Where A Strange Encounter fits in: This story assumes that you know the Doctor Strange, Thor, and Avengers films, but it was conceived of right after Doctor Strange, and thus is not canon-compliant with Thor: Ragnarok. It's not connected to any of my other stories, but it does still use at least the ideas of Titans Bearing Gifts as background (you don't need to have read it first, though).

A Strange Encounter

PART ONE

Stephen stood, calm and still, in the center of a ring formed of intricately patterned exotic timbers hued in blacks and browns and reds, heavily engraved with geometric curves and lines and angles. It whispered of something mystical and ancient, powerful and magical. It was just a pretty floor, really, but Stephen had always appreciated the finer things in life, along with good taste. The New York Sanctum stood him in good stead on both accounts, but he felt especially at peace, his mind especially calm, in this particular spot in the reading area of its library.

Far more mystical and ancient, powerful and magical, was the Eye of Agamotto that he had again retrieved from its setting and placed around his neck and against his chest.

This nightly ritual he kept to himself, not wishing to alarm the others, or give them cause to doubt or question after Mordo left. He wasn't doing anything with the Eye. Not in the sense of interfering with nature, racking up more bills that would come due. He hoped. He was using the Eye exactly as an eye was meant to be used, after all: seeing. Not just ordinary seeing, of course; his own eyes still worked perfectly well for that. Not just passive seeing either, but watching. Looking. Searching.

The future.

He would not alter the future; he would not enter the future. He would sift it, examine it, and, if this idea worked, he would greet the future forewarned. He would fulfill his commitments both to the Ancient One, and to the Hippocratic Oath. For if he knew about the attack before it happened, he could protect this world by preventing the attack from ever happening in the first place. Understanding the circumstances that led to it, and finding a way to defuse them. Defense without killing. This, of course, was not altering the future, per se, because the future hadn't happened yet. Always in motion, the future is. If Yoda said it, it had to be true. It sounded good, anyway. And the Ancient One wasn't here to ask anymore.

He'd been trying this for weeks without any success, but he wasn't ready to give up yet. Years of study and practice, he'd told the Ancient One. He'd given that to save individuals in the operating room. He could certainly give the same to protect the entire planet from right here in his library.

"Care to introduce yourself?"

Stephen's eyes snapped open. Hm. He could do it from his library, or…from this long room of smooth dark stone with oddly inward-sloping walls. He cringed a bit, hearing Mordo's warning about bills again. Christine always did say he spent too much. The old man staring at him clutched a golden spear of some sort, one that Stephen knew without knowing how he knew was no mere spear, but was enchanted with incredibly strong magic. He wore a giant gold helmet with short horns, a matching patch over one eye, a red cape over his shoulders, clothing of intermeshed gold metal and dark brown leather. He looked something like a combination of Charlton Heston's Moses and, weirdly enough, an older Hannibal Lecter.

"If it sounded like a suggestion…it wasn't."

"Oh! Sorry. Little distracted, you know how it is, I'm sure," Stephen said, trying to assess the situation rapidly. The old man didn't look like he was cooking up plans to destroy Earth, but then again, he did have both the Moses thing and the Hannibal thing going on, so the signals were a little mixed. "I'm Doctor Strange. And you are…?"

"Wondering how you got here. You see, it's been several years since we've had any uninvited guests in this vault, and, well, actually I invited them then. I'm fairly certain I haven't invited anyone since."

"Uh, no, I do apologize for that. It wasn't my intention to come here uninvited, or at all, really. To tell you the truth…I'm not certain how I wound up here. Or even where here is, to really get down to brass tacks. But since I'm here…I've told you my name, how about you tell me yours?" He hoped the man would also give some clear indication of whether he intended to attack Earth anytime in the next hundred years or so.

"I am called All-Father."

Stephen pushed out his lips and nodded with raised eyebrows. Because that was not in the least pretentious. Of course, he was now known as the Sorcerer Supreme, so he supposed he had no business throwing stones in that particular glass house. "Where are we?"

"You first. Where did you come from? Vanaheim?"

"Where's that?"

"I'll take that as a no."

"New York."

The old man arched an eyebrow. "Not possible. Midgardians do not have the kind of power required to break into the Weapons Vault."

