Chapter Text
9th of February 2023
He dodged, falling to the ground right before one of the larger arachnids could chop off his head, and winced as he had to put weight on his hands. The Cloak was back with him a second later, wrapping around his shoulders. Despite the thick fabric of his robes, he felt the cobblestones digging into him as he was dragged out from under the creature before the Cloak could pull him up into the air.
It would probably bruise.
His hands were moving, opening a portal in front of him right when one of them - he wasn’t sure if it was the same one or just one of its even uglier cousins - leapt at him. It disappeared back to its hellish home dimension, and in the same breath he hurled the portal with a sharp twist of his wrist. The portal made a whizzing sound as it cut through the air, before slicing three more creatures to bits.
Every light on Cooper Square and its surrounding buildings had died, leaving this corner of the city impossibly dark, the single light source the orange glow of the fiery runes lighting Stephen’s spells. They did nothing to make the arachnids any more appealing.
They looked like normal spiders, except with every ugly molecule magnified until the most creatures towered over an average adult. The movement of their legs was even more disturbing now they were the size of cars, and they crawled over fountains and park benches with a single movement.
Luckily it was late at night - or early morning depending on the kind of person you are - and the New York City streets were mostly devoid of life.
New York. The thought rang through Stephen’s mind without any control over them. Too close.
Determination fuelling his muscles, he brought out his whips. The ropes lashed out around him, curling at the creatures and leaving wounds of green puss in their wake. The arachnids screeched at him, cowering as their cauterised cuts started to smoke.
Suddenly he remembered a young boy, brown hair long and unruly but eyes as blue as his, and a spider dangling from the tweezers in his hand - A match lit in his other hand as his older sister screeched her dismay in the background.
He urged the Cloak to lift him up higher, thanking whatever being was in control of the universe that at least spiders still couldn’t fly. Snaking his arms in front of him, hands starting to cramp from exertion, he took a deep breath.
Then, clapping his hands in front of him, he blew.
Fire appeared at the top of his finger, spraying out around him as he moved in a circle. All around him spiders burned and screeched, their shadows fading from the buildings around them. The ones that managed to escape the fire reared back, scuttling towards the cracks they’d appeared from, squirming their way through the broken-glass-like rifts in their dimension.
Stephen dispelled the fire before gasping for air, coughing once and swallowing down the taste of burned smoke. Through watering eyes he glanced around him, scanning the dark ground for any remaining creatures. It was difficult now that the fire was gone, but as far as Stephen could tell the bigger arachnids were all gone, and the smaller ones wouldn’t be able to survive in an alternate universe for long.
“I’m so fucking tired,” He sighed as he let the Cloak float him back down to the ground, feet softly landing back on the scorched earth of the Cooper Triangle. He stretched his back, trying to get the tense knots out of them, and collected the last pieces of his energy to spread his hands out in front of him, shaking even though he tried to keep them steady.
He closed his eyes and whispered a spell under his breath, imagining the grass grow and thrive underneath him. Eventually, he knew, the place would look like it had before, like nothing had happened.
And Stephen would go home a little more tired, and a little more sore, and do it all over again in the morning.
28th of April 2023
The book closed with a soft thud and a waft of dust that had collected quicker than Wong could have dealt with. They had been busy lately - the time they weren’t fighting back a dark creatures attack was spent researching its cause, reading heavy tome after heavy tome.
Stephen had learned three new languages since the start of the upheaval, and Wong had contacted temples, musea, synagogues, mosques, and churches all over the world - anything that could possibly store ancient texts - for possibly misplaced scrolls and verses that could help their search.
What made it harder was that they didn’t have anything specific to look for, nor was there any certainty that there was anything wrong at all. Even with the barriers at their strongest, there would always be leaks where otherworldly critters would find their way through. Some intentionally, while others were just following the pull of another universe, the energy leading the way like chemotaxis.
Though - according to Wong - it was more like diffusion; if power was like water, dark creatures that overpopulate a dimension would be drawn there.
The unusual spike in mystical activity could simply be a statistical anomaly or the new norm caused by their universe becoming more powerful.
