to make up for me disappearing for a few days this is a chunky one lads

———

CARSON walked into the bathroom in he and Wanda's bedroom and looked into the mirror, fixing the cape that was a part of his costume which Wanda made him wear.

Wanda told him the costume was supposed to be some superhero. Perhaps from a comic or TV show, or maybe even one of Tommy and Billy's toys, he wasn't too sure. All he knew was that it was the only thing that was hung up in his cupboard.

Unbeknownst to him, it was actually his suit that he wore when he was with the Avengers. Just with an added cape and cheaper material. 

He let out a sigh and began to make his way downstairs, putting on a smile when he saw the others stood talking.

"Whoa!" Pietro turned to look at him. "Sweet costume bro-ham-in-law. Let me guess. Uh, those inflatable things outside of car dealerships? Wait no... oh, oh! I know you're a—"

"Y'know what, in order to keep the small amount of dignity that I have left." Carson cut him off. "I'll just tell you that I'm supposed to be a superhero."

Wanda walked over to Carson. "Thank you for humouring me and wearing this ridiculous get-up, dorogoy."

Carson looked at her and shrugged. "Well, I had no other clothes upstairs, so."

He noticed Wanda deflate a little at his words and he decided not to say anything else, not having the energy for them to argue again.

They seemed to be doing that a lot recently. And as much as they tried to hide it, everyone in the house noticed. Billy and Tommy didn't know what happened few nights ago. But what was clear to them was that afterwards, their parents dynamic wasn't the same.

When they weren't bickering or passing a few snarky comments here and there, they just seemed tense around each other. Like there was an unresolved issue there.

Which there was of course. But they wouldn't understand.

Because realistically, what we're they supposed to tell them?

Sorry that your parents are arguing, but it's just because your mother has taken a whole town hostage due to the grief of her boyfriend dying in front of her—

Yeah, no.

It didn't really matter if they were in a rocky place or not. They could scream at each other all they wanted but it wasn't going to change the love that they had between them. Nothing could really. Because at the end of they day, they'd still do anything for one another.

And when one was without the other... well as you know, they didn't react to that too great.

Toxic? Maybe a little.

But neither of the two were perfect.

After giving her a quick once over, Carson met her eyes once more and smiled.

"I have to say though." He smirked. "What you're wearing however..."

Wanda blushed. "This? Oh it's nothing, just something I managed to pull together last minute."

"Well, I think you look beautiful Wands." He leant in to give her a kiss.

The two pulled away and Carson wrapped his arm around Wanda's shoulder, the two of them turning their attention to the boys who were sat down playing on their game with Pietro.

Carson watched as Pietro and Tommy started play fight over the remote while Billy laughed at the interaction.

"You never told me much about your brother." Carson said. "I had no idea he'd be so..." His brows came together when he saw Pietro challenging Billy and Tommy to chug some random fizzy drink from the can. "Great with kids?"

Wanda leant her head on Carson's shoulder. "Yeah he's just... full of surprises."

"Anyway, I should head off." Carson kissed the top of her head and began walking to the front door. "I'll see you later Wands."

"Wait, what?" Wanda followed behind him. "What do you mean? You're all dressed and ready to go."

"Herb asked me to help with the neighbourhood watch."

Now here's the thing. Was he really going to go and help Herb? No, not at all. But Wanda didn't need to know that. And technically, it's not like he was lying to her.

Herb actually did ask him to help with the neighbourhood watch. Carson remembered him saying something about how Halloween was a gold mine for young troublemakers... he didn't really pay much attention to be honest.

Wanda shook her head. "No, that's not what you're supposed to—"

"Sorry, what?" Carson's brow raised at her words.

Wanda folded her arms and let out a small scoff. "You didn't tell me you had plans."

"I didn't realise I had to run everything through you first." Carson rolled his eyes.

"I never said that!" Wanda sighed. "It just, you could've told me."

