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stewardofningishzida · 10 months

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Meta-Fic Sequel - Chapter 2: Catching Up

Meanwhile, in the Marvel universe…We have Wong being a mother hen, Avengers banter, and questionable decisions being made. Yayyyy! Here we goooooo!~ TRIGGER WARNING: Language, passing mentions of trauma and one drug reference, a couple of real-life scary news stories mentioned (but not in-depth).

*After Stephen’s return to his home universe, it took a few weeks at Kamar-Taj for him to fully recover. Being in a non-magical universe for so long had drained him and the Cloak of Levitation of magical energy and it unfortunately cost Cloak its sentience and “life”. The sorcerer, aided by his mentor and friend, Wong, took the relic to Enitharmon the Weaver. It was a tough job re-enchanting the Cloak, but it was done as Stephen gradually regained his own magic. Stephen is overjoyed to have regained his silent companion. Though he still conceals his excitement out of pride. Wong smirks knowingly. After both relic and mage are sorted out, the older man resumes training Doctor Strange for the Trials of the Vishanti.*

Stephen (going through what was probably the 20th practice round of the day): How long did anyone else have to undergo training before this?

Wong: Decades if not centuries, Strange. Your case is more of an emergency promotion if anything.

Stephen (sarcastic): Thanks for the vote of confidence.

Wong: I did not say anything negative about your capabilities. Just that you lack experience.

Stephen: Experience? I literally lived through millions of different timelines to find the right one to beat Thanos!

Wong: I mean in a breadth of things, Strange. Not necessarily in terms of time. You will get there.

*Stephen huffs and continues to train as hard as humanly possible. After a few more hours, Wong decides enough is enough.*

Wong: Strange, as great as your devotion to the role may be, rest is essential for general well-being. Stop for now. You can continue tomorrow. *He gives Stephen a look.* …and don’t even think of stealing more books to memorize overnight. I WILL know.

*Stephen gets a stubborn expression at first, but then he gets a text notification on his normal phone from his own universe.*

Wong (slightly smug): I let your teammates know that you’re back. I’m sure that they have many questions for you. *His expression softens slightly* Go. Spend some time with your friends, Strange. They’ve been concerned about you.

*Stephen checks his home universe’s phone.*

Tony Stark (text): Hello to the consulting wizard of Bleecker Street. I hope you know I have chosen to believe you get no signal in there whatsoever. Because you definitely did not leave me on read for weeks. Also Cap told me to message you again, so you can go complain to him all you want. He keeps insisting we meet to debrief, as if 80% of meetings could not be resolved through email. You back from the universal tailor shop yet?

*Stephen sighs and decides to reply.*

Stephen (text): Hello, Tony. My apologies for the delay. Being trapped within a non-magical universe severely drained me and I needed to recover. I’m back on my feet and the Cloak has been successfully repaired. If the team wishes, I can portal over to Avengers Campus posthaste.

Tony (text): Posthaste? Who the hell - -

Tony (text): The team (Steve) very much wishes you get your magical ass over here posthastily – Yes!!

*Stephen glares at the messages and grabs his Sling Ring. The Cloak glides over and latches onto his shoulders. He pats it fondly.*

Stephen (to the Cloak and himself): Okay…Time to debrief.

*He opens the portal to the common tech lab in Avengers Campus and steps through. When he does, he’s greeted by the sight of a rather irritated Tony Stark with Captain America hovering over his shoulder while the younger man attempts to hide his phone screen.*

Tony (to Steve): I don’t care if he gets offended, I was not going to type “at your convenience” as if I was writing a memo to my boss. I’m usually the one getting memos from nervous employees!

Steve: Was the cursing really necessary, Tony? *He points over Tony’s shoulder at the offending text.*

*Peter Parker is leaning against a nearby table, glued to his own phone. When he notices the portal, he looks up and straightens quickly to greet the sorcerer.*

Peter: Doctor Strange! Hi! You did pop by. *He shuffles his weight nervously and crosses his arms over his chest, nearly hiding his phone under his armpit. His eyes shift from the sorcerer to the two bickering heroes*

Tony: *His head whips toward Stephen and the portal the moment Peter talks, and he throws a hand out toward the sorcerer as he addresses Steve* See? Worked like a charm. Now get off my back and go bother him for a change.

