I finally got my second vaccination last week. Now I have to wait another week and the vaccination protection is complete, then I'm feeling a little safer.

For the next chapter you will have to wait a few weeks.

A 'Thank you' to Senema for her proofreading of the chapter, it is better because of her. Any remaining mistakes are mine.

As always I appreciate comments. Tell me, how you like it.

Chapter 8

The passengers all picked a seat and Elijah put Wanda next to Clint. T'Challa took a blanket from one of the storage cabinets and handed it to Clint, who put it around Wanda's shoulders. She pulled the blanket tighter around herself and leaned against Clint, who put an arm around her shoulder.

When T'Challa saw how Clint was shivering in his thin prison gown, he got more blankets and passed them on to Clint, Sam and Scott, who accepted them gratefully.

There was silence for a few minutes as the ex-prisoners were given time to relax a little, calm down and feel safe again.

Steve finally had the opportunity to take a longer look at his friends and take stock of their condition. The three men still looked very battered, but their eyes were alert and they looked around curiously. Wanda, on the other hand, looked straight ahead with empty eyes and seemed almost comatose.

"What did they do to her?" Steve asked disturbed. The video had been bad enough, but seeing her like this was worse.

Clint sighed. "I don't know. The guards made a few hints to us that Wanda was in bad shape, but they wouldn't tell us specifics."

"And I think, they just wanted to torment us with these hints", Sam added bitterly.

"Did you find her like this, Elijah?" asked Steve.

"Yes, and she was in a straitjacket and with a shock collar around her throat", Elijah replied calmly. "From what little I could find out, she was shocked every time by the collar when she tried, even if only subconsciously, to use her skills."

Natasha looked worried. "That's not good at all."

Steve agreed grimly. "You can say that again."

"How so? What is the problem?" Elijah asked calmly.

"Wanda usually has very good control, but when she calls on her skills, she needs to get rid of the energy." Steve didn't know how to put it better. "If she tried to call her powers and got shocked every time..."

"She couldn't safely release the energy", Elijah said thoughtfully and looked at Wanda. "She has withdrawn into this state because she needs all her concentration to keep this abundance of energy at bay."

Steve blinked, surprised that Elijah understood so quickly what was going on with Wanda.

Clint stroked Wanda's hair soothingly. "We have to help her, but how?"

"I don't know", Steve answered, worried. "She has to get rid of the energy, but because so much energy has built up in her, she needs to direct it against someone or something. She needs a goal, a focus."

"And we're on a plane, which isn't really the ideal place or target for something like this", said T'Challa grimly. "How long can she hold out?"

Natasha got up and sat next to Wanda, where she took her hand in her own. "Unknown, but I wouldn't count on her to make it until we can land somewhere safe for us."

"What if you compelled her, Elijah?" asked Clint.

Elijah sighed. "Maybe I could compel her if she allows it, but that doesn't eliminate the excess energy problem." He looked thoughtfully at Wanda. "But maybe I can get in touch with her and ask what we can do to help her."

"Are you a telepath?" Sam asked in surprise.

"No, but I can share my thoughts and if she allows it, she can share hers with me", Elijah replied calmly.

Natasha got up. "Would you try?"

Elijah sighed again. If this little adventure continued like this, he should tell everyone right away that he was a vampire, it would hardly made a difference. "I can try but she has to let me in."

He got up and sat next to Wanda. Like Natasha, he took Wanda's hand in one of his, but the other touched Wanda's temple. "Let me in, child!"

Steve frowned when he heard this address. Even he, at over a hundred years old, would hesitate to call Wanda a child, even if she was still just a kid.

At first there was no reaction, but then Wanda hesitantly raised her free hand and mimicked Elijah's touch on the temple. Elijah froze and black veins ran through his face as it turned grey.

"What the hell?" Steve muttered.

"Shut up, don't bother them", Clint hissed at him.

"My God", Natasha muttered in Russian.

