A cool breeze blew, and Pietro shivered a bit, but not just from the breeze. Moments ago, he was face to face with a man, who claimed to be his future self. The man spoke of things, that seemed to unrealistic and far fetched, for Pietro’s mind to even fathom. Pietro was unsure how to react. He was confused, shocked, and even just a little bit...scared. He hated to admit that, even to himself. He sat down on the cool dewy ground just to try and piece things together. *If only I had just a few more minutes with him, there is so much more I would ask. Like why he couldn’t remember all the details. That makes me think that this was just some hoax or something to scare me away from, God knows what.* He sighed and looked at his watch, 00:00, it read in military time, exactly midnight. Again he sighed and look towards the mansion. Everyone except for who ever was on monitor duty, was in bed, probably, except for maybe Steve.

*I should be in bed too.* he thought, getting up from the slightly damp ground. He began to walk towards the mansion, stopping only once to look back at the spot where he had, encountered his self from the future.

He climbed the stairs to his bedroom, thinking still, about his encounter. It was going to drive him insane trying to piece everything together. There were so many loose ends that needed to be tied. He crept as slow as he could and as quietly as possible, trying to not wake Crystal up.

Crystal. His beautiful princess and his wife, looked so peaceful as she slept. Pietro had remembered what his future self had said about what would happen to her. *I will kill her with my own bare hands, I’ll tear into her like some savage beast.* A sickening feeling came over Pietro as he thought that. He couldn’t imagine, ever laying a hand on her, not under any circumstances, ever. He climbed into bed, put his arm around his wife’s tiny waist, and kissed that little spot at the nape of her neck, that drove her crazy with passion. *I’ll never hurt you, my love, I swear to it.* he thought as he tried to fall asleep, knowing it would be impossible to do.

The sun began to rise, as did Pietro. He usually woke before Crystal, and went for his morning run around the mansion grounds. This morning was no different from any other one, despite having strange dreams and seeing hallucinations. Quickly, he got dressed and threw on his running shoes, and out the door all with in a minute.

Speed. It was his mutant gift and he loved it. While other mutants where unhappy with their powers, Pietro Maximoff was content with his. The faster he ran, the more free he felt. He loved the wind in his face and the adrenaline rush he got. He ran through a few trails in the woods behind the mansion and took his usual ‘secret trail’, that he found by accident one day. The trail led to a small secluded area in the woods about ten miles away from the mansion, it took him no more than a couple of minutes to get there.

The place was breath taking. The grass was lush and green, the trees blossomed with colorful flowers, the air seemed fresher and sweeter, but the most spectacular site was the crystal clear pond. It looked even more beautiful this morning with the sunlight reflecting and glistening on it. Pietro loved to come here and think or just to rest after his run next to the pond, and sometimes even go for that occasional dip in it. As far as he knew no one else knew about it, it seemed to be untouched by humans. He had planned on bringing Crystal here sometime, to romance her by the moonlight. *Crystal would love this place* Pietro thought and a little smile crept across his face as he continued on thinking about how he’d romance her.

He sat down for just a second and closed his eyes and breathed in some of the sweet air, just to relax him and clear his thoughts. Pietro opened his eyes and got up to head back to the mansion, he had been go far to long, this morning. He stretched his muscles and like a bullet he raced towards home.

He jogged slowly up the driveway, and through the front door of the mansion. He stopped and inhaled and exhaled deeply and continued on walking in to the living room of the Avengers mansion, only to find every single member of the team in there, apparently waiting for him.

“Good...morning?” Pietro said questioningly as he glanced around the room looking at faces. Crystal had tears running down her face, Wanda had a look of worry, Hank looked worried, even Captain America himself, looked worried as did, every other Avenger in the room.

“Pietro,” Cap began to say, and then motioning for him to come in and sit down. “We need to talk.”

“Pietro, please come in and sit down.” His twin sister, Wanda, said patting the an open spot on the couch next to her.

*Why, are all these people here...waiting for me, and why do they look so worried?* he thought as he moved very slowly, even for him, into the living room, and look his seat between Wanda and his wife.

