Wanda stared down into her lap, focused on keeping her breathing steady as her hands strangled her leash into tangled knots in front of her.
As they had eaten, more people had come to sit by them, and Wanda currently had a sharply-dressed soldier in the seat immediately beside hers as well as directly across from her. It was as if they'd all clustered to be nearby. Which, given what Ross had said earlier, perhaps they had, but it was still ringing in her nerves as "danger."
Ross had tried to reassure her a few more times as the table had gotten more crowded, all to no avail, and the man was currently glancing back at her every few seconds with his expression radiating pity.
"Pet, I promise you, no one here is going to hurt you," he murmured for what must have been the thousandth time, finishing up a cup of coffee.
She nodded a little to show she'd heard, not lifting her gaze from her lap.
Even if they weren't going to hurt her outright with him sitting guard at her side, it still worried her to be helpless in what could easily be a crowd of enemies. The uneasy feeling would not shake off.
She strangled another knot into her leash, her fingers caught through the material as she wound it tighter, tighter, tighter...
"Pet," Ross scolded lightly, and Wanda let the tangled leash fall from her fingers.
Ross had given up on her eating anything about ten minutes ago and had allowed the servers to clear her nearly untouched plate away, so she didn't have anything to take up her attention as an excuse not to make eye contact with anyone around her. She couldn't even look around the hall for fear of catching the eye of someone sitting too close to her.
Wanda took a slow breath, trying to calm her nerves as her fingers itched to grab the leash once more.
She jumped as Ross' phone went off with a little ding and he dug it out to look at whatever message he'd received, staring for a few seconds before muttering a curse. He then turned and gave her a long look, which she glanced up to meet for a few seconds before returning her gaze to her lap. The man let out a slow breath in response.
She heard him mutter something about trial by fire as he stood, but to her surprise he placed a hand on her shoulder before she could follow, keeping her in her seat.
"I have to run and get something. Wait right here for me, okay?" Ross murmured, putting a little pressure on her shoulder in a silent command to stay. He unhooked the leash from her collar, and it took all of Wanda's willpower not to whirl around right there and stare at him in shock.
He was trusting her off the lead? On day two?
She didn't move as Ross straightened up and took a step back, but she did go tense as he cleared his throat to get the attention of the soldiers eating around her.
"Would you boys look after her for me?" he asked, and the young men at the table nodded, murmuring "yes, Sir" in reply. Wanda ducked her head, feeling her cheeks burn.
Oh.
She was being allowed off her lead, yes, but she was going to be well supervised. There would be no escape for her.
And worse, her only protector had just left.
Wanda whirled around as that particular thought hit her, panic bubbling in her gut.
The words "take me with you" caught halfway up her throat, settling in a burning lump at the base of her neck as she watched Ross leave her alone with all of the soldiers.
Oh God. Oh God, no.
No, no, no-!
Wanda focused her attention back down into her lap, refusing to make eye contact with anyone around her as she tried to force herself to keep calm.
Perhaps if she stayed quiet and unobtrusive they'd just ignore her.
She didn't trust Ross very much, especially with all she'd heard from Steve and Natasha and Clint about him, but watching him walk away from her had left something cold and hollow sitting in the center of her chest, aching.
She felt like she'd been abandoned.
She forced herself to take a slow breath when she realized that she was starting to panic, wringing her hands together in her lap.
Oh, God, she couldn't do this for much longer. She just wanted to run back to her room and hide where she couldn't be seen...
"Maximoff."
Wanda jumped a little in surprise as one of the young men said her name, and it took her a long second to realize that he'd read it off her name tag.
"Is that Russian? Or...?" he prompted after a second, and Wanda swallowed hard, forcing words to her lips as he continued to stare expectantly.
"Sokovian."
"Ah. That explains it," he smiled. "You've even got the accent."
"Is English your second language, then?" another asked, and Wanda nodded without looking up.
Her partial answers seemed to be the cue for the other men to break their watchful silence, and Wanda quickly found herself the center of attention.
"Is reading in English harder than reading in Sokovian?"
A nod from her.
"Do you listen to American music?"
Another nod.
"Have you been in the US for very long?"
She shook her head.
"What rank are you?"
A little shrug.
She answered a few more questions as non-committally as she could, keeping her frightened silence with a guarded wariness as the young men edged closer, their curiosity getting the better of them.
"You new to base?"
Nod.
