Doctor Strange
Every night, I have the same dream…..
The ground was trembling. Thunder and lightning clashed in the sky. Cyclones and hurricanes screeched in the distance.
People were screaming in terror.
Huge cracks tore deep chasms into the earth.
Buildings crumbled like sand.
Monsters broke through other dimensions and with horrible screeches, they began to wreak havoc.
And underneath it all was the very fabric of reality splitting apart.
I watched innocent civilians flee to wherever promised safety.
Instead, they were quickly devoured by monsters or consumed by storms.
I knew I had the power to stop this, but I didn't know how.
The building pressure became blinding.
For a second, I was lost in the chaos.
But then I saw him.
A young man that couldn't be older than seventeen.
One second, he was lying on the ground, bruised, broken, and crying.
The next, he was standing upright.
Gone were his injuries and red eyes.
Something in the way he stood and the way he carried himself made him a leader.
He was just one person. A kid at that.
But he was the only way to stop all this.
"Hey!" I shouted above the storms.
He turned to me.
His eyes lit up as if he was happy to see me.
But he restrained himself.
"Strange!" he shouted, balancing himself against the earthquake. "It's good to see you!"
I had no idea who this kid was.
"Who are you?" I called back. "What can we do to stop this?"
The boy gave a sad smile.
"I wish you knew."
He looked up at the storms descending down upon us. The wind whistled through his matted hair.
"But it's alright. Come and find me and we can stop this. Together."
I shook my head impatiently.
"But how? I don't even know who you are!"
He grinned widely.
"You will."
Suddenly, a massive crack in the ground erupted. It opened so wide that I fell through into a dark abyss. Falling and falling and endless falling.
I couldn't stop it and now I would die.
I bolted upright, gasping for breath.
I was back in the Sanctum Sanctorum, in my four-poster bed.
I couldn't tell myself that it was just a dream.
That was one of the downsides of being a master of the mystic arts. Bad dreams weren't just bad dreams; they were also warnings, prophecies, promises of things to come.
My bare skin was covered in a cold sweat.
I rubbed my hands over my face, trying to get myself to calm down.
This was a side of me that no one had ever seen.
The Doctor Stephen Strange who had scary dreams and couldn't shake himself from them.
I glanced down at my watch on the bedside table.
5:00 a.m.
Early morning daylight was already beginning to leak through the window.
Suddenly, my phone buzzed with a text message.
It was the same phone I had been using since I joined the Master of the Mystic Arts.
I didn't get paid for being a sorcerer and with all the magic I had access to, it really didn't make sense to upgrade to a newer device.
Five months ago, I began to wonder why I even kept it around.
I was constantly getting spammed by a teenage girl by the name of Michelle Jones.
I didn't know how I had met her.
All I knew was that she was on Liberty Island along with another teenager when I had supposedly cast a memory wipe spell.
We were all confused that day as to why we were there and what had happened, but MJ, as she was called, was the most stubborn about trying to figure out what happened.
I would get constant texts from her about flashbacks or blurry memories that she thought were connected to our twenty-four hour memory wipe.
Sometimes I would respond, telling her there was nothing that I could do and other times, I would just put the phone on silent.
But this time, I was relieved that she had texted. Maybe one of her updates could help me figure out this dream that had been haunting me ever since that day on Liberty Island.
Hey, are you awake? I had another flashback.
I typed back.
I'll be at Pan's this afternoon. That's when your shift is, right?
She responded.
It's Peter Pan. How do you know my shift?
I set the phone down, not intending to respond. I would let MJ be disturbed for a little while.
She had mentioned that she worked at a Peter Pan cafe in one of her many text strings. MJ never texted between 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. and since I knew High School let out at 4:00, I guessed that was her shift.
Later on that day, I changed into street clothes and sat myself down at a bar stool in Pan's.
Soon, MJ came through the front entrance with her school backpack.
She stopped when she saw me.
"Half the time, you don't even respond to my texts and now you show up two minutes before my shift?" she shook her head. "That's just creepy."
"I'm the former sorcerer supreme." I said. "Do you think I can't find a High Schooler's work schedule?"
MJ set her backpack in a cubbyhole underneath the counter.
She straightened a few things on the counter and sighed.
"Well, Ned won't be here for another ten minutes. So what do you need to talk about so urgently?"
"I've been having these dreams ever since that day on Liberty Island." I began. "I see destruction and suffering and there's nothing I can do to stop it. It's the very essence of reality being torn apart. And then…I see this guy about your age. When I'm sleeping, the details of his face are as bright as day, but when I wake up, I can never remember his face. He's the key to all this. He's supposed to help me stop something horrible from happening."
While I was talking, MJ gave me her full attention- something rare for a gen z.
But then the manager poked his head from a storage closet and told her to stop chatting with customers and actually serve them.
"Isn't this part of the job?" MJ retorted.
