Chapter Two

Disclaimer: Marvel owns everything except OCs.

Wanda glanced around the shelter. It was a gloomy, dimly-lit, sparsely furnished building with paint peeling off the walls, but anything was better than being out in the howling wind and icy rain. Pietro had just gone into the tiny kitchen to retrieve some food- or whatever passed as food in this run-down place. The shelter was fuller than Wanda had expected, and she was feeling uncomfortable with all the eyes staring at her.

An overweight but muscular man dressed in tattered jeans and a stained off-white t-shirt made his way over to her, grinning suggestively. His greasy dark hair flopped into his eyes as he sat down beside her. She did her best to ignore him. His eyes roamed over her like she was a piece of meat, and she shivered involuntarily, wishing her brother would hurry up and rejoin her.

"My name's Andy."

She didn't respond.

"Ya look like you've been livin' rough for quite a while, darlin'." He was grinning at her now, exposing stained yellowing teeth. "How'd ya like to have a nice warm bed for a few nights? I'll pay well if you're worth it."

"No, thank you." Wanda said in a tightly controlled voice. Andy's assumption disgusted her- she may have been through some hard times, but she had never once resorted to what this disgusting man was suggesting. She got up, meaning to go and join Pietro in the kitchen.

He followed her, catching hold of her wrist, pulling her to a stop.

"Playin' hard to get, are ya? That's always fun."

"Let go of me!"

Her half-shouted words were drawing attention from the others in the main room of the shelter, but Wanda didn't care. She had only raised her voice in the hope that...

Pietro emerged from the kitchen and ran towards them (at a normal speed, thankfully.) Wanda sighed with relief.

"What do you think you're doing?" Pietro glared at the man who (still) had hold of his sister. "Leave her alone!"

Surprisingly, Andy actually complied. But only so he could shove Pietro back several yards.

"What's this gotta do with you, ya skinny freak?"

"If you bother my sister, you deal with me." Pietro said coolly. "Now are you going to walk away, or should I make you?"

Andy's response was to swing a fist at Pietro's face. He dodged easily, and scoffed at the moron's effort. He dodged several more blows until, because he was not willing to use his extreme speed, Andy managed to land a blow on his face. Blood spurted from Pietro's nose, and he fell backwards, striking his head on the concrete ground. He didn't get back up. Wanda cried out, moving towards him. There were gasps from several onlookers, but none of them actually moved forward to help.

Andy caught Wanda roughly by the upper arm, and pulled her nearer to him, whispering in her ear. "Since your friend made such a nuisance of himself, ya owe me one night for free. Now c'mon, we're goin'."

She struggled against his grip, beginning to panic. That's when she felt it...the familiar sensation of her hands growing warmer.

She redoubled her struggle to get away from Andy, desperate to succeed before the appearance of the scarlet light that preceded her powers' awakening. But it was too late. Her hands were glowing crimson. The weak electric lights began to flicker, cracks appeared in the floor and ceiling, and any object that wasn't nailed down began to shake, then levitated towards Wanda, moving in a continuous miniature tornado that kept the horrified onlookers from coming near her. The more Wanda panicked, the worse the effects became.

"What the...?!" Andy let go of Wanda in shock, before grabbing her by the shoulders. "What sorta freak are ya?"

She shook her head, frantic, trying to push him away, hoping that for once, nothing terrible would happen.

The instant her glowing hands made contact with Andy, he gritted his teeth, and grimaced with pain. He gasped, and the gasp became a scream as the pain intensified.

"What're ya doin'?" He managed to gasp before his eyes rolled back into his head. He collapsed to the floor in an odd way, as if he were made of cloth. She knew he wasn't breathing. She let out an inarticulate cry of pain and frustration, and the poltergeist activity stopped almost at once. Everything - purses, shoes, clothing, phones, keys... crashed noisily to the floor. Wanda wanted to burst into tears. Why did this keep happening? What had she done to deserve this curse?

Breathing shakily, she pushed her way through the gawking crowd of homeless people, some of whom backed away from her in terror, and knelt beside Pietro, who was just coming round. He sat up groggily, then noticed his sister's tear-filled eyes, and the still form on the floor. Guessing what had happened from previous experiences, he stood quickly. Sirens were audible, so evidently someone had called the police. They had to leave. Inability to explain what had happened aside, they were illegal immigrants. He lifted his sister, who was withdrawn and barely responsive, and left the shelter in a whirlwind. Literally. They would have to find somewhere else to stay, and no doubt Wanda would try and persuade him to leave her behind again. That would never happen. Ever.

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A red-headed woman clad in jeans, a white shirt and a leather jacket walked sedately down the street, trying to ignore the grumbled complaints of her short-haired male companion.

"Remind me again how some loser dying in a illegally-run homeless shelter is Shield business?" Clint asked for about the third time.

Natasha sighed. "I told you, witnesses claimed that were some unexplained freak events at the time of death, caused by a young woman that Andrew McAllister was harassing. His cause of death couldn't be determined, and none of the coroners on Shield's payroll have ever seen anything like it. Fury wants the woman and her accomplice found."

"Yeah, I know. I just don't see what good it will do to ask questions at the shelter itself, if the perp's gone."

"Coulson's monitoring every surveillance camera in New York. Once we have a physical description to go on, we can track the murderer and her partner down."

"I hope so. Though that'll be the easy part. If what happened to McAllister is any indication, this woman's dangerous. I don't get how someone's internal organs and entire skeleton could be burned to ash, when there was no external damage. No human could do something like that..."

"The people we're looking for will come peacefully if they know what's good for them. Fury only wants some answers, after all."

Clint snorted. "Come peacefully? Natasha, we're never that lucky." He adjusted the gun hidden inside his denim jacket, making sure it could be drawn easily if necessary, and noticed Natasha doing the same with her many concealed firearms. He smirked, looking forward to this part of the assignment at least, as they made their way into the shelter to start questioning people about the identity of the two fugitives.

To be continued...

AN: Yes, Coulson is still alive in this story! Andy is an OC.