A Broken Melody
Hermione stormed down the stairs, her curly red hair flying behind her as she stalked towards the living room, scarlet wisps wrapping around her arms and a slight scarlet glint shining in her whiskey colored eyes, bantering with Pyro had calmed her down and distracted her momentarily but she was back on her warpath, even if the memory of his smile and him calling her Red caused slight butterflies in her stomach… NO! Warpath, she was on a warpath, she did not have time to be acting like some silly giggling girl. Shaking her head to get rid of any thoughts of Pyro, Hermione stomped into the living room, stopping in front of the couch where her uncle and grandfather were playing chess, she crossed her arms and glared at them.
"Everything okay, meine Liebe?" Erik asked his granddaughter with a raised eyebrow, looking up at the teenager who was glowing scarlet and currently looked so much like her mother it was scary.
"No, everything is not okay, Grandfather." Hermione told him stiffly, trying not to let her anger melt at the sound of his loving pet name for her, "I want to know why I just found out that Sirius Black is my biological father. I also want to know why I just found out my name is actually Anya. And why I haven't seen either of you since I was seven. And why mum was obviously hiding from someone. And where my mother is! I want answers and I want them now."
Erik and Pietro exchanged a look with the younger man shaking his head quickly, silently signaling that his father was on his own with this one, causing Erik to glare at his son before sighing and turning to his angry granddaughter. "First, you must understand that we were only trying to protect you." Pietro glanced over at his father sharply, wondering where he was going with this since Wanda had told them not to tell Anya what was going on, "When Sirius got arrested, your mother thought he was innocent but couldn't do anything about it without putting you in danger so she packed both of you up and left England. She did not want you to grow up with the stigma of having a… Death Eater for a father." Erik's distaste for the ridiculous name was extremely evident as he sneered it out, "As you grew older your memories of him faded away and since your mother did not want to have to explain why you could no longer see him she let you forget. Eventually she met Remy and he became your father, after that there simply was no point in telling you." Hermione considered what she had heard, sighing, she let some of her anger melt away before sitting next to her grandfather, "Now as for where your mother is, where do you think, meine Liebe? She's out tracking down the people who killed Remy so she can enact vengeance and hopefully feel better. Like father, like daughter, I suppose."
"Yeah, the apple don't fall far from the crazy tree." Pietro snorted, rolling his eyes and pointedly ignoring his father's glare as he grinned at his laughing niece, "Thankfully Wanda inherited the entire crazy gene from old Bucket-Head here."
"And I suppose you inherited the entire annoying gene?" Erik drawled, not looking all that impressed with his son's comments, he rolled his eyes when Pietro grabbed his chest with an overdramatic gasp as he fell back on the couch, "And then some apparently. Honestly, my pride and joy reduced to a bemoaning ham. And this is why Wanda is my favorite."
"Hey! That was just mean!" Pietro exclaimed, sitting up to glare at his smirking father, he sped over to sit on the other side of Hermione, sticking his nose in the air as he sniffed haughtily, "I'm not going to dignify you with the honor of my presence any longer. I'm sitting next to Anya from now on."
"Oh, however will I survive." Erik deadpanned, staring blankly at his melodramatic son before turning to smile at his giggling granddaughter, glad that it seemed she was going to let her other questions go.
Looking between her bantering grandfather and uncle, Hermione chuckled one last time before forcing herself to get serious again, running a hand through her fiery hair, she turned to her grandfather, "Okay, this was very funny and I greatly enjoyed it but I still want answers. Why did mum change my name? Why haven't I seen you two in eight years? Who was mum hiding from? Please just be honest with me."
Or maybe not. Sighing, Erik leaned back in his chair, lacing his fingers together, he turned to granddaughter and prepared to do something he had never really done before… deny her, "I'm sorry, my dear, but I cannot answer your questions. I'm afraid only your mother can and she might not be back for some time."
