Chapter 10
Nat had already come up with a lie to tell Steve. She would say that she didn't speak up for Wanda when the team was arguing because she wanted to seem impartial. If she voiced her desire to go to Sokovia then Steve would have made sure that she never left the tower. Nat would make it seem like she was being stubborn and calculating so when she showed up in Sokovia to help there wouldn't be a doubt as to how she felt. It was too bad that this isn't how it actually went down.
When the boys were debating Natasha wanted to voice her support to go after Wanda. She knew Wanda was a good person and friend who had infinite potential. Other than her personal feelings for the only other female member, Natasha saw how dangerous it was to leave Wanda alone with everything that was happening. She could hurt herself or others unintentionally. The people of Sokovia might even hurt her if they were scared enough.
All of the signs were pointing for Natasha to support Steve and say they should go after Wanda, but she couldn't get a word out. A heaviness in her chest and a pounding in her head kept her from speaking. It was stupid, to let residual and subconscious feelings cloud her judgment. Mrs. B would be disappointed in her.
Natasha was back in her own room, sitting on her baby blue bed. She had her hand in a fist resting up against her chin. She had to come up with a plan so she could slip out of the tower and get to Sokovia. She needed to fix this. Natasha had a lot of practice with putting her personal feeling aside to focus on a mission, so this wave of uncertainty she was feeling was unexpected to say the least. But then again, she was never brutally attacked by a friend who had no control over her body.
She wasn't hurt like this often, but on those rare occasions she was, Natasha always hand delivered the bullet that went between their eyes. Obviously, she didn't want to shoot Wanda, but she couldn't help the uneasy feeling she got whenever she thought about Wanda. Get it out of your head. You need to focus and think logically.
Nat stood up quickly, determined to go to Sokovia, but leaned back on the bed when her head started to pound. Lately, getting up too fast made her get a head rush, something she kept forgetting. She began silently packing a few things, not really knowing how much she needed since she was unsure how long it would take to find her friend. She hoped Steve's flight hadn't left yet and that there wouldn't be any fighting in Sokovia because Nat was sure she'd be more of a liability than helpful in her condition.
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Sam knew Steve wasn't exactly happy with him, but Sam had to be honest. If Wanda wanted to leave then that was her right. She was still mourning her brother, so maybe she was taking some time to reconnect with her past and her people by going home. It wasn't up to the team to keep tabs on someone that obviously wanted to be left alone. Sam also had to admit, however, that a small part of him was glad for the time without her around. He still needed time to regroup and get over what happened. Steve should've respected that.
Still, Sam didn't want Steve going out there alone. Natasha couldn't be crazy enough to try and travel in her state, Tony made it clear he didn't want to go, and Rhodes was busy with his military responsibilities.
"Hey, Vision! Hey man, wait up." Vision had just gotten back from somewhere, opting to use the wall to enter the living space instead of the door. Vision was probably the most concerned about Wanda. When she first left Vision insisted on going to check on her, but Steve had convinced him to give her time.
"Hello, Sam," he replied smoothly. However, Sam detected a hint of sadness in his voice that had been there since Wanda left. The two of them were close, seeing as how they were both new to the team and spent a fair amount of time together.
"Where were you? Something kind of happened while you were gone."
"I was with Dr. Cho. She wanted to run some tests on my density manipulation abilities. She thinks these capabilities are attributed to the stone. Why? Is something wrong?"
Sam scratched the back of his neck. "We don't know if it's necessarily a bad thing yet, but Steve went to go see Wanda."
"Is she alright? I should have gone with Steve. Wait, what do you mean it's not necessarily a bad thing?" Vision immediately stepped closer to Sam, hounding him with questions.
"Look, she wasn't there. Tony found out she's in Sokovia. We-"
"What is she doing in Sokovia? Never mind, we should not have left her alone in the first place. Has the team left to get her yet?" Vision interrupted. Sam didn't know how to explain that only Steve was going and why. He stuttered a few times while Vision grew more impatient.
"Steve is taking Tony's private jet. I don't think he left yet. I can't go, but you can probably catch with him or you know, fly yourself."
