The first few lines let me know that these were information on all the scientists that had been involved in the enhancement project and I could tell that Strucker did not have a shortage in employees.

There were at least fifty scientists, some names were even crossed out which lead me to believe that they may have been killed. I wouldn't really be surprised if that was the case. This was HYDRA we were talking about after all.

Maybe Fury was going to give me a mission to find these people. Maybe he hadn't told me straight away because we were already in the middle of a huge mess. Though I wasn't an Avenger, he couldn't exactly pull me aside and tell me to go find some HYDRA scientists when our top priority was stopping Ultron.

I was scanning through the names and the information on them when I came upon a file that was encrypted. Feeling up to the challenge it provided, I started typing, thanking Natasha for all the hacking skills she had taught me.

It didn't take too long to get the file open and once it did, I quickly started reading through it. But when my eyes ran over two familiar names, I came to a complete halt.

Maya and John Vincent.

I stared at the screen wondering whether my eyes were tricking me. Why were my parents names on a HYDRA file?

Reading the information below their names was all it took for me to get my answer. Of course they wouldn't stop with just me. Why had I even thought that I would never hear their names again? Never have to somehow face them again?

They were the head scientists to deal with the whole project. The highest in rank other than Strucker himself. And they were the ones who had somehow experimented on people and given them powers without them dying. Those two, being Pietro and Wanda.

I got up from the bed after closing all the files knowing I wouldn't be able to read any more of it. I didn't want to read anymore. I paced back and forth across the length of the room, running my fingers through my hair and pulling it loose from the ponytail I had tied it up to. Tears welled in my eyes and fell down my cheeks no matter how hard I tried to contain it. I wiped furiously at them before collapsing back onto my bed and staring at the door an internal battle going on inside my head.

I really didn't want to be alone right now, but going to see Clint wasn't really an option, at least not right now. He had enough to deal with as it is. But when I felt a sting in my hands from my nails digging in yet again and heard the echo of Clint's words telling me to come to him if anything like this upset me again, I got up, wiping my hands against the tears and started out the door.

***

Pietro had probably realised something was wrong after he managed to pin me down for the third time during training the next day. He frowned as he pulled back, watching me carefully. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," I answered, taking his outstretched hand to pull me up.

"You just seem very distrac-"

"I'm fine," I repeated, tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear. "Look, I'm just - I'm dealing with some stuff right now and..."

"That's alright," Pietro started walking backwards, following his sister out the room, since training was over. "I'll see you later?"

"Yeah..." the word rolled down from my tongue miserably as I ran a hand through my hair.

Steve opened his mouth from the other side of the room, but before he could, I put a finger up. "Please don't ask if I'm alright because I'm this close to snapping."

After a quick shower, I made my way to the computer room, fidgeting with my hands ever so slightly as I walked. Pietro was waiting for me when I got there. I handed him the hard drive without a word and he plugged it in, eyes widening as the files popped up one after the other.

"You were not kidding," he mumbled as he stared at the screen.

"Nope."

As he worked, the room was filled with silence except for the sound of his finger tapping against the keys as he read. The pages moved in a blur and I couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to have powers like his.

"How'd you join S.H.I.E.L.D?" he asked suddenly, interrupting my thoughts. The way he asked the question so quietly made me feel like he didn't want me to hear it.

"Uh," I paused, wondering exactly how to answer that question. "Nick Fury found me at a police station."

"And what were you doing at a police station?" Pietro asked, curiosity evident in his voice.

"I stole something."

"Why?"

"This is starting to sound a lot like an interrogation," I sighed.

"I'm just curious," he shrugged. "Why are you so upset."

"I'm not upset."

"Yes, you are."

"How do you know?"

"You do that thing with your hands when you're upset or nervous," he pointed at my hands.

I looked down to see that I was shuffling my hands and quickly stopped placing them down on my lap, causing Pietro to chuckle.

The fact that I played with my hands when I got nervous or upset was true. But him noticing it, was what made me frown as I looked up at him. Pietro and I didn't spend much time together unless we were training. Sure, we lived in the same building, but he seemed to have understood that I wasn't much of a people person and respected that by leaving me alone.

"What happened to your parents?" Pietro spoke, startling me from my thoughts. I realised I was staring at him and quickly tore my eyes away.

"I'm sorry, what?" I asked, trying not to sound like the breath had been knocked out of me because of the question.

"Your parents," he repeated. "You know what happened to mine. I was just wondering where your parents were, or are. Are they S.H.I.E.L.D agents too?"

For once, I had no idea what to say to him. My parents were a topic everyone knew to steer clear of, and one that I did not like talking about one bit. I could lie. Lying was easy, I had been doing it for years now. It was something that came with being a spy for S.H.I.E.L.D.

But did I really want to lie? For one, I don't want to tell a story that made my parents sound like heroes because that was something they never were and never would never be. Also, this could be my chance to test the loyalty of the boy sitting in front of me. To see how he would react to something like that and whether he could actually be trusted. Sure, he was in the Avengers tower, but no one fully trusted him or his sister yet.

