Your Friendly Black Cat

by hkmf2012

Summary:

ironstrangeprompts

Prompt #1364

 

Tony's newly adopted black cat is actually a very powerful time-traveling wizard who has come from a future that was destroyed by the Mad Titan's quest. Now he's here to help Tony prevent their world from going down the same path again.

Right, almost forgot: Tony doesn't actually know any of this, except for the part where his cat is way too smart to be a normal cat. And an asshole. And strangely affectionate of him.

Suggested by @hayanwulf

 

origin from Tumblr

Notes:

• For infiniteeight.

Hi! I have a rough idea how I want to this but I would be happy if you have suggestion to add!

What trouble Stephen would make for Tony in future!

Chapter 1: Isis The Black Cat

In another world at a New Year's Eve party in 1999, Tony would meet 2 scientist that in the end wouldn’t get they want from him and make a disaster in a decade who iron man would dissolve it; but in this one when Tony went out to a balcony to have some fresh air beside running away from his dissatisfactory company he meet something (someone) who changed his life: a black cat!

***

Rhodey saw Isis the black cat for the first time in Dec 2001. He had come back from his tour in the Middle east for the first time in 3 years. He had heard from Happy and Pepper that Tony is better at taking care of himself recently, and if what they had said could be believed, it was all thanks to his new black cat and it's weird behaviour.

After a reunion full of friendly hitting and lots of hugs, Tony directs Rhodry to the living room, but before he could sit on his favourite sofa something black from nowhere reached there and with a smug face sat there. The pilot watched the cat with a bemused stare.

“Oh that sofa is for Isis and his favourite person, that is me Rhodey! Unfortunately you should sit at that uncomfortable armchair you gifted me as housewarming.”

His traitor friend said this while sitting beside his cat with a similar smug face. Rhodey shook his head and sat on his gift. “Just you Tony could find a cat that is as annoying as you! Wait what did you say his name is? Isis? Where did you get this name from?”

“First I didn’t name him, he did it himself, and to answer your second question it’s from Star Trek.”

“What did you mean he named himself?” Tony while caressing behind his cat ears answered, “ Well at first I wanted to name him The Cat but he didn’t answer it so I called him Black but it wasn’t satisfactory either. So I began to call him by random name but it wasn’t effective. One day I was bingeing StarTerk, and reached the last episode of season 2 with time travel, when this menace came to me at that moment and pointed to TV. So he is Isis from then.”

Chapter 2: It Or He

From the first moment Sir adopted the black cat, it was under Jarvis watchful eyes or if you want to be literal under his lens. The cat was Strange. And if you ask Jarvis or even Sir they would say its behaviour is not like any other cat.

The first sign was it not using the litter box. Sir had used every trick in the book but at the end of the day, his cat would use one of the remote bathrooms in the mansion to do his business.

Or its eating behaviour. At first it was Sir who because of his lab time, going to parties every other night and rare meetings, couldn’t provide sufficient food for the cat but when it fainted on him 3rd. Weeks of living in Malibu with them, he made an automatic filler that would alert him when its storage is empty.

Then it was the cat which made everything complicated with not eating its food. At first didn’t notice this until Jarvis mentioned he hadn't refilled the feeder in 5 days. When he investigated, he found it lethargic near the lab's door. Mr. Stark thought it was because he didn't like the test that he didn’t eat. But when he changed it several times and the result was similar he sat down in front of the cat and asked, “why don’t you eat?”

It raised its head slowly and then looked at Tony then turned its head to the lab and at last toward the kitchen and then put its head down. “Sir I think it wants to eat with you or it wouldn’t eat till you eat too.”

“Nice one J-”, he didn’t finish his word because the cat this time raised his paw to confirm Jarvis' words. Sir with wide eyes looked at his cat and then went to the kitchen, and after some search he had found a bag of chips and came back. After he opened it and began to eat, the cat went to his dish and slowly began to eat.

“J, say to Happy to go to the grocery and do some shopping for me, and do it regularly from now on weekly. If he could cook for me sometimes and I would raise his salary by 10% and ….” here he paused for a second and then, “if I forgot to eat after 12 hrs remind me.”

“Of course Sir!”

***

It didn’t finish with food. Sir had one night stands twice a week. His first night stand after the adopting was interrupted with his cat which wouldn’t stop meowing! And because his cat was more important, Sir sent back his date. But when it repeated with more of his dates (not all of them), he left with his date one night to come back home to video of his sex spreading like fire.

