2023 ― Westview, New Jersey

It was now Halloween in the town of Westview.

The boys were excited, but Christian was the least bit thrilled. Wanda was still shocked that Pietro was there, but Christian still had the same bad feeling he'd been having since being in Westview. Tonight, however, Christian planned on patrolling the neighborhood with Vision to see just how far Wanda's reach was.

Christian descended the stairs, and he had on a red and blue costume. He had on red tights, with a pair of blue shorts, a blue top, and then a red cape over the back of his shoulders. "Whoa! Sweet costume, bro-ham-in-law. Let me guess. Uh, traffic light." Pietro said.

"There are no blue traffic lights," Christian responded.

"Right, right... oh, the blue and red. You're Captain America? Where's the shield?" Pietro asked, and Christian's eyebrows furrowed.

"Who's Captain America?" Christian asked. Wanda looked over at them, and before Pietro could respond, she injected herself into the conversation and made a beeline for Christian.

"Well, thank you for humoring me and wearing this ridiculous get-up, honey," Wanda said, and Christian looked down at her.

"Well, there were no other clothes in my closet, so..." Christian trailed off, and Wanda sighed, but then Christian smiled. "You are incorrigible, darling." He said, which made Wanda smile too. "I know you have a thing for secret Mexican wrestlers."

"Me gusto mucho," Wanda responded as she scrunched up her nose and smiled at her husband. Christian turned to the boys.

"What do you say, boys? Who's ready for their first sugar high?" He asked his sons. But, Billy and Tommy were not paying attention to their parents because they were playing their video game with Pietro. Christian turned back to Wanda. "You never told me much about your brother. I had no idea he'd be so... great with kids." Christian said as he watched them shotgun soda cans.

"Yeah. He's just full of surprises..." Wanda said.

"Well, baby... you have fun tonight," Christian said as he walked behind Wanda and started to head for the door. Wanda quickly turned around.

"What? What do you mean? You're all dressed and ready to go." She said.

"I'm undercover. Halloween is a bacchanal for adolescent trouble-makers. And the neighborhood watch is the only thing that stands between the trees and the toilet paper." Christian said, and Wanda shook her head.

"But, no, that's not what you're supposed to...-" He cut her off as he realized what she was about to say.

"...-What am I supposed to do then?" Christian asked, and Wanda fell silent because she knew Christian had just tripped her up. She took a deep breath and then folded her arms across her chest.

"Well... You didn't tell me that you had plans." She said.

"Well, I am telling you right now," Christian said.

"It's their first Halloween. You have to be there." Wanda said. Then Pietro came and walked over to the couple.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. What's the big dealio? 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?" Pietro said as he started to laugh.

"There you go. Problem solved." Christian said as he turned back to his wife and shrugged his shoulders, and then he turned to his kids. "You have a spooky time tonight, kids," Christian said, and without looking away from their video game, Tommy and Billy waved at their father.

"Goodnight/Bye, Dad!" They said at the same time.

"Wanda..." Christian said as he leaned down towards his wife and gently kissed her cheek. "Be good."

⇎⇎⇎⇎⇎⇎

S.W.O.R.D. BASE

"You cut us off at the knees by sending in that missile!" Monica Rambeau yelled at Director Hayward as they came through the hallway. Jimmy, Darcy, Katherine, and Steve were waiting for her. Katherine was pissed, but she was trying to keep in control since she was technically retired, a former Director, and really had no jurisdiction anywhere anymore.

"Now we know who we're dealing with," Hayward said that as he passed where Steve, Katherine, Jimmy, and Darcy were waiting, Monica stopped walking when she saw them.

"Oh hey, there he is. The guy who almost got murdered by his own murder squad." Katherine said. Hayward turned around and looked at Katherine, and she waited to see what he was going to say.

"Your reputation precedes you, Mrs. Rogers, but you being here right now is a common courtesy. I wouldn't forget that." Hayward said, and Katherine raised an eyebrow.

"Is that a threat? Because I don't take too well to those, and if my reputation is that well know, you should know that." Katherine said. She was about to take a step forward, but Steve grabbed her wrist.

"Katherine is my guest, so she can be here as long as she wants," Monica said, and Hayward looked over at her.

"Huh, and which one of you is the sassy best friend?" He asked, and Katherine was about to snap, which Steve could feel, so he gently pulled her back to him by her wrist and shook his head.

"Look, there's no time for you to diminish your colleague and a former Avenger when you're about to start a war you can't win," Jimmy said.

"Maximoff was never going to negotiate with us. We take her out; this whole nightmare ends." Hayward said.

"If you take her out, then I will take you out," Katherine said.

