Seeing Scarlet - Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

~I~

Kathmandu, Nepal - Earth 

2016

"He is lost."

"As we were too, in the beginning."

"No, Mordo, he literally has no idea where he's going."

They'd only been trailing the man for a block or so - okay, a few blocks, but that was it. Stephen Strange, an injured doctor, who the Ancient One had said would be turning up at their doorstep very soon.  

He disappeared into the dense crowd, and they only caught up with him in a dark alleyway, where the poor man was being mugged. His hands having taken the brunt of his injury, he was unable to fight back. That was when they jumped in, coming to his aid and fending off the attackers. 

His watch, the item that had been the target of the theft,  was in tact, but the face broken, the glass badly shattered, distorting the hands and numbers. Kat scooped it up, cradling it in her palm before holding it out to him. "I'm sorry."

"Thank you." His own shaking hands reached out to take back the prized possession. 

Mordo jumped right in.  "You're looking for Kamar-Taj." Without another word, the Masters began to lead the way.

"Really?" Strange said when they reached the front door of the compound. "Sure we got the right place? That one looks a little more Kamar-Tajey." He nodded to the temple across the street.  His tone was joking. He chuckled but they didn't.

"First impressions can often be deceiving," Kat told him. 

"I once stood in your place," Mordo added. "We both did." He nodded between himself and Kat.  "And I too was disrespectful. So might I offer you some advice?"

"Do I have a choice-"

"Forget everything you think you know."

"All right..."

With that, they opened the door and continued leading the way inside. 

"This is the sanctuary of our teacher, the Ancient One," Mordo explained as they  stepped further into the compound. 

"The Ancient One?" repeated Strange.  "Okay, what's his real name?" He received a pointed look. "Right, forget everything I think I know, sorry."

"He is very doubtful," Mordo mumbled as they continued.

"This should be fun," she replied. 

Upon entering the centre of the sanctuary, they found Master Hamir sitting at a table reading a book. Strange quickly addressed him.  "Thank you, Ancient One, for seeing me."

Kat snorted with laughter. 

"You're very welcome." When she addressed him, Strange was clearly shocked to see the Ancient One. 

"The Ancient One," Mordo confirmed.

"Thank you Master Mordo, Master Ekaterina, Master Hamir." 

Master Hamir left the room, while Mordo and Kat stepped off to the side, but lingered. They wanted to see how this would go down.

It went pretty much exactly how they predicted: Strange was begging and confused, only to turn to anger when he thought he knew what this was all about. Pretty soon he was yelling at the Ancient One, while she remained her usual calm. 

"Oh you think you see through me, do you? Well you don't! But I see through you-"

He was cut off when she grabbed his arm with one hand, pushing him in the chest with the other - and his astral form emerged. 

Kat nodded, casually stirring her tea. "He had that one coming."

"Why are you doing this to me?" Strange was clearly shaken.

"To show you just how much you don't know.  Open your eye-" With that, the Ancient One touched his forehead and sent him spiraling - literally - on a quick cosmic tour. 

"His heart rate is getting dangerously high," Mordo cautioned. 

"He looks all right to me."

Moments, later Strange came crashing back into the compound - literally - clearly shaken. 

"Have you seen that before in a gift shop?"

"Teach me," he begged. 

"No."

With that, Strange was promptly thrown out, back into the street, alone. Later, Mordo and Kat reunited with their teacher.  

"You think I was wrong to cast him out."

"Five hours later he's still on your doorstep. There's a strength to him," Mordo mused. 

"Stubbornness, arrogance, ambition - I've seen it all before."

"He reminds you of Kaecilius?"

"I cannot lead another gifted student to power only to lose him to the darkness."

"You didn't lose me, or Katarina. Kaecilius still has the stolen pages - if he deciphers them, he could bring ruin upon us all. There may be dark days ahead - perhaps Kamar-Taj could use a man like Strange."

The Ancient One considered this. 

"At least let him stay the night," Kat suggested. "He's got nowhere and no one else."

"Please, don't leave me here. I have nowhere else to go..." Even after dark, Strange was still banging on the compound door.  When it opened, he fell right through.  "Thank you..."

Mordo showed him to his new room. 

"Ah, looks like we'll be neighbours." Kat smiled at their new recruit before slipping into her own room.  "See you soon, Doctor Strange."

(And so it begins - again! Yes I am reworking this story. It's more based in the Doctor Strange universe now but don't worry, there will still be lots of Scarlet Witch and Chaos Magic!

And yes, this will follow my OC Kat from my Infinity War and Endgame stories! (Which now means I have a standalone/origin story for all my OCs now featured in those stories, yay!)

Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :))