Rebel Of The Stars

Chapter 12

Wanda's POV

I watched out the window as we landed beside the facility, Natasha practically dragging me out of the Quinjet and into the building. I heard the footsteps of Steve, Vision, and Sam behind us, but I didn't turn around as I didn't want to trip over my feet. We entered the room that apparently Rhodey was in because as we walked in, he was having a conversation with Secretary Ross.

"Mr. Secretary." Steve spoke, looking at the hologram as Natasha tightly gripped my arm.

"You got some nerve. I'll give you that." The secretary responded, looking from Natasha to Steve.

"You could use some of that right now." Natasha replied, her body moving so that her side was pressed to mine.

"The world's on fire. And you think, all is forgiven?" He asked, looking at Steve with raised eyebrows.

"I'm not looking for forgiveness. And I'm way past asking for permission. Earth just lost her best defender. So, we're here to fight." Steve took a step forward, continuing to talk as he stopped walking. "And if you wanna stand in our way...we'll fight you, too."

"Arrest them." The secretary said to Rhodey as he waited for a response.

"All over it." Rhodey said as she swiped off the hologram and the computer beeped twice. "That's a court-martial. It's great to see you, Cap."

Steve walked up to Rhodey, hugging him as Natasha still dug her nails into my arm.

"You too, Rhodey." Steve said as he pulled away from Rhodey.

"Well. You guys really look like crap. Must've been a rough couple of years." Rhodey chuckled as he looked at the five of us.

"Yeah, well, the hotels weren't exactly five star." Sam joked as footsteps from somebody near us appeared.

"Uh, I think you look great." A voice said, scaring us a little bit.

Rhodey and Natasha looked around to see Bruce walk in from the opposite end of the room.

"Uh...heh...Yeah. I'm back."

My mind matched the voice to Bruce, Natasha now painfully digging her nails into my arm.

"Hi, Bruce." Her greeting sounded forced as it felt like her nails punctured my skin.

"Nat." Bruce simply said, looking at her with wide eyes.

"This is awkward." Sam whispered, Rhodey elbowing him as I winced from Natasha's nails.

Bruce and Steve led us into another room, Natasha still standing right beside me, her fingernails still embedded in my arm.

"So we gotta assume they're coming back, right?" Rhodey questioned, looking around the room.

"And they can clearly find us." I said with a nod, looking at Natasha to see that she looked nervous and slightly scared.

"We need all hands on deck Where's Clint?" Bruce asked, furrowing his brows.

"After the whole Accords situation, he and Scott took a deal. It was too tough on their families, they're on house arrest." Natasha simply said in a voice that sounded strained.

I looked at Natasha once again, taking in her full appearance. She had bags under her eyes, her skin looked paler, and her eyes looked bloodshot like she had been crying.

"Who's Scott?" Bruce asked, looking at Steve with a confused face.

"Ant-Man." Steve responded.

"There's an Ant-Man and a Spider-Man? Okay, look...Thanos has the biggest army in the universe. And he is not gonna stop until he...he gets...Vision's stone." Bruce trailed off, Vision speaking up.

"No, we have to destroy it. I've been giving a good deal of thought to this entity to my head, about its nature. But also, its composition. I think if it were exposed to a sufficiently powerful energy source, something, very similar to its own signature, perhaps...its molecular integrity could fail." Vision said as he neared me.

"And you, with it. We're not having this conversation." I spit out, looking down at the small amount of blood that was now dripping down my arm.

"Eliminating the stone is the only way to be certain that Thanos can't get it." He said as I looked up at him.

"That's too high a price." I whispered, Vision walking to stand in front of me.

"Only you have the power to pay it."

I walked away from him, Natasha's nails now making me hiss in pain.

"Thanos threatens half the universe. One life cannot stand in the way of defeating him." Vision continued, Steve looking away from him.

"But it should. We don't trade lives, Vision." Steve spoke, as Vision walked towards Steve and stopped.

"Captain, 70 years ago, you laid down your life to save how many millions of people. Tell me, why is this any different?" Vision questioned, Steve taking a deep breath to answer but Bruce talking before him.

"Because you might have a choice. Your mind is made up of a complex construct of overlays. J.A.R.V.I.S., Ultron, Tony, me, the stone. All of them mixed together. All of them learning from one another."

"You're saying Vision isn't just the stone?" I asked, Bruce nodding.

"I'm saying that if we take out the stone, there's still a whole lot of Vision left. Perhaps the best parts." He said as I started to think about how that would work.

"Can we do that?" Natasha questioned, as she slightly tilted her head.

"Not me. Not here." Bruce said, shaking his head as Rhodey spoke.

"You better find someone, and somewhere fast. Ross isn't exactly just gonna let you guys have your old rooms back."

"I know somewhere." Steve said, our heads all turning to look at him.