Part I: The Awakening/Mission: Faustian Bargain

==Mission: Faustian Bargain==
Hunter prepares for the mission, and Caretaker notes that the Hudson Yards Development Restoration Association owns the entire block in the Warehouse District where the team is heading. Captain Marvel and Blade join the squad.
As the trio proceeds through Limbo to the mission site, Caretaker informs them that Dr. Banner will be assisting via comms during the mission. The group arrives on the roof of the warehouse and Hydra's presence is immediately clear from the equipment on the roof. Looking through a skylight, the squad spots Doctor Faustus and an unknown device. 
Hunter senses Lilith's power but Banner is more concerned with the volatile gamma radiation. He advises a stealth and caution, but Captain Marvel decides to take a more direct approach, smashing through the skylight and engaging Hydra troops.
As Hunter and team finish off the last of their enemies, Faustus hastily dispatches a truck away from the area. He decides to test the device by launching it toward the heroes. Before Captain Marvel can reach the device, it explodes in an energy burst, but she is able to absorb it.
The squad encounters another group of Hydra troops who are guarding a truck that is about to escape the area with an Artifact inside. Banner notes that he detects Gamma radiation and an unknown force emanating from the Artifact; Hunter explains that the latter is Dark Magic.
After the troops are dealt with, the team recovers the Artifact. It is covered in glyphs and designed to contain powerful magic. The team returns to the Abbey. 
== Post-Mission ==
Captain Marvel compliments Hunter's combat abilities, but points out that finding time to relax is as important as performance on missions. As if one cue, they enter the Common Room to find everyone is hanging out. Robbie wants to start a tournament but Nico overrides him with Movie Night, while Tony and Stephen play Monopoly nearby. 
Hunter is tired and returns to their quarters, but Nico convinces them to come watch a movie. They talk about their complicated relationships with their evil mothers. Hunter notes that they understood more of the movie than they should have, given that they had been dead for hundreds of years. Hunter explains that while they were gone they dreamed of the world, allowing them to learn about it as it changed, comparing their understanding of modern things to knowing what a car is, but not knowing how to drive.
After Nico leaves, Caretaker and Hunter share a few words. She finally reveals that Agatha was killed in an accident while training Wanda. Caretaker holds Wanda responsible for the incident, and sent her to study under Doctor Strange to learn to control her power. Caretaker tells Hunter of the shrine she created for Agatha and suggests they pay their respects there.
Charlie leads Hunter to the shrine where an apparition of Agatha appears. She notes that Hunter is the first to have been able to notice her, and suggests they go to the Blood Gate where they can begin to lift the veil on some long-held secrets. 
When Hunter touches the Blood Seal, a portal appears. Agatha explains that this is the Blood Gate and that Caretaker became overly protective after the accident with Wanda, putting up these barriers. Hunter is the only one able to pass through them.
Hunter enters the Blood Gate and begins the Trial of the Elder Gods: Oshtur. Agatha describes the Trials as tests from the Elder Gods for their descendents, the Blood, to prove their worth. When Hunter successfully completes the Trial, the rock wall with the Blood Gate falls away, revealing Oshtur's Cavern. Within the cave Hunter finds the Moon Seal, places it upon a nearby plinth, and learns Open, one of the Words of Power. Hunter uses this newfound ability to open a gate leading to the cavern exit.
As they leave the cave, Agatha requests that Hunter keep her presence a secret as Sara is not yet ready to see her. Agatha asks Hunter to meet with her again the next night in the Library. The two return to the Abbey. 
== The Next Day ==
Hunter visits the Forge and talks with Doctor Strange about the artifact. Strange senses powerful emanations from inside and wants to use the contents to their advantage. Once the artifact is open, Strange recognizes it at the Eternity Dagger, a relic that has been housed at the Sanctum for years. He realizes that Hydra has been stealing artifacts from the Sanctum for their own use.
Robbie meets Hunter at the Forge. He explains how he is bonded with a Spirit of Vengeance that he calls Sparky, as his real name is difficult to say. Next, the two of them move to the Yard and train together. After they are done, Captain Marvel calls Hunter and asks them to come to the War Room.
Carol has been putting C.E.N.T.R.A.L. to good use, gathering leads on Hydra operations in the city. Both she and Hunter want to get to work, but Magik is their only means of transport and she is nowhere to be found. Hunter asks around the Abbey until Nico points them toward Wanda's quarters, where Illyana is studying one of Wanda's grimoires.
Illyana is frustrated at the constant demands for portals. As she and Hunter talk, it becomes clear that Wanda's capture by Lilith reminds Illyana of her own experiences with Mephisto as a child. Eventually Hunter convinces Illyana to open the portal and returns to the War Room. Hunter lets Carol know that Magik is on board, and uses the Mirror Table to study the target, a Hydra helicopter containing intel. 
When the team is prepared to leave, Magik opens a portal for them. Hydra troops engage the squad as soon as they arrive on site. Doctor Faustus taunts the team through their radios throughout the battle, but the heroes are able to stop the helicopter from taking off and recover the intel.
As they are leaving throught the portal, Hunter senses something. Although Hunter does not see him, Sabretooth is watching them from a distance. Back at the Abbey, Magik tells Hunter that she too sensed something dark and familiar at the docks. She also felt something shift in Limbo, but she needs time to understand what that might mean.
== That Night ==
Hunter opens the sealed Library door to meet with Agatha as requested. Agatha notes that the Words of Power are vital to the investigation of the Abbey, and begins to explain that she was helping Wanda to explore the grounds when Caretaker bursts in, angry that Hunter has opened the door. Caretaker sees this as reopening the wound of losing Agatha.
After Caretaker leaves, Hunter asks why Agatha is hiding herself. She explains that it's not her choice; Sara must accept what happened before she is able to see Agatha again.
Agatha tells Hunter about Wanda's exploration of the Abbey Grounds, seeking a strange energy they both sensed. Wanda felt that with Hunter dead, it was up to her to take their place. Wanda's notes were written in a Transian cipher that Agatha is just now beginning to understand. Hunter reads the first page that Agatha has decoded, which talks about restoring the Elemental Altar by returning the Elemental Rods.
The two meet at the Altar, where Hunter is able to summon four plinths. Agatha explains that the rods must be returned to the proper plinths in order to restore the Alter. Agatha wishes to take things slowly due to the accident with Wanda, so she is reticent about the longer-term goals of the investigation. Before returning to the Abbey, she conjures an Arcane Key for Hunter to use to open the nearby Arcane Chest, and advises that she will be translating more clues from Wanda's Journal each night.
That night Hunter dreams of Lilith. She is happy to see Hunter again, while Hunter expresses only anger. She begins to tell Hunter about the truth that Caretaker and Agatha are hiding, but Hunter awakens and the dream ends.
== The Following Day ==
Caretaker and Hunter have a brief conversation and reconcile after their argument the prior night. She stresses the need to track down Fallen Venom to help Spider-Man, after he saved them.
Hunter meets Carol in the War Room and they use C.E.N.T.R.A.L. to decrypt the Intel Cache they recovered the day before. Hunter assigns her to complete a Hero Op based on the new intel.
Next: Part I: The Awakening/Mission: Spidermaaaans
Category:Story