The Story of Adelaida Barnes | MCU

x. love is weakness

Fifteen years after the assassination of Howard and Maria Stark, Adelaida and her handler got sent to another European country. Sokovia. HYDRA had been keeping an eye on a set of twins there. Wanda and Pietro Maximoff. Their parents were killed in nineteen ninety nine, when they were just ten years old, after a Stark Industries bomb went off in their apartment building. They were young HYDRA hopefuls at just seventeen years old. Adelaida's mission was to befriend the twins, and convince them to join HYDRA. Her handler was posing as her uncle while they were in Sokovia, and they had gotten an apartment close to the center of the city.

'Gotten' was more of an understatement, as they had actually broke in and murdered the current tenant before disposing of the body. Adelaida was fixing her hair and doing her makeup when her handler walked in. He handed her the file they had on the Maximoff twins. Adelaida was supposed to go out and find them today. They both had dark, brown hair and blue eyes. It was not hard to tell that they were related. The file said that they were usually found in the center of the city, selling random things to try and make some extra money. No matter what she read, her eyes kept drifting back to the picture of Pietro. He was attractive.

In fact, he was the most attractive man she had ever seen. Not that she had seen many. Most of the men at HYDRA were, lets just say, very unattractive. Adelaida placed the file down, finished putting on her lip gloss, and then put her hair into a messy ponytail. She threw on a leather jacket and a pair of heeled black boots before leaving. She headed down the stairs and out into the street. The serum had heightened her senses so she strained her ears and eyes as much as she could. She slowly walked down the street while keeping her eyes and ears peeled for any sign of the Maximoff twins. Adelaida had just walked past a small pawn shop when she heard a very heavily accented voice say "Pietro."

Adelaida turned her head a little bit and found who she was looking for. She looked at them through the corner of her eye as she thought of a plan in her head. She straightened up and fixed her hair a bit before walking in their direction while looking down. She felt the right side of her body hit something before a pair of hands grabbed onto her waist. "Oh my god! I'm so sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going." Adelaida said, giggling a bit. Pietro responded with "It's alright, printsessa." Adelaida turned to walk away as Pietro said "Wait!" She turned back around. "We haven't seen you around here before, what's your name?" Wanda asked. "Oh, I'm Adelaida. My uncle and I just moved here." "Well, welcome to Sokovia, Adelaida." Wanda responded. "Adelaida? That's really long. I'm going to call you Addi." Pietro said.

Adelaida acted confused but nodded. Her plan seemed to be working so far. Pietro slung his arm around her shoulders and said "So, where are you from Addi? That's an interesting accent you have there." Wanda moved to her other side. "Russia." "What brings you here?" Wanda asked her. "Um, business." She answered, twirling a strand of her hair. The twins gave her a look but brushed it off. "Well then, let us show you around." Wanda said grabbing her hand and dragging her away from Pietro.

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Adelaida spent every day with Wanda and Pietro. They had become close friends. She tried to convince herself that it was only because of the mission, but she knew the truth. She was falling. Hard. Adelaida didn't know how it happened. One day, her and Pietro had just been hanging out without Wanda, when suddenly she was against the wall with his lips on hers. It went on for weeks. Small kisses, innocent touches, love bites, it was all so wrong. But it felt so right. Adelaida didn't know what love felt like, but she was sure that this was it.

One afternoon, when Adelaida and Pietro were making out in a back alley way, Pietro said those three words. "God, I love you." He whispered in between neck kisses. Adelaida froze and pushed him away. "I have to go." She said, fixing her hair and clothes. "Addi? I'm sorry." He said kind of confused. "No, it's fine. I just, I have to go. I'll see you here tonight?" She didn't wait for his response before rushing out of the alley way. It's not that she didn't love him, because she honestly didn't know. But what she did know, was that love only hurts you in the end.

"Addi?" Wanda said, grabbing her arm, pulling her out of her thoughts. "Are you okay?" "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine." Adelaida said, glancing back. "Where's Pietro? I brought you guys coffee." Wanda asked. "I'm sorry, but I have to go. I'll see you later." She said grabbing the coffee out of Wanda's outstretched hand. She rushed off, leaving Wanda, and Pietro, there in confusion. Once Adelaida had gotten back to the apartment, she leaned against the door, breathing heavily. She noticed her handler wasn't there, so she quickly chugged back the coffee, the hot liquid burning her throat. She threw out the cup before going into her bedroom to think.

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Later that night, Adelaida had finally come to a conclusion. She loved Pietro. She had decided that that night, she would give herself up to him. Give him a part of her that no one else would ever be able to have. She quickly got ready to head to their spot. She had just made it to the front door when she heard a voice. "Going somewhere?" Her handler asked, turning on a lamp. "Um...." Adelaida didn't know how to answer. "You're going to see that boy again, aren't you?" He didn't wait for an answer before speaking again.

"We came here for you to recruit them, not for you to fall in love with one of them." Adelaida looked down. It's not like she could control her feelings. "Love is weakness, my child. You know that." Her handler said caressing her cheek. Adelaida nodded. "You'll only get hurt in the end." Her handler said stepping away. "You are to never see that boy again." Her head snapped up. "We are going home. Go pack." He said, pushing Adelaida towards her bedroom. She immediately obeyed, trying not to think about the Sokovian boy that was waiting for her.