Chapter One | Hard Times

Wanda

"I promise I will be back before midnight, malá sestra," Pietro had assured her. "You do not need to worry about me." He had placed a kiss on her forehead and closed the apartment door behind him.

He always made promises like that, but he never stuck to them, always certain that this little sister would not call him out on it. She didn't of course, because she knew that what he did was important. Working in the mob had its benefits like money and protection from the people of the streets, but it didn't make it any less dangerous for Pietro and herself. People would do anything to get to him, and sometimes that included hurting Wanda.

Pietro was part of The Avengers, one of the biggest and most powerful gangs in America. Tony Stark was the founder but Steve Rogers was unofficially elected the leader, getting the nickname Captain in return. They all had names that were similar to Steve's to keep a certain degree of anonymity, Pietro explained to her one day. If they were to discuss business with another mob, they would use their code names or stick simply to first names in order to protect their families, if they had any. Pietro had the name Quicksilver due to his agility and ability to pickpocket someone in record time without being noticed, and also because of his infamous silver hair which he dyed from brown. She never understood why but didn't once question him.

Wanda was sat in an oversized shirt in her dark living room, the only light source being from the TV when she heard light footsteps tread up the stairs that lead to the apartment. She looked at the clock above the television and saw that it was an hour past midnight.

The door opened and her brother walked in, greeted her with a small smile and then stepped to the side. There was a woman with him, a tall figure shrouded by darkness. Wanda hoped she wouldn't have to get out her earplugs for the night. It would not have been the first time he brought a lady friend over.

"Wanda," Pietro smiled, walking towards his little sister. He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "I'm sorry that I am late again. I did not mean to keep you up."

"Do not worry, bratku," she managed a smile back, pressing down her annoyance. "Who is your friend?"

The woman in question stepped closer after shutting the door behind her, hands tucked into the pockets of her leather jacket as she stood slightly behind Pietro. Pietro glanced back at the woman and the woman nodded like she was giving him permission. Wanda's eyebrows furrowed.

"This is Ace," he introduced rather awkwardly. "Part of The Avengers." So, business then, not pleasure. Pietro sometimes brought the members around, so it was not much of a surprise. Wanda met Natasha and Steve and enjoyed both of their companies. Tony Stark was a bit too... boisterous for her taste, but he seemed pleasant, too.

"You must be the baby sister," Ace nodded towards her, one side of her face bathed in the dim glow of the TV screen, so Wanda could not really see her. "Not much of a baby, though."

"Ace," Pietro hissed, turning to point his finger in her face. "My sister? Off-limits."

Ace held her hands up in mock surrender as Wanda flushed bright red. "Making an observation, Silver. I'm not gonna fuck your little sister." Wanda burned an even brighter red, thankful that it was too dark for them to notice. "Anyway," she clapped her hands together, turning back to Pietro, "we've got business to discuss."

Pietro rolled his eyes and Ace gave Wanda a little salute with a side-smirk and wink, before the two moved to the meeting room, shutting the door behind them.

A few hours later, Wanda was still awake, tucked underneath a thick blanket, but was beginning to drift off when the meeting room door opened. Pietro and Ace exchanged a few words that the sleepy woman could not hear and then the woman slapped her brother on the shoulder, before moving across the room to look out of the full-length window which took up the entire wall.

"You got a better view than me, Silver," Ace said, arms crossed over her chest. Her dark silhouette stood out against the bright lights of the city below. "Does Stark pay you extra or something?"

"No, I just know how to spend money correctly." Pietro's shadowed head turned to look at Wanda, who seemed asleep. "But... yes, he technically does. I have someone else to take care of."

"I know the feeling," Ace muttered, laughing softly. "Gotta be nice though. Getting back home and looking at this view. It's fucking gorgeous."

"Yeah," Pietro quietly agreed. "I hope we get to keep it."

"Hydra's stuck in a loop," Ace stated, keeping her voice low. Wanda's ears perked up at that. Pietro rarely went into detail about business, but she knew that Hydra was an opposing gang, known widely for their brutal torture. "Especially now, since pretty much everyone fled after Shield took them down. Unless they find somewhere to regroup, we're in the safe."

"For now," Pietro added. "It doesn't mean they won't attack us again. If we don't take the threat seriously, they will strike, and it will hurt us."

"This isn't like last time, Silver," Ace said. Wanda listened in confusion. "Rumlow isn't holding the reins anymore. He's dead."

"Because you disobeyed orders, Ace," Pietro argued. "If we had him in for questioning-"

"The media would be five feet up our asses and he would have escaped anyway," she interrupted, turning her head to look at Pietro. "Steve doesn't agree with what happened, but everyone knows that it was for the best he was gone. He was controlling Schmidt and now he's not. It gave us the opportunity to show that we're serious about our threats, so now he won't even think twice about making a move. Hydra is three times smaller than us."

