Crossroads
" I will give you one more chance Wanda Witch to come to my side. Now
that I have the power of Michael Twoyoungmen - Shaman, I may not need
you to complete my empire of evil. So speaks KARIOOQ the CORRUPTER!'
( A fair synopsis of the situation that our fair heroine finds herself
in, don't you think?)
" I don't know what you have done to Dr Twoyoungmen but he would never
have join you of his free will. I'll destroy you before ..."
" Oh be quiet you cliche-ridden mortal annoyance. Shaman - KILL HER."
With an evil glint in his eye, Shaman moves towards Wanda, hands
crackling with arcane power. Kariooq laughs.
Wanda leaps back from the oncoming member of Alpha Flight. What is she
to do? She doesn't even know which plane or reality she is in, never
mind how to manipulate it. How will her hexes affect the greatest of
Canada's sorcerers and moreover, how is she to defeat him without
causing him serious injury? Her train of thought is broken as clawed
hands push into her back pushing her towards Shaman. She stumbles and
is caught in the chest by a blast of pure magical energy, blowing her
backwards to the floor.
" I don't want to hurt you Michael, but if you force me to.." She
raises he hands and fires a hex of pure energy, focused by her mystic
knowledge. It bursts off Shaman's mystic shield but staggers him.
" Master Beast, she is a strong warrior. Are you sure you want her
killed? I could just main her??"
" Shut your mouth Underling! I have given an order!"
Wanda gathers herself and takes account of the situation. She parries
another of Shaman's blasts with her own. He is not using his medicine
pouch. I have seen what it can produce before but I know that it
requires huge concentration. Maybe in this state, Shaman is only
capable to instinctive actions, predictable actions - hence his choice
of primal energy to attack me.
Wanda lets the next blast get a little too close to her and falls to
the floor. Time for something ... un-predictable, she thinks. Shaman
advances upon her, standing gloating over his prey. His eyes are black
and his hair blows wildly in a non-existent wind. He looks towards
Kariooq.
" Finish Her!" Wanda raises her leg between Shaman's, causing him to
crumple into a heap. She leaps to her feet, grabs his hair in both
hands and brings his head down into her knee, breaking his nose. She
raises her foot and placing it on his shoulder pushes him over
backwards. The blackness has disappeared from his eyes. They are
watering.
" Uggghh......did .. you...learn that ... from... Captain America...?"
" Hardly, try Mockingbird - sorry, by the way."
" Cease this prattle woman. You will die. I have ordered it!" He
raises his skeleton arm and both Wanda and Shaman are caught in a
iridescent emerald field. They scream in agony as the flesh begins to
shred from their faces and their bones begin to crumble.
" You will age years in seconds. Soon you will be dust in the dreams
of the dead!!"
" Maybe not cobber!" A huge carved boomerang slices across the bony
arm of the Beast shattering the brittle material into a million
shards.
" Who are you? How many of you mortals can find your way into my dream
realm?"
" Me? I'm Dreamguard. As for finding this place, lets just say I owe
half the spirit kingdom a huge round of beers but when you start
messing with people's dreams you start messing with the dreamtime, and
that, you overgrown extra from Elm Street, is MY business."
" And mine, Willy. These are my dreams he is corrupting. I want him
out of my mind." Wanda steps up next to Dreamguard, incandescent with
rage, mystical and mutant energies crackling off her.
" And it is my business, as the sworn enemies of the Great Beasts. Go
Kariooq, you have been beaten. You could defeat one of us, but never
all three. I banish you from this realm by the Ancient Gods of the
Inuit!" Shaman stands proudly behind the two younger heroes.
" Never. You cannot beat me. I am a Great Beast."
" Get out of my mind!!" Wanda lets loose a huge burst of energy,
pummelling the monster, " Go, get out, leave my mind. I will not have
you romping around in here as if you think it is yours by right. It is
mine. My mind, my body, my life!!!!' The energies wrap around the
Great Beast and snuff him out. Shaman stands forward and scatters
petals from his pouch over the places where the Beast and it's
creations were.
