AN/ Dear reader,

Thank you for coming. I hope you'll like this story as much as my other SpiderWitch OS. I do love writing them. Peter and Wanda are the sweetest.

I remind you that I am not a native speaker and that, even if I proofread it, some errors may have slipped past my watchful eyes.

Love you all.

N. xx

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It was late but she did not want to go home just yet. The air was warm and the parc was quiet. She liked the quiet. She was walking slowly around a fountain, looking at the lake next to her. She was lost in her thoughts. Pietro would have liked the parc. Pietro would have liked being an Avenger. Her ? Not so much. Of course helping and saving people was fine and rewarding, but she knew her teammates put up with her only because they had no other choice. It was better to have the witch on their team than to have to fight her again. She knew that they feared her, they did not trust her. She tried to hide it but it affected her deeply. She had no one now.

She looked at her watch. 10:00 PM. She decided she could walk around the parc one last time and before she'd go home. The moon was high in the sky. This part of the parc was dark and she could see the stars. She felt something moving behind her. Before she could react she felt a sharp pain in her right arm. She looked down at it and saw a needle. 'Shit.' She turned around, her hands glowing in the night. She was squinting in the dark, trying to locate her opponent. She was becoming more and more dizzy by the second. When a loud BANG echoed in the parc she had no time to erect a shield. Pain shot through her and she fell.

xox

He had seen everything but had been unable to intervene. He had been walking in the parc, taking pictures when it happened. He had snapped a few shots and ran home. When he arrived he tried to be as discreet as he could, not wanting to wake up his Aunt. He changed quickly, put on his mask and left the flat by his window. He swinged through the city, getting a hold on the buildings around him to keep going forward as fast as he could.

When he finally got there he looked at his phone. 10:17 PM. He grimaced and reached his hand toward the interphone next to the door. It rang four times before a deep voice answered, asking him to decline his identity and the reason to his visit this late in the evening.

'Hum, Hello…' he tried to hide his embarrassment but his interlocutor could hear his panic. 'My name is Spider-Man. I was in the parc on the other side of the river not twenty minutes ago. I've seen one of your teammate, Scarlet Witch, getting abducted.' He cringed at how he sounded. He was ridiculous.

On the other side of the line he heard a gasp. He could hear people whispering but was unable to make out what was said.

'Spider-Man, huh ?' the voice asked and he nodded quickly in front of the small camera in the wall. He also took a few step back to let them see his uniform. He heard the lock open and light flooded the hall of the building. He pushed the door tentatively and sighed in relief when it let him through. He was nervous but an Avenger had been kidnapped and he was the only witness.

Three minutes later, Peter was sitting in a conference room, surrounded by superheroes. The bottle of water they had given him was rolling nervously between his fingers.

He tried to explain what he had seen as accurately as he could. He was completely panicked. She had been shot and he had been unable to help her. He showed them his camera and the pictures he had taken but the enemy had been hiding under the trees and it was too dark to see anything as he didn't dare use his flash.

Mister Stark had taken his memory card and had asked Friday to analyze the images.

xox

Well, that was unexpected. Who would have thought someone would try and kidnap an Avenger ? Certainly not Steve Rogers. But it was clear that the kid was not lying. He even had been where Wanda had been shot to take a sample of her blood, just in case they wanted to check.

He had heard about this SpiderMan but he would never had thought he would be a kid ! He obviously was still hiding his face but his voice betrayed him. He frowned. Wanda was a kid too. Sure she was eighteen, but she was the youngest. The youngest but also the most dangerous. His frown deepened. Why would he think that ? A teammate had been kidnapped and the first thing he thought about was how dangerous she was ? But then, if she had been shot, chances were she most likely would be unable to fight.

The team agreed they would have to act, fast. Friday was already searching for clues on the web. Tony and Bruce were checking the video surveillance of the streets around the parc with Peter, in case they noticed a car or something strange.

Thor and the Vision had left, they decided to fly around the city. It was 10:32 and Wanda couldn't have left the city just yet.

Steve was scanning the photographs Friday had printed. The AI had changed the lightning so some details could stand out a bit more. Details he was searching for right now. Next to him Bucky was analyzing pictures too.

'What if this is Hydra ?' Steve turned sharply toward his friend.

'Why would you say that ?'

'Hydra made her. They surely want to get her back. Stucker himself said the twins experiments were not done yet.' Bucky sighed. It hit Steve hard. Of course, they had stolen one of Hydra's properties. Properties ? Subjects ? Shit. They both knew that if she was in the hand of Hydra they could not wait to retrieve her.

