There were muffled voices coming from outside. Voices that spoke of the past and of destiny, not machines that cluttered and clinked, nor the deadpan tone of humans working paintbrushes over plastic. They spoke strange words, words that sounded unreal. Words that begged to be listened to, if there was a listener.
And in a small gray capsule nestled between sheets of cardboard, there was.
Human, they thought, or at least with a human form. They began to move, slowly, quietly, as an animal awakes from hibernation.
How long had they been asleep? If they hadn't been sleeping, how long as they began alive? The body opened and closed their eyes, seeing nothing both times.
"...another soul, probably Tier Four..."
"And Rogue?"
"Definitely."
They could identify two voices now. The first one, male, and the questioner, female.
And which one was this entity in the box?
"...we'll need to keep a close eye..."
"Doubtless."
"...and restraints, if need be..."
"...borrowed some from..."
The female voice got closer, as did the sound of light and miniature footsteps. Instinctively, the person inside shrunk down further into the box and began making fists, preparing to fight. A soft weight rested in the lid of the box. A hand.
"Well now, shall we wake him?"
The male voice followed. "Him? We have been told the Rogue was a her."
The box-dweller felt a sharp tingling on the back of their neck. They knew this gossip was about them. And if they knew nothing else, about the world or themselves, they were not a her.
Something overcame the doll then, something big. The doll felt a rush of heat, then a lurch of power as they went flying into the air, breaking through the box with a great war. They saw before them a body, their body, probably, and it was a woman's. That was the first hint that something was wrong.
Two other dolls were there, waiting, the male and the female that she had heard earlier. Both were shellshocked at the sight of a flying doll that seethed with magic and chaos.
Her eyes burned and her voice crackled with fire. "Who are you? What's happened to me?"
The woman, bald and clad in all yellow, inhaled and stepped forward without fear. "Well, I can answer one of those questions. I am the Ancient One, and this is my assistant, Karl Mordo. If you want your second question answered, we might be able to help you. But you will need to come with us."
"Can you control your power?" The man beside her asked, her voice slow and soothing.
The doll looked down at her hands. There was a red aura around them, pulsing and swirling like fog on a haunted night. It was amazing to see, but no gift like this came without danger. She slowly drifted towards the ground, only stopping when her feet connected with a solid, flat surface.
"I... I think so." She murmured, letting her hands relax by her sides. The magic faded, and a weight was released from her shoulders. To see such a light die in her own hands was exhausting.
The man nodded, impressed, his eyes only leaving her hands to look the doll in the eyes, beckoning her to follow him. The Ancient One had already turned away with a swish of her cloak.
The doll looked behind her at the box, with its zip ties having been snapped away. She had done that, with this power. If these people were going to help her use them, there was no point in staying here. She swallowed hard and allowed them to lead the way.
They traversed over more boxes and packages of toys, some as tall as mountains, and some as low as empty lakes. The Ancient One didn't speak at all, the only noise coming from her being the swish of her cloak over the objects they passed. She didn't look behind her, either, putting complete trust in the the man in the green tunic.
"Do you have a name for yourself, rogue one?" He had asked her.
"No."
"It is Wanda, then," he decided. "You are a Scarlet Witch figure. Most of your kind have that name."
"Okay... is that what I am, then?"
"A doll, or Scarlet Witch? You are a Blazing Soul. Surely this is not your first time in plastic." The man chuckled.
"You know, you can call me whatever you want, I'm still not going to understand it," Wanda replied, getting impatient. "You're a Karl Mordo figure. Do 'most of your kind' have that name, too?"
"Would it surprise you to know that my name is also Karl Mordo?" Karl said.
"A lot surprises me, considering I just came into existence," Wanda folded her arms. There was a softness in her chest that she wasn't familiar with. Feeling awkward, she dropped her arms again. "I know this isn't my first pony show, Karl Mordo. I've been a doll before. Many times. But I don't think I've ever seen this power before. The red stuff," Wanda crimped her fingers again and watched the alluring magic dance around them. "What does it all mean?"
