coveted magics, final
Honestly, Peter didn’t even know what to make of this situation anymore, beyond the fact that his Spidey-Senses were going absolutely fucking haywire. Just a moment ago, he’d been successfully talking Harry down from becoming a murderer - his mind cast back to his very first training session with Harley, when he explained how important it was to stop one another from taking lives. The next thing he knew, Billy was screaming and Agatha’s body exploded in an eruption of what he could only assume was literal actual hellfire. As much as his essentially precognitive abilities warned him in time, Harry still grabbed him and flew him to safety.
“Holy shit,” Peter exclaimed as the explosive shockwave ripped him out of Harry’s grip, and he rolled to a stand right next to Billy and Gwen - who was the last to be freed from the scarily powerful bindings.
“What was that?” Billy asked shakily, looking to Peter for answers even though he didn’t have any.
Harry cursed, and re-shrouded himself in a powerful cloak of dark magical energy. “Mother dearest made a deal with Mephisto, which was fucking stupid of her, but still a big problem for-”
Peter’s danger sense loosed a warning pulse across his body as a dark, roaring ball of magical energy burst from the flames, headed straight for Billy. Without even daring to slow himself down by thinking, Peter threw himself in front of his little brother. The magical flames struck him in the back, a burning pain searing all over him. Peter could feel part of his suit melting away as he screamed, but at least Billy was unharmed.
“PETER!” Billy yelled frantically, as Harry erected a magical barrier between the source of the bolt and everyone else.
Pain or not, Peter couldn’t let himself crumple now. Instead, he stood back up, still facing Billy. “You know I’m not gonna let anything hurt you.”
A few metres down the bridge, Peter saw Kamala leap into action, jumping towards the flames with a shield of hardened light in front of her. “I’ll hold her off for a bit! Witchboy, I think everyone needs to know what you know about this!”
Harry nodded, turning to face the group while the combination of Kamala’s powers and his own shield protected them - most likely temporarily. “Okay, here’s what I know. Far as I can tell, she’s made a deal with Mephisto - which means not only is she stronger, but a whole bunch of Mephisto’s lesser demons are probably about to show up. This fight just got a hell of a lot bigger.”
“Fucking hell,” Riri cursed, flying down to the ground. Peter could hear Kamala’s shields shattering and reforming almost non-stop, which meant they all needed a plan fast before she tired out. “Okay, y’all. Witchboy, can you still deal with her?”
“I think so,” Harry nodded again, resolute. “Either she’s not as strong as I thought, or I’m stonger. I’ll handle Agatha, you guys split up and protect the city.”
“Got it,” Riri continued as soon as Harry was finished. She turned to face Billy, Teddy and Tommy, all three of whom looked at minimum startled. “We’re pairing off to watch each other’s backs. You three are gonna have to pitch in, I don’t see any safer way around it. Spidey, stick with your kid brother. Speedsters, you two get ready to scout out exactly where danger crops up if these demons do appear. Iron Lad and I will take to the skies. Green kid, I hear you’re used to how Ms Marvel fights, so follow her lead.”
Just as Riri finished speaking, a loud explosion went off where Kamala was fending off a flaming, cackling, powerful witch who had apparently survived Harry’s earlier onslaught. Peter dared to turn, in time to see Agatha throw her hands up into the air in victory as Kamala was sent tumbling across the bridge, crashing into where Tommy was still restrained by Agatha’s earlier magic.
Agatha herself looked… different. As she threw her hands up into the air, a flaming crown adorned her head with her wild hair flowing outward in near every direction. Where her clothing was torn over her abdomen from Harry’s attack, there was no open wound or gash of any kind - the injury had sealed over, but looked badly burned. If it was causing Agatha any pain, she showed no sign of it whatsoever. Orbs of hellfire spun all around her body, and Peter knew those weren’t just for show.
“Ms Marvel, you okay?” Peter called out, stepping into a more mobile stance that Nat had taught him once, which left him ready to move in any direction at a moment’s notice.
