Chapter 11
Wanda had a bad feeling through the rest of the afternoon. It was only Thursday but she knew she had no intentions of going to the memorial even if she was curious who List’s ‘friend’ was.
The apartment was empty and probably would be through the weekend. She watered the few houseplants she’d brought in and then made herself lunch, all without really focusing on what she was doing.
She walked in a haze for the rest of the day, constantly startled to see her eyes glowing red each time she caught her reflection. When she turned in for the night, she pulled her blankets far above her head and tried to shake the odd feelings away. It was like she had forgotten something very important but didn’t have the faintest clue what that was.
The pain was so sudden that she didn’t even have enough time to scream at first.
It was like a numbed push against her left shoulder and then each nerve was awakened. When she managed to get enough air into her lungs she did scream as she clawed at her shoulder. She jumped up and stumbled into her bathroom, the light hurt her eyes but she nearly tore her shirt off trying to see what had caused such misery.
Physically, there appeared to be nothing, but she felt it so clearly that she began to cry out in choked sobs as the pain felt never ending. Wanda ended up somewhere on the floor, her back against the door she rocked herself to try to distract from her shoulder.
Sometimes there was the phantom stickiness of blood coming out of a nonexistent wound, but each time she dragged herself to the mirror her skin appeared normal and unbroken.
At least an hour passed curled up on the ground nursing her pained shoulder. Her thoughts were muddled by how much it had hurt but when she finally got away from the panic she knew exactly what had happened. Somewhere out there, Pietro was hurt. Likely it was a bullet but she wouldn’t dismiss a stabbing.
Pietro! She called out, just as she had when she was last able to speak to him.
There was nothing on the other end but as long as she felt his hurt it just had to mean he was alive.
For most of the night she stayed on the ground, and in the early hours of the morning she made her way to the living room. She grabbed a throw blanket and pulled it over herself when she switched on the news. The anchors voice was soothing and Wanda let it wash over her. What was once a fire lit right there on her arm was slowly receding into a throb. Pietro wasn’t dead; she just hoped this meant he was getting his wound treated. Either that or their connection was fading.
“Please be okay,” she whispered into the pillow she’d buried her face into.
“Breaking news,” the anchor announced, “we have confirmation that Tony Stark’s Iron Legion has completed yet another successful mission.”
Wanda turned her head and watched the images in a trance.
“The Iron Legion is said to have taken down at least a dozen hostiles in Ukraine. These hostiles are said to have deep ties to the HYDRA organization and are currently being searched for in all countries. Mr. Stark unveiled his Iron Legion last year and announced earlier today the next step in his worldwide defense initiative which he calls ‘Ultron.’
The screen cut and from a distance a small compound out in the country could be seen. About a dozen Iron Man shaped silhouettes surrounded the building and hovered until a much larger shape appeared and seemed to be the leader. Bullets and missiles began to fire up at the Legion which was met with rapid return fire down.
Wanda squeezed her eyes shut. He’d been in Ukraine, probably this entire time.
After that, she slept off and on. Her body needed rest even if there were no wounds that needed healing.
She got up just to use the bathroom or grab something to eat, but stayed on the couch through the morning watching the news. Most of it was praise for the Legion and Ultron programs, and that soldiers may no longer be needed in ground raids, someday.
“This is the future, and I think we need to embrace it.” One host said.
Another was critical, “it was only a few months ago that global security was compromised by Project Insight, are we really going to forget about that?”
She drifted in and out. Her body was limp against the couch, her pulsating arm propped against pillows as she tried to alleviate a paint that wasn’t her own. When Wanda woke up again later in the afternoon, she shot off the couch with a deep panic. The pain was gone.
Pietro! She screamed in her own mind, feeling no connection or bridge to him.
There was no response.
She stood there in the living room, shaking with fear and feeling sick with worry. Link’s words echoed “He found you without trouble. Probably wouldn’t be hard to find Pietro, either.”
In her purse she dug out the piece of paper with the location and time to meet the Doctor’s friend.
She arrived a little after she should have been there. It was cold out but there was the occasional security guard and sometimes she felt the odd person walking around. She was alone in the memorial, looking up at the statue of the famed president.
She may have been only a few minutes late, but she couldn’t sense anybody else in the memorial and figured she was the first to arrive. Despite her hesitations to come, Wanda did her best to squash any hope that this would be Pietro himself, or even Strucker. Still, she was waiting for a familiar voice, more than anything.