Captain America cleared his throat. “Pietro, it has been brought to my attention that you’ve been experiencing some...problems lately, is that true?”

*How the hell did he know?* Pietro thought, and then it dawned on him. He shot an angry look at his wife. She had told them, not just Captain America, but everyone now knew about it. “Captain, I believe that it is none of your business, actually its none of anyone’s business.” he said looking directly into his wife’s eyes.

Steve paced back and forth, just once and stopped. “It is our business, Pietro. We are a team and when one is experiencing problems, we do our damnedest to help.” he told Pietro, with more irritation than concern, in his voice. He knew that Pietro, was arrogant, bull-headed, moody, and even childish in some ways so he tried not to anger him anymore than he already was.

Pietro, glanced around the room again, all eyes where watching him, waiting for him to say something. He felt very uncomfortable, he hated to be the center of attention. “Like I said before, Captain, this is none of your concern, I can handle it myself, I’m fine.”

“Your not fine, Quicksilver. Crystal, told us you’ve been having nightmares, hallucinations of blood coming out of the shower, and just last night she said that she saw you talking to yourself. I don’t call that fine,”

Crystal turned her head away from her husband, with tears in her eyes. She didn’t want Steve to say all that, she had asked him to keep it private and now everyone in the Avengers knew about it. She also knew that Pietro was not very happy with her, for telling anyone, even though he asked her not to. How could he ever trust her again?

Steve continued “Pietro, we need to figure, what’s wrong. Hank, is going to run some tests, and Professor Xavier, will be--”

“That’s it!, I’m not listening to anymore of this, I said I was fine! and now I’m going to be tested and have my mind invaded!” Pietro shouted.

Crystal, who was trying her hardest to hold back an outburst of tears and sobs, couldn’t hold back any longer. She started to cry. “Pietro, please, please, my dear husband, I only told them, because I was worried about you.” she said between sobs.

Pietro didn’t care, he got up off the couch and turned to face everyone. “I’m am going to say --”

“Pietro!, listen to us, listen to me,” Wanda said getting up off the couch and putting her hand on his shoulders “we need to see what is wrong, perhaps there is nothing, but if there is we want to find out before, it gets any worse.”

Pietro breathed in deeply, trying to calm himself.

“If you don’t want to have Hank test you he won’t and if you don’t want Professor X to come, then that is fine as well, but please Pietro, I beg of you please talk to us, or to me.” Wanda said trying to hold back a couple of tears herself.

Pietro thought about his options. He could stay and argue, but he knew he’d lose. He could run away, but then he would be acting like a child, he could stay and tell them what he had been seeing, but that would mean he would be showing some emotion and, God forbid, letting people get close to him. He weighed his options.

“I will...talk, only to some of you. This doesn’t concern everyone.” he said, and then thinking to himself, *If the prophesies are true then, this does not only concern all the Avengers, but the world as well.*

“Who’s it gonna be, Petey?”, Hank asked, like it was some kind of game or something.

Pietro looked around the room, who did he want to pour his heart out to, tell his deepest feelings to, and tell about his very strange encounter with his future self to. “Cap, Wanda, and...,” he wanted to say Crystal but, he felt like he had been betrayed by her, if he hadn’t told her any of this than, nobody else would have known either but, on the other hand she was his wife and he did care deeply for her still. “and Crystal.”

“All right people, everyone out.” Cap said motioning everyone to leave. The Avengers except for the three, began to file out of the room, some of them even had a disappointed look on their face like they were saddened because he did not pick them to hear.

After everyone had left, Wanda closed the door and took her seat next to Pietro. Crystal who was on the other side of him, moved closer, to her beloved. Captain America, remained standing, like he usually did.

“Let’s start back from the beginning.” Steve told Pietro, looking directly into his eyes.

Pietro swallowed a lump that had been forming in his throat for the last couple of minutes. He had told his sister his feelings before, he had told his wife his feelings, but this was very uneasy for him to tell Captain America.

“Go on, brother, it is okay.”, Wanda said assuring him.

