Sokovia.
Wanda Maximoff pinched her arm and only began to believe what had just happened when the sharp sting confirmed that she was very much awake.
The ornament that had been sitting on the coffee table was now shattered across the floor.
Hidden inside it was something she had never expected to find: a strange black-and-white eyeball streaked with blood-red veins.
Wanda stared at it in surprise.
She had bought that decoration herself and never imagined something like this had been concealed inside it all along.
The front door suddenly opened.
Her brother Pietro had returned.
Wanda immediately slipped the strange object into her pocket before he could see it.
Pietro stepped into the room, and his gaze quickly fell on the broken pieces scattered across the floor.
“What happened?”
He looked her over with concern.
“Wanda, you’re not hurt, are you?”
Wanda blinked before answering, “I was watching the news. Apparently Tony Stark’s convoy was attacked by militants, and there’s a good chance he got blown up by one of his own missiles. I got a little carried away and kicked the table, so that thing fell off and broke.”
Hearing that Tony Stark might be dead, Pietro found his sister’s excitement perfectly understandable.
After all, a Stark Industries bomb had nearly killed both of them years ago.
If that missile hadn’t failed to detonate…
“Did you hurt your foot?”
Wanda glanced down and smiled.
“I’m fine.”
Pietro fetched a broom and dustpan and began cleaning up the mess.
“Well, that’s certainly good news. Sounds like we have something to celebrate tonight.”
Wanda felt the strange object through the fabric of her pocket and thought back to everything she had just experienced.
“We definitely do.”
…
Inside the cave in Afghanistan where Tony Stark was being held captive, Yinsen continued speaking.
“The next week is going to be the most important one.”
He paused and looked at Tony.
“Wait. Did you just fall asleep?”
Tony opened his eyes and stared at Yinsen for a moment.
Everything he had experienced in that mysterious hall was still perfectly clear.
It hadn’t been a hallucination.
“You’re right,” Tony said.
“Giving up isn’t an option.”
A faint trace of confidence returned to his voice.
“And I think we’re getting out of here sooner than you expect.”
As he spoke, Tony noticed that the cup near his feet had shattered into several pieces.
Something strange had been hidden inside it: a translucent, ice-blue object shaped almost exactly like a human brain.
Tony picked it up and turned it over in his hand.
“What the hell is this? It looks like a brain, but what kind of creature has a transparent blue one?”
Yinsen leaned closer to examine it, then shook his head.
“No idea. I’ve never heard of an animal with a brain like that. Maybe someone put a toy in the cup?”
He frowned.
“For safety’s sake, I’d throw it away.”
Tony shook his head.
“No. I think this thing is useful.”
He stared at the strange object in his hand.
“Just holding it makes my head feel clearer. It’s like I suddenly know exactly what I need to do.”
Knowledge he had accumulated over years of study suddenly felt sharper and more accessible than ever before.
Mechanical structures, gears, power systems, and engineering principles seemed to arrange themselves naturally in his mind, revealing connections he had never noticed.
An idea began taking shape.
The terrorists had stockpiles of weapons and equipment.
If Tony used those materials carefully enough, perhaps he could build something that would get him out of this cave.
Something like a crude suit of armor.
…
71st Avenue, Forest Hills, Queens.
Kez Merlin emerged from the back room of the Arcana Cabana and was mildly surprised to find Tony Stark’s bodyguard, Happy Hogan, standing inside with his personal assistant, Pepper Potts.
Apparently everything today was determined to happen at once.
He had only just summoned Tony Stark above the gray fog and spoken with him, and now Stark’s bodyguard and assistant had walked straight into his shop.
“Good afternoon. What can I help you with?”
Kez gave them a polite nod.
“I’m Kez Merlin.”
Happy stepped forward.
“Mr. Merlin, I’ve heard your divinations are extremely accurate. Supposedly you’ve helped a lot of people solve problems and even locate people or objects that no one else could find.”
“We’d like you to perform a divination concerning our boss, Tony Stark.”
Pepper’s attention briefly caught on the surname Merlin.
She had heard enough childhood stories about the legendary wizard to recognize the name, though she quickly put the coincidence aside.
“A little while ago, Tony Stark traveled to Afghanistan to demonstrate a newly developed weapon for the U.S. military,” Pepper explained.
“His convoy was attacked by an armed group afterward. He’s currently missing, and we don’t know whether he’s alive.”
“We want you to determine what’s actually happened to him.”
Kez listened quietly before answering in an even voice.
“My fee is one hundred thousand dollars.”
Pepper stared at him.
“One hundred thousand?”
That was hardly pocket change.
Even as Tony Stark’s trusted personal assistant, she didn’t earn a hundred thousand dollars a month.
Anyone who did command that kind of salary was already operating at an entirely different level, yet this man was charging that much for a single divination.
Pepper turned toward Happy, clearly wondering whether they were being taken for a ride.
In her mind, fortune-telling was little more than psychological reassurance dressed up with mysticism.
She had expected a few hundred dollars, perhaps a few thousand at the absolute extreme.
Happy understood the look immediately and nodded.
“That’s really his rate. I checked beforehand.”
“If he charged less, his appointment list would already be booked three months out.”
Kez gave Happy a mildly surprised look.
“You’ve done your homework.”
Pepper drew a slow breath, swallowed her irritation, and decided to trust Happy.
“Will the result change depending on which kind of divination we choose?”
Kez shook his head.
“The answer should be the same. The method is simply a matter of which approach you’re most comfortable with.”
Pepper considered that for a moment.
“Then use whichever method you consider the most reliable. You’re the diviner, not me.”
“In that case, we’ll use crystal divination,” Kez said.
“I’ll also need Mr. Stark’s full date of birth and an item he has personally worn or carried close to him.”
Kez already knew Tony Stark’s current condition.
He had observed him directly when bringing him above the gray fog.
The birth date was genuinely useful for the divination itself.
The personal item served another purpose entirely.
If Kez was going to travel to Afghanistan and rescue Tony, he needed something that could help him divine the exact location of the cave.
Searching an entire desert blindly would be another matter altogether.
Pepper nodded.
“I brought a tie Tony used to wear. Will that work?”
Kez reached beneath the counter and produced the card terminal.
“That will be fine.”
He placed it in front of her.
“You can pay here. Once that’s taken care of, we’ll move to the divination room.”
Pepper took Tony’s tie from her handbag, then pulled out her bank card and completed the payment.
After printing a receipt for her, Kez picked up the tie.
“This way, please.”
Happy and Pepper followed him through the shop and into the divination room.