Ironheart vs. Mystria

The duelists are assembled. Ironheart's armed with her Reality Gauntlet. Mystria's armed with her reality-warping powers. At high noon, imaginary things will happen.

Around them, berserkers sit, and anticipate the first shots. Some of the lobo/berserkers have fallen asleep. Some of the barded peccaries have fallen asleep. Aback them, the humanoid berserkers yawn.

Above, the skiffs rest in some cliffs. They can't waste all their power waiting for an imaginary duel.

Dr. Octopussy sits beneath a tree, and applies makeup. With one of her prosthetic tentacles, she holds a handheld mirror.

For the coati/berserkers, Sandgirl uses her powers to compose sand castles. They seem amused.

FRIDAY messages KAREN. KAREN assures Spider-Man that a loan from the West Coast Avengers is on its way.

Now it's 11:55. The duelists stalk in circles around one another. Their audience clears space for them whenever they must. It's about to begin.

Mystria imagines herself into Beyonce Knowles. She's sitting at a breakfast table, in an unbuttoned blouse. Across the table, a man sits, reading his paper. He steals sneaky glaces, at her, over it.

Mystria takes off her glasses. She peels her shirt breasts back. She throws a napkin on the floor. A maid scurries over, to collect it. She drops it in Mystria's lap, and scurries back to her post.

Next thing, Mystria's wagging her curves all around a dirt road, while a pair of headlights from a car shine bright behind her.

Like Beyonce, she sings "Partition." Like the same, she's VERY mesmerizing...

She surfaces from beneath a dark stage, spotlighted in golden light, and shows off her cleavage, her ass, her legs, and the best parts of her body.

She kneels atop a piano, in a black bustier, and expresses hot yoga.

She hangs between two poles, in the dark, and expresses her emotions with her body.

In the dusk of a lavender sunset, her shadow lies atop a fancy chair, and expresses her sexuality with her body.

On a red-lit stage, she hangs from elastic cage bars, in a bikini, and slithers around them, as she's spotlighted with leopard-patterned light.

She's back at the breakfast table. The man retires his newspaper. Mystria sips from her teacup.

"CHALLENGE, BITCH," Mystria shrieks.

With her hand, Ironheart clenches the Reality Gauntlet. She closes her eyes...

Ironheart looks like Havana Brown. She creeps through a shadowy firehouse...

Drops of paint fall on drums. It's all over their tops. They're beaten. The paint drops dance atop them as they're played.

She creeps between many metal columns. Behind her, an army of men in leather creeps. They stand, and dance behinds her. She stands boldly, and sings "Warrior."

She wears a short golden robe, and twirls a practice sword.

She and her male army paint themselves black.

She stands boldly, hands painted black, in a hot pink Little Red Riding Hood cloak.

Ironheart's herself again. She takes an armed stance, faces Mystria, and arms all the weaponry in her exosuit.

Mystria loses her temper, and tries to turn Deseret into Jannah on Earth on her own.

Around them, the trees become fewer and barer. The sand and mountains become dunes. The lobo/berserkers become hyenas. The barded peccaries become barded gazelles...

"MYSTRIA," Dr. Octopussy screams, "NO! YOU'RE NOT STRONG ENOUGH!"

Through her sais, Elektra generates an electric bolt, and shoots it at Mystria. Mystria reimagines it into sand; it blows away in her illusory blast. Huntress shoots her with a bolt. The bolt becomes rubber, and bounces off her. She-Vulture shoots at her with twin rotary pistols. The bullets all turn into jasmine flowers moments before they strike Mystria.

Spider-Man looks at his arms. They're growing spikes. His incisors are getting too big to keep in his mouth. He's turning into an actual spider...

With the Reality Gauntlet, Ironheart counters Mystria's effort. All around, the lobo/berserkers become lobo/hyena hybrids. The barded peccaries become half-barded peccary/gazelle hybrids. Spider-Man's transformation into a spider is stubbed, and held. Half of the trees return. Half of the sand dunes vanish...

Onward, this plays out. Peter can feel his insides liquefying...

Below, the ground disintegrates. The dueling subconsciouses are eroding the earth.

