Chapter Text
Wanda was getting used to the raft. She deserved this. The shock collar, the jacket. Being bound to herself, unable to move. She had come to accept that this was her new reality. She could begin to repay the debts to the world that she owed, not that she could ever compensate for all the lives lost and the blood on her hands. The shocks were painful, but they were reminders. She deserved this.
She could hear the rest of them loudly protest, at least at first. Clint could scream and Sam would try to reason with the guards. Scott would insult them, trying to make them feel guilty about torturing a young girl. It never worked. The more they yelled, the more they shocked her. So eventually, they quieted down.
So did Wanda, though. Whenever she spoke, they shocked her. Whenever she moved. Sometimes even just for fun. So she stopped everything. She could hear them talking to her sometimes late at night.
“You’re gonna get through this Red,” Sam would tell her. “Cap’s gonna get us out of here and we’re never coming back.”
“You can come to the farm,” Clint said. “You know the kids love you and Laura misses you. Lila hasn’t stopped talking about your last visit yet.”
Scott didn’t talk to her, per se, but she was glad that he talked to fill the silence. He complained about the food, how uncomfortable his bed was, and about a million other mundane things that didn’t necessarily only exist in a prison.
Sometimes during the day, they would take her. The guys didn’t know where. All they knew was that whenever she came back, she looked a little more pale and a little more shaken. Whatever they were doing, it wasn’t good. They could hear her screaming from down the hallway. Clint screamed back and Sam yelled for the guards. She was just a kid, Scott said. Let her be.
Of course, the guards taunted all of them. Old man. Stupid decisions. Bird guy. Naïve. But they were worse to her. They made comments that made Wanda want to shrivel away. They talked about her body. About each other with her. About how helpless and powerless she was. About how it must have been awhile since someone had wanted to touch her and show her a good time. She really hoped the guys would never find out about what happened when they took her away down that hallway.
They all got trays of food delivered once a day. Wanda didn’t. They didn’t know how long she would last without food. It wasn’t looking good. None of them could see her from where they were. Clint couldn’t feel her in his head anymore. He figured she was either exhausted or too scared to use her powers. Or, maybe, she was too scared of how he would react. He didn’t like to think about that scenario. So, he continued to tell her fantasies about life on the farm. Sam continued talking about his meetings with the veterans and how this would be quite the story at the next meeting. Scott talked about how much he missed Cassie and how he had to get back to work because they were suffering without him.
A tear slid down Wanda’s cheek. She had long since stopped trying to wipe them away. She couldn’t. They thought they were helping, talking about their lives, but it was making her feel worse. Clint had his family. Sam had the veterans. Scott had his daughter.
Who was out there missing her?
Wanda bit her lip trying to hold back a sob, which must have caught the attention of the guards. They shocked her and Wanda let it knock her out. Being unconscious was better than being awake for her.
Clint sighed heavily, trying to control his anger. He had punched the wall so many times that his knuckles had gotten bloody. He slid down against the wall and lowered his face into his hands. There was nothing he would do to help her and it sucked. Laura had told him to take care of her. She had been fine at the Avengers tower, even if she was being “contained” by Tony. She hadn’t even wanted to leave. But he had insisted she come. Now here they were.
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Clint woke up to a loud bang and the blaring alarms. He jumped out of bed, running over to the glass. The guards were running around, yelling wildly. His heart missed a beat. He didn’t let himself hope this was Cap.
He looked up from the commotion and saw Sam and Scott yelling at one of the guards standing in front of Wanda’s cell. Clint’s stomach lurched.
“Stop this! We know you’re doing this!” He yelled at her, finger continuously on the shock button. Wanda didn’t respond. Her eyes were tightly scrunched together and her entire body was shaking. Clint joined in, yelling for him to stop.
A few guards dropped at the doorway to the cells. Then he walked in. Thank god, Clint thought to himself. Cap threw his shield at the guard with the remote, knocking him out cold. He waltzed over to Sam’s cell first, seemingly oblivious to what the remote had been for.
“You look awful,” he commented wryly to Sam. But Sam wasn’t in a joking mood.
“Get to Wanda,” Sam urged and Steve’s eyebrows furrowed. “She’s in bad shape, man. I’ll get everyone else.”
Steve did as he was told and walked the cells until he found her. Oh, Wanda.
His heart broke as he took in her appearance. She was on the ground, straitjacket constraining her and some sort of metal collar around her neck. It hit him. The remote. Oh no. She wasn’t looking at him. Her eyes were still squeezed shut, probably in anticipation of another shock. She was trembling slightly and Steve let out a breath before breaking the lock on her door.
