Chapter 3
Hadria hadn't been wasting away after she freed herself from the prison that was HYDRA. She had spent years preparing, building herself to fit into the world she now lived in. She built a file of her past in this world, childhood, schooling, and created her identity. She split her time between the many things that she had to get done. Half of her time was put into setting up her foothold in this world she was in. Another portion was spent discovering who she was now, after all that she had been through. She traveled the world, going places she had never been before with her trusty trunk. She also made time to bring some of the lesser known evils to justice, without tipping anyone off that she had done it. Such was her new life, and she enjoyed every minute of it.
And then there was her favorite pass time. Working in her little cafe in New York City. It was small and comfortable, furnished in vibrant greens, soft yellows, vibrant reds and some royal blues. It had accents of black, gold, silver and bronze all paired. Reds with golds, greens with silvers, yellows and blacks, and blues with bronze. It was quaint, her cafe. She had named it, "The Marauders Haunt." Where she baked and cooked, and was a generally well liked cafe by the locals. She had several regulars, all only the kindest, most sincere people you could meet were her regulars.
Once she had finished creating her initial identity, it was quite simple to create others. Under one alias, she had built a company she named 'Black Phoenix Corps,' a tip of the hat to the Order of the Phoenix and her godfather, Sirius Black. They built technology that she had integrated with technology, which had quickly become a well known and well liked business. She had made quite a few connections all over the place during her travels, working under different aliases, helping people with injuries and illnesses where she could. Many had enjoyed her presence, many had asked for her hand in marriage, but she would smile sadly and told them all the same thing every time. 'I have a beloved, but I am sure you will find yours in no time.' She made sure that they understood that she had already given her heart to someone else, even the more stubborn ones soon understood that she was taken and had accepted the fact that they could only be friends.
She built many things in Black Phoenix Corps, from computers, to laptops, to tablets, to phones, to your dishwasher. Many enjoyed the apps that they offered, as well as the lack of bloatware that came with it. It was made to be easy to use, so the elderly enjoyed the fact that they could use it just as well as the kids these days. The kids liked the light and sleek design, and with Hadria's magic speeding up the processors, they worked like a dream. Soon, the company rivaled Stark Industries in sales, including the sales they made in clean energy.
She stayed under the radar, even though she was so successful. She did not date, she did not make a fool out of herself in public, she did not get a big head from all the public interest. She just did what she could to make sure that she could still make a living, so that she could live in a comfortable apartment and kept food on the table. She out the whole of her money in the bank, as well as keeping almost all the gold she had in her endless moleskin pouch she got from Hagrid.
Under another alias, she had a small cafe in New York. There, her name was Maeve 'Harry' Black, a simple small cafe owner who made the best pastries. She put her cooking and baking skills she had acquired from the Weasleys and the Dursleys there, building an even bigger information network. People talked about a lot of things in coffee shops you know, and that's how she learned about SHIELD. Seriously, what kind of secret organisations has meetings in small cafes? She had heard everything they spoke about. And they would come and have meetings quite often, though she didn't complain. They ate so much food.
Everyone knew her alias for her technology company, Hadria Potter, but few had seen her face. Some believed that she was just an alias, though they accepted that fact. She did so much good around the world, the least the public could do is allow her her privacy, though it actually was her birth name.
So as she went out into the world, she was able to move without worrying about people only using her, though her guard was up the entire time. As Moody would have said, "CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" She didn't really look into the news, her past experiences making her wary of them. So, when three years later, as she turns on the television in her cafe to the news and hears the words "Winter Soldier," she starts paying attention. She also listened to her customers gossiping about what was happening as well.
"-ter Soldier and Captain America, as well as all the Avengers other than Iron Man have been labelled as vigilantes. Here we have a map of their path so far, as well as photos of the airport where it is known that they attacked the Iron Man as well as his New Avengers." The television went on to show images of an airport, though the floor looked caved in, the walls had so many cracks all over the place, and the bag checking stations were all broken.
