Wanda was enjoying a perimeter check for the first time. She was finally able to run on her left leg without pain, an impressive accomplishment in just the two months since her injury. Dr. Cho's diligent attention and treatments had, once again, created medical miracles. Wanda's heart leaped over the brook along with her body, not a thought of using her powers to assist her entering her head. It felt amazing to exert herself after so much downtime.
The team had been called out on several missions while she'd been laid up. She had spent each of them in Ops, biting her nails as Hill had conducted a symphony of logistics organization, from the quinjet down to Band-Aids. Lucky, not many of the latter had been needed over the course of the weeks missing a teammate. She was more disappointed in herself than anything regarding her inability to join them in the field.
And maybe only a little jealous that they were functioning so well without her.
For their part, the media had finally taken notice of Bucky. Although he had agreed to a press release referring to him as the Winter Soldier, he had been dubbed Silver Arm by some anchor and the name had caught on quickly. Interest in Silver Arm had been less devoted than the attention lavished on Freckles, but the media was happy to have a new Avenger to profile. The sparsely available information on Bucky's past had been glossed over by all but the most rabid conspiracy-promoting websites.
Steve and Natasha's engagement had not yet been officially announced, leaving more time for other stories. They were likely to steal the spotlight even from Freckles when that became public knowledge. It was unlikely Freckles would noticed, provided he continued to receive his customary level of adoration at HQ.
At the moment, he was bouncing along the trail with the team, snapping his jaws at raindrops and generally being his adorable self. Wanda stopped just behind Natasha and took a moment to stretch as the team assembled for a few sets of squat thrusts in a clearing.
Natasha looked at her with an indulgent smile. "Take it easy, Gummi Bear. You're gonna be Jell-O when we're done and we haven't even had breakfast yet."
"I have not been able to run so well in weeks!" She did a few jumping jacks to work off some of her enthusiasm. "This is so much better than the treadmill!"
"Don't get so excited. Steve will think you like this early morning torture."
Wanda felt confident enough to reply, "You don't engage in early morning cardiovascular activity with Steve?"
"Yeah, but it's not torturous." Natasha stroked his chin as he walked past them after checking on Rhodey, who had arrived last, to make sure everything was okay. "Unless I'm feeling cruel."
Bucky groaned nearby. "When you talk like that you're torturing the rest of us, y'know."
"And I don't even feel guilty about it," Natasha replied as she dropped into her first squat thrust. "In fact, I'm fucking thrilled."
"Emphasis on fucking."
"I'll get a really small ruler for you if you want to have a measuring contest."
Bucky mumbled something unintelligible as they continued to squat and thrust. Wanda was starting to tire, but she refused to give in to her body's limitations. She kicked her legs back and brought them forward with a purpose before springing up. Steve called out the rep with each completed movement. She was just about to surrender when he indicated a quick hydration break.
She fell into step with him at the front of the pack when they finished and began running again. "You and Natasha have not set a date yet, right?"
"Nope. We were thinking next year. Lila is probably even more eager, if that's possible. Laura said she was on the world's loopiest emotional rollercoaster when Nat told her she was too old to be a flower girl and she'd have to be a bridesmaid instead."
Wanda smiled as she jumped over a thick tree root. "I suppose Clint was surprised?"
"He would have been if I hadn't called him to ask his permission before I proposed." Steve suddenly reddened from reasons not related to exertion. "I mean, he's the…he's like her big brother, so I thought it was only right to…I'm kind of old fashioned, in case you hadn't noticed."
"I think it is sweet."
"He and Laura offered to host the ceremony at the farm." He looked over his shoulder briefly. "I think we might take them up on it."
"We are all very happy for you," Wanda confirmed. "For both of you." After a few more paces she added, "Even Director Fury seems pleased."
"I probably should have asked him, too, but I figured he already had security footage of me buying the ring so…it was hard enough talking to Clint over the phone." They ran in silence for a few moments before he said, "Fury's okay with it. I think."
