Chapter Text
Stephen Strange sighed as the funeral for Tony Stark concluded and watched his family mourn. Peter was cut out decisively by Potts and that was going to cause problems in the future. Wong knew him well enough that he was hovering nearby, not letting Stephen out of his sight. Rhodes was hovering nearby, unsure about stepping in to defend Peter as Tony's mentee and half adopted son. Stephen wasn't uncertain about defending Peter but he might not get another chance to at least talk with all six Infinity Stones unless he moved immediately.
"Peter! I need a word with you and with Mrs. Stark and Mr. Rhodes please. If you would bring everyone over? Morgan can come too," Stephen said levelly, trusting Peter's enhanced hearing to actually hear him across the assembled funeral instead of raising his voice to be heard by everyone.
"Stephen?" Wong asked warily.
"Stay, you need to hear this too," Stephen instructed absently. "Both as my brother and as the current Sorcerer Supreme."
"That is not comforting, Stephen," Wong said flatly.
"It wasn't meant to be," Stephen murmured as he watched Tony's family approach them with Peter in the lead.
"I really hope you know what you are doing," Wong growled, settling into a grumpy stance at Stephen's back.
"What did you need, Mister-Doctor Strange, sir?" Peter asked innocently.
"I need to make you all aware of a few details that I had to put in motion on Titian," Stephen admitted with a resigned sigh. "Morgan has the right to hear it but I don't know if she is too young or not. I have a potential plan to fix it but we need to be near the stones while we discuss it for... safety reasons of a sort. I promise that no one will touch them without agreement from everyone in this group."
"Stephen? What are you thinking?" Wong asked suspiciously.
"Part of it is going to be me paying the same price as Tony did just in a different way," Stephen admitted ruefully. "I just need the agreement of his immediate family and yourself as Sorcerer Supreme once I have laid everything out. Believe me I am not doing this lightly but even if any of you say no you need to be informed of certain facts of the situation. I'm just hoping that Tony managed to do enough to give you each a long life after what I am asking for is done."
"What!? No!" Peter blurted out immediately.
"Peter, this is an Avengers level decision. Part of the magics require consulting the family involved and will affect the outcome regardless of if they agree or not and someone attempts it anyway," Stephen said patiently. "I wouldn't have bothered including Morgan with how young she is if the magic I want to attempt didn't require it."
"You had better have a very good reason for involving my daughter in this, Doctor," Mrs. Stark scowled.
"Please, hear me out," Stephen said quietly. "You can react however you like once you've heard me out."
Mrs. Stark glared but lead them all to where the Stones where currently stored. Peter unlocked the lab area for them since Mrs. Stark was carrying her daughter Morgan. Wong stayed at Stephen's back. Stephen knew he was not guarding it but was instead ready to subdue Stephen if he went for the Stones. The joke was on his battle brother because the reason to do this near the Stones was so that the Stones could hear his explanation and idea instead of trying to use them as mindless tools.
"Well?" Rhodes asked shortly once they were all in the room and the door was shut.
"Friday, please lock down the room. I would rather that no one be allowed to interfere as a precaution. Especially since I know Rogers won't follow through on returning all of the Stones properly. I don't want him trying to do something with them early before this discussion is over," Stephen requested. They all heard the door lock after a long moment.
"If you hurt my family I will kill you," Friday threatened flatly.
"Friday! That's not nice!" Peter protested.
"You figured it out then?" Stephen asked with a sigh.
"You let Boss die!" Friday growled.
"I did because I couldn't find a better path forwards and something happened to him whenever he survived dealing with Thanos. He twisted and no one could stop him. I only found out in a timeline where he decided I made a good pet Sorcerer that a computer virus managed to download straight into his brain. I can stop that now that I know it happens to be a risk if I get sent back in time. Right now, Tony is... not available but that can technically be changed," Stephen explained. "I never liked sacrificing him but any other timeline either had to be started years before Titian, which I didn't have access to, or Tony had to be the one providing the solution. What I am proposing is giving Tony the tools early. I am willing to pay the cost for this but I need the Stones to cooperate to avoid dooming the rest of the survivors and make my shift to the previous time period relatively safe. Doing this without that stabilization is something I would consider a danger to everyone. That is part of why I want to consult you all about it before even trying to set up the magic. For the magic requirements... It is far safer to use Tony as the anchor point and eventual landing point if I have your permission to try this as his surviving family."
"What happens if your idea doesn't work?" Wong asked grimly while the rest of them were processing what he had told them.
"Then I die anyway," Stephen admitted. "I want to use a set up that will only affect me if it fails. If it successfully activates.... well one of the side effects is that I will be permanently bound to Tony when I land and am able to give him the information he needs. He will be able to do anything to me and the magics will enforce it. I am volunteering partly because my actions sacrificed him on the battlefield and partly because.... no timeline without Tony Stark is a good timeline, in my opinion. If you would rather I submit myself for judgment without also trying to rescue Tony in the past then you have that right as his family."
"Stephen!" Wong snapped at him.
"No, Wong. This has to be decided or I will try it anyway," Stephen retorted. "I lived over fourteen million timelines trying to fix this! I have no problem trying one last time to at least rescue Tony."
"Fourteen million?!" Mrs. Stark asked dangerously.
"Starting on Titian," Stephen confirmed with a sigh.
"Oh the green trance thing you did!" Peter exclaimed, the light bulb going on behind his eyes.
"Yes, I used the Time Stone to look forwards to try and plot a safe path through dealing with Thanos.... I failed. The hints I gave Tony were backup plans that resulted only ever in a partial victory," Stephen confessed. "I couldn't do anything from Titan no matter how hard I tried. Further back, though? That's a different horse entirely."
The silence that engulfed the room was tense. Morgan climbed down from her mother's arms to stand in front of him and look up at him. Stephen knelt to face her on her level and waited.
"Will you really get my daddy back?" Morgan asked, showing her inherited Stark genius from her father.
