Chapter 15

The Master of Magnetism Part II

In the past week, Quicksilver watched in disgust as Vision became a more accepted teammate and friend in the Avengers. The speedster found it absolutely repulsive that everyone took so quickly to the android. From Pietro's point of view: sure, Vision had somehow reprogrammed himself to like humanity and the Avengers…but could he not just as easily reprogram himself again to want to destroy them once more? Furthermore, the fact that he was a robot left him open to endless amounts of sabotage.

Quicksilver identified this reckless action from the Avengers as being overly impressed with the powers and arsenal at Vision's disposal. The android had impressive abilities such as super strength, phase shifting, flying, and shooting lasers from his head. To a soldier with increased reflexes and a fancy shield, an archer with high tech arrows, and a guy who wears iron suit, Quicksilver could see how these powers would be a welcomed addition to the team. As a mutant, the silver haired man just wasn't impressed.

To make matters worse for Pietro, it seemed his mutant twin had taken a difference approach to how she felt about the Avenger android. Whereas Quicksilver was repulsed by Vision, Scarlet Witch seemed to be attracted to him, as if she had a crush on the robot. Pietro would notice his sister often spending time with the android, even throwing out flirtatious remarks, and occasionally showing signs of affection such as gently holding his hand or rubbing his shoulder. Quicksilver was fairly certain that Vision being an oversized computer had no idea what was going on, but to be honest…neither did Pietro. How on earth could a person fall in love with a computer? The idea seemed crazy to Quicksilver, but he never used the "C word" near his sister as he knew how much she hated that term, especially in light of recent events.

Since the Ultron invasion, Scarlet Witch was having "complications" with her mutant powers. She somehow was causing more fluctuation of luck then she often intended. It was as if her body was using her powers even when she didn't want to. Pietro worried for his sister, as it had been several years since Wanda had endured such complications with her mutant manifestation. Pym and Stark, the Avenger Geeks as Quicksilver called them, had studied his sister hoping to discover how to help her control her abilities but there had been no fruits of their labor.

Vision and his sister's issues weren't the only things that were contributing to Quicksilver's grumpy attitude as of late. He was beginning to get tired of the general attitude the Avengers seemed to be taking towards mutants. The leaders of the team always seemed to consider mutants as a problem in the world. Sure, about 75% of the bad guys Quicksilver and the team took in had some form of mutation…but as a mutant, Quicksilver didn't like to see his kind talked down by people that honestly had less potential. (As the speedster saw it.) This frustration reached a boiling point on one particular day…

It was late in the afternoon and the West Coast Avengers plus Ironman were watching TV on the massive, wall-sized flat screen in the Avengers mansion. Much to Quicksilver's dismay, Stark had decided to hang with the WCA to monitor Vision for the first couple of weeks of his reboot. The heroes were watching Hawkeye's favorite new series, Arrow, on the CW network, only to have it interrupted by an emergency NEWS broadcast.

"We interrupt you're regular Wednesday programming to give you an immediate emergency NEWS report." The NEWS woman spoke as the Avengers watched intently. "In a matter of moments the city of San Diego has been almost completely leveled by two high profile mutant criminals known as Avalanche and Blob. These mutants are part of a criminal organization called the Brotherhood and are considered extremely dangerous."

"Well, they're playing our song." Hawkeye jumped up and over the couch, grabbing his quiver that he always placed in whatever room he was relaxing in. "Those brotherhood goonies are always giving us grief…"

"It seems like it's always mutant after mutant around here…" Ironman said as he watched the images of Avalanche tearing up the roads in San Diego and Blob chucking calls around as if they were beach balls.

"Hey!" Quicksilver protested, "some of us in here, are mutants."

"Yeah…" Ironman said, reminiscing on his days of bringing Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch in stopping them from an act of terrorism. "You're really not helping your case, speedy."

"You know, Stark…you're a real A…" Quicksilver begun to lose his temper but Scarlet Witch interrupted her brother.

"We have to get moving, I hate to see San Diego keep being destroyed. They just restored the city after Ultron's attack…and now those thugs are tearing it up again!"

"It would appear that we need to show those two the strong hand of justice." Vision spoke, analyzing the data he was receiving from the TV.

"Ultron…" Captain America remembered how the end of the invasion went down. "Ironman and Vision should stay behind, as you guys are made up of mostly metal. If Avalanche and Blob are there we can only assume that they aren't alone…Mystique may be present, or more threatening to the two of you…Magneto may be present."

"Hey! I'm made of more than just metal, you know?" Ironman retorted as he thought about any option that would help him fight with the Avengers against the Magneto.

"He was just talking about the useful part of you…" Quicksilver interjected. "We wouldn't want all that expensive armor of yours to get battered up if Magneto decided to turn you into a red and gold ironman ball…oh, and your body would be mangled and crushed up too. I suppose that'd be unfortunate too, for some people. Vision on the other hand, I think, would serve as a GREAT decoy for us to launch a surprise attack!"

"That strategy does seem plausible…" Vision spoke analyzing the proposed idea, not recognizing Quicksilver's morbid sarcasm.

