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Kamar Taj
–Jack Sullivan–
He slowly came to consciousness, his vision a blurry mess as he tried to make sense of where he was.
His eyes snapped wide open as he attempted to sit upright, remembering what had happened before, with the Ancient One forcing him to undergo a ritual. The confusion, that turned to mild pain, which turned to panic, and then pain so intense that his brain instinctively blocked the memory or sensation of it.
“Easy now, Master Sullivan, your soul is still raw from the ritual,”
‘The ritual you forced me to undergo, without my consent!’ he wanted to rage at the calm voice but he just had no energy to do so. His actions in banishing Bruce to the cold harshness of space meant that he had just sentenced Bruce Banner, one of the kindest souls he had known, to the painful and scary sensation of being choked, even as their body continued to regenerate.
Healing over and over again, and not dying due to the lack of oxygen or atmosphere would be one of the most painful feelings one could ever experience. And yet, he had no other choice at that moment.
He did not know what to do in that situation and he ended up banishing the Hulk to space. God, he just hoped that someone rescued him once it was clear that he was not going to turn himself into a gamma bomb and sink some country, or bomb it back to the stone age.
His eyes, that were scrunched shut due to the blurriness, opened as he felt a cooling feeling spread throughout his body. His vision cleared, he sat upright, and was relieved to find himself in one of the rooms that they used to house the initiates.
He looked to the side at the casually lounging Ancient One.
“What the hell? You gave me no warning.” He hissed at the Sorcerer Supreme as he sat upright on the surprisingly cold but still comfortable stone bed. The runes slightly phasing in and out of the material world clued him into the nature of the bed.
“Master Sullivan, the slow way would have taken months and it would have still left your soul unbalanced. This was the best way. If you don’t trust me, trust the crystallisation of the knowledge left behind by all the previous Sorcerer Supremes,” The Ancient One said and then gestured at the book that was staying on the table between them.
He took one look at the book and had to immediately avert his eyes. The knowledge inside that book was tantalising, to say the least.
“Alright, how long was I out?” He asked the Ancient One, absentmindedly flexing his powers and grinning as he felt no pain, no slowness, nothing that would indicate something wrong with his powers. It was a horrible feeling, to have woken up and then feel only pain when using the powers that had grown to become akin to a limb when it came to control and familiarity.
“A little over a month, Master Sullivan,”
“A month!?” He exclaimed as he stood up, restless at the thought of all the changes that must have occurred in the outside world. He could barely begin thinking of the consequences of the Johannesburg incident alone, let alone the rest of the stuff.
“Do the others–”
“Yes, Master Sullivan, I took the liberty to inform the Avengers along with your allies in Wakanda about your condition and how you were undergoing recovery under my supervision. Fortunately, Nuclear Armeggadon was averted. Now, I am sure that you have a lot to catch up on.”
He took the dismissal and stood up, clothing himself from the hammerspace he had already made for himself. It was very small but it was sufficient to hold a spare change of clothes, some camping essential along with some Orange Juice.
What? He really loved Orange Juice, alright? Not everyone needs to drink Alcohol to drink away their worries.
He was about to head out before he was stopped by the Ancient One who snapped her fingers, causing a small ring to appear in front of him. He smiled as he saw the brand new sling ring.
“Completely isolated from the network, as I am sure you prefer,” He looked up in shock as she casually revealed to him something that might shatter the trust that the entire Master’s body held in the Sorcerer Supreme.
Then again, she had grown so much stronger than the rest that she could afford to go against the flow and not have to worry about any possible backlash.
“Alright. Thanks,” He said and then slid it on his finger, the familiar presence of the instant teleportation artifact a comforting presence.
With practiced ease, his finger twitched as a portal opened in front of him, one that led straight to the specific room designated for his portal usage.
He took one step forward and rolled his eyes at the expected song and dance as the guns and cannons were visible to him for a fraction of a second before they were sucked into their respective wall housings.
