Arcane (MCU/Anodite SI)

[Firewillreign]

The Multiverse Of Madness - Part 1



Oh thank god

Dr. Stephen Strange looked at the demonic abomination tearing up central New York with barely hidden relief.

He was well aware that wasn't a very...standard response to a gargantuan octopus like monster (damn, his life was weird) tearing up your city, but by god did he prefer it over the alternative.

People might judge him for it (nothing new there.) but when said alternative was having to watch your ex (the love of your life) marry someone else and having to try (and fail) to be happy for her, he honestly couldn't care less.

Getting invited to wedding stung.

Actually sitting through it hurt.

Being reminded of all the reasons why his relationship (the best thing that ever happened to him) broke down?

...Well.

It was rough, and objectively speaking, just another misery added to his overfilled plate.

The whispers, the barely hidden barbs and the poorly hidden (if even that) loathing members of the magical community tended to to toss his way when they realised that it had been him who lost the time stone to Thanos had taken their toll as well.

He wasn't in the best headspace, he could admit that much, and hadn't been for a while now. For the love of god, he'd come to the wedding of the woman he loved and watched her marry someone else. To hell with being a good friend, what kind of masochistic dumbass did something like that?

To say that he was one step off devolving into an emotional wreck wouldn't be too far off the mark. He was very much at the end of his rope.

Luckily, though, he had a convenient outlet for his discomfort (heartbreak) for the first time in weeks.

People fled in droves as massive appendages soared over their heads, air snapping and whistling as limbs the color of wet algae went absolutely everywhere. White suckers lined each appendage with symmetrical precision, large and pulsating visibly, to the point where he could see the rhythmic, unnatural movement from a distance away. All of the ghastly limbs converged on solitary nexus, a single wall of sea green and pink muscular flesh, a titanic eye embedded within it's core.

Tentacle Monster moved suddenly, limbs rocketing up and adhering to a building with destructive force, pulping stonework and shattering glass from sheer force. With speed that seemed almost impossible for it's lumbering form, It began to pull itself up, ignoring the droves of civilians as they screamed and raged and trampled over one another to flee.

No, this close he could feel it's dimensional resonance, feel the the distortions of energy it was drawing into itself from other planes of reality solely to exist in the physical world. It was so potent he could practically taste it.

It's metaphysical presence was powerful, but given it's size that was hardly a surprise. Magical beasts defied the law of conventional physics and biology by sidestepping them entirely and relying on power from extra-planar sources in much the same way that sorcerers did. The bigger they were, the stronger they tended to be, and though that wasn't a hard rule it was often what wound up happening. An unfortunate side affect of this was that they developed at least a rudimentary form of intelligence to match their evolved forms, which meant that he and his colleagues wound up having to go head to head with eldritch abominations the size of buildings with enough brains to make dealing with them a complete and utter pain in the ass.

This one would be no different wasn't lashing out at random, he realised quickly as he watched it ignore the fleeing droves, but it wasn't just ignoring them wither, massive bulk swivelling as it's eye focused on the fleeing civilians.

Stephen had dealt with enough of these intelligent nightmares to recognise the behaviour he was witnessing for what it was.

A hunt

And that's when he saw the girl.

...​

America screamed as a tentacle wider than she wide whipped past her , missing her by inches and tearing the fire escape she had lunged for right down the side of the building.

The screech of collapsing metal and shattered stone nearly deafened her, and she slid back, ignnoring the dust as she tried to see-

Oh shit.

The eye was fixed on her, black pupil narrowed as the monster heaved more of it's ugly mass onto the crumbling rooftop.

She backed away desperately, trying not to fall over stray debris as the entire building seemed to buckle and shake.

It wasn't going to last, she realised with a growing sense of despair. It was either death by collapsing building or death by the shifting writhing nightmare fuel that had been hunting her across dimensions for days.

Abruptly, the despair seemed to give away to a wave of seething fury, and she screamed. The appendage that had been reaching for her froze, before retracting ever so slightly in seemingly wary consideration.

The monster seemed almost stunned at her reaction, and that only seemed to piss her off more, fury lacing through her brain with so much intenisty it almost whited out her vision.

Because she was exhausted.

She hadn't slept properly in days, hadn't eaten in longer, and the terror and the sharp sting of Strange's betrayal were like hot knives digging into her soul.

Why?

What could she have possible done to deserve this?!

(She was so, so tired.)

So she screamed, and this time, for just a moment, she saw what had given the monster pause.

Or rather, she felt it.

The faintest stirrings of blue light shining over her form and a near invisible shimmer of displaced air that had her voice petering out in shock. For a moment, she felt her power surge, finally playing along for the first time in who knows how long, and her eyes went wide in wonder.

And then the lights winked out, the energy that had been building in her veins slipping away like water no matter how hard she tried to reach for it, and it, and she was right back where she started.

Looking death right in it's single, giant and ugly bitch of an eye.

Then the spell that had fallen over both of them broke, and with a hellish screech the beast fell towards her-

Light.

-Or it would have, if a whip of sparking eldritch light hadn't cracked down between them and wrapped around the offending limb with fluid grace and sliced clean through foul flesh in the same blindingly quick motion.

She watched in stunned wonder as it screeched in agony, it's remaining limbs losing their grip and sliding down after as it fell tumbled the ground, and she felt the thudding impact in her bones as a well over a hundred tons of unnatural muscle fell twelve stories down.

"Kid?"

She whirled around heart in her throat and-
Stephen Strange looked down at her with an impassive expression, and her brain nearly shorted out.
I'm sorry. It has to be done.

Not him, she reminded herself desperately, clamping down on the instinctive fear and distrust (and grief). He was gone (dead) and this was just an alternate. (wearing the face of a friend and a traitor.)

Not-Strange waved a hand towards her, something almost gentle in his expression as he took in sight of her,

"You back with me?"

Slowly, woodenly, she nodded.

(They sounded just the same, which was obvious, but right then it was destroying her ability to think straight.)

"Good to know." He nodded before a look of discomfort flashed across his features. "Look kid, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that you've had a hell of a time, and I am sorry about that, but I have to ask. What is that thing, and what does it want with you?"

...

Damn it, don't just stare, America. Talk!

"I don't-" She swallowed and shook her head. "It's been after me for days. I don't know why they keep coming after me. Str- my- friend used to say it was because it could detect the power I used."

"Power?" He looked curious, but a wariness had seeped into his posture. You didn't become the Sorcerer Supreme without having the good sense to be wary of the unknown.

She nodded, and god, she was so tired. He feet felt unsteady as she tried to stand up straighter, her head felt woozy and she considered it a miracle she was even seeing somewhat straight.

It must have been clear to Not-Strange because his features softened, and he reached out for her and her body went tight from the effort it took not to flinch. "Easy-"

A flash of rising green-

America's eyes went wide "Look out!-"

Credit where credit was due, he already raising his hands before she'd finished speaking, golden light folding into circular constructs and enveloping his form just as a tentacle blurred into motion and smacked him clear off the roof.

...​

Shit!

Cloak!

The mental command had barely left him when the familiar feeling of the cloak of levitation's internal energies washed over him, gravity's hold on his body rendered obsolete.

His momentum went from somewhere north of a hundred miles an hour to zero in an instant, physics getting flipped off a la cloak of levitation with a simple flex of his will, and he spun in mid air and accelerated back the way he came over the span of a heartbeat.

It was going to take a hell of a lot more than that to put him down.

The girl (and she was somewhat familiar, power and possibility wafting off of her. Where had he seen her before?) was otherwise occupied, screaming her head off as the latest in a long list of headaches wrapped her in one clearly uncomfortable hold courtesy of it's regenerated limb and leaped off the building, coiled muscles shattering a good chunk of the structure into dust and debris the as it shot down into the street below.

It tore through the road, screeching in primal victory and rocketing forwards with twisted, impossibly swift movements, uncaring for the damage it caused.

But always careful never to hurt the girl.

He'd assumed it wanted her specifically for whatever reason, but he'd also assumed it wanted her dead. The fact that it was dragging her away rather than finishing her off...

Curious. And more than a little alarming, but at present he more immediate concerns.

He overshot it in a moment, and by the time it raised it's metaphorical hackles and froze in place he was already diving, hands raised ahead as wheels of condensed geometric light expanded out of his palms and hurtled down, reality seeming to blur as they scythed through the air and struck home.

Tentacle Monster howled as his modified cutting spells tore into it's hide, the noise of aquatic muscle getting shredded accompanied by sprays of green blood and flesh sloughing down it's body in a grisly display.

Good.

Tentacles shot through the air, rage and agony feeling the beast's movements as it sought to extract it's bloody vengeance, but there was a very, big difference between a terrified girl who was visibly dead on her feet an experienced practitioner of the mystic arts with even a split-second to prepare.

Unbreakable. Immovable. Absolute.

He poured his intent into the world, a tangible wave of power and will shaping itself into a defensive barrier, spirals of power bound into physical form. The beast howled as it's limbs impacted it with little effect, flesh bruising and twisting as it tried and failed to break something it had no hope of overcoming.

Not that he intended to give it much time to try. This had gone on long enough.

Incinerate.

A simpler spell, less complex in it's making but not lacking in power.

A beam of blinding light blasted out of his outstretched palm and punched through the foul thing, it's maddened screech drowning out the girl's panicked scream as the tentacle that had been supporting her very literally disintegrated into ash blowing in the wind.

Good.

Levitate

As though an invisible hand had reached out and caught her, the girl was plucked out of the air and moved with speed out of sight and reach of Tentacle Monster's desperate attempts to reacquire her.

Perfect. Immediate problem dealt with, which left Stephen with a choice.

He could kill it, but the things about basic magical beasts (and yes, this thing was very much basic) was that they didn't just show up. They were either summoned through a tear in reality or created from a similar phenomenon, the energies of existence warping otherwise ordinary creatures and transforming them into something other.

Destroying the creatures tended to deal with the symptoms, not the cause. If he kept it alive, it became that much easier to figure out who or what had spawned it and how to deal with either before sending the thing back or destroying it and preventing anything else like it from being born.

It wasn't a hard choice to make. The girl was safe, he had plenty of power to spare, and with any luck tracking down Tentacle Monster's point of origin would keep him busy for a few weeks. He was more than happy to work his ass off if it meant getting away from the mess that was his life for a little while. (He was due a break, damn it.)

"Look out!" The girl screeched for the second time that day, breaking him away from his contemplation. The spell kept her elevated in the air relative to him, but her flailing had flipped her head over heel and now she was dangling upside down and panicking at the sight of the octopus from hell striking for both of them.

"Please." Stephen raised a hand in a warding gesture and the writhing limbs bounced of the golden spell array, the defensive shield singing flesh and repelling the attack with such potency that Tentacle Monster seemed to fold in on itself from the force of it's own rebounding limbs. "Alright, let's wrap this up."

He called his power to him, an amount far greater than anything he'd used so far, and began to cast.

The air shifted as he wove the spell together, the world around him seeming to brace and steady itself as he ceased relying on his own power and chose to draw from another source entirely.

Sorcerers could take in the most basic powers of creation and use it to power their magic, but experienced masters of the mystic arts could do more. They could reach across the astral realm without losing themselves in the process and invoke the power of greater beings to accomplish feats they'd never achieve on their own.

Gods. Demons. Anything and everything in between. All of them could be viable sources of arcane might.

Assuming, of course, that the being in question allowed you to draw on their power or was contracted or otherwise obligated to provide said power on demand, otherwise having your soul flayed and your body horrifically destroyed would be the very least of your worries.

Kaicellius had learned and was probably still learning that lesson the hard way with Dormammu, but the less said about that idiot the better.

Regardless, this wasn't his first rodeo. With only a second's worth of focus and a clear mind, Stephen reached across the infinity of the universe and tapped into something beyond himself.

For a moment, he felt him. a being just outside of his conscious awareness, a sentience beyond his comprehension. He didn't deign to acknowledge Stephen's presence, for the sorcerer was so far beneath his notice that he didn't even warrant even an instance of brief consideration.

And then it was over, and red light blazed out of his hands as the power heeded his call and the spell took form.

'By The Crimson Bands Of Cyttorak, I Bind Thee!"

Chains of crimson light wrapped around the wild creature, limbs bound to it's form as the power of a god sealed all hope of movement away. It screeched and howled but it could do nothing more than that, impotent rage harmless as it's freedom was lost to it.

"And now." He intoned with finality "To end this."

Begone!

Reality shuddered, the air breaking into shimmering glass like fractals as the walls of space and time where pushed apart. The beast redoubled it's efforts to escape, but the infinite boundaries of the mirror dimension were already folding around it and swallowing it whole.

A wave of his hand, a shudder of space and it was gone, falling into the depths of the said dimension and appearing to blink out of existence entirely.

He'd pull it loose when he needed it later.

A heartbeat passed, then another.

Cheers began to fill the street, civilians who'd hidden and sequestered themselves into whichever nook and cranny they could find emerging and celebrating, because at this point New York was well used to bouncing back from exceptional bullshit.

He sighed.

That was that. Now for the girl.

...​

America had collapsed the moment her feet were back on solid ground, laying flat on her back as she looked up at the sky and tried to breathe.

It wasn't doing her much good. Her head was still spinning and everything hurt.

God she needed to sleep.

Tears prickled the corners of her eyes as the adrenaline wore off, exhaustion seeping into her bones and dimming her vision.

"Kid?"

She startled into a modicum of awareness and blinked as Not-Strange's concerned expression came into her line of sight, drawing all the attention she had left to give as he knelt down besides her.

Her mind was so slow, her thoughts so muddled-

She blinked.

"Did you get it?"

The words were heavy, her speech slurred, and Not Strange's look went from mildl to seriously concerned in the time it took her to blink.

"Banished to the Mirror Dimension." He answered vaguely as he looked her up and down. "Kid, we have to go. Do you need me to carry-?"

But America had already stopped listening, a cold frission of terror kick-starting her lucidity.

Mirror Dimension?

Mirror Dimension?!

"It-It'll come back!" It took effort to get the words out.

"I promise you, it's gone-"

No!

"I can travel the multiverse."

His mouth snapped shut near-audibly

"That's why it's hunting me. Innate ability, no outside f-f-focus or power n-n-needed."

"That's...what?"

He looked at her with an expression that was disbelieving and made it clear how insane he thought she was, and she would have screamed if she wasn't so damn tired.

So she talked. Blurted out the story of her powers, her travels, and had enough presence of mind to edit out some of the less... pleasant tidbits as she tried to explain the danger they were very much still in.

"It followed me." she gasped, desperately ignoring his shifting expression and tying to get him to understand. "It followed me a-across w-worlds!"

His brows furrowed, contemplative and apparently not dismissing her out of hand, which would have been great if he wasn't being so slow. "I don't follow-?"

And then like a light bulb flickering on, she can see the moment realisation dawns on him.

"It can jump across dimensions?"

His tone was incredulous, but she didn't focus on it.

In the moment, she forgot all about Not-Strange and how to breathe for that matter, too focused on the sight of the air distorting and folding behind him as something forced it's way back into reality.

...​

It truly was something, how quickly crowds could disperse when giant monsters popped out of thin air and proceeded to rampage in their general vicinity.

But the again, New Yorkers had plenty of experience at this point.

Regardless.

It had grown bigger.

That was Stephen's second thought.

His first was something along the lines of 'I call bullshit!'

Dimensional and universal travel on the scale the girl had mentioned should have been impossible to all but the most powerful of entities, even with all the magic in the universe, but apparently everyone and their mother had a gimmick nowadays.

He wrapped the girl in another levitation spell before rocketing straight up, and not a moment too soon as distorted limbs rocketed after them, the now free (somehow) and very, very pissed off Tentacle monster pulling out all the stops.

And some new ones too, he realized, looking down at it's form.

It had nearly tripled in size, now about half the size of a small building, with too many writhing limbs too count easily.

Some kind of mutation? Actively drawing power to bolster it?

He hadn't sensed anything, but at this point he was more than willing to concede to the idea that something exceptionally out of the norm was happening here.

Whatever the case, capturing it alive was now distinctly a secondary priority. Surviving and protecting the girl took point

With a thought, power coursed beneath his skin and he shaped it, pouring lethal intent and energy into existence and condensing it into a lance of shimmering power.

Burn

With a gesture, it shot straight down, aimed for the beast's eye. His opponent raised it's ocean of limbs, reaching up to intercept-

...

What?

The lance of light struck the tangle of flesh, and rather than reduce it to motes if ash it had shattered, light spilling across the mass before shifting into nothingness.

"Did you just nullify my spell!?"

In response to his incredulous question, a monstrous screech of rang out even as a veritable army of mutated limbs shot up, farther than they should have and shit shit shit!

His shield barely rose in time to intercept the impact. As it was, he was still sent rocketing to the ground, trusting the cloak to keep him in one piece as the he poured his efforts into keeping the girl aloft and out of the abomination's reach.

An effort that said abomination evidently did not appreciate, given that the hundred of tons of eldritch muscle and power that made it up somehow launched itself across the road and swamped him beneath it's bulk.

Shit!

His shield began to flicker under the sustained pressure, and he couldn't afford to bolster the spell efficiently without leaving the girl vulnerable. He may not have been able to see her, but he could feel her all the same, and he couldn't risk diverting power and leaving her at this thing's mercy.

Worse, Tentacle Monster's flesh seemed to actively drain the power of his barrier, and he was pouring in droves of energy to replace what was lost every second.

The beast screeched a final time, and he could almost hear the victorious cry as his shield buckled and sparked-

It's movements stilled.

Stephen felt it before he saw it.

An ocean of energy, power denser and more potent than almost anything he'd felt in the physical world. Between one heartbeat and the next, the pressure on his shield vanished as the beast move...no, it didn't move move.

It was blasted back, screaming in furious pain as an arc of violet light that shone to his physical sight as much as it did to his metaphysical senses drove it clear off of him and sent it bouncing with cataclysmic force, it's bulk gouging the road work and throwing up a storm of pulverised debris into the air.

Stephen was on his feet the very next second, staring in stunned shock as more and more arcing beams of light soared over his head and carved through it's flesh, it's screams falling to the wayside as kicked off into the air and, after pulling the girl to him, finally traced the source of this latest development.

The kid was almost unassuming, at first.

Tall, late teens at most, with a caucasian complexion and black hair that blew in the breeze ever so slightly. Dressed in jeans and a hoodie, he would have blended in with a crowd easily enough if it wasn't for his eyes.

His eyes were pits of near-overflowing violet light, the same light that faintly radiated across his form in a faint aura and condensed into blinding halos surrounding his outstretched hands.

Stephen watched in stunned silence as the kid grinned and began to speak, his words echoing across the street with a layered quality that made them far too loud and impossible to mishear.

"Look, I'm all for Kaijju, but damn, buddy, you are too ugly to let live." The boy fired again as Tentacle Monster howled, it's desperate attempt at a charge cut off and more of it's flesh being blasted off of it's frame for it's trouble "Also, this was my first day out in over a week and you kinda ruined it, so as of right now, I'm in one heck of a bad mood. Which kinda sucks for you, honestly, because this next bit?"

He grinned again, and this time the expression was all teeth.

"This next bit's really not gonna end well for you."

Then he caught site of Stephen looking down at him, and just like that, he started waving.

"Oh, hey Dr. Strange! I'm Arcane! Big fan!"

...

Stephen's eye twitched

What even was today!?

...​

As always leave your comments and Idea's and if you don't like it please be courteous.

If anyone's curious, this is a Ben 10 MCU SI fic, where the mc has the power of an Anodite.

I'm going to have fun exploring the basically unknown race and their powers, and I hope you guys enjoy it too.

 

[Firewillreign]

"Oh, hey Dr. Strange! I'm Arcane! Big fan!"

A moment of distraction. That's all it took.

The beast surged forwards, a moving wall of muscle and power hurtling forwards a a velocity that was, given it's size, flat out ridiculous.

"Oh Shit!" "Oh Shit!"

Stephen and the new kid (Arcane, was it?) were of one mind.

Even as it approached, he was already moving, pushing the girl father away from him and calling a more complex barrier spell into existence, fractal shapes of orange light being woven into existence before his eyes.

He needn't have bothered.

He watched in disbelief Arcane raised both palms and purple light exploded into the world on command.

