The first thing she noticed was the ear splitting sound of the gun. It wasn't anything like she expected, the movies all show it to be a loud bang but not this. Not this disorienting throbbing in her ears and how she stumbles forward placing one hand on the wall for stability as she attempts to shut out the high pitched ringing ricocheting throughout her brain. Second comes the pain. Blinding pain tearing through her body as she gasps from the sudden shock of it all. She'd been shot. Clean through the centre of the gut, through the back and out the stomach, leaking blood down her outfit. Costume? She wasn't so sure anymore, recently the whole 'superhero' thing was starting to feel more like a gimmick, heroes and villains were starting to blur and she was too afraid to ask herself where she lay on that thin line. The dark crimson poured over the more vibrant scarlet of her clothing as she placed her hand against the wound at her stomach, fruitlessly attempting to at least slow the bleeding.
Turning around she looked the culprit in the face. The worst part was she didn't even recognise the man, HYDRA always had a new leader. After Pierce came this man and after this man she was sure another would soon take his place. Cut off one head, two more grow back.
The man smirked as he still held the gun, now placed by his side casually, certain the threat was now subdued. "Ah" he condescendingly spoke, "The infamous Wanda Maximoff taken down my little old me. Question is how will the rest of your band of merry men receive your body?" Walking forward he continued to speak, Wanda doing her best to stand straight, to not let this pathetic man think he could ever intimidate her. "Shall I send them you bit by bit through the post? Should i dump you in the middle of some random destitute street to me discovered by the public as they sing in celebration for alas the witch is dead" Each word was punctuated with Wanda's breathing becoming shallower and shallower and she struggled in vain to keep her eyes open and remain stood. "Or perhaps I shall keep your body here with me, to be studied, dissected, torn apart and made into nothing. A fitting ending to a creature so worthy of Frankensteins methods"
Finally having enough of this man's words Wanda turned her gaze stony, staring directly into the man's eyes. They were hazel she noted, with a much darker radius around the pupil. "If you are done monologuing i would like to kill you now" The words were strained and her breathing was taking up more effort than she would like to acknowledge. His response was filled with the arrogance so common with these HYDRA leaders, he let out a breathy laugh and looked down to the ground to smile before looking back to Wanda. The smile was that of which you would give to a stupid person, someone so overly cocky in their abilities despite their arrogance being unjustified. Wanda however was not one to look down at, and she did not like to be treated like an insolent child. "Please, you're bleeding out how could you possi-". Red energy formed in her hand, the blood dripping down to the ground leaving little red stains as she raised her arm. With one quick twist of her wrist the man fell to the ground, neck broken and body slumped.
"Like that asshole" she muttered before turning so her back was parallel to the wall and sliding down, sitting so that her knees were in front of her chest before she agonisingly went through the process of stretching them down, hissing in pain as she felt her wounds stretch and pour out more blood. This was supposed to be an easy mission, in and out, just gather intel and download any and all data to Starks USB. This was supposed to be a long deserted HYDRA base, not the new god damn headquarters. Taking it down had been hard but she did it, she completed her mission like a good agent. Like an avenger. Remembering her team Wanda arduously lifted her arm placing her index finger to the communicative device she had in her ear. "This is Maximoff, is there anyone there, over" No response came. "This is Wanda Maximoff, member of the Avengers, is there anyone listening over '' she spoke again as her vision blurred with unshed tears partly due to the pain, the other being from the realization of what's about to happen.
"Ok, since i'm pretty sure no one is monitoring this line i'm just gonna talk and hope you get my message. I've completed the mission, i have the data and all agents have been dealt with" Before she could speak once more she was interrupted by a guttural cough causing blood to fill up her mouth and her to spit it onto the already crimson ground. 'That can't be good' she sarcastically thought. "I've been hit, pretty bad and um… I don't think i'm gonna be getting out of here" More tears sprung forward. It wasn't the thought of dying that caused her anguish, it was the thought of dying here. After trying so hard to escape HYDRA, to put that behind her and move forward it was heartbreaking to know the final thing she will see is the place that has haunted her for so long. "I know what Steve would be saying if he was here, 'don't lose hope, it will be ok' and thank you so much for that optimism. I don't think i've ever told you but there were days that your optimism even in the face of such dire situations was all that kept me going" More coughing, more blood. "I wanna be optimistic but i just remember something Natasha once told me during training. She said that it takes the human body on average around 5 minutes to bleed out from a substantial wound" Leaning her head against the wall she let out a groan. "And im pretty sure its heading to the 5 minute mark" She laughed while saying this although it held no joy. "I uh, I just wanted to say thank you, to all of you. Thank you for taking me in when i had nothing, for accepting me as one of your own, for being there for me when i needed someone. Thank you for it all and so much more. You are my team but you're more than that. The avengers are my family so one last time i love you all. It has been a tremendous pleasure."
This was it, she could feel it. Breathing was painful and simply talking was pure agony. Blinking was heavy and her vision was blurred not only from tears. "Ok" she took one last laboured breath. "Final time, this is Wanda Maximoff, is there anyone there? Over". Nothing. "Please, i don't wanna be alone" The final tears streamed down her cheeks and her arm fell limp to her side. Her eyes glazed over and her breath ceased.
Wanda Maximoff is dead.
There was no one there to close her eyes. No one to kiss her forehead as they told her that it was all gonna be ok, that she was gonna make it. There was no one there to hold her hand and feel her grip slack and she drifted away. There was no one. Wanda Maximoff is dead. She is dead and she is alone.
.
.
.
.
"Maximoff? Are you there?"
"Come in Maximoff?"
"Wanda?"
"Wanda are you there?
"Wanda?"