"No, that's a stupid strategy." Wanda interjected, giving her brother an annoyed look. "Ironman and Vision will stay behind, we'll go take care of the Brotherhood."

"I do not like the idea of you entering a dangerous situation without my assistance." Vision said to Wanda.

"I on the other hand," Ironman said as he put his hand on Quicksilver's should, who glared at his ally he didn't care for. "love the idea of you entering battle with those guys…perhaps you should hit the front lines first, eh Quicksilver? Come on Vision, come help me in my lab…I got something I've been working on that you may be interested in."

Scarlet Witch watched with a complimented smile as Vision left with Ironman. Quicksilver rolled his eyes upon observing the "sweet" moment between his sister and a robot. In a blue and silver whirl Quicksilver appeared next to the door in a matter of seconds. "Come on guys, we have Brotherhood Boneheads to Bash!"

"How long are we going to keep this up?" Blob yelled out to his partner, as he chucked a bus into a falling building just to watch it explode.

"Until the Avengers come." Avalanche said, annoyed that he had to once again re-explain the plan to Blob. "Which should be any moment now."

"I'm getting hungry!" Blob complained, "Can we stop for a burger after this?"

"You're such an idiot…" Avalanche grumbled as he created seismic waves to rip a road from the ground, causing more debris to fly all over the place.

"It takes one to know one!" Quicksilver's voice was heard as a blue and white flash of light zipped up and over the debris that Avalanche created. In a matter of seconds, the earthquake causer felt a hard tight fist hit him in the jaw.

Immediate after hitting Avalanche once, Quicksilver moving super fast pummeled the mutant with a barrage of punches in the face and stomach, ending his attack with a powerful kick to the stomach, sending the Brotherhood baddie flying into a large piece of rock he caused to pop out of the earth in a previous seismic wave.

"Just like Clockwork…" Avalanche moaned from the pain, as he recovered from the vicious attack. The mutant's strong silverfish grey armor gave him great protection from such things. "Blob, "Too Fast for his own Good", here must have rushed into the battle before the rest of his Avenger friends came to the scene. Let's give him his due welcome, shall we?"

"With pleasure!" Blob spoke with a big, stupid, and excited grin across his face as he rushed towards Pietro. "I'm going to crush you, peon!"

Quicksilver quickly dodged to the left from the massive man who attempted to tackle him. Blob fell face first on cement, and cursed as his body left a large imprint on the pavement.

"To slow…" Quicksilver said with a yawn, as he dodged several punches from the Blob. Upon moving behind the large man, the speedster then tripped him, causing Blob to fall now on his butt creating a small shake of the ground. Quicksilver spoke as the large man fell: "And way to stupid. Come on, is this honestly the best you two got? I'll have things wrapped up way before the others get here."

"You want the best we have?" Avalanche asked, anger boiling inside of him. "Try this on for size!"

The mutant reached his arms out and grunted as he released seismic waves so powerful that Quicksilver could actually see the waves themselves. The ground surrounding Blob and Quicksilver began to cave in and Pietro began to quickly jump from falling piece of debris to another. Seeing that Blob was far to slow to move to safety, Quicksilver sped over to try to help the large man to his feet, but was grabbed tightly by the mutant.

"I'm tough enough to take any kind of impact that Avalanche causes," Blob said with a pleased laugh at their successful offensive maneuver, "What about you?"

Quicksilver struggled to free himself from Blob's hold but was unable to do so. The large man's bear hug was simply too strong. Quicksilver cursed as he realized that there wasn't much of a chance of survival for him in this current predicament. It got to the point that Blob held Pietro so tightly that the mutant could not breathe. Within several minutes of struggling, Pietro fell unconscious and resigned himself to his very embarrassing death.

Avalanche stopped the seismic waves once Pietro became defenseless. He smiled, taking pride in the fact that the villain had bested an Avenger. Just as Blob stood up and threw Pietro to the side, Avalanche felt a hex bolt hit him from behind, causing him to lose balance and fall backwards. The mutant thug tried to catch his footing and recover, but was suddenly ambushed by Captain America who smacked him in the skull with his shield. Blob began to run to aid his partner, only to be hit by a barrage of several arrows. Upon impact, each arrow unleashed a very strong and sticky substance that began to solidify and trap the Blob in a larger "blob" of purple sticky ooze. The large man did his best to break free, but was unable to.

"Keep moving, fat boy." Hawkeye said, as he jumped down behind the mutant. "The more you move in that stuff, the harder gets, and the more impossible it gets to release yourself. So by all means…keep moving!"

"You've lost, Avalanche." Captain America spoke authoritatively, as he jumped on the mutant's chest and stood there, holding the enemy down on the ground. "Give it up."

"What did they do to Pietro?" Scarlet Witch stood nearby, glowing in a red aura with her eyes glowing as well.

"Woah…Wanda, take a step back…" Hawkeye looked back at his ally, concerned with her angry tone that accompanied this strange surge of mutant power. "You're powers are…acting up again."

