The Quinijet speeded over the Pacific Ocean headed towards the island of Guam. In the pilot's seat of the fast moving aircraft was the second in command of the Avengers, Scarlet Witch. Next to her was Thor, the leader of the Avengers. Behind him was the Celestial Messiah, Quoi, and beside him was his mother, Mantis. Seated all the way in the back of the Quinijet was the Eternal, Sersi.

These five Avengers were on their way to Guam because they were responding to a challenge that had come from a group calling themselves the Exemplars. They promised to keep destroying Guam until the Avengers showed up to fight them. Thor of course was taking the challenge. The Thunder God was not one to turn down a fight.

"Hath you contacted Callisto, Gilgamesh, and Crystal fair Wanda?" Thor asked staring out of the window. He didn't want to go into this fight low in number. He remembered his last encounter with these Exemplars. They were far from a threat to be taken lightly. They nearly carved the world into eighths for themselves to rule over.

"Crystal is in Attilan and said she will meet us in Guam. Callisto and Gilgamesh are in Japan and are probably already in Guam," Scarlet Witch responded. She began to prep the landing gear. They would reach Guam in a minute.

"I know this may sound dumb, but should we be worried about these Exemplars?" Quoi asked.

Mantis shot her son a piercing stare and Sersi chuckled a little at the sight. Wanda peered back behind her to see the anger Mantis obviously had for her son at the moment. Mantis was always a prideful woman…luckily none of those traits rubbed off on her son.

"I pray tell you listen Celestial Messiah. Thee Exemplars hath in thee past nearly torn the world asunder into eight pieces for them to govern over. They are indeed dangerous my friend," Thor said as the plane began to make it's descent towards the ground.

Scarlet Witch unbuckled her safety belt and instructed everyone to do the same. The plane landed gently on the ground. Scarlet Witch said, "Brace yourselves everyone. I got six high-energy signals moving this way and fast. We're bout to get into it!"

Wanda threw up her hands and everyone disappeared leaving behind a tiny glimmer of red light. The five Avengers reappeared out in the middle of an open plain with the Exemplars charging at them head on. Thor threw his hammer into the face of Inferno sending her flying into a large boulder. The attack wasn't enough to take her out of the battle though. Carnivore leaped on Mantis tearing at her uniform and flesh. Stonecutter and Tempest fired off their own respective energy blasts at Scarlet Witch. A black portal opened up in front of Wanda redirecting the energy blasts so they came up right behind their original sources. Except this time the blasts were ten times stronger. It was enough to knock out Tempest and Stonecutter…for now.

"Seems like you've got everything under control here!" Crystal exclaimed as she slid down from a plane piloted by Karnak on an inclined plane made of dirt.

Wanda smiled, "Bought time you showed up Crystal. I was starting to think you might miss out on the action."

"Not a chance!" Crystal exclaimed. Then the happy expression on Wanda's face turned into one of dread. Quickly Crystal turned around to find Decay reaching out with his hand to touch her. She instinctively turned her body into diamond. Decay's hand managed to grab her wrist and everything below it turned to dust.

"Nothing is beyond the reach of me," Decay said in his forever-gloomy voice. Crystal looked at him in an expression of pure annoyance. Just as she was about to surround him in a diamond barricade so she could rebuild her wrist and hand the Exemplar was struck by a dozen glowing pink knives.

"Magic is not something you can decay fiend!" Gilgamesh cried as he threw three more of his burning magic knives into the chest of the Exemplar.

Across the battlefield Quoi was flying higher and higher into the air in pursuit of the Exemplar, Bedlam. He enjoyed the chase and the fact that he was the hunter. Calling out to her he said, "Why attempt to run? I'll catch you eventually."

Bedlam suddenly stopped flying and turned around to stare at Quoi, "You fool! Prepare to pummel to the ground."

