Carmine Jewels ║ Wanda Maximoff

Chapter 58 - The First Clash

"Please explain to me how Cap manages to be late, despite not having to fly across the Atlantic?" Keira grumbled, sliding down in her seat with one of Wanda's hands in her lap.

In an attempt to keep herself busy, she played with the silver rings adorning Wanda's fingers. Granted, she had been sleeping for most of the trip, but the bumpy ride in the van had made it impossible to sleep all the way.

And on top of that, she was hungry.

Clint had collected Scott Lang, aka Ant-Man, on his own while Keira had stayed with Wanda in the van. And after Scott had dunked his coffee down, he had completely passed out.

Which was why he was snoozing in the back of the van, accompanied by Clint and Keira's bows. This was also why Clint, Keira, and Wanda were all squashed together in the front seat.

Although, Keira seriously doubted that Scott would've woken up even if a bomb went off beside him.

Considering the fact that he was still soundly asleep, splayed across the entire backseat, snoozing gently while hugging Keira's bow close to him, as if it was a stuffed animal, it told her that caffeine worked great as a sleeping drug for more people than just herself.

"Logistical problems?" Clint suggested without any real conviction before shrugging his shoulders. "Ah, and look, here's the man of the hour. Speak of the devil." He pointed to the small Volkswagen Beetle that had just pulled up beside them, and Keira snorted.

"Wow, he couldn't find something from this century, could he?"

Clint had already hopped out of the van to greet Steve, and Wanda, who was opening the door on their side, was chuckling at Keira's grumpiness. The mutant slipped out after Wanda, just in time to see Clint and Steve grasping hands.

"You know I wouldn't have called if I had any other choice." Steve apologized while meeting the archer's eyes steadily.

But Clint only smiled. "Hey, man, you're doing me a favor. Besides, I owe a debt." He glanced back at Wanda as he spoke the last words before turning back to the Captain again. He loved his family above all else, but a part of him would always secretly miss the action.

Steve glanced over at Keira and Wanda. "Thanks for having my back."

Wanda shrugged and crossed her arms. "It was time to get off my ass." She shot a meaningful glance in Clint's direction before leaning her head against Keira's shoulder, smiling softly as she felt an arm snake around her waist.

"And you're stuck with me, unfortunately, Stevie." Keira chuckled while doing a two-finger salute with her free hand.

"How about our other recruit?" Steve asked Clint, suppressing the smile that wanted to creep up on his lips at the sight of the two women. At least there was something positive going on among all this madness.

Clint turned around and crossed over to the van. "He's rarin' to go." He slid the van door open, startling Scott awake in the process. "Had to put a little coffee in him but... he should be good."

Scott raised his head, and immediately let go of the bow he had been cradling. In disarray, he managed to push himself to his feet, and almost stumbled out of the van.

If Keira hadn't known any better, she might've thought that Clint had knocked him out in order to get him here.

"What time zone is this?" Scott muttered, squinting around before being pushed in Steve's direction by Clint. And that's when the man's face suddenly lit up like a kid on Christmas morning. "C- Captain America." He breathed in disbelief.

"Mr. Lang." Steve greeted, holding out his hand.

Scott gladly shook the Captain's hand, a bit too enthusiastically, and Keira' couldn't help but smile broadly at the interaction.