"Come on, Wanda!"
Wanda rolls her eyes at Clint attempting yet again to convince her to use her powers to float another can of soda out of the fridge a few rooms away. She doesn't understand why he can't just get up, and walk the twenty feet it would take him to go get his soda himself. She's capable, of course. She could have that can floating out in front of him with just the tiniest movement of her fingers in the direction of where she knew the kitchen resided.
She shook her head before answering with a short, "No."
The reply is a loud groan, complete with the man, grown man, Wanda thinks, throwing his head back in a sort of mini adult tantrum, before he lifts his head and glares at her like she had just eaten his leftovers from the fridge.
"Why not?"
She gives him her best are you serious look and answers, "Because you have legs, and I don't want to."
He rolls his eyes and sighs before standing up to go get his own drink, knowing he would get nowhere with the witch, considering how stubborn he knows she is. She watches him leave, shaking her head at how childish he was being, before turning to look at the rest of her friends all sitting around the TV that was currently showing one of the Star Wars movies. Wanda wasn't sure which.
As she continues looking at the screen, trying to follow along to no avail, she vaguely registers Clint flopping back down onto the couch where he had been sitting next to her.
The team had been having these little family nights for quite some time. They had started a couple weeks after the Ultron incident as a way to try and get Wanda out of her room and joining the family atmosphere that always surrounded the friends, rather than alone in a room filled with only her grief and not enough love.
She looked around at her family and couldn't help the feeling of warmth that rose in her chest. Her head turned to her right and she smiles at the sight of Natasha curled up under a blanket, her feet just brushing against Wanda's thigh. They were cold, but Wanda didn't mind, it was a constant reassurance to her, knowing that she had people that trusted her enough to curl up next to her and shock her with their feet, which were always cold no matter how many layers the red-head had on.
She turned her head in the opposite direction to see Clint on her left, drinking from the can of soda Wanda refused to get for him, still looking at her with a slight glare, although Wanda could see the fondness that resided in his gaze. Clint was the first one to really accept her as part of the team, part of the family, really. She had the kind of love for him that one felt for a father, which she was constantly in need of.
Her eyes found those of the man sitting on the couch just adjacent to hers. She had known Sam the least amount of time out of all of them, but she couldn't help but feel a sort of brotherly love for him, something she desperately needed after Pietro. They shared a small smile, his meant for reassurance and Wanda's meant as an acknowledgment of him looking out for her.
Seated to Sam's left was another man she viewed as a sort of brother figure. Steve was the second one after Clint to really see her as part of the family, which was surprising and a testament to how kind-hearted he is, especially after what she put in his head.
Sitting across from Sam and Steve were Tony and Rhodey, with Bruce sitting with his knees to his chest in front of them, all watching the movie in various states of relaxation. There was an empty spot next to the scientist that Thor normally occupied, but he was off planet at that time, dealing with something on Asgard. Tony and Wanda had come to a sort of understanding. Understanding that they had both made mistakes, but that both of them were also constantly working to make amends for those mistakes. It was a very interesting but very necessary bond, in Wanda's opinion. They both knew that the other would be there for them if it really came down to it, and that's what matters, really.
Bruce came around to her fairly quickly after hearing about her brother, his anger quickly turning to sympathy. Especially after he found out all that she had truly been put through at such a young age. The day her true age actually came to light was quite emotional for her and for those around her. It had been a few days after Ultron, and they were all sitting around the dinner table in silence when Tony, of course, had to be the one to break it, asking a question that, if they were being honest, everyone had been a little curious about.
Tony leaned forward from where he was sat at the dinner table. "So, Red." He starts. "How old are you really? I mean, we call you kid all the time, but we're not actually sure. I'm sure you guys are curious, too." He says the last part towards the others circled around the table, most of whom shrug sheepishly, while others just nod outright.
Wanda sighs. She didn't want to tell them her age, because she knew that if she did, they really would see her as just a kid. But, she supposed it would come up again at some point if she didn't answer now, and she didn't want to deal with that. So, she just placed her hands on the table, noting how the others' eyes strayed to them, knowing the power that could come from them, and answered.
"I'm 18." She said quickly, just wanting this to be over with. Her eyes were flicking around the room, not wanting to see the reactions of those around her after hearing a very audible gasp from around the room. Her eyes fell shut, wanting to be anywhere but there at that moment.
