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Tuesday 2nd August 2016
New Avengers Facility
Wanda slept, her chest rising up and down in tandem with her breathing. The colour was seeping back into her cheeks.
There was an IV line inserted into one of her veins in her hand, keeping her hydrated. She was exhausted. She'd hardly stirred in the flight back to the Compound.
Tony sat at her side, his guilt warring inside him for what he had asked her to do.
Even though she had shown extraordinary powers during the Battle of Earth, this younger Wanda wasn't at the point yet where she could tap into her full potential.
She'd learned a lot about them during the two years she had been on the run and her secret liaisons with Vision.
He glanced down at the data-pad in his hand. He couldn't just sit here and do nothing. He had to be doing something.
So he'd decided to start work on designing further improvements to his Iron Man suit.
They were coming closer towards the inevitability of facing Thanos and Tony needed to be ready.
He didn't want to be caught short-handed. He'd also work on gear for the rest of the team.
He was so absorbed by his designing that he failed to realise Wanda was slowly waking up and jumped slightly when she spoke quietly.
"Stark?" mumbled Wanda.
Tony peered over his glasses. "Oh, I didn't see you were awake there."
"Only a few minutes…" Wanda scrunched her face up in pain. "What… happened?"
Tony leaned forward. "Still got a headache?"
Wanda nodded in reply. "Not as bad as it was…" She trailed off. "Why… are you here?"
Tony swallowed. He knew why she was asking. They rarely spent time together. He'd always tried to avoid her as much as he could.
He'd always been afraid she would use her powers on him again, force him to do things he had never wanted to do.
They hadn't talked about how she had blamed him for her parent's death. He wondered if the Wanda he had known had only tolerated him so she could remain an Avenger?
He would never know the answer to that question. The time he had come from was gone. The others hadn't lived the same experiences he'd had.
Only one person could truly relate to him and that was Natasha. He'd be lost without her though he suspected he would have figured everything out on his own anyway.
Wanda's face grew confused as Tony failed to answer her simple question.
"I'm here because what happened to you was my fault." It was the simplest answer possible.
"I asked too much of you. And you exhausted yourself because of it. And I'm sorry about that." He needed to apologise to her.
There was no way to escape the reality of him not having caused her undue harm.
Gently Wanda eased herself up in the bed, pushing herself up with her hands.
"Are you sure?" Tony asked, aware of how horrible Wanda must still be feeling.
"I'm fine, Stark," she grated out. "Sleeping more will not do me any good."
"Do you want some water?" he offered her a cup and she took it, sipping it slowly, her eyes focused on his face.
"There's something… different about you." Wanda scrutinized him carefully. "But I cannot put my finger on it."
"How do you know there is something different about me?" asked Tony quietly, leaning back in his chair.
Wanda cocked her head to the side. "I don't know. You just… feel… different."
"Feel different?" He was curious by her choice of words. "Are you reading my mind?"
"No! I would never do that! It's…" Wanda bit her lower lip. "It's not just you. I have noticed someone else who is different…"
Shit…
Tony tried not to react but he knew his eyebrows had raised. "I'm not sure what you mean." He tried to deflect but Wanda could be very perceptive when she wanted to be.
"You quit the Avengers. But now you are back. You just appeared during a planning session for Lagos which you shouldn't have known about. And then the Accords happened. You helped us understand them, allowed us to make our own decisions. And then there are you and Natasha. You were never really close and now you spend a lot of time together." Wanda looked down at her hands.
"I don't think the others have noticed… But there is something else about you that I can sense, about both of you."
Tony's mouth had suddenly gone dry. "I'm sure it is nothing," he deflected.
"I don't believe I'm wrong." Wanda leaned forward.
"There is something within you both. I can feel it when I get close to you. Natasha has it but it is less pronounced than you. It feels like…" She searched for the correct words.
"Untapped potential. I feel my powers resonating with you and Nat and they have never done so before. Not until recently. Something is going on between you two. I can sense it."
"I'm not sure what to say," replied Tony. Others were not supposed to find out. But Wanda had received powers from an Infinity Stone… He grimaced. "I was kinda wondering when someone would realise Nat and I have been spending an unusual amount of time together."
"I'm guessing you cannot tell me why?" enquired Wanda.
Tony shook his head.
"And that I am capable of so much more with my powers?" Wanda raised the question.
"I've barely begun to use them. And yet you ask me to do something I've never really achieved before. Holding that man still for so long strained me, Stark. I was losing control. He was slipping out of my grasp."
Tony grimaced. He had asked too much of her. She'd lost control before, though he had prevented it from happening now by tagging along on the Lagos mission.
Wanda had not had the need to contain a bomb. That had caused her a large amount of strain, enough that she had been unable to fully control the trajectory of the bomb which had caused the deaths of hundreds of people.
But she was capable of it, capable of controlling her power and using it in large quantities without tiring herself out.
She was just learning to control them now so it was natural for her to exhaust herself.
"How could you know I was capable of something like that?" she asked, keeping her gaze directed at Tony.
He sighed. "Wanda… There are things happening I cannot tell you about. Not yet. I'm trying to keep us together. Something is… coming. I don't know when but it is on its way. Whatever you sense in me… whatever it is…"
"It's power," she repeated. "But it's trapped inside you… Like… you are unable to access it…"
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(A/N:Please drop some power stones.and add this fanfic to your library if you are new or you haven't.🐱)