-Unbetaed, so please kindly point out any mistakes.
-Medical and brainwashing procedure inaccuracies although most of the facts mentioned here are supposed to be accurate if you trust the internet.
"Brainwashing?! I hope you're joking, Karen." He suspected something like this happened when he heard the guards but he didn't want to believe it.
"Peter, I don't usually joke especially in such matter."
"I know. I just thought that brainwashing usually only happens in cults."
"HYDRA is actually not unlike a cult with their loyal-even-to-death followers. That's beside the point. HYDRA is indeed famous for brainwashing."
"Are you saying that Doc was captured by HYDRA? Those people I beat up are HYDRA?!"
"Very likely. Doctor Faustus only works for HYDRA. Or could be a HYDRA cell. It has a lot of underground cells."
"In that case, we need to get out of here fast in case their cavalries arrive. I'll try to wake Doc up then borrow some clothes for him."
"That might not be a good idea..."
Peter ignored her as he tried to shake Doc, he even found a glass of water and poured it a bit on his face, but Doc didn't stir at all. Doc's body was unusually warm and when he took his pulse at the neck, his heartbeats were extremely fast. He sat down again. "What were you saying?"
"We don't know what state of brainwashing he was in. He could be dangerous to himself and others. Let me check the recording to make sure."
Peter unplugged the USB cable from the headphone and plugged it at the USB port hidden at the right belt of his suit. His suit was really that cool.
"That's a moot point as currently it's not possible to wake him up anyway. Why is that?"
"Did you check the drug used for his IV?"
Peter walked closer to the IV bag so Karen could scan it.
"It's Propofol. It's normally used to sedate patients before surgery or medical procedures. I think given the bag was already one third empty. Doctor Strange had been drugged for at least three hours, could be longer. I guess he needs at least five hours or longer to regain consciousness."
Peter thought of his time off and his Lego project with Ned. He asked his mind to shut up. Doc needed his help so he shouldn't think about his hobby at the moment.
He looked at his phone. He again was thankful that Tony designed a pocket for his phone in his suit. His phone wouldn't fall even when he did a lot of swinging and back flips. "I don't understand. If Doc has been drugged for at least three hours, why did I only get his mental message around 20 minutes ago? For that matter, how did he end up here in the first place?"
"I'm afraid I can't answer those questions. You need to ask him when he wakes up."
Peter was glad that at least Karen said "when" not "if".
"Why is his body so warm? Why are his heartbeats so fast? Is there anything I can do to help?"
"I think that's the combined side effects of mescaline and scopolamine. There is nothing much you can do until the effects wear off. But then after the drugs wear off, there will be side effects from the drugs themselves and also from withdrawal from the drugs."
"I think this is way over my head. I'd better call Mr. Hogan first to pick us up." Peter thought about carrying Doc by swinging from building to building and decided against it. It wouldn't be comfortable for either of them especially with Doc in this condition. Besides, someone needed to collect Doc's belongings, contain these criminals, and collect evidence.
Happy answered at the second ring. "Hello Peter, it'd better be good."
"Mr. Hogan, it's nice to talk to you, too. I need your help." He briefly described what happened in the warehouse. He assumed Mr. Hogan should know Doc since Doc knew Tony. "Could you please pick us up and also bring some clothes for Doctor Strange?"
"Sure. I'll also let Mr. Stark know since the Doctor and HYDRA are involved. It could potentially be an Avengers business." Peter wondered whether there was a newsletter or all superheroes knew each other and he was out of the loop. Happy continued, "Given the traffic condition, I'll be there in around one hour or longer. Do you think you can handle it? I could always ask Tony to send a Quinjet."
Peter thought about his last adventure in flying with the Vulture. Would it be more fun instead to fight more HYDRA goons? He liked the odds of fighting HYDRA a bit better. "That's fine. I'll wait. One more request, on your way here, could you please pick my backpack from my apartment? Ned will be there to give you."
"Sure. Do you want me to pick up your laundry or order some take out while you are at it?"
Peter noticed the sarcasm in Happy's tone. "Um, that's all. I'm really sorry about this but you know how the superhero business goes. Actually I don't, but I presume it occurs regularly with the Avengers. Thanks."
Happy hung up.
He called Ned next.
"Ned, I'm really sorry that I need to take a rain check on the Lego. Something came up."
Ned sighed. "I knew it. Something always comes up when you are doing superhero business. What do you want me to do?"
"You're indeed the best friend ever, Ned. Could you wait until Mr. Hogan arrives before you go home? I need you to give him my backpack. I'm sure he can give you a lift on the way here. You just need to smile and be yourself. Everybody loves you."
"I sure hope so. He looks a bit scary."
"Mr. Hogan is a sweetheart. I'll really make it up to you somehow. You're welcome to raid my fridge in the meantime. As long as it's not labelled with Aunt May's name, you can eat it."
"You really owe me two this time, Pete."
"I know."
"Are you going to tell me what's going on tomorrow after school?"