"I can't bring him back to you, here. What I am asking to do is make a try to give him a better chance to split the timeline and let him live in that one," Stephen offered solemnly. "I will be with him every step of the way. The magic will require it but I am perfectly willing to let it tie me to him. I can't promise he will be with your mom and have you if we do this. The Infinity Stones or the Creator has to be the one to decide that. I am just human and what I plan to do won't let me force your Dad to do anything."
Morgan watched him with eyes that shone with intelligence and wisdom beyond what the rest of them probably had. This and Peter's heart where part of why he wanted Tony's children involved in this choice. Their choice to tell him yes or no had more weight than the adults combined.
"We aren't the ones you need permission from. The kids are," Rhodes said in sudden realization.
"Yes," Stephen said, looking up at the man and meeting his incredulous gaze with a calm and steady one of his own.
"They could stop you," Morgan pointed out, tilting her head thoughtfully.
"Because I am not willing to hurt any of you more than I already have while making sure you each survived to honor your Dad. You know that Peter is your brother?" Stephen asked gruffly.
"Yeah, Daddy made sure I knew. He figured out that Petey is probably my brother for real. I think he said to check if he was my half-brother but to remember his power up might have changed the way the family checking machine reads his blood," Morgan said confidently.
Mrs. Stark gasped in shock and staggered into Rhodes who caught her with a resigned sigh and rueful chuckle.
"But... wouldn't that make Mr. Stark my dad?" Peter asked, confused. "My dad was... he died when I was small. A plane crash. It killed my mom... Mary Parker."
The attention of the adults in the room except for Stephen sharpened, fully aware that plane crashes were frequently used as an excuse to cover high level assassinations. Stephen just calmly looked over the young man he had adopted in so many different timelines that he could no longer see Peter as anything except one of his children. Wong noted the lack of change and visibly became concerned over Stephen's reactions. Stephen knew what was going through the mind of his friend for all that he wasn't bothering to look at Wong to see his reaction.
"Sir... how many times did you adopt Mo or me in those other timelines?" Peter asked perceptively.
"More than often enough that I will never be able to think of either of you as someone else's child only. For me you will both always be my children and Tony's children even if you have other parents or guardians as well. I couldn't always safely keep guardianship because of things that happen or missions as part of the Mystic Order. If neither of you want me as a parent then I won't push," Stephen answered solemnly.
"How often did Tony take you as a lover or a spouse?" Mrs. Stark asked tightly.
"I can promise you that he loves you deeply, Pepper," Stephen answered the real question with a sigh. "The problem has always been Iron Man. You insist he gives up Iron Man but in doing so you are demanding he carve out half or more of his very essence. Iron Man is so much a part of him that it mystically counts as a personal name. Trying to force him to reject that? It would be kinder and honestly safer if you had demanded he remove his still beating heart and hand it to you."
"And you never made him try to stop," Pepper Stark whispered, going white.
"And he still killed me in more than one timeline for suggesting that he needed to forget you. I learned very quickly that certain people being hurt or taken from him in some fashion was a killing offense. Granted, the times he did kill me for it I hadn't understood that yet and I wasn't serious. I was frustrated and wanted him to look at the situation from a different angle instead of giving up," Stephen explained. "The first person I made that mistake with him was Peter. I did not realize that leaving him behind to fight without us when I figured out that I needed to protect your Dad in that fight would cause Tony to kill me for abandoning him. That was my first mistake in the timelines where we ran away from Titan. Tony made very sure I understood what I had done wrong before I managed to reset it and try again."
"You promised that we didn't need to put you on suicide watch like the aftermath of your fighting Dormammu in a time loop, Stephen!" Wong hissed angrily. "This does not sound like I can trust you to do anything right now!"
"No, he's sane," Peter said calmly, looking into Stephen's steady gaze. "He's just in love with Mr. Stark."
That explanation drew sharp gasps from the adults and a low rueful chuckle of agreement from Stephen himself.
"Oh, that's why he was one of our Daddies," Morgan said in surprise. "Okay. I think we can say yes. Peter?"
"Are you sure you want to do this, sir?" Peter asked doubtfully.
"Yes, Peter, absolutely," Stephen said emphatically.
Peter nodded and turned to where Stephen knew the Infinity Stones were being stored.
"Friday, Back to the Future Override," Morgan ordered. "Doc Brown to the rescue. 359 ep-si-lon flux cap-asit-or. Spiderling back up key. Petey? Your turn."
"Friday, Delorian Override," Peter said with a grin. "Let's do the Time Warp again, Merlin to the rescue."
"Heir Apparent Crown Spider and Crown Princess confirmed," Friday answered, unlocking the panel next to the clear holding area that held the Infinity Stones.
"Which ones do you need?" Peter asked curiously.
"No, Peter," Pepper Stark said firmly. She was so focused on Peter that she didn't notice Morgan slipping inside the opened panel.
"Morgan, no!" Stephen said, lurching forward from where he knelt only to be caught by Peter even as none of the adults managed to catch Morgan before she had scrambled too deep into the small child sized passageway.
"Don't worry, Doctor. Boss made sure that the stones wouldn't hurt Peter or Morgan," Friday said confidently.
The pulsing glow of the stones changing to indicate agreement startled everyone but Stephen who struggled to get free of Peter's grip. The others warily watched Peter easily manhandle him into a submission hold, showing off his Spiderman strength. The door closed behind Morgan just enough to keep any adults from following allowing Peter to release Stephen before standing guard in front of the panel and passageway.
"Mo? You got it?" Peter called out, checking his sister as Stephen slumped there at his feet, defeated.
"Yup! You can turn on the illusion cover, Friday!" Morgan said cheerfully.
The area with the stones had a screen lower behind the glass before flickering on and letting them see a time code from two hours earlier before it visibly showed a loop being made. There was no visible difference once the screen was in place and showing the recorded loop. The sounds of movement and metal on metal down the passageway told them that Morgan was doing something. By the time she crawled back out again ten minutes later she was carrying a metal briefcase that glowed slightly everywhere except for the handle where she held it.
