SELCOUTH | 9.1
"I'LL BE IN RHODE ISLAND!"
Westview, New Jersey | 2023

"OKAY THIS IS TAKING WAY TOO LONG," Athena mutters as she looks at the construction workers still fixing the light. Darcy sighs in her seat.

"Yeah, I completely agree. You'd be better off running back to town."

Athena nods her head and climbs out of the truck. She gives Darcy one last look, "I'll see you back in town?"

"Yeah, go save your girl!"

Athena smiles as she takes off in a sprint back to Westview. When she reaches the edge of town she hears an explosion and runs a little faster. She finds Wanda and Vision standing on the street outside of the house.

"Hey," Athena greets, "What have I missed? Are the boys, okay?"

"They're inside and you were right," Wanda says as she walks over to Athena and hugs her, "It was Agnes. Her real name is Agatha Harkness, and she can do magic. Like me."

"Where is she now?" Athena asks and Wanda nods over to the house that had a car lodged in it.

"Oh," Athena says, "Great."

"I'm sorry," Wanda says as she looks at Athena and Vision, "I should have stopped this the minute I knew what it was."

"It's fine," Vision tells her.

There's a loud noise and Athena looks down the street to see a figure that looks like a Vision, a white version of Vision, walking toward them.

"Uh Wanda, did you make another Vision?"

"No, I didn't," Wanda answers, and Athena nods at the white version of Vision that was walking toward them.

"Then who's that?"

"Someone who was not invited," Wanda tells her.

Agnes or Agatha appears on the roof of a house, "Well isn't this awkward, your boyfriend, ex, and fiancé all at the same party. Which one are you gonna choose?"

"For the record am I the ex or the fiancé?" Athena shouts and Wanda hits her on the shoulder. Athena glances at her, "What? I'm curious."

"This is our home," Wanda says as she looks at Vision and Athena.

Vision nods, "Then let's fight for it."

Vision takes off and toward the white Vision and the two of them disappear in the air. Athena and Wanda both focus their attention on Agatha who lands before them.

"Athena Choi," Agatha says, "I don't think you understand how much this woman loves you. We took a little trip down memory lane, and I could see exactly why she feel for you. That charm of yours is something else."

"I guess so," Athena replies, "So what do you want?"

"What do I want?" Agatha asks, "I want to know how Wanda did all of this! She doesn't even cast spells!"

Athena shrugs, "What can she say, she's just that good."

"You want to know what was good?" Agatha asks, taking a step closer to Athena, "When I changed the story and made you the boy's mother."

Athena's brows furrowed, "That was you?"

"Of course it was me," Agatha says with a grin.

"No more games," Wanda says, "This ends now."

Athena watches as Wanda takes off and Agatha flies after her. Athena watches as they take off and sighs, "Life would be so much easier if I knew how to fly."

She looks at the house to see Billy and Tommy's heads peeking through the curtains and Athena rushes over to the house and opens the door, "Boys?"

"Mom!" Tommy and Billy exclaim as they hug her.

"What's going on?" Tommy questions.

"Where's mom?" Billy asks her.

"She's taking care of things, okay?" Athena says as she kneels before them, "Are the two of you feeling okay?"

Billy nods his head and Tommy answers, "We're fine."

"You have to go help mom," Billy insists, "She needs you."

Athena nods her head, "Where is she?"

"Center of town," Billy tells her, "There's a lot of people there and they look really mad."

Athena looks at the boys. She knew they were just kids, but they were super kids so technically it wasn't bad if she brought them along, right? Right?

It was a good thing Athena wasn't an actual mother because she probably would be really bad at it.

"Okay because I want to keep a close eye on you guys, you're coming with me."

"Really?" Tommy asks sounding a little too excited.

"Yes, now come on."

The three of them rush out of the house and down the street toward the center of town. Athena looks up at the sky to see that Vision was still fighting white Vision. They seemed equally matched and as long as white Vision was distracted, then things were good.

Athena's eyes widen as she saw the Hex begin to come apart. She could hear the sound of people rushing down the street and she turned to see the citizens of Westview were running toward the boundary of the Hex.

Athena looked down at the boys to see that they were no longer behind her, but on the ground, almost glitching.

"Billy! Tommy!" Athena says as she rushes toward them.

"Help mom! Please!" Tommy says and Athena nods her head as she gets up and rushes toward the center of town where Wanda was opening up the Hex.

"Wanda!" she yells, and her head turns to look at Athena, "The boys!"

"Now you see?" Agatha's voice says. Athena looks up to see her standing on a billboard, "You tied your family to this world and now one can't exist without the other. Save Westview or save your family."

