"You could have at least come to say hello." The stranger said as she stepped out of the portal, Doctor Strange now realizing who it was.

"Clea," he started, "I suppose?"

In his MCU timeline, Doctor Strange hadn't met Clea yet, but he had come to learn of who she was through Razake's memories.

"I had come looking for you, you know." Clea said. "But not you, exactly. You are not the Doctor Strange I was looking for."

"Mmmhhh??!"

"You don't look like you are in good shape either." Clea observed the crimson marks on Doctor Strange's mouth and nose. "What happened to you?"

"Never mind that." She said, ignoring his state. "You didn't exactly give me the most warm welcome."

"It wasn't my doing, you know." Doctor Strange defended. "But how did you manage to get out of Zatanna's Mystic Prison? Even I couldn't access the pocket dimension."

"Ha." Clea chuckled. "I've been out for sometime now. Opening dimension portals is kind of my specialty. But the damn witch, and a couple of others, have been keeping me on my heels for sometime."

"They even tried to 'exorcise' me in this wretched place called the House of - ... Magic? Oh, Mysteries." She explained.

"I presume that you have already met with a certain Constantine then?" Doctor Strange asked.

"Quite so. Charming fella." Clea acknowledged. "It was in the house of mysteries that I overheard them mumbling about some scroll and how they were gonna use it to banish the strange beings that had come into their world."

"I suppose that includes me." Doctor Strange mused.

"Yes. And that's why I am here, looking for you, again." She said.

"I have no problem with going back to my dimension, I just don't agree with their... methodology." Clea explained.

"They are planning on taking your magic away, so that they can extract something from within you." Clea revealed. "The result of this could be, permanent."

"You don't say?" Doctor Strange said, knowing all to well what they wanted.

"Yes, but I couldn't let that happen, especially when I needed the Sorcerer Supreme by my side." Clea explained.

"What exactly did you need me for?" Doctor Strange asked.

Doctor Strange had discovered from Razake's memories that by the time he and Clea met, he was no longer the Sorcerer Supreme.

"Some multiverse madness, that's all." Clea said.

Doctor Strange's condition was worsening by the second, and he spout some more blood from his mouth, leaning a bit forward, in pain.

"Sorry, but as you can see, I am preoccupied at the moment." Doctor Strange told Clea.

"Mmfhh! You are seriously gonna make me notice that you are in a bad condition." Clea sympathized. "What did you do this time?"

"The usual. I took a dangerous risk," Doctor Strange explained, "and if I don't fix it quick, I may not be able to live long enough to see what becomes of our story."

"Excuse me?" Clea wanted some clarity.

In the memories, Doctor Strange had discovered who became his wife in the various timelines. Would this be the same with this Clea too?

Was it fate that had brought them together?

He smiled as Clea looked at him puzzled.

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He had come to learn that Razake was mixed up when it came to romance, and he didn't know what would happen if they amalgamated again.

"Well... whatever it is that you have done, you better undo it quickly because..." Clea started. "I don't know what has been happening to my magic, and I might have released all the other prisoners from the prison, unintentionally."

"What prisoners?" Doctor Strange asked.

"The ones that had been kept in the pocket dimension." Clea explained. "A hot headed skull, another wearing a globe on his head, and my personal favorite: Kaecilius, from the dark dimension."

"Huh... your magic is unstable too." Doctor Strange deduced. "I can help with that, but before doing so, I need to ask you for a favour."

"What favor?" Clea asked.

At the back of her mind, Clea was wondering why Doctor Strange didn't seem concerned with what would happen to those who had been released.

But Doctor Strange didn't have the time to worry about others at the moment. His situation was critical, and he was dying. He needed to unblock his chakra and repossess the soul of Prime once again.

"I need you to get something for me from Marvel." Doctor Strange requested.

"Mar- where is that?" Clea asked, unsure.

"The Multiverse we both come from." Doctor Strange clarified.