A moment later, Tentacle Monster nearly blew out his eardrums in it's fury as it rammed into a translucent, meter-thick wall of the very same light with enough force that it bounced back. The moment it hit the ground, the wall seemed to spill, morphing into a wave of purple light that enveloped the screeching monster and hardened into a solid dome between one breath and the next.

...

Fair enough, Stephen nodded, because that was a creative use of-

Of-

He stopped and looked closer.

That... wasn't a spell.

It was unquestionably extra-dimensional in nature, yet there was no intent he could detect, no will actively imposing it's vision into reality. As far as his senses were concerned, the kid hadn't woven a spell but rather propelled enough raw, unrefined power to halt whatever the hell that thing was in it's tracks.

"That was-" He started, before pausing momentarily, at a loss for words.

Arcane favoured him with a grin. "Pretty cool, right?

He snorted. Kids

"Incredibly inefficient and borderline stupid, kid."

His expression fell and Stephen winced.

"Sorry."

Right. That came out...harsher than he'd intended, but it didn't detract from the truth of the words. Spells weren't just used for the sake of versatility, but for efficiency. They were a medium by which one could manipulate reality without draining their reserves of power. That lesson had been drilled into his head during his years in the Sanctum more times than he could count.

Having a greater degree of raw power meant jack shit when you ended up using most of it to achieve simple containment measures you could replicate using spells and a mere fraction the cost in energy.

Given that this kid clearly wasn't a sanctum student, he'd wager he was self-taught, which was... rare.

Stupidly rare in fact, just like young girls who could apparently travel the multiverse and monsters who could outright nullify his magic.

Stephen's bullshit senses were tingling, but he shoved the feeling down for the moment and tried to get his priorities straight.

This mess needed to be dealt with and it needed to be dealt with stat.

"Good effort, kid. You've got talent." The boy perked right up at that. Kids, honestly. "Now, how long can you keep it contain-?"

The dome buckled and it's creator paled, which answered Stephen's question well enough.

Typical

"Uhh...Apparently not as long as I expect- move!"

The dome shattered and Stephen was already diving even as Arcane jumped up... and continued rising in a display of what appeared to be genuine, self-powered flight.

Because of course he could fly. why wouldn't he be able to accomplish what Stephen needed an ancient artifact of incapable value to achieve?

Right, priorities.

Away!

The cloak of levitation respond to his will and sent him rocketing up.

The fight was on, and seeing as he had back up, however unknown, he could afford to stop rationing his strength a little and really let loose.

...​

America had somehow managed to dose off for a an indeterminate amount of time, exhausting finally pulling he under, but it's not very long before the chaotic cacophony she was stuck in the middle of woke her right back up again.

She opened her eyes blearily just in time to see Not-Strange effectively backhand the Tentacle Monster with a wave of orange light, sending it bouncing down the street like a demonic ping pong ball. The sight was so surreal it took her a full twenty seconds just to parse, and just when she did-

"Awesome!"

- a voice came from right besides her and she screamed in startled fright, trying to jump away but abruptly realising that she once again suspended in mid-air and completely incapable of moving.

"What the f-!"

The words died in her throat as the boy stepped into her line of sight.

Or floated into her line of sight, actually, violet light wafting off of him as he moved in front of her and paused. The sight of him was so surreal that she just wound up staring up bewildered disbelief.

He was... just a guy. Her age, maybe a couple of years older, with black hair, glowing violet eyes, and wearing a grey hoodie and jeans.

And he was just hanging there without a care in the world.

"Hi!" He grinned "I'm Elias, but you can call me Eli! But, uh, keep that on the down low, alright?"

"...America?"

She wasn't even sure why she said as much, but she'd chalk it up to sheer confusion and leave it at that.

"Cool. Nice name." He flashed her a thumbs up. "Nice to meet you, but let's hold of on other introductions for just a second."

And then he turned around and started yelling at full volume.

"Hey Doctor Strange!" The boy (Eli?) called out to the man currently going head to head with the object of her nightmares, shimmering light and distorted gusts of air being flung every which way as the two of them rampaged up and down the street. "Let America go! I'll catch her and you can kick this Oodaku wannabe's ass!"

Not Strange didn't turn to face them, but there eas a very slight decrease in his flight speed-

And then she was falling.

Crap!

America was stronger and hardier than any human could ever hope to be, and ordinarily a fall from this height wouldn't hurt much, but that didn't mean it was pleasant. She would have tried to deal with it as best as she could, but the ground was rushing up too quickly she was exhausted and sore and her limbs were too slow to break her fall-

"Gotcha!"

- but they didn't have to, because a moment before she hit the ground head first a dome of purple light materialised and she slammed into that instead, only it wasn't solid. It was like being dropped into a bouncy castle, the violet light folding around her and bouncing her back onto solid ground with enough speed to have her tumble and trip over her own feet.

Irritating, but nowhere near as bad as it could have been.

"Sorry!"

Hands reached under her arms and pulled her up to her feet, the self-introduced Eli looking down at her sheepishly.

"Sorry. I've only just learned how to change the properties of my constructs. It's a work in progress."

He grinned at her, all bright and eager and shining with a low radiance, and she'd had anything even approaching a clear mind she would have thanked him for the help, but that's when the culmination of the last few dats slams into her at once and there was really no helping what came next.

America doubled over and threw up all over his shoes.

...

"Okay. I kinda deserved that."

...​

Son of a bitch!

Stephen growled as Tentacle Monster took the nth swipe at him, the injuries he'd just inflicted it doing nothing to hinder it's efforts.

It regenerated almost as quickly as he could cut into it and was resistant enough that he could feel his reserves being bled dry as he struggled to push it back.

What kind of ridiculous hell dimension spawned this thing!?

He'd find a way to track that place down and nuke it if that's what it took to prevent a repeat performance of this fiasco, but for now?

He was done.

Another wave of surging muscle rose towards him and he prepared to defend-

"Nope!"

Only for an ever so familiar shield of purple light to flare into existence ahead of him and save him the trouble of taking the impact.

Good kid. That was the opening he needed.

Pierce

The power he'd held in reserve burst forth, and the resulting spear of light was unavoidable despite the beast's best efforts.

The eye seems to widen a moment before his weapon struck, piercing through the relatively vulnerable ocular tissue and through it's internal organs, and that was just to start with.

Tentacle Monster didn't get another chance to scream before the secondary spell cluster he'd woven into the attack triggered.

Destroy

The condensed energy that had accumulated in the beast exploded, not getting off so much as a twitch of motion before hardened shards of light quite literally shred it from the inside out, flesh and bodily fluids exploding in a wave of gore and organic mists that splattered up and down the street in a macabre display.

Thank god for shield spells, because he hadn't wanted that crap on his anything.

Finally, it was done.

He spent a moment to make sure it wouldn't pull any regenerating shenanigans out of thin air, because with the stuns it had been pulling he refused tot ake any chaces, before he finally turned and-

And-

He actually had to turn back around to muffle his sudden hysterical laughter.

Oh god, this was too good.

The kids had evidently not seen that last part coming, because they'd been drenched from head to toe in god knows what, clothes dripping and reeking and faces sporting shell shocked expressions of horror and shock, like veteran soldiers returned from a war.

That wasn't what had him nearly in tears from laughter.

No, that would be the third individual who had evidently just portaled in and hadn't been any more prepared than the kids were.

Slowly, after making sure to school his features and standing with careful dignity, Stephen turned and bowed at the hip for the first time in six months.

"Sorcerer Supreme, Sir."

Wong, splattered and covered in blood and gore, glared at him with an expression of unholy fury.

"Strange"

He couldn't help it. He just couldn't.

Stephen managed to hold out for another five seconds before collapsing into gales of demented laughter.

...​

Half a country away, red eyes snapped open as the Scarlet Witch awoke.

"Fine then. The hard way."

...

As always leave your comments and ideas and if you don't like it please be courteous

 

[Firewillreign]

Getting the kids and his friend cleaned up was simple.

(The sight of Wong disheveled and covered in demonic guts was glorious and he would treasure it for as long as he lived.)

Getting an explanation for...everything really was decidedly less straightforward

"Oh, that's just not right."

Looking down at his own dead corpse, Stephen wasn't ashamed to admit that Eli's statement was very, very difficult to dispute.

"Well, kid." He sighed tiredly "When you said you had proof, I was expecting a practical demonstration or a... extra universal souvenir, but I suppose this works too."

America didn't appear to have heard him. Her eyes were fixed on the corpse with a dark intensity, and by the time it occurred to him that this very much wasn't a sight for young eyes she'd already turned around. He pretended not to notice her shoulders shaking and Eli stepping in closer to her, the murmur of soft, gentle words just barely audible.

Behind him, he felt Wong casting an array of complex diagnostic spells but he already knew that it would be a wasted effort.

His senses were sharp, and the resonance between his own body and that of his doppelganger remained clear even in death. It was unquestionably a genuine article, and by God did it open up a can of worms.

His eyes drifted back to the children, standing a distance away and huddle shoulder to shoulder.

America Chavez. Multiversal traveler through a well of innate potential he couldn't make heads or tails off no matter how he tried to look at it. Homeless, incapable of returning to her own reality and pursued by someone (or something) that could command forces capable of overpowering even his own prodigious strength.

And it was prodigious. He was well aware of the pitfalls of ego (His life and those of so many others would have been very different if he hadn't fallen to it quite so many times) but the fact of the matter was that he was an exceptional sorcerer of near unparalleled ed power and skill.

... Alright, maybe he was a little egoistic, but the point still stood.

From America's tales, his counterpart had been much the same.

But despite that, he'd been overpowered and driven so far into desperation that he'd been prepared to kill a child solely to prevent her power from being stolen.

The betrayal and cautiousness that he'd been met with once that little tidbid was revealed was an agony of its own making. It seemed that avoiding calamity by becoming a monster was a staple that extended past the limits of his universe and into others as well.

His life for the stone.

It was the only way.

He snorted bitterly.

So the multiverse was a bitch to more than just him. He'd give it points for consistency if nothing else. America's pursuer was just another item on the to-do list as far as he was concerned.

His gaze drifted to his second headache.

Elias Cauley.

Eighteen year old, prodigious and possibly self-taught practioner of the mystical-arts, and from what he could tell, the kid was gifted with of a font of raw power that was nearly unheard of even among the greatest of sorcerers... and that was just about all he knew of him.

The boy had been cagey at answering questions, and outright asking for personal information had been a bust.

"I don't know you." The boy had leaned back in his chair and shrugged his shoulders, an expression that was sheepish but decidedly firm flickering across his features. "I mean, I respect you and what you do for the world, but you're still a stranger and I don't feel comfortable discussing or revealing details of my personal life to you."

Which admittedly was fair, but he'd be lying if he said that the boy wasn't currently under a microscope. Obscenely powerful unknowns didn't get to pass under the radar if the sanctums had anything to say about it, because historically that had proven to be a recipe for disaster.

That, and the fact that the circumstances behind him just conveniently showing up were more than a little suspicious. Still, he'd stepped in and helped out.

For now, though, Stephen was content to watch and wait.

"Right then." Both of the teenagers perked up and turned their attention on him, and he sighed.

This was going to be such a headache.

"We'd better get going."

...​

America awoke a day and half later, having spent most off the time asleep, and the sensation of finally being well-rested was almost enough to leave her in tears. She didn't get a chance to laze around in the bed she'd been given, which was something she'd honestly been dreaming about doing for a long while now, but waking up and feeling rested and recovered after everything felt as close to true bliss as she'd ever gotten. That's why she wasn't even tempted to complain when a knock sounded at her door, and not fifteen minutes later she found herself walking down the halls of the New York Sanctum with some... interesting company,

"This place is a fortress." The brightness of Eli's grin could have been measured in watts, and she found that his excitement was entirely effusive as he power-walked down the hallways and forced her to keep up with him. "I mean, my senses aren't the best or anything, but I can feel the magic in the walls. Awesome, isn't it?"

"I think I can too." She admitted quietly, surprised at her own admission. Sleep or no sleep after everything that happened over the last few days and the year before that, she didn't expect to be up for any kind of half-normal conversation. Not-Strange's (and she should really stop calling him that) barely disguised interrogation had been draining and the impact of running across infinite realities for nearly a year tended to degrade one's social skills considerably.

Admittedly still wasn't entirely sure who Eli Cauley was, but he'd firmly earned his place in her good books when he saved her form becoming seafood, or whatever else that the octopus from hell had wanted to do to her. She tried not to think about it too much, because that thought ended up reminding her of the disgusting mess that Not-Strange had splattered it into. Some of it had nearly gotten into her mouth, and it took real willpower not to gag at just the memory of that near-miss, because... ugh, gross.

Enough said.

Eli seemed delighted with her answer. "You feel it too?"

"Sort of."

It was true, too. The oddest thrumming in her bones, the feel of potential woven into the beautiful patterns of wood and stone that made up the sanctum's walls. Then Eli started talking again, distracting her from the sensation entirely as he broke out into a stream of words she barely kept up with.

Not that she minded.

America had realised pretty early on that once Eli got going, he just didn't stop. He talked and talked and talked about anything and everything, from the Sanctum, the sorcerer's and the local variant of New York city to things completely out of the left field like the existence of some spandex-wearing spider guy (Yeah, she wasn't clear on all the details there.) who fought local crime and apparently made terrible puns.

It was all rapid-fire factoids and unrestricted opinions about everything under the sun, and she's surprised to realise that it's not frustrating at all, even though it probably should be. There was just something about that kind of unrestricted, bubbling joy that contrasted against most of everything she'd experienced in recent memory and wound up being as endearing as endearing could get.

It didn't long to decided that she liked Eli, which was a problem. As a general rule, America didn't get close to people. Oh, she could be perfectly polite and reasonable, but she made it a habit never to make friends. It was a solitary (lonely) lifestyle, but jumping from world to world with little to no control meant that her chances of ever returning to the same universe twice were one in infinity. Why make friends only to abandon them forever? It was rational, and the smart choice all around.

But it didn't stop her from feeling the aching, familiar loneliness. It didn't stop the hurt.

No, friends were out of the question. But...

It was useful to make allies, she reasoned. Given that she was likely staying under their protection for the foreseeable future, it was a good idea to to make a positive impression.

Just this once.

"Impressive."

They whirled to find the Sorcerer Supreme and Strange (and hadn't that been surprising, to discover that he didn't bear the title in this universe as well) approaching them at a steady pace.

"To be able to sense wards with no training speaks of very good metaphysical senses. With the proper training, you would both make fine Sorcerers." Wong doesn't smile, but he does give them a sort of half-nod, a slight gesture that had her smiling faintly. She didn't really know who the man was and had never met any of his alternate selves, but he seemed to be a decent sort.

"Technically, I am a sorcerer." Eli grinned. "I use magic and everything!"

"You are not a sorcerer." Wong deadpanned, and the tone was so flat she had to bite her lip to keep from snorting. "You are untrained and your power use is inefficient. Terrible"

"But that's a matter for another day." Strange cut in as Eli made to protest, expression indignant. "For now, though, we have a game plan of sorts. We know that someone's hunting you, America, and until we know who we won't allow you out of site. Wong's prepared a space for you among the initiates, and you'll have the full protection of the sanctums and their masters for as long as it takes to figure this mess out."

Oh.

That hadn't happened with the... previous Strange. He'd spent most of the time rambling about finding something to save her life, but the'd never shared much in the way of details and it had jjust been the two of them. There had been no other sorcerers besides him.

Here, there were entire sanctums worth of them, and if they were all going to shield... no more running, no more being chased by living nightmares on top of accursed powers that just wouldn't cooperate

It sounded almost to good to be true, but... for the immediate future... she was safe.

Holy shit.

A burst of gratitude she didn't expect momentarily overcame her, driven by a relief so heady it nearly dropped her to her knees.

"Woah." Eli's voice sounded sort of faint.

"What is it?"

"Nothing, Mr. Wong. I'm just an empath."

"What?"

"Yeah, my powers let me feel other people's emotions, and right now she feeling... wow."

To be honest, she wasn't sure what was going on there, having ignored the byplay entirely in favour of meeting Strange's eyes.

"Thank you."

She was certain those were the most profound and most thankful words she'd ever said in her life, and Strange's smile was soft and kind in a way the man very rarely allowed himself to be seen.

"Don't worry about it, kid. Get some rest, get some food, and find something to pass the time with until I get back."

She blinked.

"Get back?"

"Whoever hunts you has little to no respect for the laws of magic or the lives of innocents." Wong's expression was implacable, but his tone was laced with distaste and intimidating power. "It is our duty to stand against them, and to do that we need to find this perpetrator. Stephen will be visiting a former colleague to gain aid."

Eli suddenly perked up, startling her slightly. "Who?"

"She's...an old friend who's had a rough time of it recently." Strange winced and looked away for a moment. "But she's very powerful where it counts and has skills that can aid us greatly. If anyone can figure out who's after you, it's Wanda Maximoff. Which only leaves you, Eli."

The boy stilled besides her "Me?"

"You are powerful, but untrained." Stephen pins him with a look of intensity. "Interesting, but not involved. Thank you for your help, but now the situation is well in hand. There's no need for you to remain here if you don't wish to."

There was a long pause, and America felt a burst of apprehension.

Would he leave? And would that even be in any way wrong? He didn't have any actual obligation to say, she reasoned with something not unlike despair, and however much she was starting to like him she didn't have any ground to ask him to stay even if she had the nerve to.

Did she even want him to stay?

(She already knew the answer)

"..Huh." He shrugged. "Can you portal me to my address in New York?"

Oh. Well.

She ignored the flash of bitter disappointment, already stamping down on the sensation. It was hardly fair of her to expect a stranger-.

Then Eli caught the look on her face and paled, waving his arms around as he rapidly back-pedalled. "No no no! I didn't mean it like that. I just need to pack an overnight bag and grab some stuff. There's no way I'm leaving you alone.."

She froze.

"Come on, you thought I'd just walk out? Give me a little credit here."

There was something warm about his smile, more restrained than his usual cheer but no less genuine, and it occurred to her that she should probably talk to him instead of just staring like a fish.

"You-" She shook her head slowly, eyes still a little wide. "You don't have to-"

"Nope. I don't walk out on friends."

What?

She got the strangest urge to laugh, then. "Friends? You've barely known me a day."

His smile remained undaunted by the protest.

"What can I say? I work fast, and besides." His expression turned solemn. "There are some experiences you just can't share with other people and not become attached to them. Being splattered by exploding demon octopus guts is one of those things."

...

He blinked at the sudden sudden silence, expression turning slightly haunted.

"Okay, back up a sec. What the hell did I just say?"

"Don't think about it." Wong nodded sagely, having finally rejoined the conversation. "It's better that way."

...

"Pfft."

"Heh."

She didn't know who started first, but there was a lot of movement and a lot of feeling and by the time her vision cleared up again, she was bent at the waist, laughing and crying and just losing it altogether.

It wasn't just her, either. Dimly, she could hear Eli sliding to the floor and cackling like a maniac, Strange barely holding himself straight and even the seemingly stoic Wong ending up laughing along with them.

(They stayed like for a while, laughing and laughing, If there were a few quiet sobs mixed in, well, no one chose to point them out.)

When they finally got themselves back together again, Eli favoured her with a more familiar grin. Wild and full of thrill.

"Face it America. You and I? After that? We're friends for all damn time."

"We still barely know each other." She argued, but she was smiling now, exhilarated and doing nothing to hide it, and she could tell that it delighted it him.

"We'll get to that eventually." He shrugged, unbothered and unhindered. "Trust me, this is the start of something epic!"

And though she still barely knew who he was, she realised that she didn't doubt him at all.

...

"So... can I go get my toothbrush now?"

Stephen snorted again.

...​

A little while later:

Eli excitedly barged into the apartment, shoving the door so hard it smacked into the wall, the noise horribly starling and accompanied by the rain of broken plaster drifting down from the cracked ceiling.

"Peter!"

His roommate, having not expected such a ridiculous entrance, yelped (screamed) and jumped straight up, clinging upside down from the ceiling in a defensive posture.

Not unlike a spider.

"Eli, what the hell?!"

"No time to explain buddy! Pack a bag and let's go!"

"Where?!"

"The Multiverse, probably!" Eli ginned and his friend felt the faintest stirrings of fear. "Peter, my friend, we're going on another adventure!"

"...Eli, no."

"Eli yes!

...
​

On an unassuming farm, a woman stood and waited

A sorcerer she vaguely recognized approached, every step reeking of intent and purpose, but she payed the irritating distraction little interest, her attention instead drawn to the pages of her treasure when she felt something startlingly familiar clinging to the sorcerer in question.