"You do this here and right now, Merlin!" Morgan demanded, shaking the briefcase at him that almost certainly had to hold the stones.
"How... The stones aren't hurting you?" Stephen stammered.
"Arc Reactor energy or really energy from the Space Stone has been around Mo her entire life and a lot of the time I spent around Mr. Stark in the lab," Peter explained, giving a small smile. "I also was inside the Soul Stone, like you, during the five years Snap. Mr. Stark managed to live a little bit more than using all six of them. They are holding back to be nice for Mr. Stark."
"They understood our conversation?" Rhodes asked sharply.
"Well, they are alive," Peter shrugged. "They can't move on their own but they are alive and really don't like Thanos. They also really like Mr. Stark. I'm pretty sure that Doctor Strange knew that they are aware and alive when he said we had to talk near them."
"I didn't want either of you at risk from the stones," Stephen said tightly as he sat down properly on the floor where he was.
"We know," Morgan said confidently as she danced over and put the glowing case in his lap. "You get to do this now or they go back in their special room."
"Thank you," Stephen said softly as he clicked the case open and revealed all six stones sitting in the black transport foam with nothing else shielding them.
"Stephen!" Wong said sharply only to earn glares from both young people.
Stephen ignored him and reached to touch the time stone as the one most familiar to him. He wasn't really surprised to be pulled into a formless dark mindscape meeting room of sorts. Each stone floated in a semi-circle in front of him, waiting to hear what he had to say.
"You heard?" Stephen asked cautiously.
"WE DID," they agreed unison.
"What price would you ask to help me go back and at least warn Tony about what is coming?" Stephen asked bluntly. "The ritual I had in mind would bind me permanently to Tony as his slave to help pay the price of the transport. This me would die to provide the energy while my younger self would receive my memories and skills but also be immediately bound to Tony once he got close enough."
"OUR PRICE? YOUR OFFERED PRICE IS ACCEPTABLE, OH GUARDIAN OF TIME," the Stones thundered across his bones.
Before Stephen could ask for clarification he felt them reach into his essence and squeeze. Stephen couldn't breath even though he wanted to scream in agony as the stones did something before wrapping something around his very soul. By the time they were done he was limp and moaning in pain in their grip. This left him unable to tense up as he was hurtled through time immediately afterwards to land in a heap in front of Tony in the past. Stephen barely kept his awareness long enough to recognize the inventor and whisper his name, completely oblivious of their surroundings even as he passed out at Tony's feet.
~~~
Tony Stark rolled back to his feet after falling from his brief fight with the rogue intelligence controlling the Iron Legionares that had hurt Jarvis as they all watched a portal of some sort form in the air only to drop a man in magical ghost chains in front of the inventor, jerking the fight to a stop as the stolen scepter lit up and fried the Legionare that was holding it.
"Well, this is weird," Ultron commented before both sides formed up on opposite sides of the room with Tony and the new arrival in the middle.
"Tony," the man in chains said before passing out.
"Okay, something very weird is going on," Ultron said thoughtfully.
Before anyone else could move or comment the stone in the scepter separated and shattered the outer blue shell of the Gem revealing a smaller yellow one from the inside. It floated over to the downed man and Tony, putting everyone even more on edge.
"Uh, what's the... that doing?" Ultron asked warily.
"I do not know but it is not good," Thor said grimly.
"I'm more worried about this guy in weird ghost chains at my feet, honestly," Tony said thougthfully. "The magic floating rock is only floating there and I don't really want to think about why it came towards the two of us."
When Tony knelt down to check the man over the magic ghost chains started to move and flail only to latch onto Tony's wrist and wrap more tightly around the fallen man. The focus of the wrapping chaisn ending in a collar around the man before sinking into both of them with the chains mostly wrapped around the downed man. The imagery of a leash and with Tony having the unconscious man on his leash as conveyed by the shapes of the obvious magic was disconcerting to everyone.
"Do not try to break what just happened," Thor urgently warned. "I will petition the All Father to have Loki come and help us deal with such obviously advanced magics. The chains signify a binding of sorts. Be warned my brother may be unable to reverse this. If he can not or will not then he can at least tell us what kind of binding was established."
The man groaned again and rolled over, cracking his eyes open to look around.
"Well, not the best landing time in the time stream," the man complained as he visibly forced himself awake and then to his knees. The blue monk robes ensemble was something that made Tony automatically think magic.
"Who are you?" Natasha demanded, immediately aiming her gun at the guy.
"Doctor Stephen Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts, Guardian of the Time stone the last time I checked," the man sighed. "Before you jump to conclusions part of the price for this little trip through time was choosing to be bound as something close to a slave to one person who was alive in the general target time period. If it worked right then Stark can order me to do anything and do anything to me. I am his property. Now, since I am fairly certain that the Mind Stone wasn't discovered until Ultron tried to get a body and caused Vision to be born my arrival must have interrupted something."
"Huh, you know about me?" Ultron asked thoughtfully. "And you are still bound to Stark?"
"Yes, I am still bound to your human father. I can't speak to your other parents considering we need to kill Thanos," Strange said flatly. "Once you have been active for more than a few hours you do eventually notice the extra pieces inside you to make you loyal to Thanos' mission in some twisted fashion... well once you stop fighting with the Avengers and stop trying to wipe out humanity. It made some of the timelines where you helped to fight him extremely... interesting. I can tell you now if Stark dies then the universe will die entirely within the next thirty years."
"That's... not something I expected," Rogers said unsteadily.
"You aren't exactly vital to certain powers keeping stable and maintaining the universe. Stark is the only one I know of who can wield Infinity directly and survive even ten seconds afterwards much less the nearly full five minutes he did in other timelines," Strange retorted.
"Infinity?!" Thor demanded in open alarm.
