A/N: Ta-da! Attendance time mfs
"Stark is...he's a sickness!"
"Ah, Junior. You're gonna break your old man's heart."
Thor, Steve and I land behind Tony as he speaks with Ultron. I know Nat and Clint are hiding, getting ready. We left Bruce on the quinjet in case we needed a code green. Let's just hope this isn't messy.
"If I have to," Ultron snipes back, noticing us.
I recognize the Maximoff twins behind him. The fast one and the girl. Wanda.
I stare at her, trying to figure her out, when I touched the scepter earlier, I remember seeing her fear. She's not a bad person, her and her brother are just trying to save their home.
"We don't have to break anything," Thor quips to which Ultron and I at the same time say, "Clearly you've never made an omelet."
They look at me and Ultron stares at me.
"Kaden Crest. I don't seem to have much on you...where you were born, when you were born, who your parents are. I must say you are an interesting one. Care to enlighten me?"
Huffing, I clench my fists and feel my skin heating up. I'll enlighten the bastard alright.
"It's called privacy, Terminator."
Stark chuckles beside me, "good name. I like that one."
"Ah, this is funny, Mr. Stark. It's what, comfortable? Like old times?" Pietro approaches us, and nods down at the Stark Industries missiles.
"This was never my life."
Sighing, I look at Wanda and make eye contact with her, "You two can still walk away from this."
"Oh, we will," she smirks back, eyes intimidatingly narrowed. She's tiny but she exudes power and strength.
She's carrying a lot of power in those veins, power I don't think these imbeciles can even begin to understand. I saw it firsthand when I touched that scepter.
"I know you've suffered," Steve tries to reason with them. I can tell he sees the same as I do, that they're just doing what they think is right for their country, the loss of their parents. They're just being misled and lied to. Ultron won't care for them, won't help them like they think. He wants to destroy everything, I can see that.
"Uuughh! Captain America. God's righteous man, pretending you could live without a war. I can't physically throw up in my mouth, but..."
"If you believe in peace, then let us keep it."
"I think you're confusing peace with quiet," he tilts his head at Thor but Tony speaks up.
"Yuh-huh. What's the Vibranium for?"
"I'm glad you asked that, because I wanted to take this time to explain my evil plan—" He blasts Tony and bots show up, attacking us violently.
I grunt when one jumps on me but hear a shot go off, the bot falling. I turn my head and see Natasha smirking at me.
"Looking over your shoulder should be second nature by now, don't you think?"
Noticing a bot behind her, I grab my bow and shoot an arrow right through its head. She turns and sees it fall, signaling my turn to smirk proudly.
"Speak for yourself, Doll."
I turn to see Pietro run off, leaving Wanda staring at me angrily.
"I don't wanna hurt you."
"That's too bad," she smirks and tosses a powerful charge of her red energy at me, throwing me backwards.
"Kade!" Nat shouts but I lift my hand, "Stay back! I got this."
I stand up and pull my earbuds out, putting them in and hitting play as fast as I can before firing my fists up.
"Music, really? Is that not a distraction," Wanda shoots another blast but I smirk as the music fills me, the fast pace, loud bass drumming me along as I dodge her attacks. I step a foot behind hers, grab her arm with my left hand, tugging her towards me and use my right hand to hit into her stomach, lowering her to the ground forcefully.
She stares up at me in shock but I just smile down at her, "more like motivation, sweetheart."
I notice Klaue and his henchmen shooting at us, one aims at Wanda but I quickly pull her up and move her behind me, shooting an arrow at the henchman.
"You alright?" I ask when I turn to the girl. She stares at me in shock of what I did, her mind clearly not understanding why I would save her from getting killed but I don't give her a chance to answer because a bot tackles me and I fall off the landing.
Grunting, I kick him off and shoot another arrow, seeing Cap stopping Pietro while everyone else fights off more henchmen and drones.
"Thor, status," I hear Steve in comms. I turn around and crush more drones, searching for Natasha.
