Strange is training with Mordo. Strange asks how ancient the Ancient One is.
"Well, given that her name is the Ancient One, I'd say she's pretty ancient." Sam said.
Mordo says that no one knows her age only that she's Celtic and doesn't talk about her past.
Strange says he follows her even though he doesn't know.
Mordo says he knows she's steadfast but unpredictable and merciless but kind.
"Seems like a pretty accurate description to me." Fury said.
Mordo says she made him what he is. He and Strange get into fighting positions, Mordo tells him to trust his teacher and not lose his way.
"Well... he's already been questioning everything the Ancient One's been teaching him." Peggy said.
Strange asks if he means like Kaecilius.
Mordo confirms and they start sparring. Strange says Mordo knew Kaecilius.
Mordo puts strange in a chokehold and says when Kaecilius came to them he'd lost everything he ever loved.
"That's rough." Carol said.
Mordo says Kaecilius was grieving and broken and he was searching for answers in the mystic arts. He says Kaecilius was a brilliant student but he was proud and headstrong.
"I guess now I can see why you reminded the Ancient One so much of him." Natasha said.
Mordo says Kaecilius questioned the Ancient One and rejected her teaching.
"Does he think you're going to turn out like Kaecilius did?" Wanda asked.
Strange frees himself from the chokehold. Mordo says Kaecilius left Kamar-Taj and his disciples followed him like sheep and were seduced by a false doctrine.
"And what 'doctrine' is that?" Hank asked.
Strange says that Kaecilius stole a forbidden ritual.
Mordo says he did.
Strange asks what the ritual did.
"Whatever it is... it probably isn't anything good." Quill said.
Mordo says no more questions then picks up a staff.
Strange asks what the staff is.
Mordo says that was a question.
Everyone giggled.
Mordo says it's a relic and says that some magic is too powerful to sustain so they imbue objects with it and it allows the objects to take the strain that they can't. He says that the object he's holding is the staff of the living tribunal.
"What the hell is the living tribunal?" Rhodey asked.
"A three-headed cosmic entity that has existed as long as the universe itself has." Strange answered.
He hits the staff on the floor, it gets bigger and glows before shrinking again.
"Wow."
Mordo says there are many relics before listing some including the Wand of Watoomb and the Vaulting boots of Valtorr and clicks his heels.
"His boots are a relic?" Drax asked.
Strange says that the names really roll off the tongue and asks when he gets his relic. Mordo says he will when he's ready. Strange says he thinks he's ready. Mordo says he's ready when the relic decides he is.
"So the relic chooses the person and not the other way around?" Howard asked.
Mordo tells Strange to conjure a weapon. Strange does so and Mordo attacks him.
"Whoa!" Everyone exclaimed, not expecting him to just come at Strange like that.
Mordo tells Strange to fight like his life depends on it. Stranges weapon dissipates and Mordo uses his boots to run above him then knocks Strange down and says that one day it might.
"Evidentially." Strange said.
Strange, back in his room, picks up his watch then opens his laptop and tries to type out an Email to Christine but stops.
Strange sighed.
Strange walks into the library and takes out one of the locked books.
Everyone's eyes widened, remembering that Wong said those books were essentially forbidden.
Strange opens the book and bites into an apple. He stops on a page about the Eye of Agamotto. He looks up and sees the Eye of Agamotto on a stand in front of him. Strange calls for Wong but doesn't get an answer.
"And you just took the 'no response' as your go ahead didn't you?" Coulson asked.
"Naturally." Strange said.
Strange puts the apple down and puts the Eye of Agamotto around his neck. He opens it like the book says to, the Eye opens and emits a green light.
"What is that?" Steve asked.
"An Infinity Stone." Strange said.
Strange rotates his hands and creates green symbols. He moves his hand around the apple which becomes more eaten, then less eaten as he moves his hands back.
"So it's the Time Stone." Nebula said.
"Bingo." Strange answered.
Strange moves the apple and turns his attention to the book and flips to where the missing pages were and uses the Eye on them. The pages appear in the book.
"Very clever Dr. Strange." Natasha said.
Strange reads about Dormammu, the Dark Dimension and eternal life.
