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It was a bit later in the evening when Tony got a call from a certain wizard. He had claimed that he needed help with something rather urgent, and Tony had — with certain hesitation — donned his Iron Man suit and rushed over to the New York Sanctum. He didn’t bother knocking on the door, but barged right in with his gauntlets ready. He barely had time to open his mouth to ask what the trouble was before Stephen was standing in front of him and hushing him dramatically.
“Are you out of your mind?” the wizard scolded in what was close enough to a whisper. Tony allowed some of the nanotech of his suit to retract so he could give the man a puzzled look.
“I thought you said there was an emergency” he said. Stephen rolled his eyes and reached his hands up to push Tony’s still active gauntlets down. He slowly obliged.
“Not the kind that requires you to run in here unannounced with your gauntlets blazing”. He paused briefly and scratched his beard, seemingly looking for the correct words. He opened his mouth once, but closed it again and hummed softly. Only now did Tony realize the colorful parrot perched on the man’s shoulder. It squawked when he looked directly at it. “Oh, don’t look at him, he doesn’t like that” Stephen mumbled.
“He what?” Tony asked, turning his head to look sideways at the strange couple standing in front of him.
“His name is George and he doesn’t like when people look at him — childhood trauma or something”. The wizard waved idly with one hand in the air between them. He then stretched his back and looked at Tony with an unreadable expression. He wasn’t sure if the little smile he wore was a good thing or a very bad omen. “It’s probably better I show you,” he said, apparently back on the topic of the supposed emergency he was facing, “Come with me”.
Tony followed Stephen up a flight of stairs, and through a hallway until they arrived inside a small, circular room with three glass doors. Tony’s mouth fell open upon realizing that they seemed to lead to three completely different locations despite being placed right next to each other. “Please tell me you’re also seeing this” he mumbled, catching Stephen’s attention. He looked from Tony to the doors, then back to Tony again.
“It’s called the Rotunda of Gateways — a quite powerful relic which I have yet to learn more about”. That explained quite a bit. Gateways, which meant portals. Wait a minute…
“I thought you could make the yellow sparkly portals with your hands?” Tony questioned, making a haphazard gesture with his gauntlets in the air. Stephen was quick to grab them and push them down again, apparently afraid that they would misfire or something.
“Yes, we can, but that takes energy and requires the use of a sling ring” Stephen explained, taking a step back and reaching a hand up to his own shoulder to let the parrot step over to his fingers instead. “Besides, I can use these without having to think about where I’m going”. The magician smirked before turning on his heel to walk up to one of the doors. Tony watched him turn a handle on the side and the landscape behind the glass changed twice. He had to suppress the urge to rub his eyes to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating.
“Believe it or not, but I actually broke one of these doors once” Stephen spoke idly as he switched the landscape one more time. He turned his head to gaze at Tony over his shoulder. “It took me a few months to figure out how to fix it”.
“They look fine to me” Tony said, still processing that literal magic was going on right in front of him.
“They are now, but it was quite the hassle” Stephen responded, chuckling as he reached to open the double-doors. The fresh scent of rainforest reached Tony’s nose as he did. He couldn’t quite help inhaling as much of it as he could. The bird flew off through the doors, and Stephen followed. When Tony didn’t, he turned around and looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “Well, come on, we haven’t got all day”.
Tony fumbled to retract his armor back into its casing before following the wizard through the doors into the thicket of leaves, branches, and vines hanging from the treetops. It didn’t take long before he was drenched in sweat because of the warmth and humidity of this primeval-looking jungle. There were all sorts of flora that Tony had never seen before, even less imagined. He didn’t think a place like this existed anymore, with how humanity had cut down so much of the world’s rainforests over the years.
“Alright, hold up-” Tony spoke, slightly breathless as he almost tripped over a massive tree root. Stephen stopped in his tracks and turned, causing Tony to nearly bump right into him. He steadied himself with his hand on a nearby tree. “First of all, where are we going? Or maybe I should ask when are we going — I refuse to believe that this jungle exists in our time”.
Stephen fired off an amused grin. “The Rotunda can’t take you back in time, Tony” he assured, tilting his chin slightly. “And neither can ‘sparkly portals’ either-”, he made quotation marks in the air with slightly trembling fingers, “We’re in the heart of Africa’s jungle — very much still in our own time. Nature is just untouched by human hands in these parts — figuratively speaking”.
