The Youngest Maximoff [Age of Ultron]

Chapter 5 - The Past Has a Way of Sneaking Up on You...

"We'll move out right away." Ultron declared as they walked back into the lab of the HYDRA base, their former home of 2 years. Everywhere, thousands of smaller robots similar in appearance to Ultron buzzed and chattered around the lab like a beehive; some building more Ultron "drones", others gathering supplies. "This is a start," The large android gestured to the drones,"but there's something we need to begin the real work." Anya gazed in awe at all the androids in the room. There were hundreds, maybe even thousands. Beside her, her siblings had the same expression. "All of these are.." "Me" Ultron smiled, which Anya found weird coming from a robot. "I have what the Avengers never will. Harmony. They're discordant. Disconnected. Stark's already got them turning on each other." Ultron turned to the twins. "And when you two get inside their heads-" "Everyone's plan is not to kill them." Pietro cut him off, rolling his eyes. "And make them martyrs?" The android scoffed. "You need patience. Need to see the big picture." "We don't see the big picture." Anya spoke up, her Romanian accent thick with irritation. 'Who does this guy think he is?' "We have a little picture. I take it out and look at it, everyday." "You lost your parents in the bombings. I've seen the records." "The records are not the picture!" Anya bristled, eyes briefly flashing purple in anger. "Anya-" Wanda warned but was stopped by a metal hand. "No, please." She huffed, glaring at the android, before turning to Anya, her expression pained. Pietro walked up to them and put a hand on each of their shoulders, eyes sad. Anya looked down. "Wanda and I were 10 years old, Pietro, 11. We were having dinner, the five of us..."Flash back to a small apartment in rural Sokovia. A family sat at a dinner table. Django and Magda Maximoff sat at the heads of the table, while their children, 10 year olds Wanda and Anastasia and 11 year old Pietro sat on the sides. The kids each took after a parent in looks. Pietro looked like their father, all light eyes and a head full of wavy, dark hair. The twins, however, looked more like their mother, all long, brown hair and dark eyes. The three children were smiling and laughing with their parents, none of them expecting a thing to go wrong. "When the first shell hits, it makes a hole in the floor. It's big."A missile suddenly breaks through the ceiling and lands in the dining room. No one has time to move as it explodes, knocking the kids back and making a giant hole in the floor several stories deep. They watch helplessly as their parents fall through, screaming. "Our parents go in, and the whole building starts falling apart." The kids slowly crawl towards the hole, covered in bruises, cuts, and burns, and look down. There, in the rubble, lay the elder Maximoffs, bodies broken and burned, covered in dust and debris. All three of them are in tears. Wanda holds Anya as she cries, and Pietro holds them both. Around them, the house starts to crumble. "Pietro grabs us, pushes us under the bed in our room, and then the second shell hits." "Wanda, Anya, come!" Pietro yells as he drags his sisters to their room. He pushes Wanda under the bed first, then reaches for Anya. Once he is under with them, another missile falls through the ceiling and lands three feet from where they are hiding. "But, it doesn't go off. It just... sits there in the rubble... three feet from our faces." Anya holds her breath as the siblings brace themselves. But, after a full minute, the three open their eyes. The bomb had not gone off. They wait. Nothing happens. It still doesn't go off. It just sat there, as if taunting them. On the side of the shell are the words "Stark Industries". Flashback over. Anya struggled to hold back tears, eyes red. She felt someone's fingers interlock with hers, and she felt calmer. 'E in regula Dragoste. Sunt aici.'('It's alright Love. I'm here.') 'Wanda.' Anya smiled sadly, before continuing. "And on the side of the shell, is painted one word." "Stark." Wanda spoke for her, eyes flashing red. "We were trapped for three days" Pietro finished. Wanda stepped forward, never letting go of her twin's hand. "Every effort to save us, every shift in the bricks, I think, 'This will set it off'. We wait for three days for Tony Stark," She spat the name venomously,"to kill us!" Pietro nodded, his eyes narrowed. "We know what they are." Ultron blinked slowly. "I wondered why only you three survived Strucker's experiments. Now I don't. We will make it right." He looked at Pietro. "You and I can hurt them. But you two..." He turned back to the twins, "...will tear them apart, from the inside."