Charmcaster didn't stop, or rather she couldn't stop. The image of Drak is all she could think about, even when she didn't want to. Her bloodlust for the spirit was more intense than any emotion she had encountered before. That included her envy of Gwen several years ago and her hate for her uncle. The witch's body moved efficiently across the rough terrain, launching herself like a spring from one surface to the next. She could feel herself nearing her objective and her heart began to beat rapidly. She landed at the edge of the forest that led into a clearing. Everything sunk into one big crater filled with ash and soot like her vision. The outer banks had blackened swords and armor along with charred skeletal remains. Hope figured the bodies were from previous battles with the monstrous spirit. His tomb had become a graveyard for countless other souls and from the destruction that was scattered about, one could only tell a small fraction of how chaotic this being was.

Hope took her first steps into the dark hole, she didn't take her eyes off the crucified king as she stumbled down the path. Even in his wounded state he radiated such powerful energy, his aura seemed endless. Her steps were weighted and sluggish. This was truly a king. The witch was on edge for any possible attacks, but wondered how such an injured man could fight. Unless he was exaggerating on how hurt he really was. The closer she got to him, the feeling of dread closed in; like she was walking into a black hole. Her body was screaming at her to turn back, that none of this was worth it. She continued to drag her feet out of determination nonetheless. All of the hairs on the back of her neck stood on edge, while goosebumps appeared along her body. The feeling of fear was so intense that bile rose up through her throat. She swallowed it without hesitation. Hope was so close that she could reach out and touch his charred body.

Gravity quadrupled and Charmcaster choked on the pressure as she collapsed to her knees in a second. She extended her arms to avoid face planting but she didn't know how long she could keep that up. It felt like a foot that weighed 20 tons was planted on her back and was trying desperately to push her into the dirt. She wanted to panic but she closed her eyes and focused on using her aura to push back. She steadily increased her mana output and the weight slowly lessened. Hope shouted as she moved from all fours to one knee, then after five minutes of struggling she stood up. The witch's aura exploded outwards but it still looked like it was being suppressed by a mysterious force.

"Oh so you've been blessed by the wishing boy," a voice echoed in her head.

Hope knew who was speaking but chose to stay quiet.

"However, that doesn't matter because you'll be reduced to a puddle in 2 minutes."

"I was given the power to control you…" she finally announced.

"Control me? HA! The most powerful sorcerers and familiars couldn't even kill me! What makes you think that you could ever control me?"

"I wished-" Hope said shakily, all her confidence oozing away.

"YOU WISHED? I AM THE EMBODIMENT OF CHAOS! YOU CAN NOT CONTROL ME!" Drak boomed.

Charmcaster growled at the spirit's statement and gripped her wand firmly, mentally preparing herself for the fight of her life. She assumed if he would not listen to her then she'd make him flowed through her veins as her muscles tensed and her brain went into fight or flight mode.

"You will obey me…"

"You have the same look in your eyes as the woman who put me here all those years ago. Little girl, you came here for a fight and found a man tied to a tree."

"You have me all wrong. I'm nothing like her."

"And how is that?" Drak asked.

"Because I'm not here for a fight. I came here to release you from your prison."

Drak was quiet for the first time since the start of the conversation.

"Free me? What are you getting at? If you're trying to negotiate with me, then let me say this-"

"This isn't a negotiation. We're cutting a deal right now; they're already on to me. Lend me your strength and I promise you the revenge that you seek. The chaos you wish to release will become a reality and the spirit realm will fall."

Drak looked into the woman's mind and didn't send any false intentions behind her words. Who was this sorceress that wished death upon the spirit world? And what happened to her that she became this way? Drak still didn't trust the woman 100 percent and figured that this was some type of ruse to erase him forever.

"Do you expect me to trust you?"

"They're on their way right now. If I die then your only chance of escape dies along with me."

Drak did feel multiple presences reach the edge of the forest. He wondered who she was speaking of, was someone chasing her? Who was so powerful that she sought out the king of chaos for help? Unless the foe she was fighting wasn't evil per say. He sensed this woman's anger but he didn't know who it was aimed at. She was masking it but why? Why did she feel the need to hide the target of her malice if the source was right in front of her? He realized that she was hiding the direction of her anger from her true targets.

Mister White spotted the silver hair from afar as he entered the chaos king's space, he dashed down into the crater with Sep on his tail. A column of flames engulfed the tree and witch as they closed in on her. How did I not see it before? He asked himself. They were fools for trusting her, he thought he could twist that malice into a strength, but he was too proud to see that it was overtaking her soul. They helped her become an expert in controlling her emotions and that allowed for her to slip through Vern's detection. Sep summoned a strong gust that extinguished the flames within a second, the rabbit saw Hope kneeling at the base of the tree and pulled his sword from its scabbard. He leaped into the air and cocked back his arm, he was aiming to instantly decapitate her.

