Arc Five. Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Nine. Struckering A Deal

Strucker cursed in his mind. MODOK had sent instructions on how to adjust the collars to work on anyone with powers and they had taken Wanda to test it. He had sent over a strange gem that at first killed anyone exposed to it but once Wanda had been bathed in its light she was stronger. Now after interference from whatever that black-clad man was, they were now a giant headache that would cost him his base.

The collars had been a success, the stone was not. It took 10 men for them to realise it just killed anyone they exposed to it, and it wasn't until he saw a girl being dragged in he stopped them. It wasn't out of any kind of sympathy for the girl. He remembered an old file, one left by the last base commander before Von Strucker had removed him for incompetence.

It warned that a family, one adult male, one young male, and a young girl were to be left alone. They were practitioners of old magics and the last unit they sent had been killed. After MODOKS report, he now knew about Enhanced and that they had been hiding in the forest to avoid the authorities but with the girl here it provided an opportunity.

Once collar later, and a brief but fruitful exposure to the stone, he finally had what he wanted. A superweapon, His master back in New York had been ecstatic, and Von Strucker had expected to get a promotion away from this pile of shit called a country.

As Wanda stood, red energy crackling around her like an angry lightning storm, he knew it was over.

"Hey, shithead, where's the stone? Tell me and I'll let you live, don't tell me and I'll let Wanda here recite the alphabet by pulling your organs out one by one." The black costumed man spoke, a thick American accent betraying his origin.

Shield, Von Strucker though, they finally found us.

The eyes on the man's mask narrowed, "Found who?" he asked but Strucker remained quiet, knowing if he was like Wanda then reading his mind was a possibility.

"If? If I give you the stone, what guarantee do I have that you won't kill me?" Von Strucker stuttered, he was under no illusion that his life could be coming to an end.

"Just my word, I won't kill you, I'll leave, all I want is the stone." the man repeated. "I'm not even supposed to be here, this isn't my fight."

Von Strucker hesitated, he could hear the sincerity in the man's voice and he knew he had a chance, "You're not supposed to be here? This isn't your fight?"

"That's right, all I want is the stone." As he moved closer he repeated his words, "I'm not supposed to be here, this isn't my fight," and Von Strucker nodded.

"You're not supposed to be here, this isn't your fight." and the man nodded,

"All I want is the stone, I'm not supposed to be here," he repeated,

"It's in the safe," and he turned to pull a painting away from the wall. Venom watched as the man twisted the knob and eventually it sprang open.

In the safe were several stacks of money, a lockbox, and a pistol, one of the tesseract designs he had been collecting. Venom tensed as Von Strucker moved his hand over it but pushed it to one side, taking out a smaller box from the back. "The stone," he said, offering the box over.

Venom took the box and opened it slightly, feeling the energy coming from it he snapped it shut before it overwhelmed him and the other two.

"See, that wasn't so difficult, now," Venom shot out webs and snagged everything else in the safe, including the pistol. "I am a man of my word, and I was right, this isn't my fight." Nodding at Wanda, she shook her head and smirked

"But it is mine," and Wanda circled her hands, letting the red energy encapsulate Von Strucker, crushing him and reducing the man to nothing more than a ball of bones and torn flesh.

As she released her powers the ball fell onto the desk with a splash and Venom and Wanda made their way back to the corridor, the giant ball of brick had crushed the men Venom had webbed to the floor. He felt guilty about it but now there was nothing he could do. Wanda had taken care of that.

"We can head back to the farm, let your dad do whatever he needs to but then, I want out of this place." Venom had had enough of Sokovia. Whatever Fury had intended him to do, other than search for Ultron, it had gone sideways as soon as they got here.

Venom couldn't guess if this was Fury's plan all along, it seemed strange that he'd send a rookie to Shield headquarters, even if they had a, oh shit, he remembered, the facility.

In all the excitement he got so wrapped up that he had completely forgotten why he and Natasha were actually here. The Shield storage facility outside the capital where all the now-scrapped Goblin armours and weapons were being held. Looking at the pistol Venom imagined that the weapons had been repurposed. He saw no mention of Harry's sabotage on the weapons systems, only the armour itself and Strucker mentioned mo doc but no Ultron, and a walking suit of barely functioning armour should have been a fresh and prominent thought in the man's mind.

Venom groaned. "Do you know if there is a Shield warehouse outside town, that was why I was here, " and Wanda nodded.

"There is another secure facility, heavily guarded. That one?" and Venom had to shrug

"Honestly, I've got no clue, that was Nat's job, " but Wanda frowned,

"Nat?"

"Oh, uh I came with another agent, but she was hurt when they shot missiles at us." and Wanda frowned.

