Scott and Wanda | Detonation + 2
Mar. 30th, 2018 02:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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ax_mainTwo days after Detonation, Scott checks on Wanda.
Is it safe to come check on you yet?
Probably? You might want to avoid Eileen and Pietro. Neither of them much enjoys recovering. I'm fine, though, I told you that.
Your twin brother was shot, and you're fine? Try selling it to someone else, Maximoff, I'm not in a buying mood. I'll be there in 15.
In actuality, he was there in twelve minutes, but he figured it was close enough to count. Scott knocked cautiously. If he was going to get told off by Lance (or Fatale, or Eileen, or Pyro, or...) he at least didn't want to interrupt the recovery of the Brotherhood's multiple invalids.
With much the same thought in mind, Wanda made sure she was standing by to answer the door, and offered a crooked smile. "Hey. Coming in, or are we going out?"
He shrugged as though unconcerned, though he really was deeply, deeply concerned. The Brotherhood had blown up a base. They'd killed people in the process. In the meanwhile, two were down with serious injuries, and a third hadn't come out of it unscathed easier. How much longer until Alex or Wanda was in that number? How much longer until they'd turned his little brother into a murderer?
Neither of those questions had answers Scott suspected he'd like.
Still, his tone was even as he offered, "Dealer's choice."
Wanda sighed. "Let's get out of here for a while, then." She grinned, a little, as a thought occurred to her. "Did you bring the bike?"
Scott shook his head 'no.' "She's partially disassembled. I'm turbo-charging her," he said by way of explanation. "So I brought a Civic."
"Fuuuun. Let's walk." She gestured for him to come inside. "Just let me grab my coat."
He nodded, and stepped just inside the door. As far as he was aware, Alex was still holed up somewhere in his house, presumably with only Fatale for company. He didn't understand the two of them - honestly, he wasn't sure he ever would - but if that's what Alex needed to do....
Well, it blew, but it was what it was. He shoved his hands into his pockets and waited.
Wanda was back a minute later, tugging on a black jacket she didn't normally wear as she walked. "Lance said to keep a low profile," she explained before Scott could comment on the lack of her favorite red coat. "I figure this is close enough, right?" Between the coat and a lack of her usual make-up, she figured she wouldn't draw much attention - or at least, not attention linking her to the "mutant terrorist" featured so prominently on the news for the past few days. It wasn't as if she really stood out.
"Don't even recognize you," Scott promised dryly. He opened the door for her.
"That might be taking it a bit far," Wanda teased with a bit of a smirk as she headed out the door. "I mean, granted, I'm not a certain hot redhead, but I would've expected you to have looked at me at some point."
"Believe it or not, I have looked at you on occasion." Not the same way he looked at Jean, at least not these days. But he was a guy with eyes, and he spent a fair bit of time with Wanda Maximoff. "And laying low sounds like a good idea."
"Yeah, considering the news is speculating we're all dead? Might as well let them believe it for a while." At least until thinks calmed down some, and everyone'd had a chance to heal up. "I'm guessing half the student body there is wishing we were?"
"I don't know about that," Scott said slowly. Wishing the Brotherhood dead would be a bit extreme, and he hadn't heard anyone express it. But a lot of people were unhappy.
Scott included.
"But a lot of people aren't happy with what you did."
"Well, they can join the party, then. We're not exactly thrilled about what went down, either," Wanda pointed out.
He looked at her seriously. "Which parts of it bother you?"
"Playing psychiatrist now, Summers?" Wanda's eyebrows rose, but she shrugged. "Let's see. I nearly got my entire team killed. I did get three of them injured, including my twin, my best friend, and Pyro, who was my newbie when he signed o. Despite our best efforts, some of the assholes from the FoH got caught in the explosion - and while they may have asked for it, we'd been trying to avoid that. So, probably the better question is what parts don't bother me."
Scott took that all in silently. He hadn't been playing psychiatrist, not really. He hadn't asked the question to help Wanda heal in some way; even if he'd wanted to, he wasn't qualified. He'd asked because he was trying to understand what the fuck the Brotherhood had been thinking. "So why did you guys go, then?"