"You get someone to show you around yet?"
Nod.
"Would you like something to drink? Eat?"
Head shake.
"You sure? It's no problem..."
A more pronounced head shake.
"Think she's shy, or just scared?" she heard one of the young men murmur to his friend off to her right.
"Not sure. Probably scared. The General is pretty tough, he may not want her talking to us too much."
"Well, that sucks."
"You're tellin' me."
"You know if you're going to be staying here for long?" someone asked from over her shoulder, and Wanda replied with another shrug, trying not to curl into herself.
They all seemed to be avoiding the obvious questions about her being a pet - there was no way they hadn't noticed her collar, and the young men earlier had mentioned rumors going around the base even before she arrived - but it didn't help her nerves any. Her hands were still trembling where she had them clenched together in her lap, and she felt about ready to pass out.
"So...should we call you Miss Maximoff? Or would it just be Miss Wanda?"
Wanda went stiff at that question.
She hadn't told anyone her first name.
She darted a glance up, trying to find who had spoken. A thin, mousy, red-haired man with freckles was watching her intently from a few seats down, and had the sleeve of his uniform shoved up just far enough on his left side to show the bottom half of a tattoo on his bicep - a symbol she recognized as Steve's shield.
So this one was an Avengers fan, and apparently on Steve's side. That made her feel quite a bit better about answering.
"Either is fine," she replied quietly, and the young man sent her a smile, allowing his sleeve to slip back down.
"Does it hurt you?" someone else asked from her side, and Wanda turned to find a light-haired young man with a round face and the start of a mustache looking at her in concerned curiosity. "The collar, I mean. When you talk?"
Wanda took a little breath to steady her nerves before she answered.
"Only if I speak out of line. I am allowed to answer questions that require it, otherwise I am not supposed to speak."
"How would they even monitor that?" another man asked, this one heavy-set and clean-shaven with thick sideburns, seated across from her at the end of the table. "Do they just have someone listening to you all day to make sure you aren't speaking out of turn?"
She replied with a helpless little shrug. "I haven't pushed my luck."
"I wonder if we could turn it off. Fry the programming, or something," someone suggested from behind her, and the words were quickly followed by another person's disbelieving scoff.
"Dude, that would definitely get you court marshaled."
Wanda turned to see the speaker, and found a darkly tanned man standing behind her, peering at the collar.
"Only if they caught me."
"If they're listening in through that thing, they just heard you say that," the man beside him laughed. "You're already caught."
"Who is 'they' anyhow?" one of the young men from the table behind them asked.
"The UN," someone replied from over her shoulder, and Wanda turned to see who had spoken just as someone from another table chimed in.
"World Security Council, not the whole UN. It's the side-branch that they reserve for dealing with the superhero groups."
"Fuck, I knew it! She IS Scarlet Witch!" one man exclaimed from somewhere she couldn't see.
"Dude, you just realized that?"
"Wait, really? Why'd they send her here?"
"With the General, obviously."
"Is this over that Accords mess that-"
"-heard something about Ross getting a pet-"
"-only one on the team that looks like-"
"-collar? For real? I can't-"
"-assumed that-"
"-what are the odds-"
Wanda quickly tuned out most of the chatter, losing track of the conversation as everyone around her started talking at once. She let her fingers twist themselves into a knot in her lap, forcing herself to take a deep breath to calm down.
So they all knew who she was.
The words "Scarlet Witch" kept echoing through the conversations around her like a curse waiting to fall, and it sent a prickling unease up her spine.
She was pitifully outnumbered.
And yet, they didn't seem overly hostile. Just curious. And in fact, most of them seemed to be rather sympathetic toward her being kept as a pet.
Wanda took another slow breath, ducking her head down as the talking around her got louder and more excited. More soldiers had joined the conversation, drawn over by the crowd, and Wanda was now at the center of a rather loud, boisterous mass of strange young men.
Fortunately, she was not the only one aware of this.
"Hey, guys, keep it down a notch, you're freaking her out."
The chatter died down quickly, and Wanda ducked her head even further to hide from the concerned glances that were thrown her way as she shot a glance at the person who had just spoken.
"Sorry about that," the man beside her said with a gentle smile. "We all tend to get a bit rowdy when we're excited. We don't mean to overwhelm you."
She hummed a soft sound in acknowledgement, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth as she peeked up at the young men from under her hat.