"You can't go? Or won't." Sam swallowed. He couldn't really explain that he was trying to help by telling Vision.
"It's complicated," was all he managed to say.
"No. It really isn't," Vision breathed. Sam didn't need this. They say Vision has a human mind, then he should understand that it is complicated. That just because Wanda didn't mean to doesn't mean it didn't hurt while she tried to kill him.
"You should go, before Steve leaves," Sam said resolutely. Without saying another word Vision nodded and went right back out the wall he came in.
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Steve was sitting in one of the brown leather seats in Tony's private jet. They hadn't taken off yet, but Steve was already reading the newspaper to keep his mind occupied. He'd have to pace himself though because he had a nine-hour flight ahead of him. Just as he was about to turn the page he had heard something.
"Okay, then how about move or I kick your ass."
Steve whipped his head to the direction of the back of the plane to where the pilot, Andrew, was just about to close the doors to prepare for take off. The next thing Steve knew Natasha was stepping onto the plane. She was smirking, most likely because she got to go back to being her intimidating self; even if it was only against a nice guy like Andrew.
"Did you think you'd get to fly off to go see some tall brunette and I wouldn't notice?" she said curtly as Andrew passed to get to the cockpit.
"You're not my wife."
"Oh, so that's what you've been telling her?" Nat smiled, sitting down on the leather chair across from him. But Steve didn't want her getting the wrong idea. She wasn't going with him.
"C'mon Natasha. I don't want you here."
"Well, that's the thing about marriage; we're together through thick and thin," she said crossing her legs for effect.
Before Steve could retort a crimson figure came through the wall of plane, which was undeniably the android, Vision. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt, but I think you two have the wrong definition of marriage. A marriage is a legally or formally recognized union be-"
"Thanks, Vision, but we were only joking," Natasha explained.
"Yeah, I may be 98, but I'm not senile," Steve chimed in.
"Oh, very well. I've come to assist in finding Wanda. Although, I was under the impression that you were alone," Vision said to Steve.
"Yeah, so was I," he replied eyeing Natasha, who pretended not to notice. Vision sat down near Nat and when Andrew announced that they were ready to take off Steve knew it would be too late to kick Nat off the plane. They all buckled their seatbelts, something Natasha did while looking at Steve in triumph. This is going to be a long flight.
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"Clint, what the hell are you doing here!?" Wanda's head clouded with confusion. She didn't expect to see anyone here, let alone Clint. She didn't know what to do with herself. She made several attempts to talk, but she didn't know what to ask. All that resolved were a few clicking sounds from Wanda opening and closing her mouth.
Clint continued to grunt as he picked himself off of the cold stone floor. He reached down for his bow and quiver, which flew off of Clint when Wanda blasted him, and rubbed his arm. "Well, it's nice to see you too, Wanda," he grumbled.
"I don't understand. What are you doing here? You retired." At least that's what Wanda was told. When she joined the Avengers Wanda was slowly introduced to the world of spies and lies. She thought that maybe Clint had lied about retiring and that he was here on a secret mission. But what is he looking for? Does this have anything to do with me?
"Relax kid. Take a breath. I did retire," Clint said casually, but Wanda still held up her guard. If Clint really retired then he wouldn't be here. And why would anyone come here if it didn't have something to do with Wanda herself? She thought maybe Steve informed the higher ups about what was happening with her. Steve had never really talked about these higher-ranking government suits by name, but she knew they were out there. They could have been looking for a way to take Wanda down, to cut their losses and get rid of her before she had a chance to cause anymore damage.
Her looks of hesitation and disbelief made Clint sigh. He looked down at her arms. They were by her sides, but her fingers were positioned outright, as if anticipating an attack.
"Put those away before you hurt yourself," he breathed. Clint tried to walk forward from the dimly lit hallway into Strucker's office, but Wanda side stepped in front of him.
"What do you mean by that? What do you know?" she asked sharply, with a raised voice.
"Nothing. I just…look calm down. I didn't mean anything by it. What's got you so wound up?" Wanda suddenly became aware of the tension throughout her body. Her forehead hurt from glaring, her jaw was clenched, and her body ached. She took a deep breath and rolled her shoulders. She must have looked like a raving mad woman to Clint.
