At long last, an update! Honestly, I'm not that happy with this one. Writing it was a bit like pulling teeth. Some days I only managed a couple of sentences. Maybe the trouble was that this was more exposition-y/observatory without much direct interaction. Still, I hope you like it, or at least don't think it's too terrible.
Stephen didn't stay for long once Tony delved into the information SHIELD had handed over. But he hesitated on his way out, looking back at his… His Tony. He wasn't sure if Thor had been included in the files, but he and Loki were brothers, for better or worse. It would be shocking – pun not intended – if the God of Thunder didn't show up at some point.
"Make sure your suit can handle a lightning storm, if it doesn't already," Stephen said abruptly. He watched as Tony jerked his head up, yanked out of his train of thought. "Just in case."
Ascertaining that Tony did, indeed, hear him, Stephen nodded and exited the floor.
In all their time together, Stephen still held tightly to his secrecy. Partly out of habit. Partly out of caution. But he'd softened around the edges as well, offering up advice and hints and thoughts about things that he shouldn't know. Offering up more and more pieces of himself.
He had no idea what Tony thought of his origins, of his past and his present, but he would be surprised if it was anything close to the truth. He was certain he hadn't left enough breadcrumbs for that.
Sometimes he had fleeting thoughts of telling Tony at least of the existence of magic. But it was too soon, wasn't it? Stephen's sense of time was skewed, he would admit. He had to think about it, to count the months, and then years. Two years wasn't that long, was it? Especially when they spent more time apart than together as humans.
As an animal, on the other hand, Stephen had spent the better part of four years in Tony's company. The problem being that Tony didn't know that his Stephen was also Dr. Strange. It made things rather one-sided in certain respects, which just had him circling back around to whether they could or should stay together, whether he should say anything to Tony and what he should say.
Whether it was even a good idea for the world at large, should Tony Stark discover magic.
This might have been one of the healthiest and most meaningful relationships he had ever had. He didn't want to lose it, but he wasn't sure how to keep it.
Thoughts spinning, he blocked it all out to focus on the current crisis. Regardless of his personal life, there were other things to worry about.
As soon as he was out of camera range, he portalled into one of the tower's blind spots and shifted into his cat shape to make his way to bed. He played a delicate sort of game to keep Tony from realizing that he had never seen Stephen and Strange in the same place at the same time. Occasional casual and off-hand comments about Tony's dog – how he was sleeping or made a good guard – to make it seem like the doctor had run across him. Sometimes making himself known in animal form the instant 'Vincent' left, as if he had been in the room or nearby all along. It seemed to have worked so far. The only hiccup might be if Tony outright asked JARVIS if the two had ever been in a room together, but Stephen couldn't imagine why he ever would.
He sighed and curled up on top of the bed, tucking his nose under his tail. He'd have at least a couple of hours to doze while his astral body was monitoring SHIELD's base and coming up with his own contingency plans.
If only he knew what Loki's goal was.
It was hours of bored, invisible hovering before there was any sort of commotion. Stephen had returned to his body only once to check on Tony. The inventor had welcomed him absently, at that point consumed by pages and pages of astrophysics.
Stephen dropped off a bottle of water and left him to it. He preferred to astral project in private than risk a panic if someone tried to wake him and couldn't. It wasn't uncommon not to feel something happening with his physical body while he was away, and it was always a pain in the ass when his body disappeared on him.
In any case, it seemed like his patience had paid off for the moment. Fury's attention drew his, and he studied the computer screen, memorizing the background so that he could portal to it.
Too obvious, he thought. It was unlikely that Loki would be caught on security cameras unless he wanted to be.
But, trap or distraction, it was the only lead he had. The only lead SHIELD had, and they were jumping on it. If nothing else panned out, he should probably be nearby to reduce collateral damage.
Stephen lingered only long enough to see who would be sent out on the retrieval team. Then he returned to his body, detouring to peek in on Tony. Who was also suiting up.
It was a tossup whether Fury had actually called him in, or if the genius had been keeping his own electronic eye out.
"Sir has gone on an emergency trip and does not know when he will return, although he believes it should not last longer than a day or three," JARVIS informed him the moment he sat up.
Stephen mewed in acknowledgement and appreciation. He stretched, claws kneading the blankets, before hopping down to the floor and exiting the bedroom. He had his own emergency trip to go on. Stuttgart, Germany was going to be popular tonight. If he was extremely lucky, he might be able to cut off the worst of the chaos before it even began.
