Chapter Text
"Yes, that is a mess we will have to clean up once we get back," Stephen sighed. "Hopefully, the other Masters won't call for our heads over it. Some of the potential punishments aren't exactly pleasant, nor would they be helpful for our tasks."
"Will they mess with our twins over this?" Tony asked with a frown.
"Maybe? I really don't know," Stephen sighed. "Even carrying back the news that Dormammu has forwent eating the planet in favor of taking me on as a student might do nothing. Actually, no, they won't believe it. My status as a Sorcerer Supreme will only grant us so much leeway with the local council of Mystic Masters and might actually be a mark against us. As you pointed out earlier we essentially touched down, broke up a fight, and then ran off again. We have no real knowledge on local conditions, no connections, and no resources except what we are carrying."
"Great, something else to fix," Tony grimaced.
"Wait a minute, you said someone was messing with your head and that's why you think your twin was in apprentice robes at the fight," Stephen said snapping around to focus on Tony again.
"Yeeeeessssss," Tony drawled.
"I only did a health check because of the crushed chest, that implant is a medical horror as far as I am concerned by the way. I don't know how to do a proper magic check much less for anything affecting the mind," Stephen said in open dismay. "We have to get you back and get you properly checked."
"We have not struck a deal yet," Dormammu pointed out with malicious cheer.
"What are your terms?" Stephen asked with no little dread.
"You want your world protected from me and I want a claim on you that you fully acknowledge. I also don't think that leaving your Knight free of this deal is wise," Dormammu said cheerfully.
"Crap," Tony muttered but didn't interrupt the obvious lead up that Dormammu was dragging out.
"How would you want this sorted out to both our satisfaction then?" Stephen asked warily.
"You accept a place as my apprentice and in doing so you accept my gift of properly binding your Knight to you," Dormammu said with playful thoughtfulness. "As I am gifting to you your Earth for a private domain I must give you time to take proper control of it and bring it to order. As my apprentice you may call on me for aid against enemies."
"Wait, why am I getting tied to him magically?" Tony demanded in irritation.
"I can always keep you as a trophy of this particular meeting if you prefer?" Dormammu offered with a wicked smirk.
"Your zealots would still be a problem," Stephen pointed out quickly. "Even with your extremely generous interpretation of this discussion for our final agreement."
"Our bargain is complete," Dormammu shrugged. "They failed to complete their portion and are forfeited as a result. I will decide what to do with them later."
"If I agree to this binding, what will it entail? What happens to these Rogues?" Tony asked carefully.
"No! Absolutely not!" Stephen protested only to be completely ignored by both inventor and Dark Lord.
"You would be owned by my new apprentice and, depending on compatibility, you might become slightly addicted to being near him and in his presence," Dormammu explained. "Anything you choose to do beyond that would be up to the both of you. If you can't be assigned long term missions your usefulness drops drastically but loyalty must be assured."
"I'm actually already pretty damn loyal to him. I just call him out on a fair amount of the bullshit I get from him since we met," Tony explained. "There aren't a whole lot of people I trust far enough to do any sort of med check on me much less in front of a proven danger like you."
Tony's answer stopped Stephen's protests cold.
"You don't know what I did in some of those timelines," Stephen said, suddenly horse and inexplicably on the verge of tears. "If you give me this I won't even try to set you free, Tony. I'll kill anyone who tries to take you from me. Even if I resist going Dark Lord otherwise you will take the full force of it from me. Using magic on you will be the least of your worries when it comes to me."
"Good," Dormammu practically purred. "A Knight and permanent companion."
"Then that's the deal? To stop your attack and get future help in defending our world Stephen officially becomes your apprentice. He gets me and Earth but we are expected to properly take it over as proof of you gifting it to Stephen as his domain? Anything else?" Tony summarized cautiously.
"If he is willing to take on the zealots, as he calls them, as slaves then I will even give assurance that any future attacks from me will not destroy your world even should I win," Dormammu offered wickedly. "If you lose such a contest you will have the chance to win the domain back from me. I will simply make it clear to your domain what you are and what protection you have been offering to them."
"Why do I get the feeling that's a bad thing?" Tony asked warily.
"Because it probably is and he is likely to see a large number of people dead before we can win Earth back from him," Stephen acknowledged with a grimace. "I will accept the zealots as part of my immediate holdings and staff."
"If your council acts against you for fighting to defend your world then you are to return to me with your new subordinates and the protection of Earth is forfeited," Dormammu warned coldly. "If they attack and you successfully defeat them and bring them to their knees, claiming them as spoils, the protection portion of our deal remains. I will not stand for you simply surrendering to anyone but my own authority. I refuse to allow you to just give up. There will be punishment if you try."
"Understood," Stephen said quietly. "You have my agreement to this deal and my oath to do my best to uphold it between us."
"Knight, remove your armor and kneel at the feet of my new apprentice," Dormammu ordered.
Tony sighed and retracted his armor into the housing unit before taking his place kneeling at Stephen's feet. The wave of power that hit them from the binding spell cast at them made Stephen want to cringe but it also roused his protective and possessive instincts. Some clicked inside him and he immediately knew that it had worked. Tony was his and they both now knew it to a level that no one else could ever contest.
The forgotten low burning of power in Stephen's veins from their trip through time surged forwards, dragging a cry of pain from his lips. Tony instinctively turned to catch him when he started to collapse. The power didn't fade but mingled with Dormammu's binding, bolstering it while also adding a healing element. Stephen's hands burned like molten metal as they visibly glowed and reshaped. The metal pins fell from the reforming and healing flesh like molten droplets. By the time it was done he had strong healthy hands again even though the scars remained with tiny lavender stripes like that of a tiger permanently etched into the skin of his hands.
"We need to break the loop and get back," Tony said gruffly as he cradled Stephen protectively.
"Wait," Dormammu ordered.
"Why?" Tony demanded, twisting around Stephen to glare in feral fury at the Dark Lord.
"What were the reset criteria this time?" Dormammu asked Stephen bluntly.
"The bond and our minds would be ripped apart if we reset it now," Stephen said horsely. "I have to drop it and just hope the others waited. We've taken more than five minutes and we weren't there to counter the attack on the Hong Kong Sanctum."
"This place is outside of time. Why would you assume that on Earth time has passed in sync with here?" Dormammu asked sardonically.
"Oh," Stephen said, feeling stupid. He tiredly reached over his arm and dismissed the time loop, trusting in Dormammu's honor to keep them alive and Earth unmolested for the moment.
Dormammu opened a portal and Stephen saw that it basically landed at the feet of the Ancient One at Kamar-Taj. He wasn't surprised when he felt the bundle of him and Tony shoved through to land in a heap in front of her and everyone else.
"I will hold you to our Deal Stephen Strange, Sorcerer Supreme! Expect my newest acquisitions to report to you shortly," Dormammu thundered before closing the Dark Dimension portal behind them.
"That sucked," Tony complained, sitting up next to Stephen and trying to check him over. "You okay, doc?"
"Side effects," Stephen grit out through the pain. "Still better than being tortured to death on repeat like the first time defending our first Earth."
"Yeah, he actually listened first this time," Tony agreed with a faint smirk. "Still being trapped eternally in a time loop is a pretty big threat, especially to someone normally not stuck following time."
"I think I might pass out now," Stephen muttered as blackness covered his vision. The last thing he remembered hearing was Tony swearing and the Ancient One issuing orders of some kind.