Wanda and Forge

[x-scarletwitch.livejournal.com]

Wanda tries to drown herself in work of any kind and tinkers with the busted jeep. Forge happens to wander in and is grateful to learn that the car isn't talking. They talk about powers and then make a deal.



Wanda stared up at the underside of the jeep and sighed. The thing was a mess, that was certain enough. When Scott had given her something to work on, he hadn't been kidding when he said it was going to take a lot of work (and some luck) to get it running again. But it was either do this or lift weights to get her mind off of subjects that would make her lose her composure.

And, as it was, she had already been in the gym for a few hours that morning. Unconsciously, her leg, sticking out from under the jeep, tapped along in time to the gentle music playing from the work bench, the jean shorts not moving all that much. 'Where is that flashlight?' she thought, trying to spot it.

Forge walked out of the machine shop, wiping the sweat off of his forehead with a rag. He stepped experimentally onto his artificial leg, smiling as he saw the metallic skin he'd made flex as it moved. Beaten sheets of aluminum and copper attached in panels around the thigh, protecting the motors and circuits.

Pausing with his foot off the floor, Forge caught himself before he stepped on a flashlight and nearly dashed his head on the concrete. Smirking, he kicked the flashlight across the garage.

He didn't expect to hear an "A-ha!" after that.

Well, that had been unexpected. Smiling, she had stopped the flashlight before it had beaned her in the head. "Whoever did that, thank you," she called out before turning it on. "~Holy shit, this is worse than I thought.~" Scooting slightly forward, Wanda poked experimentally at the oil pan, ready to push herself completely out from under the car if it were to go.

The car had a weird accent, Forge thought. Sometimes he imagined that machines talked to him. He just never actually heard them. Not out loud, anyway.

Braving a glance, he leaned over towards the Jeep, and let out a loud breath when he saw the mop of brown curls tied back under a bandanna. He wasn't crazy, and even better, the car didn't have a silly accent.

"Um, you're welcome," he replied.

When the oil pan shifted, she decided it was probably a good idea to get a better look at this from the other side. Sliding fully out, she spotted the young man and smiled at him. "I was looking for that," she explained, waiving the flashlight at him. She caught sight of his leg and her eyes lighted up. "Oh! You must be Forge!" Wanda quickly stood up and brushed herself off and walked over, offering her hand to him. "Wanda Maximoff."

Somewhat stunned by the woman who just slid effortlessly out from under a Jeep Wrangler despite being nearly a full head taller than him, Forge stood stock-still for a moment before coming to his senses and clasping her hand. "Yes. Yes I am. Forge." Dropping her hand, he glanced past her to the Jeep. "Ah, the rustbucket. Gutting it, huh?"

"Hmm, yes. I was attempting to save it but--" She shrugged and held up her hands in defeat. "It is, well, a piece of shit. But it keeps my mind off of things and I was kicked out of the gym, so it gives me something to do." Another glance at him and she raised an eyebrow. "You do not mind if I use my power? I need to check on something and it's much easier to find out if the bottom of the jeep is going to fall on my head before I start."

Forge instinctively slapped his thigh for his PDA, before realizing he'd left it attached to his laptop, downloading the new diagnostics program. What in the hell did she do, again?.

"Um, sure," he mumbled. "I mean, so long as you're not going to zap me or anything, go ahead."

Chuckling, Wanda grinned at him and brought up her hands. "Oh trust me, with one so cute I would certainly _not_ touch your strings," she muttered under her breath, mentally eyerolling at herself. Too many that were simply far too _young_. A soft sigh followed the release of her powers and the red rings flared to life around her hands. "Ah, THERE we are." To say the jeep was a piece of junk was doing it kindness. Strings literally pooled off the vehicle. She concentrated, trying to separate what was already wrong and what she could _make_ wrong. It was harder to do than it looked.

Forge blinked for a moment at Wanda's statement, then was completely distracted by the Jeep. It seemed to do... something... almost in synchronicity with the red rings around Wanda's hands. Well, of course. He saw it now. The oil pan would drop any day now, with the retaining bolts nearly rusted through. The catalytic converter was shot, and the spark plugs were nearly useless from corrosion. One turn of the key and too much gas to the engine, and the cylinders would all go at once.

But that would be impossible. Well, not impossible, a million-to-one shot. But all the pieces were there, it COULD happen.

Forge shook his head, trying to clear his mind. "What in the hell are you doing?" he demanded.

