Chapter 19
"The Mind Stone is like nothing we've ever seen before. The underlying structure is almost impossibly dense. It'd take days to even begin to properly understand the data we're getting from it." Bruce said, barely-restrained excitement and wonder in his voice. "This is massive. We could advance our understanding of particle physics by decades. If the Infinity Stones really are tied somehow to the fundamental forces of the universe, we could be looking at the basis for a complete, unified theory of everything."
It was the morning after I'd handed the Mind Stone over to the Avengers to examine and, despite how tired I'd been, I'd had a lot of trouble sleeping. I was reasonably sure that it was safe for me to temporarily relinquish the Stone, but my imagination had run away with itself and I'd spent the night coming up with increasingly unlikely-but-possible scenarios regarding how it could all go terribly wrong. On top of that, the rooms we'd been given weren't exactly the height of comfort—small, practical quarters obviously only meant for team members or guests to stay in temporarily if they needed to spend the night in the Tower. They reminded me unpleasantly of my cell back in the HYDRA research base in Sokovia.
Now we were in the briefing room, which was essentially similar to every other mundane conference room I'd ever been in before, just a little bit fancier. A dark wooden central table surrounded by comfortable black leather office chairs dominated the room and three large monitors were mounted on one of the glass walls. Bruce was standing by one of them, pointing out details on a very technically impressive-looking graphical representation of the Mind Stone and the data and energy readings they'd pulled from it so far. The other Avengers were gathered around the table along with Pietro and me. Maria Hill, Bucky Barnes and Jessica Jones rounded out the attendees.
Bruce looked at me hopefully. "We could really use some more time to look over this more closely. If the Stones are important as you say they are, we might find something more we can use."
I hesitated, biting my lip. Everyone was looking at me. There was still some potential danger in letting Tony Stark have free rein to poke at the Mind Stone, but I was staying in the same building and could head off any problems if they developed. Refusing might hurt the cooperative relationship I was trying to build here. "Okay. Just… focus on making sense of the data. Don't try to do anything with it without talking to me."
"Thank you." Bruce smiled, pleased, as he sat back down at the table with the rest of us.
"Okay, with that out of the way… Wanda," Steve addressed me. "You have some things you wanted to talk to us about. We're listening."
I took a deep breath, running through what I thought was most important to talk about right now. There were so, so many things I could get into, but it would probably be better to focus on the high-level, important threats just for now. Keep things impersonal so I don't piss anyone off. If I played this right, I'd have plenty of time to get into more detailed things later. "Okay, so, I think there are three big things that we really need to go over. The first, and most imminent, is Kaecilius."
"That's the guy you fought in Bucharest, right? The wizard?" Tony asked. "Steve already filled us in on what happened there and Nepal."
"Okay, good. I'm reasonably sure we've got a few months before he makes his move, but I'd really appreciate the Avengers' help dealing with him."
Steve tilted his head, looking at me questioningly. "The Ancient One wasn't exactly keen for us to get involved."
"Yeah, but fuck her," I said, provoking a round of raised eyebrows and mildly amused expressions. Standing up, I paced back and forth for a few seconds before stopping and placing both of my palms on the table. I leaned forward, looking seriously at each of the Avengers in turn. "The sorcerers don't want to share their secrets and that's fine, whatever, but I need to make this really clear: he is trying to cause the literal end of the world. If he succeeds, the entire planet will be absorbed by the Dark Dimension."
A few of them exchanged cautious glances. "The 'Dark Dimension' doesn't sound great," Bruce hazarded.
"It's not, trust me. And in the timeline I saw, the Ancient One died failing to stop Kaecilius."
Steve frowned. "And whatever her plan was—this person that was going to be the one to stop him—isn't ready?"
"Exactly. He's not even a sorcerer yet."
"Can't we just… go get him, then?" Clint asked, folding his arms with a shrug. "Kaecilius is ahead of schedule, so we just give him a bit of nudge, too?"
"I think that'd basically be impossible. He's useless to us as he currently is." I shook my head. "He's talented, amazingly so, but a real arrogant jackass. Think Stark pre-Afghanistan."
"Hey, come on now," Tony protested.
"Are you really going to argue with that?" Natasha said teasingly, a small smirk curving the corner of her mouth.
"…objection withdrawn. Proceed, your honour."
I smiled faintly at Nat. "Yeah, so he needs his Iron Man moment to happen, so he can become who he needs to be. We can't rush it."
"What do we even do, then?" Steve asked. "You said yourself that there was no way to track Kaecilius and his followers."
"There isn't, but we do know where they're going to attack. The sorcerers have Sanctums in London, Hong Kong, and one right here in New York City. They're parts of like a… world-spanning defence grid that protects us from interdimensional threats. He'll try to destroy them. We'll play ball with the Ancient One and keep out of the sorcerers' way, but we can still make our own preparations to protect them."
