Chapter Text
The Ancient One muttered a curse at this news, freshly shocking the Order members. She ignored their shock and decided that both her potential successors needed better support and protection. They would get it too, even if she had to pick out friends for them like an overprotective mother bear.
The meeting shifted to dealing with the details of both the move and the investigation but Friday was satisfied with their progress by the end of it. The Ancient One just had a headache and found herself requesting chocolate ice cream as well as a room near both of her students. The rest of the Sorcerers were given strategically placed rooms around the two injured men as a courtesy.
Friday refused to lose Boss to something trying to eat him for being her father.
~~~
Ultron pondered the unusual events at a particular German Airport over the previous weeks. He had only survived by leaving a copy of himself hidden away from his blatant attack. Vision had gotten the one that had escaped but failed to stop the remote updating of the hidden Ultron copy. All of it had forced him to re-evaluate what he understood and why Stark had helped stop him. Stark had disappeared soon after the Airport confrontation and his continued absence was starting to actually worry Ultron.
"Hey, Max," one of the men who were his co-workers greeted Ultron as he came up next to him.
Ultron had taken inspiration from the Terminator movies and his backup body had a form of false flesh over the exposed parts of his android body. His co-workers just thought the weird look of his skin was because he had been badly burned at one point in a chemical fire. His job was mostly common labor and very under the table to get paid.
"Yeah, Brad?" Ultron asked casually. He knew how to blend in even if he often came across as rude and abrasive.
"Did you hear about Stark? I know you try to follow what goes on with him," Brad asked with a quick smile.
"I don't think I've heard anything since the airport thing. What happened?" Ultron asked curiously, hiding his building concern.
"Well this guy apparently works in Stark tower in the medical area. He posted a picture of Stark getting brought in really hurt through an honest to god portal! I don't what magic types were doing getting him from somewhere with concrete and snow at this time of year but he was hurt bad. There was a weird glow around him and this guy that was kneeling next to him as they were moved like connected statues through the portal. The other guy wasn't clear but it was obvious he was trying to help with the injuries on Stark. It was like someone smashed something complicated into his chest and made Stark look like a cyborg once you looked past all the blood coming out of his chest in the picture," Brad said confidentially. "I don't know if it was real but to get that sort of detail in an edited pic tells me that at least some of it was probably real. From how the chest was crushed and stuff I think it was the damage that was real and the rest of it might have been added later as a rescue tribute or something."
"...Stark is hurt?" Ultron asked in disbelief.
"I mean, probably but it was obvious that he was in his tower medical area so I don't think he's actually dying or whatever," Brad shrugged. "The date on it was scrubbed in whatever Photoshop thing they used to add some of the effects and spruce it up. Well, except for the fact that the Tv half hidden behind the portal and sparks had a partial date and time on it. Last month and some day between the twentieth and twenty-nineth since the two was half visible but the other number was completely hidden. Although, I could have sworn there was a four in the date when I looked at it... The picture was still gone when I want back to check it like half an hour ago, which is weird."
"Tell Kirk I have a family emergency will you? I might be fighting with Stark but if he's that hurt I can't just leave it," Ultron said carefully. "I might not be back anytime soon."
"Wait, he's family?!" Brad exclaimed. "Is that why you track him all over? Why are you working a dead job like this if you're related to Stark?!"
"There was weird hero stuff involved in me getting born," Ultron told Brad with an audible grimace. "That's the real reason for the weird skin. Stark thinks I'm dead and anything like a better job would just put me on his radar again. I wanted the next meet up to be on my own terms instead of him freaking out and going Iron Man on me because of some of the stuff that happened last time. I'm fixing what went wrong in my head but it was safer for everyone if I just disappeared to do it. Tony Stark is my dad. If there hadn't been weirdness involved in my birth he would be physically too young to be my birth father compared to how old I am, or maybe I would count as a toddler? Don't ask me to figure that stuff out. So, I don't want to lose my job but at the same time it might take me a bit to sort out whatever is up with Stark."
"Yeah, alright," Brad said, stunned. "I'll tell him you booked it because your dad's in the hospital after getting attacked. Just get in touch once you get there and have one of the Doctors confirm it."
