Marvel's The Avengers: Hydra's Little Spider

Chapter 11: A Mission in Nigeria

It took Peter and Wanda more time than they expected to convince Steve and the other Avengers to let them go on two consecutive holidays. In the end, they had to promise to get back as soon as they could should something arise and that they wouldn’t take another day off until next year at the earliest. It was a hard bargain, but Peter and Wanda agreed to it. And it was completely worth it as it turned out. They had the time of their life during those two weeks away from everybody else and when they finally returned with a slight tan, a few of the other team member voiced their jealousy.

The twin’s birthday in February was also celebrated in a big fashion. Even Clint came over, despite him being officially retired. Peter gifted Pietro self-manufactured running shoes that should survive longer than just one run at full speed like his current ones. For Wanda Peter bought a golden spider necklace with an incorporated ruby. She has never taken it off ever since Peter gifted it to her. It really added to her usual look.

Peter’s friendship with Ned was heading back in the right direction. They weren’t as close as they have been before their fallout, but thing were looking up again. They have met a couple of times this year and Peter was glad that Ned seemed to have his life back on track again.

In early April, the team finally recovered a solid hint that could lead them to a group of Hydra members. Steve was especially engaged in the preparation of the takedown of the group’s leader. Apparently, he was one of the few Hydra members who escaped the fiasco in Washington more than a year ago pretty much unscathed, if you ignored all the facial scars. He also was a former colleague of Steve and Natasha, which made the mission personal for them. Peter initially did not want them participating in it, since in his experience a personal vendetta always leads straight to disaster, but he was outvoted.

In the end, it was decided that Steve, Natasha, Sam and Wanda would travel to Nigeria to take down Rumlow. Wanda was mainly chosen so Natasha could teach her more about undercover missions in a real life scenario and, should a fight begin, Wanda was by far one of their most valuable members. Peter was visibly frustrated that he would not get to participate in the mission. He felt like he was probably the most suited member of the team for such a mission if one considers his background. However, Steve remained firm in his opinion that Peter should stay at the Compound. Peter had a suspicion that this was to ensure that Peter couldn’t try to hold Steve off from going in hot-headed. Eventually, Wanda managed to cheer Peter up by saying that she couldn’t very well learn more about undercover missions if Peter ended the mission right away due to his far superior skill. Peter obviously knew that Wanda exaggerated, but it still managed to rise his mood.

With the promise to stay safe and return soon, Peter watched as Wanda and the other members of the team boarded a quinjet and took off. Slowly Peter walked back inside and met up with Pietro, who also wasn’t chosen for this mission.

“Hey man,” Peter greeted the Sokovian while he ate his late lunch. “Want to play video games later? I’m not really in the mood for any training today.”

Pietro laughed at his obvious foul mood. “Oh boy, my sister must really have you wrapped around her finger if you get depressed five seconds after she leaves.”

Peter only glared at Wanda’s brother as a response.

“Alright, calm down. I guess I can play some video games with you. After all, I don’t want to hear from Wanda why I returned you in such a foul mood,” Pietro said and quickly finished his lunch.

While they walked towards the living room, Pietro questioned Peter further.

“Why are you even in such a bad mood?” he asked carefully.

Peter let out a sigh and answered, “It’s just that this mission is going to be the longest Wanda and I are going to be separated since we escaped Hydra. I simply got used to having her around all the time.” He fell down on the couch and emptily stared at the ceiling.