On the outside, 177A Bleeker Street looked like every other building in the surrounding neighborhood. But Mary Jane knew that it was protected by the most advanced security system on the planet.
It was warded, shielded, and host to most of the magical energies that ran through this dimension. It was the Sanctum Sanctorum, the home of the Sorcerer Supreme.
She was met at the door by an aging, bald, Chinese man named Wong. Wong was the steward of the Sanctum and the closest confidante of Doctor Stephen Strange.
"Welcome, Mary Jane," Wong said with a smile.
She smiled and shook both of his hands. "Thank-you for seeing me on such short notice."
"Please, Mary Jane. We are far past formalities. Stephen considers both you and Peter to be family. Come inside. I have prepared tea."
They sat around an Oriental rug, sipping steaming-hot tea from old, delicate looking cups.
"I regret that Stephen is unable to join us. He is engaged on business out of town for at least a few more days."
"I hope he's in no danger," Mary Jane said.
"No more than usual," Wong said. "But I can see that you are distressed. Is Peter well?"
Mary Jane sighed. "Physically, he's fine, Wong. For a man who crawled out of the ground a couple weeks ago, he's in as good a shape as I've ever seen him."
"Physically," Wong said. "You mean that his body is healthy, but his mind is not?"
"When he first came home, he was close to catatonic. Could barely talk. When I told him what Kravinoff had done, worn his costume….frightened me….he went after him. And now—"
"Kravinoff is dead. After so many years. The police ruled it a suicide."
"Peter said the same."
"I believe him," Wong said. "Even after all that animal put him through, he is still a good man."
"I never doubted that," Mary Jane said. "But he doesn't sleep well anymore."
"Insomnia?"
"Recurring dream," she said. "Keeps waking him up."
"Did he share the details with you?"
Without hesitation, she related the dream to the old man.
When she finished, Wong smiled. "The concern of a wife for a husband is a beautiful thing. These kinds of dreams are normal for a brain trying to deal with all of the trauma and stress that Peter has encountered in the last several months. I know you're accustomed to thinking of your husband as a normal man."
"I was."
"But," Wong continued. "He is actually among the more resilient beings I have met in my long years. Greater than his spider-powers is his indomitable will, which the Doctor and I have witnessed on numerous occasions."
"You're trying to tell me not to worry about his mind?"
"I'm trying to say that, to you, your husband's powers seem like an accident. But the universe chooses the warriors that are most fit to the task."
"It seems like you're comparing him to Stephen," Mary Jane said. "But Doctor Strange had years of study and practice, and he chose this life. One day, Peter was bitten by a spider, and suddenly his life changed forever. All this was thrust upon him. How can I not worry about him?"
Wong chuckled. "The answer depends on the day when you ask Stephen whether he chose this life or it chose him."
"Tell me truthfully," Mary Jane said. "He was underground for a week. Is there any chance these dreams are more like…visions?"
Wong paused and seemed to give it serious consideration. "Stephen has always said that Peter's spider-sense is a manifestation of his connection to all life. By nature, without prompting, he sees things that others cannot."
"What if we could help? Couldn't we go there and get him out?"
"You think, my dear, that Harry is in an actual Hell dimension. But Peter's dreams may not be that literal. More likely they stem from his own sadness and guilt rather than any perception of the true state of Harry's soul.
"So you're saying." MJ leaned forward. "Harry does have a soul. And it's definitely somewhere."
"These are matters of faith, Mary Jane," Wong continued to try to reassure her. "Shades of belief, not of any kind of certainty available to mortals."
She was polite and steered the conversation to more pleasant avenues. But Mary Jane knew in her heart what Wong was really saying. Not available to mortals meant that the door was closed to her. Because she was not a sorcerer, not a practitioner, not even a superhero. Just a worrying wife.
She left the Sanctum Sanctorum smiling, hiding her resolve to show Wong just how little he knew about her.