"Oh… no! Ethan, you can't do this to me!" Pietro wailed dramatically. "I just got hurt today. You can't make me suffer again!"
"Four months," Ethan said calmly.
Pietro instantly clamped his mouth shut.
On the other side, Wanda couldn't help laughing when she saw her brother's miserable expression. Watching Pietro get punished had always been one of her favorite forms of entertainment.
Ethan crossed his arms and looked at both of them seriously.
"You've had your powers for almost two years now," he said. "Let's talk about what you actually understand about them."
For a long time, Ethan had believed the twins were still too young. Because of that, he never rushed them into serious ability training. As long as they were safe and lived like normal teenagers, he didn't interfere much.
But what happened earlier that day changed his mind.
Wanda and Pietro were nearly sixteen years old now.
They weren't children anymore.
"I can run fast," Pietro answered immediately.
"I can move objects," Wanda said after thinking for a moment. "And I can distract people sometimes. Oh, and I can use my powers as a light at night."
"…"
Hearing their answers, Ethan felt a wave of helplessness crash over him.
Black lines practically covered his forehead.
For a moment he seriously considered beating both of these troublesome kids.
Deep breath.
Stay calm.
If I hit them and something breaks, I'm the one paying the medical bills.
"You two…" Ethan finally said, trying to keep his temper under control. "It's been two years, and that's all you understand about your powers?"
He looked directly at Pietro.
"And you—do you seriously believe your ability is just running fast?"
Pietro blinked.
"Um… isn't it?" he asked uncertainly. "Is there something else?"
Ethan rubbed his forehead.
"Your ability is high-speed movement," he explained. "That doesn't just mean your legs move faster. Have you never thought about the fact that in five seconds, you could do something that would normally take another person thirty minutes?"
Pietro's eyes widened slightly.
"That… actually does sound different," he admitted.
Ethan nodded and continued.
"When your power activates, your entire body enters a high-speed state. Your movements accelerate, but so does your thinking. From your perspective, time stretches out. That means things other people spend months learning could be understood by you almost instantly."
He paused and stared at Pietro.
"Which is exactly why I don't understand how your grades have stayed at the bottom of your class for the past two years."
Pietro froze.
For two full years, he had never realized his ability could work like that.
"And when your thinking speed increases," Ethan continued, "your physical speed increases as well. So starting today, you'll complete five hundred sets of practice problems every day to train your brain."
Pietro's jaw dropped.
"F-five hundred sets?!"
His face went blank again.
"Yes," Ethan said calmly. "Five hundred sets. Wanda will supervise you, and if your accuracy drops below eighty percent—"
"Don't worry!" Wanda said immediately. "I'll make sure he does them properly."
A moment earlier she had been slightly jealous when Ethan explained how powerful Pietro's ability really was.
But now?
Now she only felt sorry for him.
Watching Pietro suffer had always been Wanda's preferred strategy. And now the opportunity had practically fallen into her hands.
Besides…
Pietro, you're finally under my control. Let's see if you still refuse to call me your big sister.
Ignoring Pietro's lifeless expression, Ethan turned to Wanda.
He paused briefly to organize his thoughts.
"Wanda," he said, "your ability is actually even stronger than Pietro's."
"Then it's better if it stays weak," Wanda replied casually. "It doesn't matter. Ethan will protect me anyway."
"Let me finish," Ethan said.
Wanda grinned sheepishly and shrugged.
Ethan continued.
"Your power is far more powerful than Pietro's. Not just a little stronger—much stronger."
Wanda blinked in surprise.
"Are you serious?" she asked. "My power is stronger than Pietro's?"
She had never thought of herself as particularly powerful. Compared to Pietro's incredible speed, her abilities just felt convenient. She could move objects more easily, maybe confuse someone's attention for a moment.
But nothing that impressive.
"Because your power isn't a single ability," Ethan explained. "It's closer to what you might call origin magic."
He spoke slowly, choosing his words carefully.
"Mind control. Telekinesis. Matter manipulation. Probability alteration. Even reality distortion. All of those things fall within the scope of what your power can theoretically do."
In the original timeline, Wanda's abilities had never appeared overwhelmingly strong until much later. Her most dramatic display of power came during the final battle against Thanos.
But from Ethan's perspective, her potential had barely been touched.
Across the countless universes of Marvel's multiverse, the Scarlet Witch stood among the most terrifying beings that existed.
In one universe, Wanda simply said the words "No more mutants."
And just like that, nearly every mutant on Earth disappeared.
In another reality, a single sentence—"There are no superhumans"—erased powers from countless individuals.
Mutants lost their abilities.
The Sorcerer Supreme lost access to magic.
The Fantastic Four lost their cosmic-ray powers.
Even figures like Captain America, the Hulk, and extraterrestrial beings from the Moon were affected.
The scale of that power was beyond terrifying.
Since this world existed within the same multiverse, Ethan refused to believe Wanda's potential here would be any different. The only explanation was that her abilities had never been properly developed.
"That's impossible," Wanda said quickly. "I can't do anything except move things with my mind."
"That's because you haven't learned how to develop your power yet," Ethan replied.
Pietro suddenly raised his hand.
"Does Wanda also get five hundred test papers every day?" he asked eagerly. "I can supervise her."
Wanda slowly turned her head.
Her expression clearly said one thing.
You're dead.
Ethan ignored the silent death glare and began thinking seriously.
Developing Pietro's abilities was simple. Speed and cognition could be trained through repetition and pressure.
But Wanda's power was something else entirely.
Origin magic… that was far beyond Ethan's own understanding.
Even across the entire universe, there probably weren't many people capable of teaching her properly.
The thought gave him a slight headache.
Still, finding a teacher for Wanda had to become a priority.
Her talent was far too extraordinary to waste.
....
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