The Flames of Amarra - DR STRANGE x OC - COMPLETE

NO WAY OUT

Whatever that fog dragging her down the stairs was, Nora had never read anything about it. She had no idea how to fight it and without any magic, her options were limited. What was Nora Keller without her magic ring ? A librarian. And a librarian was never supposed to be in this kind of situation. 

She held onto something. Anything. She didn’t want to go further down. Hallberg kicked her in the chest and walked over her hand. She screamed, the pain taking the air away from her lungs. She tried throwing books from the bottom of the shelves at him, but he swiftly dodged them and kicked her again.

As she was trying to breathe, the black magic kept pulling her all the way down to the basement. The woman who opened the door for Nora earlier was there, casually sitting on a chair, her arms crossed and a dedeignous look on her face. 

She stood up and walked to Hallberg. “She came alone,” she said, glancing at Nora with a tint of disgust in her voice. 

He kneeled next to her and slowly shook his head. “You know the Sorcerer Supreme and you came here alone ? Ms Keller, you’re making it surprisingly easy for us.” Two men joined them and threw Nora on a chair. The fog tied her arms and legs, leaving her hands exposed. For a second, Hallberg seemed like he was having a stroke. “Bea, call the others. They put a spell on the ring, we’ll need to break it.” 

“Good luck with that,” Nora scoffed. 

He narrowed his eyes, trying to figure out if she was bluffing. “He did that. The Sorcerer Supreme.”

“Hm-hm.”

He glanced at the men behind her. “Go back outside. He may be somewhere.”

“I told you she came alone,” the woman sighed. 

“Yeah, to be honest I didn’t think you were worth his time.” Bea, Nora’s new friend, slapped her. She took a second to let the pain sink in and shrugged. “I’ll ask him to sign a picture for you. He might actually enjoy that.” As the woman was raising her hand to hit her again, Nora threw her head backwards. “Don’t ! I’m sorry. Don’t hit me, it hurts.”

“You don’t like pain,” Hallberg said, clearly satisfied. “You’ll give us the ring on your own free will, then.”

“I don’t think that’s gonna happen,” she said. 

Nora already knew how bad she was dealing with pain. She’d give up the ring if they were doing as little as hitting her too much. She had to focus. Her family was on the line now. But what if these people had a gun and shot her ? And the Flames, still nowhere to be seen, weren’t making it easier for her. 

The door opened. Jimmy was standing there, a scared look on his face. “You piece of shit,” Nora blurted out. “I thought we were friends.”

“We are,” he quickly said. “Give them the ring, and be done with it.”

Nora laughed, trying to figure out how much he actually knew about the ring. “And then what ? They kill me ? And then my father and Ethan ? They’re gonna kill Emi, Jimmy ! It’s a fucking baby !”

Given the lost expression on his face, chances were that he didn’t know. Jimmy, her friend for almost 15 years, doomed her entire family by sending her here, and he didn’t even know what they wanted from her. He was just plain stupid. 

“I gave you plenty of opportunities to tell me the truth,” he said, disappointed. “You never trusted me enough, I guess.”

“I didn’t even tell my mother, you dumb piece of trash !” she snapped back. 

The men came back from the outside and pushed Jimmy out of their way. Hallberg and Bea joined them and started whispering while Nora was trying to fight the magic strings holding her still. The harder she was pulling, the tighter they were getting. Her only way out of these was fire, but there was no fire available at the moment.