Avengers: Don't Get in My Way

Chapter 6

New Avengers Facility, Upstate New York — May 29, 2015

Almost three weeks after the Battle of Sokovia, as the news outlets were calling it, Wanda laid her book aside on the bed and sighed. Her head rested against the padded headboard as she looked around the room. Even as recently as a month ago, she never imagined being in a place such as this. The United States was very different from the small Eastern European country of her birth, and her life until now. The buildings, the rooms, the very feeling in the air were very different from what she was accustomed to. Most of those she had known in Novi Grad, the capital of Sokovia, could only have dreamed of such a place.

Finally, her restlessness caught up with her. She bounced up from the bed, and went to the very large window that overlooked the grounds. There were no bars, or anything so obvious, but she suspected there was some sort of containment measures in place. It made sense to her, after all, just a month ago, she had hated the people in this building. Then came Ultron, the battle, and her realization that the mad machine was truly as deranged as any human could be. It was during this galvanizing event that her entire belief system was turned upside down, and she came to discover those that she had always believed were her enemies were closer to friends than the people she typically thought of as friends were.

Just a month ago, she had lost Pietro during the battle. She had lost her twin brother. She had lost the only person left alive that truly meant anything to her. Everyday her entire life, he had been there, by her side. No one stood next to her now; she was truly and utterly alone, even in a building full of these new people that wanted to be her friends. These were people that she had fought alongside against the machine that seemed to share her belief in the corruption she imagined ran rampant within those same people. These were people that had fought the crazed robot at her side along with her brother.

Tears welled up within her eyes and her shoulders shook with the release of the sadness that washed over her like the tide. She watched the training groups below through eyes clouded over with the salty liquid of her tears. Wanda wrapped her arms around herself in an attempt to warm the cold, hollow feeling that lived within her, but it was no use. Nothing seemed to banish that feeling, not completely. It didn't matter how many friends she would make, it didn't matter who those friends were or what they would come to mean to her, there would always be an emptiness inside her that couldn't be filled. The void that losing Pietro left in her heart was a void destined to remain unfilled for the rest of her life.

Bowing her head, she covered her face with her hands and let her feelings out. Tears rolled between her fingers as she sobbed quietly. The young woman sniffed loudly as she stood before the window, letting the tears go until they finally would come no more, at least not for now. They would never truly be gone, she thought.

"Miss Maximoff," said a voice behind her in a soft and quiet tone.

The door hadn't opened and no one had come through the window she knew. The abrupt and sudden voice startled her. She whirled rapidly, her hands at the ready, prepared to defend herself. The red energies that were the hallmark of her powers flickered and flowed about her fingers. Her face contorted in an odd mixture of despair, pain, fear, and anger.

"How dare you just wa—" she began, the anger dripping from each word. It was then that her eyes settled on the speaker that had so startled her. It was the red skinned android that Ultron had intended to be his final body, but instead became its own entity. It was the machine that she had seen annihilation within its mind when it lay dormant, but after it had gained what passed for life and she had confronted it, it had asked her to look once more and discern what were his thoughts and intentions then.

She again looked into its… his mind, and had seen the truth that she had already seen in his eyes. This android… this man was not the insane, murderous, maniacal thing that his creator had been. He was different. He was something she couldn't put into words.

The synthezoid tilted his head quizzically, and regarded her in what seemed to be genuine confusion. His face softened into an almost sheepish expression.

"I… apologize if I have offended you, or have made you uncomfortable," he said in that same soft tone. His eyes never wavered from hers. "That was not my intention. I merely wished to… I thought to… if you are hungry and would like companionship while you consume your meal, I would be pleased to join you, if you would wish such a thing, of course."

I must be imagining things, she thought as she stared in both wonder and confusion at the person standing in front of her. He wasn't a real person, but he wasn't exactly a mechanical contrivance, either. He actually sounds as if he has true feelings. He seems honestly upset that he thinks he offended or hurt me. Is such a thing even possible?

