Diablo gets back to the fallen Avengers

It have been over 90 minutes since Sersi had impulsively pulled Soulcrusher out of the scabbard exposing the Avengers team with a torrent of soul draining despair. Purple light erupted into the deadly quiet room as Diablo came to inspect the rewards of his planning. He already had Shieldbreaker drawn when he exited the portal and the mighty blade's drumming sound was an almost deafening thunder as it protected its wielder from the Tyrant's Blade's evil influence. Diablo felt a thrill of mystic power as he picked up Soulcrusher from its spot on the floor. Since he could not let go of Shieldbreaker or face the same fate of his enemies, he had to hold both blades at the same time. It was a simple matter to trap the swords sheath on the floor with his foot and insert the Soulcutter back into its scabbard. Once secured in its sheath, the aura of despair dissipated as the collective sigh of relief from Iron Man and Sersi confirmed.

The heroes were still immobile on the floor, even though the instrument of their **** was no longer active. After so long an exposure to the Tyrant's Blade, it would be days before even the immortal Thor would be a shadow of his former self. There were few things in the realms of magic or science that could hurry that process, but the villain had just the thing for the situation. He put the sheathed sword down and pulled out another sword from his belt scabbard. Where once the power of despair permeated the region, now utter joy of serving the glorious Diablo replaced it. Even so, such a long drowning in depression did not easily lift, even for the Mindsword. As soon as the power hit them, the heroes twitched and grunted, but it was a couple minutes before the evil magician heard the sounds he anticipated. At his feet he felt Sersi weakly grab his foot, look up and say "Mmm...Maasss...Mmaassstteeerrr...Master. Diablo." From across the room he could hear Iron Man murmuring his devotion as well as he lumbered to his feet. As his new converts took prostrate positions in front of him, he could hear their fellow Avengers shamble in and declare their devotion to the mighty villain. Diablo knew his plan was working. Like the foothold that the Invisible Woman's anger toward her husband created the crack in her psyche that Skulltwister needed to make her conversion permanent, the trauma of Soulcrusher left a veritable beachhead for their permanent conversion. Unwilling to even think of anything before that their release from soul searing pain. Their damaged minds were ready to accept anything that relieved them of that horror, so they drank in the power of the Mindsword. At first, they responded woodenly as that was all they were capable of, but the longer they were exposed the more fervently they accepted their place as slaves to the villain.

Diablo gave them an even longer exposure to this sword than he did to the last. He wanted to make sure that they were firmly in his power. Finally, he explained what he expected of his new slaves. "My dear followers, you shall be my most trusted servants." The heroes cheered his proclamation. "You will act like heroes, for now at least, but you will secretly act in my behalf." Sersi, the Scarlet Witch, the Wasp, Ms Marvel, and Photon looked at their master with utter devotion and he felt his pants suddenly get tighter. With a chuckle he thought "Its good to be king!"