Disclaimer: I own nothing that you recognise (and I'm borrowing a couple of things you may not recognise from sources you simply may not be familiar with); be assured I'll identify anything relevant when it comes up.

Feedback: Always appreciated

AN: Back to Peter-Two's Earth, as we are introduced to a couple of other heroes currently active on this world (one directly, one indirectly)…

Scarlet Witch and the Three Spiders

Doctor Strange.

Reed Richards had suggested that she get help from Doctor Strange.

Wanda wasn't sure if it was ironic or the universe displaying some sadistic sense of humour to get back at her for her past mistakes, but there had to be some deeper meaning behind the idea that the counterpart of a man she had recently killed had suggested she look for the counterpart of the man who had been fighting her mere days ago. The only blessing was that the 'local' Doctor Strange had apparently told Reed that he would be out of town on unspecified business until later that night, so at least Wanda had time to adjust to the idea before going to see him, but that had still left her with a day to think about everything she would have to say to this 'local' doctor.

Peter had left to go on patrol- a concept that surprised Wanda even if she understood it- while leaving Wanda with a place to meet up before they went to see Strange. Reed had even given her a cellphone in case she needed to make some calls and a bit of money in case she wanted to buy anything while she was out. This gave her her time to just take a walk around New York, exploring the city without worrying about being mobbed by fans or enemies.

It was a strange sensation in a way, but after dealing with the varying levels of attention from being an Avenger to being a fugitive, it was refreshing to be able to walk around New York just as Wanda Maximoff rather than any kind of celebrity. Peter had given her a little money so that she could buy herself some food while she was out, and she even spent a pleasant hour or so browsing in a bookstore and checking out a couple of novels.

Out of curiosity, she looked up a few books in the non-fiction section, and was particularly surprised to find one book written by a Doctor Elizabeth Ross, a name she recognised from Doctor Banner's backstory during a conversation she had about him with Natasha after she joined the team. She had even managed to find another book discussing the history of the Second World War, and wasn't sure how to feel about the idea that even without Hydra and Captain America, that particular war seemed to have been just as bloody in this world as it was in her own. She would admit that history wasn't her strong point, but the general details seemed to match what she remembered, such as D-Day and Hitler's suicide…

Wanda shook her head with a brief smile at her own train of thought. The question of how this world's history diverged from her own might have been at least academically interesting to other members of her team, but right now Wanda just wanted to focus on getting home and reuniting with her other selves. She felt fine so far, but if just dreamwalking could risk an incursion, staying split like this had to be dangerous as well.

Still, for the moment nothing seemed to be 'wrong', so until anyone told her there was an obvious problem she would keep looking for a way home but allow herself a chance to explore this new world while she was here. She had managed to find a restaurant that offered some interesting foreign options that reminded her of Sokovian cuisine even if her country didn't seem to actually exist here (and she wasn't going to waste time working out what that meant about history), and after enjoying a good meal, she had continued walking through the streets. Even as the sun began to sink below the horizon, Wanda continued to appreciate the shift as house and street lamps came on to replace the sunlight, appreciating the simple hustle of life around her after spending months in isolation during her study of the Darkhold.

She might be lost in another world with only a few new possible allies, but there was something to be said for being able to relax and feel like she was just part of humanity again…

Wanda's train of thought was interrupted when she heard something making a gradually-building sound in the distance, putting her in mind of a rougher version of some of the vehicles she'd used when she was with the other Avengers. A glance around confirmed that she was currently in a quieter part of the city, which at least justified why she was hearing a particular engine at this point, but that didn't explain the growing sense of foreboding that seemed to reach her on a level beyond anything she'd felt before…

"Oh no," Wanda muttered to herself as she tensed up, keeping the red glow contained as she focused on the noise. She didn't know what she was sensing or even how she was sensing it, but even with her relatively limited knowledge of actual magic, she somehow knew that something was coming towards her with considerable power. She briefly thought about running away, but pushed that down before it could develop further; after everything Peter had done to try and help her so far, she wouldn't put innocent people at risk from something that was apparently hunting her specifically.

Unsure what she was going to find, Wanda waved a hand to transform her civilian clothing into the garb she wore as the Scarlet Witch and leapt into the air, heading for the source of that strange sensation. The first step was basically just an elongated leap into the air to see what she might be about to face, but that question was swiftly answered when she saw something literally blazing through the streets towards her. Wanda briefly wondered if this was Johnny Storm flying low, but swiftly dismissed that idea; she definitely hadn't sensed any magic about him in their last meeting, and if something had possessed him it would probably be flying higher than that.

Now aware of the location of what she was sensing, she adjusted her ascent to move towards her apparent target, keeping herself high while making sure not to let out too much energy in case she drew attention from the people below. She thought about sending a message to Peter, but she decided it wasn't worth the risk; she didn't know what she was dealing with, and from what she knew of Peter she was worried he wouldn't be able to hold his own against a threat like this.