"Now, is that a threat?" Hayward asked, and Katherine shook her head.

"No, it's a guarantee." She responded.

"Look, we don't know anything. We have no idea what will happen in there or what will happen out here if Wanda dies." Monica said.

"So, what? We just surrender to that? Not happening." Hayward said as he pointed to where the hex was. Now everyone could see the barrier since Wanda had come through it. It was like a black and red smoke cloud that kept them all out.

"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." Monica said.

"Captain Rambeau, you have become an impediment to this mission. 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." Hayward said.

"Don't use the last five years as an excuse to be a coward," Monica said, which made Katherine smile.

"Maybe it was a good thing you weren't here when your mother died. Because clearly, you don't have the stomach for this job." Hayward said, and that was what sent Katherine over the edge. She got out of Steve's hold; she walked over to Hayward and smacked him hard, with all of her super-strength across his face, which sent him flying. A bunch of guards rushed up to her, and she looked at them.

"You touch me. I promise I will kill you." She snapped, which made the guards back down, and as Hayward picked himself up off the ground, she looked at him. "How dare you speak to her that way when if it weren't for her mother, you wouldn't even be standing here with the audacity that you had to say that to her." Katherine snapped. Jimmy and Darcy were still stunned that Katherine really smacked Hayward. Steve, however, was not shocked. He had wanted to do it too.

"Get her off my base. Now. All of them." Hayward said. A guard walked over to Katherine and reached out for her, but Katherine grabbed his wrist and twisted it back.

"Don't touch me. I know how to walk." She snapped. She threw the guard down onto the ground, and then she, Steve, Monica, Darcy, and Jimmy were all escorted out of the base.

"Hayward is way overstepping his provisional authority," Jimmy said, and then he turned to Katherine. "But that slap was pretty badass." He said.

"He was looking for a reason to sideline us. He's up to something." Monica said.

"I knew that from the moment we got here. He has that look in his eyes. Plus, him lying about Wanda stealing Vision's body..." Katherine said.

"Alright, let's go. Everybody in." A soldier said. Katherine nodded her head, and Jimmy threw the first punch to one of the guards. Monica, Steve, and Katherine all turned and fought the guard nearest to them while Darcy stood in shock because she had no idea that was about to happen. When they had them all squared away and knocked out, Darcy looked at the four of them.

"Why didn't anyone tell me the plan?" Darcy asked.

"You guys okay?" Steve asked everyone.

"Yeah. Let's move." Monica said.

The five of them dragged the guards that they had knocked out into a shipping container and stole their S.W.O.R.D. clothes to blend in more. Darcy locked the shipping container, and then Katherine took a deep breath and looked at Steve.

"Let's figure out how to save our daughter before Hayward makes me kill him."

⇎⇎⇎⇎⇎⇎

WESTVIEW

Christian and Vision were now in the outer part of Westview. There weren't as many people out where they live, but as they were walking, Christian noticed a woman hanging up a decoration on a drying line, but she kept glitching and never fully hung up the decoration, just moving her arm back and forth. "Vis..." Christian said as he pointed over to the woman.

Then Christian noticed a single tear fall down her cheek.

"What is going on here..." Vision said, and Christian shook his head. He had no idea.

The two men continued down the street.

⇎⇎⇎⇎⇎⇎

S.W.O.R.D. BASE

Monica, Steve, Katherine, Darcy, and Jimmy all snuck into one of the other SWORD bases, not the main one where Hayward was, and the broadcast was still playing on the TVs, and the recast Pietro was on the screen, and Monica looked confused.

"Who is that?" Monica asked.

"Wanda's brother came to town," Jimmy said.

"Except... that's not the Pietro that we knew. Darcy thinks that maybe she recast him, but I don't know. If Wanda were going to bring her brother back, she would've brought back her actual brother." Katherine said.

"Do you think someone else is pulling the strings too?" Monica asked.

"I don't know..." Katherine said.

"Over here..." Jimmy said, and they left the TVs and walked over to where Jimmy was.

"We shouldn't hang out here too long," Monica said.

"Uh, huh... Give me two seconds. I just need to hack into the secure network on the base. Donezo. Now, we should be able to access the data on Hayward's devices." Darcy said as she plugged in her flash drive to a smaller computer. "Oh. That's interesting. Guys, Hayward figured out a way to look through the boundary." Darcy said.

"And he didn't share it with the group," Monica said.

"Of course he didn't," Katherine said. They all came around and looked at the screen to see one location was lighting up on the screen, and Jimmy pointed to it.

"Is this Wanda, right here?" Jimmy asked.

"No. The program is tracking the decay signature of vibranium." Darcy said.

