Chapter Ten: Reality Shifting Isn't The Best Power
"Now we will begin training you how to use your powers." Strucker told Wanda and Pietro, who were gathered in the training room.
He probably doesn't know how to train us, Wanda thought. This is the first time anyone has even gotten powers from being exposed to the Tesseract's radiation. He is most likely as lost as we are; he just acts like he knows what he is doing.
Pietro was having some of the same thoughts as his sister. Like he would know how to train us. He is just a man in a lab coat.
"I will not be training you myself." Strucker continued.
Oh, of course not. Pietro thought sarcastically.
"The Winter Soldier will be helping you with your new powers." Strucker motioned to his men and they opened the door to admit the Winter Soldier.
Wanda couldn't explain why, but she felt ten times safer as soon as he came in.
"But first we must give you a physical exam to make sure that there is nothing wrong with you." Strucker said. "Now come here, um…." He stared intently at Wanda. "What was your name again?"
"My name is Wanda." Wanda supplied.
"Yes, of course." He nodded. "Wanda, come here and stand on this scale." He checked her weight and wrote it down. Wanda didn't look at the scale, but she was fairly sure that she hardly weighed anything at all.
"Open your mouth." Strucker instructed, sticking a wooden stick in her mouth. "How old are you again?"
"Seventeen." Wanda replied, her voice cracking a little because she had had her mouth open.
After he checked her reflexes, Strucker had her go and he did the same procedure with Pietro. He gathered his things and stood to leave. "You may begin their training now." He addressed the Winter Soldier like he was talking to a dog, but the other man didn't flinch.
Wanda was unexpectedly upset. How dare he treat the Winter Soldier like that? He was a person too.
Strucker left and the Winter Soldier turned to face them. "We'll start with hand to hand combat." He motioned for Pietro to step onto the mat in the middle of the room. "Take your stance."
Pietro bent his knees and put up his fists. The Winter Soldier shook his head, walked over to Pietro and fixed his position.
Then without warning, the Winter Soldier threw and punch and, almost without thinking, Pietro ran out of the way. He left a skid mark on the floor when he came to a stop.
The Winter Soldier smirked. He ran at Pietro full speed like he was going to crash into him and then dropped into a crouch and tripped Pietro so that he fell onto his back. "Ohhh." He groaned. "That hurt."
Wanda held back a giggle. She knew her brother wasn't seriously hurt and it was rather funny to see him sprawled on the floor.
After a few more moves, all of which ended with Pietro on the ground, the Winter Soldier told to Wanda to stand on the mat.
Wanda slowly moved onto the mat and waited for him to instruct her. She took her stance at his direction and waited for him to throw a punch or try to trip her. To her surprise, he did neither.
"You may go first." He told her. Wanda gulped. She edged closer and punched him on the shoulder halfheartedly.
The Winter Soldier didn't even blink.
Wanda heard Pietro snickering behind her. She braced herself and punched the Winter Soldier harder in the bicep, a move which she immediately regretted. "Ouch!" She hollered, jumping back and rubbing her knuckles. His muscle felt like rock.
Pietro broke out into loud laughter.
Wanda sent him a glare. The Winter Soldier stepped forward and grabbed her hands. Wanda jumped at the contact. If the Winter Soldier noticed, he didn't say anything. "Like this." He said, positioning her hands the right way.
Being this close to him, Wanda noticed how young he looked. It was his eyes that made him look older.
"Try again." He pointed to her shoulder. "And use your body to help you."
Wanda nodded, took a deep breath, and punched him in the arm. She was proud of herself when he nodded, satisfied. They practiced a few more moves. "We are going to try something." The Winter Soldier broke the silence. "I want you and Pietro to work together to take me down." He said. 'But you cannot use your powers."
Pietro joined them on the mat and stepped closer to Wanda. They charged at the Winter Soldier, but he easily deflected both of their blows. "Use your opponents' strength against them." He directed. "Like this."
He led Wanda to the middle of the mat. "I will show you." He put Wanda's hands on his shoulders and he set his hands on her shoulders. Wanda blushed, desperately hoping that he wouldn't notice. If he did, once again he didn't say anything.
He turned around, stepping away from her, yet pulling her towards him. He placed his back on her hip and squatted closer to the ground. Pulling her over his shoulder, he somehow managed to set her gently on the ground.
The Winter Soldier helped Wanda up and straightened. "Now try it on me, but faster."
Wanda was a little unsure, but she gingerly put her hands on his shoulders and moved into him, effectively flipping him over her back and onto the ground none too gently.
He got up and brushed himself off. "You used your powers didn't you?" He didn't sound angry so Wanda admitted that she had used a little levitation. She wasn't quite sure how she had done it though. And she didn't think she could do it again.
Just then, Strucker walked in. "We will take a break." He commanded. "Go back to your cells."
Wanda and Pietro nodded and started back to their cells.
Pietro rubbed his back. "Ouch."
"You should be more careful next time," Wanda teased him.
"Just be glad he didn't throw you on the ground." Pietro retorted with a grin. "We should get some rest. They will most likely have us training again soon."
