I think I'll miss you forever. Like the stars miss the sun in the morning sky.

As the one time every four years that everyone watches figure skating is finally here, I’ve taken it as my God-given duty to educate you guys about the complete and utter CLOWNERY and the corruption that goes on daily in the Russian figure skating scene. I’m not joking when I say this shit is like bad reality TV. A famous coach has a cult following. Politicians get asked about coaches feuding. Putin, the president of Russia, got mad over unfair scoring and dissed a Canadian skater on live TV. It’s insane.

And there is a LOT of drama going on here, so I’ll try to explain it just in time for Olympics so you guys can understand why you are almost definitely not going to see a single ladies’ medallist over the age of 17 years old this Olympics (or possibly ever again).

If the only time that you tune in to figure skating is once every four years, here’s how things are going to go. You’re going to watch the 2022 Olympics. You’re going to casually watch the ladies’ figure skating segments. And if you’re a little bit observant, you’re going to think: ‘Why is every single medallist under the age of 18 years old? And why are they all Russian?’ And if you do your research, you’ll see that not a single girl over the age of 18 years old who is non-Russian has won gold in ladies’ figure skating for the past two winter Olympics. Why is this?

Well, it all started with Evgenia Medvedeva, one of the most famous figure skaters in the world. (If your last interaction with figure skating was with Yuri!!! On Ice in 2016, she’s that girl who wore a Victuuri shirt on the famously homophobic Russian national television, got illustrated into YOI official art, and did a routine to Sailor Moon. So. She’s really awesome and my favourite.)

Anyway, Evgenia won everything in the 2016 and 2017 seasons. She completed a Grand Slam twice, which is when a skater wins literally every major competition, at the ages of 16 and 17. Those two years were called the Evgenia dominance era, because she just kept winning. It was insane. She was Miss Stability because she literally never fell, she was reliable, she was unbeatable, she was the favourite to win the 2018 Olympics.

And then, just in time for the Olympics, at the old age of 18 years old, she started to fail.

The first time she fell in competition after two long years of straight clean programs, people thought it was a fluke. But then she fell again, and again, and again. And her younger, less injured teammate, 15yo Alina Zagitova, started to take the spotlight. Alina wasn’t struggling with back problems or a broken foot like Evgenia. Alina was born in the right year, at the right time, which made her 15 years old just in time to qualify for the Olympics, and she won the gold medal for ladies’ figure skating. Meanwhile, the favourite to win the Olympics won silver, being pushed aside for her younger and healthier teammate.

Now you might think, wow, that’s really sad. But it was just a one-time thing, right? Alina will surely go on to have the long and fruitful career that Evgenia, by some fluke of the universe, didn’t get to have. Right?

Wrong. Alina retires at the ripe age of 17 years old after peaking at 15 and the figure skating world. Goes. Crazy, because now people are beginning to notice a pattern. It started with Yulia Lipnitskaya, 15 years old at the Sochi Olympics, who skated the best programs of her entire life and retired soon after. It continued with Evgenia, who peaked at 16 and 17 and then developed chronic injuries that make her unable to turn her back to the left (a horrifying statement she revealed in a recent interview), and then with Alina, who skated her best at 15 and ‘took a break’ at 17, which fans have dubbed the ‘expiration date’.

Now, you might be remembering the figure skating greats like Yuna Kim, Michelle Kwan, Mao Asada. They didn’t retire at 17. This is not normal. This was not even close to the norm ten years ago, but now we’re heading into Beijing 2022 and a 15 year old is the favourite to win gold. So what is the the common factor that caused all these skaters to retire at 17, 18, 19?

The answer? Eteri Tutberidze, a famous Russian coach with a monopoly on ladies’ figure skating. Her students, which include Yulia, Evgenia, and Alina, have won literally every single competition under the sun for the past few years. And one by one, without fail, all her students have broken their bodies by the time they reach 17-18. She has never been able to successfully coach a student over 18 years old, but she doesn’t need to, because when one girl gets too old, three will come to replace her. If you’re talking solely about results, then sure, Eteri is a great coach. When her students shine, they shine bright. They’re one-season wonders, winning everything. But they’re one-season wonders, so after a few seasons, they’re replaced by the newest girl, the girl who’s 15 at the right time, younger and less injured. Why is this? Why don’t these skaters have longevity?

