***Four Days Later***
Viv went all over her room, gathering a few things and stuffing them into a bag. Nothing major, just a change of clothes, a repair kit(courtesy of Shuri and Bruce Banner, in case anything bad should happen to her), and her Avengers ID Card. With that, she was now prepped for her mission: To save Wanda.
For the past few days, Viv had been alone in her and Wanda's apartment after her guardian had left for an "errand." But since then, she had neither seen nor heard from Wanda.
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Four Days Ago
The morning after Viv had done the sketch, she woke up and came out to the living area to see Wanda all dressed and ready to leave.
"Good morning, Viv!" She greeted, walking up to the teen-synthezoid and embracing her.
It was a surprise, but Viv hugged her guardian back. "Good morning, Wanda. Are you going somewhere?" She asked, noticing Wanda's attire.
To which her guardian hummed and nodded. "Mhm. I have an errand I need to run, and...it's actually to get something for you."
That caught Viv's attention, causing her head to perk up. "For me?"
Wanda smiled and nodded again. A curious smile then came to Viv.
"What is it?" She asked.
"Ah, ah!" Wanda waved a teasing finger at her. "You'll have to wait and see."
At that, Viv smiled even more and agreed. The two then hugged and said their goodbyes before Wanda left.
And that was the last Viv had seen of her.
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Since Wanda didn't say how long she'd be, Viv didn't think much of it when she didn't come home the night she had left. But after the second day, her worry levels had gone up. Taking action, she checked with her family, the Avengers, hoping that they would find something. But there was nothing. It was almost as if Wanda had vanished from the face of the earth.
With no results and pending, Viv decided to take matters into her own hands. It was something she hadn't done or tried since she had first been brought into her body. But at this point, she was desperate.
She laid on her bed and, going into a deep sleep-like state, the teen-synthezoid took a ride deep into her "subconscious"...aka cyberspace. It was a mysterious but interesting place. Viv knew that if her friend Peter were here, he'd instantly compare it to The Grid from TRON. Which, in a sense, it was.
With bits of data and sound waves flowing and flashing by, Viv reached out and listened to the never-ending digital sea. She was looking for anything -- a picture, video, reflection, anything that could help her find Wanda. Then she found something, a file that did contain images and video of her guardian...only the file was encrypted. Heavily encrypted, at that. And there was a tag in it too.
PROPERTY OF S.W.O.R.D.
She had heard of them before. The Sentient Weapon Observation and Response Division, SWORD was like the new, space exploration version of SHIELD. Top notch government type.
Though she wanted desperately to hack into it, she knew that wouldn't go well with the organization and could even come back on her and her friends. So she moved on, but kept a mark on that file for as soon as it opened.
Searching on, Viv continued to listen. And then, she caught on to something. It was an extremely hazy broadcasting signal, hanging over New Jersey from the looks of it. And it grabbed her curiosity even more when she heard it...
"W----Wanda!"
Now, granted, that could have been anyone talking to any Wanda. It didn't necessarily mean that was her Wanda. But what she heard next hit Viv even harder.
Why? Because it was Wanda's voice.
"-----Who are those people? W---why are the here?!"
That was it. That was all the confirmation Viv needed. She needed to go help Wanda. Now sure, that could've been anything. But from the sound of it, Wanda was in shock, possibly in danger! Whatever it was, Viv couldn't take the chance of ignoring it.
Immediately beginning to her packing, Viv was swift and determined. Her mind, as ever, was focused. Focused on a new mission: find/save Wanda.
And on the off chance that it wasn't her Wanda, at least she'd know and could continue looking. So after gathering a few things, Viv waited until night came and, under cover of dark, flew out of her window and headed for New Jersey.
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***Westview, New Jersey***
From their apartment in Soho, Viv had flown all the way to a place in New Jersey called Westview. There wasn't much excitement to talk about with this place, at least from what she had heard of it. But with 3,000 plus people in the town, who knows? She could be wrong.
And she soon was proved wrong. As she neared the town border, Viv began to pick up on a strong energy reading up ahead. She soon saw the cause of it as a large humming, lenticular anomaly stood on the road and the surrounding terrain before her. The energy readings she received from it were off the charts. But if that wasn't foreboding enough, the large camp that looked like Area 51 had raided the place was. There were large tents, black SUVs, men in uniform and with guns.
Feeling a little exposed from her position up above, Viv took this moment to turn invisible. Then she zoomed her vision in to get a closer look. From what she see, Viv could tell that these guys, whoever they were, were some serious dudes. She caught a glimpse of a logo on one of their shoulders. And what it showed shook her; SWORD.
The same SWORD whose logo and lock were on that file she had come across earlier. Now, Viv was even more concerned for Wanda. If these guys had put a lock on that file, maybe....maybe Wanda was down there. Somewhere.
