Chapter 99: An Ideal

"Easy, Clint. Just breathe."

When Wanda first arrived in the Engine room, it didn't take her long to find where Natasha and Clint were. The sounds of their fight made it very easy to find them. So when Wanda ran around the corner, her hands raised and glowing in her red Chaos magic, she was momentarily frozen at the way Natasha was able to beat down Clint easily.

Of course, Wanda was already aware of Natasha's skills with hand-to-hand fighting after their time in Sokovia and when the red-haired woman personally trained her during their stay there. But it had been some time since Wanda had been out of the field. She snapped out of her trance when the fight continued to the point where Natasha and Clint were so close you might have thought they were about to share a lover's kiss. But that was not the case; no, Clint was trying to stab into Natasha's neck as she held his forearm close for a moment of respite.

That was when Wanda made her move. With a wave of her arms, Clint's body was enveloped in red magic, and he flew back towards the yellow side railing of the walkway they were in. He slammed into the steel bars with a loud clang, and he cried out in pain. Wanda then flexed her fingers, and Clint's body kneeled to the ground, his arms frozen to his sides.

Natasha turned to her and smiled in thanks. She then moved around Clint and tied his frozen body to the railing. Immobilizing him. Wanda released her hold on him and walked up to the man. Clint was angrily looking up at her and Natasha but said nothing. It was then that Wanda noticed his eye color. It was a bright, vibrant green.

"Magic." Wanda whispered. Natasha looked at her and then back to Clint.

"Isn't this the same mind control that everyone else had?" Natasha asked. Wanda, however, shook her head and scrunched her eyebrows as she tried to remove the hex from Clint's mind.

"No. Removing the hexes from everyone else was easy, but Agent Barton's is different. It's more refined. More powerful." Wanda explained as Clint smiled in pride.

"As if you could touch Miladie's work." Clint said with a chuckle. Wanda frowned and felt sweat grow on her brow. Natasha began to look worried.

Reaching deeper inside Clint's mind, Wanda finally found the hex trapping his inner conscience. She tried to undo the magic, but it was intense and complicated. This was the work of the Enchantress. Wanda couldn't help but marvel at the skill level of the woman, and a sudden pang of helplessness surged within her.

"I can't do it." Wanda whispered and grimaced. She saw Natasha move out of the corner of her eye but wouldn't dare look at her. Wanda couldn't bear looking at her expression; she was sure it would have been shock, sadness, worry, and, most of all, disappointment.

Before Wanda could give up, she remembered Harvey's words in their room earlier today. He said he believed in her and that she was one of the strongest people he knew. Would she give up just like that because she ran into a challenge? The energy around her hands intensified and glowed brighter. The engine room, which was once dark and poorly lit, burned a crimson red.

Wanda forced her magic to dig deep into the Enchantress's spell and grabbed hold of every line of mystic power she could. Wanda willed her magic with a glare to wholly and utterly rip the hex over Clint's mind to pieces. Her Chaos magic happily complied.

Clint's eyes widened, and the green glow that enveloped his eyes vanished. He was free. Wanda had done it.

Wanda shook her head and looked back at Clint and Natasha. They had carried Clint's unconscious body to the Sick Bay and waited for him to wake up. When he did, his face twisted into a swirl of emotions: deep shame, regret, fear, and anger.

"It was like my body was moving on its own… I was there, conscious. But it was as if I was frozen in an ocean of cold darkness. Forced to watch my body move and talk on its own." Clint swallowed and closed his eyes tightly. "It was horrifying."

Natasha frowned and hugged Clint tightly. He sat still but ultimately gave in to Natasha's comfort. Wanda began to feel uncomfortable and silently stood up to leave. As she was about to exit the room, Clint spoke again.

"You freed me." Clint said, and Wanda turned to him. She nodded. "Thank you."

Wanda smiled at the man. Never had she heard anyone sound so grateful in her life.

"You're welcome."

