Sorry for the long wait! But I've been busy with a few other stories, and this one isn't vitally important to the rest of the series. It's a bit of a break from the rest of the plotty stuff. In any case, Chapter 2 is Marvel Adventures: Avengers. One of the most lighthearted universes that Marvel has to offer and totally awesome.

This one is set in Issue #20, Volume 6.

Summary: Tony was pretty sure he'd remember if his universe played host to gigantic freaking insects and the giant woman taking care of the mess. It was something rather hard to miss, and all Tony wanted to do was turn around and go back to the last dimension and demand a do over.


Chapter 2: Marvel Adventures


Next time Tony shouldn't listen to any alternate counterparts of him when they took him to Reed Richards and then relied on his expertise to traverse the multiverse. Because something had gone wrong.

Tony was pretty sure he'd remember if his universe played host to gigantic freaking insects and the giant woman taking care of the mess. It was something rather hard to miss, and all Tony wanted to do was turn around and go back to the last dimension and demand a do over.

It was the least that he was owed.

"Hey, watch out!"

There was enough time for him to turn before getting clocked upside in the head by what looked like an ant.

Coupled with the dizzy exhaustion Tony was barely fighting from his inter-dimensional travel, he stood no chance.


"He really does look like you, Tony. You sure you didn't do anything out of the ordinary?"

"Bruce is still running the DNA test."

"I can't have been the only one to see that rainbow light."

"No one saw Thor, did they?"

"Just this guy."

"Shh! He's waking up!"

Blurry as he was, he recognized the voices as his own (that sounded really eerie not coming from his throat), Ororo's, Logan's, and Steve's. But obviously they weren't his team because of that giant woman and those freaking insects.

They'd laid him out on something soft, which Tony greatly appreciated considering he was still sore from the wild ride that his last trip had turned out into. Whatever Richards had done had failed, as Tony's trip had turned from calm to turbulent in the blink of an eye and also seared his retinas with the play of rainbow light.

Fucking Bifrost.

There was a hushed silence around him as he debated the pros and cons of opening his eyes.

"Did he say Bifrost?" he heard Ororo whisper.

Oh. Had he said that out loud?

"Yes." That was Steve.

Making sure his mouth was shut, Tony carefully opened his eyes, finding himself surrounded by familiar faces. They were all in costume, too, though the other Tony's faceplate was up. And for some reason, Ororo was there.

"Should I say hi?" Tony asked eventually, slowly sitting up on the couch. The dizzying exhaustion from before was gone much to his relief.

Steve's armor was chainmail and leather like the last one he'd seen. "Who are you?"

"I'm a Tony." Tony spread his hands and wiggled his fingers. "Hi."

"You smell like it," Logan grunted.

"Then you'll understand when we say that we'll be waiting on the results," the other Tony said casually, his eyes sharp.

"Oh yeah, no problem." Tony nodded, only to stop upon thinking about what that DNA test should show. "You should probably know ahead of time that I'm a mutant."

Ororo's eyebrows rose, and Logan huffed, probably scowling behind that atrocious yellow mask of his. Whose bright idea had it been to give him such an eyesore of a uniform?

"Interesting," the other Tony remarked, the corner of his mouth ticking up. "D'you mind me asking what you do?"

In answer, Tony looked to the side, eyes catching on a lamp. He lifted it up about a foot and held it there as he returned his gaze to the other Tony.

"Telekinesis," Ororo noted, nodding.

"I suppose you're not one then," Tony said to the other Tony. "The other one wasn't either."

"Completely human," the other Tony confirmed.

"What do you mean by the other one?" Steve asked.

"Because Reed screwed up," Tony said tiredly, running a hand through his hair. "He was supposed to send me back home, but instead I end up here. And the last universe wasn't mine either."

"Were you at a Renaissance fair?" the other Tony asked, gesturing at him.

"Asgard, actually. Steve and I were coming back from vacation." His hand went up to check that the ring was still there.

The other Tony glanced at Steve fondly. "We should go there next time."

Steve's answering look was just as fond. "Instead of Paris, you mean?"

"Go big or go home." The other Tony's eyes crinkled in a grin.

