Chapter 121: The Final Stop on Wanda's Quest for Her Family
Black Bolt's sonic scream carved a massive trench into the earth where the dimensional portal had been.
The rift sealed shut, and the Illuminati stared helplessly at the empty space where their targets had vanished.
Mr. Fantastic collapsed to the ground in defeat. "It's over! If we don't stop that variant Wanda, a multiversal incursion is inevitable."
"What do we do now?" Captain Carter asked grimly.
Reed Richards shook his head, his brilliant mind already calculating the worst-case scenario. "Unless we destroy one of the Earths before they collide, both will be annihilated in the incursion event."
Everyone's hearts sank at the grim prognosis.
Suddenly, a sharp crackling sound broke the silence.
The Illuminati looked up. Where the dimensional portal had closed, reality fractured again—and a cloaked figure tumbled through, landing hard on the scorched earth.
"Hi there, I'm Stephen Strange," the disheveled sorcerer said, climbing to his feet and dusting off his cloak. "I'm searching for the Book of Vishanti. Excuse me, but... where exactly am I?"
"TAKE HIM!" Mr. Fantastic suddenly roared with desperate excitement.
The assembled heroes immediately surrounded the bewildered newcomer.
Faced with the combined might of the Illuminati's strike force, this variant Strange wisely raised his hands in surrender, the Eye of Agamotto gleaming uselessly at his chest.
After securing the interdimensional traveler, Reed Richards declared triumphantly, "We're saved! If we can convince this Strange to open a dimensional portal and track down that departing Wanda, we can prevent the incursion entirely."
Baron Mordo, the Sorcerer Supreme of this reality, lacked the advanced dimensional magic required for multiverse travel—but fate had literally dropped a Master of the Mystic Arts into their laps who possessed exactly that ability.
Perhaps the Vishanti hadn't abandoned them after all.
Ryan and his companions emerged from the dimensional rift onto a familiar waterfront dock.
Magneto and the other escapees who'd hitched a ride through the portal immediately distanced themselves from Ryan and Scarlet Witch, surveying their new surroundings with wary curiosity.
Scarlet Witch ignored the unwanted tagalongs and looked down at Ryan in his wheelchair. "This is the location from your memories. Are you certain this is the right universe?"
Ryan didn't answer immediately. His eyes were fixed intently on the Arc Reactor energy conversion chamber positioned near the warehouse complex—a prototype Stark Industries design that looked freshly constructed.
"I'm back," Ryan whispered, voice thick with emotion. "I'm actually back."
"You really found it!" Wanda's voice trembled with barely contained hope and excitement.
This was Hell's Kitchen Pier in Manhattan, New York—the exact location where Ryan had completed his third genetic enhancement procedure. This was where the Ancient One had captured him and Doctor Strange had dragged him into another universe, beginning his entire multiversal nightmare.
Magneto approached from the periphery, offering Ryan an exaggerated courtly bow with sardonic flair. "Thank you for liberating me from that prison, young man. If there's anything I can do to repay the favor, don't hesitate to contact me. By the way, where exactly is this—"
Before Erik Lehnsherr could finish his question, reality itself suddenly kaleidoscoped around them.
Ryan groaned in recognition. "Mirror Dimension. The Ancient One."
The group of hitchhiking mutants immediately clustered protectively around Magneto, gaping in astonishment as the world transformed into an Escher-esque maze of geometric impossibilities.
The Ancient One materialized nearby, yellow robes billowing despite the absence of wind, her expression severe as she regarded Ryan with barely contained fury.
"Hello, Ancient One," Ryan said with false pleasantry. "Long time no see. I told you that you'd regret sending me away."
"I have no regrets," the Ancient One replied coldly, her casual demeanor evaporating. "And it's not too late to correct my mistake by ending you here and now."
Dark energy crackled around her fingertips—the unmistakable taint of Dormammu's dimension manifesting as an intricate runic pattern appeared on her forehead.
