Venomous

14. Mission Critical

"Mrumph," I groaned, realizing only after the fact that laughter was surrounding me, and my alarm clock was not within arm's reach. My eyes flew open and looked around frantically. I felt cool fingers on my hand, and glanced over to see Wanda patting my hand reassuringly. We were on the jet. First mission. Right.

"Did you have a good nap?" Wanda smirked beside me, and I hastily wiped my face to make sure I hadn't been drooling or something else embarrassing in my sleep. Then I remembered what I had been dreaming about and froze, instantly, stealing a glance at the witch beside me, who seemed absolutely enthralled with her fingers. "Only if you're lucky, Brock," Wanda smirked beside me and I flushed red and stared at the ground. I heard a huff across from me and looked up to see Natasha glaring at me and Wanda's hands, which were still connected. She rolled her eyes.

"About time you woke up, Brock. The drop zone is in about five more miles." I nodded and took a deep breath. This was my first real mission out with the team, and I would be lying if I said my nerves weren't starting to get the best of me. I knew I could handle myself in a fight, that wasn't a problem. The problem was doing it without revealing AV to everybody just yet, and fighting alongside these heroes was like fighting in the presence of gods – sometimes literally – and I was just an agent with a parasite.

WE ARE NOT A PARASITE!

"Okay, ok, I'm sorry, AV, okay?" Wanda chuckled beside me.

"It's feisty, I like it," she grinned. A foot roughly kicked the sole of my shoe, and I glanced up to see Natasha standing there in her black suit, arms folded across her chest.

"Yes?" She rolled her eyes and kicked the bottom of my foot again.

"You're up, Brock, let's go!" There was an edge to her voice that seemed like more than just nervous tension before a mission, but I didn't have time to think about it. I nodded, headed towards the cargo door, double-checked my parachute for the last time and jumped.

...

The good thing about snow days was that AV blended in REALLY well, which helped us keep our secret under wraps. I was currently situated in the woods about a mile out from the main action. My job was to call out strays to the rest of the team, and turn them back if any of them got too far afield. Easy peasy. I was about 50 feet up, loving the height and the smell of the evergreen trees surrounding me. If this hero shit didn't work out, then maybe I could get used to...

"Anyone have eyes on Wanda?" Steve's voice crackled through comms and I frowned. Wanda wasn't supposed to be anywhere near the action, she was supposed to be...

"She went down and I lost contact," Clint's voice did nothing to ease my sudden bout of anxiety.

"Wanda?" Sam's voice sounded out, and I ducked back into the leaves as I heard the hum of his jet back flying above me. I didn't need to explain anything to that little pipsqueak today. The silence on the coms was deafening.

"Where was she last spotted?" I was already moving by the time I asked the question, moving through the trees like some kind of white, possessed, spider monkey. As I approached the edge of the tree line, I saw a flash of red. Wanda. She was being overrun currently, doing her best to blast the waves of mercenaries back, but they just kept coming. She kept being backed up, and she was quickly running out of places to back to. The sound of the rest of the team all clamoring in my ear was doing nothing to help my concentration, and we had a situation here. "I've got eyes on her, I'll get her back to the jet,"

"Parker..." I didn't wait to see what else Natalie was planning on saying before I ripped the device out of my ear, allowing the rest of AV to take shape. I swung towards Wanda with all of the momentum I could muster, grabbing her up in two long, white, tentacles as I pulled her out of the line of fire at the last moment and she shrieked at the unexpected sensation of being hoisted into the air by goop. At the same time, I AV extended several other, long tentacles, unleashing them on the group of thugs that were still headed towards us, knocking most out of commission, and the others at least out of the way. I glanced over at Wanda, making sure she was safe and in one piece.

We've got her. She looked at me, green eyes flashing as we made our way back through the tree cover towards the quinjet.

(Natasha's POV)
"...please be careful." I got no response except for static and I growled in frustration. Why couldn't Brock ever just stick to the fucking plan? I gunned the motorcycle and spun it around on the path through the trees, wanting to make sure that Brock got Maximoff back to the jet in one piece. I caught glimpses of the white streak flying through the trees within the forest, smirking to myself. So much for staying under the radar, Brock. Honestly, I didn't know why Hill wanted to keep one of Parker's greatest assets hidden for now, but I trusted Fury had a plan. He usually did. What I wished I understood, however, was Parker's plan. Now that she was here, now that I knew she had been a shield agent for longer than I had even known her, I really owed her a conversation. But she seemed to be avoiding me like the plague, and given the way I treated her during and after our training match, I couldn't really blame her.

I rounded the corner just in time to see the white, liquid form set Wanda down gently on the ground. Wanda whispered something, and I saw the fluid-like substance begin retreating, leaving Parker's face back as her own as the liquid started retreating from her face, her neck, and finally her chest and extremities. It really was something to see. I saw Parker smiling – no doubt satisfied with her own performance during her first team mission. But then I saw something I didn't want to see, and immediately wished I could scratch my eyes right out of my head. Wanda had grabbed Parker's face in her hands and pulled her down – into a brief but passionate kiss. I was too late.