Author's Note: Let me get this out of the way—I haven't written fanfiction in three years, so I'm a little rusty after having spent most of that time writing original young adult fiction. But I couldn't help myself. Avengers: EMH was one of the best shows Marvel ever aired and did such a good job of adapting the silver age comics, mixed with the Ultimate comics, the modern ones, and the movies in a way that made what could be called one of the best (if not definitive) takes on the characters ever. They had all of the classic characters except for the other half of the famous "Cap's Kooky Quartet." And since the twins are in Avengers: Age of Ultron, I wondered what would have happened if they'd shown up in the cartoon verse, and lo behold: here's my attempt. I did my best to structure it like an actual episode, but also keep my signature introspective style. I may do some other stories set in this universe. Let me know if Wanda seems out of character—I've been trying to read more of her appearances in the comics, but her personality is a bit difficult for me to truly grasp; and don't even get me started on how much her powers confuse me.
Summary: AU after Season 2 episode 14. When two mutant twins show up at the mansion to warn the Wasp, the Avengers find themselves coming face to face with Magneto and his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.
Disclaimer: Avengers: EMH and all of the characters therein are the property of Disney, Marvel, and in most of these character's cases, Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Roy Thomas.
The Children of M
Steve Rogers was in the living room when J.A.R.V.I.S. alerted him to the presence of two people at the door. Normally the artificial intelligence would tell Iron Man, but Tony was at a board meeting for Stark Industries and had left him in charge.
He rose from the sofa and strode over to the door. "Do they seem trustworthy, J.A.R.V.I.S.?" He'd once been used to opening the door for anyone who arrived, but since arriving in the twenty-first century and having the mansion invaded by the Masters of Evil he'd grown more cautious.
"They seem so, Captain Rogers. They contain no weapons."
There were three sharp and impatient knocks. Sighing, Steve turned the knob and pulled the door open.
Standing before him were two olive-skinned young adults, one male and the other female. The young woman was covered from head to toe in red, with a cape hanging down her shoulders; a headpiece adorned her head, shaped like the letter M. Her companion wore a full body suit colored alternating shades of blue, separated by a lightning bolt that went diagonally down his torso; his arms were crossed in front of his chest. Both of them wore serious unsmiling expressions on their faces.
"Yes. What can I do for you?"
"We're here to see the Avengers," the young woman said. She sounded American but there was a trace of an accent in her words, one he couldn't place, but sounded eastern European.
Steve gave her a smile. "Well, then you've come to the right place. What do you need?"
The two of them exchanged looks, and the young man spoke in a light voice, his words brisk. "Actually, this is very important. We'll need to speak with all of the Avengers. Or at least which ones of you are here. This could be life threatening."
At those words, Steve Rogers was replaced by Captain America. "Come on in."
He led them through the mansion to the assembly room, where he found Clint speaking with Jan and Carol. Due to protocol—and how many people had tried to attack them at their base—they were all in uniform.
"Cap?" Jan turned around, taking in the sight before her. "Is something wrong?"
Cap sighed. "It's complicated. These young people are here to speak with us. They said they have something important."
"Well, go ahead. What've you got to say?" Clint sized up the young man, who rolled his eyes at Clint's words. "Actually, first of all. Who are you two?"
"I think there are more pressing concerns," the one in blue said.
Carol stepped between the two men. "Actually, I think it's a good idea if we know who you are first. For all we know you could be common criminals."
The red-dressed woman shrugged. "Fair enough. I am the Scarlet Witch and this is my twin brother Quicksilver." Her brother gestured for her to get on with it. "Now. You've heard of Magneto, haven't you?"
Clint snorted. "Of course. Who could miss him, the big man who controls metal screaming about mutant kind being the superior species?"
"Clint." Cap shook his head. The youth of today, he swore . . . "What about him?"
"To make a long story short," Quicksilver said, "he's coming here and he wants"—he pointed to the Wasp—"you."
Jan gasped. "Me? What's he want with me? Wait—this is about that tabloid rumor, right?" She sighed. "I'm not a mutant." She'd had to deal with people protesting in front of Avengers Mansion a few days back due to that particular assumption from the press.
"He doesn't know that. Magneto will try to convince anyone who he thinks may be a mutant. And he should be here soon."