The realm that Kariooq had created begins to dissolve around them and
the three people appear on the beautiful hillside Wanda was sleeping
on originally.
" Bloody cold up here. You couldn't fish something woolly out of that
sack of your's could you?" laughs Willy to Shaman and he hugs his
virtually naked torso in the fresh Canadian air.
" It is over Wanda Maximoff. You are free again."
Wanda looks at him and wonders whether he is correct or not.
******************************************
Much later the three mystics sit in the log cabin belonging to Dr
Twoyoungmen and consider the fate of Wanda.
" You have been told to travel and find yourself by Ms Harkness?" The
tone Shaman is using is deep and consultative.
" Yes, and I thought Canada was as near to Transia as I would get."
" Why not go to Transia, Wanda?"
" There... there are too many memories in that places. Anyway, if I am
to learn something, why not do it here in North America. Europe is so
far away."
" There is a simple reason why you should go to Transia. It is your
homeland, just as Canada is mine and Australia is Willy's."
" What difference does that make?"
" You have learned the basics of the arcane arts but you have yet to
hone your abilities to their fullest. I have little real understanding
of the Dreamtime. That is Willy's speciality. Although he understands
the basic workings of the animal spirits he could never know of the
Great Songs of the bears, the caribou, the whales and the snow owls.
You are not linked to the western tradition like Agatha. You are a
child of Eastern Europe. You are soaked in the superstitions and
folklore of the travellers and gypsies that roam that place. Surely
your true path to mystic fulfilment lies there, in Transia. That was
truly why you came here. Because in reality you wanted to go to
Transia."
" Maybe you are right. Maybe I should go to Europe. I am sure there
are some ghosts that can be laid to rest there."
" I'm sure there are. What do you think Willy."
" Like the man says, there's no place like home" All three laugh out
loud.
******************************************
Avengers Mansion, New York. Wonder Man enters the workroom of the
Beast. hank is working on a new invention, whilst reading a book
clutched in his foot.
" Well greetings and such like to you my muscular friend. What
assistance can I furnish you with?" He flips down and catches the book
behind his back.
" I need some help from you and ...."
" And who. To whom would you be desirous that I communicate on your
behalf?"
" The X-Men."
" What! Why!?"
" I need access to Cerebro, or whatever passes for Cerebro nowadays. I
need to use it to find Wanda, Hank. You'll help me won't you?"
" Whilst I would normally be happy to integrate the technologies of my
two favourite cohorts of comrades on this matter I have to say a
catagoric No!. Wanda has specifically asked not to be followed and I
intend to uphold her wishes on the matter." At this news Wonder Man
slumps into a chair.
" I'm sorry Hank. I knew you would say that, I don't really know why I
suggested it. I'm so confused Hank."
" Are you sure that Wanda is worth this amount of emotional energy? If
Vision cannot win back here heart, what chance do you have?"
" Every chance. The person she loved as the Vision is ME! I haven't
been dismantled and wiped and rebuilt. I'm whole. But I'm immortal and
everyday the world seems to age around me. Hank, I don't want to see
Wanda grow old in front of me without being able to tell her how I
feel, or feel how it is to hold her again."
" Simon. I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings but Wanda loved the
Vision - not you. The sum of a person is not their memory engrams.
Only the experiences that Wanda had with the Vision could have brought
about the emotions that she felt. The same people, and the same
personalities in a different place could have brought about a wholly
alternate result. That, my beleaguered ally, is love."
" I can't believe that Hank. I just can't afford to!"
******************************************
A bus speeds towards Montreal carrying Wanda to her flight to Paris
and then on to Transia. Just as it disappears from view, a jeep pulls
up and the driver gets out to stretch his legs. Ebony jumps off the
back, arches it back and sniff the air. Shaking it's head it turns and
begins to run off down the road after the bus. Who says it's a dog's
life?
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Next in Scarlet Witch #4
The Witch travels to Transia to find her roots but runs straight into
an old horror and a modern menace; the return of the Acolytes.
Meanwhile Ebony interacts with the local animals...
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