At the Sanctum, Stephen slowed down to a stop as he discovered the physical body of the Zealot he had fought at the hospital. The man was unmoving, which made Stephen's heart lurch. With trembling hands, he checked the man's pulse only to confirm what he had feared.

Stephen backed away slowly and the red cloak that had remained floating beside the dead man, as though it were a puppy waiting for it's owner to come back, draped itself over his shoulders. The weight was surprisingly comfortable and it gave Stephen courage as he made his way back toward the attic.

Even before he was all the way up the stairs, he could see that Kaecilius was gone. Only the metal bindings that had held him remained strewn across the wood-panelled floors. Stephen moved away, intending to check to see if Kaecilius really was gone but a voice stopped him.

"Strange!"

Stephen whirled around in surprise; his knee-jerk reaction was to be on the defensive but then his brain placed the familiar voice just before Stephen's eyes landed on Mordo as the Master came striding across the room.

"You're okay." Mordo said in relief as he examined Stephen critically while he came closer.

"A relative term, but yeah, I'm okay." Stephen muttered when another voice interrupted.

"Stephen."

Stephen turned to the slightly more welcomed appearance of Maya as the woman popped out from the other side of the room. She was deathly pale but seemed at least partially relieved when she saw him.

"You're alive."

'A much more apt description of what I am.' Stephen thought before he blinked, startled as Maya came up to him and touched his chest with a frown.

"You were bleeding." She said, examining the blood on his robes before she looked up at him. "What happened?"

"I was stabbed but I had a… a friend take care of it." Stephen muttered before he gestured at her face. "What happened to you?"

Maya frowned slightly in confusion, touching her cheek before she remembered a small cut that was there. "It's nothing."

Stephen frowned in response but Maya's eyes had slid to the red fabric hanging around his shoulders. She raised a surprised brow.

"The Cloak of Levitation..." She said slowly as she stared at the rich cloak he wore.

"It came to you." Mordo murmured as he also examined the cloak. He stepped closer as well but Stephen didn't look over. Instead his eyes were fixed on Maya as she took a step back from him.

Satisfied that he wasn't seriously injured (anymore at least), Maya's expression was again unreadable. Any worry was carefully tucked away behind a wall in her amber gaze. But as she stared back at him, something changed. Perhaps it was the way Stephen stared at her; after all, he had gained more than one perspective since a mere few hours ago.

Or perhaps there was something more as she began with a hint of concern, "Stephen? What's wrong-?"

"It is no minor feat to have the Cloak of Levitation come to you."

Stephen's eyes narrowed slightly as he looked over to where the Ancient One had stepped out from her own portal on the other side of the room. She looked as she always had, unruffled and perfectly collected without a thread or crease out of place. But just as Stephen saw Maya differently, he saw the Ancient One in a different light now.

She seemed to notice his colder air but she kept that polite smile on her face as she added lightly while indicating the cloak, "It's a fickle thing."

Maya stepped further away from Stephen at the Ancient One's arrival, further disgruntling Stephen but she appeared not to notice as she reported, "Kaecilius escaped."

"He can also fold space and matter at will." Stephen added and Maya turned to stare at him in shock.

"He folds matter outside the mirror dimension? In the real world?" The Ancient One questioned, her gaze sharpening just slightly.

"Yeah." Stephen muttered and Maya said with an uneasy glance toward the Ancient One, "His powers are much greater than we'd feared."

"But not unexpected." The Ancient One replied grimly before she asked Strange, "How many more?"

"Two. I stranded one in the desert."

"And the other?" The Ancient One pressed. Stephen tensed.

"His body's in the hall. Master Drumm was in the foyer."

Maya shot him a look, a flash of concern in her eyes as she sensed some pain, some turmoil in him as Stephen spoke.

Mordo meanwhile assured Stephen grimly, "He's been taken back to Kamar-Taj."

His tone was mournful but still professional; and it made Stephen's stomach clench. Maya was still examining Stephen carefully, and she seemed puzzled while the Ancient One continued, "The London Sanctum has fallen. Only New York and Hong Kong remain now to shield us from the Dark Dimension."

She looked at Stephen as she continued, "You defended the New York Sanctum from attack. With its Master gone, it needs another-"

Stephen was shaking his head as he turned away but he froze at the Ancient One's next words.

"Master Strange."

Mordo was evidently surprised at the Ancient One's call as he glanced at his mentor with wide eyes. Maya's attention had also snapped back to her mother and she looked downright stunned by the announcement. But when Stephen whirled on the woman, his eyes were flashing angrily.

"No. It is Dr. Strange." He spat furiously. "Not Master Strange, not Mr. Strange. Dr. Strange."

He was shaking slightly as he continued in a trembling voice, "And when I became a doctor, I swore an oath to do no harm. And I have just killed a man!"

He shook his head while Maya's confusion cleared and her gaze became pitying while Stephen went on in a tone half-angry and half-desperate, "I'm not doing that again. I became a doctor to save lives, not take them."

