Light At the End of the Tunnel

day x - part iii

Steve stared at the three beds. Tony and Peter were slowly eating, while Wanda slept. The girl had woken up once, but slept after the collar was taken off. She hadn't shown any sign of waking up, and it had been hours.

"Steve, what did they do?" Natasha asked, taking a gentle step towards the super soldier. Steve didn't know how many times he heard that questions, but no one had answered. He knew that the mystery was killing them. Seeing how Peter, Tony, Steve flinched whenever someone got too close. At how Wanda seemed to just stare into space whenever she was awake.

Steve sighed and turned, looking at Natasha, Rhodey, Sam, Clint, and Vision. "They made us choose."

"Choose what?" Sam probed, his hands crossed over his chest.

"Who got experimented on. We had to choose one or both would be hurt," Steve whispered, turning back to look at the kids. "Wanda went first. They, they injected her with something that burned her from within. Peter went the day after, and he was beaten so they could test his healing. Wanda tried to save him, but they ended up using the collar on her," Steve told the, his voice trailing off. "They went back to Wanda the next day. They injected her again. I don't know what it did, but it was worse. It was like she couldn't breathe, and then she threw up. It took a lot out of her. The fourth day, they decided that we needed to be cleaned."

Rhodey frowned. "Th-they let you do that alone, right?"

Steve let out a laugh. "They had us shower in our cells. Tony and I were okay. Wanda couldn't' stand, so they helped her."

"D-did they-" Sam started, but didn't finish.

"They touched her. They touched Peter. But it was just touching," Steve said, his mind going to earlier in the day.

"They continued to hurt them. They went back to Peter and and it was another beating. Then was Wanda, another injection. They decided to play a game the day after. But they took Wanda away earlier in the day, Tony says she had surgery. The doctor wanted to know who'd lose consciousness from being shocked. They gave us a few days of rest, cleaned us again, had them touched, and then today.They branded all of us. They took Peter and Wanda after that. They raped them," Steve said anger in his voice.

"Steve," Natasha whispered, putting a hand on the man's shoulder. Steve flinched, and moved away.

"They brought them back and just dumped them in the cells. Wanda had some sort of panic attacks and used her powers. She broke her cell door and they turned on her shock collar. I-I think she tried to kill herself. Hoping the shock would kill her," steve whispered, his voice breaking. "But they stopped. They held her down while they broke her hand with a hammer as punishment of using her powers."

"An-and the collars?" Rhodey asked him, his eyes on Steve's neck.

"To keep us in line. If we didn't do what they said, they use the collar on another person. They used Peter to keep Tony in line, used Wanda to keep me in line and vice versa."

None of the other Avengers spoke. They all stood there, staring at the Avengers in the beds.

"Peter and Wanda, they are going to need help," Steve told the others, closing his eyes.

Something broke, Steve, Tony, and Peter flinched, the other Avengers turned, and Wanda stayed asleep. Clint was fuming. He was breathing heavily,with his eyes closed. He stormed away. Natasha looked at Steve, before going after him.

Steve sighed, turning back to Tony and Peter. The young boy continued to eat, keeping an eye on the other Avengers. Steve moved to sit next to Wanda's bed, not wanting her to be alone when she woke up.

x

"Clint, talk to me," Natasha told the archer, who punched a wall. Clint turned to Natasha, tears in his eyes.

"After her brother died, I promised I would take care of her. For him, but I failed. She was missing for ten days and no one told me!" Clint shouted, tears streaming down his face. "Just look at her."

"It's killing me too. They are all our kids," Natasha whispered, leaning against the wall, looking away from Clint.

"I see him when I see her like that. So lifeless, just like her brother."

"She isn't dead," Natasha told him, looking at him.

"This isn't much better," Clint replied, ending the conversation.

x

Wanda slowly became alert of what was happening around her. A wave of sudden pain hit her. She let out a small gasp.

"It seems Miss Maximoff is awake," she heard someone say.

Wanda felt fear. She waited for the pain. She waited for the doctor to walk up to her and hurt her. She could feel someone standing near her. She let out a whimper, waiting for the shock.

"Wanda," Steve whispered, his voice soothing. "It's okay. You're at the compound. No one is going to hurt you."

Wanda opened her eyes, seeing the faces of the Avengers in front of her. She looked around, seeing Peter in the bed next to her. She let out a sigh, seeing him safe.

"Are you hungry?" Steve asked her, sitting closer.

Wanda shook her head. She closed her eyes.

"You have to eat Wanda," Natasha told her, pushing the plate to her.

Wanda let out a whimper.

"If you don't eat, I will have to hurt someone. And I don't want to do that."

Wanda tried to make herself smaller. She opened her eyes and looked for the food. She raised her broken hand and tried to grab the fork.

"Wanda," Natasha whispered, but the girl shook her head and used her broken hand to shovel food into her mouth. She whimpered at the pain from using her hand.

Steve was going to be shocked if she didn't eat. She had to eat. She had to finish everything, or else the others were going to be hurt.

"Wanda, it's okay," Peter said, pulling all the wires off of him. He got out of bed and stumbled to Wanda. The other Avengers moved out of the way, not wanting to get into it. Peter sat on Wanda's bed. "You don't have to eat. We're okay. We don't have a collar."

Wanda closed her eyes. She felt her stomach rumble, before she puked onto the blanket in front of her. She took a deep breath, before sobbing. Peter wrapped his arms around the girl, moving so someone could pull the dirty blanket away. He then laid on the bed with the girl.

"Wanda, I'm going to give you water so you can clean your mouth, okay?"

Wanda looked at Clint, who had a cup of water in his hand.

It was Clint. Just Clint. Clint who had a family. Clint who let her stay with him at the farm. Clint who was married to Laura. Clint who tried to protect her.

She gave him a nod. She tried to keep her breathing steady as he walked towards her. He helped her put some water in her mouth and grabs a bowl so she could spit it out. He helps her do it three times before he moves away.

Wanda leaned back into Peter. She feels weak, tired. She blinks a few times, before she fell asleep.

Tony was feeling better. The infection was cleaned. He watched Wanda and Peter sleep on the bed.

"What are we going to do?" Steve asked, a frown on his face.

Tony looked at him, shaking his head. "We try to move on."

"Can we? Can they?"

Tony looked at the kids. "We can just hope."

x

What Happened those ten days:

Day i - Wanda
Day ii - Peter
Day iii - Wanda
Day iv - All (Peter + Wanda)
Day v - Peter
Day vi - Wanda
Day vii - Peter + Wanda
Day viii - Shower
Day ix - None
Day x - Peter + Wanda, Wanda