Nora was never one to be self conscious of what she wore, but as she stood in front of the full length mirror, she had never seen herself in such a harsh light before.

Natasha had told her to get ready about an hour ago and now here she was, in all her homemade glory, clenching and unclenching her fists in the mirror in an attempt to look more like a polished superhero than she looked. How was she supposed to fight alongside the Avengers looking like Incredi-Boy from the Incredibles, she looked ridiculous in comparison to hard hitters like Captain America's armour. She felt even more self conscious when she left the hotel room with her long overcoat(not looking suspicious at all) to meet up with Natasha at coordinates she had to google to make sure she actually made it there on time. They met in the parking lot of the Berlin airport, away from everyone on either side. Nora took off her overcoat, revealing her terrible excuse of a suit. Compared to the cat suit Black Widow wore, she looked like a cosplayer rather than a girl who could destroy the human body from the inside out.

The Avenger gave her a once over, green eyes darted over the different components of her suit. She let out a breath, hands on hips as Nora stood there uncomfortably. "Is there time for this?" she asked impatiently, rocking on the balls of her feet. Natasha's gaze went back to her eyes once more before nodding to herself and walking towards one of the only cars in the abandoned parking lot. It was weird, for such a busy airport, one she was in hours ago, the place was practically deserted now. She watched as the redhead popped the trunk, revealing a large silver case. She unlocked up, revealing a gold suit, white boots and two white gauntlet like gloves.

"Change." she said plainly, nodding her head to the limo like car she had brought.

Nora's eyes flickered from the car to the suit in the case. "As much as I am grateful for the gift, I don't think this would stop a paper cut, never mind a vibranium shield." she felt the material of the gold suit, feeling it's flimsy texture and shiny fabric. The gauntlets look sturdier however, like they could protect your knuckles from shattering if you punched someone in an iron suit.

There's a flash of amusement in Natasha's eyes before she shoves the suit into her chest. "Change, come on, we haven't got a lot of time. Stark's evacuating the airport, it's only a matter of time before Steve hears."

The young Mendes lets out a noise of displeasure, but she dives into the backseat of the limo, already taking off her mask and unzipping her gold hoodie. It took her ten minutes to get her old suit off and new suit on in the cramped space she found herself in. The gold suit was skin tight, but it felt heavier on, like it could withstand a lot more than she originally thought. However, she looked rather bare, with just a gold spandex suit and white boots on. She felt like something was missing. "Hey," she said, poking her head out the door to see Natasha keeping watch. "Not to complain or anything, but shouldn't this come with, like, a mask or something? You don't want anyone to know who I am, do you?"

She didn't glance back, she just stood there with her arms crossed. "Get out and put on the gloves." Nora wanted to ask her to repeat it, but knew better. So, she did what she was told, clambering out of the car and onto the concrete floor. The gloves were stiff in her hands, making her question what was so important about them. She slid one on, then the other. Natasha watched her intently, as if waiting for something to happen.

"I don't know what your — whoa!" she interrupted herself, feeling the gloves tighten around her wrists and forearms. It felt like they were locking into place, as the end of the gloves began to grow up her arms, unfolding like rectangular plates of metal around the centre of her arm and leafing up to her shoulders, collarbone, down her upper body and legs, stopping at her boots. The plates of armour then fused with the suit, snapping together like lego pieces. She bent her elbow, the plates moving at every joint so you could see the gold under it. As she admired the technology the gauntlets possessed, the white plates began to crawl up her neck, stopping at her hairline, tip of her chin and folding over her eyes in an armoured mask. Nora felt a smile grow on her lips, laughing in wonder at the new suit she had. "H-How?"

Natasha gave her a once over again, pointing to the suit. "Prototype. Stark industries never found a use for them. Now, you do."

"This is Stark tech?" Nora asked, hearing the metal clink as she moved. Natasha nodded. "So, we're stealing?"

"I'm pretty sure he didn't know these existed." above them, the sound of a woman announcing the evacuation rang out. "Come on, we need to go."

Nora nodded, following the older woman, the armour feeling foreign yet comfortable. She didn't feel like it would weigh her down, or make her feel like she had an ego skeleton on. In fact, it didn't even feel like she had that much on over the gold under armour. "Just a question," she said, nerves spiking as she saw the figures of Iron Man and his fellow comrades. "They know I'm here, right?" with no response, Nora took her silence as confirmation that no, they did not.

"You've eyes on the helicopter?" Tony Stark asked James Rhodes, War Machine, who nodded. They were on the first floor of the airport, watching a helicopter parked just in front of them. Nora hung back as Natasha walked forward.

