Anomaly

Wanda stood with her arms folded, standing across the room from Juno. They were in a large hall at the back of the sanctum, with high ceilings and glossy wooden floors, light pouring from the tall windows either side of them.

Juno had been told to put on training clothes. Training for what? She didn't know. She was barefoot, shifting her weight from side to side as she waited nervously for her to speak.

"Doctor Strange invited me here because he thinks you need to learn how to control your powers," said Wanda, her voice echoing around the hall. "After your close call at the hospital yesterday, I'd say he's right."

Juno watched as she raised her arms, her hands and eyes glowing red. Suddenly, everything in the room slid towards the walls, leaving them with a wide, open training space.

"Light up your hands," said Wanda as she walked towards her. "Just your hands."

She curled her fists and closed her eyes. The burning began in her palms, slowly spreading to her fingertips.

"It hurts," she said quietly.

"You have to fight past it. Use the pain to focus the energy where you want it to be."

She ground her teeth, taking deep breaths as she tried to stop the glow from travelling up her arms.

"This energy," Wanda continued as she circled her slowly. "You need to know how to control it, no matter how strong it gets." She pointed to an old vase in the corner of the room, drawing it over to them in a cloud of red before settling it gently on the floor. "I want you to destroy this vase. Nothing else, just the vase."

"How?"

"Direct the pain you're feeling towards it. Concentrate."

Juno stared at the vase with glowing gold eyes, extending her arm slowly and holding up her palm. She thought about the chaos she had caused in the street; the shattering glass, screaming onlookers, police and their cars soaring backwards with the force of an explosion. She thought of the searing pins and needles in her arms, the bullets bouncing off her skin, the agony in her spine. It made her angry. It made her scared. But mostly, it made her feel mighty.

She sent a blast from her hand that smashed the vase into shards of shrapnel. A shockwave rippled out from it, travelling just far enough to make everything else in the room rattle and shake, as if an earthquake had hit.

Wanda stood beside her, the pair of them looking down at the plumes of smoke where the vase once stood. "Not bad," she said.

"I hope that wasn't a priceless antique," Juno replied.

They continued to work on controlling her powers for the rest of the morning; how to focus the light and push past the pain, how to control her emotions to stop fear and anger fuelling the stone.

"How do you feel?" asked Wanda as she looked out the window at the afternoon sun.

"Better," Juno replied. "It sounds weird but... I feel like I'm getting stronger."

"Well you are, that's the stone-"

"No, I mean stronger like..." she curled her slender arms as if she were showing off huge biceps. "Stronger," she grunted.

Wanda rolled her eyes. She placed her hands on her hips and returned to the centre of the room. "Alright, I think it's time to move on to the other stuff."

"Like the mind reading and stuff?"

She nodded. "Everything we've done so far, the light, the pain, the blasts. That's your body channeling the stone's energy. But the abilities you have, that's the stone's power. You need to learn to use them to your advantage."

"To my advantage? Like... against other people?"

"Yes. Until we're able to remove the stone, you need to learn how to defend yourself, maybe even others. Those things from the other night were here for you. If anything else comes, you need to be prepared."

She stood across the room and turned to face her, raising her fists and bending her knees slightly.

"What are you doing?" asked Juno, a hint of panic in her voice.

"You ready?"

"What!? I'm not... I'm not going to fight you!"

Wanda's eyes lit up red, she lowered her fists to her sides as they began to glow too. "Yes you are."

"No. I'm not-"

Suddenly, Juno's chest became tight and her entire body constricted as if it were being wrapped in chains. She felt herself rising from the ground, the tips of her toes grazing the wooden floor. Wanda moved her hands, sending her flying into the wall. She hit it hard and landed on the ground with a thud, gasping for the breath that had been knocked out of her lungs.

She clambered to her feet and turned around, her mouth falling open as she laid eyes on Wanda flying through the air towards her. She gasped and raised her hands in surrender, but it didn't stop the attack. Within moments, she found herself surrounded by streams of deep red energy that threw her to the ground again.

"Use your powers to fight back," said Wanda. "Come on, outsmart me."

"Can you give me a sec?" She panted.

"If someone wants to kill you, they're not gonna stop to let you catch your breath," she replied cynically before picking up a leather armchair and launching it towards her.

Juno covered her head with her arms and let out a scream. But the impact never came. She lowered her arms and opened her eyes to see the chair screeching across the floor away from her. She stood up and looked down at herself, noticing the glowing forcefield surrounding her body. In the air above her, Wanda lifted the chair again. She narrowed her eyes as she watched the way her fingers moved, how her energy wrapped itself around objects like a cloud. The chair came flying towards her. She held out her hand and mimicked Wanda's movements, concentrating on the chair and imagining herself controlling it. It stopped midair, the colour around it slowly changing from red to gold. She looked up at Wanda with an almost-smirk, and with the slightest flick of her fingers, the chair flew across the room and crashed into the wall.

