Bloody revenge was more complicated than Pietro Maximoff had thought it would be. There were all sorts of things to do, like raiding random laboratories, stealing things, and apparently shopping at Radio Shack.
Some things were too specific to send a drone after apparently, and it was too complicated to steal them when they could be bought perfectly legally. At least that was the justification Ultron had used. Pietro honestly suspected the robot was just getting bored.
Not that he had a lot of room to judge. Theft and espionage weren't exactly up his alley. He wanted the Avengers and he didn't feel like waiting for the master plan to come together. A low stress outing was exactly what he needed as well.
Which was how two teenagers and a robot dressed like little red riding hood ended up wandering the nearly empty aisles of Sokovia's only all night electronics store at three in the morning.
The boy at the front desk, lanky and young and a tired in a way that Pietro recognized as 'high school student running two jobs' had barely looked up when they came in. Impressive really considering the cloak. Ultron made straight for a display of laptop computers, a little clunky compared to sleek Stark tech but then again most of Sokovia had been on a boycott of Stark products for the last decade.
Even if they weren't willing to really fight, Pietro was proud of them for that little rebellion.
He watched Wanda lean against a display as Ultron picked up a few computers, in slim, but visibly heavy, cardboard boxes that belied how expensive they were. Pietro honestly wondered how hard it would be to just steal them. The store had fantastic security but he had just watched Ultron quietly disable it. The napping security guard in the back of the store would wake up tomorrow to several missing hours of footage, what would a few computers change?
On the other hand the boy at the checkout would inevitably get fired, kids desperate for jobs were a dime a dozen in this part of town, to use and American idiom. Pietro wasn't quite as impulsive as that.
Wanda touched his arm lightly, fingers cold even through his workout shirt. "Go and get a basket?" she asked in their own language, not the English they had been using with Ultron for the past few days. It was both a request and not one, an order she knew he would never disobey, but that would never be held against him if he didn't. The freedom of that, following willingly and being trusted ultimately in return, was one he always took a moment to delight in since HYDRA. Until then he had never really realized how much he valued the perfect faith he put in his sister.
It barely took him a second to drop a blue plastic shopping basket at Ultron's feet and return to his sister's side, and he received a nod of thanks and perhaps even one of those unsettling twisted metal smiles, it was hard to see under the hood, in return.
Ultron didn't ask for help and they didn't offer it, just watched as he hefted their basket and followed in his wake like ducklings as he went to collect wires and bolts and a remote controlled helicopter that Pietro would have otherwise considered taking himself. Wanda trailed her hands along the shelves, her fingers would be black with dust by the time she was done and it would inevitably end up all over Pietro. He didn't begrudge her it though, she used walls and tables and her twin to anchor herself the same way he clenched his hands, little habits that made everything easier.
It was Wanda who asked, "Are we done?" as they approached the checkout counter.
A formality perhaps, but an important one, talking regularly kept people from worrying, made them more likely to talk back. The twins had learned that young, that keeping entirely to themselves made others uncomfortable. It didn't matter, no one else mattered, except that others being uncomfortable meant more teasing and nervous glances and narrowed eyes and that made it harder to find jobs and food and allies. They needed Ultron as an ally, so Wanda was talking for them, because he seemed to like it when they talked and he could talk back.
"I think so. Would you mind.." their patron added softly, glancing at the checkout boy who was watching them with wide rabbit eyes. "I don't want to cause a scene so if you two could take the lead here it would be much appreciated."
"We could have just not gone shopping." Pietro said, just to be contrary, as he took the basket, found it heavier than he expected.
"NATO cut off the castles postal service." Ultron shrugged. "Paranoid but paranoia is their game. That and unnecessary gestures that fail to address the real problem."
He sounded for a second like a sardonic revolutionary, identical to the ones Wanda and Pietro had listened to when they were young and looking for someone to blame for their parent's deaths. Trying to figure out what they wanted to fight for. Wanda had always fallen more for the cynical anti establishment spiel, though not by much. Pietro found himself silently approving even as a more jaded voice in the back of his mind whispered, 'We have a type. How did the glorious revolution work out for us last time? A few scraps with the police and a waltz right into Strucker's hands.'
Pietro shushed it because he wanted to believe they were doing the right thing, needed his usual zeal and fervour. Instead he matched his sister's smirk and rolled his eyes for good measure. "It was extremely unkind of them, but apparently not unnecessary since it put a cinch in your plans." He walked quickly to the quivering clerk, so no one could retort, and realized he had no way to pay for it. Cross that bridge when he came to it, he would keep moving and Wanda or the robot could figure it out.
"We would like to buy these." Pietro said loudly, to make sure the clerk didn't get the wrong idea. "Preferably before dawn. Do you work here or not?"
He didn't feel too guilty about bullying the boy, barely a few years younger than him and so frightened. The world would chew him up and spit him out, if it hadn't already, he needed a bit of toughness. Besides, it galvanized him into hurriedly scanning their items, eyes locked on the slim dark haired girl and hulking cloaked figure in the background. Both, Pietro noted after a quick glance back, shrouded in red until it looked like a mist around them, tying them together like twins in blood.
He was relieved when Wanda came over to him, stood next to him and inspected the rack of candy next to the cash register, leaving Ultron behind.
"Do you need anything else?" The cashier asked, Adam's apple bobbing.
It was petty but Pietro grabbed a package of gum. He wasn't surprised to see Wanda hand a magazine, the type about celebrity weddings and silly scandals that both of the twins had eaten up when they were twelve and starved for entertainment, that they had learned English off of, over the boy on the other side of the counter at the same time he tossed over the gum. He was a little surprised to see her holding a little square of plastic, logically probably a credit card, out as well.
"That is all." she said, with an instant's smile and the regard of a princess.
Pietro had expected her to sort it out, it shouldn't have come as a surprise when she did, undoubtably with Ultron's help, though how seven feet of metal had a checking account was a matter he was not going into at the moment. Still he felt a little helpless as Wanda finished the transaction and all he could do was take the bags.
"Let's go home." Wanda told him, and the bad mood disappeared. "We can read about the Kardashians."
"My favourite thing." he grinned and tried to shake his hair out of his eyes. Home was where Wanda was, it could have been anywhere and he would have been content. The blood they had been promised was just the icing on the cake. It was going to be a good week.
Ultron was a silent shadow as they walked through the streets, leaving silly boys and bright lights behind them.