Chapter 17: Mayday
On the dike there is a magpie's nest,
On the bank grows the sweet vetch.
Who has lied to my lovely one,
And made my heart so sore?
The middle-path has patterned tiles,
On the bank grows the rainbow plant.
Who has lied to my lovely one,
And made my heart so sad?
Anonymous, Book of Songs 142, trans. Arthur Waley
Wanda didn't see Vision again until the next morning, when Doctor Strange summoned them to a meeting. When Vision walked into the room—he'd developed a human face that was based on but slightly different from the one her Vision had perfected—she found she could look at him for the first time without being gripped by the memory of killing her Vision.
She tried not to think about her reaction to his nearness in the intimate setting of his room. This was not her Vision. She knew that. At least, her brain knew that. Her body apparently hadn't gotten the memo.
"You look good," she said, meaning to compliment him on his phasing ability, and immediately kicking herself for her choice of words. "I mean, your...you've obviously been practicing." She mentally kicked herself again for how condescending that sounded.
He looked at her as if startled or confused at her words.
"Mm, a little uncanny valley, but it will do," Strange said. "Please sit down, Vision. We've got a plan to discuss."
"What's the plan?" he asked, taking a seat that left two empty chairs between himself and Wanda.
"The first victim of the mind lice we questioned was a marine biologist, Dr. Baldwin Mills. He was part of a team of scientists surveying marine life in the Southern Ocean. I believe their research vessel passed close to the source of the mind lice. If we can find their ship, the GPS logs may allow us to pinpoint the source." He pointed to Wanda. "You saw where the ship was stranded when you looked in Dr. Mills' mind. Do you think you'd recognize the island from satellite images?"
"Maybe. I'll try."
"Great. Even with extrapolating from predominant currents where their liferaft was found, there's a lot of ocean to cover. Let's divide up the map and get to work."
About half an our into the tedious search, a light on the wall began flashing.
Wong leaped to his feet. "That's an Avengers emergency signal!"
He pressed a button, and a young woman's face appeared on a holographic screen.
"Princess Shuri!" Wanda gasped.
"This is a general distress call. Something happened to the Black Panther and the Dora Milaje. While investigating reports of random outbreaks of violence in a previously peaceful region, they began attacking each other and anyone who approached. They have all stopped responding to my communications. The situation is extremely dangerous."
A few seconds later, another voice came on the line. "This is Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes. We copy. Give us the coordinates. Our ETA is forty minutes."
Doctor Strange sprang to the communicator and slammed the button. "Wilson and Barnes, do not go after them. This is Doctor Strange speaking. This incident matches a pattern of supernatural attacks we have been tracking. You are not equipped to deal with this threat. My team will respond. Princess, give me your brother's coordinates; our ETA is about five seconds."
"Their coordinates are 26.75 degrees south latitude, 31.53 degrees east longitude, in central Eswatini. Please be careful. These are good people. Please try to stop them without hurting them."
"We will." Strange closed the channel. "Let's go."
They stepped out of the portal and onto a terraced hillside. The sound of clashing weapons came to them through a stand of trees.
They headed toward the sound stealthily, slipping between the trees. When they got close, Wanda turned, facing Vision, who instantly stopped to avoid bumping into her.
"You don't have to fight," she said. "I know you never want to harm another human again. We can handle it; you just make sure any civilians are safely away from the fighting. And if you see any mind lice, get me right away."
He couldn't help feeling relief at her order. Even knowing they were only fighting to subdue the Black Panther and his elite guard, he'd been worried he might hurt them. And Wanda was right that he was horrified by the thought of ever taking a human life again.
"Thank you," he said.
She walked backwards a few steps, eyes fixed on his face, before turning to catch up to the sorcerers.
Vision's android senses detected someone in the woods, someone crouching in a thicket. He flew through the trees to see if they were injured, landing and walking the last few meters, reminding himself he was in a human disguise.
He found a young woman, in the regalia of the Dora Milaje.
"Are you okay?" he asked her.
Her eyes shot to him, filled with a frantic terror. "He's here," she hissed in a whisper. "Thanos is back. Everyone is turning to dust, just like last time."
He couldn't imagine what it would feel like to watch everyone he cared about turning to dust. It must have been truly horrible to reduce one of the Dora Milaje—whom he knew as courageous and formidable fighters from his own world, where they had destroyed hundreds of Ultrons in hand-to-hand combat—to hiding in fear like this.
If she truly believed Thanos had returned, he couldn't think of anything he could say to console her.
"It will be okay," he said. "Stay here."
He flew through the woods to where the sorcerers were combating Dora Milaje. Some of them were wielding their weapons wildly, fighting enemies that existed only in their minds. One was viciously attacking a tree. But several were lucid enough to coordinate attacks against the sorcerers. Vision was surprised by how effective they were using only melee weapons and their own strength and agility against magic users, but one by one Strange and Wong would magically restrain them while Wanda used her mind power to put them into some kind of daze, then Vision would rush in to carry them away from the fight.
And then the Black Panther leaped from seemingly out of nowhere and kicked Wanda, sending her flying into the woods. He sprinted after her.
Vision followed them, phasing through trees to move quickly without the Black Panther spotting him.
Wanda spun her fingers, summoning her power. "I don't want to fight you, T'Challa."
