When Wanda Woke Up

When Wanda awoke she had no idea where she was. Disoriented, she gazed at the white walls around her for several minutes. Then she remembered what had happened to her the previous night. She sat up instantly, instinctively hugging her knees to her chest. She looked to her right and saw her brother peacefully sleeping. His leg was in a cast and his face was very pale.

She startled when the door opened. It was Bree. "Hey there," Bree gave a tired smile. "Feeling better?"

Wanda nodded. "Feeling hungry?" Bree asked. She was carrying a tray with some toast, cereal, juice, fruit and some milk.

Wanda's stomach growled. "I'll take that as a yes," Bree smiled, setting the tray down. Wanda immediately began to eat. "Take it easy kid. The food's not going anywhere."

Poor kid, Bree thought as she watched the girl eat. I can only imagine what's going through her mind right now. She's been through so much. No wonder she's terrified of us. Can't say I blame her.

"What happened to Pietro?" Wanda finally asked in a quiet voice.

"He tried to stop Magneto," Bree told her. "And he hurt him."

A flicker of rage blasted in Wanda's eyes. The room seemed to shake for a second. Then it stopped. She collected herself. "What's going to happen to us?" She asked nervously.

Bree sat down on the bed next to her. "We're not going to hurt you," She told her. "Or do experiments on you. We're going to take care of you and keep you away from Magneto."

"Are you going to lock us away?" Wanda's eyes went wide and fearful.

"No, no," Bree gently hugged her. "We're going to keep you safe and watch out for you. You and your brother and the others need a home. A real home where you'll be looked after and cared for. We're going to protect you and train you to use your powers for good."

"Others?" Wanda asked.

"Blob and Avalanche," Bree explained. "They're here too."

"Lance is alive?" Wanda gasped. "But I thought Magneto killed him!"

"He didn't," Bree smiled.

"But how?" Wanda pulled from Bree's embrace, puzzled. "How did we end up here? What happened? Where is this place?"

"This is the Pit, the GI Joe base," Bree explained. "This is where Toad lives. You remember Toad don't you? We found him and took him in. We want to do that to you too if you'll let us."

Wanda looked at her nervously. "I can only imagine what your father told you about what they do to mutants on army bases," Bree said. "But that's not true here. We don't do those kinds of things. Actually I don't think they do that on most army bases in America anyway. This is a safe place. Safe as you can get actually if you think about it."

"You didn't brainwash Toad did you?" Wanda asked softly.

"No," Bree gently brushed Wanda's hair with her fingers. "Toad's our friend. We'd never do that to him. Or you. We're not going to hurt you kid, I promise."

"I know Lifeline wouldn't hurt me," Wanda said. "When he was inside my mind…it wasn't anything like Xavier. It was as if he was trying to pull me away from the bad things. He was so kind and gentle…"

"That's Lifeline," Bree smiled. "He wouldn't hurt a fly. He doesn't believe in violence of any kind."

"Kind of unusual on an army base," Wanda blinked.

"Well this isn't exactly a normal army base," Bree smiled. "Now listen, if you feel scared or confused about anything, and I mean anything at all; you talk to either Lifeline or me. Okay?"

"Okay," Wanda said. "But what happened? The last thing I remember was Magneto…" She shuddered.

"Well we invaded Asteroid M to get Toad and the others back," Bree told her. "Your brother helped us and gave you to us so that you could be safe. You were out cold. There was a huge battle. Your brother, Avalanche and Blob fought with us against Magneto. Asteroid M was destroyed, but he escaped. We did capture Mystique however."

"What about the X-Men?" Wanda asked. "Rogue?"

"They've gone home," She told her. "They don't know you're here. Rogue got some new powers but other than that she's okay."

"She's my sister you know," Wanda said bitterly. "Half sister. My father and Mystique created her for an experiment."

"I didn't know that," Bree said, surprised.

"I wonder if that's all I ever was to him as well," Wanda said. "An experiment."