And they did. But this time, they were going to train with their powers. When Wanda and Pietro entered the training room, she saw Strucker and several other men in lab coats standing near the mat. "Where is the Winter Soldier?' Wanda asked.
"Not here." Strucker replied brusquely. "You," He waved at Pietro. "Go run in that room over there." He pointed to a large storage room. "See how fast you can go."
Pietro shrugged and followed his directions. That left Wanda alone in a room full of people.
"I want to see all that you can do." Strucker said. He directed some soldiers to the center of the room and they pulled out several machine guns.
Wanda's eyes grew wide. What were they doing?
"Fire." Strucker demanded.
Wanda screamed, throwing up her arms to defend herself. She waited for the bullets to pierce her, but they didn't. Glancing up, she saw a huge red shield around her. Apparently she had done that.
A loud thump made her look at the soldiers and she gasped when she saw a man on the ground in a pool of blood. She dropped her energy shield and ran over to the man. After checking for a pulse and finding none, she crawled away as fast as she could. "He's dead." She choked out.
A bullet had ricocheted off of her shield and hit the man square in the chest. Wanda had to turn her head away from all the blood. Looking down at her hands, she realized that they had blood on them too from when she had touched his neck while searching for a pulse.
Wanda began trembling violently. She had just killed someone. She was a murderer. Waves of red energy began rolling off of her.
"What is going on?" One of Strucker's men shouted.
"Something wonderful!" Strucker yelled, his eyes wide with either fear or delight.
Wanda got to her feet and the whole room exploded. She was thrown against the wall. The wall knocked the breath out of her and she sank to the floor, struggling for a breath of fresh air. Pietro ran out of the room he had been practicing in.
He was running toward Wanda, when suddenly a huge portion of the ceiling broke loose and fell right on top of him.
"Pietro!" Wanda screamed. "No!" She stumbled to the rock and lifted it up with her levitation. Pietro lay still, his body broken and bleeding.
Wanda backed into the corner. She couldn't breathe, couldn't think. Her brother was gone.
"No." She whispered. Tears rolled down her cheeks. "No." She said again, louder. "No! No!" She screamed and floated upwards into the middle of the room. "No!"
She screamed as loud as she could and red energy exploded everywhere. Then, Wanda fell onto the ground and her world went dark.
Wanda woke up shrieking loudly and sobbing. "Pietro!" She screamed over and over. "Pietro!"
"Bring the boy in here now!" Strucker bellowed.
Pietro ran out of the room and straight to Wanda, who was still wailing. "Wanda, it's okay, I'm here." He cradled her in his arms and sang softly to her in Russian. "Мерцай, звездочка, мерцай. Как хочу я знать тебя…."
She eventually ceased sobbing and listened to the sound of Pietro's voice. "Так над миром высоко. Бриллиантом в небесах. Мерцай, звездочка, мерцай. Как хочу я знать тебя."
Wanda opened her eyes and looked at Pietro. Her eyes were red from crying and her face was streaked with tears. "You're alive," She breathed, touching Pietro's face softly.
"What happened?" She asked. "How are you alive?"
Pietro looked confused. "What do you mean?"
Before she could answer, Strucker cut in. "We have figured it out!" He exclaimed. "You can shift reality. You only thought your brother had died, but that was in a different reality that doesn't exist. Maybe one day you will be able to shift reality without sleeping."
"I was sleeping?" Now Wanda was the one who was confused. "When was I sleeping?"
"You passed out after you found out that you had killed that man." Strucker explained.
Wanda froze. So that part hadn't been a dream. She had really killed someone.
"I think that's enough for today." Pietro said. His tone dared someone to argue with him, just so he could punch them in the face. But no one argued. "And Wanda is sleeping in my cell tonight." He added. Again, no one argued with him.
He picked Wanda up in his arms, glared at Strucker and exited the room. He carried Wanda to his cell, where two soldiers opened the door for him. They probably didn't do it to be nice; they did it to make sure he got in the cell and stayed there.
Laying Wanda gently on the bed, he smoothed her hair out of her face and gave her a smile. "Are you okay?" He asked softly.
"No." Wanda whispered brokenly. She sat up frantically. "Promise me you will never leave me alone." She grasped Pietro's hand. "Please." A tear fell onto her cheek.
"I will never leave you." Pietro assured her. She didn't look convinced, but she laid back down anyway.
Pietro didn't try to comfort her with empty words. Instead, he kissed her forehead and climbed into the bed next to her. Wanda scooted closer so she was against his chest and he wrapped his arms around her. They fell asleep like that, nestled in each other's arms.
A,N- I tried to make this one longer, and according to Word document, it was. I will try to make the next one even longer. I must take a moment to say how much I appreciate all of your reviews! You have no idea how encouraging they are to me. Thank you everyone for your kind words. And thanks to everyone who followed and favorited this story too. I love to hear what you guys think about the chapter, so please keep reviewing :D
Bye, my lovelies! Have a wonderful Saturday!
Oh yes, I almost forgot the translation of the song.
The first part: Twinkle, twinkle, little star. How I wonder what you are.
The second part: Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are.