Two of a Kind | Wanda Maximoff

Chapter 47: Blackout

Claire woke up with a start and an empty bed. She looked around the quiet room and turned on her phone that was charging on her bedside table and groaned at the time: 12:30pm. Wanda was already at work and at this point, she was glad that Tony had given her the day off so he could meet with the other Avengers and representatives of the government to talk about amending the Accords.

She crawled out of bed, took a 20-minute shower, got herself ready and dressed, and headed up a piece of leftover pizza for lunch and headed back into her room. She was bored and her wolf was whining and begging to be let out, but she didn't feel like going for a run—which to be fair, she never did. Looking around for something to do, her eyes landed on her burner phone and anxiety filled her as she remembered what she was supposed to do. She sighed and grabbed the device, turned it on, and opened her contacts. She sat on the edge of the bed, still holding the phone, and stared at the number as her heart thumped loudly in her chest.

After a few minutes, she took a deep breath, gathering what little courage she had left, and clicked on the number, the phone dialing. She pressed the small brick to her ear, and listened to it ring, and with each ring, she tried to convince herself that this was a mistake but before she could hang up, a gruff voice answers the phone.

"Who is this?"

"Uh...who is this?"

"Don't worry about who this is, now answer the question. Who are you and how did you get this number?" the man asked, growling at her. Claire cleared her throat, trying to get rid of the slight waver, before she answered him.

"I'm Claire and I'm looking for Blackout." The man on the other end paused a bit before speaking to her again, this time, more aggressive.

"What the hell do you want with Blackout?" Before Claire could answer, there was another voice in the background, a female voice, and she could hear the muffled sounds of shuffling and things moving, probably the phone.

"Hello?" The woman's voice came through the speakers. Claire gulped.

"Uh...hi, I'm looking for Blackout?"

"Speaking. How can I help you?" Claire couldn't believe it; she was talking to Blackout. She began to wonder if the young hero even remembered her and if this was a fool's errand. She didn't realize how long she was quite before Blackout's voice came through the phone again saying, "Hello? Are you still there?"

"Uh...yeah, sorry. I'm just...I don't know if you remember me, and it's okay if you don't, I know it's been a while and you've probably been busy; I know I have—" she was rambling and she felt her wolf kick her for being so completely hopeless. "I'm sorry, I'm rambling. It's me...Claire. Again not sure if you remember me, but I was there with guy in Hell's Kitchen that kinda looked like a cheap version of Iron Ma—"

"Claire?" There was a long pause before she shrieked into the phone. "Holy shit don't take this the wrong way, but I can't believe you're still alive! You've got a death wish that surpasses my boyfriend's and that's really saying something. Jesus Christ, I can't believe that I'm hearing your voice right now. How are you? I saw something on the news about a shapeshifter fighting with the Avengers against that Thanos...guy...thing. Was that you?"

"Heh...ye-yeah, that was me." Claire cleared her throat. "Anyways, I'm fine, I'm back in New York; for good this time." She hoped that Blackout would take the hint and allow her to change the subject.

"Really? That's good. Guess you couldn't stay away, huh?"

Claire sighed at the change in subject and smiled a little as she looked over at a framed picture of her and Wanda. It was them in their costumes on Halloween two years ago on their first date. Looking at the picture, she felt herself relax.