~X~
Spoilers ahead!
"Uh..."
A giant squid-like creature was the attacker. Several long tentacles marked in golden runes and one giant eye made up the creature.
"You know, it's kinda cute," Kat had to admit as the invisibility spell vanished.
However, that 'cute' giant eye narrowed severely as it saw them, and they saw it.
He wasn't distracted for very long though, and stretched out one of his tentacles towards the younger of the two women. Thinking quick, Stephen shot a spell forward, slicing off the tentacle, causing the creature to roar in pain, which quickly surged into anger.
"America, go!" called the injured girl.
"No! I'm not leaving you! It's after me!"
"Yes, it is, I'll only slow you down-"
"AHH!" The younger girl let out a scream as the bus they were still in tipped, thanks to the tentacles of the squid-creature - it was lifting up the bus, crushing and shaking it.
The bus tipped and the women fell out the crushed opening, and Stephen threw Cloak, just catching them and bringing them to stand by the sorcerers in safety.
Or not - not quite yet.
"Do I know you?" Stephen asked the younger woman.
"Watch out!"
She pointed as the squid hurled the crushed up bus at them, Stephen casting a spell which sliced the bus right in half.
"One of the them is injured," Kat told him. "We need to get them out of here-"
Before she could finish, a tentacle burst between them, smashing Stephen backward. Cloak still held the two women in safety, but the creature was chasing them.
There was a nearby flash and a glowing rope tangled itself around the creature. Wong had opened a portal and joined the fight.
"You know it's customary for Sorcerers to bow in the presence of the Sorcerer Supreme," he said as Stephen rejoined them.
"I'm aware of the customs - I'm just not sure now's a good time." Cloak snuggled back around his shoulders, flapping violently. In Cloak's attempt to help the two women, it had been beaten down by the squid and dropped them halfway up a building. Now the squid was climbing up towards them.
The three sorcerers cast magical chains, catching the creature, but it was strong enough to keep going, pulling them up along with it. And so up they went - up, up, up...
The younger of the two kicked down some rubble on the creature, but this didn't deter it and it continued in its climb.
A broken street sign pole was lifted up by Stephen's spell, shooting upwards and plunging itself right into the squid's eye.
There was a sickening squelch! and the eye was ripped right from the socket and fell to the ground, the squid's giant body following with a shaking CRASH!
Kat opened a portal down into the street so the women were no longer atop the building. "Just a regular day in New York," she said with a shake of her head. "This is gong to be one hell of a clean up."
"Yeah," Stephen sighed. "Could you-" 'Could you explain' was what he wanted to say, but the two women were gone - and so was his sling ring.
"They stole my slingy."
"Yes, they did," chuckled Wong.
Sneaking away, the women rounded the next corner - only to find the three Sorcerers standing there waiting for them.
"Nice trick, very clever, but we just busted our asses trying to save you from that giant octopus thing, so we'd like to know who you are and what's going on," Stephen said, holding his hand out for his ring.
"My sister's injured!" cried the younger of the two. "We need help!"
"We can help." Kat stepped forward towards her doppelganger. "May I?" She held out her hand.
The woman had gone much paler, but nodded, and Kat waved her hand, glowing with magic, over the wound, a deep cut in her side. The wound sealed up.
"Where'd you learn that?" asked Stephen.
"I don't share everything with you, just like you don't share everything with me - like how you're not happy."
"Hey, that's not-"
"Thank you, Master Ekaterina," the woman said, some strength seeming to return to her.
"Yes, thank you," cried the sister.
"You're welcome - and you know who I am."
"We do. We know you, well, another you."
"Another me?"
"Yeah - how familiar are you with the Multiverse?"
"Not very familiar," Stephen said once the small group was settled in a nearby café. The sisters were very hungry and tired from their escape and sorcerers needed some answers. "Except for a recent issue with Spider-Man-"
"What so Wong and I were gone for what, five minutes, and you managed to break open the multiverse?!" cried Kat.
"I did no such thing."
"Spider-Man?" said the younger woman.
"Miles Morales?" asked her sister.
"Who?"
"He's Spider-Man, a Spider-Man. I've met him before."
"Maybe, we don't know who he is. He has the powers of a spider-"
"Eww-" The younger woman, no older than a teenager, wrinkled her nose. "Does he look like a spider?"
"No. He swings and shoots webs-"
"From where? From his butt?"
"Eww."
"I don't know..."
"Don't think so..."
"Hope not..."
"Anyways, that's not important," Stephen said, trying to get back on track.
The younger woman chuckled. "He's all business isn't he? They're all the same," she said in Spanish.
"Pardon?" Stephen responded.
"This one doesn't speak Spanish?" she cried, still in her native language.
"I don't even think he enjoys speaking English," Wong responded, also in Spanish.
The sisters exchanged an amused glance.
Stephen was getting frustrated. "Listen, I did leave a very nice wedding to help you-"
"Wedding? What wedding?" asked Wong.
"Christine's."
"You married Christine?" cried the teenager.
"You went?" cried Wong.
"Do you mind?" A café patron came over with their phone, hoping for a picture.
"Yes I did, no I didn't, and yes I do," he answered each of the questions respectively.
"We both did," added Kat. "She invited me too, it was very nice."
"Hmm, so are you two married then?" the doppelganger asked, nodding between Kat and Stephen.
"No!"
"That doesn't matter," he cried again. He looked to the teenager. "You were in my dream."
"Creepy," said her sister.
"It wasn't a dream, I was with Other You. I'm being chased by monsters summoned by a demon."
"Well that sounds dark..."
"The Darkhold," said Kat softly.
"You think it's the Darkhold?" cried Wong.
"Demons? Monsters?" Need she say more?
"Why are they chasing you?"
"They want to take my power for themselves."
"What's your power?"
"I can travel the Multiverse."
"At will?" asked Wong.
"Well, not really, I can't control it. Other You," she nodded to Stephen, "was helping us escape, only he betrayed us and was going to take my powers."
"Where did you meet this other me?"
"I don't know, some sort of gateway he called it - there was an artifact there that he believed could help, it was pure good, could directly go against the power of the Darkhold-"
"The Book of Vishanti!" cried Wong.
"The Book of Vishanti," scoffed Stephen. "It's a fairytale, it doesn't exist."
"You and your, 'I don't believe in fairytales or chakras or the power of belief'," Kat said, lowering her voice to imitate his. "I told him he should be more open to things and sometimes he is, but other times not so much.
"That's like Other You," the teen told her. "You were always cursing his stubbornness."
"Sounds about right."
The teen turned back to Stephen. "Other You believed it was real and that it could help."
"There was a book in my dream-"
"It wasn't a dream," she insisted. "It was real. Dreaming is just you being tethered to your other selves' consciousness for a time. It's all real."
He stared at her. "Prove it."
Saw the movie again so I'm hoping to remember as much as possible! ;)
Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)