Author's note:
I know it has been a hot minute since I posted. I honestly meant to finish this whole fic before I began posting and, of course, didn't. I'm glad I'm coming back to this, though. This fic deserves completion, I think.
So, there have been a couple of movies come out since I last really looked at this. There will be discrepancies. Assume this is a close but alternate universe to the MCU one that splits right before the events of Spiderman No Way Home. That should keep everything on track and account for my own creative license. Please, please feel free to ask questions in my comments. I have a pretty thick skin and can take constructive criticism. Of course, if you just want to lambast me, I'll pointedly ignore you. 😊
Please, enjoy.
Ch. 10
Morgan cursed and swung back to the book beside her. She had missed something. This was like writing computer code! If she missed the smallest word or description, it would leave a chink in the spell that someone could exploit, if it worked at all.
Holding her tablet in one hand, she scanned the words on the page and found her mistake.
"That's it!" she muttered and turned back to the tablet. It contained what looked like a complex legal document with multiple clauses, caveats and definitions. She made an adjustment and went back to the beginning of the document. It had to be perfect before she applied it to the device. She would only get one chance at this unless she wanted to create the mechanics of the device over again and she had made enough magical adjustments that she couldn't just fabricate a copy with Friday.
Briefly, she wondered if the Watcher would understand the magic and be able to look over her work. She frowned and shook her head. He would probably consider it interference. Luckily, the thickest book of the three she had taken had enough information that she was able to feed it into Friday to create a comprehensive reference.
"Friday, review document and analyze."
"Right away, Miss Stark."
While the computer worked, Morgan turned to the vambraces and collar that were currently engaged over a 3-D printed dummy. She checked the power output on the button-sized arc reactors set into each piece. They were holding stable and she smiled to herself. Her father had started a project file to miniaturize the power sources to this degree, but hadn't completed it before Steve Rogers showed up on his doorstep with the time conundrum that ultimately led to his death. She had picked up where he left off and completed it. She had plans to mass produce them some day, when Stark Enterprises was fully under her control. She would take her family's company and make it something that benefited everyone.
But for the time being, they provided the extra power the restraints needed to run the fusion of technology and magic she had crafted.
"Analysis completed, Miss Stark. No anomalies found."
A thrill of excitement fluttered through her. She hadn't gotten that response, yet. Everything lined up and she didn't have to fix anything else. Now, she just had to transfer it to the equipment. That required her to read off the entire document with no mistakes, no especially long pauses and no stumbles. She thought about practicing, first, but she was already weary with lack of sleep and reading that document would be monotonous enough, once.
Throwing caution to the wind, she brought the tablet to the table she had her working circle inscribed in. She pulled the vambraces and collar from the dummy and placed them in the circle. She propped the tablet up next to her work area, took a deep breath and began.
Fifteen minutes later, with sweat breaking out on her forehead and arms trembling from holding them out to indicate the spell was still ongoing, she completed the last, sealing sentence. She made a sharp gesture to sever the input stream and dropped her arms. The vambraces glowed with a golden light and then flashed into darkness. The only light left was from the arc reactors and the indicator lights.
"Well done."
Her heart leapt into her throat and she whirled to find the Watcher standing across the room from her.
"Bad Watcher! No sneaking up on me!" she yelled, startlement bringing out her insolence. The Watcher just smirked at her.
"Are you ready?" He indicated the vambraces and collar with a nod of his head. Morgan put a hand on her chest as her heart began to settle down from the rush of adrenaline the Watcher had sent through her. She thought nothing of him ignoring her snark. Uncle Strange did that, too. She was used to it.
"Yeah. I'm ready."
She held the parts of the device out for him to take and smiled with sadistic glee as he winced when the needles pierced his skin. He shot her a dark look and she smoothed her features into innocent interest in the blink of an eye.
Reaching up, he closed the collar around his neck and it came to life. The joints locked into place down his spine. When the last indicator light turned green, he fell to his knees as though pulled there by a great force. His glowing blue eyes flew wide and he tilted his head to look up at Morgan. It was the most movement he could manage. Excitement fluttered through Morgan's chest and she couldn't help the grin spreading across her face.
"Stand," she commanded and the Watcher stood with alacrity. He looked at his legs as though they had betrayed him, much like the creature she had last tested her restraints on.