"Doesn't mean they're not a threat, Ace" Pietro pointed out. "Cut off one head-"

"And two more shall take its place," Ace finished. "Yeah, it's a shit quote and logistically impossible."

Wanda caught her brother shrugging a shoulder. "It's not just the gang that it's in danger."

"Silver," Ace warned.

"Strucker went after your family, Ace," he said. Wanda's frown deepened.

"And we're not talking about this," Ace snapped, a little bit too loudly judging by the fact she hurriedly glanced towards Wanda still form. "He's been compromised," she whispered. "He isn't the issue here."

"But he's still out there."

A loud bang cut their conversation short, and Wanda sat up.

Pietro and Ace got into action immediately, the former rushing towards Wanda and the latter pulling a gun from the back of her jeans.

Pietro whispered come on and it's okay as he got her out of her seat, but before he could drag her to safety, the door burst open, sending splinters flying everywhere.

Wanda was pulled behind Pietro's form and she clung desperately to his back, his shirt balled up between her fists. She looked to her right and saw that Ace had a hard look on her face, gun in her grasp but not aimed towards the intruders. Her finger was touching the trigger.

"We do not want trouble," a thick Russian accent spoke. "We just want Ace."

"A lot of people want me, big guy," Ace replied, her eyebrow twitching and head tilted. "Why do you?"

"We do not discuss business."

Wanda peered around her brother's shoulder just in time to see the man raise his heavy gun towards the woman. Before he could pull the trigger, though, Ace pushed herself forward and slid on her knees towards the intruder, kicking her leg out and twisting her body last second to catch his ankle. He stumbled forward and hit the ground as his gun slid out of his grasp.

Pietro quickly moved forward and kicked the gun away as Ace punched the man hard on the head, knocking him out. She pulled up the unconscious man's sleeve and cursed.

"Hydra?" Pietro asked, pulling Wanda close to his side. The girl was shaking, grabbing onto the hand holding her shoulder.

"Who the fuck else?" Ace muttered, standing up. She shook her head and rubbed her eyes in agitation, fists clenched tightly. "Right after I called them spineless, no less." Wanda leaned forward slightly and narrowed her eyes at the man's forearm. There was an angry red scar burned into his skin in the shape of what looked like a three-headed octopus.

"More will be on their way," Pietro stated, letting go of his sister. He bent down and grabbed the abandoned gun from the floor, hitting some kind of button on the side. Bullets fell out of the magazine and hit the floor with quiet tinks. "Get Wanda out of here, Ace, take her to one of Stark's safe-places."

Ace opened her mouth in obvious protest but Wanda beat her to the punch. "You cannot send me away with a complete stranger, Pietro. Take me to Tony Stark instead. It is safe there."

"Wanda-"

"No, I am not leaving you-!"

"Budete ma počúvať a robiť, ako hovorím!" Pietro shouted, sending the girl into a shocked silence. You will listen to me and do as I say!

"I'm not leaving you here alone, Silver," Ace said, surprisingly agreeing with the girl. "You said it yourself, more will be on their way and you can't fight them alone."

"They're going to be here for the documents," Pietro said, glancing at Wanda. "We cannot let them get those files, Ace. We cannot."

They stared at each other in silence for a few moments; Pietro's gaze of stubborn determination and Ace's of impassiveness clashing in the middle. They broke it when multiple pairs of heavy footsteps rapidly approached the apartment.

"Ace, please," Pietro whispered in desperation.

"You cannot fight them all, Pietro," Wanda's voice cracked, her breathing coming in heavy.

"I'm not going to," he replied. "They call me Quicksilver for a reason, baby sister."

Ace gripped the gun in her hand, head cocking to the side in exasperation. "I'm kicking your ass next time I see you," was all she said before grabbing Wanda's arm.

"Pietro," Wanda whispered helplessly, stumbling backwards with the woman's steps.

"I'll be fine," he said with a small grin. "They won't see me coming."

Ace managed a small laugh. "Asshole."

And then Wanda was being dragged to the fire escape, where the cold air bit into her skin.

Ace

The girl's legs were tucked to her chest and her face turned towards the window of the car to hide the tears streaming down her face, but Ace could see her body shaking from her peripheral. They made it down the fire escape and ran into two of Hydra's goons that Ace steadily moved around without being noticed.

She would have simply fought them but having a whimpering girl clinging to her arm changed things. In the parking lot, Pietro's tyres were slashed but her Jeep was still perfectly intact, she noted after checking over every inch of the vehicle, much to the woman's relief. If her car was tampered with, she'd be pissed as hell.

After Ace was certain that they were not being followed, she slid off her leather jacket and handed it to Wanda, who readily accepted it. She was only wearing a sleep shirt and shorts, so the poor girl must have been freezing running out in the rainy New York.

