Unbelievers

A/N: This is AU in the Marvel Universe in the way of the Maximoff twin's. I'm taking a totally different approach with their history and such, so that's AU, but the plot of the Avengers and the rest of the movies will stay the same. It's Wanda-centric, but Pietro plays a big part. Also, Wanda's personality has been tweaked considering how she grew up differs greatly.

Please read and review!

Sorry about grammar/spelling issues!

-christine

/ Chapter One /

/*\

There weren't a lot of things that particularly annoyed me, but one of them was when a customer attempted to push their mistake onto me. As the woman rattled off the list of how many things I had done wrong the other day when ringing up her order, one of those stupid sayings popped into my head: The customer is always right. Then, by that logic, what do you do when the customer is so, so wrong?

Digging my nails into my palms, I nodded as what I hoped came off as sympathetically.

"So," the woman finally finished, shoving a pile of books at me, "I'd like to return them all." She had the receipt sitting on the top book, and there was a brief moment where I wanted to take the tiny piece of paper and shred it, right in front of her, but I cooled off thankfully before I could do anything. I took it and scanned it instead, placing it on the side of the pile.

"No problem, miss," I said anyways, taking her credit card from her to scan it. "Sorry about the trouble."

Instead of replying, she sniffed.

Handing back her card and a new receipt, I watched as she left, the doors swinging open behind her and almost hitting a man who was coming in. I snorted, turning back to the register.

"She's so annoying," someone said behind me.

I turned, watching as Leah moved around behind me, stacking books up. Her fingers worked deftly to make sure they didn't fall, and she leaned up on her toes to get the rest of them. "Right?" I responded, leaning my elbows up on the table behind me. "Why is she so set on blaming everything on us?"

Leah shrugged. "Maybe she doesn't have a life."

I grinned. "Maybe?"

Turning her head back to smile at me, Leah nodded. "Okay, she doesn't have a life whatsoever."

There was a rustle as Sam pushed in a box using his legs, pushing his bangs back with his hand. "Maybe she has a reason for being mean. You don't know her life story." He bent down to start ripping open the top of it, and Leah made a noise when she realized it was full of more books for her to stack. I grinned, watching the two exchange a dark look.

"Look at you, being the peace-keeper," I cooed, turning around back to my post. There was no one in line, and it was a slow day to begin with. I was thankful for the lack of a crowd.

Sam laughed. "You know it."

Leah reached down and grabbed the first few, juggling them in her arms. She moved to the other end of the bookshelf and started placing them in neat rows.

Beside her, Sam was leaning against the desk, his head tossed back. "When does my shift end?" he asked, sounding distressed.

"When mine does," Leah pointed out. "So not for two more hours."

"Wonder how that'll be, considering I'm gone in five minutes." Gleefully, I turned to look at the clock, watching as the seconds slowly ticked by. By the look of the activity in the store, I guessed I wouldn't have to ring up another customer until tomorrow. Getting a head-start, I unpinned my nametag and placed it into my pocket.

There was a loud noise as the books toppled over, hitting Leah as she darted out of the way. She made a noise in the back of her throat. "Take me with you," she moaned, pulling at her hair. "I can't deal with this for two more hours."

"Have Sam help you." I reached down to retrieve my cell phone, placing it in my other pocket. "He doesn't look like he's doing much."

Sam suddenly moved to the other end of the counter, pointing at a young girl who was pulling out the comic books. "You know I'd help you, Lee, but I got a customer to help."

I reached over and stopped with a tug to his shirt. "I still got three minutes, Sammy. You can help Leah. I got the girl."

"You're a savior, Wanda," Leah chirped, watching happily as Sam slowly trekked back to help with the fallen pile of books. "See you tomorrow."

Ignoring the dark glares Sam sent my way, I started over towards the young girl. She had her hair pushed back into two pigtails, and her dress was the kind of bright orange that hurt your eyes. She was rocking back and forth on her heels, studying a Batman comic. Smiling gently, I bent down next to her. "Can I help you, honey?"

She turned to look at me, startled from her reading. "I want to read Wonder Woman."

"Well, then, you're looking at the wrong comic," I told her simply, and thumbed through a few of the comics to find the one I was looking for. Diana beamed up at me from the cover, the title big and impressive. "Here you go. One of the better ones. I've read it."

The girl took it quickly, looking up at me with her eyes wide. "You read this one?"

"Of course I did." I placed the forgotten Batman one back on the rack. "I love Wonder Woman. Have you read any of the comics with the Flash in them?"

She shook her head slowly. "No. Are they good?"

"Amazing."

She hid her face between the pages, suddenly looking embarrassed. "I love superheroes," she said quietly, as if afraid someone might overhear. "But my mom doesn't really think I should read them all the time."

