Chương 170: Chapter 170: Brother and Sister 

Stepping outside the Triskelion, Luke spotted Tony leaning exhaustedly against a railing and walked over to him. 

"How are you feeling, Tony?" Luke asked softly, standing beside him and following his gaze up to the sky. 

Hearing Luke's voice, Tony slowly turned his head. "Surprisingly decent. Considering you were literally standing right there backing me up, I managed to hold it together." 

"You really ought to be saying that to Pepper." 

Tony chuckled faintly, then fell silent for a long moment. He turned fully toward Luke, his expression intensely earnest. "Thank you, man. Seriously." 

Luke patted Tony's shoulder reassuringly. "So, you officially forgave Bucky?" 

"It's absolutely not my place to 'forgive' him," Tony shook his head firmly. "Didn't we explicitly agree to bring my parents to the present? Since they are the direct victims, it is entirely, logically appropriate to allow them to make the final decision regarding his fate." 

Luke nodded in absolute agreement. "A highly sound tactical decision. When exactly should we initiate the temporal extraction protocol for your parents?" 

"Let's wait until we've aggressively, thoroughly purged Hydra from the board. While I intend to permanently assign Bucky as their primary, localized security detail... for absolute peace of mind, I want to ensure Hydra is so utterly devastated they never dare manifest their heads again." 

"Do you require any specific localized tactical assistance?" Luke offered. 

"Just forward me a comprehensive list of all verified, active Hydra bases. I'll personally handle the logistics." 

Luke nodded. "I'll compile the localized intelligence data and transmit it to your HUD shortly. However, I highly recommend you also formally consult the future Captain America; given his timeline, he likely possesses significantly more extensive, highly detailed intelligence regarding Hydra's historical movements." 

Tony nodded in agreement. He glanced back toward the screening room, noting the Captain and Bucky still hadn't emerged. "Given the current localized emotional climate... it is highly probable I should depart immediately to avoid any unnecessary, highly awkward interactions." 

After formally bidding Tony farewell, Luke suddenly received an incoming call on his phone. 

"Luke?" 

"Galacta. What's your current localized status?" 

"I've encountered a highly anomalous, localized situation. I engaged two incredibly bizarre individuals. Would you be willing to physically travel to my coordinates to assess them?" 

... 

Arriving at Kamar-Taj, Luke followed Galacta's coordinates directly into the highly secure, magically reinforced subterranean detention block, typically utilized to temporarily house rogue sorcerers and hostile magical entities. There, he found the two "bizarre individuals" Galacta had mentioned. 

He had initially assumed they were merely two generic, unregistered localized metahumans hiding among the civilian populace. However, upon recognizing their highly distinctive, iconic appearances, Luke completely froze in profound shock. 

Galacta smoothly stepped out from the shadows. "I was aggressively pursuing a localized minor Dimensional Lord avatar through a densely populated Eastern European city. However, the absolute microsecond I cornered it, these two individuals inexplicably violently attacked me! I had absolutely no idea what their specific localized objective was, so I simply effortlessly subdued them and transported them here for interrogation." 

Luke nodded slowly, his eyes locked intensely on the two prisoners. 

"What are your formal designations?" 

When the two individuals remained stubbornly, aggressively silent, Luke pressed the interrogation. "What was your specific, localized tactical justification for physically assaulting Galacta?" 

Finally, the male prisoner spoke, his tone highly defensive. "We merely observed her aggressively, violently attacking a seemingly defenseless woman in an alleyway! We intervened to proactively protect a civilian!" 

Luke blinked, turning to stare at Galacta in profound, utter exasperation. Galacta simply shrugged helplessly. "To facilitate highly covert, localized infiltration on Earth, the vast majority of these demonic avatars proactively utilize localized magical disguises to perfectly mimic baseline human appearance." 

Luke sighed and turned back to the prisoners. "I have formally verified the intelligence with my operative. The 'woman' you aggressively attempted to protect was absolutely not a biological human. It was an actively hostile, localized physical avatar belonging to an extra-dimensional demonic entity." 

