I mean the subtext of Maria being Carol's wife (and Monica her daughter) is, to paraphrase a British person, dangerously close to becoming text in her first movie. The Marvels just hammers it home even harder.
Look What You Made Me Do (MCU)
- Thread starter mythSSK
- Start date
Ehh, it's fair to assume that whatever ritual the sling rings are running is a conceptual one, and takes care of the odds and ends. It's not like the portals she makes on earth rip through the planet as the earth orbits the sun or rotates. I have no problem believing that the portals made in space are pressure equalized and anchored to whatever space station they're conjured in.
Yeah, they already have shuttles like the Quinjet that can get into space and come back even without rockets or large external fuel tanks. TBH, if Carol's giving them access to the jump point network then I could see Tony building an advanced Space Elevator/Catapult so that he can get stuff up there fast and efficiently even without Wanda.
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- Location
- Christchurch, NZ
Well now we're into classic xkcd What If territory 🤔 (not to be confused with Marvel What If...? territory!)
I would assume that deliberately venting atmosphere into space through even the largest portals we've seen would be a very local problem, since it would be at least months before the global pressure would be noticably affected, even if you're not taking into effect that most of that air you're throwing into space is just going to fall back to earth itself.
But if it could do that I'd expect Strange would be sucking everyone who looks at him funny into the thermosphere, so I guess they probably can't!
Well, he does portal Loki into some space where he's falling for 15 minutes, so it's not like he didn't already have the ability to Battlefield-Remove someone/portal hax a fight.
- Location
- Christchurch, NZ
I think that was just because some intern showed him the Portal games. Kamar-Taj has interns, right?
Strange does occasionally use portals in fights, but not super often and almost never to BFR anyone. I think the only actual instance of someone doing that is in the New York fight in Infinity War, where they BFR Cull Obsidian. I think the way I'd explain it is that they probably require just enough concentration and they're just slow enough that it makes them difficult to use in fights ... i.e. they're unreliable enough as a tactic that you only use them sparingly in specific circumstances.
The Loki portal is a bit of an outlier, and seems to take way longer to open than any other portal he makes -- Loki has to stand there dumbly for like five or six whole seconds talking to Thor, after he notices it, before it fully opens. We never find out where Strange sent him, but I'm assuming it was probably a space in the Mirror Dimension (which the Ancient One explicitly says the sorcerers use to contain threats). The Cull Obsidian moment is a much better example.
Huh, yeah, I'd forgotten that that portal had an absurdly long windup time. He might have better luck making the portals and then sending them at people the way he did at the end when he sent Thor and Loki to Odin, but at that point they're just projectiles which can be dodged.
Even without her chaos magic, Wanda's still a supersoldier who has (briefly) matched blows with the Winter Soldier. IIRC Coleen didn't actually use any Chi until after she took the power of the iron-fist, so she's actually just unpowered. It's vaguely theoretically possible for her to get in a decapitation strike if she catches Wanda off-guard, but I don't see her winning a protracted fight. Maybe she buys like vulture-tech or hammer-tech or something to even the odds, but that seems out of character.
- Location
- Christchurch, NZ
Obviously the latter. Inverse ninja rule.
Krazyfan1
Worrying for the future.
- Location
- Australia
i wonder if Wanda can head off Adrian's whole villain thing and get him a job in construction?
She can't head it off, so much -- he gets into crime soon after the Battle of New York, after his salvage company and employees got screwed over by the Department of Damage Control, so he's been doing it for years. Adrian is on Wanda's list of things to take care of, though, he's just not a massive priority.
Chapter 70
New
Chapter 70
I frowned to myself as the unwelcome sound of an alarm penetrated the hazy half-sleep I was basking in—quiet rather than harsh, but steady and insistent. Natasha shifted in my embrace, awkwardly reaching over to her phone to swipe the alarm off before gently trying to disentangle herself from me. I made a sleepy noise of protest and resisted, easily overpowering her attempt to wiggle free.
"Wanda…"
I ignored the objection and, to put a stop to any further—extremely rude!—attempts to escape, I rolled on top of her, pinning her to the bed with the weight of my body, pressing my curves against hers.
"Wanda," she repeated patiently, a smile in her voice. "We have to get up."
I murmured an indistinct disagreement, burying my face in the crook of her neck for a moment and inhaling deeply, enjoying the heady girlsmell, before planting several feather-light kisses along her jawline. "You started setting your alarms, like, half an hour earlier than necessary," I murmured. With no small amount of effort, I lifted my head from her neck, propping myself up on an elbow so I could look at her, a lascivious smile curving my mouth. My free hand started to idly trace a path from the centre of her chest down to her stomach, fingertips gently dragging across soft, supple skin. "You thought I wouldn't notice but I did. So now, when your alarm goes off, that means I get to have you for half an hour before we have to get up."
Natasha laughed, then a small, involuntary gasp escaped her lips as my hand crept lower. "That was… not what my intention was."
"It's the best of both worlds—morning cuddles and fun and we still get to be on time."
"…You make a compelling argument."
Nearly half an hour later, flushed and satisfied, I wandered out of the bedroom wrapped in an olive-green satin robe I'd stolen from Natasha and headed down the short hallway toward the kitchen while she went for a shower. Yelena was standing at the kitchen bench and I stepped a bit closer as I saw what she was doing, my brow furrowing at the minor travesty unfolding before me.
"What are you doing?" I asked, a slightly pained tone in my voice.
Yelena glanced up at me, a little puzzled. "Making toast?" she ventured, and I pointed wordlessly to the jar of Vegemite she was committing crimes against. "Oh. Sorry. I haven't had it in ages, I thought you wouldn't mind."
I shook my head. "I don't care that you're using my Vegemite, it's just… that's your spread?"
"…What?"
I gestured to the bare suggestion of black, salty goodness that she had scraped across the toast, as if a yeasty ghost had breathed very gently on it. "That's a fucking weak spread."
"What?" Yelena blinked, looking a little offended as she glanced back down at her breakfast. "I don't like too much Vegemite on my toast," she said defensively.
"What are you, American? Thicken your spread, Yelena."
"No."
"Thicken your spread!"
"No!"
I set my jaw and scowled at her. "Do you want to see how a pro spreads Vegemite?"
Yelena closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, obviously embarrassed and ashamed at how weak her spread was. "No," she said again.
"Did I hear a yes?" She needed to be educated. I could help her.
"Absolutely not."
"Alright," I cracked my knuckles and grabbed some bread, dropping it into the toaster. "Watch and learn."
