-Unbetaed, non native speaker so please kindly point out any mistakes.
-Warning: a lot of deux ex mahcinas, slight spoiler to Endgame but it's canon divergence story, some torture scenes but nothing graphic
"Doctor. You need at least weapon to protect yourself."
"What could I possibly use the attack someone who can transform matters?"
"You raise a very good point. How can I help?"
"How many people are there beside Mordo?"
"He is alone."
Mordo must be confident to think that he could handle any or even all of the Avengers. He couldn't blame him. "In that case, just don't let anyone else come into the workshop. Don't call for help. If I could extricate Tony from the workshop, then you let him stay out and you seal the door. Don't let him come in again."
"Mr Stark won't be happy about it."
"He won't be happy about what I'm about to do so that ship has sailed. Mordo just wants me to go with him so perhaps if I come along, he won't harm Tony."
"Doctor, I don't think that's a good plan."
"You overestimate me. I have no plan, even a bad one. You can call me Stephen. After all, you've been very helpful during my stay here. Thank you for everything."
"Doc-, Stephen, I really don't like you saying goodbye to me like this. Perhaps you need to formulate a plan first."
"There is no time for that. I don't want to endanger Tony unnecessarily."
"But, Stephen…"
"It's nice knowing you, Friday. Thanks for your constant support." He nearly choked on his words.
"Likewise, Stephen. It has been nice knowing you." Friday sounded wistful but perhaps he just imagined it.
He drew a deep breath and opened the door. The Cloak squeezed his shoulders for extra support.
Mordo was sitting on a chair facing the door. Tony with the half formed Bleeding Edge armor sat behind him. He looked furious but couldn't move a muscle.
"Ah, nice of you to finally join us, Strange. You took your own sweet time. Please take a seat." He used telekinesis to move a chair right in front of him.
He sat on it. Not that he had much choice in the matter."Let Tony go and we could talk."
"Why would I let him go when he is my ace card? You only listen to me now because his life is on the line." If possible, Tony looked even more furious without moving any muscles. Tony did have expressive eyes.
"Just let him go. I'm going with you anyway. You've manipulated my dream."
Mordo smiled. "Ah, you've got my message then. Do you like it? It really is your memory. Well, my impression of your memory since you don't have yours. You should be ashamed of yourself, playing God and acting like it's the most natural thing to do."
Stephen looked at the floor in front of him. "I'm not proud of what I've done seen through your memory. Just let him go then we can go on our way."
"Not that easy." Mordo unfroze only Tony's mouth.
Tony yelled. "Stephen, you idiot. Don't believe whatever he showed you. He told you himself that it was not your true memory but his impression. He can be planting fake memory. Just run and leave me alone with this maniac." He yelled in pain afterward as Mordo threw some blue spells in Tony's direction.
Mordo turned to look at Stephen again. "Why would I spare him? You'll go with me either way but if he is dead, you'll have no hope anymore. Then you won't think of escaping again. I'll kill whoever comes to help you so you've better hoped nobody comes to rescue you. I'll kill Wong and the rest of the sorcerers who have helped you. They thought they could create wards to hide you but they forget I taught them how to create those protective wards. Besides, everyone knows where Tony Stark and the Avengers lives. I should've guessed much earlier. It's a remiss in my part but it won't happen again."
"I always know that my fame will be my downfall." Tony managed to chime in before Mordo threw another spell at him. Tony couldn't help but scream.
Mordo continued, "You lack a spine to kill anyone even if it's the only way to win. You always hide behind your Time Stone and loopholes to make sure your hands are clean." He produced a knife and handed it to Stephen. "Now, I give you a choice. You can kill your friend quickly with no pain then we can go on our merry way. Or you can sit here and watch him in pain for hours or days" He moved his hands and small cuts started to appear all over Tony's body. Tony tried his best not to scream but it was futile. He managed to form one sentence. "Stephen, run!" Mordo strengthen his spell so he couldn't say anything more except screaming.
"I could do this for days and he could still be alive but he would wish to die. I've got all the time in the world because either way you're mine. You need to learn your lessons. You can't act high and mighty anymore when you get blood on your hands."
Stephen's body shook as he repressed his anger and fear. The Cloak tried her best to calm him but it was not working. Suddenly, his mind got hit by a bright light and he remembered everything.
After the first time Mordo took his magic and threatened to take more away, he had been trying to find ways to let it happen. He didn't care what happen to himself but he wouldn't let Mordo use his magic to hurt more people.
