defenderofdesmoines | Pizza Ball Universe

Annie was falling. But was 'falling' the word to use here? Maybe 'hurtling' was better, since she wasn't falling towards the ground -- she, America, and Stephen (who seemed to have thrown himself in after them? Good.) were hurtling through star-shaped portal after star-shaped portal through...world, after world, after world.

Through space. Through a cavern of geodes. Through a city that seemed to be POPULATED BY GIANT INSECTS? Into the ocean, where Annie's lungs instantly filled, and she was gratified that both she and Stephen reached for America upon realizing they were all drowning, just for that second. Then New York -- her New York? Maybe. They were there for a half-second -- then a world with tiny robots (cute), then a much-less-cute world where there were entirely too many bones everywhere, then they passed dinosaurs, and that was awesome but also even more of a fleeting nightmare for Annie than Kamar-Taj had been.

But never fear, of course, because they weren't staying there. Annie, America and Stephen, flailing arms out towards one another to stay connected, were turned into cartoons, then cubed (and that was a lot of screaming, Stephen, but like...mood), then splashed through one dimension as paint -- PAINT! -- before hurtling (that really was the word) through several more worlds in rapid succession and landing in...a park?

A park. A park, and solid ground.

Annie was just going to lay here in the grass and stare at the sky and breathe hard for a second, thank you. America seemed to be breathing next to her, too, so that would do for right now. At some point, she'd have to thank Five for desensitizing her stomach to portaling back in 1963, because she barely even wanted to hurl right now. Barely.

Dr. Stephen Strange	Yeah, that was nuts. Like, nuts even for a seasoned MCU veteran. Stephen tried to play it off, though, shakily standing up and trying to assess the situation. "Is everyone okay?"
America Chavez	America nodded. This was old hat for her. "Surprised you guys didn't puke."
Annie Hargreeves	"My brother-in-law's a teleporter," Annie shared, taking a deep breath through her nose as she pushed herself to a sitting position. "He yanked me all over Dallas once for a few days. I got pretty used t-- " Oh, wait, no. No, no, super not used to it, actually, because standing was a whole different ball game. At least this park -- and correction, now that she was on her feet, Annie could see it was actually a...lush, green rooftop, in what was clearly New York -- had all kinds of convenient areas to puke.
Dr. Stephen Strange	Stephen was about to agree--like, please, kid, he had helped defeat Thanos. He could handle some multiverse travel-- Nope. Nope he was gonna go puke in a chimney.
America Chavez	America smiled, satisfied. "There it is."
Annie Hargreeves	"I usually have gum," Annie noted apologetically, straightening up and pushing some hair off her face when she was done in an effort to get her bearings a little better. "Is this...New York? It's beautiful." And she was pretty familiar with at least one version of the city, and vaguely aware of a couple others, too. This one was drastically different from all of them, if only because there were plants everywhere.
Dr. Stephen Strange	Stephen got his head out of the chimney after a couple more moments. "Crap." The Cloak of Levitation took a swipe at Stephen's mouth in an attempt to clean it. "Stop that." Just a man talking to his cloak everyone, don't mind him. The Cloak whipped itself off of Stephen, turning to show where Wanda had singed it. "Yeah, you got pretty dinged up. We'll fix that." He turned to face Annie and America, barely noticing how pretty this New York was. "Okay, America, you've got to open a portal to get us back right now."
America Chavez	"It's a New York, yes," America replied to Annie. That was an easier thing to reply to than the portal thing. But, it had to be answered at some point, so-- "I don't know how to open a portal."
Annie Hargreeves	"But you just did it, sweetie," Annie pointed out encouragingly, while also a little puzzled. Though not that puzzled, 'cause that was always her luck, right? Hanging out with incredibly powerful people who didn't know how to, like, wield that power or whatever. Par for the course. Except usually she wasn't finding this out while stuck in a jungle version of New York.
America Chavez	"Not on purpose," America said, not meeting their eyes. "I can't control my powers."
Dr. Stephen Strange	"Wong is back there with Wanda, and I'm the only hope he has," Stephen said. "You must be able to control it somehow. Even I could--" He took a few steps closer to America, who immediately shuffled back, eyes widening. Oh, right. The other him who tried to kill her. "Sorry."
Annie Hargreeves	Annie, unsure what that was about (other than, like, it not being especially pleasant to have a middle-aged man start dressing you down -- she felt you, America, fuck the patriarchy), reached a hand out to comfortingly place it on America's shoulder. But -- hang on, wasn't that the whole...point of all of this? There should be a backup plan around here somewhere, right? "What about this universe's you?" she suggested gently. "Maybe we can track her down." And maybe she could control her powers -- though Annie didn't want to phrase it like that since it felt sort of unfortunately blamey, and she really didn't want to aggravate things there if she could.
America Chavez	"This universe doesn't have me," America replied. "None of them do. I've looked. And I don't dream."
Dr. Stephen Strange	Stephen was still having trouble grasping that his dreams were apparently him glimpsing into the multiverse. That was so disturbing. "It's okay, kid," he said, trying to muster up some parental-like sympathy. "Even if you could get me back there, I have no way of fighting Wanda." Did anyone, was the real question.
Annie Hargreeves	"I don't know if any of us do," Annie replied quietly, watching Stephen. "I've never seen her like this before." And while she had always understood that Wanda had tremendous power -- Annie didn't know anyone else who could take a town psychically hostage, after all -- she'd never been afraid of her friend before today.
America Chavez	"What about the Book of Vishanti?" America asked Stephen. "Other you thought it could stop whoever was after me."
Dr. Stephen Strange	"Well good for other me." Was it comforting, Annie, to know Wanda's universe also had jerky superheroes? "He's not here, is he? I don't know where it is. So unless there's another me..." This was about to get more confusing, wasn't it?

