Morning sunlight streamed through the window, waking Ira from her slumber. She stretched and rolled over, looking beside her. "Strange," she whispered. Pietro was already up. It was odd, seeing as how he always slept late.

She sat up, and looked around. The closet was open, and some of Pietro's stuff was missing. A sinking feeling filled her stomach, and she rushed out of bed, rapidly throwing on a shirt and pants.

She ran out into the kitchen, her bare feet slapping the tile as she hurried past. "Slow down!" Clint advised from the table. "Where are you going?"

"Have you seen Pietro?" She asked him. He shook his head.

"I thought he was with you."

Ira ran out of the room towards the monitor room. She sat down at one of the computers. "FRIDAY, show me the footage from last night. Give me anything that has Pietro in it." She said, and a video started playing. It showed a darkened video of Pietro entering the hallway outside his bedroom, holding a backpack filled with supplies. It continued to show him grabbing food from the kitchen, and finally exiting the front door.

The video stopped, and Ira slammed her hands on the desktop in frustration. "That idiot," She muttered.

"What is it?" Natasha asked her, entering the room.

"It's Pietro," Ira told her. "He went after Wanda."
...............................................................................................................................................
Pietro pulled down the hood of his jacket, shivering from the brisk wind blowing in. The jagged mountain peaks provided some cover, but not enough to stop the chills spreading up and down his flesh.

He peered over a short incline to see the HYDRA base rise from the horizon. Its foreboding concrete walls making him even more anxious about Wanda's state of being. A large, red, HYDRA symbol was placed directly in the middle of the building. "Inconspicuous," he muttered sarcastically.

He narrowed his eyes at the base, knowing Wanda was confined somewhere in these walls. He could feel it.

Saving his speed for the fight that was coming, Pietro took a breath, and began walking toward the base.
...............................................................................................................................................
Ira frantically paced the living room floor. "We have to find another high-level HYDRA operative. We have to capture them, and find Wanda and Pietro..."

"Ira, calm down," Steve assured her. "We'll find them. Tony's already found another agent."

Ira's head snapped toward him. "Really? Who?" Steve led her to the briefing room, where Tony was furiously typing on a computer. When he saw them, he smiled and presented a photo on the computer.

It showed a middle-aged man with dark black hair, and blue eyes. He had a certain confidence about him, as if he knew exactly what he wanted, and exactly how to get it. Everything about him reeked of arrogance and cunning, and Ira could immediately tell that his man would not be easy to capture.

Steve called the others in, and he and Tony began explaining exactly what they had to do. "This is Agent Nicholas Vixe. He is a high-level HYDRA operative, and we have to capture him. We will use his fingerprint to gain entry to wherever they're holding Wanda, and find Pietro along the way."

"We don't even know where they're holding her?" Sam asked. "Isn't that a little risky if we bust in without a plan?"

Steve sighed, and wearily ran a hand through his blonde hair. "Yeah," He said quietly. "But we don't have any other options. We have to leave soon." From there, Tony took over.

"Vixe practically lives at the HYDRA base. Almost all of our intel about his past locations show that he spends almost all of his time there. But, the other time, he frequents a bar in downtown Queens. We were able to hack into his phone, and we can reasonably assume that he will go to this bar tonight. So, someone will go in undercover to get him. Now, we don't know who yet-"

"I'll do it," Ira interrupted, without even hesitating. "I'll bring him in." Tony looked shocked at her outburst, but he resumed.

"Okay, he leaves tonight, so you'll go in with Sam and Clint for backup. I'll make all of you fake IDs and we'll be ready." Ira nodded, and quickly left the meeting. Steve stared sadly at the girl as she passed, staring at the ground. Natasha put a hand on his shoulder.

"I'll talk to her," She assured him. She went to Ira's room, to find the blonde searching in her closet for an appropriate undercover disguise. "I'd choose something casual," she suggested.

Ira looked up, and gave a tight smile when she saw the redhead. "Got it," She said, rifling through the closet and pulling out a brown leather jacket.

Natasha smiled. "Good choice." Ira turned to face her.

"Nat, why are you here? I know it's not to give me fashion advice."

Natasha sighed. "I wanted to see how you were doing. Everything has been hard on us all, lately, and we're all struggling a little. But we'll get them back."

Ira nodded. "I know, it's just," she looked down, and when she looked up again, Natasha noticed tears glistening in her eyes. "The last thing I did with Pietro was fight, and I couldn't save Wanda, and what if I can't save him," she dissolved into a crying mess. "I can't let either of them die," she whispered. "I can't."

"That's exactly what Pietro was thinking when he left." Natasha told her. "He was scared that he was going to lose his sister. And he couldn't let that happen. The stress of everything was weighing down on him, and he couldn't take it. I'm sure he didn't mean to fight with you."

Ira smiled, but it was a little more genuine. "Thanks," she sniffed. Natasha walked over, and hugged her, somewhat awkwardly, before leaving. Feeling much better, Ira continued to pick a disguise. And yet, the more she thought about it, the more she worried about how Pietro and Wanda were. She knew that she had to get this done quickly.

