Chapter 44: Hydra Unveiled

Max, Wanda, Pietro, Nick Fury, Bobbi, and Maria Hill sat around a large conference table aboard the Storm Chaser. The atmosphere was tense. Fury's eyes scanned the room with his usual intensity, ever calculating, while Bobbi and Maria sat quietly, observing. Wanda sat close to Max, holding his hand with an expression that conveyed both contentment and determination.

Before any more words could be exchanged, the doors to the conference room slid open with a quiet hiss. Tony Stark, Natasha Romanoff, and Steve Rogers entered the room. Tony, ever the jokester, raised an eyebrow as he looked around.

"Well, this is cozy. A bunch of SHIELD agents in one place. What's next, a surprise party for me?"

Tony's eyes drifted to Max and Wanda. His gaze lingered for a moment as he noticed the way Wanda held Max's hand. He opened his mouth to make another comment, but before he could speak, Pietro Maximoff snapped, his voice sharp and laced with anger.

"You. Stark. You're nothing but a murderer." Pietro's eyes were cold, his jaw clenched in fury.

Tony paused, his usual bravado faltering for a moment. "Excuse me?"

Wanda shot Tony a glare as well, but it was clear she was letting her brother take the lead in this confrontation.

Pietro stood up, his anger palpable. "You and your weapons. Your bombs. You destroyed my home. You killed my parents!" His voice grew louder with each word, his accent thickening as he relived the painful memories. "It was your bombs that tore Sokovia apart. You don't get to pretend to be a hero. Not after that."

The room grew silent, everyone's attention now focused on the heated exchange. Tony felt the weight of Pietro's words bearing down on him, guilt creeping into his chest. He had heard similar accusations before, but never this directly, never with such personal venom.

Pietro's eyes were blazing as he continued, "My sister and I—our whole lives, we hated the name Stark. We waited in the rubble of our home for days, praying that the bomb with your name on it wouldn't go off."

Wanda nodded in agreement, her eyes cold as she looked at Tony. Her usually gentle demeanor was gone, replaced by the bitterness of someone who had suffered too long.

Tony took a deep breath. He didn't defend himself. He couldn't. He knew that at the time, Stark Industries had been part of the problem. Even though it hadn't been his direct actions, he still bore the guilt. He had never truly washed the blood off his hands from those days.

Before the tension could thicken any further, Max spoke up. "Pietro," he said calmly, "I get that you're angry, but Tony wasn't the one selling those bombs. He didn't even know what was happening. Back then, Tony spent most of his time in his lab or... well, with women."

Pietro wasn't swayed. "His name was on the bombs. Stark Industries."

Max sighed. "True. But it wasn't him. It was Obadiah Stane. He was running the weapons division and sold them on the black market. Tony didn't even know it was happening. He didn't know until it was too late."

Pietro glared at Tony, but his anger seemed to wane slightly. Then Max added, "If that's the logic, then I guess I'm guilty too."

Pietro blinked, confused. "What?"

Max offered a dry smile. "The name Stark was on those bombs, right? Well, my last name is Stark too. So, by your logic, I should also be guilty because I was alive at that time—albeit six or seven years old—but I didn't stop it."

Pietro's jaw tightened as he processed Max's words. Max continued, "The real enemy wasn't Tony. It was Hydra. Hydra caused the conflict in Sokovia. They were the ones pulling the strings. And, funny enough, the men responsible for that are sitting in my Brig right now."

Wanda's eyes widened at this revelation. She turned to Max, her voice soft but urgent. "Wait… why do you go by Max Stark? What are you saying?"

Before Max could respond, Tony sighed heavily, rubbing the back of his neck as he looked at Wanda. "He's saying that he's my biological son."

Steve Rogers, who had been watching the exchange quietly, looked visibly shocked. "Wait, what? You have a son?"

Tony smirked, but it didn't reach his eyes. "Yeah, Steve, try to keep up."