Hermione blinked, somewhat stunned, she didn't mean to sound spoiled but her grandfather had never really denied her before and the fact that he had decided to start now, when this was the first time in eight years they had seen each other, made her realize just how big this secret had to be. Nodding slowly, the redhead stood up, brushing off her cardigan and jeans, "Okay, I'll respect that… as long as you respect the fact that I'm not going to stop searching for answers." Hermione told them before turning and walking out of the room, entering the kitchen, she gave everyone a polite smile, grabbing a can of Mountain Dew and a chocolate cupcake before heading upstairs to her room.
Staring at the doorway Hermione had just gone through, Pietro sighed, running his hands through his platinum blonde hair before turning to his father, "You realize if she finds out what we're hiding from her, she will never forgive us." The speedster said, reaching out and moving one of his chess pieces.
"Wanda doesn't want her to know and therefore neither of us is going to tell her nor are we going to let her find out." Erik uttered, giving his son a warning look before he turned back to the game and moved one of his pieces, absentmindedly taking Pietro's and placing it on the side of the board, smirking slightly as the younger man cursed under his breath, "We went eight years without any contact with Wanda or Anya, I have no desire to go through that again."
"I understand, Father, I do. I went eight years without my twin or my niece and I never want that to happen again but I also know Anya and I know that she will not give up until she finds what she's looking for." Pietro told the older man, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, he gave his father a serious look, "She was a genius when she was seven and I'm willing to bet she's only gotten smarter. It took her a day to figure out flying, a feat that took Wanda a year. It took her an hour to find out Sirius was her biological father, a secret that Wanda has kept from her for thirteen years. How long do you think it will take her to figure out what we're hiding?"
Erik sighed, leaning his head back against the chair as he realized the truth of his son's words, "Then we will keep it from her for as long as we can. And hopefully your little friends will find Wanda before Anya finds out the truth."
A man was strapped to a chair in a cold dark cell, protests muffled by the gag in his mouth; he pulled frantically at his restraints, his movements causing him to rock back and forth, sending him clattering backwards onto the stone floor, the chilling temperature seeping through his clothes and into his bones as he laid there on the hard ground limply, the fight finally draining out of his exhausted body after hours of struggling.
"Looks like Humpty Dumpty fell off his wall again." A sarcastic voice quipped sardonically as rough hands gripped his shirt and yanked him back up into an upright position, blinking rapidly, the discombobulated prisoner looked around at his captors, there was a well dressed dark haired man who had been the one to make the above joke, a well muscled blonde man who had been the one to pull him up, and a gorgeous redhead in a leather cat-suit who hadn't done anything yet.
"Okay, Bella Swan, here's how this is going to work," The dark haired man started, clapping his hands together as he sauntered forward with an arrogant smirk, "We're going to ask you a couple of questions and if you're smart, you'll tell us what we want to know without any need for… persuasion, okey-dokey?"
"Bella Swan? You've read Twilight? Seriously, Stark?" The blonde man asked humorously, smirking as he turned to his friend with a gleeful look, his eyes lit up happily at the prospect of future embarrassment and mocking insults.
"Shut it, Bird-Brain." Tony snapped at the snickering archer good-naturedly, glaring at him with mock anger before turning back to their prisoner who was looking more than a little terrified and clapping his hands together again, "Okay, let's get started, shall we? First question: Where's Wanda?"
"Who?" The tied up man questioned with a confused look as he once again started struggling against his bonds, "Look, I think you've got the wrong guy, okay? I don't know anybody named Wanda so why don't you just let me go and I promise not to tell anybody about you guys, okay?"
"Hmm, let me think… no, no can do." Tony said, shrugging unapologetically, "Now let's try this again. Where is Wanda? You know, Wanda Maximoff, Elena Granger, Scarlet Witch, one half of the Wonder Twins?"
"Wait, twins? You mean the girl? Experiment 89?" Lucas inquired curiously, swallowing roughly when he finally realized who they were talking about; he averted his gaze, nervously glancing around the cell.
