My opponents were arrayed around me in a loose semicircle. Clint and Bucky had positioned themselves on elevated platforms on opposite sides of the room, each behind sturdy barriers that offered good cover. Steve stood on the ground below Bucky, shield in one hand, pistol in the other. He glanced up at his friend, and Bucky inclined his head in a barely-perceptible nod. If I knew Steve, he was going to do his best to win this so he could lecture me about the importance of keeping up with training afterwards. Peter crouched atop one of the barricades closest to Shuri. The Wakandan princess glowered at me from behind her panther-faced sonic blasters, her braided hair tied back—I was a little surprised when she’d grabbed the blasters but, then again, I wasn’t sure exactly how much control she had over her transformation.

One-on-one, any of them would be a breeze, but with all five coming at me at once I’d be in trouble if I couldn’t thin their numbers. I was still going to be fighting with a bit of a handicap, too—Shuri aside, they were durable, but not that durable, so I’d need to watch how hard I was hitting. And it wasn’t like I was going to break out the mind control or use the Infinity Stone hanging around my neck. I hadn’t put my sling ring on either, not that I was that good at using it in the heat of combat, anyway.

As I looked around at the heroes arrayed against me, I let an easy, confident smile spread across my face. Here I was, just an unarmed girl in a dress, strangely out of place amidst all the tactical suits, vibranium arms, and high-tech weaponry.

An electronic tone sounded above us—beep. I spread my arms again, summoning thick strands of chaos magic that flowed and coiled around my fingers. Beep. A pulse of energy coursed through me, crimson wisps boiling off my body and earthing themselves into the ground. My eyes glowed with power.

Beep.

I flicked my hands, weaving a wide shield of telekinetic energy around me that slammed into place just in time to block a burst of rifle fire from Bucky. Blue bolts sizzled against the barrier and pinged off the floor near my feet. Shuri fired her weapons at the same time, the loud concussive blasts thundering across the side of the shield and rattling the nearby steel barriers. She darted in a zigzag across the open ground between us, peppering me with low-powered shots, one after another, to test my defence’s limits.

Clint fired from his perch at the same moment that Peter lunged forward, streams of webbing from his wrists lancing toward me. I partially dropped my shield and sprang back, using a steel barrier for cover from Bucky’s shots while reinforcing the arc of energy protecting me from Shuri. My hand swept forward, sending a wide wave of red magic slashing through the air in front of me that ripped Peter’s webbing to shreds and batted aside a pair of Clint’s arrows. I ducked my head, catching a whiff of ozone in the air as I narrowly dodged a blue bolt—Steve had moved sideways instead of coming directly at me and was taking a couple of potshots as he circled around, looking for an opportunity to close.

It was too much to keep up with for long. I needed to hit back. Now. I lobbed a quick pair of chaos bolts toward Clint and he narrowly ducked out of the way, his feet going out from under him as the whole platform rocked to one side from the impact. He fell, hitting the ground hard.

Shuri was still advancing on me, firing repeatedly. As my shield started to buckle under her assault, I drew on the power inside me, flinging both arms out in a wordless cry. A crimson shockwave burst out in every direction, knocking almost everyone off their feet and ending Shuri’s barrage.

While everyone else was swept away, Peter managed to twist in midair, converting his tumble into a vault off a steel barrier with a shouted “Woah!”. He fired another long strand of webbing at my legs as he landed on the side of the platform Clint had been attacking from. Instead of deflecting it, I let the web hit me in the calf. “Hope you’re hungry for some sushi,” he said, a grin in his voice as he went to yank me off-balance, but I’d already seized his webbing with a swirl of crimson magic around my hand. The kid was strong, but my telekinesis was stronger.

“Get over here!” I yelled in my best Scorpion voice. Peter yelped in surprise as I pulled him free of his perch, yanking him through the air toward me. I released the web and redirected the energy in my hand, blasting him full in the chest with a point-blank bolt of chaos magic that bounced him back away from me. He went tumbling across the ground and into Shuri, who’d only just managed to get her feet back under her. They went down together in a tangled heap.

