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Aftermath

Summary:

Picks up immediately after the airport battle in Civil War, focusing on Wanda as she survives unfair prison conditions in the Raft, and then lives on the run with her fellow rogue Avengers, eventually reuniting with Vision. Lots of friendship fluff, angst, and hurt/comfort ensue. Focuses on Wanda and Team Cap, but no character bashing here! (except Ross, we hate Ross in this house mmkay)

Notes:

Thanks for clicking on my story! While I am personally Team Cap through and through, I will not be bashing Tony either, thank you very much, haha. He's fine and I have some plans for him to do that directly affect some plot details later on:) He just won't be focused on much.

On to the story!

Chapter Text

"You have a chance. Get out of here and run. Steve and Bucky got away successfully.”

"...Me? What about the rest of you?" Wanda still felt like her ears were ringing from earlier, she had chased Vis away, saying he should go check on Rhodey, and he was upset with her but finally listened. "Not without everyone." I won't leave the team.

Hawkeye shook his head no firmly. "Look. They already have Scott and Sam. You need to get out of here." He yanked her by the arm behind one of the smashed cars littering the tarmac. "Listen to me. I don't know what's going to happen to us, but I also know the rest of us do not have their power when not suited up. So, they're not going to do much to us. You can't disarm yourself, so you are in danger. Get out of here and run, kid."

Meaning I am the only threat left; then. In a second, Wanda pulled herself away with a whispered, "I'm sorry, I can't do that," and strode back into the open. She did not see Scott, though she thought she could sense his presence-there! in the truck-and Sam was being pushed into the armored truck next to the one she thought Scott was in. Snap, red psionic energy yanked the wheels off the two trucks with a horrible crunching metallic noise, and they crashed to the pavement. Scott's head popped out of one truck looking puzzled and pleased, and he tried to jump out but was promptly shoved back in. Sam was staring at her and shaking his head subtly, and then nodding to the left, as if he were trying to warn her of something. There, a dozen guns flew to the ground, away from the men aiming them at her. Next the two still holding Sam, she carefully pulled into the air via telekinesis and set down a good distance away. I can't hurt any more people. I can't. Why was Sam just standing there? He needed to get down and run too.

"Wanda, it's over, don't make it worse," Sam was saying now, shaking his head again. "Look up. Let's live to fight another day."

Wanda glanced up at the sky; there were helicopters overhead now, too many for her to force down and crash even if she wanted to. If they were empty, she would certainly try, since then it wouldn't matter if she failed, but she couldn't bring herself to do so knowing there were certainly pilots and more gun-toting strike team men inside. Those victims at Lagos were too much already. She spun around, looking for Clint. He was talking very intently to two more of the men, hands cuffed now, but he was also signing something calmly, over and over. Wanda didn't know much sign language besides the letters, but these were just simple letters. R-U-N. R-U-N. Clearly he was hoping she would still just bolt regardless of the fate of the others. What now? She still did not want to leave them, and besides, even if she did run on her own, if she wanted to actually get away successfully, she'd have to hurt or kill people. She would not. Absolutely not, not again.

"MAXIMOFF, STAND DOWN. You are under arrest for violation of the Sokovia Accords." A loud voice came from overhead within one of the helicopters. Wanda looked up again and finally ran, bolting toward the hangar. Maybe she could somehow bring the aircraft down without crashing them while hiding inside there, and then...get her team members free? Maybe? I can't. I'm not strong enough, I- Something burned on her left leg and she spun around again, trying to decide what to do next, considering she was both exhausted and unwilling to harm these people. A red shield crackled around her defensively, and she could hear Clint yelling something. He sounded absolutely pissed, but she couldn't understand what he was saying. I cannot get all of us out of here, definitely not now. Wanda let the shield dissipate and slowly put her hands up to surrender.

"Stand down. We have permission to use lethal force if necessary. Surrender peacefully and stand down. Stand down immediately."

Wanda squeezed her hands into fists and let herself drop to her knees, knowing her hands probably still had wisps of scarlet haze swirling around them, because she was angry and frightened and the magic wanted her to do something even though she was exhausted at this point. And her leg hurt; she thought a bullet had probably grazed her. "I am," she hissed at no one.

Let's live to fight another day. You can't disarm yourself, so you are in danger. Sam's and Clint's words thundered in her head. Wanda felt something shove her flat on the ground, her cheek scraping hard against the rough tarmac, and it hurt. Clint was yelling something again, sounding even more angry than before. His voice sounded like it was growing fainter and farther away. "I'm not doing anything," she said finally, "is this really necessary?"

"Shut up. You're lucky we don't kill you on the spot. You're a weapon of mass destruction."

