Avengers: Don't Get in My Way
Chapter 8
AN - I apologize for the lengthy wait in between the last update and this one. I have health issues that keep me from doing a lot and that rob me of energy and the desire to do much of anything, and with this whole pandemic thing going on, it's even worse. It's been hard to get inspiration to write lately. Rather than try to force out a bad piece of writing for the sake of putting something out, I chose to put out something decent even though it took a while. Thank you to all my readers!
Carol Danvers took a good look around her at the beach combers that surrounded her. The beach was truly beautiful, and the day was perfect for a day at the beach. Unfortunately, she didn't have the luxury of having the time to slip into a bikini and join the masses in a day of recreation. There was a catastrophe brewing that would have universal repercussions, and they were all oblivious of the very real danger that hung over their heads unknowingly.
Only we're all divided on what those repercussions might be, and what sort of catastrophe this will turn out to be, she thought with a sour taste in her mouth. She took a final glance around her, and then channeled her power. As she glowed a brilliant gold, she launched herself into the air and headed in the direction of upstate New York.
Below her, the land and ocean streaked by at speeds that made it impossible to discern anything but streaks of color. Usually, she flew much slower so that she could enjoy the wonders of the world passing below her. Unfortunately, she didn't have that opportunity that particular day. There was trouble brewing, a huge galaxy sized hunk of trouble, and she wasn't sure how she felt about it.
Thanos fucked the entire universe with his delusional little plan. It turned the universe, and reality, on its ear. Half of all life in the universe just poofed out of existence. That kind of power is dangerous, she thought as the wind rushed past her face and ruffled its way through her hair.
Yeah, but you know full well that while that sort of power is dangerous, it's true danger lies in the person wielding it and their intentions. The power doesn't make the decisions, the person does. They can be either good or bad, and honestly, is Wanda really losing her grip? Is she really insane and a danger to all of reality and the universe?
Let's look at this objectively, or try to anyway. Thanos was seeking power and remaking the universe in his own image. It doesn't matter that he claimed it was all for the good of the universe, to eliminate overcrowding, disease, famine, and all that from one side of the universe to the other. When it all comes down, he was a fucking fruitcake, trying to change things for selfish reasons, namely being the "savior" of the universe. Which, of course, is pure and utter bullshit.
Some things are supposed to happen, and some things are not. If Thanos hadn't just decided that this is the way that things should have been and so shafted the laws of reality and existence, a huge chunk of what's happened so far would never have happened and things would have progressed naturally. People would have lived and died because of normal reasons in normal ways at the proper time, instead of being murdered by some psycho. Everything would have happened or not happened because that was the way they were supposed to happen.
She paused and drew a couple of deep breaths as she slowed her flight and hovered in mid air for a few moments. Her eyes drew over the mountain ranges, valleys, and plains below her. Even as fucked up a place as it was, this little blue marble could still take her breath away with its beauty. It was home, and home should be a place where things felt right, and that didn't fill you with absolute foreboding. Home shouldn't be some spiritually devastated place that filled you with emptiness and all the while never gave you a feeling of "rightness."
I suppose you could argue that things happened exactly as God, or whatever Higher Power exists, intended. That Thanos was supposed to triumph and snap half of life out of existence for megalomaniac self centered delusions of grandeur. Somehow, though, I don't buy that. I can't and won't accept that the Creator of the universe would let some crazy, big, purple fuckwit with a ball sac for a chin run amok throughout all creation, and call himself "a god."
Then there's Wanda, an extremely powerful being in her own right, wielding the Infinity Stones to fix all the shit that Thanos twisted and generally fucked. She's not seeking power for the sake of power. She's not trying to remake the universe in her image, or trying to be the supposed savior of the universe. She's not trying to be a god. She just wants things to go back to the way they're supposed to be, the way things were before Thanos came along. Wanda doesn't want the stones, she just has to use them to fix what Thanos used them for. I doubt that she'd even go near them if they weren't the only way to fix everything. She just doesn't strike me as the type.
X
Captain Marvel touched down outside the Avengers Compound near the landing pad. As she suspected, the team had arrived and had entered the building. Though the sky was a brilliant blue, clear except for the tiniest wisps of clouds scattered across the sky like grains of salt, it felt like a massive and dark storm cloud loomed overhead. She shook her head as she pulled the door open and stepped inside and headed for the conference room.
