Chaos (Sequel to Agony)

Chapter 39

Pietro looked up at her when the question was asked, and she gave him a loving look before answering.

"I think we made some progress," Wanda said, looking to her left, where Nik sat. He was looking up at the ceiling, mumbling to himself as he stared at the chandelier above the table. "Nik," she said to him, poking his leg. He pulled his gaze away from the chandelier, turning to her and smiling.

"I counted 130," he stated, then pointed up at the chandelier. "130 diamonds, all real, no doubt."

"They are," Tony said, walking in with Natasha by his side. "Picked it out myself."

Nik beamed, his curls bouncing as he looked back up at the chandelier.

"Make any revolutionary discoveries while locked away in your cave?" Emma asked, her wine glass now empty. Tony fell down into his chair dramatically, rubbing his temples and breathing heavily. Then, he raised his head and smiled.

"Nothing ground-breaking," he said, grabbing the bottle of white wine in front of him, pouring the ivory liquid into his glass until it reached the rim. "But, there's always tomorrow."

"Are we done pretending there isn't a mad man out there ready to scalp us all?" Natasha looked down at her food, picking a broccoli stem with her fork, completely unfazed by what she'd just asked.

Wanda instinctively looked at Pietro, his eyes already on her.

"We'll figure something out," Steve said. "We always do."

"At what cost, Captain?" Emma asked, and Wanda wasn't sure if her tone was meant to sound so harsh, but either way, everyone looked at Steve expectantly, awaiting his answer. But Emma pushed her wine glass away and stood, her white clothes blinding Wanda momentarily.

"I'm not feeling too well," she said, and Crystal went to join her, but Emma raised her hand. "Stay. Eat your dinner. Don't touch the wine."

"Are you okay?" Crystal asked, her usually leaden voice now soft and worrisome.

"Try not to stay up too late. We have a long day tomorrow."

The White Queen strode out of the dining room, her white cloak still slung across the seat beside her—a second being, forgotten and now exposed.

___

Tony was tempted to check up on Emma after dinner, but with the way she'd asked that question, he knew if was best to leave her be.

But it was hard to notice that with the twins back, she had begun acting off. As if their return unleashed a part of herself that she hadn't even realized was running loose.

Back in his lab, he sat down in his chair, a fresh cup of coffee at his side.

"Find anything, buddy?" he asked aloud, and the whirring of Jarvis' electromagnetic clicking and buzzing grew louder as his hologram showed up in front of Tony's desk.

"Any sightings or reports of Markus Decker haven't shown up in any surveillance systems in the city, nor at any of the police departments. He is a ghost."

"Have you tried expanding the search? Try Connecticut."

Tony sat back, watching as his screen filled with surveillance videos and police reports, all of them being sifted through by Jarvis at incredible speed.

Three minutes later, Jarvis stopped his search.

"The abandoned bunker that Larry Trask was using to build and monitor his Sentinels has since been leased off to someone named Jonathan Doer."