7 months later.
Lagos, Nigeria.
CARSON AND WANDA WERE SAT ACROSS FROM EACH OTHER, the pair of them blending in with the rest of the civilians as they sat outside the small café. Instead of being in their usual mission suits, they were in casual clothing so they wouldn't attract any unwanted attention, along with Carson wearing a pair of Tony's sunglasses and Wanda wearing one of Carson's caps in order to cover their faces a little more.
Carson was leant back in his chair as he pretended to read the newspaper that he 'borrowed' from one of the shops they passed on the way while Wanda stirred some sugar into her tea, tracing random shapes over Carson's knuckles with the other hand.
He smiled when he felt Wanda slip her hand into his and looked up from his newspaper at the girl who was now taking a raising the cup to her mouth, smirking when he saw the face she pulled once she'd taken a sip of her drink.
"Oh my god—" Her face contorted one more. "Why does it taste like that?"
"I did tell you not to add too much sugar, Wands." He chuckled.
"Shut up." Wanda put down the cup, her face still scrunched from not liking the taste. She glanced over at Carson's drink then back at him.
"You want some of mine now, don't you?" Carson raised a brow at Wanda who was now smiling innocently at him.
He chuckled and shook his head, sliding his drink across the table over to Wanda. She giggled and leant forward, placing a quick peck on his lips before sitting back in her chair and taking a sip of Carson's.. well now her drink.
"Thank you." She smiled.
"Alright Wanda, what do you see?" Steve spoke up through the comms,"Carson, no helping."
Wanda looked back at Carson and he gave her a reassuring nod to let her know that she could do it. She was relatively new to going on missions and had only been on a few, so she still got pretty nervous from time to time. Especially when Steve decided to surprise her with his 'Extremely mission important trivia'.
"Standard beat cops." Wanda subtly looked around, taking in her surroundings. "Small station, quiet street. It's a good target."
"There's an ATM on the south corner, which means?"
"Cameras." Wanda replied.
"Both cross streets are one-way?"
"So, compromised escape routes." She added.
"Means our guy doesn't care about being seen. He isn't afraid to make a mess on the way out. Steve informed them. "You see that Range Rover halfway up the block?"
"Yeah, the red one?" Wanda ran her finger around the rim of her cup. "It's cute."
"It's also bulletproof," Natasha's voice entered the comms, Carson glanced over at the redhead who was sat a few tables down from them. "Which means private security, which means more guns, which means more headaches for somebody. Probably us."
"You guys know I can move things with my mind right?" Wanda remarked, sending a cheeky smile over to Carson who had to clear his throat to supress a laugh.
Natasha glimpsed over at the couple that were further ahead and smiled to herself as she watched the interaction between the two before going back into her 'serious' mode.
"Looking over your shoulder needs to become second nature."
"Anybody ever tell you you're a little paranoid." Carson quirked a brow, chuckling when he saw Natasha playfully roll her eyes.
"Damnit, I was going to say that!" Sam complained into the comms.
"Not to my face. Why? Did you hear something?"
"Eyes on target, folks." Steve interrupted. "This is the best lead we've had on Rumlow in six months, I don't want to lose him."
Sam scoffed. "If he sees us coming that won't be a problem, he kinda hates us."
Carson was scanning over the area when his eyes landed on a garbage truck that was driving past. He narrowed his eyes as he watched it bump into a few cars as it continued driving down the road, almost running over a few people over who were crossing.
"Sam, you see that truck?" Carson muttered. "Tag it."
"On it." Sam replied.
They all waited for a few moments as Sam deployed Redwing and flew it over to the truck, using the robot's X-ray to scan over it. Carson sat up straight and scooted to the edge of the chair, getting ready to move at any second. Wanda looked at him, noticing the change in his stance.
She took one more quick sip of her drink before placing it back down on the table and glancing over her shoulder at Natasha who was also readying herself.
"That truck's loaded for max weight." Sam informed them all. "And the driver is armed."
"Shit." Carson mumbled.
"It's a battering ram." Natasha began getting up out of her seat.
"Go now." Steve ordered.
"What?" Wanda furrowed her brows.
Carson jumped up out of his seat and took a hold of Wanda's hand, quickly helping her up and bringing her with him as they ran down the road, Natasha ran along side them but splitting off into a different direction after a few moments.
As they turned around the corner and began running straight towards the facility, Carson could see multiple agents hopping out of of two different trucks. While a group of them began putting on gas masks, the others aimed towards the windows, shooting cans of toxic gas into the building to take down anyone inside before they made their way in.
Steve and Carson ran ahead of the others, the pair being the first to enter the area and come into contact with the agents that were stationed outside.
Carson focused on the two agents to his right, raising one into the air with his powers and throwing him back into one of the pillars outside the building before getting into hand-to-hand combat with the other.
