We're making our way through Phase 2 and getting closer to The Winter Soldier. Since Thor: The Dark World has some mystical dealings, I figured that the sorcerers were (in canon) discretely involved with the Convergence. Of course, with Diana, things are a bit more active.
I hope everyone enjoys the brief Thor 2 episode! Leave a review!
*FMttM*
In the morning, Diana woke with a headache. And alone. She moaned.
"Good morning, Miss Larson. The time is 9:45 AM." JARVIS' smooth voice filtered through the speakers at a surprisingly pleasant volume. He was probably used to these kinds of wake ups from Stark's many nights of being too drunk to stand up properly. "The others are already in the living area."
"Thanks, JARVIS." She paused, "There doesn't happen to be a change of clothes anywhere? I wasn't expecting to stay the night."
"I believe earlier this morning, Captain Rogers went to your apartment and brought back some clothing." The AI told her, "Miss Romanoff delivered it to your room only moments ago."
"Okay." Diana rubbed her temples a bit, glad that the lights were still dim, "I hope I didn't do anything stupid last night." She grumbled as she dragged herself out of bed and began to change clothes.
Half way through getting her pants on, a memory of Doritos flitted through her mind and she froze, her eyes going wide for a second before she grinned and finished putting on her jeans. She'd mentioned Robert Downey Jr.'s nickname for Chris Evans. In fact, she'd called Steve a 'Dorito', and Stark had lapped up that nickname with glee. She'd probably have to explain the reference to Steve, though.
After she was finished getting dressed, she headed back to the living area - with a little help from JARVIS - and was greeted by all of the Avengers minus Thor.
"And Sleeping Beauty awakens!" Stark toasted a cup of coffee in her direction.
"I'll take some of that wholesome goodness," she told him, "with cinnamon and a bit of hot chocolate mix."
Stark motioned to a machine, "Knock yourself out."
Diana approached it and stared. She'd never seen a machine like this - for coffee or otherwise. She glared at Stark and decided to just start searching the cupboards for what she needed. Coffee wasn't necessary, but she really, really wanted it. Stark was being difficult as usual.
"I'll show you how to use it." Dr. Banner came over, sending a sharp look at Stark, who just looked snarky. Soon, Diana had a nice hot cup of Joe with her requested additives.
"Oh! By the way, Santa came last night. I guess everyone was good this year." Stark sounded much more awake than he should be considering he probably drank as much, if not more, than she had… Not that she could remember exactly, but still…
"He's on his fifth cup of coffee," Dr. Banner informed her softly, "You should've seen him an hour and a half ago."
That made Diana feel a little better as Steve sat beside her with his own drink. Soon, silence turned to small talk to pass the time.
Presents apparently came next in the Avengers household and Diana felt marginally guilty about not coming prepared. Heck, she hadn't even known there would be gift giving.
Some of the gifts were nice and thoughtful, others were practical jokes - like white elephant gifts - to brighten a person's day. One of the presents Diana received was actually a small note which read 'Shopping spree with Pepper on me. TS'.
Diana had, like, seven outfits (not counting dresses; then it would be ten). She didn't have the money to buy nice clothes, not on her budget. She looked up at Tony - yeah, she should start calling him Tony now because he was trying even if he was an annoying asshole most of the time - and mouthed 'thank you.' He gave her a quick smile before watching Clint dig into one of his presents.
This was shaping up to be a good Christmas, even if it was without her parents and siblings, even if it was without Bucky.
*FMttM*
It wasn't too many days later - just before New Year's - when Pepper dropped by her apartment and took Diana out shopping at every single one of the downtown shops. Although Diana didn't need or want extremely fancy outfits, Pepper insisted on getting the highest quality clothes - brand names - since money wasn't something they had to worry about. She actually had pretty good taste in clothes, although Diana did veto some things that were a bit… well, they didn't leave much to the imagination.
New Year's Eve was much the same as Christmas Eve: She spent it at Avengers Tower. However, this time Steve didn't let her have too many Tequila Sunrises, much to Tony's chagrin. It did, however, turn into another movie night plus sleepover. This time Tony insisted that Steve watch the original Star Wars trilogy, which took them a little over six hours to watch all the way through. Diana had been unsure if Steve would be able to handle the battle scenes (Hoth and Endor), considering WWII was so fresh in his mind, but he actually made it through just fine.
It was about halfway into January when Steve (or Chris Evans as he was labelled in her contacts) sent her quite a few pictures from his new apartment in DC just after she got off work.
Text - 4:02 PM
Chris Evans: Pictures from my new place.
Chris Evans: How do you send these things?
Chris Evans: Never mind. I got it.
[picture of living room]
[picture of kitchen]
[picture of a bedroom]
Diana took the time to look at the pictures before she texted back: It looks really nice!
Text - 4:07 PM
Chris Evans: Do you need more pictures?
[picture of the entryway]
[picture of the view from his apartment]
Chris Evans: It's kind of fun being able to send pictures.
She paused again to look at the pictures again and sent an emoji: :D
There was a pause.
Text - 4:12 PM
Chris Evans: What does :D mean?
Diana laughed and texted back: It's a grin.
She then gave an explanation: The colon is the eyes and the D is the mouth.
And the alternate: Switch it D: and it's the 'Oh no!' face or a frowny face.
Another pause.
Text - 4:13 PM
Chris Evans: So… :) would be a smile.
Diana: Yup. :P
Chris Evans: What's that?
