Tranquil Dreams
The sky is black with the winged horrors. Thor wrestles with the
beasts, smothered by their ebon bodies. Vision lies at Wanda's feet,
dead. Hawkeye has lost an arm and is barely conscious. Captain America
kneels before her, beating off the monsters with the arm of a long
destroyed Iron Man. Wanda stands impassive, tears flowing from her
eyes.
" Lady? Lady? Are you hungry??" The voice of the gruff Canadian
trucker broke the horror of her nightmare and woke her.
" Pardon? What?"
" Hungry Lady? There's a truck stop about a mile further up the road.
I was going to stop and grab some breakfast." Wanda gazes out of the
window of the huge truck she is travelling in. Her attempts to remain
incognito drove her towards hitching - she had never realised how much
a Stark Foundation Visa card could identify her. The countryside of
Canada flew past her, lit by the bright morning sun. She had wanted to
come somewhere rural, somewhere where she could think and view her
options. The wilderness of the lands to the north seemed perfect.
" Yes. I'm starving." She was lucky she had found a friendly truck
driver. Apart from a comment about her accent and a glance at her
body, the initial part of the long journey had been a discourse in the
man's extended family. Mind-numbingly boring, but just what Wanda
needed to calm her down. She still wasn't to sure that what she was
doing was the best thing and she needed something to calm her nerves.
The truck pulls up to the truck stop and Wanda clambers out into the
small wooden shack. The air is filled with smoke and the smell of
frying bacon. The predominantly male clientele double-take the lithe
female figure as it moves to a windowside table, only to resume their
eating when she is followed by her burly companion. A waitress takes
their order and promptly delivers two plates of steaming breakfast
food. They eat.
" So, what are you doing in Canada?"
" Just having a spot of relaxation. You know, enjoy the air and the
scenery." Wanda shovels some bacon into her mouth. She really was
hungry.
" Don't you have trouble with your boss, just taking time off?"
" Not really. You could say I'm self employed. In security."
" Really. A pretty thing like you into that game? Are you hiding
something from me?" The trucker laughs out loud and his round belly
judders.
" My friend, you would not believe the things that I am hiding from
you." Wanda mumbles into her coffee.
**************************************************
Wanda picks up the phone and nervously punches the number of Avengers
Mansion, specifically the Visions extension. After a short wait it is
answered.
" Hello. I am the Vision."
" Vision, it's me. Wanda."
" Wanda! I am pleased to hear from you. Where are you? How are you?"
" I'm not telling you where I am Vision. I'm safe and I'm getting my
head together. I just thought it would be fair to tell you.... oh God
there is no easy way to say this. Vision, I doubt we are ever going to
have what we had before so .. just ... get on with life. Please."
" As you wish, my < click> love" The phone is down before Wanda can
hear the last word. Slowly she returns to the table.
" Are you OK?"
" Yes ..yes, I am. I just had to make a difficult call. That's all."
**************************************************
The trucker pulls away from the side of the road leaving Wanda
standing waving next to her holdall. Her fingers flex and the fields
of reality waver. The tank of the truck fills with petrol. The least
she could do to the kind man.
**************************************************
Wanda strolls in the pristine wilderness of the Canadian mountains.
The grass beneath her feet is crisp and fresh. There are a few meadow
flowers for her to watch or pick. she cannot believe the idyllic
change from New York and the problems that she associates with it. The
one thing that she is suffering from is hunger. All of this fresh air
is making her ravenous. She settles in the long grass and wrestles
with the packed holdall to retrieve a chocolate bar that she bought at
the truck stop.
Lying back she takes a big bite out of the bar and chews slowly. This
is perfection. This is the cleansing that Agatha must have meant when
she sent her away. In a way it reminded her of her homeland of
Transia. Maybe that is why she felt the need to come here? The clouds
skimmed across the skies over her head, like white knights. Her eyes
begin to get heavy, and she settles back into the grass and begins to
drift off into a deep sleep.
**************************************************
The painfully thin figure of Agatha Harkness glides though the
darkened corridors of her sanctum. The gothic imagery of the place
sits perfectly with the wizened, craggy look of this most adept of
witches. She reaches the huge black oak front door and pauses. The cat
flap tilts open and Ebony, her more than capable familiar pokes his
head through the opening. Ebony leaps up into the witches arms where
she strokes the cat's unearthly fur.
" I have a task for you my friend. Wanda has journeyed north. Yes
Wanda, the one with the husband you thought was a scratching post. You
must travel after her Ebony my friend and keep an eye on her for
Agatha. However, mark my words my favourite familiar. You must not let
her know that I have sent you. You must be as a shadow in the
darkness. Do you understand?"
The cat purrs and gives Harkness a withering look for ever questioning
it's ability to remain incognito. She releases Ebony from her arms and
with a flurry of black fur and a clatter of the flap, the feline is
gone.
**************************************************
Wandas mind drifts through a maze of imagery. She sees herself as a
young heroine, teaming up with Hawkeye and Quicksilver for the first
time against the Radioactive Man. She sees the Vision for the first
time, terrified by his ghostly visage but secretly curious about the
mechanical man. She sees herself and her former lover standing beside
Mantis and the Swordsman being married. She sees ... she sees
something, but she is not sure.
Wanda tries to escape the maze, tries to climb the walls. Fear begins
to grasp at her throat. She sees her body being used by Mordred and
Chthon to entrap her colleagues. She sees her powers being used by
Immortus, she sees the Vision destroyed. She sees herself standing
beside her father, Magneto, laughing maniacally.
She blasts the sides of the maze with her hexes. She forces
probability to go wild, the wildest coincidences not saving her from
the nightmare. She sees Simon Williams explode into nothing under the
attack of the Kree. She sees her friend and ally Tony Stark destroy
himself thwarting Kang. She sees herself beside the Enchantress, as
her daughter? She sees dead Avengers everywhere and her standing in
the centre, ambivalent to the clawing black winged killers.
She sees herself held fast by a brood of these winged nightmares, arms
and legs pinned as she struggles amid a sea of putrid decaying flesh
and dying humanity. She realises that she is not awake and this is not
a dream and that she has been trapped by someone, but who?
" Hold yourself mortal. You are mine now, to control and use as I
wish."
" Show yourself monster. I am Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch! I am
no-one's slave!"
" You will succumb. All people succumb in the end to KARIOOQ the
CORRUPTER!!"
Into view comes the emerald figure of the mortal form of the Great
Beast. Flesh drips from the corners of his hideous grinning mouth and
the ragged hole filled cloths he wears drag through the mire beneath
his skeletal feet. He reaches a bony hand out and strokes Wanda's chin
as she flinches to escape.
" Yes, pretty one, you will be my warrior before long."
" Unhand her Kariooq. She is not yours to control. Release her or face
my wrath."
" You?!" The monster spins to face the new player.
" Yes I, Dr Michael Twoyoungmen. SHAMAN!!"
******************************************************************
Next Issue - Wanda lies in the
grasp of the Great Beast and only Michael Twoyoungmen can save her.
Meanwhile back in New York Wonder Man finally reaches breaking point.
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