"Well, I'm telling you now." Carson shrugged.

"It's their first Halloween." Wanda whisper-shouted. "You have to be there!"

Pietro looked over his shoulder and noticed the tension between the two. He got up and walked over, standing between them and putting a hand on their shoulders.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. What's the big dealio?" Pietro smiled at them. He looked over at Wanda. "Big guy has a conflict, twins need a father figure for the night. Don't sweat it sis, I got the old XY chromosome. Uncle P to the rescue, huh?"

"There you go." Carson patted Pietro's back and looked back at Wanda, who still looked annoyed at him. "Problem solved."

The two of them held their gaze for a second, the tension between them still being in the air. Wanda let out a huff and looked away.

Carson turned his attention over to the boys. "You have a spooky time tonight, gremlins."

The twins laughed at their dads nickname for them.

"Bye Dad!"

"We'll save you some of our candy!"

"You better." Carson smiled at his kids then turned back to his wife, his smile fading. He leaned over and kissed her cheek. "Stay out of trouble, witchy." Carson whispered to her.

And with that, Carson said another goodbye to his kids and opened the door to leave, giving Wanda one last glance before closing the door behind him.

~~ ᗢ ~~

OUTSIDE the hex, Monica stormed back inside the main tent charging after Director Hayward, still angry about the whole fiasco with the drone.

"Hayward!" Monica shouted. "You cut us off at the knees, sending in that missile!"

"Me? What about you? What makes you think that bringing up Mr. Swan, was a good idea!" Hayward scoffed and continued walking. "It doesn't even matter. Now we know who we're dealing with."

"Hey, there he is." Darcy spoke up as Hayward and Monica entered the room. "The guy who almost got murdered by his own murder squad!"

Hayward turned around to look at her. "You work for me?"

Darcy pursed her lips in thought. "I actually don't know."

"She's with me." Monica joined her side.

"I see." Hayward nodded. "And which one of you is the sassy best friend?"

Jimmy stepped forward. "There's no time for you to diminish your colleagues when you're about to start a war you can't win."

"Maximoff was never going to negotiate with us." Hayward told them. "We take her out, retrieve Mr. Swan, this whole nightmare ends."

"We don't know that." Monica shook her head. "We actually have no idea what will happen in there or out here if Wanda dies."

Hayward let out a frustrated huff. "So, what? We just surrender to that?" He pointed behind him to the hex. "Not happening!"

"We can't outgun her. And clearly antagonizing her is only making things worse. If Wanda is the problem, she has to be our solution!"

"Captain Rambeau, you have become an impediment to this mission." Hayward glared at her. "Constantly advocating on behalf of super-powered individuals. Yes, I know your history with Carol Danvers. You know, you people who left, still have the luxury of optimism. You have no idea what it was like. What it took to keep the lights on."

Monica rolled her eyes. "Don't use the last five years as an excuse to be a coward."

Darcy and Jimmy shared a look, both of their eyebrows raising in surprise at Monica's words.

"Maybe it's a good thing you weren't here when your mother died."

Monica's head shot up after hearing what Hayward said, her jaw locking tightly in anger.

Hayward chuckled to himself after seeing her reaction, happy to have gotten a rise out of her. "Get her off my base. Now. All of 'em."

Multiple soldiers started to escort the trio out of the tent and lead them towards the armoured trucks so they could take them back home.

Monica looked down at the soldier's pocket that was walking with her, tilting her head to the side a little when she noticed the phone in his pocket ringing.

"Aren't you gonna answer that?" Monica asked.

The agent reached into his pocket and looked at the contact name that lit up the screen. He huffed and declined the call before putting it back in his pocket.

"No." The man told her. "Have to keep him on hold."

Monica nodded slowly, the conversation she overheard yesterday between Hayward and another agent coming back to her.

"Hayward is way overstepping his provisional authority." Jimmy sighed.

Monica glanced over at her friend. "He was looking for a reason to side-line us. He's up to something."

