i can't control their fear

@therocketranger

@americanfalcons​

@ofworthiness

“What?” Olivia asked as she turned her attention to the woman who’d approached her. “Oh uh, no, uh yes, it is… sparkling cider” she said, probably nodding her head a little too much, she was usually much better at lying. She tugged at the bottom of her outfit again, she was definitely out of her comfort zone.

Wanda tilted her head to the side and looked over the young woman again. Nothing about this girl’s demeanor sold that she was comfortable --- or that the drink in her hand was just cider. “Right,” Wanda said slowly. “Want to try that again? Maybe try a little eye contact this time?” 

She didn’t seem to be a threat, but Peter knew better than to underestimate anyone. Just because it didn’t look like this woman was here to hurt him didn’t mean that wasn’t exactly what she had planned, and he wasn’t about to let his guard down without good reason. “You should learn. Especially if you’re planning on walking into people’s ships unannounced. Not everybody’s as friendly as me, you know.” Yondu would have shot her. Hell, Rocket probably would have shot her if he’d been the one to stumble upon her making her entrance. “You need help with something else? I’m flexible. My going rates are very affordable, and I’m more than willing to do… uh… sketchy shit.” Might as well just put it out there. Peter was a thief at his core, and he figured it didn’t really matter who knew that. He raised a brow at her question, glancing around. “Well, I live in a space ship. My copilot is a talking raccoon, and my kid is a tree that knows three words. I’d say my tolerance for weird shit is pretty flarking high.” Whoever she was, she seemed awfully chill about this whole thing until he mentioned nudity, which was a weird point to get stuck on. “I was raised on a spaceship, actually. By pirates. They weren’t exactly prudes.” Sex on Earth was — weird. Peter was learning that the more time he spent here. People made it into a bigger deal than it was. “An android? Terran-made?” Maybe he was asking too many questions, but given the fact that she’d broken onto his ship, he figured it wasn’t unfair to ask her to share. “Then who are you looking for? Because if it’s someone with a ship like mine, on this planet? There’s a pretty good chance I know them.” The galaxy was a big place, but Earth was small. 

There was something in her expression at the mention of Tony’s name, and Peter filed it away in the back of his mind. She definitely knew him, and Peter didn’t think the experience was entirely good. Given what he knew about the Avengers’ breakup, that made sense. Tony didn’t go for details there, but Peter got the sense that it had been messy. And, given the expression on Scarlet Witch’s face, he got the feeling that she and Tony hadn’t been on the same side of things. Her question caught him off guard, pulling him from his thoughts with a confused expression. “Again? I’m pretty sure he never stopped. Guy’s kind of a lightweight, but pretty impressive as far as Terrans go.” It wasn’t true. Tony drank a lot, especially for a Terran with no alien DNA to speak of, but compared to most aliens, his metabolism was just… different. “Nebula? Yeah, we definitely know her. What did she tell you about us?” Nebula wasn’t out to kill them anymore, but that didn’t mean Peter trusted her to say kind things about them. If she’d been talking to the Avengers about them, odds were they might be in trouble. “Yeah, yeah, sorry. What was the question again?” Listening had never really been Peter’s strong suit.

Closing her eyes, Wanda bowed her head and nodded slightly. While it might have only been Peter, this was a warmer greeting than she had expected from Nebula. Would Nebula have shot her or done something worse at the surprise visit from Wanda? Those were things that she should have asked herself before just... walking onto this ship. But of course, if things had gotten messy, she had her magic. But by the way that Peter was looking at her, he clearly had no idea what she was capable of. “I’ll keep that in mind,” Wanda said. Peter claimed that he was flexible but the fact that he wasn’t willing to ask for a number upfront was worrisome. Wanda wasn’t made of money and for this particular issue, she wasn’t sure if this was something that she could ask Tony for help with. (She probably could, Tony was far more helpful than Wanda would ever admit, but she didn’t want to owe him either.) “I don’t think my request would involve anything sketchy.” Not that Wanda could actually promise that, there were too many unknowns. But as far as she knew, nothing she’d ask of him would cross any lines. Maybe that would earn her a discount. 