As Carol entered the room, Clint was speaking rather loudly, "Look, I get it. You're concerned. She's freaking you out. She's acting a little kooky. Just because you think she's crazy doesn't mean she is crazy. What's crazier, some guy thinking he's saving the universe by destroying it and turning half the people in the universe to ash, or a young woman thinking she's talking to her dead lover while she's working with the stones, and that intends to fix what Thanos did?"
"She means well, we understand that," countered Rhodey. He wiped his forehead with a hand, as he tried to gather his thoughts into something Clint and the others might have to change their viewpoints on. "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions, Clint. She's family to all of us, she's someone we all care about. But whether we care for her or not, a threat is still a threat, and she's most definitely a threat. You've got to be able to see that. It's right in front of your eyes."
Bruce stood up from where he was sitting, and glanced around at everyone. Both sides made valid arguments, and it was obvious that each side believed their position. He'd been trying to remain neutral, but he wasn't having much luck, it didn't seem.
Finally, he took advantage of the slight lull in the debate, and Carol's entrance as he interjected, "I get what you guys are saying. I think both arguments are definitely worth considering. There's just some facts that you have to consider. Whether you think she's dangerous or not, what are her motives? Why is she doing this? Has anyone here ever known Wanda to be obsessed with power? Let's put opinions aside, and look at the facts, both objective and subjective."
Thor patted Carol's shoulder twice and then stepped out into the middle of the room. His frame wasn't quite as imposing as Bruce's was in his current state, but he cut a formidable presence all the same. He settled Stormbreaker's head on the floor and folded his hands over the end of the handle.
His eyes moved over everyone in the room, then spoke quietly, "She's dangerous, yes. We're all dangerous. Our powers and our abilities make us dangerous. Wanda is no different. Personally, I have seen her take no action that was destructive or harmful. She could have disposed of us all with barely more than a blink of her eye. Yet, as Barnes pointed out, we're all here.
"I have heard her say nothing that suggests she means to anything or anyone. Her very demeanor speaks of nothing but sorrow, grief, and a desire to right what has been put wrong. This doesn't mean that she couldn't choose to behave differently in the future, no. As of this moment, however, she has remained true to her nature. I believe she has earned the benefit of the doubt. She was with Ultron when first we encountered her. She was our enemy, only because she knew not better. Once she saw into Ultron's mind, once she saw what lay in his intentions, she realized her mistake, and she joined our side. She is an Avenger. Not she was an Avenger. She is an Avenger. Let no one say otherwise."
Thor's words rang off the walls of the room, filling the silence that slowly settled on the room after he said what he had to say. Carol leaned casually against a wall with her arms loosely folded over her chest and watched them all before saying anything.
"I agree with Goldilocks here," she said, nodding her head towards Thor. "The universe is all fucked up. Thanos did a real number on it. Let's say any of you had the ability and opportunity to use the stones. What would you do with them? You wouldn't want to fuck the universe even more, right? You'd want to make sure everything happened the way it was supposed to, instead of this… this 'world' we're all currently drowning in. Can any of you look me in the eye and tell me you wouldn't? I hate to break it to you, but if I had the ability to use the things, you can bet your ass I'd be doing exactly what Wanda intends to do. Would I be crazy too?"
Most of the group hadn't spoken at that point. Even Dr. Strange had remained uncharacteristically quiet. Janet and Hope had managed to keep Hank's acerbic comments silent. Sam, Scott and Peter sat quietly, watching everyone intently, but not saying anything.
While everyone had been so intent on speaking their mind or listening, no one had noticed the door open and the newcomers that had entered. They had remained on the sidelines, out of the way, but that wasn't the case any longer. Finally, everyone started noticing, and looked that way to see Tony and Bucky standing just inside the room. There was someone standing behind them, but no one could tell who it was yet.
"No, I don't think you'd be crazy, Carol. You sound pretty rational to me. Don't you all think she sounds rational? She's got a point, ladies and gentlemen. It's a simple case of thinking and deciding what you would do in her place. We're all the good guys, right? We're those guys. What do good guys do? Besides kick the shit out of the bad guys I mean?" said Tony finally as he stepped forward to more easily address the room.
