Missed Time

by InuVampireChan

Doctor Strange's magic seems to turn again him in the strangest way. Winding up somewhere lost in another universe, he leans on the only person there for help. The very one he caused the death of in his own Universe.

In Stephen Strange's entire life there had been a number of things that made him question his sanity. They varied from medical abnormalities that couldn't be explained to things like an immortal woman passing him a supernatural job that seemed improbable. With the last one came the acceptance that not everything needed to be understood, with the first one came the understanding that some things needed to be understood. In this particular moment in time he was leaning on the second one. For several reasons.

Reason number one; he was staring at Anthony Edward Stark.

This was improbable because Stephen remembered very vividly his death, his funeral and the anger of Virginia Potts. There are some things you don't forget and if you're Stephen Strange with an eidetic memory, even more. A death and funeral, that he saw fourteen million times in various ways and failures (plus one success), you don't forget. You be also don't forget a very angry woman telling you that it's your fault.

She had her reasons and grief makes people do things they might later regret, but he'll never get her words out of his head for as long as he lives, Stephen knows that.

But now, in this current moment, he was staring up at the very person she had been angry at him about. Which, considering the last time he saw him, should not be possible. He needed data. One does not create a hypothesis with no information so first he needs to figure out where he is.

With a glance to the side he note's he's on the ground. Not really on the ground so much as rather in, there is a very large difference considering the amount of rubble around him and the (crater? building?) he's laying in. Next, he notes that Stark is standing beside him, half shielding his body and fully encased in the Iron Man armor. He's also speaking which now Stephen realizes means he can't hear anything. He knows Stark's speaking because his head keeps moving between Stephen's face and whatever is in the distance.

As he goes to move his body and sit up, Stark's gauntlet-covered hand moves to his back and supports him in properly getting to a more reasonable position. He appreciates the help because it makes him realize every single bone in his body is currently screaming for him to just lay back down. He reaches a hand up and touches his right ear where something warm and hot drips down the side of his head. When he pulls his hand back the orange gloves are stained red. Well, that explains why he can't hear anything.

Stark seems to notice too because he turns fully away from Stephen and doesn't appear to be waiting for a reply any longer. He could probably heal his ears if the blast just popped his ear drum, small magic like that was easy for him. While Stark stood guard, at least he assumed that was what he was doing, Stephen pressed his hands together and formed a few signs. The golden sigils appeared over his palms and he moved his hands to the side of his head and pressed them to his ears.

A sharp piercing zap rang through his head, making his entire body jerk and all at once sounds assaulted his hearing. It was far from pleasant and he was definitely going to have a migraine later.

"I can hear you now."

"Great, wanna tell me what the fuck that was Gandolf?" Stephen turned his head to the side and shot Stark an unimpressed look. "You just, like, appeared out of the fucking sky and catapulted yourself into my bad guy of the week and crashed the both of you into the side of Stark Industries." Ah, that was the rubble he was laying in then. Hopefully Stark doesn't charge him repair fees. "And you were all like-glowy and stuff!"

"Was it gold or green?"

"Does the color matter?" He sounded aghast, like Stephen just asked what his favorite toy was and then insulted his intelligence over it.

"Yes, actually, it does. Gold, or green?"

"Fuck just-! Green, I guess? Are you a Slytherin Wizard or something?"

"Your references are appalling." He pressed his hands to his temples and tried to massage the growing headache. Green meant time stone magic but there was a difference between going back in time and appearing in a completely random and inaccurate point in time. This scene was unfamiliar to him, he definitely hasn't done this before, so it would be improbable for the time stone to put him here. Figuring that out should be his second priority right now though. "Is there still a threat?"

"I don't know, are you a threat?"

He truly wanted to roll his eyes. He settled for glaring at the bright red armored head. "No, I'm not a threat to you. Is there still an enemy or did I take him out?"

"Not sure twinkle fingers, I was checking to see what you were and then if you were dead. Jarvis, have you located the rocket duche?"

"No Sir, as far as our sensors can detect he appears to have vanished entirely." Well that didn't sound good. Stephen moved to stand up and nearly felt his body collapse back in on itself. Before he face planted humiliatingly into the ground Stark grabbed his forearm and kept him upward. He's not sure he appreciated that as much as the hand to his back, this felt more degrading.

"I'll have to search for him manually then from the Tower, and get you medical attention."

Stephen brushed the others hand off and gathered his strength to stand on his own. "I don't need help."

"Right, course you don't. I'm Tony Stark by the way, you know, Iron Man."

"Doctor Strange."

The face plate snapped upward and Stephen got a good look at a dead man. Well, a living dead man. He looked younger than Stephen remembered seeing him last. "Thought we were on a full name basis here Doc and you shun me with just your alias. I'm insulted, really."

This time he does fully roll his eyes. "Doctor Strange is my name. Stephen Strange, Medical Doctor, neurologist."

"Well I'll be. Jarvis, I want a full report on Doctor Stephen Strange by the time we return to the tower. Come on Doc, I'll get you a beer and fix your wounds. Still think you should visit a hospital for the whole-" he motions to Stephens entire body. "Glowy thing and building destruction. Can't be good for the back."

He shouldn't follow him, he should head to Kamar-Taj or the New York Sanctum. He should prioritize finding out what happened and even where he is. There is admittedly a lot that Stephen should do aside from follow Stark, and yet he climbs out of the crater with the man's help and follows after him. "Have you seen my cloak?"

At this point the armor had retracted into the man's chest, a familiar action that from what he remembered from Bruce Banner during the fight with Thanos, was new. At least for the Tony Stark he knew. He was fiddling with those weird glasses as he turned to face Stephen, eyebrows raised. "Cloak?"

"It's Red, has a very specific embroidery on it, and levitates."

"Should have started with the levitating thing. But no, when you fell from the sky there was no cloak. Probably why you fell." That was a fairly good point, the Cloak would have definitely caught him if he was falling to his death. But that just left the question of; where was it? He had his gloves, which he rarely wore, the Eye of Agamotto and the time stone in it yet he didn't have the Cloak of Levitation?

With little else of a choice other than searching the entire world for the Cloak, he let it go for now and continued after Stark. He led Stephen away from the crash sight and then stopped beside a car, pulling a set of keys from his pocket and hitting the button to unlock it. "I was in a meeting here before all hell broke loose. Was the guy you took out a buddy of yours? He was pretty weird too." He climbed into the car and started it up.

Stephen made no move to follow him. His gaze remained firmly fixated on the handle of the passenger door, fingers curling and uncurling in his hands. Somehow between his crash earlier and right now the tremors in his hands had increased substantially. He could even feel his bones shaking, he was sure of it. Since his car accident, when was the last time Stephen had ridden in a car? He took a taxi once to the airport when he was looking for Kamar-Taj. He'd vomited all over the back seat not even ten minutes inside it. The driver was fairly pissed. Other than that he never needed to, portals got him where he wanted and Stephen walked to the deli down the road from the New York Sanctum.

Apparently Stark noticed his lack of response because the window rolled down in front of him. "Yo, Twilight Zone, are you getting in?"

"I can use a portal."

"I'm gonna have to veto that without prep, Jarvis doesn't like magic. Fucks with his circuits so I need to turn on a specific firewall. There was a whole thing with a witch. Come on, get in."

His fingers curl into the palms of his hands again and he still doesn't move. "I don't… do well in cars."

"Huh…?" Was the prospect of someone being so out of place with technology so baffling to Stark that his brain short circuit? It seemed that way. "I promise to drive safe?"

Yeah, and he believed Wong would help pay the bills and the bad guys would stop trying to murder him. His face must have reflected on his thoughts because Stark climbed out of the car and locked it. "Alright, come on, we'll walk."

His body protested that idea more than his mind had the car but he still made himself move and keep a somewhat decent pace with Stark. The other had clearly slowed himself down due to Stephen's condition and continued to glance in his direction. It was almost like he was expecting Stephen to suddenly collapse in on himself and die. Considering what he witnessed though it might not be that big a stretch.

"Hey, Doc, sure you don't need a Doctor?"

"If I do, you'll be the first to know." Nothing felt broken, oddly. He definitely was concussed, bruised from head to toe and would be feeling every single bone and nerve in his body tomorrow, but nothing was broken. On top of that as far as he could tell, apart from his ears, he wasn't bleeding anywhere else. Whatever magic sent him flying through the sky had clearly taken the blunt force of the crash. The Eye of Agamotto couldn't do that which only made him more curious about what happened to him.

He tried to think back to what he was doing before he woke up here but the harder he pressed his memory the worse his head felt. It got to the point where his vision blackened a moment and he felt himself sway with a sharp pain against his skull. Stark had to stop walking to steady him once more. The other's grip was firm against his shoulders and straightened him back up with that same look of concern.

Huh. He'd never actually gotten to know Stark outside the whole… giant purple enemy and plotting the man's death. Whatever kind of person Stark was, the only information he had was from the internet search results. He might have actually been the kind of person that Stephen could have gotten along with, outside the whole life and death situation that really put a nail in their relationship. Hard to compromise when you're used to handling things so differently and independently. He'd give that enlightenment more thought later.

Stark frowned and ran his eyes up and down Stephen's body before slowly and reluctantly letting Stephen go. He kept his hands close in case the Doctor swayed again but Stephen managed to keep himself up. "Doc, you don't look good. You alright?"

"I can't seem to remember what I was doing before I woke up six feet in the ground of your building."

"Happens to the best of us." He does not laugh at that but his lips do twitch slightly in humor. Definitely concussed.

"Not people like me, I have an eidetic memory. Did you know we met before?" This definitely catches the other off guard who looks Stephen over with a renewed purpose, focusing much more on the clothes and belts.

"No offense, but I think I'd remember that costume."

Costume? He's remembering why they didn't get along now. "These are the robes of the Masters of the Mystic Arts, they are not a costume-"

Stark waves his hand a few times and cuts Stephen off. "Met before?"

"I did tell you I was a Doctor, an award winning one at that too. I've been to a few conferences in my time." He's attended Gala's too but he only met Stark once, most of the things he attended were for medical purposes. That one event he went to he'd gone because of a new idea being proposed for the medical industry, Stark was giving a lecture on circuits. Which he did, impressively, from what Stephen remembered.

"Ah, I tend not to remember much from events like that when I was younger." Yes, they all knew of Stark's drinking problems. And it was definitely a problem back then. If It was more under control now or not he couldn't say. "Come on, we should keep going."

They continued the walk toward Stark Tower and Stephen kept an eye out for the Cloak of Levitation. "I was fairly bad back then too, if it makes you feel better." It probably doesn't but it was still true. "Best in my field, arrogant, took cases that would get me money or fame rather than on a need basis. Didn't drink that much till a… much different point in my life but I don't like not having control or remembering things." Until it no longer mattered and he thought his life was over. Those months after his surgery he had wanted the pain, both physical and mental, to stop so bad he just-drank. It was easier than focusing on the reality of the situation.

He liked to believe he was a better person now. That he was making a difference and protecting people. Yet, despite that belief, he still had sacrificed someone like Stark to win. Was it even a victory?

"I've learned that we sometimes can't avoid the past but simply learn from it and move forward." There's a smile on Stark's face and he doesn't meet Stephen's gaze but he seems sure of his words.

"Is that a Stark Industries motto? To a new future?"

"It might be." The smile turns to a grin and he somehow feels he's being made fun of, but in a lighter way. He manages a smile back.

Stark Tower is different then he remembers. There was a point that Stephen remembers where Stark Tower became Avengers Tower and the building was lit up with the A logo. Like it currently was, yet the inside was different than what Stephen recalls. Avengers Tower had been sold at some point and was run by other people yet the building was void of any life, even other Avengers. Stark didn't even take them though it, he'd guided Stephen along immediately to an elevator and down several levels until they were standing in a lab. Also void of life.

He can't help asking when he takes a seat in a chair. "Does anyone actually live here? Do you?"

Stark paused in typing on his computer and then quickly resumed. "I did at one point, don't now. The Avengers live here, but they're not home right now. Don't know if they'll come back either." The air seemed to fill with the words "don't care" too. He wasn't going to press more on that.

"Alright, so what are you doing now?"

"Attempting to locate our friend. He was using some electronically charged gun to attack us, seemed like alien tech honestly so I thought I could trace the odd electromagnetic pulse it gave off." He began rambling something under his breath as he worked and Stephen wasn't keeping up at that point. He did get the general idea though. As he relaxed in the soft leather chair and watched Stark work he began to nod off, exhaustion creeping into every bone in his body. It didn't last very long. After a while he heard Stark curse and sat up in the chair, blinking at the angry man glaring at his computer.

