Chapter Five
Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Marvel.
Bruce rubbed his eyes in an attempt to feel more awake as he stumbled down the stairs to the kitchen. Jarvis had just woken him up, but would say nothing more than he was needed downstairs. Bruce assumed that meant someone needed medical attention, otherwise Jarvis would have woken Tony. He walked into the kitchen, to see Wanda kneeling on the floor, tears running down her face, looking at the floor, while Steve- when did he get back? -lay unconscious a few metres away.
"What happened?"
Wanda didn't even look up, much less answer Bruce's question, so he quickly made his way over to Steve. The super-soldier was breathing steadily, and his only sign of injury was a rapidly-forming swelling on the back of his head. Bruce was fairly certain he had a concussion, but was otherwise fine. He sighed in relief, before returning his attention to Wanda. He spoke softly, acting on a sudden hunch.
"Did your powers do this somehow?"
She nodded, climbing to her feet, but not taking her eyes from the tiled floor. "Steve took me by surprise. I panicked. I didn't mean to do this, I swear." Her voice was heartbreakingly sad.
Bruce looked at her sympathetically. He put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "It's ok, no-one will blame you. Steve will be fine. He's not seriously injured, and he's certainly had worse injuries than this." He tried to smile reassuringly, but as Wanda still wouldn't look at him, the gesture was futile. Bruce sighed. "Jarvis?"
"Yes, Dr Banner?"
"Can you wake Tony, please? I need to get Steve to the medical wing, but I can't carry him on my own."
"At once, sir."
A few minutes later, Tony- looking half asleep- walked unsteadily into the kitchen.
"Why'd you have Jarvis wake me up?" He slurred. "I quite enjoy sleeping, you know!"
Bruce quickly explained what had happened, making it sound as normal as possible. He wanted Wanda to understand that it really wasn't her fault.
"So I need you to help me get Steve to the medical wing." He concluded, looking at Tony. "He may well have a concussion, and I want to keep an eye on him tonight."
"Couldn't the other guy have carried him?"
Bruce glared at him pointedly.
"Alright, alright! I'll help." Tony and Bruce lifted Steve carefully between them, and they slowly made their way to the medical bay, Tony complaining about Steve's weight the entire way. Wanda trailed along behind them silently, carrying Steve's suitcase. She'd picked it up as they left the kitchen, thinking that Steve might want to know where it was when he woke up. She couldn't believe Bruce's words, about no-one blaming her, she was sure that Steve at least would hate her now, that was if Tony even wanted her to stay after what she'd just done.
After Tony and Bruce had laid Steve carefully on the nearest bed, and Bruce had confirmed that it was merely a concussion, Wanda turned to face Tony, bracing herself.
"I'm sorry this happened."
Tony waved a hand dismissively. "No worries, accidents happen. There've been plenty of times when I've wanted to knock Steve out. He can be really annoying sometimes."
Bruce shook his head exasperatedly at Tony. Wanda blinked, confused. They really didn't mind? No-one except her brother had ever understood that she wasn't to blame for the freak accidents that happened to people around her.
Bruce met her gaze. "I know some meditating techniques that might help you get those abilities under control. You just have to learn to distance your emotions from your powers."
Wanda didn't answer at first. Was it possible? Could she learn to control this?
Bruce had a fairly good idea what she was thinking. "I know it seems hard, but it can be done. We can make a start whenever you want."
"How do you know so much about this sort of thing?" Her eyes were curious.
Bruce told her about the Hulk, and how he had finally learned to control his transformations. Wanda felt a growing sense of kinship with Bruce- she had never imagined that there was someone else in the world who could understand how it felt to lose control of your own body. Not that she could tell him that part of her story... besides, that had only happened once, back when she was ten.
Steve shifted his weight, groaning softly as his eyes fluttered. Bruce made his way over to him.
"Steve, can you hear me?"
"Ugh...yes. What happened?"
"You tell me." Bruce knew that was a good way of assessing possible damage, testing the patient's memory.
"I just got home... I met Tony's new guest in the kitchen...she seemed to panic, everything started moving, like the place was haunted...It was stopping, I put my hand on her shoulder, and this red light blasted me backwards...That's all I remember. Even though I'm pretty sure I must've hallucinated some of that..."
Bruce laughed softly. "No, it all happened. Though I can see why you think you imagined it."
