Two weeks after the Avengers formalized their protocols, Babata detected the Maximoff twins.
"Master, I've located Wanda and Pietro Maximoff," the AI reported as Su Chen reviewed intelligence in his warehouse headquarters. "They've surfaced in Sokovia, specifically near the ruins of their childhood home. Satellite imagery shows significant reality distortion in the area—Wanda's abilities are manifesting uncontrolled, warping the local environment."
Su Chen immediately pulled up the visual feeds. What he saw was both fascinating and concerning—a residential area where physics had become negotiable. Buildings phased between solid and translucent. Gravity operated inconsistently, with debris floating in patterns that defied conventional forces. And at the center of it all stood a young woman with her hands pressed to her temples, clearly struggling to contain power she didn't fully understand.
"She's having a psychic breakdown," Su Chen identified. "The Mind Stone's energy awakened abilities she wasn't prepared to manage. Without training or guidance, she's leaking reality manipulation into her environment."
"Her brother is attempting to help but lacks the capability," Babata added, showing footage of Pietro moving at superhuman speed, trying to evacuate civilians from the affected area before Wanda's uncontrolled power could harm them.
"How extensive is the distortion?" Su Chen demanded.
"Currently contained to approximately four city blocks, but expanding at a rate of one block per hour. If it continues unchecked, the entire city could be affected within twenty-four hours. Worse, the reality warping is attracting attention—I'm detecting surveillance from multiple organizations. Hydra remnants, AIM, and at least three governments have dispatched teams to investigate."
"They want to capture her," Su Chen concluded. "A reality manipulator is exactly the kind of asset hostile organizations would kill to acquire. And Wanda and Pietro are vulnerable—powerful but untrained, isolated, and surrounded by people who want to exploit them."
"What are your orders?" Babata inquired.
"We extract them before anyone else can," Su Chen decided immediately. "Saeko, Esdeath, gear up for immediate deployment. We're retrieving two enhanced individuals from Sokovia before they're captured, killed, or cause catastrophic collateral damage through uncontrolled abilities."
"The Avengers?" Saeko asked. "Should we coordinate with Captain Rogers?"
"No time," Su Chen replied. "By the time we brief the team, establish protocols, and coordinate deployment, other organizations will have moved. We handle this directly, extract the twins, and then present the Avengers with accomplished facts."
"That's going to create friction," Esdeath observed. "Rogers won't appreciate us conducting independent operations without coordination."
"Rogers will adapt," Su Chen stated. "The Maximoffs need help now, not after we've navigated Avengers bureaucracy. We move immediately."
They boarded the dimensional shuttle and departed for Sokovia at maximum speed. The flight across the Atlantic took less than fifteen minutes through spatial manipulation that treated distance as suggestion rather than constraint.
They arrived to find the situation had already deteriorated. Military vehicles surrounded the affected area—not Sokovian forces, but unmarked units that Su Chen immediately identified as mercenaries employed by one of the organizations hunting enhanced individuals.
"Babata, identify those forces," Su Chen commanded.
"Analyzing insignia and equipment... confirmed as Advanced Idea Mechanics—AIM. They're deploying containment teams equipped with technology designed to suppress enhanced abilities. Estimated time until they breach the distortion field and reach the Maximoffs: six minutes."
"Then we have six minutes to extract the twins before this becomes a three-way firefight," Su Chen concluded. "Saeko, Esdeath—disable AIM's forces but avoid lethal force where possible. These are mercenaries following orders, not ideological enemies. I'll handle the extraction directly."
They deployed from the shuttle with coordinated precision. Saeko and Esdeath moved to intercept the AIM forces, their enhanced capabilities making the engagement devastatingly one-sided. Saeko's Supreme Sword Bone severed weapons and disabled vehicles with invisible cutting edges. Esdeath flash-froze command units, rendering their communication and coordination impossible.
Su Chen advanced directly into the reality distortion field, his Indestructible Diamond Body and Formation Arrangement cultivation providing protection against Wanda's uncontrolled reality manipulation. The world around him twisted—up became down, solid became liquid, and causality became negotiable. But his conceptual existence treated such alterations as irrelevant, allowing him to navigate the impossible geometry toward the epicenter.