I frowned. "Well, you're mother doesn't know how awesome they are, right? Read whatever you want, sweetheart. Anything in this entire store."

She lit up. "Anything?" she asked gleefully.

Hiding my laughter, I nodded. "There might be a few exceptions," I said carefully, remembering one section in the back that had made Sam laugh and Leah turn bright red. "But other than a few books, you can read anything you're able to."

The comic slid to the ground as she threw her arms around me. Surprised, I paused briefly before laughing and hugging her back. She pulled back after a few moments. "What's your name?" I asked her, remembering I hadn't gotten it.

"I'm Eleanor Williams," the girl said happily, sticking the comic book under her arm. "What's yours?"

"Wanda Maximoff."

She blinked, her mouth dropping open. "That's an awesome name! You could… You could be a superhero!" She beamed up at me as if this was the most amazing thing in the world, and her eyes sparkled, fingers gripping the pages of the comic so tightly I was afraid it would rip.

"Well, one of the most important things about a superhero is their superhero name," I said slowly. "And I don't have a superhero name."

"I could come up with one for you!" She moved closer to me. "Can I?"

How could I say no? "Of course, Eleanor."

She frowned. "Call me Ellie, okay?"

I nodded. "Sure thing. Now, do you want that comic book?"

She glanced down at it, chewing her bottom lip. "Yes… But I don't think my mom will buy it for me." She looked around, trying to see where her mom was. "Maybe some other time."

Shaking my head, I gestured towards the front. "Here. I'll buy it for you."

"What? Really?" When I nodded again, Ellie dove forward and wrapped her arms around my legs. She was super tiny for a girl her age, but it only added to her adorableness. "Thank you so much! Thank you! Thank you!"

Laughing, I ruffled her hair. "You're welcome."

/*\

"You wouldn't believe this kid at work today," I told my parents as I moved around the house, helping my mother with dinner. We moved around the kitchen in sync, having done so many times before. "She was the cutest thing, and she couldn't have been more than six years old. I helped her pick out a comic book, and she told me I could be a superhero."

Mom laughed, pushing her hair behind her ear. "And what did you say?"

"I told her I couldn't be a superhero," I recalled, "considering I don't have a cool superhero name."

"Wanda Maximoff," my mother said, holding her hands up as if to show me an imaginary sign. "Isn't that a cool name by itself?"

Shrugging, I took out the plates and placed them on the table. Three sets of silverware, and then the cups, and I finished quickly. "Yeah, I guess, but that doesn't really happen nowadays. What did they call that superhero back in the day… Captain America, right? And don't tell me his name was actually Captain America."

Mom rolled her eyes. "Maybe it was."

"No way."

"You don't know for sure."

"I'll look it up."

"Get back to me on it."

We both laughed and she wiped her hands on a towel. "Grab your father. Dinner's ready."

By the time we had all settled down at the dining table, I had already eaten more than half of my dinner, despite my mother's warnings at me to wait. I was ravenous, and my mother's warnings did little than to make pause before I took another bite.

My family was a little odd, but I loved them. My mother, Marya, was a stay at home mother, which was awesome during my school years, because if I needed something she was able to get over to my school without any trouble. Now, it just meant that she bugged me for not getting out enough; not because I had a lack of things to do, but because I was inside doing other things (things that involved a certain ability of mine). My father, Django, made dolls, incredibly beautiful ones that sold for insane amounts of money.

Both of them were the best parents I could ever ask for, and I never took them for granted; but there was always the fact that before me, they had two other children. Two other children that never got the chance to grow up, and I always felt as though I was just the one that escaped, the one that managed to stay alive even though I never really had much to offer. They didn't talk about them much, though, and the only thing I really knew about them was theirs names – Ana and Mateo.

"So, Wanda," Mom said, breaking me from my reverie, "Have you decided what you want to do about the bookstore job yet?"

I twirled my fork on my plate. "I don't know. I don't want to drop it because I still don't really know what kind of job I want."

"Well, didn't you want to get one based on your Major?" my father asked.

My Major was Psychology. "Probably… But there's still a lot of time left for me to choose. I don't want to get roped into something I don't want to do. And besides, it just gives me a lot of time to hang out with Leah and Sam."

My mother looked interested at the mention of my close friends. "And how are they?"

"Mom, you saw them yesterday," I pointed out, "and Leah nearly ran over your flowers with her new car. How could you forget that mess?"

Mom laughed. "Point taken. But what about Sam? I haven't spoken with him in forever."

It'd only been two days since she'd last spoken with him, but I let it slide. "He's cool. We were out at the mall the other day, and we ran into this guy, and I swear, he and Sam could've been twins. How cool would that be, though? To have a twin?"