"What? She really did all that? How..." Steve trailed off. He'd seen some very strange things since he'd woken up in the 21st century, Norse Gods, armies of aliens... but a human with the power to do something like that? How could that be real?
"Wanda here and her brother Pietro moved in yesterday. They both have weird powers that no-one understands, and Wanda can't totally control hers, hence your accident. They're both going to join the Avengers!" Tony announced proudly.
Wanda and Steve looked at Tony in shock. Bruce was glaring at him, furious.
"What?"
"Tony, do the words 'subtlety' and 'tact' mean nothing to you?" Bruce asked through gritted teeth.
Steve was trying to make sense of what Tony had just said. "Fury wants us to add more members to the team?"
"No, I want us to add more members to the team. And as the team lives in my tower, I get to decide. I don't care what Fury thinks."
Bruce raised an eyebrow. "And you made this decision when?"
"About two minutes ago, why?"
"I-I don't think me joining your team is such a good idea." Wanda's voice was hesitant. She glanced guiltily at Steve. "People get hurt too often around me."
Steve met her gaze resolutely. "What happened earlier was my fault more than yours. I didn't know what was going on, but I shouldn't have interfered. Don't blame yourself." His voice was completely earnest.
Wanda was taken aback. He thought it was his fault that she'd lost control? That made no sense whatsoever... but Steve's gaze was steady, and he clearly meant his words...
"Alright," Bruce glanced at Wanda and Steve, breaking the moment. "Steve, I'd prefer it if you spent the rest of the night here for observation." He glanced at Wanda quickly, then turned to Tony. "You two should probably go back to bed. There'll be plenty of time to discuss the question of Wanda and Pietro joining the Avengers in the morning."
Wanda followed Tony out of the medical wing, and apologised again for being the cause of disturbance before returning to bed. Tony had assured her it didn't matter. She lay awake for the remainder of the night however, afraid to go back to sleep in case she had more of those disturbing dreams.
~ The next morning ~
Pepper was piling food on a plate for Steve when Pietro walked in. Tony had told her of last night's adventure, and she had insisted on making Steve breakfast as soon as Bruce confirmed that he was well enough to leave the medical room.
"Though I'd advise you to take it easy for the next few days, Steve. The concussion was pretty bad." Bruce warned. Once Steve had agreed, Bruce had sat down and engrossed himself in a newspaper, though why there was a newspaper in the tower at all surprised everyone- Tony Stark did not read papers!
Pietro had frozen in the doorway upon seeing Steve. Pepper belatedly realised that he would have no idea who Steve was, and quickly introduced them.
"Oh! Uh, Pietro, this is Steve Rogers. He lives here as well, I don't know if anyone told you that? Steve, this is Pietro Maximoff, Wanda's brother."
Steve smiled warmly, standing and ofering his hand to the newcomer. Pietro shook it warily.
"You've already met my sister?" His eyes narrowed.
"Yes, I've been away visiting friends. I got back late last night, and met her when she came down for a drink." Steve decided not to mention the exact details- Pietro didn't seem, at first glance, to be a very forgiving person. Besides, he wanted to start over with Wanda, if possible. He hated thinking that he'd frightened her the previous night, when she seemed like such a shy young woman.
"Right." Pietro glanced at Pepper and Bruce, both of whom quickly looked away from his icy blue eyes. He knew they weren't telling him everything, but decided to let it go for now. He would ask Wanda for the whole story later.
Wanda herself came down at that moment, looking exhausted- there were dark rings under her eyes. Steve, realising that all the chairs in the kitchen were occupied, stood up to allow Wanda to sit down. She thanked him shyly with a smile. He grinned back, absently noting how pretty her smile was- it suited her.
Pietro had watched this interaction, and scowled. Everyone jumped when Jarvis spoke, breaking the silence.
"Dr Banner, Master Stark has requested your presence in the lab."
Bruce sighed, putting the newspaper down. "Duty calls... Pepper, has Tony even had breakfast this morning?"
"No, I don't think so...he had about four coffees, but no food."
"I can take something down to him, if you want?"
"Thanks." Pepper smiled gratefully, glad that someone besides her would help convince Tony that work was not more important than eating.
Bruce took the proffered plate, turning back before actually leaving the kitchen. "Wanda, if you're not busy tomorrow, maybe we can get started on the meditation idea? I think the sooner we start teaching you control, the better."
