Soon enough, Steve also landed and with both him and Natasha supporting Tony, Doctor Strange and Wong were almost strong-armed into conceding their information about the Darkhold and Agatha and cooperating with them.
After another round of debates that included far more threats and dick-measuring contests between Strange and Tony than necessary, both mystic arts practitioners agreed to go to the ominously glowing tomb of the first demon.
Strange cast a portal and sent both Agatha and the Darkhold into one of the secure holding cells within the New York Sanctum. Still frozen in time by Strange's use of the Time Stone, neither the book nor the witch would be any trouble for now.
"Fine, let's go." Strange said and started levitating with the help of his cloak, the anti-magic field didn't seem to affect the cloak's abilities at all. Which made sense, considering that it was a prized relic. Tony followed suit and floated above the ground — the effects of Strange's EMP spell had already worn off. As for Wong, he grabbed onto the cloak and levitated with Strange. Natasha created wings out of thin air and offered Captain America a hand which he gratefully grabbed. He was the most normal person in this gathering and was inwardly thinking that it would've been much better if he'd just stayed up in the fortress instead of coming down with a parachute.
"You seem to have gotten a hang of this new thing…" Steve commented after seeing her use the abilities of her new bio-suit in a much more fluid way, "I can still recall the little note that White Knight left me…"
"Real good that did." Nat shook her head while flying behind Tony and Strange, "I might as well not have done anything about it."
"Well, I appreciate your intentions," Steve said seriously.
"You should thank Apex too," Nat laughed, "He's the reason I have all this going for myself…"
"Your suit?" Steve asked. He'd seen her exhibit the signs of using a suit similar to Tony's and could only assume that that's what Nat was talking about.
"Yeah, he's a living bio-suit that gives me badass abilities and lets me do cool things like shooting lightning out of my finger," She said with a happy tone.
"Good for you," Steve nodded with an impressed expression.
At this point, they landed on one of the broken-down edges of the dilapidated structure behind Tony, Strange, and Wong, "Pretty shoddy work for the tomb of someone as important as the first demon, don't you think? I was expecting something along the lines of the pyramids in longevity." Tony commented as he turned back to see the huge hold in the wall that they'd come through.
"This place has existed for countless years, weathering innumerable storms and tribulations," Wong said, "Being able to see so much of it still intact is in itself a miracle that is only possible because of the workmanship and magic that courses through its veins."
"Right…" Tony didn't argue with Wong and walked in, right beside Strange who seemed more curious than cautious, unlike Wong, who was ready to face the greatest threat to his life.
"The spells within the Darkhold were all inscribed from this place…" Strange commented as he traced his fingers along one of the murals and examined it before moving to the next one.
"Be cautious, Strange." Wong warned, "There's no telling what soulless monstrosities lie within this place."
"You worry too much," Strange said as he walked further in while continuing to examine the murals that depicted the spells that were inscribed within the Darkhold. Meanwhile, the constant, pulsating red glow of the castle seemed to have gotten a bit more docile and subdued than the aggressive pulsating glow from before.
Tony glanced at the murals, but couldn't make much sense of most of them — only understanding the ones that depicted some kind of story or point of history through images. He only gave them an overhead glance, allowing the data to be saved in Friday's database to decipher it later.
As Tony and Strange kept going deeper into the castle, Wong, Steve, and Natasha were much more cautious. Heeding Wong's warnings, neither Steve nor Natasha paid too much attention to the murals and kept walking forward cautiously.
As for Alex, he mostly stayed quiet, occasionally whispering something in Nat's ear. He was busy making sure that his greed for the Time Stone wasn't realized by Doctor Strange or some artifact that he had on him. He was half sure that the Eye of Aggomoto had some kind of spell to detect someone's greed for the Time Stone and take the necessary measures to hide it. He remembered Thanos taking the Eye from Strange and then finding it empty.
Initially, Alex didn't care much for the Infinity Stones since he was mostly sure that their powers would most likely be subdued and restrained due to multiple copies of them existing in the same reality. But seeing Agatha's state, Alex realized that although weakened, the stone was still very much an Infinity Stone with authority over time itself.
'Still, it should still be much weaker than its full power,' Alex concluded. He didn't think Doctor Strange had any idea about the different speeds of time not only between the planets but also within the planet. Just in the MCU, Alex had seen that the Western Hemisphere had twenty-six-hour days while the Eastern Hemisphere had twenty-two-hour days. And even that would change every couple of hours. The overarching Cosmic spell that caused people and objects like clocks to not realize the difference also applied to Doctor Strange even though he had the Time Stone. This told him that Cosmic Energy most likely had greater significance than the Infinity Stones since it was the reason he could even realize the whole time problem.
'Then again. I'm in a prime position to feel the difference in time since I have multiple bodies all over most of these planets, unlike Strange who is only in one place at one time.' Alex thought, 'If he was actively looking for it, things might've been different.'
Alex brought his focus back to Doctor Strange and thought of some way to get the man to give him the Time Stone, 'That's the only way to get it from him… I can't just steal the Eye since the failsafe would probably activate and fuck everything up.'
As they all continued going deeper into the palace, the lines and murals that Strange was tracing over gained a light yellow sheen as he left some sort of marking over them. At the same time, his blue-grey eyes gained a light sheen of red that no one noticed appearing.
Finally, while continuing to follow the weak sources of light along the path, the group emerged on what seemed like another edge of the castle, with another hole in the wall that was even bigger than the one that they came through, though this one seemed to be intentional. The finer edges of the huge hole made it seem like a large floor-to-ceiling window instead. They saw a huge slab with even more inscriptions in the center of the room along with a huge mural opposite to the hold in the wall. It depicted some sort of feminine humanoid figure with glowing red eyes standing above a muralistic depiction of the Chaos Dimension. She had some spells inscribed behind her as if the statue was added in later.
"Are you sure this is a tomb?" Tony asked Wong who had just entered the room along with Steve and Natasha, "Cause this sure as hell seems like some kind of celebratory statue of this woman…"
"The Scarlet Witch…" Doctor Strange said as he looked up at the statue's grandiose form, "This statue depicts Wanda… This… this palace, it's dedicated to her." Strange said with a tone that had hints of awe.
"Wait a second," Nat interjected as she came up to Strange, "You're telling me that this ominous statue with glowing red eyes is supposed to depict Wanda?" She asked.
"Yes," Strange nodded, "The Scarlet Witch is a being of immense potential and power. Someone capable of bringing down entire worlds with her magical prowess. Spontaneous, incantation-less magic channeled through her own being instead of a medium… A being of true unfathomable power."
"And…and you're telling me that Wanda is this…Scarlet Witch?" Natasha asked with disbelief etched in her tone, "I find that a bit hard to believe."
"It makes sense however, doesn't it?" Tony interjected from the side.
"What?" Natasha turned to him with confusion.
"I mean, Vision has never been able to figure out how the stone in his head could give Wanda her powers." Tony said, "If anyone should've been able to figure it out, it should've been him. What if it merely unlocked her latent potential?" He asked.
"I don't…" Nat found it hard to refute Tony's words, "…know."
"Well, we know why the energy signature emanating from this place has Wanda written all over it," Steve said, "Her palace is calling her here." He chuckled, "Thank god we didn't call her."
"Yeah…" Strange chuckled eerily as he glanced at the center of all the magic that was flowing through the structure, "This isn't a tomb," He levitated above the ground and stood atop the slab filled with complex inscriptions, "It's a throne." He smiled as his eyes glowed with an ominous crimson.
He created two magic circles in his hands before anyone could react and in that instant, four distinct roars were heard reverberating throughout the room.
***
As the roars reverberated through the room, four huge beasts appeared in everyone's vision and four torches surrounding the circular ritual slab automatically got a new breath of life. The lines and murals forming the ritual circle all gained a red glow that lit Strange in an eerie light.