"You said one's in New York?"
"Bleecker Street somewhere. I'm not sure of the exact address, but I know what it looks like… it's got a pretty distinctive window on the top floor. It'll just be a matter of walking down the street until I see it. I think the Sanctums in London and Hong Kong have similar-looking designs, but I don't know where they are exactly so they might be tricky to find."
"Alright, so we locate the New York Sanctum and start thinking defence plans."
"Can you clarify something?" Bruce ventured hesitantly.
"Sure."
"Those portals you make… the sorcerers can make them, too? They're a magic thing? Not something to do with your other powers?"
"…Yes and no. I don't actually have 'other powers' as such. I'm not Enhanced like you or Pietro. I always had the potential for magic; the Mind Stone just unlocked and supercharged it." The cat was out of the bag now, so there was no point in trying to deceive them about it. I held up a hand and summoned some wisps of chaos magic, letting them drip harmlessly from my fingers. "This is magic. There are a lot of ways to use it. In some ways I feel like I've only really scratched the surface of what I'm capable of." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Hawkeye shift uncomfortably as I said that.
"You're a witch," Thor said, matter-of-factly. "You do not have the trappings of such, so I did not recognise your magic for what it was immediately, but it's obvious in retrospect."
"Yeah, obvious, sure." Tony rolled his eyes.
"The next thing we need to talk about: Thanos, the Mad Titan."
Thor paused and straightened up, staring at me for a few moments before I nodded and gestured for him to speak. The thunder god looked slowly around the table. "I have heard of this being. A genocidal warlord who has crusaded across the stars for years, decimating planets. It is said that he controls the largest armies in the universe."
"More than decimating. His usual MO is to arrive on a planet, seize control with his armies, then slaughter half the populace before moving on. He's… well, he's another delusional maniac. He believes that the greatest threat to the universe is overpopulation and the only way to rein it in is by culling planets."
"And let me guess, he's coming for Earth." Tony sighed.
"You actually already fought off his first, indirect attack."
A flicker of understanding passed across Thor's face. "The Chitauri? I had wondered how Loki had secured an army and the sceptre."
"We've got a few years to prepare before he really makes another attempt at Earth, but it's actually worse than that. He's not interested in Earth specifically—his ultimate goal is the Infinity Stones. He wants to collect the whole set, all six of them, then snap his fingers and erase half of all life in the universe at once."
There were a few moments of silence as everyone processed that. "That's…" Bruce hesitated. "Are the stones really capable of something like that?"
"When all used together, yes. In the timeline I saw, he succeeds. It's… utterly devastating. Here and elsewhere."
Thor nodded gravely, resting his chin on his fist, deep in thought. "I'd believe it possible. Everything I've heard of the Stones supports that level of power."
"And at least two of the Stones are on Earth…" Clint trailed off.
"He has armies and powerful individuals supporting him—his Black Order—but even Thanos by himself is a massive threat. In my visions, he fist-fought the Hulk and utterly dismantled him. Thor, Steve, Stark," I pointed at each of them in turn. "I saw him fight the three of you, all working together, all much stronger than you are now, and he was powerful enough to beat all of you."
"So how are we supposed to stop him?"
I knew that I was at least potentially strong enough to fight Thanos, but that would sound awfully convenient from their perspective. There was, however, at least one other thing I could suggest that could let me kill two birds with one stone. "We call in support. Maria?"
Maria Hill blinked in surprise, not having expected to be called on. "Oh, uh. What?"
"I know you've got a way of contacting Nick Fury. Please reach out and tell him he needs to call Carol home. We're going to need her."
Maria looked to Steve in askance and he nodded slightly before looking back at me. "Carol?" he asked.
"You'll like her, probably. She's out in space somewhere at the moment, but Fury has a way of reaching her. He met her back in the nineties—she's actually the one the Avengers Initiative was named after." Tony and Steve exchanged a glance at that, brows furrowed. "And that brings me to the third thing we need to talk about. Thor, what do you know about Celestials?"
"They are ancient gods, primordial beings that trace their origins to the universe's beginning. They spin new stars out of raw creation. I do not know much else… They have only rarely visited Asgard."
"Do you know anything about their life cycle? How new Celestials are born?" I asked. When he shook his head, I continued. "Long story short, they need planets with intelligent life on them. A nascent Celestial is seeded inside and life is cultivated on the world. I'm not clear on the how or why, but they're nourished by the proliferation and advancement of intelligent life. Once they reach maturity inside the planet's interior, they burst out… The resident civilisation typically doesn't survive the process."
"Okay, not loving where you're going with this," said Tony.
"Yeah. There's a giant alien god-baby inside Earth and they'll be ready to hatch in a few years' time. I actually have literally no idea what to do about this one, so I'm open to suggestions."
