shards - pietro maximoff

chapter eight ; unexpected allies

Helen Cho's Lanratory
Korea

Wanda and Pietro stood towards the back of the lab, watching Dr. Cho, who was currently under mind control, work on Ultron's new body.

The room was desolate, with only the large metal cradle standing in the center. The only sound in the room was the horrible screeching sound of Helen's metal chair scraping across the floor.

As much as you might think that the twins' last encounter with the Avengers would leave far fewer marks on them then on the other party involved, the emotional and physical damages that the two had suffered were still immense, despite having the upper hand.

Of course, Pietro was greatly concerned for his sister's wellbeing. They were both very protective of each other, but as he loved to remind Wanda, he was twelve minutes older than she was, so he considered himself to be the older sibling. Along with that title, he felt the weight of trying to protect her on his shoulders.

Simply the thought of Wanda's injuries in the last fight made Pietro want to punch the living daylights out of Ultron for putting her in that situation in the first place. The fact she was so close to dying scared the hell out of him. In fact, if it wasn't for Dahlia, the two would probably be in much worse shape.

Dahlia.

Pietro couldn't seem to stop thinking about the girl, and it was getting awfully annoying. Here they were, two people fighting on opposite sides of what could end up being a vicious war, and he was thinking about her, of all people. Why did his heart never pick anyone easy? How much easier would it have been to find practically anyone else? Unfortunately, as Wanda liked to say, Pietro always wanted the things that were out of his grasp. He was told that he needed to slow down, and he sped up, quite literally at that. He was told that he and his sister would never amount to anything, but here they were, changing the course of the world, but for better or worse? They couldn't be sure. And now, the impossible feat that he had taken on was winning the affections of a woman who was on the opposite side of the battle, and whom he was sure wouldn't hesitate to kill him in the right circumstances.

But if that was true, why did she help them? Why would she let them go, when it could mean punishment of her own?

Even if she did, by some miracle, feel the same at some point in time, the odds were that the other factors of the situation wouldn't let that slide.

Wanda was a big one, for example. It had always been the two of them against the world, against Stark, against any adversity. Pietro couldn't imagine that Wanda would easily trust and accept another person. even if she had helped them in the past.

Damn world. If only things were simpler, if he could transport them into a ridiculous 2000's coming of age movie, where their only obstacles would be popularity levels or nerves about asking her to prom or something. Now that would be something. Unfortunately, they lived in a world where she was practically a trained assassin and he had super speed. You win some, you lose some. You don't get the girl, but instead get increased metabolism and improved thermal homeostasis. Strange trade.

Pietro was shocked out of his train of thought as Dr. Cho began speaking.

"Cellular cohesion will take a few hours, but we can initiate the consciousness stream. We're uploading your cerebral matrix."

Wanda took a step forward and examined the cradle, a surprised smile making its way onto her face. "I can read him. He's dreaming."