"Tell me he's in control of these things…" Tony said to Wong as he stepped back from the demonic-looking beast that was approaching him with a threatening expression, he had to step aside as it approached Strange.
"I wouldn't count on it," Wong was in a similar situation and had to move away from the beast that was approaching him.
"Just great…" Steve said stepping back from his beast, "Instead of Wanda, maybe we should've focused on this dude more."
"Snap out of it, Strange!" Wong wanted to get Strange back before things got out of hand and threw a rope dart relic at him at an angle so that it wouldn't stab the man but would wrap around him. One of the beasts intercepted Wong's relic and allowed it to wrap around its arm before pulling. Wong had to let go of the relic as the beast pulled on it so that he wouldn't fly away. The beast roared at Wong threateningly while throwing the relic away.
Wong hurriedly conjured two swords for himself after realizing that Strange's actions of getting on top of the platform had somehow dispelled the anti-magic field. This allowed him to freely use his magic.
"This doesn't look so good..." Tony commented and blasted one of the beasts with his uni-beam from the centerpiece in his chest. The beast created a ball of red in between its hand and intercepted the laser blast with it before pushing it toward Tony. The man had to stop his attack to dodge the red sphere that so effortlessly took care of one of his most powerful attacks. He powered his repulsors up and created a shoulder-mounted canon with the nanoparticles of his suit. It glowed with a blue light as the blast charged, ready to attack the beast with another beam.
Looking at the hulking beast that was twice as tall as him and far more bulky, Steve knew that he wasn't its match and took a defensive stance. The beast seemed even larger than the Hulk and Steve didn't want to entangle himself with it. When the beast passed by him without engaging, he almost heaved a sigh in relief.
Natasha on the other hand created a huge whip from her palm that extended out to the beast and wrapped around its neck. She propelled herself toward it and quickly stood on top of it while grabbing the whip as if it was some sort of leash that she then yanked, making the beast roar in defiance as it burst out with a crimson blast that threw Natasha off. She collided with the ceiling and fell back to the ground on her feet, ready to take the beast on for another round.
At this point, Strange addressed them, "Stop! These are the Elder Beasts. Created by Chthon himself to protect the temple." He said while glancing all around the room, examining the myriad inscriptions all around.
The Elder Beasts didn't engage them and everyone seemed tense as they waited for Strange to say something.
"You asked me what we were doing about the planets didn't you, Stark?" Strange asked rhetorically, "I have your answer." He said and his Eldritch magic circles turned red as he started channeling the energy of the Chaos Dimension through the conduit of the ritual circle below his feet.
He chanted something and brought his hands together before separating them apart as multiple crimson nodes appeared all around him, however, they were somewhat dim as if weakened — it seemed as if they weren't receiving enough power. Even when he tried to focus on one of them to see the contents of the node, he was unable to access it as if something was interfering with his attempt.
"Is he moving around the inside of some kind of neural network?" Tony asked Wong, "Or some kind of web I guess."
"I'm as lost as you are," Wong said, "But I can tell that he's trying to access other realities within the multiverse…"
Strange continued browsing through the multiple realities and kept coming up with blanks. Within seconds, sweat had formed on his forehead and a drop dripped from his brow as he screamed, "What the hell is going on!?" His hands shook as the nodes and the connections all disappeared. The levitation of his cloak faltered for a moment as he fell down on the slab. It prompted all four Beasts to roar at him in defiance and wrath.
Steve frowned, "Aren't these beasts supposed to be under his control?"
"They don't look very under control to me…" Tony commented as he got ready for an actual fight.
"I know, I know! Let me try again." Strange said to no one in particular with an irritable tone as he floated above the slab once again and took a breath to prepare himself. He channeled his sling ring before creating a portal in front of him.
"Strange! Stop this farce!" Wong couldn't let Strange continue to do whatever he was doing. The portal that Strange had opened led to Agatha and the Darkhold. Wong threw his sword at Strange's extended hand, making the man flinch back and preventing him from grabbing the Darkhold. Wong then cast a spell that destabilized the portal and made it fizzle out of existence.
"Can't you see, Wong?" Strange tried to cast the portal once again to try and get the Darkhold, "I'm trying to fix everything!"
"All you're doing is giving in to the latent will of Chthon," Wong destroyed the portal once again and tried to attack Strange, but was interrupted by the Elder Beast that was in front of him. It roared and sent a ball of Chaos energy at him.
"Keep them busy!" Wong shouted as he dodged the Elder Beast and approached Strange, "I'll take care of him."
"I knew this was a bad idea…" Nat commented as she cracked her knuckles before jumping at the Elder Beast that was approaching Wong.
[No you didn't.] Alex said, [You had the same curiosity as Stark.]
[Yeah, well they don't know that.] She said cheekily to Alex as she kicked the Elder beast in the face.
"Start pulling your weight Tony, Cap isn't going to be much more use than a projectile today," Nat said with a laugh as she kneed the back of the Elder beast's head and created a scythe in her hand.
"I take offense to that," Steve shouted as he intercepted one of the beasts and hit it in the face with his Vibranium brace.
"She's not that wrong…" Tony commented as he saw the beast having been barely affected by Steve's attack. He charged it and powered his palm repulsors before grabbing its head and blasting both repulsors at full power. The beast roared as smoke rose from its head, but it still seemed alive as a red glow appeared on its head, acting as a shield that protected it significantly from that lethal attack. Tony was relentless and continued attacking it while keeping it engaged in close combat alongside Steve.
Back on Nat's side, she swung the scythe that she'd created on her arm at the beast's neck, planning to decapitate it in one go. Sensing the lethal attack, the beast threw a red ball of chaos energy at the scythe to block it. The red ball collided with Nat's scythe, but it just passed through the ball of energy, cutting the beast's head.
It was so abrupt that it even surprised Natasha. She was frozen for a second when she realized that one of the beasts was dead.
[Focus.] Alex said. He was the one who manipulated the beast's Chaos energy to allow the scythe to pass. Unlike Wanda or any Chaos-based entity in general, he was only a manipulator. Even the spells that he could cast were done using Wanda's energy, so the temple never realized his presence.
Alex then directed Natasha to the other two beasts that were approaching Wong and Strange who were engaging in a duel of mystic arts. They seemed equally matched to Natasha and she could tell that if the beasts got involved, Wong would lose, badly.
[How'd you break through the sphere…] Nat asked as she jumped above the two Elder beasts and landed behind them.
[I'm bonded to Wanda too, honey. Chaos Energy isn't really a big deal to me.] Alex told her as she created two whips and wrapped them around the Elder Beasts' torsos, stopping their advance.
[Then can't you deal with that guy too?] She asked as she pulled the whips taut and sent a jolt of lightning through them, electrocuting both beasts.
[No can do.] Alex told her, [I'm looking for an opportunity to do something.]
Nat understood that Alex was after something. And that's why he was so closed off this whole time, [You're looking to get something from those two sorcerers.]
[Kinda.] He said, [I didn't really expect Strange to go all demonic and get himself corrupted by the temple palace's lingering will. But now that he is, I can put my plan into motion.]
[Well, whatever…] Nat said as she saw the beasts recovering from her attack. She yanked both whips and pulled both beasts back with her enhanced strength.
***
"This is madness, Strange!" Wong shouted at him as he jumped on top of the platform and slammed his hand on the slab, casting a sealing circle on it to prevent Strange from using it to channel Chaos Energy.
Strange cast a spell to manipulate the fallen debris all around them and turned it into spikes that he hurled at Wong who barely cast a counter-spell to defend against those spikes, turning them into dust.
In the meantime, Natasha had taken care of her two Elder Beasts by channeling an untold amount of lightning in them and taking care of them. Tony and Steve had also taken care of their beast by this point after working together.
Strange looked around and saw that he was at a disadvantage. He gave Wong a solemn look that gave the native Tibetian a bad feeling. It was then that Strange made the distinct hand sign of opening the Eye of Aggomoto.
