Hey, everybody. Here we go. Another chapter you've all been waiting for since the Worlds Collide, Heroes Clash. The Wanda/Iris showdown. It's gonna be a doozy, and a much longer chapter than previous ones. I really hope that I can do a good job with this.
First off, to confirm something. This story will be the last one in which Iris will be a regular character. Except for one or two cameos, Iris will be written out of the MACU after this story.
Let's get to it.
Guest: Yes, Wanda is immune to the dagger. As are Steve, Sam, and Clint, obviously. And, there will be one more hero that will come to help Team Flash stop Cicada.
Arrowverse Fan 217: Taskmaster, like in the comics, will shift loyalties multiple times in this series, and spend a bit of time on the grey side. But, he will help out our heroes at least once before Crisis on Infinite Earths, and he will definitely be fighting alongside our heroes in Crisis.
AngelWings98: My first Legends story with Loki is coming soon. It will take place between the defeat of Thanos and my version of Crisis on Earth-X. Since I'm still kind of working out the plot, I may actually wait until after my Crisis on Earth-X story to publish it. I'm undecided. But rest assured, it will be one of the next two stories I publish in this series.
Chapter 5- Wanda vs Iris
"Any word from the team?" Wanda asks as she flips a pancake.
"No. Then again, it's only been about 36 hours since our little meeting in our living room," Barry says as he helps Nora and Stephen into their seats at the table.
"Don't worry, Barry. Cicada's not going to win," Wanda says comfortingly as she moves the last pancakes from the griddle to a tray. She then carries the tray over to the table.
"Yay! Pancakes!" Nora cries happily, drawing smiles from her parents.
"Alright, everybody. Dig in!" Barry says happily as he reaches for the pancakes.
The Allen family enjoys a very nice breakfast together, and Barry takes the kids into the living room to play while Wanda cleans the dishes, which goes a lot faster with her powers.
As Barry is playing with the twins, there's a knock on the front door. "Come in," Barry calls out.
The front door opens, and Joe and Iris walk in, Iris carrying a plate of cookies.
"Hey, kids. Papa Joe's here!" Joe says with a big smile.
"Papa Joe!" the twins call out in almost perfect sync as they rush to embrace him. Joe laughs as he drops down so he can embrace them.
"We brought cookies," Iris says as she walks over to Barry.
"Thanks," Barry says, taking the cookies and setting them down on a lampstand.
A moment later, Wanda walks in. She smiles as she sees Joe and says, "Joe! Good to see you."
"You too, Wanda," Joe says pleasantly, walking forward to embrace his adoptive daughter-in-law.
As they separate, Wanda sees Iris. "Iris," she says politely. Iris completely ignores her, and manages to pass it off as paying attention to Stephen, who has chosen this moment to walk up to her. Wanda feels a brief impulse to pull Iris away from her son, but pushes it down and decides to remain polite and civil.
Joe and Iris stay for only about half an hour before leaving to return to Central City. During the visit, Iris spends most of her time interacting with the twins while Wanda, Barry, and Joe all talk. During the visit, Wanda notices that Iris is intentionally avoiding having to talk with her, and the only time she is forced to, she is very terse and cuts off the conversation as quick as possible.
After Joe and Iris leave, Wanda and Barry continue to go about their morning.
A few hours later, around noon, Wanda is out feeding the horses. As she strokes Blackjack's neck, she is thinking about the encounter from this morning. It's clear to her that Iris has not gotten over Barry choosing Wanda over her, and she's taking it out on Wanda. It's also made Wanda very uncomfortable how close Iris tries to act with Barry and the twins whenever she's around them. Wanda has put up with it until now because of Barry and his desire to maintain his relationship with the Wests.
But, as she scratches Blackjack behind his ears, Wanda comes to a decision. This cold war of sorts between her and Iris has to end. One way or another, she's going to give Iris a piece of her mind, and stop her continued fixation on Barry and her children.
Once she's content that the three horses have enough food, she hurries back to the farmhouse to grab her purse and keys. She calls upstairs, "Babe, I have to go into town. I'll be back soon."
"K. Love you, honey," he calls down from upstairs.
Wanda walks outside and hops in their car. She starts up the car and drives off the property and heads into town.
About 45 minutes later, she pulls into the parking lot of STAR Labs. She hops out of the car and hurries inside.