Clint was right behind him as he went into the cell.
“Hey Wanda,” Steve began. He spoke softly and got down to eye level. He waited until she opened her eyes. His heart dropped. They were bloodshot.
“I’m here to get you out, kid. Can I help you?”
She hesitated for a few moments. Clint nodded at her, too choked up to say anything. She swallowed thickly then nodded. Steve mimicked her movement.
“Okay, Wanda. I’m going to start with the jacket.”
He moved to her side and put a hand on her back to lean her away from the wall. She flinched away and he waited a few seconds. What the hell had they done to her. Then, she relaxed somewhat and he tore the straps off. Clint kneeled down in front of her and helped her ease her arms out of the jacket. The second her arms were free, she wrapped them around her abdomen again.
Steve blew out a breath as he looked at her neck. Her skin was swollen around the metal.
“Not a lot of time, Cap,” Scott said from the doorway. Steve nodded in response.
“Try to relax, okay?” He said to Wanda softly, who just tensed up and closed her eyes.
Steve took that as his cue and slipped his fingers under the metal as best he could. After a few tries, he was able to tear it into two and threw it across her cell. She didn’t make any move of getting up or opening her eyes.
Clint was still right there. “Time to go, kiddo. You can get some real clothes and food, huh? Get some sleep, take a shower.”
Wanda still didn’t move. She was terrified and frozen in place, mind racing. She shouldn’t leave. They would just find her again. She deserved this anyway. Sam seemed to read her mind.
“You don’t deserve this kid.” She opened her eyes and looked up at him. He gave her a small smile. “None of us do. Come on. We got you.”
Wanda swallowed again and Steve gave her his hands as she shakily got to her feet. Sam and Scott stayed in front, making sure the path was still clear as they made their way out. Wanda had tried to walk, but her legs just couldn’t do it. Steve was carrying her through the hallways, Clint at his side. He was alarmed by how light she was. She had been severely malnourished after Sokovia and had made so much progress towards having a healthy body mass. All that progress was now down the drain.
Steve tried not to focus on that as they made their way to the chopper, where Bucky was waiting with all their gear. He took one look at Wanda and kept his mouth shut. Steve gently set her down in one of the seats, Clint quickly slipping in next to her. Steve and Bucky went to the cockpit and Sam and Scott sat across from Wanda and Clint. They all buckled in and took off.
Wanda’s head was leaning on Clint’s shoulder. She was scared to fall asleep. They always shocked her when she fell asleep. The nightmares would get her too.
“Sleep, kiddo,” Clint tried to soothe her. “We’ll be here when you wake up.”
Scott was looking at them tiredly, clearly planning on sleeping for awhile too.
Wanda didn’t want to make Clint angry, so she closed her eyes obediently. She hoped she could just fake sleeping to make him content. She knew how stressed he was.
A few minutes after she closed her eyes, she did fall asleep. Exhaustion overtook her. It had also done so with Scott. That left Clint and Sam, who shared a look.
“She’s not okay,” Sam said simply. Clint just nodded. The rest of the ride was silent until they touched down in Wakanda.
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Clint had woken her when they were ten minutes out. She had startled violently, then looked away when he apologized. She felt incredibly guilty. Clint was her friend. Yet here she was.
King T’Challa had been there to welcome them when they stepped off the chopper. He shook hands and talked with Steve. Wanda managed to walk, leaning heavily on Clint, his arm slung around her. T’Challa threw her a hesitant look and asked Steve if anyone needed medical. He turned to Wanda but saw the look on her face.
“Not right now, T’Challa, but thank you. We’ll probably take you up on that later.” Steve left it there with a tight-lipped smile. T’Challa didn’t prod any further, which everyone was thankful for.
He showed them to their rooms, which were all in the same wing. There were eight rooms that all shared a common area. He said that clothing had been brought to all the rooms and that they had been labeled accordingly. He left them after telling them to find him if they needed anything.
The five of them stood in the common room for a moment. Bucky and Steve had taken a quick detour to medical after all, where Bucky had decided to get frozen again. Steve knew it was the best choice, but that didn’t make it any easier.
“How about we all clean up and then meet back in here,” Steve suggested. He was met with three nods. Wanda didn’t even indicate that she had heard him.
Nonetheless, they all moved off towards their assigned rooms. Clint led Wanda into hers and lowered her into a chair near the window.