"They left me when I was ten," I finally answered.

Complete silence fell over the room as he lifted his hands from the keys. "Wh - why?

"I was their failed lab experiment," I mumbled, shrugging my shoulders as if this was just a normal conversation. "Don't think they needed me anymore."

"Does... do the others know?" He asked softly as if I might break if he said it any louder.

"I think so," I shrugged. "They usually know to steer clear of the topic completely."

He watched me for a second and I returned his gaze refusing to be the first to look away. "I have a feeling you don't really want to talk about this."

"No, not really."

"Look, I know this may sound stupid but I always felt better when I talked to someone," he said slowly

"Of course you did. You had Wanda through out everything."

"And you have Clint."

"I do talk to Clint."

"Clearly not enough because something else is bothering you," he shot back.

"Tell me Maximoff, why are you acting like you actually know me?" I asked, leaning forward slightly.

"Because you were upset today. I can see that. During training and right now. So what's bothering you?" He asked without backing away one bit.

"Nothing," I answered shaking my head as I leant back against the chair.

"Does it have anything to do with your parents?"

I refused to say a single word. He clearly wasn't going to give up soon. He was stubborn and actually more observant than I gave him credit for.

"Or maybe the pen drive you always fiddle with."

I whirled around to face him, shock and surprise evident on my face. "How do you know about that?"

"I'm observant," he shrugged.

"Or annoying," I muttered under my breath as I crossed my arms over my chest. "I don't know how your sister puts up with you each and everyday."

"Believe me, she'd up and leave the first chance she gets. Unfortunately she's stuck with me."

"That's not true."

"I know," he smirked. "But you're changing the subject. What's in the pen drive?"

"Why should I tell you?"

"Because you want to."

I glared at him. Not because I was annoyed, but because of how right he was. I didn't necessarily wasn't to tell him, but I did want to talk about it to someone. I needed to talk to someone and right now, Pietro happened to be the only option. But that didn't mean I was going to tell him anything.

I raised my hand up pointing towards the screen. "Look, why don't you just focus on that? That's why I brought you here. Not to question me like I'm a crim-"

Pietro's hand shot up grabbing mine and flipping it over so that the palm of my hand faced up. He had a look of horror on his face as he stared down at the nail marks on my hand.

"Wh- how did you get those?" He asked as I ripped my hand from his and balled them into fists at my side.

I could feel the panic flitting through my head as I thought of what to say. Clint was the only one who knew about this and the only one I fully trusted with the knowledge. Knowing Pietro would think the worst of it if I didn't say anything, I quickly spoke up. "It's nothing." I almost cringed as the words fell from my mouth.

"That doesn't look like nothing," he protested.

What was I supposed to say? He had clearly seen the wounds and knew they were nail marks so I couldn't just lie myself out of this mess.

"Did you do this to yourself?" He asked after a pause.

I didn't answer, mostly because I didn't really know what to say or how to say it.

"Did you?" He repeated, this time more softly.

"I didn't do it on purpose, if that's what you're thinking," I mumbled. My eyes flitted to his and away again.

"Then what happened?" He asked, worry evident in his tone.

"Stress," I shrugged. "I'll be fine."

"Does this have anything to do with your parents?" He asked after a pause.

"Maybe..."

Pietro sighed, running a hand through his hair. He reached forward slowly and took my hands in his. At first, I wanted to pull away like I had done before, but when he didn't make a move to open them, I stayed put.

"Your parents can't hurt you anymore," he said in a reassuring tone.

If he had said those words yesterday, I would have believed him. But now, I knew the words were far from the truth. A nervous laugh escaped my lips as I looked up at him. "I thought that too. Until last night."

"Why?" Pietro asked, a confused look on his face.

"You know that pen you were asking me about?" He nodded. "Apparently, my parents decided that torturing their own kid wasn't enough and decided to go and help HYDRA create enhanced humans."

Silence fell over he room as Pietro thought over the words I had just told him. "So, your parents work for HYDRA."

"Glad you caught that," I nodded. "Do you still think I may be overeacting?"

He sighed again and gave my hands a squeeze. "Your parents may work for HYDRA, but I'm sure you can keep yourself safe. And even if you can't, you have friends who will. I'm pretty sure Clint would die before letting you get hurt. And Wanda and I will be there if you need us."

I smile spread over my face at his words and before I could realise what I was doing, I threw my arms around him, mumbling a thank you against his shoulder. Tears welled up in my eyes as I stayed wrapped in his arms and I suddenly realized how safe I felt in them.

✳✳✳

So, this chapter feels like a big dump of information because seriously, this was like 2000+ words and took me almost 5 days to get right. I don't even want to think about the many versions of this chapter I've written before finally settling on his one. But anyway, the important thing is that Clarke and Pietro are definitely going to be close after this since he knows a pretty big secret in her life.

I was thinking it's time for a ship name... What about Clietro? I don't know, I'm not very good at this. If you have a suggestion, please do comment!

Please consider giving a vote or leaving a comment to let me know what you think!

Thanks for reading!