"ARE YOU INSANE?"
I yelled at the old creep that was Director Dickward who was staying true to his name. "You sent a freaking missile at literal children."
When I got sent back to Camp Insanity I was not welcomed with a welcome wagon but rather guns eagerly aimed at my head so excuse me for my language. And of course, Dickward would not listen to logic or reason but rather his own fragile human male ego.
"They aren't children, they're figments of Maximoff's imagination. I should lock you up for making us miss the one shot we had at our criminal, siding and helping an enemy target, and purposely obstructing law enforcement. Now if you excuse me..." Dickward argued, trying to walk faster to lose me but failed. I felt my eye twinge and the light above us flickered before popping out loudly making him stop and stare at me. I could have swore I saw a flash of fear in his eyes before he repositioned himself.
"'Law enforcement,' please! Don't make me laugh, that will not get you anywhere. You are lying through your teeth at me and I do not appreciate it. You know they are real but you refuse to admit it so you can keep the blood off your hands," I snapped making him narrow his eyes at me, side-eyeing me as he stomped faster. "This is not even about the hostages, is it?"
"What the hell are you even talking about?"
"You know exactly what I am talking about. If you actually cared about these innocent people the last thing you would do is endanger them by sending a missile at them at the slightest chance it wipes out Wanda. What if Wanda did her voodoo magic and points it at the town, completely obliterating hundreds of people? No sane person would ever even think about doing that. No, no, this is about something more, something you and this whole corrupted organization have wanted for years, decades even. Something that you have wanted to get your grubby little hands on since day one," I figured, glaring at him, and if I could pierce his skull with a look that would have done it.
"Now I wonder what that could be?" I asked in mockery causing him to stop and look at me with eyes narrowed even further with absolute disdain. He looked like he wanted to snap my neck right at that moment but did not want witnesses. "Oh, did I strike a nerve?"
"Hayward. Hayward!" Rambeau shouted from behind him causing him to continue stomping away from his problems and criticisms. Of course, that did not stop me or Rambeau to continue chasing him.
"You cut us off at the knees, sending in that missile," Rambeau exclaimed, walking behind him as I followed, eyeing her. Apparently, Wanda did not want any company including a S.W.O.R.D. worker. Good choice.
"Now we know who we're dealing with."
"Yeah, a person who does not want her and her children to be bombed. How monstrous," I commented, dripping with sarcasm as we entered the main room with the others.
"Hey, there he is. The guy who almost got murdered by his own murder squad," Darcy greeted causing me to snicker and Dickward glare at both of us.
"You work for me?"
"I actually don't know," Darcy answered fairly since they were never given any actual information.
"She's with me," Rambeau informed, stepping closer to Darcy in confirmation. I raised an eyebrow in surprise. Monica Rambeau, daughter of the woman who tried to ruin my life. I knew I shouldn't- should not hold grudges for peoples children since that would hypocritical since I am the daughter of a man who ruined many, many, many, many, lives but it was harder than I initially thought.
"I see. And which one of you is the sassy best friend?" My eyes widened at his comment as I balled my hand into a fist, trying not to bash his skull in. Again, incredibly hard.
"There's no time for you to diminish your colleagues when you're about to start a war you can't win," Jimmy argued as we all stared at Dickward in disbelief at his idiocy.
"Maximoff was never gonna negotiate with us. We take her out, this whole nightmare ends."
"How do you know that? You never even once tried to legitimately negotiate!" I exclaimed, aggravated at his egotistical character.
"Hailey's right. We don't know that. We actually have no idea what will happen in there, nor out here if Wanda dies," Rambeau argued. I looked at her, surprised that she agreed with me.
"So, what? We just surrender to that?! Not happening!" Wow. His ego is just so enormous I do not even have a sarcastic comment, it's just sad. And so hysterical that if I tried I would just burst out laughing.
