five. ON A VERY SPECIAL
EPISODE PT. 2

Max was three seconds away from having a mental breakdown as she tried to wrap her head around everything. But, thankfully, there were a few things that did make sense.

One, there's something terrifyingly weird going on in Westview.

Two, Wanda is somehow a part of the weirdness.

And three, Max needed to find a way to leave.

A sudden knock on her door stopped her pacing and pulled her from her thoughts.

"Come in." She answered.

She watched as the door opened and in came her father holding one of the newborn twins.

Vision smiled as he walked into her room. "Are you feeling better this morning, love?" He asked the girl.

Max nodded, "Oh, yeah! Much better than yesterday, Dad. Is that Tommy or Billy?" She asked as she walked up to the crying baby and Vision.

"Billy," Vision started, "Wanda has Tommy with her downstairs."

The red-head nodded and softly stroked Billy's hand. She wondered if the twins were just an illusion that Wanda was making them see, but happily sighed when she felt the baby's soft warm skin.

She then looked up at Vision and put on her best fake smile, "Let's head downstairs, I'm kinda hungry."

Vision noticed her unusual tone and forced smile, but didn't think much of it. Instead, he just nodded and smiled back.

The three walked──(well the two grown ones walked and the baby got carried), down the stairs and were greeted by a desperate sounding Wanda.

"If you go to sleep, I promise you will be my favorite twin."

"Oh, come on now, darling. You know we both love them equally." Vision said as he and Max made it off the stairs.

Wanda turned around, "Well don't tell him that. No luck with Billy?"

Vision shook his head, "Tried reading to him, but for some reason Charles Darwin's The Descent of Man made him cry even harder."

"Not surprised." Max whispered before she walked over to the kitchen and got ready to make some Eggos.

She grabbed the yellow box from the freezer and plopped two of the waffles into the toaster. Then right when she started the clock on the toaster, Wanda called out for her to bring the twin's binkies.

Max replied back with a simple "sure," and grabbed the two blue binkies that just so happened to be on the counter.

She then walked back into the living room and handed them to her mom who thanked her.

The girl watched as Wanda placed the binkies into Tommy and Billy's mouths, but the twins decided that they didn't want them, and spat the binkes out, (one hitting Max and the other hitting Vision).

"Vis?" Wanda asked, "What are we doing wrong?"

The synthezoid grabbed her shoulder and kissed her head, "Oh, don't worry dear. We'll figure it out."

"I'm surprised you two haven't figured it out already." Max said. "You two did raise me after all. Why is it so different now?"

Wanda faced Max and shrugged, "You never cried as a baby, Max, even though it was a little odd. But you were still so obedient and happy. It's not like that with these two. I wonder why?"

The girl nodded, "Maybe you two just need some help from someone other than a teenage girl."

And right on time the doorbell rang and in came Agnes in full work out mode.

Vision rushed to the sofa and grabbed a pillow to cover his face.

"Hiya kids!" The neighbor greeted them.

"Oh, Agnes!" Wanda exclaimed.

"Agnes, I was just fluffing up this pillow with my . . . face." Vision spoke out of nervousness.

Max walked up to his side and gave him a sarcastic thumbs up. He playfully glared at the girl and nudged his arm into her shoulder.

Agnes walked over to the twins and Wanda, and placed her bag on the couch.

She then began to speak, "I was just on my way to jazzercise when I heard you new little bundles of joy were on a sleep strike."

"Oh? Who told you that?" Vision asked.

"Uh, my ears." Agnes said as she pointed to the right side of her head.

Max saw Vision force a laugh then make a cringing face after she had said that.

Agnes turned back to Wanda and started speaker again. "Anyway, Auntie Agnes is here and I've got a couple tricks up my sleeve."

"Oh, Agnes you are a lifesaver." Wanda praised.

'How are you able to hear from outside of the house?' Max thought.

Caught up in her own thoughts, Max didn't even notice the slight movement around her as Vision moved in front of her. But what she did notice was Agnes acting weird.

