Checkmate

“Kid.”

Turning around quickly, Peter searched across the barren alien terrain for the source of the voice, blinking as a piece of red fabric appeared in front of him. Jumping back slightly, he let out a little laugh, poking the fabric. “Don’t scare me like that, Cloakie.” The cloak jerked slightly at the poke, shaking a little in a motion that mimicked laughter before floating back, wrapping around Strange’s form.

“Cloakie?” Strange asked with a raised eyebrow, lips curled up in an amused smile. Peter flushed a little, scratching at the back of his head. “I didn’t know what else to call it.”

The cloak gave a little flutter at this, and Strange chuckled softly (which Peter found to be slightly out of character, considering how the man was acting earlier). “I think Cloakie works.” Peter smiled at this, giggling softly.

“Peter,” the sorcerer said softly, tone suddenly becoming serious. The teen’s expression slowly dropped in response as he watched the man move closer to him. “I’m going to tell you something very important, alright? Remember it.” Peter immediately nodded sharply, and Strange’s lip tugged up slightly.

“If you ever need my assistance, my address is 177a Bleecker Street, in Greenwich VIllage,” Strange said, and Peter’s eyes widened.

“O-Okay,” the teen stammered, nodding quickly. “177a Bleecker Street. Got it.” Strange only looked at him for a moment, causing Peter to shift uncomfortably, before shaking his head slightly and letting a soft smile slip.

“Stark was right about you.” Eyes widening slightly, Peter opened his mouth to ask what the man meant, but, in the blink of an eye, Strange was gone.

“You really are the best of us.”

“Tell me his name again,” Tony said, resting his elbows on his knees as he looked up at Peter, back arched away from the couch. The teen was slowly pacing around the living room of the tower, the remaining Avengers splayed out across the room at random.

“Thanos,” Peter said, stopping in front of the billionaire. “He’s a horrible person...he invades planets and wipes out half of their population, and he sent Loki to do the same to us. The attack on New York? That was him.” His ment--the hero tensed in front of him, letting out a shaky breath as he fell silent, expression tightening. He only gave Peter a curt nod in response.

“So his plan is to wipe out half of the universe,” Clint spoke, pushing himself off his spot on the wall to move closer to the teen as he nodded. “What’s his motive?”

“Limited resources, I guess,” the spiderling responded with a small shrug. “His planet was destroyed because there were too many people for the resources they had.”

Sam’s eyebrows furrowed at this, and after a brief moment he spoke, “If this dude’s so powerful, why doesn’t he just make more resources?” Peter took in a sharp breath, pointing at him with an energetic nod. “Exactly!”

“Regardless,” Natasha interjected, cutting the short exchange off, “wiping out half the universe isn’t something someone does in their sleep. How did he do it?”

“The infinity stones.” Some of the Avengers’ eyes lit up in recognition at this, and Peter could tell by their body language that a few were a bit put off that he knew that information.

“You mean the ones Thor told us about?” Steve said slowly, and Peter gave an uneasy shrug. “I guess? They were a result of the Big Bang. Six of them were made and each of them control a specific aspect of our universe. They’re extremely powerful. If anyone held one, they would actually melt, so Thanos made a gauntlet to harness their power.”

“Thor’s vision,” Natasha muttered under her breath with slightly wide eyes, speaking many of their thoughts.

“Do you know where they are?” Tony inquired softly, his tone tight and on edge. Peter had to force himself to swallow back any unnecessary emotion before responding.

“Not all of them, but yeah,” he said, pausing briefly to organize his thoughts before listing off the stones. “The mind stone is the one in Vision’s forehead, the time stone is with a sorcerer named Doctor Strange in the city, the space stone, or the tesseract, is on Asgard, and I know Thanos killed someone named Gamora to get the soul stone, so she’s involved somehow. I have no idea where the reality and power stone are, though.”

“Okay,” Steve said softly, eyebrows furrowing in thought as he absorbed the information.

“Wait, back up, sorcerer?” Tony asked incredulously, eyes widening. Clint nodded slightly in response to this, his own eyes widening as well. “Who the hell is Doctor Strange?”

“He’s a really strong sorcerer, yeah. He can like, teleport people places and duplicate himself and travel through dimensions--he’s super cool,” Peter responded, gushing slightly while he spoke, the rest of the team looking at him with varying expressions of disbelief (aside from Wanda, who was just nodding along as he spoke). “Oh!” The teen added with a blink, “He also has a floating sentient cloak he uses to fly.”

