"Wake up!" She came to, crumpled on her knees, crying hysterically. Her fingers dug into his suit as she sobbed and struggled to breathe, as if she had just woken up from a bad dream. "You're safe, just breathe, breathe..." The soft tones of his voice close to her ear brought her back to earth; then the panic set in.

"I have to find Josephine, right now, I have to -" her words blurred together in her frantic state.

"Wanda -"

"I have to go -"

"Wanda." Vision seized her face in his hands. "Slow down and take a breath." Wanda did the first thing she used to do whenever he woke her from a nightmare, forcing herself to look into the safety of his eyes, so perfectly and uniquely his, with the delightful tiny gears and working layers. She stared into their depths, her heart slowing as it sank back to it's original position. He studied her face with a creased brow, analysing her expression until he felt she was calm enough. "I tried to wake you up, but you were almost in a trance. It was frightening -"

"We spoke. She knew I was there and we spoke."

"Your powers connected you both?"

"I don't know!" Wanda exclaimed, in distress. "I saw her memories." It all came tumbling out like a broom from a closet. She's like me. She only had one good thing and then she lost it.

"That's why she..." Vision turned away, hands pressing against his scalp. "Of course. It makes sense..."

"When I first saw into her mind weeks ago, I heard some kind of animal." Wanda tore her fingers through her hair. "As far I knew then that memory could've been anywhere in the world at any time. This is all my fault, if I had realized it was in Wakanda that I might have figured it out sooner. How stupid have I been! How could I not see -"

"You couldn't have possibly known -"

"She used the hybrid to kill her entire team, and now she's going to use it to kill all our friends."

Vision's eyes stretched wide with horror, the gears spinning frantically in sync with his mind. "We can't let that happen."

"No, I can't. She said she would kill you."

A lump of ice dropped through Vision's torso, but despite the flicker of fear, he remained calm. As he knew too well, it took a lot to kill someone like him. Josephine was hopelessly outmatched. "You can't take her seriously, she's just trying to get under your skin. She can't overpower either of us."

Wanda paced, possessed by an uncharacteristic terror; after Thanos and Wakanda nothing really scared her anymore, she would face an army without blinking. But Josephine had a strange way of making her freeze, almost like an invisible hold over her. Now that hold was greater, as she had threatened the Bartons, Sam and Bucky, who were like brothers to her... to lose those people too, as well as Vision, again? If anything happened to them, Josephine wouldn't get the chance to kill her - Wanda would already be dead.

"I'm not taking that risk. I won't put you in danger again."

"Where are you going with this?"

"You can't come with me. If she sees you, she will try to kill you. Stay here where you're safe, and I'll deal with Josephine. I'll find her and the hybrid, get rid of them, and then I'll come back for you." The crickets seemingly fell silent as he stared at her in disbelief. "You'll be safe, that's all that matters to me. I'll be prepared this time -"

"You faced her alone the other day and almost bled to death." She pressed her lips together and avoided his eyes. "Going alone is exactly what she wants - she wants to odds to be more even. You would have to fend off both her and the creature! I won't be there to -"

"I don't need protecting."

"I know. But you might need help." Wanda opened her mouth to protest. "She can't hurt me, and it can't either."

"She has the spear..."

"I'm coming with you, no matter what you say. I can't let you do this on your own."

Wanda screwed her eyes shut. She already knew there was no way in hell he would agree to it, but she had still hoped. Resisting the urge to scream in frustration, she forced herself to nod. "Alright. You win. We'll set off as soon as we've told Okoye and Shuri." She didn't even try to stop the tears as they dripped freely down her face.

"Wanda..." He said, gently.

"Hold me. Please..." She whispered, and he took her into his arms. She sank into the comfort of his chest, face turned into his shoulder. "You're tall." She mumbled, voice thick with emotion. "It makes me feel safe."

Vision could show her an entire art gallery of memories he had where she was in his arms, so small next to him. He could give her an entire script's worth of memories of her saying that exact sentence. He hugged her tighter, cheek pressed against her crown. "You make me feel safe too. Don't worry... we'll end this. It'll be over."

