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Tony was wandering along the road, no destination in mind. He didn't feel any desire to get back to work, although he probably should -he had some deadlines due shortly. Thankfully, he'd had the forethought of clearing his schedule as soon as he'd been informed of the Accords meeting of this morning. They could range from awfully short to dreadfully long, with no way to know which day would be which. Either way, these meetings were draining. Tony couldn't stand these stuffy old men arguing uselessly. He could swear some of them disagreed for the sake of being contrary -which admitedly, was something Tony himself was sometimes guilty of, but being on the other side felt endlessly frustrating.
So he had taken his car for a spin as soon as the meeting had concluded. Hoping to clear his head, he'd driven aimlessly until the claustrophic feeling had gotten too much and he had stopped in the nearest parking space available. He wasn't sure where he was but at least he had ended up in a decent neighborhood.
"Yes, I agree, it's definitely in this area." He heard a smooth baritone voice as a tall man passed him by.
Tony did not spare the man a second glance but readjusted his cap and sunglasses in an attempt to make sure no one would recognize him.
"The houses here are older, richer. They're more likely to hold items passed from generations to generations than the neighborhood over. Good call. We might hit the jackpot before Wong."
Well, that was a weird conversation. Although Tony could hardly judge. Also, who was that guy talking to? He hadn't seen a phone.
Despite himself, he slowed down, curious to hear the rest.
"Wait, this one? Really?" A pause. "Hum, maybe. It's a good candidate, definitely worth a look inside."
Was Tony so jaded that his first thought was that the man was a burglar when there could be a perfectly acceptable explanation? Like, maybe an interest in history or a realtor looking for his next acquisition? Still, he was mildly concerned so he pretended to nonchalantly look at his phone as he came to a stop. He knew better than to look back and gawk at a potential criminal. He heard a knock not far from where he was.
"Doesn't look like anyone's home." The man declared dejectedly after a minute of silence. So not a burglar, then?
"What, right now? In broad daylight? Are you insane?" The man was whispering furiously in an attempt to not draw attention but the sound carried to Tony all the same. "You do realise that breaking and entering is a practice generally frowned upon, yeah?"
Well, it seemed Tony wasn't overreacting after all. He tensed with anticipation. "Fine, fine. I do want to find it first. But if I end up in a cell again, you'll be the one to take the blame when Wong inevitably ends up learning about it." Another pause. "Right, as long as we're in agreement." Right, now was his cue, before the wannabe criminal had the time to make any damage to a poor innocent's house.
It was just his luck that Tony didn't even have his armor -he wasn't prepared to handle criminal activity right now. At this point, Tony should just carry it everywhere he went. He'd work on something when he got back. At least the man didn't look particurlarly dangerous, though looks could be deceiving.
He turned, only to find an empty space. "Shit." He hadn't thought the man would have been so fast and he'd been so focused on not being made that he didn't know which house the criminal was intending to hit. That was a rookie mistake and Tony was thankful Natasha was not here to witness it -she would have been wholly unimpressed.
Oh well. It could only be one of the two houses on his left, based on where the voice had originated. The first one did not bear signs of forced entry and when he looked through the window, nothing seemed out of place so he moved to the second. When he arrived in front of the door, he found no signs of forced entry either but he saw movement inside. He tried opening the door only to find it unlocked -probably how the burglar entered so fast.
Tony stepped through the threshold cautiously and cleared every room he came across as quickly and silently as possible -which was still too slow to his taste. So far, no sign of any intruders.
He whipped his head up the stairs when he heard a series of loud crashes from upstairs.
"Dammit, we're already breaking and entering, there was no need to break anything in the process." The man from earlier sounded exasperated as though he had no part in crashing anything, despite being alone this whole time. "At least I found what we were looking for, so-"
The step Tony was on creaked loudly as he put his weight on it. He froze.
"What was that?" The man sounded much more cautious and Tony swore in his head. So much for taking him by surprise. He looked up, trying to see if the man was going to check the stairs or not. He saw only a flash of red, like a curtain floating in the wind, but no man. Tony held on his sigh of relief.
"Alright, let's get out before I get arrested. Again." The burglar sounded much more rushed and added a bit guiltily. "Hopefully the owner won't hate me too much for the mess."
