Wandas POV

I can't help it; I need to peak into her mind. I have to. I have to know if the reasoning of what I was slowly starting to piece together was true, if I was right.

And if I am..

I don't want to be...

I saw the way she was moving, could see the stiffness in her limbs. The way she winced like the clothing she was wearing was tearing at her skin.

So I wondered; what if it was?

The way she was acting.. like none of this mattered. Everything was a joke. She didn't care if we tried to stop her. I know she went on about us not being able to stop her, and maybe we couldn't. But I think it was more than that.

She went on this wild escapade where she burnt whole buildings to the ground around the world in the matter of a few hours.

It doesn't matter how powerful you are, that has to wear you down eventually.

I think this was her point.

She went into hiding for a month without a trace. Went to the first half dozen or so buildings without being detected. Now she isn't afraid for us to see her? To give us a little speech and chat along for awhile?

That doesn't add up.

Why would she come out of hiding, burn everything down so carelessly, so openly.. unless..

Unless she plans on going down with it.

The worry I have creeping up won't be settled unless I know for sure, and I need to do that before it's too late.

So I take the chance and reach into her mind, looking as quickly as I can without revealing anything I shouldn't know, but all the while looking for any indication of her intention and-

Fuck. There it is. The memories of the last few locations, how she started to burn as the buildings did. As she began to shake, go faint.

It wasn't a lot or for long, but it's enough.

At the last one she was at, it was worse. The burns only growing, everything about her movements becoming less controlled and confident.

Those didn't kill her. But this one could.

She doesn't know for sure, but it's a high probability.

It settles over me, this absolute dread and fear, like getting thrown into a cold lake; it shocks your system: stealing your breath away, suffocates you, consumes you all at once.

She can't.

All of our threats.. Tony's threats, they were just pushing her to this decision even further. Making it seem like this was the only option. I don't know the whole reasoning of why she's risking her life to do this, but that's not important right now.

We pushed her to this.

So we can't let her follow through with it. I can't let her follow through with it. We have to stop her. I have to try something.

Okay, so pleading didn't help. I can tell the words got to her, I know. I saw the moment she realized I knew. She put distance between us before turning away from me. She won't look at me.

She's staring the house down like..

Shit.

"No!"

Everything starts to happen all at once, yet it was all slow motion as it unfolded before me. As if I were moving through maple syrup even though it was all butter.

There's a spark at the front of the house that stretches until it consumes the the whole building. Hell part of this isn't even wood, yet it's succumbing to her will, melting as if it were ice in July.

The next second my eyes flicker over to Alex; she's swaying back and forth as she focuses all of her attention on the building. There's sweat visibly racing down her neck, there's blood dripping from her lip where she's bitten down too hard.

Burning this building is burning her. The pain is evident on her face as she's holding it all in. Her mind is screaming loud enough where I didn't have to try to read it. She's in agony over this. And it's not only the physical pain.

If she takes this whole building down, she's going down with it.

And after only seconds of watching this all happen, my brain finally connects and is telling me to actually DO something.

I have powers, I should be able to help this. Perhaps if I help contain the heat and fire to just around the building she won't have to use as much energy to do it herself. Or just suffocate the fire so it can no longer breathe.

Worth a shot.

I push myself as I reach out, letting it flow from me and to the building in attempts to wrap it in my powers.

"Holy fuck!" Okay, that shit is hot as hell.

I pull back instantly, feeling burns along my own skin even from that short time of contact. It's not nearly as bad as Alex is getting it, but it still took some of my skin.

My little outburst got the attention of a few of my teammates. Nat and Steve are looking at me concerned.

I know I must look half crazy right now. I'm desperate. I don't know how to help, but I know she can't do this by herself and make it.

"Wanda?" Nat speaks up.

I think everyone must have forgotten that we were suppose to stop Alex from destroying the building, too caught up in the skeptical of the fire and awe of her power to actually move.

"It's Alex.. she's not going to make it if we don't stop her," the tears are right there on the surface.

"What do you mean?" Nat looks over to Alex. Her expression changes almost immediately. Alex is not looking good right now, anyone could tell if they were paying attention.

"What can we do?" Nat is all business now; she assessed the seriousness of the situation and she's ready to act.

"I don't know what we can do. I tried to contain the fire, to help ease the stress of using her powers so much. It was too hot. It burnt me."

"Damn," Nat sees the burns on my arms as I mention it.

"But these are nothing. Alex must be feeling the burn full force by now. We have to stop her, Nat. I know I lost her, but I can't lose her," there they are, the tears.

"Okay. Okay. What if we just stop her concentration? Like if we tackle her to the ground? Distract her long enough so it stops and we can take her away."

I don't like the sounds of that, so I offer my head tilt.

"No, I don't mean like that. But we'll need to get her away from here in order to truly stop her. And to have her checked over medically. I know everyone else is glued to their positions currently, but I don't think we need everybody."

"We have to try. I don't know what else to do, and we don't have time for anything else or some big deliberation," as I'm speaking there's a loud crash followed by a rumble, like being in the center of a city during an earthquake.

Nat and I duck on instinct as we look to the building; it's not going to last much longer. Which means..

"We need to do this now," Nat nods once before taking the few yards to run at Alex. Both of us reach her at the same time, pinning her to the ground as she cries out.

I don't know if it's anger or pain or sorrow that's making her shake right now, but I'm just holding her the best as I can.

A minute goes by of her struggling to get out of our grasp, though she's too weak to really do anything.

I'm sure the team is looking on, wondering what we're doing or perhaps proud that we actually did something.

She finally stops fighting. I don't know whether to celebrate or worry.

I take a chance and look at the building. The fire is still going naturally, and most of the damage was already done to make the walls collapse, but it's not this intense heat anymore. It's not still raging. She doesn't have control of the fire anymore.

I slowly start to get up, Nat following my moves once she notices.

I'm petrified to know how Alex is. My heart is beating out of my chest, ready to jump in to save Alex if she needs it.

I can't move.

So Nat does.

She reaches down to feel Alex's pulse.

She shakes her head a bit, "I think she has one.. but it's faint. Like we only have minutes kind of faint."

"Shit. Fuck. We need to go. Now!"

I bend down to gingerly pick her up, trying not to rub against her skin too much so I don't irritate any injuries she's obtained.

Nat is yelling at the team, having a brief fight with Tony until he sees me. Until he sees Alex.

The anger he once carried is gone. The helmet comes down as he walks towards me. Just as careful as I was previously, he takes Alex in his arms. Then they're flying through the air, off to a hospital.

"It's okay, Wanda. They're going to make it. It'll be way faster with his suit than the jet. We'll all load up and follow them, okay?"

I nod my head, all of us hurrying back to the jet and getting in our seats.

I'm here physically. My mind is going to about a million different places of what could be going on.

Then it settles on one.

This is Tony.

He was furious with Alex.

How can I be sure he's actually taking her somewhere safe? How do I know he isn't taking her directly to the Raft?