"THIS VISION WILL FIX EVERYTHING," Mystria screams. "JUST LET US PROVE IT TO YOU!"

Ironheart can feel her armor cracking. She can feel her own bones giving...

In Ironheart's half of the distorted illusion, a portal opens. A shadowy figure slips through it.

Nearby, Ironheart's half of the distorted illusion is scarlet-tainted. From Mystria's stance, Ironheart's effort feels as if it's weakening. Over there, the portal appears to close. Mystria smiles. This is her chance to finish it. She puts everything she has into her imagination, and gives all of Deseret all she's got...

There's an explosion of white light. The noise dies, and the light dims...

The Six are standing in puddles of blood. Ironheart points at them, with a bare black hand, and laughs.

Dr. Octopussy fumbles through her gear for the vial of blood she kept her ex-husband's in. All around, the other Six do too, for their respective ex-husbands' blood. The vials aren't there. Sandgirl accidentally steps in some glass among the blood puddle she's in...glass that belonged to the vial she'd carried the blood in.

"WE DID NOT MENSTRUATE," Elektra screams. "THIS BLOOD IS OUR HUSBANDS'!"

"Oh no," Huntress gasps, "Mystria!"

All turn towards where Mystria stood. All that remains of her is a puddle of blood, the glass shards of the vial it was in, shreds of her cape, and an upside-down goldfish bowl.

The surviving Six bow their heads, and take a knee. Elektra lays down her sais. She-Vulture surrounds herself in her wings. Huntress lays down her crossbow...which slowly transforms back into a repeating rifle.

All around, some sort of scarlet-tainted illusion mends all the illusory damage both Mystria and the Reality Stone inflicted on the surrounding landscape, and on the bystanders. Spider-Man's body goes back to the way it was-only spider senses, and no spider appendages.

Where Ironheart was standing, a scarlet cloud vanishes. In its place, Scarlet Witch stands.

KAREN confirms, to Spider-Man, that she's the "loan from the West Coast Avengers" she spoke of earlier.

"Sorry I'm late," Scarlet Witch says in a thick Slavic accent. "Vis got arrested for trespassing."

"Where's the Reality Stone?!" Dr. Octopussy confronts the defending trio-now a quartet. "What've you done with it?!"

"Dr. Strange sent a courier," Ironheart explains. "Its ass is in Kamar-Taj. Some Masters of the Mystic Arts will meet there, and decide what to do with it. With luck, you Six-uh, FIVE now, will never see it again!"

Dr. Octopussy growls, and raises her prosthetic tentacles. She-Vulture shrieks, and spreads her wings. Huntress takes up her repeating rifle, and reloads it, via its lever-action. Elektra takes up her sais, and generates electricity through them.

"This isn't over," Dr. Octopussy sneers. "One way or another, we WILL have what we long for...and on top of that, you will all die defending what weak and pathetic biology you dare place on a pedestal!"

Ironheart arms her exosuit. Spider-Man arms his web-shooters. Hill loads her revolver. Scarlet Witch conjures a scarlet-tainted force field around them...

From the sky, a gunship shoots a ring of fire around Scarlet Witch's force field. Elsewhere, the berserkers take several steps back.

Scarlet Witch lowers her force field. On cybernetic wings, Jemma Simmons/Deathlok arrives, and lands among the defending quartet-now a quintet.

"Fantastic," Hill says, smiling. "SHIELD's going to help us win this after all."

"And now the field is even," Ironheart notes. "Five to five: at long last, both sides stand an equal chance of winning."

The berserkers come back, and surround everyone.

"Uh," Scarlet Witch mutters, "does someone want to tell me who or what those are, or what they want?"

"The Six killed a she-wolf," Spider-Man answers conversationally. "They want revenge."

Scarlet Witch seems dumbfounded. "The things boys will do for girls..."

"Is that why you love a synthezoid," Ironheart asks her, "instead of a real boy?"

Scarlet Witch gives her a sinister look.

Finally assembled, the two sides fight. The berserkers wait nearby, ready to defend Ironheart, Deathlok, Hill, Scarlet Witch, or Spider-Man if any of the above get in trouble.