GUILT. An overwhelming emotion that washes over one, barreling a weight that causes the feet the drag against the floor, struggling to carry the heavy load that rests between the shoulders. The consequences of the actions someone makes have a price, and once it's been made, there's no turning back without facing the reality of your mistakes. Eszter felt it--the guilt that started to push down at her shoulders, further and further until the girl could barely keep her head up; Eszter didn't like the feeling. It was new and emotionally draining. Making a big life change is scary, especially after Eszter and the twins participated in an experiment, but there was something a lot scarier than that-regret.
To feel desperate as if you were right, that you were doing the right thing, Eszter is brought back to reality with the consequences of her actions. This wasn't right.
Manipulated to believe that you're fighting for your own belief, blinded by the truth that remained hidden in the shadows. Eszter scolds herself privately, angrily pinching her arm to discipline the actions of Earth's downfall.
The creation of Ultron was merely the beginning of the end of the Avengers, but not enough to completely tear them apart. Eszter wasn't sure what to believe in; Ultron wasn't necessarily seen as a friend in the enhanced's eyes but as a mentor of some sort, yet Eszter couldn't help but feel betrayed. Then, there's the Avengers, a group of heroes that causes more damage than prevents, and Tony Stark nearly killed the Maximoffs.
Nevertheless, Eszter couldn't oversee that she and her siblings had voluntarily followed Ultron into his trap, bringing the robot a next step closer to ending all humanity. Eszter couldn't bring herself to forgive her own actions. For the most part, Eszter attempted to blank out the last few days, avoiding the fact there was a war arising between man and robot. Eszter wanted to pretend there wasn't going to be an end to the world, but much to her dismay, reality will always be there for the harsh reminder.
For most of Eszter's life, it's been nothing but a traumatic, infuriating, tense, and depressing childhood. Maybe Eszter couldn't pretend to be normal with her new profound abilities, but the enhanced wouldn't hesitate to turn her life back around.
Why couldn't she be granted life with no fear and with her parents still alive?
Eszter wanted to grow up with her parents to guide her, showing her the ropes to being a teenager and worrying about anything other than robots and superheroes. She wants to grow up with Wanda and Pietro without having to live with a traumatic past, particularly their parents' death. And with her powers, Eszter has grown a love-hate relationship to the idea of it, but they still leave this unnerving feeling that leaves the enhanced nervous, yet craving. However, Eszter likes to see the bright side and uses her powers for good--the real good.
With defeat and guilt, the Maximoff siblings fled Ultron and continued on foot through the city of Korea--an unfamiliar location. They were in another country and out of their own comfort zone, leaving the Maximoffs wondering how they would return home to Sokovia.
Eszter looks around as she examines the residents as they were unaware of their situation, though the enhanced was the envy of their innocence. Although Eszter regrets following through with Hydra's experiment, there wasn't anything she can do to reverse back time and take it back. They've gotten themselves into this mess, and their only solution is to run and hide or stay and fight.
"How are we going to get home?" Wanda wonders, stressfully twisting her hair.
Pietro merely shook his head at the question. He purses his lips as he and his sisters continued down the back streets, blending in with the crowd. "I don't know," Pietro checks around the area before he looks down to Eszter; curiously, the boy juts his chin. "Penny for a thought?"
Eszter peered up when the silence continued to fill the air, and the enhanced finds both Wanda and Pietro staring at her worriedly. "He lied. He lied to us. I believed him . . ."
"Hey, we all did," Wanda assures directly. The older enhanced furrows her brows as she grips Eszter's shoulder in the form of comfort. "We chose the path we took. We have no one to blame but ourselves."
"We're in this together, Essie," Pietro smiles briefly.
However, this didn't seem to ease the stress building in Eszter's mind. "Are we really going to let him get away with the Cradle? He will end everything. All of humanity."
Wanda gapes in an attempt to shoot down Eszter's worry, but the girl couldn't because she didn't know what to do. It was difficult for Wanda to choose whether to face their reality or choose to walk away. A part of her wanted to turn her back away, pretend like she hadn't seen anything, but there's another part of Wanda that can't walk away. Conflicted with her thoughts, Wanda suddenly frowns.
However, Pietro was indifferent. "What can we do? We have no idea where we are. We've created something big, and I'm sure we are not on the Avengers nice list," he sighs, stressed. Eszter looks away, conflicted herself. "Even if we did do something, who wouldn't say if the Avengers arrest us?"