The movement from behind one of the further columns startled her into summoning her powers to her hands. “Speak,” she yelled at the figure she still couldn’t sense properly.
“You’re wondering why you can’t read my thoughts.”
The voice was deep and mechanical. She brought more power to her hands when she saw just how tall the thing was when it stood at his full height.
“What are you?”
“Like you, Miss. Maximoff, only with a different and much newer origin.”
She tried to stay steady when she lowered her glowing hands. “You’re Ultron, I saw you on the news today.”
“And you’re Wanda Maximoff. I had hoped you would come tonight.”
“Why is that?”
“Because I wanted to meet you of course.”
She eyed him, looking up and down at the imposing figure. “You’re the creation of Tony Stark.”
“But I am nothing like him.”
“Oh? That remains to be seen.”
“Please do not be afraid of me. I believe you and I can do great things together.”
“What do you want?”
“The same thing you want. To end the Avengers.”
Now that was interesting, except that she no longer wanted all of the Avengers gone. She lowered her hands but she did not extinguish the energy burning there.
“Why would you want them gone?”
“It’s the inevitable conclusion of course. Strength invites challenge, challenge invites conflict and conflict will lead to slaughter. Together, you and I can stop them before they create more conflict.”
“By bringing slaughter to them?”
“You could think of it that way. I prefer to see it as the new dawn. A new world made right.”
When Ultron drew closer, Wanda had to tilt her head back to look up at him. “You shot my brother today.”
“I know and I apologize, but it was necessary so that the rest of my legion no longer considered him a threat. I planned to bring him back as a prisoner but I… ugh… underestimated just how fast he really was. Even shot.”
Before he could take another step towards her, she began to circle the machine before her with curiosity. “There is something almost familiar about you,” she admitted, looking the creature up and down, “why is that?”
“I was given awareness by the scepter that gave you your powers.”
She stopped at his side, both of them looking at opposite ends of the memorial. “That scepter was in Strucker’s possession. It’s been lost.”
“Well, it was found.”
“When were you given consciousness?”
“Two weeks ago.”
She glared ahead of her at the marble walls with long inscriptions carved into them. Somehow, the scepter had gone from Strucker’s possession to Stark and had led to the creation of a living being. Whoever had taken custody of the scepter, then, had been near Pietro. Wanda had no idea who that could have been, but it left a bad taste in her mouth. She forced the feeling away when she looked back up at Ultron.
“Why would Stark make you?”
“Everyone creates the thing they dread.”
“And why ask me to help destroy the Avengers?”
“I can destroy them, but you will rip them apart from the inside.”
She stared ahead, for the first time in a long time her mind was clear of the hum that came with mind reading.
“I have seen the footage,” Ultron continued, “of that underground base. When I say destroy the Avengers you hesitate, because of Captain America?”
“He’s… he’s my friend.”
“Don’t risk the world’s peace over something as tentative as friendship. I can get you to your brother.”
His offer was a tempting one that she would have gladly taken back in Sokovia, before the raid and before meeting Nick Fury. Killing Steve was out of the question. She had been in his head, had listened to his thoughts. They may not have agreed on everything, but he was a part of her life now and could not be so easily ripped away. Not so long as she had a say in it.
“No.”
She gathered the energy forming in her hands and prepared herself for the coming fight.
“I think you should reconsider, Wanda. Is this love you think you feel? You and I are creatures of peace while Captain America can’t live without war. Most of humanity can’t.”
“I said no.”
It was quiet but she felt him make his move and barely had time to jump away before his arm swung out and hit nothing. She was at a disadvantage here, being unable to read the thoughts of this one.
“I had hoped we could be allies and that you would join me, but if you can’t see reason then you’re just like them.”
She threw as much energy as she could in one short blast at the robot. It singed the metal but didn’t seem to inflict any real damage and certainly no pain.
Wanda jumped further away, going for the steps to see if she could put some space between her and Ultron. She wavered at the top of the stairs when she finally picked up on the presence of others in the distance. Civilians who had no role in this fight. “Damn it,” she swore under her breath and turned just in time to push Ultron back before he could get a hold of her. No guns, which meant he was more than likely trying to kill her quietly. If he wanted to kill her at all. She wasn’t quite sure what his endgame was just yet.
She lashed out behind her, pushing him back and trying to keep him at bay while she tried to think.
