Hey everyone! I hope you're enjoying this story so far and I'd really like to thank you for keeping up with me this long! I want to quickly apologize for how short this chapter is compared to the last few I've posted, but I think I've honestly been doing pretty well on my part to update every week so far since I've started this. Here's to hoping I can keep that streak going! Anyways, if you have any thoughts or comments, I'd love to hear them! Thanks again and please enjoy!
The next thing I knew, I opened my eyes to find that I was back in my room. Well, the guest room that I had been given in the Sanctum Sanctorum. The shades were pulled low over the windows, and no sunlight shone around the edges so I took that to mean that it had to be nighttime. A small lamp on the nightstand by my bed cast a soft warm glow around the room.
I sat up and groaned as my right arm throbbed painfully. I moved my left hand over to gently run my fingers over the bandages I felt there. I frowned and then had a mini heart-attack as I reached with my left hand to my right pocket. The Time Stone was gone.
"Wong?!" I called out, breaking the unnatural silence of the room. My voice was scratchy and hoarse from having just woken up from my few hours' unintentional sleep. The door to my room immediately opened and Dan poked his head in worriedly.
"Alex, you're okay!" He said in relief as he opened the door the rest of the way and came in. I stared at him in confusion as he walked in, wearing what looked like some odd looking red karate outfit. He noticed my confused expression and his relaxed smirk faded quickly. "Don't freak out man, everything's alright. She's long gone, Wong says that she won't come back without reinforcements which may take a while…but she can't hurt you now man, it's okay…"
"What are you doing?" I asked, noting the strange tone in his voice. He was babying me. Dan frowned and then shifted his feet on the floor as he stood by my bed.
"Bruce said you would probably wake up with amnesia and have a meltdown as soon as the sedative wore off…" He muttered thoughtfully.
"Sedative." I repeated. Dan eyed me up and down worriedly.
"Are you having a meltdown?"
"No." I said simply. "And I definitely don't have amnesia. Where is the Stone? It's not in my pocket, and I don't remember taking…"
"Yeah…that's because we changed your clothes. You got um…blood…all over the place. It was really kinda horrifying." Dan said, screwing up his face uncomfortably. I looked away from him to find that underneath the few blankets on top of me, I too wore some of the weird karate robes.
"Okay…" I said thoughtfully, amazed at how comfy the robes felt. "Then where is…"
"It's around your neck, man." Dan said as he grabbed the chain from around my neck and held up the bronze Eye for me to see. The green glow that had radiated from within it before was nowhere to be found. I took the pendant from Dan's hand and examined it thoughtfully for a few seconds as my mind tried to play catch up.
"What happened after I passed out?" I asked quietly, my mind strangely blank. Dan scratched the back of his head and sighed like it was a chore to explain. I looked up at his reaction and noticed his tired expression. Apparently quite a bit had occurred while I had been out.
"Well for starters…that Proxima Midnight woman is gone. According to Rhodey and Wong she teleported back up to her ship. That was the loud earthquake thing that happened and I guess she wanted to take her spear with her and it flew up after her. Bruce said the pain of the quick extraction caused you to pass out. I helped him patch you up and then Wong found us both these awesome magician robes and we brought you here." Dan quickly related.
"Thanks…" I said slowly as I looked down at my bicep wrapped in layers and layers of gauze and medical tape. Dan beamed proudly and shrugged.
"That was the easy part, really. For the past few hours, Wong has actually been teaching me some of the stuff he's tried to teach you. Look at this…" Dan said eagerly. I turned back in his direction and watched as he held his left hand palm up towards the ceiling. Seconds later, a spark of blue lightning shot from his palm and hit the ceiling, leaving a tiny black scorch mark in the light wood. My eyes widened and I nodded in awe.
"That's actually really awesome, Dan." I said, impressed. He raised his other hand and directed his attention toward the windows on the opposite side of the room. With a quick swipe upward, the shades covering the window rolled up, revealing the streetlights outside. I looked back over at Dan's excited smile and laughed.
"It's like telekinesis!" He exclaimed as he bounced up and down with his jittery excitement. I raised my left arm up to stretch and ruffled the back of my dark messy hair wearily.
"I'm glad you're finally getting to do something you like, man." I said through a yawn. Dan nodded and then lightly kicked at the nightstand by the bed.
"Yeah…I'm really sorry about earlier…I was kinda jealous over you getting all the attention and the fact that Wong thought I wasn't deserving enough to learn any magic…" He said slowly.
"I know," I said understandingly as I offered my best friend a reassuring smirk. The door then swung open once more and Wong appeared carrying a tray with a sandwich and a steaming cup of the herbal tea that seemed to be the default drink around here.
"Alexander, you're finally awake." He remarked as he set the tray down on the nightstand. I nodded and then tried to sit up again, being very wary of my right arm.
"Did we win?" I asked him worriedly. Wong slowly shook his head.
"For the moment I guess you could count that as a win on our part, but they will definitely return, most likely with some more of their friends." Wong explained sharply. I swallowed hard and then reached for the tiny handle-less teacup on the tray.
"Where are Bruce and Rhodey?" I asked, noticing their absence.