I didn't mean to kill those people in Lagos. At that moment, Wanda knew exactly why Clint had tried to make her leave alone, even if it meant abandoning the others. He thought they were going to kill her, or at best, were not going to treat her the same as the rest, and he was right. Sam was unhurt, as was Clint, and Scott had been fine, at least before being shoved back inside that truck, anyways. And now it was too late, unless she was willing to hurt more people in order to free herself. I won't do that. Stop it. I have to calm down. Panicking will not help. I will cooperate, I will play nice, and Cap will come get us once his friend is safely hidden. Stay quiet. I survived Hydra, whatever is here cannot be worse. So calm down. Something sharp poked her neck, and she felt herself growing drowsy. I don't want to fall asleep! No no no, I can't. She had a brief glimpse of Tony in the distance, and he did appear genuinely upset, but the fact that he was just standing there doing nothing to stop what was happening made her want to scream. It wasn't like she expected him to say not to arrest her, but it would be nice for him to maybe...make the rough handling stop, anyways. If he did interfere he would put himself in danger of being arrested too most likely, I know that. Forget him, she thought.

More red wisps came to her fingers unbidden, and now there was more shouting, someone shouting that she had better stop or else. Pull it back, she ordered herself mentally, you can stay awake without using your powers, you have to. Then she was stumbling somewhere, too many unfamiliar hands grabbing on her and making her move. Wanda hoped they would just chuck her in wherever they had put Hawkeye, because at least he would talk to her and calm her down. Everything was spinning unpleasantly and she was confused, frightened, and somewhere inside, stewing mad. This was not fair. Not fair one bit.

Every time she tried to do something right, it backfired. Every single time. They should leave her be before she exploded, shouldn't they? Especially if they just consider me a walking nuke. Wanda was vaguely aware of something uncomfortably snug clamping around her neck, and she instinctively tried to pull herself free. "What is that, I-"

"Why isn't she knocked out yet? I don't want to deal with her."

"It doesn't matter now. She can't do anything."

Wanda felt herself shoved inside something metal and cold, and she blinked several times, struggling to wake herself up. It was not working. There was a blurry shape across from her, moving closer. "Don't...don't-" What if it was those horrible things back at Hydra, she felt the same now as she had then, drugged and confused. Something was going to hurt her and then Pietro would be mad and try to help, and it would make it worse because then he would be hurt and she would lash out and that hurt too.

"What the hell did you people do to her? You couldn't just stick her in here nicely like you did me?"

That sounded like Clint. She knew him. She was not either with Hydra, the stupid government had arrested them for violation of the Accords (and saving Bucky), and Pietro was not there, he had died a year ago. Well, if Hawkeye was there, at least she was not alone, even if she couldn't have her twin there with her. Red energy began flitting to her hands again, thinking maybe she could get out if Hawkeye helped them do so, and Wanda started to send telepathically, I'm sorry, I wasn't able t- and then the connection ripped away as something horrible sizzled through her. Electricity. I know what this-

Clint stared from Wanda to the men that had deposited her inside the helicopter and back again in horror. "She's just a kid," he said finally. "She even stood down like you asked! This is ridiculous."

"Stood down? She ripped the wheels off two armored trucks simultaneously, disarmed a dozen people, threw two in the air-"

"Throw, my ass. She picked them up gently and set them down again," Clint spat. "Not exactly throwing. What is that, leave her alone, will you!" The guard appeared to be holding some kind of remote now, and he looked far too gleeful about it in Hawkeye's mind. "Let's not shock the already unconscious kid again, shall we. She's no threat to you." He did not say that Wanda probably could've crashed the whole lot of helicopters and whatever else if she did not care about potentially killing more people. That would not help their case.

"Mouth off again and she gets another hit. She does anything out of line, she gets another. Any of her weird powers, she gets another." A pile of something blue was flung to the floor. "I don't want to deal with her, you get her ready."

Clint considered this information briefly. "Perhaps a first-aid kit would be nice," he said in a forced polite tone, "because we all know you wish to ask us questions wherever we're headed, and obviously you do not, in fact, actually want Wanda dead, or you'd have killed her already."

A small metal box containing the requested kit clanged to the floor.

"And you'll need to uncuff me, because I cannot reach her like this. Where will you be taking us?" Clint kept his voice neutral, though now ideas that maybe, just maybe, they could commandeer the helicopter and get away that way crossed his mind. Scott and Sam had been taken aboard this same helicopter after Wanda had wrecked the two armored trucks, so if he could just get to their other teammates...

"The Raft."

Clint kept his expression unreadable and said nothing when the man uncuffed him from the wall. Then the door slammed shut, leaving them alone in what appeared to be some kind of small armored transport cell area. There were slivers of light coming in from vents overhead that made it possible to see. Clint sighed; it seemed suspicious that Wanda would get deposited with him while Scott and Sam were not and had been isolated in separate ones. Someone probably thought he would make Wanda be more cooperative, because likely on her own she would promptly be scared and angry when she came to, and they did not want to deal with a scared, pissed telekinetic. Either that, Clint thought, or she's here because they're going to use her to threaten me into talking, because they assume I'd be most likely to fold if she's in danger.