"What exactly is a 'demonic avatar'?" the man asked, his brow furrowing in genuine, profound confusion. Luke rapidly provided a highly condensed, localized summary of extra-dimensional threats and magical avatars. 

"Oh. I understand. So... my sister and I committed a massive, localized tactical miscalculation?" the man asked, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. 

Luke nodded. Seeing Luke's confirmation, the man quickly continued, "Well, since the localized misunderstanding has been formally resolved, would you kindly authorize our immediate release? I assure you, we are entirely peaceful, law-abiding citizens." 

Luke raised an eyebrow, highly amused by the sheer audacity. "Of course. As you can clearly perceive, I am also a highly reasonable, peace-loving individual." 

With a casual flick of his wrist, Luke instantly deactivated the magical containment field, opening the cell door. 

The absolute microsecond the barrier dropped, the man's body violently, instantaneously blurred into a highly localized streak of silver light! He aggressively grabbed his sister and violently rocketed toward the cell door, moving at blinding, supersonic speeds! 

In a fraction of a millisecond, the man practically breached the exit threshold. Believing he had successfully secured their freedom, he confidently turned his head to offer Luke a highly triumphant, mocking smirk. 

However... to his absolute, mind-boggling horror... he found Luke perfectly, flawlessly matching his exact, hyper-accelerated speed! Luke casually turned his head and returned the smirk! 

Instantly, a massive, unfathomable torrent of pure dark energy violently erupted from Luke's core, entirely enveloping his physical vessel! Propelled by the dark energy, Luke aggressively accelerated to a localized speed vastly, astronomically exceeding the man's absolute maximum velocity! 

Effortlessly, flawlessly vaulting directly over the man's head, Luke landed solidly in the doorway, physically blocking the exit. Simultaneously, massive tendrils of dark energy violently materialized, aggressively sealing the entire doorway in an impenetrable, pitch-black barrier! 

Realizing the primary exit was completely neutralized, the man gritted his teeth. He rapidly deposited his sister in the center of the room and aggressively, violently lunged directly at Luke! He threw a devastating, hyper-accelerated punch, the sheer kinetic force violently breaking the sound barrier, aiming directly for Luke's face! 

Luke stood perfectly, calmly still, absolutely refusing to execute a defensive block or evasive maneuver. 

Just as the man genuinely believed his strike was about to connect... several highly intimidating, pitch-black, bladed silhouettes violently, silently erupted directly from the localized shadows completely surrounding him! Razor-sharp, highly lethal claw-blades aggressively swiped at his vital points! 

Staring at the sudden, horrifying appearance of the Razor Ninjas, the man's eyes widened in absolute, profound shock. However, his hyper-accelerated reflexes saved him. He violently, aggressively altered his trajectory mid-strike, frantically darting away to evade the lethal blades! 

The Razor Ninjas instantly aggressively initiated pursuit! 

Consequently, within the relatively confined space of the detention cell, the man was violently reduced to a frantic, silver blur, desperately playing a highly lethal, high-speed game of tag with the relentless, highly agile Razor Ninjas. 

Luke stood leaning against the dark energy barrier, highly amused by the chaotic, localized pursuit. 

Meanwhile, the sister, having fully recovered her localized situational awareness, stared helplessly at the chaotic, high-speed blur currently occupying the cell. Her baseline human perception was completely, utterly incapable of tracking their blinding movements. 

Realizing her brother was heavily suppressed, she turned her absolute, highly aggressive focus directly onto Luke! Her hands began glowing with a highly chaotic, intensely bright red energy, slowly, painstakingly gathering and condensing the power between her palms. 

Luke easily perceived the localized energy buildup and casually turned his head to observe her. He watched patiently as she spent several agonizingly slow seconds aggressively charging her attack, before finally, clumsily hurling a relatively slow, chaotic bolt of red energy directly at him. 

