Strange wheeled around to see the four-person chorus enter the room, even as their disembodied choral pronouncement rang in the ears of the rest of the team. "I'm what?" he exclaimed.

Castle ignored Strange's question. "Stephen's a carrier?"

"He is one of us," the carriers repeated.

"Makes sense," Beckett agreed. When Strange's attention turned back to her, the Guardian explained, "several of the carriers have had extensive exposure to one or more of the stones even though the legends say that just touching a stone results in your painful demise."

Strange mouthed a silent "oh" as he started putting the logical pieces together. "So since I've been able to control the Eye..."

"The most likely way you would have been able to do that is if you were a carrier," agreed Castle.

Strange let out a low whistle. He sat back and carefully studied the four other carriers. They don't look like they've been invaded by the body snatchers...

Ryan and Skye both snickered as they heard Strange's thought. But when the stilted laughter started to reverberate throughout the room, the sorcerer started to wonder if he was being left out of the loop. "What?!"

"There are far too many mind readers in this room," Ryan replied. "You've really got to watch what you're thinking."

Strange blushed, and Fallon allowed himself one slight smile at the 'rookie hazing' before bringing the room back on track. "The good news is that finding Doctor Strange means that we only have to find one more carrier," said Fallon. "The bad news, apparently, is that we only have three more days to do it...?"

Quill nodded. "Thanos knows that you have us here. He's on his way."

"May I?" asked Esposito, offering his hand. Quill shook the Guardian's hand, allowing him to see the carrier's experiences for himself. Frowning as he filed and organized the memories, Esposito turned his attentions to Coulson as soon as he was finished. "AC, I need to update my file on you."

Coulson reached out to the Guardian immediately. "Sure...but why me?"

Esposito's eyes widened with inspiration and urgency as he made the connections between Coulson's memories and Quill's. "We don't have three days," he told the group. "We have twenty-four hours."

Fallon's eyes went wide. "Twenty-four hours?!"

Esposito nodded. "The last carrier will be coming to us by this time tomorrow."

That announcement got everyone's attention. "Wouldn't that be a good thing?" asked Steve.

"It would," replied Esposito, his gaze never leaving Coulson's, "except that Raina is the last carrier. And she's been possessed by the fog."

"The fog?" asked Strange.

"The entity that nearly crushed your house last night," Castle explained. The Guardians and Strange cursed in frustrated unison.

Fallon turned to Quill. "And if we can defeat Loki, get the Aether and 'unpossess' our last carrier, that leaves us with two days to come up with a planetary defense system before this Thanos comes and lays waste to Earth?"

"Yep," agreed Quill.

Fallon let out a long sigh. "Master Xiānzhī," he directed Esposito, "I'd like you and Master Mùshī to help Crusher get Quill's crew back to their ship." Fallon then turned to Gamorra. "Nova Prime pledged Xandar's help to protect Earth from Thanos?"

Gamorra nodded. "She did."

"Then it's time for us to call in that favor. Contact her as soon as you get back to your ship. We'll take any and all assistance that she can spare." Fallon turned to Banner and Stark. "Do you two have anything that can help us?"

"I have some ideas," Stark replied, "but we're going to need some help."

"Tap the shoulder of whomever you need," said Fallon.

When the director turned to Beckett, she had an answer ready for his unspoken question. "I'll talk to them, see if they can give us any more insight on the fog."

"Thank you," said Fallon. As Beckett turned and headed toward the bullpen, Fallon turned to Doctor Strange. "Have you ever faced off with the fog prior to the events of last night?"

Strange shook his head. "However, I do have an extensive library of arcane texts at my disposal..."

"Please let us know if you find anything," Fallon replied gratefully.

Strange turned around, catching up to Beckett as she was about to leave...until Jane stopped them both. "Mistress Lièrén," the carriers announced, "we require your assistance."

A purple glow surrounded the six beings. Beckett collapsed, grimacing in pain as the overflowing amount of sensory input threatened to break her. Ryan was by her side in a heartbeat. "She needs my help," he told the carriers.

The glow receded slightly, allowing Ryan to connect to Beckett's mind. He staggered, fighting with all of his might to keep himself standing as he tried to provide the focus that his friend needed. A white light mingled with its violet counterpart, swirling as its radiance intensified. Blue and yellow lights swirled in with the purple and white, which seemed to keep the energy from overwhelming Beckett and Ryan completely. The swirling multi-colored light then hit Strange square in the chest, causing Strange to gasp from the sheer force of the blow.

Strange's eyes widened as the light separated from the rest of the group and enveloped the sorcerer, threatening to consume him before it disappeared with a loud *pop*. He fell to his knees, gasping for breath alongside the two Guardians.

