"You're sure you're good with any of these getting shared?" Natasha asked one last time after going through the other clips. "We don't have any way of controlling if someone leaks any of it once Scott gets them to the FBI."
"I know." Wanda loathed the idea of those things potentially ending up on public display for anyone to see, but it would be selfish not to use solid evidence they had access to. If it helps Scott and Clint get home, it's worth it. She also was quite sure Nat had intentionally chosen clips where she hadn't been purposely painting herself as a threat so much in order that the guards wouldn't want to touch her. "What if someone asks for the timestamps after some of these?" she asked hesitantly. "Or...gets all of the footage directly from...the Raft?"
"Then they'll see you making defensive death glares at people torturing you. Or kicking them. Or any of the...nightmare incidents. But we won't share any of that right off the bat. We want the FBI to see you as a victim first, one that doesn't appear she's fighting back constantly. First impressions are important." Natasha sighed, thinking about all of the other mess online and on TV. "Look, if other people are going to use you for their own agendas, then you can easily do the same. But Scott isn't going to be upset with you if we message him not to use any of this."
"I wasn't...fighting back all the time," Wanda whispered. "I couldn't...do...anything. I don't...I do not...think I ever even...hurt...any of them except...that failure of an escape." I can't even talk about it in a normal manner. I'm just...I don't know. The words felt like she was dragging them out, forcing herself to speak when she didn't want to. Wanda was only too aware of her own natural accent growing more and more obvious as she struggled to explain herself.
"You know I've seen the cell footage from those nineteen days, Wanda," Natasha said quietly. "So, yes, you were fighting back, as much as you could."
"I wished I would die, and then I didn't want...that." W-O-U-L-D M-A-K-E P-I-E-T-R-O S-A-D A-N-D P-L-E-A-S-E R-O-S-S. Wanda saw her friend's hands ball into fists, and she instantly wished she had not shared that. Why did I say that? Now she is going to be worried.
Nat's expression darkened. "So, fighting back passively then by continuing on. Still counts. The amount of times I saw you kick a guard, too."
"Didn't do much good."
"It was good for you to do something. Besides, looks like all of the prison guards were such cowards that you simply staring at them scared them."
I suppose. "Well, that works on many people if they know who I am," Wanda deadpanned, a bit amused even though she hated knowing that most people were never going to see her as anything other than the unstable enhanced girl. "I hate this, that I can't be seen as anything else. Either I am a walking nuke or that...victimized...thing in those camera bits." Maybe being a fugitive could be...good. Once I'm recovered, maybe people that see me will really just see a normal, ordinary person. Not the real me, but...something close.
"We won't use those clips if you don't want to," Natasha told her. "I know it's not the same, but you know the team doesn't see you that way."
"Tony does. I think he sees an unstable enhanced girl that can wreck things with her mind, and nothing else. I heard him, last year. Over and over." And I hate it even more because he's not wrong.
Nat sighed. "You know Tony has a big blunt mouth. He may have thought that when you first joined the team, but he doesn't now."
"Then what did he invent a torture device specifically for me for?"
"I'm sorry, Wanda, I don't know. But you could just ask him. I'm sure he would tell you the truth now."
"...Maybe." Wanda closed her eyes, trying to think and not freak herself out again. It doesn't matter. I am out, I am not alone, either. She knew Natasha had given her an out. Though Steve and Nat had gone to the trouble of getting that footage from the Raft during the rescue and Nat must have spent a lot of time going through it, she knew if she did say 'I don't want to do this', that would be the end of it. The second any of this went to the FBI, it would just be a matter of time before it got online, at best floating around in the depths of the dark web somewhere.
Someone might like seeing it. People might say she deserved all of it.
"I think we should use the video," she whispered. Those are not good reasons not to. Even if that did happen, I shouldn't care. Wanda nodded when Nat asked if it was okay to give her a hug. "Let's...get the pictures too."
"Not right now. Take a nap and eat some dinner, and if you still want to afterwards, then we can. I know doing this wasn't easy." Natasha could easily tell Wanda was not, in fact, okay with the plan at all and merely thought this was what they should do. She didn't seem to be panicking, which was good, but she remained tense, her arms anchored across her middle in the awkward restraint position again.
I didn't even get up, Wanda thought, but she didn't protest. A phone rang, thankfully not making the beeping sound, and she looked up at Natasha curiously.
"It's Laura," Nat told her, and picked up the burner. "Hi, Laura," she said into the phone. "You're on the burner I left you, good. Yes, we're safe."
Wanda listened closely, trying to hear whatever Laura was saying in reply, but she couldn't really hear much of anything. I'll just ask Nat once she hangs up.
"Wait until tomorrow before returning just in case? Yeah, sure...definitely." There was a long pause here and Nat's expression went dark. "Understood. I'll let her know. I don't think she wants to talk to Tony yet...I can contact him instead. I'm not making her do it. No, she's doing fine...Sure, I'll ask her." Natasha put her hand over the phone. "Laura wants to know what you'd like for dinner when we go back. And yes, I have things to tell you after."
Wanda blinked in surprise. I actually get to go back? I get to go back to the vacation house again? "Anything is fine."