Luke casually tapped his foot on the stone floor. A highly concentrated, localized ripple of pure dark energy instantly violently expanded outward, effortlessly, flawlessly neutralizing the incoming red energy bolt before it even crossed half the distance! 

Having successfully executed a highly comprehensive, localized tactical assessment of their current combat capabilities, Luke nodded thoughtfully. 

It's highly apparent these two haven't yet been formally acquired and aggressively experimented upon by Hydra. 

Even if they had established localized contact with Hydra, without the Mind Stone currently in Hydra's possession (since it was safely stored in Luke's dimension), their baseline abilities couldn't be artificially, catastrophically amplified. 

Yes, the two highly anomalous individuals currently standing before Luke were undeniably Wanda and Pietro Maximoff! 

However, their current, baseline localized combat proficiency was catastrophically inferior to their eventual operational debut in Avengers: Age of Ultron. 

While Pietro's speed was undeniably impressive, he wasn't currently moving fast enough to be completely invisible to standard human perception, let alone pose a genuine tactical threat to Luke's advanced Shadowkhan. 

As for Wanda... her current localized magical output was incredibly pathetic. After aggressively charging her spell for several seconds, the resulting attack possessed significantly less kinetic force than a gentle breeze. 

Watching Wanda's expression shift to profound, absolute despair, and observing Pietro becoming increasingly, dangerously exhausted as he frantically dodged the relentless Razor Ninjas, Luke sighed helplessly and formally dismissed the Shadowkhan. 

"It highly appears my localized attempt at diplomatic de-escalation was unsuccessful." 

Freed from the relentless, high-speed pursuit, Pietro finally slid to a halt, panting heavily, his chest heaving as he desperately gasped for oxygen. "Of course we don't believe you! 'Extra-dimensional demonic avatars'? That sounds significantly less credible than generic, localized fairy tales!" 

Watching Pietro violently hyperventilate while aggressively attempting to argue, Luke shook his head in profound amusement. "So, what specific, highly verifiable localized evidence would successfully convince you of the reality of our situation?" 

"Simply provide them with a highly explicit, localized demonstration of absolute reality." 

The Ancient One's calm, authoritative voice echoed from behind Luke. He turned to see her smoothly, effortlessly step completely through the impenetrable dark energy barrier, casually strolling into the cell. 

"Why are you actively present in this sector?" Luke asked, slightly surprised. 

"Several junior sorcerers submitted highly alarmed, localized reports regarding a massive, highly suspicious deployment of dark energy actively sealing this specific detention cell. I naturally assumed a localized containment breach had occurred and came to investigate," she replied mildly. 

The Ancient One surveyed the room. She offered a brief, highly respectful nod to Galacta—who was currently casually eating a handful of dark crystals in the corner—before turning her absolute, intense, highly analytical gaze directly onto the highly defensive Wanda. 

"It appears your localized sweep successfully acquired a highly exceptional, incredibly rare magical prodigy. An innate, biological conduit for absolute Chaos Magic." 

The Ancient One then slowly shifted her gaze to the exhausted Pietro. "...And a completely generic, incredibly standard localized metahuman." 

Pietro stared at the Ancient One in absolute, mind-boggling indignation! What exactly do you mean by 'completely generic'?! I can literally break the sound barrier! 

"Would you both care to actively observe the verifiable evidence?" the Ancient One asked, entirely ignoring Pietro's wounded pride. She turned to Luke and offered a slight, confirming nod. 

"Stephen has successfully completed his localized preparations. The temporal restoration protocol for the Sanctums is ready to initiate. Do you wish to observe the execution?" 

Luke nodded in absolute agreement, waving his hand to completely dismiss the dark energy barrier sealing the door. 

"Let's proceed. Galacta, come along. We are going to observe a highly entertaining, localized magical spectacle." 

Luke casually clasped his hands behind his back and strolled out of the cell, projecting the absolute, relaxed demeanor of a retired grandfather heading to the park. Galacta happily jogged after him, her mouth full of crystals. 

"Are you formally accompanying us?" the Ancient One asked the stunned twins, before turning and calmly walking out of the cell, entirely unconcerned whether they followed or not. 