A beat of silence passed across the room, and Tony shook his head, bringing a hand up to rub his temple as he leaned back into the chair. He let out a sigh, breaking the silence, and muttered softly to himself, “Jesus, I don’t get paid enough for this.” Wanda’s head snapped towards Tony at this, and she narrowed her eyes in a sort of glare, crossing her arms. The billionaire met her eyes for a brief moment before sinking away, huffing slightly.

“And this man has the time stone?” Steve asked, seemingly recovered from the intake of information. His expression was tightened slightly, and Peter could see the creases starting to form between his eyebrows. Natasha was wearing a similar expression to the soldier’s, lips pursed in a thin line in what Peter assumed was thought.

“Yeah,” the teen answered with a nod. “He guards it.”

“Do you think he’d be willing to help us?” Steve questioned.

“Of course!” Peter smiled, though it faded fairly quickly as his mind flashed back to the sight of Strange’s empty eyes after he looked into their future on Titan. Not now, brain. Later. “He could probably track the other stones to be honest.” He paused for a brief moment before adding as an afterthought, “Or at least the guardians.”

“Guardians?” Clint asked with a slight chuckle. “How many more enhanced people do we not know about?”

“I think this is it, actually,” the hero laughed softly, albeit tense. “The Guardians of the Galaxy helped with the fight against Thanos, and Gamora’s on their team. I also think they might know about the power stone.”

“Are they like, the Avengers of the galaxy or something?” Sam joked with a small chuckle, lips tugging into a smile as Clint snorted.

“Yes, actually,” Peter quipped, smirking slightly when their playful expressions dropped. “They’re pretty strong. The leader of the group is actually named Peter too, which is really cool. He’s super nice.”

“Don’t tell me they’re aliens or something, kid,” Tony muttered, and Peter’s heart gave a soft flutter hearing the familiar nickname come out of his mouth.

“I mean...not all of them? Peter’s from Missouri and one of them is apparently a talking raccoon--”

“A talking raccoon?!”

“So,” Natasha promptly interjected before the billionaire could lose his mind (“A talking raccoon…” he mouthed, eyes wide with disbelief. It took all of Peter’s self to control to keep his expression straight), “as of right now, there’s two infinity stones on Earth. Doctor Strange might be able to locate a tie to the soul stone and power stone, and the tesseract is on Asgard with Thor, so it should be in safe hands.” Some of the Avengers nodded at her words, and Peter tensed slightly at the mention of Thor to the dismay of the others.

“What is it?” Wanda asked Peter softly, gathering the full attention of the rest. The teen shifted uncomfortably on his feet, taking in a small breath as a weight seemed to press itself onto his chest.

“Um...I don’t know the full story, but the guardians told me that Asgard was destroyed, and the refugee ship was demolished by Thanos. They were able to save Thor but not anyone else,” Peter responded, voice soft.

“Thanos destroyed Asgard?!” Steve exclaimed in alarm, eyes widening and Clint clenched his fists to his side. The rest of the team seemed rightfully disturbed by this information, each of them showing it (though some of them opted not to) in their own way.

“That son of a bitch,” the archer cursed, “I swear to god I’ll kill him--”

“He didn’t, he didn’t!” Peter hurriedly answered, holding his hands out slightly. “Asgard is going to be destroyed with or without him. The guardians said that Thor told them that it was their only choice, whatever that means.” Steve seemed to relax, albeit slightly, at this, though Clint seemed to still be tense.

“Still…” Clint protested softly.

“Then there’s no need to lose our heads. All we need to worry about is getting the refugee ship to safety,” Wanda said softly, meeting Clint’s worry-laced eyes. The archer gave a small nod at this, relaxing when he met her eyes.

“What’s our timeline for that?” Natasha asked, turning to Peter, whose eyebrow furrowed slightly as he tried to recall the information he heard.

“Um...not for a while,” the spiderling answered. “The ship actually doesn’t get destroyed until late 2018.”

“So we have time,” Steve concluded, and the teen nodded, cuing the soldier to continue. “Alright. Is there any other information we need to hear?”

Peter tensed slightly at this, his mind almost immediately whirling to the notorious Civil War that introduced the teen to the group of heroes in the first place. He knew the information was vital to the group’s success against Thanos (because separation clearly didn’t work), but he didn’t want to worry them about such materialistic things so soon. The stones were more of a priority at the moment, and he felt like he could tackle that issue later. Probably.

