Tragic Hope

02

Sanctum Sanctorum, New York City

Doctor Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts, walked down the main steps of the Sactum with Wong.

Doctor Strange, dressed in casual American clothes, said, "Seriously? You don't have any money?"

Wong, dressed as he always was, replied, "Attachment to the material is detachment from the spiritual."

"I'll tell the guys at the deli." He added wryly, "Maybe they'll make you a metaphysical ham on rye."

"Oh, wait, wait, I think I have 200."

"Dollars?"

"Rupees."

"Which is?"

"Uh, buck and a half."

"I wouldn't say no to a tuna melt."

Bruce crash-landed through the Sanctum stairs. The Cloak of Levitation swirled around Doctor Strange's shoulders immediately.

Bruce, out of breath, warned, "Thanos is coming. He's coming..."

Doctor Strange, sharing a look with Wong, fully in his mage attire, asked, "Who?"

PUBLIC PARK - NEW YORK CITY - DAY

Tony and Pepper were walking in the midst of their conversation.

"Slow down, slow down," Tony said. "I'm totally not kidding."

Pepper laughed silently and spoke over him. "You're totally rambling."

Tony spoke over her. "No, I'm not."

"Lost me."

"Look, you know you're having a dream, and in the dream you gotta pee?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, and then you're like, 'Oh my God, there's no bathroom, what am I gonna do', 'Oh! Someone's watching'. 'm gonna go in my pants.'"

"Right. And then you wake up, and in real life you actually have to pee."

"Yes."

"Yeah. Everybody has that."

"Right! That's the point I'm trying to make Apropos of that, last night, I dreamt, we had a kid. So real. We named him after your eccentric uncle. Uh, what was his name?"

Pepper nodded in understanding. "Right."

"Morgan! Morgan."

"So you woke up, and thought that we were..."

"Expecting."

"Yeah."

Tony got excited. "Yes?"

Pepper shook her head. "No."

"I had a dream about it. It was so real."

"If you wanted to have a kid, you wouldn't have done that." She untied his jacket sleeves and tapped Tony's attachment."

"I'm glad you brought this up, 'cause it's nothing. It's just a housing unit for nano particles."

"It's not helping your case, okay?"

"No, no, it's an attachment, it's not -"

Pepper spoke insistently. "You don't need that."

"I know. I had the surgery. I'm just trying to protect us. The future uses, and that's it. Just in case there's a monster in the closet, instead of, you know..."

"Shirts?"

"You know me so well. You finish all my sentences."

"You should have shirts in your closet."