❝You're Tony Stark, y'know? Girls tripped over themselves to be with you before you became Iron Man. Now, I don't know if you noticed, but I'm not exactly popular, or hot. Girls never looked my way unless it was to copy geometry homework off me. She...
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Nora Mendes never knew her mother, or what she would've been like. But it was apparent, even in the moment of her death, that her mother knew what she was capable of.
It happened one night in December. A blizzard had reared it's head on the state of New York. Rock hard pieces of snow rapped against the windscreen of Elena Santiago's car. The young woman was straining to see what was in front of her, even as her window wipers went back and forth at a rapid pace. Barely any cars were on the road, most people weren't stupid enough to drive in the extreme conditions that were presenting themselves. However, Elena was desperate, she had to get home and get out of Manhattan. The reason seems obsolete now, but to her, at that time, it was an urgent matter. In the backseat sat a booster seat, a little one year old perched inside, sleeping soundly. Her name was Nora Santiago, and she was so unaware of the danger that her mother was facing at that moment.
The snow had impaired her vision so badly, Elena missed the car that was crossing the crossroads. The vehicle colliding into hers. Both cars flipped, but it was Elena's who suffered the most damage. Police arrived at the scene in a matter of minutes, with firefighters in tow. They had already gotten one of the people in the cars out and safe, but they still had to handle Elena's car. The captain at the time ran to the woman in the driver seat, bending down to see the woman barely conscious, blood everywhere. "Ma'am, can you hear me?" Elena nodded faintly, blinking slowly. "Now, we are going to get you out, okay?"
"My baby." she croaked.
A sharp, shrill cry of pain shook the atmosphere as Nora woke out of unconsciousness. The girl cried for her mommy, prompting the captain to rise. "She's got a toddler, we need those jaws of life!" he barked at the fireman who immediately picked up the pace. He bent down to Elena once again. The paramedics were trying to mend her as best they could while she was still in the car. They had already informed him that her seatbelt was stuck, slicing into the woman abdomen, and she was loosing a lot of blood as a result of that. If they didn't get her out in a short space of time, it could be too late. All the police captain could do right now was try and keep her awake.
The little girl screamed again, now realising that it hurt to move. From where the captain was, he couldn't tell what was wrong with her. The paramedics couldn't get to her because she was in the middle of the backseat, placing her in an awkward position. Elena groaned, rolling her head back to try and get a look at her daughter. The tear filled, amber eyes of Nora met with her mothers as she whimpered. Elena reached her hand out to try and touch her face, her own eyes flooding with tear, but they were happy tears. "It's okay, baby." she cooed, the tip of her middle finger just reaching her daughters cheek. "You'll be fine."
The police captain frowned at the woman speaking with her daughter. The firemen came running towards the car with the jaws of life. Immediately they began prying the door open to get Nora out first. "Mrs. Santiago, we're getting you and your daughter out now." the captain told her, but Elena just smiled, laughing weakly.
"Don't worry about me."
"It'll be two seconds-"
"No, don't worry about me. I don't matter."
The captain was perplexed by her statement, but the sound of the door being broken off it's hinges brought his attention away slightly. A fireman crawled in to extract the toddler, trying to shush her as she kicked and screamed. "Now, you'll be out in a second, okay? You're going to get to be with your daughter again. We're making sure of it."
Elena began to shush him. "Leave me." her voice was getting weaker, her eyelids heavier. "We both know I'm not going to make it."
"Don't say that, ma'am." he didn't want to tell her that the paramedics were confirming her statements. Even though they had an IV in her, they didn't have the access to the proper pain relief and medical supplies. They wouldn't be able to help her to the extent of their abilities, despite their best efforts. Elena, however, didn't seem to be very sad about her impending death. She seemed content.
"I'll be fine. Just protect my Nora." she said it with determination, something in her words making the captain nod fervently.
"Protect her." she said, her voice just a breathy whisper at this point. Her eyelids began to droop, causing the paramedics to intervene. The captain retreated from the car, Elena's words shaking him in a weird way. Her eyes, so piercing, but there was something else. They almost seemed to shimmer a different colour, going from brown to a deep gold. The older man ran into the ambulance that was on standby, watching the paramedics start to properly treat the little girl. He didn't know what he was going to say, or how to say it. How do you tell a one year old that her mommy wasn't coming out of the car? Do you even tell them at all? He had seen his fair share of messy car accidents before, but most of them never involved a child so young.
Speaking of, the child was cut up. Glass shards had lodged themselves in her arms, scrapes and cuts decorated her cheeks. Blood dripped from a wound in her arms, making her wince when they pried the glass from it. He felt the engine start and the ambulance take off down the road to the hospital. "You're going to be okay, sweetie." he told the girl as sincerely as possible. "It's all going to be okay."
Nora groaned rubbing at the cut that was being bandaged as he spoke to her. "Itchy," she complained.
"No, you can't do that, hon." the paramedic said, reaching for the little girls hand. They were too late however, as Nora had gotten the bandage off already, revealing a clean, completely healed arm. The captain and the paramedic looked at each other in confused horror. The captain watched as the girl began to rip all the bandages away, every cut and bruise healed and non existent. The paramedic opened her mouth, but didn't have anything to say. What could she say?
The blood that was slowly travelling down her cheek began to seep back into her skin, the cut sealing shut right in front of them. Nora didn't seem to realise it was happening as she scratched at the remaining few cuts that were healing themselves.
"What the fuck is that?" shuddered the paramedic, stepping away from the toddler as if she were a disease carrier. "How did she do that?"
The captain didn't say anything, for he didn't know what to say. Now, what Nora's mother had told her now made a lot more sense. She wanted Nora to be protected from people who wouldn't understand her. Like the paramedic beside him.
Captain Nathan Mendes told himself that day that he was going to protect her for as long as he could.
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A/N: like the title says, this is a preface, just to show Nora's birth mother and the powers Nora possess. So, sorry it's so short, next chapter won't be. Promise.
Comment, vote, follow & stay awesome Gotham! - Emma