"The Ancient One will explain everything once we return to base."
"Where's base?"
"Here." The Ancient One suddenly spoke, stopping short of a man-made, or doll-made cavern carved into the side of an empty cardboard box. The inside was sparse, just a couple of fabric strips for rugs, or beds, or something, and there was a stash of Tootsie Rolls in one of the corners.
"Quaint." Wanda nodded.
"Quaint works for us," the Ancient One agreed, unoffended. She gathered her skirts and stepped inside. "Come in, Wanda. We have much to discuss."
There was already someone inside. A dark-skinned girl dressed in primary colors sat criss-cross on one of the rugs, deep in meditation. It was broken when she heard the footsteps of the Ancient One before her, and her eyes immediately noticed Wanda. She froze, as if she had seen a dead man.
"It is rude to stare, Kamala." The Ancient One said.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," Kamala stood and brushed herself off in a hurry. "You look familiar to me."
"There are other Wandas." The Ancient One reminded her.
"Yes, but not one like this one," Karl said, a touch of pride in his voice. He touched Wanda's shoulder. "We have finally found another Blazing Soul. Like you."
Kamala muttered something in Arabic before grabbing eagerly onto Wanda's hand. "Oh, gosh! Nice to meet you! It's always nice to see another Blazing Soul. Blazers, as I call them. Haha. Good to see a woman, too! There's not enough of us ladies, right?"
"Right." Wanda agreed, but she felt like an impostor. "Woman" was not the right word for her. She may have been built as one, her mind was a different matter.
"Well, I've got to go, thanks for letting me use the base."
"Of course," said the Ancient One, and then, quieter, "Is it Loki again?"
Kamala bit her lip, changing suddenly. Wanda noticed her shoulders shake a little. "Mm-hm. I've been made chief assistant a while ago. It's too late for me to bail."
"We could hide you, Kamala. We're good at that. You can help us find other Blazers." Karl softly touched her arm, begging her to stay.
"No!" Kamala shouted, pulling away with lightening speed. Her arm, as it seemed, was made of elastic. "No. I can't," she blinked rapidly and looked towards the door. "I've got a group to take care of. Clint number 42 recently lost his wife to his own hand. It was a mistake. It was all a big mistake. And I wasn't able to help him. Another teammate had his hand broken that same day. I had to stay."
"I wouldn't expect anything less of you," said the Ancient One. "It's in your nature to stay."
"Mm-hm," Kamala wiped her eyes, even though nothing could be there. "I have to go. I do. Thank you. I promise to visit later. Goodbye." Kamala sprung through the doorway and into the night, stealthily creeping amongst the boxes until no human shape could be found.
The Ancient One breathed deeply and held it for a long time. Then she sat in Kamala's place.
"I apologize. That wasn't the best way to start our introductions."
"Life is tough around here," Karl added. "We're here to make it better in the only way we can. Providing sanctuary."
"Our focus is to find and save dolls like you from those who seek to steal your power. They are the bounty hunters. We are the liberators for the Blazing Souls."
Wanda sat on the second rug. She tried her best to shake Clint number 42 from her mind. She couldn't imagine doing that, not in this life or her previous ones. Staring into your loved one's face as the light died from their eyes, and knowing that their expiration was your own doing. Every second his situation dwelled longer in her head, the more it hurt, until the pain became almost her own.
"Wanda? Are you alright?"
Wanda broke her daydream. "Yeah. I will be once I learn what I am."
The Ancient One beamed matronly. "Karl, the door, please."
Karl rolled a slat of broken wood in front of the doorway, bathing the base in darkness. He took the rug next to Wanda, and she suddenly recalled a time, maybe, if it were real, a time when she had sat on a rug next to someone else, ready for their teacher to tell them a story.
What the Ancient One did wasn't much different. She painted a picture with golden shapes and discs, illustrating the four tiers of doll reincarnation. The fourth tier was Wanda's, and that made her a Blazing Soul- a rare type of doll imbued with strong and mystical powers.
