~Pietro's POV~
The call came too early. Eliza was still asleep in my bed when the door creaked open and the Captain poked his head around it, muttering the words, "We've got a code red."
I managed to untangle myself from Eliza's sleeping body, which just gently grumbled as she rolled onto her side and buried herself under the blankets. I flashed around the room in a hurry to get dressed, and grab the extra equipment I keep stashed under my bed.
When I was finally ready to leave my room, I slowed down. The top of Eliza's head poked out onto the pillow, and I felt my heart twist at the sight. I gently, and slowly, lowered my head so I could kiss the small sliver of her cheek that was exposed. She huffed, and wiggled her shoulder in her sleep, but didn't say anything else.
"Stay safe Eliza," I whispered, as I adjusted the blankets around her, "I will be back soon, I promise."
And then I left, taking a last glance before the door shut behind me.
***
~Eliza's POV~
I woke up alone, in an empty bed, in an empty room. I didn't know where Pietro had gone, but something didn't feel right.
I slipped out of his bed, and wrapped my dressing gown back around my body. The fluffy fabric was now too warm, as the sun creeping around his curtains showed it was going to be a sunny day.
But I didn't stop off at my room, and instead walked down to the kitchen, hoping he was just making breakfast.
The kitchen was deserted too, and I felt the pit of my stomach clenching as I looked around the room. I chewed on my lip, and turned to march back to the sleeping corridor in the hopes of finding a single Avenger.
Instead, I spun and bounced into a tall redhead, who looked completely unfazed by me storming into her. She just tilted her head to the side, and ever so slightly narrowed her eyes as she scrutinised me.
A moment later the look was replaced by a friendly smile, and she nodded with a form of approval. "You're Eliza."
She walked past me, and towards the cupboard which hid the cereal from Thor, who had decided his favourite meal was now Coco Pops. "Who are you?" I asked.
"Oh sorry, how rude!" She swallowed her mouthful of water, and waved her hand, "I'm Nat."
Realisation sunk in, and I tightened my dressing gown around myself, now feeling slightly embarrassed by my pyjamas. "It's so nice to meet you, I've heard a lot. You're the Black Widow right?"
"Right." She confirmed, before leaning back on the counter to study me again. "So you and Pietro?"
I nodded, although I could feel my cheeks turning pink. "Actually, have you seen him this morning? You're the first Avenger I've spoken to today."
Nat's face fell into a serious frown, and she carefully put her glass of water down on the side. She stepped closer, and tried to smile, "he's gone on a mission, Eliza. A lot of them have."
I felt my heart shatter as instant worry twisted its way like planted veins from my gut up to my throat. She must have seen my reaction as she stepped closer again, and hesitantly reached an arm towards me. "Peter, Sam and I are all here today. The others are on the mission."
My throat had grown dry, so I resorted to nodding. Her sympathetic eyes made me want to cry, but something told me I needed to stay strong. If I was to stay here then I'd have to be strong enough to see him disappear on missions without me.
But he left without a goodbye. That hurt.
"You eaten today kid?" She asked, the change in tone making me a little startled.
I shook my head, and she pursed her lips. "How am I meant to fight with you if you don't eat?"
She turned her back on me, and marched to the kitchen were she grabbed an apple and banana from the fruit bowl. I watched her cut up a selection of the fruit, then slide the bowl across to me. "Did you say fight?"
"Yes." She bit into her own apple, and lifted her brow, "This is a mans world Eliza, but we are doing our damned hardest to change that. In the meantime, we fight. We go after the arrogant men who believe we are weak, and we take them down. You have a Hulk right?"
I swallowed the sliced segment of orange, "Yes?"
"Then we train. You got leggings, T-shirt; anything you can wear?" Her questions were non stop, and it took a fair level of concentration to keep up.
"Yes?" My answer came out like a question, but I couldn't help it. She was kind of intimidating.
"Then meet me in the gym, twenty minutes maximum, then we start."
With that she stalked out of the room, whistling under her breath as the door swung shut behind her. I watched her leave, and for a moment, my worries about Pietro vanished. I was more concerned about being ready on time.
I ate as I got dressed, making sure I pulled the leggings on the right way round before slipping my socks on. My new trainers were boxed in the bottom of my wardrobe, just waiting to be worn.
I sped through the corridors, following the vague direction I took with Bucky the other day, to find the large doors. Nat was stood waiting, holding onto a short bar placed in front half of the mirrored wall to the side of the room, contorting her body into stretches that looked both uncomfortable and unnatural.
"Um, Nat?" I called, as I stepped further into the room.
"Warm up, do whatever, we have time." She called back, her voice soft and quiet in the large room.
I glanced around at the equipment, and decided to do quick stretches to help my legs and torso, before turning a treadmill on. I began a steady jog, breaking a small sweat after a few minutes.
