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[megan20089]

How about Stephen being worried of telling Tony he’s pregnant?

So, once again, this is all from Earth Child but it’ll probably be different once I write it into the actual story.  Here’s a preview!

“Pete, you finish up here.  I’m gonnatake the Doc back to the compound.”  Tony turned back to the pileof rubble before him and began shifting rubbish out of the way insearch of Stephen.  He had been knocked aside during the fight andhad hit his head while skidding into a construction site.  At least,that’s what Tony thought had happened.  Stephen’s comm had gone deadsince he had fallen and Tony assumed he was unconscious.

He dug a little further and finallyexposed Stephen’s cloak, which waved at him, signaling that he shouldprobably keep digging.  Together, the cloak and Tony uncovered therest of Stephen, discovering that he had, indeed, hit his head.  Alarge gash above his right eyebrow was leaking blood down the side ofhis face.  Tony couldn’t be sure if he had a concussion and the bestcourse of action would be to take him back to the compound until hewoke up.  So that was just what Tony did.

“FRIDAY, do a scan.  Let me know ifStephen had a concussion, any internal bleeding, broken bones, allthat.”

“Yes, boss.”

Tony had laid Stephen out on one of thebeds in the med bay and was silently waiting for the results of themedical scan.  He kept in touch with Peter, who had wrapped things upnicely (Tony was very proud) and had assured him that nothing wasseriously wrong with Stephen.  He would give him the final resultslater, after they had been given to him.

Stephen looked impossibly still anddeadly beautiful.  His hair appeared darker, falling against ashencolored skin.  Tony had wiped away the blood and grime from earlier,leaving just Stephen behind, but the sorcerer still appeared to bemore pale than usual.  Tony wondered why that might be.  He didn’tappear to have lost that much blood.  Perhaps Stephen wasn’t gettingenough sleep or maybe he had been sick.  Tony hadn’t noticed itearlier at the Sanctum…

“Boss, the scan is complete.  BothDoctor Strange and the fetus he carries are in perfectly goodhealth.”

Tony stopped dead.  “The—what? FRI, baby girl, I think you might be malfunctioning.  Pull up yourcoding for me and let me have a look.”

“I am not malfunc–”

“Let me see.”

Tony pulled up FRIDAY’s coding andbegan searching through it like mad.  He could find no errors,however.  Nothing to make her say what she just had.

“She’s not malfunctioning.”Stephen’s voice came from behind him, making Tony suddenly forget thecoding and rush to his boyfriend’s side.

“Steph!  You’re okay?  No concussion? Broken bones?” Tony took hold of Stephen’s hand, taking a seatbeside him and staring into his eyes.  When Stephen shook his head,Tony let out a sigh of relief.  “Good.  You took a hard hit outthere.  And apparently FRIDAY did too.  She just said you’re–”

“Pregnant.  I know.” Stephen feltlike he was about to throw up again, but this time it certainlywasn’t due to morning sickness.  This time it was purely to blame onnerves.  

How could he be doing this?  How couldhe let Tony know that it wasn’t a joke?  How could he keep Tony byhis side and not frighten him away?

“If he wasn’t frightened by all ofthe things he has seen already, then there’s no way he would abandonyou over this.” Wong had said.  And maybe he was right.  Tonyhad been there with him through so much, and he had been there forTony.  If the situation had been reserved, he wouldn’t hesitate tohelp Tony through this.

Gathering his courage, Stephen metTony’s eyes.  He took a deep breath and spoke the words he had beendying to say for so long.  “I’m pregnant, Tony.”

The only response he got was a veryslow blink and a barely audible “How?”

Stephen shifted on the uncomfortablebed and licked his lips.  That probably wasn’t his best course ofaction since they tasted like antiseptic.  “One of the artifactswas stolen from the Sanctum by a thief.  I chased him down but beforehe would hand it over to me he smashed it on the ground.  This gasescaped and I inhaled it.”

“You got pregnant…by inhaling agas?” Tony questioned, unable to follow the story.  It was sooutrageous.

