He hadn't seen them all together like this since they fought against Thanos. It didn't feel right standing opposite them; he was one of them. An Avenger in own right, and he was annoyed that they were treating him like he wasn't.
"I know the government wants us to deliver her to them," said Sam. "But we're not gonna do that."
"Then why are you here?" he replied.
"We're here for the stone."
"You said the machine won't work."
"Not if the goal is to keep her alive," said Bruce, pausing with regret. "But the machine works..."
"That's murder."
"She's no stranger to that," Rhodey quipped, the eyes of his suit lighting up as he spoke.
"I can't..." Stephen shook his head. "I can't let you do that to her."
Bruce sighed. "We don't want that either. But at this point, we have no choice. She took out almost an entire army. What if next time it's a city of civilians? Or the entire world?"
"No. This- you're not... I can't."
T'Challa stepped to the front. "Why not? Why does your allegiance lie with someone who has proven themselves to be so dangerous?"
"Because he knows something we don't," said Sam, his eyes never leaving Stephen. "He's looked into the future, he's seen something."
"No, I haven't. Looking into the past complicated things enough, I refuse to see how this ends."
"Why?" asked T'Challa calmly.
"Because he loves her," said Wanda.
Stephen snapped his head to look at her. "I find it insulting that you think I'd be so easily manipulated by a woman I just met."
"But you haven't just met her. You're bonded to her through time."
"That doesn't mean anything, I'm not taking a side here."
"Then what do you call what you're doing right now?"
"Going with my gut..."
"She's proven that she can't control the power inside of her," said Bruce, desperately trying to reason with him.
"You said the stone would kill her and it hasn't." Stephen shrugged. "I think she has more control over it than you think."
"All the more reason for you to step aside," said Sam.
"No."
Carol had been standing at the back, listening quietly. She took a deep breath. "Doctor Strange, you have to make a decision. Between one person, and the rest of the world, possibly the universe."
"When the time comes- if the time comes, then I will make that decision. But right now I don't see why it has to come down to that."
"Alright, then we're not asking anymore," she said simply, clenching her fist and igniting her powers.
Stephen threw up his hands in response, the discs surrounding his fists sparking like embers rising from a fire. "We're on the same side," he said.
"Doesn't feel that way."
Juno sat in another room, still captive inside the cell. Her ears pricked when she heard a commotion echo through the sanctum; the sound of explosions and crumbling brick, shouting and weapons firing. She stood up, trying to focus herself into Stephen's mind, but there were too many people - too many thoughts overlapping each other and blending in one loud jumble.
Wong rushed into the room, his eyes were wide but his face creased with confusion when he saw her behind the safety of the glowing bars.
"What's happening?" she asked.
"I thought it was you," he said.
"Not this time."
He turned to leave, making his way towards the chaos.
"Wong, wait!"
He stopped and spun back around.
"Let me out."
"I can't."
"Please. Whatever's going on out there, I can help."
"I'm sorry, Juno. No."
He tried to walk away again. This time, she reached out her hand and pulled him towards her through the air until he was close enough for her to touch him. She gripped his arm and watched as a stream of light trailed up beneath his skin and cast over his eyes. It made her think of Loki, the memories that weren't her own; the sceptre connecting with people's chests, their eyes turning blue.
"Let me out," she said again.
Wong looked around, dazed and bewildered, before doing exactly as he was told. He took a step back and moved his arms, casting a spell that turned the bright orange bars a deep grey. Then they were gone, disintegrated like ash.
The fight had burst through the front of the sanctum, leaving a large, crumbling hole where the doors once stood. The Avengers had spilled out onto the street. Each one fighting to get around the barrier that Stephen had conjured.
Scott Lang shrunk himself down and sprinted towards the building, so small that as he looked up, Stephen's magic was like a galaxy above his head. He got inside the sanctum and returned to normal size, but he stopped in his tracks, almost skidding on his heels when a woman appeared in front of him.
"Ant Man, right?" she said.
"You must be Juno," he replied.
She nodded, tilting her head slightly to one side. "Sorry about this."
His eyes widened as she held out her palm and sent a blast into his chest. He soared backwards through the air, through the gaping hole in the wall until he landed hard on the road outside.
He lay on his back and removed his helmet, gasping for the air that had been knocked from his lungs. Everyone halted, turning slowly to see Juno emerging from the building, fists clenched, glowing, angry.
They charged for her.
To her left, Sam and Rhodey were flying towards her as Peter swung above their heads. She turned her fingers, manipulating Peter and making him shoot at the two men and yank them back. The three of them crashed to the ground in a tangle of web, she lifted them in a ball of light and threw them into a building across the street. The wall crumbled, windows smashed as the people inside began to scream.
She looked to the right as T'Challa ran at her. She aimed her blasts at him but he caught them in his suit, sending them back at her with twice the power. It knocked her to the ground and within moments, Carol was on top of her, pinning her to the concrete.
"I feel like we've been in this position before," said Carol sarcastically.
"And last time I put you to sleep," Juno growled.
"That's not gonna happen this time."
Wanda dropped to her knees beside them and placed her fingers on Juno's temples, letting her deep red power pour into her head. The two women watched as she writhed on the ground beneath them, her eyes glazing over and pulsing with bright yellow light.
"How long can you keep her subdued?" asked Carol.
Wanda grimaced like she was in pain. "I don't know. She's too powerful. I don't think-"
Suddenly, Juno let out a scream, sending a shockwave from her body that forced them up into the air and made all the buildings on the street begin to collapse. Stephen watched on in horror as the two women tumbled down and hit the ground hard. He turned his attention back to Juno as she rose to her feet, rolling her shoulders as if she were limbering up.
