-Unbetaed and non native speaker so please kindly point out any mistakes
-Warning: mention of tortures but nothing graphic, Tony's language and some innuendo, incorrect medical and psychological procedures and terms
Ignoring Fury's stare that could bore a hole into his back, Tony stepped out of the conference room to call Wong.
"Do you think I open a wizard day care? Why do you want to drop him off at the Avengers tower like that?"
Wong hung up on him. Before he could protest, he received a text from Wong. That guy could type really fast. Perhaps some magic was involved. "Can't talk. I'm not sure if Mordo used some magic to spy on the Sanctums. He and his followers took Stephen. He was still at large so it's safer to put Stephen somewhere Mordo is not familiar with."
Tony texted back. "Who the hell is Mordo? A Sauron wannabe?"
The reply was immediate so magic was definitely involved. "Long story. I'll bring Stephen in two hours so there is enough time for you to do whatever you are doing at the moment. I just want to make sure he doesn't have any magical injuries and that he hasn't been brainwashed to follow Mordo."
The last part definitely piqued Tony's interest. "OK", he texted back.
He strolled back into the meeting room as if he owned it. Well, he was the acting Director of SHIELD when Fury conveniently died (again! Although it had been real this time) and he funded SHIELD operations so yes, he partially (mostly!) owned the place.
Fury asked, "Anything you want to share with the class, Stark?"
"Just the news of someone who has been missing." He wasn't willing to share more because he didn't know how much he could share without compromising Strange's safety.
Fury was definitely one who understood discretion as he noticed how Tony looked as he spoke. He just accepted Tony's answer without asking further.
Two hours later there was an orange portal opening outside Avengers' Medical Bay. Tony made sure none of other Avengers were around because unlike what Pepper said, he understood discretion and privacy when he wanted to.
Wong and another sorcerer Tony wasn't familiar with came out supporting Stephen Strange who seemed to be having difficulties standing without the support. To his surprise Strange seemed to be scared of stepping through the portal. He thought creating portals were the doctor's second nature along with his snarks. Some serious shits must have happened to the doctor.
If it was possible Strange looked even worse than before he died on Titan. He remembered Strange was covered in blood and bruises because of his torture and battles on Titan. He also learned from people returning from the dead that their old injuries before turning to ashes came back once they came back to the world of living. (Surprisingly they didn't retain their injuries in the pocket dimension they were stuck in, perhaps because it was their souls, not physical bodies which were trapped. He would ask such questions to Strange but he certainly wasn't in any condition to answer such questions at the moment.)
Strange's robe and pants were torn off in most places. There were certainly more holes than materials covering his body. His whole face and body were covered in cuts and bruises, some were new, some were old. His hair and beard were matted and unkempt. Tony remembered his old time in a cave in Afghanistan and cringed in sympathy for the doctor.
Wong looked at Strange's direction. "Stephen, this is Tony Stark. He'll be taking care of you until we apprehend Mordo."
Strange whimpered and hid behind Wong as soon as he heard the word Mordo.
Tony put on his best placating face usually used when Iron Man needed to search and rescue some kidnapping and torture victims because that certainly what happened to the doctor. "Come on, Stephen. Don't worry about anything. Let Wong and his co wizards deal with it, Come inside the med bay and meet the nice Doctor Cho. Once you're done, I'll get an ice cream for you." He knew he sounded silly but he didn't know what Strange liked besides ice cream and being snarky. Tony knew he was being a hypocrite for calling Strange snarky but nicknaming and labelling people was his second nature.
Strange peeked out from behind Wong and said softly, "Please don't get me the Stark Raving Hazelnut."
Tony resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Fine, I can get the rest of the flavor for you. Just be good and let the good doctor check on you."
After Wong and the other wizard dropped Stephen off with Doctor Cho in the examination room, the other wizard who didn't bother to introduce himself nodded curtly at Tony and left. Tony just started to think that Strange being antisocial was not an exception but the norm for wizards.
Wong and Tony viewed how Dr Helen Cho coaxed Strange to relax and let her look at his injuries. Tony never regretted his decision to recruit Helen.
He asked, "So what the hell happened to Strange? He looked completely different from the self-assured and pompous wizard."
"Mordo happened."
"I gather as much. Who the hell is Mordo?"
