Steel Hearts

- 17 -

Over the following weeks, Wanda had retreated into her shell. I don't blame her for doing so, everything she was going through is incredibly hard to deal with. Although, one morning I was in the kitchen cleaning up after having made breakfast and she had come to ask for help with force field projection. Of course, I said that I would help her learn.

The two of us were now outside in the sunshine, near the tree line enjoying the nice weather while we trained. Both of us in our new Avengers suits that Tony had made for us before he left.

"It's all mental and it's all with a purpose. Force fields could save your life," I tell her, popping up several of my smaller purple ones in a circle around us, "Throwing your hands up to protect yourself will be instinctive, but if you put them up with your palms facing away from you it'll be easier to project one outward. Now, this clip is full of blanks. Bullets won't actually be coming at you, but I want you to try and block with a force field as if they were."

She nods, listening intently before I load my pistol and walk several meters away.

"Are you ready?"

"I think so," she says nervously.

"You can do it. I believe in you."

Without warning, I raise my gun and start firing blanks past her. Flawlessly, she projects a transparent red force field in front of her. I could tell she was trying to hide her smile but still showed pride in herself all the same.

"See? I told you," my face lit up in a proud smile directed toward her. She was getting more confident in her abilities. "Let's try it again, but I'm going to switch it up. Okay?"

She nods once more, shifting her feet to ready herself. Once again without warning, I fire a few blank rounds at her and she blocks with a force field. I hop around her on my own force fields as I fire at her and if it were live rounds she would've blocked everyone. The two of us continue to mess around and spar for at least an hour and a half more, laughing at our own mess-ups that could be fixed easily. Once we were finished, we stop for a moment to catch our breaths before heading inside for something to eat and to meet with the rest of the team.

"How do you do it?" Wanda asks me, the tone of the conversation quickly turning.

"Do what?"

"Deal with everything."

I nod, closing my eyes briefly as I come up with a response, "It's hard and it took a while for me to officially decide that I wanted to be an Avenger. And I know that's probably not what you're asking because you're dealing with a lot more than just that. You're in a new country and you lost your brother. And I know that you probably feel like you're alone, but I want you to know that you're not. Okay? We're all here for you. If you need anything, I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere."

Within seconds she launches herself at me, enveloping me into a hug that both of us probably needed more than anything at that moment. Wrapping my arms around her, I squeeze her gently and glance up to see Steve walking out the doors to come outside. Most likely looking for the two of us. He sends a small smile in my direction, pointing over his shoulder wordlessly to let me know we were wanted inside.

Patting her shoulder, I ask, "What do you say to some ice cream and The Brady Bunch tonight?"

Sniffling, she steps backward away from me, "That sounds nice."

I wrap an arm around her shoulders, pulling her to me, "As crappy as this is going to sound, it does get better."

She nods as the two of us slowly walk back toward Steve who was waiting for us before going inside to meet with the rest of the team.