I wake up to the sound of shouting and glass being hit, "Hey. Hey! This universe sucks!" I look around and I'm stuck in a cage with glass walls in the middle of Strange and America. America is hitting on the glass repeatedly.
I look over at Strange and he's getting up off the ground wiping dust off himself, he then notices he's missing his cloak. "Cloak?"
The three of us stare at each other for a moment. Strange tries to do some spell to get us out of here but he's powerless. He notices the bands on his wrists blocking his magic, he sighs in defeat swinging his arms.
"Hey" Strange calls to one of the people outside. He knocks the glass, "Hey, Labcoat. Where the hell are we? Look, I don't know who you are or what you think you're trying to do here, but These situations don't usually work out well for a nameless scientist" the woman with red hair turns to face Strange, "Christine?"
Me and America both look at Strange and then back at the woman, "Hello, Stephen."
"Ay, Dios" America mutters.
"Miss Chavez" Christine smiles looking at America. Christine turns to look at me, "Miss Stark." She looks back at Stephen, "To answer your question, you're in a highly secure research facility. The three of you, along with your sentient cloak, are here for surveillance and testing."
"Testing?" I scoff, "nah nah nah, I don't do testing. I have PTSD from testing."
"You're visitors from another universe" Christine states. "Your magnetic signatures could be radioactive. You may be carying diseases we just don't have treatments for. Hence these amazing polycarbonate fishbowls. You miss Stark have already been tested due to us having to stitch up your wound."
I look down at my chest and see a slit in my suit and a blood stain surrounding it. "This was a new suit."
The three of us look at our cages again. "Right. So, I have you to thank for these then" Strange smiles holding out his wrists showing his bands to the woman.
"Yes, I developed those using the Sands of Nisanti" Christine explains. "One of Stephen 838's magical relics."
"838 Stephen" Strange chuckles mockingly, "Is that some kinda cyborg me?"
"Our universe is 838" Christine explains. "And we've designated yours 616."
"This is Earth Dimension 616. I'm from Earth 833." I guess Beck wasn't completely a bullshitter.
"Oh. You guys sure must know a lot about the Multiverse" Strange nods. "You got someone going around naming realities."
"Yes. Me" Christine points to herself, "My senior phoned the Baxter Foundation, and I specialize in Multiversal research."
"So, how'd you end up working here?" Strange questions looking around the room. "Wherever here is."
"Oh, I volunteered" Christine admits. "At your funeral."
"Thank you for going" strange sighs.
Christine stares down at a tablet, "Your injuries, they're, They're similar, but they're not identical. It's fascinating." She taps a bottom and two X-rays of hands are on the screen of her computer.
"What were we, to each other in this universe?" Strange asks.
Christine looks up from her computer, "We never quite figured that out" she shrugs.
"Yeah. That's something we got in common" strange sighs. "Christine, You gotta let us out of here. Everyone's in real danger. Look, I know you don't know me."
"And I don't want to" Christine interrupts. "Whatever I was to you, in your universe, does not matter."
"Why not?" Strange questions, god why can't these two just shut up so I can plan my escape in peace.
Christine sighs placing down her tablet and walking closer to Stranges cage, "Because you're dangerous, Stephen."
Strange crouches down to be at the same height at Christine, "Someone from my universe wants that girl" he points to America, Christine looks over at her and then looks back at him. "And she's gonna rip this place apart, atom by atom, until she gets what she wants. So I don't care, if you're from the Avengers, or S.H.I.E.L.D."
"We're neither" A familiar male voice states walking into the room, we all looks over and Mordo is stood there with four robots behind him.
"Well, what then?" I question demandingly. "Hydra?" I swear if these guys are Hydra someone will be dead.
"The Illuminati, will see you now" Mordo states with a smug smile.
"The Illumi-whati?" I question with a chuckle. Suddenly Stranges bands are being magnetised together like handcuffs, and the doors of mine and his cells open.
"Don't let anyone hurt the kid" Strange demands looking at Mordo. Me and strange both walk out of our cells, I stare down at my hands wondering why handcuffs haven't been out on me. I guess they think I don't have a power, Mordo must've forgotten. "It's gonna be okay" strange tells America.
She watches as me and Strange walk out of the room both of us with robots at each of our sides.
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Me and Strange are led through a huge room by the robots, Mordo ditched he probably will be wherever we're being led to.
Me and Stephen walk up a set of stairs and are led to a set of doors. The huge doors open up and we're both shoved inside by the robots. The doors close behind us. "Is it just me or do you get the feeling we're being led to our death?" I ask strange, he turns to look at me with a confused glance. "I mean there could be a lion at the end of this path and we wouldn't have time to react cause just as we see it our heads are being bitten off. Or maybe there will be a ledge we won't see and just plummet to our death" i gesture a falling motion with my hands, "splat."
Strange looks at me slightly mortified that I've even thought of those scenarios, "you scare me sometimes Stark."
"I don't know whether I should take that as an insult or a compliment" i sigh as me and strange begin to walk down the path which I can see the sun shining through large windows and silhouettes of three people on chairs.