“Ugh, yep,” Kamala managed, pulling herself back up to her feet. Peter seriously wondered if she had some kind of durability power in addition to her light-based abilities, but that was a matter to investigate later. “So, what’s the-“
Each and every one of those hellfire orbs shot away from Agatha, lancing through the sky and across the city in every direction. Peter could see one of them land on the street at the MIT end of the bridge. Where it collided with the ground, a pentagram-shaped pillar of flame launched upwards, and a swarm of demons flew out from the centre.
“Oh, that’s not good,” said Kamala and Harley in unison.
“Jinx,” went Kamala, who really did have the ability to inject humour and light-heartedness even in the most dire of situations - something Peter used to be way better at before all he’d been through. “So, what’s the plan?”
“Ms Marvel, you’re with the green kid. Everyone SPLIT!” Riri shouted, and took off into the sky. She and Harley sped off towards the closest demon portal while Billy undid the magical binding holding Tommy back.
It was almost no surprise to Peter that Gwen had to physically hold Tommy back the moment he broke loose, because the kid’s first move was to try and charge Agatha again. “I’LL KILL THAT BITCH!”
“SAVE THE CITY FIRST,” Gwen yelled back, and dragged Tommy away down the other end of the bridge.
Harry surged towards Agatha, and Peter immediately heard another explosion as the two witches collided. Trying to keep his composure as best he could, Peter turned his focus back to Billy. “Ready to go kick some ass, dude?”
Billy’s only response was to chuckle nervously, and follow as Peter ran in the direction of Boston’s inner city district.
Harry stared straight ahead at his mother, fury coursing through his veins after seeing what she’d done. Mephisto was one of the most powerful trans-dimensional demons around, but just like Chthon, the only influence Mephisto had on the mortal domain under normal circumstances was enough to make deals with mortals. By actually making a deal, Agatha had let Mephisto’s demons in, and that was bad. It was also fucking careless, because now it meant Agatha was doomed into Mephisto’s servitude for all eternity. She might be a murderous bitch, but she was still Harry’s mother and he had been riding on the notion that once Agatha was dead, she would simply be dead and no more. She would have peace, and so would he.
But that wasn’t going to happen anymore. And now it fell on Harry to stop her, or at least hold her back for however long it took for Wanda to return. Things would be far simpler if he could just open a portal to her and bring her here straight away, but he didn’t know where she was. Now, he had to hope that the difference in power from before hadn’t been completely closed. At the very least, he was grateful that this burst of power Agatha had released hadn’t sent him right back into a trauma-fuelled shutdown.
“You actual fucking lunatic!” Harry screamed at Agatha, flying towards her with a fist outstretched, shrouded in magical power. Once he was close enough, Harry punched out and released all of that energy in her direction.
Agatha responded by raking her hand upward, a wall of hellfire thwarting enough of Harry’s magical power that she only skidded back about a half-metre. “What? Can’t a woman want some power?”
“You had power!” Harry yelled, punching at her again and again and again, pushing her back and away from where Kamala was still recovering. “You had power without any damn strings, and now you’ve doomed your fucking soul. You really think that’s worth it?”
Agatha rolled her eyes, and shoved her hands forward. Without time to think or even check if all the others were out of the way, Harry blurted out a single-word incantation for a cutting spell, sufficient enough to split the incoming wave of hellfire in half, sending each careening off to either side of the bridge. “You really are far more that fool’s child than my own. Listen, boy, power is always worth it. And if I can’t take yours, I’ll just have to kill you. That way, nobody gets what you’ve been blessed with!”
Harry stepped back, raising his hands defensively. Each and every finger of his was infused with magical power, ready to weave into whatever form Harry needed to survive. “I’d like to see you try!”
“Hmph,” Agatha huffed, and flew right up into the air. Harry could see the way she was conjuring power - not her own, but that of Mephisto’s dimension - and launched into the sky to stop her before she could do too much damage. As he flew, he ran through his options mentally as fast as he could. If he could somehow get control runes up around the bridge and confine Agatha here, it would prevent her from using all of her power - but it would take too long, and Agatha was way too experienced to fall for something like that.
