Chapter 3
They spent the night at the Sanctum and the two women eventually rejoined the group with Master Dunn trailing behind them, clearly disgruntled. Stephen received several sling rings with a knowing look from Tao right before she took the women away for about an hour. Everyone quietly concluded it was girl talk in some form and they wanted to be as far away from it as possible. To that end the four men had breakfast in the kitchen while Strange and Dunn discussed the wards on the Sanctum as well as possible improvements.
Tao returned with a stack of books and two composed adults helping to carry them all.
"Your theory books, Daddy," Tao said in open amusement, passing the books she had specifically written for him over while the less personal ones stayed with the two new friends. "Practicals have to be done with a Journeyman or a Master of the Mystic Order. Good thing for you Dr. Strange is a Master with a specialty in Time Magics and the Infinity Stones. This isn't like playing with smaller amounts of explosive chemicals but more along the lines of a live atom bomb or antimatter. Don't practice without supervision until you're actually cleared for it and stick to the spells you are cleared for. If you come up with something new, and you will, make Stephen check the calculations and rebalancing effects for you before trying to cast it. When you eventually work out a mystic version of your flight repulser the Order would like a copy for the more limber Masters to work with and it will be restricted to Masters and those you specifically clear or give authority to clear."
"You aren't allowed to complain about board meetings or dealing with the occasional assassination attempts or I'm taking them away," Pepper said sternly. "And... friends might be better for us."
Tony nodded solemnly, understanding the relationship shift all too well. He could complain about his magic books being threatened when Pepper actually tried to take them. It was more a sibling/friend thing anyway and that was just fine with him. Also, his daughter's warning was sufficient enough to curb his reckless testing soul.
"Tell me when you two start sharing Sorcerer Supreme duties so I can figure that into the rosters," Tao said mischievously before disappearing into a quickly formed and closed portal.
"She's definitely your daughter," Stephen said faintly after he recovered from the shock of what she had said.
"Yeah," Tony agreed, misty eyed. "Right, let's get going. We have maybe two and a half years before Loki's deliberately failed invasion shows up. We have a lot of work to do before then."
"Don't I know it," Stephen said ruefully. "I'll probably start staying with you at some point so we can sort out logistics then. For now I will try to get the word out enough in the medical community to start focusing on everyone getting emergency room time and encouraging emergency training. If nothing else first aid workshops and emergency protocols being sponsored will have more people understanding basic wound care and triage. It might help during the invasion."
"I'll handle that," Dr. Christine Palmer corrected with a wry smirk. "Just give me outlines if its different from the normal insanity. I'm in the emergency room more often than you are and generally have a better bedside manner."
Stephen nodded, conceding the point. It wasn't like he could pass off getting them all battlefield medic certification even if he could potentially talk them into taking such a class. Besides, the damage from the invaders hadn't exactly followed typical injuries on or off the battlefield. He would need to write up the whole thing and what techniques they had figured out during the invasion itself. Christine would be able to get them to take it seriously even if it was taught officially as a joke. Probably one aimed at Stephen himself but if it worked then he really didn't care.
"I'll sponsor some workshops with a few rewards and stuff for teenagers and pre-teens. Adults who attend the whole course will get free lunch vouchers for a month after passing. The ones targeted for the homeless will offer two meals that day, a shower, and a care package of general stuff at the end including a personal first aid kit. No age restriction on that one because if they're too small to actually participate in learning they should get the meals and wash time free anyway. We can attach a temporary free clinic to the deal and if it goes well for the first half of the course set it up as an ongoing charity or something. It can be used to branch off getting people skills and off the street eventually," Tony suggested. "Maybe we can run zombie apocalypse and alien invasion themes as a gimmick. Treating the gimmick as a real possibility officially being part of the gimmick itself. Actual quality kits for zombie apocalypse and alien invasions should be cheap but purchasable at the training events."
"That's a great idea, Tony. Where would we be doing this?" Pepper asked, falling back into her PA mode despite now being his CEO to Tony's Head of R&D.
"New York to start but we can branch out to other major cities. If nothing else it should spread basic first aid knowledge which is a plus," Tony answered immediately as the group headed for the door out to the street, their various loot in respectful hands.
"Others can work on that. I want your reactor fixed before you try to do anything personally," Stephen ordered even as they got back into the car.
"Yeah, boss. It really bothers me to know you're getting poisoned like this," Happy finally voiced his opinion.
"Fine," Tony huffed. "But if you're going to be pushy about it I'm dragging you back to Malibu with me to help."
"Gladly if only to keep your stubborn hide intact," Stephen grumbled before giving his apartment address as Happy pulled away from the curb. "I don't have guest rooms in the way that you probably do but I would rather not risk you out of my sight right now. I understand and agree about the lack of going to a hospital loathe as I am to admit it. Most Doctors would, in fact, panic over the reactor and immediately try to see it removed. As long as I am with you I can override them on medical grounds as your Doctor."
The way Tony slumped boneless against him told Stephen that he had just taken a worrying weight off of the other man's shoulders. A glance at Miss. Potts told him she recognized it too.
"I'll arrange for the fee to be paid once you start billing us," Pepper offered promptly.
"My specialty is Neurosurgery so don't be surprised if you get a few odd questions. You can say we're old friends that fell out of touch and that I got angry when he didn't call me to help with his injuries after Afghanistan once I realized he was the Andy I knew when we were younger. We knew each other in a different way in the past and didn't recognize each other properly until recently," Stephen offered. It was the truth but from a certain point of view.
