Disclaimer: I own no part of the Marvel movie universe.

Chapter 10

Dr. Strange showed up wearing a perfectly normal suit, or at least it would have been perfectly normal if the jacket had not been blindingly red with the collar turned up. The only other thing abnormal about him was the white hair in matching stripes at his temples, and that was only abnormal because the rest of his hair was black and he didn't seem old enough for his hair to be turning gray.

Pepper knew from experiments in college that hair bleaching and dyeing was not that exact, not without more effort than it was worth.

Tony, Phil, Thor, and Pepper formed the greeting crew while Bruce made sure whatever he and Tony were currently fiddling with in their current lab of choice didn't destroy the tower. Natasha and Steve were keeping an eye on Loki, and Clint was somewhere above them watching out for danger.

"You own normal clothes."

"Yes, Mr. Stark. I do own 'normal clothes'. As you so ungracefully call them."

Pepper hid her smirk behind her arm, pretending to scratch her shoulder.

She did love him, but sometimes it was good to see Tony taken on by someone not entirely unlike him in personality.

"I find that in nearly all cases of mental upset, no matter the cause, making the world act predictably helps with anxiety."

"Do you think you can help?" Thor asked.

"That depends."

"Already trying to find a way to cover up not being able to do anything?" Tony jabbed.

"Mr. Stark, there are a great many variables when dealing with minds. There may not be a way to help Loki beyond letting him heal himself unbothered."

Absolute silence.

"We..." Phil started.

"We never told you their names. Either of them." Tony looked like the world had just been ripped from under him and Pepper walked over to out a hand on his shoulder.

Dr. Strange shrugged. "The Sorceress Supreme of Asgard is a colleague. She warned me you two princes were in Midgard and why as a professional courtesy. When SHIELD contacted me it was easy to connect the dots."

"Then you know where..."

"Where he comes from? Yes, Thor. And I know enough of the real history of the planet to understand what that means. To be blunt, I don't care. He's hurt and on my world."

Tony was staring blankly into space. "Tony?" Pepper asked.

He shook his head to clear it. "You could have just overheard someone in the background at SHIELD discussing them."

Dr. Strange rolled his eyes. "What proof will it take?"

"What?"

"What proof will it take for you to admit things you would consider magic exist, Mr. Stark? Levitating an object I cannot possibly have prepped beforehand? Using astral projection to tell you what you have in your personal safe? What?"

"A way for all it to fit in with the laws of the universe." His voice was vibranium.

"Your quantum mechanics already nears this in many cases, if Jane has told me right," Thor interjected.

"Can we let you two finish growling at each other inside?" Phil finally asked after a three minute glare-off.

It would have almost been funny watching Tony and Dr. Strange if Phil hadn't known just how high the stakes were and how dangerous making Dr. Strange avoid future SHIELD contact might be if he really was capable.

If nothing else, the story about inter-realm communication was plausible. He'd made the call himself from a sound-proofed room, and he knew he had never mentioned names.

"Tony, I have told you before, for my people magic and science are the same."

He shook is head. "No. Clarke's rule. Advanced science looks like magic. That doesn't make it so."

"You're right," Dr. Strange offered. "Advanced science is not magic. Advanced science along certain investigatory pathways can be, once it starts playing with how reality manifests itself."

"Fine then, where's your tech? Thor said his brother used to be a technological mage, so where's your physical equipment."

"In practice he is," Thor corrected with a raised finger and a fast step backward when they both turned to look at him. "But his shapeshifting is innate. He changed his appearance at a handful of hours old when our father picked him up for the first time and treated him kindly. He had not even the roughest blanket then, much less advanced technology."

Tony stared at him. "You've seen him change himself?"

"There was one bad incident when he tried to cover up a scrape instead of seek the Healing Room when we were children. Mother made him promise not to try that again. He has no great skill at it and technology is more useful for him."

"But you've seen him do it? With no tech."

Thor nodded.

Tony's face looked like he'd just been smacked across the back of the head.

"Mr. Stark, there are beings who naturally access what others need technology for, and in some cases only lifelong natural capacity can make something possible. Loki appears to be one of these, and Sorcerers Supreme always have some innate capacity with magic."

"Well, Mr. Strange, I'll believe it when I see evidence of it."

"Dr. Strange," he grated.

"There's no one on the planet who hands out PhDs or the equivalent for magic, sorcery, or any other term for the same," Tony bit out.

"No, but they do give MDs in neurology!" came the retort.

Silence.

"Then how did you end up doing magic for a living?" Pepper asked respectfully a minute later, saving Phil from having to figure out a way to restart everything himself.

Dr. Strange quietly told them, "I was a brain surgeon," and held up a hand.

A very shaking hand.

Tony flinched.

"Car accident. Nerve damage. Even magic can only suppress the symptoms and that not for long at a time. I had to either find a cure or find something else to do with my life." He gave a great big obviously forced grin. "Fortunately for me, magic doesn't usually require fine motor control."

After a long moment, Tony nodded. "But I don't have to like it."

Dr. Strange's smile turned genuine. "Of course you don't. And I didn't believe it could be real either, at first. Now, where's Loki? I've never met a Jotun before."