"This contract won't be built on trust. It will be built on the blood of our enemies," Charmcaster murmured.

She glanced back at the approaching rabbit and mister White was shocked to see slitted purple eyes with flares of red-orange for a split second before she disappeared. He landed and spun around frantically to look for her. The ground beneath him fractured and a giant hand made of purple mana squeezed his skinny body, restricting his movement. Sep saw the woman several feet behind them and readied herself to attack.

"DON'T! We can't beat her alone, leave me and run away. We can't let Drak leave this place!" mister White choked out.

Sep stopped in her tracks and glanced at the rabbit man with worry, but he just nodded at her and smiled weakly.

"And for my next trick! I will pull the head off this hare!" Hope called out.

Sep watched Charmcaster tap the tip of her wand against her closed fist. An invisible force literally pulled White's head off his shoulders with a sickening splat, and Hope presented the head, with half a bloody spinal cord attached, to the spirit. The mana-created hand disappeared and Mister White's limp body tumbled onto the floor where it proceeded to spray blood from the open neck stump. The body crumbled into dust signalling the end of a spirit's life cycle.

"NOO!" Sep screamed in horror.

The older woman couldn't think properly after witnessing the death of her friend. She wanted revenge but mister White's final words to run echoed in her head. Charmcaster pressed her fingertips together and muttered a spell to herself. Wind started to howl and clouds gathered over the mass graveyard, thunder boomed in the background and the natural light of the realm disappeared. Sep found herself in increasing darkness and knew that she needed to stop Hope here.

"I am the strongest person in the world right now," Charmcaster spoke menacingly.

"I wouldn't count on it," Vern called out from behind her.

"You know nothing of true strength," Sep added.

The Queen of Snakes' golden aura glowed immensely till all you could see was white. She would have to go all out if she was going to win, and with Vern's shadow manipulation they could easily avoid any life-threatening attacks. They are going to win. Sep was going to avenge her friend's death. One could only dream.

Henry was out of breath when he reached the battlefield but there was no sign of an ongoing fight. Was he too late? Had they already beaten Drak? The small boy was hunched over, gasping for air when he felt a presence approaching.

"Vern?" he said as he lifted his head.

He was met with the frown of Charmcaster. There was blood on her face but he had a sneaking suspicion that it wasn't hers. If she's standing here then that means… Henry rushed past the woman in search of his friends. All he found was a massacre. Mister White's bent sword laid in a pool of blood with no rabbit man in sight, Vern was impaled on the broken end of a burnt log as he stared blankly into the dark sky, and the queen took the king's place on the black tree. The wish master didn't want to believe it, all of them were dead in an instant.

"Why!" he yelled out as he turned to face the murderer. "Why did you betray us?!"

"I made a deal. You know how it is."

Henry couldn't believe it. Her goals were more important than the lives of others. She's no hero, she wasn't even human; this woman was an absolute monster. Nothing mattered to her.

"Was that the deal? You traded them for power?"

"Who? Them? HA!" Hope cackled at the boy's ignorance. "I offered him revenge on the whole spirit realm!"

The crazed expression of the witch will forever be burned in his memory. She laughed at the thought of mass murder, it was minscule in comparison to her powerhungry goals; she was the definition of a sociopath. He needed to stop her here or risk mass loss of life. Henry raised his staff in preparation to cast a spell, the only one he knew. In exchange for one wish of his own, the cost would be his life. The wish master gritted his teeth as he slowly muttered the spell. Charmcaster silently waited for the boy to attack but it never came. She glanced up at his face to see sweat beating down his forehead. Henry felt like his heart was going to explode, after all those years he was afraid to die? He couldn't bring himself to say the last words of the enchantment. Another fear popped in his mind and that was the possibility of the spell not working. He froze on the spot, he's never experienced such hardship in his life. Henry was pulled out of his trance when Hope brushed beside him.

"I will be back for my throne," she spoke firmly.

A portal opened up a few feet away and that was the last time Henry saw the sorceress. Charmcaster passed through the gate and reappeared in the Queen of Snake's throne room. She released a small smile when she locked eyes with Mister White. The rabbit man sat cross-legged in the middle of the room with his sword in his lap and a stern look on his face.

"I knew the Trickster wouldn't die so easily," Hope said coldly. "And that you'd run back to this dump."

"You come here to finish the job?" he replied.

"You weren't my concern, the snake queen was. She would've been difficult to handle if she used sealing magic again. But you're just a rabbit with a really good disappearing act and a pretty sword."

"Are you underestimating me?"

"I will come back in one year to rid this realm of all life. I will expect a challenge when I return. Until then."

And with that, Hope's form faded into darkness.

