Chapter 107: Free
23rd February 2006, New York City
(Wanda Maximoff POV)
Wanda refused this. This can’t be real. She refused to accept that this was real. She did not kill her parents. Suddenly, her eyes turned read and a wave of red energy originated from her and suddenly the room changed. Everything was still destroyed but the bodies of their attackers were gone. Instead, in the middle of it was a missile with the name Stark that seemed to have malfunctioned. All her guilt, all her misery, she sealed it at the missile. It had killed her parents after all. One day, she’ll have her revenge.
“Well, isn’t that interesting?”
Wanda turned around at the voice. She immediately recognized it. It was her birth father’s.
“Why don’t you give your old man a hug?”
Wanda stood frozen at the man in front of her. He was her father yet he was so different. However, Wanda didn’t care; she was still overwhelmed with what she saw happen to her family. She hadn’t killed her parents. She hadn’t just erased what happened to them. She hadn’t made up her hatred of Stark. The man was a warmonger, selling his weapons to terrorists. No, even if she had made it up, the guns the attackers were using had the name Stark Industries written on them. He was still responsible for what happened. But again, so was she.
“Are you alright, sweetheart?” her father looked at her in concern. It was such a foreign look on him. Her father was severe, strict and very intimidating, even to his children. But now, he was wearing a polo shirt, jeans and looked like the perfect father. The one she had always imagined in her dreams, the ones from her TV shows.
“Yes Daddy. I was just lost in my head.”
The man smiled at her. “Alright, dinner will be ready in a bit. Go get your brother and come down.”
Wanda nodded and the man just left to the kitchen. Wanda looked around her to find an exact replica of their home when they moved in with Magneto. It was a quaint two story house with a nice garden outside. Wanda slowly walked to her and Pietro’s old room. They had always shared their rooms ever since their parents died. It was a good way to keep themselves safe on the streets and they kept doing it even after they lived in the proper house. Pietro really was a great brother back then.
Wanda walked in, to find Pietro listening to music on his Walkman. She clicked her finger in front of him, causing him to remove his headphones. “What?” he asked annoyed.
“Dinner’s ready.”
Pietro ran down in a silver blur. He used his super speed all the time to do some of the most mundane things. Wanda yelled after him, “Pietro, wait up!”
She came down to see her father and Pietro waiting for her in the dining room. The food was already served. They had spaghetti and meatballs, one of her favorites. The dinner was enjoyable, but she doesn’t remember it happening.
“So, how was school?” her father asked.
Pietro answered, “It was awesome! I just made the basketball team.”
Magneto chuckled at his enthusiasm, “Nice, kiddo.”
Wanda pouted, “Why does he get to go to school and I don’t?”
“You know, sweetheart. When you learn to control your powers, I’ll let you go to school. We can’t risk you accidentally injuring your friends now, do we?”
Wanda nodded solemnly. She didn’t know why she was expecting anything different.
Wanda’s father looked at her concerned, “You know what will cheer you up? What about we watch one of those shows of yours. I don’t have to work tonight. Might as well have a TV night.”
Wanda smiled brightly and jumped up and down in anticipation. Her father continued, “Why don’t you both choose what you want to watch while I make some popcorn?”
Pietro ran using super speed to the couch, probably wanting to get to choose his favorite show. “Hey, no fair!” she ran after him.
She and Pietro ended up fighting trying to choose what to watch. They ended up compromising on a sitcom they both enjoy.
They sat down on the couch waiting for their father to watch the episode. Then they heard the front door open. They peaked inside and saw their father. He was wearing some weird red suit and a metal helmet on his head. His eyes were not kind, like they usually are. He wasn’t wearing his usual smile; his lips were in a straight line. He looked scary.
He walked confidently to the living room, where they were waiting for him. “Daddy, she exclaimed. Did you make the popcorn yet? What are you wearing? Is it a costume?”
Her father looked confused for a moment. Well, she assumes he was. He is definitely hard to read. “What are you talking about?”
Pietro answered this time, “The popcorn, dad. You said a minute ago that you’ll make some and watch TV with us.”
“Child, I have been gone for months. I entrusted you to take care of yourselves while I was gone.”
Wanda looked confusedly, “Don’t be silly, Daddy. You were with us the whole day.”