"I understand, but it's like you said, we created this," Eszter shifts her gaze between Wanda and Pietro, furrowed brows. "We let Tony create Ultron. Shouldn't we be the ones who set things right?"
Frustrated, Pietro kisses his teeth. "I understand, Essie, but you have to see this from my point of view-I'm trying to keep us all safe."
At the moment, one of the many televisions had caught Wanda's attention when the news flickered on from the random channels. Still, neither couldn't understand anything the news reporter was saying. Eszter and Pietro noticed the silence Wanda held as she diverts her attention towards the TV, making the other two shuffle towards the window. On the screen was a live video of Ultron on top of a moving truck, fighting Captain America; the Quinjet was firing at the truck when the Legion bots flew out from the truck, heading for the jet.
"I don't want to do this either, but Pietro," Eszter mutters hesitantly, but the guilt was begging for the enhanced to do something right.
Pietro shakes his head, still unable to agree with Eszter; the boy leans against the window as he stood in thought. Wanda slowly looks away from the TV, and she knew what they had to do.
"Eszter's right," Wanda concludes, staring anywhere but the TV. Eszter looks up, slightly surprised to hear Wanda agree; the enhanced was relieved nonetheless. However, Pietro wasn't too pleased with the idea. "We have to make things right."
Admitting that they were right was difficult for Pietro because he knows they're right, but the boy only wants to get him and his sister back home, somewhere safe for the time being. Hopefully, they can find another way of stopping Ultron, but Pietro knew that wasn't possible. Just as Wanda and Eszter wanted to make things right, Pietro felt the need to make things right.
"I feel like I'm going to regret this," Pietro huffs, lowering his head with a small shake of disbelief; Pietro pushes away from the wall, turning around until he's facing his sisters again. "But you have to stay by my side until we finish this. Okay?"
Eszter nods. "Always."
Jumping onto Pietro's back, Eszter waits for her brother to pick up Wanda before everything starts moving fast all around her. The speed was still weird for Eszter, a bit terrifying, to say the least, but the enhanced was coming to terms with the quick motion. As Pietro speed through the street, the wind hit Eszter harshly in the face and pushing her hair in all sorts of directions; the enhanced was finding it difficult to keep her eyes open.
It didn't take long until they were running alongside the train. Pushing himself to run faster, Pietro grits his teeth before forcing himself to run as fast as he possibly can, jumping onto the train. It felt almost slow motion, but once Pietro stood on the train, Eszter slipped from his back as he discards her and Wanda aside, the boy speeds forward.
Running with full force, Pietro slams his shoulder sharply into Ultron's metal body, knocking the robot away from Steve.
Ultron jerks backward but regain his footing, slightly taken aback until he was analyzing Pietro across the train; just as he takes a step forward, red tendrils warped around the metal bars and forced it protectively in front of Pietro, preventing Ultron from getting any closer. Ultron stares at the metal bars before turning around, finding both Wanda and Eszter at the other end of the cart.
"Please," Ultron begs softly. "Don't do this."
"You brought this to yourself," Eszter mutters.
Ultron stares back at Eszter, knowing that the girl was no longer trusting him. The robot remained silent. It felt almost as if Ultron had proved that he never truly cared about any of them because Ultron turned towards the front of the train, aiming his arm at Pietro before blasting the front cabin. Suddenly, the train jerks as the driver of the train knocks unconscious.
Eszter gasps when she felt her body nearly fall from the impact, but the girl gripped the bars beside her, keeping herself upright. Glancing up to look for Pietro, Eszter watched Ultron fleeing from the speeding train.
"I lost him," Steve exclaims, jumping over the debris and rushing toward the front of the train, checking on the driver. "He's heading your way."
Steve stares straight ahead--they were heading for a dead end.
With high speeds and no signs of the train slowing down, Steve could see the end of the tracks nearly too fast for his comfort. Too soon, the train crashes past the signs and disconnects from the tracks.
"Cap, do you see Nat?"
"If you have the package, get it to Stark! Go!"
"Do you have eyes on Nat?"
"Go!" Steve orders before turning around to the enhanced, he looks at Pietro. "Civilians in our path." Nodding, Pietro took off. Then, Steve directs his attention to the other two. "Can you guys stop this thing?"
Wanda looks at Steve before she looks over towards Eszter, who nods quickly. Eszter turns around until her back is facing Wanda, and as the younger enhanced focuses her powers directly towards the back end of the train, Eszter pushes out a beam of purple tendrils.