*Steve sighs and shakes his head before walking over to greet Stephen. The portal closes behind Doctor Strange as he walks to the group.*

Steve (polite): Hello, Stephen. Welcome back.

Stephen: Hello. *He gives Steve and Peter a respectful nod.* It appears that this universe remains intact, which is a relief. *He glances at Tony to acknowledge the other man’s presence.*

Peter: *He reels back at the odd expression and squints his eyes up at Stephen* Wait…was there a chance that it was not going to? You were gone for like a week!

Tony: *He leaps off his stool the moment he sees Stephen drawing breath to answer Peter* Nope, can it. The universe is still very much where and how it should be. We saved it. Kinda traded my arm for it as part of the deal, in fact. The least it can do is stay saved for more than a few months. *He waves his right arm as if Stephen could have possibly missed it when he was the one who saved Tony in the first place. The sleek nano tech is the red, gold, and silver colors of the Iron Man armor*

Stephen (raising an eyebrow): It was actually two weeks. As for the universe, that WOULD be nice, but unfortunately, interdimensional crises don’t take months off. *He snarks.*

Peter: Right… *His voice is quiet but his small frown remains. It’s clear he’s attempting to appear unbothered in front of the adults.*

Tony: *He rubs his left hand down his face tiredly. He then sends Stephen a fulminating look and nods his head toward Peter, urging him to mind his words of doom and gloom in front of the teenager* So, Steve, you wanted to interrogate David Copperfield here, right? It’s why you disturbed the sanctity of our lab party? You asked, I delivered. *He waves his hands in front of him again, silently conveying a “have a it” at the Captain*

Steve (stepping forward): All right. Well, Stephen, it’s been several weeks since you’ve contacted any of us. So, care to update us on what exactly has been going on?

*Stephen looks at the group and gives a small nod.*

Stephen: I suppose all of you deserve an explanation. So, I’ll keep it concise. Essentially, there was an accident while I was in the middle of fighting an interdimensional being and as a result, I ended up trapped in another universe with no way out for 2 weeks. *He looks at the group.*

Steve (raising an eyebrow): Another universe? Could you please describe it?

Stephen (a bit reluctant): This universe is similar to ours, but without magic, mutants, or any versions of us. They have knowledge of us, but somehow, we’re all just fictional characters in comic books and movies to them. In addition, they’re suffering from the results of a global pandemic that killed millions *Gives Tony a sideways look when the other man immediately goes to speak* —Yes, I quarantined during my recovery—, immense political corruption, and numerous other crises.

Steve: That sounds surreal and more than a little intense. What are the inhabitants like?

Stephen: The inhabitants I met were kind and hospitable people. However, due to the lack of magic, the Cloak and I were slowly drained until the Cloak lost its sentience and I could no longer cast spells without aid from what little residual magic leaked through the interdimensional rifts leftover from my arrival. *He’s containing his displeasure at this part.*

Steve (sympathetic): It doesn’t seem like it was an easy time. How did you finally get back here, then? Also, what have you been doing since you came back here?

Stephen: After my final attempt at casting a portal failed, Wong managed to pick up enough of a magical signal to find me. My time after that was mostly spent repairing the Cloak, recovering my magic, and training for the role of Sorcerer Supreme. My Trials begin within the next 2 months. *Something occurs to him.* While I was trapped in the other universe, the group helping me provided some research materials for us to view and interact with. To ensure that none of this affects our own timeline, they omitted anything related to us. So, feel free to go through it.

*He conjures the large bag that Trix gave him before he left. It has the dvds, cds, cell phone I gave him, some covid tests, and a few books in it. Stephen sets it on the table in front of the other three heroes. Captain America gives Stephen a shocked look, but decides to rifle through the bag curiously.*

Steve (glancing at a movie that he recognizes): That’s…quite a story, there. *He looks at Stephen for a moment, concerned.* Are you feeling all right now?

Stephen: Better, thank you.

Peter: *He immediately perks up at the sight of the large bag Stephen procured, and he eagerly leans closer for a better inspection* Did all this really come from another universe?

Tony: Ah ah ah *He quickly snatches Peter’s wrist with his good hand before Peter can reach the zipper* FRIDAY? Do we know if this is toxic to us in any way?

