Seeing Scarlet - Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

~XV~

Mid-duel, Baron Mordo gave a cry as he was suddenly thrown back by a sharp blast of energy, red energy. Stephen turned to see Kat, a little disheveled, stood behind him.

She herself was glowing red. 

"Kat! Are you okay?"

"All right - you?"

"All right. How'd you escape?"

"All defenses went to stop Wanda - I had a window. And now we have one - let's go."

They fled the council chamber just as Mordo was yelling after them: "I think I'm beginning to see why your Mordo didn't like you very much!"

"Did you know his name is Karl?" Stephen asked her as they ran.

"Yeah."

"Huh."

She stopped suddenly.  "Wanda's closing in - get America and Catalina out of here."

"And you?" His tone implied he already suspected her scheme and did not like it.

"You go, I'll catch up."

"Kat - the Scarlet Witch?"

Her jaw clenched.  "They revealed it to you. There's no time to explain, just get the girls out of here. I'll meet you, I promise." She ran off before he could protest any further. 

When she reached the main hall she found it in ruins.  Crumbling rock and bodies, both robot and human, lay scattered around. And, at the centre of it all, stood Wanda.

"Wanda," Kat cautioned. 

But Wanda would not hear anything.  "This could work out for you too, you know."

"How so?"

"Help me get to America and I can send you to another universe, one where you have what you want - one where Stephen loves you." She smiled.  "I can give you what you want - or I can even just make this Stephen love you."

"What I want is for you to leave America alone!" With that Kat blasted the other woman, the other Scarlet Witch, her own successor. Wanda was sent flying up and crashing through the glass ceiling of the building. That would slow her down, at least some. Now Kat ran in search of the others. 

Everyone - Stephen, America, Catalina and Christine - all yelped when a figure with red glowing eyes appeared through the shadows right behind them.

"Sorry, sorry! I didn't mean to scare you!" Kat emerged through the shadows. 

"Kat!" America rushed to hug her.

"Hey - we're going to get you out of here." Then she noticed Christine.  "Christine! Oh good! You can help us."

"She's taking us to the Book of Vishanti," Catalina filled her in.

"Oh! Oh too bad we don't have much time - I would love to take a look at it!"

"Yeah, speaking of, let's keep moving," Stephen urged and they continued on through the dark tunnels.  "Where are these tunnels?"

"Under the river," Christine told them. 

It seemed Kat's plan hadn't gained them as much of a head start as intended, for Wanda was hot on their trail - or at least she had been, the ominous red glow their signal of her close presence. 

"Where is she?" America whispered.

Everyone held their breath.

"I warned you!" She appeared right before them, making them jump, just as Kat had just moments earlier. 

"Other Wanda, if you're in there, hold your breath!" Stephen raised his fist, already aglow with magic, before plunging it into the ground. The tunnel chamber shook and cracked, crumbling, sending water from the river above spraying inside, filling the tunnel. Wanda was crushed by the impact of broken stone and water, but the others didn't stay long to see how that turned out.

"Did you kill her?" cried America. 

"No, just bought us some time!"

Soon they had reached the end of the tunnel. A metal doorway stood blocking their path. 

"The book's through here," Christine announced. "But only Stephen's ever opened it."

With that as his prompt, Stephen waved his hands before himself. The hatch before them glowed and turned to open but stopped partway and remained locked. "Shit," he cursed. "An enchantment that's specific to me, something only I would know..."

"Wait Stephen, Stephen-" Christine produced something from her pocket and held it up for all to see: his watch, the one with the broken face, the gift originally from her like they had seen in the memory simulation earlier. It looked like it would be the perfect fit on the front of the hatch.

He took it. "Thank you."

"Sure."

Sure enough, as soon as he placed the watch on the door handle, it glowed and turned and opened. "Open sesame..."

As soon as the door swung open they were immediately captured by the beauty of what it revealed.  A swirling, hovering dimension stretched out before them, aglow with light. And at its centre, the brightest light of all: the Book of Vishanti itself. 

"Wow," breathed Kat.

"Increíble," agreed Catalina. 

"Wow is right." Stephen jumped first. "Come on, kid," he called up. "You got this."

America nodded. "We got this." She jumped next.

Her sister closely followed, as usual. Then Kat gave a sweep of her arm to Christine. "Go ahead."

"Thanks."

When they were all on the drifting platform, they approached the book.

"This is the gap junction, the space between universes," Christine explained.

"I've heard of it," Kat mused. "But I never expected to see it, let alone for it to be quite so beautiful..."

Stephen strode forward, taking the Book from its place at the centre of the void, like the centre of the world. That's what it felt like, at least.

He flipped it open, skimming through the pages. 

A red glow emerged from behind them. 

"I. Warned. You."

(So many jump scares with Wanda in this scene - but I love it! ;) 

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