"18!?" Tony yelled, to her surprise. She knew it was young but she wasn't a kid. Not technically...
She finally looked around the table to see various looks of, not pity, she was surprised to see, but understanding. Understanding at how much she had dealt with at such a truly young age.
That was the first night she had thought that maybe living with and being an Avenger wouldn't be so bad.
Her gaze moved to Rhodey, who she probably knew the least out of all the Avengers, but whom she cared about nonetheless, and would do what she could to protect him.
She let loose a sigh of contentment, smiling a genuine smile when she saw Natasha turn to look at her from the corner of her eye. Their eyes met and there was a happiness shining between them that neither were particularly used to, but don't mind feeling one bit.
Wanda had opened her mouth to say something, a small conversation starter because she loved talking to Nat, when her jaw snapped shut and she began looking around. Something was off.
All of the alarm bells that were built into Wanda's instincts were going off, immediately putting her on the defensive. She looked around to try and see what could of caused the quick change in her awareness, not even registering the concerned, "Wanda?" from Natasha, or the hand on her shoulder that belonged to Clint. She continued to scan her friends and the room around them, seeing that nothing was wrong with them, or near them.
Just when the others were about to start getting involved with getting her attention, she spoke.
"Something is wrong." She said, causing to others to share looks of concern, not sure what she meant.
Steve moved to kneel in front of her, catching her frantic gaze. "Wanda, nothing is happening. You're safe."
Wanda shakes her head frantically. "You're wrong. Something is happening outside. Someone is here."
She meets Tony's concerned gaze, not at all consoled when the man speaks. "F.R.I.D.A.Y would alert us if there was someone on the grounds, Wanda. Nobody is here."
Wanda is beginning to get frustrated, not knowing what was going on. She shut her eyes, quickly pushing her magic out in one large wave, getting a feel for the environment around the compound. She's positive that someone is coming, someones, she thinks, but they haven't made it to the compound. Her magic continues to spread, to the others it looks like a burst of echolocation, waves moving along the ground and through the walls, searching.
Wanda feels her magic stretching further and further away from the compound, and just as she was thinking that she may truly have been mistaken, she feels it. The magic she had sent to the North side of the compound reflecting back at them, until the team saw it return to the hands of the woman in front of them. As soon as the red reached her hand again, Wanda's eyes snapped open, glowing the scarlet red that she was quite well known for.
She turned her gaze to the people surrounding her in concern. "An army. An army is coming."
The others were struggling to keep up as Wanda ran down the hallway, not sure where she was going.
"Where are you going?" Asked Tony, slightly breathless, and groaning as she didn't slow down one bit.
"To get my gear!" She yelled, not out of breath at all. "You all should too!"
"Wanda-" Steve tried to get her attention, to no avail.
"Wanda." Comes his voice again, slightly more frustrated when, once again, her pace stayed the same.
"Wanda!"
She stopped finally, turning to him with a huff, which surprised the team because the was usually quite level-headed. "What?!"
The others stopped in front of her, breathing heavily and extremely confused. "What is going on? You can't just say there's an army coming and then run off. Fill us in."
She sighed, calming herself down slightly so she could speak to them normally. "An army is coming. Perhaps, one-hundred to two-hundred? I can't be sure. They are fifteen minutes out, which gives us just enough time to get prepared. They don't know that we know their coming, so be quick, and be ready." She finished, looking around at the team and seeing that they're looking at her like she's crazy. "What?" She asks, exasperatedly.
Natasha steps in front of her, scanning her face and trying to get a read on her, which is always difficult, much to the Black Widow's frustration. She gets nothing, so she just decided to speak. "Are you sure about this?" She says, looking into her eyes.
"Yes. You know I wouldn't have said anything if I wasn't. Trust me." Wanda finishes on a slightly softer note. She was always softer with Natasha, who nodded slowly, before turning to the rest of the team.
"I believe her. Come on, we've got thirteen minutes. You've got eight to get your gear and meet up again outside the North side doors of the compound, just outside the training room. Got it?" She finishes, and shares a look with Wanda, who was glad for Natasha kicking everyone into gear.
The team finally seemed to understand that they were going into battle tonight, and none of them were sure what to expect. So, they did what they did best and got ready to fight side by side, each of them heading in different directions to get what they needed before the quickly approaching fight.
