Disclaimer- Don't own nothing.
"Y-you. Definitely you. I mean, Magneto's been no father to me either."
-Quicksilver to Mystique, Hex-Factor
Chapter Seven- Enhancement
Pietro watched almost fearfully as his father squirted a clear liquid out of the syringe, before approaching him. Wanda sat across from him with a puzzled expression on her face.
"What's that, Daddy?" she had been calling him Daddy ever since her terrible dream, which was nearly eight months ago, and he did nothing to say that she had to do otherwise.
Erik looked at the tip of the hollow needle, and then shifted his cool eyes to them calmly. Kneeling in front of them he explained, "This will help your powers grow. You will have more control. It's for your own good," when they still looked wary and fearful, he added, "Trust me."
And they did.
Slowly, he inched Pietro's sleeve all the way up his arm. Taking a small alcohol swab, he dabbed an area of his upper arm with it. Then, with utmost care, he injected the serum into the boy.
Pietro jerked, and Erik quickly grabbed the boy with his other hand to keep him still so he wouldn't make a mistake and wind up hurting the boy. Pietro's breathing became hitched, and tears clouded his vision.
"Daddy! You're hurting him!" Wanda wailed from her side, too frightened to move from her spot.
Pietro let out a small choked sob, and just a few seconds after that, Erik had finished and pulled the needle out, tossing it in a small garbage can right next to the lab table.
He smoothed the boy's silver hair back, and then pulled the sleeve back down.
"Go wash your face," he spoke quietly. Tears had leaked out in small rivulets down the boy's face, and he nodded, jumped off of the table and in a millionth of a second, he was gone.
Erik watched the doorway for a while before turning his back on Wanda again and readying another syringe. He rubbed the skin of her arm with an alcohol wipe just as he did with Pietro, and then he injected her with the clear liquid too.
Tears had filled Wanda's eyes much faster than they had for Pietro. She started shaking, and Erik laid a hand on her shoulder for a small offer of comfort. She held back sobs, but a few choked ones had escaped.
Erik felt an obligation to comfort the girl, so he talked to her as the syringe emptied itself into her.
"When's your birthday?" he asked softly, surprised when he realized he had never asked that before.
"January twenty-first," Wanda said meekly. Erik pulled out the needle and disposed of that. The lights flickered and then a bulb broke. Wanda started crying harder. Erik picked her up gently, carried her to her room, and laid her on the bed. He exited, shutting the door quietly behind him.
"Dad?" a small and hesitant somebody said from behind him.
Erik turned around and spotted Pietro, and he stared coolly down at the boy. Both of his children had dropped the 'Father' and instead said 'Dad' or 'Daddy'.
The child did not speak right away and Erik raised an eyebrow expectantly. Pietro was looking at the floor when her muttered something inarticulate.
"What was that?" Erik asked. Pietro looked up, his pupils were dilated and his face was paler. His movements seemed to be jerkier.
"Evrythinsoslow," he said so fast that Erik had a little trouble deciphering it. The boy looked panicked, as his head jerked around, looking at the area around him in fear.
Pietro looked at his father, who very slowly, *very* slowly kneeled in front of him. He said something but it was like they were playing a tape in slow motion and Pietro did not understand it. He just stared at the man before him, as his mouth moved with eternal sluggishness, his voice too low to make anything out of it.
In his panic, Pietro fled to his room, right when Erik was in mid-sentence.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Both of the twins sat next to each other at the table for dinner instead of across from one another. They felt sore all over, and they had guessed that it was from the shot their father had given them. Silently, they ate their chicken and applesauce, which was Pietro's favorite.
Short, plump, Anita came bustling in, dressed up in a black woolen dress with a black babushka tied around her head. She had tears in her eyes.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she murmured as she hugged both the surprised Pietro and Wanda tightly. "Oh, Kinder, I must go. My cousin...he is deathly ill, and he has no one to take care of him. Oh, Lieblinge."
Pietro and Wanda hugged her back fiercely, tears forming in their eyes once again.
"I will visit as often as I can. Trips from Germany to the United states is Teuer."
"Bye, Anita!" Wanda said, pecking the woman on the cheek. Pietro said nothing but held on to her tighter.
And Anita left.
They sadly ate dinner in silence together. Their father not there with them, just like the last few weeks. He was down in his lab, studying things that they didn't understand about.
*~*~*~*~*~
More injections came. Wanda became less innocent, Pietro began seeing things slower. It was enough to drive them both to be different.
It was time to go to school. They had been to school before, but ever since they had lived with their father they had been tutored. Now, their father had registered them at the local elementary school, and Pietro and Wanda Maximoff were to start the third grade.
They stopped in front of the school in their father's silver BMW; they stared at it nervously and with wide eyes from the back seats.