Shit! Tony abandoned all pretense of discretion and rushed up the stairs. He emerged on a floor devoid of presence seconds later. He carefully sidestepped a clutter of metallic trinkets and books, no doubt from an overturned pile that had swepped most objects from the desk. Tony swore to himself as he checked thouroughly through each room, to no avail. In the end, he had to admit it to himself. Somehow the man had given him the slip.
Tony sighed, a headache already beginning to bloom at his temples. He could already tell this was going to be a pain to deal with. He groaned, not eager to face Pepper. She was going to murder him.
"FRI, call the police. And Pepper."
"Boss, the police has been alerted to suspicious activity downtown." FRIDAY announced out of the blue one evening in the lab. "I think it might be of interest to you."
Tony stopped tinkering on his suit to look at a low-quality photo of a dark alley -obviously from a cheap security camera. There was nothing notable about it.
"What am I looking at here, FRI?"
In response she zoomed on a patch of darker wall, which upon closer inspection looked like a drawing of symbols of some kind in a circle. Tony wasn't sure exactly why a random tag would possibly interest him and waiting for an explanation.
"This symbol has popped up in two other places in New-York this past week, all in places that have seen unrest this month."
"So what, you think that's a sign for a gang that has claimed that territory or something? A bit complicated for a call sign, but someone must feel fancy." Tony went back to working on fixing his suit, already disinterested in the subject. "You know I don't intervene with those, right? Give me the locations though, I will tell kid to stay clear of the areas you pinpointed."
"This was not the interesting part, Boss." Ouch, FRIDAY sounded annoyed. He hadn't meant to hurt her feelings. "This is."
At her words, she rewinded the still picture to a couple minutes earlier. There was a man in the alley carefully drawing the circle and the symbols. Tony couldn't see what he was drawing them with -the quality was that low-, but he made short work of it. When he was finished, he stood there and a bright light filled the screen like a flash grenade had been dropped. When the light dissipated, the man was already leaving the scene. FRIDAY paused the video as the man's faced appeared clearly in the video.
"Alright, I stand corrected. This is interesting."
The image was grainy, but Tony was certain of it. He'd only glanced at him briefly, not enough to picture his face but enough to recognize him -that was the same man from the breaking and entering of two months prior. That whole thing had been an embarassment. He'd been lucky nobody had thought it credible that a billionaire would try to steal from a random house before calling the cops on himself, because the man had left no evidence behind him to corroborate Tony's story. Especially since the owner reported no objects missing, despite the burglar's declaration of having found what he had been looking for.
But now, maybe Tony could find out what had been going on. He let a predatory smile grow. "Hello there, Tall, Dark and Handsome. Let's find out who you are."
Over the next two hours, Tony fidgeted, unable to really focus on what he was doing as FRIDAY scanned whatever resources she had access to to identify the criminal.
"Boss, I've got a hit on your mystery man."
Tony dropped his wrench and sat straighter in his chair. Finally. "Spill everything."
"Stephen Strange, 38 years old. Former neurosurgeon, a very successful one, until he had a car accident that resulted in permanent nerve damage in his hands, a disability that forced him to retire early. He did multiple surgeries -all unsuccessful it would seem- and drained his finances. No adress or phone registered under his name up to date. Arrested once for assault resulting in unconsciousness three months ago."
As FRI listed the information she found, Tony's eyebrows crept higher higher and in bafflement. Whatever he had expected, it was not that. "He did mention an arrest. What happened?"
"He was released the next day when the victim woke up claiming to have no memory of the altercation and a witness came forward, saying Strange did not land the first blow. When asked if he would like to pursue legal action against his apparent attacker, Strange declined."
Well, it was getting stranger and stranger -pun intended. "Hit me with everything you know about him."
As Tony read whatever FRIDAY could find on this guy -how brilliant his work was, how respected his work was, how his bedside manner sucked but hardly anybody complained because he was a miracle worker and how his accident had really been a descent into hell before he vanished, homeless and penniless-, a picture formed in his mind. The disability, the despair it brought, the lack of funds and the loss of self would make Strange an easy prey for all sorts of unfavorable people. Maybe they had promised money for additional surgeries or he owed them that money, but Tony was pretty sure a man like Strange, a respected surgeon who seemed to take his Hippocratic vow seriously, would not take to the life of crime voluntarily.
"I can't help you."
Tony's hopes were dashed. He had hoped that Christine Palmer, Stephen's colleague and co-creator of a revolutionary technique, could shed some light on the former surgeon's behavior. Or at the very least, some indication of where he was staying.
