It seemed like a nightmare fueled by fear and paranoia. As fire engulfed the building Agent Everett Ross found himself wandering aimlessly through the smoldering ruins of the eighteenth floor of the high rise desperately trying to find anyone and everyone who had been unable to escape the blaze and needed help. Pulling off his suit jacket he pressed the fabric to his nose and mouth to try and filter out the choking black smoke as he ran his hand along the ashen covered wall during his search.

"Hello?" He shouted loudly over the crackling flames that devoured the walls, the floor, the ceiling. "Is anyone there? Call out!"

No voices sounded off which was of course a good sign, but it also meant that Everett was trapped alone in the burning building.

As he stumbled toward the stairwell at the end of the long corridor, knowing that the elevators would be far too unreliable to use for his escape, he coughed harshly and fell to his hands and knees trying to keep away from the smoke. As he crawled slowly along the ground, his body sweating from the intense heat and his lungs aching from the smokey breaths he was forced to take Everett struggled to find his way through the dark and dangerous pathway.

Everett's hand brushed against the closed door leading to the stairwell and he stood up quickly. Grabbing onto the handle to the door he flinched at the painfully hot metal under his palm and jumped back. Just as he began wrapping his jacket around his hand to protect it from the heat a thunderous crack in the ceiling formed and allowed a massive metal beam fall through and crash down onto Everett.

Gasping for his forcibly expelled breath as the heavy beam plummeted to the floor and pinned Everett down to the ground by resting over his chest. The painful weight pressed down against his his chest and made it nearly impossible to breathe. Arms and hands pushing against the beam with all of the strength Everett could muster dots danced before his eyes as darkness encroached around his vision.

Darkness and silence overtook his mind as he fell into the merciful depths of unconsciousness.

"Do not panic." A deep voice commanded as Everett's mind began to drift.

"...Panic?" Everett repeated in a weak whisper in response to the voice. "Who are you?"

"A friend."

"Friend... Strange." Everett forced his eyes open and he found himself sitting in the calm and secretive stronghold of the New York Sanctum. "Stephen Strange."

"You remember." Doctor Stephen Strange was sitting in a chair in the parlor of the sanctum with his hands knitted together and pressed to his chin as he sat in contemplative thought. "That's good."

"Yes. You showed up in that... dream. I think it was a dream." Everett looked around the sanctum, bits and pieces of his dazed memory recognizing the furnishings on a basic level. "Why am I here again? Another warning or is this a courtesy visit?"

"This is a rescue."

"A rescue?" Everett didn't quite know how to react that answer. He laughed a little and thought back to the fire. "I'm still trapped inside the burning building, aren't I?"

"Yes."

"So is this another dream?"

"Not exactly." Stephen rose from his seat and walked over to Everett, his own stature towering over the agent as he stood before him. "Look at your hand."

"My hand? What for?"

"Please, just indulge me."

"Alright. I don't see why-" Everett stopped short as he raised his opened hand in front of his eyes and realized that he could see right through his appendage and lock eyes with Doctor Strange with little obstruction. "What's going on?!"

"You're here but you're not here."

"Am I... dead? A ghost?"

"No. But unfortunately you are dying."

"Then what is this?"

"This is your astral form." Stephan explained calmly. "I pulled your life force from your body as a means of keeping your mind in tact."

"I don't understand."

"The fire." Stephen stated firmly. "Do you know the cause?"

"N-No. The alarm went off and a mandatory evacuation followed. I didn't hear anything about the cause."

"You will, but it will also be a lie."

"Pardon?"

"The fire is not the result of an accident but it will be labeled as such."

"The fire was... intentional." Everett lowered his hand as he stared at Stephen curiously. "Why?"

"There is a very important and very secretive file hidden away inside the building. A mole, a saboteur had set the fire with the intent to make it look like an electrical problem."

"They're hiding their trail and hoping that the missing file will be written off as lost in the fire."

"Exactly."

"Who am I looking for?"

"That I do not know, but I do know that the culprit will re-visit the scene of the crime. As soon as you're able you must return to the building to-"

Everett began to pant a little as if he couldn't breathe. He fell to his knees and clutched at his chest as weakness stole his strength and fear stole his confidence.

