Chapter 16: The Siblings of Sokovia
Time passed in a blur. Twelve years had gone by since the alien incident of 1995.
A certain bald bastard had worked his way up from agent to director, losing all his hair in the process, yet he still had not found a single suitable candidate to form the Avengers.
As for the task Orion Cross had entrusted to him, searching for the mages, Nick Fury had continued carrying it out to this day.
Unfortunately, even now, there was still not the slightest clue. It was as if those mages did not exist at all.
In Sokovia, a small Eastern European country, citizens were holding protest marches in the city. The streets were filled with protesting crowds, yet there were barely any government personnel maintaining order.
Among the protesters were two children in worn-out clothes, a boy and a girl, both around ten years old. They were also holding signs, but their eyes were looking elsewhere.
When no one was paying attention, the little boy put his sign down, slipped away, and darted into a bakery they were passing.
"Here, Wanda. Lunch is here."
The little boy returned in a sorry state, clutching several sandwiches. He handed the food to his younger sister.
"You weren’t seen, right?"
The little girl took the sandwich and carefully glanced into the distance.
"Don’t worry. These people steal things while protesting too. I mixed in with them, so no one noticed me at all."
The little boy wiped the dirt from his face, somewhat embarrassed. "I just took a little too much earlier and accidentally fell."
Under the cover of the crowd, the siblings finished eating the sandwiches, then left the procession.
In a cold forest outside the city, the siblings sat in front of a grave with the remaining two sandwiches.
Three months ago, they had still been a happy family. Their family of four had been enjoying dinner at home.
At that moment, a missile struck their residence, blasting a huge hole through the floor.
Their parents fell through it, and then the entire building began to collapse.
The older brother took his younger sister and hid under the bed. Then the second missile fell.
But that missile did not explode. It lay quietly in front of the two already-desperate siblings, bearing the label "Stark."
The siblings were trapped in the ruins for two whole days and nights. Every time the rescue team cleared the rubble, to them, it was another death threat that might trigger the dud missile.
After surviving on the edge of life and death, the siblings had not even had time to feel relieved before they discovered something even more despairing.
Without their parents, their family had completely lost its source of income.
Sokovia had no orphanage. They could only wait for some family to be willing to take them in. Before that happened, they had to survive on their own.
Either by begging, or by stealing.
"Wanda, we can’t keep going like this. We need money. We’ll use the same method."
Pietro spoke seriously to his younger sister.
"Protest! You people are the real thugs!"
"Charge!"
Under Pietro’s deliberate guidance, the protest demonstration erupted into a riot and charged at an armored cash transport guarded by soldiers.
When the guarding soldiers saw the protesters rushing toward them, a vicious glint appeared in their eyes. They immediately picked up their communicators, asked for instructions, and then raised the submachine guns in their hands.
Bang!
A gunshot rang out. Before the soldier could attack, a bloody hole appeared in his forehead, and he collapsed to the ground.
Someone in the demonstration had fired!
As the gunshot rang out, the riot became even more intense.
As for Pietro, he had already taken advantage of the chaos to run out of the riot zone while carrying a safe.
"Wanda, I did it! Guess how much money is inside?"
After returning to the forest, Pietro excitedly patted the safe in his arms, showing off his achievement.
"How are you going to open it?"
Wanda shifted her gaze away from their parents’ gravestone, looked at the tightly locked box, and voiced her doubt.
"Uh... I remember there’s an axe left behind by an old carpenter nearby. I’ll go look for it."
Pietro laughed awkwardly, then turned and ran off.
Five minutes later, Pietro came running back out of breath with an axe in his hands.
Crack!
Crack!
After chopping at it twice with all his strength, Pietro felt that something was wrong. The inside seemed empty.
"Don’t tell me I stole an empty box?"
Pietro hurriedly stepped forward, picked up the box he had split open, and shook it a few times.
Clink.
A golden lamp inlaid with gemstones fell to the ground, causing Pietro’s eyes to light up.
"Great! This must be worth a lot of money. We’ll find a chance to sell it!"
Pietro picked up the golden lamp and looked excitedly at his sister. "When that happens, we can eat as much as we want!"
"And have pretty clothes too."
Wanda lowered her head and looked at the worn-out leather jacket on her body, then nodded hard.
Meanwhile, in the city, the rioting protest crowd had already been suppressed. A bald man wearing a monocle appeared at the scene.
"Assess the losses. Track it."
The bald man issued his order coldly.
"Yes, Lord Strucker!"