Where your loyalties lie (Two New Bartons book 2) (completed)

Paprikash - Wanda

I walk into the kitchen, and a familiar smell hits my nose. Well, almost familiar. There are some differences. But it is, undoubtedly...

"Is that paprikash?" I ask Vis.

It's just us at the base. Nat's at the signing of the Accords, Steve and Sam are at Peggy Carter's funeral and I don't know where Tony and Rhodey are. I still don't know what to think about the Accords. 

"I thought it might lift your spirits," Vis says.

I chuckle. Goodness knows I could do with some cheering up. I scoop out a spoonful of the stuff in the pot, blow and have a taste. It's not disgusting. 

"Spirits lifted," I grin.

"In my defense, I've never actually eaten anything before, so..."

He trails off, and I have to work hard to contain my laughter. 

"May I?" I ask. 

"Please."

I start tweaking the dish, adding what I can to try save it. Vision suddenly announces that no one dislikes me. He follows up that they can't help but fear me. That's reassuring. I ask if he's afraid of me.

"My amygdala is synthetic, so..."

I can't keep my laughter in this time. Vis sits down opposite me at the kitchen counter.

"I used to think about myself one way," I say, remembering the time before Pietro and I joined Hydra, when we were twelve, and more-or-less carefree. I play with a bit of red energy, letting it dance between my fingers. But, after this... I am something else. I'm still me, I think, but... that's not what everyone else sees."

To put it mildly. I think of the outrage after Lagos, the Sokovia Accords, placed specifically for my restraint. 

"Do you know, I don't know what this is?" Vis taps the stone in his head. "Not really."

That sounds like a strange thing to say. It's an Infinity Stone, he knows that. Thor announced it when Vis was first made. 

"I know it's not of this world, that it powered Loki's staff, gave you your abilities, but... its true nature is a mystery. And yet, it is part of me."

That's sounds a lot of my abilities. I don't know much about them at all, to be honest. But they are as much a part of me as the fingers that control them. 

"Are you afraid of it?" I can't stop myself from asking. I was, at first. I couldn't control my powers. I kept hurting the Hydra soldiers around me. Only Pietro was able to rein them in, it seemed. Even when I'm out of control, I can't hurt him. 

"I wish to understand it. The more I do, the less it controls me. One day... who knows? I may even control it."

That's how it was for me, I know. The more I experimented with the energy, the more I learned about it, the more I controlled it. 

I don't know how to respond to that, so, after a moment of silence, I point at the pot of irreparable paprikash and say, "I don't know what's in this, but it's not paprika."

Wow, talk about killing the mood. I can sense Vision's disappointment, and know he's thinking much the same thing. But I can't back out now.

"I'm gonna go to the store. I'll be back in twenty minutes." 

I start to leave, but Vis phases through the counter to stand in front of me. "Alternatively, we could order a pizza?"

His poor attempts at subtlety are not lost on me. I realise what's going on instantly. 

"Vision, are you not letting me leave?" I ask, even though I already know the answer. 

Vis looks down. "It is a question of safety."

"I can protect myself."

I make for the door again, and, again, he stops me with an arm in front of my body. 

"Not yours."

The reality of what he's saying hits me like a truck. He's worried I'll hurt the civilians. He's worried about a relapse of Lagos. That hurts. Not him. Anyone but him. I thought he'd be the last person to react like that. 

He goes on, "Mr Stark would like to avoid the possibility of another public incident."

Everything about that sentence grates against me. Stark. He's behind this. He's the one keeping me here. And a public incident? He's just worried about how it'll reflect back on him. 

"Until the Accords are on a more secure foundation."

The Accords? Is that what this is all about? 

Does Vis feel the same? Or is Stark controlling him like he seems to think he can control everyone else?

I look up at him. "And what do you want?" 

"For people to see you as I do."

*~*

Half an hour later, I'm sitting on my bed, strumming my guitar. I remember Pietro helping me learn at the orphanage years ago. He found an old one in the attic, and we found videos online showing how to do the different chords. I remember his hands on mine, guiding my fingers to the correct strings. 

My eyes find the picture of him on the billboard. It's an old one, we were barely toddlers at the time it was taken. It was one of the very few things we were able to salvage from the wreckage that was our home. 

"Pietro," I whisper, trying to reach out my mind to him. I just find silence. 

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