If you had asked him, nothing much happened during the week that had passed; apart from the training sessions being more intense than ever, there were no significant changes in their routine and Pietro was finally enjoying a peaceful week; nothing could break his good mood, not even Steve, who was overstressing the importance of creating a good team cohesion and was having them doing an infinite amount of exercise that, in his opinion, would strengthen their bond.
Sure, Red hadn't left the cell yet, but she was starting to act less wary around the whole team. Most of them had gone to visit her at least once, some even more: Natasha was an almost constant presence, like he and Wanda were; Tony had spent a whole afternoon with her and Steve went once to discuss tactics and update her on the training. That one time that he and Wanda arrived and found there Bucky was a surely funny one; his twin's head almost exploded and he could have sworn that he saw a flash of red in her eyes.
Watching his best friend and his sister carefully dancing around the elephant in the room was amusing, but it was becoming boring; if those two didn't figure it out that they clearly had a crush on each other soon, he would not take account for his own actions. Wanda had asked him to not interfere, but seriously, it was embarrassing him to see how terrible they both were.
That night the three of them had agreed that they would eat together, so he was in the kitchen, waiting for dinner to be ready, while chatting with the others. Steve was wearing an apron, watching like a hawk their meal that he was baking. He wasn't a bad cook per se, as long as he did something simple, like oven-ready meals. But today Wanda insisted that he learned how to cook a proper recipe, and nobody wanted to miss the fun.
"Stop opening the oven every five seconds or it will never be done!" Said Wanda, laughing.
The mighty Captain grimaced under the playful scorn. "Sorry."
Tony laughed soundly. "I would never have thought that cooking would succseed where the nazi failed. C'mon oldie! It's mac'n'cheese, not rocket science. You can do it!"
"Says the one that always orders take out when it's his turn to cook." Said Natasha.
"The Étoile Montante is a five star restaurant. I never heard anybody complain." He answered smirking and he was right.
"How is Red? Still happy with her current accomodation?" Asked Steve.
"Yeah, she's taking roots in there." He said displeased. "I'm starting to think that she will never get out."
"Don't stress too much about it, she will have to come out by the end of the next week anyway." Said Tony. When everybody looked at him confused he kept explaining. "We're moving to the new compound." But everybody still seemed to not have any idea what he was talking about. "Oh my... I left a message on the board for all of you to see three weeks ago, does anybody ever check that thing out?" He asked, pointing at a cork panel hanging on the far end of the wall.
"I never even saw that it was there." Said Natasha, shrugging, and it was clear by the other's faces that it was the same for them.
Tony looked offended and aghast. "Are you serious right now? I told you about it when all of you moved here years ago!"
"To be fair, I don't think someone really listens when you speak." Answered immediately Natasha, smirking.
That kicked out another small bickering. It was different from the ones that had happened in the past, everybody was making fun of each other, but not in a malevolent way. He would have loved to take part in it, but he was distracted by something moving in his peripheral view; he turned towards the big window, but didn't notice anything different. He looked down in the streets, where the car lights seemed not a lot bigger than ants; they were very high up the tower, almost in the last floors, and it was a cloudy night. Maybe it was only a bird.
Once again his attention was caught by something moving, but when he glanced in that direction, nothing was there. Strange. He started to think he was imagining things, and that maybe it would have been best if he went back to speak with the others, when it happened again. This time he was ready.
There was something there, flying around. He couldn't see what it was exactly, it was almost as if it was shielded by an invisible field, like when the Quinjet disappeared from sight, but when it moved there was a kind of... shimmering around it. It was so fast that it was almost imperceptible, but for him nothing was quick enough. The more he concentrated, the more unknown objects he noted and they were attaching themself to the window.
"Uhm, guys, I think there is som..."
He couldn't finish his sentence: suddenly there was an explosion and the glass broke in a million pieces; he watched them flying around slowly, like crazy snow crystals. He felt the force trying to blast him away, but he was faster than it. He started to run and moved everybody away, using the counter and whatever else he could find to protect them.
"Oh, come on!" He yelled, when he saw a new wave of drones arriving, this time perfectly visible and with machine guns.
A hail of bullets arrived, finding the Avengers surprised by their suddenly changed position, but surely glad to not be in the open anymore.
