Chapter Text
"It's over. Fury has released everything to the public."
"Everything he knows about."
"Herr Strucker, if they get word of our work here, if they find out we serve HYDRA..."
"HYDRA. S.H.I.E.L.D. Two sides of a coin that's no longer currency. What we have... is worth more than any of them ever knew."
―List and Wolfgang von Strucker, Captain America: The Winter Soldier
December 21st, 2013
Golden City, Wakanda
Wanda sat very still; meditating had been one of the only things she could do before training back in the compound in Serbia or Moscow with the Winter Soldier and the Black Widow. The memories of it were still fresh in her mind. She still remembered it all, how the Winter Soldier had snapped out of his trance with her help, her powers, and he helped her be free. Pietro never knew until they met again in Sokovia.
"My name is Wanda Stark."
She knew who he was, with kind brown eyes and infectious laughter. Tony Stark was her father; no matter how many times Hydra or the Doctor would try to have her forget, she just couldn't. She could never forget her name and played along to their lies when she was a bit older. But it beat in her head like a drum, her name over and over. Sometimes she could hear a woman's voice singing to her, words that she could not make out, but the tune was soft, sounding like a lullaby. She remembered the Winter Solider or Sergent Barnes as she heard some call him. She remembered the formidable Black Widow, or the Iron Maiden as she was called amongst Hydra, who trained her whenever they sent the Winter Soldier on a mission.
Hydra had sculpted Wanda to kill, and that was what she did. She knew what to do and how to do it quickly, efficiently, and sometimes quietly. They partnered her up with either the Iron Maiden or the Winter Soldier. Never alone.
Wanda had been cooped up in the room for god knows how many hours when the Wakandans (captors, her mind whispered) came. Every nerve in her body told her to strike until the walls covered blood, and she could escape again. But then she remembered the Winter Soldier and the Iron Maiden, how they told her to go, never to look back.
It was a mission gone awry, and Wanda did not know how it happened or how Melina or James did it. Yet they did it. They freed her, tore open the chip the scientists had put into her neck and tore it out, her neck bandaged, and Melina told her to run. To take her gun and ran until she could see land or a human willing to help. They had been close to what was known to the world as Wakanda. Someone near the rivers helped her as she lost consciousness. She was a girl, maybe roughly younger than Wanda; she was not sure. What she was sure of when she woke up was that she was in a laboratory. Then she blacked out again until she woke up in a simple room.
Panic rose in her that maybe Strucker had found her. Wanda would not be taken again.
"My name is Wanda Stark."
The name brought to power that even she did not know yet.
"Miss Stark?" She realized she had been in her head, not hearing anything they had told her. They were not her captors and had saved her thanks in part to Princess Shuri and Prince T'Challa. He seemed a few years older than Wanda, noble and kind. The King and Queen looked at Wanda with nothing that she could read off them, but she knew one thing: she was a trespasser in their home. "You should be dead."
"You died years ago with your mother in a plane crash in Norway, close to Tønsberg. Yet you are here, alive." T'Chaka spoke to her gently as if she would break. Maybe she would, but she did not. She should be dead, considering who trained her since she was six years old.
"I do not know," Wanda said to the King. "I was taken, kidnapped, and my mother tried... she tried to stop, but it was no use. I was taken to Doctor Wolfgang von Strucker. I have known only the cells as my home and prison. I should be dead, but I am not. They saved me, and I can never repay my debt to them."
"Who?" Shuri asked, even as Ramonda chided her youngest.
Wanda wiped a stray tear from her cheek. Do not show tears, little witch. It will only make you weaker, the Soldier whispered in her ears. "The closest people I have to a family. They saved me. They freed me."
Wanda stayed in Wakanda, never venturing out because she did not want to. She knew there were guards outside her door. Their names were Ayo and Nomble. Sooner or later, with the tests that Princess Shuri or whoever saved her, they will know what she is.
A miracle, Strucker said in awe. The others agreed; even the man in the suit and American accent said so. A blessing, a weapon. Nothing else to them but that.
The two guards were inside rather than outside this time, mainly because they wanted to. In reality, the Prince and Princess told them to because Wanda, it seemed, needed companionship. "Do you speak any other languages?" Nomble asked her.
Wanda blinked. It was probably the first time they had spoken since she arrived in this mysterious country. She nodded. Of course, she spoke other languages, and she was trained for it. Like a Black Widow, she remembered the Iron Maiden murmured.
"I am not sure how many," She told them. They looked at her curiously, and Nomble smiled to encourage her to speak more. She did. "English, Russian, Romanian, German, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Xhosa, Spanish-both. Castillian and Latin American Spanish, mostly from Mexico's part."
"You know our mother tongue?" Ayo asked in Xhosa.
"I do," Wanda spoke back in the same language. Ever since she could remember, it was all training, combat, and languages to infiltrate and kill. She wondered if they had not thought her a threat, but neither of them showed it, just utter surprise that some caucasian young woman knew their language and could speak it fluently as they could.
