Chapter 18

I swear it is true the past isn't dead
It's alive, it is happening in the back of my head

-It's Happening Again by Agnes Obel

Steve set aside the final paper copy of the Russian files on the Winter Soldier Program and looked down at the old book at the bottom of the duffle bag. It was bound in an old dark colored leather with strange designs that almost looked like mirrored animal skulls embossed on the cover. He'd avoided touching it, and he wasn't entirely sure why. It just felt wrong. He steeled himself and carefully lifted it out of the duffle. It made his skin crawl and he quickly set it on the table in front of him, wiping the phantom feeling from his hands with a grimace.

Across the table from him, Nat was sitting at the Hydra laptop, her brow furrowed in concentration. Tony was flicking through holographic copies of the laptop files. They were the only three left in the conference room. Bucky and Sam were with Wanda and Vision was off doing something. On the wall a monitor showed a split screen feed of the three detainment cells holding Werner, Elfriede, and Agatha.

Steve looked back at the book sitting innocently on the table and had the unnerving feeling that it was looking back at him. He took a breath, mentally shaking himself, and reached out towards the cover, intending to flip it open and see what on earth the book contained.

"Stop!"

Steve started, snatching his hand back. Across the table from him he saw both Nat and Tony jump as well. All of their heads snapped to the doorway to see…a ghost?

"Good to see you all again." Said Phil Coulson with a smile.

Steve gaped at him silently. He heard Tony's sharp intake of air. Nat was silent, staring fixedly at Phil Coulson.

"You lying motherfucker." Tony finally got out hoarsely.

Phil still smiled but something like regret flashed across his face. "I did not fake my death, Mr. Stark. I did die, but Fury had other plans."

"What does that mean?" Steve asked sharply.

His heart was pounding and he couldn't help looking at Nat. Had she known Coulson was still alive? He remembered the speech that Fury had given them all after Coulson's death. Another lie.

"I am the head of a special operative unit of SHIELD and our success heavily relies on the world believing that Phil Coulson is dead." Phil noted the look Steve was giving Nat. "And no, not even Agent Romanoff knew I was still alive."

"Good to see you, Agent Coulson." Nat said smoothly.

"Did that one-eyed asshole ever tell us the truth?" The shock was fading from Tony's face and quickly being replaced by anger. "God, I've had fresh flowers put at your grave for years now! Pepper was heartbroken when you died!"

"I have appreciated the flowers." Phil said gently.

Tony gave him an incredulous look and crossed his arms over his chest. Steve honestly didn't blame him for being angry. Tony and Pepper had a history with Coulson. He'd been a friend. Steve had barely known the man, but his death had still hit him hard.

"I've done some important work the past few years." Phil said quietly. "But I am sorry for the pain my death caused all of you."

"How do we know you're not Hydra? SHIELD doesn't exist anymore." Tony asked sharply.

Pain flashed across the agent's face. "We had to deal with Hydra infiltrating even our small team, but after the chaos, Fury asked me to rebuild SHIELD. We worked from the shadows for a while, but after the Accords, we were legalized once again. The government used the noise about the Accords to keep it quiet, but if you need proof I can put a call in to the President."

"He's telling the truth about SHIELD." Nat said.

"Who's the director?" Steve demanded.

"A man named Jeffrey Mace." Nat answered. "A former journalist who survived the UN Vienna bombing."

"But how are you alive?" Tony butted in, still glaring at Coulson.

Phil gave them an apologetic smile. "That's classified, I'm afraid."

"Of course it is." Tony grumbled.

"Why are you here, Agent Coulson?" Steve asked.

"I'm here for that." Coulson said, pointing to the book sitting on the table in front of Steve.

They all looked at the book and Steve fought the urge to shudder.

"Why?" Tony demanded. "And how did you even know we had it?"

"It's my business to know." Coulson said cryptically. "That book is called the Darkhold and SHIELD has been trying to track it down for years."

"Why?" Steve narrowed his eyes.

