'Kathmandu, Nepal' appears on the screen. Strange walks around the city asking for directions to Kamar-Taj.
"Nice beard." Tony said.
Strange continues walking around the city. He asks another person for directions, a hooded figure listens to him and starts following him.
Everyone looked at the figure, suspiciously. "He knows where Kamar-Taj is?" Scott asked.
"He does." Strange said.
Strange is in an alleyway, some people walk up to him.
"Oh no."
Strange tells them that he has no money. A man asks for his watch. Strange says it's all he has left. The man asks again. Strange punches the man in the face then cradles his hand.
"Ooh, that had to hurt." Clint said.
The other start beating Strange up. Strange curls into fetal position and they start kicking him.
Everyone hissed in sympathy.
Steve was reminded of his days being beat up in alleyways and parking lots.
The hooded man arrives and knocks all of the men down then grabs Strange's, now broken, watch and hands it to him.
"Damn."
Mordo takes his hood off and asks if Strange is looking for Kamar-Taj. Strange nods.
Mordo takes him there. Strange asks if it's the right place then says that the other building looks a little more Kamar-Tajey.
Everyone snickered at that.
Mordo says he once stood in Strange's place and was also disrespectful. He tells Strange to forget everything he thinks he knows. Strange agrees and Mordo lets him inside.
"Not cryptic at all." Quill said.
"I don't know why you expected anything less." Bruce said.
They walk inside and Mordo says that the room they're in is the sanctuary of the Ancient One, who is their teacher.
"The one who taught you magic?" Loki asked.
"Yes." Strange answered.
Strange asks what his real name is.
"Her real name." Everyone corrected.
Strange remembers what Mordo just told him about forgetting everything he thinks he knows then he apologizes. They walk into another room, two people remove Strange's coat.
"You're so awkward now." Clint laughed.
"Yeah, it's hilarious." Strange said, unamused.
The Ancient One pours him some tea. Strange thanks The Ancient One for seeing him, mistaking the man for the Ancient One.
"He's not the Ancient One." Sam said.
"Yes, I know." Strange said.
The Ancient One thanks Mordo and Hamir as they leave, then greets Strange by calling him Mr. Strange.
Strange corrects her and says it's doctor.
The Ancient One says it isn't anymore.
"I think if you earned the degree you keep the title..." Scott said, confused.
"I don't think that's what she meant Scott." Hope said.
The Ancient One asks him if that's why he's there and says that he's undergone many procedures, saying that there were 7 of them. Strange confirms.
"How did she know that?" Thor asked.
Strange says the tea is good, The Ancient One agrees.
Strange asks if she healed a man named Pangborn who was paralyzed.
The Ancient One says she did in a way.
"What way?" Steve asked.
"Magic, probably." Sam said.
Strange says she helped him walk again. The Ancient One confirms. Strange asks how she corrected a c7-c8 spinal cord injury.
"I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that she didn't." Fury said.
The Ancient One says she didn't correct it and says that he couldn't walk. She says she convinced him he could.
"Like a placebo effect?" Tony asked.
"Kind of, except this actually works unlike placebos." Strange said.
Strange asks if she's suggesting it was psychosomatic.
The Ancient One asks if when he reattaches a severed nerve if it's him who heals it or the body.
Strange says it's the cells.
"So... the body." Shuri said.
The Ancient One says that cells are programmed to put themselves back together is specific ways. Strange agrees.
The Ancient One asks what if she told him that his own body can be convinced to put itself back together in all sorts of ways.
"Personally, I'd say that sounds amazing." Bruce said.
"Right?" Tony, Shuri and Peter agreed.
Strange says she's talking about cellular regeneration and that it's bleeding edge medical tech and asks if that's why she's working there without a governing medical board and how experimental the treatment is.
"Probably can't be worse than some of the things you've tried already." Natasha said.
He says that she's figured out a way to reprogram nerve cells to self-heal.
"Well, not quite." Strange said.
The Ancient one says that she knows how to reorient the spirit to better heal the body. Strange repeats her, questioningly. The Ancient One confirms then drinks some tea.
Strange asks how to do that and where to start.
"Now you're asking the right questions." Coulson said.
The Ancient One shows him a a page of a book and asks if he doesn't like the map.
Strange says it's good but he's seen it before in gift shops.
"And we're back to insulting people." Sam said.
