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

Hunting my sister - Pietro

When Clint nearly crashes the van we traded our car for, I know what's up. 

"It's her, isn't it?" I ask, before flashing from the back into the passenger seat.

He doesn't reply, but I know from the startled look in his eye and the frown on his brow that I'm right.

Which means she reached out to him instead of me. Which hurts. She won't even think to me anymore. 

Wanda. I try to reach her again by my mind, but with the same amount of success as before - none.

After a second, Clint says, "She's going to San Francisco!"

"So she's okay?" I whisper, "Ask if she's okay."

Another moment of silence, and then his face goes pale and instantly he merges into the fast lane.

"What happened?" I demand.

"She stopped talking."

"What?!"

"I said you wanted to know if she's okay and she just stopped!"

Something's wrong. I'm sure of it. Why would she stop the connection while she was talking to him? Something has to be wrong. Because if she's okay, that means she stopped after Clint mentioned my name, and I don't think I can handle that.

So something must be wrong. So we need to reach her.

"Get into the shoulder," I tell him, and he does.

As soon as there are no more cars in the way, I slow down time everywhere except outside our vehicle.

"What the heck?" Clint mutters as the other cars all appear to stop at exactly the same time.

"Just keep driving."

"Is this safe?" he asks, weaving through the frozen traffic.

We reach San Francisco in record time, but when we get to the recruit's house, and speed time up again, he's already gone. 

I pound on the door as Clint runs around the the back. 

"Come on, come on, come on!" I growl, subconsciously speeding up and nearly punching a hole through the wood. But no answer comes. 

"Hey!" someone calls, and I spin around, forcing myself to go slow. The speaker is the next-door neighbour. "You looking for Lang?"

"Yes! Yes, where is he?"

"He went out, left about a minute ago."

"Do you know where he went?" Clint asks, coming back around.

"Try prison," he says, and his tone makes it sound like he's only half joking.

Without another word, he turns and goes back into his house. 

"Damn!" I yell, "Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn, damn!"

It takes Clint saying something in slow motion for me to realise I'm speaking at very high speeds.

"How did she get  here before us?" he's asking.

"She can bypass my slow down when her powers are running high," I reply, before speeding up and starting to kick stuff. 

Clint jus stands in the middle of my rampage, waiting calmly for me to calm down again. When I come to a stop in front of him, he says, "She'll be on her way to Germany, then. So we need to go." 

He leads me back into the van, I speed us up, and we drive west. Even at our high speeds, it takes about two hours for us to get all the way, but, as soon as we do, we go to the nearest docks, get on a ferry that's just about to leave and sit back to wait out the ride. 

I can't hold still and keep flashing around the van. I move between the front and back, run around the outside, climb onto the roof and jump off.

Eventually, Clint straps me to the seat, locks the car doors and goes abovedeck to watch the sea. I sit alone in the car. Without the moving around, I'm left with two options to vent my feelings: crying or screaming. I end up doing both at speed and at length. 

That is, until a flash of red at the ramp Clint disappeared up catches my eye. I freeze. 

Wanda is running across the parking lot, a man suspended ahead of her in a red haze. She's heading straight for our van, and I can tell she doesn't notice I'm here. 

At this close distance, it should be easier to break through her blocking, but I can't move. I just watch her weave through the cars as Clint did hours before on the way to San Francisco. She pulls open the sliding back door of the van and gently lowers the man inside. Then she catches sight of me.

"Wanda," I say, trying to free myself from the seat, but Clint has locked the belt into place somehow. 

Wordlessly, she turns away and walks back to the ramp, using her magic to slam the door shut behind her. 

I get desperate, speeding up and tugging at the seatbelt. When I glance up, I see Wanda is frozen. At least that means she's calmed down. Finally, the belt tears free from the buckle, and I launch myself through the window, shielding my face with my arms. I run in front of Wanda, grab her arms and let her into my bubble of speed.

She freezes in a different way and turns her face away.

"Wanda, listen to me," I say, "I'm sorry, really. I didn't mean it, I promise."

She doesn't need to be looking at me for me to see the tears rolling down her cheeks. "Yes, you did. And you're right."

Word count: 893