As he was woken up by the sound of someone pounding frantically on his bedroom door, for just a moment, James was sure that he was going to open his eyes and find himself in his room in the Avengers tower, and that everyone would walk around him like he was made of glass, but at least everything would be perfectly normal. And he could usually get Torunn to spend what little free time she had with him, as long as he played up the pity and loneliness cards.
But as soon as he opened his eyes, the entire fantasy was ruined, simply by the existence of the room he was in. The apartment that this world's James shared with this world's Peter. He groaned, and wanted to roll over and go back to sleep so that he could entertain himself with more dreams about the universe that he'd accidentally left behind.
Unfortunately for him, whoever was at his door seemed pretty insistent on him waking up, because the knocking only got louder and louder the longer that James ignored it. He finally let out a loud groan of frustration, then got up and padded over to the door in just his underwear. Whoever was bothering him so early in the morning didn't deserve to see him actually put any effort into his appearance.
He swung the door open, and furrowed his eyebrows at the sight of Peter standing there in his suit. But it wasn't the familiar red and blue Spiderman suit that James was used to. Instead it was mostly dark gray, with blood red piping. If it weren't for the fact that the cowl was hanging down the top of his back, revealing Peter's face, James would think that it was some kind of imposter standing in front of him. He reached up to rub at his eyes, just in case he was hallucinating the dark suit, but that didn't accomplish anything.
"What do you want so early in the morning?" He couldn't keep the annoyed tone out of his voice.
Peter didn't even bother to look apologetic for waking James up like that. "Look, I get that you're not really in the game, on either side really, but we've got a bit of a major problem right now, and we need all the bodies on the ground that we can get."
It took a few seconds for James' sleepy brain to actually absorb what Peter was saying, and then he frowned. "There's got to be hundreds of supers just in this city alone. Why the hell would you need me when my only 'superpower' is to heal slightly faster and be slightly stronger than the average person?"
Peter shrugged. "I don't know, man. Every single bit helps." His eyes ran up and down James' whole body in a quick and assessing manner. "You might want to put on some clothes first. Since when do you sleep practically in the nude?"
"How often do you watch me sleep to even be in the position to ask me something like that?"
Peter just rolled his eyes like that was the most ridiculous thing he'd ever heard before. "We've been roommates for a while, and we're basically brothers from before that. Now get dressed unless you think you can use your great power of intimidating the other side into giving up."
James had started to turn around to head to his dresser, but he paused when he realized just what Peter was asking of him. "And by the other side, I'm assuming that you mean… the superheroes?"
"You said that they're all just the people who were villains in your world, so you shouldn't have any problem finding something within yourself that really wants to kick their asses. But no, in this case, we're not fighting them. In fact, as far as I know, they're even willing to work together, on a very limited basis."
James' eyes shot up as he snatched the first shirt and pair of jeans he saw, and quickly pulled them on while Peter continued to stand right in the doorway to the room. "Are you saying that there is something happening out there right now that's so dangerous it poses a threat to heroes and villains to the point where it requires them to team up? How is that even possible? And why would I want to go anywhere near something so dangerous?"
Peter snorted. "Maybe because your girlfriend is going to be there heroically risking her life, and it would probably make a pretty good impression on her if she could see you doing the same. And I'm sure she'd really appreciate it if you acted as a barrier between her and your mom."
For a moment, James was confused about who his 'girlfriend' was supposed to be. Rin? But she wasn't a super, and was in fact the entire reason that this world's James- he cut off his own thoughts with a slight frown as he finished getting dressed. It was way too confusing to be constantly referring to the James of this world by his own name. Before he could forget about the brilliant idea that had just come to him, he had to speak out loud. "I think that from now on, I'm going to refer to the James who's supposed to be in this universe as Jim."
Peter blinked a few times, and then arched one eyebrow. "Really? And you're just expecting all of us to just go along with that?" He heaved out an overly dramatic sigh. "Oh the things we do for our friends." Then he saw that James had finished jamming his feet into a pair of sneakers, and he rushed over to snag James' arm and yank him to the front door of their apartment. "Come on, come on! We're already going to get there so much later than everyone else, because apparently you're incapable of answering your phone even during emergencies."
