I brought us back to Mr. Hill’s balcony. Dealer sent off the Message to T’Challa that she was sending Storm back home, and then a Card-Portal whisked Storm back off to the capital of Wakanda.
We watched it close, and then sighed in unison. That was going to be an interesting conversation she had.
I looked at Dealer’s swollen belly, shaking my head. “Okay, didn’t expect that.”
“You’re telling me!” she returned, stroking the bulge gently. “So glad for enhanced strength and being Sustained, thank you!” she smiled cheerfully. “What’s Karnilla’s reply?” she asked.
“Still twenty seconds to go.”
---
My mental projection into her encasement dropped my hands there and slowly stood up as the counter ticked down. She stared at me stiffly, both daring me to do something, and absolutely certain I was going to.
“Your answer?” I asked flatly, really not very interested in it.
“I will yield to you.” She did not bow, only drawing herself up straighter for it, probably scheming something.
“Give me your True Name,” I stated, equally emotionless, barely acknowledging my victory at all.
She wanted to look shocked, but the consequences were obvious. Her True Name would cut through her magic and her will like a knife. Her ability to resist me, especially with such a superior Caster Level, would be slim to null.
The Name she gave me was old, and she probably hadn’t spoken it in centuries. The number of entities who had any idea of what it was probably could be counted on one hand.
Without any fanfare or grace, insults, taunting, or apologies, I Bound her and I Sealed her.
-----
“She yielded,” I said, the Patterns on my back staying away from the Widow’s Tat. There was no resistance at all to me drawing on her powers, her Binding woven with her True Name. I had thoughtstreams going through her history immediately, spending Valences to do so with full sensory immersion and total recall.
Like Amora, I was going to know her past better than she did, soon enough.
“Not going to Duplicate or Sim her?” Dealer asked knowingly. Karnilla going missing could cause some major unrest on Asgard’s borders.
“Not right away I can’t. I’m not just swapping the active mind like you did with Ororo’s copy. I imagine she’s not happy getting her look and life stolen.”
“Rather wailing a lot,” Dealer admitted. “That she was doing even worse to the Richards really is blowing right past her. Hypocritical, revenge-obsessed twat. Sekhmet really did a number on her.”
“She was supposed to be one of the greatest mutant heroes of the world.” I could only shake my head sadly.
“Well, she’s still going to be,” Dealer noted, “just not the way she wants.”
“True.” I gave her a look, and brought up an illusion for privacy around us, not that any of the neighbors could look into the balcony anyway. “Take your Mask down.”
“Ohhhh...” Dealer murmured, and her Ultraspecs, tied to her Mask Tat, split and melted aside into her hairline.
As they did, her hair and skin swapped shades. Nothing else changed, but her inky black hair and pale skin were now ebony skin and flowing white hair.
Dealer looked at her hands, pulled at her blouse to look down her cleavage, and flicked up a holo mirror to squint at her face.
“This is because I had Ororo’s body Sealed, and I still have her soul,” she muttered. It was still our face, but the skin hues and racial lineage had swapped out after she Burned Ororo’s Asgardian self.
“That would be my guess.”
“Well, won’t that surprise the heck out of anyone who takes my Mask off,” she murmured. Croupier reformed, and her skin and hair swapped back to normal as they did, Nom de Guerre boosting everything back to reality. Both looks were equally real, equally valid. “She’s crowing at me. Little victories or something.” Dealer just smirked. “I don’t think she realizes just how little I mind.”
“Or how little it matters. Skin color changing is like Shapechanging 001.” I just shook my head. “She gave up a shot to be with a true silver soul, one of the greatest men in Africa, for bloody murder and delivering a goddess’ spite. I am unimpressed.” I crossed my legs and sat down in mid-air with her. Despite everything, my clone and I really did see things differently, mostly because I simply couldn’t ignore the focus on my Pact, and she was constantly aware on the magical side of things.
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Totally deliberate, true, and we synched up all the time, but we also deviated quickly, only helped along by how fast we could think.
And now one of me was pregnant and carrying Susan’s boy, the Reality Warper. At least we got him Marked and linked up to his parents.
Reed and Sue should be sitting down and talking with Ben and Johnny, hopefully having split themselves apart by now... but who was I to judge if they wanted to stay together?
I did send a group text out that Reed and Sue were back, and normal operations of the Baxter Building and Foundation should be resuming shortly. There was promptly an interest in throwing a Welcome Back party, which I found myself grinning to as I contemplated Susan showing off Dealer’s belly and explaining just how that had happened to all our friends.
We sensed the Aura at the same time: Wanda was coming up to the house. She waved a Hex at the door, the Wards recognized her and the door popped open to let her in. “Dealer! Dyna! You home?” she called out as she walked inside.
