Chapter 10: There's Only So Far Reading Recipes Can Get You (In which a turn is taken.)
Jan had only been to North America twice. The second time, just one month ago, had ended on an awkward, troubling note. The first had been when she was twelve, and much less concerned with the outer world.
The thing she remembered most about the Sanctum was how strangely everyone had talked. Like Stephen, their voices had sounded completely different from everyone's she'd heard before. As a child, things like that had mattered to her. She'd spent weeks after the visit attempting to replicate their American accents.
Jan didn't remember the New York Sanctum being so destroyed the last time she was here. Making her way from one of the bathrooms, Jan looked on in shock at all the smashed glass.
The museum was decimated. Cases of all sizes had been smashed to smithereens. Paintings on the walls were torn apart. She stepped over the dusty remains of a vase, pushed off its stand in some brutal exchange.
The Cloak of Levitation was nowhere to be seen. She hoped it was all right. Jan had once spent an hour dancing around its glass container, giggling at how it followed her every move.
Hearing voices up ahead, she strode through the remnants of the museum towards the staircase. The Ancient One and Mordo were there, to her relief, along with-
"Stephen!" she squeaked. He looked battered and shaken, but completely alive.
Despite Jan's positive attitude, it was not reciprocated by the others. The Ancient One sighed when she saw her, and said, "I'm not surprised to see you here."
"I- I just want to help," Jan pleaded, a hurt expression crossing her face.
The Ancient One shook her head as she walked past her. "You'd be better off at Kamar-Taj."
She left the three of them standing there; Jan with a little less self-esteem, and the others worrying about what was to happen next.
Jan looked up as Stephen grabbed her arm. She was about to move away when she saw his face. A sad and broken look had taken over his eyes. She looked at him in confusion, as he said, "Jan, you need to understand, the Ancient One isn't-"
"Oh, don't try and corrupt her, Strange!" Mordo said, and pulled him away from her. He jabbed a finger into Stephen's chest, about to tell him just why he was wrong about all this until Stephen said,
"Corruption? You want to talk about corruption like you haven't been doing that to her all along? She," he said, pointing past Jan to where the Ancient One had gone, "is not who you think she is."
Jan shrunk back as Mordo stepped between them. "You have no right to say that," he growled. "You have no idea of the responsibility that rests upon her shoulders."
Stephen shook his head. "No, and I don't want to know."
"You're a coward," Mordo spat. Jan's eyes widened.
"Guys," she began. "What's going-"
"Because I'm not a killer?" Stephen said.
She'd only spent an hour at Kamar-Taj. Jan shrunk back as their argument escalated.
Mordo gestured around them, his gaze lingering on Jan. "These zealots will snuff us all out, and you can't muster the strength to snuff them out first?"
Stephen pointed below them, his voice elevating into a yell. "What do you think I just did?"
"You saved your own life," Mordo groaned, "and then whined about it like a wounded dog."
Jan knew they were talking about killing; something she'd never done before. She'd defeated people in combat—but it'd always been safe. There were always safeguards. The thought occurred to her that that might change today.
"And you would have done it so easily?"
Mordo's voice reached a low baritone. "You have no idea. The things I've done..."
Jan gulped.
"-And the answer is yes. Without question."
"Even if there's another way?" Stephen asked.
Jan looked past them, out the window, a sickness growing in her stomach.
"There is no other way," Mordo said.
"You lack imagination."
"No, Stephen," Mordo countered. "You lack a spine."
"Stop it," Jan murmured, too quiet for either of them to hear. They needed to stay together, to work together. They couldn't fight now—not when the zealots could attack at any moment.
From below them, an unnatural clicking noise filled the air. Jan looked around, waiting for the ceiling to crash down on them. Impossibly enough, it sounded like the building was moving; like it was being moulded out of its natural structure.
"They're back," Stephen said.
Jan reached out for Mordo as he ran for the balcony, vaulting over it to the stairs below. "We have to end this," he called back to them. "Now!"
Jan looked around for some alternative solution. The Ancient One had been here minutes ago. Where was she now?
Before she could search any further, Stephen took her hand. She looked up at him, still confused, and now more wary than ever after the conversation they'd just had.
"We don't need her now," he said. "We can take them!" The Cloak of Levitation—which Jan now realized was clipped to his shoulders—lifted him up and took Stephen down to the foyer.
"Strange!" Mordo yelled. "Get down here and fight!"
