"The Fool that doesn't belong to this era..." Wanda chanted in an exaggerated whisper, dancing playfully around him. "Oh, Great Master of the Fog, shall we bring the incense? Or perhaps a sacrificial goat?"
Even Sharon joined in, leaning toward Pietro with a conspiratorial smirk. "Does he always get this dramatic after a big meeting?"
"Usually he just buys a company," Pietro joked, though he watched Aryan with a wary eye, already feeling the strange static in the air. "Alright, alright. I'll say the words. If it means I don't have to worry about a bullet catching up to me for the next five centuries, I'll call you the 'King of Sparkles' for all I care."
"It's 'King of Yellow and Black,'" Aryan corrected with a mock glare, though a smile was tugging at his lips. "And it is serious. If you mess up the rhythm, the anchor won't take. So, stop the teasing for thirty seconds and focus."
He reached out, taking Wanda's hand first… since she had already been through the initial Super Soldier serum ritual, she was the "stabilizer." Then he gestured for Pietro and Sharon to place their hands on his shoulders.
The mood in the lab shifted instantly. The lighthearted laughter lingered in the air like a ghost, but as Aryan began the recitation, the temperature dropped a noticeable twenty degrees. The air hummed with a power that had no place in the world of science.
"Repeat after me," Aryan commanded, his voice a resonant hum. "The Fool that doesn't belong to this era..."
Pietro looked at Sharon, mouthed the word 'Cult' and then sighed, surrendering to the absurdity. "The Fool that doesn't belong to this era..."
"The Mysterious Ruler above the gray fog..." Aryan continued.
Sharon's voice was steady, the trained cadence of an agent, but her eyes were wide with a mixture of awe and disbelief. She could feel the static electricity rising in her hair, the very atoms in the room vibrating. "The Mysterious Ruler above the gray fog."
By the time they reached the line, "The King of Yellow and Black who wields good luck," the reinforced glass partitions of the lab were vibrating audibly.
"The King of Yellow and Black... who wields good luck," Pietro muttered, his speedster senses screaming that something fundamental was happening on a level he couldn't perceive.
Wanda added her voice, her teasing tone replaced by a resonant power that seemed to amplify the ritual. Her scarlet energy, now under her complete control, began to weave between their joined hands, a visible thread in the invisible tapestry. "The True Creator who embodies luck, deception and fate."
As the final plea… "We pray for the mercy of your gaze"… left their lips in a unified chorus, the room seemed to implode with a blinding white light.
Pietro gasped, stumbling back as his metabolism, already accelerated, hit a new level of efficiency. He felt the Beta Level Regeneration snap into place, a wave of warmth that locked his every cell into a state of youthful perfection.
Sharon leaned against the lab table, her breath coming in short bursts. The minor, chronic aches of a life spent in espionage simply ceased to exist.
"Oh," Sharon whispered, looking down at her skin, which seemed to glow with a new vitality. "I feel... solid. Like I'm made of granite."
"That's the five hundred year clock, Sharon," Aryan said, stepping forward and catching her as she swayed slightly, his touch grounding. He pulled her into a reassuring hug, then did the same for Wanda, who was basking in the afterglow of the ritual, her magic singing.
Pietro shook his head, vibrating his hands to test his absolute stability. "Okay. I'm fast, I'm immortal and I have a cult leader for a brother in law. This is officially the weirdest day of my life."
"Get used to it, Pietro," Aryan laughed, pulling Wanda back into his side. "Because we have a lot of work to do. T'Challa and Namor are landing in ten minutes. We have a Winter Soldier to fix."
Wanda kissed Aryan's cheek, her eyes glowing with a mixture of love and power. "But first, can we get those robes? I think I'd look great in scarlet velvet."
Sharon didn't let the moment pass. Stepping forward with a radiant smile, she leaned in and pressed a lingering kiss to his other cheek, her hand resting briefly on his chest. "If we're going to be immortal, we might as well do it in style," she added, her voice dropping into a playful hum. "But for the record, I'm holding out for something in navy blue. It matches the 'cult' aesthetic better."
Aryan stood there for a moment, flanked by two of the most powerful and beautiful women in the world, feeling the weight of the five centuries he had just secured for them.
Pietro, however, had reached his absolute limit. He made a theatrical gagging noise and turned away, throwing his hands up in the air. "Oh, please! Not in front of me! I'm immortal now, which means I have five hundred years of this to look forward to? I'm going to go vibrate my eardrums until they bleed. Call me when the Kings get here and we actually start doing something that doesn't involve flirting!"
"If Pietro is going to be this dramatic for the next five centuries, we might need to buy a second Hive just for his ego," Aryan laughed, pulling both Wanda and Sharon closer into a comfortable embrace.
Wanda rested her head on his shoulder, her fingers tracing the line of his jaw. "Only five centuries? I was planning on teasing you for at least a millennium, Aryan. You make it far too easy when you stand there giving 'The Future of Humanity' speeches."
"It's the chin," Sharon added, reaching up to adjust Aryan's collar with a playful smirk. "He tilts it just enough to look like he's posing for a statue. It's very 'Sovereign of the World.' Though, I have to admit, the cult leader look is growing on me. It's a very commanding aesthetic."
Aryan looked between them, his heart full. "I'm surrounded by comedians. I literally just rewrote the laws of life and death for you two and all I get is fashion critiques and statue jokes?"
"Oh, poor Aryan," Wanda cooed, her eyes shimmering with a faint scarlet light as she leaned in to whisper against his ear. "Don't worry. We love the statue. We just like to see if we can make the statue blush."
"She's right," Sharon whispered from his other side, kissing the corner of his mouth before stepping back with a wink. "It's a very important stress test for your new high speed regeneration. We need to see if your heart rate can actually keep up with us for five hundred years."
Aryan chuckled, his hands lingering on their waists. "I think I'll manage. But if you two keep team teasing me like this, I might have to add a 'No Mocking the King' clause to the Tarot Club bylaws."
"You wouldn't dare," Wanda giggled, nipping at his earlobe. "You'd be too bored without us."
"She's got you there, Aryan," Sharon laughed, leaning back against the lab table. "You bought us five centuries because you couldn't imagine a single day without this 'noise.' Admit it."
Aryan sighed, his expression softening into one of pure affection. "I admit nothing. But... I suppose a little noise is a small price to pay for forever."
The moment was interrupted by the resonant thrum of a high altitude jet descending toward the Hive's private landing pad. The playful atmosphere sharpened instantly into one of professional readiness.
"That's the signal," Aryan said, his eyes turning toward the hangar bay doors. "Tony, T'Challa and Namor are on that bird."
Wanda straightened her posture, her scarlet energy beginning to simmer around her fingertips, a quiet promise of power. "Well then. Let's go show them that the Hive doesn't just have better tech… it has better company."