"I'll tell you what I can. It's pretty confusing with what can be shared given the people involved."
"Sounds complicated."
"Welcome to my life. I'd better hang up now. Thanks, Ned."
He really wished Ned was here. Ned would know what to do. He'd better concentrate on the matter at hand. "Karen, what are the side effects of those drugs?"
"For mescaline: anxiety, racing heartbeat, dizziness, vomiting, and headache. The withdrawal side effects include seizures, tremors, difficulty breathing, incoherent speech patterns, and muscle stiffness. The psychological side effects are ongoing paranoia, short attention span, inability to focus, inability to distinguish between past and present events, psychotic-like episodes, increased heart rate, profound sweating, flushing, uncoordinated movements, and increased body temperature. Some people can be suicidal or prone self-harm due to the withdrawal. Valium may be able to help to alleviate these symptoms. For scopolamine: fast or pounding heartbeats; confusion, paranoia; trouble swallowing; blurred vision; chest pain or discomfort; dizziness, faintness, or light-headedness when getting up from a lying or sitting position suddenly; eye pain; flushing or redness of the skin; mood or mental changes; muscle weakness; nausea or vomiting; rash; restlessness; seeing, hearing, or feeling things that are not there; shortness of breath; sweating; unusual tiredness; unusually warm skin."
"Gee, it's as if you are reading it from drugs dot com."
"As a matter of fact, I did get the information from there. I've tried to summarize the symptoms otherwise those will be longer."
"I couldn't remember every single thing you said but I got the gist of it. Doc is going to have a very bad day, as if it's not bad enough for him right now. Most of the side effects are physical which will pass but I remember you mention paranoia, confusion, and possibility of suicidal. The next few hours when he wakes up will be fun. And you mentioned that Valium could help."
"You can drop Doctor Strange at the Avenger Tower. Doctor Cho could take care of him from there."
Peter felt bad if he abandoned Doc. He felt like doing a half-ass job in rescuing. "I'll see how it goes. As long as it doesn't disturb my homework, I'll help."
"You're a good man, Peter."
"Thanks, Karen. I'm sure Doc will do the same for me. Did you say Valium can help?"
"Yes, it can help with mescaline but not scopolamine."
"It's good enough. I need to call Mr. Hogan again."
Happy picked up at the first call. "What else do you need?"
"Um, could you please bring Valium as well? I think Doc may need it immediately."
"Sure, I'll ask one dose for injection from Dr. Cho. You're lucky that I haven't left the tower. Mr. Stark and Captain Rogers are very interested in this case. It has become an official Avengers business. They ask you to keep Mr. Stark updated."
Peter didn't expect things to escalate but again such was his luck. Or was it Doc's luck? "Sure. Do the Avengers need my help?"
"Mr. Stark just asked you to keep Doctor Strange safe as he is HYDRA's primary target."
"OK. See you soon."
Happy hung up again.
"He likes me. He really likes me."
Karen answered, "As a matter of fact, Mr. Hogan is very fond of you. Don't let his cool façade fools you. You don't hear it from me."
"Thanks, Karen."
"Peter, the side effects I said are just what were listed on . That doesn't mean Doctor Strange will get all the side effects. I just mentioned it for you to be prepared. Besides, he will be asleep for a few hours so most of the effects might have worn off. The Valium might also help."
"Thanks again, Karen."
"Dormammu, I've come to bargain."
Peter jumped when he heard that and realized that it was coming from Doc. Doc was still asleep, but he started to toss and turn, and apparently talked in his sleep.
"Donna, I'm so sorry."
"Victor, I didn't mean what I said. I'm so sorry."
"I'm so sorry I didn't try to cure you the first time, Sir. Please come back."
"Dormammu, I've come to bargain."
There were more of the variations of the same thing but Doc often mentioned Dormammu, Donna, and Victor.
"Karen, what's going on?"
"I've listened to all Doctor Faustus' recording. He breaks the brainwashing technique into three: breaking down the self, the possibility of salvation, and rebuilding the self. Since Doctor Strange only listened to the first part, I'll just explain the first part. The first part consists of breaking down identity which is a systematic attack on a target's sense of self, which is his identity and ego, and his core belief system. It also increases the sense of guilt, Doctor Faustus creates an overwhelming sense of guilt on Doctor Strange. Then there is the self-betrayal which asked the Doctor to betray his own beliefs and of people he feels a sense of loyalty to increases the shame and loss of identity the he is already experiencing. The last part of breaking down identity is the feeling of losing his grip on reality and has the feeling of being completely lost and alone, with no clear understanding of who he is or what is happening to him. Usually this process can take weeks or months but Doctor Faustus has the hypnosis super power and Doctor Strange was under the influence of mind altering drugs and they kept his brain wave at the theta level which is primed for hypnosis so the process of brainwashing is much faster. The good news is I believe Doctor Strange is only at his guilt stage hence the accumulation of all his guilt and fears."
