Because I couldn't let the short conversation in Civil War be the only instance of a mentor/mentee relationship between Wanda and Natasha.
Enjoy.
"Don't feel too bad," Sam said, shooting a sympathetic look to Wanda, who was sitting on the ground breathing heavily and leaning against the wall with eyes closed. "I run regularly, and that almost killed me too."
Wanda's eyes fluttered open slowly as she focused on Sam, who was holding out a hand to help her up. "I need a minute," she replied.
"Doesn't look like that's a luxury Romanoff's gonna let us have," he said apologetically, glancing over his shoulder to the other side of the room and finding Natasha's watchful eyes on them. "We're moving onto the next level apparently."
Wanda let her head fall back as she exhaled heavily before opening up her eyes and grabbing Sam's proffered hand to get up.
"There ya go," Sam said with a reassuring smile and a nod. "C'mon, if we survived that then we can survive anything," he drawled, a cheeky grin spreading on his face.
As they jogged across the room to where Natasha was waiting, Wanda couldn't help but hold a tiny glimmer of hope that whatever the 'next level' entailed, there wouldn't be quite so much running involved.
As it turned out, the entire week had been dedicated to running and working through a variety of obstacle courses that Wanda was fairly certain Captain America had run through during his pre-war training. Wanda had struggled through all of it, never having really needed to keep up that kind of fitness for any reason, but for some reason everyone had been incredibly understanding and supportive as she lagged behind.
While part of her was grateful for their kindness, mostly Wanda found herself frustrated. She was frustrated at herself for being unable to keep up. For all the power she wielded inside of herself, she couldn't do something as simple as run through a course in the specified time. Logically she knew that their training regimen would not all be physical training, and that soon enough they would begin to work on things that played to her strengths…but it was hard not to be discouraged with herself given just how far behind everyone she was. She felt herself several times begin to wonder whether she was cut out to be a part of the team at all.
For reasons passing her understanding, Wanda found herself frustrated with her teammates too. She could feel the pity in their stares, and wanted nothing more than to throw something across the room with her mind to prove she was worthy to be a member of the team.
Wanda rubbed her hands over her face in an effort to rid herself of the ball of frustration that had taken hold. She felt the familiar throb of her powers begin to fight against her control and let out a heavy exhale to try and calm herself. Generally, she managed to keep a pretty good handle on her powers, but the exhaustion from the week's activities had apparently caught up with her, and was making it that much harder to contain.
She was startled from her efforts at keeping the wisps of red contained when Natasha appeared suddenly. "Good work this week," she said with a small nod of her head.
Wanda found herself frowning. She had struggled all week and now Natasha was telling her she had done well? While she may not know the infamous Black Widow well, she knew enough to understand that pitying and patronizing were not things she did. So why was she offering this comfort now?
"I don't need your pity," Wanda replied with a little more venom in her voice than she had really intended.
If Natasha was surprised, she didn't show it. "I'm not pitying you. I'm telling you that you did well this week."
Wanda let out an unimpressed huff. "Please don't patronize me. They ran circles around me."
"They had a much higher baseline than you. Relative to your starting point, I'd say you outperformed them," Natasha explained, her voice infuriatingly calm and even.
Wanda knew that Natasha had nothing to do with the anger bubbling inside her, but she couldn't help the bitter thoughts from forming. She opened her mouth to retort, but Natasha beat her to the punch.
"I know this is frustrating for you, but it's not without a purpose. I mean it when I say you did well this week. I don't expect you to be able to keep up with Rhodey and Sam – they both come from a military background and are used to this kind of thing. And I definitely don't expect you to keep up with Cap. I mean…I think he actually likes this stuff," Natasha said, finishing with a small smile.
She watched Wanda for a moment before she pressed on, apparently having gleaned something from her body language. "Just give it a little time. You'll be surprised how quickly you build up endurance and strength."
Wanda felt her anger and frustration ebb away almost instantly. She felt pangs of regret at her words, and opened her mouth to apologize, but again, Natasha beat her to the punch.
"Listen – can you meet me here tomorrow after breakfast? I want to show you something."