Incidentally, being a bookworm and know-it-all, Stephen had read all the books that he could get hold of. Who needed sleep when he could always astral project? Wong and other Masters said his mind needed to rest as well but what they didn't know won't hurt them. He was a doctor so he could take care of himself. One day, in one of of the rooms in the basement in New York's Sanctum, he found a book containing obscure spells. It was definitely obscure as the book was written around two thousand years ago. One of the spells was how to manipulate one's own magic as if it was gone or taken without the person taking it realizing it. Stephen wondered why would someone needed a spell like that and why would someone took someone's magic but due to his inquisitive nature, he memorized the spell without the chance of testing it. He couldn't just come up to Wong or other Masters asking them to try to take away his magic. There was an honor code among sorcerers. It was a disgrace to take away someone's magic. Only the Sorcerer Supreme was allowed to do it and with good reasons. For example, when someone had been harming others using magic and the only way to stop the person was to take away their magic. Most sorcerers would rather die than let their magic be taken.
The spell let his magic went through someone else before lodging itself to a pocket dimension he had prepared. At least he knew the feelings and sensation of his magic being taken so as long he could simulate them, he could also practice the spell. It was not easy with Necklace of Nohomein on his neck, but he was stubborn and never willing to give up which made him a pain-in-the-ass according to Wong. He bore through the pains to experiment. At least pain was an old friend and in between his torture sessions, this experiment was self inflicted so there was a bit of morbid satisfaction that he had one over them.
That was what he felt was missing in his dream. When Mordo took his magic, he pressed his ring fingers using his thumbs to activate a spell to let his magic be transferred from Mordo to another dimension. He knew Mordo wouldn't feel that Stephen's magic didn't stay in his body. Mordo was his teacher but he had learned a lot of things after his teacher left. He doubted that Mordo had read the book found in the New York's Sanctum under a pile of cobwebs.
By lucky coincidence, in the same book, there was also a spell to make a copy of his memory in another dimension when it was stolen. He wondered why would someone take someone else's memory but he memorized it anyway including the hand gestures. That was what he had been missing in his dream. It was harder to experiment with this spell because he didn't know the feeling of his memory being taken. He doubted the person who wrote the spell could prove it was working because even though the spell was successful, the person couldn't remember that a copy of the memory had been made because the person wouldn't remember anything.
Stephen made an additional change. The memory transfer was reversible when the person took the memory away did some things. For Mordo, it was easy because he had lived and learned from Mordo, and during his captivity, he always taunted him with the same things. He put some trigger words and situations that most likely would be uttered and done by Mordo. There were a lot of trigger words including "coward", "lack of spine", "your are mine", "high almighty" which were uttered by Mordo every time he visited him. The situation was much trickier. But Stephen knew he needed his magic and/ or memory back so he could save someone either using his magic or medical expertise. He also made sure he would never kill so when the situations arose, his memory would return.
During his captivity, Mordo said some of the trigger words, theoretically he could access his magic but with the Necklace on his neck, it was a moot point.
He hit the jackpot today as every condition was fulfilled. The memory returned in a literal flash. He staggered backward. He pretended to be nervous when he retrieved all his magic from the pocket dimension. It was not hard to fake because his body had been shaking. Once he got all his magic back, he sent Bolts of Balthakk at Mordo's direction. His former mentor looked shocked as fell backward. Stephen seized his opportunity and used the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak to bind him.
Tony who had been writhing on the floor sat up because nobody attacked him anymore. "Stephen, are you OK? You're just like Neo in the Matrix Revolutions."
Stephen shook his head in distaste. "I thought no one watched that movie or they pretended not to like it." He knelt in front of Tony to check for any life threatening injuries. He didn't find any poison or malicious objects in the engineer's system. He used his magic to heal the cuts and added spells to soothe the pains.
Suddenly he was exhausted. Not only physically because of the sudden use of magic after being inert for so long but also mentally. He remembered what he had done on Titan. He had been cryptic because if he told them what he saw in the one winning future, it wouldn't happen. He wish he could help had caused so much pain for Tony and the Avengers as they tried to get everyone back. To pay him back, Tony had treated him with kindness . He didn't deserve Tony or anyone's friendship or forgiveness. He even still caused Tony so much pain when he lost his memory. It would be best if Tony stayed away from him from now on.
"Tony, you're a good person. I'm not. I haven't been straightforward you on Titan. I don't deserve your friendship. I'll be out of my way as soon as I'm done with Mordo. Please forgive me."
"Stephen, I.." Before Tony finished his sentence, he used telekinesis to open the door, push Tony out, close and lock the door. He wished he had his sling ring so he could send Tony to his bedroom but he made do with what he got.
Tony was banging on the door.
"Friday, please keep the end of our deal. Don't let Tony come in please."
