Max concentrated as he tried to create a portal.
He had a sling ring on his right arm, the mystical device that Agamotto's students used to tear openings through space. He moved his hands in the circular motion he had been taught, visualizing his destination.
Nothing happened.
He tried again, fingers tracing the pattern more precisely. A few sparks appeared, golden energy flickering weakly, but no portal formed.
He was surrounded by ten other students of Agamotto, men and women from various parts of the world who had shown aptitude for the mystic arts. Some were further along in their training, already able to create stable portals. Others struggled like Max, though none of them had his excuse.
Max had decided to learn some magic, especially portal creation, out of a mixture of boredom and pragmatism. It would be very useful if a situation arose where he somehow lost the ring. It was a possibility he could not ignore, no matter how unlikely.
He did not want to take any chances.
He was in Kamar-Taj proper. The sanctuary had been fully expanded over the years and renamed by Agamotto. The Sorcerer Supreme had decided this would be his base of operations, a place of learning, protection, and mystical defense for the entire world.
The Avengers had moved completely to Avengers Mountain on the island of Okkara so they would not overcrowd Kamar-Taj. The sentient island had welcomed them, providing space and resources, and they had built a proper headquarters there with everything they needed.
Kamar-Taj was connected to Avengers Mountain by a permanent door portal made by the Sorcerer Supreme, so traveling between them was easy. You simply stepped through one door and emerged from another thousands of miles away.
Ah yes, Sorcerer Supreme. Agamotto was calling himself that now. He had started doing so after Nur joked that he should use the title. Agamotto, apparently not hearing the sarcasm in the mutant's tone, had taken it as a proper suggestion and adopted it immediately.
Max laughed internally, thinking of that moment. Nur had looked so annoyed when Agamotto started introducing himself as "Agamotto, Sorcerer Supreme" with complete sincerity.
All eight of them were like family to him now. Ten years of knowing each other, fighting together, saving the world together, it had forged bonds stronger than blood.
Ten years since the formation of the Avengers. Nearly fifteen since his arrival in this world.
Time passes quickly, Max thought, especially with good company. He thought of Firehair and their relationship, how it had grown and deepened over the years.
The thought of her only brought a smile to his face.
"Max, you are too distracted," Agamotto said, walking over. "Clear your head. Focus."
"I have cleared my head," Max protested.
"Obviously you have not," Agamotto replied, his tone carrying the patience of a teacher who had said this many times before.
Max sighed in frustration. "You know what? I'm gonna go find the others. Might as well help them get the Tears of Nyx from Tartarus than keep doing this."
"Were you not the one who boasted you could learn this in mere weeks?" Agamotto asked, raising an eyebrow. "Did you not make a wager with Odin?"
Max groaned. "Fine. I'll try again."
"Max," Jade spoke up through their mental link, "I have a theory. Perhaps the ring is interfering."
"Could it?" Max asked aloud.
Agamotto considered this. "It could. There is a possibility it might be interfering with your ability to channel mystical energy." He looked thoughtful. "I have an idea. Why don't you take off your ring and then try?"
Max was hesitant. He had not taken the ring off in years now. But he did it, sliding the ring from his finger. It hovered in the air near Agamotto, glowing softly.
Agamotto then created a portal with casual ease, golden energy forming a perfect circle that revealed what looked like a very beautiful beach, white sand and azure water. Max recognized it as one of the many Greek islands scattered across the Aegean.
Then, to Max's shock, Agamotto shoved him through the portal.
"Hey! What the fuck?!" Max shouted, stumbling onto the sand.
"You can come back when you learn it!" Agamotto called through the closing portal, his expression completely serious.
"Agamotto! Don't you dare—"
The portal closed, leaving Max standing alone on a beach in Greece, thousands of miles from Kamar-Taj, without his ring.
Max cursed Agamotto extensively, his creative profanity stopping midway as he realized the situation he was in.
Back in Kamar-Taj, Agamotto turned to the hovering ring. "Do not go to him for a while. He needs to learn this properly."
"One hour," Jade's voice came from the ring. "Then I'm sending it back to him."
"Three hours," Agamotto countered.
"One hour," Jade firmly said.