Peter: What? Doctor Strange is magic. Surely he just…decontaminated this with a spell, right? *He gives Tony a weird look before turning to Stephen for confirmation*

*Stephen nods*

Stephen: I did, but since our magic isn’t in their universe, we can check it just to be sure the effects of the spell worked. It hasn’t hurt me or Wong. So, chances are that things are reasonably safe. There are also some antibody tests in there for the disease. So, we can always reverse-engineer it if anything is contaminated. *He’s levelheaded about this.*

FRIDAY: My scans did not detect any anomalies, boss.

Tony: *He sighs and releases Peter* Alright. Have at it, kid.

*Peter opens the bag and pulls out the first thing that sticks to his fingers, which happens to be a DVD. He turns it over a few times before placing it on the table in front of Steve and Tony.*

Peter: Huh, this is weirdly uncanny…*He continues to pull the items out before one in particular catches his full attention. It is a special edition of Jurassic Park* No way! Did that universe also still have dinosaurs around? Could that be a thing? What is the world like if the meteor never hit?

Stephen (patient): Oh, those are their special effects for movies. They’re revolutionary in that universe. A way of compensating for the lack of magic and mutants. The dinosaurs there are still extinct like ours.

Tony: Give it here, Pete, you take forever. *He hooked the bag’s strap with his finger and dragged it closer, curiosity finally taking the better of him as he dug in elbows-deep into the bag*

Peter: Aww *He deflates for a moment before his eyes catch on to another plastic case Tony just discarded* No way! Star Wars? Wait, this one looks mostly the same…

Tony: *Totally ignoring Peter’s rambling* Yeah, say, Strange, did your summer holiday universe also happen to be stuck in the 80s? This thing is ancient. *He turns his hand to reveal the phone Stephen brought back with him. It’s a far cry from the latest Stark Phone model.*

*Stephen gives Tony a sour look.*

Stephen: Their technology is, admittedly, rather behind ours in some ways. They haven’t even gotten beyond their moon yet in terms of space travel. *He holds up a dvd of a moon landing documentary.*

Tony: *His eyes immediately zero in on the documentary Stephen has, and he leaves the phone on the table to instead make grabby motions at the sorcerer.* Gimme.

*Stephen passes Tony the dvd. Tony quickly flips it over and reads the information on the back cover.*

Tony: Neil Armstrong, Charlesworth, Milton Windler…They really don’t mention Howard at all in this… *He looks back up at Stephen, finally seeming to understand their absence in the other universe*

Stephen (reiterating): Howard Stark never existed. Nor did any of our families or us.

*He digs through the bag and pulls out a thick book.*

Stephen: Steward, one of the women there, also left us an encyclopedia. It has some descriptions and photos of their technology. Plus, a bit more of their history.

*Steve picks it up to look.*

Steve: You weren’t kidding. Some of their modern, government-issue machines look like the ones that I was trained to use back before I got frozen.

Tony: *He leans over to glance at the book Steve is holding* The Manhattan Project. Without Howard…did they still…?

*Stephen nods grimly.*

Stephen (deadly serious): The Cold War also still happened and Russia is currently trying its damndest to restart it AND has been threatening the world with nuclear missiles. Not to mention their North Korea…

*Steve looks horrified.*

Peter: But… They’ve got fail-safes, right? They must have. The UN should have been created too if they’ve been through the same wars we have.

Stephen: They do…Though apparently, a false alarm got set off a few years back and alerted Hawaii to an incoming ballistic missile. There was a huge news story about that. So, they’ve come dangerously close to nuclear war multiple times, but have managed to narrowly avoid it.

Steve (looking at an article): Who is this Donald Trump?

Stephen: You don’t want to know, Steve. Trust me.

*Tony rubs a hand over his face, clearly upset by all the information. He nibbles on a hangnail while he takes in the entire contents of Stephen’s bag now strewn about his lab table. There isn’t much, all things considered. He probably won’t find much use for the outdated tech either, regardless of its otherworldly origin.*

Tony: Alright. Well, it sure sounds like one depressing world to choose for a vacation, but this is it, right? You made it back and our universes are not going to collapse like one lame Big Bang reenactment.

Peter: *He leans his elbows on the table and looks up at Stephen with his head tilted in curiosity* So how did you survive all that time in another universe? You said you met kind people, but we didn’t even exist there.