None of the other more complex spells in his arsenal, still limited by inexperience, would do the trick. It was just going to have to be a contest of raw power. And… well, Harry had power in spades, even more than he’d thought before today. Ever since the day Wundagore fell and remnants of Chthonic energy on the mortal plane sought Harry out, he had more power than he’d known what to do with. And now? Now that power had purpose. He had to stop his mother, for good.
Kamala had seen those demonic flames fly across the city, and she’d seen what they were capable of doing. She had her instructions from Riri, and they were vague enough that they could be directed by her instincts. She had to protect Roxbury. Having been paired off with Teddy, maybe she could even get there in time to stop anybody from being hurt. “Teddy, can you fly us south?”
Teddy sprouted his wings once more, and grabbed Kamala around the waist before taking off. “I don’t even know what the fuck is going on anymore, but this seems bad. Are there even enough of us to deal with this?”
Kamala shuddered, but tried to still her movements so that Teddy didn’t accidentally drop her. She’d had one experience of falling out of the sky, and that was more than enough. “Honestly, I’m not sure. But we have to do as much as we can, and hope that some other heroes from outside the city take notice and get here fast enough. So, uh… what do I call you when you’re doing hero stuff with us?”
For several seconds, Teddy just flapped his wings and kept on flying. Then, quietly, he answered. “…Hulkling.”
“Hey, that’s so cool!” Kamala cheered him on. She honestly wasn’t sure why he’d feel embarassed by that. Both the original Hulk and She-Hulk were incredibly cool in Kamala’s eyes, so someone taking on a name based off them was… well, it was a good choice. “Alright, Hulkling, see that portal by the mosque down there? Let’s go kick some demon ass!”
Teddy flew both of them down towards the mosque, just in time for a bunch of red, rough looking impish demons to begin flying out of the flaming portal in the ground. And then, just as the two of them landed, a literal blue five-point star smashed itself into existence right next to them, and a Latina girl about Kamala’s height with a cool blue jean jacket leapt right through it.
“WOAH!” Kamala shouted, and then her brain started working. She knew about this star-portal thing from the files that Fury had ‘given’ her. This was one of the people that Fury and his organisation had their eye on, who Kamala had intended to approach to invite onto her team. This was America Chavez. “Not that the help isn’t welcome, but what are you doing here?”
America turned to face her, looking like she didn’t expect to encounter two other superpowered teenagers here. “Oh, you’re… Ms Marvel, right? I met one of you in another universe!”
“You met-“ Kamala started, and then was promptly interrupted by a demon leaping at her face. With quick reflexes, Kamala punched at it, summoning up a fist of light around her arm as she struck, connecting with the demon and knocking it half-way down the street. “Another version of me?”
“Mhm!” America confirmed, stepping into a fighting stance. “Anyway, what the hell is going on here? The floating head of some Asgardian kid who’s apparently also part of Harry’s coven literally appeared in front of me at the Sanctum half a minute ago and said Boston needs my help!”
“An evil witch summoned a whole bunch of demons and we need to stop them,” Teddy supplied quickly. “Hi, anyway, I’m Hulkling.”
America nodded approvingly. “Hulking, very cool. Haven’t met one of you before, but I’ve heard the name! So, ready to kick some demon ass?”
“Hey, that’s what I said!” Kamala exclaimed, slapping away three more demons with a hard-light open palm when they tried to get near. “After this fight is over I wanna talk to you about joining my hero team, by the way!”
America turned to face the other way, and used one of her magical star-punches to practically tear another demon in half. “Sounds like fun!”
Harley threw his baton at yet another flying demon, hitting a button on his suit to trigger an energy pulse as soon as it struck its target, before recalling it back into his hand. “When will this bullshit end?”
“Who knows, dude,” Riri commiserated, firing blast after blast from her repulsors and striking several more demons out of the sky. “If we can hold them off long enough for Wanda and Daisy to get back, that should be enough. Plus, they seem to like swarming us up here, so if we keep drawing their attention we can keep civillian harm to a minimum.”
“Sounds good,” Harley agreed, and shot a repulsor blast from his left hand at yet another demon. These demons looked like the red imps from Harley’s fantasy video games he’d played on his laptop growing up, and they were not nearly as weak. Every time he struck them down, they just got back up again. One had gotten close enough to get a swipe on his suit earlier, and had melted a millimeter into the armour’s surface. “But damn, it’d be nice to get some backup.”
