Ch 82 Astral battle

"I think a reunion is about to happen." Tony said.

"Sounds right." Fury said.

Strange staggered into the hospital, calling out to Christine who saw him and was immediately concerned, asking what had happened. She led him to the operation theater as he told her he had been stabbed. She was confused by what he was wearing as she laid him down.

"Mystical uniform." Natasha muttered.

She attacked tubes to him. His heart rate was low. And then he lost consciousness to her shock. She prepared to inject him when Strange went into the Astral Dimension. He then managed to connect his Astral form with the world around and just as Christine was about to inject him, he told her to inject a little higher, making her scream in shock.

"Damn! He definitely scared the daylights out of her!" Sam said.

"How is she still alive after that?" Pepper mused.

"How would you react if that happened?" Scott asked Hope.

"Worse than her." Hope said.

She asked in a shocked tone what she was seeing and he said his Astral form. She asked if he was dead and he said he wasn't but was. She regained her senses and he illuminated the spot she had to inject, which she did. In the Sanctum, Lucian finally managed to free himself from the Cloak and saw the portal.

"You could have closed it at least!" Hill said.

Lucian also entered the Astral Dimension and went through the portal. Christine asked Strange what he had been stabbed with and he said he didn't know. He then saw Lucian and said he needed to disappear, asking her to keep him alive. She said she would as he fully returned to the Astral Dimension.

"Now it's starting." Rhodes said.

Strange punched Lucian down but was punched back and Lucian used his much superior skills to throw Strange away. Christine heard the sound a little but nothing too much. Strange continued to fight Lucian, right on the operating table and they even flew through Christine, pushing her back a little.

"It does look creepy now that I see it." Vision said.

"Never do it again!" Scott said to him.

Outside, West was in front of a vending machine and got something to eat. Strange and Lucian then came crashing through and other stuff fell too. West took one more packet and left.

Everyone laughed as Peter said, "Take one, get one free."

Strange and Lucian were thrown back into the operation theater, knocking a table away. Lucian eventually kicked Strange in a rotatory motion and the monitor flat-lined.

"Damn it!" Bucky said as everyone tensed.

"Relax. He's still alive." Loki said, only to receive glares.

Christine brought a defibrillator as Lucian strangled Strange. That filled Strange's Astral body with energy and Lucian was sent flying off.

"Oh my God!" Aunt May said as everyone clapped at that scene.

Strange contacted the real world through Astral form again, startling Christine who told him to stop doing that. He asked to hit him again with more power, even though his heart was beating. He then returned to Astral Dimension and grabbed Lucian just as Christine increased power to 360J and hit him again. The energy in Strange's Astral body exploded Lucian's Astral body while his real body lay dead with head scorched.

"Finally!" Wanda said as all clapped for Strange.

"That was pretty smart." Steve said.

"Yes. He appears as ingenious as you, Stark." Thor complimented them both and Tony nodded in appreciation.

Strange then woke up with gasps. Christine later stitched him up and said how he had shown up after all this time, flying out of his body.

"Yeah. I'd be shocked too." Clint said.

Strange said he had written 2 e-mails and she had never responded. She asked why would she and he apologized for everything, saying he was a complete asshole who had treated her horribly though she had deserved much better.

"It always takes courage to own up to your mistakes." T'Challa said and all nodded.

Christine asked where he had been and he said after Western medicine had failed him, he had headed East and ended up in Kathmandu, where he had talked to the Ancient One. She said he had joined a cult. He said they had taught him to tap into powers he never knew had existed. She said it sounded like a cult and when Strange protested, she said that's what a cultist would say.

Everyone chuckled as Natasha said, "It does sound like a cult now that she says it."

Strange then got up, joking he was late to a cult meeting as Christine helped him out. He then explained how a powerful sorcerer who had given himself up to an ancient entity who could bend the very laws of physics had tried very hard to kill him but he had left him trapped in Greenwich Village and the only way back was a dimensional gateway in the mop closet. She was still skeptical until he showed her the portal.

"After all the strange things happening in the world, I'd believe him." Logan said and all agreed.

Strange walked into the portal and closed it as Christine turned but then a broom fell and she screamed.

Everyone burst out into hysterical laughter.

Strange returned to the Sanctum and checked Lucian's pulse before wrapping the Cloak on his back.

"That looked awesome." Peter said.

Strange walked up to see the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak lying on the ground and Kaecilius nowhere to be found.

"Nothing is easy." Benjamin said and all groaned.

Mordo arrived and noted the Cloak of Levitation had come to Strange. Ancient One arrived and said it wasn't a minor feat as it was a fickle thing. They inquired about the Zealots and Strange said one was stranded in the desert while the other was in the hallway. Ancient One said the London Sanctum had fallen and only then New York and Hong Kong Sanctums remained. With this Sanctum's Master gone, Strange could be the Master as he had defended it from attack. Strange said he wasn't 'Master' or 'Mr.' but '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."

"It doesn't always work that way." Bruce mused sadly. He was also a doctor. But now as Hulk, he had taken many lives. Thor put a hand on his shoulder for support and he smiled in appreciation.

Ancient One said he had become a doctor to save lives above all others and he wanted to go back to the delusion that he could control everything, even death, though he couldn't. Strange asked if Dormammu could and she said their fear of death gave him life. He fed off of it. Strange asked if it was like how she fed off of him. He knew how she controlled death due to the missing pages. Ancient One asked him to measure his next words carefully. Strange revealed to Mordo she drew power from the Dark Dimension to stay alive, saying he had seen and worked out the rituals. Ancient One said the Zealots would be back and they'd need reinforcements before walking off.

