||"I can show you what you truly fear."||
The sheets beneath her were cool, causing her skin to crawl with goosebumps. The nurses around her worked quickly, and she struggled to slow her heartbeat down. When they brought her up from her room, she didn't know what they were going to do. All Tony said was that they needed to take some tests immediately.
The nurses stood beside Wanda, attaching an IV to the back of Wanda's hand. She was no stranger to needles, but for some reason, things felt different. Something was wrong, otherwise Bruce wouldn't be taking tests on her this late. The twins had one week left before Wanda's synapse disappeared, there was no need to take such late precautions.
Not unless something went wrong.
Tony walked into the room, his sleeves rolled up as he examined the tablet in his hands.
"I really need to get Bruce an upgrade," he said to himself, then placed the tablet down on the table behind him and stepped up to Wanda. "On the bright side, you're out of that small room."
"I would rather be down there," she stated, and Tony sat down beside her and looked at the monitor that showed her heart rate. "Tell me," she told him, and he acknowledged her for a moment before saying anything.
"His synapse returned, so we're taking some precautions. Thor and Vision are watching over the Sentinels, and if anything happens, we'll suit up and handle it like we always do."
"I don't understand," she muttered, flinching as the other nurse inserted another IV in her forearm. "He is supposed to be safe," she whispered, feeling her throat close up as tears threatened to merge. She was the only one who was supposed to have a synapse, Pietro was supposed to be in the clear. "It was my fault. I shouldn't have seen him that day. I did this," she felt her eyes turn red, and the nurses scattered out of the room as Wanda sat up.
"Okay, okay, look, his synapse returned weeks ago. It wasn't you, it just happened on it's own. This isn't your fault, Wanda." Her chest heaved furiously, and she pulled roughly at the sheets, closing her eyes in hopes of relaxing herself. "Where is Steve?" she asked, breathless. "I need Steve."
Tony shifted at the foot of her bed, but then walked out of the room and returned two minutes later, Steve close behind him. She threw the blanket off of her, pulling out the needles in her arm and hand, and jumped down from the bed, wrapping her arms around Steve as if he were the only person in her world who could possibly reassure her that things would be okay.
Steve seemed to be surprised by her gesture, but it didn't take long before he hugged her back, with the same intensity and yearn.
She felt her hex travel from her fingers, cascading around the both of them. The red streams latticed around them, creating a forcefield around their bodies. She didn't realize she was even doing, not until Tony coughed awkwardly.
Her arms released around his waist, and the red streams of her hex dispersed into the air.
"If his synapse is strong enough, they'll find him, and if they are as dangerous as you say they are, then I need to know that you'll get him out of here as soon as possible. Pietro died once, and I will not let it happen again." Wanda moved away from Steve, climbing back up onto the bed. "You said that it returned weeks ago, which means that it should be strong enough to track."
"It depends whether or not they're even paying attention to it. It's been months, and there are thousands of other mutants."
"Yes, but we were the first enhanced."
The room fell over with silence, and Wanda looked up to Tony and found him playing with his bracelets once more. He seemed to do that in times of discomfort.
"I promised nothing would ever happen to you or your brother, and I intend to keep that promise." Steve grabbed Wanda's hand and held it tightly, and the familiar feeling of his skin on hers brought a surprising amount of ease.
"Let's do this," she said, nodding to Tony and placing the needles back into her body.
___
She awoke to the sun shining it's rays through the window and onto her face.
Her body was sprawled out over Bucky's, and she breathed in his morning scent before getting out of bed. Her clothes were scattered all over the room, and she picked up her underwear and put them on before grabbing her bra off of the floor. Her black leather suit was thrown over near the window and she picked it up and began to fold it.
She unzipped her bag that was filled with her weapons, along with an extra outfit. She pulled out a fresh pair of black jeans and a black tank-top and quickly dressed herself.
She looked over her shoulder at Bucky, who was laying down on the bed, still asleep. She grabbed her jacket off of the floor and pulled her phone out from the pocket. The moment she turned it back on, it began to vibrate with dozens of missed calls and texts.