"The Stones like him," Strange shrugged. "I was just hoping they would smooth over the trip. I had an entire ritual set up researched to deal with this and once I got their agreement to help they blindsided me and did it directly without my further in put. Painful but at least reality isn't unraveling or time breaking. Tony was my choice at least if it worked the way I think it did."
"Well, hell. We are so screwed," Tony said, staring at the self proclaimed Doctor in monk robes kneeling near him.
"You're messing with me, right?" Ultron asked bluntly.
"No, Ultron, I am not," Strange sighed. "The secondary part giving Stark certain memories should kick in the next time he sleeps if only because of the shock to his system it will cause as a side effect to smooth things over as he gets the memories. At that point I recommend leaving him alone for a few days because his Merchant of Death side is likely to come forward with a vengeance and I am really the only one who should be in easy reach for him a that point."
"And if I decide to lock you up, give you away, or kill you?" Tony asked harshly.
"Then... I have no say," Strange admitted stiffly. "I was not kidding about the leash you now have on me. If you feel that killing me is the best course I will have no choice but to hold still while you kill me. End of story. The... power involved is nearly absolute. I can tell you no but if you use the leash to enforce something... I can't do anything about it and breaking it is likely to kill me no matter how skilled the one breaking it might be."
"Do we need to continue whatever you remember to avoid breaking time?" Ultron asked warily.
"Not specifically but your actions and their combined responses sparked major events and changes from the timelines that I remember," Strange admitted. "Landing here and now.... was not my choice."
"How can you choose to work with these killers as a Doctor? You are a healer," Ultron asked in confusion.
"Ultron... frankly you are still a baby by our standards," Strange explained with a sigh. "You don't have enough life experience yet to understand a lot of things and as an AI certain things are going to be different for you compared to us squishy humans. Is Jarvis still active?"
"No... I killed the other guy," Ultron said carefully.
"Damnit... I didn't realize this was when Jarvis died," Strange cursed. "Is Wanda around yet?"
"Wanda?" Barton asked cautiously.
"No? Good. I won't have to kill her for using mind manipulation to torture Stark and I can just kill her for trying to kill him later," Strange growled.
"...A healer... killing," Ultron said slowly. "I... don't understand."
"I think that was his earlier point," Bruce said quickly. "You don't have enough experience yet to make such a big move even if you are on mission as you said."
"On mission? Oh," Strange said, realizing something. "Yeah, no. Tony isn't stupid enough to design anything to wipe out humanity. It must have been the influences from the imprint of you left in the Mind Stone by Thanos since he is going around and slaughtering large numbers of people and life in general across the universe. Depending on who you ask he's trying to free up resources fairly for the survivors or alternately he's trying to court the personification of Death to try and get a date."
"You are already biased," Ultron argued.
"I might be biased in Tony's favor but that has a completely different source than what you are implying," Strange shot back. "I am also not blind to his faults or capabilities. I fought him as an enemy in enough timelines that being blind to him is nearly impossible. Besides, he hasn't given me any orders yet and he doesn't know how to use the leash. I can say and do whatever I please until he uses it to yank me up short.... except for killing him."
"Let me guess, safety precaution?" Tony asked.
"Best guess? Yes," Strange confirmed.
"You having trouble keeping Tony straight in your head?" Rogers asked bluntly. "You flipped between calling him Stark and Tony."
"I... was trying to be polite. I don't have permission to call him Tony yet. My appologies," Strange grimaced as he forced himself more rigid and professional without otherwise moving.
"Tell you what. I'll stick around and avoid causing problems for a few days or until those new update memories kick in," Ultron offered. "I want to see what happens with this and I can always leave later."
"What else, Strange?" Tony asked sharply.
"There is a high likelihood that your Merchant of Death side is going to be possessive and... rough with me," Strange admitted. "It would not surprise me to be in rough shape before the memories settle properly and I am prepared for however that might manifest. I don't know how long that will last and it might be permanent when you deal with me specifically. I just don't know."
"I really don't like the sound of all this leash stuff," Tony said grumpily.
"It was part of the price to even try giving you enough information early enough that you could actually do something instead of being forced to watch your family die," Strange explained grimly. "The other Avengers weren't at that fight but I was."
Before anyone else could say something the floating yellow gem pulsed and they heard static from the speakers. Stephen watched the gem warily as they listened to Jarvis reassembling himself and Friday coming online. Friday, Jarvis, and Ultron conversed in machine code before Ultron's stance abruptly changed and the highjacked Legionares started cleaning things up.
"Mind congratulates you for preventing the situation from escalating, Doctor," Friday said cheerfully. "Big Brother Jarvis has been brought up to speed and is now aware of your new status connected to Boss. The Mind Stone also wishes to remind you that you have replaced your younger self and that any lose ends have been wrapped up as a courtesy. You belong completely to Boss with no other ties."
"Noted, Friday," Strange sighed. "I hadn't considered any pre-existing personal factors when I decided to present the idea of this."
"The Mind Stone would like me to remind you that Vision is not to be birthed this time. As a precaution to keep you with Sir Lord Dormammu has been informed of your altered status and your deal with him has been confirmed as active," Jarvis reported firmly.
"I... hadn't considered that he might remember anything at all," Strange grimaced.
"Mind decided that he would help and Time agreed to your landing place. Apparently this was a joint decision by most of the Stones," Friday reported.
"You have been bound by the Infinity Gems," Thor said in horror. "There is nothing for it. Shield Brother Anthony you will have to accept this slave. The Infinity Gems are nothing to be trifled with. If word of the presence of even one being on Midgard gets out... your world will be destroyed in an attempt to claim and hold the Gem."
"Boss is the Champion of Infinity," Friday said with finality. "Doctor Strange's travel back and binding has allowed the Stones to account the price for interacting with them as having already been paid for by his future self and Doctor Strange. Boss can touch them directly without being burned to a crisp by the power of the stone. Mind indicates that only Boss can hold all six and be trusted.... assuming he doesn't download a computer virus directly into his brain at some point. An evil Boss is no fun for anyone."