"You were trained," It was a statement, not a question. Wanda nodded. "What were you trained to do?"
"Kill," Wanda said without any hesitation, staring at the two Doras. "I was a weapon to them."
There was a hint of sympathy from Nomble but it disappeared instantly when the door opened. The women's arms crossed into an X and uncrossed in greeting to the other Dora who entered. Wanda heard the word General and knew this woman was the head of the Dora Milajes. Trailing behind her was the Crown Prince of Wakanda. Wanda just stared at them. The Prince smiled at her. "Miss Stark," he said in greeting. "How are you? I hope that you are fine here."
"I am well as I can be," Wanda said. She subconsciously touched the scar on her neck where Melina had pulled the chip out of her and smashed James smashed it with his metal arm. Wanda knows there is no doubt there will be repercussions for them freeing her. "Your sister saved my life; I am grateful for her."
"There are questions," Okoye said and made Wanda stiffen slightly. The chip flashed in her mind. "Why was your neck cut? The princess has looked, and it seems something was put in there."
Wanda looked at the people in front of her, all waiting for answers. They would figure it out, and even she knew a bit about what the chip was, what it meant, and why Melina Vostokoff had pulled it out of her protegee's neck. "It was a thing, a chip that was meant for the Widows."
"The widows?" T'Challa asked. "Like the Black Widow? Natasha Romanoff?"
Natasha... She knew a bit about her from Melina, who would quietly remember the child she ripped. Just like Wanda had been ripped from her mother, one that she could not remember, only her voice and the lullaby she sang. She wondered, just like Melina, if her father mourned the ones he lost.
"Yes, Melina was my teacher. I was... special to the people who took me. Like Melina and the Soldier, I was a weapon to them and Hydra. He was the first, and then Melina, and finally me. Melina was a loan to Hydra from the Red Room but then became temporary since I can remember. They trained me and ensured there was a fail-safe if I stepped out of line. They could get rid of me easily." They will do that to James and Melina. The very thought of that made her heart clench, and she wanted nothing more than to see Hydra burn, to kill Draykov and Von Strucker for what they did to her and her teachers. "We were on a mission to wipe out a foreign dignitary from Chile who had come to Africa; before it could happen, Melina and James held me down and took the chip out of me. They saw the opportunity, and they took it for me. They left me here, close enough for me to walk to a village. I did not know I would be in here."
"In Wakanda," T'Challa finished. "My parents do think you are trustworthy, but I do. You will keep the secrecy of what you saw and how we saved you, Miss Stark. For the safety of my people."
Wanda smiled, but it felt false. "I promise. I am. good at keeping secrets." I have kept so many, mostly those of James, whenever I got him out of the brainwashing trance they put him under. "Your secret is safe with me, Your Highness."
"Please," He waved away the title she spoke. "T'Challa."
"Wanda," She said to him. "I presume you will be bringing me home? I doubt you want anyone else to see Wakanda because of me."
He nodded. "We will be taking you to Washington, DC. My father has quietly contacted yours to inform him of the news. Knowing Tony Stark, he will be skeptical about this, but it must be done."
"Then we will need a good cover story," Wanda told them. Okoye raised an eyebrow at her while Ayo looked on with a small smile. "I will tell them the semi-truth. Princess Shuri found me hurt, and she patched me up. The Royal Family kept me safe and sound, returning me home." Whatever home that is... She does not know the meaning of that word at all. Home might as well be her cell that they placed her in since she was six. "Your secret is safe with me, T'Challa."
It would be a week later into the new year when Prince T'Challa, with two members of the Dora Milaje, to Wanda's relief, it was Ayo and Nomble, would escort Wanda to the United States. The Royal Family or Wanda would not know what would entail when they reached the United States. SHIELD was done, collapsing onto itself and the secrets they had out in the open for all to see. HYDRA had been inside the well-known organization for decades, and all Wanda knew was that she was not one of those secrets exposed. But James Buchanan Barnes was, and so was Melina Vostokoff.
She did not know why but it was easier to talk to the Royal siblings and the two guards. Ayo and Nomble had grown on Wanda, and they, along with the Royal Family, could see the distress growing on the young woman with the news of the two most wanted fugitives. They saw nothing but distress whenever she saw the news, but they chalked it up to those two fugitives who hurt the young woman. They didn't know, and Wanda wouldn't open up about that part of her messy history. Melina Vostokoff and James Buchanan Barnes were her trainers in Hydra, but they had been the closest to a family she had in Siberia.
Her truth was covered in blood and anguish, buried in the cold Siberia. It might be buried there until Wanda unburied it for all to see. "Hydra is still alive; the saying is true. Cut off one head, and another shall take its place. They will not stop until they find them and me."
"They won't find you," T'Challa said as if his words were law. "They won't know."
