The Most Unlikely Heroes

Nothing unusual was supposed to happen today. It was just a dull a Wednesday afternoon in math class. Jc sighed, tapping his pencil on his desk as his math teacher droned on about polynomials or something like that.

Jc wasn't really paying attention, he was trying to vibe his way through this class. I mean, who could blame him? It was the last period of the day. He watched the clock tick on the wall, the little thing somehow more fascinating than whatever his math teacher was rambling about.

If his twin, Safiya was here, she'd smack him with her textbook and tell him to pay attention.

Yes, you heard that right. Twin.

Ultimately, Safiya got the wonderful privilege of being born first. And has rubbed it in his face for as long as he could remember.

He hated that, but still loved her anyway. No matter how much of a pain in the arshole she could be. They were like two peas in a pod.

Well... more like two fetuses in a womb.

He made it weird, didn't he?

Jc didn't even notice that the end-of-the-day bell had rung until now. He sighed in relief, saying a mental 'Hallelujah'.

Getting up from his desk, he packed his things into his yellow bag and slung it over his shoulder.

"So glad the day is over," he sighed, adjusting his bag so it would sit more evenly on his shoulder.

Walking out to the school parking lot, he went to a black black sedan, where Safiya was in the car waiting for him in the driver's seat, texting someone on her phone with a bat case.

Normally, he would usually take his board home since Safiya had theater after-school, but apparently today it was cancelled from what she told him this morning. So she offered to give him a ride home.

She didn't look up as he slid into the passenger seat and buckled his seatbelt, engrossed in her conversation. Safiya had a small smile on her face.

The kind she gave to guys she was romantically interested. It was quite a rare smile, for Safiya was never really in the dating game, but every once in a while someone caught her eye.

Once in a while being 'once in a blue moon' considering most of the time she found fictional characters far more fascinating than real people.

"Who are you texting?" Jc asked.

"No one," Safiya answered quickly, a hint of pink on her cheeks.

He rolled his eyes and snatched her phone out of her hands. "Hey! You bohemian asshole! Give it back!"

Safiya reached for her iPhone 4 as Jc inched away from her reach, looking at who she was texting. "Oh, it's just your little boyfriend."

Her cheeks flushed even more. "He's not my boyfriend!"

"Mhmm, sure. I'm sure he will be. And when he does, if he ever hurts you, he better start regretting the day he was born."

She huffed, snatching her phone back and starting the engine. "I can handle myself, but that's very kind of you."

Jc turned on the radio and it started blasting the one and only, ABBA. Leaning back, the two twins made their way back to their home sweet boring home.

Life may not be the most exciting, but Jc liked it that way. No unexpected surprises will pop up and change his life for the worse. He could just sit back and relax.

As the radio blasted 'Dancing Queen' and the twins screamed the lyrics at the top of their lungs, they pulled up to an apartment building, where the Maximoff household was located.

Parking the car, Safiya and Jc grabbed their backpacks and started walking into the building.

"Seriously though, why don't you ask him out? It's not that hard. All you gotta say those six magical words, 'Will you go out with me?'. No need for a jumbotron or you wearing a mascot costume serenading the guy at a basketball game," Jc said.

Her lips curved and she shrugged. "I don't know. Scared of rejection, I guess?"

"No need to be scared of rejection. Worst case scenario is that he says 'no'. But if you never ask, the answer is also no."

Safiya gave him an amused look. "Always so wise. Thanks, Jc. Maybe I will"

"Of course. And if he says no, then you'll find someone better. Though if he's an android, I'd steer clear. Don't wanna be making out with a robot." He elbowed her and Safiya snorted.

"The day will never come where I date an android, let alone be romantically infatuated in one. What is this, 'Wall-E'?"

"But in the movie, both of them are robots." She frowned, turning the knob and openeing the door. "Damn, you're right."

They were greeted into the apartment by their mother, who beamed at them. "How are my favorite twins?"

"We're the only twins you know, Mom, " Jc reminded her. She rolled her eyes him and hugged them.

"Oh hush, child. Your father's going to be home in an hour or so. Why don't you start on your homework or something and come back down in an hour for dinner?"