Uncomfortable silence lingered between them as they stood looking at each other. The entire time, his eyes remained riveted to hers. After a few moments, he blinked as if he were sad and nervous and dropped his gaze to the floor at her side.

"I had not considered that you may be experiencing a moment of private emotions. Such things are rather… unpredictable. I apologize once more, and leave you to your privacy," he said finally when she hadn't answered him. He turned and started towards the door so that she might have the privacy she obviously needed.

His expression was one of sorrow, but also something else. He looks like a defenseless puppy that I just viciously kicked, she thought as he started to turn away from her. Her own expression fell. That was cruel of me. He meant nothing by it, except concern, and I hurt him. Have I truly sunk so deeply into grief and pain that I lash out horribly against someone that is just trying to make me feel better?

He paused as her hand suddenly shot out and gently restrained him by the arm. She looked up into his eyes and felt a cold spike of regret stabbing up through her very soul at her behavior. "Viz… Vision, wait. Please. Wait for me to say something?"

Once more, his head tilted to the side as he regarded her. His brows rose with a gentle motion as he let her touch halt his movement, and he felt the extreme and unfamiliar jolt that it sent though his entire being. Since his first sight of her, since he had felt her touch his mind while he lay incomplete, she was a fascinating and compelling presence. The young woman filled his every thought for some inexplicable reason. He would have to research that later, he thought. At that moment, he lacked the knowledge required.

When the synthezoid turned, but remained silently looking at her as if waiting, she pressed on with a nervous gaze downward, "I'm sorry. That was… that was mean. I can't believe I acted that way. I normally would never…"

"Miss Maximoff," he began as he hesitantly moved as if he was going to touch her, but stopped short of the contact. "You are experiencing emotional trauma. I should have factored that into my decision to come inquire as to your need for, or lack of, company. It was rude of me to intrude upon you. I apologize."

"Wanda," she blurted out as her eyes suddenly flew back up to look at his face once more. She drew in a deep breath and released it slowly, trying to regain her bearings. "You can call me Wanda, if you want, Vision.

"But 'emotional trauma' or not, you did nothing to deserve that kind of treatment. And you weren't rude," she finally got out, but this time her gaze remained on him. "You were only trying to help, to maybe make me feel better, and I treated you badly and unfairly. I'm sorry, Vision."

The android kept his gaze fixed on her in silence for several moments that felt like an eternity to Wanda before he finally tilted his head once more.

"Wanda," he said with a thoughtful tone. "If you like, I can call you that. I would be honored to use your given name. It is quite… your name is beautiful." He hesitated a moment, and gestured with his hands as if he were going to say something else, and finally continued, "You do not have to call me Vision. You may… you may call me…"

Wanda blushed slightly as he remarked that her name was beautiful, and her eyes fell to the floor for a moment before coming back up. Was he simply repeating a canned compliment that he had heard or read somewhere, or was he expressing a genuine fondness for the sound of her name?

It was her turn to tilt her head and regard him quizzically. "What would you like me to call you?" she asked, curious as to what he'd say.

Again, there was a momentary silence, and then he responded, "You called me something earlier, when you stopped me. What was it? 'Viz,' I believe?" The color of his eyes seemed to not only sparkle, but shift in hue at random moments.

She nodded and let a slight quirking of the corners of her lips come on as she answered, "Yes, I guess I did. I didn't mean to assu—"

"It would please me greatly if you were to call me Viz. It is more manageable in conversation than 'Vision' I believe."

He had interrupted her, something she had never heard him do to anyone before, but his words pleased her as well. "Then Viz it is," she declared with a more discernible smile. She paused a moment before winking at him playfully. "It could be my own personal name for you, something only I called you."

"You would be the only one that would," he came back, though he did look confused once more. Another pause and then, "I doubt any of the others would call me that."

