Sorry for the delay in updating...I got really busy with my favorite time of the year. Had my Halloween party last weekend and then participated in the Trunk or Treat at my church the next day so I was completely worn out for the little bit that I was home last weekend. So I figured I would try to build up a decent sized chapter to compensate for being thrown off schedule so here you go! Hope it's good enough and I hope ya'll will start to give me a little feedback so I know how you are enjoying or not enjoying this! Happy Halloween! ^_^
"Oh my God, I didn't think she'd be back so soon!" I stammered, my internal panic exploding outward. Me, Dan, Wong and Peter all emerged instantaneously in the foyer of the Sanctum in a stumbling manner. The portal I had conjured closed hastily behind the four of us and cut us off from the blue alien woman that had appeared so suddenly in the old dorm room.
"Who's back?" Peter asked as his mask materialized back into existence, shielding his suddenly paranoid face from view.
Wong moved hurriedly away from our little group and I noticed that several of the sorcerers we had been running from earlier were already standing shoulder to shoulder, armed at the ready with glowing mystical weapons for the threat they knew was coming. I looked up at the large window over the staircase, the light from the late morning sun catching off of the newly recharged wards over the Sanctum. About three or four of the scattered sorcerers were still chanting incoherently with their glowing hands raised towards the roof of the building and as I watched, a blast of golden mist washed through the walls from the protective spells outside and down towards the room where I assumed Proxima Midnight had emerged.
"That won't do any good, she's already here!" I insisted to no one's notice. Wong turned around once the golden light had diminished, his gaze criticizing.
"If Proxima Midnight were still up there, then we would have heard a very destructive explosion as that spell hit her." Wong said, his voice low and calm. I shook my head in disbelief and moved toward him seriously to prove my point.
"No…she came through some kind of portal…I can't believe you didn't see it! It was this ugly blue color and –"
"Alex, we didn't see anything."
I turned to Dan who had spoken up from my right. His face held genuine worry for me and I felt suddenly scrutinized under his stare. I stood back a little straighter and looked between Wong and my friend.
"Then why did I see her just now?"
Dan shook his head, unable to answer my question. I noticed that his attention suddenly flickered to Wong who had also turned away from my ramblings.
"Has the Sanctum in Kamar Taj been alerted?" Wong asked Casey and Grayson who stood closest to us. Casey gave Wong a curt nod and pointed to a group of young sorcerers by the large front door of the Sanctum. They were in the midst of blocking the door with confining spells and what looked to be some kind of booby traps should the enemy try to come our way.
"Michael and Victor came as soon as they heard. The rest will be along shortly once the Sanctum in China has been notified." Casey said quickly. She looked past Wong and to me and Dan and Peter who had once more donned his mask.
"What's the plan?" Grayson asked stiffly, as he stepped in between us and the staircase where three sorcerers had finished their work upstairs and were hustling down the steps to join the rest of the scattered troops.
"Illusions. Alex's seemed to keep Proxima Midnight confused enough to overtake last time for the most part, so we'll use that should anyone decide to turn up." Wong directed. The crowd of sorcerers, about three dozen all together, nodded as one and then eerily moved together in their perfected motions, golden sparks flying up above them simultaneously. In the blink of an eye, every one of them wore a glowing green Time Stone around their necks.
"Perhaps it would be best if we make the real one disappear." Casey suggested lightly as she moved past Wong and waved her hands fluidly in my direction. There was a warm sensation that shimmered against every molecule of my chest and neck that the pendant and chain touched. When I looked up to see that Casey had finished her brief conjuring spell over me, I realized that she had made the Stone completely invisible to the eye, even mine.
"What if I need to use it?" I asked her, gently touching the space on my chest where the necklace still rested. Casey gave me a half smile and shrugged.
"It's still there and ready should you need it." She said simply.
"Why don't I just make my whole body invisible? I was able to fool you when I did that earlier." I suggested lightly. Casey smirked teasingly and shook her head as she turned away from me.
"You didn't fool me for a minute, Hot Shot." She said. "But if you want to try and hide the whole time, be my guest." I stared after her, wide eyed and blushing slightly as she left to aid the other sorcerers in their planning.