The manager shook his head and disappeared into the closet.
"Nice guy." I said.
"Mmm-Hmm." MJ said with a thin-lipped smile.
She began restocking some of the display stands with bread and cookies.
"As much as I appreciate you coming here, I'm not much help with that."
She opened the napkin dispenser and filled it with more napkins.
"After all, Doc, isn't saving the multiverse your area of expertise?"
I shook my head.
"It has something to do with the memory wipe on Liberty Island. Whatever we forgot is essential to figuring out the past and the future."
MJ lugged a box of paper coffee cups onto the counter.
"Hey, at least you take me seriously."
She pulled out a package of cups and tore open the plastic covering.
"My Dad thinks I should talk with a shrink, my friends worry about me, and even Ned has kind of given up on the whole thing."
She turned to me.
"Since you're here, do you want to order something?"
I settled for a coffee and as MJ was getting it ready, Ned Leeds came into the shop.
"Hey, Ned." MJ said, "You remember Doctor Strange, right?"
"Oh, hey." Ned said, a little surprised to see me.
"Mister Leeds." I nodded.
Ned looked at MJ, trying to figure out what the wizard was doing here.
"He came here to talk about some futuristic, world-destroying dreams he's been having." MJ said nonchalantly.
When she put it that way, it sounded like I was having a mental breakdown.
"Uh, okay." Ned said. "Do you need me to do anything?"
"Well, that depends." I said. "Has anything new happened concerning your memories of the Liberty Island incident?"
He shook his head.
"Honestly, it gives me a headache just thinking about it."
I turned to MJ.
"You had another flashback last night. What was it?"
MJ looked behind her to make sure her boss wasn't nearby.
"We have a usual customer." she said in a low voice. "He's quiet and kind of awkward, but he comes by enough that Ned and I kind of know him now. Last night, I had a dream. For some reason, he was in it and…he had a connection with Spider-Man."
She paused.
"I don't know how to explain it.
"What's his name?" I asked.
Before she could tell me, the manager barked at MJ to get back to work.
She busied herself getting a coffee for Ned.
I sighed.
The more time passed, the more anxious I became about this vision.
Maybe this whole visit was a waste of time.
Once I got the name of this usual customer, I could track him down and see if he had any information about Spider-Man.
It was a weak lead, but it was the best I had.
I needed to find that teenager before this dream became a reality.
The TV mounted onto the nearby wall was showing a weather report.
Suddenly, it switched to another news anchor.
"We interrupt this program with breaking news." she announced.
The screen showed a blurry image of Spider-Man.
"Earlier today, the masked vigilante known as Spider-Man saved a busload of elementary school children from what could have been a devastating accident."
The front door of the cafe opened. I kept my eyes on the tv screen. Even if this was just a newsreel, at least it would provide more information about Spider-Man.
Instead of looking for this mystery person that MJ was talking about, maybe I should just look for Spider-Man.
After all, that seemed like the easier choice.
He was an Avenger and I had seen a few times during the fight against Thanos.
But something about my memories of fighting Thanos didn't feel right.
There were times that Spider-Man was there and there were times he was just gone.
I couldn't understand it.
MJ was talking with the person who had just come in. I overheard their conversation on top of the tv.
"Hey, Peter. How've you been?"
"Oh, great. Good news: I got accepted into MIT!"
The station was now interviewing parents of the kids.
"You know, we're really grateful for all that Spider-Man does for the city." one Dad said.
"That's amazing!" MJ said, "Congratulations."
"Yeah. Nice job." Ned called down the counter.
"Thanks," said the customer. "I really didn't think I would be able to make it in."
They were now interviewing a mother who had her arm wrapped tightly around a little girl.
"I used to have mixed feelings about Spider-Man, but today my daughter almost got hurt." the woman teared up. "I just want to say thank you, wherever you are."
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw MJ and the customer watching the tv.
"They said it was two buses that almost collided with each other." the customer said.
I didn't remember the reporters mentioning the circumstances about the almost-car accident. Maybe this person read it from a different source.
MJ smiled.
"Spider-Man stops news anchors from telling sad stories."
She remembered that I was still here, waiting for the name of her usual customer.
"Oh, Doctor Strange, this is the usual I was talking to you about."
I turned around and nearly dropped my coffee.
It was the guy from the dream.
He looked just as surprised to see me.
His youthful brown eyes widened.
"Doctor Strange…Nice to meet you."
He sounded way too excited to be introduced to a random guy.
"Nice to meet you too." I said, trying to hide my shock. "And you are?"
He adjusted his surprised expression to a polite, but strained smile.
"Peter." his voice broke. "Peter Parker."
I forced a smile.
"MJ here tells me you're a usual."
My conscience screamed at me to cut it with the small-talk and get to the point.
This kid was the key to saving the universe and all I could do was talk about his usual customer status at a cafe.
He gave a shaky nod. Just like in the dream, he was restraining himself.
