-This fic is unbetaed so please kindly point out any mistake.
-Warning: brief flashbacks, mention of tortures, Tony's language, medical inaccuracies, and Thor Ragnarok spoilers. Not necessarily in that order.

As soon as his body fell, he was back in the warehouse. His arms and legs were being held down. He could hear the laughter of the fake victim before he straddled him. The more he tried to move, the harder they held him. Then the caressing began.

He couldn't move. All his cells were burning and the pain was unbearable. He heard Dormmamu's voice telling him all the pain would go away if he would just give up Earth.

He heard someone screaming and realized it was him.

A voice told him, "Stephen, Stephen. You're safe. You're in your Sanctum. Take a deep breath."

He took a deep breath.

"That's right. Keep breathing. You're safe. You're with friends."

After a few deep breaths, he opened his eyes and saw the familiar ceiling of his library. He realized he was lying on his bed. Sophie flew to cover him and acted as his security blanket again. He hoped this would not become a regular occurrence.

He tried to get up but his hands and feet were stuck to the bed. "Sorry about that. Peter webbed you so that you wouldn't go through the portal to that warehouse."

He didn't know any Peter. Not recently anyway. He blinked. "Peter?" He turned to the source of the voice and it was Tony Stark. There was no one else in the room.

"Yes, that little-pain-in the ass. The teenager who puts us all to shame by always doing the right thing."

"Spider-Man?"

There was a yelp from the kitchen.

"Oops, you didn't know. How could you not? Never mind. How're you feeling?"

"I'd like to get up."

"Yeah, about that… The web would only dissolve in two hours. Do you want to hear some funny stories while we wait? After all I'm the Ghost of the Christmas Past or is it the Future?"

"What?"

Tony waved his right hand impatiently. "Friday, could you show a movie projected on the wall while we wait for the web to dissolve?"

Stephen incanted a spell to dissolve any binding and his hands and feet were free.

Tony grumbled. "I often forget that you can do that."

Stephen tried to stand up but Tony touched his hand softly and shook his head. He remained seated on the bed. "I don't think it's a good idea right now. You would just walk into a middle of SHIELD operation. And some of them don't trust us and they would like to experiment on you to know your powers. Oh no, you're burning up. Could I touch your forehead?" He nodded so the inventor went on to touch. "You're indeed burning up. I hope the drug-induced delirium was the reason you wanted to step into that portal. Not because of your ego. I thought you knew better than that."

"I don't like being a victim. I want to get into the bottom of this."

"The good news is I can give you all the information as we, the Avengers, have arrested the party involved. But before doing that, do you want to talk about what just happened? Your scream was so full of agony, Pe-.., Spider-Man, was so worried and I asked him to go to the kitchen to be with Thor and Cap."

"Is Thor here?"

"Yes, Shakespeare and Capcicle are here. They want to talk to you but I nominate myself first."

Stephen winced. He put both feet down on the floor and stood up. He wobbled, Sophie steadied him. He held on to the table next to the bed to support himself. "We must go to the kitchen quickly before Thor wrecks my Sanctum again. Perhaps I can use a portal."

He tried to draw a circle but Tony held his hands and guided him to sit on the bed. "You're not going anywhere at this state. Again? So it has happened before? Why am I not surprised? I tried to claim insurance for the wreckages caused by Thor at the Tower but apparently the insurance doesn't cover the acts of God. They must have made the new rule after Thor arrived on Earth. Stephen, calm down. Take a deep breath. Cap and Spider-Man are there so he couldn't wreak any havoc."

"I was there when his umbrella wrecked my Sanctum. Cap and Spidey could do nothing to stop him. I don't have any insurance. There're so many gods so insurance can't cover them all."

"You know when you said things like multiple gods, you don't sound normal. Nobody but you say such things. But again the Avengers themselves are not the epitomes of normal. I'm sure you can wave your hands to repair whatever he wrecked. But I can assure you he doesn't bring Mjölnir this time so I think your Sanctum is safe."

They heard a loud clattering from the kitchen. A high-pitched voice yelled. "It's just me, your friendly Sanctum-hood Spider-Man, dropping some cans of Coke on your floor. Sorry. I'll clean it up."

Stephen yelled back. "Don't worry about it Spidey. I'll use magic to clean it up later."

"How about the price of magic? Hey, Doc, It's nice to hear your voice again. I mean not the screaming voice. OK, Cap, I agree, I'll shut up now."

Stephen's face turned beet red. "I'm sorry about the screaming."

"Just relax." Tony pushed Stephen's back to the headboard and propped the doctor's legs on the bed. He dragged the chair used by Peter earlier next to the bed and sat. "You really don't need to keep apologizing. We all know what you went through. Believe it or not. Nearly all of us in this Sanctum have one sort of traumas or another. No wonder my therapist makes a fortune even when she only treats superheroes. Where was I? Oh yes, there's really nothing to be ashamed of. Do you want to see my therapist? You can use the Avengers' bulk discount."

He replied automatically. "I'm not an Avenger."

"Are you kidding me? At the rate you're helping us, you are an honorary Avenger. It's just you don't want to join us officially."

"Tony, we've been through this before."

"I know. I know. I just want to ask whether you want to talk about what just happened. Only if you're ready. We could talk about something else. Any plan for the Thanksgiving?"

Stephen drew a deep breath and covered his face in his hands. "When Pe-, I mean Spidey dragged me back to bed, I remembered the guy in the warehouse. Some people were holding me down and the guy I thought I rescued was caressing my face and saying what he wanted to do to me—controlling me, owning me. I've never felt so helpless before."

