Marvel Arc - 4

Doctor Faustus was scrambling. While in the middle of looking over old Hydra files on the mother of demons, Lilith appears before him. So, why is he scrambling from what should be a momentous occasion? Because so many things are happening at once it was difficult to keep up.

Between harvesting the power the Mother was offering, dealing with the reluctant Hydra heads, and finding the missing pages of the Darkhold, he was swamped. The Mother gave him a deadline of six months to prove himself worthy.

Progress was slow on finding the final page. His predecessor, the Red Skull had managed to find clues to most of the pages with the exception of the last one. The soldiers enhanced with the Mother's power easily managed to collect most of the pages, but more soldiers were needed.

Crossbones had been officially helping with the tasks, but Faustus felt that the mercenary was working his own angle. Another concern was that Lilith appeared to be communicating with someone, perhaps it was Chthon or the mysterious individual who revived her. After all, self-restoration of that nature was not in the Mother's wheelhouse.

Three months in, and Faustus's attempts to locate the final page were proving fruitless. He knew where the problem lied of course. The Sanctum Sanctorum, its destruction would reveal all, but it would be no simple matter of simply placing some explosives. No, the tools would need to be magically enhanced, they would need a way to get past the wards, and they would need a way to keep our Dr. Strange.

Faustus was working on the first, and Lilith said she would deal with the second and third. Faustus was excited, the prophecy of the Midnight Sun was coming true, but a nagging feeling was lingering in the back of his mind. The ones who might interfere.

...

Khan was standing in front of the Hunter's grave. He arrived about a minute earlier. Honestly, he was expecting a bigger welcome. It wasn't like they weren't here, he could feel them, but they haven't noticed him yet.

With minimal effort, he opened the crypt, and a prompt appeared just like Lilith, it asked for a choice. Khan opened the casket to see the Hunter. The body was perfectly preserved, intact she looked like she was sleeping. The appearance was that of the default female avatar. As seen from the game's banner.

Khan made his choice, and energy began to swirl around Hunter. Her revival was successful, but she was still out of it. Not wanting to risk anything, Khan placed Hunter into his Shadow Pocket.

As he left, he saw the Caretaker, Blade, Nico, Magik, and the current Ghost Rider, Robbie Reyes. Caretaker spoke first, yelling, "Who are you and what did you do to the Hunter's grave!?!" Khan didn't say anything, and the others drew their weapons. Khan smiled; this could be a decent test for a skill he'd recently acquired.

...

Blade had been practicing in the yard, when the light show coming from Hunter's Rest happened. Everyone immediately stopped what they were doing and rushed towards cause.

When they got there a man walked out, like he didn't have a care in the world. For a moment, Blade wondered if perhaps this was the Hunter, but Caretaker's demands for answers immediately struck down that notion. He and Magik pulled out their blades, Nico, her Staff of One, and Robbie called forth Sparky.

The man smiled, then a sword was in his hand, Blade wasn't going to wait for the intruder to unsheathe it. So, he literally leapt into action. While sail through the air, Blade pulled out his stake.

Robbie not missing a beat, threw out his chains to hold the man. However, the man disappeared in the blink if an eye. Robbie and Caretaker immediately approached the spot, Magik and Nico stood their ground to prevent any surprises.

Blade landed, and immediately pulled out his gun. Then he pointed it at Magik and Nico, or more specifically, behind them. Nico and Magik realized instantly and began to turn around. Unfortunately, they were too slow.

The intruder pushed them aside, but instead of one of the numerous things one would expect to happen when pushed. They melted into the ground.

Seeing that, Blade immediately switched to full-auto and emptied his clip. The man didn't move, and for some unknown reason to Blade, every bullet went wide. Robbie's fire and Caretaker's magic did the same. Then a green light flashed from the man's eyes.

Blade wanted to rush in and try CQC, but his feet wouldn't move. Blade looked down and saw his body was slowly turning to stone. Blade saw it was happening to Caretaker and Robbie as well, then the man spoke for the first time and said, "Don't worry, it's not permanent. Oh, and Caretaker. You should be really grateful that your sister changed her mind and decided she didn't want you to die."

Here that Blade couldn't help but wonder if the Midnight Suns failed before it even got started. The world became dark as the petrification completed.

...

Nick Fury was standing on the bridge of the Helicarrior. Something was about to happen, and he had no idea what. For the last few months, you couldn't swing a bat without hitting a Hydra agent, but now nothing.

In less than sixteen hours every Hydra agent they were tracking disappeared.