"No!" Wong shouted as he cast a spell to prevent Strange from utilizing the Time Stone, but he wasn't fast enough. A green glow spread out from Strange and covered everyone in the room, freezing them in time.
Strange looked around the room for a few seconds before sighing as he shook his head, "Let's try again, shall we…" He said to himself before creating a portal to the New York Sanctum.
"You know, I really don't like you." Strange heard a voice reverberate through the hall and dispelled the portal before looking around himself cautiously, "Who!?"
He cast two red circles on his hands and got ready for a fight.
"You made me use something I didn't really want to." He heard the same voice originating from right beside his ear and abruptly turned around, only to see nothing.
"Dickhead." The same voice now seemed to be extremely far away.
Strange narrowed his eyes and created the portal again, deciding to ignore the voice. The will of the palace was constantly imploring him to keep going. It hadn't been affected since Strange had focused the Stone on the four people in the room.
Just as the portal formed, instead of leading to the place he expected, he found a mirror forming in it instead. Strange saw his reflection in the mirror and decided to dispel it before opening another, but his attempt was fruitless.
Instead, he saw his reflection taking a sinister smile before multiple black tentacles appeared from behind the reflection's head and approached him. They had a red glow that reminded Strange of Chaos Energy and he felt a shiver run along his spine. He constantly kept trying to dispel the portal but to no avail.
"Stop!" He stepped back as the tentacles kept approaching him. After taking two steps, he lost his footing and uncouthly fell from the slap, finding himself on his back while looking at the roof.
Instead of seeing the stone ceiling, he came across a black void from which he saw two glowing red eyes appear. His eyes widened in horror as he tried to look away from it, but it felt like he had been ensnared by the vision. He got a faint glimpse into the void and saw the inexplicable cosmic horror within before screaming at the top of his lungs. His heart felt like it was about to burst out of his chest as he saw the tentacles continue to approach him.
…
Alex looked at Strange's convulsing form with annoyance, but his eyes were out of focus as if focusing on something else.
«CP: 0.0000»
'Bastard…' Alex felt extremely annoyed at Doctor Strange that he was forced to use up the tiny scraps of Cosmic Energy that he had to resist the influence of the Time Stone.
He looked around and saw everyone frozen in the same manner as Agatha — frozen in time, including Natasha. Sending a tendril to attach to Doctor Strange's head, Alex manipulated the man's mind further to offer the Time Stone to him.
'At least I got this…' Alex thought as he looked at the glowing green gem that had appeared in the unconscious man's hand.
He spent a few seconds looking at it before sending a tendril at it to grab it. Just as he made contact with it, Alex felt a jolt of an unknown power filling his entire being. A green current passed through the tendril that Alex had grabbed the stone with and reached his body, making him groan a little.
At the same time, for his soul in the Klyntar Soul Dimension. It was previously tinged with a faint red aura from Wanda's Chaos Energy and now also gained a sheen of green that didn't mix with the red and instead seemed to form another layer over the red.
Alex heard gasping and saw Natasha having awoken from the time freeze in a very abrupt way. Just as she stood up to take a breath, she also let out a groan and kneeled over falling on the ground as she barely supported herself.
A similar scene was reflected by all of the girls as the authority of the Time Stone coursed through Alex, and by extension everyone who was connected to him.
Spider-Gwen was still unconscious from the effects of Berserking, so she didn't show much reaction other than just her body convulsing as the green arcs of energy appeared on her body.
On the other hand, Scientist Gwen almost fainted in the middle of the lab while working with three other scientists and Alex.
As for Laura, she was out on a date with Alex in Farm Earth when she felt the unfamiliar energy overwhelming her entire being as she kneeled with a groan. Alex was barely keeping himself together and could only somewhat grab her so that she didn't fall over.
Lastly, Jane and Wanda didn't show too much of a reaction other than a light groan, similar to Alex. Unlike Alex, who was directly experiencing the power of the stone, his girls were only getting it through him, diluting the power by a significant amount. So, although they felt the power coursing through them, their reactions, depending on their level of power varied. That was because, unlike the others, both Jane and Wanda worked on a much higher spectrum of power than them.
After a few seconds, the arcs of green energy died down and all but disappeared as Alex took a breath to calm himself down.
The stone had disappeared into his body, specifically his soul, which had now gained a permanent green sheen over the red that signified his connection to Wanda. The stone was nestled at the very center of his soul, constantly releasing a green energy that seemed to be affecting him in an unknown manner.
«Sub-Universe Time Authority acquired»
«Authorities»::?Time (2.5%)?
Both notifications disappeared as soon as they appeared and Alex had to summon his skill panel to get a good look at what he got from the Time Stone.
[ «Skill Acquisition»
«EP: 55765»
«CP: 0.0000»
«Manipulation Abilities»::?Advanced Lightning Manipulation??Basic Blood Manipulation?
«Innate Abilities»::?Biological Manipulation??Host Enhancement??Devour??Copy?
«Derived Abilities»::?Low Cosmic Physique Creation??True 6th Sense??Inventory??Advanced Camouflage??Elemental Immunity?
«Magical Abilities»::?High Magic Affinity??High Chaos Affinity??Host of the Scarlet Witch?
«Cosmic Abilities»::?Low Cosmic Manipulation (Incomplete)?
«Authorities»::?Time (2.5%)?
]
'…2.5? 2.5?!' Alex was flabbergasted at how little Time Authority he got from the Stone.
'Wait…' He thought of something, 'I'll need forty stones to get absolute authority over time…' He realized. Instead of having the authority concentrated into one stone, it was divided. This was why the stone was weaker than the actual Time Stone.
"Alex?" Nat called him from the side as she recovered from whatever had happened.
"Yeah?" He shook his head and looked at Nat.
"Did you take that stone?" She asked while massaging her head. She didn't know what that stone was, but she remembered seeing a green glow spreading out from it before she felt as if she had been brought forward in time. She saw Alex having come out as the sorcerer-man was on the ground while having what seemed like a seizure.
"Yeah," Alex walked toward her and asked, "You okay? That power isn't something that a mortal being is meant to wield."
"What about you then?" Nat asked. Alex got closer to her and pulled her hand away from her head before bringing his hands to her head and massaging both her scalp and forehead.
"I'm immortal," He said with a playfully arrogant tone. He focused on massaging her head for a few seconds, making Nat groan lightly as she felt her body going limp. She leaned on him as he made her feel like she was in bliss.
After a few seconds, "Better?" Alex asked after stopping, as he saw Nat's hazy eyes getting focused again.
"Amazing," She said with a little smile, "Thank you." She kissed his lips.
Alex disappeared into her and said in her head, [I'll unfreeze everyone. Act like you were the same and don't know what's going on.]
Before Nat could ask anything further about what exactly happened, she felt the same authority passing through her body, but at a much lesser intensity, such that it didn't affect her too much. She saw a familiar green glow expanding toward everyone with her as the center point and saw them getting unfrozen in time.
***
When everyone woke up from the effects of Doctor Strange's spell, they were all disoriented for a while before they all reacted and looked at Strange's fainted form on the ground.
Nat perfectly blended in with everyone and acted just as clueless as she looked at Wong approaching Strange. He put two of his fingers at the side of the man's neck, "He's still alive."
"What exactly happened?" Tony asked, "What was that green glow?" He pointed his repulsors at Wong.
"You don't need to think of me as an enemy, Mr. Stark. Strange did what he did under the corruption of the lingering influence of this tomb — palace." He corrected himself, "As for that green glow," Wong hooked his hand around Strange's necklace and cast a spell to detach it before pulling it away from his neck.
"It was this, the Eye of Aggomoto." He was about to continue speaking but frowned for a moment before casting a spell that made the eye float. He tried to open it and saw that the green gem inside it had disappeared, "Damnit!" He slammed the Eye on the ground.