"Um," She started, "D-Do you want me to take that again?"

Wanda and Vision each shared confused glances towards each other.

Wanda spoke up though, "Uh . . . I-I'm sorry?"

"You want me to hold the babies, right?" Agnes clarified. "Should we just take it from the top?"

Max sucked in a deep breath and looked at Wanda.

'Why was she doing this? What was she getting out of doing this?' Those two questions were the things swarming in Max's mind.

Even unknowing to her, Max's eyes started to change into a shade of pure white as she looked at Wanda.

The said witch then noticed this, and tried to keep calm. So she chuckled and grabbed Agnes' forearm. "Oh don't be silly. Vision, let's──let's let Agnes give it a try. Maybe Max can even try after."

Maxine slightly tilted her head and stared at Wanda through her white irises.

She didn't want to hold the children, she wanted answers. And to her, it wasn't fair that she wasn't getting any.

It didn't make it better when Wanda saw Agnes still not moving and nudged Anges' arm . . . and that seemed to wake her up.

But when Wanda still saw the white still in Max's eyes, she let out a shaky breath and decided to ignore it.

Wanda and Agnes then began to laugh with each other.

Agnes then grabbed Wanda's hand and looked at the twins. "Fussy babies, meet buns of steel. We dare you to stay awake." Agnes joked.

Max wasn't in the joking mood though, so she brushed past the three adults and made her way into the kitchen. Not sparing a single glance towards anyone.

She just came downstairs to make her Eggos, and that's all she's gonna do.

When she saw the waffles pop out of the toaster, she grabbed a plate from a cabinet and placed them onto it.

Walking towards the fridge to grab the butter and strawberries, Max looked back into the living room and saw Agnes looking at her. But when Agnes caught her eye, she went back to spraying the babies with some sort of perfume.

She shook her head and grabbed what she needed. She placed the butter on first and then the strawberries.

Max was going to then go grab the syrup when before she heard some thudding going on besides her. She looked over and saw Agnes looking into a cabinet.

"Oh, don't mind me. I'm just looking for your dark liquor."

"What?" Vision asked.

Agnes stopped rummaging through the cabinet, "Not for me, for the twins! What kind of babysitter do you think I am? I'm just gonna go and check in there."

Maxine furrowed her eyebrows at the weird woman, and grabbed the syrup before she could get anymore distracted.

So she poured the sticky goo onto the waffles and strawberries, then grabbed a fork from the dishwasher and finally ate her waffles.

She let out a sigh in relief when she ate in peace and heard nothing.

'Wait a minute.' The girl thought.

She took her plate towards the living room and stood besides Vision.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the babies supposed to be inside of the cradle?" She asked.

Wanda nodded, "Where are the twins?"

"Mommy?" A small voice said.

"Daddy." The other said.

"Maxy?" The voices said at the same time.

The three of them turned around to see Tommy and Billy, but . . . toddler them.

Max's mouth dropped and she almost dropped her plate as well. (thankfully she didn't though.)

She heard a sigh and looked over Agnes who was sitting on the counter with a drink in hand.

"Kids," She chuckled, "Can't control 'em. No matter how hard you try."

Wanda and Vision hesitated for a moment, but then eased up and started to sweet talk the children. Max on the other hand was just super confused.

While Tommy went to Wanda, and Billy came to Vision, Max pouted as she thought about the small amount of time she had with the babies.

"Max?" A voice asked.

The girl looked up to see the younger Maximoff twin staring down at her.

"Yes Billy?"

"What are you eating?" Billy asked as he got down from Vision's arms.

The girl furrowed her eyebrows and tilted her head. "Um . . . Eggos, they're waffles. And I put some syrup on them. Why do you ask?"

Billy looked up at Vision who was tickling Tommy, then looked back at Max and sweetly smiled. The toddler pointed at the waffles and then to his mouth.

Max widened her eyes and debated on it for a moment. There are a lot of things wrong with giving a literal newborn tons of sugar. (she knows from personal experience as a child.)

But, technically Billy wasn't a newborn anymore. He was a full grown five year old. Along with Tommy.