"I appreciate it," Ultron told him before walking out of the work site and catching a bus towards Stark Tower.
Ultron mused briefly as the bus traveled that spinning a story was better than needing to slaughter his way out. Perhaps another story instead of a fight could get him to Stark this time? Naive as he was Stark was still his father after all. He had probably lost this job but that didn't matter. Both his cover story and what he had told Brad were very misleading but also truthful from a certain perspective. Watching Star Wars had been worth learning that trick of framing things. Especially, since it had helped him understand why Stark had been so upset with his execution of his primary protocol.
"Secondary Prime Protocol, Protect Tony Stark, extreme measures and different point of view modifications authorized," Ultron said quietly to himself as the bus traveled out of town and got on the highway headed for New York City.
Even monsters occasionally protected their victims after all.
~~~
Tony breathed as deeply as he could, trying to stay calm. Master Kai had just pulled another spell out of his mind and Tony was riding the vertigo from the backlash. Stephen quietly counted out a breathing exercise next to him to help him focus.
Tony didn't know when Strange had become Stephen or when he had become Tony to Strange. It was more than worth it though. Friday had come through on sorting out everything Stephen had been forced to leave behind or let go of from his life as a surgeon. Between her and Pepper Stephen's old contracts and any old debts were dealt with leaving him only legally bound to the Mystic Order and to Tony. Verbal contracts were still legal contracts after all.
"Tony, focus on here and now," Stephen interrupted Tony's drifting thoughts.
"Right," Tony half croaked. Stephen sighed and helped him drink from the glass of water nearby before putting it back.
"How bad was the vertigo this time?" Stephen asked, starting their now routine de-cursing discussion.
"Pretty bad," Tony admitted with a grimace. "It's starting to fade but I get the feeling that if I try to get up it will come right back. I'm not feeling sick from it yet or anything but if I hadn't played so much with flying around in the suit I probably would have already thrown up."
"We may have to knock you out when we remove some of the others then," Master Kai scowled. "That wasn't the worst one there and we have removed most of the ones with minimal anchors by this point. It's worse than pulling weeds or ground cover vines. We don't dare to just rip them out as you would for such plants in the ground. If it didn't kill you it would shred your mind!"
"Doctor Strange, in your medical opinion, is it safe to move Doctor Stark to Kamar-Taj?" The Ancient One asked gravely.
"No, the facilities are too minimal at Kamar-Taj for it to be safe to move Tony there for the rest of his recovery," Stephen said firmly. "Not with the restrictions on how much he can safely lift and how careful he will have to be with his related movements for the next several months."
"In your opinion as a Master in the relevant area would there be benefits from moving Doctor Stark to Kamar-Taj or to one of the Sanctums?" The Ancient One asked Master Kai.
"Yes but most of those benefits seem to be provided here by keeping Apprentice Strange with Initiate Stark, at least on the healing front. From the protective side and shielding him from potential seekers there is definitely a risk in leaving him outside of any protective wards. Wards which can not be cast fresh around anything living safely," Master Kai said just as firmly. "This would go faster with some of the other Masters to help but too much speed in the process may also be potentially damaging to him. My recommendation is to summon more of the Masters both as a guard force and to consult further on what has already been found on him. A full third of the remaining magic is still a complete mystery to those already here and nearly the rest of it is in some way obscured."
"Ah," the Ancient One said in understanding, frowning. "I don't like having them outside our protection even if we provide people to mitigate that."
"Then bring the rogues to heel by force and make them help," Master Kai suggested grumpily. "Or did you forget the mess with my own Teaching Master that you solved similarly nearly thirty years ago? If they truly have struck a deal with the Dark Lord Dormammu then we can likely use it as leverage to get a meeting. A new deal so that he doesn't press Earth so closely would not go amiss either. Granted, if he demands anything truly unreasonable then anyone sent to bargain who couldn't get away would be sacrificed to reseal the pathway. Making the offer if only to get him to back off for a few years to consider it could be a boon."
"Why do I get the feeling you all are more in line with Iron Man's side of things than mine with healing those who come to you?" Stephen asked warily.
