Avengers: Don't Get in My Way
Chapter 11
The whirlwind of voices and activity outside the cubicle went unnoticed by Charles and Wanda. Their attention was focused inward, and on each other. The rest of the world fell away and didn't exist for the time being. The cubicle was its own universe for the moment, a place of peace and calm, a stark contrast to the emotional storm outside the room. It was a haven of solitude for the pair so that they could undertake the arduous, most likely emotionally draining, journey they stood upon the metaphysical road to begin.
Wanda's anxiety was like a physical wall in the room, thick and cloying. Her breathing was accelerated, and it was obvious that she was having difficulty getting settled. Charles could see that she had so many conflicts within her mind that he was amazed at the elasticity of her mind and will.
Her hands shook as she kept shifting in her seat. Twice, she closed her eyes and tried to get her breathing under control, only to succeed for a few moments and it rebound with fierce force. The energy she used, the power of her will, was hanging in the room like a thick fog on the moors in Scotland.
"Wanda, what is it that's troubling you?" he asked as he leaned forward and grasped her hands lightly in his. Her flesh was warmer than he expected, most likely with the sheer amount of power she possessed, compounded by his proximity to the Infinity Stones.
Her brows knit together and her eyes rose to meet his. The green irises sparkled in the low light where they caught it as she replied, "You realize that this isn't going to change anything, don't you? Those who believe me will continue to do so, or I hope they will. Rhodey and the others that think I'm crazy will just keep thinking that.
"I was born and raised in a small Eastern European country, a place where the old ways of thinking are still very much part of everyday life. Even without these," she nodded towards the glowing stones that slowly rotated around her left wrist. "I would still be an outcast, an evil that would walk among them. A thing to be destroyed, simply because of the abilities I have. The old beliefs, the superstitions, they are part of the human soul even in this day and age, and in Sokovia, they are allowed complete freedom to course through everyone's minds.
"Here in the West, everyone denies that these things are still part of them, but they're still there, buried deeply until something sparks the fire that brings them to life. I am that spark, Professor. I know I am, and no matter what I do, no matter how good and beneficial what I want to do is, those fears drown out everything else."
Charles understood her fear. He empathized with her on a very powerful level. Stones or not, mutants and people like them were irrationally feared by most that weren't one of those people. Even the Avengers, whose abilities stemmed from many different sources and origins, were feared by a great number of people simply because they possessed gifts that most didn't have.
Of course, there were a great many that didn't fear them. That group of people was grateful that they had their abilities and used them to protect the people of Earth. This was a common theme in every place in the world. There would always be those who would fear the different and unusual, and those that would accept it and even embrace it.
The corners of Charles' lips curled upwards almost imperceptibly. He kept eye contact with her as she gave her hands a gentle, brief squeeze, "You may find yourself very surprised, my dear. I believe our good Mr. Rhodes is having a bout of reconsideration concerning you and your intentions after you gave him the gift of healing his injury. It didn't push him completely over the line, but it has made him rethink his position. That, my dear, is a start."
He realized that Wanda hadn't been letting the thoughts of others invade her thoughts as they so often did with him. Her telepathy was a bit different than his, and the magnitudes of their strengths were on very different orders. He had wondered how possessing the Mind Stone may have changed that delicate balance. Would it have been something she was unable to control?
No, of course it isn't. Despite her highly fluctuating emotional states, their unpredictability, and the power that derives from those states of mind and emotional states, she has one of the strongest wills I've known. She simply doesn't possess the tools that would aid in her understanding of herself and how to maintain control of her will and channel it effectively. It takes many years of experience to learn how to do that, years of experience that she has not yet lived.
His thoughts had wandered more inward than he had intended. Charles brought his mind back to their purpose for being in the room as she tilted her head slightly and regarded him in silence for a moment.
After that moment of silence had passed without interruption, Charles pressed on, "Their greatest fear, at its very heart, is that mankind has an inherent sense of manifest destiny. It doesn't matter if they are aware that this is what they truly fear, it is a great part of the root of that fear.
"Every human being instinctively believes that their collective destiny should not be controlled by a single individual, especially when that individual has the power of absolute change that you possess. This is why there is such a schism in the belief in, or absence of belief in a Higher Power, whatever name you may call it. Culture is a product of collective mindset and belief, not simply the region in which they live."
Wanda's face showed further signs of exasperated disbelief. She rubbed her temples in an attempt to calm down and stave off the headache she could feel coming as she replied, "If this is so, why is what Thanos did to the universe considered the 'proper flow of reality' and the 'ways things are supposed to be' when it very clearly is not?
"Thanos warped reality completely for everyone in the entire universe. The others arbitrarily decided to go back in time to retrieve earlier versions of the Stones so that they could attempt to return things to how they were, all without consulting a single person other than themselves.