"Did the General say how long you'd be stationed here for?"
Wanda shook her head, glancing up at the man who'd spoken before returning her gaze resolutely to her lap.
"Do you know if you're in classes? Or just following General Ross around?"
"Just following," she murmured.
"Are you going to be back for-"
"All right, boys," a voice called, interrupting the next set of questions, and Wanda looked up in relief to see Secretary Ross making his way toward her through the crowd. "Sorry to spoil your fun, but I need her back now."
There were a few chorused "awww"s as Wanda slipped to her feet, tilting her head to allow Ross access to her collar as he clipped her leash on.
"Hello, pet," he crooned, cupping her cheek in his hand for a second and flashing her a gentle, reassuring smile. "It's getting a bit late. Why don't we go get some fresh air before heading back to your room?"
Wanda nodded, trailing at his heels as the crowd parted to let them through, a few of the soldiers calling goodbyes after them.
She focused her attention on Ross' back, her nerves in too much of a knot to answer any of the young men, and followed the General out into the hallway as she focused on evening out the little hitch in her breathing.
That...hadn't gone as bad as she'd thought it would. They all actually seemed rather nice.
Wanda allowed a fond little smile to creep over her lips as she recalled the one man offering to deactivate her collar once they'd found out that it hurt her. Perhaps she hadn't been sent into as much of a lion's den as she'd thought.
"Well, you're looking considerably more cheerful than when I left," Ross said, holding a door open for her with a grin as he startled her out of her musing. "If you'd like, I can let you visit with the boys again a bit later in the week, so you don't get lonely."
Wanda considered for a second, worrying her bottom lip in thought, before glancing up to meet Ross' gaze and nodding.
Now that she knew she didn't have anything to fear, she felt that she could face them all again, and perhaps not spend the entire time hiding behind her hat. And if Ross was willing to let her see other people so that she wouldn't be lonely, perhaps he wasn't as terrible a person as she'd worried he was.
"We can go eat lunch there tomorrow. Would you like that, pet?" he asked her gently, and Wanda nodded again as he stepped through the door after her and let it swing closed behind him, taking up the lead once more.
Wanda obediently fell into step at his heel, carefully keeping pace with the man as he directed them toward an ornate set of double doors.
Fill: Enlisted (6/?)
As they had eaten, more people had come to sit by them, and Wanda currently had a sharply-dressed soldier in the seat immediately beside hers as well as directly across from her. It was as if they'd all clustered to be nearby. Which, given what Ross had said earlier, perhaps they had, but it was still ringing in her nerves as "danger."
Ross had tried to reassure her a few more times as the table had gotten more crowded, all to no avail, and the man was currently glancing back at her every few seconds with his expression radiating pity.
"Pet, I promise you, no one here is going to hurt you," he murmured for what must have been the thousandth time, finishing up a cup of coffee.
She nodded a little to show she'd heard, not lifting her gaze from her lap.
Even if they weren't going to hurt her outright with him sitting guard at her side, it still worried her to be helpless in what could easily be a crowd of enemies. The uneasy feeling would not shake off.
She strangled another knot into her leash, her fingers caught through the material as she wound it tighter, tighter, tighter...
"Pet," Ross scolded lightly, and Wanda let the tangled leash fall from her fingers.
Ross had given up on her eating anything about ten minutes ago and had allowed the servers to clear her nearly untouched plate away, so she didn't have anything to take up her attention as an excuse not to make eye contact with anyone around her. She couldn't even look around the hall for fear of catching the eye of someone sitting too close to her.
Wanda took a slow breath, trying to calm her nerves as her fingers itched to grab the leash once more.
She jumped as Ross' phone went off with a little ding and he dug it out to look at whatever message he'd received, staring for a few seconds before muttering a curse. He then turned and gave her a long look, which she glanced up to meet for a few seconds before returning her gaze to her lap. The man let out a slow breath in response.
She heard him mutter something about trial by fire as he stood, but to her surprise he placed a hand on her shoulder before she could follow, keeping her in her seat.
"I have to run and get something. Wait right here for me, okay?" Ross murmured, putting a little pressure on her shoulder in a silent command to stay. He unhooked the leash from her collar, and it took all of Wanda's willpower not to whirl around right there and stare at him in shock.
He was trusting her off the lead? On day two?
She didn't move as Ross straightened up and took a step back, but she did go tense as he cleared his throat to get the attention of the soldiers eating around her.