"Then, Viz, would you please come keep me company while I find something to eat? I have a feeling you're going to insist that I eat, and after treating you so badly, I think it would improve your impression of me if I played nice," she remarked as she wiped the remnants of tears away with the palms of her hands.

A moment of silence swirled about them and then he made eye contact once more. "You do not have to improve my impression of you… Wanda. My impression of you is substantially favorable already."

Once more, the pink rose in her cheeks, and her lips curved. She reached out as if she were going to take his hand, but pulled her hand back quickly as she nodded towards the door, "In that case, please come with me to the kitchen? I would really like you to come with me."

As they exited the room, Wanda fell a step behind Vision so she could consider him a moment without her expression alerting the synthezoid to the fact that she was thinking about him in some capacity.

What are you doing? she asked herself in bewilderment. Are you actually… flirting with an artificial man? Just half an hour ago, he was an "it." Now, he's suddenly a very kind and very sweet man who just happens to be different, like you? In his defense, for a supposedly unfeeling machine, he's more human than most people I know. Besides, I like him, talking to him, looking at him, being around him… he's actually kind of cute in a dark red skinned sort of way. The innocent and cute puppy thing he has going on just makes it harder to deny that… I don't know… that there's something there. Whatever it is, it can't hurt to be nice to him.

X

New Avengers Facility, Upstate New York — July 16, 2015

Wanda came into the kitchen with a spring in her step that no one had seen from her since she'd been there. She was humming to herself when she looked up, and suddenly slowed her pace until she stood still. At one of the tables, Clint was seated and eating what looked like a cheeseburger as he watched the images flicker past on the TV screen on the wall. She took a second to look around the room and saw that the two of them were alone.

"I'm sorry," she apologized as she stopped moving. "I didn't realize anyone was in here. Usually, it's empty in here this time of day." The sun was bright as it poured in through the skylight panels above the room, situated in the roof many feet above them. She tucked her hair back behind an ear and turned to leave her friend to his thoughts and his movie, or whatever it was he was watching.

Clint laid his burger back on the plate and wiped his mouth as he turned to face her. He shook his head and pulled out a chair before patting the seat. "You're fine, Wanda," he said and patted the seat again. "Come on, come sit down and let's talk a minute. We haven't had a chance to catch up in the last few days."

The young woman hesitated for a moment, seemingly unsure of what she should do. Was he angry with her or something? She was closest to him out of all the Avengers, and she thought of him as an older brother figure. He was the first that had extended a hand in friendship, the one that gave her the chance to show her true character and fortitude during the Battle of Sokovia. The thought of him being angry, upset, or disappointed with her was something she was surprised to discover that would bother her more than she would have expected.

"I… I don't want to interrupt your lunch," she replied, still unsure of what the true motive behind the request was. She didn't think that he was trapping her or something else equally ludicrous, but she was still getting used to the dynamics around the compound, and between the Avengers themselves. Even in the couple of months she'd been there, she was still unsure of how she fit in, if she fit in at all.

Clint made a noise that sounded halfway between a whistle and a grunt as he waved a hand dismissively before turning the TV off and patting the seat once again. "You know better than that, kiddo," he said with a light smile. He pushed his plate back with a thumb and leaned back in the chair. "You're not interrupting anything. Come on, sit with me."

She hesitated again, but finally came to sit next to the archer at the table. Wanda crossed her arms lightly over her chest, unaware she was taking a passively defensive posture. Her eyes flitted to Clint's, then to the table and back again. The tension within her was like a living thing, coiling about her with invisible twists, squeezing her insides.

Clint shook his head and chuckled lightly for a second, watching her face. The kid acted as if she had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar or something. When he figured that he'd let the uncomfortable silence grow between them enough, he took a sip of his drink and leaned back again. "You seem particularly happy today," he noted. "Finally coming out from under that cloud, huh?"

