-Locke-
Of course what happened next abruptly cast my survival rate down.
For starters, she didn't look the least bit worried, I would even go as far as to say, she seemed excited about the prospect of fighting her teammates.
"I won't lie."
Wanda smirked.
"Since the first time I fought you Avengers in Sokovia, I've always wanted to finish what we started."
"You didn't win then, you won't win now."
Iron Man replied, a lot of light pulsing from the middle of his chest and palms.
"But if you want a rematch, put the good Captain down. I bet he's itching to kick your ass as well. "
The tension was palpable. And the smart thing for someone as squishy as yours truly was to retreat. Yup, a strategic retreat.
I steadied my breathing and begun inching back towards the door behind me. A door that was still miraculously standing, despite the havoc the room had sustained in just under an hour.
Wanda swept her gaze across the room, her eyes eventually landing on me.
I instantly froze on the spot, the grip on the book she called the Darkhold(and that carried with it some scary implications) tightening as I held it before me like a shield.
A confused frown took over her face, and I cursed myself for my stupidity.
The damn book was invisible in my hands, so of course she would notice it if my hands appeared to be holding onto something that was not there.
The abrupt change in her expression and focus did not go unnoticed.
"Vision, get the civilian out."
Iron Man ordered and the Android flew toward me.
"HE'S NOT GOING ANYWHERE!"
Wanda screamed, the sound that left her lips decibels higher than it had any right to be.
I wasn't the only one caught off guard, but the book protected me while the Avengers and SHIELD agents staggered in place.
I blinked and behind Vision, Wanda was hot on his heels, her gaze never leaving mine.
A blast of blue energy caught her on the side, throwing her back out of the room.
"Take her down!"
Iron Man cried out through the armor's speakers while flying out.
Before I could see what happened next, Vision grabbed my shoulders and we shot upwards.
"Wait! wait! wait!"
I called out for him to slow down, closing my eyes before the top of my head smacked onto the ceiling above.
I felt a brief sensation of weightlessness, and then we were outside, the sun glaring down on us. He had phased us out.
-Wanda-
The repulser bolt from Iron Man hit like the Hulk, Wanda noticed, groaning as she waved a palm and threw off the debris on her.
A consequence of the strike was that she lost grip of Steve, and also sight of that man, the one with the Darkhold.
"Vision."
Wanda growled in answer, her body lighting up with red energy in response to the SHIELD agents rushing her way.
"Get out of my sight."
Her hair struck out, the strands lengthening to snake like tendrils due to the chaos energy she poured in them.
With one smack, the formation of Agents fell away.
Before she could follow through and kill them, Iron Man exploded into the room, slamming onto her blindside and carrying her through a glass window and out into a wide chamber with a swimming pool.
The armored man spun in the air before letting her go, her body slamming onto the edge of the pool and bouncing on the surface of the water.
She dropped in, her figure sinking to the bottom.
"Friday, give me the target."
Tony instructed the AI on his suit, which tracked Wanda's form and indicated it on the HUD.
Missiles shot from Iron Man's shoulders and into the pool. The explosion that followed threw the water into the air.
"Sir, I'm detecting large amounts of the same exo-energy scanned in the Scarlet Witch. The amount is steadily growing."
The AI warned but before Iron Man could give a response, the water in the air froze in place.
Each individual drop congealed together and formed sharp spikes covered with an outline of red energy.
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"I told you Tony."
Wanda levitated out of the pool, an expression of mockery on her face.
"You can't beat me."
"Friday!"
Iron Man yelled, deploying a blue forcefield just as the water missiles controlled by Wanda shot at him.
The forcefield managed to block them all, but with another wave of her hand, Wanda enclosed him in water, packing as much volume and quantity as she could in the sphere that formed around Iron Man.
A strange word escaped her lips. Similar in intonation as the language she had learned from the Darkhold, and immediately the sphere froze into ice.
She grabbed it with her power and threw it out through another wall, sending the frozen Iron Man crashing into the woods around the perimeter of the compound.
"That's less than you deserve."
Wanda said, looking at the direction she had sent Tony flying.
The twang of a bow sounded out and Wanda turned her head toward the source. Only for an arrow to stop inches to her neck, held at bay by her telekinesis.
Unexpectedly, the arrow point beeped and an explosive impact rippled forth.
Only to leave no lasting damage to the shield she had covering her body.
Wanda made eye contact with Hawkeye, raising her eyebrows in an expression that seemed to say, 'was that it?'
The Archer grit his teeth, uncharacteristically quiet as he notched another arrow.
He fired it, but the Scarlet Witch parried it away while slowly flying his way.
Hawkeye repeated the action, shooting out a variety of special arrows that did absolutely nothing.
Before he noticed it, Wanda was in front of him. And his body was locked in place by her power.
"I can feel your anger and grief at Nat's death."
She stated in a sorrowful tone,
"I understand Clint."
She tapped his head and his eyes turned red, bringing him under her control.
"Go forth and Avenge her."
Wanda whispered to his ear, causing Hawkeye to turn around and start releasing ballistic arrows at his back, in the direction of the SHIELD agents.
Explosions rang out, along with the barely audible, 'Retreat!' from Fury.
In one simple attack, Clint had caused the collapse of a portion of the second floor, crushing several agents under debris.
"Nicely done."
