The charred double doors that led into the main casino hall of the ceasar palace, in Las Vegas were blasted away by a burst of orange energy , and a bright light filtered through the opening.
Stephen Strange slowly floated inside the demon infested casino. The expression on his face was controlled and calm.
The neurosurgeon prodigy turned master wizard slowly looked around as hordes of lesser demons, started swarming him.
" I 've come to talk to Mephisto. Would you kindly point me in his direction"
The demons snarled and roared in fury in response, and then they attacked .
With an unimpressed look the former Sorcerer Supreme fought back against the hellish hordes .
Lances of energy skewering the residents of hell , fireballs being turned into clusters of harmless butterflies , claws clashing ruinosly against invisible barriers . Strange weaved through spell after spell, the reality around him and his opponents bending beyond recognition.
As he made his way deeper in the now almost-hell, overcoming the surprisingly light demonic resistance, Dr. Strange pondered what the demon lord plan amounted to.
Not long after leaving Loki in the sancta sanctorum, he had been warned of a shift in reality happening in the city of sin itself, so evident to not even show an attempt at concealment, blaring like a lighthouse in the astral plane .
The demon lord was boldingly attempting to drag the city in its own plane and take possession over the souls of its inhabitants.
But since he had reached Nevada, Strange felt a weird form of unease gripping him. He had dragged a number of other new york heroes to protect the citizen of las vegas from the physical attacks from hordes of demons appearing in the ceasar's palace .
He had left the city almost devoid of protectors considering that a lot of heroes had been called on the search for the missing mad Titan by carol danvers and adam warlock. Many heroes got immediately to work protecting and containing the area around the casino. He even rembered , as he entered the luxurious building a young girl in white and pink exclaiming" yeah go get him, Stephen . " as she used an unidentifiable yellow bar with writing on it to club a demon on the head " and ask him to give the Marriage back"
Stephen didn't have any idea what she was talking about, he was a little too busy wracking his brain.
'This invasion makes no sense 'he thought making his way through the affected areas 'no illusions, no rituals a straightforward attack. on the physical plane. This isn't the strategy of a manipulative demon lord but of a brute. What is he planning ?'
This he was thinking as he finally reached the center of the distortion.
The view of Mephisto lazily lounging on his stone throne, greeted him.
"Mephisto" the doctor calmly let out.
"Strange" the demon lord answered as calmly, just as used to this confrontation.
They spent several minutes, staring each other down and seizing up the respective opponent.
Until the doctor grew tired of this.
" what exactly is you plan here ? " he broke the silence hanging in the large room.
Mephisto smiled , a smug smirk showing his pearly white fangs , before answering the question.
" oh, I just tought of some nice real estate to add to my realm. You know how it is in the current economy . Always invest in the brick."
" You say that but ... how come you havent set up any rituals or spells to achieve that purpose ? You just infested this place with some accurate deals and attacked the surrounding areas, not quite effective to that end ." The brittle haired sorcerer said smoothing the tip of his goatee with his index and thumb.
The demon huffed " umph, I don't really do gloating despite who I am, after all, it's exactly what brought upon thanos first defeat, so let's get back to crushing you, mortal"
And with a casual gesture, mephisto shot out a powerful black beam from the palm of his hand .
Strange was almost too surprised by his opponent eagerness to fight, to properly summon a powerful mandala shield.
"almost" being the key word here.
After dispersing the surprisingly weak spell, stephen decided to step up immediately in order to strike hard and fast against his powerful opponent .
Putting his hands in meditative pose, the man chanted a string of spells, as a barrage of pillars of light engulfed mephisto .
The demon lord, shockingly, was kicked out of his seat by the strenght of the attack.
He was crawling his way back to the throne as stephen floated closer to his writhing opponent.
"It's over Mephisto. Go back to your realm."
The infernal lord seemed to smile through the pain .
" sorry, strange , but this is just the beginning... oh and my father send his regards "
Strange surprised by his words , finally decides to check for minor illusions.
He didn't think of doing so , so used to them being dispelled by the eye of agamotto ... that he currently didn't have.
A quick handwave and mephisto disappears only for Blackheart to appear in his place.
But before strange could react much , the son of Mephisto lashed on the side of the throne with one of his black tendrils, hitting an hidden rune that let out a small apparently innocuos magical shockwave.
Strange could suddenly feel his magic being drained away, even from his cape of levitation.
