The stepping disk flared again, and Strange stood with Xavier and Peter and Illyana in the musty old basement. In the middle of the floor, the Shroud twitched and groaned, shifting restlessly, hungrily. Ripples of light, like sunlight on a clear stream, rolled and slithered across the fabric. The gold amulet shone with a merciless light, a pale burning glitter.
"Do something!" Peter demanded. "Xavier?"
Xavier nodded, his face ashen. "I'll try," he said. He let his eyes drift closed, he tried to reach the mind in the Shroud.
He choked on a gasp and toppled over backwards, clawing at the air, as though he had been kicked in the chest. He curled up in a ball, jerking and whimpering. Peter smelled blood as it trickled from Xavier's nose and eyes. The stricken man was overcome with nightmares.
"Strange?" Peter said in a small voice, turning to the Sorcerer Supreme.
"Peter," Strange said in a pained tone, "the amulet is doing what it was set to do. I'm sorry, it's too late. The Shroud, and everyone in it, will be destroyed."
"How do you know they're in there?" Peter demanded.
"I saw it happen," Strange said, meeting his eyes levelly. "Peter. I'm sorry."
"Dammit, those are my friends," Peter said, his teeth set. "You've got to do something!" His hands clenched and unclenched as his desperate urge to do something, anything, drew a blank on what he could do.
"Look!" Illyana said, pointing at the Shroud. "Something's happening!"
Light poured over the fabric like oil on water, and its twisting surface mixed breathtaking beauty and an ugly, thorough violence. The amulet contained the end of the world…
Tandy was drawn through the wall of her house, insubstantial. In the snow outside, she saw what looked like a huge, ugly, starving dog crouched in the snow. Its weak teeth were stained with fresh blood, and for all its patchiness it was the most horrible thing she had ever seen.
She stared at it as she drifted in the night sky, the sky that rippled with odd lights. A righteous wrath flared in her, and she burned with rage. Not for herself. But for all that had come before her. That would come after her.
"You must be stopped," she said to the predator, more to speak the words than for it to hear them. In her anger, she groped for a weapon, for some way to stop the beast. Somehow she had to protect others who might find themselves in this hell.
Sudden light flared down from the brightest star in the heavens, filling her, and she kept none for herself as she opened to the monstrous creature. Light poured through her, smacking into the beast and driving it deep into the darkness, screaming a weird keening howl of pain and surprise and rage. Night fell away, and she was in a cold and mirthless suffusion of light. She drifted up towards the star, knowing that she had finally died, that she had perhaps passed some test, that heaven waited for her in the heart of the impossible, depthless light.
"Within that net," Strange said, pointing at the ripple of light that swarmed over and through the thrashing fabric of the Shroud, "is enough energy to destroy Prime. It's a countermeasure. The creator of the Shroud wanted to be sure it could not be easily destroyed. It took one of my most prized artifacts to assure that if the Shroud freed itself somehow, when it fed it would be contained and destroyed. I can't interfere with that process." His face was heated, his words bitter, but he was not angry with Peter.
"I don't care," Peter said deliberately. "You're an awesome sorcerer, right? You can contain the energies! Illyana can help! You've got to try!"
Tandy reached the source of the light, the brightest star in a sky that didn't exist. Oddly enough, she recognized it. A blazing eye of gold, surrounded by golden beads, an eye that was bigger than she was. It sent ripples of energy through the sky, and she realized the world was ending around her.
"Please," she said to the Eye, "where is Tyrone?"
It is too late for him, the Eye said. He is the Host. The Shroud must be destroyed.
"This is no way for him to die," Tandy said. "I faced my horror, and you helped me. I can end here in peace. But Tyrone. He isn't finished living yet. Please, let him go. I beg you."
It is too late.
Her determination hardened. "I don't know if this is a dream, or if this is what happens when you die, or what. But Tyrone is a good man, willing to sacrifice himself for others, and I can't allow his life to end here if there's anything left I can do."
The voice of the Eye seemed to filter across a thousand years. She had encountered an ancient intelligence, beyond all reckoning of time. In a moment of silence, she felt as though she were being judged.
If your course is set, then touch me, the Eye said, and test your resolve. Fail, and you will be destroyed. Succeed, and you will have the power to change the world.
Tandy took a deep breath. She thought of Tyrone's weary mother, of his brothers and sisters, of his goofy grin. Then, she drifted forward and planted her hands on the living gold of the Eye.
Energy swelled into her, through her, and she tried to block out the pain that raced through her blood. Too much depended on this.
She had no idea how much.
Strange gazed at the bundle of the Shroud, ever shrinking, as though the one inside was in fetal position. Light swelled across it as though from an underlit pool. He tightened his jaw, took a deep breath, settled himself. If nothing else, perhaps he could get a sense of whether they were still alive—
The light curled back like plastic wrap, peeling away from the Shroud and slithering inside it. The Eye glowed brilliantly at the throat of the Shroud, then the fabric violently shook and whipped open. Tandy was hurled from its depths to topple on the concrete floor and roll, gasping.