Wanda's features came into a confused scowl as she tried to decipher his meaning with the unfamiliar metaphor. "I… I don't know what you… oh. Um, yeah, I guess you could say that. I don't know… I still miss Pietro, I still grieve for and mourn him, but it seems a little easier. I feel like I can feel again, even if it's just a little," she tried to explain as she shifted nervously in her chair.

Clint watched her face, wondering just what she'd divulge if he gave her enough time. He had a pretty good idea of what was going on, but he didn't want her thinking he had some say over what she did, or whom she did it with.

"Gee, I wonder why that could be," he smirked as he finished off his drink and slid the glass across the table towards the plate. Try as he might, he couldn't suppress his quiet laughter as he decided to let her squirm a little, in true big brother tradition.

Wanda reached over and shoved him by his shoulder playfully as she gave him a cold glare, complete with indignant and incredulous expression. "What's that supposed to mean?" she asked with mock exasperation. "What are you saying? Are you saying I can't or shouldn't be happy? Is this the bitter sting of disapproval?" Her green eyes danced with merriment as she reciprocated the good natured ribbing.

There was a loud smack as Wanda punctuated her words with a teasing punch on Clint's shoulder. "Ow!" he yelled as he grabbed his shoulder, overacting the response to the punch as he finally burst into laughter. He reached up and squeezed her shoulder. "Well, you have been spending a lot of time with Vision. It seems like you two get along pretty well. So well in fact that hardly anybody ever sees either one of you. Until I saw you just now, we were planning to file a Missing Persons report."

"You're terrible!" she giggled and wrapped her arms around her knees as she drew them to her. Her face softened into a relaxed, but cheerful expression. "You're right, I have, I guess. It's just… he's so… he makes me feel, well, happy. Viz can always make me smile, even when I don't feel like it or don't want to. He's so smart and wise, yet so innocent in so many ways. It's just… I don't know, I don't have the English words for it."

"Oh, it's Viz now, huh?" he chuckled as she popped him again in the shoulder with her fist. Still rumbling the soft laugh, he reached out and wrapped an arm around her shoulders and ruffled her hair mischievously.

Wanda shook her hair free of Clint's assault and huffed, "Yes, it is. He lets me call him that. He wants me to call him that." The young woman couldn't suppress the grin trying to escape for long, and then it morphed into a serious expression. "Viz is… he isn't what everyone thinks he is. He's more, Clint. Much more. There's a lot more to him than people care to look for. I know it sounds crazy, but he makes me feel… he makes me feel normal for a change. Viz accepts me just as I am, even though I'm different. I guess maybe it's because he's different, too."

He sobered and gave her a gentle squeeze. "Look, Wanda," he began, looking over to lock eyes with her. "I'm glad you two get along. You have friends here, and we all accept you as you are. As mixed up and crazy as we are, we're your family now. I'm sorry if I haven't let you see that.

"If Vision makes you happy, like you are right now, and lets you be yourself, then I'm happy. He's a hell of a guy, and as you said, he's innocent. So, don't think for a second I don't agree with you spending time with a friend, or whatever, that makes you feel like this. It's damned nice to see you light hearted like this. You've seen enough loss, grief, and sorrow in your life, Wanda. It's high time that you got to see the other side of that coin for a while, and when you need help, you have it. That's what we're all here for, to help you stand when you can't, to help you across the bridge you can't walk alone."

"He does, yes," she said quietly after the sound of Clint's words finally faded. The Sokovian curled into his arm to give him a hug for a moment and then released him. "I know you all are, that you are especially. I'm very grateful for the family that I've been welcomed into, despite everything… all the things that I—"

"Hey, don't do that," Clint said as he immediately lifted her chin to find his eyes. "It doesn't matter who you were, what you did, what you said… none of that matters. What matters is who you are right now, what you do right now. You're a different person than the one that got into our heads and was Ultron's puppet. I'm a different person than I was when all that happened. We live our lives, always pushing forward. We don't have time to slide backwards into what's already happened."

