Heartful Strength

Warning: Graphic Imagery (Usually I don’t put warnings in my work but I feel like it would be best if I did for this one.)

XXX

Branches whipped her face as she ran through them, the feeling of daggers stabbing her lungs as she ran but she didn’t stop. She heard the sound of growling behind her, heavy footsteps chasing her.

She had already seen what this...monster could do and she wasn’t about to let it happen to her. Why it was targeting her, however, she had no idea.

Wanda made the mistake of glancing back over her shoulder and when she looked back, her forehead slammed into a tree branch, causing her to let out a yelp of pain before she collapsed to the ground.

Her vision blurred for a moment before she slowly rolled onto her side, trying to push herself up.

She felt a clawed hand grab the back of her shirt and panic overtook her, trying to wiggle out. She was raised to meet the monster’s blood red eyes, a mouth open wide with multiple rows of teeth showing, saliva dripping from it. It hissed at her, causing the fluids to fly onto her face and burn her skin.

She screamed, trying to swing her legs up and kick it away. Its other clawed hand raced to her chest but she grabbed it, trying to keep it away.

The creature growled and tossed her aside, throwing her into a tree. She hit it and dropped roughly to the ground.

She tried to scramble to her feet but the beast was already upon it, pinning her to the ground.

“Help!” She tried to call out as loud as she could but it only came out as a terrified peep, eyes wide with fear.

The claw came down again, piercing into her chest, starting to crush her sternum in a sickening crunching sound.

She cried out in pain, trying to shrink away but to no avail. Her thoughts turned to Pietro, what he would do without her, imagining him waiting for her in the Underground like they had agreed upon at the end of the day only for her not to show up.

The thought of him alone hurt so much more than this.

Just when she thought that it would completely break through past her rib cage and rip out her heart, there was a gunshot, causing it to squeal and back off of her.

A woman with red hair in a black uniform moved between Wanda and the creature. There was a patch of an eagle on her shoulder. “Stay behind me!” She shot a couple more bullets at it as it tried to charge at them.

Wanda pushed herself up slowly, clutching her chest. Adrenaline was coursing through her body at this point, numbing the pain. She backed up until her back was against the tree she had been thrown into. She tried to form words but all she could do was have shaky breaths. She slid to sit down, her legs unable to support her weight.

The woman held up a kind of wrist brace and aimed a stunning shot at the creature. It let out a cry before collapsing to the ground.

She then turned to the young girl, kneeling in front of her. She saw her chest and placed a hand to the comm in her ear. “Widow to base, I need medical evac. Civilian wounded. Repeat, I need medical evac. Civilian wounded.” She clicked something to change channels. “Hawkeye, head to my location. I found it.” Then she directed her full attention to Wanda. “Hey, how are you feeling?”

Her anxiety caused Wanda to convert back to her native tongue of Sokovian. “T-that thing’s going to wake up again!”

The woman shook her head, also switching to Sokovian to help calm her down. “That isn’t going to happen. I hit it with a powerful shot. What’s your name?”

“W-Wanda.”

“Natasha!” A man called out the woman’s name before an explosive arrow was shot at the creature as it tried to get back to its feet, sending it flying back. He ran up to her and Wanda before noticing the young girl’s condition. “Hi, I’m Clint.”

Before Wanda could reply in broken English, there was a screech and the creature came charging out at them again.

Clint reacted first, diving at the two ladies and tackling them to the ground.

Wanda managed to crawl under a bush and huddled under there, watching as Natasha and Clint got back up to face the creature. She was started to feel dizzy, clutching her chest again. She knew it was from blood loss and all the activity she was doing despite her condition.

Natasha took out her gun as Clint got another arrow on his bow.

There was the sound of footsteps running and the medical team came running up.

Immediately, the beast leaped at one of the women, landing on her chest. It sent out a pulse wave as the others tried to respond to it, sending everyone flying back. The woman screamed as it raised a claw before plunging it into her chest.

The screams were cut short as it changed to a gurgling sound.

The creature tore her heart from her chest, the organ performing it’s final beats as blood dripped from it. It shoved it into its mouth, devouring it whole.

The others were frozen, watching it feast in horror, unable to move or do anything else.

As it finished its meal, it let out another scream as a way of saying it would be back before leaping off of the woman’s limp body and elsewhere into the forest.

As the members of SHIELD recovered, Wanda moved back, feeling sick to her stomach. This was the second time in under an hour she had seen this happen. Neither one left her feeling exactly warm and fuzzy.

As soon as she was out from under the bush, she bolted. She needed to find Pietro. Fast.

She found him at the entrance to the Underground they had agreed upon, picking apart flowers while waiting for her.

He lifted his head to greet her but frowned, scrambling to his feet as he saw the blood and how pale she looked. “Wanda! What happened?!” He forced her to sit down as he looked over her.

“The thing you saw. I saw it. It chased me. I almost died.” She was in shock. What she had just witnessed, the magnitude of it was finally catching up with her. “Oh my god.” She covered her mouth with her hands. “I saw two people killed by that thing.”

Pietro hugged her tightly, running a hand through her hair to try to comfort her. “We need to get you medical attention. Your chest doesn’t look good. Just grab onto me and I’ll get you someplace.”

Wanda nodded slowly as she gripped onto him. Everything was happening all at once. And sleep sure sounded good right now…

Her eyes slowly began to slide close as her brother ran.

Sleep overtook her.

XXX

Years later, after joining the Avengers, Wanda did research on the creature that came after her. There wasn’t an exact name for it but one thing was clear: it was a mutant. It gained powers by consuming the hearts of other mutants. It could smell mutant blood. That’s why, even before she had powers, even before she knew what mutants were, that she was one, it was after her.

The worst part of all this?

It was still on the loose.

Hunting for its next prey.