"I assume you couldn't find him?"

"No. It's like he just vanished off the face of the planet when you smacked into him. Is that even possible?" His head turned to face Stephen now and the Doctor attempted to sit up straighter, having to be caught by Stark on the shoulder when he almost leaned too far forward. "Doc?"

"It shouldn't-" be possible, but then neither should Stephen being here. However, if whatever happened to him before to get him here was still in effect when he touched another person who was also doing something strange… could they have perhaps changed places? Did Stephen end up here and send whoever he hit back to his world? It was an insane theory, but it was still a theory. "I'd have to look into it. Could you track the Cloak of Levitation instead?"

"Not without a foundation source for its power. I got a hit on our bad guy before he pulled a Houdini trick, but I've never seen this Cloak of yours." Well it was at least worth asking. He nods his head in understanding to Stark's words and starts to push himself up from the chair.

"Woah, woah, woah! Where do you think you're going, Dumbledor?"

"Home, to look into this." He needed to find the Cloak and he needed to see Wong about what the hell happened to him. The longer he delayed this the worst things could get for him.

Stark firmly placed his hands on Stephen's shoulders and with a push that definitely wasn't even half his strength the Doctor ended up back in the chair he was previously sitting in. "Not to burst your bubble but if you can't even stand you're definitely not going home. Look, despite what you say you're clearly injured and I definitely think you're concussed. Actually, Jarvis, do a body scan of our good Doctor here."

The computer Stark had been typing at lit up with a body picture of Stephen, the type one would see on a full body x-ray scan and then several areas started filling in suddenly. He could read it easily before the AI started speaking. "Doctor Strange seems to be suffering from a mild grade concussion, bruised ribs, lesions to his back, legs and arms as well as a severe case of exhaustion. However, I'd advise the Doctor doesn't go to sleep. Also, the blast to his ears damaged his hearing, though it seems the Doctor managed to fix the worst. I detect some mild damage to his ear drums that is repairing itself." The exhaustion was definitely from magic, but he still wasn't that bad. He'd experienced worse when fighting Dormammu.

"See? I'm fine." Though if he could get a portal to work with his current level of fatigue was definitely questionable.

"Fine? You read that and you see fine? I might not be the poster boy for top health here but I would definitely recommend you not be alone right now. Jarvis just said to not go to sleep." Wasn't he nodding off not even ten minutes ago and Stark was letting him? "Stay here for a bit and help me figure some things out. I could use your magical input on our missing friend."

Well, at least it would give him a few minutes to collect his barring's and strength. "Just a little while." It also had nothing to do with the fact that the chair he was in was comfortable along with Stark's presence. He looked… well for a dead man. Was Stephen dreaming?

"Wow Doc, your hands…" he trails off and Stephen picks his head up a bit, looking at Stark who was still examining his x-rays. "I'd be more concerned but it seems like old scars. Jarvis, did you get a report on our good friend here?"

"I did Sir. Doctor Stephen Strange is, as he said, a Medical Doctor whose field of expertise was Neurology. Doctor Strange earned his medical degree at Columbia University in record time and entered a five-year residency at New York-Presbyterian Hospital where he had rapid success. He became a wealthy and celebrated neurosurgeon before he even turned thirty and then suddenly disappeared a little over five years ago. He was in a car accident and though the car was found a few days later his body was not."

Alright, he was on board with the AI reading off his entire life, everything was even right. Until he reached the end. Stephen was side eyeing the screen that displayed his entire life while Stark instead stared at him. They seemed to have reached an impasse, Stark no doubt wondering if he was who he claimed and Stephen confused at his entire life suddenly vanishing from record. "Doc? I'd ask for a driver's license but-"

"I still have one." He was insulted the other assumed he didn't, actually. "Though I don't carry identification papers in my work clothes." Stark smirked at that and turned back to the screen. "You're more than welcome to run a blood test or something if you're worried."

"Not particularly, Jarvis here would have picked up an abnormality when he scanned you. Though I am curious then on where you vanished too after a car accident like that." He squinted at the screen and then turned back to Stephen, gaze lingering on the blue robes. "Clearly not a medical convention."

Actually, Stephen would like the answer to that too. He very distinctly remembered Christina telling him he was lucky to be found as quickly as he was. This story claims his body was never found and it wasn't as if Stark was looking at some back alley newspaper company, no, he was reading from major news articles. He reached his hand up and pressed the heel of his palm to his forehead, the dried blood on his gloves rubbing uncomfortably onto his skin. Damn he was unbelievably confused, tired and in pain. "I don't remember the days after the accident that well." Not a lie, not completely anyway, he was hopped up on some good pain meds and then adding the drinking to that. Well, perhaps he was lucky to be alive still. Which he was sure was also something Christina said.

"Yeah no I get it. Hell, I can't even remember meeting a man this handsome before." Stephen lifted his head back up at that and squinted at the computer screen, where Stark was now looking at one of his photos taken from when he won a Lasker Award. He did look good that day, that suit had been custom made for the event.

Dropping his hand back into his lap Stephen sighed. "Don't you save complements like that for your girlfriend?" He was aiming for amusement, for getting a ride out of the man, he didn't expect Stark to give him a confused look. "The redhead? Who runs your company?"

"Pepper?" Seriously, he wants the story behind the nickname some day. Isn't her name Virginia? "Pepper's married to my car driver, Happy." And that name too.

Wait, hold on, did he just say Pepper was married to someone else? No that, that can't be right. Stark was supposed to be married to her, have a little girl, and then… well die but it was still wrong. Seriously, what was going on with him?

"Doc, are you sure you're alright? You certainly wouldn't be the first to think I was dating her. You're the first to have that kind of expression about it though."

"I'm fine, my head just hurts." Definitely not a lie at this point.

"Yeah okay, let's go get you something for that and something to drink. How about some food too?" He closes the things on the computer with a simple wave of his hand and then turns to Stephen. He holds that same hand out and though tempted to ignore him he's actually unsure of his ability to stand on his own now. So he takes the hand offered and let's Stark pull him up to his feet. He stumbles, only for a second, before the other braises him with both hands to keep him standing. They take a moment to let Stephen's body steady and then taking just his elbow Stark started to lead him to the elevator.

Stark Tower had a lot more floors than he thought it did, it was like a hotel building though Stark didn't seem interested in explaining the vast details of every single floor. As they climbed to the top and stopped at some seemingly random floor he was led outside and toward a small kitchen area. He sat heavily in a chair at a table and let out a breath. As Stark moved to check for things he lifted his hands up and started to tug the gloves off. He folded them together and slipped them through his belt loops at his waist. His hands were trembling more than usual and it was definitely from the pain and exhaustion. When he looked back up to Stark he caught the other gazing fixedly on his hands. He turned away when he realized Stephen noticed him watching him.

"It's fine, it's not like it's any different than someone staring at your Arc Reactor." He's gotten used to the stare's, the looks of pity, he wore the gloves occasionally but most of the time it didn't bother him anymore.

"Hmm I think it's a little different, I've made the Arc Reactor into a bit of a show. You probably don't want people actually staring at your hands. Tylenol, water and Eggs fine?"

"It doesn't matter if I do or not, they do anyway. You just get used to it." He shrugs his shoulders a bit and nods to the question. "Tylenol is fine and I'm good with anything." He wasn't that hungry anyway.

"Well, if it's not a touchy subject, can I ask what happened to your hands?" A bottle and cup of water was placed in front of him and he turned back to the stove. Stephen picked the bottle up and glanced to Stark's back as he opened it. Stark can probably guess what happened, given what he read of the car accident, but without Stephen's body being found… it was no longer public knowledge apparently. That was weird for him, almost everyone knew about the accident and even more so his "fall from grace" and following searches for a cure. They could follow his life all the way up till his vanishing to Kamar-Taj.

He finds he doesn't really want to talk about it. "What happened to your chest?" Is what he ends up asking instead and he doesn't fail to notice the way Stark's body stops moving briefly before forcing itself to continue making the food.

"Shrapnel from a bomb."

Stephen knew that, it was hard not to. Tony Stark became Iron Man after the accident in Afghanistan, it was more than just public knowledge, it was a story people wanted to own the rights to for publication. You can't google Tony Stark without finding that story. However, he hadn't expected the other to answer him so bluntly and honestly, he felt a bit bad for asking now. So he relents, and he gives back information in turn. "The car crash, it damaged my hands. Extensive nerve damage in the both of them. Despite the amount of surgeries I've had they can't be fixed." And he tried, he went broke trying. There was no fix and he's learned to accept that. Some days are better than others, the pain is tolerable and other days it's not. And some days when he drops priceless artifacts he gets frustrated. But, he has more control over them than he did before.

A plate is set down in front of him and Stark takes a seat across from him at the small table. "And did the cosplay thing come before or-?"

"After. Like you. I was trying to find a fix to a problem that can't be fixed." Stephen picked up the fork, pushed the eggs around on the plate. Thankfully he hadn't made Stephen a whole lot, he wasn't sure he could stomach it. "I put myself into debt trying to find someone who would attempt the surgery, but of course no one would. And I think the first few surgeries I had on them only made it worse. The Doctor who worked on me was an idiot." He wasn't, Stephen was just still vindictive against him. He knows he did the best he could and that if it was anyone aside from Stephen himself, it would have been worse.

There's a few minutes of silence, the two of them just eating and letting those words settle between them. After a bit of time passing Stark spoke again. "I was dying." Stephen glanced up at that, slowly chewing the egg in his mouth. "When I first got back, the metal in my chest was poisoning my blood and killing me. It was called Palladium Poisoning. It came from the Arc Reactor. I completely expected to die and had given up."

In this man's life how close had he come to death's door? And then he did die, in the end, because of Stephen.

"I got lucky and found a cure but not everyone has unlimited resources like I did. You look like you're doing better for yourself though." He squints at Stephen's body and the Doctor smirks a bit.

"I found enlightenment I guess you can say, and a new purpose. I'm a Master of the Mystic Arts and the Sorcerer Supreme of our universe. Everything magical falls under my jurisdiction as does controlling magic users."

"Gotta admit that's quite the title Doc. Stephen Strange, Sorcerer Supreme. I'd ask if your favorite letter was S."

He rolls his eyes but still smiles. Sitting the fork down on the plate he carefully pushes to his feet and gathers up the dishes, taking them over to the sink and rinsing them off. "I should go see what I can find out about this. Not to mention I definitely need a shower and to change."

"Hmm, I won't stop you but I still don't think you should be alone. You are the Doctor though." Stephen turns back around and Stark stands from his chair, arms folding across his chest as he watches Stephen. "You need a way to contact me, do you have a phone?"

"I do. I don't really use it though so I'm not even sure if it's charged." It's not like he has the easiest time handling it. Texting is far to much of a burden and annoyance and there isn't anyone Stephen wants to call. He doesn't exactly have friends apart from Wong and if he wants to talk to Wong he does it in person. Stark's expression is definitely exasperation and yet he doesn't seem surprised.

"Of course the Wizard has magical ways of talking to people."

"I'm a Sorcerer."

"Come on, I have something." He expected them to go back down to the lab but instead he found them back inside the elevator and heading up to another floor. They were almost at the top this time and Stephen was led into a bedroom, fairly large in size and definitely what he would expect from Tony Stark. Said man vanished the moment they were in the room and Stephen took the time he was gone to wander over to the large windows that overlooked the city. He had a view like that from his own penthouse and despite how much he likes the New York Sanctum he does miss things like this.

The Gala's and Conferences that at one point had been part of his everyday life were things that he missed. Being part of the medical world had been so important to him back then and something he did enjoy. He didn't dedicate his life to medicine just because he thought it would be easy or bring him fame, he did it because he loved to practice and he did genuinely want to help people. It had gone to his head of course, even he recognized and accepted that, but he did get into it for the right reasons.

So there are parts of his life that he misses. That he wishes that he could once again be a part of. He was consulting and teaching on the side, to keep medicine in his life and make money to run the Sanctums, but that wasn't the same. No one invited Stephen to events anymore considering his distance from the medical world. They looked at him and they didn't see that world renowned Doctor anymore. They saw someone they could pity that had his life's work ripped from him.

