Operation: Anansesem

[x-scarletwitch.livejournal.com]

Wanda and Farouk are on their way to England; he's got a special way of dealing with some of her issues.



"Can you hear my bones creak?" Wanda asked, clutching at the armrests on the seat of the plane. It had taken them some time but they had chartered a flight, based on the increasing attacks she was suffering and, in part, because of her paranoia of being watched by her father. It meant they were the only ones on the flight, plus the crew, but the smaller the plane the bumpier the ride.

Aches and pains grew with each bump, every drop in altitude, and she was growing tired of it. She'd spent most of the flight asleep but they were close to London now and she needed something to distract her.

Amahl didn't look up from the newspaper, clucking his tongue absently. "It's more of a crackle, I'd say. You know, I still have quite a wide assortment of canes at my disposal, that I could have shipped to you. Or are you more of a wheel-chair type?"

"It depends. Will I be able to hit you with the cane or run you over in the wheelchair?" She was surprisingly less cranky than she had every right to be, even towards her newly appointed "nurse".

"I always preferred canes for the poking, myself." Farouk made a vaguely stabbing motion, then shragged. "Of course if you aim for the toes, hitting can be very effective."

He pursed his lips meditatively and finally raised his eyes to look at Wanda, over the rims of his glasses. "On the bright side, with a wheel chair you never have to wait in line. And we ARE going to Britain. These people queue as a hobby. Any excuse, really..."

Wanda waved a hand in the air. "Please, one look at me and they'll be whisking me right through security. Now yourself, on the other hand..." She smiled, eyes crinkling as she relaxed back in the chair, watching as the steward glanced over to make sure they didn't need anything. "I cannot begin to imagine my excuses to the others if I happened to lose you in Heathrow's belly."

Farouk smiled thinly, "Oh I suspect that you won't be pressed all that hard. I foresee a collective sign of relief from a substantial number of your colleagues, in fact." His eyes crinkled suddenly. "However, I imagine young Ms. Sefton would endeavor to track me down and perform a variety of unpleasant rituals upon me were I to let you out of my sight. And I am reliably informed that she has tattoos. Clearly not a lady to be trifled with."

Wanda regarded him for a moment before grinning. "Well, I think if we ignore the trip through the sewers in Paris, I would be most put out if I happened to lose you in the airport. And you're very right in that I highly doubt Amanda will let you out of her sight for long, unless she knows where you're going. Who you're seeing. And potentially what you're having for dinner."

She shifted, trying to get comfortable as the dull aches flared. "But I thank you for coming with me to London. You didn't have to, even if Amanda made it out like you did."

Farouk retreated behind his paper again. "I believe in paying my debts, Ms. Maximoff." he paused slightly and the newspaper rustled softly as he shrugged. "Well... when it's convenient. You have seldom if ever tried to kill me or assumed that I am stalking Ms. Sefton with some sort of long-range nefarious plan in mind. My experience at the mansion indicates to me that this sort of rationality, clear thinking and admirable judgment of my character is much too rare and should be encouraged at all costs. And I *have* been meaning to visit the fair Albion for a while now." Farouk turned the page and smiled at Wanda with truly offensive guilelessness in his eyes. "Not that I am calling you a convenient excuse for a vacation you understand. Not out loud, in any case."

The slight laugh turned into a cough and Wanda sipped out of her glass of water. It took her a moment to settle back down but she was still smiling wryly. "Whoever told me you were boring, Mr. Farouk, was obviously lieing through their teeth. Besides, you still owe me a drink from Christmas and I fully intend on being around..." She yawned abruptly and blinked. "Being around for ... was something in my water?"

"Old family recipe, " Amahl murmured getting up. "A little honey, a touch of milk and a drop of Alprazolam." he draped the blanket over Wanda. "Sweet dreams and I shall see you in London."



Finally in London proper, Wanda and Farouk meet up with Romany but it doesn't go well.



Wanda woke up slowly with someone's hand on her shoulder. It took her a minute to realize she'd been essentially manhandled out of the car and she found herself leaning heavily on Farouk's arm. She stared blindly around for a moment before she took a deep breath, forcing herself to focus. It was getting harder to think and the sleep she did manage to catch was, while deep and hard to wake from, not exactly the most restful. But she recognized Romany's place from the times she had been there before and let Farouk lead her up the stairs.

She felt ... old.

