The Ghost [Marvel | Steve Rogers]

Chapter 19

"If she's a volunteer, I'm Iron Man," one of the men grumbled angrily as he stormed back out of the lab, nearly knocking into Wanda and Pietro as he did. Had Pietro not been distracted by the worrying mystery of the girl, he might have been tempted to ring the man's ears a bit for nearly running purposefully into the two of them.

The retreating mercenary's two companions weren't far behind, lingering only long enough to ensure the zipties they'd bound the girl with were still secure and the exam table's built-in restraints were snugly fastened across her chest, hips and knees. The girl didn't even twitch as they worked. She was so limp and unresponsive that, had her chest not been rising and falling lightly, Pietro might have worried that she was dead.

As the Maximoff Twins looked on, the lab techs began to buzz around the new arrival, tutting and whispering around her like she was a new toy. Pietro could practically feel his twin's unease, knowing unconsciously that it matched his own. The atmosphere in the room had tangibly changed as soon as the blonde girl had been brought in. There was a level of anticipation that neither of the twins remembered from their turns on that table; there had only been a resigned determination when their turn had come up, but since all the previous subjects had died, that was somewhat understandable.

Deep in his gut, Pietro knew there was something wrong, and the way Wanda's eyes had gone wide and fretful only confirmed that. Her expression certainly did nothing to lessen the anxious twisting in his middle.

The feeling only got worse when Strucker appeared a few moments later, obviously impatient to take a look at the new arrival as the techs had finished whatever preliminary examinations they'd been doing. Pietro couldn't help but think the German Baron looked far too eager at the prospect of a new subject for his experiments.

The Baron was nearly gleeful as he approached the girl's side, only for his expression to shift to one of aggravation as he took in his newest subject's current state.

"How much did they give her," he barked at the techs, not even bothering to look up at them as he glanced over the charts he had been handed as he walked into the lab. He leaned forward to examine the girl more closely, peering at her eyes, gauging her response to physical stimuli, even taking her pulse despite the fact that the techs had already hooked her up to a variety of monitors. One of the techs sidled up next to Strucker, handing him the newest set of printouts. Wanda's fingers tightened on Pietro's, the two of them exchanging another apprehensive glance as they realized what their benefactor intended to do.

That the Sceptre was wheeled in moments later only confirmed that.

This was wrong. Pietro and Wanda had volunteered for what had been done to them through Strucker's Experiments. His eyes latched onto the pale-haired girl who was still out cold on the exam table as Strucker and the techs hovered over her; she looked barely younger than Pietro and Wanda. And the fact that she was still unconscious—drugged, Wanda mouthed to him in confirmation, not even needing to read her twin's mind to know what he'd been thinking—made it worse still, causing her to look far too young and innocent to be in this place. There was no anger in this girl. No fire for vengeance. No desperation. Nothing that the rest of the volunteers had had motivating them.

Pietro was abruptly fighting to ignore the growing impulse to keep Strucker from so much as touching this girl. Volunteering was one thing. But kidnapping? Wanda shot him an odd, considering glance before edging closer to him, her blue-green eyes flashing scarlet for a moment as her temper flared. He knew precisely how she felt. They'd both known going into the Experiments that Strucker's methods were shady at best. At worst... They weren't stupid. Anyone offering them what he had—the chance for vengeance for what had been done to them, a chance to fight back for Sokovia—the way that he had? Obviously the German Baron was more bad news than good. But he was the only one to offer what Wanda and Pietro had craved, and they had snatched at the opportunity with both hands. But Pietro had genuinely believed the man when he said it was their choice to continue. They both had. He'd held nothing back, being completely honest with them about the risks of what they'd been signing up for. They'd known the chances of making it to the other side of the Experiments had been miniscule at best. And they'd chosen to go through with it anyway.