𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒆 ━━━ ❪...

WARNING: very mild
cursing

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FOUR
𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦
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"I'M SORRY THAT was...odd. Thank you," The Vision turned to Thor, nodding his head at him in appreciation.

Steve Rogers looked in shock, still angry, "Thor? You helped create this?"

"I've had a vision, a whirlpool that sucks in all hope of life and at its centre," The God of Thunder directed his finger at the glowing stone in Vision's head, "Is that."

"What, the gem?" Bruce asked.

"It's the Mind Stone. It's one of the six Infinity Stones, the greatest power in the universe, unparalleled in its destructive capabilities," Thor explained.

Steve rejoined to argue again, "Then why would you bring it to-"

"Because Stark is right."

"Oh, it's definitely the end times," Bruce said, in disbelief that Thor was agreeing with him.

"The Avengers cannot defeat what's coming."

"Not alone," Vision spoke up again.

"Why does your "vision" sound like Jarvis?" Steve asked.

"We...we reconfigured Jarvis's matrix to create something new," Tony responded.

"I think I've had my fill of new," Steve commented.

Vision turned his head, "You think I'm evil?"

"You're not?"

Wanda decided to pitch in, "I looked in your head and saw annihilation."

"Look again," Vision dared.

"Yeah," Clint walked up to the group, "Her seal of approval means jack to me."

Thor added, "Her powers, his too. They came from the Mind Stone and they are nothing compared to what it can unleash. But with it on our side..."

"Is it?" Steve turned to face Vision again, "Are you? On our side?"

"I don't think it's that simple," Vision said.

"Well, it better get real simple real soon," Clint snapped.

"I am on the side of life...evil isn't."

Bruce warned, "If we're wrong about you. If you are a monster..."

"What will you do?" Vision asked, innocently before looking around at their faces - they were frightened of him, "I understand what you are, you are a team. Maybe I am a monster..."

Pietro looked at Wanda, he gave her a look which told her all she needed to know - to escape while she still could.

The Vision continued talking, "I don't think I'd know if I were one. I'm not what you are and I'm not what you intended so there may be no way to make you trust me but we're a team now and... You need to fight and not one of you can do it without the others. And I'm here to help."

Vision looked across at Thor's hammer and handed it to him, "We need to go."

"Right," Thor patted Stark on the shoulder, "Well done."

"Wait. Why do we need to go?" Bruce wondered.

"Because Miss Maximoff has escaped," Vision answered.

"Damn it," Steve uttered.

"That's not very good language, Rogers," Tony said.

"Seriously? Now?" Steve shook his head before picking up his shield, "Three minutes. Get what you need. We know she's in the area now, she can't have gone far."

════▣◎▣════

WANDA HADN'T GOTTEN far at all, she was still in the area, she had only run to the next street past the Avengers Tower.

She had known that they would be coming to capture her and take her to some kind of prison where her only fate would be staring into the gaps between the metal, rusty bars all day for endless days.

It didn't take long before she had given up on trying to move fast, Wanda had been running for so long she was getting tired.

She didn't know where she was or what she was going to do and was contemplating giving up...

She sat on the sidewalk, against the brick wall of a random building. The floor was cold and grainy, she felt the bottom of her dress soak from the still wet mud.

She hugged her knees and dropped her head, she was about to consider falling asleep before she saw golden wisps appear in front of her, they ran in a circle and increased slowly until they were a big glowing wheel of orange fireworks.

She looked around her and no one had noticed the obvious magic going on in front of her, she stood up and was about to start running before the portal caught up with her, swallowing her inside.

Wanda fell to the floor with a grunt, although it wasn't the chilling concrete of bustling New York City anymore.

It didn't take long for the Scarlet Witch to realise she was somewhere else as she looked down as the floor below her and noticed it was shiny and polished decorative marble.

She stood up quickly, looking around her for any signs to help her see where she was. There were tall spires and multi-windowed buildings, she was still in New York...just not anywhere near where she was before.

She was about to walk around to explore before she heard a light whoosh, her head snapped around and her eyes opened in shock as she saw the figure of a man...

His face was in the shadows, obstructing her view of his face but she could see the attire he was wearing was not particularly normal.