Diana: I stuck my tongue out at you.
She sent another emoji: ;) That's a wink.
There were actual yellow smiley faces on the Starkphone, but Steve needed baby steps. She also knew that Tony would try to confuse Steve on purpose with the punctuation type emojis.
Text - 4:14 PM
Chris Evans: I think I figured out one.
Chris Evans: ^._.^ Cat!
Diana smiled. He was an artist, a very visual guy, so of course he'd figure out keyboard emojis really quickly.
She texted back: Lol.
Chris Evans: Lol?
Diana: It almost always means "laugh out loud" or "laughing out loud."
She sent another text: There are lots of shorthand words for texting.
There was an pause before she received another text. Diana briefly wondered what the delay had been, but his text answered that question.
Text - 4:21 PM
Chris Evans: I'm looking up this stuff on Google.
Diana: Good. I'm glad.
Chris Evans: I hope you can come by soon.
Diana: Thanks for the pictures.
Chris Evans: Of course.
*FMttM*
The year of 2013 seemed to be completely uneventful, and Diana was just waiting on the edge of her proverbial seat for the events of Thor: The Dark World. She continued to hang out with Matt and Foggy as they became progressively more unhappy with their jobs at Landman and Zack. She also continued her sparring lessons with Matt at Fogwell's Gym. She had actually asked Matt if he could teach her to fight without her sight. He was actually very happy to teach her that skill as it was one he had been neglecting since leaving Stick.
In April, Diana found out that Steve had become a part of the STRIKE team for SHIELD and Diana told him to be careful out in the field. They finished their Disney marathon and started to watch some of the most influential and Oscar Winning movies from the decades after Steve had been frozen.
In the middle of August, Foggy happily announced that he and Matt had quit their soul sucking days at Landman and Zack, and that Matt had the brilliant idea of starting out their own law firm in Hell's Kitchen to help the helpless and the hopeless.
"We'll be the best damn avocados Hell's Kitchen has ever seen!" Foggy had exclaimed happily at Josie's.
Later in August, on a cool night around two in the morning, Diana woke suddenly to a knocking sound. She sat up and rubbed her face before going out to her living room. There was another set of knocks, and she realized that it was coming from the window and not the door.
Slumped a bit against the railing of her fire escape was Matt Murdock wearing all black and with a strip of black cloth over his eyes.
"Oh my god." The sight jarred her completely awake, "Matt!" Diana opened the window immediately and pulled her friend inside. He slid to the floor inside and Diana shut the window again.
"Thanks." He managed to say through his harsh breaths.
She knelt next to him and examined his bloody wrapped hands, split lip, and scrape across his right cheekbone, "Okay, what the hell happened to you?"
"One of our neighbors," he grimaced as he spoke, the movements reopening his split lip, "he was abusing his daughter. I called the police last night. The cops went to his apartment, and he got off. His wife denied it and his daughter was so scared of him that she refused to say anything. So I dealt with it myself. I… I pummelled him and threatened him." Matt reached up and finally took off the black eye mask. He blinked a few times before continuing, "I called for an ambulance before making my escape."
"Oh Matt." She bit her lip and began to make the gestures for a healing spell. Diana healed his split lip first, noting that one of his fingers twitched slightly, before moving up to the scrape on his cheek. "What about your hands?" She asked, not sure how much of the blood was his and how much of it was his target's.
Matt unwrapped his hands, "Nothing too bad." A few of his knuckles were split, so Diana healed them with a touch. Matt bowed his head, his eyes closed, "I don't know what to do, Di. I can hear everything that happens for several square blocks. My city is suffering, and going the right way, the way the law demands, just seems so… pointless. So I…" His hands clenched against the floor.
"You let the devil out" Diana coaxed softly.
The blind man nodded, looking like a little boy as he hunched his shoulders, "I threatened to kill him if I found out he was abusing his daughter again, that I'd know if he did it again." His face twisted with guilt, "I don't know if I could go through with it - killing him or anyone. I don't think I could do it."
"You'll never know if you can do it until a desperate enough situation comes up," she told him, her mind flashing back to the HYDRA soldier she'd shot all those years ago, "but when it does happen, it changes you."
He nodded, knowing the story. Matt placed a hand on hers and squeezed gently, "I'm gonna do everything I can to not cross that line." He then leaned his head back on the sill, his jaw set with determination.
"Are you going to go out again?" Diana asked.
His lips thinned at the thought, "I don't know. Maybe."
"Well, I only have one request."
Matt looked toward her, "Yeah?"
"Just call me or drop by if you're ever hurt, even if it's just a few scrapes," she told him, "I don't want to find you, and I don't want someone else to find you, dead in a dumpster somewhere."
He smiled and huffed a laugh, "I can do that. I'll just come here for healing, even if it itches from the magic. Then I won't need cover up stories."
There was a short pause as Matt's breathing from running and doing parkour for several city blocks calmed. "Do you want me to make you a portal to your apartment?" Diana asked, "Then you don't have to go out into the hall and elevator in your dorky costume."
"Sure." Matt said as he stood, "What's wrong with my costume?"
She simply smiled and created a Sling portal, "Go get some sleep, Matty."
His eyes narrowed, "What's dorky about my costume?"
"You look like the poor man's Dread Pirate Roberts."
The blind lawyer sighed, "It's the best I could do on short notice."
