Lessons In Love: Chapter Twenty-Nine: Blood In The Cut (Part 2)
Dr. Strange didn't anticipate five people in the group. He was an expert at multitasking, but the current effort felt like babysitting.
He brought the entire group into the room that used to belong to the Ancient One, and he kept every single person locked in place. They all could see him, but they were unable to speak or move.
He wanted them quiet, as he waited for his comrades to show up. It was early in the morning...
Steve and Tony were probably eating bagels or some shit. Stephen thought nothing further about them. He looked at the five growing children that were in his space.
For him, that's exactly what they were. The oldest one was nineteen? That was basically an infant in his mind.
The oldest infant kept looking at his amulet. The Eye of Agamotto was draped over his chest, and the younger version of Stephen wanted it. He read all about it, and saw the illustrations in those odd books.
Stephen needed it to fulfill the directions. He read about a recipe for bringing life back to the dead.
"The amount of you complicates things, but I understand why the others are here."
The Sorcerer Supreme started talking to them. He was looking at Victor, and he could see what his younger self had planned. There was no harm in changing Victor's future. The older Stephen only saw that as a good thing.
The next silent person he looked at was Bucky Barnes. The "Surveillant Council" had him introduced to the super-serum. They fully intended to keep Steve and Bucky as a unit, because they both were like fish out of water.
That made sense, but he knew that the serum had a different effect on Bucky's mental state. It brought out what was hidden within.
That whole mess was a territory that would belong to the older Steve. Stephen didn't intend to mess with them, or separate them for any reason.
Stephen intended to have his younger self train with Victor. They would both receive a focused training by a very special instructor.
The odd ball was Tony Stark. Stephen looked at the younger version of him, and he gently smiled again. Tony always amused him, and of course that jurisdiction would go to the older version of Tony. He would be trained as the fireball saw fit.
And that was that. Dr. Strange concluded the plans in his mind, but he did not release the hold on them. He started peering around in their minds.
He invaded them all, in order to figure out exactly how the group had inter-mixed. He discovered that there was a tense hostility brewing between Bucky and Tony.
He also picked up on Victor's sadness, and the confusion that was settling between Bucky and Steve. Next, the sorcerer picked up all the anger and animosity that was taking root between Stephen and Bucky.
All of that made him conclude that Bucky Barnes needed the most work. He didn't necessarily need the most attention, but the older Stephen started planning something for him in his mind.
He dropped them all from his hold. They all gasped loudly, and gratefully moved their bodies around.
The noise and chatter immediately started up, and five buckets appeared before them.
"The floors and walls of this temple need to be cleaned."
Dr. Stephen Strange added water and sponges to the buckets, and he heard a few people awkwardly laugh.
"You will not be leaving, until I take you home. You also will not eat until this place shines."
He added the soap to the buckets, with all of his supreme capabilities, then he started hearing very random and intense outbursts from the group. One of them told him to go to hell. Another one said that he was already starving.
The older Stephen didn't care. He explained where the pump was for them to draw out more water, and then he disappeared.
Stephen wanted them to start working their issues out, before any training would begin. That was a lesson he learned the hard way from the Ancient One, and it was something that felt necessary to pay forward.
The sorcerer left them to clean, and the small group looked amongst themselves. Uhhhh, none of them wanted to scrub that shit. The place was huge and weird. Tony was the first one to branch off from the pack.
He started looking at all the voodoo stuff. Steve was the one that picked up one of the buckets. His focus went straight to Bucky, because they really needed to talk.
"So if we scrub the floors, we eat?"
Victor was still hungry. His young voice filled the room. Everyone looked at him, and his older brother sighed.
"I guess. We also might get an explanation out of it. So, let's ..go."
Stephen grabbed two buckets. He glared over in Steve and Bucky's direction, and he made sure to distance himself from them. The brothers picked a nice spot to get to work, and they ignored the others completely.
Chapter: END
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