Not long ago.
After Hope—the so-called mutant messiah—had escaped Cable's protection only to be captured by the Ancient One herself, Magik and her companions made a decision that bordered on suicidal: they would mount a rescue operation.
They weren't naive. The Ancient One's power was legendary, whispered about in hushed tones even among the most arrogant sorcerers. Success seemed unlikely at best, impossible at worst. But Hope represented more than just another mutant to them—she was the Messiah, the prophesied savior, the last flickering ember of hope for their dying species.
Even if they couldn't win, even if defeat was certain, they had to try.
So they prepared. Meticulously. Cable drew upon decades of military experience to devise contingency plans. The White Queen mapped every psychological weakness they might exploit. Colossus trained his body to its absolute limits. Magik practiced dimensional shortcuts until her soul-sword could cut through reality itself with surgical precision.
All of that preparation, as it turned out, was completely worthless.
Because Hope hadn't needed rescuing at all. She'd simply walked away from the Ancient One's custody, choosing instead to leave with some unknown nobody named Ben Parker.
The team's spirits soared at this revelation.
If they couldn't beat the Ancient One—an immortal sorceress who'd defended Earth for centuries—surely they could handle some random nobody who'd never made headlines?
None of them had heard of this "Ben Parker" before. He was probably just another street-level nobody who'd crawled out of some Brooklyn dumpster and decided to play hero. Maybe he'd stitched together a costume from old rags and called himself a knight or something equally pretentious.
The White Queen and the others felt supremely confident. This was going to be easy.
Only Magik harbored any doubts, though not about their chances of victory. Her concerns were more... personal. She'd actually seen this Ben Parker person, and there was something special about him that she couldn't quite put her finger on. Not to mention he was genuinely attractive—the kind of handsome that made even her, a woman who'd literally been to Hell and back, consider spending a few nights with him.
Hope had been raised by their team since infancy, sheltered and protected from the harsh realities of the world. She'd never really experienced life outside their tight-knit group. A pretty face and some smooth words might be all it took to bewitch her.
I really shouldn't have let her out of my sight, Magik thought grimly.
Cable dismissed her concerns with a casual wave. "No problem," he said, his gruff voice carrying absolute certainty. "If Hope likes the pretty boy that much, we'll just take him with us. Package deal."
The White Queen nodded enthusiastically, a predatory smile crossing her features. "I certainly wouldn't mind. Who doesn't appreciate a handsome man?" She glanced at Cable and Colossus with barely concealed distaste. "Spending too much time around you two smelly, rough men is making me wonder if I should just become a nun and be done with it."
The four of them considered every angle, war-gaming scenarios with practiced efficiency. They even anticipated that the Ancient One might hunt them down after they retrieved Hope, so they prepared multiple escape routes across different dimensions, each one more convoluted than the last.
But in all their careful planning, they never once imagined a scenario where they couldn't beat Ben Parker himself.
Now.
Inside the Plumber orbital station that served as the organization's Earth headquarters, four bodies lay sprawled across the floor like discarded puppets, strings cut. Ben Parker stood over them, his right foot planted firmly on the White Queen's rear end, which—despite the humiliation of the situation—was surprisingly soft.
His four crimson eyes narrowed as he studied the defeated mutants, confusion evident in his posture.
"Mutants?" he said, his deep voice rumbling through multiple sets of vocal cords. "Who ordered you to attack the Plumber station?"
Ben's mind was racing. Since the mutant resurgence began, there had indeed been a surge in mutant-related incidents. Most were simple loss-of-control situations—kids whose powers manifested during emotional stress, causing property damage or minor injuries. Only a small percentage were genuinely malicious, dim-witted individuals who thought superpowers meant they could commit the perfect crime.
But this? A coordinated assault on the Plumber orbital headquarters by trained operatives?
And their stated objective wasn't theft or sabotage—they'd come specifically to kidnap him.
Whose organization is this?!
The defeated mutants were equally stunned, though for entirely different reasons.
All eyes turned toward Magik, the only one who'd actually seen Ben Parker in person before.
Wasn't it supposed to be simple? their expressions screamed. Just some pretty boy who looked good enough to maybe grace the cover of Time Magazine as one of the world's most charming men?
How did he beat all four of us in under a minute?!
Colossus was perhaps the most shocked of all. His entire identity was built around his transformation—his body didn't just turn to ordinary steel when he activated his powers. His metallic form was a complex carbon-steel alloy, harder than anything short of Adamantium or Vibranium.
Yet when they'd first exchanged blows, a single punch from Ben's massive fist had crumpled his supposedly indestructible chest like it was made of tin foil. The impact had left a crater-sized dent in his torso that still ached with phantom pain.
He'd tried to overpower Ben through sheer strength, gripping the alien's wrist with both hands and straining with every ounce of power his metallic body could generate. Ben's arm hadn't budged even a millimeter. Instead, Colossus's own wrists had been crushed like empty soda cans, the carbon-steel bones grinding and warping under the pressure.