Hopefully.

“...yes,” he eventually answered, “but it’s not Thanos related, so it can wait. This is more of a priority, trust me.” Steve raised an eyebrow at the answer, which he assumed was because he took so long to respond. He cursed himself for that internally--he needed to get better at that.

“Are you sure?” The soldier asked, and Peter made sure to nod more swiftly, shifting his stance to something more confident. “Yeah, I’m sure.”

“Alright,” Steve said with a nod, and he stood up, not pursuing the topic any more. The teen let out a soft relieved breath, and he figured Natasha would probably notice, but at the moment he didn’t really care. “All we have the ability to do right now is locate Doctor Strange and gain his assistance, then,” he continued.

“Do we even know where this wizard dude is?” Sam asked, and Peter gave a blink before responding in what seemed to be reflex. “177a Bleecker Street, in Greenwich Village,” he recited, thinking back to the sorcerer’s words from what seemed like years before. All eyes fell on the teen and he looked around for a beat, before shrugging awkwardly.

“What? He told me his address.” Clint gave the teen a look and Wanda spoke up from her position on a chair, effectively shifting the topic of conversation. “Who’s going? We shouldn’t bring too many people, he’d probably think it’s an attack or something.”

“Not me,” Tony said quickly, standing up and stalking off towards the direction of his lab. Turning around in his regular flamboyant, Tony Stark-esque style, he spoke to them as he walked backwards. “I’d rather not deal with all this alleged ‘magic,’ thank you very much.”

“I think I might agree with the old man and hit the hay,” Clint said, laughing at Tony’s indignant squawk at the comment. (“Old?! You look five years older than me, at least.”) Sam nodded in agreement, muttering a soft “Yeah” before leaning back in his chair.

“Peter? What about you?” Steve asked, and the teen perked up slightly in response to his name.

“Um…” His eyes trailed off towards Tony’s retreating figure, and he briefly met the man’s eyes, causing the billionaire to pause. Peter almost immediately tore his eyes away, and nodded with resigned emotion. “I’ll go.”

“Alright,” Natasha said with a small smile. “I guess there’s nothing keeping us then.”

“Right,” Steve agreed, and he turned to Sam questioningly, to which the man shook his head.

“I think I’ll tap outta this one, Cap,” he said with a soft smile. Steve nodded, his lips tugging up in response before he shifted his eyes to Wanda expectantly. The witch paused for a moment, pondering her options, and she eventually nodded. The captain nodded briefly in return, gaze making its way back to the teen in front of him. “Anything you need before leaving?”

“I need a lot of things, Mr. Rogers, but they aren’t in this building,” Peter quipped, and Clint let out a loud, boisterous laugh along with Sam and Tony, although theirs were a bit quieter. Steve broke out into a wide smile, shaking his head and chuckling, and the teen couldn’t help but break into a grin of his own.

“With that god-awful sense of humor, there’s no doubt you’re one of us,” Natasha said dryly, although she didn’t bother to mask the amusement sparkling in her eyes.

“Is that a good or a bad thing?” Peter asked, lips tugging up into a smile.

“I haven’t decided yet,” she responded, smirking widely

“We should get going, no?” Wanda asked, stepping towards the group. Her expression seemed to radiate a sort of resistance that Peter didn’t quite understand, but Steve’s eyes shone with understanding as he nodded.

“Right,” he said, donning his familiar all-American-PSA voice as he looked over them. “Let’s head out, team.”

And with that, Steve opened the door and exited the room, and the four of them started to file out the door behind him.

“Wanda.”

The witch paused in her step, halfway through the door as the other three heroes started down the hall. Turning back behind her, she noticed that Tony had stopped in the middle of the kitchen, and was looking at her with an unreadable expression as he folded his hands in front of him. The billionaire bit his lip, pondering his words as he started to play with his thumbs.

After a moment, he spoke softly, “I...need your help with something. If you don’t mind.”

“I…” Wanda trailed off, shutting the door behind her as she slowly started to make her way over to him. “What is it?”

“Can you maybe show me uh, those memories you were talking about earlier?” Tony asked, his words slightly quicker than usual. At the witch’s confused expression, he explained, “About the vigilante thing.”