No, Wanda screwed her eyes shut. No.

"It's all working fine and you don't need refuelling. But I found this by the fuel latch." Okoye held up a tiny, green device the size of a thumbnail.

Wanda and Vision exchanged alarmed looks. The tracker. "We've been looking for that all week! General Ross had it planted on the jet without us knowing. I completely forgot - I'm not supposed to forget, how did I -" Vision broke out of his argument with himself. "I'm so sorry. Wanda was so badly injured, I was so distracted I didn't think -"

"Hey, keep your metal plates on, it's alright." Shuri assured him, taking the device from Okoye to examine it. "They wouldn't be able to detect it - the barrier masks all signals from the satellites. Especially not now -" she threw it to the ground and crushed it under her trainer.

"I'll just check the international news. If they tracked the jet inside the hour window they would know it's here, but it would have been reported by now." Okoye quickly raised her wrist, distancing a little from the three of them.

"I told T'Challa what's going on, and he's not happy about your plan, but he does wish you both luck." Shuri said. "The offer still stands - we could come with you. This sounds dangerous."

"We don't want to put any of you in harm's way. And we can handle this." Vision looked to Wanda, who had been unusually quiet for much of the pre dawn morning. Maybe she was worrying or lost in thought as she faced away, looking down the corridor. "Right?"

She jumped. "Right. One second, I just left something by the bed." Wanda quickly stepped out of the room; Okoye's eyes lifted from her kimoyo beads, which had an international news feed projected.

Shuri turned to Vision, beckoning him towards the completed machine. "I might as well run you through the surgery before you go." Vision tried not to think about how similar it looked to the 'sleep cradles' Siren kept him in. He had hazy recollections of stepping into them, unable to disobey Josephine's instructions. The force field would activate and cripple him into a fitful state of sleep. Sometimes the blood of his previous target would still be caked on his knuckles...

"You made this in one night?"

"Cho's cradle was the base, but I had to add some upgrades. I'm just waiting on a shipment of the synthetic tissues, but everything else is ready to go. As soon as you've dealt with this, come back to Wakanda so we can get started. You'll just lie in there while I operate the machine, it'll be entirely safe, I promise, and we can talk the entire time. The tissue correction will be easy." Shuri's eyes briefly lifted from the cradle to Okoye, the gold fabric trails on her uniform fluttering out of the room as she slipped outside.

"What about..." This was the part he was dreading.

"That's the tricky part." Shuri brought up a projection of his head. "Last time, I rewired enough to make sure that your mind, memories included, would be unaffected by the stone's removal. So it is all preserved - but somebody has placed some kind of artificial barrier around your memory center. They couldn't wipe it, so they shut it away."

"If they had never placed this barrier, would I have full access to my memories?" She nodded, eyes filled with sympathy. Vision had suspected this for a while, it was one of the most logical explanations - but this information still hurt. "What do you think could allow access?"

"I'm going to try some simulations, but I'm thinking... " Shuri theorized, brow scrunching as she looked closer at the projection. Before she make any suggestions, a distant humming sound floated in through the open windows, and then Shuri was looking at him strangely. "Is that sound of the quinjet engines?"

Okoye burst back into the room. "She's flying away!"

"What?"

They rushed down the corridor, Vision tearing ahead as he phased through furniture and columns to get there faster. He spotted a piece of paper sticking out from underneath a vase; written in Wanda's writing was the word, 'Sorry'. They bursted onto the tarmac in time for the jet to zoom into the air, almost knocking them off their feet. Vision's heart fell out of his body. She never considered letting you go. She was planning on going alone all along...

"I'm so - I don't know what to say -"

"No time for formalities! Go after her!" Okoye shoved him frantically, but Vision still gave them both a guilty look.

"Go!" Shuri exclaimed. "Good luck and we'll see you soon!" They both watched as the jet and the blue-yellow blur of Vision shrank smaller and smaller, until they disappeared. Shuri grabbed Okoye's hand, trying to reassure her. "They'll be alright. I didn't make a scientific marvel of a machine in one night for nothing..."

Okoye looked to the sky, whispering under her breath. "Please, ancestors... look after them both."