Erik unbuckled his seatbelt, and the children followed, getting out of the car and swinging their backpacks over their shoulders. Silently, staring at the building the whole time, they followed Erik in to the main doors.
They stopped at the office, where Erik signed some papers and then left, but not before telling them quietly to come straight to the lab when they got home, and not to tell them about being mutants, or showing off their powers. They nodded, and they said their goodbyes, watching Erik's back the whole time as he exited the building.
It was the middle of the first quarter, so they were still pretty much at the beginning of the year. Their teacher, Ms. Helen Sandy, a woman with frizzy brown hair and with a slight gap in her teeth, smiled at them, and led them towards their classroom.
They walked into the classroom, near an area where loads of colorful autumn coats were, as well as backpacks.
"Here, this will be your coat hangers, and cubby place," she said, smiling sweetly, and reaching a pocket in her sweater and taking out two stickers of an apple with a worm coming out. With a big Sharpie marker, she wrote 'Wanda' on one and 'Pietro' on the other. She stuck them both on two of the remaining spaces. They hung their coats up, and put their things in their cubby place.
She placed them next to each other at a circular table with two other boys and two other girls. They gave Pietro funny looks, mainly because of his hair. Pietro bowed his head, looking at his hands in his lap.
"Good morning, class," Said Ms. Sandy.
"Good morning, Ms. Sandy," the class repeated in unison.
"Today we have two new students. They're twins! Isn't that exciting? They're names are Pietro and Wanda Maximoff. Greet the Maximoffs, children!"
"Hello, Pietro and Wanda," some of the kids snickered at Pietro's name. He blushed slightly, and did not look up from his lap.
"Now, I'm going to pass out these math sheets. You figure out the problems in each shape, and then color them according to the color key. When you're all finished, you'll have a picture!" she said this excitedly as she gave each table the appropriate number of papers, then setting a large plastic container of crayons in the center.
When Pietro took his paper, he went to reach for the crayons, but then nearly everybody else got in his way and dug in. He waited politely, knowing exactly what they were doing, and when they sat back down he went and grabbed a handful of crayons.
School had gone by agonizingly slow to Pietro, but fast to Wanda. Pietro had finished everything before any of the other students, and he was awarded a sucker for the day.
When both the twins walked out to the front, Pietro cautiously licked the red candy. He had not eaten many sugary things while living with their father, since he did not allow it, saying that it might trigger Pietro's powers and make him go wild and out of control.
He licked it again, savoring the sweet cherry flavor. He stuck it in his mouth, sucking on it until it became a little, tiny ball inside of his mouth, dying the inside a vibrant red. A BMW drove up where they were waiting by the flagpole in front of the school. They got up and entered the vehicle without a word. Before he entered however, Pietro took the white stick the sucker had been stuck to, and stuck it in his coat pocket.
Alfred was acting as chauffer, and he smiled at them both in the rearview mirror. They gave him a small smile back, and then looked out the window gloomily.
*~*~*~*~*~* More shots came. More experiments came. Pietro was forced to run on treadmills for endless hours; while Erik was trying everything he could to help Wanda control her powers. It was almost no use.
And months past, and both Pietro and Wanda turned ten. They didn't have a birthday party; they didn't receive any birthday cards. They just sat on a metal table, allowing the man who called himself their father to dope them up with God-knows-what.
Pietro, sore from the evening's injections, collapsed in his bed, not bothering to change into his pajamas or get under the covers. He just lay there, head just missing the pillow, laying on his stomach.
The door opened a crack, and yellow light trailed inside of the room, illuminating part of Pietro's face.
"Pie?" Wanda spoke softly from the doorway. Pietro gave a grunt.
Wanda walked over and sat herself on the edge of his bed. Tears were running down her face.
Slowly (well, slow for him) Pietro sat up and looked at her with concern.
"What is it Wanda?" he asked anxiously.
"It hurts," she choked out. "Can I stay with you?"
Pietro stared at her for a split second, and then nodded, scooting over on his small bed. He quickly changed into his pajamas, and he did this so fast that Wanda hadn't even noticed he changed at all. He pulled back the covers, motioned for her to join him, and Wanda crawled in. The snuggled close to each other, feeling safer than they ever had before.
"Pietro, if anything ever bad happens, will you protect me?" she asked in a whisper.
Pietro wrapped his arms around her. "Of course. What are big brothers for?"
She smiled slightly then shut her eyes. Pietro did too.
"I'm older, by the way," Wanda muttered tiredly after a few minutes. Pietro shook his head minutely, too tired to argue about the matter.
*~*~*~*~*~*
YAY! Pietro and Wanda bonding moments! And the injections have begun! Erik now is slowly becoming more Magneto-ish. How far will this man go?
I have revised the Chapter Two- Memory. It's actually chapter three, but you get the idea.
THANKS TO ALL WHO REVIEW!!! I LOVE YOU GUYS!
