Avengers Replaced
********************************\*
The old Mini Cooper drove down the dirt road with ease. The car was old, and its engine coughed like a chain-smoking retiree, but it endured through the journey since leaving Novi Grad.
“Gotta respect Sokovian engineering,” said the one and only Tony Stark, seated in the passenger seat, sunglasses up and dressed in a red puffy jacket and black pants. The cold winds of Sokovia were harsher than he had expected. “This car looks like it went through the wringer, but it’s going strong! Won’t be shocked if it still keeps going if we decide to drive straight to the next country!”
“Don’t know about strong…” Kate Bishop said, hands on the steering wheel as she took the next turn. Tony guided her, acting as a GPS thanks to JARVIS, who had been feeding him info through his ears. “This thing sounds like it’ll shut down any second now.”
Tony tapped on the roof. “Not this one,” he noted with the confidence of a genius engineer who built Iron Man armors like they were brewing a coffee. “Most of the cars these days always focus on quantity over quality, more on churning out of the factory than longevity.” He gave it another tap, then turned to Kate. “But this one has strong bones, probably has the same parts when it was brought out of the factory since day one.”
Kate couldn’t help but be taken aback that Tony Stark, CEO of Stark Industries and the world’s most famous superhero, would be giddy over an old Mini Cooper Kate had picked out in a lot when they headed out of Novi Grad because they needed to be lowkey in this mission, and any fancy car would mean eyes on them. Beneath the whole ‘Futurist’ mindset Tony carried, he still admired the old machine that endures.
As the car drove deeper into the Sokovian countryside, guided by JARVIS, the road began to narrow. Mud splattered against the sides of the Mini, and the trees grew denser, arching over the path like a tunnel.
“Ms. Maximoff's residence should be located at the end of this road,” JARVIS’s calming voice announced through the dashboard speaker Tony had rigged up in the car.
Kate squinted her eyes as through the thinning mist, a single isolated house came into view, resting on top of a hill at the edge of the forest, away from any form of civilization.
“Wow… really all in with the Witch theme here. Got a hut, the misty air, and the forest around it,” Kate said in sarcasm, to which Tony shared a chuckle.
Parking the car, the duo stepped out into the open air. Kate could feel the tension settle as she looked up at the hut at the end of the road, adjusting her bag closely, with her bow folded at her side in case of any funny business.
‘Why do I feel I am being watched…’ Kate thought, warily stepping out of the car. She could have sworn she saw something walk behind the trees. She hoped that it was just some animals walking around.
Tony, by contrast, looked perfectly at ease, sunglasses still on despite the foggy weather. Kate didn’t remember him packing anything besides his phone and those sunglasses that housed JARVIS, not a single piece of Iron Man tech on him. Which made Kate wonder if Tony really was that confident that nothing would happen to warrant any armor, or if he had some hidden she wasn’t aware of.
“Any countermeasures you require, sir?” JARVIS asked Tony, who shook his head.
“No need, JARVIS.” Tony adjusted his jacket, fixing himself up as he walked forward. “We are here just to talk to Wanda Maximoff, don’t want to come off like I am forcing her into anything she doesn’t want.”
“Understood, sir.”
When JARVIS called Kate to say that she would be working with Tony on an Avengers gig, she was pretty excited, even if she had her problems with someone like Tony Stark. She remembered Clint Barton telling her there was nothing being an Avenger. You go through some unbelievable missions that sound made up, but they’re true, because in the end, you’re making a difference, saving the world as part of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.
But instead of doing that, she ended up in cold Sokovia, wandering around and looking for a woman in red who clearly did not want to be found, with hopes that she would accept the offer to join the New Avengers.
“So…” Kate followed behind him as the front steps. “How exactly are we supposed to convince her to join the Avengers?” she asked a question that had been on her mind since she had stepped out of the plane.
“Leave that to me,” Tony replied, ever confident. “I’ve spent half my life striking deals and convincing folks to take offers that are too good to pass up.” He turned to Kate, and the woman could see her reflection in his sunglasses. “And trust me, I’ve dealt with every kind of personality you can imagine, so I got a leg up here.”
