[Sokovia. Eastern Europe. The Forest.]
Snow crunched under heavy boots. The air was filled with the whine of repulsors and the roar of the Hulk.
"Shit!" Tony yelled, banking the Mark 43 around a Hydra bunker. "They have an energy shield! The Scepter must be powering it."
"Language!" Steve Rogers called out over the comms, throwing his motorcycle at a jeep.
"Wait," Tony paused. "Did Cap just say 'language'?"
"I am afraid he did, Sir," Sebastian's voice came through clear and calm. "It seems the Captain is feeling particularly paternal today."
[The Ground War]
Sebastian Michaelis was walking through the battlefield. He wasn't running. He wasn't hiding.
A Hydra tank aimed its turret at him.
Sebastian sighed. He reached into his coat and pulled out a handful of silver forks.
Thwip. Thwip. Thwip.
He threw them with supernatural force. The forks pierced the tank's barrel, jamming the firing mechanism. The shell detonated inside the barrel.
BOOM.
Sebastian walked through the smoke. A Hydra soldier charged him with an exo-suit. Sebastian side-stepped, grabbed the soldier's wrist, and used the man's own momentum to throw him into a tree.
"Please," Sebastian dusted off his gloves. "Do try to coordinate your attacks. This is getting tedious."
[The Bunker]
"We have an enhanced in the field!" Steve warned. "A blur. Fast."
"Pietro Maximoff," Sebastian noted, watching a blue blur knock Hawkeye down. "Quick. But sloppy."
Sebastian entered the bunker. He sensed something else. Not speed.
Magic.
It smelled like ozone and old blood. Chaos magic.
He walked down a dark corridor. He knew Tony was heading for the Scepter room. He had to clear the way.
A girl stepped out of the shadows. She had dark hair and red leather jacket. Her hands glowed with scarlet energy.
Wanda Maximoff. The Scarlet Witch.
She looked at Sebastian. She saw a man in a butler's uniform.
"Get out of my way," Wanda hissed.
"I am afraid I cannot do that, Miss Maximoff," Sebastian bowed slightly. "My Master requires the glow-stick."
Wanda smirked. "Then I will make you move."
She raised her hands. She didn't blast him. She wove a spell of fear. She reached into his mind to find his greatest nightmare.
Let me see what you fear, butler.
Red mist swirled around Sebastian's head. Wanda's eyes glowed. She pushed her consciousness into his.
[The Mindscape]
Usually, when Wanda entered a mind, she saw memories. Tony's fear of failure. Steve's fear of the war ending.
When she entered Sebastian's mind, she saw...
Nothing.
No light. No walls. No floor.
Just an infinite, suffocating black ocean of despair.
Then, the ocean opened its eyes.
Millions of eyes. Red. Hungry. Ancient.
A voice echoed in the void, not spoken, but felt in the marrow of her bones.
"YOU DARE?"
A massive, demonic hound—larger than a mountain—rose from the darkness. It had Sebastian's smile, but it was made of teeth and shadows. It snapped its jaws at her mental projection.
[Reality]
"AHHH!"
Wanda screamed. She fell backward, clutching her head, blood trickling from her nose. She scrambled away from Sebastian, terrified tears streaming down her face.
"What are you?!" Wanda shrieked, pressing herself against the wall. "You... you're not a man! You're a graveyard!"
Sebastian stood over her. His eyes weren't glowing. They were just cold.
"I am simply a butler," Sebastian whispered, leaning down. "And you, little witch, should be careful which doors you open. Some things in the dark... bite back."
Wanda, traumatized and shaking, didn't fight. She dissolved into red mist and fled.
Sebastian straightened his tie.
"Rude," he muttered.
[The Scepter Room]
Tony flew in, landing hard. He stepped out of the suit.
"That was weird," Tony rubbed his head. "I felt... cold for a second."
"Drafty castle, Sir," Sebastian walked in behind him.
Tony looked at the Scepter floating in the anti-gravity field. The Mind Stone pulse.
"There it is," Tony said. "The key to Ultron. The key to ending the fight so we can go home."
He reached for it.
Sebastian watched him. He felt the Scepter trying to sing to Tony again. Ambition. Peace. Control.
"Sir," Sebastian warned softly. "Be careful. That stone has a bad habit of giving you what you want, but not what you need."
"I know what I'm doing, Seb," Tony grabbed the Scepter. "I'm going to build a suit of armor around the world."
Sebastian's eyes narrowed. He saw the shadow of the future—a metallic, cold future.
"As you wish, Young Master."
[End of Chapter 26]
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