Yelena made a small noise of frustration in the back of her throat. While my bread toasted, she finished what she was doing and retreated a few steps to the small, square dining table behind us, leaving the butter and jar of Vegemite on the bench for me as I retrieved a plate. She started eating, studiously ignoring me as I waited for the toaster to pop. Once it did, I half turned to address her as I worked.
"Alright, so you want freshly toasted bread and a fuckload of 'mite."
"'Mite'?" Yelena asked, distastefully.
"Pros call it 'mite."
"No one calls it 'mite."
"You gotta spread the 'mite thick," I said, ignoring her as I prepared a more traditionally Australian Vegemite on toast.
She craned her neck a little to see what I was doing, her nose crinkling in disgust. "What are you doing? That is way too much."
"Yeah, you really want to cake it on there," I said absently as I finished making my toast. I took a moment to put things away and wipe the crumbs from the bench before walking over to where Yelena was sitting at the table and putting my plate down next to hers.
She stared at it for a moment. "Wanda, if I ate that it would make me sick."
"You know what makes me sick?" I asked, raising an eyebrow and gesturing to her half-eaten breakfast. "This weak spread!" Defiantly, I picked up my toast and took a big bite of it, the salty, yeasty umami flavour filling my mouth.
I paused. In my enthusiasm to demonstrate proper Vegemite etiquette to Yelena, I might have gone a little overboard. I chewed and swallowed, almost mechanically, processing my way through the overpoweringly thick spread. It was… a bit much, if I was being honest with myself. But that was Yelena's fault. I'd had no other choice. No time for regrets. I had to power through.
"What are you two arguing about?" Natasha asked, emerging from the hallway. She was already dressed and essentially ready to go.
"Wanda tried to poison me because I stole her Vegemite," Yelena said lightly.
I made a noise of protest around a mouthful of too-much Vegemite, swallowing it with a small cough. "Your sister was making a mockery of my culture."
Yelena's brow creased in confusion. "Aren't you Sokovian?"
"My other culture."
Nat stepped closer to me, looking at my half-eaten toast. She shot me a sceptical look and shook her head. "That's too much Vegemite."
"Hah!" Yelena shot me a smarmy grin, as if Nat's opinion meant that she'd won.
I harumphed grumpily and took another petulant bite of my toast.
"Finish eating and go for a shower," Nat instructed, lightly smacking me on the bottom with an open palm. "They're expecting us at nine."
I made a pleased noise and shuffled closer to her, sticking my butt out a little to invite her to do it again.
"Ugh." Yelena made a sound of disgust. "If you're going to be like that, please go back to the bedroom. It's way too early to deal with Wanda being Wanda."
Swallowing my mouthful of food, I shook my head. "You heard her," I said sadly, as though we had no other choice. "We have to go back to the bedroom."
"We really can't be late."
"I know, I know," I said, as if she were the one being difficult. "Gimme a minute."
I finished eating, then showered and got dressed while Natasha and Yelena chatted for a little bit. Once I was ready to leave, it was getting pretty close to nine; we were basically exactly on time. Nat and I said our goodbyes to Yelena, then I took out my sling ring and spun up a portal to a familiar hallway. The two of us stepped through and I dismissed the magic, hesitating slightly as I looked around. There was a tiny bit of anxiety gnawing at my stomach—I wasn't sure what sort of reception I was going to get, given what had happened the last time I was here.
I'd been putting off seeing Peter Parker. When we'd gotten back from Wakanda, we were advised through the Stark Relief Foundation that he'd been discharged and was recovering fine—superhumanly quickly, even—but talking to him directly had just seemed… daunting. There was a part of me that was terrified that Peter might blame me for what had happened. He wouldn't even be wrong to. And I just didn't want to face that. Instead, I'd spoken to the Avengers about him. Once it had been decided that they were interested in reaching out, Natasha had called and discussed it with May. I'd honestly been a little surprised when the offer had been made to let me tag along for this, but it was probably Natasha's doing; she knew how I felt about the whole situation and how much I wanted to help Peter.
Nat moved to the door of the apartment in front of us and knocked. After a few moments it opened and Peter's aunt, May, was there, greeting us with a warm smile. "Hi! Ms Romanoff? And Wanda." It might have just been my imagination, but I felt like May's smile turned a bit stiffer when she looked at me. My heart sank a little. I could hardly blame her, of course—I'd lied to her face the first time we'd met and pretty much immediately brought HYDRA crashing down on her and her family.
Nat lightly shook May's hand, a warm smile on her face. "Please, Natasha is fine. Thanks so much for agreeing to this; we really appreciate it."
"Oh, of course. It's been…" May paused to weighing her words. "The last few weeks have been a lot. Peter's really looking forward to this."
"Well, if you're all ready to go, would you mind if we stepped inside for a moment?" Natasha asked.
"Sure." May looked briefly surprised, but held the door open, moving out of the way so we could come inside.
Peter and Ned were both waiting in the living room just beyond the entrance to the apartment—Peter bouncing on his heels near the TV while his best friend sat on the dark grey corduroy couch. As Nat and I walked in, Ned practically leapt to his feet and the two boys hurried over to greet us.
"Hey Wanda!" Peter grinned. He, at least, seemed excited. Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad, after all. "And uh, Ms Romanoff, it's really nice meeting you!"
"Hi, uh, Ms Romanoff, Ms Maximoff." Ned bobbed his head, almost vibrating with unconcealed nervous energy.
Huh. I hadn't actually heard someone say our surnames that close together before. There was a joke in there, somewhere, with the two -offs. Something about getting off? I needed a little time to think it through, come up with something really snappy I could pretend I'd made up on the spot later. "It's good to see the two of you again," I said, my lips compressed into a tight smile.
I glanced around, taking in the small changes to the apartment's décor. Some of the furniture had changed; a couple of May's large table lamps were either missing or replaced—presumably the originals had been broken—but the damage to the walls and flooring had been repaired. I had noticed a large new deadbolt on the front door, but apart from the small changes to the furnishings, very few signs remained of the home invasion that had happened here a few weeks ago.
I wanted to talk to Peter about what had happened and apologise to him properly, but I really needed to pick my moment. It wasn't something I wanted to discuss in front of everyone.
"It's really nice to finally meet you all," Nat said gently, a warm smile on her face.
"Everyone ready to go?" I asked, getting a small chorus of agreement in response, and I glanced at May. "We're just going to go straight from here, if you want to lock things up?"
