Wanda's first thought as she cracked her eyes open the next morning was that her neck was unbelievably stiff. She sat up and stretched, looking around at her surroundings and realizing that she had slept the whole night in the TV room.
As she shifted to stand up, a blanket slid off of her. She smiled. Steve must have covered her with it before he left. Pietro would have done the same thing. Wanda was grateful to have Steve in her life. He was so good to her. Not a replacement for her brother, but a good substitute.
She walked out the door, after carefully folding the blanket and went to her room to get a shower. She probably didn't look very good after staying the while night on the couch. The warm water wakened her up all the way and she closed her eyes, breathing in the steam.
The hot water never failed to soothe her and she would often take showers when she was feeling upset. After picking out a red day dress to wear, Wanda made her way to the kitchen where she knew she would find at least one Avenger making breakfast.
Natasha glanced up at Wanda as she came into the room and nodded at her, before going back to her coffee. Wanda hadn't had a lot of communication with Natasha, but she respected the red haired assassin and felt that the feeling was mutual. Natasha was one person who definitely wouldn't judge Wanda for her past.
Perusing the cabinets thoughtfully, Wanda decided a poptart would be suitable. She had just taken it out of the box when she heard someone behind her.
"Really? A poptart for breakfast?" Clint scolded teasingly. "That's not nutritional."
Wanda turned around with a grin. "And what you are eating is nutritional?" She raised her eyebrow at the two donuts he held in his hands.
"Well, of course it is." He winked at her and plucked another donut from the box on the counter, holding it out. "Come on, you know you want one."
Wanda obliged him and selected a chocolate one instead of the strawberry one he was offering. At Clint's offended look, she laughed and took an extra big bite out of her donut, enjoying the way the chocolate melted on her tongue.
She and Pietro hadn't had this luxury when growing up, and certainly not at Hydra. Because of this, Wanda wanted to savor every bite.
Heavy footsteps sounded at the door and everyone looked up in surprise to see Nicky Fury himself enter.
"Director." Clint nodded at him, looking as professional as one could when holding a donut and with a dusting of powder on their top lip.
Fury stood with his arms crossed behind him, and surveyed them silently. His black eye patch wrinkled as he frowned in concentration. Wanda had always wondered how he had gotten that injury, but she was far too scared to ask him.
"Sorry to interrupt everyone's breakfast." He said smoothly. "I need to see all of you in the briefing room immediately. It's important." As abrupt as ever, he swept out of the room, his cape billowing out behind him.
"How does his cape do that?" Clint muttered to himself, shoving the last of his donut into his mouth.
Natasha joined him at the door and they both beckoned to Wanda, who followed Clint's example and quickly ate the rest of her donut, before following them out the door.
Wanda fell into step behind the two assassins and it wasn't long before they were joined by the rest of the Avengers, evidently summoned as well.
Bruce looked like he had been up for hours. His shirt was all ruffled and his eyes blazed with excitement. He only had that look when he had had a scientific breakthrough. He probably wasn't happy to be called away from his work, but the Avengers came first.
Tony, grumpy as always in the morning, was still in his pajamas, and grumbling to himself about how even birds knew that this was too early to be up.
Bucky and Steve were in the rear, deep in conversation. Bucky looked angry and Steve was trying to calm him down.
Before Wanda could convince herself not to, she had dropped back a little to hear their conversation.
"You know what has to happen." Bucky was saying. His blue eyes were intense, but it didn't seem to faze Steve.
"Bucky, I swore I would protect you. I trust you, even if you don't trust yourself." Steve told him. "You haven't hurt us yet and you won't as long as you can help it."
"Exactly." Bucky put in exasperatedly. "There are times when I won't be able to help it!"
Right at that moment, both men looked up and saw Wanda walking in front of them, trying to pretend like she wasn't listening.
Wanda's face flushed red and she smiled apologetically at them. She faced forward again, embarrassed beyond words.
They didn't speak again and everyone slowly filed into the room, choosing random places at the long table. Wanda ended up between Clint and Steve.
Nick Fury took his place at the head of the table and everyone waited in anticipation. "We've got a mission." He began without preamble. "One of our own has been taken."
"By who?" Bruce asked, leaning forward intently.
"Hydra." Fury said, disgust plain on his face.
"But I destroyed Hydra." Steve protested, looking around at the others as if he wanted them to back him up. "All of it."
"Well, you know what they say." Fury deadpanned. "Cut off one head, two more grow back and all that. Anyway, this agent has important information that cannot get into enemy hands. If it does, well..." Fury stopped and looked almost disconcerted.
Wanda was alarmed. She'd never seen the man anything else but composed.
"It certainly wouldn't be good." He finished briskly. "And, before you ask, it's best if you don't know what information the agent contains."
"What?" Tony scoffed, still looking grumpy. "We have to go on a secret mission and you won't even tell us what for? May I remind you that we don't work for Shield?"
"And may I remind you that retrieving this agent is every bit as important as your hero work?" Fury scowled, making him look even more stubborn than usual.
Tony shut his mouth, though he still disapproved.
"And all of you won't be going." Fury continued. "Two people have to go undercover and smuggle the agent out. Taking Hydra head on won't work."
Clint and Natasha exchanged glances, as they were the obviously the best choice. "I would, Fury." Natasha said. "But Clint and I are already working on a mission."
The room fell into pandemonium as everyone put out their own suggestions for who should go.
"I think Wanda should go on this one." Clint said suddenly and everyone stopped talking to look at him. He shrugged. "What? She hasn't been on an undercover mission before. She should learn the ropes."
Fury clearly didn't agree. "We need someone with more experience."
Wanda tried not to be offended that they were discussing her when she was in the same room as them. "I would like to try." She said softly, but with determination. "I can learn fast."