Before he could respond, another voice came in, “So what did you kids choose?”
Another copy of her father, wearing his dad clothes, came out of the kitchen, a big bowl of popcorn in his hands.
Both copies of her father looked at the other. The dad copy was spluttering, “What… How…. Is this some sort of joke?”
Her dad wearing the helmet instead looked at her, he looked angry. “Wanda! What did you do?”
Wanda was alarmed, why was it her fault, the man continued, “Undo this right now!”
Wanda didn’t know what was happening. “Why are you so angry?! WHY CAN’T YOU BE LIKE HIM?”
Wanda’s eyes turned red and some energy propelled itself in front of Magneto. His clothes turned to the one her other father was wearing, the only thing remaining was the helmet that had a large crack in the middle.
But the man hadn’t listened to her, he didn’t look at her like her other Daddy did. He looked angry, no he looked furious. “This has gone for long enough.”
Suddenly, there was a cable around her neck, she was suffocating, her vision started to blacken until she fell into unconsciousness.
When she woke up, she was gagged, and restrained. She couldn’t move at all. What was happening?
Her father was talking to another person. She heard his familiar voice, “Mastermind, she somehow brainwashed her brother into believing that she thing she created was me. She tried to do the same to myself but my mental protections held her at bay.”
“The boy’s mind is alright. I have already altered his memories of the last few months. He will not remember what she put him through. The boy was trapped in his own mind for months. It’s good that you brought him to me. This could have cause some very serious mental scars, maybe even turn him into a vegetable.”
Her father replied, “What about the girl?”
“She’s a lot trickier. I’ll be able to remove her memories but I can’t do anything about her powers.”
Her father sighed, “A shame. If she had control over her powers, she could have been a valuable asset in our side. Just as well, it was a close thing. She could have roped me in that fantasy of hers. I can’t afford to lose sight of our goals. I’ll have to send her away.”
“It’s for her own good after all.” Mastermind replied.
Wanda watched as the stranger walk towards her and put his hands on her temple, “Don’t worry, child. It will be over soon. You won’t even remember a thing.”
Wanda fell unconscious once more.
When she woke up, her father woke her up and told her that they were going out. She was excited, she hadn’t gone out of the house for so long. However, Pietro looked scared of her for some reason. She shrugged and ignored it; she was too excited to care. But when they arrived, Wanda found herself bound and gagged. She had arrived to the Vault.
The world around her returned to Sayre Mannor.
This isn’t true. This couldn’t have happened. It was impossible. Her father abandoned her because he hated her. Because he loved Pietro more. No because of this. This was all in her head. She didn’t kill her parents; she didn’t make up her father.
“Interesting, isn’t it?”
Wanda turned around to find a woman looking at her. It was her. Well not exactly her, her eyes were red, she had red hair. She like red but the woman in front of her took it a little too far.
“Who are you?” Wanda demanded to her doppelganger.
Her almost twin smirked at her, “I am you! I am the part of you that you kept locked up. I am your true self. I am the one who rewrote reality itself when you killed our parents. I am the one who created a fake Magneto when he was away. You were so lonely, I made you your ideal father to take care of you.”
“No, you didn’t! This wasn’t real. This is all in my head. I didn’t kill mom and I definitely didn’t brainwash Pietro!”
The red Wanda burst into laughter, “Ah, poor Pietro. He almost ruined our little reality. I ended up just trapping him in his own mind. I turned him into the perfect brother, instead of the brat he is. Too bad Mastermind erased his memories; he looked so cute, all scared of you. He’s still is but he probably doesn’t know why he feels this instinctive fear towards his own sister. Magneto had to ruin everything with that helmet of his. I almost had him too.”
“You’re a monster!”
“Dear Wanda, I am you. We’re both monsters. After all, you created. You used your own power against yourself when you manifested your abilities and killed your parents. You rewrote your own reality and inside it, you had no powers. By sealing your own magic, you sealed a part of yourself, me. I control your power, and you control the body. When you became sad, lonely, when you experienced misery, I responded. I created the reality you wished.”
Wanda didn’t believe what was happening. Has what she’s seen real. Had it truly happened? Has she killed her own parents, brainwashed her brother? Was there a part of her that wanted to do this?
