Elemental Mimicry

21: Welcome to the team

The room fell silent, even Pietro managed to contort his face into confusion while he lay still on the bed. "Does that mean I-I, revived Pietro?!" Crystal's voice broke the silence, her tone high and confused. The Duo stared at one another for a few seconds, blue orbs staring directly into green. Nobody moved as Ruby whispered the answer everyone was waiting for;

"Yes."

"Strucker-"

"Always knew what he wanted." Ruby interrupted turning towards Clint only to come face to face with Natasha, Steve, Tony and Thor as well. The new arrivals stared in awe, obviously having caught the last few minuets of the conversation. "He wasn't a stupid man, no Baron Strucker was simply blinded by power. Scientists worked for years to perfect the formula he wanted, it just so happened that we were found at the time it was complete."

"He found you?" Natasha, although confused and slightly defensive, sounded concerned at the mention of the past, something neither blonde had really brought up since helping them. And little files didn't help either.

"That is not a story I want to retell." Crystal replied gently, running her fingers through her devilish curls. "I always thought we were just experiments, children that didn't matter, if we died we died."

"That was very much the case, but he also knew children would be perfect for his new experiment."

"You were easy to manipulate, he could control the power by simply controlling you. An adult wouldn't be so cooperative." Steve added, understanding the pain in the teenagers eyes. It was then that the group remember that the Twins and the Duo were practically still children, misled young people who could never find the right place in life.

"And cooperate we did." Miss Jackson said, her eyes cast down to the floor for a few moment before coming up to meet the gaze of the Avengers. "We are one of the main reasons S.H.I.E.L.D could never bring HYDRA down but HYDRA could cause S.H.I.E.L.D to fall. Whenever an agent was killed they would be brought back to Crystal, to our facility where they would be revived simply on orders. That's why they're numbers never seemed to dwindle, because they always came back."

"Then when one of our agents was sent back to us dead, but with no signs of torture or injury-"

"All me." Confessed the blonde, cutting off Natasha shifting her eyes once more. "Chances are they were killed several times over just so they gave HYDRA the information they wanted, Crystal and I often worked in tandem to complete tasks."

"They why can't I remember any of it?" Crystals voice came out so soft that the group had to strain to hear it, and even then they weren't sure what she had spoken.

"We were young still, it stopped by the time you were thirteen. We had been trained enough by then, sent out into the field to do more damage. We were more deadly like that then locked away in the facility simply playing with death."

"That still makes no sense, she should have been able to remember. She was thirteen!" Tony countered with a smirk, only to be shot down harshly by the blue eyed female.

"Not if she was brainwashed."

"What?"

"That's what HYDRA do, right? If they don't want agents to remember, agents don't remember. They brainwash them, they don't just do it to the Winter Soldier." Crystal instantly lifted her hand to her head, tracing the small scar she had gained when the pair were younger. "That's what your scar is from, you struggled more than anyone when they brainwashed you. It cut you first."

"Then why do you remember?" It was a simple question, but one that made the most sense in the situation. Ruby's eyes flickered to Thor for several seconds before she bowed her head again.

"I, I asked them to brainwash Crystal." She admitted softly. "It wasn't their intention but when we started going out into the field, I didn't like her carrying so much on her shoulders. So I took the burden of it all and asked them to make her forget that she could bring someone back from the dead."

"Why?"

"You've always been my number one priority, that was just another way to try and maintain as much of your innocence as I could, you don't deserve this. Strucker kept telling me I had made a mistake in getting your memories took from you."

"You didn't believe him?"

"Of course I didn't." Wanda frowned slightly at the reply while the Avengers simply looked in shock. From what they had seen Ruby was the one who always carried out Struckers orders. "How could keeping an innocent young girl innocent be a mistake?"

"But you were young too." Pietro countered quietly. "You were just as innocent, just as manipulated."

"I had my priorities in order, I knew who I would save first from day one. I knew who my loyalties lay with, and that was Crystal before Strucker. All that man ever did was hurt us, as far as I'm concerned that's no reason to save him when times get bad. Sure he was the one that fed us, clothed us, but it wasn't because he cared. It was because he needed us, needed our powers. I wasn't stupid, carrying out his orders were simply so he didn't kill us."

Crystal smiled softly before wrapping her best friend into a tight hug, Ruby returning it seconds later. The Duo stood in each other's embrace in silence, finally feeling the weight lifting from their shoulders. It was over, they were away from Strucker, away from HYDRA, they were free. "Thank you." Although Crystal never directed her gratitude to anyone in particular everyone knew what she meant, she was thanking them all for helping them and the twins finally have freedom.

"You're welcome." Steve replied, smiling gently at the four enhanced. "Now rest up, once Pietro is back on his feet training begins."

"What?"

"You're Avengers now." Steve answered Pietro simply, a small shrug moving his shoulders.

"Welcome to the team."