Europe
Edinburgh
The evening was calm. The chilled air made Wanda sleepy when she walked with Vision in the streets of Edinburg. The streetlights and shops lit the walkways with a heavenly illumination. It was reminding Wanda of a passage she might have read in a book. Vision seems to be holding her hand tighter than usual, perhaps preparing for anything that might suddenly Disturbed or evening but Wanda knew that they were far from harm they had been for the past 2 years. "I've never had frog legs before." He finally spoke to break the silence. Wanda shuttered at the disgusting food item that her partner had ordered at the restaurant. More and more she was thankful for the grouse she had ordered.
"Next time we'll just go out for pizza." Wanda supported Visions desire to try all types of different foods, even if some of them were more questionable than others. The pair wasn't far from their favorite sweet shop where they often liked to stop for a slice of summer fruit cake. Which Wanda accidentally got Vision hooked on. Laying low in Europe had been the plan for the past two years, there was little to no crime related problems here, they could just live their lives together.
"You're thinking about them, again aren't you?"
The truth was that thoughts of her their friends had been swarming Wanda's thoughts much more than usual. She had only seen Natasha and Paige two months ago, the thought of this much separation was at times unbearable to deal with. But they all knew that it was for their safety after all the Accords were still in effect. "Is that wrong?" She didn't know why her tone sounded harsh. "I just miss them."
"Wanda-"
"I'm fine, over it." She wasn't, but there was no use in arguing. "I have you now and that's more than enough." Scarlett noticed how her partner had been right about his algorithm concerning the idea that conflict led to catastrophe. So, both had not revealed their true natures to anyone. For the most part, it was nice, no one was demanding or expecting anything from the pair, they could just enjoy the quiet and each other.
"You are the most precious thing to me Miss Maximoff." Vision said as he cupped her small face in his hands.
Wanda giggled at how cold the skin felt. "I love how you-" She was cut off by the loud screams of a few nearby bystanders who seemed to be looking at something in the sky. Wanda's eyes followed their gaze to the stars above. At first what she saw wasn't able to be spotted, until she squinted her eyes to see a massive, circular structure hovering thousands of feet above the city. The ring glowed a faint orange shade as it only continued to spin and float. The single Maximoff twin didn't hesitate to run over to help the pedestrians to get off the streets.
"Wanda! "Vision called after her, but she didn't reply. Her eyes flared red when she saw a young woman cradling her children in her arms only a few feet from where the explosion had taken place. The wind was violently knocked out of her lungs when a massive figure knocked her on her back on the hard pavement. The figure was huge compared to the small witch, Wanda only laid there in terror. "Wanda!" Vision called again this time racing to her aid. Wanda's mind was racing as she used her power to propel herself back up. Her attacker was indeed tall, with blue skin and a trident styled weapon. The woman moved much like a predator, fast and agile. But Wanda had been trained by the best of the best and knew how to put that training to good use. Using her magic to block the tridents advances as best she could, moving her feet quickly, making sure she didn't stay planted in one place for very long. It was made beyond obvious that the woman was not human, but why was she attacking like this and what did she want? The attacker jumped back when Vision dispersed an energy blast from his forehead, shedding his human skin to reveal his red, robotic form again. The alien snarled at Vision viscously, her eyes pierced on him and a smile showed between her sharpened teeth. Vision dodged her advances, grabbing her weapon and tossing her into a nearby newsstand. She snarled, once again looking like a dangerous animal.
"Vis." Wanda protested when her partner flew her up to nearby builds rooftop.
"Stay here." He ordered. "I'll deal with this." His mind scrambled when he was tackled back into the street, not by their female assailant but by a male. His skin was a pale white almost like a corpse. His eyes were snakelike and the armor he wore resembled a sharped knife.
"Corvus!" The female hooked her vice-like grip around Visions throat. "He has it." The woman hissed at the man. "Rip it out of him!" Wanda maneuvered herself back down to the streets, not willing to stay out of the fight. Using her power to throw the female up into a nearby tree had temporarily slowed her down. Wanda lost track of Vision when the male brute tossed him across town.
"Deal with the child, Proxima! I'll retrieve what we came for."
Proxima blocked Wanda from assisting Vision, her spear angled at the throat of the young Avenger. "We're not done little one."
Corvus quickly made his way to the warehouse to finish his adjective. Vision landed so hard he was sure that he had cracked or dented some part of him. The android's eyes darted back and forth, taking in his new surroundings. His attacker had thrown him into a factory building. His mind raced back to Wanda who was all alone. "Don't fight the inevitable." Corvus cackled when he pinned Vision down, the blade of his staff pointed toward the hero's head. There's was no time to react. The warehouse was then filled with Visions painfilled screams when Corvus jammed the tip of his spear into the gemstone secured in the forehead of his target. "Such a shame." Corvus murmured. "You appeared so unique."