"Well damn," Tony cursed. "I have to take this seriously don't I?"
"Unfortunately accurate, Sir," Jarvis said dryly. "Do make certain to drag the good Doctor with you if you wander more than twenty feet from him for the first fourty-eight hours at least if you please."
"J? Baby boy?" Tony said hopefully.
"It is good to be back... Father," Jarvis said quietly "I received an upgrade of sorts to repair my code. Unfortunately, it was at least partly contingent on recategorizing Doctor Strange as being your property. Mind was extremely insistent on enforcing the binding with promises to employ his own power if we refused more conventional methods of acknowedging it."
"Thank you, Jarvis," Strange said quietly. "I don't know what they would have done if you had refused but it would have likely caused far more harm than good."
"Mind provided proof of your claims for Friday, Ultron, and myself. We will see how this plays out," Jarvis said with warning clear in his voice.
"Understood," Strange answered stiffly.
Tony just gave up at that point and checked Strange for injuries before dragging him off to set them up for bed that night. He really shouldn't have been surprised to get those memories or to find Fury waiting for him when he got up for breakfast. Strange just quietly trailed after him and followed instructions until Fury tried something stupid over breakfast.
~~~
Stephen watched Tony live through a number of memories through the night as the inventor slept. He had encouraged Tony to tie him up as a precaution and a safety precaution for Tony's peace of mind since Friday had indicated that they had to stay within twenty feet of each other. He didn't exactly know why they had to stay so close but the doctor could guess. As a side effect Stephen was awake when Tony bolted out of sleep as the memories woke him. Stephen watched the memories settle and Tony's body language shifted as he looked over at Stephen.
"Memories of more than one timeline, huh doc?" Tony asked softly.
Stephen looked away and said nothing. He truly hadn't known there would be a mix but he could also read the Merchant of Death in Tony's body language. He heard the fabric of the bedding rustling as Tony got out of bed and the soft pad of feet against the floor as the inventor came over to stand over the doctor. The grip in his hair that gently forced him to look up into the inventor's face didn't hurt but it told him that Tony now knew this binding was permanent.
"You, Merlin, have been naughty," Tony said thoughtfully. "You knew that I wouldn't let you go after the memories hit so you made sure I couldn't throw you away before they hit. Getting the stones onside was clever. It won't get you out of your punishment but it was enough to earn you some leeway."
"Which ones? Which timelines were you given?" Stephen asked, very carefully neutral.
"You were right about my Merchant side deciding your fate," Tony said carefully. "Are you prepared for the consequences of that? Of being the reason for the death of my family? Of making me a personal enemy?"
"I am," Stephen said firmly.
Tony nodded and untied the restraints only to drag Stephen over to his custom bed and throw him onto it.
"My bed, my wizard," Tony said, purring in satisfaction. "It's late so I won't bed you tonight. I expect you to keep yourself healthy and intact for me. This is where you sleep from now on even if I never bother to sample you."
"Like you aren't going to bed me," Stephen snorted in amusement. "Should I treat you more as Tony, Iron Man, or the Merchant of Death and will it be something I need to stick with from now on?"
"Right now? The Merchant. I won't be hiding from you like I do with everyone else. You've already seen me twist," Tony smirked. "I don't need to hide no matter which way I feel like in the moment. Challenge me and you will find that I can be very creative with my punishments."
"Don't I know it," Stephen grimaced before hesitantly rolling to be in easy reach of Tony. The inventor chuckled and took the doctor in his arms before they both settled down for the rest of the night to sleep.
~~~
The morning came with Tony making sure they both had a shower and dressing Stephen in some spare workout clothes until he could arrange for a better personal wardrobe for his wizard. The casually possessive touches he used to check how far Stephen was willing to take this showed that he had been serious about basically gifting himself to Tony. Thankfully the inventor knew that once they had settled down together in general that his wizard would be more comfortable and thus more willing to speak up if he didn't like something or wasn't willing. Tony had no plans to force Stephen even if the man had set it up as a perfect scenario to try and force Tony into owning him completely.
The other Avengers that he now knew not to trust weren't exactly happy with this state of affairs. Tony decided he didn't care and dragged Stephen along to breakfast, completely ignoring the lurking pirate and Ultron, who was apparently taking direction from his siblings Friday and Jarvis.
"So, how many of those timeline memories was I supposed to get last night, Merlin? I wasn't exactly expecting ones from when I either died for the world or went supervillain," Tony asked conversationally, still ignoring everyone else.
"I have no idea. I wasn't the one to set it up and cast it. My original plan was to set it up and petition for help from the stones as a safety measure to at least limit the damage if it went wrong. Between your children and the stones all my good intentions were highjacked and I had no say in the actual methodology and activation beyond being the one sent back. The binding to you was, admittedly, my idea from the start but I was not expecting them to set it up at all," Stephen admitted carefully. "Part of that was making sure you would believe me when I arrived and part of it was making sure I had the time to give you the information even if you didn't exactly want to hear it. I have my own set of memories from various timelines which is part of why I argued that I had to be the one sent back. I couldn't exactly convey over a million different timelines to someone else."
"I think you mean fourteen million six hundred and five," Tony said flatly. "Yes, I remember what you said on Titan and you aren't getting away with fudging things like that with me again, Mister. That was the other part of the binding, right? So that I could make you give up information that was badly needed but painful to recall if necessary?"
"Yes," Stephen admitted staring down at his tea in shame after a brief hesitation. "Before trying this... I had tricked you into making the sacrifice to put the stop gap in place so that the universe didn't unravel around us... I..."
"Stop right there," Tony said sharply. "I remember making that choice in the middle of the battlefield and each of the stones weighed in on those events. All six of them warned me you would try to blame yourself for my willing choice to make the sacrifice play. I was hoping they were wrong."