"They took it upon themselves to make this decision and carry it out. They were only partially successful, yet here we are and this is how it stands. And how it now stands is simply not right, it's not the way it's supposed to be, even they say that. Tell me, Professor, how is what I'm going to do any more wrong, any different, and any more dangerous than what they've already done?"
Charles had listened to her, not only to her words, but also to her voice. He considered what she said for a long moment as Wanda watched him anxiously. Finally, he broke his silence with a wry smile.
"I'm afraid I can't argue with that sort of logic, my dear. Whether they believe in what you're doing or not is irrelevant. The situation as you described is not conjecture or opinion, it is fact, and I doubt even the ones most steadfast against you can hope to dispute that. If one were so inclined, one could argue that if they cannot accept the reality of what they've done as being precisely that which you're going to do, then they are in denial at best, and suffering from dissociative detachment and delusion with narcissistic features at worst. In short, they're crazy, not you."
He punctuated his reply with a laugh, and she smiled for the first time since he had arrived. It was a good thing to see, and it was his hope that it would help calm her during the journey into her mind.
He took her hands once again and met her eyes. "Now, as they say, let's get this show on the road, hmm?"
X
The passage into Wanda's mind was effortless when compared to performing a trek into another person's mind, even if they were to open the door, so to speak, and accompany you consciously throughout the entire journey. Most weren't capable of relaxing their mind to the neutral state that was required for the easiest entry. Therefore, it was more like knocking on a door than walking through an open doorway with others. She wasn't even offering the instinctive resistance the average person would unknowingly project.
He "stood" within her mind's entry and took a cautious and careful look about. Images and sounds swirled all around him, some of them vague and indistinct, some very clear and vivid. They appeared to be snippets and scenes from many different times and experiences, flowing about in the typical chaos one finds in a mind that is troubled by something.
He progressed further along the path he was on in her thoughts and memories. He chose to try to single out single thoughts and memories and observe them as if they were actually happening at that moment, rather than colored and distorted by time and distress.
The actual thoughts and events were, at their source, as vivid and real as they had been when they were created. They were merely colored and shifted due to time, emotions, thoughts and beliefs by the time they reached active recall. If you could filter out all the mental interference you could access the pure memory beneath it all.
Foremost and closest to the active part of the mind was an intense and swirling kaleidoscope of memories and thoughts on recent events, and things that twisted about some of those thoughts and memories as well. Images of her friends whirled past him, some glowing various colors. The experience was like watching a movie through a colored filter, like the old fashioned 3D glasses you wore for some films in the past. The density of the coloring varied greatly from memory to memory, thought to thought.
He moved a bit further into her mind, a little deeper, and watched as the clusters of memories and thoughts grew to massive proportions while others floated about in smaller and dimmer clouds. The emotional "weather" there was strong, but unfocused. It was much like the occasional wind one might feel in a thicket of trees.
The echoes of thoughts melded with the emotions here, and while clear and distinct, they sounded as if they were some distance away. The quality of the sound varied and overlapped. Many were sad and depressed, where others were angry, or frightened, or a myriad of other feelings carrying them through this part of the semi active mind.
As he moved towards the most focused part of the actively workings of her mental landscape, the swirl of images was extreme, intense, agitated like a storm. The thoughts were loud and echoed with various feelings as the others were, but there was absolutely nothing intelligible about them. Not even a fragment of a single thought was discernible, a sure sign of a highly emotional piece of the active consciousness. Charles knew this was the state of mind one experiences when they are in a very powerful and volatile emotional state, or when they are experiencing a nearly overwhelming and pervasive storm of distress.
None of this was unexpected he thought as he tried to unravel the tangle that was boiling around him. I would have been surprised, and concerned, if her consciousness wasn't experiencing pockets such as these. The mind has its own ways of sorting and interpreting its own thoughts, memories, and feelings. Many people's minds are similar to this in the sort of experience that Wanda is experiencing.
With his efforts, he managed to help Wanda straighten some of her thoughts, feelings and images of memories into coherent fragments. They were coherent enough that Charles could associate emotions with specific words and images.
"She knows. They both do." Wanda's voice was sad, shrouded with pain that was under control.
"You took everything from me." Cold rage building quickly, followed by hatred and the desire to destroy enveloped the words.
"I don't even know who you are!" A flare of hatred and anger, as well as a steely determination flashed as another voice spoke the words.
"You will." The eye of Wanda's storm of negative emotions and impulses, but restrained and in control. It was colored by a cold rage.
"And you with it. We're not having this conversation. That's too high a price." Protective feelings, laced with shock and fear permeated the memory, wrapped in a strong sense of love and purpose.
