IN HIDING
CHAPTER ONE: IN HIDING
The Avengers were divided now…
Natasha had decided to go with Steve who eventually took Wanda and Sam under his wing. The Vision had decided to tag along at some point probably just to follow Wanda. The five of them needed a place to stay, they couldn't run away forever and they didn't particularly want to either. And everything kind of just happened.
They had been living in an empty old building in New York for three weeks now, they were hiding of course but still, managing not to be recognized in a town that knew so much about them was quite the challenge. They had been on the run for about four months now so they had their routine : Steve was the one training everyone and teaching them how to stay on alert, Natasha was the one taking care of everything even remotely connected to the outside because she was the professional in hiding after all. She was also the one teaching everyone how to disguise themselves and adapt their personality according to the environment and that, was the difficult part of their training. Learning how to fight was a matter of habit but changing yourself...They all had trouble with it. All but Wanda.
The little girl with erratic powers turned out to be quite a natural at pretending. Of course Natasha had been intrigued by such capacity so she took it upon herself to train the girl from now on, a request gladly accepted by Steve who had sensed a possible bond forming between the two women. Natasha had decided to train Wanda in hand to hand combat and different fighting skills every morning and go through the whole hiding and adapting process during the afternoon. However, everyone became quite at ease with hiding so she skipped that part after a month and only kept the adapting to your environment process going on everyday between 4 and 6pm. That way she could give Wanda private fighting lessons until dark and sometimes after because the Scarlet Witch, as the media called her now, wasn't exactly comfortable around others yet.
One evening, three months ago and during a particular hard fighting lesson for Wanda because she kept ending up her back on the ground, the girl had started letting red magic spread between her fingers. Natasha had immediately backed off knowing how erratic the girl's powers could be when strong emotions hit but then, Wanda looked at Natasha and saw an inch of fear in her eyes. Of course she was afraid. How could she not be when the first time they had officially met, those same powers had torn up her mind and made her relive dark moments she had been trying and succeeding to forget. Wanda tried her best to calm down. The last thing she wanted was Natasha to leave her behind. She felt like she was the only one here that could get her in a way. So, after a few minutes, the red magic stopped and went back into Wanda's body. Natasha came closer.
“Are you okay?”
Wanda kept looking at the ground and didn't answer.
“Hey Wanda look at me.”
So she did. She had such sadness in her eyes that Natasha didn't ask her if she was okay this time.
“Hey it's all gonna be…”
“I'm sorry …” Wanda said in the middle of Natasha's sentence.
“What for?” Natasha asked
“Losing control for a bit I didn't mean to scare you.”
“You didn't.”
Wanda looked at her knowingly.
Natasha smiled.
“Okay maybe you surprised me a little bit but hey I wouldn't be happy either if I kept having my ass kicked.”
That made Wanda smile.
“You wouldn't though.”
“I wouldn't what?” Natasha asked already knowing the answer.
“Keep having your ass kicked.” Wanda said with a smile forming on her lips.
“Ok maybe I wouldn't.”
They both laughed at that.
The following days, Wanda kept the training going until 11pm which was fine with Natasha. She didn't sleep much but she was quite curious as to know the reason behind it. So one night, she just decided to mention it while teaching Wanda how to forecast an attack.
“Are you having issues sleeping?” Wanda clearly didn't expect that one and didn't manage to avoid Natasha's punch to her stomach. She hissed a bit at the pain.
“What makes you think that?”
Natasha smirked.
“I'm a spy Wanda, my job is to notice this kind of things. So?”
“I've been having...nightmares.”
“What kind of nightmares ?” Natasha asked carefully.
Wanda felt and looked uncomfortable as far as Natasha could tell but she needed her to be focused and stable if they had to survive together as a team.
“The kind that wake me up in the middle of the night feeling scared and helpless. I can't control my powers when that happens and I couldn't forgive myself if I hurt someone again.”
Again...Natasha knew Wanda was still haunted by what had happened in Sokovia and Lagos, how she felt responsible. Natasha herself was haunted by all the red she had under her boots.