"You became a doctor to save one life above all others." The Ancient One countered curtly and without inflection. "Your own."

Stephen smiled without humour and he asked sarcastically, "Still seeing through me, are you?"

"Ama..."

Maya's soft rebuke was ignored as the Ancient One met Stephen's cold gaze with her own cool one and matched his snap with her own stern reprimand.

"I see what I've always seen. Your overinflated ego."

Mordo winced at the Ancient One's cold tone while Maya grimaced. She had said the same thing many times before as well, of course, but she could sense that this was not the time for this argument. But the Ancient One was still focused only on Stephen.

"You want to go back to the delusion that you can control anything, even death, which no one can control." She shook her head while Stephen's anger flared. "Not even the great Dr. Stephen Strange."

"Not even Dormammu?"

The air chilled at Stephen's question.

The Ancient One stilled and while Stephen watched her, she examined him. She saw the truth in his eyes; but she didn't respond immediately. Stephen decided she needed some prodding.

"He offers immortality."

At Stephen's needling, the Ancient One collected herself quite quickly and she replied, "It's our fear of death that gives Dormammu life. He feeds off it."

"Like you feed on him?" Stephen shot back.

This time when she met his gaze, the Ancient One's eyes were icy but Stephen was undeterred as he continued, "You talk to me about controlling death, well, I know how you do it. I've seen the missing rituals from the book of Cagliostro."

"Measure your next words very carefully, doctor." The Ancient One warned in a soft but deadly voice.

"Because you might not like them?" Stephen challenged.

Her blue eyes darkened with anger but the Ancient One's voice was perfectly controlled as she corrected, saying each word very distinctly, "Because you may not know of what you speak."

"Ama?"

The Ancient One and Stephen were made aware of their audience once more as Maya looked between them with a strange look on her face, one Stephen had never seen on her before. He thought he detected confusion and also dread but he couldn't be sure and he certainly wasn't able to decipher which emotion was stronger.

Mordo's response was more easily deciphered as he demanded in bewilderment, "What is he talking about?"

Stephen was only too happy to explain as he replied swiftly before the Ancient One could say anything, "I'm talking about her long life. The source of her immortality."

He knew his next words would hurt Maya but he wasn't about to shield her from the truth - she deserved to know, and both she and Mordo deserved to know exactly whom they had pledged their allegiance to.

"She draws power from the Dark Dimension to stay alive." Stephen revealed, keeping his eyes fixed on the Ancient One.

The Sorceress Supreme appeared genuinely angry for the first time since she'd first taken him in: her eyes were on fire as she gazed back at Stephen. But exactly whom the anger was directed at, Stephen or herself, Stephen wasn't certain of and the Ancient One gave away nothing on her face even as Mordo scoffed.

"That's not true."

But there was a hint of uncertainty in his voice as he glanced between them, possibly due to the Ancient One's lack of denial. It was this uncertainty that Stephen hammered at as he said to the Ancient One darkly, "I've seen the rituals, worked them out. I know how you do it."

"Ama?" Maya asked, her voice mostly steady as she tried to remain cool and collected, but unable to hide the slight tremble as she too began to doubt. Her daughter's question - and the silent, oddly child-like plea for reassurance - seemed to wake the Ancient One.

"Once they regroup, the Zealots will be back. You'll need reinforcements." The Ancient One spoke solely to Stephen, ignoring Maya's question. She also avoided Mordo and Maya's eyes as she turned swiftly on her heel and walked away, leaving them quickly as she headed off deeper into the Sanctum.

Maya watched her go; and for once it seemed that she was unable to control her emotions enough to remain unreadable because in every line of her face, Stephen could read her shock followed quickly by betrayal. This was succeeded by an oddly lost expression, as though Maya had no idea what to do next. There was also some anger mixed in, which Stephen had no doubt was directed partially to him and partially toward the Ancient One. And beneath it all, masked under a layer of pain, was a desperate hope, a pitiful desire to believe.

And Stephen wished that he could let her do that, that he could tell her he was wrong. But he never had been able to lie, and he truly believed that Maya, Mordo and the rest of Kamar-Taj should know exactly who they had pledged their lives to. And besides, if there was one person who Stephen felt sure deserved not to be lied to anymore, it was Maya.

So with a deep breath, he faced Maya and incidentally Mordo. The latter appeared to be in some kind of stunned shock while Stephen murmured quietly but grimly, "She is not who you think she is."

Maya's expression twisted like she had tasted something sour while Mordo whirled on Stephen angrily.

"You don't have the right to say that!" Mordo snapped angrily, and Stephen's heart twisted once more to see the one Master who had always been kind to him so hurt and furious.

"You must have read something wrong or misunderstood-" Maya added tightly but Stephen interrupted with a shake of his head.

"No, I know what I read. I know I'm right and you know it too. I know you do."