"I'm sorry. It's just that I need answers." She spoke vaguely, not knowing what to say or how much he knew.
"Alright then were on the same side. C'mon." Clint passed by Wanda and went into the office. She hesitantly followed.
The office was a lot brighter, thanks to the windows that took up the entire wall adjacent to the door. The snow on the ground probably added to the brightness. The once clean and minimalistic office was now covered in papers and debris. The desk was no longer upright and neither were the two guest chairs in front of her. Old filing cabinets were upright, but the drawers and its contents covered the floor.
Wanda instinctively wrapped her arms around her torso. Her right arm went across her stomach while her left went diagonally up her chest, with her left hand cupping her right shoulder. She felt less exposed this way.
She couldn't think about one thing in particular. Her mind was as clouded and messy as the office. It was a strange feeling to be back in this office. She couldn't put a positive or negative spin on her feelings. Everything was just strange.
She suddenly felt a hand on her back and she jumped. Wanda turned around to see Clint eyeing her with a worried look.
"Hey, are you okay."
"Yeah, I guess. It's just weird being back. I don't really know what to make of everything."
"I get it. A lot of shit happened here."
"Well that's one way to put it. You still never told me. What are you doing here?"
"Steve didn't let me know if he was going to tell you, but I got the feeling he wouldn't."
"Steve? You're here on his orders?"
"Not orders, like I said I retired. But Steve asked me for a favor, so here I am."
"And that favor was to get info on me."
"The favor was to help a mutual friend whose been going through a rough time," he gave a half smile. "But yeah, he filled me in on everything. I was going to come to the tower and see Nat and Sam, but there was nothing I could do for them. So, Steve's been giving me updates while I'm here trying to help you." Shame washed over Wanda her as Clint talked about the incident that ended with their friends in the hospital. Her actions affected so many people.
"So, you know what I did."
"From what I hear it wasn't entirely you."
"That doesn't matter I still-"
"Of course it matters. Look kid, playing the blame game with yourself isn't gonna change anything. It'll just make you feel like shit and who does that help? Nobody. Obviously you came here looking for answers to, but Steve doesn't know, right?"
"No. Nobody's with me and no one knows I'm here."
"Well this makes my job easier." He pointed to the right side of the room. "You take this half of the room. All these papers probably won't help; if they were of any use then our people would've taken them already. But look again, just to be sure…" Clint continued to give out useless instructions while Wanda just nodded. Clint didn't know what he was looking for, but Wanda did. The paper files wouldn't be lying in some filing cabinet; they'd be hidden. Knowing Strucker, and his affiliation for secret passages, the files, if they still existed, would be in some hidden compartment in his office. After Clint was done talking Wanda told him about the files and the best way to find them.
"Well, why didn't you tell me that in the first place?"
"I was too mesmerized by your sultry voice," she joked.
"Shut up," he laughed. "And start looking around."
Clint eventually found a removable stone at the base of the stone wall. He reached his hand in the dark space and felt around. On the back of the stone above the removable one was a button. When he pressed the button a square piece of flooring rose up three feet, revealing a hidden filing cabinet with two drawers.
Clint and Wanda looked at each other before eyeing the newly founded cabinet. Wanda held her breath, hoping beyond all hope that the files were still in that cabinet. The two advanced, approaching slowly as if the dusty metal cabinet were a scared animal. Clint grabbed one of the handles and tugged, but it didn't budge. After a few more tries Wanda stepped in.
"Let me," she said. Clint took his hand off the handle and wiped his hands together to get some dust off. Wanda put her hand an inch from the handle and forced the door open by sending red energy to the lock through the keyhole.
Her mouth felt dry as she put her hand on the handle. If the answers weren't here then there would never be any answers at all for Wanda. She opened the drawer and saw at least a foot worth of files. She smiled a little and let out a small laugh. Thank God. This has to be them.
She looked at Clint who nodded in understanding. He knew what this meant for Wanda. She was one step closer to fixing everything. She grabbed as many beige folders as she could, picked up Strucker's old desk with a wave of her hand, and put the files down. She heard Clint grab the rest and put them down next to her.