The familiar, tantalising arcane imprint of the one she'd been hunting for near a year now.

He'd been near the girl, she realized with glee.

He knew where she was.

Good. Very good.

Her prize would soon be hers, and this cruel miserable reality she dwelt in would finally be cast into oblivion.

No matter the cost. No matter the sacrifice. It would all would be set to right, and she would have everything that was taken from her back and then some.

Wanda Maximoff, The Scarlet Witch, smiled and rose.

"Soon." She whispered, the image of two little boys forever imprinted in her very thoughts.

"Soon." The shadows whispered in turn.

...​

As always leave your comments and ideas and if you don't like it please be courteous

 

[Firewillreign]

Stephen Strange was proud to say that it took a great deal to rattle him.

It was an occupational hazard, after all.

Fear was a liability when your job required you to throw yourself headfirst into life-threatening disasters, one after the next. The Masters Of The Mystic Arts trained to overcome fear on the regular by dint of the job requiring level headedness and so much more beyond that. Couple that mentality with a few years of experience and very little could phase him.

So the creeping cold wariness he could feel threading through his form spoke volumes to his current situation.

"Wanda?"

"Hmm?" She smiled, all gentle warmth and kind eyes, the sun shining softly down on the little meadow they had walked through as they talked, the smell of flowers and wildlife gentle and alluring.

It should have been a comforting gesture.

It wasn't.

(Something was wrong)

He'd been reluctant to visit despite everything. Wanda had exiled herself, cut herself off from the rest of the world and as much as he had hated to acknowledge it, she had damn good reasons.

Many had suffered in the aftermath of the Infinity War, but Wanda's pain had been exorbitated, and made that much worse by her powers lashing out in ways he had yet to understand and endangering an entire town's worth of innocent civilians.

Suffice it to say, the results had been... deeply damaging, and had it not been for America's plight he likely wouldn't have approached her at all. She'd more than earned the right to her privacy, and while it may not be healthy to encourage the kind of absolute isolation he suspected she was forcing herself into, Stephen was self aware enough to admit that he wasn't exactly a paragon of good mental health himself. He had no right to throw stones from his glass house, or so the saying went.

Still.

Desperate times called for desperate measures, and he'd buried his reservations and chosen to try bring his former colleague into the fold. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, but the moment he laid eyes on Wanda it was immediately clear that something was deeply, viscerally wrong. and it felt as though his spine was made of ice. His blood ran cold at the mere sight of her.

"Why don't you bring America here?"

Had circumstances been different, had he not been clinging to her every word to gain an impression of her state of mind, he may have missed the damning slip up.

"I asked you to help the girl."

And she had seemed receptive when he told her of America's plight. When he told her of her powers. But there was one thing he hadn't told her.

"Yes?" She shook her head, confusion crossing her features. "Stephen, I already agreed to protect...ah"

"Wanda-" The warning in his tone was faint but unmistakable, and he mentally readied himself for anything. She ignored his reaction, though, and chose to flash him a resigned smile

"You never told me her name, did you?"

And that was all the confirmation he needed. One question answered. A thousand more promptly took it's place.

"No." Why did always come to this, in the end? "No I did not."

He didn't want a fight, but damn it all, Wanda was hunting a child. He needed to know, and he called his energies into being, sparks beginning to coalesce-

"None of that."

He nearly doubled over, the breath driven from his lungs as the unnatural sensation of his unwoven spell being torn out of his control wracked through his body and his nerves lit up with agony.

What was...

He paled as he processed what had just occured.

She...She hadn't broken his spell, she had unraveled it entirely. And if she could nullify magic in such a way-

Abruptly, he remembered Tentacle Monster and it's apparent ability to neutralise arcane forces. If Wanda was the one who'd granted it the ability.

He reached for his powers, trying to accumulate even a modicum of energy to work with.

Nothing happened, and his senses were blank. It was like the magic wasn't there at all.

Oh, he was so absolutely fucked it was almost funny.

Wanda smiled again, and though she had yet to cast a single offensive spell he had very little doubt she knew the direction his thoughts had taken.

"I'm sorry, Stephen." Her tone was polite, conversational even, and that made the cold look in her eyes all the more jarring. "That was an overreaction. Let's be civil."

The implied 'or else' in her words was loud and clear.

He smiled with confidence he didn't feel. "Call me old fashioned, but as far as I'm concerned a civil conversation between friends should be built on honesty."

She tilted her head in consideration, then she shrugged. "Fair enough."

He clamped down on the sudden fear as her eyes flashed blood red, thinking he'd gone too far.

But she didn't attack, merely raised her hands-

And then reality was reshaped, the lush meadow and gleaming sunlight washed away like paint as the lies were stripped away, revealing the twisted wasteland her mere presence had created.

Devoid of life, dead and blackened earth below a blood red sky. A land forever tainted.

And it didn't end there, because before his very eyes Wanda changed.

Skin pale and shallow, hair a shade too dark and features edging on gaunt, all accented by the crown she wore with an unnatural grace.

She chuckled softly as she caught sight of his horrified expression, deciding to give a little twirl before settling her hands on her hips.

"I take it that you don't appreciate the makeover?"

"What have you done to yourself?"

Stephen doesn't do a damn thing to tamp down on the horror lacing his words, and he's somewhat gratified when her smile finally slips.

"Done to myself? I finally found myself, Stephen." The smile doesn't make a reappearance, but the satisfaction and victory dripping off of her words was every bit as nauseating. "Found out who I really am, and what I have to do to make things right."

"And the first thing you come up with is hunting down and terrorising a child?"

Internally, his thoughts were a screaming mess, because he knew Wanda. She was a hero, a good person, he knew that for fact, so what in the actual hell was wrong-?

And then he caught sight of the object hovering just behind her, and a great many things start to make a twisted kind of sense.

"The Darkhold." He spoke flatly, tone about as dead as he felt inside. "My god, Wanda"

"You know of my little treasure?"

She sounded fucking delighted and he wanted to hurl.

"I know enough to recognise the Book Of The Damned." He gritted out, thoughts whirling furiously. "Enough to know that it is evil and that it corrupts anyone it comes into contact with."

He gave her a meaningful look, but she rolled her eyes and waved him off. "So you know of it's reputation."

"Reputation?" He asked with incredulous disbelief "You make it sounds as though it's unearned. Wanda, it is literally titled, in big bold letters, the Darkhold."

"But do you know of what it can do? What it had already done for me?

"No, I don't." This conversation was heading into dangerous territory "Because that would involve me reading the, again, literally damned thing and there are far easier ways to fuck myself over for all eternity."

She didn't skip a beat.

"Well, you'd know all about that, wouldn't you?"

He couldn't help but flinch.

"You destroyed your relationship with a woman who genuinely respected and loved you." Her tone was caustic, and the cruel smile that played at her lips betrayed her delight. "You destroyed your career, you alienated your friends, and when you gained your magic? When you were granted the power to stand above mortal men as their protector?"

The smile vanished just as quickly as it had come, her features darkening like thunder clouds.

"You failed. Half the universe gone with a snap and the other half choking on the ashes because of your constant, ceaseless failures."

I am inevitable

It was the only way.

He took a deep breath.

"...Believe it or not, I know that I made many mistakes. Some that I can never make up for." He raised his head and met her maddened gaze with his own. "None of that is news to me, and I'm still trying my damned best regardless. So what exactly are you trying to prove?"

"Prove?" Her words are cold. "I'm not trying to prove anything. And you mustn't misunderstand me, I don't blame you for what you thought you had to do. I know better than anyone what it means to try so hard, to fight with every bit and every kind of strength you can muster, and fall all the same. It's not fair."

She laughs then, long and hard.

"You of all people know what's like. You of all people should understand what motivates me now. You say the Darkhold has corrupted me?" She shook her head. "It's finally evened the playing field. My fate is min to control now, no one else's. No more undeserved suffering, Stephen. I've always had the power, you see, but the Darkhold has given me the knowledge I need to use use it effectively. To regain everything I lost."

...

He...

He...He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Wanda, do you hear yourself? The book is manipulating you, making you think you need it for god knows what-"

He could already tell that his attempt would fall on deaf ears, but it doesn't make the blow any softer.
"No." Wanda's immediate response was unrelenting, and the obsession in her words was suffocating in it's own right, "No, the Darkhold is the key to my getting everything I want."

No!

"What do you want?" His sudden burst of fury is evident, and her features sharpen as he makes no effort to disguise his glare. Fear had no place in this conversation. "What could possibly justify this!?"

He gestures to the ruined landscape, to the cloying, suffocating miasma of power she'd created, and she doesn't stop smiling.

But he did get his answer the very next moment.

"I'm going to take America's powers." She murmurs softly, but it's audible all the same. "And I will leave this wretched universe and travel to one where my children live."

...

Oh.

Oh.

It was almost funny, how quickly anger could shift to pity.

"Wanda." He opened his mouth, then closed it again. He was fairly certain that his next words will hurt in ways that very few other things have ever managed. "Wanda, your children aren't real."

Just constructs, he wants to say, constructs made of magic and desire and grief fit to rend the world in two. But the words don't come and she's already responding with confidence that demands his silence regardless.

"But they are." She spoke like a fanatic, he realized, like a true believer lost in religious zeal. "The Darkhold has given me perception beyond the limits of the mortal mind, Stephen. I can see infinite realities. I can see my children, living and breathing and waiting for their mother."

"I know you believe that-" He tried-

"IT'S TRUE!"

-Abruptly, his lack ran out.

She screams and the world momentarily shudders as she visibly struggles to regain her composure. "I know what you think of the Darkhold, but I know it's true."

No, she didn't know anything at all, but he for the life of him Stephen can't think of anyway to knock the sense into her when he was powerless and she could erase him from existence with a stray thought.

"Listen to yourself." He pleaded with her. "You're intelligent enough to see the inconsistency here. The book grants you the ability to see infinite realities in a way that no other sorcerer can imagine, yet somehow it covenantally can't aid you in traveling across them with your own power? Does any of that make sense to you?"

He didn't believe for a second that that hellish book wasn't actively impairing her judgement, but his heart fell as he realised that she wasn't listening to him. The words didn't even seem to register as she met his eyes with her own, tears suddenly visible and desperation marring her features.

"I just want my boys back, Stephen. Please. Why can't you understand?"

In that moment, it was so very hard to see the monster in her actions. Desperation can twist anyone beyond recognition, he knows that well enough.

Then he thought of America, of what Wanda's dreams would mean for her, and he finds the strength to harden his heart.

"What you propose to do is a violation of every natural law." Her features harden, the brief flash of vulnerability erased as suddenly as it appeared. "And even if it wasn't, I will not allow you to sacrifice a child."

"You won't help me?"

"I will not."

"You won't bring me the girl?"

"I will not."

"And nothing I say will persuade you, will it?"

"I think we both know the answer to that question."

She hums thoughtfully. "I suppose we do."

He was already trying to leap to the side as she raised a hand and blood red light lanced out and struck at him, the wave solidifying into chains that wrap around his limbs with crushing, unrelenting force.

"Gah!"

He felt his power coursing through his body, whatever nullification effect she'd placed on him vanishing in the moment, but when he attempted to free himself he found the sensation akin to trying move a mountain with a spoon.

Damn it all.

He was yanked up, helpless, and dragged through the air where Wanda hovered unrestrained by gravity. Her eyes shone with same malevolent crimson light, the Darkhold trailing behind her as she floated closer to him, expression flat and without emotion.

"I'm afraid that this conversation is over, Stephen."

No

"Wanda, please don't do this."

"I'm done listening to you." The words literally died in his throat. No matter how hard he tried to speak, no sound emerged from his throat. "I will not be denied. I will not be persuaded, or talked-down, or convinced. Not this time."

The chains tightened as she drew even closer, close enough that he could almost taste the the twisted intent she radiates with every movement.

"For the sake of the friendship we once shared, I will allow you to live, Stephen. Return to your sanctum and prepare to hand the girl to me by dawn, and we will have peace. Try to hide her from me, try to fight the inevitable?"

She smiled cruelly.

"One way or the other, In life or in death, you will all bow before the Scarlet Witch."

...
​

Stephen made it back in one piece, but only as a herald of the coming storm.

When he stumbled through the portal, Wong had been glaring at three children, Eli and America and a third that he didn't recognise, and all three had seemed to be trying their best not to laugh for one reason or the other.

Than they turned to him, saw his disheveled state and the look of helpless desperation he wasn't quick enough to tamp down on, and all the smiles died.

"Stephen?"

Wong looked at him, and he didn't see an alternative. The kids would find out in either case, so he spoke.

He told him everything.

When he was finished, Wong nodded, and he returned the gesture in turn.

The meaning was unmistakable. They couldn't let this happened. They would not let this happen. An unrestrained Wanda Maximoff armed with the Darkhold was armageddon in the making, and Masters of the Mystic Arts were duty-bound to stop her on principal.

Regardless of the consequences, they would stand their ground and fight to the very end. If death was the price they to pay, then so be it.

(He ignored the bitter tinge of defeat and despair to his thoughts, born from the knowledge that he would have to fight a friend who'd been broken by the cruelties of the world, cruelties that his choices had contributed to, and by the dreaded dear that they would not be enough.)

It was time to prepare.

As the children were escorted to safe quarters, a message was sent and the die was cast.

Kamar Taj came alive as the Masters of The Mystic Arts prepared for war.

...​

As always leave your comments and ideas and if you don't like it please be courteous

 

[Firewillreign]

It was a nice set of rooms, all things considered.

Very classy, with carved illustrations into the stone walls, leather coaches, an arm chair and a table for six. A corridor to the side led to small but individual private rooms, each with their own bed. Better than he'd expected to be honest, but it was the last thing on his mind at the moment.

Peter sat quietly, mind a blur as he tried to apply some kind of logic to the latest fiasco he'd gotten involved with. He wasn't having very much luck.

He wished Eli had at least given him more than the broad notes of the situation before dragging him here, because "there's a girl with magic portal powers being chased by giant magic demons, let's go beat them up" was not a good explanation.

Nor was dragging him to the Sanctum, because Peter had very bad memeries with magic at this point. (Memories. Hah. There's a ironic joke somewhere in there)

Then again, an Eli who wasn't impulsive and more than a little tigger-happy wouldn't be Eli at all, so here he was anyway.

"You know what I don't get?"

America (who was nice enough that he wished he'd met her under better circumstances) startled, pulled out of the morose silence that had overcome them ever since the sorcerers had (despite many protests) escorted them to these quarters and effectively locked them in their room. She'd gotten a few more hours of sleep, but she'd woken up and shown no inclination to continue the conversation.

Eli looked up from the book he'd managed to swipe from Sorcerer Wong's desk right before they were kicked out of the room.

"Why does she need to take your power?"

The thought had been nagging at him ever since he heard of the former Avenger's plan.

America frowned. "You heard Stephen. She wants her children back."

In that, Peter could sympathize. He knew better than anyone what it was like to lose family.

To lose everything.

But Eli had understood his question. "But she doesn't need your innate ability, America. She just needs the one single portal and all her problems are solved. Or so she seems to thinks."

Peter nodded. "Doesn't make sense, does it? Why go through all this effort when she's better served by just outright asking you for help? I mean, I haven't known you for long, but you don't seem the type to refuse..."

America was shaking her head before he'd even finished talking.

"No, but even if the murderous bitch-" Eli and Peter both winced at the sharp but justified title. "had asked for help rather than sicking demons on me, I wouldn't have been able to do anything. Your missing some of the context. I travel the multiverse, but I have no control over where I end up,"

He blinked. "None?"

"None." She sighed weakly and ran a hand through her hair. "And this isn't magic, or at least not the kind that the Masters of The Mystic Art's use. I can't train to get better. It took me years just to stop opening portals whenever I was scared and even now it's still a fifty-fifty chance, assuming I'm lucky.

She collapsed back onto the couch, exhaustion almost visibly coating her. "I'm rarely lucky."

...That sounded rough.

Eli chimed in then, sounding immensely curious. "So every jump between worlds is blind but and random?"

"Sort of." She raised a hand and tilted it in a so-so gesture. "If I really, and I mean really put the effort in? I can usually call up a gateway. I just can't choose where it's going to lead to."

"...Wow. Respectfully, that is such a crap superpower."

Peter glared at his idiot of a roommate, but America just snorted.

"Right? You have no idea the kind of insanity I've literally walked into." She shook her head and fully reclined on the coach, arms relaxed by her sides. "I opened my first portal when I was just a kid. Strange- my Strange, believed that I would have always grown to have the ability, but using it so young damaged it. Or me. Or both."

She stretched for a moment before stilling.

"Honestly I didn't understand what he was saying half the time, but what he theorised was that my first time using the power fried my capacity for fine control. He thought it was a miracle that I made the progress that I did, especially without any kind of specialised training." She smiled sadly. "He... promised to help me, you know? Had a whole plan an everything. I really thought..."

She trailed off, a grief he found far too familiar flashing across her features, and Peter found himself having too look away..

'I'm sorry."

"Don't be." She smiled weakly. "I'll get over it. I always do."

(The grief, the loss, having to walk off the pain because the alternative was losing yourself. Over and over and over-)

Now Peter was invested, damn it.

He cleared his throat, mental tamping down on... all of it, before turning back to the duo. He ignored Eli's smug look, the empathy no doubt already clueing him in on Peter's feelings.

America had seemingly not noticed his little lapse, staring at the ceiling with a vacant look in her eyes.

He tried to smile when she finally looked back at him.

It likely wasn't very convincing, but she mirrored the gesture somewhat, before they both turned to Eli when his friend decided that the silence had gone on long enough.

"You're wondering why she doesn't just ask for help like any sane individual would do?" Eli closed his book with a snap and leaned back in his chair, rubbing his face furiously. "Well, given that we've established that she's not sane-"

America grunted in agreement and gave a thumbs up.

"- I think that question's already been answered. We can move onto the next most obvious one." His expression went serious. "What the hell is she waiting for?"

What?

"What?"

In response, Eli waved the book in his hand.

"This is a translated copy of some ancient Hindu text. The original Sanskrit version's probably more accurate, but I've got the gist of what it is we're up against."

He crossed his arms.

"The Scarlet Witch. The Sorcerers have known about her for pretty much as the long as they've existed."

Peter raised an eyebrow. "Prophecy"

Because at this point he wasn't discounting anything, regardless of how ridiculous it might seem. Anything was possible with magic.

(A wave of the hands, a golden glow, and the whole world was made to forget.)

No, back in the box you go.

God, he hated magic.

"Yeah. The exact wording hasn't been transcribed here but they put in the general idea. And it's one of the fun ones too." He cleared his throat "The Scarlet Witch will ascend and the world shall flourish or burn at her grace. And then it goes on for five pages detailing all the ways the outrageously overpowered lady can kill us all."

...

Oh, wonderful.

"Shit." America surmised.

"Oh, absolutely. The sorcerers have always known that she was coming. Matter of if, not when. According to the book, she's like nothing they've ever faced head on. A nigh-omnipotent force of nature who's very presence can alter reality itself. Everyone with me so far?" He waited for them to nod. "Great. Back to my question then. What exactly is she waiting for?"

He got up off his chair and started pacing.

"She had Dr. Strange dead to rights. Dead to friggin rights! She could have finished him off, traveled to the sanctum in seconds, and the first we'd have learned of it is when she brought the building down on our heads." He shook his head. "But no, she doesn't do that. Instead, she lets him go. Rather than attack the moment she figured out where you were-"

He pointed to America.

"-She gives the Masters of the Mystic Arts time to prepare. The one fighting force - bar the Avengers, who are scattered across the universe - who could possibly slow her down, and she gives them ample opportunity to fight back. Why?"

Peter...didn't have a good answer for that.

"She was an Avenger, once." He tried weakly. "Maybe she doesn't want to hurt a former colleague?"

The looks he received made it very clear how stupid that sounded.

"She wants to show off." America muttered, her voice quiet but heard all the same. "I've know her type. Strong. Stronger than anyone and anything and desperate to make sure everyone knows it. What better way than to mow down the Masters?"

Eli shook his head. "No. I wouldn't be surprised if she's arrogant as all hell, but I don't believe she wants a fight. What she does want are her children back. That's why it doesn't make any sense, damn it! What is she waiting for?"

America frowned, the validity of the point registering, as well the question it inspired.