An unassuming looking man in a lab coat walked in, wireframe glasses sitting on his nose. "He's definitely you, Tony," he started talking, not even looking up from the paper he was holding, "but he's also a mutant – oh." Bruce – since he definitely looked like a Bruce, just younger and with light brown hair – had caught sight of Tony. "You're awake."

"Good to have you here then, other me," the other Tony informed Tony happily, stretching out a hand to haul Tony off the couch.

"Why is there a floating lamp?" Bruce asked, staring at it.

Tony put it down, raising an eyebrow at the look Ororo gave him.

"Well," Bruce started again, shooting Tony a curious look. "this is a first for us. We don't usually get visitors from other dimensions."

"Trust me, I don't want to be here."

Steve gave Tony a concerned look. "Is there anything we can do about that?"

Tony smiled weakly. "Get me back home?"

"We'll help you there," the other Tony assured him. "I'll get in contact with Reed."

"Like the last one managed to get it right," Tony groused, folding his arms over his chest.

"We'll get it right this time." There was a gleam in the other Tony's eyes that Tony recognized.

There was a sudden change in the frequencies of the communicators they had, and Tony shamelessly hacked into the other Tony's armor and eavesdropped in on what sounded like Peter requesting backup.

Fingers to his cowl, Steve looked apologetically at Tony. "Sorry, we've got a call. Are you going to be good here?"

Tony pretended he had no idea what they were talking about; Logan looked at him suspiciously. "Sure."

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do," the other Tony advised him, his face knowing before the faceplate came down.

"That's a very long list, Iron Man," Ororo said dryly.

"Come on," Steve urged them, ushering them out. Bruce sounded like he was complaining about ripping his clothes, to which Ororo tugged off his lab coat and threw it aside.

Tony gave them about two minutes before he stripped off his Asgardian clothes, letting his undersuit out of his pores before the suit melted out as well, clicking into place seamlessly. The HUD morphed into existence in front of Tony's eyes, figures and stats coming into existence as the sensors analyzed his surroundings.

But Tony was more interested in the jet taking off that contained the Avengers, and he hacked into their intercom, tracing the steps they'd taken to the roof so he could follow them.

Where they were going was immediately apparent because there were two giant people facing off, one of whom was the strange woman Tony had been distracted by when first arriving. The other was a rather ugly looking brown-haired man who seemed to be shouting at the woman.

Tony slowed down, keeping slightly below the jet's line of sight. He did get to see the man grab hold of the jet when it came too close and throw it at the woman, who recoiled at the impact, which had to be painful no matter how big one was.

Before Tony could react, another man with a silver helmet popped into view, surging up from nowhere with various pink sparkles around him. He grabbed hold of the first man's shoulder and started fighting, only to be thrown back in a suddenly enormous pile of ants.

"You've got to be kidding me." Tony was really growing to dislike ants.

Not that it mattered in the end, because the ants ended up winning, and Tony watched with a sort of horrified fascination as they viciously attacked the enemy.

The others didn't even notice him landing by them until the helmeted man called the ants off and shrunk the other man with them. The other Tony was the first to notice, and he started in surprise upon facing Tony.

"I don't recall lending you a suit," the other Tony stated, his voice modulated by the suit's voice synthesizer. "Not that I have any like that."

Tony grinned behind the faceplate. "It's mine."

The other Tony gave off a sense of skepticism. "Where were you packing it?"

Tony raised an eyebrow. "Wouldn't you like to know."

"Oh my God!" Peter flailed into Tony's attention. "I thought we agreed on no cloning! It always ends in murder!"

The other Tony cocked his head. "I don't remember that."

Tony flipped up his faceplate, giving Peter a look. "I'm not a clone."

Peter was silent for all of a second before saying, "It's not even a good clone! Your eye color isn't even the same!"

"Put the faceplate down!" the other Tony hissed as Ororo asked Peter, "Is there something you want to tell us?"

"Why?" Tony asked, folding his arms across his chest. "It's no secret—"

"Yes, it is." The other Tony forced his faceplate down, clicking it shut.

"He just wants to think that," Logan informed Tony. "It's really an open secret."