Well, it’s because of the body type you need to have to land jumps in figure skating. In skating, there are jumps called triples (where you rotate three times in the air) and quads (where you rotate four times). Quads were practically unheard of in ladies’ figure skating until 2018. That’s how recent they are. A quad in ladies’ fs has never even been landed at the Olympics before. This is because quads are insanely hard to do, and normally they require a lot of muscle, strength and grit to power through the four rotations in the air. Before 2018, the last quad jump had been landed by Miki Ando in 2002. 16 years before the next quad.

Before 2018, the highest technical jumps women did were the triples. Then Alexandra Trusova (aka Quad Queen Sasha Trusova aka the one to root for in the 2022 Olympics) came along and fucked shit up landed a quad toe loop at the age of 13. Sasha is the first female skater to land the quad Lutz, quad flip, and quad toe loop jumps, the second to land the quad Salchow (after Miki Ando), and the first to land two and three ratified quads in a free skate. She started the Quad Revolution and basically ensured that all the girls competing with her had to have quad jumps or a triple axel in order to win over her. And they did. Anna Shcherbakova, Kamila Valieva, Sofia Akatyeva, Adeliia Petrosian, all started landing quads too.

And that’s all well and good and all, yay for technical advancements or whatever, except that the reason quads started booming in the ladies’ was because a certain coach had figured out that you don’t need to be made of muscle, or have years of training, or experience to land a quad.

No. You just need very, very low body weight.

Yeah. Now you see where I’m going.

Girls have started landing quads like never before. At the junior levels (>15yos), it’s become commonplace to see Russian preteen girls train quads as if they’re jumping machines. Teenage girls have the perfect body type to quickly rotate four times in the air- a slender frame, narrow hips and short height. And once they hit puberty, it’s over. Quads rely in pulling in all your body weight as closely as possible to your centre, allowing you to maximise your speed of rotation- but you can’t pull in hips or a chest. That’s why most female figure skaters lose their jumps after puberty, and why so far only teenage girls have managed to land quads. And how do you delay puberty as long as possible so you can keep winning for as long as you possibly can? Well, it’s simple. You just don’t eat.

Even before the Quad Revolution, Tutberidze’s skaters relied on their low body weight to do triple jumps so much that during the 2014 Olympics, 15yo Yulia Lipnitskaya had to subsist on a diet of entirely powdered substances. The girl did not eat a single tangible meal the entire time. And by the time the 2018 Olympics rolled around, Tutberidze had forbidden 18yo Evgenia and 15yo Alina from drinking water for fear that a few grams of water weight might affect their aerodynamics. Alina mentioned in an interview that they could only rinse their mouths out with water and spit it back out.

The thing about quads is that no one really knows the long-term effects they can have on these teenage girls’ health, as the oldest girl to land regular quads turns 18 this year in 2022. However, Evgenia Medvedeva only did triple-triple jumps her entire career, and she ended up with a broken foot and can’t even turn her back to the left. So. Whatever the long-term effects are, they’re going to be bad. 15yo Daria Usacheva was supposed to be a strong contender this year, but a hip fracture during practice at the NHK Trophy made her unexpectedly withdraw. Alena Kanysheva lands a quad at 14 and retires at 16. And still, still even younger girls will come to replace them and drive older skaters who can’t land quads anymore out of the sport. Ladies’ figure skating has turned into a sport where 15 year olds dominate for one or two seasons, and get traded in for newer and less injured skaters.

And it’s not like the girls themselves aren’t painfully aware of this- Sofia Samodelkina barely missed the cutoff age for the Beijing 2022 Olympics at 14 years old, and she revealed in an interview that she prays every night for them to be postponed to 2023 because she knows that when she turns 18yos in 2026, she won’t be able to compete with the younger and stronger 15yos. Evgenia knew that she couldn’t stay with Eteri once she turned 18, because the technique no longer worked, so she left Eteri to be coached by Brian Orser (but forgot to send Eteri flowers for thanking her for being such a great coach so Eteri went on a smear campaign against her and showed Evgenia ghosting her texts on Russian national television). Then judges started underscoring Evgenia just for the crime of training under the ‘wrong’ coach, so she had to return to Eteri.

