Perhaps it was because it had been so long since any true paranormal enthusiasts had visited, but the trinkets in the church weren't selling at all. After enduring a long-winded sales pitch from the overly enthusiastic local priest, Wanda and Pietro reluctantly bought two crucifixes and a few books about the Borley Rectory—only to discover, upon flipping through them, that the "author" was none other than the priest himself. Wanda didn't hesitate to toss them into a trash bin and mentally bookmarked it as a story to later share with Solomon for a laugh.
She planned to walk along the banks of the River Stour while performing a spirit-communion ritual. Based on Kamar-Taj mission files she'd studied, conducting such rituals at haunted sites wouldn't attract too much attention; in some cases, it could even help conceal one's identity. Seeing how determined she was, Pietro could only hold the umbrella and trail behind her, carefully shielding the black incense candle she was carrying from the rain.
The candle's smell was nauseatingly pungent once lit. Wanda, seemingly oblivious to it—as though her sense of smell had shut off—carried on unbothered, forcing Pietro to stretch his arm to its limit. Beyond that, Wanda's slow, deliberate pace was pure torment for him.
Unlike his sister, who had trained extensively at the Eternal City, Pietro had only truly begun mastering his powers after leaving the fortress. With training from the Avengers, he was now far more comfortable with his super-speed. To him, normal people moved in slow motion—voices distorted, movements sluggish, like they were all living in a world made of thickened air. This feeling hit him often and sometimes left him disoriented, overwhelmed by how disconnected he was from everyone else.
Fortunately, he hadn't fallen into one of those fugue states during the mission—or else he'd have looked like a twitchy lunatic.
Wanda protected the candle flame with her hand, chanting in a language no one else could understand. She walked back and forth across a particular stretch of riverbank multiple times before finally pointing toward the riverbed.
"There," she said. "This is the worst of it—or at least, it's bad enough that for normal people it would've warranted five books and two horror movies."
"No need to be so cynical—we used to like horror movies too," Pietro replied.
"Why are you still standing here?" Wanda tilted her head, "I've already done my part as an agent of the Eternal City. Isn't the rest of this your job?"
"The Avengers don't have a base in London," Pietro said, pulling out his issued phone and checking the map and mission feed. "And your jet was too fast. The Quinjet couldn't keep up. I guarantee the special ops team is still somewhere over the Atlantic, cursing out the pilot and begging him to go faster."
"You came with a team?" Wanda looked genuinely surprised, so much so that some of the wax from her candle dripped onto her hand. "Don't tell me the Avengers still think they can solve magical problems with bullets?" The spot where the wax had burned her began to sting. She frowned, clearly displeased. "Agent Hill, right? What's she playing at? Hoping the Eternal City will eliminate a few more agents who saw what they shouldn't have?"
Maybe that's exactly what Agent Hill was planning. Wanda suddenly considered the possibility.
"We can make one assumption: that Wanda Maximoff doesn't yet understand Solomon's true nature. Because during the East Coast quake incident, the executions were all carried out by Kamar-Taj's archmages. So we can infer that Wanda didn't know. She never really understood the core philosophy of the organization Solomon built," said Agent Hill firmly. Her audience wasn't anyone in the Avengers.
It was Nick Fury—who had vanished long ago.
"There's a chance that's true. But you can't be certain, can you?" Fury replied.
"I don't think this trial run will cost us much, sir," Hill said with a shake of her head. "The Avengers' base is already packed with agents from every major intelligence agency. I don't believe they can use the base's comms to relay intelligence with Vision monitoring things. Every mole we've uncovered so far operated independently. To protect the rest, they didn't even know who else was from the same agency. If we can't eliminate them openly, then we just send them on this mission. Even if Wanda ends up doing what Solomon would, it won't hurt the Avengers' overall strength much."
"Does Rogers or Stark know about this?"
"Do you want them to know, sir?" Hill countered. "They're completely unaware of how bad their situation is. They don't realize their every move is being watched. Every time I attend a hearing in D.C., I hear a dozen new proposals to rein in the Avengers. Those bills haven't passed yet only because they haven't caused enough trouble—or because some politicians still need them as weapons against their enemies. But if they keep crossing borders to chase Hydra, those proposals are going to pass. They still think the world loves them. Especially Ross—now that he's stepped into politics, his attitude toward Banner is anything but kind."
"You don't need to tell me any of this, Hill." Nick Fury's enormous holographic face was calm, even amused. "The Avengers are just an emergency response unit—meant for handling situations ordinary people can't. If it were up to me, I'd have disbanded them after the Battle of New York. But that decision's out of my hands now."
"So you're just going to let Stark pay the price for his dream?"
"He can afford it," Fury said with a shrug. "Let him pay."
"This is serious, sir! The world needs the Avengers. I hoped you'd step in."
"Don't call me 'sir,' Hill. I'm retired. Look around me—homeless guys, junkies, laid-off factory workers, Black dealers. I've got nothing they don't—hell, we even share needles. I'm a wanted man, legally dead. No one gives orders to me anymore, and I don't answer to anyone. This dump I live in? Built it myself. I power it with hamster wheels. I can spend all day browsing 4Chan on my phone."
"Enough with the jokes!" Hill slammed the table, rattling the tablet on top. She didn't know Fury's exact location, but she was sure he wasn't living among drug addicts. That was just an excuse to dodge responsibility. "Solomon's organization is a threat to the world. I've seen through his façade—he's ruthless, cold-blooded—"
"So were we, Hill. Try coexisting with Solomon. I know you're still angry he stood by and let S.H.I.E.L.D. collapse, but once you get to know him, you'll see he's not a bad guy. He keeps his promises. He's principled. As long as you don't cross his thousand-year-old rulebook, he might even make you breakfast."
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I Am Zeus, KING OF GODS (Chapter 79)
Fairy Tail: Igneel's Eldest Son (Chapter 391)
I Am Thalos, Odin's Older Brother (Chapter 471)
Reborn in America's Anti-Terror Unit (Chapter 677)
Solomon in Marvel (Chapter 1059)
Becoming the Wealthiest Tycoon on the Planet (Chapter 1418)
Surgical Fruit in the American Comics Universe (Chapter 1422)
American Detective: From TV Rookie to Seasoned Cop (Chapter 1452)
American TV Writer (Chapter 1504)
I Am Hades, The Supreme GOD of the Underworld!(Chapter 570)
Reborn as Humanity's Emperor Across the Multiverse (Chapter 703)
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