"I just notice things like eye color!" Peter said.

"What's mine?" Steve asked.

Peter stopped for a moment to look at him. "Blue."

"You looked."

"Of course I looked! You're standing right there."

"Come on, guys," the woman Tony had yet to learn the name of said, swinging her arms over his and the other Tony's shoulders. "Let's go."

"Is that Josten guy taken care of?" Peter asked.

"All bottled up," the woman said, smirking. "I think Hank's got plans for him."

Steve had gone to talk to Hank, and Tony could see Hank rather bashfully grinning at whatever the other told him.

"So who're you?" the woman asked Tony, squeezing the arm around his neck.

"Tony."

The woman looked at the other Tony. "I thought we said no cloning."

"There was no cloning, Janet." The other Tony sounded disgruntled.

The now-identified Janet turned back to Tony. "So you're another one."

"Thank the multiverse." Tony flipped his faceplate up to grin at her, only for the other Tony to flick it down again. "Hey, hands off."

"When you're not walking around with my face in a suit like mine, then we can talk."

"Send me back home, then you won't have to worry about me outing you," Tony fired back. "I'm generally bad at keeping secrets."

The silence radiating from the outer Tony just screamed disbelief, which Tony should've expected considering that it would be nearly impossible to fool himself.

Steve came back. "Iron Man, is the jet still good to use?"

The other Tony heaved a sigh, head twisting to look back at the jet. "You're not supposed to throw them around."

"That's a no then," Peter observed.

"Mind giving me a ride?" Steve was grinning at the other Tony.

"You don't even need to ask." The other Tony pulled away from Janet and took the few steps separating him from Steve, bringing him close in the hug-and-fly maneuver Tony and his Steve had used several times.

Tony didn't say anything until the two took off, the rest of the Avengers gazing after them. "Are they together?"

"Ha!" Peter pointed at Tony. "He sees it, too!"

"No one thought you were imagining it, Spidey," Ororo soothed him.

"But none of you wanted in on the pool!" Peter pulled out a notebook from seemingly nowhere and flipped it open. "Are you interested?" he asked Tony.

"I feel weird betting on another version of myself and my fiancé, but why not."

Janet's head snapped to Tony. "You're engaged? To Steve?"

"Getting married?" Hulk grunted from behind Logan, peering at Tony curiously.

"Got hitched on Asgard as a way of getting Steve out of a tight spot, but he said it didn't count, so we're gonna do it again." Tony pointed to a date in Peter's notebook. "As soon as I get back anyway."

"That doesn't sound romantic at all," Janet said dubiously.

"Trust me, it was very romantic. All dash and daring and sex."

Peter paused in his scribbling. "I didn't need to know that."

"Is he gentle or rough?" Ororo asked curiously, coming in close.

"No, come on," Peter moaned, bringing his hands up to his ears.

"Depends on the mood," Tony answered thoughtfully, thankful for the faceplate that hid his grin. "He's a full body blusher."

"I knew it," Janet hissed.

"Tell me more," Ororo demanded, grinning.

This was a side of Ororo that Tony hadn't seen in his universe, but it was one that he would happily oblige. It wasn't like his own team was particularly eager to hear the details on his sex life, and Pepper and Rhodey had both told him more than once that they didn't need to hear about the sex noises Steve made.

Logan and Hulk left the premises just as the story was getting good, while Peter had gone off to poke at an anthill, muttering under his breath.


"While you guys were off dancing around the city doing who knows what, I contacted Reed," the other Tony said once they arrived at the tower. He raised an eyebrow at the faint blushes Janet and Ororo were sporting. "What?"

"Nothing," Janet mumbled, eyes skittering to Steve before a bright red blush suffused her cheeks. "I'm going," she squeaked, waving her hands and slipping out the room.

Ororo narrowed her white eyes at Steve. "I can almost see it," she said as if to herself, swishing her cape behind her as she followed after Janet, probably to gossip about the stories Tony had told them.

"You don't want to know," Peter mournfully informed Steve. "You don't."

Steve stared at him, a frown on his face. He had a truly delightful head of cowl hair that Tony could never resist running his fingers through. "Okay?"