Stephen: Yeah. Their names were Trix, PrettyWitch, Tear, Steward, Fox, Laer, Tua, Alexis, and Weevil. Steward let me stay at her house and everybody helped me research different ways to try and get home. Oh! Also, Steward did offer to keep my cell plan active over there, but needless to say, the phone doesn’t work between dimensions. *He toys with the buttons absentmindedly.*

Tony: *He squints his eyes at Stephen suspiciously* I thought magic didn’t exist there either. How could you have anything to research?

Stephen: They don’t have magic, but they do have mythology, urban legends, and occult books. They were willing to help me try anything vaguely supernatural that might work. None of it really did with the exception of one spell, but that was a side effect from my being there. Also, unfortunately, a group of miners there was consumed by an entity that came from one of the rifts…*He looks considerably ashamed of that last part.*

Peter: Dude…

Steve (gentle and understanding): You did what you could, Stephen. Even if we want to, we can’t save everyone. You did the best you could with what you had.

*Tony gives a deep sigh and observes Stephen carefully, from the guilty slump of his shoulders to the way his scarred fingers continue toying with the ancient cellphone. He’ll probably never understand this so-called multiversal travel, but he’s no dimwitted asshole either. Whatever Stephen lived there seemed to be of great impact to him, and the Avengers had long learned to have each other’s backs.*

Tony: Well… We’ve cracked how to build communication devices that can transmit messages thousands of lightyears away. FRIDAY, where did we get Nebula’s last message from?

FRIDAY: Last message was received from the Guardians of the Galaxy’s headquarters in Knowhere, boss. But she confirmed the new propulsion engines you helped design were successful in making the Celestial’s head mobile, so calculating their distance in relation to us is impossible.

Tony: Of course they were successful. My point is, what do you think of figuring out a way to communicate between different universes, Pete?

Peter: *His expression brightens at the mere idea* Do you think it can be done?

Tony: Between you, me, FRIDAY, and our good doctor? I wouldn’t say our chances were abysmal. *He crosses his arms over his chest and sends Stephen a smug smirk* If anything, it’ll be a fun challenge.

Stephen (small grin): All right. Challenge accepted.

*A few months pass as Tony, Peter, and Stephen attempt to modify the phone for multiversal communication. Stephen can only help sporadically due to his intense training and Trials, but after he passes, he gains his new title of Sorcerer Supreme. He does have more responsibilities now, but still manages to come by Avengers Campus regularly to help work on the project. The former surgeon also works with Dr. Bruce Banner and reverse-engineers a vaccine to the covid virus from the antibodies in our universe’s covid test kits and every Avenger gets inoculated just in case something happens later on. Eventually, they think that they might have gotten a breakthrough with the phone. Which is why Stephen sneaks out of Kamar-Taj as soon as he finishes teaching novices after he suddenly got a new text from Tony.*

Tony (text): Hey, Stranger Supreme. Drop by the lab whenever you’re on a break in this dimension. Turns out one of the pockets in that alternate universe bag of yours had a hole. Found a USB stuck in-between the fabrics. You’ll want to see this.

*Stephen portals into the lab.*

Stephen (curious): Did they save some other documents for us or something?

*Tony looks up from where he’s busy soldering something onto what appears to be one of Sam Wilson’s Falcon wings. His face is smudged with black stains, and his eyes are wide behind his protective glasses. He smiles when he sees Stephen and quickly puts away the soldering iron.*

Tony: Wow, you really are here. I figured you wouldn’t see my texts until next week at the least, what with you being out of town so often after you got promoted to Headmaster.

Stephen (raising an eyebrow): *Mildly sarcastic.* Very amusing, Tony. So, what exactly did they leave for us to find?

Tony: *He hops off his stool and removes his protective glasses before approaching Stephen with a big grin* Something close to state secrets, I would say. Definitely the type of thing that could be universe altering. It might even break the multiverse.

*Stephen stares at Tony for a moment, worried, before fully processing the shit-eating grin.*

Stephen (realizing what it might be): They didn’t…

Tony: *He squints his eyes at Stephen’s reaction, tilting his head to the side* Oh, you know what it is, do you? FRIDAY, privacy mode. *He crosses his arms over his chest and leans his hip against the nearest workbench while FRIDAY darkens the glass windows surrounding the lab, his eyes never leaving Stephen’s face as if he could read his thoughts through sheer force of will.* Show Stephen the contents of the first folder, cheer him up a little.