Seeing this hypocrisy on full display, Scarlet Witch Wanda scoffed derisively. "Drawing power from the Dark Dimension? How noble, Sorcerer Supreme. You're no different from me."
The Ancient One's face paled—not from anger, but from the corrupting toll of channeling excessive dark dimensional energy through her mortal form.
"None of you belong in this universe," she declared with finality. "Leave now and return to wherever you came from, or I will ensure you stay here permanently—as corpses."
Ryan laughed mockingly. "Sorcerer Supreme, do you honestly believe you can defeat all of us by yourself? Even empowered by Dormammu's essence?"
Before the Ancient One could respond, Ryan turned to address Magneto directly. "Well, Erik? Aren't you going to fight? Or do you want to be imprisoned again?"
Magneto didn't move. His expression remained carefully neutral, weighing his options. If he didn't engage, neither would his Brotherhood followers—they took their cues from the Master of Magnetism.
Anthony deployed his adamantium bone claws with characteristic metallic snikt sounds and positioned himself protectively before Ryan's wheelchair.
Wanda's hands ignited with crackling red chaos magic, her eyes beginning to glow scarlet.
Of everyone present besides Ryan, Wanda was by far the most motivated to stay in this universe.
This reality's Vision hadn't been created yet—he was still just J.A.R.V.I.S., an AI waiting to be born into synthetic flesh during the Age of Ultron. And her brother Pietro was still alive, probably just a traumatized kid in Sokovia right now. If she could remain here, she could start fresh with Vision and prevent Pietro's death in the future.
Anyone who tried to stop her would be obliterated.
Seeing Magneto's continued hesitation, Ryan snorted dismissively. "If you don't want to fight, then get out of the way. I'd hate for you to get caught in the crossfire."
Magneto's weathered face flickered through several emotions—shame, indignation, pride—but he still refused to commit to battle.
This confrontation made no sense to him. He didn't recognize either combatant, had no stake in their conflict, and owed loyalty to neither side. Why risk death for strangers?
"Enough talk."
The Ancient One slammed both palms against the ground, channeling eldritch energy directly into the Mirror Dimension's malleable reality. The solid concrete buckled and rolled toward Ryan like a tidal wave of asphalt and steel.
Scarlet Witch remained utterly unfazed. She thrust both hands forward, unleashing a concentrated blast of chaos magic that intercepted and neutralized the Ancient One's spell mid-flight.
"Drawing power from Dormammu's dimension!" Wanda shouted accusingly. "You hypocrite! You're just as corrupted as you claim I am!"
"Wanda Maximoff," the Ancient One replied with icy precision. "Return to your own universe. You don't belong here."
"Never!"
Wanda launched herself into the air, her chaos magic propelling her upward as she began bombarding the Ancient One with alternating waves of crimson energy from both hands—reality-warping hexes designed to unmake her opponent at the molecular level.
The Ancient One was already formidable under normal circumstances, but augmented by unrestricted Dark Dimension power, she had ascended to near-godlike levels.
The exchange between these two reality-bending sorceresses was absolutely devastating. The Mirror Dimension itself began fracturing under the strain.
The assembled mutants watched in stunned silence, completely outclassed by the sheer magnitude of magical power on display.
Even Magneto—a confirmed Omega-level mutant capable of manipulating the Earth's entire magnetic field—recognized he had no business interfering in a battle of this cosmic scale.
Anthony extended his adamantium claws and charged directly at the Ancient One with singular mechanical determination.
A blade of pure shadow materialized from nowhere and pierced clean through Anthony's torso.
Anthony acted as if he hadn't even felt the wound. He continued sprinting forward without breaking stride, leaped high into the air, and drove both bone claws straight toward the Ancient One's head.
CLANG!
A golden mandala shield materialized instantly, deflecting Anthony's attack. With a casual gesture, the Ancient One sent the android flying backward thirty feet.
Anthony crashed to the ground, immediately picked himself up, and charged again—only to be repelled once more.
