Chapter 205: Chapter 205: A Rival’s Appearance (2007)

Chapter 205: A Rival’s Appearance (2007)

12^th June 2007, New York City

(Wanda Maximoff POV)

Maybe this wouldn’t be the worst idea. She could help protect her world in her mother’s stead until she returns. And she could find out exactly what happened to her if she’s lucky. She met Jean’s gaze, and she could see the determination in her eyes, the promise of a new purpose as a defender of humanity.

They looked back to the Sorcerer Supreme and answered her at once, “We’re in.”

It was after both teenagers had left the sanctum that Jean voiced her hesitation, “Are you sure about this Wanda? You do know that she was probably manipulating you into accepting the job.”

The young witch snorted, “Of course she was manipulating me. She dangled the job offer in front of me knowing that I would jump at the chance of finding my mother.”

“Then why do you trust her so much?”

Wanda answered back, “I heard my mother talking about her once. She called her a manipulative shrew who stumbled her way into becoming the sorcerer supreme. She did rant about her a bit, but she admitted that she was a woman of her word, and that if push comes to shove, she was a person you could rely on. I know that she’s profiting from this, and that she’s using me to deal with threats that she would have to assign to her order, but don’t you miss the excitement, the missions. Don’t you miss saving lives?”

Wanda knew that it was a bit of a low blow. While the last year had been peaceful, Jean had been feeling restless after the first few months without any action. Wanda recognized that the redhead actually liked using her powers to save lives or to fight crime, or maybe she just missed the action.

Dangling the possibility of missions in the future in front of her, was her using that weakness. To be fair, Wanda was also restless after so long without being in a fight. She wanted to look for her mother, but until more leads pan up, she could relieve some stress with the Sorcerer Supreme’s missions.

Wanda could see the hesitation in the redhead’s eyes, until it turned into excitement, “I do miss the action a little. And we would be saving a lot of lives by doing this stuff. Plus, it’s the Ancient One giving us the missions. Alright, I’m in.”

Wanda grinned at her and stifled her sigh of relief. The young witch knew that Jean would still come with her even if she disapproved, but she didn’t want to take advantage of this, especially when she knew how small the chance of finding her mother was, especially after Selene and the Ancient One had failed. But in this case a chance no matter how slim it is, was better than doing nothing at all. And Wanda would gain more experience fighting using her powers.

The teenager started to think back to her mother. What would Jasmine do, was something that she asked herself often, when she was unsure about her choices. The woman always knew what the best choice was, even if it was hidden. Jasmine had always told her to cheat whenever she could because the world wasn’t a fair place, and she had to take advantage of every opportunity in front of her.

Huh, she just realized that Jasmine had been gone longer than she had been in Wanda’s life, and yet her influence remained. She really had gotten attached to her very quickly. It was funny, in a way, that in less than a year, Wanda loved Jasmine as a parent far more than she ever did Magneto after years living with him. And that’s even before he sent her to a mental asylum. There was a coldness to him, a ruthlessness that he projected, that always intimidated her as a child.

Now, back to the present, Wanda decided to rest for a few days, explore Nepal for a little while with Jean, before embarking on their first mission. The country was beautiful, magical in its own way, and very peaceful. Wanda and Jean took hikes over hills, enjoying nature without the usual pollution of New York. The air was purer, cleaner. As they slept under the night sky – and some serious wards Jasmine taught her – they enjoyed the sight of the stars. Wanda didn’t even know that there could be so many of them. The light pollution in New York really was pushing things.

Still, everything was going fine, until one morning, they realized that they weren’t alone.

They were barely three days into their little ‘vacation’ and as usual they decided to go on their morning hike. Wanda had put on the usual wards, and they started to walk up the mountain. It was a little more dangerous than their previous ones; the path was narrower and the mountain steeper, but they weren’t regular teenagers; their powers would help them if something happened.

A couple of hours into the hike and Wanda sensed an energy attack coming their way. Jean seemed to have sensed the same, and she used a telekinetic shield to protect herself. Wanda tried to send a hex bolt to where the attack came from, but it hit nothing. The attacker was gone, hiding.

Nervous by the attack, Wanda sent a telepathic message towards her best friend, ‘Get us out of here before he comes back.’

Jean nodded and tried to open a portal. Unfortunately, she wasn’t subtle enough to make one, because she was immediately attacked, the moment she started making the circular moves to open a sorcery portal. Wanda did her best to shield both herself and Jean, but it was enough for Jean to lose her concentration and fail to create a portal.

With that done, Wanda had enough. They weren’t going to stay here at a disadvantage. They were already physically tired from the hike so far, and they were barely in fighting shape.

Wanda created a ball of reality magic and gathered it into a spell. It was a spell of her own design that targets organic life without affecting anything else. Anything that grows and dies immediately starts getting sick when they’re hit with it. The witch made sure that Jean wouldn’t be hit by the attack and released the ball of magic into a giant wave in front of her.

