(MCU) Forged Reality: Chapter 26 - Full Airport

Chapter 26 - Full Airport

Summary: Wanda wrestles with loyalty and hidden feelings as Rogers’ plan unfolds.

Wanda hated everything about the situation she was in.

Right now, they were in a hangar near the Leipzig Halle airport. When she said "they," she meant Rogers, Wilson, and Barnes, which she expected.

She was waiting in the Compound after seeing her brother and Vision off. She envied them for getting to fly straight to help Tony while the best she could do was rely on some messages to him when necessary.

Wanda took the next quiet hour to look back at her feelings toward the genius.

She would be honest enough to say that while she was a girl, even though she might have heard his name mentioned here and there, she never paid it any mind, not having any interest in technology or science—putting her in a whole different realm than his.

That's why after the tragedy that she and her brother had to suffer, when Hydra showed them some selected articles and clips about the man and pointed the blaming finger at him, it was easy for her to start hating him.

Then she allowed her hatred to consume her. If it wasn't for that hatred and vengeance, then why would she work with people like Hydra? She had to drown in that hatred to justify her own mistakes.

Then she met the man, and when she thought back on those first meetings, when she was still working with Ultron, Tony, while still arrogant, had little resemblance to the man she believed him to be.

Even when she got into his head, she was looking for one of those evil qualities she was told he had. She looked for his ego, for his narcissism, for his greed, for his selfish side... Only they weren't there.

Instead, she found fear. Not for himself, but for the world—fear he wouldn't be enough, that his team wouldn't be enough to save the people from what was coming. In short, in the end, instead of bringing out some evil intent from the man, she manipulated his selfless fears so he would bring his own demise.

But her hatred was challenged at its core when she heard Tony tried to protect a Sokovian child, when she heard he sacrificed himself to save her brother's life.

It took her a lot of courage to apologize to the man back at the compound after the entire debacle ended with her as part of the Avengers.

By the end of her apology, she was content knowing that she might never be friends with him, but she didn't hate him anymore.

That changed quickly, and it took Tony only a couple of weeks to worm his way into her heart, and suddenly they were friends.

Wanda wondered exactly when this man, this true hero, took such a large part of her life and heart to change her feelings to something beyond just friends. She couldn't point it out even if she was forced to.

She was hesitant about it. There were days she was sure a relationship between them was a bad idea, and then there were the days all she wanted was to be closer to him.

Her heart sank when they almost kissed on that couch, just before Rogers decided to ruin their entire week.

She was now willing to freely admit that she was slowly falling for Tony Stark. Her heart was already warming each time she spent time with him, and she couldn't help but worry when she heard about the explosion in Vienna or the tunnel collapse in Romania.

By the end of the hour, Wanda resolved to speak with Tony once this entire argument cooled off and see if he was interested in exploring something more with her too.

Unfortunately, she didn't have any more time to herself because at that point she received a message from Romanoff telling her to meet Rogers in Germany with a location.

Wanda knew the spider was on Rogers's side from the start, but she thought the redhead would try to hide it better and play as small a part as possible, but for some reason she took a bigger part than the witch expected.

With little other choice, she put on her battle attire Tony made for her. It was crimson, with a crown in the same color as her hair. It was light and stretchy, allowing her to make sharp movements. But the fiber was also made from a material strong enough to withstand a punch from a super soldier. Tested by the Hulk himself.

As she climbed into one of the Compound jets, she took out the phone Tony secured for her so Romanoff wouldn't be suspicious of her and tried to call Tony.

She frowned when the call went to voicemail; after a moment, she decided that instead of waiting for Tony to call back, she would call Fury.

When the man answered her, she learned about the breakout of Barnes and Rogers's part in it, as well as Carter's supposed role.

So, when she landed, she expected to see Rogers, Barnes, and Wilson in the hangar. She knew it was a possibility, but still she cursed internally when she saw Tony's cousin sitting there as well.

Feeling Rogers's righteous fury and Wilson's pure worship for the former was what she expected. Barnes was a huge emotional mess; she was getting a little headache by just trying to focus on a single one of them.

Carter's feelings were somewhat similar to Wilson's in the regard she was here and following Rogers due to her idolizing him, but there was also a thread of regret and sadness mixed with it. Not enough to overpower her rose-tinted glasses and make her choose better actions.

For a moment, Wanda was worried that the blonde would point out she saw Wanda sitting with Tony in his private living room, which no doubt would cause Rogers to doubt her and maybe remove her from the team.

Ah, maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing. She would be able to finally openly join Tony's side and stop with the entire act of tolerating Rogers.

But it became obvious Carter wasn't going to say anything when the blonde sent her a sympathetic look, as if she could understand why she chose Rogers's team over Tony's even if they both were close to the latter.

Wanda wanted to snarl at the woman. How could she possibly turn on her own cousin like that, and for a stupid stand like Rogers was trying to make now?

The door of the hangar opened again, and Wilson walked in with the two recruits he called in from somewhere back in the United States.

Wanda had to bite her tongue to stop the gasp trying to claw its way out of her throat when she heard a familiar feminine voice she had only heard once before in Tony's living room a couple of days ago.