The soldiers came to a stop at one of the trucks and started to open the back door.

"Let's go. Everybody in!"

Jimmy and Monica exchanged a knowing look and both attacked each agent, using the soldiers own weapons against them and knocking them out.

Darcy's jaw dropped and her eyes flicked between the unconscious guards and her friends. "Why didn't anyone tell me the plan?!"

"You okay?" Jimmy checked on Monica.

"Yeah." She nodded.

"Let's go." Jimmy started to walk away.

Monica pulled him back. "Hold on."

She crouched down next to the guard from earlier and took the phone out of his pocket before standing back up and turning it on. Monica fiddled around for a few seconds before pressing the phone up to her ear, waiting as the line dialled.

"What are you doing?" Darcy questioned.

"Shhh." Monica shushed her when someone picked up.

"If you try to put me on hold one more damn time I swear—"

"Tony Stark?" Monica questioned.

"Oh don't give me this crap." Tony scoffed. "You know it's me. I've only been trying to get through to your director for over a week. Now for the love of god tell me what the hell you've done with my son!"

"Hey, hey, calm down." Monica said. "Listen I'm going to help you okay? But we need your help too. Something's happened."

"I knew it. I should've listened to her when she told me not to trust them I— shit!" Tony ranted. "What is it? What's happening?"

Monica took a deep breath. "I think this will be better to explain in person. How soon can you get here?"

~~ ᗢ ~~

IT WAS a few hours later and Carson was walking down the dimly lit street, determined to figure out what the hell was wrong with the town.

Throughout the night, it became noticeable to him that the closer he got to the edge of town, the more strange things that occurred.

He'd hear people saying the same sentence over and over again, walking around as if they were on autopilot, he'd even seen a woman hanging up decorations outside of her house, seemingly being stuck in the same back and forth action along with a single tear rolling down her cheek.

It was certain that something wasn't right. He knew that much. But before he could go round with any accusations, he had to be sure.

He kept telling himself that she couldn't do that to all these people, that she would never knowingly torture innocent civilians.

Because surely Wanda wasn't doing all of this, right?

And if she was... he needed to know why.

Carson turned round the corner and continued his walk down the road, his attention instantly being brought to the large amount of people stood around, completely frozen in place.

"Now what the fuck is this..." Carson mumbled.

He walked over to a woman who had her back turned to him and he cleared his throat, trying to get her attention.

But she didn't move.

Not an inch.

"Uh... excuse me?" Carson spoke up.

No reply.

He walked closer and looked at her face, his brows coming together at her state.

Carson waved his hand in front of her face, his confusion only growing when she remained frozen. "Can you hear me?"

Once again, no reply.

He let out a sigh. "Nice talking to you..."

After taking one last look around at everyone that was frozen on the street, Carson's powers pooled at his hands and he blasted the ground, launching himself into the air.

He used his powers to keep himself in the air and he looked around at the town from above, tapping into his hearing a listening to all of the residents conversating as if everything was normal.

As he looked around, a car that was stopped at the edge of town grabbed his attention and he flew over, landing in front of it and cautiously walking closer.

He bent down and looked through the drivers window which was open, revealing Agnes behind the wheel in a dazed state.

"Agnes?" Carson asked. "What are you doing here?"

Agnes kept her gaze ahead. "Town square scare... where is it?"

"Well, that would be in the Town Square." Carson responded.

"Took a wrong turn." Agnes let out an emotionless chuckle. "Got lost."

Carson raised a brow, growing concerned. "I thought you grew up in this town."

Agnes remained silent and still didn't meet his eyes. Carson took a deep breath and quickly looked around to make sure nobody else was around. He reached his hand into the car and pressed his fingers against her temple, doing the same thing he did with Norm a few days prior.

The woman let out a gasp and her eyes darted around, trying to regain control of herself. She looked over at Carson and jumped back in her seat a little, making him lift up his hands in surrender to show her he meant no harm.