Wanda studied the billionaire’s face for a few moments, watching as a series of emotions passed over his face. His eyes seemed to relay a mixture of anxiety and curiosity, and for a brief moment she could’ve sworn she saw what she could only assume was an affection of sorts. Or possibly a form of determination--it was difficult to tell the difference between the two when it came to Tony. Briefly glancing down towards Clint, who was watching the scene curiously from the couch, she met the archer’s soft eyes. He gave her a small nod of approval, and she turned back to Tony, mustering a small smile.

“Sure.”

“You got the GPS?” Steve asked, glancing over at Natasha and he started to make his way over to a section of the garage. The spy was currently typing something into a holographic interface that came out of a watch of some sort (he’d have to ask about the tech later because that was awesome), and she nodded before pressing a button.

“Location synced,” FRIDAY’s soft metallic voice rang from the watch, and Natasha gave a small smile before turning to Steve. “Yup.”

The soldier gave her a small smile before pausing in his steps, sparing a glance at the closed door behind them. “Guess Wanda isn’t coming.”

“I had a feeling that would be the case,” Natasha said softly. Steve glanced back at her at that, meeting her eyes in a sort of silent conversation Peter couldn’t really decipher (It’s like they all can read minds. What did I even miss?) before the assassin broke it, shifting her eyes to him. “So, who’re you riding with?”

Peter blinked. “Uh…”

“I’d personally suggest you ride with Natasha,” the soldier said, lips tugging up suspiciously. “These 21st century cars are still pretty new to me.”

“...okay?” Peter said uncertainly, raising an eyebrow at him. The soldier was radiating a weird childish sort of excitement, the kind of excitement that he was a bit scared to endorse. However, he couldn’t exactly bring himself to say no to Captain Freaking America, so he had to oblige. “I guess I’ll go with her then?”

“Kay,” Natasha said, breaking into a wide smile. “Meet you there, Cap.”

“Yeah, meet you there,” Steve smiled, turning the opposite way and taking a ring of keys out of his coat pocket. “Happy driving, kid,” he called before making his way out of the area.

Peter stared at the place the super soldier once stood, barely processing the events of the past few minutes as he blinked helplessly in confusion. The remaining hero only gave him a soft smile as she walked over to a closed-off section of the garage, typing in a short code. The large metal door began to open slowly as he finally began to look over, still stuck in his stupor as the doors fully opened with a soft click.

“So,” Natasha began, breaking through the silence. “You ever ridden a motorcycle before?”

“What?”

“aaAAAAAAAAAAH--”

“Don’t worry, we’re almost there. I’ll make it a quick drive,” Natasha said with a smile, suddenly speeding up and swerving around another car (“I’m too young to die Natasha please!” Peter screeched in terror) as she brought a hand up to her ear, pressing down on her com to speak. “Steve, we’re approaching Bleecker Street. ETA’s about ten minutes.”

Stopping at a spotlight, Natasha glanced to the left, noticing a strip of empty space tucked against the side of the road. She smirked, lowering her voice as she said into the com, “Make that five.”

“This is simultaneously the scariest and coolest thing I’ve ever done in my entire life,” Peter said shakily, panting softly as he looked around at the stopped cars.

“It’s about to get a little scarier. Hold on tight,” Natasha warned, before revving up the motorcycle.

The teen paled, jolting up in alarm. “Wait why? Natasha? What are you--” He was interrupted by the sudden jerk of the motorcycle starting as the light turned green, and the two suddenly swerved sharply to the left as Natasha started to drive perpendicular to the flow of traffic, and Peter felt his heart stop as they narrowly avoided a car. “Holy shit!”

As the motorcycle fully straightened out, the spy continued to lead them through the rows of moving cars, Peter babbling endlessly in panic as they continued to make their way to the left.

“Oh my god I’m going to die, this is it, my short young life is going to end, I’m going to die in jail forever oh god--”

“Calm down. We’re just cutting some traffic,” Natasha said as they finally made their way through the moving cars, now running against the stopped cars at the left side of the intersection.

“Just cutting some traffic?! We almost got hit by a car like, five times, and now we’re running against traffic!” Peter exclaimed, pulling himself closer to Natasha. The assassin chuckled, and he could feel the rumble in her chest as the light turned green behind them. “Yup.”

“You’re crazy,” Peter breathed shakily as they sped against the flow of vehicles, staying close to the side of the road as to avoid any cars. Natasha smiled, slowing down as she moved closer to the curb, moving to pull up in front of another motorcycle with a familiar frame sat atop it.