Wanda listened to him, and nodded her head softly as she silently slipped into thought. She wasn't sure what was happening, how it was happening, or why it was happened. Whatever it was, it was happening and that's all she knew about it. It was nice to know that Clint, and probably the others, were behind her on whatever "it" might be.

Wanda's eyes fixed on his a moment, and then she kissed his cheek lightly as she stood. "Thanks, Clint. Always, for everything. I'll see you later, maybe?"

"Don't mention it, kiddo," he replied as he watched her head back towards the door. "Besides, you've been away from Vizzy's company for at least twenty minutes. We can't have that!"

Wanda grabbed a cushion from the couch just across the divider and flung it at him with a laugh, "Oh, hush you!" He caught the cushion and the laughter faded as she left the room. She wanted to be near Vision again, to talk with him, to be there for him as he had always been there for her.

X

Saint Mary's Memorial Gardens, Upstate New York — the Present

The cemetery was large and sprawling, with well maintained graves and headstones as far as you could see. Each was a testament to the lives of the people that the stones marked, lying in the arms of eternal slumber. Every stone was a story, each unique and poignant. Here, hundreds of people came in random patterns to pay regards to loved ones gone, to reminisce about their times together, good and bad. This was where people came to feel close to people they'd loved and lost. This was true of everyone that strode among the tombstones that dotted the area.

A puff of reddish black fog sprung from nowhere, and swirled about. From the center of the fog, Wanda stepped out to stand before a headstone that was slightly apart from the others. Behind her, the fog dissipated and vanished as if it never was. The six Infinity Stones spun slowly around her hand as she read the stone for perhaps the thousandth time.

No one else was in sight as Wanda came forward and laid her hand on the cool polished stone, letting her fingers glide along its surface as she moved. The tips of her fingers traced the engraved lettering upon the stone, gliding along the lines and curves of every letter. She paused and held her breath a moment to read the stone as she always did.

In Loving Memory of

Pietro Maximoff

Born February 16, 1993 - Died May 6, 2015

Beloved Son and Twin Brother

Hero of Sokovia

A tear escaped Wanda's eye and rolled down her cheek as she stared at the beautifully polished gray stone. Around the wording were lightning bolts wreathed in flowers and crosses to form a sort of frame. The girl knelt and lightly kissed the front of the stone then brushed her hand over it to let her fingers glide along the smooth surface.

It is within your power now, Wanda… You have the power to bring Pietro back… You have the power to bring them all back, if you wish…

Wanda closed her eyes and trembled in fear and exhilaration before the grave of her brother, fallen far too soon, deprived of the life he was supposed to live. So many people had their destinies cut short, thanks to the madness of Thanos, even before he found the first stone. All those lives, not just on Earth, but throughout the entire universe, ripped apart, it didn't matter if they lived or were taken out by the Snap. Half the universe was snuffed from existence, but those that weren't snuffed out also ceased to exist under the weight of their suffering and loss. They breathed, they bled, but they weren't alive, not truly.

"All those lives destroyed, living and dead alike, all the needless suffering, all because of one madman convinced he would be the universe's savior," she whispered in response. Wanda continued to stare at the headstone and run her fingers over the smooth surface. "Before the attack on New York, before the Avengers were formed… all of it was him. All of it was Thanos.

"They keep telling me that if I reverse what was done I'll be destroying the fabric of reality and the universe. Yet, it didn't cause the universe to implode when Thanos snapped his fingers. It didn't implode when they went back in time to retrieve earlier versions of the stones. It didn't implode when they undid the Snap to bring us back. Why do they say that I'll do this if I do what I must, yet it was perfectly acceptable when they were the ones doing it?"

Her words were tainted by exhausted bitterness, and the last of her tears for the moment fell to splatter on the headstone that marked her brother's burial location. She lifted her left hand and watched the brightly glowing and sparkling stones spin slowly around her hand like planets orbiting a star.