"Wanda, you must have some idea. You ate nutri-grain bars and muffins fine, but couldn't handle the crunchy cereal this morning because it still hurt to swallow. Tell me what you want so Laura can make a dish you can enjoy," Natasha said firmly.
Wanda did not know how to answer this right now; she did not want to be a bother, and she had no idea what she might want anyway if she could choose whatever she liked. "I...don't know."
Nat sighed and spoke into the phone again. "She's not picky. Just still something on the softer side. Muffins are fine; crunchy cereal still isn't. ...Yes, I'll tell her everything and get word to the rest of the team. Thanks, Laura. We're excited to come back."
Wanda continued watching Natasha as she paced for a few seconds before sitting again. There is something she thinks I won't want to hear. "What does Tony want?" she asked.
"What he wants is to talk to you as soon as possible. What made me angry is that Laura told me when the house was checked yesterday, Tony was able to pull her aside and told her the most recent negotiation reply he'd received was trading in accurate locations for you, Steve, and Bucky...and to help capture the three of you, for everyone else receiving house arrest." Nat looked annoyed again as she continued, "I don't think he actually knows how badly you're injured. I get the impression he wants to plan a staged confrontation and push some paperwork through simultaneously."
What? This did make sense considering those texts from Vision, where he sounded so concerned about some idea that might stress her out. Vis had seen her and would know she could not participate in some plan like that right now, regardless of whether she wanted to or not. Wanda hesitated, looked down at herself, and then back at Natasha. I could talk to him if Nat stays. I don't want to, but I can. "That plan is stupid," she stated emphatically, "but I...I could...talk to him, if I am not...alone." It...may not be stupid though. He cannot tip us off accurately if Ross doesn't trust him, and so he has to do something to make that man trust him. And he's probably trying to protect himself too. Not locating any of us is inherently suspicious.
"If you're sure. Keep in mind he's not going to want to talk to me. I'm the one that betrayed his side regarding the Accords, remember. You never were in the first place, so he won't be as pissed at you. You may not get as much informational discussion as you'd want if I'm there."
"Stay out of the frame, then," Wanda suggested, not particularly caring much if Tony liked that or not. If he realized what she was up to, he would probably be mad at her, too, but too bad.
Rather than trying to call or get those pictures right then, they decided to wait, or rather, Natasha convinced an obviously tired Wanda to nap for a couple hours and eat something first. Then Wanda hesitantly asked Nat if she could try walking to the mirror over the sink on her own, because she wanted to see her new hair, and she wanted to see herself before she let Natasha take any of those photos.
"Yes, but I'm going to stay within arm's reach just in case," Natasha said in a tone that left no room for argument. "If your ankle starts hurting from you using it, you need to get off it, too, understand? I don't care if it's from just standing, one step, or twenty, you stop immediately."
Wanda did not answer this, because it was still kind of sore anyway, without her putting weight on it at all. It was not killing her or anything, especially in comparison to her bad arm or the burns on her neck, but she knew if she'd twisted her ankle badly the same way back at the Compound, she would probably still be benched on crutches because of it. She was able to slowly stand on her own easily, but took Nat's offer of help after only a step or two, still feeling shaky and unbalanced like when she had gone out on the balcony deck back at the vacation house. I should be stronger by now. It's been over a week and I am still too weak to do this. "I'm sorry," she muttered.
"You're fine, no need to apologize. You aren't leaning on me nearly as much, so that's a lot of progress already." Nat could tell Wanda was very annoyed, but neither of them said anything else as they walked over to the mirror.
Wanda still wasn't entirely sure she really wanted to see herself, but she did really want to see her new red hair, and she hated the idea of taking any pictures without knowing precisely what those pictures were going to be. This was my idea. I should not care. It doesn't matter. She bit her lip and studied her reflection. That girl in the mirror appeared pretty much like she expected, no worse and no better. The red hair was a surprise she was happy to see; she had known, of course, that it was red now, but seeing it in the mirror was different. "I really love my hair," she told Nat, quite pleased. The only thing that genuinely bothered her was looking at the bandages on her neck, because it reminded her of that awful shock collar being there instead. Wanda reached to touch her reflection and then hesitantly began picking at the edge of a piece of tape near her collarbone. "I want to see what it looks like underneath," Wanda whispered, half assuming Nat wouldn't let her peel the tape and bandages off to do so.
"Okay," Natasha said simply, "it's almost time to change those bandages again anyway, and they have to be off to snap any photos, so we can just do those things now." She decided to let Wanda be since she wasn't frightened and clawing at her neck now; she seemed to be calm, even if she wasn't happy. Nat did, however, make her go to sit back on the edge of her bed a minute later when she noticed Wanda was starting to avoid putting weight on her bad ankle and the rest of her was shaking, leaning on Nat more than before. "That's enough right now."
"I didn't get to see."
"You're stressing your ankle and didn't tell me it started to hurt."
"It didn't start to hurt. I'm fine."
"Then it hurt already and you didn't say anything." Natasha knew that Wanda must genuinely be feeling somewhat better now since she was starting the 'I want to get up now, I'm fine' behavior, but then that meant Nat would have to keep a closer eye on her to make sure she didn't strain herself. "You can still see if you want to, but you are not walking any more right now."
