Disclaimer: I do not own Avengers

Warning: Avengers AU

Alternative storylines/plot, Alive!Pietro, Neutral/Good! Loki, Neutral/Good!Ultron


Chapter 7: Misplaced Trust


"Mistrust those whom the urge to punish is strong,"
- Friedrich Nietzsche


The noises which originated from the outside world were muffled by the walls inside of the facility, making it almost impossible for her to distinguish them as she and her father stepped further into the building, almost completely shut off from the outside world more than ever. She had no idea about what was about to happen or what it was that she was meant to do, but whatever it was, she would not fail the task at hand. Looking over her shoulder, she saw nobody following them and she felt no one's presence close by, prompting her to assume that whatever her father was intending on, it included only the two of them. She was hardly any stranger towards what he did to her whenever they were alone, when they used to be alone, but it didn't seem like that was what he was intending on doing this time, and for some unfathomable reason, she felt relief rushing through her knowing that.

"They haven't penetrated through the shields yet," said Jeraslovik as they headed further down the stairs, occasionally glancing back at her to make sure she was following close behind. "We'll take this chance to get out of here, escape before the Avengers are able to take you away."

"Take me away?" she asked, looking at him uncertainly. Where would she be taken away from?

When they finally reached the end of the stairs, Jeraslovik stopped walking and turned to look at her, an apologetic expression on his face. He bent down to her height and grabbed her shoulders, shaking them gently. "Yes, my dear, they will want to take you away from me, you understand? They will want to hurt you, and we will never be able to see each other again. We cannot let them do that."

Take her away from her father? The thought caused her stomach to churn, more so than it ever did in the past. Her father being away from her was a feeling that made everything within her swell with pain, and if these people, these enemies, whoever they were, intended on taking her, harming her, separating her from her father, she would not let them succeed. She would finish them herself if it ever came to that. "That won't happen," she said, finding her voice again. "No."

Her father smiled sincerely. "That's very ambitious of you, dear, but we can't risk them as much as looking at you, you understand? We have to get out of here now."

And with that, he turned around and they continued walking. For what felt like an eternity, they didn't as much as look back. Or rather, they couldn't afford to. She felt millions of questions running through her head. Where were they going? Where in the outside world was her father intending for them to seek refuge in?

Everything came to halt when there came an identical tremble in the ground beneath them like the one before. She managed to keep her balance and avoid falling whereas her father was not too fortunate. He fell to the ground on his knees and let out a shallow breath as if he had been suffocated previously. On instinct, she bent down and helped him regain his stance, pulling him up by his arm. Nodding to her, Jeraslovik got to his feet and readjusted his clothes. "They must have broken through the barriers. The only way they could've done that would be through breaking the power source. We have to hurry."

And they ventured further into the facility, so far below ground that the noises from outside sounded like little less than taps on the walls. Had it not been for her father's persistence in retrieving whatever he searched for before they abandoned the facility completely, she might have taken the initiative herself and gotten out of there with him on her own. Granted, she knew little about the outside world except for what her father and the other scientists had deliberately told her little about, but she knew how to read and write, she had been taught more languages that it was thought possible for a human to learn, and if cases turned sour and she was forced to purposely use her abilities, fending off potential enemies would be of no trouble whatsoever. That was what she was meant to do.

Eventually, they reached what she initially believed to be yet another corridor, but her assumptions were soon proven wrong and she found herself marvelling at the sight of what appeared to be some kind of ginormous creature out of the world she had grown up within. Whatever that thing was, it could hardly be identified as something not even she could be able to defeat single-handedly. In fact, it didn't look like something anyone would be able to defeat even if they put every effort in it.

The room it was contained in looked like an underground cave which was supposed to be inhibited by several more of those creatures if there existed any at all. The room contained within it several mechanical pieces, weapons of all sorts, unfinished products that were undoubtedly meant to cause fatal destruction upon anything it was supposed to be aimed at and more. She felt something akin to them, but that soon abruptly stopped when Jeraslovik gestured for her to follow behind him as they entered the room.

They both went up the stairs which lead to a platform, but then Jeraslovik suddenly stopped, causing her to crash into his back. It wasn't until that she looked past him that she noticed what it was that had caught her father's attention. Up ahead on the platform in front of them stood a man, yet behind him stood a figure she could easily recognize even though it had been years since she last saw her. It was the red woman, and judging by the crimson lines which circled her appendages, she was exploiting her abilities for something.

The red woman then stepped back, not acknowledging the presence of the people behind her, and the man in front of her began to behave… Oddly. He swiftly turned around as if having been caught off-guard by something, or someone, yet his eyes didn't flash to either of them. It didn't seem like he knew that he wasn't alone and that his attention had been caught by something else which neither of them was able to notice.

