Red Winter - COMPLETED

Chapter One: A Winter's Tale

Loneliness. Something that had become more and more apparent over the past 6 months. Wanda Maximoff kept to herself as much as possible ever since the prison break. Along with the rest of the escapees, Wanda was hiding in Wakanda under the watchful eye of T'Challa. If anything else, at least they were safe and away from any sort of Government that wanted them behind bars. Sure, staying in hiding was boring, but there was no other safe place for them until Steve Rogers figured something else out. Trust was something that Wanda had to learn, the only person in the world that she had trusted was her brother. That was until Clint came along, and Natasha, and Steve. That being said, it took a lot for Wanda to even think about trusting someone.

Their days were usually filled with a mix of reading, television, working out, and sleeping. Many of them helped T'Challa out with tasks, not only to keep themselves busy, but also to support their host. Steve was in and out a lot, not always around. No one really knew where he would go, but Wanda knew that he was working to find them a better sanctuary where they wouldn't feel so much like prisoners. Clint took off on his own, very much afraid to go home to his family in fear that it would lead to harm he stayed on the move, Wanda wasn't quite sure if he had contact with his wife, but it hurt her to think they were in any danger. The Barton's treated her like family, Clint was like a father to her, not having him around made her feel even more alone. Scott Lang took his free time as a blessing, working with T'Challa on his suit and training more and more to get the feel of it's abilities. Then there was Sam Wilson. Sam had the most connection with Steve, knowing his whereabouts more often than not, even though Wanda hardly asked. As for her, Wanda kept to herself. T'cholla left her alone for the first couple of weeks, but as that turned into months the King felt that the Witch was beginning to get depressed. Being the only one out of the group to have been mostly silent during their stay. So T'Challa recommended that she spent some of her time with another person, so she wasn't so alone, perhaps read aloud, for that always made him feel better.

It was today that she took his idea into consideration, but simply reading aloud with no one to listen felt silly, so she left her room in search of another soul. Down the hall Sam and Scott shared a room, the door was slightly open with only the light from the inside window giving it life...it was empty. Pursing her lips she crossed her arms across the book she was holding to her chest and began up the tall steps in hopes to find someone, anyone, with a listening ear. They were on the third floor in the gym, the two men were on treadmills sweating profusely. From the words being exchanged, they seemed to be in a friendly compotition on who would last longer before collapsing with exhaustion. It was Sam who spotted the slim brunette in the door way, "Hey Red! Wanna make a bet? Who thinks...Anty here...will collapse...first?!" Panting, Sam poked fun at Scott who was running gracefully beside him. Wanda smiled, "Perhaps he has a one up on you...age and all." She winks and turned on her heel to walk away. Behind her she heard Scott burst into laughter as Sam took in her words, "Oh! She called me old? Did she call me old? Oh it's on!" The words were followed by three beeps of the treadmill's speed indicator.

On the fourth floor Wanda came across Siti, T'Challa's housemaid. A kind and generous woman, her hair was short, right to her scalp, but everything else about her was long. Siti was a tall woman, her face long and soft, always wearing the most beautiful printed dresses and scarfs. Wanda found herself listening to her speak on numerous occasions, never had she met someone so naturally kind. "If you you're looking for the King he is out dear, meeting of some sort. Did you need anything?" Wanda smiled, watching the woman water a couple plants. "No, thank you." After a small polite conversation and Siti offering countless times to make her something to eat, Wanda headed back down to her room. It was halfway down to the basement floor where their rooms were, Wanda passed the sliding doors that lead into a lab where The Winter Soldier was cryogenically frozen until his mind could be cured of the mental programming implanted by HYDRA. A silly idea crossed the Witch's mind and without a moments thought she turned to walk in. Much to her surprise the door needed a keycard for access, immediately squashing her silly idea. Wanda admitted defeat and headed back toward her room.

It was about an hour later and 13 chapters into her book that her silly idea invaded her mind once more, but now with a solution to the door problem. Wanda looked up from her book and out the door, her eyes sinking into the next door across the hall...Steve's room. It didn't take long for her to hop to her feet and sliver out the door into the hall. Steve's room was neat and tidy, the bed made, probably only slept on a handful of times. The Witch's eyes scanned the room only to land on the desk in the corner. After a few minutes of shuffling some papers around, there lie a blue keycard with a large red circle on it. "Bingo." The feeling of success flushed over her, something she loved after completing a mission with The Avengers. Something she also missed.

With a quick slide through the reader the small screen above the door read a big, "ACCESS GRANTED" in large green letters. Wanda smirked and slipped through the door as it closed behind her. The room was littered with monitors and wires, very bright lights, and white everywhere. Almost blinding. Wanda's eyes glazed around until she landed on the pod that was demanding directly in the center of the room. The white pod had a glass front that was perfectly frosted over, as the Witch made her way toward it she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Slowly she reached her small pale hand up and ran it across the window, the heat causing the outer frost to melt lightly, giving her a view of the sleeping man inside.

James Buchanan Barnes was a tough character. Wanda didn't know him as much as she liked to know her peers, but she knew enough. More and more of his past entered her mind when she overheard Steve reminiscing or when her and Natasha would sip wine late at night. Better known as 'Bucky' around Steve, Wanda learned to feel for this person. Like her, a pawn of HYDRA, losing loved ones and much of yourself while in their claws. They were more a like than they really knew. But right now, Wanda needed someone, and who better than someone who couldn't protest to her reading aloud. In the corner of the room was a stretcher, here is where she placed herself, propped up, and began to read aloud. "If you shall chance, Camillo, to visit Bohemia, on the like occasion whereon my services are now on foot, you shall see, as I have said, great difference betwixt our Bohemia and your Sicilia."

In the midst of Wanda's story telling, she never even noticed the figure that stood outside the glass door. T'Challa crossed his arms disapprovingly as he tensed his face and began to prepare himself to scold the Witch, but we he watched the red admit from her finger tips to turn the pages of the book in her lap, a smile creeped upon his now relaxed face. It didn't take long for his smile to flatten to a serious expression, it was then that ideas began to penetrate his thoughts as his hand grasped the phone in his pocket and speedily dialed Steve Rogers.