“The artifact was called the Orb ofTerra.  Wong and I are still researching it.  It’s meant to bringabout the new Earth Child, though we have no clue what that means.”Stephen continued to explain, cupping his hands together to try andcease their shaking.  Nerves, it was purely nerves this time and notdue to his condition.  “I’m pregnant, for real.”

Tony’s eyes fell on Stephen’s stomach,not saying anything for a long time.  He had noticed a gentle curveto it when they had been fooling around in Stephen’s room.  Was thatthe child?  “How far along are you?”

Stephen averted his gaze, his hands nowgoing to his stomach now that he realized Tony was looking.  Theslight swell was barely noticeable, but the rapid growth of the childmeant that Stephen couldn’t be sure exactly when it would be born. “It happened around a month ago.”

“A month?!” Tony blurted out,startling them both with the volume of his voice.  “And you waitedthis long to tell me?”

“You haven’t exactly been around.”

“Touche.” Tony answered, poutingand crossing his arms over his chest.

A silence blanketed the entire roomuntil the two finally locked eyes once more.

“Stephen, I–”

“Tony–”

“You go first.” Tony said, perchingon the side of Stephen’s bed before he all but climbed into it.  Hewrapped his arms around the sorcerer and held him close, pleased whenStephen leaned his head against Tony’s shoulder.

Stephen took Tony’s hand in his own andgave it a comforting squeeze.  “Are you alright with this?”

“Mm.” Tony turned his head to kissStephen’s brow, away from his bandaged cut.  “It’s not exactly likeyou could change it, babe.”

“Believe me, I know.” Stephen saidsourly.  He would have done anything in his power to get rid of thischild.  It was not something he wanted, nor something he couldimagine himself ever wanting.  But Tony was different.  Tony hadwanted children with Pepper—had had them, before the future hadbeen erased.  Perhaps Tony could be the father that Stephen couldn’tbe.  “You want children though, so this…”

Tony smiled at that.  “I do.  Even ifthey aren’t my own.”  Stephen’s child would be his in his eyes. “We could raise it together.  I know, we’ve both got parentalissues up the wazoo but we’ll work through it.  We’ll figure it out.”

All Stephen could do was nod, his heartbeating at a normal rate once more.  He watched as Tony’s handhovered over his stomach before the words met his ears.  “Can I?”

It was incredibly sweet of Tony to ask,but he really didn’t need to.  “Yes.”

A soft smile formed on Tony’s lips ashe reached out and gently lay his hand over where the child wasgrowing.  The tiny mound was firm, protective, a temporary home.  Butsoon the child would be here, in the real world, and Tony vowed togive it a home where it would feel loved and protected.  “Hey,baby.  It’s nice to meet you.”  There was no response, except forStephen’s sharp inhale.  “I know I’m not exactly your daddy, but Ipromise I’m going to love you just like a daddy should, okay?  Evenif you turn out to be some weird alien, you’ll still be mine, becauseyou’re Stephen’s.”

Stephen turned and met Tony’s eyes oncemore.  There were no words that could possibly convey the way he wasfeeling right now.  There was only a kiss.

He covered Tony’s hand on his stomach,above where their growing child lay.

[megan20089]

Prompt: Stephen hearing the heartbeat.

Despite being a doctor, Stephen didn’t know very much about pregnancy or babies.  It was for that reason that he and Tony had called upon Christine to give him his first, long overdue, ultrasound.  Stephen had absolutely no idea why he was so nervous–it wasn’t like he cared about this child he had been accidentally impregnated with.  It might not even be human, for all he knew.  “Earth Child” was what Wong had called her, and research on the Orb of Terra hadn’t turned out to be very helpful.  Stephen was left with more questions than answers.

“Ready?” Christine’s voice called to him from seemingly far away.  Tony say beside him, much more anxious than he was, on the edge of his seat.  He looked about ready to fall onto the floor, his foot tapping a rhythm only he could understand.

Stephen nodded and Christine pressed the probe to his exposed belly.  This was so long overdue that Stephen was much farther along than he should have been for the first time he was hearing his baby’s heartbeat.  His stomach rounded out above him, noticeable beneath even the heaviest layers of clothing.  It didn’t matter.  In a couple of months this would all be over.  He could send the child off to Kamar-Taj if need be, but he wasn’t keeping her.

