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Tweak says, "Who said I was double-jointed?"

Natasha Romanoff (widows__bite) wrote in avengers_logs,
@ 2018-02-03 10:22:00

Entry tags:

-complete, natasha romanoff, stephen strange

Who: Natasha Romanoff & Stephen Strange
What: Stark tower is... empty.
When: Feb 3rd, early afternoon
Rating: Green

The safe house in Lebanon hadn't been much, but it was enough. IKEA furniture in the three rooms that made it up and the only personal touches were the books that she had picked up to read. Everything else was functional; weapons storage, uniforms, a garage with a biometric lock that meant only three people could enter... Pretty standard, but low-key stuff for her hide out. She had prepared herself for the long haul, knowing that with what felt like the whole world after them they needed to make sure to stay out of sight.

She had helped Steve following his insane decision to go to the Raft, though she had yet to actually see Clint. A phone call through one of their only emergency lines that hadn't been compromised was all she'd had but it had been enough to know that he was safe and sound, that he was okay and that they'd catch up soon. She knew she'd made the right decision, but Stark's dismissal of her had hurt more than she wanted to admit.

But she felt restless. Restless and paranoid. Things were quiet, but it was the kind of unsettling quiet before the storm that she knew all too well. So she'd packed her bag and slung it over her shoulder, considered leaving a note for Steve and changing her mind a moment later and stepped outside of the safehouse with the intention of not going back only to find that the world lurched underneath her feet and went dark.

When the world stopped lurching and she landed solidly on what felt like ground, Natasha didn't open her eyes immediately. She took in several deep breaths through her nose and listened to the world around her, sounds that she knew. New York.

Why was she in New York?

Her fingers flexed around the strap on her backpack and she tugged the hood of her jacket up over her head, ignoring her nausea and that clawing discomfort that something was wrong. She could head to the Avenger's tower. It might be a horrible idea, but it was the best one she had right now.

Melting into the crowd, Natasha Romanoff got herself lost in plain sight as she headed towards Stark Tower, the Avengers base. She could, at least, get answers there.

She would have kept an eye on Tony, and what he was doing, but even with her connections it was difficult to stay abreast of current information when the internet connection kept droppping out.

She pressesd her lips together and took the final corner before she hit the place she'd finally started letting herself call home only to find that the building was not quite what she expected. Stark Tower - or the Avengers Tower - was no more. It had different branding and someone else standing at the door that she didn't recognise.

Pushing her hood off, Natasha looked up at it and blew out a breath. Okay, plan B.

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doctor__strange
2018-02-03 08:12 pm UTC (link)

Someone else walked closer and stood off to one side, looking up at the same building. A tall man with a goatee wearing eastern style clothing, with a red cape over his shoulders. He squinted up at the building as though trying to see the tippy top of it or imagining what it looked like during that Chitauri invasion. He made a soft hmm noise before tipping his head down and regarding Natasha.

"A huge building for a man with a huge ego," he noted in a voice that was equal parts warm and deep, and his words carefully measured for weight before being spoken. As for the building, he knew that time and circumstance had probably knocked Tony Stark down a notch or two. Sure it wasn't much, but it was still something, and probably enough for Stark to let go of a place that held too many memories.

"Oh, sorry? I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Dr. Stephen Strange. I'm working with Stark for the time being on a unique...problem."

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widows__bite
2018-02-03 08:28 pm UTC (link)

Natasha had spotted the man standing looking up at the building out of her peripheral. His dress stood out even amongst the eccentricities of the folk of New York. Many of those didn't wander along the streets in this part of New York and though it had been quite some time since she'd been here, cities like this didn't change that quickly.

When he spoke, she knew he was addressing her and her shoulders tensed, tightening the hold she had on the strap of her backpack just in case she needed to run.

Stephen Strange. She knew that name. It had tumbled in terror off of Sitwell's lips. He'd been a target of Hydra's mass genocide program, one of many people that they'd seen as a threat. The enemy of my enemy and all that, she thought.

Not moving from where she'd returned to look up at the building, watching Dr Strange out of the corner of her eye, she hummed in response.

"A unique problem?" she asked, discretion being the better part of valour. Whether he knew her or not, if she gave nothing away, there was nothing to risk. "From what I know of Tony Stark, he rarely has any other kind."

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doctor__strange
2018-02-03 08:40 pm UTC (link)

He smiled despite trying not to, eyeing the building once again. It was part of a past that couldn't be reclaimed again. Nothing to do, except move forward. Time itself was meant to do that, but he still sensed every miniscule rupture and shake of instability, even as they were standing there.

"I'm not inclined to disagree. He's quite adept at creating unique problems," was Stephen's reply, and while he seemed friendly overall, he was also exercising a fair amount of caution. There was a glimpse of sheepishness, as he admitted, "The reason you're here is my fault. An accident. I might have outdone Tony Stark, himself."