Tony clicked his tongue. “Okay, maybe that’s not completely unbelievable,” he said. Not that it looked any less like some prehistoric forest. He wouldn’t even be surprised if some giant meat-eating lizard would come charging at them from between the trees. After taking a breath, Tony continued; “Second of all, how are you not sweating from having all of those clothes in this heat?”. It really did look like fifteen layers tacked on top of each other.
Stephen didn’t answer verbally, but arched an eyebrow and raised his left hand to point at his own face. It was quite obviously, now that Tony was actually looking, sheening with sweat, and the tips of his hair was softly curling from the moisture. Tony cleared his throat. “Right” he said quietly. The wizard sighed as he turned to continue leading them through the thicket.
“I don’t actually have much time since I was supposed to leave with Wong about six minutes ago-”, they stepped over a fallen tree and avoided tripping over a bundle of overgrown rocks, “-which is why I’m very glad that you took your suit”.
“If you’re in such a hurry, then why are we wading through this jungle like a pair of drunk fools?” Tony questioned as Stephen stopped to move a branch out of their way.
“Because I need to save as much of my magical energy as possible for a potential interdimensional threat — Wong went ahead to scout, but I need to be there to help contain it, if needed”.
Tony almost stopped in his tracks. “You’re having a magical space party and you didn’t invite me?” he played hurt.
“I was under the impression that you didn’t like your first one” Stephen deadpanned. “Besides, I need your help here”.
“Wait, here? In the jungle?”. Tony ducked under a low-hanging vine and avoided what looked awfully much like an old spiderweb.
“Right here,” Stephen acknowledged. “We’re almost at the spot”.
Tony struggled to keep up when Stephen took a sharp left around a large tree, ducking between a curtain of vines hanging from the branches. “Are you sure there is no one else you could have called?”. He could hear the sound of water and birds chirping up ahead. He once again almost bumped into the wizard when he abruptly stopped walking to turn around and look at him.
“You don’t actually believe that you were the first person I reached out to, did you?” the man said, eyebrows arched in an expression that clearly told Tony that he was the last person Stephen had called, and begrudgingly so. Ouch…
“Alright, that hurts” Tony admitted, crossing his arms over his chest. “Why are we even out here, we’ve been walking for what feels like miles, we’re both sweating through our clothes and you still haven’t told me what you need my help for. Not that I’m able to turn back now anyway, because this forest is completely knocking out my sense of direction — Friday, where are we?”. He tapped the glasses that he had taken out of his pocket while he had been speaking.
Friday hummed softly before speaking; “You’re about sixty miles south of Boende in Salong National Park, Democratic Republic of Congo in Central Africa”.
“That’s the where, here’s the why” Stephen said pointedly, then held his arm out to the side with his palm open. Tony recognized it as a gesture to look that way and turned his head. Apparently, he had been too caught up in his own annoyance and self-pity that he had completely missed the large variety of noises nearby. His jaw dropped to leave his mouth hanging agape at the sight in front of him. The small, somewhat open area was trimmed and cleaned, decorated neatly with an assortment of both colorful and playful toys and tools. He could spot at least three wooden bowls on the ground, and two more suspended higher up in the trees. The thick branches and many hanging vines made the area somewhat secluded from the rest of the forest.
And there was birds. On the ground, in the bushes, propped on the branches, and clinging to the vines. At least two dozen birds of different sizes and colors, all prancing and picking and chattering with each other or amongst themselves. He didn’t have time to ask the question before Stephen apparently read his mind.
“Paradise birds — or more accurately, birds of paradise — at least some of them” he said, taking a few steps forward to check the bowls and refilled them with fresh water with the wave of his hand. Which was surprising, but very handy, and definitely not explainable by even the most advanced science. “I admittedly don’t know the species for half of them”. He sounded almost a bit disappointed in himself.
“Sssooo?” Tony drawled, looking at the sorcerer. That still didn’t answer the question of what Stephen needed help with. Helping did not mean ‘come join me in looking at birds’. They were pretty, sure, but they didn’t seem to be in any need of either protection or care. The wizard had taken care of that, most definitely.
“Over here” Stephen said, nodding his head toward an area that Tony hadn’t noticed at first. He followed when Stephen started walking, being careful not to step on anything be shouldn’t be stepping on — such as a bowl or a bird. They stopped after barely a few meters, and Tony was greeted by a remarkable sight. One brightly orange bird was restlessly pacing next to a black and blue one that was huddled up inside an indentation in the ground. They exchanged a soft touch of their beaks, before chirping brightly when they noticed Stephen.
“Is it hurt?” Tony asked, kneeling donw to the ground. Stephen kneeled next to him.
