AUNTS AND UNCLES
Everyone who'd heard of Dr. Stephen Strange assumed that his Sanctum Sanctorum was a place of fantastic magics and endless wonder.
They were right, but even the Sorcerer Supreme needs a desk, and Stephen Strange was currently sitting at his. In front of him was an old and rather terrifying stone tablet. Stephen could sense the ancient spells within the tablet, throbbing like the beating of an angry heart. Those spells had been cast by an Egyptian Sorcerer Supreme back during the reign of Rameses the Second. They were keeping something imprisoned that was massively powerful and depthlessly evil.
Sometimes, it seemed to Stephen that he spent a great deal of time simply trying to prevent archaeologists from destroying the world. They seemed to have no qualms about digging up absolutely anything and then putting it out on public display.
And then there was the problem of securing those dangerous artifacts. The NYPD would be very interested to know that Stephen had in his possession an expensive item that had recently vanished from the Anthropological section of the New York Museum of Natural History.
Almost lost in thought, Stephen suddenly blinked and looked up. What was that noise? It had nothing to do with the tablet. In fact, it seemed to be coming from outside. Actually, it was a combination of yelling people and car horns. Perhaps there had been a traffic accident?
Stephen Strange was many things, but the title 'Doctor' was one he'd both earned and kept. If there had been an accident, then there might be people who needed his help.
By force of habit, as Stephen got to his feet, he summoned his Cloak. It was in the adjacent room, comfortably hanging from its rack.
There was no response to Stephen's summons. And suddenly Stephen was worried.
Stephen stepped over to the window and peered outside.
It was Morgan. Tony's daughter. Five years old and a boundless bundle of inquisitiveness and energy. Pepper had asked Stephen and Wong to keep an eye on the girl while she was in town on a combined business and shopping trip.
Morgan was wearing the Cloak. Really, it was too big for her, but the Cloak had tucked and wrapped itself around her in a manner that was quite clever and efficient.
The two of them were flying down the Bleeker street sidewalk, just a few feet off the ground, weaving their way through and past a scatter of frantically dodging pedestrians. Every now and then, they wandered into traffic and had to avoid a car. Morgan was howling with laughter.
Wong was following Morgan and the Cloak at a dead run, also dodging traffic. He was shaking a fist in the air and screaming something in Chinese.
Then a red-and-blue form, at the end of a long arc, swung down into the street. Letting go of his webbing, Peter rotated in midair, grabbed Morgan and the Cloak, used his legs to ricochet off the side of a passing truck, and then bounded high into the air.
Stephen flinched backward as Peter, Morgan, and the Cloak mashed up against his window.
"Hey, Doc! Didja lose something?" Peter asked cheerfully.
"Do it again!" Morgan insisted. She had her Cloak-clad arms around Peter's neck and there was a huge grin on her face.
The Cloak was using its hem to try and pet Morgan's wildly disheveled hair back into some kind of order.
Stephen let out a long sigh as he closed his eyes and touched his forehead to the cool glass of the window.
Pepper was going to kill him.
"Pepper is going to kill you," Rhodey informed Stephen.
Stephen winced.
"And she will kill you slowly and horribly," Nebula added with a brooding nod.
They were all in the main hall of the Sanctum Sanctorum, at the foot of the grand staircase that led to the upper floors. Nebula was sitting at a grand-looking table with Peter and Morgan. The three of them were playing some sort of game that involved flicking a triangularly-folded piece of paper at each other across the table. The idea seemed to be to get the paper triangle through a 'goal' that consisted of another person's fore-fingers and thumbs. Aside from that, Stephen had no idea how the game worked, but Morgan seemed to be enjoying it. Oddly, it seemed that Nebula and Peter also knew how to play.
Rhodey and Nebula showed up a few minutes after Peter and Wong got Morgan and the Cloak back inside the Sanctum Sanctorum. Both Rhodey and Nebula were deeply plugged into the Internet and seconds after the first phone-video of Morgan's adventure was posted, they knew what was happening.
Wong - still shaky after his mad dash - was sitting in the corner, sipping from a tumbler of whiskey. He'd offered a drink to everyone, but only Rhodey took him up on it. Rhodey had long ago learned that Dr. Stephen Strange kept a magnificent drink cabinet.
The Cloak was nowhere to be seen. Actually, it was hiding.
"What were you two doing here in town?" Peter asked curiously. Then he scored a perfect goal through Morgan's fingers.
"Because of our physical natures, Rhodey and I can only have sex via virtual reality," Nebula explained to Peter. "But sometimes it is enjoyable to be together and unclothed, so we were in a nearby hotel room. There was a lot of touching, kissing, and licking. It is most enjoyable and Rhodey calls it 'shaking up'."
"'Shacking up'," Strange, Rhodey, and Wong simultaneously corrected.
Meanwhile, Peter had hastily put his hands over Morgan's ears. Morgan scrunched her face up at Peter.
