please comment and vote!
so so sorry this took so long! y'all school is hard lol i need a nap
i hope to update soon, again. like soon, soon. there's gonna be a lot of action in the next few chapters, so I hope you enjoy :)
ELENORA ROGERS WAS IN A GOOD MOOD.
It was really a thrilling thing, nowadays, when Elenora was in a good mood. And if, by some heavenly intervention, Connor was a good mood at the same time?
That was a damn miracle.
That's what the day was, really - a miracle. Bucky and Steve thought so, anyhow. It's only so often that they don't have to drag the kids outta bed for Saturday practice, but for those same to get up on their own and then make breakfast for both themselves and the adults?
A damn miracle.
"Can you come to do this?" Elenora asked, her wrist flicking the pancake over as she diverted her eyes to see Connor pulling orange juice out of the fridge.
He stared at her for a second, glancing down at the jug in her hand and then back at her.
With a roll of her eyes, Elenora said, "I'll get that stuff, I promise. You're less likely to burn it, anyway."
Shrugging, Connor wordlessly agreed, appearing at Elenora's side and outstretching his hand for the spatula.
Grabbing the juice from Connor, Elenora did a little twirl as she placed it on the counter, and heading back into the kitchen for butter, syrup, and fruit.
The teens were well aware of the two men staring at them from the hallway, and both chose to ignore it.
Instead, they ignored the whispers and continued to work in harmony.
Steve let out a cough before he walked in the room with Bucky on his trial, and Elenora waited a few seconds before pulling out of the fridge and sending him a smile.
"Hi dad," Elenora said, closing the fridge as she met eyes with Bucky, "Hi dad."
Connor only reacted when he heard Elenora's voice, too lost in thought to hear anything before. He looked up and offered both dads a smile, before focusing again on the food.
"You're making breakfast," Steve notes as he slid into a seat at the island, and Bucky followed suit, not really sure what to do.
"We are," Elenora agreed, setting plates in front of Bucky and Steve with a wild smile. "Just for you."
Just for you make Connor stifled a laugh, because he knew that nothing Elenora did was just anything for anyone, and considering their 8 AM agreement from just half an hour ago.
"I know that look," Steve announced, a skeptical expression rising. Connor's face quickly smoothed out, but it was too late. "What are you up to?"
Elenora opened her mouth, about to begin a monologue and why she would never had a hidden agenda, but a look from Connor and Bucky's voice stopped her.
"Stevie," Bucky called, his voice traced with sleep as he rubbed his eyes. "Can you wait until after breakfast?"
"And maybe have a little faith in us," Elenora piped in, scowling at Steve as she poured Bucky a cup of coffee.
Bucky smiles a sleepily smile, and stage whispered, "I always liked you better than I like your dad."
With her hand pressed to her chest, Elenora announced, "See? I'm a blessing to this house."
Connor snorted again, and though Elenora elbowed him, Steve his a smile in his cup of coffee.
"We made pancakes," Connor said as Elenora went to scold him. "If you want some."
"I sure do," Bucky said, accepted the now filled plate from Connor. "Looks great, Con."
"And El!" she chimed as she placed a bowl of fruit by Bucky.
Steve laughed, and added, "And Ellie."
Bucky, chewing on his first bite of pancake, smiled wide, and said, "I don't even want to know what they want."
***
As stated in the 8 AM Connor-Ellie Agreement, each kid wanted a different thing, and after breakfast which put the adults in a good mood, El and Con asked for what they wanted.
For Connor, that was to hang out with Cooper. Apparently he'd promised to bring Lilah back a gift worthy of her forgiveness (she was still upset he got to live with dad) and time was ticking until his next weekend home.
And Elenora has a similar request, but she wanted to visit with Jade, who had been texting her and asking to hang out for the past few days and El really wanted to.
Bucky and Steve, weak to pouting faces and on pancake highs, said yes.
So at 12:00, Bucky and Steve dropped off Connor at Cooper's apartment, and then promptly dropped Elenora off 16 blocks away at Jade's.
Ducking into the lobby of the apartment, Elenora met eyes with Jade, who was sitting on the staircase inside with a bored expression.
Feeling the weight of a stare, Jade's eyes shot up, and she grinned wickedly as Elenora waved.
Pulling open the gate from the inside, Jade greeted, "Hey, El."
With a smile, Elenora stepped through the gate, answering, "Hey, Jade!"
