Dark Designs

In a distant reality, the planet Amazar is under siege. Its race of warrior women are no match for the invasion forces. The planet is under siege by an entity calling himself Gargan the Wizard Warrior. As their legion of Iron Golems lay waste to the Amazarians, Gargan heads to the royal palace to confront the sickly Witch-Queen Eleyn. Capturing Eleyn, the entity known as Gargan absorbs her power into themself. Claiming the witch is theirs, Gargan rips off their mask revealing the face of Wanda Maximoff, aka the Scarlet Witch, hiding underneath.[1]

On Earth, a reality away, the Scarlet Witch wakes up from what appears to be a nightmare. This is just the most recent in a series of similar horrors and she decides that they have to be more than dreams. Wanda casts a spell to contact her old mentor, Agatha Harkness, to get her assistance on the matter. Wanda tells the old crone that the dreams are more intense then ever and this time she saw a woman who shared her face. Agatha listens to all of this and reminds Wanda that she has undergone a great deal of trauma throughout most of her life.[2] What Wanda needs to focus on is keeping a sane mind, promising to get back in touch once she has learned the source and purpose of Wanda’s dreams.

The following morning, Wanda undergoes her daily routine starting with an exercise regimen with Wonder Man. This is followed by combat training administered by US Agent. During the latter, US Agent presses her to work on concentration and not to rely on her hex powers as they are too unpredictable in combat.

Suddenly, the alarms begin going off at Avengers Compound, prompting Wanda and US Agent to go out and see what’s going on. They witness War Machine, Wonder Man, and Spider-Woman fighting off a horde of demons that have appeared on the property. Seeing the Scarlet Witch, the creatures begin making their way to her as they are easily able to shrug off the attacks from the other Avengers. Recalling how demons are vulnerable to iron, Wanda uses her hex powers to briefly transmute War Machine’s armor into pure iron which allows him to slay the monsters. As the demon’s remains are sucked back into a dimensional portal, this portal suddenly turns into a ghoulish mouth and speaks “the witch is mine!” before disappearing. Not knowing who is targeting her, Wanda finds ectoplasmic residue on the ground that will help her find out who.

Returning to her quarters, Wanda contacts Agatha Harkness again and tells her about the demon attack. Harkness agrees that this can’t be a coincidence, and since the last time they spoke she has learned that the answers they seek might be found in an private library in New England. After making arrangements to meet Agatha there, Wanda calls a meeting with the rest of the Avengers West Coast and tells them that she will be taking a leave of absence from the team. When Wonder Man expresses his concerns, Wanda assures them that she’ll be fine. However, US Agent can tell that she is lying.

Four hours later, Wanda lands her Quinjet in the middle of the New England wilderness where she meets with Agatha Harkness. They then take a car into the town of Unity, which has been abandoned for over 30 years after the fishing town ran out of resources. Unaware that they are being observed by demonic eyes, the head to the old church on the edge of town. As they go inside, Harkness tells Wanda how a priest in 1834 had began gathering a library on esoteric subjects and kept it in the church. It is rumored to be the home of the Book of Eibon, the Celeano Fragment, the Pnakotic Manuscripts, the Vermis Mysteriis. Harkness hopes they might find a copy of the Enscorielammia or the Necronomicon as both books would be helpful in their quest.

Once they reach the basement library, the pair split up to find the books that they seek. Around one corning, Wanda is surprised to find a man in a cloak pouring over a book and apologizes for interrupting him. In a gravely voice, he says it is no bother as he was waiting for her. The man then whips off his cloak revealing that he is her old foe, Master Pandemonium, who has since been transformed into a demonic form.[3]

Recurring Characters

Scarlet Witch, Agatha Harkness, Master Pandemonium, Avengers West Coast (Wonder Man, US Agent, Spider-Woman, Living Lightning, War Machine), Lore

Continuity Notes

1. As of this writing (January, 2023) this reality has been yet to be officially indexed. It is also unclear as to which reality Lore comes from.

2. Agatha Harkness mentions a number of past and present traumas that have affected Wanda’s sanity over the years:

   • First she mentions how Wanda and her brother Pietro were originally manipulated by Magneto. The pair were founding members of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants from X-Men #4-11.

   • This fact implies that Wanda is a mutant, however this is later revealed to now be the case. She was experimented upon by the High Evolutionary who covered up his work by making it so Wanda and her brother always registered as mutants if their DNA was ever checked. See Uncanny Avengers (vol. 2) #4-5.

   • More recently, Wanda had her marriage end when the Vision was tampered with by the government, leaving him an emotionless husk of his former self. Not long after that, Wanda’s children were wiped from existence at the hands of Master Pandemonium. See West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #43-45 and Avengers West Coast #51-52. Although her children were seemingly destroyed, as explained in Avengers: The Children’s Crusade #6, they will be reincarnated into new lives. They’ll turn up again in Young Avengers #1.

   • After that, she was manipulated by both Magneto and Immortus, the latter of which was trying to exploit her powers as a Nexus Being. See Avengers West Coast #56-57 and 60-62.

3. How Master Pandemonium survived his last encounter with the Scarlet Witch and how he was transformed into this new demonic form is all explained in Scarlet Witch #3.