It seemed I'd said something wrong. My parents exchanged a look, and my mother looked considerably paler. Dad put down his knife and took a sip of his drink. "That'd be… something, Wanda."

Okay, strange. I paused, putting my own fork down. "There's something you're not telling me."

"What are you talking about?" Mom stood from her seat and collected the dishes. I didn't know dinner was over, but I guess know it was. They had always been this way – if there was something they wanted to keep from me, they'd basically shut down and move to another topic. It'd only happened a few times before. "How about dessert?"

As she moved back to the kitchen, I aimed my pointed stare at my father. "What is it?"

He sighed. "Nothing, Wanda."

"It can't be nothing," I said quickly, pushing my chair back. "It has to be something, because you wouldn't act like that if it were nothing."

"Act like what?" he questioned.

"Just… shut down like that." I crossed my arms over my chest and scowled. "Can you please tell me? It can't be that bad."

Dad shook his head. "Not tonight, Wanda."

"Fine." I scraped back in my chair and started towards my room. "I'm not in the mood for dessert anyways."

/*\

Leah had a rather loose grip on Damien's collar, but I didn't mention it. The small Corgi bounded forward in front of us, sniffing at everything he could get his nose on. She'd had the dog for only six months now, and he hadn't seemed to get any better with obedience. Not like Leah minded; she gave that dog anything it wanted.

"But what would you think your parents would have to hide from you?" Leah asked.

"I don't know. But it's probably big. Otherwise, why hide it?" I tucked my hands in the pockets of my jacket.

The park was lively today, I noted. Kids and their parents were everywhere, and there was an abundant amount of dogs. Frisbees were tossed too close for comfort, and kites filled the sky more than clouds. Cars were lined up and down the street, stretching further than I could see.

Leah tossed her head back, chewing on her lip. "Maybe… Maybe you're an alien. From another planet. And, oh my God, it makes so much sense, with your powers, Wanda, you're Superman!" She turned to me excitedly, eyes wide. "You are literally Superman. Put on some glasses and call yourself Clark Kent, because you are Superman."

I rolled my eyes and gave her a playful shove. "Shut up."

"You are!" She laughed, calming down. "But seriously, maybe it has to do with your powers? It is pretty big stuff, Wanda. How long did it take me to get used to them."

"Nearly a year, and even after that you fainted whenever you saw me use them."

"Because you use them every five years, if that," Leah pointed out. "If you don't use them as often as you should, you'll never be able to control them." She chewed on the inside of her cheek. "That could be… dangerous."

I frowned, kicking along a rock with my foot. "I could hurt someone."

"No!" she said quickly, touching my arm. "I don't believe you could ever hurt someone, Wanda. But I was thinking more along the lines of maybe destroying a house or two? Burning down the city?"

"Which could hurt people."

"Can you please get off the subject of hurting people?"

I sighed. "But the possibility is still there, Leah. And I don't want to do anything that could put someone in danger."

She reached out to grab my hand, squeezing it. "Then train it. Control it. Use it to help someone."

I tugged my hand back, using it to push my hair behind my ear. "I don't know if that's possible," I said bitterly, trying to swallow past a sudden lump in my throat. "I can't learn to control it on my own. I'm a freak. Who'd want to help a freak?"

"Don't say that." Leah pulled us down onto a bench, wrangling Damien back in. She turned to look at me, pulling out her signature puppy-dog look that made a lot of people do things they'd normally never do. "You are not a freak. You're going to be a hero, Wanda Maximoff. I can feel it."

"You can feel it?" I joked, rolling my eyes. "I don't know, Leah. I just don't know."

Leah opened her mouth as if to retort, but suddenly Damien must have spotted a cat, because he tugged too quickly, and the leash that had been loosely wrapped around her wrist came sliding off. She yelped and leaned forward, her fingers trying to catch the leash, but Damien was off, running faster than I'd ever seen him go. People dodged out of his way, and kids watched, amused, as he bounded off after a cat.

Both Leah and I sprang after him, legs working to catch up to him.

Damien had gone into the back area of the park, the section that was surrounded by old, dark trees, and the sun was almost always cut off from it. People never went back here, and it made it easier for us to catch up to Damien.

In what seemed like slow-motion, we both watched as Damien darted onto the street, and the truck sped around the corner-

And in what was definitely not slow-motion, and more blunt reflex, my arm shot out, and I squinted, trying my best to summon what strength at it. A harsh feeling filled the pit of my stomach, and a red light surrounded the palm of my hand. In a matter of seconds, Damien had been pushed back a few feet, and the truck sped on.

My heart lifted with relief and Leah fell onto her knees as she scooped Damien into her arms, squeezing him tightly and pressing her face into his fur. My knees were shaky, but I remained standing as I took a deep breath, trying to see straight again. This always took a lot out of me.