"It doesn't sound like good news to me."
"It'll be worse when he reaches the self-betrayal or breaking down identity part."
"Why didn't he have the nightmare before?"
"He was listening to Doctor Faustus's voice which sort of guided him. Now, he only had the remnant of the guilt and fears from his brainwashing process plus the drugs so he channelled it through his nightmare."
"What can I do to help?"
"You can try to talk to him to replace Doctor Faustus' programming."
"Can I deprogram him?"
"I'm not sure. Doctor Faustus has hypnotic powers. You don't. There is no harm in trying."
Peter was sure his spider sense would get them out of trouble if HYDRA arrived so he went to sit on the chair he vacated before. Doc didn't talk in his sleep anymore but he still twisted and turned. He retook Doc's hands and continued to massage them.
"Get well soon, Doc. I don't know how this mantle of Master of the Mystic Arts is passed on. If it's passed on to me, I don't think I can rock the robe and cloak like you do even though blue and red are my colors. I definitely can't grow the goatee even if I want to. Besides, Doctor Parker doesn't sound mysterious enough."
"You told me in our first meeting that my aura is very pure so in that case what I say should really count. I think you're a good guy and you don't need to feel guilty about your past. You can only do what you can right now."
Peter felt pretty silly pretending to be wise when he just said whatever came into his mind. However, his efforts actually calmed Doc down and he had stopped tossing around. He was not sure whether that was his massaging or his words. He continued to do both.
He noticed Doc actually looked a lot younger when he slept and when he was not being super serious. "Doc, you should smile more. I rarely see you smile. Is that against the law of magic to smile or something? That's why I don't think I'm not a good magician candidate or what you called it? An apprentice?"
"I'm not even sure if I'm really suitable to be a superhero. Do you know that The Daily Bugle has the picture of Spider-Man coming out of a portal loo with toilet paper stuck under my shoe? What kind of superhero has such luck? I also wonder who took the picture because that was definitely not me."
"What's wrong with my luck? I need you to check it for me when you get better. I actually liked a girl who was my enemy's daughter. What are the odds?"
He told more and more embarrassing stories about the life of Peter Parker and Spider-Man because he ran out of reassuring words but he had a lot of embarrassing stories. As long as they could calm Doc down and he didn't remember any of it when he woke up. At least he hoped so.
"There was that one time I got invited to stay over in the Avengers Tower with Mr. Stark to meet and greet with the rest of the Avengers. You should've attended it, Doc, since they seem to know you well. Anyway, my Spidey suit hadn't been washed and I just fell into a sewer. So I asked Friday where the laundry room was because I definitely wouldn't want any of the Avengers to do the laundry for me. Could you believe it if I asked Cap to wash my suit? I would've never heard the end of it from the Avengers and from Ned. So I put my suit inside the machine, turned it on, and went back to the party. One hour later, I sneaked out to get my laundry and guess what. The washing machine was not empty, it also had Mr. Stark's white shirt, except of course, it was not white anymore but pink. I quickly returned to the party and pretended that nothing happened. So whatever you felt guilty about, Doc, at least you didn't turn Mr. Stark's shirt pink. Although you could also do it with your magic."
"I knew it. It was you but Mr. Stark didn't believe me."
Peter jumped again for the second time that day and turned around. His spider sense must have thought there was no danger with Happy sneaking in. "Mr. Hogan! I didn't know you were there. How long have you been there?"
"From the part about your Spidey suit hadn't been washed and you just fell into a sewer."
Peter groaned. Such was the old Parker luck.
Notes:
-That goes without saying that this chapter should not be used as a template for brainwashing. All those drug facts are indeed from drugs dot com . The process of brainwashing can be read from science dot howstuffworks dot com /life/inside-the-mind/human-brain/brainwashing1 dot htm
-If you know where the white shirt became pink came from, please let me know and I'll give you a virtual cookie.
-I promised in the previous chapter about how badass Doc actually is. Doc often fought against more powerful enemies sometime without his powers like in the current run (from 2015 onward). He wins because he has strong resolve to protect Earth and humanity and he is very resourceful. There were two moments that are my favorites. The first was when he needed to operate on himself because he was gravely injured and his doctor in charge doubted his own abilities. He then possessed his doctor and guided him through his own operation. The second was when he got ambushed by demons. When he regained consciousness, he found out that his whole head and hands were encased in iron so he couldn't see, speak, or move his hands. He couldn't even astral project. He tricked a demon standing guard to release the spell preventing him from astral projection. His astral form then needed to go in and out of his body to guide his body to escape from the demons.
-Wong will really appear in the next chapter. As usual this chapter gets too long. I think there will be at least eight chapters in this arch now. *I don't even have old Parker luck to blame but my own uncontrollable muse*
-Sorry, not much fluff and humor in this chapter. There will be more humor in perhaps the last four chapters because the Avengers *cough* Tony *cough* will be involved. Feedback and comments are welcomed.
