Chapter 91

It wasn't even a full twenty-four hours since Toni had her call with Doctor Christine Palmer when she heard about the next explosion.

Really, part of her was exhausted. Would it really hurt for her to have a few minutes where she could just pretend for a minute that she was a normal person and be able to spend time with her daughter in peace?

Because with each day, Morgan was changing, growing up quicker than the last, and all she wanted was to be able to watch her daughter do just that, instead of also worrying about the fate of the world at the same time.

And now that she had to acknowledge that magic, magic, existed, well, she wasn't all that sure what to do with that information. Magic. It went against what every scientific reasonable explanation in her head was telling her. But she'd hacked into the footage from the hospital. She'd seen the portals that Strange had gone through.

Of course, there were scientific explanations. The Chitauri had used a portal when they'd rained down from the skies and onto their city. And that most definitely was not magic. It was a form of science that was advanced beyond their own technology.

However, Strange was a doctor of medicine. She had a real hard time believing that he'd invented teleportation and portals when she hadn't been able to figure it out yet. Well, she hadn't really tried too much more beyond a few hypothetical discussions with Rhodey when they were drunk kids, passed out next to each other on the ground and discussing the physics behind such an endeavour. She'd never attempt to try such a thing.

The ground shook outside, and she instantly reached for Morgan, lying in her crib, to bring her daughter close to her. New York barely had earthquakes, and she could count the amount that had occurred in the last decade on one hand.

"JARVIS?" she asked, wanting to know if she would need to evacuate the tower. No way was she leaving Peter and Morgan in their home if there was a chance that an earthquake had struck the city. No, she would send them straight to California or perhaps to Mama Rhodes.

"My readings do not indicate seismic activity," JARVIS told her, and she frowned. "I do believe however that this was tied to a recent explosion which occurred in Greenwich Village.

"An explosion?" she said quickly, as she walked out of the nursery and to the common room so she could see the screens, "Pull up a feed, J."

Her AI pulled up CCTV footage of the scene, and she looked around with a frown. The street was filled with Brownstone houses, and it was an ordinary street where ordinary people lived.

Just like London.

"The explosion readings appear to match those of the London explosion," JARVIS told her, answering the question that had been on her mind.

So it was related. Whatever had happened in London had happened here in New York again. There were two explosions in the span of a few days, and it was clear to her that whatever was happening was far from over. There were only going to be more if they didn't put a stop to it.

Whatever it was.

"Toni?" Harry asked, as he and Natasha quickly entered the room, "What do you got?"

"Another explosion," she told him. He'd been back from London for a few hours, not having found anything of real value. The area where the explosion had occurred seemed like a normal area of the city, just like the one that had in Greenwich Village a few minutes ago.

"Another explosion," she told him and Natasha. "Can the two of you check it out? I'm not sure what's happening, but this is the second one so far this week, and I'm worried about what will happen if a third occurs. We need to get to the bottom of what's going on and put an end to it, before it gets any worse."

"We'll take a look," Natasha reassured her quickly, "Don't worry about it, Toni. We have this handled, I promise. Just enjoy your time with Morgan, okay?"

Her face softened as she looked down at the baby in Toni's arms, and Toni knew that the woman had a soft spot towards babies. She'd let Nat hold her from time to time, and despite the spy's tough demeanour, her daughter was able melt through all her shields.

"Thanks," she told them both gratefully. Because while she would suit up as Iron Woman if the world needed her to, she preferred not to unless necessary. But if it meant it would keep Peter and Morgan safe, well then she'd gladly don the suit to do so. Their safety was her utmost priority.

She looked at the hologram screen again, trying to see if she could discern anything else from what was in front of her, but it was almost as if it was being shielded from view.

If she didn't know any better, she'd assume it was magic.

However Toni Stark-Rogers was a scientist, first and foremost. She had worked on masking technology before. Perhaps HYDRA was employing a similar means against them to keep what they were doing a secret. But if HYDRA was setting off bombs, why the secrecy behind the explosions? Wouldn't they rather it be bigger and more public?

Unless…

"This isn't over," she whispered, "Something is coming. Something bigger than these two explosions. This right here?" she waved her hand, "It's small in comparison. This isn't meant to draw attention and cause chaos. It's doing something else. This isn't anywhere near over. Something bigger is coming, and we need to be prepared."

"We will be," Steve said, as he walked into the room, Peter behind him. "If something's coming, then we'll face it the same way we face everything else. Together. We won't allow Morgan or Peter to be in danger."

"I can help," Peter said in protest, and she pursed her lips, not particularly enjoying the fact

Steve placed a hand on Peter's shoulder, not really trying to dissuade him.

"We'll be ready for whatever it is," Steve promised her, and she looked down at her daughter, hoping for her sake that it was true.