"I'm on the fourth floor," Jade told her, jutting her thumb upward. "Our buzzer doesn't work so I just figured-"
"I get it," Elenora said, smiling as she adjusted her backpack. "Thanks for waiting for me, I know I'm a little late."
"Oh, it's fine," Jade told her with a shrug. "Let's go, yeah?"
Honestly, it had been years since Elenora had hung out alone with someone that wasn't mutant or an avenger or whatever. She didn't even do it that much when she was in foster care, so she didn't really know what to expect.
She certainly didn't expect it to be so fun.
No talking about training? Nothing about mile times or ranks or patrol? Just plain girl talk and chips and Mario Kart and Dance Dance Revolution.
Elenora was really having a good time.
Like a really good time. Something that she had never expected to have with the one person she'd never really hung out with alone. El didn't consider it much before, but she had never truly spent time alone with Jade - Ned or Peter were always there. Plus, with Bridgit lately, Elenora tried to keep away from suspicious activity.
"You cheated," Jade finalized after Elenora won the fifth round of Mario Kart, breaking the girl out of her thought process. Glancing down, Elenora realized that she had, in fact, won for the fifth time. Not to mention, she had done it with minimal attention.
As Elenora stared dazedly at her hands, Jade went on. "You're such a cheater," she decided, her nose scrunching together as she let out a gust of air before adding, "I-I just can't figure out how!"
With a roll of her eyes and a playful smile, Elenora persuaded as she placed down the remote, "It's all skill. Really."
Jade threw a Cheeto at El's face, mocking, "it's all skill."
Elenora just laughed it off, and silently thanked Connor for all his friendy (unfriendly) Mario Kart competition.
"Skill my ass," Jade grumbled, untucking her legs from under her as she wandered around the dark purple bedroom. Shuffling through clothes, Jade said, "I could have sworn I-"
And as much as Elenora couldn't wait to hear Jade's wild accusations on her methods of cheating, her attention was on the movement she had just heard by the doorway of Jade's room, and her head spun in that direction as she laughed off her friend's suspicions.
But then Elenora stopped laughing.
There was something about her life, honestly, that never thought Elenora deserved a break. If there was any time in Elenora's life that she could really use a breather, this wait - she'd tap out. Call quits. Whatever she had to do so she didn't have to see Marcellus in Jade's apartment.
Not that Elenora immediately knew it was Marcellus, no - she was still hazy on the whole memory thing, but this second her blue eyes caught sight of his face, Elenora felt the shot to her heart all over again.
Turning to the other side of the room, Jade looked for the reason her friend had stopped laughing and frowned when she saw the boy insight.
"What are you doing here, Mar?" Jade asked, annoyed, and Elenora had to remind herself that Jade didn't know about the whole getting shot thing, and she definitely didn't know Marcellus' involvement.
Marcellus was pretty good at keeping his chill around Jade, but nothing about this situation was chill. In fact, it was the opposite of chill - Mar felt like his face was on fire.
Pulling his eyes away from the girl that saved his life, Marcellus told Jade, "Uh, your uncle let me in. My mom wanted me to borrow a pan, and I uh, thought it wouldn't hurt to say hi."
Say hi? Elenora wanted to raise her eyebrows at this, but she knew Jade's scrutinizing stare would pick up on it; instead, she let her mind mull over the idea of Mar having a mom. Did she know about Andrew? About what her son was into? About Elenora?
Oh gosh. Elenora had really just walked into a potential battlefield.
Now she got what her dads meant by "superheroes don't get days off."
"Well, hi," Jade deadpanned with a roll of her eyes, looking over to Elenora. "You know Marcellus, right? You sat with him at lunch when you and Peter-"
"Yeah, I know him," Elenora said, sending the boy a forced smile because, boy, El was not about to lose her mind right then. No matter how much her hands were trembling and her heart was threatening to explode. "Hi, Marc."
Marcellus could sense the underlying acid tone that Jade could not, and smiled forcedly as well, then, in a split second, letting his eyes flicker down to Elenora's lap.
Trying not to give anything away, Elenors kept her face flat as she followed his eyes down to where her hands were folded, knuckles glowing blue. Quickly, Elenora stuffed her hands in her jacket pockets before meeting eyes with a very confused Jade.
"Hi," he greeted back, a little wave, and then two pairs of eyes were on Jade again.
"Okay, cool," she concluded, looking at Mar like he was crazy and then at Elenora with the same expression. "Did you get the pan?"