America Chavez	So now they were on their way to the Sanctum Sanctorum which, hopefully, existed in this multiverse. And, hopefully, a Dr. Stephen Strange would still be living there. On the way America was giving both Annie and Stephen a Multiverse 101 lesson. "Rule number one in multiverse travel? You don't know anything." In this universe, for example, red stoplights meant go. "And eat when you can."
Dr. Stephen Strange	"Were we paint in one of those universes?" Stephen asked.
Annie Hargreeves	"We were definitely paint," Annie replied, indulging herself in a little electronic-siphoning as they crossed the street and breathing a sigh of relief when she felt it buzz through her body (with an accompanying brief flash of her eyes.) "I can't begin to tell you how glad I am we didn't end up stuck there. Or underwater." That had been really scary for a few seconds, amidst all the other disorientation.
Dr. Stephen Strange	They passed a storefront with almost a mirror-like appearance. The automated voice called out, "Memory Lane. Replay your significant memories, now in a discounted price. We remember, so you don't forget." Stephen apparently had stepped in the right spot for a demonstration, because the storefront flickered until it showed two people sitting down for an elegant dinner. Him. And Christine. "This is pretty fancy. Sure you didn't have to take out another student loan for it?" Christine teased. "Nah. I just sold one of those kidneys that we operated on last week." Stephen frowned, knowing what came next. Christine would give him the watch, and he'd be grateful, only to ruin the relationship soon after. "We don't have time for this."
America Chavez	"Memory Lane. Replay your significant memories, now in a discounted price. We remember, so you don't forget." The scene changed to a meadow. Two women were laughing happily together, while a little girl played among the flowers.
Annie Hargreeves	"Where's this?" Annie asked softly as she took in the scene, taking a step towards America. She flicked an uncertain glance towards Stephen, too. It didn't take a genius to tell that his memory probably wasn't a happy one, if he was trying to move past it and whoever that woman was. (Also, some men kind of needed a beard, it turned out? Diego's was like a nice complement to his face, but -- woof, Stephen, keep yours always, sir.)
America Chavez	"Home," America replied. "My moms." The girl on the screen suddenly started to cry, having been stung by a bee. A star-shaped portal appeared out of nowhere, sucking in the two screaming older women to god knows where before closing. Then the girl was alone. "You're right. This is a waste of time."
Dr. Stephen Strange	Stephen looked over at Annie worriedly. "Hey, kid, was that the first time you opened a portal?"
Annie Hargreeves	"Oh, America," Annie breathed, stepping closer to the girl to instinctively wrap an arm across her shoulders. She didn't know what she was going to say -- it obviously hadn't been America's fault, so maybe she'd start there -- but she'd stepped on the plate that triggered the demonstration, and it was Annie's turn. "Memory Lane. Replay your significant memories, now in a discounted price. We remember, so you don't forget." The scene changed to a park, with a mixed crowd of adults and teenagers milling around while a man in brown robes bore a megaphone nearby. More importantly, though, Annie was there with her arms crossed over her chest, talking to someone that everyone here would recognize very well. "I can try changing it?" the Wanda in the memory said, wiggling her fingers at Annie. "I promise I won't catch you on fire." "Really?" Memory-Annie perked up, uncrossing her arms to show that her shirt said, 'Hands off my water balloons.' "Like, please, do your worst-slash-best." A moment later, and both of the women's shirts read, 'Hands off abloom salty wren.' "We're, like, conservationists," Wanda said, and both she and Annie started laughing. Well. That was a punch to the gut. That had just been a few months ago. Annie shook her head, stepping away from the memory. She didn't need to echo that they didn't have time for this, again.
America Chavez	America stopped in her tracks, looking at the memory. It was hard reconciling the woman in Annie's memory with the one who had been trying to kill her a few minutes earlier. How could have things changed that drastically? Well, America's life also changed in a moment. She knew it was possible. "None of this matters," she said, facing them. "You lost Christine, Wanda's way less fun these days, and I killed my parents."
Dr. Stephen Strange	"No, no you did not." Sure, America had been right about him losing Christine, and Wanda being no-fun, but he drew the line at killing parents. "Don't even think that."
Annie Hargreeves	"It was obviously an accident, America," Annie assured her, shaking her head (and just moving past how fun Wanda had once been. She was going to miss everything about how things had been before.) "You can't carry that kind of guilt around with you." Besides. It didn't look like they'd been killed. Maybe they were just...paint.
