Chapter Text
Kate had drawn the short straw. Well, it wasn’t so much a straw as admitting that she and Clint burned leather in Cooper’s favorite grill. Clint was trying to salvage what he could of it, while Kate was sent to gather firewood so Cooper could torture them with whatever he was trying to cook.
Even sweet, understanding Laura wouldn’t save them.
“You burned leather in a working grill,” Laura had said. “You deserve every bad thing that’s ever happened to you.”
“It was MY grill, Dad,” Cooper wailed. “What is wrong with you?”
Kate wasn’t sure she deserved to be looped into Clint’s bad decisions but she was his partner, and thus, would suffer in silence. It was a noble thing she did today, in service to destroyed outdoor cooking equipment.
Kate picked through the stack of wood for the driest pieces. Camping and wood-burning wasn’t really her thing, but she got the general idea that the snow-soaked top layer wasn’t going to help her apology to Cooper.
Digging down to the dry pieces had to be a punishment in itself. It was worse than getting her ass kicked by Maya but a little better than getting her ass kicked by Yelena. Yelena and the wood pile gave her similar feelings of shame and embarrassment.
Out of the corner of her eye, a red mist formed and swirled over the snow. That was new.
Kate grabbed an ax and backed away as the red mist thickened into a condensed fog. Then it began to glow.
“Clint!” Kate yelled without taking her eyes from the anomaly.
A portal formed within the fog opening onto a field of black rock.
“Oh, shit,” she whispered. “Aliens.”
A woman stepped out of the portal. She was slender, pale, shorter than Kate by a couple of inches except for a twisting red crown that curved over her forehead like horns, with twitching fingers tipped in black. She looked human. Though, most worrisome, it looked like she had been dipped in blood from the top of her head to the tips of her cape. The cape seemed like overkill, but either way, it had a fantastic silhouette, that would be noticeable anywhere. Again, branding.
The woman flicked her hands and blood-spattered over the white ground.
“Holy shit,” Kate said.
The woman jerked her eyes in Kate’s direction and cocked her head. Blood dripped down her forehead like sweat. “Lila?”
“No!” Kate screeched.
The woman glared and her fingers moved, a swirl of red mist gathering around her hands. “Where is Clint Barton?”
Kate clutched her ax like it might actually work against an angry magic alien lady. “He’s—”
“What the fuck, Wanda?” Clint yelled from the side of the house.
“—there,” Kate said.
The woman, apparently named Wanda and a friend of one or several Bartons, looked down at herself. “It’s not my blood.”
“You know, I didn’t really think it was.” Clint slowly moved toward Kate, his boots dragging across the ground. It was a cautious move, keeping the ground under your feet in case you needed to attack or flee quickly.
She tried not to move, maybe Wanda was like a T-rex and wouldn’t notice her if she didn’t move.
Wanda looked between Kate and Clint. She raised her hands, loose and open. “It’s not human.”
Clint relaxed and quickened his pace to stand beside Kate. “Oh, hey. That’s an improvement.”
Kate gripped the ax tighter not quite willing to let it go yet. “What’s happening?”
Clint glanced at Kate and smiled. It was that dopy look he got whenever one of the kids did something adorable or deadly. “Oh, Kate, this is Wanda, an Avenger. Wanda this is my friend, Kate. Mind-control off-limits.”
Wanda gave him a tired expression. “I think I can manage.”
“There’s mind control?” Kate asked.
Clint tugged the ax from her hands. “Don’t think about it.” He waved vaguely at Wanda. “So, what’s all this?”
“Demons,” Wanda said cheerily.
Clint blinked. “That’s new.”
“I know, right?”
“Auntie Wanda!” Nate yelled from the porch.
“Pietro, my baby!” Wanda shouted.
Laura stepped onto the porch behind her son and immediately tried to cover his eyes. “Oh my.”
“It’s not human,” Clint yelled.
“It’s demons,” Kate shouted because she was not being left out of this insanity.
Laura didn’t look any less horrified.
Cooper and Lila came from around the house to investigate. Cooper carried a metal scrub brush, while Lila carried one of the emergency bows. Lila was obviously the smarter one.
“Wanda!” Cooper yelled. “Dad burned leather in my grill!”
Lila tipped her head back in annoyance. “He’s never going to let it go.”
Wanda nodded. “He obviously deserves death.”
Clint huffed as Cooper gave a mournful, “I know.”
Wanda looked at Kate for a moment, but Kate remained silent and still. There was something dangerous in her gaze. Kate knew she was being judged and found wanting.
Kate squared her stance and glared. Because, really, what was she supposed to do against a super-powered Avenger.
It seemed to work because Wanda turned back to Clint. “I need a shower.”
“You need a hose,” Clint said. “Kate, can you take her to the barn? I’ll send Laura in with something clean.”
Kate waved the dripping woman to the barn as the rest of the Bartons disbursed. The goats bleated sadly, and Wanda cooed at them. Kate opened the door to the stall with the water hose and drain. Laura said it was set up to bathe horses, but winter was a bad time for anything to be taking a cold shower outside.
Wanda glided into the stall and promptly began stripping out of her blood-soaked costume.
Kate’s eyes widened, and she quickly turned around. Wanda wasn’t an ‘aunt’ aunt, right? Clint nor Laura had ever mentioned a Wanda in their stories of past lovers. Not that they ever gave her a lot of details on the ones they did mention either.
“So,” Kate said. “You’re an Avenger.”
“Former,” Wanda said as she turned on the hose and looped it around a post. “The property destruction became a hindrance.”
Bell tower. “I get that.”
Wanda ducked under the flow of water and scrubbed at her hair. If the water was cold, she didn’t seem to feel it. “How do you know Clint?” Wanda asked.
“I’m his partner. So, I’m like Avengers adjacent.”
Wanda snorted.
Kate scowled. Wanda didn’t even know her. Kate was a certified badass. She had awards. “I can totally hold my own.”
Wanda met her eyes over the stall door. “Clint can’t hold his own with us. He gets by on charm, sarcasm, and pity.”
“I can do sarcasm,” Kate muttered.
Laura breezed in with a fluffy towel and a pair of Kate’s pajamas. Laura nodded at Kate encouragingly, but her eyes were strained. It wasn’t reassuring.
At the barn door, Lila lingered still holding the bow, fingers lightly gripping one of the electric shock arrows. That had always been Lila’s role on the farm, the last line of defense.
Kate tensed and eyed the goat stall with the sword hidden in the third plank on the left. Lila shouldn’t have to be here. Kate could protect her. She would never let anything happen to the Barton kids.
“Sorry the water is cold,” Laura said as she shook out the pajamas and laid them over the stall door.
“It’s fine,” Wanda said and rubbed dog shampoo into her hair.
“Is it?” Laura asked cautiously.
Wanda rinsed the last of the pink-tinged soap from her hair and grabbed for the towel, but Laura’s hand was there first.
“Nothing followed me,” Wanda said through gritted teeth. “I wouldn’t allow it.”
Kate looked warily between the two taking a few small steps toward the goats.
Laura didn’t move. “Darcy told me about Westview.”
Wanda’s expression darkened, and the barn lights flickered. “I had a moment. I will not hurt your family.”
Laura finally released the towel and nodded at Lila. The girl inclined her head, then skipped merrily out of the barn.
“Thank you,” Laura said.
Kate relaxed as Laura did, and looked over at Wanda. She seemed normal now if gingers could be considered normal. “Question. Are you an alien?”
Wanda and Laura stopped glowering at each other and looked at Kate.
Wanda suddenly laughed. “No!”