"Raise your arms, lower your arms. Raise your right. Lower your right. Turn around." Like an automaton, the Watcher followed her commands while the expression on his face morphed from shock, to open surprise, to careful wariness.
"Good. Now, open a window to where Uncle Strange is. View only."
This time, the Watcher narrowed his eyes at her and didn't obey. Morgan smiled. She had meant for him to have a choice on whether to obey this command or not.
"I will not interfere," he ground out.
"Actually, you would if I wanted you to," Morgan said, thoughtfully and the Watcher's eyes widened a bit with horror. She shook her head. "But I won't. That wasn't the agreement and it's not the reason I created these. I don't want to control a bunch of powerful beings. I just want to let Dark Strange enjoy some freedom. Now, I know I can make sure he has a choice when he should."
She reached out to run her fingers over the release sensors and the vambraces dropped away. The indicator lights went red and the Watcher reached up to try to release the collar. Like last time, it didn't work and his glowing eyes narrowed.
"I'm getting it. Just hold still," Morgan said. She reached up and brushed the release sensor. The Watcher tore it off his neck and hurled it to the ground. Luckily, it held up under the assault, as she had designed it to do. She knelt to retrieve it and looked up at the Watcher as he rubbed the back of his neck where the needles had sunk in.
"What's wrong? Didn't you foresee that I wouldn't keep it on you?" she asked, frowning. She hadn't meant to suggest she would actually imprison him. He hadn't done anything to deserve it that she knew of.
"I foresee possibilities. All possibilities. Somewhere out there, there is a timeline where you did imprison me."
Morgan scowled, trying to wrap her mind around that.
"You exist outside of the timelines and realities. How can there be a timeline where I imprison you?"
"When I step into a timeline, like I did when I showed up here, I become a part of it. The me that exists in the timeline where you betray me never escapes that timeline. He is a prisoner for the rest of his existence, which is a very long time since I'm immortal. That me is still a part of this me, in some ways. I feel his anger, his hatred for you and it can be difficult to separate the two. What you have created is very powerful and very, very dangerous in the wrong hands, Morgan. I need you to understand that."
Morgan thought about it, what she could have done if she had the Watcher under her control. She imagined what all she could achieve if she made more of these things, brought more powerful beings under her control. What kind of army could she create?
"I have to destroy the data. The plans. The spell notes." Her heart ached at the idea of all that work just going away. She would have the device she created, but it would be like owning a car without the manual. Even a mechanic needed the car manual on occasion. Maybe she could duplicate it, but with no notes but what remained in her memory, it would take time. Again. Unlike Uncle Strange, she didn't have a photographic memory. There would be some things she would have to figure out again…which would discourage her from trying to do this again except in very dire circumstances. "All of it. I have to destroy all of it."
The Watcher stopped rubbing and studied her face. He smiled softly.
"Somewhere out there, you don't make that decision. I'm glad this is the timeline where you do."
Morgan took a deep breath. "Friday, destroy all files related to Dark Strange."
"Please confirm, destroy all files related to the subject Dark Strange?"
Morgan rolled her lips together, a single tear forming at the corner of her eye at the loss of all the work. How would she fix the device if it broke?
Grinding her teeth together, she swiped the tear away.
"Friday, confirm."
"Deletion confirmed. Commencing deletion of files and incineration of hard drive."
If the device had problems, she would fix it. It was better than taking the chance someone else would get their hands on the plans for it. She barely trusted herself with the power she had created. If she could believe the Watcher, even she didn't have the will power to use it properly in some timelines.
"I need to get this to Dark Strange as quickly as possible," she said, reaching for the vambraces. The Watcher's head jerked up and he stared off into a corner of the room. Morgan frowned up at him. "What? What is it?"
"I can't interfere."
"Oh, I hate it when you say that! Is it Uncle Strange? Is something wrong?"
"I can't interfere," the Watcher said, but met her eyes as he did so. Something about his body language told her she had hit the nail on the head. "Good luck, Morgan Stark." He shattered an opening in reality and disappeared through it.
Morgan cursed and lunged for her sling ring. She stuffed the vambraces and collar in her pockets, not wanting to take the time to put them away. Shoving the ring onto her fingers, she spun up a portal to the sanctum and gasped to see Wong crouched over Uncle Strange sprawled in the foyer.
"Uncle Strange!" She rushed through the portal and went to her knees at his side. Wong stared at her and coughed into his elbow. Uncle Strange breathed fast and shallow with a raspy rattle in each breath. She reached out to touch his forehead and yanked her hand back at the heat radiating off of it.
