Chapter 3: Will-o'-the-Wisp

It was growing dark.

He wasn't sure how long he intended to keep up the search. Another day or two, perhaps. Tony's A.I. program was monitoring security cameras in the city with facial recognition software, but the high false positive rate rendered that method less than reliable. Already it had sent Vision two leads that had proven dead ends, women who closely resembled Wanda, but were not her.

In a way, finding her was not the true purpose of looking for her; if any other agencies connected what had happened at the fire that morning with one of the fugitive Avengers, Tony would be able to assure them that they were handling it themselves, pointing to Vision's presence as evidence.

But that wasn't Vision's purpose. As small as the chance of finding her was, there was still a chance.

He rose above the city, looking for a concentration of people, traffic, or neon lights that might point him in the direction of a new place to search, some place where many people congregated in the evening: restaurants, bars, entertainment districts. True, Wanda had never frequented such things before, but her lifestyle now might be much changed from what it had been before.

That's when he saw what looked like a glowing red fountain on a rooftop to the south. The specific shade of red was one that he knew well.

It was her. There was no other explanation. He flew toward it as fast as he could. He circled around the building and spotted her, the scarlet glow around her hands mirroring the fountain of snow. The moment she saw him the glow vanished, the snow drifted away in a white poof on the wind.

He landed in front of her, and for a long moment they just stared at each other.

"Vision," she whispered.

"Wanda. I hope I didn't startle you."

"No." She took half a step closer to him, then stopped. "I heard you were here. I figured you were looking for me."

"Yes," he admitted.

"I saw the smoke while I was walking to work this morning. I knew it was a risk, but I couldn't just do nothing."

"Because you're an Avenger." He wanted to close the distance between them, to touch her, reassure her. But he didn't dare.

She spoke again. "Did they send you to take me back?"

"We both know I couldn't, even if I were willing to."

"Then why are you here?" She asked the question quietly and carefully, her tone almost plaintive.

"Because I wanted to see you, for my own peace of mind. Read me if you don't believe me."

she walked up to him slowly. She wasn't looking into his mind, but into his eyes. Then she wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head on his chest.

"Vision, I've missed you so much."

He placed one hand carefully on her back. "I've missed you too. I've missed you terribly."

She closed her eyes. He could feel her breath in the rise and fall of her chest against him. He could feel her heartbeat. Almost involuntarily he pulled her closer and stroked her hair.

"Wanda, I hope you can forgive me."

"For what?"

"I never thought you would be imprisoned. I should not have let it happen."

"There was nothing you could have done."

"I could have let you escape."

"They just would have locked you up too."

Vision wasn't sure that was true. Or possible. But he felt it didn't matter anymore. He drew back from their long embrace to look at her. "If you were afraid I would attempt to apprehend you, or that I might not be alone in looking for you, it was an incredible risk to use your power to draw my attention."

"I felt like it was the only chance I had to see you," she said.

He gingerly reached up to touch her cheek. "Thank you."

Her cheek was cold. The night was cold, well below freezing.

"Perhaps we should continue this conversation indoors?" he suggested.

"Yes." She shook her head as if coming out of a daze. "My apartment isn't far from here. It should be safe to go back there." She looked him over, biting her lip thoughtfully. "I think walking there will draw attention. Would you mind giving me a lift?"

Though he didn't actually have a heart, he felt his metaphorical heart leap at the suggestion.

They didn't speak much as they flew over the city lights, Wanda cradled in Vision's arms, her arms looped loosely around his neck.

"That building. My apartment is the one with the red curtain."

Vision landed on her balcony and set her down. Her legs felt unsteady. She clung to him to keep from stumbling, and because she didn't want their physical closeness to end.

"Thank you," she said.

"It was my pleasure."

She turned and unlocked the door with a wave of her hand, then slid it open.

"Come on in," she said when Vision showed hesitance to follow her.

Her apartment was small, spartan, dilapidated, not at all welcoming. When one was on the run, moving from place to place every few months, it was difficult to make a place feel like home. That had never bothered her like it did now. Did Vision mind?

She looked at him. "I know it's not much. Just a place to stay for a while. I guess I've never really had anything else. Not since my parents." She bit her lip, not really wanting to go there right now. They had so much else to talk about. "Vision, about what happened at the compound..."