The strangest sound known to man filled the air and Tony gave an audible gasp.  Stephen stared over at the monitor as Christine pointed out the baby’s features (which it had by now since Stephen was so far along).

“Steph, she’s flipping us the bird!” Tony exclaimed, leaning forward to jab at the screen.

The baby’s middle finger was indeed up.

Not only that, but it appeared to be…human.  That caught Stephen by surprise.  He had been picturing it as some kind of plant that would burrow back into the ground once it was outside of him.  But it was a baby.  A human looking infant that was growing inside of him.  One with fingernails and a heartbeat.  One with completely normal human features.

One with half of his DNA.

“Do you want to know the sex?”

Christine’s voice snapped him from his thoughts and he nodded numbly.  It couldn’t hurt to know, could it?

Christine looked straight at him and smiled.  “It’s a girl.”

That caused something inside of Stephen to break.  Something he was most definitely going to blame on hormones.  He grabbed the probe and tossed it aside, not even bothering to wipe his stomach before sitting up and tugging down his shirt.  He hunched over on himself, unable to breath momentarily.

“Uh, give us a minute, okay, Chris?” Tony stood up and did his best to comfort Stephen as Christine silently left the room.  She had seen enough of Stephen’s mood swings to know when to get out of the way.  “Steph?  You okay?”

Stephen was staring numbly at the floor, a distant look in his eyes.  “It’s a girl.  A little girl, Tony.  And she’s human.”

“Yeah,” Tony answered slowly.  “I’m not following.  What’s the problem with that?”

Stephen drew a shaky breath and covered his face with one quivering hand.  “She’s human.  I…I expected her to be some kind of alien and I thought it would make it easier to let her go.  But she’s not.  She’s a little, baby girl and I–”

Realization dawned on Tony and he pulled Stephen into his arms.  “You thought if she wasn’t human it would be easier to give her up.”

Stephen choked out a sob and curled himself around Tony, clutching to his shirt.  “I don’t know if I could do this.”

Tony’s hand rubbed up and down Stephen’s back.  “Why, baby?”

“Because I think I love her.” Stephen breathed, pulling back to look at Tony with tears in his eyes.  “I love her and I’m afraid of messing up.  Of being what my parents were to me.  I don’t know how to be a father.”

Tony offered him a calm smile and leaned in to kiss his forehead, sweeping that stubborn curl from his face.  “Neither do I but we’ll figure it out together.”

Stephen gave a watery smile in return and Tony waited a couple of minutes before he was sure Stephen could walk on his own feet before helping him off the table.

“You’ll be a great mom, Steph.”

“Shut up, Tony.”

[megan20089]

Ironstrange mpreg, either false labor pains or Stephen's cloak being protective of the baby, please?

“I told you not to come.”

“Shut…up!”

Stephen clutched to Tony’s hand, crushing it beneath his shaking fist as he struggled to breathe.  They were, of course, on an alien planet that Stephen had insisted helping the Avengers get to by opening a portal.  Why risk them flying through space when he could simply teleport them there in a matter of seconds.  Of course, the second he stepped foot on the alien planet his body seized up and a horrible contraction ripped its way through him.  Tony had noticed right away and was by his boyfriend’s side, urging him to sit on a nearby rock.

“Uh, is he gonna be okay?” Clint asked, peeking out from behind the others who had all gathered to inspect Stephen.  Natasha was offering him ice from a bottle of water she procured from seemingly out of thin air.

Instead of an answer, Stephen hissed between his teeth as another contraction hit.  Sweat was pouring from his brow and it was becoming more and more difficult to keep from curling in on himself.  The pain was immense, like nothing he ever felt before.  This was not like waking up after the car crash.  This was nothing like coming back after being dusted.  This was completely new.

“You’re not due for another month,” Tony suddenly realized, his eyes full of fear.  “Stephen, the baby can’t come now.”

He knew that.  He also knew that the child, who was infused with magic, would be able to survive even if she was born now.  What he was afraid of was giving birth on an alien planet that was filled with who knew what in the air.  She would have no immune system, no defense against any airborn diseases.