Wanda blinked, not saying anything to that. She did let Nat gently remove the rest of the dressings on her neck without fuss, but instantly her shoulders tensed again, the same as every other time those burns were exposed to the open air. It's fine. I am fine, I said I wanted to see, and we have to get those pictures. Wanda felt herself being carried back over to the mirror, and she didn't complain about that, either. She did not say anything, just stared at herself for a moment and then closed her eyes. "I'm done," she whispered.
"Do you still want to do this? You don't have to." Nat set her back down on the edge of the bed when she didn't receive any reply. Wanda's eyes remained closed, but she seemed marginally less tense. "Well, I'm going to wait five minutes, and if you don't tell me anything, we're going to re-dress those burns, and we're not taking any pictures today."
N-O. D-O I-T N-O-W. Before I let Nat convince me not to. I have never cared in the least what I looked like after hurting myself before, not on a mission gone wrong anyway, so why should I care now? Wanda glanced at Natasha and then back at the floor. "That is all going to scar." I don't want to see it forever. I'll start thinking about being trapped there again.
"Not all, just the bits where the worst burn damage is probably," Natasha told her truthfully. "The bruising has already faded quite a bit, and those...puncture wounds from the prongs look much, much better. I know the burns still look awful, but they're improving too. Most of that will disappear completely over time. Give it a chance." She would not lie to Wanda about it; that would do no good and the second Wanda found out, she would be far more distressed over being lied to than if she was just told the truth in the first place.
D-O-N-T K-N-O-W W-H-Y I C-A-R-E. Wanda knew Nat had told her the truth, which she appreciated.
"Probably the same reason you mostly avoid letting anyone see those old ones on your back, but don't care about any you got from our missions. You don't like thinking about where they're from." Natasha remembered Wanda adamantly refusing to go into the pool back at the Compound at first, which she had assumed was because the girl didn't know how to swim (which was technically true-she didn't), but then revealed the truth upon being pressed about it directly.
"If I have told you something, do you have to tell anyone?" Wanda asked, her green eyes clearly suspicious.
"Not unless it puts you or anyone else in danger, no, of course not," Natasha assured her. "It's just strange you won't go in the pool when it's obvious to any of us you're interested."
"But, it is stupid."
"Somehow I doubt that."
Wanda stared at Natasha closely for a few more seconds and appeared to abruptly make a decision on something. She spun on her heel facing away from Nat and yanked her black top off over her head. Pink lines of scars crisscrossed her back, clearly years old and completely healed now. "That," she muttered, still facing away, her fingers leaking scarlet wisps again as she pulled the shirt back on, hiding the old marks.
Natasha frowned, understanding that Wanda did not want anyone else to see those scars, but surprised that Wanda trusted her enough to show them to her. "Did you get those while you were with Hydra?"
"Yes. I took punishment for Pietro. He got mad with me after. I am not sorry-I try to protect him. He did always, for me," the younger girl explained simply, her accented English a bit awkward. The wisps of red continued hazing her clenched fists but didn't do anything more.
"You can wear a shirt over your swimsuit if you really want to go in the pool, you know. Nobody has to know, and if anyone did ask, you could just say you don't want sunburn. But I promise no one is going to care if you let the scars show."
Wanda was glad no further questions were asked about it, but this presented another issue: she didn't have a swimsuit in the first place. "I don't have any swimsuit."
"Then get ready to leave. We're going shopping. I think we can find something you like."
"I don't have any dollars saved yet."
"That's okay. Consider it a present."
After a bit of going back and forth where Wanda kept insisting she could wait until she had money herself, Natasha had finally convinced her that it was fine and they lived with a billionaire (Wanda's expression darkened because she did not like being around Tony), so money was not a problem.
"I do not want pictures taken of my back," Wanda said quietly now. She closed her eyes, remembering what had happened so long ago. Pietro had broken a Hydra scientist's arm and then kicked him for groping her, and she'd been so terrified what would happen to her brother that she'd shouted she would take his punishment instead for him, which she did. Even now she was not at all sorry for choosing to protect Pietro, and she knew she would have done the same thing even if she'd known exactly what the punishment was like. What was strangely amusing to her now was that old Strücker had then rewarded them for 'being such loyal siblings' by letting them live in the same cell-room afterward. They even received extra clothing of their choice and food, 'for being my prize pupils'. She could remember lying on her stomach with her head resting on Pietro's lap while they binged episodes of The Brady Bunch on the little TV up in the corner, feeling relieved and happy to be close to her brother and that he was not hurt, even though her back was killing her. Pietro had been so, so angry she had let herself be cut up like that just to protect him.
Wanda thought her younger self had been very, very stupid, to believe anything that Strücker told them, especially when she had thought right from the start that she disliked him, even before receiving her enhancements. He didn't care about Pietro or her. He just told them what they wanted to hear and dangled carrots at them-like the food and preferred clothing and TV show access-so that they would stay. They should have just run away after receiving their enhancements, not stayed because at least they had a roof over their heads and food and clothes, and still thought they were going to help change the world. But no, they'd been threatened into not running anyway, each of them having the other one's safety held over their heads and believing they weren't strong enough to get away and change things on their own. She wondered now if the whole incident had been intentionally staged to see how she and Pietro would react. It probably was, and we played right into it if so.
