(MCU) Forged Reality: Chapter 2 - My feelings?

Chapter 2 - My feelings?

Summary: Wanda recived the full story, and the fate of Tony Stark is announced to the team.

Wanda wasn't sure what to make out of her brother's response, and it frustrated her.

She grabbed his arm and pulled it until his attention was on her and she hissed at him, "Explain. Now."

Pietro shook his head before he spoke, his voice a combination of disbelief and... regret? "Ultron was on the jet; he was raining bullets down. When I turned to notice what was going on, Hawkeye was protecting a small boy with his body. I... I'm not even sure why, but I couldn't let the kid get hurt, so I ran."

Wanda frowned, not understanding where the issue was. "You could have caught the bullets."

Pietro shook his head, his face pale again and his voice wavering a little. "No. There were too many of them, they were at a bad angle, and they were too close to Hawkeye and the kid. The only option I had... It... It was to block them with my body."

Wanda felt her own heart rate rising and she almost shouted, "You would have died!"

Pietro nodded in agreement. "I knew it, and... and I still ran. I was ready to sacrifice myself for them, even had a joke ready for my last words."

Her brother tried to soften the blow of his earlier words, but Wanda couldn't find it in herself to allow it, so instead she used all her fear and turned it into anger when she snapped at her twin, "You idiot! Don't you ever dare do something like that; it's not worth your life."

Pietro, who usually just backed off when she was scolding him, sent her a piercing look that shocked Wanda, but what really shattered her entire world were his next words: "What monster would I have to be to let a kid die like that? How would that make me any better than the people we've hated for years?"

Wanda took a step back from her brother. Was he calling her a monster? After all, didn't she just say he should have let the kid and Hawkeye die so he would stay alive? If her brother would have died, she wasn't sure what she would have done.

She doubted she could deal with the pain in a good way. So yes, she was selfish when she said that she preferred her brother alive rather than a random kid, but a monster... wasn't that too much?

Wanda hated the voice in the back of her mind, her mother's voice, that said calmly, "Listen to your brother, dear, or you will become what you hate most."

Not wanting to delve into a personal crisis, Wanda just let that go for now, even though she knew it would come to haunt her later.

While pushing away these thoughts, something that her brother said just sank in and her head snapped to his and she asked in a confused voice, "You said you ran..."

Pietro's eyes moved back to where Stark was laying and he said with pain in his voice, "Stark... he was there too; he noticed Hawkeye, but I was reacting faster than him and already running. He probably knew I was going to die, so he jumped in front of me at the same time he sent a missile to destroy the jet."

Wanda felt as if the world was shattering around her. Things that she believed and built her life around for many years were now coming apart at the seams. All she could respond with was in a weak voice, "He saved you..."

That statement was said as both a statement and a question to herself. Nonetheless, Pietro nodded.

Wanda was snapped back to reality when a piece of the blown-up jet moved and Ultron stepped out from under it. He took one look at the scene and began to laugh. "Hahaha... At least I took the best of you down this time around and..."

All of them were frozen when the metal man spoke, but suddenly something else other than his voice filled the air... A familiar roar.

Ultron looked up just in time to see a green mass about to land on him, and just before he was hit, the AI spoke with an annoyed voice, "Oh, for god's sak..."

He was cut off as the Hulk landed on him and proceeded to rip the metal out of his body piece by piece with massive bare hands.

Meanwhile, Hawkeye was screaming into his comm, "Fury! We have a man down; Tony took a bullet. His heart rate is low and dropping every moment."

Wanda wasn't sure what this Fury man said back, but Hawkeye looked annoyed and screamed again, "And how am I supposed to do that?! His armor weighs way more than I can lift!"

Hulk took a step forward and grunted out, "Hulk take tin man to pirate. Hulk save friend."

Hawkeye shook his head and spoke with a much calmer voice, "Sorry, big guy, but if you try to jump with him, the bullet can make even more damage."

Hulk growled, and Wanda could tell by the face of the two Avengers that they were panicking.

Captain America then stepped forward, shield on his back, and he said calmly with maybe a tiny amount of sadness that Wanda wasn't even sure he really felt, "We have to evacuate now."

Hawkeye snapped his head toward the man and asked in shock, "And leave Tony here?! Or move him and kill him?! Are you okay with that?"

The captain sighed a little and replied with the same calm, "We can't save everyone. Stark knew what he was doing; the best we can do is bring back a body for Potts to bury."

Hawkeye's shocked look turned into a glare and the Hulk growled at the blonde. Even Wanda felt disgusted with the man.

Sure, she hated Stark's guts, but she was honest about that. Rogers was supposed to be the leader, was supposed to be his friend, and it was so easy for him to just up and give up on him.

A sob drew the attention of everyone to the kid still sitting close by. He looked at Tony with a terrified look and asked in Sokovian, "Is... Is he okay? Iron Man is my favorite... he will be okay, right?"

The three Americans looked confused at the crying boy, not understanding what he was saying.

Wanda and Pietro exchanged an uneasy look, before Pietro turned toward the kid and spoke in their native language, "Hi kid..."

Her brother trailed off and Wanda's mind settled.

It was going against every single belief she held for so long, but she wouldn't turn into the monster that took her parents away from her. Even if it meant saving said monster.