"Does it really matter? I mean, who likes it and who is against it? The two of you are happy."
Steve grinned at her as he pulled up at the next clearing for push-ups. "You're getting pretty good at people, Maximoff."
"I do my best." She dove into the mud to emphasize her eagerness. His position beside her allowed her to continue, "I'm glad you will be having a wedding ceremony."
"Of course. Small, but with all our friends in attendance. We've got to have witnesses for the best day of our lives."
"It will be wonderful," she affirmed. "In the meantime, I can't wait to get back to, um, saving the world."
Steve gave her a lopsided grin. "That is what we do."
"Between falling in love, yes?"
"Hey, it can't all be super-heroics."
She glanced over her shoulder, at the group running behind them. "Very true."
Wanda's first mission back turned into a shit show rather quickly. The Hydra base in the Peruvian highlands had proven much better defended than intelligence had estimated. An extensive firefight had pinned the terrorists inside their bunker, but left the assault force of Avengers woefully unprotected. Extraction had failed when their quinjet had been hit by several RPGs, taking out its landing gear and weapons systems, among other things. Rhodey and Vision were escorting the disabled craft to safety while the remainder of the team ensured that the Hydra thugs still shooting were trapped underground for at least good day or two – long enough to ensure the airstrike to take out the base had been carried out, at any rate.
Unfortunately, the resources tasked to retrieve the team had to be diverted to carry out that airstrike, leaving them to find their own way for a minimum of thirty-six hours. Wanda wasn't sure what kind of safe house Natasha could possibly have in this area, in spite of the fact that she had confidently commed HQ that they would be fine while Steve had hotwired a beat-up pickup truck over an hour ago.
Wanda mostly just wanted to sleep in a comfortable bed, rather than the cab of a smelly stolen truck that desperately needed new shocks. The altitude wasn't helping things. Now that the adrenaline of battle had ebbed, she wondered if an oxygen tank would be asking too much. She glanced over and asked, "How much longer?"
"Not sure." Natasha kept her eyes on the pale illumination of the headlights, cruising along the bumpy road snaking through the unforested mountains. It was more forgiving than the dirt track they had been on before, but just barely. She knocked on the window over her shoulder. "Is somebody watching the GPS? Because I'm navigating by the stars, in case any of you boys were wondering."
"Ugh," Sam replied, summing up everything Wanda felt at the moment. Of course, he had had an especially hard landing after a hit to one of his wings. He didn't appear to have any broken bones, but plenty of nasty bruises.
Steve, as usual, was more on the ball, passing a small tablet through the window. "I think it's about another hour or so. I think. Where, exactly, are we going?"
"A wretched hive of scum and villainy."
Wanda didn't have the energy to determine why the description seemed familiar, but, to her surprise, Bucky asked, "We're goin' to Mos Eisley?"
Natasha grinned. "Close. Juliaca."
Steve's head suddenly came through the window. "Juliaca was on the map, but where's Mos Eisley?"
Sam groaned from his position lying in the truck bed. "We get beat down and we gotta watch Star Wars again? I mean, I like the original, but this shit is getting ridiculous."
"Oh, I remember that one. So we won't be finding the droids we're looking for in this place?"
Natasha rubbed his head affectionately before pushing it back through the window. "Settle in. We'll be there soon enough." They rode in silence for a few minutes before she asked, "You okay, Wanda?"
"Fine. I was not hurt during the battle."
"Maybe, but being 13,000 feet above sea level doesn't seem to agree with you." Wanda accepted the canteen shoved into her hands and took a long drink. Natasha continued, "I've got few tanks of O2 at the safe house, so you should be fine."
Wanda nodded. Her confidence had ebbed once they had arrived in the city, passing between repeated blocks of cinderblock and concrete structures. They finally came to a stop in a nondescript alley between two identical buildings. After turning off the engine, Natasha immediately slithered out of the drivers' side window. Hearing her boots on the roof of the cab, Wanda had to stick her head out her own window to find out what was happening.