She looked a little puzzled, but nodded and moved back to the front door, securing the deadbolt and ensuring it was all locked up. When she returned, I gave her a small nod of acknowledgement and held up my hands, focusing my magic on spinning up a portal. There were a few small gasps as the energy sparked and spiralled into being, coming together into a gateway with red wisps of chaos magic boiling off the edges. Greenery was visible on the other side.
Natasha looked around, shooting everyone a reassuring smile, and walked through first. I gestured for everyone else to follow her, leaving myself for last.
"Woah," Ned breathed quietly once I'd dismissed the portal behind us. "This is so cool."
We were outside the main, central building at the upstate Avengers compound, standing on the footpath leading to the riverside structures, surrounded by well-manicured hedges and gardens. Steve, Pietro and Sam were waiting for us, all dressed down in casual, everyday wear, and stepped forward to make introductions and shake hands.
The Avengers lineup was actually getting pretty large. Sam—the Falcon—had been on the outskirts for a little while, but had officially moved in within the last few days. In Eliza's wake, Rhodey had also been made the Avengers' official, on‑site government liaison and was a kind of pseudo-member. On the non-Avenger side, Dr Cho had also apparently just moved her lab from South Korea and was going to be helping out with monitoring Shuri's condition. I was interested in seeing what Shuri might think of her Regeneration Cradle. There was a lot happening around the place that I was only getting second-hand from Natasha and Pietro. On the one hand, I was really pleased to see the Avengers recruiting and getting solid supports in place but, on the other, it really felt like the universe wanted to rub in my face the fact that literally everyone seemed to be moving in and joining the team but me.
Our group headed into the building and upstairs to the briefing room in the main common area—it was a good place to do this sort of thing, I thought; straddling the line between casual and professional, showing the warmer, homey side of the team alongside the more formal and serious stuff. Tony and Rhodey were already there waiting for us.
"Woah, Mr Stark! It's so awesome to meet you! I'm a really big fan of your work," Peter gushed, stars in his eyes, as they shook hands with him.
Well, some things never change, I guess. Hopefully, with the way things were happening, he wouldn't get quite so attached to Tony—I was intending on doing what I could to push him a little bit more toward Steve and Pietro, instead, but I wasn't sure how well I was going to succeed. I was glad that no one had any issues with me being here for this, even though I wasn't part of the team, but I knew I probably wasn't really going be able to be as involved with Peter as I would have liked to be.
As the Avengers and their guests gathered around the conference table to go over what they envisioned their trainee initiative was going to look like, I hung back, stepping away to sit and listen in from a nearby couch. It was all pretty straightforward. Peter's anonymity as Spider-Man would remain intact, he could continue operating as he had wanted to—keep on being a Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man—but he'd have access to support and training opportunities through the team, mostly on weekends and during school breaks.
He wouldn't go on any official missions—at least, not at first, not anytime soon—and after a couple of years, once he'd graduated school, he'd have the opportunity to graduate to a full member of the Avengers. I hadn't really been expecting Rhodey to be part of the conversation, but it made sense in retrospect that an 'official' government rep would be able to provide some additional reassurances to set May's mind at ease. Playing the vigilante was still more than a little bit of a legal grey area, but Rhodey wasn't going to be dobbing him in.
The team asked for consent to run bloodwork and other tests to check over what had actually happened to give him his powers and make sure there weren't any deleterious side effects or complications, but it was all purely voluntary and he could say no with no repercussions. There would never be any obligations on Peter's end. He could withdraw at any point and it wouldn't be a problem if, at the end, he decided he wanted to do something else and not join the team. Steve made it very clear that the only thing that they wanted was to do whatever was best for Peter.
While the rest of them spoke, Pietro snuck over to where I was sitting and dropped down onto the couch next to me. "You've been avoiding me," he said reproachfully, speaking quietly so as not to distract or be overheard.
"I haven't been avoiding you. We literally text every day."
"But you haven't come by the compound much. Natasha sees you more than I do."
"I've mostly just been doing nothing—just relaxing, reading, watching TV and stuff—you'd get bored and I didn't want to cause any issues with Shuri while she's settling in. You'll see me again tomorrow and probably Monday, too, and we'll probably be spending the entire day together on Tuesday."
"With Nat."
"You like hanging out with Nat."
"…I do," he conceding, a little grumpily. "I just… okay. You haven't been avoiding me. I don't know. It just feels weird, being here."
"You've been an Avenger for less than a week. Give it some time, you'll adjust." I glanced back at the conference table where the others were still going over a few details, lowering my voice even further. "Peter's a good kid. I really need you to look out for him, okay? Be the fun uncle."
Pietro sighed and nodded. "I'll keep an eye on him."
We sat quietly for a few more minutes, listening in to the conversation at the conference table. After a little while, everything had finally been gone over to everyone's satisfaction, and I watched carefully as May turned to her nephew. "Are you sure this is what you want to do, Peter?" she asked, looking at him seriously.
Peter nodded. With a bit of hesitation in his tone he said, "Yeah, I think so. This is a lot better than me being on my own, isn't it? It's… I want to be an Avenger."
"It's not all fun and games, being famous," May said. "It's going to be hard work."
"I know. I… I have to do this. When you can do the things that I can, if you don't, and then the bad things happen, they happen because of you."
"With great power comes great responsibility," I quoted softly to myself, looking down at my hands and flexing my fingers slightly. "Don't I know it."
"You don't have to do anything you don't want to do," May said, her tone firm.
Peter met her eyes and nodded again, a little more steel in his backbone. "I want to," he said.
May nodded. "Okay."
"Well, I think that's about it, then. Did you have any other questions?" Steve asked, looking between the three people on the other side of the table.
May and Peter exchanged a look, then shook their heads. "I don't think so," May started to say, but was interrupted by an extremely nervous Ned.
"Um! Actually, uh, Mr Rogers? Captain, sir?"
"What is it, son?" he asked gently, an easy smile on his face.
"I uh, I really don't want to sound ungrateful—being here for this is probably the coolest thing that's ever happened to me. But, um. Obviously, we're here for Peter, and I get why May is here, but May said that you asked for me as well. Like, specifically. I don't… um. Why?"
"Actually," Steve said, looking over in my direction. He raised his eyebrows and lifted his chin, silently inviting me over. "It was Wanda that insisted you come."
"Oh. Um." That obviously didn't really answer the teen's question and he hesitated, wondering if he should press the issue.
I stood up, walking over toward the table—Pietro in tow—as I glanced toward Steve. "Did you manage to get someone from Kamar-taj?" I asked him.
