The Winter Wraith

Chapter 18

"Why do I have to do this again?" she questioned between breaths, a hint of irritation poking through her question.

"It's a good way to clear your head in the morning. Plus, Bucky told me you disliked running. Think of this as your consequence for not thinking before you acted and ran away," Steve easily replied back.

Adina didn't necessarily dislike running as a whole. She just didn't see the point in running for no reason. Give her a reason to run, and she'll do it. But running to just run? That didn't make sense to her.

An excruciating long few minutes later, Steve finished his run and slowed his jog down coming to a stop a few yards from the Compound's door, Adina following behind. He turned and gave her some directions. She was to wash up and go to some kind of informal conference room that he gave her the directions to. Adina followed the simple directions, quickly washed up in her bathroom, and headed over to the room.

She was the first one there and took a seat in one of the black swivel chairs that surrounded a long table. As utilized the chair for its true purpose, spinning of course, she noticed that there was a large glass pane on a stand across from the table. She guessed it was some sort of high tech tv, as it displayed some logo with the letter A. Besides the more formal area of the table and office chairs, Adina was able to see the small living room that was situated nearby due to the open floor plan of the building. She liked it; it made whatever meeting that was going to take place feel a bit less formal and daunting.

A few moments later, the rest of the team started to filter in, filling up the remaining seats. When Steve started the meeting, there were a few people, or rather a few humans and a red being with a glowing yellow gem in its head, that she had not been introduced to. However, they quickly introduced themselves. The redhead, not Natasha, was Wanda Maximoff, and the boy with the funny hair was Pietro and also her brother. Lastly, the being that sort of resembled a human tomato was named as Vision. She guessed he was some sort of android.

"Alright, let's get down to business," Steve, who was sitting across from her, announced after the introductions. "Adina, here," he said, with a nod in her direction, "will be staying with us until future notice. Since she's staying, she'll join us in training. Due to her enhancements, I would like her to also have a specialized training session with Wanda and Pietro a few times a week. Do you think you two can handle that?" Steve asked, making a point to direct his question towards Pietro, knowing his lack of care for taking things seriously.

"Of course," Wanda replied.

At the same time, Pietro also replied.

"Yes, it will be fine. Plus, we already know each other," he stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

"What?" Bucky asked, a look of confusion fleeting across his face.

He had no idea why Adina would have ever interacted with the twins. They were part of two different branches of Hydra. Based on his knowledge, she should've never even been in the same country as them during their own time at the terrorist organization. So, he was a bit eager to hear how the siblings and troubled teen had crossed paths.

"Well, how do you think she got her powers? I have to say, until yesterday, I believed she was dead due to the experiment with the stone. It's nice to see you are alive, then," Pietro responded.

Wanda added on to her brother's bad explanation.

"We only saw her for two short instances, before the experiment and, um, after," she said with an extra weight added to the after, as if there was a dark story lurking behind it.

Wanda Maximoff saw Adina's confusion as she urged, "Please, go on."

Not wanting to, but listening to the younger girl's polite inquiry, she continued.

"Pietro and I were wandering the halls after a training session. We saw you after your movement with the stone. We had been warned to stay away from you, but we couldn't help stopping just outside the room to listen. Strucker was talking to some man from your base, and he sounded pretty upset. Something about files and an agent missing. Anyway, you were there, being held in the arms of a guard. They said you had no pulse, and it was a loss of an experiment, but not that noteworthy," Wanda recalled, rushing through the last two sentences.

The memory brought some old pain to her. She had felt sadness, no, grief, for the young girl. She didn't know the girl, and had never even seen her before that day. Yet, she felt a great sadness at her loss. Although Wanda knew nothing about her or her history, it was very difficult to imagine any child deserved to have their life cut short at the hands of an experimentation gone wrong. It was at this time that seeds of doubt about Hydra started to grow in Wanda and Pietro's minds.

Adina was completely surprised at the turn of events. She did not remember a single thing that Wanda had recounted to her. She had always thought she received her powers from one of the many serums Hydra injected into her. Her hands began to tremble. She had had no pulse? No, scratch that. She had been dead. As in, no heartbeat, no pulse, no breathing, failing to live. How was she even here today?

Her breathing turned erratic and she struggled to take air into her lungs. Her wide eyes flitted to each person in the room. Everyone seemed to be staring intensely into her and her soul. Could they tell how she feeled? Could they tell she was about to fall apart right in front of their eyes? She didn't want them to see her in this vulnerable state.

Bucky knew the signs of an oncoming panic attack, as he had experienced them too many times. He got up from his chair to go help Adina. However, before he could get there, Pietro raced up and grabbed the girl, leaving behind a spinning chair and his signature blue streak, as he went who knows where.

Published: 4/27/22

AN: Sorry for the infrequent updates, and thank you for bearing with me. I will try to update more often now that my finals/ap exams are over. I'm still invested in this story. Have a great summer! :)