Hoping for the best, Viv slowly ascended from above and onto the ground below. Still invisible, Viv did her best to remain inconspicuous. As the ground was a bit muddy, she stayed hovering above it and begun to explore the campsite.
All around her were SWORD agents all at work. Some carrying weapons, some tablets and other devices, etc. And up ahead, were two men whom she saw walking away from the humming anomaly, one tall and the other just a few inches shorter.
As she stealthily followed them, her facial recognition quickly identified them as Tyler Hayward, and James Woo. Viv eyed the two as the specs on them soon came up for her.
The first one: Tyler Hayward; Director of SWORD. Promoted during the years of the Snap.
'So that's the head yahoo of this company,' she said to herself.
Then she moved to the other man.
James E. Woo; FBI. Based in San Francisco, known for arresting Scott Lang/Ant-Man.
Viv had heard about this man. A good agent from what Scott and Cassie had told her. And now he was here in New Jersey with the SWORD agency, presumably investigating this strange phenomenon.
Seeing as it was the logical decision, Viv followed the two men. As she did, she picked up on their conversation.
"Still nothing on what this thing is, I assume?" Woo asked Hayward.
"Whatever it is, Jimmy, we'll worry about it," The director replied, almost condescending-like. "You don't have to stick around if you don't want to."
"Well, with all due respect, sir, I am still on the lookout for a witness that could still be inside this anomaly. And what's more, I've just gotten words from my superiors that, since I'm already down here, to carry on and take charge of the investigation. Under you, that is. Sir."
Stealthily following them, Viv could see that Woo's words seemed to hit a nerve within Hayward. Even though he was shorter and not as high in rank, the FBI agent had courage and spunk. This intrigued Viv as she hoped that he could potentially be one of trust in the very near future.
They kept on until they came to a big tent. Within this tent seemed to be the epicenter of this whole operation. All around, there were monitors, agents working hard at those monitors, and a big table in the middle of it all.
Hayward called out for someone to "Get me a useful visual, dammit!"
But suddenly, Viv saw an old friend. Two old friends, actually. Darcy Lewis, and her boyfriend Ian Boothby. She almost spoke up to say hi, but remembered that she was incognito. But then, the sound of laughter entered the room. Like the kind you heard on a laughter tape from a sitcom. Actually, that's exactly what it was. And it was coming from where Darcy and Ian were working.
"What is that?" Hayward spoke up. "Where is that coming from?"
Another laugh track was heard and all heads turned and went to Darcy and Ian's station.
In said station, there were various monitors showing different readings from outside. But on the desk was also an old TV, like a box television set. Maybe late 90s from the looks if it. And on it was what seemed to be a sitcom. At first, from the looks of it, Viv thought it was The Dick Van Dyke Show. But watching more closely, she noticed that it was actually Wanda on the television.
Others noticed this too.
"Is that...?" Jimmy Woo asked, pointing to Wanda on the screen.
Knowing what he meant, Darcy replied, "It looks like her."
On the screen, Wanda, in a weirdly provocative night gown, walked towards a man, speaking to him frantically. "You move at the speed of sound and I can make a pen float through the air. Who needs to abbreviate?!"
The laugh track came on again as the screen cut to the man with her. But upon seeing him, everyone in the room was surprised...more than they were already. Especially Viv. For on the screen with Wanda was...the Vision. Her father. Albeit in human form, but it was still him. Same height, same voice, slightly same facial look minus the vibranium skin.
"Now, I know it's been a crazy past few years but, he's dead, right?" Darcy asked, almost rhetorically, "Like not blipped, but dead. Like actually dead."
She was right, Vision had been dead. For almost eleven years since the Snap. Yet, there he was on the television. Curiouser and curiouser this made Viv.
"Where's this coming from?" Hayward asked.
"Out there," Darcy replied, motioning behind her but referring to the anomaly just outside the campsite.
That hit Viv. So much that she looked behind her and imagined the anomaly before her. For inside of it was her Wanda. But more than that, within it was also...her father.
Turning back to the screens, Viv heard Darcy and Hayward talking about the authenticity of this footage. After a little back and forth, Ian stepped in.
"Look, sir, we don't know exactly how or what we're watching here. All we do know is that there's a large amount of CMBR going around. That's-"
"Relic radiation dating back to the big bang," Hayward interrupted him, "What's your point?"
"Right. The point is it's coming from that thing out there, and a signal along with it that created this." He made a gesture to the TV set to further his point.
"A sitcom." Darcy stated, adding to her boyfriend's statement.
"So you're saying the universe created a sitcom starring two Avengers?" Woo asked.
At that, Darcy bobbed her head. "It's a working theory."
"But why sitcoms?"
"Maybe it's because Wanda likes sitcoms." Viv finally spoke up. It wasn't intentional, yet her personal thoughts had formed into words and came out.