“Kid, are you with me?” He asked her, trying to make eye contact. She eventually looked up at him. He blew out a breath of relief.
“Okay. We’re all gonna get cleaned up. You have a bathroom to yourself, right over there. Do you need any help?”
He knew she couldn’t manage herself right now, not yet. But Wanda shook her head no.
“You sure?” He asked. She nodded.
He hesitated. He knew she was in bad shape. But he didn’t know what was going on inside her head and he figured she probably just needed a few minutes alone to breathe.
“Okay,” he conceded. “I’m the room across from you, okay? Yell if you need anything. I’ll be there.”
With that, he left the room. Wanda let out the breath she had been holding and let the tears roll down her cheeks. She didn’t want anyone touching her anymore. She couldn’t take it. She could handle a shower by herself. Even if she couldn’t, she wouldn’t take help from any of the guys. She was incredibly nervous.
She did her best to pull herself up and made it to the bathroom, using the wall to help herself along. The shower was fully stocked and had a chair built in, thankfully. She certainly wouldn’t do this standing. She turned the water on as hot as it would go before getting undressed. She stayed sitting on the closed toilet as she did so. She avoided looking at the mirror. It was something Natasha had told her to do when she had first joined the team, knowing Wanda panicked when she saw how skinny she was. Now there were other things she didn’t want to see.
She was able to get into the shower and let out a breath. The water was scalding hot, but it felt so good. It was burning her, no doubt. Her skin was turning bright red. But the burning helped get rid of the lingering touches on her skin, so she let it all burn.
She eventually used the body wash to clean herself off. She didn’t think she could manage her hair yet. That was fine with her. She certainly did feel cleaner. She also didn’t notice she was crying as her tears mixed with the water coming from the shower head.
After almost half an hour, Wanda finally turned off the shower. Her skin was red and blotchy, but she didn’t care. It felt good, the pain. It gave her something else to focus on. Her body felt stronger as she stepped out of the shower, fingertips still gracing the wall. She shakily wrapped herself up in a towel before going back into the main room.
She opened up the closet and was glad to see there was a variety to choose from. She had been worried it would all be shorts and t-shirts, considering the climate. But it wasn’t, thankfully. She chose a baggy sweatshirt and pair of sweatpants and some underwear. It felt good to be in real clothes again.
She left her room and wasn’t surprised to see everyone waiting for her in the common room. They were all talking but stopped when she came in.
“Feeling any better?” Steve asked. She nodded. She didn’t think she could speak.
She knew her neck needed medical attention. The bruises were bad but the burns were worse. The water and soap had stung and she was pretty sure it was infected. That didn’t mean she wanted people touching her neck, however.
“T’Challa has invited us all to eat with him tonight. Nothing formal, we don’t have to dress up, but we have accepted,” Steve informed her.
She found the “we” ironic, but didn’t comment. Her throat really hurt. It hurt to talk, so she couldn’t imagine how much it was going to hurt to eat.
“How about someone looks at your neck before dinner?” Clint suggested. Wanda shook her head no. He seemed like he wanted to refute, but laid off.
Wanda didn’t listen as they fell off into idle chit chat. She sunk into the plush couch, glad to be warm and in clean clothing, far away from the raft and the people who ran it.
She didn’t perk up or show any signs of having heard them when they said her name. They were all worried, but they certainly weren’t going to talk about that now. Instead, they talked about what they hoped would be at the dinner table.
Eventually, Clint getting up off the couch next to her snapped her out of her phase.
“Dinner,” he said simply and offered her a hand. She didn’t take it.
They made their way down the hallway to a small dining room, where T’Challa and some palace workers were putting the finishing touches on the overflowing table. There was chicken, bread, salad, pasta, all things she would normally love. But now, she just felt nauseous.
She served herself a small amount of pasta and salad as she slid into the seat next to Clint. She didn’t partake in the conversation at the dinner table. Not only did her throat hurt, but she was trying very hard to eat at least some of the food on her plate. She was met with pain every time she swallowed.
After about half an hour, she had managed about half of her pasta and a few bites of salad. Clint leaned over and spoke quietly in her ear.
“You don’t have to finish it. You won’t offend him.”
Wanda nodded and lowered her utensils to the table. She sat quietly staring off into space until everyone’s chairs squeaked as they were pushed back, signaling the meal was over. T’Challa asked Steve to stay back for a minute as the rest of them made their way back down the hallway.
