[ a shake of her head. a wave of her hand. steve doesn't have to tell her, because wanda had already done much of the telling. peggy sucks in a deep breath and asks the question he's avoiding answering: ] HYDRA?
HYDRA created Wanda's powers but I doubt if they could touch her again. Her powers are - very few of us can hold our own against her. HYDRA's people wouldn't have been able to come near her. Maybe they thought it'll be interesting. They already turned Bucky against us all once, why not Wanda.
[ it's a good thing she wasn't in a hostile mood. The Winter Soldier can wreck havoc but Wanda Maximoff is a whole other thing. ]
A good thing it hasn't worked. She may not be a friend but she's not an enemy.
Not unless the Atroma wants her to be. [ a stern reminder. bucky might have had a convenient switch inside his programming -- easily toggled, compared to the rest of them. but that doesn't disqualify any of them from being used in that fashion. not wanda. not peggy. not steve himself.
If they wanted her to attack us, she already would have done it and very few would have seen her coming.
[ the nightmares are a part of Wanda's powers that she stopped using after Sokovia. Her training has never included that particularly skill for a reason. All the Avengers were shaken by it and truthfully, Steve hoped never to see it used against another person again. ]
She took down most of our team without so much as breaking a sweat.
[ christmas bloody morning be damned. peggy carter sets her personal self aside. she would never approach wanda herself with such an abrupt interrogation. certainly not about her own powers. but she spares steve the kid gloves. ]
[ good lord. she knew about the telekinesis. the manipulation of forces all around her. but this is a new dimension to those powers. it reminds her of the calibration rooms, months and months ago. it had been in those dreams (or nightmares) where she first realized she and wanda knew the same man. ]
It takes a great deal of trust to work on a team with someone with those sorts of abilities.
Sometimes I think Wanda is the most powerful of us all.
[ and probably she is, if she managed to take down Thor. There's Vision, of course and Steve can't guess the balance of powers between them but as for the rest. ]
The things she can do with her mind, none of us can really come close but for all those powers, she's a kid. She's just scared.
[ especially now. ]
I'll ask her. You're right. It'll be good for her. I've no idea what they did with her memories or what they want to achieve with it but we'll just have to make new ones.
-- Having the kitchen to focus on might be good for her. [ ... ] I've caught her cooking in there, before. Meals from home. Maybe something relaxing like that will help her with her memories.
[ he looks down, touches the beads Wanda had collected until she could make a bracelet for his birthday. The Atroma seem to take as much as they give, it's more than a little irritating, this level of control over the minds of those he cares about. ]
A sort of silver lining, then, for our meals. As long as we keep the pantry stocked. There will be staples we're no longer receiving now that Felix has left the ship -- staples that only come when you have a cook on board. [ ... ] Wouldn't hurt, maybe, to start talking with some of the other ships about what we can barter.
Eugene Woods is the cook on the Wonderduck. He and I have a pre-existing arrangement; I'm certain we can renegotiate.
We just took a break. [ it's not that she's got anything against christmas, per se. but relaxing at the hotel has left her with a latent restlessness. her shoulder wants to get back to the grindstone. ] You, me, and one very large bed.
And this is now. Hardly any time has passed. [ is she giving him a hard time? yes, she's giving him a hard time. you'd think she'd be kinder after such a lovely gift. but hearts are strange and fickle things, and she suddenly wants to pretend like she hasn't been terribly moved by the tea cups. ] You've gone soft.
[ she stands her ground -- not least of all because it means keeping him close. how unfortunate a side-effect of their time sharing a room in the hotel: he's less skittish; less reserved; less likely to hang back and wait for her first move. she loves it and resents it all at once, not yet certain how to adjust to these little progressions.
peggy huffs. ]
There's something that could be done, [ she assures him. ]
[ the smile is hidden, tucked back to the corners of his lips but very much present in his tone. it's a bit of a challenge but mostly a flirt, easy and comfortable despite of or perhaps because of all the huffiness. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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Date: 2016-12-30 02:02 pm (UTC)I can speak to her, if you like. I've never been on anyone's same page. [ save for howard during his brief stay. ]
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Date: 2016-12-30 02:03 pm (UTC)[ he moves a hand back, gestures to his augment. ]
I think they might have done something to her memories. It's - she's one been one way and suddenly it's all seems to be -
[ gone. ]
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Date: 2016-12-30 02:06 pm (UTC)Have they removed some? She doesn't look much younger. [ in her experience, 'younger' has always been the most common adjustment. ]
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Date: 2016-12-30 02:08 pm (UTC)[ he admits. it's unsettling, how simple it all seems to be, taking away memories and experiences. ]
She's not really much of an Avenger as far as remembers. She forgot - we're still.
