Echo: The Infinity Saga | Wanda Maximoff x male reader.

chapter 39: time heist

"5 years ago, we lost. All of us. We lost friends. We lost family. We lost a part of ourselves. Today, we have a chance to take it all back. You know your teams, you know your missions. Get the stones, get them back. One round trip each. No mistakes. No do-overs. Most of us are going somewhere we know. But it doesn't mean we should know what to expect. Be careful. Look out for each other. This is the fight of our lives. And we're gonna win. Whatever it takes. Good luck,"

 Steve gave us a speech to motivate us, not that we needed it. We were all pretty psyched up about travelling through time. I was going with Tony, Steve, Scott and Bruce to New York. Nat and Clint were going to Vormir. Rocket and Thor were going to Asgard, and Nebula and Rhodey were going to Morag. We stood on the quantum portal, and Bruce was at the controls.

"He's pretty good at that," Rocket said as Steve walked away.

"All right, you heard the man. Stroke those keys, Jolly Green," Tony said to Bruce.

"Trackers engaged," Clint made a weak promise to Rocket about his ship, which was miniscule and in Clint's palm. Bruce joined us, slapped his wrist, and something started beeping.

"See you in a minute," Nat said excitedly. Our helmets activated and we shrunk. We travelled through the quantum realm, and backwards in time, and separated at our respective time zones. Bruce, Tony, Steve and I came out in 2012.

"Woah, this brings back memories. 11 years ago," I said. Chitauri were snarling all over the place. Our suits deactivated, and Steve walked forwards.

"All right, we all have our assignments. Two stones uptown, one stone down. Stay low. Keep an eye on the clock..." 2012 Hulk came crashing past us, flattening a car. I turned to present? Future? Bruce, who was rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"Maybe smash a few things along the way,"

"I think it's gratuitous, but whatever," Bruce ripped his vest off, and started pathetically pummeling a car. He threw a motorbike aside, and roared softly.

"Come on, Bruce. We'll get Strange. Stranger than this already is," We headed towards the Sanctum.

"So, how exactly did you combine Bruce and The Hulk?" I asked.

"I used to treat the Hulk like he was some kind of disease, something to get rid of. But then I started looking at him as the cure. I spent eighteen months in a gamma lab. I put the brains and the brawn together," He explained.

"Cool. Fancy chucking me up there?" I said as we reached the Sanctum.

"Fine. You jump up, I'll run up," I ran up the side of the building, and Bruce joined me on the roof. There was a bald woman shooting orange discs of magic at the Chitauri.

"Is that Strange?" I asked.

"That's not Strange, but that is strange. Come on," We headed towards the door leading into the Sanctum.

"I'd be careful going that way. We just had the floors waxed," The magician spoke from behind us.

"We're looking for Doctor Strange," I said.

"You're about five years too early. Stephen Strange is currently performing surgery about twenty blocks that way," She said, pointing in the direction. "What do you want from him?"

"The Time Stone," I blurted out. She looked down at the necklace hanging from her neck.

"Ah! I'm afraid not,"

"Sorry but we weren't asking," Bruce said. He started walking towards the magician.

"You don't want to do this,"

"Ah, you're right, I don't. But, we really need that stone and I don't have time to debate it," Bruce held his hand towards the necklace, and she spiritually pushed him back. Bruce fell to the ground. The spirit of Bruce Banner was now floating in the air. She looked at me.

"I'm not going to touch you," I said, holding my hands up in surrender. She looked back to Bruce.

"Let's start over, shall we?"

"Okay, basically, we're from the future. We need that stone to help correct some wrongdoing done by someone. And by wrongdoing, I mean bring trillions of people back to life," I explained.

"I'm sorry, I can't help you,"

"Why not?" Bruce asked.

"If I give up the Time Stone to help your reality, I'm dooming my own," Ghost Bruce and I followed her up some stairs.

"With all due respect, all right, I'm not sure the science really supports that," The magician created a string of orange magic between Bruce and herself.

"The Infinity Stones create what you experience as the flow of time. Remove one of the stones..." She plucked one of the stones off her diorama, and a black stream branched off the orange one.

"...And that flow splits. Now, this may benefit your reality, but my new one, not so much. In this new branch reality, without our chief weapon against the forces of darkness, our world would be overrun. Millions will suffer. So, tell me, Doctor. Can your science prevent all that?" She explained.

"May I? I'm no doctor, I'm just about an adult. But if we return the Stone to this very point after we've finished with it, won't the consequences be none?" I suggested.

"So, chronologically, in that reality, it never left!" Bruce said, putting the stone back into the diorama. "Good thinking," He smiled at me.

"Yes, but you're leaving out the most important part. In order to return the stones, you have to survive,"

"We will. We will. I promise," Bruce replied.

"I can't risk this reality on a promise. It's the duty of The Sorcerer Supreme to protect the Time Stone,"

"Then why the hell did Strange give it away?" Bruce asked rhetorically, starting to get a bit annoyed. The Sorcerer Supreme had a look of confusion and worry on her face.

"What did you say?"

"Strange. He gave it away. He gave it to Thanos," Bruce said.

"Willingly?"

"Yep,"

"Why?"

"I have no idea. Maybe he made a mistake," The Sorcerer Supreme looked into the eyes of the ghost Bruce.

"Or I did," She made a hand movement and The Hulk returned to Bruce's spirit. She did something else, and her necklace opened, revealing an emerald gem. She took it out of its casing and handed it to me. I rolled it in my hand before wrapping my hand around it.

"Strange is meant to be the best of us,"

"So, he must've done it for a reason," I said.

"I fear you might be right,"

"Thank you," Bruce said.

"I'm counting on you, Bruce. And you, (Y/N). We all are,"

"Miss Sorcerer, you have my word, the Time Stone will be returned to you safely," I said. We walked down Manhattan, and met Scott, Tony and Steve in an alley. Tony and Scott were sitting in a car.

"Sorry, guys, we got a problem," Tony said, whilst Scott scoffed.

"Yeah, we do,"