Entry tags:

-complete, hope van dyne, stephen strange

Who: Hope Van Dyne & Dr. Strange
What: Arrival
When: Afternoon
Where: Downtown NYC
Status: Complete



Hope had been working out, in her suit, trying to keep on top of her training. Physical training was just as important to her as exercising her brain, she was no enhanced human, no Asgardian or alien. Every skill she had was hard earned and hard kept. She didn't begrudge them their abilities, she simply knew to keep up she had to work at it.

So she did.

Daily, without complaint. She was nearing the end of her workout when she shrunk down, hopping up and over a projectile, and when she resized to normal, she was not in the gym anymore. She was standing in the middle of a street in what looked, and sounded, like New York City.

She'd not been in New York City last she checked, San Francisco was a lot warmer, it had been summer. Well, at least she had her suit. Hope shrunk before a car hit her, and she flew over to the sidewalk, returning to normal size.

Now the question was: how did she get here? Who's fault was it? And how was she getting back, there were experiments to keep track of that really couldn't wait. Her eyes darted around before they landed on the corner stand, and she walked over to look at the newspapers and magazines. "Thor and Dr. Foster got married, huh, alright then." She lifted the magazine to look at the date, "oh well that isn't right."

---

Soon, a portal opened nearby and out of it stepped Stephen Strange, master of the mystic...everyone knows this by now. He's never tired of saying it, but he didn't need to this time. Hope he knew from the battle against Thanos, from seeing her there in the only possible future that would save them all. He smirked while watching her look at the magazine, clearing his throat a little before speaking.

"Hello, Hope. If you want to read a gossip magazine, I can loan you the money to buy it. Before the newstand guy yells at you."

He looked over at the guy, who was gawking at the portal instead of yelling. It was the thought that counted, and a first, since it was difficult to floor a New Yorker.

---

Hope looked up, then tossed the magazine down, "I don't want to read a gossip magazine, though I am curious as to if the date is correct on it?" She looked at the guy, once, then focused on Strange.

"I would say it is good to see you, but, I was just in San Francisco, so why am I here?" Hope was good at ignoring what she deemed not important, the poor newsstand guy was not important right now.

"Let me guess - go with you and you'll tell me all about it?" One brow raised, but she was smiling, she didn't mind Strange, he was useful, and she could appreciate a bit of cultivated mystery.

---

At least he didn't have to explain the finer details of time and space travel aspects to someone like Hope, who would grasp such concepts immediately.

"Yes, going with me would be advisable," he said, followed by a wry smirk. "Apparently, I caused an alternate universe when I broke time in Hong Kong a few years ago. There was a dimensional incursion and I had to keep an entity from devouring the planet. This..."

He paused and looked around. It was as real as real could be, just like countless other Earths were.

"...alternate Earth, is the result."

---

Hope only sighed, “Because of course.” What was crazier? The fact this happened or the fact she just sighed and accepted it? It was hard to tell, considering, she’d been through enough stuff at this point to confuse most normal people. “Alright then, off we go shall we?”

She shook her head a bit, looking around, “I suppose that shouldn’t really surprise me, if anyone was likely to break the universe and give us alternate Earths it would be you, or, well, let’s be fair, me.” among a few others, of course, but they were likely.

He was all mystical. She played with quantum physics which were fickle to begin with. Let alone when you really fucked around with them. She’d done the latter, of course. “So, tell me about this Earth, then, what do I need to know?”

---

Hope didn't mess around, and neither did Stephen. He promptly opened another portal after a dog walker passed by, and held an arm out like 'ladies first.' The other side of the portal was modeled after the inside of a modern apartment building. A sign on the wall proclaimed it was 'floor 37' and the room nearby had a number 5 on the plaque affixed to the door.

"Let's try not to break anything further," was Stephen's reply, with a trace of a smile. "Thanos lives but he's lost one hand, and we've removed one stone from the equation. He'll never be able to make the glove. It's now too far in the past to feasibly use the Time Stone to get it back. The rest of us are the Infinity Watch. There's various threats, including a geneticist doing human experimentation. Various weapon runners. And Scott Lang is here again. He arrived just before you did."

He let that settle in.

---

Hope didn't, but what was the point of doing so? The fact was, she was here. However that happened, it was undeniable. She breathed, she smelled the scent of the city, she trusted Stephen, too. She stepped through without a problem.

He wasn't the bullshitting type.

She shook her head. "Okay, that's a lot going on. But Thanos out of the question is a good start. A geneticist, huh? That sounds like a big problem." Human experimentation, that was against everything she could think of. She didn't mind testing theories on herself, what scientist did?, but anyone else? No.

"Scott's here?" She blinked and looked at him sharply. "Has he broken anything?"

---

"Not yet," Stephen said, mulling that over for a moment. "That we know of."

He conjured a welcome package and left it floating near the doorway.

"There you are. Everything you need to get on the network. Scott's in room 2 on the thirty-eighth floor. If you need to ask any questions, you can send me a text or an email."

---

She grinned softly, "Thanks, I'll be sure to reach out. I'm looking forward to checking out everything when I get settled." She was, too, because she'd only take a few hours to settle in before getting right into the thick of things. Hope didn't mess around with anything - she threw herself into things and well, other things happened.

Her fingers plucked the package out of the air. She opened the door, and smiled. "Thanks Stephen, I'm grateful for the quick update, I am sure I'll bother you again sometime to talk." she waved at the man before she shut her door and got to work settling in.

Which first off was a hunt for a change of clothing - "Hey, Friday? You got anything in this building that'll fit me?" she said as she got sorted, it could be worse, after all, and Hope always tended to roll with things. It was easier to roll with them and figure it out than moping about it. That just wasn't her style.

---