As she gets out of the elevator, she runs right into Cisco. Cisco looks at her in surprise and says, "Wanda. What a surprise. What brings you here?"
"I'm here to talk to Iris," Wanda says, her tone showing that she's not in the best of moods.
Cisco looks at her, nervousness growing in him. "Umm, she's in the cortex. I'm sure you can get there. I, umm, have to go do a thing," he says before scurrying out of the room, knowing what's about to happen and not wanting to be anywhere near it. In most other situations, Wanda would find his reaction amusing, but right now, she's not really in the mood to laugh.
Wanda makes her way to the cortex. As she rounds the corner, she sees Iris sitting at the computers, typing away.
"Iris!" Wanda says fiercely. Iris starts a bit at the sudden noise, then turns to face Wanda. As soon as she sees its Wanda, her face hardens.
"What do you want, Wanda? I'm busy," she says in irritation.
"This ends now, Iris," Wanda replies firmly.
"What ends now, Wanda?" Iris asks, even though she knows why Wanda is here.
"This little thing with you hating me and ignoring me while trying to cozy up to my husband and kids. It ends now. I've put up with it for long enough. I know it can be hard to get over your ex, but you've taken it too far. And don't think I haven't heard about you trying to pick up on Barry after I died in the Decimation," Wanda says angrily, her accent starting to show a little bit.
Iris' expression changes from one of irritation to one of anger, and she springs up from her seat. "You stole my boyfriend from me! So I think I have every right to be angry at you, and to try and get him back once you were out of the way!" she shouts at Wanda.
Wanda glares at Iris. "I did not steal your boyfriend. We became friends, and we both started falling for each other. I'll admit I confessed my love for him first, but he could have easily turned me down. He kissed me that day because he loved me back! I didn't make Barry do anything!"
"Oh please! Barry was supposed to be mine! We were meant to be together. That newspaper in the Time Vault listed my name as Iris West-Allen for years. Until you showed up! He was my boyfriend! He was meant to be my husband! And you came in and stole him because you thought him not being able to come home yet meant he was fair game! I was supposed to be his wife, not you! I was supposed to wear his mother's engagement ring, not you! And you even stole from me the children that should have been mine!" Iris shouts back at her.
Wanda glares, and her eyes start to glow red. Iris saying she deserved Barry was one thing. Saying she deserved Nora and Stephen was something else.
"Excuse me?! Don't you dare say you deserve my children more than me! You're not the one who carried them for 9 months while on the run from most of the world without knowing if their father was ever gonna come back! You're not the one who had to give birth to twins on your own, and then raise them for 16 months before being reunited with your husband, while worried every day you were gonna be caught and have them taken from you! And even if you had gone through these things, you will never deserve my children! I am their mother! Not you!" Wanda shouts.
Iris glares furiously at Wanda, though she somewhat regrets bringing up Nora and Stephen.
"That doesn't matter. You stole Barry from me! And honestly, I'm not totally convinced it was all his choice! You've got mind powers. How else could I explain how Barry could give me up for someone like you?" Iris demands.
Wanda glares even more furiously at Iris, her fingers starting to glow red.
"How dare you accuse me of manipulating Barry! Even if I had, you'd think 16 months away from me on this Earth, and then another year after I died, would've broken my hold on him. And yet, he still loved me, and he was broken when I died. And what kind of woman tries to pick up on a man whose wife just died without even giving him proper time to mourn?!" Wanda shouts.
"One who was trying to get back what was rightfully mine! Since you were gone, I thought I could finally show Barry what he gave up for some distraction! And if I'd had a little more time, I probably would've got him to see his mistake and come back to me! And if you knew what was good for you, you'd leave right now and go back to your Earth! You'll never last! Barry is meant to be mine!"" Iris almost screams.
Wanda's eyes narrow even further, and her eyes glow even more red. "I'm not going anywhere. Barry loves me, Iris. Not you! He never did! In his own words, what he felt for you was an infatuation. An obsession. Not real love. And you didn't love him either. You loved the fact your boyfriend was the Flash. And you didn't treat him as an equal! You didn't really respect him! Your relationship wasn't one of equals. My relationship with Barry is one of equals. I respect him in a way you didn't. And I love Barry for who he is, not just because he's the Flash. And I'm not a sick ***** who will try and pick up on someone's dead husband, and try to steal their children after they died. You never heard that, did you? In the original version of history, after Barry disappeared, you tried to take Nora and Stephen, and when that failed, you tried to control their lives as much as you could."