Were his eyes glistening?
"Yeah. I am."
"Oh, speaking of which-"
MJ handed Peter a paper bag with several baked goods in it.
He tried to give it back to her.
"I didn't order yet-"
"It's on the house."
Even though he smiled, there was pain brimming behind his eyes.
"Thank you."
He turned back to me.
"Well, I need to get going. Hopefully we can meet up again."
I noticed that MJ was fingering a broken flower necklace around her neck. She was wearing it that day on Liberty Island.
I cleared my throat.
"Yeah. Hopefully."
Peter glanced at MJ.
"I'll see you soon."
She grinned. "I'm counting on it."
"Later, Ned." Peter called.
Ned waved good-bye and Peter left the bakery.
Once he disappeared around the bend, I stared up at MJ, breathing heavily.
"And that's the usual?" I asked.
She gave me a concerned look.
"Are you okay, Doc?"
I took in a breath.
"That was the guy from the dream."
"Well, what are you waiting for?" MJ said. "Go after him!"
I ran outside, searching around wildly for Peter.
No sign of him.
There was a homeless man sitting on a bench nearby.
"Excuse me, did you see a teenager come by?" I asked.
He shrugged.
"Was it a kid who looked like he was about to cry?"
That basically described Peter's facial expression. He looked happy, but he looked like he was fighting back tears. What burden was he carrying that was so painful?
"Yeah. That one."
He pointed down the alleyway.
"Thataway."
I raced down the alleyway, but there was no sign of him.
I looked up at the fire escapes above me. Had he disappeared into one of the buildings?
Suddenly, four big men stepped out of the shadows.
I had a brief callback to the time I was almost mugged in Nepal.
Even nowadays, street fighting wasn't my cup of tea.
But at least I could escape through a portal this time. Nobody even had to get hurt.
"Well, Pops. You've got anything interesting?" the burliest one asked with a nasty grin.
I put my hand in my pocket with my sling ring.
The thugs obviously thought I was fingering some valuables.
They were bound for a big surprise.
I cracked a smile.
"Guys, I'm not looking for any trouble."
"Then what are you looking for?" the thug asked.
"A teenage boy."
The four men chuckled.
"Ain't no teenagers around here, buddy."
The man closest to me balled up his fists, ready to throw the first punch.
"You're right." said a voice. "There ain't any teenagers around here."
We all looked up.
It was Spider-Man in his red and blue suit, standing casually on one of the fire escapes.
I met the kid tied to my dream and the guy involved in the memory wipe spell all on the same day. I couldn't believe my luck.
If you believe in luck, that is.
"Spider-Man," said one of the thugs. "This ain't your neighborhood."
"Yeah. But it's my city."
Another thug scoffed. "Europe wasn't your continent last Summer."
"It was my planet." Spider-Man retorted, "Anyway, guys, we can do this all day. Just let the nice man go and I won't bring you in."
The four thugs hesitated for a second. They looked at me and back at Spider-Man.
They must've decided I wasn't worth getting beaten-up and arrested for and they scrammed.
Spider-Man dropped down to the ground.
"I figured you would've handled yourself pretty well." he said.
I nodded. "I was just going to go back to the Sanctum. You know where that is, right?"
It was a test question to see how closely tied he was with the Statue of Liberty incident. Unfortunately, his answer was vague.
"Oh, sure. It's right on Bleecker street. What brings you to Queens, Doctor?"
I smiled. "I'm glad you asked. Do you know a kid named Peter Parker?"
He paused. I realized that Spider-Man's voice sounded really familiar.
If he wasn't muffled by his mask, I'm sure that I could've matched it.
"What do you want with him?" Spider-Man asked with sudden suspicion.
Man, this guy was a really bad liar.
"I just want to talk." I said, crossing my arms. "The multiverse is in danger again and I need his help."
Suddenly, Spider-Man became very anxious.
"I picked up a bank robbery on the police scanner."
I raised an eyebrow.
"You obviously don't have a police scanner with you."
"It's lodged in a com device in my ear. I have to go. Bye!"
He shot a web and swung out of the alleyway and out of sight.
I could've just created a portal and stopped him right then and there. I could even trap him in the mirror dimension and we could talk there.
But the far reaches of my memory told me that I had tried to do just that and failed spectacularly.
It was obvious now that Spider-Man and Peter Parker were one in the same.
But there was something about that night on Liberty Island that had forced me to cast a memory-wipe spell and make everyone forget who he was.
Did he agree to it, or being the arrogant narcissist that I was, did I make the choice for him?
I didn't want to answer that question.
So instead, I decided to pay Peter Parker a little visit.
And that's chapter 2! This story will be loosely based on Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness.
The movie was a little vague on how much Doctor Strange remembered about Spider-Man, but for the story's sake, he has no memory of interacting with Spider-Man for all of No Way Home.
Thanks for reading!