The Exemplar reached out with her telepathy to freeze all of Quoi's body and found it had no effect. She then reached out with her telekinesis to try and fling the Celestial Messiah into the ground. None of it was working. With a smile he waved his finger like a parent would to a misbehaving child. He then grabbed Bedlam by her leg and flung her downwards.

As she pummeled towards the ground Quoi flew right behind her. As they both fell towards the ground, one in control of themselves and the other still in shock, Quoi said, "Energy doesn't hurt me. It only feeds me. No matter whether that energy be solar, nuclear, psionic, or telekinetic! So telepathy and telekinesis are pretty much ineffective against me."

"How did you know that was what I was using against you?" Bedlam asked beginning to regain her composure. She just needed to distract the Avenger some.

"Simple miss. I can also convert that energy that feeds me into any power I desire. So I simply converted some of the energy you gave me into telepathy," Quoi explained.

Bedlam smiled and just as Quoi finished explaining his powers she stopped in mid-air and kneed him in the face while upside down. Quoi went tumbling downward. He had to catch his bearings, but he couldn't with Bedlam right on top of him. She was barreling both of them towards the Earth with taking most of the impact. Just perfect. Maybe the woman wasn't as smart as he thought.

Mantis meanwhile was doing her best to avoid the claws of the Greek Exemplar, Carnivore. He had got the drop on her early so she had to compensate. She dodged one of his punches that were meant for her neck and as she dodged she flung out one of her legs side wards connecting with Carnivore's knees. Andreas Zorba hit the ground hard. His jaw fell right on the edge of a sharp rock.

"Looks like you're going to have to pick up your face," Mantis laughed. Unbeknownst to her Stonecutter had recovered from Wanda's attack and was right behind the Celestial Madonna. He struck her hard over the base of her head with a rock he had shaped in a large brick shape.

"Get up Carnivore! We have to help the others!" Stonecutter said angered at his own and Zorba's sloppiness.

Carnivore shook off his wound and rose from the ground. He suddenly heard a large booming sound and looked behind him. Dust was all in the air. Out of the crater came Bedlam with a telekinetic shield around her and Quoi was surrounded with green energy.

"Don't worry about Bedlam! She can handle herself. We have to help Tempest. She's holding off Crystal, Scarlet Witch, and Gilgamesh!" Stonecutter said pointing towards where Nicolette had lightning pouring down all around Crystal, Sersi and Scarlet Witch. The Exemplar had Gilgamesh suspended in the air with her powerful winds. Sersi was quickly shattering her defensive winds by changing the wind into sand. Her fellow Exemplar had to work rapidly to save her.

Stonecutter turned the large brick stone in his hand into a large cannon. He aimed it directly at Crystal and it hit her dead on. The energy blast was enough to knock out Scarlet Witch and Gilgamesh. Nicolette was out cold as well. If Crystal had been in her human form that blast would have killed her, but her body was still composed of dense diamond.

"Good job Cutter! You took out Tempest too!" Carnivore said with a hint of both annoyance and amusement.

Stonecutter didn't seem in the least bit phased by Zorba's taunting. He turned to Carnivore and said without a hint of emotion in his tone, "I suggest you handle Callisto. She's headed right this way. I'll bring Tempest back into this fight."

Zorba turned his head quickly to see Callisto in mid-air with her metal fighting stick pointed right at the Exemplar. Carnivore leaped to the side and the former Morlock's stick struck dirt. She didn't let that halt her attack though. She used the stick as leverage and spun around on it with her feet landing right in the face of Andreas. The Greek man went flying back into the dirt. Before Carnivore even had time to take a breath Callisto had her stick at his throat.

"Don't move Zorba. Now why did you challenge the Avengers?"

With a smile Andreas replied, "We want one of you to make us the true gods we were meant to be."

Confused Callisto said, "Who are you talking…oh no" The realization of who the Exemplars were after just hit her. They were here for Wanda!