Rhodey took a long and deliberate drink from his glass. "Neb, haven't we talked about over-sharing?" he told Nebula calmly.
Stephen made a point of not reacting. Right after Nebula and Rhodey began spending time together, he and Rhodey discussed Rhodey's condition and the limitations it imposed. However, if there were two people Stephen knew who were deeply determined problem-solvers, it was Nebula and Rhodey. Stephen wasn't surprised that they had found ways to accommodate their situations.
Nebula looked at Peter, her strange eyes suddenly alight with curiosity. "Have you 'shacked up' with that young brown woman you like so much?" she asked.
Peter froze like a deer in headlights. The white eye-pieces in his mask were suddenly very wide.
"Uh..." he said slowly.
"Peter, you can't stay unsexed forever!" Nebula added in obvious exasperation. "Just remember to use anti-pregnancy procedures!"
"Uh..."
"Nebula, stop tormenting the boy," Wong ordered as he looked up from his drink.
Nebula sniffed but fell silent.
The old-fashioned phone on the stand next to the staircase rang. "Now what?" Stephen growled. Then he made a negligent-looking gesture with one hand.
"Strange residence," he said into mid-air.
"Steve?" a familiar, but worried-sounding, voice spoke out of nowhere. "It's Clint. Laura's in the city with Lila. They heard about Morgan's little flight, they're pissed, and they're coming your way. Just tell Laura that you're absolutely wrong and that she's one hundred percent right and everything should be okay."
"That's a married man's advice," Rhodey noted idly as he held his glass out to Wong.
"Yes, but it's very sound advice," Wong responded approvingly as he refilled Rhodey's glass.
There was an angry pounding at the front door.
In the face of a furious Laura Barton, Stephen did the only thing that made sense.
"You are one hundred percent right and I am absolutely wrong," Stephen told her.
Laura paused in mid-tirade. Then she looked suspiciously at Stephen. "Have you been talking to Clint?"
"No," all of the men in the room lied at once.
Lila Barton was now a part of the game with the paper triangle. Morgan was sitting in Lila's lap and helping her. Morgan would hold the triangle while Lila flicked it. They were kicking everyone's ass.
"Do you have your own set of armor yet?" Lila asked Morgan.
Something more than a little haunted appeared in Rhodey's eyes. Peter tried not to flinch. They glanced at each other.
"Mom won't let me," Morgan pouted.
Lila shook her head at the bewildering stubbornness of adults, then absent-mindedly kissed Morgan on the top of her head.
Rhodey made a minimal nod in Peter's direction. Peter let out a soft sight and returned it.
"But now I think I can be the Sorcerer Supreme instead," Morgan added. "I mean... I can when Dr. Strange is done."
There were smiles and chuckles throughout the room.
Wong's eyes had narrowed. Stephen seemed to be considering something. He was unconsciously touching the Eye of Agammoto on his chest.
With sure hands, and without being asked, Wong poured Stephen a glass of whiskey and handed it to him.
Happy stopped by and picked up Morgan. And he promised to try and keep the peace when he dropped Morgan off with Pepper.
Laura, Lila, and Peter were standing on the sidewalk. The woman and the girl were grilling a clearly flustered Peter about the state of his current relationship with his girlfriend.
Nebula and Rhodey had their arms around each other's waists as they walked away. At the nearest crosswalk, they paused and kissed. Nebula leaned her body against Rhodey as his arms looped around her waist. An elderly couple standing at the same crosswalk were trying not to smile.
At a window, the Cloak seemed to wave at Morgan. She waved back.
Stephen and Wong were standing at another window. They were looking in Happy and Morgan's direction, but they seemed distracted.
"Do you think it's possible?" Wong asked quietly.
"She's obviously very intelligent and the Cloak definitely reacted to her," Stephen said after a moment's thought.
Wong nodded.
"And besides, she's Tony and Pepper's daughter," Stephen continued. "The Universe might not be done with that family."
Wong nodded again, but there was a grim look on his face.
"Sometimes the Universe asks too much," Wong observed.
"We'll keep an eye on her," Stephen added.
"Of course we will," Wong replied.
It had been a while since Happy had seen a smile on Morgan's face. But it was back again, and that was great.
"So, kid, did you have a good time?" Happy asked as he held the car door for Morgan. Happy wasn't a chauffeur any longer, but some behaviors can become deeply ingrained.
"It was great!" Morgan enthused as she climbed in her seat and started fiddling with the seat belt.
Then Happy took a long look at the crowd of people dispersing down the street. Peter had finally escaped from the Barton women. He waved at Happy and Happy returned the wave.
"Just how many aunts and uncles do you have?" Happy asked. He was trying to do the math in his head, but he kept losing track.
Morgan seemed to consider that question for a moment. Then she smiled again.
"Three thousand of them," she answered.