The red Wanda continued, “We were comfortable like this. But that bitch that you call a teacher, broke all the blocks on your mind at once and left us here. I’m sorry, but only one of us will remain. And that’s me.”
The red Wanda started to glow red. The usual red energy that showed itself when Wanda used her magic appeared, but it looked noticeably darker. A dark red beam of light raced towards Wanda who instinctively replied with a beam of her own.
The red Wanda started to taunt her, “I can help you, Wanda. I can even do it again. I know how you see your new teacher. She’s like a mother to you, isn’t she? You even privately call her ‘Mom’ in your head I can turn her into your real mother, you only have to give in…”
“No!” Wanda exclaimed.
“You’re broken, Wanda. Your entire life is a lie. Your goals, your revenge are figments of your imagination. You run from your guilt, from your anger, from your sorrow. You run from everything around you. That’s why I will be victorious. You don’t have the will to fight me.”
Slowly but surely, red Wanda’s beam started to move towards her. It was merely a few inches from her, now. But Wanda had to admit something. Red Wanda was right and Wanda knew it. She refused to acknowledge what she did to her parents, what she did to her brother. She had run from her guilt. She wished for the perfect family, that was all she wanted in her life. She wanted a perfect life, like the ones on TV. But that was impossible so she created something as close to it as she could. With a caring father, a playful brother.
She was done running. She accepted everything she did. As Red Wanda and herself. They were one after all. She remembered the agony at seeing her parents dead because of her. The guilt was crushing but she was accepting it. She remembers the rage at the soldiers, the fear when living on the streets, the loneliness when her birth father ignored her, the anger at said father. She accepted it all. It was too much!
She wailed in pain. The emotions were simply too much and her magic responded, creating a giant pulse of magic that obliterated everything around her. Red Wanda wasn’t there anymore. There was no use for her anymore. They were one and the same.
Wanda was tired, but for the first time in her life, she felt free.
The last thing she saw was her newest mother figure catching her before she fell into the ground, “You did well, Wanda. I am proud of you.”
Wanda passed out smiling at that comment.
Chapter 107: Free
23rd February 2006, New York City
(Wanda Maximoff POV)
Wanda refused this. This can’t be real. She refused to accept that this was real. She did not kill her parents. Suddenly, her eyes turned read and a wave of red energy originated from her and suddenly the room changed. Everything was still destroyed but the bodies of their attackers were gone. Instead, in the middle of it was a missile with the name Stark that seemed to have malfunctioned. All her guilt, all her misery, she sealed it at the missile. It had killed her parents after all. One day, she’ll have her revenge.
“Well, isn’t that interesting?”
Wanda turned around at the voice. She immediately recognized it. It was her birth father’s.
“Why don’t you give your old man a hug?”
Wanda stood frozen at the man in front of her. He was her father yet he was so different. However, Wanda didn’t care; she was still overwhelmed with what she saw happen to her family. She hadn’t killed her parents. She hadn’t just erased what happened to them. She hadn’t made up her hatred of Stark. The man was a warmonger, selling his weapons to terrorists. No, even if she had made it up, the guns the attackers were using had the name Stark Industries written on them. He was still responsible for what happened. But again, so was she.
“Are you alright, sweetheart?” her father looked at her in concern. It was such a foreign look on him. Her father was severe, strict and very intimidating, even to his children. But now, he was wearing a polo shirt, jeans and looked like the perfect father. The one she had always imagined in her dreams, the ones from her TV shows.
“Yes Daddy. I was just lost in my head.”
The man smiled at her. “Alright, dinner will be ready in a bit. Go get your brother and come down.”
Wanda nodded and the man just left to the kitchen. Wanda looked around her to find an exact replica of their home when they moved in with Magneto. It was a quaint two story house with a nice garden outside. Wanda slowly walked to her and Pietro’s old room. They had always shared their rooms ever since their parents died. It was a good way to keep themselves safe on the streets and they kept doing it even after they lived in the proper house. Pietro really was a great brother back then.
Wanda walked in, to find Pietro listening to music on his Walkman. She clicked her finger in front of him, causing him to remove his headphones. “What?” he asked annoyed.
“Dinner’s ready.”