"These two…hurt my brother…" Scarlet Witch didn't seem interested in listening to Hawkeye's voice of reason. "They need to pay….a lot…"

"Scarlet Witch, stand down!" Captain America ordered in a yell, "Control yourself, something's happening again!"

"DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!" Scarlet Witch yelled back as a surge of red energy pulsed out of her body, knocking Captain America off of Avalanche.

"She seems way more crazier then she has ever been before…" Hawkeye said readying his bow. "Wanda, think about what you're doing! What is triggering this sudden change in you?"

"Don't call me crazy…" Scarlet Witch said, now turning her focus on Hawkeye who was thrown upward and hit his head on a broken telephone poll.

"Thanks for the save!" Avalanche said to Wanda with a malicious smile, recovering on his feet, "I'll make sure you regret it!"

"You'll try!" the power possessed Scarlet Witch said, shooting out another pulse of red energy from her body.

At this point Avalanche had shot his own wave of seismic power towards the Scarlet Witch, which was instantly reflected by her mysteriously amplified power that shot the waves back at Avalanche magnified by at least 200%. The ground under Avalanche began to suck him in. The villain was just barely able to grab a piece of stable ground as the earth below him broke and almost took him inside. After being hit by a hex wave sent by Wanda, the purple goo holding the Blob turned crimson and begun to glow. As the energy glow Blob screamed in pain as his indestructible body began to burn from the energy. Wanda's eyes glowed with the mysterious hex energy which she typically controlled, that now was controlling her.

"That's enough…." A voice come from high in the sky.

Wanda looked up to see Magneto float down to the battle field. He pointed a hand at Wanda and a magnetic wave of energy trapped her and her red energy in a translucent purple ball. Those still conscious, Captain America, Avalanche, and Blob, watched in curiosity as the Master of Magnetism seemed to be able to use his power to contain much more then magnetic waves.

"You have grown a lot in your power since we last met." Magneto spoke, his eyes glowing with purple energy. "And yet, your control seems to be as flawed as ever. Perhaps more time with me will fix that!"

Scarlet Witch gave loud war cry as she tried to push through the barrier that Magneto had created. The power surged from Wanda's body, but was unable to break the barrier. The Witch kept trying, hoping to break free and hurt Magneto.

"I can see that this time you will not go voluntarily." Magneto said, as he shrunk the magnetic barrier to make it so that Scarlet Witch could not move at all. "Don't worry, thanks to a new device I have developed your turmoil will be put to peace permanently. Mystique should have it ready now…we are leaving!"

Magneto, Wanda, and the two brotherhood thugs, suddenly disappeared in a thick purple light that popped from seemingly nowhere. There was silence as Hawkeye and Captain America recovered and moved closer to each other, both trying to figure out what just had happened. Quicksilver still remained motionless, but would be waking up soon.

"What…what just happened?" Hawkeye asked, stunned by the mystery behind this situation. "Magneto has NEVER had those kind of powers before? And his eyes…they were like."

"They were similar to the Scarlet Witch…" Captain America said, putting his finger on his chin as he considered this situation. "Who was acting way out of norm even for her. It's like in the presence of Magneto's energy, Wanda lost her control completely. Her mutant power has always shown some form of danger to herself and those around her…but nothing near as severe as what we just saw."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Quicksilver spoke as he slowly rose to his feet, shaking off the dirt and breathing easily once more. "Let's go get her back!"

"It's not that easy…" Captain America spoke, considering the situation still. "Wanda is presenting a massive threat to us all the way she is…and then Magneto seems to be different too, something is most certainly off."

"I'll tell you what's off!" Quicksilver spoke, losing his temper completely now. "My sister, your friend and team mate, has just been abducted and you're sitting here CONSIDERING saving her? Just go ahead and say it, Cap! Wanda's mutant power freaks you out…you don't understand it! Nobody does! Hell, I don't either…but that doesn't change who she is and that she's worth saving!"

"I'm not saying she's not worth saving…" Captain America tried to interject, but was interrupted by Quicksilver.

"If she wasn't a mutant you wouldn't think twice about sending Avenger reinforcements out to save her life. Because she's a mutant, like us all, you and all the other Avengers think we're some kind of danger to humanity! Just admit it, you think mutants are a threat because of their power….excuse me…because of OUR power! You fear me and my kind, and think the world would be better without us!"

"Pietro where is this coming from?" Hawkeye asked, concerned for his friend.

"Forget it…" Quicksilver said, his impatience and concern for his sister reaching a boiling point. "I don't even care right now…you guys can sit here and consider doing the right thing, and if it will further the Avenger's cause…I know where Magneto likes to hide out, and I'm going there to save my sister. See you around, or not…I don't really care!"

Before either Captain America or Hawkeye could speak half a word, Quicksilver sped off in a blue and white blur. The two heroes were left in the street wondering what had just happened. Neither had ever known Quicksilver to be this angry and discontent with the actions of the Avengers. As the two returned to the Avenger's Mansion, both Captain America and Hawkeye worried about their teammate and what he was going to do about this situation.