*。☆。
★。＼｜／。★
˚ ₊ ♡ ❰  HAVEN ❱
*✧ ─── ❝ ❪ LESS THAN LEGAL LIVELIHOOD! ❫ ❞
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˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ ACT ONE ── queen of cons 💻 ⁺⑅

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THE LEGENDS SERIES ⋆ 🐜.
♯ ❝ SORRY BUDDY ❞
THE PROLOGUE ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*
˚ ₊ ♡ 2015 ─── ant-man
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⠀. * 　 ✦ . 　⁺  ✦ .⁺ 　˚
. * 　　　 ✦ . 　⁺ 　 .
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WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP? THE AGE OLD QUESTION ALL CHILDREN GET ASKED ON A REGULAR BASIS. And so it has been asked of wide eyed Nora Ruthgers for a million times. Which was fairly understandable seeing as the blonde girl changed her mind faster than one could blink. A princess, a chef, a zookeeper, a doctor and astronaut. A better questions would be what don't you wanna be? Now as a full fledged adult, Nora can't say her current occupation had ever made the list as a child. It would probably have raised some questionable looks. And maybe a quick call to the police? Who knows right?

Now if Nora is also truly honest, she still kind of doesn't know what she wants to be-like life is good, it's freakin' great actually, but not something to brag about. It is more on the down-low hush hush side of things.

Nimbly fingers work almost mindlessly in the barely lit living room, only a single lamp on her bureau is on, giving the place an unnerving vibe, but Nora likes the dark that surrounds her. And beside the glow coming from her computer screen, she truly comes alive in the dark. The coffee beside her has become cold at this point, already forgotten the moment she had sat down in her chair. San Francisco had already fallen asleep at this time of night, the flickering streetlamp just outside her apartment was the only thing still 'alive'.

She breaths out, a puff of air brushing against a stray piece of blonde hair as it gently wisps back and forward. The numbers on her screen pass by quickly, loading on her screen as quick as they disappear again.

Has she mentioned her occupation is anything but legal yet?

"Are you trying to get into Stark Industries again?"

She also didn't mention her curious roommate Micky.

Now sweet innocent Micky, where to start with him? A bit of a weird obsession with Froot Loops-no one is allowed to touch those! A knack for remembering everything. An eidetic memory can come in handy from time to time, and the social skills of an awkward preteen.

But she likes Mickey a lot despite it, and he is loyal to the core, which is a pretty important factor on her friendship scale.

"No...?" She smiles half-heartedly, brown eyes wandering up to look at the man standing in the doorframe, messy hair of dirty blonde curls falling in his face.

"Really now?" Micky grins, still half asleep as he drags himself further in the living room.

Nora hums, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose out of habit, eyes already focused back on the screen.

"He found out it is you yet?"

Now, to clarify, Nora is not stealing any money from famous Mr. Tony Stark, she can care less about such materialistic things. She is more fond of secrets-the power they can hold. She reeled in some big shady and horror-filled secrets in the past. But her curiosity can never be truly satisfied, which led her to the one and only Stark Industries.

Tony Stark was not stupid-which is obvious to most of the world. His impulsive decision making skills...less bright, but nonetheless, the billionaire makes for a good opponent. So for the last couple of months, Nora would dig around his systems, hoping to find a good secret to keep, always leaving the same message behind for the man to find.

You should lock your doors.

Sadly Tony Stark didn't seem to have any secrets anymore, he usually told them himself before anyone else could. He managed to keep Iron Man a secret for maybe two weeks before blurting it out in a big press meeting on live television. But the chase remained fun, the new locks he put on his servers growing more and more advanced over time.

It made for a good learning experience-as long as she remained anonymous obviously.

"You should be careful Noor." Mickey warned her, replacing her cold cup of coffee with a freshly steaming mug of herbal tea. "It's all fun and games until he throws your ass in jail."

"I'm being careful, you know that Mick." Nora replied, finally facing away from her screen and grabbing the yellow and red Iron Man mug (-a very funny gift from Micky. )

"If you say so." Micky breathed out, his own tea-filled mug clasped in his hands.

"We got a notice again." Nora spoke up, gesturing to the disregarded paper on the coffee table that their landlord ever so kindly dropped off yesterday.

"What she say this time?" Micky wondered, already knowing that Nora and the grouchy elderly lady didn't get along in the slightest.

"The same bullshit speech, be on time, no postponement, no excuses." Nora mimicked the landlord's high pitched voice. "Greedy woman." She scoffed.

"Nora, ever since we moved in here, we've had to postpone our payment." Micky justified with a heavy sigh.

"I know, I know." Nora apologised, "My job is just so irregular at this point, like I can't go around parading with a business card saying hacker for hire, now can I?"

Micky pushed his messy curls away from his eyes, "Maybe you should look for a daytime job?" He suggested.