"Oh, they went to meet with Captain America and some of the other Avengers." Dan answered. He glanced warily at Wong behind the sorcerer's back and I understood his signal. Wong had refused their help in protecting the Time Stone again.
"They have their own problems," Wong said as I took a hesitant sip of the hot tea. "And we must be ready for the next attack."
"Sounds like Dan's been having a good time learning," I said to him casually. Wong nodded briefly and turned back to regard my friend who stood behind him sporting a smug side smirk.
"Indeed. But you must get back into your training as well. We've lost several hours to your recovery." Wong said, gesturing to my injury. I looked down at my bandaged arm and then raised my eyebrows challengingly.
"You don't have anything stronger than this tea here to help boost the healing process, do you?" I asked. Wong rewarded me with an amused smirk before turning away to the door.
"You're a little young for that I'm afraid, Alex. Both of you meet me in the foyer in ten minutes." Wong said lightly as he exited the room. Dan turned back to look at me apologetically.
"He's been on edge all afternoon…I think if I hadn't been catching onto what he taught me so quickly, he probably would've moved on and found somebody else to help us." Dan said quietly. I frowned.
"Who else would he let help? If he turned down Captain America and the others, what makes you think he'd let anyone else?"
Dan was quiet for a moment as he glanced out the window down into the darkened street outside. A few cars drove by, casting weird shadows on the ceiling with their bright headlights.
"Well there's gotta be more Sanctums in other parts of the world, right? Maybe he'll call on them if things get really desperate." Dan finally said. I blinked against the lamplight thoughtfully and then took another long sip from the hot tea.
"Did he tell you that there were more?" I asked gently. Dan shrugged and then shook his head.
"But I mean, it's just Wong and Doctor Strange that live here, maybe this is like their house or something. Maybe the other magicians and sorcerers have their own special houses and no one knows about them because they're protected with the kind of wards and guards that they have over this place." Dan said speculatively. I paused in the middle of taking another drink of the warming tea and nearly choked on it.
"Yeah…lotta good those protection spells did us today, huh?" I asked, wincing as I remembered the frantic battle from earlier. Dan nodded and then finally turned back around from looking out the window.
"I guess we'd better get out there to help Wong…he'll probably illusion the walls coming down on us pretty soon if we don't do what he says." Dan sighed as he crossed the room back to the door. I grimaced as I set the half-empty cup of tea back on the tray and forced myself to sit up. My bicep still burned as my arm shifted with my movement. Dan stood and waited patiently until I had climbed to my feet before leaning over and grabbing some slipper-like shoes from the floor.
"Perfect! Now my look is complete!" I said jokingly as I slipped them on and followed Dan out into the quiet wooden hall. As soon as I left the warm light of my room, I stopped and took in the sight of the darkened hallway outside.
The cabinets were still there lining the hallway, seemingly having remained untouched during the battle. I breathed a sigh of relief at that realization but something still didn't look right. I stared down at the polished wooden floor and noticed the scuff marks crisscrossing up and down the long hall, the wood torn up with debris in some places. Chunks of the wall and ceiling were scorched, leaving deep fissions in the classic-looking architecture. My gaze moved up towards the direction we were moving and I could see the large open room where Doctor Strange had first transported both Dan and me into the Sanctum.
As the hall opened up into the main room, Wong stood at the base of the large ruined staircase surveying the scene curiously. The gaping Hulk-sized hole was still there revealing the night sky far above us. Wong gestured from that hole over towards the other end of the room where yet another one, this one considerably smaller, was torn through the mansion's beautiful architecture.
"Our goal tonight is to try and repair the building and patch up these holes." Wong said, his stern voice finally breaking the silence in the large open room. I looked at both of the huge gaping holes and then clenched my left hand into a fist open and closed as if I was stretching it.
"And that's supposed to help protect us from the next attack?" I asked disbelievingly. Wong shook his head matter-of-factly and gestured upwards. A flash of golden light shone through the windows and the holes in the roof, and my mind finally clicked and told me that the glow signified the protective spells surrounding the Sanctum.
"No, I've already reinstated the spells and wards, and even added a few more for good measure. Our job is to merely repair the building itself." Wong explained. He offered a small smirk and pointed up through the Hulk-sized hole. "It's going to rain tonight and I'm sure Doctor Strange wouldn't want his grand staircase ruined."
"Or what's left of it, anyway…" Dan muttered good-naturedly. Wong chuckled lightly and then gestured at the Time Stone around my neck.
"We're going to use that. Your first lesson in learning to use it, should the need arise." The sorcerer said. I glanced down at the Eye around my neck and then looked back up at Wong wide-eyed.
"Really? I…I'm allowed to use it?" I asked. The easy light in Wong's eyes seemed to fade and his face turned instructive again.
"Only in the direst of situations," He said seriously, positioning his hands in a triangular fashion in front of his chest. "Now follow me…this is just going to be a small spell."
"Just to clarify…" Dan spoke up as I copied Wong's hand positions. "When you say the 'direst of situations'…would that be like when the alien people come back?"