“I’m…aware of tha–AH!”

Everyone jumped back as Stephen shouted.  He was doing his best not to embarrass himself in front of the rest of the Avengers, but what could possibly be more embarrassing than appearing in front of them heavily pregnant?

“Open another portal back to the Sanctum,” Tony suggested, standing and continuing to hold onto Stephen’s hand.  “I’ll go back with you.  I’ll call Christine once we’re back on Earth.”

Nodding, Stephen stood up to lean heavily against Tony.  It took several tries before he was able to summon a portal for them to step back through.  The portal brought them into Stephen’s bedroom where the sorcerer collapsed onto his bed.  The cloak flew off to go and find Wong and Tony called Christine.

However, by the time Tony had gotten on the phone, Stephen was able to breathe normally again.  He sat up, one hand on his pregnant belly, the other pushing himself into a sitting position.  The pain was completely gone, fading away into nothingness.  False contractions.  Braxton Hicks.  A false labor.

“Tony, I’m fine.” Stephen interrupted the phone conversation, forcing Tony to hang up when he said “They were false contractions.  I’m not in labor.”

It took several minutes to convince Tony that he was telling the truth, but once Stephen got on the phone with Christine she confirmed that he wasn’t actually going to have the baby.  She affirmed that everything was okay and Tony felt secure enough to hang up the phone and laugh loudly to himself.  Stephen simply sat and stared, trying to ignore the way the cloak had wrapped itself around his belly protectively.  “Are…you alright there?”

“I’m a heart patient.” Tony said after the laughter died down.  “And you nearly gave me a heart attack, you bastard.”  Tony dropped onto the bed and kissed Stephen fiercely, one hand drifting to his distended middle.  He stroked it with his fingers and lowered himself to speak directly to Stephen’s belly.  “You scared all of us, little one.  You’re in time out once you’re born.  Being cute isn’t gonna get you outta this one.”

Stephen smiled to himself and raked his fingers through Tony’s hair.  Somehow, the baby was growing on him.  So was the pregnancy, even though it scared the life out of him at times.  He had to admit, he was going to miss it once it was all over.

[megan20089]

How about holding the baby in their arms for the first time?

A shrill cry broke through the silence of the room, stunning Stephen and catching his attention.  All of the pain from being in labor seemed to fade as Christine approached with a little squirming bundle.

“Are you ready to hold your daughter?”

Stephen didn’t know.  But before he could even answer the infant was being deposited into his arms.  He stared down at her, still very dirty and covered in afterbirth but nonetheless beautiful. And human.  Stephen had known for months that the baby was a girl, that she was human and not some weird alien creature.  And yet he hadn’t fallen in love with her until that very moment.

“Steph, oh.  She’s beautiful.”  Tony.  He had forgotten that Tony had made it to him in time, racing him to the bedroom with Wong.  Wong had gone to get Christine after that and she declared that there wasn’t enough time to make it to the hospital.  Stephen’s bedroom would have to do a as a makeshift delivery room.  Wong had several shields up to protect them from the chaos raging outside and he had stuck with them despite the fact that the other masters may have needed him.  Stephen wondered how things were going on the outside.

He glanced down at his daughter and wondered why he couldn’t see her.  Oh.  Because he was crying.  There were tears streaming down his cheeks and he hadn’t even realized.  He blinked, willing his vision to clear, and finally got a good look at his daughter.

A tuft of dark brown hair was sprouting from her head, her little face scrunched up in displeasure, probably unhappy that she had been torn from her nice, cozy home.  She had ten fingers, ten toes, a little nose, and a rosebud mouth with cupid’s bow lips just like Stephen.  In fact, recalling the old photos, the baby looked almost exactly like Stephen had when he had been born.  It made sense–she didn’t have any other biological parents besides Stephen and the Earth which didn’t have a human form.  Stephen wondered if she would be a carbon (yet feminine) copy of himself.

“H-Hi,” his voice wavered as he spoke, cradling the baby just as Christine had showed him (support the head, he kept reminding himself).  “I…wow, I can’t believe you’re here.  I knew it was coming–I knew you were coming but I didn’t prepare myself for this moment and you have absolutely no idea what I’m saying to you so it doesn’t really matter.”

