Carmine Jewels ║ Wanda Maximoff

Chapter 86 - And The Snakes Start To Sing

Everyone emerged back on the platform at the same time, the nanotech suits retracting almost instantly. Keira just managed to do a quick headcount, all eleven of them had survived, before her knees gave way. Had it not been for Natasha, she would've crumpled to the floor.

"Did we get them all?"

They all glanced around at each other, their faces breaking out into uncertain and hopeful smiles as the realization dawned on them. All of them were still here, alive.

And they had succeeded in their mission.

Keira's face was somewhere between a grimace and a smile, the happiness struggling against the exhaustion. She would get Wanda back. Natasha would get Yelena back, and Clint would get his family back. All their loved ones would return. Her right hand still clutched the Soul Stone in a vice-like grip, its orange light barely visible now when there was no eclipse to enhance its brightness.

"Are you telling me this actually worked?" Rhodey was smiling widely, holding a silver orb in his hand.

It was interesting to see that some of them weren't wearing the same clothes as before. Steve especially stood out in his ancient army uniform. Looked like Vormir wasn't the only place that had offered a different kind of adventure.

"What happened to you, disco ball? Suddenly started to cry strawberry juice?" Tony quipped, his gaze on Keira. While his words were sarcastic, there was a worried gleam in his eyes.

"Something like that." Clint answered for her, patting Keira on the back before pointing an accusing finger at Nebula, stalking over to the blue woman until he was right in her face. "You. I have a bone to pick with you. Next time, would be nice with a heads-up. Sacrifices aren't something we're especially keen on, just FYI." He was absolutely furious. To be so close to losing one of his friends had shaken him to the bone. They had all made it out alive by pure chance.

Nebula met his angry stare casually, not backing away from the assassin. "You got the Stone. That's what matters."

"Clint, hey. It's okay." Keira landed a hand on his shoulder, pulling him back from the woman, with Natasha closely behind in case her legs would give up again. "She couldn't have known that a sacrifice would be involved. All she knew was that Thanos arrived at Vormir with Gamora, and left without her. She didn't know the details."

She wasn't even sure why she was defending Nebula. Maybe it was the fact that Nebula had finally broken free from her father's grasp and started living for herself, rather than for him. Or maybe it was just for the simple reason that they all had made it from Vormir in one piece.

Had it gone any differently, then she wouldn't be taking it so calmly.

There was a tense silence in which Clint had a staredown with Nebula, who didn't back down, while all the others just looked at them with confusion and apprehension.

If Keira's whole body hadn't been screaming for rest and her head feeling like her brain was swelling against the inside of her skull, maybe she would've caught the fact that one in their midst wasn't as they seemed.

Maybe she would've sensed that one of them had a completely different agenda in mind than bringing back those they lost five years ago.

Wanting nothing more than to slip into something clean, she wandered over to Tony, her step a bit unsteady. "Here. Work your magic. I need to get this so-called strawberry juice off me." She managed a tired chuckle and presented the Stone to him, and he took it with slight apprehension.

Of course, he wouldn't be Tony Stark if he hadn't already worked out a few blueprints after watching the gauntlet in action on Titan, but it would take some time to calibrate the tech so it could handle the power of the Stones without melting or breaking apart.