"We can't outgun her. And clearly antagonizing her is only making things worse. If Wanda is the problem, she has to be our solution." THANK YOU.
"Captain Rambeau, you have become an impediment to this mission," he sighed, feigning disappointment. Oh, this asshole cannot be serious. "Constantly advocating on behalf of super-powered individuals. Yes, I know your history with Carol Danvers. You know, you people who left still have the luxury of optimism. You have no idea what it was like. What it took to keep the lights on." Why...is it bad to advocate for superheroes? Am I missing something here?
"Don't use the last five years as an excuse to be a coward," Monica glared. Okay, I like her.
"Maybe it's a good thing you weren't here when your mother died. Because clearly, you don't have the stomach for this job. Get her off my base. Now. All of 'em," Dickward commanded just as glowing blue cuffs were placed on my wrists and Darcy, Monica, Jimmy, and I were pushed out the door. God, I hate these stupid cuffs. Magne-cuffs: The worst invention in the world.
"All right. Come on, let's go." I had about five minutes before the magnets set in and they take their full effect so I needed to act quickly.
"Hayward is way overstepping his provisional authority," Jimmy stated obviously.
"Really? I had not noticed," I snarked as we were pushed forward towards a truck that was similar to the one I arrived in.
"He was looking for a reason to sideline us. He's up to something," Monica said thoughtfully making me all look at them to make sure they were serious. Hmm, I wonder what he could possibly want? It is not like there is a billion-dollar sentient weapon behind that barrier, the exact thing that he specializes in! But no...it cannot be that, there is no way!
"Let's go! Everybody in!" I rolled my eyes before throwing a kick behind me, right into a soldier's crotch. He groaned in pain as I lifted my locked hands and smashed my glowing, blocky handcuffs into a nearby soldier's face. Jimmy and Monica fought their escorts as Darcy just tried not to get in the middle of the fight. I finally high-kicked the last soldier standing with great difficulty as I started feeling the Magne-cuffs effect, stumbling around slightly.
"Why didn't anyone tell me the plan?!" Darcy exclaimed, looking at the soldier's concussed bodies.
"It was a- a obvi-viously plan," I slurred and shook my head while blinking my eyes rapidly to try to get rid of my drunken haze.
"Uh...is she okay?" Jimmy asked, pointing at me as he and Darcy stared at me warily while I blinked dumbly.
"Obi-vously not! I need, I need..." I stumbled again but it took more effort to keep myself up than last time. "Key, key, key, key. In...pocky. Shit, I hate magne-cuffs."
"Magne-cuffs?"
"Magnetic handcuffs, it makes her..." Monica explained but trailed off as she stared at me in disbelief at the impact it had on me. I stumbled and was about to fall but Darcy caught me, making me lean on her shoulder as she put an arm around me.
"Drunk," Darcy finished for Monica in amusement.
Monica crouched down next to the unconscious soldier that cuffed me and fished inside his pockets until she found the key. She unlocked my hands making me groan and throw the handcuffs far away.
"You're going to have one hell of a hangover. Come on, let's move."
...
"I'm just trying to do my part, okay? Come to town unexpectedly, create tension with the brother-in-law..." The man with the silver hair explained to Wanda on the tv as Darcy dug through Hayward's computer and I tried to keep my head from exploding. I really wish I could drink Gatorade right now.
"Who is that?" Monica spoke up, staring at the screen.
"Wanda's brother came to town."
"He brought the wrong face," Darcy stated as she hacked through Hayward's computer.
"And forgot to bring the bullets," I muttered and glanced at the screen sadly. Pietro...
"Over here," Jimmy called us over to the tv.
"What happened to your accent?"
"What happened to yours?"
"We shouldn't hang out here too long," Monica warned us
"Uh, give me two seconds. I just need to hack into the secure network on the base," Darcy informed as she typed faster on the keyboard before clicking enter. "Donezo. Now, we should be able to access the data on Hayward's devices. Oh. That's interesting. Guys, Hayward figured out a way to look through the boundary," she continued as we looked over her shoulder.