Harley spent another minute frantically attacking as many demons as he could, wishing that he’d completed that old energy sword design without it being a total power sink, because something like that seemed like it’d be far more effective in a situation like this.
“Might I offer some assistance?” came the voice of Harley’s AI, Darlene. An aspect of his HUD changed, showing a display akin to a heat map projected over each of the demons. “The physiology of these creatures is unfamiliar to my databases. However, it does appear that they are suffering increasing internal damage from your strikes. This display should show you the damage accrued, and I will continue to scan for and identify weak points and advised patterns of attack.”
“Thanks, Darlene,” Harley responded, shooting another demon out of the sky only for it to soar back up a few seconds later. “Hey, can you transmit that data to Riri as well?”
“On it, boss,” Darlene confirmed.
Just then, a cylinder of rainbow light blasted down from the clouds above. As quickly as it had appeared, the light disappeared, and a woman dressed in a fluffy black overcoat started falling out of the sky, and screaming.
“SHIT, SHIT, SHIT OKAY I’VE GOT THIS I’VE GOT THIS!” The woman screamed, and after a few seconds of falling, she shrouded herself in the exact same kind of dark magical energy that Harry used. Another second later, she stabilised herself and flew back up towards Harley and Riri. “Holy shit, are those actual demons?”
“They sure are,” Harley answered. And then, “sorry, but who exactly are you?”
“Oh, um, I’m Dr Darcy Lewis,” the woman answered a little awkwardly. Some hair that wasn’t trapped by her light grey beanie flew into her mouth. “Pweh, gross. Anyway, some Asgardian kid named Axl said I needed to get to Boston ahead of schedule and to go outside, and then opened up an Einstein-Rosen bridge to pull me here. Would’ve been nice if they’d not dropped me in the middle of the sky!”
“So are you a witch or something, Doctor Lewis?” Riri asked, shooting at two angry demons that had almost gotten close enough to claw off this new arrival’s legs. “Because we could really use a hand here!”
“A wit-“ she started, and then stopped just in time to hurl a bolt of magic at one of the demons that had gotten behind Riri. Even from the way she threw her arm forward, Harley could tell that this woman had next to no combat experience. “I don’t think I’m a witch? Anyway, call me Darcy. Doctor Lewis is way too formal. So, uh, I don’t really know how to fight, but I do know this fancy spell that might send these little shits back where they came from?”
Harley flew past Darcy and whacked a demon in the torso with both of his batons at once, sending it careening into a group of other demons and slowing their advances. “You can send them back? Well, what are you waiting for?”
For a moment, Darcy’s magic faltered, and she started falling again. Harley watched for a moment to see if he was going to have to go and rescue her, but she recovered herself and ascended back to where he and Riri were flying once more. “I just… need to remember one of the steps. I’m not one of you fancy hero types! Seriously, I’m just trying to secure some tenure. Aaanyway, so I have a PhD in Einstein-Rosen bridge behaviour and I also read some of those fancy magic books at Doctor Strange’s place, and I’m pretty sure these inter-dimensional portals work in a similar way. Soooo if you two can cover me, I might just be able to close these portals one by one. So, what do you guys say?”
Riri and Harley shared a glance through their visors. Harley nodded. “Seems like the best shot we have right now.”
“Woo!” Darcy cheered, flying a little unsteadily out of the way of the swarming demons. “Go team!”
“Listen to me, Tommy!” Gwen practically begged as she dragged Tommy with them, running to the outskirts of the city to find the furthest hellfire portal they’d seen.
“Why? Why won’t you let me kill that bitch?” Tommy demanded, squirming as best he could to break free - but it wasn’t working out for him, because even if Tommy was able to run a little faster than Gwen, she was a lot stronger than him. “SHE KILLED MY PARENTS!”
“I know, and trust me, Harry will get revenge for you,” Gwen hissed. “This resentment you’ve feel? Harry’s had that building up towards her for years! Tommy, do you wanna get back at Agatha in a way that won’t get you killed?”