"And what happens after the fourth tier? Expiration?"
"Nobody knows," said the Ancient One calmly. "There is no proof of Tier Five. There is no proof that expiration is the end. We can only hope that it is something nice." She tapped one of her hexes and the hologram drifted forward, passing through Wanda like a ghost.
"Blazing Souls are hunted for their power. The bounty hunters believe that the only way to gain a Blazer's power is to kill them."
"Forceful expiration." The Ancient One said, twitching slightly the word "kill". "We don't like using the word kill. It is too harsh a word, even for the bounty hunters."
"Right," Karl nodded. "Forceful expiration. Ever since the Ancient One and I teamed up, it has been our goal to find and protect as many Blazing Souls as possible. Kamala Khan is one of them, as you saw earlier. But... she has been found by the bounty hunters. And she works for the worst one of all."
"Loki." Said Wanda, happy to know at least one thing before it was told to her. She knew that, by being a doll, she was immediately given all of her character's information. Still, there was something about Loki that was untouchable, inaccessible. Wanda Maximoff had been around for most of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but her character and Loki's had never collided. She wondered what he was really like, if the one in the warehouse was just a bad egg. She wondered if it was deadly of her to wonder these things.
"Exactly," Karl said, getting up and going into the corner for three of the Tootsie Rolls. "Now on to a lighter subject. An old man named Paul works here, and every Friday he carries a handful of Tootsie Rolls in his pocket. They were supposed to be for his friends, but..." Karl shrugged. "Some get dropped. You could say we're good at finding more than just Blazers."
The Ancient One reveled in a chuckle and took one of the candies from Karl. Wanda was offered one, too.
"Please, dine with us. You are family now." Karl said, making earnest eye contact with her.
Family. Alright. Wanda searched her memory for that word elsewhere, but that part must have been locked. She took the Tootsie Roll carefully.
"So what do we do now?" She asked.
"Train. Meditate. Find other Blazers."
"And we'll help you, too, Wanda, don't worry. We didn't forget about you already." Said the Ancient One.
Karl looked around the room, lost, and blatantly ignoring the space Wanda occupied. "Oh, I already have."
They all shared a good laugh, forced and tired as it was, but that was what family felt like then.
As time passed, Wanda learned to hone her powers. Better than any of the other Blazers he'd seen, Karl had said. Maybe even better than the Ancient One.
The Ancient One gave Karl the side-eye, but there was a smile in her voice when she said, "We shall see."
Since there was no need for dolls to sleep, the days and nights were spent mostly the same. Two hours to train. Two hours to meditate. One hour for dining, rinse and repeat, with one hour's free time. Not like free time was any different from regular time. All it did was leave Wanda without a distraction from the noise in her mind. She began to dread free time because of this.
Some days were better than others. Some days Wanda could confidently look at her reflection in the sheen of her plastic packaging and feel comfortable, beautiful, even. Other days, she avoided the mirror like the plague, not wanting to see the truth. On these days her spirits were low, and her stress was high. She would think of all the things she could have been, and reasons why she was it. Obviously she had done something wrong. But what? What could have been so awful to cause for this sort of punishment? It killed her to not know the answer. Still, the Ancient One saw it differently. She largely blamed Wanda's mixed emotions on the fact she used to be a Rogue Soul- a soul that burns wildly with a motivation that can't be explained by anyone, a soul that ravages the world in search of the one thing that might make them whole.
It was a good solution to one of her problems. It wasn't the solution Wanda was looking for, but sometimes you don't look for solutions yourself.
Sometimes they fall right into your lap.
And the day came when it did, when Wanda was torn between discomfort and ease, when the three of them gathered in the base to talk.
"Hm?" Wanda asked, nostrils full of the faux-chocolatey scent of Tootsie Rolls once again. It had became the trio's nightly routine to dine this way- sitting in a circle like monks, each with a chunk of the candy to smell and wind down for the night. There was comfort in this routine, but the days had began to melt into weeks, and then months. Wanda thought that the boredom would kill her... if the bounty hunters didn't find her first.
