Porkum Sends Chocolates To Agatha Harkness

The video call came the afternoon after Sue Storm's close escape. The heroine still felt shaky. She couldn't believe what he had done to her—what she had allowed Porkum to do to her. A part of her wanted to just curl up in the shower and scour her body clean and cry.

Except the call came from Agatha Harkness, who was watching her children.

So Sue quickly dried her tears and turned on the video call, a smile plastered on her face as she faced the familiar face of the old witch.

Her heart skipped a beat when she recognized the pink box that Agatha Harkness was holding.

"Hello, Susan. I just wished to thank you for the chocolates you sent—although you know I don't approve of the children getting too many sweets. I hope you are recovering well?"

In the afternoon light, Agatha Harkness' eyes seemed grey yet penetrating. An ancient black cat sat on the older woman's lap. Sue had that same impression she had every time she stared Harkness in the eyes. As if she was utterly transparent, and the grey-haired witched could stare straight down into her soul and see every sin.

"There's...super-trouble," Sue said. Her smile died, lips tight. "I'm dealing with it. Part of the reason I'd like you to keep the kids safe for a while."

One eyebrow arched on the wrinkled face—or perhaps, less wrinkled than before. The older woman seemed to have shed several decades, now that Sue looked at her. There were fewer wrinkles than before, more black in the normally grey hair.

"I see," Agatha said, and it seemed to Sue as if the old woman did understand, somehow. That was almost as scary the implications.

Porkum knew where her children were. He had sent the chocolates there as a threat. Evidence that Sue Storm dared not ignore him, not for a second.

"You didn't—eat any of the chocolates, did you?" Sue asked.

The old witch hesitated.

"They are very—addictive, aren't they?" the old woman said at last. A little color seemed to come to the old woman's cheeks as she said that, and with a shock Sue noticed that the old woman wasn't wearing a bra beneath her dark dress, the hard nipples made prominent tents in the fabric.

Sue Storm swallowed.

"Don't eat any more," she warned. "I'll...I'll deal with the source. Just take care of yourself, and the children."

"I will, Susan," the old witch said. "And you take care of yourself. I sense forces working against you, my dear. Be careful."

Susan nodded, as the video call ended.

The Invisible Woman sat there and shivered. Porkum had crossed a line, to threaten her children and friends like that. The blonde heroine hardened her heart as she realized what she had to do now.