Stark finally returned and Stephen turned to face him, blinking at the watch in his hand. "Top of the line Stark Industries technology, made personally by yours truly. May I?" He holds his right hand out and Stephen frowns before offering his left. Stark holds his hand with a surprising amount of gentleness, seeming worried about applying to much pressure and hurting him. He wraps the watch around his wrist and secures it in place before touching the screen a few times.

"Jarvis?" The watch lights up and he watches the display screen show the Stark Industries logo. Then it speaks.

"All functions in order Sir, I understand my primary task is to assist Doctor Strange."

"Fantastic." He continues to play with the watch, checking the settings and then doing something that Stephen honestly can't keep up with. As he works he talks too. "Jarivs has a direct line to me, if you ask him he can connect you directly to me. He can also send texts, make calls and anything else you might need. Like a personal secretary. It'll also let me keep a location hit on you in case you vanish like our friend earlier did. Not that I think you will but the whole glowy thing still freaks me out and I think it freaks you out too. So until I know what happened to our friend I'd like to keep an eye on you."

That should probably bother him more but it… didn't. Not in the least. He actually appreciated that Stark seemed concerned for him and he appreciated too that he was going to this amount of length to help him. He was even doing it without handing him a phone and expecting him to use it. He was accommodating him and finding different ways to help him to do things while taking into account his hands. It was-it was weird he never thought Stark would be like this. The man he had met in that alien space ship just seemed so tired, so frustrated, so done with everything. But he did care, in the end, he went to great lengths to help Stephen save the universe.

He nods his head and looks to Stark with a renewed understanding of this man. "I'll make sure you get it back."

"Huh? Oh, no, I don't need it back. You can keep it."

"Jarvis is important to you, and I can't accept something like this. Not without giving something in return. So thank you, but I'll be sure you get it back."

"We're definitely talking about this later and your personal issues, but I'll let it go for now." He let's go of Stephen's hand and moves away. "Look Doc, it's pretty late. Do you just wanna stay the night here? Take a shower, I'll loan you some clothes. I'll feel better if I can keep an eye on you and that concussion."

The offer was tempting. Glancing to the side he looks out the window and over the sky again. He could stay, sleep and get his strength back, take a break. He could. But he truly needed to find the information he needed along with locating the Cloak of Levitation. He turns back to Stark and shakes his head. "I can't, I need to find out what happened. But, I have Jarvis right? So you can check in every few hours to make sure I'm alive."

Stark smiles but it seems like a nervous and unsure thing. Like he truly doesn't want to let Stephen leave. "I'm holding you to that Doc. Meet me tomorrow? After you find out about your magical thing?"

He nods his head and reaches to his belt, finding the Sling Ring with a practiced ease and sliding it onto his fingers. He makes a portal to the New York Sanctum, glances back at Stark and then steps through. It snaps closed behind him casting his surroundings into darkness. This, incidentally, was not what he was expecting. The Sanctum was cold, broken down and picked apart. He had to step over fallen debris, scattered books and artifacts as he made his way toward the stairs. He took them slowly, unsure if he'd suddenly fall through them into the basement below and then reached the top floor. The second floor was just as bad as the first but the amount of blood that covered the place was far more alarming. Stephen didn't let himself linger on it to much, moving through the area toward where he knew the Cloak of Levitation used to be.

And, like he thought, there indeed trapped behind the glass was the bright red rustling fabric. Stephen looked around and grabbed a heavy artifact from the ground. He stepped up to the glass, lifted the item up and then drove it forward into the box. The glass cracked, spiderwebbed across and then with another hit from him shattered into pieces. Stephen attempted to protect his face from the spray and when he lowered his arms down the Cloak tackled him and settled contently around his shoulders.

"Well, that's one problem solved. You wanna tell me what happened?" Of course it couldn't but talking to the Cloak had become a habit. With that returned to him he started to investigate the New York Sanctum. Everything seemed in the same place it had been before, there were Artifacts he recognized in places they used to be before he moved them and older ones that he had gotten Wong to get rid of when they cleaned the place up. Although he had insinuated it earlier, let himself play with the thought, he was starting to become sure in his assessment.

The Stephen Strange of this world died, during the car accident, and whatever happened to him in his universe thrust him into a different one. When he hit that guy Stark was fighting he created a roundabout effect that threw them into his universe. Had he not have hit them he probably would have been bounced back home.

From the looks of this place it was perhaps what would have happened back home if Stephen had died. No Sorcerer Supreme, the Ancient One dead, Kamar-Taj would have been at it's ends and either failed or won by the skins of its teeth. Since the universe was intact he assumed they won, if just barely. He wondered if everything with Dormammu didn't happen then, if the Ancient One stopped them in time and died doing it or if she trapped herself fighting Dormammu like he had done.

Or if something happened to Wong. He'll have to make a trip to Kamar-Taj it seemed. Before leaving though Stephen made his way to one of the larger rooms that held most the books in the Sanctum. He dug through the books until he found the one he was looking for, one on interdimensional travel, and tucked it inside his robes. He slipped the Sling Ring back on and created another portal to Kamar-Taj directly, stepping through.

Kamar-Taj was located in Kathmandu, a place in Asia that was usually fairly cold. Not as cold as the mountain the Ancient One abandoned him on but still cold. The sun was actually up here and as he made his way through into the building the young Masters of the Mystic Arts that were training stopped to stare at him.

He found Wong in less time than he thought it would take. The man was seated behind a desk in the library face buried in the books in front of him. Stephen stopped before it, waited patiently as much as he could, and when the other looked up he could see the slight widening of the man's eyes. On one hand he could count the amount of facial reactions he had gotten out of Wong, which meant this was significant.

"Who are you? How did you get the Eye of Agamotto?"

"Doctor Stephen Strange, Sorcerer Supreme of a different universe, we might need to talk."

They sat in a mirror dimension, preventing outside influences from affecting them such as cell phones and gossiping other Sorcerers. The tea in his hands was warm and helping to cool the nerves in his body as he described to Wong his getting here. Wong wanted no information on where he had come from, just the means of doing so. He didn't think though that the future Stephen came from was the same future that awaited them. Stephen was starting to get that feeling too, far to many things differed between them meaning this wasn't a branch of his own timeline but an entire separate universe. Which was what he had thought before too.

"The Stephen Strange of this universe is dead." His hands tightened briefly around the cup he held but he had assumed that. "The Ancient One and Kamar-Taj, well those high enough up, knew he was destined to become the next Sorcerer Supreme. So we kept an eye on him. However, we missed the anger that grew in one of our disciples over the thought of being bested by a child. The idea of being passed up and outdone by someone who was barely old enough to tie his shoes was rather distressing apparently."

He didn't think that was true for his own Ancient One, but she was rather selective on what she told him. Did she know he would become the future? She only said she could never see past her own death. "Karl Mordo?"

Wong nodded once and then continued. "He used the car accident as his chance and murdered Doctor Strange. Then he sent the body through a portal into space."

That was quite the method of covering a murder. "I see. What happened to Kaecilius and Dormammu?"

"The Ancient One stopped him, it took their life to do it and the time stone. Our Time Stone no longer exists and as far as I'm aware, Mordo and Kaecilius are dead." If Kaecilius wasn't dead though that meant he was just waiting for a chance to continue his plans. Stephen would have to keep an eye out though the last thing he wanted to do was go through all of that with Dormammu again. The feeling of dying, repeatedly, was one he would never forget. He'd have to look for Mordor too, just in case.

"I see. Do you know my chances of getting home?"

At this Wong, for once, appears to hesitate. He sips his tea, taking longer than needed to do so, and then lowers it back down. "I do not believe you will be able to. As I'm sure you're well aware of yourself the ability to pick a single universe out and then a particular branch of it is-"

"Near impossible." If impossible entirely "And then actually moving between dimensions is more than just dangerous." Time travel was one thing, moving between dimensions was suicidal.

He survived, and doesn't even know how, but those not torn apart in the process would end up anywhere in the multiverse. "I don't want my existence to cause problems here though."

"I don't believe it should. Our Stephen Strange is dead, time stone gone and on top of that the universe is teetering on the brink of extinction with the loss of the Sanctums and the Sorcerer Supreme. If anything you might cause a balance. If you're interested in helping us repair the Sanctums."

Even if he wasn't staying Stephen wouldn't abandon them to their own devices. The loss of the Masters of the Mystic Arts was to much considering they were the guardians of this reality. He wasn't sure how much help he would be but considering how long he ran Kamar-Taj in his own reality he could perhaps put things back in order. If there was at least somewhere to start anyway. "Do any of the Sanctums still exist?"

"The one in Hong Kong." There was a starting place then.

"I'll do what I can." That was how he found himself sitting behind a desk at four in the morning, face resting on top of his arms and fast asleep. He'd gone through financial papers, training papers, construction requests for the Sanctums and at some point faceplanted onto his desk. Despite everything he had scrolled through he hadn't managed to find anything that could help him. The documents were to old and he'd have to go back through with requests for construction workers for the Sanctums. At least he'd had some promising people for Masters to the different Sanctums. The New York Sanctum would always be his home, though.

Stephen stirred when the watch he wore beeped suddenly, rubbing his face against his arms to wipe the sleep from it. He stilled again as his face tucked into his elbow and the watch lit up. "Doctor, I have a message from Sir. He would like to know if you're doing alright and if you've found anything."

"Mm… tell him I was sleeping and yes." He yawned into his arm and slowly picked his head up. He never showered, he definitely needs to do that before he goes anywhere. If Stark wants to see him that is. The watch lit up again and Jarvis spoke.

"Sir would like to know if you're available to discuss this today."

"Sure, I need to take a shower though, where is he?" Stephen stood from the desk and moved to the dresser in the corner of the room, pulling out a clean pair of robes that Wong had stocked for him. He folded them over his arm and headed out of the room toward the shower area.

"Sir is at his home in Malibu."

Was that where he lived now? Well, when he wasn't apparently working in New York at Stark Industries. He wondered if Stark had a spare house in New York or if he lived-no, because the Iron Man suit could get him to New York in probably under an hour, why have more houses? He'd have to ask. "Could you tell him I can't use portals to places I've never been before? I need a visual. So unless he wants to send me a few pictures we'll have to meet in New York."

Stephen managed to take a shower and dress himself before he got to the reply from Stark. When he finally did Jarvis displayed in a hologram a few pictures of what Stephen assumed was Stark's lab in the Malibu house. He fixed his hair, shaved carefully and then headed to find Wong to inform him he was leaving.

Malibu was a lot warmer than Kamar-Taj, or perhaps that was just Stark's lab, but the drastic shift in temperature was almost enough to make his head spin. That, or the lack of proper sleep. He found the man tucked behind another computer, in his lap one of the Iron Man gauntlets and a screwdriver. He looked up when Stephen arrived, grinned brightly and jumped to his feet. The Gauntlet was set aside onto the workbench and he spun around to look at Stephen. "Hey, you're looking better Doc. Seems a shower does you good."

"As it probably would you. Is that motor oil in your hair?"

"It's a new hair product I'm testing, thought it would add to my undeniable charm."

"It adds something." He walks around the workbench and looks up at the holograms on display, the Iron Man suit shown in all its glory. Or one of them anyway. "You have the nano tech but you still use the suits?"

"Nano-tech isn't unlimited, if there is enough damage I can run out. The suits come if I call for them or if I carry one with me. It's good to have backups. Besides, I'm fond of them." He's seen first hand Stark run out of that tech so he won't question his paranoia. Sometimes it's good to be over prepared. "So, what'd you find out at Hogwarts?"

Stephen watched the holograms for a few minutes longer before his gaze dropped down to Stark. He looked into the others brown eyes and spoke carefully as if he was giving a secret. "You need to keep an open mind."

Stark didn't even flinch. "Love it when conversations start like that."

At some point during the conversation Stark had started Jarvis up on the computer and had the AI running all sorts of tests he could get away with on Stephen. He monitored his heart rate, his vitals, his temperature, and even tried to pick up on the magic Stephen had like they were gamma rays. Jarvis seemed to have a rather hard time registering the electrical waves that the magic gave off but Stark just renewed his effort to find a way to detect it. In his words "magic is just science we haven't figured out yet". At some point Stephen folded his legs beneath him and had the Cloak carry his weight, levitating in air, and that drew Stark's attention like a cat spotting a mouse. He walked circles around him, poked at the Cloak and his mouth dropped open when the Cloak smacked him.

"So, do you believe our theory?"

"Believing it's not the problem. I already assumed with the whole glowy thing and you appearing out of nowhere that somethin' was up. What we do about it is though." He tapped his chin with the index finger of the gauntlet and turned to face Stephen. "Given your explanation you can't go home, and given what we've been told you're legally dead. Proving you're not dead isn't hard, making someone dead alive again is. See?"