"Would you boys look after her for me?" he asked, and the young men at the table nodded, murmuring "yes, Sir" in reply. Wanda ducked her head, feeling her cheeks burn.
Oh.
She was being allowed off her lead, yes, but she was going to be well supervised. There would be no escape for her.
And worse, her only protector had just left.
Wanda whirled around as that particular thought hit her, panic bubbling in her gut.
The words "take me with you" caught halfway up her throat, settling in a burning lump at the base of her neck as she watched Ross leave her alone with all of the soldiers.
Oh God. Oh God, no.
No, no, no-!
Wanda focused her attention back down into her lap, refusing to make eye contact with anyone around her as she tried to force herself to keep calm.
Perhaps if she stayed quiet and unobtrusive they'd just ignore her.
She didn't trust Ross very much, especially with all she'd heard from Steve and Natasha and Clint about him, but watching him walk away from her had left something cold and hollow sitting in the center of her chest, aching.
She felt like she'd been abandoned.
She forced herself to take a slow breath when she realized that she was starting to panic, wringing her hands together in her lap.
Oh, God, she couldn't do this for much longer. She just wanted to run back to her room and hide where she couldn't be seen...
"Maximoff."
Wanda jumped a little in surprise as one of the young men said her name, and it took her a long second to realize that he'd read it off her name tag.
"Is that Russian? Or...?" he prompted after a second, and Wanda swallowed hard, forcing words to her lips as he continued to stare expectantly.
"Sokovian."
"Ah. That explains it," he smiled. "You've even got the accent."
"Is English your second language, then?" another asked, and Wanda nodded without looking up.
Her partial answers seemed to be the cue for the other men to break their watchful silence, and Wanda quickly found herself the center of attention.
"Is reading in English harder than reading in Sokovian?"
A nod from her.
"Do you listen to American music?"
Another nod.
"Have you been in the US for very long?"
She shook her head.
"What rank are you?"
A little shrug.
She answered a few more questions as non-committally as she could, keeping her frightened silence with a guarded wariness as the young men edged closer, their curiosity getting the better of them.
"You new to base?"
Nod.
"You get someone to show you around yet?"
Nod.
"Would you like something to drink? Eat?"
Head shake.
"You sure? It's no problem..."
A more pronounced head shake.
"Think she's shy, or just scared?" she heard one of the young men murmur to his friend off to her right.
"Not sure. Probably scared. The General is pretty tough, he may not want her talking to us too much."
"Well, that sucks."
"You're tellin' me."
"You know if you're going to be staying here for long?" someone asked from over her shoulder, and Wanda replied with another shrug, trying not to curl into herself.
They all seemed to be avoiding the obvious questions about her being a pet - there was no way they hadn't noticed her collar, and the young men earlier had mentioned rumors going around the base even before she arrived - but it didn't help her nerves any. Her hands were still trembling where she had them clenched together in her lap, and she felt about ready to pass out.
"So...should we call you Miss Maximoff? Or would it just be Miss Wanda?"
Wanda went stiff at that question.
She hadn't told anyone her first name.
She darted a glance up, trying to find who had spoken. A thin, mousy, red-haired man with freckles was watching her intently from a few seats down, and had the sleeve of his uniform shoved up just far enough on his left side to show the bottom half of a tattoo on his bicep - a symbol she recognized as Steve's shield.
So this one was an Avengers fan, and apparently on Steve's side. That made her feel quite a bit better about answering.
"Either is fine," she replied quietly, and the young man sent her a smile, allowing his sleeve to slip back down.
"Does it hurt you?" someone else asked from her side, and Wanda turned to find a light-haired young man with a round face and the start of a mustache looking at her in concerned curiosity. "The collar, I mean. When you talk?"
Wanda took a little breath to steady her nerves before she answered.
"Only if I speak out of line. I am allowed to answer questions that require it, otherwise I am not supposed to speak."
"How would they even monitor that?" another man asked, this one heavy-set and clean-shaven with thick sideburns, seated across from her at the end of the table. "Do they just have someone listening to you all day to make sure you aren't speaking out of turn?"
She replied with a helpless little shrug. "I haven't pushed my luck."
"I wonder if we could turn it off. Fry the programming, or something," someone suggested from behind her, and the words were quickly followed by another person's disbelieving scoff.
"Dude, that would definitely get you court marshaled."
