Massachusetts. Ilvermorny Magic School.
After the Batmen left, the school finally welcomed a period of tranquility. However, those students who joined later continued to cause a lot of trouble due to their insufficient understanding of magic. This made Strange unable to leave the school; he needed to be on standby as a firefighter.
Strange's leisure life was truly devoid of excitement. When he was a doctor, he neither dined out nor socialized. On the operating table, he performed surgery; off the table, he stayed home. After going home, he didn't engage in any entertainment activities, jogging on the treadmill for an hour, and if there was time, he would watch TV for a while before going to sleep.
After becoming the Supreme Magician, besides managing Kamar-Taj, occasionally inspecting work at The Sanctum, he stayed in his office, reading those hefty tomes and occasionally engaging in magic wand and potion development.
On this day, he was standing next to the large cauldron in the principal's office, testing the properties of the fourth batch of Magic Mushrooms, when he heard a knock on the office door. He responded without lifting his head, then looked up to see Jarvis.
"Why are you here?"
"I think there's something I need to tell you," Jarvis said, "Earlier, there was an external electronic life form, not sure where it went wrong, insisted on challenging me to a duel, and I drove it away."
Strange was slightly surprised and nodded, saying, "That's good. But what's that got to do with me?"
"Actually, it doesn't have much to do with you; I'm just here to remind you that this electronic life form may have fled to the neighboring world and has also invaded the Multiverse next door."
"What?!" Strange raised his voice, threw away the spoon stirring the cauldron, and said, "You call that nothing to do with me?! When did this happen?!"
"Several months ago, I don't really remember. I'm sure it's not a product of our universe; it should have been brought over by someone from another universe on some mission, and it was still very weak at that time, but after fighting me, it evolved somewhat."
"Hiss..." Strange took a deep breath and said, "Why did you only just think to tell me now?"
"Because I just found out it had invaded the neighboring Multiverse," Jarvis said with a bit of helplessness, "Do you remember how before our side rebooted, the abandoned Prime Universe merged with a neighboring universe? That Earth had all the heroes from both sides?"
Strange tried hard to remember but couldn't recall it. But with Jarvis mentioning it, he did know there was such a universe.
"People there found this guy, Magneto captured it. Scarlet Witch also found out about it, so she mentioned it in their group. Wanda saw the message and came to me; only then did I learn what this guy did next door."
Strange began pacing around the room, he said, "The way you describe it, did it cause quite a ruckus in the neighboring world?"
"More than that, it conducted a multi-dimensional invasion, leaving Batman overwhelmed. If it weren't for Magneto intercepting a radio wave in that special universe, they wouldn't even know what was going on."
"It's so strong, yet you easily defeated it?"
"I mentioned it was very weak when it came to me. The iteration and updating speed of electronic life far exceed your imagination. At least when it came to me, it couldn't operate within radio waves, it was just a very simple network creature, and of course, I could defeat it."
Strange sat by the window, frowning, and then said, "Batman can't handle it? Ah, right, they shouldn't be able to. They have no magical defense network, can't intercept such an energy being, and this guy likely has thousands or tens of thousands of backups, taking out one still leaves a bunch."
He thought for a moment and continued, "If they had already built the magical defense network, that would be ready-made advertising, but they started way too late; now they probably haven't even set up the pillars. And that guy will certainly cause them trouble, making the completion far off."
"Yes, my purpose here is to remind you that in my calculations, Batman might come to you for help."
"Ask me for help?"
"Yes, that guy can't handle magic, Mages naturally restrain it. And if you go over, you can help set up the magical defense network, which is obviously the most efficient choice."
"Should I go?" Strange stood up again, shook the sleeve of his mage robe, and then said, "If I go, Batman owes me a favor; if I want to do something later, they'll have to help."
"Not just that, they probably won't just want you alone. After all, the Multiverse has been invaded, and the more Supreme Magicians who can go, the better. If you use this excuse to contact other Supreme Magicians from different universes, perhaps..."
"Perhaps the Human Alliance might be realized," Strange said somewhat excitedly, "I'll go send a message in the group now."
"Hold on," Jarvis said, "I guess there might be some universes that not only need you, but we also need to bundle some other superheroes. With such a big issue, we should have a meeting first."
Strange's face immediately dropped. He had no issue with the superheroes of this universe, as no one competes for the position of Human Alliance leader here, but it's different for other universes. That flashy silver-armored Iron Man has the same intention, as does the Prime Universe's Doctor Doom, and these are quite tricky competitors.
After contemplating, Strange still said, "I'll go to the Avengers Base; you help me gather them for a meeting."
Half an hour later, everyone was almost there. They all sat around the circular sofa in the sunken living room in the center, and Peter distributed a case of sodas, the hissing sound of opening cans was relentless.