“The witch,” T’Challa began.” I have not heard her speak since you all have arrived. She did not eat much. What was done to her?”
Steve sighed heavily and ran a hand through his hair. “Put in a straitjacket and shock collar at the raft.” T’Challa’s face hardened. “I don’t think they gave her anything to eat either. I don’t know the whole story. I don’t think anyone does but her.”
T’Challa just nodded. “I am very sorry to hear that. If I can help in any way, please let me know.”
Steve gave his thanks before rejoining the team in the common room. He was relieved Wanda seemed to be doing better physically , but was also incredibly worried about her. He hadn’t heard her talk either, he realized.
In the common room, they watched Family Feud for awhile. Wanda wasn’t really watching. Her arms were still wrapped around her midsection as well. They all noticed but no one commented on it.
Scott and Sam yelled out answers and argued over the 100 people being wrong and stupid if their answers weren’t up there. By 10pm, they were all exhausted and ready to turn in. They all headed off to bed uneventfully. Wanda lay down on her side and pulled the covers up to her chin, curling up into a ball. She was scared of what could happen while she slept, so she didn’t. She knew her powers would probably take over and she didn’t want to do anything that could get the team kicked out of the palace. They didn’t deserve that.
The next morning, Wanda got out of bed when the clock hit 7am. She took a shower and got changed before heading down to their private kitchen.
Steve and Clint were up. There was a pot of coffee on. They smiled when she walked in.
“Good morning Wanda. Sleep well?” Steve asked. She just nodded. She didn’t have the energy for anything else. She knew they didn’t believe her.
“Breakfast is being delivered soon,” Clint said. “Simple stuff. Toast, fruit, nothing fancy.”
She just nodded and lowered herself into a chair at the table, far away from Clint and Steve who were standing by the counter. They exchanged a glance.
Soon enough, they were joined by Sam and Scott. Scott went on about the thread count on the sheets and how fluffy the pillows were. Clint and him argued over what they thought the thread count was as Sam and Steve listened, amused. Wanda didn’t listen.
The food was delivered and they ate up. Wanda tried a piece of toast with butter and ate about half of it. She knew they were worried and was mildly surprised they didn’t tell her she needed to eat more, but was thankful nonetheless.
They cleaned up as a group before moving to go to the common area. As Wanda was putting away the last plate, she accidentally backed into Steve. She jumped and quickly moved away.
“Sorry Wanda,” he said. He waited. She wouldn’t look at him. “You know I’m not gonna hurt you, right?” He asked slowly.
The room fell into silence.
“I know.”
Steve took a step closer until they were less than a foot apart. Wanda’s eyes were clenched shut and her body was tense.
Steve’s voice wasn’t unkind as he asked again. “Are you sure?”
There was just silence. Wanda sniffed and tried to discreetly wipe a tear away. Clint felt his heart clench. What had they missed?
Steve put a hand on her arm and Wanda immediately tried to yank it away.
“Hey, Wanda, we’re here to help, okay?”
But she shook her head. Her voice was trembling. “Please let me go.”
“Come on Steve,” Clint spoke up quietly. Steve turned to look at him and Wanda took her chance, darting under his arm and going down the hallway to her room.
Silence followed for a few moments. “What just happened?” Scott asked.
Sam just shook his head. Clearly, they didn’t know everything that had been done to her.
“Should I go after her?” Steve asked and Sam quickly shook his head no.
They all jumped when Clint slammed his hand down on the counter.
“Clint?”
He let out an angry breath. “I can’t believe what those bastards did to her.”
Steve just looked at him for a minute. “Did what?”
Clint’s face was getting red as he looked at Steve. “Seriously?” He asked angrily. “She’s scared of anyone touching her and she was the only female prisoner in an all male guarded facility. What do you think they did to her, Steve?”
They fell into an ominous silence again as Clint’s words sunk in. Their hearts broke. Wanda didn’t deserve any of this. And they couldn’t help her.
“We should call Nat,” Sam spoke. Steve just nodded in agreement. It was clear that none of them would get anywhere with Wanda, not when she was this nervous around them all.
Steve made the phone call while the rest of them gathered around the tv.
She picked up on the second ring. “Who is this.”
“It’s Steve. Look, Nat, I don’t know where you are but we need your help.”
She was silent. Then, “why.”
“Wanda needs you. They did some terrible things to her in the raft and I don’t think any of us can help her.”
Natasha let that sink in. She felt herself getting angry. Wanda was just a kid. She deserved so much better.
“Send me your location. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”