Chapter 3
“You believe her?” Tony asked, incredulity clear in his voice, although Wanda could sense the undercurrent of fear within it as well. “Supposedly she could show you whatever she wanted.”
Thor gazed back steadily and calmly. He could realize why Tony was so frightened, and if he hadn’t been shown himself he wouldn’t have believed it either, but the pain on the witch’s face as he watched her destroy an infinity stone and her assumed friend with it, he couldn’t do anything but believe her. Even looking at the girl now he could see a layer of anxiety and almost childish hope as she worked to gain the team’s trust.
“I admit, I myself wouldn’t believe it if I hadn’t been the one to look, but she is honest. I might ask you to look for yourself.” Thor requested, the seriousness of it clear in his expression, and Wanda couldn’t help the rush of gratitude she felt at the man’s acceptance, nor the quiet sigh of relief at the fact. She looked around to gauge the rest of the team and was slightly shocked to see a curious look on Natasha’s face, rather than the skeptical unsurety that had been there before. The red-head raised an eyebrow at Wanda’s sigh, still trying to get a read on the witch, a feat that was much more difficult than Natasha was used to.
Wanda turned back to Tony, unsurprised at the suspicion still making its home in his features and she shrugged. “I understand why you don’t trust me, but I want you to know that my only intentions are to help.” She told him honestly, accent thick with sincerity before pushing just a bit more.
“Besides, I think you and I both know that if I hadn’t been there earlier, at least one of you would be injured, if not dead.” Wanda scanned the faces of the team and knew she had surprised them with her bluntness, even if they tried not to show it. Tony’s face didn’t change but she knew he was beginning to see her side of it, and Thor was already there.
A glance towards Steve and Bruce showed them to be deep in thought, while another towards Clint showed him to scanning her about the sincerity of her statement. A final look in Natasha’s direction was the most shocking, and she seemed almost determined as she looked off to the side. Although for what, Wanda didn’t know until the woman’s gaze flicked to hers, intense in a way Wanda didn’t understand.
“I want you to show me what you showed Thor.”
Wanda’s eyes widened at the request. Natasha was the last person she expected to want her in her head. Her confusion was likely clear in her gaze, as the red-head finally stood up and came to stand in front of her. “I want to see.” She repeated, certainty evident in her voice.
Wanda just blinked for a moment. This wasn’t like Natasha at all.
“But if you mess with anything you shouldn’t, I’ll kill you.” Ah, that sounded more like her. Wanda nodded in frantic agreement of the statement, eyes still wide at the fact that Natasha had requested this at all.
“Are you sure?” She asked, just to be sure as she raised her hands up slightly, fingertips aimed near Natasha’s temples but not quite touching yet.
Natasha gazed back steadily and nodded. “I’m sure.”
And with that Wanda allowed her fingertips to graze against Natasha’s temples, immediately flooding her mind with her own consciousness and memories.
Wanda took Natasha through her memories in much the same way she did Thor. She brought her to the forest in Wakanda and let her watch Wanda destroy the stones and her own friend with it with obvious shock. Wanda herself was surprised at the lack of Natasha’s control over her own features and watched as the woman’s eyes widened at the sight of Wanda aiming her powers at Vision as well as the sight of herself fighting a few yards away, although here she was nearly platinum blonde and seemingly a slight bit older.
“Who’s that?” Natasha asked, her eyes locked in front of them. Wanda followed her gaze and her own came to land on Vision, who was kneeling in front of past Wanda as she sent wave after wave of red power into his head.
Wanda exhaled a bit shakily. “A friend.” She answered, not particularly wanting to talk about it then. “I will likely tell you more later, but now is not the time.”
A glance towards Natasha showed her expression flickering into one of understanding as she finally looked at Wanda, nodding in agreement before turning back to the scene.
Wanda watched as Thanos began advancing on her and making his way through the team, occasionally squeezing his fist and using the assistance of the five stones in his possession.
“Those are infinity stones. They’re essentially every aspect of life there could possibly be.” Wanda explained, nodding her head towards the Titan and consequently the gauntlet on his hand. “Power, space, soul, time, reality, and mind.” She listed, watching as Thanos made his way through her friends.
Natasha stayed silent as Thanos finally broke through the trees, finally advancing on Wanda in the small clearing where she still stood with both hands aiming steady streams of red towards the stone residing in Vision’s head. Noticing the closeness of the Titan, past Wanda immediately threw one of her hands out towards him, effectively stopping him in his tracks. Natasha watched with wide eyes as the witch nearly shook with effort, tears streaming down her face and power flowing from her outstretched hands.