"Then we won't."
Wanda blinked again, still thinking. The sooner they started, the sooner it would be done. She felt a bit as if something was careening out of control on the inside, her magic on edge and defensive even though nobody was present besides Nat and herself and it did not feel at all back to normal, either. "Can we get it over with?"
"Yes, of course," Nat said quickly.
Snapping the pictures did not take long at all, and Natasha explained step by step exactly what she was taking photos of, which made Wanda feel much more at ease about it. All the same, she immediately curled back up on her bed and pulled the covers over her head when they were done, which Natasha did not question. "I don't want to see them. Send it to Scott," Wanda said, her voice muffled in the pillows.
"I think we should wait until after we talk to Tony. See what information we can get from him. Maybe we won't have to use the photos or the videos at all." Nat paused, knowing Wanda did not want to attempt doing that right now even though she had not said a word, so she changed the subject. "Laura also said Clint called her burner phone. He's safe as well but decided to sleep in the truck rather than go to a motel like us. Last she heard he was in Vermont. Seems like he decided to chew Vision out before they split up and confused him."
This made Wanda look at Nat with great amusement; she had no doubt in her mind that Clint probably had fussed at Vis trying to make sure the synthezoid wouldn't hurt her. "I will call Vis in a bit. He can...find Tony, I suppose. I just...need a few minutes."
"That's fine. Take as long as you need."
Wanda didn't say anything right away when she put the video call through a little while later. She was happy to see Vision on the other end of the call, but she didn't know what to say, either.
"You are safe?" Vision asked hopefully.
Wanda glanced at Natasha, who remained sitting out of frame, and nodded.
"That is good. Your hair is different."
"Do you like it? I match you now," Wanda said, quite pleased with this comment.
"I do not have hair unless I am disguised," came a puzzled response.
Natasha snorted in amusement hearing this, which made Wanda give her a please shush! look.
"Vis, you are naturally red," Wanda said patiently, "it was supposed to be funny." She could tell he was studying her critically through the camera lens and she would have felt like a bug pinned under a microscope if it was anyone else, but she didn't mind Vision doing that because he wasn't judging her.
"Oh. Well, it looks very nice. It is like Ms. Romanoff's previous hair and it coordinates with your enhancements."
Wanda quite liked that he had figured out her own thoughts without having to hear her explain. She turned a bit pink and said a quiet thank-you. Stop stalling. I should ask him to get Tony. I have to. I can always call again later. And Nat told me to make sure he knows he absolutely cannot let anyone know he has spoken to me. "You'll...wipe me from your phone after?"
"Of course. No one will discover my having contact with you," Vision answered quickly. "Are you feeling any better?"
"I'm okay. Much better than when I was rescued," Wanda told him, which was objectively true. She felt tremendously better than she had the first couple days. Some of her memories from immediately after the Raft escape felt hazy, not in an unpleasant way exactly, just mushed into I am in so much pain right now but I know I'm safe, I have friends with me at least. "Could you...get Tony? I'd much rather just talk to you, but I think I...have to talk to him."
"Are you certain?"
Yes, please just get on with it, I am not going to last long. "Yes." Wanda knew it was stupid, especially since they were planning to use that security footage and potentially those photos to their own advantage, but she had an inexplicable wish to appear as fine as possible if she was going to talk to Tony right now, and she could not really do that. I don't want to tell him anything. I really don't.
"Very well." Wanda watched Vision seemingly phase out of whatever room he was in at the Compound and then return with Tony a few seconds later.
It's fine, I said I wanted to do this, just don't be stupid, she ordered herself. Wanda mustered up a flat, "Hello," and nothing else.
"Hey."
"I heard you wanted to talk to me."
"Figured you'd refuse."
"Well, here I am. What do you want?" That's rude, I should be nice, I have questions myself, Wanda thought, but she couldn't bring herself to apologize for sounding snappish.
"I guess you didn't find the envelope yet," Tony said, genuinely disappointed.
Wanda was quiet for a moment, still unsure how to react to that. "I did. I don't know what to think," she replied finally. Tell the truth. Nicely. "I...I do really appreciate it, so thank you. But you can't...buy me off with money."
"That was an apology, you stubborn thing."
"It did not say that."
"What do you think 'keep it, no strings attached' means?"
That you don't want to actually apologize. "I think you have so much money that...it was easier to give me...all of that than to just...apologize a-and explain." Wanda still could not process just stuffing 150,000 in an envelope like that.
"That's rich, from the girl who gave us all nightmares."
"Excuse me?" This actively pissed Wanda off; her eyes glowed red and her tone changed, accent a bit thicker than usual. "Yeah, no, I do not think so. You got an apology a-and explanation from me already before. And you chose to create Ultron, I didn't force you."
it's partially your fault Pietro is dead if you didn't make a murderbot he would be alive and I shouldn't have just let him take the scepter in the first place so it's my fault too isn't it why did I do any of it back then
"We will not be discussing that," she continued, "I want to know why y-you think I should help you when you created a shock collar specifically for me."
"That wasn't supposed to happen."
"It did not create itself. You couldn't at least make it...less of a torture device?"
