"This has probably been the most insane day of my life," William told, slightly interrupted by a yawn.

"You're telling me," Lana agreed, glancing at her computer screen.

"Orders are still coming through," she told him, turning back around. Sitting by each their desk, their bodies were turned to the once again empty room.

"Bloody hell," Will breathed out, leaning back further in his chair. Lana hummed in agreement.

"We're going to have to hire more people," he realised flatly. Lana nodded.

"Already put a billion adds out," she told.

"For what?" William asked, spinning his chair to look at her.

"I offered Anna the title of product manager, simply because we don't have time to look for someone else. She'll have to do. But besides that, I put out ads for CTO, sales manager, assistants, secretaries, CFO, human resource manager, customer service representative and CMO," Lana listed, looking at her notepad to make sure she'd mentioned all.

"You want a chief marketing officer? I thought you wanted to be in charge of marketing?" William asked, sounding tired.

"I don't want a CMO, we need a CMO," Lana told him, equally tired. William nodded in reply.

"That's not enough people. You know that, right?" he asked, looking at her.

"I know," she admitted; "I've put in every ad that experience in leadership is only a plus. We'll have to delegate and have someone else do the interviews, preferably the HR manager. All the students have been great, and we're not laying them off, but we need someone who knows what they're doing. No way in hell can we run all of this on our own, I can hardly keep up as it is."

"Lana, love?" William asked tiredly.

"Yeah?" Lana replied, closing her eyes.

"There's no one I'd rather do this with than you. Whether it had turned out to be the biggest fail of our lives and we'd been sitting in crushing debt... I'm happy you're the one I'm sitting with," he told her. Lana smiled, not opening her eyes.

"Right back at you," she told him, making him smile as well.

"We should probably head home. Get some sleep," he specified.

"Mh. Probably," Lana admitted, groaning slightly as she opened her eyes.

"C'mon, you lazy woman," he ordered, standing up.

"I'm up, I'm up," Lana complained, forcing herself to stand up.

"When do we start tomorrow?" he asked, smiling tiredly.

"You can sleep in, you know," she told him.

"When are you coming in?" he asked instead.

"Six," she told quickly.

"See you at six," he told, kissing her cheek before heading towards the door.

"See you at six," she agreed, smiling as her friend walked off.

She ran her hands through her by then loosened hair, taking a deep breath before picking up her phone and keys, deciding to leave the rest behind for the next day, knowing she'd be too tired to work once she got home anyway.

She made sure every window was closed properly before locking the back door, turning off the lights and stepping out into the dark street, locking the door behind her and making a mental note to work out some kind of security system.

Could she use someone else's system until MSS was fully functional, or would that reflect poorly on them? Could they use the offices to test out the first system line? As her train of thoughts went on, she hardly noticed the sound behind her, only turning around at the very last moment. She jumped back from the glowing circle on the ground, the black void in the middle surrounded by a ring of fiery sparks. She gasped slightly as she did so, suddenly much more awake. She leaned slightly forward to look at the sudden appearance.

"What the he-"

That was as far as she got in the sentence before it expanded, making it big enough to swallow her feet and causing her to fall into the pit-like void. A short scream escaped her lips before she felt herself land on a certain floor, quickly getting on her feet in spite of her breathless state.

"You're here. How lovely," a slightly sarcastic voice mentioned, Lana immediately spinning on her heels to face the stranger. In front of her stood a tall, dark-haired man in some kind of blue uniform, around his shoulders a red cape that fell down his back. He smiled at her almost pleasantly, and she stepped back discreetly.

"Lana Williams Stark, right?" he checked.

"No idea who that is," she claimed quickly, not daring to look away from him to look for escape routes in whatever place they were.

"Nice try. I've done my research, I know who you are, Ms Stark," he told her amused.

"Clearly you don't know enough. It's Williams," she told him.

"Of course. Ms Williams," he corrected himself.

"You can relax, by the way, I just want to talk to you," he told her.

"Yeah? You invite everyone to come over like that?" she asked, stepping back again.

