The Eternal Avenger

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Making Things Worse

(Claray's POV):

Natasha and I had traveled to London together. From there, she was heading to Vienna for the signing of the accords. I planned to spend a few days in London – it had been decades since I'd been to the city, and I always enjoyed its gritty yet majestic feel. I watched the news in horror as they covered the bombing, my hand already frantically dialing Natasha's number. She answered before the first ring could even finish. "Tasha, are you okay?"

"I got lucky," she sighed. I allowed myself to breathe a sigh of relief. She was in one piece. The rest of the world was on fire, but at least she had survived the explosion. "Claray, the news coming out of Berlin isn't good." She started speaking just as the news station started flashing a blurry image on screen.

"Tasha isn't that..." she cut me off.

"The guy that shot me. Yeah. That's Bucky, an old friend of Steve's." I gritted my teeth, staring at the screen. I didn't have to look in a mirror to know that my eyes had reddened.

"I'm going to kill him," I muttered into the phone, already climbing to my feet, ready to act.

"не делай глупостей," Natasha murmured back.

"As much as I love it when you speak Russian to me..." She cut me off again.

"Don't do anything stupid, принцесса." I furrowed my eyes at the nickname.

"I'm not a princess, Romanoff." I could hear her smirk all the way through the phone.

"That's not how you acted the other night." I clicked my tongue at her impatiently.

"I've got to go, Tasha. I've got to go see if Steve's okay." I locked my hotel room behind me, heading down towards the lobby, phone still pressed to my ear.

"I'm going to give him the same advice, you know." I nodded.

"Understood, but do you honestly believe he'll take it any differently than I am?" She sighed deeply.

"Probably not."

"Let me know if you hear anything, leannan." Natasha's voice grumbled back at me.

"I need to learn Scottish," she smirked.

"Technically Scots Gaelic, but close enough." There was a pause, both of us fighting against the urge to say something else but deciding against it. "I'll see you soon, love."

"I think you're right." The phone clicked off, and I stared at it for a moment before shoving it in my pocket and heading down to the coffee shop where I last saw Steve and Sam.

(Wanda's POV):

I stormed into the room after realizing that Vision wasn't going to allow me to leave the compound, grabbing my phone and sending a quick message to Claray and Natasha. I knew Nat and I didn't see eye to eye on the accords, but she wasn't the one that they were placing the blame for Lagos on. She had a lot on her plate, but I was grateful to know she emerged from the bombing relatively unscathed. My phone rang almost instantly.

"What do you mean, you're not allowed to leave?" Claray's voice rang through the speaker and I moved it further away from my ear.

"I told Vision I needed to go to the store, and he said something about avoiding another public incident," I murmured into the phone. I understood his point but feeling like a prisoner in the only place that had felt like home to me since my parent's death was chilling and I didn't appreciate it.

"Well, is someone going to be wearing a bomb vest at the gas station? What do they think you're going to do?" The hybrid was angry – she was still very protective of me, and I adored her for it.

"I don't know, Claray – this whole situation is so messed up." I sat on the edge of my bed, wishing that everything could just go back to the way it was.

"None of this was your fault, Wanda," she said attempting to comfort me. I couldn't keep the frustration out of my voice when I replied.

"That's not the consensus, Claray. The news is being very specific." The hybrid sighed heavily. "Where are you?" If I wasn't allowed to leave the compound, at least I could live vicariously through someone who wasn't trapped.

"I'm in London, currently, but heading to Eastern Europe with Steve and Sam." She sighed, and I could hear movement on the other end of the line.

"Don't do anything stupid, okay?" I said, hesitantly. She giggled.

"You're the second person whose said that to me in the last half an hour," her smirk came through loud and clear.

"Natasha?" Claray grunted in affirmation of my suspicions. "She may have a point."

"I'm just acting as backup in case Bucky is able to slip away from them," she murmured softly. I could feel the edge in her voice but couldn't get a read on her mentally. "I wouldn't mind having a conversation with him about shooting people who are trying to help." She added, grumbling. I couldn't contain the laughter.

"Keep me posted, okay?" I asked.

"Will do. I've got to go, Clint's calling."

"Talk to you soon, Claray." I hung up the phone, laying back on my bed and staring up at the ceiling wondering how the world I was just beginning to feel a part of had gone so horribly wrong so quickly. I was startled as Vision once more materialized through the wall into my room.

"Vis, we talked about this," I warned. The Android smiled.

"I just wanted to see how you were," he said thoughtfully. I smiled before a hardness re-entered my voice, my Sokovian accent making an appearance.

"Not bad for someone not allowed to leave." His bright eyes narrowed somewhat, and if I didn't know any better, I'd say he felt bad – or nervous.

"I only want what's best for you, Wanda," he began. I cut him off.

"What's best for me according to who?"

(Claray's POV):

I was in the woods outside of Bucharest, Romania. The tip that Steve's friend passed on appears to have paid off. Luckily for me, the city was surrounded on multiple sides by forest. Steve and Sam found the building where Bucky was rumored to live, and I was pacing the woods, ready to shift at a moment's notice in case Bucky made it past the other two. I heard the coms blow up in my ear as special forces surrounded the building and began to engage. Shit. Sam's voice came through loud and clear.

"Stay away, Claray, we're in pursuit," he shouted.

"Sam, I can help!" I insisted, pacing the woods angrily.

"There's a new player on the field, Ridel," Steve sounded out of breath, and I could only imagine the paces that the two were being put through - dealing with the police as well as the Winter Soldier simultaneously.

"We're going to need someone on the outside in case things go the wrong way," Sam murmured. I nodded, frustrated, but understood the intent. I reentered the city, noting the traffic build up. I found a coffee shop that was playing the news, watching two of my friends get arrested by Rhodey. They were being taken to Berlin. I headed toward the train station, determined to get to Germany and be there in case the opportunity to help presented itself. As the train left the station, I felt the buzz in my pocket from my phone. I smiled, glancing at the picture of Natasha that popped up on my screen before seeing her words, angrily dancing over the screen while I watched.

"This is what making it worse looks like, love. WHERE ARE YOU?" I smiled, tucking the phone back into my pocket, trying to get the images of an angry Agent Romanoff out of my head. She was hot when she was angry, and she wasn't going to be pleased when she realized where I was headed – especially since it seemed like we were both going to the same place, from opposite sides of a shared conflict.