"Listen to me," Bree said. "You are a beautiful young girl. And you're a special girl. Not because of your powers but who you are inside. What your father thinks of you doesn't matter. It's how you think of yourself that counts. Am I making sense here?"

"A little," Wanda shrugged.

Bree yawned. "Sorry," She apologized. "I've been up all night. Your brother had a bad night."

Then the door opened. A red haired woman entered. "Hey," She smiled. "Hawk sent me down here to see if you needed any help."

"Wanda this is Scarlet," Bree introduced her. "She's one of the best fighters of GI Joe."

"Hello," Wanda said softly.

"Hi there kid," Scarlet smiled. "Good to see one of you up at least." She looked at Bree. "You look awful."

"Thanks a lot," Bree grimaced. "Is Lifeline awake yet?"

"I think he's still asleep," Scarlet told her. "He should be up soon."

"Wanda I want to ask Scarlet something for a second," Bree told her. They moved off to the side. "Scarlet could you do me a favor? I want to take a nap, but I don't want Wanda to be left alone just yet. It will be about an hour or so until Pietro wakes up. Could you watch her for a bit?"

"No problem," Scarlet smiled. "You go rest a bit. We'll be okay."

"Remember she's a bit skittish," Bree said.

"Don't worry," Scarlet patted her shoulder. "I think I know how to calm her down." She turned to Wanda. "Hey kid, wanna take a ride?"

"Where?" Wanda looked confused.

"We have a garden in back of our dojo," Scarlet explained. "It's very peaceful. You can relax and get some fresh air."

"That's a good idea," Bree nodded. "Is that okay Wanda?"

"Yeah, I guess," Wanda agreed. She looked at Pietro. "Will he be okay?"

"He'll be fine," Bree said. "He should wake up in an hour or so."

Bree left. Scarlet helped Wanda put on a warm bathrobe and into a wheelchair. She wheeled Wanda out the door and around the base. "We'll take the back way," Scarlet told her. She didn't want Wanda to be too startled by all the soldiers and vehicles. Still she couldn't avoid all of the sights. Wanda's eyes were wide as she saw all the strange people with huge weapons all around her.

Scarlet pushed the wheelchair. Wanda looked at all the strange sights around her. "I know it's a lot to take in right now," Scarlet told her. "But you'll get used to it."

Around the corner came a Joe wearing a medieval dress. "Where is everybody?" He fumed. "Scarlet have you seen my cast? We're supposed to be rehearsing! How can I put on a decent rendition of Hamlet if we don't rehearse?"

"Uh no Airtight," Scarlet said. "Why don't you check the motor pool?"

"Good idea!" Airtight stormed off. "If they've got grease stains on their costumes I'll kill them!"

"Scarlet…?" Wanda asked.

"Uh…you'll get used to that too," Scarlet wheeled the chair a little faster.

It wasn't long before they made their way to the Dojo. Instead of going through the front door, they made their way to the back. To Wanda's surprise they were soon in an amazing garden with a small waterfall and a fountain. There were multi-colored flowers all around. Beautifully crafted bonsai trees as well as giant weeping willows and other examples of foliage were all around. If Wanda had awakened here, she never would have guessed she was on an army base.

Wanda looked at the serenity around her. "It's beautiful."

"Yeah," Scarlet nodded. "I like to come here myself. It's so peaceful."

"AWWWWWWKKKK!" A green and yellow parrot flew by at a rapid speed. "FLEE FOR YOUR LIVES! RUN! RUN! HEAD FOR THE HILLS!"

"Well usually," Scarlet sighed.

Three identical girls ran into the garden. They each had black hair and wore white training outfits. "Come back birdie!" They shouted. "We just want to try some of our new powers on you!"

"HELP! HELP!" The bird buzzed around Scarlet's head. "POLLY'S GONNA BE A KENTUCKY FRIED PARROT! AWK! SAVE ME! SAVE ME!"