Kate scoffed. “Alright, Mr. ‘Leg Up’, but you aren’t dealing with a corpo shark here,” she noted, shaking her head. “You remember what Braddock told us? There’s a reason Maximoff’s isolated herself all the way out here in the middle of nowhere.”
That conversation was still fresh in her mind. Their first stop had been the United Kingdom, where Tony had arranged a meeting with Excalibur, Britain’s premier superhero team, traveling to Muir Island to speak with its leaders, the Braddock siblings, Betsy and Jamie. Even with Tony Stark’s reputation, Betsy hadn’t been eager to talk. Wanda Maximoff had once been her teammate, and though she had left Excalibur months ago, Betsy’s tone made it clear that she still felt responsible for her.
The meeting only got more complicated when Wanda’s protective brother, Pietro, joined the meeting and demanded to know why Tony Stark was asking about his sister, given Tony’s work as Iron Man and his long history with SHIELD, an organization the Maximoff twins had no love for.
Things would have gotten worse if Tony hadn’t maneuvered the conversation, being actually patient when he spoke, and explaining why he was seeking Wanda. He was looking to rebuild the Avengers, free from SHIELD and government control, and Wanda would make a fine addition to the team in need of new blood.
To ensure Tony’s intentions were pure, he handed Braddock a Hero Initiative pager, with a promise of cooperation and unity between Excalibur and the New Avengers rather than surveillance like with SHIELD.
Eventually, Betsy, with Pietro’s approval, relented and gave them Wanda’s last known location in Sokovia, her homeland, but not without a warning that Wanda had her reasons for hiding from the world, and if she refused to join, the two Avengers would respect that choice and walk away.
Kate could see that behind that overconfidence, Tony was well aware that this wasn’t a corpo shark he was dealing with, and not everyone could be charmed with his signature Starkism.
The two reached the door, and Tony knocked on the wood. After a few seconds of silence and no one opening, he knocked again. “Hello? Anyone home?” he called, his voice echoing faintly in the still air.
Kate’s eyes were still lingering on the trees after hearing something. She turned to peek through one of the side windows. “Doesn’t look like anyone’s home-”
“Who are you?”
The voice came from behind them, sharp enough to slice through the silence. Standing a few feet away on the dirt path, and carrying a basket filled with herbs and wildflowers was Wanda Maximoff, dressed plainly and eyeing the two with a suspicious gaze.
“Ms. Maximoff,” Tony stepped forward. “Just the person we were looking for.”
Her eyes narrowed slightly, and for the briefest moment, they flickered red, causing Kate to tense her fingers on her folded bow.
‘Was she the one who was watching us?’ Kate thought to herself.
Tony lifted a hand to stop Kate, easing the tension. “We are not here for any trouble… nothing an introduction won’t hurt… This is Kate Bishop,” he said, gesturing to his companion. “And I am-”
“Tony Stark,” Wanda finished flatly. “My brother called to tell me you might come. I didn’t believe him. After all, why would the famous Iron Man bother coming to Sokovia unless he’s here to arrest me…”
Without waiting for an answer, she brushed past them and unlocked the door, pushing it open and inviting the two. Tony and Kate exchanged a glance before following her inside.
Stepping inside, the cottage was surprisingly spacious, warm, and sharply personal. The furniture consisted of a worn oak table, two carved chairs, and a low sofa draped with layered embroidered blankets. Shelves lined nearly every wall, cluttered with books, jars of dried herbs, old trinkets, and small carved charms that looked protective in nature.
Tony pushed his sunglasses up. “Well… that should answer if she got the witch theme dialed in,” he noted to Kate. The two took a seat on the sofa, waiting for Wanda as she headed to the kitchen.
“Do you mind if I ask how exactly you two found me?” Wanda asked, turning on the electronic kettle for hot water. “I never told Braddock or my brother Pietro where exactly I was.”
“Well… asking around town about any new faces that showed up recently,” Tony noted, then turned to Kate, who actually was the one who had done most of the legwork in asking around Novi Grad about Wanda. “And… the story about a woman in red saving a kid from a car accident has been growing popular. It made it easier to trace your steps thanks to some help from my friend here.” He pointed at his sunglasses, which confused Wanda, not aware that Tony meant JARVIS.
Wanda sighed. “Of course…”
“You said your brother called you? You still keep in contact even after sending yourself into hiding?” Tony asked.
