The Perfect Illusion

A Good Bad Idea

Narrator's POV

"AAAAAAH!" Stephen yelped as he got pulled deeper and deeper into darkness. "Hah! Ah!" He tried to grasp anything that may be around, but it was just darkness and darkness for miles.

Until.

A light.

There was a light getting closer and closer.

"What the?" Stephen asked, squinting at the light.

He could hear car horns going off, people walking by, and sirens sounding.

Stephen's eyes widen as he saw something gray. "Oh shit!" He gasped.

It was a sidewalk.

"AAAAAH!" He yelped as he fell through. "Uh!" He grunted once he hit the sidewalk, landing face first. "Oh, fuck." He groaned as he slowly picked himself up. He hissed in pain. "Ah!" He groaned.

"Are you alright?" A female voice came to Stephen's ears.

"Yes. I'm all..." He stood up, looking up all around him.

He was in New York.

"...right..." He finished.

There were lit signs adverting all sorts of stuff, as well music and sounds. There were smells and plenty of things to see.

"Excuse me, what part of New York is this?" Stephen asked the woman, standing in front of him.

"Manhattan." She said.

Stephen's face lit up. "Great. Thank you." He said, feeling around his waist. "Hm?" He looked down to see his sling ring had gone missing. He looked around for it.

It wasn't anywhere.

"Looks like I'm gonna have to walk there." He said, beginning to his way toward Greenwich Village.

"Stephen."

He heard his voice come from around somewhere. He looked around, soon seeing Kaecilius leaning against the wall of a building.

"Kaecilius." He bowed.

"So she banned you." Kaecilius said.

"Yes, but don't worry. The New York Sanctum is only a few blocks away, and I-"

"You cannot go there." Kaecilius said.

"How come?" Stephen asked.

"Everyone at Kamar-Taj knows what happened. They're putting the Sanctums under heavy protection. Master Daniel is a very tough opponent and will give his life to protect that Sanctum."

"I am stronger than Master Daniel." Stephen said. "I could-"

"Yes, but we won't let you." Kaecilius said. "It's too much of a risk. The Zealots and I are going to London. There, we will destroy the Sanctum. We will call you when it's ready."

"But how am I going to get to London without my sling ring?" Stephen asked.

Kaecilius opened a portal. "Like I said, we will call when it's ready." He was gone.

Stephen sighed, looking around.

Great, if he went anywhere near the New York Sanctum, he'd be discovered. There was nowhere in New York he could go now.

"We're just in the iconic owner and CEO of Stark Industries, Tony Stark, has claimed to be the so called "Ironman". He held a conference meeting earlier this afternoon speaking about..."

Stephen looked up when he heard the news from a news cast playing on one of the many screens around him.

A picture of a man in a suit, standing in front of a podium appeared on the screen.