HESTIA ━ marvel

1.1 | PURE IMAGINATION

"STARK IS... HE'S a sickness!" were the first words Anastasiya heard from Ultron when they landed in the base.

"Ah, Junior. You're gonna break your old man's heart," Tony retorted, the clunk of metal hitting concrete echoing out around the dark room. Anastasiya recoiled slightly when she saw Wanda and Pietro.

"Anastasiya." Wanda said, raising her eyebrows in disgust when she saw her sister stood to the left of Thor. "You betrayed us."

"No. I didn't. You're on the wrong side."

"You both can still walk away from this. We know you and your sister have suffered." Steve spoke cautiously, stepping forward.

"Ugh, Captain America. God's righteous man. Pretending you could live without a war. I can't physically throw up in my mouth, but..." Ultron started.

"If you believe in peace, then let us keep it," Thor interrupts.

"I think you're confusing 'peace,' with 'quiet.'"

"What's the vibranium for?" Tony's voice echoes through comms.

"Ah, I'm glad you asked that. Because I think it's time to explain my evil plan," Ultron declared, as he blasts a laser beam at the group of heroes, and Anastasiya quickly jumped out of the way before it could hit her. Then all hell broke loose.

Anastasiya began flinging balls of fire of all sizes at Ultron, the metal melting a bit but hardly enough to cause a massive impact. After a few minutes, the teenage girl left Steve, Thor and Tony to deal with Ultron while she chased after her siblings.

Everyone began shooting, and Anastasiya used her powers to move objects to protect her from the bullets. She didn't have as much practice with energy manipulation than she did with her fire powers, but she could control it either way.

She caught Wanda attacking Tony with her powers, and Anastasiya threw a small ball of fire to the right of her just to catch her attention.

"Anastasiya! How dare you!" Wanda called out, her eyes glowing scarlet.

"You're on the wrong side! Please, Wanda. Ultron isn't who you think he is," Anastasiya explained, dodging her sister's vicious attacks. She saw her brother several floors below, fighting Thor and Steve.

"No. You betrayed us. You betrayed our parents. And now you're going to pay," Wanda spat, as Ultron turned to her.

"It's time for some mind games," he muttered in her ear, but loud enough for Anastasiya to hear. Wanda nodded, shooting blasts of red energy at her sister before she could move. Anastasiya froze as it hit her square in the chest.

Her vision went white for a second, into it moulded into a scene she knew far too well, as it replayed on her mind several nights a week, keeping her awake until early hours. Except this time it was different.

"Anastasiya! Help us please!" The youngest Maximoff turned to look, an expression of fear crossed her face as she watched as her two siblings fell into the whole that had just sucked in their parents. She reached out, but it was too late. They fell into the void, darkness swallowing them. Anastasiya screamed, tears streaming down her face as she cowered under the bed that Pietro had pulled her under just seconds before.

And then the vision clouded, morphing into another - Anastasiya looking at a photo of her parents. But then they moved - and began to speak.

"You failed," they said, as Anastasiya's hands began to shake.

"No... no, I didn't."

"Yes you did. Tony Stark killed us. Look at you, working for him now. Insulting our memory. You are no daughter of ours."

And with that the vision faded completely, and the teenage girl fell to the floor, still completely out of it. A few minutes after, Clint approached her cautiously, pulling her slowly to her feet with his left arm, Natasha in his other.

***

"The news is loving you guys. Nobody else. There's been no official call for Banner's arrest but it's in the air." Maria's voice echoed in and out of Anastasiya's ears.

"The Stark Relief Foundation?" Tony asks.

"Already on the scene. How's the team?" Maria asks.

"Everyone's... we took a hit. We'll shake it off."

"Well for now, I'd stay in stealth mode and stay away from here."

"So run and hide?"

"Until we can find Ultron, I don't have a lot else to offer."

"Neither do we," Anastasiya heard Tony say, as well as the quiet click of him shutting off the video call.

"Wanna switch out?" The billionaire says to Clint, who was at the wheel.

"No, I'm good. If you wanna get some kip, now's a good time because we're still a few hours out."

"Few hours from where?"

"A safe house."