Quietly, she made her way out of the bedroom and out to the living room.
The calls were from Bruce, and she called him back the moment she was alone.
"Where are you? We need you over here."
"What's wrong?" she asked, locating her boots over near the bathroom door.
"Pietro's synapse is back, which means we don't have much time." Natasha stopped moving, thinking of Wanda immediately. The door to the bedroom opened, startling her.
"I'm on my way," she said, hanging up the call. Bucky walked up to her, grabbing her face and kissing her, and Natasha placed her hand on his chest and tried her best not to feel as guilty as she did. She attempted to convince herself that she was a different person around Bucky, and that her life with Bruce had no relation to her life with him.
"Something's wrong," Bucky said, giving her one last kiss before stepping away. She grabbed her boots and walked over to the couch. "What is it?" he asked her.
"The twins," she answered, lacing up her boots at tightly as possible. "I need to head back, they need me." She stood and brushed her fingers through her hair. "If something takes a wrong turn, can I rely on you to lend a hand?" she asked him, grabbing her jacket. "The Avengers might not to be enough to stop what's coming."
Bucky looked down at his hands, biting down on his lip.
"You can't avoid him forever," Natasha said, running her fingers down his chest. "You're the only person who understands him."
"I just need more time," he said, twisting a strand of her hair in between his fingers. "I wish you didn't have to go," he said to her in a hushed tone. "I just got you back." Natasha looked up at him, feeling herself coming undone.
"Stop flattering me, James, you know I don't buy it," she joked, resting her hands on his hips. She leaned up and gave him a kiss before turning away.
"Just let me live in it," he said, following her to the door. "Here," he said, handing her her bag. "Call me if anything happens. I'll find you." She grabbed the bag from his hands and smiled at him.
"I will," she said, and caressed his face gently, then walked off. When she got outside, the people of Brooklyn were just starting their day, and she unlocked her car and threw her bag in before getting in. She had a long drive ahead of her, and from Bruce's panicked voice over the phone, she knew she had to drive quickly.
But she revved the car up and found herself stuck in place. Being with Bucky was like being another person. She wasn't Black Widow or the Slavic Shadow, she was Natasha--she was Natalia. And being a normal person felt like a rush that she wanted to feel every single day for the rest of her life.
But being an Avenger, being Black Widow, meant sacrificing the normal things for a life only she could handle. She was made to fight; being normal just wasn't in her cards.
___
"Mr. Stark, it's Larry Trask. I was just wondering if you have reviewed those blueprints I sent you. Call me back when you can, thank you." Trask ended the call and breathed out a frustrated sigh. Stark wasn't answering his emails or his phone calls, and he was beginning to lose his patience. Time was being wasted, and time was precious.
Trask grabbed his jacket from the coat hanger and rushed out of his office.
"Beatrice, I'll be stepping out for a few hours, don't wait up," he said to his maid, who was cleaning up the kitchen as usual.
"All right, Mr. Trask. Have a good night," she smiled at him and went back to scrubbing the counters. Trask walked out of his home and got into his car, thinking of everything he had to do.
When he arrived at the bunker, he stepped inside and got into the elevator. The moment the doors opened to the underground room, he was greeted with a malfunctioning Sentinel squirming out on the floor.
"What is this?" Trask called out, and one of his workers, Jonas, stepped out from one of the rooms.
"S-34 stopped functioning about an hour ago. I'm not sure what happened, but it seems like the others are following his lead."
"I hand picked the best engineers in this country to help me change this world, and yet here we are, unsure of what is wrong with my robots. Why is that?"
"Um...well, these aren't just regular robots, Sir. You've assigned us to design something that is completely out of this world. It'll be a lot harder than creating an AI."
Trask stepped up to Jonas, closing the gap between them. "Fix my robots. Do not make me regret my choice of bringing you here." Trask walked off to his office and turned on the dozen of tv screens on his wall. Each screen played out live footage of the mutants he was keeping track of. His face grimaced at the human like creatures on the screen, and all he wished was to take their lives and prevent them from hurting the fragile things that were humans.