Jeraslovik let out a chuckle. "Impressive work, little witch," he said, and only then did the red woman turn around and her face paled as her eyes fell on the doctor.

"You."

"It's been some time, Miss Maximoff," Jeraslovik took a step forward, grinning. "Though I am rather curious. What is it you have done to Mr Stark? Are you making him see things that aren't really there? How naughty of you."

The red woman's eyes flashed in her signature color and she reached both of her arms out to each side of her body, conjuring the scarlet lines of which her powers manifested the form of. "You're not getting the sceptre,"

"No," Jeraslovik said casually, waving his hand dismissively. "I'm not, but she is." Taking a step to the side, he allowed his daughter to come forward, her eyes meeting those of the red woman, blue against red. The red woman's face fell to something of an apologetic look and it almost seemed as if she felt tempted to let her hands down and cease the assault, but she could not allow herself to allow that wretched man to get away with something so powerful. Soon enough, neither of them acknowledged Mr Stark in the background.

"I don't want to hurt you," she whispered.

The girl said nothing in return, only continued to stare at the red woman with something akin to an empty look.

"Finish her quickly, dear," Jeraslovik demanded. "We can't waste any tim-"

There was a flash of silver and the doctor fell limp to the ground, unconscious and unmoving. The girl's eyes went vivid as she began to search around from the perpetrator, turning her back against the red woman as her eyes scanned the perimeter. Grasping the opportunity, Wanda ran towards the girl and placed both of her hands on the girl's head and conjured her abilities forth. The girl attempted to pull her off, conjuring the abilities of her own, but too late. Soon enough, her eyes flashed in the same crimson colour and she fell to the ground, her back leaning against Wanda's legs as she descended to the floor.

Wanda, being considerate enough, grabbed the girl's shoulders and eased the fall, making sure that it would not be of too much pain before she let go of the poor girl. Pulling a few strands of her dark hair away from her face, Wanda stood up and let out a breath. Glaring at the unconscious form of doctor Jeraslovik, she deemed that it would be best if the Avengers took the girl away, and as long as it meant that that monster of a father was gone, it would be the best for them all.

She glanced back at Stark and she could see, as clear as daybreak, what kind of vision he was having. The death of his comrades, the destruction of the world at his hand. That self-loathing would be his downfall and she could not wait for him to break beneath the pressure. She now understood what Stark truly feared, and based on that alone, she was now able to see what it was that would be the end of him.

When Stark indicated by his bodily movements that he was by now slowly regaining his senses, Wanda stepped away and out of sight. Her brother appeared shortly besides her, wanting to prevent the Iron Man from taking the sceptre, but she interfered. She wanted him to take it, to let it destroy him like she had predicted it would, or rather like he predicted it would.

Pietro looked confused at his sister, not knowing what she planned. "You're just gonna let him take it?" he asked her, watching as Stark conjured one of his gauntlets and grabbed the sceptre from its containment.


Several weeks later

The next time the girl awoke, she found herself under similar circumstances. Strapped down, several wires pierced through her skin, an enormous headache, and several other inflictions that she couldn't find the energy to describe. In fact, she couldn't find the energy to do anything at all. Her chest felt heavy, like thousands of pounds laid on top of her, and every inch of her body felt numb. It felt like she had just been killed again, because every time she was killed, that same sense of numbness accompanied her after she resurrected. Had she died? Would that be the explanation behind this?

She tried to lift her hand up, but she felt unable to do so. Not because of the binds that were wrapped around her appendages, but because her body lacked the physical strength in order to do so. She could hardly breathe without feeling exhausted, and as much as it degenerated her pride to admit so aloud, she didn't find an ounce of will within her to break free from her binds. She wished to be reunited with her father, to go home, but that was something out of her reach at that point. The only thing she could do was to wait and see how things would work out.

Flickering her eyes around the room, she could tell that she was no longer granted the privilege of seeing the outside world through a window anymore. She was completely cut-off from what laid outside, and because of that, it felt as if the heaviness above her chest increased. Even though she had barely caught as much as a single glimpse of the world outside, she longed for it, just a single look would be enough to appease her curiosity. If the world was truly that big, then she must have felt like nothing more than a meek, insignificant piece of it. Her demise, as unlikely as it seemed, would not affect it to any significant degree. In other words, she was worthless, but she was special. Her father had taught her as much, yet at that moment, she felt herself beginning to doubt those words. It was something she never imagined she would for as long as she lived.