"Change it up a little, like a full head mask to hide your hair and black gloves to better protect your hands and to prevent fingerprints. You'll just be a blind ninja."
Matt looked thoughtful, "I'll see what I can do." He stepped through the portal and cringed.
"And make sure you avoid knives and bullets."
That brought a grin to his face again as he turned around, "I think I'll do that on principle. I'm not knife or bullet proof no matter what I wear."
Diana couldn't help but smile back, "I'll see you later, Matt."
"I won't." He joked, causing her to laugh as she closed the portal.
After that Daredevil began his near nightly rounds of micromanaging the hell out of the ten city blocks known as Hell's Kitchen.
*FMttM*
Over the next few months, Matt went out patrolling every so often, returning to Diana for healing. It wasn't until she saw Master Daniel looking concerned in November that she was informed that an event was going to occur in the next few days.
"Diana," Master Daniel addressed her, "we're going to the London Sanctum for an indeterminate amount of time. Master Wellington has reported that the alignment of the planets are going to cause an event called 'The Convergence.' If we can prevent any harm from coming to civilians."
"Why London? Wouldn't the Convergence be world wide?"
"One of the highest concentrations of Ley Lines occurs in Greenwich, England. It's where the effects of the Convergence will be the strongest. There will be sorcerers near other Ley Line concentrations and the anti-pods like that between Buenos Aires and Shanghai are being handled by the sorcerers of Kamar Taj and Hong Kong."
"There are no concentrations of Ley Lines in the US?"
"There is a concentration of Ley Lines on the border between Arizona and Mexico, one in north of the Bahamas, and one in Alberta. I have sent novices to those places, as well as to the Devil's Gate in Wyoming." Drumm informed her, "However, the Ancient One has told all sorcerers that the effects of the Convergence will be most noticeable in England. We are needed there as Master Wellington has no apprentices right now."
"Alright. Just let me call work and my friends to tell them I'll be out of the country for, what, a week?" Diana paused, "What excuse should I give my boss? I mean, this is really short notice. I kind of feel bad about this."
"I have taken the liberty of calling your workplace to give you a cover story. Your superiors are very kind and have allowed you the week off, but only if you work double shifts for the next few weeks. I surmised that you'd agree."
"Oh… Okay. Thanks for doing that. I don't want to lose my job." She then took a few minutes to call Steve and Matt.
"Come." Master Daniel turned in his robes and the two of them headed to the Portal Room.
*FMttM*
Master Daniel and Diana were immediately sent to Stonehenge as the magical energies the convergence had upset were focused in that area. They were given a car to drive to the national landmark with the warning to not use the Sling Rings due to the frenzied magical energies caused by the Convergence. When they arrived (in civilian clothes), they saw a man with a few tripods running around naked. Shocked, they stand by as the man is arrested by the police.
Coming out of her stupor, Diana realized she knew who it was and why he was acting that way, "That was Dr. Erik Selvig, the astrophysicist! He was taken under the control of the Mind Stone and Loki last year."
Master Daniel's lips thinned, "We must stay close, then. He might actually know something."
The two sorcerers quickly returned to their car and began to follow the police to the closest precinct.
"We're going to retrieve him and take him to the Sanctum. Perhaps there's something we can do to sort out his mental state." Master Daniel planned as he drove.
"Do we need a cover?" Diana asked. This was technically her first field assignment, "I mean, we can't just walk in there and take him. The cops might have a problem with that."
Master Daniel smiled, "Sorcerers have worked in tandem with various governments for centuries. Only the highest members of each government even know about us, although they don't know exactly what we do, only that we exist to help on a global scale. Here in England, we are technically a part of MI6 when it comes to legal issues."
"O...kay." She still looked confused, especially since she'd never heard of this information from the movies or even an inkling from the comic nerds on the Internet.
"Master Wellington gave us all of the materials we need. In the glove box."
Diana took some MI6 IDs out of the glove box, "Okay, suddenly I feel like I'm a Winchester." Master Daniel gave her a confused glance and she smiled, "Sam and Dean Winchester are Hunters of the supernatural. They use fake FBI IDs all the time to get info for their hunts." She paused, "It's a good thing they're a TV show."
"Well, these badges are real."
"Awesome."
*FMttM*
At the precinct, the cops reluctantly allowed them to take Selvig (who had been given prison-like clothes) into their own custody, and they headed back to the London Sanctum. They took him to a guest room to rest and collect himself.
He was out for the rest of the day, and it was mid-afternoon of the next day before Selvig wandered out of his room, looking at his unfamiliar surroundings.
In the main training room, when Selvig walked in, Master Daniel stood from the astral plane meditation he'd been teaching Diana and addressed the scientist, "Doctor Selvig, I hope you're feeling better."
"I'm not exactly sure what's going on. Where am I?" The doctor asked.
"You are in London at the Sanctum Sanctorum."
"I've been to London many times and have never heard of a Sanctum Sanctorum."
Diana smiled, "Think of it like the Leaky Cauldron of the real world."
"Leaky Cauldron?" Selvig questioned, before making the connection, "You mean the magical pub from the Harry Potter books?"
"Yup. I'm Diana Larson," she told him, "and this is my teacher, Daniel Drumm."
"It's nice to meet you, but I'd like to know what I'm doing here." He paused and put a hand to his head, "I remember... something… a Convergence that I... " His eyes scrunched and his coherent speaking became completely unintelligible gibberish.