Prude. She never thought she’d be called that in the open, but even hearing the word made her grit her teeth. It wasn’t that she was repulsed but -- she had one partner in her life. Vision. And he was an android... and different in every way than anyone she had ever met. So, Wanda didn’t reply. At least not directly to being called a prude. (After all, a reaction would only encourage more conversation about this and Wanda wasn’t feeling it.) “Stark made,” she corrected. “And no, I can find the person I was looking for her another way, ships like this are uncommon.” At least on Earth they were, but she had a feeling that Peter knew that. “I...” Wanda cleared her throat and crossed her arms, “I want you to find me.” There was no humor in her voice when she spoke, and even as she shifted her weight anxiously, she looked Peter in the eyes. “There is a version of me from... from, um, this universe that has gone missing. I want you to find her, or at least her last known location.” Wanda wasn’t sure if he could help -- if anyone could help. But she had to try. 

“Don’t really care what matters to you,” Robbie replied, though he didn’t move forward to get passed her. Not yet, at least. She was too confident not to have something to back that arrogance up with, and Robbie was really trying not to pick fights without knowing all the details anymore. That had gotten him into a shitload of SHIELD-shaped trouble with Daisy. She had some kind of power glowing in her hands, and Robbie was confident it wouldn’t feel like a tickle when it hit him. He also knew there was more to her than that. There was no way for her to know about the Rider unless she was in his head, and the thought made him bristle. “You better hope he doesn’t get control,” he shot back, hands clenching into fists at his side. “He’s not as nice as I am.” It wasn’t entirely true, of course — the Rider was only a threat if he deemed someone worthy of Hell, and he didn’t seem to think this woman had earned her spot. She took a step towards him and Robbie stayed where he was, eyeing her critically but not making a move. He wasn’t ready to turn this into a fight just yet. “Robbie,” he replied, and that was all she got. He wasn’t stupid enough to run around giving out his full name, not when Gabe was still out there somewhere trying to live his life in peace. “You protect every asshole with a sword, or is this guy special?”

Wanda scoffed and shook her head. She didn’t blame him for not caring about what she wanted or expected of him, but she wasn’t going to budge either. Clint was going to get away, regardless of this conversation, the only question was how far she’d have to go in order to protect Clint. She wasn’t going to kill the man in front of her (she, in all honesty, was just stalling) but she wasn't sure how far he’d go. How much danger was Wanda really in? The thin threat in her direction caused the red in her eyes to brighten, her head tilting downward slightly before she curled her hands into fists and told herself to control it. Her knuckles turning white from how tightly she was clenching her fists -- it was an empty threat. Or at least that was what Wanda was telling herself. 

There was a sort of worried look in Wanda’s eyes that unsettled Daisy. It was a sort of look that Daisy herself often made when having to deal with people who should’ve known something but, for some reason or another, didn’t. “Me but not me?” She repeated her, even more confused now. She wondered if Wanda had somehow come into contact with an LMD version of herself. Maybe it was someone in a nanomask or a Skrull or something. Daisy could understand a lot of weird things, but she couldn’t tell what Wanda was trying to get at. “It was something I wouldn’t remember?” She asked, panic filling her at the thought of Fury making her forget even more things. Anything he made her forget couldn’t be good. “Can you… explain a bit more?” She asked in an attempt to calm herself.

Wanda bit her tongue as she watched Daisy try and puzzle it out -- she had thought this would be easier to process. Be vague and let the issue die here and not address until later, but clearly, fate had another thing in mind. There was a change in Daisy’s pitch and Wanda took a step forward, both of her hands up in surrender as she approached. “Please, don’t freak out.” Wanda was already cursing herself internally for using that phrasing because if she was in Daisy’s shoes, that exact wording would have only made it worse. She could already see the panic building in Daisy and Wanda didn’t want that for her friend -- or... she supposed Daisy was her acquaintance here. But still, she cared for her. “You know who I am. So you know what I can do,” Wanda said, Daisy had said her name after all -- so she must have some idea. “I know you but... not here. I’m from another universe. You’re -- you were my friend.” 

