gold rush
The day Doctor Stephen Strange met Sorceress Genevieve Archer was a day he would never forget. It was a cold day in New York, snow falling down on the roof of the Sanctum Santorum. She wore a coat, a brown one, the inside of it covered in fur. Her hair, which was dyed an unnatural shade of red, sat on her shoulders gracefully. Her skin, the shade of a sweet bar of toffee, told Stephen so many things yet nothing at the same time.
He felt the breath leave his body. She was by far the most beautiful woman he’s laid his eyes on. Everything from her eyes, a golden, honey brown, to the way her clothes sat on her shoulders. His skin began to crawl, but in a way that made it feel as if melted gold was running over the pale flesh. Stephen ran a hand over his skin, not liking the way it felt. He never enjoyed a gold rush. Who really did. But god, did she look like she was worthy of this feeling.
She pulled her hand out of her pocket and held it out for a handshake. Stephen looked at it, taken aback, then took it. “Sorcerer Supreme Doctor Stephen Strange.” As a reaction, Genevieve pressed her lips together. “Sorceress Supreme Genevieve Archer.” The way they shook hands was pretty vicious. Even though they just met, to Wong it seemed like the to Sorcerer’s have had a lifelong vendetta against each other.
Stephen watched her hand find its way back into her pocket. “I’ve heard quite a bit about you, Stephen.” Stephen. This woman sure had a lot of balls. She took off her coat and hung it on the coat rack by the door.
“And no,” she turned over to look him straight in the eye, where he noticed that she was one and a half heads shorter than him. That didn’t stop him from feeling both intimidated…and aroused by said intimidation.
“I’m not going to call you Doctor, or sir. We’re both Sorcerer Supreme.” With a snarky smirk, Genevieve walked past him and up the stairs. Her heels clicked against the floor while her cloak, which was a dark green, flowed behind her beautifully.
Him and Wong looked at each other, a sly smile on Wong’s face. Stephen, however, proceeded to follow her, stopping when they were on the third floor. Her back was turned to him, her head cocked up so she looked up at the window. The Seal of Vishanti.
Her quiet standing gave him a moment to realize how he felt upon their first meeting. He felt like it was love at first sight. Maybe not for her, but definitely for himself. There was just something about her, he thought, that felt as magical as using his powers for the first time.
“It’s been years since I’ve seen this place.” Her voice had this dream-like quality to it. As if she was the voice inside his head. “You’ve been here before?” She didn’t even bother looking over at him, instead just kept her arms crossed.
“Of course I have. Long before you.” Stephen didn’t rip his eyes away from her…he couldn’t. So, he examined her. The wisps of her red hair stood out amongst the green of her suit. Her hands, similar to Stephen’s, were wrapped in black leather gloves that went all the way up to the middle of her forearm. The bodice of her outfit was in the same deep green as her cloak, but it had gold accents lining the fabric. Strips of gold lined fabric came down between her legs, the end forming a small triangle. Underneath her interesting dress, she wore a pair of black leather leggings, with golden boots that came up to the middle of her shin.
Genevieve turned around and looked at the rest of the Sanctum. “I like what you’ve done with the place.” She began walking around the floor with her hands behind her back. “It looked so much more different when I stayed here.”
Stephen leaned against the wall and watched her wander around the floor with his arms crossed over his chest. Her fingers would spark golden whenever she touched something and her brown eyes seemed to light up the moment she saw the Book of Agamotto in it’s special case.
“It’s still here…” Using her powers, she turned the solid glass into a water like consistency, where she just reached through and grabbed the book. As she paged through it, Stephen watched with his analytical eyes.
“Huh,” The word flew out of her mouth as she walked to him. “Didn’t know your name was in this.” She pointed to a spot in the book.
Doctor Stephen Vincent Strange, Sorcerer Supreme and Keeper of the Eye of Agamotto.
Genevieve Gwendolyn Archer, Sorceress Supreme and Keeper of the Heart of Agamotto
“Well I am the Sorcerer Supreme, so of course it’s gonna be in there,” Stephen sassed back, which earned a death glare from Genevieve’s eyes. The look sent shivers through his body. They fell back to the book while he felt like the room was getting hotter. “What are you here for, anyways?” Stephen asked just as she closed the book and put it back.
“There have been multiple tears in the multiverse and we need someone to stop them. I tried on my own before but my seals don’t seem to hold…” Genevieve spoke absentmindedly as she wandered around the floor again. “So now you’re dragging me into this?” His reply was sarcastic. The things that came out of Stephen Strange’s mouth never reflected reality.
“Yes, because I assume that you don’t want the fabric of your own reality to fall apart. Or do you?” He remained silent. “I thought so.” Genevieve walked over to him, looking him in the eye.
“So I’m staying with you for the time being. I hope you don’t mind.” She didn’t even give him the chance to object. “It’s lunch time and I’m hungry so whatever I find in the kitchen is mine.” After flashing him a smile, she left down to the kitchen, leaving Stephen, stunned.
Tears in the multiverse. What that entailed, Stephen didn’t know. And there was a part of him that just didn’t want to know.
When he found Genevieve, she was in the kitchen with Stephen’s box of takeout and chopsticks in her hands. Instead of brushing it off, Stephen used his powers to grab the box out of her hands.
