𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 // 𝐏𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐨 𝐌𝐚𝐱𝐢𝐦𝐨𝐟𝐟

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐍𝐢𝐧𝐞 - 𝐓𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐞

Nikki's POV: 

                I woke up the next morning not knowing what time.  I didn't bother, I changed into some extra clothes I had packed myself before I left my dad's ship.  I threw on my backpack and headphones and decided to listen to whatever music came on my dad's mixtape.  And then I was off.  

                 Walking around when it's lighter out seems a lot more interesting, especially when you're not in the middle of a fight.  As I was walking I noticed a flash of silver that I recognized too well.  And of course, he was accompanied by his sister.  I decided to lay low and just follow them for now.    

                It felt like I had been following them for ages until finally, they walked through a gate into what looked to be an abandoned church.  I knew this was a bad idea to follow them but I was still curious so I decided to stay hidden behind a couple of crates.  I was still able to see inside, however.   As they walked in there was something sitting in a chair.  But I wasn't able to identify who or what was sitting in it.  I watched the siblings walk in as Wanda spoke up.  

"Talk. And if you are wasting our time..."  She was interrupted by what I can only assume was the figure in the chair.  

"Did you know this church is in the exact center of the city? The elders decreed it so that everyone could be equally close to God. I like that. The geometry of belief."  He paused for a moment before speaking again.  "You're wondering why you can't look inside my head."  I sat there confusedly until Wanda spoke again.  

"Sometimes it's hard. But sooner or later, every man shows himself."  She said in a matter of fact tone.  The figure stood up from the chair revealing himself to be some sort of android.  It's nothing like I've ever seen before.  Not even Auntie Nebula was like him.  This guy was all metal.  

"Oh, I'm sure they do. But you needed something more than a man. That's why you let Stark take the scepter."  He replied to her in the same tone she used.  

              That's what was happening the day before.  It's all coming together now,  Stark needed some scepter that belonged to a Loki?  And they let them take it?  Were they guarding it?  SO many questions all at once are really starting to give me a headache.  

"I didn't expect. But I saw Stark's fear, I knew it would control him, make him self-destruct." Wanda said slightly still in shock.  

"Everyone creates the thing they dread. Men of peace create engines of war, invaders create Avengers, people create...smaller people? Uh...children! I lost the word there. Children. Designed to supplant them, to help them...end." The metal man said.  I'm still blanking on who these Avengers are.  Maybe it's that Stark guy everyone here keeps talking about.  I leaned in closer to the hole in the wall where I've been watching.  

"Is that why you've come? To end the Avengers?"  Wanda asked

"I've come to save the world. But also, yeah. We'll move out right away. This is a start, but there's something we need to begin the real work." The man-bot replied.  

"All of these are... All of these are..."  Wanda said looking around to something I couldn't quite make out.  

" Me. I have what the Avengers never will. Harmony. They're discordant, disconnected. Stark's already got them turning on each other. And when you get inside the rest of their heads-"

"Everyone's plan is not to kill them." Pietro then said speaking up.  

"And make them martyrs? You need patience. Need to see the big picture."  The bot pointed out.  

" I don't see the big picture,"  Pietro said and hesitated. "I have a little picture. I take it out and look at it every day." He said disappointedly.

"You lost your parents in the bombings. I've seen the records-"  The man began.  

"The records are not the picture,"  Pietro said defensively.

"Pietro,"  Wanda said warningly.    

"No, please."  The man, bot whatever he is said encouraging Pietro to talk.  

"We were ten years old, having dinner, the four of us. When the first shell hits, two floors below, it makes a hole in the floor. It's big. Our parents go in, and the whole building starts coming apart. I grab her, roll under the bed and the second shell hits. But, it doesn't go off. It just...sits there in the rubble, three feet from our faces. And on the side of the shell is painted one word..." 

"Stark."  Wanda says finishing Pietro's story.  

            This hit me hard, I can't imagine what that must be like.  I was very fortunate to be able to have both my dad and mom alive.  Poor Pietro and Wanda.  

"We were trapped two days."  Pietro continues. 

"Every effort to save us, every shift in the bricks, I think, 'This will set it off.' We wait for two days for Tony Stark to kill us."  Wanda continues the thought.  

"I know what they are."  Pietro says.  

"I wondered why only you two survived Strucker's experiments. Now I don't. We will make it right. You and I can hurt them."  The Bot says motioning to Pietro, then turns his attention to Wanda.  "But you will tear them apart, from the inside."

                 Experiments?  That's what they were?  I was way beyond confused now,  who was the bad guys here.  I mean if this Stark guy really did kill the Twin's family, he has to be the bad guy... right?!

                        I went to get up from my hiding spot until I heard footsteps exiting the church.  I stayed hidden and quiet.  I watched as Pietro and Wanda walked away with a new attitude.  I looked around me and noticed how late it got so quickly.  Nothing about this is good if anything it's nothing but trouble.  

---

                    Once I knew the coast was clear, I got out of my spot and started to head back.  I felt a cold giant hand rest on my shoulder before I was even two feet away from the church.  

"And where do you think you're going?"  The voice said.

"shit"  I muttered.