The Aftermath

It had been a few weeks since they took refuge in Wakanda. Wanda had a pretty good understanding of her bearings at that point, taking morning runs as a portion of what was left of her training.

"On your left, Wanda."

A blur passed her jogging form, making her involuntarily flinch in shock for a second. Of course it was Steve sprinting away, gradually becoming a dot in the distance. She knew that he was going to pass her again soon - having already done it three times before. She would've yelled something in retaliation but she was too breathless to utter a word. Her time in The Raft had reduced her endurance and stamina considerably.

As a result, she decided to start from the beginning and train to build what she lost. And with that came pleading puppy dog eyes that belonged to Steve, asking Wanda if he could join as a running buddy.

A running buddy? Yeah, right.

Wanda already knew that Steve would lap her back before the events with the Sokovia Accords occurred. They had already been training together at that point. But she had to give the soldier credit where it was due. It invigorated her to hear Steve approaching, making her run all the faster each time.

By the time she reached the beginning of the loop of the track they were on, Steve came up behind her with that hardened gaze on his face. But when Wanda turned around to meet him, he broke into a grin, barely looking as exhausted as she felt.

"You are not a running buddy." Wanda heaved out before handing him a bottle. The blonde chuckled as he accepted it, a look of mirth in his eyes.

"I guess not. But I'm a good motivator!" He replied with a point of the water bottle to Wanda's face.

The Maximoff rolled her eyes and turned to leave the track when she felt a startling presence nearby. The familiarity of it brought her to an edge as her heartbeat sped up. This was...

As if sensing her unease, Steve faced her in second with a hand on her arm.

"Wanda? What's wrong?"

She glanced up at the Captain as a hand came up to clamp over what were once welts and scratches from the shock collar. Steve's blue gaze was attentive to Wanda's every move and when she put her hand on her neck, the man seemed to clench his jaw in protective annoyance.

"It's Vision...he's here with Stark. Why are they here? Are they going to arrest us?" Wanda furrowed a brow in confusion. The anxiety was getting her blood pumping. Would they take her to an even more high security prison? Or was this just a friendly hello?

When the two of them exited the track and made their way to the common room, Nat and Sam were standing in front of Vision and Tony Stark.

"My apologies for the sudden intrusion. We-"

"I gave you that burner phone for a reason, Tony. To call us." Steve interrupted Vision as he put on an unreadable expression to mask his confusion. He stepped closer to Wanda when she stiffened from the accidental eye contact she made with the Stark. She had noticed the billionaire's gaze flick down to her fully healed neck and felt the pang of regret that emanated off him. Regret? Why would the man ever feel regret?

"I brought them here. They called me." Nat stated as all heads turned to her. Wanda blinked at the woman and turned her head back to Vision. His eyes took on that pleading look he had back in the Avengers compound when Wanda was "locked" in her room.

"Nat, why would you...?" Sam trailed off as his gaze turned to Vision who took a step forward.

"We came to apologize. For what happened on The Raft. I swear to you that neither Stark or I had any idea they had placed such extreme measures on Ms. Maximoff like that. We only found out after Stark had gone to the remains of the facility."

A blaze of anger ran through Wanda as she shifted from behind Steve, her lips pulled in a frown.

"That is not true. Stark had visited us while we were in there. He saw what they were doing!" She yelled as she tilted her head to the man in question. The look he was giving her had softened from its usual guarded gaze.

"I only spoke to Sam when I was there, Wanda. I swear that to you. I'm truly sorry for what happened in there." Tony quietly said, his stance careful even though he stood a good distance away.

"I can back that up." Sam chimed in as he exchanged glances with Wanda. "It wasn't the most cheerful conversations, but he only spoke to me."

"Then how..." She trailed off as her mind raced and memories of her time in the cell surfaced. Then the realization dawned on her. "The guards."

Wanda lowered her gaze at the revelation, staring hard at the floor with her fists clenched. She didn't think she would ever think about those guards ever again, but here she was doing exactly that.

"Okay," She quietly said, her tone lingering on the edge of venom. Her head lifted as her eyes narrowed at Vision and Stark. "You've apologized. Now what do you want? To be a team - a family - again?"