While I dealt with Peter, Bucky had repositioned. The moment he had me back in his sights, I lashed out with a telekinetic tendril, yanking the barrel aside. His shots went wide, but he gripped the rifle hard with his vibranium arm, forcing me to give an extra telekinetic shove to finally fling it from his grasp.

Steve chose that moment to close the distance. He’d slipped out of my line of sight, but the scrape of his boots warned me at the last second. Without turning, I flung a wave of force behind me, sending him skidding, but he dug in his heels and levelled his pistol. An instant later, a lance of burning electrical pain slammed into my shoulder. “Fuck!” I spun to fling a bolt of energy in his direction, but he was already hurling his shield at me.

I twisted to the side, but the vibranium disc still grazed my arm before it rebounded off the barrier behind me. It shot past again, heading right for his waiting hand, but I lashed out with a flicker of chaos magic that sent it careening off-course instead. I lunged forward at him. His pistol was levelled at my chest and he went to fire again, but wisps of red energy flickered around the trigger, forcing him to abandon it. He swung a fist, but I’d secured a firm telekinetic grip on his gun and flung it up into his face. He reeled in surprise, unable to avoid my follow-up blast. Chaos magic surged from my palm, slamming into his chest hard enough to hurl him across the room.

Almost without thinking, my hand came up and snatched an arrow out of the air, bare inches away from hitting me. Electrical energy crackled across my fingers and I gasped, the muscles in my arm seizing up. I managed to drop it, recoiling from the sparking projectile and looking up just in time to see Clint loosing another. He was perched high above me, on a steel crossbeam he must have clambered up to while I was otherwise distracted. I slapped the second arrow out of the air with a snarl and ducked behind the raised platform nearest to me, out of his line of sight.

Peter and Shuri had recovered and came at me together, her sonic blasts forcing me to shield myself so that Peter had an opportunity to close. I blasted Shuri with a wave of chaos magic, sending her tumbling as Peter swung in on a web, aiming a swift kick at my shoulder. I twisted, wincing as I took the kick on the flat of my arm—that was definitely going to bruise. He flipped over me, too close for me to do anything to avoid the twin globs of webbing that slammed into my wrists, binding both of my hands together in a bundle of sticky filaments. “Okay, got you for real this time!”

I tried to kick him as he landed lightly on the ground next to me, but he sprang backwards, getting clear for a moment before lunging back in. At the same time, Bucky charged in from my left, looking to press the advantage. I gritted my teeth and sent a pulse of chaos magic down my arms. The webbing around my hands exploded outwards in a burst of concussive force as both of them swung at me, simultaneously freeing me and sending them reeling back. I flung out a hand, wisps of chaos magic wrenching a ten-foot steel barricade through the air as though it didn’t weigh anything at all. Bucky’s eyes widened and he braced himself behind his vibranium arm an instant before I swatted him away like a tennis ball, metal-on-metal making an extremely satisfying ‘bong’ noise.

“In nomine patris et filli et spiritus sancti,” I growled between gritted teeth, swinging the barrier around in a wide arc to try to swipe Peter out of the air as well.

Peter landed on it, poking his masked head over the edge to look at me. “Oh, for me? You shouldn’t have,” he quipped, clearly having a ball. I responded by thrusting the barrier away from me as hard as I could with a burst of telekinetic force. The kid was pinned against it by the momentum of the blast, yelling in sudden surprise as he was sent flying across the warehouse. The edge of the barrier caught a steel crossbeam, causing it to flip and bounce Peter against the nearby wall. I felt a small spike of concern; had I hit him too hard? He started to climb back to his feet, then sat down heavily on the concrete—I couldn’t see his face under the mask, but he looked a little dazed.

