Marvel: I'm a Symbiote-Symbiote 0331: Mystic League (2/2)

Neither Peter nor Doctor Strange showed any clear expressions of their feelings regarding Laura’s revelations.

“An overlord beyond Harkness?” Peter asked, with a suppressed quiver in his voice. “As far as I have seen…and I have seen some things, that woman has everything under control. With absolute authority over the Central Reserve Bank, she has essentially the entire world in her palm. I remember that two weeks ago, she made the North Korean president kneel on the news to personally apologize to her. All because she stopped production of Chaos chips and crystals for their country, completely halting their economy within days.”

“It’s like cutting an entire nation’s lifeline,” Laura said. “I usually call my friend out on being too much of a control freak, but this is on a whole different level.”

“Who is it, then?” Doctor Strange asked. “If Harkness, the Chaos Witch, also answers to an entity, they must be truly terrifying.”

“Agatha isn’t the Chaos Witch. Wanda is,” Laura said instinctively.

“Wanda Maximoff?” Doctor Strange asked. “But she’s been dead for a few months. Alongside her brother and children. And her husband is nowhere to be found.”

“God,” Laura winced. “It’s a version of Wanda from another planet. She probably killed your Wanda along with her family …”

“This makes things much more complicated …” Doctor Strange frowned, deep in thought. “I need to talk to Erik and the rest.”

“You’re in contact with Magneto?” Laura spoke rhetorically with a bright glint in her eyes. “I never got to meet him …”

Doctor Strange ignored her and started slowly drawing an Eldritch magic circle on the ground.

[It’s a good thing that you didn’t. He has the power to force your entire alloy skeleton into the shape of a ball. The worst part is that your healing factor will ensure that you stay alive for the many decades that you have left to live after that. If you think your time at the Bastion was horrible, imagine multiple decades forced into that state with no respite because you can’t even die.]

Alex’s words painted a horrifying picture for Laura that made her shudder.

[That skeleton bond’s gotta be some use, right? My bones may not be carbon-based, but the self-proclaimed Apex biological life form in the universe should have enough capabilities to manage metal just as well, right?]

[Naturally … but as you said, it’s metal. And a Vibranium-Adamantium alloy at that. It’s not exactly the easiest thing to manipulate biologically. I’d have more luck using Chaos magic to simply turn your skeleton to normal. That’s less effort, more efficient, and less painful.]

[So you can take care of it if I end up antagonizing him. Good to know.]

[I’m pretty sure that I can steamroll through any mutant on this planet without the slightest issue. Because the guys here don’t actually get their powers from the X-gene.]

[Did you find a mutant?]

[Ororo. She was one of the two survivors of the purge, while the other was Laura Kinney, i.e., me. I examined her and found out that she doesn’t have the X-gene like you do, but still has her storm manipulation powers. As I’ve understood, they probably stem from her bloodline. That should be the case for most mutants on this planet.]

[How can you know? She may just be a one-off case.]

[Now that I know what to look for, I’ve already found multiple people with the same pattern. I’m not sure if this was Wanda’s doing, or if the mutants on this planet are naturally all dependent on bloodline-based magical abilities.]

[Interesting … So are they stronger here?]

[As I’ve seen from Ororo at the moment, yes. At least initially. But the upper limit of their power should be pretty stifling. The true Omega-Level mutants, like Eric, can never reach their full potential due to the limitation of their bloodline, while someone like Jean should be far more empowered because her bloodline probably has a connection to the Phoenix Force. Oh, by the way. The moment I hear the mention of Jean, Emma, or Charles coming here or meeting us, we’re bailing. I’m not risking myself by getting close to these absolute powerhouses in terms of telepathy.]

[Learn it from you to be terrified of people with mind powers despite possessing the Infinity Stone, giving you authority over everything related to the Mind.]

[I’m not risking it.]

Laura didn’t say anything and instead looked to her side at Peter, who had a somewhat lost expression on his face while Doctor Strange was still setting up the ritual.

“Hey dude, you okay?” Laura lightly elbowed Peter. “What’s on your mind?”

“Nothing …” There was clearly something on his mind. “You said that Scarlet Witch has the power to rewrite reality?”

