Chapter Text
Alarms blared in the distance, the sound cutting through the worried voices of soldiers and doctors around them. Red light flowed through the darkness of the rooms and cells, further alerting people of the impending threat. Madeline stood, stepping off the cot as she walked towards the cell bars. She had long since memorized these walls; she knew which gray bricks held mold, which ones made a lighter tap whenever Pietro slammed into their shared wall, even which ones held the countdown she made when she first got there. As the doors opened Madeline took a step out, her sneaker dragging against the concrete floor as she made her way slowly towards the Maximoff twins.
Over the course of a few months, they had grown closer, closer than any other prisoner Madeline came into contact with. She supposed it was because of their past, too alike that they just knew what the other ones needed and so bullshit was cut out, formalities and rudeness thrown away as the days wore on in the beginning. Towards the end the kinship she envied from the twins wore off, the jealousy melting away and now she felt connected to them, maybe not through blood but through sweat and tears. “No surrender!” Stucker yelled in encouragement as his soldiers yelled in agreement. A second later he turned towards a doctor, a conversation whispered between them, and glances occasionally thrown their way.
“Wands, what are they saying?” Pietro whispered from next to her. His arm was around her waist protectively, he had known what these monsters were capable of and didn’t want them to even have a chance of ripping them apart.
“The avengers,” Wanda smiled, cruel and playful as she stared at her twin. “They’re here.”
Madeline knew of their past, knew of what Tony had done to them. Even if she wasn’t here when the twins got here, she knew of the damage they had inflicted, how no one in Sokovia liked them and their path of pain and destruction.
Madeline glared at Strucker before turning to Wanda, “What are they here for?”
“The scepter, they want it and to put Strucker behind bars.”
Another explosion shook the building, and in a flash, Pietro was gone, off to hurt the team they despised. When everyone had gotten their barings Wanda left too, forcing Madeline to follow in her footsteps if she didn’t want to be alone.
As she stepped into the hallway the sounds from the main experimentation room dulled down, and because they were under attack the lights had automatically shut off, forcing the girls to use the emergency lights to light their way outside.
She passed room after room, the dim lights barely showing her the way outside. First was the room they had tortured them all in, needles poking and prodding as they tried to test the limits to their powers. She could still feel the phantom electricity they used to keep her in check, the choking of the color around her throat as a warning of how powerless she was, even with all the experiments. And as soon as she could beat one of the guards, then they knew she was ready. That time never came.
Next was the room Wanda had gone into when they first signed up for these experiments. Madeline didn’t blame her; she didn’t really know who she had been signing up to work under or what they had done. She didn’t know the horrors that awaited her here.
On the other side of the room were cells, just as dark as the one they had been put in, albeit bigger. The shadows from the back of the cell beckoned her, and with another glance towards them she wondered if she hid in them, would she be found? Would these monsters ever see her again? Or would they be dead at the end of this all?
Looking back to the front Wanda had disappeared, forcing the girl to continue the journey on her own. She heard Wanda’s hurried steps down the stairs, and she was about to follow when she looked out of the window, watching as the protective shield fell. They were vulnerable now.
Madeline ran over, watching as Tony flew above and Steve ran in. A childish smile spread across her face as she went up the stairs as opposed to down, hearing Strucker's voice from the floor above, his footsteps hurried as he tried to escape up another staircase.
She ran up, taking the steps two at a time and getting to the floor just in time to see Steve hit Strucker with his shield, the metal vibrating before stilling.
“Baron Strucker. Hydras number one thug.” Steve smiled down at Strucker, who was struggling to stand.
“Technically I’m a thug for SHIELD,” he said smugly.
“Well then technically you’re unemployed.” Madeline watched through a door behind the men as Steve continued. “Where’s Loki's scepter?”
“Don't worry, I know when I'm beat,” Strucker said, sitting more comfortably on the ground. “You'll mention how I cooperated; I hope.”
Steve smiled. “I'll put it right under illegal human experimentation.”
Steve glared at the man before he noticed Strucker glancing behind him. He turned just in time to see Madeline walk out, her fingers moving gracefully through the air as a purple hue decorated them. His entire body seized up, allowing Strucker to stand. Madeline quickly left, the door closing shut and locking behind her, Strucker now stuck in there with the super soldier. Once he was able to stand, he walked over to the man who was trying in vain to open the door, no words said as he knocked him out, then pressed a finger to the earpiece and talked to his teammates.
“We have a second enhanced, female. Do not engage. We don’t know how many more there are, but I’ve got Strucker right now.”
Tony’s voice was the one that answered him, “yeah, I’ve got something bigger.”
Wanda watched from hidden behind a wall as Tony walked up to the scepter, only for her abilities to take effect seconds later. Her smile grew as Iron Man walked past it, going to, what he thought was, his dead teammates. A woosh from behind her caused her to look back as Pietro dropped Madeline, her hands stuffed in her sweatpants pockets as the two joined her to watch Tony.
“What is he doing?” Madeline asked from next to Pietro, watching as the man looked up at the ceiling in horror.
Wanda smiled, “Watching his worst fear come true.”
The subjects looked on in horror as Tony grabbed the scepter moments later, a triumphant smile on his face.
“We’re just going to let him take it?” Pietro asked, staring at his twin. Wanda smiled, nodding as Tony walked towards the door once more.