She shows him another one. Strange says it's acupuncture and says it's great. The Ancient One shows him another. Strange says it's an MRI scan and says he doesn't believe it.
The Ancient One says that each of the maps were drawn by someone who could see part but not the whole.
"Rarely does anyone ever see the whole picture." Maria said.
Strange tells her he spent his last dollar getting there and it was a one way ticket and says that she's talking about healing through belief.
"I mean, you've seen the results firsthand with Jonathan Pangborn, so why don't you believe it's true?" Gamora asked.
The Ancient One says that Strange is a man looking at the world through a keyhole and he's spent his whole life trying to widen it to see and know more but now that he's hearing that it can be widened he's rejecting the possibility.
"Because I didn't understand it." Strange said quietly.
He says he rejects it because he doesn't believe in fairytales about chakra, energy or the power of belief.
"Well... all fairytales have to come from somewhere don't they, just like legends and myths. There's a bit of truth to all of it." Valkyrie said.
He says that there is no such thing as spirit and says that they are made of nothing more than matter and they are tiny monetary specks within an indifferent universe.
"That's quite a cynical outlook on life you have." T'Challa said.
The Ancient One says Strange thinks too little of himself.
"Oh?"
Strange asks her if she thinks she sees through him then says she doesn't.
"It kind of seems like she does." Mantis said.
Strange says he sees through her. The Ancient One hits him and knocks his astral form out of his body then pulls it back in after a moment.
"Whoa!"
"What did she just to?" Rhodey asked.
"She pushed my astral form out of my physical body." Strange said.
Strange asks what she just did to him.
The Ancient One says she pushed his astral form out of his physical form.
Strange asks what was in the tea then asks if it was Psilocybin or LSD.
The Ancient One says it was just tea with honey.
"Would she have drank it herself if it was drugged?" Pepper asked.
Strange asks what just happened.
The Ancient One says he entered the astral dimension for a moment and says it's a place where the soul exists separate from the body.
"Interesting."
Strange asks why she's doing this to him.
She says she's showing him how much he doesn't know.
"The world gets very interesting and...weird when your keyhole is widened." Strange said.
She tells him to open his eye then presses his temple. Strange falls through the wall and into outer space and starts screaming.
"Okay, what the hell?" Tony asked.
Strange says that this isn't real, then looks at a butterfly and tries to touch it before he gets sucked backward. He falls through a colorful tunnel.
Mordo says Strange's heart rate is dangerously high.
"I wonder why that is." Strange said sarcastically.
Strange falls back and lands on a chair. The Ancient One says he looks alright to her.
"That's kind of creepy, not gonna lie." Ned said.
Strange gets thrown back into a colorful void. The Ancient One asks if he thinks he knows how the world works and of he thinks that the material universe is all there is.
"This is freaky." Shuri said.
Strange gets sucked into a glowing yellow light. The Ancient One asks if he thinks he knows what's real and what mysteries lie beyond his senses.
"Not after that experience I didn't." Strange said.
Strange falls into something else. The Ancient One says that at the root of existence mind and matter meet and thoughts shape reality. A bunch of hands start grabbing at strange.
"Oh, that's creepy, no no. I don't like that." Clint said.
"Yeah, wasn't the most pleasant experience for me either." Strange said.
Strange's fingers start growing smaller hands. More hands start grabbing Strange and they turn into his face.
"Oh that's even worse." Clint said.
Strange falls through the eye. The Ancient One says that their universe is one of an infinite number.
"A multiverse?" Peter asked, interest peaked.
Strange falls into a blue void. The Ancient One says that some are benevolent and life giving and others are filled with malice and hunger.
Strange falls into a darker void. The Ancient One says that dark places are where powers older than time lie ravenous.
"How can something be older than time?" Quill asked.
Strange gets sucked into a purple portal and sees Dormammu.
"What the hell is that?" Tony asked.
"You'll find out later." Strange said.
Strange falls through multiple screaming versions of himself.
"Whoa!"
Strange is now floating in a colorful void. The Ancient One asks who he is in the vast multiverse. Strange gets flung back into his chair and falls on the ground.
"Well that was... something." Rocket said.
The Ancient One asks if he's ever seen that in a gift shop.
Everyone laughed. "I can't say that I have." Strange said.
Strange gets up to his knees, holds out his shaking hands and asks the Ancient One to teach him.
The Ancient One says no.
"What?"
Strange gets thrown out of Kamar-Taj, he walks back up to the door and begs them to open it.
