This witch won't burn

“He’s gonna be alright you know, we’re not just leaving him to fend for himself – in fact, I’m more worried for Sam and Steve.” Tony joked, clearly reading on Wanda’s face her apprehension to splitting from her twin. “Besides, if he wanted to catch up to us, he’d just zoom on over and it’d be like he rode with us.” He smirked, opening the driver’s side of his car and sliding in. “And with this way, no one is going to try to steal shotgun from you.”

Waiting for her to get in, Tony nodded towards the seatbelt, “buckle up, kid.” Before lacking to do the same for himself and taking off down the long drive of the compound and heading towards the city. “Not too sure, actually – was hoping you’d pick something out, the world is your oyster, Wanda, pick something and we’ll do it.” He hummed, reaching to turn his music on.

“Hope you don’t mind a little rock ‘n’ roll,” he hummed along to one of the songs, sneakily glancing over at Wanda to make sure she was alright before deciding he was hungry. “Do you like McDonalds’s? Because I’m hungry and I’m not feeling for healthy food nor am I wanting Burger King, so…. Breakfast?” He actually wondered what was going on through Wanda’s mind, and if there was anything he could do to aid her. After all, the guilt of what happened to her parents and home still rested firmly upon his shoulders.

@stacojiuwitch

      “How do you know I’m not worried about those two and not my brother?” Wanda managed to smile back at Tony’s teasing, thankful for how he was dealing with the worry that was clearly on her shoulders. After all, it would have been so easy to just say a simple ‘don’t worry, everything will be alright’. Instead he went on and gave her a reason not to worry, which was more than Wanda could hope for.       Not to mention the fact he pointed out that she indeed, got the ‘shotgun’ of the car. Pietro couldn’t play the ‘I’m the eldest’ card, nor use his speed to slip by and take it from her for once! 

      Sitting down, Wanda did up her own seatbelt before noticing Tony was already driving, without his on. She couldn’t have that. After all, Wanda had seen the end results of not wearing a seatbelt and heard stories about people who didn’t wear one as well. Tony didn’t deserve to go through that fate, that mess-       So, without asking, Wanda just used her magic to bring the buckle into her hand. With it, she clipped it into place so Tony could be buckled in. Nice and safe.

      “We didn’t have this music in Sokovia. I like the...” Waiting for the guitar bit to sound over the rest, the girl pointed to the radio. “Whatever that is.”

Steve had been in the training room until early hours of the morning. Which was honestly a normal occurrence for him. What wasn’t normal was finding out someone was on awake on his way to his room to get at least an hour or two of shut-eye before he was expected up for breakfast.

The crashing sounds had him on alert, but once he saw they came from Wanda’s room, he wasn’t expecting a burglary anymore. He knew Wanda struggled with her powers, which was why she was in training. He wished he could help her more, but he was a little lost when it came to the magic department.

With a few knocks on the door, he opened it just a bit to poke his head in, offering a small smile. “You need someone to talk to?”

      It was a relief to see Steve at her door, and not because he happened to be the twin’s favourite hero. He was a really good guy without the mask, one of the few both of the twins leaned on while Pietro was busy recovering after Ultron. [Right after Clint who seemingly adopted the two right in the middle of the fight.] Pietro trusted him, and in turn, Wanda did as well. So really when he showed up at the girl’s door, Wanda moved on her bed right away so the man could take a seat with her. 

      These dreams. These nightmares. These memories. 

      With a scream and a blast of energy much like the one she unleash back when they had been fighting that robot army, Wanda bolted upright in bed. Beads of sweat clung to her face, her heart racing as if she had just been taken right out of a fight. Which, it might just look like she was in the middle of judging by what was around her. Everything in her room was knocked over, a few things even broken due to the girl’s untamed powers. Chaos. Just like what her mind felt.

𝓫𝓪𝓼𝓲𝓬𝓼

❖ name: Wanda Maximoff ❖ nickname(s): does your character have any nicknames ? ❖ alias: Scarlet Witch / Witch ❖ aligment: Hero ❖ affiliation: The Avengers ❖ birthdate & age: June 16th 1990 [25] ❖ zodiac sign: Gemini ❖ species: Mutant ❖ gender: Female ❖ pronouns: She/her ❖ romantic orientation: Panromantic ❖ sexual orientation: Pansexual

𝓻𝓮𝓵𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷𝓼𝓱𝓲𝓹𝓼

❖ parents: Django&Marya Maximoff as far as she and her brother know. Erik Lehnsherr and Magda Eisenhardt are her biological parents though. ❖ siblings: Her other half and beloved twin brother, Pietro. Unknown to her Lorna Dane is her half sister thanks to Erik Lehnsherr, while Jimmy Hudson is her brother thanks to Magda Eisenhard. ❖ extended family: She somehow has two twins boys from the future, along with like five father figures in the Avengers. Jean has also recently taken Wanda under her wing as well. ❖ friends: Friends do not tend to last long in the life of a Maximoff, but Pietro has always been there for her, and she has been there for him as well. They are each other’s best friend and their world. ...However, Wanda would not deny any if any of the Avengers would honour her by calling her a friend ❖ enemies: HYDRA & the fools who mess with her brother ❖ lover(s): None. A few people have flirted with her before, but it’s hard not to get scared away by Pietro.