"I'm guessing that the green glowing rock was important?" Steve asked after seeing Wong's reaction.
"That green rock was the Time Stone." Wong said, "The thing that powered the Eye itself and the core of the relic. Without it, the eye is nothing more than an old focus relic."
"Any clue what might have happened?" Tony asked as he examined the eye that was still on the ground.
"It's impossible to recreate the scene since it involves the use of the Time Stone." Wong shook his head.
"Anyone gonna brief us on what this Time Stone exactly is?" Steve asked.
After a few seconds of silence, Wong sighed before casting an illusion spell that showed what could only be described as cosmic dust being compressed together into a singular unit, "At the dawn of the Universe, there was nothing. And then…" The compressed singularity exploded outward as Wong continued, "The Big Bang resulted in the creation of six singularities that formed the Infinity Stones and sent them hurtling across the universe," He created six differently colored stones within the illusion of cosmic dust, "These stones each control an essential aspect of existence."
He arranged the stones and grabbed the green one, "Time," He then grabbed the blue one, "Space," Next was the yellow one, "Mind," After that was the purple one, "Power," Then the gold one, "Soul," And finally, the red one, "And Reality."
"And we just lost the Time Stone…" Tony said with a tone of realization.
"The loss of life could be unimaginable," Steve said with a solemn tone, "Where's Vision?" He asked Tony.
"Compound," He said, "The Mind Stone will be safe with him. What about the others?" He asked Wong.
"The Ancient One was keeping track of the Space Stone for a while until it left the planet," He said.
"The Tesseract. It could open a portal through space to transport the Chitauri," Steve said, "It should be on Asgard…"
"If only we had a way to contact Thor," Tony said, "That's it?" He asked Wong.
"As far as I know, yes." He nodded, "The others I have no clue about. But I'm sure that they aren't on Earth."
"These Stones may just be the key for us to keep everything safe," Tony said, "We have to start looking."
…
Wakanda.
"What happened?" Wanda asked Alex with a frown, "I felt something weird coursing through my body just now…"
"Ah, yes," Alex said, "That's the Time Authority that I just received by taking the Time Stone of this Earth for myself." He explained.
"Time Authority?" Wanda questioned with a raised brow and a glint of curiosity in her eyes, "Care to explain?"
"It's not a big deal," Alex said, "I can control time to a limited extent. 2.5% of what's possible to be exact."
Wanda narrowed her eyes in a way that told Alex that she had some nefarious thoughts, "Show me…" She crossed her arms under her chest, showcasing her ample chest that was underneath the sweater that she was wearing.
Alex's gaze moved lower for a millisecond before he looked into her eyes and smiled. He raised his hand and snapped his fingers as a green glow spread out from him, instantly covering the entire room.
"We're in a time-isolated zone now." He said with a momentary expression of pride that turned into agony moments later, "Fuck…" Alex coughed as he grabbed onto the closest thing to him for support. It was Wanda's shoulder. She'd instantly appeared right beside him when she felt his situation.
"Alex…" She frowned and looked at him worriedly.
"It's fine…" Alex choked out before his form destabilized and he turned into black tendrils that traveled up from his hand to Wanda's shoulder before merging into her.
"You're clearly not fine…" Wanda felt her heart rate spiking as she saw Alex's state. Her eyes glowed with a red glow as a torrent of Chaos Energy emerged from her momentarily before being absorbed back into herself. She was doing the only thing she knew she could do to help Alex. She was channeling as much Chaos Energy as she could and giving it to Alex with the intent to help him recover.
[Hey, hey…] Alex said in her head with a soothing tone, [I'm just tired. Stop overexerting yourself.] His words made Wanda's erratic state calm down as she huffed and stopped channeling energy through herself.
"Then don't make me worry so much…" She said as her strength left her body and she slumped down on the couch, "What even happened?"
[Ahem… I…uhh… fucked up. I thought I could take the stress of directly using an Infinity Stone with brute force, but apparently, it overtaxed my soul…] Alex said with a hint of embarrassment in his tone.
"Pff…" Wanda couldn't help but snort with amusement when she heard his explanation, "What did you even do that caused you to get so tired?"
"I froze time," Alex said while appearing beside her. He'd already recovered sufficiently and got everything back together.
"I see," Wanda nodded nonchalantly when she heard his casual tone, but then took a double take, "What?" She asked with a cute expression on her face.
Alex chuckled and kissed her on the nose, "I didn't freeze time exactly so to speak. That would require me to have the complete Time Authority. I just created a domain surrounding this room and accelerated our time by a very large margin. Specifically, one second outside is equivalent to a month in here."
"And you can just keep it up indefinitely?" Wanda asked with a raised brow as she thought of many things that she could do with Alex in this domain, all of them revolving around a singular topic.
"Not really…" Alex said as he glanced at his EP, which was steadily going down.
«EP -126»
«EP -1»
…
«EP: 55765 -> 55638»
"I had to use almost 150 EP to initiate the domain and for every hour we spend at this speed, I'll consume a point of EP," Alex told her. He'd already given Wanda an idea about his special unit of energy since he regularly used it in their 'strengthening' sessions. His following words dashed all of Wanda's hopes. "It's not really a big cost, but it isn't sustainable either. Especially for the reasons that you're thinking of."
"What a shitty Infinity Stone…" She pouted, "There's clearly a limit to its use."
"Oh no, you're getting it wrong…" Alex said, "It's more complicated than that. I'm not using EP to maintain the domain. I'm using it so that I can keep up with my usage of the Stone."
"What do you mean?" She asked, "If the Stone has infinite energy, there should be no problem in using it."
"Yeah, I'm not completely sure about it either for now," He said, "But from what I can observe, the Stone is the source that's allowing me to use the Time Authority that's maintaining this domain. As for my energy consumption, it's because I have to supplement myself to be able to sustain the use of this Authority."
"Argh, you're using confusing sentences…" Wanda shook her head, making her hair slap Alex in the face repeatedly.
"All right, all right, I'll explain it in simpler words…" Alex grabbed Wanda's face between both his hands, squeezing her cheeks."
"Go ow…" She said with her lips squished together.
"The whole time shenanigans are dealt with by the stone itself. But there needs to be some sort of conduit for the stone to express the authority. I'm acting as that conduit and it's creating some stress on my entire being. Now to mitigate that stress, I'm using my EP. Do you get it now?"
"Uh hu..." She nodded with difficulty since her head was still grasped in between Alex's hands.
"Good," Alex nodded with satisfaction, before letting go of her head and giving her lips a kiss, "You look cute."
Wanda pouted, "I wanted to spend a month alone with you with the entire world frozen…" She looked to the side.
"I mean, 720 points of energy might sound like a lot, but it's really not when I consider my actual reserves…" Alex said with a smile as Wanda's eyes brightened up.
"I love you!" She jumped at Alex, almost toppling the couch in the process.
"Mm..." Wanda pressed her lips against Alex's passionately while straddling his legs as she rose slightly and grabbed the sides of his head. Alex's reciprocation came instantly as his hands made their way to her waist, slipping under her top. He kissed her in return and sucked her lower lip in a way that made her moan lightly into his mouth.
After a couple of minutes of passionately making out, "Someone's excited…" Alex said as Wanda separated from his lips for air.
"You're one to say…" Wanda said as she swayed her body up and down, tracing the length of Alex's hardness as it pressed against her crotch.
"That someone could be me…" He smiled and brought his hand to the front of Wanda's torso and cupped her breast from under the sweater that she was wearing.
"We have an entire month to enjoy ourselves," Wanda brought her face closer to his face and traced her lips against his cheek before lightly pulling his ear with her lips, "Let's take things slow for once…" She whispered in his ear.