“To an extent, yes,” Laura nodded. “But not in the way you think. Pure Chaos Magic is ridiculously powerful, yes, but there are limitations. You need at least some kind of external source of power for such a feat. I imagine she used the Reality Stone to supercharge her powers and targeted the whole planet with a specific command to rewrite reality.”

[Can you stop that?!] Laura sounded a little annoyed. [I don’t like providing exposition to people; that’s your job. I would just answer with an ‘I dunno. Ask my friend, Apex.’ That’s what I would like to respond with.]

[Oh, sure. I didn’t realize that you were being affected by this so much. It’s not like this has happened ever before. I’ve been bonded with your organs for a significant time, after all.]

[Who knows …]

“I see …” Peter responded, his expression thoughtful as if he’d just had an idea.

“I think that’s a bad idea,” Laura said.

“What?” Peter asked.

“I don’t know …” Laura made a slightly annoyed expression that seemed to express that emotion toward Alex rather than toward Peter. “Looking at your expression made me feel that.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he responded before asking her. “Do you want to join the Mystic League?”

“Are you guys like the Avengers?”

“Who are the Avengers?” Peter asked.

“Team of superheroes … Multiversal thing,” Laura shook her head. “Why does your team exist?”

“To overthrow that woman’s evil regime and reinstate Doctor Strange as the Sorcerer Supreme. In the two months she’s been in his position, she has murdered tens of thousands of people.”

“Sounds fun,” Laura said casually. “Who’s part of this League apart from you and Strange?”

“We have Erik, as you heard, Katherine, and Illyana.”

“You guys have Magik and Kitty with you?” Laura’s eyes brightened. “They aren’t like old-old, right? Like Charles.”

“They’re close to my age,” Peter said.

“Anybody else?” Laura asked, sounding curious and somewhat excited.

“Not really,” Peter said. “The three of them are each assigned to one of the sanctums for the time being. We are looking for an opportunity to assault Kamar-Taj and let Doctor Strange take back his position to fix everything.”

“Can he even do that? Take back his position, that is.” Laura asked. “My friend told me that the Sorcerer Supreme is more than just some title. Since she stole that position from him once, what gives him the confidence to change things now?”

“This time, he’s not alone. He has us with him. Not to mention, Magik might just be able to kill Agatha as long as we catch her at the right time.”

“Hm,” Laura nodded thoughtfully. “So what’s your role in all this? No offense, but I think all you have is a stronger-than-usual physique. You won’t be much help against someone with mystical powers. Agatha effortlessly can snipe you if she wants, which forces your comrades to protect you.”

“I know, I know,” Peter nodded. “That’s why I’m training under him. I’ve only started for a week, but he says that I’m very talented.”

“Oh?” Laura raised a brow. “So that’s what’s going on … You’re going to become joint Sorcerer Supremes.”

“What do you mean?”

[Alex! You’ve got to be fucking with me. You’re doing this deliberately, aren’t you? I remember back when there was a time when you were terrified of even telling me the truth; now you’re making me speak what you’re thinking. It’s annoying.]

[All right, I’ll be honest, I’m having fun doing this. The first time was an inadvertent thing, but it’s too much fun seeing you spiral into madness as you dig yourself into a completely different character than yours at this point.]

[Don’t be an asshole …]

“If you don’t know, you should ask him that,” Laura pointed to Doctor Strange, who was sitting in the middle of the Eldritch-based ritual circle as if meditating. “He should be able to explain it better. How far are you now?”

“I’ve completed all of the ego-based stuff. Mental stuff, astral projection, and the like. I was going to start Arcanum Eco today — Learning to harness the environment’s spiritual energy and the likes.”

“Oh? I’m at the same level,” Laura said. “My friend’s been teaching me some of the basics whenever I’m free … Do you mind if I train with you?”

“Sure,” Peter said. “But please don’t get frustrated when I pick something up too quickly. Magik has a habit of criticizing my quick progress …”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve already completely given up on comparisons, the moment you told me your timeline. You said you started last week, right? I started four months ago.”

Laura’s flat declaration left Peter speechless.

“It’s not always about the person,” Peter said. “Doctor Strange told me that some people are naturally gifted with some types of magic. It usually happens with Arcanum Exo, where someone has a very good connection with a principality.”

“Man, I got no clue about half the words that you just said,” Laura said. “Arcanum Exo? Principality? I’m going to need a course on everything beyond Egocentric magic.