"Why do you make it sound like you intend to help me?"

Stark looked at him like he was a moron, he might be. "Because I do. Look, you're clearly not a bad guy and I need allies that I can count on more than anything right now. That is if you intend to be my ally."

Stephen never considered Stark an enemy, not even when he saw that the only way to win against Thanos was to sacrifice him. At most he was an ally, at least he was an acquaintance. Stark he was sure thought, after his death, that Stephen was the enemy. It was hard not to say that, considering he can still remember the way that the man looked at him when he realized what Stephen's plan was. That gaze read far to much and Stephen thought, for a moment, that it was the gaze of a man who trusted him and that trust was shattered.

He'll never forget that look, and he'll never tell this Stark what he had done to his own. "Can I ask what happened to the Avengers?"

Stark sighed and sat down, the screwdriver he was working with placed on the table, his gaze firmly fixated on the workbench. "What happened in your world?"

That was fair, considering this was far more personal for Stark than it was for him. He shifted in the air a bit and leaned over the table to look at the gauntlet Stark was playing with. "I'm not entirely sure, I only know the bare minimum. I didn't meet the Tony Stark of our world until our biggest enemy came to destroy it. But, from what I gathered from him, they had a fight. They call it the Avengers Civil War. He wasn't talking to Rogers. From his expression I get the feeling Rogers wronged him greatly."

Stark was nodding and he got the feeling most of that was fairly similar. "Yeah, guess that sounds right. He lied to me, about my parents, how they died. Then decided to protect their murderer and when I tried to stop him he left me to die in a frozen bunker in a mountain with no way home."

A slow blink followed his words and Stephen's gaze searched the others face for-well anything, mostly to see if he was lying. He'd love for the man to be lying right now. "That's a bit worse than I was thinking I must admit." A little bit didn't quite define it, no wonder this man had clear signs of PTSD. Yet at his words Stark forced out a small and exhausted laugh. Stephen didn't find it funny.

"Yeah, it wasn't great. I'm getting a bit tired of near death experiences."

And then Stephen went, saw, plotted and executed the other's death. He really wished he could stop thinking about that. "How are you so sure then that you can trust me?"

Stark shook his head and picked the screwdriver back up, pulling the gauntlet onto his hand to work on it that way. "I'm not, and my sense of judgement apparently is always wrong. But you're not like the others, you don't treat me the same, and when I tried to give you something you keep attempting to give it back. I'm hoping that's a good sign and that I can maybe work with you."

"Your baseline for friends and colleagues is alarming." Stephen shook his head and a burst of laughter tumbled from Stark's lips. "Then again my only friend is a monk who doesn't have money because he thinks it's best to live without the burden of the physical world or… something like that." That sent Stark into more laughter that ended with the other smiling up at him. It was a nice smile.

Stephen unfolded his legs from beneath him and stood up straight, leaning onto the workbench. As they talked more a plan was formed for Stephen's return from the dead.

Stark was going to get Pepper to send out for the paperwork and by the end of the week he planned to have the Doctor revived. For the time being it was decided it would be easier to have Stephen staying at the mansion, with all the paperwork they had to do and whatnot. Most the deciding was done by Stark who also took it upon himself to buy real clothes because apparently Stephen couldn't go to court dressed like he'd joined a cult.

"It's not a Cult. Not exactly. I mean, they did teach me to tap into powers that I never even knew existed."

"Jarvis, define cult for Doctor Strange."

The day they got him legally existing in the world again they tried to keep it quiet but with Stark nothing truly remains quiet. They managed to get inside the court building, have the meeting and resurrect Stephen but as they were leaving they got caught by the press. They snapped pictures of the two of them and pressed for questions, asking who Doctor Strange was, what he was to Stark and what happened to him. Stark tried to appease them by simple words and calm promises of answers later. Stephen pressed himself close to Stark and felt the other wrap his arms around the one closest to him, tugging him gently through the crowd and seeming to hide his hand with their bodies. He slipped the one Stark wasn't holding onto his pocket and let Stark guide him.

They had walked to the court house but when they reached the curb a car was parked along the side. Stark let him go and walked to the door, pulling it open for Stephen and looking to him. He kept his face straight, watching, questioning and held his gaze as he spoke. "Trust me?"

And he did. Damn him but he did. Without a word he slid into the passenger seat of the car and Stark shut the door. It seemed as if his mind blanked out the moment the door shut because all he could do was sit there and grip the fabric of his suit in his hands. He felt Stark get close, lean over him and grab the seatbelt. It settled across his chest and clicked into place. Somehow he forced himself to move his hands and arms so it could rest against his waist rather than his arms. The seatbelt didn't help him relax, if anything his chest felt more tight with the pressure of it.

"Hey, talk to me. Maybe distracting your mind from what we're doing will help. What's your next plan?" The car was moving, he was vaguely aware of this. It was moving, and they were driving, and Stark was speaking. His head still felt like cotton and his chest painfully constricted. Stephen clenched the jacket of his suit tightly and attempted to both breath and answer the question.

"I-have to rebuild the Sanctums to help balance and protect the universe."

"I don't know why I ever expect a normal answer from you when I ask a question. See most people when being resurrected from the dead go for pizza. Doesn't pizza sound great?"

A startled laugh tumbled from Stephen's lips and he turned to look over at Stark, trying to not focus on what his hands were doing but rather his face. It was a nice face. "And if I don't fix your universes balance there will not be any pizza to enjoy."

The corner of the others mouth twitched up at that and then Stark was full on smiling. "Tuchè, sparkles."

"Just how many nicknames do you have for me?" He shakes his head fondly and turns to look out the window, watching the streets pass by. Stark was driving pretty slow, he might just barely be doing the speed limit.

"Quite a few. But what's the plan for rebuilding?"

He couldn't tell if Stark was genuinely interested or simply doing this to distract Stephen. Both were working whatever his plan actually was. This was perhaps the most calm and comfortable he'd been in a car since the crash. He still truly hated being inside them, but perhaps with the other driving he could actually get inside one. He takes a breath and slowly let's it out, loosening his grip on his jacket. "I'm not sure, there are three Sanctums in total and only one is still standing. I was considering, now that I'm not dead, trying to teach and do consultations to get the funds for it." But still the amount of money that would take was quite a bit. He could get free labor from Kamar-Taj but even then the parts and the construction permits weren't cheap.

They finally reached the Mansion and Stark drove the car down the ramp into the house. He parked it beside the several others already down there and turned it off. Stephen unbuckled himself and reached for the door but a hand grabbed his forearm and halted him. When he turned back around Stark was looking up at him. "Let me help, with the rebuilding I mean." At his disbelieving expression he quickly elaborated. "It's not like I'm losing money on this, as you said it's for the sake of the universe. I like living in this universe."

Another laugh falls from his lips and Stephen shakes his head before turning back to the door and opening it. "Kamar-Taj doesn't make money you know, think of it like a nonprofit organization. You stand to make no grain from this." He shuts the car door behind him and turns to find Stark standing just beside him.

"That's not true." The reply is straight forward, no room for arguing. "I stand to gain an ally. Several if it's actually a cult."

It's not the response he expects, nowhere near it, and the words are enough to send his head spinning. Stephen swallows and shifts his stands, arms folding across his chest as if he could make a barrier between this and the last time he remembers seeing Stark. It might be to much. This was the man he sent to his death? "Why do you trust me so much? I could be a con artist or working to gain your trust and kill you."

"Well, if you were, your plan wouldn't be very good considering you just said it." Humor, he notices it more firmly now. Stark masks his emotions, his uncertainty and his low self-esteem with humor. It's something he knows well himself, that barrier with words. The other's posture loosens suddenly and he turns his gaze away from Stephen. "I don't know why I trust you, but I get the feeling I can. I've been led astray with that feeling before, I hope this time I'm not wrong." He starts walking toward the elevator and Stephen follows after him, hands clenching and unclenching at his side. "Did the Tony of your world not trust you?"

Lips pressed together and Stephen moved to the side of the elevator, putting distance between them. "I don't know." What a lie, and this was perhaps the first time he's actually lied to Stark. He knows undoubtedly that Stark trusted him. The plan wouldn't have worked if he didn't. He trusted the End Game without even knowing or realizing what that was. Trust in a man he had known for hours at most. When Stark trusted he trusted so whole and so undoubtedly with everything he was.

And that man, he had led to his death.

No matter how many times Stephen repeated, understood and acknowledged those words it still left a sickening feeling in his gut. The world truly was missing something without Tony Stark in it. No matter the person he was before Iron Man and no matter the person he died being.

His silence seemed to alarm Stark because he turned to look over at Stephen with a contemplating expression. "Hey, clearly there was a thing. You get weird when I ask for information. If you wanna talk about it I'm here, okay?"

He frowns, more to himself than the words. "Am I that transparent?"

"Very. Your face goes through this whole thing every time you think about him… me? This is weird." He doesn't look uncomfortable if anything he looks amused and highly curious. It doesn't make Stephen feel better. He turns his face away from Stark and the elevator opens.

"You probably think it's something very simple, it's not." This time Stark doesn't try to stop him when he moves around him, but closely follows after Stephen.

"Hey, nothing's ever easy when it comes to me. I'm hard work. Ask Pepper. And I like it that way, the best things in life we work for. And I'm definitely a best. Top best." His forearm is grabbed and tugged gently, drawing Stephen's attention over to the other man. His grip isn't hard, and Stephen could easily break it and move away, but he doesn't. He stands there, watching Stark, and wishing he knew what his own face did when he thought of the other one. "Look, I won't judge you. And I'm sure the other me doesn't either." He should, if he doesn't, he should. "And no one can give advice on me better than… myself. So, at some point, consider talking to me alright?"

"Stark-"

"Tony. Call me Tony. I'm gonna call you Stephenie, okay?"

"Stephen. Don't add syllables to my name. But fine, Tony, I'll consider it alright? But it's not a story you're going to want to hear." He had enough nightmares, he didn't need more from something that might not even come to pass.

Yet, the other still stood his ground, watching Stephen. "I've learned that despite the story sometimes you might need to talk to someone. Just hopefully someone who might stay awake when you do." He didn't get the joke, if it was even a joke, he didn't think it was. But he nods to the other's words and Stark-Tony, drops his arm. He makes it a few steps away before Tony speaks up again. "Stephen, you're still staying right?"

Honestly he hadn't really given it much thought. He'd stayed here for a week and within that week Tony had made it so he felt quite comfortable. The kitchen held his favorite teas, the bathroom had his razor and showering supplies. The bedroom even had a dresser and closet full of clothes, because apparently he couldn't wander around in his Kamar-Taj robes. Swallowing he turns to look back at Tony again. "Well, until the New York Sanctum is fixed I don't technically have a home. Unless you want me to leave."

"No, I don't want you to leave. You're welcome to stay, as long as you want in fact. Even after we fix those sanctum things of yours. Actually, how about tomorrow we go look at the one in New York?"

Stephen nods his head briefly and then turns away again, heading toward the room that Tony had allowed him to use. A change of clothes and a shower was enough to give him a chance to think everything through. He knew he'd be stupid to turn down Tony's offer to help yet he still felt bad for letting the other pay for everything. He'd have to find a way to make it even, to give help in turn.

For a few hours he sat and meditated on this, letting his mind wander and explore the universe as he would as Sorcerer Supreme. He checked the defenses, reached his mind out through the multiverse, balanced his own meridians. Meditation was the perfect chance for him to clear his thoughts. The Ancient One had taught him that meditation was one of the only ways for him to connect to the river of magic within him and release himself to its currents. He'd used to think he could never meditate before Kamar-Taj and now he found he could even meditate while astral projecting.

It was a pair of hands settling on his shoulders that brought him back to the waking world. His entire body jerked, falling from it's meditation place and dropping him down to the ground. The Cloak of Levitation and the person holding him kept him from falling completely onto his back. He looked up at Tony who seemed just as startled as he did as well as a bit guilty.

"Sorry, I tried calling for you first."

"It's fine, really, at least I didn't punch you. Which by the way I was tempted to do."

"Well thank you, for your restraint, come down to the lab with me?"

