Chapter 6

[Emily's POV]

Thankfully, Wanda apologized profusely to me while I tried to apologize profusely to her, so we ended up agree to be sorry to each other. In order to please her, I cooked my famous recipe, "Avenger" brownies, while she was getting the shower in the bathroom working. I placed the brownies into the oven just as she exited the bathroom.

"The shower's warm if you want to get in," she said in her crisp accent. I nodded and gave her instructions to the brownies, because I usually took long showers. I stepped inside and proceeded to take my shower. Once I was done, I wrapped a towel around myself and stuck my head out of the bathroom. Wanda was fiddling with a charm on her bracelet.

I took a mental note that she had a charm bracelet and asked, "This is really ridiculous, but I don't know where they put my stuff. Could I borrow something of yours until I can find it?" Wanda nodded and walked over to her dresser. She pulled a few drawers out before grabbing a few things and giving them to me. I shut the door and took my towel off, placing on the outfit. In the end, she had given me a black, gothic type dress with a deep red leather jacket. I brushed out my hair and swept my hair to one side. I stepped outside of the bathroom and shut the door, turning on the air. "Did you grab the brownies?" She nodded and pointed to the pan. "Did you try one? They're really good." She smiled lightly before she pointed at it again. I glanced at the pan and gasped.

She had taken five brownies.

"Sorry, they were really good," she said, grasping another brownie, taking a dainty bite out of it. I grabbed three, placed saran wrap on the top, and took a seat on the couch. "Would you mind telling me about yourself? I promise I won't dig into your thoughts."

"Of course," I told her, smiling. "I also wanted to apologize, once more, for overreacting." I took a deep breath. "I'm an only child, and I used to live with my mom and my dad. My dad was called Luke and he worked on the police force in Ohio. When the Battle of New York happened, he was on a vacation in New York…" I took a shaky breath and wiped off a tear that had appeared in my eye. "He's been missing since, and that was six years ago." Wanda gasped slightly and I added, "My mom was a wreck. She was before and after my dad disappeared. I took some of the consequences from her anger. The night after my dad disappeared, I learned I had wings. The next year, my additional powers emerged. I got accepted into this school for mutants, and stayed there until I was sixteen. Afterwards, I returned home, and my mom had settled down a little bit, so I stayed there until you opened up the whole Avengers: Initiate program."

"Interesting," commented Wanda, gulping down the rest of her brownie. "Come on, let's hit the sack before we have to get up early tomorrow."

"What are we doing?" I asked excitedly. She gave me a look of pure enjoyment.

"You'll find out soon."

:/:\:

[Steve's POV]

I stood with Bucky, Clint, Banner, and Tony in the common room, checking off all the initiates as they walked in. We had everyone beside Emily and Wanda.

"If they aren't here in five minutes, I'm going to go up and check up on them," Clint told me, and I nodded. Just as five minutes ticked by, Emily and Wanda rushed into the room from the lab, each of them looking like twins with black identical goth dresses with bright red jackets.

"Thing 1 and Thing 2 have arrived," commented Bucky, smiling at the two girls.

"I'm sorry, we woke up late!" pleaded Emily, panting. She shook herself out and stood up straighter. "So, where we going?"

"Well, Clint here is taking you, Bucky, Melina, and Dixon in his group," I told her. "Wanda, why don't you join him? Sharon, you go too." The blond haired woman nodded and ushered the group towards Clint. Let's see how this goes.

:/:\:

[Emily's POV]

When they said let's play some games, I did NOT expect this. I dove behind a large steel can bucket just as some paintballs hit where I had been standing. Bucky rolled behind a haystack and his voice filled my head-com.

"Are you alright?" he yelled, and I nodded. When the paintballs hit, it felt like a real bullet wound. Bucky had taken one to the shoulder, and Melina was gone as soon as she stepped on a paintball mine. Dixon was somewhere near the front, firing off shots while yelling orders to the other two groups that had joined us against the mentors. We had gotten Sharon and Sam Wilson, but that was it. I growled and glanced up over the barrel. I fell back down just as a paintball flew over my head. I closed my eyes and opened my aura. All the men were standing behind steel cans while the girls were hiding in the base, waiting for Dixon to be stupid enough to sneak in. There was one figure approaching us. I opened my eyes and stuck my gun on the outside of the barrel. I shot off three rounds, each of them hitting the target. I heard Clint cuss as he fell to the ground, his hands instantly grabbing onto his knees where the shots had hit.

"Nice shot!" Bucky yelled, rushing over to where I was hiding. We hid behind the barrel and listened to Dixon while he was hit in the chest by a paintball.

"We'll never get the flag if we're the only ones who stay alive," I told Bucky. "Listen, I have an idea, but it's going to surprise you."

"What do you mean…?" Bucky began, but I placed a finger on his mask.

"When you see the distraction, run and grab the flag and race back," I told him. I gave a weak smile and took off my mask, disconnecting myself from Bucky. He yelled at me some more, but I couldn't hear him over the paintballs. I unfolded my wings and let them come loose. I heard gasps from the other side and flung myself up into the sky. I held my hands out and our enemies began to tumble out of the way, clearing a straight path for Bucky to run through.