Wanda lowered herself to the ground, her eyebrows furrowed with anger and confusion. "You just mimicked my power..."

Juno shrugged.

Suddenly, the fight recommenced. It was still one-sided; the scarlet witch attacking Juno with everything she could muster. She was backing her into corners, lifting her up and throwing her around like a doll, sending things flying towards her. Juno tried desperately to defend herself. Running away, conjuring forcefields, blowing things up before they hit her. But it was relentless.

Wanda backed her into another corner, sending wave after wave of scarlet energy until she came face to face with her, close enough to feel her breath on her face. Juno tightened her fist, creating a charge of golden light. But before she could use it, Wanda placed a finger to her temple and suddenly she felt herself falling.

She was standing in the street as cars screeched and crashed around her. People were screaming, children standing alone crying for their parents. She turned around to see Stephen ahead of her.

"Stephen!" she shouted in panic. "Stephen!?"

He turned slowly to look at her, and suddenly he began to disintegrate. She took off in a sprint towards him when a voice cried behind her. She stopped and turned back to see a little girl slowly turning to dust.

"Mommy," the girl said.

But it was too late. Juno fell to her knees and began to cry, the sounds of people's screams growing louder and louder. She covered her ears and closed her eyes, seeing Wanda's glowing irises in the darkness.

Focus, she thought. It's not real. Fight it.

Wanda stood in front of her, forcing her energy into Juno's head. But slowly, she noticed her face beginning to change. Her eyes opened, and within moments, a blast of light sent her skidding across the floor.

Juno looked down at Wanda on the ground, a mix of pain and anger on her face. She took a step towards her, igniting her fists as if she were about to attack. Wanda threw her hands up, manipulating the air around her and holding her in place.

"Stop," Juno muttered through the gritted teeth.

"No," she breathed.

"Stop," she repeated.

Wanda rose to her feet, focusing harder.

"I said stop!"

Wanda's eyes stopped glowing red and the light faded around her hands, as if she were a candle that had been blown out. She stared down at her fingers before trying to restart her powers, but nothing happened. She locked eyes with Juno who was glaring at her, waves of gold energy pouring from her skin and travelling through the air towards her.

Everything went quiet. Eerily still like a battlefield after a war. Juno's light faded. She stood quietly, her chest rising and falling, her short hair sticking to her face with sweat.

"What did you just do?" said Wanda, her voice was low and intense.

"I just wanted you to stop," she replied quietly.

"You just... blocked my powers..."

"I..."

*

Stephen stood on the porch of a modest house on a suburban street. He tapped his knuckles on the door and waited with with his hands behind his back.

The door opened with a click and a creak. He recognised the man on the other side - he was old and grey, but his eyes hadn't changed.

"Captain," Stephen nodded.

"Doctor Strange," he replied. "Didn't think I'd ever see you again."

...

The living room was light and airy with dated wallpaper and comfortable furniture. On the mantelpiece were framed photographs of Steve and his late wife. Stephen remained standing as Steve sat down in an armchair.

"I am so sorry for imposing on you like this," said Stephen. "I just... I was hoping I could ask some questions... about when you went back in time to return the infinity stones."

"Is this about the girl on the news?" Steve replied.

He paused. "Yes."

"What do you wanna know?"

"What happened when you went back to New York in 2012?"

Steve furrowed his brow, the wrinkles around his eyes filled with confusion. "Nothing happened. I put the stones back and I left."

"Nothing happened?"

"No. I put the Space Stone back in the tesseract, the Mind Stone in the sceptre, then I gave the Time Stone to a bald lady on the roof of your place."

Stephen sat quietly for a moment, his mind racing to try and make sense of what he was saying.

"Why?" Steve continued. "Was there a problem?"

"The woman is from 2012. She turned up at my door with the Mind Stone stuck in her neck."

"What? How is that possible?"

"When you were travelling through time, did you experience anything odd? Did anything feel... off?"

"No." He shook his head. "I'm sorry, Strange, I don't know what to tell you."

*

A space ship landed on the roof of the sanctum. Juno and Wanda stood together and watched as the engine cut out and the door opened with a hiss of steam.

Juno watched with suspicion as a tall, muscular man with blonde shaggy hair stepped out. Behind him, another man in a leather jacket followed.

"Wanda," the blonde man said as he walked towards them.

"Thor," she replied with a smile and a nod.

"Quill," the other man said, pointing to himself.

"So this is the one causing all the trouble," said Thor as he looked down at Juno.

She looked up at him with a slight smile. His demeanour was calm and laid back, but his presence was strong and intimidating.

"Thank you for coming," said Wanda.

