Chapter 8

I quickly sat up from the floor, gasping for air. To my right, Dr. Strange was kneeling next to me. 

"Are you okay?" he asked, getting up to his feet and extending his arm down to help me up.

 "I-I'm fine now" I said, taking his outstretched hand. 

"How long was I out for?". 

"I don't know; You were out when I found you" he replied, pulling me up to my feet, and I ended up leaning up against his chest. 

"What happened after I left you alone?" he asked me, in a concerned voice as he cupped his hands around my biceps.

"Well, I was practicing with the mimic cards when a vision came to me". 

"A vision?" echoed Dr. Strange, raising his left eyebrow. 

"Yeah, a small vision of the future. I usually black out when I have one". 

"And what did you see in it?" he asked curiously, leaning his face closer to mine. I swallowed hard. 

"I, um, saw my death," I said, letting out a soft sigh. 

Stephen looked at me, as if he was wanting more details about what I saw. As I explained my small future vision in depth to him, Strange quietly listened, soaking in every detail.

When I was done, I could see in his eyes that he was impressed and curious. 

"That vision you saw, was one of many possible outcomes of the coming battle. How were you able to see that?" 

I shrugged my shoulders. 

"I don't know, but I think that kind of power came from the purple slime I got exposed to during a science experiment in high school".

 "Is that how you got other powers?" asked Dr. Strange as he let go of me and started to walk out of the library.

I followed him down the stairs and into the main foyer of the sanctum, strolling beside him. 

"Yeah. I started with just shapeshifting, then my power grew stronger and now I can see different possible futures".

"But I unfortunately can't control that yet".

 "Tell me, how did you-".

 Before Stephen could finish asking me his question, sudden screams erupted from the outside of the sanctum. We both turned our heads towards the front doors, before we looked back to each other again.

"We need to get out there". 

We both walked up to the doors, before Strange gripped on the handle with his left hand.

 "Are you ready for your first-". 

"It's not my first fight, Strange" I said firmly, interrupting him. I glanced down at the black tunic I was wearing. 

"And I almost forgot to put this on".

 With a snap of my fingers, a cape as white as snow now hung around my neck, with all four suits of cards in a pattern on the inside. 

"Now I'm ready".

Dr. Strange swung the door open and walked out, with me right behind him. Outside, was the definition of chaos. Civilians were fleeing from the sidewalks and vehicles in terror as a 4 story creature started to rampage through downtown New York. 

"What's your plan, Strange?" I asked, as I am witnessing the attack. 

"Try and stop that savage beast from demolishing all of New York; I'll go find who's causing this" replied Dr. Strange, before he flew up high into the air.

I shifted my gaze from the shrinking shape of Dr. Strange to the furry monster that was only a few feet away from me, spitting up green slime and crushing vehicles with its massive paws.

 In order to stop it, I need to get its attention first. Then I could trap it or get it stuck,

I thought, as I carefully studied the creature. 

And I'll have to avoid getting slimed on or being impaled by its stinger. 

I slowly levitated myself up into the air and approached the attacker.

When I glanced back where I was standing, I saw some green slime already starting to pool. 

If I stood there any longer, I would've got stuck in that and possibly gotten eaten by that part cat, part scorpion monster.

I flew up high enough to land on the cat's furry grey back, only a few feet away from a familiar figure.

 "Stop Loki, you're hurting hundreds of people". 

The Asgardian got up and turned to face me. 

"You heroes just don't get it; I'm trying to do you a favor by wiping out these pathetic humans and you want to stop me?" he scoffed.

"They may be stupid and helpless, but those innocent people down there have a right to live, just like you and I". 

"But they don't see you or anyone with powers as a hero; They see you as a science experiment, a threat. Then the humans want to take that power and keep it to themselves. You know this already but you want to save them anyway?". 

"Yeah, some powerful beings were once just regular people". 

Like Stephen.

"The problem here isn't the humans; It's you, Loki. You don't see the good side of people, you choose to focus on the bad side".

I jogged a few steps forward and was about to knock his astral form out of his body when Loki made the Chitauri Scepter appear in his right hand and pointed it at me, pausing me in mid-air. 

"Did you really think you could take me on and defeat me?" asked Loki, smirking at me with delight.

I could only stare back into his cold dark eyes, not able to reply. He let out a cackle of laughter. 

"You really should've stuck to the job that the wizard gave you".

 Loki moved me from the space above his creature's grey back to beside it, four stories above the city street. Then he unpaused me with the scepter and I started to fall, plummeting down to my death.