Chapter 4

In The Dark Dimension, Dungeons

"I really don't want this you know. It's not as if we take pleasure in inflicting suffering and misery on helpless creatures," Umar said, looking at her daughter who was eating some Strawberry Sundae while reading her romance novel. "Oh. All right...I admit it. I, myself love inflicting suffering on helpless creatures."

"It's a past-time honestly. Something of a guilty pleasure," Kiara added with a mouthful of her dessert.

"True...But that doesn't mean you have to be one of them...Does it, Bruce?" Umar asked, looking at the human half of The Hulk who was hung upside down over a vat of mystical lava. "...Bruce? Didn't you hear your darling Umar?"

"I'm not sure he can say much while tied upside down and wondering about his death," Kiara answered.

"Yes, it's quite hard to respond to you while I'm upside-down like this..." Bruce confirmed.

"It's only going to get Worse, dearest...Unless you bring back the Green Thing," Umar said.

"The Hulk, mom. The green thing is called The Hulk..." Kiara said.

"I am the...Green Thing! Or just The Hulk..." Bruce answered. "So you keep saying. Two personalities, two separate beings...residing in the same form," Umar said with a lustful grin, turning to look at the monsters in the dungeon who were assisting both her and her daughter.

"I think...I'm going to Throw Up. Or is it Throw Down?" Bruce asked.

"Hm, that's is actually a good question, Mr. Banner..." Kiara said with a thoughtful nod.

"But you see, Bruce..." Umar said before losing her jovial look for an annoyed look. "You're UTTERLY USELESS to us. It's your large, stupid...and Inordinately well-endowed...other self I require. Now either you manifest him...NOW...or-"

"BLARRRGH!" Bruce said, puking into the lava pit below.

"What kind of answer is that?" Umar asked, looking back at Bruce before sighing. It looked like she would have to resort to torture. "Oh, well. I suppose it's time to start the Serious Torture."

"Ooh! I love this part. We'll be using whips, right?" Kiara asked.

"Seriously...?" Bruce asked, looking at both Kiara and Umar. "What do you call what you've been doing?"

"One last chance. Now, will you call forth the Green Thing!?" Umar asked, getting annoyed.

"Although I am getting ready to puke again. I just can't seem to get...agitated enough...to force the change," Bruce said, explaining why he couldn't Hulk out. "I think you both must have...done something with my...Our Nervous System. Even with all the pain and torture...It's just that your little dalliance with The Hulk...I dunno...I've never been more relaxed,"

"So you would if you could. But you can't so you shan't?" Kiara asked.

"Yeah. Believe me...If I could...I would," Bruce answered with a sheepish chuckle.

"Wait. I know why you're resisting us. You're worried about your reality. Do you think that once we have The Green Thing at our side, we'll join Dormammu in attacking it?" Umar asked before laughing to herself. "Well, let me reassure you. My daughter and I have absolutely NO interest in your pathetic little corner of the cosmos. All we want is the power Dormammu stole from Eternity," Umar added while chuckling to herself. "In fact, my Idiot Brother's occupation with you and your kind has baffled me for Eons. Even my daughter spends some of her time down there doing god knows what!"

"I live there, mom. You already knew that..." Kiara said, rolling her eyes. "Plus, I kind of own the largest Nightclub on Earth, alongside a friend of mine. Or owned since Uncle fucked everything up."

"Hm, I forgot. When you head back, do tell Hellstrom I said hi," Umar said before returning to the earlier subject on Dormammu. "Where was I, yes. All the Universes...All the Multiverses...at our disposal. And he picks the biggest slum in creation!" Umar exclaimed in annoyance. "It's the sorcerer's fault! I think, my brother is obsessed with defeating him. It's 'Doctor Strange this!' and 'Doctor Strange that!' I'm beginning to suspect that there's something else going between those two..."

"It's like something out of those Yaoi Mangas I read. Forbidden love between two men, how romantic..." Kiara said.

"Daughter, that's not our business to discuss, to begin with..." Umar said with a smirk. "After all, it's their business, in fact-"

"BLARRGH!" Bruce groaned out, puking once again.

"There's just no talking to you is there?" Umar said before turning to her daughter. "Honey, do what you must."

"Sure thing, mom..." Kiara said, walking over to one of the trolls that were assisting them. "Ah, well...Gochhghaka..."

