Author's Note: So I ended up finishing this just in time for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Funny how that worked out. Just thought I'd give a big Thank You here everyone who was willing to give my stories a chance, and to also say that this is far from the end. It's gonna be a long time before I run out of story ideas.
Doctor Stephen Strange looked upon the Psycho-Pirate with genuine fascination, but also thinly veiled trepidation. This undefined, colorful plane was supposed to hold only his manifestation, and his alone. The spell he had cast when he first entered the unfurnished, wood paneled room was designed so that it would be impossible for another individual to intrude in it. Yet Strange could not deny that the manifestation of another was floating just within arm's reach of him and staring at him from behind his golden mask.
"You'd better have a good reason to interrupt my work, kid." Doctor Strange pinched his brow. He had no intention of letting his unwelcome guest know he had been put off by his presence. "…Well?"
The Psycho-Pirate said nothing as he looked at Doctor Strange. Finally, after some moments of silence, the masked boy held up his open right hand.
"I am in a cell, you know," he finally spoke up. "As we speak, I am sitting on the mattress of a prison bunk bed."
"A prison? You seem a little young for a place like that." Strange remarked. He figured this was as good an opening as any.
"Due to all the havoc I caused in my Fair City, it was decided that exceptions could be made." the Psycho-Pirate stated.
Due to the minor inflections in his voice, Doctor Strange almost instantly determined that the Psycho-Pirate had just let slip that he was from a location actually named Fair City, and not merely from just any city that he could be calling "fair". His mind put the pieces in place like they were from a simple puzzle meant for kindergarteners.
"You're not from my universe." Strange smirked.
"Ah. It didn't take you long to figure that out," the pleased Psycho-Pirate clasped his fingers together. "How is that?"
"I think I would've heard about a young boy being sent to prison after nearly destroying a city," Strange answered. "That isn't exactly something that the news media would ignore. Neither would the various protectors of this Earth who'd no doubt step in."
"Ah yes. Like the avatar of Khonshu and the son of the true leader of the Ten Rings." the Psycho-Pirate nodded. He was well aware that Doctor Strange didn't yet know the exact men he had just alluded to, and found the way the sorcerer hid his confusion to be amusing.
"So what universe are you from, 'Pirate'?"
"Earth-16219," the Psycho-Pirate answered in an uninterested sigh. "Not that it matters. Here or otherwise. What does matter is the message I have for you, Stephen Strange."
"Please tell me you're not a telemarketer." Strange quipped.
The Psycho-Pirate ignored his insincere attempt at a joke. He turned around and removed his mask before saying what he had come to say.
"My message is a simple one; Many of the people of interest on your Earth aren't who they are meant to be. Their faces and stories have been reshaped. When the walls of white come—"
"That doesn't sound like a simple message to me!"
Doctor Strange sprang forward and grabbed the boy by the shoulders. He began to force him to turn around.
"—they will be the demise of your world."
Before Doctor Strange could get a proper look at the face of Theodore McCallister III, the true face of the Psycho-Pirate, the boy threw up his golden mask. The glowing eyes produced a mighty blast of golden and white light that overtook all of the waving colors that made up their surroundings.
"And you cannot stop it, no matter what you do. Farewell, sorcerer."
Those were the last words that Strange heard in the mysterious intruder's voice before his mind and ears were struck by a rapid barrage of other voices and thoughts from throughout the sprawling Multiverse, and even beyond the laws of time.
"Even serial killers live next door to somebody…" - Davey Armstrong, Earth-84
"Sometimes the wain comes down so hawrd that you forwget you've ever been dwy..." - Elmer Fudd, Earth-51
"She wasn't saying 'you did it.' She was saying 'Hugh did it.' 'Cause you made the help call you Hugh. 'Cause you're an asshole." - Marta Cabrera, Earth-2019
"You know what? You were never really a good friend. Even when we were little, you used to steal my toys and pour lemonade on my bed." - Anita "Needy" Lesnicki, Earth-968
"Dragon up!" - Jake Long, Earth-154205
"You have more than one Great-Grandfather, Prince Zuko. Sozin was your Father's Grandfather. Your mother's Grandfather was Avatar Roku." - Iroh, Earth-4444
"Stop whining. Woman up!" - Ethel "GoGo" Tomago, Earth-14123
"Well, maybe it's for the best. Between you and me, buddy, that badge was creating an unhealthy power dynamic." - Izzy Moonbow, Earth-131216
"I wish you were dead!" - Leah Reyes, Earth-516177
"I promise to capture the beast alive, and I will not come back until I do!" - Charles Muntz, Earth-4113
"Manners…maketh…man." Harry Hart, Earth-771
"There's too much wrong in this world to just stand by and do nothing. Inequality, corruption... Someone has to stop it." - Blake Belladonna, Earth-90
"你好...Hello, I'm Kai-Lan." - Kai-Lan Chow, Earth-5282
"Everything's gonna be fine? Everything's gonna be fine. I don't know if you noticed this, but... Nothing's fine. Everything's been getting worse... every second." - Eric Reed, Earth-1981
"You forgot the first rule of remakes, Jill. Don't fuck with the original." - Sidney Prescott, Earth-34
"You'd better get yourself a garlic T-shirt, buddy, or it's your funeral." - Edgar Frog, Earth-731987
"I have won..." - Unknown
Earth-199999
The Sanctum Sanctorum
Just as soon as it had started, it stopped and all he could see or feel for several moments was a black void with strands of sparking white. When Strange began to regain his senses, he found himself lying upon the floor of the brightly lit, windowless room that didn't even make up a corner of the Sanctum Sanctorum. His forehead was moist with sweat and his mouth was revoltingly dry, and he realized he was panting not unlike a dog.
"...That's…enough…for now." he gasped.
Then he smelt the scent of a candle. It wasn't the scent of artichoke, but something else. Something that was sweet and fruity. Just as Strange thought he begged what kind of candle it was, the door to the room was flung open by Wong, who was holding the candle in one hand and a clear bottle of water in the other.
"Strange!" Wong exclaimed.
Wong quickly went to Doctor Strange's side and squirted some of the water into his open mouth. Strange tore the bottle away from Wong's grasp and chugged down all of it in one go.
"You have…no idea how much…how much I needed that!" Strange tossed the empty bottle aside. He took in another whiff of the candle. "Cranberry. This one is cranberry." "
Wong looked at Strange with the kind of serious expression which only the most aloof individuals could stand to ignore. Strange sighed, removed one of his gloves, and used it to wipe at some of the sweat on his brow.
"Let me guess," he said. "Something came up while I working on my project?"
"Yes; It's the gods. We are needed and have to move fast." Wong confirmed.
The two Masters of the Mystic Arts got back up on their feet and left the chamber behind, the lights flickering off as they did. Like before, the two walked in the corridor with only the light from a candle to light the way. As they walked, Strange thought about everything he had experienced while in there. He thought of all the events he had witnessed on the worlds he had glimpsed into and of the inklings of knowledge about said worlds that he had gained in the process.
"Hmm. I'll have to pick this up again later." he mentioned.
Yet more than anything else, Dr. Stephen Strange thought of how he had merely scratched the surface. Of both the worlds he had seen, the ones he had yet to, and perhaps even the very one he knew as home.
The exploration of the Multiverse will continue in
INFINITY CRISIS: GLIMPSES - SEASON TWO