"You fought before?" She asked, appearing by my side as she peered onto the screen. Her fingers tapped at buttons, and immediately the speed of the belt increased.
I jogged harder, forcing my breath to even out before replying. "Briefly, with Bucky."
"Okay," she nodded. "Bucky is okay."
She wandered back to the middle of the room, and began moving mats around to form a square.
I turned the treadmill off, feeling hot and bothered already, and stood beside her. She passed me wraps for my hands, and fixed them in place for me after seeing my struggling attempts.
"No rules okay? We go gentle, no hurting each other just yet. But hit wherever you want - in a real fight there won't be any rules."
I felt a small wave of nerves fly over me, and I nodded weakly. She slowly threw her fist forward, to which I ducked.
"Punch me, don't run." She muttered, her eyes boring into mine.
"Okay." I glanced down at my fist, trying to remember if my thumb should be in or out of my closed fist, before throwing my own punch.
She saw it coming, and grabbed my arm before twisting me slowly to the side. "Keep going," Her voice was encouraging as she manipulated my stance slightly.
We fought in silence, occasionally congratulating each other on a hit, when static crackled through the room.
Nat dropped her hands, and spun to face the white wall at the end. As I turned to see what she was staring at, a news reel flashed onto it, almost like it was playing through a projector.
"Eliza, watch this."
I nodded, and stood by her side, as she crossed one arm across her chest, her other hand cupping her chin as she stared at the moving images.
A young woman was flying around a pile of garbage stacked several stories high on what looked to be an usually quiet road.
The Iron Man and Thor were flying around her, but her hands waved purple flames in their direction. Steve was on ground control by the looks of it, and Clint was charging around the roofs of buildings nearby.
"It can't be-" Nat whispered.
"Where is he?" I stepped closer, scanning my eyes from the whooping brown haired girl who had just thrown a purple bolt of fire, and hit Thors chest, to Bucky who was holding Bruce by his shoulders in the corner. I glanced at Nat over my shoulder, "why does Bruce look like that? He looks like he's about to Hulk out-"
"That will be why he looks like that." She shrugged.
"But why is he there? If they wanted the Hulk then why is Bucky pushing him down?"
Nat sighed, "they wanted Bruce, not the Hulk. But this... it can't be her. This is what she did last time."
I ignored Nat, and turned back to the wall. "Pietro, come on... please..."
And then I saw him. A flash of blue darted around the ground, and began climbing up the walls surrounding the flying girl. But he stopped, half way up, and his blue faded into the air.
The girl let out a screeching, maniacal laugh, and flew upside down through the air, narrowly missing arrows being shot at her by Clint.
Pietro's body fell from the wall, and landed on top of Bucky.
"Pietro!" I gasped, seeing Bucky trying to slap him back to consciousness, before rolling him to his side in the recovery position. "Nat what happened?"
"She's like Wanda."
I turned to see her heartbroken expression. "Who's Wanda?"
Nat's eyes widened as she stared at me. "Pietro's sister."
***
~Pietro's POV~
"Who is this?" I asked Bruce as I sat beside him on the plane. Tony had just handed me a shining image of a dark haired girl, who was grinning at something off camera. "They don't look mad."
"They never look mad," Tony rolled his eyes, "are we allowed to call people mad now?"
Clint sighed, "I was the one who found out about her, kid. She's..."
"She's what?"
"She looks harmless." Bucky murmured as he peered at his own sheet. "I mean, she must be the same height as Eliza right? She's tiny."
"She looks familiar," Steve piped up, "just look at her."
And I did. She was nothing out of the ordinary, dark hair and dark eyes with olive skin that was hidden by layers of yet more dark clothing.
"She's a My Chem fan," Tony leant back in his chair proudly, "She'll have a good taste in music. Bet she'll hop onto AC/DC-"
"What's a My Chem?" Bucky frowned.
I pointed at the girls shirt, "My Chemical... Romance. It's a band."
"Kid." Clint cleared his throat, before standing up. "I've been watching her. Her powers..."
I frowned, "powers? I thought she was just crazy, that's what-?"
"She's like Wanda." He whispered.
My heart clenched, and I felt a sharp pain hit my stomach. I gulped and shook my head, "no one is like Wanda."
Clint knelt in front of me, "she shoots fire from her hands and her eyes change colour. She can fly, Pietro - this is why I asked you to be added to the team today."
I felt a pressure lower itself onto my chest, and Bruce beside me tensed. He spoke, tilting his head to speak to me. "I'm waiting on the plane, giving directions, watching from cameras. If it's too much, then stay on the plane with me."
I just nodded, and the next thing I knew the plane had landed and everybody besides Bruce had cleared off.
"Do you think they took her? The men who Wanda and I went to? Do you think she was experimented on too?"