Pietro took a deep breath and gave a last glance at the others before starting to run; he was not surprised to see Natasha taking a gun out of nowhere, if he didn't know better he would have thought that she had the superpower of generating weapons out of thin air. Cap was looking around, searching for his shield that was probably still in the gym, and Pietro took the decision to go and retrieve it, he sensed that a fight was coming. While he was going out of the door he had to avoid pieces of the Iron Suit that were flying towards Stark, but he was back on Steve's side in less than two minutes, passing him his shield, and the man nodded in thanks to him.
He then started to grab spoons or whatever he could find and throw them, trying to hit the drones, but aim wasn't his best skill; the others were trying to do the same in their own way and were surely more successful: soon all of the machines were down.
"What's happening?" Asked Wanda, looking around nervously like expecting something to attack her from the shadows.
"We're under attack!" Answered Steve.
"Thank you, Captain Obvious!" Yelled Tony.
To their surprise a man entered flying from the broken window; he was wearing a dark suit with golden metal plates on his shoulders that held a gray mantle and a graying and well kept beard was on his face. He had a familiar face, but Pietro wasn't able to remember where he already saw him.
The man mockingly smiled at them. "Sorry for interrupting your dinner, but I hope you enjoyed the appetizers."
They didn't want to talk much; Steve threw his shield at him, but the man moved his hand and the object stopped mid air, before falling on the floor under the team's shocked eyes.
"Time for the first course." The man said.
He moved his arms again and two metal platforms floated down from the roof, bringing on them at least a dozen fighters that looked like they just came out from a horror movie: they had dark veins that ran over their exposed skin and bloodshot eyes; of course the newcomers attacked them immediately. And thinking that Pietro was starting to almost get bored with all of the calm and peace of that week.
*****
It had been a strange week for her. She had never felt lonely or bored, barely having time to be alone for more than a few hours; the Avengers seemed perfectly coordinated with their visit, even if it didn't seem it was on purpose. With each one she talked about different things, but at some point the same questions would always pop out: everyone wanted to know how she was and if she was ready to go out of the cell. Steve tried a more subterfuge way and asked when she would go back to train with them, but the sentiment was the same.
The only one that didn't even try to ask her something on that note was Bucky who, instead, confessed to her that he would have taken her same choice if only Steve wasn't always checking on him and keeping him on the "right" path. When the man had arrived at the cell she almost had another panic episode, and probably it was only his peaceful demeanor that calmed her down. He had accepted her apology without batting an eye, without trying to diminish how guilty or responsible she was feeling. Because he knew that it wasn't really their fault and yet it was; it wasn't them that wanted to do all of those stuff, but still have done them. He was broken just as she was. It was refreshing not being treated with kid gloves, like she could shatter at any given moment. Which was true, but still. She felt like she could be truthful with him, not even Natasha could empathize with her like he did.
After getting over the embarrassment of being forced to be in a "relationship", and having established that there was nothing else between them other than what Zemo had put into their heads, they had talked for a long time. About what happened, about their shared experience, everything; it felt so different from what everyone else was doing that she almost wanted him to stay forever in that cell, with her. There was always an undertone of sadness in all of his words, but every now and then it almost seemed as if he could forget what had happened to him, and scratched off the surface, his real self would come out. He was sweet, caring and even funny when he allowed himself to be.
On his third visit, Wanda and Pietro arrived at some point and he almost ran away; the brunette didn't seem happy to find him there, but didn't explain why. Maybe she was just worried about the two survivors triggering each other's guilt; their mental state wasn't top shelf at the moment and she knew that things could really go south, in a way or another.
Wanda was the one who was pampering her more: it wasn't really her fault, it was just her protective side taking action. She couldn't blame anyone for being so careful around her though: all of them were trying to face the situation as best as they could, and there was no manual that could help them. If Red had to be honest with herself, even if she didn't really like how everyone wanted to spoil her, Wanda was the only exception; it felt great to be the center of her attention. She was the only one that went to her at least once a day, asking if she needed anything or just to hang out with her. And every night, regular as a clockwork, she was there for sleep time: Red didn't think that she had ever rested better than in those days. There was something in the girl that was able to instantly wash away all of her worries and fears.