Wanda turned to see the speaker, and found a darkly tanned man standing behind her, peering at the collar.
"Only if they caught me."
"If they're listening in through that thing, they just heard you say that," the man beside him laughed. "You're already caught."
"Who is 'they' anyhow?" one of the young men from the table behind them asked.
"The UN," someone replied from over her shoulder, and Wanda turned to see who had spoken just as someone from another table chimed in.
"World Security Council, not the whole UN. It's the side-branch that they reserve for dealing with the superhero groups."
"Fuck, I knew it! She IS Scarlet Witch!" one man exclaimed from somewhere she couldn't see.
"Dude, you just realized that?"
"Wait, really? Why'd they send her here?"
"With the General, obviously."
"Is this over that Accords mess that-"
"-heard something about Ross getting a pet-"
"-only one on the team that looks like-"
"-collar? For real? I can't-"
"-assumed that-"
"-what are the odds-"
Wanda quickly tuned out most of the chatter, losing track of the conversation as everyone around her started talking at once. She let her fingers twist themselves into a knot in her lap, forcing herself to take a deep breath to calm down.
So they all knew who she was.
The words "Scarlet Witch" kept echoing through the conversations around her like a curse waiting to fall, and it sent a prickling unease up her spine.
She was pitifully outnumbered.
And yet, they didn't seem overly hostile. Just curious. And in fact, most of them seemed to be rather sympathetic toward her being kept as a pet.
Wanda took another slow breath, ducking her head down as the talking around her got louder and more excited. More soldiers had joined the conversation, drawn over by the crowd, and Wanda was now at the center of a rather loud, boisterous mass of strange young men.
Fortunately, she was not the only one aware of this.
"Hey, guys, keep it down a notch, you're freaking her out."
The chatter died down quickly, and Wanda ducked her head even further to hide from the concerned glances that were thrown her way as she shot a glance at the person who had just spoken.
"Sorry about that," the man beside her said with a gentle smile. "We all tend to get a bit rowdy when we're excited. We don't mean to overwhelm you."
She hummed a soft sound in acknowledgement, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth as she peeked up at the young men from under her hat.
"Did the General say how long you'd be stationed here for?"
Wanda shook her head, glancing up at the man who'd spoken before returning her gaze resolutely to her lap.
"Do you know if you're in classes? Or just following General Ross around?"
"Just following," she murmured.
"Are you going to be back for-"
"All right, boys," a voice called, interrupting the next set of questions, and Wanda looked up in relief to see Secretary Ross making his way toward her through the crowd. "Sorry to spoil your fun, but I need her back now."
There were a few chorused "awww"s as Wanda slipped to her feet, tilting her head to allow Ross access to her collar as he clipped her leash on.
"Hello, pet," he crooned, cupping her cheek in his hand for a second and flashing her a gentle, reassuring smile. "It's getting a bit late. Why don't we go get some fresh air before heading back to your room?"
Wanda nodded, trailing at his heels as the crowd parted to let them through, a few of the soldiers calling goodbyes after them.
She focused her attention on Ross' back, her nerves in too much of a knot to answer any of the young men, and followed the General out into the hallway as she focused on evening out the little hitch in her breathing.
That...hadn't gone as bad as she'd thought it would. They all actually seemed rather nice.
Wanda allowed a fond little smile to creep over her lips as she recalled the one man offering to deactivate her collar once they'd found out that it hurt her. Perhaps she hadn't been sent into as much of a lion's den as she'd thought.
"Well, you're looking considerably more cheerful than when I left," Ross said, holding a door open for her with a grin as he startled her out of her musing. "If you'd like, I can let you visit with the boys again a bit later in the week, so you don't get lonely."
Wanda considered for a second, worrying her bottom lip in thought, before glancing up to meet Ross' gaze and nodding.
Now that she knew she didn't have anything to fear, she felt that she could face them all again, and perhaps not spend the entire time hiding behind her hat. And if Ross was willing to let her see other people so that she wouldn't be lonely, perhaps he wasn't as terrible a person as she'd worried he was.
"We can go eat lunch there tomorrow. Would you like that, pet?" he asked her gently, and Wanda nodded again as he stepped through the door after her and let it swing closed behind him, taking up the lead once more.
Wanda obediently fell into step at his heel, carefully keeping pace with the man as he directed them toward an ornate set of double doors.
Perhaps this wouldn't be too terrible after all.