"What did you do?" the other Tony demanded.

"I didn't do anything," Tony said innocently, ignoring the cough of "Liar" Logan gave.

"I doubt that," Steve said dryly.

The other Tony whirled on him. "There's no need for that tone."

Steve put up his hands, face innocent. "I didn't say anything."

"I know that look," Tony said, shooting a glance at Hulk, who happened to be devouring his third box of pizza since Tony had come back.

"Let's just go to Reed," Steve said, inelegantly changing the subject. "He says he wants to meet you."

"How lovely," Tony said, meaning anything but that. "Are we flying?"

"Since the jet has yet to be repaired since we arrived, we're using our suits," the other Tony said, stepping closer to Steve. "Coming with, Cap?"

"This I really have to see," Steve said, grinning at Tony and pulling on his cowl, hiding the hair much to Tony's regret.

"Good luck," Logan told Tony seriously from next to Hulk, eating his own pizza slice.

Seeing as how Richards would doubtlessly run another gamut of tests on Tony and probably uncover Extremis, which the other Tony didn't seem to have, Tony thought he would need it.


Tony did.

The first thing the others saw was the way his armor melted into his skin, revealing his undersuit. Tony didn't remove that, since then he'd be naked.

"That's really something," Richards said, looking younger than the one Tony was familiar with, though the grey streaks were the same. "What is that?"

"A feature of the Extremis virus," Tony explained shortly, shifting uncomfortably. "Is that gonna be a problem?"

"I've not heard of Extremis before," Richards said, shooting a curious look at the other Tony, who shook his head, "but it shouldn't interfere with my results if you know what we're looking at."

"I don't," Tony admitted grudgingly. "This is the second universe I've visited, and the first wasn't as friendly."

"I'm not surprised," Richards said. "From what I've seen, ours is one of the more peaceful ones."

"We seem to do a lot for a peaceful world," Steve noted wryly.

"Have you had any cataclysmic events or people dying?" Richards asked, eyebrows raising.

"Nix on the first, but yes on the latter," Tony said. "Though I guess that alien invasion we had in ours could be categorized as cataclysmic?"

"They usually are." Richards held up a scanner. "Stand there, please."

Richards was a lot politer and nicer than the one Tony was familiar with, and he actually chatted with the other Tony while he did his scans, only pausing periodically to ask Tony a question as to Extremis or the energy source in his chest.

"My counterpart was right about that," Richards said, gesturing at the energy source, "but he took too big a chance just using it."

"So what?" Tony asked, covering the energy source.

"Tony and I will build something else that you can use if it happens again," Richards said, "so you don't have to rely on me being around." He shrugged, smiling ruefully. "I'm not nice in every universe, nor am I always there."

"You mean like a watch or something? Like in Doctor Who?"

"We can't build a TARDIS," the other Tony said, sounding regretful.

"Thank God," Steve muttered.

The other Tony elbowed Steve in the side. "But we'll figure something out," he promised.

"If you don't mind sticking around, we can get started on it," Richards said, looking down at the computer screen that held all the data he had accumulated.

"Not like I'm able to do anything else," Tony said bluntly.

"I'm sure you'd be able to figure something out," Steve said, sounding fond.

Tony found himself smiling at him before he could think the better of it, helplessly charmed as always by Steve.

The other Tony looked between them, face amused. "I'll go over what Reed's got. Join us when you want."

Taking that as implicit permission to talk to Steve, Tony went to stand by him, leaning against the wall with his shoulder. "Come here often?" he couldn't resist asking.

Steve snorted, face crinkling in amusement. "That line work on the people you usually try it on?"

"I don't usually use that line," Tony said, grinning. "It's too corny for my taste, and my Steve would just make a face and probably hit me with his sketchpad."

"So you and your Steve…you're together?" Steve's eyes flicked down to the ring in plain view on its chain.

"Engaged," Tony confirmed, smiling wistfully. It turned mischievous a second later. "What about you and Tony?" Ugh, okay, he was never saying that again; it was just too weird.

"What about me and Tony?" Steve's tone was far too carefully modulated to be natural.