She found herself more than once thinking about what she had talked with Pietro the night that they got drunk; which they found out, around the bottom of the bottle, that it was very possible, even if it didn't last long more than a few hours, as their bodies disposed of the alcohol faster than any other human ones. Even if she had accepted that she was developing deep feelings for the girl, she didn't feel like she was worthy of her, not yet, but she would have done anything to be. For Wanda she was ready to do anything, even to move mountains with her bare hands, if only the girl asked her to.
But for the moment, she preferred to stay in the cell. She realized at some point that she was using the strong walls that were around her more to protect her from the outside world than to shield the others frome her; it was like everything was on hold and couldn't affect her, as long as she stayed inside. She knew that it was wrong, but it was the easiest way she had found to cope with everything. Even if she was forcing herself to be more relaxed around the whole team, it was just a mask: she always felt like she was on the verge of a ravine, unsure of what could make her tumble down. Everytime she thought about going out, she felt her heart starting to race and cold sweat all over her body; being close to the door was almost enough to send her in a whirlwind of panic.
She hadn't told anyone yet about how she was feeling, not even to Wanda. Everytime she tried she felt choked, terrified about their reactions. Would they care? Would they treat her differently, with more fear or concern? Would they be repulsed by how badly she was dealing with everything? She decided that it was better not having an answer. Deep down she knew she needed help, but she couldn't find the will to ask for it, scared about the consequences.
She confided that, with the certainty that she couldn't be used as a weapon by no one, she could feel more secure and start to face her own fears, so she placed all of her hopes on the solution that Tony and the rest of the team was trying to find. It was easier to think that it didn't depend on her.
That day she was happily waiting for the twins to arrive; they had planned to eat together and then watch a movie, and she was giddily waiting to be close to Wanda again. After spending so many nights cramped on the small bed, they had let go of any qualms about physical contact, and alway ended up hugging at any given occasion. When Pietro found out that his sister was spending the night time in the cell, he gave both of them an amused smile and suggested that maybe they could bring down there a bigger bed, but it didn't go farther than that, and both of the girls never brought it up again.
She almost felt bad that she was in some way taking advantage of the brunette's affectionate side, but she reasoned that she wasn't forcing her and there was no harm in enjoying their intimacy. She had still her head in the clouds, still thinking about the other girl, when she heard the bang of a distant explosion that made the walls tremble. She waited a moment to see if anything else happened, already on edge.
"Friday, what happened? Did some of Tony's experiments go wrong?" She asked, but received no answer. "Friday? Is everyone ok?"
"The tower is under attack by an unknown part, the team is fighting on the kitchen level." Said the AI.
She stared shocked at the ceiling. "What? Get me a visual or something."
"Opening the communication channel." Informed the computer.
Red could hear the noises of a fight, bullets being fired and crashing sound, but couldn't see anything and her heart spiked. She felt the urge to go there to help them, but when she looked at the door, she felt the room spinning. She couldn't go out. It was too dangerous. What if she got turned again against the Avengers? What if she hurt someone? She had to stay there. They were all seasoned fighters, they had stopped the end of the world more than once already, they could handle it.
She heard another nasty explosion and a pained scream resounded in her ears, freezing her heart in fear. Wanda. She felt so much fear and rage all at once that she couldn't contain it. At that point there were no more doubts or decisions to be made.
She took a deep breath and when her voice came out of her mouth it was deadly still. "Friday. Open the door."
[I know. I'm a monster for interrupting things here, but I really had too so don't hate me. I think the next chapter would be interesting, a nasty fight is upon the team and I'm really excited for it!
It's almost completely reviewed already, so at least I can assure you that it will arrive without further delays.
After weeks of sickness and writer's block, I feel inspired again, so I'm writing almost no stop. I know I should study more, but it's important to strike when the iron is hot!
Also a Pietro's pov! I always loved him and felt so betrayed by his demise in AoU; writing about his powers is not easy though :/
Anyway please please PLEASE, could you let me know what you think and maybe leave a vote? It's always scary to write without any feedback, and some words from you could help me to stop freaking out xD Thank you anyway for reading and see you next time!]