Show Yourself Into The Unknown
Summary: The one where Thanos is dead, Tony has weird dreams instead of nightmares, the Avengers watch dubious Disney movies and mystical creatures are more than real. Oh, and the Cloak totally ships it.
"Are you all packed?" Doctor Stephen Strange asked the very next morning as they gathered in front of the landing stripe of the Avengers Compound, looking at each of them in their winter gear, save for Loki, who didn't feel the cold as he was a Frost Giant and actually thrived in this weather, Vision and Nebula, who were an android and cyborg respectively so they weren't sensitive to the cold. Even Strange himself was bundled up in thicker blue robes and some yellow gloves to protect him from the cold, though both he and Wong insisted that living magic kept them warm enough even without heating or isolation spells being cast on their clothing. "I sure hope so because anyone who stays behind is left behind, to quote the Pirates of the Caribbean Pirate Code. We can't afford to waste any more time. Not when the dragon's location is now perfectly traceable."
"Yeah, we're all set, Doc," Tony found himself replying with fake cheer, not really looking forwards to this little excursion, for several reasons. And very few of them actually had to do with the confirmation he'd received as of last night as to 'Elsa's' true nature, though why she appeared to him like a star was beyond him. Hell, he was even looking forward to meeting her, even though he didn't believe he was the right choice to be her ... summoner or whatever. No, what really bothered Tony was much, much less supernatural. "North Norway, here we come."
The bitterness in his tone must have been obvious because Stephen sent him this soft, concerned glance before going back to stoic neutrality as he addressed them all. "If any of you should doubt their presence to this mission, now would be the time to back out. I'm not going to portal you all back one by one just because you got sick of the cold."
"Steve, I really think you and Barnes should stay back." Wilson, the only even remotely sane, though not very smart, of the former rouges all but pleaded with the Captain but Rogers was nothing if not idiotically stubborn, unconventionally so. Barnes, though, like a good best friend that he was, had no choice but to be with him 'till the end of the line' and as such was going with them, though he looked grim. Rogers obviously wasn't taking into account just how low the temperatures will be when they step through Stephen's portal or how the sudden change may affect him and Barnes, who have both spent seventy years in fucking ice.
'Then again, it hadn't really bothered them when they were teaming up on me in Siberia, either,' he thought bitterly but didn't allow himself to dwell on it too much. Not when he was probably about to step into the land of his own nightmares. Cold, snow, whipping winds and probably caves because where else would a dragon hide its very magical egg but a fucking cave? Tony wasn't comfortable with this. He wanted to back out. Stephen had probably even offered it for his benefit, knowing the struggle Tony dealt with regarding all those themes alone and it will only be worse when they're put together. A fucking nightmare, really. Maximoff couldn't have done a better job in creating a better torture method and she was sick in the head, no matter what anyone said to convince him otherwise. You do not join a terrorist organization just because you lost someone! At the very least not a Nazi one! Not HYDRA. But whatever. That wasn't the point. The point was that Tony should back out and just let the others take care of it, but there was only one small problem with all of that.
"We can't back out of a mission when we're needed just because it's a bit chilly, Sam," the blond supersoldier said with a chuckle and Tony saw Hope roll her eyes while Nebula gave one of those twitches of hers that indicated she wanted to reach for a knife so bad. Tony could agree with the sentiment. Though he would probably use the knife to end his own misery if he's given the chance. He's dealt with the 'Avengers' for long enough to realize any opportunity to free himself of them, even at the cost of his own life, was well worth it.
"I don't need you out there, Rogers," Strange corrected sharply, arching an eyebrow at him, unimpressed. "Mordo is a powerful, skilled, experienced sorcerer. I don't need strength and shields. I need speed, agility, maneuverability and adaptability at any given moment. Given you can't even fly, you are more of a liability and a nuisance even without counting for possible trauma-reactions you might experience along the way."
Well, Tony was pretty sure no one had put Rogers in his place as effectively, ever, as Stephen had. Then again, considering the urgency of the situation, it probably called for it or else petty in-fights might cost them a dragon. And seeing as to what the consequences of that might be and that it's Strange's duty to make sure that doesn't happen, the man was bound to be of a much shorter temperament while they are on this mission. Add to all of that that Stephen had no love lost towards Rogers and it made for a very snappy, very impatient Sorcerer Supreme and he wasn't even sorry about it. It at least got Rogers to shut up even if it didn't prevent him from mulishly going through the portal first when Stephen opened it. Tony was half expecting the sorcerer to just close it and leave the Captain wherever it is he had landed and for him to open another for the rest of them. If the situation were any less dire, Tony was sure his friend would have given into the temptation of stranding the man someplace unpleasant but it is what it is and Tony was instead grateful when the sorcerer was there to grab his wrist and lead him last through the spinning circle of sparks so no one would see his anxiety.
