conquer • wanda maximoff

「 SEVEN 」

CHAPTER SEVEN; THE VISION

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"I'M ONLY GONNA say this once," Steve declared. He'd arrived back in New York with Ayana, Wanda and Pietro, and to their dismay but not surprise, Tony and Bruce were experimenting with the cradle.

"How about 'none-ce'?" Tony suggested.

"Shut it down," Steve ordered.

"Nope. Not gonna happen."

"You don't know what you're doing," he told him. The frustration was growing in his voice.

"And you do? She's not in your head?" Bruce asked, pointing at Wanda.

"I know you're angry," she told him, moving forward.

"Oh, we're way past that. I could choke the life out of you and never change a shade."

"Back off," Ayana snapped. "She didn't know what she was doing."

"Is that what she told you? Or are you making excuses for your girlfriend?" Bruce demanded.

"I don't make excuses," she said, her voice low, dangerous.

"Banner, after everything that's happened - " Steve began.

"It's nothing compared to what's coming!" Tony yelled.

"You don't know what's in there," Wanda spoke up.

"This isn't a game!"

Growing tired of the argument, Pietro rolled his eyes, and in a second he'd lapped the room, unplugging cables from the cradle. Tony and Bruce stared at him in shock as their computers powered down, and the upload was cancelled.

"No, go on," Pietro said. "You were saying?"

Then came the sound of a gunshot, and the glass floor underneath him smashed. He fell down to the level below, until he was no longer visible.

"Pietro!" Wanda yelled.

"I'm rerouting the upload," Tony said.

In anger Steve threw his shield, allowing it to ricochet around the room before it smashed the window beside Tony's head. In a second he had an Iron Man gauntlet on his hand and was firing at Steve, who landed on his back with a grunt. Wanda's hands began glowing red as she got ready to fight, but Bruce put an arm around her neck, hissing a threat into her ear.

"Go ahead, piss me off."

"Don't touch her," Ayana snarled. There was a brilliant flash of light, and then Bruce was thrown off Wanda. She turned to attack him again, but then Thor had arrived, and the attention of the room was turned to him.

"Wait!" Bruce yelled as the god leaped on top of the cradle.

The room crackled with lightning as he summoned energy into his hammer, and then aimed it at the cradle, charging it with power. Everything was still for a moment as the lightning disappeared. But then Thor was violently thrown across the room as the cradle exploded, and the body emerged.