Jan couldn't leave them to fight on their own. If the Ancient One had left, she could not. She unclasped the handle—the Six Whips of Gandren—from her belt and, following what Mordo had taught her about landings, jumped over the railing.
She landed, rolled, and jumped up to see Mordo pinned to the wall by two of the zealots. Jan recognized Sabine: she was a friend of Julias. And Duncan: he'd struggled in their martial arts classes, always hesitating to strike first. It seemed that had changed, as of now.
Kaecilius stood in the doorway, raising his hands above his head. In between them he spun a ball of glowing energy. To do what, Jan didn't know, but she needed to stop him.
She held out her hands, the beginnings of a shield gathering between them. If she worked fast enough, she'd be able to hinder his-
But she was too late. Kaecilius threw the sphere at his feet. It burst out in every direction, shaking the Sanctum's foundation like it had at Kamar-Taj. Jan expected to be thrown back twenty feet, but instead felt a twisting sensation in her gut. Like she was being turned inside out.
To her right, Stephen said, "The Mirror Dimension.You can't affect the real world in here." He made a formation with his fingers, drawing them across his chest. "Who's laughing now, asshole?"
He swooped down, barely giving Jan the time to think, Mirror Dimension? Astral Projection? Cloak of Levitation? Four months and he can do all of that?
"Jan, come on!" Stephen pulled her up and together they ran past Kaecilius, into the street. Mordo beat back the zealots long enough to follow them.
The buildings and streets around them were shifting in impossible ways. A bank fell into the ground, leaving an empty space behind it. Two HOV lanes merged and the buses in them collided, except there was no crash: they simply melded into one. Rooftops waved up and down as their buildings' supports were adjusted by the Mirror Dimension's unstable physics.
"They've got no sling ring," Stephen said to Mordo. "I mean, they can't escape, right?"
Jan tugged on his sleeve, pointing to the Sanctum's open door. Three figures stalked towards them.
"Run!" Mordo yelled, and they did just that.
The running wasn't the difficult part: Jan had trained for years. The difficult part was keeping track of where she was. The intersection they stopped at was the most disorientating thing she'd ever seen. Cars drove backwards, sideways, and upside down, coming close to, but never actually hitting one another.
"Wait!" Stephen grabbed Jan by the back of her tunic, pulling her out of the path of an oncoming car. They looked to where Mordo was scanning the cityscape in all its revolving glory. New York had never looked so busy.
When part of the road folded under itself, he ran back to them.
"Their connection to the Dark Dimension makes them more powerful in the Mirror Dimension," he said.
Jan remembered reading a scholar's theory on their connective physics; both involved chaos. Inescapable chaos.
"They can't affect the real world, but they can still kill us." The word 'kill' made something spiral through Jan. It made her remember the library, the body—an open book. She wanted to reach for to Mordo, out of a child's fear that still resided in her. She didn't when he spat, "This wasn't cleverness, it was suicide."
They continued to run. This time, Jan caught Mordo's attention.
"Mordo!" He glanced back. She was behind him and Stephen, lagging only as the first defensive barrier. "I- I have a sling ring!" From Camila, sweet Camila, who'd always held back in their fights. She hoped she was all right.
Something that wasn't quite happiness, but rather, a thought of a tactical advantage, glinted in Mordo's eye. "Good!" was all he barked out.
Jan looked behind her to where the zealots were catching up. She smiled as two cars sped towards them. That smile evaporated however, when by some kind of power, Kaecilius created two spaces between the cars, and thus two pathways for him and his charges. Mordo was right. They really were more powerful here.
She looked ahead, refocusing on what was to come. Part of her asked, Where is Julia? Is she still alive? But she shoved those thoughts away. Survive now, reminisce later.
Stephen had created a portal. They sprinted towards it.
They were almost there—within ten metres—when the ground shifted. The unexpected change in gravity threw them down another road. Jan watched the portal glimmer, then disappear as they fell parallel to the ground.
Stephen and Mordo both had relics they could use to ease their falls. Jan did not. Their landings on the bus were rough. Jan's was worse.
She hit the window with a barely-contained grunt, landing just three metres to their right. If they weren't in the Mirror Dimension—where you could only manipulate matter, not destroy it—she would have smashed right through the window, and, undoubtedly, through the one below it as well.
"Jan!" Mordo called to her. "Get up!" He held out his hand. She tried to stand up and take it so they could get to stable ground, but cried out and fell back down.
"My foot," she said, now completely overtaken by the searing pain.
They were running out of time; they had to move.