The twins exchanged highly uncertain, highly suspicious glances. 

"We should immediately initiate a localized tactical retreat," Pietro whispered urgently, grabbing Wanda's arm and preparing to sprint out of the facility. 

However, Wanda firmly shook her head, pulling her arm free. 

"I genuinely believe this specific localized environment is highly anomalous," Wanda whispered back, her brow furrowed in intense concentration. 

The absolute microsecond she had stepped out of the heavily warded detention cell, she could distinctly, physically sense massive, unfathomable, highly complex currents of localized magical energy actively flowing through the entire complex. Furthermore... the energy seemed to actively, organically resonate with her own latent power. She felt significantly, measurably stronger just standing in the hallway. 

Pietro stared at her, highly confused. "Are you absolutely certain? I don't perceive anything anomalous besides the incredibly bizarre architecture." 

"Perhaps that specific lack of localized perception is precisely why that woman explicitly classified you as a 'completely generic' metahuman," Wanda teased softly, a faint smile touching her lips. 

Pietro rolled his eyes dramatically at his sister's mockery. "Well, my profound apologies for lacking a highly sensitive 'magical radar'!" 

Having successfully broken the intense localized tension with a brief joke, Pietro's expression turned serious. "Alright. If you genuinely believe investigating this anomaly is tactically sound, we will proceed. Perhaps there is actual, verifiable intelligence to be gained here." 

The twins quickly jogged down the corridor, rapidly catching up to the Ancient One, who was casually strolling toward the central command nexus. 

As they followed her, they passed through several massive, highly active courtyards. They observed dozens of sorcerers actively engaged in localized magical combat drills, generating brilliant, highly complex Eldritch mandalas and conjuring glowing weapons out of thin air. They passed massive, sprawling magical libraries radiating ancient, profound power. 

"Did you actually, physically observe that specific individual casually wave his hand and instantly manifest a glowing, geometric array exactly like the ones depicted in generic fantasy literature?!" Pietro whispered frantically into Wanda's ear, his eyes wide with absolute astonishment. "It genuinely appears this specific localized environment is legitimately highly anomalous! I am slowly beginning to mathematically accept the probability that they are actually an ancient, highly classified mystical organization!" 

Wanda simply nodded, completely awestruck. The sorcerers' complex magical exercises were undeniably fascinating, but what truly drew her absolute, intense focus was the massive, sprawling library they had just passed. She felt a profound, highly instinctive, localized 'pull' toward the ancient tomes within; she somehow inherently knew the knowledge contained there possessed the absolute capability to exponentially, massively amplify her own chaotic power. 

However, she aggressively suppressed the intense, burning desire to explore the library, deciding it was tactically safer to remain closely tethered to the incredibly powerful, highly enigmatic 'Master' leading them. 

Wanda forced herself to focus, continuing to follow the Ancient One. Shortly after, the group entered a bustling, highly active sector that appeared to be a localized street-food market specifically servicing the sorcerers. 

The absolute microsecond they entered the market, massive, incredibly rich, highly complex aromas of exotic, magically enhanced foods violently assaulted their senses! 

Both twins instantly, audibly swallowed hard, their stomachs aggressively rumbling in protest. 

While they technically possessed highly advanced, localized metahuman capabilities, their actual, socio-economic reality was catastrophically grim. They lived in profound, absolute poverty. Their daily nutritional intake typically consisted of whatever cheap, heavily processed generic food they could afford. The concept of consuming high-quality, freshly prepared, aromatically divine cuisine was an absolute luxury they had rarely experienced. 

Looking ahead, they spotted Luke and Galacta casually strolling through the market, aggressively, enthusiastically purchasing massive quantities of highly exotic snacks from every single vendor. Following closely behind them was a dedicated squad of Shadow Ninjas, heavily burdened with dozens of massive, overflowing shopping bags. 