"So…if she wasn't really there…then why did I see her?" I asked Wong again before he could run off to converse with someone else or attempt to give orders. The sorcerer turned to me patiently.
"He's toying with us."
"Who? Thanos?" I asked him quickly.
"He has possession of the Reality Stone. He's attempting to weaken our defenses and drive us into giving up the Time Stone willingly." Wong explained, his eyes darting around skeptically at the surrounding sorcerers before his gaze finally landed on me.
"But…we would never do that…" I said slowly. Wong nodded briefly and lowered his gaze to the invisible space where the Stone lay hidden on my chest. He clapped a hand firmly on my good shoulder.
"Keep reminding yourself that, Alex." He said lowly so that only I could hear him. He turned around briefly as one of the other magically-practiced people, Michael I think, reported something to him.
"…What does he mean by that?" I asked Dan quietly. He had been standing solemnly by my side in silence for several minutes and when I turned to him he shook his head and pointed down at my chest.
"Just that you need to make absolutely sure that the Time Stone never leaves your sight. Er…your possession." Dan said with a side smirk. I studied his face worriedly before I turned back to Wong.
"So…Thanos can't get in." I said, trying to understand what Wong had said.
"At the moment, no, and we'd like to keep it that way." He said in his authoritative tone.
"Okay…so what can we do to enforce that?" Spiderman piped in, taking the words right out of my mouth before I could say them. Wong regarded the masked hero thoughtfully before he responded.
"Thanos is currently in Wakanda attempting to obtain the Mind Stone from the remaining Avengers. The Avengers' plan is to destroy the Mind Stone before Thanos has a chance to get to it. Should that happen, we can expect that he will immediately be upon us here." Wong explained simply. The whole foyer of the Sanctum was silent as everyone within earshot processed his words.
"Has…Has the Mind Stone been destroyed yet?" Peter asked quietly, his voice reverberating loud and clear through the silent room.
"Unfortunately no. The Mind Stone still lies in the head of an android created partly by Tony Stark." Wong answered drily. "They're attempting to remove the Stone before destroying it so as to spare him."
"It's a robot? Why are they worried about whether or not they blow it up too? Is it important or something?" I asked in confusion.
"To us, no. But one of the younger recruits to the Avengers seems particularly attracted to the android." Wong said in an almost bitter tone. I glanced to Dan skeptically and he shrugged in equal puzzlement.
"Shouldn't the young recruit know how much rests on their decision to hesitate in destroying the Stone?" Peter asked, once again reading my mind. Wong looked over at Spiderman at the same moment I did and I noticed that the white eye pieces in the hero's mask widened in sudden realization. Peter pointed at me and then seemed to notice that the Stone he was referring to was invisible. "Why don't we just destroy this one too? Ehh…Wherever it is?"
I looked over to Wong in hopeful silence and Dan also turned speculatively towards the head sorcerer.
"Can we do that?" Dan asked, for once hopeful instead of resting dismally under the worrisome cloud that had been hanging over him since the Orb of Agamotto had shown him the possible future events. Wong was silent for a long moment before he sighed deeply and clasped his hands behind his back.
"Strange's last comment on the matter was a definitive 'no'."
"Then there must be some way to reverse what's happening." Casey said, having been listening intently to our bantering. "Do you think that's a possibility?"
"Thanos already has four of the Infinity Stones." Wong reminded us sternly.
"Can we not go back to before he had them so that we can somehow prevent this whole collection he's been putting together?" Peter asked quickly. He gestured over his shoulder. "I agree with you, Mr. Wong, sir…with those four Stones back on Titan, he was pretty much impossible to beat."
"That's not how the Time Stone works." Wong said bluntly. I looked down at the invisible space where the Time Stone still hung around my neck.
"How do you know everything about how it works? Have you used it before?" I asked, knowing that it was a stupid question. I quickly tried to add something to make it sound more lighthearted. "I'm pretty sure that there are always new things to learn with this…"
"This is no time for playing, Alexander." Wong said, scowling darkly in my direction. I winced as I stepped back to let him continue scolding me in front of everyone. "Just because he gave you the Time Stone that day, doesn't mean that Stephen Strange was in his right mind."