"How do I do that, and what are your looking for?" Clea asked.

"I'll show you how." Doctor Strange said. "I need you to get me the Darkhold."

"Mmmhhh?"

"It kinda brought us together in a way." He further explained.

(Razake)

Meanwhile, I was gliding in the air at a supersonic speed, following the ominous magic in the air. Everything about it didn't feel right, especially because it kept trying to block my cloak abilities.

I had first ascended to outer space, where I had observed the OmniSight Aegis. Naturally, it was hidden from the normal sorcerer eye, but not to me. Our magic was related.

Moreover, I had been planning on upgrading it's capabilities, having been unable to keep constant track of both Felix Faust and Zatanna. Somehow, they had the ability to cloak themselves from the OmniSight, and I bet even more others could do so.

But that was soon going to change, once Lex had achieved his grand plans of stealing mystical relics.

Oh yes! I hadn't forgotten all about Lex Luthor.

After the incident with the Nthirium crystal, I had decided to take a more solid, mastermind approach to the problem. Having Lex harness the powers of magic and anti-magic was (not could be) catastrophic, but it was probably something I could handle.

So, instead of attracting constant trouble to myself while attempting to play hero, I would let Lex conduct his robberies, peaceful, until he collected all the relics and artifacts he could gather.

Then, after Lex had done all the heavy lifting for me, I would swoop in, stop his evil plan, and steal all the relics he would have collected. It was as simple as that. A solid, genius plan.

Perhaps in his collection would be more axioms that would contain the scrolls of OAA. And just like that, Lex would have helped me realize my destiny, without even knowing it.

Talk about a genius plan.

I however still didn't know what Lex's plan was, and I was getting the feeling that the ominous magic in the air was his doing. That is why I was rushing towards where the ominous stench was strongest, closely approaching Greenwich village.

The OmniSight Aegis didn't look as good as I had hoped it was. If what I had seen from my vantage point in space could be described, I would have said that it looked like a piece of clothing that had been charred everywhere.

Maybe that was why I couldn't spot every magic point in DC, and why some signals suddenly vanished.

It looked like what politicians, and environmentalist would refer to as the perfect illustration of Global Warming. Scars to the shield protecting the Earth from destruction. The torn blanket that was no longer capable of fully shielding the Earth from guaranteed safety.

But the OmniSight Aegis was mystical, and it could only protect from mystical threats, as needed be. I suppose that was what could have possibly caused the tears, and I hadn't done a very good job of maintaining it, even with the energy beams from the Sanctums.

Using the mystical power of the OmniSight Aegis, I had supercharged the Cloak's threads, and activated it's hidden, but innate capabilities. An ability to cast spells!

That was when I dived back to the Earth's atmosphere and proceeded to investigate the ominous stench, looking for its source of origin.

Closing in to Greenwich village, the energy no longer just feel ominous, but I also started to see traces of it's aura in the air. These guided me to where the aura was most concentrated.

The aura radiated like a smoke of differently coloured flavors, it's form waving in the air as if it was being blown by the wind. It's source was a building with a damaged rooftop, towering beside the adjacent buildings.

This wasn't just any building, however. It was a building perfectly known to me (The Cloak of Levitation), but from another world. It was the building that stood as the New York Sanctum, back in the MCU.

It was interesting to know that such a similarity existed in both DC and Marvel, not that I had bothered to explore before, but what was happening within it's confines.

Outside of the building, a black van was packed, and it looked as if a shipping crew was at work.

Avoiding suspicion (a cloak levitating all by itself in the sky is suspicious) I glided towards the damaged rooftop to check what was going on inside.

That was when I spotted the bald man in a black suit, that was undoubtedly Lex Luthor, issuing orders to his minions.

A sinister grin formed in my tunic's threads.

So, he had finally quenched his thirst for relics and had proceeded to execute his plans. He must have a lot of relics in store for me.