***Once again, I own nothing. I'm just having fun. ***

Wanda/Ava Starr

Wanda tried to breathe, but she couldn't catch her breath. She and Pietro had been running from Hydra for so long, too long, and they were both exhausted. Their newborn powers were still weak and barely controllable. She glanced worriedly at her brother, whose entire body was shaking like a leaf in a stiff breeze, trembling and moving in spasms almost too fast for the eye to see. She could see the pain of it etched on his face, in every line of his brow and wrinkle around his tight lips. His jaw clenched against the pain, he reached out to check on her, only for his hand to jerk forward at the last second and slam into her shoulder. She hissed in pain.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Wanda," he whispered, but his voice rang loudly in her head, nearly blinding in its volume. Her fingers glowed red, but she forced it down, forced the panic and pain away, and the light faded.

"We can't lose them," she said bitterly, wishing for the thousandth time that they'd never volunteered for these experiments, that they'd never heard of Dr. List and Baron Von Strucker, that they'd never fallen unknowingly into the hands of Hydra. They'd been so stupid to think SHIELD would be the way to protect their country and defeat Tony Stark and the Avengers. Why would SHIELD need that kind of power? Why would they need to create their own super-powered soldiers? It had all been a stupid dream, a fool's hope, and now look at where they were, at what they'd become. They had no home, no friends, no safety, allied with a Nazi organization, and it was all her fault for persuading Pietro this was the right thing to do, their best choice to gain the power to make the changes they wanted in the world.

She'd been such a fool, and now they were going to pay for it. Her brother was going to pay for it. Hydra would kill them for deserting, for refusing to be controlled. Hydra didn't tolerate disobedience and betrayal. She had cost her brother his life. Hydra would run them down like animals and put a bullet in their skulls.

Bullets exploded into the space around them, leaving divots in the dirt and trees, and she screamed as she ducked down. Pietro pulled her away and behind an outcropping that provided the bare minimum of protection.

"I'm going to circle around and come at them from behind. You stay here," he told her.

"No, Pietro! They'll kill you!"

"They won't even see me coming," he reassured her. "I'm gaining control. It'll work. I have to try," he said. She stared at him, thinking fast, desperate for another solution, but came up empty handed. Her mind was cloudy, his racing thoughts blurring her own.

"Be careful. Come back to me," she pleaded. He nodded.

"Always." Then he was gone, and Wanda closed her eyes and whispered a quiet prayer for his safe return.

Her mind became clearer now that she had some distance from her brother, and she took a chance and glanced over the lip of the outcropping, ducking back when she was met with a hail of bullets.

"Shit," she muttered. Pietro would need help, and she was the only one who could do it. She closed her eyes and focused, letting her power flow through her. It felt wild, strong and unwieldy, but when she opened her eyes her hands were engulfed in the bright red glow of her power. She braced herself to move. This was the moment of truth. Either her powers would shield her, or they would fail and leave her a bullet-riddled corpse.

Just as she began to move out from her hiding place, she was tackled to the ground, fingers closing around her neck. She struggled with the gray-clad figure pinning her down, flailing wildly as her concentration shattered and her powers fled. She was going to die. She was going to die here, and it was so senseless.

A lucky hit knocked her attacker's mask aside and she was quick to take advantage of their momentary distraction to suck in a deep breath and reach inside herself for that well of rage and fear that she lived with every day, focusing it in one desperate moment and, with a flick of her fingers, sending her pain into their mind.

They stumbled backwards, landing hard, and Wanda scrambled to her feet, ready to run. Then the strangest thing happened, and she watched in fascination and horror as her attacker's entire body started to flicker in and out of existence.

What the fuck?

The now obviously female voice was groaning as their body writhed on the ground. Wanda turned away, a breath away from running, when another, louder pained cry tore at her heart. Something about this person drew her towards them, and against her better judgment, she crouched next to them and eased the mask from their face, ignoring her own discomfort as the girl's pain flooded her senses.

Tears moistened the girl's eyes though they didn't fall, and she looked up at Wanda with a dazed expression Wanda was growing all too familiar with. She cupped the girl's face, noting how the girl's eyes tried to focus on her, as if she was already fighting the effects of what Wanda had done to her. She lightly slapped the girl's cheeks, forcing her to focus.

"Come on. Come back to me," she muttered to her, and suddenly the girl's gaze snapped to her own, eerily clear of visions, if still clouded by pain. Wanda's fingers slipped through the space the girl was occupying every time she flickered, but it was slowing now. Wanda knew she should leave now, before her would-be assassin could come after her again, but the girl's eyes held her frozen in place. They were beautiful, she was beautiful, and while Wanda had never been one to fall for a pretty face, there was just something about this girl. Her turbulent mind was fast becoming familiar.

"I'll never leave," the girl told her, awe and certainty coloring her tone. Wanda started, her hand flying to her hip as her soul mark Flared, the pain fleeting but undeniable.

They stared each other down, equally shocked.

Pietro stopped next to her, breathing hard, jolting Wanda from her trance, and she looked up at her brother with cheeks flushed in embarrassment.

"Are you about done here? I might need some help," he said between gasping breaths, not angry, but a bit exasperated.

"Pietro-" Wanda started, but her brother cut her off.

"Yes, yes. Your soulmate. I could tell from the dopey look on your face." She swatted him, but couldn't argue. "I need your help, sister, or we won't be leaving this place alive," he said more seriously. His eyes were bright, but he definitely looked worn out already, sweat pouring from his face and shaking even harder than before.

The girl- Wanda's soulmate- smiled grimly as she forced herself to sit up, taking deep breaths as she regained control of herself.

"I'll take care of it," she said darkly. Wanda ran her fingertips over the girl's chin, directing her attention and making her face her. Strangely enough, her powers seemed tightly under her control at the moment, her thoughts hers and hers alone.

"We will take care of it together," she said. Some of the darkness seemed to leave the girl's eyes as a small smile graced her lips. "Give me your name," Wanda said.

"Ava," the girl said simply.

"Come, Ava," Wanda said, taking her hand and giving her a smile as she pulled her to her feet. "Let's finish this."

"Sometime today?" Pietro asked, earning a glare from both girls. "Just saying," he said as another round of gunfire sounded. Wanda hadn't even been aware of the sound until now. Meeting Ava had distracted her completely, and the feel of Ava's hand in hers threatened to do so again.

Ava pulled her mask back on and dropped Wanda's hand, her entire demeanor changing as she assumed the role of assassin once more, only this time her targets would be different. "I'll be right back," she said steadily and disappeared.

Pietro looked around and shrugged. "That'll take some getting used to," he said.

"We're all a bit strange," Wanda replied. Then Pietro took a deep breath and was gone in a flash of blue, and Wanda grinned as she raised her hands, bringing her powers to bear.