"How the hell do you make something like that not a torture device? I shouldn't have invented it in the first place."
"Helpful if you d-don't have your teammates thrown in a...an underwater prison." Thank you for admitting you shouldn't have made it though. Wanda felt her magic stirring in that careening runaway train manner inside again, and she stubbornly shoved the feelings down. "You didn't get the others out. They are n-not enhanced like me. Me, you don't trust. Fine. Very understandable. Very justified. What about the rest?"
"If I'd interfered in the airport, all of us would've been thrown in the Raft, and you know it."
"Next time don't sign trash like the Accords then!" Wanda knew she was straining her voice, because speaking loudly hurt and made her cough, and she was vaguely aware of Nat gesturing for her to shush because someone might hear. Maybe if we had all stood together, the Accords would have been dumped.
"Mr. Stark, this conversation is not helping you or Wanda," Vision jumped in, voice firm. "The problem is Secretary Ross, not you or her for past poor behavior."
"She's being unfair-"
"Okay, let's cut that there," Natasha interrupted, still out of frame. "This is incredibly unhelpful. May I?" she asked Wanda, gesturing to the phone. Wanda immediately nodded and gladly let Nat take it. "Tony, you did get us on the phone. Get to the point, please."
"I told Laura I needed to talk to Wanda, not you, Black Widow."
"You had a chance to talk to her, and you blew it. She didn't help matters snapping like that, but I don't know how you thought she was going to react. She's badly hurt and you seem to think giving her a good chunk of cash is going to automatically make her not upset with you. Look, even you clearly aren't following the Accords yourself. You know all of this is wrong, or you wouldn't have let us have access to your vacation house, warn us, or withhold information from Ross and lie to him." Nat debated with herself for a moment, glancing at Wanda before adding, "You just brought up the nightmare incident from last year over her pointing out you gave her money instead of an apology and explanation, which she did not even deliver in a snotty manner. Low blow. She messed up then, sure, but that wasn't fair."
"How can you still be so blasé about that now when you were the one who took it the worst?"
Natasha's eyes flashed briefly before she said flatly, "Being unresponsive temporarily is hardly creating a world-destroying murderbot, Tony. She was completely in the wrong for what she did, but she most certainly did not force you to create Ultron. That is on you. Sorry I sympathize with another girl that has experienced the same manipulative abuse I did. Leave her be."
"I don't know what to say to her. I never, ever wanted her hurt like that just because she's dan-"
"No, no, you don't get to say that. She isn't dangerous. No more than the rest of us are. That's-"
"Nat, let me talk to him," Wanda said quietly, holding her hand out for the phone. Tony already knows Nat is with me, so it doesn't matter now. I can ask some questions.
Natasha muted the microphone on their end. "Wanda, you can't shout or let your magic react in here, no matter what. End the call if you have to, okay?"
Wanda nodded again, mentally ordering herself to behave calmly. I can do this. I need to ask my questions and find out exactly what Tony wants from me, and exactly what horrid Ross is up to. "I am here again."
"Great. You going to shout again?"
"No, but I have questions I want answered, please."
"Sure, shoot."
"Did you tell any of the team you...invented that collar?" Wanda bit the inside of her lip, hoping very much to hear a no, but also wanting the truth. Nat is here with me. It's fine, I'm fine, everything is fine.
"No. That was never meant to be used on you, Wanda. You piss me off sometimes, but I never, ever wanted that prototype or anything like it put on you." Tony rather thought Natasha looked more angry than Wanda at this point, which was...not great, to say the least. Wanda tended to wear her heart on her sleeve, and she did not make it a secret when displeased. Natasha often did disguise her feelings, so her visibly appearing angry and more so than Wanda did was very off-putting.
I want to scream. You had to spend hours creating it, you never thought, 'hey maybe this isn't a good idea'? Or do one of the things Clint pointed out that could have been made instead? I don't understand. Wanda was glad Natasha stayed next to her, not interrupting, just staying nearby for moral support. "When did you make it?" she asked next.
"After you soloed every other person on the team except Vision in a one-on-one your first day training with zero practice whatsoever, when we were trying to get a baseline from you power-wise and skill-wise for future reference." Tony looked very guilty, which made Wanda all the more certain this was the truth.
"Mr. Stark, why would you do that? Is that not what we are supposed to do when training?" Vision sounded utterly baffled. "She was ordered not to hold back. So she did not. Why does it matter that she defeated almost everyone? If I remember correctly, she could not come anywhere close to a win against anyone when practicing without accessing her enhancements. Therefore, she has strengths and weaknesses like everyone else."
"It is not my fault all of you went easy on me because I was the new glass cannon person with no experience. I do hope you did that before I apologized to you," Wanda said flatly. Then I could understand.
"Well...yeah, of course. I certainly wouldn't have done it after."
Wanda tossed the phone on the bed, rested her head on her knees, and found herself holding back laughter. That sounded so ridiculous to her she didn't feel she could even be truly angry anymore. Okay. That was definitely the truth. Between the odd explanation and Vision's matter of fact questions and comments, she was more amused than anything else at this point. She could easily remember that first day; she'd still been so upset and angry that Pietro was gone and it felt so good to be ordered to purposely fight with her magic, because it felt like an outlet of sorts, and it was maddening that the rest of the team was going easy on her in the first place...all of them except Natasha, who had flat out said, "I am not going easy on you, because you don't need that."