"Pretty much," he admitted, smiling before something hit the back of her knees, making her fall. It wasn't until she'd landed she realised that it was a big, red armchair which had tackled her. She unsurely grabbed the armrests as a chair flew across the floor and landed directly behind the man as he sat down, just in time to comfortably catch him.

"My name is Dr Stephen Strange, and you're here because it's impolite to create a portal in a stranger's home," he informed her.

"My dad always used to say that. Don't interrupt people, don't create portals in people's living rooms," Lana agreed shortly. Dr Stephen Strange smiled slightly.

"As you know, life is not limited to this earth," he began; "I've been warned about Loki, and now I'm passing the warning along."

"Who warned you?" Lana asked quickly.

"Doesn't matter. I've been warned about Loki, and truth be told, I don't have a lot of patience for people trying to take over the world. If Loki doesn't stop, he will be stopped," the doctor informed.

"You're not very well informed, Doc," Lana told him, watching him for a reaction to her taunt.

"Doctor Strange, please, and is that so?" he asked, relaxed as ever.

"Tell me where you're getting your information and I'll tell you where it's wrong," she offered. Dr Strange sighed however slightly.

"I keep a list of beings that could threaten Earth. Your... Friend, is on it," he explained shortly.

"You didn't answer my question. Where are you getting your information?" she repeated.

"You have heard of the internet, haven't you? I would think so, as the daughter of Tony Stark and owner of a web-based business," he commented.

"Why do you care about the earth's threats?" she asked instead.

"Because I live here," he replied flatly; "Now, ms Williams, if you would be so kind as to tell me where I'm mistaken."

"You can create portals. How?"

"I'm a Master of the Mystic Arts."

"Which means?". Dr Strange sighed, not answering her question.

"Loki isn't the threat," Lana bid, watching to see if he would react.

"His actions say otherwise," Dr Strange argued.

"Why did you kidnap me?" Lana asked instead of answering his statement.

"To talk," Dr Strange specified.

"Yes, Doc, thanks. Why me?" Lana explained, finally daring to look away from the man to see where they were; a large, dim room with high ceilings and very little furniture.

"As I've said, teleporting into one's home is rude. You're the only one who leaves your father's tower often, and likely the one who's willing to ask questions before drawing a weapon," Dr Strange explained, and suddenly the pieces fit together in Lana's head. Loki had probably been in his focus since his very arrival on earth, but it wasn't until he joined forces with the avengers that Dr Strange had a reason to involve Lana or anyone else from SHIELD. Whenever members left the tower, it was generally to go on missions in teams, often prepared to charge at any and every threat, and that would likely be what they did if they were kidnapped.

"You were looking for a change to take me, but I've been with Bucky every time I've left the tower," Lana realised, thinking back to what Bucky had said just two days before; "When are we not together?".

"Bravo," the doctor commented, not sounding particularly impressed. Lana leaned back in the chair, determined to get what she wanted out of the conversation.

"So. List of threats. You on it?" she asked directly. Dr Strange almost smiled, but didn't reply.

"Fine. Whatever information you want on possible threats, I can't give it. You'll have to come back to the tower with me," she told.

"I'm sure you can pass the warning along," Strange claimed slightly annoyed.

"Certainly. But if you want information, you'll have to talk to someone who knows something, and if you know me as well as you claim, you know I've had the last couple of days off from SHIELD. I wouldn't know what to tell you," Lana told honestly, shrugging to show how little his decision affected her. Dr Strange narrowed his eyes slightly at her.

"Fine," he told, right before appearing behind her with a scissor, cutting off a small lock of hair.

"Hey!" she hissed, jumping up from the chair and away from him; "What do you think you're doing?!"

"I don't know the insides of your tower. I need to know where to portal to, I imagine your father will be close to the rest, therefore we will go to him. You're his daughter, your hair will have to do," Dr Strange informed dryly, quickly creating another portal like the one Lana had gotten there through, only this time sideways, showing a clear image of the workroom at home.

"Well?" he said, gesturing to the portal, through which she could see her father and Bruce.

