Laughter. Banter – granted she doesn't understand the conversation but banter all the same. Hand gestures and roughhousing. A friendly and familiar scene from more recent television shows and commercials she remembers girls at the warehouse watching and talking about, wondering how it would be for any of the men within Martin's kompaniya to invite them to their team campouts.
Team campouts being a term used for the men, including Pietro, to load up the vans and go out to the surrounding woods or remote mountain valleys to do some "team-building" exercises – another term for instituting new training tactics and testing improved weapons models. Wanda was upset the first few times she wasn't invited. Invited… probably not the right term… no, more like not permitted.
The men had no problem with Wanda, but they did not want her to get involved in kompaniya business. There would be no doubt what the topics of conversation revolved around when they are out in a secluded area with no chance of being monitored. These were instances to take advantage of, especially when you had people thinking they could infiltrate the country by either taking it over or destroying it. Pietro and Martin spent days talking Wanda out of following the men on their trips which was not easy. They both worked out a compromise to keep her busy and not feel so excluded. Pietro decided (with Martin's approval) to cut back on work to spend more time with his twin, and Martin decided to include Wanda in the monitoring of the warehouse with some of his security during their trips away until his kompaniya reported back.
Thinking back on those arguments and placating conversations, she thinks that she should have tried harder. At the time, she just thought she was missing training with Martin's team, but seeing this group of men from her vantage point she can see she was missing more than that. She was losing time with Pietro and Martin. Time with Kris, Daniel, Alexei, and Ilia. She was overlooking opportunities to get out of the city and just breathe. She was missing the chance to be able to reconnect with herself, unlike Pietro.
Scoffing quietly to herself she thinks she should have loaded up on her own weapons from Karel's storage and drove out to the woods on her own. Maybe then she would know what to do first-hand when she found herself stranded out in the woods, alone. But then again, this would have never been the ideal situation. Either she would have managed to convince Martin and Pietro to let her go with them, or she would have gone on her own, nowhere in any of those scenarios would she end up isolated in an unknown forest in a still undetermined location with no form of protection besides her… gifts.
Looking at the still laughing men, she would think the scene is nice. A simple group of men resting in the woods for the night until the sky lightened up enough to continue their travels. Their body language however told a different story.
Since she took up an apprenticeship with Karel, she worked her way, night and day, into his good graces and earned a top spot within his blacksmith business, the front hiding his actual business. Solely based on her effort and usefulness in taking his instruction to heart and mastering the look and feel of even his craftsmanship, he decided he could use a "competent" assistant and brought her even further into his combined business. This is the one and the only thing she kept from Pietro at the time.
During her earlier time training fully under Karel, Pietro would look at her questioningly from time to time like he no longer recognized her, would worry that maybe he should cut back from working with Martin and look after her more. Wanda would smooth it over with a quip or joke from their moments as the Devious Duo, or as some older women around their neighborhood before the collapse would call them, the Malen'kiy D'yavoly; a better time when Wanda would be the one to lead Pietro into trouble. Reliving those former moments, she had to trust that she could do this for Karel, and especially for Pietro. She promised herself that she and her twin would never be defenseless again, and through this new level of trust Karel has placed on her, she was closer to achieving that promise. Through meeting his eclectic and unusual clientele, Wanda was able to better utilize and exercise her skill in observing people, specifically their body language. She perfected her skill to such a point where within moments of meeting a person during any business meeting, she could determine which arm was dominant, their immediate intentions for the meeting outcome, and what they were most skilled at, combat or weapon wise.
Looking at these men, seven in total, she could tell they were not like usual travelers, likely posing as merchants she guessed with how they have dressed and the height of most of the men. They were too much of a unit. Two long chests were half surrounding part of the group, sealed shut now that they were winding down for the night. They had round caps, with a small point towards the middle, on at one point but now they were discarded to the side like they were meaningless to the men. Traveling merchants from any part of the world would not be so careless with the few items they possessed. The light from the campfire illuminated the shine from old scars littering the arms of the ones who had rolled up their sleeves earlier in the night, trying to get comfortable.