Why exactly would the all-powerful witch not attack them from the get go?

Why exactly had she waited?

The implications were...troubling(terrifying) and he got off his chair.

Time to switch tracks.

"Well....Never mind that then. Getting worked up won't solve it." He nodded at both of them. "We'll figure it out, okay? We'll figure it-"

DANGER!

His senses flared as the building rumbled, the very floor shaking beneath their feet. Plaster and debris raining down from above. He barely flinched when Eli raised his hands, light exploding into being and reinforcing the ceiling.

No, he was far too busy trying to calm his thundering heart and overcome the sudden existential terror he could feel slowly clogging his thoughts.

He noted, dimly, that the sentiment was shared by the others. America remained frozen, the look on her face that of disbelieving horror. His roommate was trying to smile, but he couldn't disguise the paleness of his skin or the harrowed look in his eyes.

"Damn it Peter. You had to say it."

...​

The Sorcerer Supreme stood vigil in the courtyard of Kamar Taj, It's greatest defender watching over his home.

Stephen Strange stood at his side, both silent.

Hundreds of Sorcerers stood in disciplined lines behind the pair, backs straight, senses sharp and magic roiling beneath their skin, awaiting their call.

No one said a word. They only knew their roles. They all knew the risks.

They would only have one chance.

Slowly, time passed.

The darkness of night fled, and the first golden rays of dawn touched the earth

Then,

The world rippled, and a small shape appeared on the horizon.

"Shields!" Wong bellowed, and golden light erupted, a beam of pure magic and will lancing out into the sky. It made it hundred of meters up into the sky before stilling and erupting, threads of golden light lancing in every which way.

In seconds, they circled Kamar Taj and overlapped, a cumulative ocean of energy forming a golden dome that surrounded the building for just a moment before vanishing, leaving only a faint shimmer in the air to speak of it's existence.

A potent spell. Near unimaginable power meshed with the per-existing wards of Kamar-Taj, the intent to protect and defend bolstering them to new heights.

A fortress made a hundred time greater. Such was it's might now that now common foe could hope to overcome it's defenses, to overcome all of their collective will made manifest.

But Wong knew the truth. They faced no ordinary foe, and the shield would not hold.

Slowly, the spec of blood red accelerated, space seeming to twist around it as it crossed the intervening stance in the blink of an eye.

It stopped an inch before colliding with the barrier, light dimming and unveiling-

Vishanti preserve us.

Wong had heard of Wanda's transformation, but seeing it? Seeing the undeniable proof of her corruption, the way her very magic had been tainted with tangible madness and vile cruelty?

He could only shake his head.

That poor, poor woman.

Her very presence stole the light from the world, black intermixed with roiling crimson spreading out in al directions and blotting out the rest of the world. Soon, all the illumination that remained came from the her and her deadly intent.

She looked down at them, hovering above them with an expression that was death made manifest.

No emotions. Unnatural and disquieting all on it's own.

Slowly, she raised a hand.

Red lanced down.

Had they not reinforced the wards, Kamar Taj would have been annihilated.

As it was, the impact rattled it down to it's foundations, a pressure so great he could feel it in his very bones.

But the shield held, if only just.

"Shit" Stephen murmured quietly.

Wanda shifted and stuck one more.

"Ready-!"

Again Kamar Taj shook.

And again.

Each time, they reinforced the barrier by the skin of their teeth.

Each time, just a little less powerful. A little less stable.

"We can't maintain this!" Someone behind him roared. "This is too much!"

"Hold your position!" Another Master commanded before he could reply. "Stand strong and fulfill your duty! We have one chance! We will whether her attack!"

For a moment, Wong felt the comforting warmth of pride bolstered his strength.

And then Stephen spoke, and the warmth was replaced with ice.

"That's not her attacking." His fists clenched, the knuckles white and shaking. "She's just-

The words died in his throat as she smiled.

A wave of terror, of great and terrible fear that drowned out rationality and stole the very breath from his lungs enveloped him, enveloped them all as she bean to speak.

"Knock, knock"

She drifted lower, an aura of crimson flames trailing behind her.

"Little pigs, little pigs, let me come in!" She laughed, an orchestra of cruelty and vicious delight that could've made the bravest soul despair. "I must say, Stephen. I was worried there for a little while. You've always been the pragmatic type, and I was afraid you'd do the smart thing and hand over the girl."

"God help us all." Stephen murmured quietly.

"But I should have known better. You're a hero, Stephen. You wouldn't do something so unfair. So cruel. So...boring." She tilted her head in consideration. "Well. This time anyway."

"Are you ready?"

Stephen nodded.

One chance.

"No response? No witty reply or clever justification?" She shrugged. "As you wish. Before we start, though, I'd like to commend you. I commend you all for the effort. It takes courage to face the end head on. I respect that. That said, I do so hope that this wasn't the best you oould do, because if it was?"

She grinned one last time, eyes burning red.

"You're all going to die very, very quickly."

"Attack!"

The barrier shattered like glass, and the Scarlet Witch descended.

...​

The Battle begins!

As always leave your comments and ideas and if you don't like it please be courteous.

 

[Firewillreign]

Kamar-Taj - Now:

"Attack!"

Wong's cry was answered by the roar of hundreds. Power surged, the collective mystical might of an army brought to the fore. So great was it's intensity that Stephen could almost taste the myriad energies being called into existence well before a single spell had been cast.

(Please, he thought, let it be enough)

Then the first wave struck.

"By the Bolts Of Balthak!"

A dozen voices intoned, a call for aid that went beyond the mundane and into the infinite. The power of the Demon Lord Of the Principality surged forth to answer it.

Lightning erupted into being and Wanda had just enough time to narrow her eyes before she was struck by a dozen bolts at once. The Scarlet Witch vanished from sight as her body became ground zero for an an arcane electrical storm that blinded even it's creators, blue lances of electric power arcing off into the blackened sky and momentarily banishing the dark.

It was powerful. A testament of their might.

It was also absolutely useless.

Red light pulsed.

Thee storm abruptly died, snuffed out of being as quickly as it appeared. Wanda stretched her arms out, looking none the worse for wear.

She smiled.

"You want to play with lightning?"

Oh shit.

"Shields!"

He raised his hands, calling his power into place as she moved-

"Let's play."

The smell of ozone, intermixed with something foul and hair-raising was the only warning they got.

One moment, they were scrambling to raise their defenses. The next, the world was crimson fire and purple lightning as Wanda proceeded to make their best initial efforts look downright incompetent. The walls of Kamar-Taj came tumbling down under the onslaught. The stone floor shattered, ground pulped into dust by eldritch force as the defensive wards were overloaded. Ash and debris filled their sight as the upper levels of the monastery was reduced to a goddamn dust cloud, intermixed with flashes of lightning.

And the sorcerers themselves.

Dear god.

The first dozen attackers... simply disintegrated, too close and too slow to stand a chance. The unfortunate souls directly behind them suffered all the more for it. Bolts of purple energy shattered their barriers before plunging into them, burning skin and flesh and splintering bones in an instant.

Twenty-three dead, just like that. They didn't even have the time to scream.

Wanda waved a hand, and the attack ceased. She considered the crackling remains at he feet, seemingly oblivious or perhaps uncaring of the cold terror that froze her foes in place.

"'When the dust settles, the only living thing in this world... will be me.' " She tilted her head and smirked "Maybe that egoistic little tin-can was onto something. Questions for later."

She looked up, finally turning her attention back to the horrified onlookers.

"So who wants to die ne-?"

A wail of maddened grief cut through the air, and Stephen's eyes widened as a sorcerer broke rank and charged!"

Fool!

"Oh, a volunteer. How nice."

...​

Kamar-Taj - Then:

The Council Of the Mystic Arts convened under the purview of the the Sorcerer Supreme.

"So how do we fight a god?" Stephen asked, eyes roving over the masters of the three Sanctums and half a dozen skilled associates with a mind for strategy "Because just in case anyone missed it, that is basically what we're up against."

"The Sanctums have warred with gods before." Tina Minoru looked grim. "We triumphed before. We can triumph now."

Stephen actually snorted.

"With respect, Master Minoru, most of the those 'gods'-" He mimed air quotes "-were either up-jumped elementals or particularly old demons and other arcane beings throwing their weight around. Powerful, but not unstoppable"

He fixed her with a stare.

"Wanda Maximoff is the Scarlet Witch, and if even half the things the old stories say of her are true, than the only being of comparable power that the Sanctums have faced in recent memory was Dormammu."

Her eyes narrowed and she stiffened even as murmurs and even the odd prayer or two spread throughout the room.

"We all know how that ended." Stephen finished quietly. "And the Time Stone is no more. What happens next cannot be undone. Not this time."

"That doesn't mean that we have lost." Wong's voice cracked like a whip. "Steven may be right. We have seldom ever faced a threat on this scale."

There was a brief pause.

"But seldom does not mean never." He nodded with strength. "We have faced foes that seemed insurmountable, and we have pushed them back. It was our duty then, and it remains our duty now."

The Sorcerer Supreme's eyes panned across the room.

"The Scarlet Witch intends to kill a child for the sake of power. For her own selfish desires. She has already violated the laws of nature and magic, to say nothing of the basic decency that we pride ourselves on maintaining. Should she succeed, the very multiverse may burn for her hubris and arrogance. This cannot be allowed to happen. This will not be allowed to happen."

Wong's fist came down and rattled the table and people spine's went straight as they followed his every word.

"With or without an Infinity Stone, we will not fail!"

...

"Damn. That was a good speech."

The air of mystical awe deflated like a popped balloon and nearly everyone turned to glare at the Master who had spoken.

Rintrah glanced back awkwardly, taurian features shifting. "What? It was!"

Stephen snorted. "You ruined the moment."

But the aura of grim melancholy had faded, replaced with a degree of optimistic pride and sharp conviction.

"In any case." Wong glared at the sheepish R'Vaalian for a moment longer before turning his attention back to the the rest of the room. "Scarlet Witch. Twelve hours to prepare a strategy. Begin."

"Long distance spell-casting. No hand to hand." Master Garcia of the New Your Sanctum suggested immediately, and Stephen clicked his fingers and nodded.

"I second that. Even before she started harnessing her more... esosortic abilities she's been capable of telekenetically crushing her enemies into fine mist. An physical attacks she can see coming, she will be able to block, and for the sake of this plan? Assume she can see everything coming. Getting close just makes it easier for her to do her thing. Keep your distance, and keep moving. Stand in one place and you're a sitting duck. Under no circumstances should you attack her head on, regardless of whatever artifact you've got on you. It will not work, and If she gets her hands on you..."

He didn't need to finish.

...​

Kamar-Taj - Now:

The grieving sorcerer wailed, the tip blade of his spear burning with white flames as he charged Wanda head on.

"Don't!" Wong roared, but it was too late.

The man pressed the attack, the spear's blade cutting through the air as he stabbed towards Wanda's middle with every bit of strength he could muster.

Her right hand snapped out and gripped it right below the the blade, holding it steady as the man raged and wailed and despaired in his effort to run her through.

"Hurts, doesn't it?" She spoke softly, almost gently. "To be cursed to live while the ones you love die? I know the feeling all too well."

Over a hundred spells lashed out, the opportunity to strike her down in her moment of distraction proving far too tempting.

Wanda merely tilted her head, and a dome of red formed over the pair, the spells washing off with contemptuous ease. The poor fool leapt back and she let him pull the spear out of her grasp.

"My parents. My brother. My Lover. My children. Everything and everyone I have ever loved, gone, just like that."

"Fuck you!" The man howled. "Fuck you, you fucking fucking fucking demon bitch!"

He threw the spear aside and lunged, drawing a dagger-

"That's enough out of you."

He didn't get all that far as he as Wanda blurred into motion, one hand wrapping around his throat and brutally immobilising him. The other she drove through his chest, punching through his back in an explosion of bloody viscer a and shattered shards of bone. He gaped, blood spurting out of his mouth and running in rivets down his throat.

"Be grateful." she whispered to the dying man. "Be grateful that I granted you the mercy of death, rather than allow you to live a life with that kind of pain."

She squeezed, crushing his throat into a bloody ruin before tossing his ruined corpse aside.

Then she let the barrier fall, and turned to the others.

"Would anyone else like to-?"

"By the Icy Tendrils Of Ikthalon!"

"Oh?"

The whips of blue light circled her a moment before bursting, and the Scarlet Witch disappeared beneath a veritable mountain of enchanted Ice.

Bind. Strengthen. Reinforce.

The secondary set of energy poured over the ice, glowing sigils glowing over the structure as their combined might pressed into an what potent spell and reinforced it at the most fundamental level.

It would not hold. But it would give them time.

"Strange!" Wong bellowed.

"Almost done!"

The ice began to crack.

...​

Kamar-Taj - Then:

"So how do we kill her?"

Steven didn't flinch at the question, but it was a near thing.

He'd expected of course. He'd even accepted it. The stakes were too high.

And yet...

Why did it always come to this?

Wong spoke up then then.

"No. We do not now what her death will bring, It is entirely possible that should her mortal body expire, she will under go some form of apotheosis. She could become a goddess in truth, and we could all fall before her."

Stephen nodded to him, careful not too look too grateful.

Better than nothing.

"So what is our goal here? Trap her?"

The words were incredulous, and Minoru snorted "If we take Master Strange's words as any indicator than we'd have better luck wrestling down the Hulk."

"Who?"

For the second time in as many minutes, they all turned to Master Rintrah

"Seriously?"

"I live here full time!" the man (bull-man? man-bull?) defended himself hotly before tapping his snout. "You try going out into human civilization with a face like this!"

"...Fair enough, but-"

"No!" Wong glared. "No more idle conversation!"

An awkward pause followed.

"Right." Minoru nodded. "Now, the elephant in the room. How exactly are we going to trap her?"

"There are ways to seal arcane power away." Someone offered. "Artifacts, rituals and the like."

"Agreed." Stephen sighed. "But the vast majority of those are time consuming and demand every bit of focus you could muster. The casters won't be allowed to fight back."

More murmurs.

"You see the issue, right? It would take nearly all of us to seal her power away and we'd be sitting ducks. She'll slaughter us in seconds."

"We can wound her, attack and soften her defenses-"

"She has. Literal. God. Like. Power." Stephen cut him off flatly. "She doesn't even have to cast spells. She can just aim in our general direction and let it rip. Th only way she'd lose in a contest of strength is if she somehow stopped thinking-"

He blinked.

Surely not? That couldn't work.

...But maybe...maybe just.

A sharp smile flashed across his features as an impossible and down right insane plan began to form.

"I have an idea."

...​

Kamar-Taj - Now:

The ice exploded, a wave of crimson flames erupting from within it.

Screams erupted as the flames suck and consuming the poor fools who'd been too close to defend themselves.

Wanda rose through the air and looked down at them all, swatting aside the wave of multicolored spell-work and vicious intent with insulting ease.

"The Masters Of The Mystic Arts." She scoffed derisively "I expected better."

She raised a hand and gathered her energies.

No more games.

She was disappointed in their efforts, but she supposed that's what she deserved for having high hopes.

Kill the Gnats

Yes.

Yes, It was time to end this, to end them, once and for all-

"Wanda."

She grinned as Stephen descended from above, held aloft by that cloak he was so proud of.

"Stephen! Sorry, I lost track of you for a minute there!"

He stared at her with a stony expression.

"What? Come to fight me all on you own?" How delightful. "Or maybe you're here to beg? Is that why you look so constipated? Had the great Steven Strange finally overcome his pride-?"

"You disgust me."

...

She tilted her head. Then she started laughing,

Oh, this was too good!

Arrogant meat

"Hahaha!" She almost doubled over. "St-ha-Stephen. What on earth makes you think your opinion of me matters?"

She spread her arms as she drew closer.

"Back to your old habits, are we?" She smiled as he tensed. "Back to believing the world revolved around you and your whims? You insignificant, little-"

"You're right." He had the gall to smirk. "I'm insignificant, and my opinions are even more so. Know who isn't?"

"Enlighten me."

"Your children."

She froze.


...

Kamar-Taj - Then:

Steven held his head high as the inhabitants of the room looked at him with stunned expressions.

"You're insane"

He shrugged. "Maybe a little."

"Batshit insane."

"Probably."

"Stephen." Wong's face was creased, heavy in thought. "Are you sure about this?"

No, he was not sure about putting himself on the fucking firing line, but needs must.

He needed to do this.

"She can't see it coming." He nodded as much to reassure himself as it was for the others. "She can't even get a hint of what we're planning. I'm perfect for this."

"She knows you but she almost killed you before." Minoru warned. "There's no guarantee being her former colleague will help."

"She just needs to not kill me out of hand. I'll handle holding her attention just as soon as I have it."

"How do you intend to do that?"

"By being myself."

Wong snorted in sudden realisation, looking at him with an expression of disbelieving awe.

She raised an eyebrow. "An overconfident, possibly suicidal fool?"

"No."

He grinned.

"A complete and utter dick."

...

"....You probably shouldn't sound so proud of that-"

"For the love of- Rintrah, stop ruining the moment!"

...
​

Kamar-Taj - Now:

"How do you think they'll feel when they find out what you did to get them back?"

Please god let them be ready.

Wanda went utterly still, eyes hollow and focused on him with blood curdling intensity.

"Stephen"

A cautious man would have taken the warning in her voice as a sign that he needed to shut the fuck up.

Oh well. He'd never been very cautious

"How do you think they're going to react to the crimes you've committed? The people you've killed?"

"Stop. Talking. Now."

"How do you think-"

"Stephen-"

"-that they're going to feel-"

"I'm warning you-"

"-when they find out-"

"I will-!"

"-Just what kind of monster their mother really is?!"

...

"I was going to kill you." She spoke finally, and their was no emotion to her tone.

Just empty void and terrible conviction.

Rip. Tear. Flay. Give him an endless hell!

"But now, Stephen?" Her eyes burned with red light! "You will beg for death that will never come!"

"We're ready!"

Thank fucking God!

"No thanks." He winked. "I'm good."

And then he rocketed down like a bat out of hell.

Eat his heart!

Wanda followed, a scream of inarticulate rage tearing it's way out of her throat as she closed the distance between them, hands reaching to tear him limb from limb!

So focused she was on her self appointed goal, she didn't even pause as Stephen hit the ground and passed clean through it, merely following in his wake.

And straight into the Mirror Dimension, over a hundred remaining, well prepared and ludicrously pissed off sorcerers standing in position and waiting for her arrival.

"Now!"

...


The Mirror Dimension:

"BY THE CRIMSON BANDS OF CYTTORAK!"

Wanda screeched in unholy outrage as a hundred chains of ethereal crimson shot towards her from every direction, snaking around her outstretched limbs and pulling taught!

Vile vermin!

Insignificant wretches! She'd drown them in their blood and nightmares for this! She'd-

And that's when she saw Stephen, flying back towards her at full speed.

What was he-?

Truly?

For just a moment, for the first time in months, Wanda was alone in her head as she realized what her friend intended to do- and she paled in horror as the implications registered.

Such delicious irony.

She howled, calling for her power to shatter her bindings-

No, I think not.

She screamed in agony as her magic spurned her, refused her call and tore at her from the inside out!

Stephen closed the distance between them.

Yes

No

Yes

No!

Yes!

N--

Stephen Strange's open palm slammed into her center of mass and metaphysically rammed her soul straight out of her body.

A sound plan.

A soulless body could not think and therefore could not use magic, regardless of whatever concentrated power it could harness.

A sound plan. But they didn't know that all was not as it seemed.

That something far, far older and more patient than them had been pulling the strings for a very, very long time.

They couldn't hope to know that in casting Wanda out... they had unleashed something far, far worse.

...​

Stephen watched grimly as Wanda's body went limp.

His colleague drifted closer, manipulating the surface of the Mirror dimension as they began to cast the rune's that would seal her power away for good.

He hoped it would be enough. This had gone on long enough.

"I'm sorry it had to end like this. I'll try and-"

On a whim, he peered into the Astral layer, trying to speak to his former friend one last time, before recoiling in horror.

If Wanda's physical form was gaunt, than her soul was emancipated. Blood run in rivets from a thousand and one cuts layering her body, her mangled skin barely stretching over brittle bones. She floated in a pool of incomprehensible black that had his senses screaming with primordial fear and his eyes burning as he witnessed something no human being should ever come into contact with.

The soul could not lie. It was a representation of an individual's true self.

