Sokovia

Sokovia, a few weeks earlier

"Wait!" Wanda hissed in a low voice and pulled her brother back by the sleeve.

Pietro looked back at her. "What is it?" he whispered back. They hadn't had their powers for long yet, but they were competent enough to escape their handlers for a spell. They'd trained out in the woods all night, practising their teamwork in complete darkness. Both were exuberant with their success, but also exhausted and in need of food and a hot bath. They hoped that their huge step forward in competence would earn them at least forgiveness for leaving unannounced.

"Something is not right," she said. "Our home is compromised."

Pietro looked at the base. "Is it safe for me to go check out?"

Wanda frowned in concentration. "It is not a natural disaster and I notice no chemicals... But there is death, there is blood and broken bones and torn skin, and there is so much cold anger!" She shivered, then pulled herself together. "The danger seems to be human. You are alright to go in. But take care."

"Always." He flashed her a grin, then sped off. A circuit through the facility at a pace that meant he was gone before anyone could even notice he was there, and Pietro returned to Wanda's side. "You are right," he reported, seconds after leaving her. "There's an assassin in there, seriously scowly type, with - you'll need to see it to believe it, but - with an arm made of metal. Also, everyone else, and I mean everyone, is dead."

They shared a grim look. "So we are homeless again," Wanda concluded. She looked close to tears.

"How about we take this guy down," Pietro said grimly even as he laid an arm around her shoulders. "Your magic and my speed together should do it. We are strong now. No-one gets to just steal our life from us like that and walk away, not now."

Wanda wiped at her eyes, then nodded sharply, once. "I will go into his mind," she said grimly. So far, she had only practised this skill on Pietro, but she had done it often enough to feel confident she would not be noticed.

At that moment, the man who had killed their new family exited the base and headed for the back of the building. Wanda veiled herself and approached him from behind.

Pietro watched closely - she was not veiled from him. At first, everything seemed to be going smoothly. Wanda presumably read the man's reasons for the slaughter he had committed, maybe also a bit of his background and hopefully a lot about his fighting skills and the best way to influence him towards killing himself so they did not need to get their hands dirty. The man just kept walking as she read him, not noticing a thing.

But then Wanda started shaking, falling behind, her hands stretching out as though trying to physically keep a hold on his thoughts. With an audible gasp, she she lost hold of the connection and staggered a step back.

Pietro immediately ran to catch her. Before the dangerous man had fully turned around to find the source of the gasp, they were already back in the woods, well hidden from his murderous eyes.

"What did you see, sister?" Pietro asked, concerned.

"He is not bad," Wanda replied shakily. "But Hydra is."

Pietro just looked at her, disbelief written clearly in his features.

"It is true," Wanda insisted. "I have seen his memories. Memories like no other man's. They are bent and torn and fragmented; and all of that, Hydra did to him. I have seen his soul. It is hidden behind a veil of blood and death, but it still shines brightly. He is a good man, Pietro, but Hydra made him into a monster!" She broke down and cried in his arms.

Pietro hugged her fiercely to his chest, keeping a lookout over the silent forest in case the twisted man came for them.

It took a long time for Wanda to calm down enough to tell Pietro about all she had seen. How Hydra had taken a loyal soldier, tortured him and turned him into a killer who did not even hesitate to kill old friends. Here, a wry smirk appeared in the corners of her mouth. "He may have killed Tony Stark's parents, Pietro. But he doesn't even know it. The memory is there, but it is one of many that are torn loose and flapping in the wind of his mind's agonized howling. But if I read it right, he did it."

"Oh," Pietro said. That was... an odd thought. Maybe half an hour ago, he'd been prepared to kill this man who had torn apart their world for a second time. But now he wasn't sure what to make of him at all.

"They used to be friends, or at least comrades in arms," Wanda continued. "But Hydra sent him out to kill them and so he did."

Pietro was silent. What an awful thing to do to a person.

"The good thing is," Wanda explained, "that Tony Stark is very interested in finding this man. And it appears that they are both in some way attached to Captain America. Wherever this man goes, Captain America will eventually find him. And Stark will likely follow."

Pietro felt a slow smile start on his face. "So we follow the man, and Stark will come right to us, far from his tower and its protections."

"Maybe even far from the other Avengers but for the Captain," Wanda added, a bit wistfully.

"Let us not become naively optimistic," Pietro admonished. Still, it was a good thought. "Where is he headed next?"

"Prague."

"This is taking longer than expected," Pietro groused. "Why couldn't he have made up his mind where to go next before going after this last one?"

"Hush," Wanda shushed him, "I need to concentrate."

They were sitting in a café in Berlin, two blocks down from where the Winter Soldier was currently murdering one of the doctors who had tortured him in the past. The twins had followed the fearsome assassin around, always easily picking up his trail because so far, there'd always been a very clear idea of where he was headed in his mind before he even left. Wanda was getting better every day at following his thoughts from ever greater distances. Like with her brother, she was slowly getting attuned to him.

Neither of them lost much sleep over the lives they watched being ended. Hydra had not treated the twins kindly, but they had both accepted the hurt for the chance to make Stark suffer. After what Wanda had seen in the Soldier's mind, however, the twins were no longer sure they'd ever have gotten that chance, much less been allowed to act as free agents. Hydra liked their order. Order through pain. Not really something they wanted any part of.