'Got something !' Stark exclaimed. On the big screen a footage appeared. Tony zoomed on the right hand side corner and a blurry grey van appeared. They could not see through the rear window but Tony was categorical : the plate was a fake and this was the only vehicule to appear on the screen in a three hundred feet radius around the parc in the 3 minutes following the attack. Moreover, its occupants did not appear on any footage, always staying in the blind spot of the cameras.

They all agreed to say this may be the vehicle holding Wanda hostage. Stark and Spiderman were following the van through different camera footages but it simply vanished from the screens the moment it left the block of building around the parc.

'Did you try and locate her phone ?' Clint asked desperately. Tony rolled his eyes.
'Friday is doing it right now but it might take some time if she's turned it off.'

At the same moment a red light flashed above the screen.

'Sir.' the dematerialized voice of the AI echoed in the room. 'We just received a message from an unknown source. Should I play it ?'
'Yes, show it.' Stark answered.

On the screen a written message appeared.

'Oh Dear Friends,
I am back where I truly belong. Don't come looking for me. The next time we meet we won't be on the same side.
Good luck saving the world against us.
I had a great time playing with you !

Your dear Wanda.'

When Friday stopped reading the letter nobody talked. They all looked so concentrated on what they just heard and Peter looked a bit lost. Steve read the letter two more times.

'It doesn't sound right.' they all turned to Clint. 'Wanda never called her 'her friends'. And I don't think she had such a great time with us.' They grimaced but they all knew he was right. 'Honestly, when was the last time you spent time with her outside of your sparring sessions ? Because I can't remember.'

All their heads were bowed, a heavy silence weighing on the room. None of them dared answer Clint. Peter was outraged.

'What do you mean ? You're a team right ? Friends ?' He was looking at them, one after the other. All he could see on their faces was guilt and it shocked him. 'She helped destroy Ultron ! She helped you save the world and more than once !' His fist collided with the table and they all looked at him. 'So what ? You said this letter is clearly a fake ! What are you going to do now ? Let her rot in these bastards' cells ?'

'Of course not !' Steve had surprised himself with this outburst. 'We're a team, of course we'll rescue her !' The Avengers all nodded, determined.

'And then what ? You'll still treat her as an outcast ? You'll try to spend as less time as possible with her ? You'll only use her in missions, when you'll need her ?' The masked boy was angry. He admired the Avengers, they were heroes who saved the world. Who would have thought they were jerks to one of their own ? He could see the shame etched on their faces but he couldn't feel sorry. They did not like Scarlet Witch ? Well, he admired her and he would love to be her friend !

'You don't understand, kid.' Stark said. He tried to explain. 'She can control people's mind. She can mess your head up.'

'And ? Does she use her powers on you for fun ?' Does she make you see things because she thinks it' funny or whatever ?'

'What? No, of course no, she doesn't do that.' Tony looked affronted someone would thought Wanda would mess with their head for fun.

'Then I don't see where the problem is.' He looked each Avengers in the eyes, trying to make them understand.

Finally Bucky nodded:
'The kid's right. She never did anything to make us doubt her loyalty. And look at me, I tried to kill you once. I almost succeeded and still, you accept me.'

'Bucky, you know it's not the same…' But Steve grimaced when his best friend shut him up with a glare. The room fell silent. 'It might take some time for Friday to locate her, we should rest.' He turned to face Peter. 'Thank you for warning us, kid. You can go home now, we'll take care of it.'

'I'm staying with you. There's no way I don't come and help her too.' His tone was firm but he could read doubts on their faces. He did not mind, yes he was young but he was also ready to help the Avengers.

'Don't you have school tomorrow ?' Clint asked.

'Tomorrow's Saturday, there's no school on Saturday.' He shrugged and sat back on his chair.

At 1:00 AM they decided to get some sleep. Spiderman was still wearing his costume. 'I can't reveal my identity to anyone, I'm sorry.' And he had fallen asleep on a couch. Bruce had covered him with a blanket and they had let him rest in the living room until morning.

At 8:30 they were back in front of Friday's screens, waiting for the AI to tell them where to go. Natasha and Clint were the only one who dared to talk, in a corner of the room. The others were silent, some reading, some lost of their thoughts. Peter was doing his homework, hopping Mister Stark could proof read it before he left.

It was 10:03 AM when the red light flashed in the room and Friday announced it had found Miss Maximoff's phone.

'Her phone is in an old base at the North of the State, about thirty minutes from here if you go flying.'