They said when it rained, it poured. For Bucky, it had been pouring since he was eighteen, give or take. First came the draft, then getting kidnapped by a man in a mask. He was blasted off a train, turned into a killing machine, and forced to fight his best friend. Then he had to fight a different man, this time of the purple variety, and found himself turning to dust in the middle of a Wakandan forest. For all intents and purposes, the universal jump had been simple. It was made even better by the fact that he couldn’t tell what the other Avengers’ responses would be, because his transporter was fried, and returning seemed less likely with each passing hour.

So, he did what always came naturally – he got a burner, left one of the few people he knew in this universe a cryptic message and a meeting place, and he got himself a beer from the bar. They didn’t even blink when he walked in, which only proved how invisible you could be in New York if you tried. Either that, or he’d retained more espionage tactics than he thought.

He spotted Wanda coming through the door, and once she took a seat, he slid in across the table from her. “You know,” he said, a small smile threatening to come onto his face, “you guys really pissed them off when you skipped.” Bucky leaned back in his seat, taking a sip of beer. “You didn’t honestly think I wouldn’t want in on that, did you? I might be a hundred and two, but I’m not boring.”

Getting acclimated to a new universe and trying to wrap her head around that her counterpart here was missing -- Wanda was actually alarmed at the message she had gotten. It was just a location and a short message from an unknown number -- and Wanda wasn’t completely sure what to do with that, other than show up. She had thought about attempting something reminiscent to undercover but that had never been her strong suit. So she did all the things she had been warned against time and time again. Wanda didn’t ask the sender for their identity and didn’t bother to disguise her own... and showed up. 

Walking inside the bar, Wanda vaguely looked over the few people that were there before taking a seat. It didn’t take any time at all for Bucky to slide across the table from her and, for a second, Wanda’s stomach flipped. Not because she was scared of him but -- more because this was another person she had found herself caring about that was... well, from the wrong universe. Except he wasn’t. The apprehension she had felt melted away and was replaced with a smile. This was the Bucky she knew. “They didn’t send you after us, did they?” Sure, to most people, Bucky was probably one of the most intimidating people on the planet (or the universe), but that was because most people didn’t bother to look at him past the surface. Or the headlines. Or maybe it all really boiled down to her trusting Steve and Steve trusting him.

Of course, his next statement answered her question. Bucky Barnes was playing hookey. “You’re not boring,” Wanda agreed before looking at the small menu of drinks. “But I hate to break it to you but... you’re still old.” Wanda tried to stop smiling but the best she could do was hide her face behind the menu and pretend that she was being completely serious. “Also,” she said, peaking up above the menu, “you should try including your name in your cryptic text messages.” 

Jane still found herself often caught up in the differences between this universe and the one that she had come from. For example, she wasn’t sure that in this universe she knew Wanda. However, in her own universe - they’d been friends and for a brief second it made her heart ache. Still, Jane took Wanda’s hand and pulled her out onto the dance floor. “Yes, I believe so. It’s a bit too quiet for my liking. I mean, why else would there be a dance floor and music if they didn’t want people to dance?” 

Seeing familiar faces like Jane’s in this world made it more comfortable --- more like home (or maybe less like it since Jane was dead where she was from). The smile on Wanda’s face didn’t falter as she followed Jane out to the dance floor. “I hope they weren’t planning on a first dance for the couple. I know that’s more of a wedding tradition but,” she shrugged. “Rich people do wild things.” That was true about anyone she knew that had money to throw around like this. “What should we do --- something more appropriate for the occasion or jump straight for the Charleston?” 

“You’re acting as if he’s cool enough for that,” Kate replied, not missing a beat. “I also got Hawkette, Hawkingbird which wasn’t terrible, Deadshot which was just offensive, Bullseye, and my personal favorite, Merida.” Kate hadn’t even realised how many archers there were in popular media until she moved out to the Sunshine Coast, and she was simultaneously offended and entertained by the notion that she looked like any of them. Kate Bishop was her own person, thank you very much, and she was intending to stay that way! “Oh, absolutely. He put me as Lucky’s next of kin and everything! Me and him are hanging tight until Clint gets back, aren’t we boy?” At the sound of his name, Lucky came in from the kitchen, the fur around his mouth stained red from leftover pizza slices. What a good dog!