Wanda blinked in confusion – this was certainly not what she'd expected. She realized that she hadn't said anything when Natasha tilted her head slightly, as though trying to prompt a response.
"Okay," Wanda replied with a nod, not really sure what she'd just gotten herself into.
"It's a nice day out – do you mind if we take this outside?" Natasha asked as she glanced out the window at the far end of the room.
Wanda eyed her carefully. "What exactly are we taking outside?" she asked, decidedly apprehensive about it whatever was to come.
Natasha smiled. "Don't worry, it isn't more running."
Wanda shrugged and gestured vaguely toward the door, still feeling decidedly unsure about all of it.
Truthfully, the fact that Natasha was being so nice was unnerving. Ultron had shared some details about Natasha with her before they left for South Africa, and she had heard the whispers about the Black Widow's past. Hell, during the battle against Ultron she had seen just how deadly Natasha could be. And during the limited training sessions that they had run through, Natasha had been all business.
Wanda had not expected to be welcomed warmly to the team, not after what she had put them through; she had debated long and hard whether to accept Steve's offer to join the Avengers officially, knowing full well that she would be fighting an uphill battle to gain their trust. And so, Natasha's almost brusque demeanour made sense. But then she'd been welcomed with kindness by the team despite what she had done, and now Natasha was extending what seemed to be an olive branch. It just didn't make sense.
"Perfect, let's go," Natasha said as she began to walk toward the door, gesturing for Wanda to follow.
Wanda fell into step beside her, ignoring the impulse to look into the spy's mind to figure out exactly what she was walking into. Not knowing what she was walking into was making her a bit nervous, especially given how much she had already struggled this week.
"How much do you know about your powers?"
Wanda blinked in confusion. She hadn't expected the question. "I'm sorry?"
"Your powers," Natasha said, gesturing to Wanda's hands which were, to Wanda's surprise, wrapped in wisps of red. She hadn't realized her powers were manifesting. "Do you know the limits? The full extent of what you can do?"
"I- I'm not sure that I know everything," Wanda answered honestly. "But I know I can see inside people's minds, I can move things with my mind, and I can fly…sort of."
"You ever try to really test yourself? Move something huge?"
Wanda shrugged. "They gave me increasingly more difficult things to manipulate and move as they trained me. I haven't moved mountains, but I can hold my own."
"I'm not worried about you holding your own. You proved that in Sokovia. I'm just curious."
Wanda looked around when she realized that they had made their way to a small clearing, hidden away from the main facility. "Where are we?"
Natasha smiled ever so faintly. "I stumbled on it a couple days after moving in. I like to come here when I need a break from the guys. And believe me, if it hasn't gotten to you yet, it will. The testosterone in this place is just too much sometimes."
Wanda's brow furrowed at this new information, but before she could voice any response Natasha began to speak again.
"Your powers are harder to control when you're emotional, right?"
Wanda instantly felt a bit defensive at the redhead's accusation.
Natasha held up her hands. "That wasn't an accusation, just an observation," she explained.
Wanda considered Natasha's words. Controlling her powers had become more difficult since Pietro's death… She felt her heart clench at the thought of her brother. Losing him had shattered her, and she hadn't quite figured out how the pieces were meant to be put back together just yet.
When she realized that a few moments had passed without a reply, Wanda looked up to meet Natasha's gaze again.
"Have you ever done Tai Chi?"
Wanda blinked in surprise. Of all the things she had thought Natasha might bring up or show her (and she had been very conscientious in making sure to not accidentally enter the redhead's mind and find out), she hadn't been expecting that.
Wanda shook her head. "No…" she replied slowly. "How is that going to help me?"
"Slow and deliberate movements that force you to really focus."
Wanda couldn't help the skeptical expression from forming. She couldn't imagine Natasha practicing it. In a way it seemed like the type of thing that was everything the Black Widow wasn't.
"Plus it will help you build muscle and improve your flexibility," Natasha added, clearly having read Wanda's expression. "Don't dismiss it so easily. A friend of mine introduced me to it years ago, and it helped me in more ways than I ever imagined it could."
