Chapter 3
Tony slowly rose to consciousness and couldn't help but notice the soothing feel of something like water caressing his mind. It smoothed away aches and burns he hadn't even known were there. In all of it he felt an echo that held the essence of Stephen Strange. Unaware that he was even moving Tony's hand lashed out to wrap around Strange's wrist and drag him down into Tony's arms. The extra presence immediately backed off even as Tony woke up, finding himself wrapped protectively around the other man. Tony was disconcerted to realize that his hand was outstretched as if ready to blast away whoever the other person was with his repulser gauntlet. He was even more unnerved when he realized that he had a ball of blue magic glow that mimicked his gauntlet centered in the exact right spot in his hand.
"Uh... How do I defuse this?" Tony asked warily. "I didn't think I could do magic much less... well have my repulser in my hand without, you know, the actual gauntlet..."
"Of course, why didn't I think of that?" Stephen groaned. "You're an enchanter and artificer, a natural one at that! You don't need the framework the rest of us do and you can imbue objects with power. Right. First things first, pretend you're wearing your armor and just mentally power it down."
"You sure?" Tony asked hesitantly. He was firmly ignoring that he had been changed into robes similar to Stephen's blue ones although in a slightly brighter shade of blue while he had been unconscious complete with soft leather slipper shoes. At least they had included some form of socks. Tony refused to think about the underwear part though.
"If that doesn't work than I can think of another few things to try but for now, yes," Stephen insisted.
Tony shrugged and obeyed, becoming openly surprised when it worked. Stephen took the moment of distraction to get back on his feet but didn't try to reclaim his right wrist from his patient's left hand.
"That was... new," Tony commented warily as he stared down at his perfectly normal hand.
"Not really considering what I've heard about your AIs and what I've seen the various armors you've designed for yourself and others do," Stephen huffed. "My best guess is that you have a habit of only using those particular abilities when you are deep in designing or building something. Either that or the stones boosted your ability since you certainly showed more mundane signs of this before Titan. I simply hadn't made the connection."
"Will you be training him Master Strange or should I inquire with the Ancient One?" Master Garth huffed. "I was under the impression he had absolutely no training in the mystic arts at all. I need to know these things when treating someone if only to know what they might have done to themselves and what might be outside influences."
"As I said, there were signs in previous memories but I didn't put it together until he moved just now and activated a mystical version of his normal weaponry," Stephen sighed. "Tony was obviously unaware of the option and yes, I plan to teach him at least a few basics if only to try and keep him alive longer. Portals and shields primarily as well as the standard emergency beacon. Nothing that an apprentice wouldn't know. He's going to be in the public eye and he's likely to wind up needing to use whatever we teach him very publicly. I suspect the infinity stones won't allow him a normal shorter lifespan if he can survive the battles to come so I'm not assuming death by old age is a viable option. Then again my guess is more along the lines of an extended natural lifespan than anything else. I don't want to assume anything until we have signs of something which is why I didn't bring it up before."
"And you think his sudden ability to manifest what was, by my best guess, originally a physical object as an instant ready spell might be one of those signs," Master Garth sighed. "You are not wrong but this is a single fact rather than a set to work from."
"I am aware," Stephen huffed. "How does your mind feel Stark? Any pain? Fuzziness? Burning? Raw or tender areas? Memories all intact?"
"Uh, yeah," Tony answered uncertainly. "Mind feels great, some of my memories are actually clearer than they have ever been. Paranoia is down by at least a quarter if not a full half and seems to have settled firmly in aware of threat instead of constantly trying to freak out over potential threat. My thoughts seem to have evened out in pacing or at least don't try to trip over each other being at different speeds or jumping the line. Reaction speed... is up. Balance seems to be a hair or two better without getting up to test anything... I'm not actually sure I've felt this mentally stable since Dad knocked me against the Tesseract after dropping some light acid on my hands."
"As disturbing as the family reference was I think we can assume that the space stone did something at the time," Stephen sighed. "We went after every past sign of mental invasion and there were a few we couldn't do anything about. Thankfully, I was able to recognize the source and what they did for those not safe to excise. The Infinity Stones went out of their way to repair things that otherwise had broken when they sent you back in time but some of the past damage had to remain or it wouldn't have been you they were transporting back in time. I would assume that was part of why the landing timing was off."