Bucky groaned and the others looked at him alarmed.

'Do you know where this is ?'

'I destroyed it, the base, I was sure it was abandoned, but I didn't go to check on it in a few months.' He looked at them. 'There was an hidden Hydra base upstate. It must be this one.' He reached the computer and showed them an aerial view of the site. 'Friday, can you tell us if there is any human activity in a ten miles radius around it ?'

'The base seems to be occupied. 67 humans detected.'

'Fine. Let's go.' Steve said and left the room. They all followed him. The group geared up, the masked boy waiting for them outside of the lockers. The young man was still shocked. He was going on a rescue mission with the Avengers to save one of them. Like a dream coming true. But then they had seemed so strange.

'When they left the room they were surprised to see the kid was still waiting.

'Still here kid ? Why don't you go back home ?' Stark asked.

'I've told you I'm not going anywhere. I'm coming with you.'

'Listen, kid, it's nice and all. You've warned us and now we are going to rescue our teammate. You go home.'

'Sorry Mister Stark. I'm coming, no matter if you like it or not.'

Tony frowned. In the locker he had asked Friday to tell them everything it could find about this Spiderman kid. They had seen a few videos of the kid swinging in the streets, stopping bad guys. But Hydra was like nothing he ever fought, he was not ready.

'Alright. Everybody get on the plane.' Steve's voice cut Tony's train of thoughts. 'Don't you dare go against any of our orders, kids.'

Spider-man nodded eagerly and followed them on the plane.

xox
The flight was short but the Avengers explained their plan. They had contacted Thor and the Vision who were going to meet them there. The masked boy was staring outside the window when he heard Mister Stark ask :

'How old are you kid ?'
Peter hesitated, but they had accepted to take him with them so he decided it would be better to answer.

'17, Sir.' He grimaced under his mask when he saw the older man's reaction.

'Sev… Seventeen ?' He shrieked. 'Jeez, now I regret taking you with us.' But he said nothing else and he did not ask him to stay on board during the fight. Spiderman sighed, relieved.

They landed two miles away from the base and were following Bucky as he was the only one who knew the grounds. Spiderman was to stay near an Avenger at any given time.

One mile before they reached the base they had to fight a group of Hydra recruits in a middle of their training. They gave confirmation that the base belonged to Hydra but refused to say anything more. They decided to form groups and Peter found himself with Steve and Bucky. They did not meet any enemies for the first four minutes Then they fought. Being in a team with two super soldiers helped and they kept moving quickly. In their earpieces they heard Tony and Thor say they had cleared the path. They ran toward the main building. Bucky knew the place and was leading them toward the cells and the labs. He explained Hydra had built them in the same place so they did not have to move their guinea pigs too much. Peter grimaced at the use of the word 'guinea pig' to talk about humans but said nothing.

They entered the building before the others. A red light was flashing, signaling the presence of intruders, but the corridors were all empty. Bucky led them to the control room where they checked every camera. They spotted Wanda in a cell and a scientist in one of the labs. They decided to rescue their friend first, they could take care of the scientist later.

They ran in the corridors, Peter was panting but he refused to let the others outrun him. They stopped in front of the last door separating them from the cells and they heard gunshots. Steve erected his Shield, blocking the first round of bullets. The Super Soldiers stood in front of the teenager and shot the enemies in the distance. There were no way they would let the kid fight. Behind them Peter was trying to pick the lock. When he finally heard it clicked he opened the door carefully. The small corridor was dark and empty so he decided to go further.

He checked each and every cell and finally found Wanda in the one farthest from the door. She was badly bandaged and her wrists were tied above her head to the wall behind her. He tried to call her but the absence of reaction let him think that she was unconscious. He picked the lock again, this one was more difficult but nothing could resist Spiderman.

He glanced at the super soldiers, Steve and Bucky were busy fighting the enemy. In the earpiece they had given him he could hear the rest of the team blasting enemies. He was stepping in the cell when a sound coming from the other end of the corridor stopped him. A man in a white lab coat stopped when he saw him. Peter did not expect a scientist to draw a gun and aim at him. He shot his web and caught the weapon just in time. The scientist had not let it go and flew with it. The strength with which he hit the wall knocked him out.

He quickly bounded the man with his web in a corner. He waited a second, not sure if the man was alone, but his spider senses did not sense anyone else, and he walked back to the cell.

"I found her." He had to let the other know. He heard relieved sighs but the team was too occupied trying to not get shot to answer.

