monster in the glass
“Got the babysitting job, Solomon?” Tony asked the tiny SHIELD agent, who looked barely old enough to be out of college.
“Yeah, apparently running my mouth off to Dario Agger is being insubordinate,” the agent slumped forward, running her hands through her short brown hair. “Smug fucker.”
“No arguments here,” Tony said, ruefully. “I think there's something wrong with him, but he ducks Thor and I haven't convinced the good Doctor to come to any of those sort of parties.”
“Because I'm not a toy,” Stephen looked through what he assumed was a one-way mirror. Polo shirt, khakis, and no shoes- probably to keep him from running away. They hadn't really let him clean up, either, he noticed. “How did you find him?”
“It's the weirdest thing,” Solomon looked up, propping her head on her hand. “We were checking out a rumor of energy spikes, and there was... something there? One of the other agents said something about a Bigfoot, but...”
“Most likely not,” Stephen guessed, shooting a look at Grace.
“Glastig, perhaps? Or just a straight up satyr, horny little bastards,” she answered, focusing on the guy. “Most likely not one of those dreadful monsters I know better than to name, either. Or a wolf of some kind.”
“Why not?” Solomon asked.
“None of your team died,” Maddy was giving her a wicked smile. Despite Maddy wearing a purple flannel shirt and loose jeans, she still seemed faintly terrifying, judging by Solomon rolling her office chair away. In a sign of bravery, the woman kept observing Maddy, not looking away. “They make Logan look sweet and cuddly.”
“Eh, compared to his reputation, he doesn't suck,” Tony said, waving a hand. “Just. The bit where he smells like a dive bar.”
Maddy looked ready to laugh. “It might have been a demon. Some of them do like to hide.”
“Did he say anything about what he was doing there?” Stephen asked. The man seemed... very calm. Had they drugged him?
“Claimed he was doing some sort of cleansing thing,” Solomon met his eyes, expression showing exactly how little she believed it. “Spiritual spring cleaning, then something went wrong and he woke up twenty-five years in the future.”
“Well, that's bullshit,” Maddy tilted her head.
“If he'd claimed to be using some sort of foretelling or scrying, I might believe it,” Grace mused. “There's an old tradition. But he's human, and most times you'd want water or fire, open air. I always think it's why some people do those impossible climbs and treks. Spiritualism in the wild.”
Solomon looked interested, and ready to ask more, but Yardley stood up.
“Have you come to make sure I'm who I say I am?” he asked, looking directly at Stephen. “I need three Powers to determine what I am?”
Well, hopefully Agent Solomon would think he meant Tony.
“I didn't think he had any form of sight,” Grace murmured.
He's not a telepath, either, Maddy confirmed silently.
Stephen just went for the door, ignoring his hand sending pins and needles as he flexed it. “Might as well get this over with.”
“Tony, can you stay with Roz?” Maddy asked, shooting the agent a disapproving look. “I don't see anything keeping him from using magic.”
“I wasn't given anything,” Roz said, holding her hands up. “And he hasn't done anything, not really. He was kind of a robot until he just got up.”
“Reacting to certain stimuli,” Stephen observed, as he opened the door. “Interesting.”
Yardley was standing loosely next to his chair, washed out by the florescent lights. “The Sorcerer Supreme, come to visit?”
He flicked an eye at Maddy. “Firebird and queen, bending heavens and raising a hell.”
Maddy merely smiled, crossing her arms and leaning against the door.
“And you...” He focused on Grace. “Is that meant to be a costume? Or, what, are you sneaking about, little Huntress?”
Grace merely shook her head. “Mr. Yardley, we have an idea about what might have freed you, but we need to know what you think happened.”
“I was...” he trailed off. “What do you think freed me?”
“I'm not the one setting traps for people to wander into,” Stephen said, taking a step forward. Yardley didn't step back, but he nearly did.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Do you think,” Maddy asked, mostly towards the one-way window, “that when he got on TV and spoke to people missing their friends or kids or whatever, he was getting off on their pain, or was he using it for magic?”
“Could be both,” Grace offered. “Cave systems would be a good place to store the sort of battery you would need for that, and privacy for... remembering.”
Yardley didn't seem angry at the insult- more very vague. Either he was drugged, whatever had happened had left him numb, or...
Stephen opened the Eye, hoping to more information. He heard more than anything Yardley's yelp, the lunge, and Grace tackling him.
He looked at the pile on the floor where Yardley ended up, seeing Grace with her current illusion- her costume, as Yardley had so aptly named it- lying across him and slowly getting up.
And Yardley...
There was something like wires where his veins had been, attached to what looked like leaches mouths left on his wrists, his palms, his throat...
Yardley froze, knowing he was caught.
Stephen smiled. “Costume, you say? What kind of costume are you wearing? The face of a dead man, or a damned man wearing the face of a normal man?”
Yardley hissed, trying to stand, but instead flopping on the tan and off-white checkerboard tiles. No blood in any cracks, the harsh lighting would have revealed it. “I found what I sought, Strange!”
“That would be why I'm holding you down with my mind,” Maddy's sarcasm was thick enough to cut with a knife.
Did I sound like that when I... Maddy asked.
No, Stephen answered. You were angry, and lost, but you chose to walk away before it was too late, you asked me for help.
“I had power at my fingertips, Strange, and something got in my path,” Yardley continued. “I have you to thank for that, I suppose?”
“Most likely,” Stephen shrugged. “Though I've noticed even when I'm not the one getting in the way, I still get blamed.”
“I'm pretty sure you did take Carol's pizza,” Maddy shook her head at his expression.
“I meant... honestly. Yardley, you are perilously close to ranting like a costumed supervillian. Please tell me you can eat more than the deaths of your victims?” he asked. If Yardley had been gaining power from consuming the deaths of that swim team... given the number of victims, he wasn't certain he'd be able to undo what had been done.
Yardley was silent. “Tell SHIELD I can still find things, and I am content to remain with them.”
That was the answer he'd been dreading. Most likely a yes to consuming deaths only, and he was not going to be able to bring him somewhere safe and perform a forcible expulsion and reversion to humanity.
Wonderful.
“What mask are you wearing, Stephen Strange? What costume?” Yardley asked, as Maddy straightened up and got the door open.
Grace was frowning, and looking at Yardley.
“Do you think, if I find something very useful, they might give me the ladies who got away?” Yardley asked, and if it wasn't for his eyes Stephen might have thought he was speaking to himself.
“You can't judge me for seeking power, Strange, not in your position,” Yardley said as they left the room.
“Right, remember, thermite to be safe,” Tony told Solomon quietly. “If they try to work with the crazy wizard guy, you'd have thought they'd have learned, but...”
“Bureaucracy doesn't learn well,” Solomon finished. “I don't think Hill will go for it, he sounds a bit like a serial killer and they aren't very good at following orders or self-control.”
“Mmm, fourteen victims at least,” Stephen agreed. “The curse was broken at the same time you found Yardley, and I suspect he gained power and sustenance from their deaths.”
“He's afraid of something, I think,” Grace added. “Tenner says he tries to set up traps on agents within a week of relative freedom.”
“Sucker's bet,” Tony looked at a screen. “Thanks for giving us the background info for when this inevitably goes wrong and the bodies start stacking up, short stuff.”
Solomon let out an angry-cat noise, but didn't take her eyes off of Yardley, who had frozen in the half-up position he'd been in.
“Trap,” Maddy deadpanned.
“Thermite, right,” Solomon whispered to herself.