"Orphan?"

Wanda startles back a step.

Choking down the bile that rose up to her esophagus, she bites out "Yes."

"Name?"

"Wanda Maximoff."

The man in front of her did not look up during that short line of questioning, only the sound of his pencil scratching along the paper in front of her let Wanda know that he was somewhat coherent.

Narrowing her eyes at the man she immediately knows two things. One, this man despises his job. Two, for a man who hates his job and quite possibly believes he is better than his profession, he picks at his nail beds often enough to show that he's not quite sure about his position within his own company. Doubtless, he did not want to be gathering new recruits month after month, but there was most likely nothing else for him. Even if she wanted to glance through his thoughts, he wouldn't have any relevant information for her.

Still not looking up, the corporal tips his head towards the left and behind him where other new recruits are huddled around the wagons, waiting for transport.

"Wagons leave in another hour or so. If you're not on, you don't come." He grunts out, picking his right hand up from the ledger he's holding and shooing her away.

Wanda doesn't even hesitate to linger in front of this man as she shuffles off to the side with a nod of her head. Keeping her head down, watching her feet lead her through the thick and packed in mud off the main road and towards the huddled groups.

Staying close to the group, but enough of a distance away to not invite others to come towards her, she finds a good vantage point at the posts of a stable to watch.

The people around her on this side of town were like her – young and dirty from travel. The only difference being these people were excited to be leaving; they knew what they were getting themselves into, they knew where they were going.

Wanda had no clue where she was going, had no clue if anyone even knew where she was. The only tether she has always relied on was silent, which couldn't mean anything good. The only thing that would keep her from feeling Pietro is if he was in hiding, or worse, dead.

She grits her teeth and curls her hands into fists to keep the burn she feels at the bridge of her nose at bay as her main theory starts subconsciously circling at the forefront of her mind.

Ice racing down her spine has her shrugging her shoulders back and flicking her braided hair off her shoulder as the one thought she dreads to ever admit out loud repeats over and over, getting louder each time and matching the tempo of her heartbeat.

Pietro isn't here. Pietro isn't here. Pietro isn't here. PIETRO ISN'T HERE.

Wanda tossed her head back and smacked it into the post behind her, welcoming the pain and allowing it to slow the route of her thoughts.

Feeling her hands start to shake, she folds her arms across her chest and tips her head back to rest as she gazes out over the outside of town, blinking a few times to clear the spots out of her vision. She clenches her fists closed and tries to stop the grinding of her teeth as she's caught the eyes of a few people around her. No doubt watching her and thinking she's a little off in the head after that display.

After a week of solitude and her experience in Keramzin over the past couple of hours, Wanda is now finding herself having a hard time reigning in her growing frustration and desperation. She has been waiting for something to start making sense since she woke up a week ago, but everything she's seen only causes more confusion and questions.

Within the first hour of Wanda arriving in Keramzin, she strolled around the village – up and down the main path through the village and back behind and around the buildings, not stopping her exploration until she had circled the entire town. Wanda was hoping to get a feel for the area, to try and find some similarities to compare to the other locations within Sokovia or the Czech Republic her brother had talked about during his time spent traveling outside of Novi Grad.

No luck there.

This village had no artwork, no graffiti, no statues, no grand courthouses, or even a police department. There was nothing physical to signify this as a place of any worth to its community besides being the place where surrounding people from even smaller communities would come to for trade, almost like a military outpost minus the barracks.

She had hoped she would find something more, but her hopes were dashed. Resolving herself earlier in the day to finding some sort of transport out of the village, she watched a line form of mostly young boys readying themselves to sign up for basic training with the local military.

This was it. This was her way out of here and towards an actual base with people who would know where she currently found herself.

Looking around again she notes once more the rows upon rows of merchants selling items from barrels and wooden carts along the main path through the village – the familiarity between the merchants and the few recruits around her proves that this is the only traffic this town ever sees.

There were no cable lines connecting and crisscrossing in the air above them or around the forested area surrounding the village. If there were no cable lines, there was a good chance there were also no cell towers either which would explain the general silence and overall attention that people around her were paying to each other, and unfortunately her. It is definitely going to be a challenge to lay low during the upcoming journey.

Without paying too much attention as she traced the familiar path that her eyes took earlier in the morning during her exploration, Wanda catches the eye of a girl who was standing on the other side of the road, mirroring her position.

"There's nothing here for him, he has to go to Poliznaya."

Wanda immediately straightens her slouch against the post and quickly looks the girl over. She appears to be too lost in her thoughts to notice Wanda's sudden interest, too busy staring at her hand, tracing the lines of her palm. The girl had long, dark hair, tied back and out of her pale, olive-toned face currently sporting a frown. She perfectly reflected the thoughts that were being shouted at Wanda; now that she was actually listening to her surroundings, she's surprised she didn't notice the girl sooner.

Wanda flicked her eyes to the others around them, focusing on a few people here and there individually, but there was radio silence as she kept her gift reigned in. Navigating her eyes back to the girl directly across from her Wanda found she was still able to hear her. The thoughts coming from the girl were as easy to listen to and navigate as if she was speaking them aloud.

Usually, the thoughts of others only showed to her as emotions, sometimes in varying colors, scenes, or general one-word thought strands that sometimes evolved into scenes – nothing like this.

"Alright, all of you on your feet and pay attention!" The sudden shout had Wanda and the girl whipping their heads around to find the source.

Seeing a different corporal on her right with hands clasped behind his back and standing at rest had Wanda stepping away from her post, turning her body slightly to give the newcomer her full attention.

"We have a smaller group than we were expecting so the lot of you will be in for your one and only reprieve – each of you will be riding in the wagons the full way to base training. This trip should take about two weeks from now to Poliznaya. During our stops on the way, no one is allowed to leave the set camp for any reason. If any of you start to have second thoughts, I advise you to keep your mouth shut and stay in line."

Wanda had no problem with the man in front of her as he seemed to be just doing his job, but after that pointed comment paired with the way his eyes slid from the girl she noticed earlier and then landed on Wanda herself, she felt the hair on the back of her neck rise.

Only the first day of trying to blend in with wherever the hell I am and already I am going to be watched.

"This is the first part of basic training – how well can you follow orders during a change in post and location."

With that last part out in the open, he waved his right arm forward and shouted for the wagons to be rolled ahead and for the recruits to gather and load up.

Turning her head to the left to focus back on the girl from earlier her eyes ended up catching on the other girl's.

Slanted, black eyes stared back into wide, green ones, her mouth no longer a frown and now a set line.

"Where he goes, I go."