*A hologram flickers to life near them, large enough to cover almost an entire wall. Yet Tony’s gaze stays fixed on Stephen, unwilling to miss his reaction as a video of none other than Wong begins to play. He’s listening to music in a dark library, and Beyonce’s singing voice can be heard despite the fact that he’s wearing earphones. A small portal fizzles into existence behind him, and a disembodied hand quickly snatches a book off the shelf and is gone before Wong can turn around and see it. The action gets repeated a few more times until even the book Wong was reading gets taken from right under his nose. Tony didn’t need to use his genius to deduce Stephen had been the one pulling the prank.*

*The video is followed by a couple others, all of them depicting Wong as if viewed through a camera lens. The final video in that folder clearly depicts Wong singing karaoke with two young adults Tony had never met but was not surprised Wong never spoke about. Tony had technically just shown Stephen a gold mine of blackmail against his best friend.*

*Stephen watches the videos, a grin spreading widely across his face. He seems relieved, thinking that he got away scot-free.*

Stephen (amused): Wong is NEVER living this down…Thanks, ladies. *He looks like a kid on Christmas morning.*

Tony: *His expression shifts into something that screams smug victory* Glad we both agree. Because I…will certainly be looking forward to tons of new favors from both our ex and new Sorcerer Supreme. FRIDAY?

Stephen (suddenly going back to dread): What? *He stares in horror.*

*FRIDAY smoothly swaps to the contents found in the second folder of the USB file. The following video looks distinctly homemade in comparison to the previous ones. The resolution is different, giving away the fact that the video was taken with a cellphone, but the image is still impressively clear. There is no denying that it is Stephen himself standing in the middle of a cozy living room with a younger woman. They are both singing karaoke to the lyrics that appear on a TV screen, and three other women are singing along with them on the surrounding couches.*

Stephen (exasperated): …Of course. Trix was filming that night because it was our last night together.

Tony: *He laughs* And it sure looks like it was quite a night!

Stephen (sighing): Damnit, girls.

*The video is followed by a few others, each full of carefree singing, silly dances, and laughter. There are a few photos as well, candid and selfies alike. Everyone sports tispy blushes, and a few pictures even include ugly and funny faces being pulled at the camera. Even so, the final picture looks incredibly tame and sweet in comparison. It is a selfie of all five of them with Stephen squeezed into the middle of the frame, surrounded on nearly all sides by the girls’ bright smiles. FRIDAY leaves that photo up for Stephen to admire, and even Tony drops his teasing aura to give the sorcerer a moment to enjoy his memories.*

Tony: Sure looks like you met some good people. *He has finally stopped looking at Stephen, staring instead at the sweet picture with a sincere smile.*

*Stephen’s expression has gone from dread and exasperation to more of a gentle, reminiscent smile.*

Stephen: Yeah. They are. I can’t really be mad at them for this. They literally risked their lives and even faced interdimensional entities to try and help me. *He looks at the picture for a bit longer before getting back to business.* So, you mentioned a potential breakthrough with the phone earlier…?

Tony: Oh yeah. That new spell you and Wong tried on it seems to have done it. Still bothers me to hell and back that I have no idea what that dimensional energy even is. *He scoffs in annoyance and pushes himself off the workbench with a roll of his eyes* FRI? Lift the privacy mode. Super secret wizard files won’t be displayed again. *He moves to the little food station shoved into a corner of the lab, where he fiddles with the coffee maker until a secret compartment pops up. He extracts Stephen’s USB from it, and turns to hand it over to Stephen* Here. I’d keep that far away from Wong if I were you.

*Stephen accepts the USB drive and tucks it into his pocket for now.*

Stephen (back to his old self): Thanks. *He gives a grateful nod before narrowing his eyes suspiciously.* So, how many copies of those files did you make? *He curls his lip, knowingly.*

Tony: *He reels back, a hand pressed to his chest purely for show* Your lack of trust in me is absolutely appalling. What kind of tech genius do you take me for? That’s obviously the only physical copy in existence. In this universe, at the very least.

Stephen: Mhm…A pot-stirring kind. One with plenty of cloud storage for electronic copies waiting to be sent. Don’t even think about it.