"Hope!" Scott shouted.
Juno watched as a woman in a dark suit flicked up her helmet and disappeared into the thin air. Scott did the same, the pair of them reappearing seconds later either side of her. She fought them off, battling with them as they continued to shrink down and size up, swarming around her like two irritating flies she couldn't swat.
"We're distracting her," Scott's voice sounded through everyone's earpieces. "If someone could come and get her that'd be great!"
"On it!" shouted Peter as he emerged from the rubble of the building across the street.
"Her powers are like mine," said Wanda. "She needs movement and focus. Restrain her, keep her distracted and she won't be able to use them."
"Gotcha!" he replied as he bounced through the air before tangling Juno's wrists in webs and dragging her onto her knees. Sam and Rhodey followed, joined by Carol and T'Challa, all of them surrounding her and working together to hold her down.
"Strange, open a portal to the headquarters," said Bruce as he rushed towards him.
Stephen was standing in the middle of the street using his magic to hold collapsing buildings in place. People ran out of them screaming, rushing to escape before they fell completely.
"I can't move my hands away from this," he said. "If I do, these people will be crushed."
Bruce looked out across the devastation she'd caused. "You still think she deserves your protection?"
The ground began to rumble as if an earthquake was building, car alarms screeched, water bursting out of pipes in the ground, cracks beginning to form in the sidewalks. A powerful current rippled through the air, knocking Stephen off his feet and halting his magic. The buildings tumbled into mounds of rubble. Some people had made it out safe while others were trapped, shouting for help or crying in pain. He turned around to see her standing there amongst the chaos. Hands glowing, eyes piercing through the smoke-filled air. The others were lying around her, some unconscious, others groaning and bleeding.
"Juno..." he whispered.
She didn't say anything, instead she took a step forward.
"What have you done?" he said, as if he were finally seeing her as a threat.
She extended her arms out either side of her, and with the slightest movement of her fingers, destroyed everything around them. From buildings to cars, trees and streetlights. Bleecker Street was gone, flattened to rubble.
He shielded himself from the blast before standing up straight again. Only the two of them remained standing, facing each other from opposite ends of the street.
"This is what they think I am," she said. "What they were scared I'd do. Might as well let them be right."
"This isn't you." He shook his head. "This is the stone."
"I am the stone."
She recognised the look on his face - he was finally scared of her, even after promising he never would be.
Bruce grunted as he pushed a heavy slab of concrete off his chest. He sat up, breathless, watching as Juno walked slowly through the debris, the mound on the back of her neck glowing through the smog.
Wanda dragged herself across the ground towards him. "We're never gonna get her back to headquarters. She's too powerful."
"Then we need to do it here," he replied, turning to look at her. "I'm sorry to make you do this..."
Wanda felt her stomach turn, her mouth falling open slightly.
"You're the only one who can," he said.
Stephen watched as Juno walked slowly towards him. He knew she wouldn't hurt him. But the mind stone, however, he wasn't so sure. It was like she was gone - no different to any other villain they had gone up against.
"I told you I wouldn't let them hurt you," he said.
"I don't need you to not let them hurt me," she scowled. "I've done a pretty good job of defending myself."
"This isn't defence, Juno. This is attack. It's mindless destruction."
He glanced behind her to see Wanda approaching quietly, knowing it was time to make that decision - one person, or the rest of the world. He dropped his head, looking down at his scarred hands, the eye around his neck, the cloak curling around his body.
Juno began to turn her head. Just a moment more and she would see Wanda there.
"We can run away," said Stephen quickly, trying to keep her attention on him.
She looked back at him. "What?" her voice was so soft, it reminded him of when she first arrived at the sanctum.
"Us," he continued. "We can leave. Go someplace where you're not a risk to anybody, where no one knows us."
"Why would you do that?"
"Because... because... I love you." He said it like he meant it, the guilt bubbling in his chest.
It was the first time Juno's rage had faltered, as if she were calming down, softening to the idea of disappearing with him, loving him. She stared at his face, tried to read his mind.
"I..." She stopped. Suddenly hearing his voice in her head, the first clear thought she had managed to draw from him all day.
I'm sorry.
She scrunched her brows in confusion. He was sorry. Sorry for what? Then she felt it, and she knew immediately.
Wanda stood behind her with her hand outstretched, forcing a stream of scarlet light directly into the mind stone. He cheeks were wet with tears, her head filled with the image of Vision on his knees. I only feel you. She strengthened the force of her power, driving it into the back of Juno's neck.
Stephen watched on, almost crying too. He never wanted it to come to this, still feeling the urge to protect her, to make it stop.
The other Avengers began to emerge from the wreckage, shielding their eyes from the blinding light. The stone cracked, releasing a cloud of golden matter into the air. Juno's body went stiff as she screamed in pain, she could feel herself dying, the stone fighting against it. Then everything went dark.
*
Her eyes flickered open, heavy and sore as they adjusted to the light. She wondered for a moment if she was dead, but there was a bustling around her, muffled voices and the hum of a machine.
She was suspended in the air, her arms and legs restrained, the stone sending shockwaves down her spine. She tried to move but she was stuck, tried to ignite her hands but they were encased inside metal clamps.
The Avengers stood around the machine, watching her through the glass like an exhibit in a gallery. Stephen stood nearby, his eyes glazed over as he stared into space.
"So," said Sam. "What are we going to do with her?"