"Take it as you want to" Strange shrugs as we reach the centre of the floor below the platformed floor that these people are on. It's like they need to be looking down on us like we are peasants.
Mordo then walks out behind the line of five chairs but only three are actually sat in them. "Stephen Strange and Olivia Stark. You are now called before the Illuminati. I, Baron Karl Mordo, The Sorcerer Supreme, hereby-"
"Karl?" I interrupt with a chuckle, Strange also begins to laugh too.
Suddenly, a familiar shield is thrown at us, it bounces off the wall behind us and then back to the owner. A female holds the shield and I get a better look at it. It's literally the exact same style as Caps, the outer ring is blue, the middle ring is silver, and the inside ring is red and in the centre it's the flag of Britain.
"Captain Carter" Mordo tells us as the woman gives us a stern glare as she takes a seat. "The First Avenger."
OMG. This is Steve's bitch. I knew I recognised her from somewhere, she's Caps WW2 bird and his one true love, the woman he went back in time for and ditched the rest of us. "Oh shit" I mutter, I nudge Stephen's shoulder, "Strange that's Steve's hook up from the 40s. Damn."
"Blackagar Boltagon" Mordo continues pointing to the man sat beside Peggy. Seriously why is this guy still talking? His voice is so anoooooying. I know why this guy is dead in our universe now. "Keeper of the Terrigen Mists. The Inhuman King."
"Blackagar Boltagon?" Strange questions, with a chuckle. I'm glad to know Strange is just as amused to this as I am. "Hey, the guy over there." Strange and me both wave with sarcastic smiles.
"Captain Marvel" Mordo points to the set of chairs on the other side of him. In the middle seat Captain Marvel sits there. She has a black suit but she looks nothing like our Captain Marvel. "Defender of the Cosmos. And the smartest man alive" a square thingy reveals a guy stood in front of the chair, "Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four." He presses a button on a remote and the square disappears, I'm guessing it was a portal.
"Hello, Stephen. Olivia" Reed dude says looking at the two of us. This guys is the only one who doesn't look like he's about to kill us.
"Fantastic Four?" Strange questions quietly. "Didn't you guys chart in the sixties?" I put my hand over my mouth to muffle my laughs.
"I'm sorry. Is this a joke to you?" Captain Marvel asks looking like she wants to snap our necks. Yes this is a complete piss take to me lady.
"Well there's a guy over there with a fork on his head, so, yeah. Little bit" I smile looking at Blackagar Boltagon. He does a fist with his hand and hits it with his other hand, and then puts his finger over lips. I give him a thumbs up.
"Be grateful Black Bolt doesn't engage you in conversation" Captain Carter tells us.
"Why?" Strange asks. "Does he have bad breath?" I chuckle but cover it quickly with a cough.
"This Strange is even more arrogant than ours" Carter sighs looking at her other team members.
"No. Just more alive" Strange shrugs. I look to him and burst out laughing. Strange has a look on his face that says he's shocked that he said that out loud. I notice strange trying not to smile, he hits my stomach telling me to stop. I stand up straight and just close my mouth, cause if I open it I'll just laugh.
"For now" Captain marvel scoffs.
"Your arrival here confuses and destabilizes reality" Reed explains to the two of us. "The larger the footprint you two leave behind, the greater the risk of an incursion."
"Incursion?" I question. "What the hell is an incursion? That sounds like a fancy way to describe something being destroyed."
"An incusion occurs, when the boundary between two universes erodes, and they collide" Reed states. "Destroying one, or both, entirely."
"I was somewhat right, but thanks for the earth lesson smartest man alive" I smile. "That sounds exactly like tectonic plates and shit." I'm sure Bruce did a science lessons on this crap with me when I was like eleven.
"Stephens alternate self created the Illuminati, to make difficult decisions that no one else could" Carter tells us. "Today, we're here to determine what to do with you two, and the child." I gotta feeling the decision is going to be to kill us.
"So, before we vote, if you got anything serious to say, now's the time" Captain Marvel says. She has a southern accent that makes her sound like a cowgirl. I look at Strange he looks at me telling me to speak if I want to.
"Well I'm Olivia Stark" I start with a smile, "Im the worlds youngest billionaire, in my universe. My father sacrificed himself to kill Thanos, I killed my mother but before you begun to hate me even more let me explain. My mother didn't tell my father she was pregnant and when I was born she left me at his doorstep and ran. Never called, never sent a card. When I was twelve the volunteered me to be a test subject for some really bad people. And I got kidnapped and tested on and become something. And she came back into my life to try to kill me so I killed her first. I've had my fair share of evil people to fight and had some experiences. So yeah that's my life, there's a few other things but that is a whole different story." Strange scoffs I'm guessing that's not what he wanted me to say.
"How old are you, Olivia?" Reed asks me.
"I turned nineteen, six weeks ago" I answer.
"You shouldn't be here" Reed states with a sigh, "you're a kid. No kid should have to experience what you've experienced, no kid should have had to kill their own mother. No kid should be put in the situation you're in right now."
"Well who else was going to?" I shrug. "If I didn't kill my mother she would've killed me. She was my demon to kill. However, America is 14 if you think I shouldn't be here she definitely doesn't deserve to be here! So let us go!"