America Chavez	"Okay, it was an accident where I opened a portal with the powers I can't control, and sent them to a random, probably deadly universe with no way to escape." That did not sound any better than killing them.
Dr. Stephen Strange	"Listen," Stephen started. "If your moms are anything like their daughter, they survived. I'm sure you'll meet them again someday." Was that good? Was that the normal, nice thing to say?
Annie Hargreeves	"Agreed. And...I know someone who can do portals, too, back home," Annie offered, glancing between them. "But she uses a device, and it's very controlled. When we're done with Wanda, I'll call her and we can go looking for your moms." Maybe with a pit stop at the ice cream planet, depending on how this all went.
America Chavez	"Thanks." America didn't really believe that was possible, but she appreciated that these two people, who were basically strangers, were willing to help her outside of protecting her from a crazy witch. "Uh, that woman, in your memory. Was that Christine?" America asked Stephen. "The other you mentioned her."
Dr. Stephen Strange	"Yeah, that was Christine," Stephen confirmed. "Were we together?"
America Chavez	"No, you don't talk anymore. You blew it," America said, like only a teenager could. "Did you blow it with your Christine?"
Dr. Stephen Strange	Thanks for softening the blow, kid! "Yeah," he said. "Yeah, I guess I did."
America Chavez	Well, America couldn't blame Christine, even though they never met. No Stephen Strange she had met had been particularly charming. She turned her attention to Annie. "What happened to Wanda? She looked--different in your memory."
Annie Hargreeves	"That was this summer," Annie replied, shooting Stephen a sympathetic look. Breakups were hard! And medical school seemed really stressful. "Um, it's been kind of a -- hard few months for Wanda. I wish I'd noticed sooner, honestly, but I was getting married and quitting my job and...." She trailed off, looking guilty. "I should have noticed sooner. She's not a bad person, guys. Or -- she wasn't always." It was so hard to reconcile the Wanda who was her friend, who was laser-focused on finding her own children, with the Wanda who had dropped her to the ground the minute Annie had disagreed with killing the kid she was looking at now. But Annie was sure she was still in there, somewhere. And maybe Annie just didn't understand what this was like. She didn't have kids yet, but she could imagine how intensely protective of them she'd be once she did. Maybe she wouldn't hesitate, either, to chase versions of Maggie and Ben across the multiverse if she lost them.
Dr. Stephen Strange	"We should have been keeping a closer eye on her," Stephen agreed. After Thanos, all of the Avengers sort of went their own ways with their own problems. "Especially after Westview..."
America Chavez	"I'm sorry," America said to Annie, offering a sympathetic smile. "It wasn't your fault." In the end Wanda was a grown ass woman who made the decision to do what she did herself, evil book or not. "I hope we can help her," she said. "Without, you know, killing me in the process."
Annie Hargreeves	"We're not going to let her do that," Annie promised, reaching out to touch America's arm again. Hope you were cool with a lot of affectionate, reassuring touches, America! It was the Annie way. "I promise." No matter what it took. Which meant Annie was probably going to have a great breakdown when she got back home, but that was something to worry about later. Right now, she was a little distracted, because that statue over there had a sweet cape. A familiar sweet cape, in fact. It helped, too, that she was the only person here who didn't recognize that interesting building the statue was in front of, but she had a feeling they might have found their spot.
Dr. Stephen Strange	Cloak. It was a cloak. That was actually a pretty decent likeness for a statue. Even if it didn't mean good things, generally, when there was a stature of yourself erected. "Gave his life defeating Thanos," Stephen read from the plaque below the statue. "See, we're not all bad."
America Chavez	"If the other you's dead, who is the master of the Sanctum?" she asked. The answer to that question was answered when the door opened and a gruff looking man stepped out to meet them. And, yes, that was Stephen muttering "shit" behind them.
Annie Hargreeves	Annie might have been a married woman, but hello, Master of the Sanctum, how are you. "Do we like that guy?" she whispered, waving in spite of herself. Like a fucking idiot who was too friendly for her own good. At least if this turned bad, she was in New York. Even a New York overgrown like this was humming with enough power that she could do some real damage, here. (Would it actually matter, considering this dude was obviously a wizard or whatever? Time would tell.)
Dr. Stephen Strange	"Uh, well, Mordo's the first guy who let me into Kamar-Taj," Stephen said. "...and then he snapped and dedicated his life to trying to kill me." That actually happened a lot.