What in the ever loving -!?

He felt bile rise to his throat as her eyes snapped open suddenly, revealing hollow pits that erupted with black a moment later.

"Stephen" Wanda whispered. "Run."

Then the entire abominable mass jerked, shifted and launched itself at Wanda's physical body!

...​

Wong watched in horror as The Scarlet Witch jerked into sudden motion, arcane chains shattering like glass.

"Retreat!"

But Stephen was too slow.

In an instant she had him, hand closing around his left arm and the other sieving his right shoulder with crushing force.

Power exploded out of her, different from before.

Malicious.

Vile.

Evil.

She smiled, tilting her head and opening her eyes, revealing orbs of pure obsidian.

"You're....not...Wanda." Stephen gasped, veins of black spreading up his arms and across his neck.

Wong rushed forward, but it was already too late.

"No. I am Elder, and this is the closest to true freedom I have ever come." It smiled, shadows pouring out from between it's teeth. "Well done, Sorcerer."

Then it reared back and tore his arm straight off his body, a shower of blood and a scream of purest pain punctuating the movement.

"Stephen!"

...​

As always leave your comments and ideas and if you don't like it please be courteous.

PS elder is a title not a name

guess who hahaha!

 

[Firewillreign]

The night was silent.

The ruins of Kamar-Taj shifted, the Scarlet Witch's onslaught reducing the once proud structure to mere rubble, drifting in the wind.

All was quiet.

Then,

The courtyard seemed to warp, space and structure stretched and reflected into unfathomable fractal patterns as the gateway to the Mirror Dimension erupted into existence, scores of harrowed sorcerers emerging as they retreated.

As they fled for their very lives.

At their forefront, The Sorcerer Supreme lead them, and Stephen Strange floated behind him, held aloft by his cloak as Wong struggled to stabilize him and lead the retreat all at once.

"To the Sanctums!" He bellowed, even as he shaped his magic into a Tourniquet and bound the remains of Stephen's arm with it. "Retreat to the sanctums! Warn and prepare for-"

Even as he rattled off orders, he could barely clamp down on the despair .

They had been wrong. So very wrong.

The Scarlet Witch was a threat. A grave danger to the multiverse.

But with her, they had a chance.

If they could not defeat her, there had been a chance, however infinitesimally small, that she could be reasoned with.

But this?

What they now faced? This hellish evil he couldn't have hoped to anticipate?

There was no beating this. There was no defeating such a foe, not without literal divine intervention, and if they didn't flee right this very second?

There would be no hope of survival, none at all.

As if mocking his desperate thoughts, his senses screamed as the Mirror Dimension was forced open - And not by any master of the mystic arts.

Wanda Maximoff - or her body, at least - took a deep breath as it floated into the physical world and beheld the stars with eyes of endless black .

She (it) smiled, and fear lanced through Wong's heart even as she tilted back her head and sighed in contentment, utterly ignoring the cowering Sorcerer's on the ground.

They posed no thread and the demon knew it.

"Home at last." The voice was unnatural, something not meant for human perception, like scrapping stone and the rattle of bones and something far, far more twisted. "Or soon I will be, in any case."

"By The Vishanti."

Wong could not see who whispered those fateful words. It did not matter regardless. Wanda Maximoff's head snapped down as she raised an arm.

One of his acolytes (the acolytes he had ordered to the slaughter) was dragged through the air towards her, screaming in horror as he tried and failed to get away.

He came to a halt, whimpering and weeping mere inches away from the monster that threatened them all.

"The Vishanti?" The whisper echoed in his head, in all their heads, poisonous and primordial hate intermixed with vile intent, dripping off every letter. "You dare speak of cursed Oshtur and her playthings in my presence?"

The man's reply was a sob of despair.[/color]

"You have sealed your fate for nothing, meat . My sister no longer resides on this plane. A pity. I would have liked to make her watch as I unraveled reality and remade this world into hell everlasting. But no matter." A smile that could drive men to insanity bloomed across her features. "Let us see whether or not slaughtering her favored mortals one after the other will draw her back out."

They all watched, utterly transfixed, as the man began to melt.

He howled and wailed as his skin bubbled, dripping off his body like wax off a candle, revealing bloody the blood muscle beneath. In a moment, that too began to burst, streams of crimsons trailing through the air and splattering into a pool of horror beneath the demon's feet.

The bones came last.

Wong would never forget the haunting sound of bones being reduced to shards, of those shards grinding against one another until only fine dust remained.

And then it was over, the last traces of what had once been a living, breathing human being drifting almost gently in the breeze.

"Monster."

It took black eyes locking onto his own for him to realize that it was he who had spoken.

Rather than kill him, the demon smiled once again.

"Monster? No. " It raised a hand. "I. Am. A GOD!"

The remains at it's feet bubbled and twisted, magic most unholy brought to the fore as the pool of human remains blackened and began to expand, a growing vortex forming at it's core.

A portal.

Vishanti preserve them all, Wong prayed, as the first unnatural creatures began to emerge.

...​

Foul beasts.

It almost sounded like an understatement, but truly few words could so aptly describe the abominations that clawed their way into the physical realm at the behest of their master.

Naked reptilian humanoids with frog like features and shark like teeth, short and stout, blue scaled and bloated with fat to the point of impossibility.

They hissed and screeched and trampled one another as they emerged before the horrified sorcerers, mouths glistening and forms feral as they detected the delectable scent of prey.

All the while, the Dark One, their master, their god , hovered in the sky and bathed in the terror and despair that her(his) mere presence unleashed on the world's so masters of the mystic arts.

"Arrogant meat. You call yourself masters of the mystic arts? You are nothing but gnats grasping at scraps of power you could never hope to wield Allow me to educate you." The Dark One spread their arms and their army roared in obedience! 'Kill them all, my servants, and bring me the girl not of this world. I can still find some use for her."

And just like that, the world dissolved into carnage.

The monsters charged the sorcerers broken ranks even as the masters rained spell fire and fury down on their heads.

They died in droves. Dismembered, burned, flayed, and slaughtered every which way... and they kept coming, endless hordes of mindless beats literally scrambling over the blood and bodies of their kin to fulfill their purpose.

And the masters began to fall.

Buried alive beneath hoards of ravenous beasts, torn to shreds with claws and teeth and relentless hate, their last moments smears of pain and agony .

The Sorcerers supreme watched his people be cut down, watched his brothers and sisters in arms die at his command, and he roared his rage to the heavens themselves.

He moved, magic and power rolling off of him like an old friend as he cut droves down with every movement.

They didn't stop attacking...but neither did he.

Cut.

Burn.

Destroy.

Eradicate.

So great were his efforts, however, that the Dark One took notice.

Wong roared, suddenly, as he was yanked off the ground by an invisible force, his magic abruptly stifled and his limbs bound in place. The beasts took this golden opportunity for what it was and redoubled their efforts, the screams of dying sorcerers the reward for their efforts.

"No!"

But no amount of his struggles did any good, and he turned his gaze away from the slaughter just in time to come face to face with Wanda Maximoff's stolen face.

"You have talent and spirit to match, mortal." Another cursed smile. "I think, once I remake the world, that I'll let you live. No doubt there'll be some use I can find for you as well."

Wong snarled in hate. "I would rather die."

Rather than fall into rage, the demon actually laughed, a noise so despicable that Wong felt bile rising up his throat.

"Yes you would, wouldn't you?" A hand rose, reaching for his forehead even as he renewed his desperate struggles in the face of the inevitable. "And by the time I'm done with you, you'll wish for death all the more."

Blackened fingers approached, black smoke wafting off the tips, and Wong had only a moment to close his eyes and beg forgiveness for his failure-

And that's when the demon howled as a beam of violet light struck it and sent them both careening through the air!

...​

Peter was so going to kill Eli for this.

One minute, they'd been having a civil conversation. Then (admittedly, he had tempted fate there) the walls were coming down as the insane and ludicrously overpowered ex-avenger decided to rampage in the monastery above them and likely destroyed it if the deafening impacts that rattled the underground passageways were any indicator.

And then came this nightmare.

The third... mutant reptilian thing lunged for him, a howl of fury erupting from it's throat as it cleared the distance between them in a single bound, jaws open and claws extended.

He didn't even have to look. Trusting his Spider-Sense not to lead him astray, he leapt straight up, reoriented himself with a single movement ad fired a web line straight down.

Thank god he'd decided to bring his gear with him.

The monster screeched all the more as it tried to escape the bindings, but the tensile strength of his webs was greater than that of steel bars and the beasts weren't anywhere near that strong. Another tried to bullrush him as he landed, but America was suddenly there, kicking out with her leg and sending it careening through the remains of a wall with a thunderous crash of collapsing stone.

"I didn't know you had super strength!" He yelled as he once again shot over a horde of incoming beasts, clinging to the ceiling and going to town with his webs, binding entire swathes of them despite their enraged roars and desperate movements.

"My powers activated when I was a kid!" She yelled back, shimmering blue light surrounding her as she decked another screeching monstrosity in the face and sent it flying, toppling two more of it's kind in the same move. "The multiverse is a crazy place! How the hell do you think I survived?!"

"Fair enough! Now get back!"

Credit where credit was due, she didn't even hesitate, leaping back with enough force to shatter the ground beneath her feet just in time for Peter to throw the circular sphere into the midst of the largest oncoming hoard with hard trained precision.

For just a second, nothing happened.

Then there was a sharp bang and the horde screamed in outrage as they found themselves abruptly covered in great white spider webs, strings of the stuff binding them helplessly despite their best efforts to claw their way to freedom.

"Holy shit!" America grinned as she backhanded one of the few stragglers that he'd missed. "The hell was that?!"

"Web Grenade." He grinned beneath the mask, satisfaction and faint nostalgia coiling though his thoughts. "Bit pricey to make, but so worth it for stuff like this."

"I'll bet." She snorted, before pausing. "Wait? Make?"

He frowned beneath the mask. "Yeah. I make all my webs."

"...oh."

"What?"

"I though that you...uh..." She looked away in sudden embarrassment. "Grew them."

"Grew? What-?"

Oh.

Oh, gross!

"Really?!" he glared. "Why would you assume that!?"

"It wouldn't be that big a deal." She raised her hands. "Besides, you literally call yourself spiderman!"

"I stick to walls!"

"Hey man, it wouldn't even make the top ten list of weirdest crap I've ever seen!-"

The beast that had decided to crawl along the walls in an attempt at stealth chose to leap then, screeching in premature victory.

Peter caught in a web, pivoted on his heel and flung it, spitting and screaming right into the mass of it's brethren.

"We will never speak of this again" He spoke flatly.

"Sure?"

Eli would never let him hear the end of it.

And speaking off...

His wayward roommate had already blasted through the charging beasts like a hot knife through butter, rushing through the collapsing hallways and was no doubt throwing his way into whatever insanity was running it's course up there.

The thought was a sobering one, and the levity drained from his form. America felt the change and stiffened in turn.

"These guys won't be going anywhere for hours." He nodded at the writhing, wailing mass. "Heavy duty web formula. They're not a problem, but we need to get up there right-"

That's when the second rumble of explosions rattled the very ground beneath their feet.

"Oh come on! Now what!?"

...​

Wong gasped as he fell through the air for only a moment before crashing onto a violet platform that hadn't been there a moment ago.

"Hey Wong."

Eli Cauley hovered beside him, wreathed in purple and glaring with eyes that shone with power, fists clenched at his sides and posture tense.

Pain lanced through his battered form as he sat up, the lingering traces of vile magic every bit as nauseating as they ever were.

"Child." He gasped, trying to get to his feet even as the world seemed to tilt. Thank everything that construct platform holding them aloft was stable. "You need take your friends and flee! You have no idea what that thing is, you cannot fight it!"

They needed to escape. The Sorcerers who remained where doomed. It was a sickening realization, but one who prided himself on rationality could not hide behind meaningless denials in the face of reality for long.

But the children still had a chance, however small-

His heart fell as Eli shook his head.

"Sorry, but that's not how I roll. I don't walk away from people who need my help and neither does Pe-Spiderman. Doubt America would either, after everything. We'll figure this-" His eyes narrowed, purple light flaring. "Shit!"

A wall of shimmering violet sprung into existence just before the spear of crystalized black would have skewered them, shattering into fragments of power and dissolving into nothingness an instant later.

"Who dares?!" Wanda Maximoff erupted out of the shadows, a snarl of demonic hate and rage splayed across her features. Her stolen eyes locked on Elias. "Mortal filth. I will bath the earth in your blood and drown it in your screams for that."

In response, the boy blinked. "....Dang.. You have gone way off the deep end. The hell happened to just wanting your kids back?

Wong struggled to speak. "T-That...Is not Wanda Maximoff."

"Say what now?"

A moment of silence passed as Eli seemed to process that little revelation, before realization spread across his posture and his head snapped up.

"Holy shit!" Wong's jaw dropped as the boy smirked. "I knew there was something off about all of this! Your some demon who's taking control of her for her powers, aren't you?! Classic Scarlet Witch bullshit!"

"Her powers?" She cackled, and Eli cursed and raised another glowing barrier a moment before darkness tinged with hate seemed to swallow the world. "The Scarlet Witch is beneath me. I only needed her to bring me the girl so that I may free myself and reclaim all that is mine by right. But there is no longer any need. Your Stephen Strange has helped me incalculably there."

She spread her arms out, a corona of red flickering before her, a shape coming into existence behind-


View: https://imgur.com/PEpR2at

Eli hissed and Wong looked away.

(Some things were not meant for mortal minds.)

"I no longer have her powers, and I do not need them. I am beyond such things." Arcane might pressed on them, it's presence crushing them and it's intent unnatural and abominable. "I am elder. The oldest of my kind, born of the essence of the great Demiurge!"

Wong paled in utter horror as understanding finally dawned. "No!"

"I walked this Earth billions of years ago and I will walk across it's shattered husk a billion years from now!" The voice was power made manifest, eldritch and unknowable as it resonated through reality and declared it's presence to all that could hear. "I feasted on my weak kin and ascended to heights unfathomable! I am the father of monsters, the master of all black magics! I am chaos made manifest! I....am....!"

The power in the air reached a crescendo!

"CHTHON!" ​

...

"Huh.... You done?"

"....What?"

"With your little monologue." Eli rolled his hands in a 'get on with it' gesture. "I mean... Very impressive? Chton...yay! But to be honest, my first guess was Stilt-Man!"

Wong just stared in disbelief.

"You.... dare?"

Eli sported a shit-eating grin. "I know, I know, it sounds silly, but he's actually a very respectable supervillain! Puts his while heart and soul into it so you never know whether or not he suddenly got a- MANA BLAST!"

Wong was blinded as the boy suddenly thrust out his hands and unleashed a raging onslaught of unrefined but equally untamed power!

The demon cursed as he pooled shadows and interposed them ahead of it, only to watch in stunned disbelief and mounting incredulity as Elias's attack carved through his barrier before blasting his unprotected form!

"Please tell me you have a plan!" Eli yelled at Wong even as he poured more energy into his attack. "I can't keep this up forever!"

As If on cue, the shadows at their feet pooled and Cthon emerged - No No No!

Wong called golden mandala's to his hands as he moved to assist-

Chthon locked his eyes on him

Bow To Your God!

He howled in pain as all traces of his magic were pulled from him by force beyond comprehension. But death did not follow, not for him or for the boy. Eli, somehow flying unaided, weaved through the air in graceful escape as tendrils of black lanced out of the ground and struck at his form.

Wong couldn't hope to assist. His body was exhausted, his power slow to return, and this fight was beyond him.

Beyond him, The Sorcerer Supreme, he thought with dismay, but not beyond a child.

Because somehow, somehow, Elias was keeping up.

Suffer

Scream.

Unravel

Chthon launched spell after twisted spell, fury burning brighter as the boy failed to die.

Construct shields rose to deflect the closest attacks, bouncing them across or back at his foe.. More vile, unstoppable spells simply had Elias ducking with literal inhuman speed to avoid them, and in more than one instant the spells carved through Cthon's own forces, cataclysmic and unspeakable horror brought down on the being's own army as he tried and failed to kill a single mortal.

Then Elias stopped dodging and began fighting back. Massive beams of arcane power lanced through the air, actually pushing Chthon back.

How was this even possible? Where was this power even coming from?

"Wong?" Eli hissed through a breath even as he shaped his light into a storm of arrow heads and sent them accelerating towards his foe. "Do you mind?"

What was he?-

Oh.

The boy waited only long enough for Wong to leap off his platform and back away before he was accelerating up and into the clouds, pursued by Chthon and an ocean of Black .

"Run all you want, meat, you will not escape!"

But he wasn't trying to.

Violet light erupted from his outstretched palm and lanced down.

Chthon called shadows to strike back, but the violet curved around the attack and struck at the demon's stole body, solidifying into construct chains in an instant!

"Impudent Wretch!"

But he wasn't done.

Eli shot down, form burning with arcane power as he carved through Cthon's shadows, pulled back his fist and punched the Elder God square in the face.

Wong was not a man predisposed to profanity, but as he watched Wanda Maximoff's stolen body rocket through the air and crash into the ground with explosive force, he found that he couldn't help himself.

What in the actual f-!?

He didn't get finish that though, because that was when it all went wrong.

With a howl of rage, Chthon erupted out of the ground, a deafening crack of displaced air following his acceleration.

Eli paled in horror and tried to retreat, but the mass of black lanced across the intervening distanced and wrapped around his body, binding him in place even as Chthon himself arrived and closed a hand around his throat with crushing force.

The boy choked, eyes wide as the purple aura surrounding him began to sputter and die.

For a moment, all was still.

"...You...You are not mortal." Eli's eyes went even as Chthon smiled. The shadows suddenly ignited, burning the clothes off of him but leaving him otherwise unharmed. "You have no arcane skill to speak off, but no mortal can channel the power that you wield with such ease. Yes. Yes, I see it now. Pure energy, contained within a mortal shell. You almost had me fooled, Faltinian."

Slowly, almost gently, Chthon raised a hand, nails sharp, and pressed it into the boy's chest.

"You will do nicely, I think."

Almost immediately, Eli began to scream in utter agony as black, jagged cracks spread across his skin, and violet light began to radiate out from deep within!

"Yes. It has been so very long since I last feasted, and you will make a fine meal indeed."

...​

As always leave your comments and ideas and if you don't like it please be courteous.

PS Eli being able to fly in human form is similar to the way that Sunny was able to fly while Gwen never managed it.

Different mentality and acceptance of powers leads to different capabilities.

BTW Gwen with all her hax magic would murder stomp Eli who is pure power and almost zero finesse.

America was horribly horribly nerfed in the movie and made no sense.

You want to introduce a character to the mcu at least nerf them in a way that makes sense! a little girl survive the MARVEL multiverse with no help while being baseline human? really?!

 

[Firewillreign]

It felt like death.

Dimly, I could feel the blood running down my torso, feel his fingers digging through my chest, flesh parting and bone breaking under the onslaught, but that wasn't why I was screaming.

Not really. Physical injuries never hurt as much as they should.

No, I was screaming because I could feel tendrils of black extending into me, past my physical body and stabbing into that little Spark that summed up all I was and could yet become.

Months of using these powers (of being something utterly different) and I'd still never felt as I did in that very moment.

I could feel him reaching into it. Unraveling it.

I could him feel him unraveling me.

Get Away From Me!

I howled all the more as he laughed.

What the had I been thinking?

"Fight all you want, Faltinian. It won't matter. There is no escape for you"

He smiled with inhuman cruelty even as he leaned closer, satisfaction evident in his words.

"Your story, fledgling," Crimson fire burned within the black of his eyes! "Ends with me!"

I froze

...

No.

No!

I already met my end! An entire life and and an entire world taken from me because of who the hell knows what! I wasn't going to have an entire univerls of marvels stripped away from me because of this monster!

I refuse

I refuse!

The sudden rage gave me strength. Ignoring the burning, transcendent agony that all but drowned me, I clawed past past the black with invisible limbs and reached for my light

"I-"

Holy hell, talking should not hurt that much.

Then again, I was fairly certain there were fingers buried in my lungs.

"Oh? Still flailing then, are you?"

You have no idea.

More power

The spark answered my wordless plea, sending in motes of energy I soaked up greedily.

"P-please." I gasped, blood spraying as I spat out the word.

Shit, definitely the lungs then.

"Begging? How pathetic."

Chthon sounded positively delighted.