But he wouldn't hold his breath.
Stephen stepped from bright afternoon into darkness, eyes taking a moment to adjust to the transition from overhead sunlight to twilit streets. No one paid any attention to him as he lingered across the wide street from what looked to be a museum.
The street lights were on, the sky darkening quickly as early arrivals trickled in. People in their formalwear lingered on the red carpets, the doors just opening for whatever gala was being held.
Stephen closed his eyes to better concentrate on the faint feeling of Loki's presence. The god wasn't trying very hard to remain hidden. Or perhaps he hadn't recovered much at all, had expended too much of his remaining power, and this was the best he could do.
The sorcerer drifted forward, the change from robes and Cloak to black suit and red tie instantaneous as he stepped onto the crosswalk. No one paid him the slightest bit of attention, not even as he squeezed past both doorman and security.
A gentle hand patted his tie as he looked around. This incarnation of the Cloak seemed much less reluctant to fold into such small shapes than his other. Perhaps it came of being required to spend so much time around Stephen's neck in one of his animal forms, since it didn't wish to be parted from him for long stretches of time. He wished that he could at least offer it a shape closer in size to its own, but the men's formal fashions of this time meant that even a dark red jacket would stand out. Every man he'd seen so far was in some shade of black.
The Cloak pressed subtly against his chest in either acknowledgment or reassurance.
He also wished, as he let the distraction field slip away, that he had learned German at some point. The closest he could come was Old Norse, which was hardly helpful when the speakers were modern Germans.
He had no idea what the gala was for, much less what Loki might want here.
Stephen moved towards the stairs with purpose, every inch of him looking as though he belonged. The string quartet was just warming up off to the side, flutes of champagne neatly arranged were available for the guests, and a lone microphone was standing at the base of the main staircase. Which probably meant…
The sorcerer was prepared when a man with a lanyard stepped forward on his approach. Without breaking stride, he flashed an illusory badge and passed unopposed. He needed the higher ground to keep a better eye on the entire floor without being immediately noticed, and he needed to search the upper floors to see if his target had set up somewhere unnoticed or left traps behind.
It meant that the areas beneath the second-floor walkway would be large blind spots, but he'd be able to see the ripple of the crowd in response if anything alarming happened, and he wouldn't be trapped within the throng of people and unable to act.
He also wouldn't be close enough to sense if a particular guest was, in fact, a shapeshifter, but he was banking on the Asgardian prince not having enough energy for that sort of disguise.
It took Stephen longer than he expected to search the upper floors, moving from the top down as he checked for traps and tried to track Loki's energy without being caught. It must have been well over an hour later when he'd reached one of the last offices on the second floor. The Asgardian had apparently spent his time there, and Stephen examined it closely, hoping for some sort of clue.
Of course, that was when the god himself strode past the, thankfully, closed door. Stephen thought his heart might have stopped for a moment, and he immediately yanked his magic in close. As careful as he had been to hide himself, panic and Loki's nearness had him contracting his energies to an uncomfortable degree.
Stephen breathed, pressed against the wall with one hand on the doorhandle, counting the seconds and estimating when Loki would reach the staircase. He eased the door open, peering out just far enough to check that the hallway was empty before stepping out and heading for the balcony area about a quarter of the way around from the main staircase. His tie twisted, stretched, and billowed into the Cloak. It levitated him just above the marble floors for the short distance, its attempt at helping him to move silently.
Stephen crouched just out of immediate sight of the people below, wishing that the lights weren't so bright as he approached the balustrade. Between the balusters, he caught sight of Loki making his way down the stairs.
Almost immediately, the near-skeletal male caught the attention of the rest of the crowd as he swung his scepter into the security guard who approached him, and then grabbed hold of the speaker to haul him over to a cracked, stone altar and slam him on top of it.
The attendees cried out in shock and froze in place, staring at the spectacle.
Stephen wanted to shout at them to move. To stop being useless fools and at least try to get out while they could.
Most of his concentration was focused on the spellwork hooked into and infecting Loki's core and free will. If he had any chance of freeing the god, he would need to study him closely with his third eye.
And if it also distracted him from one of the things he'd hated most about being Sorcerer Supreme…that was just a silver lining.