Agamotto sighed. "Sure. I am confident he will finally be able to do it under pressure."
The ring hovered around Agamotto obediently as he turned back to his other students and began instructing them in that day's lessons, completely unconcerned about leaving Max stranded on a Greek island.
It was, after all, an excellent teaching method.
==========
Max cursed as the portal closed. "Fuck you, Motto! Fuck you!"
He sighed deeply and looked around, taking in the pristine white sand beach and the azure ocean stretching endlessly before him. The sun shone warm on his skin, and the sound of gentle waves was almost peaceful.
Almost.
Max tried to make a lounger chair out of habit, raising his hand, then realized. "Oh yeah. No ring."
He looked down at the sling ring that had fallen from his hand when Agamotto shoved him through. The golden mystical device lay in the sand, mocking him. He needed that to get back to Kamar-Taj. That was the whole point of this torture.
Max picked up the sling ring and slipped it onto his finger, took a breath, and tried to create a portal. He concentrated, thinking of the lessons Agamotto had taught him, visualize the destination, feel the fabric of space, trace the pattern with intention.
Sparks appeared. Golden energy flickered weakly.
Nothing else happened.
After fifteen minutes of trying, Max was getting frustrated. Magic just did not seem to be for him. It had taken him months to learn the simplest spells from Agamotto, mostly small stuff like cleaning clothes, organizing objects, minor household magic. Mundane things he could also do with his ring far more easily.
"Alright, I'm going back," Max muttered. He closed his eyes and concentrated on his ring, trying to call it back to him across the distance. The bond should work regardless of—
Wait.
What?
Nothing?
"Damn you, Agamotto!" Max thought furiously.
He must have convinced Jade to block the recall function. The AI had more autonomy now than when Max first arrived in this world. He had deliberately given her more control over the ring's systems to make her more effective, and he was now regretting that decision.
"Damn traitor," he muttered, sitting down on the beach in defeat.
As he sat there, thinking he was alone with his frustration, he felt a presence behind him.
"Hello."
The voice was melodic, feminine, impossibly smooth, like honey dripping over silk. Max spun around, sand flying, and his breath caught in his throat.
The woman standing behind him was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
She had pale skin that seemed to glow in the late afternoon light, flawless and smooth like porcelain. Her body was all curves, full breasts straining against the thin, silky cloth draped across her chest, the fabric so sheer he could see the dark outline of her nipples beneath. Her waist was narrow, flaring out to wide hips barely covered by another scrap of silk tied low, revealing the smooth expanse of her stomach and the gentle curve where her thighs met. Her legs were long and toned, and her bare feet made no impression in the sand.
But it was her face that truly captured him. Pouty lips, full and red, as if she had been biting them, parted slightly to reveal perfect white teeth. Eyes that shifted color as he watched, blue, then green, then something deeper, more hypnotic. And her hair, god, her hair, cascaded down her shoulders in waves of deep crimson, so vibrant it looked like it was on fire, flowing all the way to her waist where it brushed against the silk covering her hips.
Max felt a sudden pain in his head, the same sensation he felt when someone tried to tamper with his mind. But then he did not feel it. The sensation faded as quickly as it came.
Strange, he thought.
The woman walked closer, her hips swaying hypnotically, and Max realized with a start that she looked familiar. A lot like Firehair, actually. The resemblance was uncanny, the same build, the same general features, the same hair color. But for just a split second, as she moved, she looked exactly the same.
Not similar.
Identical.
"Are you new here?" she asked, her voice like music.
"Something like that," Max managed, unable to take his eyes off her. His voice sounded distant to his own ears, like he was speaking through water. "I'm just... got stranded. Can't get back."
Why am I telling her this? Some part of his mind tried to raise an alarm, but it felt muffled, unimportant.
"Oh, you poor man," she cooed, taking another step closer. The silk across her chest shifted with the movement, and Max's eyes followed the fabric as if he were hypnotized. "Lost and alone. That must be so frightening."
"Not frightening. Never that," Max said, though his head felt increasingly heavy, and he felt no fear at all. "Just... annoying. I need to get back to—"
The woman knelt before him, and the movement made the cloth around her waist slip, revealing more of her thighs, the smooth expanse of skin disappearing up into shadow. Max's mouth went dry.
