Witchcraft
“Good morning, princess.”
Stephen had to cough as he water hit his face. His eyes cleared slowly as he realised where he was sitting.
”You’re taking your time”, Maw turned his eyes.
”But time is up, sleeping beauty. Someone saw you do magic. You know what the consequences are?”
The sorcerer pulled at the restraints on his wrists and ankles but they were sealed with a spell.
”I don’t know why people stopped the witch-hunt. It’s the most effective way of getting the suspects to talk.”
”I’m not a suspect!”
”Oh yes, you are”, the alien nodded.
”Unfortunately we got you without the time stone. Where is it?”
”I don’t know.”
”Too bad.”
Maw snipped and the men who had dragged him away appeared in front of him now. They had masks pulled over their faces and carried what looked like medieval tools.
”That’s ridiculous”, Stephen said in a voice that was slightly betraying him, letting his fear slip through.
”Oh, ridiculous. Ridiculous is a bad word for someone in your position. What is ridiculous is lying to me.”
The mad creature got right into Stephen’s face.
”Where is the time stone?”
“I. Don’t. Know.”
Maw sighed and took a branding iron. He slowly heated it up in front of Stephen’s eyes. He knew the symbol glowing dangerously in the flames. He’d seen it so many times. The meaning was equally as appalling as frightening.
”You don’t have to do this.”
”Where is the time stone?”
”I don’t know. Please.”
The alien gestured to one of the men who walked forward and ripped Stephen’s shirt apart.
”Where is the stone, Stephen?”
”Please.”
The enemy sighed and turned to his victim’s bare chest with the branding iron.
”Please!”
”The stone?”
Strange pressed his eyes shut as Maw moved his hand forward with absolute brutality. The sorcerer screamed as he could smell his skin burning under the metal. Maw devoured every second until he removed his device.
”Gorgeous. The Sorcerer Supreme, branded as Dormammu’s follower.”
”N- nah! Hm-“
Stephen was unable to produce coherent words. The meaning hurt even more than the actual wound.
”Where is the stone?”
He shook his head reluctantly.
”Alright. Maybe I’m just not scary enough.”
The alien gestured to the men who one after one removed their masks. They’d aged. They had grown. But their eyes were still the same as years ago.
”No- No!”
In panic the man tried to struggle away but the restraints didn’t let him.
”So scared of your old friends?”
”You’ll go to hell, you motherfucking pieces of shit!”, Stephen screamed at them with all the strength he had.
”Oh, oh, oh. Don’t talk like this to your fellow worshippers. Before Dormammu you are all the same.”
”You killed my sister, you fuckers!”
One of the men kneeled right in front of Stephen.
”That wasn’t the fun part though, pretty.”
Stephen squirmed in the chair as a disgusting big hand moved up and down his thigh.
”Stop!”
”I haven’t even started.”
Stephen lived through the hours that followed in complete and utter silence. Only whimpers and occasional cries mixed with hot tears streaming down his face were audible between the other sounds filling the gigantic room. Then it stopped. It finally stopped. Strange let his head hang down but was yanked back up seconds later by thin fingers.
”Where’s the stone?”
The sorcerer weakly shook his head.
”You’re useless”, the alien spat into his face. The men dressed Stephen in some old white robes. For a second, his hands were free but he couldn’t even bring himself to fight it. The men yanked the chair with them, hooking it on an old looking device, created to lift and drop it however it was needed. Stephen’s eyes fell on the big and deep water tank.
“So. As you, Stephen Vincent Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme are an identified witch, known to be responsible for magic and witchcraft to spread at a dangerous rate, you will be freed of your misery by me.”
The alien was just about to dunk the weakened sorcerer into the tank, when something flew towards him and kicked him off his feet.
”Get up again”, Wong said to Tony, giving him his hand.
”This is hard.”
”You’re worse than Stephen.”
”Thank you. That’s a compliment.”
”In what world- alright”, the monk sighed.
”Cloak is really doing the work for you here. You have to just know how to work with it.”
”I think this cape just doesn’t want to work with me.”
That earner Stark a slap from the levitating fabric.
”Ey, what the hell!”
”Don’t call it cape.”
The billionaire sighed and reached out with his hand. Cloak accepted it.
”I’m sorry I called you cape.”
It nodded and settled down on Tony’s shoulders. Just in that moment, the could hear Mordo being slammed to the ground. They turned and saw Natasha dusting off the little dirt on her sleeve.
”What?”, she asked the men.
Wong held up his hands defensively and turned back to the engineer.
”She’ll kill my colleagues.”
”Nat is the man in this group.”
”I mean-“
”This woman can beat all our asses.”
”Excuse me.”
The quiet sorcerer turned and helped the fellow teacher to his feet again, just in time to see the ancient one walking towards them.
”We don’t have any more time.”
Tony was on high alert immediately.
”Is he hurt? Did you- contact him?”
”We need to go”, she just said.
”No. Tell me.”
”He’s in a dangerous situation.”
”No shit, Sherlock. He’s been kidnapped by aliens!”
Natasha and Bruce stepped forward.
”Tony, please”, his friend said with empathy.
”No, Bruce. Not this time. Not with a colleague this important.”
Cap stood with the other and gave his shoulder a sincere pat.
”We’re your friends.”
The dark haired looked to his side where Steve smiled at him.
”So?”
”So drop the colleague persona.”
Tony's eyes widened.
”Hey, we’ll get him back. Alive.”
The shorter nodded as Natasha sighed and pulled him into a much needed hug.
”Who is with the boys?”, Thor asked worriedly.