All of his self-imposed missions since arriving in this universe had been relatively straightforward. Not easy, of course, but the beings trespassing on this world wanted destruction, or enslavement, or were just lost, and many of the battles took place on a different plane or away from crowds.
This was the first time he'd been forced to choose in this world. To sacrifice one – someone aside from himself – to save many.
Because he didn't know how closely Thanos and his allies might be watching. How much they could see through Loki. He wanted to keep the presence of powerful magic on Earth as secret as possible.
And because, while Loki kept the Mind Stone close, the Space Stone was still hidden. Stephen might have decades with which to search for it, but there was no telling what its current guards would do in the meantime. Not to mention that the puppet master would know exactly where to go to pick it up, and wouldn't let anything get in his way. The last thing the sorcerer wanted was Thanos setting foot anywhere near Earth, much less on it.
Also partly because it was ingrained to keep magic a secret from the general public, and any move he made here would of necessity be public. Although of course he valued lives more than secrecy, and without a background here, unaffiliated with Kamar-Taj, it would be easy to sell himself as Asgardian or something.
Stephen's jaw clenched when the man thrashed and screamed, his voice soon drowned out by the screams of fleeing attendees. He slipped into the calm mindset of a surgeon mid-procedure. The god appeared to be extracting an eyeball with some sort of purely human technology. Necessary for a retina scan, probably. He couldn't think of anything else an eyeball might be used for in this time and place. So who was this speaker and what did he guard? What was Loki after?
Stephen didn't recognize the man at all, and didn't know if he was supposed to. For all the reading he'd done in an attempt to acclimate, he wasn't exactly on par with a native. He had enough trouble separating the similar histories of the two universes in his mind.
He was glad when the man passed out. At least he could escape the pain for a little while, but the shock might still kill him.
Stephen's heart was racing; he ignored the shards of pain as he clenched and unclenched his fists in his impatience. The moment Loki reached the doors as he stalked after the fleeing crowd, Stephen launched himself over the balustrade. He trusted the Cloak to direct him safely to the victim's side as he sent an eavesdropping spell trailing after the god. He would hear whatever was happening outside, and see it whenever he closed his eyes.
Then the doctor set to work. This might not be his specialty, but he did know enough not to make things worse. He'd picked up quite a bit of field medicine over the centuries.
Honestly, unless the man went into shock, this type of injury was unlikely to result in death. So long as the device did not reach beyond the eyeball, of course, or introduce some sort of infection.
A twitch of his fingers summoned sterile wipes, tape, a dome-shaped eye shield, and a heavy blanket. Only a corner of his mind paid attention to the noise outside – screams and sirens, mostly – and the glimpses of chaos whenever he blinked. Working as quickly as he could, Stephen wiped away some of the blood and secured the shield to the socket, knowing better than to put any pressure on it. One of the most basic of spells was applied to subtly promote healing and discourage infection.
Then he undid the bowtie, ripped open the jacket and shirt, untucked the layers tucked into his pants, and wrapped him up in the thick blanket. Scattered buttons were a small price to pay, he thought. Since his hands weren't up for anything less damaging tonight.
More and more of his concentration shifted to what was happening outside, and by the time he'd gotten to the blanket Stephen was keeping one eye closed. The double vision was a rather disorienting, but Loki's speech was a concern. Not just grandstanding, but fervent and mad and contradictory.
"What the hell?" he muttered to himself as he checked on the unconscious security guard. Alive, still, but it was best not to move him until the paramedics got to him. About to leave now that there was nothing more he could do inside, he realized that he should probably let emergency services know. They'd probably received calls already, but Loki's grandstanding might have distracted from the injured men, and the god had already blown up at least one police car.
Did Loki honestly believe that humans were made for subjugation? And what did that say about the one who desired to rule them?
The speaker's phone was fished from on of his pockets, and Stephen placed a glowing hand on the screen, concentrating on the text of the message he was sending to emergency dispatch.
He closed his eyes just long enough to see the illusions flicker again. Then he headed for the exit and slipped into the shadows, only canceling his eavesdropping spell when he was within hearing distance.
This grandstanding was far more like Thor than Loki. And the god's magic appeared so weak, he barely seemed able to hold illusions of himself. Even if he disdained humans, thought them weak and so far beneath him, it was foolish to put on such an obvious and public display while hobbled.
Stephen frowned, examining the area around him. There was a trap in this somewhere. Obviously. In addition to a distraction.