“Are you scared of your powers Wanda?” Natasha actually wasn't sure of the answer to that one, the girl was private after all.
“No.” she said with conviction, “but I'm afraid of my emotions.”
Wanda had no idea why she was talking about it so suddenly but she felt like Natasha would understand. And she did. How could she not when she herself had stopped trying to sleep for more than a few hours many years ago. Natasha knew that Wanda had been through so much already and, like her, she had lost many and was the only one left standing. She had been experienced on willingly, because the girl was just looking for a purpose that she thought revenge would give her. Then, when she and her brother decided to fight for what was right she had lost him, she had lost a part of herself. That's when her powers started to become erratic. Then everything just happened so fast she had to choose a side, accept her powers for what they were and because of it she had been locked up again with a shock collar like an animal. She had been quiet for the most part after that, making herself discreet. But the worst part is that she wasn't that afraid of other people, she was afraid that she would never fit. She felt so different from them. But then she had Natasha. She had seen inside of the Black Widow's head and she was just as broken, maybe more. She felt safe, understood and a little bit more like herself when they were together even though they weren't talking that much.
But tonight they were and it felt like a real connection. Maybe she could interact with people again in a way she had never been able to, even as a kid. And though she never said it, Natasha felt it too. So that night, they didn't even try to pretend sleeping, they both disguised themselves and went out. Both being comfortable with the whole hiding and pretending thing, they just walked in silence, enjoying the calm of night and the cold of the wind. They walked until finding a small area with young people, mostly teenagers and children playing and a few food trucks around them, light bulbs of different colours in the street and it all felt so different and yet so welcoming that they stayed there, sat and just watched as people lived at night. They had to go back at some point though. Everyone was asleep when they left but they couldn't risk having one of the boys panic if their absence without warning was noticed. So they went back, slowly making small talks but also talking about Wanda's memories with Pietro and Natasha's story and how Hawkeye had been there for her. They laughed at the man's overwhelming need to help lost causes and of course he had been there for both of them so they missed him but they were happy to know that he was with his family. Natasha was happy to know that he was being a good husband and father right now especially with baby Nathaniel now, that house must be a handful for them. They arrived at their building, walked the stairs and went to their respective “parts of the floor” that they wouldn't call rooms for some reason.
The next morning, they all found each other over breakfast. Of course Natasha was the first one up so by the time they all arrived she had already prepared coffee and some bread, that's all they could have because they didn't have much. Yet, when Wanda arrived, Natasha gave her tea, the fact that the witch hated coffee and fought everything inside of her every morning to drink it had come up during their conversation the night before, so when she got up, Natasha went to buy some tea. She knew how complicated life in hiding could be so she tried her best to improve it a bit for the newest member of the team. Wanda smiled at that and mouthed a thank you answered by a smile from Natasha.
Today, four months after the beginning of their adventure and three since Natasha had started giving tea to Wanda every morning, the team was what you could call a family. They had their habits and grew more comfortable around each other. Even Wanda started to train with Steve too, they had movie nights during which Natasha couldn't help talking and Vision couldn't help looking highly focused as if to understand the meaning behind every action. They were all laughing about it. Natasha and Wanda grew closer too, they had had countless night talks since their first. They kept visiting new places and streets every night but always ended up where they ended up the first time. They called it the Wagon now because kids and teenagers kept moving and exchanging there. They had talks about their past, even Natasha talked about hers, she talked a little about the Red Room, about the Shield and Hydra and they would usually go back and do the same the next day. There was just something in Wanda that made Natasha trust her, even if her conditioning begged her not to say that much, deep down she knew she could. Even at movie nights they got closer, being next to each other, they got really great friends, they smiled more, laughed more and the atmosphere was lighter for everyone. They trusted each other now, all of them even though the Vision was a little awkward around Wanda if you can even say that. Natasha had talked about it with Wanda but Wanda had said he probably just had a rough time adapting to human interactions. But they were acting as a whole and things weren't so bad, they wouldn't have minded staying like that a little bit longer but nothing lasts forever, does it?