He nodded his head and with the others help stood up, the Cloak falling out properly behind him. Together they headed down and Tony tossed himself into a rolling chair. Stephen hovered beside him, looking up at the computer screen that displayed what clearly looked like a leg prosthetic. Being a Doctor and a Neurosurgeon he'd seen a lot of different prosthetics in his life, though this one was definitely not a usual brand and he could assume why. Obviously Tony was working on his own line. That felt like something Stephen should know, perhaps he was further out of the medical field than he thought.

"So, what's this?" He prompted, leaning onto the back of the other's chair.

"Do you know about my friend Rhodey?"

"Um, aside from a simple Google search, no."

"That makes sense. See, Rhodes got hurt a while ago, fell inside the War Machine armor and damaged his lower spine. He can't walk so I've been working on creating a prosthetic that can give him back as much control as possible."

Stephen nodded to this information and moved closer to get a better look at the screen. He reached his hand out and took control of the keyboard from Tony. Not a real keyboard, it was some type of holographic one and after realizing quickly there was no mouse or easy way to navigate the blueprints from there he reached for the screen instead. Tony intercepted him and caught Stephen's wrist, bringing his hand back and instead grabbing a tablet. He placed that in Stephen's hand and with a single touch to the screen brought up a hologram display of what was shown on the computer a moment ago.

"Yeah, not gonna get used to that." It seemed so easy for him to have everything he wanted in the palm of his hands. He could rotate the blueprints and zoom in on specific parts with barely having to do anything. He folded his legs beneath him, rested the tablet on top of his lap and used both his hands to rotate and break apart the hologram.

Tony, amused, slid the chair over beside him and watched Stephen. "You can wear bathrobes in public, manipulate magic in the air and yet technology baffles you. What are you, a Grandma?"

"Mm, very amusing, walk me through this I assume you wanted my opinion? I have to warn you I'm by no means an engineer."

A shrug and Tony stood to his feet, moving closer to the other and guiding him over toward the workbench. "I don't need another engineer, there's already far to much ego in this room with one, I need a Neurosurgeon. I need someone to connect to the brain what I can connect to technology. Without a delay."

"Hm, well, let's see if I can advance this." He moved to stand beside the other and together broke out a new set of blueprints and started to draw what changes Stephen proposed and Tony could understand to work into his plans. As they worked they ended up ordering take out and continued even through the long hours. Stephen's ideas kick started something in the others mind because he took off on a tangent of his own with a clear understanding of what he was doing and what he could change.

Stephen let him, staying close in case he wanted to bounce ideas off of him but mostly stayed in his own space reading the book he'd taken from the New York Sanctum. It didn't help really, even though he was sure it would. He wouldn't be able to make it home, not without risk to shattering his soul or breaking something. It was perhaps a bit of a relief, to know he couldn't head home. It meant he wouldn't have to try to find a way and that he could stay here, fix what's broken of Kamar-Taj and he wouldn't have to leave Tony. He'd grown fond of the man apparently.

When he reached the end of his book he looked up from it and found Tony passed out on the workbench. His head was buried in his arms, slumped over the table and breathing softly. Stephen snapped the book shut and stood to his feet, stepping over to the table in front of him. He reached his hand down and gently brushed the back of his fingers over Tony's forehead. "Jarvis, how long has he been awake for?"

"Sir has been awake for approximately two and a half days. He's been working hard on your resurrection, this project and the global Avengers related problems."

"I see." He had seen the exhaustion but he'd figured short of sedating the man he wouldn't take a break. Now it seemed it was catching up to him. Moving closer to Tony he reached a hand down and wrapped it around his waist, attempting to help him up so he could carry him to bed. It ended very quickly and very badly for him. Tony suddenly jerked in his arms, knocking himself awake and Stephen saw the oncoming panic attack before it actually hit him. The sharp gasp of breath, the dilation of his pupils.

Carefully he helped the other down onto the floor and settled him against the bench. "Tony, it's alright, you're safe. Does telling you to breath with me work or are you more of a distraction type of person? Jarvis?"

"I'd advise you to talk to Sir, given his stubborn nature."

Okay, talk, he could talk. He's done a lot of it as a Doctor, surely he could ramble off something until Tony got his brain back in order. "Do you know how I became the Sorcerer Supreme? Because there was someone before me, even here in this universe though I'm unsure of the gender of the Sorcerer Supreme here, Wong avoided pronoun. Anyway, the Sorcerer Supreme I met who went by the title the Ancient One was a woman who appeared young yet was clearly hundreds if not thousands of years old." His teacher, his master, the person who taught him everything he knew to start with. Without alarming Tony more he carefully took hold of the others wrist in his hand and felt for his pulse, as he counted he continued to speak.

"She told me my arrogance and need for self satisfaction was my downfall as both a person and a doctor. And she told me this all within the first few seconds of meeting her, to which she then promptly forced my consciousness from my body and threw me through the Multiverse." Tony's pulse was slowing a bit much to his relief so he continued the story. "She was still a good, yet complicated woman though. She believed I could be more than I was and that I would accomplish great things. She took a chance on me when I was ready to give up on myself."

Stephen took a breath and let it out slowly, averting his gaze from Tony briefly before looking back. "But anyway, she died, because someone wanted to summon a monster from the dark dimension and harness it's powers. You know, your usual bad guy." At this point Tony's heart rate was completely normal though the man seemed quite invested in the conversation. Stephen loosened his own grip on the others wrist and settled for just resting his hand on top of Tony's.

"His name was Kaecilius and the being he wanted to summon was called Dormammu. He is the Cosmic Conqueror, the Destroyer of Worlds. A being of infinite power and endless hunger, on a quest to invade every universe and bring all worlds into his Dark Dimension. And he hungers for Earth most of all. That was what I was told and that was what I saw for myself." He looks like he wants to ask a question so Stephen waits and takes the chance to collect his thoughts and breath. Dormammu, that fight, no one dies that many times and comes out without some nightmares following them.

"You saw him?" Tony's voice is soft as if he's worried about breaking the moment and Stephen nods.

"The Eye of Agamotto, you remember I said it contains the Time Stone, right? Well, true to its name the Time Stone commands time. I can loop it endlessly, fast forward and rewind. There are of course limitations to that, if time progresses to much and I try to rewind it it'll create some sort of effect that will basically collapse the entire timeline in on ourselves." He shrugs and Tony just looks alarmed. "Anyway, I looped time around myself, went to Dormammu in the Dark Dimension and trapped him with me. I told him I was there to bargain, he killed me, and it started over."

He said it so loosely, so simply, like telling Tony it was raining outside. It was far from how he felt about the entire matter. The other shifted and suddenly he found his face full of Tony, the concern in his gaze easy to see. "How many?"

"Times did I die? I don't know. At some point you just… stop counting. I've figured it out through math that it was about thirty years worth of time looped. In that time I mastered the Mystic Arts through forced learning." He went in one person and who came out the other side was completely different.

Tony shook his head and leaned back, eyes wide and a startled expression on his face. "That is quite the story."

It's not even all of it, it's the short version of everything that happened to him and it didn't even begin to explain the horrible aspect of everything he did to Christine. He hoped here that she was happy and found a place for herself. Someone who treated her right. "Well, that's that. You seem to be doing better. Are you alright? I'm sorry I startled you."

Tony laughed and it wasn't a great sound, honestly he sounded physically and mentally exhausted. "No, that's not your fault you don't need to apologize to me. I just… I have some issues."

"PTSD is not an issue, it's a mental condition from trauma which you've definitely gone through. It's alright to struggle, to need help, and to accept help when it's offered."

It was perhaps hypocritical considering how Tony was holding a hand out before, offering to help him through his issues with Stark's death and he had brushed him off. But that felt different, in the aspect that what haunted him was his own fault and what haunted Tony was genuine trauma. "Are you offering, Stephen?" He didn't deserve to push his emotions on plotting his Stark's death onto Tony. To seek comfort from murdering a version of the person in front of him.

"Yes, whatever you need. Come on, let's get you to bed." Stephen stood up and offered Tony a hand, the other taking it gently in his own and accepting the help up. He was careful not to squeeze, to not put to much pressure on him. Tony's room was more simple than the one they'd visited at Stark Tower. It was clean and neat, which from the state of the lab was not something he expected, and the bed was large enough to fit at least six people in it. But there seemed to be a lack of personalization. The lab screamed more of Tony than his own bedroom did. He wondered if the man actually slept in here more than once a week.

He helped Tony onto the bed and reached for the others shirt, grasping the hem of it and pulling it off of him. Tony blinked a few times and then looked up at Stephen. "If you wanted to get me naked Stephen, all you had to do was say so."

It was so ridiculous, half dead from exhaustion and just coming down from an anxiety attack and the other was flirting with him. He couldn't help the laugh that escaped him shaking his head in amusement. Tossing the shirt to the side he turned to grab some pajamas from the other's dresser but was stopped by hands settling against his hips. Stephen turned back and looked down at Tony, finding the others fingers wrapped into the belts looped around his waist. Slowly he tugged Stephen back toward him by the belt and leaned forward to press his forehead against his stomach.

Intimate, the action was very intimate and Stephen stood there frozen unsure of what the right response would be. It didn't seem like Tony was looking for anything other than comfort and he had no problem with actually providing that. He moved his hands and placed them on top of Tony's head, trembling and scarred fingers moving through the man's hair. It seemed to help in a way, the others breathing evened out again and for a moment he was actually sure he fell asleep. But then Tony moved, scooting back on the bed and still trying to tug Stephen with him. He had to kneel on the edge of the mattress just so that he didn't fall on top of Tony.

"Will you lay down with me?" The question seemed so vulnerable and Stephen thought that Tony looked like he fully expected Stephen to tell him to fuck off. He didn't. He climbed up further onto the bed and laid down beside Tony, the others fingers still looped through his belt.

Tony fell asleep like that, his head resting on the pillows and clinging to Stephen.

Waking up cold and alone was not a pleasant feeling but one he was certainly used too. Though waking up in his robes and the Cloak struggling beneath him was not something that usually happened unless Stephen was heavily wounded. He blinked up at the ceiling, frowning as he tried to remember where he was and what happened last night.

"Good morning Doctor Strange. It is Thursday and currently twenty degrees outside. The weather will continue to drop in temperature and I'd recommend, if you go outside, to wear gloves. Sir would like me to inform you that he had a meeting this morning and will be busy with Stark Industries until this afternoon."

Ah, he remembered now.

Pushing up he felt the Cloak leave his shoulders and float away into a corner. He ran his hand through his hair and felt down his face, trying to clear the sleep from his mind. He should do something today, see if he can figure out what might happen that happened in his timeline and what might not. He could start, ideally, with the fall of Asgard. At the time Stephen had left Thor, Loki and Odin to their own devices. He should have helped more. Losing Asgard and letting Hela out was not ideal, Thor and Asgard were a force he could have used against Thanos. And, to find out about Thanos, he needed to talk to Thor and specifically, Loki.

To find them, he needed to find Doctor Banner. "Jarvis, can I ask a question?" He swings his legs over the side of the bed and stands up, fixing his clothes so they were less muddled.

"Yes, Doctor?"

"Do you happen to know where Doctor Banner is?"

"Doctor Banner has been missing for a few months however we are under the impression that he tends to do that." Huh, interesting.

"I see. I'll be taking a trip to a nursing home today if Tony looks for me."

"Understood Doctor, please take a pair of gloves with you on your way out."

The gloves were heated and were a definite relief against his hands when he went out. The cold tended to cause him pain and he was certain that Tony somehow knew that. Was it the same for the Arc Reactor, did the cold cause him pain with it? He didn't think to much on that. As he continued his way down the street Stephen eventually located the nursing home that he was looking for. Which was still standing. That certainly meant Asgard was possibly standing too. He glanced around, looking for Loki or Odin, and then ducked inside.

He did not find Odin here.

That was good, and bad. Good because he was alive and not dying so far. Bad because he had no idea where Thor was. If he couldn't find Thor he couldn't ask about anything that he needed to. So what was he supposed to do? He couldn't just raise a signal to the sky or something to summon an Asgardian God. If Banner was still lost to outer space that means Thor hadn't found him yet. Technically, he supposed, that meant Thor should be in Asgard, right?

Maybe he should have paid more attention to the Avengers during his time then. Stephen huffed out a sign and folded his arms across his chest. Without a clear path yet he should focus on the Sanctums. If they get back the forcefield Kamar-Taj creates and make it even stronger they'll already be one step better. With that in mind he turned and headed toward Bleecker Street.