"Really Obi-Wan?" Tony drawled, recognizing what he was doing without a problem.
"It is the truth, just without the magic and time travel tossed in for flavoring," Stephen shrugged and, almost automatically, protectively tucked Tony under his arm against his side.
"Stephen?" Christine asked with a pointed look aimed at what he had just done.
"Alternate timelines, in many of them we became lovers," Stephen shrugged. "I have no trouble shifting into whatever level or form of relationship Tony wants. I have probably lived through something like it at least once already when I was viewing alternate timelines. My eidetic memory allows me to remember them unless something was too similar then those specific memories blend together. Although, the ones where we happened to be enemies or one of us went evil for whatever reason were always rather... energetic when it came to our back and forth interactions. I remember them but Tony only remembers the one future timeline. I apologize but I can't actually remember if we are dating right now or if we've moved firmly back to friend territory. It's been... a very long time in my memories and I know of at least one universe where I broke reality to get you back after you died and failed anyway. I don't think I can continue anything romantic with you on those grounds. It is, however, more prominent than usual because I was dragged to that alternate timeline at one point and had to stop my evil self. It was not a fun time for anyone."
"You didn't break a universe for me?" Tony asked plaintively, obviously teasing.
"I usually managed to remember why we were doing what we were doing and avoid that with you as my partner. Generally, when we would go evil or take over the world it was in an effort to protect even if we were only protecting each other," Stephen admitted with a sigh. "I would often follow you into death but rarely did I break in such a way as to destroy the world or the universe after your death. Something about you holds me together enough to avoid that even in memory."
"And the times we killed each other?" Tony asked neutrally. He knew himself well enough to know that there would have been timelines where it happened no matter how much he might care for the Doc. If it wasn't a mercy kill then he could have just fucking broken under the pressure and then there were the options where they went evil. He had been the Merchant of Death and he was very aware of what he was capable of.
"Depending on the bond we forged things would be drastically different. Even so it wasn't uncommon for either of us to follow soon after for one reason or another," Stephen admitted. "We just seem to stabilize each other as long as we happen to be in each other's life whether as brothers, lovers, enemies, or even magically bound together. The details vary but staying near each other in some fashion almost always seems to be a good thing even if it only focused our destruction at each other and left the civilians alone. I don't understand it but it is a proven fact across more than 14 million separate timelines so I'm hardly going to argue with it."
"And the times where you didn't?" Pepper asked tensely.
"Didn't follow him into death? Usually it was because he had given me a task or charge to take care of on his behalf," Stephen said carefully. "Even as enemies it wasn't uncommon for us to entrust something like that to the other. There were just more booby traps and contingencies in place for those timelines. The same was often true in reverse. One thing we never had an issue recognizing was each other's competency in whatever we set out to do no matter how often we found ourselves butting heads."
"And when we didn't stay in each other's life?" Tony asked softly.
"We were miserable. There was always something missing even if we didn't know what," Stephen said, eyes closing in grief and resignation. "It often led to our deaths even if it was years apart. As far as I know we aren't soul bonded or soulmates but certain spells can and have been used to forge soul bonds and we were subject to them in multiple timelines. They can... echo across boundaries and worlds. I can't actually tell if the effect is natural or part of an echo, not through what I understand of things. I only know that staying close helps and part of that is being able to pull each other's ass out of the fire if it becomes necessary, which it often does prove to be necessary."
All of them noticed Stephen holding Tony more tightly against him as if the other man would be ripped away by the slightest tug of a breeze. Tony reached up and tugged on his hair, drawing the Sorcerer's immediate attention.
"Hey, you said it yourself. It doesn't happen every time and this time we can just choose to stay in each other's life," Tony pointed out. Stephen took a moment to register that before slowly nodding his agreement and acceptance.
The rest of the ride passed in silence and when they got to Stephen's place they all piled into his penthouse. Christine took charge and put both heroes on the couch with orders to "Stay put or so help me I'll wrap you both up in blankets so much that you can't escape for hours!" Pepper smirked and backed up her new friend.
"So are we cooking in or should I go find food somewhere nearby?" Happy asked the women casually. In answer Christine just fetched out Stephen's stash of delivery menus.
At that point both geniuses gave up and settled in for what amounted to a family day/night. Stephen used his phone to clear his schedule and officially take on Tony's case which got him a mixed "what the hell?" and "you just got us a jackpot case!" from the hospital administrator.
"I apologize for the administrator's odd tact of greedy bastard and gleeful glory for his domain ahead of time," Stephen sighed. "I did inform him that you demanded an NDA and that Doctor-Patient privileges including confidentiality definitely apply so we should be covered for refusing anything someone wants to harass out of us."
"Don't worry about it. We've dealt with worse and we actually are using your doctor skills, they just aren't your only skills we happen to be hiring," Tony pointed out, waving off his concerns.
"I will get you that NDA to sign as quickly as possible Doctor and thank you for the forethought," Pepper said gratefully. Stephen waved it off this time and just stayed settled next to Tony on the couch while the movie they were all watching played.
"Make it a more general one," Stephen requested. "I doubt that I will be able to stay out of practically anything Tony finds himself involved in even if only on the outskirts."
"Noted," Pepper agreed.