"To let them know they couldn't fuck with us," Wanda replied matter-of-factly. "They obviously set us up last time to take out my father, and there's no fucking way we could just leave it at that. We were going to get the people out and then blow up their base."
Scott had expected a claim of a preemptive defensive strike, which would have been specious enough, in his opinion. But this? 'We were going to commit an act of terrorism, we had just planned on a lower body count?' That was bullshit.
"How'd it go wrong?"
Wanda sighed. "I told Eileen and Pyro that yeah, they could go blow the server room. Because turning our two biggest hotheads lose was a good plan." She shook her head. "Actually, that was pretty okay. The problem came when a couple of the people there took off running deeper into the building, and they decided to follow them into an ambush. The FoH bastards hit them with something - I'm still not sure what - that knocked Eileen out and gave Pyro one hell of a concussion. He blasted back - and found out the hard way that the room they'd led them to? Was actually where the assholes were storing their huge stash of explosives." She rolled her eyes, again. "Which, of course, no one with the media is even mentioning were there. Just that the mutant terrorists blew the place to hell, and the idiots who were ambushing us were blown to hell with it." She looked at Scott. "We had gotten everyone else out, y'know. The only people still in the building were the ones who'd intentionally stayed there to blow the place."
"Oh, I'm sure the media spun the shit out of it. Tilby doesn't know any other way," Scott agreed. He was quiet for a moment, and then added, "But that's a far cry from thinking this was justified."
"Y'know, if you came over just to lecture me, I'm really not in the mood." Granted, she'd known he'd likely bring this up - but for once, it'd be nice if she didn't have to defend everything the Brotherhood did. Especially since she had some issues with this one, herself.
"I wouldn't have come over just to lecture you," Scott pointed out.
"You might have." She wasn't prepared to rule it out. Especially since she was willing to concede she'd fucked up, big time. Just probably not in the ways Scott was likely to insist she had.
"I can care about what happens to Alex, and to you, while disagreeing with what you're doing," he said, frowning a bit at her insinuation. "I am frustrated, yes. But I did honestly come to check on you."
"Oh." Wanda looked over at him, apologetic. "I'm okay. Or kind of okay, anyway." She forced a faint smile. "If nothing else good comes out of this, Lance and Pietro have finally decided to stop pretending there's nothing going on between them. So, there's that. And we got a new recruit."
"You did?" Scott asked, cocking an eyebrow.
"I swear, no one talks to each other at Xavier's." Wanda shook her head, then shrugged. "Illyana joined up yesterday. Not sure what prompted it, exactly, but we're not going to turn her away. Besides," she smiled faintly, "from what I've heard, it's not like there's going to be a ton of people upset over it. Even once word finally gets around."
He looked unimpressed with that description. "She's got friends at Xavier's, you know. Don't assume no one will care."
"I didn't say no one. I said not a lot." Wanda crossed her arms over her chest. "She's said so herself, Scott; it's not like I'm being mean here. She wasn't happy there - we're not going to turn her away, especially considering how much she means to Pyro. Simple as that."
"I'm not saying she was happy, or not. But some people will be devastated," Scott said. His tone wasn't defensive, but matter-of-fact. And he wasn't exactly jumping for joy himself either. "That said, her choice. Not ours."
"Exactly. Her choice. I'm sorry someone's going to be devastated - I know she had a few friends there, Billy and Tommy included. But it's not like we're going to keep her from seeing them, any more than we keep Alex from seeing you." Wanda gestured for Scott to follow and turned the corner, heading for the park down the road.
He went as she directed. "Yeah, but it's not the same as it would be if he jumped ship," Scott pointed out. He sighed and shook his head. "I didn't come here to argue with you."
"It seems like you did," Wanda admitted. "I'm really not in the mood to argue, though. Or to apologize for things I'm really not sorry for."
Scott bit his tongue until the urge to argue had passed. "How are you holding up? Seriously."
"Seriously?" Wanda headed for the swings and took a seat on one, wrapping her arm around the chain. "My brother was shot. My co-leader looks like a zombie, and would obviously rather be in with Pietro than anywhere else, which is fine except that when he's in there, I really can't be, which is driving me kind of insane. Eileen's an awful patient, and I'm just relieved that Magik is here because Pyro's so shaken he actually came to me and Lance and apologized. Fatale and Mort got into it with some girl from the school who showed up to drop off food of all things, and I can't remember the last time I actually slept. But I'm okay, because honestly? What choice do I have?"