"Fury had no problem opening up Pandora's Box from time to time, but even he was afraid of this thing. It's powerful, it's deadly, and it needs to be locked up somewhere safe."

"So you expect us to just give you this book and trust that the government will keep it from falling into the wrong hands?" Steve asked evenly.

"No." Phil said, his gaze open and honest. "I expect you to trust that I will keep it from falling into the wrong hands."

"Where did we first meet?" Tony suddenly asked.

"Third Annual Firefighters' Family Fund gala. You came up to the bar and said 'Give me a scotch, I'm starving.'" Phil said with no hesitation.

Nat and Steve both looked at Tony, eyebrows raised.

Tony smirked. "Just making sure we're not dealing with an evil robot clone."

"Are you really ok with handing this book over?" Steve asked, surprised.

Tony gave Coulson another glare. "Don't get it twisted, I have not forgiven you, but if this book is dangerous…" Tony sighed like the next part was almost painful to admit. "...yeah I do trust you to take care of it."

"Thank you, Mr. Stark." Phil said with a smile before turning to Nat. "Agent Romanoff?"

"I trust you." Nat said easily.

"Cap?"

Steve looked between all of them. "If Tony and Nat trust you, then I do too." He finally said.

He didn't miss the brief pleased expressions that crossed both Tony and Nat's faces.

"There's one more thing." Coulson said with a slight grimace. "I can give you a little extra time, but in about a week I will need you to turn Werner von Strucker and Agatha Harkness over to SHIELD."

Steve glanced at the others. Nat didn't look surprised. Tony looked slightly relieved. If he was being honest, Steve felt a little bit of both. He let out a heavy sigh.

"Alright. We better get to work then."

"So tell me about the Darkhold."

Even on the monitor, the flash of shock and something like hunger on Agatha's face was clear. Nat smiled her cat-who-ate-the-canary smile and Steve couldn't help the grin that crossed his face as he watched from the observation room.

"That's what Hydra promised you, isn't it?" Nat pushed.

Agatha was glaring hard at her now from across the small table.

"Seems like a lot of work for one book."

"I wouldn't expect you to understand." Agatha snapped.

"Then explain it to me." Nat said easily. "Help me understand why it means so much to you."

"That book is a powerful grimoire." Agatha said fiercely. "It belongs in the hands of someone who understands it."

"So it's a book of spells?"

"It's an ancient book of knowledge. It is so much more than just spells."

"So in exchange for helping Hydra, you would get the book?"

"That book is my destiny." Agatha snarled. "Hydra never should have had it in the first place."

"How did Hydra get it?"

"How do you think? They killed the witch who had it and took it for themselves."

"I'm sorry." Nat said, her face softening. "Was this someone you were close to?"

Agatha suddenly laughed loudly. "Oh no." She finally said, still chucking. " I was going to kill her and take it. Hydra just beat me to it."

Nat frowned. "I thought witches would be more of a close knit group."

Agatha grinned. "Covens are overrated."

Nat tilted her head, studying the witch. "Interesting."

"Oh don't 'interesting' me." Agatha scoffed. "I could go into how Dreykov's Black Widows are supposed to be a close knit group too."

Nat smiled slightly and Steve was surprised to see it reached her eyes. "They were, I guess. But it was a dog eat dog kinda world."

Agatha was quiet for a moment, staring intently at Nat who held her gaze calmly. It almost looked like the two women were communicating silently.

"And the Avengers aren't a dog eat dog kinda world?" Agatha finally pushed. "Didn't you all just destroy an entire German airport fighting each other?"

"The Avengers aren't perfect." Nat said quietly. "But families never are."

"Oh so that's it." Agatha's voice rose, jeering again. "You think these people are your family. "

Nat moved forward so quickly that everyone in the observation room started. Agatha visibly jumped as Nat was suddenly leaning over the table towards her, both palms flat on the table as she stared at the witch.

"It's possible, Agatha." Nat said, so quietly that Steve only heard her with his enhanced hearing. "It's never too late to start over."