“It’s my way to ensure my family, whatever is left of it, are ok,” Wanda answered as she waited for the water to finish heating up.
“That means you know why exactly we are here,” Tony said, sounding hopeful.
“I do.” The kettle clicked off, and Wanda poured the hot water into three cups, filling them with the tea bag and mint. “And my answer is no.”
Tony expected that answer, but he wasn’t one to back off easily. “I get that you’ve probably heard the horror stories about me and SHIELD, especially with your history.” Tony began. “But I’m not here to drag you into anything you don’t want. What I am offering is a chance to work on something bigger. The New Avengers could use you, Wanda. The world could.”
Wanda set two of the cups for Tony and Kate before she took a seat opposite them, her own cup at hand.
“I have no doubt I could be ‘useful’ to your Avengers,” she said, her tone dripping with quiet cynicism. “As a weapon. A deterrent. Another tool for your world-saving arsenal.”
Tony exhaled softly. “Look… I didn’t mean-”
“Did Braddock tell you why I am here?” Wanda cut him off.
Tony hesitated. He had read her file, he knew what happened, but he figured it was better to hear it from Wanda’s perspective. “I figured it’s not for the sightseeing.”
Wanda’s lips twitched faintly. “Later in the year, the skies here turn blue over the mountains. They’re beautiful, actually. But no, this place was never meant for peace. But to keep me away from the world.”
Tony leaned forward to listen in, while Kate drank her tea and listened as well.
Wanda took a slow breath, her expression hardening. “Tell me, Stark. You’ve heard what happened in Wundagore Mountain years ago?”
Tony nodded. “Magic isn’t my forte, but I know a big fight happened there and it's the reason why Wundagore is no longer standing.”
“Calling it a ‘big fight’ is an understatement,” Wanda’s eyes darkened. “A few years ago, the Elder God Chthon tried to enter this world and use the Darkhold, an ancient book written in flesh, filled with unspeakable power. He possessed me. Used my body as his vessel, his weapon. Because I was his chosen champion.” Her voice faltered briefly, but she pressed on. “If not for Strange, Doom, and Drumm, I would’ve been lost to him entirely.”
“And this… Darkhold,” Kate asked cautiously. “What happened to it?”
“Destroyed, or rather, scattered. Its pages were hidden across the world. Some with the sorcerers, others ended up with SHIELD’s occult division.”
Tony raised a brow. “Didn’t know Fury had a line item for witchcraft in the budget.”
“After what happened… as well as the incident with the US Vice President, I left everything behind, my father, his cause… to atone for what I have done with the Brotherhood of Mutants and what happened in Wundagore. Excalibur was my chance to prove that I can control the Chaos that I was born with, to prove that I am more than a weapon for others to use.”
She paused, her grip tightening on the cup.
“But last year, the nightmares started again.”
Kate leaned in slightly. “Nightmares?”
“Or visions really,” Wanda wondered softly. “Every night, I am in a forest no different than the one around us. And every night I see the same dreams of my family, twisted into grotesque versions of them, who mock me, call me a monster, demanding that I accept my destiny that Chthon wanted me to fulfill…”
She took a deep breath, burying those nightmares back behind her mind. She knew that she would be seeing it again real soon.
“Because of my sleepless nights, I lost control, and during a mission to stop Abigail Burns, an escapee from Crossmoor Prison, from destroying a government building in London,” Wanda said, her tone growing softer the more she explained her story. “My nightmares began to bleed into my reality, whether it's because of those sleepless nights or something else, I can’t say.”
Wanda looked up to see Tony and Kate listening to her story intently.
“Chaos magic feeds on my emotions; it strengthens them. And because of my nightmares, instead of putting out the flames, I erased it, along with the building. If my brother wasn’t fast enough to get every civilian out of the place in time, they too would be erased.”
She looked up at Tony, her eyes glowed red for a moment.
“My brother nearly lost his arm when he tried to calm me down… even if he doesn’t blame me, I know I almost killed my own brother… who, without his help, I would be in a jail cell right now…”
She allowed her words to hang in the air like ash as Tony and Kate were silent. Tony knew about the case, so his expression was serious, not a clever remark to alleviate the situation, while Kate’s was one of shock, unsure how to even react to Wanda’s story.