The way Wanda said her words, laced with a bitterness made Natasha glance her way. Wanda knew that the source of her irritation was directed at Stark - for all that he had caused and for being the sole reason of why her and her brother volunteered as HYDRA's experiments in the first place. She knew they never really got to talk over it after the events of Ultron since Stark had gone up and left the compound, but by all that was good, if now was the time to talk about it then they were going to have a chat.

"Wanda." Steve quietly warned from behind, a careful hand on the woman's arm. Aware of how tightly she was clenching her fists, the Maximoff glared at the silent Tony Stark before she let out a sigh.

There was no solving this with pure anger.

"Let us finally chat, Tony Stark." Wanda resignedly said as she turned around and headed back to the track.

The two of them sat in silence on the bench. Wanda held a water bottle in her hands and Stark fidgeted in his spot, his hands patting at his knees.

"I helped you create Ultron. I placed bad things in all of your minds and for those things, I have already apologized. But you, Tony Stark, helped create what my brother and I had eventually become." Wanda began with some hesitation, noticing the billionaire stiffen at the mention of Ultron.

"My brother and I were young when the bomb hit...one causing our parents to fall to their death, and the other relaying to my brother and I our greatest fear: for Tony Stark to kill us. Your name..." She trailed off in a whisper as the painful memory surfaced in her mind, making her shut her eyes.

"It was on that shell, wasn't it?" Stark said in a remorseful tone.

Wanda felt the pang of regret and grief come off of the man as she sent him a glance. His straight posture from before had crippled and the man was hunched forward now with a downcast look on his face. She hadn't known he could look such a way before.

"Before I put on the suit - hell even before I created the first version of Iron Man - I was a completely different person. You wouldn't have recognized me. I was an ignorant asshole, and only really cared about how much richer I could get - all the while trying not to let my father's legacy get to me." Stark continued as his brows furrowed and memories from another time flooded his vision.

Wanda caught remnants of it - the fear of death and the heat of explosions filled her senses.

"But...after all that's happened, I want to believe that I've become a different person. No one ever becomes truly different, though. We still have our pasts behind us, and sometimes I think that every day something new will pop up, reminding me of the life I had before." He took a breath, his brown eyed gaze laser focused on the pavement of the track.

"I'm sorry, Wanda, truly. To you and your brother. Someone as young as you shouldn't have been involved in something as big as my hot mess."

Tony Stark lifted his stare to meet Wanda's guarded expression. This man held much more than the cocky side she had seen the past few years. He was just as human as she was. The amount of emotions that were shown in his eyes made evident of that. Underneath all of that sarcasm, cockiness and genius was the touch of guilt and blame at himself. It reminded her of how she had been after the events in Lagos.

"You're damn right, Tony Stark." At Wanda's words, his eyes widened in surprise. "But I'm glad to have become a part of your team, in the end."

She lifted a hand between them, the red glow of her powers enveloping her hand. Tony's gaze lingered on the hypnotizing glow of it.

"You all have taught me so much more than I could've ever thought possible."

"A teacher?" Wanda quizzically asked as she found herself in a familiar situation as before. She sat across Tony Stark with a cup of tea in her hands, him doing the same. The other Avengers sat with them, all eyes trained on the two of them in piqued interest.

"More like a mentor, really. I ran into him while jogging around New York. The man looked like something straight out a comic book, with that red cape and all whipping around. He seemed to know about all of us and what's happened strangely enough. He goes by the name Doctor Strange, though his real name is Stephen." Tony Stark explained as he glanced around the group of heroes surrounding him. They all had very confused expressions on their faces, Wanda most of all.

"And how would he be able to help me?" She inquired before taking a sip of her tea.

"Well, for starters he's a sorcerer."

Hi loves! Apologies for the delay on this chapter! It's a short one today hehe. But I plan on updating sooner now that we've somewhat patched things up with Stark and Wanda and are starting to head into Strange and Wanda mentorship territory! I think it would be awesome if they could do this canon!

Reviews are always welcome!