Trick 157: New Things on Display!

Ace returned to his house and took off his hood, sighing "Another day, another mysterious act… It's so tiring." Agatha pursed her lips looking around the artifact room, saying "Hey, Hot shot, you got a lot of fun things here… Mind letting me go?"

Ace turned to Agatha and Wanda, smiling happily "You two idiots should know that enslaving an entire town is a bad thing, right?" he pointed at Wanda smiling "Like this place? This is your new home." as he waved her into a case, snapping his fingers as Wanda was frozen in a purple crystal.

The case slammed shut and runes appeared on it as Ace tilted his head at Agatha, who swallowed, finally scared as she said "I didn't do anything. It was all Wanda, I was just playing along!"

Ace rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers, a Darkhold appearing in his hand as he smiled "Right. And you have the Darkhold for what purpose? Reading material? Maybe you find Dark Hexes and Reality destroying magic… kooky? Quirky and fun?"

Agatha tilted her nose up, saying "That's not mine." Ace rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers again, another Darkhold appearing as he looked at her sarcastically. She froze and stared at him in disbelief, shouting "You hypocrite! You have one too?! But there can only be one-" before realizing.

Ace showed Agatha his hands, saying "Clean as a whistle! Let's see yours, cutie pie." Agatha's hands raised up and her fingers were all black, Ace walked over and pinched her cheek, smiling "See, honeybuns~ That's the difference between me and you. I can smell the Dark magic from your body. How many witches have you stolen power from? Dozens? Hundreds?"

He lifted her chin and grinned, "Stealing magic, a very dangerous spell. Also…" as he grabbed her hands, holding them up as he added, "Very corrosive. Your use of the Darkhold is what tainted your soul. Not because Dark Magic is evil, but because you use the spells for evil."

Ace flipped open the Darkhold, licking his finger as he sifted through pages, saying "Let's see… Ah. Page 128, Siphoning Magic from another witch will grant you increased magic power as well as life energy, staying younger for longer therefore increasing lifespan."

Ace pulled on Agatha's head, reading a paper that came out as he turned into his Death God form before reverting as he went on, "Born in the 1600s, that should make you over 400 years old! Quite the life, Agatha."

Agatha glared at him, saying indifferently "What do you want from me. You could've just locked me behind the case like a trophy." Ace waved her Darkhold into a case, locking it securely before making his disappear, smiling "Yes! So, here's the skinny! I will let you breathe and eat, etc… In exchange you teach me all the magic you've learned up until now. If you provide me with sufficient knowledge, I will let you go free."

Agatha raised her brow and Ace raised a finger smiling with closed eyes, "After cleansing your soul and removing all knowledge of Dark Magic from the Darkhold from your mind." Agatha froze and said "No. Nuh-uh. Niet. There's no way." as she shook her head.

Ace tilted his head and asked "Are you sure? You won't have the opportunity to speak again." Agatha lifted her head to the sky and held out her hands in a pose, saying "Freeze me, make sure I look good as a statue, kid."

Ace's lips twitched and he grabbed her head, reading all her memories of magic before freezing her completely, sending her into a new case.

Ace turned to the cases and wrote out new and improved enchantments on them. He did so for the entire house, while writing out the magic he learned from Agatha's mind. There was quite a bit, he had to make a clone write for him as he added a new layer of enchantments, runes, charms, spells, hexes, and rituals to his entire house and everything inside.

5 months passed just like that

Ace was staring at an orb, pondering it even, when he got a call. He waved his hand and stared at the orb, saying "Yep." Nick Fury's voice came, "We got a situation." Ace moved the orb with his fingers, saying "Really? I thought Skrulls knew everything. Funny how that works."

Fury was silent for a moment before a different voice spoke, "We really do have a situation." Ace pulled his hands out, making the orb bigger as he said "Mhm. By the way, Nick still on vacation? I really hate Skrulls. Next time you tell Nick Fury and Tony to call me themselves, bye bye~"

As he waved his hand, the Skrull on the other end saying "Wait! Wa-" before the phone hung up.

It rang a few more times and Ace ignored it but getting a call from a different number, Ace answered this time "City morgue. You tag 'em, we bag 'em." Tony said "Great tagline. You think about that all by yourself?"

Ace looked at the orb and replied "No, I had a Skrull help me out." Tony said "Alright, easy. Fury went off-planet, I don't really have any other options. I don't trust these guys as far as I can throw 'em, but I make do. Speaking of making do, what are you up to?"

Ace replied slowly "Looking for my runaway wife, you? Heard you had a situation." Tony replied "Yeah, here's the thing. I got magic elemental giants terrorizing the world and one Multiversal traveler fighting them. Help a brother out?"

Ace paused and frowned strangely "What?" Tony paused and frowned on the other end, saying "Don't tell me it's fishy…" Ace replied with a bad look "Very fishy. First of all, I haven't felt any magic bursts for 5 months since I dealt with our little temper child. Secondly… maybe even most important of all…"

Tony tapped on the desk as Ace said "If he's from the Multiverse then 9 times out of 10, he's stronger than me. So if YOU have a problem, you shouldn't have a problem." Tony snapped a pen and frowned "You're telling me…"

Ace nodded and turned back to the Orb, "Whoever this guy is, he's lying right to your face. Incredible that he even got past you… You okay, Tony? Maybe you should be the one on vacation, things have been different around here… People saying things they wouldn't, others getting fooled… Something weird is happening and I'm not getting a good feeling about it…"

Tony frowned deeply and thought for a moment before narrowing his eyes, replying "I have been noticing some oddities… I heard several people were fighting for Wanda's release after she enslaved a town of innocents… I'll keep an eye out, update me if you find anything, alright? I'm starting to get uneasy…"

Ace nodded and said "Yeah, you too. If there's someone pulling the strings, we need to snuff them out. You got Nat with you, right?" Tony nodded and replied "Yep. Oh, by the way, I heard something about Sharon."

Ace froze and grabbed the phone saying "What is it." Tony replied "I got Sam and Bucky looking into these Flagsmashers… Apparently they have a following, fighting for some idiotic reason… Anyway, there was something about Madripoor."

Ace turned to the Orb and spread his fingers, saying "Son of a bitch. Thanks, Tony. I owe you dinner." Tony chuckled and said "Don't make a mess, please." before hanging up.

Ace frowned and put the phone away, muttering "You wouldn't… Sharon… I really hope you didn't…" before he disappeared into a puff of smoke.

The next night