"Wanda," Vision's distorted voice calls out and Athena looks over to see him on the ground. She looks back up at Wanda and without saying a word she gives her a nod. Wanda returns the nod and lets out a scream as she closes Westview back up.

Athena moves quickly and catches Wanda as she collapses from using too much magic.

"Thanks," Wanda says and Athena smiles at her.

"You okay?"

"Fine," Wanda answers.

"Do I even have to say it?" Athena asks and Wanda smiles at her. She helps Wanda to her feet, "Everyone got out. It's just us and Agatha now."

Wanda nods her head, "That's good."

"Mom!" the boys exclaim as they rush over to hug her. Wanda holds them close, and Vision rushes over as well. He stands back, seemingly unsure of what to do with himself. Athena gives him a gentle shove and he stumbles forward before looking back at her.

"They're your family. Hug them," she tells him, and Vision grabs her arm tugging her in as well as they all exchange a group hug.

A flash of purple flies their way and Wanda acts quickly as she casts a boundary around them. Athena's eyes go wide as she notices that Agatha was somehow absorbing Wanda's magic. She looked around to see that there was a fountain nearby and without much thought, she launched a wave of water and Agatha.

It didn't do much damage, but it did stop her from absorbing Wanda's powers. Athena looked at Wanda to see that her hands seemed to be decaying.

"Mom, are you okay?" Billy asks.

Wanda doesn't get the chance to answer as Agatha hovers over them, "How sweet."

"Uh, dad?" Tommy says and they all look up to see white Vision floating in the air, staring at them.

The sound of a car catches Athena's attention and she looks over to see several S.W.O.R.D trucks making their way toward them.

"This is not looking good for us," Athena mutters as she gets into a fighting stance. She looks over to see the boys, Wanda and Vision do the same as well.

Several men get out of the truck with their guns pointed at them.

"Listen, boys," Vision says, "Your mother and I never really prepared you for this."

"But you were born for it," Wanda says.

"So let's go kick some ass," Athena tells them.

Tommy nods along to her words, "Yeah, kicking ass!"

Vision and Wanda look at her and Athena shrugs, "They're about to enter their first fight."

"Don't say bad words around the boys," Wanda tells her.

"Sorry," Athena apologizes. She looks over at Tommy, "Don't say that word."

Vision flies off and he and takes on white Vision, the two of them crashing into one of the Westview buildings.

"You guys think you can handle the military?" Wanda asks and Athena looks over at the boys and shrugs.

"Yeah, I think we got it."

Wanda nods her head and looks at the boys, "Mommy will be right back."

They watch as Wanda flies off and Athena's attention is caught by the cocking of guns. She sighs as she looks at the men.

"Seriously? Would you shoot kids?" Athena asks, "I knew the government didn't care about children, but this feels like an all-time low."

"We have orders to eliminate all hostiles," one of the men says and Athena waves her hand flippantly.

"Yeah yeah, you're all government slaves and you have orders to follow, I've heard it all before," Athena says, "So how does it feel to be embarrassed by a kid?"

"What?" the man asks her.

Athena smiles and looks down and he follows her gaze to see that his pants were now around his ankles. Tommy runs back to her side and Athena holds out her hand for a high five. The rest of the men find themselves to be empty-handed and look around in confusion.

"Did that happen too quickly for you? Would you like us to do it again?" Athena teases.

"Enough!" Hayward says as he gets out of one of the cars. He pulls out a pistol and aims it at them. Athena's eyes widen and she acts quickly as she summons the water from the fountain, only for Monica to stand in front of her with the bullets passing through her and dropping to the ground.

The water drops with a splash as Athena stares at Monica, her mouth hanging open.

"Have you always been able to do that?" Athena asks, Monica looks at her with a smile.

"You missed a lot when you went into the Hex."

Athena chuckles, "Seems I did."

Hayward climbs into the truck and puts it in reverse. Out of nowhere the truck that Darcy had been driving rams into Hayward and Athena lets out a cheer.

"Yeah Darcy!" she looks over at Monica, "You should totally ask her out."

Monica looks at her, "What?"

"Darcy," Athena says nodding in Darcy's direction, "She's totally crushing on you and you're quite fond of her. Ask her out, she'll say yes."

Monica nods her head, "Oh um sure. I'll do that."

Athena smiles as she pats Monica's shoulder, "You'll thank me later."

Vision flies out of the building and makes his way toward them. Athena looks away from Monica and at him, "Everything okay?"

"They will be," Vision tells her, "Where's Wanda?"

Athena looks up at the sky to see it turning red as Wanda and Agatha exchange blows. Athena watches wearily as it appears as though Agatha was sucking the magic from Wanda. Billy reaches out to her while Tommy clings to Vision.

"She's gonna be okay," Athena says as she hugs Billy close.