"Weapons Vault?" Stephen repeated, looking around him more carefully now. He didn't see guns or missiles or anything else he would normally categorize as a weapon, but he'd learned early on at Kamar-Taj that anything – including nothing – could be made a weapon. On pedestals within alcoves set into the angled walls were various unfamiliar objects, and at the far end of the room rested a box emanating a softly glowing blue light. The old man was standing directly in front of another alcove, blocking it from view. Stephen's eyes narrowed; the bearded man ensconced in gold appeared to be more of a threat than he'd initially thought, now that he realized they stood in a room chock full of what must be magic-imbued weapons. He cast his searching gaze back on "All-Father," and found the man staring at his chest. He looked down, following the man's line of sight, and saw that his eyes were fixed on the Eye of Agamotto.

In a flash the old man rushed at him, faster than any man of his age should be able to. But Stephen was fast, too, and in a heartbeat wielded a bar of pure energy across his chest, in front of the Eye. The old man came to an immediate halt, two inches separating him from Stephen's improvised weapon.

"No mortal can do that."

"For some reason I keep expecting you to add the word 'inconceivable' every time you speak."

"You are of Midgard, then?"

"Not sure where that is, exactly, but I used to live in Midtown, Manhattan. Like I said, New York. Earth. Now, I've shown you mine, how about you show me… Um…I didn't mean that literally." Behind the blazing orange bar, "All-Father's" clothing was fading in and out of existence, with brief glimpses of fuzzy green occasionally making an appearance instead.

PART TWO

Loki looked down at his chest, just as this "Doctor Strange" – a moniker he'd chosen not to use, thinking it might have actually been a jest – had done earlier. Whatever form of magic the mortal was drawing on, it was conflicting with his own, disrupting the illusion he'd hastily added the instant he'd suddenly and entirely unexpectedly heard the faint sounds of breathing behind him in a chamber where there should have been categorically no one else but him.

The mortal's magic – he blinked heavily at the mere thought of it, still rebelling against it though he could see it with his own eyes – was active; Loki's was static, passive. He smiled. He was more than capable of the active sort, too. Without moving a physical muscle he gathered a sphere of his own energy, transluscent with flashes of green and gold, and exploded it outward. The other man took a staggering step back – interesting, since he shouldn't have been able to feel that at all – and his orange flame sizzled out.

"Hm," the other man said, staring down at his open and empty hand. The fingers, Loki noticed, shook a little. "I thought I'd gotten pretty good at that. Well, you know what they say. Practice makes perfect."

Loki jerked away, grasping knives in both hands, as magic in the form of a blazing gold rope lashed out at him, wrapping around his waist and pulling. He slashed at the rope – these knives were effective against both flesh and magic – and it dissipated, but it had already done what he supposed it was always meant to do. His disguise was gone.

"Well. This looks more familiar, and goes a long way toward explaining how such a senior citizen could be so…spry. And now I'm really wishing I'd gotten around to that reading on Norse mythology I've been meaning to do. Loki, is it?"

"Norse mythology? I don't think you'll find what you're looking for there. I'm not a myth. I'm very much real," Loki said with a genial smile and a casual shrug before lunging forward and putting one of the knives to the intruder's throat, no bar of magic in place to force him to keep his distance this time. "Now. Who are you?"

The man looked disappointed. And not at all sufficiently afraid, given that Loki's knife was close enough for a shave. "We've been over that. Oh, are you hard of hearing, maybe? Doctor Stephen Strange," he said, more loudly. "And before you ask, yes, that's my real name."

"How unfortunate for you. How did you end up here? You clearly weren't expecting it."

"Definitely not. How about we make a little bargain first, though? No magic…no knives. Just talking. Oh, and no other weapons, either, in case you think like a lawyer."

"All right. Just talking," Loki said, finally lowering the knife and vanishing both of them away. For now, at least. He reserved the full right to return to magic and knives and other weapons as soon as he saw the need.

"Good," the doctor said, and Loki was certain the top corner of the man's cape had just made a quick dusting motion across his neck, where Loki's knife had left a scratch but very deliberately not broken the skin. Utterly intriguing. He had never heard of anyone bothering to enchant a cape. He decided he'd have to put some thought into that possibility later.

"You are no mere mortal."

"I- Hm. I'm not quite sure how to respond to that. The question seems to be built around a propositional attitude, more specifically an insult."

"It is."

"Okay, well…thanks for being honest? I'm a…mortal, I suppose you could say, who's learned a few things most mortals never have the opportunity to. I haven't looked into you very much, or this place…Asgard?"

Loki briefly inclined his head.

"Because physical threats aren't my particular area of responsibility."

"Magical threats are?"