Next to him, Natasha checked the time on her phone. "They should be here any second, if they're not already." She stood up and walked over to the window, looking down at the grounds. "Yep. Looks like they sent Master Wong."
"Huh," I said, a little surprised. I'd been expecting Mordo, if anyone. I wouldn't have thought Wong would leave Kamar‑taj very often, given his duties as librarian, and he wasn't really responsible for training new students. Why would the Ancient One have sent him?
We decamped from the briefing room as a group, heading out to meet the sorcerer as he sat placidly on a bench, watching a brace of ducks that were paddling by on the river. As we drew closer, he stood up and gave a shallow, respectful bow before stepping in to shake Steve's hand. "Thanks for coming, Master Wong," Steve said.
"It's a welcome distraction." Wong looked critically at the two teens, inclining his head in a silent acknowledgement of them, then turned to me. "Which is the boy you spoke of?" he asked, a little sharply.
I faltered for a moment. Maybe I was just feeling a little sensitive at the moment, but his tone wasn't exactly where I'd have liked it to be. I knew I wasn't the most popular girl at Kamar-taj, but Wong was… Wong. Wongers. I'd never really thought of myself as someone who needed the approval of others, but the last couple of days were really starting to wear on me, seeing just how many good people really didn't like me. Jessica, Karen, May, and now Wong… God. I wasn't sure if knowing that most of them had perfectly valid reasons to feel the way they did made it better or worse.
Hiding my sudden attack of discomfort by clearing my throat, I looked over at the boys. "Ned?"
"Um, yes?"
Wong stepped closer to him and the rotund boy shrank back, obviously feeling a little intimidated. "Wanda believes you have a great deal of potential for the mystic arts."
"The… the mystic arts?" Ned stammered, a little confused.
"Magic, Ned," I said, then turned to Wong. "Give him like, a very brief overview, then let him borrow your sling ring and run him through a basic lesson on how to use it."
"That's not how teaching sorcery works," Wong objected, a frown creasing his face. He shook his head. "Using a sling ring cannot be taught in a single day. He needs to learn visualisation, how to draw and focus the energies of other dimensions and channel it through his meridians. Weeks of intensive training, at a minimum. Months, more usually. Then, there are the fourteen rules of portal safety that students must learn before they are even allowed to attempt to make a portal."
"I figured out how to use a sling ring, on my own, in less than half an hour."
"You are a special case. You already knew how to channel and control magical energies, and your chaos magic bends the rules of reality."
I shrugged. "Just do it. Trust me. I bet he figures it out even quicker than I did."
Wong shot me a suspicious look, but reluctantly nodded his assent. Just before he began, I straightened up, a thought occurring to me, and turned to Peter. "You should give it a go, too," I said, reaching into my pocket and pulling out my own ring. I pressed it into the teen's hand. "I really don't think you'll pick it up the same way Ned will, but still. Worth checking. Actually, now that I'm thinking about it… maybe everyone should try? It can't hurt?" I glanced around the gathered Avengers, who all suddenly had very thoughtful looks on their faces.
Wong looked at the ring I'd just given Peter disapprovingly. "I thought that had been destroyed in the battle with Eliza," he said, a minor rebuke in his tone.
"Guess not," I said with another shrug. "Are you good to run everyone through a basic lesson, or…?"
"This is highly irregular," he said. "The Sorcerer Supreme determines whether a person is allowed to join Kamar-taj and learn the mystic arts—that decision is reserved for her and her alone. She bade me to come on your recommendation to examine the potential of a particularly gifted individual. That is all I am supposed to be doing here."
"Alright, well, you can do that, and we'll just be over here, with everyone listening in. And taking turns trying to use my sling ring."
The sorcerer made a frustrated noise of disapproval, halfway between a grunt and a sigh, but turned to Ned and started to run through a high level, basic primer on what magic is and how sorcerers used it.
Twenty minutes later, the teen was looking dumbfoundedly through a swirling orange circle of sparks to see his bedroom on the other side. No one else, of course, managed to conjure so much as the faintest glimmer of energy.
"Salamangkero," Ned murmured absently to himself. "Lola always said we had magic in our family."
Wong looked almost as flummoxed as Ned did. "That is… astounding," he said, looking over at me with disbelief in his eyes. "I've never heard of someone picking up the basics so quickly."
After a few seconds, Ned's concentration wavered and the portal collapsed, but he was still staring at his own hands like he'd just manifested superpowers. Which I guess he sort of had?
Wong stepped up to him and gently retrieved the sling ring. "You will not make a portal again until you can recite the fourteen rules by heart. Am I understood?"
"Uh, y-yes, Mr Wong. Sir."
"Master Wong," Wong corrected him, then turned to May, who was also looking wide-eyed at Ned. "The boy has a rare talent. I am not sure how deeply it goes, but he has a natural gift for channelling magical energies. I would recommend him to the Ancient One for training at Kamar-taj."
"Where's Kamar-taj?" Peter asked, a little uncertainly.
I raised a hand to catch Wong's attention. "Ned's still in high school. Would it be possible at all for him to commute to Kamar-taj via the New York Sanctum? Learn part-time while he's still in school?"
"It would be highly irregular…"
"I mean, so is basically everything else I've been even remotely involved in, right?"
Wong 'hrmmmm'ed. "The Ancient One may allow it. I will raise it when I speak with her." He turned back to Ned. "If you would be interested in becoming a student, that is."
"…You're asking me if I want to learn magic?" Ned asked, still a little shellshocked. "Yeah! I mean… Yeah!"
"Ned…" May interjected. "You'll need to talk to your Lola, first."
He shook his head jerkily, a massive goofy grin splitting his face. "Oh, yeah, I will. She'll be okay with it, definitely. I'll ask as soon as I get home."
Wong nodded. "Very well. Should the Ancient One be amenable to Wanda's proposed arrangement, I will be in touch." He turned back to the Avengers. "Unless there is anything else, I will return to Kamar-taj."
"Thank you again for your time, Master Wong," Steve responded warmly.
With that, the sorcerer spun up a portal and headed through, shooting me one last considering look before the gateway closed behind him.
Tony took the opportunity to step forward. "So, May, I was thinking—it okay if we hold onto Peter for a little while longer today? We'll give him a proper tour of the compound, do lunch, that sort of thing." He shot Peter a smile and wink. "I'll let him have a peek at the labs. I hear he's a bit of a tech head."
Peter almost started vibrating at the mere suggestion of getting to take a look around one of Tony Stark's personal labs and he shot May a look, his eyes wide and pleading. She smiled and shook her head. "Sure. That'd be fine. Just drop him back before dinner, okay?"