Master Daniel frowned, strode up to him and struck the doctor in the chest with the palm of his hand, "Astral form, Diana."
She broke into her astral form immediately and saw that Master Daniel was already speaking to Doctor Selvig, who had panicked when he saw his own body frozen in time before him.
"This is the astral plane, Doctor Selvig." Master Daniel was telling him, "Only your soul, your spirit, is allowed on this plane, so whatever has been affecting your mind has no influence over you here."
The astrophysicist blinked several times and breathed deeply, "I haven't been able to think this clearly since before taking a look at the Tesseract!"
"The Tesseract and the scepter Loki used to take over your mind are part of a set of six singularities. It's why their power is so strong," Diana explained, "but that's not important right now. We're actually here about the Convergence."
"The Convergence? I haven't had the time to research it for very long, so I don't know too much." Selvig replied.
Master Daniel floated forward, "We know enough about the Convergence from a mystical side to know what we need to do. However, you were affected by an Infinity Stone. It is one of our duties to make sure that those who have been victimized by one or more are free of their influence."
Selvig cringed, "Well, I guess I'm a good candidate judging by my recent actions."
"We'll need to find out why your psyche is still affected by the Mind Stone." Drumm told Selvig, "We don't know how long it will take."
"Take as long as you like." Selvig told him, "I'd really like to be completely sane again. I don't want to do what I just did ever again. It makes me an embarrassment to my studies and my community."
"We'll do everything we can to get rid of the Stone's influence." Diana assured him.
"Thank you. Could I - uh - maybe contact my colleagues about this?"
"Of course, although we're not entirely sure what shape you'll be in when we return to the physical plane."
"That's okay. I'll have to deal with that until I'm better."
Master Drumm vanished from the astral plane and Diana followed just in time to see her teacher make a pulling motion and caught Doctor Selvig as he slumped forward.
"Woah…" Was all Selvig said before falling unconscious.
Master Daniel sighed, and lay Selvig on the floor, "I suppose we should see what's wrong on his mental plane while he's unconscious."
"How do you do that?" Diana asked. She'd only ever been to the astral plane, and never knew there even was a mental plane.
"This is not my area of expertise, but I have enough experience to make the journey safe." Drumm motioned for Diana to come over to him as he put his hands over Selvig's head.
*FMttM*
Selvig's mindscape was overwhelming. It was full of calculations, memories wisps, books both open and closed… it was a disorganized mess.
"We cannot stay in here too long or we may become trapped," Master Drumm informed her, "but we should explore as much as we can and try to find where the Mind Stone is still affecting him."
"It's still here on Earth." Diana told her teacher, "I bet that's why it's still affecting him." She then had a thought, "I hope Clint's okay."
"Clint?"
"A SHIELD agent who was under Loki's and the Mind Stone's control." Diana told Master Daniel, "Although he seems just fine. No crazy at all from what I know."
"Hmmm… Perhaps when we return to New York, you should bring this 'Clint' by so we can make sure."
"I'll see what I can do."
The two sorcerers wandered around the mindscape, trying to find something that reminded Diana of the color of the Mind Stone in the sceptre. She was, after all, the only one who had any idea what color the Mind Stone was.
After a short time, Diana saw something blue out of the corner of her eye and turned sharply to look at the flash of unnatural color, "There!" She called out to her teacher.
They both approached the tall glowing blue pedestal which had a blue stone displayed at the very top.
"You will not break my influence, seidkona." A form materialized in front of the pedestal. He was tall, dark-haired, with piercing ice blue eyes, wearing black, gold, and green leathers and armor.
"Loki. How exactly are you here? I thought you were in a prison cell on Asgard." She mocked him.
The god of mischief grinned, "Oh, I am just a memory conjured by dear Doctor Selvig and given power by the remnant of the Mind Stone."
"So, you are the one who attacked New York." Drumm crossed his arms and glared.
Mind-Loki appraised the master sorcerer and sneered, "You would never understand my purpose. I was made to rule and you ants denied me."
Diana sighed, "Really? That's what you told the people you enslaved?"
Drumm looked to Diana curiously, "What do you mean?"
"Loki was not sent to rule Earth. He was simply a pawn to get try to retrieve the Tesseract for Thanos the Mad Titan. Since he failed, Thanos will kill him the next time they see each other."
"I see." Drumm looked thoughtful. Then he then put out his hand, which glowed a bright yellow, "Be gone. Shatter and dissipate."
Mind-Loki flicked his fingers and laughed, "Did you think it would be that easy. Perhaps you should be gone!" He flung out his own hands and there was a blue flash of light.
Diana and Master Daniel fell backwards onto the floor of the Sanctum Sanctorum.
"What the hell was that?" Diana demanded.
Master Daniel frowned and stared at the still unconscious Selvig, "That was unexpected. The Mind Stone has quite the strong protection."
"Yeah. I'd think so."
"I'm going to have to research this and find out how to fight and destroy the remnant."
"What about Selvig?"
Master Daniel took out his Sling Ring and created a portal under Selvig, "I've put him on the guest room bed."
They began their research in the Sanctum Libraries to see what they could find to help the good doctor recover from the influence of an Infinity Stone.
*FMttM*
The next day, Drumm informed Diana that going back into Selvig's mindscape was too dangerous for her with her inexperience with mind magic and sent her out to investigate the progression of the Convergence. He had located a concentration of frenzied energy at a factory and asked her to investigate the anomaly.
