Ira blasted the dummy to the floor, obliterating it into a million tiny pieces. "The point is to hit it, not to destroy it." Clint provided helpfully from across the room. Ira brushed away a strand of hair that had escaped her braid, and turned to look at him.

"Shouldn't you be practicing archery?" She asked.

Clint, still turned towards her, fired his bow behind him. The arrow sunk deep into the bullseye. He shrugged. "You're probably right, my aim could use some work."

Ira rolled her eyes, and walked over to a storage closet. She grabbed another dummy, and dragged it out into position. She spread her legs slightly to even her weight and control her balance, like Steve had taught her, and fired three blasts of energy in quick succession. One hit its head, the other its stomach, and the third hit directly over its heart.

"I think you killed it." Clint offered dryly.

"You know what-" Ira began, but was interrupted as Natasha walked into the room.

"Ira, Steve wants to see you in the briefing room," she told her. Ira nodded, and left the training room. She headed to the briefing room, stopping at her room to change. When she got there, she found Steve, Sam, Pietro, and Wanda there also.

Steve had them sit down, and explained the mission to them. "As you probably remember, last week at the Algonquin base, Nat copied down files from a HYDRA computer." They all nodded. "Well, Tony looked through the info, and we found a lot of records of more human experimentation."

"Has any of it been successful?" Ira asked.

Steve shrugged. "We don't know. The records don't specifically say. But, we have a list of new HYDRA bases that we can search, and we're sending you four to check out the first base, along with Natasha, who will be leading."

"Where is the base?" Wanda asked.

"It's in Pennsylvania," Steve told them. "Hidden in a forest. You'll leave tomorrow."

Ira left the room, and walked to her own. She sat down on her bed, and grabbed a book from her nightstand. She began reading, trying to calm her racing heart. Truth be told, she was a little nervous for this mission. That wasn't usually the case, but with everything that had happened on the last mission, she had a right to be wary.

A knock sounded on the door. Ira looked up, and saw Wanda standing outside. She invited her in, and Wanda sat on the bed. "Are you okay?" Ira questioned, setting aside her book and sitting up. Wanda eyes started tearing slightly, and she shook her head.

"Not really," she sniffed. "I don't want to go to another base, not after what happened last time."

"I won't let that happen again," Ira assured her. "None of us will."

"I know," Wanda said, "But there's still a part of me that thinks that it could happen again." She looked up at Ira. "And maybe next time it won't be me. Maybe it'll be you, or Pietro." At this, she dissolved into tears. "And I can't bear to think of that."

"Hey," Ira said. She pulled Wanda into a hug. "There won't be a 'next time'. We messed up that day. We let you get captured. But you better believe me, and I know I speak for everyone when I say that we'd rather die than see it happen again. Okay?"

Wanda nodded. "Okay." She dried her tears. "Thanks Ira. I think I'll be okay." Ira nodded, and Wanda left.

Talking to Wanda had calmed some of her nerves , but it had also planted seeds of doubt in her mind. What if one of them did get captured? The only seasoned Avenger who was going on this mission was Natasha. What is something went wrong? Ira tried to calm herself by reading, but gave off, and decided to go to sleep. It would be a difficult day tomorrow.

Ira changed, and lay down on her bed, trying to fall asleep. Her eyes were closed, but her mind was wide awake, her brain riddled with thoughts. Eventually, she drifted off into a light, restless, slumber, but she couldn't fall fully asleep.

Ira finally sighed, fed up. She glanced at the clock on her nightstand. Eleven twenty-seven. If she listened, she could still hear some of the team members awake; Tony working away in his lab; Clint and Natasha talking in the living room; Steve training in the training room. Yet even the sounds of normality that echoed through the facility weren't enough to soothe her to sleep.

Ira sat up, blearily rubbed her eyes, and left her room. She trudged across the hall, and knocked lightly on Pietro's door. She heard him moving around inside, and finally he opened the door. Suddenly, her mind went blank as to why she thought it was a good idea to come here in the first place.

"Oh, did I wake you?" Ira asked. "I'll just go." She turned to head back to her room, but Pietro caught her arm, and turned her to face him.

"It's fine," He said. "I've been up for a while. What did you want?" Ira could tell that he was lying; his hair was tousled, and he was desperately trying to hide the sleep from his eyes, but it was sweet that he had lied. Ira smiled lightly.

"Oh, I just couldn't sleep, and so I came here, and," she shrugged. Pietro laughed quietly, and opened the door, allowing her to walk into his room. She did, and lay down on his bed as he turned the lights off and closed the door, and she felt him lay down beside her.

Pietro wrapped an arm around her waist, and pulled her closer to him. She smiled as he ran his fingers through her hair. "Thanks," she whispered. She could picture him smiling, and it was that image and his embrace that slowly lulled her to sleep.
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A/N:

Sorry for the short chapter. I'm kind of pressed for ideas, and am becoming good at pushing writing this off until eleven at night.

I blame tinkertaydust, because I spent the whole day reading The Weight of the World (Which is an amazing book btw, you guys should check it out) instead of actually writing. Oops.

I will try to get better at updating, and until then,

I love you three thousand,

-E l i z a b e t h