"Hey, easy there." Carson said softly. "You're alright."

"You..." Agnes said quietly.

"Listen I—"

"You're one of the Avengers... you're Carson Swan." She grabbed his hands. "Are you here to help us?"

"I am, I'm trying to help." Carson nodded. "But... what's an Avenger?"

Agnes' look of hope faded away. "What? Why don't you know?"

Carson didn't know how to respond and that only seemed to make the woman's nerves grow. She clutched her chest and her breathing started to pick up.

"Am I dead?" She asked him, worried.

Carson's face scrunched up and he shook his head. "No, what are you talking about? Why would you think that?"

"Because you are."

Carson forced his eyes to stay open and he let out a shaky breath, leaning his head back against the pile of rubble he was resting against.

He could practically feel the life slipping away from him.

This was it.

He felt another person's hands rest on his shoulders and shake him lightly, he could hear them screaming, hear them crying, begging him to keep his eyes open.

"No, no, no, no! Please! Come on... wake up! You— you can't... Carson please..."

But no matter how hard he tried to keep his eyes open. He couldn't.

It just seemed to inviting. To give in. To close them.

He was just so exhausted.

"No!"

The persons grip on him tightened and he felt their head against his chest, their tears soaking through the material of his clothes.

"Please don't leave me... don't go."

Carson broke out of his vision and stumbled backwards a little, taking a deep breath to calm himself down.

He looked at Agnes. "I'm— I'm what..."

"Dead." Agnes told him. "Dead! Dead!"

"Listen, I'm trying to reach the people outside of Westview so I can figure out what's going on—"

"How?" Agnes cut him off. "No one leaves. Wanda won't even let us think about it."

Carson closed his eyes and shook his head, it hitting him that his worst fears about this whole situation were true. It was Wanda. It was all Wanda.

The woman turned her attention back to the road in front of her and started to laugh. "All is lost."

"Agnes..." Carson tried to get her attention but she continued laughing. "Agnes! Calm down!"

He let out a sigh and pressed his finger against her temple again, putting her back into her trace.

"I'll fix this. I promise." Carson whispered.

Agnes looked at him and smiled. "Okey-dokey, neighbour!"

The woman drove off, wishing Carson a happy Halloween as she turned her car around. He gave her a light nod and walked to the end of the street, looking up at the street sign above him.

Ellis Avenue.

Carson inhaled sharply and continued to walk towards the edge of town, following the sound of buzzing energy that filled his ears.

He came to a stop when he reached a barrier and he looked at it intently, his head tilting to the side as he watched parts of it stick out towards him.

Like it was pulling him in.

As if it wanted him to come closer.

Carson slowly lifted up his hand and pushed it against the barrier, watching as his hand disappeared onto the other side. He took a quick glance over his shoulder before turning his attention back towards the barrier.

With a deep breath, Carson stepped forward and began to push his whole body through the wall, clenching his jaw as he felt a sudden wave of tiredness running through his body, trying to ignore it and fight it off.

Once he was through to the other side, he caught a glimpse of the multiple soldiers stood ahead with their guns aimed at him along with many armoured trucks parked.

He opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by letting out a grunt and dropping to his knees.

"He really does want out, doesn't he?" Carson heard someone say.

Carson tried his best to get back to his feet. But he was too weak. The force that was pushing down on him to close his eyes, to stop fighting, was too much.

And that's when more visions came in.

His life, his real life flashing before his eyes.

"Get out!" A man with dark grey hair shouted at him. "I can't stand the sight of you anymore!"

Carson ducked out of the way of the empty bottle that was thrown at him, flinching when he heard it hit the wall and smash.

"Dad I—"

"I SAID GET OUT!"

"State your name and confirm your tests status." A mans voice was heard in the speaker of the dimly lit room.

Carson clenched his jaw. "You know my fucking name!"

