The third Maximoff

Chapter 45

"They finally fell asleep" Wanda gasped happily but her face fell as she saw you looking into empty cribs.

"They're empty." Vision stated in shock.

"Then where are the twins?" Wanda asked.

"Mommy? Daddy?" Billy and Tommy asked from behind, standing in front of the stairs. You all turned to see the boys who were now five years old and smiling at you.

"Kids." Agnes sighs from her place sitting on the counter.

"You can't control 'em. No matter how hard you try." She chuckled softly.

"Well, hi!" Vision bent down and held his arms out.

"Hi!" Wanda copied him. The boys ran over and each of them were picked up by one of their parents.

"How are you doing, baby?" Vision asked Billy.

"Woah, who are the little men?" Pietro looked in shock at the sight that he had missed.

~~~

"What's the first thing you do remember?" Hayward asked Natasha as she laid on a bed in her scrubs while getting examined by the medic.

"Pain. And then, Wanda's voice in my head." Natasha recalled the events with a blank face, mind focused.

"Did you try to resist?"

"There was this feeling keeping me down. This hopeless feeling. Like drowning. It was grief." Natasha continued in deep thought.

"You can sit up now." The doctor told her.

"Great." Natasha sighed as she sat up. "So am I cleared?" She further asked.

"Once I get a look at these." The doctor took away her costume she had been thrown out of the Hex wearing. Hayward took his leave and Natasha was left with only the doctor.

"Where's my uniform?" Natasha asked up next.

"In analysis."

"Mighty glad to have you back, agent. How you feeling?" Woo entered the lab with Clint and Darcy.

"Like myself."

"Well, thank heavens for that." Clint told her with a gentle pat on the shoulder.

"Uh, what's the latest?" Natasha asked for a report right away, wanting to help Wanda as much as possible after what she had seen and felt inside the town.

"There's a briefing in ten. Pants are encouraged." Darcy cleared her throat while holding out some clothes to offer the agent.

"Thank you." Natasha nodded to her while taking them gratefully.

"This is Dr. Darcy Lewis. She's the one who discovered the broadcast." Clint continued with introductions.

"I'm—" Natasha started.

"Natasha Romanoff. I know. Um, big fan." Darcy waved excitedly.

"I'm gonna need another blood draw." The Doctor reappeared.

"No, no, no. We're done here." Natasha stood up calmly.

"She does that. See you at the briefing." Clint claimed before calling over to her as she shut the curtain to get changed.

"Morning. We are now assessing a clearer picture of this crisis. And thanks togas to Romanoff, we now have first-person intel from inside the Westview Anomaly. Our initial theory had Wanda Maximoff as one of many victims. We now know she is the principal victimizer. Barton." Hayward presented Clint to take over as the meeting started.

"Quick history on our subject. Born in Sokovia in 1989 to Irina and Oleg Maximoff, both killed during an air raid when Maximoff and her twin brother, Pietro, were ten." Clint reported as news reports flashed on the screens of the bombing of your house.

"The twins were subsequently radicalized, volunteering at HYDRA." Hayward added.

"It's an oversimplification of events, but, yes. After unspecified experimentation with the Mind Stone, Wanda gained telekinetic and telepathic abilities." Clint explained with the correct information.

"Back up, Barton. Does Maximoff have an alias?" Hayward asked.

"No, sir."

"No funny nickname?"

"Not a one."

"And earliest tracking had her using her powers against the Avengers. Is that correct?" Hayward prompted again, trying to make her seem evil.

"Right before she earned their trust and became one herself." Clint spoke proudly of her, having worked with her on missions before.

"Lagos and Germany, we all know how that turned out. Thanks, Barton. Now that we have the lay of the land, let's talk about strategy. It is the policy..."Hayward took over the meeting again.

"I try to see the best in people" Clint started softly to Darcy and Jimmy as he stood beside them again.

"Hayward's a..." Darcy started with frustration before Hayward continued on.

"..terrorists."

"Wanda's not a terrorist." Natasha sternly corrected, stepping up and making her presence known.

"By your own account, you described the experience of being under her mind-control as 'excruciating, terrifying, a violation.'" Hayward recalled her description.

"Wanda, what's up? And now that I've gone all corporate..." a clip from the show was played with Natasha playing the role of Natalie.

"My point is, I don't believe she has a political agenda or any inclination toward destruction." Natasha said.

"Natasha, she blasted you halfway across New Jersey" Hayward reminded.

"You don't get to call me Natasha and I survived because she chose to protect me."

"She's holding thousands of people hostage."

"And it could have been thousands more if she hadn't put up her own quarantine. Listen, I don't believe this is a premeditated act of aggression." Natasha argued back, knowing more about what Wanda is feeling.

"You don't? Bring up the visual. This morning, I received authorization to share this highly-sensitive material from S.W.O.R.D. headquarters. Until very recently, it was the top-secret location of the Vision's corpse." Hayward showed a clip of Wanda breaking a glass wall and seemingly breaking into Sword towards Visions body.

"When was this?" Natasha asked, eyebrows furrowed as she watched.

"Nine days ago. Maximoff stormed our facility, stole the Vision's body, and resurrected him." Hayward recounted.

"But that's in direct violation of Section 36 B of the Sokovia Accords." Jimmy noted.

"And the Vision's own living will." Hayward added.

"He didn't want to be anybody's weapon." Clint remembered.

"Maximoff, in her grief, disregarded his wishes. All right, that's it for now. Let's work the problem, people. Dismissed." Hayward finished the meeting, dismissing everyone.

"But how did she even do it? Bring him back without the Mind Stone?" Jimmy asked his question.

"Who knows? But she has the world's only vibranium synthezoid, playing Father-Knows-Best-In-Suburbia. What happens when he learns the truth?" Darcy pointed out as they watched the show once again.

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Question of the day: who is your favourite member of 'the dream team'? (Natasha, Darcy, Clint or Jimmy)