Scott took all that in silently. Gingerly, looking for all the world like someone who had never been on a swing before, he sat on the swing next to her. "You're allowed to be human. And they aren't here right now. I'm not on your team, not your responsibility. So get it out. I'll catch you if you fall."
"If I fall, it'll probably be because I brought the swingset down on my head," Wanda joked feebly. Reaching up she rubbed at her forehead. "I swear, if my father were here, I might just kill him myself. I'm not cut out for this. Lance is, yeah, but me? There's no fucking way, and whatever Hank says, I'm pretty sure him taking of and putting me in charge was some kind of warped joke. Or maybe him getting even for me being a shit to him all those years."
"Can't exactly say I know him," Scott admitted. "But he seemed pretty dedicated to his cause."
Even if his cause was insane.
"He wouldn't have left you in charge if he didn't think you could do it."
"Well, he was wrong then, wasn't he?" Wanda dropped her hand and leaned her head against the chain. "The only thing I did right on that whole mission was get up a shield before the building could fall on us, and that was dumb luck. Beyond that? All I did was lose my temper, make crap decisions, and watch Pietro get shot."
"You didn't shoot him. The person who pulled the trigger did. And that person is responsible for their actions." Though, to be sure, the Brotherhood was also responsible for its actions too.
"I know that!" Wanda snapped, then took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly. "Sorry. I do know that, though. I just keep seeing it every time I close my eyes. That, and the roof coming down. At least this time, that wasn't me."
"Memories like that heal over time." It was all he had to offer, but it was true. They would scar, sure, but they'd heal,
"I know." Wanda looked up and grimaced. "Anyway, sorry. I'm crap company, I know."
Scott shrugged. "I didn't exactly come expecting sunshine, Maximoff." A beat. "How's Alex?"
Wanda gave him an apologetic look and shook her head. "I don't know. He hasn't been around a whole lot - I mean, he's around? But I haven't really talked to him. He wasn't in the building when it came down, though - he was outside with Fatale and Vance.
It both confirmed what Alex had said and had dragged Wanda out of the pit she'd been sinking into. "Still. Thanks."
Wanda frowned. "For what?"
"For telling me how he is. Even though the answer is apparently, 'intentionally fading into the background but physically unharmed,'" Scott explained.
"Which, to be fair, is how he normally is," Wanda observed with a faint smile. She shook her head. "I'm sorry, though. I should've checked in on him."
"Your brother got shot, and your best friend got knocked around," Scott said. "And he was physically unharmed. You can't be everywhere at once."
"I can try." Wanda closed her eyes for a moment. "Pretty sure Eileen asked me to, even, but then something else happened and I forgot."
"He's got Fatale looking after him," Scott said. Even if he and Fatale disliked one another, he knew that much was true. "And I was checking in via text."
"You're a good brother." Wanda opened her eyes a crack to peer at him, and offered a tired smirk. "Not an awful friend, either. Though I'll deny saying it if anyone asks."
"Good. No one would believe you anyway," Scott assured her, "but I've got a reputation to maintain."
"Oh, Jean'd probably believe me," Wanda corrected. "But your secret's safe with me." She re-closed her eyes.
"You need anything? Food. Medicine." He asked.
"No. Pyro and Yana went shopping, and Hank's been checking in and bringing stuff with him." Wanda opened her eyes and offered a crooked smile. "Any chance I could get a hug, though? I promise - one more thing I'll completely deny if anyone asks."
Scott stood and offered her a hand up.
Surprised, because she'd really been half kidding, Wanda took his hand and got to her feet. "You're sure your reputation can survive this, Summers?"
"No one else is here to see me," he said dryly.
"True. And they'd probably figure they were hallucinating if they did." One of the definite advantages to the situation. Wanda stepped in, wrapped an arm around his back, and dropped her forehead onto his shoulder. Because fuck. She very definitely needed a hug.
Scott wrapped her arms around her tightly, letting her rest against him. He still didn't approve of what she'd done, what they had done, but she was frayed at the edges and she was still his friend.
