Invisible {Doctor Strange/Civil War}

10

"I can't rewind"

Stephen walked through the hallway of the New York Sanctum, Ella following. He lent down to feel the man's pulse.

Nothing.

Stephen let out a breath, and Ella grabbed his hand, letting him know she was there. Stephen reached behind him, grabbing the cloak. His mind couldn't fathom that he had killed someone rather than saving them.

They walked up the steps together, taking two at a time. The contraption that held Kaecilius lay dismantled on the floor.

"Strange!" They turned to see Mordo on the other side of the room. "You're okay."

"A relative term, but yeah, I'm okay," Stephen replied, walking down the stairs to meet him.

"The Cloak of Levitation. It came to you." Mordo said, his gaze fixated on the deep red cloak.

"No minor feat. It's a fickle thing." The Ancient One said, smiling at Stephen. Ella walked over to her, smiling.

"He's escaped," Ella told them, gesturing over to the contraption.

"Kaecilius?" Mordo asked.

"Yeah. He can fold space and matter at will."

"He folds matter outside the mirror dimension? In the real world?" The Ancient One asked, her eyebrows raised.

"How many more?"

"Two. I stranded one in the desert." Stephen replied.

"And the other?"

"His body was in the hall. Master Drumm was in the foyer."

"He's been taken back to Kamar-Taj." Mordo nodded.

"The London Sanctum has fallen. Only New York and Hong Kong remain now to shield us from the Dark Dimension. You defended the New York Sanctum from attack." The Ancient One explained. "With its Master gone, it needs another, Master Strange."

Mordo turned to her, his expression bitter.

"No. It is Doctor Strange. Not Master Strange, not Mr Strange, Doctor Strange. When I became a doctor, I swore an oath to do no harm. And I have just killed a man! I'm not doing that again. I became a doctor to save lives, not take them."

"You become a doctor to save one life above all others. Your own." The Ancient One said.

"Still seeing through me, are you?" Stephen scoffed.

"I see what I've always seen. Your overinflated ego." She shot back. "You want to go back to the delusion that you can control anything, even death, which no one can control. Not even the great doctor Stephen Strange."

"Not even Dormammu? He offers immortality." His eyes squinted.

"It's our fear of death that gives Dormammu life. He feeds off it." The Ancient On continued.

"Like you feed on him? You talk to me about controlling death. Well, I know how you do it. I've seen the missing rituals from the book of Cagliostro." Stephen said, surprising Mordo and Ella.

"Measure your next words very carefully, doctor."

"Because you might not like them?"

"Because you may not know of what you speak." The Ancient One said, anger clear in her voice.

"What is he talking about?" Mordo asked, but Ella stayed silent. She already knew what was coming.

"I'm talking about her long life. The source of her immortality. She draws power from the Dark Dimension to stay alive." Stephen explained, not taking his eyes off the Ancient One.