Chapter 4
"Okay, I heard from the people at the hotel that someone on the penthouse floor is hosting a party. I'm betting that one of the people in attendance is gonna be Pietro." Bucky announced as he walked back into the hotel room, Wanda sitting on the balcony and looking out at the sand beach. "What's the plan?"
"Well, obviously, we gotta send someone to go get him." Vision said, sitting down at the edge of the bed.
"Yeah, but who are we gonna send?" Sam asked. "I mean, no one's seen Pietro Maximoff in years."
"Well, the best person who has a shot at identifying Pietro Maximoff is Wanda." Natasha said, Wanda looking over at the room. "You are his twin sister."
"What?" Wanda asked.
"I think that you should go in and find your brother."
"I... I don't think so." Wanda said nervously. "One of you should go."
"But... Wanda, we have no idea what your brother looks like." Sam argued.
"I don't know what he looks like currently." Wanda said, on the defense as she curled up in a ball on the balcony chair. "The last time I saw him was when we were sixteen. I know that I've changed a lot, so he must've changed too."
"Wanda, you're the best chance at getting us in." Bucky added.
Vision sighed, staring at the ground. "I hate to say it, but they're right. You are the best chance."
"I can't go in there! I don't know what to do in that type of situation!"
"In what type of situation?" Sam asked. "In a room full of people."
"In a party." Wanda admitted. "I've never been to a party before. Do I just walk in and track him down?"
"You've never been to a party before?" Natasha asked.
"Never. Not even to birthday parties."
"I can handle this." Natasha said, walking over to Wanda and dragged Wanda up.
Wanda nervously asked, "Wha-"
"Who's gonna go with her?" Natasha asked.
When no one immediately volunteered, Vision raised his hand and said, "I'll go, I guess."
"Okay. Bucky, what time-"
"The party starts in three hours."
"Okay. Plenty of time." Natasha said, opening the door to walk to the separate room they had for Sersi's set up. "Be ready in three hours, Victor!"
"N-Natasha-"
"Wanda, it's gonna be fine." Natasha said quickly, using the key to open up the door. Sersi was still setting up her many laptops, and Natasha grabbed a suitcase from under her bed and started looking through the mounds of clothes inside.
Wanda nervously stated, "You have a lot of clothes."
"Usually, it's my job to go to things and do some recon. I have way too many clothes than I need, but I have to have clothes for just about any situation." Natasha said, holding up a short red dress, shaking her head. "No... This would clash with your hair..."
"What's going on?" Sersi asked.
"We think that Pietro is throwing a party on the rooftop slash penthouse floor, or at the very least attending said party, but Wanda here has never been to a party before and she stands the best chance at recognizing her brother, so I'm getting her ready." Natasha explained, grabbing a short blue dress with a flowy skirt of shifting blues, thin spaghetti straps being the only thing that was going to hold the dress up. Natasha held it up to Wanda and said, "Try this on."
"Why does it have to be a dress?" Wanda asked begrudgingly. "I don't like dresses and skirts. They make me uncomfortable."
"You are a princess, yet you don't like pretty dresses?" Natasha asked as Wanda walked into the bathroom for some modesty.
"I feel like the skirt is gonna flip up and show off my underwear."
"Didn't you, like, learn how to wear them in the royal court or something?" Sersi asked.
"No, actually. I was never a part of the royal court."
"You weren't?" Natasha asked, a bit surprised.
"No. My father left the royal family around the time he ended college since my grandparents didn't approve of my mother. She wasn't of royal blood and she didn't have any money to her name, so of course they disapproved, the royal family always disapproves when you go against the plan, but they eventually got married and had me and my brother. Ten years pass, my grandfather dies, one of my uncles has to take over the throne, my father and my mother attend the coronation out of good will, and I'm sure you guys know the rest." Wanda explained, taking off her leggings and sweatshirt to put on the dress. "Pietro and I were raised like any other kid in Sokovia. No pressure or anything. Now, we're in witness protection and stuff."
"Why did your brother and you separate?" Natasha asked.
"He wanted to prove that he could take care of himself and I liked the safety that America gave us. He always wanted me to join him, but... I was always the more practical twin. His mind was always racing at a million miles an hour and mine was always preoccupied with the then and now."
"And what's your mind saying currently?"
"That I have absolutely no clue what I'm doing." Wanda said, walking out of the bathroom wearing the dress, quickly zipping it up as she motioned to the outfit. "I mean, who am I kidding? I don't belong at parties or in dresses or anything like that."
"And where do you belong, in Vision's arms?" Natasha teased.