He didn't know what he should do next. A panting Steve appeared at the door. He had seen her on the screen in the control room but he didn't expect it to be this bad. He reached her and began to free her from the metal cuffs and when her body fell he caught her. She looked so frail in the big Soldier's arms it made Peter sick.

'Okay kid, walk through the door, the one this scientist came from, it should be the labs. We need to do something about that wound.'

'You're sure we shouldn't leave now ?' Steve shook his head and they heard a big Boom.

'Sorry for the explosion.' Bucky said when he arrived.

'At least it was effective.' The masked boy mumbled.

Bucky watched Wanda closely. She was paler than she usually was and her breathing was shallow. Steve had stretched her out on one of the metal tables and was taking a look at her gun wound. Someone had grossly stitched her but it would have to do the job for the moment. He also remarked some cuts on her arms and legs but was unable to checked the rest of her body because of some bandages. He changed some of them, checking the wounds they hid with a grimace and took the young woman in his arms again. With a nod of his head Bucky led them outside. They ran through the corridors once again.

'We've got her. Meet us at the jet.'

'How is she ?' It was Natasha. She really sounded concerned, which surprised Peter as she had seemed to be a very cold person.

'Not fine. They had enough time to do things to her, I don't know what.'

'They tortured her Steve.' Bucky sighed and it made Peter gag under his mask. Obviously, these were real bad guys, not afraid of hurting people… 'Do you really think they had to shot her when they had already shot the needle and she was going to be unconscious in less than 30 seconds anyway ? They did it to make sure they could control what they created for a certain amount of time, to show her what they could do to her. If she's badly hurt then it is more difficult to fight them off. They sent us a false letter from her, don't you think they told her how nobody on the team liked her and would ever come to her rescue ?'

His friend did not answer. When they reached the jet Tony, Thor, Bruce and Natasha were waiting for them; Clint and the Vision were checking one last time the grounds to be sure there were no more enemies.

Steve carried Wanda inside and Bruce began to patch her up as much as he could in a plane. It took Tony 28 minutes to land at the top of the Tower. They had no time to lose, Clint and the Vision could come back by themselves.

Peter had not been able to take a look at Wanda since they had rescued her. He knew the Avengers tried to hide her body from him, for his sake, and he was thankful for that. He did not know if he could handle the sighted of the broken girl. He tried to remember her, the night before, alive and well in the parc, just to feel better. He did not hear Tony Stark walking up to him and he was startled when he felt his hand on his shoulder.

'Hey kid, you're alright ?' He sounded genuinely concerned.

'I'm happy she's safe now.' his shoulders slumped. 'I hope she'll get better quickly.' He turned suddenly to face the Iron Man. 'Could I come and visit her ? Just to make sure she's alright ?'

Tony was surprised but he nodded, a smile on his face.
'Of course kid, whenever you want. I'm sure you'll be friends.' Peter frowned.

'What about you ? What are you going to do now ?' Tony frowned.

'I'll offer her a room in the Tower, like everyone else. I already have but she always refuses. This time I will insist. I'll make sure she studies.' Peter looked surprised. 'I saw you doing your homeworks, it reminded me of how young she is. She needs to go to school, meet people her age.' Tony led him down the stairs and out of the Tower. 'Go back home, rest. I'll call you when she's awake.' Seeing how tired the kid looked he added 'I'm going to ask Happy to drive you back home.' And he grabbed his phone to text this 'Happy'.

Peter nodded. He would have liked to stay a bit longer but he was dead on his feet and he was thankful for Mr Stark's offer. His home was a long way from the Tower and he really didn't want to take the bus. When the billionaire told him 'Happy' was on his way Peter was relieved.

'Thank you Mister Stark !' The older man patted his shoulder. 'You should go and rest too now. I'll be waiting for your call.'

'Of course, kid. And please, be careful against those bad guys of yours in the Queens.' Tony smiled. He wouldn't admit it to anyone else but he had grown fond of the kid in the past few hours.

'Sure, Sir.' Happy arrived at the same time and opened the door of a huge black car, something very expensive from the look of it. He looked impressed and climbed on the backseat quickly. He waved one last time at Tony Stark and the car took off.

When Peter's head finally hit his pillow he could only think at how surprising the last day had been. He wouldn't have expected himself to team up with the Avengers. He got worried about Wanda, hoping she'll get better quickly. He really hope he could be able to befriend the famous Scarlet Witch. She looked like she could use a friend. And so could he.

With his head filled with hopes of friendship, dreams of adventures and waiting for Mr Stark's message, he was fast asleep.