Meanwhile Stonecutter was over the body of Tempest. He picked up a tiny rock and with his power he shaped the stone into a tiny disk. He placed it on Tempest's forehead and it glowed a bright yellow. Nicolette arose from the ground and said, "Ouch! That felt like I just got hit in the head with a sledgehammer."

"My apologies for harming you Nicolette, but now that you are revived you must help Inferno fight off Thor! She's holding her own so far, but he's getting in some crucial hits! The device I put on your head not only revived you, but it made your powers stronger," Stonecutter explained.

"Good job Stonecutter! See if you can help Bedlam. She's pretty much on the defensive against the plant looking guy at the moment. I'll help Inferno take down Thor," Nicolette said as she flew off into the air towards where the battle was taking place between Thor and Inferno.

Stonecutter picked up another stone and with his powers turned it into a hover device. He stepped on the flat square object and floated quickly into the air. Before he even had a chance to move two black boots hit him in his shoulder. The blow was enough to nearly knock Stonecutter off his hovering device, but he merely expanded the size of the floating machine so that he fell down on it instead of the ground. Looking up he found that his attacker had been Callisto.

"So I see you've beaten Carnivore! Too bad you won't survive the battle with me," Stonecutter said as he rose up from the ground slowly dusting himself off. Callisto watched this occur from her battle stance.

"Looks like you…AKK!!" Stonecutter was about to try and intimidate Callisto with another threat, but he soon found her staff in his mouth.

"I figured you'd try and scare me again!" Callisto laughed as she threw a kick into the side of Stonecutter's head knocking him off his hovering device. She flipped off the machine made of stone as well and as she fell towards the ground she continued to batter Stonecutter with her staff. She could feel the vibrations travel through her hands as she attacked Stonecutter. The guy was definitely a hard head.

Quoi looked up from where he was at to see Callisto and Stonecutter falling through the air. He just hoped the woman knew what she was doing. Before he knew it he had received a punch in the face that knocked him all the way through a large boulder. Debris flew everywhere. The Celestial Messiah couldn't help, but laugh to himself. Every blow Bedlam gave him only made him stronger. Then a thought crossed Quoi's mind. Could he ever be defeated?

"Think too much and you get surprised boy," Bedlam said as she did something Quoi hadn't expected. With her telekinesis she kept all oxygen from reaching the Celestial Messiah's body. Quoi fell to the ground gasping for air. He was managing to hold on by using the energy Bedlam gave him to keep his body vital, but he was part plant. So oxygen was more vital to him than most other beings. The Celestial Messiah fell to the ground unconscious. He could be defeated after all.

Bedlam dusted her hands off, "I figured directs attacks against you were no good so I'd go for an indirect attack. Everyone needs oxygen and I just had to hope a freak like you did too."

"Excellent. All the Avengers are now defeated," Stonecutter said as he carried Thor over his shoulder and Callisto in one of his hands.

"Not without some bumps and bruises," Inferno said as she carried an unconscious Tempest in her hands. Even with their combined might Thor have still managed to get the best of them? Inferno almost felt that her and Tempest won with luck. The Thunder God was worried about his other teammates so it made him vulnerable. If he was on his own he probably would have prevailed in the fight. Thor was truly an awesome power to behold. Samantha knew she wasn't going to be able to sit down straight for a couple of weeks anyhow. Thor had really laid it to her.

"Let's get Scarlet Witch then and be out of here!" Bedlam said relieved that the fight was over with.

"You'll do nothing of the sort!"

The remaining Exemplars (Bedlam, Stonecutter, and Inferno) looked back to see that Scarlet Witch was arisen except her appearance was quite different. Her hair was outfit was completely black along with her eyes which no lacked pupils. The woman's body looked skinnier and her face was thinner. Her hair also wasn't curly, but so long that it reached to her ankles. Tiny gray metal spikes protruded out of her shoulders, knees, and gloves.

"Ahh crap don't tell me she's going Willow on us!" Inferno exclaimed.