“Nah. Just an Avenger.”

Gradually coming to a stop, the two stopped just in front of the motorcycle, and the rider of it stepped off of it, taking his helmet off as he smiled at them.

“Your timing’s a bit slower than usual,” Steve said with a smile, and Natasha returned it.

“I just went easy on the kid,” she said, hopping off of the motorcycle and slipping her helmet off, hanging it off of one of the handles. Turning to the e building, Natasha scanned over the building in front of her, eyes almost immediately falling onto the rusty gold plate with the digits “177a” displayed on it.

“This it?” The spy asked, turning back to Steve, who nodded.

“Looks like it,” he responded. At this moment Peter began trying to climb off of the motorcycle, slipping off his helmet and stumbling a bit when his feet touched the ground. Steve noticed this and chuckled softly, causing Peter to blush. “You alright?”

“Yeah, aside from the near death experience,” he muttered, hanging his helmet next to Natasha’s.

“You’ll get used to it,” Steve said with a chuckle, and once the teen rejoined the group the soldier led the group to the door. Raising a fist, he went to knock on the door, going to rest his fist on the wooden frame when--

Fwoom!

Almost as soon as his hand touched the door the world around them instantly changed to something completely different, as if they were teleported or something (which they probably were, considering they were visiting the home of a sorcerer). Peter stumbled slightly from the sudden shift, as did the others, and his eyes grew wide as they looked around. The room was fairly empty, the only object filling the room being large bookshelves pushed against the wall and a small coffee table and armchair pushed into the corner. A dark red carpet with a golden trim covered the dark, wooden floor, and a small crystal ball was set on a stool next to a bookshelf. There was an opening across the room that he presumed led to a different space, lined with different patterns carved into the wood. The space itself seemed to be very old-time magic themed, like something straight out of Harry Potter. For someone who hates being called a wizard, he sure lives up to the stereotypes, he thought with a small smile.

“I would’ve thought with the deal with Dormammu that the rest of you zealots would’ve disappeared from this earth, but I guess I was wrong,” a familiar voice rang from a different room, and, as if on cue, small, orange glowing portals appeared by each of their limbs, and an orange tendril flew out, wrapping around their wrists and ankles and binding them in the air. Steve almost immediately started to tug at the restraints, but to no avail. “It was a bold move of yours to come charging in here like this. I would’ve preferred it you’d waited until after the renovations.”

“He sounds like Tony,” Natasha said dryly, and Peter chuckled uneasily, nodding slightly. “Yeah…”

“We are not here to harm you in any way, Strange,” Steve announced into the room, eyes darting around to try to spot the sorcerer. “My name is--”

A red blob suddenly flew through the opening of the door, slamming into Steve’s face, effectively cutting him off. Fabric engulfed the soldier’s face, and he spat, some of it getting into his mouth. Peter’s eyes widened at this, and he gasped audibly, face lighting up in a mixture of relief and happiness.

“Cloakie!” He exclaimed, and the cloak jerked towards his voice, ruffling slightly in happiness at the sight of him. Task forgotten, the fabric flew over to him, circling around him and wiggling in excitement. Peter laughed, smiling brightly. “It’s nice to see you too!”

As Peter began a somewhat one-sided conversation with the floating satin, Steve and Natasha could only watch, mouths parted in utter disbelief. They watched as the boy continued to converse with the article of clothing, and it began to almost vibrate in excitement as they talked.

“Hey!” Strange’s voice shook them out of their stupor, and Steve’s head snapped to the door as the sounds of rapid footsteps approached the doorway. “Get back here, you disobedient--” Noticing the cloak’s position by Peter, the sorcerer paused, staring in dumb shock at the continued conversation between the two. (“Man, you thought that too? Yeah, I thought Mr. Stark was being a bit harsh about that. Wait, what? What do you mean Mr. Strange told him that?”)

Briefly scanning over Steve and Natasha, Strange took a step forwards towards the teen, and the Eye of Agamotto around his neck started to suspiciously glow a pale green as he did so. The hero looked down, eyebrows furrowing. Peter paused at this, and he looked over at Strange, watching as the necklace began to glow brighter and brighter with every step he took towards him. The sorcerer narrowed his eyes into a pointed stare as he stopped a few paces away from the teen, scanning him over.

“You’re an anomaly.”