He walked to the door, frowning when it didn't open as he approached it. Did they forget about this point?
His doubts were answered when he heard someone bounding towards him, as the door opened, to reveal a slightly rotund someone with their kimoyo beads outstretched towards the wall.
“Haa. haa. I am–so–so sorry. We just forgot to put an ever present guard here and the system recognised your portal signature but we configured this door to be opened only from the outside and only from this air gapped lock, fearing digital interference. It–Ha–took me a while to run down from the Lab,”
He smiled at the man who had apparently run all the way down here, “Thank you for your troubles. Is anybody coming?”
“Hmm? Oh yeah, the Dora Milaje platoon should be…Ha–here soon,” THe man said in between deep breaths as he slowly sat down on the ground.
“You should really get some exercise. I thought you guys in Wakanda had obesity sorted out?” The question was genuine because he had not seen a single morbidly obese person in all the time he had been in Wakanda, either in this life or in the movies in his past life.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
“Multiple issues with the body. Barely achieving hormonal balance,” the man said in between deep breaths and he nodded in understanding. Well, that was understandable.
He looked up from the kneeling man, and grinned in relife as the familiar Dora Milaje filtered into the hallway. He would not be blamed for the possible death for this person because he was really quite an anomaly, as far as he was concerned.
His breath was way too shallow, his body was quite obese but not in a normal way. He had thick glasses and more.
“Well, let’s see what has happened,” He muttered as he was escorted to the Lab with the Royal Princess Shuri, someone who had quite a bit of news to share with him.
_____xxx____
Paris
–(Not)Wanda Maximoff—
“Seriously, how long until this ends, sis?” She rolled her eyes at the daily dose of whining she received from Pietro, ever since he had picked her up from Johannesburg.
She had taken a break from following Chthon’s plans and that was quite a relief, mainly because the amount of Chaos she had created with that single stunt was apparently enough to sate the monster, but she knew it would not be enough and it was not long before she heard the monster in her head, once again.
“Just eat the pudding, and go to sleep. We have to go see the Eiffel Tower tomorrow and then we have a flight to Switzerland. I hear it is best this time of the year,” She gently admonished him as he was sprawled on the sofa of her hotel room.
It had been a little over 3 months since the Hulk Rampage, the media called it, a very transparent way of blaming the Hulk for everything if she had ever seen one.
In the immediate aftermath of that horrible fight where she had almost lost the fight, if not for Pietro’s timely intervention, something that he never failed to remind her, she had chosen to just lay low.
She could have won using the Sceptre she had, especially with the spells she had in mind that could properly take advantage of the vast psionic advantage that the Mind Stone gave her, but it would have been a pyrrhic victory at best.
For one, she did not know why the Ancient One had not taken an active interest in hunting her down. Using an Infinity Stone would have been the fastest way of getting on her shit list. Secondly, once Chthon realises that he had access to an avatar who could use both Chaos Energy and an Infinity Stone at hand, the question of him trying to take over her body would have been of “when”, instead of an “if”.
The world had been in quite a tense state in the month following the incident, where the reconstruction work of Johanesbury was still ongoing, when the Green Guardian had not shown his face to the outside world.
Repeated assurances from the Avengers did nothing to assuage the fears of the common public because unless they saw the Green Avatar flying around in the sky, their fears of Aliens and outside threats would not be laid to rest.
And that was exactly what happened. One fine day, the Green Guardian just showed up in the skies above New York, then London, LA, Beijing, Shanghai, Berlin, Paris, New Delhi, and more. It was as if the man had taken some sort of world tour to make sure that all parts of the world knew about him and how he was alive and well to defend them from yet another threat.
In the meantime, she had taken to finacle with the sceptre. THe sceptre, and not the Mind Stone, there was a difference.
She knew that her Vision was built using the essence of whatever nasty thing was installed into the sceptre and combined with the remnants of Stark’s AI after it had gone through who knows how many alterations at the hands of Stark and Banner.