"Everett. Breathe." Stephen instructed. "Your body is beginning to succumb to the smoke. You must resist it."

"H-How?"

"Keep your focus on me." Stephen stated in a calm and controlled manner. "Talk to me."

"What should I-" Everett winced as he felt a sudden pressure on his chest. His hand tightened and his eyes shut with a painful grimace.

"Don't think, just speak."

"You said that... That there is a secret file... What's in it?"

"Information regarding H.Y.D.R.A. and the Avengers."

"They aren't... connected are they?"

"No, of course not. But the infiltration of H.Y.D.R.A. runs deep and the only threat to such a powerful underground organization is the Avengers. No other organizations or governments can stop H.Y.D.R.A."

"Because... H.Y.D.R.A. has infiltrated... the government."

"Yes. Now you understand."

"What can I-" Everett crumpled forward as a new sensation overwhelmed his body. "It feels like someone just punched me in the chest!"

"Breathe. Just breathe." Stephen remained calm and in control. "It's helping you. Remember what I said and be on your guard."

Everett's eyes shot open suddenly as he took in a deep, shuddering breath and immediately began coughing up the smoke that had filled his lungs. A pair of hands rested on his chest in an attempt to keep him still as he choked for air and tried to gain his bearings.

"Take it easy Agent Ross." A female voice spoke to him as she pressed the cold bell of a stethoscope to his chest. A paramedic. "You're safe." She slipped an oxygen mask over his nose and mouth as she resumed assessing his condition. "Take a few deep breaths, you need to clear out the remaining smoke."

Laying back and trying to relax as much as possible Everett realized that he was laying on a gurney next to an ambulance safely outside of the still burning building. The fire department had arrived and was beginning to douse the flames but the damage was significant.

"You got out just in time." The paramedic told him as she checked his vitals. "A minute more and you would've been a goner."

Steadying his breathing Everett looked around and looked down at his own body. Aside from an impressive purple colored bruise stretching down from his right shoulder to the lower potion of the left side of his ribcage, two orange gel pads were resting on his chest and a defibrillator with a cardiac monitor was sitting on the ground next to him.

Everett's heart had stopped.

The pressure to his chest and the punching sensation, they had been caused by C.P.R. and defibrillation being applied to his physical form while his astral form was speaking Doctor Strange.

"How did I-" Everett coughed again cutting off his hoarse sounding voice. The mask over his mouth muffled his words but he didn't dare pull it away.

"Get out?" The paramedic finished the question for him as she removed the stethoscope and draped it casually around her neck. "You made it to the first floor before collapsing near the doorway. Firefighters carried you out just in time."

"I don't... I don't remember getting down to the first floor. I was trapped and I can't remember how I escaped..."

"Not surprised. You breathed in a lot of smoke. The lack of oxygen to your brain can hinder your memory."

"It can?" Everett asked as the paramedic pulled the safety straps over his legs and chest and secured them in place.

"Yeah, honestly I'm surprised you're as lucid as you are." A second paramedic joined the first and together they placed the gurney into the back of the ambulance. "When I first saw you I thought you were already dead. But we picked up a weak heartbeat and managed to get you back."

"Guess I was lucky." Everett sighed wearily as the two paramedics climbed into the back alongside him.

"Stranger things have happened!" The paramedic quipped as she pounded on the side of the ambulance to signal the driver to go.

"Strange..." Everett closed his eyes and remembered everything Stephen had told him. "only begins to describe it."

The fire was only the beginning.

Aside from the pounding headache, bruise across his chest and a dry cough that acted up every now and then, Agent Everett Ross was recovering comfortably as he sat upright, alone, in the bed in his private room at the hospital. An I.V. ran into his left arm giving him fluids and precautionary antibiotics, a nasal cannula provided clean oxygen to help clear the lingering smoker from his lungs and a cardiac monitor was set up to keep track of his vitals after having been revived through C.P.R. and defibrillation.

Everett coughed into his hand and he cleared his voice. "Damn fire." He grimaced as took a deep breath and focused on the laptop sitting on the small table that stretched over his bed. "Strange better be right about this." Everett typed away quickly as he searched through the salvaged data contained on the laptop's memory. "Just because he saved my life doesn't mean I have to search around over some missing file that may have never actually existed."

