The Ghost [Marvel | Steve Rogers]

Chapter 21

Novi Grad, Sokovia

Spring 2015

The entire facility felt like it was on edge, the base buzzing with unease that was quickly swelling to fear. Something was happening outside the base, and Pietro was seriously considering popping outside himself to see what was going on. The exasperated eye-roll his twin gave him held off that decision, though. But that didn't stop him from flitting around the base a bit, looking for any hint of what was going on.

At first he was skeptical of the whispers. But as the whispers grew and became warnings then calls to arms, excitement overtook anticipation.

They were here. It was the Avengers, including Iron Man.

Pietro grinned at the news, his pulse beginning to thrum in anticipation as an eager prickle seemed to race across his skin. This was their chance. It was what he and Wanda had been waiting for, what they had endured so much for. It was going to be the first true test of their new abilities. Now they could see if they could hold their own against the Avengers.

Nearly bursting with excitement at what was happening outside the base, he dashed off in search of Wanda. He wasn't sure if Strucker even knew yet what was going on. But once the German scientist did, he'd be sure to send them out to face the attackers. It wasn't arrogance to think that Strucker's soldiers would be no match for the Avengers, no matter their numbers or the technology at their disposal. But Pietro and Wanda? Pietro had no doubt that they could handle them.

When Pietro found Wanda, she was in the Lab, perched on a stool rolled up next to the examination table where the slight blonde girl was still restrained. Eying the lab tech slumped in the corner, eyes distant and glazed and movements sluggish from Wanda's manipulation, Pietro cautiously slipped into the Lab himself. He couldn't help but feel his excitement at the arrival of the Avengers dimming as he noticed how Wanda was watching the other girl with distant, troubled eyes. It was enough to slow him down to a far more sedate speed, one that would be restrained even for a regular person. The blonde was sleeping fitfully, her skin coated in a sickly sheen of sweat, her pretty face drawn with discomfort even as her cheeks held a fevered flush. As he came to a stop at his sister's side, he noticed Wanda's hand kept twitching, alternatively shifting closer to the younger girl's trembling fingers and pulling irritably back.

Instantly he understood why; she wanted to comfort the other girl, to assure her through touch that she wasn't completely alone in this place. It was something they did with each other; touch a way of proving beyond doubt that they weren't alone. But Wanda knew all too well that just now, even the slightest breath of air against the blonde girl's skin was likely to be agonizing. So the pressure of another person's grip, no matter how light or gentle, would be excruciating.

Wanda hadn't even looked up as he approached, but he knew she knew he was there before he'd even reached her side. She'd always known when he was near. One might think it was a side-effect of her new powers, but Pietro knew better. Perhaps her powers had made her that much more sensitive to him then she had been before, but she'd always been able to do that, just as he had with her.

It was a twin thing, he supposed.

"Her name is Nina, and I think her body is going to accept the Sceptre's energy," Wanda finally said softly, "she's going to survive, and I think she's going to be like us..." Her voice was laden with too many emotions to decipher. But Pietro understood anyway.

He could tell Wanda was fairly certain she was right, that this girl—Nina—was going to survive Strucker's experiments just as they had...but there was still a flicker of doubt, a fear that the Sceptre's power would still be too much for the young blonde's body to bear. They didn't even know the girl, and yet Pietro knew Wanda had found herself becoming attached to her...just as he was. It likely came out of the fact that here she was, enduring everything they had gone through, all alone without the choice that they'd had. It had inspired a sense of protectiveness in them both, especially Wanda. They both knew what it was like to be alone, to have no one to protect them from the harsh realities of the world. But even then, they'd still always had each other.