Wanda's First Awakening

The entire city had risen a hundred meters into the air. The blue device beneath it was now impossibly conspicuous, while the lucky residents who had escaped to the ground could only watch helplessly as everything unfolded, silently praying that their friends and family were safe.

Sokovia

The Avengers were gradually clearing out Ultron's army of robots, but there were simply too many. Destroy one wave, and even more would rush in behind it, almost without end.

Wanda nervously escorted a child, red energy flickering in her hands, wildly unstable.

Bang!

Wanda raised a trembling hand and smashed an incoming Ultron robot apart, but she staggered and nearly lost her footing. She was still far behind the Scarlet Witch she would become.

At this point, Wanda was more like a raw recruit who had only just entered combat. She possessed immense power but had no idea how to use it, capable only of simple smashing and throwing.

"Run, run, run!" Seeing more and more robots gathering, Hawkeye Barton hurriedly helped Wanda into a cramped little house. Behind them, Ultron's robots bombarded the area relentlessly, trapping the two inside.

"How could I let something like this happen..."

"Hey, are you okay?"

"I'm fine. This is all our fault..."

"Look at me!"

Barton soothed the girl's emotions. Seeing Wanda's terrified face on the verge of tears, he quickly said,

"This is your fault, and ours too. So what? You came here to fight, didn't you?" Barton did his best to keep his voice steady as he reasoned with Wanda. "As you can see, our city is flying, and we're fighting the robots outside."

"And I'm using a bow and arrows. Who am I supposed to complain to?" Barton said helplessly. No matter how skilled he was, a cold weapon like a bow still had a certain gap compared to firearms. His efficiency in eliminating enemies was extremely low, and he could easily run out of ammunition.

Barton looked at the panicked Wanda. "I have to get back out there right now. That's my job. I can't fight a war while babysitting..."

As he spoke, an attack punched through the little wooden house they were hiding in, making Wanda cry out again in fright.

Barton quickly drew his bow and fired. The noise outside immediately stopped.

"I don't care who you are. If you go out there, then you fight the enemy. If you want to stay here, it's safe. You can wait for your brother to come find you..."

"But the moment you walk out that door, you're an Avenger!"

Barton stared at Wanda with an extremely serious expression. His voice felt utterly dependable, and Wanda gradually calmed down. She stared at him without blinking, as if she had something to say.

Barton looked at the girl and decided to give her some time to think. He opened the wooden door, adjusted the bow on his back, and charged toward the battlefield without hesitation.

Wanda was left alone, silently curled up in the dark little room.

On the battlefield, the Avengers displayed their might, clearing out every Ultron soldier in sight.

Thor had just smashed a robot's head apart with Mjolnir when Ultron locked onto him the next second and sent him flying.

"That's my prey!"

Li Nian had finally found Ultron. His eyes burned with rage as he flew toward him at tremendous speed.

"Thor, my greatest enemy..." Ultron was straddling Thor and had just begun to speak when a yellow laser blasted him away.

"I'm going to kill you myself, Ultron."

Li Nian appeared in Thor's line of sight. The two exchanged a glance, then charged Ultron together in perfect unspoken coordination.

"Ahh—"

Caught off guard, Ultron had an intimate encounter with Mjolnir and was hammered into a concrete wall, his mind reeling.

Taking the opportunity, Li Nian seized Ultron by the head and snarled, "You shouldn't have made an honest man angry." Li Nian's fingers dug into Ultron's brain, making his electronic eyes constantly shift colors as agonized wails poured from his voice module.

"Ah!"

"Go repent in hell, if you even have a soul..."

Li Nian was just about to erase Ultron completely when a swarm of robots slammed into him and sent him flying.

Li Nian was knocked more than thirty feet away, crashing heavily into a ruined bus. Not far away, Ultron slowly rose to his feet, clutching his data-corrupted brain as he looked toward the fallen Li Nian.

"You should have joined forces with me. Then nothing in this world could have stopped us. Unfortunately... you are not..."

Ultron waved a hand, and a huge group of robotic grunts grabbed hold of Li Nian's body, rendering him unable to move.

"Go down. Soon, you'll see hell."

As soon as Ultron finished speaking, the robots clutched Li Nian's body and flew beneath Sokovia. They intended to remove him from the battlefield this way.

"Bastards!"

Li Nian struggled to break free from the grunts' control, but for every one he destroyed, more came to restrain him. Gradually, Ultron's robots formed a massive ball around Li Nian, wrapping him tightly inside as they plummeted straight toward the ground.

"Damn it!"

Li Nian had no way out. He had yet to fully master the Mind Stone's abilities, and the energy consumption was too great. He could not phase through these things either and could only watch helplessly as he was carried away from the battlefield.

Suddenly, a blue laser shot in from afar, destroying all the robots surrounding Li Nian.

Li Nian quickly steadied himself and looked toward the red-and-gold figure flying nearby. At the same time, Stark's sharp voice rang in his ear.

"Don't waste such a fine body. Otherwise, I'll melt you into that suit of armor you're fused with." Tony's mouth was as vicious as ever. After saving Li Nian, he immediately flew back toward Sokovia to continue clearing out the grunts.

Li Nian floated alone in the air, quietly wondering whether his existence was truly necessary.

"Would the original Vision have done better than me..." Li Nian began to doubt himself. He knew every development that was supposed to come, yet he could not stop any of it. No matter what he did, fate always seemed to scramble and readjust what came next, forcing events back onto their original course.

Li Nian could not make sense of it. He looked blankly at his hands as the yellow gem on his forehead flickered, seeming to express some kind of emotion.

Wanda watched the fighting outside, Barton's words replaying over and over in her mind.

"If you walk out that door, you're an Avenger!"

Images kept appearing in the girl's mind: Sokovia's displaced residents, children staring in confusion and terror at the robots flying overhead. They looked... just like she had back then, hiding beneath her bed and watching the missile that had fallen in front of her...

At last, Wanda's gaze hardened. "I won't let these children walk the same path I did. Their fathers and mothers are still waiting for them."

Wanda kicked open the wooden door. A robot nearby tried to attack the girl, but the instant it raised its hand, violent red energy ripped it to pieces.

Then Wanda roared, and the red energy around her exploded outward in an instant, thick as blood. It tore apart every Ultron robot nearby, leaving only shattered electronic components—and a stunned Barton.

"We've cleared our side," Wanda said calmly into her earpiece.

Bang! Steve crashed heavily onto a car, then sliced a robot's body apart with his shield. Panting, he replied, "Mine is nowhere near clear yet."

Wanda exchanged a look with Barton and prepared to head toward Steve's position.

Whoosh!

A blue-and-white figure flashed past, scooped Wanda up, and ran off without the slightest concern for Barton, who had been left behind.

Barton helplessly raised his bow and pretended to shoot toward the direction they had gone. Then he started running, muttering nonstop under his breath.

"No one will know, no one... The last time I saw him, Ultron was sitting on top of him... We'll all miss that speedy kid... I already miss him..."