Chapter Text
“So,” Sam said slowly, “What you’re telling me is that Wanda went crazy and kidnapped and mind controlled a whole town, and no one can get in or out, and no one knows how she did it, and no one knows how to undo it?”
“Yeah,” stated the agent driving the van.
“And on top of the whole kidnapping thing, she somehow managed to resurrect Vision, complete with the Mind Stone, and he doesn’t remember anything?” Sam continued.
“Also yeah,” the agent said.
“So this is a magic thing,” Bucky said.
“We’re fairly sure.”
“And you really think we’re the best equipped to handle it?” Sam asked. “Look, we can punch bad guys all the livelong day, but magic isn’t exactly our forte.”
“Look, I just work here,” the agent said. “Hayward wants you for some reason, so I’m just supposed to bring you.”
“Alright,” Bucky sighed, shifting a bit in his seat. He looked from the agent to Sam, who was sitting across from him. “Well, we should be there soon, so we can just ask this Hayward guy what he needs from us when we get there.”
They arrived at a sort of makeshift camp, tactical tents and vehicles all parked in front of an expanse of field. Nothing looked amiss at first, but then they noticed the air around the field shimmering like TV static.
“Wanda did all of this?” Sam wondered, stepping out of the truck.
“Let’s not make assumptions until we know more,” Bucky suggested.
They were led into the largest tent. It was filled with screens and blue lights, giving everything an ominous feel. Most of the screens showed still footage, likely monitoring the borders of the anomaly, but a few people were huddled around a small station, muttering to each other.
“Director Hayward?” Sam called. “Did you call us here?”
An older man who was hunched over the station straightened and looked at them, his brow furrowed. “What? No, I didn’t send for anyone… what- Why are they here?”
“I called for them,” said the woman seated in front of the closest screen, her hands still on the controls. “I thought they might be able to talk to her, maybe reason with her.”
“You went behind my back?” Hayward demanded.
Bucky and Sam both stepped up to the station, assessing what the situation was.
“Look,” Sam said, “We just want to help. What’s going on?”
“Nothing that you need to get involved in,” Hayward said bitterly, turning away from them and back to the screen.
“Look, it’s not like we were doing anything important before this,” Bucky said. It was somewhat true; His therapist certainly thought that making amends should be important to him, but all it felt like to Bucky was a half-assed attempt to keep him busy rather than actually help anyone. Outside of the amends, his daily routine consisted of sitting by himself in his small apartment, looking through the notebook Steve had left him and trying to decide whether any of the twenty-first century staples he had written down were worth looking into. It was pretty pathetic, especially compared to Sam’s leaping back into action in partnership with the military. Sam was already serving the greater good. All Bucky could manage were thoughts about Steve.
“We don’t have time to argue about this,” said the woman. She looked at Bucky and Sam. “My name is Monica Rambeau, it’s nice to meet you both. I thought that since you both know Wanda, she might be willing to listen to you more than she does to us.”
“You’re going to have to explain a little bit about what we’re trying to reason her into doing,” Sam said. “We haven’t been told too much about this so-called Maximoff Anomaly.”
“Darcy knows the most,” Rambeau said, nodding to a woman a few screens away, looking at an antique TV with a different agent by her side.
“Dr. Darcy Lewis,” Lewis introduced herself. “I’ve heard about you guys, you’re pretty cool. I see you got a haircut?” She gestured at Bucky’s head, but when Bucky only stared in response, she waved her own point aside and continued. “Anyways, the Maximoff Anomaly, or, as I like to call it, the Hex, is a sort of weird alternate reality that Wanda created as what we’re pretty sure is a very elaborate coping mechanism.”
“We’re not calling it the Hex,” muttered the agent next to her.
“Yes we are, Jimmy,” Darcy said, slapping him gently on the shoulder. “The Hex is basically a place where Wanda can make whatever she wants. We’re not entirely sure how she’s controlling it, but she’s essentially turned the entire town into an ‘80s sitcom. Oh, and she brought Vision back to life.”
“She brought him back to life ?” Sam demanded.
“Yep,” Darcy nodded. “As far as we can see, she can do anything within the Hex.”
“Anything?” Bucky repeated.
“Anything,” Darcy affirmed.
That was certainly thought-provoking.