"Dad let them hit your plane?" and it was now Venoms turn to frown,

"What do you mean, he let them?"

Wanda swore, even if Venom didn't recognise the language he definitely recognised the look, "Dad doesn't let the army or the bombardments hit the farmlands, not our farm, not any of them, they are off-limits. If he did, then."

"That old shit knew who we were"

Wanda laughed. "Don't let him hear you call him that, dad is,"

"Already done, and worse," Venom shrugged and Wanda stared,

"And he didn't kill you?" and he nodded.

"Pietro said the same thing."

Wanda took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "If Dad didn't do anything then he might be madder at you than we thought. Is that why you are here, to rescue me for my dad?" and Venom nodded, at which Wanda swore again. "Let me talk to him first, if he knows I'm safe then he'll be willing to back down, " I hope she added in her thoughts, keeping them closely guarded. "but he probably saw your jet and didn't care if they hit you. He really doesn't like Shield."

Wanda had seen her dad angry before, it had been at least ten years and she was just a little girl when the soldiers first came to the farm, her mom and dad made her and Pietro hide in the house while they went out to talk. When she heard the gun go off she heard the most inhuman scream. When her father walked back into the house, blood dripping from his hands he was shaking, not with grief but with anger and the whole house vibrated as hidden nails and ball bearings floated free.

An hour later, her father returned and it wasn't until many years later that she found out what he did. He killed them all. Every Sokovian army checkpoint he found was obliterated, every soldier, innocent or not, was dead, over half of the standing army had been killed. It was hailed as a terrorist attack and was the spark that ignited the civil war that was raging today. Magneto dealt in quiet rage, it bubbled and simmered under the surface and without warning, he killed without mercy.

It was okay though, he had trusted him to find her, and to rescue her. She knew she could talk him out of hurting her new friend, and she smiled, yes, my new friend she thought to herself.

"Figured out what to say to your dad?" Venom asked, knowing full well that was why she was being weird,

No, and from now on, talk like this. Dad hates telepathy and won't have anything to do with it.

Fine, but no complaining if you see anything you don't want to,

Too late for that, Mr 'can't keep it in his pants' and Venom snorted

I live a full and fulfilling life, everyone's happy, and he mentally shrugged, it seems it's everyone else that takes issue

Uh, shit I was just teasing you,

Venom laughed I know, little miss 'tell me what you want.' and as they landed Peter noticed her face had gone bright red. doesn't stop you from leaking your own thoughts on the matter though.

Peter had gotten hints of surprise, anger, and a little bit of jealousy all from her, and he understood. Polyamory was still frowned upon everywhere and out here in a deeply religious country, even more so. Wanda's reaction was normal if subdued, but right now he didn't care.

This had been too easy, why had Ultron left the stone with Shield and then moved on? If they had the weapons that meant that Ultron probably didn't, so what was his goal? Peter shook his head as he tried to figure out what the damn thing wanted, as he undid the webbing around the stashed ATV.

You still think too loud, Wanda complained, anything to change the subject.

Can't help it, if you were a megalomaniac robot with delusions of global extinction would you give up a powerful weapon?

No, not unless I had a better one and needed to distract someone from finding out.

But other than Stark and Oscorp who has better tech than them? If only we knew his true aim here, Frustrated he began to swear,

That isn't helping, you need to be calm and think. If Ultron has a better weapon, where would it be? Where would he hide it and where would he use it?

An extinction-level event would be chemical, nuclear, or biological. Peter began to speak his thoughts as they cleared the van, something that it didn't matter where he set it off. A population centre was out, as it would alert the authorities to an attack. No, somewhere quiet or at least not well guarded. Yeah, an eruption, or big ass bomb, but only Stark has that level of tech. So when we get somewhere with a signal I can search for a weapons test or volcano, or something that's close to erupting anyway. All Ultron has to do is destabilize it and boom, nuclear winter as well as a huge disaster, needing every emergency service, straining not just the military but the civilian services as well.

Wanda left him to his mumblings, even if she could tune him out it was nice to have someone different to talk to, someone her age who wasn't either a soldier or trying to get into her pants, again, she thought with a small smile but shook her head. He had too many, she would not be a part of his little fan club. She wanted someone who would care for her. Peter was nice, but not for her, not yet anyway. Maybe if she could make him see that one was enough, that she would be, oh my god what am I thinking, and she shook her head, and I tell him to keep it in his pants, and she laughed to herself.

Checking the ATV still had plenty of gas, Peter was in the back cataloguing and draining the batteries of each of the energy guns they had taken, and Wanda smiled as she watched him for a moment, put the van into gear and headed back to the farm.