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The cold steel walls of the Sokovian HYDRA facility hummed softly, their stark silence broken only by the distant clanking of heavy machinery. In the dimly lit corridors, the rhythmic sound of footsteps echoed—careful, deliberate. HYDRA agents, ever watchful, patrolled the labyrinthine halls, but their presence was more for show than security. There was no escaping this place.
Behind one of these fortified doors sat Wanda Maximoff, her legs crossed on a small cot, staring at the blank wall in front of her. The isolation of her captivity gnawed at her, but it was the silence inside her head that truly unsettled her. For the past few weeks, she'd felt something. It was faint, like a whisper just out of reach, but it was growing louder every day.
She rubbed her temples, trying to soothe the persistent headache. Ever since the experiments began, strange sensations had swirled around her. She could sense things she couldn't explain, moments that seemed to stretch and bend around her, but she was never able to hold on to them long enough to understand them. The power within her—something HYDRA had only just begun to unlock—was growing, and it terrified her.
Her twin brother, Pietro, had been allowed to roam the facility during the day, but Wanda was always watched more closely. They didn't trust her, not fully. Perhaps, deep down, they knew the truth: that her power was more dangerous, more unpredictable than they realized. Pietro could move faster than sound, a living blur, but Wanda... Wanda had the potential and they didn't know how much and it frightened them.
The door to her cell creaked open, breaking her from her thoughts. A guard stood in the doorway, his face unreadable behind his black helmet.
"Get up. The doctor is ready for you," he said gruffly, motioning her to follow.
Wanda rose silently and followed him, her footsteps echoing against the hard floors. The halls twisted and turned into a maze of gray and steel, but she knew where they were headed. Every day, the same room. The same experiments.
They entered a wide, sterile laboratory, where Dr. Erich Volkov was already waiting. His thinning hair was slicked back, and his thick glasses perched precariously on the edge of his nose as he scribbled notes onto a tablet.
"Ah, Maximoff. Good. We have much to do today," Volkov said without looking up.
Wanda stood still, her eyes cold as she regarded the man in front of her. He was always the same—clinical, distant, never showing a shred of empathy. To him, she was a subject, a number in a long line of experiments that HYDRA had conducted in its twisted quest for power.
"What do you want now?" she asked, her voice low and defiant.
Volkov glanced up, the slightest flicker of annoyance crossing his features before vanishing again. "Today's test will be different. We are nearing the final stages of your enhancement, but we need more... data."
Wanda clenched her fists. "Data. That's all you care about, isn't it? What happens if one day you push too far? What if something happens that you can't control?"
Volkov smirked, a small, calculating smile that made Wanda's skin crawl. "Control is precisely what we're striving for, my dear. We are giving you control over the chaos inside you. Without us, your power would remain dormant, wasted."
Wanda said nothing, her mind racing. She knew this was a loosing battle, but she didn't care whatever it took to get her revenge. They weren't interested in helping her; they wanted to harness her, to use her as a weapon. But lately, something had changed. She could feel it in her very bones—an awareness that seemed to hum with energy. Every time they brought her into the room with the scepter, every time they forced its strange blue glow into her mind, she felt a piece of herself slipping further away.
And yet, something else was growing stronger.
Volkov motioned toward the far end of the lab, where the infamous scepter stood, encased in glass. Its blue gem shimmered with an almost hypnotic glow, a cold, alien light that seemed to pulse with a life of its own. HYDRA had never fully understood the scepter's power, only that it had been the key to unlocking Wanda and Pietro's abilities.
And it was also the key to something else—something she wasn't supposed to know.
Volkov approached her, holding a device that looked like a handheld scanner. "Today, we'll be monitoring your brain activity closely. Step forward."
Wanda complied, though her mind was elsewhere. As she stared at the scepter, she felt that strange pull again, a tugging at the edge of her consciousness. She was used to it by now, but it was getting harder to ignore. Something was reaching out to her.
As Volkov activated the device, the scepter's blue light intensified, casting long shadows across the lab. Wanda flinched as the familiar sensation of pressure built behind her eyes. It was as though the scepter was digging into her mind, seeking something buried deep within her.
But today, something was different.
Instead of just probing her thoughts, the scepter's energy felt... directed. Focused. It wasn't just interacting with her—it was interacting with something else.
Suddenly, her vision blurred, and the sterile walls of the laboratory faded away, replaced by a swirling haze of blue and gold light. Wanda's breath hitched in her throat as she found herself standing in a vast, featureless space. She was alone, or so she thought—until she felt the presence.
It was faint at first, like a shadow moving just beyond the edges of her perception. Then, slowly, it began to take form. A flicker of consciousness, small but undeniable. A mind that was not her own, but connected to her in a way that she couldn't explain.
The presence was... young. New. But it wasn't human—not entirely.
Wanda's heart raced as the truth began to dawn on her. This presence, this mind—whatever it was—was somehow part of her. And it was growing.
Her eyes snapped open, and she found herself back in the lab, the harsh fluorescent lights glaring down at her. She gasped for breath, her chest heaving. Volkov frowned, watching the data on his screen.
"What happened?" he demanded, his voice sharp.
Wanda stared at the scepter, her thoughts racing. She couldn't tell him what she had seen, what she had felt. If HYDRA knew, if they realized...
"I saw nothing," she lied, forcing her voice to remain steady. "Just the same as always."
Volkov narrowed his eyes, clearly unconvinced, but he said nothing. Instead, he turned back to his monitors, muttering under his breath.
Wanda's mind was spinning. She had always known that HYDRA was experimenting on her, but this was different. The presence she had felt—it wasn't just the result of their tampering. It was something new, something that they hadn't anticipated.
Something they didn't even know existed.
She had to get out. She had to find a way to escape before HYDRA realized what they had done.
As the session ended and the guards escorted her back to her cell, Wanda kept her head down, her mind racing with possibilities. Pietro would need to know. He would help her, they would escape together. But first, she needed to understand what had happened.
Because whatever was inside her—whatever they had created—was more dangerous than HYDRA could ever imagine.
And it was only a matter of time before it came into the world.
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The HYDRA Facility: Sub-Level Omega
Meanwhile, deep in the facility, far beneath the main laboratory, a team of HYDRA scientists worked in secret. They stood around a large containment unit, its glass walls frosted over with condensation. Inside, the growing embryo floated in its protective stasis, bathed in the soft glow of the blue liquid that kept it alive.
The embryo was a triumph of genetic engineering—a fusion of potent genes, augmented by the scepter's power. Its potential was beyond their wildest dreams, the foundation for the perfect weapon. Something they could shape, something they could control. Now, all that remained was to wait and let the embryo develop.
Dr. Volkov had no idea that the child was already developing powers. The energy from the Mind Stone had altered its very essence, shaping it into something new, something beyond anything HYDRA had ever created.
And soon, the world would know the true consequences of their ambition.
The embryo pulsed, its cells shimmering with golden light. In the darkness of the lab, unnoticed by the scientists, the child's eyes—still unformed but glowing with raw energy—flickered open for the first time.
It was aware.
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