Barnes nodded.

"Where?" he asked. He wanted to make sure the place was secure before even thinking about taking the others there.

Pietro motioned for him to follow and led the way to the empty warehouse he'd found. No one had used it in years, at least not for it intended uses, but there were some separate offices up above the main floor that Pietro was pretty sure could be secured.

Barnes made sure Wanda was alright with the two girls, and then followed Pietro to the empty warehouse. He gave the building a sweep, checking for any sort of threats. The big open space couldn't be secured to his satisfaction, but the offices showed promise.

"Good enough," he said, nodding once.

Pietro nodded. "I'll go get them," he said, leaving Barnes to do whatever it was he was going to do to secure the place.

It didn't take long to get everyone in and settled. Mala was still a little spooked by things, but she was looking more curious than scared now, at least.

Nadia was still more easily spooked, and she'd managed to fashion herself a makeshift blindfold out of some tags she had found because it made her feel a bit easier. She spent her time near Mala, to have someone familiar close by.

Mala sort of settled down there, keeping an eye on everything around them.

"What do you think?" she murmured to Nadia. She knew their conversation wouldn't truly be private, but the others weren't paying attention to them right then anyway.

"I'm not sure," Nadia admitted. She leaned against Mala a bit. "I am... grateful, that they got us out of that place. But I am unsure as to their plans for us next."

"Agreed. Their motives are unclear." Mala frowned. "But I don't know that we would survive if we were on our own, right now." Which was hard to admit, but true.

Nadia bit her lip slightly.

"I do not... trust myself, around people," she admitted quietly. "I am too dangerous to bystanders. It would be too great a risk to attempt to survive alone."

Mala hummed her agreement of that. "Indeed," she murmured. "So, here for now. I suppose we shall see what happens."

"For now," Nadia agreed. She was quiet for a moment. "I hope they don't try to take my blindfold. It's safer if I wear it."

Mala hummed quietly. "If they try, we can tell them," she murmured. "Or try, at least."

"Yes," Nadia said, resettling against Mala. "I'm glad Wanda and Pietro got us out, though. But... we don't know much about the Soldier, can we really trust him?"

"They do," Mala noted. "They must have a reason to." She paused for a moment. "Besides, he did help get us out of there."

"Did he help us?" Nadia asked. "Or them? He doesn't know us, after all. But he seems at least passingly acquainted with them."

"More than passingly, they work together fairly well," Mala said, since she'd been watching them. "The Soldier acts as if he knows them, and they... don't quite look up to him, but clearly they trust his judgment."

"I see," Nadia murmured. "We will have to keep an eye on things, then. Perhaps we can trust him, too."

"Perhaps," Mala allowed, settling in a bit to continue watching. She still wasn't sure what to think of them all.

Unfortunately for them, Hydra wasn't done with their experiments yet, and had tracked them down. In the dim light of pre-dawn, a squad of Hydra agents attacked the warehouse, intent on either retrieving or destroying the wayward escapees.

This time, Wanda was the first to notice, and had a few seconds to shout a warning before the Hydra squad was on them.

Mala jerked herself upright, stuck between terror and fury. Now that she'd had a taste of freedom again, she wasn't going to give it up so easily.

Pietro zipped over to them quickly.

"Hide," he said, nodding to Mala. Clearly, he knew what her powers could do. "We will take care of this."

Barnes was on his feet in an instant, moving to put himself between the Hydra agents and his little group. Anyone who wanted his people would have to deal with the Soldier.

Mala looked torn for a second before she stepped back, went very still, and just kind of blended in with the wall.

Wanda was taking care of any stragglers who happened to get past the Soldier, though there weren't many. He was very good at what he did, after all.

Nadia stayed close to Mala, back in a corner, and stayed as still as she could. She was hesitant to take off her blindfold, at first, but she ended up doing so.

Barnes took care of most of the Hydra agents with ruthless efficiency. There were a lot of them, but not enough to take him down.

Once everything was quiet again, Wanda touched Barnes's good shoulder gently, making sure that he was fine before she moved over to the girls.

"Are you both alright?"

Barnes shuddered just slightly, but nodded. He was okay, for the moment. They didn't need to worry about him.

Nadia nodded cautiously, creeping back out of the corner.

"They were after us," she said. It wasn't a question.

"They were after all of us," Pietro corrected, nudging a fallen agent with his foot.