"What happened?"
"We found the vampire." Wong coughed and his voice came out ragged and rough. "He was waiting for us with his pet. They didn't run. Pestilence finally stayed and fought. We almost had it, but it evaded the trap and then Strange collapsed in a coughing fit." Wong paused to cough again and Morgan already knew what he was about to say.
"It found a way to get Covid past his enchantments, didn't it?" she asked, the pit of her stomach dropping out. The hospitals in New York were at capacity and even if they weren't, did she dare expose the world to a mutation of the virus that could bypass his enchantments? What work had already been done toward a vaccine would have to start all over with a variant this different.
"I think so," Wong said and coughed again.
"And you have it, now, don't you?"
Wong didn't answer. He just stared at her with sad, horrified eyes.
"Can you help me get him into his bed? I'll open the portal to the hallway."
"Morgan, you need to leave. You shouldn't have come to begin with. You've been exposed, now." Wong shook his head and coughed again.
"I have an idea, but I need to make sure you and Uncle Strange aren't just sprawled across the floor, first."
Wong scowled, but coughed again and his shoulders drooped.
"I will help you. I'm afraid it's already too late anyway."
Morgan spun up a portal and did her best to help Wong carry Uncle Strange into his room. The man was heavy and unwieldy. Between Wong's coughing and the fact that Morgan wasn't finished growing yet, they had to drag his butt across the floor until the Cloak of Levitation took pity on them and lifted him for them.
"You could have done that sooner," Morgan grumbled as the cloak carried him to his bed. Morgan pulled the covers back and the cloak deposited him on his back, wrapping protectively around him and pointedly ignoring her. That was fine. She didn't need the cloak to like her for it to care for Uncle Strange.
She pulled his boots off and tucked him under the covers. His cheeks and forehead were flushed with fever and his breath rasped and rattled in his chest.
"Is there anything we can do to help him breathe outside of a hospital?" she asked, but didn't get an answer. She turned to find Wong leaning against the foot of the bed, beads of perspiration covering his forehead. He coughed, coughed again, and again, and again, falling to the floor in a violent hacking fit. "Wong!"
She rushed over to him as he keeled over onto his side. The fit subsided and he gasped for breath.
"I think I'm gonna just take a nap. Right here." He closed his eyes and Morgan felt absolutely helpless. She couldn't handle this alone, but anyone she tried to bring here would just be exposed to whatever Pestilence had done to them. She couldn't risk anyone else. Or, rather, she daren't risk anyone that wasn't as strong or stronger than Uncle Strange.
Grabbing a blanket, Morgan covered Wong up. There was no way she could move him from the floor. She'd never seen or heard of an illness that worked this fast. Whatever Pestilence had done to them, it could be in her now and that meant she had minimal time to act.
She felt for the vambraces and collar in her pocket. She had planned to astral project to check on Dark Strange's mood, see if he was lucid, but there wasn't time for that. Holding out her sling ring, she closed her eyes and concentrated on the patch of concrete enclosed in the scintillating walls of a pocket reality. As soon as the portal opened, she stepped through.
"Morgan?" Dark Strange turned to her, partially human, but with twisted black horns sprouting from the pale flesh of his temples, just above the silver streaks in his hair. Leathery wings with too many joints blossomed at his back as he scowled at her. "I told you to never come here in the flesh. Your power calls to them." Something moved under his skin, contouring the flesh into the repeating rings of the suckers on the underside of a tentacle. Morgan felt sick.
"You never told me that part," she said, gritting her teeth against the wash of terrified adrenaline that set her nerves on fire. Everything in her yelled at her to run, but she couldn't just jump back through the portal. The only thing that waited for her at home was the death of her second family and she wouldn't accept that on top of the first.
She dashed toward Dark Strange as he dissolved into tentacles and eyes, but like she remembered, there were still two clearly delineated arms and a neck. That's all she needed. She pulled a vambrace from her pocket, but the other two parts came with it and clattered to the ground. She glanced down with a new spurt of panic and a tentacle wrapped around her leg from ankle to knee. It jerked her forward and she hopped on the other foot, just barely managing to stay upright. She had no time to worry about the other pieces, now. Dark Strange reached for her and she grabbed for his arm. He jerked back in surprise and she slammed the vambrace around the wrist.