Tony gave her a confused look, saying something along the lines of, 'You disappear for days, where did you go?' Natasha spoke again, with folded arms before angling herself so that Tony could see who she'd brought. Suddenly, despite the confidence boost from the outfit change, from Tony's scrutinising stare, she felt about two feet tall. Against her better judgement, she waved. Tony's face didn't change drastically, not in the 'oh fuck, we're screwed.' way like she expected. Nora just noticed his eyes twitch slightly before whispering something into Natasha's ear. Her head tilted a little, confused by what he had said, but then he whispered something again and she nodded. Nora wasn't sure she liked what had just happened in front of her.

("Don't let her meet the kid." he had told his friend. "Trust me on this, that would not be good for us, or them. Don't let them meet.")

"Hi, sorry." Nora said, walking up to them. "Just popping in to ask. Who exactly are we waiting for?"

"Captain Rogers." War Machine told her.

"So, we're trusting her with info now?" Tony asked his friend.

"Don't look at me like dude, you've seen the videos. I don't wanna get turned inside out."

Nora frowned. Was that all she was known for?

"Alright, alright, we're waiting for Captain America." Tony said, exasperated. "You've been told what to do, right?"

Nora nodded, trying to give the oblivious path a shot. "Handle Scarlet Witch. Ms. Romanoff told me." in the corner of her eye, Natasha suppressed a smirk but Nora had been around her too long, she caught it. Tony let a half assed smile pass his lips. It was then that Nora noticed the black eye he wore. Instinctively, she held a hand out, and instinctively, he backed away.

"Wh—Stop, what are you doing?"

She retracted his hand, holding them both up in defence. "Sorry, but your eye, I can fix it." Tony's eyes darted to Natasha who just raised her eyebrows in a silent wager. Nora's hand resumed it's journey to his cheekbone. Her white gloves lit up, but something felt different when she activated her powers. Instead of the light hitting her fingertips, it now encased her entire hand, like a protective glove of golden energy. It reminded her of the bullets deflecting off her at Oscorp, maybe this suit enhanced parts of her powers she didn't know she had. As her fingertips skirted over the bruise, she expected it to fade away under her touch, but it didn't. She tilted her head to the side curiously, taking her hand away. "Huh."

"Huh? What do you mean, huh?"

"Healing things like this is like second nature to me. I know when things should heal, but yours isn't." sadness washed over her features. "Because you're not letting it."

Tony just turned away, going back to War Machine and the helicopter status. "Why isn't he letting it?" Natasha asked, standing behind her.

"People have different reasons. Maybe they want to feel the pain, maybe they want to hurt themselves, but sometimes, they think they deserve it. Mr. Stark thinks he deserves it."

"How can you tell?"

"It's all in the eyes."

"Mr. Stark."

The voice of someone she didn't recognise boomed throughout the duty free section of the airport. Prowling toward them was a man clad entirely in black, with a helmut resembling a cat. He looked like his suit could within a nuclear reaction. He looked terrifying. Nora shrunk back as Tony turned to see him. "So, this is the get up, huh? You really take the whole Black Panther thing to heart."

"Black Panther?" Nora whispered to Natasha.

"King of Wakanda. He is here for Barnes as well, you may need to keep tabs on him, he didn't come here to play nice." Nora gulped, this was like prey going after the predator.

"Barnes is here, as well as Captain Rogers. He's brought allies."

Tony laughed mirthlessly. "Yeah? Well, so do we." he nodded at Nora and Natasha, bringing them over to him. "Vision will be joining the fight later on, and I've got a surprise that should be showing up in about five minutes."

"Who's your surprise?" Rhodes asked.

"It doesn't matter. He knows what he's supposed to do, which does matter. He'll meet us down there."

Natasha gave her team member a look. "And what are we supposed to do?"

"We try and talk him out of it. I'd rather no more structural damage." Rhodes snorted. "Look, I'm on the clock here, you got a better idea, I'd love to hear it."

Nora glanced at the four adults around her as they came up with a plan. Knock out Captain Rogers, detain Barnes, secure Scarlet Witch. They never came up with the 'how' or the 'who' and that didn't rest well with her. For the Avengers, a team that was supposed to be polished and the best of the best, they seemed to be in shambles. Taking a look out the window, she examined the helicopter, then the laptop hooked up to the security camera's outside. Her eyes widened when she saw the familiar helmet of Captain America walk into frame. "Guys?" she called.