"You're gonna stay out there aren't you?" Bucky asked.
The Ancient One finishes a meeting. Mordo walks into the room. The Ancient One asks if Mordo thinks she was wrong to cast Strange out.
Mordo says that Strange is still on the doorstep after 5 hours.
"Five hours!?" Everyone asked.
"Well I'm very persistent." Strange said.
"That you are." Fury agreed.
Mordo says there is a strength to Strange.
The Ancient One says that Strange is stubborn, arrogant and ambitious and she's seen all of it before.
Mordo asks if Strange reminds her of Kaecilius.
"The one that stole the pages?" Wanda asked. Strange nodded.
The Ancient One says she can't lead another gifted student to power only to lose them to the darkness.
"So she just didn't want to take her chances." Hope said.
Mordo says she didn't lose him and tells her that he wanted power to defeat his enemies and she gave him power to defeat his demons and live within the natural law.
The Ancient One says that they never lose their demons and they only learn to live above them.
"That's a nice way of looking at it." Bruce said.
Mordo says that Kaecilius has stolen the pages and if he deciphers them he could bring ruin upon all of them. Mordo says there may be dark days ahead and they could use someone like Strange.
"Based off of what we've seen so far, I say he has a good point." Peggy said.
Strange is still on the doorstep, he says he has no where else to go. Someone opens the door, Strange falls through it and thanks them.
Everyone giggled at that.
Mordo walks into a room with Strange and tells him to bathe and meditate if he can and tells him that the Ancient One will send for him.
Mordo hands him a paper with the word 'shamballa' on it. Strange asks if it's his mantra.
"Why would it be a mantra?" Thor asked.
"I don't know." Strange said. "It was my best guess."
Mordo says it's the Wi-Fi password and says they aren't savages.
"Honestly, I wasn't expecting a place like that to have Wi-Fi, it seems like a place where they'd want you to disconnect." Maria said. She received noises of agreement.
Strange pulls out his watch and turns it over. 'Time will tell how much I love you~ Christine' is engraved on the back.
Everyone cooed at that. "So it was a gift, that's why you cared so much when those men in the alley tried to take it." Natasha said.
"That's sweet." Pepper said.
The Ancient One is with Strange. She says the language of the mystic arts is as old as civilization and the sorcerers of antiquity called the language 'spells' but he can call it a program if the word offends his modern sensibilities.
Everyone laughed.
She says it's the source code that shapes reality.
"Wow."
She makes a shape in the air with magic.
"Cool." Scott said.
She says they harness energy from other dimensions of the multiverse to cast spells, conjure shields and weapons and make magic. She separates the pieces of the image then it dissipates.
"That's amazing." Howard said.
Strange says that even if his fingers could do that his hands would be waving in the air and asks how he gets from where he is to where she is.
"How do you do anything? By learning how." Vision said.
The Ancient One asks how he got to reattach severed nerves and put a human spine back together bone by bone. Strange says it was years of study and practice.
"Well, better get to studying and practicing." Sam said.
Strange walks into the library and sets his books down. Wong greets him by calling him Mr. Strange.
"It's doctor." Strange sighed.
Strange tells Wong to call him Stephen and asks for Wong's name. Wong gives his name. Strange asks if it's just Wong and says it's like Adele or Aristotle, Drake, Bono, and Eminem.
"Is he really that confused or is he just messing with you?" Rhodey asked. "Or does he just not know how to take a joke?"
"I don't even know." Strange said.
Wong takes the books and names them off and asks if Strange finished them all. Strange confirms.
Wong tells Strange to come with him and leads him to another section of the library and says that it's for masters only but others can use it at his discretion.
"That's nice of him." Hope said.
Wong tells him he should start with 'Maxim's Primer' and asks how his sanskrit is.
Strange says he's fluent in google translate.
"Who isn't?" Peter asked.
Wong hands him 2 books. Strange asks about the books that are locked up.
Wong says that they're the Ancient One's private collection.
Strange asks if they're forbidden.
Wong says that no knowledge at Kamar-Taj is forbidden only certain practices.
"Like cutting of a poor librarians head and stealing book pages for a ritual?" MJ said.
Wong says that the books are too advanced for anyone other than the sorcerer supreme. Strange grabs one of the books, opens it and notices the missing pages.
Wong tells him that it's the book of Cagliostro and one of the rituals was stolen by a former master.
