No-One But You (The Mystic Consultant) - Part 1
Chapter 72: Red Lights (Part 2)
Clint Barton was ditched, but he made the most of it. The archer ventured off from where Ezekiel left him, and he started exploring the vast terrain.
He tried to follow the others at first, but Victor's precious boyfriend dragged them too far away. The young archer took off toward the horizon before he headed up as high as he could.
Barton perched himself high up on a tree and he got a pretty good look at the entire area. Clint looked around for any sign of wildlife, but he quickly realized that he wasn't alone.
Stephen Strange was toward his right. He was staring at another tree, while his ...
...
His younger brother was standing there beside it. Clint saw them both, and he suddenly felt super awkward.
He didn't want Victor seeing him where he was, so the baby archer tried to vanish and relocate. That plan didn't work at all, because his nerves got the better of him.
Clint started thinking that he would be spotted up there if he tried to move around, so he remained where he was for the time being.
He felt incredibly stupid up there, and he wasn't sure why. His focus migrated back in Victor's direction pretty quickly, because the baby sorcerer finally said something to his brother.
Since they were technically alone, Victor finally decided to apologize for leaving Sofia's birthday party. Stephen heard him and he glanced in Victor's direction.
"She loves the puzzle box that you gave her."
Victor didn't need to apologize. They all understood that he was having a hard time. It felt like the brothers were feeling out what to actually say. They were reading energy, checking vibes, and seeing which road to take for the chat.
It needed to happen a long time ago, and so much had transpired since the birthday gathering for Sofia. Stephen drew in a slow breath, then he gave his brother a small smile.
"If I take on the role of Sorcerer Supreme here, won't that make me a threat?"
Victor's tone changed up a bit. The thought of being a threat to Stephen or his wife and daughter meant several things. From Victor's perspective, it meant that he was probably getting close to joining most of his relatives.
They all died because they were a threat...
All so the great Stephen Strange could reign supreme. That's the real reason why members of his family kept drowning in a lake, or why they mysteriously died in other dimensions.
They were murdered, and Stephen was to blame.
"You chose to do this. That makes you very strong Victor. Not a threat."
Stephen was very proud of his brother, and relieved to have him standing there beside him. Victor only heard clever words when Stephen responded to him. He only heard careful words. He saw them now as being calculated, for what?
Before Ezekiel left, Victor discovered the truth about his brother. He knew why all of his relatives suddenly died. Victor found some sort of identity through that information, and it was dragging him through a rough path of darkness.
The issue was mentioned here and there, but things were changing. Things were different. Sofia was taken back "home" to the Dark Dimension, but that was a place where the actual Sorcerer Supreme didn't belong.
He was thinking about stopping Stephen in that moment. Ending him, so the rest of the family could live free. The thoughts filled his heart where he stood, and he tried his best to manuever around them.
Becoming the Sorcerer Supreme could help him do it, and that's why the idea felt attached to his soul.
Victor felt something warming up, right there as he looked at his brother. The conversation became dark very suddenly, and Stephen gently closed his eyes.
He already explained himself back at the Sanctorum. Stephen made sacrifices in his dimension so he could keep his siblings with him. Stephen paid a high price for doing that, but he couldn't argue Victor's thoughts.
...
"I need you here."
"Why tho? I'm just dead everywhere else."
...
Why oh why did the great Stephen Strange really need him? Victor kept wondering. He was expendable in all of the other dimensions, so...
Clint Barton was hearing all of that. He couldn't believe what he randomly heard, and it felt like the brothers were about to fight or something.
Victor seemed...
It felt like he was going to attack Stephen, or possibly provoke him. The archer watched, but in his mind he started planning some sort of distraction.
He thought about throwing a branch in their direction, or yelling at them so the terrible conversation would end.
Chapter: END
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