Tony: *His lips twitch in amusement, holding back a smile* Cloud storage, he says. This is why monk wizards should not have state secrets. FRI?

FRIDAY: A single digital copy of the file has been made and saved in Mr. Stark’s personal server. It is heavily encrypted with a code Boss programmed himself, and the files have been locked against any online uploads or physical downloads.

Tony: *He puts his hands on his hips, quite proud of himself* There you have it. No one but me can access them, and even if they did there was nothing they could do with them. I could easily change that though, so keep an eye on your phone. I’ll text you the specifics of my first wish, Jeannie, dear.

*Stephen makes an irritated noise.*

Stephen (exasperated): Besides…that…When is a good time to test the phone?

Tony: How about this weekend? Say…Sunday? Peter’s coming over again, and he made me promise I wouldn’t test it without him here. Cap should be back with Nat from Wakanda on Friday night anyway. Guy’s engaged with the storyline as if it was a soap opera, so you might want to save yourself the bother of being hounded for another briefing.

Stephen: *Giving Tony a weird look at the soap opera remark.* That, I can do. Should be free after checking the wards on the Sanctum.

*When the weekend comes, Stephen joins Tony, Peter, Steve, and Bruce at the lab they claimed for themselves in Avengers Campus while they worked on this project together. Bruce usually only popped in for short periods of time to give his input on the different energies they could experiment with to make Stephen’s phone work again, but he made sure to come see what happens with the interdimensional cell phone now that they are ready to test it.*

Stephen: Okay. I’ve let Wong know what we’re doing and he wants to keep posted on any updates. Thanks for joining us, Bruce. How are you feeling? It’s been a while.

Bruce (calm and amiable): Alright. I’m just curious to see how well this works and observe the properties of the other universe.

Peter: *He stands next to where Tony is sitting on a stool. He’s nearly vibrating in excitement as he stares down at the phone on the workbench* I think it’s going to work. It should work. I mean, Tony and I got the battery working again, and then Doctor Strange and Wong seem to finally nail the spell they created together.

Tony: Well, there’s only one way to find out. *He reaches over to push the phone in Stephen’s direction, silently urging him to turn it on*

*Stephen pushes and holds the “On” button and the phone activates. Everyone waits in tense silence, holding their breath as the phone’s screen lights up and the little bars at the top desperately search for signal. After a few seconds, they stop in a complete set of solid white bars, and the first chime of a notification is the first sign of their success.*

Peter: Yes! *He pumps his fist in the air and instantly turns to high five Tony, who is smiling as widely as he is.*

*Another notification ping from the phone interrupts them, followed by another, and another. Stephen’s eyes widen slightly as the screen suddenly floods with a wall of notifications. There is a large backlog of text messages from the group.*

Various texts:

“Test”

“Hi, Stephen! Can you see this? We know you’re busy, but please reply with a simple “yes” if you’re there.”

“Erm…We think there’s some leftover magic here still. Some weird stuff is happening.”

Articles texted:

“Glowing Baby Born in China, Experts Baffled”

“New Genes with Unknown Origin Discovered”

“Populations of Extinct Animal Species Re-Discovered”

“Cryptid Sightings Rising, Mass Hysteria Blamed”

“Russian Oligarch Dragged off of Yacht, Killed by Mermaids”

“Mothman Attracted to Headlights, Steals Car”

“Florida Man Swallowed Whole by Megalodon, Massive Prehistoric Shark Dies of Drug Overdose”

More texts:

“It’s starting to get bad. Please help if you can. We know these texts aren’t going through, but we have to try.”

“We have a problem. If you ever get this message, please help.”

*The last one is a blurry picture of a Chupacabra, teeth on full display outside of a tent. The only text with the image is “HELP”.*

*Stephen’s eyes get wider with concern.*

Stephen (quietly): Oh shit…

Bruce: (concerned): What’s wrong? Did it work?

Stephen: Yes, but the rifts in their universe got bigger and now they’re being flooded with interdimensional energy. It’s pure chaos. *He shows them the articles and pic.* This is my fault. I have to get over there and fix it. *He texts Wong to update him on what’s going on so the older sorcerer can help him get back in case he gets stranded again. Then, he gets ready to go it alone.*

Steve: Wait! This is an entire other universe getting flooded with energy from our universe, right? That’s a job for a team. We’re coming with you.