"Don't be so sure." A deep voice responded from the corner of the room.

"Whoa!" Everett jumped in shock, the cardiac monitor screaming as he heart rate raced and his blood pressure skyrocketed. He looked toward the voice and could see Doctor Stephen Strange, or at least his astral body, standing in the corner of the room. "Don't do that!"

A nurse charged into the room and Stephen disappeared without her notice. She checked in on Everett, seeing that he was conscious and coherent before checking the monitor for a possible malfunction.

"Are you okay? Did you need something?"

"N-No. I uh..." Everett thought of an excuse quickly. "I had fallen asleep while working and sort of had a... nightmare."

"Not surprised." The nurse was very understanding and sweet. "Nightmares are pretty common after a trauma. Do you want me to bring you something to help you sleep?"

"No, thank you. I'm going to work for a little while. Hopefully the nightmare won't come back."

"Okay. Page if you need anything."

"Thank you." Everett knowingly turned his attention back to the corner of the room and whispered. "What do you want now?"

"Do you always talk to people who save your life with such a terse tone?"

"Only when they scare the hell out of me!"

"Sorry." Stephen walked across the room and stood beside Everett's bed. "Have you been able to locate the file?"

"Not yet. I'm finding a small trail leading to a restricted file that's been secured under a high security clearance password. If I can find it I can try to unlock it."

"How? Do you have clearance?"

"Well, it depends on how high the security level is."

"I imagine that you'd need the highest security clearance to access it. But don't give up."

"I'll do my best." Everett stopped typing and let out a deep sigh. "Why me?"

"Because you're a C.I.A. agent and I'm a doctor."

"Not that!" Everett closed his laptop and stared at Stephen. "There's plenty of other agents, some with the highest security clearance in the world, that you could've recruited. Why me specifically?"

"Because you're a key figure and there are responsibilities that only you can handle."

"How so?"

"Well," Stephen pressed his hands together, his fingertips forming a triangle, and he began to pace the room. "you were the agent who helped apprehend the 'Winter Soldier', you have experience with the Avengers, you've befriended and earned the trust of King T'Challa and Princess Shuri and instead of dismissing my presence as a hallucination or a dream you're actually listening to me." He stopped pacing and looked directly into Everett's eyes. "How many of those high level agents would retain such an open mind?"

"Not many." Everett admitted quietly.

"Exactly."

"So because I don't dismiss people after a first glance and do a pretty good job at NOT unintentionally starting a war between countries I get recruited into snooping around through sensitive material that could get me killed?"

"Essentially, yes."

"Well, thanks for being honest."

"Agent Ross-"

"Everett."

"Everett." Stephen corrected himself before continuing. "I wouldn't be asking you to do this unless it was absolutely critical. I don't enjoy asking you to do something dangerous but it is necessary. Please."

After giving Stephen an annoyed glance he shook his head and opened up his laptop again. "Alright, fine. I'll see what I can do."

"Good. Perhaps your friend Shuri could assist-"

"No. Way."

"Why not?"

"Because she's an innocent kid! If someone found out she helped a C.I.A. agent break into encrypted documents she'd be labeled as a traitor or worse! I won't do that to her. It's one thing if I get busted, I can handle it. But I won't let an incredibly gifted kid throw her life away for something that may not even pay off in the end."

"Fair enough. And noble, I might add."

"Yeah, yeah. That's why I do what I do. Nobility."

Stephen laughed a little at the comment. "Everett, please be patient. I don't expect you to find everything overnight and I especially don't want you to shout the secret from the mountain tops. Just keep searching. I'll check in with you tomorrow."

"Physically or... uh... 'astrally', Dr. Strange?"

"Goodnight, Everett." On this goodbye Stephen's astral form faded away leaving Everett alone to work.

Returning his full attention to his laptop Everett scanned through numerous, lengthy documents revolving around secretive projects and connections that government didn't want the rest of the world to know about. Secured files taunted Everett as he struggled to unlock the documents without drawing unwanted attention toward himself .

"This is going to take forever... Good thing I don't have to go to work tomorrow."

-The End