In the Blink of an Eye

Chapter 12

We arrived back to the others who were doing a pretty good job of keeping the enemy at bay and from doing any more damage than that which had already been done.

"Need a hand?" Wanda said, to no one in particular.

Thor threw his hammer, taking out several enemies, and then caught it smoothly, as if with no effort at all.

"Some help would be excellent," he said, his voice booming over all the noise going on around us.

"Sure thing," I spoke under my breath, feeling very anxious about the whole 'combat' situation. I mean, sure I had been training for quite a while now and was getting a lot better at using my powers, plus I'd already taken out a couple enemies earlier, however, that didn't stop me from being nervous about my first real battle.

I was soon cut out of my thoughts by an enemy coming straight for me. Before they could do anything, I threw them to the side swiftly. One after another they came, as if never ending. Each one I fought off with ease, but now they seemed to be growing in numbers, and I was beginning to struggle.

"Y/n, watch your back!" Tony shouted.

Before I could do anything, Pietro shot past me and took out the enemies that were behind me.

"You didn't see that coming?" he asked, a cocky grin plastered onto his face.

He was gone before I had the chance to come up with a good comeback, so with that I continued to fight.

The next thing I knew, Wanda was screaming Pietro's name and I was searching frantically for the source of the commotion. I turned to see Wanda slamming an enemy carrying a machine gun into a block of cement. The look on her face was one of pure terror, and then she was hugging Pietro, squeezing him tightly in her arms. I couldn't help but be a little curious as to what got her so worked up about the situation. Of course I understand that they're twins, so she would want to look out for him obviously, but it seemed to be something about that enemy specifically that got her in that state. Plenty of them has guns, so why was this one any different? I brushed it off for the moment and went back to focusing on the task in hand.

Eventually, after what seemed like an eternity, the enemy were defeated, and Boston was safe once again.

"Everyone okay?" asked Cap.

"Yeah, we're good," Tony answered.

"Okay, well then let's head back to base. I'm sure everyone could do with a good rest, plus there are a few things I want to address about today," Cap said.

He seemed slightly agitated, but perhaps I was just making that up.

Once we arrived back at the Avengers HQ, everyone filed out of the aircraft at a quick pace, eager to get some down time after everything that happened today.

"Go and rest now, then we'll all have a quick meeting after dinner," Cap called after us as we walked away.

I got upstairs and was unlocking the door to my room, when I heard Wanda and Pietro talking.

"I just don't want the same thing to happen again," Wanda said.

"Don't worry, it won't," Pietro said as he brought her into an embrace.

"Okay," she said, and with that, she left.

Before he closed the door, Pietro locked eyes with me, knowing I had heard everything that was just said. I gave him an awkward smile which he returned with a sombre one, and then entered my room.

I frowned, and began to wonder what had happened prior to this that would cause such an upset between these two family members. I knew it wasn't any of my business, but the different possibilities just kept swirling around in my head, my curiosity getting the better of me.

I took time to think in the shower, letting the water run down my back and onto the cool bathroom tiles. I thought about the battle and what had happened. I wondered what Steve wanted to talk to us about, and was he really on edge, or had I just interpreted his mood wrong? What exactly was it that got Wanda in such a state? And why on earth did I feel so empty after everything I'd done today? I must have been a help in some way, but I just felt like I hadn't really done anything compared to the things everyone else had achieved. They were all so heroic, and I just wasn't.

I headed down for dinner soon after getting dressed, and after we had all eaten our evening meal, Steve began to talk about the mission.

"I won't keep you long because I know you must all be tired from today, I just want to let you know that although we won today, they are not going to stop. The enemy is still out there, and believe me, they will rest at nothing until they get exactly what they want."

He took a deep breath and let out a large sigh.

"You all did good today, but we need to be stronger if we're going to get these guys. I just don't want to see any of you get hurt."

He looked over at Pietro as he said the last part, who looked down at his hands immediately after this.

Everybody was walking back to their respected rooms, and I entered the lift to do the same. I was eager to get a good night's sleep and rest up before training tomorrow.

Just as the doors were about to close, Pietro entered the lift.

"Hey," he said nonchalantly, "long time no see."

I just smiled, unsure how to react to his sudden mood change. A minute ago he seemed uncomfortable and uneasy, and now he was back to his usual bubbly and confident self.

The question was burning into my brain, the question I was dying to ask him.

'Whatever you do, don't ask him. It's none of your business,' I thought to myself. Alas, my curiosity and concern was too much for me to bear.

"Pietro, what happened to you today? I mean one minute you were fine and then Wanda was screaming your name and you both seemed pretty shaken up..." I trailed off

He looked at me with a slightly surprised look on his face, and then bowed his head, letting out a deep sigh before turning back to me.

"Do you really want to know?"