She shone; Light poured from her, she was luminescent, gleaming with an unearthly suffusion of angelic radiance. She unsteadily rose, and there were no shadows in the basement, for her Light absorbed them instead of casting them. Surreal in her beauty, she blinked once, then oriented on Strange.
"This," she said softly. "This is yours." She held out her hand, and Strange took the heavy lump of jewelry that was, at last, no longer the Eye of Agamotto. As he did, he saw the unearthly Light carve a circle around one of her eyes, flaring silver, a Light that contained within it enough beauty to melt hearts and dispel any darkness.
She turned and knelt by the Shroud, as Tyrone coughed. He retched, as she knelt by him and gripped his shoulders, soothing him. Spent and wounded, the Shroud lay flat on the floor around him, simple cloth.
"What just happened?" Illyana asked a bit shakily.
"Wow," Peter replied.
Strange stood, transfixed by the living Light of Agamotto. Tears slid from the corners of his eyes.
Xavier shifted, and seemed to sleep peacefully.
With a sucking slithering sound, the Shroud was again moving. It retracted, pulling within itself, and Tyrone whined in pain as it was sucked into his eye sockets. Then he blinked, and the fabric was gone. Wearing jeans and a tee shirt, Tyrone lay on the floor, gangly and awkward. He looked at Tandi, speechless at her Light.
"Are you gonna be okay?" Tandy asked him, seriously concerned. He nodded. Then he lay back, exhausted. She stood, and opened her hand. She looked down at her gleaming aura.
Then she looked at Xavier. She knelt by him, touched him, and her Light filled him. The nightmares were driven away; he blinked, opened his eyes. He saw her, and his eyes widened.
"Have I died?" he asked in a hushed voice.
"No more than I have," she replied. She looked to Strange and Peter. "What happened?"
Strange cleared his throat. "You now bear the Light of Agamotto, as it was carried in the Eye for so long. Now, you have been given that power for your own. You must have come beneath the scrutiny of Agamotto's presence as remembered in the Eye."
"I talked to the Eye," Tandy said, rising. "It told me if I had sufficient resolve, I could change the world."
Strange, unable to speak, simply nodded. He pushed his face into the crook of his arm, clearing his vision, then he looked at her again. "Now you are the Eye of Agamotto." He glanced around the chilly, barren basement. "Let's go back to my Sanctum," he said. "We can finish this there."
Illyana squinted at Tyrone. "Okay, I don't see a portal there," she said.
"He should be simple enough to transport when it is quiescent," Strange said. "With luck, by the end of the night we'll have it out of him." Everyone was gathered to their feet in a small group. A stepping disk flared, and the basement was empty.
xXx
Strange's kitchen was filled with a somber group, but his kitchen table was big enough to seat all of them. Xavier, Tandy, Peter, and Illyana sat at the table, and Strange led Tyrone off to the side.
"I'm going to try to remove the Shroud from you," he said. Tyrone nodded, looking somewhat relieved. "By the way," Strange added, "My name is Stephen Strange. Pleased to meet you."
"P-pleasure's mine," Tyrone said. He squinted his eyes shut hard, tense, hands balled into fists. "G-go on," he said.
Strange let his eyes lazily drift half closed, and he raised his hand towards Tyrone. Then he blinked.
"Something's wrong," he said. "Did you… did you exchange words with the predator in the Shroud?"
Tyrone shuffled a bit, sheepishly. "K-kinda," he said.
"And?" Strange said, raising an eyebrow.
Tyrone was sweating. He shifted from foot to foot. "I p-p-pp-promised it l-light an a h-ho-ost-tif it w-ww-w-would-d l-let T-Tandy g-go."
"That's probably why I was drifting out of the illusion," Tandy said. "I saw the predator. Then, I got so angry at it, for what it was, and… I don't know. Some spark, and the light came through me, and it knocked the predator deep into the dark."
Strange nodded. "You see," he said, "the Shroud is tied into an incredible number of, how to put it, networks in this world and others. That's how it moves, by transferring from one network to another. When you make a deal with the predator, then all those networks provide support for the predator to enforce it. All of the ancient magics give great power to a vow. There was no way you could have known that."
"W-woulda d-d-done it an-n-nyway," Tyrone said quietly, not looking at Tandy.
"Tyrone," Strange said seriously, clasping his shoulders in his hands and looking him in the eye, "the only way you're going to be able to restrain the Shroud is if you get enough living light. And the only source besides the life force of people is Tandy." He looked over at her, then back at him. "If you two are separated for more than a week or so, and I'm guessing at that time frame, people could be killed. This is not a game."
"If you can't take his power, can you take mine?" Tandy asked quietly.
Strange released Tyrone and looked over at her. "Even if I could, I wouldn't. Agamotto has a knack for choosing those who he wants to carry his power. If he chose you, I would not gainsay his wisdom."