They started walking from the lobby to the elevators. "They don't have a Sorcerer Supreme?" Thor asked.

"Not that I've heard of. Some species have innate capabilities more often or more strongly than others, and Jotunheim's ecology appears rather ungifted in terms of magical capabilities and influences as far as I've ever heard, at least beyond thermal magics. I was quite surprised to hear he can shapeshift - it's not something I would have expected from one of their people." He stepped into the elevator and waited until they were in motion before he spoke again. "Now, what should I expect from him today?"

"He's been calm, had a good morning sitting with me, and he still shows no signs of language comprehension," Pepper reported. "He seems nervous but curious if that makes any sense."

"Given he's in an unfamiliar place where people he may remember harming him are treating him kindly, with no way to ask questions? I'd say that's normal."

Dr. Strange sat in a chair facing Loki's softer armchair seat.

"Well, he seems to trust me being here." His voice was almost a sing-song, the sort used with skittish colts.

Thor nodded in agreement. But then, Loki seemed very trusting of strangers here on Midgard, at least after the first few seconds.

"Thor, has he ever witnessed or been subject to any form of consensual mindreading on Asgard?"

"No. Not that I know of. Theory, perhaps. Why?"

"Because if he had, it'd be easier for me to ask permission for this." Dr. Strange held out a hand and gently moved to cup Loki's cheek with it.

Loki's eyes darted to his.

"See, I'm not going to hurt you." He rubbed Loki's face a little with his thumb. "It's okay. I just need to see what's been done to you."

He raised his other hand, and the change in Loki was immediate. It seemed to Thor that he wanted to get away, but was as afraid of doing so as he was of staying.

Thor put a hand on his back.

"Good idea." Dr. Strange's voice was still the same sing-song. "That settles it, they definitely forced him to accept mind contact. Didn't they?"

Loki just stared at his other hand, eyes wide.

Natasha and Steve both seemed very, very troubled and Thor wished he understood why.

"Loki, it's going to be all right. I just need a little look. It's to help you, I swear it."

Loki glanced up at Thor, and Thor couldn't help but give a little nod. "It's all right, Brother," he told him softly.

The resistance lessened.

"Oh now that's a bad sign," Dr. Strange muttered lightly under his breath.

"Why?" Tony asked.

No answer.

Dr. Strange finally got his other hand in place. "Now see, this isn't so bad, is it? Hmm?"

Loki finally seemed to relax a bit.

"Now can I please have just a little look? Just for a moment?"

Loki finally gave a very tiny clearly frightened nod and closed his eyes.

It only took a few seconds before Dr. Strange started talking.

"He's a mess. He thinks in words, but doesn't understand spoken language and his own speech creation capacity isn't coming back anytime soon, is it, Loki?"

If Thor hadn't needed to focus on his brother's need for reassurance, he'd have thrown something.

"He's doing a relatively good job piecing himself back together, given the damage. He's close to a few breakthroughs. And anything I do now could disrupt those, so I'm just going to leave you be now, okay, Loki? But, oh..."

"What?" most of them asked nearly as one.

"Damn bastards," he said in that same sing-song. "No one should ever... May she take them the hard way."

"What have they done to him?" Thor asked.

"Shapeshifting lock, out of phase of both his natural form and his chosen one. He doesn't understand it's there, so it's just making the world seem even more out of balance."

"Can you remove it?" Natasha asked with concern.

"Ethically, I can't leave it there." He seemed to turn deeply inward, and Thor realized he had only been doing the lightest possible inspection of Loki's mind. "Got it," he announced a moment later. He lowered his hands from Loki's face.

Loki looked at him warily.

"See, that wasn't so bad, was it?" Dr. Strange asked him.

Loki frowned, looked serious for a moment, and then the angles of his face seemed to shift.

And he suddenly looked a lot more like his old self had in little ways Thor had not noticed were missing.

I thought him merely ill. I knew locking a shapeshifter was possible, but forcing him into an unfavored form beforehand...

And then Loki's back was no longer under his hand and the human sorcerer was rocked back in his chair with his arms full of overly happy undersize Jotun.

The chair tipped over, and Loki seemed suddenly terrified, but Dr. Strange was laughing and a moment later the idea that the situation was humorous seemed to catch in Loki's mind.

The human didn't even bother with getting up until he'd patted Loki's back and told him, "Now see, isn't that better?"

Loki insisted on being the one to set the chair upright again.

"Now, if I can talk to some of you out of his earshot?" Dr. Strange asked in the same light tones.

Of course, keeping his voice pleasant for Loki isn't something he can keep up forever, Thor thought.

They left Phil and Steve with Loki. Tony looked completely gobsmacked and Pepper looked as though she was all that was keeping him upright, but he came with them anyway.

Dr. Strange's demeanor changed completely once they had left the room and gotten a door between them and Loki. By the time they had gotten a soundproof distance away, he looked absolutely livid.

As he should be, given the damage to Loki.

But then Dr. Strange turned towards him.

"Thor Odin's son, what in the name of The One Above All have you done to your little brother!?"