"They appear to all be this way." Proxima snickered, dragging Wanda behind her as she met up with her ally. "Destroy him, my love." Wanda could barely move, she had never felt so weak. Her that clenched when she felt tears in her eyes all she could do was watch.
"Hey." The alien pair looked up sharply when they heard a loud greeting come from above them. Sam Wilson was sitting up in the rafters of the building, Red Wing hovering next to him. "This isn't exactly my neighborhood, but that doesn't mean that I like you messing it up."
Corvus turned to his wife. "Kill him." Sam fell back from the rafters to avoid Proxima's spear. Deploying his wings, he fired on the targets to separate them from Vision. Corvus collided with Sam who flew past him to grab Wanda and fly her away from the conflict. Proxima roared in frustration, turning to see another figure, hiding in the shadows. Wanda couldn't believe that she saw Steve emerge from the darkness and step into the light. The soldier caught the trident with ease when it was hurled at him only moments later. Not second guessing anything the soldier threw the trident over its warrior owner before he lunged at her.
"You always get me nice things." Natasha smiled up at Cap, thanking him for the trident before running toward the female attacker.
"Only the best for you." Cap replied as he blocked Corvus. The spy dropped to her knees and slid past Corvus to strike his leg with the trident she held. She then turned on her knee back to him to stab his torso with the blades. Natasha grunted as she tried to pull the trident away but Crovus's grip secured it in place. Spinning up on the staff Natasha hopped her leg up on Corvus's thigh and kicked him back with the momentum of her other foot, knocking him to the ground. Surprise covered the spy when the trident was lifted from her hands and back to its owner who tried to slash her down. The Nat smiled when Rogers appeared, racing into shielding his partner from Proxima who seemed shocked that a male of such a lesser species was able to hold her back the way he did. From then on it was the three of them. Cap and Widow working as they always did together. It was like a dance they had studied for years and had only gotten better to the point that it was now second nature. The two kept Proxima busy until Sam flew in to knock her back over to her injured ally, his guns locked on the two of them.
"Get up." Proxima almost sounded concerned when she spoke to Corvus.
"I can't." He replied clearly in pain.
Cap and company stood above the group at the ready. "We don't want to kill you." Natasha began, her confidence in her team showing through. "But we will."
Proxima snarled at the trio. "What do you want with Vision?" Steve questioned, holding Corvus's weapon.
"Our Master will have what he seeks! The Asgardian squealed like an infant when he told us where to find it."
"Asgardian." Cap turned to Natasha with fear in his eyes.
"And we'll break you just as easily!" Glass sprayed from the skylight above them when a massive figure broke through. Proxima took advantage of the distraction to retrieve their weapons. "Obsidian, protect your brother." Cap and the others failed to prevent them from escaping when the trio mowed them down like a pack of wild bulls.
"Sam."
"Got it." Wilson was already ahead of Cap when he flew through the same opening. Red Wing stayed behind to monitor everything.
"Are you alright?" Steve asked when he made his way to Wanda. She only hugged him tightly, so relieved that he and the other had come when they did. Things undoubtedly would have ended much worse. "You're ok." He spoke calmly.
"How did you know we were in trouble?" Wanda was shaken up and out of breath. She helped Vision who was still conscious sit up.
"We never lost track of you, honey." Nat replied, comforting the young Maximoff. The three of them hadn't stopped keeping track of the lovebirds since they left. They let them have their time together but always made sure to check in whenever possible. Something wasn't right, that much was clear to all of them.
"They were after me." Vision spoke shakenly, looking over to Wanda. "They were after this." His hand rested against the infinity stone which was still embedded into his skull thankfully. Sam had returned only moments later empty-handed, but Cap and the others were only happy that he was safe.
"Giant floating structures in the sky then those two freak shows attack Vis. That ain't a coincidence." Sam stated, loading Red Wing back up.
"Wait…there are more of those things?" Wanda gasped in disbelief at this news. "What are they?"
"We don't know." Cap said getting back to his feet. "But we're going to see someone who might." Nothing was adding up. Their attackers said that an Asgardian told them where to find Vision or more importantly his mind stone. The only Asgardian they knew of was obviously Thor and he had been off the grid for two years the same as Banner. Could Thor know more than they believed? Wanda helped Vision into the Quinjet Where Banner was waiting for them. The Doctor was beginning to worry when they hadn't heard from Strange or Tony again. None of them knew how to wrap their heads around any of this. Cap kept his expression as brave when he took the controls of the jet and plotted their flight plan for Wakanda.
