《A Twist Of Marvel || Infinity War》28. Paprikash
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"Turn to shit?" Vision repeated, squinting his eyes at the camera in confusion. Naomi gave a short, hard laugh out of embarrassment, avoiding the gazes of the two heroes.
"Yeah... there's like, a whole-ass war coming." She trailed off, cursing her habit of swearing excessively when she was embarrassed. Unfortunately, her colorful language did nothing to help her credibility, as Wanda was now raising a perfect eyebrow at her. Vision remained fairly passive, but he was also a robot so it didn't count.
"You never cease to amaze me with your eloquence." Tony sassed, throwing a cocky smirk Naomi's way. As sarcastic as the comment was, it soothed her nerves slightly- and hopefully got rid of her red cheeks.
"Shut up Tin Can." Naomi retorted, smirking back at Tony- both to sass him and to avoid the camera.
"Hepburn." He nodded to her in surrender, backing out of the sarcastic banter. Now without an excuse, she was forced to pay attention to Wanda and Vision. Clasping her hands in her lap, Naomi took a breath and briefly ran over everything in her mind. It was a lot to cover over Skype if she was to convince the couple to go to a foreign country that hadn't existed until a few months ago.
"Okay, so, there is a war on its way. It's hard to explain how I know-"
"Prophetic knowledge."
"Shut it, Downey."
Naomi ignored the Stark as he became increasingly confused, making a note to explain the whole movie-actor thing again after FaceTime-ing with superheroes. In fact, everyone in the room was confused by her new nickname for Tony- Thor, Loki and Strange all glanced at each other to see if anyone knew what it meant. Vision and Wanda, who were still under the impression that Naomi was actually a crudely-spoken prophet, simply frowned and wrote it off as a fortune-teller thing. Huffing, Naomi found her previous nerves completely gone as a result of Tony's antics.
"Anyway, so there's this fight that coming- I've seen it. An alien named Thanos forges an infinity gauntlet to hold the power of all six infinity stones. With it, he plans to wipe out half the universe." She was about to continue when she realized her fatal blunder. It hadn't crossed her mind until she had actually explained it to Vision- that she had just told him and Wanda of his own death. There was only one way to remove the mind stone that the heroes currently knew of, and if Thanos had all six stones- it only meant one thing. Naomi froze in her seat as she watched the screen, her face giving away that she had realized something terrible. Vision and Wanda were unaware, since they had not yet learned that Thanos ultimately succeeded.
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In her state of apprehension, Naomi became aware of a hand on her shoulder. She turned to her side to see Tony, his expression sympathetic as he provided silent support. Naomi then realized her second mistake. Tony had asked not to know any of the casualties in the war, and yet she had inadvertently told him that Vision was part of the death toll. It was with a burning disappointment in herself that Naomi met his eyes, and saw that he knew exactly what she had realized. Tony nodded to her in confirmation that it was okay, and Naomi turned back to the screen, determined not to make the mistake again.
"Do you want to know who dies in the war?" She asked clearly, the ferocity in her gaze taking the couple aback. Wanda peered closer at the screen, analyzing Naomi's expression.
"There are deaths in the war you have seen?" She questioned. Beside her, Vision's face suddenly grew troubled, and then cleared quickly. Clearly, he too had realized that the war against Thanos included the cost of his life.
"Yes, many." Naomi answered, "do you want to know who?"
The two paused, staring first at Naomi before turning to each other. Their eyes held a silent conversation, before they each gave an almost imperceptible nod.
"Tell us, prophet." Wanda said. Naomi chewed her lip, having figured that that would be their response. Nodding to them, she tore her eyes away from the screen to look at the other inhabitants of the room.
"Tony, Thor, I know you two don't want to hear- uh, Strange-"
"I already know." Strange replied, meeting her gaze with a melancholy that matched hers. The pair of them knew the cost of the war- or what it could have been. However the sorcerer's eyes held more depth, for he knew the possible outcomes of the war with Naomi's interference. She could only pray that the plan would succeed. Turning her eyes to Loki, she found his gaze newly invigorated, even more curious than before. It brought a smile to her face, funnily enough.
"Loki, do you wanna know?" She asked, silently pleading that he wouldn't say yes. It would be hard enough to tell both Vision and Wanda they they died, but telling Loki of his own horrific death would be too much.