"Alright." The twins headed to their rooms, expecting a normal evening and a normal family dinner.

Little did Safiya and Jc know that their lives would change in the next 60 minutes.

Merelely an hour.

Such a short time. Yet a lot could change in that small time frame . It's funny how fast life moves, doesn't it?

~~~

An hour later, a mortar shell hit the apartment building just as the Maximoff family reunited.

Safiya let out a scream and Jc cursed loudly, "Mother effing trucker." Their parents showed no reaction, getting killed on the spot.

While their children watched.

The two of them let out twin cries, too much adrenaline running through them to truly process what they just saw.

"NO!" Safiya yelled, trying to walk over to their parents, but Jc pulled her back by the arm.

That's when she saw the ceiling cracking and about to crumble down upon them, killing them too. "C'mon Safiya, we gotta get somewhere safer. We're gonna die if we don't get out of this room."

They heard another mortar shell crash in the apartment above them, making the ground rumble below them and the pieces of rubble fall down from the ceiling.

Even with all of this happening, Safiya couldn't move. She could barely hear Jc calling her name, the rest world of the world felt so far away. Tears slid down her cheeks and she let out a gasp. She didn't even realize he was moving until she felt her brother yank her arm.

Then she saw the mortar shell that killed their parents had the name, 'Patrick Industries' on it.

~~~

2010

Swiss Alps, Switzerland

~~~

Three days.

That's how long the twins had waited for the mortar shell to go off and kill them.

72 hours of watching the shell labeled 'Patrick Industries', haunting them of what became of their parents. Which Patrick caused this, neither knew.

Robert Patrick, founder and former CEO had passed away a few weeks ago. Matthew Patrick, his son, only took over a few weeks ago. So it could've been either of them.

Coincidence?

After those three days, the twins had passed out in each other's arms underneath all the rubble. And when they woke up, they weren't in Sokovia anymore.

Safiya's eyes flew open, her head spinning, vision blurring and clearing again.

The last thing she remembered was her parents being killed because of an invention made by Patrick.

Patrick.

His family destroyed hers. Now her parents are dead. And her brother... wait... where is he?

"Jc? Where are you?" she croaked, her voice scratchy and sore. Safiya tried her best to sit up and take in her surroundings, but she did so too quickly. The dizziness returned and her eyelids fell heavy again.

~~~

The next time Safiya woke up, she felt a little better. Propping herself up on her elbows, she looked at her surroundings. It seemed to be some sort of hospital room. Looking down, the Sokovian noticed she wasn't wearing her own clothes anymore. Instead, she was in a blue hospital gown.

Getting off the bed, she wondered where Jc was. And if he was okay. Safiya also wondered where she was.

The dim lights flickered for a brief moment and her brown eyes snapped up. Frowning, Safiya knew she had to get out of this room.

"Good, you're awake," an unknown voice said from behind her. She whirled around in surprise, finding a purple haired woman standing in the doorway. The woman was quite pale, a sharp contrast to the dark red painted on her lips and the dark winged eyeliner on her eyes. She was shorter than Safiya, even with the heeled boots she wore. The stranger also had a rather odd color palette, donning a baby blue blazer, black button-up and bright red pants.

It was almost... clownish. The raven-haired girl realized that there was a second woman behind her, but she barely discerned her presence until now, for the second woman hid in the shadows behind the first woman. She was the complete opposite of the clownish woman, her look muted.

Brown, curly hair fell in cascades past her collarbones and hardly had any makeup on at all. She wore black from head to toe and Safiya saw a prosthetic arm on her left arm. The brunette wore a blank expression on her face, as if she was more robot than human.

"Who are you? Where am I? Where's Jc?" she bombarded the two with questions, needing answers.

"I will reveal more at a later time, but you can call me Kerrie," the purple-haired woman said. Safiya pointed at the woman lurking behind her.

"What about her?"

Kerrie gave her a smile, but it was forced. "She doesn't have a name."

Safiya narrowed her eyes. "Everybody has a name."

"Well, she doesn't. But you can call her Winter Soldier if you'd like." The teenager raised an eyebrow, but decided to let it go for now.

"What do you want from me?"