Then a gust of wind, where had that come from, caught both pieces of silk and tore them away, and suddenly she was completely naked in front of him.
Her breasts were perfect, full and heavy, nipples hardening in the ocean breeze. Her stomach was flat and soft, leading down to the junction of her thighs, where a small patch of red hair—
"I'll take care of you," she whispered, reaching out to touch his face, and Max felt the heaviness in his head increase dramatically, as if someone had filled his skull with lead.
His vision started to blur at the edges. The woman's face swam in and out of focus, Firehair, not Firehair, someone else entirely, all three at once. Her hand on his cheek felt impossibly warm, too warm, almost burning, but he could not pull away.
"What... what are you..." Max tried to ask, but his tongue felt thick and uncooperative.
"Shhhhhhh." She leaned in closer, her naked body pressing against him, soft and warm and overwhelming. Max felt himself tipping backward, the sand rising up to meet him, and he could not stop it, could not resist. "Just sleep, my love. Just let go. I'll take such good care of you."
Max's eyes fluttered closed. He tried to fight it, tried to summon willpower, tried to remember why this was wrong—
Firehair…
But the thought slipped away like water through his fingers.
The last thing he felt was her body covering his, warm and inviting and inescapable, her lips against his ear, whispering words he could not quite hear.
Then darkness took him completely.
.
.
.
Max's eyes opened slowly, his mind clawing its way up from the depths of the sleep that had taken him. The first thing he registered was softness, impossibly soft sheets beneath him. The second was the ceiling above him: white marble veined with gold, carved in intricate patterns of roses and doves, held up by towering columns that gleamed in the warm light filtering through gauzy curtains.
He sat up fast, his bare chest exposed, and realized he was wearing only loose linen pants. The room around him was enormous, Greek architecture in its most opulent form, all white marble and gold accents, with flowing curtains that billowed in a breeze that smelled of roses and honey. Statues of beautiful figures lined the walls, and a massive balcony opened to what looked like an impossibly blue sky.
He immediately tried to call his ring to him, reaching out through their bond.
Nothing.
He could not even feel it anymore. The connection was just far, very far.
"You're awake."
The voice came from behind him, melodic and pleased, and before Max could turn, he felt soft, warm skin press against his bare back. Nude breasts pushed against him as two impossibly soft hands wrapped around his chest, hugging him from behind.
Max jerked forward, trying to get away, but he was pulled back with strength far beyond human. "Lady, whoever you are, I have a girlfriend!"
"I know," she said, her voice warm against his ear. "I have watched you for over a year now. Since you fought off demons on the island of my birth." She pressed closer. "I have seen your acts of valor, your power, your virility. You protect the innocent. You love with such passion." Her lips brushed his neck. "I have fallen in love with you."
What the fuck? What is up with these crazy women and their weird obsession with me? Max thought, his mind going to Umar, whom he had another encounter with just last year when another invasion had taken place.
He quickly put it all together. Probably the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. The Greek architecture that would not exist in the world for centuries yet. The island where he had fought demons. She had mentioned Kythera, birthplace of—
Oh fuck. This is Aphrodite.
"Lady Aphrodite," Max started.
"You, beloved, can call me Aphrodite. Just Aphrodite." She nibbled at his earlobe, and Max jerked his head away, trying to move again, but even his enhanced body could not overpower godly strength.
"Look, Aphrodite, I'm very flattered, but like I said, my heart belongs to another woman. You're the goddess of love. Aren't you supposed to know these things?"
She let go suddenly. Aphrodite crawled across the massive bed on all fours, completely nude, her eyes never leaving his. Every movement was deliberate and sensual, designed to showcase her body, full breasts swaying with each motion, the curve of her waist, the swell of her hips, smooth pale skin that seemed to glow from within. She reached the edge where Max sat and positioned herself beside him, sitting on her knees, making no attempt to cover herself.
She looked like Firehair, but more. That was all Max's brain could comprehend. The same red hair, but somehow richer, more vibrant. The same general features, but perfected and idealized, as if Firehair had been run through a filter of divine beauty.