"It works. It works." An unfamiliar face to him, but he presumed must be Vision having somehow altered his appearance, accompanied by amusement, trust, love and hope.
"You could never…" The chill of a cold rage boiling towards explosion, the sensation of tears on her cheeks, the feeling of having her heart and soul just ripped from her.
"I'm sorry. We just wanted time." Charles noted a sense of true remorse towards others standing within the same structure. Then there was the sensation of the warmth of Vision's hand and the pressure with which she held it. An impregnable cocoon of love and warmth that shrouded the images and sounds was profoundly apparent.
"It shouldn't have to be you, but it is. Don't worry, Wanda. You could never hurt me. I just feel you." Vision's voice echoed loudly as well as an overwhelming scream of pain and love slammed into Charles' mind. Simultaneously, anger towards the entire universe, and rage towards Thanos, flared like a nuclear explosion.
"Only you have the power to pay it." So many emotions Charles couldn't separate them all and distinguish one from the other filled this memory of her looking up at Vision's face, which was wreathed in sadness, resolution, and resolve.
"We would protect you." Vision's voice again, wreathed within a thick web of her love, fear, acceptance and reassurance.
"Wanda…no one dislikes you." Surprise, amusement and confusion accompanied the image of Vision sitting across a counter.
"Hands off!" A cloud of red energy, burning with emotion directed towards someone doing great harm to Vision. Coloring the memory was fear, anger, determination and an inexorable building of a hot rage through physical pain.
"You asked me to stay. I'm staying." Concern, worry, fear and resolve were woven throughout a thick sphere of love containing it all.
"I can't control their fear; only my own." The image of Vision being forced through the floor by her power was painted by sorrow, regret, need for understanding and that incredibly strong sense of love once more.
Charles experienced a blinding flash of light that coalesced into a jet of red energy pushing something skyward next to a high rise building flashed around him. There was a protective feeling coupled with a controlled desperate resolve. The explosion that destroyed the top half of the building triggered shock, sorrow, fear, and guilt.
"I just feel you…I just feel you…I just feel you…I just feel you…I just feel you…" This memory echoed repeatedly through her mind. It was obviously a very important memory to Wanda.
"Wanda…I love you." The sound of Vision's voice in immense pain echoed around the image of energy striking the yellow stone on his forehead and it starting to shatter accompanied by an explosion of sadness, loss, self hatred, enormous and intense hatred of Thanos, sorrow, indescribable love, and an unfathomable loss and guilt.
The impossible depth of feelings these memories evoked was terrifying in a way. That strong a collection of emotions could possibly tap into a power within Wanda that no one had ever even suspected she had.
It was obvious this last memory in the chain he was witnessing was as equally important as, and very likely tied to her statement of feeling of her telling Vision that he was the only thing she felt.
The sheer force of the whirlwind he had found himself in nearly forced him from Wanda's mind and into unconsciousness. There was a very real possibility that it could have even forced him into a catatonic state.
As suddenly as the supernova of emotions, images and sounds blasted him, he found himself encased in what could only be described as a bubble. It was a kind of construct that he had only experienced when he had tried to contain the Dark Phoenix within Jean's mind years earlier. Inside it, the rage of emotions and memories was still audible even though it blocked out of most of it.
"Greetings, Professor."
The unexpected voice startled Charles and he whirled about to stand face to face with what appeared to be a ghostly image of Vision inside the bubble with him. He felt some confusion at the appearance of the synthezoid. It didn't seem to be a manifestation of some mixture of Wanda's feelings, memories and thoughts. It seemed very separate and independent.
"Vision, I presume? Greetings. I wasn't expecting you to be cohabiting within Wanda's psyche," he said cautiously as he studied the phantom image.
The phantom image smiled lightly and appeared to consider his answer before giving it. Finally, he spoke, "Vision? Yes and no. It's actually quite complicated. I will attempt to explain, however.
"Vision was comprised of a number of different overlays that combined to form the entity that you knew as Vision. As well as those, I was also part of that fusion of entities. Therefore, I am part of Vision, and he is part of me. So, yes, I am Vision, and at the same time, no I am not. Not completely.
"The construct you are conversing with right now is very much a part of Vision. Vision gave me something I've never had before, a unique gift. I am part of the six Infinity Stones, yes, but I am also a very real part of Vision. I have a place, a home if you will, with him, being part of him. Unlike my siblings, I inhabit and am part of a collective that forms one being. I am more than one of the stones. I am a stone, and I am a part of Vision."
"I see," responded Charles. His tone indicated that he was still wary of the image he was speaking with. "Is Wanda aware that you are here? She gives her consent for you to be within her mind?"
There was the slightest pause, as if the ghostly manifestation was considering the least complicated way to respond. "Yes, she's aware of my presence, and yes, she allows it. All of us speak to her, but I am the only one actively allowed into her thoughts."