No, no, no! Elenora internally screamed because if he left, if Jade drove him out, that kid was for sure gonna run. And there went a ton of leads for Andrew's group.
"Oh, yeah," Mar told her with a nod, gulping before giving the two a nod. "I'll catch you later?"
He has information, and Elenora wanted it, bad. She'd do anything that'd lead her to Andrew's and the end of his stupid agenda.
"Wait," Elenora called out, and she could practically feel the blush growing on Mar's cheeks for him. With a little laugh, flirty, almost, Elenora gave him a smile, then sheepishly explained, "I know that gym's got that whole fitness planning project, and uh, I guess I was hoping you'd be my partner."
"A fitness project?" Jade echoed. "In the gym?"
Elenora nodded, trying to hide her mischievous smile. She really needed to stop being so good at lying. It was going to land her into trouble one of these days. "Yeah. Like a workout plan," El told Jade with a roll of her eyes. "And I don't really know anyone but you, Mar..." Elenora trailed off, suddenly realizing that her heart rate was rapidly approaching normal levels again.
This conversation seemed to be having the opposite effect of Marcellus.
"Uh, yeah, sure," he stammered under the intense stare of Jade and Elenora.
"Aren't you going to give me your number?" Elenora pressed on, a teasing tone in her voice to appeasing Jade. Her eyes were much, much darker, but that was reserved for Marcellus. "Y'know, to figure out the details?"
"Yeah, sure," Mar said, cautiously stepping into the room and maneuvering his way around the plates, bowls, and blankets scattered around Jade's floor to where Elenora had outstretched her phone's contact list.
"Just add yourself in there," she told him with a sickeningly sweet grin, turning away to share a look with Jade who was amused by this interaction.
Handing back her phone, Marcellus said, "Here. I'll see you in class, I guess."
"Let me see if it works," Elenora said, and Marcellus's eyebrows crinkled. "The phone number," El specified. "Sometimes my phone's keyboard's wack."
"Uh, I already check, I'm sure it's-"
Elenora, who had already sent through a call, watched Mar's phone for a ring. "Huh," she said when it didn't go through. "Weird. Wanna try again?"
So Elenora eventually got Marcellus's correct phone number, and even if he decided to abandon it, El knew she had just bought herself brownie points with Nick Fury. Maybe not her dad's, but it was good enough for her.
Once Marcellus had left, Jade sent Elenora a weird look.
"H-he keeps ignoring me," she explained, struggling for a cover story under Jade's intense stare. "When I ask him in class. I thought if I said something now since he likes you, he'd say yes."
"Likes me?" Jade repeated, and Elenora rolled her eyes, tossing a pillow in the girl's direction.
"Yes!" Elenora said, "Obviously! He was practically gawking at your shorts."
Jade glanced down to her pajama shorts, and even though a blush rose to her cheeks, she threw a pillow back at El. "Oh, shut up!"
For a second, the two of them just laughed as if Marcellus was really only a sixteen-year-old boy with a crush.
After the laughing died down and Elenora's heart rate was completely normal, she excused herself to the hallway after she had sent the contact to Tony saying "found our guy". Her split-second thinking decided that Connor was going to be her cover story.
"My brother just called me," she explained to Jade as she stood up, noticing the strange look she was getting. It took Elenora a second, but she realized her mistake in an instant.
"I didn't know you had a brother," Jade mentioned suspiciously, sitting up straighter against the headboard of her bed.
Shrugging, Elenora felt her cheeks growing red and tried to cover it. Brushing her hair out of her face, Elenora said, "He just moved in with me and my dads. It's a long story and uh, I don't know."
"Oh," Jade said softly, knowing it was a sensitive subject. Sending Elenora a tight smile, she said, "I get it. Siblings are weird."
"Yeah," she laughed off, because boy, Jade was one to talk.
"And," Jade stressed, making Elenora look back at her curiously. With a gulp and a shrug, Jade admitted, "You've been totally off-grid these last weeks. I mean, you're so secretive and quiet and like never answer your phone-"
"Jade-"
Shaking her head, she went on, "I'm serious, El. And I tried asking Peter but he's been the same way. I don't know what is up with the two of you, but whatever it is, I know it's gotten more serious these last few weeks."
Not sure what to say, Elenora stayed silent.
"I know it's big, whatever it is," Jade told her, her voice suddenly much more serious. In her hand, Elenora's phone was buzzing uncontrollably. "I just hope you tell me before things get out of hand. Before you can't control whatever it is anymore."