They all looked up, following her train of vision and watched the security camera footage. Black Panther growled, taking off one direction. Nora felt nerves began to push at her heart again. No matter how they tried to kid themselves, this wasn't going to end well for anybody. Natasha took her by the shoulders, leading her down the stairs as Tony set off an electrical charge to short out the helicopter. As she ran down the stairs, Natasha informed her that an earpiece had been modified into her suit, allowing her to talk to the whole team or one person in particular. Nora knew that meant Natasha would be talking to her privately a lot.

"Wow, it's so weird how you run into people at the airport. Don't you think that's weird?" she heard Tony comment sarcastically to War Machine who had followed him.

So, this was happening.

"Definitely weird."

The two got down to the fire exit, filing out into the airways silently. "Hear me out, Tony. That doctor, the psychiatrist, he's behind all of this"

Nora swallowed hard, there seemed to be a bigger story that she didn't need to be apart of.

Black Panther leaped into the conversation, landing on his feet in a very catlike pose. "Captain." he greeted in his booming voice.

Captain Rogers nodded politely. "Your highness."

"Anyways. Ross gave me 36 hours to bring you in. That was 24 hours ago. Can you help a brother out?" Tony asked, walking around Rhodes.

"You're after the wrong guy."

"Your judgment is askew. Your old war buddy killed innocent people yesterday." Nora furtively looked up at Natasha who just kept walking. No time for doubt now.

"And there are five more super soldiers just like him. I can't let the doctor find them first, Tony. I can't." Captain Rogers stated, just as Natasha and Nora came up behind him.

It was Black Widow who stepped forward. "Steve... you know what's about to happen. Do you really wanna punch your way out of this one?"

Captain Rogers shook his head in disappointment at her, before his eyes casted over Nora. "Who's this?"

"Someone who is hoping there will be little to no violence, but you and I both know that's not going to happen." she managed to say in an even voice, despite the internal screaming that was currently happening in her head.

Captain Rogers raised a brow, hopefully impressed at her ability to keep her cool. Tony, however, not in the mood for that. "All right, I've run out of patience. Underoos!"

What happens next, Nora still isn't sure was real.

Webbing that was all too familiar shot out of nowhere, binding Captain Rogers hands together. That same webbing caught the shield in mid air, a red and blue streak flipping above them before landing on a car, shield in hand, lenses narrowing. Nora's eyes widened behind her own mask. It couldn't be. "Nice job, kid." Tony said.

Standing up, the kid replied. "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."

No, that was definitely him. That was Spider-Man. Nora felt like she was going to faint.

"Yeah, we don't really need to start a conversation."

"Okay. Cap... Captain. Big fan, I'm Spider-Man."

Yeah, we'll talk about it later. Just—"

"Hey, everyone." Nora felt her jaw hit the floor, his new suit was even better than hers. His attention fell to her momentarily, making Nora gasp a little. "Mercy?"

She felt ignoring him would be the best option, and so did everyone else. "You've been busy."

From where she was, Nora could feel whatever tie Tony had to patience snap right then. "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..." he trailed off, stopping his voice from rising a few volumes. "I'm trying to keep you from tearing the Avengers apart."

Nora felt Natasha sigh defeatedly beside her, perhaps realising that the cracks forming in the Avengers were turning into gaping wounds. "You did that when you signed." Cap said, and it felt like a goodbye in some way.

"Alright, We're done!" Tony cried, teeth grit. "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" Nora watched with bated breath as Captain turned his head aside. "Come on."

"Where's the rest of them?" Nora muttered to Natasha.

"I think we're about to find out."

As if on cue, Steve raised his bound hands. An arrow whistled through the air, piercing the webbing. Tony whipped around, helmut coming down. "Alright, Lang."

Spider-Man piped in. "Hey, guys, something—argh!" he was cut short, as a full grown man appeared in thin air, kicking Spider-Man under his chin. Shield in hand, the man handed to Captain Rogers.

"I believe this is yours, Captain America."

"What the hell was that?" Rhodes exclaimed.

The beginning of a war, Nora thought gloomily. 

-

A/N: ahhh, i know it's shitty to end there, but if i continue this will end up being like 5k words and i am not able for that yet. Anyway, next chapter is only the battle so it will be longer and more detailed than this one. I just wanted to write a chapter to introduce Nora to the rest of the squad.

Btw, because I'm curious, if any of you have head canons about Nora, petora or the mendes family, leave them here. I love hearing other people's head canons!

Comment, vote & follow! - Emma