Chapter Text
Their home was gone. Almost like it never existed, just a hole in the ground now. At least the people weren’t on the city when it began to descend to the earth, they got everybody off, or almost everybody. Now they were on the Avengers jet, with the Avengers themselves, it was nerve wracking. Pietro and Wanda sat right next to each other, not even buckled into the seats, and Wanda was clutching onto Pietros arm like it was her last lifeline. Truth be told, she was absolutely exhausted, he was too, but having to mentally manipulate a whole city of people and fight killer robots on top of that tired her out more than her brother. Her head was killing her- probably from a combination of overuse of her powers and a lack of food and water. In HYDRA they’d barely been fed, and what they had been fed was minimal, so the twins were running on fumes. She wanted to sleep so badly, it was cold on the jet, the jacket she stole from the Black Widow being the only thing keeping her warm. She shivered, and of course her brother noticed, and wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close, making her all the more sleepy.
“Sestra, you need to sleep”
“It’s not safe to sleep here Pietro.”
He glanced around, all of the other Avengers were sat far away from them, all tired in their own right.
“Do you think they’d try something while you’re asleep?” He asked.
“I do not know, but I know they do not like me Pietro, they have no reason to like me. Not after what I did.”
“But we joined them and helped them-“
“It still does not excuse what I did.” Wanda interrupted.
“I think that is stupid, but I know better than to argue with you when you get your head fixed on ideas.” Pietro grumbled, pulling her closer and rubbing her arm, “I would protect you if they tried anything while you slept. You need to rest.”
“We don’t even know what they’re going to do with us once we land in America. For all we know they will throw us into prison. Once we know what they are going to do with us and we are safe I will rest.”
The twins continued to quietly argue back and forth, not really paying attention to anything around them. Nobody was really paying attention to them either, the other Avengers were resting or stitching up their wounds on the plane.
Except for one.
Natasha silently watched the twins bicker, she watched the girl wearing her jacket try to explain something to her brother before shivering, causing her brother to pull her closer. They looked younger than they did on the battlefield, they looked thinner, weaker, how come they didn’t look like that during the fight? Natasha nudged Steve who was sitting next to her, resting.
“What’s up Nat?”
“Look at them.”
“Look at who?”
“The twins, Steve- who else?” Natasha pointed to them, “They look different, younger. Did they look like that before?”
Steve looked at them, rubbed his eyes a little, and looked again.
“No, no they did not look like that every other time we’ve been in contact with them.” Steve confirmed.
“We need to find out what’s going on with them.”
“Right now?”
“No time like the present, old man.”
Steve nodded, and they both stood up, walking over to where the twins were still arguing. Wanda noticed them, and smacked her brothers arm and stopped talking, looking particularly afraid of the two adults.
“Wanda, Pietro, we need to talk to you two.”
The twins said nothing, Pietro tightening his hold on Wanda, and nodded.
“We need to ask you a few questions. And you need to answer them truthfully.” Natasha said firmly, the twins nodded again, “How old are you two?”
Pietro’s eyes went wide and Wanda’s face paled.
Natasha raised an eyebrow while Steve crossed his arms over his chest.
“Well?” She pushed. The twins looked at each other, having a silent conversation with each other.
“We are 17.” Pietro answered. Natasha sucked in a breath and Steve’s eyes widened.
“How? You two didn’t look 17 every other time we’ve been around you.” Steve questioned.
“Wanda used her magic to make us look older.” Pietro answered. Wanda quickly waved her hand, and they looked like what they always looked like. Pietro had more muscle, he was a little taller, and his face was more chiseled. Wanda’s face looked less gaunt, less tired, and she grew a little taller too. She looked down and away from Natasha and Steve, still holding onto Pietro’s arm.
“Okay well, no more doing that. We need to see what you two actually look like and you need to stay that way.” Natasha said sternly, “Change back now.” Steve nudged her at her rude tone. “Please, change back now.” She said a little nicer. Wanda quickly removed her magic, reverting her and Pietro back to their actual bodies, their very thin, pale, young bodies.
“Are you going to send us to prison?” Wanda asked quietly, not looking up from the floor.
“No, of course not” Steve shook his head, “You two helped us in the end, we’re not going to lock you up for what you did before. Besides you two are safer with us.”
Wanda nodded, keeping her head down. She then quickly but gently took Natasha’s jacket off of herself, and held it out to the older woman, still not looking up. Natasha, took it from her hand and held it against her chest. She nodded at Steve and they walked away, sitting in seats not as far away from the teenagers. She felt a tinge of worry as the girl started shivering as soon as she thought nobody but her brother would notice.
“They don’t trust us.” She commented.
“Not surprising.” He replied.
“She seems to be even less trusting than her brother. Wouldn’t even look at us.”
“Yeah…. God Nat they’re kids, literally minors. What are we going to do?”
“We have to tell the rest of the team. We have to tell Tony.”
“Tony is not going to be happy.”
“Well I don’t think any of the team is going to be happy when they find out that not only did we let two teenagers fight with us but that we also fought and hurt said teenagers.” Natasha pointed out.
“Shit.”
“Language” She teased.
“You know what Romanoff…”
Natasha smirked, and then sighed.
“We should really get some rest.”
“I know, I wish they’d get some rest too” Steve replied, gesturing to the twins. Wanda was shivering even more than before, and Pietro was holding her practically on his lap to keep her warm. Steve got up again and grabbed a blanket from a nearby shelf, walking over to the twins. He unfolded it and gently placed it over Wanda who was still violently shivering. She looked up to him, a mix of emotions showing through her eyes, the main one being suspicion. Pietro looked less suspicious and more curious and confused.
“We’re a team, we take care of each other here.” Was the only explanation that Steve offered before walking back to his seat with Natasha. The twins still looked confused but at least now Wanda had something to keep her warm, which also made it harder for her to stay awake. Within minutes she was asleep against her brother.
A few hours later the jet landed, and while everybody else got off immediately, Pietro stayed behind with Wanda, who was still asleep. He looked around, unsure of what he’s supposed to do, or where to go.
“Pietro. This way.” Steve called, and Pietro nodded, lifting his sister up into his arms with ease and walking over to the super soldier, “I’m going to be showing you to your room, you’ll be on the same floor as some of our other new recruits. Wanda will have a different room that either myself or Natasha will show her. Let’s go” They walked in silence, Pietro still carrying a fast asleep Wanda. They arrived at the door to Pietros new room, “This will be yours, there’s a full bathroom inside and a few spare sets of clothes that should fit you until we take you shopping. Any questions?”
“No sir.” Pietro replied, Steve opened the door for him and he walked in.
“Myself or another team member will come and get you for dinner. Feel free to explore or ask FRIDAY- the buildings AI- any questions you may have.” Steve smiled at the younger man, “It’s good to have you two here.” And with that, Steve closed the door and left. Pietro placed Wanda on the large plush bed, and then laid down next to her.
“This place is so weird……”