As it turned out, the warning from Natasha came too late.

MJ was notorious among her classmates for being observant, but she wasn't the only one who was – of course. Not only was Ned intelligent and observant, but he knew Peter better than anyone alive, and was quick to catch on that something was up. Add in the fact that he was also aware that even things that seemed impossible weren't, necessarily, impossible. He knew about magic – real magic – and knew that if something weird was going to happen, it was going to happen at the sanctum, or at the compound.

And after a night and most of a day hanging around Peter and Benjamin, he was definitely getting his own spider senses that something was going on with the two.

OOOOOOO

"Hey, Doctor Strange…"

Stephen turned at the address, smiling when he saw Ned hurrying up behind him in the corridor.

"Hello, Ned," he replied. "Are you guys done swimming?"

The boy's hair was damp – a sure sign that he'd been in the pool (or the shower) and since it was after lunch, that was the most plausible reason for it.

"Yeah. Natasha was there."

The sorcerer supreme smiled at that, wondering if the boy was telling him so he'd know where his girlfriend was, or if he'd mentioned it because he'd been cheerful to have Romanoff around.

"Did she swim?"

"No. Played lifeguard."

"Ah. Where are Peter and Benjamin?"

Ned's expression changed just a little.

"They're checking on the pumpkin chuckers with Tony." A slight hesitation. "Can I ask you something, though?" he asked. "Since it's just the two of us…"

"Of course."

"What's the deal with Benjamin?"

Strange frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean… he's not really related to you, is he?"

"Why do you ask?"

"He doesn't look like you."

"Cousins rarely do," Stephen pointed out, skirting the lie. "There are too many genetic variables involved and-"

"He's Peter, isn't he?"

That brought Strange up short.

"What?"

"I mean, he isn't Peter…" Ned corrected himself, quickly. "Peter is Peter. But Benjamin is Peter, too, isn't he?"

"Why do you say that?"

The boy shrugged.

"He acts like him. And he talks like him. He doesn't sound like him," Ned added. "But he uses the same phrasing and has the same expressions and the same quirks. Likes the same food. The same everything."

"I'm sure it's simply a coincidence."

"So he isn't your cousin…"

Strange sighed. He was far too straight-forward to be a good liar.

"No."

"Then who is he?"

"That is a question that I'm not going to answer."

"But-"

"Nope." The sorcerer looked at his watch. "I need to get going," he said. And he really did. He had things to do, after all – and he didn't like being interrogated. Even by a sixteen-year-old. "I'm sure I don't need to point out that you shouldn't share your suspicions with your friends…?"

"I won't." His eyes lit up. "Is he a robot?"

"What?"

"A robot. Or a cyborg? Like Arnold S-"

"No." Strange rolled his eyes, amused and not trying to hard to hide it. "You'd have to verify with Tony, but I'm sure our technology isn't there, yet."

"An alien robot?" Ned asked, looking excited, now. "Built to look like Peter, and act like-"

"Goodbye, Ned."

The boy smiled.

"Bye."

Strange vanished and Ned shook his head, amazed as always when he did that. Magic was awesome.

OOOOOOOO

"So you ran away?"

"I didn't run away," Strange told Wong with a scowl. "I just didn't want to stay."

"So you ran away."

"I moved myself elsewhere," Stephen said. "I wanted to hear if you found anything."

"Nothing helpful." Wong sighed, leaning back in the chair he was sitting in. "I think the answer is the figurine, still."

"The figurine that vanished down the gullet of a Flerkin millennia ago?"

He couldn't help that he sounded sarcastic. Wong didn't mind. The other sorcerer smiled, slightly.

Flerkin have a pocket dimension inside them, right?"

"That's my understanding."

"What if they don't?"

"But they do. That's how they can eat things that are so much larger than they are."

"What if it isn't inside them, I mean?" Wong told the other man. "What if it's somewhere else…?"

"And…?"

"And what if every Flerkin uses the same pocket dimension?"

Strange was quick enough to understand what he meant, but he still hesitated as he processed it.

"It all goes to the same place, you mean? No matter which Flerkin swallowed it?"

"Right. It isn't, necessarily, a dumb idea…"

"And not impossible, I suppose. But how would that help us?"

"We have a Flerkin."

"Peter has a Flerkin," Stephen corrected. "But Nutmeg isn't going to be able to tell us where things go when he swallows them…"

"But we might be able to figure it out," Wong said. "And if we can, and it turns out to be a shared space, then maybe we'd find that figurine."

Strange shrugged.

"I'm willing to listen to any ideas you have on figuring that out."

"Still working on that," Wong admitted.

"It's something," he replied, sitting down. "Let's do some brainstorming."

OOOOOOOO

He chose Pepper.

Not because he thought she was weaker than Tony, or that he could trick her, or anything like that, but because he spent a lot of time with Pepper when she was driving him out to the compound from the tower. And sometimes while he waited for her to be ready to go. He liked her.

Besides, she would know what was going on as well as anyone.

Ned knew her well enough to know where she would be and since she wasn't in the garage watching as Peter put the final touches on his pumpkin chucker under the watchful eye of Tony and Benjamin the lounge was the best option. Pepper smiled when the boy walked over to the table.

"How is your chucker coming along?" she asked.

Ned grinned as he sat down.

"It's done."

She smiled.

"And..?" she asked. "How did it go?"

The boy shrugged.

"We can't test them now that they're built."

"What?"

"Tony says we have to wait until they're all at the farm. That way no one has an edge over anyone else."

That made Pepper smirk. Tony was so competitive. Luckily, all the kids knew that, too.

"It'll make it more interested, anyway."

"Yeah." He hesitated. "I need to ask you something…"

The clear change in his demeanor made her curious. Ned didn't hesitate or look uncomfortable very often – and he rarely warned anyone when he was going to ask them a question.

"Sounds serious."

"No. I mean… maybe."

"What is it?"

OOOOOOOOO

"Pepper needs you."

Tony wasn't the only one to look concerned at Friday's announcement. Peter and Pete both had excellent hearing, after all, and Stark wasn't wearing an ear bug.

"Is she alright?"

"She is uninjured. Do not panic."

"Where is she?"

Tony didn't need to know anything more, just then. Pepper either asked Friday to call him or the AI noticed something was wrong and took the initiative to summon him. Either way, he was done building for the moment, at least.

So were Pete and Peter. Both boys had already set down the brackets that they'd been holding.

"In the lounge. With Ned."

"Thanks."

Already moving, the three headed through the halls. Not running, but definitely hurrying. They thundered into the lounge as a small group and immediately headed to the table in the corner where Pepper was sitting. Sure enough, Ned was sitting with her. The boy turned and watched them walk over, his main focus on Pete.

Tony's focus was purely on his wife, however, and he was already looking for any signs of distress or blood, or mayhem, even as they walked over.

"Are you alright?" he asked, not seeing any – although her expression was troubled.

"Yes. But we definitely have a problem…"