"Kaecilius." Everyone said.
Wong says it was Kaecilius and calls him a zealot and says Kaecilius stole the ritual after he strung up the old librarian and relieved him of his head.
Everyone was holding back their laughs. Wong didn't have to say it like that.
Wong says he is now the guardian of the books and if a volume of the collection is stolen again he'd know it and Strange would be dead before he left the compound. He takes the book from Strange.
"Why does he think you would steal them?" Steve asked.
"He's just generally skeptical of people." Strange said.
Strange asks what if it's only overdue and if there are late fees or perhaps maiming he should know about.
Wong holds out the books. Strange says people used to think he was funny.
Wong asked if they worked for him.
Everyone laughed. "Oh sure laugh at his joke but not mine. I see how it is." Strange said.
Strange picks up his books and tells Wong that it's been lovely talking to him and thanks him for the books and the horrifying story and the threat upon his life. He leaves and Wong locks the book up again.
Everyone laughed at what Strange said. Strange looked smug.
Kaecilius takes out the stolen pages and places one on the floor.
Everyone tensed, waiting to see what Kaecilius would do.
4 zealots gather around him. Kaecilius uses magic to draw a symbol in the air and says that they will now receive the power to destroy the one who betrayed them and betrayed the world. They start chanting a spell in an ancient language.
"Is this the ritual?" Mantis asked. Strange nodded.
The skin around their eyes darkens and the floor pattern moves. Dormammu is seen.
"That thing again." Howard said. "What is it?"
"It's name is Dormammu." Strange said.
Mordo is training apprentices. All of them use magic to make a circle in the air, except Strange can't.
"At least you're not giving up." Steve said.
The apprentices pick up rings. Mordo says that mastery of the sling ring is essential to the mystic arts. He says that they allow them to travel through the multiverse and all they need to do is focus. The apprentices start making portals, Strange can't.
"Why isn't it working for you?" Thor asked.
"I wasn't doing it right." Was the only answer Strange gave.
Mordo tells them to visualize and look beyond the world in front of them and imagine every detail. He says that the clear the picture the quicker and easier the gateway will come.
"So you just have to visualize exactly where you're going and you can make a portal that can take you there?" Shuri asked.
The Ancient One approaches. Mordo tells the apprentices to stop.
The Ancient One says she'd like a moment with Strange. Mordo and the others leave.
Strange says it's his hands.
The Ancient One says it isn't about his hands.
"It has to do with your mind doesn't it?" Scott asked.
"Something like that." Strange answered.
Strange asks how it's not about his hands. Hamir walks over and pulls up his sleeve to reveal that he's missing a hand. He uses magic to create a shape in the air then walks away.
"Wow."
The Ancient One says that he can't beat a river into submission and says he needs to surrender to it's current and use it's power as his own.
Strange asks if he controls it by surrendering control and says that doesn't make sense.
"I think it makes perfect sense." Vision said. He was able to relate to the statement because of his own struggles with the Mind Stone embedded into his forehead.
The Ancient One says not everything does and not everything has to.
"Wish my math teachers were like that in school." Clint said.
The Ancient One tells Strange that his intellect has taken him far in life but it can't take him further and tells him to surrender and silence his ego then his power will rise.
"She's right."
She tells Strange to come with her. They walk through a portal and emerge on Mt. Everest.
"Is that-?" Coulson started to ask.
"Mt. Everest? Yes." Strange said.
Strange goes to ask a question. The Ancient one says that they are on Everest and says it's beautiful.
Strange agrees and says it's freezing.
"It is very beautiful." Okoye said.
The Ancient One says that a person can last for 30 minutes at that temperature before suffering permanent loss of function.
"I don't like where this is going." Steve said.
The Ancient One says Strange would likely go into shock within the first 2 minutes.
"What is she doing?" Bruce asked.
The Ancient One walks through the portal and tells Strange to surrender. The portal closes.
"She left you on Mt. Everest!?" Everyone asked.
Mordo walks up to the Ancient One, who is waiting for Strange. He asks how their new recruit is.
The Ancient One says they will see any second.
Mordo says not again.
"She's done this before!?" Everyone asked.
"Apparently." Strange said.
Mordo suggests that he should get Strange. The Ancient One stops him.
Strange is on Everest trying to make a portal. He closes his eyes for a moment and tries again.
The Ancient One fiddles with her fan. A portal appears and Strange falls out of it.