Chapter 151 0151: Demiurge
While everyone was busy dealing with the forest, Laura quickly got overwhelmed by the vines and they started wrapping around her. Especially with the burden that was the unconscious Ms. Marvel, she didn't have a chance to defend herself alone.
As the vines wrapped around her and Ms. Marvel, they wrapped them both up in the same cocoon that kept wrapping around them tighter and tighter. Laura's struggles were proving to be completely meaningless and as she grew desperate, she felt her suit conveying a feeling to her.
It asked her whether she wanted to help Ms. Marvel. Laura's answer was instantaneous. Even though she'd known the superhero for no more than a couple of hours, Ms. Marvel had made an impact on her confused mind.
With the righteous words and beliefs that the girl had, Laura couldn't help but admire Ms. Marvel to an extent.
After some hesitation, as the cocoon kept tightening around her and Ms. Marvel, she conveyed her intent to the suit. It followed her thoughts and started extending out of her body, wrapping around the vines that were restraining her. It extended further and wrapped around Ms. Marvel too, altering the design of her suit, though Laura wasn't able to see what changes happened other than the changing of the blue leotard into black. Soon, the material of the suit had essentially covered the entire cocoon from what Laura could tell.
Sadly for her, she was still completely restrained and unable to do anything. At most, she could extend her claws out of her wrists and feet to make holes in the cocoon, but without being able to move even her wrists, they were they were meaningless.
The good thing was that she felt the cocoon stop growing tighter. She was previously feeling that she would be crushed inside if it kept growing.
She sighed, feeling somewhat more comfortable as she stayed inside the cocoon that was covered by the black material.
After a few seconds, she thought of something, 'Can you control the vines of this cocoon?' She conveyed the thought, but her suit responded with a confused feeling.
It was then that she felt one of the vines wrap around her face and enter her mouth. As the girl panicked, it released some sort of liquid into her mouth that tasted like chocolate to her. It wasn't a vine and was something that the suit emulated from looking at the vines.
'No, not food, dumbass. I'm not hungry...' Laura's panic at the actions of the suit was followed by a scolding as the suit conveyed a whimpering feeling, like a dog that she'd stepped on the tail of.
'I'm sorry...' She started consoling her suit-pet and decided to wait for Ms. Marvel to wake up before they decided what to do.
Meanwhile, Alex was observing everything within the cocoon while laughing, 'This might actually be fun...' He thought.
That cocoon had already disappeared from Hydra Earth and was currently in a safe bunker in Earth-Z. He'd brought the cocoon here through a portal after Laura and Ms. Marvel were completely restrained and replaced it with a temporary decoy that the treant Inhuman wouldn't be able to detect for the time being. And it would also automatically disappear soon. Alex didn't want any traces of himself to be around Demiurge without a host.
'Now that this is taken care of, it's time to bring Laura into Hydra Earth as soon as we form the Level 6 bond...' He decided while teleporting away from the bunker. He wasn't planning on interfering with Ms. Marvel and Laura. At least not for now.
...
Back in the forest, Demiurge had just shot a blast at Ironheart, making her crash onto the ground.
"What did you just do, Demiurge?" Wolverine asked through the intercom.
"No one's leaving here..." He said and everyone that was inside the forest heard his voice. With his words, a blue dome was erected that surrounded the entire forest and cut them off from the military base.
At the same time, the forest's effects were restrained and the cry of the Inhuman was heard echoing through the forest. At the same time, Wolverine, Patriot, and Ironheart disappeared from their positions and appeared in a clearing. They saw the plant manipulation Inhuman unconscious and restrained by Demiurge's blue energy field and the man in question floating was above the ground. His eyes were glowing blue as he looked at his three teammates. Or former teammates at this point.
It was instantly clear to everyone that he'd been severely hiding his prowess when he showed some weakness after using the spell to put the 40 or so guards to sleep.
"I don't know where Ms. Marvel and Laura are. I don't sense them inside the forest." He answered Wolverine's unanswered question before continuing, "The essence, please." He extended his hand in Wolverine's direction.
"What if I refuse." Wolverine got ready for a fight.
"Your resistance is meaningless to me," Demiurge said before extending his hand in Wolverine's direction and clenching his fist. The container that he'd stored the essence inside was pulled out of his suit, tearing a hole in the waist area in the process.
"Why are you doing this?" Patriot asked.