"Ah, and being stones instead of trained humans they wouldn't necessarily have known what all wasn't supposed to be there," Tony said in realization. "Or if they did removing it could have fundamentally changed me and that could have doomed this entire thing from the start."
"Exactly," Stephen agreed. "Its why we only targeted damage from outside influences which were mostly from the Witch."
"Of course they were," Tony huffed, disgruntled. "Something kept Loki from messing with my head via the staff/mind stone thingy during the invasion. My arc reactor design is based on the Tesseract."
"Which means, for a time, you had a fragment of the space stone embedded in your chest," Stephen finished even as he paled. "Tony, we discussed it briefly while you were unconscious but... you may still need the arc reactor for now. We didn't mess with your car battery set up for obvious reasons while we focused on clearing out your mind. It was stable, you needed time to heal from the surgery, and if your mind was still connected to the stones..."
"Yeah, I get it," Tony waved him off. "I bet there was some magic jumbo on top of it all that you were concerned about. I'll need parts for a particle accelerator to recreate Starkium anyway since I would rather skip the palladium poisoning. The Mark I reactor was always a stop gap and a way to get the chest attachment down to working size so they didn't just kill me for not working. We eventually got the reactor and shrapnel removed but I suspect that the stones will insist on keeping some version of the reactor in or on me at all times once we've talked to them. They're possessive little bastards after all."
"Would you be adverse to suggesting something to the infinity stones?" Master Garth asked cautiously.
Both geniuses turned to look at the healer with open interest.
"Such as?" Stephen asked curiously.
"Well it seems to me that Dr. Stark's objections have more to do with the shrapnel along with any additional interference the arc reactor would have with his body, not with installing the reactor in the first place. Could you not request aid from the stones or an artifact to remove the shrapnel?" Master Garth asked. "I realize that such a suggestion is... highly irregular and unlikely to succeed but the implications you both have been referring too makes me think that you both would have more leeway compared to someone else. Just a thought."
"Oh! That reminds me, did you visit your cloak yet and how long was I out?" Tony asked quickly. He wasn't looking forwards to having the arc reactor put in but knew it was probably inevitable at this point if only for a few years on the medical front.
"Master Strange has hardly left your side except for attending to his mundane job," Master Garth answered dryly. "As for how long we worked on you and kept you in a form of stasis... nearly three months. Master Strange has nearly collapsed more than once between his day job at a New York general hospital and then coming here to work with you. I have had to force him into the bed next to yours often enough that the others just assume that they can't use that bed if someone comes in hurt. Not a problem except in incidents of mass injury at which point Master Strange gets drafted for triage and his medical degree. On the other hand we only need to keep you for observation a few more days on cleansing the mind magics and discuss with you about the electromagnet in your chest."
"Which we sort of did when Stephen pointed out that it was stable and thus left alone. I don't have the materials here to make a more compact replacement but if you both want I have no objections to coming here for the install once its ready," Tony offered. "I kind of trust Strange from the last go through and it might be a better idea too actually have a medical like person I at least sort of trust nearby instead of trying to do it myself alone or getting Pepper to help me since her hands are small."
"You didn't?!" Stephen asked incredulously as he turned to stare at Tony again.
Tony just sort of smiled sheepishly and shrugged. Idly Tony noticed that while the original electromagnet was still installed one of the magic users had either shrank the car battery or swapped it out for something more compact. The wires had been shortened and what he assumed was the new battery pack was attached to the housing of the electromagnet in his chest. He couldn't wait to get his hands on what he needed to whip up a replacement in the form of an arc reactor. At least his shirt? Robes? covered up the patch job and the electromagnet set up so that it was less obvious as a potential target. That didn't make Tony any less grateful for the borrowed clothes and to not be in a drafty paper hospital type sack gown. He still wasn't going to mention it until someone else brought it up.
"Okay, from now on messing with anything medically attached to your body, such as your reactor, needs someone with medical knowledge that you trust on hand," Stephen demanded, threatened. "Anything that potentially affects your health actually, not just trading out your reactor even if I have to sit on you to make it stick."