“It’s a female, and she’s not hurt,” he said, reaching out to pick the blue bird up and cradled it in his hands. “She’s a new mama”. Tony noticed his face lighting up as he said that, and looked down at the ground. Much like Stephen had said, three little chicklets were looking blearily up at them, as if they had been sleeping and was rudely awoken when the wizard had picked up their mother.
Tony blinked. “Why are they so..?”
“Naked?” Stephen provided.
“I was going to say ugly, but yeah, that”. Stephen looked at Tony as if he had just personally insulted him.
“It’s because they hatched yesterday, asshole” he said, glaring a last dagger before he turned his attention back to the chicklets. He adjusted the hold of the mother, who cooed softly, and reached into his robes to retrieve what was apparently some kind of baby bird food. He held it just above the babies’ heads and they nipped at his fingers before swallowing down the food.
Stephen sighed deeply, and Tony could tell that something was bothering him. “I don’t know how long I’ll be gone, and everyone I know is either busy or unable to help. I wasn’t sure if you would come if I had told you in the call, and you’re my last resort”. Tony waited for Stephen to continue, knowing that there was a question coming. He wasn’t sure if he would like it. He saw Stephen pressing his lips together. “I really hate to ask, but I need a babysitter”.
Tony’s mouth dropped open. “You’re asking me to watch a bunch of birds?”.
“Yes” Stephen responded lowly, seemingly not wanting to look at Tony.
“But they have a mother-” Tony complained, pointing with his full hands at the chicklets nuzzling up close to each other in the little pit they were sitting in.
“Yes, me” Stephen said abruptly, turning his head far too quickly to be healthy. He glared at Tony, but there was distress in his voice that Tony hadn’t heard from him before. “I’m their mother and I’m responsible for them. I need to make sure that they don’t get hurt or worse while I’m gone. Please Tony, I have no one else to turn to, and I don’t know what I would do if anything happened to them”.
Tony realized that Stephen was genuinely worried about the small lives in front of them. He had never seen the wizard in such obvious distress even when they were trapped on an unknown planet awaiting their certain doom. He was always stoic and distant, which was something that Tony had appreciated about him back then. Now though, his colorful eyes were glossy, and tony could see that he was clenching his jaw in preparation for what response he would receive.
Tony sighed in defeat. “Okay, fine, I’ll watch them” he said, and Stephen exhaled with apparent relief. It was an understatement to say that Tony wasn’t prepared for the sideways one-armed hug he received, but he didn’t see any reason to complain about it. Seeing some gratefulness from the douchebag wizard was a nice change of pace, and something he actually appreciated. “But you’ll have to tell me what I need to do, because I might have a kid of my own, but I’m clueless in this area”.
Stephen quickly let go and not-so-subtly rubbed his eyes with the heel of his palm. “You shouldn’t have to worry about keeping the chicks warm, as Nova will take care of that — or so I hope — but they need to be well fed and protected from dangers once they learn to walk. Do not under any circumstances let them wander outside of the boundaries”, he set the blue female down and picked and patted at the ground a bit around what Tony only just now realized was a bird nest. “If she doesn’t keep them warm, it’s a problem, because that most likely means she’s not interested in raising them anymore, and that will severely lower their chances of survival”.
“Warmth, food, safety — got it” Tony spoke up before Stephen could dive any deeper into the hole he was digging for himself. “All the baby essentials, shouldn’t be too hard”. Although, he highly doubted that he would be able to apply his experience with taking care of Morgan to taking care of these tiny baby birds. They were about ten sizes smaller than a human baby, and drastically different.
“Everything you need will be at the Sanctum. Tan or George can show you the way back if you don’t remember it”. Stephen rose to his feet and brushed off his pants from dust. Tony followed suit, and was startled when the parrot from before settled onto his shoulder with a squawk. “Again, thank you. I’ll owe you a lot after this”.
Tony watched the wizard gather himself back up into his usual stoicness. “Now I better be off before they come looking for me” he said, giving a brief nod of his head, and then he was gone behind the trees. Tony looked down at the nest, watching the blue mother bird nuzzle the orange one, who was supposedly her mate. He sat down with his legs crossed and propped his chin up with his palm.
“Well, maybe you’re not so ugly after all” he mumbled, reaching for a few scattered corns of babyfood that Stephen had apparently dropped in his haste. He held them over the babies’ heads and they appreciatively nipped and swallowed them down, then looked at him with large, curious eyes. “You’re actually kind of cute” he admitted, moving his hand to carefully rub his index finger against the middle one’s neck. It squinted and chirped in what Tony could only describe as an odd sense of delight.