Feeling like there was no way of getting through to Tommy properly now without stopping and showing him some trust, Gwen ran up the side of a building, stopped on the roof and let him go. Tommy stared at them, eyes wild. “How? How else can I… She- I hate her!”
“I know,” said Gwen, placing a hand on his shoulder. “I get it. Answer me this, Tommy, have I ever not been straight with you?”
The fact that he didn’t even grin at the opportunity to make a gay joke showed Gwen just how roiled up he was. “…no.”
“So, here’s what we’re gonna do. We’re gonna protect as many people in this city as we can. I want you to let all this anger out on those demons, and I’m gonna focus on clearing people out of harm’s way while we fight,” Gwen said, looking Tommy right in the eye. “We’re probably the two fastest people on the planet, and right now? Right now it’s time to show the world what we can do. Understand?”
Slowly, he nodded. “Should I… should I help get people out of the way too?”
“Nah,” Gwen shook their head. “It’s actually kind of hard to not injure people you’re trying to protect without training when you’re going really fast. You focus on the fighting, and remember, I have your back.”
Before either of them could surge into the fray, a blast of multicoloured light shot down out of the sky, striking the roof right next to where Gwen and Tommy were standing. The force of it kicked up a cloud of dust that took a moment to clear, revealling a skinny, dark-skinned teenager with golden eyes and a rather fancy pair of daggers sheathed on their waist. Quickly, Gwen sized them up. They knew this kid - they matched the description of one of Harry’s coven members.
“You must be Axl,” Gwen greeted them. “Here to lend us a hand?”
Axl nodded. “I brought most of the coven after I saw the danger befalling this city. Not the last one. She… she scares me. There is something off about that woman. You are… Zapdash. I came to you because of how fast you are - we must work together.”
“Sounds like you have a plan of some kind,” Gwen acknowledged. She glanced towards Tommy, seeing that he was clearly restless and in need of the opportunity to let loose, but he was also looking to her for guidance, and the green light to go. “What do you need?”
With their finger, Axl drew an unfamiliar looking rune that glowed gold in the air. “Like my father before me, in order to harness full control over the Bifrost, I have studied the magic of Asgardian witches. Though I have not mastered it yet, I have the ability to close these portals to Mephisto’s realm. I would ask you to bring me to each portal one by one, that I may close them while you protect me. Can you do this?”
“What do you reckon, Tommy,” Gwen asked, turning to face the kid that was becoming like a little brother to them. They really were starting to understand the bond that Peter and Billy had formed so quickly. “Ready to kick some ass and save this city?”
Tommy gave a firm nod, and Gwen tilted their head in the direction of the first portal, which was down on the road right next to a gas station below. With that being permission enough, Tommy took off, blitzing past demons and striking each of them down with the fury of a child who’d seen his parents murdered right in front of him.
“Want a ride?” Gwen asked Axl.
“Please,” Axl then requested. Gwen grabbed them, and sprinted down the side of the building to the road below.
It was kind of funny to Peter, how he’d found himself back at the Boston Common park. He remembered the last time he was here, facing down against Mac Gargan, who had rebranded himself as ‘The Scorpion’. That evening had been so much less dire than today; Peter was pretty sure that this day would go down in Boston History as the time that Boston got attacked by demons from Hell on Christmas. But right now, it wasn’t history that mattered - it was keeping everyone safe in the here and now.
The park was only a few blocks away from one of the city’s fire stations, which explained why the fire department already had people here clearing away civillians and relentlessly working to put out fires started by the swarm of demons spilling out of that portal in the duck pond. Well, it wasn’t much of a pond now that all of the water had turned to steam. But with Billy by his side, Peter knew he could get this under control. Not just because Billy was pretty damn decent with his innate magical abilities, but because having Billy there to protect made Peter that much more ruthless.
One of the larger demons had tried to sneak up behind Peter and land a surprise attack, but his danger sense alerted him quickly to the threat. Peter turned, pivoting on the ball of his left foot, and swung a full-force kick that tore open part of the demons abdomen as it was sent flying all the way onto the nearby street.