Beside him, Tony laughed and leaned in a little closer.  Stephen knew he was eager to hold the baby.  “Here,” he said, passing her incredibly light body off to Tony.  “Hold her while I think of a name for her.”

Tony laughed and smiled, pulling the baby girl close to his chest.  “Oh my gosh, you’re perfect in every way.  I’m so happy to meet you.  You remember me, right?  I’ve been talking to you for months now.”  It was true.  Every chance Tony got, he would speak to Stephen’s stomach.  While Stephen refused to acknowledge the fact that the baby he was carrying could be very human and wind up spending the rest of their life with him, Tony had taken that factor into consideration.  He had been preparing for this moment for months now and there was no way he could possibly be any happier.

“Clea,” Stephen said suddenly.  Tony tore his eyes off the baby for the very first time.  “I read it somewhere in one of the tomes.  She was a very powerful sorcerer.”

“Clea,” Tony tested the name out on his tongue, rolling it around and getting a feel for it.  “Clea.  Yeah, I like it.  She looks like a Clea.  Do you like it, baby girl?  Do you wanna be called Clea?”

“If your magic is returning, you might want to portal out of here,” Wong spoke up, still holding the shields around the room.  “I’ll open a portal for the four of you and when your strength has recovered you could open one yourself.”

Stephen looked to Christine, silently asking if it was alright that he and Tony and Clea stayed with her for a few hours.  “Christine–”

“It’s fine.  I have to keep an eye on my patient anyway.”  She tossed Stephen a wink and he groaned.  He absolutely hated being on the other end of the doctor-patient preferences.

Tony passed the baby off to Christine, who cooed over her and poked at her little chubby cheek, while he helped Stephen to stand and get his pants back on.  Wong dropped the shields and opened up a portal to Christine’s apartment, offering the smallest of smiles as the quartet stepped (or in Clea’s case, were carried) through.

“Say goodbye to Uncle Wong, Clea.” Stephen joked with a laugh.  He leaned heavily against Tony, still in a great deal of pain.

Just to spite him, Wong looked right back and offered a genuine smile, eyes fixed on the baby.  “Uncle Wong will see you soon, Beansprout.”

With that, the portal was closed.

[megan20089]

mpreg fluff, cuddles

Stephen felt the bed shift as a warm weight slid in behind him.  He watched Tony’s arm drape over his side, his hand protectively resting against his pregnant belly.  He supposed he really shouldn’t have expected any less.  Tony loved children, especially ones who weren’t his own.  The one that Stephen carried belonged to the Earth (Stephen had it in his head that the Earth was the child’s mother, and like a seahorse he carried her), which according to his tomes was true.  The Orb of Terra came from the Earth and produced a child.  The problem was that no one knew what the purpose of that child was.

For right now, Tony seemed content to be the baby’s father.  He shadowed Stephen every step of the way.  He made sure he ate and took his vitamins.  He gave him foot massages and back rubs when everything was hurting too much.  He told him he was still beautiful despite the fact that he had been blowing up like a balloon.  But most of all, Tony spoke to the baby.  He acknowledged her existence and treated her like an actual child.  An actual child who was wanted by someone in the world.

That was how Tony became the baby’s other father.  Having three parents was nothing unusual and it wasn’t like she could interact much with the Earth anyway.  So she would have two very doting fathers.

Stephen had hated her at first.  A fact which he wished he could erase.  He doubted her existence and screamed in a fit of anger.  He had even tried to kill her.  But now that she had taken up residence inside of him for seven months he was ready to change his mind.  It wasn’t her fault that she had come into existence.  He couldn’t blame her for something she hadn’t done.  All he could do was give her the best life possible once she was born.  Something his parents hadn’t done for him.

There was a kiss at the back of his neck and Stephen made a small noise, scooting backward until Tony’s from was pressed flush against his back.  Tony’s hand roamed all over his belly, tracing the silky scars that had been left behind by skin that had stretched too quickly.

Within him, the baby kicked lazily, something she always did whenever she felt Tony’s presence.