He was like a relentless, unkillable machine, absorbing punishment that would have killed any normal being and continuing to attack.
The Ancient One found herself forced to divide her attention between the genuinely dangerous Scarlet Witch and the persistently annoying android who refused to stay down.
Both Scarlet Witch Wanda and the Ancient One had temporarily achieved near-S-rank power levels through their respective dimensional enhancements. While neither could maintain this level indefinitely, it was more than sufficient to devastate entire city blocks if this battle continued.
Anthony, by comparison, was merely a persistent distraction—dangerous only in his absolute refusal to give up.
Golden and crimson magical energies bombarded every surface of the Mirror Dimension. As the battle intensified, Wanda found herself gradually maneuvered by the Ancient One's superior tactical positioning until she was fighting dangerously close to where Ryan sat in his wheelchair.
Conjuring a mandala shield to deflect another chaos hex, the Ancient One suddenly pivoted and flew directly toward Ryan at incredible speed.
"RYAN!" the Ancient One shouted, manifesting the Blade of the Vishanti—a gleaming magical sword extending from her hand.
Her intention was crystal clear: eliminate Ryan before he could become a greater threat.
"NO!" Cassie suddenly threw herself in front of Ryan's wheelchair, arms spread wide to shield him from the incoming strike.
The Ancient One's eyes remained cold and merciless. She showed no sign of hesitation or mercy.
Ryan's eyes flashed with lethal intensity as he unleashed both his illusion and death powers simultaneously. "Ancient One! You want death? I'll show you death!"
WHOOSH—
The Ancient One had assumed Ryan was still the same close-combat fighter who relied primarily on physical enhancement and hand-to-hand skills. She was completely unprepared for this psychic assault.
She was instantly dragged into Ryan's meticulously constructed illusion.
CLANG!
Disoriented and blinded, the Ancient One lost all sense of spatial awareness within the illusory landscape. Her Blade of Vishanti slashed viciously—but struck only empty air nearly a meter to Ryan's left.
Just as the Ancient One began channeling mystic energy to shatter the illusion through brute magical force, a sudden surge of death energy invaded her consciousness directly.
"AHHHHHHH!"
Death energy and Dark Dimension energy were two fundamentally incompatible power systems.
Dark Dimension energy represented entropy and destruction—the unmaking of reality itself. Death energy, paradoxically, represented the natural cycle of endings and new beginnings—a cosmic force of balance and renewal.
The two opposing energies collided violently within the Ancient One's mind, creating a metaphysical feedback loop of excruciating agony.
The Ancient One experienced the exact same torment Ryan had endured when the Darkhold's corruption first began warring with his death powers.
As the incompatible energies tore through her consciousness, the Ancient One collapsed to the ground, clutching her head and writhing in absolute agony—completely stripped of the dignified composure expected of the Sorcerer Supreme.
"RAAAHHH!"
The Ancient One roared incoherently as the Dark Dimension energy temporarily overwhelmed her rational mind. In one final moment of desperate clarity before succumbing to the corruption, she managed to scream at Ryan: "Destroyer! Your path leads only to multiversal annihilation! You will not succeed!"
Ryan braced himself, expecting the Ancient One to unleash some catastrophic final attack—a kamikaze spell that would take them all down with her.
Instead, she suddenly conjured a sling ring portal and fled through it.
The Mirror Dimension, depleted of its maintaining magical energy, instantly collapsed. Reality snapped back to normal, and everyone found themselves standing on the mundane dock once again.
Wanda slowly floated down to hover beside Ryan's wheelchair. "I never thought I'd see the day when the legendary Ancient One would be so thoroughly corrupted by the Dark Dimension that she'd retreat from a fight. What's your plan now?"
Ryan chuckled darkly. "Protecting Earth is never as simple as it seems in the stories. Now..."
He trailed off and turned to look meaningfully at Magneto and his band of Brotherhood members.