"That's what Kaecilius is after?" Clint asked.
Clear pillars appear in front of him, Mordo tells him to stop and says that tampering with continuum probabilities is forbidden.
"Sounds like someone is in trouble." Tony said.
Strange says he was doing what the book said.
Wong asks what the book said about the dangers of performing the ritual.
Strange says he hadn't gotten to that part.
"You'd think that the warnings would come before the spells but no." Strange said.
Mordo says temporal manipulations can create branches in time, unstable dimension openings, spatial paradoxes and time loops. He asks Strange if he wants to get stuck living the same moment over and over or never have existed at all.
"Sounds like hell honestly." Strange said.
Strange says they should put the warnings before the spells.
"They should." Ned agreed.
Wong says Strange's curiosity could've gotten him killed.
"I'm not a cat." Strange said.
Wong says he wasn't manipulating the space-time continuum he was breaking it.
"Oh?"
Wong tells him that they don't tamper with the natural law they defend it.
Mordo asks Strange where he learned the litany of spells that were required to understand what he did.
Strange says he has a photographic memory and it was how he got his MD and PhD at the same time.
"Nice." Tony said.
Mordo says what he did takes more than a good memory and tells Strange that he was born for the Mystic Arts.
"You have a gift, Strange." Valkyrie said.
Strange says his hands still shake.
Wong says they do for now.
Strange asks if they won't forever.
Mordo says they aren't prophets.
Strange asks when they're going to tell him what they are. Mordo and Wong glance at each other.
"He deserves to know." Gamora said.
The three of them walk into another room with a giant globe. Wong says that heroes like the Avengers protect the world from physical dangers, they safeguard it against mystical threats.
"Teamwork."
The globe starts glowing. Wong says the the Ancient One is the latest in a long line of sorcerers supreme and it goes back thousands of years to the father of they mystic art whose name was Agamotto and he created they Eye that Strange recklessly borrowed.
"I wouldn't say recklessly." Strange said.
Wong says Agamotto built 3 sanctums in places of power where great cities now stand. He points to 3 doors and says that one leads to the Hong Kong sanctum, one leads to the New York sanctum and one leads to the London sanctum and the sanctums generate a protective shield around the world.
"Fascinating." Quill said.
Mordo says the sanctums protect the world and the sorcerers protect the sanctums. Strange asks what they protect them from.
"What do you think?" Nebula asked.
Wong says the protect them from other dimensional beings that threaten the universe. Strange asks if he means beings like Dormammu. Mordo asks where he learned that name. Strange says he read it in the book of Cagliostro. Wong says Dormammu dwells in the Dark Dimension and it's beyond time.
"How-" Tony went to ask.
"I've found it's best if you don't question it." Strange said.
Wong says Dormammu is the cosmic conqueror and the destroyer of worlds. He says Dormammu is a being with infinite power and endless hunger and he's on a quest to invade every universe and bring all worlds into his Dark dimension.
"So he sounds... terrible." Quill said.
Wong says Dormammu hungers for Earth most of all.
"Why Earth?" Natasha asked.
Strange remembers the pages Kaecilius stole.
Wong says they're a ritual to contact Dormammu and draw power from the Dark Dimension.
"Oh no."
Strange says he's out and tells them that he came to heal his hands not fight in a mystical war.
"Dude."
Wong notices the London Sanctum is under attack. The door opens and someone runs through it and gets hit.
Everyone gasped.
Kaecilius makes an explosion that sends Strange, Wong and Mordo back.
Strange gets up and calls for them then walks into the New York sanctum and walks outside. '177A Bleeker ST' is the address on the building.
"So this is the New York Sanctum?" Bruce asked. Strange nodded.
Strange walks back inside and tries to see if anyone is there.
"Shouldn't someone be there to guard it?" Maria asked.
Strange walks up to a set of doors. One leads to an ocean, one to a forest and one to some mountains. Strange turns a dial on the ocean door and it becomes a door to a desert.
"That's cool." Coulson said.
Strange continues walking around, he finds himself in a room of relics. He looks at the Cloak of Levitation, it moves.
"I'm not seeing things am I? That cloak did just move?" Sam asked.
