Two More Heads

Wanda’s stomach growled. It was aching. She couldn’t remember the last time she and her brother had a decent meal. And she wasn’t making a lot of money with her paintings lately, their biggest source of income. The pain from hunger had become a natural thing for her. The headaches associated with it were something she could brush off. But despite all that, there was one thing that she couldn’t get over:

Seeing the hunger in Pietro’s eyes, telling her she wasn’t hungry when he so obviously was, trying to not scarf down his food too quickly.

Each morning they’d work together to pickpocket unsuspecting victims and in the afternoon, they went separate ways, Wanda trying to make paintings and Pietro continuing his thievery escapades.

Today, however, was a little bit different.

Pietro returned to Wanda way earlier than usual, a hopeful gleam in his eyes and a grin spread across his face. “Dear sister, I’ve found something that’ll solve all our problems.”

Wanda looked up at him after finishing a brush stroke, feeling her heart soar with the look on his face. “What is it, brother?” She got to her feet, brushing her worn out jeans off.

“I was out today and a man noticed what I was doing. He recognized me from the protests and approached me, said that I wasn’t putting my skills to good use doing this. He said he worked with an organization and they were always looking for people.” He took his sister’s hands. “I said I refused to go without you. He told me there’s enough room for both of us.”

A grin crossed Wanda’s face but something didn’t settle well with her with this. “What organization did you say this was?”

“I don’t remember but it’s based on some kind of Greek or Roman mythology. A fire hydrant?”

“HYDRA.” She released his hands and took a step back. “Pietro, I’m not sure about this…”

“What’s wrong?”

She shook her head. “Don’t you remember anything from history class? HYDRA was a Nazi organization. They wanted nothing to do with people like us. In fact, they wanted people like us dead.”

“People change, Wanda. They said we would have everything: shelter, food, protection. This is what we’ve wanted ever since the shell. We’ll be safe with them.”

“And at what cost? What would we be doing? This certainly isn’t a charitable donation out of the kindness of their hearts.”

“They have some weapons they’re experimenting with. They need someone to help with the testing. They said it wouldn’t put us in any kind of danger.”

She paused, chewing on the inside of her cheek thoughtfully. At a length, she said, “I don’t know, ‘Tro. I don’t like the sound of this. It’s a gut feeling. I can’t explain it.”

He rested his hands on her shoulders, squeezing them gently. “I know you’re skeptical. But look at what happened the last time that happened: we were so close to overthrowing the government! Except who got in our way?”

She sighed, looking down. “Stark.”

“Exactly. HYDRA’s guaranteed that once the tests are done, we’ll be able to take down Tony Stark.” He nodded when she looked back up at him. “You heard me right. We’ll finally be able to get our revenge on him. For hurting us. For killing our mother.”

She bit her lip, trying to weigh the pros and cons. She really didn’t want to work with a terrorist organization like HYDRA but this was the best shot they’ve had in awhile. Ever since their failed attempt to overtake the government, they’ve had to lay low. Being leaders of a revolution put you on a lot of radars and seeing how close the Maximoff twins had come to success scared a lot of people. It wasn’t their idea; the team they were working with forced them to go hiding for a bit. This would put them on the radar again with an even bigger target than before.

However, they weren’t getting a lot of opportunities right now. Would this be their only shot?

“Pietro, I’m still not sure about this…” She looked up at him.

“Wanda, I promise, I won’t let them hurt you.” He took her hand in his and kissed the back of it.

“It’s not that I’m worried about.” She took a step away from him, turning away as she walked to a wall. She reached out to rest a hand on it. “It’s the kind of publicity we’ll get. We might not have the chance to strike because we’ll be dead before that happens.”

He shook his head, walking up next to her. “They said we’ll be completely secret. Come on, Wanda. If we keep trying to make it on our own, the civil war is going to ruin everything. We might be forced to leave Sokovia to find a better place to live. So let’s make a decision before we’re forced into one.” When she was silent, still debating in her head, he sighed. “Even if you say no, I’ve made my decision: I’m going.”

Wanda’s heart skipped a beat as she spun to him. “No, y-you wouldn’t do that!” She paused. “Would you?”

“If it means I’d be able to protect you and take down Stark, yes. But I would like it better if you came with.”

She sighed, feeling like she had no choice in this now. “Alright, alright, fine. I’ll join you.”

Pietro smiled and wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly. “I knew you’d come through, dear sister.”

Wanda returned his hug. “I hope you’re right about this, dear brother.”

Still, in the back of her mind, she had a sinking feeling that this wasn’t going to be good. She hoped it was wrong.

But it never was.