CARSON PULLED UP AT THE FRONT OF THE COMPOUND AND GOT OUT OF THE CAR, checking his phone to see the time before he leant into the car and began grabbing his things. It was pretty late so he was sure that everyone in the compound would already be asleep. Well, there was actually only Wanda and Vision staying at the compound at the moment considering the rest of the team are either busy becoming criminals, or off trying to catch their newly criminalized team members.

Yeah... what the fuck.

He closed the car door and made his way over to the boot, grabbing some blueprints for Peter's new suit that he and Tony were going to get started on pretty soon. Just as he raised his hand to close the boot, his phone started to ring. He sighed and reached into his pocket, picking up his phone and answering the call.

"What?" He said.

"Jeez, someone's cranky." Tony chuckled. "Not managed to get your beauty sleep?"

"No actually, I haven't. Thanks to someone." Carson huffed.

"Relax, relax, I'll let you go in a second I just needed to check up on a few things." Tony explained. "First things first, how's your little witch? Still tucked away in the compound?"

"She's pissed." He began, closing the boot and grabbing the rest of his things. "The last time I spoke to her was this morning over the phone, she was talking about how she tried to go over to the store to get some things for cooking and Vision wouldn't let her leave. So to answer your question, yes she's still at the compound. But she is not happy about it."

"Eh, she'll be fine, especially now that you're back too." Tony replied. "Just keep her distracted for the time being, while things settle down and make sure she doesn't leave."

"It feels like I'm sneaking around behind her back Tony. Like I'm keeping a secret from her or something."

"You're not exactly keeping a secret from her, you're just..."

Carson scoffed and took his keys from his pocket as he started walking towards the front door. "I'm just keeping her locked up in the compound, without her knowing, that I'm keeping her locked up."

"Alright." Tony groaned dramatically. "Fine, I see where you're coming from. A little."

"A little? Wow."

Just as Carson put the keys in the door, something in the corner of his eye grabbed his attention. He turned his head to the side, noticing a white van peeking out from behind one of the walls at the side of the compound. He furrowed his brows the more he looked at it, noticing how some of the paint had been scratched off, it wasn't exactly completely run down but it wasn't in the best condition.

It couldn't be Wanda's considering A. she's the worst driver on the planet and B. she didn't have a car. Vision just flew everywhere, so he didn't need one. Carson's car was literally right in front of him and Tony... well he wouldn't be caught dead in a car like that.

Someone else was here.

"Are you still there?" Tony asked. "Hello?"

Carson looked up and scanned his eyes over the building, listening carefully to pick up any voices or movement that he didn't recognize. It was pretty quiet until...

"You can't overpower me."

Vision's voice filled his ears, along with the sound of two other heartbeats in the same room as the android.

"I know I can't, but she can."

Clint Barton.

"Tony, I'm gonna have to call you back." Carson ended the call and opened the door, making his way up the stairs.

Upon entering the room, Carson saw Wanda and Clint with their backs towards him, watching as Wanda pushed Vision down into the floor. He carried on taking a few steps closer, not alerting anyone in the room of his presence just yet.

"If you do this, they'll never stop being afraid of you..." Vision managed to get out as Wanda forced him further down.

"I can't control their fear. Only my own." Wanda gave him one final push and sent the android plummeting through the ground.

"Oooh." Clint winced as he joined Wanda's side, looking down at the hole that she'd made in the floor. "Come on, we've got one more stop— "

"Barton!"

Wanda and Clint both turned around at the sound of his name being called. Carson was stood in the doorway, his hands behind his back as he glared at the archer, not even sparing Wanda a look.

Clint looked up at the ceiling and huffed, knowing that this was about to get a lot more complicated. The room remained silent as Carson didn't break his gaze that was locked onto Clint, narrowing his eyes at the man when he noticed him glance down at one of his arrows that was on the floor as if he was planning to make a move.

"I never pegged you for the kidnapping type." Carson said in a monotone voice.

"I'd prefer to use the term, rescuing." Clint shrugged. "And I actually came here for both of you. It's not too late to come with us Carson."

Carson glanced over at Wanda who was already looking at him with hopeful eyes. It was killing him that they couldn't agree with each other on this situation. But at the end of the day, that was the bottom line. They simply couldn't agree. Carson wanted to sign for the reasons that Wanda didn't and that, was that.

He looked away from her and back at Clint, Wanda frowned and looked down at her hands. "You shouldn't be here Clint."

"Really?" Clint raised a brow. "I retire for, what, like five minutes, and it all goes to shit?"