"I'm sorry, I've should," Elenora started, reaching back for bag as she finished, "Go. I should go." Her body was buzzing with energy because Jade has her figured out, Jade has her figured out, and in less than a minute, Elenora was racing out of the apartment building, calling Steve.
***
Once Elenora had shared the entire story with Steve, he took a deep breath.
Then he exhaled.
A sigh, Elenora recognized. Steve's sigh. That almost always meant that there was a lecture coming.
"Don't you think," he started, and Elenora had to physically restrain her self from rolling her eyes. "Don't you think it might have been your best option not to run from the situation? Because that seems a little..."
"Incriminating?" Elenora filled in, and Steve nodded. Letting her head hit the seat rest. "Yeah, but it was the only thing I can think of."
"I get it," Steve nodded. "Avoiding confrontation," he identified, meeting his daughter's eyes for a second. "I was like that, too."
Crinkling her eyebrows together, Elenora shook her head. "No, you weren't," she corrected, looking at Steve like he was crazy. "Dad said you used to pick fights all the-"
"And this is why your dad isn't-" Steve started, but his phone started buzzing.
He reached for it, and Elenora gasped.
"Hands-free driving, dad!" Elenora exclaimed, catching her dad off guard as she maneuvered to see the caller ID. Noticing what she was doing, Steve pulled his phone away from her and answered it, anyway.
Falling against her seat with her hands crossed over her chest, Elenora said, "Great example, Dad."
He sent her one last look before starting, "Hello?"
Elenora was super appreciative of her dad at that moment because he was, after all, the one that gave her super hearing; Elenora was able to hear the entire conversation, and when Steve noticed her snooping, he sent her a look but knew there was nothing to do.
"There's a meeting at Towers."
Bucky's voice, Elenora recognized, and a smile immediately spread on her face.
"Hi, Dad!" she shouted into the speaker, leaning over her seat to do so.
"Ah, just the criminal I wanted to talk to. Turns out Ellie over here had some information to share. Fury's called a meeting."
"All for me?" Elenora joked as if her heart wasn't racing because she was terrified of Nick Fury.
"Actually, he's bringing in all of the Junior Avengers. Connor's on his way back with Cooper right now, and Tasha's bringing Bridgit over."
"I'll call Peter," Elenora decided, and Steve nodded in approval. It was probably the first time he approved of anything Peter related.
***
The first thing that Elenora did when she got to Stark Towers was run.
She needed to find Pietro, yes, that's what she needed. Pietro. He'd know what to do. He'd probably heard of everything by now, and there was tons of stuff he'd been hiding from her under orders, but this discovery, this lead should be a game-changer.
This could be the way she finally got information.
"Pietro!" she shouted as she finally found him by the training gyms, and the boy looked scared at her excited volume.
"Are you okay?" he questioned, and Elenora nodded.
"You need to tell me everything," she told him, a little over a whisper because she knew he wasn't su[posed to. "About Marley and Andrew. About Marcellus - I found him, again. They're going after him, but I have to know-"
Pulling away from the conversation, Pietro's jaw was set and his eyes were focused. "No, Elenora. It's over now. If they find Andrew, let them. Marcellus too. But Marley -"
Marley wasn't at the towers, anymore. That's all Elenora knew.
And whatever Pietro knew, he was not sharing.
"This is not her fault."
Elenora had better sense than to nag him all the way to the board room.
***
"Ellie," Peter whispered over the soft chatter of the boardroom. Almost all the avengers had gathered, including all of the initiates, and everyone was waiting on Fury. The girl, her eyes focused on the blank monitor didn't flutter, unaware of Peter trying to get her attention. "El," Peter whispered a little louder, tugging on the sleeve of her shirt, and Elenora snapped her head around, hair hitting Peter in the face as she did.
"Oh, I'm sorry," she started to apologize, her eyes wide as Peter shook his head to say "don't worry" as he pulled her hair away from his cheeks.
"Have you thought about getting a hair cut?" Peter teased, and Elenora rolled her eyes and elbowed him in the ribs; Peter, already preparing for a comeback, did not get a chance to say anything else.
"Hello," a voice interrupted, and Elenora and Peter, as well as everyone else, pulled away from their conversations, and faced Director Fury. "We have new leads on the Mutant Attack case. Initiate Rogers, elaborate."