"I think I can get behind that…" Alex slowly traced his lips against Wanda's cheek and moved lower to her neck before kissing her there. That was followed by him aggressively sucking her skin at a specific spot. His action made Wanda hug him tighter as she suppressed a moan before burying her face in his neck. As he continued sucking her neck aggressively, she continued swaying up and down on him, only fueling his excitement further as she traced the outline of his erection with the crotch of her leggings which were rapidly growing a wet patch.
When he finally let go of her neck, leaving a bright hickey that slowly deepened in color, Wanda whispered in his ear, "You wanna get behind me, don't you?" She brought her hand to his joggers and slipped it under the waistband before grasping his girth with the exact pressure that she knew him to love.
"I'm going to get behind you, in front of you, on top of you, I'm fucking you in every way you can think of…" Alex said before pressing his lips against hers, initiating another deep kiss that filled the room with an atmosphere of arousal. He had one hand on her lower back, supporting her movements as she swayed up and down, dry-humping him while also lightly pumping his shaft with her dainty hand. As for his other hand, he was enjoying the feeling of teasing her breasts, gently caressing them, then mauling them roughly, then focusing on her nipples, and more. He gave both her breasts equal amounts of his attention while continuing to kiss Wanda deeply.
After a while, she wanted to separate from his lips to take a breath, but Alex acted even more greedy than her and didn't let her separate her lips, forcing her to improvise and get air from the momentary gaps when they changed the position of their lips. This allowed her to kiss him for even longer without having to pull away. However, it also served to make her constantly feel breathless as she swayed up and down.
The hour flew by as they both did nothing but make out while teasing each other's bodies. When they finally separated, Wanda was gasping for breaths as Alex admired her current attire. Her sweater had been rolled up to above her breasts, revealing the marvelous mounds that were now filled with faint red marks from Alex's manhandling. Even her nipples seemed a little swollen after having been teased by Alex for an entire hour.
He didn't waste any time and grabbed Wanda's sweater and the shirt that had both pulled up and brought them above her head. Wanda raised her hands to allow Alex to easily take them off, but instead, he left them at her wrists and twisted them to force her to keep her arms together.
"No…" She said sultrily as a red glow passed over her arms and the sweater and shirt dissolved into nothingness. She brought her arms down and wrapped them around Alex's neck before giving him a kiss on his nose.
As he looked at the smug smile on Wanda's face, he smiled and felt a fire of domination light up inside him. Since she wanted to play the brat, he would treat her like a brat, "We're going to play it like that, huh?" He asked as he held her waist firmly before standing up.
"Maybe I do…" Wanda whispered and kissed his ear before tracing her lips to his neck. She reciprocated his actions and started sucking on his neck with gusto in order to give him a bright hickey.
Sadly, her actions were interrupted when Alex threw her on the bed and got on top of her. She was forced to let go so as to not bite him accidentally, as she looked at him with a sad pout, Alex gave her lips a living kiss before saying, "I'm going to bond with your bones…"
"Does that mean that you're going to make me feel bone-deep pleasure?" She asked with a light chuckle.
"I guess I will," He said, shaking his head, "But first, I have to see how well you've been training yourself for me." Following his words, Wanda found both his and the rest of her clothes disappearing completely.
"So impatient—" She didn't get to speak further as Alex sat up on his knees and flipped her over, making her lie on her stomach as he knelt between her legs with direct access to her holes. She instinctively tried to close her legs, but he wasn't allowing it. Playing her role as a brat, she resisted and started swinging her legs wildly, "No~" She squealed and almost hit Alex in the face with her foot, "I don't wanna do butt stuff…"
Alex had to grab both her feet and push them down such that her legs were folded together to stop her from hitting his face, "You're really itching for a punishment, aren't you honey?" Following his words, Alex bent over and directly bit one of her ass cheeks while keeping her legs suppressed, making a shiver run through Wanda's body as she let out a pained gasp.
"You're cruel, you keep trying to fuck my ass even though I'm uncomfortable," She whined and continued trying to unsuccessfully resist. Then again, she wasn't selling her resistance very well by how weak her efforts actually were.
"That's how you'll learn to service me with your ass," Alex said after letting go, leaving a prominent marking of his teeth on her butt cheek. Seeing Wanda's continued resistance, Alex tied up her legs in the current position, creating a frog tie so that she wouldn't be able to swing her legs even after he let them go. At the same time, he grabbed both her arms and pulled them behind her back, tying them together such that she wouldn't be able to move them around either.
As the helplessness crept through Wanda's body, she whimpered weakly, "You're forcing me…" She said while wiggling around and 'inadvertently' rubbing her wet core on his dick repeatedly such that even Alex felt his self-control getting weaker.
"Don't be a brat, Wanda," Alex spanked her ass, "You want to be daddy's good girl, right?" He said as he massaged her butt after the spank and slowly rubbed her puckered hole with his thumb.
He felt Wanda stiffen up at his words and instantly stopped while feeling a pang of regret hitting him, "My bad…" Alex said, "I got a bit too into it. Do you want to stop?" He asked.
"Forget it," Wanda shook her head, "Just fuck me out of my mind." She said, "And don't say that again. Please, okay?" She said with a vulnerable tone.
Alex leaned over and brought his face close to Wanda's head. Pushing her hair to one side, he kissed her cheek, "I'm sorry, okay? I love you…"
"Mhm…" Wanda nodded and turned her head, meeting his lips with her own. At the same time, she felt Alex's cock pressing against her lower lips which had been gushing with her juices for a while now, "Fuck me…" She separated her lips from his for a moment before passionately kissing him once again.
Alex didn't need any more of a prompt to push himself into Wanda. She moaned into his mouth to convey the thought to make him go faster and he obliged pushing himself completely inside her, kissing her cervix in the first thrust. Wanda could merely arch her back while still tied up as Alex pulled back and thrust himself into her once again.
As he increased his pace, Wanda's moans got more prominent as she kept tangling her tongue with his while trying to gain the upper hand, but was constantly unsuccessful. Whenever she thought that she was getting the upper hand, Alex would thrust into her, making her feel as if her entire body was shaking. It ruined her momentum and gave him the upper hand.
They continued making out as Alex fucked Wanda for the next half hour when finally Wanda couldn't hold back her orgasm and came all over Alex's cock. Even as she came, Alex continued kissing her and thrusting into her, but his movements had slowed down. He wanted to prolong Wanda's orgasm without getting her too riled up just yet.
After a while, he separated his lips from hers and stopped thrusting into her while keeping his dick completely inside her, kissing her cervix. While slowly sitting up, he brought his hand to her lips and pushed his index and thumb fingers into her mouth. As she instinctively sucked his fingers, he created a gag in her mouth that forced her mouth to stay open, her teeth held apart by a ring. She kept licking his fingers with her tongue, but her lips had been separated open. As the ring gag formed in her mouth, Alex said to her, "I wanna see you helplessly drool all over yourself."
Following his words, he flipped Wanda around and laid her on her back. Her legs were still tied up and her arms stuck behind her back so she only looked up at him with a hazy gaze full of anticipation and pleasure.
He put his hand behind her back and had her sit up a little before pushing himself inside her again. The position made her drool all over herself without being able to stop as she moaned with a hazy look in her eyes. And with Alex continuously fucking her, she didn't have a lot of her mental faculties available to her.
As Alex looked at her tongue hanging out of her mouth, he had the urge to suck on it and brought his face closer to hers before grabbing her tongue between his lips, teasing her even further. Some of her drool started falling on Alex too, but he didn't care and continued teasing and dominating Wanda completely, destroying any thoughts of brattiness that she might have had.
After a while, he telepathically told her, [I'm going to make you feel that bone-deel pleasure now…]
His words made a shiver pass through Wanda's body and before she realized it, she was cumming crazily all over his cock.
***
The month that Alex and Wanda spent together passed in the blink of an eye, literally. Only a second had passed outside the domain of time that he'd created for himself and Wanda.