"That would require moving in with me," Tony teased. "Are you sure want to make that kind of commitment doc?"
"I can't believe I'm saying this but let's first introduce Dr. Stark to some of the artifacts and check with the Eye before going that route, please," Master Garth said in a long suffering tone.
It was far from the first time Asmodeus Garth had needed to deal with someone irreverent or who used flirting as a defense mechanism. That said seeing it also tended to make him sad if he wasn't completely irritated instead. His best option right then was to keep things moving along since he was probably spelling both of them to a bed in an attempt to make them both rest after visiting the artifacts. The artifacts, if one chose one of them, would be a lovely distraction for the pair and might even help keep them in bed for at least a day. Garth held no illusions that he would actually be able to keep the pair in his infirmary long enough that he would be happy to release them on medical grounds so he would take what he could get.
"So will the Cloak of Levitation remember you?" Tony asked in interest.
"I don't know," Stephen said quietly, subdued.
"Doc?" Tony asked, concerned.
"The Cloak of Levitation may not choose me again and even if it does it probably won't remember me," Stephen explained heavily. "As much as it was with me through my entire journey the Stones... well lets just say that between the artifacts, the time travel, and how we arrived its unlikely that anyone else remembers. A fact that would include artifacts... like your AIs."
"Ah, sorry," Tony offered with a wince.
"Well its simple enough to check," Master Garth said briskly. He did one last check over before ushering the pair through a portal to the New York sanctum.
"Master Garth?" A voice asked from someone who came running as they rudely portaled into the main room of the sanctum. A voice that made Stephen stiffen and go on alert. Master Garth gave him an inscrutable look before turning to address the current sanctum master.
Much to Stephen's discomfort and alarm Kaecilius rushed into the room where they had landed. Tony took note of how Stephen discreetly readied himself for a fight while also putting himself between Tony and the new comer. A fact that annoyed Tony but that the genius grudgingly allowed due to his own current lack of ability to fight back.
"Master Kaecilius," Master Garth greeted politely. "I'm afraid that I have two patients that need a tour through your artifacts. There was a time mishap and they aren't quite back up to speed yet. On the other hand they have stopped the threat for the moment and the Ancient One has checked their identities and cleared them."
"Oh?" Kaecilius asked warily.
"Yeah, kind of surprised all of us that the solution we came up with worked," Tony said glibly. "I don't know if I can retrain with the mystic arts but Stephen can still do a few things. The problem is that we are still kind of in the public eye and need to know if our original artifacts will still work with us or if different ones will pick us before we can sort out our legal responsibilities and start to retrain. Stephen attained Mastery but I was never formally ranked due to weirdness around the threat. A threat that naming it would be bad for at least another decade."
Tony was sticking to the established story he and the Ancient One had cooked up in that cave. Besides, Kaecilius didn't need to know that his reference to retraining was more like cross training for himself with Stephen just getting back in shape. Then again even telling the man this much with Strange's reaction might be risking something Tony didn't know about yet.
"Manipulation of time is forbidden," Kaecilius said ominously.
"Then its a good thing they weren't the instigators," Master Garth retorted. Garth suspected that even if they were/had been it had been for a very good reason.
"Its also a little hard to avoid time shenanigans when one of the most affected artifacts in the incident is partly formed from crystalized time," Tony tossed out in feigned annoyance, deliberately sticking to vague details. "Working with it was the only way to fix things with reality falling apart around us. Besides, the bloody rock was what decided we would have this outcome, not us. I was perfectly fine dying on that damned battlefield once my part was finished. The memories of practically everyone we've worked with on this are gone as part of the price so don't get huffy about what you can't remember to understand in the first place."
"He was dead by the time what we think of the start of this was brought to everyone's attention," Stephen explained stiffly. "So was the Ancient One. Tony, you didn't meet everyone involved anyway."
That little tid bit made them all pause and consider things for a minute. Kaecilius grunted and pivoted around before stalking off into the sanctum. The group followed behind him only to be led to the third floor gallery where the artifacts were stored. Kaecilius glowered at them but left them to it as he headed for the second floor after escorting them.