“Holy shit,” Billy exclaimed as he latched onto a demon with his magic and hurled it down into the ground. “I don’t think I ever realised that you were that strong.”
“Hah,” Peter chuckled. “I give Harley a crisis every time I use the Super Soldier Trainer to get a workout. You doing okay there?”
“Yup!” Billy answered surprisingly cheerfully given the situation at hand, and how shaken up he’d been before. “Honestly I’m starting to get the hang of this. But… how are we going to close that portal? These demons just keep coming!”
As though the others could hear the question from far away, despite the fact that Billy didn’t have a comms setup, Peter heard Gwen’s voice come to life on the comms line. “Got an Asgardian here who says they can close the portals, so we’ll be making our way around the city to deal with all of them. We’re gonna prioritise all the locations you guys aren’t at for now, so hold down the fort as best you can.”
“Oh yeah, we got someone like that too,” Riri added in. “Some scientist with magic who says she can close them too. Also, is anybody seeing what I’m seeing up above?”
Peter looked up, and saw a literal spaceship descending from the sky right near the park. This was so not the time to deal with alien attackers, so Peter could only hope that whoever was in that thing was a friendly. Just as he was hurling one demon into a crowd of its hellish allies, a hatch at the bottom of the ship opened and a darkly dressed figure dropped out from it. Peter couldn’t tell anything about who or what that figure was, because they were covered in a concealing outfit from head to toe.
The figure landed about twenty metres from Peter and Harley, some kind of gravity-manipulating boots slowing their landing right at the very end. And then they landed in this familiar looking pose, torso low to the ground, one hand down to stabilise and the other hand stretched out to the side. Peter had lost count of the number of times he’d seen Nat land like that, but… no, Nat was dead. He’d already mourned the loss of her; he’d sat shiva for Mr. Stark and Nat at the same time. Maybe there was just some actual merit to the posture that Nat never cared to divulge.
When the figure came running towards the fight, Peter instinctively stepped between Billy and the new arrival, ready to defend him from them if they showed even a single sign of aggression. But then the figure unsheathed a pair of daggers, and stabbed a demon right in the neck.
“Keep fighting, I’ve got your six!” The figure declared, voice distorted by whatever sort of helmet they were wearing. And… even still, it all just felt familiar. Leaving that as a problem for later, Peter turned his attention back to the fight.
Almost a minute later, the figure ripped their helmet off mid-fight and smashed a demon over the head with it, and Peter could not believe what, or who he was seeing. Apparently, he needed to trust his instincts more.
“Nat?” Peter called out. “Nat, is that you?”
“Good to see you again, kid,” responded the very much alive Natasha Romanoff.
“You really have no heart, attacking your mother dearest like this,” Agatha taunted Harry, and he bit his lip to stop himself from absolutely snapping.
Instead, Harry wove two runes of magical enhancement into existence, sending them into the path between him and his mother, before firing two magical bolts set to pass right through the runes. When they did, they doubled in size and speed. The resultant power was enough to force Agatha back onto the defensive, and Harry knew he needed to make the absolute most of the opportunity.
He and Agatha had been fighting toe to toe for the last ten minutes, their power almost perfectly matched. Well, it wasn’t their power that was matched, but rather their capabilities. While Harry was both surprised and excited to know that his raw power exceeded that of his mother’s even after her deal with Mephisto, her experience meant that she could more than keep up. If Wanda were here, things would be fine. But she wasn’t, which meant Harry had to find a way to win this - because he truly wasn’t sure he could hold out long enough until the Scarlet Witch returned.
He had to put a stop to the Witch-Hunting Witch once and for all. Harry called to mind all of his training with his new team - but especially with Peter, who had helped him learn how to use his magic efficiently. Thinking back to that training, Harry dropped half of the power he was putting into his flight, and redirected it to his feet. With enough power to just stop him from falling, Harry was able to send small blasts out of his feet for movement instead. Simply put, he was running through the air and it was way faster. Not only that, but he could now direct more of his attention to the offensive.
Just like before Agatha had actioned her contract with Mephisto, Harry summoned up a magical dagger of pure Chthonic energy in his hand, pouring as much power into it as he could. He leapt side to side, evading Agatha’s hellfire blasts and closing the gap as quickly as he could, and then he stabbed.