I frowned to myself as the unwelcome sound of an alarm penetrated the hazy half-sleep I was basking in—quiet rather than harsh, but steady and insistent. Natasha shifted in my embrace, awkwardly reaching over to her phone to swipe the alarm off before gently trying to disentangle herself from me. I made a sleepy noise of protest and resisted, easily overpowering her attempt to wiggle free.
"Wanda…"
I ignored the objection and, to put a stop to any further—extremely rude!—attempts to escape, I rolled on top of her, pinning her to the bed with the weight of my body, pressing my curves against hers.
"Wanda," she repeated patiently, a smile in her voice. "We have to get up."
I murmured an indistinct disagreement, burying my face in the crook of her neck for a moment and inhaling deeply, enjoying the heady girlsmell, before planting several feather-light kisses along her jawline. "You started setting your alarms, like, half an hour earlier than necessary," I murmured. With no small amount of effort, I lifted my head from her neck, propping myself up on an elbow so I could look at her, a lascivious smile curving my mouth. My free hand started to idly trace a path from the centre of her chest down to her stomach, fingertips gently dragging across soft, supple skin. "You thought I wouldn't notice but I did. So now, when your alarm goes off, that means I get to have you for half an hour before we have to get up."
Natasha laughed, then a small, involuntary gasp escaped her lips as my hand crept lower. "That was… not what my intention was."
"It's the best of both worlds—morning cuddles and fun and we still get to be on time."
"…You make a compelling argument."
Nearly half an hour later, flushed and satisfied, I wandered out of the bedroom wrapped in an olive-green satin robe I'd stolen from Natasha and headed down the short hallway toward the kitchen while she went for a shower. Yelena was standing at the kitchen bench and I stepped a bit closer as I saw what she was doing, my brow furrowing at the minor travesty unfolding before me.
"What are you doing?" I asked, a slightly pained tone in my voice.
Yelena glanced up at me, a little puzzled. "Making toast?" she ventured, and I pointed wordlessly to the jar of Vegemite she was committing crimes against. "Oh. Sorry. I haven't had it in ages, I thought you wouldn't mind."
I shook my head. "I don't care that you're using my Vegemite, it's just… that's your spread?"
"…What?"
I gestured to the bare suggestion of black, salty goodness that she had scraped across the toast, as if a yeasty ghost had breathed very gently on it. "That's a fucking weak spread."
"What?" Yelena blinked, looking a little offended as she glanced back down at her breakfast. "I don't like too much Vegemite on my toast," she said defensively.
"What are you, American? Thicken your spread, Yelena."
"No."
"Thicken your spread!"
"No!"
I set my jaw and scowled at her. "Do you want to see how a pro spreads Vegemite?"
Yelena closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, obviously embarrassed and ashamed at how weak her spread was. "No," she said again.
"Did I hear a yes?" She needed to be educated. I could help her.
"Absolutely not."
"Alright," I cracked my knuckles and grabbed some bread, dropping it into the toaster. "Watch and learn."
Yelena made a small noise of frustration in the back of her throat. While my bread toasted, she finished what she was doing and retreated a few steps to the small, square dining table behind us, leaving the butter and jar of Vegemite on the bench for me as I retrieved a plate. She started eating, studiously ignoring me as I waited for the toaster to pop. Once it did, I half turned to address her as I worked.
"Alright, so you want freshly toasted bread and a fuckload of 'mite."
"'Mite'?" Yelena asked, distastefully.
"Pros call it 'mite."
"No one calls it 'mite."
"You gotta spread the 'mite thick," I said, ignoring her as I prepared a more traditionally Australian Vegemite on toast.
She craned her neck a little to see what I was doing, her nose crinkling in disgust. "What are you doing? That is way too much."
"Yeah, you really want to cake it on there," I said absently as I finished making my toast. I took a moment to put things away and wipe the crumbs from the bench before walking over to where Yelena was sitting at the table and putting my plate down next to hers.
She stared at it for a moment. "Wanda, if I ate that it would make me sick."
"You know what makes me sick?" I asked, raising an eyebrow and gesturing to her half-eaten breakfast. "This weak spread!" Defiantly, I picked up my toast and took a big bite of it, the salty, yeasty umami flavour filling my mouth.
I paused. In my enthusiasm to demonstrate proper Vegemite etiquette to Yelena, I might have gone a little overboard. I chewed and swallowed, almost mechanically, processing my way through the overpoweringly thick spread. It was… a bit much, if I was being honest with myself. But that was Yelena's fault. I'd had no other choice. No time for regrets. I had to power through.
"What are you two arguing about?" Natasha asked, emerging from the hallway. She was already dressed and essentially ready to go.
"Wanda tried to poison me because I stole her Vegemite," Yelena said lightly.
I made a noise of protest around a mouthful of too-much Vegemite, swallowing it with a small cough. "Your sister was making a mockery of my culture."
Yelena's brow creased in confusion. "Aren't you Sokovian?"
"My other culture."
Nat stepped closer to me, looking at my half-eaten toast. She shot me a sceptical look and shook her head. "That's too much Vegemite."
"Hah!" Yelena shot me a smarmy grin, as if Nat's opinion meant that she'd won.
I harumphed grumpily and took another petulant bite of my toast.
"Finish eating and go for a shower," Nat instructed, lightly smacking me on the bottom with an open palm. "They're expecting us at nine."
I made a pleased noise and shuffled closer to her, sticking my butt out a little to invite her to do it again.
"Ugh." Yelena made a sound of disgust. "If you're going to be like that, please go back to the bedroom. It's way too early to deal with Wanda being Wanda."
Swallowing my mouthful of food, I shook my head. "You heard her," I said sadly, as though we had no other choice. "We have to go back to the bedroom."
"We really can't be late."
"I know, I know," I said, as if she were the one being difficult. "Gimme a minute."
I finished eating, then showered and got dressed while Natasha and Yelena chatted for a little bit. Once I was ready to leave, it was getting pretty close to nine; we were basically exactly on time. Nat and I said our goodbyes to Yelena, then I took out my sling ring and spun up a portal to a familiar hallway. The two of us stepped through and I dismissed the magic, hesitating slightly as I looked around. There was a tiny bit of anxiety gnawing at my stomach—I wasn't sure what sort of reception I was going to get, given what had happened the last time I was here.
