A/N - The coupling WinterWitch surprised me, and even though I'm all for Wanda and Vision, there's just something about Wanda and Bucky that bothered me, but in a good way. The result was this little tale.

Complete summary: Twins Pietro and Wanda Maximoff, the only survivors of human experiments with the Scepter conducted by Wolfgang von Strucker, are now being built as the next wave of HYDRA super weapons. With their abilities, HYDRA believes that they will be even more successful than the already decades-old Winter Soldier Program. So who better to mold them into assassins than the original Winter Soldier himself, who is reawakened and brought in to train them. But no one could've imagined what would enfold between Wanda and her infamous trainer.

Characters: Wanda Maximoff, Pietro Maximoff, Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier, Wolfgang von Strucker, Doctor List, Brock Rumlow, Alexander Pierce

Setting: Before the fall of SHIELD (CATWS) and the Avengers' infiltration of the Hydra Research Facility in Sokovia (AoU)


"In days of old…"

HYDRA Research Base, Sokovia, Eastern Europe

She was at her house, reading a book on the sofa while munching on fresh cut carrots that her mother had just bought. She distantly heard her brother enter the kitchen asking their mother what she was cooking. She didn't hear her mother's answer, as before she could even open her mouth, there was a large boom over their heads that shook the whole house, and a second later, the roof caved in. Screams were deafened by the sound of bombs going off all around them.

Wanda jolted awake. She was drenched in sweat, from head to toe. Her fingers were already tingling, and so she rubbed them on her bedsheets to calm it down. She inched her head, which was pounding against her skull, to the nightstand. 3:07 a.m. Wanda briefly closed her eyes and sighed, running a hand through wet matted dark brown hair. She laid back down on her twin-sized bed and stared at the grey plastered ceiling above her.

Doctor List had told her over and over again that her memories were not safe. That she shouldn't give her brain any reason to remember. It was better not to, he had said. It wasn't worth the pain. She had nearly died and been reborn for a much greater purpose. She had been given a second chance at life, along with cosmic powers unlike anything ever seen before.

It wasn't worth to remember anything.

Wanda shook her head and turned on her side, arm slipping under her pillow. She was stronger, she reminded herself. What had happened, happened, and now things were much different. She was primed to become the face of Hydra's new program. She couldn't risk having any weaknesses. She wouldn't have any weaknesses.


Wanda and her twin brother Pietro were waiting in the training center, both in irritable moods. They had been yanked from their sleep at an early hour and told to change immediately into newly designed workout clothing. Apparently, Baron von Strucker had hurried up the process of combat instruction by some weeks as he felt compelled to head start the program in light of the recent activity by the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D.

The Sokovian siblings were standing by the wall, eyes occasionally wandering around the center. Wanda's light brown mane was pulled back into a ponytail and her skin was rather pale that morning, which worried Pietro. She hadn't been eating again. Pietro shook his head in disappointment. He knew that Wanda was still being haunted by nightmares, but he couldn't understand why it had to interfere with her health. She needed to remain physically durable, if not her sake then for his.

Wanda's feet shifted, having heard Pietro's thinking. She glared at him, her irises instantaneously turning bright red.

"I'm fine," she muttered in their native tongue.

Pietro huffed under his breath. "Yeah, keep telling yourself that."

Wanda rolled her eyes and faced the entryway of the center where there were four heavily armed agents on either side of it. A few seconds later, Doctor List and von Strucker came through the door. So finally they were going to actually train. The two men stood in the middle of the large window-less room.

As Doctor List tried organizing the slips of paper in his hand into a folder, von Strucker spoke.

"I know that I had previously stated that all three of you wouldn't begin combat engagement for another month or so, but after seeing progress in each of your control of your respective abilities, I feel it is imperative that we move along to the next step in your training: how to defend yourself."

The twins slowly looked at each other. They were intrigued yet frightened. It was true that each of them had grown in developing their powers and how to discipline them, but they were still very cautious. The last thing they wanted was to hurt someone, or worse, one another.

Once the announcement sank in, von Strucker continued.

"You are the new representations of Hydra. And as such, you must not only be mentally capable of overriding the enemy, you must also defeat them with your own hands. And once that happens, the planet will be ours for the taking, and it'll be because of your brave efforts."