Carson gave Clint a wry smile and took a few steps closer. "Are you sure you want to do this Barton? Because we both know that those silly little arrows of yours, aren't exactly a threat."

"I don't want to hurt you." Clint shook his head. He knew that he was telling the truth, and in all honesty Carson didn't want to hurt him either.

But what they wanted didn't matter.

Not this time.

Not in this fight.

"Well, that's a real shame." Carson moved his hands from behind his back. "Because I can't let you take her from me."

"Carson—" Wanda began but was interrupted.

"No. Wanda don't—Don't." He looked at her and shook his head. "I told you.. I told you that we could figure this out together."

There was a silence between the two as they both stood there staring at each other, hurt written all over their faces. Wanda shook her head slowly, silently begging for him to stand down, so they would go about this in a better way. He resisted at first but took a deep breath and began relaxing his stance slightly, but seeing the movement of Clint reaching for his arrow in the corner of his eye made him quickly snap his head back over to the man, raising his hand towards him getting ready to blast him back.

Wanda's eyes widened and she quickly moved in front of Carson in order to block Clint, he furrowed his brows as he looked down at her, the red hue around his hand disappearing.

"Wanda move." He looked at Clint over her shoulder, who gulped when they made eye contact.

She lifted up her hands and gripped his wrist gently. "Just... wait, please."

"I said move."

"Listen to me, I have to do this Carson. I can't stay here. Not with the way things are going." She told him, her eyes beginning to tear up.

"Leaving isn't going to solve anything Wanda." He replied.

"And staying isn't going to help." Wanda spoke, lowering down his hand. "Deep down, you know that."

"It doesn't matter, we can figure something out." Carson shook his head. "We always do."

Wanda gave him a sad smile and moved closer to him, placing her hands on his cheeks and resting her forehead against his. She closed her eyes and let out a sigh, ignoring the single tear than ran down her cheek.

"We can't... not this time." She whispered. "You have to let me go with them."

He knew she wasn't wrong. That she had a point. Wanda wanted to stay at the compound with him just as much as he wanted her to, she wanted to figure this out together too. But she knew that if she didn't leave now, then things would only get worse for her in the future. There was only so much Carson could do to protect her. Now that he had signed the accords, if they wanted to arrest Wanda and take her away, which was a big possibility, no matter how hard he tried he couldn't stand in the way of that. Not without him becoming a criminal too.

And there was no way Wanda would let him do that.

The pair both pulled away and Wanda searched his eyes, waiting for him to respond. Just as he was about to say something she noticed his eyes lock onto something behind her. Before she had any time to react he lifted his hand over her shoulder and blasted something behind her. She quickly spun around, expecting to see an extremely injured Clint.

But she didn't.

Instead, she saw Carson using his powers to hold back Vision who had managed to get back up to the surface, forming a barrier in front of the android to stop him from getting any closer. Wanda looked back at Carson and he looked down at her, giving her a brief smile.

"Just go." He gestured towards the door.

Clint nodded in appreciation at Carson as he ran past him and towards the door, where he waited for Wanda. Who was still stood in place, staring at her boyfriend in complete shock.

"You're letting me leave?" She asked.

"Yes." He nodded. "Now go, before I change my mind."

"Wh— I don't understand. Why?" She asked, taking a few steps closer.

"Because I just want you to be safe." He sighed. "And.. that's not here. Not anymore. So if I can't protect you then maybe they can."

Wanda moved forwards, throwing her arms around his neck and slamming her lips against his. He moved his free hand down to the small of her back and pulled her in closer, almost forgetting that he was in fact holding back a block of walking and talking vibranium. Wanda pulled back and rested her forehead against his, her chest heaving up and down with how fast she was breathing.

"I love you." She whispered.

He smiled and placed a kiss against her forehead. "I love you too."

"I hate to break this up, I really do." Clint cleared his throat. "But you know, places to go, people to see."

Carson rolled his eyes and gave Wanda a small push towards the door, turning his full attention back towards Vision and now using his free hand to help keep him back.

Clint ushered Wanda out of the room but before he could leave, Carson shouted over to him.

"Barton." He looked at Clint from over his shoulder. "You keep her safe alright?"

"I will, I promise." Clint gave him a nod before leaving the room.

Carson kept his hold on Vision for a few extra moments, giving Wanda and Clint enough time to have left the grounds. Once he released him, Vision dropped to his knees and Carson walked over to him, offering his hand to help him.

"I'm sorry V." He helped the android up. "I had to do it."

Vision glanced over towards the door and then back at Carson. He offered him a small smile and placed a hand on Carson's shoulder.

"It's alright. I understand."

~~ ᗢ ~~

well then..

[Not edited]