Is it safe to come check on you yet?
Probably? You might want to avoid Eileen and Pietro. Neither of them much enjoys recovering. I'm fine, though, I told you that.
Your twin brother was shot, and you're fine? Try selling it to someone else, Maximoff, I'm not in a buying mood. I'll be there in 15.
In actuality, he was there in twelve minutes, but he figured it was close enough to count. Scott knocked cautiously. If he was going to get told off by Lance (or Fatale, or Eileen, or Pyro, or...) he at least didn't want to interrupt the recovery of the Brotherhood's multiple invalids.
With much the same thought in mind, Wanda made sure she was standing by to answer the door, and offered a crooked smile. "Hey. Coming in, or are we going out?"
He shrugged as though unconcerned, though he really was deeply, deeply concerned. The Brotherhood had blown up a base. They'd killed people in the process. In the meanwhile, two were down with serious injuries, and a third hadn't come out of it unscathed easier. How much longer until Alex or Wanda was in that number? How much longer until they'd turned his little brother into a murderer?
Neither of those questions had answers Scott suspected he'd like.
Still, his tone was even as he offered, "Dealer's choice."
Wanda sighed. "Let's get out of here for a while, then." She grinned, a little, as a thought occurred to her. "Did you bring the bike?"
Scott shook his head 'no.' "She's partially disassembled. I'm turbo-charging her," he said by way of explanation. "So I brought a Civic."
"Fuuuun. Let's walk." She gestured for him to come inside. "Just let me grab my coat."
He nodded, and stepped just inside the door. As far as he was aware, Alex was still holed up somewhere in his house, presumably with only Fatale for company. He didn't understand the two of them - honestly, he wasn't sure he ever would - but if that's what Alex needed to do....
Well, it blew, but it was what it was. He shoved his hands into his pockets and waited.
Wanda was back a minute later, tugging on a black jacket she didn't normally wear as she walked. "Lance said to keep a low profile," she explained before Scott could comment on the lack of her favorite red coat. "I figure this is close enough, right?" Between the coat and a lack of her usual make-up, she figured she wouldn't draw much attention - or at least, not attention linking her to the "mutant terrorist" featured so prominently on the news for the past few days. It wasn't as if she really stood out.
"Don't even recognize you," Scott promised dryly. He opened the door for her.
"That might be taking it a bit far," Wanda teased with a bit of a smirk as she headed out the door. "I mean, granted, I'm not a certain hot redhead, but I would've expected you to have looked at me at some point."
"Believe it or not, I have looked at you on occasion." Not the same way he looked at Jean, at least not these days. But he was a guy with eyes, and he spent a fair bit of time with Wanda Maximoff. "And laying low sounds like a good idea."
"Yeah, considering the news is speculating we're all dead? Might as well let them believe it for a while." At least until thinks calmed down some, and everyone'd had a chance to heal up. "I'm guessing half the student body there is wishing we were?"
"I don't know about that," Scott said slowly. Wishing the Brotherhood dead would be a bit extreme, and he hadn't heard anyone express it. But a lot of people were unhappy.
Scott included.
"But a lot of people aren't happy with what you did."
"Well, they can join the party, then. We're not exactly thrilled about what went down, either," Wanda pointed out.
He looked at her seriously. "Which parts of it bother you?"
"Playing psychiatrist now, Summers?" Wanda's eyebrows rose, but she shrugged. "Let's see. I nearly got my entire team killed. I did get three of them injured, including my twin, my best friend, and Pyro, who was my newbie when he signed o. Despite our best efforts, some of the assholes from the FoH got caught in the explosion - and while they may have asked for it, we'd been trying to avoid that. So, probably the better question is what parts don't bother me."
Scott took that all in silently. He hadn't been playing psychiatrist, not really. He hadn't asked the question to help Wanda heal in some way; even if he'd wanted to, he wasn't qualified. He'd asked because he was trying to understand what the fuck the Brotherhood had been thinking. "So why did you guys go, then?"
"To let them know they couldn't fuck with us," Wanda replied matter-of-factly. "They obviously set us up last time to take out my father, and there's no fucking way we could just leave it at that. We were going to get the people out and then blow up their base."
