Arcane (Wanda Maximoff)

Thirteen

"Okay," Maggie breathed, staring at the large board she and Tony had created with everything surrounding her disappearance in the Russian database.

"This is a lot to get through," Tony rubbed his face tiredly.

It had taken them six hours to find all of the newspaper articles, necessary documents and evidence photographs and create the timeline.

Still, Maggie was confused. There were things missing.

"What's wrong?" Tony said, noticing the look on Maggie's face. "What did we miss?" he said.

"My father murdered my mother. He slit her throat. That's why I saw her dead when Maximoff messed with my mind," Maggie said. "But my siblings were there when Wanda messed with me. Johann had been shot and Katerina had her throat slit. They're not mentioned in any of the reports. Any. They're not mentioned once," Maggie said.

"You have siblings?" Tony blinked.

"Yes. Johann is four years older, Katerina is two," Maggie said. "But, see what I mean? You didn't know because they aren't mentioned. They were eight and six. Where did they go? Why aren't they mentioned?" Maggie said.

"I don't know," Tony said. "Were they not in the database?" he said.

"There was nothing on either of them. No birth or death certificate, no social security number or citizen ID. They're like ghosts, Tony. They didn't exist," Maggie said.

"They definitely existed though?" Tony checked.

"Definitely. I have this photo," Maggie crossed to her bedside table and rummaged through until she found the book of Russian poems Natasha had bought her. She turned to page two hundred and seven and pulled out the photograph she'd managed to keep all of these years.

She handed it to Tony and he smiled slightly. The photograph was of Maggie as a toddler, cute and small with a massive smile on her face, and her siblings. Johann had the same blonde hair as Maggie, an equally wide smile on his face. Katerina had brown hair, though her smile was the same as her siblings'.

All three of them looked genuinely happy and Tony realised for the first time how truly horrible everything must've been for Maggie growing up to make her go from this carefree little girl to the haunted teenager she was today.

Tony pinned the photograph to the board, looking at Maggie.

"Well, Magpie, I think we've got some ghosts to find," he said.

"Yeah, I think we do," Maggie nodded. They studied the board for a few seconds. "Tony?" she said quietly.

"Yeah, kid?" Tony said, looking from the board to Maggie.

"Do you think Nat is mad at me for wanting to know about this?" Maggie said.

"She isn't mad. She understands why you want to know. She's just worried that you'll get hurt. It's her job to protect you," he said. He sighed and put a hand on her shoulder. "But she is gonna be pissed that you basically told her she wasn't your mom and couldn't give a shit about you," he said.

Maggie groaned and rubbed her face.

"I'm just wound up and I took it out on her. I'm such a dick," Maggie muttered.

"You're not that much of a dick," Tony said. "What's brought all of this on, anyway?" he said.

Maggie held out her laptop, the email sitting open on her screen.

"Joanna Alexander. Johann Alexandra. Your brother and your mother. What's the numbers for?" Tony said.

"They're the time and date that the first missing persons report was filed. I was supposed to have been returned home at lunchtime on the Sunday. She stayed up and waited, but I never went home," Maggie said.