"Are you sure?" He insisted. "It's really important that I reach him."
"I'm sure." Doctor Palmer said firmly, arching an unimpressed eyebrow. "Why do you want to see him, again? I can't recall."
Right. He'd stayed vague on the reason on purpose. He didn't know what was going on with Stephen Strange exactly and he didn't know what reason was more likely to sway Doctor Palmer to his side. Now, having met her, he guessed the no-nonsense woman was loyal and wouldn't jeopardize her former colleague. He also had the intuition any lie he could come up with wouldn't fly with her, which left only an explanation close enough to the truth.
"I think he could be in trouble. I'm just trying to help him." Tony said earnestly. That much wasn't a lie. The eventual legal repercussions, he'd deal with after having found Strange. Tony was ready to put the best lawyers from SI to help that man.
She hesitated, making Tony believe she was might spill something. But then an alarm sounded and her pager bipped, making her swear under her breath. "Look, I'm sorry I can't help you. I haven't had contact with him for more than a year and a half. You should go." She then ducked into a room that became a flurry of organized chaos as they strived to bring back some patient from the dead.
Tony sighed. He'd had little hope of it working but he had expected more results nonetheless.
"She's lying, you know."
It was a near thing but Tony managed not to jump at the unexpected interjection. He turned to the woman who had just adressed him. "Sorry?"
The woman working on the computer beckoned him with a sign and an air of conspiracy that promised gossip. "Doctor Palmer. She saw Doctor Strange much more recently than she's claiming."
"Oh?" Tony kept his tone light and inviting, hiding his excitement to not scare a potential source of information. "Why would she lie?"
"Well, she's Doctor Strange's ex for starters. They were together on and off for years. Even when they weren't together, they remained close." She whispered loudly in confession. "Well, except for the past year and a half. You see, they had a falling out some time after his accident. You know about his accident, right?" She continued, barely waiting for Tony's nod of confirmation. "Dreadful stuff, it was. He had such a promising career too. Such a waste. Anyway, he became insufferable after learning he wouldn't operate ever again. He was pretty well liked before, you know? Or maybe not liked," she amended, "But extremely respected, and it was deserved. He was the best of the best, for sure."
"And the falling out?" Tony prompted, trying to get the chattering nurse back on the right track.
"Oh yeah, it was ugly. Real ugly. It was a weird ambiance in the hospital, too. Even Doctor West was affected and Doctor Strange and him, they hated each other." She rambled. Tony was starting to wonder whether she had any real information or if it was just an excuse to gossip. "But Doctor Palmer was the most affected. She's the one that helped him after the accident, you know? Groceries, cooking, cleaning, all the things he couldn't handle anymore while he was recovering." The nurse affected a sad expression. "It was killing her to see Doctor Strange like that. One day, she stopped going to his place completely. She refused to talk about it. Nobody knows what happened, but it was bad enough she didn't see Doctor Strange until seven month ago."
Oh, maybe there was some valuable information in the middle of her babble. "What happened seven month ago?"
She smiled connivingly. "Oh, you're lucky I'm here. It's all a bit hush-hush, you know?" She made a show of looking around to make sure no one was listening. "You see, Doctor Strange came back to the hospital most unexpectedly, yelling for Doctor Palmer. The first nurse he came across didn't recognize him, she was new, you know? Which is probably why most of the hospital still doesn't know about it." Tony resisted raising an eyebrow in disbelief -somehow, with how this nurse was gossiping, he doubted that was the case. "But I was there that day, I saw them, you know? He had changed -he grew facial hair and he was wearing strange clothes- but I recognized him. And he was covered in blood, barely able to stay upright, the poor thing. Doctor Palmer led him to a private room so I don't know what happened after. All I know is that he'd been stabbed, somehow got himself here and then disappeared like he was never there. And Doctor Palmer, she asked us both to sweep it under the rug, so to speak. But if you ask me, something wasn't right, you know? Doctor Palmer was scared for days after that. Poor thing jumped at the smallest noise, and she's really not a skittish person usually, you know?"
Interesting. And that lent credence to his gang theory. People from gangs get stabbed all the time. And Doctor Palmer's behavior aligned with someone trying to protect a loved one going down the wrong path while simultanously fearing bad things happening to them.
