Research

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Wanda laid her head back to keep her nose from leaking again. She'd closed her eyes to rest and fell asleep. It was 20 minutes later that she heard voices referring to her.

"Hey there, paprika." Clint Barton called out to his daughter.

Wanda woke up and saw her adoptive father kneeling next to her.

"My-"

"Shh. We don't have to talk about it now. Let's get you home."

Clint grabbed her easy by the shoulders and escorted her out of the booth. He stopped a second to thank the owner for giving him a call, then took her out to the car to go home. Wanda didn't say anything on the ride back, nor did she say much once they were home. She smiled at her younger siblings and went up to her room, leaving a worried looking Laura to hold the door open for Clint.

It was hours later that Wanda's door opened, her brother peaking in to check on her, bringing food.

"You're sad." Pietro said as he took a chair next to her. Wanda sat up in her bed.

"How'd you know?" She joked back.

"Call it twin telepathy. Law made chicken rice. Want some?"

Wanda raised her hand to reach but winced when her bruised arm hurt her.

"No worries. I got this. Here comes the plane." Pietro teased but brought the spoon steadily to her mouth, feeding her dinner.

"So, you wanna talk about it?"

"What if we're not alone?"

"Like, aliens and stuff?"

"No, I mean like you and me. Not like Cap, or Dr. Banner. People born with powers."

"I don't wanna think about where they could be."

"Well they're not hiding in a small town, now are they?"

"What, you get in a fight with Clint again? Won't let you go out with Stark's... kid, as you called him."

"Vision. But no, it's not about him. I'm serious. What if there're people out there. Like us." Wanda thought of the word Erik had used, "Mutants."

"Mutants?" Pietro laughed. "I don't have two heads."

"Pi..." Wanda chided him.

Pietro put aside the empty plate and slid in bed next to his little sister.

"And where do you think they would be? Probably locked up in cages like we were. Stop thinking about it, weirdo. We're good here. Dad's gonna keep us safe, and we're gonna return the favor. We have a great future, so stop thinking about the past." He kissed her head as Wanda rested against his shoulder.

Clint Barton stood silently outside his daughter's door. He understood her worries, but there was one thing for sure: no one was gonna hurt his kids. The agent of SHIELD decided to do some research on mutants. He'd obviously heard the term in his field of work, but nothing relating to the twins' past was anything good. Hell, their own mother had given them up as lab rats. Once the kids had found out, they'd given up the Maximoff name and took on his. Clint sighed and closed the door as he left, going to work to prepare for the worst.

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