He found Wanda Maximoff exactly where the satellite imagery had shown—kneeling in what had been a residential street, her hands glowing with scarlet energy as reality warped around her in patterns that suggested both immense power and complete lack of control. Tears streamed down her face, and her expression carried the desperation of someone drowning in their own abilities.
Pietro stood protectively over his sister, moving in constant motion as his superhuman speed allowed him to deflect falling debris and evacuate the few remaining civilians who'd been too slow or stubborn to flee earlier.
"Wanda Maximoff," Su Chen called out, his voice somehow carrying through the reality distortion. "My name is Su Chen. I'm here to help you control what's happening."
Pietro moved faster than normal humans could perceive, positioning himself between Su Chen and his sister. "Stay back! I don't know who you are, but you're not taking her!"
"I'm not here to take her," Su Chen replied calmly, keeping his hands visible and non-threatening despite the defensive stance. "I'm here to help her manage abilities that are clearly overwhelming her. Left unchecked, she'll tear this entire city apart through unintentional reality manipulation. Is that what you want?"
"What I want is for people to leave us alone!" Pietro snarled, his accent thick with Sokovian inflection and his stance showing he was prepared to fight despite the obvious power differential. "First Strucker experimented on us. Then Hydra fell and we escaped. Now everyone wants to capture us, use us, turn us into weapons. We're not weapons! We're just trying to survive!"
"I understand," Su Chen said, and meant it. "You've been exploited, experimented on, and hunted. You have every reason to distrust anyone who approaches you. But right now, your sister is having a psychic breakdown that's warping reality across multiple city blocks. If I don't help her stabilize, she'll either kill herself through energy exhaustion or cause catastrophic damage to everyone nearby. Including you."
Wanda's voice was barely audible, strained with effort and pain. "Pietro... I can't... control it. So much power... can't stop..."
"Let me help," Su Chen offered, taking a careful step forward. "I've worked with enhanced individuals managing complicated abilities. I know techniques that can help you establish control without suppressing your power. You don't have to be a weapon, and you don't have to be a victim. You can be someone who masters their abilities and uses them by choice."
"Why should we trust you?" Pietro demanded, though his protective stance had shifted slightly—less absolute rejection, more desperate consideration of options.
"Because the alternative is AIM capturing both of you in approximately three minutes," Su Chen replied bluntly, gesturing toward where Saeko and Esdeath were systematically dismantling the mercenary forces. "Those are my people holding off the organizations that want to experiment on you. We came here to extract you before that could happen. You can come with us voluntarily and receive training, support, and protection. Or you can refuse, and we'll leave you to face AIM, Hydra remnants, and whatever other organizations are converging on this location alone. Your choice."
Wanda's power surged again, reality distorting more severely as her control slipped further. Buildings began phasing out of existence entirely, the warping spreading beyond the initial containment zone.
"She's going to kill everyone including herself if this continues," Su Chen stated with clinical precision. "Pietro, I know you don't trust me. I know you have every reason to be suspicious. But your sister is dying from uncontrolled power manifestation, and I'm offering to help her survive. Make a decision—now—because in two minutes, this situation becomes unsalvageable."
Pietro looked at his sister, then at Su Chen, his superhuman perception allowing him to process implications faster than normal humans. "If you're lying... if you try to hurt her..."
"Then you'll use your speed to kill me," Su Chen finished. "Understood and accepted. But I'm not lying. Now let me help your sister before she tears herself apart."
Pietro stepped aside, and Su Chen approached Wanda carefully. He knelt beside her, noting how her entire body trembled with the strain of containing power that exceeded her capacity to manage.
"Wanda," he said quietly, "I'm going to place my hand on your shoulder. When I do, you'll feel stability—an anchor that helps contain the energy you're manifesting. Don't fight it. Let the stability flow into you and use it to regain control."
He placed his hand on her shoulder, and his Formation Arrangement cultivation activated. The technique he employed was sophisticated—not suppression, which would have fought her power directly, but stabilization, which provided a framework that her abilities could operate within without causing catastrophic reality distortion.
Wanda gasped as she felt the difference. The overwhelming chaos of uncontrolled reality manipulation suddenly had structure, boundaries that prevented wild manifestation while still allowing her power to exist. It wasn't control—not yet—but it was containment that gave her breathing room to regain mental coherence.