T'Challa, Okoye and the four Dora Milaje exchanged startled looks. T'Challa wondered what Wanda was doing to Elijah that it caused this kind of effect.

Sam and Scott just watched spellbound. So far they had never been witness when Elijah showed facets of himself that were unusual.

As for Clint, he had more experience with Elijah's peculiarities, so that his physical change didn't really bother him or caused him to react in any way.

A good five minutes passed, then Wanda took her hand down and Elijah's face returned to its normal appearance, but he did not let go of Wanda's hand.

Elijah sighed heavily. "It's like Natasha said. Wanda tries desperately to maintain control, but she is losing the battle."

"How much longer can she hold out?" Steve asked calmly.

"Maybe 30 minutes, an hour, but no longer", Elijah replied. "And the longer she postpones it, the more dangerous it becomes, for all of us." He looked at T'Challa. "Do we have that long?"

T'Challa shook his head seriously. "What will happen to the plane if Wanda loses control?"

"She's going to tear a hole in it and it will crash", Clint replied quietly. He didn't have to say what that meant for their escape as they were still over the ocean. "What other options do we have?"

"None", replied Steve grimly. "Either the plane or one of us."

They all knew, what that would mean for this person if it could tear a hole in the plane.

Natasha looked at the floor and avoided looking at Clint. "And what if she turns it against herself?"

"It would tear her apart", Elijah replied for Clint. He looked rather disgruntled. "Which, by the way, is the decision she made."

Everyone looked at Wanda, who by now had beads of sweat on her forehead and she started to shake.

"Oh, what the heck, it really doesn't matter anymore", muttered Elijah. "Clint, make sure everyone keeps a safe distance of at least five meters from us."

Clint swallowed. "You heard the man." He got up and pulled Natasha with him.

Steve hesitated visibly.

"Steve, I trusted you with the super soldiers, now please trust me." Clint looked pleadingly at Steve.

Steve made a determined face and nodded. "You heard Clint."

Everyone obeyed and huddled near the cockpit door. Only Wanda and Elijah were left at the other end of the plane.

Elijah pulled Wanda up from her seat, she stared at him. "You need an aim, then take me!"

Wanda shook her head in despair.

Elijah now roughly grabbed both of her elbows. "You already let me in and you need all your strength to keep control of your energy. You are vulnerable to me, but you are still strong enough that if I influence you now, a controlled release of your energy can no longer be guaranteed. So I'll give you a choice!"

He switched to Wanda's native tongue. "We both know I'm a monster. You have heard enough stories about my family and me to know what I am capable of. You know what it means when I give my word. And now I promise you that if you insist on this ridiculous idea, turning your own energy against yourself, even though you have the perfect target in me, I will kill everyone here on board."

Natasha gasped audibly. She didn't understand much, but enough to know that Elijah had just threatened to kill them all.

"What did he say?" Steve asked quietly.

"That he'll kill us if she doesn't use her powers against him."

Steve frowned. That was a strange threat against Wanda under the circumstances. He turned to Clint, who was watching the scene between Wanda and Elijah with thoughtful eyes. "Clint?"

"I think it comes down to which of the two has the stronger will or, more precisely, who is more ruthless", said Clint quietly. And he had no doubt who would win this fight.

Wanda had tears in her eyes, the threat shifted something in her and Elijah recognized this with his centuries of experience.

Elijah now used his compulsion and wiped away Wanda's last resistance. "Let go of it, child!" he commanded imperiously and Wanda obeyed.

Her eyes glowed red and red clouds gathered around her until she was almost completely concealed by them. Then the clouds clumped together until they formed a spear, which then pierced Elijah's ribcage.

Steve watched in shock as Elijah's body was lifted up through the energy, a huge but cauterized hole in his chest. Elijah's body shook and blood gushed from his mouth. No one could survive this type of injury and Steve saw Elijah's eyes break.