“Hey, little one.” Tony whispered, sitting up a bit straighter to try and get at Stephen’s tummy.  “It’s just me.  I didn’t mean to wake you.  Go back to sleep and let your papa get some rest.”

Stephen twisted and quirked an eyebrow at that.  “Papa?”

“Well, we can’t both be dad.” Tony reasoned, one hand following where the baby was kicking.  She didn’t seem to want to settle down.

“Great.  Now you’ve woken her up.”  Stephen pushed himself to sit up, panting as he did so.  His stomach felt like it was a boulder that weighed as much as the rest of his body put together.  The moment he was sitting, Tony was lying down with his head on his stomach, pressing kisses over where their baby girl resided.

“Go.  Back.  To.  Sleep.”

Stephen rested his back against the pillows behind him and watched Tony speak soothing nonsense to their child.  It was all so surreal.  He was about to have a family of his own with a man he loved.  And judging by the way Tony had been taking care of them both, he was going to be a spectacular father.

[megan20089]

Prompt: Stephen glowing.

I know this likely isn’t what you meant…but it’s the first thing I thought of, so I’m just gonna go for it and hope you enjoy!  This drabble ties into my fanfic, Earth Child.  Mpreg warning!

Stephen wandered into Tony’s workshop and stared blearily at the mechanic’s back as he worked hard on whatever project he was focusing on at the current moment.  There had been a time when Stephen could stay up into the early hours of the morning, but that time had passed (at least for the time being).  A grunt left him and almost immediately Tony set his tools down and spun in his chair.

“You’re supposed to be sleeping.” Tony chided, standing up and walking over to Stephen.  His hands (which were probably dirty but Stephen would allow him to get away with it just this once) found Stephen’s swollen middle and settled at his sides, rubbing in calming circles.  “Can’t sleep?” Tony’s head tipped up so he could meet Stephen’s eyes.

“How can I when I’ve got someone inside of me using my bladder as a trampoline?” Stephen bit back a yawn and winced when once again the child within him flipped about.  “It’s like it knows I’m trying to get some rest and it has to thwart that at any costs.”

“She,” Tony corrected.  He knew the reason that Stephen refused to acknowledge the gender of the child was because he didn’t want to become attached.  It still wasn’t a definitely thing that they would be keeping her.  They weren’t even married.  Tony had reasoned that, since the child was conceived under irregular circumstances (long story involving a magical Earth orb) that if it were to born as anything but a normal baby they might have to keep it.  They couldn’t send some magical baby off to new, unsuspecting parents.

Stephen made a noise of acknowledgement, his eyes wandering to the couch against the wall.  Tony took his hand and helped to guide him over to it.  The further along Stephen got, the harder it was for him to get around and the more pain he felt.  Mostly because his skin was stretching in ways it wasn’t meant to and it made him itch.  His body wasn’t meant to carry a child, and so they were worried about complications during the last trimester.

“Don’t scratch,” Tony chided, gently pushing Stephen’s hands away as he went to relieve some of the itching near his belly button.  “I’ll put your lotion on, okay?”

Stephen’s head fell onto the back of the couch and he let out a sigh, his eyes falling closed.  Not a minute later, he felt Tony pushing his oversized nightshirt up to reveal his very pregnant belly.  Stephen was trying his best to ignore it, preferring to pretend it wasn’t there, but the bigger he got the harder that was becoming.  A soft moan escaped his lips as Tony squirted the cold lotion over his stretching skin.  Talented hands set to work rubbing it in, fingers tracing over the minute stretchmarks near Stephen’s hips.  Tony loved those, though Stephen couldn’t possibly imagine why.

“You’re glowing.”

Stephen snorted, eyes still closed, and he felt Tony’s hands cease their movements.  “Ha ha.  Very funny.”

“No.  Not like that.  Seriously.  Look, Steph!”

Tipping his head down, Stephen opened his eyes to find that he was, indeed, glowing.  A faint green glow was emanating from his body, fading away after it got a few inches out.  Stephen held his hands out and brought them to his eyes, flipping them over and remaining perfectly calm as he inspected them.  “It’s not me.  It’s the child.  It’s likely trying to make its presence known.”