Agatha snarled at her, lip curled. "Save the 'you can be good too' speech, Natasha Romanoff. I would have expected that from Captain America, not you."

Nat pulled back and slid gracefully back into her chair. "Suit yourself." She looked completely unruffled. "I thought you'd like to know that you have about a week left with us before SHIELD takes you out of our custody."

Agatha glared at her silently.

"What did you do to Wanda Maximoff?"

Agatha didn't answer and Steve felt his shoulders tense. He wasn't sure if it was the right call to tell Agatha that SHIELD was taking her soon, but he trusted Nat and her skills at interrogation.

Agatha cackled suddenly. "Nothing."

Steve leaned towards the monitor, his brow narrowing. The witch was smiling that large, unhinged smile. Nat looked politely curious.

"What do you mean?" Nat asked.

"I mean that Wanda did this all by herself." Agatha smirked.

Nat frowned slightly. "Wanda put herself in a coma?"

"I didn't think she'd actually do it." Agatha mused. "But I am very good at hide and seek."

Nat studied her, a slight furrow in her brow. Finally she spoke again. "So Wanda was hiding from you?"

Agatha swung her gaze back to Nat, looking suddenly furious. " Hiding. " She snapped. "She has all that raw power and she decided to hide."

"What did you want her to do?"

"She could have thrown me out of her head. She could have done anything she wanted! She could have made the fucking castle crumble and turned all of the servants into chickens for Merlin's sake! But she has the Scarlet Witch locked up tight because she's scared."

Agatha was breathing hard, her eyes flashing. Steve felt chills run down his spine. He knew Wanda was powerful, but sometimes he wondered if she'd barely tapped into her powers. The way she would suddenly be able to do extremely powerful things like mentally link all of them and maintain it over distance just out of nowhere was unnerving to say the least.

"The Scarlet Witch? Is that what you call Wanda?" Nat asked softly.

Agatha laughed darkly. "That's what she is. I'm sure of it."

"What is a Scarlet Witch?"

" The Scarlet Witch." Agatha corrected angrily. "There is only one. The prophecy in the Darkhold states that the Scarlet Witch is not born, she is forged. She has no coven or need for incantation. Her power exceeds that of the Sorcerer Supreme. It's her destiny to destroy the world."

Steve wished he hadn't just eaten lunch because it felt like his stomach had just turned to lead. He glanced at Tony and Vision and found them glancing wide-eyed back at him.

"Who is the Sorcerer Supreme?"

Agatha stared at Nat, seemingly stunned into silence. "Are all of you completely daft about the mystic arts?" She finally asked scathingly. "The Sorcerer Supreme? Dr. Stephen Strange? The Sanctum Sanctorum is in Greenwich Village for Merlin's sake."

Steve looked at Tony who was typing furiously away at a tablet. His head was spinning. Sorcerer? Sanctorum? How could all of this exist without any of them knowing?

"Why is Wanda destined to destroy the world?" Nat asked, ignoring Agatha's taunt.

"That's what chaos magic does." Agatha said impatiently. "It destroys."

Nat gave the camera a quick, brief glance, but Steve caught it.

"Does Werner know any of this?"

Agatha laughed mockingly. "Hydra, as usual, has its head too far up its ass to see anything. Of course he doesn't know. He just wanted Wanda to make perfect little copies of the Winter Soldier."

"I heard that he wanted you to make Winter Soldiers." Nat said evenly.

Agatha's eyes darted to the camera and then back to Nat. She scowled. "Yes. He did initially. But I don't have that kind of power."

"So you bargained." Nat said knowingly.

"Of course I bargained." Agatha sneered. "Anyone would have done the same."

"I don't think Wanda would have."

Agatha's eyes flashed purple with rage and then the collar activated. Agatha's eyes rolled back in her head as the electricity zapped through her body. Her limbs jerked as her body seized and she slid off the chair to the floor. Nat was on her feet, but watching impassively with her arms crossed. Steve winced, feeling horrified and guilty at the small sense of vindication he was trying to suppress.

