“Guh…
hrrkk…” Connors let out a wet, choked rattle, his eyes dimming as he stared at the gaping void in his chest.
“H-How…
is this possible…” He stumbled back a few steps before collapsing heavily onto the concrete.
Thick green blood pooled beneath him, seeping into the cracked asphalt.
“You…
you can do that too?” Wanda stared at Holden in absolute shock.
Holden was already an enigma, but now, a thick veil of mystery seemed to completely shroud him—and it gave him an indescribably magnetic charm.
She had thought his superhuman strength and magical prowess were the extent of his abilities, but she was quickly realizing that was only the tip of the iceberg.
She didn’t know him at all.
He was vastly more mysterious than she could have ever imagined.
An extreme sports athlete, a self-made entrepreneur, an acquaintance of Tony Stark.
He understood the mystic arts, knew how to command Chaos Magic, and harbored an ancient cosmic energy inside his body.
She thought that had to be the limit, but those laser beams had just completely shattered her worldview all over again.
She could acutely sense the terrifying, god-like power packed into those beams of light.
“Are you sure you aren’t a superhero?!” Gwen gasped, looking up at his calm face with stars in her eyes.
“That was so insanely cool!
How did you shoot those lasers?!” She mimicked the eye-beams with her hands, still buzzing with adrenaline from the insane display of power.
“Just natural talent.” Holden finally took his hand out of his pocket and affectionately ruffled Gwen’s excited little head.
“Want to learn?
I could teach you.” “Ahem.
Holden, we can leave the rest of this mess to the authorities.” Suddenly, Wanda practically materialized beside them, interrupting their conversation on pure instinct.
She didn’t know why, but seeing them act so chummy was making her chest feel uncomfortably tight.
Especially that head pat.
She had subconsciously decided that his affectionate head pats were hers.
Seeing him do it to someone else left a sour, complicated taste in her mouth.
She knew they weren’t actually doing anything wrong, but she still hated it.
BOOOM!!!
Suddenly, a deafening explosion ripped through the air from a skyscraper a few blocks away.
The sheer force of the blast sent a tremor through the pavement beneath their feet.
“Oh no!” Gwen’s face instantly drained of color.
“I completely forgot about the main problem!” “What’s going on?” Wanda asked, frowning at the billowing smoke in the distance.
“The Lizard planted a chemical dispersal device!
He’s trying to release a mutagenic gas across all of New York!” Gwen explained frantically.
Without wasting another second, she took a running leap, shooting a web line and swinging desperately toward the blast site.
She knew exactly what was at stake.
If those gas canisters ruptured, the entire city was doomed.
Connors’ ultimate goal was to turn every human in New York into a cold-blooded reptile!
“Let’s go!” Holden didn’t hesitate.
Lifting off the ground, he and Wanda flew rapidly toward the escalating crisis.
The ground floor of the towering skyscraper was fully engulfed in a raging inferno, the sound of secondary explosions echoing from within.
Massive walls of fire rolled outward, belching thick, choking black smoke into the air.
The terrifying heat distorted the very air around the building.
Plumes of soot spilled from the shattered glass windows, staining the exterior walls pitch black.
Against the deep blue sky, the roaring orange flames began to mix with a sickening, eerie green mist.
“Help!
Somebody call the fire department!” “My babies are still in there!
Please, somebody save them!” “Let go of me!
My wife is inside!” “Where’s the fire hydrant?!
We need help!” Outside the building, the chaotic crowd wailed and screamed.
Many of these civilians had run inside the lobby to hide from the Lizard’s initial rampage on the street.
No one expected the building itself to turn into a deathtrap.
With the massive stampede blocking the exits, countless people were trapped inside.
Grieving families on the outside tried to charge into the inferno, only to be violently pushed back by the searing flames and suffocating smoke.
“We have to put out the fire right now!
Otherwise, the updraft is going to spread that green gas all over New York!” Gwen landed on a nearby overhang, frantically scanning the adjacent rooftops for water towers.
If they didn’t act fast, even the people who miraculously survived the fire would be infected by the mutagen and transformed into reptilian monsters!
“Wanda?” Holden glanced over, noticing the Scarlet Witch staring blankly at the flames.
Her face was a chaotic mix of fear and paralyzing hesitation.
“Holden, the fire is too big…
I can’t do it!” Wanda’s voice trembled.
The apocalyptic scene in front of her was perfectly mirroring the nightmare playing in her head.
She didn’t know if she was strong enough to control it.
What if she failed again?
During the mission in Lagos, her mistake had triggered a massive explosion in an office building.
That blast had ignited a roaring fire, and she had stood there completely helpless, unable to put it out.
“You can do this,” Holden said firmly.
Holden gripped her shoulders, his expression full of encouragement.
“Chaos Magic can destroy everything, but it can also create anything.” ‘That’s right!
I can do this!’ Feeling his warmth and absolute trust, the confidence Wanda had lost finally returned.
Taking a deep breath, she walked slowly toward the raging inferno.
Her resolute silhouette stood in stark contrast to the terrified, fleeing crowd.
“What is she doing?” Gwen asked, thoroughly confused.
If she remembered the Avengers’ profiles correctly, Wanda didn’t exactly have fire-extinguishing powers.
“Putting out the fire,” Holden replied simply.
He hoped this crisis would help Wanda break through her inner demons.
If she didn’t face her fears head-on, she would be trapped by them forever.
And this was the perfect opportunity.
“Who is that?!
Why is she walking into the fire?!” “Wait, I remember her!
That’s the Scarlet Witch!” “What is she doing here?!
Is she trying to kill the people trapped inside?!” “Oh, thank God!
A superhero is finally here!
Please, save my babies!” “What good is she gonna do?!
She’s a murderer!” “Shut up!
Everyone makes mistakes!
She’s the only hope we have right now!” “Yeah!
At the end of the day, the Scarlet Witch helped save New York!” The conflicting whispers and shouts from the crowd made Wanda’s firm steps falter slightly.
‘What if I mess up again?’ “Don’t be afraid.
How many famous people in the world don’t have haters?” Holden stood nearby, throwing out an incredibly ill-timed joke.
“Just look at Tony ‘Stank’.
He gets dragged through the mud every other day and he’s still living his best life, isn’t he?” He understood her fragile heart perfectly.
Beneath all that unimaginable power, she was incredibly sensitive and suffered from a deep inferiority complex.
She lost her parents at a young age, survived on the streets of a war-torn country with only her twin brother, and just when she finally ended her quest for revenge and found a home in America, her brother sacrificed himself.
Anyone would break under that kind of trauma.
And it was exactly because of this pain that her Chaos Magic infinitely magnified her inner vulnerabilities.
“You’re right, Holden,” Wanda said, her eyes turning resolute.
She cast a deep, meaningful glance at him and murmured in a voice so soft only she could hear, “I still have you.” BOOM!
Another massive explosion rocked the inferno, and the desperate, agonizing screams of the people trapped inside echoed into the street.
With a look of absolute determination, Wanda pulled back her hood and tossed her baseball cap onto the ground.
In that very moment, she mustered the courage to reveal her true face to the world.
Every single eye in the crowd locked onto the Scarlet Witch.
Fwoosh!
She threw her arms open, her clothes billowing wildly in the intense updraft.
Brilliant scarlet magic swirled around her like a flowing river of stars, lifting her gently into the air.