”Christine. Christine Palmer. Their- well- their aunt”, Tony sighed and rubbed his eyes.
”Alright. We have to go”, the bald woman added. She made some movements with her hands while Tony touched his reactor twice to get into the suit. Mark- he stopped counting after a while. Thor grabbed his hammer, Natasha loaded her pistol, Steve pulled his shield up and Bruce tried thinking angry thoughts.
”Dude, you’re embarrassing me in front of the wizards”, he mumbled towards the doctor.
”I’m trying!”, he argued back.
”God. Here-“, Stark gestured for the cloak to settle onto Bruce’s shoulders.
”At least get some protection from Levi.”
”Levi?”
”Cloaky.”
”What?”
”The cloak of levitation is too long.”
”Of course it is.”
Their attention was drawn to the portal in front of them. It was shimmering and sparks were flying everywhere. Seeing three sorcerers working on one big spell was quite a sight.
”Alright, everybody quietly follow me”, the ancient one announced. After she and the two male masters of magic stepped through the thing, the Avengers followed one by one. As soon as Tony reached the spot on a platform, looking down a humongous room, he knew shit was going down.
“So. As you, Stephen Vincent Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme are an identified witch, known to be responsible for magic and witchcraft to spread at a dangerous rate, you will be freed of your misery by me.”
Before the last part was said, Cloak lifted itself off Bruce’s shoulders and shot forward, aiming directly for Ebony Maw.
”What-“, the men were confused, looking up.
As they did, they only saw Tony, flying towards them with quite some speed. He knocked them off their feet but they fought back. The blonde directly under him started kicking. Natasha hit the floor next to her friend, trying to understand the situation. Shots of magic were fired by the ancient one, Wong and Mordo but the helpers seemed to be under some weird protection. A shield almost. But their attention was back on Maw anyway, as the alien threw Cloak all through the room. It crashed against the wall and fell to the floor for a second.
That was when the alien moved forward and activated the machinery. Just a split second later, the chair with Stephen on it crashed into the water hard. Hearing the sound was all that Tony needed, looking at Cap for help. His colleague immediately understood and threw himself at the blonde criminal, So Tony was free again. Without thinking, the hero flew towards the water tank and disappeared inside of the liquid.
Stark found Stephen struggling to get out of this trap and was by his side without hesitation. The movements of his partner got more and more desperate as the suit worked on the restraints. They were tightening with each pull and as Strange suddenly stilled, the other man panicked. He just yanked the bloody chair off of the device and pulled the whole of it up with himself. He reached the surface of the water and instantly felt hands on him.
”No!”
”Tony, it’s me!”, Thor reassured him.
”It’s me, we got you. We got you, come on.”
By the time they were out of the water, both Tony and Stephen were freezing. The white robe was clinging onto the sorcerer’s body, tinted slightly pink at the parts of the doctor’s body which were bleeding through it. Wong and the ancient one were freeing their friend from the chair while Mordo kept a knocked out Ebony Maw, and Natasha and Cap kept the criminals in place.
“Stephen?”, Bruce asked taking his pulse.
”Calm down”, he soothingly added.
The silence and flinch as the doctor touched his partner, worried Tony more than a bit.
”Stephen? It’s me”, he took the other’s trembling hand.
”Hello”, Strange said.
”Hey. Can I- can I hug you?”
The trembling figure nodded and let Tony embrace him carefully. Cloak settled down over both of them, trying to warm them up.
”It’s over.”
”Yeah”, the sorcerer added dryly.
Tony looked at him worriedly.
“Can we leave?”, Stephen added quietly.
”We got this”, Wong nodded.
”The tree of us. We got this. We’ll send you home.”
”Thank- thank you.”
Cloak very desperately tied itself closer around its Master, almost begging for permission.
”Oh. Yes. Cloak, go with Stephen”, the ancient one nodded.
Incredibly carefully, Tony picked the sorcerer and his cloak up and carried him through the portal. He stood in his own bedroom with Stephen and the fabric. Behind him, the sparks disappeared. He lightly put the doctor onto the bed. And kissed the top of his head.
”I’ll be right back. I promise.”
The hero sprinted into the kitchen and grabbed his phone. He opened the Avengers group chat.
”Hey, are you all home safely? Please just send a quick message to confirm you’re okay. Clint, little Ant, please tell me if you’re safe too. Saving one member per day is enough for me. Thanks, Tony.”
He took the phone with him and looked into Harley’s room. Empty. Then he looked into Peter’s room. A sleeping aunt Christine with a gaming controller in her hands, laying on their Twister mat with Peter and Harley all cuddled up, each a family sized bag of chips and energy drinks in their hands. Not enough energy though to stay awake apparently. The man quietly closed the door again, walking towards the bedroom. He was greeted by an empty bed. Just as he wanted to shout for Stephen, he heard the shower. The billionaire sighed and sat down onto the bed. After an hour of his boyfriend still not turning up, he lay down with his face looking towards the bathroom door. He closed his eyes. Just as the older man started drifting off, a little squeak was audible. He saw the faint light from the bathroom and then a shaking figure crawled into the bed, covering himself. Tony wanted to caress through Stephen’s hair as a gesture that he was there but all Tony was greeted with was a hood over Stephen’s head and a small flinch.
”Darling? You’re scaring me. I’m here, okay?”
”I love you.”
Tony sighed and nodded.
”I love you too. I’m here.”
Nothing. After a while of thinking, Stark closed his eyes for good, not knowing that his partner, who lay next to him with his back facing towards Tony, stared at the blank wall for the entire night, not being able to still the screams in his head.