I had a brief moment to collect myself, breathing heavily, as everyone paused. Steve had been circling around again with his shield for another run at me, but he broke off to check on Peter. I couldn’t hear his words, but there were some nods and Steve patted the kid on the shoulder. Good. It looked like he was fine, just done for now. Bucky had staggered back to his feet, as well, wincing as he moved off to the side to stay out of the way for the rest of the fight.

Two down, three to go.

Shuri glanced at Steve, some silent communication passing between the two of them, then she levelled her sonic blasters at me and broke into a jog. From above, Clint loosed another arrow at me. Shaking my head, I conjured another telekinetic shield between us, easily intercepting the projectile and ready to catch any further attacks. The arrow, however, exploded into a plume of white smoke as it impacted my shield, immediately obscuring my view of everyone else. I heard running footsteps, but couldn’t immediately tell what direction they were coming from. My heart was pounding in my chest. Were they flanking me?

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The thrum of Wakandan sonic blasters drew my attention, giving me the chance to refocus my shield just as a twin pulses of energy tore through the smoke. I knew where Shuri was, now, but she didn’t let up, sending volley after volley of sonic force into my shield in an attempt to overwhelm it with brute force.

While she distracted me, Steve rushed in from the other side. He threw his shield low, aiming to knock my legs from under me. I barely managed to sidestep, stumbling as the vibranium edge still clipped my shin and sent a spike of pain through my leg. I hissed, lashing out with a swirl of scarlet energy that forced him to retreat back into the smoke. Overhead, Clint’s arrows rained down. One glanced off my barrier; another managed to go over it, nearly grazing my temple. I split my focus, reinforcing the shield protecting me from Shuri while extending it a bit further over me. They’d pushed me into being purely defensive, which I knew was a mistake on my part. I’d managed to thin the field, but I needed to close the deal before I slipped up.

Energy swirled around my forearms for an instant before I thrust it out in a counterattack. The focused shockwave of chaos magic thundered across the space, whipping away the smoke, taking Clint’s next arrow mid-flight, and overwhelming Shuri’s latest blast. I didn’t hesitate, lunging toward her in its wake. The Wakandan princess skittered quickly one side, dodging out of the way of the blast, but she wasn’t quite quick enough to bring her blasters back up before I grabbed her bodily with telekinetic power.

Yanking her into the air, I sent her back—gently but firmly—against a wall and tied off the magic, arms pinned to her sides. She snarled wordlessly in frustration and there was a moment where I thought she might transform, feeling her strain against the energy holding her. After a second, however, she stopped struggling and simply glowered at me impotently. Absently, I lashed another arrow out of the air.

There was movement in the corner of my eye and I spun to see Steve break from cover. His shield was back on his arm and he dove in with a low tackle, a last-ditch effort to take my legs out from under me. I sidestepped, lashing downward with telekinetic energy that slammed him to the floor, pinning him in place. He twisted, straining against the magic for a moment, then went to throw his shield at me. It was an awkward angle, though, and I easily batted it away with a small burst of magic.

Turning from him, I looked up through the clearing smoke, calling flickering red energy to my hands as I stared down Clint. Without any other opponents to keep me distracted, his high perch was a liability, leaving him completely exposed, with almost no room to manoeuvre if I attacked him directly. The archer paused mid-draw, hesitating a moment as he considered his position. After a moment he un-nocked the arrow, returned it to his quiver, then held up his bow in a gesture of surrender. He raised his voice. “Call it.”

Steve slapped the ground twice, tapping out. “Yeah, I think we’re done,” he said, his voice a little strained.

I lifted my hands into the air to receive the accolades of an invisible crowd and did my best impression of the Final Fantasy victory theme. “Da-da-da-da, da da da da-da!”