"The girl tried to warp my mind. Take special care, I doubt a human could keep her at bay. Fortunately, I am mighty." Chuckling at the man's response, I walk until I notice no one else is around.
"Guys? Anyone copy?"
No response. Except for Clint who shouts, "copy! These guys are pathetic."
I look up to see him shooting his own arrows but suddenly I feel my mind go fuzzy. I look around and see Wanda with her eyes wide, looking almost guilty. But when I go to ask her what she did, she disappears.
Where am I?
"My daughter, Apollo. Come back so soon?"
I look up and see my father on his throne, his eyes bright blue like his lightning, his face set firmly, no pleasure found anywhere at the sight of me.
"Father?"
"Your sins must be paid, my child."
My sins? He's the one who has done nothing but dictate Olympus.
"If my sins must be paid, then yours must be in double."
Grunting, he raises his hand and smacks me, making me cry out as my head snaps to the side.
"You dare speak to me that way? So be it. Your ego will do nothing but consume you, along with the power you wield. You will never be able to truly control it because you are weak. Spineless. Not fit to be a hero."
Grunting, an overwhelming feeling of anger courses through me and I shift into my lion form. I run at him, baring my claws as I jump and attack, cutting through him with my teeth and claws.
When I hear female screams, I jolt away. Instead of my father's body on the ground, I see Natasha, a pool of blood surrounding her.
My heart stammers in my chest as I scamper backwards, my whimpers coming out in fearful growls.
No. I couldn't have. Not me.
"You are nothing but a killer. You will never be able to control it. Your power is too great and you are too weak to wield it." His voice hisses into my ear as I shift back to my human form.
"N-Nat?" I crawl towards her, seeing her eyes look at me and tear up.
"W-why?"
Shaking my head, I feel my own tears form, pouring out of my eyes as I get closer but she attempts to back away...her body is too mangled to even move. Her heartbeat is weak.
"I didn't mean to! I s-swear! Please don't die. I can't lose you, please, Natalia."
I cradle her head in my arms as she coughs, trying to consume more oxygen but she's failing.
"K-Kaden..." she doesn't finish her sentence. Her eyes shut and her heartbeat disappears.
I killed her.
"N-no. NO!" I scream out, feeling like everything has lost all its meaning. She's gone.
"Love is weakness. Haven't you learned? You do nothing but destroy."
"STOP IT!" I scream out, but he just laughs as I lunge at him again, seeing Natasha appear again in front of me, her dead body by my hand.
"NO!" I scream and run, seeing Natasha everywhere, either crying out for me or seeing the image of me murdering her on repeat.
"Crest. CREST!"
I shoot up with sweat coating me, screaming as I hit whoever is touching me in the face. A groan and chuckle brings me back to where I am...off the coast of Africa. Not with my father in Olympus, not near Nat's dead body.
It was fake...or was it?
Will I hurt her? What if I lose control and one day she can't bring me back? What if I kill Natasha?
"Jesus, you sure do pack a wallop."
I turn to see Clint holding his nose, rubbing it to ease the pain I caused. Gulping, I try to laugh it off but the uneasiness still sits inside me. Wanda, she must've done this. But why?
She showed me my deepest fears...and I'm a god.
"Natasha's still shaken up. I haven't been able to pull her out of it. Figured that you'd have a nice shot at it given your guys' situation and all."
Frowning, I follow his gaze to see Natasha sitting on a step, staring out and shaking. Although it doesn't even seem like she's actually staring at anything, it's like she's dazed, somewhere in a dream. A nightmare. Was that what I looked like?
Clint thinks I can help? Does he— "She's my best friend, Crest. I can tell when Nat takes a liking to someone...just don't hurt her. She's dealt with her own fair share of pain and something tells me whatever she's seeing right now? That's part of it."
Sighing, I nod and gulp down the dryness in my throat, forcing away the image of her lifeless body in my head and smile as best I can at Clint.