Steve shook his head in disbelief. "And… Hydra? I thought we took them down in the 40s. How is it possible they're still around?"

Max took a deep breath, shifting in his seat as he explained. "Hydra never fully went away. They fractured into different groups. The ones you fought back then, Steve, they didn't die out. They just went underground. The Hydra agents I've captured are from an Eastern European branch. They hid within the Soviet Union after the war and resurfaced when the Soviet Union fell, creating chaos to remain hidden."

Max paused, letting that sink in before he continued. "But that's not all. The Hydra group you fought, the one from World War II, infiltrated SHIELD. They've been working in the shadows, manipulating things for decades."

Steve's eyes widened in shock. He had known that Hydra had hidden well, but to think they had burrowed so deep into SHIELD was staggering.

"And there are more," Max added. "There's a separate Hydra faction in the United States, and another in East Asia. They've embedded themselves so deeply that it's hard to know where one ends and the other begins."

The room was silent as the weight of Max's words settled in. Wanda looked conflicted, her mind racing as she processed everything. Max could see the turmoil in her expression.

To break the tension, Max offered a suggestion. "Wanda," he said gently, "if it'll make you feel better, you can punch Tony in the face. After all, his company was responsible for the bombs, even if it wasn't directly his fault."

Tony yelped in protest, "Wait, what? Max, that's not fair!"

Wanda blinked, surprised by the offer, but a small smile tugged at her lips. She leaned over and gave Max a quick kiss on the cheek before standing up. She walked over to Tony, who was still protesting.

"Wait, hold on—" Tony barely had time to react before Wanda's fist connected with his cheek, sending him stumbling backward.

She turned and walked back to Max, resuming her seat and holding his hand as if nothing had happened. Tony groaned, rubbing his jaw as he sat back down.

"That hurt, you know," Tony muttered, looking at Max with a wounded expression. "How come you get a kiss, and I get a punch?"

Wanda's smile softened. She felt better—calmer—but there was still a part of her that wasn't ready to forgive Tony. It wasn't that she thought he was to blame anymore. Deep down, she knew it had been Stane and Hydra. But she had spent so long directing her anger at Stark that the scars ran deep. She glanced at Max, thinking that maybe, for his sake, she would try to forgive Tony. But that would take time.

Pietro watched the interaction silently, his mind reeling from the new information. Hydra. SHIELD. Max Stark. There were too many pieces to put together all at once.

The group sat down at the table, and the air was still thick with tension. Natasha, sensing the weight of the moment, leaned over to Yelena and asked in a low voice, "So, how exactly did you end up working for Max?"

Yelena's expression remained cold, her lips curling into a smirk. "Max saved me and the other Widows from the Red Room."

Natasha's eyes narrowed. "So, he's the reason so many Red Room officials disappeared?"

Yelena's smile didn't reach her eyes as she answered, "Yes."

Natasha returned the cold smile. There was a silent understanding between the two—sisters from the same broken world.

Tony broke the silence. "Alright, enough of that. Max, where are the X-Men?"

Max raised an eyebrow. "I'll tell you later."

Max then addressed the room, turning his attention to Nick Fury. "This Hydra-SHIELD problem has been going on for too long. I've waited for you to clean house, Fury, but I don't see enough progress."

Fury leaned back, crossing his arms defensively. "I've been busy, Max. Trust me, I haven't been twiddling my thumbs. I've spent the last few months recruiting loyal SHIELD agents into a separate group. And I've identified the Hydra agents embedded in SHIELD. I've got a list of them, but the problem is separating them from our people without tipping them off."

Fury's voice was sharp, his frustration clear. "There are still some high-level people I can't touch. Alexander Pierce—he's a problem. He's too well-connected, and making a move on him would create a shitstorm I'm not ready for."

Max leaned forward, his eyes narrowing. "Pierce is one of the most dangerous. You know that, right?"

Fury sighed.