He jerked when the scepter was leveled on an old man standing among the kneeling crowd. His fingertips grew warm with the urge to protect. But he could also sense the approach of one of SHIELD's quinjets. And if he could sense it then so could Loki, yet still he hesitated just long enough for the Captain to leap down.
Stephen's fingertips grew hotter as the pair fought in the middle of a fleeing crowd. He was prepared to shield the bystanders if it became necessary, but surprisingly enough any ricochet missed without is interference.
"Don't you dare," he snarled when some sort of large gun extended from the bottom of the plane, armed and ready as someone commanded Loki to stand down. "Don't you dare open fire in that crowd." It wouldn't stop or even really slow the god, but it could massacre the people around him.
Thankfully, the SHIELD agents seemed content for now to let the Captain get tossed around. And before it could go on for too long, Iron Man made his very on brand grand entrance. Complete with theme music.
Stephen rolled his eyes but couldn't help a small smirk. "Show off," he muttered.
He stayed long enough to watch them load the god onto the jet before attaching a tracking spell to it. He wouldn't be able to remain hidden from Loki if he tried to accompany them invisibly. The power required was too great for him to overlook in such close proximity, no matter how crippled Loki's magic might be at the moment. Plus, there was a good chance that someone would just run into him. The space was rather small, after all.
No, from here on it, Stephen would return to the Tower and then follow them in his astral form, until and unless his physical presence was required. Just in case they weren't heading to the helicarrier, he wanted to be able to find them. And Loki obviously wanted to go to wherever they were taking him, so Stephen wouldn't worry too much about any escape attempts until then.
The sorcerer portalled back, shifted mid-step, and then bolted down food and drink before curling up on a bed to send out his astral form. He would need the energy, and he'd learned to take breaks for water and food where he could. This might be his only chance for quite some time.
When his astral body returned to the marker he had placed, the quinjet had paused, hovering almost stationary in the air above a forest. And nowhere near the helicarrier. Its interior was alarmingly empty of anyone aside from the two pilots.
Not a good sign, he thought, fingers twitching. He floated in the direction of their gaze, searching the trees for some sign of the missing people.
A lightning strike certainly caught his attention.
"Dammit," Stephen muttered. Just what they needed. A volatile warrior prince in the middle of an already volatile situation. And who knew what was going to happen with the two brothers.
As he sped closer, he caught the familiar light of the repulsor boots rocketing through the air. It was too far away to see clearly, but Stephen assumed the other shape caught up with the armor to be Thor by the glimpse of a red cape and the feel of the large body. The two figures, locked together, streaked through the air, slammed against a rocky outcropping, and then slammed back into the forest in an explosion of splinters and dirt.
But where was…? Stephen spun, following the fain sense of the younger prince and managed to make out his shape sat upon a rocky ledge overlooking the battling figures.
No one was watching him. No one was standing guard.
"Loki had better have cursed you two," Stephen growled. Though he knew it was just two irresponsible, hot-headed, impulsive alphas butting heads. "Idiots!"
He could feel the protection spells he'd placed on the arc reactor in Tony's chest alerting him of the danger, and drawing energy to protect against Thor. Point to this God of Thunder; he honestly seemed less blood-thirsty than the one he'd known. Stephen was surprised the blonde wasn't raging, or shouting about the glory of battle.
How had Loki fallen into Thanos' hands, anyway? How long had he been prisoner, and what did his family know of it? Stephen couldn't guess at what the Asgardians planned to do at this stage, but he certainly couldn't depend on any of them to put Earth and its people first.
He ached to intervene with the fight, to get them to focus. To use his sharp tongue to expel at least some of his own tension and worry. He didn't like just standing by and watching while Tony was in danger. Even with the protection spells, it wasn't enough to quell his concern.
But he didn't want to leave Loki unsupervised either. Yes, he wanted to go where they were taking him, but that didn't mean he wouldn't cause some sort of mischief or delayed sabotage along the way.
Captain America's sudden presence – seriously, why was the uniform so gaudy – gave them pause, but Stephen feared he'd soon be watching a fight with an extra player and renewed enthusiasm.
He flinched back, shouting in surprise when Mjolnir struck the shield, the collision decimating the trees around the two in the aftershock. At least it also appeared to shock the trio back to their senses.
Long enough to collect Loki and make their way to the helicarrier, at any rate.