So if everyone knows that this is going on- if everyone is aware that figure skating is built on the broken bodies of young girls who sacrifice their long-term health for the sport only to be cast aside at 17 years old- is anyone doing anything about Tutberidze’s borderline abusive training methods?

Well. The ISU (international skating union) gave Eteri an award for Best Coach, if that’s what you mean by ‘doing something about it’. Because apparently they don’t give a fuck that these girls are being used like products and discarded just as quickly as they come. They just care that her girls win.

And win they do. Enter: the 3A, the trio of elite Russian figure skaters Anna Shcherbakova, Aliona Kostornaia and Alexandra Trusova (nicknamed the 3A because all their names start with an a but everyone calls Alexandra as Sasha).

The 3A won every. Major. Competition. During the 2020 season. They didn’t let anyone else on that damn podium. They were playing musical chairs with those three podium spots. The main surprise when you watched fs wasn’t ‘omg who will podium’ but ‘omg in which order will 3A podium’. And if you recall, 2020 is the year our reigning Olympic champion Alina Zagitova turned 17, so she was already on her way out. Anna was 15, Sasha was 15 and Aliona was 16- optimal ages in figure skating. Aliona didn’t have quads, but she had a beautiful triple axel and artistry, while Sasha had pure raw athleticism and Anna fell somewhere in the middle. But unfortunately, they weren’t born in the right year. By the time the qualifiers for the Beijing Olympics rolled around, Anna and Sasha were 17 and Aliona was 18, and a new face entered and broke nine world records in her debut season alone- Kamila Valieva.

Kamila is, supposedly, better than all the girls who came before her. (Even though I still like Aliona better.) She has the artistry and consistency that Sasha lacked and the quads that Aliona lacked. She’s the full package of everything a skater should be, and she’s 15 years old in an Olympic year. She has it all, and tbh doesn’t really have any other competition. Anna and Sasha are still leagues ahead of everyone else but if they’re as unreachable as kings, Kamila is as unbeatable as a god. Kamila, Sasha and Anna are the three skaters representing Russia at Beijing (Aliona withdrew from this season due to a hand fracture she’s ‘not allowed to talk about’.). Anna is almost definitely injured nine ways to hell, Sasha is probably injured too, so Kamila is probably the only one who’s like. Even moderately healthy out of the Russian girls, if you discount the fact that she’s like severely underweight. Idk if she’ll be the one to break the cycle, but hopefully this monopoly on ladies’ fs ends soon and new rules are put in place to stop girls giving themselves chronic injuries by the time they turn 16.

Anyway, that’s the summary on the figure skating drama. Please cheer for Sasha and Anna! I want Sasha to be the first person to land a quad at Olys because she was the one who started this whole quad revolution so it’s only right that she should finish it. Wow this took me a long time to write and we only covered the tip of the iceberg. Hope you guys enjoy the Beijing Olympics btw happy cny 祝大家新年快樂, 身體健康 (god knows they need it) 心想事成 etc etc

Edit: Hi, it’s op here! I regret my poor choice of words in calling this as ‘drama’, I meant to refer to the ‘drama’ as all the issues I mentioned in the first paragraph like Putin dissing a Canadian skater unfair judging scores home bias etc etc, but I guess it was misread as the fact that I was calling this institutionalised child abuse ‘drama’. I wrote this post to bring attention to the child abuse happening because I think it’s wrong and unfair that no one is doing anything about it and I do NOT mean to trivialise it as drama. Sorry this was such a poor choice of words cuz I was fr gonna talk about those whole other stories but then I got sidetracked with this whole thing and I forgot to change the words ‘drama’ 😭😭😭 Thank you so much for understanding 😭😭😭

The Third Maximoff: Chapter 12

A/N: Sorry this is so late life has been hectic. From here on in the updates will be sporadic as I’m starting very important exams in the following year (feb-nov). I’m also sorry it’s so short but I’m just trying to get back into writing this story.

Summary: What if the Avengers didn’t find the last HYDRA base? What if Pietro and Wanda weren’t the only enhanced? Or Maximoff’s? What if the Avengers were going to take on their greatest challenge yet? What if she was a 13-year-old girl who had to live with them? What if she once tried to kill Clint and Nat, and nobody knew but them?

