Chapter 206: Rose Emerging (2007)
12th June 2007, New York City
(Wanda Maximoff POV)
The man created a golden shield around his left hand and took out some sort of stick from his right hand.
There had to be something more to this stick, someone like Mordo wasn’t an idiot with a gimmick. The witch spread her senses towards the stick and gasped at the energy contained inside it.
Before she could warn Jean, the redhead started to duel and threw a giant boulder at their opponent. Mordo just swung the small staff thing which extended itself into a whip and destroyed the boulder.
Wanda and Jean were gaping at the scene in front of them. It seemed that the fight would be a lot harder than they thought it would.
The man gave them a vicious grin, “Are we going to stand around all day, or are we going to fight?”
Wanda sent a telepathic message to her partner, ‘Jean, get inside his head. I’ll keep him occupied by attacking him physically, you hang back and use your telepathy.’
Jean sent her a telepathic confirmation, and the young witch leapt into the air, her arms raised, her psionic blade pointed at her opponent.
Mordo didn’t seem phased by the attack and ducked under her blow. She went past him, and the man just kicked her in the back. Wanda was able to right herself and land on her feet. She glared at the man’s dismissal of her and sent a reality magic bolt at him. She had to keep him occupied enough for Jean to breach his mental barriers.
This was a common tactic she and Jean made when dealing with someone who knew how to protect their minds from telepaths. It required a lot of discipline, concentration and self control, something that people lose when they’re fighting. So, Wanda does her best to infuriate and distract them, while Jean worms her way into their minds to knock them out.
The sorcerer didn’t seem bothered by the incoming bolt of reality magic and just extended his staff into some sort of whip, grabbed the bolt of magic and sent it back at her. Wanda was so surprised by this, that she barely had enough time to make a shield to protect her from her own spell.
How the fuck does someone just grab a spell with a whip?
Still, Wanda collected herself quickly enough and tried to telekinetically grab the man with her magic, for some reason it would just hold onto him.
The sorcerer laughed mockingly, “Child, I have fought telekinetics before. I know of the dangers they pose as fighters. I have collected many ancient relics in my journeys, one of which are these clothes, which other than being indestructible, also allow me to anchor a single spell to them that will work forever, and I have used it to grant myself protection against telekinetics. Just like I have a ring that protects myself from any type of mental manipulation, protecting me from Grey’s telepathic attacks. I have studied both yourself and your partner extensively. You do not have a chance against someone of my experience.”
Wanda responded by making a pillar of earth leap from just under him and throw him into the air. Unfortunately, the attack didn’t bother the man since magic circles appeared under his boots, creating small platforms that allowed him to right himself easily.
Mordo then hopped from one of the magic circles, and dived towards her, with a black mystic bolt in his palm. Wanda, by instinct, created a red projection of a hand that caught his leaping hand and redirected it next to her. As Mordo’s energy covered fist hit the ground, the young witch was immediately summoned by Jean, protecting her from whatever collateral damage the sorcerer’s unknown attack could have.
She was right to do so, since the spot where Wanda was a second ago was replaced by a large crater with Mordo standing unharmed in the middle of it. Wanda used her power to create some friction in the air, into a giant flame. Jean immediately understood her intention and telekinetically created a pression imbalance in the air that she released suddenly. It created a giant gust of air that pushed the already large flame at their opponent, hiding him from view.
Again, when the dust settled, the man was unharmed, having protected himself with a large golden spherical shield around him.
“Impressive, very impressive. You’re quite talented for your age. It truly saddens me that I will have to kill you.”
The sorcerer was suddenly in front of them. Did he teleport or something, or was he that fast? Wanda didn’t know, but she raised her psionic sword to protect herself from the staff coming at her. Jean tried to intervene but was immediately sent back with a Tao Mandala shield that he sent at her torso.
