I'm back!
With each crunch of leaves and ice-hardened snow under her feet, Wanda felt like she was walking to certain death. She felt like a woman being dragged to the gallows, as if the darkness ahead were the noose and the pines were the crowds. It even felt like the trees had eyes in the night, with aged barks twisting into sunken faces and sinister grins, their gnarling roots reaching across the forest floor like hands, reaching for her ankles and snagging for Vision's cape.
Vision swore that he could hear distant snarling and quick, rapid footsteps - or maybe he was just being paranoid. The air was quiet, but Vision's mind was far from it. The pain in his head kept ringing on, but this time there were words to go with it. "They'll pay... Josie, you don't know what you're dealing with... stay... I just feel... "
His mind wasn't the only one full of voices. Past conversations played in Wanda's head like a broken record, as she obsessed over Vision's safety.
"He'll die alone." Proxima said.
"I won't leave you." Vision said.
"I'll tear that stone right out of his head." Josephine said.
Just like last time, they were confronting a monster in a forest, and like Thanos had before, Josephine's priority would be to kill Vision at all costs. She had the weapon to do so, mounted on her wall like a sick trophy. Wanda had her own priorities - protect Vision - destroy the spear that could hurt Vision - and kill the monster. Which monster? Rasped the demon's voice, feebly. Wanda imagined giving it's dying, shrivelled body a kick.
We're going to live. She had said that to herself only weeks ago, as her, Sam, Bucky and Carol plummeted towards sure death. The jet crash felt like a hundred years ago, when she was in the dark, when she still believed Vision was gone and she had no idea Josephine existed. History isn't going to repeat itself. I won't let it.
She kept stealing glances at him. First she merely wanted to see his face - then she began to worry. His brow was furrowed, and he would occasionally shake his head. It was something she had seen many times; her paranoia and fear for his safety only sky rocketed. "What's it doing?"
"It's not hurting... but it is doing something." It was an uncomfortable sensation that stretched across his entire frontal lobe. Vision felt Wanda squeeze his hand even tighter. If he were human, she might well have broken a few of his fingers by now, but he didn't feel the discomfort. Her hand in his was the most reassuring thing on Earth, and it was a welcome distraction from the pain in his forehead. He swept his thumb across her hand. "I'm with you, I'm alright."
Her worried face softened at these words. Her breath clouded the freezing air, the half rain, half snow catching in her dark hair. The elements smudged the dark shadow she had on her eyelids. Her eyes were like green pools surrounded by dark earth. She was so beautiful, in darkness and in light. All he could think about were their memories together, and how much he wanted to kiss her.
They kept going, the conversation slowly dying until they walked in silence, focusing their attention on the surroundings. "Why is it so quiet?" Wanda asked, eventually. "No animals... nothing."
The silence was unsettling, so quiet it was unnatural. No scuttling of small creatures through the undergrowth, no rustling of ferns. "They could be hiding from it."
"Maybe."
"About the hybrid." Vision said. "I understand we're both on the same page?"
"We are. We have to kill it."
"Yes." Vision went to say something else, but hesitated. Wanda knew exactly where this conversation was going, she could hear it on the tail-end of his thoughts. "I know how strongly you feel, and I don't have the right to try and stop you. Whatever you decide, I won't stand in your way."
Wanda lightly touched his forearm. "Ssh." She whispered. She grew very still, eyes focused and intense, looking straight ahead. "I heard something. I feel..." The colour suddenly left her face, and then her hand was gone from his.
"Wait!" He flew after her as she leapt above the tree canopy, a red star against the black clouds. "What can you -" before he could even finish, there was a high-pitched, mournful shrieking of an animal, and a commotion from somewhere in the trees below; this was what she felt. Wanda plunged down through the canopy, carving a gap with her powers as she passed through. He landed, and found her standing stiffly by a partially frozen stream. She was white as a sheet, looking as though she were fighting every urge to be sick.
"It's not even that old." She whispered.
A single deer lay sprawled out on the forest floor, dark eyes glassy and still. It had a tiny pair of fuzz-covered antler stubs in the top of it's head, and it's brown hide was slick and shiny with blood. The scent of fresh blood, the reek of death, rapidly seeped into the air and into their mouths.
The horror of the situation quickly morphed into anger. Vision looked around furiously. "Where is it?"
They circled the clearing, never straying more than two metres apart. The six clawed-fingers were imprinted everywhere, and the poor deer was covered with them. It had to be close, the deer's blood was still spreading across the leaves... Wanda muttered angrily under her breath. "It was just here. It can't be..."
Vision motioned for her to listen. "Hear that?" He whispered. Wanda locked eyes with him, straining her ears - there it was, quick, rapid footsteps of something heavy. They quickly turned so they were back to back, eyes scouring the darkness as the rustling grew closer. Wanda had an armful of red magic ready, while Vision braced himself, the stone beginning to glow brighter.