Warnings: Mentions of Violence, Slight mentions Torture and Swearing, Infinity War Spoilers

Why is always a man before the woman? All throughout history men have forced us down. They fought to keep us down. But why? Because they're afraid of us because we hold the power to end them if we wanted to. And it's easier than snapping our fingers. But they don't want us to know that because it threatens their toxic masculinity.

We will be the ones to kill Thanos if Tony doesn't kill himself trying.

Tony would almost certainly end up sacrificing himself to save the world he did have a bit of a death wish if I’m honest. But he has to know there is a way where he doesn’t die. A way where everyone lives. A way that is so easy to pull off no one would think of it. A way that involves trust, ghosts, magic and maybe a bit of physics. All I needed was…

While I was in the middle of my thoughts I heard something hit the barrier. Something large and dangerous. Over the speakers, I could hear the others talking and the all too familiar sound of burning flesh.

I shot Wanda a pleading look attempting to get permission to go and help. Because for too long I’ve sat in the shadows and watched, soon I’ll be out of practice and I’ve been training for too long for that to happen.

It would be even more of a waste of childhood than mine already was. I’m 14 yet I haven’t had one day that seems normal. And today was no exception.

Today I’m in a country that wants nothing to do with the rest of the world, standing next to my sister whose nickname is the Scarlet Witch and her sentient toaster of a boyfriend about to run away to fight a giant alien who looks like a grape and his minions when I could be helping my friends plan a float for the New York City Pride parade. Life is messed up sometimes.

“Yulia I’m going out there. Stay here with Shuri and Vision. Please. I’ve already lost my twin brother I don’t need to lose my little sister again.”

“Fine but one scratch on you and I’m coming with the intent to kill everyone no matter what.”

The thing is Wanda had already lost me. The me she thought I was. It was just a figment of her imagination. And I mean who listens to their siblings? Certainly, not the girl who’s whole life has revolved around a fight. But this fight isn’t about causing chaos but stopping it. And I wanted to help. In the words of a friend, ‘I have red in my ledger and I’d like to wipe it out.’

“Can you handle this yourself?” I asked the guards present motioning a gesture which I hoped could explain what I couldn’t find the words for.

They simply nodded their heads and saluted me. It was nice to be around army personnel again.

“Shuri I’m going out there I know how to win,” That was all I had to say for her to let me go and hopefully save her brother.

Before I left I had to try to use a power I haven’t since I was a kid with Kat and Ruby. My telepathy. Reach out to the other avengers and try to tell them what to do and hope that for once they’d listen to a kid.

Now I know you probably think they’re older they have more experience. Well, fuck that. I know how to win and if they won’t listen half of everything will die and I’m not going to let that happen. I can’t lose my family, not again.

“So are you sure this will work Yulia?” Kat asked as I landed in the middle of the battlefield already fighting.

“If it doesn't, I'll be joining you kit kat so let’s be positive. Please.”

“I’ll try.”

“How’s it looking up there, boys?” I asked Sam and Rhodey through my earpiece.

“Could use some help if you want to go out of the barrier,” Sam said back.

“Or stay with Vision like you were meant to young lady!” Rhodey responded in overprotective mode.

“Not an option any more.”

“Did you kill him or something?”

“Vision situation.”

From there I only remember flashes:

“You will die if you lay a finger on my sister bitch!”

“That was really gross.” - Natasha Romanoff, 2017.

Thor blowing everything up.

Steve attempting to fight off Thanos by hand.

Sam going down.

Wanda killing the toaster before watching him die again and I have to admit I felt sorry for her.

“Well, this is fun.”

Thanos winning.

Them not following my fucking plan.

Though by that point my mind was completely shut down. Sadly it was too late I couldn’t save my sister. I was the only Maximoff left and I didn’t want to be here. Not with all this death filling up my head and drowning out any good left in it.

It took a few hours hugs and food before I was willing to exit my mind and talk but by that point, we’d arrived back in New York and my hair had started turning red which according to Natasha is ‘completely normal’ given our backgrounds and childhoods.

“Hey, little widow how are you?” Nat asked as she sat next to me on the couch.

“My sister’s dead. My brother’s dead. My parents are dead. My best friends are dead. How am I supposed to be? The only person I consider family who is alive is you. I just want to curl up and die myself.”

