Sam, Clint, and Scott were all a little beat up. A few cuts and bruises, a lot of anger. Some of that's the battle. Some of that's them being arrested and thrown into maximum security cells.
But Wanda?
Wanda’s in a straight jacket and a shock collar. Wanda’s collapsed on the floor, leaning against the wall, silent, white as a sheet, and barely moving.
Wanda wasn’t just arrested. Wanda was tortured by the government.
Because how do you get an all-powerful and uncooperative young woman into a straight jacket? You knock her out, probably shoot her full of tranquilizers until she stops struggling.
Because why put her in a shock collar if she’s already restrained? To keep her quiet and docile. Because they don’t understand her or her powers, what they do or how they work, so they’ve tried to cover all the bases.
Because why wouldn’t Wanda speak to Tony; why wouldn’t she snark and quip like Clint and Scott and Sam; why wouldn’t she spit and curse and scream? The last time she tried, she got shocked. The last time and every time before that, they shocked her. She was in constant pain from moving or speaking - because every time she did something, anything the guards thought she was trying to use her powers, trying to attack them - so she decided the best option was to sit still, keep quiet, and stop fighting. Don’t make any sudden movements; don’t make any movements at all.
She’s been in this situation before, with HYDRA. But even they didn’t restrain her. At least they let her move, let her speak, let her use her powers. At least they let her throw herself against the walls, let her scream, let her manipulate the fabric of the universe. (At least she still had her brother.) She knows what prison feels like - knows confinement and pain by heart - but this is worse.
When Steve comes to break her out, how much do you want to bet that she flinched at the sight of him? Moved into the corner when the door opened? Cringed when he tried to unbind her? Whined when he got close to the collar because she was afraid it would hurt him or her or both?
How screwed up do you think Wanda is after being tortured by people who say they’re doing it to protect the greater good?
How long before she tries to speak again? Is it just a whisper at first? Is she quieter than she used to be? Does it take her days before she’s willing to speak above a mumble, weeks before she shouts to be heard, months before she screams of her own volition?
How long does it take Wanda to let people touch her again? Does she throw Clint across the room the first time he places a hand on her shoulder to comfort her? Does she flinch at loud noises? Stops wearing necklaces because they make her feel collared? Refuses hugs because they make her feel restrained?
How much time goes by before Wanda dares to use her powers again? How long before she lets go of the fear of being shocked for something that’s a fundamental part of her? How long before she embraces the energy again?
How long before she stops being scared and starts being angry?
I’m so glad someone put this into words, Wanda breaks my heart, I love her a lot.
my favourite part of the civil war anti-tony discourse is when people point at the airport scene and scream about tony using peter as an Actual Child Soldier and Blackmailing him when
tony explicitly told him to web people up and stay clear of the actual fighting,,,,,,because the entire point was that tony was trying to bring steve, bucky and sam in quietly so that ross wouldn’t authorize people to kill everyone in order to get to bucky (“You don’t get it, Stark, it’s not yours to handle. It’s clear you can’t be objective. We’re putting special ops on this” “What happens when the shooting starts? What, do you kill Steve Rogers?” “If we’re provoked” and then tony begs for time to bring them in)
the second it looked like peter had taken a bad hit (delivered,,,by steve’s side) tony told him he was done (and the “blackmail” was literally “no that was too close you did good but you’re a kid and you’re done and i’ll essentially tattle on you to your aunt if you don’t get somewhere safe oh my god why didn’t you web people up and stay clear of the fighting we talked about this)
they’re totally chill with steve dropping a boarding bridge on peter without knowing if it would kill him or not
lets talk about sam wilson and how he dived so fast to help rhodey, not only because hes an amazing person and would never want to see someone else hurt like that, but because he knows exactly how it feels to watch a person you love get shot out of the sky. sam lost his best friend riley the same way that tony almost loses rhodey. imagine how he mustve felt, trying his hardest but still not being able to save rhodey from that fall, feeling like he was ‘up there just to watch’ all over again. fuck
