InsaneJournal

Who: Vision and Dr Strange
What: Introduction to the new universe
When: Present
Rating: Green
Status: Complete



He'd died, hadn't he? One moment he was lost in a vast, unending nothingness... the next, he was standing in a random alleyway in what appeared to be New York City.

His memories were jagged and confusing. The battle at Wakanda... Shuri attempting to remove the mind stone... but it had been too late, hadn't it? He remembered telling Wanda he loved her; remembered those final moments right before everything went blindingly bright and a strange and detached peace came over him. That must have been death, of a sort. It felt like floating - he was aware of everything and nothing at the same time; and somehow it just felt... peaceful.

But it didn't last. The next memory that followed was of being ripped away from that peaceful space and back into his form - staring with utter helplessness as Thanos ripped the mind stone from him. There was such pain that time, during that second death. All he could recall was that everything went black then. He heard Wanda's cry, then there was nothing else. No peace, no light, just... nothingness.

He couldn't be sure how long that lasted, and he had no idea how or why he was standing here now.

Reaching up instinctively, his hand brushed over the stone - finding it intact and fully functional, it's energy flowing through him as it had before. The city was loud and active all around him, as if nothing was amiss.

None of this made sense, but soon it would. It had to.

His first thought was to find Wanda, and then to hopefully find the others. There must be answers.

When Stephen Strange cast a spell net for new arrivals across the city, he usually gleaned some sense of who that person was in general - human, alien, or something more dangerous - or what they were capable of. In this case, the answer was none of the three categories. It was alive but wasn't alive in a traditional sense. As for what they were capable of...Dr. Strange wasn't sure of that either. It held a great power. As to what that power was, it felt familiar enough that he quickly got up and put on his sling ring. The cape was around his shoulders in a second, and he opened a portal, arriving in mere seconds after Vision's arrival.

He knew Vision. Who didn't? The Avengers weren't exactly secret after Ultron's defeat.

Stephen stood, rendered momentarily mute, because who they had once taken offline and destroyed the stone in his head, had been rendered fully whole, thanks to some kink of the universe.

So much for keeping Thanos at bay. But this was so much better for Wanda, after the loss she had suffered so recently.

He coughed to clear his throat, nodding his head in greeting. They'd work around this. Thanos was missing an arm and they sent him packing in Wakanda, in this universe. They still had the advantage.

"Hello, Vision," he said, finding his voice again. "I'm Dr. Stephen Strange, master of the mystic arts. I'm here to welcome you to a new universe, a close copy to the one you know."

“A… copy?” Vision glanced around the alleyway, thinking everything looked and felt exactly as he remembered life to be before. The difference being the obvious - the stone was still intact, and his form was undamaged. Somehow miraculously untouched by Thanos. The memories of those final moments continued to sweep through his awareness in jagged little waves - making him think there was something off with his functioning. A glitch. Or perhaps it was just shock, of some kind. Which he didn’t think he was capable of experiencing in the first place.

“Thanos - am I still at risk?” he asked immediately. The only explanation he could think for why he was alive was that perhaps this copy of the universe hadn’t encountered Thanos before, or they had, and Vision had been dropped here just to relive his death all over again. He desperately hoped that was not the case.

After a few moments, he shifted from his android appearance into what passed for a human - less obvious, given they were still in public and he couldn’t be certain how safe it was to be wandering the streets in purple-red skin.

"That's useful," Stephen said, glad that he didn't need to use the Comic Con excuse for weird appearances or attire. Even the magic cape flared up a little, as though throwing hands up out of surprise.

As for those other two questions, that might take a little bit of explaining.

"Yes, I have a pamphlet in the welcome package," he explained to Vision. "We're a timeline divergence, a new part of the Multiverse. There's a dimensional instability linking the two universes that is causing displacements and momentary mishaps. I wouldn't be surprised if we looked for the you that we took offline in Wakanda, and found no traces. It's a surprise, but a welcome one. There are people here that will be happy to see you.

"As for Thanos? Yes, he exists too. But now he has no stones. We have all of them. I wish I could offer you greater reassurance that he won't ever come back. But as long as that is in your head, there's always going to be some risk."

Stephen was looking at the Mind Stone as he spoke, thinking it was probably safer where it was, than anywhere else.

Vision was silent as he took in the new information Dr. Strange provided him, storing it away to sift through later at length. The concept of timeline divergences and a Mulitverse made sense to him, in theory, but to be here actually living through it was another thing entirely.

And if the other version of him was taken offline, clearly it meant that the events that transpired here must have been very different than what was leftover in his memories. Particularly if they now possessed all of the stones. But why did he even retain those memories? Shouldn’t they have been wiped away entirely as a result of shifting from one universe to another?

There were so many new questions, possibilities and variables to consider, but he found his focus was entirely singular at the moment. Which brought him to his next, far more important question : “Wanda - is she here as well? Is she safe?”

He could figure everything else out later, the one piece of information he needed at the moment was to know if she had survived here, if she was alright. He needed to see her.

There were a lot of things that Stephen didn't know about this universe, that were still a mystery. Inexplicable things happened, with little rhyme or reason. He always chalked it up to the instability, to the other universe infringing from time to time. As long as things remained stable, he believed that anything else could be dealt with.

When Vision asked about Wanda, Stephen actually smiled. It was a rarity when he did so with no sarcasm involved. If there was one truly good thing to come out of this, it was that that his student and friend was going to be happy very soon. A good thing, considering how much sorrow and loss she had gone through.

"Yes, actually. She's at the Sanctum. I'll take you there," he said, turning toward the portal where an old house could be seen within.

As he walked through, one corner of the red cape gestured to Vision to follow with a little crooking finger motion. It quickly settled back down as the doctor waited for Vision to enter.

"She'll probably be studying," Stephen was saying from the other side. "Either in the library or her room. I'll give you two some privacy, and tell the other Mystics not to drop in unless it's an emergency. And I'll leave a welcome package on the entryway table for you, when you're ready for it."

He noticed his body visibly relax upon hearing that she was alive and well. Another aspect of his identity that he’d picked up from living among humans as long as he did - an unconscious mimicry of their various postures and habits. It felt real in that moment though, it felt as though all the tension left him. Everything was so confusing since the moment of his arrival; but all of that began to fade into the background now that he knew that at least in this universe, in this version of himself - he would be reunited with the one he loved the most.

He didn’t know what she would remember of him, or if she would even know him at all - how many versions of himself had potentially come and gone from this current universe, if that was even how it all worked? So many more questions.

But right now, he simply followed Dr Strange through the portal, leading him into the Sanctum.

He took a moment to glance around at his new surroundings, trying to take it all in, then he turned to face Dr Strange. “Thank you,” he said with sincerity, feeling as though the words fell short of the gratitude he felt, but for now it would have to do.

He turned then and headed for the library.