Changing the rate of her flight once again, Wanda dived down to a point where she estimated she would be able to meet the flaming figure, hoping that the surprise would give her some kind of advantage. She reached the ground just as her target came around the corner, and generated a wall of red energy that brought her would-be attacker to a halt in a relatively empty street. She stepped back as the other man struck the barrier, giving her a moment to take in how her opponent was wearing black leather, before she realised that his motorbike wasn't just glowing from the impact against her force field but was actually on fire. She tried to work out what she was up against, but the figure on the bike pressing against her force field suddenly leapt off the vehicle and threw a long chain at the barrier, the chain striking it-

Wanda reeled back as she actually felt a pain in her head at the moment the chain hit the barrier, as though it had struck her skull rather than something she'd created. Briefly off-balance, Wanda lost focus and the barrier collapsed, leaving the man on the bike free to take up position alongside her. Wanda stared in horror at the sight of the man from the bike, wearing black leather but apparently a flaming skeleton underneath it, looking at her in a manner that seemed particularly malevolent even with his natural appearance taken into account.

"You will be judged," he declared.

"Not by you," Wanda said, holding up her hands defensively. She would be prepared to face some form of justice from Strange and his associates when she returned to her world- regardless of the Darkhold's influence over her actions she had done a great wrong to several of them- but she wouldn't accept punishment from something like this. Lost for better ideas, she lashed out with further energy blasts, striking the new arrival in the chest, but while she sent him staggering back she didn't stop him. Reluctant to go all-out in a residential area, Wanda launched a few additional blasts to try and keep this entity contained, but no matter what she hit him with he just got back up and kept coming towards her. Wanda was about to risk a more powerful blow when an increasingly familiar red-and-blue shape swung in and struck her attacker with a powerful kick.

"Pe- Spider-Man?" Wanda stared at her new ally as he landed alongside her. "I thought-"

"There was a flaming skeleton charging through New York; why would I not get involved?" the older hero pointed out before he fired a large burst of webbing at their still-unidentified opponent. "We just need to-"

Whatever Peter was about to say was cut off when the webbing he'd already launched towards their foe suddenly seemed to catch fire. Peter only just managed to jump back and separate the webbing from his wrists before he caught fire himself, but then a flaming chain emerged from their opponent and wrapped itself around Spider-Man's torso. Wanda yelled out in horror as her new friend was sent flying down the street, but didn't have time to react before another chain wrapped itself around her own waist and yanked her forwards. The chains vanished before Wanda could do more than register that the chain hadn't been as hot as it looked, but then bony fingers grabbed her shoulders and held her in place.

"LOOK INTO MY EYES!" the creature yelled, and Wanda suddenly seemed to have no choice but to stare back into the large holes in the creature's face. She felt as though she was falling into some kind of deep hole, a hole so deep and long that she could keep falling for the rest of her life and never reach the bottom… Billy and Tommy were screaming for her to help them… Agatha was staring at her in shock as she turned the other witch's runes against her… Vision was staring at her in shock as she overloaded the Mind Stone in his head… Thanos could only look at her in confusion as Wanda turned her full power on him… Pietro had vanished from her senses after a moment of intense pain… she was tearing out Ultron's core processor… she was fighting the Avengers alongside Ultron… she helped Steve and Pietro save that train…

The sensation suddenly ended and Wanda found herself standing in front of the skeletal figure, which stepped back and raised a hand to point at her.

"Not guilty," the creature said.

Wanda didn't even have time to feel confused before the blaze around her attacker suddenly seemed to go out and flesh reappeared over its body. The figure now appeared to be a man in his mid-forties, with a high forehead and dark hair, looking at her in a solemn manner.

"That was… different," the man said, his tone awkward as he looked at her. "Saying 'sorry' feels a bit inadequate, but… I mean, what else can I say?"

"I… thank you for offering," Wanda said, trying to put her own confusion aside to focus on getting some answers. "What… was that?"

"Ghost Rider," the man replied with a shrug. "Think of him as the Devil's bounty hunter; I'm the guy who lets him go around on Earth."

"Devil's bounty hunter?" a voice said from behind her, Wanda almost jumping in shock before she registered that it was the local Spider-Man. "That's… different."

"…I see," Wanda said, wondering once again how a Sokovian orphan had grown up to have these kind of conversations. "And… what does that mean?"

"Basically means I get dragged off against my will to go and hunt down bad people who did bad shit when he takes over the driving seat," the man said, shaking his head as he looked at her. "But for what it's worth, you're actually not that bad."

"Not that bad?" Wanda and Peter said simultaneously.

"I mean… look, I got drawn here because my passenger sensed your power and your past sins, but once he actually saw you…" The man looked at her with a thoughtful expression that made Wanda think of Clint's early attempts to apologise to her about Pietro's death. "Well… whatever you did, the Rider's a pretty good judge of character."

"Judge?" Peter looked at the man with new curiosity. "Your… you're saying you're possessed by the devil's bounty hunter… and he's letting Wanda off?"

"From what I've picked up over the years since I got this, title aside, the Ghost Rider isn't exactly a demon, but he's more of a… kind of a corrupted angel," the man explained tentatively. "He does things more ruthlessly than you'd expect of an angel, but he's still got rules and limits on what he will or won't do…"

"Which is why he's going after actually bad people rather than just… letting them do more evil?" Peter looked cautiously at the man in leather. "And why he just threw me away instead of… something else?"

