[Westview. 2800 Ellis Avenue. The 1980s.]
The kitchen was a chaotic explosion of pastels. Wanda was wearing floral leggings and a vest with shoulder pads that defied gravity. Her hair was teased into a frizzy halo.
On the kitchen table lay Sparky. The family dog.
He wasn't moving.
Billy and Tommy (now ten years old, thanks to rapid aging) were crying.
"He ate the azalea leaves!" Agnes sobbed, clutching a handkerchief. She wore an aerobics outfit that was aggressively purple. "I told him not to! Oh, it's just tragic!"
(In the corner of his eye, Sebastian saw Agnes smirk. A micro-expression. She wasn't sad. She was delighted.)
"He's gone?" Billy wiped his eyes. "But we just got him!"
"I'm so sorry, boys," Wanda said, her voice trembling. "Sometimes... things happen that we can't control."
[The Test]
Sebastian Michaelis stood by the refrigerator. He wore a black turtleneck and a gray blazer with sleeves rolled up to the elbows—the height of 80s chic.
He looked at the dead dog. Then he looked at Wanda.
This was it. The control group.
"Is he truly gone, Mrs. Maximoff?" Sebastian asked, stepping forward.
Agnes stiffened. "Now, Sebastian, let's not make it worse. Death is part of life. Even in... New Jersey."
"But is it?" Sebastian ignored her, focusing his gaze on Wanda. "You fixed the broken swing set with a wave of your hand. You turned a black-and-white world into Technicolor. You created these children."
He gestured to the twins.
"Why is a dog the line in the sand?"
Wanda looked at him. Her eyes were red, brimming with tears and unstable magic.
"I... I don't know if I should," Wanda whispered.
"You can do it, Mom!" Tommy pleaded. "Fix him! Like you fix everything!"
"Don't do it, Wanda," Agnes warned, her voice dropping the sitcom act for a second. "You can't reverse death. It breaks the rules."
"Whose rules?" Sebastian challenged. He walked to the table and placed a hand near the dog. "The rules of nature? You rewrote those when you woke up this morning. The rules of God? God isn't watching this channel."
He leaned in, his voice a seductive whisper of pure temptation.
"Do it, Wanda. Bring him back. Show us that death is just an error code you can delete."
[The Attempt]
Wanda looked at the boys. She looked at the dead dog.
She raised her hands.
Red mist swirled around her fingers. The Chaos Magic surged, warping the reality of the kitchen. The toaster sparked. The lights flickered.
Agnes looked nervous. She hadn't expected Sebastian to push this hard.
Wanda focused. Live. Live. Live.
The red energy flowed into Sparky.
The dog's body twitched. A leg kicked.
"He's moving!" Billy yelled.
Sebastian leaned closer, his demon eyes analyzing the energy flow. He watched the soul—or the echo of it—trying to reattach to the body.
Come on, Sebastian thought. Pull it back from the void. If you can pull a dog back, you can pull a Stark back.
Sparky's eyes opened. They glowed red.
The dog let out a sound. It wasn't a bark. It was a low, distorted moan. A sound of something that was being dragged back against its will. It was wrong. It was a reanimated corpse, not a living thing.
"Stop!" Agnes yelled.
She waved her hand (discreetly). A purple spark hit the dog.
Sparky went still again.
"It didn't work," Agnes said quickly. "See? You can't do it. It's unnatural."
Wanda pulled her hands back, horrified. "I... I felt him. But he wasn't there. It was just... empty."
Sebastian stared at the dog.
He understood.
She cannot retrieve, he realized. She can copy. She can create. But once a soul has crossed the threshold, it is beyond her reach.
Vision was a projection of her memory. The twins were creations of her desire. But Sparky was a real, biological entity that had died. And she couldn't fix him.
The hope in Sebastian's chest flickered and died.
Tony Stark was gone. Truly gone.
[The Drone]
"Mom?" Billy asked, scared.
Before Wanda could answer, a buzzing sound filled the air.
"What is that?" Vision asked, walking in from the backyard.
They all ran outside.
Hovering over the front lawn was a drone. A S.W.O.R.D. drone. It looked like an 80s RC helicopter, but with a camera lens that was distinctly modern.
"Is that a prop?" Agnes asked, feigning ignorance.
"No," Wanda's eyes turned cold. "It's an intruder."
The drone's speaker crackled.
"Wanda Maximoff. This is Director Hayward. We have you surrounded. Release the town."
Wanda's hands glowed. Her grief over the dog, her confusion, her anger—it all focused on the machine.
"You want a show?" Wanda snarled.
She didn't just destroy the drone. She dragged it out of the sky.
"I'll give you a show."
She began to walk toward the edge of town. Toward the barrier.
[The Breach]
Sebastian watched her go. He felt the shift in the air. She was leaving the Hex.
"Sebastian?" Vision asked. "Where is she going?"
"To tell the critics to leave her alone," Sebastian said.
He looked at Vision.
"You should stay here, Sir. The reviews are going to be mixed."
Vision frowned. He looked at the dead dog in Agnes's arms. He looked at Sebastian.
"You wanted her to do it," Vision said. "You wanted her to bring the dog back."
"I wanted to see if she was a god," Sebastian admitted. "Or just a witch."
"And?"
"She is a witch," Sebastian straightened his blazer. "A very powerful, very sad witch. And sadly, witches cannot grant miracles."
Vision floated up slightly, his density decreasing.
"I think I need to have a word with my wife."
Vision flew off after Wanda.
Sebastian stood in the driveway. He looked at Agnes.
"You stopped it," Sebastian said. "The dog. You interfered."
Agnes dropped the act. She dropped the dog's body into a bush like it was trash.
"Smart boy," Agnes grinned, revealing teeth that were slightly too sharp. "She's unstable, butler. If she learns she can play with death, she'll break the whole playground. And I need this playground intact."
"For what?"
"For the harvest," Agnes winked.
She turned and skipped away down the street.
"See you in the 90s, handsome!"
Sebastian watched her go.
The sitcom was spiraling into a horror movie. And Sebastian, having lost his hope of saving his master, was now just a player in the tragedy.
"Well," Sebastian dusted off his hands. "If I cannot save the Master... I suppose I should at least prevent the Witch from destroying the world he died for."
He walked toward the barrier.
[End of Chapter 54]
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