Agatha brought up a hand to erect a miniature magical shield. The dagger cut straight through it, slicing right into her hand. Knowing he’d feel guilty for it later, Harry smiled just a bit when his mother screamed in pain. Having learned a trick or two from Harley’s close weapons combat skills, Harry then dropped the dagger from his right hand, catching it with his left and plowing it right into Agatha’s abdomen.
“No mercy for you this time,” Harry hissed as hot blood spilled onto his fingers. He could feel his fingertips burning, from the hellish blood, but that was a problem for later.
“Good,” Agatha hissed right back, a gleeful smile on her face. “If you’re to inherit my legacy, I can’t let you run around having mercy!”
Harry drove the dagger in deeper. “I’ll never follow in your steps.”
Another lesson Harry had learned in his recent training was from Daisy. When she was getting serious, she never just depended on either her hand to hand skills or her Inhuman abilities - she mixed it up, often when her opponent least expected it. While Harry wasn’t about to start fistfighting such a powerful witch, the lesson of mixing things up was one he could use here. With all that hot blood spilling, and both of Agatha’s hands free, Harry was vulnerable up close like this - and he couldn’t let things stay that way.
Instead, Harry closed his eyes for just a moment, and muttered a quick conversion incantation. As the words flowed from his lips, the shadowy dagger melted into raw magical energy and then exploded outwards, blasting Agatha through the sky before she could strike back at him. Naturally, Harry leapt after her. Especially after the trick she’d pulled the first time in this encounter, there was no way Harry would let his guard down until she was either unconscious or dead.
“Please don’t let her make you into a killer!”
Peter’s words rang through Harry’s mind once more. It just wasn’t that simple anymore. Agatha had proven that if she was given even a single chance, she would find a way to cause more harm. Harry still didn’t want to kill her, but if he couldn’t incapacitate her long enough to bind her magic, it was the only other real choice. Kicking through the air with magical propulsions yet again, Harry chased after his mother as she hurtled over the Charles River.
He caught up with her just as she was managing to regain her balance in the air, careful to avoid the trail of flaming blood that followed her path. Harry couldn’t calculate trajectories like Riri could, or he’d have shot her out of the sky while she was still defenseless - but what he could do in a similar manner as Riri was be patient. Patient enough to not strike too soon, prepared enough to not strike too late.
In the same moment that Agatha was reorienting herself upright, Harry lashed out with a whip of Chthonic energy, coiling it around her legs and pulling. With his free left hand, Harry mustered up a glove of the same magical power and slammed it into the weak, wounded region of Agatha’s abdomen. The blood that she coughed up reached Harry’s chin, and his mind was vaguely aware of how it painfully burned the open skin. It just didn’t matter.
Looking upon his mother’s face once more, Harry felt a wave of solemn emotions fall over him. This was his duty to see through, and it was his trauma to heal from. This woman had abused him through his childhood. She refused to properly teach him any magic, and yet called him a failure when he couldn’t cast spells to her standards. She beat him, called him names, and gave him none of the love a parent should provide. He’d always sought solace in his father, his uncle Greenie, and in his friendship with Peter, until the moment Agatha had left. Harry had always felt rage for the way it had uprooted his life, but just like his father, he’d also felt free.
And now it was time to gain that freedom once more.
“Agatha Harkness, on behalf of all of the witches, mortals and other beings you have tortured and slain, I sentence you to death,” Harry declared, and projected a beam of raw cutting magical energy through her almost limp body.
“Good,” Agatha croaked with the last of her strength. “This is how… I should go.”
Her eyes closed, and the last of the breath in her lungs left her lips. For a moment, she looked so peaceful. She looked harmless and ordinary enough that she could have truly been somebody’s mother. She could have been kind, caring and compassionate. She could have been someone other than Agatha Harkness.
Harry’s magical spear retracted, and Agatha’s body began to fall. He didn’t even bother leaping after her to catch her, because Harry knew what came next. Another magical pentagram formed below her, from which a hellfire portal opened up and swallowed her body whole.