Fucker

I compressed my energy. "Please-"

Just a little more.

"Your death will come no matter of your words. You should count yourself blessed. You won't-"

And ready!

I snapped my eyes open and the Elder God actually recoiled just a fraction as they came alive with Violet light!

"HOW ARE YOU-?!"

"Would you please shut the hell up while I work out how to kick your ass, you shameless Cthulhu rip-off?!"

Then I let it rip.

Purple. Light. Everywhere!

...​

They'd just emerged from the the ruins of the sanctum when it hit.

Danger!

"Get down!"

"Holy!"

America cursed as she went flying, purple light heralding a wave of omni-directional concussive force that swept her off her feet and sent her tumbling through the air in a way she would have likely found hilarious had it happened to anyone else. She hit the ground like a sack of bricks, momentum elevated to the point where she wound up carving a trench through stone.

Peter, having crouched down and adhered to the ground the moment his senses started tingling, winced in sympathy. Then he winced for an entirely different reason as America let out the a tirade of words so foul they could have curdled milk.

Damn

**Peter?**

He flinched as Eli's voice, panicked and noticeably tinged with exhaustion rang out in his head.

He still didn't understand how the hell something like exhaustion translated over telepathy.

Then again, he didn't understand how telepathy itself even-

**Peter!**

**Sorry! Yeah, I can hear you!"

"Who are you talking to?"

America blinked and tilted her head in confusion as he help up a hand and tapped the side of his head

"Eli's a telepath"

"What?"

"I know, right?"

Then he mentally changed tracks.

**What the hell, Eli? We just got swarmed things that looked like extra's from an Alien vs Predator movie."

**Good for you, you've had a better day than I have!**

Seriously?

**I doubt that, but by all means, walk me through it.**

**Cliff notes version? Turns out the Scarlet Witch may not actually be evil.**

Peter's expression brightened.

**That's great-!**

**Instead she's been possessed by a primordial god of evil called Chthon, who's been locked away for something north of a billion years and now has the means to break out of his extra-dimensional prison and destroy the world. Maybe the universe. Not quite sure, honestly.**

...

Oh, he hated magic so freaking much.

**I don't even know how to begin processing that.**

**There is a hole in my chest, my reserves are down to a fraction of what they normally are and I've just supremely pissed off an Eldritch God who wants to eat me. Process in your own damn time, Parker!**

Alarm bells rang in his head and - wait what?!.

**There's a hole in your-?!**

**I'm fine. My biology is almost as bullshit as yours, I can heal. But no amount of healing can fix dead, which is what we're all going to be if we don't get out of here right freaking now!**

**How exactly-** He blinked. He was adept at problem-solving, and his mind connected the unspoken pieces quickly. **America. You want her to portal us out.**

**And the award goes to-**

**She said she has a fifty-percent chance of calling up a gate.** He protested.

**Considering the alternative involves a hundred-percent chance of unspeakably horrifying death? I'll take those odds!**

...

Yeah, when you put it that way...

He turned around, pulling up his mask as he relayed the request to a curious America, and her face cycled through a storm of emotions. Fear. Anger. Resignation, and a form of determination that was very, very familiar.

"Yeah." She nodded, fists clenching and unclenching by her sides. "Yeah, I can try."

He gave a small, reassuring (he hoped) smile. "That's the best any of us can do."

She leapt back, gaining distinct, before pushing her hands out in front of her and... Peter assumed she was doing something, but neither his eyes not his spider sense were getting anything.

He left her to it, trusting she had it under control.

**Eli, how long does she have?**

...

He tried to tamp down on the worry as the silence stretched on

**Eli?**

**I'm here. Just.. tired.**

And wasn't that concerning on so many levels.

**Peter, I can literally feel you freak out. Calm down, I'm not dead yet. Though I will put emphasis on yet.**

**It won't come to that.** Never again. He promised (He swore) "And speaking off, where is...Chthon?**

What an ugly name.

**Fairly sure I blasted him into that mountain range in the distance** There was a pause, then a feeling of amusement. **Huh. That sounds really badass when I say it like that.**

**You beat him?**

**I doubt it. I'm pretty sure he's powerful enough to trash Thor if given the chance. But I hit him with like, nine tenths of my power. The mana equivalent of a bomb. It should at least buy as a few minutes **

**Good enough for me**

Danger!

He was already whirling around, leaping forward to tackle the fanged beast that had launched itself out of the shadows and straight for America's unprotected back!

He needn't have bothered.

A spear of gold and yellow flashed through the air, skewering the foul thing in one sharp movement and dragging it far out of sight.

Wong stood there, Dr. Strange leaning against him, pale and drawn, the mangled remains of his left arm bare for all to see and his remaining limb thrown around Wong's shoulder.

America let out a sound that was equal parts fear and horror.

Peter wasn't much better.

"Relax, kids. I've had worse." Dr. Strange lied as he tried (and failed)to smile, the end result making him look quite demented. "Good getaway plan. Ten out of ten given the circumstances. Though if you could maybe hurry up before-"

A curtain of black rose up in the horizon, drawing closer with ludicrous speed!

"YOU WILL ALL DIE SCREAMING!"​

"-That happens."

...​

Hovering as far up as I was, I was treated to an exquisite view of the mountain directly ahead just... collapsing outwards in a manner that was almost biblical, a mass of darkness tinged in crimson emerging from it's confines and taking on the outline of something truly monstrous.

Meanwhile, I took the equivalent of a mental inventory and tried to figure out how much energy I had left. As it turned out, it was a fraction of a fraction of my reserves.

We were so massively fucked it was almost hilarious,

**Pete?**

His desperate thoughts came screaming through the connection an instant later. I shouldn't have brought him here. Even if my plan panned out it hadn't been fair to get him involved.

**Eli?!**

**In case you missed the mountain exploding** I grimaced. Holy, my new life was ridiculous. **We're shit out of luck!**

**America needs a few more minutes!**

**She has one!**

Chthon, or the mass of darkness the size of a mountain containing his stolen form expanded outwards, lunging up and arcing down as it prepared to consume the remains of Kamar-Taj and all of us with it.

I wasn't scared. It was almost funny, but my need for survival consumed me so utterly that fear seemed to go out the window.

t was almost a good feeling.

Almost bieng the operative word.

Then the shadows descended, and I raised my hands for what might be my final effort.

One Last Time!

Mana shot outwards, a small bubble rapidly expanding as it radiated out of me in the shape dome, encompassing what little of the once proud institution that wasn't outright dust in an instant.

It boggled the mind.

The scale of it was unreal, but so were my powers to begin with. When It came to shaping mana, If I could imagine it, I could do it. And now would be a very bad time for me to question the impossibility of it.

Then the shadows hit my structure, and it was everything I could do not to fold like a deck of cards right then and there.

I could feel it.

The malice, the hate, the sadistic and fundamentally inhuman desire to snuff us out of existence, battering and chipping away at my power. Chthon didn't speak as the dome began to shatter, as my best efforts started to fail.

He didn't have to. His very presence was more than enough.

**Peter!?!**

**Just a little longer!!**

The dome shuddered!

(No no no no no!)

It couldn't end like this!

Peter and America!

Wong and Strange.

Me.

(Me damn it!)

(An entire universe I'll never get to see!)

No

The dome flickered as the last sparks of my power began to fade.

No!

I needed more!

Give me more!

Something shifted

The world shuddered, and for just a moment, even Chthon paused.

Give me more!

It was a wordless plea, a call that came from within and went farther out than I could have ever understood.

And the world answered .

I gasped as the power poured into me and my dying sparks became an inferno, as my reserves were bolstered to filling and beyond, and I laughed hysterically as the dome all but exploded with radiance, becoming solid, impenetrable and invulnerable in a way that defied the laws of physics themselves.

**Eli!**

He didn't have to say a word. The hope and wild excitement that sparked off him was telling.

It worked.

Thank god!

Chthon aura seemed to magnify with rage as he no doubt felt what we'd accomplished, but I just grinned like a loon, aware that he could probably perceive emotions even as diminished as he was.

"Go to hell!"

Then I pushed!

The shield flared outwards, and Chthon staggered, presence retreating.

And I...was just..gone!

I shot towards them, following the link to Peter and accelerating with everything I had remaining, the world shifting and the air cracking as I moved through it like a missile. Faintly, I was aware of Chthon's black! following me, lashing out in furious desperation, but I had already seen them, the four of them calling out, arms outstretched as they stood in front of the tear in reality itself .

Heh.

They really were shaped like stars.

Then I rammed into Peter, knocking us both in, the others leaped after us, and-

"No!"

We fell into Infinity

...
​

Later:​

Stephen gasped, shooting up and nearly howling at the pain the sudden movement brought.

What was?-

His arm.

His-

Slowly, with a mechanical precision, he turned to stare at his left arm.

What?

Rather than the bloodied stump he'd nearly wept to see before, a limb was present, metallic, a construct of decidedly arcane metal inlaid with runes of various sorts, He could make no sense of it at all.

Then the rest of the world came into notice

Or rather, the lack thereof.

Wong and the children were sprawled around him, unconscious an huddled together.

Beneath them, the ground was black stone that drunk the light, and that was all. They were surrounded by shadows, invasive and all encompassing but mercifully clear of the demonic Elder God's presence. And above them...

There was no sky. Just a dome of utterly impossible fractal crystals, a pattern repeating itself over and over and over-

With agonizing effort, he pulled his eyes away.

This place was wrong. His sense screamed in a way that not even Chthon himself had managed to achieve.

"Where the hell are we?"

"Good question, but I'll do you one better."

He leapt to his feet as red eyes blazed in the shadows ahead!

He tried to call his magic, but rather than gain any power his stomach lurched as a wave of crippling nausea came over him and brought him to his knees.

Dear god, what now?

"Yeah, that won't work." The voice sounded darkly amused (and alarmingly familiar). "Drawing on the energies of the universe only works if there is a universe to draw from."

Wh- ... No!

"This place-" Stephen gasped, the horrifying implications already beginning to dawn. It wasn't hard to guess, not with the hint he'd just been given and how wrong everything surrounding him felt.

"A crystalized remnant of a bygone universe. A single shard of what once was and never will be again, cast adrift in the Nexus Of All Realities. A monument to my arrogance." Stephen could sense it now, the thing approaching, and it was familiar. Too familiar. "Or should I say-"

Why was it so familiar?!

"-Our arrogance."

The figure emerged from the darkness.

Oh.

Oh, no.

https://imgur.com/MgeRuV7

"So, Stephen. Now that we've cleared that up." His counterpart smiled without humor. "Want to tell me all about how you fucked everything up this time?"

...​

As always, leave your comments and ideas and if you don't like it please be courteous.


Eli uses telepathy because I believe it should be an innate anodite power. Verdona and Gwen were both able to use it in human form and I will be exploring how mana in particular makes it easier for them to use such an ability, and how Eli was only able to use it with Peter who he's known for a while rather than America directly.

We're in another universe! it wouldn't be called the Multiverse Of Madness without any twists now would it?

 

[Firewillreign]

The one thing worst than having to interact with the counterpart of the former friend who betrayed her?

Having to interact with two of them.

Then again, given that she was fairly sure they'd landed in hell, waking up to the sight of two different versions of Dr. Strange looking like they were about to kill each other was probably the least of her problems.

(Probably.)

There was no sky, no horizon, just an endless landscape of grey and dull orange folding into abstract patterns that made her brain hurt.

(What kind of universe was this?)

She didn't get any answers, or any attention for that matter. No, the two of them had seemed intent on staring at the other with looks that she couldn't and frankly didn't want to understand.

Or at least they had, until she stepped over the prone forms of her friends and ambled over to Stephen's (The one that didn't look like the physical embodiment of edginess) side.

"What's going on?"

"Somebody doesn't appreciate a look at what could have been, apparently." She flinched as the other Strange, the local variant, stared at her with discomforting eyes ringed in shadow "I've just finished getting the story from my… well, I'd say better half, but we both know I wouldn't mean it. In any case, it is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Chavez. I believe that it's your abilities that are to blame for the five of you landing here of all forsaken places and disturbing my much desired solitude."

"Your much deserved solitude!"

She almost reared back in alarm as Stephen snarled the words, a look of frightening, maddened rage flashing across his features before he visibly paused and schooled himself.

The hell?

"You'll get no arguments from me," Other Strange seemed more amused than anything. "Now then, if there was nothing else? Given that I don't want any of you here, and I doubt that any of you particularly want to be here, the I think it's time for you to be on your way."

Oh shit.

The last words were a growl that she felt in her bones, literally inhuman and tinged in warning.

"I can't."

The words were blurted out awkwardly, and the suddenly dangerous look on Other Strange's features shifted into a heavy frown.

"I literally can't." She added on slowly, arms raised up.

"Truth." His eyes narrowed. "Let me guess. You need time to recharge?"

She nodded. It wasn't even a lie. It took her the better part of a decade to wrangle even a modicum of control over her portals, and if there's one thing she knew? Trying to force a portal into existence when she was half dead on her feet was a momentously bad idea.

Stephen stepped in front of here. "Back the hell off."

"In case you missed it, Stephen, I want you gone, and I'm willing to go the extra mile to see it through. I'm trying to help."

"We don't want your help."

"If that's true then I guess you must prefer a bleeding stump over that refined Uru prosthetic you've got now, don't you?"

She did a double take as she suddenly noticed Stephen's new arm, an artificial creation of silvery metal and faintly glowing runes the likes of which she'd never seen before.

Stephen's face was mulish.

"You don't know anything in regards to her power, don't try and pretend otherwise."

"One, You've given me the barest possible explanation of her abilities-"

"The only explanation we have-"

"- I don't particularly care. Two, the fact that you've accepted that lack of critical information at face value speaks wonders of your competence-"

"I was busy fighting a god, you conceited, deranged-!"

"-And three, I have thousands of years of experience over you. Wrangling an esoteric ability that refuses to cooperate is incalculably easier for me than it is for you-"

"-If you think for a second I'm letting you touch the kid-"

"-Also, given that I'm offering this freely, I recommend that you-"

"-your even further out of your mind than I first thought, you fucking monster!"

"BE VERY CAREFUL HOW YOU SPEAK TO ME!"

America choked on a scream as Other Strange's face twisted into something hideous!

Monstrous limbs swelled, disproportionate muscle and biological structures warring for dominance as Other Strange became... Other, a hulking beast frothing at the mouth as it looked down on them with simmering fury and eldritch light wafting off of it.

It's burning eyes flashed to her even as Stephen moved to push her further back and her muscles locked up, embers of courage burning out pitifully as she instinctively realised how massively, hilariously outclassed they were.

For a moment, there was nothing but silence and horror and ugly, ugly fear coursing through her veins as she waited for that... thing to... to...

To kill them both.

(She didn't want to die.)

Then there was a shift, and then Other Strange was standing there dusting off his cloak with an air of nonchalance disturbed only by the furious set to his jaw.

Stephen actually snorted, and she turned to stare at him incredulously.

"Thank you for that."

"...That's not typically the response that form derives."

"Maybe not. But it was exactly what I needed."

"Feel free to share with the class, we both know your ego can't help it."

Stephen smiled, almost politely, and she paled as she realized he was going to say something stupidly dangerous.

"It was exactly what I needed... To know that I am nothing like you."

(Oh god, she thought with genuine horror, this idiot was going to get them both killed.)

But other Strange just smiled back, a darkness in his eyes that had nothing to do with magic all the more apparent.

"Stephen, you could not hope to comprehend how alike the two if us are."

Stephen's face fell, his arms clenched, and his counterpart smiled wider before turning and drifting into the darkness.

Was...was he leaving?

"You have the run of the place." He called over his shoulder. "At least until Miss Chavez recuperates. If nothing else, I find the endless void quiet good for self reflection, and that's something you sorely need. Bye now."

"Wait."

Stephen reached for her as she took a few steps forward and she shrugged off his attempt to restrain her.

Other Strange looked back and raised an eyebrow.

Please don't let me regret this.

"We..." She sighed. "Look, I don't know what your deal is, or how you ended up...here, but we need your help."

"America-"

"Shut up!"

She glared at the dumbfounded Stephen before turning to his now slightly more interested counterpart.

"The Scarlet Witch and.... whoever or whatever the hell is in the driver seat are going to hurt a whole lot of people, and it's mu fault." She blinked. "Well, no, that's dumb. It's not my fault, but I still can't let that monster kill people indiscriminately just because it wants to have it's way."

"Yo might not have choice. You want my help with Chthon?" Other Strange shrugged as he ran a hand through his hair. "I hate to say it, but your world is all kinds of fucked."

"Thank you." America glared. "That's exactly what I wanted to hear."

"Disliking the truth doesn't make it any less true." Strange smiled, pale skin stretching in a way that overstated his gauntness and sent shivers of unease down her spine. "I don't think you understand what it is your facing."

"A god, right? Those are a dime a dozen in almost every world I've been to."

"An Elder God, child, and they're not nearly as common in the reality you've just come from, because Chthon ate most of the rest of them."

...

America stared.

"What?"

"Billions of years ago, When the Earth was still young, there was only one sophont entity, an existence unlike anything the planet had ever seen before or since." His eyes narrowed as he weaved his tale. "The Demiurge, an arcane life form that was the very representation of Earth's biosphere. All life, all potential of life existed within it, and it alone held dominion over the Earth."

"Are... Are you talking about God? Like... capital-G-God?."

"No. And don't interrupt. In any case, The Demiurge, after millions of years of solitary existence, spawned children."

He shrugged.

"Couldn't tell you why. Boredom, loneliness, or deciding to act on a whim, all that matters is that it did. And so rose the Elder Gods, the first beings to ever walk this earth."

He waved his hands in mockery.

"They were the top brass of divine existence. Massively powerful, immortal and able to alter reality just by existing. They made the Asgardians and the rest of the modern pantheons look like toddlers in comparison. For a time, they ruled the Earth in peace and harmony, singing kumbaya and just having the time of their immortal lives."

She frowned as he gave her a foreboding look. "And then Chthon happened."

"Close. Another of the Elder gods, Set, dived right off the deep end. For whatever reason, Set killed another of his brothers and consumed him, twisting himself into a demon but gaining massive power from his foul act."

Stephen spoke then. "That sounds familiar."

What?

Other Strange glared murderously. "Don't tempt me."

What?

"Moving on, once the story spread, it was open fucking season. The Elder Gods devolved into all out war and started slaughtering themselves as they consumed one another, all in the name of power. They killed and cannibalised their own siblings in the name of that power."

Oh, holy fuck.

Other Strange smiled without humor as he beheld the horror on her face. "In many ways, the Elder gods were our predecessors, just vastly more powerful. Is it any surprise they could be every bit as depraved, or even more so?"

Stephen gave no reply, and she was fairly sure she'd hurl if she tried to speak.

"To make a long story short, shit happened. The Elder Gods became the Elder Demons, and Chthon and Set, equal in power and above the rest of their brethren reigned with an iron fist. Until Gaea."

"Who?"

"Gaea. The Earth Mother. Kind of a big deal." He enunciated each word slowly, irritation showing. "The records have been lost, but the one thing that's known for sure is that she did something."

"Something?"

"Something." He shrugged again. "No record of it exits, and none of the Elder demons that I consum- defeated had any specific knowledge of it. Only that Gaea created some kind of weapon, and in the span of a day or some equally arbitrary amount of time the Elder demons were culled. The Vast majority killed, and the rest swearing allegiance to Chthon and Set and escaping forevermore into their personal dimensions outside of space and time."

A pause.

"Of course, Gaea took it a step further. She didn't want her brothers returning to the physical realm anytime soon... or ever, for that matter, and so she, and I remind you that I have no understanding of how, trapped them. She bound them in such a way that they can exist outside of the mortal world, can move and exercise their power but never manifest back in to reality. They couldn't even power their way out over time because the wards that imprison them are anchored in our world, in Gaea's domain, and are therefore impossible for them to directly interact with. A perfect prison."

He looked at her meaningfully, and she understood instantly. She'd never been slow on the uptake.

Oh.

"That's why he wanted me. Because if I could open a portal to wherever he's at-"

"He'd be free in an instant. But he doesn't need America anymore." Stephen sounded horrified, and with good reason. "When I displaced Wanda's soul-."

"You gave him the opening he needed." Strange smiled almost cruelly. "A physical body capable of handling just the right amount of power to get the job done. I suspect he's already heading for Wundagore as we speak. There's no Gaea to stop him now, she retreated from the physical world untold eons ago and her weapon is either in the same situation or destroyed. There's nothing to block his way to Wundagore. He'll destroy it, unchain himself and that will be the end of... everything really."