Thanos believed balance meant things being equal and polar opposites… An amount of life that survives offset by the lives that were extinguished, splitting existence into two halves, non existence and living… True balance is much more delicate than that… Reality and the universe are governed by a precise balance of elements of existence as a whole… As the weather patterns that are influenced by the Atlantic Gulf Stream affects the weather around the world and follows its prescribed pattern by every component being balanced as needed against the other forces in play to maintain the cycles of life and renewal, the universe and reality function much the same way… Balance is not so simple as taking the whole and splitting it in half as diametrically opposed extremes…

Wanda furrowed her brows and sighed softly. The stones sparkled brighter and began to slowly accelerate. "So, you're telling me that the universe and reality are out of balance, and I must correct that, so that they follow their natural course, rather than the disruptions that Thanos called?" she asked softly. The weight of the responsibility she felt that she had, and the unfathomable reserves of stamina it required to not break under the relentless force of the stones themselves fatigued her but allowed her to replenish herself in small amounts as needed. It was exhausting.

Even the restoration of as much of reality as was possible by Dr. Banner's and Mr. Stark's snaps could not fully restore the proper shape of the universe… Thanos' direct actions and the indirect ramifications of his madness warped the shape of all that is… It exists, it continues, but it is not as it should be… These alterations, however slight they may appear, have what you refer to as a butterfly effect on the whole of the universe and existence…

Wanda felt everything click into place at that moment. Was the voice she was hearing actually Vision, or was it the stones? Were the stones, or Vision, leading her on the true path to repairing what had been done, or were they corrupting and tempting her, causing her to slip into madness? She felt herself become as steel inside, and her convictions solidified into purity of purpose and intent.

She knew that the voice had told her that it was part of Vision, as he was part of it. Would Vision counsel her to do this, to alter reality itself in order to bring back those lost, which would ease her pain as much as it would countless trillions all over the universe? Or would he argue that tampering with the fabric of nature itself was a danger ill advised to pursue? Or would he tell her that the stones were elemental and primordial forces that prompted the birth of the universe to begin with, and that the state and health of the fabric of the universe and reality were determined by the states of the stones themselves?

The things that the voice was telling her made perfect sense. The Natural Order of Things was, in fact, what most knew as Nature itself. This was the one force that would always win, because the force of Time was part of Nature, as were the other aspects of existence. Nature had been disturbed, distorted, damaged and must be repaired fully, or it would deprecate and end in a much different manner and time than what its destiny was.

Whether it was the stones communicating with her or if it was the part of Vision that was linked to the Mind Stone didn't matter to her. What mattered was that she could feel Vision. She knew his presence, she knew his mind, she knew him. He is what she felt and complete or incomplete, it was still Vision. She knew this in her heart and soul.

They would see, everyone would see when it was all said and done. Part of her reasoning to do this was selfish; she admitted that to herself at the beginning. Yet, it wasn't just a selfish indulgence. She truly wanted to give the universe back what had been taken wrongly from them. She wanted to repair what horrors had been wrought on the universe. Wanda didn't want to be known as the universe's savior, or the restorer of reality. She simply wanted things to be as they should be, for better or worse. She wanted to live in a universe she could actually live in, not one where she merely existed.

The voice fell silent once more, and Wanda took another deep breath, held it for a moment and then slowly let it out. Her eyes closed and the stones whirled about her hand, light shining from them in ever increasing magnitude. She could feel the fabric of what was, she could feel the wrinkles and warps that were twisted into it. Much to her astonishment, the wrinkles and warps slowly unraveled and started to straighten to their natural shape. She couldn't see it, but she felt it vividly.

With a gasp, the young woman closed her fist slowly and the light reached an apex like a supernova, and then it faded slowly back to its normal subdued brightness. She opened her eyes to behold a swirling mass of red and black fog that seemed to take shape, and finally Pietro stepped forth from the fog with a bewildered and shocked expression. Bringing him back had been a test of what the voice told her, what she would have to do on an infinitely more massive scale in the space of a split second. This was what she considered a trial and it seemed that she was perfectly successful.