Now that she had the files, she didn't know what to look for in the papers themselves. She didn't know if she'd find a file labeled All the Times Wanda Maximoff Went Crazy and Why. She began quickly flipping through the papers, hoping something obvious would stand out, but she found no mention of her name at all.
"I think these are Pietro's files," Wanda said, the disappointment evident.
"Now wait a minute," Clint replied. He put the files he was looking through down and went back to the cabinet. "There are two drawers. Try opening the second one." Wanda did and the two pulled out more files and put them on the desk.
"Look, just open the files and make sure they're yours. We can take them and look at them in Novi Grad. If we stay much longer it'll be dark." Clint was right. Wanda looked out of the window to see the sky getting darker a lot earlier than she anticipated. Dark clouds hung low in the sky, which meant it was going to storm soon. Wanda didn't want to get stuck in the woods in the dark or the rain so she quickly opened the files and scanned them. She found her name multiple times on each page so they closed the files and put them in her backpack.
Their walk back to the city didn't include much chatter as they both had to focus on their feet. They used Wanda's stolen GPS because it was much easier than Clint's paper map and memory strategy. Even when they reached the path they couldn't really talk because it was harder to navigate as the dark settled in. Once they reached the outskirts of the city Clint told Wanda that he was staying at a motel nearby.
"You should come stay with me," he offered.
"As inviting as that is, I need to go back to the shelter."
"Why?"
"Well, I left some stuff there and there's someone I need to see," Wanda replied vaguely.
"Is it a boy?" Clint smirked.
"Yes, but not in the way you're thinking. His name is Marcin and he's only a kid."
"You are a kid."
"Shut up," she laughed, lightly hitting his arm. "He's a good kid and I promised I'd say goodbye and come up with a super hero name for him." Clint stopped in his tracks and put his arm out to stop Wanda from walking.
"Does he know about you, about what you can do?"
"Yes, but he figured it out I didn't tell him." Clint shot Wanda a disbelieving look. "I swear, he figured it out on his own!"
"Fine, but I don't want you going back there. He could've told someone and not everyone here is happy with what the avengers did in Sokovia," Clint reasoned. It wasn't an outlandish request, but Wanda had promised to come back. Fortunately, all Wanda had to do was give Clint the sad eyes before he said he'd accompany her to the shelter.
They first stopped at Clint's hotel so he could change into something a little more casual then they took a taxi to the shelter. The two were lucky because it didn't start to rain until they reached the hotel. On the way they talked mostly about Clint and his family. Wanda adored his kids and Laura was always sweet to her. She had only visited three or so times, but Laura told her she was always welcome as living in the middle of nowhere could get a little lonely sometimes.
Wanda asked how his kids were and she recalled how amazed Nathaniel was with her powers. Granted, he was only a few months old, but he we go into a fit of giggles whenever Wanda used them to make a spoon fill of baby goo fly in the air.
"I can't go back there till I fix this. It's too dangerous," Wanda said sadly, looking down at her lap. She didn't know if Clint would ever want her to visit farm regardless.
"Don't worry," Clint reassured, "we'll fix this." He gave her a reassuring smile then went back to looking out the taxi window at the dark and gloomy sky.
Eventually, they reached the shelter and paid the taxi driver. They walked in and Saw Natalia at the front desk. She said hi and introduced Clint.
"Oh, nice to meet you Mr. Barton. Is this the friend you'll be staying with from now?"
"No, he's a friend from the states. He's just here to help me out." Wanda smiled and looked at her friend. It wasn't really a lie. He was here to help her, even if she didn't know it at first.
Wanda didn't leave much at the shelter, just her bag with some extra clothing in it. But before she could even pick that up she saw Marcin lying in bed. He kept looking around and when their eyes met he jumped out of bed and ran up to Clint and Wanda. He couldn't stand still and he had a big toothy grin on his face.
"Hi, Wanda! Who's this? Did your mission go well? Does he have super powers like you do? Was your mission to find him? What-" He was firing out questions a little too loud for Wanda's liking so she cut him off.
