Like Teacher, Like Student /// A Doctor Strange Fanfiction

Chapter 9

A/N: I've gone back and edited a few things! I took out the part about Peter Parker for now, since I saw Spider-Man: Homecoming, and I have a much better idea for introducing him and Casey. Just a heads up!

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Casey held her arms out to the side as she stumbled into a stone courtyard with a grey dawn sky stretched overhead. She couldn't really be in Kathmandu...could she? But technically the sling rings could be used to open portals basically anywhere on the planet. Still, Kathmandu? That was like flicking your wrist and saving a month's salary on air travel. While she had gone through sling ring portals a couple times before with Stephen, this was certainly the farthest she had ever been away from New York.

She stayed frozen, staring at her new surroundings as Stephen stepped through the sling ring portal behind her. His expression was definitely smug, like he was enjoying her shock. Seriously, he should have been used to it seeing how most of this magic stuff blew her mind. She was just sarcastic when dealing with all of it because otherwise all of their conversations would consist of her going 'holy crap' while he attempted to explain practical impossibilities.

"Welcome to Kamar-Taj," Stephen said, gesturing to the courtyard.

"And we're here for breakfast?" she asked, tamping down her wonder. "Are we going to England for tea time?"

"If you mind your manners and behave, we'll see," Stephen said. He headed forward and Casey trailed after him, ogling at everything now that he couldn't see her. This was crazy. She had never been out of the country before and now she was in Kathmandu, which was incredibly random.

"What is this place?" she asked as they headed inside. Stephen obviously knew it well enough, but she had never heard him mention it before.

"It's sort of a training site for masters of the mystic arts," he said, "It's where I learned to do what I do."

"How come you never mentioned that before?"

"Because you seemed so certain that I went to Hogwarts, I didn't want to ruin your fantasy," he said, glancing over his shoulder.

It was so tempting to stick her tongue out at him, but Casey managed to not be so childish. She followed him, but she kept finding new things to look at. There were art and sculptures, and the architecture here was intriguing. The slight history buff in her roused and grew hungry for knowledge, but she didn't feel like asking Stephen anything. He would probably start explaining things in a condescending tone or something.

There were a few other people walking in the direction that they were heading and a couple of them greeted Stephen. Their outfits were similar to his, except mostly in calmer colors than his bold dark blue and flashy red. Quite a few of them were wearing shades of grey.

"I don't have to wear the outfit, do I?" she whispered, gesturing toward a nearby woman's clothes. "I mean, they look good on her, but I don't think I can rock medieval chic."

"You might change your mind," Stephen said.

Casey snorted. "Please don't count on it."

They moved into a building and headed down a hallway, toward the sounds of people talking and laughing. Casey slid behind Stephen, letting him block her. Was she even supposed to be here? She wasn't really a sorcerer yet. Right? Maybe she was, though. Still, she felt out of place here. A big room opened in front of them and the talking became louder. She guessed they had made it to what served as a cafeteria here.

"Strange!" someone called out, "You have a stable portal, why did you use a sling ring to get here?"

"Because I didn't think you would want someone new simply wandering into your library without giving them all the requisite death threats first."

"I don't see anyone I don't know."

Strange looked at where she had been by his side and then turned back toward her, one eyebrow raised. "Are you hiding?"

"No, this is a good position for following," she said defensively.

Stephen smirked and stepped away, which gave her a good view of a broad-shouldered man wearing a dark red tunic.

"Wong, this is Casey Kinmont, my...apprentice?" Stephen said, making a face at her.

"Let's go with that," she said, shrugging, "It's better than young ward or something. We're not in a weird old English novel."

"Right."

"You took an apprentice?" the man asked incredulously, "You haven't been out of here for more than a few months, and you decided you can teach someone else?"

"It was a special circumstance. Casey, meet Wong. He's a grumpy librarian."

That was one fierce looking librarian. He looked like he could benchpress her and then toss her across the length of her local public library branch.

Wong narrowed his eyes at her. "Your last name is Kinmont?"

"Yeah," she said, "Why?"

"And how much have you told her?" Wong asked, turning back toward Stephen.

"Not that much," Casey said, breaking into the conversation. She had been out of it since her grandpa's death, and Stephen hadn't really gotten into how he knew about her parents or anything about their past with magic. Maybe it was her fault for not asking more questions. Her mind had just been...elsewhere. "What do you know?"

"Let's eat breakfast first," Stephen said, moving toward one of the low tables, "Then you can interrogate Wong."

"But—"

"You've been messing around on the astral plane, and you could use some food," Stephen said.

"Who said you could eat here?" Wong said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"If we can't eat, can we talk?" Casey asked, but he didn't answer her.

"You're not going to keep her from breakfast, are you?" Stephen asked.

"I didn't say anything about her not being allowed to eat," Wong said, "She's welcome at the table." He nodded toward the doorway that they had come through. "But since you're already here, Strange, we need to speak about something that's been troubling me."

"If it's the lack of new songs for your Beyonce playlist, can't it wait until later?"

"It's about Jonathan Pangborn," Wong said, his expression dark, "And I think you'll want to discuss it."

Stephen looked at Wong closely and then nodded. "Casey, go ahead and eat. I'll find you later."

"Oh, I think not," she said, her irritation rising, "I'm going, too." If this guy knew about her parents and was actually willing to talk about them now, she wanted to hear what he had to say.

"You need to eat, you can't use magic if you don't take care of yourself," Stephen said.

"I will return," Wong said, meeting her eyes. "And we can talk about your parents. But first I must talk to Strange alone."

Casey sighed. She didn't want to whine or throw a fit, but it didn't seem fair that she couldn't go along. Still, she didn't think they really wanted her to tag along.

"Sit down, kid," said one of the other sorcerer trainees who was sitting at a nearby table. "And I'll tell you some embarrassing stories about Strange when he was an apprentice here."

The woman next to him laughed, a gentle, soft sound. "Like that time Mordo wiped the floor with him?"

The indignant look on Stephen's face as Wong led him away was satisfying enough that she sat down at the table, ready for some blackmail and maybe some breakfast.