There came a creaking sound and she slowly turned her head around to the source, only to find Stark standing there. "Look, kid," he said and shut the door behind him. "Before you ask all the 'why am I here' or 'where the hell am I' yadayada crap, I'm just gonna advise you that you won't get so easily out of those restraints this time," Stark took a seat next to the bed she laid on and faced her with a stoic expression. "They're advanced, which means that any attempt at using your voodoo on them will result in an electric shock equivalent to the amount of kinetic, or rather telekinetic, energy it senses. Just stay still and nothing will happen. Capiche?"

She didn't move a muscle, and he must have taken this as some kind of affirmative answer. "Not that I'm expecting you to move very much at all. In fact, I'll say it's a miracle that you're conscious by now, judging by all the interior damage that you seem to find yourself unfortunate enough to have," Before he continued, Stark took a deep breath and appeared to become somewhat hesitant about what he was going to elaborate next. If anything, anyone could easily have mistaken his expression for being apologetic rather than stoic. "I'll get to the point; your body's practically breaking down. Several organs were on the brink of shutting completely, your heartbeats are down to a low point, you're malnourished and dehydrated like hell, and had we not given you the proper treatment in time, you would've died, or in worse case, stayed unconscious for longer than just a day like now."

From what she could tell, killing him now would be inconvenient. He possessed answers, and if she wished to receive them, she would have to do what she was often taught at the facility; pretend. If she could somehow gain his trust and all the answers she was in need of, including the current location of her father, then she could answer anything that Stark would want to ask her. It was a small price to pay, but she knew by now that hardly anything was, in the proper terms, free. An exchange with mutually beneficial results, more so on her side than anything.

She slowly opened her mouth and managed to mutter, "Where…"

"Sorry, can't tell you that," said Stark almost instantly. "Though I'm curious that you're not going to use any of your voodoo on me."

What was voodoo?

"But why don't we start with your name, hmm?" he asked, leaning a bit forth as if to inspect her of any signs of hostility. He found none of the sorts, which came as a genuine surprise, since her attacking Steve was a sign that she was ultimately dangerous. Yet here she was, somewhat complying to his wishes without any indication towards attacking him anytime soon.

Stark then proceeded to touch some sort of button on the side of her bed. The next moment, she felt the mattress beneath her shifting and in less than a few seconds, her back had been raised to a 60-degree angle and she could now look at Stark with no need to raise her head anymore like she needed to earlier.

"Better?" he asked.

She didn't reply either verbally or physically. She tried to figure out an answer to the inquiry he had asked earlier, yet found none. A name? She had never before been acknowledged with a proper designation other than the names her father had granted her such as 'dear' and the likes. Not even Baron had ever addressed her as anything else except 'she' and 'doll'. What answer would appease to the man's curiosity and cause him to proceed without suspicion?

Then it hit her.

"Eve," She answered without pause.

"Eve?" he asked for verification and when she nodded, it prompted him to continue.

"Alright, Eve, let me ask you this: Why were you at the Hydra facility in Sokovia?"

When she blinked, obviously confused about hearing the location of her initial home, Stark continued. "Did Strucker promise you powers in exchange for your volunteering for the experiments? Did you have loved ones you wanted to avenge and therefore agreed to join? Why did you agree to the experiments in the first place?" She could easily detect on his facial features that he was visibly distraught by the questions he asked her though he attempted his best to hide that fact. At one point, he even looked away from her, as if her eyes would penetrate his cranium, but he quickly glanced back and waited for her answer.

The only problem was that she found herself incapable of answering any of those questions. What kind of experiments had she volunteered to do? She hadn't volunteered to do anything at all. What did he mean by volunteering? The experiments, were those the things her father had done to her so that she wouldn't get weak? Those weren't anything she wouldn't do for her father's sake, and by looking at Stark, it didn't take her a lot of time to deduce that he thought ill of her father. She felt her loathing for him increase and she wished to annihilate him then and there, but she refrained. If she could keep this up long enough for her to receive answers as well as trust on his side, then she would have to endure it a little longer. She had been taught enough about the outside world to know what to do and what to say.

"I was at the facility," she began slowly, forming her sentence carefully. "Because of father."

Stark narrowed his eyes at this. "Father? Your father was working for Hydra?"

She nodded. "Jeraslovik."

At the mention of that name alone, Stark bolted up from his seat, his face paling. "Dr Jeraslovik is your-" he paused for a second, thinking about what to say next. He sighed and sat back down again. "Look, kid, I'm willing to let everything that happened earlier go. The attack, you going through Cap's memories, everything, I'm willing to let it slip. However, I need all the answers you can give me. Please."

