Bet You Didn't See That Coming (Pietro Maximoff)

I - Retrieving the Sceptre

~ Author's Note ~
Please forgive any spelling mistakes or grammatical errors as I haven't proof read yet.

"Are you ready y/n?" Nat asked as we rode in the jeep together to our mission location.

I took a shaky breath and nodded, this was technically my first mission. I honestly didn't feel ready, I mean hell I still hadn't even figured out all my powers let alone how to control them. The team had more faith in me than they should have.

"You're gonna do great, Sunshine" Clint said affectionately.

He and Nat had in a way become my two guardians in the Avengers since Fury recruited me two years ago. I had an accident in class at college, these awful girls decided that I was going to be their entertainment that day and since I was already known as the quiet little orphan girl with no friends, I was an easy target. I begged them to stop, weird things tended to happen whenever I got upset, but they just kept going. Finally my resolve snapped and the branches from the tree outside burst through the window, forcing all three of them up against the wall, luckily no one was seriously injured.

After a bunch of tests, Bruce hypothesised that I can influence the growth of plant life - hence the nickname Sunshine - and control it too. Which in itself is pretty cool, except I was already enough of a freak before and now we could add discount Poison Ivy to the mix.

I shivered and rubbed my arms, hoping to arrive soon so I could move around and warm up "Where are we again?" I asked, trying to keep my mind busy and alert.

Nat rolled her eyes at me while she drove "For the fourteenth time, we're in Sokovia. Eastern Europe and we told you to dress warmly" She answered.

I stuck my tongue out at her and Clint chuckled. Finally the team assembled about a mile away from the location. "Everyone ready?" Steve asked through coms.

"Let's go kick some Hydra ass" Tony replied, earning a laugh from everyone else.

Nerves bounced around in my stomach and adrenalin coursed through my veins as Nat charged the jeep forwards, following Steve on his bike. Sure I had trained for this, relentlessly might I add, but it didn't help me feel any less unprepared.

"Time to release the big guy, Bruce" Steve ordered when the combat began. There was a lot of them. Of course there's a lot of them y/n, it's a Hydra testing facility, it's going to be heavily protected.

When Nat drove into the havoc my nerves were replaced with clarity as all my training kicked into action, muscle memory taking over. It worked in our favour that this building was surrounded by at least five acres of forest. Roots, branches, trunks, they were all at my disposal. I stood from my seat in the jeep and jumped on the branch I was controlling. I tied ivy around the legs of the men running after the vehicle and immobilised them.

"Shit!" Tony's irritated voice sounded through coms.

"Language!" Steve reprimanded, causing me to snort out a laugh "JARVIS, what's the view from upstairs?" He asked.

"The central building is protected by some kind of energy field" The AI reported "Strucker's technology is far more advanced than any other Hydra base we've taken" He added.

I thought about what that meant "That's good though, right?" I asked, raising my hands and commanding dozens of roots to break through the frozen ground and into our attackers.

"She's right, Loki's sceptre must be here. Strucker wouldn't be able to mount this defence without it" Thor confirmed "At long last" If I didn't know the importance of this weapon then I'd have said the god was obsessed but at this point we all were. Retrieving this sceptre was imperative, we could not fail.