"I've heard that you can buy your way out of here with enough CostCoins." Said Karl.
"Fascinating," said Wanda, but she didn't really believe so. She could hex her way into a human's home if it came to that. She would just have to wait until the daylight hours, get close enough in range to an unsuspecting employee, and they would unknowingly be putty in her hands. Wanda shook her head. She had moved past that. Maybe past Wanda would do things like that. Present Wanda was different. "Are you going to do that, Karl?"
Karl gave her a close-mouthed smile and patted her lightly on the shoulder. "You are my focus for now, Wanda."
"That's nice, Karl. Thank you."
"Karl is my most loyal ally," the Ancient One chipped in. "I've had other assistants before him and they all..." she sighed. "Found other things to do with their time. But Karl is extremely devoted to our cause. And for that I am grateful." The Ancient One raised her chunk of Tootsie Roll in a sort of toast to Karl.
"Such flattery," Karl replied. "What is it, my Finding Day?" He laughed abruptly, and it died away just as quickly. His eyes were downcast, his mouth moved little as he spoke. "I just want to make sure all the dolls get where they need to go."
Things went quiet. The awkward, sad sort of quiet. Before Wanda's mind could fill with her emotions again, the Ancient One cleared her throat.
"Speaking of which, Karl has suggested to take you to Magenta tomorrow, Wanda, if you wish."
"Who's Magenta?"
"Oh, we forgot to tell you that!" The Ancient One said, letting true excitement into her voice for the first time since Wanda had known her. She clapped her hands and brought another spell into existence. She manipulated the glowing disc until it showed the face of a man, rough and blotched with something on the side of his mouth. "He's the matchmaker of our little world. He reads magnets, and is able to tell you your magnet match for a small fee. But he deals in other things, too. I saw your curiosity when I told you about the four tiers of reincarnation. Karl is thinking that he may be able to read your past, and tell you where your soul had once been."
Wanda shivered. Someone to tell her who she used to be? Nothing could have been better. That's all she really wanted to know. The minute after Magenta told her she used to be a man, that she was supposed to be a man, she was convinced that all of life's problems would cease. No more bounty hunters, no more talk of Blazing Souls or Kamala Khan or Clint number 42.
"I'll do it. I'll go."
"My, you certainly are eager!" The Ancient One exclaimed, getting up from her rug and offering Wanda a hand. "Karl is taking you tomorrow. After the alarm chimes that the work day is over."
"You aren't going?"
"No, I'm staying in the base. I feel like Kamala will need my assistance soon," Her smile was half proud and half sad, the smile that only a mother could give.
The Ancient One hugged her then. It was Wanda's first.
"Be safe. The outskirts of district five are rife with bounty hunters. Follow Karl closely. He knows the way to Magenta."
Wanda was the first to pull away, not fully knowing how to react to love. "You've been before, Karl? What did he tell you?"
Karl crossed his arms. "I didn't go for me."
"Are you too chicken?"
"Am I what?"
"Chicken. Like, you're afraid of how he will read you."
"No," Karl protested, his face lined with worry. "Tell you what. I'll get a reading done tomorrow, too, when you go. To see who my magnet match is."
"Ooh, really? I'll like to stay and see that."
"Not if he kicks you out first."
"Har-har, Karl. You better be up bright and early. Er... dark and late. I want to head out before the last chime rings."
"Sure, Wanda."
The Ancient One cleared her throat. "That's enough out of you two. The warehouse will be opening soon."
The Ancient One shooed them out of the main room, into the cardboard tube that created a tunnel for them to climb back into their respective boxes. Wanda settled into the clear plastic liner and heard the crunch of Karl's next door.
"Don't sleep in!"
"How could I? You'd be pestering me all day."
Wanda made a raspberry noise with her tongue. Karl echoed back. Like children.