The ancient tree trunks groaned in the wind, branches flailing like arms. Vision was the first to hear it's breathing; then a glimmer of green flashed out at them from atop a slope. The familiar face from his memory poked over, eyes glittering, the blood of the deer smeared all over its mouth.
Without hesitation, Vision shot a yellow beam of energy straight toward it's face; Wanda was briefly dazzled by the sudden burst of light. The mutant dove aside, and the pine behind it got sliced in half. It leapt to it's feet, lightning fast - before it turned and scrambled back down the hill and out of sight. "After it!" They sprang up the hill, frantically scanning the darkness.
"There!" Vision pointed between two trees, and Wanda threw a viscous orb of energy, but again, it sprang aside and ran into the bushes. She swore, trying to seize it with her magic, but it moved too fast.
"No you don't!" She snapped, charging after it. "Get back here!" It darted ahead through the bushes like a skeletal bear, frighteningly fast - hadn't Vision blasted off one it's limbs last time? - but never did it once turn back to attack. The green plastic in it's head seemed to glow brighter than ever.
"She's controlling it. She must know we're here!" Vision exclaimed, but Wanda was so focused on furiously trying to murder the creature, she barely heard him. Vision was both impressed and intimidated as Wanda tore the forest apart trying to kill it; her powers cleaved through trees, sliced at branches and threw boulders, but the creature continued to evade each attempt. It seemed to move as fast as her brother as it pounded ahead, huge, long legs clearing metres with each bound.
"Where - is - it - going-"
It scuttled out onto a clearer path that had recently been used by some kind of vehicle; there were some fresh tire tracks, slowly filling with melted snow and rainwater. It sailed up the road, mud flying with every step, hunched back flying around a corner and diving into the treeline. "It's headed for those cliffs! We can trap it!" Vision exclaimed, noticing the wall of rock rising beyond the trees.
"We've got it now!"
They burst through the trees, side by side, Wanda brandishing her powers, Vision's stone blazing like a sun.
Nothing. The clearing was empty. "What?" Vision asked, confused. "Where did it go?"
On the right side, the tire tracks lead up to three parked vehicles - two trucks, and a car that had seen better days. It's mud-splattered doors and bumper were dented in places, as if it had been hit by other cars several times. The cliff face towered above. It was rocky and beaten by the elements, roots exposed in the patches of earth, fringes of moss and lichens hanging off the ledges.
"Maybe it went inside..." Wanda's eye moved to the centre of the cliff face; there was a cube of concrete, with a metal door and a pin pad, with a green light blinking continuously next to it. "This must be it. She's in there -"
Ding.
They both froze, as the high-pitched notification of a phone chimed in the darkness. Vision took a stiff step forward; there was something laying on the floor, mere yards away from the door of the building. At the same time as the phone chimed, half a cracked screen lit up. The light briefly illuminated a hand with blue painted nails, the fingers streaked with mud and blood.
"Cara?" Vision frowned.
She was slumped on the forest floor, her arm stretched out for the phone, as if she had been trying to reach for it. Her face was splattered with mud, her temple and hair wet with blood. It trickled like a river of red down her neck, bleeding into her denim jacket. There was a gash on the left side of her head, shining in the moonlight. They exchanged a look of confusion and horror.
"Is she - ?"
"She's still alive." Wanda's eyes glimmered red. Cara's unconscious mind was a fog - except for Josephine's angry face, with blood trickling out of her nose and mouth. "I think Josephine attacked her." There was a slight pause. " ..why would she do that?"
Wanda had seen into Josephine's head - they seemed to be friends. There had even been a picture of Cara on Josephine and Luke's refrigerator. Maybe their relationship had changed since, but Cara still seemed loyal to Josephine. Was Josephine so far gone that she had turned on her one remaining ally?
Vision couldn't look away from the massive patch of blood on Cara's face, the glistening wound on the side of her head. He started forward; of course his first instinct was to help her. He barely got a centimetre before Wanda put out an arm, flashing him a look.
"Vizh."
"I know she's one of them, but -"
"That's not it. This doesn't feel right." Cara was laying perfectly in the middle of the clearing, almost perfect to the centimetre. She was impossible to miss...
Vision didn't see the red flags, all he saw was the red of Cara's blood. "She'll die out here, if not from the hybrid then from hypothermia. We need to help her." He phased through Wanda's arm, taking a few steps across the forest floor. The leaves and snow crunched, the only sound, with each step. Wanda watched him move closer, the connection between her voice, mind and body severed like snapped wires. Stop, she wanted to say. This is weird...
Vision made it seven steps until he felt something spring under his foot. He looked down in time to see something shiny peeking out from underneath the leaves - then there was a metallic snap. For a millisecond, Vision was too shocked to react - but then all he knew was pain.
