Carmine Jewels ║ Wanda Maximoff

Chapter 14 - Don't Bow To Anyone

Mr. Thompson simply guided her through the warehouse in silence and out through the other side were they were met by a long alleyway. It was completely littered with upturned asphalt, cars lying upside-down and bits of the surrounding buildings. A big dump truck was already standing there, ready to transport the rubble away.

Keira simply strolled over to a big cement block and crouched down by it, hiding her smug smile from his view.

"I can get some of the boys over here to... Help... You..." Mr. Thompson's voice trailed off as he watched the woman throw the block into the back of the truck without even breaking a sweat.

"You were saying?" She challenged, turning around with her hands on her hips. "Think I'm man enough for the job, Mr. Thompson?"

"Uh... Yeah, never mind. Just fill up the truck and the boys will get you a new one." Thompson stuttered, his eyes as big as plates.

"That's alright. I can drive a truck. I'll just ask one of them where to dump this stuff and it'll be fine. Thank you for your assistance, Mr. Thompson. That'll be all." She waved him away, not even sparing him a second glance before she began heaving the rubble into the back of the truck. In the corner of her eye, she saw that the man just shook his head in exasperation at her before walking away.

Keira couldn't help but smile to herself. It probably shouldn't feel as good as it did to put that man in his place, but damn, it was satisfying. Although the sunlight did its best to cook her alive, she worked tirelessly. Sweat clung to her forehead and even though her hair was tied up in a ponytail, it didn't stop some stray hairs to fall into her face, which she wiped out of her face with the back of her hand.

None of the guys had come out to check on her so far, despite it being several hours since she started. And she couldn't help but suspect that Mr. Thompson had something to do with it. Maybe he had warned them about the feral woman now working with them. She had however, asked one of them for directions as to where to dump the rubble, and he had been polite enough.

The cars that had been abandoned in the streets were in desperate need of some love. Those who hadn't exploded were dented like crazy, or just dusty beyond belief. So, Keira took it upon herself to flip the ones that were upside-down, at least that would give the owners a chance to try and recover their car.

Although, since they had been abandoned for weeks, maybe the owners didn't care too much about them.

When darkness had started to fall, and the few streetlights that were still intact flickered on, Keira paused and leaned against the truck with her hands on her knees. If she said she wasn't tired, she'd be lying. But even though her muscles almost shook from exhaustion, she welcomed the feeling.

Feeling like she had done something good for the city outweighed the tool it had taken on her body. The sound of approaching footsteps behind her caused her to jerk away from the truck and swivel around with her fists raised.

Call it an old habit.

"Hey, hey. Calm down, disco ball. I come in peace and wish you no harm." The brown-haired man held up his hands in surrender with a big smile on his face.

Keira quickly put her hands down and she drew a deep breath of relief. "Oh, hi, Tony. What are you doing here? I thought you'd be too busy with your tower." She said, mirroring his smile.

Tony put his hands in his front pockets and stepped over to her. "Well... I heard that you scared the shit out of Mr. Thompson, so I just wanted to get down here to make sure that this hadn't turned into a murder scene." He chuckled, shaking his head. "It would really put a dampener on the city's mood."