"I said that's enough." The Ancient One called from far away.
Wanda sighed. She was too excited to sleep- not that dolls need sleep anyways- it was just a precaution in case the warehouse workers needed to ship them away. Yet she shut her eyes and sleep seized her, pulling her into a dream unlike any other.
In the dream she was running. Her body was larger, her step heavier. She neck-high in soft, cheerfully-colored fabric, fabric that passed down each broad shoulder and slim leg. Her dream self passed by a dusky, clear glass, a door, and saw that she was not a she.
This was the man she knew she once was, the man she was meant to be.
Wanda was struck by these new features, pleased by the firmness in her chest, the thickness of her brow, but they felt alien now. Undeserved. Half of her belonged here, half of her wanted to be in her current body again. She wasn't sure which was the truth, which one she should desire more, or aspire to be. There was more conflict in the dusky mirror of that glass door than anywhere else in that store.
The store the dream had put her in was obviously closed for the night. No shoppers milled around in the square outside, no security mingled around the merchandise inside. She caught a blinking red light out of the corner of her eye and turned to face it- it was a security camera. Instinctively, she reached into the pocket of her man's overcoat and pulled out a thin roll of black electrical tape.
Ah, so this was her purpose here.
The next parts of the dream came in a series of events- like a montage. She'd perform one action, then black out, then see another scene.
She'd jumped up to the camera- blackout.
She unrolled the tape with a shrill stretching noise- blackout.
She pressed tape over the blinking red light of the camera- blackout.
She heard otherworldly movement in the store- blackout.
She saw a doll awakening in her box, stretching and groaning, unassuming- blackout.
She extended the blade of a boxcutter- blackout.
She went to the doll's box and slit open the plastic- blackout.
This one felt longer than the others.
She saw the doll in a pile on the floor below, cut into pieces.
Blackout.
Wanda shook herself awake, gasping.
She felt unclean, monstrous.
She knew she wouldn't want to talk about this.
She knew she didn't want to think about this.
She knew exactly what this meant for her past.
She knew now what a Rogue Soul was- and why other dolls were so terrified of them.
"Wanda? Is that you?" The Ancient One called, her voice distant and unsure.
"Yeah! Yeah, it's me." Wanda panted, uncertain. She realized this was the day someone would tell her what she already knew.
And then everyone would hate her as they ought to.
"Come to breakfast." The Ancient One said.
Wanda rose and crawled, stiff as a corpse, from her box to the main room, where Karl and the Ancient One were already standing in wait for her.
"Morning, Wanda." Said Karl, raising a chunk of Tootsie Roll in the air. "Care for a snack before we go?"
"No, thanks." She declined. The sight of food made her sick.
"You know, Karl told me he was surprised to have woken up before you," The Ancient One commented. "Given that you were so excited yesterday," The Ancient One noticed the troubled furrow of Wanda's brow. "Is something the matter?"
"No." Wanda lied with a shrug.
"Alright, if you insist. Are you both set to go, then? Let me say goodbye before you do."
The Ancient One lifted Wanda's chin with a curved finger, waiting for something from her, but Wanda still said nothing. She wondered if the Ancient One could read a person's dreams through their eyes.
"Be good. Don't worry so much. Magenta may look intimidating, but he is a good man. I should know," The Ancient One giggled a little, which was unlike her. Wanda's head then hit her chest as the Ancient One pulled her into her arms. "Here Karl," she ordered. "Let's do... what is it the humans call it? A group hug. A group hug before you go."
"Well, alright," Karl laughed, rolling his eyes. Wanda felt his left arm wrap around her back as the right one laid on the Ancient One's shoulder. It was an uncomfortable embrace that gave Wanda a different sort of comfort. No matter what sort of person the nightmare made her believe she had been, she was still loved.
The Ancient One ushered them out of the base and waved from the doorway, giving her last warnings to Karl as they walked away.
"Conceal yourselves, travel under shelves if you must, don't stop for anything, don't look anyone else in the eye..."