"Come on." Tony shifted so he was shoulder to shoulder with Steve. "No need to be shy; I'll be gone by tomorrow."

Steve looked doubtful, so Tony pressed further. "There's something going on between you two. Peter's got a pool running, though I'm the only one in on it since no one's willing to put in money considering how obtuse you two seem to be."

Steve shook his head, rubbing a hand over his face. "No." The word was soft.

"'No, damn it, Peter' or 'No, nothing's going on'?"

His response was a sigh. "The latter."

Tony frowned, giving him a dubious look. "Right. You know, I have trouble believing that considering I know that look on his face – since it's my face, really – and I know you."

"We're not the same people," Steve reminded him sharply.

"Obvious considering I'm a mutant and have something called Extremis; also obvious considering you've got different Avengers on your team than I do back home. But fundamentally we're the same." Tony slid closer to him, dropping his voice. "What's scaring you?"

Steve studied him for a long moment, eyes tracking over every inch of his face. Then, finally, he turned back to where the other Tony and Richards were both bent over the computer and seeming to be arguing. When he did speak, it was so quiet that Tony almost didn't hear it. "Why me?"

Tony's own response was slow in coming. "That's the question I asked myself actually." His smile was self-deprecating as Steve met his eyes, shocked. "Why would he be interested in me? I'm a former weapons manufacturer with a lot of blood on my hands, and I can't ever wash that clean." He shrugged, smiling lopsidedly. "I've given up answering it—" Steve's face twisted skeptically, so he corrected himself, "Okay, so I haven't, but I've just stopped asking it where he can hear. I can enjoy a good thing, you know."

"Never doubted it," Steve murmured.

"I don't believe that." Tony didn't meet his eyes. "Don't ever doubt your worth, Steve. Not here. Besides, I hear relationships thrive when both partners are on equal ground. Communication is apparently also a thing."

Steve was silent. Then, "The same goes for you, too, you know." His smile was gentle as Tony looked up at him. "You're also worth it, no matter what universe you come from."

Tony's breath hitched, and he swallowed, finding himself unable to meet Steve's all too familiar but unfamiliar eyes. Not for the first time, he wished for his own Steve's presence. It wasn't like he was overly attached to Steve, but at least he normally had the option of contacting him. Here he didn't even have that.

"Hey, Tony," the other Tony called, apparently uncaring of the oddness of doing so, "think you can help us out here?"

Tony gladly went, shooting Steve one last glance out of the periphery of his vision. "Yeah, sure. What do you need?"

The ring was a warm, comforting weight at his collarbone.


Come late evening, Steve had put his foot down and taken both Tonys back to the tower to rest and recuperate. There was little doubt as to whether Richards would do the same, but Tony let Steve take them back to base. They'd gotten through most of the information anyway, and Richards was just going to run over the data and see what his counterpart could have missed.

"Best scenario, you'll be back the day after," the other Tony told him once they were back. "We still want to build that device."

"Sounds great," Tony said honestly. And it did, since the device that the other Tony was talking about would let him do universe hopping by himself without Richards's help. It was up in the air as to how it would do this, but Richards promised to have an answer by the morning.

"No shop talk," Steve chided them.

"Sorry, dear." The other Tony smirked at him.

Tony himself gave Steve a pointed look, raising his eyebrows meaningfully. He was behind the other Tony, so the other Tony couldn't see.

When Steve ended up ignoring him, he rolled his eyes and turned to the other Tony. "Are you going to put me up on the couch?"

The other Tony looked scandalized. "What kind of host would I be?"

"One who didn't expect an inter-dimensional visitor?"

"A visitor's a visitor," the other Tony insisted. "Come on. Cap, I'll see you in the morning. Have a great night." He gave the other a soft smile before putting his hand on Tony's shoulder and guiding him away.

It wasn't until they out of earshot of Steve that the other Tony spoke again, shooting a look down at Tony's bare feet. "I've gotta ask, why don't you have shoes?"

"I didn't get it right the first time," Tony said grudgingly, brushing a thumb over the material of the undersuit. "And I had issues making it out of the material so it'd be uniform and not separately attached. It all goes in my bones because of Extremis."