Pietro ran down in a silver blur. He used his super speed all the time to do some of the most mundane things. Wanda yelled after him, “Pietro, wait up!”
She came down to see her father and Pietro waiting for her in the dining room. The food was already served. They had spaghetti and meatballs, one of her favorites. The dinner was enjoyable, but she doesn’t remember it happening.
“So, how was school?” her father asked.
Pietro answered, “It was awesome! I just made the basketball team.”
Magneto chuckled at his enthusiasm, “Nice, kiddo.”
Wanda pouted, “Why does he get to go to school and I don’t?”
“You know, sweetheart. When you learn to control your powers, I’ll let you go to school. We can’t risk you accidentally injuring your friends now, do we?”
Wanda nodded solemnly. She didn’t know why she was expecting anything different.
Wanda’s father looked at her concerned, “You know what will cheer you up? What about we watch one of those shows of yours. I don’t have to work tonight. Might as well have a TV night.”
Wanda smiled brightly and jumped up and down in anticipation. Her father continued, “Why don’t you both choose what you want to watch while I make some popcorn?”
Pietro ran using super speed to the couch, probably wanting to get to choose his favorite show. “Hey, no fair!” she ran after him.
She and Pietro ended up fighting trying to choose what to watch. They ended up compromising on a sitcom they both enjoy.
They sat down on the couch waiting for their father to watch the episode. Then they heard the front door open. They peaked inside and saw their father. He was wearing some weird red suit and a metal helmet on his head. His eyes were not kind, like they usually are. He wasn’t wearing his usual smile; his lips were in a straight line. He looked scary.
He walked confidently to the living room, where they were waiting for him. “Daddy, she exclaimed. Did you make the popcorn yet? What are you wearing? Is it a costume?”
Her father looked confused for a moment. Well, she assumes he was. He is definitely hard to read. “What are you talking about?”
Pietro answered this time, “The popcorn, dad. You said a minute ago that you’ll make some and watch TV with us.”
“Child, I have been gone for months. I entrusted you to take care of yourselves while I was gone.”
Wanda looked confusedly, “Don’t be silly, Daddy. You were with us the whole day.”
Before he could respond, another voice came in, “So what did you kids choose?”
Another copy of her father, wearing his dad clothes, came out of the kitchen, a big bowl of popcorn in his hands.
Both copies of her father looked at the other. The dad copy was spluttering, “What… How…. Is this some sort of joke?”
Her dad wearing the helmet instead looked at her, he looked angry. “Wanda! What did you do?”
Wanda was alarmed, why was it her fault, the man continued, “Undo this right now!”
Wanda didn’t know what was happening. “Why are you so angry?! WHY CAN’T YOU BE LIKE HIM?”
Wanda’s eyes turned red and some energy propelled itself in front of Magneto. His clothes turned to the one her other father was wearing, the only thing remaining was the helmet that had a large crack in the middle.
But the man hadn’t listened to her, he didn’t look at her like her other Daddy did. He looked angry, no he looked furious. “This has gone for long enough.”
Suddenly, there was a cable around her neck, she was suffocating, her vision started to blacken until she fell into unconsciousness.
When she woke up, she was gagged, and restrained. She couldn’t move at all. What was happening?
Her father was talking to another person. She heard his familiar voice, “Mastermind, she somehow brainwashed her brother into believing that she thing she created was me. She tried to do the same to myself but my mental protections held her at bay.”
“The boy’s mind is alright. I have already altered his memories of the last few months. He will not remember what she put him through. The boy was trapped in his own mind for months. It’s good that you brought him to me. This could have cause some very serious mental scars, maybe even turn him into a vegetable.”
Her father replied, “What about the girl?”
“She’s a lot trickier. I’ll be able to remove her memories but I can’t do anything about her powers.”
Her father sighed, “A shame. If she had control over her powers, she could have been a valuable asset in our side. Just as well, it was a close thing. She could have roped me in that fantasy of hers. I can’t afford to lose sight of our goals. I’ll have to send her away.”
“It’s for her own good after all.” Mastermind replied.
Wanda watched as the stranger walk towards her and put his hands on her temple, “Don’t worry, child. It will be over soon. You won’t even remember a thing.”
