The Third Maximoff Twin

Escalation

I'm back that's all, enjoy.

Petra sat cross-legged on her ceiling - a habit that usually calmed her, but today even gravity couldn't ground her emotions. Blue-white bio-electricity crackled across her skin in erratic patterns, making the air smell of ozone. Her stingers had been emerging and retracting involuntarily for hours, responding to her turmoil.

Wanda didn't knock - she never needed to. Petra's enhanced senses picked up her sister's approach: the subtle hum of chaos magic, the familiar scent of home and family tinged with worry.

"Your electricity is getting stronger," Wanda observed softly, looking up at where Petra clung to the ceiling. Red wisps of energy danced around her fingers, unconsciously reaching toward her sister's blue sparks. "When you're upset, it responds more intensely."

"Like your powers," Petra mumbled through partially extended fangs. A small arc of bio-electricity jumped from her hand to the ceiling. "Did you know? That Tony would... that he'd try to..."

"Turn you into another experiment?" Wanda's accent thickened with anger, her eyes flickering red momentarily. "No. If I had, his suits would be scattered across the compound by now."

Petra dropped silently from the ceiling, landing in front of her sister. Her mask was off, letting Wanda see the full extent of her predatory features - the extended fangs, the way her eyes had taken on a more pronounced spider-like quality in her distress. The bio-electricity continued to dance across her skin, matching her emotional state.

"They want to study my stingers," Petra's voice cracked slightly. "Run tests. Document everything. Like I'm some kind of... weapon to be catalogued."

"I know what that feels like," Wanda said quietly, reaching out to touch Petra's arm despite the crackling electricity. "HYDRA... they called it research too. Said they were documenting our abilities, helping us understand them. But really, they just wanted to know how to control us. How to use us."

Petra's enhanced senses picked up the old pain in Wanda's voice, the slight tremor in her hands that always came with memories of those days. The bio-electricity dimmed slightly, responding to her need to comfort her sister.

"I won't let them do that to you," Wanda promised, red energy weaving protectively around them both. "Neither will Pietro. Or Natasha. Or Steve. You're not alone, little spider."

"But what if Tony's right?" Petra's stingers emerged fully, gleaming in the mix of red and blue light their powers created. "What if Ross comes for me anyway? What if-"

"Then he'll have to go through all of us," Wanda's voice carried steel beneath the gentleness. "We're family. Real family. Not someone who makes deals about you behind your back."

Petra's bio-electricity finally began to settle, the crackling reducing to a gentle hum. Her enhanced senses picked up the absolute conviction in Wanda's heartbeat, the protective surge in her chaos magic.

"I'm scared," Petra admitted, her fangs finally retracting slightly. "Not of the tests, or Ross, or even Tony. I'm scared this is going to tear us all apart."

Wanda pulled her into a hug, ignoring the occasional spark of bio-electricity that jumped between them. "Some things are worth fighting for," she murmured. "Some families are worth protecting, no matter the cost."

Through her enhanced senses, Petra could hear Pietro's rapid heartbeat as he paced the compound, feel Vision's concerned presence hovering nearby, sense the ongoing tension throughout their home. Everything was changing, fracturing, breaking apart.

But here, in her sister's arms, with their red and blue energies mixing in the air around them, Petra found a moment of certainty. Whatever came next, they would face it together.