Chapter Text
“You ready?” Sam asked as he hovered by Fitz.
“Yup.” He answered as he fired up the seven dwarf drones. “We’ll send one to follow Wanda; one following Dr Strange, Morgan and James; one to Lila and Sylvie; and the rest will monitor the town and search for the man who grabbed Sylvie.”
“No one after Stark and Rogers?” Clint asked as he arrived at the group with Natasha.
“They don’t show signs of breaking from the Hex at all.” Darcy said with a shrug. “When they’ve been in episodes it’s mostly been as accessories to Morgan and soft domesticity. Nothing implies that they’re aware something’s wrong.”
“Would a drone snap them out of it?” Natasha asked as she passed the device over to Jane who scurried away to the jet to analyse the data.
“It didn’t snap Sylvie out of it.” Sam said with a shrug. “She just wrecked it and threw it back.”
“So we’re not going to put that effort into Steve...and Stark?” Sam raised an eyebrow at Natasha. “What?” She snapped.
“Nothing.” He said with a quick shake of his head before turning to Fitz. “There’s 4 other drones right? You can put one on Steve and Stark right?”
Fitz nodded. “I’ll have to reorganise the search grid but we can do that.”
“Thank you.” Natasha said before she walked off. Sam stared after as she walked away before following after her.
***
“We should go somewhere.” Sylvie said softly as she sat beside Lila in the back garden on a blanket with a small spread in front of them. “We could visit my mother back in Norway. She’s always asking me to visit.”
Lila hummed happily as she leaned against the woman she loved. “Nothing to do with putting distance between me and my husband?”
She smirked and pressed a kiss to Lila’s cheek. “That’s just a happy side effect.” She whispered. “It’d also give my brother a chance to invite his girlfriend over for a weekend or two without having to sneak around me.”
Lila snorted. “I find it hard to believe he can sneak around you. You’re far too observant.” She pressed a soft kiss to Sylvie’s lips. “When shall we start packing then?”
Sylvie hummed happily as she rest against Lila. “Well Norway is pretty cold. So we might need to do some shopping before we go.”
Lila nodded and wrapped her arm around Sylvie. “Or we could just take a few things and buy what we need when we’re over there.”
“I wouldn’t want to stay there.” Sylvie said quickly.
Lila nodded and pressed a kiss to her lover's temple. “Yeah I remember how you said your Dad treated you and Thor.” She felt Sylvie relax against her. “How about we visit your mom for a bit before touring around europe? Maybe find somewhere warm to settle?”
“A French cottage. A Spanish villa.”
“A Greek hotel.” Lila added with a giggle.
***
Sif could feel whatever was binding her shift and loosen slightly, as if its attention was being drawn elsewhere. She began to feel her surroundings, a cool breeze washed over her face as her hands ran over the cool floor beneath her. She could still feel her sword at her hip. Solid ground beneath her back. She wasn’t bound apart from the magic that was slipping off her, she shuffled her arms trying the get them under her and pushed with all her strength till she was sat up. She breathed deeply before bending her knees and planting her feet on the floor. She screamed as she pushed herself to her feet. The magic snapped and she toppled forward, she caught herself before pushing herself back to her feet. She was still blinded by the magic so she focused on the breeze as it pulled her hair across her face.
She unsheathed her sword and held it in front of her as she walked into the breeze, her feet shuffling across the floor so she didn’t trip. Her sword hit stone, she reached forward with her hand and felt around the stone pillar till she was past it. She continued on blindly following the breeze till her foot hit a step.
“Shit.” She hissed before leaning forward to touch the steps in front of her, she hesitated before sheathing her sword and starting to crawl up the stairs on all fours. She’d made it up 10 steps before her head hit a wooden door. “Shit.” She hissed again before reaching up and running her fingers along the wood, she could feel the breeze coming through a small gap. She pushed against the wood with all her strength till whatever was holding it shut gave way.
She felt something wash over her as she stepped out of the basement, her vision returning to her.
“Sofia!” Wanda called happily as she waved the other woman over. “Did Agnes make you take care of some rats?”
Sif, Sofia, smiled as she twirled her softball bat and made her way to the fence. “You know what she’s like.”
Wanda grinned. “That I do.”