"HUNNNGIKK!" Gochhghaka answered in his language.

"...Hello to you too. Could you bring me some spleen-eating dragon worms and a glass of cold water?" Kiara asked, looking down at the troll.

"VXXWARRCHK!" Gochhghaka answered getting a nod from Kiara.

"I couldn't have said it better myself," Kiara said as the troll left to do its mistress' bidding.

Dormammu's Earth

"...Look around you, Namor. See what Dormammu's done to this planet we both love," Strange said, pointing at the massive towers, and pollution plaguing the place.

"Actually, it's not all that different from what you surface-dwellers have been doing for centuries..." Namor retorted. "And given another fifty or sixty years, I have no doubt you could have Topped him."

"How can you say that? For all our faults and failings..." Strange said. "...Humanity has struggled heroically to make this A Paradise..."

"Define... 'Paradise'..." Namor said, looking at Strange with a blank stare.

"...While Dormammu has made it...a Living Hell," Strange said, ignoring Namor's earlier statement.

"You're right, Strange. People are starving...The skies and sea are polluted...Violence and inhumanity are everywhere..." Namor said, comparing this current Earth to the Previous one. "It's nothing like The Earth we know!"

"Could you at least try to disguise your sarcasm?" Strange asked with a sigh.

"Honestly, I was trying..." Namor said, rolling his eyes as the duo made their way through the crowded streets. "Speaking of disguises..."

"Yes?" Strange asked.

"What's the point?" Namor answered with another question.

"I have done more than cloak us. Instead, I cloaked our auras, scrambling them...changed the frequency, so stop speak..." Strange said. "In a sense, it would make it harder for Dormammu to notice us."

"Didn't you say he has achieved Godlike Power?" Namor asked.

"The evidence is all around you," Strange answered, pointing at the people who were walking around them and were poverty-ridden.

"Then...being A God...which I assume included Omnipotence, Omnipresence...all the usual attributes," Namor stated. "Wouldn't he already know we're here?"

"Perhaps. But keep in mind that...when he created the multiverses in his image...We were imprisoned and surprisingly well taken care of in another dimension," Strange answered. "Dormammu didn't plan for us to be a part of this...and so there's a chance. However slim...that he's not aware of us."

"YET," Namor said with a frown.

"Yet, and if this enchantment buys us even an extra hour...an extra minutes," Strange said, raising a finger.

"Then, you have a plan?" Namor asked.

"I'm formulation one," Strange answered.

"Care to share?" Namor asked.

"No, not just yet," Strange answered which got a groan from Namor.

"In other words...you're making it up as you go along..." Namor said. "Which is what you've been doing this entire affair!"

"Spontaneity is something Dormammu cannot fathom. Like all tyrants, his mind is rigid...he follows set formulas," Strange said, explaining his reasonings. "By being fluid, opening our intuitive centers to the free and unfettered flows of The Multiverse. We have the upper hand!"

"You don't really believe that, do you?" Namor asked with a disappointed look.

"Well...maybe not all of it. But a little hope goes a long way," Strange said.

Evil Strange's tower

"Hope? Can my other be as great a fool as he appears?" E.Strange asked, looking through a scrying mirror at his good counterpart and Namor. "Does he not see that this world has been sliced open...All hope bled out of it long ago?"

"There is...always...hope," A female voice called out in pain.

"I don't know what astonishes me more...The fact that you can still speak..." E.Strange said, turning to look at a white-haired young woman who was chained. She was wearing shredded clothes after the countless tortures she had to go through, alongside numerous cuts along her body. "...Or the fact that you waster your precious breath on worthless platitudes, Clea."

"Not...worthless..." Clea said as she did her best to ignore the pain she was in.

"In a different reality, you and my other were...intimate together. You both waged war upon The Dread One and, truth be told..." E.Strange said. "Came close to toppling him."

"And we'll do it again..." Clea answered with a pained smile. She really wished Strange or her sister would get her out of this.

"FOOL! You never did it in the first place!" E.Strange exclaimed. "That reality was wiped away...with a wave of the Dread one's hand! A new reality has risen in its place!" He added. "Dormammu's reality! Controlled by his every whisper! His every thought!"

"Dormammu will fail...He will fall...It's inevitable," Clea said with conviction before spitting out blood when E.Strange slapped her across the face.