"Vision!" She screamed.
Vision fell forwards immediately, landing hard on his side. Gasping, he looked down at his foot. A chain was exposed from under the leaves, nailed into the floor. The chain lead to a set of metal jaws; it took him a second to register that there was a bear trap closed on his ankle.
"Im - possible -" Vision struggled to speak through pain. This shouldn't be happening. How could he have been so stupid? He should have analysed the surroundings first. He should have asked Wanda to levitate Cara with her powers. For God's sake, why didn't he fly?
Wanda immediately rushed forward to help him. "Vizh -"
"Be careful!" He cried. "There could be -" Without taking her eyes off him, she threw out her hand, and a wave of energy rolled across the floor. In response, at least eight hidden bear traps scattered around Cara sprang to life, snapping shut like metal jaws. Now that it was clear, she dove forwards, falling to the floor by his leg. "I - I can't -"
The teeth were in him, piercing through his synthesized boot and into his ankle. Wanda's head spun, as she reached for the trap, hands glowing faintly, flashbacks of Edinburgh flying through her mind. He clenched his teeth, pulling at the trap, but his hands refused to alter their density. His circuits raced with panic and from the physical damage done to them, sending ripples of golden light across his body; the scars in his torso seemed to burn; the stone was on fire.
"This shouldn't be happening. How did it -" Wanda looked at the trap more closely. "Edinburgh." She thought out loud. The rest of the trap was old and rusty, but the teeth and jaws were streaked with gold metal that didn't resemble anything on Earth. Nothing on Earth. There were chunks of metal missing from the blade Josephine's wall. "That clever little... No. No, no, no... this can't be happening again. It can't -"
Her voice grew higher and higher with panic. Vision tried to keep her calm. "It's not too deep - it's okay -"
"You're in a bear trap made from alien metal! Nothing about this is okay!" The pain twisting his face grounded Wanda back to reality, as her hands lifted over the bear trap and began to pry it apart with her magic, doing her best not to hurt him. "Hold still." All the while, Vision trembled, teeth clenched, as the metal slowly retracted from his leg, centimetre by centimetre. "Almost... got it..."
"Just do it quickly, please -"
She yanked the teeth apart in one swift motion; Vision cried out in pain. She launched the trap away, where it struck the battered car with a loud clang; then she gently wrapped her hands around his ankle to examine to damage.
"Oh my god, Vizh." His ankle was zig-zagged with glowing yellow lines and exposed wires that had been bitten through; the teeth of the trap had pierced at least an inch deep. She looked up at him in horror, trying to switch off the part of her brain that was screaming in panic.
"Can you fix it?" He asked, desperately.
"I'll do my best." She waved her hand over his ankle, and it turned red. The jagged lines dimmed a bit, the gaps shrinking and slowly knitting back together. "How badly does it hurt?"
"Compared to being stabbed, it isn't all bad..." He said, with a weak smile; she smiled back only for his benefit. The gap in his leg grew thinner, before slowing down, resisting to close. "It's not going to -"
"It will." Wanda said, firmly. Her fingers flexed over his wound; the red energy suddenly intensified, until her eyes glowed with it. The partially sealed gap in Vision's leg grew thinner and thinner until there was just a thin golden line, like a seam in fabric. "It's better than my patchwork job in Scotland... can you stand?"
"I think..."
She tried to help him, one arm around his back as she tried to support him; Vision stuttered in pain, still feeling the damage done to his wires. Wanda's eyes widened with dismay. "You can't fly. You can barely walk - we have to get out of here. I'll grab Cara and -"
"R..mph." Their faces snapped in Cara's direction. She muttered something barely audible, face twisted in pain. She tried again, eyelids flickering but not opening all the way. "R...run..." She whispered, weakly.
Wanda lightly shook her. "Hey, stay with me, Cara. Where is she? Where's Josephine?"
"I was wondering when you'd get here." The voice seemed to echo from all around the clearing. Wanda sprang to her feet, eyes immediately blazing a violent red. Vision jolted.
"What's wrong?" He asked, alarmed.
"Her voice."
"Voice?" She shot him a confused frown. Vision was in the process of trying to stand; his eyes lifted from his glowing ankle, to her, and then they shifted upwards. Even in his natural skin, he seemed to go pale. "She's on the roof."
Wanda jerked her body around to face the concrete cube sticking out of the cliff; the green suit lit up in the dark. The blood pounded in her ears, heart thrashing with adrenaline. She had never been so angry in all her life. Josephine stepped closer to the roof edge; as she came closer, it felt like a block of ice was being dropped down Wanda's spine. Something felt wrong.
"You need to leave."
"I'm not going anywhere."