Wanda stirred a bit a few minutes later, her head still feeling muddled and sleepy. She could feel whatever vehicle thing she was in moving, and instinctively she tensed and tried to sit up. I remember. I hate this, I hate it. There was a quiet voice talking to her, and she struggled to focus on that. This place was dark, and cold, and her body hurt all over, particularly her neck and her leg. She wanted out. Maybe she could just blast right through the floor, or-

"Wanda, can you hear me? Please don't try using your powers right now. You'll hurt yourself further." Hawkeye. He sounded worried. That made her worried. "I can't see very well, but I don't think there's any bullet here. Seems like a bad graze and nothing more. Sorry if I'm hurting you."

"It's fine; had worse. I want...to get out." Wanda pried her eyes open again and tried to focus on the source of the voice. There. Clint was sitting right next to her. Where are we? Is this a plane, or...no. I know that noise. Helicopter. I can't get us out of an aircraft safely.

"I know, but we can't. We knew we weren't all making it out of the airport safely. Cap'll get us out from wherever we're taken. Right now we lay low and cooperate until then, okay?" Clint paused; Wanda didn't answer and still appeared dazed even in the dim light, but she was able to sit up.

"If I can't...get myself out, let alone all...of us...how the hell is he going to alone?" Wanda still sounded a bit off, and tired, but also angry now. She buried her face in her hands and immediately winced; something felt warm and sticky and she knew her cheek was probably bleeding still. I don't know what to do. I feel like I can't think straight. "I'm sorry."

Clint dropped his voice to a whisper, just in case anyone was listening. "You probably could have gotten us out, or at least just yourself, if you didn't care about killing people. Nice to hear our resident OP glass cannon awake again. You game for commandeering this thing?"

"Won't work without my...powers," Wanda said quietly, her fingers tugging at the uncomfortable collar nervously. Even just fiddling with it like that hurt; she could feel some kind of sharp prongs digging into her already damaged skin, and if she tried to rip it apart using her own powers, she would just get knocked to the floor again before actually doing anything useful.

"They clearly think I'm going to get you to be more cooperative, so let's appear to be cooperative at least, in case someone returns. Put those ugly blue things on. I'll turn around and you tell me when you're done. Then maybe I can try getting that thing off of you."

Wanda blinked, still trying to clear her head. "...Okay." Why is he wanting to fight again now, when there's so little chance of us escaping? She still felt shaky all over, but she changed as quickly as possible and then carefully folded her battle outfit. At least the blue prisoner uniform was not scratchy. That was...something, anyway. "Done. You can turn back around now," she whispered. Then, after a moment, because she thought she knew exactly why Hawkeye wanted them to try one last time to escape, "Where are we being taken?" I think he knows and doesn't want to tell me.

Clint shook his head and began examining Wanda's shock collar in the dim light, trying to see how they might remove it. "The Raft. It's a high-security prison meant for enhanced people. Supervillains. A hellhole as far as I know. I...um...definitely can't get this thing off. It's like the hinge is made not to reopen at all once locked in place, even if we had a key or we picked the lock. I'm sorry. We would need to break it entirely." The thing had already left raw burn marks on Wanda's pale skin, and Clint had no way to fix that for her, not unless they could break it off of her, and there was nothing in the transport cell strong enough to do that...except Wanda's own powers, which she couldn't use right now because of that exact problem they needed to fix. They needed super strength or magic, either would do. "I'll try, but I don't want to choke you by yanking on it uselessly, either."

"Do it," Wanda whispered instantly. If I can't use my powers with that horrid thing on, I certainly can't tear it apart. Clint probably can't either, but he has a better chance than I do, anyway. She braced herself against the wall, biting her lip. "I don't care if it hurts, just...get it off. Please."

Clint sighed, still quite sure they were not going to be able to do so, but he nodded. "Okay, here goes..."

Predictably it did not break, and Wanda took a deep breath, rubbing her sore neck. Surely there was some other way to remove it. "Can you see any way to disable it, at least?" she asked hesitantly. Then I could rip it off myself.

Hawkeye went back to studying the device, thinking that since the thing was from Stark Industries according to the words printed on it, it was not going to be that simple to disable without a remote control, let alone remove, which clearly wasn't meant to happen once closed. This he did not tell his younger teammate, who would probably just get more angry and upset if she discovered that information. "There just isn't anything visible to pick or to undo wires or whatever else. Even if there was, I'd be worried meddling with it would just make it shock you again."

"Forget it." Wanda sank back to the floor, pulling her knees to her chest. I want to go back to the compound, before Lagos. Why couldn't I contain that bomb farther up in the air? All that power and I'm still too weak to be of any use. "Thank you for trying, at least. Even if we did get it off and then hijack the helicopter successfully, they'll just shoot it down." If she was able to shield the entire thing, that would help, but she couldn't do that indefinitely anyhow, and right now she wasn't sure she'd be able to shield something that big in the first place since she was already so tired.

The lack of answer made her certain she was correct. The Raft must be really horrible if Clint was willing to risk a long shot plan like that. It cannot be worse than Hydra, Wanda thought to herself. The painful collar was bad, the shoving on the pavement and being given some kind of drug that made her sluggish and sleepy was bad, the being shot at was bad. But she did not really think this Raft place was going to experiment on her; they would probably kill her first, and that was much much better than being experimented on. The sound of the sealed metal door to the transport cell opening startled her, and she glanced at Clint.

