Chapter Text
At the beginning, Wanda had trouble walking. Her right leg was broken in 3 places, her left in 1. Her shoulder was dislocated and she had a broken wrist. She had two broken ribs. Not to mention all the mental trauma. Basically, she was a mess.
Jason was there for her through all of it. Wanda was eternally grateful. Not only was he helping her through all her physical struggles and nightmares, but he also uprooted his whole life for her. It was Wanda’s decision to… leave, run away. Jason didn’t even question it for a second. He didn’t tell anybody about Wanda, or even where he was going.
They stayed with Dawn and Hank for a while, just long enough for Wanda to be okay to travel, before they left for Europe. They were going to squat in one of Bruce’s safe houses, who never checked in there. He wouldn’t even notice them being there.
They stayed in Ljubljana for a month. After that, they left for Iceland. Wanda had always wanted to go. One of the first things she saw was a picture of volcanoes. She had woken up in the Avengers facility and there were a few magazines on a table. They were purely decorative, but they intrigued Wanda.
She ended up doing a lot of research on Iceland. She found out that mosquitoes didn’t exist there, and that strip clubs were illegal, and that they don’t have an army!
Wanda fell in love with the country, and Jason loved her, so he rented a cabin in Reykjavik and they stayed there for a while too.
After Wanda was completely healed and practically good as new, they started traveling more, to busier places in Europe and staying places a bit shorter.
They went to Amsterdam, where the whole city smelled like weed. Jason loved it there especially. Then they went to Paris, followed by Nice, followed by Venice and Milan. After those, they stopped having a plan and they just hopped on a train and saw where life would take them.
They joked about being hippy gypsies, flying through life without a cause. It was great and they loved living like that. Jason was an adrenaline junkie and lived for the thrill. Wanda, after all, she’d been through, not so much. But it was okay, the thrill of being with the girl he loved and not knowing where he was going, was enough for him.
Not to mention all the activities they did. They went cliff diving, just like Wanda had dreamed, and they went rock climbing, and they had made plans to climb Mount Everest. A little ambitious, but they had time to learn.
They’d reached Verona, a beautiful city in Italy. Wanda wanted to go university shopping. She told Jason she wanted to see the architecture and how students in different countries act. Which was true, to an extent. Cultural differences were interesting to Wanda, but part of her actually missed school. She wanted to learn new things, she fell in love with learning, especially subjects she chose to learn about. But she didn’t want this adventure to end, so she held her tongue.
They were currently sitting in a cute little café for lunch, and discussing their afternoon plans. “I really want to go treasure-” Wanda was naming things they could do, but was interrupted by a huge explosion. Jason instinctively grabbed Wanda and put a protective arm around her, crouching down.
Chaos ensued around them and people were running for their lives. Jason pulled Wanda to the side and started leading her away from the mayhem, but Wanda stopped him.
“Jason we can’t just leave!”
“Wanda, if we stay we risk getting caught!” Jason warned her.
“If we go people will die!” Wanda pleaded. Jason sighed and stayed silent for a moment.
“Okay.” He gave and they made their way into the chaos.
There was a research facility not too far away. A group of masked people decided to break into it. Apparently the scientists working there were on the verge of a major breakthrough that could save millions of people, but also make the pharmaceutical sector take a hit.
A bomb went off in the east wing, but the rest of the building was still okay when Jason and Wanda got there. Wanda closed her eyes and felt through the walls where the people were. They were split up so Wanda and Jason split up too. Jason took them down pretty easily, he had the element of surprise and extensive combat training on his side. Wanda, on the other hand, had a little trouble. Sure she too had the element of surprise on her side, but she wasn’t trained the way Jason was.
She made a chemical bomb from the chemicals she found lying around. She threw it inside and tried to disarm the three men. One way or another, she ended up with 3 guns facing her. Next thing she knew, they were on the ground spasming. She didn’t know how that happened, but her job there was done. She left to find Jason.
Somehow this got to the other side of the world.
“Whatcha looking at?” Sam asked Tony, as he popped into his office. He called Tony’s name twice but didn’t get an answer.
“10 fuckers hired by the CEO of a pharmaceutical company tried to destroy a cure for some disease. They got caught. 3 of them got aneurysms out of nowhere. They seemed healthy and fit. How coincidental is that?” Tony said, without looking up from his computer screen.
“If they were all in the same room which had chemicals in it, not that coincidental,” Sam said as he pulled up a chair next to Tony, growing an interest in the case.
“It’s peculiar. The others got beaten up by someone. The security cameras inside the building were out. The ones outside were old. The only people they found walking in were 2 young teenagers. Well, they haven’t confirmed their age, but it looks like it to me. One girl, one boy. The girl is about 5’5.” Tony noted. Sam got what Tony was saying.
“Tony, that girl is not Wanda!” Sam exclaimed.
“I’m not saying it is. I’m just saying, it’s a young girl, about Wanda’s height and frame.” Tony defended.
“Tony, I know it’s hard to hear, but Wanda’s gone . She’s gone. The odds are she’s dead, just like all the other people in that Hydra facility. She’s at peace now.” Sam gave him the cold hard truth, or what he thought it was. He softly added, “Besides, Wanda’s a brunette with long hair. The girl in the video has choppy blonde hair.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” Tony said as he shut the tab. “I just see her everywhere.”
“No, Tony. You look for her everywhere, but she’s not everywhere. Just in your head.” Sam said softly. “You should start trying to accept that she might not come back. Ever.”
“I can’t just give up, Sam,” Tony said, exhausted.
“You’re not giving up. You’re choosing to live in reality.”