"Bloody hell," she muttered before closing her eyes and jumping, surprised to find that she landed at home, just as if she hadn't just gone through a magic portal. Dr Strange casually followed her, the portal closing behind him.

In front of them stood her father and Bruce, their mouths slightly open as they looked at Lana and her newly made friend.

"I demand you explain the situation at once!" Thor ordered, pointing Mjølner at the unaffected doctor.

"This is a possibly evil wizard. He kidnapped me, but I kidnapped him back," Lana told them informatively. Bruce had quickly gotten Steve upon their arrival, and Steve had made sure to summon the whole team (minus Bucky, who was still on his mission, Clint, who was at home, and Loki).

"I'm a Master of the Mystic Arts," Doctor Strange corrected; "My name is Doctor Stephen Strange."

"And what exactly is it you want, possibly evil wizard of Fleet Street?" Tony asked, crossing his arms above his chest.

"I want to inform you that earth is under my protection," Dr Strange informed, crossing his arms as well.

"Okay. I wanna inform you that earth is under our protection, too," Tony told, raising his chin slightly as Lana rolled her eyes dramatically. The door to the apartment opened and all eyes shot to Bucky, who appeared in the doorway, carefully assessing the situation. He caught sight of Lana, sending her a confused look.

"This is Strange," she told him quickly, nodding at the doctor.

"Kind of. Who is he?" Bucky asked, stepping fully inside.

"He's Strange," Natasha explained.

"Why? What did he do?" Bucky asked confused, furrowing his eyebrows.

"This is why I kidnapped you," Dr Strange told Lana annoyed, finally succumbing to her way of phrasing it.

"You kidnapped her?!" Bucky hissed at him, stepping closer.

"Please do control your team," Stephen asked Lana, sounding not the least bit intimidated.

"It's fine, James, I kidnapped him back," Lana calmed him, pulling him next to her.

"You said you could get home without being kidnapped!" he hissed at her.

"It's not my fault! Blame Doc!"

"Doctor Strange, please," Stephen interjected annoyed.

"Is there any chance we could get to the point?" Bruce suggested.

"Why are you here, Dr Strange?" Steve asked, taking charge of the situation.

"I'm here because I know you've joined forces with Loki. I want you to know that I am keeping an eye on you, and I'm willing to stop you," he informed shortly.

"Stop us from doing what, exactly?" Bruce inquired.

"Whatever you might do," Dr Strange replied quickly.

"You think you'd be able to stop us?" Tony scoffed unimpressed.

"We're protecting the earth. Why would you want to stop us?" Bruce asked, ignoring his friend as he looked at the doctor.

"I know you've joined forces with Loki, and I know his goal is world domination," the doctor explained flatly.

"Uh, I still don't know where you're getting your info, but as I said, you're a tad behind," Lana informed him with a sorry smile.

"Loki is no threat onward," Thor told harshly.

"Thanks for your concern, though. Bye-bye, now, take care," Tony offered, waving goodbye to the man, who didn't move in the slightest.

"You're telling me you managed the threat entirely and completely and he won't bother earth ever again?" Dr Strange challenged, looking at Steve.

"We're not telling you anything," he decided; "You kidnapped one of ours and refuse to cooperate."

"My name is Dr Stephen Strange, PhD. I'm a Master of the Mystic Arts, currently residing at the New York Sanctum, located at 177A Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village, New York. I have no interest in a conflict with you, in fact, I am here to ensure as little conflict as possible occurs," Strange told him strictly; "If Loki is, in fact, under your control, we have nothing else to discuss. If not, just know that I will stop you if you're on his side, or assist you if you're against him."

Nickname explained:

I noticed that Tony Stark uses a lot of nicknames based on movie characters with similar looks, especially when it comes to hairstyles (Rock of Ages, Point Break, Ringo, Squidward, Flash Gordon, Lebowski, Thumbelina, Stuart Little, I could go on) and based on the white streaks Dr Strange features, I decided to have Stark nickname him after Sweeney Todd, the demon barber of Fleet Street, who has a noticeable white streak in his hair.