Chapter 4
Wanda made it back to her room safe and sound, insisting to Vision that she didn’t need him to follow her all the way. Despite their heavy conversation earlier in the woods, getting out and interacting with another…being?… made her feel so much lighter. The two headed back to the compound in silence before spending an hour or so in the kitchen, holding a light conversation while Wanda enjoyed a cup of tea.
Now that the witch was seeing her bed again it was boarding on being the early morning. All the interaction and the time had made her exhausted. She hoped this meant a night without dreaming as she collapsed into her bed.
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A month had passed since Natasha’s failed attempt at getting Wanda to come out of her room. What seemed like a major setback at first however, did not end up being as catastrophic as she thought. As the spy had been surprised when later that night she entered the kitchen to see Wanda and Vision sitting at the counter talking softly, the former with a mug of something resting between her hands.
Up until then she hadn’t realized the witch talked to anyone besides her and Clint. She left before they noticed her, thinking at least the girl was getting out.
Ever since, Vision had seemed to take on the role of looking out for her, even though she was pleased to say that there wasn’t a lot of looking out for needing to be done these days, with the Android apparently convincing her to venture out and exist on the other floors of the compound amongst her teammates. She had even shown up to a few of the team breakfasts and dinners. Wanda didn’t say much when she was present, but this didn’t stop the rest of the team from being delighted she had finally come out of hiding.
And no one was more excited than Clint. With Laura having recently given birth he had not come back since leaving a month ago. This didn’t stop him, however, from texting Natasha every day for updates. She assumed that the younger girl doing better would mean he’d check in less, but it seemed to only encourage him, constantly wondering if she had done anything else new.
It was sweet he cared so much. And the spy guessed that sending a few texts to her friend every day was better than having to actually take care of the witch, a duty she wasn’t bummed to let go of as Vision took over things such as bringing the girl food when she didn’t come out of her room as well.
She didn’t love the slight pang of failure that came over her when she thought of the situation though. While she was glad to keep her distance, Natasha knew she could have been the one to get Wanda out of her room and interacting if Vision hadn’t swooped in. If she had only played her cards right earlier that day she probably would have been.
But that didn’t matter, what did is that not only was Wanda doing better, but Natasha wasn’t having to interact with her every day. Wanda may not have deserved to suffer the way she was, but that didn’t mean Natasha was eager to strike up a friendship with the girl either. She had interacted with her enough to see that the girl was apologetic for her actions before switching sides in the whole Ultron debacle, and it seemed easy to deduce that she wouldn’t go against the team again.
Even so, being just across the hall, Natasha had heard some of the nightmares the witch had, had seen the red glow under the doors when they happened. The witch may not intend to harm again, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen on accident. Which was not a chance Natasha wanted to take.
It seemed the universe, however, was once again putting her in that position against her will. As she stood in the middle of the common area with Steve, as he cheerfully said that Wanda agreed to start training, and that Natasha should take the role of her mentor.
“It makes the most sense, Nat. You two have similar builds, similar backgrounds, and I’m afraid I’d break her in half if I tried to teach her. And it would only be sparring, Vision can help her out with testing her powers, with him being indestructible and all.”
He looked at her expectantly, probably thinking she’d be as excited as he was that Wanda was taking the steps to actually be an Avenger. She almost wished she was, what a carefree world view that would entail.
“Maybe she should just work on her powers first, and once those are under control, she can learn hand-to-hand.” The spy tried to rationalize.
“There’s no reason she can’t do them at the same time. Besides, she can make it to the field quicker if she does them at once. A skill set like that would be very useful to the team.”
“I don’t think she wants to mind control anyone any time soon.”
“God, Nat, I didn’t mean invading their minds I meant more, blasting through things and whatnot, I mean we probably barely know what she’s capable of.”
Yes, Natasha thought, we have no idea what she’s really capable of.
Feeling backed into a corner however, and rationally knowing that Steve’s arguments were right, she agreed, to the super soldier’s delight.
“Thanks, Nat, do you want to tell her or should I?”
“I think I can handle it.” She said with her signature smirk, and she turned away from him and headed up stairs. If she had to face the witch again there’s no time like the present.
After asking Friday where Wanda was, Natasha quickly made her way to the girl’s bedroom door. A familiar scene at this point. She knocked, surprised to hear a faint “come in” in an accented voice, before the spy entered. We’ll have to work on the accent for sure, it’s too noticeable, was the first thought in Natasha’s brain, the second being a slight affection for the accent that Natasha quickly brushed away.
Making it past the doorway the spy was met with the sight of Wanda, curled up on a chair by the window, book in hand. The auburn girl looked at Natasha curiously, if not with a little apprehension. That couldn’t do if they were going to train together.
“Hi.” The spy started.
“Hi.” The witch bounced back.
“You told Steve you were willing to train?”
“Yes I did.”
“Great, I’ll meet you in the gym in an hour to test out your skills, and then at 7am every day for regular sessions, okay?”
The witch seemed surprised by the declaration but nodded nonetheless. A good enough answer for the spy.
“I’ll see you then.” And with that she took her leave, needing to figure out a plan for the day.