"You think I care what you want?" He slashed at her. She barely levitated him over her in time to avoid his claws, but he twisted out of the grip of her power.
"T'Challa, it's me, Wanda. Wanda Maximoff."
"I know who you are, witch. Do you think I would ever forget you? Forget what you've done to my people?" He darted behind trees, out of her line of sight. She couldn't get a beat on him to use her power.
"That was an accident."
She twisted around and sent a ball of red energy at him. He dodged out of the way with superhuman agility, kicked off a tree trunk to spring at her, and knocked her down, leaving long tears in her clothes from her sleeve to the back of her shoulder.
Vision glanced sideways. Strange and Wong were still busy dealing with the Dora Milaje. Wanda was on her own against the Black Panther.
"You killed my people," Black Panther said. "You helped harbor the man who killed my father!"
"Bucky? He was innocent. You know that!"
He snuck behind her and launched at her from behind. She tried to yank herself away, but he was too strong. He gripped her hands behind her back and pinned her against a tree.
"Please, T'Challa! Please remember. I'm not your enemy! We fought Thanos together!"
"Thanos? You would have destroyed him if he hadn't had his spaceship there to rain down fire on us. He didn't have that ship in Wakanda. Why didn't you kill him there? You could have, if you hadn't been so distracted by your lover."
Wanda thrashed, trying to escape his grasp.
Vision didn't want to risk harming the Black Panther—he didn't want to harm any human—but if he did nothing he might kill Wanda.
Before he could decide what to do, Doctor Strange floated between the trees. He restrained the Black Panther with his magic and yanked him back.
Wanda strugged to her feet, blood soaking the back of her shirt and dripping from her left hand.
"I'm sorry, T'Challa," she said with an ernestness that indicated she was apologizing for what she'd done in the past, as well as what she was about to do. She plucked the air with her fingers, and strands of red light flowed from her hands to the Black Panther's head. He fell limp.
Vision flew to them.
"You're hurt," he said to Wanda.
"I'll be fine," she said, even though he could see a tear of pain had left a streak on her cheek.
"Let me see your hand," Strange told her.
She complied. The Black Panther's claws had left gashes across the back of her hand and wrist.
"Those are deep," he said with concern. "Wong has the rest of the Dora Milaje in a freeze spell, but it won't last long."
"There's another one hiding in the forest, terrified that Thanos is back," Vision told them.
"Let's get them back to Wakanda," Strange said. "Vision, I'm going to need you to carry them. We won't be able to levitate them while also opening portals, and I don't want Wanda using her power until she gets medical attention."
Doctor Strange opened a portal to Shuri's laboratory and helped Wanda through. Vision followed after, carrying the Black Panther.
Shuri rose at tgeir sudden appearance.
"My brother!" She sprinted to him, checking his vital signs. "Put him here, quickly."
She pulled out a stretcher, and Vision gently set the Black Panther down on it. Shuri pressed a button, and the Black Panther suit retreated into a necklace, revealing a surprisingly young unconscious man.
"He's unhurt," Shuri breathed in relief. She looked up at them. "Thank you." Her eyes fixed on Wanda, recognuzing her for the first time. "Wanda? I didn't know you were with Doctor Strange! We've been searching for you for over a year. You're injured." She moved quickly to Wanda's side, using a scanner in her bracelet to assess her injuries. "T'Challa did this to you," she said in a tone that hovered between a question, a statement, and an exclamation of despair.
"He did, but it's isn't his fault. We're dealing with a force that makes people go insane."
"Can you treat her?" Strange asked. "We need to bring the Dora Milaje before they recover from their stupor."
"Of course."
Vision went with Strange back and forth through the portal, carrying the Black Panther's honor guard back to Shuri's lab. Shuri injected each one with a sedative to keep them unconscious until she could deal with them.
"So you really think you can cure them?" Wanda asked.
"I should be able to. I cured Bucky by rewiring brain connections associated with his trigger words; I should be able to use the same method to wipe clean their short-term memories, which would effectively erase whatever damage these mind lice did."
"I hope it works," Wanda said.
"I'll test it on my brother as soon as I'm done with you."
Vision paused after laying one of the Dora Milaje on a stretcher and glanced at Wanda. She was facing away from him. Her shirt had been cut open down the center of her back to reveal her injuries, and Shuri was running some kind of medical device over the gashes the Black Panther's claws had left across her right shoulder blade. The wounds were healing over bit by bit with each pass of the strange device.
He felt a clenching in his gut at the extent of Wanda's wounds. She could have died because he was reluctant to use his strength against a human.
"Do you think your method for curing your brother could work on other victims of the mind lice?" Wanda asked.
Vision couldn't believe that even with how gravely injured she was, Wanda's concern was for other people. His admiration for her grew.
"You're staring," Strange whispered.
Vision jolted. "I didn't mean to. I was trying to see how badly she's hurt."
"Sure." He opened a portal back to the hillside in Eswatini.
While they gathered the remaining Dora Milaje, Vision thought over what he'd heard the Black Panther and Shuri say to Wanda. What was the accident that killed Wakandans that T'Challa blamed her for? Who was the Bucky that T'Challa blamed for his father's death and Shuri had healed? Why had Shuri been searching for Wanda? Why did T'Challa think Wanda could have defeated Thanos?
Wanda intrigued him. He wished to understand her. More vaguely, he wished he could somehow ease the sorrow he saw in her.