Meanwhile, aboard the Plumbers Workshop's flagship, the massive orbital station that served as the Plumbers' primary headquarters in Earth's space, Charmcaster stood alone in the training facility with her thoughts spiraling into increasingly chaotic territory.
"How did he know my name was Hope?" The question emerged as a breathless whisper, her hand pressed against her chest as if she could physically slow her racing heartbeat through sheer force of will.
Her cheeks burned with a flush that had nothing to do with magical exertion and everything to do with implications she was desperately trying not to examine too closely.
She'd never told Ben her name. Not once during their training sessions had she mentioned what the mutants called her. The name "Hope" had been bestowed by Cable's team when she was still playing the role of helpless infant, a label meaning "salvation" and "future" that carried the weight of an entire species' desperate dreams.
But it had just been coincidence, hadn't it? A common enough word that anyone might use?
"Could it be..." Charmcaster's imagination immediately supplied a far more dramatic explanation, one that made her pulse quicken and her thoughts scatter like startled birds. "Has he been secretly watching me this whole time? Learning about me? Paying attention?"
The narcissistic part of her personality, which admittedly made up a significant portion of her self-image, seized on this possibility with enthusiasm. "He definitely likes me! That has to be it!"
She conjured a mirror with a casual gesture, needing to see her own reflection to ground herself in reality. The polished surface showed a young woman with striking features and intense eyes, someone who could command attention in any room.
"No wonder," she told her reflection with growing confidence. "I'm simply too attractive. Men can't help but notice me. It's basically a curse of beauty."
Her expression shifted, becoming more calculating as she addressed the mirror as if it were Ben himself. "But I won't make things easy for you! I'm not some simpering maiden who swoons at the first sign of male attention!"
She straightened her posture, lifting her chin with theatrical pride. "I am Charmcaster, a ruthless and powerful sorceress whose only goal is defeating you and claiming the title of Lord of Mana! Once I accomplish that, you'll be completely useless to me!"
The declaration rang hollow even to her own ears, but she pressed forward with her fantasy.
"However..." Her voice softened slightly, betraying the complicated emotions churning beneath her fierce exterior. "Considering that you've devoted so much time to teaching me magic, and helped me work toward controlling the Phoenix Force's residual power, I suppose I could be generous."
She paused dramatically, as if Ben were actually present to hear her magnanimous offer. "I'll reluctantly allow you to continue serving me. As a reward for your efforts, of course. Nothing more."
The witch lost herself in elaborate fantasies of what that "service" might entail. Ben kneeling before her throne of power, acknowledging her superiority. Ben brewing her tea and organizing her spell components. Ben washing her feet every evening like she'd originally planned, except now he'd do it willingly out of devotion rather than as punishment.
The images grew increasingly detailed and, if she was being honest with herself, increasingly domestic rather than domineering.
"Someone seems to still be half asleep," a slightly mocking voice cut through her daydreams like a knife through silk, "talking nonsense in broad daylight?"
Charmcaster's fantasy shattered instantly. She jerked her head up, searching for the source of the interruption, and her eyes landed on a vision of feminine grace approaching through the training facility's entrance.
The newcomer possessed long, slightly wavy white hair that caught the light with each movement, creating an almost luminous effect. Her white dress flowed elegantly around her form, the cut expensive and tasteful without being ostentatious. Every aspect of her presentation spoke of confidence, wealth, and careful cultivation of appearance.
So beautiful, Charmcaster thought involuntarily, a pang of inadequacy striking her chest.
The woman was no less attractive than Charmcaster herself, perhaps even more so due to the obvious care she'd taken with her appearance. Meanwhile, Charmcaster had been running around in the same practical robes for days, her hair barely brushed, her entire aesthetic screaming "medieval hermit witch who lives in a tower and talks to ravens."
She'd never particularly cared about fashion or presentation before. Power had always seemed more important than prettiness. But standing in front of this effortlessly elegant woman, Charmcaster suddenly felt shabby and unkempt.
