One-shots/Short Stories

Pietro Maximoff

Feared
"You're afraid of me." She looked to everyone. "All of you."
   "Nina. . ." Pietro flinched when she raised her hand to brush loose hair away from her face. Noticing his fear, she backed away from him. "Nina, we can work this out -"
   "How can we work this out when you're afraid of your girlfriend?" she cried. "Of me?"
   "He can't help it." Vision spoke up. "You did just burn his hands with your fire power and sent pain to his head."
   "I-I didn't mean to. . ." she whispered. "I-I swear."
   "We know," Steve assured her, "but you need to be held somewhere else for your safety, okay? Stark can come to the base and check you out -" Armed SHIELD agents came into the room, guns trained on her - guns that looked very advanced and dangerous.
   "Get down on your knees!" one of the agents yelled. "Hands behind your head!"
   "Wait -" Steve said, noticing her starting to panic.
   "You called for backup?" Nina stared at them offended. "You called them to take me down?"
   "Nina -" Natasha took a step forward.
   "No!" Blue psionic energy emerged from her hands, the agents taking the safety off their guns. "H-How could you? I told you I didn't mean to hurt people - HYDRA did this to me!"
   "We know, which is why we're going to get you help." Natasha cautioned. "We're just going to put you somewhere secluded to you don't harm anyone -"
   "So I don't harm anyone?" They flinched at her mistake. "So I don't harm anyone. . .this isn't about me, you just want me locked away so I don't harm anyone! You don't care about me! I'm just a danger to you all!"
   "Nina. . ." Pietro whispered, staring at her sadly. "Please, don't -"
   "You're liars." she whispered, breaking his heart. "You don't actually care about me. You just pretended to because I'm one of HYDRA's lab rats and I have information on them."
   "That's not true -" Wanda spoke up.
   "Don't lie to me," she snarled, "you're not the only one that can read minds."
   "It was at first, but it changed!" Pietro told her. "We care about you - I care about you!"
   "If you did you wouldn't be locking me in a cell." she whispered. Before anything else could be said, she sent them all off their feet and into a wall, breaking one of the windows and jumping out of it.
   "Nina, no!" Pietro ran to the window, seeing no sign of her. "No. . ."

***

One year later. . .
"I know a guy that can help." Sam told Steve quietly.
   "So do I." They turned around to Bucky who was still trapped between the metal equipment. "I know someone who can help us. Very powerful, and an old friend of mine."
   "Do you know where he is?" Steve asked him. Bucky nodded slowly with a small chuckle.
   "Yeah I know where she is." he answered. "Any of you have a phone on ya?"

***

Walking in the market while looking over her shoulder, she was struggling to not show her fear and at the same time control her powers. She doesn't remember how she arrived to Bucharest; everything was a blur after she left the Avengers base. All she knows is the fact that she's hungry and thirsty and weak and needed somewhere safe to go.
   Walking into an alleyway, she collapsed to the nearest wall, fighting her body to stay alive. Footsteps came towards her, making her lift her head up quickly and causing dizziness, though still holding her hands up protectively. She lowered them when she realised who the person was. "Winter?"
   Bucky stared down at her surprised, wondering why she was in that state. Last he recalled, she was a survivor of one of HYDRA's experiments, and Bucky trained her in combat. Afterwards, he realised she didn't deserve the treatment and helped her escape. He may have gotten a horrible punishment, but it was all worth it in his opinion. She was too young to be in that mess.
   "My name's Bucky." he said quietly, kneeling down to her height. "What happened to you?"
   "I'm dangerous." she whispered, making him feel guilty. "Steve and the others were going to take me away somewhere. . .they all feared me. And Pietro. . ."
   "Shh, calm down." He noticed her emotions going haywire which the causes her powers to act up. "Why don't you come to my place, okay? You need rest and some food and water."
   "N-No," she shook her head, "I'm dangerous -"
   "So am I." he shrugged nonchalantly. "Come on, you're gonna die out here." Lifting her into his arms, he started making his way back to his apartment.