"Be zoned out half asleep, maybe they'll just ignore you," Clint whispered quickly.

Wanda did not particularly think this was going to help because it had never worked for her before, when she pretended to be asleep on the Hydra base. It had indeed worked on a couple of undercover missions with the Avengers before, but those times the targets hadn't had any idea what she was capable of and merely thought she was a normal ordinary girl, so it was easy peasy to gather information and know she could simply withdraw by force if she really, really had to. Here she was already viewed as a major threat that needed to be neutralized, so acting harmless most likely wouldn't help. It can't hurt to try, though...right? She moved back against the wall and leaned against it, half-closing her eyes but still peeking through her lashes.

The four men that piled in didn't even say anything right away; two immediately grabbed Clint and the other two came for her. Wanda tried to keep herself steady on her feet without looking completely awake, because she really really did not want any more of whatever drug she'd been injected with before. Her injured leg hurt, but not enough to prevent her from using it. She'd had much worse than that, anyways. I will not do anything. I will cooperate and it will be fine. If Clint is going to trust Steve to get us out, I should do the same. Wanda could see him cooperating with being cuffed back against the wall and another short signed message for her that clearly no one else was paying any attention to, because they were all preoccupied with watching her actions or lack thereof instead. I-T-S O-K.

The little message made her feel a bit better, but then she heard sudden shouting from somewhere adjoining the transport cell.

"You always get one call when you're arrested! Let me call Cassie!"

"Hey, why's Scott not been allowed to call his daughter if that's who he wants to use his one call on?" Hawkeye asked calmly. "He's not wrong."

Wanda didn't care about this phone call protocol for herself, because anyone she might have wanted to call was dead (Pietro), on the run (Steve), on the other side of the Accords debate (Nat), or arrested here with her (Clint). Well, she supposed she would like to talk to Vision, but the synthezoid did not have his own phone and if she called the Compound, then she might end up getting Tony Stark on the phone instead. I don't hate him anymore, but...I don't want to see or talk to him, either. Not one bit.

"You four aren't calling anyone."

"I want to use my call for Cassie! I'll play nice after, I promise. Let me call Cassie!"

Wanda had been keeping her 'sleepy' act up and cooperating calmly, but now something inside her snapped. At least it makes sense for them to be like this with me. Not him. That isn't fair. "Let him call Cassie," she ordered flatly. Wanda glared at the man that had made the no phone calls comment. Ross clone, she thought vehemently, some visceral thing inside her immediately jumping to utterly despising this man.

"What are you going to do now? You can't make us do a thing without your witchy powers."

"Try me and find out. Let him call Cassie." He wouldn't be so focused on me if he wasn't still scared of me, even if I can't actually do anything right now. Wanda stood her ground and continued staring at him, her green eyes flickering with anger. "I'll rip this to pieces," she went on in a deathly calm tone, her hand slowly reaching for the collar, "but if you let him call, I will cooperate and cause no trouble." She knew she was risking another shock, and Clint was staring at her in horror and shaking his head frantically, no stop this now!, but if she was lucky, they'd believe her. The two guards still holding onto her were shifting nervously now.

"You're bluffing."

"Am I?" Wanda felt something shoved onto her, something constricting that she instinctively wanted off, but instead of fighting that, she continued staring intently at the man seemingly in charge of the four, as if she might be about to poke into his head and force him to do what she wanted, even though she knew she couldn't actually do so right now. I am bluffing, but he doesn't know that. Let him think whatever he likes as long as it makes him give Scott that phone call.

"Fine, fine. The bug guy gets his phone call."

He's lying to make me shut up. "...And I want proof, or deal's off."

"Hey, why haven't you just fried her yet?"

Wanda tensed and let her eyes flick to Clint briefly, who appeared resigned and frustrated now, but then she stared back at the man seemingly in charge of the four again. He's going to do that to me anyway, so it doesn't matter. Stick with your plan. "Let. Him. Call. Cassie." In a second, the expected white-hot pain ripped through her again, and she collapsed. Please let it be worth it. I'm sorry, Clint, I had to at least try. That was not fair.

Wanda felt herself being strapped to the wall somehow, and there were voices talking about the phone call thing. Scott was still shouting about it from somewhere nearby, and there was another person yelling that he had better shut up or there wouldn't be any phone call. Did it work? I don't know, I-

"You've just made your life very unpleasant." The man she had threatened roughly grabbed her drooping head by the chin and made her look at him again.

"It...already...was." Wanda was not at all sorry for what she had done; if they were already going to hate her and mistreat her even when she did try to cooperate or do the right thing, then she would use their fear to-hopefully-get something she wanted if she had to, at least.

"Hey, you restrained her, now leave her alone already," Clint said tiredly.

Wanda felt a new bloom of pain spread across her scraped cheek as the man slapped her, but she squeezed her eyes shut and refused to cry. Clearly this man liked hurting her and she did not want to give him any reaction whatsoever if she could help it.