Strange walks back to the foyer where someone is standing and the building is being warped.
"Oh, someone is there." Maria said.
Kaecilius and some zealots walk through the door.
"Shit."
Kaecilius addresses the man as Daniel and notes that they made him the master of the sanctum.
Daniel asks if he knows what that means.
Kaecilius says it means he'll die protecting it.
"What? He didn't do anything to you and you want to kill him?" Clint asked.
Kaecilius conjures a weapon and the zealots start attacking Daniel. Daniel knocks 2 of them down but the 3rd strikes him in the leg and knocks him down. Strange jumps over the railing and tells them to stop.
"What are you doing, you're going to get yourself killed." Rocket said.
"Better than doing nothing." Strange said.
Kaecilius asks him how long he's been at Kamar-Taj, then calls him Master and trail off silently asking for Strange's name.
Strange says it's doctor.
Kaecilius calls him Mister Doctor.
"Mr. Doctor. That's too perfect." Tony said.
Strange says his name is Strange. Kaecilius says it might be then asks who he is to judge.
Everyone started laughing at Kaecilius' confusion.
Kaecilius stabs Daniel. Strange conjures a weapon and Kaecilius runs over to him and starts kicking him, another zealot attacks and Strange grabs a vase and throws it at him then starts running, Kaecilius follows and uses magic to stretch the hallway and keep Strange in place.
"Damn."
Strange turns around and conjures 2 shields, one flickers out. Kaecilius jumps onto the ceiling and the 2 zealots follow Strange and start fighting him. Strange conjures a whip and hits one in the face.
"Haha nice." Rhodey said.
Kaecilius uses magic to twist and warp the hallway. Strange grabs a window handle then falls and grabs a light, he lets go and kicks a zealot into the desert then quickly climbs through the door.
"Clever." May said.
Another zealot attacks him. Strange changes the doorway to one of a rainforest just before the zealot climbs back through. He kicks the other zealot into the rainforest and changes the door to a canyon.
"Well, that takes care of them." Sam said.
Kaecilius walks up to him and starts hitting Strange with his magic shards, Strange runs and knocks a shelf over in Kaecilius' path. Strange runs upstairs and conjures a magic whip. They fight. Strange picks up a relic. Kaecilius says Strange doesn't know how to use it.
"True."
Strange throws it at him and they continue fighting. Kaecilius swings around a pillar and kicks Strange in the chest.
"Pole dancing moment part 2." Shuri said.
Strange falls into some glass, Kaecilius kicks Strange into a display case, then kicks him into another one, which the Cloak of Levitation was in. The cloak stops Kaecilius from attacking Strange.
"Okay... that's a pretty awesome cloak." Ned said.
Kaecilius grabs Strange and throws him aside then stands up and kicks him over the railing. The cloak dives after him and Strange floats up, wearing the Cloak of Levitation.
"Badass."
"The cloak is your relic then?" Thor asked. Strange nodded.
Strange conjures a whip and grabs Kaecilius' shard with it. Kaecilius yanks Strange toward him. The cloak pulls Strange backward. Strange sees an axe on the wall and tries to grab it but the cloak won't let him.
Everyone looked confused.
The cloak directs Strange to a restraint hanging on the other wall, Strange grabs it and throws it at Kaecilius and it restrains him.
"What the hell are those?" Tony asked.
"Those, I found out later, are the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak." Strange answered.
Kaecilius starts speaking but his words are muffled. Strange removes the muzzle and tells him to stop. Kaecilius says Strange can't stop it and calls him Mister Doctor again.
Everyone started snickering. "He genuinely thought that your name was Doctor?" May asked.
Strange says he doesn't know what 'it' is.
Kaecilius says it's the end and the beginning.
"What does that even mean?" Peter asked.
Kaecilius says the many become the few and the few become the one.
Strange says he's going to put the muzzle back on if Kaecilius doesn't start making sense.
"Or just save yourself the hassle and do it now." Valkyrie suggested.
"Yeah, but then I wouldn't have known what he wanted." Strange said.
Kaecilius calls Strange Mister Doctor again. Strange says his name is Doctor Stephen Strange. Kaecilius asks if he's a doctor. Strange says he is.