“And she’s broadcasting everything, too?” Sam asked.
Darcy gestured to the screen in front of her, where Wanda was talking with two teenage boys on a couch. It certainly looked convincing. Bucky might not have been able to tell it wasn’t a real show if he didn’t recognize Wanda’s face.
“Enough, we don’t need more explaining,” Hayward snapped. “We’re getting close to Wanda’s house, we need to focus.”
“Getting close?” Bucky stepped closer to Hayward and Rambeau, looking at the screen they were hunched over. “I thought no one could get in.”
“No one can, but we sent a special drone,” Rambeau explained. “We need to talk to her, and this was the only way.”
“You don’t think she’s going to get spooked by a random drone flying up to her house?”
“The drone’s not armed,” Rambeau assured him. “We just want to talk to her. That’s where I figured you could help.”
Bucky and Sam both looked at the blue screen. The feed was choppy, but they could make out the town of Westview flying by underneath the camera. It soared over the center of town and approached the more suburban neighborhood. There were rows of similar-looking houses. There didn’t seem to be anything wrong with the town. Wanda’s illusion could have fooled Bucky.
“Look, I know this tech is from the ‘80s, but can we sharpen the visuals?” Hayward asked.
“Working on it,” Rambeau replied, steering her joystick so the drone hovered just outside Wanda’s house. Wanda was already walking out, a small dog at her heels. Wanda looked up at the drone, confusion in her eyes. “Maximoff located.”
“Well done,” Hayward muttered. “What’s going on with the sitcom feed?”
“We can’t see the drone on the broadcast,” Jimmy said. “Wanda’s framing it out of the shot.”
“Just like all the jump cuts,” Darcy realized. “Wanda decides what makes it onto her show and what doesn’t.”
“So she really is living in a world of her own creation, where anything is possible,” Bucky said.
“We’ve established this,” Hayward said impatiently. “Alright, here we go.” He tapped Rambeau on the shoulder. “You’re up.”
Rambeau pressed and held down a button on her control panel. “Wanda, this is Captain Monica Rambeau. Can you hear me?”
Wanda did not reply. She just looked at the drone with an expression that was quickly changing from confusion to realization.
“We just want to talk,” Rambeau continued. “That’s it.”
Realization turned to anger in seconds. Despite the feed being black and white. Wanda’s eyes began to glow a vibrant scarlet.
“She’s not responding,” Rambeau said. “Sam, you lived with her. Can you try?”
“I can, but I can’t promise it’ll make a difference.” Sam stepped up until he was right next to Rambeau and could speak into her microphone. “Wanda? It’s Sam. We’re all worried about you out here, kid, so if you could talk to us, we’d really appreciate it.”
Wanda did not reply.
“This is a waste of time,” Hayward declared, grabbing Sam by the shoulder and pulling him away from the mic. “Take us closer.”
“Wait, hold on,” Rambeau said, fiddling with her joystick. “My controls aren’t working. Reconnect patch.”
“Disregard,” Hayward said bluntly. He turned to one of his agents. “Take the shot.”
“Wait, what?” Sam demanded. “What are you-”
“Wh- No,” Rambeau said, her expression turning puzzled. “The drone isn’t armed.”
“Take the shot,” Hayward repeated. The screen in front of his agent blared red with the words “Missile Locked”.
“You can’t kill her,” Bucky said quickly. “We don’t know if that will fix this or make it worse-”
“Take the shot!” Hayward shouted.
Before any of them could see what had happened, or whether the missile had been fired or not, the feed went to static. Wanda was gone.
Rambeau stood angrily and slammed her headset on the desk, facing Hayward. “What did you do?”
“She won’t listen to us, we had to look at other options,” Hayward said.
“I know she won’t listen to us, that’s why I called her friends,” Rambeau said exasperatedly, gesturing at Sam and Bucky, who were still pretty confused as to what was going on. “Trying to kill her isn’t going to-”
“There’s a breach, sir!” one of the other agents called. Everyone in the tent immediately looked to the exit and began rushing out in a panic.
“Do you know what a breach means?” Bucky asked Sam as they blindly followed the crowd.
“No, but I have the feeling we’re about to find out,” Sam replied.
