...Shere Khan roared as he fell into the 'red flower'. The flames roared back even louder as they consumed the 'extra fuel'. Steven Strange returned from his out-of-body past experience with a gap.
"You're a real bleep, Baghera, you know that? Even as a woman," he told the Ancient One. "Do you have to do that so early on?"
"I always had gender issues," the Ancient One shrugged, "besides you deserved it, as you deserve repentance, if you care for it. If you are to become the man that you can be, you must recognize the blackguard that you had been as well."
Steven thought about it long and hard. "This is some sort of a package deal, isn't it?" he finally reached a conclusion. "Very well - I'll take it, for now. Given what we had in the past - and I'm not talking just about the entire 'man-cub' debacle - I can't make any long-term promises. I won't!"
"I'll take that," the Ancient One spoke serenely. "I haven't forgotten just whom I'm dealing with here either."
Steven Strange ignored it. "So where's Baloo?" he finally spoke. "It wasn't him skulking in the shadows, was it?"
"No, I haven't seen him for a while," the Ancient One admitted. "I do know where Kaa is, though."
"Aha," Strange shuddered: from what he remembered of the great constrictor, even his past incarnation tended to give her a wide berth. "Where is s/he now?"
The Ancient One told him.
...And across the world, as the Black Widow was talking to Captain America, she shivered: "I sense a disturbance in the Force: more of our jungle friends have made it."
"Very good," Earth's first Avenger said brightly. "I could use being the comic relief one more."
The End?