The doors opened and his most trusted agent, the Black Widow, entered. She was dressed in her usual combat suit, ready to immediately deal with whatever trouble Fury wanted dealt with. She immediately stood at attention and said, "Director Fury, you called for me."

Fury responded, "Agent Romanoff, I glad you're here so promptly. I'll get right to it. Over the last few months, a series of seemingly random events have been taking place, however, new potential evidence has pointed to it all being connected and pointing to a massive threat on the horizon."

Natasha stood there with a stone expression. Fury continued, "This file has all pertinent information on the mission and the team who you'll be working with." Fury handed Natasha a thick folder.

As she read through it, Fury thought about the contents. Two months ago, Fury had been contacted by Professor Xavier. Apparently, a new mutant named Dahlia had gone missing. Storm had been trying to convince her to enroll in Xavier's school, with little progress made.

Storm shared her concerns with the professor, in a bid to comfort her, tried Cerebro. Only, he couldn't find her. After his own attempts turned up empty, Xavier contacted Fury.

Seeing a chance for Xavier to owe him a favor, Fury sent an investigative team, they quickly found that Dahlia ran away and joined the Morlocks. Honestly, that is where it should have ended, but the team found the Morlocks had also vanished, shortly after Dahlia had joined them.

At first it was theorized that they made their way to Genosha. An island country recently created by Magneto. However, an agent Fury had operating there, confirmed that it was not the case. On top of that, the agent reported that Magneto had a closed-door meeting with a man identified only as Dovak. After the meeting, Magneto was visibly shaken, and despite the agents' best efforts, no image of the subject other than a sketch could be provided.

Shortly after that, Furry told Xavier his findings, and Xavier tried to use Cerebro on locating Dovak. An hour later Xavier came back to say he was unable to locate the man. It was shortly after this that reports began to come in. Hulk turning back into Banner, Ross and Jones own gamma levels were dropping, not enough for them to change back but they were considerably weaker.

So far, Betty and Jennifer were unaffected, but Ross was concerned that without him, Hulk, or A-Bomb to stop her then Betty might embrace her more wild habits as the Red She-Hulk. Banner and the rest of the Hulk family was currently at Stark Tower.

Natasha closed the file and then she said, "Sir, I have a few questions." Fury responded with a curt, "Ask."

"I've read that Xavier is sending his team to New York, an understandable response given what has happened, and my own mission has me heading there as well." Natasha said, while Fury waited for the question. She continued, "My question is why is both the team being sent by Xavier and my own team made up of entirely women?"

It was true that Xavier's X-Men were at their peak, but for some reason Xavier was only sending the women. That team consisted of; Jean Gray, Emma Frost, Storm, Domino, Rogue, Psylocke, X-23, Shadowcat, Jubilee, Boom-Boom, and Firestar. While there were plenty of others the list did seem suspicious, and as for Natasha's own team.

It was smaller, with Natasha there was also, Maria Hill and Melinda May. For more enhanced problems Furry had recruited, Songbird from Thunderbolts and Namorita of the New Warriors.

Fury promptly answered, "While I can't speak of Xavier's motivation, your team was selected for two reasons. First, Hill and May are capable of assisting you without getting in your way. The second, because of the potential threat, I had to find a balance of giving proper support without sacrificing elsewhere. For example, the ambassador from Latveria, Lucia Von Bardas, will be having a strict, high-level meeting with the president and other world leaders. As such, I and the Helicarrior will not be permitted to leave the capital until its conclusion. Do have any other questions?"

Natasha said, "No sir." Fury responded, "Good, your team will meet you at your destination, Reed Richards has agreed to let you use the Baxter Building as a headquarters while you're in New York, I'll contact you with any new information that becomes available, dismissed."

After Natasha left, Fury thought about the question she asked. He still believed that this was the best course to take, but a quiet voice in the back of his mind wondered if this too was a manipulation of some kind. A headache began to form as he tried to think why Natasha was being sent with a team and just soloing it like she usually does.

A new message came in, immediately breaking his train of thought. A small group of Hydra agents had just been spotted entering the Sanctum Sanctorum. He dismissed it, Natasha and her team will be the closest to respond. And besides, the Sorcerer Supreme should be able to handle some low-level grunts.

Fury's mind became blank as he tried to recall what had he been concerned with. He dismissed it, if it was important, he was sure he would remember. Fury looked at the guest list for the event and the itinerary. A new question had entered his mind, 'If the meeting is in D.C., then why was Bardas going to New York first?'