Nat had proceeded to knock the wind out of her sending her flat on the floor in about two seconds when she didn't use her magic, while the reverse happened when Wanda did use her magic.
Probably starting to tear up Tony's Iron Man suit did not exactly endear her to him to say the least, but they had all told her don't hold back, no lethal behavior or mind tricks, but otherwise no holds barred multiple times, so she'd done what she was told. But she could understand what had made Tony react like that, because he was probably scared, angry, and defensive, just like her. And if it was before she'd apologized to him, he might have thought she would kill him or something back then. This made most of the anger from knowing where that shock collar had come from fade, not the hurt feelings, but the anger, yes.
Wanda glanced at Nat again, whose often difficult to read expression looked rather angry. I A-M F-I-N-E, she signed quickly, and picked up the phone again. "I am being honest when I say I...do not feel inclined to help you. But I'm selfish. I think maybe...this could help us too." Wanda hesitated, looked at Natasha yet again, and then back at Tony on the screen. He looked somewhat relieved, and that was confusing. She could see Vision calmly waiting behind him, and found that helpful. She could pretend she was talking to him instead. "Do you have security footage from the Raft?"
"No, Ross won't let me have any more of it," Tony said, just as Vision said, "I can easily acquire it."
"Vision, you do that, and Ross will know you can hack any security system instantly. He'll order you to use that skill to find your girl and the other fugitives."
"He will not if he does not see me. Moreover, I have told you she is not mine, she is her own person."
"Never mind that," Wanda said firmly. If Ross would not let Tony have the footage, then he must be concerned what Iron Man might be able to do with it. "We have video from the cell block."
Tony leaned forward with interest. "You do?"
"Yes." Wanda looked at Nat hopefully, wanting her to come into frame again and explain. I can't talk about this. I'm going to break down again if I do.
Luckily Natasha understood, and she came to sit beside Wanda so that both of them were on the video call now. "All nineteen days' worth. There's plenty of evidence to prove the conditions in that prison are terrible, that Wanda was being tortured there, and used to threaten her team. Sounds like Ross won't let you have the footage because he knows it's proof," Nat said matter-of-factly.
"Do you have anything from interrogation sessions? Enhanced interrogation is illegal too."
"There were no cameras in that room," Wanda answered sharply. "So no."
Natasha kept her voice and expression neutral, though Wanda sensed her friend was extremely displeased right now. "I think video of her being shocked repeatedly for absolutely nothing is enough evidence of torture and mistreatment in general. You were not shown an accurate representation of what went on constantly in that prison when you visited. I'm guessing all you saw was each of them in individual cells and the way Wanda was kept restrained, right?"
"Yes. She looked banged up, but honestly I thought it mustn't be that bad since she snapped at me when I saw her and acted like she was fine. I can see that...isn't accurate, looking at her now. You need anything extra for that busted arm, little witch?"
Wanda blinked, disliking the nickname but also feeling strangely reassured hearing that offer. She instinctively held her splinted arm close, but shook her head. "No, but thank you anyway. ...Why did you help us if y-you thought it was fine?" Wanda asked, her voice shaking slightly.
Tony stared at her, oddly silent for once. "Uh, you were tied up like an unruly dog and it was wrong. There were visible marks on you, not from all of us squabbling in Leipzig. Trouble being if that was all I had to go on...can't exactly make a decent argument not to restrain you, because if you'd been put in a cell the normal way, you'd escape immediately, Miss Mysterious Enhanced. And people like Ross gonna say, oh, the WMD had to be weakened so she wouldn't wreck the place."
Wanda wanted to be angry at him for saying all of that, but mostly she just felt empty and deflated, because she knew Tony was a hundred percent right. If he tried to lobby for the horrible constant restraints to stop, that was exactly what would happen. Nobody would listen to him; he would be dismissed as being biased because she used to be a member of his team. And he wouldn't have been told about the lack of food and sleep, the repeated drug injections, or anything else. All he knew then was that someone had been roughing her up a bit, but he certainly couldn't see the burns beneath the collar or all the bruises hidden by her clothes. She hadn't yet had her arm injured or twisted her ankle when Tony visited the Raft, either. Ross has been lying to him, by leaving things out.
"I did try to convince Ross to get that straitjacket off you, because assuming the collar was functioning as originally intended, that would be unnecessary regardless, but he wouldn't listen and kept saying he wasn't taking any chances."
Knowing that someone who genuinely did not even like her much had really been speaking up on her behalf helped a little. Wanda blinked quickly, forcing herself not to cry, and nodded a bit. "I, um. I like to know...that. Thank you," she whispered.
Tony frowned, finding this reply odd because the girl sounded far, far more grateful for just that than she did about finding the money. "Whatever, you're welcome," he mumbled. "Not like it fixed anything or meant much."
"It means...much to me, that you tried," Wanda told him, which was the truth. If Tony tried to do that, he most certainly wouldn't have approved of the other awful things going on, either. But he didn't know about all of that.