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widows__bite
2018-02-03 08:51 pm UTC (link)

Natasha turned her head, then, at Strange's confession that her being pulled here from her safe house was his fault. She pressed her lips together and folded her arms across her chest.

"An accident?" she asked, hip slightly cocked as she faced him. His outfit was out of place and reminded her somewhat of mystics, people that she had crossed paths with what felt like a lifetime ago. "What kind of accident results in someone being transported halfway around the world without their explicit permission?"

Her mind was whirring: teleportation? Magic? She knew the Asgardians had the ability to create a kind of bridge between their realm and this one, but this man did not look like an Asgardian (not that Natasha was an expert, but she'd done her reading on the files SHIELD had kept on Thor before she'd met him). So unless she had been kidnapped, drugged and deposited in New York - which was highly unlikely - the only reasonable conclusion she could draw was that there was some sort of mysticism involved. Which she did not like.

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doctor__strange
2018-02-03 09:09 pm UTC (link)

The jig was up, and Stephen held up a hand like he was guilty as charged. The scars could easily be seen. The reason for doing so was two fold. It was a gesture to let someone know he hadn't meant any harm, but also as an obvious signal that he wouldn't be throwing any punches any time soon.

"There was an incident in Hong Kong. That was me. I broke the timeline a little bit by rewinding it," was his weary confession, and it was weary, because the thought of it all was a burden he had unwittingly placed on everyone else. "Now there's two almost identical timelines, situated very close together. Although there's our original selves there, acting independently, we're still ourselves here. Also acting independently."

He let out a resigned sigh, and one side of the cape's collar seemed to be blown against his cheek in what almost have looked like a patting motion. Surely it was just a random breeze, though.

"Events seemed to be moving in the same manner in both places," he continued saying, "until this started happening. For whatever inexplicable reason, this timeline is acting up now, showing signs of instability. It can't be stopped. Stark knows. I went to him first."

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widows__bite
2018-02-03 09:30 pm UTC (link)

Natasha's jaw tensed. Magic. Unpredictable, dangerous, irresponsible. She thought back trying to remember if she'd heard anything about a Hong Kong incident. Whilst nothing was immediately coming to mind she did file it away to pick up later, when she got somewhere where she could sit and catch up on everything she had missed while being on the run.

The do-no-harm gesture had done little to put Natasha at ease; she did not unfold her arms, nor did she relax her posture but she did take half a step closer so that their conversation at least held the illusion of privacy.

Alternate realities? The thought made Natasha's head hurt. "So by rewinding the timeline you've created an alternative reality?" she asked, head tilted to the side slightly, her eyes surveying him carefully. "And we... are replicas of the original timeline?"

She looked up at the former Avenger's building and sighed. "And so you pulled me, and others, here to try and fix it or to make sure we're all in the same place when this universe comes crashing down around our ears?"

Having read a little bit about alternate universes - the theory of them anyway - this whole conversation made her head hurt.

"So what now?"

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doctor__strange
2018-02-03 10:20 pm UTC (link)

"Basically, yes. I split a universe. In two," he somberly clarified. "You're still you, with all of your experiences and your past. The same as I am, or any of these other people around us. But yes, we're now in our own timeline. I had to, or the entire planet would've been absorbed by a being from another dimension entirely."

He looked up at the building again with an unsure expression. It almost looked as though he was looking through the building, and not at it.

"I didn't pull you here. I don't know why it's happening. It might be the stone drawing the people most affected to it, those that had the most impact in these timelines. That's just a hypothesis." Stephen shook his head and tried his best to sound reassuring, even under such undesirable circumstances. He had traveled the astral plane and consulted books while his body slept, essentially devoting every single second to dealing with repercussions and studying the situation. "I've looked at the problem as extensively as I can. It won't collapse entirely. In fact, it should fully stabilize into a timeline in it's own right, as time moves forward. There might be some turbulence, though."

There would be some timeline bleed over and strangeness. Of that, he had little doubt, since the two timelines were still quite close together.

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widows__bite
2018-02-03 11:40 pm UTC (link)

Natasha listened, watching Stephen as he continued his explanation. Effectively, if she'd understood him correctly, they'd branched off into their own timeline so she was not... the original Natasha. It was enough to give someone who had a substantially larger ego than her an identity crisis.

"So a fracture in the timeline dragged us all here," she muttered, flexing her fingers against her upper arms. "And-" she sighed and looked at the people moving around them. "The civilians? Everyone else? How have they been impacted?"

Turbulence didn't sound good. "Who else has been dragged here? How wide-reaching is the impact?"

At least they hadn't been sucked into another dimension.

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doctor__strange
2018-02-04 12:26 am UTC (link)

"They haven't been. Yet." He focused back on her, because it was easier than seeing some of the things he had seen around them, that other people weren't tuned into. "They aren't aware at all. They've still been through aliens and robots trying to drop pieces of the earth itself on them. But there might be things coming that could impact them."

"Those that were already here felt the first wave of disruption." He looked thoughtful and then apologetic. "But the epicenter seems to be this city. So I expect something will happen. There's a few of you that are here now. Captain America is among them. Thor is another, and some other Asgardians. Including Loki."