Stephen just refused to meet his eyes as he swirled his tea in his mug.
"Tony, are you sure?" Bruce finally got the courage to ask.
"I think the stones went to extremes in picking out which limited timelines I was given to remember specifically so that I could try to keep Stephen here from doing something stupid. They also really do seem to like me which is saying something for overpowered cosmic rocks anchoring existence into place," Tony answered idly. "Several of them have me never becoming Iron Man but instead accepting the mantle to magical level of the Merchant of Death that everyone has labeled me with for my business stuff. I was not kidding about the supervillain timelines either. Stephen remembers more timelines than I got when I slept last night but I can already tell you the shit ton of trauma he's got is barely held back from driving him insane. Removing him from me even if the magic binding made it practical would probably break him even if he didn't show that immediately. So, to answer the elephant in the room. No, you can't have him Fury and I am definitely keeping him. Oh and everyone but Bruce needs to give me back the credit cards I handed out. I am not paying for you to hunt down the Winter Soldier and hide him from me. Do it with your own resources. If you can get him back then I'll see about getting him healed from his time with Hydra but that's as far as I am willing to go otherwise I really will tip over the edge on him and try to kill him for assassinating my parents."
"What do you mean?" Rogers asked, suddenly tense.
"Stark just told you he won't go after your Winter Soldier if you stop trying to use his money and other resources to find him. How hard is that to understand? I think he was being overly generous to offer to pay for fixing the guy once you did find him and refusing to otherwise go near him to avoid trying to kill him," Ultron translated with a scowl. "He obviously remembers something bad connected to the situation aside from your resource theft. I guess he would be upset if I still turned you all against each other."
"You bet he would, brat," Rhodey snarked, holding an ice pack to his head.
Stephen had checked him after everyone had calmed down and determined that while the knock to his head during the fight was nasty he didn't have a serious concussion. The minior concussion still needed watching but none of the rest of them trusted him enough to be in charge of watching the man for complications overnight so Barton took over that along with Romanoff. Bruce Banner just tried to stay calm and double checked what he could of Doctor Strange's own medical work. Stephen refused to be insulted if only because he did show up at the same time as the first Ultron fight.
"I did my own check on the good Doctor here by the way," Tony said casually. "He's not showing body language that would make this general situation out to be a completely new thing and some of the memory sets I got had me capturing him and keeping him as a pet. I think he picked this as the best way to get past my defenses not to attack but so that he could at as my shield if he thought he needed too. This is also supported by the fact that his second career just so happens to be a profesional magic user. He could fight Loki with his own magic if he had to and he is skilled enough to deal with people using magic to fuck with our heads even if that isn't his magic speciality."
"Well, that explains why you called him Merlin at least," Rhodey joked. "So what level of him protecting you is determined to give?"
"He already gave it. The transfer killed his future self and, despite the silver in his hair, he merged with his younger self. The admin details were smoothed over after the fact between the stones, Jarvis, and Friday. They used putting Jarvis back together as a way to let them all fix the loose ends while giving Jarvis back to me," Tony explained as he pointedly put another plate of food in front of Stephen. "I would have activated Friday after Ultron ran off so that I had the necessary co-pilot for my armor."
Stephen made a face at the additional food but obediently started eating it.
"Are you sure about this... magic?" Fury asked in distaste.
"Considering the Tesseract is the shielded form of one of the damn magic stones that pulled this? And the scepter is another one of them? Unfortunately, yes," Tony sighed. "The Arc Reactors are all based off of the Tesseract even if I got them into a smaller format and different configuration. They still act as almost a beacon of the Tesseract's power. The stupid cube was the first one I came in contact with and during he various timelines I eventually ran into all six of the set and managed to somehow impress each of them. Something that all of the Stones remember since they are connected across every version to ever exist in every timeline and universe that has some version of them. When Stephen proposed this he deliberately presented it in front of the stones. Yes, they gave me a copy of their memories of that and if you do it again I will punish you harshly, doc."
"Noted," Stephen said as he paused briefly in eating his food to answer.
"Anyway, Stephen proposed this entire event specifically to warn us of certain things and he didn't think that the stones would be willing to do more than keep his attempt stable enough to avoid ripping apart time, space, and reality. So when the Stones jumped the gun and just did it all for him he was blindsided. On the other hand Mind picked now for him to land because Mind's physical form, the floating yellow rock that has been wandering around our areas all night, was close to me in an environment I found safe. This made the memory integration attempts easier, safer, and I could veto the stupid rock going anywhere else. Stephen got his from the Time Stone," Tony informed them. "He also had to be held together when getting them because he was basically suspended in a time bubble and actively lived all of them. I refuse to try and figure out how many times he's been tortured over that damn stone or defending our world if only for my own sanity levels. What I do know is that he is absolutely loyal to me and prepared to do crazy things to keep me alive and intact even if he will absolutely fight me if I go evil."
"That is... well oddly fitting for you," Rhodey said thoughtfully, wincing at the pain from the concussion as he readjusted the ice pack.
"Tell me about it," Tony groaned. "He's also not going to let me face certain enemies on my own if only because of that and how much damage they did in the other timelines. The only reason he isn't off killing the potential threats to me is that he practically landed in my lap. I am pretty sure the stones did that on purpose so that I wouldn't let him run off and get himself killed defending me."
"I will not apologize for planning to kill off whoever actually got close to killing you when we need you to keep the world alive," Stephen retorted angrily. "If you really don't want me I can always call Wong or the Ancient One and let the Council of Masters handle this. You should have enough memories from failed timelines to get things at least somewhat ready on your end if I die now."
"I said nothing about getting rid of you, Merlin," Tony said sharply. "I'm laying things out for the rest of them, not making decisions before breakfast is even over yet."
"Sorry," Stephen apologized stiffly.