"Who is Agamotto?" Tandy asked.
Strange and Tyrone moved to the table and sat. "Agamotto," Strange said with a small smile. "He was the first World Mage, the first Sorcerer Supreme for Prime. He created artifacts to embody his principles, to keep them alive while generations come and go, so the Sorcerer Supreme would always have a primary source to remember his teaching. The Eye was the most powerful of them. And now it is no longer an artifact. Incarnated, it is in you." He rubbed his eyes briefly.
"There are bound to be side effects," he said, looking at Tandy and Tyrone. "I am the one that bound the Eye and the Shroud together. You two have undone that. But you carry them within you now. If you have any questions, any concerns, if anything odd happens, do not hesitate to contact me. This could be vitally important. Okay?"
They both nodded.
"S-sir?" Tyrone said. "W-w-wwhat about the Shroud?"
Strange looked him in the eye. "It can teleport between dimensions, as you discovered. Within is a predator that drains victims of all hope and then devours their life force. It was a herald of vampires, and it was slave to the ruler of the dimension of nightmares." He paused. "Be careful," he said.
"Y-yes s-ss-sir," Tyrone said. He couldn't restrain a jaw cracking yawn. "I g-gotta get h-home, my m-mm-momma's gonna k-kill me."
"Before you go," Xavier said suddenly. His eyes were bloodshot, his bald head seemed unsteady on his thin neck. "What of Manuel? He was the host when the Shroud captured you."
Tandy and Tyrone exchanged a glance. Tandy sighed. "He came out of the shadows," she said, "swept us away. But he kicked us out in that basement. He was talking to someone, someone that told him to devour us because there was no other way to end the hunger. He said something about having to choose between… between pride and hunger," she said thoughtfully. "Tyrone offered himself to the Shroud, and Manuel was so impressed, he said he could do no less… something about his family honor. Then the Shroud… sucked him in, I suppose. And it came after us." She shrugged. "It got Tyrone first."
Xavier was very pale. "Thank you," he said in a steady voice. He closed his eyes.
Strange reached into his coat and pulled out two business cards, sliding one to Tandy and one to Tyrone. "Anything," he said. "Even if it feels trivial. Let me know."
"Thank you for your help," Tandy said.
"Believe it or not," Strange said quietly, "your convictions saved you this time." He smiled briefly at them. "Illyana, can you take them home?"
"Yeah, come here," she said to them. The three stepped away from the table and vanished in a flare of dark light.
"All's well that ends well, I guess," Peter said, rising. "I have to go tell Mary Jane what happened." He shook his head. "She's going to think she needs some kind of wacky power next."
"Peter," Strange said, searching for words. "I'm sorry I couldn't do more."
Peter smiled briefly. "I'm spoiled," he said. "I'm used to dealing with problems I can punch, and if I can't punch it you wave your hands and it's fixed." He shrugged. "This sort of thing is probably more what you're used to. The thornier problems."
Strange just nodded.
Peter glanced away. "I shouldn't have snapped at you. It's just different when they're your friends." He smiled again, to be polite, and left.
xXx
Mary Jane started up off the couch as the door to her small apartment opened. Peter smiled at her ruefully, and she knelt on a cushion by the coffee table, a towel laid out on the floor in front of her.
"Okay, hotshot," she said. "I'm ready to do your stitches." There was an odd mix of tension and relief in her smile.
Peter closed the door behind himself, and sat on the floor by Mary Jane. He put his arm around her, and with his other hand he took the curved needle out of her hand. "Not this time," he said. "I didn't throw a single punch."
"Tandy and Tyrone?" Mary Jane asked breathlessly.
Peter rolled his head to the side, then leaned it against Mary Jane. He closed his eyes and listened to her heart beat. "They're alive," he said. "Neither one is in the hospital. But… but they've changed."
"Changed?"
Peter sighed. "Tandy is now this battery of living light, and Tyrone? Well, on a bad day he's going to turn into that thing that swept them away. Now Tandy is the Eye, or has the light of the Eye. Tyrone is the host for something called the Shroud."
"Strange couldn't fix it?" Mary Jane said skeptically.
"How did you know Strange got involved?" Peter asked.
"Duh, this is out of your reach," she said. "You always get him in on it when you're stuck, and don't think I think any less of you because you were stuck on square one in this mess."
"Why do you have to be right all the time?" Peter wondered aloud.
"So is the band still on?" she asked.
Peter sighed, hiding his face by her shoulder. "I didn't ask," he said. "I'm really tired. I… I don't want to talk about it. I haven't felt this helpless… in a long, long time, Mary Jane. There was nothing I could do."
"Ssh," Mary Jane said. "Come here." She put her arms around him. "My little drummer boy," she said with a fond smile. "It's been a hell of a day, hasn't it?"
"So much for lifting heavy stuff," he said with a small smile as his eyes met hers.
"What do you think my funky power should be?" she asked thoughtfully.
"I knew it, I knew it," Peter groaned.
She consoled him.