The duo could only gawk at von Strucker as he spewed what sounded like a medieval soliloquy. Neither didn't know how properly react to such powerful declarations so they only nodded in agreement. von Strucker appeared pleased by this, choosing to ignore the warning glances Doctor List was throwing at him.

"Now, you will need special, specific types of training. One for each of your talent. But we will get to that third step once you all are able to train in basic defense. For that, I have brought in a…." von Strucker's lips shaped into a rather ominous smirk. "An extraordinary creation of Hydra. A technological miracle that's been ours for the latter part of the century. One that you two will be succeeding. He is known as the Winter Soldier."

At that moment, two of the Hydra guards closest to the door opened it and in came a man with shaggy shoulder-length dark brown hair and a metal cybernetic left arm. Wanda caught sight of the gasp that emitted from a shocked Doctor List, who moved aside as the Winter Soldier stood in between him and von Strucker. His eyes, the color of a stormy blue, were blank as he carefully gazed at the two superhumans in front of him. Pietro involuntarily nudged closer to his sister. The tall, buff man held his attention at Wanda longer than she expected, and it left her in discomfort.

"He has already been briefed about the program, your abilities and what the main goal is, which is to train you to the utmost strength you can manage," von Strucker said as he raised his arm to check his watch. "Ah, what perfect time. Your training will start right now and every day for an hour until the Winter Soldier himself tells me if you are ready for physical training involving your powers."

Before he could turn around and leave, Doctor List finally broke his silence.

"Wait, Baron! Are… are you sure? I mean, it's not that they're not competent, but I think it's too early to have them –"

von Strucker's composure stiffened and he sternly said, "They are ready. Don't question me. Remember your place, doctor." He then faced the Winter Soldier and flicked his chin in the direction of the twins. "Begin, soldat."

Doctor List stole one more glance at his patients before trudging on after von Strucker, not bothering to face the Winter Soldier. Once the doors were closed, the man's fists loosened at his sides and he took a gander at his subjects before acknowledging them.

"Who wants to go first?" he asked in a low, scruffy tone that revealed his American background.

Once again, the twins peered at one other. This was an incredibly intimidating person who was going to train them, and so they kind of had to trust him. The problem was how could they trust someone whom they knew absolutely nothing about?

Seeing his sister's bewildered face, Pietro met the Winter Soldier's cold glare.

"Don't you want to see our powers first before training us?"

The Winter Soldier was unmoved. "I've read about them."

Pietro snickered and shook his head. "Reading is not seeing."

He titled his face by barely an inch, but Wanda took it as him considering Pietro's assertion. She then attempted to sneak a peek into his mind, but wound up finding an empty shell. She couldn't find any memory, except for the past few minutes. It was as if he had no previous life before today. Pietro sensed Wanda's scrutiny and lightly elbowed her to stop. If they were to get through training alive, it was best not to ask questions regarding their daunting trainee.

"Show me then."

The Winter Soldier stepped back until he was a few feet away from the entrance. Pietro gulped and looked down at his sister, who nodded in approval. The silver-haired twin acquiesced and then in a blur, presented himself right in front of the Winter Soldier. Before the assassin could respond, however, Pietro had suddenly disappeared from view and stood in a corner of the room. In a matter of milliseconds, he had run fifty laps around the room and stood in the middle of the center.

"That's my power," Pietro said, which came off as insulting. He then nonchalantly walked back to his sister, winking at her. The girls could only look on disapprovingly.

Wanda went next. She closed her eyes, took in a shaky breath, and opened her eyes. Light blue eyes were engulfed in a dark red shade, and her hands released a red glowing mist that traveled to the rack of weights at the end of the room. One by one, she lifted them, each weight getting heavier and heavier. They all were suspended in the air, and when Wanda couldn't hold them any longer, she swiftly placed them back in their spot. Wanda then turned to the Winter Soldier, and couldn't help but smirk just a tad at his reaction. His eyes had widened for a second before returning back to nothing.

"Now you can train us, and I'll go first," Pietro sneered.


A/N: I intend for this one to have eight chapters, so they'll get longer. Then again it'll up to you guys' feedback if I should continue. I already have the ending planned out, and not really surprisingly, it won't be a happy one for Wanda or Bucky. But I'm not going to get ahead of myself :) and thanks for reading!