The sudden speech made the crowd jump up and look around, searching for the source of the voice. Seeing as how she had opened a door, in a sense, she decided to drop the charade and revealed herself to the people in the room. When they finally saw her, the agents and all others in the room voiced their surprises with gasps and wide eyes. Some of them even reached for their guns. Viv put up her hands at this and readied to fly out of there in an instant. She may have been bulletproof, but that didn't mean she wanted to be shot at.
"This is a restricted area, you're not cleared to be here!" Hayward stated like a drill sergeant.
"Sir, that's-" Woo tried to say, but Darcy jumped in. Somewhat.
"Viv?" She said, surprised to see an old friend/teammate of her niece.
While her and her boyfriend seemed pleased to see her, the SWORD personnel on the other hand didn't. Seeing this, Ian spoke up.
"I think you guys can calm it with the guns, yeah?" He said, motioning to the still cautious SWORD agents, "I mean, she's a bloody Avenger!"
"I'm well aware of who she is...or what she is." Hayward spat, "That still doesn't give her clearance to be here. Doesn't tell us how she found us, either."
"Viv, how did you find us anyway?" Darcy asked, walking a little closer to the teen-synthezoid.
Seeing that she had the floor, Viv went for it.
"I've been living with Wanda Maximoff for the past three months," she began to explain, "She's my guardian. Almost five days ago, she went out to run an errand but never came back. I haven't seen, nor heard anything about or from her within that time frame...until a few hours ago. I came across a signal that had Wanda's voice, and I traced it to here. That's why I'm here. I'm here for her."
Viv looked directly at the director as she said her last two sentences, showing her seriousness and that she wasn't afraid of Hayward. He seemed to pick up on this as he grinned at her.
"Well, you might get a bit more than you came for." Ian said, bringing the teen-synthezoid out of her thoughts.
"So I see." She replied before looking to the director. "Sir, I would like to assist in any way I can. If it includes helping Wanda, I want in."
Hayward seemed to think long and hard in the matter. It was already apparent he wasn't too happy with Viv being here, though it was unclear why. She wasn't a threat to anyone and she hadn't hurt anyone since she had been here. So what was this guy's deal?
Finally, after letting a large exhale through his nostrils, Hayward replied, "Fine. You may help only as a consultant. You will not take any action without my authorization, is that clear?"
Quickly, Viv nodded and saluted. "Yes, sir."
Giving a curt nod, Hayward looked back over to Darcy and Ian. "We recording this?" He asked, motioning to the old TV.
"Never stopped," Darcy replied.
Nodding at that, he turned to his right hand man, Agent Monti. "Get me a transport back to headquarters, now."
Monti nodded and ran out. Hayward turned back to Ian and Darcy. "Keep me posted. I need immediate analysis of this footage, people. Let's go!" The orders were barked before he walked out himself.
"Real charmer, that one," Ian said.
"And then some." Darcy added before looking to Viv. "Looks like we'll be working together."
A small smile came to Viv's face at that. "I'm glad. It's good to see familiar, friendly faces here."
"Definitely." The bespectacled doctor smiled before pulling the teen-synthezoid into a hug. Viv hugged her back and smiled even more. This was the first bit of comfort she had felt since Wanda left. And Ian added to it by hugging them both.
"This is a sweet scene," Woo said, smiling at them.
Breaking the hug, Viv faced him. "Thank you for being here too, Agent Woo." She thanked him, "I hope we'll be able to work together well enough."
Giving a smile of his own, Woo nodded. "My pleasure. And please, call me Jimmy."
Jimmy. Again, Viv smiled at having made a new ally/friend.
Now, she hoped it would add on as they tried to figure out what was going on.
As the night went on, the four watched the rest of the "episode" of what seemed to called "WandaVision". After the episode ended they talked a little more before bunking down for the night, intent on starting fresh tomorrow.
As she laid down in a tent space with Darcy and Ian, Viv thought about Wanda. She was glad that her guardian wasn't hurt. But now she worried that she still might be in a bad spot. Perhaps as a puppet to some villain for this "show." Whatever the case, she vowed to stop it. She vowed to stop it and bring Wanda home. And hopefully, her father, Vision, too. Then, maybe, just maybe, they could be what Viv had always wanted.
A family.
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Phew!! The plot begins to thicken! Sorry it took so long to update guys, been busy, but I'm still here. Still going. 💯👍🏼 I really want to finish these so you can see what I've got cooking up in The Next Avengers 2. It's crazy but it's all connected, so hopefully you'll get to see that soon. 😁
Working on some other stuff too that I'll share soon but please let me know what you think so far! I'd love to hear feedback.
Til next chapter.
Steven: "Laters, gators!" 🤟🏼✨️