Chapter 342: Avengers... Assem— never mind, actually.
"Notify every sorcerer at Kamar-Taj, and every Avenger — get them ready. Steve needs our support." Strange — I'll refer to this universe's Strange as "Doctor Strange" going forward to avoid confusion — was directing operations at the New York Sanctum with practiced calm.
Though he'd only just been revived moments ago, as the very man whose actions had set this whole crisis in motion, he understood exactly what was happening.
More precisely: he'd already glimpsed the future. What remained now was simple — rally support for Steve and Tony.
"Excuse me — Strange, you absolute menace, you're back for five seconds and you're already bossing me around?"
A golden ring of light shimmered open, and out stepped a slightly stout Asian man in monk's robes.
"Wong. You're the Sorcerer Supreme now. I wouldn't dream of bossing you around." Doctor Strange broke into a faint smile at the sight of his old friend.
It might have felt to Strange like they'd just seen each other yesterday, but he knew better — five years had passed.
Wong had been holding down the Sorcerer Supreme role in his absence for the entire stretch.
Honestly, Wong figured he had to be the shortest-tenured Sorcerer Supreme in Kamar-Taj's entire history.
"Now that you're back, the title's all yours again. Do you have any idea how much paperwork I've had to deal with? I haven't had a proper morning tea in Hong Kong in years!" Wong shot Strange a look of pure, long-suffering resentment.
"All right, all right, we'll sort that out later. Let's take care of the emergency first." Strange couldn't quite handle the look Wong was giving him.
Even a man with Strange's ego had the decency to feel a little guilty toward his old friend. He changed the subject fast.
"Get every sorcerer at Kamar-Taj to head to Wakanda and bring every last soldier there straight to the battlefield. Steve and the others revived us — it's time we paid that back." Doctor Strange addressed the gathered sorcerers with gravity.
"Steve and Tony's group won't stand a chance against Thanos and his entire army on their own. We need to get there fast — they won't hold out much longer!"
At the mention of Thanos, every sorcerer present understood instantly how serious this was. Portals began opening one after another as they moved to carry out the mission.
Doctor Strange allowed himself a small measure of relief — thank god that, back during the Infinity War, Wakanda had already gathered nearly every Avenger and soldier in one place.
That made his orders far easier to execute — no need to scramble across the globe hunting people down one by one.
"Mr. Strange, should we head out to support them right now?" Holland-Peter Parker asked anxiously, thinking of his father-figure Tony facing off against Thanos yet again.
"It's fine. Rallying everyone still takes a little time. They'll hold." Doctor Strange projected total confidence, like a man with the whole battle already mapped out.
Watching him look so assured, Wong asked, worried. "Shouldn't we just leave now, just in case? What if something goes wrong — is this actually going to work?"
Truthfully, Wong didn't know the Avengers all that well personally — but that group had brought back a huge number of Kamar-Taj's own sorcerers, and they were Strange's friends besides. On every level, Wong didn't want anything to go wrong for them.
"Nothing's going to go wrong. Nothing's allowed to go wrong. We only get one shot at this. I trust them. I trust us. We're going to succeed." Doctor Strange gazed off toward the horizon. Truthfully, he had no idea what the battlefield actually looked like right now.
But he believed, with total conviction, that this was exactly the future he'd already seen.
"The future — I've already seen it!"
Wong opened his mouth again, but Strange raised a single finger, cutting him off.
Because right then, word came through from Kamar-Taj sorcerers scattered across the globe — the full force was nearly assembled.
"Time to move."
Doctor Strange turned and opened a portal, leading a crowd of Avengers behind him, every one of them itching for a shot at revenge against Thanos.
Their eyes all burned with the same fire, as if they meant to set the entire universe ablaze.
"T'Challa!"
"Sam!"
"Quill!"
"Spider-Man!"
"Bucky!"
"Strange!"
"Wanda!"
Steve watched as portal after portal opened, and one familiar face after another stepped through.
Every comrade Thanos's snap had taken from him, appearing before his eyes, one by one.
Steve felt something overwhelming rise in his chest. In that moment, he understood — everything he'd done, everything the Avengers had sacrificed, hadn't been for nothing.
Reinforcements kept pouring through the portals, an endless stream — not just superheroes, but Kamar-Taj's sorcerers too, draped in flowing robes, staffs in hand, radiating an air of ancient mystery.
Wakandan soldiers followed close behind, armored and spear-bearing, an imposing sight.
Black Panther, T'Challa, looked at Steve, resolve and determination burning in his eyes.
He didn't waste words. Just two: "We win."
Those two words landed like a command, and everyone present felt the full weight of the mission ahead settle onto their shoulders.
"Avengers... asse—"
Never mind.
Steve raised his shield high, ready to lead the charge—
But the roaring battle cry the assembled Avengers had been about to unleash died on their lips instantly.
Because what they saw stopped every one of them cold.
Roaring flames were tearing through the alien horde, and at the center of the inferno stood Strange — this-timeline's Strange, wielding a brand-new high-level spell he'd only just learned: Flame Path of the Vishanti.
And beside him, a silver-white figure was trading blows evenly with the very man they'd all come here to avenge themselves against — Thanos — and, in fact, was currently in the process of knocking him straight in their direction.
The silver-white figure blazed with a light so brilliant it looked almost divine, like a god descending to earth.
The shockwave from his duel with Thanos rippled out with such force that the newly-arrived Avengers, mid-dramatic-entrance, were promptly knocked flat on their backs by the aftershock.
Wait — did we come in too hot? Or did the resurrection just... not take?
Weren't Tony and the others supposed to be in mortal danger, backed into a corner?
Why did it look like someone was busy beating Thanos senseless instead?
Why were there two Stranges standing there??
Whose general was fighting like that?
It genuinely didn't look like their help was even needed.
They had to be in the wrong place. Or maybe this whole thing was some kind of illusion spell.
Five years gone, and the world had changed this much? Was tearing Thanos apart with your bare hands just... standard-issue now?
Doctor Strange, watching the scene unfold, felt his own head spinning. Why was there another him standing over there?
Had he jumped to the wrong timeline entirely? Or was he the fake — because that other Strange over there sure looked a lot more like the actual Sorcerer Supreme right now.
Wong turned to Doctor Strange, and the two of them just stared at each other, dumbfounded.
"You said you'd seen the future. This is the future you saw?"
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