Title: Rubble
Author: Sgt. Pepperony
Fandom: Avengers (MCU)
Main Pairing: Steve/Wanda
Secondary Pairings: Tony/Pepper, Clint/Laura, Sam/Darcy, Pietro/Daisy
Rating: T
Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers, characters. Property of Marvel and Disney.
Last year, I wrote Consequences as a post-AOU story. So, I am going for an AU version of this, with (mostly) the proper plot of Civil War and an added extra.
Part One: Where Do We Begin...
I know you haven't made your mind up yet,
But I will never do you wrong.
I've known it from the moment that we met,
No doubt in my mind where you belong.
Chapter One
Clint Barton and Steve Rogers looked on in shock as the slumped and still figure of Pietro Maximoff on the ground with bullet holes throughout his body. He had sacrificed his own life in order to save the life of Clint's and the young boy Costel. Clint knew it was a risk but he was not going to let the little punk get away that easy. He let Costel run to Steve, turned Pietro over and started doing compressions on his chest.
"Barton what are you doing?" Steve asked.
"He's not dying on us okay. He's walking it off remember?"
"He's gone. There is nothing we can do."
Clint was not going to give in that easily, "Come on you quick bastard! Breathe!" He grabbed one of his electric arrows and shocked Pietro's heart. By some divine miracle, Pietro's pulse started albeit very weakly.
Steve looked on in shock but immediately called for medical. They immediately loaded Pietro onto a gurney and ran him immediately to the docking boats. Steve and Clint followed. As Costel ran to his sister, Zrinka thanked them in Sokovian, "Хвала! Хвала!"
"Not a problem," Clint groaned exhaustedly and collapsed onto one of the seats. "It's been a long day."
Steve took a headcount over the coms and realised the other Maximoff was not there.
"Wanda, come in. Where are you?" Steve asked desperately. They already had one person on the verge of life or death, they did not need another.
The floating city then was shattered into pieces and a massive hole was left in what was not a massive country to begin with. There were now numerous refugees needing a home. Steve looked up for a moment to see someone flying towards them. He looked slightly relieved as it was The Vision and not another Ultron. Though he had something in his arms. To Steve's ecstatic relief it was Wanda. While Vision departed, Wanda was left sitting on the ground. She looked distraught.
"Wanda, hey, look at me," Steve pleaded as he got down to her level. She looked up at him with tearful eyes. "It's okay. Pietro's not dead."
Wanda looked incredibly confused, "But I felt..."
"Barton bought him some more time but he is going to have to get into surgery as soon as we get on the Hellicarrier okay?"
Wanda looked up and saw the gurney. She ran to it and was faced with a horrible sight of her twin so washed out, bullet holes all over his body, and medics pumping air into him.
"Is he...?" she whimpered.
"Just about living. I would not hold onto much hope. He's in God's hands now," the medic told her.
Steve held her back. She looked frightened, shaky and exhausted. Once they were on the Hellicarrier, the medics immediately ran to the med-bay. Wanda stood there watching, as though her legs were cemented to the floor.
Steve put his arm around her. He could have said that it was going to be alright, but considering how thin the rope Pietro's life was balancing on was, inflicting false hope onto Wanda was not a good idea.
"Do you believe in God Captain?" she asked.
"Please call me Steve."
"Do you though?"
"Yeah, I do."
Maybe for the first time in years, Steve prayed that there would be a good outcome.
-o-
Everyone sat around the conference table, all dirty, sweaty, wounded and exhausted. Pietro was still in surgery as far as they knew and they were waiting to hear any news, good or bad. Slowly, everyone retired to the bunks exhausted. Clint went first, followed soon by Natasha and Thor. Steve and Wanda went down when Steve noted how tired she was looking. She was initially reluctant but her body was fighting against her determination to stay awake. Soon they were all gone.
All except Tony. He stood in the R&D labs, fighting the urge to tinker with something. He had really messed up this time.
"You know, that Vision dude sounds real weird with JARVIS's voice," Rhodey commented when he came into the lab. "You okay?"
"All this is my fault."
"Tony, don't think like that. You did not know that Ultron would become hostile. You had good intentions."
"That's just it: I have good intentions but somewhere along the line I mess up. Look what happened when I made all those suits. I build them to help protect Pep, and she still gets injected with Extremis."
"Tony, Pepper is fine. She's been trying to get through to you. She just wants to hear your voice."
Rhodey held out his phone and Tony took it. Pepper's voice might be the thing he needed to snap him out of his desire to tinker.
"Hi honey. I'm fine honestly. Just trying not to build something."
"Why?"
"I built a murderbot. A city blew up. A teammate is on the verge of death. I really messed up this time."
"I think you've done worse."
"Like what?"
"Well... There was acting like a perpetual child while you were dying instead of telling someone sooner. At least you didn't intend to build a murderbot."
"Why does everyone keep telling me that?"
"Because it is true. Tony, I understand your intentions. It's just when people start messing things up that it goes array."
Tony gave a half smirk. At least when he doubted himself that he had Pepper to tell him the truth.
-o-
Wanda was slightly woozy when Steve put a grey jumper and sweatpants on the bed. He left her alone to change and when he returned he was taken aback by how small she was under the baggy clothes. The sweatpants were barely clinging onto her hips. It was very clear in her face once her hair was tied back. Her cheekbones were very pronounced. Wanda sat on the bed and hugged her knees. It was like she was a small child. She looked exhausted, but she fought it. Steve gave her sympathetic smile and sat on the other bed. He was drained beyond belief as well. Eventually, Wanda's fight against sleep proved in vain. She lay down and fell into a deep sleep. Steve tucked her under the blankets and once he was back in his bed, he fell asleep too. He was awoken only a couple hours later when Wanda screamed. He sat up startled and found Wanda crying and sweaty. He went over to her and tried to calm her breathing down.
"Wanda, look at me. It's okay. I'm here. You're safe." After five minutes, Wanda finally settled down but still felt her heart beating in her ears. "Nightmare?"
Wanda nodded. Rather than bottling it up, she revealed, "When I was three, I saw a group of Serbian soldiers shoot a row of people. In my dream, I saw that row of people, only it was my parents and Pietro."
She sniffed and wiped her nose on the sleeve of the jumper. Steve wiped her tears with his thumb. Wanda was just a child born into war; her whole life up to this point had been fear, anger, death, and destruction. It was no wonder she was so angry.
"I suppose you must hate me for causing all this. I messed with Stark's head and he built Ultron."
Steve took a deep breath, "Anger can be very dangerous at the best of times. It's when you let it consume you that it gets catastrophic. I think you were a very angry woman that really to show what true fear was, like when you were trapped. Hate is a strong word but I far from hate you. I genuinely think you're a good person."
"I hate myself. It was my anger that has caused Pietro to be in the position he is in now."
Steve put his hand on her shoulder, "Do you want a hug?" Wanda nodded and allowed him to engulf her in his arms. Her ear pressed against his chest and his heartbeat soothed her. "Hating yourself won't fix anything. Trust me."