Wanda's eyebrows rose in surprise at that admission. She tried to work out who had introduced it to her, given that it didn't seem like Natasha had a lot of friends. The only one who seemed remotely possible was Clint…but even that was a stretch.
"Believe me when I say it's not for the faint of heart. It takes incredible focus."
Wanda shrugged. It couldn't hurt. "Okay. What do I do?"
Natasha ended up taking her through nearly an hour of it, and by the end Wanda understood why she'd said it would be helpful. Her muscles were sore, but her mind felt a bit clearer, and more centred.
"How was that?" Natasha asked, pulling on a hoodie that she'd taken off before they began.
"Better than I thought. It…it helped," Wanda said quietly. "Thank you."
"You're welcome. We can do it again sometime if you'd like."
"Tomorrow?" Wanda asked hopefully. It had been a combination of relaxing and invigorating, and she had greatly underestimated how good it would feel.
Natasha smiled, apparently pleased by Wanda's reaction. "Sure. After breakfast again? Training with the group won't be until the afternoon."
Wanda nodded and then fell into step beside her as they began to walk back to the facility. By the time they had reached the edge of the clearing, Wanda began to feel guilt eat at her. Her mind drifted to the fragments of memory that she'd pulled from the depths of Natasha's mind when she had been tasked with incapacitating the Avengers by Ultron. The memories had been disjointed and confusing in a way that meant that Wanda didn't understand their context, but the pain and anguish had been almost overwhelming.
Natasha was going out of her way to be kind, and to help in any way she could…despite the pain that Wanda had caused her.
"I'm sorry," Wanda said softly, reaching out a hand to halt Natasha's movement.
Natasha's brow furrowed ever so slightly. "For what?"
"With Ultron…" she trailed off and paused for a moment, grateful that Natasha had let the silence linger. "I felt your pain when I pulled those memories forward. I don't understand what they were, but I know they were painful for you."
Natasha was quiet for a moment. "It's in the past, Wanda."
"What I did…" Wanda tried to explain, but found words escaping her.
"It's in the past, and I think it's best to leave it there," Natasha replied with a not unkind, but definitely unmistakable firmness in her tone.
Wanda couldn't shake the feeling that Natasha had simply shoved everything surrounding those memories back into the boxes that they had been pulled from, and had pushed it all as far back into her mind as she could manage.
But she knew it wasn't her place to judge that, since she had been the one to drag them up in the first place. It was Natasha's prerogative to deal with them as she saw fit, and it certainly wasn't up to Wanda to try and force her to face any of the aftermath of it. She figured that it wouldn't be unlike pouring salt into an open wound… And besides, from the little she had learned about the spy, Wanda knew that Natasha was not one to respond to forceful attempts of any kind.
"We're teammates now, Wanda. That means we need to trust each other to have one another's backs," she said, her gaze uncharacteristically gentle, and yet holding an unquestionable steadfastness. "I don't hold what you did to me and the team against you. Tactically, it was a good play making us face our own fears and insecurities.
"And besides…" Natasha let out an almost silent sigh. "I happen to know a thing or two about what it's like to realize that you've been manipulated into fighting for a cause. To realize that the hatred you held was misplaced."
Wanda blinked as she digested what Natasha had just revealed. She knew admittedly very little about the famed Black Widow – far less than most, she guessed. And she wasn't sure exactly what Natasha was referring to, but there was a certain weight behind the words that Wanda instinctively knew not to question.
"I'll see you tomorrow," Natasha said when she realized that Wanda wasn't going to respond.
Her words startled Wanda out of her reverie. "Yes, tomorrow," she agreed. "And…thank you, Natasha."
Natasha offered a small smile in reply before turning and walking quickly back toward the facility, leaving Wanda alone with her thoughts.
She couldn't help but feel like some small amount of progress had been made. Both with her control of her powers, and in building trust with her new teammate. Yes…maybe this Avengers thing was going to work out, after all.
So...thoughts on Wanda's struggles in her early Avengers days? On Natasha being Wanda's mentor? Figure out who (in my world) introduced Natasha to Tai Chi? Any other thoughts or comments? Suggestions for other characters or moments to cover? Let me know - always awesome to see what y'all think.
More to come...