"That's enough." He finally said after a few seconds.

Tony and Vision both looked at him and Vision pushed a button on a sleek remote. In the interrogation room, Agatha's body went still. Nat looked up at the camera, her eyebrows raised.

"Well that was informational." She said dryly.

"No!"

James was on his feet, his heart pounding in fear and fury.

"Wanda would never destroy the world." He snarled.

Natasha was staring at him, her face carefully expressionless. Behind her, Tony was watching anxiously and Steve was staring at the floor with a pained expression. Vision stood at Tony's side, his eyes on where Wanda laid motionless in the hospital bed.

"No, I gotta side with Bucky here." Sam spoke up from where he was standing next to him. James spared him a glance, relief spearing through him that Sam was backing him up. "Wanda would never do that."

"Look, this is all stuff we barely understand." Natasha said in a low voice. "Agatha was right. We know absolutely nothing about the mystic arts."

"I know her." James growled, feeling his fists clench. "And you're wrong."

"We need to talk to that Wizard guy." Tony piped in. "I can go in the morning."

"I'll go with you." Steve said firmly.

"Bucky." Natasha said gently like she was trying to calm him down. "No one is going to hurt Wanda, but we need to find out more about this."

"I was supposed to do a lot of shit." James snarled, his throat feeling tight. "I was supposed to be the fist of Hydra, but I'm making my own path. Wanda can too."

Steve finally met his eyes, understanding shining there. "You're right, Buck. Yeah, maybe Wanda could destroy the world. But that doesn't mean she would."

"Yeah who doesn't like having a live nuke around?" Tony muttered.

James actually stepped towards him, his vision flashing red, but Sam grabbed his shoulder and hauled him back. Tony glared at him, but James saw the fear that flashed through his eyes.

"We could all be described as live nukes, Tony." Steve said quietly.

"The Captain is right." Vision said. "All of us are dangerously powerful."

"For now, I think we all need to take a break, get some fresh air and food and rest." Steve switched over to his Captain America voice. "In the morning, Tony and I will go visit Dr. Stephen Strange."

"And then what?" James demanded.

Steve held his gaze, and James recognized that steel of resolve there. "We figure it out together. Wanda is part of this family and she's not going anywhere."

Twenty minutes later, everyone had retired to their own rooms, leaving James and Wanda alone in the medical wing. James paced the small room for a while, but finally he forced himself to stop and take several deep breaths. His eyes found Wanda. She was laying so motionless in the bed, hooked up to various machines that beeped steadily. Her face was so pale. He tried to swallow past the lump in his throat. Slowly he walked back to the bed and carefully slid in beside her. It wasn't comfortable. He was much too bulky to fully fit on the small mattress and he had to avoid all the tubes and wires. But he curled into Wanda's body and pressed his nose into her neck. She smelled like a hospital. The nurses had cleaned her up so her pale skin was clean of the dirt and blood, but she smelled like astringent. He raised his human hand and gently laced his fingers through hers.

"I got you." He murmured into her hair. "I swear, Wanda. I'm on your side, ok? No matter what."

There was no response and that lump in his throat seemed to grow.

"Steve would probably tell ya that I used to go out with lots of girls." He said softly, his voice hoarse. "An' I did. But I never felt like this before. I thought maybe I loved a few of 'em, but seems almost childish now." He pressed a kiss to her shoulder. "Not like this. Not like you. God, Wanda. I need you here, ok? I need you to wake up. Please. Please wake up, doll."

The silence seemed almost deafening. He felt his eyes overflow, the pillow and her hair dampening. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to find some comfort in feeling her chest rise and fall with her breaths. She was here, she was alive, and they would figure it out, like Steve promised.

He took a shaky breath.

They had to.

Tony's eyes widened as he took in the massive size of the alien fleet. His lungs gasped for the oxygen that was no longer there. He used the last bit of his strength to hurl the rocket directly at the fleet.

