"Does anyone have eyes on Iris?" Captain America asked through the comms as he stood in the medical bay of the Helicarrier with Wanda. Pietro was currently in the process of being stabilized and evaluated. They had thankfully gotten him onboard just in time. The doctors and nurses told them they couldn't offer any false hope, but there was a slight chance he'd make it.

"Nothing." Stark's voice sounded tired as it was carried over the communication device.

"Negative." Came James' voice, who was patrolling the area with Tony in the War Machine suit.

"Who saw her last?" Rogers questioned while rubbing his face. He watched nurses and doctors scrambling to collect their equipment to begin working on the Speedster. Wanda moved to her brother's at that moment.

"Last I saw her, she ran into the city." Hawkeye stated from where he was sitting on the edge of a cot. He had been caught by a stray bullet when Ultron apprehended the Quin and was taken to the medical bay as well. Thankfully it wasn't life-threatening, but he still needed it removed and the wound treated before infection set in.

"Why would she do that?" Natasha inquired through the earpiece. She was, at the moment, at the head of the Helicarrier with Fury after an unsuccessful attempt to talk to the Hulk, who was now in possession of the Quinjet after he had thrown Ultron from it.

"Because Wanda was still in the city. She went to go get her since Pietro was down." Hawkeye said remorsefully, staring over at Cap with a knowing look.

"And then we blew the city up..." Stark said after a brief pause. The entire team fell silent. Everybody was thinking the same thing now. Either Iris had fallen as Thor had, or she had been caught in the destructive force of the explosion. No one hoped for the latter, but everybody also knew that was a Hail Mary hope.

▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁

It had been 3 days and Pietro was recovering quickly. It seemed running at incredible speeds wasn't his only speedy ability. He had undergone surgery to have the bullets removed and repair any internal damage and hemorrhage that occurred. When he had awoken, Wanda and the Avengers had been there to greet him back to the world of the living, save one certain member. It didn't take him long to notice. He was quick to question the team about her absence. She wouldn't have missed out on taunting him on his near-death experience, would she? The response he got from the team was disheartening. The only thing shared was apprehensive looks shared between members at the question. Pietro's heart dropped to his stomach as he began to fear the worst. There had been a spark between the two sarcastic members, one of a mutual and deep understanding he hadn't felt before.

"We don't know where she is." Steve said solemnly.

"She was in the city when..." Hawkeye continued but stopped as he looked to his fellow teammates for confirmation to continue the thought. Once getting a small nod from Tony, he continued. "Iris was in the city to go get your sister when it exploded." Barton finished, shifting his weight uneasily.

"That...that doesn't mean she's dead. Right?" Pietro asked, a small twinge of hope in his voice. The hope, however, was crushed by the hesitant looks of his new team. "You haven't found a body, have you? That means there's still a chance she's out there."

"Pietro..." Wanda rested one of her hands on her brother's shoulder. "If she was in the city when it exploded, there's a chance there isn't a body to find..." She tried to break the news to her beloved brother gently, but the pained look she got from him told her she had failed at the attempt. She felt the loss of Iris deeply too. She had been the first person in a long time that the two of them had come to trust naturally. Having her ripped away so suddenly was like a punch to the gut.

"No...no, she's not dead. She just can't be." He whispered quietly to himself, pleadingly looking to his sister for some sort of verbal confirmation that there could be a chance Iris was still alive. He wasn't ready to let go of the one person who he and his sister had let into their lives so quickly. When he got a pitying look instead, he could feel a numbing sensation spread throughout his body. It was like a cold shock that crushed his soul. "Wanda..." Pietro said tersely before his sister leaned down to where he was sitting in the hospital bed and gently hugged him in her best attempt to comfort him.

"I'm sorry..." She whispered as she felt her brother return the hug. "We're all going to miss her."

The Avengers may not have known her for very long, but during the short few days that she worked with them, she had become family. Her sarcastic remarks, her playfulness, and her easy-going personality. All these things combined, she was a great teammate who quickly grew on the team, even the more stoic members. However, she had grown closest to the twins and they felt her loss more than anyone else.

▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁

The next week was a somber and mournful seven days. Nobody wished to address the obvious elephant in the room, and everybody refused to talk to the press about the events of Sokovia. It was a sore, open wound for the Avengers, some more so than others. There was one up, though. Upstate, Fury was building a new headquarters for the Avengers. There was a kink in that plan though. Tony had decided to take time off to evaluate his life and choices after realizing he wasn't as invincible as he thought he was. Iris' death only made that fact bolder. At any point, any one of them could bite the dust. After all, Pietro had been close to joining Iris. As for Hawkeye, he decided to retire, for the time being, having a new arrival to the family and all. That left Steve and Natasha to form the New Avengers. James, Sam, Wanda, Vision, and Pietro were to become the new members of The Avengers. As soon as the new facility was ready, they'd begin training.

For the moment, Thor was remaining on Earth with the rest of the team to mourn the lost. Well, everybody except Pietro. He still clung to the small sliver of hope that Iris could still be alive. Something inside of him was just screaming at him not to give up on her. There was this odd feeling of peace that Iris was out there, somewhere, and just hadn't made herself known yet. They still did have yet to find a body, anyways. After the city crumbled and fell into a lake, Stark had sent a crew to clean the area up. During that time, he had been out there with a few of the other members to look for Iris' body, only to come up empty. This only spurred on Pietro's hope, much to the dismay of his sister and the team.

"He hasn't eaten in days." Steve quietly whispered to Wanda, referring to her brother.

"And he hasn't slept at all. His mind is plagued with nightmares of death." The brunette whispered back before they both turned worried gazes to the stool Pietro was occupying at the bar, staring longingly at the granite counter. "He says all he dreams about is not being fast enough to save any of us. I think he blames himself for Iris." Wanda worriedly continued, not taking her eyes off her beloved brother.

"It wasn't his fault..." Steve murmured, his gaze dropping to the floor, memories of his friend falling from the train all those years ago flashing across his mind.

"And it wasn't yours." The female Maximoff stated, reaching up to gently rest a hand on his arm with eyes turned to his with a calm encouragement.

"I shouldn't have let her run back into the city..." He continued, his blue eyes sharply turning back to the Speedster.

"There's a lot of things we wish we should have done but didn't do in life." Wanda told him, referring to her and Pietro's rocky past. "There's nothing we can do about it now but continue on and hope we make the right choice when a problem presents itself in the future." Steve's gaze once again shifted back to Wanda, and they shared small smiles.

▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁

It had been a full week, and finally, Wanda had managed to get her brother back on a regular diet. Somehow, she had persuaded him that he needed to have the energy to save the helpless -- so that he'd always be fast enough. That, and what would Iris say? Thankfully that was enough to shake him from the mood that had lasted since the news of Iris' fall. Another achievement was also finding that her brother wasn't woken by nightmares as frequently anymore. She had assumed that the nightmares were just a side effect of the trauma of being so close to death. And it was, just as she suspected.

"Are you ready to leave?" Wanda leaned against the framework of the door leading to Pietro's room. She had completed what little packing she had to do before they left for the new facility. Steve had gotten the call earlier that day from Fury that the new headquarters were operational, and that they were going to begin moving in. There was excitement, but also a twinge of sadness. No longer would they all be in one place, and no longer would it be the original team. Everything was changing and not everybody enjoyed the change. Specifically, Pietro.

"I am now." He replied, his tone lighter than it had been in recent days as he placed the last shirt he was folding into the suitcase he'd be using to transfer his things. "Are you sure we can't just meet them there ourselves?" The Maximoff twin joked, referring to using his speed to get he and his sister to the new compound instead of having to take the jet with everyone else.

"Pietro..." Wanda said with a warning tone, although her facial expression was one of amusement. "We already said we'd travel with them." She shook her head and sighed. "Plus it's only a fifteen-minute flight there. It will hardly take any time at all." The brunette stated with a smile, her eyes never leaving her brother's form.

"Yeah...but that is still too slow." He grumbled to himself as he zipped the bag shut before lifting it off the bed.

"Everything is too slow for you." Wanda joked and moved backward out of the doorway so her brother could exit, and then began to walk beside him as they made their way towards the elevator. Pietro shot his sister a quick smile and then hit the button that would call the elevator to their location in the building.

"So since the Avengers won't be staying here at the tower anymore..." The Speedster began but paused when the doors to the elevator opened. The twins walked in and Wanda hit the level for the penthouse. "do you think Stark will change the name of the building?" He continued once the doors shut and the contraption lurched before moving upwards. There was an easy silence as the both of them sunk deep into thought before Wanda broke the silence.