“Hey it’s OK you can live here with me I’ll teach you, Russian, Steve can teach you history, Bruce can teach you science, Thor can teach you geography, and tony can teach you math. And you can come on missions with me.”

“Nat I appreciate it but you all have your own lives. I’ll just go back to school and make them proud,” I said.

“Maybe we should go to Clint’s farm for a weekend. Or Sharon’s aunt had a place in England. Or Tony has a place in Brazil or Hawaii? We should take a break together and figure out all of this shit. And maybe I can take you to Sokovia at some point and I can show you what Wanda showed me, and maybe even if we don’t we can find some movies and curl up here and binge watch a bunch of movies. Or we can kill someone, that’s always a good way to get rid of emotion.”

“You know what, lets kill Tony.”

“No. Let’s kill Thanos, make a girl team up and kill the mad titan.”

“Doesn’t sound like fun but let’s fucking to this shit. I want to kill the motherfucking bitch that killed my sister.”

Tags: @hollandroos​, @hollandarling​

Expert: The onslaught of western Russia bashing in the past days, particularly since the alleged poison attack by a Soviet-era nerve agent, Novichok (the inventor of which, by the way, lives in the US), on a Russian double agent, Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, has been just horrifying. Especially by the UK. Starting with PM May, who outright accused Russia of using chemical weapons (CW) on UK grounds, without delivering any evidence. Strangely, there is no indication where Skripal and his daughter are, in which hospital the pair is being treated, no poison analysis is being published, they cannot be visited; there is absolutely no evidence of the substance they allegedly have been poisoned with – do Sergei and Yulia actually exist as victims of a poison attack? As a consequence, Theresa May expels 23 Russian diplomats, who have to leave the UK within a week. Then came Boris Johnson, the Foreign Minister clown, also an abject liar. He said — no, he yelled — at his fellow parliamentarians that it was “overwhelmingly likely, that Putin personally ordered the spy attack.” This accusation out of nothing against the Russian President is way more than a deep breach in diplomatic behavior, it is a shameful insult. And no evidence is provided. Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, in fact, said that Johnson’s personal attack on President Putin was “unforgivable”. Not to miss out on the bashing theatre, UK Defense Secretary, Gavin Williamson, got even more insolent. Russia “should go away and shut up”. In response to all this demonizing Russia for an alleged crime, for which absolutely no proof has been provided, Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said that the undiplomatic comments meant that the British authorities are nervous and have “something to hide,”. Lavrov also strongly objected, wanted to initiate a joint UK-Russia investigation into the case – is he dreaming? – and responded to a question of diplomatic retaliation, yes, that Russia will also expel UK diplomates ‘soon’. There is no doubt that the UK acted as Washington’s poodle. In the course of this anti-Russia tirade, Trump twittered that he fully supported UK’s position. Indeed, the European puppets, Macron, Merkel, May and their chief, The Donald, signed a joint statement blaming Russia for the nerve gas attack on the former double agent, “There is no plausible alternative explanation than that Russia was to blame for the attack”. Bingo, that says it all. The presstitute picks it up and airs it to the seven corners of this globe – and the western sheeple are brainwashed once again: The Russians did it. Well, we know that. But the real point I want to make is that Russia always reacts to such nonsensical and outright false accusations; Russia always responds, rejects, of course, the accusations but usually with lengthy explanations, and with suggestions on how to come to the truth – as if the UK and the west would give a shit about the truth – why are they doing that? Why are you, Russia, even responding? That is a foolish sign of weakness. As if Russia was still believing in the goodness of the west, as if it just needed to be awakened. What Russia is doing, every time, not just in this Skripal case, but in every senseless and ruthless attack, accusations about cyber hacking, invading Ukraine, annexing Crimea, and not to speak about the never-ending saga of Russia-Gate, Russian meddling and hacking into the 2016 US Presidential elections, favoring Trump over Hillary. Everybody with a half brain knows