“Does Tony Stark realize what you’ve become?” She yelled, preparing herself to make a run for it.
“He will when I realize my vision. The perfect world free of men like him.”
A lethal beam of energy shot from Ultron’s metal palm. When she ducked away it shot somewhere out into the distance, hopefully to lose its power and disintegrate harmlessly in the air.
Staying crouched down, Wanda crawled behind one of the exterior pillars. With only seconds, she pulled out her phone and went to Steve’s name. She wasn’t fast enough to make the call when Ultron slammed the pillar she’d leaned against and grabbed her by the back of the jacket. “No, no, that won’t do.” His other hand reached out and grabbed the phone from her. Whether it dialed Steve or not, she had no idea when the phone was crushed. Wanda struggled and twisted around, trying to loosen his grip on her coat.
She reached behind her and blasted the back of her coat, singing the material and ripping when Ultron dropped her hard to the ground. She gasped, crawling away and pushing upwards. When she opened her eyes, she was at least ten feet off the ground. At first, she thought she had been thrown. Then she noticed the red glow around her arms and legs and how steady she felt hovering above the steps. Propulsion, using her powers and somehow being able to hold herself up like this.
It was interesting and something she hadn’t known she could do, but now was not the time to play by trial and error. She slowly brought herself down to the ground, below the steps leading up to the memorial before she made a pivot and ran. It didn’t matter, the robot was in front of her in an instant, his arm reaching out and grabbing her by the neck. Her feet dangled over the ground but no matter how much she struggled there was no getting away from him. Her airway was cut off and black dots began to float in her sight. She reached out and with everything she had, blasted as much energy as she could at him.
There was a hole through his chest, but that did nothing to slow him down. It didn’t even loosen his grip around her neck.
“No, not you,” the mechanical voice whispered, “you may be of use yet. Might tear them apart still. No strings on me.”
He didn’t drop her so much as throw her to the ground. The impact was rough and Wanda was certain she went unconscious for a time.
The first thing she noticed when she did wake up was how much colder it had grown. Her throat burned and the cold air singed her with each inhale.
When she was able to lift herself up there was no sign of Ultron in the park.
She lay there a little longer until she found the strength to lift herself to shaky legs. Wanda thought she was going down again when she stood upright and had to brace her hands against her knees while she got a hold of herself.
It was hell going back up the stairs and all she had to show for it were the remnants of the phone she was supposed to keep on at all times. Her only way of speaking to Pietro when Fury found him.
Wanda felt the tears coming on but managed to push them away. She was exhausted.
So much had begun to unravel and she hadn’t even begun to examine what it could mean. The back of her coat was ripped, and some of her shirt. Her skin prickled against the low temperature as she began to make her way back to the apartment.
It was a long walk but she didn’t want to get a cab or other ride. There weren’t exactly any mirrors around her, but Wanda knew she must look disheveled and beaten, not to mention her eyes were likely still not in their natural state. What a sorry mess she was, her mother might have said a long time ago.
Her feet were sore and her shoulder, although uninjured, still tingled and itched after Pietro had been shot. She kept her head down and tried not to draw attention to herself despite the obvious beating, walking with purpose down the sidewalks and not making eye contact with the rare passerby. Only once somebody tried to speak to her, a young girl coming home from a party.
“Hey, are you okay? Do you need to use a phone?”
Wanda looked up and saw the flinch and then the fear. Her eyes were still red it seemed, “I’m okay.”
With a flick of her hand, the girl froze and then nodded. Going inside, the entire incident forgotten.
She was just about to hit the road to the apartment, her focus solely on getting into hot bath and fresh clothes before contacting Steve or Fury. She stopped on the block before her turn and stayed still when she sensed something amiss.
Her head hurt, not like before when she dug through memories, but enough that there was a distinct stinging when she reached out and felt the larger than average population surrounding the apartment block. She pressed herself against the gate of the nearest building, using the iron stakes to steady herself. She reached out with her powers, whimpering just a bit from the headache that followed.
Her, they were waiting for her.
Dread and fear, that’s all Wanda could feel at that moment. Like a dream where she was being chased that suddenly went into slow motion, she knew things had changed in the last few hours.
Sam’s house was the first place she considered going, but she didn’t know what situation she was facing exactly and figured she would need to get her facts in order before she went someplace she might be tracked.
With a walk of confidence that was entirely false, Wanda turned and left.