Chapter 12
Wanda played with her powers. It had been a decade since her father and the Avengers had rescued her; and she and Pietro had been living at Charles’s mansion together and going to the school. The place was crowded yet lively and comforting. She had found that she hadn’t gotten along with the other mutants as much as she would like but it wasn’t like any of them hated her. At least, she didn’t think they did. They hadn’t invited her to join the X-Men along with her brother.
“Don’t take it personally, Wanda” the red, white, and blue man who she had come to learn was Steve.
“Yeah, why would I take them inviting Pietro and not me personally?”
“I doubt that they wanted to hurt you” Steve assured her, “The X-Men are just an extremely scrutinized group. They need people that…”
“Are reliable? Not a loose canon? Not like me?”
Steve looked at Wanda speechlessly and sighed, “Wanda, you have powers that we yet to truly understand. While I doubt you would ever do anything to hurt an innocent person…”
“You aren’t sure whether this won’t” Wanda glared, allowing the glowing red tendrils to crush a can of Mountain Dew Pietro had left laying on the floor.
Steve looked at her with pity and she hated it.
“No, I get it” she scoffed, “I killed my children and all those people and blew up a base. I guess I should count myself lucky that I haven’t been put down.”
“Wanda, you’re not a dog”
“You’re right, I’m not because if I was a dog, people would look at me with happy eyes and joy, not fear and disgust.”
Steve put a gloved hand on her shoulder.
“Why are you here?” Wanda asked, trying to keep the bitterness from her voice.
“SHIELD is concerned”
Wanda felt her heart drop and skin crawl. The government organization had been trying to find every reason to pull her away from her family and lock her up. They have claimed every possible case: Erik was not suited to be a parent, Wanda had no control over her powers, and that the twins had been former HYDRA agents. None of it went through but the over looming threat never went away.
“Did they finally do it?” she asked, fearing the answer. “What’s their case this time?”
“Not so much of a case as much as a trigger”
“What?”
“The Mutant Registration Act”
Wanda’s heart dropped. Her father, Charles, and some of the teachers had left to testify against the act weeks ago and every night she watched alongside all the other inhabitants as they watched their fate be broadcast on live television. It had been a taboo topic at the school but everyone there knew what it could mean. The fear of being forced to not only be forcefully outed but also have the government be able to pull them in for any reason was terrifying to say the least. Wanda burst into tears and gripped her arms so tightly that it hurt.
“Shhhh” Steve hushed, cradling the young girl. “We don’t know what’s going to happen?”
“Don’t we?” Wanda sobbed.
She could feel the rough and calloused hands of Baron Strucker and the beating eyes of Dr. Zola all over her. The pain and agony as they tested her to her limits and left her broken on the ground. But worst of all, she could feel the ghosts of her babies moving inside of her. Her children that she hadn’t gotten hold, name, or know. The children that she killed.
“Wanda, you need to get control of yourself” she heard Steve yell.
She opened her eyes to see a storm of red tearing up her’s and Pietro’s room. She took a deep breath and as she exhaled, the red disappeared.
“They’re right” she collapsed, looking at the mess. “I’m too dangerous to be free.”
“Don’t say that, Wanda,” Steve said, brushing her chestnut hair out of her face. “I don’t believe that. In fact, because of that, I am here.”
“You weren’t here because you like me?” she asked, the pain in her heart getting worse.
“Nonono,” Steve shook his head, “I do like you and I do care about you and if you ever want me to come and I’m available I will.”
“But?”
“But with the Mutant Registration Act moving into the senate, I want to make sure that you stay safe and out of their hands”
Wanda nodded and accepted the hug from the blond.
“I want you to be an Avenger”
The world seemed to stop spinning and Wanda looked up with confusion.
“You want me to be an Avenger?” she asked, trying to understand what she just heard.
Steve nodded with a slight smile, “We’ve all agreed that that will be the best thing and if you agree, we’d love to have you on the team.”
“Why?”
“We’ve been working with Tony’s lawyers ever since the bill was proposed,” Steve explained, getting up and pacing around the room. “And Fury has kept us updated on which mutants will be most at danger. Most of the ones here are either too young to attract the attention of the council and those who are a possible target are part of the X-Men like Rogue, Jean, Scott, and your brother.”
“What about my dad?”
“Erik? He’s currently on parole so technically they already have eyes on him.”
“And being an Avenger?”
“Will allow you to be in a similar situation with different rules. As an Avenger, you’ll have to register but it will protect you from being taken by the government since you will already be a part of the agency.”