Natasha deftly grasped a drainpipe and shimmied her way up to a second-floor window. A hidden panel appeared in the wall after a series of taps. A code later, she was slipping through the suddenly opened window. She poked her head out a moment later. "You can sleep in the truck, but it'll probably be stolen by morning."
Wanda gathered enough strength to help Sam through the window with a brief use of her powers. She glanced around the room after settling him on a dull red couch. The interior was scarcely more inviting than the outside, but she was in no position to complain. Natasha was already digging bottled water out of a cupboard as Steve and Bucky made their way inside. "Everybody stay hydrated, but don't drink from the tap. I'll be right back."
She disappeared through a dark doorway, footsteps receding down what sounded like a stairwell. Steve looked around after drinking a bottle of water in a series of big gulps. "Uh, I guess…Sam, I doubt we can fix your wingpack here."
"I'm cured of flying for at least a week. Just tell me Redwing isn't hurt."
"Um…" Steve looked at the pack he was holding with a mixture of confusion and annoyance. "Er…"
Sam held up his arm with an effort and tapped his gauntlet. "He's cool. Okay."
"Oxygen!" Natasha called, reappearing with a large SCUBA-like tank that Steve immediately moved to lift from her arms. "I've got two masks, so, Sam, Wanda…you're up."
After a few minutes, Wanda felt like a new person. She left Sam to enjoy the benefits of actual breathable air as she left to explore the hallways where the rest of the team had disappeared some time before. Ignoring the sound of running water, she ascended a set of stairs. She emerged in a hall consisting of four closed doors. She knocked on the one where she heard voices without a second thought and opened the door.
Steve and Natasha were lying in a double bed, still wearing their uniforms. In Wanda's somewhat clouded mind, clothing negated the intimacy of their embrace. "I feel better."
"Good," Natasha replied, getting up and walking toward her. "Do you feel like taking a shower?"
"Sure."
Gentle hands guided her into a bathroom and helped her undress. "I'll bring you some clean clothes and towels."
Wanda barely remembered not to open her mouth to swallow some of the warm water that was washing over her body. She heard the door open and close again, but didn't feel the need to acknowledge the interruption. She dressed in the slightly too large clothing (t-shirt, hoodie and jeans, all likely Natasha's) and made her way back to the common room, dirty leather jacket and boots in her arms.
Sam was still breathing comfortably with his oxygen mask. Bucky sat on the couch beside him, looking damp and uncomfortable with the silence and his somewhat small shirt and sweatpants. Wanda grabbed the other mask and sat beside him. After a moment of oxygen saturation, she rolled her head toward Bucky. "Whose clothes are those?"
"No idea. Barton's, if I had to guess."
Sam nodded knowingly. "You think she's got places like this everywhere? Like, if we were in the middle of the Amazon, would Nat just nod and tell us we were an hour from her special treehouse?"
"Not at all. We'd have to get to Manaus. Or San Carlos if we were closer to Venezuela." Natasha pulled the oxygen mask from Sam's face. "Come on. A shower will help."
"Give him bigger clothes!" Bucky shouted as they disappeared up the stairs.
Wanda felt slightly giddy beside him on the sofa, alone. She decided it was an effect of the oxygen, taking another deep breath. She felt her head drop on his shoulder. "Hey."
"Um, hi." There was a long pause while she breathed noisily before he asked, "Are you feeling okay?"
"The altitude." Wanda felt a shiver run through her body. "It's not agreeing with me."
"Sure. I guess those pills we took don't help everyone."
She snuggled closer to him, even though she was on his left. Normally his metal arm served as a barrier, but tonight she felt like getting as close as she possibly could. She tried out the only pickup line currently buzzing in her head, "You want some air?"
"I'm good."
"Whatever you say." She felt a few more shudders of pleasure run through her body before she understood what was happening. "Shit!"
Bucky was standing in a flash. "What? What's wrong?"
"They're…." Her body responded involuntarily as Steve entered Natasha, abruptly explaining all the shivers she'd felt in the past few minutes. "Oh, God! I have to…Oooh…"
"Wanda?"