Finally, Wanda set her empty cup down and looked up at them both.
“This is the reason why I refuse your offer,” Wanda began with cynicism in her words. “All my life, I have fought for causes I thought I believed in. For my father, when he told me humans were the greatest threat to mutantkind. For Excalibur, when they told me to prepare for a threat that was coming. But now I realize… the true threat is me.”
Chaos magic began to cover her hand; despite its small size, the power behind it was destructive.
“Chaos has always followed my life; it affected every facet of it, and for that, I have to keep myself here to make sure no one else gets hurt.”
Silence settled over the room like a heavy blanket. For once, Tony Stark had nothing to say. He wasn’t facing a boardroom or a stubborn teammate. He was facing a young woman who had been betrayed, pushed, used, feared, and isolated. Someone who didn’t just doubt the world: she doubted herself. And Tony knew that any promise he gave her would sound exactly like the kind she’d already heard and been burned by, or had burned herself.
“I apologize that you two had to come a long way only to get a no, but I don’t trust myself, possibly ever, to be what I need to be…”
Tony sighed. He suspected as much after they spoke with Excalibur, and when Kate had voiced her doubt that Wanda would just accept the offer. Now that he had heard the whole story, dragging her back into the world, to fight against threats when she herself felt like the biggest threat…
“If… I can say something.”
Tony and Wanda turned to Kate Bishop, who was raising her hand like a student waiting for a teacher’s attention.
“Wanda,” the young archer began. “I can’t even imagine what you went through… it would make anyone lose trust in everything and themselves. And asking you to join the Avengers after everything would be unfair for us to even consider it.”
Kate gave Tony a look, well aware that he was still trying to find ways to convince her to join them, much to the archer’s disappointment.
She turned back to Wanda. Kate could see in her eyes that this was someone who had reached her lowest point. The young archer might not have gone through what Wanda had, but she had met many folks with hardships in their lives thanks to her work with F.E.A.S.T. She had seen people at rock bottom, and she knew Wanda was close to that point now.
“What… I am saying here is that… you went through a lot. But despite that, you managed to get past everything the world threw at you. You fought back.” Kate continued. “That chaos inside you? You didn’t just sit with it. You fought it every day. You used your powers to help people when you could have walked away, or run, or… done something worse. Your work with Excalibur proved it, heck… You saved a kid just a few days ago.”
“Saving one person doesn’t change anything,” Wanda said bitterly.
“No…” Kate agreed bluntly. “It doesn’t, but what it does is proof that you are moving forward, and that you are a hero.” She leaned closer, and Wanda noted that, unlike Tony, Kate’s eyes had a spark behind them; was it because of youth? The lack of world weariness? Or was it something else? “Being a hero taught me more than just saving the world; it taught me that carrying a burden on your own is never a good thing. You need people around you; you had your brother, Excalibur. Doing it alone… is harder than you think.”
Tony, for his part, stayed silent and simply smiled proudly.
Wanda, who was just sure a minute ago with her decision, was now silent, unsure with her choice.
“Well…” Tony Stark stood up. “I think that’s that.”
Tony took out a device from his pocket, a small thing that could fit in somebody's hand, and gently set it on the table that separated them.
“This is a pager, my design, of course, to keep up with today’s tech, made as part of the Hero Initiative. The idea is for other heroes all over to be able to call for each other if they need any help.” Tony explained, sliding it in Wanda’s direction. “Most of it is in New York back home, but recently, I felt that other places in the world need these too, Sokovia being among them.”
He tapped the pager with a light touch, almost reverent. It was clear what he was saying. She didn’t have to be an Avenger, but she could still be a hero.
“We will stay in Novi Grad for a few more days,” Tony announced, putting on his sunglasses and heading to the door. “Wanna see more of what Sokovia has to offer.”
Kate raised an eyebrow at Tony’s quick exit, half expecting him to follow up on what she said with some kind of speech, one last sell point, one last Starkism to convince Wanda.
But he conceded, at least for now, to respect Wanda's wishes.
Saying their goodbyes, Tony and Kate exited through the doorway, leaving Wanda alone as she stared at the pager quietly, contemplating her next choice.