There were thumping feet as the four men exited their transport cell, and Wanda strained her ears trying to hear if Scott was, in fact, receiving his phone call. He was no longer shouting about it, anyway, which seemed like a good sign. Then she heard, "I know you can hear me! Thanks, little red witch girl!"

This made Wanda quite satisfied, even if she did not care for being called that, and she peeked over at Clint, who was scowling at her and looked pissed now. "It...worked."

"Yeah, and you just made yourself a freaking target over a phone call. A phone call," Clint muttered. "Not getting a phone call is the least of our problems. Just lie low and pretend to cooperate. You can silently seethe and hate this and still pretend."

I know, but it was not fair, and the rest of you shouldn't even be taken to this Raft place anyway, regardless of what any of us did or didn't do. You're technically not enhanced in the first place. Wanda was quiet for a few minutes, but then she whispered, "I was already a target. So it does not matter. They already planned to put me in a shock collar and straitjacket anyway no matter what I did, why else would they have those items in the first place? At least this way I...got something out of cooperating," she spat the last word. And I definitely made Scott Lang happy. Wanda closed her eyes in exhaustion and let her head droop again. This is only the beginning and I'm already tired and hurt. Tired, tired, tired.

"I understand exactly why you did it, and I didn't say you were wrong to do so. Doesn't make me like it. Wanda, look at me for a second, please." Clint waited for her to look up at him and began signing letters again, shifting his cuffed hands as close to the dim light coming from overhead as possible.

Y-O-U T-H-I-N-K Y-O-U D-E-S-E-R-V-E T-H-I-S. W-R-O-N-G.

Wanda visibly deflated the second she had deciphered the message, her entire body slumping as much as she could being fastened against the wall. I don't know. Not...this, exactly, I suppose, but I know I messed up. I killed innocent people in Lagos, not on purpose, but I did. And I know the Accords couldn't have been made up on the spot only because of my mistake, but it still feels like it. I broke the team in half. "If the Raft is supposed to be specifically for enhanced people, the rest of you shouldn't be here at all in the first place," she said finally, which didn't exactly answer the question, but Wanda did not want to express her actual fears or explain that yes, her entire stunt about the phone call had been all an act and she felt helpless right now. She knew Clint already knew that she'd been acting anyways, because if she thought she could snap that collar off, she would have done it when they'd been considering commandeering the helicopter. "No matter what any of us did or did not do. It is not fair. I can at least understand sending me there, because I'm the uncontrollable weapon of mass destruction." And I know it's why you told me to run back in the airport, too.

"Don't call yourself that. You did your best and fell short, same as Steve, same as the rest of us have," Clint said firmly. "If you hadn't interfered, there would have been even more victims and property damage, on top of killing you and Steve. Maybe you could have thrown it farther out, away from the building rather than straight up, but even then it would've rained who knows what down into the crowd once it exploded. There was no good option."

"Well, my best was not good enough. I should have been strong enough to contain it, and I failed." Again. Besides feeling horribly guilty for those poor people that had lost their family in an explosion, just like she'd lost her parents, Wanda was also simply angry with herself that she hadn't been able to stop it. What was the point of all her powers that scared her and everyone else if she still wasn't strong enough to protect everyone else with them, at least? I tried to do the right thing and I ended up here.

"Think for two seconds what you just said. You're upset with yourself because you weren't strong enough to, what...contain a bomb? Something no one else there could even attempt to do? You're one person. You cannot blame yourself for hitting a power limit." Clint didn't like the expression on Wanda's face; she looked like all the fight had simply drained out of her.

"I don't feel like it is a limit," Wanda said, her voice shaking a little. "It felt like it in the moment, of course, but...there's this little feeling inside that I can do more. I don't know, but..." She trailed off, feeling her magic stirring about inside nervously. I don't think I know what exactly I'm capable of. And neither does anyone else.

Hawkeye shook his hard and signed, Q-U-I-E-T. "Wanda, even if that was true, you can't now, so it means you'd simply need more experience, yes?" Once he knew she was watching his fingers closely again, he added, D-O-N-T S-A-Y M-O-R-E, and nodded toward the ceiling and exit. Someone is probably listening and could use anything like that against us later.

Wanda nodded, understanding the meaning perfectly; she needed to be quiet because what she had just said made her look all the more guilty and that would make things worse if she was questioned about it later. Anything she said right now could be used against her later if anyone was listening. I want to sign back. There are no cameras in here, so that is safe, and I can't. Wanda shifted uncomfortably against the wall a bit, wishing she could at least move, even if she couldn't use her magic right now anyway. Already her fingers were starting to feel numb, pinned to her sides, and that was starting to make her anxious and jumpy too.

"You okay, kid?"

No, but I'm glad not to be stuck here alone. "Must you still call me a kid? I'm a grown adult, thank you very much," Wanda replied, though she really did not mind him calling her that. Someone else, definitely, but Hawkeye felt like a surrogate father to her and so it was okay.

"You're still a kid to me. Steve too." Clint was glad to hear the slightly sulky tone, because that was normal Wanda behavior and seeing normal behavior from her was good, especially right now.