"He was a Master of Mystic Arts who went rogue. It was him who actually rescued Stephen from mugging and brought him to Kamar-Taj to learn magic. He was Stephen's mentor and also a very close friend. He loved Stephen."
"Gee, if he treats his loved ones like this, I don't want to know how he treats his enemies."
Wong shook his head grimly. "You really don't want to know."
"I was being sarcastic."
"I know. But I was being serious. Mordo believes there are too many sorcerers in the world so he wants to get rid of them by getting rid of their magic. Some people rely on magic to live or to function which were the reasons they went to learn magic in the first place. Mordo doesn't care if a person died, maimed, or gravely injured as long as he gets rid of their magic."
Tony didn't know how to respond to that. "He sounds… intense."
"Yes."
"How is Stephen still alive?" It was weird to refer to Strange by first name but he already did it to place the doctor earlier so might as well stick to it. "Not that I'm complaining because I still have a lot of questions to ask him. I'm sure Spider-Man is quite attached to the guy. And you said Mordo loved him."
"Stephen doesn't use magic to keep himself alive so he still lives even when he loses his magic. Which I think exactly what happened. Mordo absorbed his magic."
Tony's jaw dropped. "Can you actually do that?"
"Yes. He has been doing that to a lot of sorcerers. I heard it's a physically painful process. Poor Stephen. Magic is his salvation and redemption. He believes he can help more people by using his magic rather than his old way of being a doctor."
Tony filed these facts about something to investigate. He could totally sympathize with Stephen. "If this Mordo guy only wanted to get rid of Stephen's magic, why did he keep him all these months? Why did he torture him? "
"I was not joking when I said Mordo loved Stephen, even obsessed with him since the Hong Kong incident." Tony made a mental note to ask about Hong Kong later. "Perhaps he still loves him even now in his twisted way. He knows Stephen is not selfish as he doesn't use magic to heal his hands. He believes Stephen is misguided. He wants Stephen to follow his footsteps and got rid of sorcerers. From what I gathered from Mordo's followers who we have apprehended, their torture sessions were parts of their attempts to brainwash him to follow Mordo. Most of Mordo's followers are normal people who hate magic either because of their ignorance or they have been victimized by magic in some ways. I think they just vented their hatred on Stephen as he was an easy target when Mordo was not looking. Mordo most likely looked the other way as long as their attempts don't kill Stephen. He needs his followers."
"Ugh, I hate zealots. How did you find out about them? I took it that you found Strange by accident."
"They were trying to summon an eldritch god by using human sacrifice. We managed to stop them in time. Mordo was unfortunately not among those who we apprehended."
"Is virgin sacrifice still a thing? No wonder Strange was so uptight, he never got laid."
Wong stared at him. Unlike Fury's stare, Wong's stare made him feel like as a schoolboy caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "Stephen was not the sacrifice. We just happened to find him chained in the basement when we scoured the whole place."
"That didn't exactly answer my question but never mind. Strange was so powerful. For Odin's sake, he went toe-to-toe with Thanos and could have won if that purple bastard didn't have the infinity stones. How could he get taken down by those zealots?"
"Do you remember that all those people returning from their deaths? They said they were disoriented once they stepped through the portal into the living. It took a while for them to get their bearings and think properly."
"I've heard of it from some of the Avengers."
"We presume Stephen was taken as soon as he stepped through the portal. That was the reason he couldn't find him. He was disoriented. He also sustained some heavy injuries from his torture session and battles. He was practically defenceless. Mordo took advantage of that. He then took Stephen's magic and also chained him using an anti-magic relic so he had no chance to channel or use his magic for self-defence."
Tony made a mental note that such relics exist. It could be useful against sorcerers who had gone bad. "Where was his cape? That cape of his could defend him. I've seen it in action."
"Mordo managed to capture the Cloak of Levitation and put it in a magical containment. We found it at the house where we found Stephen."
Tony decided that this Mordo guy was extremely dangerous. He anticipated everything about Stephen and came fully prepared. "Where is the cape? I thought it is inseparable from the doctor."
"It is. However, Stephen is nervous when he is near magic or magical items. It's understandable after what Mordo did to him. I asked the Cloak to stay behind until Stephen gains his memory back."
"How could he suffer from amnesia? Did Mordo also take away his memory? That guy is ruthless and methodical."