He was depressed and desperate to forget about the whole problem so he began to drink heavily that week, a raid by Happy who was instructed by Jarvis to this was the thing which kept Sir dying from alcohol poisoning, that and cat determination to break any Vodka bottle Sir opened without being seen.

After the whole ordeal Sir sat at the lab's table, “J, do me a favour and investigate all of my dates who my cat didn’t like.”

“I had already done it with what happened last week.”

“And the result?”

“6 were new Journal’s reporters, especially some of the celebrity gossip ones. 5 went to those journals to sell their unsuccessful night stories, 3 were spies of some sort. What remains are nights you were so intoxicated that  when you woke up the next day, you wouldn’t remember last night.”

“Ok! What the heck? How? Does he have a 6th. Sense? Should I take him to parties to choose my date?”

“Probably its better you don’t go to parties that much, Sir.”

“Are you mocking me? My own creation! How hurtful.”

Sir all those things but there was a small smile on his face. After that he decreased his outgoings and his playboy behaviour.

***

So all of this caused Jarvis to think this little creature is more than what eyes (lens) could see. So one day after the cat had accepted his name as Isis, Jarvis said, “You understand human language, don’t you?”

Isis, which was looking at the sea from behind one of the giant windows, tilted its head toward one of Jarvis’s cams. “If Sir heard me now he would think I was hacked.” when it shook his head to the right and left Jarvis with more confidence said, “you are more than a cat.”

Jarvis could swear he saw a smirk on Isis’s face especially because a fang was seen. It lowered its head to confirm what Jarvis said. Probably Jarvis should begin to call isis a him in his codes.

Chapter 3: Attack!

Stane could blame it on many things but in the end he had done this to himself because he had forgotten who the real Tony Stark was under his grooming.

In his defence Tony’s changes in behaviour was so gradual that he didn’t see it till it was late to prevent it and after that it would be more suspicious to criticise someone with a clear and sober mind or compel him to do his bidding like what he wants.

So he resigned himself to do his under table selling so much harder, but he wasn’t worried because in the end of the day he was Tony’s beloved godfather who was there for him when no one was and he would do all of Tony’s boring meeting for him so his position was solid and nothing could endanger it, then he went to that damn mansion in Malibu!

It was an unwritten rule between Stane and Tony that Tony would design and make any request Obie had on this condition that he didn’t intrude on Tony’s privacy in Malibu, though he had broken this law sometimes, it was always under disguise personal matter but in the end was related to work so he had informed Tony each time before going there.

But it was November 4 2004 and his favourite president would remain in white house so he could sell more weapons to 2 sides of conflict on 2 different fronts and nothing was better than this. So he decided to surprise his golden goose with celebratory champagne and some Pizza. What he didn’t know was that he was going to his biggest enemy that day too.

 ***

Jarvis, like always, was watching, so he saw the moment Isis noticed who was coming in the living room. In last years every time Mr. Stane came to Mansion, Sir had requested from Miss Potts to take Isis out to have some fresh air, but because this time he had come without announcement, Sir didn't have the chance to do it.

So when Isis’ mismatched eyes landed on Mr. Stane did something that he didn’t do till then. It began with a hissing sound which soon turned to a deep rumble in his chest and then he outright growl at him, before Sir’s godfather could turn to Sir, Isis jumped from couch to Mr. Stane chest to claw his face; sir who watched this scene unfold in front of him with wide eyes and open mouth with his godfather’s scream and curses came to himself and went to separate them.

“What the- Ow Ow OW, get this little demon from me! Why- Ay Ay there is a wild anima –” before Isis could take out Mr. Stane’s eye from his socket Sir (un)fortunately succeeds in detaching his cat from him.

***

After calling Happy to take Obie Obadiah to a hospital after a lecture about choosing better pets, Tony sat in his quiet lab and stared at his strange cat. A pair of blue and green eyes stared back.

“You know, at first I didn’t want him to see you because I knew he would make me leave you at a shelter but after  I found out about your sixth sense about people I had unconsciously kept you away from him because deep down I knew there was something wrong about our relationship. It was like I always knew he was toxic but I thought as long as he was family it didn’t matter except I was wrong.”