"Her name is Wanda. Not girl and definitely not Experiment 89." Clint told the secured prisoner angrily, glaring at him with a dark look that had the other man gulping in fear as the blonde archer took a menacing step toward him only to be stopped by the redhead placing a hand on his arm, looking back at his partner to see her giving him a stern look, he rolled his eyes and sighed, crossing his arms, he stepped back to his original place before turning back to glare at the terrified man, "Just tell us where Wanda is, jackass."
"I-I don't know, okay, I don't know where Exper- Wanda is, I swear. Please j-just let me go." Lucas begged, leaning against his bonds as he kept his head down, making sure not to look any of them in the eye.
"Look, kid, you're a really bad liar so why don't you just stop trying and tell us where Wanda is?" Tony suggested, watching at the other man pursed his lips together and shook his head stubbornly, he sighed, "You have two minutes, if you don't tell me where Wanda is before that time is up, you will be left in the capable hands of the not-so-friendly assassins and trust me when I tell you, kid, they will not ask as nicely as I did."
Lucas finally looked up, glancing at Tony who had lost his arrogant smirk and was staring seriously at the other man, he turned his nervous gaze to the intimidating presence in the corner, seeing Clint still glaring at him darkly and Natasha calmly sharpening a very frightening knife with another terrifying knife, the tied up man visibly gulped, eyes widening in fear before he steeled himself, "I don't know where she is."
Staring at Lucas for a minute, Tony sighed, shrugging and shaking his head regretfully, "Okay, I can see I'm not going to change your mind so have fun with Legolas and Natashalie." The billionaire said, shoving his hands in his pants and walking towards the door, he paused, turning back around, "Oh and heads up, these two both have a really big soft spot for the Wonder Twins so, uh, yeah, good luck with that."
Waiting for the cell door to shut and lock, Clint dug into his pockets and pulled out a little vial filled with clear liquid, starting towards the sweating man with a menacing smirk with Natasha by his side, knives twirling between her fingers, he bent down in front of Lucas, popping the cork out of the vial and waving it in front of the terrified man's face, "This is a highly illegal, highly painful poison that will cause your internal organs to slowly shut down while you simultaneously puke your guts out… literally." Grabbing the chair, the manically gleeful archer tilted it back, earning a squeak from the chair's inhabitant as he hovered the deadly vial above the Hydra minion's mouth, "And while the poison is going through your system, the lovely Natasha will start cutting off your limbs one by one, starting with your feet." Hearing her cue, Natasha knelt down and started lightly dragging the tip of her knives against his ankles, causing the already frightened man to start shaking in fear, little whimpers escaping his throat as he tried to keep his mouth shut so he couldn't be poisoned.
Feeling a drop of liquid splatter on his cheek and slight pain in his ankles as the knives nicked his skin, Lucas violently tried to jolt up and started thrashing against his bindings, "Okay, okay, you win, I'll tell you!" He shouted with clear blind panic in his voice, breathing heavily, he blinked slightly as he saw Clint and Natasha backing away from him and Tony stepping back into the cell.
"You'll tell us where Wanda is and you'll tell us who Hydra is working with." Clint stated sternly, glaring at the tied up man as he popped the cork back into the vial and stuffed it back into his pocket.
"Yeah, okay, deal. I'll tell you where Wanda is and I'll tell you who Hydra is working with…"
And… scene! Wow, this is my first update in 2016 for any of my stories. And I would just like to say that I am so sorry for the long wait for an actual chapter but I finally got one up! Was everybody in character? Because this is my first time writing for some of these characters and I just want to make sure I did a good job so if I didn't please tell me so I can do better next time. Anyways, I have gotten the Avengers involved and just so you know Clint's so called 'highly illegal, highly painful' poison is actually Sprite and there was never actually any plans for torture, they were just doing it to scare him into talking. As I was re-reading this story before I started writing this chapter I realized I had no idea who this mysterious He is that Wanda mentioned so I could really use some ideas for who the Big Bad is going to end up being.
So hopefully I will have the next chapter up quickly. Please review or PM, I love hearing from you guys. Until next time!
I do not own Harry Potter, X-Men or Avengers.
