( 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]

[ In a way, he knows that it's always been building up to this moment. He had wanted to take the shield away from Walker the moment he'd seen them hand it over to him. A stranger, not chosen by Steve, but by whoever the hell was in charge at the moment. Walker had never deserved the shield, but seeing him use it to murder someone was more than enough of a reason to take it away from him now. They should've done it a long time ago. Maybe then Steve's shield wouldn't be glimmering with the blood of a kid trying to make the world a better place in his own misguided way.

He knows Sam will spend more time trying to talk him down, but he doesn't have the patience. He attacks first, Sam moving easily to back him up, the way he has since they started this thing. He has to give Walker some credit for holding his own, though he knows part of that is the serum running through his veins. The serum that he thinks made everything so easy for Bucky when the reality was the opposite. It's only more reason to stop him because he doesn't understand the power they have or the damage it can inflict on the world.

Sam goes down and Bucky doesn't have time to check on him. Walker catches him with an upper cut with the shield and he falls, suddenly at the mercy of the shield coming down towards him. He shoots his hand out to stop it, but Walker freezes, his eyes glowing red.

Suddenly, Wanda's there, holding a hand out to him. He blinks in surprise, not quite trusting his eyes before he reaches out to take her hand with his metal one. ]

Not this one.

[ His tone is dark, measured as he gets to his feet and lets go of Wanda's hand. He doesn't wait to move in and take the shield, unbuckling it from Walker's harness. Then, as an after thought, he punches him as hard as he can.

He takes a heavy breath, looking the shield covered in blood and feeling sick to his stomach. He looks back at Wanda. ]

Where did you come from?