Both he and Wanda were positively exhausted after spending an entire month doing nothing but fucking which was followed by comfortable cuddling and even more fucking after that. One good thing that came out of it was the level four bond.
[ «Status- Host #4»
«Name: Wanda Maximoff (Scarlet Witch) (MCU Earth)»
«Bonding Rate: 70%»
«Bonding Level: 5»
«Powers: Peak Superhuman Physique—Chaos Magic—Sorcerery»
]
Not a lot had changed for Wanda since although the Skeleton Bond allowed Alex to have much more intricate control over the body and everything, Wanda wasn't a physical fighter. She and Alex hadn't trained while focusing on her physique ever since Wanda separated from Natasha. Her physique was still at the Peak Superhuman grade, however almost touching the Low Cosmic threshold.
Alex had kept the Bonding Rate capped at 70% with her since he was still not confident about what would happen if he experienced?True Merge? with Wanda at 75%. Although he knew that the effects wouldn't be adverse like they were with Scientist Gwen, he was cautious and even a little apprehensive about the state. He had decided that once he himself had reached the level of bonding on a spiritual level with the girls, he would let the 75% mark hit and see what the deal with the?True Merge? ability was.
As for Alex, he'd gained significant benefits from the bond, but none of it was very quantifiable. The only quantifiable change was that he'd consumed 1138 more EP during the process. 720 to keep the domain up for the month and the rest went to Wanda to supplement the Skeleton Bond.
[ «Skill Acquisition»
«EP: 55638 -> 54500»
«CP: 0.0000»
«Manipulation Abilities»::?Advanced Lightning Manipulation??Basic Blood Manipulation?
«Innate Abilities»::?Biological Manipulation??Host Enhancement??Devour??Copy?
«Derived Abilities»::?Low Cosmic Physique Creation??True 6th Sense??Inventory??Advanced Camouflage??Elemental Immunity?
«Magical Abilities»::?High Magic Affinity??High Chaos Affinity??Host of the Scarlet Witch?
«Authorities»::?Time (2.5%)?
«Cosmic Abilities»::?Low Cosmic Manipulation (Incomplete)?
]
The magical abilities that were all gained from Wanda didn't get enough of a boost to be increased to another grade, but their thresholds had increased by a significant margin. He could use quite a few of the more complicated Mystic Arts spells without any issues by siphoning Eldritch Energy from Wanda. It was the same with Chaos Magic. While not at Wanda's level, he had gotten much more efficient with his use of certain energy-consuming spells from Wanda's repertoire.
As Alex was still comfortably cuddled up with Wanda, he felt her sling ring that was inside his inventory releasing a signal.
He groaned a little, "You're needed at Kamar Taj…"
Wanda's following groan expressed that she was much more annoyed, "I don't care, they can go fuck themselves." She grabbed the cover and pulled it up over herself while nestling herself in Alex's arm that she was using as her pillow, "I'm sleepy."
"Well you can use your magic to make them do that when you go there," Alex said as he gently caressed her hair, "But you need to go there. It's an important situation, sadly."
"You know what's going on, don't you?" She asked tiredly as she turned to her front and slowly sat up. It made the covers slip off, revealing her milky white breasts that were free from the marks that Alex had inflicted on them over the month.
"Tony, Nat, and Steve are also there with Wong and Strange. They need to talk to you. It's about what happened at Wundagore." Alex said as he appreciated the view that she provided him.
"Fine, whatever," She said, "Tell me what happened while I get dressed…" She annoyedly got out of bed and walked toward the closet to grab an outfit for herself.
"I can just…" Alex trailed off after realizing that she didn't want him to help her dress.
"They're calling me in my free time. The least they can do is to wait till I get dressed." Wanda huffed as she set her clothes on the bed. She'd decided to wear a white top along with a red cardigan and murky red leather pants. Her wardrobe was dominantly filled with red considering whenever she went out with Alex for a shopping date, most of what she bought was red.
Alex chuckled at her petty act and explained what had happened at Wundagore and how Strange got himself corrupted by the lingering will of Cthon's avatar demon, Chthon.
…
Steve and Natasha were patiently sitting in the waiting room along with Tony who kept pacing back and forth while looking around the room.
"Can you stop?" Steve asked.
"Hey, I'm disconnected from Friday's main server, I need to scout out ways to escape in case things go south," Tony said.
"You aren't a wizard," Natasha told Tony, "You can't even see their protections… And Wanda will be here sooner or later."
"That calms me down just right," Tony said sarcastically.
"You shouldn't have put her under house arrest for no reason then," Steve said, "She would obviously not be very fond of you for it."
As the not-so-friendly banter continued, a familiar portal opened up in the room.
From it, Wanda walked out with a subtle lazy expression on her face, "Hi Nat," She smiled and walked up to Natasha before giving her a light hug.
"Hi…" Nat instinctively hugged her back with a confused smile on her face.
"How've you been?" Wanda asked.
"Just fine," Nat answered with a little smile, "Aren't you surprised to see us here?"
"I already sensed you guys being here. However, I do need to ask Wong and Strange what's going on." She said before moving ahead, not letting Nat ask any further questions from her.
[Didn't you tell her?] Nat asked Alex, thinking that Wanda was telling the truth.
[You're aware that I could've told her, but what about the others? She has to pretend.] Alex said and Nat didn't need any more explanation in that case, [I'm impressed, I couldn't even tell that she was lying…] She thought to herself.
"Steve," Wanda walked up to Steve and gave him a side hug in greeting.
"You've been up to quite a few things lately, huh?" Steve said.
"I've been busy," She smiled before turning to Tony, "Stark." She gave him an impassive look, but the undertone of annoyance in her voice was clear.
"Wanda," Tony nodded, "You've been busy… Learning magic and stuff." Seeing Wanda's continued silent glare at him, Tony knew what she wanted, "I'm sorry, okay? I put you up for house arrest unfairly, but it was the best move at the time to calm down the government's rats on my ass."
"It doesn't matter anymore," She said. That was when they heard footsteps and Wanda saw Wong entering in the room.
"You're here, Ms. Maximoff," He said.
"How are you, Mr. Just Wong?" Wanda asked with a laugh as she gave the man a light side hug.
"I'm doing just fine, thanks for asking," He said, "I apologize for the abrupt call."
"I cursed you enough when I was forced to get out of bed because of the call," Wanda laughed as Wong stiffened up.
"I hope those curses were the non-magical kind…" He said, "I'd hate to be subject to the curses that you subjected your first trainer to..."
Wanda couldn't help but let out an amused laugh, "That was a fun time. And no, I didn't truly curse you. In the first place, if I was going to curse anyone for this, it would be the Sorcerer Supreme."
"Strange can be a bit much at times," Wong nodded in understanding, "Speaking of Strange, I need a favor." Wong's tone took a solemn turn.
"Oh," Wanda raised her brows in surprise as if this was the first she'd heard of this, "Sure," She nodded, "As long as you don't ask me to rebuild all three sanctums, I don't think there should be too much of a problem."
Wong had to cough to prevent himself from chuckling. Strange had put Wanda up to make a huge sanctum for no reason at all to keep her busy and prevent her from trying to access the more dangerous tomes of knowledge about the Mystic Arts. It included The Ancient One's personal collection and some other books that had dangerous spells and rituals.
"That's not the issue…" Wong said, "Strange has been…So to say, possessed by a lingering influence…" Wong said.
"And you need me to help get rid of that influence?" She asked, "Why do you think I can even do that? I'm not nearly as good as you or Strange when it comes to Mystic Arts."
"The situation with Strange is more in line with your domain," Wong said, "I should first explain why your friends are here."
Wanda nodded with a slight frown as Wong created a magic circle to show her the scene of a snowy mountain range, "Deep in the Transian mountains, there exists a special mountain with its history etched deep in the annals of the planet." He zoomed into the range and focused on a specific mountain that housed the remnants of a historically grand structure, "Mount Wundagore. It is one of the few areas that are considered forbidden by the Sorcerers who practice the Mystic Arts."