Peter gave him a tense nod. “I am.”

With the raise of the sorcerer’s hand, the cuffs around Natasha’s and Steve’s limbs broke off, causing them to drop to the ground with soft thumps. Strange then moved closed to Peter, dropping his hand as he studied him with interest. “What is your purpose here?”

“Um...well, that’s a broad question,” Peter answered with a nervous chuckle. “Do you mean, like, in the past general, or specifically here? Or do you mean just in general because I have absolutely no clue--”

“In being here,” Strange cut him off sharply, a slight edge in his tone. “Why are you here?”

“To get your help,” the teen answered simply, and as Strange opened his mouth to speak, Steve stepped forward, drawing both of their attention.

“If I may,” the soldier started, “we’re not here to harm you. We’re the Aveng--”

“The Avengers, I know. It’s still not reassuring.” Flicking his hand up, the cuffs around Peters limbs snapped in two, and he fell to the ground with a soft yelp, rubbing his wrists. Strange then turned away from them, the cloak flying onto his back as they suddenly appeared in yet another room, causing both Peter and Steve to stumble from the change. Natasha, unsurprisingly, didn’t bat an eye.

“Wong, get the locator ready,” Strange said to a different sorcerer that was standing towards the corner of this new room. “Identify any infinity stones inhabiting the galaxy within our radar.” The other sorcerer, Wong, nodded, stepping out of the room without sparing them a glance.

Steve’s eyes widened at the statement. “How…”

“Lucky guess,” Strange responded, raising a pedestal out from the ground with a large, old looking book sitting atop it. Opening it up, he started to flip through chunks of the pages, briefly scanning them as he went. “The infinity stones are the only factors that connect you Avengers with myself. The time stone is the only reason anyone seems remotely interested in me, really.” Pausing, the sorcerer raised a hand, plucking a hair from Peter’s head (“Ow, what the hell?!”) as he continued to flip through the pages with his other hand. “Paired with the fact that you’ve brought a time anomaly to me, one can only assume the stones are, or will be, in danger.”

With that, Wong stepped back into the room, holding a blackened silver ring. He walked over to Strange, who gave him a nod in thanks as he took it from his hand and slipped it on his finger. Wong then headed over to the rows of bookshelves littered across the room (When did those get there?), searching through the shelves as Strange turned back to face them. “So, who or what should I be concerned about?”

“Thanos,” Natasha responded. “He’s an alien who aims to collect all of the stones to destroy half the universe.”

Strange looked down slightly at this, pausing in his search through the book and pursing his lips as the words sunk in. He nodded after a brief moment, letting out a breath. “That’s concerning.” The cloak shifted around him, peeking out from behind him to give him a ‘look’ that said “You think?” Peter laughed a little at this, but his expression quickly neutralized when Strange gave him a pointed look. “Sorry,” he muttered softly.

Starting to flip through the pages once more, Strange continued, “It’s also a disappointingly simple task if you have a vessel to hold all of the stones and grab them in the right order, which would place the power stone at the top of his list, if he’s smart.” The sorcerer then looked back at them. “And if you needed to seek me out he must be.”

With that, a soft silence passed over the group, only to be broken after a few brief moments by a quiet shuffling that came from Steve, who was looking over the different object resting on a table nearby. Strange sighed, shaking his head slightly as the soldier moved to run his fingers along a book that was resting towards the edge.

“I wouldn’t touch that unless you want your hand bitten off.” Steve immediately jerked his hand away from the book in response, moving to cradle it by his chest, eyes wide and disturbed.

“Why haven’t we seen you before?” Natasha asked softly, looking at the sorcerer with interest.

“Because I operate somewhere different than you,” Strange answered, turning back to his book and skimming over a few pages. “You protect the world from physical threats, and I protect the world from the things you can’t really see. The stuff that threatens reality.”

“Like?”

“Like if someone attempted to get rid of sunlight, or revived an ancient demon, or went back in time to kill someone to they wouldn’t affect the future, stuff like that,” Strange answered. Pausing for a moment, the sorcerer looked back at them. “Speaking of, did you use the stone?”

Peter blinked and stared at the man for a moment, realizing that the question was directed towards him and responding hurriedly with a flush, “No, I used a machine built by Mr. Stark. By then you’d already given the time stone to Thanos.”

