REALITY || MARVEL

ᴱᵖⁱˢᵒᵈᵉ ˢⁱˣ ᵖ.³ ⁻ ᴴᵃˡˡᵒʷᵉᵉⁿ

Sokovia was really beautiful. Aunt Stephanie taught me Sokovian. After Mom died she thought it was important I know about my heritage. Even though I have never even been here before. I've only ever lived in Berlin and Washington.

My mother was proud of her heritage. But of course HYDRA had old values and old views. So she was never taken seriously mainly for being a woman.

The Malick family never actually originated here in Sokovia, they just moved here after my grandfather was put in charge of the Sokovia base. It's where he met my grandmother. My mom was born here. In a few years they did move back to the states. But Mom went to college in Germany, where she met my dad.

Who knows where my grandpa Gideon is. I still talk to my aunt Stephanie from time to time. I felt a pang of guilt when I didn't include his name to the list of HYDRA agents I had compiled.

Pietro walked behind me like I had asked, we were in the poorer part of the country but despite that it was more full of life then the rest. I had some allowance. IE I stole money from my dad's office. I bought myself a few stuff from the vendor carts, and some to a little kid that was running by.

"Is there anything in particular that you want to see?" I jumped, startled by Pietro. I had forgotten he was here. "Just walking around. So you can stop hovering. No one is actually forcing you to do this."

"Well why didn't you say that before, it was definitely a better argument then what you had for your father." Pietro elbowed me. "You wanted me here, admit it."

I press my lips into a firm line and step on his foot, he would have moved if he didn't want to get hit. He yelped. "You're supposed to be my bodyguard. Bodyguards don't talk."

Thankfully for a moment he was quiet. But not because I asked. He stops in front of me holding a bracelet, blue, red and white bands with a charm matching the symbol on the sokovian flag. "Here you go, something to remember me and Sokovian by."

I roll my eyes, but I still let him slip the bracelet on my wrist. "You better have paid for it."

"Of course, I'm not a monster."

I laughed dryly, shaking my head. "Fine, you can join me. Just don't speak."

Pietro smiles, ego alert. There was a cart selling ice cream so we each got a scoop. He wasn't actually a bad tour guide to be honest. But I would have preferred Wanda.

"Just to be clear, this is not a date." I state once again. "Just make sure that it travels to your ego."

"I didn't think it was." Pietro defends. "That just lets me know where I stand. I mean once I finish wooing you I'm sure you wouldn't want to leave my side."

I scoffed, but it came out more like a giggle. If Sharon could see me now. Not that she would want to right about now. I'm sure she has figured out I was with HYDRA, she could very well be on one of the teams tasked to hunt me down.

I pulled out my burner phone and wave it around, trying to get service. One of the guards gave it to me about a week ago. It was from Ward, a way for me and my brother to communicate. 

We've only talked a litte. He's still in school, or so he tells me. I would have asked Grandpa to look out for him but it's not like I've seen him in awhile. 

"Who are you trying to call?" Pietro asked, completely breaking the invisible wall between us. "My brother," I answered grimly after giving up. "He's in Virginia."

"How come he's not here?" 

"Because when I made Dad swear he wouldn't be involved in this." He knows what our Dad does. I looked out for him as long as I could, when I went to college I dropped by as much as I could to make sure Dad hadn't sunk his claws into Werner about Hydra.