"We previously believed this place to be the tomb of the First Demon, Chthon." Wong then zoomed into the structure so that Wanda could get a better look at it, "Strange noticed the tome releasing its energy like some sort of a beacon and we went there to investigate. The details aren't that significant, but ultimately, Strange was possessed by the lingering will of that demon and turned on us. You might be the only option that we have."
Wanda went into her thoughts for a moment, "…You said that you previously believed the place to be a tomb. What did you mean by that?" She asked him.
Wong hesitated for a moment before answering, "That was the information compiled within the ancient records of Kamar Taj. But when we entered the tomb, it was more of a…a throne. A throne to welcome its owner, the Scarlet Witch."
Wanda didn't show too much of a reaction to Wong's words when she heard that the structure at the peak of Mount Wundagore was supposed to be a castle for her, "So that's the place. I see," She raised a brow and seemed to understand something.
"Did you already know about that place?" Steve asked Wanda, interjecting himself into the conversation.
"Not really, but I've been feeling something calling to me for a very long time now." Wanda answered, "That's probably the place that's been calling to me for so long."
"And you never thought to check the place out?" Tony asked.
"I don't know," Wanda shrugged her shoulders, "I guess I had a voice in my head telling me that it's not safe to go there. I listened and it seems like it paid off."
Nat was the only one who knew what that voice in Wanda's head was.
"Seems like a useful voice," Tony said, "Probably the same one that keeps telling me that the man behind New York is coming…"
"Again?" Nat looked at Tony with some worry.
"It's fine," Tony shrugged it off, "It isn't hurting anyone. Other than my personal life." He spoke the last part under his breath.
"Getting back on track," Wanda said, "Do you need me to examine Strange and try to use my powers to help get rid of that lingering will of this Chthon that you speak of?"
"That would be for the best, but now I'm not so sure," Wong said.
"If that place has been calling Wanda since the start," Steve said with a frown, "Then allowing her to come into contact with Strange shouldn't be a good thing either."
"I can handle myself," Wanda said, "How difficult can indirect contact with a lingering will be?"
"That's probably what that guy thought before getting himself possessed and almost killing all of us," Tony said, "Hell, I still don't know what happened after he froze us in time and lost the Time Stone."
Wanda almost lost her composure when she heard Tony's words, but still kept her act together. Natasha was the only one who noticed that discrepancy and even that was because she was already aware of the situation, same as Wanda.
"I didn't think I would be saying this so soon after meeting him," Wong said, "But I agree with Stark. You shouldn't take this risk. We were only able to notice the beacon now. But considering that it's been calling you for months now, I'm sure that having you come into contact with anything related to it would be very dangerous."
"Well, if you say so," Wanda shrugged, "I was never that fond of Strange in the first place. You can keep him sealed for eternity if need be."
Wong was a little uncomfortable with Wanda's indifference toward Strange but understood the reason behind it. The man had already been prejudiced against her since the first day of meeting her. And that prejudice only increased when he saw how talented she was in the Mystic Arts and sorcery in general.
"So if you don't need me anymore, I'll be off," Wanda created a portal for herself that led to her bedroom in Wakanda, "Toodles…"
Just as she took a step into the portal, Wong called her, "Please wait, we're not done yet."
Wanda abruptly turned to look at Wong with a narrow-eyed glare, "Don't even think about putting the mantle of Sorcerer Supreme on my head, Wong," She said with a threatening tone, "I'm not wasting my time with annoying administrative processes."
Wnog cleared his throat, "You're the most viable person after him to take that mantle, Ms. Maximoff." He said, "And you won't need to manage too much administrative stuff either. We already have most of the things streamlined."
"Not a chance," Wanda refused with a passionate tone, "You can be the next Sorcerer Supreme." She said.
Wong sighed emphatically, "I would, but you are the person who fulfills the requirement after him. I have the necessary knowledge, but the ambient magic itself will refuse to accept me."
"Then force it to accept you," Wanda said, "It's not that hard. That's how I made my first portal when Strange tried to be a dick and messed with me. I just imposed myself onto the Eldritch energy and forced it to channel through the sling ring."
Wong choked when he heard Wanda's words. He cleared his throat and said to her, "The Sorcerer Supreme is a being who has both the greatest knowledge of the Mystic Arts and who has the necessary influence over the magic of the world. The second requirement is much harder to fulfill than the first. With your talent, it will only take you some time to master the necessary knowledge, but it's impossible for me to wrestle control over the world's ambient magic from you."
"Well, then you can be the Knowledge Supreme and I'll be the Power Supreme," Wanda said, "Problem solved."
"What do you mean?" Wong asked. He had an idea of what she meant but needed to confirm it.
"Since there are two requirements and each of us fulfills one of them, we can split the role," Wanda said, "You can take care of all the administrative things and teach the new sorcerers while I seclude myself in the sanctum that I'm building and keep everything safe."
Wong was speechless when he heard her words, "There has only ever been a single Sorcerer Supreme in our history. We will be spitting on tradition if we do this."
"Wong, do I look like I care about tradition?" Wanda asked him, "I'm not going to do any of the teaching work even if I do become the Sorcerer Supreme in the first place, so it's better that you take an official role of authority anyway."
…
It took some time, but Wanda convinced Wong to accept her plan. The Avengers were left in the same waiting room despite wanting to follow the two of them. But Wong said that he'd already shown enough leeway by allowing them to enter Kamar Taj. They weren't allowed to get access to their core secrets.
Wong brought her to Strange's unconscious form that was securely kept within an enchanted room within Kamar Taj, "We've kept him under since I don't want him to mobilize his authority within Kamar Taj to turn things against us."
"See, you're saying all of these things about there being some greater authority to the Sorcerer Supreme, but all I see is an empty title. Sure, you're supposed to be the best if you're the Sorcerer Supreme, but then what significance does the title hold in the first place?" Wanda asked Wong, "Can't we just name anyone Sorcerer Supreme and call it a day?"
"It's not that simple," Wong said, "There are higher forces at play when it comes to assigning the mantle of the Sorcerer Supreme." Seeing Wanda's questioning look, Wong understood that she wasn't satisfied with his explanation and continued speaking, "I would like to tell you more, but I don't know a lot about it myself. That knowledge is only possessed by the Sorcerer Supreme themself. All I know is that there is a specific ritual that is needed when it comes to assigning a new Sorcerer Supreme. Then they are granted the necessary knowledge and authority."
"So we're going in blind," Wanda said, "Great…" She looked at Strange as Wong cast an unfamiliar magic circle over the man.
His action seemed to pull something out from Strange and moments later, the circle exploded into a projection that created enough of a shockwave to push Wanda back by a couple of steps despite her immense power. Wong was unceremoniously pushed back enough to collide with the wall.
Wanda couldn't make much out of the projection, all she saw was the faint silhouette of a three-headed figure, two of the heads seemed humanoid while the third seemed to be that of some kind of animal that she couldn't decide on. Both she and Wong could feel an insurmountable pressure building up within the room, but they were still standing. Wanda, for some reason, felt as if that pressure was merely a front, almost seeming hollow, but she didn't test it.
She heard the projection chanting something in a distorted voice as if three people were speaking without being in conjunction. Once the piercing chant concluded, a golden ball of light was pulled out of Strange before being split into two equal halves. One of them went into Wanda and the other into Wong.
Instantly, Wanda felt waves of knowledge assaulting her mind, almost threatening to overwhelm her. As the seconds passed, she felt it overwhelming her and her head started hurting with an increasing intensity. She groaned lightly and felt as if she would pass out from the pain that didn't seem like it would stop any time soon. Then, she felt as if her consciousness was pulled into another plane of existence entirely, one that made her feel extremely comfortable. And it was a familiar sort of comfort. She saw the illusion of a green and red glow within that plane and just as she tried to approach that light, she found herself returning to her body.