Or perhaps different mystical forces had unionised to test the protections placed on this world.
Stephen didn’t want to risk missing the omen it could possibly be; the world was more valuable than ever, and Stephen was going to do anything to keep it save.
He took off his reading glasses - small rectangular ones he’d bought a few months ago, the need for which he blamed on straining to read minuscule letters in a dim library instead of the prebiopsy it probably was (he had only just turned 43 for God’s sake) - and ran a hand down his face, trying to wipe the tiredness away.
He checked his watch before sighing and getting up, gathering the last few books and sending all of them back to their respective places except for the one he was still finishing.
“Wong!” He called out to his friend, not bothering with he silence rules of the library as they were the only ones there this late at night (time zones had their advantages). “I’m going home.”
“No books outside of the library.” Stephen jumped as Wong appeared out of nowhere behind his opposite shoulder. “Especially not these. You know how delicate they are!”
“I’ll be careful. I promised Sophia I’d be home to welcome her back from school today.” Stephen pocketed his glasses, moved to grab the book but was blocked by Wong’s hand pressing it into the table.
“No! This one’s on loan from the Vatican! You will not read this in your kitchen with your five year old!”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Stephen huffed, “we’ll sit in the lounge.”
Stephen’s attempt to tease the sorcerer fell flat as usual, but Stephen didn’t relent. “I plan to only open it when Sophia has gone to bed. I want to finish this before midnight I just don’t want to have to come back. We’ll be heading to the cabin tonight, remember?”
“Fine.” Despite his agreement Wong was still giving Stephen the stink-eye. “If I see anything wrong with it ...”
“I’ll keep the book in a pocket dimension at perfect temp and humidity - don’t stress so much you’ll get wrinkles.” Stephen opened the pocket dimension and allowed Wong to check it before dropping the book into it.
“Any of my Avengers still here?” He asked as Wong followed him out of the library to make sure the ‘no gateway’ rule was followed at least.
“I think Wanda’s here with William and I saw Gert earlier but she might have already left. Arthur was looking for you, however.”
“Well they know how to find their own way back. If they need me tell them to can it until Monday - Arthur too. See you later.”
Stephen obediently took a few steps further away from Wong’s precious library before he opened a gateway. The dark hallway made way for their living room, basked in early afternoon sun.
Stephen stepped through it, closing the gateway behind himself.
The penthouse was quiet, indicating that both Peter and Harley were still out. He knew Tony would be working until the last possible minute, wanting to finish up his projects before they’d head out to Montana rather than face Pepper’s wrath, but Sophia never minded playing in the lab as they waited.
Stephen took the door to his right, leading into their master bedroom. He didn’t always change out of his sorcerer robes - especially not to play with Sophia as she preferred his ‘wizard clothes’ - but he had the few minutes to spare. And - as this was his weekend off to spend with his family - he could do with some more casual wear.
It actually felt nice to just wear jeans and a shirt again, especially after the last few weeks. He felt like a person again, instead of the sorcerer supreme, firing through dimension after dimension and being drenched in different saps and juices from less than human creatures.
Though the Avengers compound could hardly be called normal - inhabited by superhumans and sorcerers as it was - their penthouse at least came close.
In the kitchen, he found a note on the table informing him that Harley and Peter had to go to campus but would be back before they had planned to leave. It was an old-fashioned habit, especially with Friday controlling the compound, but Peter liked using them - ever thoughtful. Sophia’s drawings had outgrown the fridge, taking up most of the cabinets against the left wall - even bleeding onto the ceiling. They even had a chore list on the counter next to the fruit bowl, which efficiently showed him it was Harley’s fault that there were still a few dishes left on the table.
Today, Stephen didn’t mind, and was actually glad for the tiny task of cleaning the dishes to distract him until FRIDAY warned him that Natasha would be arriving home with Sophia.
Once Stephen was out the front door, however, the atmosphere changed immediately.
Where the penthouse had been empty and quiet, the rest of the compound was decidedly not. Tony had assigned the East wing underneath the penthouse to the Junior Avengers as to keep them closest - and it made it easier to restrict the entire wing from the once-called rogue Avengers.