"Well, who would name their kid 'Doctor'?" Strange asked.
"People name their cat things like Garlic Bread and Chicken Noodle so I feel like nothing's off the table." Ned said.
Kaecilius says Strange understands the laws of nature and says that all things age and die and in the end the sun will burn out and the universe will grow cold and perish.
"And here I thought you had a cynical outlook on life." T'Challa said to Strange.
Kaecilius says the Dark Dimension is a place beyond time. Strange says he's putting the muzzle back on.
"Please do."
Kaecilius tells Strange that the world doesn't have to die and it can take its rightful place among many others as part of the One and they can all live forever.
"Sounds too good to be true." Sam said.
Strange asks Kaecilius what he has to gain from this new dimensional Utopia. Kaecilius says what he gains is the same as what everyone does and it's eternal life.
"I don't really think eternal life is all it's cracked up to be." Valkyrie said.
Kaecilius says that people think in terms of good and evil when time is really their true enemy and it kills everything.
"But you can't disturb the natural order of things." Coulson said.
Strange asks Kaecilius about the people he killed.
Kaecilius says they were tiny monetary specks within an indifferent universe.
"Whatever you tell yourself to justify your murders." Fury said.
"Wasn't that the same phrase you used when you were talking with the ancient one. 'Monetary specks within an indifferent Universe.'?" Gamora asked.
Kaecilius says Strange sees what they're doing and says that the world is not what it ought to be. He says humanity longs for the eternal and for a world without time because time is what enslaves them. He says time and death are insults.
"Why? Because they make it so things can't last forever?" Vision asked.
Kaecilius says the they aren't seeking to rule the world but to save it.
"From things that occur naturally." MJ said.
Kaecilius says they want to hand it over to the Dormammu who is the intent for all evolution and the why of all existence.
"More like power hungry demon, but okay." Shuri said.
Strange says the sorcerer supreme defends existence.
Kaecilius asks Strange what brought him to Kamar-Taj and asks if it was enlightenment or power.
Strange flexes his hand. Kaecilius says that he came to be healed like the rest of them.
"Everyone there wanted to be healed?" Wanda asked.
Kaecilius says that Kamar-Taj collects broken things and all of them came with the promise of being healed and instead the Ancient One gave them parlor tricks and keeps the real magic for herself and asks if Strange ever wondered how she she's managed to live so long.
"He's not saying what I think he's saying is he?" Rhodey asked. Strange's silence was answer enough.
Strange says he saw the rituals in the book of Cagliostro.
Kaecilius says that the ritual gives him the power to overthrow the Ancient One and tear the sanctums down and let the Dark Dimension in. He says that Dormammu gives freely what the Ancient One hoards.
"No... everything comes at a price." May said.
Kaecilius says Dormammu isn't the destroyer of worlds but he's the savior of them.
Strange tells Kaecilius to look at his face and says Dormammu made him a murderer and asks how good his kingdom can be.
"Not good at all." Maria said.
Kaecilius chuckles. Strange asks if he thinks that's funny.
Kaecilius says that what's funny is Strange has lost his sling ring.
"Shit."
A zealot walks through a portal, throws a knife at Strange, walks up to him and throws him down the stairs.
"Dammit!"
Strange limps through the hallway while bleeding, then collapses on the floor and starts crawling. The zealot finds him and conjures a magic shard. The cloak of levitation wraps itself around the zealots head.
"Damn, that is one awesome cloak." Clint said.
The zealots sling ring falls off, Strange takes it and uses it to make a portal to the hospital.
Everyone sighed with relief.
He stumbles through it and into a hallway. A nurse walks up to him and asks if she can help.
Strange asks if she knows where Christine is. Christine finds him.
Strange tells her to get him to an operating room and not to bring anyone else.
They walk into a room. Christine asks what happened.
"Just a stab wound." Strange said.
Strange says he was stabbed and the wound is over his cardiac tamponade. Christine gets him onto the table and asks him what he's wearing.
"Very very long story." Strange said.
Christine opens his tunic and says that his chest cavity is clear.