So Maxine came up with a rather brilliant idea. She wickedly smiled at Billy and gave him the plate and motioned him to go towards the kitchen.

Billy nodded fast and rushed his little legs towards the kitchen.

"Well, it looks like you three have this under control!" Agnes suddenly said. "Bye now!"

The women hopped off of the counter and placed the glass down. She came over to the couch and grabbed her bag, then walked out of the house. Max thought that it was weird 'cause it was just all of a sudden. But she brushed it off and went back to her plan.

She walked over to Wanda, Vision, and Tommy, but smiled at only Tommy.

"Hey bud, me and your brother were just gonna go play right now, you wanna come?" She asked.

Without thinking, Tommy jumped from Wanda's arms and crashed into Max, giving her a hug and nodding his head furiously.

The girl laughed, "Well I'll take that as a yes then." She then looked at her parents. "I'll be responsible, I promise."

"We trust you," Wanda smiled. "Have fun!"

Max nodded and grabbed Tommy's hand as they ran out of the living room and into the kitchen. She saw Billy patiently sitting on the other side of the kitchen table waiting for them to arrive.

Once he saw the two, Billy smiled and got up from the floor. He placed the plate onto the floor as he got up and picked it right back up with one hand, (thankfully the plate wasn't too heavy.) and grabbed Max's hand with his free one.

The three of them walked through the backdoor and successfully made it to the outside world.

"Ahh, fresh air. Haven't had this in a while." Max said to herself.

She then walked to a small tree stump that they had behind their house and motioned for the boys to follow her.

Then she looked at the boys with a stern look, "Listen, don't tell mom and dad that I'm giving you this, alright? They would kill me if they figured out I was giving you two sugar."

The boys nodded and smiled. Billy gave the plate to Max like it was gold, and played with his hands as he waited.

"Both of you are too cute for me to pick," She began. "So do rock, paper, scissors."

Tommy and Billy looked at her confused.

Max then realised that they just turned five ten minutes ago and laughed at herself.

She quickly apologized. "Sorry. Let me show you."

So that's what she did . . . Maxine Barnes spent seven minutes of her life teaching two five year olds rock, paper, scissors.

Thankfully the waffles were kept warm by the small fire she had created during the "lesson". She just hoped that the food would still taste good.

"Okay, so now that you two know how to do it. Best out of three! Start!" She exclaimed.

And almost immediately, the kids started to play the game of guessing, as Vision liked to call it. He was always too modern to be naming such things.

No surprise to the red-head, Tommy one with an easy three to two. So the girl handed the plate to him with a 'congrats', and only hoped that he wouldn't get a sugar rush.

So when Tommy took a bite and didn't have a big reaction, Max sighed in relief and handed the plate to Billy. She honestly wasn't hungry anymore, so she just decided to let the twins have it all.

Max, who though this was a good idea, smiled to herself when she heard the boys uncontrollably giggle, because she thought that they just liked the waffles.

Yet, it was something worse than that.

The boys were having their first sugar rushes.

And Max soon realized that when the twins ran from the backyard and started laughing like maniacs.

"No! No! No!" She yelled.

Max began to run after the boys with pleads of coming back and in all honesty, it looked like she was trying to kidnap the two.

It didn't make it any better when she yelled "I have more waffles!". Yup, she got a lot of weird stares for that one.

It did work though! In no time, Tommy and Billy were running back to Maxine with large smiles on their faces, expecting more sugary goodness.

Maxine immediately grabbed onto the twins' shoulder and waited for a second so she could catch her breath.

"Don't . . . do . . . that . . . ever . . . again." She said through puffs of breaths.

She then looked to her side and saw the park empty. No kids were on the swings and no one was even walking their dogs.

Max looked at the boys and saw them looking at her with puppy eyes. She rolled her eyes and nodded her head.

"Go ahead."

The boys cheered and ran across the street and towards the park.

"Look both ways you mini demons!" She screamed.

❨ ! ❩

It had now been about two hours of the boys running around and playing tag in the empty park.