𝓹𝓱𝔂𝓼𝓲𝓬𝓪𝓵 𝓽𝓻𝓪𝓲𝓽𝓼

❖ eyes: Blue eyes just like her brother, but they are a tad darker. ❖ hair: Long, sightly wavy auburn hair. It’s normally worn down unless she lets her brother style it. ❖ height: 5′6″ ❖ weight: 127 lbs ❖ build: Small and dainty ❖ tattoos + piercings: Four piercings on each ear. She got normal piercings young and then later added to them when Pietro got his own. ..And then again later on when she was older. ❖ notable physical traits: Being glued to Pietro’s side. She’s often wearing some sort of red, along with red wisps due to her powers. Wanda often has quite a lot of jewellery on as well.

𝓹𝓮𝓻𝓼𝓸𝓷𝓪𝓵𝓲𝓽𝔂

Pietro was not going to be played so easily. “Oh! By far he’s a better hero!” He readily agreed. You could tell that the speedster honestly meant that. “And of course he’s handsome. He is the Captain America!” Pietro gestured as he talked. 

“If anything dear sister, I would find it a bit worrying if you found me more handsome than him…People get the wrong idea enough as it is.” Pietro scoffed. It was because they didn’t look like twins and they were so close people got the wrong ideas from time to time.

      Should have went for Tony Stark, Wanda thought, rolling her eyes at her brother. Of COURSE he would agree to anything good about Captain America. Could he survive a bullet in the head? Did he once punch Hitler? Could he ride an ostrich? No one can say for sure. 

Pietro was already halfway through the bar before Wanda could even register that it was out of her hand. His hummed in a silent ‘Thank you’ Not bothering to finish chewing before responding.              “Awh, How sweet. You really do have the best taste.” Pietro grinned, popping the last of the bar into his mouth. “You know who my hero is?-” He didn’t give her a chance to respond. “Captain America. That guy is great.” He only pretended to favor someone else to get a rise out of her. “I mean…Don’t get me wrong, you’re an okay hero.” He watched her expression carefully. 

      At least he let her take it out of her pocket before he snatched it. That was at least an improvement. However, she still gave him a look to say she wasn’t impressed by his actions. Just like scolding a child or a dog. 

“Of course he can!” It would probably benefit Pietro to have a slower tour as well. “I know better than to separate the two of you.” She didn’t want to know what kind of disaster either of the twins could cause if they were separated. It was obvious just from talking to Wanda that they were a team, working in perfect synchronization. That was something you didn’t mess with, especially with mutants.

Jean grinned, letting a side of her she felt like she hadn’t shown in years come out. The childish side that seemed to vanish after the whole thing with the Phoenix. “I’m sure some of the students would love helping you prank your brother- or even some of the teachers.” she nudged Wanda, playfully. She meant herself. She did have to be fun again, right?

“I can. Don’t be embarrassed.” she soothed. “English is my first language and I still screw it up.” She wasn’t sure if that would make Wanda feel better, but she hoped it would. “English is hard, so it’s nothing to feel bad about.

      Even HYDRA knew better than to separate the twins, but Wanda had to admit.. Jean got that pretty fast. [As if Wanda hadn’t mentioned her brother enough times already!] It was still good to know Jean wouldn’t try to come between them.

      “Some of the teachers? Do you happen to mean yourself?” Wanda didn’t need to read the other’s mind to know what Jean was thinking. It was clear as day on her face! Hopefully her brother wouldn’t mind the little gang up against him.. He at least wouldn’t stay mad at her. Not for long, anyways. 

Ah. Well that explained it. “You’ll get used to it once you’ve been here long enough. America.” She assured her. She coudn’t imagine how frightening it must have been for Wanda- everything that happened in Sokovia, and now- now she was in a foreign country. That had to be overwhelming. “If you want a tour of the city, I could give you one.” she offered.

“I’m sure he will be okay with it- after all, the Avengers can’t train mutant powers. None of them are mutants.” It was nothing against them- she was sure they could come up with training sessions for Wanda and Pietro- but they would never understand exactly what they needed. There was only so much they could do. And besides, if she accepted Fury’s offer, she would be working alongside the Avengers. The X-men would be.