Wanda nodded emphatically- that she agreed with. Bruce smiled.
"See you all later." He headed towards the lab.
Pietro was growing increasingly suspicious. When had Wanda met Steve, and at what point had she agreed to learn meditation from Bruce? Why was she suddenly so familiar with these people?
When Steve moved to pour himself another cup of coffee, Pietro moved to Wanda's side, quickly demanding an explanation, speaking in Romanian. She gave him a brief version of what had happened in the night: her nightmare, going downstairs, Steve startling her, and Bruce and Tony finding them. She too was speaking in Romanian, although she felt self-conscious because Pepper and Steve were giving them confused looks.
"But I really think we can trust them, Pietro. I want this to work out, I'm tired of running. Please give it a chance?"
"Alright," Pietro conceded, switching back to English. "I suppose you have a point."
"Thank you." Wanda then turned to Steve and Pepper. "Sorry about that, we tend to slip back into our native language without noticing, it's just a habit."
"You're not American?" Steve sounded genuinely interested.
"No, we were born in Eastern Europe. Transia, have you ever heard of it?"
Both Steve and Pepper shook their heads.
"Transia is a relatively small country in Romania, near the Balkan mountains. Its population is for the most part made up of gypsies and farmers."
"Thanks, Jarvis."
Wanda laughed nervously. "How do you ever get used to that?"
"It takes a while." Pepper reassured her. "Steve actually went looking for an intruder the first time Jarvis took him by surprise."
"Pepper! I thought you promised you wouldn't repeat that." Steve went bright red. Pietro began laughing at him. Wanda glared at her brother.
"That's understandable, it does sound very lifelike. I would have thought it was a real person the first time I heard it."
"Jarvis is a he." Pepper clarified.
"Oh. Sorry, Jarvis...?" Wanda felt ridiculous, apologising to an AI.
"It is quite alright, Miss Maximoff. Master Stark once mistook me for a ghost, while he was intoxicated."
Wanda, Pepper and Steve all managed to laugh at that. Pietro rolled his eyes.
Tony and Bruce came back into the kitchen at that moment, Tony grinning slyly, Bruce looking resigned.
"What's going on?" Pepper's voice was wary- she knew that expression of Tony's too well.
"We were just keeping an eye on Shield's outer-space monitors-"
"Uh, no, not 'we', Tony, it was all you." Bruce interrupted.
"And we picked up an energy signature the same as the one the Chitauri used, when they were in New York." Tony continued, completely disregarding Bruce's words.
"And how exactly is more of those things good news?" Steve frowned.
"Well, there's only a few of them, they seem to be scouting, as if they're looking for someone. I figured we could suit up and deal with them. Anyone game?"
"And he conveniently forgets to mention that Nick Fury himself told us to leave it alone." Bruce shook his head.
"That's why I want to go! Deliberately annoying Patch is so much fun."
"It's a bad idea, Stark. Disobeying orders never ends well."
"Fine, Mr USA, you stay here if you want. I'm going to go and deal with these stray Chitauri. If those things are planning a comeback, we need to know. Anyone else want to come?"
Bruce groaned. "There's no talking you out of this, is there? I suppose I'll have to come along. Maybe with the Hulk there, you'll actually make it home alive."
"May I come along too?" Pietro asked.
Everyone stared at him.
"You want to go and get into a fight with a murderous group of extraterrestrials, against Shield's orders, when you're already on their threat watch?" Tony was incredulous.
Pietro shrugged. "Might as well, I have nothing better to do, and I'm bored. Besides, like you said, we should be prepared if these...chitauri plan to invade earth."
"Fair enough. Anybody else?" No-one moved. "Fine, let's go!" Pepper glared at Tony halfheartedly, knowing that she couldn't dissuade him now. Steve was just shaking his head.
"I guess I'll have to tag along..." He stood up. Bruce stepped into his path.
"No, you don't. You received a severe head injury last night. You're in no shape to go into a fight. Sit down."
Steve acquiesced with a sigh- he did still have a headache.
Wanda looked at Pietro worriedly. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"
"Wanda, I'll be fine. I'm just curious about whether this 'team' is as good as Tony claims!" He smirked arrogantly. "I'll be back before you know it. I promise."