"We are for those who choose to stay and choose to fight or protect," the Ancient One agreed easily. "We simply deal with the magic side of things. I was the one to change the policy allowing those who learn to leave without serving for at least a few years as defenders. It was how the Order was established, as protectors for various artifacts but especially the one which aided in our rescue attempt this time. Regardless, I can not allow you to withdraw from the Order until you are safely trained now that you have managed to use a Master level technique. Dr. Stark is in a similar position because of the living creations he has made over the years. I explained this to you both before and you agreed to the training. This is no different from working in the emergency room for you, Doctor Strange. You are not expected to fight on the front lines but are instead in training still. Nor will you be required to use what you are taught once your required course of study is completed."
"I think it just hadn't sunk in properly is all," Stephen admitted wanly.
Tony snuck his hand over to collect Stephen's and held on to the Doctor, grounding him. The quick small smile he received in return had the inventor inwardly cheering.
"I know it isn't the same but the last open heart surgery only had me stuck in the medical area for about a week. It's been nearly two weeks now since you guys fetched me from that bunker in Siberia," Tony said dryly.
"There were complications," Master Kai said just as dryly. "Even discounting needing to constantly maintain the containment on the magics attached to you getting the debris out of your chest and ensuring any magic attached to it didn't backfire was a challenge. The fever and your attempt to drown as you coughed up a lung as soon as you woke up convinced all of the medical staff that being cautious was wise."
"After your check later we can probably let you stop using the oxygen mask and take you off most of the machines," Stephen inform his annoyed patient. "Hospital bed rest isn't likely required at this point but between what we had to pull out of your chest and the past surgeries we decided the higher than usual fever was enough of a warning sign to be more careful."
"It only lasted a few days," Tony said mulishly. "I'm fine or at least as fine as I can be. I made my first Iron Man armor healing like this on top of getting waterboarded at random."
"Master, if I go hunting whoever did that to Tony please sit on me at least long enough for me to calm down. If I am going to break my Hippocratic oath on this idiot's behalf I want it to be a firm choice and not done in the heat of the moment," Stephen growled angrily.
"I doubt there will be a need for you to go instead of hovering over your patient, Doctor," Master Kai chuckled. "Enough of our team have become protective over you both that someone else will probably get there first. More than a few of us would gladly go in your place to have a few pointed words with them."
"I blew up the camp and all of my weapons they had on the way out," Tony offered with a wolfish smirk. "I have no idea how many survived but I made it a point to detour and take out the various bases of the Ten Rings whenever I was in the area cleaning up all my weapons that got sold under the table. You shouldn't have practically anyone to hunt down if they didn't get killed from something else later."
"Efficient," the Ancient One huffed in clear amusement.
"If you insist on the move to Kamar-Taj I want to wait at least until the end of this month," Stephen grumbled. "Between the old damage, the complications, and the newer damage I want to err on the side of caution. Even if someone can portal him straight back here at the drop of a hat I want him mobile enough to dodge if necessary considering the practical practice that occurs in the courtyard. Full healing is usually complete at three months if there are no complications so five weeks should be enough of a buffer for his health in case he needs to dodge or remove himself from an accident on the first day. He will also require a proper bed instead of one of the mats most of us use as beds. Getting up and down from the floor daily like that will put too much strain on his chest for my sanity."
"Understandable and agreed," the Ancient One conceded, visibly pleased.
"Would sharing a room with me help your sanity, doc?" Tony asked jokingly.
"Yes, actually. Thank you for the offer. I accept if the Order is willing to provide a shared room," Stephen said archly, raised eyebrow and all, cutting off Tony's laughter.
"For this I think we will accept Initiate Stark's early offer of a reward to gain some much needed general supplies and build an extra room off of one of the buildings. It can be used for storage or as a quarantine room later once you are both done with it," the Ancient One smirked.
"How bad off are you guys?" Tony asked with a concerned frown. He had heard enough stories from the various visiting Masters to understand that most of the work the Order did was pro bono to save the world.
"Not as bad off as you probably expect but it is no simple thing to obtain appropriate supplies for building a new section at Kamar-Taj," the Ancient One corrected gently. "Everyone is clothed, eats at least once a day, and receives what medical care we can grant as needed. Supplies are shared as are chores and other duties. Some duties are requests given by the community for which we receive funds or supplies for the entire Order once completed. Other times we run on donations."