Jan felt herself sliding backwards, the bus' surface slipping out from underneath her. She tried to grab onto the window ledge, but was thrown from it in one particularly prominent bump. A feeling of weightlessness accompanied her fall.
"No!" Mordo shouted as she slid away from them, fingers desperately grappling for purchase. He saw one brown hand reach up, straightening to hold on... then nothing.
"Jan!" He began to make his way to where she'd fallen.
"Mordo!" Stephen called, pointing to behind him. "They're coming!" He grabbed him by the sleeve and pulled them both into the air away from the bus.
She has a sling ring, Mordo assured himself. She has a sling ring.
Jan was picking up speed. The longer she fell, the more it would hurt to land. Beginner's physics, she thought.
A portal would be useful, but that wouldn't slow her down. She didn't have relics like Mordo or Strange that let her fly; she only had a whip... which she could swing with. She could work with that.
Jan fumbled at her waistband, not even coming close to dropping the handle she held so tightly.
What did she do, what did she do? What had the Ancient One done to activate the relic's power? What did anyone do to use a relic? Jan didn't know.
She fell dangerously close to the top of a building, its fire escape whipping past her head.
Emotion. Connection. They have a mind of their own. They're to be respected. Connect to her emotions? All she felt right now was fear. And fear was weak.
Trust in your relic.
"Oh god!" The feeling in her gut had reached a point of no return. It felt like there was too much space between her ribs and her diaphragm; she couldn't get any air to go in.
Just work, just do something, just save me! Jan grit her teeth and flung her arm up. The handle in her palm began to grow warmer—not uncomfortably: just enough for her to notice. She opened her eyes to see two—just two—red lines streak out and wrap around a rung on the fire escape. Realizing what came next, Jan took a deep breath and braced herself.
The jerk hurt like hell, but not in the way her foot did. Her body straightened out and she pulled her knees up, making sure her feet hit the side of the building first. She stayed there, gasping for breath, until her heart rate slowed.
The ground was thirty feet below her. She needed to move quickly if she wanted it to still be there when she got down. Readjusting her grip on the handle, Jan levelled herself out on the side of the building. She began to rappel down like a rock climber, wondering just how far the red lines would extend.
Feet finally planted on solid ground (for however long it would remain that way), she leaned back into the wall, pressing her hands to her forehead. When she wasn't looking, the lines retracted back into the handle.
"Just breathe... breathe, think, and assess the situation," she told herself.
She was in the Mirror Dimension. She had been separated from her friends. She had a weapon she barely knew how to use and a sling ring that-
The sling ring. Jan checked her pocket and could have weeped in relief.
But where would she go..? Stephen had been trying to get them out of here, even though he'd been thwarted once already. She could follow his pattern and do the same. She could leave the Mirror Dimension; no one was here to stop her.
Jan felt horrified by her thoughts. Leave them behind? Was she insane?
Not insane; just scared.
The Mirror Dimension doesn't obey Earth's natural laws, she thought. The sling ring's realm of origin had very thin veils between its fabric of space, allowing its inhabitants to travel wherever they wanted to. In their treaty with Earth, the ability to create portals had been offered in the form of sling rings. But they didn't work so easily here. There were boundaries on Earth that didn't exist in Cellwan.
Jan remembered Master Sondra's words of always knowing exactly where she wanted to go. Perhaps in here, that where could be turned into a who.
She created a portal, thinking of Mordo and how he'd trained her as a child: the obstacle courses he'd set up for her; the late-night sparring in the garden; the words of encouragement, which, as she grew older, appeared less and less often. She recalled that conversation at night between him, the Ancient One, and Wong. She focused not on what it was about, but how Mordo had swung her up into his arms, protecting her.
He couldn't protect her any longer.
On the other side of the portal, Jan saw pieces of stone and staircase flying about. Streets folded in the air, allowing cars to drive through the chaos, disrupting the fight at various intervals. She heard the shouts of her mentor, and wasted little time in jumping through.
Once she reached the other side, she fell to her knees to avoid a swinging piece of rubble. All around her, the remnant of a city block shifted to break up and reform in alternating pathways. Jan took the one nearest to her, made of a staircase and some floating chunks of concrete.
"Jan!" Her heart leapt; she knew his voice well.
It seemed that they'd reached the centre of the city-block-turned-tornado. It was here that she reconvened with Mordo, breathless, hurting, scared, but relieved to see him all the same.
"You're all right?" he asked, clapping a hand on her shoulder rather roughly.