Worse, the tone carried clear mockery, as if she'd caught Charmcaster doing something embarrassing. Which, technically, she had.
"Who are you?" Charmcaster demanded, forcing aggression into her voice to mask her discomfort.
"You can call me Felicia." The introduction came with a smile that didn't quite reach the woman's calculating eyes. "Felicia Hardy."
"Never heard of you!" Charmcaster shot back, though the denial felt petty even as she said it.
"That's perfectly fine." Felicia's smile widened slightly, gaining an edge that made Charmcaster's instincts scream danger. "You don't need to know much about me. Just understand that I'm Ben's girlfriend."
The words hit Charmcaster like a physical blow. Her fantasy castle, so carefully constructed over the past few minutes, collapsed into rubble around her feet.
Girlfriend. Ben had a girlfriend. An established relationship with this beautiful, elegant, obviously wealthy woman who probably never talked to mirrors or plotted elaborate revenge schemes involving foot massages.
The sense of betrayal was immediate and overwhelming, despite having no rational basis whatsoever.
That absolute bastard! Charmcaster's internal voice screamed with indignation. He had a girlfriend this entire time and never mentioned it! Not once! Not even a casual 'oh by the way, I'm in a committed relationship'!
Fraud! Scammer! Manipulative piece of—
Ben Parker, blissfully unaware of being mentally prosecuted for crimes he didn't know he'd committed, would have been very confused by these accusations. He'd done nothing to encourage romantic interest. He'd barely interacted with Charmcaster outside of training. He hadn't even known her real name until five minutes ago.
But Charmcaster's mind had already reached its verdict: guilty on all counts.
She cursed him silently, elaborate scenarios of revenge playing out in her imagination. She'd defeat him, force him to his knees, drag him back to her dimension and make him her—
Wait, where was he anyway?
The more she thought about Ben's deception, the angrier she became. Fury built in her chest like gathering storm clouds, and she needed an outlet before she exploded.
"Where is he?!" The demand came out sharper than intended, her voice carrying genuine heat.
"Oh, Ben's over there." Felicia's expression shifted into something that looked suspiciously like barely suppressed laughter, as if she knew something amusing that Charmcaster didn't.
The woman who claimed to be Ben's girlfriend seemed to find the entire situation entertaining rather than threatening. That should have been Charmcaster's first warning that something wasn't adding up.
"Come on, I'll show you." Felicia turned and began walking deeper into the flagship's interior, clearly expecting Charmcaster to follow.
Charmcaster hesitated for exactly half a second before her curiosity and anger overrode caution. She stalked after Felicia, her mind already preparing a speech about two-timing scoundrels and the consequences of playing with people's feelings.
Felicia led her through gleaming corridors and past advanced technology that Charmcaster barely registered in her current state. Finally, they reached a section that appeared more luxurious than utilitarian, private quarters rather than public facilities.
Felicia stopped outside an ornate door, her smile gaining a distinctly mischievous quality. "Ben's in his private bathroom. He usually relaxes there after intense training sessions."
She pushed the door open without knocking, and Charmcaster found herself staring into what could only be described as an elaborate hot spring chamber. Steam rose from mineral-rich water that filled a pool large enough to accommodate a dozen people comfortably. The space had been designed for luxury and comfort, with smooth stone walls and careful lighting that created an atmosphere of serene relaxation.
Two figures occupied the hot spring, and Charmcaster's brain immediately short-circuited.
Looma Red Wind stretched languorously, all four of her Tetramand arms raised high in a display of satisfied exhaustion. The motion emphasized her alien physiology in ways that made Charmcaster's eyes go wide and her thoughts scatter like dandelion seeds in hurricane-force winds.
The princess was enormous, muscles defined with the sculptural precision of a Renaissance statue depicting divine warriors. Everything about her was larger than life, including features that made Charmcaster temporarily forget how to process visual information.