Red marks begin to appear on the Hex and Athena's brow furrows at the sight. She didn't understand Wanda's magic, not really. So, she was hoping that the red marks made by Wanda were a good thing because she didn't know what she was going to do if they weren't.

Her worries were quelled as it seemed that Wanda had somehow reversed the situation on Agatha and had absorbed her magic.

Wanda flies back to the ground, bringing Agatha and apparently a new outfit with her. Athena watches as Wanda approaches Agatha and touches her, transforming her into Agnes. Wanda turns toward them, and Billy and Tommy run off toward her first.

Wanda smiles as she embraces the boys, kissing them on their heads.

Athena turns toward Monica, "Thank you for your help with everything. I know S.W.O.R.D was your mother's project and I hate to see what Hayward's turned it into. Hopefully, they'll come to their senses and appoint you as director."

"I hope so too," Monica says, her eyes drifting over Athena's shoulder, "You should go be with your family."

Athena looks over at Wanda, Vision, and the boys. It wasn't her family, not really. It was theirs and Agatha had just placed her in there to mess with Wanda's head. Her eyes lowered to the ground as she fiddled with her fingers.

"Mom?" Athena looks up to see Billy looking at her expectantly, "Are you coming?"

She looks to see that they were all waiting for her, and Athena nods her head, "Uh yeah."

They head back to the house with the Hex shrinking around them. As they head inside the house. Vision and Wanda's clothes magically change to something more comfortable as they head upstairs.

The boys slip into their beds and Athena takes a seat on the end of Billy's bed as Wanda embraces him. Vision sits on Tommy's bed and holds out his fist, which Tommy bumps.

"Big day today guys," Vision says, "We're – we're all proud of you."

"Very proud," Wanda says.

"Extremely," Athena adds, "Especially with the pantsing."

Tommy smiles widely at her and Athena winks at him.

"You know," Wanda says, "A family is forever and even if ours is a little unconventional, we could never truly leave each other, even if we tried. You know that, right?"

Tommy and Billy nod their heads and Athena looks at the ground in an attempt to stop herself from crying. She knew what was coming, but she wasn't ready to say goodbye. She'd fallen in love with these boys as if they were her own.

Wanda and Vision tuck the boys in and kisses their heads before heading over to the bedroom door.

"Uh I know I accidentally became your mom because of the evil witch lady, but I have to let you guys know that it might have been one of the best things to happen to me," she says with a small smile, "So thanks."

"It was no accident," Billy says, "You were our mom."

"Evil witch lady or not," Tommy says and Athena smiles at that.

"Night boys," Athena says as she heads past Wanda and Vision, and down the stairs.

It's only a moment later that Vision and Wanda appear downstairs, and Athena looks at them. It kind of felt like Wakanda all over again. Wanda and Athena saying goodbye to Vision.

Athena stepped forward and hugged Vision, "I'm sorry we couldn't save you."

"It's okay," Vision tells her as he embraces her back.

Athena pulls away and looks over at Wanda, "I'm gonna give you two a moment."

The moment was honestly for herself because if she stayed in there any longer, she knew that she was going to start crying. Wanda gave her a nod and Athena made her way toward the door and paused as she gave Vision one last smile, "It was cool, the three of us fighting together again."

As Athena walked out of the door, she stepped outside of the Hex and into the streets of Westview. She looked around at the town that bore no resemblance to the Westview that Wanda had created.

Athena turned around and watched as the house faded away with nothing, but the foundation left and Wanda standing at the center of it. It was a solid moment before Wanda turned around to face her.

"They're gone."

Athena nods her head, "They are."

Wanda sighs and walks toward Athena until she's standing right in front of her. She looks down and takes Athena's hand into her own.

Wanda sighs as she looks at the ring on Athena's finger, "I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry," Athena apologizes.

Wanda lets out a laugh, "We're quite the pair, aren't we? You run off for a year and I create a whole fake reality."

"I think it's a sign that we don't need to be apart," Athena says with a small smile, "And that we need to communicate better."

"Yeah," Wanda says, as she looks up at Athena, "So we're doing this again?"

"You've ruined me for anyone else, Wanda Maximoff," Athena answers, "I mean I broke retirement for you."

"Thank you," Wanda says, "For coming after me."

"Always," Athena answers.

Athena can hear sirens in the distance, and she sighs as she looks at Wanda. The redhead stares at her before leaning forward and kissing Athena. Different from their last kiss, this one is gentle and filled with promises of a future together.

Wanda pulls away with a smile on her lips, "Wait for me?"

"Of course, my little jailbird," Athena says with a grin of her own. Wanda starts walking off and Athena shouts after her, "I'll be in Rhode Island!"