Pepper. I'm sorry.

His lungs burned and burned and burned. He felt his eyes close, felt the icy cold of space creep into his bones. This was what death felt like.

A fist in his hair jerked him up out of the water. He gasped in a breath, tears and icy water streaming down his face. He barely had time to blink before his head was thrust back into the water. He stared into the darkness, eyes open, trying to hold his breath, trying not to panic. The hands holding his head underwater were unrelenting. Black spots appeared in his vision and he felt the panic crawling up his throat despite his efforts. His lungs burned and his body rebelled against him, opening his mouth and trying to breathe. Icy, metallic tasting water poured into his lungs and he was choking and drowning. He was drowning.

He opened his eyes and he was sinking in the ocean, metal wreckage pinning him down, pulling him deeper and deeper. Water was sloshing into his helmet, slowly raising around his face. He tried to gasp in a deep breath, but his breath was coming in short, sharp gasps. He squeezed his eyes shut. He was going to die.

Pepper.

Light burst through his eyelids and he opened his eyes again. A shadow in the bright light reached out and he grasped their hand without a second thought. He felt himself being propelled up until suddenly they were breaking through the surface. He opened his faceplate and gasped in lungfuls of cold, clean air in between hacking water from his lungs. He vaguely felt someone towing him towards the rocky shore as he struggled to focus. The suit clunked against the rocks and the dim light of the sky was blocked by a shadow leaning over him.

"Hey! Can you hear me?"

Tony blinked and gasped and finally managed to bring the face into focus. Long red wet hair clung to her pale face as Wanda Maximoff stared down at him, breathing heavily.

"Wanda?" He wheezed in disbelief.

He watched the fear flash through her eyes like lightning. She moved like she was going to back away, but he managed to seize her arm with his suited hand.

"Wanda. Wait." He gasped.

"No. No. No." She was muttering under her breath, her eyes darting around frantically.

"Hey. It's ok." He tried to say lightly, but his voice was so hoarse.

She yanked against his hold, trying to pull free. He sat up, still trying to calm his breathing. His lungs burned. He kept the fingers of the suit locked around her wrist, afraid that if he let go she'd disappear. His mind was spinning. They were in Miami. On the rocky beach below the wreckage of his mansion. How did they get here?

"Please. Please let me go." Wanda was pleading in a shaking voice, still trying to yank her arm free.

"Wanda, it's Tony." He hoped his voice sounded calm, or at least as calm as possible after nearly drowning. "You're safe."

"No." Wanda finally looked at him, her brown eyes wide with fear. "She's coming."

"Who? Agatha?" Tony frowned for a moment. Who was Agatha again?

Wanda's eyes widened even further and she looked around them frantically. Like she was expecting the witch to appear right there on the beach. Oh. Right. The witch. Agatha Harkness. He shook his head slightly, trying to clear it. Why did his brain feel like a bowl of noodles?

"The wicked witch?" He tried again. "We got her, Wanda. We got you out."

Anger suddenly darkened her features, startling him. She practically snarled at him, teeth bared. "That's not going to work . "

Tony stared at her. "What? No, I'm not…Wanda you're back at the Compound." He paused, looking around them, a confused frown crossing his face. "Or…you were. We were. How'd we get here?"

Wanda looked at him like he'd grown another head, her lips pressed tightly together. They stared at each other. Her hair was different. Wasn't it? No. She'd always had red hair. Right? His brow furrowed. He felt kinda like he'd chased a bottle of whiskey with a mystery bag of little pills. The edges of the world were blurry and his brain was up in the stars.

"You were in pain." She suddenly whispered. "I couldn't leave you there."

Tony stared at her, speechless for a moment. Then he opened his mouth to ask-

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

Tony's eyes sprang open and he sat straight up, gasping. Warm morning sunlight flooded his room at the Avenger's Compound. His alarm was beeping at him incessantly.

"Boss, would you like me to turn that off?" FRIDAY's voice asked.