Maya glared at him, but her expression was too defensive. Mordo meanwhile said hotly, "She is better than that! You have no idea the responsibility that rests upon her shoulders-"

"No, and I don't want to know." Stephen answered shortly, making Mordo narrow his eyes.

"You're a coward."

Stephen bristled at Mordo's words and he couldn't help but bite back, "Because I'm not a killer?"

"These Zealots will snuff us all out-" Mordo began to snarl but Maya cut him off.

"Enough!"

Maya glared at Mordo and then at Stephen.

"I know how you feel, truly I do. It is never easy, taking the first life, and I can understand how it may be worse for you as a former doctor. However," her dark eyes steeled with an anger that was surprisingly not unlike the Ancient One's. "I agree with Master Mordo. You have no right to throw an accusation of the magnitude that you have just made against my Ama, our leader. And certainly less right if you intend to then just walk away."

"I beg your pardon?!" Stephen began in an outrage but Maya snarled at him.

"Do you realize just what you were saying? Of course you don't, because you never had the patience to learn properly! Using powers from the Dark Dimension is a crime on par with assault and feeding on Dormammu's power is no better than murdering in cold blood. You are accusing my mother of more than lying to us, you are accusing her of being little more than a violent murderer!"

"Well, if that's the way your laws work, then that's what she is, isn't she?" Stephen shot back. "You saw it too, she didn't deny anything!"

"Perhaps she didn't see the need to explain herself to a coward who would point fingers rather than own up to his own faults!" Maya yelled at him.

Her face was twisted with fury but it was the betrayal, the hint of tears in her amber eyes that stopped Stephen in his tracks while Maya turned on her heel and stormed away down the stairs. Stephen watched her go, feeling both angry and just a little bit guilty - not for what he'd done but for the way he'd broken the truth.

"Maya is right." Mordo spoke up, breaking Stephen from his thoughts and pushing him back toward anger. "You are hardly the man to judge anyone-"

"Because I won't kill someone while you would do it easily?" Stephen snapped harshly but Mordo's expression darkened.

"You have no idea. The things I've done…" Mordo broke off, taking a deep breath to calm himself before he continued in a measured voice, "And the answer is yes. Without hesitation."

"Even if there's another way?" Stephen challenged.

"There is no other way."

"You lack imagination." Stephen scoffed and Mordo glared at him.

"No, Stephen." The master hissed back. "You lack a spine."

The two men's argument was suddenly interrupted as they heard rumbling in the distance, a noise Stephen recognized from the first time Kaecilius had broken into the Sanctum by repeatedly bending the woodwork and stones of the building's entrance.

"They're back." Mordo hissed before he took off for the entrance hall, Stephen right on his heels.

As they approached, Stephen heard the sound of fighting: the sharp snaps of spells and dull thuds as flesh hit flesh. His heart thundered as he realized what the commotion must mean. Stephen's guess was proven correct when he and Mordo raced out at the top of the stairs leading down to the entrance way.

Down below, Maya was engaged in a duel against two Zealots while Kaecilius stood in the centre of the room. It was clear at once that Maya was trying to reach Kaecilius to stop him as he conjured an enormous ball of energy similar to the one Stephen had glimpsed the man unleashing in the London Sanctum. But she was blocked by the two Zealots who, although they seemed unable to defeat the master, were strong enough to keep her at bay as they evaded her deadly attacks.

"We have to help her end this. Now!" Mordo shouted at Stephen as he leapt down into the entrance hall.

Stephen hesitated, watching as Mordo ran for Kaecilius, forcing the Zealots fighting Maya to spread out. Faced one-on-one, Maya soon succeeded in wrapping her opponent's ankle with an Eldritch whip and sending her opponent flying away. With the path clear, she lunged at Kaecilius, who was forced to stop his spell as he turned to meet her head-on.

Maya swung at the man who had once been her friend, like a father even. Neither side held any mercy as Maya kicked up at Kaecilius while simultaneously spinning around to slice her Tao Mandala fans at him. Kaecilius anticipated her signature move, however, and darted forward to catch her foot and arm - only to get a punch to his cheek as she pulled back her feint right arm and instead rounded on him with a good swing from her left hand. He recovered quickly however, and he was faster when she swung around once more.

Maya grit her teeth when Kaecilius wrapped his hand around her wrist and threw her over his shoulder. She landed on her feet and pushed back at him, attempting to force him over; it semi-worked as she swung back over him and kicked him in the head. Unfortunately, he recovered fast enough to grab her arm as she attempted to slice him with her fan and this time, he pulled her right to him where he grabbed her by the neck before kicking her hard in the stomach.

Maya went crashing down to the floor, Kaecilius's foot on her stomach and his hand still holding her neck tightly. She choked while Mordo looked over in alarm as Kaecilius opened his free hand toward the ball of energy that was still floating in the centre of the room.

"No-!" Mordo yelled as Kaecilius unleashed the energy just as Stephen lifted his hands.