Diana went through Master Drumm's portal to a closed industrial site and began to snoop. She heard the voices of a few kids talking about dropping objects into a hole and simply disappearing. She approached the voices, going into an unfinished building.
Then… "Jane?!" A young brunette woman called out, "Where are you?" She turned and saw Diana. Up came what looked like a taser, "Who the hell are you?"
Diana put his her hands a little, "I'm Diana. I'm here to help."
"Oh yeah? Well… how do I know you haven't stashed Jane somewhere and aren't a crazy person?" The young woman shifted on her feet, "You shouldn't mess with Jane. She knows some very powerful people."
"Yeah, I know. I've met Thor."
"Wha-?"
Suddenly a petite brunette appeared out of nowhere, stumbled, and fell to the ground.
"Jane!" The other brunette forgot all about Diana and knelt next to Jane, "What happened? Where the hell did you go?"
"Tell me you didn't call the police!"
"Well, what was I supposed to do?"
"Not call the police!" Jane reprimanded.
Diana spoke, "Considering this place is getting more unstable by the minute, I think we should get out of here."
"Who're you?"
"Apparently," The brunette made a duck-face, "this is Diana and she's here to help."
"Yeah, I am, and I'm pretty sure the cops you called are on their way. We should be gone before they get here."
Jane's eyes narrowed a bit, "Are you SHIELD?" She didn't wait for Diana to answer as she glared at her friend, "If you called the police, then they tell the feds and they tell SHIELD. They'll be crawling all over this place in no time, making it into the new Area 51."
"Actually, these anomalies are being caused by the planetary alignment." Diana told Jane, "It won't last long enough for SHIELD to even investigate as thoroughly as they'd want to."
"So you are SHIELD."
"Nope. I wouldn't trust SHIELD as far as you could throw them."
"I can understand that." The brunette, whom Diana finally remembered was called Darcy, agreed, "They stole our shit back in New Mexico. I still haven't gotten my iPod back, and they never reimbursed me."
"We should leave before the actual law enforcement people come in." Diana attempted to get the scientists back on track before mumbling, "At least you don't have Torchwood or UNIT in this universe."
Darcy suddenly broke into a grin, "If we did have Torchwood, I'd totally be up for a bit of Captain Jack. He is mmm-mmm scrumptious."
Suddenly the weather turned a bit stormy and thunder sounded through the air. Jane put her hand out and a few droplets of rain fell on her hand.
"That's weird." Darcy did the same only to have the rain go from a sprinkle to near pouring, "Okay, really? Not fair." There was a flash of light that made Diana and most likely Darcy need to shield their eyes.
When the light faded, Thor stood not far away. Jane handed a sciency gadget to her intern and began to walk towards the god of thunder.
Darcy sighed and gave Diana a side glance, "Typical. He's left Jane high and dry since before the attack on New York. She's not gonna be happy-" SMACK! It echoed through the area, "Whoop there it is." Darcy commented.
A few moments later there was another smack, "Where were you?!" Jane's angry voice could easily be heard from where she and Thor were standing.
"Where were you?" Thor shot back, "Heimdall couldn't see you!"
"I was right here where you left me. I was waiting and then I was crying and then I went out looking for you. You said you were coming back!"
Diana took a few steps toward them, "You know, that's not entirely true. You were just gone for -" She turned to Darcy, "How long was she gone for?"
"Five hours!" The brunette replied.
"You stumbled into the Dark World and found the Aether, which then took you as its host."
"What are you speaking of, Seidkona?"
"Jane saw something gooey and mysterious in a world not her own and decided, 'Ooo, look at that! I'm'a touch it!'" Diana rolled her eyes, "I think a good scientist would actually say, 'Ooo, look! An unknown substance that could be hazardous to my health. I better not touch it.'"
Jane looked a bit guilty, "Well, I…" She shuffled her feet, "I really don't have an excuse."
Thor, however, looked concerned and curious, "Seidkona, how is it you came to be here?"
"The Convergence has attracted our attention. Portals are kind of our thing."
"And hey, could you stop the rain?" Darcy asked, "I don't think any of us lowly humans want to catch hypothermia."
Thor simply looked up at the sky and the rain ceased. He then looked back to Diana, "So, you know of the Convergence."
"Yes. It'll come and then it'll go. We're just trying to contain the portals."
Thor nodded and looked to Jane, "I apologize for not coming to see you sooner. The Bifrost was destroyed. The Nine Realms erupted into chaos, wars were raging, marauding hordes were pillaging. I had to put an end to the slaughter."
Jane scowled at him, "As excuses go, that's not terrible. But I saw you on TV, you were...you were in New York!"
"Jane, I fought to protect you from the dangers of my world, but I was wrong, I was a fool." Thor placed his large hand on Jane's cheek, "I believe that fate brought us together. Jane, I don't know where you were or what happened, but I do know this."
"What?" The scientist asked, entranced.
"I know…"
"You do?"
"Do… what?" Thor was leaning closer to Jane, most likely getting ready to kiss her.
Diana sighed and averted her eyes. Black Widow was - or 'would be' as the case may be - right. Being a voyeur to kissing is pretty uncomfortable. That's when Darcy cleared her throat, saving the day from uncomfortable romantic scenes rivaling that of Anakin and Padme.
"Uh, hey guys?"
Jane practically jumped backwards and blushed, "Uh...we're kind of in the middle of something."