"I think she worries too much." Karl said, shaking his head once the Ancient One and her voice had disappeared.
"She's just trying to protect us."
"I have Blazing Soul with me. Our enemies will need protecting!" Karl exclaimed, patting Wanda's shoulder. He withdrew his hand when he saw she wasn't laughing along with him.
"Why so quiet today? Are you finally getting nervous?"
"Tired," Wanda replied, her voice raspy. She titled her head, watching the subtle tremor in Karl's step. "But you're nervous. Afraid your princess is in another castle?" She said, forcing a laugh as she elbowed Karl's side.
Karl did not react.
"I am nervous." He agreed. And that was that.
They traveled in near silence. Occasionally there would be a scraping noise from one of their shoes, or the wispy thread of sounds trickling in from a nearby party, but not much else. Wanda hardly noticed the atmosphere, with all she had to think about.
I've never been to a party, I wonder if I'd like them. Will Magenta tell me the truth? What is he like? Is he known for telling the truth? God, all this walking. I didn't realize he'd be so far away. What district is this? Maybe I wasn't a man in my past life, men seem to have a better sense of direction. But then why do I feel so unnatural in this body? Am I supposed to be somewhere else? Should I be on the lookout for bounty hunters? Will they find me here? Better get ready to use my powers, just in case. Okay, Karl, speed it up there, bud. It's like you're walking a funeral march. Wait, did I remember my CostCoins? Yeah... yeah I did.
"You sure you know were we're going?" Wanda said.
"Of course. I have been down this way many times."
"The Ancient One told me Magenta lived in the slums. This isn't looking too... slummy yet."
"I take the back way. To avoid confrontation."
"Ah. Bounty hunters, right?"
"Them... among other things." Karl sighed and pushed a low-hanging strip of packaging tape out of the way like it was a jungle vine.
"Like what other things?"
"Oh, you know, the usual. Hagglers, the homeless. Dolls that want your money for one reason or another," Karl stuck his pointer finger in the air. "But all CostCoins lead to one source."
"Magenta?"
Karl swallowed and ducked again, leading Wanda beneath an industrial metal shelf. They passed stray balls of lint, an uncapped Sharpie marker, and thousands of cardboard tabs. This had to be the slums, Wanda thought. She let Karl crawl on ahead as she prepared herself to have her fortune read for the first time. She would finally be given a past, a past that her nightmare would confirm or deny, and then her future would begin from there.
She closed her eyes for only a second, concentrating.
A tight hand clasped shut around her mouth.
A tighter one pushed her back from the tunnel's ending light.
Wanda choked on the hand, spitting it away, and was about to scream before a voice spoke.
"Shh! Wanda! It's me, Kamala Khan."
"Kamala?"
Wanda blinked, realizing that the blur of eyes and mouth before her was the visitor from a few months back. She looked different now, with her eyes shining and her breathing rushed. Wanda knew this was serious.
"Don't go out there. Don't follow Karl. You're in dangerous territory. The bounty hunters are here, and I know that because I'm part of them, but I am not one of them. I want you to save yourself. Turn back and run."
"To the base?"
Kamala turned away. "The base has been destroyed. As soon as you left, it was gone. There's nothing left."
"The Ancient One?"
"Either dead or as good as dead... we can only pray that she is on the run. I know, Wanda, I loved her, too. She was like a mother to me. But now is the time to take action. You need to go. Go now!"
"But Karl..."
"Forget about him. He'll find his way out. There's no price on his head, unlike you." Kamala stretched out her arms and pulled Wanda back to the other side of the shelf.
"Wait, no! He's my friend. I'm not leaving without him."
"But your safety..."
"How many are out there?"
"Everyone."
"Loki?"
Kamala froze. "Yes."
"Let me go. I'm not afraid of him."
"Wanda- you don't understand. He wants your power more than anything. Taking that power will kill you."
"If he wants my power, does that mean his is not enough?"
Kamala bit her lip. "I don't know. He doesn't use them around us."