She narrowed her eyes.

"In return, I'll ask Fury to cut you some slack. We'll help you get better, maybe even get you a stuffed animal for company. Any intel you can give us about the project involving the sceptre, even about your father, will increase your privileges."

That was a compromise that would benefit her more than it would benefit them, and as such, she decided that it would be best for her to agree to their terms. Once she had her strength returned and the answers regarding her father's location, she would obliterate them all without a second thought. After all, they were only people. There were surely more in the world than just them. It would be trivial if they were to die. People were expendable, like her father had said, and as such, there was no reason to hesitate.

She nodded. This was the longest conversation she had actually ever had with anyone thus far, as the ones she had with her father were usually one-sided.

Stark began with, "Could you give us any names? Anyone associated with Hydra that we haven't caught yet? Anyone could be of importance." It was evident that Stark was desperate for anything, and she could easily feed of that desperation and use it for her own good.

She thought for a moment before she said, "The Red Woman and the Grey Man,"

Stark blinked, obviously bemused. "Red Woman and Grey Man?"

She nodded. There was no doubt that those answers would suffice him enough to let him ease up a little bit, more so that what would be considered wisely.

The man thought for a moment before he seemed to catch onto what she was implying. "You must be referring to Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, is that right?"

She nodded, not recalling their names from the past.

"Alright," From something attached to his wrist, a hologram appeared in the air and Stark scribbled some notes down. Even though she had seen holograms in the past, there was something about them that always fascinated her.

"Anything else?" Stark asked.

"Baron,"

"Strucker?"

She affirmed his question with yet another nod.

"That's of no use to us," he said, much to her dismay. "We've already caught him."

"List." She recalled one of the doctors' names, the one who had been the one to kill her for the first time. It continued like that for what felt like a long time. For each name she would pronounce, Stark would either scribble it down on the hologram or state that it would be of no use to them, either because the people in question had already been caught or were conformed deceased. A little while later, she mentioned something which caught the man's interest in particular. It was a name that she had not heard for quite some time now and whenever she thought about it, memories would flood through her head about the time where she was nearly beaten to death for the first time.

"John Smith,"

"I'm sorry, what now?"

"John Smith," she repeated, not looking at Stark as she spoke. Her eyes were glued to the ceiling and her breathing was slowing down as she thought about the sight of the metal arm repeatedly beating her down and breaking several bones in her body. "Alexander Pierce,"

"Alexander Pierce's been dead for quite some time now," Stark said and hardly seemed concerned about that individual. "But tell me about this Smithy guy. Can you describe him?"

"Blue eyes," she spoke slowly, recalling the remorse in the soldier's eyes. "Dark hair,"

"Anything significant about him?"

Then, she turned around to face him, her eyes penetrating through his. "Metal arm."

"Excuse me," Stark's eyes widened at the mention of this. "Did you just say … Metal arm?"

She nodded.

Stark let out a sigh and planted a hand over his head, thinking about something she didn't have the strength to indulge in. Some of her strength had returned, but not to the point where she was stable enough to take the risk of attacking him straightforward. She would have to wait a little longer if she wished to make it out to locate her father again, and for that to happen, she had to continue pretending to be what they wouldn't imagine her to be. A child.

However, Stark made it clear that he was done with the questions. The hologram disappeared from sight and he stood up from his seat, turning his back to her as if he did not as much as identify her presence as genuine.

"I'll be- I'll be back in a little while, kid," he said slowly, reaching for the door handle. "I'll have someone get you some food in a bit, but until then, we cannot risk you getting out on your own. Don't try anything while I'm gone, alright?" And with that, he opened the door and closed it behind him as he left, abandoning her to the silence once again. It was a feeling which she was hardly unfamiliar with, but the gesture itself caused her to feel a little lost at the moment. With no father to guide her, no powers to ensure her own safety, and no practical knowledge of the outside world to ensure that she could make it there on her own, what was she supposed to do?

Glancing down at her restricted hands, she decided that there was nothing she could do until she had gained their trust. They weren't fools, that was easy enough to debunk. They would undoubtedly keep her there with these… shackles still attached to her. Until they were removed, she would have to stay.

By the time Tony met up with Steve again, he didn't have to say that he was distraught. It could easily be revealed by the way he was looking in the soldier's direction that something was amiss. They met up later that day at Tony's house again, and for some understandable reason, Bruce was still cooped up in their lab, deciding to continue with the research rather than to engage in any social conventions. It had been a couple of weeks now since their success at infiltrating the Hydra base again and reclaiming the sceptre, yet none of them were in the mood to celebrate at the moment.