Bruce looked back at me, "I'm really sorry Pietro, but I don't know. Clint first sighted her last week and has been keeping tabs, but this is all we know. If there's anything-"
He stopped talking, as if he choked on the air he was breathing. I paused, and glanced around the deserted plane. "Bruce?"
A purple haze drifted through the open door, and swirled around Bruce's head. His greying hair was almost completely covered in the light tendrils before it faded into the air.
He blinked, and promptly walked through the doors and onto the grass outside.
My mouth fell open in shock, before I chased after him. "Bruce? What are you doing?"
"Helping." He murmured, before taking off in a sprint.
I sped after him, and circled his body in the hopes I could convince him to stop and turn back. "Bruce-"
His eyes flashed green, before he roared, his head ripping back.
We were on the edge of the group of Avengers, and I could hear a girl squealing in delight from somewhere above me as Tony's disgruntled comments rang through my ear.
"Bruce you need to calm down."
"What's he doing here?" Bucky jogged over, and rested his hands on Bruce's shoulders. "Hey Doc, want to tell me what's happening?"
Bruce glared, and I could see him trying to control the Hulk from appearing. "There was a purple fog on the plane-"
Bucky shrugged up at the building as he held Bruce back, "It's her."
I looked up, and saw her. She was flying between Thor and Tony, laughing as if it was all a lovely joke as she cast balls of burning purple flames at their bodies. Like moving targets, Tony and Thor continued to fly around her, which only made her more excited.
"She is not like Wanda." I muttered, before gathering speed on the ground. Once I knew I had enough momentum, I jumped onto the brickwork of the wall, and began running up the side.
"Ooh, pretty boy is here to have fun!" The girl flew close by, then darted away again.
I ground my jaw, and pressed on. I began running around her on the building, gathering speed with the circles as I ran.
But then she decided to fly close, and almost stopped time as her lips brushed against my ear. "Wanda is still alive."
She cackled a laugh, and tipped herself backwards to twirl through the sky.
I froze.
And fell.
And then it went black.
Again.
***
~Eliza's POV~
I paced the kitchen, feeling my stomach twisting in anxious knots. It didn't help that the Hulk was commenting on every scenario that whizzed through my mind, deciding to narrate my inner panic with her own childlike descriptions of the worst to expect.
"They're coming home." Nat repeated herself as she held her coffee. "Okay Eliza? You need to sit down and wait because they are on their way home."
"How do we know? You explained Wandas powers, she can control minds. What if this new girl is controlling their minds? What if they're never coming home?"
Sam leant on his side, and loudly whispered to Peter, "Can we take this as confirmation that her and Pietro...?"
I turned and glared at him, and he soon fell silent. "It doesn't matter about Pietro and I," I spat, "What matters is this is our friends lives. How do we know-?"
"For goodness sake," Nat muttered, swiping at a screen in front of her. "Here."
She spun it towards me, and I watched as half the team visible on the ship were tiredly discussing the events of the day.
"He's not on there."
"He is on the plane Eliza." Nat tried to reassure me. "I promise."
I wrung my hands together, and sat on the stool at the island. "I feel sick... is that normal?"
"Yes." All three of them replied.
Peter passed me a glass of orange juice, and I watched as he twirled a metal straw through his. "It's your first time."
"We still feel sick. Those are our friends. Feeling worried for them just makes you human Eliza," Sam smiled, and leant over to grab my hand. "They will be okay."
Nat watched me, her head tilting to the side as she examined my face. "Pietro will be okay kid," she smiled, "I promise you, he's been through a lot worse."
"Yeah, like being beaten up by the Hulk." Sam snickered.
I threw an apple at him.
"Hey!" He looked shocked, "what was that for?"
"Could be worse," I shrugged, "could've been beaten up by the Hulk."
He sulked as Nat laughed, and she cast me an approving eye. "I like this one. We keeping her?"
I was about to comment when JARVIS announced the planes arrival, and I felt the sickening dread in my stomach return. "They're home."
We met them on the landing sight, and I watched as the staggered off the plane one by one.
Thor was holding down the girl, who was giggling as he walked past, with her bound body slung over his shoulder.
I jumped from foot to foot as I waited for Pietro's familiar shaggy head of hair to appear, and he eventually stumbled down the ramp.
"Oh my god," I ran forwards, and caught his body as he fell into my arms, "Oh my god, you're okay!"
He gripped my shoulders, and tried to push himself back onto his feet. "She's alive." His eyes were wide, the blue in them standing out as his nails dug into the flesh of my shoulder, "she's alive, Eliza!"
"Pietro-" I tried to catch his flailing arms, but his hysterical cries had caught the attention of the group.
"She's alive! Wanda's alive!"
Then he dropped to the ground, and dragged me down with him.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Hello!
Shoutout to peanut2142 for designing the brand new character that was introduced this chapter! The mystery baddy will reveal her backstory in the next few chapters!
Hope you enjoy!