Pietro's change in appearance in this chapter is meant to address the fact that the actor playing him in WandaVision is not the same one who played him in Age of Ultron which made it seem odd that Wanda didn't realize, even in her grief-stricken state, that the man claiming to be Pietro wasn't really him. So I thought it would make sense if the enchanted necklace that was used to brainwash the fake Pietro also disguised his appearance to make Wanda think she was talking to the real Pietro. The only difference is that I'm making the way Pietro is depicted in WandaVision be what he actually looked like in this universe while the man who was pretending to be him actually looks like the way Pietro does in Age of Ultron just to be ironic.
Episode 82: Witches and Marémon Transformations!
Wanda looked at her brother in confusion. "Pietro? What are you doing?"
"I'm not your brother," Pietro said, taking off the beaded necklace he wore.
Standing in place of the silver-haired Pietro was a young man with bleach-blond hair.
"My real name is Ralph Bohner, and I'm an actor," the young man formerly known as Pietro said. "Agnes hired me to pretend to be your brother so I could watch you for her."
"You did what?" Wanda looked between Ralph and Agnes. "Does that mean you two aren't married? I don't understand what's happening!"
"Quiet, dear," Agnes said, placing her hands on Wanda's shoulders. "I said I would take care of everything, didn't I?"
"Yes," mumbled Wanda.
"Then if you agree to give me what I want, all your troubles will be over," Agnes said.
"And what do you want?"
Leaning in close, Agnes whispered, "Your power."
"You mean…my Mutant abilities?"
"No, dear, you're not a Mutant. You're a Witch, just like me."
Then purple energy flowed from Agnes' hands up to Wanda's head. She felt the room spinning around her before everything went black.
"So let me get this straight," MJ said to Felicia. The two of them and Peter were taking their lunch break at school now wearing the same clothes they wore before entering the Hex Barrier sitting at a picnic table outside. "You saw Thor at the carnival that's been active since last year?"
"Yes, I went there this weekend out of curiosity," Felicia responded. "Normally I don't go to carnivals, but then all these pictures started circulating online of your Asgardian friend being a Marémon Tamer with Liz as his assistant while Betty and Darcy were doing fortune telling. So I had to see for myself, and they were all really there."
"Was Monica at the carnival too?" Peter asked.
"No, she wasn't," Felicia said.
"Odd," MJ remarked. "Because if Thor and the others are here, that means the Hex Barrier must have expanded at some point between last year and now. Yet Monica isn't accounted for, meaning Felicia either missed her or she wasn't present when the barrier expanded. Was Director Hayward in the carnival anywhere?"
Felicia shook her head. "I didn't see him either."
As MJ pondered over this, Peter was tempted to bring up the argument that broke out between MJ and Felicia during the Halloween dance last year. He didn't think their fight came from natural circumstances, nor did their settlement of the argument. So he started to think that maybe Wanda brainwashed Felicia and MJ to fight in order to drive them and Peter apart, but it didn't explain why she allowed them to make up after. Then what Agnes said about knowing what he thought creeped back in, and a terrible thought crossed his mind.
"Guys, what if…Agnes…is a Witch?" Peter said out loud.
Hearing this, Felicia laughed. "Don't be ridiculous! Witches haven't been seen in the Marvo Region since the Salim Witch Trials."
"I know, but maybe some survived," Peter guessed. "Agnes did tell me she knew what I was thinking, and Señor Scratchy completely obeys her like a familiar would."
"That's not enough to prove she's a Witch," MJ objected. "Wanda could've been controlling Agnes to say those words, and you can train Marémon to be obedient without being a Witch to do it."
Just then, something fell out of the sky and onto the table Peter, MJ, and Felicia sat at. It was the squirrel-like Marémon and it was making frantic gestures. Peter felt his hand suddenly vibrate and move magnetically towards the Marémon. Felicia and MJ's hands did the same thing, causing them and Peter to touch the Marémon at the same time. A flash of bright light followed, and in the Marémon's place sat Monica wearing an astronaut suit that was white with a black star-shaped insignia.
"Monica?" Felicia, Peter, and MJ said at the same time.
"Yeah, it's me," Monica said as her eyes briefly turned neon blue. "I guess you got infected by my scrambled molecules."
"We did, but they helped us snap out of Wanda's control," MJ said. "But what are you doing here, and were you that Marémon?"
Sighing, Monica folded her legs onto the table. "After you three went through the barrier, Director Hayward showed up with a white version of Vistro that he used to subdue Thor, Liz, and Betty. Then he detained me and Darcy for questioning, but I used my condition to make my bonds disappear along with Darcy's. She helped me get an astronaut suit that Hayward was going to have me wear for further tests on the barrier and then I went through it.
"On the other side of the barrier, I had turned into the squirrel-like Marémon you just saw. I tried to get your attention by scratching on the door to the shed you met at, but then I realized there would be no way of communicating to you since I couldn't speak. So I laid low until the Halloween dance, where I attacked Agnes hoping that helping you guys might get you to trust me. But when I went to the shed, I saw MJ and Felicia with Peter's Marémon looking upset and confused. Then Wanda showed up and she hypnotized MJ and Felicia to head over to the diner before getting Peter and bringing him to the diner as well under the same hypnotic state.
"Not knowing how brainwashed you were, I decided my best course of action would be to watch Wanda and Agnes because I thought they were working together. But I was completely wrong! At Wanda's house just now, I heard her confess to making this whole reality out of grief from those she lost. Then Agnes kidnapped her with Señor Scratchy taking Wikkid and Spedfoal after being summoned by Pietro, who's really an actor that was paid by Agnes to be Wanda's brother."
To be continued…