"How do you know that?" Clint asked. "Are you on his payroll or something?"
"You could say that." Quicksilver ran a hand through his white hair. "We've met before and he's always looking for recruits to his Brotherhood. We . . . " He turned to the Scarlet Witch who gave him a nod of encouragement. "We used to be a part of the Brotherhood but have left him having realized he's not really out to help mutantkind. He just wants to rule like a dictator."
"But why come to us?" Carol asked, putting a hand on her hip, giving the siblings a good look over. "Couldn't you have told the X-Men about this? Mutants are supposed to be their division. We stay out of that."
"The X-Men don't trust us," Scarlet Witch said, a hint of irritation piercing her calm demeanor. "We actually tried to contact them after we left Magneto, but considering they're going through a really difficult situation at the moment, they're not interested in helping."
"So when's he supposed to show up?" Jan frowned.
An alarm went off and J.A.R.V.I.S communicated, "There is a group of individuals containing the X-gene heading through the city and are on their way here."
"Now," Quicksilver said.
Captain America sighed. It had been such a peaceful day for once. And they'd just repaired the mansion after the incident with the Vision."Someone find Thor and T'Challa. Avengers, assemble."
The Avengers stood in front of their mansion with the mysterious twins when Magneto arrived with his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. They descended from the sky, landing softly on the ground. One was as large as the still absent Hulk; another resembled a frog or perhaps a toad.
As for Magneto himself: he seemed far more imposing in person than he ever had on television. His cape trailed behind him as he sauntered up the pavement, his followers staying put. Magneto stepped closer and spoke, in his accented voice:
"I am here for the one called the Wasp. Where is she?"
Janet shrunk down and flew over to him. She put her hands on her hips as she got in his face, scowling. "I'm right here."
"Good. I'm here to ask you to join my Brotherhood of Mutants. What would you say?"
"No thanks."
Immediately his expression soured. "No one says no to me. You will come with me." Around him, metal stop signs began to crumble.
Janet felt beads of sweat trickle down her forehead. "Yeah, see, about that—"
"Leave her alone." The twins had stayed closer to the background since Magneto had shown up, but now they walked straight up to him, standing imposingly.
"So this is where you've gone." Magneto shook his head, a trace of a smile on his lips. "Is this what you've come to—childish rebellion to stick it to me?"
"What are you talking about?" Clint demanded, his bow and an arrow in each hand. He was ready for as soon as he was given a reason to shoot.
Magneto began to laugh, a deep, booming laugh. It wasn't sinister; in fact, he sounded legitimately amused but that made it all the more unsettling.
"I see now. Avengers, do you know just with whom you have been speaking? Have they told you just why they were in my Brotherhood?"
He took their lack of response as an answer.
"Well, allow me to introduce you." He gestured to the twins, who had taken to gazing at the streets. "Avengers, meet Pietro and Wanda Maximoff, my children."
Several eyes popped open and some people gasped. Of course, when they thought about it, it did make some sort of sense.
"Your . . . kids?" Jan flew backward, hands on hips. Then she rounded on the twins. "Wait a minute, he's your father and you didn't bother mentioning that?"
"Would it have made a difference?" Pietro rolled his eyes. "We like our father about as much as you do." His lips tightened. "Believe me when I say I want my father in prison as much as anyone else."
Magneto smirked. "Oh, Pietro, you always did have delusions of grandeur. Do you really believe that you'll be able to get me anywhere?"
"Maybe they won't by themselves," Captain America said, "but they're not alone, remember. Avengers, assemble."
When the Blob taunted Thor, the prince of Thunder retaliated by hitting him with a clear toss of Mjolnir. The large mutant crashed into a car parked on the street. (That was on Tony's weekly car tab.)
Leaving them to their own devices, the Avengers and Brotherhood members broke out in combat. Ms. Marvel and Hawkeye, forever rivals, teamed up to fight a mutant who created force-fields around himself; Black Panther battled against a statuesque woman who was attempting to control him with her singing. The Wasp found herself aiming her stingers in mid-air against the mutant called Toad.
Captain America stood watch as all this took place and took a step forward. "I'm sorry, Magneto, but I can't allow you to take Janet. You're not welcome at our headquarters."