Jean laughed. “There were a couple times we’d end the program- in the middle of training, and the guys would be up on top of it- so of course they fall to the floor.” It was too bad she never thought to record it- those times it happened were quite funny. “We’d start you two off quite easy though, you won’t need to worry about the holograms fighting back until later.”

She could also tell Wanda was having a hard time with English, and she gently squeezed her shoulder. “If you want, I can help with English too. It’s no bother- and only if you want me to.”

      “Really? ..Could my.. brother come?” Wanda shyly asked. She knew Pietro would be able to map out the whole town in under a minute, and he would surely be bored getting dragged along on a ‘girls trip’, but she just felt safer going out with him. Sure Jean had been through it all before, but Pietro? Pietro could easily ground her, calm her down in case she started feeling uneasy.. 

      A laugh almost slipped past Wanda’s lip,s but she managed to cover her mouth in time. “..Is it bad that I want to do that to my brother?” After he was fully healed, of course. Could he react fast enough with the shock of being dropped off of something? Sure he managed just fine when Wanda gave him a boost with her own magic, but what about something that would give him no warnings what so ever?

“i suppose that is a common reaction, is it not? i’ll have you know i was not totally in control of myself at the time of the new york attack. do you recall that scepter? yes – the thing controlled me.” well, technically speaking, it influenced him, but that was a minor detail in his eyes. those ideas had always been in his mind, he had just never acted on them. the mind stone had been used in that scepter to influence him to do those things. despite that, he wasn’t really sure he regretted them. should he? perhaps. but he didn’t.

he shifts back into his normal form and shrugs his shoulders. “i already told you that i came here in search of my oaf of a brother, thor. alas, he is not here. and that scepter – the stone within it – it was used on you, was it not? i can feel it. i am merely curious, as i have previously stated. believe me, if i meant to attack, you would not still be here.” he hummed. “tell me. what kind of powers do you possess?”

      “How-” He could feel the scepter.. stone’s effects? How? Was it just because he had been a user of the stone, or did it have to do with something else? She had not met anyone else who had lived through the use of the stone beside for her brother, and that was, of course, different. She and Pietro had always been close, their bond being as strong as it could ever be. 

Oh! Well, “Normal school consists of things like math, science, a reading class, history, things like that. We teach the same as normal schools- save for some classes on powers.” She gently wrapped an arm around Wanda, “But you won’t be required to do the school part if you don’t want to. I’m not asking you to do that.” Besides, she was sure Wanda and her brother were far beyond a real need for normal school.

“I do.” she replied. It was what Charles would have wanted. Her, running the school. She did it in his memory- to keep his dream of coexistance alive. “You only need to ask Tony… and maybe Steve, but I don’t know Captain America the way I know Tony Stark.“ she continued. If she had to, she’d just train Wanda herself- their powers seemed similar. She knew what the young mutant was going through all too well.

Jean was glad to see Wanda smiling again. She already seemed more comfortable than she had been earlier, and that was good. “Oh, Scott and the boys fell off of holograms when they were turned off a few times,” she admitted, snorting as she remembered, “but other than that, no, no one was hurt. I never hurt anyone.” she assured her. Maybe scared them shitless, but never hurt anyone. “Any misfiring that does happen, we know you don’t mean it. Accidents happen. The room is as power-proofed as it could be made.” And she knew the Danger Room was practically Hank’s baby. So she never asked Tony to mess with it. “I’d start you two out solo before putting you with others- to see what you and your brother can do together- how you use your powers. That sort of thing.” She wanted to make sure Wanda knew that even in training, she wasn’t going to separate them.

      “We do not know much about America.” Did they need to learn about American history though? That didn’t really seem like something important for them to really know. Plus, As Natasha had said countless of times before. Steve was a fossil. So that meant he was old enough to fill in the twins on anything of note, right? 

      “Steve is never against learning, I doubt he’ll say no.” Plus if he seemed against it, it’ll be easy to just send her brother off to pester the man till he allowed them to head to the school. The promise of getting rid of Pietro was one a lot of people agreed to. Not her. Never her.

She didn’t get to answer Wanda or give her a go ahead to ask- but really, she didn’t mind. “We’re like a normal school- normal courses, some extra ones for powers, the physics of how your powers affect the enviroment around you- I used to teach that with-” with Scott, before everything went to hell. “Now I’m headmistress- but I do go in to train the kids sometimes. Can’t let Scott and the other X-men have all the fun.” Which brought her to the next answer.

“For training, we use the Danger Room.” she explained. “When I went, it was just the five of us- me, Scott, Bobby, Hank, and Warren. But the danger room was always where we trained- used our powers. We would use them against holographic enemies, and coordianate as a team.” she missed those days, really. “Sometimes we would do obsticle type training too- instead of against holographic enemies. Either way, its safe- the holograms can’t kill you, but they’re real enough to scare you.” And hurt alot of you managed to fall off or be dropped by one. But she didn’t say that. “Now tell me,” she asked in a teasing tone, a smile creeping up her face, “does Avengers Tower have anything like that?”