I'd been putting off seeing Peter Parker. When we'd gotten back from Wakanda, we were advised through the Stark Relief Foundation that he'd been discharged and was recovering fine—superhumanly quickly, even—but talking to him directly had just seemed… daunting. There was a part of me that was terrified that Peter might blame me for what had happened. He wouldn't even be wrong to. And I just didn't want to face that. Instead, I'd spoken to the Avengers about him. Once it had been decided that they were interested in reaching out, Natasha had called and discussed it with May. I'd honestly been a little surprised when the offer had been made to let me tag along for this, but it was probably Natasha's doing; she knew how I felt about the whole situation and how much I wanted to help Peter.
Nat moved to the door of the apartment in front of us and knocked. After a few moments it opened and Peter's aunt, May, was there, greeting us with a warm smile. "Hi! Ms Romanoff? And Wanda." It might have just been my imagination, but I felt like May's smile turned a bit stiffer when she looked at me. My heart sank a little. I could hardly blame her, of course—I'd lied to her face the first time we'd met and pretty much immediately brought HYDRA crashing down on her and her family.
Nat lightly shook May's hand, a warm smile on her face. "Please, Natasha is fine. Thanks so much for agreeing to this; we really appreciate it."
"Oh, of course. It's been…" May paused to weighing her words. "The last few weeks have been a lot. Peter's really looking forward to this."
"Well, if you're all ready to go, would you mind if we stepped inside for a moment?" Natasha asked.
"Sure." May looked briefly surprised, but held the door open, moving out of the way so we could come inside.
Peter and Ned were both waiting in the living room just beyond the entrance to the apartment—Peter bouncing on his heels near the TV while his best friend sat on the dark grey corduroy couch. As Nat and I walked in, Ned practically leapt to his feet and the two boys hurried over to greet us.
"Hey Wanda!" Peter grinned. He, at least, seemed excited. Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad, after all. "And uh, Ms Romanoff, it's really nice meeting you!"
"Hi, uh, Ms Romanoff, Ms Maximoff." Ned bobbed his head, almost vibrating with unconcealed nervous energy.
Huh. I hadn't actually heard someone say our surnames that close together before. There was a joke in there, somewhere, with the two -offs. Something about getting off? I needed a little time to think it through, come up with something really snappy I could pretend I'd made up on the spot later. "It's good to see the two of you again," I said, my lips compressed into a tight smile.
I glanced around, taking in the small changes to the apartment's décor. Some of the furniture had changed; a couple of May's large table lamps were either missing or replaced—presumably the originals had been broken—but the damage to the walls and flooring had been repaired. I had noticed a large new deadbolt on the front door, but apart from the small changes to the furnishings, very few signs remained of the home invasion that had happened here a few weeks ago.
I wanted to talk to Peter about what had happened and apologise to him properly, but I really needed to pick my moment. It wasn't something I wanted to discuss in front of everyone.
"It's really nice to finally meet you all," Nat said gently, a warm smile on her face.
"Everyone ready to go?" I asked, getting a small chorus of agreement in response, and I glanced at May. "We're just going to go straight from here, if you want to lock things up?"
She looked a little puzzled, but nodded and moved back to the front door, securing the deadbolt and ensuring it was all locked up. When she returned, I gave her a small nod of acknowledgement and held up my hands, focusing my magic on spinning up a portal. There were a few small gasps as the energy sparked and spiralled into being, coming together into a gateway with red wisps of chaos magic boiling off the edges. Greenery was visible on the other side.
Natasha looked around, shooting everyone a reassuring smile, and walked through first. I gestured for everyone else to follow her, leaving myself for last.
"Woah," Ned breathed quietly once I'd dismissed the portal behind us. "This is so cool."
We were outside the main, central building at the upstate Avengers compound, standing on the footpath leading to the riverside structures, surrounded by well-manicured hedges and gardens. Steve, Pietro and Sam were waiting for us, all dressed down in casual, everyday wear, and stepped forward to make introductions and shake hands.
The Avengers lineup was actually getting pretty large. Sam—the Falcon—had been on the outskirts for a little while, but had officially moved in within the last few days. In Eliza's wake, Rhodey had also been made the Avengers' official, on‑site government liaison and was a kind of pseudo-member. On the non-Avenger side, Dr Cho had also apparently just moved her lab from South Korea and was going to be helping out with monitoring Shuri's condition. I was interested in seeing what Shuri might think of her Regeneration Cradle. There was a lot happening around the place that I was only getting second-hand from Natasha and Pietro. On the one hand, I was really pleased to see the Avengers recruiting and getting solid supports in place but, on the other, it really felt like the universe wanted to rub in my face the fact that literally everyone seemed to be moving in and joining the team but me.
Our group headed into the building and upstairs to the briefing room in the main common area—it was a good place to do this sort of thing, I thought; straddling the line between casual and professional, showing the warmer, homey side of the team alongside the more formal and serious stuff. Tony and Rhodey were already there waiting for us.
"Woah, Mr Stark! It's so awesome to meet you! I'm a really big fan of your work," Peter gushed, stars in his eyes, as they shook hands with him.
Well, some things never change, I guess. Hopefully, with the way things were happening, he wouldn't get quite so attached to Tony—I was intending on doing what I could to push him a little bit more toward Steve and Pietro, instead, but I wasn't sure how well I was going to succeed. I was glad that no one had any issues with me being here for this, even though I wasn't part of the team, but I knew I probably wasn't really going be able to be as involved with Peter as I would have liked to be.
As the Avengers and their guests gathered around the conference table to go over what they envisioned their trainee initiative was going to look like, I hung back, stepping away to sit and listen in from a nearby couch. It was all pretty straightforward. Peter's anonymity as Spider-Man would remain intact, he could continue operating as he had wanted to—keep on being a Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man—but he'd have access to support and training opportunities through the team, mostly on weekends and during school breaks.
He wouldn't go on any official missions—at least, not at first, not anytime soon—and after a couple of years, once he'd graduated school, he'd have the opportunity to graduate to a full member of the Avengers. I hadn't really been expecting Rhodey to be part of the conversation, but it made sense in retrospect that an 'official' government rep would be able to provide some additional reassurances to set May's mind at ease. Playing the vigilante was still more than a little bit of a legal grey area, but Rhodey wasn't going to be dobbing him in.
The team asked for consent to run bloodwork and other tests to check over what had actually happened to give him his powers and make sure there weren't any deleterious side effects or complications, but it was all purely voluntary and he could say no with no repercussions. There would never be any obligations on Peter's end. He could withdraw at any point and it wouldn't be a problem if, at the end, he decided he wanted to do something else and not join the team. Steve made it very clear that the only thing that they wanted was to do whatever was best for Peter.