"Oh, Captain, do you hear yourself? Have you ever wondered what it's like to not be welcome? I've known this my entire life. I'm a mutant. So are my children. We've been thrown out of so many places. I've seen things you couldn't even begin to believe are real. You may have fought H.Y.D.R.A. during World War II, but you haven't seen the worst of them."
"You never know when to quit, do you, Father?" Pietro appeared as if out of nowhere, staring him directly in the face.
"Neither do you, son. Well? Shall we?"
Cap raised his shield, but Wanda put her hand on his, shaking her head.
"No. Father is ours," she said.
Cap nodded. "Godspeed." He spun on his heel and took off after the rest of his team.
Wanda raised her arms—around her hands a pinkish/reddish aura materialized. The reaction was instantaneous: the ground beneath her father's feet rose up high into the air, causing a nearby car to stop, honking its horn. Her brother took off, appearing at the top of the pile, punching Magneto directly in his face.
Magneto shook his head, rising into the air. "Do you really think I'll lose to my own children? I taught you both everything you know."
"We don't need to defeat you," Wanda said. "Only make you see the error of your ways."
Janet knocked Toad on his back, celebrating for a moment.
"Hah! Take that, you gross toad-guy! Nobody messes with the winsome Wasp!" That had been what the newspapers had taken to calling her recently. Sure, it wasn't as fancy as the titles some of the other Avengers got (like "the mighty Thor"), but it satisfied her.
She shot through the air, joining two her nearest friends as they battled together. "Carol, Clint—how're you guys doing?"
"Okay," Clint said, dodging an attack, pulling an arrow of his quiver. "I've had worse days."
Carol's body lit up as she channeled some of her energy into her hands (and in turn, her gloves), aiming a new energy blast. "Never felt better. I love a good challenge."
"You'll never defeat me," the mutant was saying, "I—"
Clint yawned into his hand. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll never get away with it because you're homo superior and all that jazz."
Jan smirked as she watched them continue working together. It was good to know that they were getting along better these days—their rivalry had been more a little insufferable since the Skrull invasion and all that drama that they'd dealt with since.
Then she grew serious and flew back over to the front of the mansion, where Pietro and Wanda continued to fight their father. (How messed up was that? They really seemed to be definition of a dysfunctional family.)
At the moment, Pietro was literally running circles around his father, trapping him in a sort of whirlwind. Magneto grabbed his throat, gasping for breath. Wanda took that as her chance to aim something that looked like one of her stings, hitting him directly in the stomach.
"Okay, that's enough!" Jan said. She felt her body expand and her body's center of gravity shift as she returned to her full height and her feet plant on the ground. "Stop all this fighting. Magneto, you came here for me. Well, let me tell you why you can't have me." She dropped her arms to her sides. "I'm not a mutant. My powers came from bio-implants, Pym Particles . . . uh, and some other stuff."
The twins had ceased using their powers on Magneto, who rose from his perch. His mouth formed lines on his face as he scowled at her.
"And even if I was a mutant," she continued, "so what? Did you think the Avengers were hiding me prisoner or something?"
"Hardly." Magneto may have been a terrorist, but he had a similar regal tone to his speech that she'd grown used to with Thor. (Though it would have worked better without the bucket helmet.) "I merely offer an invitation to any who seem worthy for my cause. But . . . it seems not everyone is willing to see the bigger picture."
The other members of the Brotherhood landed at his feet. Behind them, the Avengers formed a line, protecting Janet before her mouth got her into even bigger trouble. She appreciated it, but it could be a bit embarrassing at times.
"It is you who refuses to see the bigger picture, Father." The Scarlet Witch had remained quiet throughout their conversation, but now she spoke up, clear and sure. "You've always insisted that we needed to fight back against the humans or else we'd be destroyed, but it was you who started this."
"And now that I think about it, you always did," her brother added. "How would Mama have taken this? How do you think Lorna will feel when she grows up and realizes what kind of person you truly are?"
Jan didn't know who this Lorna person was, but she guessed another sister.
Magneto's scowl deepened.
"Leave here, Father," Wanda told him. "The only villain here is you. Pietro and I have tried your way, and it has not worked. There must be a better one."
"Maybe you'll learn something for once." Pietro smirked.