"She's awake," was all Tony said as he poured himself a glass of whiskey.

"Who is she?" Steve asked and cast Tony a curious glance his way. "Did she say?"

"Her name's apparently Eve," said Tony and took a sip from his drink, allowing the alcohol to clear his head for a moment. "She said she's Jeraslovik's daughter, that mad scientist guy that we sent to Brussel with Strucker. I don't doubt that he's the reason why she was enhanced; the guy was practically, like said, mad."

"How old did you say she was again?"

"Well, from what the doctors reported to me about her physical conditions, I would say she's no older than eighteen or so. However, she's underdeveloped, full of internal injuries that will be tended to in due time, and from what I experienced, it didn't seem like she was used to talking much. Either that, or she's just good at keeping things in the dark."

"I believe she's more or less the one who's been kept in the dark, Tony," said Steve. "She survived the experiments just like the Maximoff twins."

"Yes, but the Maximoff twins had their own reasons. The girl's reasons were because of her dear father, according to her."

"So, she was forced?"

"I personally believe most eighteen-year-old wouldn't dream about engaging in something like that even for a million dollars,"

Steve raised an eyebrow at this, causing Tony to raise his arms.

"I said most," He circled around the bar for a minute or so before he spoke again, much slower now as if he was tasting his words before he said, "The doctors also discovered one more thing…. She's not… She's been…."

"She's not a what, Tony?" This earned itself Steve's full attention and he stood up, looking over at the billionaire.

Tony let out a sigh and took a large gulp from his drink before he said, "Her reproductive organs have shut down, and not solely because of malnourishment or the experiments that were evidently conducted on her." What followed next was silence and little less. Stark had fallen to a consuming stillness as if time had frozen around him and it took Steve's voice to snap him out of the temporary trance he had been put under.

"Tony," Steve took a step forward, trying to keep his calm as the comprehension dawned over him about what his friend was implying. Even so, he could feel his nerved shaking violently beneath his skin and he struggled for a moment to find his voice. However, he tried his best to reclaim what little equanimity had left him and he said with a voice so even that it would seem as if he had never been calmer than he was at that moment. "What are we going to do with her?"

"Yeah, that's what I'm asking you," he replied quickly, facing the captain and putting the glass down at the counter again. "Until further, we'll keep asking her about her involvement with Hydra and try to figure out as much as we can from her. Once then, she'll have to be contained somehow, but I doubt that keeping her locked up is the most - what's the word again - ethical thing to do. But she's not stable enough to be let out of sight, let alone out in the open."

"What did Fury say?"

"Fury didn't respond. He doesn't seem to do that for the majority of the time as of recently."

Steve thought for a moment, uncertain about the potential solutions to the problem at hand. Judging Tony's word letter for letter, as well as the experience he had prior to her containment the day before, he came to the conclusion that keeping her around until further would be best, but not under the wrong supervision. If they could somehow earn her trust and prove that they weren't going to cause her any harm, would she….

"Tony, as soon as she's healed and deemed stable enough, could we bring her here?"

Tony felt the remainder of the whiskey left in his throat choking him as his ears processed these words. "Are you insane?" he asked incredulously and wiped his mouth, opening up his arms as if expecting an embrace from someone.

"Not without the proper precautions," Steve added hastily. "We'll keep her here, make sure that her powers can't do any harm, and then we'll work it from there."

"And who's going to take responsibility if hell break's loose? Who's going to make sure that she stays in check all the time?"

"I will."

"What are you, Supernanny? Emphasis on the super, because this is what I believe to be a super stupid idea!"

"Tony, I can tell from first-hand experience that being locked up in the dark for god-knows how long is not the best way to rehabilitate from something like that!" Steve let out a breath. "Just listen. I'll look after her and if anything goes to hell, I'll take the responsibility."

"And if lives are included in those responsibilities?" asked Tony rhetorically, walking around the bar and up to him. "In the end, Captain Bluebell, she's one of Hydra's creations, alright. She may be just a kid, but she's dangerous. What she did yesterday to you may just be a stunt for fun. Who knows what she's capable of doing given the opportunity?

"Tony, give me a chance." There was no longer an argument, no heated debate, no shouting, and no sarcastic retorts. It was a simple request from one friend to another. They stood like that for minutes, motionless, in complete silence, before Tony finally gave in.

"You better know what you're doing, cap," and with that, he turned around and prepared to return to the lab, but not before saying one last thing.

"By the way, she mentioned John Smith."

"John Smith? Who's that?"

"Someone who has a metal arm for some reason."

Before Steve could say anything, Tony disappeared, leaving the captain standing there.