It was a dream. A nightmare. He'd been asleep. He looked around the familiar room, feeling uneasy. His fingers found the hard edges of the reactor in his chest, the feel of the cool metal grounding him.

"Boss?"

"Turn it off." He rasped.

The alarm finally shut off and the silence felt almost louder. He couldn't help looking around the room again, like he expected Wanda to be there. He'd had that nightmare more times than he could count. Cycling through moments of terror, trying to breathe, like a fun highlight reel of his worst moments. He shuddered. He'd never dreamed about Wanda before though. That was new.

He frowned.

It had been a dream, right?

You were in pain. I couldn't leave you there.

The hair on the back of his neck rose and he brought a hand up to hastily smooth it down. It must have been a dream. A combo of his regular nightmare and listening to Agatha talk yesterday. That made sense. He nodded to himself, sliding out of the bed and making his way towards the bathroom to shower. He needed to get moving. After all, he and Cap had a date with a wizard.

Steve stood on the sidewalk eyeing the building across the street in front of them. He carefully adjusted his glasses and baseball cap. With his dark hair and beard, he felt relatively confident no one would recognize him, but he was definitely grateful for the device in Tony's pocket that was jamming all of the street cameras around them.

177A Bleecker Street was a stately looking townhouse in the middle of Greenwich Village. Steve thought it definitely didn't look like something that would be called The Sanctum Sanctorum. The only thing that was slightly different about it was the large round window in the middle of the top floor, crisscrossed with swoops of metal.

"Color me underwhelmed." Tony muttered at his side, his eyes hidden behind dark sunglasses. "Are you sure this isn't a public library?"

"Well, I guess there's one way to find out." Steve said, steeling himself and striding up the steps.

The door was bright blue. Steve hesitated for a moment before reaching out and knocking. His fist hit the door once, twice, and then the door was gone . Caught off balance, he took a step forward as his arm swung through thin air. Beside him he heard Tony let out a string of curses. Steve looked around, his entire body tense. They were in a room with a grand set of stairs leading up to a second level. Steve spun around to see the blue door behind them. They were in the foyer.

The room was wood paneled and elegant. The floor was an intricate pattern of geometric designs. Above them in the ceiling was a giant round skylight. The light coming through the skylight seemed to be the only source of light in the room. It was dim, but Steve could make out intricate pieces of art and marble statues. His fingers twitched slightly. This room would be so fun to sketch.

"Pretty sure I knew a girl who had that exact symbol tattooed on her ass." Tony said.

Steve glanced at Tony who was looking at the intricate designs on the floor, but before he could say anything a loud voice rang out from the top of the stairs.

"Mr. Stark. Captain Rogers. What can I do for you?"

Steve and Tony both looked up to see a tall man with carefully coiffed dark hair with a large streak of gray descending the stairs. He was wearing a dark blue tunic and a long red cape with a tall collar around his neck. A large golden pendant hung around his neck by a thick cord. This man definitely looked like someone who might be called Sorcerer Supreme.

"Dr. Stephen Strange, I presume?" Steve asked politely.

"That is I." Dr. Strange replied, coming to a stop in front of them at the foot of the stairs.

"We were hoping you'd be able to help us." Steve said. "We've encountered a, uh, force of magic."

"The witch, Agatha Harkness?" Strange asked calmly. "Or is this about your witch, Wanda Maximoff?"

"Both actually." Tony piped up, his eyes narrowing on Strange in a way that made Steve feel nervous. "What exactly do you do here besides birthday party tricks? Could I get a balloon animal of the Hulk?"

Dr. Strange gave Tony a look that Steve had seen many times on Tony's face when someone was annoying him. "We protect your reality." The man hesitated just briefly like he was trying to hold it back, but the word slipped out like he couldn't help it. "Asshole."

Steve glanced between the two men feeling both anxious and amused. He'd never met anyone like Tony Stark. Not even Howard Stark had been quite like his son. But Dr. Stephen Strange? The two men currently glaring daggers at each other might just be more similar than they thought.