"Clea, Clea, Clea! Don't you understand? Even the fact that you're still alive...is a gift from The Dread One! He could erase you in an instant. Gone...as if you'd never existed!" E.Strange said, holding Clea's face with his hand. Unfortunately, he didn't know that the reason Clea was alive was the fact that both Umar and Kiara would probably hurt Dormammu if Clea was killed. "He only lets you live...or his own amusement! That's why he wanted you to see my other. So that you would know what this world might have been. What we might have been."

"*cough* And he thinks that's funny?" Clea asked while E. Strange walked around the room.

"I, for one, find it revolting. But to each of us his own, eh?" E.Strange asked with a shrug.

"You're...a...monster," Clea said with tears spilling from her eyes.

"Of course...for that is what My Lord created me to be..." E.Strange said before noticing Clea's tears. "What's this? Tears? Weeping for our friend in the mirror? For a love of a world...that never was? Or...for the love of a mother and a sister...you will never get in this new world?"

"No," Clea said as some of the blood from her cuts trailed down her face. "I'm crying...for you."

"Me?" E.Strange asked.

"Yes..." Clea said, feeling bad for this version of the good doctor and the amount of an ass-whooping he was going to get when her older sister finds out about this.

"Why, Clea? How incredibly stupid. Don't waste your tears on me. Save them for yourself. Because when I've utterly destroyed The Other Stephen Strange...I'll be back for you," E. Strange said with a smile. "And I assure you, my dear...That all the unendurable suffering I've inflicted upon you will now...will seem like joy by comparison. Rest now, Clea, while you still can," E.Strange said before turning to one of his servants, The Evil Thing, Benjamin Grimm. "I have a job for you, Benjamin..."

"Name it, doc," E.Thing said.

"Remove the girl's tongue," E.Strange said, handing over a surgical knife to Benjamin. "She talks too much."

With Namor and Strange

"I feel a shift," Strange said as both he and Namor made their way around the area.

"Care to be more specific?" Namor asked.

"There's pressure building...in the Akashic layer," Strange explained. "Imagine it, if you can...as a rise in the mystic barometer. An indication that something is about to happen."

"And can I safely assume that this 'something' involves murderous violence...directed at us?" Namor asked, positioning his beanie while looking at a hobo walking toward them.

"I don't know if it relates specifically to," Strange said as the hobo soon reached them.

"Come Quick! Come Quick!" The Hobo said.

"How...lovely..." Namor said, covering his nose in an attempt to block in the repugnant stench from the hobo.

"Know they do! Know you're here!" The hobo said, scratching his hair erratically. "But Banner is smart! Genius! Banner has...a place to hide!"

"Banner...!?" Strange asked in shock, learning about this new information.

"But now you must come! Right now!" Hobo Banner exclaimed.

"By the Vishanti. It's...it's Bruce! Or should I say, this World's version of him," Strange said, putting the information he got together.

"As if one wasn't enough..." Namor said with a groan. "Do you think you could possibly wave your magic and give it a bath?"

"But he is trying to tell us something!" Strange said, looking at where Banner was pointing at.

"Too late! Too late!" Banner exclaimed. "Found you, they have! Doomed we are!"

"You know..." Strange said as both he and Namor noticed Dormammu's versions of the heroes they have worked with, ranging from Wolverine, Thor, Spider-man, etc. "He may be right."

"So much for scrambled aura!" Namor said as both he and Strange removed the magic aura around them.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time..." Strange admitted.

"Don't they all?" Namor asked rhetorically.

"DOOMED! DOOMED! DOOOOOMMMMED!!!" Banner exclaimed in fright.

"Well, at least we have Banner's idiot twin to keep our spirits up," Namor said as both he and Strange dived toward their enemies.

"Just like the dead Rick-Boy!" Banner exclaimed.

"Astonishing, isn't it?" Namor asked as he punched one E.Beast in the jaw.

"What?" Strange asked.

"That this Banner can be even more insufferable than the other one..." Namor said with an annoyed groan.

"Show some compassion, Namor. Can't you see the poor soul is suffering?" Strange asked, firing out a beam of magic at a six-armed spider-man. "No doubt Dormammu has tortured and abused him beyond all-"

"Mustache-man will protect Banner! Mustache-man will save him from The Dread One!" Banner exclaimed, grabbing a hold of Strange's cloak.