"Then we need to do something!"

"Do what? I can never, will never interfere in the events of another universe, and you? Look at you." He gestured. "A narcissistic cripple, one competent but very much mortal sorcerer, two super-humans with the wrong powers and one admittedly powerful but spent... I'm going to tentatively assume demigod. Not nearly enough to slow him down, let alone actually stop him. It's over."


No!

"Go to hell!" She screamed, breathing ragged and panic overflowing. He looked stunned, the half amused. "We have to do something! There has to be something!"

"There isn't." Stephen was on his knees, as pale as snow and looking haunted beyond words. "There isn't. What have I done? God, what have I done-!?"

"Fuck you too!" She rounded on the grounded man, blue light sparking around her figure and vision going blurry from tears. " Don't you dare give up now! You're the most powerful sorcerer alive-"

"Oh, not even close." Other Strange muttered

"-And Eli is a kid! He's a kid like me and he still put up a better fight then all of you put together! Stephen, work with me here! We can't let this happen! We can't-"

She choked on the words. The world was tilting, her heart thundering almost to the point of agony, and she just wanted this to be over why couldn't this be over?!

And then Other Strange spoke.

"What..exactly..what?!"

She turned to find him staring in the dis-

No, not the distance,

His eyes were locked on Eli's prone form, and the faint shimmer of purple light radiating out from him.

"That... is not a demigod." He frowned. "Faltinian? No, they don't consume foreign magic anywhere near this efficiently."

He turned on her and she barely flinched despite the intensity of the look. "Your friend. What exactly is he?"

"I...don't know. We've barely known each other for two days."

"Figures." His eyes narrowed.

Eli seemed to twitch, and a surge of concern flooded her thoughts as she stepped forward.

"What are you doing to him?!"

"Attempting to read his mind."

"What?!"

"Relax. If I wanted to hurt him he'd already be dead. And so would the rest of you for that matter. Besides, I've already gone through your mind and my lesser half's over there."

Her jaw dropped.

"The last time someone gained the ability to travel the multiverse at will, all of creation faced an extinction level threat that I had to cleanup. Of course I was going to double check your stories, it's basic common sense."

He blinked as he raised a glowing hand in Eli's direction, and she clenched her teeth as she was reminded of her own helplessness yet again.

Damn it all.

"If it makes you feel any better, I didn't look very deep. The mind of a teenage girl is the last place I want to be." He frowned and ignored her indignant sputtering. "This is...annoying. When you reach a certain level of power, it becomes very unusual to have to...try, to achieve something so simple. I don't want to brute force my way in, but the fact that his mind is putting up any kind of resistance to the level of power I'm using is...very impressive. Just...a bit- ah, here we...go."

His face went slack for a moment.

And then another.

And another.

Just as she was about to approach, terror building at the idea that something had gone wrong, his features snapped back into activity, a look of delighted incredulity and almost hysterical amusement plastered across his face.

Then he tipped back his head and laughed.

"Ha ha ha! And I thought I'd seen it all. But never mind any of that now." Then he rounded on them, more animated than ever before. "Heh. Turn that frown upside down, Miss Chavez."

He grinned, eyes sparking madly.

"I think you poor fools might actually have a chance after all."

America swallowed in apprehension.

...
​

As Always, leave your comments and ideas and if you don't like it please be courteous.

 

[Firewillreign]

"Slowly!"

"Sorry!"

Wong? Peter?

My eyes fluttered slowly as I regained consciousness, mind slowly working through the comfortable haze of sleep as my thoughts began to clear.

I moved-

Abort, abort, abort!

- and froze as my body seemed to scream!

"What the hell?" I groaned as my muscles went limp and I collapsed back onto the…mattress?

This wasn't home.

The memories started trickling in, slowly at first and then a tide as I remembered all of it.

Peter. America. Scarlet Witch.

Chthon

I flinched at the memory.

Hello there future PTSD, how's your day been?

"I thought you said he was okay?"

How was I on a mattress?

Where'd they get a mattress?

"We'll soon find out"

Slowly, I opened my eyes again.

The first thing I saw was Peter standing over me, and his face broke out into a grin.

"Finally!"

Wong stood a little ways behind him, and he nodded his head in what I hope was polite acknowledgement as our eyes met.

"I will alert the others."

Then he turned around and walked away.

That man was hard to read.

"Eli?" Peter again "Are you alive?"

Good question.

Was I?

My bones ached. My muscles felt like tenderized meat and my skull was throbbing in a way that implied a headache that was only know just starting to decrease in intensity.

But I was alive, and lucid, and from what I saw on the battlefield, those two states of being were few and far between.

Slowly, I nodded.

The look of genuine relief on his face was gratifying.

"Good. You were a mess just a little while ago."

**I feel like a mess**

I felt the faintest impression of confusion.

**Eli, we're five feet apart? Why can't you just talk?••

**Because I feel like my jaw might fall off if I try. What happened? Where are we?**

Even as I thought the words, I stared straight up into the open sky.

Or at least, whatever that was. I remained looking at the gray, orange and utterly lifeless splash of colour and abstract patterns that passed for the sky, my brain struggling to make sense of it.

This place felt wrong.

I felt nauseous, but I was quickly coming to realize that that had little and less to do with the state of me and a lot more to do with... whatever the hell this place was.

**This never gets any less weird. Right, we all went through America's portal about five seconds before the total Chthulu Copy-Cat-••

**I know right?**

**-killed us.**

I felt a flash of fear that wasn't mine and I winced. Yeah, no one could ever accuse Spider-Man of being a coward (Except Jameson, but fuck Jameson), yet a little fear was completely excusable at this point.

The Elder Gods were a tier of bullshit unto their own, and Chthon was the biggest and the baddest of them all.

And I knew next to nothing about him, save for some old comic lore that I wasn't sure even applied to this universe.

The Avengers were scattered, the Masters Of The Mystic Arts were gutted, and the only other people who might punch in the fucker's weight class I either didn't know how to reach or outright didn't want to reach.

Damn It!

Peter hesitated.

**What now?**

**It's..okay. To make a long story short? We landed in another universe-**

I deadpanned

**Oh, shit, really?!**

**Don't be an ass. Look, this where it gets really crazy.**

**I'm a universally displaced teenager who's also technically an alien being off living energy and incredible power** I looked at him slowly, mentally emphasising the words. **My best friend is a human mutate who sticks to walls and can bench-press a semi. The two of us, along with our new friend who is also a many-times universally displaced teenager just got attacked by an near-all powerful reality warping witch, who then turned out to be possessed by a near-all powerful reality warping demon god. The same demon that I then punched square in the face and blasted through a mountain. Then we jumped into a our new friend's magic portal and landed in an alternate universe.**

...

Peter crossed his arms, looking unimpressed.

**...Are you done?**

**...In a minute.**

...

**...Now I'm done. That awkward silence is critical to driving the point home. But please,-**

With a herculean effort, I propped myself up on my elbows and nodded at him pleasantly.

**By all means. Tell me how it now gets crazy?**

**Technically we're not in another universe. We're in the remains of a universe that was destroyed by what I'm pretty sure is an evil Doctor Strange. The same Doctor Strange who, according to Sorcerer Wong , is incalculably more powerful and dangerous than all of us put together and can kill us all in the blink of an eye. Oh, and he's also gave our DoctornStrange a cool metal arm, read all our minds when we were asleep and has, for whatever reason, decided to help us save the world.**

Peter smiled.

**So yeah. Crazy, huh?**

...

**Well, shit.**

**Hah!**

I flopped back onto the mattress, staring up at the oddly colored sky in defeat.

Goddamn Marvel!

Then I blinked.

Wait-

No

Peter face changed as he suddenly felt my overwhelming panic

**Eli?**

**You said that..he...he read our minds?**

**Yeah, I'm not happy about that either.** He hesitated a moment before frowning in thought. **America told me that whatever he saw in your mind really threw him for a loop and convinced him to help. Any ideas?**

Fuck

**Eli? You okay?-**

"Eli!"

America bounded into view, smiling in apparent relief as her eyes met mine. Behind her, Dr.Strange and Wong followed, and behind them was-

I-

Fuck

I knew that person.

And he evidently knew me if the way he smiled was any indicator.

**Hello, Cauley.**

Peter blinked as our bond was severed, replaced with another in an instant.

Dr. Strange Supreme smiled at my gobsmacked expression.

(Please let him not have seen.)

Then it occurred to me that thinking such a thought while he could likely hear it was the very height of stupidity.

**You're in my mind. How are you in my mind?**

**How? That's your question?** He smiled, something distinctly inhuman shifting across his features for just a fleeting moment. **Personally, I expected something more along the lines of... What If? Seems like a more fitting question, don't you think?**

...

FUCK!

...​

These last few years. he'd-

Well, he'd been forced to come face to face with his issues.Controlling. Manipulative, egoistic, prideful to the extreme.

He'd heard it all before.

But for all his faults, for all his arrogance, Stephen Strange was not a monster.

He was not.

Which was why every moment he spent in the presence of the abomination wearing his face made him want to scream in sheer, unyielding rage!

(He wasn't anything like him!)

He glared furiously as the abomination in question clapped his hands

"Everybody with me?"

The five of them sat on chairs in a semi-circle formation, the monster standing between them, back to a conjured blackboard and chalk in hand.

He smiled pleasantly, gaunt features stretching even wider as he turned his way and took in his furious expression the same manner of an adult dealing with an unruly preschooler.

Of all the indignities!

"Great. Let's begin then."

The Other turned around and began scribbling, chalk clacking of the blackboard as the words came into being.

APOCALYPSE PREVENTION 101:

How to fight primordial entities and not die an exceedingly painful death.​

...

He couldn't be serious.

He was, Stephen realised in disbelief the moment the Other turned back to them.

"Steph-" Wong looked to him. "Strange. This is not the time for your games."

"No games, I promise." Other Strange smiled at Wong, and Stephen hated that he could see the faint hints of nostalgia and longing in that expression. "I have a solution to all your Elder god related woes, scout's honor."

(You have no honor.)

Stephen relished the twitch in his counterpart's expression as his whispered words registered.

Small victory, but he'd take it.

The kids leaned forwards, apparently having not heard his little jab. Wong, who did, turned to glare at him with an expression that had him raising his hands in offered surrender.

His friend may despise his counterpart in much the same way that he did, but by god was he having more luck with putting it aside for the sake of the world.

Likely because it wasn't his face staring back at him

"Regardless. Every moment we tarry is another moment Chthon approaches freedom. If you have something to say, then speak it at once."

"That's the idea"

Other Strange turned around and began scribbling.

Binding Matrix.

"What's that?" America chimed in.

"Most commonly? Runic based spell-work used by the Masters Of the Mystic Arts to bind higher arcane life forms, either for a a specific length of time or, in the case of more complex arrays,-"

"-Indefinitely." Wong finished, already shaking his head.

Peter smiled. "That sounds perfect."

"And impossible to achieve." Stephen shrugged as Peter's face fell. "We discussed the possibility of using such a tool against Wanda, and ultimately we decided it was never going to pan out. Sorcerers who use it are incapable of using other forms of magic for the duration of the casting period, making them sitting ducks, and the amount of power needed to bind something like the Scarlet Witch is obscene, to say nothing of Chthon. We could have barely managed it with all of the Sorcerers of Kamar-Taj working together, and now with so many... fallen-"

Wong hung his head

"-It is no longer an option." He grimaced, before turning to glare at his bemused counterpart. "Any other bright ideas?"

"Yes. Can I speak, or will you interrupt me every time?"

(Dick!)

But he stayed silent, and Other Strange took the win with grace.

Turning around, he began to sketch... a mountain?

"Your reality bears a great many similarities to mine. Including the location of Chthon's prison. Mount Wundagore."

He tapped the sketch.

"This place? This place is a nexus of arcane power that makes even Kamar-Taj at it's finest look mediocre in comparison. Gaea the Earth Mother literally poured a portion of herself into it and that power is what has kept the darkness in that mountain contained since time immemorial. And it's that power that's going to save the day."

"But-"

Peter flinched as Other Strange rounded on him, but soldiered on regardless.

"But that's not...their power, is it? They can't take Gaea's power."

Other Strange smiled. "They're not taking anything, merely redirecting a mass of energy and optimizing it for the exact purpose it was always meant to achieve. There'll be no trouble on that end."

He turned to point at Stephen and Wong.

"You don't need to gather the power to refresh the bindings, it's already there. There is absolutely no reason why two sorcerers of your prodigious skills shouldn't be able to redirect pre-existing arcane power and use that to empower the bindings."

"...True." Stephen grunted the words out, almost unwillingly before he rallied himself again. "But this is all a moot point. Chthon will detect the attempt and he will kill us in less time than it takes for us to blink, if we're lucky. And we all seem to be forgetting the fact that refreshing the bindings still leaves us with an avatar that we have absolutely no way to stop"

"Oh, we absolutely do."

America blinked. "We do?"

In response, the man turned to look at...

Oh.

Eli's expression shifted to one of incredulity as all eyes turned to him.

"Oh, you're kidding."

"Afraid not. This is where you come in, Anodite."

Eli stiffened even as Strange grinned.

"Let me tell you about Gaea."

...​

As Always, Leave your comments and ideas and if you don't like it, please be courteous.

 

[Firewillreign]

America sighed.

What a mess.

Eli was alone, standing just far enough away that he could likely bask in the silence this place provided, head down and staring at nothing at all.

"Eli?"

He perked up, turning his head back to stare at her.

She waved half-heartedly "Hi."

His grin was equally weak. "Hi."

"I wouldn't want to be alone in a place like this." She gestured to the vast emptiness that surrounded them. "Feels like you could get lost here forever."

"Possibly?" He shrugged. "I'm still not sure what this place is exactly. Infinite void? Finite void? Something in between?"

"Does it really matter?"

Because Stephen had pulled her aside the moment the Other Strange's back was turned to them and gave her the cliff-notes version of what exactly his counterpart had done.

Frankly, she didn't care what this universe was now.

Just what it had been, and how, if Stephen was to be believed, arrogance and desperation had unmade it.

She hated how deeply she understood that last feeling.

"I suppose it doesn't." He shrugged again before quirking an eyebrow. "Come to try and talk me out of it?"

"That's more Peter's job." She pointed back in the direction she came from. "I think he's still yelling at the Strange."

"Which one?"

"Both."

This time his smile was more genuine. "That's my boy."

She snorted and he mirrored the action, and they were both chuckling quietly. The noise died quickly in the unnatural void, but it brought with it a reprieve to everything that she was quite grateful for.

At some point they started walking, side by side as they drifted through their own thoughts.

"Not that I don't appreciate the company." He finally spoke as rolled his shoulders in a stretching motion, wincing as the movement pulled at sore muscles, "But why exactly did you follow me here?"

"Like I said. It doesn't seem like the kind of place someone should be alone in. Also, I was curious."

He raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Anodite?"

"Ah."

"Yes, ah." She gently nudged him with her elbow. "Alien from another universe?"

"Sort of?" He ran a hand through his hair. "It's pretty out there, and I don't understand it myself. And I don't mean that in the sense of 'It's really complicated and it would take a while to explain', I mean that in the sense of 'I don't understand how it's remotely possible or what it means for me in general'."

Oh.

"If you don't want to talk about it, you don't-"

"No, no, it's fine." He nudged her back. "You told us your story, it's only fair I tell you mine."

For a moment, he seemed to hesitate.

"I was born and raised in a world that was a lot more mundane than this one. No incredibly advanced technology, no superheroes, and alien invasions, no magic." He laughed at the look on her face. "No, really. The stuff that I can do is a recent addition, and I was as human as they come back then. I grew up in a middle-class family, in a small neighbourhood with nothing fantastic or out of the ordinary to shake up my life. Definitely nothing like what I've seen in the last few months . I had a good childhood, a good education and a good university lined up for me when I graduated high school, the works. A whole normal life planned out for me."

Again, he hesitated.

"And then one day, I was just...here."

She blinked.

"What?"

"Expecting something more flashy?" He shook his head. "Nope. The last thing I remember was going to bed, and then the next thing I know - poof! I'm waking up in a grimy alley in Manhattan, butt-naked and without a thing to my name. Except not quite."

His eyes began to glow purple, and he raised a hand that radiated the same mesmerising light.

It was easy to look at, beautiful even.

"I thought I was going crazy, and not because I was living in a world where people could turn into giant green rage monsters or where gods of thunder walked the Earth like everybody else." He shook his head ruefully. "No, I thought I was losing it because as much as I remember my life as Elias Cauley, undergraduate student to-be? I also kept getting flashes of a whole life lived on Anodyne."

She blinked in confusion, because what?

"Anodyne?"

"The home planet of the Anodites, also in another universe if you were wondering." Her eyes widened. "Yeah. Insane, right? Unbelievable? Imagine how I felt. Any moment I'd be walking down the street and just living life day-to day, and all of a sudden, bam! I remember learning to fly for the first time. Flying, America, when I grew up knowing that kind of thing was impossible. "

He sounded thrilled, excited.

And just a tad hysterical.

"It's not just the big, generic things either. I remember people, vaguely, who I know I've never met. No names, but I can remember little bits of conversation, advice on how to use my powers, little pieces that helped me figure out how to call up my mana in the first place. They're scattered, and there are a million human memories for every Anodite one, but they're undoubtedly there."

"I..." She shrugged helplessly, disbelief at the fantastical story repressed by the unbelievable nature of her own life. "Anything is possible, but it is pretty out there. Are you sure you weren't just..."

She didn't even know what to say.

"Imagining it? My own brain playing tricks on me?" He didn't seem upset at the suggestion, which she was grateful for. "I guess it's always a chance, but there's stuff that I know that make the chance next to non-existent . No, I went to sleep as a human being and I woke up as an alien and that's that."

He grimaced suddenly. "Can we talk about something else? I don't want to go on about this any longer."

She floundered at the abrupt change of pace.

(That wasn't something you just tossed out there and just abandoned on a whim, damn it!)

But she wasn't one to press the point, and it would have been a dick move regardless.

So she settled for something just as relevant but less sensitive.

"Are you ready for the fight?"

Less sensitive because they all pretty much had an equal chance of dying.

Eli had them beat on who was likely to die first, and he probably knew it too if his quiet and slightly hollow laughter chuckle was any indicator.

"Ready as I can be, I guess. Has Edge-lord Supreme figured out how to send us back yet?"

"Edge-Lor-?" It took effort to keep her lips from twitching as she shook her head."I think that's the one part he does have figured out. He's with Wong and our Strange right now, working in that binding...matrix thingy. We'll leave the second they're ready."

"Thats good to hear."

There was another pause, and she could feel the previous tension slipping back between the crack this conversation had made in the silent solitude.

Abruptly, a surge of guilt began to eat away at her.

"Eli, you don't have to do this." He looked almost amused as she put a hand on his shoulder and rushed on ahead. "We have two Strange's and a Sorcerer Supreme to boot, we can find another solution -"

"No, we can't." The reply was gentle. "Chthon's probably already tearing Wubdagore down as we speak. The apocalypse has literally already begun."

He shook his head.

"There's no time, America, and I'm not scared of what might happen to me. Not when the alternative is so much worse. I came into this to save one person, and now I'm in a prime position to save billions. This isn't a debate. It's not even a question."

...

Damn it.

"Well," She tried for a smirk but what came out was closer to a grimace than anything else. "Super-heroes and their morality, I guess."

"Oh, I'm more of a superhero in progress I think." he chuckled. "I would know, given that I live with the real deal."

"Peter?"

"You didn't know? I thought the blue and red spandex was a dead giveaway."

"I been to some weird universes, Cauley. Spandex isn't always an indicator of heroes."

"Well then, Miss Chavez. Let me regale you with the epic saga of Spider-man and his battles with The Vulture, the Mad Titan, and Mysterio."

She blinked.

"The hell kind of name is Mysterio?"

"The name of an asshole who lived the last years of his life in desperate need of being punched right in the dick."

...​

"It is done"

Wong's grave words shattered the silence and attracted both of their attention.

Stephen sucked in a deep breath as he beheld the completed runic array laid out before them.

It was, in fact, done

And now it begins, he thought grimly

"I-" Wong shook his head with a heavy, world-weary sigh. "I will fetch the children."

