Compared to chapter three of Lighthouse, this one is much smaller. Oh well, kinda just wanted to get this out of the way. Thank you to britbrit11707 for the follow. Mwa! Now let us continue.


"What the Hell just happened?" Peter Quill was naturally upset, hands thrown up in the air. "Where are they going with my ship?!"

"Bucky?" He turned at his name, the rest of the rogue Avengers watching him. They knew if anyone could make sense of what Wanda had done it was him. Steve took a step forward. "She say anything?"

Bucky fidgeted, not liking how everyone's eyes were now on him. He caught Okoye's eye, the only other one who knew about Wanda and the stones, and got a subtle nod from the General.

He let out a breath. "Wanda's…she's been having a rough time. Some of us are hurting and as much as those people try to hide it, she can still sense it. It's why we moved back home. But when she's here, she has a way of blocking it."

"The stones." This came from Shuri, her eyes lighting up. "She has been visiting the gauntlet or staying on the floor directly above or below my lab."

"Yeah, their energies are powerful enough that they dull everyone's thoughts or emotions. Makes it easier on her."

"That still doesn't explain why she took the thing and left." This came from Sam and he got a few nods for his comment.

"On my ship by the way." Quill snarked in the background.

Everyone seemed to ignore him, Natasha going so far as to talk over his words, her voice louder to drown him out. "How do we know the stones themselves aren't controlling her?"

"I don't think that they are. I-"

"Can you guarantee that?" This came from the apparent Sorcerer Supreme, his expression tense enough that Bucky felt Sully stirring to life. The man had been staying in Wakanda, waiting for Shuri to extract the time stone so he could leave. "She took off with an artifact of immense power that has the possibility of shattering existence as we know it. I need something more than you think."

"No she's not being controlled." Bucky growled, stepping toward the man, only Steve and Sam's hands stopping him after two steps.

Strange only hummed. "That's not good enough." He walked off, heading back inside.

Bucky brushed off the hands holding him, eyes trained on the man until he disappeared inside. "Fucking pompous asshole."

"White Wolf." Okoye stepped forward, drawing everyone's eyes as she spoke. "You must tell them."

"Bucky?"

He shifted his shoulders, aware that the others were starting to get wary. "I wasn't lying when I said she wasn't controlled but…there does seem to be something going on. Especially with the soul stone."

Quill stepped forward, face grim with Drax and Mantis at his back. "What about the soul stone?"

"Wanda, she's been seeing things." Bucky ran a hand through his hair. "Visions I think, during the day, but also dreams. I've seen one of them."

"What does that have to do with the stone? How do you know it has anything to do with the stone?" Quill was getting worked up, nearly stepping into Bucky's face before Thor moved between them. The brunet choose to ignore the invasion of his space, considering the conversation and what it meant.

"Barnes man, what did you see?"

"Some place, all in an orange haziness," The brunet answered Sam, in turn answering the others' unspoken questions. "I think the floor was actually made of water but you could walk on it. Some big archway, gate thing, real fancy. That was the only structure there, nothing else but emptiness. For miles and miles. There were a couple people there though, standing on the other side of the gate. Some guy I've never seen before, about Steve's height, blond hair. He seemed important."

Bucky paused, flicking eyes to the Guardians. A glance Quill noticed. The super soldier knew he might, considering what the stone had taken from him. He saw the human hybrid's breathing pick up.

"Who else?" Drax and Mantis drew closer to their leader, sensing something was happening. Bucky could see Quill's eyes shine a bit more, his voice giving off the slightest crack. "You said people. Who else was there? Who else?!"

Bucky finally turned to face him, knowing he needed to be honest with the man. After all, this was his girl he was talking about. "Behind the guy was someone else. He was either protecting them or guarding them, not sure which. A girl, maybe six or seven. With the orange haze it was hard to tell her clothes and hair. They just looked dark but there is one thing I know for sure. One thing that I could make out clearly. And that was her skin color."