"I was asleep," James grumbled. "Normal people like to get some sleep at night. It's not my fault that your freaky spider powers let you run around all day and night without even getting tired."
As they rushed out of the apartment, and surprisingly enough grabbed a cab instead of just letting Peter swing them over to their destination, Peter turned to give James a curious look. "You know, the scientist in me is actually starting to get freakishly curious, while the friend in me is starting to get more than a little bit concerned. You talk like your one of the weaker ones to be in our generation of supers, but that shouldn't be true at all. James- Jim, I mean- he could stay up for a week straight with barely any consequences, and when we were younger, you could tussle with your dad, and even beat him a few times. You even defeated Torunn once or twice, and she's a full blooded Asgardian."
That couldn't all be true, could it? Sure, Peter apparently had the ability to see in the dark here when he couldn't in James' world, but that didn't automatically mean that all of their powers varied in ability and strength between the two universes, did it? "But I've always been one of the weakest of the young Avengers. And I have never been able to beat Torunn in a fight. And it can't just be a 'you get stronger once you're older' thing, since you said that I could go toe to toe with my dad when you were younger. I have sparred with him a few times, but I always made him promise not to go easy on me, and he always kicked my ass, while still definitely going at least a little bit easy on me."
Peter hummed under his breath as he took in that new information, but there wasn't really time for him to sit around pondering it too long, because eventually the cab screeched to a stop, and Peter threw a few dollars at the driver while tugging James out. James' eyes widened at the several buildings lying in ruins, with rubble scattered everywhere. He didn't blame the cab driver for making an illegal u-turn and booking it out of there.
But even more shocking to see than the damaged property was the sheer number of people standing around. He recognized some of the costumes, which barely had any alterations from their counterparts', but there were others that he couldn't place at all without being able to see the faces beneath the masks. "Everyone here is planning on working together? How are they going to even begin to strategize? There's just too many. I don't get what we're supposed to be doing together. And I really don't get how you expect me to be able to help at all."
Instead of actually answering him like a decent person would, Peter just grabbed James' arm, and dragged him along with him. They made their way over to one of the smaller groups that had formed, and he recognized his mother and Bucky, and a couple of people who could've been the young Avengers all grown up, though it was hard to say for sure.
Natalia didn't lean forward to pull him into a hug, or offer any kind of emotional response to his presence other than a slight frown at the clothes that he was wearing. "Really? What happened to the suit Stark made you? I know you said you wouldn't need it, but at least then you wouldn't stand out so much. Someone's probably going to mistake you for a civilian and try to get you out of here."
James was pretty sure that if that were to happen, he wouldn't do a single thing to stop it. It wasn't like he was a coward or anything, but working alongside this cold version of his mother, fighting against something that he still hadn't been told anything about, when he knew that he didn't really have any strengths to add to all the amazing things that the other supers could do, all added up to someone who really shouldn't be right in that spot at the moment. But he wasn't going to just wander off without being told to leave, because he did have at least some sense of honor and decency. "So what exactly is it that we're going up against here? Peter was so eager to just bring me here without my consent that he forgot to mention literally anything about the situation."
Natalia's eyes flicked over to Peter, and though it was hard to read this Natalia's expressions, even James could see that she was displeased with the man. "Did he?" she murmured softly. Then she focused her attention back on James. "We're not entirely sure what our enemy is, but we know that they plan on destroying everyone on this world, and we obviously will not stand for such a thing. It doesn't matter who is good or evil once we are all dead, so that is why we plan on setting aside our differences, at least for this one foe. They haven't arrived here yet, but-"
"Then what the hell happened to those buildings?" James interrupted. He regretted it a moment later when he saw the way Natalia narrowed her eyes, but he didn't apologize. It's not like he frequently went around being rude to his own parents, but he didn't want Natalia to think of him as a total pushover just because he was raised from the opposite sort of family as Jim was.