That had been years ago however, and the restrictions had long been a thing of the past.
Since then, some of the Juniors had moved into other wings, grown out of the Junior project, making space for new recruits.
As Stephen moved through the hallway, noise rang out from different doors that had been left open, running footsteps sounded from further in the hallway and he could hear people arguing over something in the kitchen.
At times he missed when the compound used to be a bit cosier, with just the 15 Avengers and 10 Juniors. In the last year they’d gained 6 Juniors, a couple of Avengers and with the new alliance with the Secret Warriors - a specialised SHIELD team made up out of inhumans led by infamous Agent Daisy Johnson - the Compound was more crowded than ever. The inhumans didn’t live at the compound like the Avengers did, but they walked in and out for mission briefings or shared training sessions.
But everyone was friendly enough, and the camaraderie was contagious, leaving everyone in a good mood most of the time.
Besides, the compound was large enough that you could still find peace and quiet if you wanted it.
Stephen reached the top of the last stairs leading into the lobby, this part of the building basically empty except for Bambi the receptionist and some body guards switching shifts. Despite the building being filled with people perfectly capable of caring for themselves, Tony insisted on keeping Happy’s team around. Stephen had to admit the extra layer of protection was reassuring, especially with the minors - particularly their five year old daughter - living there.
Stephen smiled as he could already see said five year old running up to the building through the glass wall that separated them. He hurried down the last few steps as Sophia threw open the heavy glass doors, immediately filling the previously quiet entrance hall with noise, and ran straight for him.
“Mommy!” Stephen reached the bottom of the stairs right as Sophia barrelled into him, and he secured his hands with magic so he could pick her up in a swift move and place her on his hip.
“Hi darling,” Stephen murmured, tucking her head underneath his chin. “How was school today?”
“We made frog baskets!” Sophia immediately started rambling, pulling back so she could look at Stephen’s face. “Can we go show daddy?”
“Of course,” Stephen agreed, eyes shifting away from her so he could meet Natasha’s as she’d followed Sophia at the heels. The colourful clothes were still weird on her after knowing her in nothing but black for years, but the dress she was wearing suited her nicely. She formed the perfect image of a private pre-school secretary - complete with flower pattern and long high ponytail. “There were no problems, I take it?”
“Unless you count Sophia picking the tomato’s out of her sandwich,” she smirked, raising her eyebrow at the child.
“What?” Stephen schooled his smile into a serious frown, directing it at his daughter. “You like tomatoes.”
“Not anymore.” Sophia pouted at having been snitched on by her favorite aunt and tucked her face against Stephen’s shoulder for comfort.
Stephen sighed and shook his head in exasperation, but directed his next words to Natasha. “Thank you.”
Natasha gave him a look that he could all too easily translate for the scolding it was. Despite her having been the one to come up with the idea, he couldn’t help but feel guilty for having the famous superhero play secretary at a preschool just so she could keep an eye on his daughter.
And even though Natasha loved Sophia - and children in general - Stephen often worried she was doing it against her will. It had been months since Sophia had started school, and a long time since they’d had to fear for Sophia’s safety.
Well, outside of her last name making her an easy target, which is why they’d omitted the ‘Stark’ part when they’d enrolled her.
“I’ve told you to stop thanking me.” Natasha rolled her eyes, but they were filled with warmth. “I love my job.”
“Now if you’ll excuse me, little Miss,” she directed at Sophia, “Maria’s waiting on me.”
“You’re excused!” Sophia yelled out and giggled, almost smacking Stephen in the face as she threw out her hand like a queen dismissing her subjects. They’d clearly watched the princess diaries again. “Bye aunt Tasha!”
Natasha waved as she walked away and Stephen returned the gesture before turning back to his daughter. “Now how about we go show daddy your basket, hu?”
“Yes!”
Stephen carried Sophia to the elevator down the hall, putting her down on the ground, before pressing the button that would lead them down towards the lab. His hands were starting to get uncomfortable, despite the magic he’d used to protect them, and Sophia was smart and kind enough to never complain when he had to let go of her.