"Tony, the Raft was not so-called 'only' keeping her restrained in that inhumane manner constantly. There are so many incidents where she was sitting in that cell doing nothing and you see a guard walk by and set that shock collar off. Not for any reason other than that they thought it was funny." Natasha kept her voice steady, but she felt like snapping herself despite knowing it would not help. Going through all of that footage herself had pissed her off; and while she would not tell Wanda, it made her want to go after Ross and any guards that had participated in torturing Wanda for fun, and eliminate all of them. "They grabbed her by the hair to inject her with some kind of sedative pretty much daily, wouldn't let her talk despite allowing the boys to talk as much as they wanted, not to mention being dragged off to be tortured almost every day. She has fractured bones. She has severe burns on her neck. She was not 'only' restrained like you were shown during your visit and slapped around a bit." I will not share the worst of it...I promised Wanda I wouldn't tell anyone those things.
Tony looked very disturbed. "That thing was designed to keep her from using her enhancements, not...do anything like that to her."
"What the hell did you think would happen knowing your dumb prototype you never meant to be actually used was put on her? She's a young enhanced person tossed in a poorly run maximum security prison with an unremovable shock collar on, left in a straitjacket 24/7. The staff was bored and decided to entertain themselves abusing a prisoner that they were still scared of besides. Forget whether she's innocent or not in the eyes of the law. Even if someone decided to argue that she had to be restrained differently than the others because she's enhanced, there's no argument at all for doing things like that to her." Natasha looked over at Wanda, who was silent and focused on the wall now, obviously struggling to maintain composure. "We need a minute. Please hold."
The second their side of the call was muted, Wanda scooted herself to the edge of the bed out of frame of the waiting call before letting her expression fall. "I do not want to be on the call any more," she said as quickly as possible, "so I think I will...wait in the bathroom until it is done. I'll do whatever you think is best. I will not help Tony with his plan, period, until I'm...back to normal. After, I will, if you think it will help." Normal. I don't have one. Discarding that thought, Wanda finished, "I don't feel like I want to help him, honestly. But I want to help us, and he doesn't deserve the Raft either. I do not want him there f-for...helping hide me."
Natasha nodded. "Got it. You'll be okay shut in that microscopic bathroom until I'm done with the call?"
"Yes. I know you are here, and I will keep the light on. Tell Vis I say bye? Please."
Natasha helped Wanda walk to the bathroom before returning to the video call. Wanda did genuinely seem fine-she clearly much preferred the idea of waiting alone over being on the call any longer-but Nat still didn't particularly feel comfortable leaving her alone. "You're stuck with me because Wanda says she is finished with this call for now. Vision, she says bye to you."
Vision was disappointed that Wanda wasn't coming back onto the video call, but very unsurprised.
"If you can get some of those video clips here to the Compound. I'm pretty sure I can do something with that," Tony said in a far more subdued voice than usual.
"Great, so actually we will be sending them to the FBI ourselves. What we would like is if those things get leaked, some nice, subtle outrage on your part."
"Natasha, they'll probably go into a mysterious black hole and you know it. You and that enhanced girl don't trust me. I get that. The feeling is mutual. But you'd be better off purposely leaking these videos yourselves. Or take some photos of her injuries and get it to a media outlet," Tony suggested.
"We do have pictures, but I am not sending photos of Wanda's injuries to the media on purpose, Tony," Nat said firmly. "She's not you, she doesn't feel comfortable having public pictures of her everywhere even under normal conditions, let alone sensitive ones where she's badly hurt."
"You share security footage, and it will end up on the dark web somewhere, if not normal news sites. That's going to happen regardless of whether I help you or not. Little Red's going to have to deal either way." Tony scowled at Natasha, obviously annoyed. "Look, get the video and pics here to the Compound or don't. Your choice. But if you're just trying to protect Wanda from having to deal with that, you can't use that evidence at all."
"Sharing it also may make everything worse," Vision put in, his voice thoughtful. "Regardless of whether she would feel comfortable with proceeding with that or not, it would make it extremely difficult to hide. You must keep her safely hidden away until she heals, Ms. Romanoff, please. There would be no guarantee the desired results occur, and if it did fail, it would make everything much worse."
"Ross is on my tail about finding any and all of you. If we can successfully get Scott and Clint 'caught' and on house arrest, he'll probably chill for awhile. Not finding any of you at the vacation house helped, but he thinks there's something wrong with Vision's behavior, because he's acting distracted, and I'm having to focus on the ideas that you still have a quinjet and an enhanced person capable of mind-control in the group. It's certainly not helping any of your reputations, especially hers."
Natasha considered this; it was maddening, but she knew Wanda would tell her to use whatever means necessary to keep their little group safe. "What if we gave up the quinjet? Ross would then believe we'd be easier to find." We could navigate airports fine if necessary. Just need to protect Scott and Wanda; they'd be most likely to give us away, probably.
"Could probably work. I'll make an excuse to come by the vacation house in a few days and regroup again."
"Also, just so you know, Wanda did tell me she will not help you stage anything until she's back to normal. However, at that point, she would be willing if necessary."