Quill looked like he was gonna lose it. Bucky could see the tiny trembles working through the man, his jaw clenching. Behind him Drax kept flexing his fists, his muscles tensing with anticipation. The woman, Mantis, had her fingers tangled together and bottom lip wobbling.

"What color?" Everyone was silent, allowing Peter's question to echo loudly through the air. "What color?!" A single tear fell down Quill's cheek.

"Green. Her skin was green." Just like that Bucky watched the hybrid crumple to his knees, Drax moving forward to catch the man and Mantis giving off whimpering sounds.

"You think Gamora is trapped in the soul stone? That maybe she was reaching out and Wanda managed to catch it somehow?" Shuri was poking at her kimoyo beads, bringing up what looked like footage from her lab.

"Maybe but I think it's more than that. She told me the stones were gonna help. Help them." Bucky glanced at Quill who had regained his footing but also slid his eyes over to Thor, meeting the god's gaze.

The Asgardian seemed to catch on because suddenly Bucky's upper arms were grabbed in a vice-like grip. "What do you mean by that Barnes? What does she plan to do?"

He could feel Sully rushing forward but he pressed him back gently. Looking at the larger man Bucky could see the hope building and while he knew it was wrong to feed that hope, he also couldn't lie to Thor either. Not about the man's family. "I think she's planning to try and fix what Thanos did. Bring the people he killed back."

~~~Ascension~~~

"This is probably a really bad idea."

"Didn't stop you from coming with me."

Pietro glanced sharply at her from his seat. "Of course I would come with you. James would kill me otherwise."

Wanda smiled at her brother, settling back against the chair. In all honesty, she wasn't really sure what she was doing. All she knew was that when the soul stone had reached out to her in Shuri's lab, encasing her in its amber hold, she'd been bombarded with visions. Important visions.

A lone giant with cast iron hands kneeling and sobbing amongst the bodies of his people.

The inside of what might be a burning ship, blue flames licking the walls with bodies of all ages littering the floor and in the center one form, dressed in leathers with pale skin, dark hair, and blood shot eyes.

A city scene saturated in purple, people screaming and running as destruction unfolded around them.

Red like her scarlet, the shouts and screams of many in the background with a white-haired man bleeding out on the floor.

And finally, standing on the edge of a cliff, the blond man from her earlier visions stood, looking down. Once she reached the edge and peered over herself she seemed to move locations, now standing at the foot of the drop staring at the broken jade-toned woman before her. Who suddenly snapped her eyes open and whispered, "Save us."

Once released Wanda had only a moment to orientate herself before she leapt into action, breaking through Shuri's security barrier and snatching up the gauntlet. A quick mental call to Pietro and an explanation for Nebula had them both rushing to help, Nebula steering the trio to Quill's docked ship in front of the palace.

Poor Rocket and Groot weren't sure what to do with them when they boarded but all Nebula had to say was they were gonna get Gamora back and suddenly they were strapped in and readying for take off.

Having to leave James was difficult but she knew this needed to be done. And he would watch out for the children.

"So where do we pick up Gamora?"

Rocket's voice snapped her back into reality. "Not yet."

The small mammal turned back to glare at her. "What do you mean not yet?"

"The visions were all different, all in different colors. Gamora was my last vision and she said to save us. I think we need to go in the order the visions were shown to me,"

"I am Goot."

Raccoon pointed to the talking tree. "Kid's right, that's bulls-"

"Where first?" Nebula asked, growling at Rocket when he tried to protest. "The quicker we get through each vision, the quicker we get my sister."

"It was dark but there were bodies everywhere, the bodies of giants. There was only one left and he was crying, his hands were made of some kind of metal or rock an-"

"Nidavellir."

They turned to Rocket, who was starting to tap out something on his control console. "It's where Thanos got his gauntlet in the first place and where the Pirate Angel got his big axe from. Thanos said he'd spare all the dwarves if their leader, Eitri, made him the gauntlet. He made it but no surprise Thanos killed 'em anyways. Then he did something to Eitri's hands, made 'em metal. That's what you're seeing."