The world was washed in white when they stepped through, even if the sky was dark and they would have to hike during the night. Still, the winter landscape was beautiful, even though Tony was no fan of snow, woods or 60% of his company. The trees were covered in snow and ice, the ground as well, the white ice dust unblemished by anyone except a few stray creature's paw prints and the wind was surprisingly agreeable with them. What surprised Tony the most, though, was that it didn't appear to be all that cold.
"Man," Wilson muttered a few feet in front of him, huddling in on himself as though to preserve the warmth. "It's cold as fuck out here!"
"It's not that bad," Tony commented, having honestly expected much worse. The temperatures weren't low enough to trigger anxiety in him, for which he was grateful. "I've had worse." He was irked that Rogers didn't seem even remotely apologetic of guilty at hearing that. Barnes did and that guy had no place feeling any sort of guilt whatsoever. He had at least apologized, for both what HYDRA had made him do and for fighting against him in Siberia. As if any of it was really his fault. Even in Siberia, he was reacting to a situation Rogers had put him into.
"Not all of us have been to space, Tony," Natasha retorted and even she was trembling a little despite doing her best not to be bothered by the low temperature or at the very least not show it so obviously. He tried not to flinch, not to remind her what he'd been through out there, that if to anyone, this should be the worse for him, that such comments were only going to make it worse.
"You say that like it's something to be envied," Stephen, as always, took no bullshit and given the friendship they've been developing ever since the reversal of the Snap, Tony wasn't even surprised that the man had jumped to his rescue, so to speak. Not that he appreciated the comment for himself, either. Both he and Peter had been there right alongside Tony during the entire journey and they had no more a pleasant trip than Tony had. To be expected. When people think about traveling to space, they imagine some of those sci-fi movies where the protagonists meet a new alien race and either become allies or have to fight their way back to Earth lest they become lien chow.
The reality of Tony's first trip to space was much worse.
The reality of the second one was so much more nightmarish than anything a movie industry could hope to produce.
'They're just lucky Peter wasn't around. I don't think either Stephen or I would have appreciated them accidentally bringing the trauma and the nightmares back.'
"That aside," he rushed in, deciding this was just a waste of time, something they apparently didn't have all that much of given it was practically a race to a, of all things, dragon egg whose demise might lead to all of his hard work in saving the universe to be undone. Something he didn't really appreciate. "Which way do we go now, Doc? You said we can trace it now, so chop to it."
Strange sent one last glare at the redhead spy before letting it go and looking straight at Tony. "We portaled as close as we could. We'll have to go on foot from here, which isn't really ideal as the dragon's location could be just a few feet away or several miles. However, we have a strong reason to believe we're due further north."
"More north?! Why!? It's bellow freezing already!" Lang, who was already shivering, whined and Tony didn't blame him. He was surprised he wasn't joining him in suffering from the cold.
"There's less population further north, so it's more likely for a mother dragon to hide her egg there, away from the humans so intent on hunting her kind," Wong explained, already turning around to begin the march. "No more questions. Come. Time is slipping."
No one complained or made any arguments, following after the two sorcerers who seemed mostly unbothered by the weather. Then again, between their thick robes, heating spell and half of their time being spent practically at the bottom of Everest, they probably weren't. Tony wasn't suffering from the cold, either. IN fact, he seemed to be holding it together better than Rogers by a long shot. Though Barnes worried him a bit, seeing as his face had gone completely withdrawn and blank, almost reminding Tony of that day when he'd nearly shot him in the face in the UN building had it not been for his repulsor watch. Loki seemed fine, but the guy belonged to a race called Frost Giants so he figured that made sense, even though Thor seemed to be red-nosed next to him, but not suffering from the biting cold too much, either. Carol was like a living furnace between her powers and the Kree blood running through her veins and Rhodey seemed to be taking advantage of that, sticking as close to his almost-but-not-really-not-quite-yet girlfriend as he could get away with. Bruce seemed to be holding it together better than the rest of the group, but he'd shiver every now and then and Valkyrie, who had joined them on this quest to look after her king and prince - because they were, in her own eloquent words, complete morons - seemed intent on keeping herself warm by drinking enough of the good stuff Tony gave her as a present every time she stopped by. The woman deserved it for being such a badass. Vision and Nebula didn't seem too bothered either, though Tony worried a bit for their circuits. The cold could do some serious damage to mechanics.