"And he didn't share it with the group."
"Wow, what a shocker. Such a plot twist," I commented monotonously.
"Is this Wanda right here?" Jimmy asked as he pointed at a blinking dot on the map.
"No. The program is tracking the decay signature of vibranium," Darcy corrected making me roll my eyes at this conversation. We are seriously going to pretend it is not completely obvious what Dickward wants?
"Vision. Wait. Why is Hayward tracking Vision?"
"Hmm, yeah I wonder why Dickward, director of the sentient weapons department, is tracking Vision, a billion-dollar sentient weapon?" I asked with complete sarcasm causing them to look at me like they were finally getting it.
"These other dots, those are Westview residents?"
"The ones in Vision's immediate vicinity, yeah."
"Hayward must have an accurate headcount by now," Jimmy figured as I stared at the computer screen with my eyebrows furrowed. Why would he need that when we already have the town's population?
"Hmm. And some sense of their well-being." Now that has to be useful, the ability to monitor their heart rates to see if they experience emotional distress as Monica did.
"Huh...these people, near the edge of town... they're barely moving. Are they alive?"
"Wanda would not leave corpses in clear view with her kids running around and she certainly would not have them frozen for Vision to stumble upon if she had the choice to keep them moving. Her power isn't- is no- ah screw it! Her power isn't strong enough to run an entire town all at once so she has the furthest people away on power save mode, I suspect," I realized making all of them stare at me. "What? That's what I would do if I were her. And it's not like she has unlimited power, she has to work with what she has."
As Jimmy and Monica stared at me and Darcy warily glanced over at me Monica's phone rang causing her to pick it up. After a few minutes, she hung up and actually looked happy.
"That's it. My way back into the Hex will be here in an hour. Just gotta meet my guy over the ridge. Let's roll," she informed causing us three to put back on our disguises to blend in with the other workers without being caught.
"You can't do that," Darcy spoke up with concern making us look at her confused.
"Sure we can. I'm a whiz at hot-wiring cars," Jimmy bragged causing me to look at him with surprise and kind of impressed.
"You can't go back into the Hex," Darcy corrected.
"Worst case scenario, Wanda removes my free will and puts me in ultra-low-rise jeans," Monica joked making Jimmy laugh with her and I look back at Darcy with confusion.
"Hayward has your blood work. You've gone through the boundary twice already, Monica. The energy inside has rewritten your cells on a molecular level twice. It's changing you," Darcy explained as she turned the computer her way for her to examine it but Monica barely even glanced at it.
"Seen enough lab results to last me a lifetime. Cells metastasizing, cells in remission. I know what Wanda's feeling and I won't stop until I help her," Monica swore, determined. I looked at her, impressed, as I nodded alongside her. I'm liking this woman a lot more than I used to.
"Okay."
"Okay."
"But I'm staying here," Darcy decided making our eyes go wide.
"Wait, you can't stay here. It's not safe," Jimmy argued.
"What? Darcy, what are you talkin' about?"
"I haven't made it through Hayward's last firewall. There's something big here. Something that can help us. I know it," Darcy reasoned with determination and stubbornness.
"Fine. Fine. I'll drop you the location, you meet us out there as soon as you can," Monica planned before heading out with Jimmy as I hesitated.
"You sure you're going to be fine? I can hang back with you if you want?" I offered with genuine concern since she was one of the few humans I actually enjoyed being around. She kind of reminded me of MJ. Darcy gave me a determined smile.
"Nah, I'll be fine. I have a lot of hidden muscle," she bragged confidently, flexing her arm for a moment.
"Hidden behind your chicken bones?" I smirked as I walked toward the door backward.
"Ha, ha. Hilarious," she rolled her eyes and turned back to the computer as I grinned, walking through the doorway.
"Don't die!"
"No promises!"