Chapter One
The Battle of Wits

A tense silence fills the air, the five opponents peer at each other suspiciously, reluctant to make a move, especially with so much hanging in the balance. Finally, one of them lays down their hand, gray eyes squinted, voice decisive.

"B.S."

"DAMN!" Tony Stark splutters angrily, pulling the massive card pile towards him. "How did you know?!"

Sonya King let's out a relieved sigh, clutching her two remaining cards to her chest. "I didn't."

"Who's turn is it?" Wanda Maximoff inquires.

"Mine." Her brother Pietro replies, laying two cards face down. "Two kings."

"One ace." The Vision follows up, placing down his own card.

"B.S." Wanda calls.

The android flips over the card to reveal the ace of spades, smirking as she collects the small pile. Wanda then sets down a card. "One two."

"Four threes." Tony says, slapping the cards down.

"Two fours." Sonya lays down her cards.

"B.S." Pietro blurts. "You can not. That is much to convenient." He checks the cards, sighing in defeat as he turns over the four of diamonds and the four of hearts. "Dammit. How are you so good at this game? You normally can't lie to save your life!"

"Well, you're not wrong." The healer grins, gathering up the cards. Tony glances at his phone as Wanda and Vision strike up a conversation. Sonya hands Pietro half of the deck. "Shuffle these. My hands are too small."

The speedster complies, shuffling the cards aggressively. "Are we going to play another game? I want to beat you all in Gin Rummy again."

"No!" Sonya exclaims. "No more playing Slap-Jack for you, sir! You are much too slap-happy."

"You are jealous because I win every time."

"No, I'm annoyed because it's no fun playing with you. You always win."

Pietro laughs and hands Sonya his shuffled half-deck. "Are we playing again or not?" He asks.

"Sorry, Roadrunner." Tony says, climbing to his feet. "I've got a thing to attend to. Aren't you guys due in the Training Room soon, anyway?"

"What time is it?" Wanda asks, checking her phone. She glances at the time and swears in Sokovian. "We are late. Steve will not be happy." She stands up and dusts off her skirt. "Come."

Sonya grumbles, but follows her friend. "If we're lucky, he won't notice." Just then, the PA system binged and the Captain's voice came over the speakers.

"Sonya, Wanda, Pietro! Where are you guys?!"

"He noticed." Pietro says sarcastically. His sister and girlfriend roll their eyes.

The Avenger's Facility, where Sonya and the Maximoffs now spend most of their time training, was chock-full of SHIELD agents and super heroes alike. It was nowhere near the size of the old SHIELD, but sufficient. No one ever glanced twice at the three (except for newbies, but that was to be expected) and it felt good to belong. Sonya always complained that the compound was much too big, but she still liked the place, especially how everyone finally recognized her title of 'Doctor' (No more 'Miss' King.). Pietro was enthralled with the extensive grounds, thrilled to finally have a place to run. He had never been happier. Wanda was fond of the easiness with which the SHIELD agents dealt with their superpowered colleagues. Wanda talking to them telepathically? It's fine. An overly-hyper Pietro running through the halls like a maniac? They'd seen it. Peter crawling along the ceiling? No big deal.

Steve Rogers is whaling away at the punching bag by the time the three younger Avengers have changed in to training clothes and arrived at the gym.

"You're late." He says, unwrapping the tape from his knuckles.

"Sorry." Wanda mumbles, glancing down.

"Does she actually feel bad or is she being manipulative?" Sonya quietly asks Pietro as Steve starts quietly panicking.

The speedster shrugs. "I do not know." He raises his voice, addressing Steve. "What are we going to do today?"

The Captain turns. "You are going to be working on your endurance." Pietro groans, but is ignored. "Ten laps around the full perimeter of the grounds as warm up."

"Do I have to?"

"Yes. Now shoo." The speedster vanishes in a flash of blue, slamming the door behind him. Steve turns to Wanda. "You will be working on some more basic hand-to-hand. Nat will help you with that." Natasha waves from over by the mats. Wanda heads over there.

"What about me?" Sonya asks.

"Weapons training with Bucky." Steve replies. The healer sighs.

"I don't wanna."

"Too bad." Cap gives her a little shove towards Bucky. Sonya trails over.

"Is Peter coming in today?" She asks the Soldier, tying her hair back.

"I'm not sure. We think so." He replies, strolling over to the firing range, the girl hurrying after him. "We're gonna work on accuracy first today." He says, holding the door open for her. "It's gonna be pretty simple." He casually hands her a pistol. Sonya takes it gingerly.

"I know I've been living with dozens of soldiers and agent and assassins for a while, but I still am not fond of guns. I don't like hurting people."

"Think of it as a tool to protect yourself with as opposed to a weapon with which to kill." Bucky says, fitting earplugs in. "Stand back."

The gun fires with a crack, causing Sonya to wince. "Ow. My ears."

"Plugs are on the shelf." Bucky says. "Hurry up."

"To the left or the right of the hand grenades." She says sarcastically as she grabs a pair. Through the bullet-proof glass of the door she sees Steve watching seriously as Pietro jogs on his treadmill (A super fast one designed by Tony Stark himself). She laughs at the speedster's exasperated expression, before hurrying back to Bucky.

Tony turns to glance as Sonya and the Maximoffs clatter into the kitchen, having finally escaped the clutches of their trainers. "Training a bitch today?" He asks.

Sonya nods wearily, guzzling down a glass of water. "Yeah. I'm gonna go take a shower." She turns to go, but Tony stops her.

"Have you ever heard of an organization called Kineto Corps?" He asks. The healer pauses in the doorway, frowning.

"Not... Not off the top of my head. It sounds familiar. I'm sure I've heard that somewhere." She thinks a bit more, before shaking her head. "Nope, sorry. I can't remember. Was it important?"

Tony shakes his head. "No, not really. You two haven't either?" He glances at the twins, who shake their heads and leave. The engineer calls after them as they leave. "I'm heading back to the Tower tonight if you guys are down for dinner with me and Pepper. Peter will be there, too."

"Sounds great!" Sonya calls. "We'll come!"

"Seriously, how do you do it?" Sonya asks, flopping over on Wanda's bed. The two were enjoying being home, the boys off playing an intense game of Mario Kart with Tony, since Pepper had had to run off to another meeting.

"Do what?" The other girl asks, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. Remedy wanders over to the guitar and picks it up.

"Look so nice all of the time!" She gestures to Wanda's outfit (red jeans and an airy white blouse under a leather jacket) in exasperation. "Every other woman in this place is an amazing stylist, and I have trouble tying my shoes. I look like a sad trash hobo." Sonya gestures to her own outfit, a pair of black leggings, a pale white t-shirt, and an over-large men's flannel shirt.

"You look very cozy." Wanda says, before gesturing to her guitar, which the other girl is still holding. "Can you play guitar?"

"No. I'm not very musical."

"But you can draw."

Sonya frowns. "How did you know?"

"You and Steve were talking about drawing pencils the other day. I sort of put two and two together."

Remedy laughs. "Oh! That! I remember. We were talking about shading techniques. He was drawing the cutest little puppy."

Wanda opens her mouth to ask about Sonya's drawings, when a loud alarm starts blaring. "LOCKDOWN: CODE BLUE." F.R.I.D.A.Y.'s voice says. "Please remain calm."

A/N: There's chapter one! I hope you guys will like this story as much as the last one! Please read and review!