Wanda stood back and away from the two other women in the room, with Pietro at her side. Despite their impromptu alliance against Madame Hydra, there was a tangible tension- something unresolved and uncertain. Harry had been the one who had believed in her, after all, what were the chances that his teammates would go along with his judgement?
Not that she feared them physically, she and Pietro could handle them in a fight. But… where would they go if the Avengers rejected them? It wasn't like they didn't deserve it. More than anything, what Wanda felt was guilt. That, more than anything was what kept her here. The hope that she could somehow make things right, to truly feel like she was a good person again.
"What the hell?" Skye muttered "How did he even…" Wanda's eyes were drawn to the computer screen that Skye was occupied with, and immediately agreed with her assessment.
"I didn't know he could travel that far, or that quickly." Wanda said, with a glance at Pietro. He shrugged, as if to say I could beat that. Which he absolutely couldn't, at least not now.
"He could, if he had a wand." Natasha answered her. "But without it, he never wanted to try because he hurt could himself."
"He's too reckless." Wanda surmised, seeing how Harry keeled over and wretched on screen. She'd seen it over and over again in his memories, Harry charging recklessly into dangerous situations to save people he cared about, or even strangers. He must have seen that Steve Rogers was struggling and come to his aid. "He hurt himself."
"Dumbass." Skye snorted.
"I'm going to kick his ass." Natasha agreed. Then she turned to Wanda and Pietro "You want to help?"
Skye whipped her head around, her hair falling into her face "Excuse me? Did you forget what she did to Harry?"
"And then they saved our lives. If you're going to judge people for the worst things they've ever done, you're to have to judge me." There was a challenge in her tone, but also something raw, like she was opening up a festering wound. "I doubt they've ever even killed someone. You've never seen my ledger, Skye, and I don't think you'd want to."
Skye was speechless, so Natasha went on. "Besides, if they really wanted to, they could kill us right here. Instead, they're waiting patiently for us to make a decision, and frankly we could use all the help we can get right now."
Skye sighed "You know I can't argue with you." She glanced at Wanda "But I don't trust her."
"You think I do?" Nat returned sardonically. Yes, of course the legendary Black Widow wouldn't trust so easily... but she was giving them a chance, which was more than Wanda had expected.
Her dive into Harry's mind had given her a better view of his teammates- the Avengers- than the news or Hydra intelligence ever had. She knew that Harry respected them, loved them. Those feelings were never more dissonant when it came to Tony Stark, but already she could see what he saw in Natasha Romanoff. "All I care about right now is getting back to D.C. The team needs us." Romanoff continued.
"Are you sure about that?" Pietro said wryly, gesturing to the screen, where Stark and Thor had joined the other two Avengers.
Skye snorted at the spectacle; they were practically posing. Well, Stark and Thor definitely were- Rogers and Harry looked dead on their feet. Regardless, it was clear how the coming fight would go.
"Okay, maybe the team will be okay. But Shield…" Skye trailed off.
"What about it?" Pietro sniped "When has Shield ever done any good?"
"Hey! Until five seconds ago you two worked for a Nazi organization that was also a part of Shield! All of the really bad stuff, the stuff that got me and Harry to go on our own was Hydra!" Skye snapped back, she turned to Natasha for support but found only a cold silence as she stared contemplatively at the screen.
"Hydra didn't try to nuke New York." Romanoff said distantly.
"What?" Three voices said simultaneously, in various tones of shock and confusion.
"When did this happen?" Skye managed, sounding strangled.
"It was during the Battle of New York." Natasha shrugged "Unanimous council decision. Fury tried to stop it, couldn't. Tony carried the thing into the wormhole and used it to blow up the Chitauri ship, but of course the missile wasn't launched with that intention. They intended on killing millions of people. Naturally, the public was never made aware of any of this." She said this all almost casually, but beneath that veneer was pure disgust.
