Nope. Chance = Missed! Once more unto the breach

“Report to your stations immediately. This is not a drill. We are under attack. We are under attack,” the PA announced to the entire HYDRA Base.

Wanda and Pietro held hands, smiling at the announcement. He saw the panic in the soldiers and researchers around them, while she sensed their worry on a far deeper level.

Why panic when this was everything they’d been preparing for— their Whole purpose for existing was to fight the Avengers! And here they were!

‘It may as well be Christmas!’ Pietro thought to himself. Wanda had no trouble reading her twin’s thoughts— even without her mutation, she’d have had little trouble. Pietro rarely disguised his emotions well. His confidence added to her own satisfaction— today Stark would finally pay!

She noticed as Strucker marched into the far end of Ops Command, belting question after question… “Who gave the order to attack?? Can we hold them?!” His worry was radiating from his every word, his every breath, his every twitch. ‘Will today be the day Strucker finally cuts us loose to get our **** on Tony Stark?’ Wanda wondered. She knew that Doctor List thought highly of their progress, and would support their deployment… But he, too was particularly nervous about the Avengers’ ****. Wanda gazed more closely into Doctor List’s mind.. Not only was he worrying about being captured, he was worrying about what might happen to him if SHIELD found his research archives.

‘Bah. All the hard work he’s put into us. No! Everything Pietro and I have sacrificed to be here, and this is who leads us? A scientist and a blowhard both interested only in saving their own necks? How did we not see this before…’ Wanda pondered internally. Pietro deserved to know about this…

“… Then let’s show them what we’ve accomplished!” Doctor List declared to Baron Strucker, oblivious to the Maximoffs’ own machinations. “Send out the Twins!”

‘Of Course List would remember them right now of all things! They’re my Ace in the Hole! The Avengers won’t stop until they have me and the Sceptre, but information on our Enhanced, will provide me a *unique* amount of leverage over my captors…’ Strucker raged internally.

“It’s too soon,” Strucker said, hoping to throw List off the scent.

“It’s what they signed up for!” List persisted.

“My men can hold them,” Strucker declared with entirely false confidence.

‘These old men are sheep, sister. We will handle them ourselves!’ Pietro declared, agreeing with his sister’s surmisal of the situation. Between his speed and her psionically-supported stealth, not a single Hydra soldier noticed their discreet departure through one of the escape exits.

“… No Surrender!” Strucker declared.

“No surrender!!” his soldiers returned.

“I am going to surrender,” Baron Strucker admitted to List in a hurried, hushed tone. His options were rapidly thinning and he needed to *ensure* his knowledge of Hydra’s research stayed valuable.“You will delete everything! If we give the Avengers the weapons, they might not look too far into what we’ve been—”

“The Twins!” Doctor List interrupted.

“They are not ready to take on the—”

“No, I mean— The Twins,” List persisted, pointing to where the Twins were no longer waiting and watching the rest of Ops Command.

‘Scheiße…’ Baron von Strucker and Doctor List both thought to themselves. ‘They’re loose.’

List made for the digital archives— wiping them clean wasn’t complicated per sé, but if it was to be done comprehensively, then it would take more than a few moments.

Strucker made for the auxiliary hangar— there was a slim chance he’d be able to fly out undetected while the base was being stormed.

None of them had much luck:

-Doctor List died first, 9 minutes later at the hands of Tony Stark’s repulsor blasts, managing *Only* to wipe the HYDRA research on crossbreeding the Maximoffs and the sceptre-based AI program.

-Baron Strucker died 4 days later at the hands of Ultron: his knowledge of the Twins was in fact valuable leverage; Too valuable for him to be left alive.

-Pietro Maximoff died 8 days later, giving his life for a Sokovian child’s… And technically Hawkeye. No one saw it coming.

-Wanda Maximoff survived another 3 and a half years (excluding a 5-year “blip” of nonexistence) before dying as a complication of her grief over her lost family.

Tragic.

What if their legacy had gone further?