"I'm not sure." She said right before the doors opened once again, allowing them to leave the elevator. So far, it seemed as though everybody was here except the Captain himself. Pietro gently set his bag with the rest of the luggage that was piled off to the side, obviously waiting to be loaded into the jet. Wanda waited until her brother returned before they walked side-by-side to the seating area everybody was hanging out at. It seemed everyone was in high spirits. They were laughing and joking, and smiles were all around as people talked. The twins sat down on a free couch and quickly joined in on the conversation.

The team had been talking for about half an hour, all light conversations that eventually led to a competition and bets on who would win a fight. And then Steve and Sam arrived, the latter of which the twins realized had been missing after they sat down."Is everyone ready?" The Captain asked, seemingly very tired. Sam shot him a knowing look. Steve and Sam had been in and out of the tower frequently, and everybody was curious as to why. Steve told them he was out apartment hunting with the help of Sam, but some days it seemed unlikely. However, nobody questioned it. It was Steve, after all. He deserved his privacy and personal space. 

Everybody stood from where they were sitting. Cap gave everybody a quick nod and then began to trek in the direction of the bags. He picked up the nearest ones and then headed to the landing platform, where the awaiting Quinjet was. The rest of the guys of the group, including Pietro, left the area and began to carry bags to the jet also. Pietro did, however, use his speed to help the loading done quicker. Soon enough, everybody had boarded the jet save Tony, who decided he'd drive there. That way the compound would have another aircraft to add to its fleet, and he'd have a ride home. Besides, the jet kinda belonged to S.H.I.E.L.D. anyways.

Once everybody had boarded, Natasha flew the aircraft to the location of the new headquarters. It wasn't long until they arrived and landed on the front lawn of the new building. Still, it felt much too long for Pietro, according to the way he was acting by Wanda's standards. However, his mood changed to a happier one as soon as the ramp lowered. The next few minutes consisted of bringing bags into respectful rooms before Steve, Thor, and Natasha had to leave. Tony rolled up only a few minutes later and joined them. This gave the others a freedom to explore until their new leaders came back to give them instruction. They knew they'd get straight to training, seeing as that's what Steve wanted, so they took this time to spend as they wished.

"Pietro I believe you." Wanda stated exasperatedly from where she stood leaning against a glass panel of the compound.

"Yeah, but does everybody else?" He grinned as he regarded his sister, in good spirits.

"Pietro, I don't think anyone doubts you can circle the facility 20 times in less than 10 seconds." The brunette crossed her arms as she shifted her weight.

"Hey!" Both the twins turned their head in the direction of the voice, surprised to find Sam in his gear walking towards them. "Cap says to round everybody up. We're gonna begin training in a second." He stated with a characteristical soldier look. "Might want to gear up." He shot them both a quick smile, before turning to leave. Sam was no doubt headed to find anyone else he hadn't updated yet.

Pietro mischievously grinned over at his sister. Wanda held up a finger as the word 'no' began to form on her lips, but she was too slow for her brother. In less than a second, he was at her side and lifted her into his arms before they were dashing through the new building to their quarters to get their things. When they arrived, he gently set his sister on the ground with a smug look. Wanda, who was bemused, worked on fixing her hair as she entered her room to get her new specially made outfit. Pietro did the same. Though he stuck to his signature look. Fitted athletic shirt, running pants, and a good pair of sneakers. In a flash, he was ready and impatiently waiting outside the door of his sister's room until she emerged. "Took you long enough." The male twin stated jokingly as he and Wanda began to walk in the direction of the hanger.

"Not everybody is fast like you, Pietro." She muttered but sent him a smile nevertheless. They then walked in a comfortable silence to one of the hangers of the building that housed some of the Quinjets. Already, Vision was there and so was James in his War Machine armor. They seemed to enter the room through another entrance just in time, as Captain America and the Black Widow burst through the other entrance. Sam had been who knows where, and descended from said place with ease before the wings to his suit folded back into the pack. From where they entered, which happened to be a story or two above the ground, Wanda used her abilities to float down to the ground, and Pietro, per usual, used his speed to get to the ground level quickly. Their entrance caused the others to look at them before everyone's attention shifted back to Steve.

"Avengers...."