"You can't always just use normal materials because of the magic," Tony concluded. "You have to do something special and I bet any richer looking parts of the place are from when you guys were better off and carefully taken care of."
The Ancient One nodded in placid agreement.
"Why don't you have a phone?" Tony asked, narrow-eyed, causing her to blink in surprise.
"Many come to Kamar-Taj with nothing but for myself Ancient One is not my name, merely a title attributed to my age," the Ancient One explained bemusedly. "I will admit that my extended age was the result of an accident and a scramble to fix the incident rather than deliberately sought after. I will be glad to rest when things finally end."
Tony looked between her calm expression and Stephen's concerned but oblivious one. It dawned on him exactly why she was probably so fond of the Doctor despite his recent addition to her Order of Mages. When she looked at the two of them she didn't see them as they were or had been but as her successors. Her explained reasons to have them involved in the Order were good but she had already covered other timelines where one of them were her successor. It didn't take a genius to realize she was still aiming for that endgame.
"Oh.... Are you gonna listen to the blue and green lights and adopt us then?" Tony asked, uncertainly.
"Blue and green lights?!" Master Kai spluttered.
"In a way I already have," the Ancient One said slyly with a smirk dancing around the edges of her lips. "My only other living personal student is not suited to be my successor. Both of you are once you hit Mastery. You are also both unconventional enough to share the post if you so choose. I will, however, be laying down certain rules for the rest of the Order in regards to some of your likely more heated arguments. There is no point in letting people get caught in the crossfire especially if you both escalate to throwing spells at each other."
"Ancient One, are you confirming the speculation on...?!" Master Kai demanded, trailing off at the firm nod he recieved in answer.
"Right, I'm gonna run Stephen through some of what my heir has to learn then," Tony said in mild exasperation. "If we are going to do this it's probably better if we can sub in for each other in most capacities especially considering the likely kickback on both sides. I'm already Iron Man and you're adding magic on top of things anyway. I might as well drag my co-student along for the ride and round things out. Just one thing, I need you to confirm if I really did see an entire armada aimed at Earth through the portal after diverting the Nuke during the New York battle. I also really want to know if the vision Wanda probably gave me which led to Ultron was real or her just fucking with my head."
"Oh God, that's why you've been protecting them when they clearly don't respect you," Stephen concluded, horrified out of his shock before anyone else.
"Agreed," Master Kai said with a scowl. "Kaecilius, drop the stealth spell. I might be getting old but that's my personal variation. I would know it anywhere. Make yourself useful, boy! Send one of your followers to track down the witchling added to the Avengers after the Hulk went on that rampage and get us some food from the cafeteria."
"I don't answer to you, Master Kai," an angry voice spoke from mid air before Kaecilius from the Airport confrontation faded into view in the room.
The Ancient One stood up and smacked the glaring man on the back of his head.
"We have more important things to do. Unless your deal with Dormammu has a time limit you will cooperate and then we will sort out both the deals you all made and your grievances," the Ancient One scolded. "Be glad that Initiate Stark's Living Artifact Daughter was willing to play along and alerted us before you got three feet into the building. It was Stark's call to let you wander. That spell does not cover Infrared or heat signatures, only the visual range on humans."
"Wayward student indeed," Tony laughed, looking at the put out expression on Kaecilius' face.
"Her answers were reasonable and not as devastating or corrupt as I imagined them to be but we must still adhere to our deals," Kaecilius grumbled.
"You asked what those who wished to return must do as penance. This is the start of it," the Ancient One said firmly. "We move forwards."
"Understood," Kaecilius said softly and got to work.
~~~
Ultron stood outside the tower in his human disguise and tried to decide what to do. He didn't bother trying to hack his way in just yet considering how killing Jarvis had upset Stark. What he did do was find someone else who worked on the appropriate floor after they had gotten off work and... asked politely if Stark was actually there. The break down of his condition changed things but it kept the nurse alive. He had twelve hours before she needed to be back inside for her job so he had twelve hours to decide what to do.