Fight or Flight » JW / Avengers

chapter one

[ chapter one ; ]

Wanda had been offered a ticket to Jurassic World by Tony Stark. In his words, it wasn't a gift, just 'something to do to keep her mind off things.' She knew what things implied - he wanted to give her a distraction from the inevitable. Her brother's death.

Training in the Avengers Facility had been good for that, for the first few weeks. Then her interest started to fade. Her emotions were getting harder to shove down. She was withdrawing; purposefully avoiding her teammates.

Stark had delivered the ticket to her personally. It had been a knock on the door to her room, followed by a rapid-paced, "Hey, so, there's this park- it's got dinosaurs. I fell into a ticket that I've got no use for . . . so, here."

She's stood there for a full twenty seconds before accepting said ticket, studying it in disbelief before turning that look up to Stark. "A park with dinosaurs?" she repeated, not bothering to hide her incredulity.

"Yep," Stark nodded, adjusting his suit jacket as he watched Wanda with a highly expectant look. "So . . . what do you say?"

Wanda stared at Tony hard, before staring down at the ticket harder. It was an odd gift, one she didn't quite believe, but all the same . . . she was pretty sure she should accept it. Mostly because she was positive it was supposed to be a gesture of peace. And if she and Tony Stark were to ever start working together on a team, there should probably be some semblance of peace between them. "All right," she said slowly, eyeing the billionaire one last time before nodding. "I mean . . . thank you. I assume I am to fly there?"

"You are indeed," Tony flashed a smile that he knew all too well would have none of it's charming effect on the young woman. He produced said airplane ticket then, shrugging his shoulders up and down. "You leave tomorrow morning. The park tickets are good for two days. So go- have fun."

"What is this for, Stark?" she has asked then, as she accepted the plane tickets as well.

"Just something to keep your mind off things, no big deal," Stark had shrugged yet again. "Anyway, I've got to be off. Meetings, and whatever else business people do. Romanoff said she'd drive you to the airport."

And that was how Wanda found herself taking two flights down to Costa Rica, only to board a very classy ship into the park - Jurassic World.

She had VIP access, access to nearly everything. It was just like Stark, to go all out. She knew that was what had happened, too; there was no way he just 'happened upon' these tickets.

Apparently Iron-Man may have actually had a heart.

Wanda watched with contained amusement as the doors - the ones from the original park, according to the voice in the car - opened before her, and all the other guests. Many small children had rushed to the front of the train to press their faces against the glass, but Wanda felt she could see just fine from her position.

Little did she know what awaited her.

>>>

On her way into the park, Wanda passed by a tall, dark haired woman holding up a sign that read 'Zach and Gray Mitchell.' She looked bored, and a peek into her head granted Wanda the knowledge that this woman was a PA being pushed into the position of babysitter. She grimaced and glanced over her shoulder, catching a glimpse of the two young men approaching the dark haired woman, before she further melted into the crowd.

There was a lot to do, from what she'd seen so far. And everything was dinosaurs. Everything. Which shouldn't have surprised her, given it was a dinosaur park, but still. The entire concept was plastered on every window, every sign, visible whichever way anyone turned.

It was almost as obnoxious of advertisement as Stark was prone to doing.

She was doing just fine heading toward some kiosks, when a man - a boy, really, likely a teenager - slammed into her from the front. She stuttered in her steps because of it, and looked up just in time to see an acne-filled face sneering down at her.

She shoved him away when he made no indication he would move himself. "An apology is in order," she pointed out, her accent harsh as she glared up at him.

His thoughts were pompous, and immature. His sneer widened to a cocky smirk, and before he could open his mouth and voice any of the slurs going through his mind, she stopped him with a twist of her fingers, watching his eyes flash red at her influence. Within a few more seconds he was walking off, and she was left alone.

Annoyed. But alone.

She stayed that way as she headed toward what looked to be the closest attraction - a Mosasaurus feeding. She wasn't entirely sure what a Mosasaurus was, but she was sure that she may as well go find out. That was why she was here, wasn't it?

She waded through the crowds, taking a decent seat, and listening patiently as one of the park workers began to talk about the Mosasaurus. From what the woman was saying, this dinosaur - no, marine reptile, apparently - had a pretty decent bite.

Wanda watched, feeling the rise in anticipation in the crowd, as a Great White shark was dangled above the huge lake. Her eyes widened to the size of saucers once she saw the huge beast rise out of the water, jaws opened, displaying rows of knife-like teeth, before it snapped shut on the shark and slammed back into the water with a splash.

The splash soaked the entire crowd and seemed to relieve most of the tension in it, but even after the shock of water, Wanda was practically frozen. People had made something so big? That thing could easily eat a person if it fell into the water . . .

She tried to shove her pessimistic thoughts aside as the seats lowered, providing the crowd with an underwater view of the Mosasaurus. It was ginormous. The crowds were cheering. And once she saw it twist on a dime in the water, snapping up the remains of the shark in it's wide maw, Wanda found herself smiling, too. Because it was, if anything, impressive. And the park had been open for a while now . . . surely that meant they had everything under control, right?