Pietro stared at the massive mountain of food, his mouth practically watering. "Do you genuinely believe they possess the localized biological capacity to successfully consume that absolute, massive volume of nutritional matter? Should I proactively initiate a highly polite, localized diplomatic negotiation to request a minor donation of excess food?" 1

Wanda glared at her brother, profoundly embarrassed by his total lack of localized dignity. 

Sensing his sister's intense, highly judgmental glare, Pietro immediately, highly submissively raised both hands in a gesture of absolute surrender, silently communicating he absolutely would not beg for food. 

"Do you currently require localized nutritional sustenance?" 

The Ancient One, who had been walking several paces ahead without ever looking back, suddenly asked the question, causing the twins to violently flinch in surprise. 

She stopped and turned to face them, her expression completely serene. "If you desire any specific items from the vendors, please feel free to acquire them. Instruct them to formally charge the localized expense directly to my personal account." 

"Thank you, but we really..." Wanda began, fully intending to politely, formally decline the highly generous offer out of sheer pride. 

However, before she could even complete her sentence... a massive, blindingly fast gust of localized wind violently rushed past her! 

Pietro instantly, miraculously reappeared directly beside her, his arms completely, comically overloaded with a massive, highly diverse assortment of premium, highly aromatic street food! The sheer, aggressive kinetic force of his supersonic movement caused Wanda's long hair to violently whip across her face in a chaotic tangle. 

Wanda's mood instantly mirrored her completely disheveled hair. She shot Pietro a look of absolute, murderous, profound embarrassment, forcefully smoothing her hair down before hastily turning and following the Ancient One, desperately pretending she absolutely didn't know the idiot carrying the mountain of food. 

Pietro offered a highly awkward, incredibly sheepish, incredibly unapologetic smile. He absolutely refused to put any of the food down. 

Ever since their childhood home had been violently, catastrophically destroyed in a localized military conflict, the twins had been completely, utterly destitute orphans, desperately surviving on the streets. Even after discovering their localized metahuman abilities and earning a meager, highly unstable income, they could barely afford a tiny, incredibly cramped, highly dilapidated apartment in the war-torn nation of Sokovia. 

Due to the highly volatile, extremely dangerous localized political climate in Sokovia, they absolutely dared not openly display their metahuman abilities, terrified of being aggressively targeted, captured, and weaponized by the corrupt local military factions or rogue warlords. 

Their highly restricted, impoverished lifestyle meant they rarely experienced genuine nutritional satiety. Given this highly unprecedented, absolute golden opportunity to feast on premium cuisine completely free of charge, Pietro absolutely wasn't going to let his sister's pride stand in the way! 

After all, Wanda had been severely undernourished for years; she was practically skin and bones, and he was genuinely concerned her biological development was being catastrophically stunted! 

The group eventually arrived at the massive, highly complex central command nexus of the planetary defense grid. 

Luke, spotting Stephen Strange standing nervously in the absolute center of the massive room, offered a highly encouraging, casual wave. He then silently ordered the Shadowkhan to rapidly deploy several comfortable chairs and a small table. 

Pietro happily dumped the massive mountain of food onto the table. Luke and Galacta sat down, highly eager to aggressively consume their snacks while watching Stephen's highly anticipated localized magical performance. 

The Ancient One gracefully took the seat Luke had specifically prepared for her. To their immense, profound surprise, Pietro and Wanda discovered that Luke had also proactively deployed two comfortable chairs specifically for them. 

Sitting down and eagerly unwrapping a highly aromatic, magically enhanced skewer, Pietro happily urged his sister to eat as much as she wanted. He secretly planned to aggressively execute another high-speed run back to the market to hoard more food for their apartment before they officially departed. 

Wanda, unable to resist the incredible aroma, finally relented and began eating, a rare, highly genuine smile of pure contentment spreading across her face. As she ate, she curiously observed Stephen Strange standing in the center of the massive room, his hands glowing with a highly complex, incredibly intense emerald light. 

"Is the localized operational sequence ready to initiate?" Luke asked, turning toward the Ancient One. 

She nodded calmly. 

