This was certainly new.
Stephen stumbles onto four legs and shakes freshly fallen snow out of his fur. He and Peter were attacked by a zealot during their visit to one of the sanctums, and the rogue sorcerer managed to hit them both with some sort of shapeshifting spell before sending them through a portal. Now they were stranded in a forest, and their nanotech disappeared with their human bodies. Probably not working of course.
The Sorcerer Supreme was currently trying to fight through the spell. At least long enough to get his bracelet off before turning back into a wolf. Then at least the nanotech would work correctly and Tony could find them. FRIDAY probably alerted him that their tech was offline by now.
Stephen releases a frustrated beastly growl when he manages his human form for all of two seconds before being forced back into his animal form. The spell was apparently one that would be extremely difficult to break through (even for him) and right now his best bet was to have another sorcerer reverse it.
Now he just had to find one. What was the chance he would find one in the woods, in the middle of nowhere?
A quiet whine distracts the sorcerer from his thoughts and he turns to find Peter (in wolf pup form) shaking like a leaf. Which was weird because they had fur and Stephen wasn't bothered-
Oh.
Shit.
Peter's spider DNA was probably still playing a role in his inability to thermoregulate. Which meant he had to find them shelter and fast. The fur seemed to help so getting out of the elements should keep Peter out of danger of hypothermia.
So, giving in to his beastly instincts, he rushes over to the shivering pup and picks him up by his scruff before taking off to find someplace to stay warm. It took a little too long in Stephen's opinion to find shelter that wasn't occupied, and he found it in a tiny cave. If one could call it that. It was just deep enough that they could stay out of the wind.
He pads all the way to the back and gently places Peter on the ground before laying down himself, both of his front legs on either side of the pup and his head on the ground right next to Peter. The pup snuggles against him as closely as possible and Stephen huffs when Peter gets comfortable and slowly stops shivering.
Stephen would have to make his attempts to return to his human form later.
"Stark...did you hear a single word I said?"
Tony blinks and returns his focus to reality and finds Ross glaring at him. He was stuck in another worthless meeting about the Sokovia Accords, and he was ready to tear his hair out. They were rewritten, all of the Avengers signed it, but it was never enough. They were all pretty sure the meetings were only held to let Ross rant since no one was making any motion to change anything.
"Sorry. I kind of zoned out. What did you say?"
"What was the last thing you heard?"
Tony yawns. "Nothing really. You opened your mouth and I drifted off."
His comment earned a few sniggers from the attending Avengers and the general's glare intensifies. "I want to know when your husband and Spiderman will sign the Accords."
"We already talked about this. He's my wife."
Tony could see Steve clenching his hands in front of his mouth to keep himself from laughing. His sarcasm is what probably kept the team sane during these meetings, and he was more than happy to provide. It kept him sane too and Tony had a ball getting Ross's face to turn red because he knew the man couldn't do anything.
It gave the billionaire a sense of sick satisfaction.
His watch beeps with an alert from FRIDAY. "Speaking of..."
Thaddeus grinds his teeth. "Fine. We'll pick this up some other time."
"Yeah...feel free not to let that be...ever." Tony mutters as the general leaves the room and the team releases a collective sigh of relief as Tony puts on his sunglasses. "What's the message Fri?"
"No message, Boss, but I needed to inform you that Victor and Karen are offline."
Tony blanches and the Avengers look at him worriedly after his next words. "What do you mean they're offline? Where are Stephen and Peter?"
"Unknown. Their tracking devices are offline as well. I can't connect to any of their current equipment."
"Fuck. Keep looking. I'll go talk to Wong." Tony takes off the eyewear and looks around at his team before scrubbing his face with one of his hands. "Mama Bear and Underoos fell off the radar."
Natasha frowns. "Is that even possible?"
"It's not supposed to be! Hell, even Stephen's stuff works in other dimensions!"
Rhodey gently grabs Tony's shoulder from the seat beside him. "Try not to worry Tones. It could be something as simple as a malfunction."
They all knew that was unlikely since Tony took special care to make sure everything worked flawlessly when it came to his family's equipment, but it was still a comfort. A bit of an empty one but comfort all the same. There was always the small chance that a malfunction could happen, even from something like banging their bracelets on a hard surface.
"For once, I really hope that's the case."
"Go talk to Wong. We'll look for them. Just let us know if anything changes or if he knows anything."
Tony stands and nods. "If you do find them, please don't pull a Stephen and forget to tell me."
Stephen was exhausted. The moment Peter was warm enough to unfurl himself from, he started trying to break himself out of the spell again. Whenever he managed enough of his human form and tried to get his nanotech bracelet off his wrist, he would snap back and have to take a few minutes of rest before trying again. Peter eventually caught on to what the sorcerer was trying to accomplish and tried his best to pull it off with his teeth, but Stephen always changed back too fast.