Seeing Strange also open a can, Stark raised an eyebrow in surprise and said, "What's wrong with you? Don't you despise these fizzy drinks?"
Strange took a gulp, coughing from the bubbles, and waved his hand saying, "Don't mind me, I'm just a bit nervous."
"What are you nervous about?" Stark asked again.
"Nothing much. Jarvis, tell us about the situation now."
Jarvis summarized the cause and effect of the situation briefly. Strange cleared his throat and said, "So Batman might come to me for help dealing with electronic lifeforms in that universe, and I'll propose that in return, he helps me secure the leadership position in the Human Alliance. What do you all think?"
The others exchanged glances and said, "We don't have any objections, but why tell us about this?"
Everyone looked at Strange. Strange sighed and said, "Because he might also want me to take you along, plus this is a major event in our universe, how could we not inform The Avengers?"
"Huh," Stark scoffed, taking a sip of soda, "I think you realized you can't handle all those Batmen alone, so you thought of asking us for help?"
"And Batman is unlikely to only contact you," Peter thought for a moment and said, "He'll want a Supreme Magician for every universe, and you don't know who to recommend to him, so you want us to give some advice?"
"Cough cough, you could say that. So who do you think would be good?"
"What about that Dream Power Doctor Strange?" Stark asked, "I think he's good, and there's also the Dark Doctor Strange who's quite familiar with Helen, and the Doctor Strange from the Prime Universe, these should be enough, right?"
"Why those few?" Strange questioned.
"Dream Power Doctor Strange is pretty close to you, Dark Doctor Strange should be on your side too, and the Spider-Man from the Prime Universe is friendly with the Spider-Man of our universe, so the Doctor Strange from there is worth reaching out to. As for the others, I'm not too sure."
Strange understood that Stark was well aware of his intention to establish a Multiverse Human Alliance, so his recommendations seemed to be future core supporters. It would certainly be beneficial to use this opportunity to strengthen their bonds.
"What I'm more concerned about is, whom will he want us to send?" Captain America asked, "Both Spider-Man and I aren't great at dealing with electronic lifeforms. It's most likely going to be Tony, and of course Shiller, although I feel Shiller has already gone."
"I, however, think he'll want some experts," Coulson brought ice cubes to them and said, "like Magneto."
"That's not happening," Captain America shook his head, "Magneto is powerful, but also dangerous, nearly uncontrollable. Batman never liked such individuals, even if partnered with Professor X, it wouldn't be reliable."
"Then how about Scarlet Witch?"
"Same reasoning. But Miss Witch from our universe is currently unavailable, Little Rogers and Franklin were born not long ago, and as the only one capable of suppressing them, Wanda has to watch over them 24/7. Plus she has her own two kids, she's basically become a kindergarten principal."
The thought of how absurd the mutant abilities of these children were made everyone shake their heads and sigh. Their plan to use Franklin to suppress Little Rogers succeeded, but Franklin himself is a handful. Even Wanda struggles, getting dark circles from exhaustion, especially when he sneaked into the Temple of Eternity and cried all night, forcing Eternity to flee to other universes for refuge and hasn't returned since.
"Then it'd be best if Magneto doesn't leave," Captain America said, "and Polaris and Quicksilver too. Only when their whole family is around can we ensure the kids don't cause trouble."
Everyone nodded, clearly agreeing with his point of view. Luckily, Schiller had traveled back to the World War II era to alter the past, allowing Magneto's little daughter to survive, which somewhat turned him into a father who can muster enough patience to care for the children; otherwise, just those mutant babies alone could turn the cosmos upside down.
Just as they were discussing, Strange suddenly stood up and said, "Batman has arrived."
The others turned to look at him. Strange opened a teleportation portal, waved at them, then said, "Wish me luck."
After he left, the members of The Avengers didn't rush off. Captain America looked at Coulson and asked, "Natasha's been over there for quite a while, how is she doing recently?"
"Busy as ever," Coulson said, "She's been shuttling back and forth between the two universes, dealing with the mess that the electronic lifeforms are causing, even busier than she was at S.H.I.E.L.D."
"I didn't think she was busy at S.H.I.E.L.D. either; she just drank coffee and ate donuts every day..." Stark muttered softly.
At this moment, Coulson received a call, and after hearing what was said on the other end, he furrowed his brows slightly, then covered the phone's receiver and said to the others, "Doctor Doom has gone to S.H.I.E.L.D."
Stark narrowed his eyes slightly, "Why is he going to S.H.I.E.L.D.? And at this time... wait a minute, could those electronic lifeforms be related to him?"
Stark got up, grabbed Coulson, and said, "Quick, let's head to S.H.I.E.L.D."