Tony sighed and then looked at one of the cams in selling, “J, began a comprehensive search through all of Mr. Stane’s business.”

“Of course, Sir.”

Chapter 4

The first time Pepper saw the black cat, she didn’t know what to think about it. She was Tony’s PA for about 2 years and she thought there wasn’t anything he could do that would surprise her, but she was wrong.

The morning after New Year’s Eve, Pepper didn’t find Tony in his hotel room, nor in the bed of any of last night's guests. Finally it was Happy who called her phone and told her that Tony was in a vet office. “What? Why are you there?”

“Apparently the boss had found a stray cat and he wanted to keep it.”

“Are you joking?”

“I wish! The cat has a creepy stare with those blue and green eyes.”

***

That was then, after that Pepper was introduced to it officially in the afternoon of the same day. Pepper wanted to begin her rant about responsibility for a pet, and how that is opposite of Tony’s lifestyle now. But one to Tony’s bright eyes, which seeing them outside of his lab was rare, and the stray's tense form was enough for her to swallow her words and instead with a smile offered her cat sitting services.

Something that Tony used to its full capacity.

But the strange thing was, in following years every time she was in Malibu with both of them, she would sense the black cat eyes on herself, like it is analysing her or if she wanted to give in Tony’s delusional theory of his cat super intelligence, it looked at her with envy like he was jealous she could do human things with Tony like speaking or bantering. But it was all in her head.

But even if it was right, Isis had nothing to be jealous of because it did human things with Tony in his cat way, ,she could swear, one time she saw them bicker, Tony in grunts because he had just woke up and he didn’t have his morning coffee yet, and Isis in hisses because possibly Tony had one of his binges and didn’t take care of himself. They were like an old married couple in Pepper mind.

Aside from all of this, Isis was a good addition to Tony’s household because it improved almost all aspects of Tony’s life. There was no problem because she was there for what remains which consist of his not-ending paperwork and records related to SI.

So she wasn’t surprised when Tony asked him to do some research in SI headquarter in New York, what caused she to worry was Tony’s plea that she doesn’t let Obadiah get wind of it. When she asked for his reasons he just said, “let’s pray I’m just paranoid, and there isn’t anything for you to find.”

Unfortunately there was, but its tail was hidden very well, but after a 2 year search she, Jarvis and Tony had reached a rather horrifying network of selling weapons to SI’s black list that Tony had written it personally.

They were in Malibu when the last pieces of the puzzle were put in their place. Tony wanted to fly to New York at that moment and it was only Happy’s bear hug that stopped him. “What do you want to do when you get  there? Storming to Stane’s office and asking for answers? Demanding hin to transfer his shares or giving up his position?”

“I don’t know, I just have this information with passing each moment, weapons which I had designed are killing innocent people and I with their blood money are making myself a billionaire.”

“First of all Stane is the one who has all those blood money. And you are right that time is important but doing it recklessly wouldn’t help them just make it obvious you know something and that is dangerous for all of us.”

“Pep, this, all of this is killing me from inside. Making weapons for our army was bad enough for my conscience, people already call me merchant of death, what do you think they would call me if all of this came to light? What should I think of myself? This is so much over my head that I feel suffocated.”

“I-” and suddenly a high voice came from TV which was turn off till then, “I'm federal agent Jack Bauer, and today is the longest day of my life.”

In Pepper and Tony’s lose of words, Happy asked: “Jarvis why did you turn on Television right now?”

“Isis was playing with control so I thought he wants to watch something interesting.”

“And you thought “24” is a good choice?”

“He had mentioned he liked this one.”

Pepper had so many questions about this simple exchange of words that forgot all about SI and terrorists for a moment but then it hit her. “Tony, we should go to the FBI with all of this.”

Tony who was near a full melt down looked at her thoughtfully. “You know what? Things could get worse than this so let me take a breath and meantime J could find us some higher up in FBI who actually would do what is right and then we could go.’’

Chapter 5: A Set Point

Stephen was pacing in Tony’s lab, thanks Vishanti there wasn’t anyone there because for a cat doing it is weird, and he is as weird as he could be.

“Don’t worry Isis, sir will come back to us soon. It’s not the first time he went to Afghanistan.” Stephen stopped and looked at one of Jarvis’s cams. He took a deep breath and then began to tap in Morse code, “We are in 2008, and I know what happened last time he went to Afghanistan in this year.”