Immediately, the vegetation for a few yards around her started to wither and die, but Wanda could tell that she also hit her mystery attacker. The man would be distracted for a while to redirect the damage. Wanda and Jean shared a look, and the redhead immediately created a portal taking them on the top of a damaged hill.

Jean gasped for a second, “What was that?”

“I couldn’t risk hitting the mountain and causing a collapse. I chose to use a spell that specifically targets biology.”

Jean nodded, “Do you have any idea who that was?”

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“No clue.”

A voice answered her from behind them, “My mistake. I haven’t introduced myself yet.”

The voice belonged to a dark skinned man who was wearing some sort of green outfit. He looked calm and enraged at the same time. It was unnatural. Oh, he was angry that’s for sure, outraged really, but he was doing his best to repress his emotions for some reason. Unfortunately, if this was the man who attacked them, then they were in trouble. Wanda’s spell didn’t seem to affect him for some reason. Or perhaps it did, but he was able to deal with it very quickly, which meant that he was very skilled and very experienced.

Jean recollected herself and asked, “Who are you?”

The man’s smile didn’t quite reach his eyes, “My name is Karl Mordo and I have been looking for you for some time, Jean Grey, apprentice of Stephen Strange.”

I had no idea if that name should mean anything, except that Jean gasped and immediately stiffened, “You’re Mordo?”

“I see that Strange has spoken of me. I wonder how much of it was true and how much was false.”

“He said that you’re a psychopath that hunts down sorcerers around the world. He told me to be wary of you, that you weren’t to be underestimated. He also told me to call him the moment you show up.”

Jean tried to make a portal, but it didn’t work. The man chuckled, “Come on, after how many sorcerers I have hunted down, do you think that I wouldn't know how to counter one of their most used forms of escape? There is no getting out of here.”

Wanda interjected, “So, you hunt sorcerers using sorcery. Isn’t that a bit hypocritical?”

The man sneered at her, “Let’s not talk about hypocrites, about the woman who calls herself the Sorcerer Supreme, who preaches about following the natural laws and yet breaks them just so that she would remain immortal and powerful. The Order of Sorcerers is rotten from the core, because of that woman. And her little prodigy Strange isn’t any better. The man practically breaks the rules every time he deals with a threat. There has to be order, there has to be someone who enforces the laws. And if the Ancient One isn’t willing to do it, I will raze the entire Order of Sorcerers to the ground and rebuild it properly, under my rule. No one will break the natural laws, no one will be able to just waltz into Kamar-Taj and learn the art of sorcery. What I am doing is what’s right, it’s making things better.”

“And slaughtering sorcerers right and left is the way to do it?”

“There are too many sorcerers in the world, too many opportunities to abuse this power. Those that I have killed were not worthy of the gift of sorcery.”

Wanda snorted at this, “You know, my mother once said that the phrase, ‘The greater good’ cost more lives than any weapon in the world. Everyone in the world thinks that they’re following some noble cause, some purpose that no one else would understand, and that killing people, ruining lives were enough of a sacrifice just for the betterment of the world. What she also told me, is that every single person who ever said those words was lying to themselves, trying to make themselves feel better about their choices, and the suffering they spread. And you are no different. You killed all those people, not because you had to, but because you wanted to.”

The man scoffed at my response, “What did I think of trying to explain myself to a child. I was just going to kill you, to send Strange a message, to make sure that he wouldn’t forget about me. I wasn’t going to take enjoyment in any of this, but it seems that I was mistaken. I will enjoy this.”

Jean stepped up, “Are you always trying to convince yourself that what you’re doing is right?”

The avatar of the Phoenix Force opened her palm and a green psionic sword appeared in her hand. She pointed it at him.

The man chuckled, “A foolish decision, girl. You stand no chance against someone like me.”

Wanda stiffened at the look in the man’s eyes. This wasn’t the look of someone who was overconfident, but of someone with a lot of experience and knew what they were doing. The man was just humoring them, playing with them.

Still, Wanda couldn’t see a way out of here without fighting, so she also created a red psionic sword and pointed it at the man.

“Very well,” the man commented in a condescending tone.

The man created a golden shield around his left hand and took out some sort of stick from his right hand.

There had to be something more to this stick, someone like Mordo wasn’t an idiot with a gimmick. The witch spread her senses towards the stick and gasped at the energy contained inside it.

Before she could warn Jean, the redhead started to duel and threw a giant boulder at their opponent. Mordo just swung the small staff thing which extended itself into a whip and destroyed the boulder.

Wanda and Jean were gaping at the scene in front of them. It seemed that the fight would be a lot harder than they thought it would.

The man gave them a vicious grin, “Are we going to stand around all day, or are we going to fight?”

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