"Look… Stark," said Strange as he stepped away from where he sat at the conference table and met Tony's gaze. "I appreciate what you and the others think of and feel for Miss Maximoff. It's natural. You can't overlook the possibilities that could very well happen. Maybe they're even inevitable eventualities, we can't say for certain that they aren't."
"Yes, we can," interrupted Tony as he looked around the room. "I've seen her, I've talked to her. With me being here, it's a pretty safe bet to say of course I've talked to her. The kid may be in a bad place, she may be acting a little off, but she's not. She's not. How do I know she's not? Here, let me play show and tell, and let you see for yourselves. Pay attention, Merlin. This is the magic of science."
He moved over to the table and slid a round disk about the size of an air hockey puck into the middle of it. "Friday, thrill me. Light me up," he said glibly. "Okay, guys. School's in session. Pay attention, there will be a quiz afterwards."
Strange opened his mouth as if to protest, but the hologram that sprang out of the disk caught his attention. It was a strangely compelling grouping of swirls of light, bending and twisting about one another. There were points marked all through it, annotated with what appeared to be notes and even complex formulas.
"Okay, Tony, I'll bite," said Rhodey as he let his eyes roam over the impressive scientific display that he understood very little of its purpose, meaning, and what it was. "What are we looking at? What's this and how does this show us that Wanda's not crazy?"
Tony smiled and winked back at Bucky and the as yet unidentified person near the door, and then waved a hand to encompass the width of the hologram. "This, friends and neighbors and mildly annoying other people, come on, you know who you are, is a three dimensional model of the fabric of reality and time. Or at least a broad extrapolation of what the shape of these is. I think it's cool. How about you? You know what? Never mind. Just get ready to get your minds blown, because I wore my mind blowing shirt today."
Most of the group were staring in shocked silence as Tony had entered the room, and started talking. Hearing that Bruce had talked to him and that he was alive was one thing. Being physically in the same room as he was, and seeing him with your own eyes was an entirely different experience.
Bruce stepped closer to the hologram and stared up at it in obvious fascination. Finally, he said, "You've accounted for alternative causality, and temporal divergences. This is a 'map' for Wanda to follow, isn't it? Are these figures right? It's so mind blowingly complex it's simple. How the hell did you track all these divergences and drifts to begin with?"
"Wait, wait, wait," said Rhodey with an incredulous expression. "You're saying that you've actually made a model of reality? And that you've figured out all of… what are these? Changes? You figured this all out. Is this for real Tony, or are you just off your rocker? I don't get it. I'm still asking how this proves Wanda isn't crazy, and wrong?"
"I'm glad you asked," Tony replied with almost circus ringmaster air. "But first, let's answer big Jolly Green's questions. Sort of. More like inspiration, but you could look at it as sort of a map. Yes, of course they are. Isn't my math always right? I tracked them with Friday's help, of course. She correlated data from events major and minor that were stored in her memory and their probable result, and then compared them against the resulting shit that came after the Snap. I ran it with an inverted Mobius Strip, and the Sharapov theory, and bingo. A ha. Eureka. Excelsior. We have this."
He turned towards Rhodey, and leaned back against the table, half sitting on it. "Yep, sure did. As complete and accurate a model as is possible. I think it touches the highlights pretty well. But yes, you are quite astute my friend. Or is that ass toot? Either way, it's for real. It's the real deal. It's genuine, bona fide, correct, completely not wrong. How does it prove that Wanda isn't crazy and wrong?
"Well, let's explore that a minute. Okay, not a minute, a minute is too long. Let's do a second instead. As you can see, the changes that Thanos made are represented with black paths. See those jagged, vein looking lines around the points of those changes, and how sharply they break off from the events before that? The figures calculate probability, cause and effect, and various other calculations that I'm not going to go into detail about because no offense, but you wouldn't get to start with.
"Now, see these lines that are marked in green? Notice the lack of veins around them, and how they move more harmoniously with the path before it. The branches are wide and only occasionally. The black veins are where Thanos damned near shattered reality completely. What Wanda wants to do is consistent with the previous events, and flows along like a river. It's got a couple of branches and twists and turns, but these are natural causalities. So this is like a really overly complex 'you are here' and 'you want to go there' kind of map that she can follow to bend reality back into it's normal shape."