No, she wasn't. But she was here, so Jan nodded.
From above them, they heard a scuffle. Jan saw Sabine leap down to land on top of someone. Stephen, she realized: at her mercy, and about to die. She and Mordo tried to save him. They thought there was less than a second—no enough time to do anything sufficient—until the slabs of stone they stood on began to shift of their own accord.
Not quite on their own, Jan thought as she turned her vision upwards, elated at who had arrived.
As the Ancient One floated down, the slabs rearranged themselves into an ornate pattern, spelling out loops in the stone beneath their feet. Jan, Mordo, and Stephen were pushed to the place farthest from Kaecilius.
Jan looked to Mordo and Stephen, prepared to see expressions of joy on their faces, like hers.
"It's true," Mordo said. "She does draw power from the Dark Dimension." The Ancient One looked at them, pain flashing across her face.
What? Jan looked between them, expecting Stephen to refute the preposterous claim. But his face was just as stony.
Jan wished to go back. She wished to leap through the portal turning around them, back into the regular world. She wanted to un-see the mark burned into the Ancient One's forehead: the mark of the Dark Dimension, and of Dormammu.
"Kaecilius," the Ancient One said, stepping around the edge of the circle. He followed her. They paced around each other in the prelude to their inevitable fight.
"I came to you broken, lost, bleeding," Kaecilius spat. "I trusted you to be my teacher, and you fed me lies."
The Ancient One's face turned into one of pity. "I tried to protect you."
"From the truth?" Jan saw the look hidden in his perpetual scowl, in his eyes. It spelled death.
"From yourself," the Ancient One said.
What was going on? Jan kept hoping that the red mark would disappear, that the Ancient One would finish this quickly, turn to her and say, "It's all right, Jan. You can wake up now."
"I have a new teacher now," Kaecilius said.
"Dormammu deceives you," the Ancient One protested. Jan saw the zealots—Sabine and Duncan—tensed up and moved to block them, but Mordo held her close. His grip on her arm hurt, his eyes never leaving the Ancient One.
"You have no idea what he truly is. His eternal life is not paradise, but torment."
"Liar!" Kaecilius reared back, summoning his followers. He wouldn't believe anything she had to say. They wielded their translucent weapons, with Duncan striking her first. The Ancient One knocked him over with ease and blocked the next two strikes with golden, circular shields.
She pushed back against Kaecilius and Sabine, sweeping their legs out from under them. Kaecilius stumbled backwards and changed the ground beneath them into a roiling wave. Though it was meant to knock the Ancient One back, he found that it did the exact opposite as she turned it on him. The wave of patterned stone blasted him off his feet to the edge of the platform.
Barely moving her feet, the Ancient One fended off Sabine and Duncan one after the other. Jan nearly smiled: they were no match for her.
The Ancient One threw Sabine to the side and grabbed Duncan, lifting him up in front of her.
Jan nearly smiled, because that was the same moment Kaecilius stabbed her, through his own zealot.
A cry died in Jan's throat as a look of defeat flashed across the Ancient One's face. Something lurched inside her throat. Bile? Maybe. At the sight of one of her mentors being stabbed through the stomach.
Kaecilius pushed Duncan aside and kicked the Ancient One through the portal. One Jan had hardly realized was there.
Jan was the second through the portal, just after Mordo. They were back in New York, falling from a hole in the sky. She wondered if anyone saw where they'd come through. She barely considered how she was going to land. Maybe I won't, Jan thought, watching the Ancient One's body fall far below them.
They weren't going to catch up to her. That hadn't been the point of jumping after her. The point? What was the point?
Retrieve her body. Save her, remember her in some way.
The wind whipped against Jan's face as the ground rushed up to meet her. She barely considered how much it was going to hurt until an arm wrapped around her waist. Her fall slowed with Stephen's help. The Cloak of Levitation. Did it remember her from all those years ago? Could it remember?
Once her feet touched the ground her knees began to shake uncontrollably. Ahead she heard the screams of those gathered around the Ancient One. Jan should be screaming like them, shouldn't she?
Nothing would come out. She said nothing as Stephen let go of her hand and pushed through to the broken body amongst the shattered glass. Jan looked away, letting people jostle her back and forth, but not before she saw yellow. Yellow and red.
A frantic look on his face, Stephen turned to Jan and said, "I'll help her. I promise, I'll fix this."
A/N: I had some trouble writing Jan into a part of the movie that's as small (though as important) as this. Did anything not work on your end?