“And you’re sure this will work?” she asked, still very unsure with it.
“Tony has the best lawyers there are,” Steve said confidently, “And if they’re wrong, I’ll personally break you out of wherever they lock you up. I promise.”
Wanda went to answer when she heard the jet return. She looked apologetically at Steve who just gave her a dismissive smile before jumping out the window. The red energy engulfed her, allowing move herself through the air and land beside the landing pad.
“Wanda” Pietro zoomed to her and embraced her. “You’ll never guess what happened. Okay, so you know how Scott, Jean, and Ororo are gone? Yeah, anyways, that meant that Logan and Rogue were in charge. So we were sent to go and help after the tsunami at Midway. Kirk was teleporting everywhere to get the people off and Logan was being Logan and slicing everything up. So I was in charge of helping Kirk and we had a competition on who would win and guess what? I won!”
Wanda laughs at her brother’s excitement.
“How did you get rid of the water?”
“That would be me” Bobby took a bow. “We could’ve really used someone like you now that Jean’s away.”
The silence was deafening as everyone exchanged looks.
“Hey, don’t have long faces, we were thinking the same thing” the mutant rolled his eyes.
“That is a conversation for another time” Colossus put a metal hand on Bobby’s icy shoulder.
“No,” Wanda blurted out without thinking. “Why wasn’t I allowed on the X-Men? Pietro was!”
“Wanda” Pietro muttered, gripping his sister’s hand.
“No, I want to know” she demanded, “It can’t be because you don’t trust a former lab rat otherwise Pietro wouldn’t be on the team. It can’t be because omega level mutants are too dangerous otherwise Ororo and Jean would be kicked off.”
“And me,” Bobby jutted in but was hushed by the other X-Men.
“And it can’t be because I don’t have good enough control over my powers because Rogue is still there”
The white and brown haired girl huffed but otherwise remained silent.
“So why aren’t I allowed to join?” she asked.
“Wanda,” Hank said softly.
“What, Hank, what is it?” Wanda snarled, “Because I just got an Avenger in my room saying that being on that team protects them from being thrown into a government lab and I want to know why I’m not allowed on it.”
“The only reason that’s the case is because you aren’t on the team!” Rogue yelled.
Wanda looked at her with wide eyes.
“I’m sorry” Rogue backed away, “That was harsh.”
“But true,” Logan commented, “Look, kid.”
“Kid? I’m twenty four!”
“Look, Scarlet, I don’t know why the government bozos have it out for you but they do. We wanted to add you to the squad but we can’t risk the rest of us for you.”
“We’re the X-Men” Bobby protested, “It’s our job to help other mutants no matter what.”
“Life over limb, Icicle” Logan scoffed, “Besides, the star spangled soldier has her back. She’ll be fine.”
“I don’t want to be afraid all the time,” Wanda sobbed, not caring about the tears streaming down her face. “I don’t want to be scared every second of my life.”
Her powers glowed on her hands and everyone except for Pietro backed away from her. The fear and terror on their face was clear and it stung. It hurt more than any experiment or torture that HYDRA had forced her to endure. It almost hurt as much as losing her children. From the corner of her eye, she could see Rogue remove her glove and that was when she lost it. Her powers exploded and she struggled to funnel it up into the air to keep it from hurting anyone. When all of her energy was forced from her body, she collapsed.
“Wanda” Pietro cried, holding the body of his sister tighter. “Wanda!”
“Get her to the infirmary” Hank ordered.
The students parted and Pietro sped to the medical wing. Elixir was waiting beside a young girl who seemed to be sick but got up the moment he saw the twins. They were ushered into a more private room where Pietro set Wanda down on a soft bed.
“What tripped it this time?” he asked tiredly.
“Why she wasn’t allowed on the team”
Elixir looked at Wanda with sympathy and placed his hand on her head.
“Poor, girl” he muttered, “Anyways, you know the drill. Let her rest here for a few days and she’ll be back and better than ever. Ring me if something goes awry.”
Elixir left the room and Pietro sat on a chair beside Wanda’s bed. He looked at his younger sister and began to cry. She'd gone through so much. She had to bear so much and yet the universe decided that it wasn’t enough. Everynight, he could hear her cry for her babies in her sleep. Sometimes, her powers would take the form of two little infants that slept peacefully together. Their father had returned to the base many times trying to find any trace of them or even know if Wanda had sons or daughters but there was never anything. No trace, no sign, no peace, just destruction and ruin.
“I loved them, Pietro” she sobbed, “They were my babies and I loved them. I wanted to hold them, name them, play with them, raise them.”