The space directly in front of the Hex wall was chaos. Trucks were pulling up into formation around where the static was most concentrated, and gunmen were lining up. Alarms were blaring. Hayward and Rambeau raced to the front of the line, while Bucky and Sam hung back a few feet next to Dr. Lewis.
The static wall shimmered and glitched, then began to bubble forward like something emerging from the water. The wall flashed red for a second before Wanda herself emerged, dragging the broken drone behind her. It sparked and fizzled with a frightening red glow.
As soon as she broke through the barrier, every gun pointed its laser directly at her chest. She did not seem affected.
She strode directly up to Hayward, unafraid. “Is this yours?” she demanded, throwing the drone at his feet.
He looked at it in shock for a moment before saying, “The missile was just a precaution. You can hardly blame us, Wanda.”
“Oh, I think I can,” she said. “This will be your only warning . Stay out of my home.”
That’s not your home, Bucky thought. But then again, wasn’t it? That place was whatever Wanda wanted it to be. It could be her home. It could be anyone’s home, if she let them in.
It could be his home, if he wanted.
“You don’t bother me,” Wanda went on, “I won’t bother you.”
“I wish it could be that simple,” Hayward said. “But you’ve taken an entire town hostage.”
“Well, I’m not the one with the guns, Director,” Wanda fired back, gesturing to the rifles all pointed in her direction.
“But you are the one in control,” Rambeau said carefully, stepping forward.
“You’re still here,” Wanda wondered, raising a hand at her side. Her palm pulsed with red energy, threatening.
“Wanda, I didn’t know the drone was armed,” Rambeau said. “But you know that, don’t you? A town full of civilians, and you, a telepath, brought a SWORD agent into your home. You trusted me to help deliver your babies, on some level, Wanda, you know I am an ally.”
“She has babies?” Sam whispered to Bucky. “Wha- Where did she get babies?”
“She’s back with Vision now,” Bucky suggested.
“You- You’re telling me that they’re Vision’s babies?” Sam asked skeptically. “He’s a robot.”
“In Westview, anything is possible,” Bucky reminded him.
“I don’t like the way you say that,” Sam said. “You sound like you’re getting ideas. Look, man, we’re here to help, Wanda, okay?”
“Yeah, I know that,” Bucky told him. Whether he meant it or not…
“I want to help you,” Rambeau said.
“How?” Wanda asked. “What could you possibly have to offer me?”
“What do you want?”
“I have what I want,” Wanda barked. “And no one will ever take it from me again.”
She twisted her hand upwards and sideways, the red energy flickering and flaring. The gunmen on all sides pivoted until their guns faced Hayward, and their eyes glowed red.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Hayward cried, throwing his hands up. Rambeau stumbled backwards, out of the line of fire. “Stand down! Stand down!”
Wanda turned around and started to return to the Hex.
“Wanda, wait!” Sam shouted, running past Hayward towards her. Bucky followed suit, staying right at Sam’s heels.
“Sam, I’m really not in the mood,” Wanda warned.
“You’re hurting people, Wanda,” Sam said, ignoring the warning.
She whirled around, glaring. “And what about me , Sam? What about my hurt? I have lost everything ! I am tired of people telling me I need to make more and more sacrifices and not giving two damns about whether I’m happy! Do you know what that feels like?”
“No, I guess I don’t, but I want to help-”
“Then you can shut up! ” Wanda howled, twisting her hands again. Red veins of light wound their way around Sam’s arms and lifted him off the ground, throwing him back towards Rambeau. He shouted as he went, but Wanda ignored him. As soon as he was out of the picture she turned to Bucky, her hands still glowing, ready to fling him too.
“Are you here to tell me to stop, too?” she asked. “Are you going to try to talk me out of this? Because you have no idea -”
“I do,” Bucky said quietly. “Wanda, I know what it’s like to lose everything. I know-” He cut himself off. “I do.”
She tilted her head at him inquisitively. “ Are you trying to convince me out of this, James?”
“I… yes?” Bucky tried.
“You’re not very convincing.”
He chuckled humorlessly. “Sometimes I forget you can read minds.”
“I don’t have to read yours to know,” she said gently. “It shows in the way you walk, in how you stand. You miss him. Steve.”
Bucky paused before nodding. “All the time.”
“You want to see him again.”