[ but then, he never really told her, has he? ]
She spent some time fighting against the Avengers. She's not there but she's not - it's a truce.
[ not a friendship. ]
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Date: 2016-12-30 02:32 pm (UTC)action
Date: 2016-12-30 02:37 pm (UTC)[ it's a good thing she wasn't in a hostile mood. The Winter Soldier can wreck havoc but Wanda Maximoff is a whole other thing. ]
A good thing it hasn't worked. She may not be a friend but she's not an enemy.
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Date: 2016-12-30 02:54 pm (UTC)peggy wonders if he realizes it. ]
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Date: 2016-12-30 02:57 pm (UTC)[ the nightmares are a part of Wanda's powers that she stopped using after Sokovia. Her training has never included that particularly skill for a reason. All the Avengers were shaken by it and truthfully, Steve hoped never to see it used against another person again. ]
She took down most of our team without so much as breaking a sweat.
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Date: 2016-12-30 03:32 pm (UTC)[ christmas bloody morning be damned. peggy carter sets her personal self aside. she would never approach wanda herself with such an abrupt interrogation. certainly not about her own powers. but she spares steve the kid gloves. ]
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Date: 2016-12-30 03:37 pm (UTC)[ it hit them far worse than they imagined it would, back in the day. ]
I'd call them dreams. She could plant them in people's heads. One moment you'd be once place and the next.
[ a whole other. Truth was, none of them had spoken about it since that day. ]
She can see them, too. Made it easier for her to understand people's weakness, I guess. Their fears.
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Date: 2016-12-30 03:43 pm (UTC)It takes a great deal of trust to work on a team with someone with those sorts of abilities.
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Date: 2016-12-30 03:47 pm (UTC)[ and probably she is, if she managed to take down Thor. There's Vision, of course and Steve can't guess the balance of powers between them but as for the rest. ]
The things she can do with her mind, none of us can really come close but for all those powers, she's a kid. She's just scared.
[ especially now. ]
I'll ask her. You're right. It'll be good for her. I've no idea what they did with her memories or what they want to achieve with it but we'll just have to make new ones.
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Date: 2016-12-30 03:49 pm (UTC)action
Date: 2016-12-30 03:59 pm (UTC)[ he looks down, touches the beads Wanda had collected until she could make a bracelet for his birthday. The Atroma seem to take as much as they give, it's more than a little irritating, this level of control over the minds of those he cares about. ]
Her cooking's pretty good, too.
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Date: 2016-12-30 04:05 pm (UTC)Eugene Woods is the cook on the Wonderduck. He and I have a pre-existing arrangement; I'm certain we can renegotiate.
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Date: 2016-12-30 04:43 pm (UTC)[ he eyes the little cup she's still holding and smiles. ]
But in the mean time, it's Christmas.
[ and that means enough business for one day. ]
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Date: 2016-12-30 05:08 pm (UTC)[ -- never you mind that they're not on a 'world' at all. ]
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Date: 2016-12-30 05:17 pm (UTC)[ as lightly as that. ]
But we can still take a break for one day.
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Date: 2016-12-30 05:20 pm (UTC)action
Date: 2016-12-30 05:31 pm (UTC)[ and he seems to refuse to let the entire concept of we, you, me, a large bed distract from the current task. ]
But than was then.
[ 'then' was not so long ago, at all, but still. ]
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Date: 2016-12-30 05:34 pm (UTC)[ if you need another day off. ]
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Date: 2016-12-30 06:04 pm (UTC)[ and he softens, still, in the face of this sternness, taking a step closer, on the edge of her personal space. ]
Nothing much to be done about it.
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Date: 2016-12-30 06:08 pm (UTC)peggy huffs. ]
There's something that could be done, [ she assures him. ]
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Date: 2016-12-30 07:30 pm (UTC)[ the smile is hidden, tucked back to the corners of his lips but very much present in his tone. it's a bit of a challenge but mostly a flirt, easy and comfortable despite of or perhaps because of all the huffiness. ]
I'm all ears.
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Date: 2016-12-30 07:39 pm (UTC)Good. That would make it easier to box you in'em.
[ your ears. ]
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