A single glance towards present Wanda showed their expressions to be quite similar, as both were filled with no small amount of pain.
It happened fast after that and Natasha turned back towards the fight just as everything exploded, a shock wave expanding through the forest and across the fields outside of it, sending Wanda and Thanos flying backwards. After the initial wave, Natasha forced herself to look back at Wanda, who was now on her knees where she presumably landed after the explosion, and Thanos, who had managed to stay on his feet.
She watched as the Titan advanced on the small witch, standing over her as she stared at the ground crying.
“I understand, my child.” The Titan told her, and it almost seemed that he showed true sadness at the girl’s loss.
The empathy only enraged Wanda, as she looked back at him with glowing eyes which were only amplified by the tears streaming from them.
“You could never.” Wanda said through gritted teeth, fists clenched at her sides and nearly glowing with the strain.
Thanos sighed. "I lost more than you could ever know. But now is no time for grieving. Now... is no time at all."
Natasha’s eyes widened again as another stream of red broke from Wanda’s hand and quickly wrapped around the metal gauntlet, effectively keeping the Titan from closing his fist and stopping him from doing what he wanted. Natasha could guess from his poorly timed pun that he meant to turn time back, and Wanda didn’t quite want that.
The witch allowed her magic to surround the gauntlet, keeping the Titan’s hand open even as it weaved through the other stones. One in particular, Natasha noted, a green one, which is presumably the Time Stone. The expressions on Thanos’ face flickered between smug and fearful incredibly quickly and everything happened fast after that.
With a final burst of power there was another explosion, and everything went black.
Wanda was quick in shifting the scene, again following the path she had taken Thor on and taking Natasha to the cell she had called home with Hydra. They watched as memory Wanda sat up in her bed, confusion obvious in her gaze as she looked around before realization washed over it.
It was only a few minutes later when there was a harsh knock on the door, and Natasha turned towards it to see a ragged man come stomping in. He had some angry words for the witch and a curious glance at Natasha showed her to be quite irritated with the treatment. Wanda just raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything, instead turning back to the scene, which shifted once more.
They were now watching when Wanda and the guard had been walking back to her cell after talking to Strucker and Natasha was tilted her head at the strange look she saw in memory Wanda’s eyes.
“What’s that look in your eyes for?” She questioned, her voice cutting through the silence between them for the first time in a while.
Wanda allowed a smirk to twitch at her lip, the right side raising just slightly before going back down. “You’ll see.”
Natasha stared at her skeptically but Wanda tilted her head back towards the scene. “Watch.” She encouraged.
The red-head turned her head back just in time to see memory Wanda reach an arm out with surprising speed and wrap the guard in a sheen of red, wasting no time in lifting him from his feet and slamming him against the wall to his right. Natasha watched as the guard crumpled to the ground and turned to Wanda with a raised eyebrow.
The witch just shrugged. “He’ll be fine.” She assured before changing the scene once more.
They were outside now, and Wanda decided to take Natasha to the exact moment they had met in hopes that she would be more likely to believe that everything she was telling her was true.
Memory Wanda shot into the air and present Wanda gestured for Natasha to follow as she ran off after her. Wanda knew she hadn’t flown that far and wasn’t shocked when they came upon the clearing in just a few moments, watching as memory Wanda dropped down gracefully between the two groups.
Natasha watched curiously as she watched herself and her team doing what she remembered doing less than a half hour ago. The scene played out step by step how it had before, and it was in that moment that Natasha truly believed the girl next to her.
Wanda felt the sudden shift and looked over at Natasha, not surprised to see the red-head looking back at her. She smiled slightly, glad that she was able to get the assassin to come around to her.
And in such a short time, Wanda thinks it may be some sort of new record.
It was with that that Wanda brought them back to the Quinjet, where Natasha opened her eyes and they were suddenly back around her team, who were looking at them with varying degrees of skepticism and even a few of curiosity.
Natasha took a steadying breath and looked over her team, knowing they were awaiting her verdict on the woman next to her. She was always the best at reading people and more often than not they turned to her for situations similar to this one, although she couldn’t help but think that she was curious as well.
It was silent for a few more moments.
“I believe her.” She admitted. “Really, I do.”
There was a collective exhale from the rest of the team at her answer, along with a relieved sigh from Wanda.
Wanda was shocked as the atmosphere of the jet changed almost immediately, and the air of skepticism was nearly gone entirely, although a few feelings did linger from Tony. She looked towards him with a steady gaze, her eyes nearly pleading for him to give her a chance.
He seemed to try to stay strong against it, but with a few shrugs from various team members and gave in with a sigh.
“Fine.” He relented, crossing his arms in front of him. “She can stay.”