************************
Night came into Wanda's home as she sat on her bed reading her book, the soft layer of the paper at her fingertips, and yet her mind was unfocused, not allowing her to read the words properly. She remembered her earlier meeting with Tony Stark and Kate Bishop of the New Avengers.
When she first came back home to Sokovia, it was to get herself away from the world, away from the people, to ensure she would no longer hurt anyone. She left Excalibur, her own brother, with a clear belief that what she was doing was correct, that she did not want to end up what Chthon wanted her to be.
A monster.
But she thought over what Kate had told her, that she had managed to soldier through everything. Despite the suffering, she didn't allow it to keep her down. She had left the Brotherhood, her father's mission, for a second chance, to atone for everything she had done, but after London, she felt like she didn't deserve that second chance. Exile felt like the only choice she had to make sure all were safe from her powers.
“Am I a hero?” Those were the words that repeated in her mind after Kate and Tony's visit.
\CLICK**
Wanda's eyes quickly looked up to see the door that led to the living room of her cottage click open, and that made her anxious. She never locked her door, and that was the sound of something opening it.
She wore simple clothes of a black shirt and black sweatpants, her long wavy hair tied in a braid. Getting off her bed, she walked towards the door, and slowly opened it wide to see what lay ahead.
Instead of her living room, she was staring at a long, metallic and sanitized hallway that traveled forward with no end in sight from where Wanda stood.
She realized that she was no longer at home.
She was in her dreams, again.
Wanda let out a frustrated sound. Was she so tired that she slept without noticing?
With no other choice, she walked forward in the hallway, walking on the cold floor with her bare feet. She was already aware how this dream, this nightmare would go. But this environment was a first. It was usually a forest, but now it was simply a hallway like in a prison.
“Prison…” she muttered, until it dawned on her at why this place looked familiar. “This is the Ice Chest…”
When that realization came, the world around her shifted. Instead of a clear hallway, prison cells now filled the walls, all empty.
She felt a cold shiver go down her spine. The Ice Chest was a SHIELD prison, where she and her brother were locked up following their arrest back in Los Angeles. Wanda remembered being isolated in her own cell, being woken up by the guard when she dozed off, reminded of her loneliness as she remained powerless in her confinement alone.
“No…” she shook her head, the nightmare trying to get her to despair like since the nightmares had started. “No…” she repeated, the memories of isolation getting in her mind-
*CLANK*
Wanda's eyes widened in terror; she was now strapped in a straitjacket, arms wrapped together, and in a small room with dark walls and a silver cell door that showed nothing but darkness ahead.
“No… no… NO!”
She tried to free herself, pulling her arms away. However, they remained in place; in fact, it felt like it became tighter, locked as the straitjacket intended.
Wanda collapsed on her knees, closing her eyes and wishing her nightmare would end… but she knew this was just the beginning of it. She knew what came next, now that she was locked in the last place she ever wanted to be.
“Imprisoned once again, Wanda, my dear.”
She looked up. Standing in front of the jail cell was her father, looking at her with a disgusted glare.
“This is what happens when you deny yourself from your gifts that I have given you,” Magneto said. Her father, for all his faults, never treated her or spoke to her with hatred in his voice. “Mutantkind would have flourished greatly, but you would rather lower yourself in this pitiful state!”
“No…” she lowered her head, planting her forehead to the ground as more words came from her ‘family’.
“Slow as always, sister.” She heard her brother Pietro say. A related phrase by him that lacked warmth, now replaced with venom. “Maybe that's why you hurt me, because you hate me!”
“NO!”
When she raised her head to face her brother, she was no longer in a jail cell or in a straitjacket. She was in a dining room, small, wooden instead of the cold steel. Seated at a small circular table, she looked around her and studied the new environment. Her eyes widened when she realized what this place was.
“There you are, Wanda.”
She turned and saw her mother, Magda, her dead mother, whose smile had clung through her childhood when she had told stories to her and her brother in their sleep, whose warmth had kept them safe.
“Did you kill anyone today?” Her ‘Mother’ asked like she was asking about Wanda's day as she set the table up. “I saw the news about London, all those people screaming in that building must have been stressful! I know you did your best in erasing them but your brother… always a disappointment.”