They walked for what felt like hours, trying not to think about the actual passage of time or the distance they'd walked, afraid it might cost them their motivation to continue going forward. Tony kept a wary eye on their surroundings through the skying glasses he'd made out of his nanites, scanning everything in sight and trying not to shiver every time he saw a wolf or a bear come too close to their group, obviously hungry and drawn to human pray but always scuttling away with just a whiff of their scents, deeming them too big of a bite. Even a mama bear with two cubs just turned away, which Tony was grateful for. He wouldn't have been able to shoot at the animals and live with himself if he hurt them. Though he did wonder who or what had scared them away from them. Thor and the smell of lightning? Loki and his more dangerous true nature, his frigid cold? Banner and the Hulk resting deep within the short man's body? Carol's half-Kree scent? Or maybe the supersoldier pheromones that Rogers and Barnes probably didn't even realize humans still emitted, as science had proved? Or it could just be the madness rolling off of Maximoff in waves due to the nature of her powers even if she was perfectly calm right now. Well, she might be slightly pissed off due to the cold, but she wasn't in the mood to go around mindfucking people.
Either way they spent a good part of the first three hours of the night walking with barely a pause, weaving through the trees and avoiding any that had too much snow on their branches, before they seemed to be less dense in the upcoming area. Tony figured they were nearing a settlement and nearly sighed in relief. "If the place in front of us turns out to be the north pole or something and there are flying remainders with red glowing noses, short people with pointy ears and green weird-ass clothes and a chuckling fat man with a beard invites us to cookies, I'm gonna go back to Titan and put myself out of my miseries."
"If we do, I might go out of my way to slit some throats," Nebula said with nary a blink as she came to walk on his left, him being left to Strange as they marched through the deep, creaking snow. "What you described sounds disturbing."
"Isn't that the Santa Clause character you've explained to me once?" Tony chuckled at Nebula's alien-ess and Vision's continued naivety and almost childish curiosity. People really do tend to forget just how young the android is. Just because he carried one of the most powerful objects in the universe and had developed from an AI that had the Internet practically as its playground for years didn't erase the fact that Vision should be only a toddler. He didn't have most of the basic life experiences one gets as they age and live their lives. Viz deserved to be a child as much as he could, even if it was in rare instances as these.
"I guess we'll find out if the magic of Christmas is a real thing, right, Strange?"
The man in question just snorted at Barton but had no time to say anything when the Cloak suddenly tugged him to the side, pulling him out of the way of a sailing spear seconds before it could impale him. Immediately, everyone was in fighting stances, covered in armor, channeling Tesseract energy and lightning or brandishing magical shields. They could seriously use Peter and his spider senses right about now.
"To you left!" Tony heeded the instructions even before it registered that none of his teammates had spoken as yet another spear missed an tried not to panic when he realized the tip was glowing with a green energy that immediately melted the snow when it hit the ground in a fiery blaze. Just a graze of that would have put one of them in serious dangers of third degree burns.
"We're surrounded," Wong told them calmly, easily deflecting three arrows fired his way, even covering Lang's back when another spear nearly got him.
"It's not Mordo."
"Doesn't mean they're any less dangerous," Carol reminded Stephen, firing a photon blast where she caught movement through the trees but it would seem she'd done nothing more than melt snow in a straight line, which seemed to annoy her.
"Gather in a circle," Rhodey instructed, taking charge as he and Tony tried to scan the area, searching for heat signatures. "We need to watch each other's back or else we'll get picked out one by one and we don't know what or whom we're dealing with."
"From above!" Tony looked up and saw an archer, quickly pointing a repulsor at them and firing, breaking their branch and causing them to fall. He watched in astonishment as a gust of wind seemed to pick the archer out of thin air and land him on a second tree, on a thicker branch.
"Guys, these people have some weird sort of magic or something and I think it's connected to the forest!" He called out, taking to the air and doing a three sixty scan of the area. He nearly smashed into a tree when the wind picked up again, seemingly trapping him in a sphere. "Oh, hell to the no! I survived a fucking moon being thrown at me. No way is a bit of wind going to be my downfall."
"Stephen!"
"I got it," the Sorcerer Supreme called back to his sorcerer friend before the area lit up all around them and several dozen people cried out in pain as the light assaulted the eyes of everyone outside of the circle of Avengers. With the woods no longer so dark, everyone could easily make out where their attackers were hiding and they all set about apprehending as many of them as they could. Wong and Stephen proved invaluable in this endeavor as they used those red chain things to wrap them up and bring them before the group. "My name is Doctor Stephen Strange, Sorcerer Supreme of Earth and the Master of the New York Sanctum Sanctorum. State your intentions for attacking us."
The people, dressed in some sort of leather and furs outfits that looked to be almost from prehistory, stopped struggling and looked up at Stephen, something like relief and sheepishness bleeding into most of their demeanor. "We apologize, Master Strange, we thought you were another group of desecrators seeking out the Temple of Ahtohallan, trying to steal that which is not their's to have."