The men all shared common features – dark, black hair, skin tones ranging from fair to olive toned, and the eye color of each man differing between dark brown to a bright topaz. Even as relaxed as they appear, their body language is easy enough to read to draw the immediate conclusion that they are not what they appear to be. With each crackle from the nearby fires lighting up the campsite they tensed and reached for their sides. Some carried sidearms, sidearms that looked suspiciously like flintlock pistols, others short swords, thin and straight at the base which then curve inwards and widen into a long, sharp, and shiny point. The short sword was beautiful and unlike any weapon, Wanda has handled before. The sidearms on the other hand… she knows for certain she has never handled one like that in training, or as a new design for Karel's collection. These types of sidearms she has only seen in pictures associated with locations of different museums around the world.
Both weapons might be useful for her survival. Settling back against the thick tree at her back some sixty meters away from the campsite she decides she is going to enjoy taking these weapons from the men for further study.
The conversation continued well into the night, only slowing down when the forest surrounding their group and Wanda grows quiet until it is near complete silence. The group is well settled into their environment for the night, including Wanda, however, unlike the group, Wanda is approaching boredom. Even straining to hear the conversation will not prove to be anything entertaining to Wanda or provide any necessary information as to who these people are and what they are trying to accomplish with their venture in the forest. The men are speaking in a language she is not familiar with. If she had to guess who these men were, she would guess Chinese operatives, or a unit from an Asian nation, but their dialect was wholly dissimilar to any she has ever encountered before, and she has had to arrange business meetings with plenty of companies and corporations worldwide.
Since she first found this group after tracking the light of the fires and smoke, she focused on one person within the group of seven through the night. The man was positioned towards the edge of the group and carried both a flintlock pistol and a short sword. The obvious leader by looking at the state of his weapons as well as the height and size compared to the rest of the unit.
The other men of the group appear to be of below-average height standing around 5'1" at the lowest height and 5' 4" at the tallest. The leader stands at just an inch or two above Wanda's height at 5' 6" but is much stockier than the rest of his crew. If she were to target this man tonight, she could take him down, she just had to be quick. These men did not need their pistols or swords when confronted face to face with their opponent, they were merely utilized as tools and threats. They relied on quick, and powerful movements in combat, like Wanda, to subdue threats when confronted. However, unlike Wanda, they were better together as a unit during combat. This she could work with. Target the watchman and go for the others during their rest.
After what felt like another hour, the conversation slowed enough to a stop for the group and the men started to lay out on bedrolls utilized by most military. Wanda raised an eyebrow and allowed a slight lift at the corner of her lips. Point for Maximoff.
Unfortunately, Wanda's other earlier estimate is correct. The leader branched off from the rest of his men and appeared to be readying himself to take the watch… except he was moving away from the group and away from the campfires.
Moving as quickly and quietly as possible while maintaining her original distance, she tracks the man away from the rest of the group and further into the woods. The scant light of the moon lights the way towards another clearing roughly twenty meters away from the original campsite. Closing the distance between her and her target, she stops about fifteen meters from the man and his destination. Wanda shields herself behind two trees settled closely together, allowing her to peer between them without being spotted. Looking around the clearing for the man she sees him withdraw something from his pocket and approach a wagon. A wagon? Why would these men be traveling with a wagon like that? That wagon is completely outdated for most merchants, not to mention men who she assumes have some military training. The wagon stands just over seven feet in height with four metal wheels that are half the height of the wagon, its body long and measuring roughly another seven feet length-wise with a seat carved outwards towards the back of the wagon, or rather the front when in use. There was no steering wheel for the wagon or compartment to house an engine. The following question Wanda would have had was answered when she spotted two horses tied to a pair of trees a few meters away from the wagon, grazing.
Wanda is in disbelief; her eyes widen as she looks back at the man and zeroes in on the flintlock still tucked against the man's side and back towards the wagon he is now standing directly in front of, two things adding up together to make a large fucking anxiety attack, but she is able to shove that aside as the man swings open the door and starts speaking quietly to whatever is inside.
Are they traveling with smaller animals? Or is the man just crazy, making quiet conversation with himself, and also potentially dangerous? Keeping quiet, slowing down her breathing and racing heart, because this is actual thrill and nonsense at the same damn time, she closes her eyes and focuses on the man's beating heart, the cadence of his tone, and tries to discern what he is doing.