"We've got about a two-hour drive ahead of us," Ace broke the frosty silence, tapping her fingers against the steering wheel. Wanda shifted her head in the woman's direction but didn't look at her. "Maybe an extra half hour since we gotta take a few back alleys. Doubt we're being followed but can't take the risk."

"Where are we going?" the girl mumbled, her Slovak accent thick from exhaustion.

"A place called Ramsey, 'bout 15 minutes from Oakland," Ace replied. "Stark has a bunch of safe-places around the country so we'll be good there. Might have to go around Connecticut if they catch up."

Wanda gave a small nod in response, leaning her head back against the window.

"You know, uh," Ace started, "I know it means jack shit coming from me, but your brother'll be fine. Probably doesn't make a difference but Stark has some phones hidden in the safe-house, they have their own separate wavelength or something so Hydra won't be able to hack into anything, and we'll get a hold of him then. He'll tell us what's going on and we'll make it back to New York in no time."

There was a slight pause. "You are right," the girl whispered. "It does not make a difference."

Ace chewed her lip and opted not to reply, instead leaning forward to turn on the cassette player. One by Metallica blasted from the speakers making Wanda jump, so Ace repeatedly hit the volume button to turn it down until it was quiet, as opposed to turning it up high as she would have preferred. The girl next to her was going through enough shit, and Ace didn't want to make her uncomfortable.

She was, what? In her late teens or very early twenties and she didn't know if her brother was dead or not. Ace wasn't lying when she said Pietro would have made it out unscathed. He's been in more difficult situations than having to fight a couple of Hydra members.

Schmidt wouldn't have ordered an attack like that, especially since his numbers were dwindling and Hydra was half the size of The Avengers. Ace was present at the meeting they signed contracts ensuring that they would stay on peaceful terms with one another, standing next to Tony Stark like a bouncer at a club. She wasn't necessarily his bodyguard, but everyone in the mob knew not to fuck with her, so it benefited Tony. He wasn't a hands-on man when it came to action, but boy did he know how to make high-quality tech; from the protective gear he gave his team to some of the more technological stuff that Ace didn't know the first thing about, the man was a genius.

It was about an hour into the drive when Ace noticed that an SUV had been following her path for around 15 minutes. Generally, it wouldn't be unusual since they were in the city and a lot of people were travelling the same routes, but going down the smaller roads at 4 a.m. couldn't be a coincidence. They weren't directly behind her but made it seem like they were taking a different route by pulling into a different lane from hers, which was smart, but not good enough to escape Ace's notice.

After several tense minutes, the SUV pulled off the intersection and Ace sighed in relief. That could have gone bad.

"Why can't we go to Stark's tower?" Wanda asked, nearly making Ace jump in her seat. "Why do we have to a different area?"

"It's protocol," she responded truthfully. "If even one of us are compromised, it means the rest of us could be, too, including Stark. So... imagine if I got a call from Steve or someone, and he said that it's safe where he is now and that I could drop by." It's happened before, so good enough example. "There's a chance he's being held hostage and is bait for me to go to him. I'll get overpowered and then probably killed." Wanda looked over her shoulder with wide eyes. "Well, that's worst-case scenario. And I'd know that Steve was lying because, like I said before, protocol. And I know my team inside and out."

"So this has happened before?"

"Yup," Ace replied, popping the p. The girl might not be warm towards her but at least she was talking. "Several times, actually. At least in my case."

If Wanda wanted to know any of the stories, she didn't ask. "Is Ace your real name?"

"Nah," she managed a laugh. "Just a dumb nickname I got when I joined."

"A code-name?" Wanda asked. "Like they call Pietro Quicksilver?"

"Kind of a code-name, yeah, but no one knows my real name," Ace informed her, much to the girl's surprise. "I know, right? Maybe Stark knows, but it's doubtful since my files were burned to the ground years ago."

"Oh," she whispered. "So why Ace?"

"In my old gang, the one before Avengers, I didn't have one," Ace started. "I mostly just got called girl or kiddo by the other guys. It was a small gang, very much dead now, but it was the only thing I really knew. It was mostly just missions for me, since I was a 16-year-old kid who no one would suspect, and one of my assignments was to rob Tony Stark." She looked to her right and saw that the girl's eyebrows furrowed. "It was during a game of poker, one of those typical movie scenes where they're in a dark basement with bouncers everywhere. They wouldn't let me in at first because I was a kid, but Stark thought it'd be amusing to watch some teenage girl playing against a group of several grown men." She chuckled. "Wasn't amused when I won 3 million."

"At 16?" Wanda gasped. 16 mustn't have been that long ago for her, but it felt like a lifetime for Ace.