“Well, I started having these dream, no, nightmares, about a few weeks ago,” he started, glancing over at Steve, who was staring directly at him. “The nightmares that I usually had involved Luna, in someway, I was alone, running through a black corridor, Luna was screaming of me, crying... When I finally got to her, I found that she was just...just a skeleton,” he said looking at the floor while he talked.

“Anything else, my brother?” Wanda asked, she could see how hard it was for him to say all of this, especially with Cap listening.

“Yes, her skeleton jumped up and said that I was to late and them laughed this horrible laugh, that I can’t seem to get away from, it has been etched into my mind...” he tried to go on but, it was so hard for him, these memories where so vivid still in his mind.

“Oh, Pietro!” Crystal cried, grabbing her husbands hand and leaning her head against his shoulder.

Wanda looked deep in to her brother’s eyes, she could feel almost exactly want he was going through. It wasn’t a mutant gift, but just that certain bond that twins share. She wanted so much just to comfort him and tell him that things would be all right.

Captain America, looked curiously at Pietro, “Is that it Pietro?” he asked.

Again Pietro swallowed hard, *How will they react to what I’m about to say? Will they believe me or call me crazy?* Pietro took a deep breath and began, “Last night I was visited by my future self,” he looked up from the floor just to see what reactions were on his fellow Avengers faces. Wanda, had a look of concern and worry, his wife looked at him with care mixed with worry, and Cap, looked as he normally did. Pietro continued, “It was very strange, it really didn’t make much sense to me. He only stayed for a few minutes, to warn me never to go to Genosha or, the world will be doomed.”

Wanda, put her hand on his shoulder, “What else did he say, my dear brother?”

“He said, if my feet touched Genoshan soil then, I would pledge my life to our father, and be at his service until his death, then I would take over Genosha.” Pietro drummed his fingers against the arm of the couch.

Captain America looked a little confused again, “Did he give you anymore information...anymore details, anymore of anything?”

Pietro this time looked at Cap, with more confidents than her had before, “ Basically, he said that all of Europe will be so contaminated with radiation and pollutants, that they will be unfit to contain any kind of life for long periods of time. He said something about humans being hunted down and killed, and mutants that pledge their life to serve me and my cause, whatever that may be. The Avengers and X-men, will be dead except for a few. He mentioned something about my reign as leader and some latent power that I have not yet discovered.” Pietro paused a second before continuing, “If you ask me, I strongly believe that this is some kind of ploy to keep me out of Genosha. Father is probably up to something.”

Steve scratched his chin, “Well, we can’t rule out the possible fact that your visitor may have been a shape-shifter sent by Magneto, but we also can’t rule out the fact that this may have been a legitimate visit from your future self.”

Crystal who had been relatively quiet, now spoke softly to her husband, so softly in fact that Pietro also had to strain his hearing, “I swear to Randak, that I will protect you my husband.” she put her hand on top of his.

Pietro smiled inside. *She will protect me.* it was almost funny, but he knew she meant well and he couldn’t have asked for a better wife. He would have kissed her if no one was in the room but instead he said in an equally soft voice, “I know.” and took her hand into his, that was about as romantic as he got in public.

Wanda placed her hand on his shoulder, “We will get to the bottom of this, brother.”

Captain America coughed, all the affection in the room was making him feel a little uneasy and he was sure Pietro felt the same way. “I’m not sure what we can do right now, but I say the best thing you can do right now is to stay out of Genosha. I’ll contact the X-men in the morning, to see if they know what Magneto is up to these days. In the meanwhile Pietro get some rest, and if you need anything don’t...” Steve hesitated for a second to think if he really wanted to continue what he was thinking, “...don’t be afraid to ask me.”

Pietro nodded and with that Captain America left the room. Finally, Pietro was alone with the two women he held most dear to him; his twin sister Wanda and his beautiful wife Crystalia. He wrapped his arms around each of them, and leaned his head on Crystal’s shoulder and shut his eyes, he felt Wanda take his hand in hers. For the first time in weeks, Pietro Maximoff felt at ease.

What he didn’t know is that things were about to take a turn for the worse.

Continued in Part Five ~Ransom~