"I don't know," Wanda finally said, "but they are very strong."
Pietro nodded.
"The blonde one," Pietro said, "his strength is ridiculously high. I punched him several times, and he didn't feel a thing."
Wanda glanced at him. "You hit him?"
Pietro shrugged. "It was the mission. But to be honest, when I hit him, he didn't even try to dodge, like... my punches were just tickling him."
Wanda fell silent.
"And the black-haired one," Pietro continued, "when he used magic, I felt... Wanda, your magic is a bit different from hers."
Wanda's fingers tightened slightly.
Her magic was indeed different.
After all, their abilities weren't learned from books or practiced through training; they were obtained from the Tesseract.
In HYDRA's experiments, the Tesseract activated their abilities. They survived, but the price of survival was becoming HYDRA's weapons.
"Maybe they're like us," Wanda whispered, "modified?"
Pietro thought for a moment and shook his head. "It doesn't feel like it... the look in their eyes is different from ours."
Wanda looked at him. "What look?"
Pietro chose his words carefully. "At the Base, the modified people have complex emotions in their eyes—fear, anger, or emptiness. But they don't. Their eyes are very clear."
Wanda didn't answer.
She watched Mavuika put down the watering can, walk out of the garden, and head toward the Villa along the stone path.
The moonlight shone on her, illuminating the faint, warm smile on her face.
Wanda suddenly felt that she might be able to let her guard down for a moment.
Just for a moment.
"Come in," Mavuika said, walking to the steps and looking at them. "It's cold outside."
Wanda nodded, turned, and walked into the house.
Pietro followed behind her, glancing back at the garden once more.
The lavender under the moonlight swayed gently in the wind, like a purple wave.
This place was indeed beautiful.
In the living room, Thor was curled up on the sofa watching TV.
He was wearing a dark gray hoodie and black casual pants, with a pair of slippers on his feet. He looked just like any ordinary idle young man.
He held the remote control and was changing channels, his expression focused and serious, as if he were doing something important.
Loki sat on the single sofa opposite him, holding a glass of red wine and reading a book.
He wore a dark green shirt, black trousers, and was barefoot. His posture was as elegant as a painting.
He read very fast, flipping page after page, occasionally stopping to take a sip of wine before continuing.
Wanda and Pietro entered the living room and sat on the other sofa.
The two sat very close, their shoulders almost touching—a habit they had developed at the Base, back-to-back, looking out for each other.
Thor looked up at them and grinned. "Don't be shy. Big Sis said you're staying for a while, so this is your home now."
Wanda didn't speak, nor did Pietro.
Thor didn't mind and went back to watching TV.
Loki put down his book and looked at Wanda and Pietro, a thoughtful light in his emerald-green eyes.
"You don't need to be so nervous. Big Sis is a very gentle person. As long as you don't cause trouble, everything else is fine."
Pietro glanced at him. "We won't cause trouble."
Mavuika walked out of the kitchen carrying a plate of sliced fruit—Apples, oranges, strawberries, and a few pieces of honeydew melon.
She placed the plate on the coffee table and sat down next to Thor.
"Have some fruit," she said. "Dinner will be a little longer."
Thor reached out, took a piece of honeydew, took a bite, and squinted his eyes in satisfaction.
"This melon is sweet."
Loki also took a strawberry, elegantly put it in his mouth, chewed twice, and nodded.
"Indeed, it's quite good."
Wanda looked at the plate of fruit and didn't move; Pietro didn't move either.
Mavuika didn't rush them, she just picked up a piece of Apple and ate it herself.
The living room was quiet for a while, with only the sound from the TV—a news channel was reporting on the daytime 'military exercise', using vague wording and downplaying the events.
S.H.I.E.L.D. had moved quickly, packaging the helicarrier incident as a 'routine test.'
Ordinary people wouldn't know the truth, nor should they.
Pietro suddenly spoke up.
"Your... abilities," his tone was somewhat hesitant, "how did they come about?"
Thor turned to look at him, still chewing on the honeydew. "What?"
"Abilities," Pietro repeated. "Strength, magic, and that—fire."
He looked at Mavuika, "How did you get them? Was it like HYDRA, some experiment or some injection?"
Thor was stunned for a moment, then shook his head.
"No," he said, putting down the melon and sitting up straight. "We were born with them."
Pietro's brow furrowed. "Born with them?"
Thor nodded. "We are Asgardians, born with divine power. My strength comes from my bloodline, from the legacy of my father Odin, and from thousands of years of battle and tempering."
He held out his hand, and a small ball of weak electricity condensed in his palm, crackling and illuminating a corner of the living room.
"This is my power. It wasn't given to me by anyone, and it can't be taken away by anyone."
Pietro watched the ball of electricity, his pupils contracting slightly.
It was the first time he had seen Thor's power up close—not the violent, destructive lightning of battle, but a compressed, quiet glow like a small blue star.
"Asgard..." Pietro repeated the unfamiliar name.
"There are stories about us recorded on your Earth, which you call norse mythology," Loki took over, his tone as flat as if he were telling an ancient story.
"The Realm of the Gods, the home of the Aesir, one of the Nine Realms."
He put down his wine glass and lightly brushed his finger through the air. A green trail of magical light was left behind, fluttering in the air like a ribbon.
"Our abilities were not modified; they are innate."
Wanda's eyes widened slightly as she looked at the green ribbon of light.
She could feel that Loki's magic was completely different from hers.
Her Chaos Magic was wild, uncontrolled, like a Beast that could break its tether at any moment.
But Loki's magic was precise and elegant. Every bit of power was calculated exactly, without a single waste.
"Your magic..." Wanda spoke, her voice somewhat tight, "how did you learn it?"
Loki looked at her, and a rare, almost gentle light flashed in his emerald-green eyes.
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150 POWER STONE = BONUS CHAPTER
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