"What's the fun in that?" He replied instead, grinning cheekily before standing from his seat to meet the rest of the group, who had moved to the door. One by one, they filtered out, leaving Naomi alone in the room with the FaceTime. Before Tony exited, he gave her another reassuring smile and a cheesy thumbs up, which was definitely not appropriate for the situation. Never the less, it brightened Naomi's spirits, and aided her in what was about to happen.
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"Alright, so before I start, I need you to understand something." Naomi's gaze at the screen was pleading. The couple nodded to her, their expressions matching in their seriousness.
"In order to prevent all of this, Tony and I have a plan." She explained. "And one of the first steps is sending both of you to Wakanda- immediately." To say their gazes were shocked was an understatement. They had been under the impression that Tony needed them in New York for another battle, not to do some traveling abroad. "Just trust me." Naomi breathed.
Wanda's face screwed up at her words, obviously not trusting her. "Why?" She questioned. A simple question, but it had such a loaded answer that Naomi felt it would be too much to explain. So she opted for an easier route that usually seemed to work.
"Here, you can trust my knowledge of the future because I can prove my knowledge of the past." It was a tactic she had used on Tony when she first met him- showing the Iron Man clip on youtube. Once again however- showing a movie clip would lead into an explanation of how the hell she had footage of their private moments. Wanda's patience was already wearing thin- she had only been given vague and unsupported statements by a complete stranger thus far- she had apt reason to be.
"Alright." Vision said, curious as to what she could prove about the past. Naomi took a deep breath, preparing to spill their private moments out in front of them.
"Before Steve and Tony's fight, Wanda was, uh, confined to headquarters under Tony's orders." Their eyes began to widen. "While Wanda was unknowingly being kept there, Vision made, uh, Paprikash? I don't quite remember- but something with paprika to 'lift your spirits.'" Naomi quoted Visions words as she gestured at Wanda, who was now much paler and staring at Naomi with an unidentifiable expression. Vision seemed calmer about her knowledge, so Naomi focused on speaking to him. Having forced herself into explanatory mode, she began to ramble secrets of the past.
"Vision, you mentioned that you didn't know what the stone in your forehead is- I can tell you actually- or I can quote the Collector. Uh, so before creation, there were six singularities- but, uh, then when the universe was created, the six systems were forged into ingots- the infinity stones. Yours is the mind stone- and it can basically control minds and shoot beams and stuff." Naomi finished, drawing in a gulp of air after her unnecessary tangent on the infinity stones.
Vision was outwardly processing the new knowledge on the source of power on his forehead, whilst Wanda remained stricken. Not enough, however, to render her speechless.
"I am meant to trust you now?" Her accent grew thicker in her shock, slipping out from between her teeth. Naomi shrunk in her seat, only half the conversation over. She hadn't even told them of their fates and they were reacting horribly. Well, they were reacting rationally, it was simply a horrible situation.
"Sorry?" Naomi answered, raising her voice as though it was a question. Wanda leaned back in her chair, continuing to watch Naomi's face with a blank stare. It was Vision who remembered the reason that Tony and the others had left the room.
"Then, hypothetically, you do know the future." He nodded, his face unreadable. "What of the casualties you spoke of?"
"Are you sure?" Naomi asked weakly, already resigned.
"Tell us." Wanda commanded, not in the mood for sugarcoating. She regained her composure, though her eyes remained wide and swimming with emotion.
"Well, Thanos wins the war. In order for him to do that... he needed all six stones." Naomi breathed, looking away. "Including the mind stone." She did not need to see Wanda to hear the pain and hesitation in her voice.
"Vision...?"
"Yes." Naomi did not need to explain further for the witch to understand. However, she wasn't done with the death toll.
"When Thanos had all six stones, he wiped out half the universe, killing them with random selections." Naomi's voice grew thick as she brought her eyes back up to stare at Wanda. Her weighted gaze said everything, and now it was Vision asking her name.
"Wanda?"
"...Yes."
For a pressing moment, Vision and Wanda locked gazes with each other, ignoring Naomi. Sharply, Wanda turned back to the camera with burning eyes, reaching her hand out to he bottom of the screen. In a second, the screen turned black, and Naomi was officially alone in the room.
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