It was the kind of cold logic Wanda expected to be used for her country, but she hadn't imagined Shield would use the same logic for Americans. It was odd, almost satisfying to see a sort of equality in how Shield treated people. On the other hand, she wondered if Shield was willing to nuke New York, what would the be willing to do to the rest of the world in the name of the greater good?
"So yeah, all in favor of letting both Shield and Hydra rot and die?" Pietro raised his hand.
Skye seemed to sag, and Wanda felt a loss about her- what was Shield to her? But the expression was fleeting, and in the next moment Skye went back to alert. "My team." She said "Natasha, look, I need to find them. With Hydra… they could be…"
Ah. It wasn't the organization that Skye was mourning. It was the people. Wanda couldn't relate. She and Pietro hadn't made any friends while in Hydra. Perhaps that said something. Not a single personal connection with any of them. She'd seen all the signs that they were getting into something bad, but neither of them had let that stop them. It had been a deal with the devil- help her people, avenge her family, but the price… she had been prepared to die, but she hadn't been prepared for the prospect of looking herself in the mirror and seeing a monster.
"There's something…" Natasha's expression became calculating, after some thought, she explained. "When first met Harry, Hydra sent the Winter Soldier after us. I assumed that whoever had sent him must have hacked into Shield's communications. But now… I find it odd that it happened right after Coulson's team was informed."
"Odd?" Skye's voice wavered.
"Suspicious."
"They wouldn't."
"Not one of them?"
"Not one." Skye said emphatically "Not a damn one of them would betray us."
"Open your eyes." Natasha returned "The entire organization is rotten, from the very bottom to the very top. Are you telling me that no one under Coulson ever acted even a slightly suspicious?"
Skye shook her head, repeating her denial less emphatically "No."
It was remarkable, watching Romanoff work, wielding words like weapons. "Harry was one of their main targets, you know. Did anyone else volunteer to follow him, that night you left?"
"He wouldn't." Skye denied immediately, and Natasha's eyes lit up.
"Who?"
"Ward, Grant Ward." She said with a slight shake of her head "But he's not a traitor!"
"You." Natasha turned to Wanda "Could you determine whether someone is being truthful or not with your powers?"
"Yes, but they'd know that I was in their minds." Wanda felt… odd about being asked to use her abilities like that again. Was it alright now, that it was for a good cause, or would she just be futilely trying to right a wrong with another wrong?
Natasha considered that "Hopefully we won't need it. I think we'll be able to figure it out without that, but it would be nice to have in our back pocket. Now-" Her gaze swept across the room "Who wants to go on a field trip?"
-----
Harry was ready to collapse. Jet lag combined with the painful effects of long-distance apparition and sheer mental exhaustion had done a number on him, and he felt nearly half-dead.
After the confrontation on top of Fort Meade, the rest of Hydra had been a mop up operation. Tony and Thor had caught a trio of Helicarriers in mid-launch and had disabled them with sheer firepower before they could even clear the launch bay. The elements of the Hydra organization had scattered to the wind. Many had been caught, but there were a slew of loose ends- he was sure Clint and Natasha would have their jobs cut out for them after this.
Speak of the devil…
"Ah! Nat!" Harry cried automatically as the spy pinched his ear and dragged him to face her. "I don't need to be led around by the ear."
"Apparently, you do." Nat snapped. "One minute you were there, and the next you were halfway across the world. What the hell?"
Harry flushed, feeling sheepish. "In my defense, I didn't plan any of it. It just sort of… happened?"
"I… I don't know if that makes it better or worse." Nat said, sounding tired more than anything.
"Are you okay?"
"Me? I'm not the one suffering from internal hemorrhaging from teleporting across the fucking world." Minor internal hemorrhaging Harry resisted the urge to correct, knowing the distinction wasn't important right now.
"You had your mind fucked with, you almost died, you almost lost someone you care about, you discovered the organization you worked for is run by Nazis. Yeah, no reason at all to be upset." He said instead.
