The Soulguard, A Dragon Who Can See Spirits

Chapter 23

Wanda wakes up in the middle of the night as hot, heavy breathing hits her face. Jolting to sit up she lights the room she is in with her powers. At first she thinks that she is in danger, that Noku hadn't broken free from the control, but as the sleep induced haze leaves her brain, Wanda registers the dragoness staring at her, panic visible in her milky eyes. "What is it? What's wrong?" Wanda questions in worry. 'I had a nightmare, Ayraith. They took control again and I- I hurt you.' The dragoness confesses. "Oh, Little One... I am alright, it was just a bad dream." Wanda lifts her hand to softly run her fingers through Noku's soft fur down from the side of her face to the top of her snout. The movements of Wanda's hand are gentle and soothing. Noku visibly calms down and gets comfortable once again. "Will you try to get a bit more sleep? It is only-" Wanda checks the time from her phone and sighs, knowing that she has to be up soon. "-5 in the morning. You still have time to sleep." Noku, sensing that her mother has to go somewhere, nibbles lightly at Wanda's sleeve. 'Will you stay with me until I fall back asleep?' Her tone is calmer now. "Of course, I'll stay until you fall asleep." So the two of them relax and wait and before long Noku is back in the land of dreams, good dreams this time as Wanda makes sure that she won't be having nightmares for a while. "Sleep well, Little One." The Sokovian murmurs as she stands up and leaves the room. Now, it is time for her to find Fury. The man impersonating a pirate had wanted to talk to the team, all others but Noku. Why? Wanda doesn't know and part of her is telling her, almost screaming, that whatever the man wants to tell them, isn't good.

The Sokovian reaches the meeting room swiftly and upon entering sees that they are still waiting for people. Wanda takes her seat next to Natasha and Clint and asks them if they happen to know what this is about. "Honestly? I have a feeling that it is about Hydra, because let's be real, when is it not?" Natasha answers her and Clint hums in agreement. "There has been a bit more Hydra activity lately. Bigger groups moving across the country and I have a feeling that they are planning something." Clint tells his own thoughts as the door to the room opens once more, revealing a grumpy looking Tony followed by Fury himself. "Glad that you all could make it." The man in a long leather coat says before taking his place at the front. "Stark, project the maps." He orders and Tony does as ordered. Soon a hologram map is in front of everyone, showing red dots all across the United States, some even outside of the borders. Red lines go from said dots, all converging at the same spot, a larger dot. "This is why we are here." Fury says and points at the map. "Hydra has been moving soldiers from these points-" he points at the small dots, "to here, and according to my informants they are planning an attack on a scale never seen before." The Avengers observe the map and Steve speaks up. "Their meeting point is awfully close to us." The supersoldier says the one thing that all the others have observed too. "It is, and I have reason to suspect they will attack soon. Thus I have tasked-" "Ordered, forced, threatened-" "Be quiet, Stark. Thus I have tasked our man of money with putting up defenses around the perimeter to at least hinder their advances." Wanda doesn't like what she is hearing. Hydra, gathering their forces and preparing to attack them? She has a bad, very bad, feeling about this. "And pray tell, how are we supposed to take all of them down? There are only a limited number of us and S.H.I.E.L.D agents available." Natasha asks with a scoff. "You should have told us earlier so we could have stopped them before they managed to group up." Fury stands silently and the Avengers start to get angry. "Why wait until they have more troops than us?" At this Fury speaks again. "Because they all started moving at the same time and with such speed that it wouldn't have mattered if I told you immediately. Getting rid of one or two groups would have not made a difference in their numbers." The man is calm, scarily so. "You don't seem worried." Natasha says out loud, catching the attention of others. "What are you planning?" "Oh no, I am not planning anything. Not anymore as the plans are finished." "Just tell us, you can't hide it forever." Fury sighs annoyed. "I am not worried because we have a dragon." Wanda tenses. Fury can't be serious. Putting Noku in the field so soon after getting free from mind control? That is not a good idea. And apparently Natasha is thinking the same as the Russian stands up. "You can't be serious. Noku is not ready, she has not recovered from-" Fury stops Natasha with a rise of his hand. "I am aware of the incident but she is worth more agents on the battlefield than most of you. I do not tolerate complaining anymore. The plan is set so get her ready as soon as you can. The attack can be happening at any time." Fury says with an authoritative tone and makes his leave, leaving the Avengers to go over the information they just got.