it’s a load of crap. Even the FBI and CIA said that there was no evidence. So, why even respond? Why even trying to undo the lies, convince the liars that they, Russia, are not culpable? Every time the west notices Russia’s wanting to be a “good neighbor”, about which the west really couldn’t care less, Russia makes herself more vulnerable, more prone to be accused and attacked and more slandered. Why does Russia not just break away from the west? Instead of trying to ‘belong’ to the west? Accept that you are not wanted in the west, that the west only wants to plunder your resources, your vast landmass, they want to provoke you into a war where there are no winners, a war that may destroy entire Mother Earth, but they, the ZionAnglo handlers of Washington, dream that their elite will survive to eventually take over beautiful grand Russia. That’s what they want. The bashing is a means towards the end. The more people are with them, the easier it is to launch an atrocious war. The Skripal case is typical. The intensity with which this UK lie-propaganda has been launched is exemplary. It has brought all of halfwit Europe – and there is a lot of them – under the spell of Russia hating. Nobody can believe that May, Merkel, Macron are such blatant liars… that is beyond what they have been brought up with. A lifelong of lies pushed down their throats, squeezed into their brains. Even if something tells them – this is not quite correct, the force of comfort, not leaving their comfort zone – not questioning their own lives – is so strong that they rather cry for War, War against Russia, War against the eternal enemy of mankind. I sadly remember in my youth in neutral Switzerland, the enemy always, but always came from the East. He was hiding behind the “Iron Curtain”. The West is fabricating a new Iron Curtain. But while doing that, they don’t realize they are putting a noose around their own neck. Russia doesn’t need the west, but the west will soon be unable to survive without the East, the future is in the east – and Russia is an integral part of the East, of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), that encompasses half the world’s population and controls a third of the world’s economic output. Mr. Putin, you don’t need to respond to insults from the west, because that’s what they are, abusive insults. The abject slander that Johnson boy threw at you is nothing but a miserable insult; you don’t need to respond to this behavior. You draw your consequences. Dear President Putin, Dear Mr. Lavrov, Let them! Let them holler. Let them rot in their insanity. Respond to the UK no longer with words but with deeds, with drastic deeds. Close their embassy. Give all embassy staff a week to vacate your country, then you abolish and eviscerate the embassy the same way the US abolished your consulates in Washington and San Francisco a bit more than a year ago. Surely you have not forgotten. Then you give all Brits generously a month to pack up and leave your beautiful country (it can be done – that’s about what Washington is forcing its vassals around the globe to do with North Korean foreign laborers); block all trade with the UK (or with the entire West for that matter), block all western assets in Russia, because that’s the first thing the western plunderers will do, blocking Russian assets abroad. Stealing is in their blood. Mr. Putin, You don’t need to respond to their miserable abusive attacks, slanders, lies. You and Russia are way above the level of this lowly western pack. Shut your relation to the west. You have China, the SCO, the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), Russia is part of the OBI – President Xi’s One Belt Initiative – the multi-trillion development thrive, emanating from China, connecting continents – Asia, Africa, Europe, South America – with infrastructure, trade, creating hundreds of millions of decent jobs, developing and promoting science and culture and providing hundreds of millions of people with a decent life. What would the west do, if suddenly they had no enemy, because the enemy has decided to ignore them and take a nap? China will join you. Everything else, responding, justifying, explaining, denying the most flagrant lies, trying to make them believe in the truth is not only a frustrating waste of time, it’s committing political suicide. You will never win. The west gives a hoot about the truth – they have proven that for the last two thousand years or more. And in all that time, not an iota of conscience has entered the west’s collective mind. The west cannot be trusted. Period. http://clubof.info/