Natasha grumbled under her breath- something about him being infuriatingly sweet- while Harry's eyes were drawn further afield to where the Maximoffs were trapped in a tense conversation with some security personnel. "I see you let Wanda and Pietro come with you."
"Well, they did save us." Nat said, ever pragmatic, though Harry began to suspect that there was a little more to it than that. After all, hadn't Natasha once been in Wanda's shoes, trying to get out of a bad organization, just needing a person who believed in her? "And she's as pissed at you as I am for your little stunt."
"Great." Harry said, deadpan. At least they were bonding over it, apparently, he'd rather them not be at odds if he could help it. "Just what I need, where's Skye?"
"Taking care of some loose ends." Natasha told him. "Coulson's team had a mole. Asshole is the one who sicced the Winter Soldier after you when we met." She held up a hand to stall him "We took care of them, everyone's fine. Just…"
"Traumatized that one of their friends betrayed them?" Harry offered.
"Yeah." Nat winced, and Harry felt his heart going out to Skye. God, she'd told him how much she loved her team, felt like they were a sort of family. It had made her decision to go with him even more touching. He hoped her team was there for her now, that they were there for each other.
"Well, there's a lot you need to be filled in on." Harry muttered "Things have been moving fast, to say the least."
"Don't think you're off the hook, Harry. Go sleep."
"But-"
"Sleep. Or I'll send Wanda after you."
He spared one last look at said woman before he let Natasha guide him away. The silent communication was received- they had a lot to talk about… later.
-----
Later came late the next morning. Harry, frankly, still felt like shit, but he had hope that some (more) tea would at least perk him up. Wanda, perhaps not coincidentally, appeared in the cafeteria only minutes after he did, and after a flicker of eye contact, she sat across from him on the small table. The room was sparsely populated enough that Harry felt they had at least a measure of privacy, so he felt free to speak frankly. "How are you holding up? I know this has been an adjustment for you." Not just a different country, but a different worldview. Going from Hydra to the Avengers in only a day would leave anyone disoriented.
"It's been… interesting." Wanda said frankly "Not how I expected, even when I switched sides."
"You thought you were going to be put under a microscope." That's how Shield had treated him, after all. But Shield didn't even exist anymore, there really wasn't anyone in charge around here at the moment. The Avengers were an authority of their own, the U.S. Government was trying to cover its own ass and didn't dare to threaten the Avengers due to the possible political blowback. Fury might have been able to take control of the situation through force of personality alone, and while he wasn't dead as they'd been led to believe he was in no condition to be ordering anyone around anytime soon.
That left the Avengers themselves, who had no formal leadership system to begin with. They just sort of… worked.
"It's odd. Clint is keeping an eye on us." Harry noted the familiar use of his first name "But he's… friendly. He doesn't act like a government agent, or someone who's trying to figure out if we're a threat."
"Well, he's not a government agent, not anymore." Harry mused. "Without Shield, Clint is a full time Avenger. I think it's an improvement."
Was he imagining just how fondly Wanda was looking at him? "What about you?" She asked.
"Oh, you know, I'm fine." He deflected
"That's how it always is with you, isn't it?" Wanda said with a hint of a challenge.
"Have you been talking to Nat, or did you pick that up during your little jaunt through my head?" He tapped his temple for emphasis, hoping that he came across as teasing. Wanda still winced.
"Yeah. About that." Any trace of good humor was wiped away in an instant "Harry, I need you to know that I'm sorry."
"I know." Harry told her with a small smile "I know."
"No!" She insisted "I feel like dirt. I hurt you so badly and here you are just… forgiving me, just like that."
He felt his heart go out to her and put a hand on her upper arm. The 'old' Avengers did discuss the Maximoffs earlier that morning, but they were all surprisingly sympathetic. Natasha and Clint already had a certain rapport with them. Tony just felt guilty about their parents and wanted to give them leeway. Steve had just dryly noted that 'Yeah, only a monster would let a German scientist experiment on them.' and that had been that. Assuming they acted in good faith, the twins could be Avengers if they wanted.