Suddenly, a powerful ball of light fell from the sky, crashing into the roof like a meteor. Juno jumped in fright, staring in awe as a woman dressed in strange armour straightened her back.

"Ah, it's the powerful one," said Thor. "Good to see you."

The woman nodded at him with a slight smirk.

"Hello?" a voice echoed from the street below.

Thor walked to the edge of the roof and looked down. He opened his arms and smiled.

"Spider boy!" he shouted.

"...man," the voice replied.

...

They stood in the hall at the back of the sanctum, the evidence of the fight still visible in the broken furniture and scorched walls. Juno stood opposite Wanda and the three visitors, shrinking in on herself as they eyed her curiously.

"So..." she said awkwardly.

"Juno, this is Thor, Carol, and Peter," said Wanda. "Three of the most powerful Avengers-"

Quill cleared his throat as he stood at the edge of the room. "I'm powerful too," he said. "But she, uh, she only needed three people so..."

"Why don't you go and wait in the ship," said Thor.

Quill glared at him.

"Anyway..." said Wanda. "I want to see what you can do against powers that don't come from the mind stone."

Juno scanned the three of them; Carol in her red and blue armour, Peter in his skin-tight suit, Thor in his cape.

"Where do you all get your costumes?" she asked.

"It's... not a costume," said Thor as he stood with his hands on his hips, a smile on his face.

"Mine's kind of a costume," said Peter with a shrug.

"You don't need special clothes to use your powers," said Wanda.

She nodded as she looked down at herself before brushing her hair out of her face and exhaling slowly.

"Alright," she said. "Who's first?"

Peter stepped forward, his mask materialising over his face. He rolled his shoulders and tilted his head from side-to-side.

"Hey," he said chirpily.

"Hi," she replied. "So what do you do?"

"This," he said before shooting a stream of webbing at the chandelier and swinging up, hanging upside down from the ceiling.

"Awesome," she replied plainly.

"Remember," said Wanda. "Don't rely on your power. Use your mind."

She nodded, never taking her eyes off him.

The others moved aside, waiting for one of them to make the first move.

"She told me not to go easy on you," said Peter.

"Why doesn't that surprise me?"

He shot two webs at her, catching her by both ankles and pulling them from under her. She fell hard on her back, looking up as he swung across the room and dropped to floor.

She lit up her hands and burned through the webbings, releasing herself and standing up quickly. She sent a blast towards him. He avoided it quickly, moving with a quick, sharp agility that dodged every blast she sent his way.

He flew over her head and landed behind her, grabbing her by the shoulder to pull her back. As his hand connected with her, her eyes began to glow, an image appearing in her head - a memory that wasn't her own. It was Peter sitting at his desk, mixing his web liquid and pouring it into the cartridges in his suit.

She raised an eyebrow before struggling out of his grasp. She turned to face him, holding up a glowing hand and turning her fingers delicately. Peter pointed his wrist at the wall and shot a web.

"I didn't mean to do that," he shouted.

Juno moved her other hand, directing him to shoot another web and stick it to the floor.

"Didn't mean to do that either," he shouted again.

She curved her hands, controlling him like a puppet and watching as he bounced around the room tangling himself in his own webs.

He lay on the floor wrapped up tight as Juno stood above him and smiled. His mask disappeared, revealing his hot, flustered face.

Thor stepped up next, smiling at her with squinted eyes. "I'll try not to hurt you," he said.

She breathed out a laugh. "Thanks," she said before eyeing him up and down. "So what's your thing?"

He extended his arms as his eyes cast over with a blue light. The sky outside the windows turned dark and grey as lightning began to strike around the building. She looked around in awe, suddenly feeling a little more frightened of him.

He stopped. The sky slowly cleared, the sun beginning to pour through the windows again.

"God of Thunder," he said.

"A god. Interesting."

"Yeah, it's actually quite funny. You see, that stone you have in your neck used to be in my brother Loki's sceptre."

"Loki?"

"Mhm. He's dead now, very sad. But when he had that sceptre," he pointed in the air and gave a reminiscent laugh. "Of course he did a lot of terrible things with it - mind control, murder, you know..."

"Of course..." she replied.

"But oh the tricks he used to play with that thing."

"Tricks?"

"He would duplicate himself, project himself - I can't tell you the amount of times I tried to hit him and it turned out he wasn't actually there. Oh and this one time, he transfigured himself to look like our father. Spent years ruling over Asgard and nobody had a clue," he laughed again.

Juno thought for a moment. "Can you show me?"

"Show you... how?"

"Picture it in your head. Let me see."

"Alright?"

She placed her hand on his forehead and closed her eyes. Watching as an old man with an eyepatch transformed into a young, svelte man with slick dark hair. He grinned mischievously and she let go of Thor.

"Can we speed this up, please?" Quill interrupted. "Kinda got a spaceship parked in plain view up there."

