A New Beginning

Chapter 29- Hold Onto Me

Noelle woke with a start and slowly sat up. She was back in the warehouse, lying on the dirty ground with a fuzzy memory at best of what had happened. She must have been knocked unconscious.

Her phone began to buzz.

Shakily, she got to her feet and she pulled her phone out of her jacket pocket.

Eighteen missed calls.

Most of them were from Bern, but Fury had made quite a few too.

Oh shoot. She realized she had forgotten to call Fury earlier like she had promised. Unfortunately, he was going to have to wait. She was currently in no mental state to talk to Fury, who would be demanding answers she couldn't give. Right now she needed to find her cousins.

"Bern!" Noelle shouted. "Nick!" She raced out the door of the building, back to the parking lot and stopped in her tracks.

What were the police doing here?

"Noelle!!!" Bern practically screamed as she ran over to her. "Where were you?!"

"I–" Noelle opened her mouth in her own defense, but nothing came out. She couldn't remember where she had been.

"I was in the building," she said slowly, trying to retrace her steps. "Then I felt something calling to me and then... I wasn't here anymore."

Bern stared at her blankly, and thunder began rumbling overhead.

Perfect timing for rain.

"Why did you call the police?" Noelle demanded.

"Noelle! You were gone for five hours!" Bern shouted. "What was I supposed to do?"

"F-Five hours?!"

"Yeah! Five hours!" Bern repeated. "I thought you were dead."

Noelle cursed under her breath. The worst thing was, she could barely remember what happened. She only remembered that she had gone somewhere... dark.

Suddenly she noticed something strange and looked at Bern, who was also frowning.

It was downpouring all around them, but not a drop of rain had touched them.

"This isn't me..." she started to say, until she noticed Bern looking past her shoulder, her mouth slightly agape.

Noelle turned around.

It was Thor.

Why on Earth was he here?

Dropping her arms loosely to her sides, she went over to him, with the patch of dry sky following her.

"Thor! What are you doing here?" she got out breathlessly.

"I–" Thor started. "I came to make sure you were safe. Heimdall could not see you."

Noelle swallowed, unsure of what to say. "I... didn't know Heimdall was looking for me."

"He wasn't."

Before Noelle could respond, Bern came over. She raised her eyebrows, looking back and forth between them. Then she said, "Noelle, I'm pretty sure we're being arrested right now. Care to help, or are you gonna stand here and–"

Noelle pushed her cousin aside quickly and went over to the police, who had forced Nick against the car and his hands behind his back. She bit the inside of her cheek. This was exactly why she hadn't wanted them to come.

"Excuse me, Officer?"

"Are you Noelle Smith?"

"Yes, sir."

"You and your cousins are under arrest for trespassing on private property."

Arrested?

Were they really that strict here in England? It was only an abandoned warehouse. Back home, the police would probably just let you off with a warning unless you were trespassing in a really important place. Noelle was sure they didn't know about the portals. How could they?

She knew Fury wasn't going to be happy, but she needed to at least try and talk her way out of this.

"Sir, I wasn't trespassing. I was ordered to come here by the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Nicholas Fury."

The officer scoffed. "Never heard of S.H.I.E.L.D. Unless you have some way to prove this, like an ID badge or something of the like, you're going to have to come with us– you and your cousins. They were trespassing as well."

Noelle gritted her teeth. Looked like the police were leaving her with no choice but to use the Jedi Mind Trick. She stepped closer to the cop, and was about to allow the familiar feeling of the Force to flow through her, when suddenly pain screamed through her body and there was an explosion of red. Noelle was flown backwards into the air, along with the cops. One of the cars even overturned.

And immediately, she remembered what had happened to her in the darkness of the warehouse.

"Nick! Noelle!" she heard Bern scream.

Bern and Thor were by her side in an instant.

"Noelle! Are you alright?" Thor grabbed her arm and Bern the other. They pulled her up into a sitting position. Then Bern raced over to find her brother.

Noelle couldn't respond. She was not alright at all. She felt... sick. Her head ached, and her body was racked with pain.

I tried to use my power– it was that thing. It's inside me.

Inhaling sharply, she grabbed Thor's arm tightly for support and she shakily tried to stand, but felt her knees buckle instantly. All she knew was that she was panicking. She could feel bile in the back of her throat.

"Noelle?" She could hear the fright in Bern's voice. "What was that?"

"I-I don't know."

Thor was practically the only reason she was standing as he was grasping both her arms, keeping her steady. "Noelle, we have to get you somewhere safe where we can figure out what is wrong with you–"

Noelle shook her head wildly. She just wanted to get back to the apartment.

"Stand back! You! Put your hands behind your head!"

They had almost forgotten the cops were still here.

"She is unwell," Thor said, pushing Noelle behind him.

"She's dangerous!" The officer looked as scared as she felt.

"So am I." Thor narrowed his eyes and gripped his hammer. Noelle vaguely processed the sound of thunder rumbling overhead, but she did feel Thor's arm slip around her waist. "Hold onto me," he said.

She knew immediately what he had in mind. "No! Thor, I can't!" she cried frantically. "I can't leave them!"

Bern had helped Nick to his feet and from what Noelle could see, he appeared to be alright, but she still couldn't just leave them here to deal with her mess–

"Noelle, we'll be fine," Bern assured her. Then she said a little more softly. "Go."

Noelle still didn't like it. She opened her mouth to protest, but before she could Thor stopped her. "If anything happens, I will come right back for them, I promise," he said, gazing intently into her eyes.

She swallowed, and nodded silently. Squeezing her eyes shut, she did as he commanded and held onto him.

A second wave of nausea hit her stomach as Thor raised his hammer into the sky.