Steve broke off to the left, kicking a nearby car at one of the agents which sent him down to the ground. He proceeded to throw his shield at an oncoming agent which knocked him out easily. Once his shield returned to his arm he quickly raised it to block his face as an agent began shooting at him.
Carson noticed and ran over to the car that the shooter was stood on top of and grabbed his leg, pulling it from underneath him and making him land on his front on the ground. Before the agent could get up, Carson gave him a harsh kick in the head which knocked him unconscious.
Steve looked at Carson and gave him a nod before pressing down on his earpiece. "Body armor, AR-15s. I make seven hostiles."
Sam flew over to where two other agents were situated. He used the wings on his suit to shield him from the oncoming bullets that were being fired his way then kicked both of them down as he flew past, finishing one off with his guns.
"I make five." Sam said.
A few seconds later Wanda joined the rest of the team, Carson watched from his spot as his girlfriend used her powers to fly over one of the bridges of the building and land down on at ground.
She quickly formed a barrier to keep the bullets from hitting her and then raised the agent that was in front of her up into the air with her powers.
"Sam!" Wanda called out to the man behind her, who glided down from his spot and used his wing to hit the man away.
"Four."
The team came back together and Sam started tapping at the control pad on his arm, sending Redwing around the building to do a quick scan. Once Carson reached Wanda he did a quick one over of the girl, making sure she wasn't injured.
"I'm okay." Wanda confirmed, giving him a reassuring smile.
"Rumlow's on the third floor." Sam informed them all.
"Wanda." Steve grabbed the girls attention. "Just like we practiced?"
"What about the gas?" She asked.
"Get it out."
Steve did a small run up towards the building and Wanda raised him into the air and sent him through one of the windows. She then focused on that gas that was still in the building and used her powers to suck it out. She formed another barrier with her powers and placed it behind her back to shield her and Carson wasted no time in getting back into the fight, keeping any agents from getting anywhere near Wanda.
Wanda had managed to remove all the gas from the building and forced it up into the air until it was no longer able to affect anyone. Carson finished helping Sam take down a small group of reinforcements that had arrived and then made his way over to Wanda who was leant against a nearby car, taking a moment to catch her breath after using large amounts of her power.
"You're really giving me a run for my money here Wands." He chuckled and she looked up at him.
"Really? So this is good? I'm doing okay?" She asked, fiddling with her hands.
Carson placed his hands on either side of her face. "You're doing amazing." He kissed the top of her head and she blushed.
"Rumlow has a biological weapon." Steve spoke up on the comms, interrupting the moment between the couple.
"I'm on it." Natasha's voice was heard and a few seconds later she made her way into the area on a motorcycle, engaging in combat with a group of agents.
Wanda and Carson both furrowed their brows when their heard static coming from Natasha's comms. They turned towards each other, both of them confused but yet concerned.
"Nat?" Wanda said into the coms but got no response.
Carson looked around the area, using his hearing to try and pin point where she was.
"I don't work like that no more!" He heard, along with the sound of struggling.
Carson's head snapped towards the direction of where the talking came from, his eyes came to a stop when he saw Rumlow holding Natasha by the hair as they both stood on the roof of one of the armoured trucks. Rumlow opened the hatch to the truck and threw Natasha in head first before reaching down to his belt, Carson's eyes widening when he saw Rumlow holding a grenade in his hand.
"Fire in the hole." Rumlow dropped the grenade into the truck and locked the hatch, trapping Natasha before running over to another vehicle and getting inside.
Carson sprinted over to the armoured truck and quickly made his way over to the back of the vehicle, he pulled on the back doors but they wouldn't budge by just pulling normally. He groaned in frustration at the few seconds he just wasted and then proceeded to rip the back doors off with his powers.
He quickly glanced at the two knocked out agents that Natasha seemed to have taken down before quickly grabbing her and switching their positions so his back was facing the door so he could shield her.
With having barely any time to move away, the grenade went off and the impact send the pair flying backwards, both of them hitting the ground harshly.
Carson groaned and rolled onto his back. "You okay Romanoff?"
"I'm alright." Natasha sat up slowly and coughed. "Are you?"
The duo was quickly met with Wanda who ran around the corner, her eyes widening when she saw them both getting up from the ground, taking in the scene in front of her.
"What happened?!" Wanda rushed to Carson's side and began checking all over his body for any injuries.
"There was a grenade but—"
"A GRENADE?!"
"BUT." Carson interrupted. "We're both perfectly fine and completely unscathed— JESUS CHRIST." He hissed in pain and looked down to see Wanda lifting up his shirt, revealing a pretty nasty burn on the side of his stomach.
"What was that about unscathed again?" Wanda glared at him. "Look at your stomach Carson!"
"Rumlow is in an AFV heading north!" Steve's voice was heard in the comms.
Carson shrugged and pushed his shirt back down, wincing a little from the movement. "I'm fine okay?we need to go."