" Um...I'm pretty sure we are getting arrested." Darcy pointed to several police cars that were parked not far away. There were two officers near a young man with his hands up, along with some equipment
"Let me handle this." Diana told the two women and god. She approached the police and took her MI6 badge out of her pocket, "Good day, gentlemen. What can I do for you?"
"Are you Jane Foster?" One officer asked.
"No, but," Diana showed her badge, "I am MI6. I've come to investigate the weird things happening here recently. A woman disappeared five hours ago because she's a bit stupid for a brilliant scientist. It's all being handled by my department."
The officer closest to her took her badge and examined it, "A bit young to be Jane Bond. You're not even English."
"Just because I'm not English doesn't mean I can't be a part of MI5 or MI6. Plus, I just graduated from the coursework, which explains my age." Diana lied, "This is technically my first field mission."
"Where's your mentor?"
She shrugged, "I just got the assignment and went to take care of it. I assure you, my hands are very capable."
"Well, MI5, MI6, or otherwise, this is private property and you're trespassing, the lot of you. I'm gonna have to ask you to leave."
Another police officer went to grab Jane's arm when suddenly the force of the Aether erupted from her, knocking everyone to the ground.
Thor ran to Jane, kneeling next to her, "Jane! Jane? Are you alright?"
"What just happened?" She asked, holding her head.
"It's the Aether." Diana stated.
The police officers were antsy, and the lead officer ordered, "Place your hands on your head, step back!"
Diana glared at him, "I had this under control until you and your bobbies decided to try and take over my case! Are all of you idiots or something?"
At the same time Thor spoke as well, "This woman is unwell."
"Either you and your officers back off, or I am calling you in on your insubordination." She turned to Thor, "You should take her to Asgard. Your healers might be able to extract the Aether from her. It is, after all, an Infinity Stone."
Thor's eyes widened, "Another?"
"Yeah, and it's a beacon for the last surviving Dark Elves who've been hibernating in deep space or something."
"Requesting armed response officers to the scene." One of the officers radioed in.
Diana sighed in annoyance, "Oh please." She looked to Thor, "Go! I'll get the others away from here, don't worry."
"Thank you, Seidkona." Thor bowed his head respectfully.
"My name's Diana." She sent a smile to the god of thunder.
"Lady Diana, then. Thank you for the information and the warning. I will be sure to inform the Allfather." Thor took Jane in his arms, "Hold on to me."
"What're you doing?" Jane asked, still a little stunned from the Aether blast.
There was the bright flash of light from the Bifrost, and Diana, Darcy, the young man intern, and the police could only watch as Thor and Jane vanished.
Diana turned back to the police officers, "If you don't leave me to my case, my superiors will not be happy with your precinct. You will let us do what we came here to do." Without waiting for an answer, she went over to the young man, "Come with me if you don't want to get arrested."
"Ummm… O...kay?" He glanced at the officers and hesitantly followed Diana.
"Come on." She motioned to Darcy.
The three of them went back into the unfinished… condemned?... factory, "Man, I totally thought we'd be arrested." Darcy breathed in relief, "You saved our bacon."
"My car is on the other side of this building. I can take you someplace safe for the time being."
"Great!" Darcy perked up, "Do they have coffee? I suddenly have a craving."
*FMttM*
The three of them arrived at the Sanctum in London just in time for a meal. Darcy and the young man, whose name was apparently Ian, scarfed down their food.
"So," Darcy began between mouth fulls, "what is this place?"
"This is the Sanctum Sanctorum," Master Daniel replied, "a home for those who have opened their minds."
"I've got a pretty open mind." The brunette commented, "So what's that mean for me?"
Master Daniel smiled, "While you are welcome here, it would take much more than your current state to call the Sanctum home."
"What, are there tests I need to do or something?"
"Something like that." The master sorcerer looked amused and motioned for the meal to be taken away. He stood from his seat then, "I have someone I'd like you to see. You might be able to help him in his road to recovery."
"Did you find a way to remove the remnant?" Diana asked.
"The Ancient One has provided me with a research text by Agamotto and his knowledge of the Stone he had."
"The Ancient One? Agamotto?" Darcy repeated the words she'd just heard, confused, "What's going on?"
"Come." Master Daniel motioned for everyone to follow him.
He led them to one of the meditation rooms where Doctor Selvig was seated on the floor with papers strewn about him.
"Erik!" Darcy exclaimed and made to rush toward him. Master Daniel held her back, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"The good doctor gets very annoyed if you step on his research." The master sorcerer let go of her arm, and Darcy made no move to approach her mentor again. "Doctor Selvig. You have visitors."
"Visitors?" Selvig turned his head. When he saw Darcy, he smiled, stood, and walked over his own research toward them, "Darcy." He hugged her, "I didn't know you were coming here."
"Well, neither did I. Where have you been? We've been trying to get a hold of you since forever!"
Selvig frowned, "I haven't been well, Darcy. Whatever Loki did to me last year… it's still there." He tapped his temple, "These people have been trying to find a way to get rid of it."
"How?"
"We have ways of entering and cleaning the mind of outside influences." Master Daniel explained vaguely.
Darcy just looked more confused, "That doesn't explain anything."
Master Daniel smiled mysteriously, "You could, of course, watch the procedure, although I think you might find it quite boring."
"I just want to know what's going on here."