"Basically, yes. Magical threats, threats from other dimensions. But I do occasionally stretch myself beyond my own specialization. I was searching for threats to Earth. Midgard, you call it? And isn't it fascinating that I wound up here. In a place you called a 'Weapons Vault.' With you. Disguised as…I'm guessing Odin? And with that, I really do think it's your turn to start explaining."

"You were searching the future," Loki said with sudden realization. He'd made no further move to take it, staying clear of it when he'd wielded his knives, but he hadn't forgotten what the doctor had resting against his chest.

"What makes you say that?"

Loki laughed and took a step back, the better to examine the man with fresh eyes. "You're not as good a liar as you think you are. What year was it on Midgard when you left?"

The doctor hesitated, but only for a moment. "2016."

Loki nodded. The math wasn't difficult. "Right now on Midgard, it's 2017. The future."

"Time travel," Doctor Strange said. "Right. Wow. I didn't know for certain it could work quite like that."

"I did."

"I'm new at this."

"Obviously."

"Not very friendly, are you? That's okay. 'Friendly' probably wouldn't be the first adjective people would use to describe me, either. I tend to be goal-oriented. And you dodged my questions."

"I believe your only question was 'Isn't it fascinating,' which I took to be rhetorical. If you'd like an answer, though…no."

"No? Really? Come on, you've got to give me more than that. I answered your questions."

"You showed me yours, I'll show you mine?" Loki said with a smirk.

"Right. Just not literally."

"Oh, I think literally is in order."

"Ummm…"

"You showed me yours," Loki said, pointing to the Eye of Agamotto. "So I'll show you mine." He turned and traced his steps back to where he'd been when Doctor Strange arrived.

The doctor's gaze focused on the object in the alcove, its flat face a map of concentric circles of darkness and soft bluish-white light, with two bisecting dark lines through the center.

"What is it?"

"You really are new at this. It's the Orb of Agamotto."

"Huh. Orb of Agamotto. It's a lot bigger than the Eye."

"Yes, it is," Loki said with an indulgent smile.

Doctor Strange rolled his eyes as he approached, staying behind Loki. "May I?" he asked.

Loki sized him up. He had gone this far; why not? He extended a hand in invitation. "Do not touch," he warned. This neophyte Midgardian magic-user couldn't take the Orb if he tried, but if Loki couldn't touch the Eye, then Doctor Strange couldn't touch the Orb.

The doctor nodded and stepped up close. "I can feel its power. What does it do?"

"It permits the user to see across realms. Across dimensions. Not time, like the Eye. Only space. But if you know precisely what you're looking for…it permits you to search."

"Agamotto was a busy man."

"Even busier. Ancient writings teach that Agamotto attached great significance to the number three. He also created a third talisman, the Amulet of Agamotto. A less powerful version of what you're wearing as…jewelry," Loki said with distaste.

"I only take it out for special occasions," Doctor Strange said as he turned back around, wide smile on his face. Not a sincerely friendly one, though, Loki noted, and returned the same expression. "So, you were searching for something?"

Loki nodded; he'd already decided he was going to speak honestly – more or less – with this man. "Asgard is not a threat to Midgard."

"I have to tell you, that sounds a little suspect when the guy currently running around dressed as Odin is you."

"A passing fancy. I have Asgard now, what need have I of Midgard? I never really wanted it anyway. You see, my brother and I, we don't always get along very well. And he loves Midgard for some reason."

"You attacked another planet…to annoy Thor?"

"Essentially," Loki said with a half-shrug. And there began the more-or-less part. It wasn't quite untrue, but it wasn't quite true, either. "And in the interest of good will…yes, I was searching for something. Masters of magic. Powerful sorcerers. You were searching for threats; I know the threat. I was searching for allies. And we found each other, even through time and space. The Eye and the Orb. It can't be an accident. I am choosing to trust you, Doctor Stephen Strange, because the day may not be far off when we need each other."

"Hm. Threats do acquaint a man with strange bedfellows."

Loki stared. The mortal had seemed sane, if arrogant and unappreciative of being permitted to live after popping up in the most secure location in all of Asgard and in all of the Nine Realms.

"Shakespeare? You should give him a read. Lots of family squabbles. Kings and queens and princes and princesses, too. You might like it. Bedfellows. Allies."

"Thank you ever so much for the literature lesson," Loki drily intoned. At least the man was in fact sane. Sane enough, anyway.

"You're ever so welcome. What's the threat?"

"Not that it matters – you won't have heard of him – but his name is Thanos. He seeks power, but power itself holds no meaning to him."