•••

"You all just sit tight. We'll free you all as soon as my sister gets here."

Pietro came to a stop in the Lower Docking area of the ship. In front of him sat fifteen men in heavily armored military armor. Each of them were tied together and their mouths were taped shut. Loki mind-controlled These remaining men and women into attacking the Helicarrier.

As Pietro stood watch, several of the ship's personnel walked over and thanked him for his quick work. Pietro smiled and waved off their thanks. While he knew that not everyone on board was a HYDRA member, it still made him cautious of every person on board. But he acted as naturally as he could and interacted with them well enough.

["Maximoff. What's your status?"] Fury spoke from his earpiece.

"I got every last one of Lokis crew. I ran through the ship twice, so we're good there. They just need Wanda to remove the mind control, and they should be good to go." Pietro said as he tapped his earpiece.

["Good. I'll have some men move them to a secured room while they wait. I need you to come to the Bridge. We have the Tesseracts location."] Fury said.

"Copy that. Be there in a flash." Pietro said with a smile, letting go of the earpiece.

He vanished in a blur of silver and blue.

•••

"Good, you're all here."

Inside the Bridge were several people. Both sitting and standing near the conference table. Nick looked around and saw Tony, Steve, Natasha, and Clint sitting on the chairs near the table. They had tired looks as they waited, but now and then, they would look back at the occupants standing near the back wall of the Bridge.

Standing in front of the enormous SHIELD logo were Wanda, Pietro, Harvey, and finally, the Hulk. Harvey and Wanda were looking at Fury with their full attention, but that wasn't what gained the attention of the people who were seated. No, they couldn't help but glance at Pietro and the Hulk eating from a large pile of burritos on a large tray. The pile was stacked high but slowly dwindled in numbers as they ate.

Several crew members on the Bridge couldn't help but gawk at the sight of the large Gamma-powered man as he ate his food. It was an incredulous sight, if there ever was one.

Nick shook his head as the Hulk and Pietro finished their food and turned to him. However, Hulk looked uninterested and would have instead been anywhere else but here. Nick looked over at Maria and nodded. She pressed a button on a small remote in her hand, and a large holographic map of New York shone to life. A large glowing red ball blinked over Stark Tower, gaining Tony's attention.

"Hold on." Tony said, jumped to his feet, and turned to Nick, who nodded. "Is that?"

"Thanks to Doctor Banner. We were able to find the Cube's location." Nick said, and the hologram shifted to zoom into Stark Tower. "As you can see, it's smack dab in the middle of one of the most populated areas in the world. Now, if what Thor said comes to pass, then Loki will open a portal and unleash an army over the city. The consequences of that don't need to be said."

Maria then shut off the hologram, and Nick walked towards the main control center of the Bridge and turned to everyone—a frown on his face.

"Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number because I was playing something even riskier." Nick's head slowly turned as he gazed at everyone. "There was an idea, Stark and Miller know this, called the Avengers Initiative."

Nick walked over to the table and grabbed the back of a free chair. "The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people and see if they could become something more. See if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could."

"Today, you all proved that it's possible." Nick said and waved around the Bridge. "It's thanks to you all that the casualties were so low and that this ship is still in the air. It's thanks to you all that one of my best men is still alive."

Steve and Tony looked at each other; a silent level of newfound respect for one another could be seen between them. Natasha looked over at Clint and Wanda with a smile, which they returned. Harvey grabbed Pietro's shoulder and shook it playfully. He then looked over at Hulk and held a fist. Hulk smiled briefly and fist-bumped Harvey, causing Harvey to wince slightly and shake his hand to wave off the pain.

"I'm not asking you all to work for me or SHIELD. I'm asking you to work together to defend our world and protect its people. Because if you don't, we will stand no chance against Loki and his army." Nick finished saying and stood back. He had said everything he could. The rest was up to them.