Wanda narrowed her eyes at him.
"The healing will take care of it Wanda." Carson assured.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Natasha checked.
"I'm sure." He nodded at Natasha, who smiled and reluctantly left to catch up with the others.
As Carson moved to follow Natasha, Wanda placed a hand on his chest to stop him from walking off.
"What is it?" He looked down at her, gulping when he saw the glare that was still on her face.
"A GRENADE?! A. FUCKING. GRENADE. What were you thinking!"
"Wanda—"
"You can't just— you can't do things like that! You could've been killed!"
Carson placed his hands on her shoulders. "Wanda, darling, light of my life," He began in a sarcastic tone. "As much as I'd love to listen to you get mad at me, Rumlow is kinda getting away. And I'd like to catch him. We need to go."
Wanda huffed and nodded, knowing he had a valid point. They both took off from their spot and began running to join the others.
~~ ᗢ ~~
"This is for dropping a building on my face." Carson heard Rumlow say as he ran around the corner.
He saw Steve and Rumlow fighting, Rumlow attempted to attack with a blade that shout out of the device on his arm. Just as he struck, Steve managed to dodge and then proceeded to twist Rumlow's arm and rip the device off, tossing it to the ground. He kicked Rumlow in the stomach, sending him flying back and hitting the ground.
Rumlow quickly scrambled to his feet and tried to take off, knowing that he wasn't going to win this fight. Before he even got a chance to get any distance away he felt someone grip the collar of his tactical vest, pulling him back and not letting him go anywhere.
"Leaving so soon?" Carson faux frowned.
Rumlow turned to look at Carson. "I was wondering if I'd run into you... soldier."
Soldier.
"You know, I don't think I've seen you since-"
Rumlow was cut off by Carson kicking him down to the ground. He chuckled lowly and shuffled onto his knees, watching as Carson clenched his jaw as he looked at him. Steve began walking over to the pair and Rumlow started to take off his helmet.
"I think I look pretty good, all things considered." He smirked.
"Who's your buyer?" Steve demanded.
"You know, he knew you."
"What?" Steve furrowed his brows.
"Your pal, your buddy, your Bucky." Rumlow taunted.
"What did you say?" Steve grabbed Rumlow harshly.
"He remembered you." He looked over at Carson. "Both of them did."
Carson grunted and began walking forward as he'd had enough of Rumlow but Steve stopped him.
"I was there. He got all weepy about it, even tried to reach out to Mr. Swan here too." Rumlow rolled his eyes. "Till they put their brains back in the blender."
At this point, Carson's blood was practically boiling. With Rumlow being in front of him, taunting him, taunting Steve, he was finding it harder and harder to control his anger.
"He wanted me to tell you something, he said to me.. Please tell Rogers, When you gotta go, you gotta go."
A sick smile grew on the mans face as he looked between the two Avengers.
"And you're coming with me."
Carson's eyes snapped down to Rumlow's hand as it moved down to his tactical belt. He quickly pulled out an explosive device and before anyone has any time to react, he pressed down on the button, triggering the device.
Steve and Carson quickly raised their arms up to their faces in attempt to shield them from the explosion, but after a few seconds of not feeling anything and still being stood in the same places they were before, they slowly lowered their hands and looked around in confusion.
Wanda had appeared beside the two men, using her powers to contain the explosion around Rumlow's body, stopping it from effecting anyone else. She tried to hard to keep her concentration and control on her powers, but she faltered ever so slightly.
And that, was all it took.
She raised Rumlow up into the air and accidentally aimed him too close to one of the near by buildings, her hold on the contained explosion now being released. Carson's eyes widened once he looked up, seeing multiple floors of the building getting wiped out and destroyed.
"Oh my..." Steve mumbled, raising a hand to the comm device in his ear. "Sam... we need... fire and rescue, one the south side of the building."
Carson looked back at Wanda, who raised a shaky hand up to her mouth, her eyes not moving from the building that was now up in flames. Her legs gave in and she began to fall to her knees but before she could touch the ground Carson ran over to her side, holding onto her as he lowered them both down to the ground slowly.
He could feel her shaking in his arms as she looked around at the damage she'd caused, watching as she tears pooled in her eyes, the look of horror that appeared on her face.
She moved her face into his chest, not being able to stand the sight of it anymore. He placed a hand on the back of her head and brought her in closer, resting his chin on the top of her head and running his hands through her hair to soothe her.
"What have I— I'm s-so sorry... I didn't mean to... I thought I was helping I— I tried to..." She sobbed into his chest, her grip on his shirt getting tighter as she pulled him even closer.
"Hey, hey, shhh, it's okay." He said softly. "I know Wands, I know."
"Carson!" Steve shouted over. "Come on we need to get in there!"
~~ ᗢ ~~
[Not edited.]