"This can't possibly account for the entire universe," said Strange after long moments of silence. "How do you think all of this is not going to shatter reality at some other point? The universe is infinite, with an infinite number of events having an infinite number of possibilities. All this proves is that these specific events, no matter how numerous, would benefit from her altering of reality."
Bruce spoke up and shook his head as he places his hands on the reinforced table as he replied, "That's a valid concern, but it's actually not as valid a point. Think about it. The points she's wanting to correct are the points that Thanos' actions specifically affected. Even though the trickle down eventually branches out into infinite causalities, if you correct the genesis point of each chain of changes, then that returns each change made subsequently back on it's prior natural path. It's like standing in the rain. The rain drops are falling straight down until they hit you, which stops their path from completing. In other words it redirects the natural flow of its intended result. If you correct that diversion point, which is you standing there, then it continues unimpeded. If you are no longer there to interrupt its path, then it can follow its path with no divergence."
"Which means it doesn't break reality. Instead it heals the cracks that Thanos caused," said Hank stroked his goatee thoughtfully as he stared at the model projected over the table. "You may be onto something here, Stark." He spoke as if pushing the words from his mouth was harder than holding back a tidal wave with your hand, but he admitted that Tony had figured something out that he hadn't.
The figure that had been standing near the door that no one had recognized stepped forward. He was an elder man, dressed simply in a light khaki jacket, perfectly unassuming. Even though he was much older, and slighter than he had been the last time he had stood in this room, Steve Rogers still commanded attention with his mere presence.
"I don't know about the math, or the metaphysical ramifications of all this, but I'll tell you what I do know," he said as he swept his vision over every person assembled. "As I understand it, she's not going to be breaking anything, because she'll essentially be altering the point in time shortly before Thanos takes the action that causes the break. You can't break something by preventing what broke it to start with. If she is by some miracle able to pull this off, then we'd never have had to go back in time to steal the stones, Nat would never have died, and everything else that happened because of that would be unnecessary.
"I don't want to change wanting to have gone back to live the life I've lived. Tony and Pepper would probably have had Morgan regardless of anything else. Scott would never have been trapped. None of the bad stuff would ever have happened, at least that's the thing that seems the most logical to me. At any rate, whatever it is that she's wanting to fix, I'm sure that the good stuff will stay, and the other stuff will be dealt with in whatever way she's going to fix it."
The room stayed silent at Steve's words, and he moved further into the room. He drew a deep breath and released it slowly before keeping the train of thought going, "I don't know anything about the science behind it, I only know that part of it makes sense to me. The thing that seems to be in even heavier debate than the science is Wanda and her grip on reality and her sanity.
"Maybe she's slipping, maybe she's not, I don't know. I'm no doctor. What I do know is that she's not just part of the team. She's one of us. I know that as hard as it may be for a lot of you to accept, I believe her. I believe in her. I trust her. Even if she were going crazy, unless she shows me that I'm wrong, I can't accept that she would purposefully hurt us, or anyone else. I don't care if you agree with me or not. You don't have to agree with me. I'm not here to tell you what to believe or not to believe. I believe in what she's trying to do, and I'll do whatever I can to make sure she has her chance to prove once and for all what she's doing and why. If I'm wrong about her and what she's doing, so be it. I'll be wrong. I can live with that. Can you live with trying to stop her based on what you think might happen, instead of having a pretty clear picture of what is happening instead?"
The silence lingered still. Steve's words seemed to have the effect of making everyone consider their opinions and beliefs. When Captain America spoke, most listened. There was a whole room of people thinking right then at that moment.
Carol took a couple of steps out towards the table. Her eyes moved over the model of reality still projected above the table and made her decision.
"This is fun and all, but I have some things I have to do. I'll be back, don't know when," she said and then without any further word, she left the room, left the building and rocketed into the sky.
X
The sky was beautiful in Wakanda. Wanda sat on the balcony outside one of the magnificent rooms of the royal palace. Shuri had insisted that she rest at least a little while she continued to take her scans and design the necessary pieces to repair Vision's body. The young Sokovian breathed in the air, so pure, and so different than that of most American and European countries.
