Ororo was eying Dealer with a mixture of wary respect, curiosity, and caution. She was completely aware of just how powerful a Caster Dealer actually was, and their first meeting still rang within her at how very easily she had been shut down and captured.

That had only been reinforced by the quiet and careful words from her grandmothers and aunts, the Rain Queens also very wary of the terrific power of this northerner, and her ability to suppress and cut through other magic, far beyond any other that they had ever seen.

On the other hand, Dealer could also Commune with Nature, and the wonder and joy of that experience, which she had shared in occasional visits with the Rain Queens to check on Ororo’s progress, had completely changed Ororo’s view of the world.

The Motherland of Africa Herself, perhaps only a sliver of Gaia, yet acknowledged and was aware of Dealer moving across Her, to a degree that Ororo herself earned only when she was wielding and weaving the weather at a powerful or involved level.

It was not Dealer’s homeland, but such were her ties to magic that it did not matter. The world and its Motherlands were Aware of her!

“Dealer,” Ororo bowed carefully to the sorceress who played at cards. Despite being of an equal age, she knew which of them was the stronger and more learned. Indeed, while she admired and respected the seniors of her family, it was Dealer’s incredible calm and towering focus she had attempted to emulate as she developed her own gifts. “How may I be of help to you?” she asked.

“Oh, this is the exact opposite. I am here to offer a chance to you! Your Majesty, I do not wish to hold you up. I can either ride along with you cheerfully, or if you can do without her, I can speak with Ororo in private about this.”

T’Challa considered that for only a second. “We believe this attack is a feint and a trap, meant to draw in a response and then crush it. There is also a possibility that it is at an even higher scale than we have calculated.”

Dealer’s hands came out to steeple in front of her thoughtfully. “Apocalypse, or the Sphinx?” she asked, unruffled.

“We do not know.”

Dealer reached into a pocket that was as form-fitting as the rest of her attire, and withdrew a deck of cards under the interested gazes of the many Wakandans watching. She shuffled them in mid-air multiple times with deft speed and precision, and then promptly offered a draw as she fanned them out, first to T’Challa, then Ororo, and to their surprise, the four Dora Milijae there, the Queen Mother, and the Advisor.

Their cards were promptly hung in the air before her, the tarot images gleaming as silver light played around them.

Red fire collapsed upon them, and Ororo’s eyes widened as she recognized the ruby hue of it. Dealer’s magic deftly withstood the power, even as the air seemed to rock slightly from echoes of magical conflict at a profound level.

“The Sphinx is involved. An ambush. A strike on royalty. Innocents in danger. Greed and revenge. A moment of destiny and doom.” She pointed at the Sun card the Queen Mother had drawn. “I think I need to Summon in an associate of mine you may not have worked with, although I believe you have met. Do you know who Sunstone is?”

T’Challa rolled his eyes, and even Ororo had to smile. “We are reclusive, not blind, Dealer!” he smiled. “Yes, we know who Sunstone is!” The functional face of the Euroforce was extremely well-recognized just about anywhere.

“If you don’t mind her showing up and lending you a hand, I believe she can give the Sphinx a monumentally unwelcome surprise.” Dealer tapped the Sun card thoughtfully, even as the ruby flames rippled and shook around the silvery edge of her magic. “I will come with you, as well.”

She lifted away her hand, and the silver faded. In an instant, the ruby light came down to devour the floating cards, and then, as if in spite, raged through and incinerated the rest of the deck in her hand.

She let them burn to ash, ignoring the searing intensity of the fire, and just flicked the ashes away from her unmarked skin when they were done. “Your Interdiction will prevent me from bringing her here, so I will Summon her en route. We can depart at any time, Your Majesty,” she bowed again, as if what had happened was of no issue.

T’Challa exchanged a glance with his mother and advisor, both of whom had interesting expressions. He glanced again at Ororo, whose words about the hidden power of this woman suddenly rang very, very true indeed.

“Let us go!” he ordered, making for his personal craft, and Ororo followed instantly, with Dealer drifting along behind. It could seat four, so there would be no issues with them.

------

Dealer calmly informed the two of them of the problems with the Richards, and the fact they were going to a location in Asgard to mitigate the problem. She offered Ororo the opportunity to go along with them as well.

The silken-haired Rain Queen was actually more confused than curious about this opportunity, having turned her seat next to T’Challa around to speak with Dealer. “Asgard? I know that you have said that I am descended from a mortal incarnation of Thor, but... why should I go there? It seems... somewhat pointless?”

T’Challa glanced back from his console, quite interested in this.

“Ororo, your mutant power to control the weather exists because the bloodline of a god’s incarnation hit the bloodline of a Sorceress Supreme after umpteen generations. You are also a Native Goddess, and if you don’t believe Thor’s Bloodline keyed THAT part of your heritage, especially with him being active in the mortal world, you are not thinking correctly.

“You have Asgardian blood active in you. Going to the Shining Realm is only going to be beneficial to that side of your heritage, or do you consider the power of the Asgardians to be nothing worth mentioning?” Dealer let that hang a moment, staring at her. “You are going to be taking in the magic of a Divine Realm. Your grandmothers are naturally proud of and playing up their unbroken line of matrilineal descent... but do you really think their Bloodline is more powerful than that of a god? Very specifically, a God of Thunder, born of a Skyfather and the Worldmother Herself?”