The attention of every being in the room was transfixed on the scene that had just unfolded before them. So as soon as Strange caught his breath, he announced the reason for the light display that the room has just witnessed. "I know where my stone is," Strange declared. "But it's not here on Earth."

"Can Master Xiānzhī have access to your library in Tibet?" asked Beckett.

Strange nodded. "I'll make the arrangements."

"Once that happens go with Quill's crew," Fallon ordered Strange. The director turned to Gamorra a second time. "Whatever you can do to get Doctor Strange to his stone..."

Gamorra caught a glimpse at Quill out of the corner of her eye, then waved off the pleading tone in Fallon's request. "Do not worry. We will make sure that the carrier finds his stone."

"Thank you," said Fallon.

"Can you see Loki?" Sif asked Jane, her voice tinged with urgency and desperation.

Jane shook her head. "I'm sorry, Lady Sif. Loki seems to be using the power of the Aether to hide himself from us."

"But..." Sif began.

"The stones call out to their carriers," Ward explained to Sif. "So since Doctor Strange is a carrier..."

Sif opened her mouth to argue, but was stopped by her prince. "Then I will return with my father to Asgard," Thor volunteered. "I will see if Heimdall can see what the carriers cannot."

"Come back when you know where Loki is," Fallon told Thor. "If we have Raina when we find Loki it will make it that much easier to get the Aether away from him."

Thor nodded, then joined the rest of the Asgardians as they left the conference room. Fallon watched the groups leave, then turned to his assistant and the remaining members of the team. "I can't think of a time where we've needed all hands on deck more, can you, Claire?" Stephanie shook her head, so Fallon continued, "make the calls. We've got a lot of work to do."

#

Wong was waiting for Strange when the portal opened. Strange winced when he recognized that twisted amulet casing that the older man held in his hands. "I can explain..."

"Where's the Eye, Strange?" Wong demanded, clearly in no mood to hear Strange's 'explanation'.

Strange held up his hand in a gesture of surrender, determined to calm his friend's anxiety. "Wong, there's something going on in New York..."

Wong raised a wary eyebrow. "Something involving those...beings behind you?"

Strange turned around to see that Ryan, Esposito, Alexis and Quill's crew had filed through the portal behind him. "The New York Sanctum was attacked last night."

Wong swallowed hard, trying and failing to hide the sudden panic attack that shot through his system. "By who?"

"Some sort of black fog entity," Strange replied. "It has been known to possess mortals, but it attacked the sanctum with a tornado that nearly crushed the house."

Wong's eyes went wide. "Did Dormammu back out of your deal?"

Strange shook his head. "Even if he had, he has no followers left here that we know of...the attack felt very similar to Dormammu, but different at the same time..."

Wong's brow furrowed as he carefully considered what Strange was telling him. "Umar..." he mused.

Esposito matched Wong's earlier expression of surprise. "You know what that fog is?" he demanded.

Wong immediately shut down. "We can discuss this after you bring back the Eye and your...friends...return to New York."

Strange sighed. "Unfortunately, that's not going to be able to happen. I need you to provide Master Xiānzhī with any information you might have on Umar. Anything you would give to me, give to him." Strange ignored the barely perceptible change in Wong's expression as he turned back to the rest of the traveling squad. "Ready when you are," he told Alexis.

Esposito took Gamorra's hand in his, then put his other hand on Ryan's shoulder. Ryan then connected with Alexis' mind...

And only Esposito was left in Tibet with Wong. The Guardian turned to the skeptical Asian man. "Strange didn't really introduce us," he apologized to Wong, "I'm..."

Wong raised a hand to cut Esposito off. "No introduction needed, Guardian. Please, follow me."

"You've heard of us?" asked Esposito, surprised by the change in Wong's demeanor.

Wong nodded. "My mentor spoke very often and very highly of your order, Master Xiānzhī," he replied. "While Stephen may not have heard of you before now, I have. Although my mentor implied that your order had died out when the Chinese invaded Tibet?"

"It almost did," said Esposito. "Long story."

"And as the English expression goes, we have bigger fish to fry at the moment," added Wong.

Esposito nodded in agreement. "Shall we begin?"

#

A/N: There is, evidently, some interest in the 'gap' story that I mentioned in the previous chapter. So a few more details in case you didn't catch my subtle hint: the story will be titled "Everything You've Always Wanted to Know about Time Travel but were Afraid to Ask." It will (technically) be a crossover between Guardians of the Galaxy and...Doctor Who. So my question is...anyone have a choice as to *which* Doctor will help Peter Quill get control over the Time stone? My gut is saying Quill would get along best with Ten (David Tennant), but a case could be made for Matt Smith. If anyone has a passionate preference leave it below in the comments. ;-)