"Even better," Wanda pulled away gently from Kamala's dress. "Take care of yourself, Kamala. You're just a kid, I can see that. You deserve better."
"And you don't?" Kamala argued. She was already almost out of range.
"We'll see if I do." Wanda decided. And she brought herself into the other side of the light.
There was more people standing outside than she knew how to count. She always imagined the bounty hunters were a gang of four, maybe five. At least as many as the Ancient One had mentioned by name. But here there could have been dozens, hundreds of dozens, all of them bowed in waiting for command from the infamous Loki.
Yet he was just standing there, talking with Karl, neither of them fighting or escaping. This was not the Loki she had been told about, surely. He didn't look very friendly, only the abuse of the dolls obeying him could have hinted at that.
He was decidedly handsome, with chiseled features and hair as black as the darkness from which she had come. He was stunningly dangerous, and his lips spoke of her death before she had even met him. He changed, however, when their eyes met, and those same lips shriveled into shock when her blazing red met the teal of his eyes.
He wasn't worth her fear.
"There you are, little rat," Loki called out, mocking her, strengthening her loathing against him. "It seems that your hiding game is over, thanks to Karl here."
"Karl?" Wanda screamed.
Karl Mordo looked away. She wasn't worth even a final glance.
"What, you thought he was your ally?" Loki asked, approaching her. "Everyone turns to the bounty hunters eventually."
"Karl," Wanda tried again, her voice straining with desperation. "Look at me."
"Because he can offer something no others can. Freedom. See this?" Loki beckoned at the kneeling doll closest to him, and they handed him a large silver coin. "Money. Money is the only way to freedom here. And we have more to offer than you could ever imagine."
"And then what? If you are so rich, why do you want my powers?"
Loki sniffed. "Freedom is more than a happy home, little rat. It is... perfection. And I should be, I could be... I will be. As soon as I become Tier Four. You're all that's standing between me and my destiny."
"So you're not even a Blazing Soul? I could kill you with a flick of my wrist."
"You can certainly try." Loki smiled, and Wanda understood.
Loki's minions were rising slowly to their feet, finally catching on to the smell of death in the air.
Wanda tried for Karl one last time.
"They got the Ancient One, Karl! She's gone. Everything we had is gone. And you're going to let them win?"
Karl looked. His eyes were unsurprisingly unapologetic. There had never been a soul inside him. Not a decent one, anyways. "We're just trying to help you." He replied monotonously.
It was a lie, it was all a lie. Karl was the worst liar she had ever known.
Wanda choked back a sob.
"I'll never forgive you." She said, and then she erupted with a strong heat, red as blood, red as fire. Wanda's head ached and her eyes seared, but the pain felt amazing. No wonder Loki wanted to kill her. This was real freedom.
"Seize her!" Loki commanded. "That power will be mine."
The minions started rumbling towards her. Wanda blasted each one back with an energy beam from her hand. She aimed recklessly, firing and dodging, firing and dodging. When they grabbed at her head, she learned to duck. When they grabbed at her heels, she learned to fly.
Loki sent minion after minion, none of them a match for a Blazing Soul. Each one fought until they fainted or skittered away in surrender, sure to be punished by Loki later. She wasn't going to have that.
She sent forward a ribbon of light that seized Loki by the throat and brought him into the air with her. He clawed at his neck helplessly and he tried to force himself to cease breathing. Wanda could see him reminding himself he was a doll, that he was not alive as humans are, that he didn't need air to survive. The struggle did not convince him.
"You took everything from me," Wanda growled, her voice sounding like a vengeful god's. "You're nothing but a Rogue Soul. I used to be one, too. And you want to know what happened to me?" Wanda grit her teeth and began to loosen her magic's grip on Loki's throat to focus on his joints, planning to tear him limb from limb. "I died."
Loki screamed in agony while his minions down below watched. Some in horror, some in delight.
"You were... a Rogue?" Loki gasped.
She nodded. "And I learned my lesson. Did you?"