Another girl ran into the garden. She looked about Wanda's age and had long black hair with blue streaks. She had a bandage on her forehead. She was also wearing a white training outfit. "Come back here you maniacs!" She screamed. "I swear if you hurt that bird I will knock your blocks off!"

"ALL RIGHT KNOCK IT OFF!" Scarlet shouted. Instantly the chaos stopped.

"Call the ASPCA!" Polly landed on Scarlet's shoulder. "Call my lawyer! Call my vet! I need more Prozac!"

"All right that's it!" Scarlet said. "How many times have you girls been told not to experiment on Shipwreck's bird?"

"I don't know," Said the triplet with pigtails. "We stopped counting at 300."

"Don't be so smart!" The older girl shoved her.

"Make me!" The pigtailed girl stuck her tongue out.

"Girls!" Scarlet reprimanded. "It may have escaped your notice but we have a visitor! This is Wanda. Try to remember what manners you have, okay? Wanda, these four lunatics are the kids of one of the soldiers here. They're mutants also. Girls would you mind introducing yourselves?"

"Hey there," The eldest one waved. "I'm Althea Delgato. Code-named Wavedancer. These are my insane sisters, this one is Daria," She pointed to the one with a ponytail on the right side of her head. "This is Quinn," She pointed to the one with a ponytail on the left. "And the one with the mouth is Brittany." She pointed to the pigtailed girl, who stuck her tongue at her.

"Together we're called Trinity!" Quinn said cheerfully. "Like it? We just made up our new code name a few days ago!"

"We all have gills!" Daria said, pulling her hair back to reveal a set of delicate gills on her neck. "That means we can breathe underwater! And we're really strong!"

"Our big sister here can also control water," Brittany said. "And we just found out we've got cool psychic powers! What can you do?"

"Subtle aren't they?" Althea groaned.

"Yeah," Polly quipped. "Like a Mac truck! So what do you do?"

"Quiet bird!" Scarlet snapped.

"It's okay," Wanda said. "I can control probabilities with hex bolts."

"What does that mean?" Daria asked.

"It means she can make things go haywire," Althea told her. "Todd told us about her. You remember."

"Oh yeah," Brittany said. "She's the one from the nuthouse!"

"Brittany!" Scarlet said sharply.

"Somebody should send you to the nuthouse!" Daria whacked her on the head.

"You first!" Brittany hit her back. Daria hit her again. And Brittany whacked her again. Then Quinn hit her. "OW! What'd you do that for?"

"I didn't want to be left out," Quinn said simply.

"Fine!" Daria whacked her. "Happy now?"

"Not really!" Quinn smacked both Daria and Brittany.

"You are so dead!" Brittany screamed as they both chased Quinn.

"That's it!" Scarlet shouted. "You three are getting a time out!"

"Gotta catch us first!" Daria shouted.

"YOU GIRLS COME BACK HERE!" Scarlet shouted and started to chase after them.

"AWWK!" Polly laughed flying after them. "Mayday! Mayday! Awwk! One Adam Twelve! One Adam Twelve a four eleven in progress! Awk!"

"Oh god," Althea groaned. She looked at the shocked Wanda. "I'm really sorry about that. I think when they were in the womb they only got like one brain cell or something spilt between them. Plus they take after our dad and he doesn't exactly have a lot going on upstairs if you catch my drift."

"Uh yeah," Wanda blinked. "And people call me crazy."

"Let's just say sanity is a rare commodity on this base and leave it at that," Althea groaned. "So you're from Bayville? And you know Toad huh?"

"Yeah," Wanda shrugged.

"Look," Althea said. "I know we really don't know each other, but I'd like to be friends with you. I mean there aren't exactly that many kids our age on the base, let alone girls. And those three maniacs definitely don't count."

"I'd like that," Wanda said. "I…never really had many friends before."

