“And so you believe they deserve extinction?” Thanos went on.

“They are a test, in their own way. Of understanding, of prowess, of evolution. However, they have a massive head start, and overcoming that is very difficult, indeed. Think of how many genetic lines the Skrulls have exterminated over the millennia, and given nothing back to Death to improve on.

“The Kree are another test, but not so dire, as they don’t commit genocide so readily... but if you challenge them, you had best be ready to pay the price. The Badoon are techno-barbarians, as ruthless as the Skrulls, but younger and more energized, not so stagnant. Where the Skrulls absorb and attempt to assimilate, the Badoon just wipe out and replace if they find no value to it.”

“And you expect no reward from Death for standing against them...”

“Why would Death reward anyone for anything less than cosmic events that affect Her directly? That’s your job. Messing around with mortals is pointless. Me killing Mythos crap and Elder Gods and stopping the unraveling of the universe is just benefiting me and mine, in the end. You want to serve Death, you’re serving one of the two highest powers of the universe. You expect to be recognized for lint removal, or something, by killing mortals?” I waved my hand absently. “Mortals are Hers regardless. Time is meaningless.

“In real terms, you’ve done some awesomely stupid stuff which made you enemies you didn’t need to make. Your job is to take care of problems for Death. Those are the things She will recognize you for. If you want a more personal relationship, mmm?”

His dark eyes glittered sharply. “You know of a way?” he asked, unable to stop himself.

“Death is too big for you, She cannot commit to anything at our level. It’s like an ant making love to a sun. Likewise, you rising to be her peer removes you from supplicant and wooer to rival. So, gaining trans-cosmic power is not the way.” I actually half-laughed. “The way to woo Death on a personal basis is to be able to die repeatedly.”

He flinched. “Die... repeatedly?” he had to ask.

“She can amuse herself with you, and then you go back out to do your job. If you can return under your own power, all She need do is not stop you. This is the mortal realm, and Her place is not here. Likewise, travel to Her realm while alive, and you are an outsider, and do not belong there.

“So, die. Come back. Die. Come back. Let Her let you go, let Her welcome you back.

“Just be aware She is Death, and you are an ant. You will never command Her whole heart, because Her heart is as vast as everyone and anyone who has died. There is no need to ever compete for Her attention, because Her attention is everywhere and anywhere that things are dying. You can no more be the one love of Death than you could be the one love of anyone and everyone who has died.

“Just deserving to be one of those is, well, a cosmic achievement! How intimate that is, well, Death chose you. Obviously, you have something of interest to Her.”

“Be able to die repeatedly...” he murmured, thinking. “To visit and woo, and then leave and return... That is a very unusual approach...”

“The dead do not have the drives of the living... but Death is not dead.”

His dark eyes widened. “Ahhh...”

------

Thanos left with a head full of ideas and aspirations which would take him into new directions. Whether it would lead to him setting aside his nihilism was one thing, and regardless, he was still a galactic-class mass murderer.

No worse than the Supreme Intelligence of the Kree, however, who had callously genocided multiple races that he deemed might challenge the Kree if they rose to power, and most of the races of ‘Inhuman’-equivalents.

I advised Thanos not to come back. Sama knew the date he came to Titan. He and Eros should figure out a rendezvous point that was out of the Sol System. If not, Sama might decide she had nothing better to do than pop a genocidal killer and just take him out, Champion of Death notwithstanding in the slightest.

He took that recommendation seriously. Someone who could take out a Celestial was not someone to take lightly.

His further adventures would likely involve Adam Warlock and some cosmic shenanigans, and hopefully keep him away from Terra, or he was going to end up perma-vivisized.

----------

The breach in the Wards was instantly noticed, but the one doing so had standing permission. Dealer turned around just in time to see Dr. Strange’s astral form come leaping through the wall of Mr. Hill’s home in a near-panic.

“Doctor?” she asked, surprised at the intrusion. He could just send a telepathic message if he needed something.

“Emergency!” he called out. He looked like he might have intended to swoop into her, noted the Astral Ward that made it impossible, and instead curved around behind her.

Glowing red tentacles lunged through the wall after him, and Dealer’s blue eyes narrowed sharply.

She flicked up a finger, and gleaming rings made up of rotating card suits popped up in front of the lunging Crimson Strands of Cyttorak. The spells flowed right into the circles and vanished impotently, more Suited Rings of Raggador maneuvering and popping into existence to guard against a new stream or two.

Dealer glanced at the astral form, then back at the Strands which bore tints of Strange’s own magic.

His, and something more.

With a flick, she severed his magic’s permission to breach the Wards, and the Strands were cut off instantly, severed as the Wards denied them.

The whole house bucked instantly as a lot of power was thrown against it... and then fed back into the house across the street, which promptly fed the power back into the one it was tied to, and an “AUGH?!” of pain and disbelief radiated out on the ley lines.

“Oh, this I just have to see,” Dealer mused, taking out a Deck of Suits and another of the Tarot, Cards starting to spin about her.

