Note #4: Is it spelled cult-ist or cultist?

Note #5: The presence of the stone, when removed from its case, is overwhelming. However, once it's inside the case, it is near impossible to detect. If the stone is inside or outside the case, it is still useless.


Mina always braced herself to arrive at the sanctum and feel blown away by intricate designs and a beautiful castle. When she arrived, there was no real "wow" moment, just like every other time she came to deliver groceries and chat with Stephen.

Looking up at the building, it didn't seem special. It looked old, but it didn't look ancient. Nothing magically changed since the last time she passed by the building. Four stories (including the rooftop attic) and square, bland windows lined up by a dimension of four by five, height by width (except for the one window at the top of the building, which reminded Mina of a basketball due its spherical shape and odd design). The bricks lay dusty on the outdoors. The minimal weeds laced themselves throughout the brick building. The pillars- not Greek pillars, they were a little more cubic- gave a regal impression, but the white pillars were grey and concrete. The doors, though big and grandiose, did not give the impression that those who lived within the building were royal.

In fact, the two losers that lived and worked at the New York Sanctum were jogging up the path in complete cult attire, bags full of deli sandwiches, hands stabilizing coffee. Mina could smell the meat and coffee beans. She almost half hoped that they'd give her some.

"You know," she called, snatching the coffee out of Wong's hand and nodding toward her long-time friend turned into a wizard/cultist, "you really should have just used the portal to come over."

Stephen raised an eyebrow. "To the sanctum or to your house?"

"My house. Thanks, Wong." She addressed that last part to the Asian cultist/wizard, who looked dejected at the coffee that Mina hijacked.

In comparison to the outside appearance, the interior design was significantly nicer. Relics lined tables. Books lined the shelves. On the walls were more artifacts- gold, silver, bronze- and Stephen's red floating cloak. The first time Mina came over, she accidentally poured steaming hot coffee on the cloak. Ever since then, there was a mutual hatred. The cloak did not like Mina and Mina didn't like it either. The unspoken agreement between the two (Mina worded the agreement) was something along the lines of "you don't touch me and I won't murder you".

If Mina had the attention span, she could have gotten lost in all the spells and charms. However, she didn't, nor did she care much about the cult-like realms. So she plopped herself down in a chair (no doubt a priceless artifact of some sort) with Stephen while Wong left to get some more coffee.

Stephen Strange was still the same, just dressed more strangely than his doctor attire. Despite being a former neurosurgeon, his hands no longer trembled (at least better than what Mina had heard about). Mina met the egoistic bastard back when she was in university. Mina and Christine went way back, as they were roommates in the same university. Christine graduated a year later. Eventually, Mina was introduced to Christine's boyfriend, Stephen Strange. Then they broke up. Mina ended up becoming something of a moderator between the two, but if she had to pick, she'd pick Christine, no doubt. Stephen, cult or not, was still as egotistical and butthole-ish as he was before.

"You can leave the groceries over there." A good, safe way to begin a conversation. Stephen gestured towards a table, leaving Mina no choice but to throw the bag at him. An apple rolled out and fell on the floor, along with two others. Stephen, with all his mighty neurosurgeon wisdom, deduced, "You really like purchasing apples."

Mina resisted the urge to punch him. It was so frustrating when people didn't understand your puns! "No shit, Sherlock." The words came out a little muffled, probably because Mina was too busy biting down on her lips and holding back her other response.

Which, for the record, was something along the lines of "an apple a day keeps the Doctor away but one apple didn't seem to work so I brought you ten."

Stephen opened his hand and Mina threw the other bit of thing that Stephen specifically requested from her: a monthly report of Christine Palmer and her safety. A sweet (?) act by the doctor, who was concerned that his involvement in the Mystic Arts would endanger his close ones. Somehow (Mina never asked how nor did she want to know), he paid for private investigators to keep an eye on his loved ones. Mina was one of them. She even lowered the price for him since Christine was a friend. Now, she regretted it. Mina could really use that money.

The report itself was simply a formality. Christine's life was completely boring. Stephen, however, took his time reading over the report and frowning. Maybe his time in the cult was affecting his ability to read. Maybe he was reading all the tips that Mina left behind on how to make up with Christine nicely.

"Just tell me all that irrelevant stuff in person." He finally said, throwing the paper through a portal that landed in who knows where.

Mina shrugged. "I don't like talking. Buy your own groceries next time."