Because if either of her children were hurt, she wasn't all that sure what she would do.


It took less than two hours for things to get abnormal again. Less than an hour before things went from somewhat normal to abnormal again, and Toni was going to lose her mind.

It had started with the explosion at New York in Greenwich, which Harry and Natasha had been investigating since it occurred, and in that time, she'd been obsessively studying over all the readings and trying to run calculations on what it would have taken to cause such an explosion.

And since then, nothing.

She had felt like pulling her hair out, unable to understand what was happening and why she couldn't seem to understand what was going on. There must be a scientific reason for the explosions, and she refused point blank to accept any other possibility for them. She would figure out what was causing the explosions if it was the last thing that she did.

"There's been another explosion," JARVIS said, and she looked up frantically.

"Where?" she said instantly, looking at the holoscreen.

"Hong Kong," JARVIS said, "It appears as if the size of the explosion targeted a far greater region than either New York or London."

"JARVIS, map the three points, she said, "See what it forms."

She saw a map appear in front of her on the screen, lines drawing between the three points of explosions.

And there it was, a perfect equilateral triangle.

"No way," she whispered. The explosions weren't random at all. The three points were targeted precisely, as if each individual location held some sort of significance. And with the magnitude of the last explosion being far greater than the other two, she could only assume that whatever she feared was coming was on its way.

"How long would it take us to get to Hong Kong?" she asked JARVIS. She didn't want to leave Morgan behind, but if the threat coming was world ending, then would she really have a choice? It was better for Morgan to have a life to live than for her to stay behind with her daughter and the world to end.

"It would take at least four hours," JARVIS told her apologetically. Because in four hours any number of things could occur. Hell, the world could end, and she was halfway across the world.

She had to wonder. Were the terrorists involved the same at each site? Because there wasn't a way that they could move that quickly from New York to Hong Kong. Not unless they'd had portals or some other means of travel which she was unaware of. She frowned.

She looked at the screen and saw purple colour the skies of Hong Kong.

What was this? Were there more aliens? Were they being invaded again?

Whatever this was, it definitely was unearthly.

"Miss, it seems as if a second wave of activity hit the city," JARVIS told her, as Steve looked at the screen, "It doesn't appear as if any damage occurred, however I'm not quite sure what is going on."

And neither was she. If she didn't know any better, she would have thought the feed just froze in front of her. The streets were still, as were the people, all frozen in place. However there was enough movement around from a few select individuals which told her that was not the case.

"What is that in the sky?" Steve said, sounding as confused as she felt, and she stared at the alien like blobs hovering in the sky.

A man flew into the purple void then, and she let out a gasp, unable to stop herself.

"We need to get there," she told Steve. "Something is happening, and if we don't get there in time the world could end while we sit here and watch it on the screen."

"We won't make it in time," Steve said, sounding conflicted, and she knew he was no happier than she was to sit on the sidelines.

She blinked, and in that moment, everything seemed to have changed.

The street on the feed was normal. Untouched. Regular. And the patrons continued to walk down the streets, eat, talk, and go about their day to day as if nothing had happened. As if the world didn't just look like it was about to end a few seconds prior.

"I've noticed that there is a time irregularity in my software," FRIDAY said, as Toni struggled to make sense of what was happening.

"What kind of irregularity?" Toni asked her.

"It appears as if my systems jumped back a few seconds. However, I still have records of the seconds that existed. As if time itself moved backwards. I'll perform a full scan and see if I can get to the bottom of this malfunction," FRIDAY said.

"It was no malfunction," JARVIS reported, "I too experienced something similar."

"What the hell just happened?" she asked out loud, filled with confusion as she looked at the feed.

She glanced over at Steve, who looked just as perplexed as she did, unable to say what it was that happened. How did one even explain this?

She looked closely, "FRIDAY, can you zoom in on this section?" she asked, as she touched a part of the screen. FRIDAY zoomed in, and to her surprise she saw three men. Two of them she didn't recognize.

But the third? She knew him all too well from her encounters with him over the years. She knew him from when they worked together on a few of their projects.

Which begged the question: what the Hell was Stephen Strange doing in Hong Kong?


177A Bleecker Street.

Once she'd known what she was looking for, it really wasn't that hard to find. She'd had JARVIS run facial recognition on the other men who Strange had been with the day before, until she'd gotten a hit. And while Strange wasn't spotted much on CCTV footage or any other videos on the internet, one of his acquaintances, Karl Mordo had been spotted many times going into the New York building which also happened to be central in Greenwich where the explosion had occurred.

Standing outside the building, she could understand why no one would pay any particular attention to it. It was nothing special really, just another building on the street where every other happened to look the exact same. And she could get why in a city full of busy people, not one bothered paying it a second glance.