Scott had expected a claim of a preemptive defensive strike, which would have been specious enough, in his opinion. But this? 'We were going to commit an act of terrorism, we had just planned on a lower body count?' That was bullshit.
"How'd it go wrong?"
Wanda sighed. "I told Eileen and Pyro that yeah, they could go blow the server room. Because turning our two biggest hotheads lose was a good plan." She shook her head. "Actually, that was pretty okay. The problem came when a couple of the people there took off running deeper into the building, and they decided to follow them into an ambush. The FoH bastards hit them with something - I'm still not sure what - that knocked Eileen out and gave Pyro one hell of a concussion. He blasted back - and found out the hard way that the room they'd led them to? Was actually where the assholes were storing their huge stash of explosives." She rolled her eyes, again. "Which, of course, no one with the media is even mentioning were there. Just that the mutant terrorists blew the place to hell, and the idiots who were ambushing us were blown to hell with it." She looked at Scott. "We had gotten everyone else out, y'know. The only people still in the building were the ones who'd intentionally stayed there to blow the place."
"Oh, I'm sure the media spun the shit out of it. Tilby doesn't know any other way," Scott agreed. He was quiet for a moment, and then added, "But that's a far cry from thinking this was justified."
"Y'know, if you came over just to lecture me, I'm really not in the mood." Granted, she'd known he'd likely bring this up - but for once, it'd be nice if she didn't have to defend everything the Brotherhood did. Especially since she had some issues with this one, herself.
"I wouldn't have come over just to lecture you," Scott pointed out.
"You might have." She wasn't prepared to rule it out. Especially since she was willing to concede she'd fucked up, big time. Just probably not in the ways Scott was likely to insist she had.
"I can care about what happens to Alex, and to you, while disagreeing with what you're doing," he said, frowning a bit at her insinuation. "I am frustrated, yes. But I did honestly come to check on you."
"Oh." Wanda looked over at him, apologetic. "I'm okay. Or kind of okay, anyway." She forced a faint smile. "If nothing else good comes out of this, Lance and Pietro have finally decided to stop pretending there's nothing going on between them. So, there's that. And we got a new recruit."
"You did?" Scott asked, cocking an eyebrow.
"I swear, no one talks to each other at Xavier's." Wanda shook her head, then shrugged. "Illyana joined up yesterday. Not sure what prompted it, exactly, but we're not going to turn her away. Besides," she smiled faintly, "from what I've heard, it's not like there's going to be a ton of people upset over it. Even once word finally gets around."
He looked unimpressed with that description. "She's got friends at Xavier's, you know. Don't assume no one will care."
"I didn't say no one. I said not a lot." Wanda crossed her arms over her chest. "She's said so herself, Scott; it's not like I'm being mean here. She wasn't happy there - we're not going to turn her away, especially considering how much she means to Pyro. Simple as that."
"I'm not saying she was happy, or not. But some people will be devastated," Scott said. His tone wasn't defensive, but matter-of-fact. And he wasn't exactly jumping for joy himself either. "That said, her choice. Not ours."
"Exactly. Her choice. I'm sorry someone's going to be devastated - I know she had a few friends there, Billy and Tommy included. But it's not like we're going to keep her from seeing them, any more than we keep Alex from seeing you." Wanda gestured for Scott to follow and turned the corner, heading for the park down the road.
He went as she directed. "Yeah, but it's not the same as it would be if he jumped ship," Scott pointed out. He sighed and shook his head. "I didn't come here to argue with you."
"It seems like you did," Wanda admitted. "I'm really not in the mood to argue, though. Or to apologize for things I'm really not sorry for."
Scott bit his tongue until the urge to argue had passed. "How are you holding up? Seriously."
"Seriously?" Wanda headed for the swings and took a seat on one, wrapping her arm around the chain. "My brother was shot. My co-leader looks like a zombie, and would obviously rather be in with Pietro than anywhere else, which is fine except that when he's in there, I really can't be, which is driving me kind of insane. Eileen's an awful patient, and I'm just relieved that Magik is here because Pyro's so shaken he actually came to me and Lance and apologized. Fatale and Mort got into it with some girl from the school who showed up to drop off food of all things, and I can't remember the last time I actually slept. But I'm okay, because honestly? What choice do I have?"
