November's POV
It was the same thing over and over again: chair, knives, rape. It was a never-ending cycle. I quickly became too weak to fight Fury, and I felt completely hopeless; no one was going to be able to find me. I was trapped in this nightmare. After a while I stopped trying to hide my screams; I stopped caring if people heard the daughter of Captain America cry out for help. I was convinced that I was going to die here before my family could find me.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stephen's POV
In a sudden flash of dark red light, Wanda appeared while I was seated at my desk.
According to her, "Bruce has called a meeting."
"Why?" I dropped my head in my hands and said, "I can't handle another idea on how to find Nove."
"I know, but he said that this one is about how he thinks he knows where she is, I think is what he said." Wanda touched my shoulder and spoke.
After giving her a nod, I hurried to get up and follow her out of the room.
My thoughts were racing with both excitement and fear as we made our way to the meeting room. Bruce's assurance regarding Nove's location just made me more nervous.
When the meeting was about to begin and everyone had taken their seats, I got the alert that someone was on our property.
Bucky volunteered to go see who it was, so we waited for him to come back so we could start the meeting, but then Bucky spoke into the coms.
"We need some help; we're over on the west end. She's injured badly and is bleeding out; please help." Bucky said.
Everyone in the room stood up and ran to the west end.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
November's POV
Fury dug the knife deep into my stomach enough to cause a lot of damage; I cried out in pain, but suddenly I was angry. No teenager should be tortured; no 10-year-old should be forced to give their life away; no one should even be causing these things in the first place.
Suddenly I had a burst of energy, and this purple mist pushed Fury against the wall, making him drop both his knife and gun.
With my newfound energy, I ran to grab the gun, and I quickly shot Fury once or twice and then killed the guards in the room.
I grabbed one of the guard's badges and then ran to open the door.
Halfway down a hallway an alarm started to go off with a red light, most likely meaning that someone had been alerted of my escape.
Suddenly I could hear the sound of many feet running behind me, and I knew I had to speed up, but I was losing too much blood.
"Stop!" I heard several of the men behind me yell, but I didn't listen to them.
Then out of nowhere, I heard a gunshot, and there was instantly a searing pain in my shoulder. I groaned, but I didn't let it slow me down.
I looked up and saw that there was a window at the end of the hallway, and I raised my stolen gun and shot it, causing the glass to shatter.
I jumped out the window and landed on my feet and ran. I ran even through the busy streets of Manhattan.
Soon I saw the fimaily of the training base looming ahed. I smiled knowing that I will be safe there, that that is the place where my family is.
I didn't stop running until I was on the property of the training base.
I heard someone call my name, but the voice was of someone that I watched die.
I turned to the sound of the voice to see a person who looked a lot like my uncle in the distance, and then everything went black.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Steve POV
We all immediately stood and ran to the west end to find Bucky staring at a girl who was lying on the floor.
She had long blond hair that was matted at the ends and was almost turned brown. She was pale and had bruises and cuts all over her body. Her clothes were ripped to the point that she almost didn't have any on. She was so skinny that I could see her ribs and cheekbones.
Everyone froze when they saw her lying on the floor.
Almost as soon as everyone froze, everyone began moving again to try to bring my daughter to safety.
time skip
I was sitting in the waiting room of the hospital wing waiting to hear news about my daughter when a nurse came out of the room.
"Mr. Rogers Your daughter is fine. We put her in a medically induced coma to help her heal. You may go see her now," the nurse said.
I nodded and quickly went to the room that my daughter was in.
I sat down in a chair at her bedside and grabbed ahold of her hand.
"I should have listened to you; if I hadn't tested out the time travel, maybe you wouldn't be lying in this bed." I whispered as tears filled my eyes.
"Please just be strong; I can see how much you mean to the team." I said as a few tears fell from my eyes.
I stayed by her side, hoping and praying for her recovery. The beeping of the machines and the sound of her steady breathing were the only things keeping me grounded in that moment of uncertainty.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Naomi's POV
Strange called me as soon as they found her, and I grabbed my bag and drove as fast as I could to New York.
I got there around midnight when only Strange was up waiting for my arrival. He led me to the room she was in and left us to be.
I walked over to her and sat down on the edge of her bed and grabbed ahold of her hand.
"You've always been my best friend, and I thought that was the only way that I could love, but when you disappeared, I realized how much more you are to me. I can't live without you. I love you so much, so please find a way to come through, my love." I whispered, finally saying the words that I had been thinking.
I gently kissed her cheek, then walked out of the room and to my room. I stayed at whenever I came to hang out with Nove.
Time Skip
Once I realized that I wouldn't be able to fall asleep again at 4:30 am, I decided to go into the kitchen to make some coffee when someone else walked into the kitchen.
"Coffee?" I asked as I began pouring me a cup.
"Who are you?" I heard the man behind me say.
I turned around to see Steve Rogers standing there.
"Naomi Starlight, 16, of West Virginia, but I grew up in Manhattan." I responded.
"Why are you here?" Steve asked as he got into a fighting stance.
"I'm here because your daughter is my fucking best friend." I said as I grabbed my coffee and moved to sit at the table.
Steve nodded and then came to sit with me at the table.