"Chaos," Wanda nearly purred, enjoying the warm feeling that was seeping from her hands through her body. She wasn't using her abilities nearly as often as she could be. "Entropy, if you will. What's there and what could be there. You see it, do you?"

Nodding, Forge reached out, placing his mechanical hand on the Jeep. It didn't FEEL any different. Odd that he'd expected it to. "The Second Law, right. It's the natural state of things to lose potential energy. A candle burns down, it never gets longer. A TV dinner will cool down, but never spontaneously heat up. Entropy."

"Now, chaos," he smirked, "that's something entirely different. Butterfly flaps its wings in Vermont, hurricane in Shanghai, that stuff. You see that?"

"I see the strings but I do not know what they _are_. To a point, I do." She shifted her mental gaze to his leg and smiled. "I should have known. With you--the only lines I see are from entropy I can _make_ and not play off of. And all of them are shining so very, very dark red in my mind. The redder the string, the sharper it sings in my head. And that is not a good string to play with."

Forge smiled despite Wanda's cryptic pronouncements. Low entropy meant a state of order, neatly arranged and focused. He liked that. And that gave him an idea.

"Can you just... focus it? Like you did?" As Wanda nodded, Forge pulled a quarter from his pocket, and flipped it into his palm. Once, twice, then a third time. Frowning, he repeated the process.

"Possible, just highly improbable. That's amazing. Fifteen in a row."

With a small wave of her hands, the rings around them disappeared and she blinked as the strings disappeared from her mind. "It is not like a luck power but more along the lines of oddities happening. It is not a good thing when I lose control of my powers."

Forge remained silent for a moment, pondering. "You know," he finally said, "you'd make one hell of a computer."

Caught completely by surprise, Wanda blinked at him. "I would what?"

"Chaos theory. It's the next obvious step in computing. See, you take a solid-substrate processor array..." Forge continued to babble for a few moments, spouting technical terms and gesticulating until he realized that he'd left Wanda behind after his first sentence. Suddenly he felt a red flush creeping up his cheeks.

"Um, it's nothing, really. Just an idea and stuff."

Laughing, she leaned against the table behind her and grinned at him. "You might have to right that down in laymen's terms because it does sound _very_ interesting. I am nothing but a tinkerer, though, so the advanced stuff is a little beyond my abilities. I play, really, compared to you and a good deal of the mansion."

Grateful for the reprieve, Forge exhaled loudly and nodded. "You're wasting your time on that thing, though." He made a show of kicking one of the tires on the Jeep. "I don't know who drove it into the ground, but it..."

Forge took a second look at the Jeep, slowly brushing his hand against it as he walked around it slowly. The oil pan could be reinforced, certainly. Spark plugs could be replaced with more efficient models, and the catalytic converter needed to be ripped out and a fuel-injection system installed and...

"Or I could be mistaken..." he breathed.

It was like watching someone turn on a light behind his eyes, Wanda noted and then turned her attention back to the jeep. He was seeing something beneath the grime, dirt and rust. Pushing herself off the wall, she joined him next to the jeep and patted it. "Think there's something for this old girl, after all?" she asked, glad for some reason. Puttering to just putter was one thing. But if there was a chance it could be fixed up...

"It's parts," Forge announced, as if he was stating the obvious. "If you know what to do with them, you can make anything work." He wiggled his skeletal metal fingers as evidence.

She smiled at that. "Maybe we could work together on this?" she offered. "If you are amendable, after all? Trust me, I can run this lovely through her paces to make sure we take care of everything that could break. And with your power..."

Forge frowned. How to tell this woman, eager as she was, that she'd only hold him back? He opened his mouth to say just that, but settled for "I... think I could come up with something. Yeah."

Chuckling, Wanda bent over slightly, better to look up into Forge's face. "I read people fairly easily," she said slowly, raising an eyebrow. "One does not always have to _rush_ to finish something, Forge. And what better way to study someone else's powers than to see them in better use and practice?"

Powers. Like you're looking at her POWERS right now, dork. Forge came to the realization that Wanda was leaning awfully far forward, and that he was dangerously close to staring.

"Fine, then," he spat out. "It's a test. I'll have this thing locked together so perfectly you could drop it off a cliff and not a single bolt will fall loose. If you're willing to play stress tester, I... we can make this heap of tin into the most bad-ass off roader in the state."

Wanda smirked at that and held out her hand. "I believe we have a deal," she said, that wild look shining briefly in her eyes as they shook over the jeep.