"We are the Sami from the magical community of Northuldra," a woman that seemed to have the most elaborate clothing said by way of greeting. "I am Aidna, one of the three leaders of our people, the huntress. I apologize for attacking you, but you must understand. For millennia, we have been tasked with protecting the Temple of Ahtohallan. It is our sworn duty yo keep it safe and given what has happened just last night, we are busier than ever. All who seek the dragon egg have come to our forest. We have trouble and little time to discern friend from foe."
"We are here to relieve you of your duties," Strange calmly said, releasing the hunting/warrior group. "It has been decided that Kamar-Taj will take in both dragon and dragon summoner for both their sake. Please, tell us where it is? Time is running out. We know of a sorcerer who will come for the egg and nothing good will result from it."
Aidna, who looked to be not that much older than Tony, shook her head sadly in a negative. "I wish I could assist you in this, Master Strange, but in this we can only assist the one whom the dragon calls."
"I thought the egg's location was lost ages ago. How did you know it?" Natasha asked, arching a suspicious eyebrow at the group. A young man about Rogers' real age, not counting the years in the ice, scuffed.
"Our people has been tasked with hiding and protecting the egg by the last dragons of Earth themselves. The Sorcerers Supreme of the past have acknowledge and approved of this decision. While we fall under the jurisdiction of Kamar-Taj, we are a separate group meant to protect this forest, the Temple it houses and the treasure which it hides. We have been doing so since the egg has been handed over to us and we will continue doing so until the summoner comes."
"You've just admitted that you're practically overwhelmed by people coming to search for the egg. Better ship it off to Hogwarts, where they have more people and better protections to keep it safe," Barton said casually, though he was glaring at the archer that Tony had nearly knocked down. It was clear he didn't really care what happened to the egg either way, he just wanted to show off he was the best archer and then go back to their warm Compound and hot chocolate.
"As Kamar-Taj guards the Eye of Agamotto and time itself, we guard the egg and the very key to the balance of the multiverse and it's continued existence. I'm afraid the answer is still no," Aidna said resolutely and Tony felt a bit of dread when Rogers stepped up, trying to loom over the shorter woman but she didn't back down, challenging him, standing her ground. Tony knew how much Rogers' couldn't stand someone standing their ground against him. He'd felt the consequences on his own skin, so he was quick to walk up to Aidna on the other side, offering his hand.
"Hey, if that's your deal, okay then," he ignored the offended cries and protests from his teammates, meeting Strange's eyes over her head on the other side, ignoring Rogers altogether. Aidna turned to regard him, suspicious, and he gave her his most charming smile, the ones he usually reserves for the kids he visits in schools, orphanages and hospitals, genuine but bright enough to light up their rough days and make them feel special for having his attention. Sometimes a little attention is all a child needs. Aidna didn't seem as taken by it, but Tony figured she just refused to risk being blindsided by charm and then tricked or assaulted. It was clear she took her job seriously and while her comparison to the protection of the Time Stone probably wasn't the best one, she didn't exactly know it's Keeper had went and given it up for the survival of one man. "Hello, I'm Tony Stark. You might have heard of me." He kept is hand extended even as he called back his nanites so he would seem more like a friendly than a potential enemy trying to screw her over. "As I was saying, if that's your deal, then so be it. But I insist that you let us stay and help you fight off any threats to the egg or your own community until the right person arrives. Do we have a deal?"
"Why didn't you think of that, oh master of bargains?" Tony overheard Wong mutter to Stephen but tried not to show any reactions to it, keeping instead his eyes locked with Aidna's. The woman was studying him in a way that almost made him feel uncomfortable but he was used to it. Wong and Strange sometimes did it, too, but this woman was a stranger so it was kind of unnerving.
Finally, she let out a sigh and gave a conceding nod, reaching for his hand for a shake. "Unfortunately, I will have to take you up on the offer. However, I don't think letting you near the Temple-" She stopped talking as soon as their hand touched and a jolt ran through them both, making him take his hand back with a flinch. Strange was on guard within the moment and the rest weren't behind him. However, Aidna's face showed only something akin to awe as she sated down at her hand where she had touched him before turning light green eyes on him and Tony grew uncomfortable as the awe intensified. "-at this time of night would be wise where safety is concerned. We have guards in place for tonight. First thing tomorrow, at dawn, we will lead you to the Temple of Ahtohallan, Tony Stark."
Tony blinked, not really expecting to get what they had wanted but glad they had gotten their way anyway. "Thank you. You honor us with your trust."
"It is we who should be honored by your generosity," the woman replies and even bows her head a little so Tony does the same, knowing some cultures did this to show gratitude and respect. He didn't want to offend them or westernize their obviously very old but holding strong culture. "Please come, my friends. We will provide you with accommodations for the night and take you to the Temple come dawn."
The Avengers all exchanged a look before Tony just shrugged and walked over to stand on Aidna's left. "Lead the way."
He did his best to ignore how giddy Elsa's song sounded as they walked in the night.