Clint gave her a reassuring pat on the knee and sent her a smile which Wanda returned.
Fury looked at her thoughtfully. Wanda wasn't sure that he trusted her entirely because of what she had done in the past. She could only hope that she had proven herself trustworthy. Excitement flared in her at the thought of going on an undercover mission. Of course, she'd trained for these kinds of missions, but it was so different actually experiencing it.
"Fine, but I want Steve to go with her." Fury said, his tone brooking no argument.
"Sir, I'd like Bucky to go with us to." Steve put in evenly, ignoring Bucky's sudden frown. "He's probably the most experienced with undercover work out of the three of us."
"What about those trigger words in his head?" Fury asked, folding his arms across his chest and frowning. "If anybody says those, he's gone. And he could attack anyone at anytime."
Wanda winced inwardly at the harshness of his words and glanced at Bucky. Bucky's face was impassive and he continued to look at Steve.
Steve visibly bristled and his tone turned hard. "I trust him. Everything will be fine. He won't compromise the mission." His steely blue eyes looked back into Fury's stubborn ones and Wanda saw that Fury had already lost this fight.
"If something goes wrong, Rogers, it's on your head." Fury said finally, lifting his hands in a gesture of surrender. I'll brief the three of you on what needs to be done tomorrow morning before you leave."
He nodded at them all and left, leaving an uncomfortable silence in his wake.
"Well." Tony clapped his hands together and stood. "I'll just be going then." He had mentioned that he had a date with Pepper that afternoon.
Everyone seemed to take that as their cue to leave and soon the room was empty except for Wanda, Bucky, and Steve.
Bucky turned to look at Steve and Wanda saw that he was upset. "Steve, that was stupid."
Wanda blinked and hid a smile behind her hand at his no nonsense tone. This was not the time to laugh.
Steve sighed, running a hand over his face and leaning back in his seat wearily. It was clear that they'd had this argument before. "You can't just stay here all the time, Buck. You need to get out of the tower. You're an Avenger now."
Steve kept going, not letting Bucky interrupt. Neither of them seemed to notice Wanda sitting there, or maybe they just didn't care. "I think it would be good for you to go on a mission. See how you can help-"
Bucky cursed and hit the table with his metal hand, splintering the end of the table. "You know I can't control it! I could kill you! Or her!" He angrily pointed at Wanda, sitting motionless on Steve's left.
"You're better than what they did to you." Steve said quietly. "I'll help you if something goes wrong, but nothing will. You'll be fine."
Bucky clamped his mouth shut, frustrated. His chair loudly scooted back across the floor as he stood up abruptly. "I will never forgive myself if I hurt any of you." He said, before stalking out the door.
Wanda listened to the sound of his footsteps fading. She had never seen him that upset before. In fact, she'd never seen him angry, ever. She faced Steve and saw that Steve was already looking at her.
"What?" She finally said, after he didn't say anything for a while.
"Can you help me with something?" Surprisingly, he seemed hesitant. He'd never been that way around her before.
"Of course." She cocked her head to the side, waiting.
"I know that you have telepathy. Do you think that maybe you could help Bucky with those trigger words in his head? Do you think you could remove them?"
Wanda gulped. She'd only had her powers for about a year and a half and she wasn't all that proficient with them. There were so many things that could go wrong when she was messing around with someone's head.
"I could try." She met his gaze once more and saw how hopeful he looked. "I will try my best, but if something goes wrong…."
"I trust you." Steve reassured her, looking very relieved that she had agreed.
There it was again. The trust thing. He had said the same thing to Bucky. Maybe Steve gave out his trust too easily, Wanda thought, looking at his completely honest and open face.
Not everyone was as good as he was and not everyone deserved his trust. Nevertheless, since he had seen fit to give her his trust, she would try her best to live up to his expectations.
Wanda retreated to her room, after making some excuse to the others about being tired. She seemed to end up in her room a lot these days. Maybe a little meditation would help her to get her thoughts in order. One would think that having telepathy would aid her with this, but it didn't. Her thoughts were always too chaotic.
Opening the blinds on the window, Wanda tilted her head back, liking the feel of the sun on her face. Pietro had always preferred the day time, while she was partial to the night herself.
She put on the calming piano music that she listened to when trying to relax and closed her eyes. If Steve needed her help, then she would do everything she could.
Hopefully Bucky would be okay with it.
…..
Bucky looked at Steve incredulously and laughed once, humorlessly. "You want someone else to go inside my head and mess around with everything in there?"
"It's Wanda." Steve sat on the chair facing Bucky's bed. "She's an Avenger, not Hydra. Well, at least, not anymore. And she can help you."
Bucky didn't want to admit that he felt uneasy about someone messing with head again. Who knows what she could do with it? She could just make everything worse, even if she didn't mean to.
"At least let her try." Steve said earnestly.
Bucky frowned. "I'll think about it, Steve, okay?"
"That's all I ask. Don't take too long though, because we have to leave tomorrow morning." Steve grinned, clapping him on the shoulder. "We'll be okay, Buck."
Bucky wasn't so sure. But he summoned up an encouraging smile and tried not to think about someone going inside his mind once again.
Hey guys! So sorry for the late update, but life got in the way *cough cough* school *cough cough* anyway, thank you to my reviewer BigBangVIP! Your review brightened my day :) And thank you to the people who followed and added this story to their favorites! Btw, in case you are curious, since I write Wanda with a youngish thought process, she is supposed to be about eighteen(I read that on some marvel wiki). I think it's true though because she seems pretty young, but still mature. I made Wanda nineteen in this story though. Bucky and Steve are about twenty five or so, so not that big of an age gap. If you made it this far through the author's note, I commend you xD. Here's some virtual cookies. Next chapter coming soon!