The blue-toned woman nodded at the Sokovian mother. "So we go to Nidavellir."

Wanda felt the sudden surge of energy behind them and she was up along with an armed Nebula, scarlet swirling around her hands as the sparking ring disappeared and Strange stood firm, eyes narrowed.

"No, you'll be turning the ship around."

"Ain't nobody gonna tell me what to do." Rocket snarked from his seat, pushing at more buttons and ignoring the commotion in the back.

Wanda inched her way forward, managing to stand just in front of the gauntlet. "We can't do that. There are people's lives at stake. It needs to be done."

Strange drew closer and Wanda could feel her brother and Nebula match his movements. "I can't let you, Miss Maximoff. As Sorcerer Supreme it is my job to protect the time stone and the very fabric of existence. You gallivanting around with such a powerful object is a danger to said existence. You want to fly around in your space ship, fine, but you do it without the glove."

A whip of shimmering golden energy materialized and wrapped around the gauntlet but not before Wanda's scarlet encased the metal first.

Wanda gasped as her vision whitened out and she suddenly found herself back in the orange empty, nothing as far as the eye could see. A sound from behind had her spinning in place, just to see the large blond man from before. This time his eyes were burning a bright gold and he reached out quickly, touching her shoulder.

Everything dimmed and she felt herself stilling, her body loose as she floated.

"Calm yourself Stone Keeper. There is work yet to be done."

The words were in her voice but atonal and reverberating with a deeper timbre. Yet Wanda was too dulled to question it.

"What'd you do to Wanda?"

She twitched at this voice. Pietro. It was him but he sounded far way, muffled.

"Don't fret Nephew, she is well and I will return her to you. But I have need to talk to Strange."

"Depending on who you are we'll talk. But considering the glowing orange I'm assuming you're the soul stone, albeit sentient."

"We all are in some ways. It's how I know of my Niece and Nephew along with Mind's Stone Keeper. It is how I know of you Stephen Strange. As I knew the Sorcerer before you and the Sorcerer before her. So on and so forth. My siblings and I are connected in some ways. Enough that I know what your plan here is but it must wait. Like I said, there is much work to be done. Damage to be reversed."

"Why is that, by the way? I mean you caused all that destruction in the first place."

"Rocket, shut up."

"The one who used us, the Titan, caused that destruction. We were merely used as his playthings. He spoke of balance, such blasphemy. He sowed chaos and now I must fix what he has done, regain the proper balance. Although with you here Stone Keeper, it may go swifter."

"And why is that? What would you have me do?"

"To use the time stone of course. My Sister can be finicky but she seems quite taken with you. When it is time, you are to wield her. Once the deed is done, it will be my Niece and I's opportunity. But we waste precious moments. Set a course for the Grieving King. And dear Nephew, as promised, I give back your sister."

Wanda let out a gasp, her senses flaring as she fell for only a second before being caught.

"Here Wanda." Pietro guided her to her chair, strapping her in as she panted, turning to take in everyone's expressions. Rocket nodded at her, typing a couple keys before letting everyone know they were coming up on the jump point, Groot next to him giving her a little wave. Once she caught Nebula's eye the woman gave her a firm nod, setting in her own chair. Pietro was already strapped in and he gave a quick squeeze to her hand in support. As for Strange…

"Alright Miss Maximoff," the older man muttered, settling at her other side, pulling on the belts to secure himself. "It seems I've been out voted. We'll go with your plan."

"Glad you've seen reason but if you'll be tagging along, at least stop with the 'Miss Maximoff' nonsense."

"Wanda then."

"Approaching jump!"

She scoffed. "Hardly. We're not quite friends yet."

"3!"

"Then what?"

"2!"

"It's Mrs. Barnes to you."

"1!"


Didn't really like that ending but I needed to match the other chapter in Lighthouse. Also needed to get this out of the way so we can keep going. Let me know what you guys think. Peace out. -Mez