Bodega Girl

Strange Tidings

"Mr. Stark, a portal has opened in the main room."

"Thank you, Friday. Bruce keep monitoring the satellites while I go greet our guest."

Doctor Stephen Strange stands in the middle of the room, arms crossed, his face radiating both disappointment and anger.

"Strange." Tony nods as he walks over to the bar, pulls out two glasses filling each with two fingers of Scotch.

"Why wasnt I called in earlier? She's been here for three weeks!" He says accepting the drink from Tony. "We go through this ever time. Science and Sorcery are not enemies. They are symbiotic."

"Jury's still out on that one, Doctor, but I will admit we are at a loss right now. Bucky is helping them, so they are staying below radar and Dracula isn't using his magic. Thor refuses to help us which means we dont have the all-seeing eye of Heimdall. Steve has been surprisingly not forthcoming. We need your help."

"If I had been called when she first appeared, we wouldn't be in this situation."

"Well, you're here now. Are you willing to help us?"

Strange downs the Scotch. "Of course."

They walk back to the lab and Tony turns to Strange. "You're going to love your movie. It's really quite good. It explains a lot."

"Movie?"

"When she arrived, she rambled on about how none of us were real. That we were only characters in comic books and movies. I thought she was crazy until I saw this." Tony makes a few sweeping motions and an image of the phone appears in front of Strange. Tony scrolls through the files until he lands on the one entitled Doctor Strange.

"Benedict? I'm portrayed by a man named Benedict Cumberbatch?" Strange shakes his head.

"The resemblance is uncanny." remarked Tony as he starts the movie. Strange is dumbfounded.

"It's like a film crew followed me throughout my life." Strange gasps as he watches himself perform surgery.

"Yea, it's pretty creepy. I actually appear in several of them. I'm a star." Tony says with a touch of pride.

"Do they only show things that have already happened?" Strange asks.

"It appears so, but I can tell she deleted some files. There are other film titles here, but that's just it. I was able to extract the titles, but she did a good job of deleting the films themselves. I do know she was legitimately happy to see me, almost relieved. It makes me wonder what's in those other movies."

"What are their names?"

"Thor:Ragnarök, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: End Game"

Strange's ears perk up. "Did you say Infinity War?"

"Yes, what is it, Strange?"

"The Infinity Stones." He begins to pace the room talking more to himself than to Tony. "But, they have been scattered over realms and dimensions. It cannot be." Strange whirls on Tony. "When she was found floating that night when Loki took her, was there a red fog around her?"

"Yes." Tony says startled. It's rare that Strange is rattled and it concerns him. "But her eyes were black. What are you getting at?"

"I know where all the Infinity Stones are except for one – the Reality Stone. It has become urgent that we get her back to the compound. She isn't the danger, Tony, she's IN danger."

"Well right now, Cap and Nat are refusing to talk. They don't trust me."

"I wonder why?"

"Perhaps you can talk to them. Make them see sense. I'll try to get Thor to return, or maybe Bruce can. He likes him."
~~~~~~~~~
Bucky and Gabe play cards while Loki is making progress with Mickie's training.