A moment of pause passed. Then their father (Janet still could barely believe this was real) sighed. "Being sent away by my own children. . . . Wanda, Pietro, war is coming. The Avengers may be here for you today, but who says they will tomorrow? The humans have never trusted us and we have no reason to trust them in return. I hope someday you will see reason. I would hate to have to destroy you."
With that, he took off into the air, the rest of the Brotherhood trailing behind him.
"Well, we won." Janet gave her best attempt at a smile, but the somber expressions of the twins made it difficult.
"We have won, but for how long?" T'Challa asked rhetorically.
Pietro had hoped to grab Wanda and leave the Avengers Mansion behind as soon as their father had taken off, but Captain America had insisted they stay for the night.
"It's the least we can do," he'd explained. For most people, Pietro would have just seen it as pity—and he loathed pity. He and his family had been discriminated against for years; why should he trust these people just because they were famous superheroes?
It had been his sister who had convinced him to stay: "They're trying to be nice, brother. It wouldn't be kind to turn them down. Besides, it wouldn't make a very good impression to simply leave, would it?" She'd even put a hand on his shoulder, just like she had when they'd been really little, to keep Pietro from beating up the children in the neighborhood who had dared insult him or his family.
Then again, in truth, it wasn't bad staying with the Avengers. They seemed like pleasant enough people (though Barton grated on his nerves).
Later that night, he joined Wanda and a few of the Avengers in the living room to talk.
"You should've seen the look on Kang's face when we took his ship from him," Janet van Dyne was saying. "It was priceless. Now he's all locked up in 42 and should stay there." She knocked on the wall. "God forbid."
"So, do you enjoy these missions?" his sister asked.
"Indeed," the thunderer replied. "My fellow Avengers and I go into battle not only with honor but also for the love of a good challenge."
"I hear that, buddy." Major Carol Danvers held up her drink.
This is pointless, Pietro thought. Smalltalk had always annoyed him—it was so slow.
Captain America cleared his throat, sharing a look with Tony Stark. "Have you two thought about what you're going to do now?"
Pietro knew why he was asking; he played along. "We thought about looking around until we found a place that satisfied us."
"Well, do you like it here?" Stark smiled. "You're perfectly welcome to join the Avengers. We can always use some new fire power."
"Yeah, and there's so many guys here, it'd be good to have another girl to keep Carol and I company," the Wasp said.
Wanda seemed uncertain. "Brother, what do you think?"
He gave it honest thought. Now that he and his sister were on their own, it would be difficult. Father had never bothered getting them American sanctioned education, so it would be difficult to get jobs without high school diplomas, let alone college degrees (heck, getting into college would be challenge enough). With the Avengers, they would have free room and board at the mansion. This would serve as a sort of "community service" to make up for the criminal activities they'd committed with the Brotherhood. Wanda and he could finally be in a place where having powers wouldn't be seen as something to be hidden or a trait of superiority.
But the reason that convinced him the most was honestly the most childish: What better way was there to get back at their father than to show him that Charles Xavier's dream could be realized, with two mutants serving on one of the most public superhero teams in the world?
When he saw Wanda's little smile, he knew she was thinking the same thing.
He nodded.
Stark offered each of them a hand. "Well then Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, welcome to the Avengers."
As each Avenger offered them a welcome and congratulations, Wanda and Pietro hoped that finally they had found somewhere they could belong.
End Note: My main inspirations for this story were Avengers (vol 1) issue 16, Avengers Origins: Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, and the Marvel Universe EMH comics, specifically issue 6, which is where I got the plot of this story; Wanda's and Pietro's looks in this story are supposed to be those designs. In fact, the latter is such an influence that this fic contains lines of dialogue that are inspired by that story or are repeated verbatim.
As I'm sure you noticed, I'm going with the comic tie-in's suggestions that EMH is not set in the same world as Wolverine and the X-Men. This is for two reasons: it limits story potential with where that show's Wanda and Pietro ended up and I thought that show was inferior to EMH and don't want that universe being dragged down with the other show's continuity when it got cancelled sooner. (No offense to those who like that show—some other writers have run with the shared universe idea. I do, personally, agree with Chris Yost in the idea of EMH being in continuity with Spectacular Spider-Man.)
This is supposed to not only take place after "Behold . . . the Vision!," it's also supposed to replace "Powerless" entirely. If I return to this, this will go AU from that point on.