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III. Stay
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"Dead?" Pietro repeated. That was it, he was sure he wasn't in reality anymore. There was simply too much for him to comprehend. His mind began to run so quickly he had trouble keeping up. Did that mean Wanda was gone? Did he take part in the supposed disaster in Sokovia? Was that why those people wanted him dead.
"I never saw anything official about his death. Maybe that was just a rumour. It had to be, people don't just come back from the dead. You know that Roman," Nadia told them, keeping her voice carefully even. Both men seemed dazed, Pietro was even bordering on hysterical.
"I don't have time for any of this, I need to find Wanda!" He exclaimed, jumping up from the stool and getting ready to charge out the door.
Nadia surged forward and grabbed his shirt with uncharacteristic boldness. "And just how do you plan to do that? Nearly everyone here wants you dead, you have nothing to your name and you don't even remember the past few months."
Pietro didn't say anything. He just looked to the door like he was considering leaving anyways.
"Just let us help you, even for a few days," Nadia pleaded. "We can show you what's happened where you don't remember."
Pietro stayed silent for a while longer, considering her words carefully. His gaze turned from Nadia to Roman and then back. "And why don't you two want me dead like everyone else does?"
"Because there are some of us who are smart enough to realize that the disaster was the work of Tony Stark and not everyone else. Even more so, we'd all be dead if it weren't for the Avengersーeven Iron Man," Roman spoke up. "And opportunities like this don't happen often in life. It's not every day you get to help a superhero," a slight smile appeared on his face.
Reluctantly, Pietro stepped away from the door and back over to the counter.
"Start with the disaster in Sokovia first. What happened?" Pietro asked.
"Apparently a robot made by Tony Stark went rogue and decided to kill humanity. It took part of the city up in the air and there were thousands of robots attacking everyone else. All of the Avengers were present trying to stop it, and they succeeded, but it was too late for some people. Thousands of innocent people died that day. Luckily, we're pretty far removed from all of that here," Roman explained. "Sometimes it seems too crazy to have happened, but the evidence is all around us."
"And so Stark just got away with this all?" Pietro questioned angrily. It wasn't enough that he'd been the cause of his parent's deaths, apparently Stark had to destroy his home too.
"Yes. Everyone here wants him to pay for what he's done, but he's not a citizen from here and America isn't about to just hand him over," Roman explained.
"And he'd put up on hell of a fight if they tried," Nadia added.
"... My sister is with them, right?"
"Yes," Nadia answered.
Pietro frowned. How could Wanda possibly stand on the same side as Stark? It was unthinkable to Pietroーthe man was the cause of their parents death! It almost felt as though he'd woken up in a world where everyone had gone crazy. And he'd thought an alien invasion was insane.
Nadia pulled her phone from her pocket and quickly typed in something before setting it down on the counter in front of Pietro. "This is footage from a train that derailed in South Korea."
Pietro watched the screen. On it was himself, his sister and Captain America. They appeared to be saving the people on the train from injury. He had no recollection of the event, but that certainly wasn't the weirdest part. Wanda's apparent powers were strange and terrifying in a way. For his sister to have that much power... Wouldn't it place a large target on her? As for himself, there would be times when he disappeared and ended up somewhere else, only leaving behind a faint trail of blue in the air. That must have been what happened when he'd crashed into the wall.
"This is..." Pietro started, but then drifted off from a lack of ways to describe how he felt about the video. It was disturbing, to say at the least.
"Do you have any way to contact your sister?" Nadia asked.
"I tried her phone, but she didn't pick up."
"What about an e-mail? Text messages? Anything?" Nadia questioned.
"I can try those," Pietro said, devoid of emotion. He simply didn't know how to feel anymoreーhe needed time to think over the day's events.
Nadia seemed to pick up on that, and looked at the clock. "It's getting kind of late. We don't have a spare bed, but the couch is pretty comfy. I'll go get blankets."
She immediately left the room leaving Roman and Pietro with each other. And Roman, not being a person for silence, decided to ask questions.
"What's the last thing you remember?"
"Waking up in an alley."
"An alley? In the snow?" Roman asked dubiously. "How did you not have frostbite?"
"I don't know," Pietro admitted.
"It must come with being a superhero," Roman laughed as Nadia entered the room again.
Nadia set down the pillow and blankets on the couch. "We'll try and sort this out tomorrow. For now, you should probably try and get some sleep."
Pietro was suddenly stricken with how he missed out on how kind she'd been to him. She didn't have to help him, or even take a look at his wrist. And after all she had done for him, he hadn't even said 'thank you' once.
"Thank you, for all of this," Pietro finally said.
"It was no problem," Nadia replied.
In reality, it was quite the problem. All of the Avengers were wantedーbut she didn't mention that. Roman knew it too, what with his job as a politician. Roman didn't say anything either.
They said the good nights and went to their respective beds.
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Pietro woke up to Nadia making breakfast. It smelled appetizing, and was a wonderful sensation to wake up to. For a moment, he'd forgotten the previous day's problems before it all came tumbling back.
Pietro and Nadia ate breakfast together without saying much to each other, aside from some small talkーthe small talk mostly involving the weather. They both didn't know what to talk about, as they met each other in a crazy predicament.
Then, the rest of the day was spent by Pietro trying to contact Wanda and them trying to figure out where the Avengers were. If worst came to worst, Pietro would try and leave Sokovia and go to where they were. But if anyone were to catch him in Sokovia, he'd be arrested. Funny how he was wanted for a 'crime' he didn't even remember committing.