Thor cracked his knuckles. "Alright," he said.

She watched him with a raised brow as he held up his hand. It looked as if he were offering her a high five, but after a moment, she heard a metallic whoosh behind her. She ducked instinctively, feeling something pass over her head. When she looked up, he was holding a large hammer in one hand and an axe in the other.

"Oh no," she whispered under her breath as he began running at her.

She kindled her forcefield moments before he swung at her, connecting the hammer with her stomach. She soared backwards and hit the wall, feeling the light flickering as if it were malfunctioning. She held out her hands in panic, picking up everything in the room with her power and directing it towards him. Every ornament, wall decoration and piece of furniture piled onto him, giving her a chance to climb to her feet.

Thor pushed everything off him and bound towards her, grabbing her by the throat and lifting her off the ground. She hung in his grasp as she concentrated the light into the palms of her hands. She wrapped them around his forearm in an attempt to burn him. But nothing happened.

"I'm a God, remember," he said. "Do you surrender?"

Suddenly, Juno's face began to change, and within moments, Thor found himself holding Loki by the throat.

"Brother," Loki said, his eyes wide and full of fear. "Why are you doing this to me?"

Thor yelled in fright and threw him to the ground, almost hyperventilating as he stepped backwards. Juno returned back to herself. She placed a hand around her neck, nursing the ache.

"Sorry," she croaked.

Next, it was Carol's turn. She approached her with a half smile, standing opposite her with her hands on her hips.

"So...”

"Carol."

"Carol. What's your power?" asked Juno.

"I'm not gonna tell you that," she said, almost flirtatiously. "You think a bad guy's gonna give you an itemised list of everything they can do before they attack?"

"Fair enough."

They began their battle. Light bounced around the room, smashing things and destroying the walls. Juno found herself on her back with Carol on top of her, punching her repeatedly in the face.

Wanda stood nearby with a look of concern on her face. She wondered if she should step in and stop it, if it had gone too far and Carol was too powerful.

"Stop," Juno grunted before taking another punch.

"An opponent wouldn't stop," she replied.

Juno's body set off an explosion, throwing Carol off her. But it wasn't enough. She watched as she began to approach again, with glowing eyes and light swirling around her arms. She shot the light from her fist but Juno rolled over before it it could hit her, returning her own blast that bounced off Carol's shoulder.

They entered a standoff, their powers connecting in a ball of sparks. But Carol was winning, her stream of light eating through Juno's as she walked towards her slowly. Juno could feel her powers failing. She let out a scream, as they came face-to-face, willing her to stop - to leave her alone. She lifted her other hand and touched the side of Carol's head. Then suddenly, everything stopped.

The others watched on in shock. Carol's eyes stopped glowing and her powers disappeared as she fell to the floor with a thud. Wanda ran over to her, looking over her carefully before staring up in disbelief.

"Is she okay?" asked Juno breathlessly.

"You shut her down like a computer," she replied.

"The sceptre could do that," said Thor.

Wanda looked up at Juno with concern. "We need to get that stone out. Soon."

*

Night fell over the sanctum. Stephen stood in the middle of the destroyed hall, assessing the damage with a grimace.

He took a deep breath and released the time stone from around his neck, conjuring a spell that wrapped a bright green light around his arm. He turned his hand, watching as his surroundings repaired themselves, shuffling, coming back together and settling in place as if nothing had happened.

"I've seen a lot of things today," said Juno as she stood in the doorway behind him. "But that... was by far the most impressive."

"I hear you did some pretty impressive things today too," he replied.

He turned around, his eyes falling on her face covered with bruises and cuts.

"So you were a Doctor..." she said. "Think you can help me with this?" she pointed to her face.

"I was a neurosurgeon. It's a little different."

"Alright, never mind."

She walked away. He sighed and followed her. "Give me five minutes and I'll take a look."

She nodded with a grateful smile.

...

She carefully removed her jacket and slid off her tank top, wincing as her muscles ached. She sat down on the bed, bringing her knees to her chest and hugging her legs.

Stephen placed a bowl of hot water on the bedside table and sat down behind her. He soaked a cloth in the water and pressed it against the deep purple bruise covering her shoulder blade.

She let out a soft hiss as the heat connected with her skin.

"Sorry," said Stephen. "Hot compress boosts circulation and clears away trapped blood."

"It's okay," she replied as she rested her chin on her knees. "So did you get any answers from that 'cap' guy?"

"Some. Not the ones I needed." he dipped the cloth back in the water before placing it on another bruise further down her back.

She closed her eyes and inhaled sharply. "So I take it he put the stone back where he was supposed to..."

"Mhm."

"So what do we do next?"

"I'm not sure yet."

They fell into a comfortable silence, the only sound coming from the water dripping from the cloth. He pressed it against her bruises, watching the stone as it glowed beneath her skin.