An audible intake of breath erupted in the Sanctum's foyer as the other sorcerers and practiced people heard Wong's sharp words. I let them sink in for a moment as I lowered my gaze from Wong's clearly overwrought face. I stared at the wooden floor beneath me, feeling all eyes on me.
"I…I've offered several times for you to take this stupid thing…but you won't do it. I don't know what else to tell you because every time I think things are going to be okay…they suddenly seem like they won't again. I'm sorry, Wong." I said, not taking my eyes from the ground at my slippered feet. There was nothing but remaining silence in the wide front room of the Sanctum, no one speaking or even moving.
Finally I looked to my side to see that Dan was discreetly motioning to me. He nodded upwards toward the stairs, his eyes looking around cautiously at the surrounding people. I followed his gaze toward the grand staircase and when I looked back down at him confusedly, he rolled his eyes lightly and then cleared his throat sheepishly.
"What if we all take a breather and spread out to strengthen the wards over the Sanctum? Maybe do a run through and make sure no alien ladies are hanging around in the mansion." Dan suggested loud enough so that everyone around us could hear him.
"That sounds okay to me." Peter said eagerly, when no one moved or said anything right away. He flicked his wrist and shot a string of web towards the ceiling and swung himself up the second floor energetically. I looked back over at Wong whose gaze had followed Spiderman and was now slowly looking away distantly, many heavy thoughts clearly passing through his mind. The surrounding sorcerers seemed to be waiting his response, because when he finally nodded warily, the crowd began to disperse, breaking into groups of two or three and trailing down hallways and through adjoining doorways. Dan tapped my injured shoulder gently to get my attention and then motioned for me to follow him towards the staircase where I could see that Peter was waiting at the top, his wide white eyes looking around at the artifacts and décor up there. As we climbed the stairs, I was distantly aware that Casey and Grayson had stayed down in the foyer with Wong who was still standing motionless in thoughtful silence.
"We're taking orders from kids now, are we?" Grayson's voice drifted up to me as he gently prodded Wong to speak. I made myself keep looking straight ahead as Dan and I reached the second level, but my heart fell suddenly as I heard the sorcerer who had trained us finally speak.
"For the first time in my life…I'm not certain about what needs to be done."
"Are you guys sure you want to hang out with me for this clean sweep we're doing? I might hallucinate and fire something at the next wall that moves." I said drily as Peter, Dan and I chose to investigate one of the many hallways at the top of the stairs.
"Hey, there's nothing wrong with seeing things." Dan said sarcastically as he chanced opening the first door on the right side of the hallway. He stuck his head into the room and after seeing nothing out of the ordinary, he closed it back again seconds later.
"Well, not necessarily. Thanos was making all sorts of weird things happen with that Gauntlet. Some of it didn't seem to be real…But Doctor Strange really took care of some of that stuff." Peter said, stopping as he recalled the battle that had occurred for him just a little while ago.
"The Reality Stone." Dan muttered thoughtfully as we continued on our way down the hall. "As the name states, it allows the manipulator to control Reality. Kinda creepy if you think about it."
"Do you think he's able to use it from wherever he is to mess with my head here? Maybe that's why I saw Proxima Midnight earlier." I suggested, trying to make sense of the whole hallucination I'd had in the dorm room.
"I don't know. But why else would you see her when the rest of us didn't?" Peter asked, stopping to peer curiously at a worn painting that hung crookedly on the wall to the left of the hallway.
"Maybe because I was watching out for her?" I guessed, shrugging slightly and rubbing at my bandaged shoulder as a dull pain throbbed through it. "I'm honestly really not looking forward to facing her or her spear thing again."
"Neither am I." Dan said under his breath as he opened yet another door to look into a room that was cast in a pink glow. He blinked against the bright light and I tried to peer over his shoulder to see what he had found, but after a moment he closed it again and resumed walking skeptically.
"You know…this mansion is pretty awesome. You guys sure have been lucky to be here this whole time while this scary 'end of the world' stuff is going on." Peter said as he straightened the painting with his gloved finger. As soon as the painting reached the point where it looked straight on the wall, there was an audible click and a section of the wall at the end of the hallway pushed outwards, startling the three of us.
