[Westview. 2800 Ellis Avenue. Halloween. The 1990s.]
The world was chaotic. Hand-held camera angles, fourth-wall breaks, and ska-punk music playing in the background.
Wanda Maximoff descended the stairs in her classic Scarlet Witch costume—red leotard, pink tights, and the horned headpiece.
"Whoa, Mom! You look old school!" Tommy yelled, dressed as Quicksilver.
"It's a Sokovian Fortune Teller," Wanda corrected, grabbing a bowl of candy.
"Radical!" A man with silver hair and a leather jacket zoomed into the room. Pietro. Or rather, the "recast" Pietro (Evan Peters). He grabbed a handful of candy and stuffed it into his mouth. "Where's the robot? Is he wearing the spandex? Please tell me he's wearing the spandex."
Vision walked in. He was wearing the bright green and yellow comic-book costume, complete with a diamond shape on his chest.
"I am a Mexican Wrestler," Vision lied poorly.
The doorbell rang.
"Trick or Treat!"
Sebastian Michaelis stood on the porch. He wasn't wearing a superhero costume. He wasn't a ghost. He was wearing his standard, impeccable black tailcoat from 2023.
"And what are you supposed to be, cool guy?" Pietro asked, chewing loudly. "A penguin?"
Sebastian looked at the camera and shrugged.
"I am a butler," Sebastian said. "It is the scariest thing I know."
[Audience Laugh/Cheer]
"Sebastian!" Wanda smiled. "You're just in time to take the boys trick-or-treating. Vision has... neighborhood watch duty."
"Duty calls," Vision said stiffly. "There have been reports of... hooligans."
Sebastian looked at Vision. He saw the intent in the synthezoid's eyes. Vision wasn't going on patrol. He was making a break for it.
"I would be delighted to chaperone," Sebastian said. "But perhaps I should accompany Mr. Vision part of the way? The streets can be dangerous for a... wrestler."
[The Edge of Town]
The further they walked from Ellis Avenue, the quieter the world became.
The children stopped moving. They stood frozen on lawns, pumpkins half-raised. The wind stopped blowing.
Vision walked past a woman hanging decorations. She was frozen mid-motion, a tear rolling down her cheek.
"It's not real," Vision whispered. "None of it."
He found a car stopped at an intersection. Inside sat Agnes. She wasn't moving.
"Agnes?" Vision tapped the glass.
She gasped, waking up from the trance. "You... you're one of the Avengers! You're the Vision! Are you here to save us?"
"I am trying," Vision said.
"You can't," Agnes laughed maniacally. "No one leaves. She won't let us."
Vision set his jaw. He flew upward, heading straight for the wall of static at the edge of town.
Sebastian stood on the street below, watching him go.
"Go on, then," Sebastian whispered. "Break the glass."
[The Breach]
Vision pushed through the barrier. It was agonizing. The Hex tried to pull him back, tearing at his atoms.
He stumbled out onto the grass on the other side. The real world. Nighttime. Floodlights blinded him.
"Freeze!" S.W.O.R.D. agents surrounded him, guns drawn.
"Help..." Vision gasped, falling to his knees. " The people... inside... they need help..."
But as he spoke, his body began to disintegrate. Without the magic of the Hex, he couldn't exist. Chunks of his vibranium chassis peeled away, floating back toward the red wall.
"He's falling apart," Director Hayward watched from a Humvee. "Let him burn."
"Sir!" Darcy Lewis yelled from the prisoner transport. "Help him!"
"No," Hayward ordered. "He's a weapon. If he falls apart, we salvage the parts."
Vision screamed as his chest began to dissolve.
[The Mercy]
A ripple in the barrier.
A black boot stepped out onto the grass.
Sebastian Michaelis exited the Hex.
The transition was instant. The 90s sitcom filter vanished. The laugh track died. The 16:9 aspect ratio returned. He was no longer the "Guest Star." He was the Demon.
He took a deep breath of the real, cold New Jersey air.
He saw Vision dying on the grass.
He saw the S.W.O.R.D. agents aiming their rifles.
"Target acquired!" A soldier yelled. "It's the Butler!"
"Fire!" Hayward ordered.
Bullets hailed toward Sebastian.
He didn't dodge. He moved.
Flash.
Sebastian caught three bullets between his fingers. He flicked them back with lethal precision, shattering the floodlights. Darkness fell over the perimeter.
"You are rude," Sebastian's voice echoed from the shadows.
A soldier screamed as he was thrown into a jeep. Another was disarmed and knocked unconscious with a single chop.
Sebastian walked through the gunfire, ignoring the impacts that tore his coat. He reached Vision.
Vision was on his hands and knees, huge holes in his red skin. "Sebastian... let me... die..."
"You do not have permission to die," Sebastian said coldly. "You are Stark property. And I do not like people breaking my Master's toys."
"Secure the target!" Hayward yelled, firing a handgun at Sebastian.
Sebastian caught the bullet. He looked at Hayward with glowing fuchsia eyes.
"You are lucky I am currently unemployed," Sebastian snarled. "Or I would eat your soul for an appetizer."
He grabbed Vision by the cape and the neck.
"Go back," Sebastian ordered.
"No!" Vision cried. "The people!"
"The people can wait," Sebastian lifted the heavy android. "You cannot."
With a display of terrifying strength, Sebastian threw Vision.
He hurled the dying synthezoid like a ragdoll, straight back into the wall of red static.
Vision passed through the barrier. Instantly, the disintegration stopped. He was reformatted. He was safe.
[The Expansion]
Inside the Hex, Billy Maximoff woke up screaming. "Mom! Dad is in trouble! I can hear him!"
Wanda's eyes flared red. "Where?"
She didn't run. She expanded.
She pushed her power out.
[The Wave]
Outside, Sebastian adjusted his cuffs.
"Well," he looked at the S.W.O.R.D. base. "That was dramatic."
Suddenly, the red wall surged. It wasn't just accepting Vision back. It was growing. It moved like a tsunami of reality.
"Move! Move!" Hayward yelled, jumping into his car.
The wall swallowed the S.W.O.R.D. tents. It swallowed the Humvees. It swallowed Darcy Lewis.
It came for Sebastian.
He stood his ground. He could run. He was fast enough to outrun the expansion. He could escape to the real world and leave this madness behind.
But Agnes was in there. The "wrong" Pietro was in there. And the Witch was the only one powerful enough to threaten the world Tony saved.
Sebastian turned to face the red wave.
"Take me," Sebastian whispered. "I have a witch to hunt."
The static hit him.
[Westview. The Circus.]
Sebastian opened his eyes.
He was wearing a clown costume. A ridiculous, ruffled, polka-dot clown suit with a painted face.
He stood in the middle of a circus tent (the transformed S.W.O.R.D. base). Darcy Lewis was a bearded lady. The agents were mimes.
Sebastian looked at his reflection in a funhouse mirror.
"A clown," Sebastian sighed, his voice dripping with disdain. "Wanda Maximoff... for this indignity alone... you will pay."
[End of Chapter 55]
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