The other Tony had a speculative gleam in his eye. "I think we can figure something out." His lips quirked into a smile. "Want to see my workshop?"

Tony shot a glance over his shoulder as if expecting to see a disapproving Steve bearing down on them. "Please."


The next morning, Steve eyed Tony and the other Tony disapprovingly, probably because the two of them were on a caffeine high from having stayed up all night.

"You didn't go to bed," he told the other Tony accusingly.

"Please don't fight before breakfast," Peter begged, eating some of the most sugary cereal Tony had ever seen.

"We're not fighting," Steve said, not looking at him.

"You have your disapproving face on."

"That is his disapproving face," Tony agreed.

"You speak from experience?" Ororo raised her eyebrow at him, smirking.

"So much experience."

"I can see that," Janet said, grinning widely.

"How would you know I didn't go to bed?" the other Tony demanded. "Not that I'm saying I didn't," he added belatedly.

Steve frowned at him, mouth turned down. "I just do."

"Claiming I'm on a caffeine high is not proof."

"Fine, I was waiting, okay?" Steve's ears were flushing red, and Ororo and Janet shot Tony knowing looks. "I was waiting outside your room."

The other Tony's eyebrows lifted. "Why, Captain, I didn't know you had it in you," he said in a breathy tone.

Steve looked like he was torn between laughing and scowling. "I was waiting," he repeated. "And you never showed."

The other Tony turned serious. "What I do at night isn't really your business, Cap. Come on; what's your problem?"

"I want it to be my business!"

The silence was so thick one could have heard a pin drop. Even Hulk had stopped eating (Tony had been rather disconcerted to be met with Hulk instead of Bruce, but Peter had assured him that this was normal).

Steve went red, eyes darting around helplessly, as he avoided looking at anyone.

A minute into the uncomfortable silence, Steve met the other Tony's eyes and mumbled, "Can we talk privately?" He didn't even give the other Tony a chance to respond, just grabbing his hand and pulling him out after him.

This left the rest of them sitting there in a stunned stupor.

"I'm not quite sure what just happened," Janet said finally.

"You and me both," Logan grunted, eyes narrowed at the doorway Steve and the other Tony had disappeared through.

"I'm sure it isn't anything bad," Tony said eventually, suppressing the urge to hack into one of the cameras and spy. It wasn't his business.

Peter tilted his head thoughtfully. "How much do you wanna bet they'll come back here ravaged?"

After a thoughtful silence, everyone shook their heads.

"That's a sucker bet," Janet said. "Let's go on how many hickeys we can see."

"Steve has a healing factor," Tony pointed out. It had been a cause of irritation for Tony as nothing he'd done had stuck until the morning, while anything Steve did to him had. Though his healing had sped up after Extremis…

"Tony doesn't," Ororo mused. And this Tony didn't have Extremis. Tony definitely hadn't sensed anything technological on him either aside from what seemed like a high-tech electromagnet not too unlike the arc reactor.

"Then none," Tony said, grinning as everyone looked at him.

"I'm sorry. You don't remember what you told us yesterday?" Janet sounded skeptical.

"Give it a couple months, sure." Tony shrugged. "Right now? Nah."

"Why are we listening to him?" Logan demanded. "The relationship ain't gonna be the same."

"Same strokes, bud," Tony pointed out, swigging down the last of his coffee. Ororo gave him a pointed look when he reached for more, and he made a face back.

"I can't in good conscience let you have any more unless it's decaf," Ororo told him.

Tony pulled a disgusted face. "That disgusting stuff?"

"I dunno," Peter said. "I like it with whipped cream and sprinkles."

"You mean that's what you're drinking instead of hot cocoa?" Janet sounded dismayed.

"There's no hot cocoa here," Peter said, gesturing at the kitchen.

"Are you kidding me?" Tony protested. "My Steve loves hot cocoa. Best thing if he can't sleep."

"Tony's probably hidden it then," Ororo said, nodding.

"Then I'm gonna find it," Peter proclaimed.

"Find what?" the other Tony's voice asked.