“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t.”
“Then you should understand,” Wanda said, lowering her hands. “Vision… With what I’m doing… I don’t have to miss him anymore. I lost everything, but I found a way to have it back.”
Bucky fisted his hands, breathing deeply. He sounded like an absolute jerk to say it, but… Wanda was lucky . She was so lucky that she had that ability. To be magical, to have the power to undo that much loss… If Bucky had that power, he’d act the exact same way. Screw the rest of the world; it had taken enough. He could afford to be selfish, he could afford to give himself the one thing he wanted.
He’d lived with Steve as a part of him for all his life. He’d never had to be without him. Even after escaping HYDRA seventy years later, Steve had still been there for him, to believe in him and protect him and give him an anchor. Where would Bucky have been without him? Probably still under the control of corrupt Soviets and world governments. Even as children, they’d had each other’s backs.
And of course, Bucky could never be honest about how he really felt. How could he? Tell Steve he’d been hopelessly head over heels for him, even back when he’s barely come up to Bucky’s shoulders? In their past, it would have been ridiculous. He might have been arrested, for God’s sake, if Steve took it wrong and reported him. Then HYDRA had happened, and it was the twenty-first century, and maybe being queer was accepted, but too much had happened; Bucky had been in a worse mental state than possibly anyone in history before him, and Steve had been Captain America, the Star Spangled Man himself, and how could it ever have worked? So Bucky had been content to just be friends, to stay in Steve’s shadow as his best friend, not his best guy, and it had been fine (it hadn’t, but they had been together and Bucky could take anything as long as Steve was there).
But the universe couldn’t have even afforded him that, because as soon as he’d gotten better and thought maybe, just maybe, he could finally find the courage to tell Steve the truth, Steve had chosen to leave.
Bucky should have known that as soon as time travel was put on the table, Steve would go running back to Peggy Carter. He didn’t hate Peggy by any means, but he couldn’t help but feel jealous. Steve would always choose her. Steve would never choose him. This was just the way things had been from the start, and Bucky knew that.
It didn’t make being alone any less painful.
He was so, so alone. And so very broken.
Wanda put one of her hands on his temple and gently pressed. He could feel her magic slipping under his skin and into his mind, and surprisingly, he welcomed it. He could only imagine what this looked like to the crowd behind them. It probably looked like she was trying to control him, but the truth was that she was just starting to understand him.
“I envy you,” he whispered to her, his voice shaking. “If I had the power to bring him back…”
“You really want to see him again so badly?” Wanda asked. Her bottom lip was trembling, and he could see it in the faint red glow of her eyes: she was reading his memories, his emotions. She would know everything about how he felt when she was done sifting through his brain.
“Yes,” he responded. “Please help me. I can’t live like this.”
Wanda dropped her hand and took a step backwards towards the Hex wall. “Then come with me.”
He followed her to the very edge of the Hex wall, ignoring the shouting behind him as the gunmen lowered their weapons. It was certainly intimidating. It looked as if when he went through it, he might be shredded alive.
“I can take care of you,” Wanda promised. “I can take care of everything. All you have to do is let me.”
He put his left hand against the wall and watched as his fingers fizzled with the energy. He could feel the tingling, and quick pinpricks of pain every so often. His arm sparked red.
“Will it hurt?” he asked.
“Don’t worry about it,” Wanda advised. “Just know that if you follow me, you’ll never have to miss him again.”
She smiled at him weakly, and held her hands up. She pulled, prying at the Hex wall like it was a door, and stepped through the gap in the red static easily, disappearing in a flash. The doorway didn’t disappear after her. It was waiting for him.
He started to follow her.
“Bucky!” he heard Sam shout from behind him. “What are you doing?”
He turned around slowly, and the betrayed look on Sam’s face was almost enough to make him stay. “I have to, Sam. She can help me.”
“She can’t, Buck,” Sam urged. “None of it will be real. You’re only going to hurt yourself more.”
“I don’t care,” Bucky decided. “I have to see him again. I have to.”
And with that, he ignored the rest of Sam’s fruitless attempts to dissuade him and stepped right through the Hex wall.
The compound was bleak as soon as the ordeal was over, everyone in a sort of panicked stupor. Wanda had taken apart their defenses and escaped easily, not having listened to a word any of them had said. Sam seemed to be the only one remotely concerned that Wanda had just run off with Bucky in tow.