"Stephen?" Tony asked in concern.
"Let's just say I have very good reason to expect him to go rouge. I didn't realize he was the current sanctum master as he killed the one before me or I would have objected heavily to this trip," Stephen said quietly so that his voice wouldn't carry past the three of them. "I was the one to end the situation and his end was... not kind. I had to use a time loop to solve the most important part of it."
"The one where you had to be put on suicide watch afterwards?" Master Garth asked sharply.
Tony gasped and stared at the two wide-eyed at this new information. He had been unconscious when they discussed it even if his body was present.
"Yes," Stephen agreed stiffly. "We're here now so we might as well get this out of the way."
"If Levi doesn't remember you or pick you again?" Tony asked as they approached the display case holding the cloak. The pained silence from Stephen told Tony everything he needed to know. It would gut the man and Tony wouldn't stand for it.
Thankfully, Tony was worried over nothing since as soon as the cloak saw them it deliberately smashed the display glass around it to get free and wrapped Stephen up like a burrito. Stephen spluttered but didn't really fight to get free. Tony got the distinct impression that the cloak was shouting MINE!! MINE!!! MINE!!!! in mystic speech or something and he didn't particularly mind. He could see the good doctor relaxing infinitesimally in the grip of the fabric folds.
"I see the blanket remembers you," Tony joke only to get hit by a corner of the cloak ala wet towel. "Ouch! Hey! That's no fair!"
The cloak's collar lifted up to give him what amounted to a deadpan stare even as it kept cuddling Stephen. Tony huffed at it but didn't pursue the matter further. Eventually the cloak relented enough to unwrap and settle securely on Stephen's shoulders, making a strange contrast to his medical scrubs. Master Garth suppressed a smile and followed after them as Tony unconsciously led them deeper into the gallery. It was very clear that the man behind Iron Man felt a pull towards something and neither Sorcerer was comfortable leaving him to search on his own so they trailed after him like ducklings.
"We should probably decide if we want to bring Peter through here once we know if he remembers and we find a way to visit regularly," Tony said idly as he wandered, slowly looking at the artifacts.
"I would rather avoid that until we have to," Stephen said dryly. He was under no illusions that it wouldn't happen at some point but he didn't want to be letting a five year old run around with a dangerous artifact either.
Tony huffed but didn't argue the point. He could always create a better suit for his spider kid once he could be sure if Peter would even want it. That was something he had learned with Morgan. Any child would try to avoid wearing something they didn't like. Even if Peter remembered enough to wear it anyway it was better to just make it with his preferences in mind.
Something launched out of a shadowed and dusty corner to wrap tight around Tony's left ankle, tripping him up. Tony in turn staggered and tried not to land on the floor, his flailing arm being caught by Stephen as the man steadied him. They looked down together once Tony was stable and stared at the slim anklet that had wrapped around Tony's leg.
Stephen bent down to examine it and let out a huff of disbelief. There in front of him was a hand beaten strip of metal that had to have been brass or bronze twisted with silver before being beaten flat. The tiny green stones at roughly equal distances seemed to be pressed into the metal as if the metal had been a soft clay or even close to liquid when it was done. The thin designs between them were almost worn away but there was a snowflake and a leaf design still clear in the patterns. The metal was also seem less and didn't appear to be willing to come off of the man if they thought to try to force the issue. It hadn't yet tried to squirm under Tony's borrowed clothes so similar to Stephen's own normal robes when among the Sorcerers but the doctor wouldn't be surprised if the artifact quickly sought skin contact.
"The stones, chips really, are likely Jade or something similar, possibly green bloodstone, but they carry powerful defenses from what I can tell without a proper examination," Stephen said as he stood up. "Many of them defend the mind, cleanse toxins, or protect from spiritual attacks. If the full defensive power is to be activated though it would have to bond to your soul, which must be decided by the artifact and then the soul, aware or otherwise, must agree to it. I suspect the anklet, whatever its official name, will not be coming off any time soon."
"Then what? I'm stuck with a pushy piece of jewelry that will hurt my ankles in the suit?" Tony asked uncertainly.