She did hold on to his hand as the elevator opened and they made their way towards Tony’s private lab, but as usual she was gentle and light in his grip. She skipped slightly ahead of him, her pink and white dress fluttering around her. Even after two years he still didn’t understand how any one creature could hold this much energy - especially in such a small body.
She’d spent the entire day in school no doubt running around and doing who-knows-what with her peers, yet here she was bursting through the lab doors, yelling ‘daddy’ and throwing herself at Tony like she’d just downed five Red Bulls.
Stephen smiled as Tony immediately turned around at the noise and caught Sophia right as she was about to throw her arms around him. He picked her up swiftly, twirling her in a circle before resting her on his hip.
“Hello, princess, did they let you out of your cage again? I warned them not to do that.”
“I ran away with aunt Tasha cause the teacher wasn’t looking.”
“Good girl,” Tony smiled, pressing a kiss to her forehead before placing her on the table in front of him. “Want to tell daddy about your day while I finish my work?”
Sophia immediately started her explanation, starting with the basket they’d made in the morning and showing it off to Tony’s critical gaze. Before long they were off on a lengthy discussion on the perks of paper mache vs wicker and crepe paper. Stephen only listened in sporadically as he took his seat on his red couch, happy to have the noise of his family to relax him after a week of barely seeing them. As Wong wasn’t here to judge him, he pulled the book out of the pocket dimension and started where he’d left off.
He didn’t get far before he felt Sophia crawl onto the couch next to him and his attention was pulled away from mystical energy readings through the ages.
“Daddy has to weld so I have to sit with you,” Sophia explained, waiting until Stephen had stored the book safely away before crawling into his lap. He glanced toward his husband, finding him wearing his goggles as he added the finishing touches to the newest circuit board he’d been working on. “Where are Harley and Peter?”
“They’re still at school, honey, but they’ll be back before we have to leave.” Everyone was finishing up their work and pushing the deadline, but Stephen didn’t mind. He understood working until the last possible minute, especially if it meant finishing up so you didn’t have to worry about it anymore during your weekend off. He himself still had to finish the book, but the unknown and possibility of trouble would still haunt him - his job couldn’t just be put on hold.
Still, he had his family, and the lovely moments he could spend with them overshadowed any and all downsides to his work. Granted, the downsides only existed because he had a family to worry about, something to lose if he failed, and a family he’d rather spend time with than do the research and training that would possibly save them all.
It was strange to remember that once upon a time he’d thought being a surgeon would keep him from being a good parent - that the hours he’d spend in the OR and the constantly being on-call would keep him from enjoying time with his children. Now, he’d do anything to get that life back - to be able to take the time off he needed to spend with his family without the possible end of the world looming over him.
“Can you read my new book?” Sophia asked, leaning her head back until it rested on his shoulder. Stephen could tell that her energy was slipping, which wasn’t surprising as it was nearly five in the afternoon and Stephen doubted she’d had a nap today. Her sleepiness appeared contagious, as suddenly Stephen was aware of the heaviness of his own body.
He hummed in agreement, running a hand over her hair to flatten it so it didn’t get into his eyes. “What do you want me to read?”
Sophia leaned over so she could reach her little book bag that Stephen had stored on the floor next to his legs, and pulled out a worn copy of the Famous Five. It must be from the school library, as Stephen didn’t remember anyone getting it for her, and the pages were yellow with age. He actually remembered the books fondly from his own youth - Donna had been obsessed with them when they were younger, and would demand their father read it to them every night before bed.
“‘The Famous Five Run Away Together’,” he read the title aloud, “Shouldn’t we read the first book first?”
Sophia shook her head adamantly, shifting so she was settled more comfortably in his lap.
“Alright then,” Stephen smiled, flipping it open to the first page and starting to read.
They barely got through the first chapter before Stephen’s attention was caught by FRIDAY announcing a call.