While the rest of them spoke, Pietro snuck over to where I was sitting and dropped down onto the couch next to me. "You've been avoiding me," he said reproachfully, speaking quietly so as not to distract or be overheard.
"I haven't been avoiding you. We literally text every day."
"But you haven't come by the compound much. Natasha sees you more than I do."
"I've mostly just been doing nothing—just relaxing, reading, watching TV and stuff—you'd get bored and I didn't want to cause any issues with Shuri while she's settling in. You'll see me again tomorrow and probably Monday, too, and we'll probably be spending the entire day together on Tuesday."
"With Nat."
"You like hanging out with Nat."
"…I do," he conceding, a little grumpily. "I just… okay. You haven't been avoiding me. I don't know. It just feels weird, being here."
"You've been an Avenger for less than a week. Give it some time, you'll adjust." I glanced back at the conference table where the others were still going over a few details, lowering my voice even further. "Peter's a good kid. I really need you to look out for him, okay? Be the fun uncle."
Pietro sighed and nodded. "I'll keep an eye on him."
We sat quietly for a few more minutes, listening in to the conversation at the conference table. After a little while, everything had finally been gone over to everyone's satisfaction, and I watched carefully as May turned to her nephew. "Are you sure this is what you want to do, Peter?" she asked, looking at him seriously.
Peter nodded. With a bit of hesitation in his tone he said, "Yeah, I think so. This is a lot better than me being on my own, isn't it? It's… I want to be an Avenger."
"It's not all fun and games, being famous," May said. "It's going to be hard work."
"I know. I… I have to do this. When you can do the things that I can, if you don't, and then the bad things happen, they happen because of you."
"With great power comes great responsibility," I quoted softly to myself, looking down at my hands and flexing my fingers slightly. "Don't I know it."
"You don't have to do anything you don't want to do," May said, her tone firm.
Peter met her eyes and nodded again, a little more steel in his backbone. "I want to," he said.
May nodded. "Okay."
"Well, I think that's about it, then. Did you have any other questions?" Steve asked, looking between the three people on the other side of the table.
May and Peter exchanged a look, then shook their heads. "I don't think so," May started to say, but was interrupted by an extremely nervous Ned.
"Um! Actually, uh, Mr Rogers? Captain, sir?"
"What is it, son?" he asked gently, an easy smile on his face.
"I uh, I really don't want to sound ungrateful—being here for this is probably the coolest thing that's ever happened to me. But, um. Obviously, we're here for Peter, and I get why May is here, but May said that you asked for me as well. Like, specifically. I don't… um. Why?"
"Actually," Steve said, looking over in my direction. He raised his eyebrows and lifted his chin, silently inviting me over. "It was Wanda that insisted you come."
"Oh. Um." That obviously didn't really answer the teen's question and he hesitated, wondering if he should press the issue.
I stood up, walking over toward the table—Pietro in tow—as I glanced toward Steve. "Did you manage to get someone from Kamar-taj?" I asked him.
Next to him, Natasha checked the time on her phone. "They should be here any second, if they're not already." She stood up and walked over to the window, looking down at the grounds. "Yep. Looks like they sent Master Wong."
"Huh," I said, a little surprised. I'd been expecting Mordo, if anyone. I wouldn't have thought Wong would leave Kamar‑taj very often, given his duties as librarian, and he wasn't really responsible for training new students. Why would the Ancient One have sent him?
We decamped from the briefing room as a group, heading out to meet the sorcerer as he sat placidly on a bench, watching a brace of ducks that were paddling by on the river. As we drew closer, he stood up and gave a shallow, respectful bow before stepping in to shake Steve's hand. "Thanks for coming, Master Wong," Steve said.
"It's a welcome distraction." Wong looked critically at the two teens, inclining his head in a silent acknowledgement of them, then turned to me. "Which is the boy you spoke of?" he asked, a little sharply.
I faltered for a moment. Maybe I was just feeling a little sensitive at the moment, but his tone wasn't exactly where I'd have liked it to be. I knew I wasn't the most popular girl at Kamar-taj, but Wong was… Wong. Wongers. I'd never really thought of myself as someone who needed the approval of others, but the last couple of days were really starting to wear on me, seeing just how many good people really didn't like me. Jessica, Karen, May, and now Wong… God. I wasn't sure if knowing that most of them had perfectly valid reasons to feel the way they did made it better or worse.
Hiding my sudden attack of discomfort by clearing my throat, I looked over at the boys. "Ned?"
"Um, yes?"
Wong stepped closer to him and the rotund boy shrank back, obviously feeling a little intimidated. "Wanda believes you have a great deal of potential for the mystic arts."
"The… the mystic arts?" Ned stammered, a little confused.
"Magic, Ned," I said, then turned to Wong. "Give him like, a very brief overview, then let him borrow your sling ring and run him through a basic lesson on how to use it."
"That's not how teaching sorcery works," Wong objected, a frown creasing his face. He shook his head. "Using a sling ring cannot be taught in a single day. He needs to learn visualisation, how to draw and focus the energies of other dimensions and channel it through his meridians. Weeks of intensive training, at a minimum. Months, more usually. Then, there are the fourteen rules of portal safety that students must learn before they are even allowed to attempt to make a portal."
"I figured out how to use a sling ring, on my own, in less than half an hour."
"You are a special case. You already knew how to channel and control magical energies, and your chaos magic bends the rules of reality."
I shrugged. "Just do it. Trust me. I bet he figures it out even quicker than I did."
Wong shot me a suspicious look, but reluctantly nodded his assent. Just before he began, I straightened up, a thought occurring to me, and turned to Peter. "You should give it a go, too," I said, reaching into my pocket and pulling out my own ring. I pressed it into the teen's hand. "I really don't think you'll pick it up the same way Ned will, but still. Worth checking. Actually, now that I'm thinking about it… maybe everyone should try? It can't hurt?" I glanced around the gathered Avengers, who all suddenly had very thoughtful looks on their faces.
Wong looked at the ring I'd just given Peter disapprovingly. "I thought that had been destroyed in the battle with Eliza," he said, a minor rebuke in his tone.
"Guess not," I said with another shrug. "Are you good to run everyone through a basic lesson, or…?"
"This is highly irregular," he said. "The Sorcerer Supreme determines whether a person is allowed to join Kamar-taj and learn the mystic arts—that decision is reserved for her and her alone. She bade me to come on your recommendation to examine the potential of a particularly gifted individual. That is all I am supposed to be doing here."