She nodded doubtfully as he raced off to join Tony and Bruce in the hangar. The newly-built Quinjet took off soon after. Pepper, Steve and Wanda were left alone, each trying not to worry. Pepper occupied herself with paperwrk from Stark Industries that she'd been meaning to get done for days, Steve kept himself busy by working out in the gym, and Wanda eventually settled in the library, reading copies of stories she had heard of during her years of living like a nomad.
~ The Himalayan Mountains, hundreds of miles from any inhabited area ~
The battle was not going well. There were about thirty Chitauri remaining, and only about seven Shield operatives were still able to fight. The rest were unconscious or worse. Their weapons barely affected the aliens, and they were running out of ammunition. The battlefield wasn't the most ideal location, either, as they were fighting on a narrow plateau that overlooked a mist-shrouded valley, hundreds of metres below them. A fall would be suicide. The Chitauri closed in on the desperate group of humans, confident in their victory. The Quinjet came into view overhead, and Iron Man flew straight into action. His repulsor blasts took down two of the Chitauri straight away. The rest of the aliens focused on him immediately, and he was soon dodging energy blasts from their rifles while trying to draw them away from the Shield agents. The Quinjet landed, and the Hulk leapt into the fight, crushing two of the Chitauri beneath him as he landed, then punching every one of them he could reach, roaring in anger. Pietro ran towards the defeated Shield agents in a blur, bearing them all out of harm's way as fast as possible.
When that was done, he turned to see how his teammates were faring. The Hulk was fine- he could just throw off any Chitauri that attacked him physically, and their weapon's blasts didn't seem to bother him. Stark however... He was fending off the three Chitauri in front of him easily enough, but seemed to be totally unaware of the larger one coming up behind him, poised to strike with a very sharp-looking blade. Pietro had no idea if it would pierce Stark's armour, but he decided not to take the chance. He rushed the alien, leaping onto its back, twisting the blade in its hands and attempting to throttle it. The alien staggered towards the edge of the plateau, no doubt planning to throw his assailant off, but a loose bit of rock crumbled under their combined weight, and they both plummeted down into the misty depths...
Tony's repulsor fried the last Chitauri that was standing, and he turned cautiously towards the Hulk.
"Bruce...?" He knew better than to go too close.
The Hulk snorted, and turned back into Bruce in a matter of seconds.
"You're getting really good at that." Tony commented.
Bruce shrugged. "It comes with practice, I guess." Pulling his tattered clothes more tightly around himself, he glanced around, frowning. "Tony...where's Pietro?"
"What do you mean, last time I saw him he was over there with the the Shield agents..." Tony trailed off uncertainly as he looked at aforementioned Shield agents. They were moving the wounded into their helicopter, and Pietro Maximoff was definitely not among them.
Tony and Bruce exchanged alarmed glances. Without further debate, Tony took off into the air again, doing wide sweeps of the entire valley.
"Jarvis, do a scan for lifesigns. Pietro's down there somewhere, and he could be hurt!"
"Scan in progress, sir. I..." Jarvis' voice was cut off.
"Jarvis...?" Not now! Tony thought desperately.
"I have scanned the entire valley, sir. There is no sign of life within."
"That was fast, even for you... wait, no sign of life?!" Tony's heart sank. "Is...Pietro's body down there?" He was really hoping this was a bad dream...he couldn't lose a team member on his first mission with them!
"There is nothing within the valley but rocks and earth, sir."
"What? That's ridiculous, Pietro couldn't have vanished into thin air!" He decided Jarvis must be mistaken, and flew round the valley several more times, hoping to catch a glimpse of something, anything that could pinpoint Pietro's whereabouts. It was no good however. Nothing was visible through the dense white mist. After about an hour, he gave up, and returned to Bruce, who was still waiting for him beside the Quinjet. His friend peered at him anxiously.
"What's going on?"
"I couldn't find anything, Bruce. There's no sign of him."
"Wha- how can there be nothing?! Has Jarvis-"
"He says there's no sign of living creatures in the valley, and apparently no...no body either. I guess...that's it. There's not much else we can do here."
"But it doesn't make sense... unless there's another portal in the valley..." Bruce shuddered at the thought of a human being carried to the Chitauri homeworld. If that had happened, Pietro might well already be beyond rescue...
Tony didn't respond. Both of them walked into the Quinjet slowly, taking an unnecessarily long time to start up the controls. Neither of them would say it, but they were both hoping for some sort of miracle. No miracle happened however, and eventually they took off, both dreading the prosect of breaking the news of Pietro's loss to Wanda...