Wanda raised her fingers, a few red wisps of light forming underneath Vision. Something felt... different. Wrong. The rips and holes in the suit had been patched. She wasn't wearing her trademark leather coat anymore. Josephine wasn't even wearing any gloves.
"For someone who can fly, you do walk a lot, Vision." Josephine said, after a long time. "Honestly, I thought laying those traps were just a precaution that wouldn't..." They stared up at her, waiting for her to finish; Josephine seemed to sway a fraction, her body language seemed to suggest that she were in pain. "...pay off." She finished, unsteady.
"What's wrong with you?" Vision asked.
"Where should I start?" Josephine laughed, shrill and high-pitched. Her masked face tilted towards Cara. "I knew you'd help her. Always helping people who don't deserve it."
"She was your friend." Wanda said; Josephine's fingers twitched, her facial expression hidden behind the mask. Wanda stepped closer, red tendrils of energy forming around her, rocks and roots lifting from the floor. "You're done hurting people. You can either come with us, or I can kill you now."
"Come with you? So you can cart me off to the same insane asylum under the sea you were?" Josephine's eyes found Vision again. "I don't suppose you remember that part? The state she was in when you first found her?"
Vision tried to ignore it. "Surrender now, Josephine. It's all over."
"Nothing's over while you're still alive." Something strange was happening. In sync with these words spoken out loud, someone was whispering. "You're going to pay for everything you've taken from me." The voice grew louder, echoing all around, until it was clear that it was Josephine's unfiltered, undistorted voice. Why did she keep switching the voice filter on and off? "Look at your boyfriend's face. Do you think he can hear me?"
Wanda looked at Vision. He was still looking up at Josephine in a mixture of fear and anger; but his expression was just that. Unchanged. He wasn't reacting to Josephine's voice because he couldn't hear it. Wanda's world seemed to spin faster around her as she questioned her sanity. "Use more than one brain cell, figure it out... I'll wait." It was so close, it sounded like Josephine was right next to her, whispering it into her ear... inside her head...
"What are you doing, Wanda?" Vision whispered. There were red wisps of energy forming around Josephine's hands. A feeling descended on Wanda, like a shadow, like all the blood leaving her body at once.
"That's not me."
"No," Josephine said, aloud, for them both to hear. "It's me."
It took a moment for them both to register that what was happening was real, to grasp the true weight of what they were seeing. When it dawned, it hit them like a train. The ground swayed underneath their feet. "...Josephine, what did you do?"
A violent, broken stream of energy burst out of Josephine's hands. Wanda bolted in front of Vision, a wall of her magic springing up to block it. He scrambled to stand despite the pain in his leg, ready for a fight - before the ground disappeared from beneath him. He panicked briefly, thinking that Josephine was lifting him - but then he noticed Wanda's other hand, rising in time with him.
"What are you doing!" He protested.
"You have to go!" Wanda's eyes flooded with tears. "I told you, I'm not losing you again! I'll see you at the end of this. I promise -" The wall began to flicker as Josephine began to tear it apart. She frantically looked over her shoulder and then back at him. "I'm sorry!"
"Please! Don't -" Her eyes filled with sorrow; then her palm flew out towards him. "Wanda no-" His lips had barely formed the words when he was soaring through the air, tumbling against his will. "Let me out! Don't do this!" He tried to break free of her bubble of red, but it was locking him in, sending him further and further away like a runaway train.
Vision's desperate voice rang inside her head as Wanda latched onto his mind for as long as she could, but his cries dwindled as Josephine's deranged screams took over. A hand ripped through the barrier, seizing a fistful of Wanda's hair - then Josephine's full body weight slammed into her. They crashed across the floor, in and out of the air in a dizzying red blur. She slammed her into the floor, hands clawing at her neck. Wanda tried to push her away, but the foreign energy kept Josephine's hands locked in place.
"How did you do this?" Wanda spluttered. "How the fuck -"
"You shouldn't leave your blood lying around!"
"My blood - ?"
Something huge and black scuttled out from behind one of the trucks. The hybrid charged into the bushes, following the direction of where she had sent Vision. Wanda screamed in rage, kicking upwards, tearing through the cocoon Josephine had formed around her. There was a muffled shriek as Josephine fell backwards.
She leapt to her feet, hands sparking toward the hybrid, but then the ground swept out beneath her. She twisted up through the air, unable to control herself; Josephine's hands stretched wide, straining, blood cracking her fingers, throwing her upwards like a composer. For the briefest moment, Wanda hovered there, trapped in a bubble of red sparks that weren't her own. She had seconds to get a few words out.
"For once, just listen to me! Josep -" The icy white hands closed into fists, and then Wanda couldn't breathe. She pulled at the energy tightening around her neck, as darkness began closing in at the corners of her eyes. Josephine then threw her arms to the right as if throwing a baseball.
The back of Wanda's head met the cliff face.