They all turned eagerly to look, but aside from too rough hair and slightly swollen lips, there didn't seem to be anything out of place. Then Tony saw the way Steve's collar wasn't tucked into place and the other Tony's shirt was rucked up on one side and not the other, and he gave them a pointed eyebrow waggle that had Steve blush and the other Tony smirk back.

"No hickeys," Janet observed mournfully.

Steve started, staring at her. "What?"

"Oh, hon." Janet looked sympathetic. "Did you two think you were subtle? Because you weren't. At all."

"But congratulations," Ororo added gracefully.

"Thanks?"

The other Tony rolled his eyes and clapped Tony on the shoulder. "Ready? It's time we head over to Reed."

"Depends. Is Steve coming with?" Tony grinned up at them.

Steve narrowed his eyes at Tony, though his pink ears gave the game away. "I'm coming."

"That's one place I'm glad not to be," Peter declared, putting up his hands as Steve and the other Tony looked at him.

"You just wait, Pete," Tony said, grinning as he mentally ruffled Peter's hair and getting a small squawk of surprise for his efforts. "You're on the same team with them."

"Aw nuts."


"I think your energy source is what's powering the jumps," Richards told Tony once they were in his lab.

Tony furrowed his brow. "You're sure?"

Richards nodded. "From the data and information you've given me on Extremis's capabilities and the energy source, it's the best explanation. I don't have an explanation for why my counterpart wasn't able to send you home, but my guess is that Extremis somehow interfered."

"Okay, fantastic." Tony folded his arms across his chest. "So how do we stop it?"

"We can't." Richards shrugged. "But you can."

"You're kidding me, right?" Tony couldn't stop the disbelief from entering his voice. "I still don't know what Extremis is fully capable of, and I'm the one using it!"

"No, I'm not." The corner of Richards's mouth lifted in a small smile. "But I think I have a solution for you so that you can control your jumps. If this happens again, all you'll have to do is wait to recharge and then you jump again."

"Until I get back home?"

"Optimally I send you back. But if it doesn't work, at least there'll be a failsafe."

"You willing to give it a shot?" the other Tony asked, his face sympathetic. "We could use your help building it."

Tony shook his head, rubbing his face. "I just want to go home," he said finally. "Screw whatever I have to do, I want to go home."

Steve's hand was a comforting weight on his shoulder, but it wasn't what he needed. "You will."

"Sometime." Tony dropped his hands, giving Richards a resolute nod. "Okay. Let's get started then."


Richards sent them away in the evening, needing to run a few more tests to be certain that the device they had put together would work properly. It looked a bit like a phone, though its only abilities were scanning for similar energy sources to Tony's and then latching onto them as the destination for the jump. It used Tony's own energy source to power it, and Richards had assured him that it wouldn't suck him dry. It should, in fact, become more efficient with each jump, using less and less. Of course, the goal was to only make one more jump, rendering the device moot.

Tony thought it likely that he'd need it, but then he was also somewhat of a pessimist.

Steve noticed, even going so far as to corner him in the library (this Tony had a library; well, Tony did, too, but he didn't have this many books. He thought) for a talk.

"It's going to be fine, you know," Steve told him.

"You and my Steve would get along fabulously," Tony answered, running his fingers along the spines of some science books.

"No doubt." Steve was silent for a few minutes.

Tony almost thought that Steve would leave it when he spoke again. "I wanted to thank you."

Tony glanced over his shoulder at him. "For what?"

"Tony and me." Steve had a small smile on his face. "You were right."

"I usually am," Tony said airily, only getting an unimpressed face for his efforts. "But you're welcome."

"Do you usually match-make?" Steve sounded amused.

"Ha, no." Tony remembered the last Steve and Tony he'd seen and how broken their relationship had been; he hoped they were on the path to fixing it. "It's just…" He trailed off, wondering at how to put this into words. "It might be narcissistic of me, but I want to see myself happy. And whatever I can do for you…" He looked back at Steve with a half-smile, shrugging. "I always will."

"It's not narcissistic," Steve said softly. "And thank you. I don't know how much longer it might've been if you hadn't talked to me."