"So he's tracking Vision..." Steve said.

"But why would he be tracking Vision?" Katherine asked.

"I don't know. This is all I can access so far." Darcy responded.

"These other dots, are those Westview residents?" Jimmy asked as he looked on the screen.

"The one's in Vision's immediate vicinity, yeah," Darcy said.

"So Hayward must have an accurate headcount by now," Jimmy said as he started to zoom in on the screen. Katherine was starting to get impatient; she just wanted to help Wanda and figure out how she recreated her son. "And some sense of their well-being," Jimmy said.

"These people... near the edge of town, look, they're barely moving." Steve pointed out.

"Are they alive?"

⇎⇎⇎⇎⇎⇎

WESTVIEW

Christian and Vision were still walking towards the outskirts of town, and both men realized the further out they got, the fewer people were moving and where they were now. Everyone was completely still, almost as if they were frozen or not alive. Their houses were decorated, and they were in costumes, but everyone was still frozen.

"Excuse me? Ma'am?" Vision asked as they approached a woman.

"Are those your children?" Christian asked.

"Are you waiting for something?" Vision asked. The woman only stood there and didn't answer, mainly because she couldn't. Vision looked at Christian, and they both had the same eerie feeling. They moved on from the woman and continued to walk down the street. Vision let his costume drop, and he looked at Christian. "I'll be back." He said, and Christian watched as Vision hoisted himself into the air. Christian thought back to when he levitated in the air when he was fighting with Wanda.

But he didn't know if he could do that again.

As Vision was in the air, he could hear everyone else around the parts of town that were still active, and then he noticed a car sitting at a stop sign. He flew back down to Christian and offered out his hand. "Come with me." Vision said. Christian nodded his head and took Vision's hand, and Vision flew them over to where the frozen car was. As they approached the car, Christian noticed who was in the driver's seat.

"Agnes?" Christian asked as they approached the driver's side. "What are you doing here?" He asked. Agnes still just sat there and did nothing, but then she slowly started talking.

"Town Square Scare. Where is it?" Agnes asked.

"Oh, well, the Town Square. I expect." Vision said.

"Took a wrong turn. Got lost." Agnes said.

"In the town, you grew up in?" Vision asked.

"Wait, Vision... try what you did to Norm," Christian said. Vision nodded his head and reached into the car, and gently touched Agnes on her temple. She gasped loudly as she turned and looked at the two of them. "It's alright," Christian said.

"You two... You're Avengers... You're Vision. And you're Christian Rogers. Are you here to help us?" Agnes asked as she grabbed their hands.

"I am Vision. I do want to help. We want to help." Vision said.

"But what's an Avenger?" Christian asked.

"What?" Agnes asked, and then she pulled her hands back as a scared look came into her eyes. "Why don't you know?" She asked, and then her eyes widened as she laid her hand on her chest. "Am I dead?" She asked.

"No, no. Why would you think that?" Christian asked.

"Because he is..." She pointed to Vision, and then she turned back to Christian. "And you almost are," Agnes said to Christian, and his eyes widened. Vision and Christian looked at each other.

"We're what?" Vision asked.

"You're dead..." She said to Vision, and then she turned to Christian. "And you're in a coma." She said, and now Christian was even more confused. He didn't understand how he was in a coma, yet somehow he was also here in Westview with Wanda, and he has children.

"Dead! Dead! Dead! Dead!"

"Agnes, we intend to reach those outside of Westview and make sense of our situation." Vision said.

"How?" Agnes asked as she looked at them. "No one leaves. Wanda won't even let us think about it." She said, and then she started laughing, but it was more of an uncomfortable laugh. "All is lost."

"Agness..." Christian said. Agnes was still laughing, and her laughs kept getting louder, which was starting to worry him. "Agnes, please calm down. Agnes! Please..." Christian said, but she wasn't calming down. Vision sighed and reached inside the car and touched her temple again, which put her back into her facade, and she went completely still again.

"We will fix this, Agnes. I promise." Vision said.

"Okey dokey, neighbor." She said, and then she turned the car around. "Happy Halloweeny!" She exclaimed before driving off. Vision and Christian looked at each other before they crossed the street and crossed over into the grass.

They needed to know what was outside of Westview.

⇎⇎⇎⇎⇎⇎

S.W.O.R.D.

Monica and Jimmy left because Monica found a way to re-enter the Hex, but Katherine and Steve decided they would stay with Darcy. She was working on getting through Hayward's firewall, and since Katherine is also a hacking expert, she was helping her. Part of Katherine wanted to get inside of the Hex, too; she knew she would be able to get through to Wanda if Wanda would let her.

But she needed a way in first.