“I know, Wanda, I know” he hugged her but it did little to bring her comfort.
“I-I wanted a family for so long” she cried.
“Tata and me are you’re family”
“You know what I mean”
And he did, he did know exactly what she meant. He hadn’t given much thought to it. He was too busy protecting his sister from the monsters but he knew.
“You’ll have your chance” he promised her, “We’re only sixteen. We’re not even supposed to have kids yet.”
The moment he said it, he knew he shouldn’t. Wanda once again burst into tears. Her powers flung the various things in their room around like a tornado. Despite the chaos, he was calm. He knew what Wanda’s powers were and he knew that they would never hurt him.
“Wanda,” he said calmly, reaching out for his sister. “It wasn’t your fault.”
The red energy froze and Wanda wiped the tears from her face.
“Wasn’t it?” she sniffled, “I was there. I was their mother. I should have protected them.”
“So should’ve Tata” Pietro muttered, knowing it was a low blow. “He could have stopped it all. Daj’s death, Uncle Django and Aunt Marya’s, all of them, he could have stopped.”
“He left because he was trying to protect us” Wanda looked away in shame. “I lost control.”
“It’s okay, Wanda,” he pressed his head against her chest. “You’ll get your happy ending. You’ll get it. I know everything is hard and unfair but damnit you will get it one day.”
Wanda didn’t flinch but Pietro could feel that she could hear him. He talked to her for a long time. Telling her of the different things he saw and places that he was planning on going one day.
“You can come too,” he said, “I’ll take you all over the world if you want.”
“That’s sweet,” someone said behind him.
Pietro looked up to see Captain America standing at the doorway. Pietro got to his feet and placed a protective arm in front of his sister while glaring darkly at the Avenger.
“At ease, son,” the leader said, “I’m not here to take her.”
“Then why are you? What does SHIELD want now?”
“I won’t lie, they do want her” the super soldier said sadly, taking a seat on the other side of the room, being mindful of Pietro’s unease. “But I do not plan on them taking her.”
“What do you plan on?”
“I came here to invite her to join the Avengers”
“You want her to work for SHIELD?” Pietro roared, “Are you insane? Have you not seen the way they look at her?”
“I know but it may be the only way to keep her from their clutches”
“How?”
“You’ve seen the news”
Who hadn’t? Congress debating on whether or not mutants get to live their lives in peace. Every night everyone would huddle around the massive flatscreen to watch as congress debated and their teachers did their best to persuade as many as they could against it. The radio was always on, receiving updates and verdicts and decisions being made.
“If it gets passed, they’ll come for her” Captain America said, “But if she’s an Avenger, she can be safe from them.”
“What makes you say that?”
“The team will protect her”
“The X-Men will too, and we’re not living at SHIELD’s base”
“I don’t mean physically, though we would defend her that way should it be necessary, but rather legally”
“Legally?”
“The only thing that is protecting the X-Men is her not being one”
Pietro nodded with shame. He had been so selfish when he joined. He left his sister vulnerable and alone while he ran off with sanctuary and never once told her why she had never been allowed to join; or stood up against the cowardness.
“The Avengers work for the government but act as a separate entity” Captain America explained, “We work with other nations as well with several of them having laws that protect mutants from what the Mutant Registration Act will enact.”
Pietro looked back at Wanda and sighed. He wanted her to be safe, happy, and healthy. He wanted her to stay as far away from SHIELD as she could.
“Why are you telling me this?” he asked, “It’s her choice, not mine.”
“You’re right,” the Avenger said, “But I thought it would be more meaningful if I told you as the leader of the team.”
“Why do you care so much?” Pietro asked, looking at his sister. “I mean, you’re a hero but you never spend this much time with all the random civilians that you’ve saved.”
“I’ve spent my entire life trying to save people from Nazis” Captain America looked tiredly at the two. “I went under the ice in the forties and they were in Germany. I woke up almost a century later and they’re at home. I guess I feel that I owe it to you two. I thought I stopped them but I was wrong. I just made them harder to find and made their experiments worse.”
“What do you mean?”
“You don’t know,” the blond asked.
“Know what?”
“What the project you two were in was about”
“They wanted to make us weapons” Pietro scoffed, “What more could there be?”
“That was the purpose of the project but the reason behind it was that Dr. Zola wanted to make something greater than my late friend Dr. Erskine. I know that we have no true connection but…”
The man trailed off and looked up longingly. It was a vulnerability that Pietro was not expecting.
“You promise that you will take care of her?” he asked, knowing what his sister's answer was.
“With my life”