Wanda began to move her fingers as scarlet wisps of magic gathered both around them and Stark's body.

Everyone looked between the now floating armored body and Wanda. She just shot all of them a sharp look and said, "What are you waiting for? Let's move before this whole place blows up."

Soon they were on a boat that headed toward the helicarrier. Just as they were about to dock, the entire rock they were on exploded, sending a shock wave that rattled their boat for a moment.

When the dust was settled, not even a small piece of debris was left to fall on the ground. She thought she saw Thor falling through the sky but pushed it out of her mind as she landed Stark softly on the ground so a medical agent could check on him.

The man fussed around Stark for the entire docking process and eventually let out a heavy sigh. "I can't assess the damage while he is in his suit."

Hawkeye cursed under his breath and said tightly, "Tony is the only one who knows the combination to open the armor."

Wanda noticed Rogers's disapproving face and mentally shook her head; she began to think that maybe this man wasn't what first impressions made him seem.

"There is one more person who does." A deep voice from outside the boat responded to Hawkeye.

All of them turned to see a dark-skinned man with an eyepatch, who wore a black long coat, walking with a woman with dark hair in a ponytail and firm expression at his side. Behind them was a group of agents that immediately began to evacuate the boat.

Each person gave Tony a different look. Some looked at him angrily, some looked happy at his pain, others looked sad, and a few even looked concerned for him. The little boy and his mother paused for a moment and the boy asked again, "You will save him, right?"

Wanda wasn't sure how to respond, so she just forced a smile on her lips. The boy seemed satisfied as he left with his mother.

When she turned back toward the rest, what she saw was a human wall hiding the black-clad man as he crouched over Stark, and a moment later a hiss sound filled the air.

When the agents moved away and stopped blocking their sight, they saw Stark lying on the ground with his armor open. His body now exposed, they could all see the pool of blood in his upper gut.

"Put pressure on the wound," commanded the medical agent.

The woman was already on her knees with a cloth pushed down on the wound as she grumbled, "Already doing so, Agent Parker."

All of them watched as Stark was carried off by agents to the emergency room. Wanda couldn't understand the pit that was slowly forming in her stomach.

They were all led to a waiting room. Rogers and the Widow seemed to sit together and were muttering something between themselves. Hulk, now in his small human form, was hunched over in his chair, his face drawn in worry. What Wanda was surprised about was the anger and resentment she could feel from the man, and all of that was aimed at the redhead spy.

The three other people in the room were pacing back and forth. Thor and the man wearing a black Iron Man suit was understandable; she could feel the distress that was coming off of them.

The third one surprised her—she could feel his distress too, and not only that, but there was also guilt mixed in there. The fact that shocked her most was that man was her brother.

She was about to stand from her seat and ask him about this when the agent that began treating Stark, his name was Parker she remembered, came out into the waiting room and all eyes snapped to him, including hers.

The man looked grim as he announced heavily, "Dr. Stark..." There was a long pause, and Wanda could feel the anguish coming off the man, which was odd for someone in the medical profession, "He won't be making it. The bullet did too much damage when you include the entire battle before it; his body just can't pull through."

Wanda could see the Widow nodding with a blank face, which she thought was a little disrespectful when she was told her friend was going to die.

She was even more surprised when she felt relief coming off Rogers at the news. But before she could contemplate it, five different waves of distress overwhelmed her.

One coming from the man sitting in the corner of the room, one from Thor, the third from the man who stepped out of an Iron Man-like suit, the fourth from her brother, and the final one from Hawkeye, who just returned from somewhere and heard the news. He was holding a phone, and she could hear sobs coming out of the other end.

For the past seven years, each time Wanda imagined Tony Stark dying, she smiled and had a strong urge to laugh loudly, but for some reason now that it had become reality, she felt sick. Like the pit in her stomach just reached the bottom and she had a hard time understanding what was happening to her.

That was the same feeling she got a taste of when she could feel her brother was about to die. But why? Why was Stark's death bothering her so much?

That was when the pirate from before, she was told his name is Fury, walked into the room in a hurry holding what looked like a very high-tech suitcase.

Fury headed straight to the man sitting in the corner of the room who was taking deep breaths.

Without even a greeting, Fury demanded with his deep voice, "Open it, Banner."

Banner's breath hitched as his eyes landed on the suitcase. He stared at it for a long moment before his gaze met Fury's and he said in a small voice, "Fury, Tony wouldn't want it; he said so. Maybe we should..."

"No!" Fury cut the man off with a growl before speaking in the same tone, "He doesn't get a say in it. Tony Stark is not allowed to die; if I have to reach into heaven and pull his ass back down here, I will. Now open the case!"

There was a heavy silence for a long moment as everyone looked at the exchange between the two.

After a moment, Banner stood up straight, higher than she ever saw the man stand before, and said firmly, "Friday, override medical protocol, code 'smash00@14'"

The AI's voice had Wanda on edge in the moment, and after the entire Ultron ordeal, it was hard to get over it, but what surprised her was that the Irish voice had a relieved tone to it as she announced, "Override accepted, Dr. Banner."

Banner gave a short nod and said with less of an edge to his voice, "Unlock Extreme carry unit."