Wanda does not have to wonder long, soon he is pulling away and she is able to focus on the energy within the wagon, blinking her eyes open she stares in shock at the wagon. There are two people in there, chained up. No longer needing to close her eyes to focus on what she already knows is in the wagon, she instead focuses on the leader. She notices he recently pulled his short sword off its holster and is swinging it back and forth, using it to gesture throughout his speech and as a subtle warning to the two occupants inside. Slipping into his mind she can hear his thoughts and view his current line of sight. She sees the people within the wagon are younger than her, a man and a woman, twins based on their similarities in appearance.
Both have short black hair, olive-toned skin, and bright eyes. Unlike the men of the camp, their eyes take on a nice golden color. They have their hands bound in front of them, wrists separated, but not by handcuffs which surprises Wanda. Their wrists are kept apart by a long, thick bar of metal with circular holds to contain their wrists, this is unlike any design or craftsmanship Wanda immediately recognizes.
She mentally catalogs this as a third fact to look at later when she's through here. Continuing to analyze them she notes that they have been roughed up a bit, the woman has a split lip and busted nose, her brother has a black eye and strangulation marks around his neck. By the color of the bruise around the man's eye and the dried blood on the woman's face, Wanda surmises that they were recently captured, about a day or two ago, however for what purpose, she doesn't know.
While she can use her gift to slip into the leader's mind, she cannot switch the language of his thoughts to Sokovian, English, or even Russian. Pulling out of his head with a decision made, not to mention very similar to her train of thoughts from earlier, she approaches the group silently, careful again to remain out of the peripheral vision of the leader and to not leave any tracks towards or within the clearing. Stepping around large boulders and rocks that have separated from these boulders over time, she makes her way steadily behind the leader, intent to incapacitate him by trapping him with one of her favorite tricks she gained and learned to train during her years as a volunteer in Sokovia.
She approaches him slowly from behind, he has stopped speaking for the time being and has just finished locking up the steel-barred door attached to the back of the wagon. She is only a few feet away from him, out of sight of the people within the wagon, hand raised and pulsing slightly with the light of her magic, but he turns around and wrenches her right hand away from his head and twists her arm behind her back, yanking her hood off her head in the process and pulling out a bit of her hair.
She doesn't know if he noticed the glow around her hand, but she curses herself for not masking her own energy. Of course, a leader of a military unit would know when he was being watched, would be able to physically sense when someone was about to get the drop on him. Even though her heart is racing with adrenaline, her mind slows to a point, one thought resonating – get rid of him before he can get rid of me.
As he raises his right arm, now holding the short sword, perhaps to slide across her neck or slam it on the back of her head, because those are the only reasons to have that weapon raised so close to her face, she slams her head back into his face, snapping his nose and causing him to drop her arm and reel back slightly in shock, dropping his arm with the short sword in the process. Thank God he's of similar height to her otherwise that would not have worked!
She raises up her left elbow and jams it back into his lower left abdomen while simultaneously twisting around and away, witnessing him struggling to not double over with the loss of his own equilibrium – Pietro always did say she was too hard-headed for her own good. While he is disoriented for those few seconds, she does not hesitate. She kicks out quick and hard with her left leg aimed at his wrist, foot connecting with his wrist, and managing to get the short sword out of his hand. Within the next moment of her left foot landing on the ground and bringing her a step closer to her opponent, she raises her now shining hands above the area of his head while bent over, pulsing with energy to slow down and contain any movement. Focusing on keeping her opponent in one spot and his head contained, she brings her right knee immediately up and slams it into his face, knocking him backward and into a cluster of rocks just behind him, his fall sending out a resounding SMACK! Making the horses whinny and stomp their feet where they are still tethered.
Heart still pounding and pain radiating at the back of her head from her impact with the man's face, she moves to continue, knowing she can't count him out yet. Her left hand raises and summons his short sword to her, her right hand at waist height already producing a ball of energy intended to knock a large enough blow into him to knock him out where she'd then be able to finish him off quickly with his own sword. She steps over intent on finishing him off, but she stops instantly as she realizes he has landed incorrectly on his fall backward – his head is at an odd angle, chin touching his chest.
Stepping closer, Wanda finds that a large boulder surrounded by the cluster of rocks he landed in is keeping his body propped, blood from a deep and extensive gash on his head pooling and spreading quickly down the side of the rock and seeping into the ground below. Wanda sucks in a sharp breath and rolls back her shoulders, running through a litany of thoughts and questions in her head.