He got up and started to run when something hit my collarbone, causing me to cry out in pain. I held tight though, making sure no one was able to fire at Bucky. He nabbed the flag and made a mad dash towards our side, but two more paintballs came out of nowhere and hit me in the gut. I cried out, and my wings flailed me. The pain from my gut, shoulders, and collarbone was just too much to handle. I fell from the sky, hitting the ground hard, causing me to scream as my wings shifted in a wrong position. Someone scooped me up in their arms and I laid limp, my eyes glued onto the sky. I heard shouting and I looked up at my savior.

It was Bucky.

"Where's the…?" I began, coughing hard. I winced and moaned as the paintballs moved, causing more pain. He gently laid me down and placed a finger to my lips. He pulled out a bright ginger flag from his sleeve, and I smiled. "Good boy." He yanked off of his mask and smiled at me, before his face went slack. He fell to his knees and he let out a scream as his hands flashed to the back of his head, where there was a bright green splatter of paint.

I stood up, shakily, and screamed, "What the heck? We won!" I saw a smug look on Tony's face, and I staggered out of our base. "Is that how it's going to be?" I called forth my telepathy and got Bucky's gun that was lying on the ground. I fired off a few rounds, each of them hitting Tony in the chest. He collapsed to the ground, yelling in pain, and I smiled smugly.

"Emily! Enough!" yelled Clint, running towards me. That's when I saw it and he didn't.

He was going to step on a paintball mine. After witnessing what Melina was going through, I couldn't let him get hurt too.

"Clint, stop!" I screamed, but he didn't pay attention. Instead, he increased his pace. I spread open my wings and rushed over to him. I fell onto the mine before he got any closer and it erupted, slamming me in the face, chest, legs, and arms. I fainted before the pain got to me.

:/:\:

[Wanda's POV]

I yanked off my mask and raced over to where Emily was lying limp, every inch of her covered in paint. My hands hovered above her and tears began to form in my eyes.

"Someone help her, please!" I sobbed, and Steve and Clint broke out of their daze, rushing over to where Emily was lying limp. I glanced over to where Bucky and Tony were writhing on the ground. "Vision!" The red-and-green android appeared and grabbed Bucky while I got Tony. Together, we all entered the compound and rushed towards the hospital wing. The head nurse, Clara, gasped as we showed her our fallen comrades.

"You didn't…" she began, but we nodded. She was always against our paintball game. "Put them here." We set them all down and Bucky shook his head.

"I'm fine," he said through gritted teeth. "I've been through worse." Clara grumbled and ordered him back onto the bed. He shook his head again and pointed at his bed.

"Use mine and Emily's bed to make it more comfortable for her," he ordered to Clara. He settled down shakily into one of the rocking chairs. "See? I'm totally fine." He winced as his head touched the cushion. I grabbed a tissue and wiped my tears, blowing my nose as well. Steve gently steered me out of the room and I sat down at the couch, bringing my knees shakily up to my chest.

"I have to go round up the other recruits and send them to bed," Steve whispered to me, gently brushing my dark brown hair away from my face. "Will you be ok?" I nodded, gulping down a fresh wave of tears. "If you need anything, just ask Sharon." I nodded and shook myself out a little bit. Steve exited the room, and that's when my tears started flowing. I gasped for breath and grabbed a nearby pillow, digging my face into the pillow.

Please be okay, please be okay, I prayed silently in my head. Arms wrapped themselves on me and I didn't even question it, I just placed my head on their shoulder and started sobbing. The person methodically rubbed my back and soon, I had calmed down a bit, but I was still teary-eyed. I rubbed my eyes and leaned backwards, getting a good look at the person. I gasped. The king of Wakanda, T'Challa, stared down at me.

"I'm so sorry," I whispered, hastily wiping my tears and turning away. "I didn't mean…" He shook his head and gently grabbed my chin, pushing my face back to face his.

His thumb gently wiped away my lone tears and he whispered, "It is ok. Not everything with me is royal. I come as a friend. Natasha called me earlier this morning. I now just arrived." Vision hovered into the room and I backed away from T'Challa. Vision was a little overprotective with me.

"Wanda, King T'Challa," said Vision, nodding to each of us in turn. "I wanted to alert you, Wanda, that Emily has awoken." I leapt to my feet and ran straight to the room, pushing past all the nurses. I grasped her hand, my eyes watering. Her eyes were open, barely, and they were flickering every which way.

"Emily," I whispered, and her eyes turned to me, a small smile creeping onto her face. "Don't try and speak. The doctors are going to have to wipe off the paint if they are to stop the pain. It will be very painful, but I can do something to hold the pain for a while." Emily's hand fidgeted in my hand, and I let go. The smallest thumbs up I had ever seen appeared, but it was there. I smiled and told her, "I'm going to start it." I flicked my fingers and my magic surrounded Emily.

Her eyes flared wide open and she yelled, "WANDA NO!"

I paused, cocking my head. Didn't she want help? Suddenly, Emily let out an ear-piercing scream, and her whole body started to convulse. I stood there in shock as what looked like my magic, only in blue, emerged from her hands, flipping upwards and sideways around her body. She gasped and fell limp onto the bed again. The head doctor grabbed me and yanked me out of the room and I started crying again. He slammed the door shut and I fell heavily against it, pressing my ear against it. I heard the doctor say that she was suffering from a seizure.

T'Challa rounded the corner again, shook his head sadly, and scooped me up in his arms as I sobbed, pounding my hands angrily on his chest.

I did that to her…I did that to her…What happened?

A/N: I don't own Avengers. Tada! Hope you guys enjoy the chapter. If y'all have any questions, please leave a review and I'd be more than willing to try and help explain things to you.