Luckily, these two didn't see her when they spoke with Tony as she was behind the door and they were dealing with their own issues, so there was no danger of them exposing her.

Because the two that walked in were without a doubt Hope Van Dyne and Scott Lang. One was a precious childhood friend of Tony's, and the other a criminal according to what Tony told her.

All of them were wearing their hero gear.

Rogers was in his Captain America outfit with his shield strapped to his back. Wilson was wearing his full Falcon costume with the wing pack on his own back.

Lang was wearing a black and red jumpsuit with a rather odd belt around his waist and a metal helmet hanging off the back of his neck. Van Dyne wore a similar suit, but hers was yellow and black, and had the addition of some pack on her back, much like Wilson's.

Barnes and Carter were the only ones with more casual clothes, if you discount the rifle in Barnes's metal arm, as well as Carter's bulletproof vest and vast array of weapons strapped around her body.

Rogers stepped into the center of the room and began speaking. "Today we have to take a stand against the pencil-pushers that think they can put a leash on heroes and stop them from helping people."

Wanda would admit that if she wasn't aware of what the accords really said, his speech would have swayed her a little. She hated to give something to the oaf, but he did have undeniable charisma and an authoritative vibe to him.

"The Doctor is on his way to Siberia, and he is going to wake up five Winter Soldiers who will be bent on killing and taking down cities. We are the Avengers! It's our duty to stop something like that before it could happen, and we shouldn't wait for some politicians to agree to that. Today we will stop the threat and prove to the world that the accords are unnecessary because their REAL heroes will protect them no matter what," Rogers finished dramatically.

Lang actually started clapping, while Wilson nodded with approval and Carter had stars in her eyes. She could feel Rogers's self-righteousness and determination swell under their approval.

Wanda thought it was a shit plan, because of so many reasons. But before she could break her cover by saying something, it was Van Dyne who asked, "So you want us to fight five super soldiers? Six actually, if your buddy there is triggered again."

Wanda could feel anger rising from Rogers, but Lang beat him to the punch by hissing at her, "Hope! This is Captain America, the man with the plan. I'm sure he thought about it and has a plan in this case. We will win; we can't lose with Captain America leading us!"

Wanda noticed the quick side-eye the woman gave her companion before she sighed in resignation and nodded.

Rogers then smiled at Lang and said, "Thank you, Scott. Now, can we count on you to get us to Siberia?"

Before Lang could reply, Hope narrowed her eyes. "I'm not about to drag my company name into a political dispute, and I don't have any jets of my own, so that will be a no, Captain."

Rogers frowned. Thankfully, Wilson offered another solution. "When I picked those two up, I noticed an Avengers jet in one of the hangars there."

Shit! This was how Wanda got here. She should have made sure it was hidden.

Lang shrugged and pointed something out to Rogers. "It's probably the one the bastard Stark used to come here. But considering your status, no one is going to hand it over to you."

Wanda noticed how Carter and Van Dyne reacted to the name.

Carter was feeling more of the lingering sadness and regret from before, while Van Dyne was outright afraid and worried at the mere name.

But what shocked and confused her was Barnes's reaction to the name. The man who was so far indifferent to everything around him became consumed with guilt at the mention of the Stark name.

Rogers nodded. "Then it's clear we are going to the airport, and we will commandeer the jet in the name of real Avengers. Be prepared for a fight if any of those accords' villains will try to stop us."

With that, everyone began to prepare. Wanda took that moment to text Tony: 'Rogers found my jet in Halle Airport; we are heading there now. They think it's your jet.'

She received a thumbs up in response, and she sighed as she began following Rogers into the van they had stolen earlier today.

An hour later, they reached the airport, and she hated that she had to use her powers to trick the guard into letting them in with all their weapons, but otherwise Rogers would punch him, which would end up much worse for the guard.

The airport was full of people going or coming back from vacation. There was so much traffic and noise around, Wanda found it hard to concentrate on any specific person, like Rogers, for example.

They stared out of the window into the runway field; Wilson pointed out toward one of the furthest hangars from their location and said, "That's where I saw it."

Rogers nodded. "Then that's our target. We will head over there now while there are people around we can blend with."

Barnes looked hesitant and asked, "Steve, what if Stark and his team show up?"

Rogers's eyes narrowed in determination as he declared, "We will fight."

Barnes raised an unimpressed eyebrow. "With all those people around? They will get hurt, if not outright killed."

Rogers let out a heavy sigh. "It's a shame, but we can't save everyone, Buck. If those five Winter Soldiers are loosed, a lot more people will die." There was silence after that, and Rogers added as if an afterthought, "It will also be on Stark for trying to stop us."

She wanted to send this man to the moon and see if the serum in his blood would allow him to survive the vacuum of space. Sounds like Tony's kind of experiment.

Van Dyne seemed to be uncomfortable with the plan as well. Barnes and Wilson looked indifferent; Carter was frowning slightly, probably trying to figure out Rogers's angle with the plan but finding none. Lang was the only one actually nodding as if what Rogers said made perfect sense.

She already said she hated everything about the situation she was in, right?