conquer • wanda maximoff

「 FIVE 」

With that he raised a metal hand and gathered energy from seemingly nowhere, using it to latch onto Tony's suit. He was pulled violently forward and then forced back into a wall, but quickly recovered, standing up to fight.

"Here we go," Ayana murmured as fighting broke out between the Avengers and Ultron's bots.

As Thor and Steve dealt with the Iron Legion, Klaue's own men had been ordered to attack. Armed with guns they shot wildly around the boat, not seeming to care who they hit. Ayana raised her hands and a handful of men cried out in pain as blinding light burned their eyes.

She ventured further into the battle, palms glowing technicolor as she walked. It was almost too easy for her to take out Klaue's men, but as she approached the deck a bot flew at her, and she was caught off guard.

"Shit!" she yelled, cringing as it hit her with such force she was shoved against the railing, her back cracking painfully.

Ayana struggled to fight against it, eventually managing to get a grip on the bot's head, electrocuting it and watching as the heap of metal clanged to the floor. She barely had time to catch her breath as another bot swooped down on her, but was stopped in its tracks by the swing of Thor's hammer, which effectively beheaded it.

"Thanks, big guy," Ayana panted, not stopping to see his reaction to her words as she raced past him, having seen a flash of crimson out of the corner of her eye.

"Wanda!" she yelled, finally coming face to face with her. Everything she'd wanted to say seemed to disappear out of her head.

"I have nothing to say to you," Wanda told her.

"Wanda, c'mon," Ayana pleaded. "This isn't you. Why are you working with Ultron?"

"Why are you working with Stark?" she spat.

"He's a good guy."

Wanda took a step back, her expression one of shock and anger.

"He killed my family," she said venomously. "And you call him a good man?"

Ayana opened her mouth to speak again but was cut off as Wanda raised her hands, sending a blast of red energy towards her before disappearing. It didn't knock her backwards, though, instead swarming around her head. Ayana's eyes glowed red, and it was with a jolting sense of betrayal that she realised what Wanda had done.

"Austin, report?" came Steve's voice down her earpiece, but she found herself unable to reply. She stumbled down the corridor, the world around her flickering and warping. "Ayana?"

She found herself on the viewing side of a one-way mirror, in a small, familiar stone room. Through the window was an operating theatre, where surgeons seemed to be operating on a woman. Ayana moved forward, placing a hand on the glass as she recognized who was lay on the table.

"Mum?" she gasped.

"Quiet, girl," came a voice from beside her. Ayana didn't have to turn to know it was her father. Michael.

"You're gonna kill her," she told him firmly, a tear dripping down her face as she heard her mom cry out.

"A sacrifice of one for the good of many," Michael said. "One mutant isn't going to be missed."