"You watch that show?" Bedlam asked looking at Inferno with a demeaning stare. Inferno shrugged her shoulders. Bedlam only shook her head in reply.

"Such weak little mortals. To think you could all use me? How foolish of you children."

The sky quickly turned black and thunder rumbled in the distance. The ground began to rumble and became muddy. A white light illuminated off of Wanda's body erratically. Pink energy arced from her fingertips in dozens of directions. Seeing all this take place Stonecutter said in his toneless voice, "I believe she is angry."

"Master of the obvious," Inferno muttered. She was ready and waiting for an attack from Wanda. Whatever the witch decided to dish out she knew she could handle it.

"You actually thought you could use me to make you all gods? HAHAHAHAHA!!! So dumb."

With that the black sky swiftly converged into one area and barreled down on Bedlam, Inferno, and Stonecutter. As the sky made it's descent downward it turned into dark energy and that black force filled the bodies of the three Exemplars leaving their bodies twitching masses of flesh. Wanda walked over to the three devastated Exemplars and smiled. Just as soon as she smiled she herself fell unconscious on top of the body of Stonecutter her body having returned to it's normal state.

Avengers Mansion (Two Days Later)

"What the hell was that you pulled off in the battlefield Wanda? Everybody has been watching on the news. Including all of us since we were unconscious when it happened. It's like you become this entirely different person," Crystal asked worriedly. She was hoping with all her might that her friend wasn't slipping over the edge again and becoming something dark.

Wanda grasped her coffee, took it to her lips and sipped before she replied. As she set down the cup she gave an answer to Crystal's concerns, "I'm not going to turn evil if that's what you think. I was in control of myself somewhat when I underwent that alarming transformation." The whole thing still shook Wanda some. She hadn't expected something like that to happen, but she continued onward after her brief pause, "See it's not another persona or anything. Think of it as my equivalent to one of Wolverine's berserker rages except since I've become so powerful so quick these rages are much stronger."

"Obviously. You wiped three Exemplars like it was nothing," Crystal laughed as she popped open her Coke and let the carbon fizzle at her nose. That feeling was always good to her.

Scarlet Witch took a bite of her glazed chocolate donut and laughed along with Crystal. After swallowing her bite Wanda's grin turned into a serious expression, "I don't know when I'll get that angry again, but all I can say is when I do it's best just to let me do whatever I'm about to do. I become too powerful and too unstable to interfere with me. Though with luck this won't happen often. I'm still tired from doing the queen bitch bit the first time."

"Just can't believe we came so close to losing," Crystal sighed as she took another deep gulp of her Coca-Cola. Her bottle was half-empty and Crystal still had a sugar tooth out this world.

Sersi walked into the room with a Double Whopper in hand, "We tripped up bad is all. We underestimated the enemy and we paid for it. At least we still came out on top with a last minute save from hocus pocus here."

"Well, if my vision was any indication we're bout to head into some crazy stuff," Wanda said in that thick Eastern European accent.

The second in command of the Avengers caught Crystal's and Sersi's eye with that statement, "What do you mean?"

Wanda rose out of her chair to answer Crystal's question, "I saw a vision about a group of warriors who are going to kick our proverbial butts sooner rather than later. While I was super Wanda my powers were spiraling everywhere even into the future. I saw a glimpse of the future and I saw these warriors. All I know is one called himself Death Knight."

"Looks like I might have to postpone that trip to Thailand," Crystal sighed. She was really looking forward to doing some real charity work.

Sersi walked up to the Inhuman woman and shook her head fiercely, "No way am I letting you miss that Thailand trip. You have wanted to do it for months. I'll come with you and if anything happens two is better than one."

Crystal couldn't argue with Sersi. The Eternal was just too persuasive, "Fine Sersi. Let's go. We'll be back in a couple of days Wanda."

"Of course. Take your time. I'll inform Thor of the trip…as soon as you're gone," Scarlet Witch said with a devilish smile.