Stephen, knowing that Mina was impatient (Mina could read him quite well, she knew often what he was going to say before he said it), offered the same bit of common knowledge that he repeated every time Mina came over. "You can't work all the time. You need to rest."

She shrugged again. "I like work."

If Stephen tried to analyze her with his limited observation skills, he would be able to deduce that Mina wasn't lying. And she wasn't. The private investigator and detective genuinely enjoyed working. She enjoyed reading over cases and figuring out who did it. She enjoyed working with the police force, often finishing the case before they even arrived at the scene. Sweet New York had so much crime that it was perfect for a workaholic like Mina.

Also, Mina was paid like dirt. She needed to work a lot in order to pay for herself. If one with something resembling Mina's observational skills tried to deduce Mina's words, they would declare that "I like work" was a fifty percent lie.

Actually, it was ninety percent lie. Everything that Mina was trying to trick herself with was a lie. Mina could barely tolerate her job. It was the only thing she was good at, but she wasn't passionate about it. The truth was: "I get paid like shit cause I'm an immigrant and I need to work longer to pay for my living expenses, you overpaid doctor."

Maybe Mina should join a cult since Strange looked pretty well off.

Once again, Strange started the conversation, but this time, in sign language. Mina understood easily. Didn't you bring any electronics with you?

I did. Mina signed, before tossing her phone over to Stephen. He dropped that in a portal, which Mina trusted him to know where he put her phone. If Stephen lost it, Mina would kill him with techniques that even the Mystic Arts couldn't counter. However, Mina also understood why- she knew her phone was probably bugged. Working with SHIELD also meant her privacy was jeopardized, but the news that Mina wished to discuss with the wizard was not ready to be revealed.

"The stone hasn't shown any action yet." Mina paused to sip her coffee. Strange prompted her to continue: Mina knew that the stone's inactiveness was old news. "I haven't gotten attacked either. HYDRA doesn't know that the one that we've placed is a fake. For such a big, power-hungry group, they're really bad at figuring out what they've lost."

"To be fair, it was a really good replica." Stephen prided himself, only to be cut short by a glare and the rest of Mina's verbal report.

"I took the stone out of its box lately. The power is immense. It's crazy powerful. It's like your stone, but less powerful. Like, that power divided by one hundred?"

Stephen frowned. "That's still incredibly powerful. You revealed that power and nobody has murdered you yet?"

Mina shrugged. "Death always seems to come late for me. Also, I got a new cat."

The two sat in silence. Stephen was posed as if he wanted to say something but decided against it. He sat back in his own seat, biting into the apple that Mina brought. Mina, with an absolute lack of magical knowledge, had seen for herself that the item she was storing in her house was insane. Currently, it did nothing. She wasn't even completely sure what it was or what it was supposed to do. Stephen just told her that if it was in the wrong hands, then bad stuff would happen. He really was ever the optimist. Yet, Mina still listened, because if there was anything she trusted him with, it would be magic.

Magic was real. It was still a little bit hard for her mind to process that.

"It doesn't really do anything though and I didn't burn to a crisp when I touched it." Mina chimed, noticing the Doctor's furrowed eyebrows and concerned posture. "It's just... there. There's nothing else to it. Yeah, you can feel the power, but it's..." She trailed off noticing that she was repeating things over.

"Even if they did steal the box, they'd have to overcome the enchantment." Stephen slowly lowered his eyes to Mina's chest. Mina reached inside her jacket and pulled out what Strange meant to look at (it really was unfortunate placement; the author didn't know how to word it otherwise): a silver locket in the shape of a dreamcatcher. She held it in between them, inspecting the hexes written on the silver chains. Many would have thought that Mina received from a loved one, due to its silver beauty. In fact, she got the key from Strange.

Both decided that once HYDRA realized that the stone was missing, they would immediately charge the Sanctum. Therefore, neither Sanctums in the word were a safe place. Then Mina offered to keep it since her place was very unlikely to be raided. The sanctum members agreed, giving Mina the most secure lock and key.

At the time, Mina questioned Strange: 'If my cats wore this necklace, could they open the box?"

He just laughed at her. He didn't stop for a long period. Mina had punched him- it was only right that a person who didn't understand magic would ask such an outrageous question.

Also, the question was never answered. If anything, both Mina and Stephen hated the nuisance of stupid questions.

-End of Chapter 3-