In answer, said piece of jewelry slithered under his clothes, causing the genius to yelp and hop around on one foot shaking the other as if to knock a snake off of him. Tony felt the metal practically ooze up against the skin of his ankle and slightly flatten its self. Moulding into shape against him and becoming both completely form fitting as well as being no thicker than a dime before going still. Stephen pulled away the fabric to confirm what he had already surmised before standing up yet again.
"Congratulations, you have a very determined artifact clinging to you," Stephen said, laughter in his eyes and amusement in his voice.
"Ha ha ha," Tony said sarcastically. He warily glanced at his ankle before moving on.
Unseen the two Sorcerers frowned at his continued journey towards the back of the artifact storage area. Something was still calling to the genius and it was starting to unsettle the two Sorcerers.
Five minutes later Stephen started to suspect that Tony wasn't the only one being called. The Cloak of Levitation was getting restless and somewhat grumpy about something and Stephen found himself almost in lockstep with Tony as they moved through the artifacts. It didn't take them long to draw near a table display case holding a set of four bracelets in two pairs on a faded wine colored cushion. Tony didn't hesitate as he reached forwards and lifted the glass lid of the suspiciously unsecured display case. Tony's hands reached but didn't quite touch the thick metal bracelets. Stephen was so focused on watching Tony that he never realized that his own hands had reached out for the second set.
The bracelets were just right somehow in Tony's eyes and he barely acknowledged Stephen reaching out for the slightly more ornate pair as Tony's landed on the ones he was drawn to. Both sets were made of what Tony thought was Aluminum Bronze. The slightly thick bracelets Tony had touched were adorned with a large Lapis Lazuli bracketed by chips of Turquoise drew him in. A few matching mystic lines were engraved on all four of the slightly battered bracelets.
Meanwhile, Stephen's hands had drifted to land on the second pair of the set. Both of which had a line of four different blue square shaped stones made of Aquamarine, Blue Apatite, Lapis Lazuli, and Turquoise. The moment their hands came close enough the bracelets leapt up and encased their wrists, sealing themselves in place and moulding to their wrists just like the anklet had.
"Each chosen by two separate artifacts," Master Garth mused startling the two men into turning around and taking defensive stances. The healer chuckled and waved away their sheepish apologies once they remembered that he was supposed to be there with them and wasn't a threat.
"This... didn't happen before," Stephen confided as they made their way back out of the artifact area. "The cloak chose me in the middle of a fight. I was never formally presented to the artifacts for consideration."
"So you wouldn't know why jewelry picked us?" Tony asked both disconcerted and teasing.
"The anklet will keep the Witch out of your head, Tony," Stephen pointed out. "As for the bracelets... I have no idea. I know that they were clearly a set and one meant to work together so I expect they will insist on us meeting regularly even if nothing else does. I would have to check but I suspect they were designed for married couples or at least regular battle partners of some type. Judging by the dust none of them have been used in a very long time for whatever reason."
"Who said they don't like jewelry, not me," Tony backtracked hastily. "Gotta love the jewelry!"
Stephen watched as Tony casually flicked his wrist and suddenly had a dagger in his hand only to twist it slightly differently and the dagger to be shrunk and summoned back into the gem while a solid illusion of a screwdriver appeared to take its place. A third hand movement disappeared the illusion. Stephen tried something similar and got a medical scalpel instead of a screwdriver when it changed over for a "tool".
"Personal instant tool kit for our specific mundane specialties," Stephen muttered musingly. "I bet they're even sterile just by dispelling or summoning them. Clearly not sentient but extremely useful none the less."
"At least you will have something to play with while I keep you both on bed rest for a few days," Master Garth said smugly as he dropped them back in his infirmary.
The two heroes exchanged a look and tried to make a break for it only to be caught by mystical ropes and dumped back into their beds. The Cloak of Levitation floated off to one side clearly laughing at them and clapping in approval for Master Garth's actions. Stephen scowled at the betrayal but he also knew that the Cloak had probably snitched on his own lack of rest. He resigned himself to texting Christine Palmer and warned her that he had got caught out by a doctor he was visiting and was now stuck on bed rest for a few days.
"That never gets old," Master Garth smirked at his two resigned patients.
True to form they spent the day playing with their new artifacts while in bed.