Pietro stumbled, inspecting himself for the bullet holes he remembered burning into his flesh when he had acted as a shield for Clint and the little boy. He saw none; he was perfectly intact and whole. He stared at his hands for a moment, then he looked up to see his sister, and his confusion compounded. "Wanda?" he called out hesitantly. "What… what is this?"

Wanda covered her mouth with her hand and then sprang forward in a rush. Her arms came tightly around her brother and she squeezed him as tightly as she could and trembled against him in relief. "Pietro, you're here. You're here. Thank God, Pietro, thank God."

The young man wasn't prepared for the sudden affectionate assault his twin perpetrated upon him. In his confused and obviously weakened state, he stumbled and nearly crashed to the ground under the force of the embrace. He shook his head in an attempt to clear it, and held his sister's face in his hands as he tried to make eye contact.

"Wanda, what is this? How is this possible? I was dead, I know I was dead. I remember dying. I remember taking all those bullets to save the archer and the kid he was saving. Blackness closed in, and I was gone. Now I'm here."

Wanda smiled through the nearly hysterical tears that were flooding from her eyes, and shook her head in the gentle grip of his hands. "You're alive, Pietro. You're alive! I know it's confusing, I know it's crazy, and I promise I'll explain. First, just let me see you and hold you. I've missed you so badly. There's so much you've missed."

It was then that he noticed the stones whirling around her hand, suspended by what he presumed was her ability to move things using her thoughts. His gaze widened, and then narrowed. "Are those… are those what I think they are?" he asked with a tone of awe in his voice.

Wanda's eyes followed his gaze, and then met his eyes once more. Her hair whipped about her face in a sudden gust of wind and she looked like a spirit bringing its wrath to bear on its enemy to Pietro's eyes for a moment. He knew his sister would never do anything like that, but the imagery was vivid.

She glanced at them a moment and then nodded. "Yes, they're the Infinity Stones," she answered as they began to whirl a bit faster and brighter. She gave her brother another tight squeeze and it felt as if a massive weight was suddenly taken from her shoulders.

"I thought that Thanos guy was looking for them, and bringing craziness with him everywhere he went to try to find them. I thought they and even Thanos were myths, just stories. Supposedly, they have the power to make you a god. You're supposed to be able to do anything you want with them."

Wanda nodded softly, and cast her gaze downward a moment. "They're how I brought you back," she said in a whisper. "They're how I'm going to fix what he did, all of it, instead of just part of it like the Avengers did."

Pietro felt his jaw slowly drop, leaving his mouth gaping open a moment before he regained enough of his senses to close it once more. "You're saying that you… that you used the stones, that they really do what the legends all say they do? You're saying it was you that brought me back from the dead?"

His sister nodded softly again, then she finally lifted her head. Tears welled in the corners of her eyes and her lip trembled. "Yes, I brought you back. I had to bring you back," she answered finally, trying to speak around the lump in her throat. It felt like Pietro wasn't just confused and amazed he was alive; it felt like he was almost angry, as if she'd done something she shouldn't have.

Pietro threw his hands into the air and turned around, gripping his head for a long moment. After a few seconds of rapid pacing and holding his head, he turned back to Wanda and said, "Do you have any idea what you've done? I don't know anything about it, but it seems to me like that's fucking with major forces that aren't supposed to be fucked with. Do you have any idea what could happen for you doing something like this? I don't, but I know whatever it is would be bad, very bad."

Wanda wrapped her arms around her head, sank to the ground in a sitting position, and rocked herself back and forth. The stones remained whirling about her hand. "I'm not fucking with them, I'm fixing them!" she shouted all at once. The rocking got faster and faster, and the stones grew brighter and brighter.