“Upstairs on the balcony, Wanda!” Dealer called down, and Wanda hurried up the stairs, opening up the doors to dash out onto the balcony. She looked very excited, big smile, hands clasped, almost hopping up and down.
“I have a big announcement to make!” she exclaimed, and then she saw Dealer, and her jaw headed for the floor, gaping at the sight.
“Oh, you too?” I asked her, clapping my hands. “Congratulations, Wanda!” I cheered her, coming up to give her a hug as she gawked at Dealer.
Dealer just laughed at her, pointing down. “Susan Storm’s baby on board,” she explained with a wink.
“What? Susan? The Invisible Woman Susan?” Wanda spluttered, all the while accepting my hug, and then having to run up in disbelief despite herself to put her hands on Dealer’s belly. “Are you serious? That’s Susan’s baby?”
“Yes, we just got back from Asgard. It happened less than half an hour ago,” Dealer smiled. “Needless to say, I am just getting used to this.”
Wanda made a crazy face at her. “You have the shortest pregnancy announcement in forever! Do we throw Sue or you the baby shower?!” she complained.
“Both of us, naturally!” Dealer smiled, and her smile slipped for a moment. “How is Johnny taking it?”
“He’s passed out dead drunk right now, which is about how I thought he’d take it,” Wanda sniffed, and then frowned. “He probably won’t want me going out on Hellrides anymore.”
“If he questions you, you tell him absolutely bullshit to that. If you can’t take care of the kids with all those strong men around you in the middle of a Hellride where your goal is to kill everything, how the Hell do you think you are supposed to protect them when the boys aren’t there and Hell comes prepared to your door?” I sniffed haughtily. I pointed at Dealer. “Concede that you’ll ride with Chopsaw and Mr. Hill, because we can’t risk Sue’s baby down there, that’s just not right. You’re the only one on the main team who can cover for her, Wanda.”
She was startled as she realized that fact. Dealer just shrugged. “Sorry, Wanda. Had to save the baby.”
Wanda took a deep breath and nodded slowly. “Then... I think I need to do what we talked about before.”
“Which of the seventeen topics I can bring to mind? Hexing Stark’s bathtub?” Dealer asked slyly.
Wanda totally giggled at the memory of that particular discussion. “Ah, no, no! About the... redoing choices made.” She straightened up at attention. “I think... I think I am ready to do that now.”
I lifted an eyebrow. Wanda rarely took her Leveling seriously, and our cautions on the dangers of being the Scarlet Witch went in one ear and out the other. She really wanted to be more like Dealer in terms of how powerful she was, and the fastest way to do that was to grow her Chaos Magic with all speed.
That meant upping her Charisma, which gave her power and reinforced her decision and belief in that decision that it was right, and so her power was rapidly expanding beyond her ability to truly control it, her emotions only feeding it more as they began to roam.
“I have to ask what brought about this sudden change of heart,” Dealer asked seriously.
Wanda was about to reply when I butted in. “No, no, no,” I said even more seriously. “That is NOT our first question.” I stared at her intently. “Tell me you did NOT have sex out there in The Mess, and you waited until you came back to Terra. I specifically talked with Johnny about this, and if you did so, it is because you talked him into it and he can’t resist you.” My eyes narrowed intensely. “Gods and Totems, Wanda, if you had sex out there and your baby has a demon for a soul...”
Wanda swallowed under my gaze. She wanted to laugh off the subject, but my stare was pure death. “No, no! We always waited until we got back to have sex!” she replied as calmly as she could.
I stared at her, and nodded slowly. “I WILL be confirming that with Johnny, just so you know. I WILL be repeating the consequences to him as I do so. You are not natives of any of the realms of Limbo, and that means if you conceive a child out there, you’re literally inviting demon souls to be reborn as your children!”
Wanda flinched despite herself. “We didn’t, Dyna! I swear we didn’t!”
“I WILL be checking on that!” I promised again. “The only reason I’m not calling him right now is because you said he’s drunk!” I huffed, crossed my arms, and turned to Dealer. “You offered her a Reformation? Wow, generous of you. As Dealer asked, what prompted the decision, Wanda? You’ve totally ignored the option before...”
She put her hands to her own taut dancer’s belly. “It was something Johnny said. Our kids are going to grow up exposed to hellfire and chaosfire, no matter what we do. If we lose control of the flames, what is that going to mean to our kids?” Her emotions warred over her face abruptly. “I’m not going to let the Chaos magic hurt my baby, so I need to do this!” She sounded quite determined, and while I privately noted she should have made the decision some time ago, it was a much better late than never choice.
“Then let’s move inside, and figure out how we’re going to change your life,” Dealer said calmly, taking Wanda’s hand while gliding off back inside, where tables, chairs, and paper would be available to plot and plan things out in hard copy for Wanda after the illusions were finalized.
I looked up at the sky, and the hint of rain in the clouds there. It really was a strange day...