Wanda walked through the doors of the gym to see Steve standing there, ready to go with his uniform and shield in hand. His eyes find hers as he hears the sound of the door opening.
"You're sure about this?" He asks, needing to make absolutely sure that this wasn't just a false alarm.
Wanda knew that he was just worried, and although she felt like they were doubting her abilities, she took a deep breath before nodding. "Yes. I could feel them then and I can feel them now. In fact, the alarms should be going off soon. They are about to enter the grounds." She says, reaching out with her abilities even though she can feel the hostiles anyway, trying to creep up on them.
Just as she finished speaking the first of the alarms went off, indicating that there were trespassers on the grounds. Seconds later Steve and Wanda were joined by the other six, all still slightly confused but prepared for a fight regardless.
Wanda turned to them. "They are about three minutes out, in our sights within two." She began, wanting them to be prepared completely. "They don't know that we know, so we have the element of surprise on our side." Her eyes shift. "They are coming for me."
The others look at her in surprise, before Sam spoke up. "We don't know that."
"I do." She said. "I can feel their thoughts even from here."
The rest of them share looks before Natasha steps forward to place a hand on her shoulder. "We'll protect you."
But Wanda was already shaking her head. "No. You fight your own battles, I will be fine. I can handle whatever comes to me. I've been working on some stuff." A few eyebrows raised but nothing was said. She knew from that that they didn't believe her. She sighed.
"Look, they're going to underestimate me, like everyone does..." She starts, pointedly looking at each member, who's gazes shift away uncomfortably, not knowing she had picked up on that. "But, that will work for me. It always has." Wanda's eyes meet each person's individually, wanting them to see how serious she was. "Trust me."
The words left Wanda for the second time that night, almost pleading for her team to let her be. If they were hurt because they were trying to prevent something that she could handle, she would never forgive herself.
It finally seemed to start sinking in, as most of them sighed before nodding their acceptance. She nodded back in relief.
A few more seconds passed until the army began appearing from the treeline, making their way towards the team. It was dark where they stood, so they were unseen by the quickly approaching fighters.
Everyone's eyes widened. It wasn't just an army of men, they had trucks and tanks and just about every man had a gun, which were pointing straight at the compound. Wanda thought it was just a little excessive. She could feel the worry coming off her teammates, although she really felt none from herself. She was fairly confident in her abilities and she had been practicing, so she projected her calmness to her team, not wanting them to be afraid. They would win this battle like they had all the others.
The armies progressed until they made a complete stop, apparently waiting for something.
"I should go out first." Their heads all whip in Steve's direction, wondering what he was thinking in that moment. "If they're here for Wanda then we should keep her out of their sights as long as possible, and we all know that I'm the spokesperson for this team." It was a smart idea and he's right, he was the team's spokesperson, much to the irritation of the rest of the team.
Seeing that they agreed with him, Steve began walking forwards, and Wanda felt the exact moment that he was spotted, everyone's guns were instead aimed at Steve, rather than the compound in general. Excitement came off the horde of soldiers in waves and Wanda really wishes they would get on with it. She could also feel slight confusion, however, at the fact that Steve was already in uniform and that he knew exactly what door to come out of, even though he supposedly had no idea of their impending arrival. Wanda's mouth curled into a smirk. This was going to be fun.
Finally, as soon as Steve makes it to the middle of the clearing someone speaks, a booming voice coming from speakers placed on the various trucks and tanks lined up behind the battalion.
"We have come for the Scarlet Witch."
It was a deep voice, definitely a man and, scanning the line, she could find exactly which truck the voice was coming from, and elbowed Natasha while silently pointing towards said truck and connecting their minds to speak without risking the other side hearing them.
The man speaking is in that truck. I don't know who he is.
Natasha nodded, looking in the direction of the truck. Okay. We'll take care of it.
The connection was severed, slowly, so as to not hurt either person and they turn back to the conversation where Steve was currently speaking his reply.
"What do you want with her?" He asked, grip tightening on his shield.
"She belonged to us first, she is ours." Wanda didn't appreciate that. It felt like they were implying she was an object to be traded between places and teams. Her eyes glowed a gentle red, not enough to catch the attention of anyone but Natasha at her side, who elbowed her gently in an attempt to calm her down. She did slightly and Natasha let out a breathe.
