[Post Avengers: Age of Ultron - AU]
For the last seven years, Aurora Taylor has only known loyalty to Hydra. She, among others, is part of their latest batch of successful experiments. They all share a mutual hatred for anyone who dares to get in th...
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"Any sign of her?"
Wanda Maximoff and I are on the ground in the streets of Rio de Janeiro. We're both heavily disguised as civilians. Thor and Pietro are tackling another crowded section somewhere else. We've been hooked up with earpieces thanks to Stark before we left. It's just the four of us, a small team indeed.
"None yet," says Wanda, who's beside me. She insisted that she kept with me in case I decided to try anything sneaky. I hate that she's smart.
I'm trying to find Ruby before Wanda. I'm not quite sure how my plan to get away from the Avengers is going to work since I've got the witch at my side. I guess I'll figure it out on the fly.
"I don't think the public is her thing," I say to Wanda. We get temporarily separated by a small group of people, but then she attaches back to me, like we're tethered by an invisible leash. "She'd want to stay out of the spotlight, even in a crowd, if she knows she's being looked for."
"Can you read minds now, too?"
"No, I'm just thinking how she would." Kids chase each other in front of us, and a little boy nearly runs Wanda over.
"How is it on your end?" Wanda asks into the earpiece.
"No luck," says Pietro. "Maybe Aurora is right. Maybe we need to search abandoned buildings instead of the streets."
"Then we'll start that. You and Thor keep lookout in the streets, still." Wanda maneuvers us out of the streets and down alleyways. She has a slightly haunted look in her eye, I notice.
"Homesick?" I ask mockingly.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"We might have another enhanced around," comes Thor's low register on the earpiece.
"Why do you say that?" asks Wanda.
"I think we might've just found him."
"Him?" I ask. "But there's supposed to be only one here."
"Good for us, bad for them," says Wanda.
I frown. "You're going to pursue him?"
"Cautiously, but yes, we will," says Thor. "You and Wanda keep searching for the original enhanced."
"Copy that," says Wanda.
We emerge from alleyways. I feel the cold at my fingertips. I can ice Wanda right here, she can't thaw herself out; she doesn't possess that power. I need to get away from her. I'm not tracked. I can make myself scarce before Thor and Pietro get to me.