The building was the same state that he had left it in, clearly no one had bothered to take it upon themselves to clean it up. However if he was them and he walked into the same mess with no guarantee of being able to fix it, he probably would have responded the same too. Kamar-Taj was truly in a state of disrepair. But, he's done it once before, he can do it again. Even if the others weren't as confident in his abilities, to them he still had something to prove.

As he cleaned he thought through his plan, knowing he first needed to connect with Asgard to connect things to Thanos. If Thanos was still a problem they could then focus on the stones. After, of course, saving Asgard. Who were important to the balance.

For as odd as it was, he needed Loki as an ally. Maybe, having someone know he's innocent, will change his rather-murderous tendencies? One could hope.

A sigh tumbled from his lips and Stephen picked up a book off of the ground, flipping through the legends and stories of Asgard. Ragnarok was what they called the ending of Asgard, caused by Loki. Though their legends on how it would play out seemed different from the truth. The book went further down and Stephen paused, reading about how the Sorcerer's of Asgard made a deal with Kamar-Taj. Even Asgard apparently bent to the will of the Sorcerer Supreme who oversaw all Sorcerer's in the universe, even those in Asgard.

Interesting.

There must be a way for him to reach Asgard then, surely.

"So this is where you're hidin', Doc." Stephen picked his head up and looked down the stairs, finding Tony standing in the entrance of the New York Sanctum. The book in his hands was snapped shut and he looked to the other with a smile. "Gotta admit, I was expecting a bit-more."

"There was more, a lot more, where I come from. This was what it was before there was the more." Tony took the steps two at a time as he made his way up to Stephen, picking up stray artifacts and what not along his way.

"Really? Facinating. I totally believe you."

"Tony, did you finish your work?" A sigh fell from his lips and he placed the book down on a table he'd turned right side up earlier.

"Oh yeah, had a nice chit chat with Fury. Do you know Fury? He's an asshole, owns Shield, talks out his ass? Manipulated us? More specifically manipulates me?"

"I'm familiar, haven't actually met him though." He would absolutely like to keep it that way too. "I'd like to keep it that way too, the secrets of Kamar-Taj need to remain a secret. We're not a toy to be used and manipulated, as you say."

"I am totally game with that, I would also like to not be abused and manipulated by that man. Unfortunetly, due to everything with the Avengers, I still need to put up with him. What's this?"

Stephen reached over and snatched the box Tony was holding from his hand. "Tiny version of a black hole basically, not within your best idea to open it." Tony blinked and Stephen sat down the box far out of the others reach.

"So this is one of the Sanctums?"

"One of. This is the New York Sanctum, how did you find me here?"

Tony motioned to the watch on Stephen's wrist and then pat his chest. "Tracked you and flew here with the suit. You've been gone a while, I got worried. What was that about a nursing home?"

"I was looking for Odin." Tony blinked and then pure amusement danced in his eyes clearly wanting more information. "Loki decided to take over Asgard and rule it pretending to be Odin. He threw Odin into a nursing home here on Earth." Startled laughter fell from Tony's lips and he caught himself on the table, shaking his head.

"For a murderous bastard he does have a sense of humor."

"He does, doesn't he? But, unlike in my time, Odin isn't in the nursing home yet. Which makes me curious. This timeline flows differently than my own, I'm not sure at what point Asgard is in it's pace."

He stands up straight and turns to Stephen, gaze narrowed. "You're afraid of something, what is it? Whatever it might be that happened to Asgard in your reality, might not happen in this one. You have to be aware of that. You said so yourself."

"No. What happened to them, no matter the path time travels, given what already existed will have to come to pass." Stephen shook his head and Tony took a step closer.

"What do you mean?"

He took a breath, let it out, and turned his head away from Tony. "Odin will die and with his death, Asgard will fall."

"Are you fucking with me? No, you wouldn't, I know that I just-" his ramblings cut off with a rush of air and Tony ran his hands over his head. "What do we do?"

"I was looking for Odin to talk to him but if he's not here yet, whatever happened between Loki being here on Earth and Odin being sent to the nursing home might not have happened. At least not yet." He picked up another book and placed it on the table. "Which means Loki might still be locked up in Asgard's prison. All of which connects back to one point. They don't have the Aether, they don't have the reality stone."

"The Reality Stone, is that like the Time Stone?" He frowned and Stephen gave a small nod.

"Tell me, have you guys dealt with the Tesseract? Loki's spear? Him trying to-"

"Rule all of Earth? Yeah, been there done that. Asgard has both those things."

"Both?" It was his turn to give Tony a confused look. That explains why Jarvis is still alive, in whatever sense an AI is alive. If Asgard had the spear, Tony never messed with the Mind Stone, which means Vision never existed. Ultron. "You and Doctor Banner never attempted to create a peaceful AI?"

"Ultron?" Alright. He stands corrected. "We did, he attempted to kill Jarvis. However, I had backed Jarvis up before all of this started. It was a big mess, lead to the Civil War and a Witch fucking with my head."

"Then how did-"

"They get the spear?" Stephen nodded once and Tony sighed. "I gave it to Thor after everything started going bad. Had him remove it from Earth before Ultron could get it. It was an entire thing."

"Alright, clearly there was a deviation in our times there since in my time Jarvis-take this very slowly," he takes a breath and speaks quickly. "Jarvis died. Became something else entirely because of the stone inside the spear. By the way I'm very glad you're not something else, Jarvis."

The watch lit up on his wrist. "Thank you Doctor Strange, I'm glad to be myself too."

"The spear contains the Mind Stone and the Tesseract contains the Space Stone. Much like the Eye of Agamotto holds the Time Stone."

Tony blinked and nodded, clearly attempting to follow Stephen. "How many of these stones are there, exactly?"

"Six in total. Mind, Power, Reality, Soul, Space, and Time. They were created with the birth of the universe." He gets a nod in turn and Stephen holds his hand out, projecting the image of six stones in his palm. He could show Tony the Time Stone but he was trying to keep the fact it was in existence again as small as possible. "There is a creature that wants them, and I assume he exists since Loki did attack Earth here. He's the one that manipulated, controlled and used Loki to attempt to get the Tesseract."

"Hold on wait back up, you're telling me that Loki. Evil, green, glowy Loki, didn't actually want Earth?" Tony seemed beyond in disbelief, shaking his head and pacing back and forth across the small clean space in the Sanctum. "You have to understand how hard I find that to believe."

He does. "I know but think about it. Didn't it seem weird to you, Tony? How Loki, all powerful and magical Loki, didn't use a single bit of his own magic during the attack? Even when he started to lose. He didn't even fight Thor, he let himself get captured. Almost, as if-"

"He wanted to lose." Tony stopped pacing now, staring at the ground with his eyes wide. His hands were clenched at his side, lips pressing briefly together. "He's a trickster we just assumed he was playing a game. I saw the clips from when he arrived, at the Shield base, I thought he looked confused but I brushed it off. We were a bit preoccupied. That line about freedom…" a breath of air rushes from him and he swore under his breath. "Alright, Loki might not be completely evil but he's still evil. What do we need him for?"

Stephen grabs a book he'd found earlier, flips it open and holds it out to Tony. He takes it from Stephen and looks down to the pages that are definitely not in English. He glances back up to Stephen. "It's in Norse. It tells the story of Ragnarok, an event that has yet to pass in Asgard's time. The fall of Asgard, specifically. What wasn't foretold by the Seer was when Odin dies the seal on his body will vanish. A seal that keeps his evil daughter, the Goddess of Hell in some translations, in her prison."

Tony looks back down to the book, frowns as he can't read it and starts flipping through pages. "What do you plan on doing about that?"

"The seal is connected by Odin's blood. I can move it from Odin to Thor in this case but I need Odin to let me. And I need Loki to help." The look he gets is just about how he feels, this will probably be a lot harder than he's making it sound. "I know but I need Asgardian magic to move the seal."

Tony sighs and turns his gaze to Stephen. "And the point of doing all this?"

"Asgard controls the Nine Realms, helps keep the balance like Kamar-Taj. Losing it is a hard impact on reality… and it starts the pillar of the fall of my reality." Tony swallows, Stephen can see it, and the question of how reflects in his gaze. Stephen closes his eyes briefly, collects him and looks to Tony once more. "Thanos comes, gets the stones, and takes everything." And that, right there, that is fear in Tony's gaze. An emotions he's used to seeing on the others face. He hadn't wanted to see it again. "I told Wong about this, he was sure that the events that happened in my time won't happen here. Because the Time Stone hadn't existed. The Ancient One lost it when she defeated Dormammu."

Tony's gaze dropped to the Eye of Agamotto and then away. "And now."

"And now it does. But we have an advantage." Stephen takes a few steps forward gives him the most confident look he can. "We know what he wants and what to do with them."

"Destroy them?"

"Destroy them. At least a few of them. If we can keep him from getting as much of them as possible he won't achieve his plans. Thanos needs all of them, if he can't have them he doesn't win."

Tony nodded, stress clearly on his face, and breaths out a rush of air. "So, Doc, where do we start? What do you need from me?"

He smiles plesantly and moves away from Tony again, nearly tripping on a book on the floor. "Your offer to help repair the Sanctums, does it still stand?"

The smile he gets this time is very nice, warm and what he actually likes to see on Tony's face. He follows after Stephen, picking up a few books as he goes and then holding them out to the other when he reaches his side. "Of course. I want to help, let me help you. With more than just the world saving stuff."

A short laugh, more a huff of air and Stephen smiles back as he takes the books. "You might come to regret that, Tony." The other didn't look at all detered by his words. "But I was thinking while the Sanctums are repaired we could try using the Time Stone as research material and find a way to destroy them."

Surprise moves across his face and Tony takes a step back. "The Time Stone? Don't you need that?"

No, Stephen didn't need the Time Stone to be the Sorcerer Supreme, but it certainly helped him. "I took an oath to protect the Time Stone. And at one point I valued that oath more than anything. But without any of the other Stones we don't have a way to research how to destroy them. I'd prefer if we didn't have to destroy the Stone, but if it comes to it. I must forsake my vow to it in order to protect the universe."

Tony's quiet, watching Stephen closely and searching his face for something. Clearly he's gotten to good at reading Stephen and that thought makes him the slightest bit uncomfortable. He wonders what his face reads. After a few minutes he speaks again, softly as if talking to a fightened animal. "Doc, how did you defeat Thanos?"

He had been afraid of that question coming but he had expected it. Still, he tried to keep himself from flinching. "I saw fourteen million futures at that time, and one victor. And that victory paid a price I shouldn't have been willing to give. But it had been the only way." No matter how many times he tries to justify it with that sentence though it doesn't seem to get any easier.

Tony continues to watch him, surprise flickering across his face before it eases back into that calming expression. Giving a nod he moves away from Stephen and seems to physically refrain from pacing across the Sanctum. "Alright, so we have a plan. I like plans, plans are good. We also have a clear understanding of what we can start to actually worry. I'll see what I can do about reaching Thor but he tends to be-without a phone."

"Yeah, last time I saw him he told me to email him." Amusement danced across Tony's face at that and Stephen sighed. "I know, I asked if he had a computer and he got overly confused."

"Now that's a story I need to hear. But another time, I think we should head home. You know, draw up construction plans for this place." He makes a wide arch with his arms toward the Sanctum. "Maybe add a TV."

Stephen chose not to comment on the TV. "Whatever we do we'll need very… careful people. The Sanctum is full of dangerous things. Discreate and trustworthy people are needed."

"I know people." That Stephen doesn't doubt.

He found the sling ring from his hip and using it he created a portal back to the mansion in Malibu. Turning to Tony he motioned toward it, frowning at the hesitant and nearly fearful look that crossed his face. "Don't like portals?"

"Not overly fond. Bad experiences."

"Here." Stephen held his hand out toward Tony expectantly. "Like you did for me in the car. Trust me."

Trust. It seems like such a fickle thing. So hard to build yet takes seconds to destroy. Tony though reaches his hand out and takes Stephen, hanging onto it with that sure and seemingly blind trust. And Stephen guides him through the portal that closes instantly behind them and leaves them standing in the middle of the living room.

Jarvis speaks and Stephen let's go of Tony's hand. "Welcome home, Sirs."

Stephen couldn't sleep that night. His dreams were full of nightmares that varied in horrible fashions. Dormammu, Stark, Peter Parker, death, death, death-he gave up at a certain point and just meditated. It didn't do him any good but he was able to Astral Project to Kamar-Taj and research more books on what he needed. It certainly wasn't easy. The books gave him information he already knew, had already read, had already expected but didn't solve any of his problems. Asgard had a single bridge there, protected, and didn't work for humans. Stephen couldn't create a portal that far away, at least no one had ever been able to do it. If there was a way around it with the Sling Ring, no one in Kamar-Taj's history had found it.