"Mmm, as expected, a good soak after intense combat is the most satisfying thing in the universe!" Looma's voice rumbled with contentment.
She rolled her shoulders, working out lingering tension with the practiced ease of a professional athlete. "I've fought countless battles across dozens of worlds, but fighting Ben remains the most exhilarating experience I've ever had."
Her tone suggested she wasn't entirely talking about martial combat, though that interpretation went completely over Charmcaster's head at the moment.
"It's pure," Looma continued, seemingly unaware of her audience. "No divine power, no legendary weapons, no cheap tricks. Just strength against strength, skill against skill, trying to achieve victory through perfect technique and overwhelming force."
"Wait, hold on." Charmcaster's voice came out strangled as her brain finally rebooted enough to form words. She grabbed Felicia's arm and pulled her back toward the doorway, lowering her voice to a harsh whisper.
"You said Ben was your boyfriend! So what's with that?!" She gestured frantically toward the hot spring where Looma and Ben were clearly very comfortable with each other's presence.
Despite the situation being obvious evidence of infidelity, despite witnessing what should have been a relationship-ending betrayal, Charmcaster found herself feeling sorry for Felicia. Learning your boyfriend was cheating had to be devastating. Watching it happen in real-time seemed downright cruel.
But to everyone's surprise, Felicia's expression remained perfectly calm. If anything, she looked amused by Charmcaster's distress.
"Her?" Felicia glanced back at Looma with the casual indifference of someone discussing the weather. "That's Looma Red Wind, Princess of the Tetramand Empire and Ben's fiancée. Though she's the one who calls it that. I'll definitely be the one to actually get married first."
The statement was delivered with such matter-of-fact confidence that it took Charmcaster several seconds to process the actual content.
Charmcaster's mouth opened. Closed. Opened again without producing sound. Her brain attempted to parse the sentence structure and failed completely.
"I'm sorry," she finally managed, "are you speaking English? Or did I accidentally hear the whispers of ancient cosmic horrors and my mind is now irreparably corrupted?"
"What part confused you?" Felicia asked with genuine curiosity.
"You just said..." Charmcaster gestured helplessly, searching for words adequate to express her bewilderment. "You said you're his girlfriend!"
"Yes." Felicia nodded calmly, as if confirming something completely obvious. "I am Ben's girlfriend."
"And she's his fiancée?!"
"That's correct."
"And you're okay with this?!"
Felicia blinked, genuinely puzzled by Charmcaster's distress. "Why wouldn't I be? A girlfriend is a girlfriend, and a fiancée is a fiancée. They're not the same thing. It's like..." She paused, searching for an appropriate metaphor. "A baby is a baby, and a child is a child. Different stages, different relationships, all coexisting peacefully."
The explanation made absolutely no sense whatsoever, but Felicia delivered it with such serene confidence that Charmcaster wondered if she was the one missing something fundamental about how relationships worked.
Her entire worldview, already shaky after recent revelations, crumbled into dust.
Before she could formulate a response to this insanity, Looma noticed them standing in the doorway. The Tetramand princess waved enthusiastically, water sloshing with the motion.
"Felicia! Do you want to join us? The water temperature is perfect!" Then her expression grew slightly sheepish. "Though I should warn you, I had quite the workout today and I'm fairly exhausted. If you're planning any of those... special activities... I probably can't last very long."
Ben, who'd been relaxing with his back to the door, turned at the sound of voices. His eyes widened as he registered Charmcaster's presence, and he immediately started to stand before thinking better of it and sinking back into the water with a splash that sent ripples across the pool's surface.
But even that brief moment had been enough. Charmcaster's eyes, against her will and better judgment, had caught a glimpse of anatomy that made her face flush so hot she was surprised she didn't spontaneously combust.
Her brain overloaded completely, higher cognitive functions shutting down to preserve what little sanity remained. Steam might as well have been coming from her ears as internal circuits fried from processing too much information too quickly.