Loki chuckled as the last of the magic left his throat. Wanda suddenly became chill, and the air smelled like death again. "I... will... never!" Loki shouted, whipping out a scepter and aiming the pointed end at Wanda's shoulder.
She threw him off just in time, sending his tortured body into an array of boxes. She herself fell into a quarry of cardboard, able to see everything yet not participate. Wanda had never seen such chaos, such destruction. And it was all from her.
It was worth it.
The minions scrambled after where they presumed her body to be, and Wanda covered her face, exhausted and bracing for the end.
"She went this way! This way!" Cried the juvenile tone of Kamala Khan, who pointed the hungry bounty hunters down a different path. They shrieked in fury and shoved around each-other, desperate to be the first to please their master, who they had forgotten in the mess of it all. The noise faded, and that was the end of it.
Wanda rolled over, under a crowded, cave-like shelf, and tried to steady her quaking nerves with a few deep breaths. She was safe, for now. She knew that from now on, every day would have to be a dance with death. Wanda could be up to the challenge, but for how long? Kamala and Karl were both bounty hunters, the Ancient One no longer existed. She had no where to go, no one to aid in her mission for survival.
Wanda believed she would have a short and unhappy existence.
She believed she was, and had always been, alone.
Until the cave spoke.
"Psst. Over here!" Someone whispered behind her, their breath brushing Wanda's ear.
She fired at them before even taking a glance over her shoulder.
"Easy! We're just trying to help you."
"That's exactly what Karl said before he betrayed me!" Wanda cried. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw three action figures crouching there under the tarp, just as much in hiding as she was. There was a Captain America doll, an Iron Man doll, and one other that Wanda could not yet identify. He was hiding too well. Almost like he had been doing it for a long time.
"Who is Karl?" Captain America asked.
"Karl Marx?" Iron Man piped up.
"You really don't know?"
"No, we don't. Now please, come with us. We're heading out of this place."
"District five?" Wanda said. It wasn't much, but if she could escape the realm of bounty hunters, anything had to be better than that.
"No. The warehouse. We're leaving this whole damn place. Find ourselves a real home, with a human."
A home. A real one, maybe. With windows to see the sunshine, and love to fill the days instead of fear. God, that would be so nice. She could only imagine her room back at the Ancient One's base-though it was gone- magnified tenfold, with color and light. She would be taken into the arms of a human and give Wanda her own special place in that home. That would probably be the nicest thing that could ever happen to her.
But Magenta. She'd be leaving the man who could give Wanda the only thing she wanted.
She had come to a crossroads.
Which one was more worth it in the end?
Die early- but have identity? Or live in mystery- but live forever?
"I used to work with Loki," a gruff voice spoke up. "He won't rest until you're dead. It's best if you leave and never come back."
The words had come from the third doll, the one who had been hiding in the shadows. He looked like he'd been through more than he liked to let on. There was the telltale tattoo on his wrist that she'd heard about, the engagement tattoo he shared with his dead wife.
"You're Clint number 42," Wanda realized, pointing a shaky finger his way. "I'm so sorry."
Clint 42 cleared his throat, probably thankful his purple glasses could disguise most of his emotion. "What's done is done. Let's all let go of the past."
Wanda decided it then. She was done with death.
The Captain America doll smiled, a smile unlike Karl's. "We could use a gal like you."
"A gal. Yeah." Wanda said, her spirits falling. "I'm a girl."
"Then you're the girl for us," the Iron Man figure replied, beckoning her to come with them. "Come with us. We're going to find a home together."
Wanda hadn't expected that. She thought they would find her a box and send her away to brave the world alone. But this... this was a family. Another one. "The four of us?" She asked.
"Four... plus a couple more," the Iron Man titled his head from side to side. "It's a collection."
Wanda took a glance over her shoulder.
And what she saw behind her was a life she had already outgrown.
She faced forward again. She took a deep breath.
"I'm in."
(To be concluded in part four, coming in October.)
-Loki
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