"So he was being a dick. I think you missed the memo that he was a villain and he was monologuing. Didn't you get that in your Superhero 101 class?"

"I'm a sorcerer, not a superhero so that might be the reason I never got that lesson." He shook his head. "Why would they touch my face? Nightmare, Memphisto, and some other monsters also like to do that while they're monologuing."

"I think you miss the whole memo that they're all villains. That's what villains do. They like monologuing. As for touching, I'm not an expert, but I think it's to show they have power over you. For a human, you're very powerful, they feel much better if they could humiliate you and rub it in your face. Er, I mean metaphorically but yes, I can see that's a bad choice of word. Their purpose is to showcase they have power over you and make you feel bad like what you're feeling right now. You're helping them achieving their goals by feeling bad about yourself."

He looked up from behind his hands. "Well, I'm sorry that I can't control what I feel." He tried to say it sarcastically but it sounded more like a whine. He covered his face again.

"Exactly! I know you were joking to cover up how you feel. I do the same. It's normal to feel this way. You're still a human. It's OK. The problem is with them, not with you. At least Domino just wanted to kill you right away, not touching you."

"Yes, just plain torturing before killing."

"I'm sorry."

"No, I'm fine. I'd prefer Dormammu's method than being touched."

"I know the feeling. I was a prisoner in Afghanistan. I know how it feels to being helpless. I don't like being handed things. I truly meant what I said. I'm sorry that you felt Domino's method was better. Nobody should feel that way. They're all villains in case you forget but not likely given you always boast your eidetic memory."

Stephen was glad that Tony attempted to change the topic but he actually still wanted to talk about it. "I might have mentioned my eidetic memory once or twice. At least you rescued yourself. I needed Peter, I mean Spidey to rescue me."

They heard a loud yelp again from the kitchen. They forgot that both Spidey and Cap have super hearings.

It was Tony turned to yell. "That's all right, Peter. I think the cat is out of the bag. Sorry. I'm sure Doc doesn't know the rest of your identity."

Cap replied by yelling. "Tony, there is a hyperventilating teenager stuck to the ceiling of the kitchen right now. We need to talk about your level of discretion when we're back at the Tower. Let me handle it now."

Thor surprisingly remained quiet.

Tony sighed. "That's all I get living with Steve, not you, Stephen. Now I can't call you Steve. Gosh, why do you have similar names? Where was I? Oh yes, you're really being too hard on yourself. They set an elaborate trap for you. HYDRA targeted you. They know your character, strengths and weaknesses so you really shouldn't feel so bad. I think you keep forgetting that you're only human. You were also unconscious the whole time so how could you plan your own own escape? You managed to contact Peter to rescue you. It's actually self-help so you indirectly rescued yourself."

"I don't feel like it. It feels like I'm just a victim the whole time and Spider-Man and the Avengers need to rescue and help me."

"So what? There is nothing wrong with being a victim. It sucks but it happens. You don't need to be the hero all the time."

"It's not that. I just feel I should've been more active. I should've done something more."

"Stephen, you were unconscious. That's the whole point. You couldn't do anything so just let it go. Even if you were conscious, you could end up stuck and being helpless anyway and that was worse. There is nothing wrong of being scared or worried. You don't need to prove anything to yourself or us."

"That's the point. Before I got selfish, I thought I could help people by being a doctor. Then I didn't help as many people as my idealistic self wanted to. After I learned magic, I thought I could help people another way. Then this thing happened."

"Boo hoo. You were caught because you were trying to help people. You actually still do your duty. I know this detour sucks but you didn't veer off from your self-appointed duty. When you were having flashbacks, you were worried that you would revert to a horrible person you were. Did you hurt people on purpose in the past?"

Stephen shook his head. "But I wasn't a nice person either."

"Join the club. But you didn't hurt people, not on purpose anyway. So why were you worried?"

"The brainwashing might make me become a HYDRA killer or something. I don't want that."

"The fact that you're worried proved that you're a good person. I'm not sure whether you're responsible for the things you do while you're being brainwashed." Tony winced as he remembered something.

"Tony, I'm sorry. This brainwashing talk must be hard on you. I really shouldn't bring it up."

"Stop apologizing. None of the things that happen to you today is your fault. Well, except the part that you were being stubborn and wanted to blindly step into that portal. You traumatized Peter by your yelling. He thought he hurt you."

"I need to apologize to him."

"Stop it, Stephen. Just relax. Don't go around apologizing. Don't feel bad about yourself. I think Cap is really more suited for this kind of talk but you will get to talk to him later. Not sure before or after Thor. Do you want to hear about the boss villain that wanted to brainwash you?"

"Is it not Dr Faustus?"

"Nah, Faustus is just a tool. How familiar are you with the movie Single While Female?"

Notes:

-The touching Stephen's face by Dr Strange's villains is unfortunately canon in the comics. I forgot to mention it in the last chapter. Stephen was wrong about one thing, Dormammu also liked to monologue as well after he captures and/or tortures Stephen. Poor Stephen. Without villains' monologues, a lot of superheroes including Stephen would've died instantly.
-The conversation with Tony got too long so the talk about the villain will be in the next chapter. Also there will be talks to Thor and Cap before going back to Pe-, I mean Spider-Man, at the end of this arch. After all, Spidey and Doc's friendship is the main theme of this story.
-Not sure how well Tony's talk went. Not an expert in this kind of calming talk. Please let me know.