"Am I not more beautiful than her?" Aphrodite asked, tilting her head. Her crimson hair cascaded over one shoulder to partially cover a breast before she deliberately pushed it back. "Is my skin not softer?" She took Max's hand and pressed it to her cheek before he could pull away, and the skin was impossibly smooth and warm. "Is my hair not more colorful?" She gestured to the flowing red locks. "Is my body not more curvaceous?" She arched her back, displaying her figure from every angle. "Tell me, beloved. What does this Firehair have that I, the goddess of love, do not possess?"
"My love," Max answered, making the goddess's eye twitch slightly.
He then added urgently, "You don't know what you're messing with. Firehair can be very possessive. She will literally burn this entire dimension down, you hear me? The Phoenix doesn't take kindly to—"
Aphrodite rolled her eyes dismissively. "There is nothing that powerful. I am a goddess, beloved. Olympian. Primordial beauty made manifest."
"How do you not know?" Max shot back. "Shouldn't you know what the Phoenix Force is?" He paused. "Were you just born or something?"
Aphrodite's expression flickered with annoyance. "Why does that matter?"
"Because the Phoenix—"
"Enough!" Aphrodite snapped.
"Fuck this, I'm leaving," Max said, standing up and heading for the door.
He made it three steps before golden light erupted around him. A glowing rope, shimmering like captured sunlight, wrapped around his torso and yanked him backward. Max hit the bed hard, the rope binding his arms to his sides as Aphrodite stood at the other end, holding the glowing lasso with a smile that had shifted from seductive to possessive.
Max struggled against the bonds, his enhanced strength straining, but the rope did not budge. If anything, it tightened.
"This lasso was made from my own girdle," Aphrodite said, walking slowly toward the bed, the rope shortening with each step until she stood over him. "It makes men and women submit to the wielder's will. Anyone bound within it must obey the commands of whoever holds it." She climbed onto the bed, straddling Max's hips, her naked body pressing against him. "I find myself in conflict, my darling. I am the goddess of beauty, love, desire, passion, pleasure. But my desire for you, my lust, it has overtaken even my domain of love. I must have you. I want you as my consort."
She leaned down, her lips inches from his, and Max felt a wave of compulsion wash over him, a command woven into the very fiber of the rope to submit, to want, to give in.
"Kiss me," Aphrodite commanded, her voice layered with divine power.
Max's head tilted up involuntarily, his lips parting.
"Get. Off. Me." The words came out through gritted teeth, forced through sheer willpower, and Aphrodite's eyes widened in shock.
"What… how are you—"
"You must understand," Aphrodite said. "Hera is planning for me to marry that cripple, Hephaestus." Her beautiful face twisted with disgust. "It is funny. It was she who also showed me you, my beloved. She thought showing me a mortal hero would make me appreciate what I had. Instead, I found perfection."
Her face was close to his, her eyes hypnotic. He felt nothing but pity for her, because soon enough his friends would come looking for him. And with them would be Firehair.
Then this whole place was going to burn.
"Look," Max struggled to move, to resist the pull of the lasso.
"Shhhhh." Aphrodite placed a finger on his lips, silencing him with the lasso's power.
There was a sound from outside, raised voices.
Aphrodite's eyes glowed with excitement, and she smiled radiantly. "Father is in the arena. It is the perfect time for him to meet you." Her expression turned dreamy. "He will see how you are a far better option than Hephaestus."
She stood, pulling the lasso tighter and forcing Max to his feet. "He will bless our union. Come, my beloved."
Max was effectively tied and led away like a prisoner, the golden rope glowing around his torso, compelling his body to move even as his mind screamed in resistance.
As they walked through the marble halls, Max tried to think of escape plans.
But his mind kept returning to one thought.
Is this the Lasso of Truth? Because this definitely looks like the Lasso of Truth. I am absolutely taking this with me when I escape.
His concentration shifted fully to connecting with his ring, reaching through the void and calling to it with everything he had.
He was getting closer. He could almost feel it now, like touching something through thick glass.
Aphrodite led him out of her chambers and through the palace. Max saw many women lounging about, nymphs, minor goddesses, priestesses, and men as well, all of them at the pinnacle of beauty.