Wanda’s sword was able to hold off Mordo’s staff, but then the thing started to glow gold and sent an energy pulse that destroyed her psionic weapon. How the fuck did he do that? No one had ever destroyed her psionic sword before. She didn’t even know that it could be destroyed. Still, Wanda was able to stop the staff from hitting her by creating a last minute construct that redirected Mordo’s arms. The man expected this and kicked her in the chest.
He then used the staff into a whip again to grab the returning Tao Mandala shield and sent it at her chest, sending her flying back.
As I got up, I could see that the man was hitting Jean with his staff. The redhead was too reliant on her telekinesis and telepathy and thus couldn’t hold her own. She chose not to delve too deeply into sorcery, doing her best to control her cosmic powers which was healing and the phoenix flames, something she usually doesn’t advertise, because of the issues that could come up if someone revealed her status as the avatar of the Phoenix Force.
Wanda suddenly had an epiphany and sent a thought to her partner, “you can’t directly use your telekinesis on him, but you can use it around him.”
Jean sent her a grateful thought and the redhead winced as the man used his staff and used the golden energy to break through her telekinetic shield. Wanda didn’t think that anything on this planet could break that shield and obviously Jean didn't either, considering how she froze in shock at this. The sorcerer took advantage of this distraction as he used the staff whip thing to strangle Jean. The redhead gasped for breath and then remembered my words. She created a telekinetic shockwave that sent both her and the sorcerer flying back.
Wanda took advantage of this by leaping in the air to kill him and sent a bolt of lightning, but the man raised his staff and blocked it somehow. What the fuck is that staff?
She had apparently said this out loud since the man burst into laughter, “You are correct, child. This staff is special. We call it the Staff of the Living Tribunal, we do not know of its origins, except that it has existed centuries before the Order of Sorcerers even existed, when gods and demons still walked the earth. It is an object of immense power that can only be wielded by someone unyielding, unwilling to break the rules and make exceptions, someone who can be trusted to exact impartial judgement. This is why I know my purpose to be just, because if it wasn’t then the staff would have rejected me. It can override any magic, and break its structure at the user’s will.”
Wanda let the man monologue and subtly started to weave an illusion. She turned herself and Jean invisible and the snuck around him. As the man kept talking to her projection, Wanda sent Jean another telepathic message, ‘we need to beat him, quickly.’
‘I think we’ll need to use my flames for this. It’s the only thing we haven’t tried yet.’
‘I still haven’t used my transmutation, but I didn’t have an opportunity to do it.’
The redhead nodded, ‘alright, let’s take him by surprise.’
Before they could do anything, they were blasted back into the air, and they watched Mordo with surprise in their eyes. “Illusions can be very powerful against the uninitiated. Unfortunately for you, I am not uninitiated. This has gone on for long enough, goodbye, Wanda Maximoff, and Jean Grey, may you find peace in the next life.”
As the man raised his staff, Jean readied her phoenix flames to surprise him. Nothing, as far as she knows, could resist these flames. Just as the redhead was preparing to attack, pure glowing white chains of hard light grabbed the man by his torso and threw him back.
Wanda knew this spell. This was her mother’s spell. Was she back? The young witch looked at the source of the spell with hope in her eyes. That hope was immediately stifled when she saw who it was. It was a woman, who looked a bit older than them. She had red hair, hazel eyes. This wasn’t Jasmine. This wasn’t her mother.
The woman didn’t let Mordo gather his strength. She sent another wave of chains at him, and the man dodged, but as he tried to grab them, he screamed in pain as frost enveloped his arm.
Mordo raised his staff and with more golden energy, broke the chains like he did Wanda’s sword and Jean’s shield. The man chose to run at her with some close combat. The woman bent back to protect herself from the thrust, and sent ice spikes at his feet, impaling them. As the man was trying to process his pain, the woman sent a spear made of hard light at him. The man was able to dodge it, but not completely. There was a large gash on his chest. His clothes were visibly repairing themselves, but the man was still bleeding.
