Venomous

22. Exploration

By the time Natasha and I got to the conference room, almost everyone was already there. Tony was unsurprisingly standing at the head of the table. Steve, Sam, and Wanda sat on one side of the table. Rhodes, Clint, and I'm guessing the last chair was most likely Natasha's comprised the other. Unwilling to expend the energy to sit down, I opted to stand behind the conference table, arms folded, looking up at the crew expectantly.

"Right. We found an abandoned hydra base in Greenland, and it's look like it's where they were doing a lot of their genetic engineering. I frowned and glanced towards Wanda. Her teeth were clenching her jaw shut. I couldn't imagine what that process had been like, especially since she and her brother had volunteered. "This mission does not require all of us – Romanoff, Brock, Maximoff, and Rogers – you four are up. I took a deep breath and glanced around at my team.

"A hacker, a witch, a super-soldier, and...a martial artist?" I asked, managing to not spill my secret to the rest of the room – the whole three people that didn't know, I thought, anyway.

"Wanda is to help get you in, in case anyone is watching. Steve has to stay on the jet to make sure that the uplink goes through and that we're able to copy the data. Natasha's job is to get the data, and you – well, you can back her up." I frowned as I glanced at Tony. It seems like there was something that he wasn't saying.

"What is there to back her up from, exactly?" I questioned. Natasha glanced over her shoulder at me, her eyebrows posing a question. I shrugged, and she turned back towards Tony expectantly, waiting for an answer.

"Just in case. Better to be safe than sorry," Tony mumbled before walking out of the room. As the team began to file out, Steve stopped in the doorway.

"Wheels up in 30 minutes, people. Let's get this done." I nodded and hung back until Wanda made her way out towards the door. She stopped by the doorway as my mouth flapped open and shut a few times before being able to form words.

"Can I help you, Parker?" She smirked, tilting her head slightly and grinning at me.

"I, uh..."

What's wrong with you?

The small giggle that escaped Wanda's mouth before she could contain it lit a fire under my suddenly-shy ass and whipped me back into gear.

"Wouldyouliketogooutwithmeafterthemission?" It came out in a single clump of words and letters and meaning, and I could feel myself flushing as red as Natasha's hair as Wanda appraised me silently, a beautiful grin spreading across her face.

"I didn't quite catch...whatever that was...would you like to try again?" She teased. I took a deep breath, soundly cursed myself out, and then tried again.

"Would you like to go out with me when we get back from the mission?" That time, it sounded almost human. Wanda's smile widened, and she cupped my face in her palm.

"That's better," she chuckled. I raised my eyebrows, waiting for an answer. "Sounds fun." I grinned and resisted the urge to jump up and down in excitement. I grinned and clenched my fists instead, ignoring the feeling of pinpricks as my nails dug slightly into the soft flesh of my palm.

"Great. I guess I'll see you in a few, then." I smiled and we both went to exit the room at the same time, bumping our heads together instead. We laughed, and I nobly gestured for her to go first as I held open the conference room door for her.

"Looks like," she called as I made my way down the hall. I was halfway to the other end when her voice made me stop in my tracks. "Parker?"

"Hmm?" I spun slowly, Wanda's smile making me feel suddenly dizzy.

"Our rooms are that way," she hooked a thumb over her shoulder in the opposite direction from the way I was currently headed.

"I, uh...just wanted to go the long way," I lied, moving determinedly down the hallway in the opposite direction of the witch, and her laughter trailed behind me as I continued moving.

...

Natasha set the jet down in a clearing not too far from the main compound. True to Tony's word – at least for now – there wasn't another soul in sight, and it looked as though we just might be in the clear.
Alright, team, we know the mission." Steve was ramping up one of his hero speeches again, and I suddenly realized that I was very tired, and that I probably should have slept on the flight. "Let's do this," I tuned back in to the speech just in time. Natasha and I glanced at each other and nodded as we grabbed the last loose pieces of our gear.

"Ready?" She checked, sliding one pistol out of her holster and checking her ammo.

"Ready," I affirmed, standing and making my way towards the ramp. Wanda followed the pair of us down the ramp and towards the abandoned building that rose out of the distance. As we got closer, we could tell that this building had seen better days – sections of the roof were missing, there were shell holes through the brick, reinforced walls, and it was obvious by the smell that some sort of fight had taken place here. I felt a growing sense of unease, and glanced at Natasha to see her looking over her shoulder as well. "Let's get in there, grab what we need, and get out," I murmured. She nodded and raised a hand to her earpiece.

"We're in position, Maximoff. Takeoff." I looked down to see red magic hovering like a cloud around my waist, and Natasha and I both began to be lifted into the air. From this vantage point, I looked back towards the jet. Standing about fifty feet between us and the jet was Wanda, arms raised, eyes focused as she propelled us up and over the crumbling wall that marked our entry point. Once the wall was clear, I hurriedly scurried down the other side – being sticky had its advantages – and raised my hand to help Natasha down, signaling to the witch that I had her and that she could let go.

"This way, let's go," I gestured down a darkened hallway, Natasha nodding and following behind me. Several darkened rooms later, we found the main server and Natasha went to work decrypting the drive that we needed. I stood guard towards the center of the room, ready to move in any direction necessary. This place kind of gave me the creeps. It sounded like an old, run-down building – the way it creaked and groaned despite its emptiness. I frowned and squinted down the darkened hallway, thinking that I had heard something.

"What is it?" Natasha glanced up as I began making my way slowly back towards the door. I looked down the hallway and spotted nothing out of the ordinary, except...I made my way into the darkness for about twenty feet before coming face to face with a symbol that I would recognize anywhere. Symbiotes. Hydra had known about symbiotes? Were they working with them? Was this place where they had... a loud crash instantly made me jerk my head up in the direction that I had left Natasha. Something was here.