"Ok." He said, trying to de-escalate the situation. "Can we go somewhere to talk?"

Strange didn't even look at him as he raised his hands and snapped his fingers. Immediately Steve felt himself falling. He threw his arms out on instinct, but he landed gently in a plush armchair in a cozy library. Dr. Strange was sitting calmly in an armchair across from him. Tony however landed sprawled on his face on the floor with a thud.

"Oh, sorry about that." Strange said in a voice that didn't sound sorry at all.

Tony picked himself up, brushing himself off, his eyes glittering.

"Do you know anything about The Scarlet Witch?" Steve asked quickly before Tony could go off.

Strange steepled his hands together and turned his attention back to Steve. "Is that what Miss Maximoff is calling herself these days?"

"So no, you don't know anything." Tony cut in, a smirk crossing his face. "It's a prophecy. The Scarlet Witch. I thought that was kinda your thing."

"While I hold a great amount of knowledge of the arcane in my head, it would be dangerously arrogant to claim I know everything. " Strange said, annoyance clear on the sharp planes of his face. "The Sanctum Sanctorum holds vast resources of knowledge for this very reason."

"So you're really more of a librarian." Tony settled himself into the empty armchair next to Steve.

The corner of Strange's mouth lifted slightly and Steve braced himself. "Yes, shall we see the library?"

Strange abruptly stood up from his chair and the entire room shifted again. Steve found himself standing in front of a bookshelf, stumbling slightly as he tried to catch his balance. Tony landed on his ass on the floor. Strange stood at the bookshelf paging quickly through a book. Steve glanced around, noting the thousands of ancient looking books on the shelves surrounding them.

"You know, the prophecy states that the Scarlet Witch is more powerful than the Sorcerer Supreme." Tony said sharply as he got to his feet.

Strange's fingers paused ever so slightly on the pages. "And where exactly did you find this prophecy?"

"Agatha Harkness." Steve said. "She said it was in a book called the Darkhold."

Strange's gaze snapped to Steve. "The Darkhold? She has the Darkhold?"

" Had. " Tony corrected.

"Where is it now?" Strange asked sharply.

"In the custody of SHIELD." Steve said.

Strange's mouth twisted in displeasure. "And the witch?"

"At the Avenger's Compound."

Strange snapped the book shut. "Well I think we should pay her a visit."

He set the book on the bookshelf and the room shifted. Steve landed unsteadily on his feet in the foyer again. Tony must have landed on his back about four stairs up on the grand staircase and he slowly tumbled awkwardly down the stairs to the foyer. Strange ignored them both as he stood in the middle of the room moving his arm in a circle. Immediately an orange light flared like fire, creating a circle of spitting sparks. As the circle widened, Steve gaped at the interior of the Avenger's Compound that appeared in the center. Tony stood up beside Steve, brushing his clothing off and muttering darkly under his breath.

"After you." Strange said, gesturing towards the circle.

It had widened to be large enough for them to step through. Still Steve felt slightly anxious as he approached the portal? Carefully he stepped through, relieved that the orange fire didn't burn him, but he was immediately distracted by the sound of an alarm blaring. He had stepped out into the main floor common area of the Compound.

"Shit." Tony said behind him. "That can't be good."

Strange stepped out and the circle snapped shut. Nat and Sam immediately rounded the corner, guns raised and pointed at Strange.

"Steve?" Nat asked tightly.

"It's ok." Steve said quickly. "This is Dr. Stephen Strange."

"Feel free to shoot him though." Tony muttered, tapping at his earpiece impatiently. "FRIDAY?"

Nat lowered her weapon, her gaze still sharp. "FRIDAY is down. Bucky disabled it."

"What?" Steve gasped. "How? Why?"

"He has Werner." Sam said grimly.

AN: So sorry for the delay! I've been sick plus trying to do all the holiday things. As always, thank you so much for your favorites and reviews!