The mystery woman smirked at him and summoned a circle of fire made of hard light. It surrounded both herself and Jean along with the mystery woman. The man kept sending attack after attack and the fire kept absorbing them, blocking them. This was a very powerful shield spell, and it was also one of her mother’s creations.
When this mess was done with, she had a lot of questions for the mystery woman. But for now, they had to deal with an enraged Mordo. The man used his staff to destroy the spell once more. But the woman expected this somehow and sent hundreds of small razor sharp icicles at him. The man created a spherical shield to protect himself and Wanda gathered her powers properly and sent a giant bolt of lightning at the shield.
Under the pressure, the shield cracked and fell. The mystery woman had teleported in front of him with a loud crack and kicked him in the chest. Behind him, Wanda raised a wall of earth, transmutated it into steel and added some sharp spikes in the end. The man landed back first into them and screamed in pain, as two spikes the size of a nail impaled him in the back. Before he could collect himself, Jean created a psionic sword in each hand but this time the swords were enveloped in an orange fire. She must have combined them with her phoenix fire. Huh, that’s a first for her.
Mordo had enough consciousness in him to block the sword with his staff. He released the golden energy once more, but this time it didn’t affect Jean’s blade. Mordo’s eyes widened as Jean used her other hand to cut off his arm, more specifically, the one wielding the Staff of the Living Tribunal.
There was a shockwave of golden light as it happened, when the relic was separated from its chosen. Everyone was sent back once more. But Mordo got up, holding onto his handless arm. He looked at them, limping, “This is not over. I swear to you. I will kill the three of you. I will find your loved ones and skin them alive as they watch and then as you beg for mercy, I will impale you in the chest as you die a slow and painful death.”
The man then disappeared, probably teleported or something.
The mystery woman chuckled, “That was such a cliché threat. Why can’t villains be original for once?”
Wanda stepped up and demanded, “Who are you?”
“My name is Rose Potter, and I hear you’re looking for my sister, Jasmine Sayre.”
Chapter 206: Rose Emerging (2007)
12th June 2007, New York City
(Wanda Maximoff POV)
The man created a golden shield around his left hand and took out some sort of stick from his right hand.
There had to be something more to this stick, someone like Mordo wasn’t an idiot with a gimmick. The witch spread her senses towards the stick and gasped at the energy contained inside it.
Before she could warn Jean, the redhead started to duel and threw a giant boulder at their opponent. Mordo just swung the small staff thing which extended itself into a whip and destroyed the boulder.
Wanda and Jean were gaping at the scene in front of them. It seemed that the fight would be a lot harder than they thought it would.
The man gave them a vicious grin, “Are we going to stand around all day, or are we going to fight?”
Wanda sent a telepathic message to her partner, ‘Jean, get inside his head. I’ll keep him occupied by attacking him physically, you hang back and use your telepathy.’
Jean sent her a telepathic confirmation, and the young witch leapt into the air, her arms raised, her psionic blade pointed at her opponent.
Mordo didn’t seem phased by the attack and ducked under her blow. She went past him, and the man just kicked her in the back. Wanda was able to right herself and land on her feet. She glared at the man’s dismissal of her and sent a reality magic bolt at him. She had to keep him occupied enough for Jean to breach his mental barriers.
This was a common tactic she and Jean made when dealing with someone who knew how to protect their minds from telepaths. It required a lot of discipline, concentration and self control, something that people lose when they’re fighting. So, Wanda does her best to infuriate and distract them, while Jean worms her way into their minds to knock them out.
The sorcerer didn’t seem bothered by the incoming bolt of reality magic and just extended his staff into some sort of whip, grabbed the bolt of magic and sent it back at her. Wanda was so surprised by this, that she barely had enough time to make a shield to protect her from her own spell.
How the fuck does someone just grab a spell with a whip?
Still, Wanda collected herself quickly enough and tried to telekinetically grab the man with her magic, for some reason it would just hold onto him.