This should not be a shock to her; she was prepared to kill this man for seeing her and for intending to harm her. She couldn't risk being captured or looked for after he's seen her. She could not allow this man to live and risk ruining her chance of finding her way home, of finding Pietro. Resounding memories ringing through her head keep the shock of seeing another person dead by her hand away.
The first being a combined assignment from Martin and Karel gone wrong. Pushing that memory to the side in hopes of not entertaining any later nightmares, Wanda steadies her breathing and racing heart and focuses on a strand of thought that feels like she has experienced it, but not quite. It's almost as if it wasn't her and instead someone else. A faceless friend or partner is just out of frame, she can't remember when or where she heard this, just this advice that would supposedly save her life –
"Looking over your shoulder needs to become second nature. Do not ever feel sympathy for anyone you meet on the other side in the field, protect your team and yourself by any means necessary."
Looking back at the man whose face has drained of color, his head twisted to the side, empty eyes staring at nothing in the distance, she hopes this man was not the "good guy" doing his job by capturing the "bad guy". But in her experience, the "good guy" actually turns out to be the "bad guy" trying to destroy anything that doesn't suit the way to progress.
Lifting her hood to cover her hair and face again, she uses her power to fasten it tighter around herself to prevent a repeat of what happened moments ago. Trying to ignore her churning stomach and twisting thoughts, she grabs the pistol off his side, squeezes the short sword she still has in her left hand and turns to walk over to the wagon quietly.
Coming around the side of it and standing directly in front of the door, she sees the twins inside staring at her in slight surprise. Squinting her eyes, she registers that the surprise is not because she is suddenly in front of them when they should have thought they were alone, but perhaps something else.
"Do you want me to let you out of here?" She questions them both, one eyebrow raised in question.
The twins quickly look to each other and then back within a second, nodding their heads.
"If you would be so kind." The girl states, holding her wrists up and shaking them, smiling sarcastically at Wanda as the boy further back in the wagon shakes his head at his sister.
Wanda shakes her head as well and moves to slam the butt of the short sword into the weak point of the padlock, hearing it unlatch she takes it in her hand and yanks it off to watch it and the chains it was attached to drop to the ground in a pile. Moving away from the gate, she watches as first the girl leaps to the ground out of the wagon and then the boy. As soon as both are on their feet and on steady, sure ground, they stand shoulder to shoulder, their fronts slightly off-facing Wanda, ready for… something to happen. Recognizing that look on the woman's face as the one she's witnessed on Pietro's and no doubt has been mirrored on her own, she relaxes her shoulders but continues to keep a steady grip on her newly acquired weapons.
Wanda points out the cluster of rocks, and to the former leader of the unit who captured the two, "He has the keys in his pocket. I hope you both make it to wherever you are going." Thinking that this would be the end of the encounter, she turns around and quickly and quietly makes her way towards the campfires that are steadily burning, looking to be on the cusp of burning out now that there is no one there to watch over them.
Stepping over to each member of the group she uses her gift to play her favorite trick, trapping each of them in their own mental prison, hoping to give herself more time to go through the items they've kept close to them.
Standing up and moving towards the chests behind the group, she sees the twins step out of the woods cautiously and look around the campsite. Wanda watches them for a moment as she bends down to manipulate the chests into opening for her. Success! Forgetting them for the moment, she opens the first chest on the left to find a series of maps, in the second she finds clothes. Maps and clothes. Maps in different shapes but the same style of print, and non-descript clothes not meant to be flashy for the purpose of sale at all but meant for long journeys. These men are definitely not merchants, where are all the wares? A second point for Maximoff.
Unrolling one map, she again witnesses something that is unlike anything she has ever seen, two things immediately jumping out at her. First, the map feels as if it's a cross between vellum and thick, thick parchment - unusual for a map. Second, this map is not laminated and does not depict any major or numbered roadways, or smaller towns, just major areas of population by her guess.
Years of spending time learning about different countries and Sokovia's place within her part of the continent has sharpened Wanda's ability to measure areas pretty accurately geographically and has helped her keep track of politics within the surrounding and distant countries, even if she has never really left Novi Grad to utilize her talent in the field.