"Out." She fought against the pleasure taking place in the room just overhead. "I have to…oh! Get out."
He looked at her skeptically. "This didn't really strike me as a walking around kinda city."
"I don't…mmmm! I need to…go!" She used her powers as she propelled herself through the window with the feeling of Steve's powerful yet gentle thrust, landing in the bed of the pickup. She was hopping down into the alley just as Bucky's weight caused the truck to shift.
He had caught up to her quick strides as she reached the street. "Um…"
"I just need distance." Wanda focused on catching her breath in the thin air as they walked.
They emerged from their side street onto a main avenue, busy despite the late hour, when Bucky asked, "Do you speak Spanish?"
Wanda looked over her shoulder at a few boys feigning toughness. "No. You?"
"I can probably look pissed enough to deter any unwanted attention."
"Do that." She grasped his arm and the boys following them seemed to dissolve into the darkness.
They walked another block before he asked, "Do you think the whole city smells like piss?"
She had to laugh. "I assumed we were just in a bad neighborhood."
"I was paying attention when we drove in. The whole place is a bad neighborhood." They walked another block. "What was going on with you before we left?"
"Nothing," she replied to quickly, feeling a flush rise in her cheeks in spite of the cold night.
"Sure."
She took a few more steps, inhaling the heady aroma of garbage and urine, before admitting, "Steve and Natasha were making love in the room above us."
"So?"
"I feel like we have already been over the idea of 'thin walls' for someone with psychic abilities."
They had reached the next intersection before he paused with something other than pedestrian self-awareness. "Whoa. You mean you could feel them?"
"Yes."
"And you still wanted to leave?"
A charge of guilt rushed through her, reminding her of her earlier exploits invading Steve and Natasha's privacy. "It isn't right. I can't be a part of their…" She waved her hands in the air to indicate the relationship. "Besides, Natasha knows. I don't know how, but she knows. Even if I didn't…" She paused as she remembered a time when she didn't, but quickly recovered. "I won't intrude on them if I can help it."
"Sorry. I didn't mean to…it's just been a while for me." They continued walking in silence for a few moments, past some people reclining on a stoop and a convenience store, before he continued, "I'm not trying to horn in on Natasha. Not anymore. I mean, she's hot. I got a pulse, don't I?" He laughed nervously. "I just mean…I'm not jealous because Steve is with Natasha, specifically. I just want what they have, y'know? You look at them and they're just so…"
"In love," Wanda supplied. She wondered if that was what she had really been seeking those months ago when she had been willing to steal some of their passion for herself.
"Love. Yeah." Bucky scuffled his boots in the dirt at their feet. "That little punk has all the luck."
"What do you mean?"
He looked somewhat abashed as they turned and walked back the way they had come. "Uh, back home in Brooklyn, in the '40s, I was, uh, something of a ladies' man. Love 'em and leave 'em. Steve, though…you could see it with him and Peggy. It was something special. And now, him and Natasha…don't get me wrong, I always enjoy some friendly attention, but seeing those two…" They were quiet until they came to the corner where they needed to turn. He glanced at her. "Should be okay by now, right?"
"Sure." She didn't think it was the appropriate time to comment on Steve and Natasha's endurance, though she did feel slightly breathless as they jumped up on the cab of the truck and boosted themselves through the window.
Sam was sitting on the couch, oxygen mask over his face, looking slightly shell-shocked. Wanda reached out to squeeze his shoulder. "Sam, are you all right?"
"Huh? Oh, sure." The dazed look never left his eyes. "I heard someone moan and I thought it was pain, but it turns out that's just what they sound like when they're trying to be quiet."
"Steve and Natasha?" she inquired, sinking into the seat beside him and seizing the other mask.
He nodded. "She was on top and I just…stood there. Watching. Maria is gonna kill me."
Bucky was nodding in approval when Wanda shot him a reproving look. He immediately dove toward the kitchen. "Hey, who wants water?"