“Dealer, be careful! You are facing an opponent of incredible mystic might!” warned Dr. Strange.

“Using your magic,” she replied. “Riiight. Do you have a name for him, or are you going to waste more time, Doctor?” she asked him as she tossed open the door in front of her. “Oh, never mind,” she said in a dismissive voice, before he could answer. “I believe I have guessed who is responsible.”

On the steps of the Sanctum Sanctorum across the road stood someone wearing Stephen Strange’s body, complete with his Amulet and Cloak, although she could tell he was dominating them by sheer will. She couldn’t see the face, of course, because it was hidden behind the fiery shroud of the Flames of the Faltine, making him look a lot like the Human Torch did... albeit with a LOT more magical power.

“Strange!” snarled the crackling, fiery power of the possessing entity, complete with smug grandiosity and confidence. “Hiding behind a woman, now? Do you think a mere female of your world can stand before I, the great and all-powerful Dormammu?!” He put his hands on his hips and roared with laughter. “With every second here in your mortal realm, my power grows! Soon my power will be enough to claim this world entire! I will bring the Celestials crashing down in the Flames of the Faltine, and Eternity itself will bend to my will! What manner of woman do you hide behind so desperately here? With such... childish arts about her?” His flaming smile was leering. “Is this a paramour of yours, Doctor? Have you tired of my niece so quickly?”

His laughter was loud and rather manic. Dealer turned her head slightly. “He really does like to hear himself talk, doesn’t he, Doctor?” she asked over her shoulder.

“He gains power every second he stands there. It costs him nothing to grandstand,” the transparent astral form of the Sorcerer Supreme behind her murmured back.

“If you could be nice enough to grant me access to the Amulet of Agamotto for a moment?” she asked him politely.

“That... of course. You have a plan?” the Sorcerer Supreme asked her, surprised at her blasé reaction.

“He’s an energy-based Possessing otherplanar entity who doesn’t seem to realize just how horrifically vulnerable he is at the moment.” She waved her hand dismissively. “He hasn’t even stepped out of the Wards. He’s a total farthing idiot.”

“IDIOT?!” screamed the flame-headed entity across the street, hearing the words she hadn’t bothered to hide. “See if you can deal with the almighty power of Dormammu, foolish child!”

The world erupted in a blast of mystic fire which would have cut across the entire city. There was no way to dodge it as it came in at them, and swallowed them from sight.

Well, it tried to. A Ring made from the Suits of Hoyle and the Tarot spun and intercepted the entire blast, shrinking it down to a line of light which plunged right into Dealer’s navel.

As opposed to burning up inside, she tilted her head back and purred, “Yes, that’s it! Just a little hotter, ah, a good pulse, yes, increase, decrease, yes, the wave motion is wonderful...”

Her voice carried right across the street, and the startled Dormammu briefly surged his power forth a couple times, trying to overwhelm her defenses, especially when the building behind her and the city beyond weren’t suffering any damage!

The alien god stopped his blasting... and then realized he could not.

“What? What is this? She is feeding on my power?!” he exclaimed, as the Flames of the Faltine streamed out of him, regardless of his will. The burgeoning magic he was claiming was raging out of him ferociously, now beyond his control as he tried in vain to stop the flow of his returned power exiting him furiously.

“Oh, getting wild and kinky now...” Dealer murmured, stepping down from the landing on the other side, the Ring in front of her shrinking as the flow of Faltinian Flames compressed and continued to plunge into her navel, glowing on her insides. “What a precious uncontrolled pyroakastic Elemental you’ve invited in, Doctor. Did it not know what a wonderful tonic we find such things in this realm?”

“I may have neglected to inform him of the fact,” Strange replied without missing a beat. “He’s not the kind to let one get a word in edgewise...”

“How fortunate!” Dealer replied, the unending stream of Faltinian Fire dumping itself right into her Arcane Core to have fun as she advanced fearlessly towards the faltering, stumbling, fire-headed figure on the front step of the Sanctorum, hands clasped behind her and Cards rotating in complex patterns around her as she levitated across the street.

“No!” Dormammu cried out, trying to get back into the Sanctum, which suddenly slammed tight against entry as the most minor adjustment to the Wards registered the alien touch of his power and denied him entry. There was a swirl of power on his chest, and his Will and control of the Amulet there was suddenly broken.

He was snapped back around, lined up perfectly, and his burning power came shooting out of the Amulet of Agamotto, was swirled through a complex display of Seals and Runework, and dove smoothly into Dealer’s navel as he was forcibly levitated there in midair, a new set of Circles in multiple layers lining up beneath him and utterly containing the former ruler of the Dark Dimension.

“You, this!” the flame-headed god whined, struggling there in midair as his power was sucked away into the mortal woman before him.

Dealer was in no hurry. The amount of the draw stepped down slightly, keeping just even with the incoming power. Undeterred, she stood there in front of him, completely ignoring his writhing and pain as power was drawn into him, then pulled out again just as quickly, leaving him completely helpless there.