Farouk kept the blank poker mask on his face as he guided Wanda through the building. After the weeks on the road together the changes in the other mutant were glaringly, horrifically apparent. The air itself around her seemed to reek of malaise and eroding strength. It was beginning to eat at him, bringing back the, still fresh, memories of feeling like a prisoner in his own body, watching helplessly as it turned into an unwieldy, clumsy wreck.

He glanced at Wanda's tired, lined face and for the nth time decided against commenting. What could he offer her besides inane generalities. Once again, the cause was unknown and her progress uncertain. He could lie, but he wouldn't. He liked this one, she had potential.

So he kept silent and gripped Wanda's arm a little firmer.

"Is this it?"

She stared around for a moment, nodding. "It's been a while but ...ah." Wanda turned her head as she heard footsteps. "Hello, Romany. I promise, my next visit will be void of any drastic issues."

"Don't make promises you can't keep, dear." Romany smiled at Wanda. "Come in and sit down - you look like you'll fall over at any minute."

She turned a slightly less friendly, but still polite look on Farouk. "And you too, of course, Mr...?"

"Amahl Farouk, at your service." The older psi clicked his heels slightly and carefully maneuvered Wanda into the apartment. "I hope you'll forgive the imposition, but I was threatened with bodily and spiritual harm if I let our mutual friend here go wandering off on her own. Terms like 'zombified castration' were used. I am not entirely sure what it means but am reluctant to take chances."

Wanda glanced at Romany and shrugged. "Amanda got excited."

She waited until she was seated before looking back up at Rom. "I think I shall start by apologizing - I have had very little well-rested sleep since this started. My brain has yet to recover. I've been suffering from attacks, or fits. Vomiting, exhaustion, increasing amounts of pain in my joints and limbs. But I'm also seeing things. Flashes of visions to a place I have never been. I felt, somehow, connected to Monona Konmlan - one of the three magicians I helped to anchor in the astral plane. Stephen says they're missing and it might have something to do w-with..."

Wanda stopped and took a deep breath, eyes closing half-way as she fought through a wave of nausea. "They think this might have something to do with that and we thought you could take a look."

"Strange visions, vomiting and exhaustion used to be a family speciality." Romany's lip quirked in in what might have been a smile, before her face turned dark for just a moment, although her voice remained light. "Of course, that was mostly Pete experimenting with drugs when he was a teenager."

Her expression returned to a more neutral on and tone turned more serious, as she scribbled a symbol on a piece of paper and held it up in front of Wanda. "Alright then. Concentrate on this image, keep it fixed in your mind, close your eyes, and breathe with me. In...Out... In... Out..."

Romany closed her eyes as well, breathing in time with Wanda, her words a slow and easy rhythm, her voice calm and reassuring.

The world dropped away but in a much more pleasant sense from what Wanda been experiencing before. All that she was aware of was the soothing tone of Romany's voice and the drawing. As she stared at it, it took on the look of different things, like an inkblot. Two people embracing, then a butterfly and then a mask...

The ink swirled and the eyes of the mask blinked; the serenity of the moment, and whatever Romany was doing, dropped away. Gone was the comfortable room, the smell of whatever scent was burning in the background. In it's place, the smell of blood and fear swelled up as Wanda's body started to shake.

Invisible hands grip her by her face, thumbs pressed insistently under her eyes. Fetid breath from a face she can't see fills her nose and mouth as she screams. Pressure, so much pressure, as someone is forced against her side.

Make it stop she wailed.

I came at your request and we will leave together

More hands but these were solid and familiar - Romany's hands were cooler than Farouk's but they were both like iron as they pressed Wanda down onto the floor. Something soft but firm was placed between her teeth even as a gentle voice crooned snatches of words into her ears.

They battled with the vision that confused her senses.

Black veins that lay long asleep were roused as if by a new master. They flashed and filled, blocking magical senses from anything but the most obscure of images. They tightened a strangle hold on Wanda's mind, pulling her back, always further back away from the seeking.

When it became too much, her body rallied at last - against friend and foe. Red exploded in the veins under her eye lids and everything, for a moment, shut down. Blissful silence as her body sagged in relief; she turned her head to spit out the wallet that she found in her mouth. There was movement from the side and then someone was sliding a pillow under her head.

"I think," Wanda said, coughing, after a moment as Romany and Farouk's faces appeared above hers, "that it's a good thing the cavalry will be here soon."