      “We.. never really been to a normal school.” Wanda admitted quietly, eyes having traveled off to stare at a spot on the floor. So she didn’t really know what to expect... however, what was one meant to expect in a school for mutants? Of close controlling one’s mutation, but the rest? She didn’t know that half of this stuff was important! Wanda just knew that she had to make sure she didn’t hurt anyone, or just hurt the right people. That was all, for the most part.

      “So you run the school? I don’t need to ask anyone else but the Avengers if I’m allowed to join?” At least Wanda didn’t have to worry about that! And, if she ever got into trouble or sent to Jean’s office... She seemed like a very understanding woman. Even more so with the fact she knew what Wanda was going through.

Jean laughed. He sounded like a nightmare- ten little kids on sugar- but she was sure she could handle it. The school could handle it. She was never going to turn away a mutant who needed help. And she knew these two probably couldn’t be separated. She wouldn’t want to separate them anyway.

“Of course I am.” she replied. It was probably overwhelming- having someone offer to teach you to use your abilities when so much had happened. But the Avengers and the former X-men had to work together. She knew that. “I’ve known Tony Stark for a long time. And he knows I won’t leave any mutant behind.” That’s what Charles would have wanted too. As it was, she had competition. Erik. Genosha. That island had to seem safer to most than a school in an undisclosed location in New York. A location she was thinking of revealing once again. “Again, you aren’t joining the X-men. You’re just training with us.”

She was glad Wanda chose to sit beside her- it eased the enviroment a little and she listened as she spoke. It must have been hard- only having her brother. She didn’t want to peek into Wanda’s head to find out what she was thinking, but she could tell she’d lost a lot- both her and Pietro, so she set a gentle hand on her shoulder and squeezed, lightly. “Your brother is welcome as well as you. You’re both mutants, so both of you are welcome. And if you two ever need anything beyond training, my school is always open to you. To all mutants.”

      “Thank you, Jean. I’ll be sure to let Pietro know of all of this.” She offered a bit of a smile, finding it to be more relaxing to just be sitting and talking instead of standing. It made things all more.. casual. “Can I ask a few things about the school?”

Erik tilted his head at the young woman, he could sense her distress, her resistance to trust – though he figured that a strange man in her kitchen would warrant quite a bit of fear and distrust. He truly needed to work on his entrances and the way he approached people. Sighing to himself, he held up his hands once more to try to explain before he quickly found himself with his back on the floor, wincing and feeling the back of his head.

“I have done nothing to your brother, he is fine–“ He groaned, attempting to sit up but only to be forced back down by the energy ball. Raising a brow, he looked down at it before looking back up at her. “Impressive,“ he complimented, moving his hand and feeling for any sort of metal he could attach his own powers to.

But he found that he had limited movement with his hands and thus, he just laid there, staring up at her – showing that he meant no harm to her. “Wanda, I am not here to cause you harm, and I am very sorry that I’ve frightened you. But there are things that I would like to discuss with you, if you’d only just let me up?”

      Wanda could not trust the man’s words, no matter how he said them. Her heart was racing too fast, adrenaline coursing through her body at the threat- and he was a threat. Who else would break into the tower in such a manner? What idea, plot, or plan was he seeking to fulfill?       However, he told the truth about Pietro. As soon as she thought he could be hurt, her mind went for his, and she found it. He was perfectly fine, pestering someone, but fine. This man did not hurt him.

      “You can talk to me like this or I’m calling the Avengers.” As the Americans might call it, she had Pietro on speed dial. One word and he would alert everyone and be here in a heart beat. 

Belatedly, it occurred to him that bearing down on some kid with his robes flapping about him and spells still woven around his wrists was probably not the most friendly appearance. Unfortunately, the damage was already done, and the kid seemed to be running even faster. 

Ugh.

Sighing, he pulled on his sling ring and opened up a portal, appearing in front of her. She’d been headed down a dead end anyway, and this was actually less threatening than appearing behind her and blocking the only way out. At least, that was what he hoped. 

“I assure you,” he said, hoping that words would get through to her, “I don’t mean you any harm.” Trying to keep his voice as calm as possible, he continued, “I’m a sorceror - and I saw that you have powers too. I can help with those.”

      Maybe it was due to the panic, but Wanda didn’t even realize that the man had appeared right in front of her in till she ran face first into him. Did he take a shortcut? How did he..? 

      -A sorcerer?

      Not thinking straight and still on the verge of panic, Wanda couldn’t help but blurt out her thoughts.Besides, didn’t this guy just said he wanted to help? Could help? Whatever it was, he said something about helping so she just went on to talk before her powers could overwhelm her and cause another destructive blast.