Fire and Smoke - Wanda Maximoff x Reader

Chapter 26

I push myself up to standing using the aid of the container which is lodged full with bullets. I feel like I've been awake for a week straight. My heart is beating out of my chest as I look over to Wanda. I breathe out a sigh of relief as I see her standing upright. She looks over at me as she notices me move, and I see a small bullet in midair just moments away from shooting straight through her head.

"Will you please move out of that bullet's way?" I ask her tiredly and she instantly steps away from the hovering bullet and walks up towards me.

She stops just in front of me with a weird expression on her face. I raise my eyebrows at her and she looks around at the quiet freeze-frame around us. Then, she looks back at me and I cannot quite place her expression.

"How..." She begins, but apparently changes her mind. "This is familiar, somehow."

"Yeah, I'd love to have a sit-down and talk about this, but I can't keep this up for much longer." I smile and stagger slightly, making Wanda quickly come up and steady me.

"Ok, ok. Look at me." She asks me quietly and I look up with heavy eyelids, the black spots starting to swim across my vision. "You're ok. Let's get out of here, ok?"

I nod and she starts leading me through the hangar bay. All I am focused on is keeping up the flow of energy around us. I blackout for just a moment, and the next thing I know Wanda has somehow gotten us into the helicopter. She sits down in the pilot's seat and looks at me with a worried expression.

"Are you able to tell me what to do?"

"I don't even know what to do." I chuckle and close my eyes.

"Hey, hey." Wanda says and touches my cheek to get me to open my eyes. "Come on, what do I do here?"

I sigh and look over at the control board. I take slightly longer to compute what it is that I am actually seeing before I lean forwards and push a few buttons and flick a switch here or there. Thankfully one of my old friends used to pilot a similar helicopter model for the FBI and would take me out every now and again, claiming that my distaste of the method of transportation would bring them immense glee. Seems like I took in some of what they were doing despite wanting to hurl the entire time I spent in that godforsaken helicopter.

"Ok. It's on. I just... I don't know how to open that hatch." I say with a sinking feeling. How could I have been so stupid as to completely forgot to think that in the slim chance that we even if we got to the helicopter in the first place, we would need the entirety of the Raft to actually rise out of the sea and open up to let us out. This entire thing feels like a huge mistake, and I wish I would have for once not acted rashly and just done what was expected of me. And now all I can do is to wait to pass out and wake up in a lovely cell somewhere in this hellhole I should probably just start to call home.

I look over to Wanda, just about to apologize for this entire catastrophe. But Wanda isn't looking remotely concerned, instead, she is looking positively scarlet. She's sitting completely still, eyes closed, her head slightly tilted to the side as if she's listening out for something. It almost looks like she's shimmering red. I can see her eyes moving frantically under her eyelids, and the cuffs around her wrists are humming furiously.

"Wanda?" I tentatively speak out, her name coming out in barely a whisper.

She doesn't reply. Her head twitches slightly, and I suddenly hear a loud creaking and the ground beneath me gives a shake. I bite the inside of my cheek, fighting to keep control of the mist keeping everyone frozen in place. There's another loud creak, and the floor gives another shudder. Then, my attention is pulled upwards towards the roof above. I lean forwards and peer out of the windshield. It suddenly clicks. Wanda is fighting against the shackles, managing to somehow use her magic.