"Alright, well, you can do that, and we'll just be over here, with everyone listening in. And taking turns trying to use my sling ring."
The sorcerer made a frustrated noise of disapproval, halfway between a grunt and a sigh, but turned to Ned and started to run through a high level, basic primer on what magic is and how sorcerers used it.
Twenty minutes later, the teen was looking dumbfoundedly through a swirling orange circle of sparks to see his bedroom on the other side. No one else, of course, managed to conjure so much as the faintest glimmer of energy.
"Salamangkero," Ned murmured absently to himself. "Lola always said we had magic in our family."
Wong looked almost as flummoxed as Ned did. "That is… astounding," he said, looking over at me with disbelief in his eyes. "I've never heard of someone picking up the basics so quickly."
After a few seconds, Ned's concentration wavered and the portal collapsed, but he was still staring at his own hands like he'd just manifested superpowers. Which I guess he sort of had?
Wong stepped up to him and gently retrieved the sling ring. "You will not make a portal again until you can recite the fourteen rules by heart. Am I understood?"
"Uh, y-yes, Mr Wong. Sir."
"Master Wong," Wong corrected him, then turned to May, who was also looking wide-eyed at Ned. "The boy has a rare talent. I am not sure how deeply it goes, but he has a natural gift for channelling magical energies. I would recommend him to the Ancient One for training at Kamar-taj."
"Where's Kamar-taj?" Peter asked, a little uncertainly.
I raised a hand to catch Wong's attention. "Ned's still in high school. Would it be possible at all for him to commute to Kamar-taj via the New York Sanctum? Learn part-time while he's still in school?"
"It would be highly irregular…"
"I mean, so is basically everything else I've been even remotely involved in, right?"
Wong 'hrmmmm'ed. "The Ancient One may allow it. I will raise it when I speak with her." He turned back to Ned. "If you would be interested in becoming a student, that is."
"…You're asking me if I want to learn magic?" Ned asked, still a little shellshocked. "Yeah! I mean… Yeah!"
"Ned…" May interjected. "You'll need to talk to your Lola, first."
He shook his head jerkily, a massive goofy grin splitting his face. "Oh, yeah, I will. She'll be okay with it, definitely. I'll ask as soon as I get home."
Wong nodded. "Very well. Should the Ancient One be amenable to Wanda's proposed arrangement, I will be in touch." He turned back to the Avengers. "Unless there is anything else, I will return to Kamar-taj."
"Thank you again for your time, Master Wong," Steve responded warmly.
With that, the sorcerer spun up a portal and headed through, shooting me one last considering look before the gateway closed behind him.
Tony took the opportunity to step forward. "So, May, I was thinking—it okay if we hold onto Peter for a little while longer today? We'll give him a proper tour of the compound, do lunch, that sort of thing." He shot Peter a smile and wink. "I'll let him have a peek at the labs. I hear he's a bit of a tech head."
Peter almost started vibrating at the mere suggestion of getting to take a look around one of Tony Stark's personal labs and he shot May a look, his eyes wide and pleading. She smiled and shook her head. "Sure. That'd be fine. Just drop him back before dinner, okay?"
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I've hit a couple of small milestones with this update -- the fic is now over 300,000 words long, and I've now got over 2,500 watchers/followers across all the sites I'm crossposting on!
Ned's going to be learning relatively slowly, still -- he's not dropping out of school, so (if the Ancient One gives the go-ahead) he'll only be learning part-time. We won't see results from this too quickly.
Krazyfan1
Worrying for the future.
- Location
- Australia
I wonder if giving him an Emergency portal thing could be useful?
I.e a One Use version of the slingring that can create One portal?
If the school is attacked, he can make a portal to bring everyone to safety?
Oh god, did Mordo choose now to throw a fit over the natural order and leave Kamar-Taj? With Kaecillius still in the wind? That seems almost moronically rigid. He's probably just still recovering from his burns.
Seems a bit needlessly elaborate, not to mention the obvious difficulties associated with evacuating an entire class of high-schoolers through a doorway sized portal in an organized cohesive fashion. They probably should give him a distress/duress alarm/panic button like Wanda had before Hydra nabbed her.
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Future Sorcerer Supreme Ned, and his sidekick, Spider-Man.
There's no reason Kamar-taj would give Ned special treatment like this. They're already pushing things with the request for part-time training commuting through the Sanctum. Ned doesn't have any special risks associated with him, and Wanda doesn't have any "visions" of the school being attacked or Ned being in any particular danger from anyone.
Ned has a natural talent, but that just puts him up for consideration. The Ancient One is very discerning when it comes to who gets to study as an apprentice -- talent is far from the only thing that matters. She's very invested in making sure The Wrong People don't learn magic. Kaecilius is an active example of the dangers there.
Definitely, when I was saying 'they', I was referring to the Avengers, not the sorcerers. Giving Peter a panic button seems reasonable as a standard precaution for a junior member. W.r.t. Kamar-Taj, Ned probably has at least a half-decade of instruction before he becomes trusted enough for the Ancient One to give him his own sling ring, rather than merely allowing him to borrow one on premises for instructional purposes.
Out of curiosity, is the layout of the New York Sanctum such that you pass by the relics when you're walking to the portal to Kamar-Taj? Is there a chance that he'll walk by a lightning wand or something that'll choose him straight off?
Peter will definitely get a duress alarm, yeah. He'll also be given less panic-button ways to quickly contact the Avengers, in case he comes across something while out vigilante-ing that he needs an adult for (whether he'll use it rather than trying to do stuff by himself is another matter...).
I think it's likely that Ned's not even going to get to touch a sling ring again for what will likely be at least a couple of months as he goes through the usual lessons that apprentices get before they're taught how to use them. I think it's also pretty reasonable to assume you only get given your own sling ring (as opposed to borrowing one for class/practice inside KT only) when you graduate properly from apprentice to master.
The New York Sanctum's door to Kamar-taj is on the ground floor, in a small hallway just off the main foyer, so no, Ned won't be walking past the relics kept there regularly (the 'museum' type area with the display cases is on the top floor, with the circular window). The layout of the NY Sanctum feels a little confusing, but I reviewed all the footage we have of it pretty heavily when I was writing the Agatha POV for Eliza's visit there so I'm pretty confident that that's accurate.
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- Location
- Christchurch, NZ
My memory is that there's the main museum area that you're describing upstairs, but that there are some rooms to the side on the ground floor that have a few trinkets too; eg the room Thor meets him in Ragnarok. Probably not a huge concern, and they're magic, so who cares where the doors *should* go to, right?