"What's she like?" he asked, looking at me with fatherly eyes.
"Your daughter is the kindest person I have ever met, and I don't deserve her. She's always there for me when I need her, either ranting on about how my father abandons me or some stupid test in school. She's always there," I said, smiling.
Steve nodded, then got up and left the room.
An hour or two later, I and Stephen decided to go get some muffins from Nove's favorite bakery to pick up some muffins for everyone.
When I got there, Stephen went to go order the muffins while I sat at the table when someone tapped me on the shoulder.
"I don't know if you remember me, but—" A boy said as I turned around.
"Arlo!" I said, cutting him off, "Oh my gosh, it is so good to see you; how have you been?" I asked my old neighbor.
"I've been good; I thought you moved to West Virginia," he said.
"I did, but November has gotten herself into some trouble," I said, smiling.
"Of course she did," he said, shaking his head. "Did you know she comes here about once a week? She never seems to realize it's me, though."
I laughed, "That's probably because y'all only met once," I said.
"Yeah, probably," he said, smiling. "I have to get back to work now, but it was nice seeing you," he said.
"You too," I said, smiling.
Soon after, Strang walked over with two boxes of muffins and asked, "Who was that?"
"Just an old friend," I said as we walked onto the busy streets of Manhattan.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stephen POV *very last POV
"We have given her the drug that will wake her up; you can go wait for her to wake up," said a nurse. I nodded and quickly went to Nove's room.
I knocked on the door and waited for her to respond before I opened the door.
When I walked in, she was sitting up and looking around the room confused until she saw me.
When she saw me, she lit up; a huge smile spread across her face.
"Stephen," she said, smiling.
"Hey kiddo," I said, sitting on the edge of the bed.
"Before I blacked out..." She said but then stopped.
"Go on," I said.
"Before I blacked out, someone called my name, and I looked over at them because I recognized their voice, but that person is dead," she whispered, looking down at her hands. I could see the tremor in her fingers, a reflection of the turmoil brewing inside her.
"Nove, there is no easy way to tell you this, but—" I started, but then she cut me off.
"Tell me what?" she demanded, looking at me.
"Bruce and Naomi were working on an equation, and they didn't tell anyone because they didn't want us to get our hopes up, but it worked." I said, looking at the child. The girl stared at me, her eyes wide with a mixture of confusion and curiosity.
"What equation?" she asked, looking almost hopeful.
"An equation to bring back the dead, I said, meeting her eyes.
"Wait, so that really was Bucky!" she said, getting excited.
"It was," I said. "Do you want to know who the other returnees are, or do you want to wait?"
"I want to know," she said while smiling at me.
I sighed, knowing that I was also going to have to tell her that her father wanted custody of her again.
"Well, it's Bucky's wife, Elizabeth. Then there's Nat. I don't know if you remember her—" I said being cut off again.
"I remember Nat; she was always so kind to me and treated me like I was older," Nove said, looking up at me.
I nodded, smiling, and then said, "Peggy Carter, the girl your father dated before he flew into the ice, your grandmother Sarah Rogers, and finally your father."
"Wait, my father is back, she said, getting excited after hearing the words, but her smile soon falling.
"Yes, little train, what's wrong?" I asked, pulling her into a hug.
"He didn't listen, and I don't want him to take me from you," she said, squeezing me tight.
"I know, and I don't want him to either, but he already gave me papers asking for custody of you, or else he'll take it to court," I said, sighing.
"Have you signed the papers yet?" she asked, looking up at me.
"No, I wanted to see what you wanted to do," I said, ruffling her hair.
"Do what you think is right," she whispered.
I nodded and kissed her head.
"I should go, but I'm sure someone else will come in here soon, okay?" I said.
She nodded her head okay, and I got up to leave, but when I was about to open the door, she said, "The government isn't going to listen to me if we go to court, but if I had a choice, it would be to stay with you."
I nodded my head and walked out of the room and into the cold hallway. I thought I knew what the right thing to do was, but now I'm not so sure.
As I walked down the cold hallway, I knew that I had to fight for the child that I had taken care of for the past six years, the child who lights up my world whenever I see her, the child who is my everything.
As I was heading to the kitchen, I almost walked straight into Naomi.
"Sorry," I say, looking down at the girl I knew loved Nove.
"It's fine," she said, looking up at me. "Is Nove awake?"
I nodded my head, and she said thanks, and we went down our separate routes.
When I walked into the kitchen, I saw Steve eating his breakfast at the table.
"She's awake," I said as I poured myself a cup of coffee.
"Good, I need to talk to her about what happened." He said, standing up.
"There is a high chance she won't tell you, Steve. She doesn't tell me and Noami much stuff like that," I responded.
"I doubt that; also, have you signed those papers yet?" Steve said, looking over at me.
"I'm not going to sign them," I said.
"You realize that means you are going to have to get a lawyer, right?" Steve asked.
"I have plenty of money," I responded, looking over at him.
"You do know that they're going to believe me over you." Steve said.
"I know, but it's worth the shot," I said, standing my ground, knowing that November didn't want to be under his custody.
"You do you then, Strange," Steve said as he walked away.
"Nove, please don't make him kill me for that," I mumbled.