"He certainly is. He is also Stephen's teacher so he knows a lot of things that Stephen knows. I'm not sure why Mordo took his memory if he wanted Stephen to see his error ways and to follow him willingly. It's very likely that Stephen was stubborn even under torture so he took away his memory to make it easier for him to change his mind. Have you heard of the term tabula rasa? It's easier to mold somone's mind during tabula rasa. He might return his memory later once he complied completely."
Tony involuntarily shuddered. "In that case, are you sure that Stephen won't attack anyone? Who knows how far his brainwashing has gone?"
"We have removed any magical parasites, influences, and injuries from Stephen unless we miss something if Mordo learned some magic that we don't know of. I don't discount that possibility. We have even restored Stephen's memory via magic but he still doesn't remember so it can be that Mordo is more powerful than any of us or it can be psychological. As whether he is safe, he hasn't tried to attack anyone who approaches him. In fact, he is scared of most people. But I can't guarantee that it won't happen. I thought the Avengers are the Earth's Mightiest Heroes. They certainly could handle someone like Stephen who doesn't have any power at the moment."
"We could but I don't know that we should." Looking at Wong's raised eyebrows he quickly added, "Since I kinda owe Stephen my life, I'll protect him for now but if he attacks someone, I'll lock him up so he won't harm anybody including himself."
"Fair enough."
"But once you get Mordo, he is your responsibility."
"That's fine. Thank you for helping."
Tony really didn't know what to say when people expressed gratitude "It's nothing. It's lonely up here since most Avengers are gone on holiday. I might enjoy his company when he is not being purposefully annoying. Is Mordo going to try to get Stephen back? Won't this building in danger?"
"Mordo definitely will want to get Stephen back. All the masters will help to protect this building with all necessary means. You can call us anytime we want."
"Using telepathy? Ravens? Ouija board?"
Wong stared at him. "I can see that you and Stephen should get along really well. We do have this wonderful magical invention called the cell phones."
Helen chose that time to come out from her examination. "I asked him to lie down first because he was exhausted."
Tony asked, "So what's the prognosis?"
"The good news is he doesn't have any life threatening condition although he is severely malnourished and dehydrated. He also has a lot of bruises, cuts, and burns which I believe come from electrical equipments. There is no broken bone. Whoever did to him made sure he wouldn't die but would let him suffer from maximum pain." Tony shuddered when he heard that. Even Wong looked shocked.
"He needs plenty of liquid, nutrition, and rest. Also no stress or pressure for him. The main problem is his memory and almost childlike behaviour. He doesn't remember his name or anything about himself. He also can't recall what happened to him. I'm not a psychiatrist but I think he may have suffered from dissociative amnesia which is a way to cope with what happened to him while being helpless. I suggest you find him a good psychiatrist. I can recommend some. There are some instances that someone with dissociative amnesia can get his memory back when his traumatic situations are removed without any psychiatrist's help."
They looked at Strange's direction to gauge his condition and discuss his options. They were surprised that Spider-Man was in the examination room with him. He must have swung in via the window.
Tony was about to rush in to stop their interaction but Wong stopped him.
"Perhaps this will be a good indicator about what to do with Stephen. I believe he likes Spider-Man so even in his current state, their interaction might be beneficial for him. Besides, he has no power so there is no way he can harm Spider-Man even if he wants to. Just watch and if we need to intervene, we can get there within one millisecond."
Tony nodded and hoped Wong was right. Dr. Cho also nodded.
Notes:
-Someone asked why I didn't mention how Thanos was defeated. The reason was because I'm no Russo brothers so anything I write will be 100% wrong and this is not the focus of the fic. Here is how the Infinity War ended in the comic: polygon dot com/2018/5/1/17302206/avengers-infinity-war-after-marvel-comics
In the comic, nearly all the heroes died when they fought against Thanos, Silver Surfer and Doctor Strange didn't die. They also didn't die about Thanos' fingersnap. If I remember correctly, they also helped (goaded) Nebula to undo Thanos' fingersnap.
Some people reported there were some BTS pictures about the original Avengers in their 2012 outfit plus Ant Man and Loki in his old costume. So it's likely somehow they travel back in time most likely to collect the Infinity Stones before Thanos did. Most likely it would be Nebula who undid the snap if they want to stick to the comics.
-This chapter certainly went darker than what I intended to write when I started this story. But not to worry, I usually like writing the comfort part more than the hurt part and there will be some humor, fluff, and friendship stuffs. Please kindly tell me what you think of it so far.