“Would you like to come with me to softball? We could use a few more gals.”
“Oh I don’t know.” She shook her head. “I couldn’t possibly with the twins.”
“A few of the girls bring their kids, the bleachers is practically a creche sometimes.” She joked. “Besides think about how cute you’d look in the uniform.” She grinned as she twirled slightly for the other woman showing off the light grey softball uniform.
“That is tempting.” Wanda said as she checked out the other woman, her heart started to race before she looked away. “Anyway I should get back to the twins.”
“I’ve got to head to practise too.” Sofia said as she rest her bat over her shoulders. “I’ll see you later.”
“See you later.” Wanda said softly as the other woman walked down the driveway, Wanda’s eyes were fixed on Sofia as she made her way down the path. She blushed as Sofia looked back over her shoulder.
***
“At least now we know where Sif is.” Darcy muttered as she looked up from the tablet. “Did we know Wanda was bi?”
“I’m not surprised.” Skye said as she looked up from the computer where she was trying to find any indications of how widespread this effect was. “She seemed like my kind of people.”
“Right on.” Darcy said as she offered her knuckles to Skye.
“Ow that’s my nose!” They heard a man shout.
“What the shit?” Darcy asked as she got up from her chair and poked her head out the jet. “Who the hell is that?” She wondered as she stared at the man in the red suit spread out on the floor with Natasha and Agent May stood over him.
“That would be Scott Lang aka Ant Man.” Antony said.
“What the fuck does he do? Control ants?” Skye asked.
“Yes.” The AI deadpanned. “Along with shrink to the size of one and get really fucking big according to Morgan.”
“Hey Scott!” Darcy shouted.
“Yeah?” He asked as he sat up with the bridge of his nose pinched between his fingers.
“What you doing here?”
“I was doing some training and went sub atomic for like 15 minutes and then when I came back to normal size things were…weird.”
“Sub atomic?” Clint asked.
Natasha hushed Clint. “Weird how?”
“Well Hank was younger and his wife was there, which was weird cause she’s meant to be dead or something. And Hope was gone too.”
“Anything else?”
“Honestly after that happened I came straight here.” He said as he looked between Darcy and Natasha. “Well actually I went to the Avengers tower and then I came here. So yeah. That’s about the gist.”
“You wrecked my suit.” Sam said as he glared at the other man.
“Sorry about that dude.” Scott said awkwardly as he scratched the back of his head awkwardly. “So what’s all that?” He asked in an attempt to change the subject.
“We’re not 100% sure yet but it’s a concentrated form of what’s affected the entire of Northern America and a bit of central America.” Jane said before turning to Darcy. “If it doesn’t affect things on an atomic level we could possibly assume anything they were wearing when they went into the hex is still the same, it just looks different.”
“Like a video game skin.” Scott said excitedly.
“Bingo.” She said with a grin as she turned back to him. “So what did they have when they went in there?”
“Strange had on this necklace thing and now he’s got a pocket watch that’s got a similar design.” Darcy pointed out. “I haven’t seen Wanda’s necklace though.”
“She always wears that.” Clint pointed out. “Is she wearing anything in its place?”
Darcy quickly ducked back in the jet and checked the small file she’d made summarising everyone’s stories. “A small golden locket. So I guess it could be disguised by whatever’s going on but given what it is I’d say it’s somewhere else.”
“What is it?” Scott asked confused.
“Perhaps you might look at Vision.” Antony said.
Darcy frowned before looking at the file she’d made on people who weren’t part of their team, she scanned the two pictures of Vision before she blanched as she realised where the stone was. “Vision has the stone. It’s in his forehead.” She said quickly.
“How can you tell?” Natasha asked. “He looks pretty normal to me.”
“He’s actually got two forms. A fully human form and one that looks a bit more robot-like and is probably some funky colour like blue.”
“That’s probably going to cause issues.” Skye muttered.
***
Peter frowned as he stared through the window of the jewlers, the 10 bucks Clint gave him for keep an eye on Lila would help a bit but there was no way he’d be able to afford the kind of ring Morgan actually deserved. He could maybe get her something small now and then get her something better a few years down the line but he didn’t want to do that, he wanted to get her the perfect ring now. He sighed and turned away from the window, maybe a quick look in the job section of the paper was an idea or seeing if the work site a few blocks away needed anyone.