Initiate Rogers. That was her. Her as in Elenora, not as in Steve or Bucky or Connor - well, Connor would be Peltra but because of-
Stop thinking so much.
Feeling the heat of everyone's stare on her, Elenora cleared her throat and tried to find her ability to speak; it was hard, but when Steve sent her an encouraging smile, Elenora drew a breath.
"Yeah, well, Suspect Marcellus Nolan," Elenora started, trying to remember all the facts and silently cussing out Tony Stark as she did. It was his fault this whole meeting was called - she should have just texted Bruce. He was much cooler about this stuff. "He was spotted at City-Center Apartments in Queens, New York, at 2:37 this afternoon."
Honestly, Elenora just guessed a round-about exact time to seem smart, and it looked like it worked, so she didn't question it.
But Tony Stark, who had phone call records that stated 2:42, raised an eyebrow.
"I was able to acquire his phone number and sent it to Uncle- uh, Agent Stark?" Elenora corrected hesitantly, and Natasha sent her a smile and a nod, enjoying this speech very much. Avoiding laughing, Elenora concluded. "That's all. I mean, he eluded to a residency at the apartment buildings, too. With his mother."
"Good," Nick Fury praised if it even could be called that with his tone. Relieved, Elenoralet out a rather large sigh and slumped against her seat. "Agent Maximoff, please list all of the facts of the situation. Prior to Initiate Rogers' interaction today."
Pietro looked up from the table, wiping his hair out of his face, a hard expression on display. Elenora's questions were enough of a warning - he had seen this coming.
"I met Marley Roan in September of last year," Pietro began, and all the initiates, though they tried not to, exchanged looks. They knew the adults knew all of this stuff already - this was their time.
Why was Nick Fury having them hear this?
Training, training, Elenora repeated in her head. Just for training.
But she wasn't so sure when she saw Steve's hardened face.
"We keep in contact well into spring, and I was well aware of her abilities. She told me about a society dedicated to ending the forced mutation of regular people."
Forced mutation.
Elenora did all she could not look at Peter.
Forced mutation. Forced mutation.
"I left with her to pursue that," Pietro went on, and Wanda, next to him, listened carefully but she looked almost pained. "But I realized months into the work that the association wasn't what I thought it was. It was against mutants - all of them. Marley was unaware too," he clarified, harshly, as if that fact had been disputed many times.
Tony Stark's face looked like he'd been the one disputing.
"She was involved with Devon during the fight because she didn't know any better," Pietro said. "Neither of us did."
Pietro was young. He was barely an adult. And Elenora felt sad. Really sad.
"So we tried to take them down," he explained. "From the inside. But they found out, and we-we had to run. So we took refuge in the Insitute, and then we were found, and Marley was afraid she'd be arrested and-'"
"They know the rest," Nick concluded, unbothered by any part of the speech. Elenora wanted to mention that they did not, in fact, know the rest, but she didn't want to get kicked out of the meeting. "Peter, tell us the first suggested plan of action."
"Plan of action, Sir?" Peter repeated, gulping, and Elenora adjusted in her seat so she could be a shoulder to shoulder with him - y' know, for emotional support. "Oh, yeah," he said, relaxing suddenly, but not ever daring to admit it was the sound of Elenora's heart that got him like that. "We track the call. Check residency, and take him in if he's still there. If not-"
Nick interrupted, "Initiate Barton, please continue."
Shifting in his place, Cooper gave a smile, to Peter, but one that was more stressed than he remembered it being before. "Well, likely tracing any action related to the persons connected to the apartment or any payment methods associated with it."
"Good," Nick stopped him with a nod, pivoting to Connor, "Initiate Peltra, your turn."
There was a moment of silence as Connor struggled on what to follow that up with. Peter looked to Elenora, worried for him, but with a smirk on her face, Elenora shook her head.
If anyone knew anything about tracking people down, it was Connor.
"If none of that works," he stressed, blinking rapidly before stop all at once, and idea in his head. "We use street cameras. Surveillance ones, too. We look out for unusual cars, buses, or any behavior in general. We use previous behavior and analyze his patterns. Then we build what he might use as an escape plan."
Peter turned to Elenora, his expression thoroughly impressed as Elenora just smiled softly.
He was really growing up.
"Keener," Fury called, and the boy looked up, his Adam's apple bobbing as he did. "Tell me the type of method of action with this specific type of subject."
"Stealth," Harly answered. "he knows the city. He knows the team," he pointed out, looking at the avengers around them.