"I'm not going to soften things for you. Joining Hydra was an absolutely terrible decision. You made assumptions about me, about the other Avengers, and you almost caused a lot of innocent deaths." She bowed her head in shame. "But I was in here, Wanda." This time he tapped her temple, and she suppressed a wet giggle at the action. "Trust me, you aren't a bad person. I know that you're a good person that was backed into a terrible, unfair situation. You grew up in a war, lost your family, you spent most of your life struggling to stay alive while your world fell apart around you. I know how it feels."
"Yeah, you do, and you never became cruel." Like I did, was the silent implication.
"That wasn't something innate." He remembered the Sorting Hat telling him he'd 'do well in Slytherin', and Dumbledore telling him that it was his choices who made him who he was. "It was a choice, a series of decisions. And sometimes I chose wrong, sometimes I screwed up, but you can always choose to do better." He leaned in, seeking eye contact with her, hoping that he got his point through. "The guilt that you feel, that desire to make things right is proof that you can change your path. That's what you're doing right now."
Finally, she looked up, and she seemed to melt at the sincerity in his eyes. She shook her head, a warm smile coming to her lips "You're amazing." The words tumbled out of her mouth unbidden, and Harry felt his cheeks grow hot.
"Er, thanks." He said, suddenly awkward, and he grasped for another topic "I think you should talk to Tony."
"What?" She seemed more flabbergasted than offended, at least initially, Harry took that as an opening to make his case.
"You think he doesn't understand what its like make a ton of mistakes, hurt people, and come to regret it? He didn't stop making weapons just for kicks, Wanda. He stopped because he did what you're trying to do. I think if you talk to him, you'll find you might have more in common than you think." While Tony may be far more privileged than Wanda, he had lost his parents young. That wasn't Harry's story to tell, however. "I guarantee that he feels terrible about what happened to your family. I think, if you two just talk, you might be able to get some closure."
He was pleased to see that she actually seemed to be considering his words. He knew that her animosity towards the man ran deep. He remembered being told again and again that 'Professor Snape really was a good person and Harry just needed to respect him'. Of course, the difference was that if given the chance Harry was sure that Tony would try to make amends with Wanda and Pietro. He didn't know how well Tony would do with that, but Harry knew he would try. Snape had never shown Harry anything other than resentment and loathing, at least not until his very last moments.
Perhaps he was naïve, but he had to believe if Tony, Wanda, and Pietro went into this genuinely trying to see each other, they would be able to work things out.
There was one other thing he needed to talk to Wanda about. Had she seen what he saw at the end of her dive into his mind? But honestly, he didn't feel ready to have that conversation, and looking at Wanda, she wasn't ready either. They both had more immediate problems, and at the moment Harry didn't feel like triggering an existential crisis by opening that can of worms.
So instead, Harry let himself enjoy breakfast with Wanda. The upcoming day would be busy enough.
-----
"Well, things worked out. It wasn't pretty, but that's basically our MO. Our deal isn't so much organized chaos as it is planned chaos." A very tired looking Bruce Banner said wryly. Even through the screen it was clear that he'd been through the wringer- his transformations always strained him, on top of a fight as intense as the one he'd had with the Abomination.
But Bruce was by no means out of place. Harry still looked vaguely ill, and Steve looked like he was in another world. And Natasha? She was tired. She'd been on for 24 hours straight, with only naps in between.
"What's the difference?" Wanda asked.
"There is no method to the madness. The method is the madness." Clint supplied to her. Some sort of fatherly instinct had him acting as a guide to the two teens. Wanda had been grateful, almost eager to form bonds with the people around her, while Pietro had a decidedly rebellious streak that had Clint pulling out his hair. He had kids, though, he was used to the frustration.