“Is no one going to be concerned about this?” he asked as he followed Monica Rambeau back to the tents. He was massaging his back after having landed hard when Wanda threw him, and he was still wincing. “Bucky just- He just strolled right in there with her!”
“Look, I’ve been in there before,” Monica said, not at all comfortingly despite her best efforts. “She won’t hurt him, just change him. He won’t remember anything.”
“How do we get him out?” Sam followed Monica until they were back at her station near Darcy and Jimmy to monitor the broadcast. “There’s got to be some way to save him.”
“Yeah, uh, you saw him going in there,” Darcy said, plopping down into her seat and propping her legs up on the desk. “He probably doesn’t want to be saved.”
“But he- Bucky wouldn’t just- Do you really think he was that unhappy?”
Darcy shrugged. “Wasn’t Steve, like, his only friend? To someone like him, having someone else take control of his brain was probably a relief.”
“Oh what, are you the therapist now?” Sam asked rhetorically.
She held her hands up. “I’m just saying.”
“Shh,” Jimmy scolded. “The show’s starting again.”
The ‘Please Stand By’ screen faded to static, then back into picture. Wanda was back in her house, frizzy ‘80s hair and all. It seemed to pick up exactly where it had left off. Wanda was sitting on the couch with her twin boys, Sparky in Billy’s lap.
“She just… reset it?” Sam asked.
“She can do that,” Darcy answered.
“Do you have a brother, Mom?” Tommy was asking.
“I do,” Wanda said, nodding. “He’s far away from here… and that makes me sad sometimes.”
“Did you ever disagree?” Billy asked.
“All the time,” Wanda assured them. “But we always got over it and found ways to get along. Because that’s what family does.” She stood up from the couch. “Now, if you guys and Sparky don’t have any more tricks to show me, I thought we should start getting ready for dinner. We have guests coming over, remember?”
There was a click from the door, and it swung open. Vision walked in hesitantly.
“Wanda, darling?” he said, smiling, but looking a little fazed.
“Yes, dear?”
“You’ll never guess who I ran into on the way here,” Vision said, stepping inside. Someone else followed him, admiring the house as he stepped through the door. As soon as he appeared, the studio audience cheered and clapped.
“My God, Wanda,” Bucky gasped as he walked in. “You have a beautiful house. I’ll have to come by more often!”
“James!” Wanda exclaimed, running over to give him a brief hug. “Oh, I’m so happy you could make it!”
Bucky’s hair was longer, in an ‘80s long comb over, and he was in a short-sleeved button-up shirt. His left arm was no longer made of metal. Sam had to admit, he certainly looked happier. Even if it was fake, his smile was much more genuine than any smile of his Sam had seen in reality.
“We wouldn’t miss seeing you again for the world,” Bucky was saying, “And don’t worry, the rest of the cavalry is on its way, but I figured I’d come over early to see if I could help with the cooking.”
He strolled lazily around Wanda as if he’d been in the house a thousand times, and made his way towards the kitchen. Tommy and Billy ran up to him.
“Hey kids,” he said happily, ruffling Billy’s hair as he walked. “Nice to meet you, I’m a friend of your mom’s.”
As Bucky and the twins went into the kitchen, Vision closed the door and looked at Wanda in confusion.
“Where did he come from?” Vision asked quietly. “We’ve never seen him before…”
“Oh, don’t be silly Vision,” Wanda waved him off. “James just moved in. We’ll get to know them better as time goes on, I promise.”
“But…” Vision trailed off as Bucky came back into the living room, a glass of water in his hand.
“Don’t worry, James, I’ve got the cooking taken care of,” Wanda said, leaving Vision’s side. “It’s just some chicken, I hope you don’t mind the simplicity.”
“Trust me,” Bucky said, “We’re going to love it. In our house the only thing either of us knows how to cook is potatoes, and one can only eat those so many times before everything else starts to taste gourmet in comparison.”
“This is so weird,” Sam said. “He’s just… going along with it. Like it’s scripted or something.”
“It is,” Monica said. “She gets inside your head and sort of controls what you do. He might not even be able to tell she’s doing it.”
