony's for a second, while he was ready with a shot of propofol, to send him into a state of unconsciousness.

"Of course, not like Winter soldier–it was too complicated for a fragile child like you... but you can't think that nothing happened right?" he looked over Tony, before looking back at her. She had to resist the shudder that went through her back, the gaze of that– was filled with malice, and a promise of something awful and terrible, "and to think, you are with him, huh well it make it all that good for me,"

Tony had his jaw clenched as he basically stabbed the injection on his neck but only earning a wince from him, as his gaze became cloudy. Nora also looked away, gaining her composure, before she freezed, when he uttered something just below falling into unconsciousness.

"воспоминание,"

That sent her mind off, a pained cry escaped her lips as she fell into her knees, clutching her head. It was hurting, hurting terribly, the blood roared in her ears and it felt like it was an invasion of her brain– opening a gate suddenly and letting everything flow.

She could feel Tony's presence by her side in a second– or maybe it was less than that, she didn't know. But all she know was the distinct worried tone of his voice, as she wrapped her arms around him, her neck buried into his neck–the gesture he reciprocated almost immediately– while once again in her life, she was feeling like her world was slipping away–but changing all at the same time, changing and not in a good way–but in the worst way, all her dreams getting tainted.

"No," she whispered, "No, no, no,"

She sobbed.