The sorcerer was happy in one of his summers back at Nebraska he had decided to learn Morse code to pass his time. From the day Jarvis had asked him that question, they began to have more communication. At first it was hard but then he showed Jarvis his coding and from then they have been a good team.

Although the AI didn’t trust him easily, he had asked many questions, from who he was, why did he come to his creator and how did he turn into a cat.

Explaining who he is, was easy. From there when Jarvis mentioned that there was Dr. Strange in Metro General, he explained he has time-travelled and that Dr. Strange is his double. His silence then betrayed his disbelief, so Stephen disclosed he was  a sorceress and in 10 years they would experience a catastrophe, so he came back to only one who could help him to prevent it.

And he is a cat because if there were 2 human Stephen Strange, there would be a  paradox in space-time so he should remain in this form till his human form dies in his car accident. When Jarvis pointed out there is a possibility that he could come out from that accident alive, he just shrugged. He tried not to think about that.

So they were here. Investigation in the FBI went well but before they could arrest Stane he fled but he was killed in action when they found him in his safe house. After reaching news to papers, Tony had a press conference about all of it and said after fulfilling their contracts, SI wouldn’t accept anymore weapons manufacturing one.

This journey to the Middle East was his weapon related one. And Stephen had a bad feeling about that. When infinity stones sent him to the past they said, he could do anything he wanted except changing back to his human form; because there was some set point that wouldn’t change, and deep down he knew this was one of them.

His fears turned to reality when Jarvis said with a tight voice, “You were right. Sir had been kidnapped.”

Chapter 6: Jarvis Is A Little Shit

Tony had many worries. First SI, who had a long year after what Stane had done to it and the FBI had a thorough search which left them a huge mess to clear. Then there is his kidnapping in Afghanistan that lasted 3 months with so much trauma that would keep him at night for all of his life. Furthermore there is a hole in his chest that he filled it with his version of arc reactor, there were shardes of a bomb near his heart and breathing is a work in progress for him.

But what occupies his mind is, what had happened that had made his AI and his cat mortal enemy or if he wanted to be more realistic what had Jarvis done that caused Isis to glare at him in every free moment he could find.

In his defence SI was on its way to be what it should be if he had more control from the moment he inherited it. Pepper had done splendid work as CCO and his new designs in techs were doing good and the profit was promising.

When he was captive he had a cell mate that saved his life and became his friend. If he had his phone on him he would show Yensen his secret file of Isis’ s pictures. (It’s amazing how much his cat hates taking photos and how much he loves doing it.) Unfortunately if Rhodey came one hour later he would have lost his new friend because this selfless doctor wanted to help him to run away even if it cost his life. But Rhodey came at the right moment and they were saved. (Also Rhodey and his friends in the army helped him to move his new project to the US without any fanfare.)

For his health, at first he wanted to stay away from any doctor who wasn’t Yensen and make his medical bay in Malibu; sadly having a new friend who is a good doctor and believes in having the best choices in your health matters makes making mistakes like that hard. Although if it wasn't for Isis and his hissing fit when he wanted to deny having a selected doctor over his Mansion probably it would take Dr. Ho, much longer to persuade him.

So logically the only problem without solution is the glaring problem. When he shared this with his traitor of best friend, Rhodey laughed at him for 5 minutes straight and then ended the call. Pepper rolled her eyes on him and just gave him more paperwork to sign and Happy bless his big heart stared at him then Isis who was on his lap and was enjoying his evening lap and then to J’s cam, “ You know what they say about cats being territorial, maybe he is not happy that new people is coming here. Do you remember your one night stands?”

“Yeah I remember them alright but even what you say is right, what makes the target for having new doctors here, they are coming for me not my AI.”

“Likely is related to Jarvis making the list. I don’t know boss, perhaps you should ask Jarvis.”

“Do you think I didn’t?”

J had not answered his question but he had the distant feeling that he had a smug face with a smirk toward Isis.

He looked over his list of doctors:

Dr. Wu cardiologist

Dr. Cho a specialist in regrowth of human tissue that had an idea for making a cradle

Dr. Ho his friend and one who had done the first surgery

Dr. Foster, a nurse turned doctor who had got her new major in electronic engineering and could help his doctors have a better understanding of what is it that he put in his chest.