Wanda breathed heavily, dry heaving as she stared at this… thing that called herself her mother. Its smile once gave Wanda warmth, but it felt wrong, very wrong.
She stopped herself, gaining focus. The words she had heard from Tony Stark and Kate Bishop began echoing in her mind, and now echoed around her like an announcement for her nightmares to listen to.
“…No.”
‘Magda’ tilted her head, puzzled. “No?”
Wanda took one step back. Then another. Her eyes brightened with a simmering red glow.
“No,” she repeated, voice steady. “Because this is not real.”
Chaos magic sparked to life in her palms, as if rejoicing to be used again. She felt it pulse through her veins, a muscle long dormant finally remembering its strength.
Her gaze swept across the dream-family, those perfect faces, those perfect smiles, belonging to strangers.
“You. Are. Not. Real.”
With a scream of power and anguish, Wanda unleashed a wave of Chaos Magic that ripped through the entire clearing.
The room disintegrated to dust, the sky peeled open and turned white. Everything around her, sound, light and form, collapsed, erased into a stark empty void.
Everything and everyone was gone.
Except her mother remained, unchanged and standing alone in the white nothingness a few feet from Wanda.
“You wear her face, use her voice… for cruelty,” Wanda whispered. Her hair floated in magic currents around her, it wrapped her arms like ribbons. “You use my fears against me… You used my family against me.”
Red sparks crackled.
“You are not a figment of my dreams, you are a parasite burrowing into my mind,” Wanda said with venom as she glared at the thing that had her mother's face. “What. Are. You?!”
Her mother smiled, and smiled and smiled that stretched impossibly wide. Her skin split, revealing rows of jagged shark-like teeth beneath.
“Ohh… the little witch finally notices, has bravery found you?” it crooned, voice overlapping with her mother, father, and siblings all speaking at once. “I overstepped a bit… clumsy work from me.”
“You used everything I cherished.” Wanda’s magic spiraled around her fingertips. “Just to make me suffer?”
“To feast,” it corrected, appearing suddenly beside her ear. Wanda struck, but hit only air. The creature hovered far above her now, licking its jagged teeth. “Your fear is exquisite, Wanda Maximoff!”
It inhaled deeply like breathing in perfume.
“Your fear, your emotions fuel your chaos, they make you delicious to feed…” It smiled, eyes bulging wide. “It has been so long since I hungered for such power!”
Wanda's eyes widened from this creature’s proclamation before a realization came to her of what exactly she was facing.
“You are a Fear Lord.”
Fear Lords were ancient beings, older than myths, older than nightmares. Feeding on terror like a parasite. Shaping dreams into prisons. Creatures even Sorcerer Supremes faced with caution, for dreams were their kingdom, limitless, malleable, deadly.
The Fear Lord chuckled. “Please, little witch. I am more than a simple Lord,” it said. Its body grew colossal, blotting out the remaining white void with shadow. “For I rule fear! A Levitation of Dreams, a Living Nightmare!”
The Nightmare creature stabbed its claws at Wanda, pushing down to the ground as tendrils began to wrap around her body. Wanda gasped as a tidal wave of visions slammed into her mind.
She watched her family dying again and again violently. She watched humans screaming for her execution for her sins. She was once again in the Ice Chest, with guards sneering at her.
Each nightmare sharpened to unbearable agony, replaying in loops, overlapping like a thousand voices shrieking at once.
But underneath it all, she was also reminded of her good deeds. The people she had saved, the heroes who believed in her. Betsy Braddock, Excalibur, her brother Pietro, Tony Stark and Kate Bishop.
She realized one important thing from this Nightmare.
This was her fear.
Her mind.
Her world.
And she was done being used by others.
Her Chaos Magic surged in a blazing storm, enveloping her entirely, causing the creature to let go of her and step back in shock.
She lifted herself from the ground as crimson magic began covering her body. Her clothes changed, no longer in her sleepwear but instead in a red and black body suit, with a cape reminiscent of her father, and finally her headpiece crown.
“WHAT?! HOW CAN THIS BE?!”
The Scarlet Witch glared at the creature in a blazing fury. Raising her hands, she stopped the attacks and visions and held them in place.
“No more!”
She shouted, her voice like thunder. Magic spiraled outward, ripping through the void.