"Oh, Hope?" Ben's voice carried surprise and mild embarrassment. "Felicia, why did you bring her here?"
Felicia hopped lightly to the edge of the pool, already beginning to remove her dress with the unselfconscious ease of someone completely comfortable in her own skin. "She said she needed to talk to you, so I kindly gave her directions. I'm helpful like that."
She tested the water temperature with one delicate foot, nodding approval. "Besides, I knew Looma was running low on energy, so I figured we could use a fresh helper!"
Before anyone could protest or Charmcaster could flee, Felicia reached out and pulled the stunned sorceress into the pool with surprising strength.
What followed could only be described as an educational experience that Charmcaster had absolutely no context for understanding.
The specific details remained thankfully blurred in Charmcaster's overwhelmed consciousness. She registered movements and sounds without fully comprehending their meaning, her mind protecting her from complete mental breakdown by simply refusing to process most of the sensory input.
She caught glimpses of what her confused brain labeled with increasingly bizarre descriptors: cats playing in water, cats turning around, kittens stretching, kittens on swings...
None of it made logical sense. All of it burned itself into her memory with the permanence of trauma.
Time became meaningless. Minutes might have been hours. Hours might have been minutes. Charmcaster existed in a state of suspended cognitive function, her consciousness floating somewhere above her body while her brain attempted to reboot.
Eventually, the activity ceased. Felicia, apparently exhausted beyond her limits, had surrendered and departed. Looma had already left, citing prior commitments that probably involved eating several dozen pounds of protein to restore her energy.
But Charmcaster remained in the hot spring, alone and lost in a daze, her thoughts a scrambled mess of shock, confusion, and emotions she couldn't begin to name. She stared at the ceiling without seeing it, her body on autopilot while her mind tried desperately to contextualize the past hour.
It took an embarrassingly long time for awareness to return. When it did, fury followed immediately in its wake.
"That woman definitely did it on purpose!" Charmcaster's voice echoed off the stone walls, indignation finally breaking through her stupor. "She set me up! This was all planned!"
The more she thought about it, the more certain she became. Felicia had orchestrated this entire humiliating experience deliberately, probably to scare her off or establish dominance or some other territorial nonsense.
"Don't think you can intimidate me with that kind of display!" Charmcaster continued her one-sided conversation, working herself into righteous anger. "I'm not that easily discouraged!"
Her competitive nature, dormant until this moment, roared to life with volcanic intensity.
A girlfriend is a girlfriend, and a fiancée is a fiancée, right? Fine. If that's how they wanted to play this game, Charmcaster would show them exactly what a determined witch could accomplish when properly motivated.
"I'll just become his wife then!" The declaration emerged with the force of a battle cry. "I'll marry him before either of you! Then you'll see who has the last laugh!"
She'd show that smug blonde exactly who she was dealing with. She'd win Ben's heart, claim the legal and social high ground of matrimony, and parade around in front of Felicia with the victory everyone would acknowledge as ultimate.
Charmcaster had initially possessed only mild attraction to Ben, a sort of aesthetic appreciation mixed with gratitude for his teaching. But Felicia had directly challenged her pride, ignited her competitive spirit, and transformed casual interest into burning determination.
Even if she ended up dumping Ben immediately after the wedding, even if the whole relationship was a sham designed purely to claim victory, Charmcaster would absolutely rub her triumph in that woman's face for months before moving on.
This was about principle now. About proving she couldn't be scared off by anyone, no matter how established their relationship or how dramatic their... activities.
"What are you muttering about?" Ben's voice came from the doorway, making Charmcaster jump like a startled cat.
He stood there fully dressed, toweling off his hair with casual unconcern. His expression showed mild curiosity rather than embarrassment or guilt about the earlier situation.
He glanced at her, his gaze analytical rather than romantic. "I'm leaving for a mission. You can stay here on the flagship if you want, or return to Genesis and continue training with the Ancient One. Your choice."
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