The two of them continued working, and then Katherine got a file pulled up. "Hayward... I can always spot a sneaky bastard." Katherine said.

"Vision... what is he doing?" Darcy asked as they both looked on the screen, and they saw that the tracker on Vision was moving toward the barrier.

"Is he going to try and leave Westview?" Steve asked as he looked over their shoulders and onto the screens.

"We should get out there."

⇎⇎⇎⇎⇎⇎

WESTVIEW

As Vision and Christian approached the border, they could see all the energy around the barrier, and Christian could hear the static of the barrier. Christian and Vision both took a deep breath before they moved into the barrier. Christian put his hands out, and he could feel as he started to pass through the barrier. The two of them kept pushing themselves through until they were out on the other side. Darcy, Steve, and Katherine ran outside as Vision and Christian came through, and Katherine's eyes widened.

Christian and Vision immediately fell to their knees when they came out of the barrier, and pieces of them started flying back into the hex. Their lives were tied to the hex, and they couldn't survive outside of it. "Oh, no..." Darcy said.

"Why aren't you helping them!" Katherine yelled as she started to run forward, and Steve quickly ran after his wife. "Christian!" She exclaimed. She knew it wasn't her Christian, but it was still a form of Christian that Wanda created, and she couldn't stand to see him coming apart in front of her eyes.

"Stop! They're coming apart!" Darcy yelled. Two Agents grabbed Darcy and Katherine, and Steve grabbed the agent's arm.

"Get your hands off of my wife, now."

Meanwhile,

From inside of the Hex, Billy could hear his father crying out in pain telepathically. He heard his voice in his head. When Tommy ran up with his super-speed, Billy held his hand out and stopped him, and there was blue energy, similar to Amaya Rogers' powers coming from his hand.

"Whoa, Billy!." Tommy said.

"Shh!" Billy exclaimed.

"Are you okay?" Tommy asked.

Billy continued to concentrate, and he could hear Christian's screams as he continued to come apart from outside the border. "Christian!" He heard Katherine's voice in his head as well as she screamed out for him.

"Mom!" Billy exclaimed, and he started running. Tommy immediately followed after him. "Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom!" Billy yelled as he ran. When Wanda heard his voice and heard how distressed the twins sounded, she immediately turned to them.

"What? What is it, Billy?" She asked.

"I hear Dad in my head. He's in trouble." Billy said.

Outside of the Hex,

Christian and Vision were still on the ground. They were still slowly coming apart since they were outside of the Hex. "Let me go! What are you doing!" Darcy yelled. Steve, Katherine, and Darcy were all being held back, and since Katherine and Steve were super-soldiers, they were being held back with extra force, and then the guards decided to handcuff them to the vehicle they were in front of.

"Help!" Vision exclaimed.

"The people need help..." Christian tried to say, but his speech sounded very broken up. Then when Christian looked at his hand and saw it was falling apart, he felt as if he couldn't breathe. Katherine heard as he started to whimper, and there were tears in her eyes because she couldn't help him.

Then he curled up in the fetal position.

Inside of the Hex,

"I don't understand. What's happening to me?" Billy asked his mother.

"Where is he? Where is your dad?" Wanda asked. She couldn't lose Christian, not again, not when she doesn't know if she'll ever see him again.

"Hey, don't sweat it, sis. It's not like your comatose husband can fall under a coma twice." Pietro said. Wanda turned to him in a Fury and used her powers to throw him across the Town Square, and then she turned back to her son. "Billy. I need you to focus." Wanda said. Billy nodded his head and closed his eyes, and he concentrated on his dad.

"I can't tell, I see these... soldiers... They think he's dying!" Billy said. Wanda's eyes widened, and she stood up straight. Her powers started to form from her hands, and she extended her arms and slowed everything down. Everyone around her started moving in slow motion. She closed her eyes and concentrated as they were glowing red. A big surge of power came out of her...

And the Hex started expanding.

⇎⇎⇎⇎⇎⇎

Darcy, Katherine, and Steve were still all handcuffed down to the car when they noticed that the Hex started expanding and moving. Hayward yelled for all of his men to move out. "Are you serious right now?!" Darcy yelled. Katherine finally allowed herself to break through the handcuffs, and Steve did the same. Then she went to Darcy and started to try and pull her handcuffs up.

The Hex moved over Vision and Christian, so now they were fine, and Katherine couldn't pull Darcy's handcuffs up in time.

The three of them got sucked into the Hex.

⇎⇎⇎⇎⇎⇎

Hey guys, sorry it's been a minute. I just haven't been in a writing mood lately, tbh.

Don't forget to vote/comment. 

xoxo.