Wanda fell unconscious once more.
When she woke up, her father woke her up and told her that they were going out. She was excited, she hadn’t gone out of the house for so long. However, Pietro looked scared of her for some reason. She shrugged and ignored it; she was too excited to care. But when they arrived, Wanda found herself bound and gagged. She had arrived to the Vault.
The world around her returned to Sayre Mannor.
This isn’t true. This couldn’t have happened. It was impossible. Her father abandoned her because he hated her. Because he loved Pietro more. No because of this. This was all in her head. She didn’t kill her parents; she didn’t make up her father.
“Interesting, isn’t it?”
Wanda turned around to find a woman looking at her. It was her. Well not exactly her, her eyes were red, she had red hair. She like red but the woman in front of her took it a little too far.
“Who are you?” Wanda demanded to her doppelganger.
Her almost twin smirked at her, “I am you! I am the part of you that you kept locked up. I am your true self. I am the one who rewrote reality itself when you killed our parents. I am the one who created a fake Magneto when he was away. You were so lonely, I made you your ideal father to take care of you.”
“No, you didn’t! This wasn’t real. This is all in my head. I didn’t kill mom and I definitely didn’t brainwash Pietro!”
The red Wanda burst into laughter, “Ah, poor Pietro. He almost ruined our little reality. I ended up just trapping him in his own mind. I turned him into the perfect brother, instead of the brat he is. Too bad Mastermind erased his memories; he looked so cute, all scared of you. He’s still is but he probably doesn’t know why he feels this instinctive fear towards his own sister. Magneto had to ruin everything with that helmet of his. I almost had him too.”
“You’re a monster!”
“Dear Wanda, I am you. We’re both monsters. After all, you created. You used your own power against yourself when you manifested your abilities and killed your parents. You rewrote your own reality and inside it, you had no powers. By sealing your own magic, you sealed a part of yourself, me. I control your power, and you control the body. When you became sad, lonely, when you experienced misery, I responded. I created the reality you wished.”
Wanda didn’t believe what was happening. Has what she’s seen real. Had it truly happened? Has she killed her own parents, brainwashed her brother? Was there a part of her that wanted to do this?
The red Wanda continued, “We were comfortable like this. But that bitch that you call a teacher, broke all the blocks on your mind at once and left us here. I’m sorry, but only one of us will remain. And that’s me.”
The red Wanda started to glow red. The usual red energy that showed itself when Wanda used her magic appeared, but it looked noticeably darker. A dark red beam of light raced towards Wanda who instinctively replied with a beam of her own.
The red Wanda started to taunt her, “I can help you, Wanda. I can even do it again. I know how you see your new teacher. She’s like a mother to you, isn’t she? You even privately call her ‘Mom’ in your head I can turn her into your real mother, you only have to give in…”
“No!” Wanda exclaimed.
“You’re broken, Wanda. Your entire life is a lie. Your goals, your revenge are figments of your imagination. You run from your guilt, from your anger, from your sorrow. You run from everything around you. That’s why I will be victorious. You don’t have the will to fight me.”
Slowly but surely, red Wanda’s beam started to move towards her. It was merely a few inches from her, now. But Wanda had to admit something. Red Wanda was right and Wanda knew it. She refused to acknowledge what she did to her parents, what she did to her brother. She had run from her guilt. She wished for the perfect family, that was all she wanted in her life. She wanted a perfect life, like the ones on TV. But that was impossible so she created something as close to it as she could. With a caring father, a playful brother.
She was done running. She accepted everything she did. As Red Wanda and herself. They were one after all. She remembered the agony at seeing her parents dead because of her. The guilt was crushing but she was accepting it. She remembers the rage at the soldiers, the fear when living on the streets, the loneliness when her birth father ignored her, the anger at said father. She accepted it all. It was too much!
She wailed in pain. The emotions were simply too much and her magic responded, creating a giant pulse of magic that obliterated everything around her. Red Wanda wasn’t there anymore. There was no use for her anymore. They were one and the same.
Wanda was tired, but for the first time in her life, she felt free.
The last thing she saw was her newest mother figure catching her before she fell into the ground, “You did well, Wanda. I am proud of you.”
Wanda passed out smiling at that comment.