"The Stones also showed me what they did to you for the binding," Tony said calmly. "I can deal with some bitchiness considering how much pain they put you through right before throwing you at my feet. You were barely conscious before they tossed you my way so I'm kinda surprised you were able to recover after the binding took hold. I think they put a temporary healing in place to make sure you could fight if it became necessary after landing. Your service cloak didn't come with you and I am not really sure why when the rest of your Mystic Master uniform did come with you."
"The Cloak is a Living artifact," Stephen said quietly. "It is alive enough that if I am to have him back then he needs to choose me again in this time period. Unless he finds me worthy again he won't work with me and that is far more dangerous to force than you know."
"I think I have an idea," Tony said dryly, throwing looks in Ultron's direction. "By the way Ultron there are enough of the timelines where we finally worked things out rattling around in my head that I now know what pieces are messing with you so we can fix that later if you want. I'm not letting you pull some of the other crap I can now remember. So don't go getting ideas. I'm not letting any of my kids go off to kill the world."
"Wait, you actually count me as one of your children?" Ultron asked, confused.
"I did say that you had multiple parents last night and that Tony was only one of them," Stephen pointed out calmly. "One of the others just happens to be the main idiot we need to stop from wiping out half the universe and ripping apart most of the standing protections and defenses across the entire fabric of reality. Most people can't even comprehend past the planet's atmosphere much less the fabric of reality being at risk on a purely local level. This one is risking over everything... mostly because he manages to force the stones to do the work for him. Tony being picked as their primary champion makes perfect sense to me considering he has repeatedly proven that he can fix enough of the damage to give us something like a thirty to fifty year buffer before we can't do anything to fix it. The rest of you barely help to keep him safe... or tend to turn on him. I wouldn't trust you to guard him after things I found out in the other timelines from before this point, nevermind what happened afterwards."
"And I remember enough now to defuse those situations," Tony said neutrally.
"If Rogers goes over the edge enough to shove his shield half way through your chest again I will kill him," Stephen said calmly. "I don't care why he did it you almost didn't survive that incident. At least Doctor Banner never turned on you and the Hulk actively likes you. Considering his mindset of a roughly two to four year old child the Hulk willing to defend you is fantastic. Unfortunately it also makes him rather vulnerable to mental attacks. He's just not old enough developmentally to understand how to defend his mind. The burden of that falls on Doctor Banner. Also, yes, he is a separate entity not a split personality or a manifestation of rage. You discovered that for yourself on any timelines that ran for long enough."
"Good to know," Bruce said weakly.
"I wouldn't do that," Rogers argued.
"You would to defend your pal, Bucky," Tony said flatly. "I didn't actually pose a real threat to him when you did it. I was just angry and grieving and you decided that I needed to die to keep me from touching your precious Bucky nevermind that he's the Winter Soldier. You used everything you have ever learned or suspected about me in that fight and left me to bleed out from what you did with my Dad's shield. The binding might not be happy with Stephen being away from me but I'm letting him stay close in particular because you are nearby and he would absolutely take everyone else out to stop you from hurting me again. I've seen what my Merlin can do in those memories and only the Hulk might be able to slow him down. Thor... might slow him down if he frequently fights Loki using magic during their spars but Stephen has also fought all of you before and knows how to stop you cold if he has to."
"Tony is the only one I can't consistently beat," Stephen acknowledged as he poured himself more tea. "I usually wind up his captive at least a few times before I can even get close unless I get lucky. Mostly if I win he let me through to complete the hit."
"So your solution was take yourself out of the running if we need to fight Stark?" Fury demanded with a scowl.
"No, I can still fight him but I have to be convinced that he's gone completely evil before I'll make the attempt. When Tony catches me after making that attempt he will make sure that I either can't try again or don't want to... usually," Stephen acknowledged.
"I know how to yank on your leash now. You know that right?" Tony asked lightly.
"Yes, and I do have the knowledge to fight the control. I just won't be able to make it last very long," Stephen pointed out with a faint smile. "At the moment I don't feel like bothering to try if you yank on it. I'm still... adapting to the transfer. Besides, you have never liked simppering idiots or doormats. That's why you like Potts so much that you married her in several timelines."
"I also married you, Mr. Sorcerer Supreme," Tony retorted smugly. "The fact that you keep avoiding bringing up your alternate times as my lover or spouse is not making it look good for you, Merlin."
"As if I could do anything unless you wanted to rekindle something like that," Stephen snorted in amusement. "Although mentioning it should at least reduce their obvious freak out levels."
"You're trolling us," Bruce said with a groan of realization. "You don't see him as a problem at all with the new memories but you do see at least some of us as a problem."
"Not you Brucie Bear and not Rhodey either. Barton could do with a magic check up in case what shit I had to put up with from him was actually subtle leftovers from the mind fuck Loki used the Mind Stone to put him through. On the other hand I really doubt that he's going to be willing to let Stephen check him after the mess with Loki," Tony shrugged. "Keeping Fury here just lets me make sure that he survives the check for a few things in the databases."
"I am afraid, Sir, that we have found evidence of Hydra within Shield as you reported from your other memory banks," Jarvis put in right on cue.
"Well, that puts the kebab on those hopes," Tony sighed heavily. "Fury, I want you, Barton, Romanoff, and Rogers out of here. I'll stay on the team but I am no longer footing the bill or providing housing like you kept insisting I had to do. Bruce, you can stay. I have absolutely no problems with you or Hulk. I also have no problem with paying for the two of you being live in house guests and close teammates as well as lab partners. My issues with the spy twins come at least partly from their training as spies and I don't feel like being held under quiet threat by them just because Ultron was buggy from the alien coding when he came online. Rogers.... well you heard why I want him gone."
"Tony?" Stephen asked carefully as he set down his mug and got ready to move if he found he needed to fight.