At least they hadn't been sucked into another dimension, sure, but he still felt responsible.

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widows__bite
2018-02-04 01:35 am UTC (link)

She'd seen a message from Steve, and from Clint, she made a mental note to reply to them when she found her feet. It was one thing knowing that there were people that had been drawn back here, it was another entirely to know that whatever mess had been made by Strange, the effects of it weren't over. Not only that, but they were continuing.

"Loki?" Her eyebrow lifted, a look of displeasure crossing her face. "Wonderful."

The apology that had crossed his face she caught and wondered what more there was to this. He did what had been necessary to save the world. There was little time for guilt. She should know; she'd been pushing away and running from her own for most of her adult life.

"At least we're here," she said finally. "Make the best of a bad situation." At least she knew what was going on now, or... she sort of knew.

Natasha was quiet for a moment before she levelled Strange with a look. "Regardless of the fact that this time was out of your control, don't teleport me again."

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doctor__strange
2018-02-04 02:05 am UTC (link)

It was true that there wasn't time for regrets. Something was coming. He wasn't sure what it was or how long it was last. That was the likely reason why he seemed so reticent that the bad situation had any side that could be considered better. They would have to deal with things as they happened. That was all they could do.

"I wish I could say I had some control over that and could stop it. But nope? Not it. It's happening randomly. On its own." He was looking down at her with the sort of expression that said he'd seen far too much, which tended to happen when someone died repeatedly. "Stark's set up some people in a hotel, and he...has a special place that you're on the list of. He wrote next to it that you'll find it, and I quote, really posh by Russian standards."

Stephen closed his eyes and shook his head ever so slightly, while silently mouthing the word 'no.'

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widows__bite
2018-02-04 06:40 pm UTC (link)

Natasha watched him carefully and unfolded her arms, looping her thumbs in the belt loops of her jeans. It was a lot of information to process and she knew that she'd find herself consistently wondering what the 'original timeline' Natasha was doing. She had a lot of catching up to do.

At the mention of the hotel that Tony had set her up in, she couldn't help the way her lips quirked upwards in the corner ever so slightly. The micro-expression, however, was gone in an instant and Natasha just lifted her eyebrow again.

"Well, considering T- Stark's standards I'm sure I'll love it," she replied dryly. "You wanna point me in that direction and I'll be on my way?" She could at least find somewhere to put what little stuff she did have with her down and work out her game plan going forward. Currently, the list consisted of the following: find Steve, find Clint, understand what their plans were and how she could help. And, depending on the quality of her accommodation, speak to Stark. Possibly. She needed to understand just how petty he was being first.

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doctor__strange
2018-02-04 11:20 pm UTC (link)

Stephen let out an exhale, and felt bad about just how petty a joke Stark was playing on certain people. It was immature, but Stark seemed a bit...stunted...in the maturity department now and then. Not all the time. Thank gods (and goddesses).

"You won't," he said, opening a small enough portal that he could reach in and take out the 'special' care package. He handed over all of the items, from the private phone and laptop, down to the envelope with money, room key, and network information. "If you find it unbearable, let me know."

He'd sneak her another key, for a better place. Luckily, this was one of the last few people on Stark's "shit list", so he was grateful that he wouldn't have to do this again. And that Darcy was helping more with some of these duties, not that it ended well with the cranky private investigator.

"You might want to stay alert," he added. He looked upward again and squinted. "Maybe it's just bad weather."

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widows__bite
2018-02-05 07:32 pm UTC (link)

Natasha had been in her fair share of 'unbearable' places. She strongly doubted that Stark had found somewhere that would make her want to contact Strange and ask him for a better roof over her head. But there was something about the way Strange spoke that made her wonder if Tony really had outdone himself this time.

She took the items that were presented to her, slinging her backpack around to her side to file them carefully away in the main pocket, except for the phone, which she kept in her hand, getting used to the weight and feel of it so she could use it quickly and on the go as she needed to. It was slightly smaller than her old one but it looked like it was new. Of course it was. It probably pinged her location back to Tony every hour or something like that. She eyed it suspiciously for a moment before pocketing it.

Looking up at the sky, slightly overcast with a chill in the air that was not unusual for New York at this time of year, Natasha just nodded. "Okay," she said slowly, wondering just what it was that Strange was seeing that she couldn't - if anything or if it was that, like Tony, his full attention was never really on the situation at hand.

She nodded her head at Strange in a parting gesture and flicked her hood up again, knowing which direction she needed to head in order to find the Russian standard room that Stark had put her in. Boots on the ground, she thought, back into the grind.

She smiled a little at Strange before she turned away and moved into the crowd. New plan: find the room, find Clint, find Steve. And then, maybe, speak to Tony. Tugging her hoodie tighter around herself against the bitter wind, Natasha melted into obscurity, disappearing into the see of nameless faces that made up the masses on the streets.

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