She looked over what she had written and tapped her pen on the table lightly. Even with the rest she'd had, she still felt drained, but at least the rest had rejuvenated her some. In an effort to get her plans straight on what she needed to do and when to do them, she had starting outlining her plan.
As she wrote, she kept trying to think if she was missing anything, or if she had forgotten anything. She knew that she would have to bring Vision and Nat back last, because that meant giving up two of the stones to accomplish that very task. She could set things right, then revive them, make sure Thanos and his minions would never be a threat, and scatter all the stones except for the Mind Stone and the Soul Stone to the sea of stars that was the universe.
A brightening of the light and a sound caught her attention and she looked up to see Carol coming to land on the veranda on just the other side of the table. She thought that perhaps she had been too predictable, allowing Carol to find her. She had no desire to hurt any of them, and she wouldn't. She just needed to keep them from stopping her. However, there was likely going to be some sort of combat as there had been the last time, and she knew that.
Instantly, she stood and her hands started writhing, bringing forth the red swirling energy that enveloped her hands when she summoned her powers from their relaxed and dormant state. The Infinity Stones whirled around her wrist, and glowed, but she hadn't drawn on their power as yet.
"I don't want to fight with you, Carol, so please, don't make me fight you," she said as the reddish energy about her hands glowed even brighter than before. "I have to do this. I have to. This isn't right, none of this is right. You have to see that. I can't let you, any of you, keep me from setting this right."
Once Carol had landed, she hadn't come forward at all. Instead, she stood the same distance from Wanda. She raised her hands, open with her palms facing the Sokovian, indicating that she was being neutral. The golden glow about her dimmed and receded until it was gone.
"I'm not here to fight," responded the Kree hybrid as she cautiously stepped a couple of slow steps forward. "I just want to talk. Some of the others think you're a threat and that you've lost your marbles, the others believe in what you're wanting to do and don't want to try to stop you."
Wanda regarded the other woman for a moment before lowering her hands and letting the red energy dissipate. "I figured as much," she told the blonde warrior. "So which side do you stand on? Are you here to try to talk me out of it? Are you here to try to convince me I'm wrong? Forgive me if I'm not entirely convinced that talk is the extent of your reason for being here."
Carol took another step, and opened her mouth to answer, but paused. A slow half smile came over her face and she nodded towards the stones hovering over Wanda's wrist. "You have telepathic powers, and you have the Mind Stone. There's no way I could hide anything from you, or trick you without you knowing instantly about it if you add the Mind Stone to your own powers. That sounds like the ultimate lie detector to me. So, let's do this. Use the Mind Stone, read my mind. If I'm lying about anything, even slightly, you'll know it."
Wanda frowned and stared at the woman for several seconds. Carol was willing to open herself up fully. There was no way she could resist the Mind Stone, or do anything to block its ability. She couldn't hide anything anywhere in her mind. If it was there, Wanda would see it.
If she is attempting to deceive you or hide anything from you, she is taking an enormous risk by willingly allowing us to look into her mind, Wanda… Perhaps things are precisely as they appear to be… Be wary, but let us look into her mind… She offered, after all…
"You've got a point. If you're willing, as you say you are, relax and don't resist," Wanda replied in a quiet voice, warning Carol to not try to trick her, but lacing it with the sincerity of her not wishing to fight.
Carol nodded, and Wanda took a deep breath. She focused herself, focused her breathing and reached across the short distance between them and with the faintest of brushes, she entered Carol's mind. It was like being submerged in a cold bath from a warm room, and then just as suddenly it was like rising from a pool of hot soothing water.
Wanda's presence moved through Carol's mind slowly. Every alcove, every corner of her mind, conscious and subconscious, was visible for her to see, hear, smell, taste and touch at her leisure. She could see the conversations that she had listened to and been part of with the others. She experienced thoughts and memories of singing karaoke with her friend Maria. Flashes of the sky rushing past as she flew Dr. Lawson's experimental plane swept over her like honey. Echoes of her thoughts about Wanda, about what she was doing, how dangerous she might be, everything she ever thought about Wanda swam around the young Sokovian.
