𝚃𝚘𝚗𝚢 𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚔 𝙳𝚎𝚏𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚂𝚚𝚞𝚊𝚍

ᴊᴜꜱᴛɪᴄᴇ

ꜱᴜᴍᴍᴀʀʏ: In the end, you reap what you sow. It's time Wanda Maximoff learned that.

She had plenty of chances to before now.
So now the New Avengers do it the hard way.

===============

The trial was a joke.

"Everything since Ultron happened is fuzzy."

Everyone already knew how it was going to end.

"I didn't do anything wrong! I was protecting him from Stark! He couldn't see how dangerous Stark is without my help!"

Some tried to salvage it of course. Like Rogers.

"She's just a kid!"

Like Romanoff.

"She needs guidance."

"Did you know Nat?"

"What?"

"Did you know?!"

Another friendship burned to ashes thanks to secrets.

Fury even tried to save her, clearly trying to keep a hold of the power she represented.

"We need everyone for the fight against Thanos."

"We don't need someone who's just as likely to turn on us."

"Carol?"

"I don't know what happened to you Nick. But stay out of this."

Many friendships were destroyed.

Nat became Romanoff to Clint, the archer unable to believe that she didn't notice the change in his behaviour.

Carol turned her back on Fury for good when she realised that he was willing to sacrifice anything and anyone to keep the power in his hands.

Wilson lost his faith in Rogers when he watched the man avidly defend a woman who had been mind-controlling a friend.

Despite the Rogues shattering apart, the New Avengers came together as a unit. They protected Tony from any attempts at blaming him for what had happened. (Which Rogers certainly did try.)

Stephen testified about what he'd found in Tony's head after Ultron.

Jessica forced Clint to sit down and had a long, harrowing talk about mind control and the effects of it.

"I still don't like you. But I know how you're feeling. Don't let her win Barton."

Carol provided clear evidence that they never once strayed from the rules set in place.

There was no way to shift the blame this time. There was no way to ignore what Maximoff did.

The guilty verdict was expected and relieving.

Maximoff screamed and Rogers protested.

He didn't notice how Barnes withdrew further and further away the more he defended the Hydra volunteer.

In the end it didn't matter. Maximoff was declared guilty and the decision was reached to strip her of her powers. No one wanted to take the risk that she'd break a binding.

"You can't do this! I'm more powerful than any of you! You can't do this!" She screamed, looking mad in the straitjacket they'd been forced to use on her.

"Strength doesn't mean much when faced with experience," Loki told her coldly. "Your magic is powerful. But it was never your own little witch. It was a stolen, twisted power."

Stephen and Vision stepped up next to him. The room was silent except for Maximoff's screams.

The New Avengers were all there along with the Rogues. Tony thought the Rogues had been allowed to watch this as a warning. To show that the Council would follow through on their threats.

Rhodey stood on Tony's left and Clint was to Tony's right. Things weren't patched up between them. Not even close. They'd need therapy. They'd need to have long and painful talks. And they'd need to build that friendship from the ground up if they decided to try again.

But Tony knew what Clint was feeling. He understood how he felt violated and betrayed. So that was why he stood next to him and why Jess was on the archer's other side.

"Please Vision, don't do this. I love you," Maximoff pleaded pathetically.

Vision gazed down at her, grief and sadness in his eyes.

"I loved you once Miss. Maximoff. But you hurt me and betrayed me. And you never regretted it. I cannot move past that. You have hurt many people and it is time that you paid for that."

"No!" she wailed. "No! You can't do this! I was gifted with my magic! It was given to me for revenge! I haven't killed Stark yet! I need to kill him! I need to rip his life to pieces until he's alone and destroyed and then I need to kill him!"

Her words seemed to finally shake the Rogues and Rogers fell silent, staring at the madwoman in shock.

Vision closed his eyes in pain. "It's over now Wanda."

He activated the Mind Stone and green and gold magic joined the yellow light surrounding the witch.

She screamed again, screamed as her magic was pulled from her. Screamed as it was destroyed, too tainted to be returned to the Mind Stone.

In the end, she was left sobbing on the floor. Helpless and powerless.

For the first time in a very long time, Tony felt he could breathe easily. Maybe he'd finally get a good night's rest without the knowledge that the malicious witch was still out there.

"It's done," Stephen informed the officials from the council.

Guards stepped forward and dragged the sobbing woman up, taking her away to a cell where she would spend the rest of her days.

"Was that really necessary?" Rogers asked, shaken but still so so stubborn.

Romanoff didn't say anything, staring at the door in silence. Probably wondering how she missed the insanity that lurked under the surface of that young woman.

"Yes," Stephen told Rogers firmly. "She was a danger to anyone that got in her way."

He turned to the man while Loki quietly left. He tended not to stay in the room with Clint long, understanding that there was twisted history between them that might never be healed.

He may have been controlled when he took Clint's free will, but they both knew that did nothing to soothe the hurt and guilt it caused.

"Unlike you Mr. Rogers, we don't take it lightly when someone threatens a member of our team," Carol told him harshly.

Rogers flinched and looked at Tony. The genius met his gaze head-on, knowing his team had his back.

"Tony-"

He turned, dismissing that selfish man from his thoughts. Rhodey was at his left and Pepper stepped into place at his right, their fingers intertwining as the light shone off the ring on her finger.

Clint left with Jessica, the woman dragging him along with the declaration that it was time to get drunk.

The last thing that Tony heard before the door closed behind him was Barnes approaching Carol and asking to be moved to different accommodations as he didn't feel safe in his current ones.

Rogers' confused and hurt "Bucky?" followed them out the room.

They were long overdue for that meeting.