"I think she would have something to say to that. She is a person, after all." Steve replied, and Wanda felt a rush of gratitude at the feeling of belonging to no one but herself.
"If you do not hand her over," The voice started, pausing for what seems to be dramatic effect. Wanda rolled her eyes. "We will kill you all and take her... Starting with you, Captain."
Wanda felt the change in the air before anybody, and she reacted instinctively, pushing her hands out and throwing out a shield that found it's home in front of Steve just as the guns started firing. Figuring there was no reason to stay hidden now, Wanda began walking out to stand next to Steve, and she felt the rest of her team following her lead.
As they came to a stop next to Steve the man looked towards Wanda, who was still keeping the shields in place under the continued assault against them, and nodded at her gratefully. She nodded back, knowing she would always do what she could to protect the people currently behind her shield.
At this point, she had shielded them from so many things that protecting them like this took almost no concentration, and it left the majority of her abilities open to offense rather than just defense. Because of this, she was able to raise her raise her left arm and wave it in front of her body, carrying the majority of the gun holders with it, and surprising the ones still left standing into holding their fire.
This gave her the opportunity to do what she really wanted to do, and she dropped her shield, hoping she would have enough time to do what she wanted before the guns started firing again. She held her arms out, reaching for her powers before pulling them out of her and sending them towards the soldiers, some still on the ground and others still in shock that was furthered by the sight of her magic creeping along the ground towards them, making them forget that it was something they should probably have been afraid of.
By the time they began aiming their firearms again, and the ones on the ground began reaching for their guns, it was too late. Wanda's magic had reached them and with one snap of her right hand, the guns disintegrated in their hands, right in front of their eyes. They crumbled like a sand castle on a windy day, until there was nothing left but the dust blowing uselessly through the air.
As Wanda lowered her hands there was silence from both sides of the field, and she could feel eyes piercing her body from all angles. She turned to look at her team, which were all looking at her in various states of surprise. The right side of her mouth curled up into a weak smile. "I told you I'd been working on some stuff..." She finishes, internally sighing at the knowledge that they would all definitely be having a conversation later.
Until then, however, they are quite busy. Wanda turns back to the army they were facing, not surprised to see the looks of surprise and slight fear on their faces. She shrugged. "Still want to come for me?" She taunted.
The booming voice from earlier returned, coming through the speakers once more. "Destroying a few guns is not enough to cause us to turn away, witch. We will get what we came for."
"Well," She starts, before reaching with her magic towards the truck where she knew the man was speaking from, and pulling him towards her, not speaking until she had pulled him out of his truck and into the line of sight of everyone. "Why don't you say that to my face?"
Wanda felt the surprise radiating off the group behind her but she kept her gaze forward, rather than acknowledge them. She could also feel the fear coming off the man in front of her, although he tried to hide it. Stupid, she thought. No one hid things from the Scarlet Witch. She held him still with her magic, quite enjoying putting him in his place, until he yelled out something that didn't surprise Wanda in the least. In fact, she actually sighed in disappointment after hearing it. She had hoped they would leave.
"Fire the tanks!" He yelled, and the machinery began rolling forward. Wanda rolled her eyes again before dropping the man still currently in her hold, allowing him to scurry away to hide behind his army of men without guns and, soon to be, without tanks.
She felt the spike of fear from her teammates and turned to see them looking at her with varying expressions of fear and anxiety, them obviously thinking they had no defense against the tank.
It was kind of fun, thought Wanda. None of her teammates had even had to fight anyone yet, although she felt that would be coming soon. Regardless, she spoke to them, hoping to calm their nerves as the tanks were still powering up and aiming. "Do not worry." She started, smiling at each of them. They probably thought she was insane. "We will not be getting shot by tanks."
"They seem to have a different opinion on that." Sam said, glancing behind her with worry clear on his face.
"Ah... That's because they underestimate me." Wanda says, finishing just as the first shot rings out.
It was the others' natural instincts that caused them to flinch and shut their eyes at the sight of a large projectile coming towards them at a very high speed, although it turned out to be for no reason when Wanda, who stood her ground, not moving even a centimeter, pushed her magic out around her, hands raised, and wrapped it around the explosive before it had the chance to hit them. When a few seconds had passed and they had not been blown up, the rest of the team slowly opened their eyes and turned around from where they had been facing away from the tanks in hopes that that would shield them if they had been hit.