She stood in front of the building, taking a deep breath, as she knocked on the door.

Steve had offered to go with her. Offered to even go in her place. But she was the one with the personal relationship to Strange, no matter how difficult the relationship had been. It would need to be her to talk to him. So since the first time Morgan was born, she left her daughter behind to stand here on the door step of a debatable doctor turned wizard.

"You're Toni Stark," an Asian man said in surprise as he opened the door. She recognized the man as one of the men with Strange, and if she'd had any doubts about being in the wrong place, she didn't have them anymore.

"That I am," she smiled wryly. "I've come to see Strange. Is he here?"

"Just a second," the man said, sounding awestruck still as he called out for the man she'd come to see.

And in less than a moment, the door opened wider as Stephen Strange stared back at her.

"Stark," Strange said, looking surprised to see her standing on his doorstep. "What are you doing here."

"Stark-Rogers," she corrected, as she pushed her way into the building, "I think you know what I'm doing here Strange. I think it's time that we had a talk."

"I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about," he said, lips curling upward, as if he was laughing at a joke she was not a part of.

"Please, I've been talking to Christine, Stephen. I've seen the footage of you apparently making portals everywhere. I saw the footage of Hong Kong where you stood there as the sky turned purple and you flew into the sky before everything reset itself a second later. I don't know what you're involved with, but I think you'll find I am far more aware of your little shenanigans than what you may think."

He looked at her scrutinizing for a moment, before letting out an exhale.

"You won't believe me," he said to her, as she stood in the lobby of the building. She tried not to stare too openly at the Asian decor that littered the room, wondering just what the man had gotten involved with.

"Try me," she said, and when he didn't bite, she continued, "I've seen everything from secret spy organizations, to men frozen in ice, to alien gods from other planets. I've seen a man turn into a rage monster and another who had his mind controlled through a few words. I've seen a girl with glowing red hands and a boy who runs faster than light. I've seen an android come to life with a stone. I've seen aliens rain out of the sky, and a poor country have some of the most brilliant minds in the world. There is nothing you could tell me that I wouldn't believe, Strange. So. Try. Me."

"Would you like some tea?" he asked her after a moment. She nodded as he led her into the building, towards a parlour, and he gestured for her to sit.

"You know I lost the use of my hands in that accident," he started, and she didn't say anything. Of course she knew. She'd reached out when it had happened, wanting to see if she could try and create some prosthetics for him. But he wasn't interested in prosthetics. He was interested in restoring the use of his hands. "I tried everything, Toni. Everything. But there was nothing. Surgeons turned down my pleas of experimental procedures, not wanting to attach their name to it if it fell apart. So I started to give up. But then in physical therapy, I heard of a man who couldn't walk, suddenly being able to again. I sought him out, and he told me of a place in Nepal that helped him gain the ability to do so. I had nothing left to lose, so I went. And I found Kamar Taj."

"Which I'm assuming this building is a part of," she said, gesturing to the building she was in.

"It is," he said, continuing to tell him of the Ancient one and the training he'd undergone. "Everything changed when a man attacked the Sanctum. Kaecilius. He wanted eternal life. By bargaining with a dark power known as Dormammu. The explosions that occurred. New York City, London, Hong Kong. They were all at the three sanctums, meant to keep the Dark Dimension at bay. And by destroying all of them they wanted to set him free."

"Which is what happened in Hong Kong," she realized, "When the skies turned purple."

He nodded, "Dormammu was released. And I tried to fight the men, but I knew it was no use. He was too powerful. And he would win. So I tricked him."

"You tricked an ancient power," she said, sceptically.

"I did," he smirked, as he showed her the eye necklace he was wearing. And there in the centre was a stone that glowed brightly. One like in the tesseract, and the stone in the centre of Vision's head. "This right here? This is the Eye of Agamotto. It has the power to control time. So I trapped us in a time loop. And died so many times I lost count. Until Dormammu gave up. Got annoyed with me. And he decided to leave so I'd end it. He took his followers with him."

"I knew you had a prickly personality, but I never thought you'd annoy a dark power into leaving," she said, with a laugh.

"Now you know everything," he said, crossing his legs, "So what are you going to do, Stark? Turn me over to your Accords council?"

"No," she said with a shake of her head. "I have an offer for you. How would you like to be an Avenger?"

"You want me to fight bad guys with you?" he said, in disbelief.

"You don't have to be a full-time member," she said with a shrug. "I'm not. Spider-Man's not. But something is coming, Strange. Maybe not today, or tomorrow. But it will come. And when that day comes, we need to be ready to protect the earth. Can I count on you?"

He looked hesitant, but she didn't falter.