Sam, Clint, and Ira led tin a small Quinjet, while the others waited for extraction in the bigger jet. Ira had chosen the brown jacket, a white shirt, and jeans. Casual, just like Natasha had suggested.

They used stealth technology to remain invisible as they landed the Quinjet in a nearby abandoned parking lot. The three of them walked to the bar, and entered. A bouncer checked their IDs on the way in, but found no problem with them. "Melanie Devores, Adam Ridebur, and Jack Stiltch." The bouncer read off as he checked the IDs.

A warm atmosphere greeted Ira as she walked in, and she heard the laughter and talking of people in the air. The walls of the bar were brick, with wood flooring laid neatly in the ground. A large countertop ran a long the right side of the bar, and clusters of tables were positioned on the left. Ira immediately picked out Nicholas amidst the crowd. He sat at the bar, drinking and chatting with the bartender. Sam and Clint sat at a table, and nodded to Ira, she then made her way to the bar.

"Mind if I sit here?" She asked Nicholas.

He shrugged. "Sure," He said, slightly slurring the 's', which told Ira that he was already a little drunk.

"My name'ss Nicholass." He said, again slurring.

She raised her eyebrow. "Melanie." She engaged in polite conversation with him, acting calm on the outside, but impatient on the inside. She had to capture him quickly. She allowed him to get more and more drunk, until she couldn't understand a thing that he was saying, and he stumbled when he walked.

"I'll call you a cab," she told him. She looked at the bartender. "I'm gonna get him a cab," she told him, and looked over at Sam and Clint, widening her eyes slightly, so that they would know they had to go. She left supporting Nicholas, and could hear Sam and Clint walking a short distance behind her. She led Nicholas to the parking lot, where Clint uncloaked the Quinjet, and they loaded him inside.

"Where are we?" Nicholas spoke. "Thiss issn't a cab."

"For a HYDRA agent, he really let his guard down," Sam noted as Clint flew to meet the others.

Ira nodded. "Tell me about it," she said, as Nicholas collapsed across the seats next to her. They met up with the other Quinjet, where the rest of the team was already ready.

Natasha helped Ira load Nicholas onto the other jet, where he promptly fell asleep in the seats, muttering incoherent nonsense. "How did it go?" She asked Ira.

"Easily," Ira replied, taking off her jacket. "He was already pretty drunk when we got there, so we just had to wait." They took off, flying the short distance to the Appalachians. Ira changed into her uniform-leggings, a white shirt, and the blue shawl she had used ever since Sokovia- and sat impatiently through the rest of the flight, waiting for them to land.
...............................................................................................................................................
Pietro had to say, this was going significantly worse than he had thought it would. Immediately when he had broken into the base, he had been surrounded by HYDRA soldiers. He knew he had no chance of fighting them off by himself, and quickly surrendered.

It was now, locked up in a cell, that he began to miss Ira and the others. And he still had yet to find Wanda. But he knew she was close. Just then, a man flanked by two guards walked in. He was middle-aged with brown hair and a cold smile. He walked over to Pietro's cell.

"So, you've joined the Avengers, I see," He said, frowning. "So disappointing with subjects turn bad."

Pietro smirked. "I'm sorry, do I know you?"

The man faked hurt. "James Veren. I worked along List and Strucker. I was their prodigy, and they taught me everything they knew. And when they died, I took on their legacy."

"That wouldn't happen to be the legacy of human experimentation, would it?" Pietro asked.

The man smiled, but it wasn't sincere. "That's the one. But no one will volunteer anymore, what with our track record, and Black Widow leaking HYDRA intel to the public. No one wants to be a part of that. So we've had to find... other, less, humane ways to find experimentations."

Pietro's eyes widened. "Wanda," he gasped.

"Yes, your sister is one of those... volunteers. Of course, we didn't go into that fight with the express purpose of capturing your sister, but it was an added bonus." He smiled wickedly. "And look who came to find her. Perhaps we could use you, too." He looked at Pietro thoughtfully.

"Where. Is. She." Pietro spat.

Veren shrugged. "Oh, I'd assume she'll be going into experimentation shortly."

"But what power source are you using? The Mind Stone was taken." Pietro asked, confused.

Veren sighed. "Yes, unfortunately. However, there are other less powerful sources of energy that we've been testing. Your sister should be testing a new, powerful form of thermal-kinetic energy, and for you," He tilted his head, considering, "There's a new chemical energy that could work."

"The others will come," Pietro told him. "And they will kill you."

He sighed. "Yes, I'm sure they will. But we have time."

"Actually, you don't." A voice sounded from behind them. They spun around to see that Natasha had silently crept up behind the guards and knocked them out. Veren cursed, and pulled out a gun, but she rushed at him, quickly disarming him, and knocking him out temporarily.

She stood up, dusting herself off, and walked over to Pietro. "Did you see where he put the key?" She asked, and he shook his head. She sighed. "Figures." Natasha stood back and fired her gun at the keypad on the cell. It shattered, and the door opened. Pietro stepped out.