She stopped listening to the television here, and decided to listen to what her customers were saying. "There are rumors that the Captain is doing this because he's in love with the Winter Soldier." Someone said.
Whoever they were talking to responded with, "I know, but it would make so much sense. Apparently, he was Bucky from World War Two."
"Do you really think he swings that way?"
"I don't know, I mean you saw him kissing that lady in the airport before he went batshit crazy on Ironman."
"Yeah, but they agreed that they would release the Winter Soldier of his charges if he just went in for some questioning about that Nazi group, HYDRA I think, so why would they still cause that much chaos?"
There she stopped listening. She thought about this, was this what he meant when he said he was not where he was meant to be? Had he really just used her like so many in her old world had tried to do? Was he truly in love with that Captain America, and lied to her to make sure he could return to him?
But in the end, she knew that she would forgive him even if he had lied. It was all HYDRA's fault that things had ended this way, she thought. If they hadn't brainwashed both her and her beloved, he wouldn't have had to lie. He wouldn't have made her trust him. He wouldn't have used her.
He wouldn't have made her fall in love with him.
And she truly did love him, her beloved. Ever since that first time, when she had stopped the scientists from freezing him, she had loved him. As she thought, she came to a conclusion. Her beloved deserved only the best, and if the best was that Captain America, she would give it to him. But he didn't deserve endless running, didn't deserve endless fighting. She protect him, she would make sure that he did not have to get any more scars.
If that meant that she would have to return to the Summer Soldier, then so be it. If she had to raze the Earth to ashes, it would be done. It was what her beautiful beloved deserved. She had nothing else to live for.
At least that is what she told herself. She understood who she used to be and who she was now. After her travels, she had come to understand more about what her past had made her into. In her heart, she felt rage that her beloved hadn't even tried to search for her, she felt anguish thinking about how her beloved may love another, she felt sorrow that this is what he had to live like right now. She mourned the loss of the hope that he might even be thinking of her, because if he could fight in a civil war among the heroes, then why couldn't he try to find her? But she silenced that part of her as she prepared to join the battlefield again, merging both of her fighting styles, both as a witch, the Savior of the Light in fact, and as the Summer Soldier, the best damn assassin that no one knows about until it's too late.
She would be doing things with her own terms this time, no protocol, no rules, just doing what had to be done. And it would get done.
It would be in the weeks following that she left Britain (where she had started her business) and made a name for herself, saving people, helping out Spider Man in Queens sometimes, stopping robberies in New York City, defending people from muggers, the usual, except now she allowed herself to be seen, sometimes even speaking to some of the victims. Soon, she had been approached by Tony Stark and invited to join the New Avengers, after some testing and researching her background. Of course, a lot of it had to be fabricated, and she had to tell most of the truth, leaving out some things. They let her keep her identity a secret, they never saw behind the physical mask she wore, and she never pushed them beyond what they were willing to give her. She quickly earned the right to be an Avenger and got to know each and everyone in the team.
Tony seemed to be kind and understanding, if you looked underneath his armor of snarkiness and sarcasm. He was also very intelligent, and it was difficult for her not to speak with him about her technological thoughts. She had to hold back though, she didn't want all of her aliases to fall apart because something slipped when she was speaking to him.
Vision was kind, even though he didn't understand emotions very well. She could see that he was trying his best, and she did her best to explain to him what he was feeling when he asked. She was a very patient teacher, and made sure he understood, 'must have been from teaching everyone in the DA how to properly cast spells,' she would think to herself. She explained what he was feeling when he explained what he felt when Wanda had destroyed Tony's building around him, how he was feeling betrayed and angry that she hadn't trusted him when he promised that he would protect her. When she hadn't believed him that they were just going to teach her about her powers, about how dangerous it was, to allow her emotions to control her powers.