But Wanda's energy wasn't finished with Elijah, his limbs were twisted until Steve heard the bones break and his body was smashed against the wall so often that it was barely recognizable as a human body. But finally Wanda's energy was exhausted, she let go of Elijah's body, which fell to the floor.

Wanda's eyes rolled upwards and Clint was quick to jump over to catch her before she hit the ground. He took her in his arms and brought her back to the bench, where he carefully sat her down. He took the blanket that had fallen to the floor and covered Wanda again with it. The whole time he didn't look at Elijah's body while everyone else stared at Elijah with pale and shocked faces.

It was Steve who moved first. He picked up a blanket and reverently placed it over Elijah's body to hide the horrific condition of the corpse.

"Don't bother!" Clint said calmly, who had watched it out of the corner of his eye.

"Don't bother", Steve repeated in disbelief. "He's dead, Clint! Can you imagine how Wanda will feel when she wakes up and sees him lying there? He got you out of prison and now he died for us."

Clint blinked briefly. "She will undoubtedly feel very guilty, she will apologize to Elijah and ask for his forgiveness, which he will without doubt grant her!"

Now it wasn't just Steve who stared at Clint in complete disbelief.

Clint sighed and shook his head. "It is very difficult to explain and I have no right to divulge Elijah's secrets."

"His secrets don't matter anymore", said Natasha gently. "Clint, Elijah is dead!"

"For now, at least", Clint agreed lightly.

By now all the Avengers had gathered around Clint and Wanda. They were all looking at him as if he had gone mad and then started talking wildly over each other at him.

Neither of them saw or heard the blanket move, broken bones cracking as limbs stretched and straightened out the body that had previously been shattered.

Finally the blanket was thrown back and Elijah straightened up. He watched with interest as the Avengers confronted Clint about his apparent callousness. He sighed softly and got up.

"Well, this was an interesting, if a particularly unpleasant, experience", said Elijah calmly. "I can't say that I want to repeat it anytime soon!"

The babble of voices stopped as everyone whirled around and stared at him in complete disbelief.

Elijah gave them a friendly smile, then he opened the combat vest and took it off, then the shirt, which was also completely destroyed. The humans watched with wide eyes as they saw the last open wounds heal and then the severe bruising covering his entire upper body disappear. Elijah was constantly aware of the looks from the humans, who were still pale and could hardly believe, what their eyes were showing them.

Clint snorted disdainfully. "Has anyone ever told you that you are a real drama queen, Elijah?"

"Usually that's what people say about Niklaus", Elijah replied impassive. "I am more likely to be called inconspicuous."

After that he got himself a water bottle, poured the contents on a cloth that was lying around, and began to clean his face, hands and upper body. He had to repeat the process a few times before Elijah was once again satisfied with his neatness.

"T'Challa, you don't happen to have a superfluous shirt or something else, you could lend to me?" Elijah then asked politely.

Without a word, T'Challa went to another storage cabinet, took out one of his spare shirts and handed it to Elijah.

"Thank you!" Elijah put it on and buttoned it calmly.

"Well, I have to tell you, right now you are not unremarkable or easily overlooked."

"I'm quite aware of that, thank you, Clint", replied Elijah laconic and Clint grinned.

"You were dead." Scott stammered.

Elijah stretched and this time everyone could hear the last bones cracking as they fused back together. "Oh I was! But my deaths are always temporary."

"What are you?" Steve asked tensely. "An alien or a mutant?"

"Neither, I'm a completely normal human, at least I was when I died the first time." Elijah shrugged. "However, that was a very long time ago."

Steve frowned. "You mean…"

"It wasn't my grandfather who helped you back then." Elijah smirked.

Steve swallowed and looked at the young-looking man. "How old are you then?"

Clint chuckled softly and sat down again next to Wanda. "You should better all sit down before he gives his answer!"

Elijah followed Clint's example and took the other seat next to Wanda. He gently brushed her hair back from her face. "You wanted some answers, didn't you, Steve?"

All sat down as everyone wanted to hear these answers.