"Marcin, calm down. I'll answer your questions just not here, okay?"
"Fine. Lets go to the common room." Marcin raced off. Wanda and Clint walked behind. She kept looking at her friend to see if he was angry with her for telling so much to Marcin, but he didn't look angry, just alert, like he was ready for someone to overhear and attack.
"Look, it's not like anyone would really believe Marcin if he told anyone. He would just sound like a kid with an over active imagination," she reasoned.
He didn't give a verbal answer, just a grunt. When they reached the common room they sat down and Marcin started asking questions again. She answered them as best she could. Yes, the mission was successful. Yes, the man with her was a friend. No, he didn't have any superpowers. No, she couldn't tell him the details of the mission.
"Look Marcin, I came to say goodbye. I have to go now."
"Do you have to? Can't you stay for a little longer?" Marcin questioned.
"No, I'm sorry, but I can't. My mission isn't done yet. But I think I came up with a good super hero name for you," she chirped.
"What is it?" he gasped.
"Wiccan Speed." She moved her hand in a line through the air for effect. "You liked the witch part in my name so that's where the wiccan part comes from, and you're really fast so that's the speed part."
"I like it!" Marcin jumped out of the air doing a superhero pose. Wanda laughed and even Clint smiled.
Afterwards, Wanda reminded Marcin not to tell anyone she was there and they said goodbye. He hugged her, something she wasn't prepared for so she stumbled a bit, and wished her luck on her mission. Wanda also said goodbye to Natalia and asked that she tell her husband goodbye for her.
They went back to Clint's hotel so they could look at the files in private. His room was small, with only one small bed, a closet, and nightstand, but it had a desk they could lay everything out on. The light pink walls and hard brown flooring didn't really contrast well, but the space was clean enough.
"Wanda, when was the last time you slept?" Wanda was so busy taking the files out of her backpack that she was thrown by the question.
"What? I-I don't know. Why?" In truth the past couple of days seemed like one big day in her mind. She had a hard time figuring out how many days it had been since the incident. It happened at night, then by the next night I was on a plane and in Sokovia. Then, I spent a day at the shelter. Now this day... made three days. It couldn't have been.
"You just look really tired. Maybe you should sleep for a little while and I'll look through the files."
"I fell asleep at the shelter for a few hours," she remembered, not even acknowledging Clint's suggestion. Wanda wiped her eyes and blinked a few times. She had been running on fear and hope for the past three days, but now that she had the files she became acutely aware as to how tired she was. She looked to the right at a mirror hanging on the wall. She did look tired. More than tired, actually. Wanda thought she looked as if she were dying. She rubbed her eyes again.
"We still don't know why I do…that thing." Wanda spoke with her hands to make up for lack of words and explanations. "I don't know if it's safe for me to sleep," she continued.
"Wanda, you look exhausted. And you were having a bad dream when you were sleeping. I think it was the emotions from the dream that set you off, not the sleeping itself."
"But what if I have a dream and it happens again. I could hurt you," Wanda challenged.
"Look, you need to sleep. At the first sign that you're dreaming I'll wake you up, okay? You can't go on like this," he sighed. And he was right. Wanda was exhausted and every time she blinked her eyes burned.
"Fine, but only for a few hours." Clint nodded in agreement and Wanda took her bag to the bathroom to change into more comfortable clothing. When she returned to the room Clint was already sitting at the desk going through the files. She could trust him with this. Soon, her attention drew to the small, but almost seductive bed. Her eyes were shut right as her head hit the pillow.
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All right! Another long chapter has come and gone. I hope you all liked it. A lot happened in this chapter. Wanda and Clint reunited and some of the team is going to Sokovia! I love getting reviews and that people like where I'm taking the story. Hopefully I made the complexities and struggles of the characters true to themselves and everyone likes what I'm doing with them. So, in the next chapter we will see Steve & Co. reach Sokovia and meet up with Clint and Wanda. Also, we will get some answers out of Strucker's files so stay tuned! (Also, I'm going camping today so hopefully a bear won't eat me so I can finish the story)