"Nat..." Sersi said exhaustedly.
Wanda sighed, staring down at the ground. "Is it really that obvious that I have a crush on him?"
"Wait, what!?" Sersi asked, surprised that everyone was right.
"You were really flustered after he kissed you yesterday." Natasha said, motioning for Wanda to spin. "Plus, I think he has a thing for you too."
"Yeah right. No one's ever had a crush on me before." Wanda said, slowly and awkwardly spinning in a circle. "I had a crush on this girl in high school and she outed me for being pansexual when I wasn't ready to be out in the open, and before that, I had a crush on my lab partner in sophomore year chemistry, he was part of the reason why I dyed my hair blonde since he had mentioned that he had a thing for blondes, and he humiliated me by tricking me into meeting me for a date, but then he sent the school bully to make fun of me relentlessly for three hours straight. Granted, that was after Pietro left and if he had found out, he probably would have killed my lab partner, but it happened."
Sersi's eyes widened. "That's horrible."
"Yeah, well, welcome to my life." Wanda said, watching as Natasha pulled out one of the chairs in the room. "What are you doing?"
"Sit down. I'm doing your hair." Natasha said, patting the chair. Wanda hesitantly sat down as Natasha got out a hair brush. "You know, you could probably just tell him. I genuinely think that he has a crush on you too."
"It would never work, especially after this week." Wanda said exhaustedly. "When I thought that he was a normal person... Maybe, but after this whole... Debacle gets sorted out, I have to go live in a big fancy castle and he'll continue doing... This."
"I'll admit, it's not easy dating someone who's a spy, but when you get to see them again after a while... I've been told it's rewarding."
"Are you dating someone too, Natasha?" Sersi asked.
"Yeah. He's a pilot. We met when we had to do a few missions together, flirted on and off, I'm pretty sure that Vision got that whole kiss thing from me, and then we started dating. We've been dating for about four years now." Natasha explained as she walked to the bathroom and grabbed a curling iron, a hair brush, and a ponytail holder. "It's not perfect, but we work."
"What do you mean about the whole kiss thing?" Wanda asked.
"Oh, you mean the whole 'people are watching us that we don't want to, let's kiss to make them turn away' thing?" Natasha asked, plugging in the curling iron to let it heat up. "I came up with that. He learned that from me. It's how my boyfriend and I got together."
Wanda turned bright red, staring at her feet. "Oh... Um..."
"Oh God, am I making you uncomfortable?" Natasha asked, setting the curling iron down on a desk as she grabbed the hair brush. "Sorry."
"I-It's fine." Wanda said quickly.
"It probably wouldn't hurt to just tell Vision, though."
"Tell him what, that I have a crush on him?"
"Yeah."
"And risk getting hurt again? No. I'm not doing that. I probably won't even see him again after this week anyway." Wanda said, gripping the edges of her dress tightly. "Don't tell anyone, please. I don't want to cause any tension with anyone."
"You got it." Natasha said, smirking.
"It's not easy dating someone... Period." Sersi said, glancing up from her laptop as she waited to be logged in. "I used to date this guy in my division, but then we broke up, and I started dating this guy in the weapons department."
"You're dating someone in the weapons department?"
"Yeah. His name's Dane, he's really nice, and he is definitely different than my last boyfriend. Ikaris is kind of a dick." Sersi said casually.
"Do you have naturally curly hair?" Natasha asked as she brushed through Wanda's hair.
"Yeah, but I usually straighten it since that makes it easier to deal with. Why?"
"Because your hair is starting to poof out the more I brush it. I'm gonna recurl it anyway, but it's just something I've noticed." Natasha explained. "Do you know how to take care of curly hair?"
"No, not really." Wanda admitted.
"I can teach you later. I mean, we're definitely going to have time after we get your brother here."
"What exactly is the plan once we get Pietro here?"
"We take you two back to Sokovia for your coronation."
"That's it?"
"That's it." Natasha said, grabbing her curling iron as she started curling Wanda's hair, taking out some small sections of hair to frame Wanda's face. "Trust me, it's gonna be fine."
"Yeah... Sure."
A couple short hours later, Vision knocked on the door. Wanda opened it up, and Vision almost froze to process. The dress showed off Wanda's legs, Vision's eyes drifting down to the black sandals on Wanda's feet before he drifted his eyes back up to her face, the messily curled ponytail framing Wanda's face almost perfectly, the blue sparkly eyeshadow and black eyeliner Wanda was wearing making her green eyes pop. Wanda crossed her arms over her chest, looking a little uncomfortable, as she said, "Hi."