"Sends the really bad ones to face their judgement but lets off any minor sinners, accepts my input in some more morally complex cases before he makes his final call, minimises collateral damage if anyone gets between us and our target, and ignores the truly innocent," the man nodded before he looked at Wanda. "Anyway, his judgement is part of this thing I'm told is called the Penance Stare. Basically, when the Rider looks someone in the eye, he can make them feel and experience every bad thing they ever did to someone else after seeing it for himself."

"Oh," Wanda said, before she took a moment to think about that and looked at this man with new surprise. "He saw what I did… and he didn't judge me?"

"Oh, he judged you," the man gave her a grim smile. "He just judged you not guilty for reasons of… I think grief-induced insanity is the best term?"

"…What?" Wanda looked at her attacker in surprise. "I… what?"

She had been trying not to think about how Strange and the other sorcerers would react to her if she ever got back home, but to be informed that the devil's bounty hunter was letting her off…

"I didn't exactly get the specific details, but everything you did wrong… either you were manipulated into it by someone else, you didn't consciously know what you were doing, or you were… under the influence of something," the man squinted slightly at her. "Actually, that last one's a bit hazy; what were you doing before you got here?"

"…I was trying to harness the power of the Darkhold."

"Hold on a minute…" Peter looked over at Wanda before he clicked his fingers. "That's the magic book you told me you were using, right?"

"Right," Wanda nodded, grateful that Peter had remembered that on his own even as she hoped that she wasn't about to lose her only ally in the world. "I was… trying to use its power to help find my children… and it drove me to do… terrible things before I realised what I had become…"

"Terrible things like…?"

"Drain the power and life from an innocent because I was going to steal the children from another version of myself, and kill people who were standing in my way."

"Ah," Peter said, before he gave an awkward shrug. "Well… speaking as the guy who did bad things because of his own suit… I agree that being used by some kind of dark magic object lets you off the hook for some stuff."

"You… you don't blame me?" Wanda looked at him in surprise.

"I get that it's only from books, but if a diary and a ring can corrupt or control people, who's to say what other kinds of magic can make people do bad things?" Peter pointed out with a tentative smile. "I nearly killed a random crook and my best friend because of an evil suit and still only really realised what I was doing when I hit the woman I love; probably safe to assume an evil book like that pushed you further than anything I was dealing with."

"What he said," the man in leather nodded in agreement. "Whatever that Darkhold was… the Rider's picking up some serious dark magic in you even if you've rejected the book itself, but the important thing is that you rejected it. You can take responsibility for thinking you could use its power in the first place, but you can't blame yourself for giving in to what it wanted you to do."

"Even after what I did?" Wanda looked over at him sceptically.

"Do you still want to do any of the things you did under its influence?"

"NO!" Wanda said sharply.

"There you go then," the man in leather nodded at her. "You've made mistakes, but you can still atone for them; focus on that rather than obsessing over where you went wrong."

Wanda didn't know what to say to that, even as she couldn't take her eyes off the two people standing before her. A man who had dedicated his life to protecting a city that didn't even know his real name and a man who apparently carried the Devil's bounty hunter within him… two people who had every reason to condemn her for her past mistakes, and yet stood here ready to forgive everything she had done wrong.

"…Thank you," she said at last, giving the man a cautious smile as she held out her hand. "Wanda Maximoff."

"Johnny Blaze," the man responded, shaking the offered hand before he nodded over at the other man present. "Read about you; you do good work."

"Thanks," Peter said, as the now-named Blaze got back on his bike, kicked it into motion, and raced off down the road once more. With the bike now a more standard vehicle as opposed to its previously flaming appearance, it wasn't long before it had vanished into the night, leaving Peter and Wanda to look awkwardly at each other.

"So," Peter said at last, his arms folded as he stared at the dimensionally-displaced Avenger behind his mask, "care to explain why you didn't tell me about that guy straight away? I mean, if he was sensing you, I kind of assume that you could sense him…"

"I…" Wanda began, quickly disregarding the idea of trying to lie after everything Peter had done for her already. "I wasn't sure you could handle it."

"Should I be offended?"

"It's just… well, supervillains is one thing, but demons and magic are another," Wanda said. "I appreciate how you've helped me while I'm here, but I didn't want to force you to go up against something…"

"Hey, I get it," Peter gave her a reassuring shoulder squeeze. "One reason I keep up a secret identity is that I'm making sure Mary Jane and May stay out of some of the worst stuff I have to deal with. Just remember that I am here to help you if you need it; I like to think you'd do the same for me if something came up before we can get you home."

"I would," Wanda nodded, surprising herself with how certain she was about that decision. She might have barely worked with 'her' Peter back in her world, but so far she had been enjoying interacting with this version of him, and had faith that if circumstances demanded it she would work rather well with this Spider-Man if he needed help while she was here.

"So," Peter looked at her in a manner that suggested he was grinning under his mask, "I think we're about overdue to have a talk with the doctor?"

Wanda wondered what it said about herself that she still found that particular idea almost more nerve-wracking than the thought of what she'd just experienced.