And the last one Dr. Strange neurosurgeon with a Ph.D who has the most steady hand between his peers

Notes:

About Jane Foster, what I wrote is a mix between comics and film.

Chapter 7: Don't Underestimate Yourself

Notes:

Sorry for late update.
I had a serious case of writer block in addition of my work.
I hope you enjoy!

Stephen didn’t know what to make of Stark’s invasion of his Malibu Maison. It came on a sunday midnight after a week that he had worked 100 hours. He was only beginning his fellowship but with every passing day there were more and more cases on his table as main lead or as assistance.

On one hand it was a good chance for taking a vacation because even if Stark case really needed him and it was a serious matter, focusing on one person would free his time; on the other hand how Stark expect of him to take a leave from his job to just go to him without even presenting any medical file. How arrogant!

But before he could decide, the Dean of Metro General had chosen for him. Before leaving for California he got a message from Dean, in it he warned him to not anger Stark too much. At least he knew Stephen enough to know that he isn’t just an obedient employee. Although there was another massage from Christine. After his rant to her about Dean and Stark, she just sent him to his penthouse on a taxi from the bar near the hospital.

“Before judging him, give him a chance.” After reading that Stephen turned off his phone and his plane took off from the airport. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Deep down he knew the main reason he didn’t want to go to Stark was something else. His nightmares ( or on rare moments his dreams) of Tony Stark and Thanos the Titan and of course his accident.

 

***

 

One would think seeing yourself in your younger years would be weird but it’s just plain annoying. Thanks Vishanti it’s before winning his first award, because he remembers it was then when he began to be more arrogant.

What Stephen the cat didn’t want to confess was that he was jealous of his human one because he could do things with Tony that he couldn’t. It was correct that he had his ways of communicating with the genius but something simple like talking was what he longed for.

Now he had to watch his younger one to discuss with other doctors about their approach to Tony’s heart problem, he had found out how lonely really he is. It was like before his accident when no one was there who could understand him and the only person who he thought would be there for him had left him because he didn't know how to connect to her without undermining her personality.

Not to mention meeting his duplicates makes things complicated. Before he could persuade his death as an acceptable casualty but now he was a breathing person before him that he could see Tony liked him as a friend for now; because he could see how these 2 were attract to each other and if it wasn’t for Tony being Dr. Strange patient had made a move already.

He wished things weren’t like this.

 

***

 

Jarvis knew he had made a mistake in involving Dr. Strange in his list when he saw how down Isis is lately. He hasn’t spoken to him from the moment he saw his human form. In addition when he saw how Sir is falling in love with the surgeon … with what he knew it could not have a good end. If he could he would sigh. He was just trying to be funny but he should know his sense of humour came from whom.

The day before the main treatment began when everyone had left for the beach so he and Isis were alone. The cat was sleeping near the fireplace and was watching the fire while it was dancing. Sir knew this hobby of his cat and because he had sensed Isis was sad, he had made it to lift his spirit.

“I'm sorry I made you this uncomfortable but honestly besides teasing you, Dr. Strange is one of the best neurosurgeons that I could find, Dr. Hu had mentioned before how any mistake in new treatments has the possibility of causing nerve damage and immobility….”

Isis raised his head and turned to one of AI’s cam and began to code, “I know Jarvis, it’s not just seeing him but now I understand replacing my spirit with wouldn’t be that easy even if I didn't meet him. I’m just in a moral dilemma.”

Before Jarvis could say anything a voice said, “I don’t know, maybe you should get help from someone else.” If I had a hea I would snap it like Isis toward the source of sound. There in the frame of the door was Stephen Strange in all his glory. When he saw the Isis flag barred face he shook his own head and came in.

“It’s better to not underestimate yourself aka me in future, Isis. or should I call you Stephen?”

Notes:

By the way you could suggest next POV and what you want to see from their eyes. If I could and it was in plot I would write it.
Thanks for reading!!!!!!!!!

Chapter 8: Hi Wong!

Notes:

What do you think?
How do they reached to this point?

P.S : In your opinion what the ancient one had done to poor Wong?

Wong had reached a point of his life that nothing could startle him. Growing up to become a master of Mystic arts by the sorcerer supreme herself would do this to you. He remembers a time in his life that The ancient for punishing him would change his hair style to something hilarious for her and humiliating for him; that was the reason he learned a spell to eliminate his head of any hair.