Just as Eszter was trailing more of her powers through the train's wheels, Steve looked up just in time to find themselves aiming for a building with no way of slowing down. The only thing Steve could do was raise his shield and brace for impact, but as soon as he did, the hero was immediately knocked down.
Wanda sends another wave of her powers as she concentrates on the wheels; the scarlet tendrils slither around the wheels and the violet tendrils as they intertwined. Behind Wanda was Eszter, who was doing her best at stopping as many wheels as she could. Shortly, the wheels started to dragged sharply into the streets until they were practically falling deeper into the cement, forcing the train to drag itself against the concrete until it forcefully stops.
Huffing tiredly, Eszter felt her knees buckle beneath her weight, causing the enhanced to fall onto her butt weakly. A sharp pain shoots across her head, but Eszter chose to ignore it, hissing between her teeth. However, something wet was sliding from Eszter's nose, and as the enhanced tapped it with her finger, the girl was surprised to find blood tainting her finger. Quickly, Eszter wipes her nose clean.
"Are you okay?" Wanda pants tiredly, kneeling by Eszter's side once she had noticed her little sister hunched over on the ground.
Eszter's eyes widen slightly, but she nods nevertheless. "I'm okay," suddenly, she was being helped back up to her feet. Eszter peeks outside. "We have to find Pietro."
Wanda held Eszter's hand when the girl wobbled weakly on her feet, helping Eszter off the train as they hurried to Pietro's side once they had found him. Pietro was leaning against the side of the building, gripping his side while breathing heavily, trying to gain his breath. However, with every breath Pietro took, he swore his lungs were burning more than the first time.
Eszter sighs in relief once she sees Pietro was okay but tired.
"I'm fine," Pietro breathe heavily, waving to his sisters reassuringly as he takes a seat on one of the baskets discarded on the side. "I just need to take a minute."
"I'm very tempted not to give you one," Steve marches forward.
Still not overly fond of the Avengers, Eszter stands closer to Pietro, ready to protect him if it comes to it. Steve noticed this and frowned almost apologetically, but it quickly disappears as the hero still wasn't sure which side the Maximoffs were on.
"The Cradle, did you get it?"
Steve glances back at Wanda. "Stark will take care of it."
But just the words fell from his lips, Wanda stared at the man appalled. She had witnessed the visions inside Ultron's new body and saw the very thing that will destroy everything on the planet. Wanda wasn't necessarily afraid of the thing inside the Cradle, but its duty as one of Ultron's creations.
Eszter snapped her head up, alerted at the thought of Tony in possession of the Cradle. Ultron is a creation by Tony, the very thing he built out of fear, and look how that blew up in his face. Eszter was afraid that this new experiment of Tony's would only backfire, and he will jumpstart the end of the world before they know it.
"No, he won't," Wanda denies.
"You don't know what you're talking about. Stark's not crazy."
Eszter scoffs lowly, but Steve had caught it. "Being with Ultron was like being with Tony Stark," the enhanced rolls her eyes before dramatically twisting her neck as she stares annoying at Tony. "They're both the same."
Then, Wanda adds. "He will do anything to make things right."
Steve doesn't respond right away, too busy thinking about how strange Tony had been acting, and based on the results of Ultron, Steve didn't want the same mess happening another round. For a moment, Steve didn't believe the enhanced because they had messed with his and his friend's mind, but there was something about the sincerity in Wanda's voice that made him feel worried.
The man turns away, pressing the comms. "Stark, come in," however, there was no response. "Stark. Anyone on comms?"
"Ultron can't tell the difference between saving the world and destroying it," Wanda continues. Tilting her head like a twitch, Wanda stares at the side of Steve's face.
Eszter crosses her arms, frowning. "Where do you think he gets that?"
Steve nearly curses under his breath out of frustration, but the hero held it in and contained his composure. Everything was becoming unsettling, and Steve was finding himself frustrated that he couldn't depend on his own team, especially when they decide not to inform them of creating evil robots or using the Cradle for himself.
"We have to back to the Avengers Tower," Steve says.
Eszter blinks before chuckling in confusion. "Wait, what?"
"No, we can't," Wanda sputters nervously, stepping back from Steve as she wraps her arms around Eszter, pulling the girl closer to Pietro. "You'll only take us to jail."
"Maybe, but unless you make things right by helping us stop Ultron, then none of this happened," Steve promises emptily. "Besides, you're already involved."
Guess there's no turning back this time.