"Thanos got all the stones, Pietro. He got all of them. He snapped his fingers, and half of all life in the entire universe just turned to ash, and ceased to exist. I was one of them! I had to destroy the Mind Stone that Vision had in his forehead, and it blew him to pieces. Thanos turned time backwards just around Vision, back far enough that he was whole again, and then he killed him again in front of me, ripped the goddamned stone out of his head, and threw him away like he was insignificant trash Pietro. Like he was fucking trash!"

Pietro blinked open mouthed in shock and stared at his sister as she started pulling harshly at her hair and screamed as if her very soul were being ripped forcibly from her repeatedly. She's gone mad! What happened to her while I was… while I was dead? She sounds like she cared for this… Vision. Wasn't that the body that Ultron intended to migrate into, and the Avengers managed to upload that computer assistant thing Stark had into it instead?

Pietro's thoughts were abruptly interrupted as Wanda screamed a piercing, agonized wail. She slammed her fists down on the ground and the entire cemetery shook, and stones split down the middle. Statues threw themselves across the graves at each other, shattered on impact, and scattered large rough debris over the place of rest for those departed. The stones were still circling her hand, but they hadn't changed in brightness or speed. Red swirling energy wreathed Wanda's hands, and her eyes glowed a bright red. His sister's entire countenance changed, became harder, angrier and more primal.

"I heard your thoughts, Pietro," she growled as she rose to her feet and brought her gaze to bear on her brother. "Vision wasn't just 'a body' or a 'machine' or 'robot' or anything like that. He was a man, artificial, but a man. He was… is the man I love, and he was taken from me twice. Do you hear me, brother? Do you hear me? I will fix reality and the universe; I'll put things back as they should be, the way they were meant to be. Either you can be happy to be back and help me, or you can stay out of my way. I won't hurt you, I couldn't hurt you any more than I could hurt the Avengers, my family. But I won't have you, or anyone else, standing in my way. This is what must be done or the universe and reality will slowly destroy itself as its instability grows. I love you, but this is where you decide where you stand, Pietro."

Pietro couldn't believe what he was seeing and hearing. Had Wanda lost so much, so many, that it had driven her completely insane? He felt pangs of guilt that he wasn't there for her, that he wasn't there to help stabilize her, just as she'd do for him in the same sort of situation.

Not only that, she was powerful, scarily so. She'd always been powerful, but this was something entirely different. The truly startling thing is that the power she was using right then, that she was unleashing on the cemetery in her pain and rage, was all her own. The stones had nothing to do with what she was doing. He'd never seen anything like this before.

"Don't you see what these damned stones are doing to you, Wanda? They're corrupting you, robbing you of your senses and mind. Think, Wanda! Listen to yourself! This isn't you, this isn't my sister. This is someone… something else. Please Wanda, do away with the stones and come back. I love you too; I always have and always will. You're my sister, but… but I can't let you do whatever it is that you're going to do. You could destroy everything that there is. I want to help you, but I can't help you the way you want me to, I'm sorry."

The red light faded slowly from her eyes, and she felt the hot flood of tears that poured from them burning her flesh like lava. "I'm sorry too, Pietro. I have to fix this, to make everything right. It wasn't right that you died, and everything with Ultron was just Thanos moving pieces on his board. I can't leave things as they are. I can't. There are uncounted trillions across the universe that died before and after Thanos killed them, and the Avengers brought us back. That wasn't supposed to be their fate. It was wrong. I can't let that stand. Please understand at least, if you're not willing to help me. Try to understand."

"I can't, Wanda."

Pietro's tone was tortured and sorrowful, wrenched to the point of tears. She nodded softly, and stepped towards him. "I know, Pietro. I understand," she said as she reached up to gently touch his face and watch his face with sad eyes. "I love you, brother."

She leaned up and kissed his cheek, and he faded from sight. Wanda stared at the place where Pietro had been standing just moments ago, and then stepped into the rising black and red fog, leaving the cemetery devastated and empty.