The Misadventures of Anthony Stark, Consulting Detective The Lady Wanda Maximoff stared dubiously at the front door of 221B Baker Street. Surely this could not be the correct address but, there it was, scrawled on the scrap of paper clutched in her fingers. It was not a neighborhood she'd ever set foot in and it was by no means a nice one. Her eyes strayed up the brick facade to a window where she thought for a moment that she'd seen a face, but the curtain there snapped shut and she wondered if she hadn't just imagined it. A wispy dank fog swirled on the air and she pulled her cloak more tightly around her against the morning chill. It was far too cold to wait on the stoop all day and so, steeling herself, she lifted a gloved hand and knocked soundly on the front door. A few moments later it was opened by a slender ginger-haired woman who introduced herself as Ms. Potts, the landlady. Ms. Potts did not seem at all disquieted at the appearance of a visitor at such an early hour. Nonetheless Wanda offered an apology as she handed over her card of introduction and explained that she had a problem to put forth to the self-proclaimed detective Mr. Anthony Stark.
Wanda had recently discovered a rather startling fact about the parentage of she and her twin brother Pietro. It seemed that the Transian nobles who, up until a fortnight ago, Wanda had believed to be her parents were, in fact, not. The couple died in a tragic fire when the twins were young and it was this unhappy circumstance that sent the children to live in England. Having reached the age of twenty-five when, if unmarried, she and her brother were to receive the bulk of their inheritance, Wanda came into possession of a number of her father's personal papers stored in a bank vault. It was from a letter that she learned of she and Pietro's adoption. The news was most unsettling and Wanda immediately set about proving its validity. There were the names of her true parents in the letter, a Mr. Robert Frank and his wife Madeline from the colonies, but in answer to a letter she wrote, Mr. Frank denied paternity. Disheartened, Wanda shared her secret with her most intimate friends, hoping for sound counsel.
Mr. Stark's services were initially recommended by her friend Dr. Henry Pym who had apparently hired Mr. Stark in the past. At first she had brushed aside Pym's suggestion and went to the police instead. Her case was not, she'd been informed by police Inspector Nicholas Fury, a matter for Scotland Yard but the Inspector advised she visit Mr. Anthony Stark and gave her the address. With two such recommendations Wanda felt it would be rather remiss not to pay Mr. Stark a visit and so the very next morning after meeting with Fury she got into her carriage and made the journey to Baker Street. According to the inquiries she made- one could never be too careful- Mr. Stark shared the premises with a war veteran and doctor by the name of Steven Rogers. The landlady confirmed this when she remarked that perhaps the Doctor might still be abed and Wanda again murmured an apology for having roused the household. She was lead up a staircase and to a door where the landlady knocked and then left her. Wanda smoothed the skirts of her gown nervously and waited for allowance to enter.