"Stephen, Mr Stark will be furious."
"I deserve that. Please remember, don't let him in until I'm gone."
"I don't like this but I will make sure Mr Stark is safe."
"Thank you."
Mordo managed to sneered at him through the Band. "I should've never underestimated you. As always, you find loopholes to keep your hands clean. You must be feeling great now."
"On the contrary. I agree with you that I'm not proud with what I've done. The problem is I'll do it all over again in order to protect the universe. If that makes me a monster, let's be it. At least the universe is safe."
"Still having that savior complex. We could work together to make a better world."
"By killing other sorcerers and people who don't agree with your idea?"
"Some sacrifices are needed for the greater good."
"You just sound like Thanos."
"Don't you dare to compare me with that homicidal purple maniac. I won't wipe half of the universe. I just want to make this world a better place."
"Please tell that to all the people you've killed. I'm sure they all agree with your ideal world."
"Still full of sarcasm. The problem is even with your arrogance, sarcasm, and high almighty attitude, I still love you." He shook his head as much as the band allowed him.
"Yes, I feel so much of your love in between your torture sessions." His tears started to fall. His Cloak was busy wiping them. "You know the feeling is mutual, right. After everything you've done to me, in some screw up ways, I still love you. I still think of you as my mentor and my friend. I still hope you realize what you have done is wrong and you will return to your former honorable self."
"I think the same about you but the other way.I think we've reached an impasse."
"I agree with you."
"So what do you plan to do?"
"Let the masters at Kamar-Taj be the judge."
"Can't you just kill me to get revenge on what I've done to you and I don't need to suffer the humiliation of trial."
"I think you know me well enough to know I can't do that."
Mordo laughed bitterly. "So now you decide to follow the law."
"I'm sorry, Karl. I wish things were different between us."
"So am I."
Mordo chose to remain quiet and accept his fate.
He could still hear Tony banging on the door and swearing at Friday but he chose to ignore it.
"Friday, can you please make a call to Wong right now." He didn't have his phone and he didn't want to leave Mordo alone in this room.
Wong picked up after the tenth ring. "Hi Tony, what happened to Stephen?"
"Hi, Wong, it's Stephen. I'm the one calling you. Can you bring me my sling ring? I also have got Mordo with me here so I'll prefer if you bring some masters here to guard him as we bring him to Kamar Taj."
"Stephen?! You remember about the sling ring!"
He rolled his eyes. He mentioned about Mordo and Wong picked up the wrong part to be excited. Well, Wong's way of excitement was subtle. A thirty degree tilt of his head to the right. He really missed Wong. "I remember everything. It's a long story."
"Finally." Wong sounded relieved.
Stephen felt devastated as he heard Tony was still banging on the door. He hoped Wong would appear any second. He breathed a sigh of relief when an orange portal started to appear in the workshop.
Notes:
-Yeah, I said I'd finish it before Endgame but I got super busy and worked until midnight even during holidays and weekends so no time to finish it. I realized I stopped at a big cliffhanger so no matter whether I finish this story (I don't think it's popular), at least there is no big cliffhanger anymore.
-Sorry about the deux ex machinas, I tried to put some hints in earlier chapter but not sure if they work. Canonically in MCU or comics, Stephen often wins not because of his powers but his wit and cunningness. I think his own movie plus Infinity War and Endgame proved that.
-About the canon divergence part, I need to find ways so nobody died to make this story works. The Avengers still time travelled but it was 6 months rather than 5 years later. Thor, Rocket, Scott Lang, Steve Rogers, and Tony Stark still travel to the same place and time like in Endgame. Instead of Bruce, Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton went to talk to the Ancient One to get the Time Stone (it was insane to ask two non superpower humans to go to Vormir but perhaps my version of Endgame will be worse). Bruce and Rhodey went to take the Power Stone. Nebula, Captain Marvel, and Wong (why wasn't Wong included in the Time Heist?) went to Vormir to confront Thanos before he killed Nebula. Nebula pushed Thanos and since she loved Thanos, she got the Soul Stone. Yeah, my version of Endgame didn't have any body count except for Thanos but nobody would watch it. Anyway, Stephen only felt guily about not telling the whole things but no additional burden about telling Tony about the one chance future.
-A post made by Aelaer about Stephen doesn't want to kill even in Endgame can be found here: i-sudoku dot tumblr dot com/post/184750033953/endgame-a-moment-of-appreciation-for-doctor
-This had nothing to do with the story but I just found a youtube link about the compilation of fight between Stephen and Thanos here: youtube dot com/watch?v=mM5qUzi3yio
-Finally, comment and feeedbacks are appreciated