**PAGE BREAK**

Hope gently placed the snoring redhead on her own bed, she managed to teleport them to Gwen's house. And the silver haired witch slumped down in a chair from exhaustion. She had been using a lot of magic, and even though her mana reserves had increased immensely; Hope still wasn't accustomed to her new powers and thus tons of energy was wasted on high level spells.

Who is this woman? Drak asked from inside Hope's mind.

A friend of mine.

And who was she fighting? That beast seemed strong.

His name is Ben and he's not a beast. He has a device that allows him to transform into various powerful aliens.

A device that allows shape-shifting without magic? We must take this device for ourselves! We'd be unstoppable!

You won't lay a claw on him and besides he's on our side.

"Charmcaster?" Gwen groaned as she slowly opened her eyes.

Green and purple eyes met for a second as the witch helped her friend sit up.

"What happened to calling me Hope?"

"Ugh sorry, my head is killing me, what happened?"

"That's my line, why were you and Ben fighting?"

Gwen narrowed her eyes at the question and Hope realized she stepped on a landmine. She waited patiently for the redhead to open up instead of probing her.

"My grandfather is dead," Gwen started with a blank look in her eyes. "Ben killed him."

Hope was shocked to say the least. Ben would never do something like that, that's what she thought at least. Ben killed his own grandfather? Charmcaster knew she should be the last person to talk after killing her uncle, but Ben was close to his grandpa even more than his own parents.

"Why?"

"He wouldn't tell me."

Hope found sudden interest in the floor, she wondered what happened to the hero of justice that was willing to sacrifice everything to stop the bad guys. She couldn't believe that he changed that much since she left.

"Hope, he destroyed an entire planet," Gwen choked out.

"No…"

"Ben isn't on our side anymore. We're gonna have to take down the Plumbers on our own."

"He has a plan! He always has a plan!"

"Hope…"

"You can't just give up on him!"

"I TRIED! But I can't get through to him and Max lost his life for it!"

"Let me try-"

"I'm sorry but it's over."

Charmcaster stood up from her crouched position and looked at Gwen in shock. Of all people she wouldn't expect her to give up on Ben. They just didn't understand Ben's methods, sure he was cold but never cruel. What he did was always for the betterment of those around him, even if it didn't seem like that was the case at first.

"Two days."

"What?"

"Give me two days to reason with him," Hope negotiated.

"Hope…"

"Please! Gwen, I have alot banking on this!" she begged.

"Hope, what happened to you? You seem...different," Gwen said, changing the subject.

The redhead had noticed the older girl's eyes growing more reptilian as the conversation unraveled. Spots of orange appearing in her purple pupils unnerved Gwen and made her wonder where "returning to her roots" brought her.

"I've changed! Much like Ben! And I'm the only one who could understand him right now. He can't do this on his own, he even admitted to needing help. We're the ones that he's counting on to have his back."

Gwen tensed when the witch compared herself to Ben, she didn't know if it was just a coincidence or fate telling her that Hope had been up to some really twisted shit. Ben changed but it wasn't for the better. Things couldn't get much worse and she needed to rethink her gameplan, especially if Ben won't be joining them. She wasn't going to account for her cousin directly fighting them but she doesn't expect a helping hand from him either. Gwen was backed into a corner with the heroes surfacing around the area, they were unstable and disoriented. A leader was needed to gather them under one umbrella. A scuffle between lone-wolf vigilantes and a team of Plumbers caused some tension between the two entities, but for the most part they stayed away from each other.

"I'm counting on you to bring Ben back to us, Hope," Gwen laughed as she faked a smile.

"Thank you. Seriously. This means alot to me."

The redhead nodded at Hope and laid her head back on the pillow. Charmcaster took this as her sign to leave. She chanted a little blessing for Gwen's recovery before exiting the room with a small smile.

Ben exhaled deliberately as the nurse wrapped his arm in gauze. He blacked out after the fight with Gwen and Carly dragged him back to the HQ medical wing. Everything was moving in slow motion from the pain-killers they gave him. He could still feel his aching body through the meds. The brown haired agent watched his partner enter the room with a clipboard. She ignored his presence for the moment and scribbled some things down on the paper. Ben grew rather curious with what she was writing, so he craned his neck to get a peep.

"It's an accident report," Carly said as she continued to fill out the form. "Because you can't read a fucking room."

"I sense some negative energy."

The blonde glanced up at her injured superior with an angry gaze.

"What the fuck was that back there?"

"She hit me first!" Ben whined, as he waved the nurse away.

Carly watched the lady leave the room and pull the door behind her.

"I'm talking about you purposely firing at a building filled with civilians!"

"I was testing her mettle."

"What! Ben, this isn't some fucking college ethics class. We're supposed to be the law that people rely on, protectors of the galaxy and shit. You may think you were playing mind games with your cousin, but people's lives were at stake!"

