I stared at the Sorceror across the room from me, "So let me get this straight. The Brother gods don't care what we do on Remnant as long as we don't add or remove any souls from the local cycle of reincarnation."

Strange nodded, "As far as they are concerned, your arrival onto remnant is a natural change that is present in the wider multiverse and since they have decided to simply leave Remnant to its own devices, they would not protect them against what may stumble across their world. The fact that we are benevolent is just Remnant having some good luck for once."

I contemplated what exactly that meant. "And does Aggamoto have any opinions on the Brother Gods? Should Remnant be eagerly awaiting their return?"

"Eh, From his conversation with them, they seem to mostly be wrapped up in their domains. I suppose they might get angry if the people of Remnant tried to trick them again, or maybe if they tried to infringe upon their domains. Though the God of Light has been following the creation of Penny and when we passed on your inquiry as to his opinion on that, he seemed to be quite proud that humans had reached so far without his guidance."

I smiled and nodded, "I suppose that establishes what we can and can't do quite well. We can't remove anyone from Remnant long term since I suppose them dying on another world would count as removing them from the cycle. That might not actually be the case, but we should probably err on the side of caution."

As Strange turned to leave, I called out to him, "So, how have things been going with Clea?"

Strange walked into the door in surprise, "How did you know about that?"

"You did have Spider-woman show her around New York, and you didn't ask her to keep it quiet," I stated jovially.

Strange massaged the bridge of his nose and walked back over, "Let me guess. They gossiped?"

"Well, they made conversation, if you want to call that gossiping, then I suppose they did." I offered, "So, are you preparing to overthrow Dormammu any time soon? Put Clea on the throne of the Dark Dimension?"

"Nothing so grand, as of now." Strange waved me off. "When Spider-Woman shared the information she had regarding my life from your world, I was surprised that this portrayal of me had found love in such an unconventional manner. Intrigued, I sought out Clea and found her to be a brilliant woman. I suppose that if anything should happen to Dormammu, I would support her ascendance, it would be quite beneficial to have a friendly face ruling the Dark Dimension for once."

"Any plans on arranging that something then? Perhaps as a gift to your beloved?" I asked as my tone shifts to a tease, "We are already preparing to take down one Demon Lord, Arranging for the devices being made available to you for a time once the battle with Trigon is over wouldn't be too difficult."

Strange looked at me and paused, "Could you get them set up in about a year?"

"An anniversary present?" I asked, "I approve! I might even be able to whip up some stuff to help you beyond that if you are giving me a time-frame like that. I recently discovered that one of the spells I picked up form Ahri is effectively a re-skinned blast of soul-fire. I do know that soul damage tends to be the sort of damage that very few beings can defend against."

"Unfortunately, Dormammu is one of those beings, The Mantra Engines Mercy is working on to weaken Trigon during the fight would likely be more helpful." Strange corrected.

I nodded, "By the way, do you have any information on celestially aligned energies? I've been toying with a few ideas for the fight with Trigon, but I don't want to build my prototype until I had a confirmation on the theories I was able to put together."

"I should have some texts covering similar magics, but knowing you, it will likely be of limited utility." he said.

I sigh, "I just wish that the Oans weren't so picky about the Empire of Tears stuff they have lying around. At this rate, I'm going to have to deal with the Controllers to get what I want."

"Have you managed to track them down?" He asked.

I rested my head against the table, "Actually, they just fucking showed up a couple of days ago. They found out that I was working to destroy Trigon and decided to investigate."

Strange looked at me, "Isn't that a good thing?"

"It would be if they weren't complete egotistical shitheads." I complain, "The arseholes want to deploy a fucking sun-eater as if they could keep control over it. They didn't even know that Mongul had taken over one of the things until I informed them, and then they realised that they didn't have any way to shut it down remotely. Now they want to use more sun-eaters to solve that problem, but the Oans and the Zamarons are both shutting them down."

"What." Strange's face was a perfect picture of shock.

I nod, "They are almost bigger fuckups than the Guardians themselves. The only reason they aren't is that the guardians are somehow worse.

Strange's cloak fluttered behind him, "Why are you dealing with these people again?"