It wasn't long before Steve stood up and nodded. Like a domino effect, everyone rose to their feet and had determined expressions on their faces. "Fury's right. We have to put our petty disagreements aside and work together. Because if we don't stand and fight, then who will? We are all that stands between Loki and our home. Maybe his army will come, and we don't stand a chance, but I'm not going to give up our world without a fight. And I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels that way."

Steve looked at everyone and saw no looks of disagreement. Tony smiled. "Come on, people were on the clock." Tony said and began walking out of the Bridge. "Let's get this party started."

"Everyone, suit up." Steve said, and everyone moved to prepare themselves for the incoming fight. Tony left to make enough repairs on his armor to fly back to Stark Tower while Steve, Clint, and Natasha went to the armory. Harvey, Wanda, Pietro, and Hulk didn't need to grab anything, so they made their way to the hanger bay to wait for everyone.

As they walked, Wanda paused and looked at Harvey. "Harvey… can I talk to you for a second?"

Pausing in their trek, Pietro looked up at Hulk and smiled. "Come on, big guy, I'll take you to the jet." Pietro said as he guided Hulk towards the quinjet.

Harvey looked at Wanda questioningly as they stood just outside the hanger bay. Wanda waited until Pietro and Hulk were out of sight and fiddled with her red jacket. "What's the matter, Wanda?"

Wanda took a deep breath and glared up at Harvey, causing him to take a back step in worry. He watched as Wanda marched toward him and was shocked when she grabbed his suit collar and pulled him into a passionate kiss. After snapping out of his momentary shock, Harvey grabbed Wanda's hips and leaned into the kiss. After what felt like forever to the two, they pulled back and looked at each other. Their cheeks were dusted with red.

"I love you." Wanda stated with a broad smile, but it melted into a worried frown. "I know what happened between you and Alex is still fresh and that I'm being selfish but-but I couldn't keep it to myself anymore! Not with what's about to happen. If something happened to either of us and I never told you, I'd regret it for the rest of my life."

Harvey grabbed Wanda's hands and held them gently. She slowly tilted her head up and looked into Harvey's eyes. Wanda felt her heart race as he looked at her with a small, warm smile. Harvey leaned in and kissed her lips softly.

"You're right. What happened between Alex and me is still fresh to me. I still love her, but… deep inside me, I also knew I loved you." Harvey closed his eyes and frowned. "I love you so damn much that sometimes you're all I'm thinking about when I'm not submerged in the darkness. You and Alex both."

Harvey let her hands go and looked at the ground. "I know that isn't the right thing to do. I know that makes me a scumbag, but I can't change my feelings like I can't change my nature. So, after hearing that, I would understand that your feelings towards me might change. You may even hate me now, but-"

Harvey was interrupted by Wanda pulling him in for a tight hug. A hug so tight he thought he heard his ribs creak in his chest, which was impressive considering how durable he is.

"I don't hate you. I could never hate you." Wanda whispered. "When this is over, we should try and figure this out. You, Alex, and me. I know she still has deep feelings for you, and I want us all to be happy. After everything we've been through, we deserve at least that. Don't you think?"

Harvey watched Wanda smile cutely at him. His heart was beating like a drum. How long has it been since it had reacted like that in a simple conversation? It only drummed that fast when he was in deep combat and hunting down the lowest of the low. Slowly, he nodded. Maybe she was right? Maybe there was a way they could all be happy and live a life they could enjoy. That was a battle Harvey would gladly fight tooth and nail for.

"Okay." Harvey nodded. "We'll figure this out." Wanda grinned and hugged him again.

Down the hall, at the entrance of the Hanger bay, were two heads poking out comically. Pietro smiled and sighed.

"Things just got more complicated, Big Guy." Pietro said and looked down at Hulk. Hulk, for his benefit, looked confused but nodded nevertheless.

"Hulk doesn't get it." Hulk said. Pietro, from his position on Hulk's back, nodded.

"I don't either, Hulk. I don't either."