fiction | Part of the journey is the end

4. The Illuminati

"I still can't believe that all of this is happening and you had no idea you were a witch," said Steve.

"Believe me, sometimes I can't believe it myself. I don't think I wouldn't have completely understood it either if it wasn't explained to me," Wanda said.

"You need formally learn witchcraft without studying Darkhold. You have so much power," Clea said. "Stephen, Wong, and Loki can't fully help you, and I would teach you if I could, but you need to learn from a witch."

"Even if I have the potential to be the Scarlet Witch?" Wanda said warily.

Clea shrugged. "I'm a Faltine, Wanda. You haven't seen my Faltine form yet, but I know what it's like to deal with immense power. I have my entire life. The Faltine are renowned through many worlds for their rapaciousness and their thirst for conquest. I have warlord blood in my veins, but I'm not a conqueror."

Stephen and Wong's brows furrowed in confusion. Warlord? Just who was Clea's family?

"I draw power from the Dark Dimension, which some may consider...forbidden, and I'm centuries older than most of you. You do what you have to," Clea said.

"You don't have a prophecy about you."

"The prophecy will only come true if you let it. If you don't want to rule or destroy the multiverse, then don't. Your powers aren't inherently bad."

Wanda bit the inside of her cheek. Clea had given her a lot to think about.

"And have you forgotten about Strange Supreme? I, of all people, know what it's like to see yourself make the most horrible mistakes, and know the potential of destruction that I'm capable of," said Stephen.

Wanda's lips quirked up in a smile. There was a desire in her to do better, a desire she knew that Stephen also had. "I'm going to find a witch. A witch that's not Agatha," she said firmly. Even though 616 Agatha had been corrupted by the Darkhold the entire time she knew her, Agatha was heavily obsessed with power and killed her own mother for it. How could Wanda trust her? It would've been so much easier if Clea had been a witch. She liked Clea.

Meanwhile, Stephen was being escorted by Ultron sentries through the Illuminati headquarters in Earth-838.

The Avengers scowled at seeing the Ultron sentries.

"Ultron always ruins everything," Natasha grumbled. She never liked Ultron, but that hatred multiplied by a hundred after seeing Infinity Ultron's universe.

"I don't care if Ultron has worked out the way it's supposed to in this universe, but any organization that has Ultron sentries escorting their prisoners isn't going to be good," said Clint.

"I have no clue how Ultron became successful," said Tony. "If I knew, I would've done it myself."

"Stephen Strange, you are now called before the Illuminati. I, Baron Karl Mordo, the Sorcerer Supreme, do hereby..." "Karl?" Stephen interrupted, astonished.

So did 727 Stephen. "His name is Karl?!"

"Yes, you didn't know?" Wong questioned.

"No!"

"Mordo's the Sorcerer Supreme on Earth-838? No wonder that universe is awful," said Steve.

"Mordo as Sorcerer Supreme? What a nightmare," said Stephen.

A shield was thrown near Stephen, bounced towards the wall, and Captain Carter caught it. "Captain Carter. The first Avenger," Mordo introduced.

Steve's eyes lit up. "Captain Carter!" He took back every bad thing he said about Earth-838 and the Illuminati. They couldn't be horrible if Peggy was on the team.