"Not this again."

"Come on Noor, I don't want to get thrown out, and you don't want to either. Just until you can get your erh-business booming again?"

Nora sighed in defeat, knowing her friend was right, but admitting that was out of the question for the blonde woman. "I'll take a look, but no promises."

"That's all I can ask of you." Micky nodded.

"Why are you up already?" Nora questioned, glancing at the clock that read 4:15 am, as if she only now realised what absurd a time it was to have a talk like this. "there's only place for one insomniac in this apartment." She joked.

"Well I guess I'm booting you from that position." Micky jested, before turning serious as he held up his phone, showing the caller ID that had tried to get in contact with him.

Nora grimaced at the sight, "Sorry buddy."

"I'm used to it." He waved her off.

"Want me to drain his bank account?" Nora offered, facing the man with a concerned look on her face.

Micky chuckled, but to a well-trained ear, or better said to Nora, it sounded hollow. "No thank you."

"Want to score a very early breakfast?"

"It's like you read my mind."

San Francisco at 4:30 AM is in deep slumber for the most part, and only a certain group of people dares to wander outside in the cold morning air. Of course the landlord lady is already seated behind her desk when they descend down the stairs. Her wrinkled face is narrowed in a suspicious glare when she notices them.

Nora might need a couple hours of sleep to function-but that woman seems to be forever awake without fault. She wonders if the woman is a damn poltergeist haunting her at this point.

"Morning Mrs. McCall." Micky awkwardly waves at the woman, stumbling over the ugly blueish carpet as Nora catches his arm to haul him back before he faceplants.

The greying woman just huffs, turning her head away from them.

"Good morning to you too." Nora mutters as she pushes the front door open, loose chipped paint pieces falling on the ground.

"Damn it's cold." Micky grimaced as they step out in the morning air, a chilly breeze pushing against their skin.

They walk the same path they always do on mornings like this, where Nora has been up most of the night and Micky gotten another undesirable call again. She knows it by heart at this point.

When they turn the first corner, Mr. Rakowski will be sleeping on a bench, the friendly drifter always sending them a kind smile on their way back when he had found another ten dollar bill tucked in his tattered hat where they had left it for him. At the end of the street the Morrison family would be up already, getting there seven kids ready for school. The youngest would probably already be throwing a fit while the oldest, a teenage boy would be sitting on the front steps with his headphones in.

They would give the boy a nod, which her returned before they would turn the last corner, where a little old lady would be walking her dog-one that was almost as big as she was.

After that they would stop in front of Raymonds a little dinner that was open twenty four seven, the owner, Bill Raymond would be in the kitchen, while his wife Mary would stand behind the counter.

The bell dinged as they entered, and they were immediately engulfed by the warmth, and as expected Mary was standing behind the counter, white apron tied around her waist as she drummed her fingers against the counter.

It seemed Micky and she were the first to enter today-or maybe everyone else had already left. It was hard to tell really.

"Morning Mary." Nora greeted the kind woman with a bright smile, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose.

"Up and about already kiddos?" Mary greeted the two regular customers, already scribbling down their usual order before placing it on the counter by the kitchen behind her.

"You know it Mary." Nora chuckled while Micky remained mostly silent, as he always did.

"Hey! Nora and Micky here?" The three could here Bill call out from the kitchen before a second later his head popped up from behind the counter, a gleeful smile on his face as he regarded the two young adults.

"Of course Bill." Nora replied, "you should know to expect us at this time by now."

"Very true kiddo, very true." Bill agreed, "Your order will be right up."

"Thanks Bill." Nora grinned before pulling Micky with her to one of the booths by the window.

It was silent for a moment as the two stared outside the window, slowly watching the dark streets become more alive as the sun started to peek through.

"Hey look."

Nora blinked, turning to look at Micky who pointed at something across the street. "What?"

"You don't see it?" Micky laughed, "They're looking for personnel."

Nora tried to follow his gaze until it finally landed on the poster.

What do you want to be when you grow up? The age old question all children get asked on a regular basis And so it has been asked of wide eyed Nora Ruthgers for a million times. Which was fairly understandable seeing as the blonde girl changed her mind faster than one could blink. A princess, a chef, a zookeeper, a doctor and astronaut.

And while hacker hadn't made that list back then, Nora can't say a Baskin and Robbins employee sounds that desirable either.

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⊱ ────── {⋅. AUTHORS NOTE .⋅} ────── ⊰

hi! welcome to the third installment of the legends series, and the very first chapter of haven! I hope you enjoyed this little peek inside of Nora's life and who she is as a person! Plus I absolutely adore Micky! He will be a regular in this book, not quite sure yet if you'll see him crossover much in the other books! I would love to hear your thougths on the story so far! thanks for reading! 🥰