Kate shook her head. “Nah, I don’t think so. Sending ninjas isn’t really their style. They prefer getting their own hands dirty, and their own asses kicked.” Kate knew a lot about the Tracksuits at this point, which was just another sad fact of her existence. “When I track him down, you’ll be the first I call. I need to bring in the big guns every now and again to reaffirm my superhero status, right?” Different universe. Kate had been somewhat expecting it - at least for the past ten seconds - but to hear it made her let out a breath. “Thanks for telling me,” Kate said, first off. “I hate when people don’t tell me things.” Wanda would know that, of course, but she felt the need to say it. “Hey, if it’s good for you, that’s not selfish. You’ve had a whole pile of futzing bad stuff happen to you, Wands. Besides, if you can help prevent whatever went down, that’s a good thing, right?” Kate rose an eyebrow, looking at her friend. “I’m not gonna say I haven’t missed you, because I have. Any version of yours a good one.”

Wanda smiled and nodded her head -- Kate was right, Clint wasn’t nearly cool enough to be in their club. He had his moments, but most of the time, as a mentor, Clint was just embarrassing. “Merida? That one is easily the best, you should start charging a few hundred dollars for autographs since you’re a Disney princess now!” If Kate were a Disney princess, Wanda had a feeling she’d be the kind to tell each person she came in contact with that they could be a princess too -- and probably not charge for an autograph, Kate was good like that. Wanda tipped her head to the side and looked at Lucky as he came in. Aside from Kate getting kicked around a little, everything seemed fine. At least... all but one thing. “Where is he?” Wanda asked, returning her attention back to Kate. 

That was good to know, at least whoever Kate was facing off against wasn’t going to throw ninjas --- or anything else at Kate without showing their face. Wanda wasn’t sure if that was really a good thing or not, after all, that did suggest there would be a round two of all of this... and Wanda wasn’t thrilled with that thought -- but she also knew that Kate was more than capable of taking care of herself. “I have to keep up appearances too, right? Show the world that the Avengers are still here even when we aren’t.” It was weird calling herself an Avenger after everything that had happened, but, there were some things that never stopped being true. Wanda nodded her head at Kate’s comment and felt... well, she wasn’t sure. Relief but strange at the same time. “I hope I can,” Wanda said, meeting Kate’s gaze. “I really want to. There was a moment before it all went to hell where I thought we won. Well, our version of winning at least.” Killing Vision wasn’t the victory that Wanda had envisioned, but maybe, if it had worked, she wouldn’t be buried underneath all this guilt. “I’ve heard that I’m... missing here. I get why I would leave Stark but, you and Clint?” Wanda shook her head. There were people here worth staying for, drama or not. 

Eve did not seek to advertise her differences – she still wanted to attempt to blend in as much as possible. However, helping this woman, even with such a small cut, was more imperative than keeping her ‘secret.’ For a moment, she feared she had frightened the woman, but then she slowly extended her hand again. 

“No,” Eve said, shaking her head as she went to work repairing the damage. (No, not repairing. This woman was organic. Eve was tending to her – not to damage, but to a wound. Language could be imprecise at times, but Eve strove for clarity, even in her own mind.) “I am entirely mechanical,” she explained, cleaning the cut with an alcohol pad and then applying the disinfectant. She determined the cut did not need gauze, only a small band-aid, and she applied that as well. “I hope that does not make you uncomfortable. I know that the stories of my kind are not always pleasant,” she said softly. Her eyes slid up to meet the woman’s. “I am Eve Lavenza. I was created to serve my master, but he is gone now. So I am attempting to serve all those I meet. What is your name?” 

Wanda’s heart was beating rapidly as she looked over the mechanical woman. There was nothing in there to suggest that she was like Ultron -- evil or destructive (or allying herself with people similar to herself and Pietro at the time), but Wanda expected the worst. Vision was different than other androids because she could read him, but this? How would this android evolve? How much could she learn? How far could she go?

Asking would have been the smart thing to do -- just ask how she was given life and how it worked for her, but thankfully, the mechanical woman offered up the story without Wanda having to prompt her for it. Wanda relaxed slightly, she seemed friendly enough, but Wanda still didn’t let her guard down. At least not completely. Wanda winced slightly as the disinfectant touched her wound. “I take it you’ve heard of Ultron then,” Wanda commented softly before meeting Eve’s eyes. Eve’s ‘purpose’ was an interesting one, helping -- well, serving all those she met since her master was gone. “Wanda Maximoff,” she introduced. “I’m sure you understand my hesitance.” 