"Olivia, America has a power" Reed tries to explain. "People will hunt her down for this power. Everyone wants what she has. But no child should have any power, no kids should be brought into this fight."
I send a blast from my hand wrap a beam around Reeds chair, "it's not just her with a power." I retract the beam and stand with my hands behind my back.
"It's incursions you're worried about" Strange suddenly speaks up after realising what they are scared of. "Do you seriously think we're a bigger threat than the Scarlet Witch?"
"Oh, we can handle your little witch if she decides to dreamwalk" Captain Marvel scoffs.
"No. No, you cannot" Strange tells them, "not unless you give me the Book of Vishanti."
"We appreciate your concern" Reed begins. "But it's not the Scarlet Witch that we fear. From our experience, the greatest danger to the Multiverse, it turns out is Doctor Strange."
"Your Doctor Strange?" Stephen questions. "Earth's Mightiest Hero who died defeating Thanos?" I can tell he's mocking his other himself by the tone of his voice.
"We should tell them the truth" a unfamiliar voice states. From the right side from the room an old bald man enters in a yellow wheelchair.
"Our final member" Mordo states. "Professor Charles Xavier."
"What truth?" I ask. I want to know what the fuck these people are on about. "Please tell me your strange was a bad guy."
"That's not how our Strange died" Charles Xavier tells us. "Our Strange did not die defeating Thanos. We were at war. While the rest of us banded together to try to stop Thanos, Stephen, as always, chose to go it alone."
"He turned to the Darkhold" Mordo adds. "Began dreamwalking. In hopes that our salvation might lie in the Multiverse."
"And guess what?" Captain Marvel chuckles. "It didn't. But he kept doing it anyway."
"He got corrupted by the darkhold" I realise as I look over to Stephen with a shocked expression growing over my face. "Doctor strange went dark."
"Exactly" Reed nods. "One night, you called us all together, to profess that you've been dreamwalking. And in your words, things have gotten out of hand. You never told us the details of what had happened. Only that you had inadvertently triggered an incursion. You, our friend, had caused the annihilation of another universe."
"Everyone in that reality died" Captain Marvel states. "Everyone."
"Stephen renounced the Darkhold" Xavier explains. "He even helped us find the Book of Vishanti. A weapon we did use together, to defeat Thanos. Thus, one final threat remained." Xavier places both of his hands on the side of his head and closes his eyes. A strong power pulses towards me and Strange and a memory gets in my eyes.
Reed, Captain Marvel, Peggy, Charles and Black Bolt all stand around Stephen who is on his knees on the familiar battlefield of the final fight, with Thanos impaled on some rocks nearby. "I shall miss you, my friend" Charles sighed.
"I'm ready" Strange nods. His hair is all messed up and he has blood running from his nose.
Black bolt steps forward, a force comes from his mouth and consumes Stephen until there is no trace of him. "I'm sorry"
Me and Strange look at the illuminati members who are staring back at us. "Did you tell Christine?" Strange asks.
"Yes" Reed sighs.
"That statue" I mutter. "What about the statue? You built a statue, why would you build a statue for a traitor?!"
"The world needs heroes" Captain Carter shrugs. "We made a difficult choice because we knew what our Strange was capable of. Or perhaps, every Doctor Strange is capable of."
"No no no" I interrupt. "Sure your Stephen was an absolute dick but this Strange is far from evil. Sure he's made a few mistakes but he would never give into the Darkhold. You guys were meant to be his friends, you were supposed to help him and you let him get out of control. That's on you guys. If you look close enough you can see that you guys were the cause of your Stephen giving into the temptations of the Darkhold. THATS ON YOU! But this Strange isn't bad, you gotta believe me. You have to trust us."
An alarm sounds. All the illuminate members stare up at the roof with confusion. "The building's been breached." Reed states.
Wanda. "No shit, genius" Strange replies dryly due to him having the exact same thought as me.
"Status report all sentries" Captain Carter demands. Screens appear behind me and strange and shows the robots attacking Wanda who is in normal clothes. She is powerful and these robots are no match for her. Wanda blasts all the robots down.
"She's heading for the child" Captain Marvel realises. Good realisation.
"Watch them" Carter demands as her, Maria, Black bolt and reed all stand to leave. "We'll vote on our return." They all leave the room in a hurry. They're all going to die.
"Stephen, should you manage to escape this chamber, you must guide America Chavez" Xavier advices.
"What the hell are you saying?" Mordo questions as he stands to fight.
"Save the girl, and get to the Book of Vishanti" Charles demands. I actually like this old guy. I think he's more on our side than his team.
"What, you have the book here?" I question as a smile begins to break onto my face.
"Yes" Charles replies. "You built a way point."
"Charles" Mordo harshly interrupts. "We cannot trust them." God I hate this guy. I get why he's dead in our universe.
"I believe we can" Xavier smiles weakly. "Just cause someone stumbles and loses their way, doesn't mean they're lost forever. We will see what kind of Doctor Strange you are."
"Thank you" Strange replies with a slow nod of respect. Okay. Let's get out of here.
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