The Multiversal Road-Trip: Book Five

3

Scott blinked twice. "Uh... I didn't understand a word of that. Can you speak English next time?"

"Haha," Loki deadpanned.

Stephen, personally, was with Scott. Wanda resurrected Vision and created a sitcom out of her grief? And using chaos magic? He knew she was powerful, but creating a whole new utopia? That was something else.

And this was only the basics, apparently. But at least now... now he understood why Wanda hadn't wanted Loki to tell anyone. She must've been going through so much...

Stephen felt a metaphorical blow hit him in the chest. Wanda had been mourning Vision and her kids, feeling the horrible guilt of what she had done, and he hadn't noticed anything. That week in the summer – the grief would still have been raw for her, and yet she still helped him out with his multiversal problems. Somehow not voicing what was on her mind once.

It was a good thing Stephen didn't have telepathy. If he'd found all this out he'd never have been physically able to keep it to himself.

"The main point to take from this is that she's dealing with a shit-load of grief and guilt right now," Loki said, seriously. "And she'll do anything, as in, quite literally, anything to get her family back because she's got nothing left to lose. And desperate people with nothing to lose and all that power are dangerous. To themselves and everyone else." He slumped back against the chair. "And that brings us to her plan."

"Her plan?" Stephen asked, dreading what this could be. "What do you mean... plan? What can she possibly do to get her family back?"

Loki's face darkened, as did his tone. "You'd be surprised. Back then, I only heard her rough idea at the time, and she's had five months to perfect it. So even I won't be able to tell you all of it. Except that..."

Stephen was actually leaning on the edge of his seat, gripping the fabric of the car seat so hard it was crumpling under his grip. Scott was even leaning forward too, he noticed. "Except that... what?" Scott asked, a hint of doubt in his voice.

He didn't look like he wanted to say it, but eventually he did. "Except that it involves us too."

And suddenly, the unspoken rule they'd made to use quiet voices to avoid suspicion arousing in the front of the car was broken, ripped to pieces and set on fire as both Stephen and Scott shouted, "What?!" so loud they made themselves and Loki jump.

Nervously, the three of them stared at the screen separating them from the driver, but thankfully, they didn't seem to be in trouble. Maybe the rain pounding on the roof was so loud it drowned out their voices quite effectively. Maybe the driver had their headphones in and was blasting Beyoncé. That's what Stephen found was the case whenever Wong didn't answer him.

"What?" Scott whispered afterwards, amending his mistake. "You mean... she wants us to help her with this plan... in fact, what is this plan?"

Loki shrugged, somewhat miserably. "I don't really know. All I know is it involves this magic she's been learning from this spell-book she was given and switching dimensions."

Stephen bit his lip, remembering how Loki had mentioned a spell-book back during when they were in Mephisto's weird dimensional soul prison thing. For a second, he wondered whether he should really mention it around Scott, but then, he guessed Scott deserved to know. They shouldn't really be keeping secrets from each other now. "Do you... remember what the spell-book was called?"

Loki nodded, but said, "She made me swear not to tell you that." His brow crinkled slightly in thought. "Especially you, for some reason. She was really adamant about it."

That sounded ominous.

"But you said it might be dark magic she's learning," Stephen pressed on.

"And I only said that because the name of the book is suspicious. I don't even know what it is," Loki admitted, scratching his head.

Stephen threw his hands in the air. "Maybe if you told me what it was, I could decide whether we need to worry or not. I am the Sorcerer Supreme for a reason, after all!" He hesitated on that last part. Strictly speaking... no, never mind. He didn't need to tell them now.

But infuriatingly, Loki just shook his head again. Why was he so insistent on not telling him? "Sorry, Strange. I'm already risking her wrath telling you any of this in the first place."

Stephen deflated back into his chair with a sigh, defeated. "Right then, continue."

But, just as he said that, the car shuddered to a halt, slipping slightly. Stephen's cloak, which had been "napping" just behind their headrests, lifted its collar like it was waking up. Stephen, Scott and Loki exchanged a quick glance, then they all crowded around the window (cloak included) and watched the other cars pull up. They still appeared to be in the middle of nowhere, but Stephen could sense Wanda's magic (the tiniest, slimmest amount, but it was still there) so they had to be in the right place.

God... if he could sense her magic from here, inside the car, those energy spikes must have been huge.

Stephen exhaled, psyching himself up. "Alright then, I guess we're here."