He had a flowing cape which cascaded around him, twirling in all directions as he levitated down the from the floor above.

It was certainly...strange but it didn't entirely bother her compared to seeing Vision's birth just mere minutes ago.

"Who are...you," Wanda almost lost her words as the stranger came into view, allowing her to see the features of his face.

He had dark brown hair, which was slicked back on his head - there were two stylised strands of white hair on either side of his hair too which she assumed was evidence for his age...or a decision to make himself look wiser.

He had clear blue eyes, that were looking directly into hers and lastly, the other distinguishing facial feature he had was his goatee.

It was the man from that she saw inside the Cradle, her mind flashed back to all the images of the death of destruction that centred around him.

He knew who she was too, he had gone out of his way to find her. He had heard of her, he couldn't count the number of times he had seen her on the news.

To him, she was a young woman with a somewhat foggy but hopeful future ahead of her. He knew that right now what she needed was help.

"My name is Doctor Stephen Strange and I have some questions for you," Stephen introduced himself.

"Questions about what?" Wanda asked, "Has someone sent you to bring me in?"

"I keep a watchlist of beings that may be a threat to this world and usually they are from other realms, but you have oddly enough...become one of those beings," Stephen walked past her, towards a spellbook which he opened, scanning through the pages, "We need to discuss your future."

"I have no future," Wanda tucked her hands into her sleeves, "I've caused enough problems."

"Take a seat," He commanded, gesturing to the seats close by.

Wanda sighed, she had no other option. She had nowhere else to go, anyway.

She walked over to the seat opposite the mysterious doctor and sat down, legs crossed. She waited for him to speak but he just sat there, staring at her as if he was waiting for the same.

Stephen found it quite amusing how nervous she was, he wasn't trying to banish her, "Tea?"

Wanda's eyebrows creased and a slight smirk came upon her lips, it was quite obvious she was confused, "No...thank you?"

"Don't like tea?"

"Coffee is more my type."

"Too much caffeine isn't good for you."

"Hmm, am I getting my own doctor now?"

"Maybe," Stephen looked her up and down, "It depends."

Wanda didn't even blink before a mug coffee was placed in her hands, she wasn't even in the mood for actually drinking it, so she placed it down on the table beside her.

"So..." Strange continued talking, "What happened?"

Wanda stared into the coffee on the table, she thought now would be the best time to take a sip.

"It must be bad," Stephen pointed out.

Wanda chuckled, "That's one word for it, here we go. It started in Sokovia, of course. I was a normal girl apart from the fact that I was an orphan and the only person I had by my side was my brother Pietro."

"Ah, the speedster."

"Yes, that's the one. We volunteered to do Strucker's experiments together. It wasn't what we thought it would be, in fact, it was terrible. However, somehow we survived. We were so glad, we could finally help our crumbling society become something great again, hopefully. But..."

"Then?"

"Then the concept of revenge on Tony Stark was too good of an idea to forget about and that was all I could think about. And, soon later Strucker died in action with the Avengers and I was even worse."

"You were angry, motivated. That's understandable."

"Doesn't excuse what happened," Wanda said, looking back into her coffee cup.

"Tell me."

"I...Natasha Romanoff died because of me. I feel..." Wanda trailed off again, "I'm still me, I think but that's not what everyone else sees."

Doctor Strange knew what she meant, he hadn't shared the exact same life experience, who could? But he understood where she was coming from.

"I was an asshole," Wanda looked up, he had caught her attention, "I was a doctor...still am a doctor, I guess. But I had an accident that changed my career and my life. For the better."

"What are you trying to say?"

"That, it gets worse. But when it does get worse it gets a whole lot better, with effort and time."

"You think that I can change?"

"I don't know, no one ever really changes, do they?" Stephen smiled, "They evolve."

"Wow," Wanda said, her face was completely blank, the 온라인카지노게임 had clearly got to her.

"That was quite depressing," Stephen said, "And people used to think I was funny."

Wanda laughed, the smile on her face was bright and beautiful - he caught himself staring at it longer than he was supposed to.

Wanda even surprised herself when she burst into laughter, it had been a while since she had.

Stephen rose from his chair, "Let me help you."