I Only Run for Doughnuts or Money - Steph/Pietro

Steph's POV

Some days just really weren't worth getting out of bed for. Like, if I could do it over again, I would, without a doubt, have just rolled back over and gone back to sleep for the rest of the day. No getting out of bed for me. No siree Bob.

My skip, Raymond Barber was supposed to be easy money. He'd gotten drunk and broken into an arcade. Somehow he'd pried the top off of the claw machine, and while reaching in to try to get the stuffed flower toy he apparently wanted, he'd fallen in.

The next morning, the teenager who opened up to start getting things ready for the day found him, and called the cops. When the cops got there, he was still clutching the flower plush toy to his chest, singing the song "Daisy Bell". He'd been arrested for breaking and entering as well as vandalism of private property.

Pretty much the entire tank of toys inside the game had been a loss as at some point in the night, Raymond had to relieve himself. What goes in must go out, and all that.

So when his file had crossed Connie's desk and ended up in my stack of skips, I figured he'd be easy to bring in. All I'd need to do was knock on his door, remind him of the court date he almost certainly forgot, and then take him into the station to be re-booked, rescheduled, and in all likelihood, re-released.

Of course, what I found out later was that good old Raymond's prints the first time he'd been booked had been matched with another crime, and there was a warrant out for his arrest. Obviously it was something that had taken a little while to work through the system, so I assumed that was why the information had never made it to me.

Flash forward to me showing up at his house, giving him my standard spiel, and sticking my foot in the door so he couldn't slam it shut in my face.

"Really, Raymond, it's not a big deal. We all have a little too much to drink sometimes, and do stupid stuff. I'll take you in, you'll set a new court date, and you'll be back out in a matter of minutes. Then you'll remember the court date this time, show up for it, and get community service. Probably not even that much. Then it'll be over and done with!"

"I'm leaving, and you can't make me stay!"

"It is crazy to go on the run for a charge like this, Raymond! Just do the community service, how bad could it be? Pick up some trash, feed some homeless people some soup, whatever works for you. Just do it and be done with it!"

"You think I don't know that they're probably right behind you, you bitch? You probably brought them right to my doorstep. Followed you and everything!"

"Okay, Raymond, I don't think anyone is following me to find you- you weren't hard to find." I felt it best not to mention the fact that I'd been feeling one of those tingles on the back of my neck all day, and Ranger was in the wind, so I was fairly certain it wasn't him. "And why would anyone be looking for you anyway? It's one lousy bond, not even worth that much money, and Vinnie doesn't send out multiple bounty hunters at once for easy cases like this."

Raymond scoffed and apparently decided he was done playing nice, that or he heard the same creak on his porch that I did, but he didn't think it was the wind as I assumed it was. He reached out his hand, and I missed the stun gun in it, which looked oddly familiar, until it was pressed into me and I went down.

Thankfully it seemed to be a misfire day, so I went down with a grunt but was up on my feet only seconds later. I started chasing after him through the back of the house and into the yard. I saw him disappearing out the side gate to the front and took off, but quickly realized that he was going faster than me.

A blue-colored blur whizzed past me, and a second later, my skip was on the ground, pinned by a man who looked young but had silver hair. He looked up at me with a confident grin and said, "bet you didn't see that coming!" Raymond started putting up more of a struggle, so I tossed the stranger who was apparently my romantic soulmate a set of handcuffs. Once he'd secured the man, I still hadn't spoken, so my soulmate said, "You know, if you're going to be chasing after people, you might want to try to get a little faster."

Combine my shock over how fast the man had just run with the fact that I'd just met my soulmate, and I just continued to gape at him, willing myself to say anything. Finally I blurted out, "I only run for doughnuts and money."

"I've always wondered," a female voice said softly from right next to me, "how does one run for money?"

When I turned to look at her, her eyes were glowing red and some sort of reddish static seemed to be hovering around her hands. I supposed that was no weirder than running like a blue blur, so I just ignored it and said, "I'm a bounty hunter- if I catch him, I get money. Then I can use the money to get doughnuts, so I guess it's kind of the same thing."

Now I was alternating between staring at the two of them, snapping my head back and forth. The woman held her arm outwards to me, and the glowing disappeared, allowing me to see my words across my forearm. As mine were on the same spot, I held mine to her, and watched as she read them over and smiled.

"My name's Steph," I blurted out, still awkwardly.

"Wanda," she said kindly, "and this is my brother, Pietro."

"Uh, am I right in thinking you're some of the new Avengers? Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver?"

"Oh, darling, you've heard of me," Pietro said smoothly. He held out his hand and showed me that my words to him were on his palm before continuing, "I feel honored, and yet I wish to know everything about you. Let's start with this, why were you chasing Ward?"

"Ward?" I asked him.

"Grant Ward," Pietro replied, pointing to the man on the ground.

"Oh, there must be some mistake. That's Raymond Barber, I'm bringing him into court for trespassing and destruction of property," I said, digging in my purse for the paperwork.

A man who could only be Captain America (the stars and stripes uniform was a dead giveaway) strode forward, and clearly overhearing me held out his hand for my paperwork when I had it.

"Yes," he commented, "this is the arrest that got the match on the fingerprints. He's not Raymond Barber, that's just an alias. We'll escort him to the police station for you, and arrange a transfer of him over to our custody."

I gulped and looked over at my soulmate, asking, "what did he do?"

"A lot of really bad things," Pietro said in response before sliding an arm around my waist. "Now tell me, what do I have to do to get to see my words? You let my sister see hers."

"Well, I can show your sister hers fully clothed," I said. "Mine are-"

"I'd really rather just not know, I think," Wanda interrupted. "Knowing my brother, I can only imagine. If you never tell me, I can just pretend they're on your back but you'd only be able to show him by taking off your shirt or something."

"Don't you know?" Steve asked incredulously, "with all your mind reading and such?"

"I'm trying really, really hard not to see any of those thoughts," Wanda said. "She projects them very loudly."

I didn't know how to respond to that, but I didn't have to as Pietro just responded, "don't worry, my Stephanie. I cannot wait to show you the joys of the stamina that comes from running. Maybe I'll convert you."

I looked him over head to toe, glad we were alone as the others had walked off already when I accidentally said, "I think you might just be able to give me something I'll enjoy more than a doughnut."