Lost Our Minds |5| The Ascension

Chapter Sixteen: Civil War - Team Free Will

"Eleven Wakandans were among those killed during a confrontation between the Avengers and a group of mercenaries in Lagos, Nigeria, last month. The traditionally reclusive Wakandans were on an outreach mission in Lagos when the attack occurred."

The report switched to show Wakandan King T'Chaka being interviewed. "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."

"The Wakandan king went on to..."

Zosia sighed, watching her daughter Daisy crawling on the ceiling. "What are we going to do, sweetie?" she asked. Daisy just looked at her. She was only four years old, but she looked seven or eight.

Steve entered, carrying Izaiah on his hip, and regarded the TV, before turning it off. "That won't help anything," he told her. Izaiah crawled up him, so he put him on the ceiling with his twin sister. "It'll only make you feel worse."

"I know," Zosia bit her lip. "Eleven people. It's been a while since we had a body count that high."

"It's not our fault," Steve assured her, putting his arm around her shoulders as he sat down on the bed next to her. "None of us had any idea that Rumlow was gonna do that. If neither Redwing nor JENSEN could detect it, it must have been some pretty new tech. We couldn't have stopped it."

"I guess," Zosia sighed again. "I just wish it never happened."

Steve kissed her temple. "Me too." After a moment, he spoke again. "How's Mom?"

"Fine. Dad said the smoke wouldn't have caused her any real damage. Apparently, she's just really psyched about holding that building up," Zosia told him, resting her head on his shoulder.

He smiled gently. "Sounds like her." They both looked up when Izaiah wailed, and rolled their eyes when they saw yet another scorch mark on the ceiling around a grinning Daisy. Zosia stood and reached up to grab her son.

"It's okay, sweetie," she hushed his tears while Steve brought Daisy down, smiling at her infectious grin. "Your sister is just being mean."

Daisy pouted. "Mommy!"

Steve grinned up at his wife from where he sat on the bed with their daughter in his lap. "Oh, you're not getting huggies tonight."

Zosia rolled her eyes, smiling.

***

"What legal authority does an enhanced individual like Wanda Maximoff have to operate in Nigeria?"

Wanda looked up as her TV turned off, seeing the Doctor leaning in the doorway. "It's my fault," she whispered, trying to hide the evidence that she'd been crying earlier.

"That's not true," the Doctor told her matter-of-factly, coming in to sit on her bed next to her.

She snorted humourlessly. "Turn the TV back on, they're being very specific."

"I should've been able to pull the bomb away from the building as soon as I saw it. I just... I saw Kez up there and suddenly I was watching her die all those times again. And instead, other people died," the Doctor said quietly, shaking his head.

"It's on me," Wanda told him.

"It's on both of us," he corrected. "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... Next time, maybe nobody gets saved." He put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her gently to his side and kissing her hair.