"Eeughhh! Get off!" Strange said as he tried to remove Banner from his cloak.

"Show some compassion, doctor. Can't you see that the poor soul is suffering?" Namor asked mockingly.

"Perhaps it would be best ti save compassion...for later," Strange said.

"Indeed. It appears that Dormammu has populated his world with twisted doppelgangers of our Earth's heroes..." Namor stated. "And I suspect these versions aren't constrained by anything vaguely resembling ideals...morality..."

"This shield's going right up your fucking ass, Panty-boy!" Evil Captain America said, preparing to throw his classic shield which had a serrated edge for cutting and killing.

"...Or civil language," Namor said, adding to his earlier point.

"Wach of them has been infused with a small portion of Dormammu's infinite power..." Strange said.

"Meaning?" Namor asked, hoping it wasn't what he thought.

"Individually, any one of them would be a deadly and formidable foe, but together..." Strange said with a worried tone.

"Cut us to bits, they will cut us to bits...and then The Dark Lord will eat the pieces!" Banner said, rambling madly.

"I wouldn't have put it quite that way..." Strange said with a groan as he fended off numerous doppelgangers. "But Banner is essentially correct."

"Then...much as I enjoyed brawling with these costumed morons in the past..." Namor said. "A hasty retreat seems in order! I assume you have some handy teleportation spell that can...?"

"I do...but in order, for it to work effectively... We have to be closer together..." Strange explained. "If I cast the enchantment across a wide swath, I risk taking some of these creatures along with us."

"Better a handful than an army!" Namor said, holding off both E.Spiderman and E.Beast as he looked back at Strange.

"Of course, there is also the question of where exactly you want us to teleport to. After all, this world isn't..." Strange said before he felt Banner climb unto his back.

"Tear the wings from your feet, The Dread Once will bite the tips off your ears!" Banner rambled insanely. "Rip the heart from your chest!"

"Please tell me he's not coming with us?" Namor asked before a blast of green magic shook the area.

"Oh, he'll be coming with you Namor..." E.Strange said, appearing in front of the group. "But the destination will be the torture chamber beneath Lord Dormammu's Palace!"

"Doctor Strange, I presume?" Strange asked his evil counterpart.

"You recognize me? Good," E.Strange said, firing out lasers that his counterpart blocked with shields.

"We may share a name...Doctor...and a physical appearance," Strange said.

"Wet his pants, Banner has! Wet them through and through!" Banner exclaimed in fear.

"But I assure you...We're not the same man!" Dr. Strange said, keeping up the shield.

Before anything could happen, a beam of energy was fired and hit E.Strange in the back, causing him to lose concentration.

"What in Neptune's name is..." Namor said as he and the others were shocked about what was happening.

"Hey, you! Come with me, if you want to live!" A voice called, revealing the silhouette of a man hiding in the shadows.

"Who are you?" Namor asked impatiently.

"Shut up and listen to me. Dormammu wasn't the sorcerer alive," The figure said, jumping down and landing on a rooftop. "You, on the other hand, are expendable!"

"Expendable! I am Namor the First! Scion of Atlantis!" Namor exclaimed in anger.

"Well, if the Scion of Atlantis wants to fight another day...I suggest you come with me!" The figure exclaimed in a hurry.

"Am much as I loathe the sorcerer. I will not abandon hum!" Namor said, preparing to fly back into the battle and aid Strange.

"Moron! There are too many of them! If you stay...You die!" The figure explained. "Lose this battle...and there's at least a chance my Rebele Forces can win the war!"

"You are rude...arrogant...and infuriating!" Namor said before picking up the mysterious figure in one arm while the other was still holding on to Beast. "Unfortunately, you are correct!"

"I knew you would see it my way. You're reasonably intelligent...for someone who's part tuna!" The figure said.

"One more insult from your lips and I swear that I'll," Namor said.

"You won't kill me," The figure said confidently.

"No...at least not until I find out more about you..." Namor said before looking at Beast. "And as for you...!"

"Uh, meow?" Beast asked.

"Meow, indeed!" Namor said before letting Beast drop from his hand and toward the floor.

"Down there! My men!" The figure exclaimed, pointing at a building surrounded by Dormammu's minions. "The meta-demons have them trapped!"