"Why? I Recognize the rune , this is a temporary spell , that cuts me off from magic for barely 24 hours. What is Mephisto's plan ? "
The red eyed abomination chuckled darkly.
" Father had his sights on much more than a single city, and he couldn't have you meddling in."
He says before disappearing back into his fathers realm , leaving behind a confused, stuck in nevada sorcerer with its empty trap.
Norman Osborn was Livid.
He sent scattering to the ground the items on his old desk, with much less strenght that he had gotten used to.
The original green goblin was nothing more than a normal human currently , the nanites in his blood stream stopping the effects of the goblin formula.
And the cause of his rage was the very simple fact that spider-man had bested him , many times over at that .
Many of his attempts ever since the end of his dark reign had been focused on the fall of his mortal enemy.
He wanted to best him, to humiliate him, to destroy him... but his current state stopped him from doing even a quarter of that .
He wasn't strong enough, cunning enough, he wasn't ... himself enough.
Even the trinket he had stolen from the red skull didn't allow him to do much about his condition, the fragment didn't have enough power to achieve what he needed it to.
'Although... ' a smile of satisfaction appeared on the business man face ' it allowed me to get payback on that wimp Parker and that slut Watson. Those fools!!! Harry had a chance of becoming a real man before their good will infected him, now he is just a sheep, like all others. My own son taken from the greatness I envisioned for him. '
His seething thoughts were interrupted by a booming voice, echoing in the darkness of his empty, cold mansion.
" aaah, Norman, Norman , Norman" it said in a chiding tone.
" who is it? SHOW YOURSELF!!! " osborn shouted to the shadows around him.
" just an onlooker , observing your fall from greatness "the voice said mockingly.
Norman turned towards the now identifiable location of the voice , facing his large mirror.
But the mirror wasn't showing his reflection, instead it showed a swirling darkness and two blazing golden eyes , looking at him, piercing him through his soul.
Norman felt stunned for a moment before his arrogance brought him to regain some composure .
Adjusting his tie, the man answered to the unidentified entity "I haven't fallen quite yet"
"Indeed" the deep dark voice answered " but I find myself in a generous mood and I hold a proposal for you, if you'd be willing to listen"
" what kind of proposal, demon ? " norman let out, strong in the arcane knowledge he had obtained under the brotherhood of the scriers.
" I could fix your little medical condition and allow you to use your powers again ."
" If you intend to turn me into..."
" Please. I Dont need more minions , I would just make it so that the technology used on you wasn't made, and you'd be free to use your precious formula again"
Norman kept a poker face, shrewd businessman he was , but hopefully considered the prospect' I could use my powers to finally kill him , I have delayed long enough, breaking him hasn't worked this far I could always torture his loved ones with his unmasked corpse looking on'
" at what price ?" He asked imperiously.
" well" the voice answered as the eyes showed an hint of amusement
" did I mention that I felt generous ? "
And as the creature explained, Norman's face showed some annoyance but that annoyance was quickly replaced by a gleeful evil smirk.
" we have ourselves an arrangement " he said offering his hand
Osborn didn't even flinch when a clawed, red skinned hand grasped his in an handshake.
Tony stark was feeling... weary
The unstoppable futurist of steel was pretty exausthed as he entered his living quarters on the S.W.O.R.D. admiral ship that housed him and many other heroes as they zig zagged through the galaxy, looking for the missing Thanos.
The mad Titan who once killed half the universe had disappeared into thin air , and neither adam warlock nor Carol wanted to take the chance that he had just found the hobby of gardening. They had assembled the Avengers , who in turn assembled a general heroes rally to scour clues and look for leads across the universe and intervene in whatever scheme being assembled.
Without much luck, though.
This he was thinking while getting out of his mark DXLIV , large bags under his eyes, his goatee now a full beard.
He casually said " FRIDAY, run the usual maintenance checks and diagnostics" he yawned " I'm going to sleep"
But as soon as his head hit the pillow , his AC/DC ringtone blared out at full volume from his stark phone, the picture of Kyle from south park on one of his lectures appearing on screen.
" What's new, watson? "He says with the amount of cheek his sleep deprivation allows him
"TONY!!!" The urgency in the woman's voice woke up the man.
"Woah , what did doom do this time ?"
" This is serious, Tony ." Mj says reproachingly
" oh god, what did Riri do? She didn't declare war on another country, right ?" Tony asks concerned.