"It's nothing."

"I should never have turned my power against you. It was wrong."

"You didn't harm me," he said.

"But I could have. I feel terrible about it."

"Perhaps we should call it even. We needn't discuss it further."

After a moment, she nodded. "Okay." She turned away, looking around her apartment again. "Now that I've exposed myself here, the protocol is that I should leave as soon as possible, move on to the next safe house."

He glided next to her, concern and maybe a hint of panic in his eyes. "I couldn't have found you without your aid. I don't believe you need fear anyone else will."

"Vision, if I leave, I'd tell you where I was going. I might even ask you to help me move. Flying over the border would make me pretty hard to track."

"I'd be happy to," he said.

He lightly brushed her hand with his fingertips. Her pulse quickened.

And what do you want?

She'd asked him that once, back at the compound. His hand had been on her arm, his eyes gazing into hers. She'd half expected him to kiss her then. She'd been disappointed when he hadn't. Did he want her the way she wanted him? Could he? Or was this a result of human hormones he didn't share? Maybe he didn't know either. There had never been anyone like him; maybe he was still figuring out the details of his own existence.

She slipped her hand into his. Her other hand rose to stroke his face.

Confusion. Fear. Fear of endangering her, fear of being rejected by her. Yearning. Inexpressable love.

"You're reading me," he said.

"I'm sorry. I had to know. I had to make sure you feel the same way."

His emotions added to hers were overwhelming. She moved closer to him. He met her lips with his.

This was his first kiss. She sensed his nervousness, his uncertainty, and felt it evaporate away as the thrill and pleasure of it flooded through them both. It was a simple kiss, close-lipped, undemanding, but it froze them in place like statues, neither wanting to end it.

It was not Wanda's first kiss, but no one she'd ever been with before had affected her like this. His skin was smooth, smoother than a human's. His flesh was hard, more like metal than muscle. None of which she minded.

Wanda drew back from the kiss when her legs started getting tired; without thinking about it, she'd gone up on her tiptoes to reach him. They were still holding hands, and didn't let go as they looked at each other, processing what had just happened.

"That felt good," Vision said.

"Yeah," she agreed with a breathy laugh. She gave his hand a squeeze. "Like I said, I'm not going anywhere where you can't find me. I wouldn't do that to you, or to myself. But I think maybe I should leave for the next safe house tonight."

"Why so soon?"

"With Tony's technology, it's only a matter of time before he finds me."

"You don't need to worry about that," Vision said. "Even if he did locate you, he would't come for you. He doesn't want you arrested either."

"How do you know that?"

"Because he sent me. He knows I would never intentionally do anything to harm you."

She looked at him thoughtfully for a long moment. "I'm not sure I trust Tony, but I do trust you. If you think I'm still safe here, I'll stay."

It was well after midnight by the time Vision bid her goodbye after catching her in a yawn she couldn't stifle. She asked him to stay a little bit longer, but relented after realizing he should go before her neighbors woke up, to reduce the risk of someone seeing him.

She walked him to the door of her balcony. He turned to her.

"When might I see you again?" he asked.

"Can you come Friday night?"

"I will try. If I can't make it..."

"I'll assume you're busy saving the world. If you do come Friday and I'm not here, it is probably because I had to flee. If that happens, look for me in Zurich."

He nodded. She'd told him the next address on her memorized list of safe houses, even though Steve and Natasha had instructed her to never say it out loud or write it down. The uncertainty of their lives was too great.

She kissed him goodbye, and watched as he moved through the glass door and flew away, watched until he disappeared in the snowy night.

"Any luck in Germany?" Tony asked Vision when he saw him the next day.

"Not exactly," he replied. He didn't want to lie to Tony. Wanda signaling him from the rooftop wasn't exactly luck, it was her cleverness.

"That's not surprising. Wanda knows how to survive on the streets, she knows three languages that I know of, and she can get into people's heads. I don't think you could have found her unless she wanted to be found."

"I think that's true," Vision said carefully.

"Well," Tony patted Vision's shoulder, "maybe you'll get lucky next time."

He walked away, leaving Vision to wonder if that had been a deliberate double-entendre.