She looked over at the fallen buildings, and then looked back at James. "An alliance between so many people, many of whom are enemies or loners or wimps, makes for a rather delicate operation. And our first interactions were not quite so delicate. There are many gathered here right now who are not fond of the idea of working together, but they understand that it is for the greater good, which is why they are willing to go along with this. There are others who were unable to see past our differences, and decided to make their dissatisfaction with the situation quite obvious."
So whoever it was that they were up against was so dangerous that all the supers needed to work together, but there were at least a few who couldn't stand the idea of an alliance, and a fight had broken out. It was probably one of the Avengers who'd been involved in the battle that resulted in so many destroyed buildings. It was a good thing that Tony had enough money to constantly patch up the damage that everyone else caused. Not that money would matter much if everyone didn't figure out how to work together in time to stop the approaching danger. And not that James even knew for sure if this Tony was just as rich as the Tony that James knew. Though he probably was, since the Avengers tower very clearly belonged to him even in this world.
James' shoulders slumped down as all the urgency of the situation seemed to bleed away. "So you're saying that Peter dragged me out of bed at what felt like the middle of the night just to bring me to the negotiation talks? From the way he was going on, I thought that the world was actively going about ending itself today."
Peter shrugged, though he didn't look embarrassed about ruining James' beauty sleep, or about nearly giving him a heart attack. "So far the only thing that everyone seems to have agreed on is the fact that everyone needs to be present before the talks can really begin in earnest. This is all about a lot more than a single fight. We need to all learn how to work together, and move together as a cohesive single unit, and we need to make sure that everyone is trained to the highest level of combat that they could possibly get to in a limited amount of time. So everyone wants to know who they're going to be working with. I didn't think you'd want to chicken out of the fight, which is why you needed to get here."
James groaned. "This is going to be completely impossible. If the heroes of this world are anything like they were in mine, they're all completely content with working by themselves all the time, and don't play nice with others at all. And what are you going to do in the meantime? In between all the training and team exercises and such, are there going to be any rules against doing illegal things? And if there was such a rule in place, would any of the villains actually obey it?"
Bucky had been standing there silently the entire conversation, so James somehow almost forgot about the metal armed man until he spoke up. "That's the point of these talks. To figure out the answers to those questions." He hesitated for a moment before adding, "And believe it or not, we are all capable of keeping our hands in our own pockets for a couple of months. We've got plenty of capital built up to keep us living the way we're comfortable with without stealing anymore."
"Then why the hell do any of you guys still steal stuff?"
Natalia snorted. "As if it were ever about the money. Even when the Avengers first came together, most of us were already independently wealthy. And it helped that we got the Shield Family backing us up. They like that our crimes are big and bold and in the open, because it means everyone pays a lot less attention to all of the things going on behind the scenes and within the government and such."
It hadn't even occurred to James before that even Shield would be oppositely aligned in this world. Did that mean that Hydra were all good guys? But how could they be if they were all nazis? Was it only supers who were switched up or was everyone? Did the nazis help liberate Jews during WWII, or was their role the same? Or was there even a world war? James had so many questions about the history of this world, though he knew that right now wasn't the time to be asking them.
Right now, the only important thing was figuring out how the hell they were actually going to pull off such a massive alliance. He glanced down at his watch, and confirmed that it was only nine in the morning. Everyone couldn't have been gathered for more than a couple of hours and they'd already managed to completely destroy three or four buildings- it was hard to say the exact amount when most of the rubble had mixed together on the ground. How did they possibly think that they would survive working together for however long it was until this unknown enemy arrived? Even a few days seemed like longer than anyone would be able to tolerate.
Peter's face suddenly lit up, and he grinned. "I just got a great idea!"
"Don't let it get to your head. It probably won't happen very often again in your lifetime," Natalia said with an almost fond tone.