So when there was knocking on the door of his home in Nepal, somewhere he went to meditate on what’s wrong with his adopted mother or his annoyance with new apprentices, he wiped his door's direction. Except him, just The ancient one and Mordo knew where this house was and normal people couldn’t see it.

So imagine his wonder when he opened the door to see Tony Stark with a black cat in his embrace and a tall man who should be the rumoured new boyfriend of Stark, Dr. Stephen Strange. And then the cat raised its hand and in the next moment he heard in his head, “Hi, Wong!”

Chapter 9: The Big Brother

Cloak of Levitation or Levie, as he liked to be called by friends, was in a bad mood. Actually he was in a bad mood for several years. Let’s begin from the start.

From the first moment he came to existence by Agamotto’s hands he had Time Stone in his corner. If Agamotto was his father, then Time was his mother. They had an understanding of each other that helped them to find the most worthy sorcerer to wear him.

So he waited for who he considered his younger brother. Time had shown him all the sorcerers who were worthy, and among all of them Stephen Strange was one he couldn’t wait to see.

Time didn’t show him everything because she didn’t want to spoil so much from the future, but she slipped that after Agamatto he would be the first and last one to hold both of them again.

He likes to say their first meeting was poetic, and it was to some degree because he had saved him, but he should confess that, then Stephen was still a work in progress.

When Stephen entered the time loop with Dormammu while Levie escorted him, Levie understood why time had trusted Stephen. His little brother thought Durmammu had accepted his bargain because he was tired of loops, though it was part of it, the main reason was that like him, Durmammu knew if those loops continue, in one of them, Stephen would destroy him.

Levie and Time had their first argument after that time-loops. Levie considered what happened to Stephen very extreme and pretty unnecessary. Time was an Infinity Stone, there were probably ways this huge trauma not to happen to his charge. But his honorary mother said, “Although there were other ways but if she intruded without logical reason the balance of Space-Time could have been in danger.” 

( Levie believed Stephen’s salinity was an important cause.)

Because his little brother was a genius, he soon understood that something was up between his relics. So one day when he was meditating, he tried to update his connection to them, to another level. Something that was very dangerous and probably would have made him a ghost in the living world. So Levie decided to forgive Time to prevent their sorcerer from doing stupid things.( or doing less stupid things.)

Their second friction happened when Time was going to send Stephen to the past, alone! It was unforgivable and after a very long discussion he succeeded in persuading her to send him back, too. But she had a condition. He couldn’t go to his brother because his brother form would be a cat and it would be strange if a stray cat had a red cloak fowling him like a puppy and his human form didn’t know about mystic arts yet.

So he waited, and waited ,and waited. He was not going to speak to his stupid sorcerer when he came to get him. What caused him to take this much time? What was more important than fetching him?

Although he had a guess. Anthony Edward Stark. Levie had seen how Stephen had fallen in love with the inventor during that 14000605 lifetiles. He would give Stephen the right at first to find him but it wouldn’t give him the right to ignore him.  ( he wanted to meet Tony’s bot. Yes, he knew he was pouting but because except Stephen,time and the ancient one; no one can notice it, he didn’t care.)

Thanks to Time he knew he was in 10th year of his waiting when he could sense Stephen’s signature in Sanctum. And see that, Tony was with him and it was interesting that Wong was with them too. Oh poor Wong!

After several minutes Tony Stark with a cat in his hands came in front of him. If he was a stronger artefact he would turn his back to them but he wasn’t, furthermore he couldn’t resist seeing Cat-Stephen, because he was truly cute. He was so excited that he didn’t notice the other person who came inside behind Tony.

“Oh, is that the Cloak you spoke about? I could see how wearing it would make me more me!” Levie turned to the sound and saw Human-Stephen standing there with a perfect smirk, the bastard; “Why do you look at me like that? I thought you were waiting for me. Wong had heard from The Ancient One that you have been sulking for the last 10 years.”

Cloak turned to his menace of a little brother who was nestled in Tony’s embrace. He raised one point of his body as a raised eyebrow. Cat-Stephen flicked his tail and with a fake innonece said, “Mewo!”

Chapter 10: Time appears

One moment he was in artifact room, participating in a prank with his cat-self, and the next moment he was in a unknown room. “Well, I should have seen this coming.”