And damn his bleeding heart, as he only knew the man by proxy, but Tony kind of wanted to save Strange as well. The more he learned about the man, the more intrigued he was. It'd be a real shame if a brilliant man like him got taken out by a rival gang.
Tony was not having a good time. Somehow he ended up fighting a slimy looking thing in Central Park alone. In addition to being a slobblering mess that left some kind of secretions everywhere -including on his person-, this monstuosity seemed impervious to his attacks as well. Tony was clever and adaptable, but nothing had worked so far and he was quickly running out of ideas. He loathed to get out the bigger guns in the middle of the city as there might still be some cilivians left.
He heard a swishing sound and Tony heart skipped a beat. If there were more...
"I'll take it from here, Stark." A confident voice sounded from behind him and Tony could swear he'd heard it before. "It's not malicious, only lost."
A man Tony recognized -from having embarrassingly spent too much time looking at him in photos- stepped in front of him. Strange was dressed strangely -pun not intended- but it looked fitting on him. He made a series of movements with his hands and a gold rope appeared around the slimy thing, restraining it.
"Shhh," Strange kindly soothed the writhing creature. "You're alright, I'm gonna take you home. No one's gonna hurt you, I promise."
The thing seemed to calm down slightly as Strange made a circle in the air and a glowing portal appeared. He gently dropped the creature on the other side before releasing it. It made strident cries of happiness as the portal closed.
Tony blinked. Had it really happened?
"So... Magic then?" Tony said after a short silence, trying to rearrange all his preconceived notions of the man and attempting to reconcile his knowledge of physics with what he had witnessed.
Strange jumped slightly, seemingly having forgotten Tony was here. Rude. As if Tony was forgettable. "Yeah."
"Huh. So the house you stole from- ?" Tony enquired, hoping the other man would fill out the blank.
Strange studied him intensely. "A cursed object had been located in the area. I've simply retrieved it before any victim fell to its thrall."
"You don't seem surprised I know about that." Tony wondered suspisciouly.
"The Cloak recognized you." Strange admitted like that sentence made sense.
The cloak? Tony blinked slowly when said piece of garment cheekily waved a corner at him. Right, sentient cloak, how silly of him to expect otherwise.
"Right." A pause. "And the symbols you've left all other town?"
This time Strange blinked in surprise. "I've been purifying those areas. Violent energies were leaking from some fissures to another dimension. The fissure had closed, but the energies remained and were causing agressive behaviors." Yeah, Tony was gonna have so many follow-up questions, but that could wait. "I've made sure to vanish these influences."
"What about your arrest?"
Strange chuckled lightly. "Did your research, heh?" He looked at Tony consideringly, arms crossed but attitude generally relaxed, so Tony figured he wasn't mad about it. "Possession."
"I'm actually gonna ignore you just said that." Tony shivered. That was a can of worms he did not want opened, thank you very much.
"Fair enough." Strange hesitated. "Christine mentioned you thought I needed help. I'm curious. What conclusion did you come to?"
Tony blushed, slightly embarrassed. He'd been completely mistaken in his deductions and would rather not admit it.
"Does it matter? Just be glad I don't have to arrest you." The B&E could be swept under the rug, if the police was even still investigating, which Tony doubted. "I'd have given you my best lawyers, but it's a relief to not have to do that."
Strange smirked, a dangerous glint in his eyes. "Oh, it's on. I will get it out of you." Tony's heart skipped a bit at the implication.
"Dream on." He denied instead. "You'll pry the truth out of my cold, dead hands."
Strange chuckled and smiled. Oh, it was a lovely smile. It lit up his whole face. "Still, that's very sweet of you, the lawyer thing. And entirely unexpected."
"I resent that." Why did people always expected the worst of him?
"Oh no," Strange immediately set out to correct. "I simply meant that your job is to arrest criminals, nobody would expect you to care about them all."
Alright, Strange was forgiven. "Maybe you're just special."
"Careful, some people say it's dangerous to stroke my ego, as it's already too big." Strange playfully retorted. "I disagree, of course."
"Of course." Tony agreed easily. Egos were meant to be flattered.
Strange smile softened. "You know, the press pegs you as careless and selfish. I don't know why. Ten minutes with you were enough for Christine to doubt that narrative. I can clearly see you care as well. You're a considerate person, Stark."
Tony's heart fluttered, oddly touched. "Tony, please."
"Then call me Stephen."