04 - CONSEQUENCES

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YOU CAN IGNORE REALITY
but you have to be prepared to accept the consequences that come with it.
UNKNOWN

    A female news anchors voice sounded over the speakers filled the otherwise silent room, the dreaded words came out of her mouth as she spoke on the devastation that was happening in Lagos.

"11 Wakandans were among those killed during a confrontation... between the Avengers and a group of mercenaries... in Lagos, Nigeria last month." She expressed. The woman's voice was loud and annoying, it was almost too perfect. It would have any listener cringing. The Wakandan king was shown next on the screen as he spoke on the matter and the lives of his people that were taken.

"The traditionally reclusive Wakandans were on an outreach mission... in Lagos when the attack occurred. Our people's blood is spilled on foreign soil... not only because of the actions of criminals... but by the indifference of those pledged to stop them. Victory at the expense of the innocent... is no victory at all." He emphasized. His voice was strong and confident yet soft and reserved, he gave off a calm and peaceful aura that probably made his people trust him more than most. The woman appeared back on the screen to continue to spread rumors like an average high school cheerleader would.

"The Wakandan king went on to..." Steve turned off the tv frustrated with himself for the deaths of the people that weren't able to make it out. He was a professional at beating himself up, but that's what made him so good at what he did. He always had to make things right. The silence returned to the room, almost deafening. Then, the faint sound of a male voice reports the same news he just shut off. 

"They are operating outside and above the international law." The man sounded, the man getting louder and louder as Steve approached Wanda's room. "Because that's the reality, if we don't respond to acts like these. What legal authority does an enhanced individual like Wanda Maximoff have... to operate in Nigeria...?" The man accused, Steve had enough and grabbed the remote from Wanda's dresser to shut off the tv. She sat at the end of her bed, facing away from the door. Her head hung low in defeat as she listened to them bash her.

"It's my fault." She sighed turning towards Steve.

"That's not true," Steve responded rather quickly, making his way over to her.

"You should turn the tv back on. They're being very specific." She quipped as Steve sat down next to her.

"I should've clocked that bomb vest long before you had to deal with it." He sighed before continuing. "Rumlow said "Bucky"... and all of a sudden I was a 16-year-old kid again, in Brooklyn. And people died. It's on me." He shuttered, not being able to finish before Wanda interjected. Steve felt awful for bringing her on the mission, he never expected for it to shatter her as much as it did, because it was never supposed to go this way. He blamed himself a great deal, going over the what if's as he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders.

"It's on both of us." She comforted, before allowing him to finish one of his famous speeches. Wanda could feel the stress and exhaustion pouring off of Steve in waves, she could practically smell it as he continued to comfort her.

"This job... We try to save as many people as we can. Sometimes that doesn't mean everybody. But if we can't find a way to live with that... then next time... maybe nobody gets saved." The room fell dead silent as Wanda processed the information given to her. Well, at least it was until a certain red synthazoid appeared through the wall.

"Vis! We talked about this." Wanda scolded.

"Yes, but the door was open so I assumed that..." he stopped himself. "Captain Rogers wished to know when Mr. Stark was arriving." He announced.

"Thank you. We'll be right down." Steve responded.

"I'll use the door." Vision spoke. "Oh, and apparently, he's brought a guest." He added.

"We know who it is?" Steve inquired. Half of him already expected the pompous ass of a secretary to show up and scold them for their very public mistake. However, nothing could prepare him for what the secretary's visit actually had in store.

"The Secretary of State." Vision concluded. Steve just nodded his head in response, mentally preparing himself to hold onto his resolve. He always had a problem with the Secretary, he made judgements and blew off important calls during a mission because he was only seeing it behind locked doors. The Secretary had never had to witness the fear and helplessness an actual mission instilled in a person. He just sat in his chair, high and mighty, being catered to by other at his every beck and call.

───── ⋆⋅🥀⋅⋆ ─────

A small ray of blue-tinted light came through the bars of a pathetic excuse for a window, illuminating the figure ahead, showing a malnourished adult female. The woman seemed to be in her thirties and her emerald eyes looked as if they were holding on to their last bit of innocence, fighting tooth and nail for the ripped and torn piece of humanity that was slowly fading away from her. She laid there for what felt like days before hearing distant marching, heavily approaching her.

"солдат, вставай." (Get up soldier) A hash and gruff voice sounded, after the clanging of her cell door opening subsided. The woman's body still steaming after they'd taken her out of cryo-freeze. "Soldier," this is when she booked it, sprinting her way through the facility, her body carrying her out and down several different hallways as alarms blared. It was like she knew the place and had been through it several times, but she could've sworn she'd never seen the place or any places for that matter that she could recall. The only thing the girl knew was that she need out, so desperately that nothing else mattered... not even the familiar name that ran through her mind, yelling for her to find, him. 'The Winter Soldier.'

( 1043. )
( April 4th, 2022. )

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