Like it? Hate it? Either way, review!
"Y-you. Definitely you. I mean, Magneto's been no father to me either."
-Quicksilver to Mystique, Hex-Factor
Chapter Seven- Enhancement
Pietro watched almost fearfully as his father squirted a clear liquid out of the syringe, before approaching him. Wanda sat across from him with a puzzled expression on her face.
"What's that, Daddy?" she had been calling him Daddy ever since her terrible dream, which was nearly eight months ago, and he did nothing to say that she had to do otherwise.
Erik looked at the tip of the hollow needle, and then shifted his cool eyes to them calmly. Kneeling in front of them he explained, "This will help your powers grow. You will have more control. It's for your own good," when they still looked wary and fearful, he added, "Trust me."
And they did.
Slowly, he inched Pietro's sleeve all the way up his arm. Taking a small alcohol swab, he dabbed an area of his upper arm with it. Then, with utmost care, he injected the serum into the boy.
Pietro jerked, and Erik quickly grabbed the boy with his other hand to keep him still so he wouldn't make a mistake and wind up hurting the boy. Pietro's breathing became hitched, and tears clouded his vision.
"Daddy! You're hurting him!" Wanda wailed from her side, too frightened to move from her spot.
Pietro let out a small choked sob, and just a few seconds after that, Erik had finished and pulled the needle out, tossing it in a small garbage can right next to the lab table.
He smoothed the boy's silver hair back, and then pulled the sleeve back down.
"Go wash your face," he spoke quietly. Tears had leaked out in small rivulets down the boy's face, and he nodded, jumped off of the table and in a millionth of a second, he was gone.
Erik watched the doorway for a while before turning his back on Wanda again and readying another syringe. He rubbed the skin of her arm with an alcohol wipe just as he did with Pietro, and then he injected her with the clear liquid too.
Tears had filled Wanda's eyes much faster than they had for Pietro. She started shaking, and Erik laid a hand on her shoulder for a small offer of comfort. She held back sobs, but a few choked ones had escaped.
Erik felt an obligation to comfort the girl, so he talked to her as the syringe emptied itself into her.
"When's your birthday?" he asked softly, surprised when he realized he had never asked that before.
"January twenty-first," Wanda said meekly. Erik pulled out the needle and disposed of that. The lights flickered and then a bulb broke. Wanda started crying harder. Erik picked her up gently, carried her to her room, and laid her on the bed. He exited, shutting the door quietly behind him.
"Dad?" a small and hesitant somebody said from behind him.
Erik turned around and spotted Pietro, and he stared coolly down at the boy. Both of his children had dropped the 'Father' and instead said 'Dad' or 'Daddy'.
The child did not speak right away and Erik raised an eyebrow expectantly. Pietro was looking at the floor when her muttered something inarticulate.
"What was that?" Erik asked. Pietro looked up, his pupils were dilated and his face was paler. His movements seemed to be jerkier.
"Evrythinsoslow," he said so fast that Erik had a little trouble deciphering it. The boy looked panicked, as his head jerked around, looking at the area around him in fear.
Pietro looked at his father, who very slowly, *very* slowly kneeled in front of him. He said something but it was like they were playing a tape in slow motion and Pietro did not understand it. He just stared at the man before him, as his mouth moved with eternal sluggishness, his voice too low to make anything out of it.
In his panic, Pietro fled to his room, right when Erik was in mid-sentence.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Both of the twins sat next to each other at the table for dinner instead of across from one another. They felt sore all over, and they had guessed that it was from the shot their father had given them. Silently, they ate their chicken and applesauce, which was Pietro's favorite.
Short, plump, Anita came bustling in, dressed up in a black woolen dress with a black babushka tied around her head. She had tears in her eyes.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she murmured as she hugged both the surprised Pietro and Wanda tightly. "Oh, Kinder, I must go. My cousin...he is deathly ill, and he has no one to take care of him. Oh, Lieblinge."
Pietro and Wanda hugged her back fiercely, tears forming in their eyes once again.
"I will visit as often as I can. Trips from Germany to the United states is Teuer."
"Bye, Anita!" Wanda said, pecking the woman on the cheek. Pietro said nothing but held on to her tighter.
And Anita left.
They sadly ate dinner in silence together. Their father not there with them, just like the last few weeks. He was down in his lab, studying things that they didn't understand about.
*~*~*~*~*~
More injections came. Wanda became less innocent, Pietro began seeing things slower. It was enough to drive them both to be different.
It was time to go to school. They had been to school before, but ever since they had lived with their father they had been tutored. Now, their father had registered them at the local elementary school, and Pietro and Wanda Maximoff were to start the third grade.
They stopped in front of the school in their father's silver BMW; they stared at it nervously and with wide eyes from the back seats.
Erik unbuckled his seatbelt, and the children followed, getting out of the car and swinging their backpacks over their shoulders. Silently, staring at the building the whole time, they followed Erik in to the main doors.