The Third Maximoff Chapter 4

Summary: What if the Avengers didn’t find the last HYDRA base? What if Pietro and Wanda weren’t the only enhanced? Or Maximoff’s? What if the Avengers were going to take on their greatest challenge yet? What if she was a 13-year-old girl who had to live with them? What if she once tried to kill Clint and Nat, and nobody knew but them?

Warnings: Mentions of Violence, Slight mentions Torture and Swearing

“You’re not real, you’re dead, this is just one of those sleep-deprived hallucinations,” She yelled back in Russian.

“Wanda calm down. It’s OK. I sent Sam and Bucky to help her stay alive. HYDRA is hunting her down. Just listen to me,” Natasha, the redhead said, though she gave me a suspicious look.

“She isn’t real! She died when she was 2! I saw her dead body! I know she is dead! I visited her rave a week ago! And if she was really my sister she would know the nursery rhyme our mother used to sing! Or have a ring!” Wanda yelled at me and Natasha completely breaking down as  I gave strategic smiles to the other patrons in the café, as if to say ‘I know she is crazy isn’t she’.

“Wanda listen to me I’m here, I’m real, I’m alive and I escaped and someone tried to kill me three hours ago! I just want my sister, all I have ever wanted was my family back, and I know that all that’s left is you. All I want is to see you again and hug you and be your sister because I love you! I love you because you are my sister! All I want is a family because my two best friends are murderers. I’m a murderer and I am only 12 years old! And only a day ago one of my best friends was shot in front of my eyes and the other one is hell-bent on destroying the world!” I sobbed at her as the others started to take notice of our conversation when I said the next sentences, “When the bomb hit I was adopted by HYDRA! I was experimented on! I was turned into a monster! I am a monster now! And I just want forgiveness from my sister! I just want my sister, Wanda, that’s all.”

“Nat, what does she mean by HYDRA?” The blond said to Natasha, alarmed.

“She said she was raised by HYDRA for 10 years, and she’s Wanda’s sister, who Wanda thought had died 10 years ago when that bomb hit her building in Sokovia,” Natasha explained to Bucky, Sam, the blonde woman and that Steve guy.

“Why did you send Bucky then?” Steve asked.

“Because I knew she wasn’t in a HYDRA facility.”

“How? How, Natasha How?”

“I heard her tell her friend she was planning on escaping using an old spy technique. The same one I told Clint where I was during Sokovia.”

“What happened in Sokovia?” I asked curiously, knowing there hadn’t been in communication with Stucker’s Sokovia base in over a year but still curiously asking so I can find out what Zumo had hidden from me, Katrina.

“We took down the base and some shit went down in the city,” Steve told me still looking slightly angrily at Natasha.

“So that’s why Pie- Ahhh!” I screamed seeing both my brother and my best friend in front of me. Why were they there? They’re both dead. So why are they here?

“What? Why Ahh!” The blonde girl said her eyes tearing away from her phone standing up looking ready for a fight.

“It’s nothing just thought I saw something,” I responded remembering what I had been taught by everyone at HYDRA. Others can’t see what I can. The dead. The Forgotten. People long gone. Though that did mean I got given advice from history’s worst and best people. Walking up in the middle of the night from a nightmare and then having a conversation with Hitler was not fun given what he did to my ancestors. Though on the plus side I did get to meet Gandhi and Mandela they were fun to meet, I got some good advice from them.

“Are you sure?” Natasha asked both spies on full alert at this point.

“Yes. I grew up with a… different perspective, so that’s all,” I return.

They all raised their eyebrows quizzically, except Wanda who just started mouthing a drawn-out ‘ow’ like it finally clicked in her brain.

After joining them for afternoon tea in the café and learning why they were in Paris and their names, I found out the blonde was called Sharon Carter and when I found out that her last name was Carter I knew I made a mistake coming here to see Wanda. I guess promises are made to be broken. I know that place is rotten and vile and they killed my only companion in my lonely life and the experimentation will be severe but returning, I feel, would be better than staying with these people who know nothing. About me. About anything.

So I decided to escape.

Again.

Again I put my plan into action.

Again asking for Katrina for help.

Even though she wasn’t there.

Even though she was dead.

So I re-joined the conversation after my one with the dead.

Realizing they were talking about the café, while Steve and Nat were quietly whispering about what to do with me.

So I did what I do best. Fuck up HYDRA’s plans and secrets.

All I had to do was act like I was getting more coffee, which is honestly disgusting, and let the rest of the plan pan out.

“But are you aware that the café that you are currently in sells illegal drugs and the owner is currently preparing a delivery I placed of these drugs while on the train which two of your agents didn’t notice me doing. And I was doing this so I could hand them over to a friend,” I said putting on my best HYDRA girl scout look on as I walk up to Pierre grabbing the box of macarons and looking out at him silently asking if I could run out the back door and make a run for it.

“Why? Why are you doing this Yulia?” Wanda asked tears in her eyes.

“I thought you were different than all of the other HYDRA youths,” Natasha said pointedly, discreetly getting some sort of gun from her bag, but not discreetly enough giving me time to prepare my magic and wings, bracing myself for the oncoming pain.

“Well, you thought wrong. You all did.” I stated, ready to bolt.

Tags: @hollandroos, @hollandarling