On the last screen, something popped up, and he walked over to it and zoomed in. It was footage of a dense forest, and he moved the curser over to move the camera around. But the screen showed no sign of mutants. But it didn't mean there weren't any.
"Markus! Step in please," Trask called out to his guard. Markus walked into the office with arms crossed. "Grab a team of six and head out to these coordinates. There's something here, but I can't see it from my cameras. If you find any mutants, kill them, then bring them back." Markus nodded his head and stepped out. Trask looked over at the other screens before sitting down at his desk.
He needed to figure out how to kill the mutants without causing mayhem in the cities. The last thing he wanted to do was kill innocent bystanders. But he couldn't move forward unless he had full control of the Sentinels. And that wouldn't happen unless Stark sent in the upgraded blueprints.
___
"What do we do?" Pietro asked Bruce, slipping back into his shirt. They were done with his tests, and the results showed Pietro's synapse growing stronger. It wouldn't be a surprise if the Sentinels showed up the next day.
"We wait and see what Thor and Vision have to say when they call. If the Sentinels aren't making any noise, then I think we'll be in the clear. Your synapse was gone for months before it actually revived itself. Trask may have slipped you and your sister off as dead a long time ago."
"I doubt a man who wants to kill mutants for a living breaks ties with the only two enhanced mutants in this world. We weren't born with these powers, they were given to us, which makes us a little different. I'm sure we are at the top of his list."
"You don't know that," Bruce added, placing the tablet down on the desk. He took his glasses off and sat down, and Pietro noticed the exhaustion on his face.
"Thank you, for doing this for us. I know it isn't easy," Pietro admitted, and Bruce looked up. "Wanda and I will always be grateful." Pietro rubbed his arm where his IV was placed, and he grabbed the water bottle from the side table and took a large sip. The refreshing taste woke him up, and he felt a weird surge of energy. "What happens when the six months are up? Her synapse will be gone, but what about mine? Does that mean we can't see each other?"
"I haven't thought that far, not yet."
"You said my synapse is growing, but slowly. What if Wanda's is dying at the same rate that mine is growing? If we see each other, won't they counteract? That balance should stop the process, no?" Pietro wasn't sure what he was asking, but after a few seconds, Bruce stood, staring down at the floor before looking up at Pietro.
"Contradicting synapses aren't a thing, usually they either live or die, but you two are twins, which means the playing field is completely different. We're talking about a web of synapses that feed off of each other." Bruce walked over to the computer on the left and sat down, bringing up both Pietro and Wanda's files.
Pietro walked over and looked down at the screen, watching as Bruce clicked away.
"When you died, your synapse died, and Wanda's suffered major damage because of the connection that you two share." Bruce pulled up Wanda's brain scan, showing Pietro's her brain activity over the months. "You see how her synapse here dies down over the course of five months? Well it's not because it was dying, but because it was setting itself back to normal."
Pietro furrowed his brows, unsure of what Bruce was saying.
"Your synapse died, traveling over to her, which explained the spike in her nervous system. That's why you two felt each other so strongly when you woke. She's been carrying your synapse this entire time, and you're just starting to get it back. You two balance each other out."
"So when the six month mark hits, what happens then?"
"Her synapse returns to it's normal rate, and so does yours."
"And if we see each other?"
Bruce looked at the screen for a moment before looking up at Pietro. "Then the process stops, just like you said." Pietro felt his mouth turn up in a smile, and Bruce quickly stood from his seat and grabbed Pietro's hand, running out of the room and down the hall, where Wanda was staying.
"Wait," Pietro said, stopping right in front of the door. "Are you sure? What if something bad happens?"
"Nothing should," Bruce answered, and opened up the door.
*********************
A/N: oh. my. lord. The twins are finally going to be able to hold each other and I don't think I'm emotionally ready to write the next chapter!!!