“What you looking at?” Wanda asked as she parked her double stroller up next to her brother at the window.
“Nothing.” He answered quickly as he spun to face her.
“Oh my. Are you looking at engagement rings?” She asked with her hand half up to her mouth. “I feel like it’s only been a few months since you got together.”
“Well I really like her.” He said softly as he looked down.
“I know.” Wanda said with a grin. “I’ve heard you sneaking back in at night.” He blushed slightly. “If you want I can talk with Vis, see if we can help you get started out?”
“You’ve just had twins. You need everything you can get.” He turned her down. “Besides I’d rather do it on my own, prove to her mom and dad I can provide for her.”
She smiled proudly at her brother. “Pop to the grocery store. They’ve got a sign in their window.”
“You’re the best sis.” He said before pressing a quick kiss to her forehead and running off.
***
Strange was not looking forward to speaking with Lila and Sylvie, he was sure he’d end up hurting for his troubles but they needed to get out of whatever was happening and find out exactly what caused it. His meditation earlier didn’t give him as many clues as he had hoped, the eye was being uncooperative. He couldn’t use it to view what had happened or run through the options and potential outcomes. The magical energy he could sense in the area was old, very old. It certainly didn’t feel like Chaos magic so he was sure it wasn’t Wanda’s magic, also he couldn’t see an early 20’s girl choosing what seemed like a 1950’s sitcom or drama as a fantasy base. Also given what he’d seen of her when she came into his office he was pretty sure she wasn’t aware or in control of what was happening.
“You ready Doc?” James asked as they approached Sylvie and Thor’s.
“To have fireballs thrown at me again?” He asked. “Sure.”
“I’ll just…” Morgan muttered as she pointed to the side and stepped away slightly to stand between the door and one of the front windows.
James nodded to Stephen to take a step closer to the door as he stepped behind the sorcerer. Stephen took a deep before raising his hand and knocking on the door, they could hear someone shuffling about inside and hear hissed whispered before more shuffling.
“What do you want?” Sylvie said with a glare as she cracked the door open.
“I…” Strange started before a red haze dropped over his vision and he returned Sylvie’s glare. “I want my damn wife back you bitch.” He hissed as he threw himself at the door.
Morgan squealed as James grabbed Strange by the back of his neck and threw him down the path, she shuffled closer to the door as she watched Strange and James swing at each other. She squeaked as Sylvie pulled her into the house before slamming her against the door.
“You’re supposed to be Lila’s friend! Why would you come here with her bastard of a husband?” She hissed as she pinned Morgan to the door.
Morgan winced as her arms were squeezed. “He was different! Something happened and his eyes flashed red! Something is going on in this town!”
“Sylvie.” Lila called softly from the door. “You’re hurting her.” Sylvie looked over her shoulder before releasing Morgan and going to Lila’s side, Lila relaxed into Sylvie slightly before turning to Morgan. “What do you mean Morgan?”
Morgan rubbed at her arms. “What do you remember?”
“I remember all I need to.” She said softly as she squeezed Sylvie’s hand.
“Cute.” Morgan muttered under her breath as the two women looked sweetly at each other. “But what do you remember clearly? Like how did we meet?”
“I babysat for you.” Lila shrugged. “Your mom Pepper…..” She trailed off slightly. “No, that's not right.” She whispered.
“No it is right!” Morgan said excitedly as she bounced on her toes slightly. “You went to college in New York cause you were pissed at your dad for basically abandoning you half the time and my mom, Pepper, invited you and Peter to come up whenever you wanted. You babysat me whenever she needed you to. Then it was 2040 and I tricked you into travelling to the past with me to change how things went so we could save my dad, Tony, from dying.”
“What is she talking about?” Sylvie asked as she looked at Lila.
“I…” Lila started before wiping stray tears from her face. “Why is whatever is controlling things not affecting you and me so much?” She asked as she sniffed slightly. “Sylvie is good at mind magic and she hasn’t been able to fight it.”
“Fight what?” Sylvie asked as she pulled Lila’s attention to her. “Fight what?” She whispered as she cupped Lila’s cheek.