The sorcerer laughed mockingly, “Child, I have fought telekinetics before. I know of the dangers they pose as fighters. I have collected many ancient relics in my journeys, one of which are these clothes, which other than being indestructible, also allow me to anchor a single spell to them that will work forever, and I have used it to grant myself protection against telekinetics. Just like I have a ring that protects myself from any type of mental manipulation, protecting me from Grey’s telepathic attacks. I have studied both yourself and your partner extensively. You do not have a chance against someone of my experience.”
Wanda responded by making a pillar of earth leap from just under him and throw him into the air. Unfortunately, the attack didn’t bother the man since magic circles appeared under his boots, creating small platforms that allowed him to right himself easily.
Mordo then hopped from one of the magic circles, and dived towards her, with a black mystic bolt in his palm. Wanda, by instinct, created a red projection of a hand that caught his leaping hand and redirected it next to her. As Mordo’s energy covered fist hit the ground, the young witch was immediately summoned by Jean, protecting her from whatever collateral damage the sorcerer’s unknown attack could have.
She was right to do so, since the spot where Wanda was a second ago was replaced by a large crater with Mordo standing unharmed in the middle of it. Wanda used her power to create some friction in the air, into a giant flame. Jean immediately understood her intention and telekinetically created a pression imbalance in the air that she released suddenly. It created a giant gust of air that pushed the already large flame at their opponent, hiding him from view.
Again, when the dust settled, the man was unharmed, having protected himself with a large golden spherical shield around him.
“Impressive, very impressive. You’re quite talented for your age. It truly saddens me that I will have to kill you.”
The sorcerer was suddenly in front of them. Did he teleport or something, or was he that fast? Wanda didn’t know, but she raised her psionic sword to protect herself from the staff coming at her. Jean tried to intervene but was immediately sent back with a Tao Mandala shield that he sent at her torso.
Wanda’s sword was able to hold off Mordo’s staff, but then the thing started to glow gold and sent an energy pulse that destroyed her psionic weapon. How the fuck did he do that? No one had ever destroyed her psionic sword before. She didn’t even know that it could be destroyed. Still, Wanda was able to stop the staff from hitting her by creating a last minute construct that redirected Mordo’s arms. The man expected this and kicked her in the chest.
He then used the staff into a whip again to grab the returning Tao Mandala shield and sent it at her chest, sending her flying back.
As I got up, I could see that the man was hitting Jean with his staff. The redhead was too reliant on her telekinesis and telepathy and thus couldn’t hold her own. She chose not to delve too deeply into sorcery, doing her best to control her cosmic powers which was healing and the phoenix flames, something she usually doesn’t advertise, because of the issues that could come up if someone revealed her status as the avatar of the Phoenix Force.
Wanda suddenly had an epiphany and sent a thought to her partner, “you can’t directly use your telekinesis on him, but you can use it around him.”
Jean sent her a grateful thought and the redhead winced as the man used his staff and used the golden energy to break through her telekinetic shield. Wanda didn’t think that anything on this planet could break that shield and obviously Jean didn't either, considering how she froze in shock at this. The sorcerer took advantage of this distraction as he used the staff whip thing to strangle Jean. The redhead gasped for breath and then remembered my words. She created a telekinetic shockwave that sent both her and the sorcerer flying back.
Wanda took advantage of this by leaping in the air to kill him and sent a bolt of lightning, but the man raised his staff and blocked it somehow. What the fuck is that staff?
She had apparently said this out loud since the man burst into laughter, “You are correct, child. This staff is special. We call it the Staff of the Living Tribunal, we do not know of its origins, except that it has existed centuries before the Order of Sorcerers even existed, when gods and demons still walked the earth. It is an object of immense power that can only be wielded by someone unyielding, unwilling to break the rules and make exceptions, someone who can be trusted to exact impartial judgement. This is why I know my purpose to be just, because if it wasn’t then the staff would have rejected me. It can override any magic, and break its structure at the user’s will.”