"No one seeks power solely for power's sake. People seek power for what it can do for them. To fulfill some need. Something else always drives them. A desire for immortality, a fear…the need to annoy your brother," he added, waving a hand casually in Loki's direction. "What drives Thanos?"

Loki swallowed his irritation and answered. "Death."

"Fear of death?"

"Love of Death."

"Oh. Okay."

"More power, more death. He doesn't seek the deaths of his enemies; he seeks the death of everyone. There are those he would say he cares about. You wouldn't wish a fate of Thanos's 'caring' on your worst enemy." Loki took a steadying breath and pushed away unwanted memories; he'd seen Thanos's caring. "Or perhaps you would. I don't exactly know you very well."

"I don't wish suffering on anyone."

It was a noble sentiment, Loki thought. And one he didn't share. He outlined what little else he knew about Thanos, his "visitor" listening attentively and asking questions to which Loki had few answers.

"Okay. How do we stop him?" Doctor Strange asked.

Loki allowed himself to look away, eyes flickering over the items in view in the vault. A few of them might be useful against Thanos. None of them would be enough to defeat him, not even if they were somehow all used simultaneously. One of them was coveted by Thanos. His eyes slid back to his visitor, though he avoided looking down at the Eye. The Infinity Stone controlling time. Two of them. "We find more allies," he finally answered. "As many as we can. You keep exploring. I will keep searching. I'll come to you…in a month, perhaps? A month for me, longer for you, since from my perspective you've come from the past and you have to catch up to the present first. We'll share our progress. I don't know where Thanos is, or how to find him. But I know he's looking for a way to reach the Nine Realms. Including Midgard. All we can do is prepare."

"What are his weaknesses?"

"I don't know of any."

"I can see why you left that out of the pep talk. Okay, so we need to be ready with literally every trick in the book."

"We do."

"All right. I'll keep exploring then, and seek out any bit of information I can find about a guy with purple skin and an unhealthy fixation on death. And I'll tell the master sorcerers on Earth to step up every aspect of their training and study."

"There is a catch."

"I thought you might've been leaving out something important. You seem like the kind of guy who does that regularly."

"Do you know Thor?"

"Never met him."

"He thinks I'm dead."

"Ah, now that is a catch."

"I died in his arms. It was moving."

"Clinically dead but resuscitated? Dead-dead and magic that's forbidden among Earth's sorcerers? Or did you just fake the whole thing?"

Loki merely smiled. "I have shared knowledge with you that I've shared with no one else. The fact that you were able to make it here tells me that you wield powerful magic. The fact that you're able to control the Eye of Agamotto well enough to travel through time further confirms it. It was enough for me to reveal this secret to you."

"That and the fact that I could literally see through your disguise."

"You might have had suspicions but you could have done nothing with them. I've trusted you with this. I need you to trust me in return. If Thor found out about this…he would be…" Whatever words he'd thought would come, didn't. He wasn't sure what Thor would be. Relieved he was alive? Furious he wasn't dead, that he'd lied and tricked and schemed? Loki liked to think there would at least be a bit of relief amidst the fury, but it wasn't something he let himself dwell on. "My credibility with him would be at an all-time low. He wouldn't believe my warnings, and I would be barred from the Weapons Vault and the restricted collections and thus unable to continue my searching."

Doctor Strange nodded. "I can't say your credibility with me is all that high, either. But the Eye brought me here, and it wouldn't have brought me somewhere I wasn't meant to be. My responsibility is to Earth, so what happens on Asgard isn't really my business. I won't go looking for Thor."

"So we have an understanding?"

"We do. You know where to find me if you learn that this Thanos is on his way before the 2017 meeting?"

"I do," Loki answered with a smile.

"All right then. I've got a lot of work to do now, better get going. See you in 2017."

The mortal made some unfamiliar motions with his hands – Loki thought he might be accessing the energy of magic in a different way – and then he was gone.

He felt about the vault slowly, thoroughly, searching for any trace of anything that shouldn't be there – something left behind to observe, anything that might damage the vault's contents, a crack left open to aid a later return. He wasn't surprised when he found nothing, for Doctor Strange was, he suspected, considerably more honest than he.

Satisfied, Loki went back over to the Orb of Agamotto. He placed a hand at its center, where the lines met in an "x," concentrated, and yes, there it was. Finding it was simple, now that he knew the general location.