Slowly, everyone at the table turned to look at Thor again. He sat, happily oblivious for a few seconds, before blinking as he suddenly noticed he was the centre of attention. "…Thor?" Steve prompted him.
The Asgardian prince hastily cleared his throat. "Ah, yes, of course. This is… disturbing, if true. I am unsure if Odin will know of a way to avert such a disaster."
I nodded encouragingly. "If you could ask him, it'd be helpful." Maybe I didn't even need to tell Thor about Odin at all. If I just sent him back to Asgard with a barrage of questions that Loki couldn't answer, maybe the imposter would give himself away by accident. "If he isn't sure, I think the next best place to look for answers might be Omnipotence City."
"Omnipotence City?" Tony pulled a face at the name.
"A bunch of pantheons banded together and created a literal city of the gods," I explained. "I know that there are at least some Celestials that hang out there."
Thor tapped his fingers on the table as he tried to mask his sudden excitement. "It's the home of the most powerful gods in the universe. Yes… Heimdall will answer my call sooner or later. I will return to Asgard and speak with my father about Thanos, the Infinity Stones and this Dark Dimension—Asgard may know more of it than Earth's sorcerers. Then I will journey to Omnipotence City and seek out the Celestials." He smiled to himself, very obviously pleased with this development.
"So… holding pattern, for the most part? The rest of us sit tight while we wait for Thor and this mysterious 'Carol'? Do a little research on the Mind Stone, start spitballing ideas on how to protect some wizards who don't want to be protected… that about all?" Tony shrugged. "Okay, seems easy enough."
I wasn't asking them to do much of anything at this stage, so when it came right down to it, from their perspective, there was little downside to listening to me on these specific matters. There was trickier stuff I needed to talk to them about as well, but almost all of it would require a gentle guiding hand and careful thought. I might also be able to just steer people in the right direction, so that they could find out things on their own, rather than outright telling them things that might get some pushback. It was a good thing I had literal years before most other things became problems—unless something came up, I could hopefully handle them at my leisure.
Nodding along, Steve looked around the table. "Anyone have any issues with that? It seems straightforward enough to me. Just preparations, nothing extreme." There was a subdued chorus of nods and murmured affirmations, then the super soldier turned to look at me seriously. "Then it's agreed. We do need to discuss Wakanda, though."
It was my turn to pull a face. "Do we, though? It's not like the US has an extradition treaty with them." I paused, suddenly unsure. "Do you?"
"It doesn't matter. What happened might have been a misunderstanding, but you still need to make it right."
"Okay, fine, just… can we table this discussion for a bit?" I asked. "You're not my keeper and you don't have a responsibility to Wakanda. I'll handle it, but let me do it in my own time. Please?"
Steve set his jaw and it looked like he was going to argue for a moment, but then he sighed and nodded his head. "Okay. But you do have to handle it."
"I will."
I honestly had no idea how I was going to approach that. It seemed like Wakanda had kept the theft of the Heart‑Shaped Herb to themselves, which was fair enough—it wasn't something they would volunteer information about while talking to outsiders—but that also meant the Avengers didn't know exactly how burned those bridges were. Considering how tenaciously they'd pursued Klaue for stealing vibranium, I couldn't really imagine a scenario where they'd give up on the hunt for someone who'd stolen a secret, priceless national treasure like the Herb. Even if it was possible to negotiate it out, me keeping the Herb's physical enhancement would almost certainly be a dealbreaker and I wasn't willing to relinquish something that had actively saved my life at least once already. Problems for the future.
Tony stretched out his arms and looked over at Thor, a light smile ghosting across his face. "So, the hunt for the sceptre's done. Sounds like we've potentially got a whole host of other problems to deal with later, but for now… feels good, yeah? I mean, you've been after that thing," he gestured at the monitor with the Mind Stone data on it, "since SHIELD collapsed. Not that I haven't enjoyed our little raiding parties, but…"
"No, but this brings it to a close," the thunder god said with a smile, nodding his agreement.
"And you'll be going back to Asgard soon, right? Might be gone a while, too, if you head out to this Omnipotence City place as well. So… farewell party?"
Thor chuckled. "Yes, yes, of course. A victory should be honoured with revels."
"Yeah, who doesn't love revels? Captain?"
Steve let a small smile curl the corner of his mouth, looking between Pietro, Jessica, Bucky and I. "Victory and new friends, so… yes, revels."
My eyes widened and I nodded furiously. The Avengers were going to have a party and I was invited? Holy shit. It seemed as though not everything from Age of Ultron had been averted, after all. This was much, much later than in the original timeline, though… I was pretty sure their farewell party for Thor had happened only a few days after the raid on the HYDRA research base. That had happened, what, maybe three weeks ago now? I'd actually lost track of how long it had been.
Oh, God. What was I going to wear?