Max was just laying on the grass and playing with her magic. She looked at the way the plants grew as she touched them with her fingers and smiled.

Someday she wished to meet someone who could do the same things as her. Like talk to animals, have a connection with nature, make plant life, and just overall be like her. She knew it was impossible though.

She saw some movement from the corner of her eye and sat up. If another person saw her using her magic, Max would be embarrassed and overall just disappointed in herself.

Max got up and walked towards the bush where she saw the movement. She knew it could've just been an animal, but she wanted to be 100% sure.

She was almost to the bush when something jumped out at her. The girl jumped and let out a gasp in fear.

Max then looked at what fell and saw a green slimy creature with a weird body structure. She made a disgusted face and gagged at the ugly creature.

She picked it up using her powers to make sure that it didn't get squashed. Just because it was ugly doesn't mean that it deserves the death penalty.

Using her other hand, Max grew a curved leaf to make the creature comfortable, and so that it wouldn't be able to get out.

"Dart! Come here boy!" A voice whisper-yelled. "I've got your favorite!"

"You are such an idiot, Ezra! How could you lose him?!" Another voice yelled.

"Well it's not my fault you left the cage open, Johnny."

'Ezra and Johnny?' Max thought. 'Seriously.'

"Stalkers?" Max questioned.

The movement in the bush stopped and Max rolled her eyes.

"That didn't work last time, it's still not gonna work now." She told them.

The bush shuffled some more and by no surprise, Johnny and Ezra came out with the same awkward grins on their faces.

"Nice to see you again, Max." Johnny said.

She nodded her head, "Yeah, nice to see you too . . . I-I'm sorry, but what is your guys' thing with hiding in bushes?"

"We were just finding something." Ezra said through his almost toothless smile.

Max hummed, "Is that something an ugly green creature that goes by the name Dart?"

Ezra's smile fell. "No. B-But if you did see that, then which way did it go? Not that I'm trying to find it or anything, but──"

"Dude," Max cut him off. "You suck at telling lies. He's right here." Max said as she grabbed the leaf.

"Dart!" Ezra gleamed.

Max slightly smiled at him, "Do you know what he is?"

"No, not yet." Answered Ezra, "I was thinking he's part of the amphibian family though."

The red-head nodded, "I can see that. Do you──"

Maxine was cut off by two small bodies crashing into her. She looked back and saw Tommy and Billy hugging her waist.

"Hey guys. Are you having fun?" She asked.

The boys nodded and giggled.

"That's nice." She smiled. "What are you doing here then? Do you two need something?"

They shook their heads and Tommy spoke up.

"Mommy and Daddy came to have a picnic!" He exclaimed. "Look! They asked you to come over with your friends!" He then shouted.

Max glanced behind her and saw her parents in different clothes than they were in back at the house. Wanda was now wearing a multicolored crew neck and jeans, while Vision changed into a plaid crew neck and khakis. She also saw Vision setting up the picnic and Wanda placing down the boys' new toys.

She then turned back to Ezra and Johnny, and lightly smiled, "Sorry, you guys don't have to come if you don't want to. But can we maybe talk about Dart another day? I'm really interested in what species he is."

Ezra smiled with a loving sigh and nodded, "S-Sure. Maybe tomorrow if you aren't busy? Only if you want to of course. D-do you want to?" He stuttered.

Max laughed, "Of course. Tomorrow it is──"

"Max!" Wanda yelled, "Don't be rude, ask your friends to join!"

The girl furrowed her eyebrows and turned to look at Wanda.

She tilted her head and made a questioning face. But all she got in return was a wave of a hand and a large smile.

So Max turned back to the boys and sighed, "I'm sorry about my mom. Again, you two do not have to join us if you don't want to."

"I am kinda hungry." Johnny butted in. "Think you got any sandwiches?"

Max laughed, "I don't think, I know. Come on, make yourself happy with all of the sandwiches you want." Then she looked at Ezra. "We can talk more about Dart too. My father's practically a genius, so he could know what Dart is."