[You're okay now…] She heard Alex's voice in her head as she felt her clothes tightening around her as if she was being hugged.
Feeling so weak that she felt like her legs would give out at any time, Wanda chuckled lightly, [You devoured my clothes again…]
Alex couldn't help but laugh in her head when she heard her, [You just went through a very overwhelming experience. I'll take you back to Wakanda for a nap. You can return once you've recovered sufficiently. Wong is also going to be out for a while.
-x-X-x-
Farm Earth, With Laura and Felicia.
"Should we go?" Alex said and Laura nodded.
She saw Alex forming the portal to their previous location and took a breath before turning around, "I'll see you later, Felicia," Laura said, "I had a blast hanging out with you."
"It was a pleasure," Felicia smiled and waved at Laura.
Alex commented from Laura's side, "I know what kind of blast you both had…" His suggestive tone made Laura jab his waist.
"Don't be rude," She chided and waved back at Felicia.
"Am I lying?" Alex asked, "Over the last week, you and Felicia bonded together so well…"
"Let's go," Laura blushed and grabbed Alex's arm before pulling him toward the portal that led to Hydra Earth. The necessary time had already passed and the Underground should have recovered from the fallout of Xavier's death and collected themselves back up.
Felicia continued looking at the portal as she saw Alex and Laura disappear through it before the portal itself also disappeared. Moments later, she felt Alex's familiar arms wrapping around her abdomen, "What are you thinking about?" He asked while trailing his hands along her body.
"My next heist target…" Felicia answered, leaning backward into Alex as her head rested on his shoulder.
Alex gave her breast a slightly painful squeeze making Felicia whimper weakly, "And the truth?" He asked while massaging her breast gently.
Felicia blushed at being caught and honestly answered, "I was thinking about your other girls…" She said, "I think it would be fun to meet them too…"
"Oh?" Alex raised a brow, "Were you looking forward to eating Laura out?" Alex asked, "Did I steal your thunder when I pulled you away from her and forced you to watch as I railed her so hard that her eyes rolled back?"
Felicia blushed again, "That looked so painful," She said, "I don't think I could ever take that kind of hardcore fucking."
Her words served sufficiently to change the topic as Alex answered, "It's all about training, Fel," Alex continued caressing her body and brought one of his hands to her crotch, gently massaging her lips over her tight-fitting latex suit, "I merely need to spend some time training you to be like that with me. Everyone has that potential for a hardcore fucking."
His words made Felicia shiver and she said, "I-I think I'm happier being your pet cat, sir," She coughed before smiling, "I get pampered so much and you shower me with attention…"
Alex grabbed her waist and turned her around before putting her on his shoulder, "Then let's pamper you a little extra today," He said as Felicia squealed and grabbed him as best as she could from her position.
…
Just as Laura appeared in the bunker where the Underground was situated, she heard loud banging sounds followed by screams which were then followed by repulsors powering up. She looked around and saw that multiple people had been startled by her presence. Multiple Iron Man suits pointed their repulsors at her as the other people in the room got ready to fight her.
"Stoppp!" Wolverine quickly intervened and screamed loud enough for Laura to flinch. She turned to him and felt an extremely authoritative aura being emitted from the man as he looked at her. Adorned in a black and yellow combat suit with his claws drawn, he seemed ready for the fight of his life.
"Give me one reason for that, Logan." Iron Man didn't back down and his chest blaster also powered up. The other suits all had very unique designs, one of them was familiar to Laura, having seen it when Alex was showing her the events that had transpired here, it belonged to Ironheart. The third suit, Alex introduced to Laura as Rescue.
"She can help," Logan said with a deep voice, "Right, Laura?" He asked, "You're also against Hydra and their forces, right?"
"Of course," Laura smiled innocently. That was when Alex's maw overlapped over her face and she extended her two claws from both her hands, giving them a menacing look, "Then again, I don't mind sending you to meet that bastard who tried to read my mind." Her voice sounded positively demonic through the filter of Alex's maw.
"We don't need help like yours." Laura turned to the voice and saw a familiar face. It was Cyclops looking at her with a hateful expression that was somewhat hidden due to the visor on his face. She then saw some of the X-men standing beside him like Storm, Nightcrawler, and three others whom she couldn't recognize.
"Whatcha' gonna do?" Laura taunted him, turning her maw to the side, "You don't seem to have the kind of manpower necessary to keep me busy while fighting Hydra, do you?"
"Let's talk calmly, Ms. Laura," Another voice spoke and Laura turned to see Reed Richards. He had a substantial yet well-kept beard along with streaks of white hair along his temple. "Since we have a shared enemy, I don't see any problem in us cooperating."
"Mister Fantastic," Laura identified the man, "I have to ask, how is a narcissist such as yourself in the same group as this other narcissist?"
A stifled laugh sounded out and Laura saw a blonde woman at Reed's side along with The Thing. "She's got you there," Susan Storm said to Reed with amusement evident in her tone.
"Desperate times call for desperate measures," Reed answered before glancing at Tony, "We all have to compromise for the same of our ideals."
"How noble…" Laura mock clapped her hands.
"Is no one going to address how she murdered the Professor in cold blood?" Cyclops burst out, almost opening his visor right there, "You all are acting as if just because she showed at an opportune time, she had the right to kill an Omega-level mutant. Not to mention the strongest pillar of the X-Men." Cyclops directed a particularly disgusted look at Wolverine in the midst of his words. Laura was sure that Wolverine had had some very bad history with the X-Men that caused him to split away from them.
"Calm down," It was Storm who grabbed his shoulder and stopped him from going too far, "The current situation doesn't allow us to go through this conflict." Cyclops roughly shook Storm's hand off and looked at Laura menacingly. Or at least as menacing as he could make it seem. In front of Laura's Apex maw, there was little that could induce a feeling of menace.
Looking around, Laura noticed quite a few faces, some familiar and some unfamiliar. She saw the two different Spider-Men that Alex showed her during the original Laura's experience recap. She had fought both Spider-Man 2099 and Silk.
"I remember fighting you," Silk said with a mellow tone when Laura's gaze passed her, binging that gaze back to herself, "You were very different from how you seem right now."
Laura narrowed her eyes, "I don't sense you being apprehensive of me," She asked, "Why is that? Even these old guys are apprehensive of me, why not you?"
"My Silk-Sense is a very strong kind of sixth-sense," She said with an almost casual-sounding tone, "Although I sense immense danger from you, none of that is targetting me. This is very different from previously."
"That's because I'm not the original Laura—" Laura was interrupted by another familiar person albeit not directly. Alex's screening of the original Laura's experiences had included him.
"You were the one who I felt when I sensed something odd with Laura, weren't you?" This time, it was Wiccan who interrupted Cyclops's outburst and interjected himself.
"We are Apex," Laura growled out, "The original Laura and Ms. Marvel are safe and sound." Her words seemed to have lifted a massive amount of weight off of his shoulders as he realized that he wasn't the one responsible for the two women's deaths. Laura was quick to burst that bubble of his, "But you still did endanger them very badly. If we hadn't intervened, both of them would be dead, even Laura, the trees were pretty much sucking the vitality out of both of them while you executed your masterplan." Laura put a mocking emphasis on her last word.
Wiccan's fists clenched as his eyes glowed with a blue glow, "I'll apologize to them when I get the chance, and thank you for saving them." He said, "If you can help us, then I will be extremely grateful."
"Don't worry about it," Laura said. Seeing as more of them wanted to confront her, she interjected, "At this point, you have no choice but to accept my help." She smiled, displaying the spiky black teeth of her maw, creeping everyone out a little.
"What do you mean—" Tony was interrupted as a loud bang sounded before the main gate shattered and they were greeted by Captain America wearing a murky green Hydra uniform along with his repainted shield in one hand and Mjolnir in the other.