Of course, when Hadria had learned that she called herself the 'Scarlet Witch,' she'd had to hold back her scoff. That was not magic she was using, she was using a cheap knock off of magic, merely throwing off a form of chaos energy she was able to harness. She would know the difference, she was a true witch!
She spoke with Peter, also known as Spiderman, as well, discussing how he was coping with all these new developments in his life, both as an average person and a superhero. He explained that he was still a student, and he was starting to have difficulties with keeping up with all of his studies with all of this, craziness, happening around him. She offered to help him if he ran into any problems, try to explain things to him in a way he would understand.
T'challa, understandably, had already met her before. He was one of the men who had asked for her hand in the past, and they were great friends (obviously, he had actually seen her face in the time that they had been together, making it an even bigger point to keep her distance and hide her face. He did not know that she was the Summer Soldier though, merely knew that she was an extremely independent woman who could fend for herself, and knew her as Maeve, a cute travelling woman trying to find herself. Still, they worked well together, and he would tell her of his frustrations from housing the vigilante ex-Avengers, releasing all of his frustration and aggression. When they spent time bonding and talking, she would calm him, center him for the next meetings with the UN and make sure that he would be of sound mind when he needed it.
Natasha seemed somewhat distant, when they first met. Slowly but surely though, Hadria wormed her way through the gigantic walls Natasha had thrown around herself and talked to her about her issues that she'd been holding onto. About her missions, about how many times she'd nearly died, and that one night that she had managed to worm the details of Budapest out of her. They also talked about lighter subjects, like boys. Natasha talked about her sorta-crush, Bruce Banner, also known as the Hulk. He had fled as soon as Ross had made his opinions known. Right now, they couldn't find him. He was completely off the radar, and she told Hadria about her insecurities about his feelings for her and if he was safe. They bonded over their love lives mostly, seeing as Hadria's own love life was in a similar state.
Now, she was basically the therapist for these new Avengers, and helped them bond with her cheery ideas for movie nights, and hanging out nights. She made sure they connected with each other, so they understood one another. She wanted to make sure they would all be friends, that they couldn't be corrupted by HYDRA. She knew they were still lurking in the shadows, she was not fooled. As long as Schmidt was out there, she knew this world would not be safe. She knew that all of these heroes were damaged, just like she was. She didn't try to hide it, she just tried to help them heal. They would need to trust each other if they were going to fight together, and that, she believed, is what was wrong with the past Avengers.
Also, she needed the company. No matter what happened, she was still that little girl who was abused by her aunt, uncle and cousin, still the girl who never had friends, still the girl who had to be terrified underneath all of these layers she had made. She and her friends had beaten Voldemort by trusting each other and covering each other's weak and blind spots. If these newbies, yes, even Iron Man, wanted to win, they would have to bond with each other, to trust each other with their backs. So yes, maybe she slightly manipulated them, but the needed it! And, it benefited them all, so no one could say that she was doing the wrong thing!
She went by the name Fiend Fyre as a hero, because like the spell, she wouldn't stop until her enemies burnt to a crisp or her allies pulled her back. She would not relent to those who harmed the innocent, she would make sure that they suffered for what they had done. When she went out as a hero, she wore a pair of black tights, a dark blue belt that looked black unless the light shines on it just right with her little charms she used to hang on her choker, an electric blue and black shirt with the electric blue printed out as some wicked flames, and a black trench coat. She also wore a white mask with indentations where her now and mouth should be, and small slits for her eyes. It was made out of pure white porcelain, and no one understood how it stayed on. They ended up classifying it as a Fiend-thing, seeing as they barely understood how she managed to hide all things she had on her. Tony swears that he saw her pull a machine gun out of the tiny pouch she has hanging from her belt.
So when Tony returned from his solo mission in Siberia nearly dead, from a helicopter, while his suit was in pieces next to him, holding Captain America's shield being held in a death grip while he seemed to be unconscious, needless to say she was enraged. No one hurt her allies, not anymore. Her team was her family, and those who harmed her family would rot in Hell.
She was the Master of Death, after all.