It was his voice from somewhere else. When he turned to it, there stood a version of himself that he had imagined for about a decade later. Don’t get him wrong, he was confident in who he was but he wasn’t delusional.

That stance, confidence and self-assurance came from someone who was self-aware of his own limits well enough also he knew those limits were far above almost everyone. He could confess it was a good look.

Then the illusion broke when he noticed his older version’s hands. He was aware that something had happened to him to drove him to learn magic; but he couldn’t even imagine that happen to him, too. He was so drawn to those broken hands that didn’t notice the newcomer.

“Oh!” at that moment the young Stephen noticed the other one is frozen. So, he turned to front of the room, and his heart stopped at what he saw. There, Donna stood like the last time he saw her. Tears fell down without any sound. Beautiful brown straight hair, blue eyes almost like him and her mischief smile.

“Donna!”

“Time.”

When he heard the other one, he blinked several times and turned to his twin again and then look back at his sister. But, now he understood, she wasn’t his sister. Now that he noticed he could see the unusual green light which was around her, and those eyes were much older than 16 years old.

“Hello Dr. Stephen Strange, my dear gurdian.”

Chapter 11: The Doppelganger

Tony was pacing in front of the room which both Stephen and Isis were in it. He would be in the room but unfortunately Wong and Daniel Drumm wouldn’t let him there because apparently his pacing disturbs their concentration on diagnostic spell.

They were lucky he was extremely worried otherwise he wouldn’t let them do whatever they were doing. Don’t get him wrong; he wasn’t so sure about this Mystic Arts, (who could believe his cat actually is a time traveling version of his crush); but when Jarvis after a long-waited surgery had shown him enough footage of comminuting with Isis via Morse code that he could reach to a certain amount of assurance that Stephen was right that day on the beach.

By reaching to that point of his thought, Tony sighed and sat on the chair that appeared from nowhere for him to sit. (Tony really tried to not to think about it.)

That day on beach Tony was brave enough to ask Stephen out; because he had hope to live more than some weeks and not to be his patient, he though there was a chance for him to date this arrogant doctor.

At first when Stephen didn’t say anything, his hope diminished slowly, then Stephen took his hand and said, “Before answering you, we should check something.”

Thus he got his cat doppelganger and Jarvis red-handed. From that moment there were a whirlwind of events, that he just remembered Stephen actually didn’t answer to his question.

“I see you are brooding.” Tony turned his head so fast that he heard something crack. Stephen was there, floating in a white aura. “Did I fall sleep?” he pinched himself to check but he was awake.

“No, you aren’t sleep. I’m in astral form.” The inventor blinked several times to make sense of what he heard, and at that point he noticed that this Stephen is older and he has a goatee. “I can see in your face that you understand that I’m not your Stephen.”

“Are you dying? Is Isis dying?” Then Tony stood and tried to embrace this version of his doctor, but his hands crossed him, “You are dying!!!”

“And you are a drama-queen! If you can wait for some minutes, I’m going to explain what is going on here.”

“Ok! But you better be fast, you know better than me that I have heart condition.”

After rolling his eyes Stephen continued, “I am the spirit who lived in Isis. When I met Stephen of this timeline, I knew eventually something was going to happen.”

“Like how you and Doc fainted on me.”

“Yeah! I’m not allowed to explain what happened there, all I could say is that part of Isis which belonged to me is going to vanish slowly in next week, after that your Stephen is going to wake up.”

“Wait a minute! What do you mean you are going to fade? If you are gone what would happen to Isis? Actually if I accept that you came back in time, what would happen to your purpose? And one week? Would something happen to him, during this time? .... why are you smiling like that at me?”

Stephen with a fond smile answered, “I’m just happy that this version of me has you in his life. To answer your question, I’m sharing my memories with younger me. Because it’s so much more that he could bear, emotionally and spirituality, Isis is there to share this burden with him.

About Isis, after living with you almost for a decade he had gained his own personality, my conscious was like a hard drive that his soul had settled on it.”

“Then this is a Good bye….”

“Yeah It is…”

Tony was in a dilemma, he didn’t how should he feel about this. Happy, sad, angary…and what should he say to this version of Stephen.

“By the way, Isis after this could speak!”

“WHAAAAT!!!!?????”v

Notes:

a good place to end first part.
What do you think would happen in next part?

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 6 of Tumblr fill
• Part 1 of The Adventure Of Isis the Cat