"Landon?"
"He's quick," she said, her eyes flickering over to where Elenora was. They hadn't talked in a long time.
Elenora's heart hurt.
"He's quick," she repeated, putting her eyes on Fury. "So it needs to be quiet, but fast. We need to corner him. No way out."
Instead of saying "good job, kids," or "it's impressive you knew that will limited training time," Director Nick Fury turned to the adults in the room. "Agreed?"
"Yes," Steve said at the same time Tony said, "Sure."
"Well," Director Fury said, his tone filled with something that Elenora couldn't quite identify, but whatever it was filling her with a sort of dread and excitement. Peter must've had that same feeling, too, because his grip on the seat handle tightened. "Initiates will be paired with different departments." The teens all looked between each other, confused about what was going on. "Peltra is with Dr.Banner, Landon with Barnes. Keener, you're with Cap. Rogers and Romanoff, and Parker with Stark."
And then, like the end of a TIME OUT, everybody broke apart.
**
It was chaos. Chaos.
Elenora was loving it.
Tony and Peter were preparing stealth weapons, modes of transportation, and organizing the com units.
Steve and Harley were forming methods of attacks. What would work against Marcellus and possibly others - and what wouldn't.
Bruce and Connor, in the labs, were rushing for traces of anything - people, places, things. They were looking for pointers and indicators, mulling over everything three times over.
Bridgit and Bucky were doing almost the same things, but instead of Marcellus, they were looking into the organization as a whole. Bucky was a master at how those things run - that's what Natasha told Elenora, anyway.
Natasha and Elenora were getting other stealth options in place.
"Does this mean the mission is today?" Elenora asked as she sorted through racks and racks of clothes, trying to find the most pedestrian outfit she could.
"No," Natasha told him, throwing aside a jacket and a cap. Elenora watched as she did, and wondered if the hat would do anything well. She barely ever saw anyone with a baseball cap anymore. "The kid's too jumpy. He's frightened. His actions will be erratic," she mentioned, placing aside a few more shirts. "He could be more damage. He'll cool down in a few days."
"But what about the trail?" Elenora questioned, pulling away from the task at hand to peer at Natasha. "Won't they lose him?"
"If he was older, more experienced, maybe," Natasha probable. "But he's young. He's scared. He will be all over the city, and there will be more than enough ways to find him."
"And the clothes?" she asked, holding up a shirt.
"It's so he doesn't recognize us," she said with a roll of her eyes, taking the shirt out of Elenora's hand. "You'd be surprised how much people are judged by their cover."
"Are you gonna wear a skirt, then?" Elenora asked, holding up a dark purple pencil skirt.
Natasha rolled her eyes, and continued on with the work; Elenora followed her lead.
***
Three hours later, everyone has gathered in the conference room again. Elenora had only been around for a few missions, but she surely didn't remember this many meetings.
But that's because it wasn't a regular meeting.
"After proper advisement," Nick Fury announced, at the head of the table. "I've decided that all work will now take place at the Compound," Nick said, eyes Pietro as he added, "Risks of attacks are too high, considering that-"
"Marley would never-"
"Maximoff, I suggest that you-"
"She would never hurt anyone! She would never-"
"People do unspeakable things under pressure-"
"I will fu-" Pietro started, but Clint was at his side in a second, warning him back.
"This is not the time, Pietro," Clint argued softly, as the rest of the adults were standing. "All we know is that she's not here. We have to go off of that. He called her, and she didn't come, and -"
"You're defending him?"
"Alright," Steve started, speaking over the argument behind him. "Everybody, go home. We'll meet up tomorrow morning at the Compound."
Unsure of what to do or how to respond, Elenora cautiously rose from her chair, trying not to stare at the fight further in the room; instead, her and Peter made direct eye contact, sharing a look of fear and concern, before letting their pinky lock in comfort, familiarity.
No matter what happened with this mission, in it or not, Elenora and Peter were going to be okay.
Everyone was going to be okay.
Elenora reminded herself of that the entire walk out of the Towers, the car ride home, and as she got ready for bed.
And she almost believed it, too - until she saw something.
Someone.
A reflection of her mother in her own bathroom sink.
BOOM! BOOM!
Maybe El was just tired. Hungry. Nervous.
Maybe that image of her mother meant nothing but a chemical response in her head to fear again, but maybe it was a little more than that.
Dying, dying, dead.
Maybe in 48 hours, Elenora would be dying.
Or dead.