Understanding his intent, Wanda gently raised both hands. Chaos magic instantly enveloped the assembled mutants, binding them in place with crimson energy chains.
"I've placed magical tracking marks on all of you," Wanda announced with quiet authority. "From this moment forward, you're ordinary citizens of this world. Anyone who dares commit crimes or threaten innocent lives—no matter where you run, no matter how well you hide—I will find you. And I will end you."
Wanda had already decided to make this universe her permanent home, and that naturally meant protecting it from threats—including these potential ones.
Ryan's original intention had been to either kill or permanently imprison all these dimensional refugees, thereby preventing timeline contamination and conveniently providing himself with additional experimental subjects for his genetic research.
However, Wanda had genuinely regained her conscience after her Darkhold-induced descent into darkness. She was no longer willing to kill casually or unnecessarily.
After careful consideration, Ryan decided these people might actually prove useful eventually. They could be spared for now—insurance policies that might pay dividends at some critical future moment.
Magneto departed with his dozen or so mutant followers, visibly shaken by Scarlet Witch Wanda's demonstration of overwhelming power. These hardened criminals and revolutionaries didn't dare even think about causing trouble after witnessing what she could do.
Ryan summoned Anthony and gave him precise instructions. "Go to the Hawes Apartments on the Upper East Side. Top floor, Unit 12. In the bathroom, there's a small titanium box embedded inside the wall behind the mirror. Retrieve it for me."
When the Ancient One had abducted Ryan and Strange had dragged him into another universe, he'd been forced to leave behind the Thanos blood sample—his ticket to complete physical restoration.
Now, having finally returned to the Sacred Timeline, Ryan could retrieve the Titan's genetic material and fully heal his paralyzed body.
"Understood, boss," Anthony acknowledged.
He'd barely taken two steps when a sudden, distinctive repulsor whine filled the air overhead.
WHOOOOSH—
CLANG!
The red and gold Mark III armor landed smoothly on the dock about twenty yards away, repulsors still glowing with residual energy.
"Tony?" Wanda was startled despite knowing intellectually that she'd arrived in a different timeline. Seeing Tony Stark alive again—young, arrogant, and very much not dead—still produced a visceral emotional reaction.
"Ryan," Tony Stark's voice came through the armor's external speakers with characteristic confidence. "You're under arrest for industrial espionage, corporate sabotage, and about fifteen other federal charges. This is your one chance to surrender peacefully."
Ryan suddenly remembered the broader context. He'd just completed his third genetic enhancement procedure at this dock and had originally been planning to wait here for S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to arrive and arrest him—part of his calculated plan to infiltrate their organization. But then the Ancient One had intercepted him and pulled him into the Mirror Dimension before S.H.I.E.L.D. could arrive. (Chapter 37)
Ryan sighed with exasperation. "Wanda, don't waste time talking to him. We need to leave immediately."
Wanda understood perfectly. If she wanted to ensure Vision's eventual creation proceeded according to the proper timeline—if she wanted to preserve Pietro's future survival—she absolutely could not interfere with Tony Stark's canonical journey toward becoming Iron Man and eventually creating Ultron and Vision.
She raised one hand almost casually and released a concentrated pulse of chaos magic. The crimson energy enveloped the Mark III armor completely, lifting it telekinetically into the air.
With a dismissive gesture, she hurled Tony Stark directly into the Hudson River.
SPLASH!
Tony had barely finished his dramatic entrance speech when he found himself unceremoniously dumped into the cold water.
By the time he activated the Mark III's emergency systems and burst back out of the river in a spray of water and steam, Ryan's group had completely vanished from the dock.
"J.A.R.V.I.S., tell me you got a tracker on them," Tony muttered.
"I'm afraid not, sir," the AI responded apologetically. "Their method of departure left no conventional signature to track."
Tony Stark hovered above the empty dock, water still streaming from his armor, and wondered what the hell had just happened.
End of Chapter 121
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