Aphrodite's court of pleasure and desire.
They all turned to stare as the goddess passed with her bound prize, their expressions ranging from envious to amused.
Then the world shifted.
They vanished in a flash of divine light and reappeared in the arena.
Max, to his immense relief, saw Odin, Fan, Azzuri, and Vnn, all of them seemingly in the middle of a tense conversation with Zeus, Athena, Hera, Ares, Apollo, and Dionysus.
His friends saw him immediately and gasped.
And Firehair was not here yet. Even more perfect.
"Aphrodite!" Hera snapped, standing from her throne. "What is the meaning of this?"
"Father!" Aphrodite called out joyfully, completely ignoring Hera. "I have found the proper and only worthy husband for me. Is he not magnificent?"
"MAX!" all his friends shouted in unison. They looked genuinely shocked, the kind of reaction that came from seeing something you thought impossible.
Yeah, how could they not be? Him getting captured like this was basically unthinkable to them.
"I KNEW IT!" Odin roared, his voice shaking the arena as lightning exploded around his body.
Max saw Fan's hands burst with chi energy, golden flames wreathing her fists as her expression shifted from shock to cold fury. Azzuri unsheathed his vibranium claws with a metallic snikt, his eyes glowing with the power of Bast. Vnn roared, his bestial fury shaking the arena.
"ODIN! FAN! AZZURI! VNN!" Max yelled desperately, struggling against the lasso. "Fuck, you have no idea how happy I am to see you!"
Odin turned slowly to look at Zeus, his eyes blazing with power, lightning crackling violently around his entire body.
"I knew you were up to something," Odin said. "Care to explain this, King of Olympus?" He spoke the title with particular scathing contempt.
Zeus looked at his daughter, then at the bound Max, then back to Odin. His eyes began to glow with divine power, lightning answering lightning.
.
.
.
Agamotto looked her over carefully, his mystical sight examining her. His eyes widened. "Well, this is… big news. Wow." He shook his head in amazement. "I mean, I never expected—"
Firehair looked a bit terrified as she sat down heavily on the chair next to him. She was in disbelief. For the first time in a very long time, she did not know how to react to something.
"Well, I need to do a proper examination, you understand," Agamotto continued, already moving toward his mystical instruments. "I don't know how the Phoenix Force could influence the development, and of course there's Max. I mean, Max isn't even fully human. How would that affect—" He was muttering, half to himself, already lost in the theoretical implications.
"Where is he?" Firehair interrupted, standing up suddenly. "I need to tell him. Now."
Agamotto paused, looking guilty. "Ah. About that. I may have… stranded him."
"You what?"
"I stranded Max on a beach in Hellas without his ring," Agamotto admitted. "So he would be forced to learn portal creation. It's a very effective teaching method. Desperation breeds focus."
"That is a horrible method!"
"It's worked many times."
As they talked, the ring suddenly flew into the room, hovering urgently. Jade's voice came through, carrying notes of genuine concern, something the AI rarely displayed.
"I have not been able to sense Max for the past five minutes," Jade reported. "I was keeping passive monitoring on his bio-signature as per protocol. It just… vanished. Completely. As if he ceased to exist."
Firehair's eyes began glowing, not with her normal warm golden light, but with something fiercer, more primal. Her gaze turned to Agamotto, who took an involuntary step back.
"Calm down," he said, raising his hands defensively. "I'm sure there's a reasonable—"
"I have footage," Jade interrupted. "Reviewing recorded data from construct surveillance drones in the area before they lost connection. A woman approached him. She… abducted him. He was rendered unconscious through unknown means."
The aura around Firehair only grew and grew. The entire Sanctuary began to tremble. Stone cracked. The air itself started to shimmer with heat. Students in other parts of Kamar-Taj began crying out in alarm as temperatures spiked.
"I am going to find him right now!" Agamotto shouted, already beginning to weave location spells with frantic hand gestures. "Just give me a moment to—"
"FIND HIM," Firehair said, but it was not just her voice anymore. The Phoenix spoke through her as well, the two voices merging in a way that made reality itself shudder.
"FIND HIM NOW."