“James, let me introduce you to the twins,” Wanda said, resting her hands on the boys’ shoulders. “Tommy, Billy, this is my friend James. You guys are going to love him, I promise. He’s great fun.”
“ And I’ve got a mean left hook, so if anyone’s giving you trouble you know where to go,” Bucky advised. There was brief laughter from the studio audience.
Another ring of the doorbell got everyone’s attention.
“Ah, that’ll be the rest of the cavalry I promised,” Bucky said.
“I’ll get it!” Tommy shouted as he rushed over to the door and pulled it open.
The man who came in next really shouldn’t have been a surprise, all things considered, but Sam’s mouth fell open nonetheless.
“Is that Captain America?” Darcy wondered aloud.
“Steve!” Bucky cried happily.
The fake Steve held up a bouquet of yellow flowers as he walked into the house, the audience cheering. “Buck, you left the flowers at the new house. Come on, you know it’s rude to go to someone’s house without bringing something for them.”
“Nonsense,” Wanda said, “We don’t need anything, we’re just happy to have you guys here.”
Bucky hopped up the steps leading to the front door to grab the flowers from Steve’s hands and pass them over to Wanda. “Can you blame me, Stevie? The house is a mess right now, moving boxes and dust everywhere. I’m surprised you even managed to find the flowers at all.”
“What would you do without me?” Steve wondered, and Bucky smiled. He tipped his face upwards to peck Steve lightly on the lips.
The compound erupted into pandemonium.
Other agents who had been watching on separate screens were jumping out of their seats and panicking with one another, and there was a lot of screaming going on. It was as if Tony Stark had announced he was Iron Man on the news all over again for how dramatic the reaction was.
“Holy frick !” Darcy screamed, her hands flying up into her hair. “Did they just kiss ?!”
“W- W- What the hell?” Jimmy stuttered. “Did- Did they make that up or was- Was… What?”
Monica looked up from the screen at Sam with wide eyes. “Were they a couple? Did you- I mean, did you know about this?”
“No,” Sam breathed, his own mouth having fallen open. “I had… no idea.”
Had Steve and Bucky been a couple in real life? They’d certainly been close - inseparable, really. Steve had sacrificed almost everything he had just to keep Bucky safe. But then again, Steve had left to put the Infinity Stones back in their rightful places and he had returned as an old man, with a wedding ring on his finger. He’d left Bucky behind, so obviously they hadn’t been quite as close as that.
The only answer was that the feelings had been one-sided.
And Bucky had asked for Wanda to help him, hadn’t he?
“Oh, Bucky,” Sam muttered under his breath. “What did you do?”
The first bit was super easy, to his surprise. Bucky didn’t even have to try. Wanda was right; she had taken care of everything for him.
He strode into that house like he belonged there, like it was scripted. He could feel her in his mind, pulling strings, telling him what to say and do. It was… painful, sure. He had a pounding headache from every decision she made for him, and occasionally when he moved he could feel her magic changing bits of him, such as his left arm. It felt a bit like needles under his skin instead of blood. But he was used to pain. Compared to HYDRA’s magic brainwashing chair, this was a picnic.
Wanda’s twins were cute, and her house was actually quite nice, for being completely fake. Yeah, Bucky knew it was fake; Wanda had left him a few scraps of his consciousness, just enough to let him process what was going on. Deep down, he knew it was all pretend. But it was so much easier just to play along and follow her directions. He had felt happier in his five minutes within the Hex than two whole weeks in the real world after the whole Thanos ordeal.
So yeah. The first part was easy.
Then he walked in through the door. Him, in all his six feet and one inch glory, and he looked so real . Sure, Wanda had gotten a few of the details wrong. His nose should have been a little more crooked from getting broken so many times, and his eyes were the wrong shade of blue, but those were things Bucky could overlook because this Steve was real , of course he was, because Bucky could see him and touch him and that’s what made things real, right?
So here, in this little pocket of paradise, a small town outside of time and space, where Wanda could take care of everything, and there wasn’t going to be another fight ever again, and Bucky wasn’t some kind of retired killing machine, Bucky could pretend that Steve hadn’t left him all alone. Here, he could pretend that they actually had a chance at a peaceful life together.
Here, he could pretend that pretending was enough.