"I know this is all kind of weird and all," Althea sat down on the grass. "Believe me, I know what it's like to be dumped by a parent. I mean, my mom just got sick of being a parent and took off." She fidgeted uncomfortably.

"YOU GIRLS PUT THOSE NUNCHUCKS DOWN RIGHT NOW!" Scarlet's voice carried over the distance. "I MEAN IT!"

"Sometimes I can see her point," Althea groaned. "But I mean, it hurts you know?"

"Yeah," Wanda sighed. "I know. Toad told you all about me right?"

"Uh huh," Althea nodded. "News kinda travels fast around here. I know you don't trust army guys and all, but I grew up on this base. I've known most of these people my entire life. You can trust them. Well most of them. There are a couple jerks on this base but you probably won't get to see them too much anyway."

"Oh," Wanda absorbed this information. "So what do you do in this place?"

"Well we train a lot and we're home schooled," Althea told her. "But that's not all we do. We get a lot of time to play around and stuff. Of course, most of that time I'm usually looking after my sisters and my baby brother. But Todd and I hang around a lot too. We have a lot of fun. We get to drive the vehicles sometimes and stuff. My dad's crazy but he's pretty cool about me having some kind of downtime. He doesn't think it's healthy to train 24-7."

"What kind of training do you do?" Wanda asked.

"Well some basic army stuff," She told her. "But we also do a lot of ninja training and martial arts. It's pretty tough, but it's kind of cool once you get used to it. Course I've grown up doing this stuff all my life so it's a piece of cake for me. It's what I know. Not exactly normal I'll admit, but it's my life you know. Not like your life or anything."

"I'd never thought I'd be considered anything close to normal," Wanda said.

Althea groaned. "Trust me, compared to my sisters you're normal! I mean look at them. They're freaks. And that's me saying that! I'd like to have a normal friend. You know what I'm saying?"

"Yeah," Wanda sighed. "But you're not exactly the only one with an insane family. My father is a monster and my brother is a lunatic. And now I have another sister…" She trailed off.

"Another sister?" Althea asked.

"Rogue," Wanda sighed. "Half-sister. Something tells me you'd probably hear about that anyway."

"Not exactly Miss Sociable is she?" Althea grinned. "And you're right about that. I mean you hear all the gossip around here sooner or later. I could tell you things…"

"ALTHEA!"

She turned around and saw Todd hopping into the backyard, wearing a white training uniform. "Babe!" Althea got up and ran to him.

"Althea!" Todd bounded in excitedly. He grabbed onto Althea with a big hug and twirled her around. "Althea!"

"I missed you so much!" Althea clung to him. "They wouldn't let me see you earlier!"

"Your head," Todd fingered it gently. "What…?"

"Sabertooth banged me up a little," Althea explained. She saw the dark frown on Todd's face. "Hey it's okay. Looks worse than it actually is. I'm okay. Really."

"Yeah," Todd sighed, tracing her cheek with his fingers.

"I'm okay," Althea said, touching her forehead to his.

"If he'd hurt you…I mean really hurt you…." Todd's voice wavered.

Wanda watched the tender scene with some surprise. She'd never realized how tender and gentle Todd could actually be. Suddenly she felt very uncomfortable. "Uh maybe I should go."

"Hey yo Wanda!" Todd waved. "Sorry about not noticing you at first. I just was so anxious to see my girl here. You know?"

"Yeah," Wanda smiled weakly. "I know. So…this is where you live?"

"Yup," Todd said proudly as they walked up to her. "Home sweet home. How you feeling?"

"Okay I guess," Wanda shrugged. "Considering."

"Hey why don't we just relax for a bit yo?" Todd said. "I mean, the triplets are getting the third degree from Scarlet and we got plenty of time before our lesson. You wanna watch? It'll give you an idea of what we do around here."

"Why not?" Wanda shrugged. "Where's Fred and the others?"

"Hawk's having a meeting with them," Todd explained. "He's gonna straighten things out."