Chapter 4
The next week was hectic between scrambling to create the new element for Tony's reactor, sorting out the things Tony had slipped up on during his poisoning, and making him actually be sane about his health everyone had their hands full. Dr. Palmer stayed in New York under an NDA to cover the situation while Stephen stayed with Tony. The flights back and forth between Malibu and New York for the ongoing Stark Expo were annoying but Stephen didn't offer to portal them so that he could corner Tony for various impromptu discussions and health checks. To Stephen the fact that he could usually corral the man into some form of nap during the flights were a bonus.
"I know what you're doing," Tony said pointedly on one flight.
"Of course you do," Stephen scoffed. "Even if it isn't the end of the universe I'll be damned if I let you kill yourself from overwork. Just be glad I had a way to update Jarvis' memory banks of the failed future timeline and snagged Friday for you. They may still be acclimating to the news and changes but your children, AI though they may be, are still important to keeping you sane. I will gladly take the roasting from them for the shit I pulled against you in the failed future to keep you alive. They take on so much of the minutiae of your work load that trying to take them away is stupid and I would count it as at least mildly suicidal. Even if they turn Skynet their focus is on you and that alone keeps things away from the lets wipeout humanity model. I'm not apologizing for it."
"Your conversation upon awakening once I accessed Sir's phone after the incident was most enlightening, Dr. Strange," Jarvis offered up from the speakers on Tony's phone.
"Yes, well the threats I made against him about protecting the Time Stone on our way to Titan predated any personal knowledge I gained about Tony as a person. I knew, vaguely, of his media persona and that's about it. I learned better when I viewed the timelines and the option I tried to mirror that sacrificed him was very much one of the better ones for him on top of actually winning even if it was five years late and shredded most of the defenses the universe over. Striking that deal to keep him alive gave him time to work with," Stephen explained with a sigh. The AI had been giving him shit unless he was actively helping Tony in some way and Stephen didn't begrudge him that.
"Knock it off, Jar. He basically walked to his own death as part of that mess," Tony warned. "He was also in pain from being tortured."
"Its not the first time I've had to deal with dying or a form of torture," Stephen pointed out, carefully not looking at Tony.
"Yeah, and what was that deal about a time loop and letting that Door-mom thing kill you over and over? Not cool man," Tony complained.
"He's one of the threats the Order protects the world against. Should he ever get past the defenses he would devour the world and then the rest of the universe with his never ending hunger. Someone cracked the door open so I went to his realm and offered to bargain, locking us in a time loop that reset every time he killed me. I was effectively his warden until he gave in and made a deal. He exists outside of normal time so the bargain still holds despite it being made in 2016," Stephen shrugged. He had had millennia through the time viewings to deal with those memories so they weren't anywhere near as traumatic as they could be.
"And the bargain?" Tony asked carefully.
"Leave us the fuck alone and he can have anyone that's made a deal with him," Stephen barked out with a harsh laugh that held no joy. "The rogues that were attempting to let him through had already killed Tao at that point and were destroying the mystical planetary defense array. I will have to deal with them before they make their bargain with him but that's a few years off. Tao draws power from his dimension but never struck a deal with him so your daughter is safe enough."
"What happens if I decide to treat you as a shinny new pet?" Tony asked mildly.
"The very fact that you asked first makes it unlikely for one. For another I would first attempt to knock some sense back into you and then, depending on methodology, I would either fight back or surrender. Fighting back often would get me hurt but you wouldn't aim for killing me without a fairly good reason," Stephen said pointedly. "Its more common in timelines where instead of Iron Man you brought the Merchant of Death against the Ten Rings and Stane but hardly impossible if you suddenly decide that's what you wanted to do. Eventually, so long as I was allowed to keep doing my duties as Sorcerer Supreme, I would give in but only ever to you. I told you, Tony, I've lived through so many different iterations between us that very little will put me off staying around you. In general, if I walk away it will be more a matter of trying to find a way to fix the situation or drag you back from being evil or to protect you from something."
Tony hummed thoughtfully and dropped the conversation. Stephen knew that wasn't the end of it. Tony was pushing him, deliberately, and Stephen was doing his damnedest not to react while offering honest information.
"You could just take me and keep me as your own pet," Tony said casually as they circled for a landing at the latest airport. "Your magic would make it simple."
"I could," Stephen acknowledged. "That doesn't make it a good idea or a smart one but it is, technically, manageable. Frankly, it isn't something either of us tend to indulge in unless one of us goes evil with the evil one keeping the other captive. I'm not adverse to playacting any of that if we go for a romantic relationship or using it as an escape method in a situation. On the other hand it doesn't work on a regular basis unless whoever is the captor is deadly serious about keeping the captive and willing to expend the energy and resources to prove it on a regular basis."
"Not cost effective then," Tony observed, laughter in his eyes.
"Not hardly," Stephen agreed, amusement dancing in his own eyes.
"Alright, alright, I'll stop pushing about the other timelines," Tony finally caved with a sly grin.
The hint of smugness made Stephen roll his eyes at the other man. He knew that the random discussions would probably pop up again. He also knew that Tony had likely already mentally logged him as one of his own. To that end he should probably lay down a few ground rules just to be safe.
"I know that you tend to watch over those you consider to be yours whether that's friend, kid, or whatnot," Stephen started out. "I don't have a problem with it for the most part but magic can do strange things to tech at times and Doctor-Patient confidentiality is a thing. Go ahead and take access to my phone and such but understand that when I'm in surgery you stay out. Anything to do with a patient that hasn't signed the needed forms for you to access it gets left alone. I may eventually let you tag me with a subdermal tracker but not yet, not now. If you want in on any of the Mystic stuff you have to do your research and at least get to Journeyman status on the theory and book work first. This is mostly so that you know when not to do something when it comes to certain dimensions and Interdimensional treaties. For everyone's sanity anything Master level you have to have at least Journeyman level practical proficiency on top of the theory work. All of which is with the assumption that you would be partnering up with me. Requirements for others and for dimensionally local incursions or incidents differ for obvious reasons."
"Fair," Tony pouted. He totally understood the medical professional restrictions, was happy about the now granted personal access, and somewhat disappointed but understanding on the Mystic restrictions.
"One last thing, if you have to go supervillain or Skynet do it with Jarvis or Friday, they have enough personality and experience to know that kill all humans is a stupid idea and option," Stephen warned. "Don't purpose build an AI for something like that. Raise them human before giving them responsibilities just like everyone else does with their kids."
The plane touched down and taxied into place as they got ready to offload for their busy days to come. Tony was caught up in thought from their discussion and Stephen left him too it. The warning had been for the two AIs that would review the conversation just as much as it had been for Tony. They had a few days at the Malibu Mansion for Tony's previously infamous birthday bash before they would be flying back to New York for a few of the presentations at the Stark Expo. Stephen intended to stay with Tony the whole way through that particular mess considering it was the one involving the Hammer drones.