Feeling his face warm, Tony looked away, waving a dismissive hand. "You would've figured it out eventually. I'm sure that your team would've ended up doing something one way or another."

Steve grinned, snorting. "Yeah, you're right. I would've liked to see that."

"Worthy of any romantic comedy," Tony agreed.

"But you wouldn't know about those."

"Thor likes watching them on movie nights."

Steve quirked his eyebrows. "Thor's on your team then?"

"Yep." Tony gave him a curious look. "Where's yours?"

"Asgard." Steve glanced to the side, giving Tony a sly smile. "The rest of the team thinks he doesn't exist," he admitted.

Tony let out a bark of laughter. "Hoo boy. Would that I could see the looks on their faces when they see he does."

"It should be amusing," Steve agreed, grinning.

"The only thing in question on my team was whether he was really a Norse god. He put that to rest pretty quickly by summoning a thunderstorm out of the blue a week later and letting it have at New York for a day." Tony smiled at the memory and way Thor had given them all unimpressed looks when they had assured him that they believed him now. Only Steve had still held out on it, clinging rather stubbornly to his Catholic upbringing.

"You miss them," Steve noted softly.

Tony shook himself out of his morose thoughts, sending Steve a rueful smile. "Yeah, I do. It was been a month on Asgard for Steve and me, and we were heading back when this crazy whirlwind happened." He shrugged. "I just want to get back."

"You will," Steve reassured him. "I've no doubt you will."

Tony dropped his head, eyes on his fingers. "Yeah, that's something I've got to hope for."

He wanted a hug, but there was none forthcoming, at least not from this Steve. Hunching his shoulders, Tony forced himself to take a fortifying breath, only to freeze a second later when solid, warm arms wrapped around him, pulling him into a heated hug that he had sorely missed.

It took Tony absolutely no time for him to give in and bury his face in the crook of Steve's neck, shuddering as he desperately tried to restrain his sobs (because Stark men did. Not. Cry).

"You'll make it back," Steve repeated, his voice a reassuring balm to Tony's soul. "You will."


"I expect you to make it back this time," Richards told Tony the next morning.

"And if he doesn't?" Janet demanded. "Is there a way for you to tell?"

"There may be, but that's still uncertain."

"You don't have to go now," Ororo told Tony. "You can stay here until something more definitive has been found."

"That's sweet of you, but I can't wait any longer." Tony smiled at her, looking round at the rest of the team that had wanted to be here this morning. "We're as certain as we can be. Anything else is just going to be speculative guesswork."

"He's right," the other Tony added. "In any case, he's not dependent on anyone helping him now with the jumper we built."

Said jumper was a heavy weight in his pocket, but it was a reassuring one.

"Be safe." Steve's mouth was thin, his face worried.

"Safe as I can be," Tony said wryly. "I make no promises, though."

"That sounds more like the Tony I know," Peter said, nodding. "Good luck."

"I do my best to be safe," the other Tony said mock indignantly.

"We know you do." Steve wrapped an arm around his waist, squeezing. He addressed Tony next. "We probably won't see you again, but it was great meeting you."

"Same." Tony nodded at all of them, stepping back on the platform Richards had designated.

"If you die, we'll hunt you down and kill you ourselves," Logan threatened gruffly.

"Wow, uh…" Tony snorted, grinning at him. "Thanks."

"Happy nuptials!" Janet said, smiling brightly. "Give your Steve a kiss from me!"

"And me," Ororo added.

Tony's grin broadened in amusement. "Will do."

"Give him a big one from me," the other Tony said, winking. "And safe travels."

"Everyone said their piece?" Richards asked, hands at the controls that would send Tony hurtling through the multiverse one more time. "Tony, you ready?"

Brushing his hands down his clothes and double checking that he had the jumper, Tony nodded, jaw tightening. "I'm good. Thanks again, Reed."

Richards flashed him a small smile, nodding. "Activating in three…two…one—"

Let's follow the yellow brick road once more, Toto.


How'd you like it? Please let me know what you thought! :D

Next up is presumably Ults, but I need help for that because I'm not buying any comics from that universe and I don't really know the characters.

Next: Ults (1610)