"Perhaps all of us should do nothing as of yet. Mr. Stark, you said the Barton family could not remain at the vacation house after the summer because Miss Lila and Mister Cooper would have to go back to school at that point. Maybe by then, Wanda will have completely recovered and it would not be so difficult for her to hide in plain sight." Vision was still very, very laser focused on keeping Wanda safe; he didn't want anyone else in danger either, but after organizing all of his priorities in his head, he had realized that programming or not, she was at the top of his list. This was probably wrong, but it appeared nobody in charge was going to speak up in her defense, and he hated that.
"I get the idea you want to skip off into the sunset with Wanda," Natasha teased.
"I should like to take her to a dinner. That is something humans do for someone they care for, is it not?"
Wanda jumped when she heard a familiar light knock on the bathroom door, but quickly twisted the doorknob open with a tiny bit of her magic, finding that easier to do than opening it the ordinary way. "I'm sorry I left," she whispered.
"That's nothing to be sorry for. That is recognizing your own boundaries of what you can handle right now, which is a good thing." Natasha was glad her younger teammate appeared to be mostly fine; she was tense but nothing more, and she wasn't squeezing herself into a ball like she tended to do when frightened. "And next time, you tell Vision if he's doing something you don't feel comfortable with. You shouldn't have been letting him stroke your hair if you don't like it."
Wanda let Natasha help her limp back to bed, grateful to not have to be so close to the cold floor in the bathroom, which had been reminding her of the cold cell floor back in that prison. She did not think she really felt that bad right now, just very tired. "I felt like...telling him that was mean, because I didn't...mind before. I liked it before."
"If he thinks you saying you do not want your hair touched is rude, he's not worth caring about the way you do. It has nothing to do with why you do or don't like it."
"But I...don't mind you helping me take care of it. I felt ridiculous and illogical. Vis didn't do anything to...make me not trust him." And I felt comfortable with him holding me. That made me happy. Wanda wasn't surprised that Nat had brought this up, but she was still disappointed with herself for reacting that way before. Both of them left me behind in the airport. It's just...I know Nat could not have gotten me out. Vis could have. I completely understand why he didn't, but it still hurts anyway.
Natasha frowned and sat next to her. "Is it because males were grabbing you by the hair multiple times in that prison, or is it because he didn't take you out of Leipzig and you know he had the power to do so and I didn't?"
I D-O-N-T K-N-O-W. "He did nothing wrong...not rescuing me." He just wanted to protect people.
"I disagree, but regardless, believing that isn't going to erase feeling hurt about it. You should be honest with him next time you see him."
"I don't know how." And I don't want to hurt his feelings or chase him away, either. Wanda twirled a wisp of scarlet in her hand and then dispelled it again. Vis had known something was wrong with her already; he'd sensed something not quite right with her enhancements, and he had wanted to help her feel better because he knew she was hurting. He wasn't going to mind if she tried to be honest and it didn't make sense. Still, she didn't want to talk about this any more right now. "I don't want any of that pain medicine tonight," she announced.
Natasha looked at her suspiciously, both at the abrupt topic change and because she was unsure if Wanda really felt that much better all of a sudden that she would sleep decently without it. "Why do I think you don't suddenly feel that much better right now?"
"...Can I try?"
"Yes, that's fine," Nat said quickly, not caring for that nervous edge in Wanda's voice, worried Wanda might think someone was going to force her to take it. "But you need to tell me if you can't sleep properly without it."
I'm used to not sleeping through the night. It doesn't matter. "Okay. I can do that." Wanda decided this was a good compromise, though she had a feeling Nat's definition of sleeping properly did not match hers. "What happened after I left?"
"The call? We have to leave the vacation house by the end of summer at the latest, when Lila and Cooper go back to school. So it might be better to wait until once we get to our new safe house, wherever we decide to go, to try using our evidence."
"Because we can't hide me."
"Because it'll be much, much easier once you're healed. We use our evidence now and it'll be far too easy to ID you. To both get Ross off Tony's case for awhile and hopefully get Scott home, we can give up the quinjet. Clint will already be with Laura and the littles anyway, so this won't be preventing anyone from seeing their kids." Natasha was relieved Wanda seemed to instantly understand the plan; she was nodding and looked thoughtful.
"If we do give up the quinjet, it will be hard to change locations easily," Wanda said slowly.
"If you have a better plan or even just a different one, I want to hear it. You have the same input on this as the rest of us."
I do? I feel like I don't, because I still can't really do much yet. Wanda was silent as she mulled this over, but finally just stared up at the ratty ceiling and said, "I just don't want to put any of you in danger. I'm not stupid, I know I am why this is...complicated. I have an obvious accent, I'm very visibly injured...and I am the one Ross wants to capture the most."
"I can help you learn to disguise your accent better easily enough. That's something we can practice while we're still relaxing safe at the vacation house. Your English is much, much smoother than last year naturally already. If we really are able to stay there the rest of the summer, I think that will be plenty of time both for you to heal-at least mostly-and practice disguising your accent." Natasha sighed, knowing Wanda really did have a point about Ross being after her, but there was nothing to be done about that. The best thing they could do was make it as difficult to identify Wanda as possible. Hoping it would put Wanda in a better mood, Nat added, "Your synthezoid friend did say he wants to take you out to dinner."
Sure enough, Wanda's eyes sparkled with great interest at this comment. "I would like that very much."