"Yeah…" I said in response to his comment, my gaze trained carefully on the section of wall that had been removed. It was roughly the size of a doorway, and I glanced to Dan quizzically.
"Secret passageway?" Dan guessed lightheartedly. I blinked and nodded absently, looking to Peter whose mask retracted back to reveal his startled expression. He looked at the two of us, waiting for our reaction.
"Y-You two didn't know that would happen?" He asked as he looked back and forth between us and the door in the wall. We simultaneously shook our heads in answer and he straightened himself with authority. "Well…I guess that means we have to go investigate it then."
"…Right." Dan and I replied together. Moving as one, the three of us headed slowly down the quiet hallway and towards the open section of wall before us.
"Curious boys…"
"How wonderful…who let them venture by themselves again?"
"They really love getting into trouble don't they?"
As we neared the doorway, I heard the familiar hushed whispers that I had discovered earlier in the morning when I had been with Wong. I tore my gaze away from the waiting secret passage to seek out which direction the voices were coming from this time. I paused by a doorway on my left and rested my hand on the doorknob.
"Hey Dan…did you know that this Sanctum has ghosts?" I asked casually. Dan and Peter both stopped, intrigued and I heard the voices on the other side of the door start up again.
"He's going to do it…"
"Not again! We just got comfortable in here!"
"Oh I don't think I like this boy…"
"Woah…" Peter breathed as he heard the ghostly voices. His eyes looked from me to the doorknob where my hand lay ready to twist it open.
"No…I wasn't aware of that…but then, that really doesn't surprise me very much after seeing what kind of stuff goes on in this place." Dan said amusedly, crossing his arms expectantly. Peter looked suddenly worried at our relaxed attitudes.
"Hey…ghosts are bad…aren't they?!" Peter asked, watching as I slowly turned the doorknob. He leapt back in preparation before I had even cracked the door open. "I don't think we should mess with them!"
He was drowned out by the sound of cannon fire and then the three of us were nearly shoved off of our feet by a wave of cool air. Seeing nothing else out of the ordinary in the room the invisible ghosts had erupted out of, I closed the door and grinned devilishly as I heard the cannon blast from downstairs somewhere across the building. Peter stood with his back pressed against the opposite wall, his hand clutched over his chest and his already frizzed hair stuck up in every direction from the blast of wind. Dan was peeling himself off of the wall as well, with an amused laugh escaping him.
"Wow…wonder what Strange keeps them around for?" Dan said after another easy laugh. Peter looked between us both with a look of disgust.
"That wasn't very funny…what if they had hurt us?" He asked, looking down the hall in the direction the blast of air had retreated to.
"I found them earlier this morning. Wong wasn't freaked out by them so I figure they're no real danger. Kinda funny how they just jump from room to room though." I explained as we resumed walking down the hall towards the revealed passageway.
"Yeah…we've kinda gotten used to weird things going on here. We almost drowned in the library last night." Dan said, his voice picking up with a little excitement at the end. Peter stopped once more and stared at Dan in disbelief.
"You're kidding. Why?" He asked, intrigued. Dan shrugged and looked at me as we remembered how really scared we had both been in that moment.
"Training exercise." I answered him simply. "Wong's idea."
"Wow." Peter said in awe. Then he shrugged in acceptance. "Well, with the little bit of time I spent with Doctor Strange and from seeing what he was capable of…I guess I could see that with the kinda company he keeps too."
"Yeah." I said softly as we finally reached the end of the hallway and the secret passageway. I paused and then looked back at Peter and Dan who seemed to be waiting for me as well. I glanced down at the invisible Time Stone on my chest and then conjured up a golden mandala to light the way in the dark hole in the wall. "You guys ready to explore?"
"Always." Peter said unsurely as Dan nodded halfheartedly. I looked back one last time, hearing nothing but silence in the hallway around us. When neither Dan nor Peter voiced any last minute objections, I shrugged unsteadily and led the way into the secret passageway. Upon passing through the doorway, I was aware that my glowing mandala provided no light whatsoever.
"Okay…never mind…" I said quickly, turning back and shoving into Peter and Dan who were right behind me. That was when I noticed that the doorway that led back to the lighted hallway was gone and that we were stuck in the total darkness of the secret passageway.