Cable had fared no better. He'd unleashed his optic blasts at maximum intensity, ruby-red beams that could punch through tank armor. The lasers had splashed harmlessly against Ben's crimson skin like water from a garden hose. Before Cable could adjust his tactics, a casual backhand from one of Ben's four arms had sent him sprawling.
The White Queen had suffered the most humiliating defeat. She'd attempted a psychic assault, creeping behind Ben with all the stealth her diamond form could muster, planning to overwhelm his mind while he was distracted with the others.
Ben's spider-sense had detected her approach before she'd taken two steps. A lightning-fast chop from one of his massive hands had struck her diamond-hard body with enough force to shatter her transformation entirely, leaving her vulnerable and dazed. Now she lay face-down on the cold metal floor, serving as an impromptu footrest, her pride wounded even more severely than her body.
The entire battle had lasted less than sixty seconds before the Four Arms transformation finished them all.
Ben shifted his weight, causing the White Queen to let out an involuntary whimper. "The last group that tried to kidnap me was Kingpin's organization," he said conversationally, his tone almost friendly. "By now, the grass on their graves should have died and regrown several times over. Want to join them?"
"Wait! Please!" Magik's voice cracked with desperation.
Her wrists were trapped in just one of Ben's massive hands—his Tetramand fist was more than twice the size of her head, making her feel like a child's doll in the grip of a giant. When he clenched his fingers even slightly, her bones creaked ominously.
She tried to summon her magic, to open a portal to Limbo and escape this nightmare.
But Ben wasn't just physical strength in his Four Arms form—his innate Mana remained fully accessible regardless of which transformation he wore, enhanced by the natural magical affinity of whatever species he currently embodied.
Crimson lightning—the Sakaarian Thunder, the Old Power itself—crackled around Magik's wrists, forming an impenetrable cage that sealed her magical abilities as effectively as Adamantium chains.
"Kamar-Taj magic?" Magik gasped, recognizing the style if not the specific technique. "Are you also a student of the Ancient One?"
Ben paused, his four eyes widening slightly. He released his Four Arms transformation, his body shrinking back to human proportions in a flash of green light, though he maintained his grip on Magik's wrists.
Seeing his moment of confusion, Magik immediately raised her banner of authority. "That's right! I'm a disciple of the Ancient One! So you'd better let me go right now before—"
"Bullshit!"
"I'll cleanse the house for the Ancient One right here!"
Ben's kick connected with her backside hard enough to lift her several inches off the floor, the impact echoing through the station like a gunshot. Magik yelped in pain, tears springing to her eyes.
"Your magic doesn't contain a single trace of Mana," Ben said coldly, his analytical mind cataloging her power's signature even as he spoke. "You claim to be the Ancient One's student? I think you're a traitor to Kamar-Taj. Today I'll do her a favor and clean up this mess!"
"No, no, no!" Magik's earlier bravado evaporated completely.
She couldn't win in a fight—that much was painfully obvious. She had no connections to leverage, no authority to invoke. And Ben hit hard—didn't he see that Colossus was still lying there barely conscious after just a few punches?
"I'll talk! I'll talk!" The words tumbled out in a rush. "We're here for Hope!"
"Magik!" Cable's roar of fury cut through the station like thunder, his anger at her betrayal momentarily overriding his pain. Blood trickled from his mouth where he'd bitten his tongue during the beating.
"Looking for Hope?" Ben's grip loosened slightly, his expression shifting from anger to curiosity. "What do you want with her?"
He didn't release them entirely, of course. These people had attacked his station, threatened his organization. They would face consequences.
Plumber security teams were already arriving, their boots clanging on metal floors. They moved with practiced efficiency, attaching obedience discs to each prisoner's carotid artery before escorting them toward the interrogation wing. Magik's magical abilities remained sealed by Ben's Mana, the crimson lightning still crackling faintly around her wrists like living chains.
After being hit with neurotoxin from the obedience discs several times—just enough to make the point clear without causing permanent damage—the White Queen and her companions finally regained enough clarity to see their situation for what it was.
Their gazes toward Ben now carried genuine awe mixed with healthy fear as they recounted the full story, leaving nothing out.
Ben had somehow changed into an immaculate suit during the brief walk to the interrogation room, and he sat now in a leather chair with Felicia draped across his lap, her silver hair cascading over his shoulder. The whole scene had the air of a mafia don holding court, listening to supplicants beg for mercy.
"So let me make sure I understand this correctly," Ben said, his tone almost conversational. "You're from an alternate universe where the Scarlet Witch used Chaos Magic to effectively wipe out the mutant population. You came to this reality because you believe Hope is the Phoenix Force's chosen host, and you want to use her power to somehow revive your dead mutants?"
"That's exactly right," the White Queen confirmed, keeping her head bowed respectfully. Her rear still ached from where Ben had used it as a footstool, the humiliation burning almost as much as the phantom pain. "We have no intention of fighting you or your organization. We only want to bring Hope back to where she belongs."
"No," Ben said flatly.