And yet, she knew that the main thing that made Vision possible was the Mind Stone, and not the many other factors.
Her fists clenched mid air as the sceptre appeared in her hands, her mind churning at the thought of losing Vision or more accurately, losing the opportunity to ever see her Vision once again.
“Whoa! Calm down, sis. I’ll go, I’ll go,” Pietro’s completely fake panic made her roll her eyes as her hands relaxed, the sceptre disappearing back into her storage.
“Just leave. And don’t let me see another harlot in the morning,” She hollered at him as he left her room, the sight of him almost stumbling like a balm to her soul.
Over the course of the past three months, she had chosen to spend her time as if she were on a vacation, something that she never had the privilege of experiencing back in her home universe. It was always a mission after mission, and before that, it was a struggle to get a full meal on the best of days, so it was safe to say that she was currently living her best life, from both her lives.
Four star stays? Check. Mainly because staying at five star suites all the time without any public identity could raise questions.
Unlimited Credit? Check. That one was the simplest. All she had to do was mind control one of the many Oil barons of Russia and convince him that she was his newest twinkie and he was just splurging a bit on her.
Peak Physique? Check. Well, the stone of Everlasting CHI had been the critical ingredient in the ritual she had undertaken, elevating her current body to beyond Olympic level. It was enhanced in all the ways, allowing her to enjoy the yummiest of foods in the most outrageously American quantities, without ever having to worry about her health.
The greasiest, cheesiest, burgers were never off limits for her. Red Meat? Let it come. Let it all come.
Pietro never had to worry about anything because of his enhanced metabolism but it was nice to know that they could enjoy anything from anywhere, at any point of time.
Sure, the looming sword of Chthon still lingered over her but she had chosen to ignore what she couldn’t control and it would be the height of foolishness to think that she could do anything to hurt someone on the level of Chthon, Scarlet Witch or not.
So, there she was, in a hotel room with one of the best possible views, enjoying her late night ice cream, and the wonders of good room service, after sending her brother packing.
Mainly because she did not wish for him to see her this way.
She sighed as the illusion was undone, revealing her blackened fingers.
She had been careful. As careful as she could be, casting a Hex of that size over Johannesburg had led to unforeseen consequences, allowing Chthon to supply her with the deficit in Chaos Energy and as she found out, that was not a good thing.
Still, the fact that it had been so long since she had last felt his presence, it was a good sign. Something that she had chosen to take in stride.
She knew her time was limited but well, let’s see what life had in store for her.
She took one look at the inert Sling Ring in her hand. She didn’t mean to hurt anyone and she had actually taken all the precautions she could so that she could avoid the wanton destruction but also complete her goals as well.
Once it became clear that Chthon had won and she would only damage this universe more with her unwelcome presence, she would just open a portal straight to either the Ancient One or Jack Sullivan, one of the few who should be able to kill her, once and for all.
Besides, she had a hunch that her actions in Johannesburg had only led to further strengthening of Jack Sullivan, and if he was not prepared to deal with Chaos Energy now, he would certainly be, by the time she was ready to surrender herself.
She had two goals until that happened.
Make sure that she enjoyed life and if it was at all possible, somehow bring back Vision, NOT using her Chaos Energy,
Secondly, make sure that Pietro is settled. Not settled as in financially or in any monetary way.
No, she had to settle his mind. Being a speedster, his mind was already prone to outbursts more than normal people but she had to make sure that the sheer hatred he had of Stark was abated before she left.
That was one of the many things she had to beat out of him before she left this reality for good.
All that was for later Wanda though.
The current Wanda was currently going to binge watch “The Office” while eating tub loads of ice cream, full fat, again.
“Huh, Dwight was so stupid,” She muttered, pointedly trying to ignore the teardrops falling down her cheeks as her mind wandered back to her leaving this world, and her brother behind, once again.
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Word Count - 2624
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