When he came back to his body Jarvis was informing him it was morning if he wished to get up and that Tony was in the lab. When he made his way down he did indeed find Tony at the workbench, working on blueprints and tossing dried blueberries into his mouth. He looked up at Stephen, grinned and then turned back to his work. "Mornin'. I created a good construction plan for the Sanctum, wanna see it?"

A shrug followed but he made his way over and looked at the hologram in the middle of the table. It was more than the Sanctum he knew, more modern which wasn't a terrible thing. Perhaps having Tony able to monitor the Sanctums with his technology as Stephen did with magic, wouldn't be a horrible thing. "I trust you. Just don't go crazy with the technology."

"You're no fun. You need to get used to technology, it's just as flashy as your whole-witchy thing." He wiggled his fingers and grinned at Stephen.

"Sorcerer, I'm a Sorcerer. But that point aside, try to keep some things the same." He pulls a book from a portal and takes a seat in the air, placing it in his his lap. Tony watches him amused for a second before turning back to the screen and continuing to explore with the blueprints.

They work in a comfortable silence, Tony with the layout and Stephen turning pages in his book. He can hear Tony talk, either to Jarvis or him, rambling off things that don't actually need an answer. He gets an idea, runs with to and then draws something new up. It's facinating to watch him work, the way he moves through the lab and how his mind runs wild.

A few hours in while Stephen turns a page in his book, Jarvis speaks up lowering the volume of the music in the lab. It hadn't been that loud, Stephen barely even notice it, he wondered if Tony had done it intentionally when he noticed Stephen was reading. "Sir, you have a call from Director Fury."

Tony didn't even get a response in. The computer screen flickered and then a man Stephen had never seen, but knew was Director Fury, was on the screen. "Stark."

"You've reached the life like model of Tony Stark-"

"Stark, I'm not in the mood for your games. Have you made any progress on locating the rogue Avengers?" Tony sighed and spun the tablet pen in his hand, leaning against the table with his hip.

"If I had, I probably would have called you, don't you think? But oddly enough I do have more important things to do than look for your pets."

"Well now's not the time for whatever little things you think are more important! We need all hands that we can get or did you not read the messages we send you?"

"See, I tend to ignore them, I don't like being handed things… or sent things from you people." He shrugs his shoulders and Stephen, interest peaked, reaches up onto the desk and grabs one of Tony's many tablets laying around. He places it in his lap, overtop of the book, and opens up the message on it sent from Shield. Or rather just Director Fury. The screen filled with a bunch of information, most of which he barely bothered to scan through, searching for the root of what they were trying to tell him.

It broke up into more information, useless stuff, and then actually gave him something interesting. An influx in power on a scanner, people with magic popping up, led by what seemed like a green clad leader. Fuck, he knew that outfit. Stephen pressed his lips together and scanned more, hearing Tony in the background like a fuzz.

"What, you suddenly can't handle a few people? You looking to assemble the Avengers again? Because that plan worked so well the first time. Earth's Mightiest Heroes. You're down a few members now."

"If it protects Earth-"

"If it protects Earth nothing. I'm not working with them, we can't trust them! We don't even know where they are!"

"They're in Wakanda." He almost regretted the words the second they were out of his mouth, to distracted in what he was reading to care. He can see Tony freeze, can see his body slowly turn toward Stephen, before he paced away from the monitors.

"Stark, who the hell is that?"

Ignoring him completely Stephen stood to his feet and carried the tablet over to Tony, pushing it toward him. "Tony, I know this person. I once… he was…" A friend. Someone Stephen relied on. Someone he trusted. If he was acting now, then he knows Stephen's back. He's planning to make his move when the Sanctums are down. When Kamar-Taj was at its weakest. When there was a hole.

Tony's eyes moved across his face before looking down to the tablet. "Jarvis, end the call."

"Stark-"

The computer monitor went blank and Tony took the tablet from his hands. He flipped through it as he paced around the lab, pausing a few times to raise a brow at Stephen before he continued to move. "So, this is?"

"Karl Mordor. He was a member of Kamar-Taj. In my reality he was… a friend. He helped me save the world, defeat Dormammu. We had a disagreement when he learned the Ancient One was drawing power from the Dark Dimension. A taboo, you could say."

He paused here and Tony narrowed his eyes. "There's something else, you said your reality. What happened here, Stephen?"

A breath rushes out of him and he looks to the tablet. "Wong said he killed me."

Tony startles so much the tablet nearly tumbles from his grip, mouth open and eyes wide. He closes it quickly and looks back down to the tablet, reading through it with a renewed interest. "So if he's showing himself now?"

"He must have heard I'm not dead, technically speaking, and he's looking for me. The public display of my rebirth through the media was definitely what drew his attention. And I'm willing to bet there were a few pictures of us taken when I was dressed as the Sorcerer Supreme."

"Fuck." That was a sentiment he was feeling very much. "So his plan?"

Stephen shook his head and leaned against the workbench, staring at the blueprints of the New York Sanctum. "Mordor thinks that Kamar-Taj is corrupt, that we use our magic for nefarious purposes, or just wrong ones in his opinion." The tablets sat down on the table and Tony put the holograms away with a single touch. "So he'll be aiming to take down Kamar-Taj."

"So his target is Kamar-Taj, or you?"

Stephen shook his head and looked up to Tony. "Both. But he'll come for me."

"Then let him come and we'll deal with it then. This might be a good time to see if Jarvis can learn to track your magic, in for some test runs, Doctor?"

Stephen created a mirror dimension inside the lab for Jarvis to try and locate. Tony had been absolutely fascinated by the entire thing and seemingly freaked out at the same time. When Jarvis failed to be able to track that he tried smaller things, butterflies and webs. The problem was the current tech that Tony had wasn't designed for tracking what Stephen could do. He'd need to create an entirely new way for tracking what Stephen could do. That started an entire new round of designs.

"Have I mentioned I hate magic?"

"No actually, you haven't." Stephen opened his eyes from his place of meditation and looked to Tony bent over his computer. "Although I figured, given what the Scarlet Witch did. Your aversion to portals. You said she got inside your head? Or rather, I suppose you implied it, not actually said it."

"Yeah, she got deep inside my head. Showed me… things. I don't remember coherently a lot of creating Ultron." He lets out a huff of air and Stephen stands up.

The Cloak removes itself from his shoulders as he makes his way over to Tony, placing a hand on the man's forearm. He turns slowly and looks to Stephen, blinking up at him. "I can look, you know, see if she left anything behind now. I can remove it too, if her influence is still there." He takes his hand back and drops it to his side, not wanting to scare Tony. "And I can teach you how to build mental walls against her, and any Sorcerer. Or, if you let me, put a protection barrier."

"A barrier?" He questioned back, turning to face Stephen and propping his hip against the desk. "What do you mean?"

"Nothing difficult. Just a protection spell. It would basically act like a…" he looks to the computer monitor and blinks. "A firewall. Any Sorcerer weaker than I am will have their magic repeller. Which, is most."

Tony huffed a laugh and smirked. "Your ego might rival mine."

"I am the Sorcerer Supreme." Stephen smiled at Tony and shrugged. "But I will admit, Loki is probably better than me."

Tony was still grinning. "Only Loki? Your only challenge in life is a thousand year old God, more or less."

He takes a few seconds to consider this, make it look like he's thinking, and then nods. "And his mother?"

That made him laugh too, a nice sound compared. To the ones he was getting when all this started. He looked Stephen over and then glanced to the computer. "Maybe later? After we can work this out. I'm not… into the idea of magic being used on me." It was a fair point but Stephen still wanted something.

"Would you wear something magical at least?" It was the last thing he could try and Tony looked back at him with a new interest. "Nothing to specific or intrusive to your everyday clothes. I know you already wear a lot of tech. Just-give me one of your hands."

He seems to consider this a while, gaze firmly locked on Stephen's. As if he was trying to see beneath the question for some sort of nefarious purposes. It did actually surprise Stephen how cautious he was. The Stark of his time always seemed so reckless, was this what actually went on with him when the world wasn't ending. Slowly Tony holds his right hand out and Stephen takes it.

Curling his own hands around Tony's wrist he created a simple gold band of magic and let him go. It didn't clash with anything, there was no elegant design. It was just a simple, thin, band of gold that wrapped around his wrist. Tony looked it over and frowned. "That's it?"

"That's it. Unlike the protection barrier I can cast on you this has a limited amount of uses. Three. And each time it goes off, I'll know." Every single time and with that he could teleport himself right to Tony.

Tony nodded and seemed a bit unsure at the revelation but didn't try to take the bracelet off, much to Stephen's relief. "Huh… neat. I think. Alright, so, what's the game plan?"

If Mordor was coming for Kamar-Taj, there was only one option. "We need to get at least one of the Sanctums up and running."

It was decided after some debate to start with the London Sanctum. It was one he wouldn't have to monitor himself considering Wong already had a Sanctum Master in mind. Whomever Tony got to patch it up was efficient, discreet and definitely well paid. The pulls the man has were honestly quite terrifying. Stephen was sure that he only made a single phone call and with that call had an entire team at the Sanctum within the hour. They were quick too, as they worked, and stayed out of Stephen's way which was a relief to himself. He had thought he'd have to babysit a bunch of normal people around the world's most dangerous artifacts and he didn't.

Stephen spent most of the time putting things away, picking up the artifacts and finding somewhere to store them. Tony worked well too, fixing the electricity and trying to direct people as much he could. Stephen tried to tell the other that he didn't need to be here to do all of this, but he didn't listen to Stephen. That was becoming quite the habit, to ignore Stephen. He wondered what would have happened in his future if Stark hadn't listened to him.

Shaking his head Stephen focused on the bookshelf he was organizing, tossing the tombs that didn't matter into a pile on the ground and placing the others in order. He was doing the best that he could but there wasn't much he could do. His hands didn't allow him to repair bookshelves or fix tiny small wirings in the walls. He had fixed the magic in the building, gave power back where it needed it, created a few repairs in the lay lines.

When the Sanctum had a Master once more, it would have its power back. That wasn't the problem. The problem was that the place was uninhabitable currently. It was getting there, faster than it ever would have if Stephen was alone. He placed another book on the shelf and turned when someone came up the steps to the second level of the Sanctum where he was.

Tony popped around the corner and grinned up at Stephen, waving to the building. "It's starting to look like a building rather than a hole in the wall. Though I gotta admit Doc, the electricity in this place is rather horrifying. It took me hours to just figure out how to fix it enough to hook a TV up."

"The Sanctum doesn't need a TV, Tony."

"Stephen… dear…. everyone needs a television."

"No, you need a television. In every room of your building." He closed one of the books and slid it onto the shelf before turning to Tony amused. "Even the bathroom."

"Hey, you try taking a bath without your shows." He shrugs and grins. "But I came to tell you that the electricity is fixed, better than ever at that too. I installed a few cameras and sensors to watch over the place, figured you wouldn't want Jarvis circling around in here so I skipped that." That was good, though he had put it into consideration to have Jarvis in the New York Sanctum. If he planned on spending more time with Tony than there, that is.

Stephen nods and turns fully to face Tony, gaze drifting across the Sanctum. "It does look nice, I suppose. I think… we should be done by the end of the day. That's good news."

"And what happens once it's done?"

"Nothing much." He lets out a sigh and turns back to the bookshelf, sliding another in place from his arms. "I return to Kamar-Taj, tell Wong and he'll send someone over to work as the Sanctum Master. We'll send a few other people here, to protect the place. The Sanctum's have enough bedrooms for it."

Tony nodded and waved his arm for more detail. "And?"

"And that will give power back to Kamar-Taj which helps us tap into the Multiverse, protect it and use magic. It'll support us during our fight with Mordor. Assuming Mordor comes." He could tell from the lack of an expression on Tony's face that he understood that about as much as Stephen understood what he did to the electricity in the building.

"I'm gonna pretend I got that, nod like I did, and go check how the guys are doing."

The got the building construction finished by three AM the next day, the construction team took a break, at eight at night and returned for a time to continue working. Whatever Tony was paying them it must have been worth it, all things considered. Stephen at the call from Tony that everything was complete used a portal to head to Kamar-Taj and meet with Wong.

He sat himself down across from the librarian and rested his hands in his lap. "Mordor is coming for us."