Baron Karl Mordo	This Mordo didn't seem to be too murderous. In fact, he was greeting Stephen with a smile. "I always suspected this day would come." And now there was hugging. Manly hugging. "Welcome, my brother."
Annie Hargreeves	....'kay. Annie, who had once more angled herself between America and what she had thought was an oncoming threat, shot America a puzzled look. Alternate universes were so weird. Did this mean there was a universe out there where she was friends with Homelander? Where she and Hughie got along? (Don't answer that, narrative.)
Baron Karl Mordo	Mordo pulled away from Stephen after a moment, clasping a hand on his shoulder and gesturing to the young women. "Come, tell me everything about your universe."
Dr. Stephen Strange	Stephen still looked very, very thrown off. "Uh...we stop on red?" Nailed it.
Annie Hargreeves	A few minutes later, Annie, Stephen and America were all sitting with Mordo in a dimly-lit but ornate room, and the whole story had come out (in fragments. Mostly because Annie had gotten to talking about the paint universe for too long and had interrupted a few times, sorry.) "So now we're waiting," she was explaining as a quiet woman with a French twist poured tea for them. "Our Wanda has the ability to conjure -- monsters and send them after America across universes." So, from what Annie had been given to understand, there was a real possibility this tea party was about to be interrupted by something with tentacles.
Baron Karl Mordo	"So she has the Darkhold?" Mordo asked. At Stephen's question eyebrow lift, he nodded. "Oh yes, we have a Darkhold in this universe, too. I've got it here in this Sanctum. We would never risk a weapon that dangerous falling into the wrong hands." So y'all fucked up in your universe. "If your Darkhold is anything like ours, I'm afraid she can do far worse than just summon monsters, to come after you."
America Chavez	Worse? Worse than summoning demons to kill her? "What do you mean?"
Baron Karl Mordo	"There is a spell contained within those pages. Corrosive to the soul. A desecration of reality itself. Dreamwalking," he said, speaking the word in a hushed tone. "A Dreamwalking sorcerer projects their own consciousness from their universe into another. Playing puppeteer, this unholy doppelganger, and pursue their enemies from afar." So, that was fun. "The possession is not a permanent link between realities, but in that fleeting time they might cause irreparable damage to the universe they invaded," Mordo continued. "So it may not be a demon you face. It may be the Scarlet Witch."
Annie Hargreeves	"So -- we need to look out for this universe's Wanda being remote-controlled by the one we're running from?" Annie asked, trying to follow along and feeling her stomach drop with horror. As though it wasn't bad enough to already be at odds with one Wanda. Bringing an innocent version of her friend into this was a twist of the knife.
Dr. Stephen Strange	"That was what she meant when she said she was being reasonable." The demons were a better option to taking over another Wanda's body and possibly destroying an entire universe in the process. Just give him a second to drink some tea as he tried not to think of how utterly screwed they were right now. "What do you know about the Book of Vishanti?"
Baron Karl Mordo	Oh, good. Drink up. "The Darkhold's antithesis," Mordo replied. "It can give a sorcerer whatever power they need to vanquish their enemy." If you were starting to feel woozy by now, Mordo couldn't blame you. It was a lot of exposition. And the tea.
Annie Hargreeves	They'd also jumped through, like, fifty universes! Maybe it was that. Annie blinked away a sudden onset of drowsiness, and as she moved to get to her feet, she realized it wasn't just drowsiness. Her vision swam, and Annie flailed an arm out towards the back of the couch to try to get her bearings. Shit. Shit, shit, shit. Hot Wizard had roofied them?
Baron Karl Mordo	"I'm sorry," Mordo apologized once he noticed everyone looking a little woozy. "I hope you understand, it's not Wanda Maximoff who threatens our reality. It's the three of you."
Dr. Stephen Strange	Note to self: Don't trust Mordo in any universe. "What was in that tea?" Stephen asked, words slurring. "You son of a--" And then he passed out.
Annie Hargreeves	Annie managed to pull enough power from the building's wiring to spark her eyes and palms for about a second before she, too, was slumping to the floor. Goddamn sorcerers. A handy lamp would have been nice, dude! No one around here had, like, a Playstation she could siphon from? What did any of you do for fun? She'd have plenty of time to be pissy about these things later, when she was conscious again.

[[NFI, NFB but OOC is always wonderful! Taken from Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and preplayed with the lovely

scarlet_chaos!]

Pizza Ball Universe | Afternoon

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