He kept trying though. While shelter from the elements was helping, it only slowed the process of potential hypothermia for Peter. Physical contact kept the pup warm, but they couldn't do that forever.
So he fought through his exhaustion, focused, and when he turned into his human form again, Peter didn't waste any time to finally pull Stephen's nanotech off his wrist. Just in time, too. As soon as it was off, the sorcerer turned back into a wolf and collapsed onto his side in weariness. Peter drops the bracelet to the ground to nuzzle him with a worried whine as Stephen pants heavily (something he might have found embarrassing if he weren't so damn tired), and nudges the pup to ease his worry.
He could rest properly now that his bracelet was a physical thing again. Tony would be able to find them now, so it was a waiting game at this point. Now his main concern was to keep Peter warm. Much easier than fighting a spell that only another sorcerer could remove.
At least it didn't have to be removed by the one who afflicted them with it. That would have been a nightmare.
Peter stops his incessant nuzzling and opts to curl against the sorcerer's stomach instead, and Stephen soon succumbs to sleep once his exhaustion wins over.
"They were here but they must have been portaled somewhere because I had to deal with a zealot."
Tony sighs. "That doesn't explain why they suddenly fell off the map."
Before Wong can say another word, FRIDAY chimes in. "Boss, Victor is back online. I've traced Dr. Strange's location to a forest in Canada."
"What about Peter?"
"Karen is still offline."
Wong slips on his sling ring and creates a portal to the coordinates shown on Tony's phone. "Peter might be with Stephen."
Tony nods in agreement and follows the sorcerer through the portal and bites back a panicked yell. Wong's portal had dropped them in the middle of a tiny cave, barely five feet away from a couple of wolves, and they were just staring at him. When the pup flounders up to him excitedly, Tony backs away, causing the small animal to whine.
The older wolf didn't attack though.
"Shouldn't we be dead right about now?" The engineer asks carefully, and he balks when Wong approaches the adult beast. "Are you crazy?!"
"I think I know why your technology stopped working." He picks up what Tony immediately identifies as Stephen's nanotech. "They are Stephen and Peter."
The pup at Tony's feet yips excitedly and circles Wong, while the billionaire stares at the other man like he had grown a second head. Wong ignores him, gestures his hands above the grown wolf, and the beast forms into Stephen seconds later.
"Okay. I'd like to say I've seen everything now but I'm sure you'll continue to surprise me." Tony says as he kneels next to the exhausted doctor. "Are you okay?"
"I could use a ten year nap." Stephen replies with a tired chuckle as Wong removes the spell from Peter.
"Yeah, I bet. You look bushed."
"Fighting the spell to get my suit off was difficult. I only managed because of Peter."
"Karen is back online, Boss." Tony rolls his eyes and Peter laughs from behind him before shivering. "I'm aware FRIDAY. Thank you. Please tell Rhodey that Stephen and Peter have been found."
He helps Stephen to his feet and the group steps into the new portal Wong made to the tower, and gently lowers his husband onto the couch. Stephen stretches out, promptly passes out again, and Tony covers him with the blanket sitting on the back of the couch before turning to Peter.
"You okay buddy?"
The teen nods. "Yeah. The cold still affected me but Mom figured that out pretty quickly and got me somewhere dry and out of the wind."
"...did he scruff you?" Tony asks with a grin.
Peter blushes. "He kind of had to. I couldn't move."
"Why does all the good stuff happen when I'm not around?!"
Wong rolls his eyes. "I'm going to assume I'm not needed anymore."
Tony and Peter look at him. "Thank you."
The sorcerer nods. "Stephen will probably sleep until tomorrow morning. Only the Sorcerer Supreme can fight through a spell like that. If it was any other sorcerer...even a master...it wouldn't have been possible."
"You hear that Underoos? You're lucky Mom is an all-powerful wizard or you would probably be a flea bag for the rest of your life."
"If he didn't freeze first." Wong adds as he opens a portal to the Sanctum and steps through. "Let him sleep."
Tony salutes the sorcerer and the portal closes.
"I didn't have fleas." Peter mumbles and his father chuckles.
"Go eat kiddo. I'm sure you're hungry."
The teen responds with a quiet response of 'starving' as he turns on his heel and walks into the kitchen, and Tony crouches by the couch. A quiet snore escapes the younger man sleeping on the couch and the elder smiles, and then places a gentle kiss on Stephen's forehead.
"You really are a Mama Bear. Peter's lucky to have you." Another quiet snore from the oblivious sorcerer. "I'm lucky to have you." Tony whispers.