She pressed her eyebrows together in anger. “If you’re going to be staying here, then you can’t eat my food.” He thought he had won the battle, but she just snatched the box out of his hands with her powers again. Before he could retaliate, Genevieve quickly casted a spell to make sure he couldn’t do that again by tying his hands behind his back with a magical golden rope.
“Whatever you try, Stephen, I’ll always be one step ahead of you.”
After flashing the most snarky smile known to man, Genevieve began eating. With his lips pressed together and annoyance flowing through his veins, Stephen stared at Genevieve. For some reason, he couldn’t stop looking into her honey colored eyes.
“What kind of tears have you experienced?” He sparked up a conversation, deciding not to complain about the situation he was currently in. “Literal rips in the universe have caused people…just wandering into places. Like the other day I had to tackle sending a corrupt version of Captain America back to his reality. I’m worried that corrupt versions of people will make their way into our reality…and we won’t be able to stop it.”
He pressed his lips together. This was more than he thought it would be. Stephen quickly realized that this was bigger. An Avengers level threat. “I wish I could’ve called the Avengers.” Genevieve said out of nowhere, as if she was reading his thoughts.
The Avengers disbanded. After Tony and Natasha died, everyone felt as if they couldn’t go on as a team. Steve begged them to stay, but gave up when Banner walked out of the door. Stephen watched it all fall apart, knowing that Tony and Natasha would’ve done everything they could to keep them together. The team didn’t matter to everyone as much as it mattered to them.
“And heaven knows where Wanda Maximoff is. You were my last resort, Stephen. I really need your help.” Genevieve sounded like she was begging. Judging by the look in her eyes, she was actually begging for his help. It felt nice to be needed by someone else that wasn’t Christine.
Wong proceeded to walk into the room, his suitcases in hand. “It’s nice to see you again, Genevieve. I’ll be going…and you know the rules, Stephen.” After a nod from Stephen, Wong disappeared through his own portal.
“Take a seat. You don’t have to stand like an idiot.” Genevieve mentioned. He did as told, sitting down in front of her. “Are you gonna let me go?” He asked, disappointment laced in his voice. “I don’t know,” she tilted her head to the left a little bit.
“I like seeing you tied up like that.”
His cheeks turned dark red. Instead of keeping their eye contact, Stephen looked to the floor like a cowardly dog. His stomach was spinning like he was on a rollercoaster. When he looked back up at her, the takeout box was on the table along with her feet, showing off the bottoms of her shoes which had her name written on them. Like she was a toddler.
“Take your feet off the table,” Stephend demanded, but all Genevieve did was grin and shake her head. “I used to live in this place, you know. I bought this table. I think my feet on it shouldn’t matter much to you, Stephen.”
Every single time she said his name, he felt those sparks run up his arms. Like his powers had a reaction to her words. This was unlike anything he’s experienced before. Unlike the sparks with Tony, or the queasy feeling around Christine. This was so much different to anything he’s ever experienced before.
“How long has it been since you've been here?” Small talk wasn’t his favorite, but he had to do it if he wanted to get somewhere with her. “Five years. I was here during your training, then the Ancient One sent me on a Mission to another dimension and I just never bothered to come back when I returned.” The pain in her voice made it sound like she wasn’t telling the whole truth. He didn’t want to pry, though.
“That’s why I missed your ‘crowning’ as Sorcerer Supreme.” After taking her feet off of the table, Genevieve flicked her wrist and Stephen was let go from his bounds.
“Listen, Stephen,” Genevieve began, looking him straight in the eyes. “I don’t want to argue with you. I just want to get this over with and go back to the Kamar-Taj, okay?” The way she looked up at him, through her eyelashes as she batted them slowly, made his skin crawl again. Her face was so pretty up close. Those honey eyes were so beautiful. The best eyes he’s ever seen before.
“If you don’t get in my way, then we should be fine.” Stephen decided to be snarky. His comment made her chuckle and lean back against her chair. “You should remember that I was the first Supreme between the two of us,” she decided to reply. “So does that make you better than me?”
Her grin was shit-eating. Genevieve got up, showing off her full suit again. Stephen’s mind immediately went to how beautiful she looked. Her body was amazing. There were so many things he would do to her…only if she let him, of course.
“Yes it does. I’m better than you, Doctor Stephen Strange.”
When the day turned to night and Stephen had decided it was time to go to sleep, he left his study and headed downstairs just to check up on Genevieve. She was on the second floor, levitating in a sitting position with her hands resting on her knees. The Book of Agamotto was cracked open in front of her, its pages turning while her eyes were shut.
The sight was mesmerising. He didn’t want to disturb her in her work, but knew it was what he had to do. “You’re heading to bed.” Genevieve said, not even opening her eyes. “I know the rules. I have to sleep in your bed because Wong’s room is off limits and every other room that used to have a bed is now without said bed.”
Stephen was taken aback by her statements. But he quickly remembered what she said earlier. She really was one step ahead of him.
“Well…I’m heading to bed.” Awkwardly, Stephen stumbled back as Genevieve got back to her learning. He made his way to his room, where sure enough, he found her bags on the floor. Too tired to even bother with them, he got underdressed and pulled on a pair of plain pants, then went to bed.
But in the middle of the night, he woke up to Genevieve climbing into the sheets. Stephen went back to sleep again, his back turned to hers.
In his mind, he took a note. Find out more about the Sorceress Supreme.