Agony (Wanda Maximoff)

Chapter 65

||When darkness falls, you will be the beacon that will guide everyone home.||

Part 2: The Plan

The Sentinels were sluggish, as if they hadn't been used in years. But that didn't stop them from fighting back, and Wanda's magic glowed through the dark as she twirled around the Sentinels, careful not to use it against the self-aware ones.

To her surprise, it was fairly easy.

It was also easy to spot the self-aware Sentinels once she got a better look at them. They were more calculated, and fought roughly as the mutants around them attacked. Their slender bodies were tall, but penetrable, and Wanda got close enough at one point to run her fingers along one of it's legs.

If she concentrated, and used enough magic, she could tear apart the Sentinels piece by piece, but she was scared, afraid of what would happen if it didn't work.

Near the back, Storm was still causing the thunder above in the sky to rattle the night, and the rain that began came down heavy, making the area muddy and cold.

Wanda stopped for a moment, taking in everything around her, and tried to figure out what to do next.

The open area around the bunker was big enough for the mutants to fit into, but the Sentinels—all 24 of them—took up even more space, pushing the mutants back. So far, two of them had gone down, and that was thanks to half of the mutants working on one Sentinel, and the other half working on the other.

The self-aware Sentinels were just as ferocious as she imagined, and though they struggled to work together, she could tell that their inability to work as one was the only thing keeping them from killing.

Emma stood near the back, with Storm, speaking to everybody through her mind. Wanda was too busy using her magic to focus on what she was saying, but she heard the words faster and steady as she wove through the crowd. It was only when she was about to strike a Sentinel with her hex that Emma spoke to her directly. Easy, Wanda. You'll tire yourself out if you do not pace yourself.

Her magic lingered on her fingers, and she turned to look back at Emma, nodding her head slightly to tell her she understood. When she turned, the Sentinel in front of Wanda loomed over her, looking down at her like a meal. It's eyes glowed red, and it brought it's hand up to strike her, but then it's eyes returned to the pearly white shade, then, without touching her, moved past her.

She hadn't realized she was holding her breath until the Sentinel walked away, and even the mutants around her stopped. It was a self-aware Sentinel, and it didn't even try to kill her.

The thunder above startled her out of her confusion, and she pushed her way through the fight to find her brother.

Don't panic, Wanda. They can't see you

Emma's voice echoed through her head, and Wanda hunched forward, her wet hair sticking to her face as she struggled to catch her breath. "How?" she asked, standing back up and searching for Pietro's blue stream. "Why can't they see me?"

The Sentinels were programmed to kill mutants, not experiments. You are not a threat to them, unless they feel threatened by you. Use that invisibility against them. Be smart, Wanda.

She had almost forgotten that her and Pietro weren't mutants, and that to the Sentinels, they were just humans.

Without missing a beat, Wanda ran through the crowd of mutants and Sentinels and made her way towards the bunker once again. Her body was shivering and her teeth clattered as she leaned against the side wall and looked up at the sky. Vision and Tony hovered above, far enough to stay hidden, but close enough to spot.