Looking at this map in her hands though does not make sense. She has never seen or heard of any country or continent that has been laid out like this before, especially not one that has what looks to be a giant rip through its own country. That rip cannot be indicative of mountains. There are already mountainous regions depicted within and above an area called "Shu Han". Looking around the largest part of the map on the right, she notes three large areas – Fjerda, Ravka, and Shu Han, with no distinct border lines. Towards the bottom of the map and just above the mountains depicted on the map she finds a small "x". Thinking this might be the most recent map they used as it was sat on top of the others, she rolls it back up and puts it in a small shoulder bag she's snatched from behind one of the men. She's also managed to acquire weapon holsters for her pistol and short sword.
Hearing a whispered conversation, she looks up and around towards the right to see the twins sitting on the ground close to the dwindling campfire, rubbing their wrists, huddled together, heads bent towards each other, and speaking low.
"Where are you from?" She asked, looking away from them to avoid their stares, now turning her attention towards the chest full of clothes, pulling out each item of clothing one by one to examine in the light of the fire. She didn't want to take anything that was of any resemblance to a military uniform, but she might have hit the jackpot with this trunk as it really seems that they packed these items to make themselves seem unnoticeable.
A beat or two of silence follows her question and then the male twin speaks up, "We're from a village close to the Shu Han border. We're going to rest here tonight and then travel west along the mountain border to get to Kerch."
Kerch. She doesn't immediately remember it from the map she was just looking at, too focused on the larger regions and the small "x" on the map, thinking that it must represent where they are currently located.
"Really? You both are going to stay here? With them?" She questions, nodding her head over to the still sleeping men. She shuts the chest she was just rifling through, having found a pair of pants that will fit her tall frame and what looks like a long tunic, and stuffs them in her new bag.
Turning around to face the twins she leans her back against the trunks and reaches up to assure herself that her hood from her jacket is still fastened, and her hair still covered, "What's in Kerch?" She watches them and waits for them to take their time to answer her questions, sure that they are weighing what they will say very carefully. Probably still trying to figure out if she is an ally or enemy.
"Freedom. We get to live out our days with no one knowing who we are." The girl responds, nodding her head towards the sleeping men, the men currently acting as barriers between the twins and Wanda. The twins both elect to ignore Wanda's earlier question and she doesn't feel the need to bring it up again.
"That sounds nice," Wanda admits, thinking back to the last thing in recent memory she can recall. She and Pietro living in the Hydra Research Base now that she knows who and what Strucker was and what he was doing, what he was working to accomplish. She swallows her anger down, reminding herself she wanted it. She and Pietro both wanted it.
Another moment of silence passes between the two parties, a restful silence settling around them now that the adrenaline has worn off and she can contain her energy much better than before. She bites her lip and hopes that the twins can't sense that there is something different about her, different from normal men and women.
"You're welcome to join us. Not many people break prisoners out of traveling prisons without knowing the first thing about the people they're freeing." It's the female that's spoken up, grudgingly, like she would have preferred if they were on their own and not with someone who could potentially slow them down. Her twin is looking at her with a soft smile, nudging her knee with his, evidently proud of her.
"Thanks, but I will be heading north as soon as I can. I will stay the rest of the night here though, wait for it to lighten up." Wanda responds, watching as the female twin's shoulders loosen up and sag slightly as she nods, the male twin still looking at her softly. He turns to look at Wanda and nods his head in agreeance, too.
For a while, after that, neither group spoke to each other or moved, except for the twins who added smaller sticks to the fire to keep it from dwindling down into embers and ash. It was nice to sit and not have to think about her next steps. For now, Wanda can sit and rest, her back against the chest behind her, and stare up at the canopy of trees above her and through the branches towards the sky, stars shining brightly in the night sky. She is reminded of the time she and her family would watch the stars, they were such rare and joyful times.
She wants to reach over and grab for her brother's hand, but he's not there and it's just her. Having moved her right hand slightly without thought to grasp for his hand she pulls it back and grips the bottom of her jacket, squeezing tightly.
Alone, all alone, she thinks. She tilts her head down slightly to look at the twins who've now laid down on their sides and are facing each other, speaking quietly.
Maybe not completely alone, but still alone.
Where am I, Pietro?