A small smile broke out on Tony’s face and he leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Stephen’s middle.  His nose bumped into Stephen’s belly and he gave it kisses, instantly beginning to talk to the child.  “Hi, baby girl.  We can see that.  It’s pretty impressive.  But hey, we’re gonna have to ask you to do that only when we’re not in public, alright?”

Stephen just rolled his eyes and allowed his head to drop back onto the couch.  It was going to be a long rest of his pregnancy, but at least one of them was happy about it.

[megan20089]

I’ve decided I’m gonna post the first chapter of my new fic on here.  It’s still kinda a draft, I’m unsure if I want to add to it.  I might go back through and lengthen the scenes a little bit, but for now I’d appreciate some feedback!

edit: now at AO3

The Sanctum alarms were blaring as Stephen rushed down the steps from the third level, eyes peeled for the intruder he was being warned about.  The cloak fastened around his shoulders, fluttering at full attention, it sensed danger as well.  His hands waved through the air, two orange mandalas forming as he readied himself for an attack if necessary.  It was too quiet, whoever had gotten passed the barriers was doing their best not to be spotted.  That was alright because Stephen held the advantage here, he knew the Sanctum like the back of his scarred hands.

He checked through each level until he came to the hall of artifacts.  A dark cloaked figure stood in front of one of what remained of one of the display cases.  When they heard Stephen they turned in his direction, a glowing green orb in their hands.  Stephen hadn’t a clue what that particular artifact did, all he knew was that it did not belong to this person.  “Drop it.”

The figured grinned at him—a man, from what Stephen could make out, though he didn’t appear like he was from Earth.  His skin was an ashy gray with bits of purple mixed in around the eyes.  He locked eyes with Stephen for nearly a solid minute before taking off, fast as lightning, down the hall.

“Shit,” Stephen cursed, taking chase.

The man jumped down the main staircase and the cloak lifted Stephen into the air as the intruder headed for the door.  The last thing Stephen needed was for this space man to be let loose in Manhattan with an ancient artifact in hand.  He threw up a spell, one to stun, but the man’s speed was impressive.  He skidded across the floor, narrowly avoiding it as he kicked the front door open and rushed outside.

“Shit, shit, shit!”

The cloak flew him out into the busy streets where people avoided being run over by the thief.  Stephen ground his teeth together, fighting to keep up.  At this rate he would lose him.  He couldn’t afford for that to happen.  There was only one choice then.  He pushed the cloak further, bringing him up to speed with the man for a split second, long enough for him to throw up the Mirror Dimension.  The thief was trapped now and the world around them would remain untouched.  

Stephen landed in front of the man, still glaring for all the trouble this one man had caused.  “Hand over the artifact and I’ll set you free.”

The man from space seemed ultimately unphased.  He turned to Stephen, an identical grin to the one he had worn before making the sorcerer want to clench his fist and punch him in the face.  Thus far the man displayed no magical abilities. Stephen was left to wonder how he had invaded the Sanctum to begin with.  And why.  But now was not the time for questions.  The man held the artifact on the tips of his fingers, unsteadily.  That was when Stephen realized that instead of being completely rounded it was egg shaped and perfectly see through, a green fog dancing inside of it.

“You can’t do any harm in the Mirror Dimension.  Give up the artifact and I promise I won’t harm you.”

Once again, all the man did was grin. It was really getting on Stephen’s nerves.

“DROP IT!”

There was silence for a split second before at last the man spoke.  “Poor choice of words, Doctor.”

With this, he tossed the artifact to the ground at Stephen’s feet.  A green gas escaped and invaded Stephen’s lungs, making him choke and stumble.  His eyes stung and his lungs burned as he fell to his knees, the link to the Mirror Dimension fading away until they were back in the real world.  This wasn’t good.  The man was going to get away and all Stephen could do was sit here on his knees trying to expel whatever had gotten into his lungs.

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[megan20089]

@designhome https://www.instagram.com/p/CE1s_wpphj2Bh1D9tbIc0GxB6n7bPyu0yJ0RDo0/?igshid=19ww0ekge7gtt

[megan20089]

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