Olivia tugged at the bottom of the dress/coat she’d borrowed from Dinah, feeling a little self conscious. She had accompanied her parents to a lot of fundraisers and galas but she’d never really fit in at parties like this, but she was on a different earth, getting out and talking to people would be key to making the best out of the situation. The glass of champagne she’d managed to sneak herself to helped.

Wanda wasn’t a parent, if anything, she was the sister that slipped the underage kids a little something extra when the real parents weren’t looking... But there was something odd about seeing this girl with a glass of champagne and the way she pulled at her outfit? It was pretty clear to Wanda that the girl was uncomfortable. Wanda approached the girl and cleared her throat to get her attention. “I take it that’s not sparkling cider, is it?” 

After checking her cell phone for the third time and praying for it to call her into the hospital, Jane decided that her wishes were not going to come true. Once that was decided, she sipped on champagne and pretended to enjoy herself. It was only after about 2 glasses that she didn’t hate herself for attending any longer and decided that champagne could in fact give you a buzz. The dance floor was empty and it wasn’t much of a surprise. Third flute of champagne in her hand, she leaned over to the unassuming person next to her and murmured, “Dance with me? Promise I’ll patch you up if I step on your toes.” 

Wanda glanced at the woman standing next to her and felt her heartbeat jump --- Jane. She hadn’t seen Jane since she had died in her home universe. But this wasn’t her Jane, this wasn’t the friend she had made before... this was a different Jane, with a different life, surely. (And hopefully, cancer-free.) “Of course, Jane,” Wanda said as she held out her hand, letting the name fall from her lips all too naturally. It didn’t even occur to Wanda to take a breath and consider that Jane might not know the Wanda from this universe. “This party needs a little more life, don’t you agree?” 

“It was by the end,” Nebula murmured. Time Travel. Of all the things to take her father down. It sounded like a dream, like the childish stories she used to make up in her head while she was being dragged off to surgery. Stories about galactic heroes and magical beings, who would rescue her and whisk her away to her real home. That never happened, and yet, she had known galactic heroes, and she was standing in front of a witch, and time travel had been her father’s greatest undoing. And perhaps her own as well. The version of Gamora left back in her universe, from her past and not her present, that had been a driving force in her decision to leave. In her decision to come here. 

“My father is a constant monster,” she said, the words bitter but even. It was a taste she was used to. “You tried that once before,” she pointed out, arching a brow. “It didn’t go well for you. Or the rest of the universe.” She nodded once, then again at Wanda’s second question. “At first, I tried to keep it a secret. That I wasn’t from this world, this universe. But after a while, it didn’t seem to have any effect, and I can’t –” I can’t find what I’m looking for without asking them. Without seeing them. Telling them the truth. “I can’t bring myself to care if it does.” 

“Maybe,” Wanda said with a nod of her head. Coming back, everyone -- mostly everyone being alive again. They had all the time in the world given to them, but it wasn’t whole. It was shattered pieces of what was left -- and they were told it was a victory. Nebula lost her sister and Wanda lost Vision. But in all of that they were supposed to be, what? Happy to be alive? Find a way to keep on living when everything else around them was broken? Maybe they had won, but at what cost? How much of themselves had they lost along the way? Wanda knew she had missed the worst of it, those five years that happened while she was dead. 

Nebula was right -- the last time that Wanda had tried that... going toe to toe with Thanos, it hadn’t worked out. She wanted to think that if she had found him before he had any of the stones she could end it, but would they really be that lucky? And if Thanos hadn’t seen her destroy the mind stone he wouldn’t have thought of rewinding time --- there were so many things she would have done differently. Little things that she thought could make all the difference. “Maybe in this universe, it’ll be different.” That’s what hoped at least, that this was different. “I thought our presence would cause a greater ripple effect,” Wanda confessed. “But from what I’ve found out about myself here -- I’ve been missing.” Wanda looked at Nebula, asking her with her eyes if she had heard of anything about herself -- the one that belonged in this universe.