Robin's Cousin

chapter two

Wanda's POV

"Nngh!" I grunted, crashing to the floor yet again.

"I'm guessing you had no hand-to-hand combat training before this?" Black Canary asked, sauntering over to help me off the floor. I shook my head in the negative, accepting her outstretched hand. "I could tell, no offense, you need it. You might not always be able to rely on your powers to get you out of a bind."

"Noted." I swiped at her ankles with a kick which she easily blocked, knocking me back to the floor with a swift punch to my throat. Groaning, I got up on my own this time, grateful that Dinah was calling it a day for me.

"I don't want to run you too ragged your first day. We'll catch back up tomorrow, I suggest you stretch and hit the showers Wanda. Nice work." She turned to my new team who was watching me get humiliated, pointing at Artemis. "You're up next, step on up. Remember what we talked about yesterday?" I didn't hear the rest or get to see how much better Artemis was as I walked to the showers with a slight limp, my ass sore from falling on it so much.

The hot water felt nice on my skin, especially my sore muscles as I stood in the shower and let the water wash off my sweat. I yelped when the door opened, turning to see M'gann and Artemis walk in to the communal shower wrapped in towels before carelessly discarding them, stepping under their own waterfalls. The Martian spared me a glance and saw my blushing face, letting out a slight chuckle. "Oh, sorry Wanda. We should've warned you about the showers being communal. Do you want us to wait?"

I shook my head, turning back around as my face got even redder. "N-no, its fine. I was almost done." I rushed the rest of my shower, wrapping myself in my towel and rushing into the locker-esque room to get dressed. Once I was clothed, I went off on a search for my cousin.

I found him in the kitchen with the guys, training must be over with for the day. Rubbing my sore neck, I joined them around the kitchen counter catching the tail end of the story Wally was telling. "- so naturally there I was, holding her niece in one arm, a watermelon in the other while the kitchen sink is on fire trying to convince Art that everything is fine because Jade would have my head if I said otherwise."

Roy snorted, shaking his head. "My clone has a hopeless baby mama."

"You have a clone?!" I couldn't help but blurt out, staring at the ginger in shock. He turned to me and nodded, a slightly defensive glare on his face. I blushed at my lack of tact, hiding my cheeks behind my hands. "I'm sorry, that was rude of me. But that is wicked cool."

"If wicked cool is being kidnapped, put in cryosleep for three years so your clone can live your live and you can be experimented on, then yeah. Wicked cool." Roy snapped.

I shrank further into myself. "I'm sorry, I didn't know..." Gulping, I looked down at my hands as they glowed red quickly. "But I do know what it is like to be experimented on."

Dick snapped his head towards me, a look of sorrow on his face. "Is that how you and Pietro got your powers?" I shook my head, flinching at my brother's name. "How did you-"

"I'm not sure. They appeared when we were five, during the Sokovian civil war. The bombing was near our house one day and we did not have time to get to a bomb shelter, so we hid under the bed. A bomb landed not ten feet away, but did not explode. I remember it had a strange red glow around it and telling myself that Pietro and I would be safe, the bomb would not kill us. The bomb then imploded, disappearing before our eyes. Pietro says during the whole encounter, which apparently lasted two hours, I became very sweaty and my eyes glowed the same red color as the bomb. I don't quite know what happened next, I was in and out of consciousness, but I remember the wind in my hair and Pietro running us away, very fast, faster than ever. We got to the edge of the city and waited for mama and papa...but they never came." I blinked away my tears, looking Dick in the eyes. "Hydra did."