"Fine," he said in agreement. "When that day comes, I'll stand by your side."

She smiled at that.


It took about a month for everything to calm back down again. A long, sleepless month, which made her wonder often if all her years of late nights to finish projects or were just filled with insomnia were a training of sorts for having a kid. Because really, all the late nights meant she hardly got a proper set amount of sleep, something Steve had worked very hard to try and get her in the habit of.

Between that, and smoothing over things with the Accords council, monitoring Peter's patrols as Spider-Man, checking in periodically with Bucky, and beginning to sketch a few new concepts she'd had for SI, well, it didn't leave a lot of time for much else.

Still, she stood in front of the meeting room of the Avengers, perhaps for the first time since Ultron, waiting for the other members to slowly file in.

She'd held Morgan in her hands, but had every intention of passing her off to Steve as she spoke.

"May I hold her?" Vision asked, as he floated in through the walls and gestured towards Morgan. "I have not gotten to spend as much time with her as I would have liked."

She softened, knowing Vision had been trying his best to find his place in the world. With JARVIS to guide him, and a special kinship with Wanda, he was doing his best, but she still tried to be there for him. He was her grandchild after all.

"Of course, Vision," she said with a smile, as she gently passed to him her one month old, currently sleeping, daughter. Vision looked thrilled, as he sat down on one of the chairs and cradled her daughter preciously in her arms.

"JARVIS, take a picture and add it to the folder 'Family'?" she requested, knowing this was a moment she'd look back on fondly.

"Of course," JARVIS said, a voice softer than what she'd heard him often use, and she smiled knowingly at one of his sensors.

"So what's this about, Stark?" Clint said, piling into the room. "Not really sure why you needed to invite me back here when I'm retired."

She shot him an amused look, "Clint, I told you very clearly that you didn't need to come. That it was an invitation in case you wanted to learn about what's been happening with the explosions but since you were retired you could sit out of it."

"True, but I was bored," he conceded, "The kids are busy with school-work, you know? And Laura thought I could use a break. She went off to a spa weekend last week with some friends, so she wanted me to do something I'd enjoy as well."

"Which was being here?" Natasha asked, as she plopped down beside him, teasingly.

"I missed you guys," he shrugged, and Harry grinned at him as he sat down on the other side.

The room was filled with the other Avengers, and she looked around the room, ready to get started. Even Peter was in the room, reserve member and all. He was, however, wearing a mask while he waited to get a gauge on Strange.

"Well, now that we're all here," she spoke, "I know I've briefed you all in bits about what's been going on with the explosions that occurred a few weeks ago. I've had heavy discussions with the Accords Council about it and what it means for the world," she started. "I'm honestly not that sure what to make of it myself."

Steve knew everything she was about to say. As did Harry and Natasha who'd looked into everything originally. But there was a lot going on in the world that clearly none of them knew about. And well, it really changed things.

She went on to tell them everything she knew, showing footage she'd gathered, from the hospital, to Hong Kong.

"You expect us to believe that magic is real?" Rhodey said, sounding very sceptical.

"I know," she raised her hands, "Believe me, I've spent many, many hours trying to find a scientific explanation for it. And I can't. I hate to admit it, but it's real."

"Magic," Wanda whispered, looking pensive.

"Magic," she said with a nod, "I've invited him here today to meet you all. We've spoken in depth, and he's agreed to be an Avenger on reserve, like myself or Spider-Man."

"That I did," Strange said, as a golden portal appeared then in the middle of the room and he stepped out of it.

"Were you just waiting for the perfect opening to portal in?" she scowled, unamused by his antics.

He shot her a smirk, "It worked didn't it?"

She sighed, "This is Doctor Stephen Strange. Mega Magician of the World or something."

"Sorcerer Supreme," he corrected her, sounding displeased by the title she'd given him.

"Which is what, exactly?" Wilson asked.

"It means I keep the world safe from magical threats," he claimed. "That I will protect the world from anything that means to harm it."

"What kind of magical threats?" Clint scoffed, looking at the man with distrust.

And on one hand, she didn't blame him. While he may have accepted Loki wasn't the one involved with his mind controlling, he'd never quite gotten over the act and everything that he'd been forced to do.

"There are far more than you know," he said, ominously. "I have, however, promised to keep the Accords Council appraised from here on out of any threats that may occur, and have agreed to fight by your side in the event that anything earth ending comes our way."

"Which we all hope never will," Harry said.

"But can't rule out either," Ava said, glancing back at her brother. She may not have been an Avenger in name or fought with them in the field, but she was one of them.

"No," she said with a shrug, not missing the silent discussion Pietro and Wanda seemed to be having. "We can't. Something is coming and we need to be ready. No matter what it is."