"He has an excuse. He's old." Wanda's eyes looked a bit brighter, because this reminded her that she was not either alone; she did not have to deal with this new awful thing happening on her own, even if her missing twin wasn't here with her.

Hawkeye actually laughed at that comment. "Okay, I suppose you're fine, if you're making jokes." Wanda was clearly not fine, sure, but she wouldn't be until their group was able to break out, so for now he would take keeping her spirits up enough to make jokes as a win.

Wanda didn't laugh, but she smiled a tiny bit.


 

Some indeterminable amount of time later, after quite a lot of finger spelling messages from Clint and Wanda nodding yes or no, Wanda felt she had answers to at least most questions they thought might be asked. And if it's something I don't want to answer, make something up, something easy to remember in case it's asked again, she reminded herself. When it's harmless, tell the truth. Read the room, don't let pride prevent you from keeping yourself safe if possible.

"Feels like we're landing finally," Clint said now. "Hey, remember, pretend it's just an important undercover mission gone wrong. Comms went out and you can't use your powers without revealing everyone. You're just waiting to get pulled out, okay?"

Wanda nodded. That actually...did help. It was also a bit darkly humorous, because the times she had gone on an undercover mission that involved putting herself in a potentially dangerous hostage or prisoner situation, everyone else had gone on and on about how if she felt like it was too much, no one was going to judge her or be angry or disappointed if she pulled herself out. "I love how the times I was really on a mission, all of you, especially Nat, made me promise to pull out, period, even if it meant botching the mission and revealing myself," she said quietly.

"Well, you reached the big leagues now. It'll be okay. Or, well...it will be. Eventually."

Wanda absolutely did not think it was going to be okay, nor did she think Clint really believed it either, but she just said, "Okay," and nothing more. A distinctive beeping sound made her tense, and she glanced around in search of the source before realizing it was on her. "It's going t-to go off ag-" she started to say, and then the awful current bombarded her once again. Stop it stop it stop it! I didn't even do anything, Wanda thought to herself. This time a single tear ran down her cheek, and she forced herself to stop that as the transport compartment opened again. If Clint saw her cry, then fine, but not these Raft people, absolutely not.

"Retreat somewhere else, somewhere that makes you happy," Clint told her. Then, to the guards that had piled in, "What the hell was that for? She's not doing anything at all!"

"Boss said not to take any chances, not after earlier," one said, not appearing to care much one way or the other. He even shrugged. "Out, Barton. I'm just doing my job here."

Wanda was still recovering from the shock when she felt another jab in her neck again. Not again. Not again. I don't want to feel all drugged and sluggish anymore. Again there were too many hands grabbing on her, again she felt disoriented and dazed, and she closed her eyes. Okay. Say nothing. They will have to put me in a cell here, and then I can pretend the effects last longer than they really do. Then maybe I won't get any more. Clint had specifically told her not to let pride prevent her from keeping herself safer if at all possible. That counted, didn't it?

There was a faraway sense of being yanked out of the transport cell and out of the helicopter entirely. It didn't seem like these two guards were being malicious like that one earlier had been; they simply did not care. She could have been a cardboard box they were moving and they would drag that around the exact same way. Rain pattered down, and Wanda heard an annoyed, "Ugh, rain again. Let's just get them inside. Thirty minutes til break time." A door slid open like a hatch and Wanda felt herself unceremoniously shoved into it, landing awkwardly on her side with a quiet yelp since she couldn't reach out to catch herself. She simply lay there quietly, not particularly caring at this point. If they wanted to make her move, then they could just drag her, because she was too tired and achy to move. Then she thought, absolutely not, she was not going to let that happen if she had any strength left at all.

"You got both of us phone calls, so thank you," a familiar voice whispered in her ear and pulled her so she was sitting leaning against the interior of whatever thing they had been pushed into, "whatever you did made Ross worried and he didn't want to risk you making another-" The voice cut off abruptly at a 'no talking' order.

Sam. Wanda did not know where he had come from or how, but my goodness, that was interesting information. So Ross knew about the phone call incident aboard the helicopter already, and he had been worried enough that not only had Scott gotten his phone call immediately, Sam got one too, because he was worried about something Wanda hadn't even done yet! Wanda was quite pleased with herself. Maybe she could also get Clint one too, then...but she didn't think so, because if that was the case, he would have gotten one already. He's being punished because he's the one most closely associated with me. I know that much. Wanda thought they must have been shoved in some kind of elevator, because she could feel whatever they were in going down.

Bright artificial lights assaulted her senses when another door slid open a minute later, and she blinked, trying to clear her vision a bit. She felt someone trying to pull her to her feet and flinched on instinct. It's just Clint and Scott. I need to calm down. I should have known, because they're not yanking me around like a sack of potatoes.

"Don't know why they'd dump us all together, but I'll take it," Scott said. "Good gosh, are you okay? You look terrible."

Wanda bit back a smile. "Hey, I got...you a...phone call," she murmured slowly.

"Maybe you shouldn't have if it meant they'd smack you around for it."

"My choice." I think it would've happened anyway, even if I did absolutely nothing.