Usually that wouldn’t be noteworthy, but their vacation had officially started three hours ago, meaning only calls FRIDAY deemed important or unusual enough would be allowed through. What would have been a cursory glance to read the caller ID turned into a nervous stare as he recognised the name floating in front of Tony’s face. Tony must have recognised it too - it wasn’t easily forgettable after all - and sent a worried glance in Stephen and Sophia’s direction before answering the call.
“Mrs. Stanley, what can I help you with?”
“Mr. Stark, I’m sorry to disturb you - I’m sure you’re busy.” Stephen noted that she sounded a little breathless and disjointed - unsettled perhaps, though it was hard to tell over the phone. Stephen relaxed slightly as it didn’t seem to be bad news or anything related to Sophia. It didn’t sound like a call she had to make, no bad news - though Stephen still couldn’t relax, he could tell the call wasn’t procedure. Whatever that meant, it surely couldn’t have anything to do with Sophia. The adoption had been final for over a year now, and she was safely in his arms, so it couldn’t be that she was hurt either.
Still, he glanced down at his daughter. She looked a little miffed at her story being interrupted, but she leaned back against Stephen’s arm and stayed patient nonetheless. Stephen leaned down and placed a kiss to her forehead. It distracted him momentarily from the conversation before remembering that he should probably pay attention.
“I was calling to - well,” she stumbled, hesitating before taking a deep breath. It was strange hearing her be so disgruntled; she’d always seemed to take everything in stride, used to unusual situations and unconventionality. It was slightly disorienting and definitely distressing, as she’d been the steady force they’d relied on during the adoption - the reassuring voice ensuring them they’ll get to keep Sophia no matter what. “I know you’re not registered as foster parents anymore but I was hoping you might be willing to take in two more children.”
Stephen froze, muscles tensing up at her words as an irrational wave of adrenaline came over him. His eyes drifted towards Tony of their own account, noticing his husband was merely frowning in confusion, mind clearly spinning in more productive ways than Stephen’s at the moment. In his periphery he could see Sophia frown up at him, clearly catching on to his unease.
He didn’t know why he suddenly felt this tense; he was used to being put on the spot, to having final decisions land on his shoulders. Accepting children into his life shouldn’t be this terrifying either; taking in Sophia had gone easily, a change so natural it seemed like she’d always been part of their family.
“I’m very aware that it’s unconventional,” Mrs. Stanley rambled on, voice pulling Stephen back out of his mind, “but Isaac is such a gentle and sensitive child and with both of them being orphans it is likely they’ll get split up. He just lost his mother and I think it would be better if he at least gets to remain close with his sibling-“
Tony’s eyes found his, and Stephen’s shoulders relaxed a little, being able to take a breath - he’d been unaware even his thoracic muscles had frozen in place. Mrs. Stanley’s words filtered through a bit slower, but it was effective in making him focus on the story - on the two babies who’d apparently just lost their mother.
Sophia still sat snugly in his arms, eyes slowly skimming the pages of the abandoned book as she tried to read the small letters. He’d known the moment she’d been in his arms that she’d be his forever...
“We’ll be there in five minutes, Mrs Stanley,” Tony suddenly interrupted her rambling and Stephen’s head snapped up to find him typing something on the hologram. “What hospital are you at?”
Stephen’s head was reeling at the words, surprised but compelled by Tony’s easy answer. He put Sophia down next to him and stood up from the couch, the little girl barely sparing him a glance before she was focused on her book once more.
“Yes of course, my apologies.” Mrs. Stanley let out a breath of relief, and Stephen could hear papers rustle in the background. “I’m at Noyens Memorial Hospital in Dansville, New York.”
“FRIDAY pull up a visual.”
He walked up to Tony, and Tony glanced at him with a subdued smile, but clear as day was the excited twinkle in his eyes.
As he watched the other man in awe, his haemoglobin couldn’t help but follow Tony’s rhythm, the intrigue and excitement at a new adventure contagious. Tony had always been good under the right kind of pressure, a born leader, and the person Stephen trusted most. He knew that if Tony was sure, he was too, and now he could focus less on his own doubts and instead thought of their family growing in size, he could feel his fingers twitching impatiently, like he’d been waiting on them forever.