"That's... better," she managed, her voice shaky but more focused. "I can... think again."
"Good," Su Chen encouraged. "Now, carefully, start drawing your power back inward. Don't suppress it—that will just cause another explosion when the suppression fails. Instead, visualize it as part of you that you're consciously choosing to keep internal rather than project externally."
Wanda followed his instructions, and gradually, the reality distortion began to recede. Buildings solidified. Gravity reasserted normal function. The impossible geometry that had defined the affected area slowly returned to conventional physics.
Within five minutes, the crisis was contained. Wanda sat exhausted but stable, her power no longer leaking uncontrollably into the environment. Pietro hovered protectively nearby, his superhuman speed keeping him in constant motion as he monitored for threats.
"Master, AIM forces are regrouping," Babata warned. "They've called for reinforcements and are preparing for a second assault with heavier equipment. Extraction window is closing."
"Time to leave," Su Chen stated, standing and offering his hand to help Wanda up. "My shuttle is three blocks away. We board, we depart, and we get you somewhere safe where you can learn proper control techniques without being hunted."
"Where?" Wanda asked warily. "Where could possibly be safe when organizations like Hydra and AIM are hunting enhanced individuals?"
"A facility my network operates," Su Chen explained. "Secured, isolated, and defended by people who understand what it means to be enhanced and hunted. You'll have privacy, training, and the option to leave whenever you choose. No prison, no forced service—just support while you develop the control you need to survive."
"And what do you get out of this?" Pietro challenged, his cynicism evident. "Nobody helps for free. What's the price?"
"Eventually, I hope you'll choose to work with my network," Su Chen admitted. "Not as weapons or tools, but as enhanced individuals who coordinate with others for mutual benefit and protection. But that's future consideration, not immediate demand. Right now, the price of my help is that you accept the help. Everything else is negotiable once you're stable and trained."
Wanda looked at Pietro, some form of silent communication passing between the twins. Finally, she nodded. "We'll come with you. But if you betray us—"
"I won't," Su Chen interrupted. "I've worked with too many people who've been betrayed to continue that pattern. You'll be treated with respect, given genuine support, and allowed to make your own choices about your future. That's not just a promise—it's how my network operates consistently."
They moved toward the extraction point, Saeko and Esdeath falling back from their defensive positions to provide cover. AIM forces attempted to pursue but found themselves blocked by ice barriers and severed equipment that made coordinated assault impossible.
The dimensional shuttle lifted off just as heavier AIM reinforcements arrived, the craft's cloaking systems rendering it invisible to their sensors. Within seconds, they were clear of Sokovian airspace and heading back toward New York at speeds that made the journey seem instantaneous.
In the shuttle's passenger compartment, Wanda and Pietro sat in tense silence, clearly processing the rapid transition from desperate crisis to uncertain sanctuary.
"What happens now?" Wanda asked quietly.
"Now you rest," Su Chen replied. "Then you begin training with specialists who understand consciousness-based abilities and reality manipulation. You learn control, develop confidence in your capabilities, and decide what you want to do with power you didn't ask for but now possess."
"And if we decide we want nothing to do with your network or the Avengers or any of this?" Pietro challenged.
"Then we help you establish new identities, provide resources to start over somewhere safe, and respect your choice to pursue normal lives if that's possible," Su Chen stated. "Enhanced abilities don't obligate you to become heroes or soldiers. They obligate you to learn control so you don't accidentally harm innocents. Beyond that, your choices are your own."
"You're very different from Strucker," Wanda observed.
"I'm very different from most people who recruit enhanced individuals," Su Chen agreed. "I've seen what exploitation produces—broken people, failed operations, and cycles of abuse that corrupt everyone involved. I prefer building networks based on genuine cooperation rather than coercion. It's more effective long-term and produces better outcomes for everyone."
As the shuttle approached New York, Su Chen contacted his team to prepare facilities for the Maximoffs. But he also contacted Captain Rogers, knowing that extracting two enhanced individuals without Avengers coordination would create friction that needed addressing immediately.
"Rogers, this is Su Chen," he transmitted. "I'm returning to New York with two enhanced individuals I extracted from Sokovia before hostile organizations could capture them. Their names are Wanda and Pietro Maximoff. Wanda is a reality manipulator, Pietro has superhuman speed. They're coming to my facility for training and stabilization. Thought you should know before you heard about this through other channels."