"Hi... Um..." Vision said, instantly taking off his black jacket and showed off his nice short sleeved green button up, handing the jacket to Wanda. "It's supposed to get a little colder outside and you don't have much in the sleeve department."
"A-Are you sure?" Wanda stuttered. "I-I mean, it's not like you have much in the sleeve department either."
"I have slightly more than you. It's okay."
"Okay..." Wanda said, grabbing the jacket and put it on. It was baggy on her, Wanda was practically drowning in the jacket because it was so big, but she looked more comfortable when she could cover up.
Trying to ignore how cute Wanda looked in his jacket, Vision asked, "We ready to go?"
"Yeah."
"Hold on!" Sersi said, running over with two earpieces, handing one to Wanda and one to Vision. "So we can communicate with you guys."
"Oh..." Wanda said, staring down at the earpiece in confusion, as if trying to figure out how to put it in.
Vision put his earpiece in, then looked at Wanda staring at her flesh toned earpiece. Vision gently grabbed it out of Wanda's hand. "Let me."
Wanda tensed up as she felt Vision sick the earpiece into her ear, a small smile on his face. "You just... Stick it in like an earbud."
"Oh... Right."
"If you two aren't back in like... An hour, Sam and I are going up there to help." Natasha said, winking at Wanda. "Have fun!"
Natasha pushed Wanda out of the room, and Wanda stumbled, Vision quickly catching Wanda before she fell all the way down. Vision nervously asked, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Wanda said, managing to straighten how she was standing. "Let's go."
"Okay." Vision said awkwardly, leading Wands to the elevator.
They got upstairs to the roof/penthouse area, and a bouncer stopped Wanda and Vision from walking inside. "You two need invitations for the party."
"I don't need an invitation." Wanda said, crossing her arms.
"Oh, and why's that, little lady?"
"Pietro Maximoff is my twin brother."
The bouncer rolled his eyes. "Yeah right. He doesn't have any family."
Trying not to feel hurt, Wanda glared at the bouncer. Vision turned around and started muttering, "Sersi, you're gonna need to-"
Wanda walked up to the bouncer, grabbing him by the scruff of his black collar to pull him down to her level. Vision watched in shock and awe as Wanda angrily said, with a slight tilt to her head, "Listen here, buddy. This is a life or death situation. People who are wanting to kill me came to my college, and they're going to be coming here next. Do you want your boss to die, yes or no?"
"N-N-N-No ma'am."
"Then let me and my partner in to save your boss's life. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes ma'am. Right this way ma'am." The bouncer said, letting Wanda and Vision inside the party.
As soon as they were inside, Vision asked, "When did you learn intimidattion?"
"Oh, I've always been able to do that." Wanda said, shrugging. "You learned how to use a gun at age six, I learned how to intimidate people as a survival tactic."
Wanda scanned the party, finding a group of men standing in a shaded area near the entrance to the hotel penthouse. Wanda wordlessly walked over, Vision nervously following behind, as Wanda pushed through the men. Pietro was sitting in the middle, a scruffy brown beard growing on his chin, and his brown roots fading to a silvery blonde color. Wanda angrily said, "Pietro Maximoff..."
Pietro glanced up, his wide and happy smile fading to a smaller one. "Wanda... Hi, how are-"
"The people who killed our parents are back." Wanda announced.
"What?" Pietro asked, standing up to stare at Wanda, almost bewildered.
"They attacked me in England. They're bound to be coming here next." Wanda said, Vision walked over.
Vision studied the man next to Pietro with short blonde hair and a purple shirt. Vision exhaustedly tilted his head as he said, "Clint, really?"
Pietro flicked his head over to Clint as Clint stood up, a bit panicked. "Boss... Hi."
"This is a real thing?"
"Unfortunately, yes." Wanda said as someone with a circle tattoo came from behind to grab Pietro. Wanda reached forward to yank Pietro closer to her. As she did, the man with the circle tattoo grabbing Clint instead.
"Hey, let him-" Vision started to argue, grabbing a taser out of his pocket.
"Bring the Maximoff twins to Rome to get him back." The man said, forcing Clint off of the roof by jumping off of the roof, parachutes spreading of a pack.
Vision ran over to watch Clint land safely, tossing his head back in exhaustion. He looked back at Wanda and Pietro as he said, "Come on, we gotta regroup and figure out what to do. Let's go."
As Vision walked back downstairs, Pietro looked over at Wanda. "So... This has been your life for a whole now, huh?"
"You don't get to talk. Let's go." Wanda said bitterly, following Vision back downstairs to the hotel room.