Pointe Shoes and Spider Webs

63. Gesundheit

Tony is tinkering away on his upgraded nano-tech suit. It's still a prototype, but the tests have been promising so far. However, not everything is going according to plan tonight. Some of the tiny robots imploded. This resulted in all the nanobots being splayed over the floor, while Tony has to use tweezers to take out the broken ones. He can't turn on the ones that still work as that will cause more of them to implode. It's a bug in the system that he needs to work out, but that also means he's playing a frustrating game of Where's Waldo in which everyone is Waldo. All the bots are identical. The only way he can find the broken ones is by letting F.R.I.D.A.Y. do continuous scans and browse for the slightest burn marks on the bots. The tedious work is starting to get on his nerves. At least Dummy is there to help him.

"Stark." Tony jolts and drops three of the broken nanobots back into the pile. His head shoots to turn at the orange circle appearing at the other side of the room. Tony takes a sharp breath and if looks could kill, the sorcerer would be on the floor right now.
"Oh, for fuck's sake!" He exclaims, raising his hands. "I have a receptionist, Strange! Go bother her before you bother me!" He can tell Stephen is also in a bad mood, but he doesn't feel like easing up. He clenches the tweezers in his fist and turns back to his work, nipping at the nanobots he just dropped.
"I want to be here as much as you want me to be here, Stark," Strange grumbles. He takes a step towards the billionaire, cocks an eyebrow and slightly raises his arms. "But I'd like to know why your protege thinks he can steal from me."

Tony stops in his tracks and glares back at the sorcerer with a look of disbelief on his face. His eyebrows are curled up into a frown.
"What?"
"You heard me." Strange crosses his arms. "Spider-Man visited the Sanctum last night and took three books."
"Why the hell would he do that?" Tony shakes his head dismissively. Peter's the embodiment of what's good in the world. He wouldn't steal. He's bright and kind. He helps old ladies cross the road and saves cats from high trees. Heck, Peter's the reason Tony wants kids himself.
"You tell me, Stark." They look at each other for a few seconds and Tony lets out a defeated sigh. Peter is also a hormonal teenager and would do everything he can to help the people he cares about.
"Daphne."

Tony gets up from the floor and pats his knees before making his way to his desk. He plops himself in his chair and stares at his phone.
"Do you know what he stole?" Tony asks seriously. Stephen rolls his eyes and scoffs.
"Of course, I do." He walks towards Tony's desk. "He walked in earlier asking for help with a project on Ancient Greece. I told him to Google it."
"You really are an asshole, Strange," Tony groans as he grabs his phone from the desk. "And you knew he was stealing from you. Why didn't you stop him?"
"Because I wanted to know what he wanted to steal. He seemed to look for something in particular." Stephen walks to the window to look outside. "He didn't just take books on Ancient Greece." Tony cocks an eyebrow at Stephen.

"What else did he take then?"
"A book from my 'Rare Collections' section."
"Rare collections?"
"Those books are filled with collector's items."
"Wha- like... Daphne?" Tony's face scrunches up at him comparing Daphne to a collector's item.
"He might be onto something."
"Okay, but how?" Tony crosses his arms and looks up at Stephen.
"Daphne must've told him."
"What could she have told him if she can't say shit?"

"They're your kids, Tony. Figure it out." Tony stands up from his desk. His irritable mood is worsening by the second. Stephen is insufferable.
"Oh, so now they're my kids?!"
"I can confront Peter myself, if that's what you-"
"No, no you're not. I'll handle this." Tony stomps towards the window and looks back at Stephen. "Are there any specific topics in those books that I should know about?"
"One book goes in depth about the four winds."
"Don't make me make a fart joke, Strange, that's below me."
"The Anemoi, Stark," Stephen groans. "Boreas, Notus, Eurus and-" He stops himself and frowns at nothing. His mouth is half open.

"You alright there, Gandalf?" Tony cocks his head at Stephen. He can practically see the gears turning in the sorcerer's head. It takes a second for Strange to collect himself and he looks at Tony with his eyebrows raised to his hairline. Suddenly everything made sense. Collector's item.
"Zephyrus..."
"Gesundheit."
"No- Tony- Daphne; she's a Zephyr."
Tony stares at Stephen, who starts rubbing his beard.
"A what-now?" Tony slightly shakes his head and raises his hands confused. Stephen taps his foot quickly and compulsively. He takes a sharp breath.
"I'm going to need those books back." He purses his lips. "Preferably before they read that third book."