"I have a better question," He said before glancing over at the three of them, "Why are you doing this?" He asked them while examining the container.
"Whoever he is, he is not the Captain America that you know of." He said.
"Demiurge—" Wolverine started, only to be hit by a wave of blue that knocked him into a tree.
"I'm Wiccan." He corrected Wolverine, "That was merely an alias that the freak that's controlling my mother's body calls me." He said, only confusing the three people there further.
"All right." Wolverine could see that the warlock in front of him was agitated and tried to calm him down, "Wiccan. I know that something fishy is going on with Rogers." Wolverine told him what he wanted to hear.
"Something fishy?" Wiccan almost sneered, "He's a fucking doppelganger that was created using a cosmic artifact."
"Impossible." Patriot denied his words, "Even if that was the case, someone would've noticed. And what of the real Captain America? He would've also been here." He said.
"That's the true terror of the Cosmic Cube..." Wiccan had an almost distant look as he said, "The man's still Captain America, but the cube altered reality itself. It altered his [History] and made it that Captain America was always a Hydra agent... From the start," Wiccan explained, "Becoming the leader of Shield and getting Presidential authority was all he needed to start his campaign..."
"Impossible." Patriot started, only to be silenced by Wolverine's gesture as the man stood up with an almost annoyed expression, "So what would you have us do?" He asked Wiccan while taking off his headgear.
"What?" Wiccan frowned.
"What's your goal here? You took the Terrigen essence from this insurgent group that Rogers could use to turn his own people into Inhumans. What now? You'll join the Underground?" He asked.
"I want to free my mother." Wiccan got swept up in Wolverine's rhythm and answered truthfully.
"By what I can tell, you're talking about Wanda. Your powers are similar enough..." Wolverine deduced, "If she's the one you want to free, then you're out of luck." He told the young warlock.
"No one can stop me from freeing my mother," Wiccan said with slight agitation.
Even though the Wiccan seemed to be an inexperienced kid, there was a level of confidence in his words that made Wolverine give him the benefit of the doubt, "Do you have a plan?" He asked Wiccan.
"As long as I can get to my mother alone, I can remove the external entity influencing her and free her from it." She told him.
"And that's where you're fucked." Wolverine said, "Rogers isn't someone to leave one of his most powerful guns undefended."
"I know." He said with a gloomy tone, "That's why I need help. And this thing," He raised the tube of Terrigen essence, "This is going to be my ticket to get that help."
"Appreciable plan." Wolverine nodded, his thoughts completely unreadable from his expression.
"I told you my plan, can you tell me why you're working for him?" Wiccan asked, "I can understand this guy. He's a moron who wouldn't see the signs if they slapped him in the face." He pointed at Patriot who was offended, "But you and her?" He gestured to Riri while talking to Wolverine, "I know for a fact that Tony Stark is currently one of the leaders of the Underground along with Charles Xavier, how his little student-fan-girl is here is beyond me."
Wolverine glanced at Riri before looking at Patriot and turning to Wiccan again. In the next instant, Patriot fell down, unconscious, "Is this fine?" Wiccan asked.
"Not really... But we'll make do." Wolverine ran his hand over his face and threw his mask to the side, "Rogers is strong Wiccan. Terrifyingly so. And it's no longer his leadership that makes him terrifying. He wields Mjolnir with enough proficiency to rival Thor after the destruction of Asgard. The Underground can't win in a direct confrontation with what they currently have."n)-0Velb1n
Riri moved to Wolverine's side and said, "Mr. Stark sent me here undercover under the guise of 'disowning' me. I'm not really trusted in Hydra, but they need someone with my skill set desperately. As for him, well, he's a loose cannon." She shrugged, "It's not uncommon for him to prefer money over everything."
Wiccan was passively observing them both to see if they were lying, but he couldn't really tell. He asked them, "So, what would you have me do?" He asked.
"Go to the Underground with the Terrigen essence, follow your initial plan," Wolverine said, "It's best if Hydra doesn't have something that can help them turn normal humans into Inhumans with unique superpowers."
"What about you?" Wiccan asked concernedly, "You can't go back without a cover story."
They all went silent for a few minutes.
Soon, Wolverine hardened his expression, "We ran into the Underground's forces, resulting in the death of Patriot, Demiurge, Laura, and Ms. Marvel. Ironheart escaped and I survived because of my healing factor."
Both Ironheart and Wiccan gasped at the implications of Wolverine's words.
***
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