Quietus

pleasures mine...

the drama is going to start kicking UP.

Pietro glared at the wall of the compound, irritation boiling just below the surface of his skin. He couldn't believe that he had gotten captured by the Scarlet Witch so easily. He felt like a fool. But at least he got her name.

Wanda.

Pietro grunted, racking his brain for any Wanda from his childhood, from Sokovia, but coming back with just a head ache. It was beyond frustrating. 

"Pietro. Come inside. They'll be here any minute." Clint poked his head outside, dragging the speedster from his thoughts.

"Okay." Pietro mumbled, walking inside the compound after Clint.

Director Fury was stopping by to discuss the Avengers various attempts at taking down the Scarlet Witch.  He had also told Steve over the phone that he may have some tools that could help in their fight against her, and Pietro was eager to see what those may be.

Pietro followed Clint to one of the conference rooms where the rest of the Avengers were already, waiting for Director Fury. He took his seat next to Natasha and Clint, watching as Tony discussed something with Bruce.

"I'm telling you, Banner, that's what Fury's secret weapon is. I mean, what else could it be?" Tony spoke emphatically, wild gestures with his hands.

"I just think it is...inhumane."

"You know what else is inhumane? Murder." Tony deadpanned.  "We are losing this fight. We need to bring out the big guns."

"I wouldn't say we are losing. I mean, you're alive, right? That has to count as a win." Bruce countered, looking to his fellow Avengers for support. Bruce went to say something else when the door opened and in walked Director Fury with Maria Hill and another female agent by his side. "Hello, Director."

"Hello, Avengers. I hear you've been getting your asses kicked and kidnapped lately. Luckily, I am here to save you from further embarrassment." Fury took a seat, Maria and the other female agent standing behind him.

"How do you plan to do that?" Sam asked, looking at the Director.

Director Fury chuckled a little. "Well, Wilson, with these." Fury tossed a cuff on the table. Bruce looked to Tony and Pietro watched as the female agent's eyes widened slightly. He narrowed his.

"And what, pray tell, are those?" Clint asked, picking the cuff up and looking it over. "It seems like a regular old piece of jewelry to me."

"Well, Barton, that's because you aren't a mutant." Fury leaned forward. "That right there is a power dampener, made specifically for mutants. Once it is attached to the mutant, they won't be able to use their powers to quite the same strength. Hell, even just being in the same vicinity of it while it is turned on may also dampen their abilities."

Pietro watched as the female agent gulped, tugging her hat further down over her face. He smirked.

Gotcha now, Witch. You can use your powers to disguise yourself as cleverly as you'd like, but I'd know your stench anywhere.

"I hate to say it, but damn, Stark you were right." Bruce sighed. "We really are taking out the big guns."

"Sir, on the phone you said you had a couple things that may help us?" Steve cut Tony off before he could start. Fury looked to Maria. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a flash drive. Fury plugged it into the table and a holograph appeared above the table. The Avengers looked confused when they saw a video of an empty street, a lone lamp light shining down on the pavement below. "What are we looking at, sir?"

"Romanoff asked me to do some digging into a specific hit down some fifteen years ago. I pulled all the surveillance from a mile radius of the hit just to be safe. Only two cameras panned out." Fury pressed play and Pietro could've sworn he saw a faint smirk on the female agent's face.

On the hologram, it was still for a good minute and a half, until a young girl around seven or eight walked under the lamp light. She had green eyes and long, curly brown hair, a look of pure innocence on her face as she skipped through the camera's view.

Pietro felt his stomach drop. That girl was the same girl from his dreams, the dreams he had been having for years, he was sure of it. His imaginary friend.

He turned to Director Fury. "What was that?"

"That, Maximoff, was the Scarlet Witch."

"That was just a child skipping at night. How do you know that is the Witch?" Pietro croaked.

Fury didn't answer, instead cuing up a second video. The scene was similar, but this time it was set in an alleyway. A door opened and outstepped the same girl, her eyes glowing scarlet. She looked both ways before walking in one direction, little red wisps of energy leaving her hands as she walked. When the wisps touched an item or object, it exploded or melted. One wisp came at the camera and when it hit, the feed cut out. Fury looked at the Avengers. "My agents were able to repair the video after some time. Those are the only two videos of the Scarlet Witch. But facial recognition software, after aging her up, confirms this is the same person as the one in Romanoff's body cam video."

Pietro felt ill. He didn't understand what any of it meant. How could his imaginary friend be the Scarlet Witch? That didn't make any sense. It wasn't...possible.

Unless the obvious was true and she had never been imaginary. She disappeared a few years before the Scarlet Witch became active, it was plausible that Hydra kidnapped her and brainwashed her into becoming an assassin. And both their names were Wanda.

Everything added up, but that just made things more confusing for Pietro. Who was she? Really?

Pietro got a flashback to a memory from when he was five, a memory he didn't even know he had.

"Pietro, we must never speak of Wanda again. She never existed, are we clear?"

"Bu-"

"No. No buts. Wanda was never real. She was just a figment of your imagination we indulged. You are an only child, Pietro."

Pietro gasped softly. It couldn't be...could it? Was...was the Scarlet Witch his sister?