The briefing, with a kludged together mix of in person and remote participants, was as much to coordinate and update the team on what had happened since Hydra had attacked as it was an unofficial induction for the (also unofficial) new members- Wilson, Rhodes, Skye, and the Maximoffs. Without the expanded roster, they never would have been able to weather Hydra's attack. The fact that most of that expansion had been completely improvised was besides the point- that was their MO, after all. Pepper had even told her she was relieved about the additions, that it would finally get her public relations people off her back about the diversity of the team. Which… fair.
"We'll be spending months sorting through this mess, at least." Natasha led them back on track "Hydra- Shield, there's no way to tell where one begins and the other ends. We have Hydra cells scattered across the world, and fragmented Shield cells too. We need to decide what to do with them as well."
"There's also this 'Madame Hydra'." Harry added "She's dangerous, very dangerous. If she wants to, she'll be able to coalesce all of Hydra into her orbit. We need to figure out who she is, her history, what she wants."
"All the more reason to go after them now, while they're reeling." Tony said. Normally, Steve would be guiding the discussion like this- but he was obviously not feeling it right now, and Tony was 'forced' to be more responsible to compensate. The conversation meandered along, piecing together a strategy for dismantling Hydra's forces, until Steve interrupted.
"Is there any word on Bucky?"
A few members of the team exchanged looks "He's not exactly cooperating." Nat said carefully. Bucky Barnes had been behaving… erratically to say the least, but at least he showed more promise than Hydra's other surviving super-soldiers- they were almost rabidly aggressive, and it was hard to see how they could possibly be safely contained.
"I think he's starting to remember." Steve insisted "The way he acts when I walk into the room… there's something."
"Hydra's done a number on him." Clint said more bluntly "Not just physical enhancements, right? Some sort of brainwashing." He looked to Wanda "Maybe you could take a look. Or Harry."
Harry grimaced and looked somewhat embarrassed when he admitted "I'll see what I can do, but, erm, mental magic was never really my strong suit."
"What about his arm? It can deflect Harry's spells. The only things we've seen do that are Thor's Hammer and Cap's Shield." Banner's more practical question steered the conversation away from the tense topic of Bucky's mental health.
"Fitz is saying that it's a Vibranium alloy." Skye spoke up. She'd been spending much of her time with her old team and had come to act as an impromptu liaison between them and the Avengers. "So, a lot like Cap's Shield, except not pure Vibranium… no idea where Hydra got it without anyone noticing though, that shit's supposed to be super rare."
"There is a black-market dealer." Nat said "Ulysses Klaue. Apparently, he stole it from Wakanda."
Harry crunched his brow in a way that Nat couldn't help but find adorable "Never heard of it."
"It's a tiny African country, supposedly a backwater." Nat told him "Though if you start looking into it, things start to really not add up." There had been rumors about the country, of vast stores of Vibranium, even advanced technology, without any solid proof. Any information at all on Wakanda was elusive, what press that was allowed in was led around as if in a museum. Natasha doubted a single foreigner had gotten to see the real Wakanda.
"Yeah." Tony interjected "Wakanda's definitely one of our points of interest." He turned to Pepper on screen, his nodded in confirmation "And if Hydra was able to get Vibranium from them, we'll need to make sure they're secure. We have enough super-weapons hanging around, thanks."
"Right, we'll put it on our to-do list." Clint quipped "Right after the other two dozen points of interest."
The meeting wound on. Natasha always found meetings with the Avengers to be far more bearable than anything Shield's boardrooms had had to offer. There was a certain chemistry the team had that she never found anywhere else. Regardless, her exhaustion was catching up to her, even with all the coffee in the world, she could tell that a crash was imminent.
She shouldn't have been surprised that her teammates had noticed, or that Harry and Clint shared a significant look before Harry led her away after the meeting. "Sleep." He told her.
Natasha tried to protest, but Harry wasn't going to be discouraged "Sleep, or I'll sic- well I'll sic somebody on you."
"Wow, so intimidating." Nat deadpanned, but she truly was tired, and didn't have the energy to fight him. So she let him lead her away, let him take her to her assigned room, let him tuck her in. And if she fell asleep against his chest… who could really blame her?