She cannot possibly be deceiving you, Wanda… Even if she were subjected to an extremely powerful suggestion, or if memories were walled off from the bulk of her mind by a powerful telepath, they would be visible and accessible to you… She believes us, she knows that what we seek to do is the right thing to do…
Finally, Wanda withdrew her mind back from reading Carol's and sat down. She waved a hand to indicate that Carol sit as well. She met the eyes of the other woman and tilted her head ever so slightly. "So, you believe me?" she asked.
Carol breathed a sigh of relief, and nodded. She was glad she wasn't going to have to go toe to toe with Wanda. That was a fight she knew she wouldn't win alone, and honestly, she doubted she'd actually win even with everyone else with her. Wanda was incredibly powerful on her own, though she wasn't aware of the extent of her abilities and how much power she could wield. With the stones, there was no way any of them would stand a chance really. Thanos had wielded the stones to enact crude needlessly violent actions. Wanda had already proven that in the heat of battle, she could disable, disarm, and disperse all of them without anyone suffering a single bruise. She was not only more defensive with them than Thanos had been, she was also calmer and more imaginative. She visualized ways to accomplish her goals without having to thunder through them like a maddened bull. The young Sokovian could eliminate a problem without a needless show of brute force, and without harming or killing anyone to achieve her goal.
"Yeah, I do," replied Carol finally. She made immediate eye contact with Wanda, and never allowed it to slip. "You know, there's been a fuck ton of debate about this, about you, about whether or not you're crazy, about whether this is right or wrong, and what it would mean scientifically if you actually did this.
"Cookie Jarvis has been shooting off at the mouth a lot about how you'd destroy reality, and how you're such a threat and all that shit. Wizards, oh, excuse me, sorcerers should really stay in D&D games, in Tolkien and other fantasy books, and on cereal boxes. The guy's a prick. Good guy to have on your side, but his attitude and ego makes Tony's look like Fozzie Bear."
"So I imagined," Wanda answered with a hint of depression in her voice. It hurt for those so close to her to be so divided on her state of mind and actions. "I wish they could understand, that they could see what I'm trying to do and why. It's not just to bring Vision back. God, I feel so empty without him, I feel like dying without him, but my pain isn't the only pain I'm trying to wipe away. Trillions of people lost people they shouldn't have, countless sorrows of all kinds have been inflicted on countless people. Thanos should never have been able to turn reality into a train wreck and hurt so many people in so many ways. That wrong needs to be righted."
Carol huffed a half laugh, and shrugged a shoulder. "A lot of them do understand and see what you're trying to do. A lot of them don't, though. Either way, though, I think that might be changing even as we speak. Tony brought in his Lite Brite thingie with the whole reality map thing. Green Jeans seemed to get it. The rest, not so much. Well, the old grouchy guy with the goatee seemed to get it.
"I think the big brains were starting to get it through the rest of the skulls in the room. Tony and Bucky brought this old fart in, and he laid down a pretty heavy speech that looked like it got everybody to thinking. It shut Rhodey up for a few minutes, so it had a pretty deep impact I guess. They weren't trying to kill each other when I left, anyway."
Wanda frowned in confusion and tilted her head as she asked, "Old fart? Oh! You must mean Steve. Captain America. It's a long story, but when they were putting the stones back in the past, apparently he stayed in the past. Some of the guys were talking about it."
Carol's brows rose in surprise. She hadn't even thought about that, but then again, she hadn't been around for most of that, she thought. "Well, he did seem familiar. I guess that's why," she finally said.
"I've already started on setting things right. I brought Tony back last night," Wanda breathed out softly. "But I also did something I doubt they like. I brought my brother back too. He died several years ago. Sadly though I told him what I was doing, he agreed with those that say I shouldn't be doing this and must be stopped. I was hoping he'd understand, but I can see why he wouldn't."
A smile played about the corners of Carol's lips, and when Wanda frowned in confusion, Carol let the smile come out even more. "Oh, I don't know about that. I think maybe his brain may be thawing out. I don't think you're going to have to deal with your brother opposing your view for long. He and Strange almost got into it, from what I heard. All because Strange was talking about how crazy you were and that what you were planning was wrong."
Wanda allowed herself a small smile as she nodded softly towards her friend. She felt much better hearing that. Pietro's opposing opinion had bothered her far more than she had let on. If he was truly coming around to her way of thinking, she felt like she could actually move forward without conflict.