They stopped at the office, where Erik signed some papers and then left, but not before telling them quietly to come straight to the lab when they got home, and not to tell them about being mutants, or showing off their powers. They nodded, and they said their goodbyes, watching Erik's back the whole time as he exited the building.
It was the middle of the first quarter, so they were still pretty much at the beginning of the year. Their teacher, Ms. Helen Sandy, a woman with frizzy brown hair and with a slight gap in her teeth, smiled at them, and led them towards their classroom.
They walked into the classroom, near an area where loads of colorful autumn coats were, as well as backpacks.
"Here, this will be your coat hangers, and cubby place," she said, smiling sweetly, and reaching a pocket in her sweater and taking out two stickers of an apple with a worm coming out. With a big Sharpie marker, she wrote 'Wanda' on one and 'Pietro' on the other. She stuck them both on two of the remaining spaces. They hung their coats up, and put their things in their cubby place.
She placed them next to each other at a circular table with two other boys and two other girls. They gave Pietro funny looks, mainly because of his hair. Pietro bowed his head, looking at his hands in his lap.
"Good morning, class," Said Ms. Sandy.
"Good morning, Ms. Sandy," the class repeated in unison.
"Today we have two new students. They're twins! Isn't that exciting? They're names are Pietro and Wanda Maximoff. Greet the Maximoffs, children!"
"Hello, Pietro and Wanda," some of the kids snickered at Pietro's name. He blushed slightly, and did not look up from his lap.
"Now, I'm going to pass out these math sheets. You figure out the problems in each shape, and then color them according to the color key. When you're all finished, you'll have a picture!" she said this excitedly as she gave each table the appropriate number of papers, then setting a large plastic container of crayons in the center.
When Pietro took his paper, he went to reach for the crayons, but then nearly everybody else got in his way and dug in. He waited politely, knowing exactly what they were doing, and when they sat back down he went and grabbed a handful of crayons.
School had gone by agonizingly slow to Pietro, but fast to Wanda. Pietro had finished everything before any of the other students, and he was awarded a sucker for the day.
When both the twins walked out to the front, Pietro cautiously licked the red candy. He had not eaten many sugary things while living with their father, since he did not allow it, saying that it might trigger Pietro's powers and make him go wild and out of control.
He licked it again, savoring the sweet cherry flavor. He stuck it in his mouth, sucking on it until it became a little, tiny ball inside of his mouth, dying the inside a vibrant red. A BMW drove up where they were waiting by the flagpole in front of the school. They got up and entered the vehicle without a word. Before he entered however, Pietro took the white stick the sucker had been stuck to, and stuck it in his coat pocket.
Alfred was acting as chauffer, and he smiled at them both in the rearview mirror. They gave him a small smile back, and then looked out the window gloomily.
*~*~*~*~*~* More shots came. More experiments came. Pietro was forced to run on treadmills for endless hours; while Erik was trying everything he could to help Wanda control her powers. It was almost no use.
And months past, and both Pietro and Wanda turned ten. They didn't have a birthday party; they didn't receive any birthday cards. They just sat on a metal table, allowing the man who called himself their father to dope them up with God-knows-what.
Pietro, sore from the evening's injections, collapsed in his bed, not bothering to change into his pajamas or get under the covers. He just lay there, head just missing the pillow, laying on his stomach.
The door opened a crack, and yellow light trailed inside of the room, illuminating part of Pietro's face.
"Pie?" Wanda spoke softly from the doorway. Pietro gave a grunt.
Wanda walked over and sat herself on the edge of his bed. Tears were running down her face.
Slowly (well, slow for him) Pietro sat up and looked at her with concern.
"What is it Wanda?" he asked anxiously.
"It hurts," she choked out. "Can I stay with you?"
Pietro stared at her for a split second, and then nodded, scooting over on his small bed. He quickly changed into his pajamas, and he did this so fast that Wanda hadn't even noticed he changed at all. He pulled back the covers, motioned for her to join him, and Wanda crawled in. The snuggled close to each other, feeling safer than they ever had before.
"Pietro, if anything ever bad happens, will you protect me?" she asked in a whisper.
Pietro wrapped his arms around her. "Of course. What are big brothers for?"
She smiled slightly then shut her eyes. Pietro did too.
"I'm older, by the way," Wanda muttered tiredly after a few minutes. Pietro shook his head minutely, too tired to argue about the matter.
*~*~*~*~*~*
YAY! Pietro and Wanda bonding moments! And the injections have begun! Erik now is slowly becoming more Magneto-ish. How far will this man go?
I have revised the Chapter Two- Memory. It's actually chapter three, but you get the idea.
THANKS TO ALL WHO REVIEW!!! I LOVE YOU GUYS!
Like it? Hate it? Either way, review!