What Wicked Lurks Within (Avengers x Reader)

Chapter 10

"Wanda is missing! I can't find her!" The rattled voice of Tony Stark substituted alarms for most people that morning, including you. Hanging over the banister that continued past the stairway and ran along the corridor, to the point of doubling over and falling off with added roughness of very recently being roused, you yelled back. "She's WHAT!?"

You jolted forward, to the effect of all but flying of the ledge. A frown adorning your face, you turned around to discover Steve had crashed into you. Eyes met and what Tony had said truly settled into your heads. The two of you glided down the stairs.

"Are you sure? Did you look everywhere?" Steve was well aware of the asininity of his question and yet he had asked. The whole thing was asinine, it had to be because if not, the other option was unmitigated sinistrous. All of Tony's life choices flashed before him at once. "Cap, how do you reckon dead bodies move around in the first place? And yes, I did look everywhere. No sign of her."

Bucky walked into the scene, rubbing his eye and yawning like he intended to arrange the entire universe in his mouth. "Can someone make some toast for me? Please? I didn't really eat last ni-" Steve pulled his friend's hand down and furiously patted his cheek. "Wake up, Buck! Wanda is missing!"

"Wanda's missing? How did that happen?" Sam inquired from the stairs, on his way down. "She is not missing." Clint softly announced, seated on a rocking chair in the farthest corner of the hall, effectively shrouded out of sight by the irregular placement of the windows. "I buried her."

'How long has he been there?' You were helpless against the awful feeling bubbling inside. "What? Why?" You faintly moved onto the imperative question, "Where?" Clint deftly avoided looking at anyone in the eye. "I had to. In the backyard."

"How many of you do I have to tell this? There is no backyard. The property stretches forward!" Claims being made in support of the existence of a patch of land behind the house were extremely close to becoming the bane of Tony's very being. "What do you mean there is no-" Clint's head snapped up - not like someone in disbelief - like someone concealing facts from themselves, "I'll show you."

A stampede emerged from the house and raced along the perimeter until they reached rusted, metal fencing. "So no backyard then." Natasha's aloud confirmation made you aware of her presence which had likely been there all along. It had grown difficult to take notice of her recently, in addition to her excellent spying abilities, she had grown increasingly quiet. Steve seemed chipper, having received validation twice in a row, it was only natural that he was the one to lead the team back inside the house.

"What do we do about Wanda? We did decide to bury her with Pietro." Bucky asked as the heavy main doors of the house swung shut behind him. You pulled out a dining chair and collapsed, rather than sat, on it. "No one's exhuming her, if that's what you are asking."

"Of course not." Tony ratified the decision more firmly, "This is not the ideal burying ground, I agree, but now that it's done we'll roll with it. Build a shrine around here, people can come pay respect and whatnot." How the house had managed the feat even the dead residing in it did not know - none of you noticed Clint's absence during or even after your return, neither were you going to anytime soon.

"Have you seen this place? It would sooner be a cemetery than a shrine!" The main drive behind Sam's counter was building anything memorable on the property would ascertain his return at least once - an activity he was not at all complacent with. "We will NOT fight." You announced stiffly. During the last couple of days, a brawl amongst the Avengers had seemed more within the bounds of possibility than any single one of them taking three consecutive breaths. "I am going to take a shower, I strongly suggest you do too. We'll discuss this further once we have some food in us."