"Dumped together to see him," Clint put in, nodding toward a satisfied-looking Ross dressed in a suit and tie.

"I believe I said no talking."

"Okay, wait a second here sir, you can put that remote thing away, they'll be quiet," Sam said quickly, stepping in front of his three teammates, as if playing shield would protect Wanda from being shocked again. "Right, people?"

Three heads nodded behind him. Wanda felt something loosening the straps on the straitjacket behind her, enough to make it much easier to breathe and that she might be able to wiggle a hand free if she really really tried and had time to do so. She glanced at Scott, immediately assuming he was the culprit, but he didn't even react and looked entirely innocent. Clint was scowling at him, which seemed like confirmation enough. It was nice he was trying to help her, but she was very sure if she did successfully wiggle free entirely, anyone else would just assume she had done it herself and she'd end up in more trouble. Worth it if I get us something else like the phone calls, but not for literally nothing.

It turned out Ross led them to another room with a metal table and chairs in it, all of which appeared capable of cuffing a person to them, and there were papers Ross wanted them to sign, papers that meant they acknowledged being guilty of a whole plethora of different things, and seemed to sign away any legal human rights. Wanda didn't think she would understand all the English legal jargon even if her head didn't feel all muddled-she might be fluent in the language but not to that extent-but the fact that none of the others were willing to sign either was enough confirmation to her that neither should she.

"Signing this doesn't just sentence us to life in your underwater pokey, it says we're guilty of things we didn't even do and kind of implies that we give you the right to do whatever you want with us as long as we're here, so, no," Scott said matter-of-factly. "Your men hurt Wanda for no reason already and shoved me around too, just clearly not as much. Barton and Wilson are only fine because they didn't make any kind of fuss. We're not going to license doing that to us. Who knows what else could happen if we signed that?"

"Sign it."

Wanda knew exactly what was happening the second she saw the remote in Ross's hand. Go somewhere else. Go somewhere else, she told herself desperately, but there was nowhere to run, and she found herself on the floor convulsing as the electricity tore through her yet again. Someone hauled her back into her chair and must have noticed the looser straps on the straitjacket, because it pulled tight again and pinched, pressing painfully against a bruise on her back. The same person fastened her to the chair so she couldn't fall out of it again, and Wanda wanted to scream. I will not. I won't give them the satisfaction. A few tears slipped unbidden down her cheeks before she could hold them back. "Don't sign," she hissed finally.

Scott was staring at her in horror now and blurting apologies over and over. "Don't apologize," Wanda ordered, "it's his fault." Green eyes still bright with tears blazed fire at Ross. No magic. No glowing eyes. No no no, I can't. I can be angry, but no magic.

Whatever Ross saw in Wanda's angry gaze appeared to at least mildly concern him, because he flinched. "Well, surely we can come to an agreement here. You don't want your dangerous friend harmed, you sign. I'll even give you ten minutes to discuss." The man even got up and left the room, leaving them alone with just the four guards.

The four ex-Avengers traded glances. "I'd sign if all it said was that we were guilty of violating the Accords," Sam said first. "That's technically true and wouldn't make us 'admit' or agree to these other things."

"Don't sign, no matter what," Wanda put in adamantly. Absolutely not. "If you fold on something now just...because of me..."

Clint glanced at her for a moment and sighed. "She's not wrong," he said quietly. "We do this now, right upon first getting here, they'll continue using her safety to threaten all of us."

"That man will kill her, Barton," Scott muttered. "Look, it's only been hours, and she's already like that. I'd hope someone would sign it for Cassie's sake if she was stuck here."

Wanda gave him a questioning look, even as she felt herself growing more and more tired. This did not feel exactly the same as earlier though, so she thought she must not have been given as much of whatever the drug was. Clearly she was not supposed to be knocked out, just tired, probably because of this signing thing. Mission. It's an undercover mission and I am fine. And I have three other people here trying to help me. "I'll live. I am not signing that, so there...isn't any reason for you to do so, just to help me." Scott making that comment about Cassie made Wanda feel all warm and fuzzy inside. He didn't even know her much at all; he didn't owe her anything. But he cared anyways. "Do what's best for Cassie, not me."

Clint was staring at the papers now, feeling more and more pissed. Ross is probably just wanting our reaction for future reference. There is no way he actually cares about us signing this. "This place is pretty off the grid. You come in, you don't normally leave. Ever. I don't think Ross actually needs us to sign this in order to do whatever he pleases with us."

"Meaning he can just torture or interrogate any of us without getting in trouble for it? Surely there are security cams," Scott said hopefully.

Sam sighed deeply. "Of course there would be, but there are always blind spots. Or rooms purposely set up without them, like this one. This is not like whatever prisons you've been in before, Lang. Look around you. There's shit in this room for...questioning people, shall we say."

"There's no upside t-to signing that," Wanda said, hating the way her own voice was shaking a bit. "You know even if we do, he will just...find some other reason to...you know." Calm down, she ordered herself mentally, calm down and stop letting this scare you. Stop it.

"So...we don't sign?" Scott.

"No. We offer Sam's idea and that's it."