Hydra would have betrayed them. Would have used them as weapons to strike where Hydra wanted, then made them disappear when they were no longer needed. Both the Winter Soldier's conscious thoughts and the scattered remains of other memories, both deeper and more recent ones, made Wanda sure of it.

"This one is special," Wanda told Pietro quietly. They were sitting at an out-of-the-way table and the café was noisy around them; they should be safe from curious ears. Still, better to be cautious. "She made some recent adjustments to the Chair that made the wipes more effective - and 100% more painful."

Pietro shut up. Wanda knew he was as disturbed by what Hydra had done to their prize assassin as she was. Right now, the man was torturing a woman right in her own living room, and while it was gruesome to watch through his eyes, Wanda also felt a fierce satisfaction in seeing her suffer for her sins. She supposed that made her a bad person - after all, the woman had never done her any harm and yet here she was, enjoying her suffering -, but she had spent so much time living in Bucky Barnes's brain by now that she sometimes felt his remembered pain as though it was her own.

Not that she'd ever tell Pietro about that.

Suddenly, her eyes narrowed. Barnes had gotten distracted by a noise that shouldn't have been there. He had watched the apartment for three days prior to acting, and no-one but the solitary Frau Doktor Kimmich had exited or entered. The fallen doctor had no pets and never had any guests, living a lonely life dedicated to Hydra.

Pietro looked up from studying the local newspaper in alarm as Wanda gasped and sat up straight, hands clutching at the edge of the table.

"She has a child!"

They were both stunned by this new development. They'd never seen the Winter Soldier murder a child, but they both knew he was entirely capable of it. It felt okay for them to stand by and do nothing while the man destroyed the lives of those who had destroyed his. But innocent children? They had to draw the line somewhere, else they were no better than Stark himself.

"We have to stop him," Wanda said and Pietro nodded. They quickly walked up to the counter, paid for their drinks with some money Pietro had lifted from an American tourist in passing, and headed over to the apartment building. The front door was unlocked and they slid in unnoticed.

But when they were approaching Doktor Kimmich's apartment on the third floor, Wanda hesitated. She cocked her head, shook it in disbelief, then gestured for Pietro to keep walking, past the door and up the stairs so their steps did not audibly stop in front of Kimmich's door.

"Are we too late?" he hissed, grimly.

"No." Her face was carefully blank as though she was afraid of what would happen if she let her control slip. "Let's take the elevator down and get out of here, I'll tell you then."

They did as she'd proposed, left the house and started walking down the street.

"Have you got our next location?" Pietro asked, looking back over his shoulders, worried.

"Yes. Also, I believe he will be easier to follow from now on." Wanda slowly let the smirk spread over her face until the giggles broke loose. "He's just adopted a child!"

"Uh." Pietro looked at her askance. "I could have sworn you just said the Winter Soldier adopted a child."

"Yes," Wanda said, "isn't that great?" She giggled some more. It was partly relief for not having to witness the death of a small child, partly the absurdity of the situation. "See, it's like this. That Hydra doctor was a real piece of work. She placed her career far, far above personal matters. When she was told that she had accidentally gotten pregnant and due to some hereditary condition an abortion might kill her, she chose to have the child, but hide it. Women with child are automatically seen as inferior within the ranks of Hydra." She scoffed. "So she took some time off - ostensibly for research - and had her child, but never let the poor boy out of the house. He's lived to the age of seven and never seen anything beyond the walls of her apartment... Poor little one." She sighed heavily. "So I suppose it's not surprising the child was afraid of the stranger coming in. It is surprising, however, that he feared and hated his mother enough to trust said stranger to help him through a sudden panic attack, even though he had just seen the man kill his mother."

"Seriously?"

"Yes." Then she brightened up. "What surprised me more, however, was that the Soldier actually helped him, like it was the most natural thing in the world. Saw the kid struggling to draw breath, reaching out for help, and then the Winter Soldier went and hugged the child. He held him until the attack subsided. And it did, even though the man helping the boy was the same man who had murdered his mother."

"That is... odd."

Wanda's face scrunched up and Pietro waited while she dug some more through the Winter Soldier's fragmented memories. When she resurfaced, Wanda wore a soft smile. "You know, growing up, the man had three younger sisters, on top of taking care of a sickly baby Captain America. I imagine for Bucky Barnes, it was pure instinct to help a struggling child."

"Do you ever want children?" Pietro asked quietly.

"I don't know," Wanda replied. "I never really thought about it."

"I think I do," Pietro said. "Children are..." He helplessly spread his hands.

"You'd be good with children," Wanda said, her eyes warm. Teasingly, she added: "Also, you'd be quick enough to keep up with an entire gaggle of them."

Pietro laughed. "Probably. But you'd have me beat: you'd already know in advance what mischief they are about to get into."

Wanda frowned. "I don't think I should use it like that. As, well, constant surveillance. A child needs some space for themselves. If not in their heads, where else can they be free to be who they want to be and not be judged?"

"There is that. ...You don't seem to worry about that with me or Barnes, though." The corners of his mouth were still quirked up; he wasn't angry, just making an observation.

"Barnes is... necessary. I don't like it, but we do need him, and he would not cooperate if we just asked. You - I have your consent," she primly declared, "and you are of age. So that makes you the one child I may spy upon as much as I want." Her nose wrinkled. "But if you ever do initiate child-producing acts, you can be sure I will be out of your head in a heartbeat."