[2009 – October]
Seated at her desk in her office at the Massachusetts Academy, Emma was once again going through the gathered information about the 'vaccine', trying her best to figure out an action plan that was the least damaging.
At this point, she was almost sure that there would be no benefits to be gained during the chaotic period of time that sure to come, at least not in a short amount of time, so her first priority would be damage control.
Naturally, she still had an eye on possible opportunities that might appear, which could possibly allow her to gain an advantage in the long run. She was the White Queen, after all.
Taking a loss was not outside of her calculation, nor was it something new to her. During her rise in the Hellfire Club, she had to take many losses due to her relative inexperience or simply because the circumstances were not in her favour.
The difference between her and the bodies that she had buried was that she had never really fallen, nor was she inflexible in her thoughts and actions.
As such, Emma had always prided herself in being a survivor as only those that survived had a chance at victory.
She couldn't even count the number of dead 'winners' that had fallen at her hands, only to have realized in their last moments that the ultimate victor wasn't those that won battles or successfully schemed against others, but those that survived until the very end.
To that end, she had developed a ruthlessness that was almost second to none, allowing her to sacrifice any of her pieces on the board without the slightest ripple in her heart if it opened up the chances of victory and survival.
This trait, which she had developed through unimaginable suffering and bloodshed, was what gave her the title of 'Ice Queen' and allowed her to eventually ascend to the position of the true White Queen of the Hellfire Club.
But as she was going through the gathered intel, a terrifying and dark strength suddenly started to radiate from within her, lasting for only a single moment before it disappeared again.
Shocked, Emma failed to react momentarily, but as her eyes were fixed on the screen of her computer, she also noticed the disappearance of several files while a lot of other intel was altered instantly.
Like a drop of ink in the sea, the different intelligence reports and copied documents disappeared without a trace.
Appalled, she immediately suspected that someone had managed to intrude into the secure servers of the Hellfire Club that she was accessing, which was something that she had thought to be impossible.
At least, it shouldn't have happened without alerting her subordinates, who were supposed to be on stand-by every hour of the day to prevent such a thing.
But when Emma's focus turned to the terrifying strength that she had just sensed within herself, she realized that the origin of this was her younger brother, the energy aura being identical.
It was easy to connect the dots for her, so she quickly understood that the protection that Elijah had imbued her with had been activated by something to shield her, she just did not know from what.
Fixing her gaze on the screen, she carefully scanned through the documents only to realize that all the information about 'Leech' had vanished from those documents. Hesitating only for a moment, she contacted the specialist under the Hellfire Club to check the servers for any intrusion.
As she waited for a preliminary report, worries crept into her mind as her thoughts circled around the reason for the activation of Elijah's protection, her fingers tapping somewhat nervously on the dark wooden desk.
When her phone rang a few minutes later, she picked it up and answered the call without hesitation.
Her voice was cold yet unspeakably seductive as she answered it with a single word: "Yes?"
"Ms. Frost, the first system checks have revealed no traces of successful infiltration. There were some attempts, which is not unusual, but none of them managed to pierce the second layer of firewalls, much less as six layers.", a rough male voice replied humbly.
Frowning lightly, a rather shocking thought entered her mind, though she didn't lose her cool and ordered calmly: "Continue your checks and send me a full report in the morning."
Not waiting for a reply, Emma directly hung up as she took a few deep breaths while looking at her screen.
Biting her lower lip, she dialed a few other numbers and send a few messages to the intelligence operatives under her command, before finally, an hour later, she leaned back in her seat while exhaling a shuddering breath, her eyes filled with shock that was impossible to conceal.
"You truly are a monster beyond comparison, little brother.", she whispered while touching the dark pendant around her neck.
…
Having acted as the Sorcerer Supreme for an uncountable number of years, the Ancient One had faced the strength of a higher being numerous times and had come out of it unscathed.
It wasn't for nothing that Agamotto wanted to persuade her to join him and the other members of the Vishanti since her talent and strength were almost matchless on Earth.
Having sensed the intangible wave of terrible power, she had not hesitated to draw on the power of the Dark Dimension through a ritual that had corrupted and destroyed most of those who had dared to use it in the past, the Ancient One managed to protect herself from this invisible strength that had covered the Earth in an instant.
Panting lightly with sweat running down her temples, brows, and nose, she felt great exhaustion after having just summoned a strength that definitely should not belong to a human.
Still, the Ancient One's expression was serious as she understood very well that she could only defend passively. Winning was out of the question when facing the being that had unleashed this strength, even for her.
The difference between a mortal human and a higher being was just not something that could be made up so easily. Even the Dark Dimension's power had its limits when facing those that had shed their mortal coil and had become existences that could bend reality to their will.
The mark between her brows slowly disappeared as she close her connection to the dangerous dimension that had given her longevity and incomparable strength, the look in her eyes one of solemnity and shock.
"What have you done, Elijah?", she muttered under her breath, having felt the young man's aura hidden in the strength that had covered this world a few moments ago.
"Ayy.", a sudden sigh echoed in her ear as a fist-size blue caterpillar appeared before her in her meditation room, a look pipe in its mouth that seemed almost larger than its body, "What a terrifying young man he is."
Being only mildly surprised at the caterpillar's appearance since she was familiar with her former teacher's uncanny ability to pop up whenever and wherever he pleased, the Ancient One simply directed her question toward the little blue caterpillar.
"What did he do?", she asked, hoping that Elijah had not turned hostile towards the world that she had sworn to protect, even though she was rather sure that such was not the case.
"He made this world forget.", the little insect answered with a strange excitement, blowing out a cloud of smoke while carrying a strangely interested smile as it continued, "How about you invite him over so that I could have a chat with him, Enid? I am very interested in meeting this young god."
"Aren't you a bit too old to lie so blatantly, Agamotto?", the Ancient One rolled her eyes as she slowly regained her strength, knowing full well that as dignified as her former teacher appeared most of the time, his love for excitement and battle was no secret to her.
"Hahaha.", the little blue caterpillar laughed shamelessly as he promised, "I will not force him, I will simply make him an offer. The decision is his to make."
"Fine then.", she eventually agreed, not wanting to be pestered by the mystic principality any longer than necessary.