"What?" Dark Strange paused, a hundred eyes shifting to the mechanical device that came to life and climbed his flesh. He roared when the needles pierced his skin. He grabbed for it with his other hand, scrabbling at the metal with sharp black claws on his vaguely humanoid fingers, but she had used one of the many high-tensile strength alloys her father had left recipes for in Friday's data banks. It held up under his assault.
"Cloak!" Morgan lunged for the other vambrace and snagged it, but the collar was just out of reach. The tentacle yanked her back, slamming her chin into the concrete. Her teeth clicked together with a searing pain and she tasted blood. The cloak appeared from behind Dark Strange's writhing bulk. "Get the collar! I need it!"
The cloak dove for the device as Morgan grabbed for the tentacle wrapped around her leg. Another grabbed the arm holding the second vambrace, pulling her up, toward the mass of glaring eyes.
"What is this?" The voice that growled out of that inhuman throat sounded nothing like anything she had ever heard. The arm without a vambrace clutched at the other and the tentacles pulled Morgan close. One wrapped around her throat and the breath hitched in her lungs.
"It's a gift," Morgan said, going with the truth, with a little spin. Dark Strange scowled, some eyes staying on her, while others shifted back to the vambrace. The choice of which eye did what seemed to be random and her stomach rolled. Taking advantage of his momentary confusion, she grabbed for his other arm and slapped the second vambrace into place.
"No!" The tentacle around her throat tightened as two more wrapped around her middle, squeezing like they would rip her in half. His shoulders bulged and a second set of wings burst forth to join the first set, these covered in black feathers and more eyes that might have been captive stars instead of eyes. More horns sprouted from his head and the silver streaks at the sides of his head became two hissing serpents. There was nothing left of his original features in his face, nothing she could recognize as him. Darkness ate at the edges of her vision as her lungs screamed for air she couldn't inhale.
"We know what you're doing." This time the voice was like that of Legion, hundreds of voices overlapping and speaking together. If Dark Strange's original voice existed in that chorus, she couldn't recognize it. "We will not be your slave. We will not be subjugated by…"
The cloak cut him off, wrapping around his head as it had, before. The tentacles loosened their hold in surprise and Morgan dragged in a deep, painful breath. The cloak jerked from side to side, throwing the creature Dark Strange had become off balance. The tentacles holding her loosened more and she could have run, could have made it through the portal again, like before, but she wasn't done.
Dark Strange reached for the cloak, sinking claws into its fabric and ripping long, ragged gashes. Something rang through the air, like the vibrations of ultrasonic waves. Morgan could feel the cloak scream, even if she couldn't hear it. Something dropped from its folds, falling into the mass of writhing tentacles that made up the base of the creature. The collar!
Morgan snatched at it, hooking a finger around it. The tentacles enveloped her, not grabbing, exactly, but engulfing her, pulling her in. She let them. If they would just bring her close enough to his neck…
The cloak twisted and wrapped more fabric around the clawed hands that shredded it. It covered the rents in its own fabric and pulled the hands to the horned head, wrapping it all up in a neat package. Dark Strange thrashed against the imprisonment, straining the seams and a gut-wrenching ripping sound brought forth more of those ultrasonic vibrations. It couldn't hold him forever, but it yanked back, pulling the head back, exposing the throat. Morgan scrambled up the torso, slipping on the rubbery flesh of the tentacles. With a final lunge, she clicked the collar into place. It blossomed to life, adjusting to the awkward size and shape of the creature.
Dark Strange bellowed as the needles pierced down his spine and he burst out of the cloak's hold, shredding it like tissue paper. The relic's ultrasonic scream stabbed through Morgan's brain, bringing an audible scream from her own lips. Tentacles wrapped around her from ankles to neck, squeezing so her bones creaked. The last one wrapped around her throat and she tried to gasp for breath before it cut off the air and blood flow to her brain completely. She couldn't move, couldn't breath and the tattered remnants of the cloak drifted to the ground around them.
The arc reactor in the collar clicked into place and the indicator light turned green.
Dark Strange screamed with the chorus of all the damned souls in hell. The arc reactor's glow intensified and the metal of the collar and vambraces lit up with golden sigils. The sigils grew brighter as the power of the vambraces contended with the power in Dark Strange. Morgan's vision was going when the creature's scream cut off and every wing, tentacle and horn sucked back into the human form of one Doctor Stephen Strange.