"Oh, thank you," Leah nearly shouted. "Thank you, Wanda, thank you, thank you, thank you."

"Yeah, it was nothing." I waved off her thanks and, after catching my breath, I glanced around. "You don't think anyone saw that, did you?"

Leah tightly wrapped the leash around her hand this time, careful not to make the same mistake. She stood, brushed off her jeans, and took a look around the park. "No… No I think you're good."

Sighing, I nodded. "Okay. Okay, cool."

Leah's hands were still shaking as we trekked back to the main part of the park. She still hadn't gotten over the scare, and I guess, and I didn't blame her. "But, see?" she said, bumping her hip into mine. "You did all that without training. Imagine what you could do with training!"

"Leave it, Leah," I warned.

She frowned, but thankfully left it.

/*\

There's this tradition we have working at the bookstore – every morning, someone has to bring in the coffees. It rotates, and this morning it was my turn. Standing in line at the shop, I flicked through my cell phone for something to do. I shifted my weight onto my other foot, pressed my lips into a line, and hoped the people would move quicker.

"Could I speak with you?"

Turning on my heel, I found myself facing a redheaded woman who looked as though she could kill me. I paused, raising my hand and pointing at myself. "Are you speaking to me?"

She grinned. "Yes."

"I, uh, well… I have to get coffee," I told her, finding my words. I pointed to the long line in front of us.

"Would you mind getting them after? This'll only take a second."

"I, uh, okay. Sure." I did not want to say no. I followed her to a table in the back, and we both took a seat across from each other. I crossed my ankles and nervously bit my thumb nail. I thought I'd lost that habit back in middle school, but it chose now to make itself known. I pulled my hand away, annoyed, sticking it underneath my thighs so I couldn't bring it back up. "So, if you don't mind me asking, who are you?"

The redhead grinned. "Natasha Romanoff. I work for S.H.I.E.L.D."

Whatever that was. "I'm Wanda Maximoff."

"I know," she replied, leaning back in her chair. "I came to speak with you about having you possibly come join. We could use a person with your abilities."

I had a feeling she wasn't speaking about my ability to interact with children under the age of 10. "What abilities?"

She raised an eyebrow. "You can change reality."

"I'm not admitting to anything, because I don't have such powers, but if I did, it'd be manipulating probability. I can't change the fact that someone might be hit by a car, but I could change the probability that they won't be hit." My little outburst made my cheeks turn red, but Natasha smiled smugly. "I can't do any of that, by the way."

"I'm pretty sure you can," Natasha said simply.

I frowned. "Got any proof?"

"As a matter of fact," she spoke, pulling out an advanced looking cell phone from her pocket, "I do." She opened the screen, and just by looking at the thumbnail I knew what it was.

It was a video of the whole Damien incident from yesterday. I watched Leah and I run after the dog, and I watched my hand shoot out, sparks of scarlet light coming from my palm. I watched as the dog was suddenly yanked back, the truck speeding along without hitting the poor creature. I felt sick. "How did you get that video? No one… No one was in that section of the park."

"You might want to watch your surroundings a little better next time, Miss Maximoff." Natasha took her phone back from me. "Is that proof enough that you have such abilities?"

I had a sudden urge to bite my thumbnail again. "…I suppose."

"You seem like you want to control your abilities," she added. "If you join S.H.I.E.L.D, we can help you control them."

"And what's the catch?" I retorted. There was always a catch.

"There's a looming threat on the horizon that we're aware of it." She shrugged casually. "You help us take care of it when the time comes. Nothing big."

Nothing big… I clasped my hands on the table, and thoughts of my parents filled my mind. They already two children that had died, and I didn't want to get myself in any unnecessary danger. I chewed on my lip. "I'm sorry, but I don't think I'm what you're looking for."

"On the contrary, you're exactly what we're looking for." She seemed adamant about it.

Shaking my head, I uncrossed my legs. "Could I have some time to think about it?"

"Of course. We'll send someone soon to see about your decision." Natasha pushed back from her chair, and gave me a small smile before she slipped out the door and into the crowd outside. I watched her leave, and then sat, deep within my thoughts for a few minutes.

What could this organization want with me? I was nothing but a lost girl who had no control whatsoever about her so-called powers. I would be of no help.

Yes, exactly. No help whatsoever.

And I'd tell that to whoever came to recruit me next.

I pushed away from my own seat and ambled back into line, sticking my hands in my pockets. The line moved slowly in front of me again, full of young college kids looking to keep themselves up for their next set of classes. I used to be one of them. I smiled. The ordinary life was fine with me. I had coffees to pick up.