"Thanks," He said.

"He others are in the main room," Natasha told him. 'This fight's not over yet."

"You can not leave," Veren said, and stood up. Natasha sighed, turned around, and shot him in the head.

"Watch us," she smirked.

They ran to the main room to find the others locked in a fight with HYDRA soldiers. They had taken most of them out, and Pietro immediately rushed over to Ira's side and helped her fight off the remainder of the soldiers.

"That was idiotic," she told him, while throwing a soldier again the wall. "But I understand why you left."

"I had to save Wanda," Pietro explained as he rammed a soldier into the wall. "About the fight..." He began.

Ira turned towards him and smiled. "Don't worry." She hurled energy at a soldier. "All is forgiven."

The Avengers finished off the rest of the soldiers. "Bring in Vixe," Steve ordered. "We have to get to Wanda before others come."

"Who's Vixe?" Pietro asked as Clint ran off to the jet to get Nicholas.

"The HYDRA agent whose fingerprint we need," Ira told him. "I went undercover to capture him." Clint came back in, stumbling under the weight of a very drunk, sleepy, Nicholas, who was offering no cooperation whatsoever."

"That's him?" Pietro asked, confused. Ira nodded.

Clint brought Nicholas over to the Vibranium door and pressed his index finger against it. The keypad flashed green, and the door slid open.

Ira looked into the long hallway that the door revealed. "That's where the lab is," Pietro said. "They're going o experiment on Wanda. We have to hurry." They ran through the hallway, until it opened on a lab.

The walls were a sterile white, and covered in monitors. Operating tables lined the room, and upon one of those tables, sat Wanda.

She was unconscious, and lying deathly still on the table. Her skin was pale, and her hair was tangled, and stringy with sweat. She looked like a shell of herself. It didn't appear that they had started yet, but two doctors hovered near her.

They looked up at the noise caused by the Avengers, and were shot down by Natasha and Clint. Ira and Pietro rushed over to her. Pietro put a hand on her neck, and breathed a sigh of relief when he felt a weak pulse.

Immediately, Ira held her hands over Wanda's unconscious form, and transmitted blue healing energy from her hands into Wanda. Slowly, her skin became less pale, and her pulse became stronger. Her eyelids fluttered, and opened. She gasped as she took in her surroundings.

"Pietro?" She asked. Her voice was hoarse and scratchy from disuse. She turned her head. "Ira?"

"Yeah, it's us." Pietro said. He helped her sit up, and she saw the rest of the team. A smile broke across her face.

"You came for me," she said.

"Of course we did," Steve told her. "You're part of this team. We couldn't leave you."

Ira helped support Wanda as she slid off the table. She helped her walk, and they made their way towards the door. Pietro hovered next to them, watching over Wanda. But as Ira watched, he glanced back over to a computer, and called Natasha over.

Natasha pulled out a flash drive, and plugged it into the computer. Her fingers flew over the keyboard, and she downloaded something. She unplugged the flash drive, and put it back in her pocket.

They walked to the jet, and loaded on. "What was that all about?" Tony asked Natasha, who looked at Pietro.

"When I was locked up, a man named James Veren talked to me. He said that he had worked for Strucker and List, and that he was their work of human experimentation." The team shared worried looks. "So I asked Natasha to download everything on the computer in case there were details about the experiments."

"Smart," Tony said. "I'll looks at the files as soon as we get back."

The rest of the short flight, Ira and Pietro talked to Wanda about what had happened. She said that they locked her up right away, and didn't bring her to the lab until that morning. She said that they had drawn a lot of blood samples, and run all kinds of tests in her, but nothing else.

"So," Ira began, changing the subject. "What's going on with you and Vision?"

"What?" Both Pietro and Wanda said at the same time.

"He was very distraught after you got captured," Ira teased. Wanda's face reddened, by Ira noticed a small smile on her face.

"He was?" She asked, and Ira nodded. Wanda's smile widened, and Ira looked at Pietro, who was glaring at Vision. She put a hand on his arm, and he calmed down. But she did notice him staring at Vision every so often.

When they landed, Wanda went to her room to rest, and Ira and Pietro went to his room. Ira sat on the edge of his bed, and looked at him. "The last time we were together in here, we were fighting." Pietro said regretfully.

Ira smiled understandingly. "You were stressed about Wanda. It's not your fault." He sat on the bed next to her, and she continued. "If you had gone missing, I would have done the same thing."

He raised an eyebrow. "Really?" She nodded.

"You mean a lot to me." Ira told him. "I'll always be worried about you, because I love you."

Pietro smiled. He leaned forward, and pressed his lips to hers. She smiled, and kissed back. "I love you too."
...............................................................................................................................................
A/N:

I'm so sorry for the late update! This week had been super hectic, and I just couldn't make the time. First I had a school trip, and then my cousin came, and I just couldn't find the time to do it. But here's a little longer chapter to make up for it.

I love you three thousand,

-E l i z a b e t h