conquer • wanda maximoff

「 TWO 」

CHAPTER TWO ; EX'S AND OH'S

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APRIL 29TH, 2015

STRUCKER'S BASE, SOKOVIA

IT WAS AMBUSH as soon as the team touched down in Sokovia, though it was nothing that they hadn't dealt with before. Even though they put up a fight, Ayana wasn't finding it too much of a challenge to take down the HYDRA forces, and she was beginning to wonder why Clint had been so insistent that she returned to the team when they would have been perfectly fine without her.

In a flash Ayana disappeared and reappeared behind a guard, then took him down with a swift kick to the back of his legs. Although she appeared focused on the mission, her mind drifted elsewhere, to Wanda and the odd feeling which formed in her stomach every time she thought of her.

With a sigh Ayana gazed around at the bodies of fallen guards, a couple of them twitching or groaning in pain. She raised a hand to her earpiece, pressing it so that she could communicate with the team as she made her way through the woods.

"Stark, why's it taking you so long to get inside?" she asked.

"Relax, Austin. I'm almost there," Tony told her.

"You're taking your sweet time," Ayana grunted as she engaged in a fight with another pair of guards.

"Cut me some slack, this suit is - shit!" Tony exclaimed as he flew straight into the forcefield surrounding the compound and was thrown back violently from it.

"Your suit is shit?" Ayana teased him.

"Language," Steve chided. "JARVIS, what's the view from upstairs?"

"The central building is protected by some kind of energy shield," JARVIS told him. "Strucker's technology is well beyond any other HYDRA base we've taken."

"Loki's scepter must be here, Strucker couldn't mount this defense without it. At long last," Thor said, sounding relieved.

"At long last is lasting a little long, guys," Natasha chimed in.

"Yeah, think we lost the element of surprise," Clint agreed.

"Is no one else gonna deal with the fact that Cap just said 'language'?" Tony asked, his tone taunting.

"I mean, I would've done, but I'm a little preoccupied," Ayana told him, elbowing a guy in the face.

"I know," Steve sighed. "It just slipped out."

With a simple movement of her hand, a burst of white light struck down the dozen or so men who surrounded Ayana, and they let out groans and whines of pain as they were rendered temporarily blind.

"Oh, relax," Ayana snapped as one of them took a misguided swing in her direction, which she easily dodged. "This could have all been a lot worse."

"Clint!" Natasha exclaimed.

"We have an enhanced in the field," Steve announced.