There was silence from both sides save for the "holy shit..." she heard from Clint who stood behind her with the rest of the Avengers, most of whom were looking at her as if they couldn't quite believe what they were seeing.
Wanda had wrapped her magic around the missile, keeping it floating completely still in the air surrounded by a shimmering layer of red. She was straining under the effort of keeping the ammunition still but the others couldn't tell. All they could see when they looked at her face was steely determination.
Then, surprising them even more, and even drawing a few gasps from her team, she slowly began moving her hands, plucking the air with her fingers like she was playing a guitar, and the missile staring them down from just a few feet in front of them slowly began to turn to instead face towards the hundreds of soldiers across the clearing, and they just watched her do it.
When the missile was spun completely around to be aimed towards the battalion send there to kill them, Wanda spoke, her voice slightly gritty under the strain of holding the missile for so long.
"You should have turned away."
And she let the missile fly. Straight towards the soldiers, who, after finally realizing that they should probably be trying to get out of the of fire, began running to the sides in feeble attempts to escape the missile before it reached them.
Most were unsuccessful as the projectile barreled straight into the army before exploding in a great ball of fire. Wanda hadn't particularly meant to, but she wasn't upset when the explosion also took out the very tank that had shot it in the first place, sending machinery raining down all around them, some of which would have hit one of the Avengers had Wanda not thrown another shield out to cover their little group.
The moments that followed were chaos, soldiers running to and fro trying to escape from the fumes of the flames currently wrapped around their machinery and burning their own men. The majority of them were dead, blown up by their own weapons, but there were a few stragglers. Nothing the Avengers couldn't handle. Wanda reached out again, once again finding the man who wanted her in the first place, pulling him to kneel in front of them once again. This time, he wasn't able to hide his fear the slightest bit.
She bent down a little, meeting his fearful gaze with her own glowing one.
"There." She started, glancing back at her team, who nodded that they were ready to finally be able to fight, before returning her stare to the man kneeling in front of her. "Now it's a fair fight."
The Avengers all ran forward to begin their fight.
It was quickly won.
They were all back in the living room, sat in their same spots on the couch they had been just hours before. It had been silent since they had walked in and sat down after winning the battle in just half an hour, and Wanda was about to break it. Tony spoke up before she had the chance.
"How did you know they were coming when they were still so far out?" He asked, looking her in the eyes.
"I felt it." She said, holding her hands out in front of her. "People generally have calm auras. Even when they're stressed or angry, I can tell it's mostly superficial, just frustration. Nothing will come of it. But, those men, and with so many of them, they tainted the air around them, contaminated it. I detected that change, and all it took was me reaching out to figure out the extent of it."
Tony lets out a long breath, not knowing what to say. "Well, you probably saved our our lives tonight, so good eye." He said, before the room fell into silence once more.
"What did you do with those guns? They just... disintegrated. Like sand." Wanda turned her head to look at Bruce who was looking at her in wonder. She smiled weakly.
"That was one of the things I've been working on. My powers... They're almost reality warping." She reached out and waved her hand over the dollar bill that was sitting on the table in front of them. It seemed to rearrange itself, slowly changing into a beautiful little willow tree right in front of their eyes. The team looked at the little tree in awe. Wanda spoke again. "It was basically me just rearranging the gun. I can't create things out of nothing, but I can change what's already there. That's what I did with the guns, just rearranged their structure into something a little less... sturdy." She finished, drawing snorts from around the room at the understatement.
"And... The missile?" Natasha cuts in, leaning towards Wanda slightly.
"I'd been working on redirecting energy. I actually had never tried to redirect something as big as that missile but I was pretty sure it would work. It was a strain, though."
Natasha scoffed. "I couldn't tell, so I think you did pretty damn well." She complimented, making Wanda look down to hide her smile. "Thanks."
Deciding to break the tension, Clint spoke, of course being the one to make a joke at a time like this. "You're definitely more powerful than Thor. Don't tell him I said that though."
The rest of them laughed, although most of them were nodding in agreement.
After what they had seen that night, they would never underestimate the little witch ever again.
fin