"Okay! I admit that I went a little overboard then but I had the situation in control."

"Yeah? Then who was the other chick that showed up? I bet you didn't foresee that coming."

Ben looked down for a moment as if he was contemplating something.

"It was Charmcaster, wasn't it?"

"If you knew who it was then why'd you ask?" Ben accused.

"Because I wanted to know if you trusted me enough to speak up," Carly shot back. "But clearly I haven't earned the trust of the famed Ben Tennyson."

"Oh come on, you know it's not like that, Carly."

"You know what? Fuck you, sir. I have stuck my neck out for you day in and day out! And when it comes to telling me a fucking name, there's an issue all of a sudden."

"She's a wanted criminal! What the fuck do you want me to say?!"

"Tell me! What? You think I was going to tattle on you? So what! As far as I'm concerned, there isn't a law saying you can't know criminals. So the real question here is, why were you so worried about me knowing your association with her?" Carly declared, jumping up from her seated position.

Ben didn't say anything and she started to become very irritated. Carly was able to tolerate her boss for the most part but his actions as of late have been extremely unlikable. She has stood by his side even in the active commission of war crimes and not once has the woman given up her superior.

"I see how it is. I can't believe I fell for that hero bullshit-"

An explosion and the rocking of the room interrupted Carly's sentence. Red filled the room as the emergency lights went on and the alarm made a high-pitched screech. The duo heard muffled screams from behind the door.

"What the fuck is that?" Ben asked as he glanced at Carly.

She slowly opened the door to complete chaos, medical staff were scrambling in different directions and security forces were rushing off down the hall. She tried to stop fleeing personnel to ask what was going on, but everyone ignored her and continued their escape. That was when she saw it. A creature with hundreds of spikes covering its body charged up the hall into an unlucky staff member. The beast jumped into his chest and knocked him to the floor, where it began to rip him apart with its claws and monstrous mouth. Blood and flesh sprayed everywhere as the man shouted for help. A guard put several bullets into the monster and it disappeared into murky shadows, it was far too late for the man though.

Carly quickly closed the door and turned around to Ben with a distressed stare.

"We're under attack."

"What?! By who?" Ben yelled as he jumped up and headed straight for the door.

Carly grabbed his wrist and shook her head at him. Ben was getting a little nervous from his partner's expressions. He pushed past her and opened the door to see an unexpected sight. Charmcaster was standing on the other side with a wicked smile, Ben jumped back and she stepped into the room. Carly drew her service pistol and pointed it at the silver haired witch.

"Get away from her, Ben."

"Hope? What are you doing here?"

Charmcaster tapped the man lightly on the chest and Ben flew back into the hospital bed with a grunt. Carly yelled Ben's name as she watched him rag doll. The blonde narrowed her eyes and unloaded on the approaching witch. All of her bullets were being deflected by an invisible wall. She heard the click of her empty gun and reached for another clip when a spear made of mana pinned her against the wall by her shoulder.

"FUCK!" she cried as the spear pushed deeper.

"CARLY!" Ben shouted. "Hope! Stop! She's on our side!"

"Oh Ben, these pathetic creatures aren't our allies. The plan was to destroy the Plumbers, remember?" Charmcaster corrected, with a crazed smile.

"You don't understand-"

"It seems that these horrible Plumbers have brainwashed you. Don't worry I'll take care of them for you."

Charmcaster turned towards Carly and stepped over to her.

"She's on OUR side! Don't touch her!" Ben yelled.

Hope's hand was about to make contact with the blonde's face, when a column of flames exploded from the door in her direction. Charmcaster sensed the danger emanating from the approaching fire and took her eyes off Carly to guard the attack.

"You've got some serious balls, bitch!"

The wall that was connected to the door was completely melted down into goo, giving you a view into the burning hallway. Ben recognized the voice as Aidan's, the fire demon was standing with another figure in the wrecked hallway. Hope stepped away from the blonde to her new opponent with her wand in hand. Another presence appeared behind her and vanished within a second but her increased perception was able to catch a glimpse of the dark-haired woman. Blink teleported over to Ben next and grabbed a hold of his shoulder, before nodding to Aidan and Horus then vanishing again.

"Ben doesn't belong to you," Charmcaster growled at the two men before her.

"Let's talk about how public enemy number one thought it was okay to invade our headquarters," Horus asserted.

"Ben doesn't belong to you," she repeated louder.

"You seem like a crazy ex-girlfriend," Aidan announced. "Sorry but homicidal maniacs just aren't the rage anymore."

The battle between two black ops soldiers and Charmcaster was about to commence aboard their HQ. Hope's fusion with Drak has left her mind split and her personality shattered, making her act out of her normal judgement. The witch's chance to reap the fruits of her labor has arrived against the fire demon and the special eyes of Providence.