MJ groans in frustration
" Shut up and listen . I got attacked "
" what ?!?! Watson... how ? You were in the japanese equivalent of the mid west ? Who attacked you ? A.I.M.? H.Y.D.R.A. ? And why ? "
" It was some kind of ...monster. you know how it is. And besides it didn't have anything to do with you . It had to do with me . " her tone lowered at this.
" does this have to do with peter ?"
"Kinda. Anyway , I need to get back to new york ASAP, can you send me a quinjet."
"Sure , I mean..."
" And the Iron Spider armor"
An awkward silence fell in the dim lighted room.
Tony laughed nervously " eh eh, what are you talking about Watson, i got rid of it back when you asked after..."
"Cut the crap, Tony!!! I talked with Pepper , and I know how much of a little kid you can be about your toys.
Heck, I've seen it myself ."
" wait ... you talked with Pepper? " a weird hope could be heard in his voice " did she... did she ask how I was doing or anything?"
" TONY, NOT NOW!!"
" Yikes, I'll get right on it , I even made some modifications, just in case Jessica wanted an upgrade ."
" I know , i've seen it in the storage area . There is also something else there , something that Peter asked me to get rid of some time ago, he couldn't bring himself to, put that also on the jet, please." She requested with some plea
As Tony made the text arrangements with wedensday ( his AI still on planet ) he asked the distressed woman
" just what put you on the warpath, Watson? Why so eager to see your ex?"
" I found my Daughter"
For one of the few times in his life, the smooth talker known as Anthony Stark didn't have a lot to say.
Eddie Brock was feeling on top of the world at the moment.
Maybe it had to do with the fact that he was currently a " we " as he was reunited with the venom symbiote and was beating the crap out of a would-be Rapist.
The hulking dark reflection of spider-man licked some blood out of the injured criminal open gashes , the sweet coopery taste filling his mouth.
The deserted NY alley was filled with the terrified whimpers of the criminal.
The large mouth of the symbiote opened and a deep double layered voice came out " hm, you feel tasty. a couple years back and we would have made a nice snack out of you."
Terrified, The perp tried to swing a right hook at the monstrous face, only for Venom to grab said arm in his large hand.
" But you're lucky" he said breaking the arm, prompting a scream of agony from the criminal's lips "We are trying to be better than that ."
He then used his organic webbing to prop up the wall his opponent, and procedded then to swing away in the night sky.
'It's good to be back '
It is
' the power, the rush , doing good '
We could have not hurt him that badly
'What ?' Eddie thought surprised
It was unnecessary
'wow Symby, you have truly gone soft with that thompson guy'
We have learned much from him
' well try to unlearn it. Lowlives don't deserve to be treated with velvet gloves, thats a mistake that unlike parker we are not willing to commit .'
Venom's internal dialogue was interrupted when they noticed a small figure crying on a nearby rooftop.
It looked like a small girl crouching and sobbing desperately, her face covered by her orange colored hair, in a red dress.
' not exactly our department but she is an innocent '
Indeed
As venom flipped in the air, its costume smoothly shapeshifted. The toothy maw disappearing and the jet inky black turning into a friendlier red and blue .
Close to the girl, spider-man landed on the rooftop and kindly asked " are you alright ? "
The girl just kept on crying almost soundlessly.
As the shapeshifted Venom got closer he asked " where are your parents kiddo ? "
Now crouching beside her, he tried to gently turn her shoulder to face him .
But when he did he quickly regretted it.
Blue eyes looked at him .
And red
And green
And brown
And many other colors on the little girls face
Althoug a lot of eyes without a nose , mouth or any other features could hardly be called a face .
Venom was too stunned and terrified to react in time , as the thing quickly leapt onto him and absorbed itself in his costume.
And as she did both entitities forming Venom felt a unyelding pain that encompassed them completely and ... voices .
So many overwhelming, different voices that annihalated their sense of self and took them over completely.
And as eddie brock and the symbiote lost control over their very bodies the last thing they heard was a deep voice nearby saying:
" my thanks, Legion. Hello mr. Brock i'm in need of your assistance ."
Then darkness.
A.N.: phew, lots of jumping around the marvel universe this chapter . Hope you enjoyed the different happenings , they are set up for later events and for things Peter and Mj are gonna have to deal with . I may have gotten some things wrong but I hope they aren't too distracting and that I didn't inject too much MCU into Tony .Let me know what you think.RRP.S. thumbs up if you recognize the armor mark number and what its referring to