Grinning to myself, I dispelled the magic pinning Steve then gently lowered Shuri to the ground before releasing her as well. Offering Steve my hand, which he gladly took, I helped him back to his feet. Clint started to climb back down from his perch. My heart was pounding in my chest and I was covered in aches and pains—including what were almost certainly a few new bruises—but I was still standing.

Taking a shaky breath, I tried to sound smug. “Eh, not too bad,” I said, then ruined the effect by stumbling a little bit as Steve and I moved toward Peter and Bucky. “I’ll give you all a seven out of ten. Room for improvement. You all right, Peter?”

The two of them were sitting side-by-side on a low bench against the back wall of the warehouse. Peter had pulled off his mask while the spar finished, gingerly touching a split lip. But his eyes lit up as we approached. “Yeah!” he exclaimed, grinning. “That was so cool—you almost squashed me like a bug!”

Bucky nodded at me, a wry smile curling at the edge of his mouth—I’d been expecting at least a hint of disappointment, but there was none. I’d talked a big game and managed to back it up.

“Sorry about that,” I apologised to Peter. “You made a real pain of yourself whenever I got distracted by the others. Had to smack you out of the fight, otherwise I might have lost.”

He nodded eagerly. “I can’t wait to review the footage. That was epic.”

It was standard for Steve to record every training session and go over them play-by-play, pointing out mistakes and opportunities for improvement. If I tried to pull the same stunt again after they’d had time to review what had gone wrong, talking through strategies to counter me, I’d need to switch things up dramatically or I’d probably be shit out of luck.

“It was good,” Steve confirmed. “A little bit higher intensity than I’d have liked Peter in just yet, but”—he glanced at the teen, who was still grinning happily—“it’s important to have a bit of fun with these things, every so often. Thanks for the spar, Wanda.”

“Yeah,” Clint said, joining us, a lopsided smile on his face. “Thanks for not beating the crap out of me like you did everyone else. As a mere mortal, I appreciate the consideration.”

Peter looked like he was about to say something else, then suddenly straightened and stood up, quickly stepping past me. I turned to see him intercept Shuri, who’d pulled off her sonic blasters and was stalking angrily toward the exit. “Shuri! The suit is great. I wanted to thank you again for all your help with it.”

The Wakanda princess deflated a little, though her shoulders were still visibly tense. “You’re welcome, Peter Parker.”

“After testing everything out, there are some adjustments I was thinking of making. Mr Stark said he wouldn’t be around for the rest of the weekend, though, so I won’t be able to access the lab, um, unless you had the time to go over it with me?” Peter asked, sounding hopeful.

Shuri gave him a tight smile and nodded. “I should have time tomorrow. Come by in the morning.” With that, she shot the rest of us one last look before turning and continuing out of the building.

“Well, I think—after that—we’re about done for the afternoon. Let’s hit the showers,” Steve said, clapping his hands together. There were some murmurs of agreement—everyone was sore, sweaty and, in some cases, a little bloody—and everyone started to follow after Shuri, heading toward the exit.

Peter hesitated. “Uh, I’ll be right there,” he said to Steve, then hurried back over toward me, his hands fidgeting with his mask. “Hey… Wanda?” he said quietly.

“What’s up?”

“Remember when you said I could talk to you about… stuff? If I needed to?” He fumbled his way through his words, obviously nervous.

I straightened a little, shooting him a reassuring smile. “Oh! Sure. Yeah, of course. What’s up?”

“It’s just, uh, you and Pietro visited Liz’s house?” It was a statement, but his inflection turned it into a question. After a moment he added, “Liz Allen,” as if I might not remember who she was.

Oh, right. Liz had taken a selfie with my brother and me when we’d gone to see her dad. If I had to guess, she would have posted it on Instagram or whatever app was popular these days. It wasn’t particularly surprising that Peter knew, at least, but I really wasn’t sure where he was going with this.

“We did,” I confirmed cautiously. “There was something from one of my visions that we needed to address. It’s all sorted now, though. Nothing you need to worry about.” I wasn’t planning on telling Peter that Liz’s dad had been a villain.