"Mr. Swan, if you continue to disobey our orders then we can find another way to make you co-operate. Exactly like we did last time. Is that what you want?"

He narrowed his eyes at the scientist that was on the opposite side of the glass and let out a grunt.

"Carson Swan. Test subject X."

"Everybody, meet our newest recruit!" The man lead Carson into the briefing room, his arm placed on his shoulder.

Carson looked around at the other people in the room, his eyes narrowing at them ever so slightly, not being completely sure if he could trust them.

They all exchanged a few looks, slightly confused but also concerned as to who this younger boy was and why he was here. But after a few seconds they all seemed to soften up and walked over to him, introducing themselves kindly.

Carson looked up at the man that had brought him into the room and he smiled down at him.

"Welcome to the circus, bud."

Carson had his back leant against the wall of the fort, watching the Sokovian girl walk into the room still having not noticed his presence.

"So, I'm guessing you're the enhanced girl that gave my friend a beating?" Carson asked with a grin, letting out a light chuckle at how she jumped at the sudden noise. "Now I have to admit, I would've said something sooner but you had me a little shocked back there."

The girl raised a brow at his comment and tilted her head to the side. "And why is that?" Her accent came though thickly.

"I just wasn't expecting you to be so pretty."

Carson was lay down on the grass, looking up at the stars in the sky. "So, Ms astrology expert, which one's your favourite."

Wanda hummed in thought and pointed one out. "Probably Vega."

"How come?" He turned his head to look at her.

"It's unique, different to all the others." Wanda smiled at him and turned her attention back to the sky. "It's quite beautiful actually. Don't you think?"

"Yeah." Carson replied, keeping his eyes on her and her only. "It really is."

"So you're telling me, that the fate of the universe is in the hands of a walking and talking grape?" Carson asked, looking around at everyone in the room.

Wanda stifled a laugh and moved her hand onto his leg tapping it lightly. "Shhh, the adults are talking baby."

Carson was brought back into reality as he felt a sharp pain starting to run throughout his whole body. He let out a yell and looked up at the agents that were in front of him, trying his best to say something as he fought off the urge to close his eyes.

A woman suddenly sprinted forwards and broke through the line of soldiers, only to be grabbed by one and held back.

"Why aren't you helping him!" Darcy shouted. "Let me go! He needs help!"

BACK IN WESTVIEW, Billy and Tommy ran over to Wanda in a panic, grabbing her arm to get her attention. She looked down at her children and smiled, only for it to quickly fade away when she saw the looks on their faces.

"What is it?" Wanda asked them. "What's wrong?"

"I hear dad, in my head!" Billy panted. "He's in trouble!"

Wanda's breath hitched in her throat and she took a deep breath. "Where is he? Where's your dad?"

"Hey, don't sweat is sis." Pietro chuckled. "It's not like your dead husband can die twice."

Wanda's head snapped over to Pietro and she used her powers to launch him backwards into a pile of hay from the maze. She looked back down at Billy and placed her hands on his shoulders.

"Billy I need you to focus." Wanda told him.

Billy closed his eyes tightly and tried to tap into his newly found powers to find out what was happening. "I can't tell. I see these... soldiers..."

Flashes of Carson appeared before Billy's eyes and he watched as his dad yelled in pain and tried to move.

"They— they think he's dying!"

CARSON let out a groan and pushed himself back onto his knees with his hands. He locked eyes with a man who appeared from behind the soldiers, his jaw instantly clenching at the sight.

Tyler Hayward.

"You..." Carson managed to get out. "What the h-hell did you do to me?!"

Carson gasped for air and his arms became limp, causing him to fall down onto the ground again. He tried to stop his eyes from closing, to fight the urge. No matter how much he resisted, it wasn't working.

He couldn't move.

He couldn't speak.

He couldn't do anything.

And that's when he gave in.

His eyes came to a close, falling into a coma-like state.

One that was all too familiar to him.

~~ ᗢ ~~

interesting

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