"If you're going to try and sneak out anywhere, people will recognize you immediately. You need to dye your hair," Nadia stated.
Pietro definitely agreed with her on that. He still wasn't used to looking in the mirror and seeing white-blonde hair.
"And what about clothes?" He asked.
"I'm sure you can borrow some of Roman's. He seems like he's the same size as you."
The two drifted off into silence again. Nadia took to reading a textbook while Pietro got up and started pacing. Being patient wasn't exactly his strong suit.
"If you're bored, I can put the TV on."
Pietro looked over to Nadia to see she had put the textbook down and shook his head. "I'm just impatient."
Then, Pietro switched subjects. "What are you studying for?" He asked, seeing that she was occasionally writing down information.
"I'm just taking notes for my classes."
"Are you going to become a doctor?"
Nadia nodded. "Eventually. I have to get though a few more years of university first."
Their conversation drifted off again so Pietro began tapping his foot.
"Don't you have any other family members you can contact?"
"No, Wanda is all I have. Without her, I'd be alone," Pietro said sombrely. "And what about you? I don't see any pictures of family around here."
"I'm not close to my parents," was all Nadia stated.
"What about siblings?"
"My brother, he's... Not here anymore."
Pietro caught on to what she was saying and gave her a look of sympathy. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-" Pietro was cut off by the door swinging open loudly.
Roman came into the living room, gasping for breath. "Nadia, they know he's here."
"What?!" She asked, her eyes open in surprise.
"They know he's in the city," Roman clarified.
"How?" She asked in disbelief.
"It must have been when I accidentally ran across the street and used my... abilities? People noticed me," Pietro explained.
"Oh god," Nadia breathed.
"It's okay though, I work for the government, I know what they're planning and had to help them with it," Nadia and Pietro stared at Roman, expecting further explanation.
"They're planning on putting the city in lock down. Nobody is allowed to exit, aside from supply trucks. Which will be thoroughly checked," he explained.
"And this is okay, how? We're hiding a fugitive, who really didn't even do anything wrong, and our entire government is after him. How is he supposed to get out now?" Nadia asked.
"Well, they wouldn't think to check a medical student and politicians run down apartment, would they? I mean, no offence to us, but this guy probably wouldn't come here by choice," Roman laughed.
"So now, not only do I have to figure out where my sister is, but I also have to escape a city, on lockdown? Sounds simple," Pietro joked.
Roman laughed, then noticed the anxious look on Naida's face.
"Relax, all we have to do is continue on like normal, while the cops look in vain for him. Eventually, they'll give up and he'll sneak out of the city, undetected," Roman said, rubbing her shoulder. "Besides, it's not every day we get to help a superhero."
"I suppose you're right, like usual, but we need to think this through more. We can do that tomorrow, I have to get ready to go to class," she told the two men.
The both of them nodded, Pietro stalking off to the laptop again to check the news, while Roman started supper.
Nadia got ready and left the apartment, heading towards the bus stop in the cold wind. She noticed there was less traffic than normal. Maybe the lockdown was already in progress?
Her suspicions were confirmed when the bus pulled up. She paid for the bus like usual, but then the bus driver asked for ID. She took out her ID card she used at the hospital and the bus driver nodded. She really didn't understand the point of her ID being checked, as she was clearly not a man but shrugged it off. Maybe they thought more Avengers were in the city.
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When she finally arrived to her classroom there was more chatter than normal, people were discussing the supposed rumour of an Avenger in the city.
"I can't believe my skiing trip got canceled, I've been looking forward to it for weeks, this is ridiculous," Nadia heard a girl complain behind her.
"I heard you need to contact the city council for permission to leave the city," a man replied.
Evidently, word spread quickly in the Sokovian city. Though Nadia wondered how they got a system working so quickly, when the government couldn't even provide enough food for part of the population.
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"I've been meaning to ask you, what were you doing when you ran into Nadia?" Roman asked, setting his fork down.
Pietro had given this topic some thought, but still wasn't clear on what happened.
"A man had a gun pointed at my back, I don't think he knew how to capture a person well, but he did know my full name. Anyways, I disarmed him and ran uncontrollably, straight into a brick wall."
Roman laughed. "Well that certainly explains the wrist and why Nadia helped you, but now I'm curious about this armed man. Did he seem familiar, did he have a uniform on?"
Pietro shook his head. "Neither, he was wearing a full black outfit and I didn't get a good look at his face," he explained.
"Oh god, I hope there aren't two different groups out for you," Roman sighed.
"You're telling me. I'm thoroughly confused right now, none of this makes sense to me. Before this, it was all just me and my sister going to riots, and doing our jobs. Now suddenly I'm a member of a group of superheroes, who I dislike, and everyone either loves me or wants me in jail. Hell, from my experience yesterday, some might even want me dead," Pietro complained.
"Sounds pretty shitty to me," Roman empathized. "Life's great, isn't it?"
Pietro smirked then continued to eat.
Suddenly, Roman's phone began buzzing loudly against the table. He frowned upon seeing who was calling. "It's Nadia, but she still has class right now."
"Hello?" He answered. Roman's face grew increasingly worried as he listened. "I'll be right there Nadia," he told her, then hung up.
"Nadia needs my help."
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AN: I love Tony, I really do. But I have to admit, he's made a lot of mistakes and the Sokovian people have reason to be angry, even if Tony didn't do it intentionally.
And, of course, Pietro isn't Tony's #1 fan.