"Then you should follow us." The master sorcerer strode down a hallway to one of the meditation rooms. He turned to see everyone behind him, and he nodded, pleased, "Doctor Selvig, if you would please lie on the mat, we'll get started." Selvig did as he was told and Master Daniel turned to Diana, "I may need your help again, but you will not engage with the guardian. Don't look at it. Don't speak to it. It will feed off your strength due to your knowledge and use it against me when I try to banish it."
"Alright." She said as she and her teacher knelt on either side of Doctor Selvig.
"Are you ready?"
Diana held her hands over the doctor's head, "Yeah."
Master Daniel murmured some strange words and made a few hand gestures before there was a white flash.
*FMttM*
When Diana opened her eyes, she was back in Doctor Selvig's mindscape. Beside her stood Master Daniel looking quite solemn.
"This will be difficult, Diana. I will need to take some of your magic."
"I just want to get rid of the Mind Stone remnant. Having a sane astrophysicist will help much more when Malekith gets here."
"Hmmm…" Master Daniel didn't comment on the strange name as he looked into the distance, his eyes searching. "Follow my lead; the remnant already knows we're here. It will use tricks and illusions to make us leave."
"I'll be careful." Diana promised as Master Daniel led her through the more organized mind.
"Doctor Selvig has taken to meditation. It's helped organize his thoughts." The master sorcerer informed her, "It's also made him not only more productive, but more resistant to the insanity induced by the Mind Stone remnant."
Suddenly a shot sounded and missed the two of them by inches. Master Daniel frowned and prepared some magic, "This I haven't encountered before."
"I thought Loki was the only remnant."
"It tends to change depending on who is in the mind."
"Crap."
There was another shot, and Master Daniel blocked it with a Tao Mandala. A dark form stood from high above them on some sort of building. The form simply stepped off, landing on the ground with his metal arm digging into the mindscape.
"Let me handle this." Master Daniel directed as he prepared his own magic.
"It's…" Diana knew exactly who it was and where the image had come from. The Mind Stone had taken her knowledge of the Soldier, knowing she'd be unable to hurt someone whom she knew was Bucky.
"Quiet," The master sorcerer swirled with magic as the Mindscape Winter Soldier approached them, "I must concentrate. I haven't had to fight one of these illusions before."
"But…"
Master Daniel sent a stern glare her way as he prepared to fight the master assassin. Diana couldn't watch, so she turned slightly away as she heard the fist fight. A few moments of battle passed and a memory came to her mind… a code trigger words that she remembered from an article for the third Captain America movie. Sputnik. The code trigger word 'Sputnik' called for a complete shutdown, like turning off a computer or robot. It would render the Winter Soldier completely unconscious. However, that was from the comics only, and Diana had no idea whether it would work in this universe based on the movies.
Her gaze turned to the fight, and she could see that the Soldier was winning. His armor, goggles and mask hadn't even gotten a dent, "Sorry Buck." She muttered before saying, "Sputnik." The Mindscape Soldier froze, his head turning in her direction, as if the Mind Stone remnant was reading the rules for the Winter Soldier, "SPUTNIK!" She shouted. Then the illusion collapsed and dissipated.
Master Daniel stood there looking quite wounded, but with a simple wave of his hand, the cuts and bruises vanished. He then turned to stare at his apprentice, "You knew who that was."
"That was the Winter Soldier."
"Go on."
"Um… he's… it's HYDRA's most efficient master assassin. I remembered one of his codes, the one to shut him down until someone can reset him with the correct ten Russian codes."
"Hmmm…" Master Daniel frowned.
"Sorry." Diana apologized.
"Don't be sorry. You saved my mind from being shredded. I'm glad I had you come with me. That reminds me that I should teach you to guard your own mind against intrusion and illusion."
"That sounds like a good idea."
As they went deeper into Doctor Selvig's mind, they also fought off a dark Daredevil and a HYDRA version of Captain America. Those two didn't have shut down rules like the Winter Soldier had, so Master Daniel had to fight them and 'kill' the illusions. By the time they actually reached the pedestal with the Mind Stone remnant, Diana felt like she'd been stabbed several times. The last line of defense was, again, Loki.
"Well, it seems you've gotten past all of the obstacles I set for you. Impressive." The final illusion crossed his arms and looked at Diana, "I'm surprised that you allowed your companion to kill the people you love most."
Diana grit her teeth so she wouldn't speak to the guardian. Master Daniel stepped in front of her, "I don't believe she'll have a problem with me killing you. After all, you did destroy New York City."
Mindscape Loki's eyes narrowed and a sceptre appeared in his hands, "You may have defeated my slaves, but you will not defeat me." Instantly, more Loki silhouettes appeared around them, laughing.
Master Drumm activated his magical weapons, the Bolts of Balthakk, which was appropriate as they looked like lightning blades or hammers. Several Loki silhouettes charged at the master sorcerer, and it was impossible to figure out which one was the real guardian image.
Diana could see that her teacher was losing, and couldn't stay out of the fight any longer. She gathered her magic and used the Eldritch Whip to take down the Loki silhouette that was nearest to her. She then struck it repeatedly until it vanished, "That was for New York." She sneered at the space where the silhouette had been and echoing Jane's actual words to the real Loki on Asgard.
"You must stay out of this!" Master Daniel called from his fight with one of the Lokis.
"No chance, and no way!" She shouted back as she brought the Eldritch Whip around and struck another Loki silhouette in the side.