"And this is the great army to think is going to defeat Dormammu?" Namor asked as he dropped his luggage on a rooftop before slowly floating down.

"Are you going to criticize or are you going to help?" The figure asked from the roof.

"Actually, I'm quite capable of doing both. Imperius Rex!" Namor exclaimed, landing in between the meta-demons. "Good evening, lady and gentlemen."

"Who're you?" The only female meta-demon asked.

"My name is Namor and I have met many of your before...albeit on another world...in other guises," Namor explained, crossing his arms over his chest. "There you paraded around like peacocks, calling yourselves heroes...although you acted more like playground bullies. Here, I am pleased to see, your authentic natures have been allowed to shine through."

"Does anybody know what this Fucking Jackass is talking about?" Another member of the group asked.

"Stimulating conversation is an art that is clearly far beyond your troglodytic capabilities...So I will address you in the only language you surface-dwelling apes understand."

"If it's a fight you're looking for..." One of the meta-demons said.

"Fight with you? Now, why would I bother to do that..." Namor said before punching through the whole building and causing it to topple downwards. "When I can do this!!"

A few moments later

"By the way, Dormammu's meta demons can't die," The figure said, once again being carried around by Namor.

"You're welcome," Namor answered.

"Head due north. Watch out for the white smoke," The figure said.

"Why should I believe you?" Namor asked, heading North.

"You do believe me. In fact, you trust me completely," The figure answered with a smirk.

"I di trust you. And there's no reason why I should...unless your Doctor Strange has placed an enchantment on me and..." Namor suggested to himself.

"Don't be ridiculous. Tell me, until this moment...Who, in all the worlds, have you ever actually trusted?" The figure asked.

"No one except-" Namor said before being interrupted when the figure revealed his identity.

"Yourself. My name is...William Everett Mackenzie, but fate had taken me along a different road, I might have been called..." D.Namor said. (Dormammu's Namor) "Sub Mariner."

"Is it possible?" Namor asked in shock.

"Apparently so," D.Namor said as his counterpart flew him over to their current location.

With Strange and E-Strange

"Do you see, Stephen? Your friend has deserted you!" E.Strange exclaimed as both Stranges fought for magical dominance in the sky.

"Namor didn't desert me...He escaped! And I guarantee he'll be back," Strange said. "Unlike you, He is a man of honor!"

"If I am lacking in honor, Stephen. Then what does that say about you?" E.Strange asked with a grin.

"Liar!" Strange answered.

"We are one and the same, after all!" E.Strange responded with a malicious grin. "It may give you comfort to believe we're different...But I see in you all that I am...arrogance, Ego...Lust for Power!" E.Strange exclaimed as the two continued their mystical battle. "You simply mask those qualities beneath a veneer of false virtue! I, on the other hand, love my life honestly...And I have the Dread One to thank for that! Dormammu created me to be what I...What we were always meant to be!"

"Perhaps that is what I was meant to be...but, by the grace of The Ancient One...That isn't what I am!" Strange exclaimed, turning down all that his doppelganger told him. "He taught me the value of service...of linking my soul to higher soul...a higher ideal! My master believed in a multiverse where hope, compassion...simple human decency...would always be Triumphant!"

"You can't actually believe that nonsense!" E.Strange said.

"I do believe it...and though the man I once often rose up to overshadow the man I strive to be... I will go on believing it..." Strange said with conviction. "Until the Day I Die!"

"That day Stephen...will soon be here!" E.Strange said through clenched teeth.

"Whatever God will for me..." Strange answered with a serious expression. "...I accept."

"Fool! There is only One God here, and his name is Dormammu!" E.Strange said as he began to slowly overpower Strange in their battle. "A God who could have destroyed you the moment you stepped foot in his Multiverse! But my Lord allowed you and your amphibian ally to live...Because it amused him!" E.Strange said with a grin. "Just as it amuses him to tolerate Mackenzie and his pathetic followers in the Resistance! Dormammu takes delight in playing on their hopes and fears! But he takes even more delight..." E.Strange added as he finally overpowered Strange, firing out an even stronger magical blast at Strange sending the sorcerer back. "...IN PLAYING ON YOURS!"

For a moment the world is lost in a blinding cloud of white noise and pain...then, tormented shriek echoes across the city...And, from the cloud...a man falls.

His body slamming into the streets below, and his soul slams into the darkness...that engulfs all he is.