Plans were changed quickly between the King and Iron Man. They would meet in New York City in the Avengers Tower, and no media would be there to keep it very quiet for Wanda's sake. Yet as the days loomed closer and closer, she could only think of Melina and James. Wherever they were, she silently hoped they escaped Hydra's and the Red Room's claws.
January 16th, 2014
Avengers Tower, New York City
Wanda fidgeted as she stood next to T'Challa and Shuri. The elevator zoomed upward to the penthouse where the Avengers and her father were. America was too loud for her tastes, but then again, she was held captive for years; she would have to adapt soon to her new surroundings.
Her hand brushed T'Challa's hand before she pulled it away, mumbling an apology. She glanced at him; he smiled gracefully, if that even was a thing. Maybe it was for him, being all royalty with lessons integrated into him from a very young age.
The Dora Milajes entered first, and the trio entered behind the King and Queen of Wakanda. Wanda looked at the Avengers, the famed heroes who saved New York not too long ago. She knew from the files that Von Strucker showed her many times before she trained. Melina and James were equals of Captain America and the Black Widow. Wanda might not have an equal among the heroes, but that did not mean she was not a threat to them. At least, that was how Hydra saw her toward the mighty heroes. She did not know how the heroes would see her.
Tony Stark stood in the front of the group, anxiety in his eyes, when Wanda stepped forward after formalities were spoken between both groups. All eyes were on them, the billionaire hero and the supposedly dead child. Tony inhaled sharply as he looked at Wanda. She looked like her mother. The cheekbones and smiles were all Hela. But he could see bits of himself in her face, not to mention the brown hair. That was his daughter; it was her.
He approached her slowly, and she did so as well until Tony cupped her face in his hands, his brown eyes looking at her face as if trying to see something before he let out a strangled laugh. The next thing she knew, he was hugging her tightly and fiercely. The room could hear the stifling cries that Wanda tried to bury but failed over the emotions taken over her. Tony just held her and whispered to himself how this was a miracle, weeping that if only her mother were here to see her. They pulled back, and Wanda wiped the tears from her eyes.
She did not want to say goodbye to T'Challa and Shuri or Ayo and Nomble. She hoped she could see them again. Time would only tell how right she was in that.
Being in the Avengers Tower was overwhelming, a bit more than being in Wakanda. She kept her promise to T'Challa, she did not utter a word about Wakanda, but that did not matter. What mattered more to Tony was how Hydra had gotten Wanda and where she had been all this time before the Wakandans found her.
"Siberia," Wanda said. She scrunched up her face. "When they moved me from place to place, they had me drugged up under Melina's watch. It was better than... the men. Besides Melina, Sergent Barnes would keep track of me and train me when Melina was on a mission. My powers grew, and with that, the training became more intense. Once I hit puberty, they deemed me well to train and spar with James. Melina would watch. She had to do so. She was one of the only Widows to survive fighting the Winter Soldier beside you," Wanda pointed to Natasha. "I survived."
Tony looked utterly heartbroken. He swore that Hydra would not get his daughter, never again.
Wanda vowed something as well, although it would be kept a secret between her and some of the Avengers, that which would end up imploding on the team itself. She promised to find the Iron Maiden and the Winter Soldier, no matter what it took.
January 29th, 2014
Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, Washington D.C.
Melina waited until James was done seeing the past. She was on high alert, and she had finally tracked her old partner down right after the mess and practically helped him after the battle over the Potomac River.
She knew that Wanda was better off with the Avengers. She knew her Talia; her Natasha would protect hers and James's protégé. They stayed in the United States for too long, but they would have to disappear soon. The quicker they left before Hydra, or Dreykov got wind, the better. She had gotten the chip out of her a day after the Potomac battle with James' help. She destroyed the chip but kept it. She had created it; she would have to find a way to destroy it for the others. Melina was just glad that Natasha never had it implanted into her.
Melina knew that James needed to see this. He needed to see if what Steve Rogers was telling the truth, one that she faintly knew. Once she saw the memorial for Sergent Barnes, it clicked as to why Hydra had been giddy over having the Winter Soldier. He was a distraction to Steve Rogers, Melina knew it after James had told her what Captain Rogers told him. She told him the whole truth that now she knew. It was twisted and tragic, but it could not be changed anymore. Melina saw James walk toward her, a haunted look on his face contrasting the chatter of children in awe towards the story of Captain America.
"Let us go," Melina said in Russian to James, who nodded. "I have tickets all ready to go now."
"Where?" He asked, his Russian fluent, as they walked towards the exits.
That was a good question: where would they hide? It could not be in the United States, no matter how much it pained them both to be unable to keep tabs on Wanda. It was for the best to keep her and themselves safe.
"Romania," She said.
The Winter Soldier and the Iron Maiden disappeared into the crowd, leaving the CIA and many frustrated about their whereabouts. Unbeknown to them, a teenage mutant would beat them to it first.