n i n e / y'all are dumbasses

"Y'all are dumbasses," Fury said good-heartedly as they all boarded the giant, much faster helicarrier. He nodded cordially at Cara when she got on, a sign that she was still, even if a small amount, unwelcome in his standings.

"Yes, thank you for reminding us," Clint muttered, "we'd completely forgotten after you pulled up with your giant fucking helicarrier."

Obviously, he didn't like to be bested.

Cara rolled her eyes, but kept her mouth closed. She didn't want to risk it, saying something sarcastic or accidentally offensive, knowing it would set off Fury in that way that has him shaking in his I'm-totally-calm-but-not-really way.

Someone else(presumably Agent Maria Hill) had taken the previous form of transportation and opted to drive it to a secure location, so no one could track it to the Avengers having ever been in it.

"It doesn't matter now, can anyone tell me why the hell you were in California picking up a cashier at an ice cream shop?" Fury said irritably. With one glance, Cara realized that Scott must have been so excited to see Captain America that he'd forgotten to take off his apron and hat, both sporting "Baskin Robbins" in blue and pink letters.

The middle-aged man fought to keep his head up, but the tips of his ears turned as pink as the font on his uniform. "Hi," he swallowed, "I'm Scott."

"Great," Fury said, and then turned to see Peter standing off to the side. He didn't say anything, just caught his eye and stared with a hard, cold fire in his eye.

"I-I'm Peter, sir," the younger boy stammered, and held out his hand politely. "Cara's cousin."

Nick Fury's head had never swiveled so fast on its axis. He locked in on Cara, who had a small, almost apologetic smile on her face. "There are...more of you?" He demanded.

"Uh, yeah, he's my cousin. Like he said," she smiled encouragingly at Peter, trying to make him feel better, but inside, she was squirming, wanting desperately to get out of the situation. She hated that everyone was just letting it happen, watching her get scolded by a man who neither knew her, but also didn't make any effort to get to know her.

"We brought this guy, though, you know him," Steve said all of a sudden, clapping a hand on Sam's shoulder. "We got Sam back."

The director's eye shifted from Cara's to Sam's, his glare softening to recognition. "Nice to see you again, Wilson," he greeted.

"Uh, same to you, man," Sam replied, and looked around at the interior of the flying , spaceship-like structure they were using to get back to New York. "Say, you wanted to know what's going on, right?"

Fury nodded. "It'd help a bit, yes."

Scott rose his voice again, but avoided all acknowledgement of him being there. "Yeah, I don't actually know what's up, either. You guys just offered me a ride in the car with you, so I said yes. You could've been serial killers and I would've followed you into that van any day." He gestured to Steve. "I mean, it's Captain America."

Steve scratched his chin in mock thought. "Now why does your personality feel so familiar?"

-

They landed in New York almost five hours later, and even though time seemed to have stopped, it was much quicker than it would have been to drive in that suffocating van they'd snatched.

Fury--and Scott--had been informed on the whole situation, and then Wanda and Pietro had searched for a place to take a nap, which everyone bet would last for the remaining portion of the trip.

It did, and more.

So Cara was sent to wake them up, a job she would have rather left to Steve, who knew them more. But they all had "adult things to take care of,"(yes, apparently Peter was an adult to them), so she was the last one on the helicarrier in search of the twins.

She found them in a far room, secluded, and away from everything else, curled up on the floor. It didn't seem like it mattered, though, they were sleeping soundly.

Cara felt a little bad for having to wake them up from the longest amount of sleep they'd had since they arrived at the tower, but she knew she had to do it, the helicarrier couldn't be left out on top of the Avengers tower for much longer, or it'd be noticed by regular civilians.

The teen crouched by Wanda first, and lightly tapped her shoulder, scurrying away in case she flung her arms out. But she did nothing, still in a deep sleep.

Next she tried whispering her name, like a mantra. "Wanda, Wanda, wake up, Wanda, wake up..."

Cara's shoes were a little more slippery than she'd thought they would be, and in a moment, the soles of her boots were sliding out from under her, and she went toppling onto the sleeping girl.

Well, she wasn't now.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry, Wanda, I didn't mean to--"

Her voice was cut short by a blinding force that pushed her away from Wanda, her back colliding with the wall behind her.

In the dark, she could see red veins of energy forming from her fingers, creating a ball of sparkling, sizzling power that latched onto Cara's neck.

Wanda didn't even say anything, but in the haze of her powers, her eyes were dark, full of hatred, a sliver of panic hidden in the depths of them.

Cara choked, completely taken aback at the girl's actions, and was surprised Pietro hadn't woken up. All she could focus on was trying to get far enough away from Wanda that she could breathe.

But she couldn't move, as another blast of red locked her arms and legs against the wall.

"W-Wanda," she gasped for breath, "s-stop--"

Wanda sauntered up to the teen, a fire alight in her eyes, and hovered her hands close to Cara's neck. "Get away from me," she said lowly, her accent making her seem even more dangerous.

"W-Wanda," Cara tried again, "it-it's me, C-Cara," she said hoarsely, her voice like sandpaper against her throat.

Then, like a switch had flipped the lights back on in Wanda's mind, her grasp on her neck and limbs released. Her eyes lost their dark glimmer, and she lowered her hands to her sides.

"I am so sorry," she whispered, "I...I didn't know it was you."

Cara would have reached out to comfort her, but held her hand back, still a sliver uneasy around her after what had just happened.

"What happened?" Pietro had been woken up by all the movement, and now stood behind his sister, clenching her arm gently.

Cara eyed Wanda, searching for an answer to whether or not they should reply to her brother.

Wanda shook her head. "Nothing, it's fine. We were just...talking."

Cara nodded. She knew Wanda wouldn't want to talk about this, to anyone. So she kept her mouth shut, and led them out of the helicarrier.

But the feeling of having her neck strangled was still there, a ghost that wouldn't go away for awhile.