"Because your equivalent is a body-snatching lich and the only Gods that we have contact with are the Olympians. I'm trying to get in touch with the Hindu Pantheon, Outside of the Silver City, they have the most powerful pantheon as far as I can tell, and I'm not sure if they can't take the Silver City either. They've been around a damn long time and they have a lot of followers, devoted ones too. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find a trustworthy priest to act as a go-between."

"What about Dr Mist?" He asked.

I shrugged, "Mostly to do with the African gods, including the Egyptian pantheon thankfully, Horus and Osiris have lent their blades, but he hasn't gone further east than turkey. I was hoping to check with you to see if the Hindu Pantheon here is the same one as it is over there. I know gods tend to have presences in multiple planes and this one is particularly close by."

Strange nodded, "The Hindu Pantheon has always had close ties with Kamar-Taj. If they are indeed the same pantheon, then they will likely make contact with you there."

He paused, "Don't you think this is overkill? From what it sounds like, you have four separate pantheons involved, a group of superhumans that come pretty close to a pantheon themselves, two separate inter-galactic police forces on top of your own preparations. Trigon is a threat, but don't you think that this is a waste of resources?"

I shrug, "A good portion of this exercise has been in building up my contacts in their universe, without the threat of Trigon, none of these people would have given me the time. In this universe, I have enough inroads that I can build up connections naturally. Unfortunately, I don't have contacts like that in that universe beyond the Justice League though Raven. I don't have access to people like you or groups like the Fantastic Four in that universe."

"I hope Trigon shows then, winding them all up like this could backfire." Strange warned me.

I grinned evilly, "Oh, he'll come all right, Dr Mist has been able to help me force the issue. We would have had to modify the ritual anyway to get him Eran, but the adaptation fo the Church of Blood's techniques should make sure that he shows up regardless of what he wants or not."

Strange nodded, "Let me guess, you are using the biotic generators to power a sacrificial summoning ritual."

I shrug, "Raven has agreed to act as a three-point focus, paired with the life-force we will be pumping into the ritual to power it, Trigon won't be able to avoid showing up."

We sat there in silence for a while.

Casting my mind back, I traced the topic of conversation before pausing, "Oh yeah, we were talking about Clea, weren't we. If you are already planning an anniversary present, things must be going quite well between the two of you. She's moved into the Sanctum Sanctorum, hasn't she?"

Strange nodded, "It's a little fast for my tastes, but I can't keep travelling to the Dark Dimension to see her and while her family does not track her, she does need a place to stay while she is here."

"You know, if you need the space, I have liquidated enough funds that I could buy you a flat or something."

"No, we can't risk her living outside the Sanctum Sanctorum since the protections there are what allow us to keep up the facade of her exploring the Far Realms, and I need to be there to perform my duties. It has been somewhat awkward, but it isn't a problem." Strange reassures me.

I nod, "But seriously, you have been an immense help, if there's anything I can do for you, just ask."

He pauses and looks at his hands.

"My hands... could you?" he asks shakily.

I pause.

"I'll have to speak with a few people, but we have options. I can get you fully featured prosthetics in as little as a few days. Repairing your hands themselves… I'll have to see. While it may be beyond me, Mercy is the single greatest medical mind her world has to offer and I might be able to get another individual that might be a better surgeon to lend her talents. Though she is far less likely to accept. Her students may be available and the one I'm thinking of ranks second." I mutter.

Strange stared at me n shock before his eyes fell to his scarred hands, "You think this can be undone?"

"I may want to speak to you about using IPCs for casting regenerative magics, it may even work in your scenario. If nothing else, I suppose the ultimate limit would be to hunt down one of the pseudo liches that I know, clone you a new body and shove you in that instead. Perhaps not the most honourable ways out, but hey, a bit of life extension ever went awry." I smile weakly at him.

He's still staring at his hands though, weakly considering what it was that I had just told him.

That something that had challenged him for years, for almost half a decade now, could just… be fixed.

"I… I need to think about this." He choked out.

I reached out and patted him on the shoulder, "Talk to Clea. It will help."

He nodded and stook, a glowing crimson pentagram carving itself into the floor beneath him before he vanished into a gout of flame.

I stared at the floorboards. "I'm going to have to pay damages again." I winced.