Strange says the blood is in the pericardial sac. His hand falls limp beside him.
"Oh no."
Christine panics and hooks him up to a heart rate monitor. Stranges Astral form comes out of his physical body. Christine goes to inject him, Stephen tells her to go a little higher. Christine screams.
"Yeah, I can imagine that that would be terrifying." Tony said.
Strange tells her to be careful with the needle.
Christine asks what she's seeing.
Strange says it's his astral body.
Christine asks if he's dead.
"Not yet."
Strange says he isn't dead but he's dying and points to where she should inject him.
Christine injects him and says she's never seen a would like it.
"Because it's not your typical stab wound." Strange said.
Christine asks what he was stabbed with. Strange says he doesn't know.
The zealot is still being smothered with the cloak, his astral body comes out of his physical body and he goes through the portal Strange left.
"Son of a bitch."
The zealot finds Strange and Christine. Strange tells her that he's going to have to vanish and tells her to keep him alive. Strange vanishes. Christine looks around, wary.
"I feel bad, she's probably so confused." Ned said.
Strange punches the zealot, then they start fighting. The zealot throws Strange through a wall. Strange comes back and the zealot throws him into a cabinet. They start fighting on top of Stranges body.
A few people snickered at the location.
They roll through Christine and she gets pushed back a little. They take their fight elsewhere.
Dr. West is buying something at a vending machine. Strange and the zealot fly through the vending machine and knock down more snacks.
"You just made that man's day." Peter said.
The zealot kicks Strange back into the room and starts kicking him. Strange flatlines.
"Oh no."
Christine grabs a crash cart and uses it on Strange. Energy emerges from Strange's astral form and blows the zealot away
Strange appears in front of Christine. She tells him to stop doing that.
Strange tells her to up the voltage and hit him again.
"But your hearts already beating." Bruce said.
Christine says his heart is beating. Strange tells her to do it and disappears. Christine does it and Strange's astral form blows up the Zealot's and kills him.
"That was a pretty good plan." Rocket said.
"Save for the part where it killed someone." Strange sighed.
Strange gasps awake. Christine asks if he's okay.
Strange says he is.
Christine starts stitching his wound. She says that he just shows up there after all that time and flies out of his body.
"Must of been a weird experience for her." Pepper said.
Strange says he knows and tells her that he missed her too and says he wrote her Emails but she never responded.
"Can you really blame her after what happened the last time the two of you talked?" Hope asked.
Christine asks why she would.
Strange apologizes to her and says she was right. He says he was an asshole and treated her horribly and she deserved so much more.
Everyone smiled, at least he was owning up to his mistakes. That was a start.
Christine tells him to stop and says he's in shock and asks what's happening and where he's been.
"Kamar-Taj."
Strange says after western medicine failed him he headed east and ended up in Kathmandu.
Christine asks if he means like the Bob Seger song.
Everyone laughed.
Strange says it was released in '1975' off of 'a beautiful loser side A'.
Everyone rolled their eyes. "Why do you know this?" Quill asked.
"Photographic memory." Strange answered. "It's good for a few things."
Strange says he went to Kamar-Taj and talked to the Ancient One.
Christine says he joined a cult.
"Yeah... I can kind of see how she would see it that way." Peggy said.
Strange says he didn't but they did teach him how to tap into powers he never knew existed.
Christine says it sounds like a cult.
Strange says it isn't a cult.
Christine says that that's what a cultist would say.
"She raises an interesting point." Shuri said.
Strange tries to get up. Christine asks what he's doing.
Strange says he's late for a cult meeting.
Everyone laughed. Strange just sighed.
Christine helps Strange walk and asks where he's going and if he can tell her the truth.
"Well..."
Strange says a powerful sorcerer gave himself over to an ancient entity and he can bend the laws of physics and tried very hard to kill him but he left him chained up in a greenwich village and the quickest way back there is through a dimensional gateway that he opened in the mop coset.
Christine says its fine if he doesn't tell her.
"A truth so crazy that it sounds like a lie." Natasha said.
Strange opens the closet where the portal is and they walk in. Strange walks through the portal and says he really does have to go, he closes it. A broom falls over and she screams.