Marvel: Summoning Xandar.

~~~January 1943~~~

~~~Low Zone, Xandar DC~~~

Shaw's shot backfired, what did he expect coming to a place so openly hostile to the entire world? While the news from Xandar was slowly dying down, that didn't mean that the most important things weren't known, sure, the appearance of a continent, larger than Africa and united into a single centralized, militaristic kingdom, had caught the attention of the entire world, or at least the parties that enjoyed access to newspapers, radios or movie theaters that acted as newscasters or propaganda spreaders.

But amid a war so destructive, so threatening to human life as such, such news, while it caught the world off guard, calmed down as the months went by. People were like that, if we were talking about reality, in the middle of 2024 the existence of extraterrestrials had been exposed, and yet to people, it seemed irrelevant in the big picture of things.

And now much more so in the present, where World War II was raging and millions of people were dying every week. People had no time to marvel at a nation that had been 'hidden' for thousands of years from the human eye.

Even after the inconsistencies, the inaccuracies, the errors of that, because, a continent appearing after being hidden in what was known as one of the world's largest oceans? The relationship of this with the United States, Japan's attack on the new kingdom, and the presence of dragons and medieval warriors in the middle of the nineteenth century was something completely crazy and illogical.

But people simply ignored him, and only heard of his name again with every battle on the High Seas in which Japan lost again.

As for Shaw and his group, they learned a lot about the structure and how Xandar was organized, composed of a militaristic, xenophobic, and archaic society in matters of culture and traditions that could only be compared to those of Mongols, Samurai, Incas, Native American peoples, and even African tribes.

They understood that anyone who represented a danger or brought trouble from abroad would be attacked by the citizens, and the Xandarian law, lax in such matters, would do nothing, since for them, the Xandarian citizen was paramount.

That is why they did not spend more than a day in a single City-State, cities that more than that, could well be entire countries, even Prozyn, the 'smallest' City-State of Xandar, was even comparable to the size of Ecuador.

To avoid suspicion from those civilian guards whom Emma could not enter their minds due to their helmets that had the same use as the one Shaw wore, they tried not to draw attention to themselves, they did not make contact for long with people, since it was clear that Xandarians did not like to interact with foreigners, and even after dressing in regional garments and adopting idioms.

The Xandarians seemed to have some kind of radar that detected foreigners. For that reason, seeing someone talking for more than ten minutes with a foreigner would raise looks and suspicions.

That action was with Shaw and his group for at least a week, until they decided to go straight to the heart of Xandar, the largest City-State in the kingdom, which had the same name. But therein lay their mistake.

While the Witches watched over the safety and protection of Xandar from the shadows, their gaze elsewhere in Xandar was not as strong, but in Xandar DC, the stronghold, the heart and brain of the entire realm, the presence of the Witches was abysmal, they were at every corner, every crossroads, every shadow.

There was nothing that escaped their eyes, and in the company of the Enderman, the intangible beings they worked closely with, they created a network of information, reception, and collection of everything that happened in the city, and the arrival of four people with strange appearances was not off their radar.

"Akein Makei!" at Azrael's command, the witches, who at first glance were four in number, arranged themselves in a defensive position, as if materializing, another twelve 'appeared' in the air, with their loose whips and gray faces.

Shaw reached down and grabbed Emma by the shoulders, checking her physical condition, but let out a sigh of relief after ascertaining that she was fine and that aside from a slight headache, she was in good condition.

But in those precious seconds, Shaw was not attentive to the behavior of his other companions, more specifically Riptide.

Riptide, a kid who had barely turned fifteen, and who was new to this whole newly awakened mutant society thing, and the whole political and dangerous aspect revolving around this world, meant that the kid wasn't wooden enough to handle it all.

And Shaw knew it, and that's why he was using him more as a key token of destruction, Riptide had the gift of causing tornadoes and blizzards straight from his hands, and this was why Shaw recruited him, but that now backfired on him.

Especially at a time like this when calm and finding a peaceful way out of an unwanted altercation was the solution, not a show of attack. But it was too late to react.

Riptide felt threatened, and acting from fear, summoned a blizzard from his body. A whirlwind originated from his body, surrounding him and threatening to take everything in its path, the witches had to duck and hold on to the ground to avoid being sent flying, while Azrael rose into the air, and using his flight, held steady.

"Enderman, ossēnagon arliñagon!" Azrael ordered the Enderman nearby to assassinate Riptide, and the beings always ready to obey Azrael's orders did not wait and rushed at the boy, the Enderman, with their intangible bodies whenever they wanted, crossed the barrier of winds that Riptide was releasing everywhere, and entered the eye of the storm.

Riptide was surprised once he saw the dark-looking, purple-eyed beings, and in a last-ditch attempt, he thrust his hands forward and sent a gust of wind much stronger than the previous ones, but even that didn't stop the Endermans from approaching.

"Ahh!" were the cries heard from the boy as the Enderman's sharp claws made contact with his skin, ripping open flesh and tearing his body apart, time for the tornado that had originated to dissolve as if it had never been there in the first place.

"Baerok!" one of the witches called out an order, and immediately dozens of arrows were fired towards the group of three still alive. Emma, even in her malleable state, turned her body into a diamond, Azazel instead teleported, while Shaw became serious and prepared for the blow.

The arrows that made contact with Emma met an almost unbreakable barrier, crashing into her body and leaving scratch marks and shallow cuts on the diamond skin, as for the arrows that hit Shaw, that's when something much more surprising happened, the arrows, which should have pierced Shaw's flesh and left him like a sieve, lost their momentum when they touched his skin.

Waves of energy spread out from the focus where the arrowheads touched him, as the arrows fell limply to the ground. But Shaw was not unharmed, although the arrows lost their kinetic energy that propelled them the moment they touched Shaw, that did not mean all turned out well for him.

Netherite steel, a metal that was perhaps the sharpest in the world, managed to make small cuts in Shaw's clothing and skin, even with only momentarily grazing his skin.

Shaw looked at his abdomen and arms with a surprised expression, having noticed that he had been wounded, something he hadn't felt after decades, caught him off guard, and the red blood on his fingertips felt thick and heavy.

Noticing that he was wounded with only a few arrows, he didn't think twice, and decided to leave, "Azazel!" With a command that sounded more like a desperate shout, Shaw called for his Uber.

Azazel wasted no time and grabbed Emma and Shaw and teleported them both away, as for Riptide, the boy had died, and taking him with him was not appealing, Azazel was looking to save his companions who were still alive.

"Shit!" Azrael's anger-filled shout was heard, walking towards the place where the four mutants had been before, leaving only a corpse as a reminder. "Erika, fetch Phastos, tell him I need him urgently, these damn visits to my kingdom are getting absurd," Azrael ordered one of the witches while looking at Riptide's face.

Azrael frowned at the sight of the boy's young face, he still had teenage acne, but the result was done, he had deigned to attack them, and anyone who represented a danger to Xandar, his fate would be death; "collect this body and have it taken to Phastos, let him dissect it if necessary, let him find the source of his ability and make it usable for the others."