"She's kind of like a Dark Angel in that sense. Except a good one." Tony said. [1]

Strange said she wasn't what they thought she was. Mordo said he had no right to say that due to the responsibility on her shoulders. He didn't want to know and was called a coward because the Zealots were going to snuff them out and he wouldn't snuff them out first. He had done it only to save his own life and then whined like a dog. Mordo would do it without hesitation, saying there was no other way and Strange said he lacked imagination. Then there was a sound and they ran to see Kaecilius and other Zealots.

"And they're back." Sam said while the others groaned.

Mordo jumped down to fight as Strange flew in the air and managed to send them all to the Mirror Dimension.

"Yes!" Tony said.

"Actually, it wasn't that smart in hindsight." Odinson said.

Strange asked who was laughing now. Kaecilius smirked and said he was. Mordo kicked the other two away and they ran out. Strange said they couldn't get out. Mordo said their connection to the Dark Dimension made them more powerful in the Mirror Dimension so this was suicide.

"Unfortunate." Bucky sighed.

The two ran as Strange tried to open a portal but Kaecilius changed the entire landscape, making them both fall down. Now some roads were straight and others tilted.

"What the hell?"! Sam said as the others watched wide eyes and dropped jaws.

"Now I think even I will get sick." Steve said.

"You're not the only one." Clint said.

"These people are trippy." Logan said.

The two ran were crashed into a bus. An old man was reading something in there and laughed, "That is hilarious."

Everyone chuckled as Rhodes said, "I have a feeling this guy could sense the Mirror Dimension."

The two ran up a building as Strange conjured a portal but Kaecilius warped the building and the ones near it, making them all fall down.

"Shit!" Rhodes said.

"Mirror Dimension. Never going there." Bruce said.

Strange was then sealed inside a warped building and ran as they chased him. He continued avoiding them, till Kaecilius was running right under the bridge over which Strange was. Kaecilius jumped up and pinned him to the floor, taking away his Sling Ring. Before he could stab him though, the platform Strange was on flew back and the others flew around too, separating the Zealots. Kaecilius turned to see Ancient One there.

"Now you're screwed." Thor said.

She managed to move Strange and Mordo away, with the latter realizing she did draw power from the Dark Dimension. Kaecilius said he had expected her to be his teacher and she had fed him lies. She said she had been trying to protect him from himself. Dormammu was a deceiver and his eternal life was torment, not paradise.

"That is the truth." Odinson said.

The fight began, with her easily fending them off due to her powers being greater. She pushed the tall Zealot back with her tao mandala and was about to behead him when Kaecilius stabbed the tall Zealot and through him, the Ancient One. She gasped as Strange and Mordo watched in horror.

"NO!" Peter said as the others gasped in horror.

Kaecilius kicked her into the real world through a portal he had opened as Strange and Mordo jumped after her. She fell down from a huge building and crashed through glass, onto the ground.

Everyone flinched at the brutal scene and Kaecilius' brutality. To kill his own former teacher by sacrificing his follower? He had to be a new level of disgusting to do that.

"He is a dishonorable man." T'Challa snarled about Kaecilius.

Strange and Mordo turned her around, watching with dropped jaws as the people watched.

"I think I know where he's taking her." Tony said.

Ancient One was wheeled into the hospital as Strange called out to Christine and she was shocked to see how injured Ancient One was. She was led to the operation theater as Strange picked up a surgical tool but his hand shook so he gave it to West who nodded. She slowly started flat-lining in spite of the others' best efforts.

"No, no, no." Aunt May was muttering.

Strange entered the Astral Dimension and so did the Ancient One. He flew after her and they stood at a balcony. He asked her to return to her body as they didn't have time and she said time was relative as his body hadn't even hit the floor. "I've spent so many years peering through time, looking at this exact moment. But I can't see past it. I've prevented countless terrible futures. And after each one, there's always another. And they all lead here, but never further." She said.

"She knew." Steve realized.

She said she had never seen Strange's future but only possibilities because of his capacity for goodness. He excelled not because he craves success but because he feared failure. He said it had made him a great doctor but she said it had kept him from greatness. Arrogance and fear had kept him from learning the simplest lesson of all. "It's not about you." She said.

"Never is." Tony said, having finally learnt that lesson, "It's about everyone."

She revealed they hadn't healed Jonathan Pangborn but he channeled dimensional energy into his own body to walk.

"How much effort does that take?" Steve asked.

"Quite a bit." Odinson said.

He had a choice to return to his own life or serve the greater good and had chosen the former. Strange could have his hands and old life back again but the world would be lesser for it. She had hated drawing power from the Dark Dimension but one needed to break the rules for the greater good. Strange said Mordo wouldn't see it that way and she said he was rigid and unmovable forged by fires of his youth. He needed Strange's flexibility while Strange needed his strength and only together could they stop Dormammu. "I'm not ready." Strange said.

"No one ever is." T'Challa said.

"No one ever is." Ancient One said, "We don't get to choose our time. Death is what gives life meaning. To know your days are numbered, your time is short. You'd think after all this time I'd be ready. But look at me, stretching one moment out into a thousand, just so I can watch the snow." With that, her Astral form disappeared as Strange watched sadly while she died in the ER.

Everyone closed their eyes and sighed sadly. She was flawed but a good person like them all.

Strange later washed his hands as Christine arrived and saw his Cloak. She washed her hands too as he held her hand. She didn't understand what was happening and he said he had to go right now, reminding her she had said losing his hands could be a new beginning as there were other, harder ways to save lives. She joked they were weird ways and the two were about to kiss when Dr. Palmer was called to the ER.

"Yeah. That's the worst." Tony said and all chuckled.

She kissed his cheek, saying she didn't want to let him go and walked off. Strange looked in the mirror and put on his cape, straightening it. The sides pestered his face until he told it to stop and it did.

Everyone laughed at that.

"I think it's about to begin now." Steve said.

"Right you are." Logan said as the recording continued.