--
"How are you holding up?"
Pietro grunted in response as I approached him. He was standing on the upper level of the main gathering area, looking out over the city skyline—did the Avengers have a special name for this room? The Lounge? It was kind of like a lounge and bar. Not important.
"I know you don't want to be here," I said softly. "It means a lot to me that you are anyway. I hope you know that."
He sighed and turned to look at me. "Yeah. I know."
There wasn't much point hanging around Avengers Tower, apart from taking advantage of the kitchen or relaxing in the Lounge. There was a lot of the building that was still off-limits to us unless we were with one of the Avengers, including Tony's lab where the Mind Stone was being kept. On top of that, JARVIS was keeping a watchful eye on our every move, which was a little bit discomforting. I didn't like being constantly observed—it reminded me of my time at HYDRA. At least here, I could just go out for a bit if I wanted to.
"I was going to head out this afternoon and find the New York Sanctum, get an actual address, then… well, we've got a couple of days to kill and there's a lot we could do. Lots of stuff happens in New York." I smiled to myself faintly. "Not just Avengers stuff. I thought we might even catch a show, if there's anything interesting on."
"I…" Pietro hesitated. "I think I just want to do my own thing. By myself."
"Oh. Okay."
"It's not… I'm fine. I just need to get out of this place. Get away from all of this for a little bit."
Away from me. We still needed to talk more about my memories and who I was, but he seemed to be avoiding it for now, which was fair enough. He needed more time to process stuff on his own.
"Okay. Well, just so you know, there's been a few clips posted on the internet of Spider‑Man, so it looks like he started up in the last couple of weeks. Opening a portal directly to him would probably scare the crap out of him, blow his cover or both, so I thought I'd check out his school at some point and see if I can spot him or some of his friends, try to work out where he lives."
There was also Nelson and Murdock—I thought I could have a frank conversation with Matt about Elektra and the Hand. It was probably worth bringing the Avengers in on the Hand situation, but it wasn't super urgent. I also kind of wanted to introduce myself to Luke Cage, for… reasons.
"How old is he again?"
"Fifteen, I think, but he's very strong and doesn't have any real support or guidance. He could use some help. Scouting mission only today, though. I'll probably leave off actually approaching him for a couple of days. There's no rush and I don't want to spread myself too thin."
I noticed Pietro suddenly stiffen up and glanced backward, following his gaze. Tony Stark was at the bottom of the stairs, on his way up to us.
"Hey, you two."
I went to say hi back, but Pietro cut me off, his tone venomous. "What do you want, Stark?"
"Cool your jets, Ace," Tony said, holding his hands up defensively. "I'm not looking to cause trouble."
"I don't care what you want." Pietro glanced back toward me. "Find me if you need me," he said brusquely, then blurred and shot past Tony, almost knocking the other man off his feet as he rapidly exited the room.
"…Little rude, but fair enough," Tony grumbled lightly as he walked up to me. "Wanda."
"Stark." I turned away from him, perhaps a little more frostily than I needed to, choosing to look back out at the city skyline instead.
He paused for a moment, absently running a finger along an expensive-looking telescope next to the window. "Look, I just want to say something."
"I'm listening." I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye, my tone guarded.
"I know there's nothing that I could do that would make things right. I can't give you your parents back. I can't undo the deals that Stark Industries made to sell the bombs that killed them." He fidgeted, visibly uncomfortable. "Any apology I give won't be enough and I doubt you'd even accept one, but I just wanted you to know that I'm not a huge fan of who I used to be either and I'm trying to do things right these days. To be better."
Huh. I don't remember ever seeing anything like this, with Tony actually talking to Wanda about her family and apologising. Then again, he had to know that I didn't think I was Wanda. Steve wouldn't have left out what the Ancient One said about me when he briefed the others, would he? What exactly did he say? This was all far more complicated than I wanted it to be.
I let out a quiet snort. "You're lucky that Pietro ran away just now. I think he might have put you through the window for talking about it. He's not good with this sort of thing."
"Yeah, well, neither am I really."
"I appreciate the effort, though."
We stood there for a few moments, just silently looking out over the city, before he fumbled with his pockets. "Oh, here, by the way." He held out a pair of sleek smartphones. "One for you, one for Pietro. Everyone's numbers are already in there."
"Well, it's certainly a less invasive way to keep tabs on us. Nice of you to at least make it obvious that you'll be tracking our movements."
"It's not… just for that," he hedged. "You want to work with us, we'll need to stay connected. Here, look." He held up one of the phones and indicated the buttons on the side. "Hold down this one and this one for two seconds and it'll activate the duress alarm and tracker. The whole team will get an alert and a ping with your location. Everyone's got one."
Okay, now that could be helpful. "Thanks. That's fine. I'll give Pietro his when I see him. Probably better coming from me than from you."
"Understandable."