Wanda let the man monologue and subtly started to weave an illusion. She turned herself and Jean invisible and the snuck around him. As the man kept talking to her projection, Wanda sent Jean another telepathic message, ‘we need to beat him, quickly.’
‘I think we’ll need to use my flames for this. It’s the only thing we haven’t tried yet.’
‘I still haven’t used my transmutation, but I didn’t have an opportunity to do it.’
The redhead nodded, ‘alright, let’s take him by surprise.’
Before they could do anything, they were blasted back into the air, and they watched Mordo with surprise in their eyes. “Illusions can be very powerful against the uninitiated. Unfortunately for you, I am not uninitiated. This has gone on for long enough, goodbye, Wanda Maximoff, and Jean Grey, may you find peace in the next life.”
As the man raised his staff, Jean readied her phoenix flames to surprise him. Nothing, as far as she knows, could resist these flames. Just as the redhead was preparing to attack, pure glowing white chains of hard light grabbed the man by his torso and threw him back.
Wanda knew this spell. This was her mother’s spell. Was she back? The young witch looked at the source of the spell with hope in her eyes. That hope was immediately stifled when she saw who it was. It was a woman, who looked a bit older than them. She had red hair, hazel eyes. This wasn’t Jasmine. This wasn’t her mother.
The woman didn’t let Mordo gather his strength. She sent another wave of chains at him, and the man dodged, but as he tried to grab them, he screamed in pain as frost enveloped his arm.
Mordo raised his staff and with more golden energy, broke the chains like he did Wanda’s sword and Jean’s shield. The man chose to run at her with some close combat. The woman bent back to protect herself from the thrust, and sent ice spikes at his feet, impaling them. As the man was trying to process his pain, the woman sent a spear made of hard light at him. The man was able to dodge it, but not completely. There was a large gash on his chest. His clothes were visibly repairing themselves, but the man was still bleeding.
The mystery woman smirked at him and summoned a circle of fire made of hard light. It surrounded both herself and Jean along with the mystery woman. The man kept sending attack after attack and the fire kept absorbing them, blocking them. This was a very powerful shield spell, and it was also one of her mother’s creations.
When this mess was done with, she had a lot of questions for the mystery woman. But for now, they had to deal with an enraged Mordo. The man used his staff to destroy the spell once more. But the woman expected this somehow and sent hundreds of small razor sharp icicles at him. The man created a spherical shield to protect himself and Wanda gathered her powers properly and sent a giant bolt of lightning at the shield.
Under the pressure, the shield cracked and fell. The mystery woman had teleported in front of him with a loud crack and kicked him in the chest. Behind him, Wanda raised a wall of earth, transmutated it into steel and added some sharp spikes in the end. The man landed back first into them and screamed in pain, as two spikes the size of a nail impaled him in the back. Before he could collect himself, Jean created a psionic sword in each hand but this time the swords were enveloped in an orange fire. She must have combined them with her phoenix fire. Huh, that’s a first for her.
Mordo had enough consciousness in him to block the sword with his staff. He released the golden energy once more, but this time it didn’t affect Jean’s blade. Mordo’s eyes widened as Jean used her other hand to cut off his arm, more specifically, the one wielding the Staff of the Living Tribunal.
There was a shockwave of golden light as it happened, when the relic was separated from its chosen. Everyone was sent back once more. But Mordo got up, holding onto his handless arm. He looked at them, limping, “This is not over. I swear to you. I will kill the three of you. I will find your loved ones and skin them alive as they watch and then as you beg for mercy, I will impale you in the chest as you die a slow and painful death.”
The man then disappeared, probably teleported or something.
The mystery woman chuckled, “That was such a cliché threat. Why can’t villains be original for once?”
Wanda stepped up and demanded, “Who are you?”
“My name is Rose Potter, and I hear you’re looking for my sister, Jasmine Sayre.”