Scott took all that in silently. Gingerly, looking for all the world like someone who had never been on a swing before, he sat on the swing next to her. "You're allowed to be human. And they aren't here right now. I'm not on your team, not your responsibility. So get it out. I'll catch you if you fall."
"If I fall, it'll probably be because I brought the swingset down on my head," Wanda joked feebly. Reaching up she rubbed at her forehead. "I swear, if my father were here, I might just kill him myself. I'm not cut out for this. Lance is, yeah, but me? There's no fucking way, and whatever Hank says, I'm pretty sure him taking of and putting me in charge was some kind of warped joke. Or maybe him getting even for me being a shit to him all those years."
"Can't exactly say I know him," Scott admitted. "But he seemed pretty dedicated to his cause."
Even if his cause was insane.
"He wouldn't have left you in charge if he didn't think you could do it."
"Well, he was wrong then, wasn't he?" Wanda dropped her hand and leaned her head against the chain. "The only thing I did right on that whole mission was get up a shield before the building could fall on us, and that was dumb luck. Beyond that? All I did was lose my temper, make crap decisions, and watch Pietro get shot."
"You didn't shoot him. The person who pulled the trigger did. And that person is responsible for their actions." Though, to be sure, the Brotherhood was also responsible for its actions too.
"I know that!" Wanda snapped, then took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly. "Sorry. I do know that, though. I just keep seeing it every time I close my eyes. That, and the roof coming down. At least this time, that wasn't me."
"Memories like that heal over time." It was all he had to offer, but it was true. They would scar, sure, but they'd heal,
"I know." Wanda looked up and grimaced. "Anyway, sorry. I'm crap company, I know."
Scott shrugged. "I didn't exactly come expecting sunshine, Maximoff." A beat. "How's Alex?"
Wanda gave him an apologetic look and shook her head. "I don't know. He hasn't been around a whole lot - I mean, he's around? But I haven't really talked to him. He wasn't in the building when it came down, though - he was outside with Fatale and Vance.
It both confirmed what Alex had said and had dragged Wanda out of the pit she'd been sinking into. "Still. Thanks."
Wanda frowned. "For what?"
"For telling me how he is. Even though the answer is apparently, 'intentionally fading into the background but physically unharmed,'" Scott explained.
"Which, to be fair, is how he normally is," Wanda observed with a faint smile. She shook her head. "I'm sorry, though. I should've checked in on him."
"Your brother got shot, and your best friend got knocked around," Scott said. "And he was physically unharmed. You can't be everywhere at once."
"I can try." Wanda closed her eyes for a moment. "Pretty sure Eileen asked me to, even, but then something else happened and I forgot."
"He's got Fatale looking after him," Scott said. Even if he and Fatale disliked one another, he knew that much was true. "And I was checking in via text."
"You're a good brother." Wanda opened her eyes a crack to peer at him, and offered a tired smirk. "Not an awful friend, either. Though I'll deny saying it if anyone asks."
"Good. No one would believe you anyway," Scott assured her, "but I've got a reputation to maintain."
"Oh, Jean'd probably believe me," Wanda corrected. "But your secret's safe with me." She re-closed her eyes.
"You need anything? Food. Medicine." He asked.
"No. Pyro and Yana went shopping, and Hank's been checking in and bringing stuff with him." Wanda opened her eyes and offered a crooked smile. "Any chance I could get a hug, though? I promise - one more thing I'll completely deny if anyone asks."
Scott stood and offered her a hand up.
Surprised, because she'd really been half kidding, Wanda took his hand and got to her feet. "You're sure your reputation can survive this, Summers?"
"No one else is here to see me," he said dryly.
"True. And they'd probably figure they were hallucinating if they did." One of the definite advantages to the situation. Wanda stepped in, wrapped an arm around his back, and dropped her forehead onto his shoulder. Because fuck. She very definitely needed a hug.
Scott wrapped her arms around her tightly, letting her rest against him. He still didn't approve of what she'd done, what they had done, but she was frayed at the edges and she was still his friend.