Stephen, confirming his Master's authorization, immediately nodded back. He rapidly, flawlessly executed two highly complex, incredibly precise somatic gestures, conjuring two massive, glowing Eldritch mandalas. 

The Eye of Agamotto slowly opened, and the emerald Time Stone levitated smoothly from its housing, hovering perfectly stationary in the absolute center of the interlocking mandalas. 

Instantly, Luke clearly, physically perceived the massive, unfathomable, highly complex ripples of absolute temporal energy violently radiating outward, completely permeating the entire massive command nexus! He exchanged a highly satisfied, knowing glance with the smiling Ancient One, leaning back to enjoy the spectacle. 

While the twins fundamentally lacked the highly advanced, localized magical perception required to explicitly detect the specific 'temporal' nature of the energy... they were absolutely, profoundly awestruck by the sheer, terrifying intensity of the glowing emerald light violently flooding the room. 

"This is incredibly fascinating," Pietro muttered, highly intrigued. He casually, fearlessly reached out to physically touch the glowing emerald aura permeating the air. He encountered absolutely zero localized physical resistance; his hand smoothly, effortlessly phased entirely through the light. 

While Wanda didn't possess the specific magical vocabulary to formally identify the energy... her innate connection to Chaos Magic allowed her to deeply, instinctively comprehend its absolute, terrifying, primordial power! 

Unlike her brother, who remained completely relaxed and highly amused, Wanda's face instantly turned deathly pale. She felt a massive, crushing, almost unbearable localized psychological pressure actively pressing down on her entire being. 

Observing Galacta casually, stealthily, actively eating massive mouthfuls of the ambient temporal energy, Luke chuckled in profound amusement. He then turned and noticed Wanda's severe, localized physical distress. 

Luke casually raised his hand. A highly concentrated, incredibly precise, localized barrier of pure dark energy seamlessly, silently enveloped Wanda, completely, perfectly isolating her from the crushing temporal pressure! 

Noticing the sudden manifestation of dark energy, Pietro initially assumed Luke was actively attacking them! He aggressively prepared to sprint forward, but Wanda quickly grabbed his arm, shaking her head firmly as the color rapidly returned to her pale face. 

In the center of the room, Stephen remained entirely, absolutely focused, completely ignoring the minor localized distractions. He actively, aggressively channeled his magical focus entirely into the Time Stone, meticulously, painstakingly extracting and accumulating massive, highly concentrated torrents of temporal energy! 

After several tense minutes of aggressive accumulation (and despite Galacta's constant, highly stealthy snacking actively depleting the reserves), Stephen finally acquired the mathematically requisite volume of temporal energy! 

With a final, complex gesture, Stephen violently, aggressively activated the accumulated energy! 

Instantly, the highly complex, localized temporal flow within the command nexus began violently, aggressively rapidly reversing! 

Massive, shattered fragments of ancient stone and complex magical conduit violently lifted from the floor, flying rapidly through the air, flawlessly, perfectly re-inserting themselves directly into their original, undamaged positions! The previously heavily damaged, completely ruined command nexus was rapidly, miraculously restored to an absolute state of flawless, pristine perfection! 

However, the temporal restoration didn't stop there! 

The temporal wave aggressively expanded outward, violently surging directly into the highly complex, primary control array at the core of the nexus! The massive surge of restorative energy was instantly channeled directly through the planetary grid, forcefully directed toward the three completely obliterated Sanctums! 

Hundreds of miles away, the massive piles of rubble and absolute ruin that had once been the Sanctums began violently shuddering. Under the absolute, localized authority of the Time Stone, the destruction was rapidly reversed. The shattered buildings miraculously, flawlessly reassembled themselves, exactly as they had been before the apocalyptic attack! 

As the three Sanctums were fully, perfectly restored, massive, incredibly dense torrents of highly concentrated magical energy violently erupted from their cores! 

The three massive energy beams aggressively linked together across the globe, instantly, violently reforming the colossal, impenetrable, absolute planetary defensive shield! 

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