~ Elsewhere ~
He opened his eyes slowly, grimacing at the pain he felt radiating through his entire body. He looked around, unsure where he was. The room was fairly large, and tiled with a strange dark metal. Did he know this place? He didn't think so...but after thinking about it for a few minutes, he realised he remembered nothing. He had no idea where he was, or how he'd gotten here. He didn't even know who he was! A noise at the other side of the room caught his attention, and he saw a young blonde woman peering at him, a nervous but excited expression on her face, as if she knew she was doing something she shouldn't, and was enjoying the thrill of it. She jumped when he met her eyes.
"You can come in, you know." His voice sounded hoarse, and he really wanted some water, but he didn't ask. He had no idea if this woman was a friend of his, or a relative, or a complete stranger. Best not to ask for favours.
The young woman slowly stepped in to the room, her gaze curious and cautious, like he was a wild animal.
'Am I?' he thought groggily.
"I didn't realise you were awake." Her voice was quiet, perhaps she didn't want to be overheard? He considered that briefly.
He decided to start with a reasonable question, since he must have been unconscious when he was brought here:
"Where am I?"
"This is Atil- my home." She corrected herself almost immediately.
That didn't really tell him anything...
"Do we know each other?"
"No, I've never met a human before." She blushed slightly. "That's really why I came in here, I was curious."
Right. So apparently, this girl wasn't human. She looked human, but he took her word for it.
"How did I get here?"
"You were found unconscious just outside the city. We brought you here to be healed. You'll be questioned now you're awake. My famil- I mean, our rulers want to know what you were doing so close to our borders."
Ah, so she was some form of royalty among her own people. Did she even realise how much information she was giving away?, he wondered.
"Well, I'm afraid I won't be able to tell anyone very much," he admitted. "I don't remember anything before waking up here."
The young woman's hands flew to her mouth, her eyes shocked. "You don't remember your family, or where you come from?"
He shook his head. She looked truly troubled for him. "Do you even know your name?"
"I'm not sure...the name 'Pietro' sounds familiar, but I don't know if it's mine or not."
"That's so sad...I suppose we'll have to call you Pietro until your memory returns." She smiled brightly, and he couldn't help returning the gesture. "It's an unusual name though."
"What's yours?"
"Oh, how silly of me!" She knew she probably shouldn't tell him anything else, but she wasn't afraid of him any more, human or not. In fact, she felt sorry for him, losing all his memories like this...
"My name is-"
"CRYSTAL!" A male voice shouted from the doorway. Both the occupants of the room jumped, and Crystal went pale.
"Cousin Gorgon..."
The man in the doorway was a huge, imposing figure, Pietro noted. Tall, very muscular, with long dark hair. Bare-chested, and...did he have bull's legs? Well, that certainly explained why Crystal had said her people weren't human, if she was related to this man...
"What are you doing in here?!" Gorgon demanded, sounding furious.
"I-I was just..."
"Just doing exactly what you were told not to! Leave, now!"
Crystal practically ran out of the room, leaving Pietro alone with the angry Gorgon, who was presently glaring at him murderously.
"If you've done anything to harm my cousin, human..." The threat was obvious. Pietro gulped.
"Why would I hurt anyone here? I don't even know what's going on!"
"Explain what you were doing so close to our home."
"I can't. I know you probably won't believe this, but the only thing I remember from my past is my name. I can't recall anything else except waking up here."
Gorgon folded his arms. "That sounds like a very impressive ruse to escape punishment..."
He stared at Pietro for a long minute, as if waiting for him to admit to lying. Pietro held his gaze steadily.
"Fine. I accept that you're being honest. I will tell my king what I have learned from you, and then your fate will be decided." Gorgon began to walk away. He glanced back. "You are effectively under arrest, and are not to leave this room. And be warned, human; should you try to escape, you will be executed without mercy. Humans are not permitted to enter Attilan and leave." He stode away, leaving Pietro alone. The doors closed behind him with a definitive thud.
It sounded like the crack of doom to Pietro's ears. What would happen to him now?
To be continued...
AN: Yeah, so we won't be seeing Pietro again for a while in this story. Don't worry, he will appear again, but I want the story to be more focused on Wanda at first.