( CAN'T SEE MY HEART IN THE BLENDER )

[explosion]

[ it was only a matter of time before wanda invites herself into the fight. surely, sam continuously blowing up her phone with "hello", "how are you?", "please let me know you're alive" was her invitation?

although she had been tucked away in her little hideaway in sokovia, she had begrudgingly kept up with the news. at the mere mention of a new captain america, she couldn't quite help but feel as though the world was moving on and replacing yet another person that she knew. all she wanted to do was turn off the radio and television and not keep up with the news reports via her phone, but somewhere, billy had kept them front and centre of her mind. all she could do was think about sam and bucky—and how steve's legacy was being erased, just like vision.

eventually, wanda hauls ass to the united states. it's easy to track them down—all she has to do is focus on them. even though the two of them are more foreign to her than friends, she remembers how they had both felt when she stood beside them at tony's funeral.

it takes a few days for her to be able to find them. they move around a lot—almost as quickly as birds taking flight—but it seems as though her timing, for once, is impeccable.

there's commotion inside the warehouse. wanda doesn't blast her way in. slipping through the closest door, she hides behind a shelf before she understands the scene playing out in front of her: captain america's attacking the falcon and bucky, and the emotions he feels—grief, sadness, rage—call out to her own that remain purposefully flattened and dormant.

with sam knocked unconscious on the warehouse floor, she steps out from where she's tucked herself away, running as quickly as she can as captain america bleeds guilt and anger and resentment towards bucky. the rage in his eyes is familiar; wanda feels as though she's looking in the mirror as she watches him lift the shield—strangely bloodied and now heavy—as if he's about to attack bucky whose trying to pull himself together and up off the floor.

it's with a wave of her hands that john walker stops, frozen mid-launch towards bucky. his eyes glow a bright red as he remains still.

with long strides, she comes to stand over bucky. he looks beaten up—bloodied in a way she's never seen him before and a little tired—and she knows with a glance over her shoulder that sam doesn't look any better. she holds out her hand to him. ]

I thought Captain America was meant to be your friend.

[ hey, bucky. how ya doing? ]

Comments

[wintered]

[ He's surprised when she doesn't shove the towel in his face. Maybe he's gotten too used to Sam who is pushy about getting into his personal space. He's pleasantly surprised when she waits. He holds his hand out for the towel, not wanting to make her clean up his mess. ] Thanks.

[ His expression shifts slightly at her question, becoming a little more shuttered. But he doesn't look away. ] A little.

[ He gestures to his head. ] My head's a mess. I don't like anyone else being in it.

[explosion]

[ she reluctantly hands him the towel. he reminds her of pietro, stubborn and in denial that he may need a second pair of hands to help him. but she thinks it's important that he remain in control of even his own clean up. ]

I try not to go into heads without permission.

[ it would be a lie if she said she didn't go into heads without permission. she did to most of his friends—or acquaintances—and she had done so most recently with westview. but she tries not to. steve had told her trying was all that mattered. ]

I only skimmed the surface of Sam's. [ she sweeps her hand in a line, brows furrowed slightly as she tries to think of how she could ever explain it. ] It's like wanting to touch the water of a lake but without dipping your hand completely into it. You want to make sure it's cold and wet.

[wintered]

[ He takes up where he left off with his own towel, dabbing at his nose and wincing a little. With the serum behind his punch, Walker was able to clock him and make it count. Still, it's nothing that won't heal in a day or two.

He tries to picture his mind as a serene lake and it makes him huff at the thought. His must be more like a choppy sea in the middle of a thunderstorm. Sam's though, that he could see as a lake. ] That's good to know.

[ He pauses, lowering the towel. ] And how deep could you go if you had permission?

[explosion]

[ it's a good question, and one that wanda doesn't want to answer on a good day. she knows what she's capable of. if what agatha had said was true, having thousands of people beneath her thumb where she dictated when they sneezed was that of legend. she thinks there is no limit to how far she can actually go.

she knows of bucky's relationship with mind control. she also knows his relationship with lies. like her, he doesn't like them. ]

I think to the point where I could control when you blink and breathe.

[ she looks at him and impulsively picks up the edge of the towel, bringing it up to wipe at the corner of his nose. missed a spot there, buck.

with her gaze on his nose, ] I did that to everyone in Westview.