"Yeah, one of the other men there - Stone, I think? - he was pissed as hell. Lost his shit, nearly flipped over the damn table and threatened me with more than a few colourful words. I took the money and ran out, but some of the bouncers grabbed me. I fought them - I was trained in my old gang to be a little shit and fight dirty, and the guys didn't want to hit some teenage girl, so I escaped." The song changed to Panama by Van Halen, one of Ace's favourites. "Stark found me in some dingy shed I was living in a few months later, asked me if I wanted to join a better gang that would give me some of its profit. I was selfish, and I had a baby brother to take care of so I accepted, and the gang I was in before died. I was a big deal, apparently."

Ace shook her head. "Uh, anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself," she continued. "Stark gave the nickname Ace to me because Ace of Spades was the last card I beat him with. And I was basically mute back then, so I didn't want to share my real name."

"You were mute?" Wanda repeated. She was awfully chatty very early morning, apparently.

"Maybe mute isn't the right word," Ace re-thought. "I only spoke to the people I trusted. Just… ignored everyone else. I was a kid, had no idea what the real world was about, never trusted anyone in my life, and I thought everyone was a monster looking out to use me and hurt me, honestly." Her expression softened as she stared out into the dark expanse of road. "Stark was the first guy who ever proved me wrong. I grew out of that habit eventually when the gang got bigger and way more people joined. I guess I was one of the original members. I was there after Steve and Natasha but before Silver. Pietro." Wanda hummed, pulling her legs closer to her body. "You can go to sleep, kid. We've still got over an hour left and you must be exhausted."

"I'll be okay," she mumbled.

Not even five minutes later, the girl's breathing slowed, and she was fast asleep.

Ace parked the car an hour and a half later after driving through miles of woods. The safe house was a small cabin located in the literal middle of nowhere: the only way to access it would be to go through a restricted gate and then navigate through a very specific path in order to make it there.

It was no longer raining but the mud beneath Ace's boots was soggy and wet. Wanda was still sleeping with her leather jacket wrapped around her small body, so Ace took it upon herself to carry her bridal-style to the cabin.

She woke for a moment, looking completely dazed out, but then fell back asleep with her head resting against Ace's shoulder and hands tucked against her chest. Her lips were slightly parted, and Ace had to admit that she was hot.

God, Pietro would have her head if she told him that.

She managed to lean down and grab the key from under the plant-pot - very inconspicuous, she knew - without releasing her hold on the girl. She stepped into the cabin and kicked the door shut behind her, trying to do it as quietly as she could so Wanda wouldn't wake and walked towards the door that led to the main bedroom. She squatted down slightly to turn the handle and stepped into the cosy room.

Ace carefully tugged the blankets off the large bed - of course, Stark would have expensive sheets in a fucking safe house - and laid her down, tucking the blankets back up around her. She snuggled into the warmth and comfort right away, sighing contently before dozing off again.

Ace stepped out of the room and quietly closed the door behind her. She found the phone, the one that was separate from other lines, and picked up, hitting 616, the emergency contact. It worked similarly to a radio, so the lines connected were always on unless it was deliberately tampered with.

"Ace here," she reported quietly. "I'm in safe-zone Ramsey. No injuries or wounds. An SUV followed us for 20 minutes but left. Nothing else of importance to note. Does anyone copy?"

The line crackled. "Ace?" Steve breathed. "Thank god. I'll get Stark to look into the vehicle. Licence plate?"

"Black SUV, ends with 835," she told him. "Do you know if Silver made it out?"

"Got a call from Foggy about an hour ago," Steve said. "Pietro got hit with a bullet but he's stable. Claire's fixing him up as we speak." Ace breathed, feeling a massive weight lift from her shoulders. "What happened? Tony was freaking out, saying that Hydra took you hostage or something."

"Tell the old man to unclench. Don't want him to have a stroke." Ace couldn't help but feel touched that Tony was worried. "Silver and I were in a meeting about the recent Shield threat. We set up a meeting with Fury, walked out and then some Hydra goons said that they wanted me." She shrugged. "I'm guessing dead since they were about a second from shooting me. Silver wanted to get the files in case they were after them and told me to get Wanda out of there. Didn't know if he made it out."

"Wanda's okay?" Steve asked.

"A bit shaken up but fine," she said. "She's sleeping right now."

"Okay. Stay there for the rest of the day until we figure out what happened. I'll plan a call with Schmidt and get back to you in a few hours. Tony might try to call you later. He'll probably freak out."

"Got it. Stay safe, Cap."

Author's Note: I can't believe I actually started this. TWO gay fics now? Jesus lord help me.

I was gonna keep it canon but my mind couldn't conjure any decent story ideas without copying Night Moves (my other gay fic for those of you who don't know), so I literally googled writing prompts and then the idea of a gang!AU with Wanda being the little sister of Pietro, the gang member, wouldn't leave my head.

Anyway, I hope you liked it? I know it's annoying when author's beg for comments but PLEASE tell me what you think because it will help me out a lot. Until next time;)