There was a long pause before Rogers responded, his tone carrying controlled frustration. "We discussed operational protocols two weeks ago. Independent actions without coordination were supposed to be the exception, not standard procedure."
"This was time-sensitive," Su Chen replied. "The Maximoffs were experiencing a crisis that required immediate intervention. Coordinating with the full team would have taken hours we didn't have. I made the call to act independently, and I'll brief the team completely once the situation is stabilized."
Another pause. "Alright. But Su Chen—this is exactly the kind of thing that creates trust issues. We need to be able to depend on each other following established protocols. When you go off independently, it suggests you don't trust the team to handle situations appropriately."
"It suggests I prioritize effectiveness over bureaucracy," Su Chen corrected. "But point taken. I'll make more effort to coordinate when time permits. This situation genuinely didn't permit delay."
"We'll discuss it at the next team meeting," Rogers stated, his tone suggesting the conversation wasn't finished but was being tabled for more appropriate context. "For now, get your enhanced individuals settled and keep me informed of their status. If they're potential Avengers candidates, we need to know their capabilities and intentions."
"Understood," Su Chen confirmed, ending the transmission.
"You're creating friction with your own team," Esdeath observed.
"I'm maintaining independence while coordinating where appropriate," Su Chen corrected. "Rogers wants military structure and clear command hierarchy. I'm willing to cooperate, but not at the cost of operational flexibility. We'll find a balance, or we'll acknowledge that some operations are better handled independently. Either outcome is acceptable."
The shuttle landed at the warehouse headquarters, and Su Chen personally escorted the Maximoffs to the secured facilities that had been prepared. Comfortable quarters, access to training areas, and most importantly—clear exits and the explicit understanding that they could leave whenever they chose.
"This is better than I expected," Wanda admitted, examining the space with cautious appreciation.
"We'll see if you still think so after a week of intensive training," Su Chen replied with a slight smile. "Learning control of reality manipulation is difficult, often frustrating work. But it's necessary if you want to survive as an enhanced individual in a world that's increasingly hostile to anyone with abilities beyond normal parameters."
"Why do you do this?" Pietro asked suddenly. "All of this—the network, the training, the protection of enhanced individuals. What's your actual motivation?"
"Survival," Su Chen replied honestly. "I'm enhanced myself, which makes me a target for every organization that fears or wants to exploit abilities they don't possess. Building a network of capable, trained individuals who coordinate for mutual benefit creates collective security that none of us could achieve alone. I help you because helping you strengthens the network that protects me. Enlightened self-interest disguised as altruism."
"At least you're honest about it," Wanda said.
"I've found honesty produces better results than manipulation," Su Chen stated. "People who know your actual motivations can make informed decisions about cooperation. People who feel manipulated eventually rebel, even if the manipulation was supposedly for their benefit. I prefer genuine allies over deceived tools."
He left them to settle in, knowing that trust would develop gradually through consistent treatment rather than immediate declarations. The Maximoffs had been exploited too extensively to trust quickly, but they'd been treated well enough to give his network a chance to prove itself.
"Master," Babata's voice carried satisfaction. "The Maximoff extraction was executed flawlessly. You've acquired two individuals with Avengers-tier capabilities who, once trained, will significantly enhance our network's effectiveness."
"If they choose to work with us," Su Chen corrected. "They're not acquired assets—they're traumatized people who need support and training. Whether they eventually become allies depends on how we treat them over the coming weeks."
"Understood," Babata acknowledged. "Though I should note—Captain Rogers contacted Director Fury about your independent operation. Fury's response was... pragmatic. He stated that effective results matter more than procedural compliance, and that the Avengers would need to accept a certain amount of independent operation from network elements like yours."
"Fury understands the realities of coordinating enhanced individuals," Su Chen observed. "Rogers will learn the same lesson eventually—absolute control is impossible, and attempting to enforce it just creates resentment and reduced cooperation. Better to establish mutual respect and coordinate where beneficial while accepting some independent operation."
The convergence continued evolving. And Su Chen's network continued expanding, one recruit at a time, building capability and relationships that would prove crucial when the final crisis arrived.