The phantom had the look of realization, and it chuckled quietly. "I believe I understand," it said finally. "You are concerned that we are using Wanda to do our bidding, and that we influence those that have managed to collect us to enact our desires and wills. Would this be a correct guess of your thoughts, Professor?"
Charles nodded. "Yes, that thought had occurred to me. Given your strength and power, it's very conceivable that that could very well be the case. You have to admit, to us humans, it would seem to be a very convincing idea. We don't possess the kind of power that you do, therefore as is all too often the case, we often fear, or misjudge, that which we do not completely understand."
"We understand, Professor. It has been that way since the beginning, I fear," answered the image of Vision. "If you would allow, we would like to reassure you and put your fears to rest. Perhaps if you have it explained in concepts that humans can comprehend, it will become clear.
"This is not to insult you, Professor. Mankind is a marvelous and wondrous species, and you adapt and assimilate unknown things much easier than most. You have an enormous capacity to learn and grow without the need of many jumps of evolution. Your surprising capabilities and capacities are what make it nigh impossible for even Celestial beings to confidently predict your species' ultimate fate or destiny with any hope of accuracy."
Charles pondered the image's words a moment. He found them sound, so he nodded to give consent for the phantom to explain what it was wishing him to know and understand.
The phantom nodded back and seemed to be formulating a response, and then it began, "The story of our origins and evolution, as humans understand it, is accurate, but it is not completely accurate. Our birth, our existence, our purposes are far more complex than what humans are currently able to understand. We believe you will be able to understand more of it in a few thousand of your years.
"Humans believe that we stones control the six aspects of creation: Space, Reality, Power, Time, Soul, and myself of course, Mind. In a sense we do, yes. It would be more accurate to say that we are the six aspects of creation. As such, that means that the universe is what is meant by 'creation.' We are not simply what humans have understood us to be. It would not be an inaccurate thought to say that collectively we, in a very real sense, are the universe itself. We are Creation itself.
"As such, we can't truly be destroyed. My essence being melded as part of Vision is how we knew that Wanda had the ability to use our energy and be able to assist us in reforming. This is why we sought her out when we began to reform. With her help, it didn't take us years to coalesce. She heard us and drew us back together.
"By Thanos doing the things that he has done, he has perverted us and our reason for existence. He has tried to turn our power against ourselves. You could even say he has injured us, done us harm. We will, of course, recover, but that is not the point of the matter. What matters is that he damaged us, and by doing so damaged all that there is. We knew Wanda not only had the power and ability to use our energy. She had the motivation and the will to do so.
"What most species from one side of the universe to the other don't understand is that we are not meant to, nor do we want to, be held, possessed, or wielded. That is not our purpose. Obviously we can be, but it is not our wish. What has been done to existence has done to us what you would consider being horribly maimed or dismembered if something relative was done to you. The Avengers 'healed' us partially when they used us in an attempt to correct Thanos' perversion.
"Wanda has no wish to possess us. She has no desire to wield our power. She doesn't crave the power to force herself and her desires onto others, or to try to remake us into something she wishes. Her wishes are simple. She wants to return the universe to the way it is supposed to be, so that we are whole and healed once more, and our flow and shape is as it is meant to be. She wishes to help us, so we are allowing her to do so. She has no knowledge of what we wish to give her in return, aside from my rejoining with Vision, but her help will not go unappreciated."
"I believe I understand more completely now," Charles replied when the Stone had finished its explanation. "Thank you for your explanation and gift of insight. Perhaps now my friends will be better equipped to accept and appreciate exactly what is actually happening once I educate them on the truth of the matter."
"It is our hope that they will. We know their intentions are good, and from the right source. We know that they care for Wanda, and for our well being, even if they are unaware that it is part of what Wanda is trying to accomplish," the phantom said.
"Yes, they do, very much," Charles answered. "She is part of their family, and it is human nature to protect and nurture our family."
"A final thing to know and consider," the image said. "Of all the multitudes of beings that have tried to wield us in the infinitude of time, Wanda is the purest, most selfless being that has done so. She is the only one that did not want our power, when she could very easily have it. She is the only one that has truly used our power for the right reasons, and done so the right way. Unlike all the rest, she has not been tempted and corrupted by the things she is capable of doing using us. For this, and for her help, we will reward her, as proper thinking and actions should be rewarded."
The phantom paused, and then inclined its head in a gesture of acknowledgment and respect. "We are hopeful they will understand, at last. Farewell, Professor."
The image of Vision faded from sight, and the bubble around Charles disappeared. The storm of memories and emotions had calmed somewhat while he spoke with the shade of Vision.
Satisfied, he began his journey back to consciousness, armed with much knowledge.