[Westview. Town Square. The Present.]
The sky was a battlefield.
Wanda Maximoff and Agatha Harkness were locked in an aerial duel of red chaos and purple dark magic. They blasted each other with beams of energy that warped the clouds, turning the sunny afternoon into a terrifying storm.
On the ground, it was no calmer.
Hex Vision and White Vision (the S.W.O.R.D. weapon) crashed into the public library, their forehead lasers colliding in a beam struggle that melted the asphalt.
Sebastian stood in the center of the square, his coat torn, his knives drawn. He stood in front of Billy and Tommy. Monica Rambeau stood beside him.
"This is a lot!" Monica yelled over the roar of magic.
"Focus, Ms. Rambeau," Sebastian ordered, watching the perimeter. "The Witch is occupied. The Robot is occupied. We are the babysitters."
[The S.W.O.R.D. Breach]
"Target the kids!"
Director Hayward's Humvee smashed through the barricade. He saw the twins. He knew they were Wanda's tether to this reality. If he killed them, he broke her.
Hayward leaned out of the vehicle with a revolver. He didn't hesitate. He fired.
BANG. BANG. BANG.
Monica Rambeau stepped forward, her body glowing with energy, ready to absorb the impact.
She didn't have to.
Sebastian moved.
He didn't run; he vanished. He reappeared directly in the path of the bullets, just inches from the barrel of Hayward's gun.
Snatch. Snatch. Snatch.
His hand was a blur.
Hayward blinked. He pulled the trigger again. Click.
Sebastian stood in front of the Humvee. He slowly opened his gloved hand. Three flattened bullets fell to the pavement. Clink. Clink. Clink.
"You seem to have lost these," Sebastian whispered.
Hayward's eyes widened. "What are you—"
"I am the cleanup crew."
Sebastian grabbed the front bumper of the armored Humvee. With a roar of exertion, he lifted the entire front end of the vehicle five feet into the air.
Hayward tumbled into the back seat, screaming.
Sebastian slammed the car back down. CRUNCH. The axle snapped. The engine block cracked.
He ripped the driver's side door off its hinges like it was made of paper and tossed it aside. He grabbed Hayward by his tactical vest and dragged him out.
"Shooting at children?" Sebastian's eyes glowed fuchsia. "That is remarkably uncivilized. Even for a government employee."
"Let me go!" Hayward gasped.
"Stay," Sebastian commanded, shoving him into the dirt. "And pray the Witch doesn't notice you."
[The Rune Trick]
Above them, the sky turned red.
Wanda wasn't just fighting Agatha; she was missing. Her shots were going wide, hitting the invisible walls of the Hex.
"You're missing!" Agatha cackled, absorbing Wanda's power. "You're weak! Give it to me!"
Wanda floated higher. She looked exhausted. She looked withered.
"Take it," Wanda whispered.
She fired everything she had at Agatha. Agatha drank it in, laughing maniacally.
"Yes! Yes!" Agatha screamed. "I take your power! I take your..."
Agatha tried to fire back.
Pfft.
Nothing happened.
Agatha looked at her hands. "What?"
Wanda smiled. The Scarlet Witch crown materialized on her forehead.
"You taught me," Wanda pointed to the walls of the Hex.
Agatha looked. Burning on the invisible walls of the barrier were massive, glowing red runes.
"In a given space," Wanda whispered, "only the witch who cast the runes can use her magic."
"No," Agatha gasped. She fell.
Stripped of her flight, Agatha plummeted from the sky.
She hit the ground hard. Wanda descended, glowing with the full, terrifying power of the Scarlet Witch. She touched Agatha's forehead, trapping her mind back into the role of "Agnes," the nosy neighbor.
"You live here now," Wanda said coldly. "No one will ever know who you are."
[The Goodbye]
The battle was over. The White Vision, having had his memories restored by Hex Vision in the library, had flown away to find himself.
Now, only the end remained.
Wanda walked to the center of the square. She looked at Vision. She looked at the twins. She looked at the red wall of the Hex.
"It's time," Wanda said.
She began to lower the barrier.
The world dissolved. The library turned back into a ruin. The circus turned back into a base. The 2000s turned back into 2023.
The wall approached the house.
Sebastian stood on the porch with them. He watched the red line of reality closing in.
"Boys," Wanda knelt down. "Thank you for choosing me to be your mom."
Billy and Tommy hugged her. As the wall passed over them, they didn't die. They just... faded. They dissolved into golden dust, returning to the magic they came from.
Wanda sobbed.
Then, she turned to Vision.
"Wanda," Vision said softly. "I know what I am now. I have been a voice with no body. A body, but not human. And now... a memory made real. Who knows what I might be next?"
He looked at Sebastian.
"Take care of the world, Sebastian. It is a very strange place."
"I will do my best, Sir," Sebastian bowed low. A genuine bow of respect for a machine that had more soul than most men.
Vision looked at Wanda. "We have said goodbye before, so it stands to reason..."
"We'll say hello again," Wanda finished.
The wall passed over him.
Vision smiled. And then he was gone.
Only Wanda remained. Standing in the empty plot of land where the house used to be. The foundation was bare.
She was alone.
[The Departure]
Sirens wailed in the distance. The FBI was coming.
Wanda pulled her hood up. She looked at Sebastian.
"You wanted him back," Wanda said, her voice hollow. "Stark."
"I did," Sebastian admitted.
"I couldn't do it," Wanda looked at her hands. "I couldn't even keep the ones I made up."
"You let them go," Sebastian said. "That requires a strength greater than magic."
He looked at the empty lot.
"You did not fail, Mrs. Maximoff. You simply accepted the truth. Something I... am still learning to do."
Wanda nodded. She floated up into the air.
"I don't understand this power," she said, looking at her glowing hands. "But I will."
She flew away, vanishing into the clouds just as the S.W.O.R.D. trucks pulled up.
Sebastian stood alone in the ruin of Westview.
"Hey! You there! Freeze!" An agent yelled.
Sebastian sighed. He dusted off his ruined coat.
"I am afraid I have overstayed my welcome," Sebastian muttered.
He didn't run. He simply walked into the shadows of the nearby woods. When the agents shone their flashlights, there was nothing there but a few black feathers and the smell of ozone.
[End of Arc 9]
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