That was all he needed. He left the Weapons Vault, nodding Odin's head to the Einherjar on duty outside, and smiled all the way back to the throne room. The Midgardian wouldn't be able to return to the Weapons Vault even with the Eye. He'd only made it in this time because Loki was using the Orb to search for it, having just studied the ancient relics sometimes referred to as "Infinity Stones" in one of Odin's secret collections of books on powerful, dangerous artifacts, and having realized that the relic known as the Eye of Agamotto was one of them, the time stone.

Loki had been searching for Thanos. But he hadn't been able to find him, so he'd started looking for magical objects that could be used to destroy him instead. He wasn't looking for allies, as he'd told the doctor. He was looking for Infinity Stones. And he'd succeeded on his very first attempt. He had the Tesseract – the space stone, he knew now; easy access to the Aether, the reality stone, any time he needed it; and the exact location of the Eye of Agamotto, the time stone. Stealing it out from under the nose of the powerful but patently novice Midgardian sorcerer Doctor Strange would require planning, but he was confident he could do it.

The mind stone…he knew what that was now, too, and it upended his smile. He didn't fear it…but he wasn't looking forward to encountering it again, either. He knew it was on Midgard, in SHIELD custody. The fact that he didn't pursue it now, whether to obtain it or even find out precisely where it was, wasn't procrastination. He had merely prioritized finding the three whose locations were complete unknowns.

Now it was two. The soul stone and the power stone. Tonight he would settle on which to pursue next.

Thanos had never told him he was putting an Infinity Stone into his hands when that scepter was given to him. He'd never told him he was using it to obtain a second Infinity Stone. As it turned out, it had probably worked out for the best that he hadn't managed to take Midgard, hadn't been forced to grapple with whether to hand those relics back over to Thanos, or to face the consequences of refusing.

Thanos didn't have any Infinity Stones now. Loki had one, and when – if? – the time came, he could have four with little difficulty.

Loki's smile returned, and grew into a grin. He rather liked that idea. Even if Thanos never reached the Nine Realms, never attacked, you never knew when an Infinity Stone…or a complete set of them…might come in handy. A glorious purpose would require glorious power.

CODA

Back in the Sanctum Santorum, in the proper time, Stephen brushed his fingers over the Eye of Agamotto. He hadn't forgotten how Loki had noticed it and immediately charged toward him. And he hadn't missed the predatory gleam in Loki's eyes when Earth's would-be conquerer said he knew where to find him.

The story about Thanos, he thought, was probably true. But Loki pretty clearly wasn't motivated by altruism; he'd never even mentioned any particular responsibility toward Asgard, the planet he was apparently ruling, albeit in disguise. Loki had answered all his questions, yet Stephen was certain he'd still only heard half the story, if that.

Still, he would stick to the agreement. He would share what he knew of Thanos – and of Loki – with the other masters, and urge them to prepare. He would continue his searches with the Eye. And he would honor his word about Thor, who Loki plainly had some fairly conflicted feelings about. While he slept, his astral body would do that reading on Norse mythology, and study everything he could get his hands on about Loki's earlier invasion of Earth.

He lifted the eye from its place at his chest, and gently returned it to the pedestal where it stood on display. He was also going to have to emplace some serious upgrades to its protection.

"Time travel," he said, minutely shaking his head as he gazed at the inert Eye of Agamotto. He'd thought it might be possible, the type of time travel he'd done today. But he'd also thought it would require study and practice and considerably more intent.

He really did need to pay more attention to the warnings when he read.

NOTES

Thor: Ragnarok obviously makes this little story moot, but who cares, it's fanfic. #IDoWhatIWant. Hope you enjoyed it!

This story also assumes that you know The Princess Bride and Star Wars and The Silence of the Lambs (though that one only that our dear Odin played Hannibal), and The Ten Commandments (in which Charlton Heston played Moses).

A note on the Eye and the Orb (which I briefly considered changing the title to): this is all legit. I wanted to do a "what might Doctor Strange and Loki think of each other when they first meet" story, shortly after seeing Doctor Strange, so I started researching these various macguffins and found out about the Orb in Odin's Weapons Vault. But it gets dicey online, you'll find sites conflating or confusing the two. But they are not the same, and it's not the Eye but the Orb that's in the vault; the story image is a picture of the Orb from the first Thor.

[Ragnarok SPOILERS ahead, if you haven't seen it yet.] A note on the actual first meeting of Loki and Doctor Strange. Loved Loki's fire, and his movements as he grabs those knives and readies himself to fight…in that fancy black suit. Disliked him being made the butt of a joke then – again. (Nothing wrong with being the butt of a joke, but I would have appreciated seeing him actually *kick* some butt now and then, too, more than the very brief glimpses on the bridge at the end.)