Bruce walked onto the command deck after the events. He hit a few buttons on the wartable. Suddenly, a swirling circle of golden light appeared in the middle of command deck, and a man stepped through.
"Doctor Strange? What are you doing here?"
"I have Avenger business to discuss."
"Not that I'm unhappy to see you, but you could've called."
"Normally I would, unless I were worried about phone taps," Strange replied.
"Phone taps? What's going on?"
"Do you know about Westview?"
Bruce nodded his head in confirmation " Yes, we just started investigating"
"Three weeks ago, the town of Westview, New Jersey, was cut off from the rest of the world. No transmissions can get out, and no one inside it has been able to leave. An offshoot of S.H.I.E.L.D. called S.W.O.R.D. is sequestering it, making sure no one accidentally stumbles in. I didn't know they had been in touch with you."
"Do we know what caused it?"
"I don't know if S.W.O.R.D. does. I've been able to determine it's a pocket dimension, still connected to ours—for now—but experiencing different laws of physics. Doctor Banner, how much do you know about Wanda Maximoff?"
"Wanda? I don't know. I don't know her well. She disappeared after A-day, so..."
Strange shook his head. "She's in Westview."
It took Bruce a second to register that news. "She's trapped there?"
"My investigation indicates she's causing it. A sorcerer in my order has been able to astral project inside. It looks like Ms. Maximoff has possibly accidentally created her own personal universe. Can you get me in touch with the other Avengers? I'd like more insight on Maximoff"
"His farm's about a 45 minute drive from here. I can take you. I want answers too, and maybe I can help."
Natasha thought she'd known what she was getting herself into. That is until she and the other Avengers found a man dressed like a medieval swashbuckler on the Chimera's command deck late at night.
"Bruce! It's so good to see you! Who's your friend?"
"Guys. This is Doctor Stephen Strange."
"Pleased to meet you," he said.
"Oh my god Doctor Strange" Khamala squealed
"I believe we have not met."
Tony came in just a moment later. He looked at their guests for a long moment. "...Doctor Strange?"
"I'm sorry to drop by so late, but there's something we need to talk about urgently."
Doctor Strange cleared his throat and glanced at Khamala.
"Oh, she is one of us," Tony said.
"I'm going to go make some tea," Bruce said. "Decaf green tea okay with everyone?"
Everyone nodded or murmured acceptance, and he went to the adjoining kitchen, where he busied himself with boiling water and selecting mugs, but still listened to the conversation.
"Do any of you what happened to Wanda Maximoff?" Strange asked.
Tony hesitated for a moment. "She went off the radar after A-day, granted so did i kinda. How much do you know?"
"Quite possibly more than you. The town of Westview has been enveloped in a pocket dimension." He paused. "You don't look surprised."
"You knew?" Bruce asked.
"Fury has a barrier set up around the town, they have scientists studying it. It's been suggested that Wanda's causing it, but I can't imagine how. I know Wanda's not everyone's favorite person, but she's a good kid. A good kid who's been through a whole hell of a lot. If she's doing it, she doesn't mean to."
"That's my source's assessment," Strange stated. "It seems that Wanda Maximoff is causing it, controlling the world for her own purposes, but we don't know how. No matter how powerful she is, control on this scale doesn't seem possible. What's your opinion of her psychological state?"
It took a moment for Natasha to answer. "She's been through a lot. So she's not coping...great."
"According to my source, she seems to be influencing the minds of the people around her. They're unable to mentally register that anything is wrong. She's revived the Vision."
"What? She brought Vision back to life?" Tony asked in confusion.
"Seems that way apparently, they're married."
"Married?" Bruce sputtered.
"Also, time in the pocket universe isn't in sync with ours. In our universe it's only been three weeks, but inside it's been at least several months."
Bruce poured hot water over tea bags in four mugs and carried them into the living room. Everyone had gone quiet, deep in thought.
"Can you get her out of the pocket universe?" Tony asked Doctor Strange. "If we could talk to her..."
"I haven't found a way to do that," he replied. "I could convey a message to her, but I doubt anything would get through to her in her psychological state."
"Good point," Bruce said. "If she doesn't know what she's doing or how, it's not very helpful to tell her to stop."
Tony sipped his tea thoughtfully. "How could you communicate with her?"
"I have someone who's able to astral project inside the pocket dimension. She's been observing Wanda, trying to figure out how to safely stop her."
Natasha spoke up. "Have you been coordinating with Fury?"
Doctor Strange shook his head. "S.H.I.E.L.D. Or S.W.O.R.D. Has never been my thing."
"So you haven't shared what it's like on the inside with them?" Natasha glanced at Tony. "Does S.H.I.E.L.D. Or S.W.O.R.D. even know if anyone in Westview was even still alive?"
"Probable not, its not they care half the time." Tony said
" That is kinda true" Dr Strange agreed
"It seems like sharing intel is the best way to figure out what to do about this," Khamala pointed out.
"But I can see why S.W.O.R.D. don't want People to know they're involved," Bruce said. He tapped his cheek, thinking. "We need go to Westview. We need that uplink for Jarvis so we can help Pym, so we have to go in."
"That could work," Doctor Strange agreed. "I won't be able to check in often. I have other matters to attend to. But I will set up some way for my associate to communicate her findings to you."
Having come to that decision, Doctor Strange bid them goodnight, thanked them for the tea, and left through a glowing magical portal he opened in the air.
"Well that happened," Tony said.
"And it's after midnight," Bruce added. "We should all be getting to sleep."
The Avengers had saved the world several times, and one way or another, it had torn each of their lives apart.
It wasn't fair. They should have been rewarded for putting their lives on the line to save the world, not punished for it. Cap deserved to see everything put right again. He deserved to survive to get better, to know happiness.
Maybe Wanda also saw the unfairness of it all. Maybe Wanda was trying in her own way to make it right. To make something right.
S.W.O.R.D. might try to lock her up and study her, if they were able to stop her. She didn't deserve to be punished once again for a misguided attempt to make the world better. If they could, they would protect her. They hadn't been able to save Cap, but maybe they could save Wanda.
