Breaking and Entering| Illyana, Pepper, and Tony
Illyana Rasputin had known from day one that the Super Human Registration Act was yet another disaster waiting to happen. They government had tried the same thing with Mutants before, with varying degrees of bloodshed. Fear made people stupid, reactionary... They would attack anyone that didn't fit into their mantra because that was the safe thing to do. Doctor Strange was a practical man, perhaps the most level headed person she knew, save Professor Xavier. However, even his careful nature hadn't prevented him from getting caught in the crossfire.
With his injury and subsequent disappearance, the earth had been left without a sorcerer supreme to preside over it's mystical energies. Her and Clea split those duties in his absence, but with three dimensions and a dozen refugees between them, there wasn’t much time for rest. Already Illyana could feel exhaustion creeping up on her; the consequence of overusing magic.
Yet, even now she couldn't sleep. She sat on the edge of a spare bed, staring down at the Soul Sword balanced carefully on her lap. Her very bones felt heavy, weighed down by both fatigue and dread for what tomorrow would bring.
Clea was worse off. The sorceress didn't bother to hide the bags under her eyes or the gauntness of her cheeks. She had taken Doctor Strange’s disappearance understandably hard, but now the majority of Illyana’s concern lied in her physical state. She ate very little and slept even less, often resorting to spells or potions to rest for even a short while. Clea was ripping apart at the seams and attempts to help only delayed the process. She couldn't continue on like this, neither of them could.
After Kitty’s disappearance, after what they learned from Loki, Illyana couldn't sit idly by and bide her time anymore. Not when prisoners were being tortured and used for experiments, and certainly not when those prisoners were her mentor and best friend. The thought of the people she cared for most, screaming in pain while she did nothing. Hoping and praying that someone would save them...
Illyana bit her lip, clenching her fists until her nails dug into her palms hard enough to leave welts. Loki had said the raft had anti-magic defenses in place, among others, even he hadn't been able to get in without the mind stone. Still, there was someone heavily involved with the Super Human Registration Act, a public figure who would uncountable know about the defenses as well as how to bypass them.
Tony Stark, the man responsible for Stephen Strange’s capture.
The fact that they had Doctor Strange as a hostage made retrieving this information difficult. Any move made against Stark could potentially be brought down on him. Clea had forbid targeting him directly, but what choice did they have? Things would only continue getting worse for everyone if they continued to do nothing.
She was hardly the public face of the X-Men and few people knew about her tutelage under Doctor Strange. Tony Stark had no reason to know who she was, and if he didnt she couldn't be connected to anyone in custody.
Stark Tower was a monolith of a building, complete with a state of the art security system, practically impenetrable walls, and one cocky billionaire. Fortunately, whatever disintegration rays or slaughterbots he had guarding the outside couldn't do much about teleportation. Getting in was as easy as a thought. With a flash of smoke and hellfire, Illyana stepped into a dimly lit living room, dispelling the portal behind her. She unsheathed her Soul Sword, it's light casting a ghostly glow on the immaculate room around her. A cloaking spell easily hid her from any cameras in the area, buying her time to deal with Stark. She wouldn't need much once she found him.
From the looks of things she was currently positioned on one of the upper residential floors, though where Stark was specifically remained a mystery. Her eyes trailed to the elaborate broach fashioned to her belt. Beneath the glamour, the golden surface of the Eye of Agamotto was cold and dull; as if the artifact itself was mourning the loss of its true owner. It had been easy to sneak away from Clea as she slept in a magically induced stupor, though it didn't make the guilt of doing so any less difficult to deal with. The Eye was the only artifact capable of retrieving the information she needed. She’d learned to use it under Doctor Strange’s instruction, though she doubted that even he knew it would come to that.
Illyana sighed, closing her eyes as she silently reached out to the Vishanti. “I know I'm not Doctor Strange, I may not ever be close. But even if you are not mine to wield, I want to help. This is how I can do that.”
A wave of mystic energy washed over her, and for the briefest of moments she was Tony Stark. She knew where she was and exactly how to get there. The vision faded as quickly as it had come, leaving her alone with her thoughts once again. Illyana allowed herself only a brief moment of doubt before heading in the direction of the man she sought.