Dealer seemed quite amused at Ororo’s instinctive dismissal of her heritage on her father’s side, and the Rain Queen blushed despite herself.

“My Bloodline comes from Odin and Gaia herself...” Ororo repeated, shocked at the realization.

“But you won’t truly know what that means without going to the Shining Realm,” Dealer told her firmly. “You can also be of immense help to the Richards in establishing their Matrices, as the place where Air and Water meet the most...”

“...is the weather,” she finished, nodding slowly. “Yes. Yes, I think I should do this.” She sent a glance T’Challa’s way.

“As do I,” he agreed, and laughed softly. “Although I am not sure how the Panther God will react to having a daughter of Asgard running about here!”

“Perhaps we shall discuss the matter,” Ororo offered, and he chuckled again.

“Five minutes to our encounter area, Dealer. If you wish to bring in Sunstone...”

“Ah, yes.” Dealer held up a card, a Queen of Hearts, and flicked it off to one side. It grew into a person-sized phantasmal depiction of the card, directly above the unoccupied seat, and shimmered once. The face on the card shifted, becoming more golden and real, taking on depth and form and...

“Oh!” There was a flash, and a very blonde woman in white and gold dropped into the empty seat before them. She looked around in surprise, at the wisps of Card Magic breaking up in front of her, and turned her eyes on Dealer. “Dealer! What are you doing?” she exclaimed.

“If you were in the middle of something important, I apologize,” Dealer said softly. “Prepare yourself. You are going to be facing the Sphinx.”

“The...?” she repeated, and her golden, slightly glowing eyes narrowed. “Well, I suppose it was inevitable. Your Majesty, Lady Ororo,” she nodded, having seen them at a political function or two, and they cut a memorable couple together, so it was not surprising she remembered them.

“Miss Sunstone,” T’Challa smiled. “I apologize for the sudden timing. As many have remarked, it seems to be a staple of our profession.”

“Dealer, Send a message to my associates so that they will know I have not been kidnapped and come racing into Wakanda to rescue me!” she directed Dealer with a sigh.

“Ah, of course.” Another card, a ten of clubs, came up, and slowly disintegrated in Dealer’s fingers as she stared at it. “Done.” Her head tilted sideways. “Ah, they are not very happy with me,” she said after a minute. “Draufganger would like to know our destination coordinates so he can meet us there and verify this.”

T’Challa reeled them off, and a two of clubs fell apart into mist. “Done. He will meet us there.”

The Black Panther’s mask flowed up onto his face as he clucked his tongue. “His range and speed of teleporting has improved,” he noted.

“Kurt’s dimensional-sliding power is exceptional,” Sunstone offered. “It merely needed to be broken down and refined with sufficient Core Techniques, and much practice.”

“Does he employ Lived-Lines?” Dealer asked calmly.

“Yes, he can... but he can also use Lived-Lines extending through the other realm he traverses through on his jumps.” Sunstone’s eyes glittered.

“Prior intelligence on his range was somewhere in the range of two to three miles,” T’Challa remarked. “If he can extend that two to three miles through another realm, could that not raise his range by several orders of magnitude, assuming he traverses only very short distances there?”

“Yes,” Sunstone confirmed. “But to do that, he literally needs to teleport all over the place, building a network of Jumplines for himself.”

“Ah! So he has built travel lanes between major points of interest, and then expanded out from them as there is need and time.” T’Challa considered the options the Bamfing teleporter of Euroforce could have. “He cut a Jumpway down the length of Africa?”

“Three. One down each coast, and one down the middle. I think it runs about twenty miles from your destination, through one of the border towns.”

“He should beat us there, then,” the Black Panther said. “Did you warn him of the Sphinx, Dealer?”

“I did, and told him not to Bamf to the final area because of Interdiction traps. He acknowledged the risk.”

“Well, then, let us see what surprises the Sphinx has arranged for us,” the Black Panther mused.

-------

The sky was boiling with a dreadful thunderhead, and lightning was slamming down onto milling ants in the scattered rocks and hills below. In particular, mechanized vehicles were being blown apart, as the soldiers there took shelter against the screaming wind, and the face in the clouds glaring down at them.

The Wakandan forces were moving from cover to cover as the wind swirled around them, not obstructing them in the slightest, disposing of the Askari militants who had thought they were ambushing the Wakandans. Draufganger was actually leading their efforts, popping from place to place in puffs of black smoke, taking them out with thrusts and swipes of sparking swords, or forcing them into the open where the Wakandans sniped them off.

There were half-a-dozen Powered on site, who had thought they would easily have the upper hand. Instead, they were confronted by the King of Wakanda, his bodyguards, and the hovering form of Dealer, whose Cards were totally messing with their attacks.

There was a mercenary with them, bearing a weapon on his hand that T’Challa was all too familiar with. It had been stolen by moles within Wakanda, and seeing it on the hand of an Askar ignited a furious anger in his heart.