"This shelf is dusty…"

The servant nodded, looking nervous but not afraid. His master had been in a very good mood, lately, and that made things more relaxed at the Port of Knowhere. It was the kind of thing that trickled down from the top and even reached the servants.

"Yes, my lord." No arguments. No mentioning that the display on the shelf was a dirt from a world that was long gone, and that the dirt frequently found its way through the container that held it. None of them knew why, and it was a source of great mystery to them (mainly the Collector) as to how it could move through a solid container seemingly at will. And how it would attract to itself so much that picking up a single handful of the stuff would find the rest of it clinging to that small amount. "I'll have it put back in the glass, immediately."

"Do that."

Taneleer looked at the other displays in the area but everything was in order. Right up until it wasn't.

The alarm wasn't a blaring one. It was actually more of a mental warning that something was going on – and someone was in a place that he wouldn't, necessarily, welcome them. The Collector frowned and looked toward the entrance even as another servant hurried over.

"A visitor, my lord," she told him. "In the main foyer."

He nodded, acknowledging the alert but not thanking her, and made his way to the foyer in question. There were several, after all. The place was enormous.

OOOOOOOOO

The magician was waiting for him, standing next to a suit of armor that had once belonged to a different magician. One who was a legend among the people of his own world and those of many other lands where the tales of his exploits had spread after he'd been eaten by a dragon. Taneleer knew the legends well – and he had the dragon in one of his larger displays, still shooting the occasional puff of steam from its nostrils whenever someone came close to it.

"I must say," Taneleer said as he walked over. "Your people have certainly drawn my attention."

Strange shrugged his acceptance of that.

"We're like that, sometimes," he said. "One millennium we're quiet and unassuming, the next we're changing the universe."

"Are you here to sell me your stone?"

"No."

He was wearing it, though, Taneleer knew. The pendant held the stone within. Its presence sang to him a sweet sound of temptation.

"Then what?"

"I'm looking for something," was the reply.

"Look elsewhere," Taneleer said, suddenly annoyed.

"I need information, Taneleer," Strange told him, deciding to go the less formal route in the negotiations. "I'm looking for an artifact. Something that can transport a person from one reality into another."

"Many things can do that," he pointed out. "Go look somewhere else. I'm not in the habit of sharing my possessions."

Stephen had used a spell to get the description of the figurine from Pete's mind, and he used another spell in order to project an image of the small statue onto the palm of his hand.

"Do you know what this is?"

"Of course I do." Annoyed or not he couldn't help himself. He was too arrogant to be able to hide the fact that he knew it all. "It's a Linkpin."

"A Linkpin?"

The Collector shrugged.

"That's what I know it as," he said. "The beings that made it probably called it something else, entirely. It's a classic bridge to other realities."

"Do you have it in your collection?"

"Unfortunately, no. Or maybe it's just as well, since I don't have to worry about you wanting to take it from me, this way."

Strange ignored that.

"Any suggestions where I might look?"

"If I knew where to find it, don't you think I would possess it, by now?"

"You know where the time stone is," the sorcerer supreme pointed out.

That, of course, made Taneleer scowl.

"The time stone is different," he said. "The power stones exist in every reality."

"This Linkpin doesn't?" Strange asked, surprised.

"There are only two," the Collector told him. "At least, only two that I have found. It is the rarest artifact in any universe."

"That's impossible."

"Who's to say what is possible and what isn't?" The ancient being looked at him, interested. "What do you want with it?"

Now Strange hesitated. The Collector wasn't an evil demon, or anything, but he wasn't one to open up to either, really.

"Let's just say something is here that doesn't belong here and I'm looking to return it where it belongs – and it appears that the Linkpin was the portal."

"That's incredible." The Collector shook his head. "There is one in this reality. I've possessed it. But no longer."

"What happened to it?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

The sorcerer shrugged.

"At this point, I'm ready to believe anything."

"It was swallowed. By a Flerkin."

OOOOOOOOO

"Hey, handsome…" the sultry voice said, murmuring into Peter's ear. "Wanna make out?"

The boy laughed. Both because he'd seen very little of Natasha the past couple of days, and because Pete was staring at them from across the table.

"You're going to confuse him," Tony told the superspy, also amused at Pete's reaction to the way Romanoff had sauntered into the room, made a bee-line for their table and had immediately come in from behind Peter for a hug. "You're supposed to be dating Stephen. Not our sixteen-year-old."

"He's cute, though," she said, pressing a kiss against Peter's cheek before moving away so she could claim the seat between the two boys – across from Pepper and Tony. "If he were ten years older – ish – Stephen would have competition."

Peter blushed with pleasure at the compliment and ignored his chicken for the moment.

"Have you heard from him?"

"Very briefly," she said. "Before he left for the Collector's."

"He's not back, yet?" Pete asked.

"Not from what I've heard." She looked at Peter, pointedly. "Is he?"

He hesitated. She knew that he didn't have a clue. But she also knew that if the mind stone was willing to provide the information, then Peter could find out. Sure enough – either because he really was curious, or because the mind stone liked Natasha and wanted her to have an answer – there was a momentary vision in his mind.

"He's still in Knowhere."

"What?" Tony was confused. "Where?"

"Knowhere," Pete replied before Peter could. "That's where the Collector operates out of. And where a large portion of his collection is stashed."

"Very good, Pete," Natasha said, clearly impressed.

The boy blushed, but looked pleased with himself.

"Thanks."

"How did you like Peter's practice, this afternoon?"

"It was crazy," he replied. "I know all of those people but there are just enough differences that they're not the people that I know."

"Especially MJ," Peter said. He smiled. "He's dating her in his reality."

"Really?" She didn't look that surprised, though. "Does she know you're Spiderman, there?"

"Everyone knows," Tony told her. "He outed himself with a wardrobe malfunction."

"Oh?"

Pete nodded.

"It's pretty cool," he admitted. "I got a handshake and an award from the governor."

"Wow."

"And he has an addendum to his license that lets him drive in the city – even though he isn't old enough," Peter added.

"That's interesting." She looked at Peter, and then at Tony, speculatively, but then changed the conversation before they could figure out what she was thinking. "What are you doing, this evening?"

Pepper made a show of rolling her eyes.

"Pete and Tony want to show us their pumpkin chucker designs," she replied. "So we will be spending the next hour, or so, watching to see if they're the geniuses that they think they are – or if there are going to be pieces of zucchinis exploding in their faces."

"There isn't any gunpowder in the prototypes," Pete said, smiling. He was looking forward to showing off what he'd done. What he and tony freaking Stark had done. "No explosion."

"Clearly you haven't built anything with Tony before," pepper told him, cheerfully.

True.