They sat in silence until Ross returned, and even then, Sam only said, "Our answer is no. However, we have a counteroffer."

"And?" Ross sat and adjusted his tie. Scott rolled his eyes, Clint stared at him, and Wanda kept her eyes glued down to the table, not trusting herself to say anything right now.

"We'll sign something acknowledging being guilty of violating the Sokovian Accords," Sam told him.

Scott nodded. "That. And nothing more."

"That's it, and certainly nothing that involves turning on a particular member of the team to get privileges while here. You're just targeting someone due to personal dislike." Clint's voice sounded angry now, and while Wanda still didn't look up, she was quite sure that particular member of the team was her. Of course it was; otherwise the comment didn't make any sense.

"You're very quiet over there. Anything to add?"

Wanda thought if she didn't hate Ross before, she definitely hated him now, absolutely hated him. That stupid smug voice, the picking and poking and judging and that condescending expression always on his face made her skin crawl. If he was around whenever Steve came to get them out, she would...do something to him. Maybe a nice dunk in the Atlantic or putting the horrible shock collar on him would do nicely. She gave him a fleeting glance, as if he were not even worth her attention at all, and just said, "No," in the most nonchalant voice she could muster. I have nothing to say to that man. Nothing I do or don't do will change his opinion of me.

"I'd think you'd be the first to sign if you really felt guilty about what happened in Lagos."

Wanda's eyes glowed red briefly, sending a mild shock through her and reflecting her roiling thoughts inside, but she clamped her mouth shut and said nothing. Do not tell me what I do or don't feel. You don't know me. That was my fault, but I didn't do it on purpose and I still feel awful about that.

"You heard her. She said no," Hawkeye stated. "You know as well as we do the Lagos incident was just a tipping point for ratifying the Accords. It's not Wanda's fault. She's just being used as a scapegoat now because she's the Avenger that's easiest to make look bad in the media, because she's the newest and youngest, and her abilities lend themselves well to being painted poorly to the public. That and simply bad timing. I'd say it's because she has a messy past, but plenty of us heroes do, so that can't be it. What, do you really believe she killed people with Rumlow's bomb on purpose?"

Ross appeared somewhat sorry now. "If she didn't, then she's still a dangerous, out of control, walking nuke, just not a malicious one. And she used to be affiliated with Hydra. Maybe she still has motivations there."

"She and her brother were a couple of misguided impoverished kids trying to save their country. The girl is one of us. She is not a terrorist," Clint replied firmly. "Please let her be. You won, you got us in here, you've restrained her. You don't have to hurt her any further."

"She threatened one of my men on the trip here!"

Wanda knew she didn't appear at all sorry about that, and tried her best to look contrite. Clint said I shouldn't let my pride get in the way. Look apologetic. Don't apologize out loud, just sit and look guilty. It's not hard. You have plenty to feel guilty for, just...not that.

"Because you didn't give us our single phone calls," Sam pointed out, "and she didn't even do that until after she heard Lang shouting his head off. Meaning she wouldn't have done it at all and continued cooperating peacefully if she hadn't overheard. I doubt she threatened to harm your guy anyway. She probably just threatened to free herself."

Scott eyed Wanda curiously. If the girl could free herself, why hadn't she actually done so, phone call, threat, or not? Back during the airport battle, she had been flitting from one teammate to another, providing support and backup when needed; she threw cars around with her telekinesis like it was nothing; she lifted a huge amount of tower-turned-rubble to give Steve and Bucky the path to freedom; and then he had seen her tear wheels off armored trucks in a last-ditch effort to free him and Sam. Because she actually can't, Scott realized, which means on the way here she was just acting. She's like a Squishy Wizard. Scott decided he would keep this realization to himself.

"What do you have to say about that, Maximoff?" Ross asked now.

"I say my teammates should not be thrown in this place at all," Wanda informed him, "and that he is correct. I would not have done that if I had not heard Scott shouting." Stay calm. Do not mouth off. Just say your piece politely.

"If you feel so strongly about that, is there also a reason you've not done anything about it yet? Maybe you don't care as much as you claim."

Wanda considered how to answer that question for a moment, not wanting to reveal that the phone call incident was all an act. Across the table, Scott looked about ready to burst out with some exclamation, and she shook her head slightly. Nobody interfere. Please. "I believe we are somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. I don't exactly have a way to get us off the Raft safely, so I would just end up getting all of us killed," she said finally. Okay, I guess that's...somewhat logical. Please let him believe me. Please.

"Take them to the cells. We're done here for tonight."

Finally. Then maybe we'll be left alone, Wanda thought, pleased that at least for tonight, she would not have to talk to Ross any longer. The man set her on edge and made her tense, and now she was a little bit terrified what he might decide to do to her or the others if he did realize she truly did not have any power access here. Right now he might hate her guts and probably think she was a nutcase for allowing the mistreatment to continue, but if he put two and two together that she was actually helpless, this was going to become an absolute nightmare. At least right now she had some semblance of control over the situation-or appeared to, anyway-and she knew the man was scared of her, even if he wouldn't admit it. I cannot let him find out. I won't.