Chapter Text
Dakota Morgenstern was a quiet girl. She chose to be part of the background, to blend in rather than stick out. She wasn’t born Sokvian but she had been there long enough to love it like she was.
Her voice quiet and soft with long golden brown hair and green eyes. Her features, Wanda always said, drew the attention of others but her quiet personality always made them get bored. The Maximoff twins were anything but boring and maybe that was why she was drawn to them. Pietro was fun and energetic, always moving from one point to another. Wanda took on the role of watching out for them, keeping them all safe anyway she could.
So when that first bomb fell and went off, the next one falling to the building she knew all too well, her world changed. She grew angry and so tired of keeping her voice to herself. When Wanda came to her telling her about a program that would make them able to protect Sokovia, she joined them.
She wasn’t expecting the injections or the tests they ran. She wasn’t expecting to gain this whole new access that she still had trouble figuring out.
She could bring anything technological crashing down without a thought. She could take control over the technology around them. It took her some time to get used to it, the first time she had connected and she got everything at once and it drove her crazy. But she fought through it, she completed each one of those tests and any of ones after perfectly. They told them they were keeping Sokovia safe and that’s all she wanted.
Pietro was fast, super fast and she still didn’t fully understand Wanda’s powers mow matter how many times she read through the file in her mind. Much like Wanda a color appeared when she used her power only Dakota’s eyes turned bright green while bright red mist moved around Wanda’s hands. While she was disappointed with the physical manifestation they both teased Pietro for being nothing of a blur which meant that all those girls wouldn’t be able to see them.
It felt good that she was finally doing something to help even if they weren’t allowed to fully leave yet. For her, she barely saw anything but the screens in front of her. Mostly because from there she was able to connect to the server and do her job quickly and efficiently, leaving no trace that they had been there.
But things were changing.
“Report to your stations immediately. This is not a drill. We are under an attack!” Dakota stayed huddled with the twins, Pietro with an arm around her shoulder as Wanda held his hand. The building was shaking and she couldn’t stop thinking about that day the bombs went off in their village. “We are under attack!”
“What should we do?” She whispered and the building shook again, dust falling down into her face. She blinked it away and stepped closer to Pietro.
“Stay together.” They’re accent, unlike hers, was heavy Sokovian. Hers only came out when she spoke certain ways and she always liked the way it sounded. Her left eyes glowed, her connection to the database showing her a few images of what was happening outside and she frowned.
“Little Cub?”
She smiled a little at the nickname that formed due to her small size but then it fell at the sight of red and gold metal flashing by. “It’s the Avengers.” She saw Herr Strucker standing in front of the screens and as the people around him started moving.
Her eyes went to the scientist who always gave her some type of sweet before she was tested. She didn’t have to listen through the audio to know what he was saying. One look at Wanda’s face and Dakota knew they were talking about them.
Herr Strucker moved from the doctor, looking around the room at each of them and Dakota straightened. “We will not yield!” He called, “The Americans sent their circus freaks to test us.” He walked down the small pathway. “We will send them back in bags. No surrender!”
“No surrender!” The soldiers shouted and Dakota tracked the way Herr Strucker leaned into the doctor, her eyes being able to figure out the words he was whispering very quickly.
“He’s going to leave.” She said softly and looked up at them. “We have to fight.”
“Of course we are.” Pietro shifted so he was holding both her and Wanda more securely. “Hold on.”
In a flash they were out of the room and Pietro set her and Wanda off first before taking the tunnel outside. Wanda headed off and Dakota walked forward, perfectly fine in the pants and dark sweater she was wearing.
She left her eye glowed green as she reached out for any feeling of invading technology. She was alerted pretty quickly and headed towards the bottom where the labs were. Dakota quickly took the stairs and saw the doctor was deleting files off the computer. He wasn’t the enemy so that meant someone else was nearby.
“Dakota,” she smiled and hopped down the last step. He motioned for her to join him. “You must get it.” She knew what he was talking about and pushed on the wall, the door falling away making her grin. She walked through and headed down the hall with a smile on her face. Dakota laughed to herself as she turned the corner and headed all the way down to where the alien was, they had named the thing after Pietro.
Dakota ran her fingers over the metal and looked at the glowing blue scepter in the center of the room. She headed towards it, about to reach out and grab it when there was a giant blue ping in her right eye. She turned around and saw a flash of blue, Dakota quickly hid under one of the desks at the sound of footsteps. She heard a voice that was all too familiar and she stood slowly. Her eyes were glowing bright green as he faced her, the electricity flickering and causing sparks over his head and falling down.
“We have another Enhanced,” he said in that tone that made her angry. The lights flickered again, sparks flying. “A girl.” Her lips curled into a cruel smile as it all went dark, nothing but the glow of her eyes and the scepter giving off light. Then the emergency ones kicked in but she only let two turn on, keeping it dark enough for Wanda to sneak up then Dakota was gone in a flash.
She realized that she was outside the tunnel connected to the building and Pietro was holding her in his arms. He set her down, her black boots crunching against the snow. “Will she be okay?”
“Of course.” He told her with a grin, “She’s Wanda.” Dakota laughed and softly pushed Pietro towards the tunnel.
“Go get my sister.” He sped off and she tucked her hair behind her ears and waited. They appeared and she linked her hands with both of theirs, the little family heading away from the building and towards the town. Dakota let her eyes glow and wiped everything from the remaining screens just in case they went looking for them again.
⋯
“Lab’s all set up, Boss.” Maria called out as she walked onto the quinjet. Tony turned around in the pilot’s chair,
“Oh, actually, he’s the boss.” He pointed to where Steve was. “I just pay for everything and design everything and make everyone look cooler.” He got up from his chair.
“What’s the word on Strucker?”
“NATO’s got him.” Maria told him, holding the tablet in her hand.
“The three Enchanted?”
“Twins and a friend.” She handed it over. “Wanda and Pietro Maximoff. Twins. Then Dakota Morgenstern.” Steve flicked through the images of the trio as they walked. “All orphaned at 10 when a shell collapsed their apartment building. Sokovia’s had a rough history. It’s nowhere special, but it’s on the way to everywhere special.”
“Their abilities?” He asked as they turned the corner, stopping on the woman with glowing green eyes
“He’s got increased metabolism and improved thermal homeostasis. Her thing is neuroelectronic interfacing, telekinesis, mental manipulation. And the last one,” Steve looked at her and Maria stopped. “He’s fast, his twin is weird and the last one can control anything tech.”
“Well, they’re gonna show up again.” The elevator beeped and the doors opened, he handed the tablet back.
“Agreed. File says they volunteered for Strucker’s experiments.” Steve got on the elevator. “It’s nuts.”
“Right,” he said as he pressed the button. “What kind of monster would let a German scientist experiment on them to protect their country?” He told her with a smile and Maria gave him a look.
“We’re not at war, Captain.”
“They are.”