Fight or Flight » JW / Avengers

chapter six

[ chapter six ; ]

"Where are we going?" Wanda demanded of Owen as they marched through the park.

"They're evacuating the northern parts of the island, bringing them into the center," Owen began to explain. "It means the dinosaur's getting closer."

"And what exactly are we going to do about that?" Wanda asked next, coming up beside him and looking up at him. The determination in his face was obvious, his green eyes hardened as he made his way through the masses. It was interesting to her, how everyone moved around him without him having to even say 'excuse me.'

"We're going to go tell them to use lethals," Owen said. "They can get one of their huge guns up on a chopper and mow this thing down, no problem. We just have to get it to happen."

Wanda gave a small, smug smile then, quickening her pace toward where she remembered them having parked. "If they are not cooperative, I can help move it along."

Owen actually smiled down at her. It was the kind of smile that lit up his whole face, and he gave a quiet laugh as he yanked his keys out of his pocket. "I think I'd enjoy witnessing that."

Except before they could reach the jeep, Claire Dearing appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. "Oh, thank goodness, Owen-- Wanda," she said, out of breath as she clutched Owen's shoulder. "My nephews . . . they're-- they're in one of the Gyrospheres, they didn't come in when we sent out the message," she explained quickly, the concern scrawled all over her features.

Owen and Wanda exchanged a fast look, both coming to the same conclusion simultaneously. "They're in the valley?" Owen asked.

Claire nodded wordlessly. "Please, I-- I can't lose them."

"How old are they?" Wanda asked.

"Uh," Claire swallowed, straightening up as she thought. She moved her hand up, "One's, um, one's this tall, and," her hand lowered considerably, "the other's, about . . ." she shook her head helplessly.

"You don't know how old your nephews are?" Owen asked flatly.

"I am more concerned with the fact that your nephews were not with you all this time," Wanda said.

Claire shot her a sharp look. "I had important meetings, okay, I can't--" she shook her head and cut herself off. "Look, none of this is the point. Just . . . please. Help me get them back."

Owen sighed and glanced over at Wanda, who was already nodding. "Of course," she agreed, before looking up at Owen. "It would appear we should put your plan on hold."

Claire's brows furrowed in confusion at Wanda's mention of a 'plan', but before she could ask, Owen spoke; "All right, let's go. Jeep's this way."

::

Wanda had somehow ended up in the passenger's seat (she wasn't really sure what had happened, in all honesty) so she had a decent view to look around as Owen drove.

"What are their names?" she asked Claire, bright eyes raking over the gorgeous scenery.

"Zach and Gray," Claire answered instantly. "Zach's--"

Wanda cut her off, twisting almost all the way around in her seat, "The oldest," she finished, her eyes wide. "I saw them! I saw them when I got here; they had a woman waiting for them." She gave Claire a suspicious look. "Shouldn't the woman . . . your PA . . . be with them?"

Claire gaped at Wanda for a full thirty seconds, her mind trying to process what she had just heard. "I-- yes, but they ran off-- you saw them?" she echoed, bewildered. "But how did you . . . how--"

"She reads minds, Claire," Owen pointed out, glancing in the rearview mirror as Wanda turned back around.

Claire remained silent, evidently trying to process that. "I . . . right. I knew that."

Wanda suppressed a smile. It usually came as a shock to people, even those who did recognize her via her alias, and work as an Avenger. The general populace seemed to forget she could do more than tear things apart with red energy, and throw up shields for protection. "I will recognize them," she said then, as Owen began to slow down. She gave him a confused look. "And I can tell you-- they are not here. What are you--"

But before she could answer the question, he was throwing the jeep into park, and opening his car door. He grabbed his rifle, not bothering to glance at the women. "Stay here," he said, before shutting the door after him.

Wanda and Claire exchanged a look, before the Sokovian muttered, "Yeah, right," and clambered out of the car after him. Claire was quick to follow suit.

What they saw shocked them. It broke Wanda's heart on sight. A giant, long-necked dinosaur was fallen before the jeep, deep, terrible scratches visible across the bulk of it's body. But even as Claire moved past her, toward where Owen was crouched by the dinosaur's head, Wanda was frozen.

She could hear the dying thoughts of the rest of the herd. Beyond that, she could feel their pain. They were dying. Terrible visions of a horrid predator clouded their mind, their simple thoughts muddled with pain and fear and agony and it tormented her, her eyes filling with tears as she tangled her hands in her hair, pulling herself out, out, out--

She squeezed her eyes shut and whimpered quietly as a few tears slid down her cheeks. She remembered that pain all too well. She was quick to scrub it out of her mind, to shove the feeling deep down.

When she opened her eyes, Owen was striding back toward her and the jeep, Claire hot on his tail.

"It's killing for sport," Owen stated as he climbed back into his seat.

Wanda and Claire were quick to follow suit. The trio sat in silence as Owen continued to drive, heading off toward where the Gyrosphere containing the Mitchell's had last been seen.

As they pulled through a broken gate, Wanda finally spoke. "It is not safe for either of you," she said abruptly.

Owen shot her a quick look, utterly confused. "What're you talking about?"

"This--this thing," she spat, shooting Claire a quick but pointed look. "It is not safe. Neither of you . . . you cannot defend yourselves. You have a very small gun, Owen," she pointed out, exasperated.

"It's not that small," he shot back. "Besides, what're you gonna do? Mind trick it?"

"Possibly!" Wanda retorted in frustration. "Either way, I am at a greater advantage in the safety department with both of you, and your coming puts you in harm's way--"

"My nephews are in harm's way--"

"I am perfectly capable of handling myself, thank you very much--"

"--and I don't want anyone else to die!" Wanda finished, voice rising.

Owen didn't miss the ferocity in her eyes as she stared him down, and it slowly occurred to him what was going on. She was a hero, he remembered, though it was something that was hard to forget in the first place. She was supposed to save people. No wonder this felt so terribly wrong to her. Except then he took another quick glance at her, and he saw something else in her eyes.

Pain.

He recognized that pain. She had lost someone before.

No wonder she was determined no one else die.

That eased off his irritation toward her, given he felt as though he was being underestimated. It was not, however, something that Claire took any notice of. "You don't have a say in what goes on right now, Miss Maximoff--"

"My name is Wanda," the hero said through her teeth, her eyes flickering to red despite herself.

Before their conversation could continue though, Owen was pulling to a stop . . . right in front of a wrecked Gyrosphere.