"Yes, in a sense. But opening the Eye to use the Time Stone can also leave it vulnerable to attack. You will see in a moment…" Wong said, slowly and intricately showing me how to move my hands. As I copied him, I could feel the warmth of the pendant on my chest buzzing with built up energy. I looked away from Wong's instruction to see that the green glow emanated from the bronze Eye, but the heat did not reach the intensity from before.
"So am I going to reverse time or something to fix the damages?" I asked as I stared at the light in the middle of the necklace and moved my hands the way I had witnessed Strange use it.
"Yes, exactly…but…no! Wait –"
Wong's voice cut off suddenly, which I thought was odd and I looked back up at him worriedly. His normally stern and deadpanned expression was stuck in a shocked appearance, his mouth open but unmoving. I frowned deeply and glanced hurriedly down at the necklace then back up to the frozen sorcerer.
"Dan, is he messing around or…?"
I turned around to see that Dan was looking down toward my chest, his eyes wide with awe, but he too didn't move. I stepped closer to him and when there was no reaction from him, I waved my hand in front of his unblinking face. When I did so, I noticed a glowing green band hovering around my left wrist and I watched it as it slowly rotated.
"Oh God…" I muttered as I held my wrist up to examine the conjured glowing band. "I didn't see Strange stop the spell…" I turned my hand around to watch the gradual motion of the band and as I moved it, I noticed movement in front of me.
Dan still stood frozen in place, but something in his face looked different. I tried inching my hand to the right once more and was shocked to see that his face grew steadily darker. Frowning, I continued the motion and finally realized that Dan had grown a beard right before my eyes.
"Woah, woah, woah…" I stopped quickly, halting my hand before any other changes came over my best friend. I turned around to face Wong and held my hand out in front of him curiously. This time I turned my wrist to the left and after a moment I noticed a slight change in him as well.
Wong grew slightly thinner and I even noticed that his cropped short hairstyle slowly grew out, covering his head in inches of dark hair. I stepped closer to him, amused as I watched the intimidating sorcerer age in reverse. A short goatee grew in seconds on his face and I let out a small laugh as I watched.
My humorous mood was cut short as I noticed that Wong's expression had also changed, now less shocked and leaning more towards irritated. He had also somehow moved closer to me and I quickly flicked my wrist in the opposite direction, causing the man to instantaneously return to his normal age. Or what I hoped was his normal age. Wong's hand clamped down tightly on my outstretched wrist as I finished and he moved my hands and forced me to face the staircase. He turned my hand back to the left and I sheepishly watched as the splintered wood gathered together to form solid stairs in milliseconds. I then allowed Wong to move my wrist up towards the ceiling and do the same thing there. Glass and metal framework from the large curiously shaped window collected from around the floor and staircase below, and before our eyes, the window was rapidly intact. Wong then turned me around once more and gestured towards the last gaping hole in the roof where Proxima Midnight had escaped hours before. I blinked at him unsurely and he shrugged, still clearly irritated, but motioned that I should fix the last one. I turned back and waved my wrist towards the left and just like before, the hole was fixed instantly.
When I was done, I glanced back to Wong and he held up his hands much like he had before when we opened the Eye. I copied his motion and there was a soft click as the Eye closed around my neck. The man stood over me with a deep frown etched in his face and I could only stare up at him in shock. When he still said nothing for several long seconds afterward, I turned around to see that Dan was touching his once more clean-shaven face in surprise.
"Um…I'm sorry?" I finally broke the confused silence.
"Next time…wait for my instruction before taking a rebellious leap forward, thinking you know it all."
"But I didn't –"
Wong shook his head in what I could tell was very evident disbelief and he disappeared up the newly refinished staircase without a word. I watched him go, biting my lip with cringing worry at my complete screw up at a first attempt of using the Time Stone.
"I think he's really worried about this whole thing…" Dan said after a moment. I lowered my gaze from the perfectly polished staircase and looked at Dan's apologetic face.
"Well yeah…I think we all have reason to be…" I said slightly sarcastically. Dan rolled his eyes lightheartedly and shook his head to elaborate.
"No, I mean…I think he's worrying about figuring out why Strange decided to give you the Stone in the first place. And then you just managed to create a magic fire staff thingy down there from absolutely nothing. We're all confused…" Dan said slowly. I frowned deeply in thought and turned away from him.
"I still don't know how I was even able to do that…" I muttered to myself. Dan touched my uninjured shoulder and made me face him again.
"Exactly! And just now it was like you somehow already knew how to work that thing!" He pointed at the Eye resting against my chest, once again dormant. I looked down at the bronze pendant thoughtfully for a second before I felt my jaw clench defensively.
"Well I must've learned it somewhere." I reasoned. Dan stared at me worriedly before he shrugged.
"We should probably read up on some more stuff before the next attack. Maybe we'll be able to backtrack and find what you used for that fire staff thing." He said, trying to lighten the mood.
"Yeah…" I said slowly, not knowing what else to say about the matter. My head still felt a little foggy from the sedative and the majority of the afternoon spent knocked out. If our first battle for the Time Stone had ended this abruptly and with so many unanswered questions, what were we to expect for the next and hopefully final round?