“Oh. Good.” He hesitated, his tone distracted. Okay, so he wasn’t actually interested in what we’d been there for? Why bring it up, then? “Did you, uh… did you talk to her much?” Peter rubbed at the back of his neck with a hand, avoiding my gaze.

“Talk to her? About what?”

“I don’t know, I just…” He sighed and trailed off, shifting uncomfortably on the spot, as if he hadn’t thought whatever he was going to ask all the way through and wasn’t sure how to word it.

It took me a moment, but I suddenly understood what was happening. My eyes widened. “Oh. Oh. You like Liz, right?”

Peter’s eyes snapped back to me, his expression one of utter panic for a brief moment. “Uh, maybe, kind of?” he hedged, wincing a little at his own words.

“Are you asking me for girl advice?” I asked, a hint of excitement in my tone.

“I don’t have a lot of female friends,” Peter said, a little defensively, some colour rising in his cheeks. “I just thought maybe you might have gotten some idea of what she was like, or what she was into, or… I don’t even know. Ugh, just forget it, sorry.”

He made to move away but I grabbed his arm. “No! No, no, no, it’s okay. I was just surprised you were asking me about that sort of thing, is all.” I let go and he looked at me awkwardly, a trace of hopefulness in his expression. I sighed. “If I’m being honest, Peter, I’m probably the worst person to come to for this sort of thing. You might want to ask Natasha? She’s the expert on social stuff. I mostly just flail around, say things that are vaguely inappropriate, and hope that people tolerate my weirdness.”

Peter gave a half-shrug, looking down at the mask in his hands. “I just thought because you met her, you might have… picked up on something. About what she likes? Or something? I don’t know.”

I took a deep breath and tried to remember literally anything about Liz that Peter might not already know. After a moment, I shook my head. “Liz came down, asked for a selfie, we did it, she left again. We barely spoke.”

“Oh.”

He sounded disappointed. Surely, it wouldn’t hurt to at least throw him a bone? “But… okay. You know how I’ve had visions of the future?”

Peter’s eyes widened and he nodded, leaning in a little bit, suddenly eager. He hadn’t been fully read in, but given what had happened, I’d felt like I’d owed him a real explanation for why I’d sought him out in the first place. He’d gotten the barest Cliffs Notes, but I’d begged off on giving any real detail, telling him that I had to be careful with what I shared.

“I saw you and Liz go to homecoming together. You asked her, she said yes, and from what I remember, she seemed really into you.”

His eyes widened further. “Really?”

“The best advice I think I can give you—and I know this sounds like dumb, lame advice—is just be yourself. Keep doing what you’re doing, because it works. You are perfectly capable of getting the girl. I’ve seen it happen.”

Peter’s cheeks flushed, his jaw working silently for a moment. “Okay,” he said with a nod, looking determined.

“Then again…” He immediately looked worried again as I trailed off, a small smile on my face. “I mean, I did see the way you were looking at Shuri, a second ago,” I teased.

He went bright red, from his collar to the tips of his ears. “I—that’s not… I don’t… I…”

“It’s okay, Peter. You don’t need to be embarrassed. I get it. She’s a little young for me—but she’s brilliant, gorgeous, and, I mean, when she Hulks out—”

“It’s not—!” he hurriedly interrupted me, then sighed and licked his lips nervously, fussing with the mask in his hands. “Shuri’s… so great, but she’s three years older than me, and, and, a princess, and it just would never… like, realistically, I mean, she would never…”

I held up my hands, chuckling. “I’m only teasing you.”

He took a deep breath, huffing it out and shaking his head. “Yeah. I know.” He looked away for a moment, lost in thought, then glanced back at me. “How did you and Ms Romanov…? I mean, obviously, you met through Avengers stuff, but how did you…?”

I grinned. “Do you know what a ‘honey trap’ is?”