"Hurting her is the last thing I want to do."
"Good."
"Natasha, I could really use a lullaby."
We hear Tony come in on comms but Clint sighs, "Well, that's not gonna happen. Not for a while. The whole team is down, you got no back up here."
Behind us, Cap groans as he wakes, Clint nods at me and tends to Steve while I sling Nat's arm around my shoulders.
"No..." I hear her mumble as I help her stand.
"I got you, Doll. Don't worry. You're alright."
She whimpers while I pick her up bridal style. I feel wrong looking down at her in such a state. It feels intrusive to see this warrior of a woman in such a vulnerable state. She looks like a scared child, like she's being tortured and brain washed...
She must be seeing the Red Room, her days back there. Whatever Wanda showed her as her greatest fear...is it a memory?
"You're strong, Natalia. You can pull out of this. You're not who they made you into. You're better than them, always have been, always will be."
By the time we all gather on the quinjet, I sit Natasha down and bend down to her level, cupping her cheeks in my hands.
"Time to wake up. Come on, Doll."
Her eyes look like they're staring through me, but when I kiss her forehead, I feel her gaze following me. Pulling away, she reaches her hands up and wraps her arms around my neck, burying her head in my chest.
I could almost swear that I hear her sniffling into me, crying, but I don't bring it up. Especially not in front of the team.
On instinct, I wrap my arms around her and pull her closer to me, shielding her off from everyone as Tony comes back with a mortified looking Bruce.
The Hulk did some damage on a city.
Wanda made him turn into the hulk.
Goddammit, I wanted to help her but...with what she has done? Taken us all down? Making Natasha this vulnerable and scared?
The hell is this girl's problem? Playing with someone's mind is...that's a strong power to have and she used it in all the wrong ways for the wrong guy.
Nat pulls away and sniffles, looking up at me with those beautiful green eyes, the whites of her eyes now stained red with her pain while she smiles weakly.
"I'm sorry for how I am."
Scoffing, I nearly laugh at her but shake my head, cupping her cheeks once again.
"Don't you dare apologize. You aren't that person, Natalia. You're the bravest, strongest person I know."
This seems to cheer her up, toss some light back into her eyes. But when she smiles wider at me, I get struck with that same image of me killing her. Gulping, I release my hold on her cheeks and look down.
"Sorry I...sorry."
"What just happened?" She whispers but I shake my head and move back into my seat, smiling forcefully.
"Nothing, just rest."
We ignore Tony talking to Hill and then to Banner while we fly through the sky. I stare off, praying the image will go away.
"Hey, what did you see? What did she make you see?"
Damn her and her smart brain.
"You are nothing but a killer. You will never be able to control it. Your power is too great and you are too weak to wield it."
My father's voice burns into my head, booming through my eardrums. Grunting, I slap at my ears but feel her warm skin grabbing my hands.
"Hey! Just breathe. What did you see?"
Closing my eyes, I will that image away but it's even worse with my eyes shut. I open them as I slow my breathing and focus on her lively eyes, shaking my head.
"I saw you..."
Pulling her eyebrows together, she nods, waiting for me to go on patiently. Sucking in a sharp breath, I feel tears beginning to well up as I speak.
"My father berated me so I shifted and I...I" I lose my voice and go off into a light sob, not wanting to say the words aloud but she smiles gently, rubbing the back of my neck in a calming pattern.
"It's okay, you can tell me." She's so kind, so willing to listen. Sniffling again, I stare into her beautiful green eyes and breathe out,
"...I killed you."
Her face drops, shock filling up her features at what I had just said but she covers it quickly, smiling as supportive as she can.
"You would never hurt me."
"But Tasha-" "That bitch tried to rip us apart with those mind games. She showed us the things we fear the most...that's what is going to keep us going, to destroy those fears...before they destroy us."
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A/N: Enter our queen: Miss Wanda Maximoff :)
What do you think will happen?