THE APPRENTICE (DOCTOR STRANGE STORY)

24

"Stephen, What are we supposed to do?," Hazel's eyebrows stressed, her forehead starting to crease "if he's already got one then he could probably get the rest-"

"He won't get these," he defended seriously "whatever you do, just do what you've been doing. Remember to work on your offence-"

"Yes,"

"And to be more consistent with your gestures," he added

"Yes,"

"Say, Doc, you wouldn't happen to be moving your hair, would you?" Tony interrupted. The two became aware of the sudden rumbling, everyone staring at his forelock that was shaking with the ground.

"Not at the moment, no," he hummed, making everyone in the room dash out to the streets that were filled with panicking people who were running around the place. "We'll talk later," he slipped in swiftly to Hazel and ran.

Blocks of bricks and debris fell from the sky, while Hazel got herself a change of clothes into her tunics when she casted her shields.

"Might wanna keep those stones in your pocket, wizards!," Tony suggested.

The two casted their own separate spells, keeping every spell at bay and in mind. They couldn't risk it by using anything silly.

Then, a large, circular, spaceship landed in front of the streets, Hazel's eyes widening at the sight before her. A bony and unusually coloured alien stepped out of it, in a superior stance.

"Hear me, and rejoice. You are about to die at the hands of the Children of Thanos. Be thankful, that your meaningless lives are now contributing to," it used its shrill voice, almost in a preaching manner.

"Sorry, earth is closed today! You better pack it up and get outta here," Tony yelled, making Hazel
smirk

"Stone keepers:" He looked at Hazel and Stephen "does this chattering animal bother you?"

"Certainly not, I speak for myself" he banged his fists and let out the shields, making Hazel and Wong emulate him "but you're trespassing in this city and on this planet,"

"That means get lost, squidward!" Tony teased, making Hazel snort and stifle a laugh.

"He exhausts me,"

"And I'm sure the feeling's mutual," hazel spoke up, walking nearer to him but was by Stephen to his side "I'll cut you some slack: Yes, we are the stone keepers, hi! No, we're not gonna give you the stones, nor will you ever, and Kind of, you do look like squidward."

Another alien stands beside him, speaking an unknown language to the other alien.

"Bring me the stones," he commanded

Tony got into his suit, while Bruce struggled to turn into his green, raging, monster. The two had a distracted conversation.

"Ste," hazel pointed to Bruce who just couldn't conjure the hulk up

"If your green friend won't be joining us," Strange sighed and teleports Bruce to a nearby park along with half a taxi.
Tony returns and joins the fight, pushing a car thrown by the alien back at him. The creature cuts it in half and lets the pieces fly past him, untouched.

"Gotta get that stone out of here,"

"It stays with us," Stephen replied

"Exactly, bye," Tony waved, making the two start to run away. However, they were caught by the alien, pinning them to a brick wall, using the cricks to trap them.

"Your powers are quaint. You must be popular with children," it mocked, trying to grab the staff and the amulet, but the two jerked away.

"Its a simple spell, but quite unbreakable," Strange teased, making the alien sneer and grumble.

"Then I'll take it out of your corpses," he threatened, putting his head up high.

"That'd be very ambitious of you," Hazel smirked, making some hand gestures and turning the staff into an amulet.

She felt herself stopped right after, when she started  getting chocked and restrained by metal pipes. Air started to leave her body, the pressure squeezing her face.

"You'll find...removing a dead man's spell...troublesome..."he continued to taunt despite the conflict

"You'll only wish you were dead," it squinted its eyes at the two. Hazel felt an urge to breath, but felt so restricted from it. Her lungs were begging for air and her face was heating up, then everything went black.

*
The two woke up, seemingly floating horizontally and confused by their current status. Glassy, sharp, dozens of needles were around the two, who were side by side. Each one looked to be about two feet long.

"In all the time I've served Thanos, I've never failed him. If I were to reach our rendezvous on Titan with the Time Stone still attached to your vaguely irritating person, there would be...judgement." It explained

"Well there's a first time for everything, right?" Hazel replied "stooping down to a slave is pathetic,"

Then, the needles start to contact the two's faces, causing a whitish subcutaneous glow at each touch.

The sensation felt like skin tearing into tiny pieces, penetrating places that Hazel never thought she could feel in. It was almost like her bones were all breaking and an insane amount of pressure was all over her. It travelled from her face to her whole body, making Stephen scream and groan in pain.
Hazel gritted her teeth and cried out, tears threatening to spill from her eyes

"Give me...the stone," he forced, but the two just kept groaning. "Painful aren't they? They were originally designed for microsurgery. And any one of them could end your lives, or maybe your friend's"

"I gotta tell you, he's not really my friend. Saving his life is more a professional courtesy." Tony Stark, to their surprise, stood behind the alien.

He walks slowly towards Iron Man, beckoning very large, very solid metal objects to float behind him "You've saved nothing. Your powers are inconsequential compared to mine,"

"Yeah, but the kid's seen more movies,"

Iron Man fires a rocket from his shoulder which pierces the side of the ship to the alien's right and begins to suck everything out with especially Maw and his large objects.

Strange and Wolfe were pulled loose of his pinnings, but also head for the hole, helpless to resist.

The Cloak wraps around the two's arms, but Strange's arm slips loose and he keeps going.

"Keep holding on!" Hazel cried and caught his hand, gripping onto it for dear life.

A webby substance darts to their direction, pulling them back in and sealing the hole. The two fall to the ground, exhausted and in pain.

"Are you okay?" They ask each other in unison. The cloak wraps itself around Strange, while Tony and him speak.

The two seemed to be in an argument, Hazel way too nauseous to participate into the brawl.

"Who just saved your magical ass? Me." Tony demanded

"I seriously don't know how you fit your head into that helmet."

"Admit it. You should have ducked out when I told you to. I tried to bench you two. You refused."

"Unlike everyone else in your life, I don't work for you."

"And due to that fact, we're now in a flying doughnut billions of miles away from Earth with no backup."