CHAPTER 113 - FIGHTING THE HELLFIRE CLUB I

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[Vision POV]

I can't lie and say I wasn't having fun after finally getting an open chance to get rid of a good number of people I've been targeting for the past few months. 

Every passing hour had a piece of news that made news channels all over the world in a steady buzz as new updates came in. 

I made sure not to go too far when striking the government as I didn't want to destroy the economy of the country so I made sure everything I did maintained the line along a certain threshold. 

It's been a few days now since the late vice president opened up pandora's box in front of the world and died soon after and with the reason behind why they implemented the Registration Act out in the open, something that required my own touch of expertise, even ordinary humans had to sympathize with the unlucky mutants. 

While all this was happening, I kept a bird watch on every mutant hate post and activity that was going on in the internet and also the real world. 

There was no better time than now for Sublime to grab hold of a few strings and try to manipulate the narrative and that was what I was on the lookout for. 

Since I couldn't leave any stone unturned, I started tracing back every hate post and comment, taking control of the entire internet in a way that I've never done before. 

I created a few mind partitions that ran on the same directives as my ULTRON code, basically mini-Ultrons, and had them do the same thing that I was doing. 

The result was the largest data web in the history of the world – and I was yet to catch Sublime. 

We, I, had to trace back every strand of data and also track every interception it made, along with the similarities it shared with millions of identical posts, and at the end of it all, I was getting tired. 

Combing through billions upon billions of data would take a toll on anyone and my only saving grace was that I can convert the mental fatigue I was feeling to data discrepancies and recycle them. 

"Nothing beats being an android." I breathed out and cracked my neck. After putting hours into overtime, I finally found a string and now all I need to do is sit back and let my partitions detangle the lump of data thread and lead me in a direction that is not a dead end. 

"I can't even catch a breath." The complaint was automatic as I just finished one assignment and dived into another one. 

Since I was using this chance to do a country-wide spring cleaning, I had to take this chance and deal with the Hellfire Club once and for all. 

I targeted their public persona and used the rabid government to swiftly deal with almost half of them. 

"I guess we'll be facing off against Selene sooner than I expected." I don't think she'll sit back and let Shaw be captured. 

She might since as far as I know, she held no meaningful ties with the Club and only became a member for the influence it had on the world. 

The only one I know she might move for is Shaw and that is if he struck a deal with her. 

"Prepare for everything I can think of, I see."

I am confident of my chances against Selene and with Wanda by my side, I doubt we'll lose against her. Catching her on the other hand is something I'm not sure of. 

"I'm taking any kill shot I can get on her." I muttered to myself and kicked the gears into motion. 'Tell Steve and the others that we are finally moving against the Hellfire Club.'

[Order affirmed]

[All core members of the Avengers have been notified]

"Then let's get this out of the way." 

I shifted my form to my dark armor android form and walked towards the teleportation station where everyone else was headed. 

"Seriously man? A 24hr heads up would have been nice." Sam grumbled while looking as if he just woke up from a nap. 

"You are a superhero, Sam. We don't get a heads up." I replied hoping to leave it at that but it looked like the irritation of being woken up mid-nap was getting to him. 

"Really? Is that what your logic says?" 

"No. It's what common sense says." I then proceeded to ignore him as the last two people finally arrived – Steve along with Tony, surprisingly. 

"So what are we looking at?" Steve asked after everyone was assembled. 

"A thousands of years old dark witch and a mutant figurehead, along with their posse of sorcerers and mutants."

I sent the limited information I had to their HUDs before continuing. "Wanda and I will take care of Selene Gallio since we are the only ones better equipped to deal with magic while you all can take care of the others."

Neither Raven nor Emma Frost could get me detailed information on the mutants under Shaw so we were going in without much information, which admittedly didn't mean anything much since that's the whole jig of being superheroes. 

"Magic, huh? Makes me miss blonde and drapes with his magic hammer." Tony said. 

Hmm, I really need to see if I can reach out to Thor. Hopefully Ragnarok doesn't happen in this universe like it did in the movies. 

"Let's go."

°°°°°°°°

We landed a few meters away from the New York branch of the Hellfire Club and a simple scan of the building told me that Shaw, along with a few other people, were in there. 

"No signs of Selene or any of her acolytes." I informed them and looked towards Wanda who nodded back at me and we both disappeared. 

{I'll be erecting a barrier over the building} 

Wanda's voice sounded in my head and soon after, I sensed a barrier that disconnected me in a way from the outside world. 

I appeared inside the building and all of them, seemingly in a Circle meeting, turned to look at me. 

Emma and Raven's eyes briefly showed surprise as they had no idea of the attack, but just like the rest jumped back and raised their arms against me. 

Not entertaining the façade any longer, I looked towards the two of them and said. "The building is already surrounded and this place is just seconds from being stormed."

The two communicated mentally and swiftly separated themselves from the rest after Emma confirmed my words. 

Shaw only showed a momentary surprise and addressed the both of them with disappointment in his voice. "I always knew you might betray us for greater benefits but I never expected you'd do it in such a boorish fashion, Emma."

Emma snorted at his words. "Spare me those eloquent words, Shaw. It has always been about benefits."

The door was blasted through and the rest of the team arrived but I could see that Shaw wasn't that fazed and spoke calmly with Emma Frost. 

"True. But unfortunately for you, this time you chose the wrong benefits."

I was already on it before Wanda's transmission came through and blasted Shaw before the shadow beneath his feet could swallow him. 

{I don't know how she got in} 

"Shadows." I said as I saw the swirling mass of darkness from which the Black Queen stepped out.

"We meet again. Since you took the time to come see me tonight, that means you don't mind staying over, right?"

She laughed as she dodged the red lightning that tore through the roof above her. 

"And you brought the child I've been looking for all this while? How sweet~"

Chaos ensued soon after as Wanda and I attacked Selene while leaving the others to take care of the emerging dark acolytes and Shaw's group of mutants. 

"I'll make you pay for laying your withered hands on Pietro." The clouds above brewed into a storm in response to Wanda's magic. 

I blasted her with lightning and energy beams to disrupt her every time I saw her powering up a spell and Wanda would press on as she tried to dodge my sniping. 

"Quaint techniques, girl. But you lack the finesse that comes with experience. Let me show you.."

A portal swallowed Wanda's hex blasts which forced me to dodge as I sensed them behind me but doing that let a portal engulf me and brought me decimeters away from her hands. 

Her surprise as I phased through her let her react a little too late as Wanda's magic slammed into her. 

Using my electromagnetic field manipulation, I increased the magnetic polarity of the area around her and mirrored the effect of an increased gravitational pull while I channeled a blast from my chest and hands and blasted it towards her. 

"Don't hold back!" I informed Wanda as I saw how a barrier formed around her right before my last attack hit. 

A huge red pentagram appeared around Wanda's hands as I continued increasing the pull of the earth around her that was slowly losing its effects on her. 

"Insolence!" She disappeared from my senses and the next thing I knew was that I was being flung into the ground while Wanda's magic fizzled out as she was hit square with black lightning.