He revealed a pair of daggers and rushed her, causing her to vanish her whips and activate her bracelets containing the additional physical strength of her teacher. When she blocked the silhouette's first strike, he seemed surprised by her strength and she threw him back a couple feet.
Diana prepared a defensive stance Matt had taught her and waited for the silhouette to attack again.
"I'm surprised that you're finally fighting. I would've thought you would save your master much sooner than this… perhaps with the Captain or the Lawyer… or even earlier with your Soldier, you only said a word and that was disappointing." The Loki silhouette taunted her, "But it seems you're just useless enough to spend the last of your energy fighting and dying against me."
"You know, you talk too much. I guess it's a villain trait." Diana shot back as she activated her Eldritch Whip just in time to land a punch to the Loki silhouette's chest. Instead of seeing the silhouette stumbling back from the blow, her punch buried itself into his chest. She felt like she was gripping something in her hand and she watched as Mind-Loki's eyes widened.
"That's not possible. That sort of magic doesn't exist here!" He gasped as she ripped out her hand, still gripping whatever she'd found in his chest.
Diana stared down at a glowing red heart with wisps of black and blue swirling through it. She gaped in surprise. "This is…"
"Give that back!" Mind-Loki snarled and lunged at her.
"Stop!" She commanded. The heart pulsed brightly and Mind-Loki froze. Diana sucked in a breath, "Enchanted Forest magic." All of the other silhouettes vanished and the real Mind-Loki guardian stood before the two sorcerers, still, motionless, unable to move against Diana's command. "How did you get this magic from my mind?"
The guardian looked furious as his mouth moved without his permission and told the truth, "I delved far too deep to find guardian slaves and unleashed this… other magic in the mindscape. Had I known its deep connections to this world… your Soldier, Fandral… I wouldn't have looked farther, but that Curse." Loki licked his lips, "That Dark Curse was quite tantalizing. I could've changed everything using that Curse! And I wouldn't even need the Reality Stone to do it!"
Master Drumm approached, "Diana? What's going on?" He saw the heart in her hand, "That is not good magic."
She cringed, "No, it's not. I didn't even realize I'd done it until I pulled it out."
"Explain."
She gave a quick summary of magic and sorcery from the Once Upon a Time television series, "This is the favorite enchantment for the Dark One, the Evil Queen, the Queen of Hearts, and other sorcerers to gain control of people and sometimes, if they squeeze hard enough, to kill them. Although light magic practitioners can perform it too, it just… it gives you an icky feeling, like I'm feeling now."
"You have complete control over the guardian with this magic?"
"Yes."
The master sorcerer pursed his lips and looked at the guardian, "Will this influx of magic in this mindscape affect the real world?"
Mind-Loki looked miffed, "I'm a Mind Stone guardian. I can't change reality outside of the mind. I leave that up to the Reality Stone."
Master Daniel turned back to Diana, "You will not speak of performing this magic to anyone once we exit Doctor Selvig's mind. There are those who would want to create spells and enchantments to make this real."
"I agree. Luckily, it's origins don't exist in this universe because the TV show doesn't exist here either."
"Hmm…" The master sorcerer nodded in approval and turned towards the pedestal. He raised his hands and began to chant. Spells flew at the stone atop it and soon the entire world began to pulse blue-black-blue-black.
Then everything shattered.
*FMttM*
Diana woke up in her own bed. What the hell had happened? She flexed her hand, remembering the feel of the Mind-Loki's heart in her hand. She shuddered, glad it hadn't been real. As she moved to sit up, her head throbbed and she let out a hiss before falling back against her pillow. Suddenly she wished that JARVIS was around. He would've alerted Steve or any of the other Avengers about her massive migraine. Or Matt. He would've come by to give her some advil and just keep her company.
There was a soft knock on her door, "Yeah?" She answered, but refused to move her head from the pillow.
Master Daniel opened the door slightly, "I'm so glad you've woken up. I was starting to get worried that the Mind Stone remnant had latched onto you and…" He looked a bit guilty, "I am so sorry I put you in danger, but I couldn't have done it without you. You did so well."
"I just have a massive headache, that's all."
Master Daniel approached, "I may be able to do something about that." She nodded, giving permission for him to continue. So he knelt next to her bed and placed a warm hand on her forehead. He murmured his spells and made his gestures with his free hand before pressing his fingers against his knuckles on her head.
Diana felt the buzzing influx of magic and the headache seemed to melt away, "Oh, that's so much better." She told him with a relieved sigh.
"I'm glad."
"How's Doctor Selvig?" Diana sat up and rubbed her temple.
"You've been unconscious for two days. Doctor Selvig woke a day ago." Master Daniel looked amused, "I believe the young woman, Miss Lewis, threatened to tase me so hard that my children's children would feel it if Doctor Selvig didn't wake up."
"Is he… better?"
"Very much so. I don't think he'll be streaking anywhere any time soon."
"Good. What about the Convergence?"
"It's over."
"Over!? You mean I missed it?!"
"It's perhaps better this way. Neither of us would have been much help in the battle."
"And I bet Thor has already left."
"I believe he has."
"Dammit. I needed to tell him that Loki was still alive and masquerading as Odin for fun." She sighed, "Loki sent him to some kind of senior citizen home in New York… I think… It was never really that clear where they actually were."
"If you feel well enough, we do need to make sure that all the portals are closed and assess the damages."
"Okay. I'll be out in a few minutes."
"I'll have a meal ready." Master Daniel then left her room.