Stephen (stubborn): It’s my mess, Steve. My responsibility.

*Wong portals in.*

Wong: Exactly. So, you will take responsibility and resolve this properly with your team.

*Stephen deflates slightly, having been called out.*

Bruce: I will hold down the fort here. Their world doesn’t need a Hulk in it and you don’t have to worry about taking multiple Avengers with you.

Steve: I’ll let the others know what’s going on. Stay put for a minute. *He runs to go tell Natasha, Vision, Clint, and Scott what’s happening. Sam is unavailable due to an ongoing mission with Bucky while Thor is busy being King in New Asgard.*

Peter: I’ll be going too! As I’m sure you recall, I make excellent back-up.

Tony: *He immediately jerks his stool around to face Peter, face gone completely pale.* What? Absolutely not. Your aunt would kill me.

Peter: But Mr. Stark, the people in that world don’t have heroes to protect them! Dr. Banner is right, we’ll need a discreet team. Spider-Man is perfect for the job!

Tony: I don’t care! Didn’t you learn anything last time? I can’t… *He bites back the words “protect you in a different universe.” Peter grits his teeth and looks away, stubbornly crossing his arms over his chest. Tony looks at the other Avengers for help.*

Bruce: Why don’t you compromise? Peter gets to go but you go as well. Who knows what technical issues they’re having over there that they might need help with and a suit of armor sounds more…grounded compared to the rest of us.

*Tony turns to Bruce, brown eyes wide and nearly pleading. He really doesn’t want to go on another mission into the unknown. He doesn’t want to leave his universe. He likes his universe! Likes it so much he gave his right arm for it, in fact.*

Stephen (to Peter): As long as you don’t go off on your own, kid. Stay within at least one of our lines of sight. Deal?

*Stephen doesn’t like any of this, but he figures that since Peter was involved with the Thanos debacle before and several other crises, he’s pretty much a fully-fledged member of the Avengers anyway. He’s still protective of Peter, but the kid’s growing up quickly and given the collective trauma that they’ve all been through, they should have each others’ backs.*

Peter: *His head snaps toward Stephen, and he gives him a bright grin* Yes! Deal. I promise.

*Tony turns to send Stephen a betrayed look.*

Bruce: Tony, you don’t even have to be gone that long. Stop the major stuff and set up something to help them learn to protect themselves then come home. Wong and Stephen know how to get back and forth between the two universes now plus think of all of the data you collect not only while you travel but in a different universe completely!

Peter: *Hesitantly* Mr. Stark…you know you don’t have to come. You could stay behind with Dr. Banner. We can replicate our work on Doctor Strange’s cellphone on all of our communication devices, and…and I could take all the samples you told me to.

*Tony looked even more crestfallen as Peter spoke. Probably everyone in the lab knew that would never work. He shifted his attention back to the two sorcerers, wondering and gauging if he was willing to put his life and Peter’s in their hands again. It annoyed him that his answer was a confident “yes.”*

Tony: Pete, I know you only want to go there for bragging rights about Star Wars. I cannot in good conscience throw you at Strange with no babysitter.

Peter: *His mouth drops open, offended* Who says I need…? I’m nineteen!

Tony: Exactly. *He puts up his fingers to count* Can’t vote. Can’t drink. I’m going. *The moment the words leave his mouth, he slumps on the workbench and runs a hand down his face tiredly* Pepper’s going to kill me.

*Captain America runs back in with the other Avengers in tow.*

Natasha: Hey. Steve filled us in. I’ll help hold the fort with Bruce. I doubt you guys need a spy.

Clint: Same. The campus shouldn’t be left unguarded.

Vision: I shall ensure the smooth operation of Dr. Banner’s equipment by patching myself into the system.

Scott: I’ll go. You guys could use someone who can get into small spaces undetected.

Clint: No Hope then?

Scott: No, she’s on vacation with her folks…Hank’s gonna kill me for taking his suit again, though.

Stephen: Okay. Looks like we have our away team. *He turns to Wong* Happy?

Wong: Very.

Stephen: We should go. *He opens a large portal to our universe for the group of heroes to go through. He can already notice that it looks and feels…different there.*

***To be continued***

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