Kerrie stepped towards her, crossing her arms. "I want to give you an opportunity. One that humans can only dream of."

This sparked a curiosity in her. "What kind of opportunity?" she asked slowly, suspicious of her intentions.

Her grin widened. "Power."

Safiya frowned and shook her head. "Not interested. I'm not that kind of girl."

Kerrie held her hands up."Hear me out-I can help you get revenge on Patrick. I know he built those bombs that killed your parents?" The raven-haired girl froze and made eye contact with the stranger.

"How?"

She avoided the question. "Like I said, more later. I'm assuming you want to see your brother now? He's been awake for a while. " Safiya nodded, a little skeptical about the strange woman, but followed her anyway.

Revenge? That would certainly lower that bastard billionaire off his pedestal.

~~~

"Jc!" Safiya shouted, running over to her brother, crushing him into a hug. It was a strange sight for everyone, they knew those two were twins, but you couldn't even tell that they were at all. They looked nothing alike. "You're okay!"

He smiled and hugged her back. "Did you hear about-"

She cut him off, knowing what he was thinking. "Yeah, I did. I think we should talk about it. Alone. " She dragged him into his temporary quarters and shut the door. He could see a brunette woman with a prosthetic arm glaring at them murderously through the door.

Not creepy at all. Jc totally feels safe with her skulking.

"What should we do?"

Safiya shrugged, picking at her nails. "Don't trust them. But they can gives us what we want. I've looked around, seen logos and all that shiz. They're Hydra."

Jc blinked, having no idea what the hell that was. "Whom?"

Safiya sighed, shaking her head. "Did you not pay attention when they did that unit on World War II with Captain America and all those important people of those times?"

"I did, but I don't recall our history teacher bringing up Hydro, or whatever they're called."

"Hydra," his twin corrected sternly. "It was an ancient cult who had some weird mission to bring their deity, whom was their founder Hive, back to Earth after Hive was banished. It took many forms over the course of the years, but most notably, was a branch of the N*zi-German in the 1940s under the man named Red Skull. It was taken down by Captain America. They must have secretly rebuilt! Perhaps under S.H.I.E.L.D, since a few members have S.H.I.E.L.D stuff on them."

He looked impressed. "You could be a detective if you wanted to, Safiya. You'd be good at it."

She cracked a smile. "Investigative reporter is more up my alley."

"So you think we should accept? I mean... there are other ways. And we don't even know what exactly their deal is! How do we know that it isn't a trap?"

She frowned, thinking about it. "But if we don't accept, they'd probably kill us. Can't have two teenagers running around knowing that Hydra's still alive. And I doubt they would kill us, even if it's a trap. They need us for something. What for, we'll have to see."

That was when Kerrie walked in and asked with a grin, "So, are you in?" It was almost as if the Hydra member was listening the whole time.

They looked at each other, assuming that they were both on the same page. "Yeah. We're in," Jc confirmed.

~~~years later~~~

"Are you ready?" Kerrie asked Jc. He threw the Hydra agent a dark look, but nodded. "Of course, ma'am."

She had him sit in a chair and tied down in case the experiment actually worked and that he wouldn't end up hurting anybody. The two of them were in a small room in the lab and Jc knew that his sister was nearby, awaiting to be tested on.

He prayed that this would work, more for Safiya's sake than his own. For they were all the family they had left. All they had was each other. And if one died and one lived... well, there would be nothing making life worth living. Besides, he would hate it if she went through that kind of pain.

Their aparents' deaths were enough. Jc saw a light-haired HYDRA agent walk in, who he recognized as a man named Cody, who was about a year older than the twins. He never worked with Kerrie on the 'lab rats', so Jc never saw him. Only reason he even remembered him at all was that Safiya had a thing for him. They weren't official or anything, but did do a fair amount of flirting here and there.

But that's not important right now. What's important is that he might die because he wants revenge.

The things you do for a simple little goal. But if Jc survived, it would be worth it.

The agent held a syringe and a scepter in his hand.

Where it was from, he had no idea. But he was very familiar with it. He heard that S.H.I.E.L.D was taking care of this scepter, but Hydra stole it from right under their noses for their experiments. They always returned it so S.H.I.E.L.D wouldn't get suspicious and find out that Hydra was still alive.