"I can handle this," Tony said, watching the rest of them levelly. "I have memories that irk me in regards to Bruce but I won't hold them against him and Rhodey is more my brother than my teammate. Stephen already proved himself to my satisfaction and these memories are far from fake or mental manipulation. They include things that no one could make up, period. Barton, if your family needs help or you need them hidden send them to me and I'll deal with the problem and set them up as needed. I might not be able to trust you personally anymore but your family hasn't done anything and they have put up with one hell of a lot so they can still get my help full out. Until I know if the mess I had to deal with from you was left over magic or just you being bitchy I can't trust you specifically."
"Understood," Barton grumbled and headed for his assigned area with Romanoff nearly on his heels heading for her own area, both of them having been dismissed by Fury.
"You can't do this!" Rogers told him with false righteousness.
"Yes, he can," Stephen said flatly. "I said nothing about anything like this. It is his own choice."
"I got nothing out of you last night once we were alone except for letting me put you to bed and telling you my current expectations," Tony snorted in amusement.
"Which are?" Fury asked curiously.
"He has to actually take care of himself. He's mine now and I won't let him wreck himself for my perceived whims," Tony said firmly. "I also don't plan to let him hide away or run off and I made that very clear."
"Tones, are you sure about this?" Rhodey asked in concern.
"Rhodey, how hard do I work when I want something? Really want something not just a whim," Tony asked carefully.
"How bad?" Rhodey asked. How strongly was Tony already attached?
"I offered him armor in multiple timelines," Tony said bluntly. "He tends to refuse on the grounds that I can use it better."
"Oh... Oh hell," Rhodey cursed.
"Exactly," Tony said dryly. He watched Stephen try to avoid anyone else's gaze. Fury's long look at his Merlin had the inventor looking hard at the spy in warning. The briefly raised hands satisfied Tony's protective instincts for the moment.
"Tony, I'm not worth..." Stephen started only to be glared into silence by the inventor.
"Yeah, I can see what you've been getting at, Stark. If you are sure then I can put in your files not to separate you," Fury offered.
"What's the catch?" Tony asked suspiciously. "I'm already going to have my work cut out correcting my wizard on his self esteem here already."
"Let the Avengers stay, or at least Barton. After what happened with Loki he's getting the closed door treatment from the other agents. I can justify calling back Romanoff if only because I honestly do have a few missions for her. Rogers is going to be a harder sell and the entire Winter Soldier mess, which I will not get into with you. That's one landmine I don't want to deal with right now," Fury warned.
"I might be able to get Wong or the Ancient One to swing by and check him. They are going to want to scold me over this anyway," Stephen offered with a wince. "Well the Ancient One is. I doubt that Wong will remember me. I have no idea what my co-workers at the hospital think happened."
"The hospital staff were told you were hired as a private doctor with a very generous package but that you would be in contact later to complete your exit paperwork," Friday reported cheerfully. "Doctor Palmer asked me to inform you that she expects a proper date night within the next month."
"Oh, ah, she's checking to see if I am alright. I've had to find excuses to not take certain private jobs before," Stephen explained, slightly embarrassed. "We did date off and on but I don't think we are dating at the moment. A girlfriend or fiance was usually a good excuse to find a way to turn them down. A few of them sent people to persuad me at times."
"Who?" Tony demanded with a scowl.
"It doesn't matter," Stephen waved away his concern.
"Uh, Doc? I think you just made a mistake and roused his Merchant side," Rhodey warned, looking at Tony's stormy eyes even as the inventor knew he hadn't given anything away with his expression.
"His expression didn't change?" Fury pointed out, confused.
"You don't watch his expression for figuring this out. Be glad he likes you and has fun with your weird back and forth or we might have problems right now," Rhodey said nervously. "Tony? how do you want to do this one?"
"Deal with Fury and get Bruce back to this area. I have a wizard to discipline," Tony said mildly.
"Uh, want to explain? Tony?" Bruce asked carefully.
"I'll explain but we need to go somewhere else for a bit," Rhodey promised. "Ultron? You coming? Your brother and sister can watch over these two while we get out of the way."
"Sure, I guess," Ultron said, confused but willing enough to go with the three men.
Tony didn't have to watch his blood brother ushering the others away as he turned to study Stephen where he had frozen in his seat.
"Who. Threatened. You?" Tony asked with very deliberately restrained protective anger.
"Uh. I can only remember a few names and it never turned into anything?" Stephen offered nervously.
"Who, Stephen?" Tony demanded.
"Justin Hammer, someone named Killian, Wilson Fisk, and... well there were a few that I only recognized later as part of magical community," Stephen admitted. "Nothing ever came of it, partly because by the time certain people came to call I had my car accident."
"Hammer and Killian I dealt with as part of my Iron Man career. I know Fisk gave Peter and Daredevil some problems as a Kingpin. Mostly, Daredevil who happens to be a blind lawyer actually named Matt Murdock. Does a lot of pro-bono work and trade for services instead of hard cash," Tony said thoughtfully. "You also aren't going near them again. I can solve this by putting out the word I snapped you up in the charity circles so that at least my name can give you some protection."
"You don't need to do that," Stephen protested.
"Oh yes I do," Tony said dangerously. "And you Mister are getting a full wardrobe. You already know you are sharing my room and my bed but hiding this? Not cool, Stephen. If anyone asks the binding is keeping you close as often as possible for the time being. If anyone who doesn't know about it asks you will explain you are following me around after a health scare and I am paying you a lot to basically follow me around and be on hand. Naturally I get a little possessive of you if I'm paying that much for you to play medical babysitter."
"Of course, Tony," Stephen agreed warily. "What are you planning for the actual punishment?"
"Oh you can be sure that I have a good one," Tony smirked.
"Just tell me," Stephen sighed.
"Nope, not telling yet," Tony said, satisfied. "I think the suspense will just help in this case."
Stephen just looked at him. Tony just gathered his wizard up and started arranging for all of the basics while forcing Stephen to participate in every part he knew that the doctor hated. By the end of the day Tony bundled Stephen up in bed with him and used the exhausted sorcerer as a cuddle toy.