"I know." He turned a page in the book that he was looking through and didn't look to Stephen. "I've had people keeping an eye on him, he's rather good at avoiding our eyes. But, he's messy. He's been executing Sorcerer's, those who use the magic of Kamar-Taj yet do not support us. Those who took the learnings offered here and used them for themselves and didn't stay."

"So he's attacking those he believes betrayed Kamar-Taj and the Multiverse?" This wasn't actually that surprising considering how he remembered Mordor acting after he had learned what the Ancient One was doing. Still, he had hoped that this wouldn't get worse than it already was. To hear he was actively killing people… he might need to take this a step further. He hoped it didn't end with Mordor's death, he'd prefer if it didn't.

Sometimes, things aren't that easy. He nods to Mordor and stands up. "The London Sanctum is ready, you can send the Sorcerer's you've picked there. We have Tony Stark to thank for this going so quickly."

"Stark hmm? An interesting ally you've aquired. Tell him Kamar-Taj owes him a debt."

When he got back to the mansion he found Tony sitting in a chair and an arm thrown across his face. Stephen closed the portal behind him and let the Cloak remove itself from his shoulder to drift to the corner. He made his way over to Tony's side and took a seat on the armrest of the chair. "So, tough day?"

"Been fighting on and off with Fury, he doesn't like being kept in the dark." He sat up and dropped his arm across his lap, lifting his head to look up at Stephen. "On top of that your shiny green friend decided his time would be best well spent using his strange army to trap several Shield soldiers and drop them into the ocean."

"Mirror dimension?" Stephen prompted and Tony rolled his eyes.

"That and my ever favorite form of transportation."

"Ah, Mirror Dimension and portal. Used that one myself a few times."

"Stephen." An exhasperated sigh left him and Tony and he fell back against the chair. "Plan? We could really use a plan."

"Well I learned from Wong what he's been doing, what his plan seems, will that help?" Tony sat up suddenly in the chair and looked over to Stephen with wide eyes. "He's killing people who have left Kamar-Taj after learning it's secrets. Using those secrets for themselves." He lets out a sigh and leans more toward Tony. "All information in Kamar-Taj is free to learn, if one is willing. What they do with that information too, is up to them."

"That seems like a very unsafe method if you ask me." Tony arched a brow and leaned toward Stephen, shoulder bumping against Stephen's side. "That's like me uploading the schematics for the Iron Man suit to the internet and telling people 'have at it!'. Very unwise."

He gave a small laugh and shook his head. "Not everyone is capable of learning, Tony. Like you, I think you'd make a poor student for Kamar-Taj."

"Hey! I take offense to that. I think? You're probably right but still, ow, my feelings." He placed his hand over his heart and feigned a break.

"Shut up." He shoved the other in the shoulder and laughed, standing up from the chair and walking toward the small kitchen area. "I think, in the end, we might have to take the fight to them. Before anyone else gets hurt. I should be able to find them if I search, it might just take me awhile." He poured himself a cup of tea and looked down to it, lettin gout a sigh. "I wonder if I-" should he use the Time Stone? Should he look into the future, try and see what Mordor was going to do?

Look for Dormammu?

He did that when he had no choice, when the fate of the world was at risk. But Mordor could tear apart the entire Multiverse if he wanted to. Could risk everything that they knew and had to break down Kamar-Taj. If they let that happened then it wouldn't matter what Stephen worked toward, if he thought using the Time Stone was right or wrong. They'd be at the end of a line and everything would come falling apart. The Multiverse would cave in on itself and all would be lost. Not just his timeline or this one, but everything.

If he used the Time Stone he could see what was to come, what their options worse and if they would be to late. He could see what Mordor planned and where best to intercept him. But there was a catch, there always was when it came to magic. With Thanos, Stephen saw fourteen million futures, one victory, and he never forgot a single one. He lived through all those failures, felt them as if they were real, and every single one haunted his dreams.

There was a penalty for seeing the future, and that penalty wasn't always one easily seen and predicted.

If he looked to far in the future too it was unreliable. If he looked days ahead from now it was to easily changed. He'd have to pick a specific moment, a specific time and a specific place. And then hoped what he picked was right. There was to many variables.

"You okay, Stephen?" Tony placed his hand on his shoulder briefly and slipped closer to his side to look at Stephen's face. "You got quiet and your tea definitely got cold now. What's on your mind?"

"I-" he paused and turned his head to the side, looking at the tea and picking the cup up. "I was considering an idea, to better understand what Mordor's next move will be."

"Is it risky? You make it sound risky." His gaze flickered over Stephen's face and he seemed to reconsider his words. "Or just unplesent?"

"Not in the sense you're probably thinking." Stephen took a sip of the tea just to have something wet his throat and sat it back down on the counter. Cold tea was rather disgusting. "I did it once before and… well it worked."

Tony was quiet and Stephen took another sip of the tea. He coughed, pat his chest and Tony snorted before taking the cup right from his hands and carrying it to the microwave. "I guess my next question should be, at what cost?"

"That's always the catch, isn't it? There's a cost to the things we do." A cost that someone had to pay and sometimes, perhaps, that cost wasn't the person who did the action. Stephen can remember how many people got hurt when Hong Kong was attacked by Dormammu. Can remember the casualties from Thanos. Can remember the look on Stark's face when he died.

A cost.

The microwave shut and Tony's voice came across the small space quietly. "And the cost for the last time you did this trick?"

Stephen considers how to word it, listening to the sound of the microwave filling the silence. He runs his tongue across his lips, takes a breath and turns his head away from Tony. "Nightmares... and betrayal to a man who didn't deserve it."

The microwave stopped, beeped that it was done, but Tony made no move to get it. He was quiet, staring at a spot on the wall, his brain working faster to process those words than anyone else's could. "You're talking about the other me, again." He turns and looks to Stephen but the Sorcerer refuses to meet his gaze. "Stephen, what happened?"

He shouldn't tell him but the informations been building for a while now, clawing at Stephen from the inside. Tony's been to kind, to trusting, and it hurts Stephen to see him so willing to be near him. Not after what happened, after what he saw. That look on Stark's face, when understanding dawned on him and then when he sacrificed himself. His family at his funeral and the anger in Pepper Potts. A child missing her father. Stephen saw, plotted and orchestrated the death of a man who trusted someone he knew for less than twenty four hours.

Tony should know the man he's been spending time with. Stephen takes a breath, stands up the slightest bit straighter and turns to look Tony in the eyes. "I killed you."

The silence that follows those words is broken only by the microwave still beeping. Tony's gaze wide and mouth clenched tightly shut. Stephen forces himself to stay where he is, meeting that confused and conflicted gaze. When the microwave beeps again Tony blindly reaches for the handle and yanks the door to stop the sound. "I don't follow. You're leaving something out. You do that, I noticed. Keeps parts of the story specifically out and this time I'm not buying it."

Stephen shakes his head and turns away finally. "That is the story." As he goes to leave, to remove himself from this situation, Tony rushes forward and grabs Stephen by the belts of his uniform. Pulled to a stop the Sorcerer turns and looks to the other.

"Oh no you don't, we're having this conversation now. See, you opened it and now I need the story. No more running from your issues with me. See that chair? Sit." He's shoved toward the small table and Stephen catches himself on the chair. He doesn't want to sit but somehow he gets the feeling it's not really a choice. He's not going to pick a fight with Tony obviously. So, he sits. Tense and uncomfortable but at the very least sitting. Tony appears beside him, places the warm cup of tea down, and takes a seat across from him.

"Tell me from the beginning. And try to really keep in my amazingness."

He takes a breath, sips his tea, and starts at the beginning. "Doctor Banner is in space. Specifically a planet that is using the Hulk as a fighter. A sports fighter." Tony blinks and goes to ask a question but Stephen waves him off. "We can come back to it. It's important because I learned about the impending future by Doctor Banner being shot into the middle of the Sanctum. He destroyed a huge part of it and then told me… that Thanos was coming."

From there Tony stayed quiet and listened, much to Stephen's appreciation. He told him of them tracking Stark down, pulling him into the threat and then Stark's idea of taking the fight to Thanos. Much like they had decided to do with Mordor. He told him about Peter Parker, about the planet, about the Guardians of the Galaxy and the spaceship. He seemed conflicted on their idea, of what his own self was thinking, but kept the comments to himself. There were moments where he thought Tony would argue, but didn't. He clearly was waiting for what happened between him and Stark.

"I used the Time Stone to look into the future. I saw fourteen million six hundred and five different outcomes for the battle we were going to fight. In the span of a few seconds."

Tony signed and rubbed his face. "How many did we win?"

"...one." Sometimes he wonders if he had pulled Stark aside and talked to him about Quill if he could have changed the outcome entirely. Stark was smart, quick on his feet and had all those gadgets. He had the idea that he needed to keep the future a secret and he did, but maybe there was another way. In those fourteen million there hadn't been, but there were more than fourteen million futures.

"I sacrificed the Time Stone to save your life." He sips his tea and sets it down, clearing his throat for the worst of that sentence. "Because I needed you to die later. I wasn't selfless in my need to save you, it was all just part of the plan." They lapse into silence again, mutual this time as even Tony seemed to hit a wall. Stephen clenched his hands around his tea cup tightly, wishing he hadn't started this conversation and could have just continued on like everything was fine. He'd enjoyed his time with Tony, more than he ever thought he could or would. Now Tony knew the person he was around. He closed his eyes and forced his trembling hands to relax around the mug. "I'm sorry-"

"Don't. Don't apologize to me." He can't force himself to look at the other, too afraid to see what his expression would be. "Stephen, I thought years ago that my life would end. Every time I put that armor on I'm sure it might be the last. I should have died when shrapnel from the bomb hit my heart. Some days… I don't understand how I'm not." Tony lets out a sigh and he drags his eyes from the table to look at the others chest. The glowing blue of the Arc Reactor holds his gaze. "When Rogers drove that shield my father made into my chest and broke my Reactor, I truly thought I'd die in that frozen bunker. When I go out there, when I fight, I don't always intend to go home."

He had known that, in a way, considering he was the same himself. When he went for Dormammu he intended to spend eternity there. When he took on Thanos to protect the Time Stone, he was prepared to throw his life down for it. In a way all of them had that ideology in them. Fight like your life depended on it, because someday it might. Mordor taught him that and he lived by it. And yet, they all hoped they'd get to go home, at least he thought. Stark didn't intend to fight Thanos and die. He intended to fight, win, and go home. He trusted Stephen to have an idea on how to do that. "Just because you fight with everything you have doesn't make someone you trusted plotting your death alright. Surely you are aware of that."

"I am." Stephen blinked and in his surprise his gaze met Tony's. "But you're missing a point. With an enemy like that, with a threat to the world that large." He took a breath here and held Stephen's eyes. "I would give my life without hesitation, and I would be happy to die if it means those I care about get to live. It doesn't matter if you 'saw it', if you didn't tell me. Actually, knowing myself, it's probably better you didn't." At this he shrugs and stands from the table. "By your story you knew me for a day at most, you did what you had to. And clearly this bothers you. My death."

Tony starts to leave the room and Stephen grabs the mug of tea once more, holding onto it like a lifeline. As he looks down into the half empty cup he swallows a lump in his throat and speaks. "If I had to do it again, I'd do it differently." He didn't know how, he didn't even know if he'd force himself to look for more futures. But, he'd find another way. There had to be something, anything. "It's not a victory if you die. Your life is not invaluable."

Tony pauses and turns slowly, looking over to Stephen. He can feel the geniuses gaze on his back and he wondered, desperately, what was going through Tony's head. "I appreciate that. But considering how many futures you saw, I don't think there was one. I just need some time in the lab, we'll find an answer to our problem later." Right, he could understand that, Stephen might need some time to himself too. So he nods, listens to Tony's footsteps and hears the sound of the elevator. He waited long enough to make sure Tony was in his lab and then reached for the Sling Ring on his belts. He'd clean the New York Sanctum up while Tony was busy.

Good morning. It's 7:00 a.m. The weather in Malibu is 72 degrees with scattered clouds. The surf conditions are fair with waist-to-shoulder high lines. High tide will be at 10:52 a.m.

---

A.N.

So I had a mental health vacation from work and I did the best thing that I love to do. Wrote some fanfiction and went through my old stories. This was one I wrote long ago but never finished.

I'm not sure I will finish it, simply because I didn't believe I had a good grasp on the characters? I don't think hate it, I actually like this story and premise a lot, but I'm not overly fond of it either.

Let me know if you enjoy it!

Inu.