Kerrie explained, "We're going to do this a little differently with you. All previous subjects have ended up dead, so we're switching things up. Let's hope this works. Otherwise-"

"I'm aware of the consequences that will follow, Kerrie. The power ate them up and destroyed them, killing them on the spot. I know the risks, I thought of them before agreeing to do this. Even if you didn't specify what you were planning then. Just"

Kerrie's lips thinned, not appreciating his little interruption monologue. Cody shot him a dirty look and Jc shut up.

"Don't order me around or I'll skip the sedatives and this will be more painful than it has to be," she snarled, before smiling, the 'friendly' persona returning.

The Sokovian watched wordlessly as the other Hydra agent closed in with the syringe and the scepter. His eyes fluttered shut and waited the pain to onslaught him.

Two needles simultaneously entered his arm. It felt fine, at first. Then a wave of pain came over him. He screamed in agony.

It felt like his whole body was being set on fire as the ache coursed through his body.

Jc subconsciously struggled against his binds, hearing guards yell and alarms go off. The needles had been removed, but the pain lingered, his arm throbbing. His heart pounded as his discomfort grew as the agonizly slow seconds passed.

His breaths were ragged and shallow and he tried to focus on his breathing to divert his attention from the pain.

The ropes snapped and at a leisure pace, it stopped. His screams faded into silence, Jc keeping his eyes shut.

He did it. He survived! Does that mean it worked?

Opening his eyes, as his vision cleared, he saw three dead bodies on the ground. He cringed, feeling sorry for them.

Unlike him, they died from exposure. "Kerrie? Cody?" he called out, noticing their absence.

The purple-haired woman walked in, clapping. "Congratulations Mr. Maximoff. You are the first subject to have managed to stay alive and absorb the power of the scepter. But it hasn't absorbed all of it so you will be confined to your room so you won't kill anyone else."

She looked down at the dead bodies on the floor and gestured to them. Kerrie turned to Cody and ordered, "Take him to his room."

"Yes ma'am."

~~~

Jc laid on the cot, wide awake. He had planned on going to sleep, he was exhausted and in pain, but he fought to stay awake.

He couldn't sleep the pain off until he knew if Safiya was okay or not. Or alive for that matter.

Jc hoped she was. The experiment worked on him, it should be fine. This was the same girl who broke his arm the one time he pulled a prank on her.

Lesson of that day was to never prank his sister again. He hadn't even tested to see what he could do yet, he was too drained. Perhaps Jc could figure out tomorrow.

His eyes fell heavy and Jc was too weak too fight his fatigue. That was when he heard footsteps outside the room in his hallway. He shot awake, suddenly gaining some energy.

The footsteps were coming towards his room.

"I'm surprised you're still conscious and on your feet. Your brother passed out," a male voice said.

"I guess I'm too stubborn to give into the darkness," a female voice joked.

Cody and Safiya.

He heard Cody chuckle and answered, "One of the many things I like about you. Your stubborness."

Jc knew Safiya well enough to know that she would blush at the compliment. He heard the footsteps stop in front of the door. "Thanks for walking me back by the way."

"It's not like I had much of a choice did I? Besides, I'd take any chance to get some more time with you. You also just took in the power of an Infinity Stone, so I can't have a pretty lady like you wandering around all by yourself."

"Well, I wanted to thank you anyway. Now that you've figured it out, are you getting more volunteers?"

He was silent for a few moments and then dodged the question. "Here's your room. Get some rest. I'll see you later."

Jc heard the door open and Safiya walked in, turning to Cody and saying, "Good night."

"Good night. Sweet dreams."

Before the Hydra agent left, he did one last thing.

He kissed her on the cheek.

~~~

A shadow appeared in the room where they kept the scepter. Muttering an incantation, they put the guards in the room to sleep, gently leading them to the ground so they wouldn't make any noise. Don't need to get caught.

Tiptoeing to the safe, the shadow pressed the password into the keypad. The safe opened and the shadow grinned, pulling out the scepter.

"Silly little earthlings," they chuckled darkly.E