Inheritance of ash

day three - part one

That's when the door opened.

A man and a woman stumbled in, tangled together, lips locked, too preoccupied to notice anything else. They shoved each other against the wall, laughing breathlessly.

The four froze. Again.

Kate smirked to herself. Of course. Of course SHIELD had a make-out spot.

Yelena noticed her grin, felt something tighten in her chest and deliberately turned her eyes away, pretending to scan the shelves. Then, with a sharp flick of her wrist, she tossed a book across the room.

It crashed loudly.

The woman gasped, panicking immediately. "I told you this place was haunted!"

Kate stared at Yelena absentmindedly with a soft smile, then dropped it just as quickly.

The man scoffed. "Don't be stupid, Isabella."

Wanda's lips tightened. She hated that tone. A flick of her fingers—and another book fell.

Straight onto his head.

He yelped.

"Haunted,"Isabella whispered, clutching his arm.

He tried to laugh off the pain, tried to be manly, but his face betrayed him as he hurried her out.

The door shut behind them.

Pietro turned to Wanda, wide-eyed. "Did you just—"

Kate grinned. "Nice one."

Wanda shrugged. "He was an asshole."

They returned to searching. Yelena moved efficiently, eyes sharp. Kate's fingers finally brushed a folder with Barnes, James Buchanan stamped across the tab. Her pulse quickened. She flipped it open at the table, Yelena stepping up beside her, leaning casually against the edge to read over her shoulder. Pretending it was normal. Kate tried not to move, not to react to how close she was.

Wanda found another. A thick one. She didn't say anything, just opened it and started reading, her brow furrowing deeper with each page.

Pietro kept hunting, determined. There had to be more.

"You skimmed," Yelena said softly to Kate.

"I didn't," Kate shot back.

"Yes, you did."

"I didn't."

"You really wanna argue about a lie right now, Kate?"

"Says the professional liar."

"Oh so we're back to that?"

"You caused this!"

Their bickering cut off when Pietro's voice rang low and sharp. "Wanda—?"

They turned.

She was still reading. But tears streaked her cheeks, silent and relentless. Her hands sparked with red energy, crackling at her fingertips. Fury burned in her eyes, tangled with grief so heavy it dragged at the air.

They had never seen her like this before.

"Wanda," Pietro said again, voice breaking, rushing to her side.

Kate moved too, carefully trying to pry the file from her hands. But before she could touch it, the folder burst into flame, burning to ash between Wanda's fingers. She didn't even flinch.

She didn't look at them. Didn't explain. Just whispered in Sokovian, her voice like a curse, and turned toward the door.

Her eyes glowed red.