Wanda pauses for a split second, then she says, "I'm done with this, Iris. I thought maybe after everything, and seeing that Barry is staying with me, you wouldn't be that same twisted person from the original version of history. But clearly, that's not the case. And I'm done with it. So long as you remain stuck up like this and so fixated on Barry and my children, you will never come near them again."
She pauses for another second, then says, "And just in case you didn't already get this through your head, let me make it crystal clear now. Barry is my husband! He is no longer your boyfriend, and never will be! He loves me, and I love him! We have a family together, and nothing you do will get in the way of that, Iris! So stay away and get over your obsession with my husband!" With that, she turns and stomps out of the cortex, leaving Iris behind her fuming.
As she rounds the corner out of sight of the Cortex, Wanda sees Joe just ahead of her. She stops short, and the two stare at each other for a moment. Then, before Wanda can say anything, Joe walks forward and gives her a big hug.
Wanda hugs him back, crying a little bit. After a few moments, she asks, "How much of that did you hear?"
"From about where she said she deserved Nora and Stephen," Joe says.
"Then you didn't miss much," Wanda says.
"I'm so sorry, Wanda. I knew Iris was still a little bit hung up on Barry, but I didn't realize how badly she's been treating you since you came to this Earth. And I didn't realize just how hung up she was. I really am sorry," he says.
"It's okay, Joe. It's not your fault," Wanda says.
"It's gonna be okay, Wanda. You go home right now to your husband and children, and just spend time with them. I am going to go in and have a chat with Iris," Joe says firmly.
"Okay, Joe," she says. Joe then lets her go, gives her a pat on the shoulder, then stands aside to let her leave.
As soon as the elevator doors close behind Wanda, Joe turns towards the cortex, now angry. He walks around the corner and into the cortex. Iris sees him and, not realizing he heard the argument, smiles and says, "Hey, daddy."
"You really think I didn't hear all of that?" Joe says sharply. Iris freezes, now realizing she's in trouble.
"Dad…" she starts to say, but Joe holds up a hand to cut her off.
"I'm ashamed of you, Iris. I understand it can be difficult for you to lose a significant other, especially since Eddie died. But that does not explain your obsession with Barry since he broke up with you after coming back from Earth-99 for the first time. Nor does it excuse your behavior! I understand your anger right after he broke up with you, and that's why I didn't talk about it with you further! But this has gone on long enough. Your obsession with Barry is unhealthy, Iris! And it has gone too far!" Joe says loudly.
"She stole him from me, Dad!" Iris cries.
"No, she didn't Iris. Barry took a long time before he started to fall for Wanda, and the only reason he let himself is because he let go of the possibility of ever coming home! He chose to fall in love with Wanda, not because she forced him to. He chose to marry her! She didn't force him to! Your accusations were ludicrous. And frankly, I'm appalled you could ever think you deserve Nora and Stephen more than Wanda!" Joe says more angrily.
Iris has the good sense to look a bit sheepish. "I'll admit, I did cross a line there. But I feel somewhat validated. I was supposed to be the one to have Barry's children," Iris says defensively.
"Who are you, Iris? This is not the girl I raised. I feel like I don't know you anymore," Joe says.
"Dad," Iris starts to say, but Joe again cuts her off.
"No. You've gone far enough, Iris. I've had enough of you treating Wanda like that. She's my daughter-in-law, so she's family. You don't get to get away with treating her like this. You can try, but I'm not going to stand for it any longer! Leave them alone Iris! Barry loves Wanda! Not you! You need to accept that!" Joe says angrily before turning and storming out of the Cortex himself, leaving Iris behind to fume, and to wonder what she's just done.
And, I'll end there. I hope you liked this chapter.
So, the whole situation with Iris has not yet been fully resolved. It will still take a confrontation with her and Barry before it is, and that will take place next chapter, which may be the longest chapter of this story yet.
Next chapter will be up in the next few days. I hope you're excited for it. Until then, leave a review, tell me how you think I did with this scene, and stay tuned!