Displaced

chapter six

Wanda looked at the grin that grew on Queen Bee's face, glancing over at Psimon as he stood there silently.

Queen Bee motioned for Wanda to stand up, staring at the young teen. "What is your report, Wanda?"

Wanda hesitated, thinking back to how nicely the team has been treating her the past two weeks. Psimon sensed this and chuckled. "Do you really believe the team of proteges actually cares for you?"

Wanda flinched, looking down at her feet. Queen Bee sighed, lifting Wanda's chin up. "My dear, we are the only ones to care about you and have your best interests at heart. We are working on reuniting you with your brother, but-"

"Only if I spy on the Justice League and their junior team for you, I know." Wanda bit her lip. "How is Pietro?"

"Report first and then we shall tell you."

Wanda nodded dutifully. "The team has accepted me as one of their own, even including me on their telepathic mind link where I have learned their identities." Queen Bee raised an eyebrow and Wanda continued. "Artemis Crock, Wally West, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Zatanna Zatara, the superboy of course, and the martian."

Queen Bee nodded. "You have done well, my child. Psimon, if you will."

Simon telepathically showed Wanda a vision of her twin, sitting alone in a cell with his head in his hands. Wanda gasped. "Pietro..." Psimon made the image disappear. Wanda turned to the members of the Light with a steely look. "When will my mission be over?"

"When we say it is." Queen Bee motioned to Psimon and he started to undo the telepathic link he created with Wanda to allow the two of them to appear to her. "We will be in touch with your next assignment. And remember, your brother is counting on you."

Wanda held her head in her hands, sinking back down to the floor. "What am I doing?"

A knock startled her out of her thoughts and she pulled herself to her feet, stumbling over to the door to unlock it.

M'gann was standing there with a concerned expression. "Are you okay? You left a long time ago and we were getting worried."

Wanda nodded wordlessly, following the martian back to the group. Kaldur thanked the director one last time before leading the team to the bioship. Once aboard, Wanda was bombarded with questions.

"Why were you gone so long?"

"I had a headache and needed to calm my mind." Wanda told a partial truth, fidgeting with her shirt.

"Is that why you cut yourself off from the mind link?"

Wanda nodded. "As you know, I still don't have complete control over my powers. So using telepathy was making my headache worse, so I temporarily left the link."

The team bought it, going back to talking about mundane things such as what movie to watch to celebrate a successful mission. Wanda ignored the guilt gnawing at her stomach, remembering that she was doing it for her brother, to rescue him from the clutches of the Light so that they can finally be reunited after all these years.

She just hoped her brother could forgive her for working with the Light.

Back at the mountain, Zatanna noticed Wanda's silence and decided to follow her to her room. She waved the rest of the team off when they asked where she was going, saying she would be right back.

Zatanna knocked on Wanda's door, surprised to find it open. She slowly walked inside, finding the brunette sitting on her bed with her arms wrapped around her legs, her head resting on her knees. She noticed the tears and was by her side in an instant. "Wanda, what's wrong?"

Wanda sniffled, shaking her head. "Z, do you and the rest of the team actually care for me? Or am I just a charity case?"

Zatanna was taken aback by the question, wrapping Wanda in a hug. "Oh, Wanda. Of course we care. You are our friend and teammate. Where would you get such a notion?" Wanda was silent, resting her head on Zatanna's shoulder. Zatanna sighed, giving Wanda a squeeze. "Come on, we are going to watch a movie. You should join us."

Wanda was unsure if she would be able to hide her guilt from the team after revealing their identities to the Light, but could not think up a good enough excuse to get out of the situation. So, she followed Zatanna out of her room and back to the lounge where the team was cuing up a movie.

She took a seat on the floor next to Artemis and Jason, effectively stopping their bickering over who should hold the popcorn. Jason smirked, dropping the bowl of popcorn on Wanda's lap. "Newbie gets to hold it."

"Are you really going to subject poor Wanda to Wally's appetite?" Artemis glared at the youngest member of the team, one Jason just shrugged off. "You are merciless."

"Mercy is for the weak, now play the movie."

As the movie started, M'gann sensed a telepathic presence she hadn't in a long time.

Psimon.

She also noticed Wanda flinch and grab her head, going to excuse herself before M'gann stopped her with a private telepathic message.

Wanda, I can help you fight Psimon off. You don't have to deal with this alone.

Wanda looked up at M'gann with wide eyes, torn between gratitude and annoyance. She was grateful M'gann caught Psimon trying to contact her but annoyed because it would mean an even worse headache later on when she had to explain to the Light that she was almost compromised so soon.

Wanda just gave M'gann a tiny nod and the martian launched into battle with Psimon, easily kicking him out of Wanda's head. She smiled gratefully at her friend before turning back to the movie, ignoring the curious looks her team was giving her.

M'gann mouthed that she would tell them later when they all looked to her, motioning back to the movie. She kept her eyes on Wanda the whole time for signs of an oncoming headache, seeing none. Wanda was happily watching the movie, laughing along with the team.

Little did she know, Wanda was faking the whole thing, instead being yelled at by Psimon and Queen Bee in her head, having masked the signs of their contact this time.

And Wanda was greatly regretting that choice when they gave her the next mission.