Eyes widening, the sorcerer froze in front of them, his eyes reflecting an unshakable fear for only a moment before he covered it up with a sort of emptiness, and Peter quickly recognized the expression as the one the sorcerer bore on Titan, causing the teen to tense. Strange swallowed harshly, looking down at the Eye and shakily clutching a gloved hand over it, letting out a soft breath.

“...tell Stark I thank him,” the sorcerer voiced softly, the sincerity in his tone taking the heroes slightly off guard, minus Peter, who nodded at him with a soft smile.

“I’ll be sure to,” the teen answered warmly.

“We also need you to locate a group called the Guardians of the Galaxy, if it’s in your power,” Natasha said softly, changing the topic of the conversation. Strange visibly relaxed at this, sending a grateful look towards the spy. She gave him a slight smile before continuing, “A member knows the location of the soul stone.”

Letting out a sigh, Strange nodded, moving back to the book and running a hand down a page. “I’ll try,” he said softly, the ring on his finger starting to glow as he read over the book’s words. “Things have been quite odd lately, to be honest with you. Just last week your friend Loki decided to stop by and leave his father, Odin, at a nursing home.” Peter let out a loud snort at this, quickly covering his mouth as he bit back laughter. Steve, who had now moved up closer to the group, had also cracked a smile, though he was actively trying to force it back.

“When does this event take place, by the way?” The sorcerer asked.

“Late 2018,” Peter responded, and Strange let out a heavy sigh of relief. “Good, so we have time.”

“Stephen, the food’s here,” Wong’s voice rang out from another room, and Strange’s eyes suddenly glistened with excitement.

“Thank god,” he said, tearing his eyes away from the book. “Just set it on the table, I’ll be done soon,” he yelled back, before looking back at the three. “Now, I don’t mean to be overly rude, but could you maybe leave? I just got back from bargaining with an ancient demon about not destroying the world and I’m very fatigued.”

“Of course,” Steve quickly responded, eyes widening. “We wouldn’t want to overstay our welcome or anything.”

“Don’t worry, you aren’t,” Strange said. “But that doesn’t mean I like you. Though I did trust the kid in the future, for some reason.” Meeting the teen’s eyes, Peter sent Strange a soft smile, eyes shining as he remembered the Strange from his time. Although they know each other for very long, the sorcerer was in his company for the last days of his time there, and they bonded much over battle and their common enemy. Getting to know the man was an enjoyable experience, and he grew to trust and admire him very quickly. Eyes reflecting nothing but warmth, Peter noticed the man’s lips start to tug up just as they had only a day ago, though it faded as quickly as it appeared.

“Go,” the man said softly, tearing his eyes away from the teen. “I’ll find you when I’m done.”

“Alright,” Steve said with a smile, nodding. However, the soldier didn’t make any move to leave, and the four heroes stood there for a few awkward moments as Steve froze, looking around the room. “Um,” he flushed, scratching the back of his head. “Which way is the door?”

Strange wordlessly pointed to the exit of the room.

Nodding once more, Steve ducked his head in embarrassment, and he turned to Natasha, who was smirking widely. “Shut up,” he mumbled, walking to the exit. The two followed right behind him, Peter turning back briefly to wave and yell, “Bye Cloakie!” before exiting. The cloak waved a corner in return, frilling happily behind Strange.

Hearing the echoes of footsteps outside the room, Strange let out a heavy breath, slipping off the ring and his gloves, setting it down on top of the book. He then teleported into the dining room with a blink, taking in the sight of Wong in a seat, eating a Big Mac, surrounded by the rest of the food they ordered. Walking to the seat next to him, he paused, seeing a colorful box set in front of it.

“They accidently gave you a happy meal,” Wong said, looking over at him with a suspiciously tense expression. Strange looked at his friend in the eyes as he slowly picked up the children’s meal, Wong’s lips quivering as he opened it up. Hesitantly peeking inside, the sorcerer took out the different parts of the meal--the chicken nuggets, french fries, and apple slices--until he made it to the small toy in a clear plastic cover. He brought it out in front of him, and he quickly recognized it as a small Captain America bobblehead with a shield next to it that could be attached to the arm. The man froze, staring at the toy with a scarily blank expression, and something that suspiciously sounded like a snort came from next to him as he continued to stare.

After a long moment, Strange suddenly set both the toy and the box on the table, the movement causing the cloak to fly off of his back in surprise, and he walked out of the room, expression remaining stoic as he cursed, “I hate this fucking timeline.”