Wanda congratulated and then snapped his neck.
Hawkeye fell like a puppet with it's strings severed.
"Damn you!!"
From the air, Falcon sailed in, one of his hands wrapped in bandages, while the other shot down bullets at the Scarlet Witch.
Wanda used the debris hanging around to cover her front, blocking the bullets. She also fired the rubble at Falcon, who weaved and ducked with expert maneuverability...
Only for two large chunks of the fallen walls to crush him in between them.
Blood dripped to the ground from the space in between the debris.
"Useless surplus Avenger."
Wanda mocked, discarding the rubble with Falcon's remains away.
Inside the console room at the back portion of the building, Fury, a contigent of Shield operatives and Antman stared at the screens in horror.
3 Avengers were dead.
Antman put on the helmet of his suit before grimly looking at Fury.
"If I don't make it...tell my daughter I love her."
Fury nodded with a heavy gaze.
"Don't engage her directly. Hold her back for a minute. Reinforcements are on the way."
Antman nodded, shrinking into a miniature size before riding on his ants and leaving the room.
Outside, Wanda was turning the place upside down while searching for Vision.
She didn't even notice when an ant sized man tried to punch her on the cheek.
The personal shield around her flared up for a split second and instantly turned Antman into ash.
Wanda on the other hand continued plowing through walls and rooms, until all that stood before her was a massive vault like door.
In her magical senses, she detected the small collection of souls inside. With with ease, she ripped out the door and threw it away, revealing Fury and the rest of his SHIELD agents on the other side.
They had weapons trained her way.
"I will only ask once, Nick."
The Scarlet Witch begun.
"Where are you hiding Vision?"
"You killed 4 Avengers. And several of my own men."
Fury replied.
"No matter how powerful and misguided you are, I WILL make you pay for that."
Fury cried out as a metal pipe lying on the ground found itself sticking through his belly.
The agents immediately opened fire, the ground under Wanda filling with bullets that had failed to penetrate her defense.
"Wrong answer, Director."
Wanda tsked at Fury, who was on the ground surrounded by his agents.
Wanda waved a hand and all of them were lifted into the air, their weapons leaving their hands and flying her way.
She arranged them above her and aimed the barrels at the agents.
"Last chance Nick. Where's-"
The ceiling above them collapsed as Iron Man came crashing down.
"Sorry to drop in and ruin the fun."
His repulsers lit up, producing another blast of light that collided onto Wanda.
But unlike last time, the Scarlet Witch had packed more power into her defensive shield, so the blast had little effect except for pushing her slightly back.
"That won't work again Tony."
Wanda said, spreading out her hands and overpowering the beam with her own before forcefully dispersing the energy outward.
The surroundings were destroyed even further. In the commotion, SHIELD wisely evacuated Fury and the injured agents.
"Friday?"
Within the Armor, Tony called to his AI expectantly.
"Analysis of exo-energy 60% complete, sir."
The AI answered.
"That will have to be enough. Do it. Activate the grav-field."
Tony indtructed, shifting his focus onto Wanda.
"You were right. I can't beat you."
Iron Man admitted dropping his hands and powering down.
"But I don't have to beat you. Immobilizing you is enough."
The whole floor of the building lit up with a blue hum and Wanda inexplicably found herself pulled to the ground, her personal shield warping as she fell to her knees.
"W-what is happening? What is this? What did you do?!"
She angrily demanded, finding that controlling her power felt like pushing a heavy boulder up a hill.
"Something I originally cooked up for Thor and the Hulk, you know how those two get."
He shrugged.
"A gravity field under the entire compound specifically created to target their energy signatures and subdue them if they ever got too...rowdy. I merely had Friday calibrate the effect to match you by scanning your powers."
The Armor's metal plates unfolded from the feet up to the helmet as it opened up, allowing Tony to step out, a blank expression on his face as he stared down Wanda.
"You were the last person I thought I would use it on. What happened to you Wanda? "
Wanda clenched her jaw, her anger mounting at the look on Tony's eyes.
"Don't you dare PITY ME!"
She yelled, carelessly exuding large amounts of scalding red energy that ate at the floor.
"Sir, she's outputting 10000% more energy as previously recorded. I advice getting back in the Mark XLIII."
The AI, Friday, informed him through his ear piece.
But it was too late, as with another loud cry, Wanda exploded.
-Locke Mastif-
Not even a 100 feet above the Avenger's building, Ultron stopped, my shoulders still held in his grip.
I didn't dare to look down, afraid that my fear of heights would leer it's ugly head.
I turned to the Android.
"Not that I'm not thankful for the save, but could you maybe take us down?"
For a second, I thought he wouldn't answer.
"I have a question. Wanda seemed awfully interested in you, why?"
Vision asked.
"I also couldn't help but notice that you have something in your hands. Yet, my optics cannot capture it's image."
I tightened ny hold on the Darkhold. That was a question I wasn't sure how to answer.
Fortunately, the building below us exploding and being consumed by waves of red energy, proved to be a good distraction.
But as Vision and I turned to stare at it, Wanda appeared out of nowhere right behind him.
And before I could so much as give a warning, she had placed her hands on the sides of Vision's head, leaked her power into him, and the gem on his head changed from yellow to a bloody red.
That was the Mind Stone.
Oh no. Oh my friggin god...