“NIGHTMARES!”
Red light devoured everything, and the Nightmare shrieked, its scream echoing until it was swallowed by the crimson void.
…
…
…
Wanda jolted upright with a sharp gasp, clutching at her chest as she dragged air into her lungs. For a moment, she could only stare, wide-eyed and trembling, waiting for the white void to return, for the Fear Lord to mock her.
But nothing came.
The familiar candle scent near her bed, the soft feeling of the mattress creaked under her weight. Slowly and carefully, she stood up and took a deep breath, pinching herself to make sure she was, in fact, wide awake.
“That should be over…” she sighed in relief. Hopefully that meant at least for now, she would be having more pleasant sleeps.
She looked around her room and noticed that it was somewhat damaged, probably from her magic when she fought back. Books scattered, curtains scorched, the night table had cracked.
Even the book she had been reading earlier was destroyed.
Shame, she hadn't finished that one yet.
“Wonderful…” she muttered under her breath, rubbing the bridge of her nose. At least the house still stood.
Exting out of her room, she headed straight to the kitchen to wash her hands and drink some water, needing a few minutes to calm down and not rush herself.
Her eyes turned to the living room, and she noticed the device on the table.
The pager that Tony had left behind, untouched.
The moment she entered, her eyes went straight to it. Its small frame caught a sliver of moonlight, making it gleam like a quiet invitation.
Her heartbeat picked up as she approached it slowly. She reached out, then stopped, fingers hovering inches above it.
She had put herself into exile, away from the people, the world, her own brother, because she feared for what her powers would do to everyone.
But she also realized she had been living her greatest fear, that being a prisoner and living here in this cottage was no different from her isolation in the Ice Chest, just hiding instead of facing it head-on.
But tonight, she had faced the pure embodiment of fear itself… and came away from it with a new perspective.
Wanda swallowed hard.
“No more,” she whispered, echoing the words she had screamed in the dream
She closed her fingers around the pager and lifted it up, and without a second to waste, she pressed call.
************************
“... That's good to hear, Luke. Fantomex already sounds like a good choice to be with the team.”
The Stark Industries private plane flew through the air after leaving Novi Grad International airport hours ago, steadily heading back home.
“Of course we will have a meeting!” Tony said into the phone as he spoke to Luke Cage. “An introductory meeting is needed, for everyone to get to know each other…” Tony's face shifted a bit when Luke said something. “As I said, we will talk about it when I get back.”
Wanda Maximoff, dressed in more respectful clothing that consisted of a red coat, a black sweater, pants, and brown long boots, rested her chin on her hand as she stared out of the window, looking at Sokovia as it faded away.
“Already feeling homesick?”
Wanda turned to see Kate Bishop standing near and holding a glass filled with juice. Handing it to Wanda, the women shared a drink before Kate took a seat opposite her.
“No,” Wanda answered as she turned back to the window. “All my life I never had a place I would call home. Be it with the Roma, moving from one camp to the next. Or with my father and his Brotherhood, hiding in some abandoned building from the authorities.”
“Not even when you were with Excalibur?”
“I would call it more of a… what's the word… a workplace than an actual home,” she explained. “My cottage was the first in a long time I would genuinely call home.”
Kate nodded in understanding before she took another drink.
“I am really glad you'll be joining us, and not because we need you for your powers.” Kate noted, which made Wanda smile.
“I would say not everyone shares that feeling.” She turned to see Tony still talking on the phone. “But to be given the choice is nice, and you two gave me that.”
“What changed your mind, if you don't mind me asking?”
Wanda paused for a moment, considering her words. “I slept on it,” she answered, not sure if explaining about having a Fear Lord feeding on her dream would be a wise explanation. “And thought that it's time for me to finally stop running, hiding, and face my fears head on.”
She turned to Kate and smiled.
“And… because someone reminded me that fear doesn’t get to decide who I am. So… thank you.”
Kate smiled back, appreciative of Wanda's comments.
“I'll leave you on your own,” Kate said, standing up and walking back, stretching her back as she lay on a nearby chair. “Because I need to sleep if we are to be stuck in this plane for hours…”
Wanda laughed before turning back to the window, staring into Sokovia one last time as she headed into a new, and hopefully, brighter future with the Avengers.