“I don’t know.” She whispered. “But something is controlling us, creating some kind of illusion and wrapped reality somehow. You’re not even meant to be….” She hesitated as she twirled a lock of Sylvie’s hair around her finger. “Blonde.”
“I can change that!” Sylvie said quickly, her hair shimmering to turn a deep black. “I can be anything you want me to be.”
Lila sighed softly and tugged Sylvie closer to rest their foreheads together. “You’re all I want, just you as you are.” She rubbed her thumb over the other woman's cheek. “I love you.” She whispered.
“I love you too. So much.” Sylvie whispered before pressing forward to kiss Lila deeply.
Morgan kicked at the floor as the two women kissed deeply, she coughed lightly as they started to get more heated. “Can we try and fix things now or do you two want a few minutes upstairs?”
“We’d need more than a few minutes.” Sylvie said with a smirk after pulling away from Lila.
“Gross.” Morgan muttered before knock at the door startled her. Sylvie nodded for her to answer the door.
“So Strange is unconscious on your lawn.” James said as Morgan opened the door. “Can I drag him in or you want to leave him there?”
“I’d quite like to dig a hole and bury him.” Sylvie muttered.
James pulled a slight face. “That’s fair.”
***
“Hey.” Peter said softly as he ran into Thor. “Just wondering if you’ve got any work going on the construction crew?”
“We’re actually just wrapping up the most recent project.” He said, he frowned as he saw Peter deflate slightly. “Perhaps you’d be best look into getting a job delivering something? Given your history on the track running back and forth across town would be a good idea? Perhaps you could speak to your brother-in-law, ask if anything is going in their mail room.”
Peter wrinkled his nose. “I’d rather not give him anything to hold over my head.”
“Vision is honourable, he wouldn’t hold it against you if you asked him to help you get a job.”
“I don’t know.” He muttered. “I just don’t like him that much and we had a fight the other day.”
“Ah.” Thor said with a nod. “The grocery store has a sign in their window.”
“Position got filled.” He shrugged.
Thor frowned. “I shall keep you in mind for our next job.”
“Thanks Thor.” Peter said with a gentle smile. “Oh how’s Lila by the way?”
“Her and my sister seemed well this morning. I can not believe what her husband did to her, I don’t understand why someone would raise a hand to their wife.”
“Me neither.”
***
“Hello dear.” Wanda said softly as Vision entered their kitchen, he kissed their twins on the head before making his way over to her and giving her a kiss on the cheek.
“Hello Wanda.” He said softly.
She smiled at him before returning to their dinner preparations. “How was work?”
“Jameson from accounts was his usual self but what else can you expect on a wednesday afternoon?” They both laughed lightly as a laugh track rang out around them. “How was your day? The twins weren’t much trouble were they?”
“Oh absolutely none at all. We took a turn about the highstreet just before lunch and you’ll never guess what we saw?” She said as she turned her back on the counter to face him.
“What did you see?” He asked attentively, his entire focus on his wife.
“My brother Peter, looking at engagement rings for Morgan.”
“Ah he’s taking my advice then.” Vision said with a smirk as he stretched back in his chair smugly.
Wanda narrowed her eyes at him. “What advice?”
“I simply advised him to think of her reputation and if he was truly serious about her to ask her to marry him.” He said as he stood up and into Wanda’s space, he lightly rubbed her arms as he stood across from her. “I just reminded him it’s the done thing.”
Wanda hummed as she rest her hands on Vision's arms before pushing them down slightly. “He would’ve got there on his own.”
“Sure eventually. But now our attic will be free to make into a playroom for the twins and your brother will be happy. You want your brother to be happy don’t you?” He asked as he held her hands.
“Of course I do.” She answered quickly. “I just don’t want to rush him.”
“I know sweetheart.” He said softly as he pressed a kiss to her forehead, a light golden yellow shimmer sparked out from where his lips met her skin. “I know.” He lightly cupped her cheek and rubbed her cheekbone with his thumb as she leaned into his touch. “Now what's for dinner?”
“Oh I found this delightful recipe earlier!” She said excitedly as she turned back to the counter. “I think you’ll love it.”
Vision smiled as he wrapped his arms around her waist and let her voice wash over him as she described the recipe.