Stephen watched his old friend amble off with a heavy heart, Wing's pain radiating off of him in almost visible waves.

He knew the feeling all too well.

Wong was a strong man, a good man.

But to watch your comrades be slaughtered?

To watch your students and allies break for you, and be reduced to sending children to their almost certain deaths just to have a ghost of a chance?

He…well...

Wong was a good man, but good did not always mean unbreakable.

It seldom ever did, really.

**True. Surprisingly insightful, coming from us.**

It took him a moment to realize that the thought was not him, another to realize where it was coming from, and then fury lanced through his thoughts.

"Get out of my head!"

As always, his counterpart seemed more amused than anything, stepping out of seemingly nowhere and looking him down on him.

"As you wish."

As always, his counterpart seemed more amused than anything, stepping out of seemingly nowhere and looking him down at him with demeaning grace.

It was infuriating, and made all the worse by the knowledge that this ... perversion of himself could kill them all in the blink of an eye.

"What do you want?" He asked sharply in a low tone, Wong's absence finally giving him the chance to speak without watching his words "What exactly do you get out of all of this? Out of helping us-"

"I'm helping them, not you. And I'm doing this to save an entire world from destruction. Pretty self-explanatory, don't you think?"

"Not when it comes to you. Not after what you did."

He knew that he could be driven. That he could forsake caution for the sake of achieving a goal. But what this monster had done went far beyond that and he despised him for it.

Other Strange actually laughed. "And there you go again! Do you honestly believe that you can condemn me any more than I can condemn myself?"

"I-"

"Because you can't. This may be hard to hear, but your opinion is irrelevant, Stephen. And I hate you every bit as much as you hate me."

"I didn't kill an entire universe for the sake of my own desires!"

"Desire? Is that why you think I did it?" His counterpart's eyes blazed with orange fire! "You think shallow desire is what motivated me to become this?"

Stephen said nothing, did nothing, save for backing away slightly and glaring with furious unease as the monster's face twisted, inhuman features writhing and bubbled in an utterly nauseating display.

"I did it for love. Christine was everything to me, and for the longest time, I treated her like shit. I didn't even know how much I loved her until I held her broken body in my hands."

Stephen opened his mouth, only to close it again. A heaviness that had nothing to do with magic pulled at his heart, a painful ringing in his ears as he bit down his retort and listened to the hated tale for the second time in less than a day.

But this time was different.

No false pride.

No arrogance.

Just the shattered husk of a terribly familiar man.

"I tried everything. I used the time stone and I tried every damn trick in the book. Every myth, rumor, and legend I jumped on like a goddamned bloodhound, and it was all for nothing. I once told you I had thousands of years of experience on you. The truth is? It's more like hundreds of thousands, if not millions." He shook his head, monstrous features warping, as if desperate to tear their way free. "I stopped counting long, long ago. All that time was devoted to the one singular purpose of bringing her back. And I still failed."

He laughed then, a crackling, demented noise that echoed in Stephen's very soul and made him want to cringe and back away at how wrong it was.

"You may have lost her, Stephen, but at least she was still alive. Happy. I didn't even have that. So I lost my mind for the nth time, and I did the unforgivable. Before that, I had gotten so damn used to taking risks for the sole purpose of proving myself right, and I decided then that the rules didn't matter, that they didn't apply to someone like me. I was the Sorcerer Supreme, after all. And look where we are now!"

He roared as he spread his arms, as if trying to grab hold of the lonely oblivion that was his home.

"It's almost funny, you know? My stupidity cost me time with Christine, and because I refused to learn from my lesson, it cost me everything else."

God.

Stephen shook his head, nausea twisting his mind and nearly breaking his control as bile crawled up his throat.

"Enough. Enough. Why are you even telling me any of this!?"

"Because I refused to learn. Not until it was too damn late for anything and everything that mattered. But you?"

His counterpart's face morphed back into humanity, eyes boring into his own.

"You still have that chance."

Stephen was already shaking his head.

"I don't need that chance. I'm nothing like you, I would never-"

"For once in your life, Stephen, cut the bullshit."

His mouth clamped shut.

"I'm not Stephen Strange anymore. Not really. There's only so much arcane power you can pour into a human soul before it either breaks or becomes something else entirely." The other shook his head. "But before that? I've been inside your mind, Stephen, so I can tell you with absolute confidence that you and I were almost fucking identical."

Stephen was once more lost for words.

"We lived the same life, bar a few miniscule differences. Experienced the same things mostly. Our thought process was almost exactly alike. Granted, you matured a little faster than I did, your Infinity War and the choices you had to make forcing you to strive to be better, but the potential to do what I did? To let your arrogance and need rule you and damn the rest of the world? That's still in there, if only just."

"That's not true-"

"We both know it is. There's no point denying it, I literally know you better than you know yourself. That's why I hate you, as unreasonable as that sounds. Because there is not one person in all of creation that I despise more deeply than the man I used to be, and between the two of you? I can count the differences on one fucking hand."

"Go to hell!"

Because what else could he say.

"Already?" The counterpart laughed. "You haven't even heard the best bit!"

And then he looked down, straight at Stephen's new arm.

The same arm that he'd been desperately avoiding even thinking about.

The arm that…

That…

Oh no.

"What did you do?!"

"Don't worry, that wasn't meant to imply that I'd cursed it, as satifying as that would have been. It's just an arm." Other Strange smiled. "Uru. Excellent for spell-casting, and a definite improvement in terms of combat. But it isn't organic, and you'll never be able to pretend that it is."

…

What?

"You did this deliberately, didn't you? As some kind of insult?"

His tone betrayed the incredulity he felt at the sheer pettiness of it all.

"Insult? You're thinking with that insufferable ego again, Stephen. I gave you a reminder. Uru is excellent for spell-casting, but that particular variant resists alterations to its nature like nothing else. Most glamour spells will wash right off, and the few that don't will break the moments you cast magic of an opposing nature. You will never disguise that arm. You will never forget you have it. And every time you look at it? You will remember this very moment, right here. The day that you saw what you could have been, and what you must never, ever let yourself become."

…

He... he didn't...

Stephen looked away.

"Hell of a way to prove a point."

"Well, I am a narcissist. I hold myself to a higher standard."

"That's not how narcissism works, you ass."

"Go fuck yourself, Stephen"

…

Heh.

It started with a snort.

Then another.

And another.

And soon enough?

The empty void with filled with the sound of hysterical laughter, a wave of bubbling noise breaking the silence as two very damaged men who had no other way to express their grief laughed themselves to tears.

It was all so hilariously fucked in the end.

"Heh. You didn't have to give me this, you know that? I hate you just the same as you do me." Stephen shook his head.

"I don't need the motivation to strive never to be you."

"Maybe not." A shrug "But I prefer to be thorough. Like I said, the differences are there. Not enough to reassure me, of course, but I'm self aware enough to admit that pretty much nothing would. You've suffered, Stephen, in a way that I never did. There's potential to you, potential to be better than the Stephen Strange I once was, and I'm feeling optimistic enough to give you a chance."

The implication was not lost on him.

"And if the potential wasn't there?"

Other Strange smiled.

"Do you really need me to spell it out for you?"

He'd never been so close to death and so far from it at the same time.

It was almost funny.

"I suppose not. There's nothing left to say, I take it?"

"I have nothing else to say to you."

"Then we're done here. I'll go help Wong round up the super-children."

"You do that, Stephen. You do that."

As he walked away, Stephen realized he didn't need magic to know that the Other's eyes were following his every movement.

He didn't turn around.

I will never be that.

No matter the cost.

...

Strange Supreme watched his alternate walk off in the rough direction Wong had taken and sighed lowly.

"Are you going to come out now, brat?"

For a moment, there was silence.

Then Peter Parker slid into his line of sight, a sheepish expression crossing his features.

"Sorry. I had a few questions and I didn't want to interrupt."

"So you decided to eavesdrop instead?"

"I can't really help it. Superpowers and all that. Most people see me sticking to walls and lifting cars and they forget that the whole spider shtick comes with an enhanced sensory package too. Sight, smell, hearing, all of it is dialed up to eleven. In a place as quiet as this, it's actually harder not to listen in to your conversation. Sorry."

"Handy, but not to my interest." He turned around, glad for the conversation regardless.

The screaming of the thousands in his soul was much easier to tune out with a good distraction than not, and he craved the moment peace even if he knew with certainty that he didn't deserve it.

That he would never deserve it.

"What can I do for you, kid? If this is about your friend and his possible suicide mission, I will remind you that he agreed-"

"It's not that." He shook his head. "I mean, I don't like it, but we don't have much of a choice, and if the last few months have taught me anything It's that Eli will do what Eli tends to do."

He raised an eyebrow. "What does Eli tend to do?"

The kid grinned. "Whatever he wants. And when he's not giving me headaches? That strategy works out pretty well. That's how we got this sweet new apartment in New-York. But you probably don't care about that."

"No, I don't."

"Yeah, well, the point is, I have faith that my friend will pull through. That's not why I'm here now."

"The enlighten me, Parker. What is it you want?"

"You're not a monster, Dr. Strange."

...

What?

"Excuse me?"

Peter smiled.

"I know it's not my place, right? But I heard everything you said, and while I admit most of the magic talk went right over my head, I can get a general idea. You lost someone you love, doctor, and you did something stupid and it ruined everything. I've been there too. You've seen my mind, so you probably know what I'm talking about."

Oh, this was ridiculous.

"Parker, our situations couldn't be more different. Both in scope," He gestured to the empty void that still burned him to look at, even after all this time "And in culpability. You were a child, and you sacrificed everything you had to undo your mistake, while I-"

"Was someone who had pretty much everything they loved torn taken from them." Peter looked down. "Like I said. I know the feeling."

No.

No, he was not taking this from a child.

"That's naive of you."

He spat the words for lack of anything else to say.

He knew this kid.

He'd seen his mind, had seen the good in him, and to hear this from him?

This was doing things to his emotions he didn't like.

(Why did it suddenly hurt that much more?)

"Yeah, it probably is. And, to be honest? I have no idea why I'm even saying this, not really." Peter raised his head and Strange almost recoiled, the assurance in those eyes making him feel things he did not want to feel. "I just wanted you to know that... you did a monstrous thing... but your motivation was the most human thing imaginable, and the fact that your still here, regretting it even now?"

He shook his head.

"You're not a monster, doctor. Maybe you're not a hero, but you're not a monster. And I think that where it counts? You're still every bit as human as the rest of us. I just think you should know that."

Then he turned and began to walk away.

A strange instinct seized him then, and he was spitting out the words almost unwillingly.

"The human I was put in motion and personally saw to the absolute destruction of his entire universe. Untold quintillions dead in an instant. Do you honestly believe that me still being him, or anything like him, is in any way a good thing?"

Peter Parker, Spider-man, turned back to him with a thoughtful expression across his features.

"I believe that the human in you is why you're helping us save our world. A world you have nothing to do with, no stake in whatsoever. You gave us a fighting chance, and something tells me that wouldn't hesitate to help others if it came down to it, even at cost to yourself. Wether it's guilt or grief or something else that's motivating you is irrelevant. The facts are that you made a terrible, terrible mistake that you can't undo, but even now you're going above and beyond to do the right thing in spite of the past."

He shrugged.

"If you're asking me whether or not acknowledging the part of you that makes that possible is a good thing? I'd say yes, any day of the week, but honestly? After everything? I think that's for you and you alone to decide."

Then he smiled, full of hope and faith strong enough to conquer the unstoppable and disappeared in the shadows.

"Now let's go save the world."

...​

As always, leave your comments and ideas and if you don't like it, please be courteous.

 

[Firewillreign]

"You can stop looking at me like that, Cauley, I don't bite."

I winced.

Strange Supreme sighed

"Perhaps that wasn't the best way to phrase it."

"No."

"Regardless, the point still stands. I have no intention of hurting you."

Which was somewhat comforting to hear, I guess.

...

...No, still keeping my distance.

America and Peter stood a distance off, both chatting quietly, while Wong and Stephen had their own conversation further back.

Leaving me standing alone with the guy who I was fairly sure could blink us all out of existence.

He raised an eyebrow at me, a half-smirk pulling at his lips, and then I remembered he could read minds as well.

Damn.

"It's a little hard not to be nervous." I shook my head slowly. "Even ignoring who you are, no offence, you've seen inside my mind. You know...that..."

I paused awkwardly.

"That I'm a fictional character where you come from?"

"...Yeah."

"Don't be ridiculous."

I blinked.

"What?"

"The Multiverse is infinite, you foolish child." He actually laughed at my dumbfounded expression, a short but deep sound. "Anything and everything is possible. A world where our situations are reversed. A world where neither of us exists and a world where we both do at the same time. The knowledge you possess isn't nearly as big a deal as you seem to think it is. Hell, my drinking buddy perceives more realities than you can imagine at the exact same time. Compared to that, you're world really isn't that impressive."

...

Huh.

Strangely reassuring to hear.

"Mind you, I wouldn't go broadcasting it by any means, but you have nothing to worry about from me in that regard. You have bigger problems to deal with. Speaking off-"

He raised his voice, loud enough that it seemed to bounce in the empty void.

"Time to move, people! You have a world to save and I have my peace and quiet to regain."

Expressions shuttered, forms tensed, and the four of them walked up to us in the same way I imagined a doomed man would walk up to his executioner.

Which was a tad dramatic, honestly. Considering that I was going to be duking it out with the Elder Jackass, they had nothing to complain about!

"How is this going to work exactly?"

America's question was sharp, and in response Supreme raises his hands, dark smoke and burst of orange emanating from them at regular intervals.

"I'll use my own energies to activate your ability." He nodded and cut her off as she went to speak. "And yes, I'm aware of your control issues, but I can bypass them. I felt your arrival into my dimension, and I felt the dimensional resonance of your target universe. I can replicate it easily enough."

He straightened ever so slightly.

"You have everything you should need. A plan of action, resources, and all the power necessary-" He glanced at me. "To get the job done. Good luck, and may we never meet again."

Supreme nodded at Stephen, who nodded back with a sense of finality.

I tensed.

"Uh, Doc? Maybe you should hold on-"

He stretched out his arms, arcs of black lancing out and into America's chest!

"I'm fine!" America raised a hand and Peter paused, mid-leap. "Fine. I'm fi... woah."

She blinked, eyes shining blue.

"America?"

"I feel." She shook her head. "I think.... I can..."

There was no warning.

One second, we all stood in tense anticipation.

The next, reality shattered as the star-shaped tear in the fabric of space-time appeared.

Stephen and Wong disappeared instantly, drawn in by inescapable force. A second later Peter was gone, yell cutting off as he vanished into it's confines.

I would have been next, but I was already lifting myself off the ground, backing away even as I realized that was likely counter productive. Only America was truly unaffected, wreathed in blue light and standing still effortlessly.

"You best be going."

I looked down at Supreme Strange, eyes wide.

"Good luck, Cauley. You'll need it. And one last thing."

His eyes narrowed, and he spoke.

"!ͥ̀̔ͮ̍!ͥ̀̔ͮ̍"͔̱͍͇̘͙͐̿͡!ͥ̀̔ͮ̍"͔̱͍͇̘͙͐̿͡"͔̱͍͇̘͙͐̿͡"​

My eyes widened, even as my head erupted into splitting agony.

"What did you?!-"

"I doubt you'll remember this anytime soon, but when you do? You'll probably thank me for it."

Then the portal buckled, erupted, and we were gone.

...​

Kamar-Taj was a ruin.

Wong swallowed heavily as he observed the charred and burnt husk of his monastery, the destruction so complete that there was more ash and dust than solid rubble.

He was forced to close his eyes as they drifted lower and caught site of the remains of his sorcerers, impossible to mistake even in death.

Vishanti forgive him for his failure.

When next he opened them, there was no weakness in them.

It was time to end this.

He turned to the group , Stephen nodding immediately even as the children stood to attention.

"Children. You know the plan."

Risking the children in such a way hurt more than he could hope to put into words, but needs must.

America nodded.

"We go to Wundagore. Eli does...whatever he's going to have to do, while you guys work on getting the asshole back in his box, and me and Peter watch your backs."

Wong nodded.

"When we begin casting, we will be unable to shape magic for defensive purposes. Thus it falls to you to protect us from whatever abominable forces Chthon sends our way, while Eli.-"

"-Tries not to get himself slaughtered." Despite the grim words, the boy smiled weakly. Then he winced. "Anyone else have a headache?"

Peter frowned. "No?"

"It's probably nothing. Weird though."

Stephen clicked his fingers.

"Focus, please. The sooner we get there, the sooner we begin. Cauley, watch out for the signal. The moment we call for you-"

"Drag Chthon over to your binding site. You activate your ritual, and the piece of him inside of Wanda Maximoff gets sucked right out." The boy nodded. "I get it. Let's hit the damn road!"

Wong straightened.

They all knew the risks. They all knew the stakes. They were all as ready as they could would ever be.

(Once more, for the world.)

"Then it's time to begin-"

"Wait!"

Peter Parker shot him an apologetic but firm look.

"If we're going to do this...Then there's one thing I need to get."

Stephen and America exchanged confused looks, while Eli started grinning madly.

...​

"Where exactly are we, Peter?"

While Wong and Stephen had opted to wait outside the America followed behind the two boys as they ran, taking the steps two at a time.

"I used to live here." Peter called down, something heavy in his tone. "Me and my aunt, I mean. Eli told you about... The Mysterio fiasco?"

"Yes."

She didn't have to disguise the rage in her tone.

"After...The world forgot." He almost stuttered on the words, but soldiered on regardless. "Life got that much harder. It wasn't just the memories people had of me that disappeared, right? My records, my papers, passwords and access to anything and everything? All of that just vanished. Including access to one of the few things my mentor left me."

They burst out of the staircase on the fourth floor and immediately took a left, heading towards one apartment in particular.

"I couldn't bare to just leave it as it was, so I spent months reprogramming it." He stopped in front of one apartment, breathing heavy, head low. "Only afterwards, I realized that I couldn't use it without drawing all kinds of attention. So I buried it here."

He reached for the door handle and frowned.

"Damn it. I forgot the key."

"Allow me."

"What are- Eli, don't you dare-!"

Eli grinned, glowing faintly purple, and kicked the door in with a thunderous crash!

"What?" He shrugged at the glare he got. "We're in the middle of the apocalypse!"

Peter glared a second longer before turning around and marching in. The apartment was empty, stripped bare and free of any human touch, and the fact seemed to stagger Peter. Eli's expression went from satisfaction to quiet sympathy.

"Pete."

"I'm fine."

He strode over to the kitchen, the door creaking as he pushed his way into the bare room, America and Eli both at his heels.

Yet aside from a stove and a traditional cupboard layout, there was nothing out of the ordinary that she could spot.

Or at least there wasn't, up until Peter walked over to a bare wall, cocked back a fist and drove his arm straight through the wall.

She gaped.

Eli sniffed. "Hypocrite."

"Guess it is the fastest way to get some things done." Peter smiled as he rummaged through the walls, the expression growing more pronounced as he felt something familiar. "Got it."

He pulled back, the damage to the wall spreading as he pulled an object the size of a small suitcase clean through it.

What the hell?

It was sleek, smooth metal, with a pane of see-through glass at it's middle. Yet the moment Peter pressed a hand to it's top, it lit up, a cloud of... metal becoming visible as it shifted and moved within it's confines.

"What is that?"

Her tone betrayed her fascination, but aside from a slight smile Peter gave no answer.

His hands fiddled with the latch, flipping open the top of the container with easy, practiced movements.

Then he slid his entire arm straight into the cloud of shifting metal.

A moment, then-

Gold, red and blue surged, travelling up his arm and across his body!

She started to move, but Eli grabbed her shoulder.

"Just watch."

It was over in an instant.

The surging mass stilled, revealing sleek power armor of the absolute highest quality. Almost deceptively light, movements fluid and natural, he turned to them, posture ready.

Eli looked him up and down.

"I'll admit, that is way awesome. So you ready to go, drama queen?"

The suit shifted, face-plate retracting to reveal Peter's face, sporting a grin every bit as wild as Eli's.

"You're bet I am"

The mask snapped shut, and Spider-man straightened.

"Now let's do this!"

...​

Thousands of miles away, black eyes snapped open.

"Fine then. The hard way."

...​

As always, leave your comments and ideas and if you don't like it, please be courteous.

Next chapter, the final battle begins!

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