"...Okay, is it just me, or does my apartment look a little different?" A pause. The room was silent, four sets of eyes set on the speaker. "Not to mention you all are definitely not helping me with the rent." The man pursed his lips and nodded. "Just me, then. Nice."

"Who the hell are you?" Tony strode forwards, and the spell on the room broke.

"Tony, wait -" Rodgers intercepted him before he could get too close.

Rocket piped up, "This ain't your guy?"

Tony huffed in frustration and shook off Steve's hand. He looked back at the raccoon as he gestured towards the man who had just materialized in the room. "Does this look like a teenager to you?"

"How should I know? All you humans look the same to me!"

"I want to say that's racist, but I'm too confused." The man in question was staring wide-eyed at Rocket. Then he blinked, and frowned. "Wait, did you say 'Tony'?" He took a step forward. "This isn't -"

"Stay right there, asshole!" Tony snapped, his heart racing. "No sudden moves until we work out what the hell is going on here."

The man raised his hands in front of him placatingly. "Whoa, alright. No offense meant."

Steve's voice was level. "Everyone stay calm. We'll figure this out."

No, Tony was not going to stay calm. This was their one shot, and it didn't work. Whoever this was, it wasn't him. "Bruce, talk to me. What happened?"

Banner spun back to the computer screen to look at the data. "I don't understand. This should have worked. The machine is calibrated to a specific genetic code. It shouldn't be able to latch on to anything else in the universe." He raised an eyebrow, and glanced up at Tony. "Well, I suppose maybe a clone, but just look at him -"

"Yeah, take it from me - it's better not to involve the clones." The man shuddered. "I mean, identity theft is already a problem."

Tony was incredulous, but ignored the comment as well as the rising panic in his chest. "Yes, I know it should have worked. But obviously it didn't. Otherwise who is this joker?"

Rocket snorted. "He's ugly, that's who."

"Hey! I'll have you know my aunt thinks I'm handsome."

"Why don't you let him speak for himself?" Steve said, crossing his arms over his chest.

He rolled his eyes. "You're a font of wisdom, Rodgers. Thank you for that totally off the wall suggestion."

Steve frowned. "I'm only trying to help."

The man's eyebrows raised. "Rodgers?" His gaze flitted between them, his head twisting comically. Then he sighed, his eyes shifting to the ceiling. "God, not again. No wonder I feel fluish."

Tony frowned. "Not again?" He slowed and took a moment to study the guy. He was decently tall, with crew cut brown hair, and looked to be in his mid 20s. He definitely wasn't Peter. Surely not. But the machine had grabbed him. Were they wrong, or… Tony's mind was flooding with terrible possibilities.

"Let's just say I've rode this inter-dimensional train before, and it's even messier than the MTA."

"Sorry, what?" Bruce said, head tilting in confusion.

The man smiled. "We'll get this out of the way, then. I'll tell you what I know, and you tell me what you know. Namely, what the hell you're doing to get me sucked into this."

"Yeah? What is it that you know, then?" Tony challenged.

A finger pointed towards his chest, and then Steve's. "I know you're Tony Stark, and he's Steve Rodgers. You must be Bruce Banner." He cocked his head at Rocket. "Sorry, you I have no idea. But believe me, I'm extremely curious."

"The name's Rocket."

"This just keeps getting better," he grinned. "Well, nice to meet you, Rocket. I'm Peter."

It was then that Tony's brain short circuited. His mouth opened, and closed again.

Steve and Bruce turned to look at each other.

Rocket just looked confused. "Peter? But then we're good - this is the guy!" No one responded. "Am I wrong, or were we looking for a Peter?"

"Just a Peter? Not me Peter? Well, there are a lot of us. Easy mistake."

Tony put up a hand. "I'm sorry - there are a lot of you? What the hell does that mean, exactly?"

'Peter' hesitated. "Ah, I'm not sure how much I should say here."

Banner swallowed, and rubbed a hand on his forehead. "What were you just saying about inter-dimensional travel?"

"Why don't you explain your side first, huh? Why am I here?"

Tony started pacing, his mind whirring. "Just so we're crystal here. Can we get a last name from you?"

He smirked. "Parker. But I think you knew that."

Jesus Christ. Holy shit. "Well, this is just great. It didn't work." He spun on his heel and faced the Peter Parker that wasn't Peter Parker.

"Well, it did work, but not the way we wanted." Bruce raised his eyebrows. "This is kind of amazing, actually."

Tony turned his head sharply. "Amazing? Are you serious? Bruce -" Peter's scared face flashed in his mind. His body dissolving, his frightened voice -

Banner cut him off. "I know, Tony. I know. But still, this is… well, I thought I'd seen it all."

Steve spoke up. "I'm lost. Can someone explain what this is?"

"Classic Cap," Not Peter said, then stated simply, "I'm from another dimension."

"Oh." His voice was small.

Tony squeezed the bridge of his nose with one hand. "Wow. You're kidding me. Great! This is great."

Bruce reasoned, "Well, at least we didn't pull back a Peter from our future. That would be even messier."

"Like there's one there to pull back," Tony snapped.

"Hey, don't think that way."

Peter clasped his hands together. "Well, this has been fun and all - always love meeting new faces of old friends - but I've kind of got a dinner date I can't miss. And since I'm not the Peter Parker you ordered… can we maybe return to sender?"

"Yeah…" Bruce scratched his arm. "About that."

"Oh no. That sounds like a bad news delivery voice."

Tony leaned back against a worktable. "This thing isn't designed as a two way street. It's designed to bring someone here. Not put them back. So sorry, compadre, but you're stuck here until we can find some way to install a reverse switch."

Peter sighed. "Yeah, honestly should've expected that. Things never do go right when I'm involved." He looked around at each of them, his eyes piercing. Then he shrugged and said, "Well, I'm hungry. Can you order pizza in this universe?"


Thanks for reading! This is just an idea I thought was fun and I'm playing around with it. Consider this a short opener - I've got plenty of plans for where this can go! Let me know if you're interested!