Peter rolled his eyes and ignored her as he looked at James. "While we were walking over here, you were worrying about how everyone would possibly be able to organize themselves enough to be able to get through a battle, right? Like to stop them from all crashing into each other and being totally useless. And you said that your powers are weak sauce compared to some of the others around here. Dude, your dad was one of the best strategizers that I've ever met before, and he always managed to pull his team through battle after battle, mostly unscathed. Maybe you could do the same thing!"
Even while Peter was still talking, James had already started shaking his head. "No, no, no, I don't think that that's a good idea at all. Do you even realize that I'm technically still just a kid? And I've never paid enough attention during the few battles I've been in to actually know how to come up with a solid plan of attack. And of course I hope to get home as soon as possible, and you shouldn't pin your plans on the guy who might not be here by the time this mysterious enemy rolls around. It sucks that my dad isn't around to make plans, but there have to be others out there who are just as good. I know that whenever it was the young Avengers by ourselves, it was always…" he trailed off as an idea occurred to him, and he thought that it was way better than Peter's idea. "Torunn. She's always been able to lead the young Avengers effortlessly."
Natalia immediately stiffened up, and Bucky frowned. "I don't think that that's a good idea. There's too much bad blood for anyone to want to listen."
James quickly nodded. "That's exactly why she's the perfect person for the job! Not only do I have complete confidence in her ability to lead a team, even if it is a team as large as this one, but neither side really trusts her, right? The heroes are always going to think that she's still connected to the villains, and the villains hate her for going off and becoming a hero. Neither side fully trusts her, but she also does have connections on both sides. It makes her probably one of the most neutral parties that you're going to be able to get. She has the least motivation to screw over any one side. And again, I already know that she is a brilliant tactician." And having her leading the charge would offer the additional benefit of potentially mending things between Torunn and the Avengers. James didn't plan on sticking around here for very long, but he knew that if Jim was anything like him, he'd be happiest being able to have both his family and the woman he loved.
Natalia still looked ready to completely reject the idea. James didn't entirely blame her, since despite their relationship being that of friends only, Steve had been the father of her child, and being friends was no small feat to begin with. But Torunn wasn't entirely to blame for what had happened. If Steve had just chosen to be a good guy instead, he would never have been arrested. And it's not like Torunn had been the one to shoot Steve. She was a hero, and she loved her family, so she wouldn't want them dead even if she did want them to face justice for their crimes.
Strangely enough, Bucky didn't look as outraged by the idea of following Torunn's lead for this battle. He'd been Steve's best friend, and the loss had to have hurt him just as much as it hurt Natalia, if not more so. But maybe it was easier for him to recognize that there were larger things at stake than the feelings of a few people. "I think James is right. She has always taken after her father in being able to lead her people to victory. Does anyone know how to get into contact with her?"
"You mean she's not already here?" James couldn't keep the surprise out of his voice. Peter had said that they needed as many bodies on the ground as they could get, which apparently meant that they were desperate enough to recruit James despite his lack of powerful abilities, but no one had called Torunn, when it was obvious that she'd be immediately willing to help out? And Peter had implied that Torunn would be here, which was supposed to be a reason for James to want to be here as well.
Peter frowned, and pulled James aside so that they could speak in low voices and hopefully not be overheard. "She's kind of a lone wolf when it comes to her work. None of the Avengers would dare to call her without getting your mom's permission first, because she's terrifying when she's angry. And even though she occasionally teams up with the other heroes, they don't really go out of their way to work with her, because like you said, they don't really trust her. But I'll call her now. We both know she'd be eager to help. It was a good idea for you to suggest her. I'm just surprised that your mom hasn't murdered Bucky for going along with it." He shrugged. "Things just are the way that they are. It's so strange that you don't know anything about our lives here." He patted one of James' shoulders. "I'm sure Torunn will either appreciate the fact that you nominated her, or despise you for life for putting her into that position. Either way she'll still help us." James just gulped. He hadn't even considered the thought that Torunn would hate him for forcing her into a tricky balancing act between the heroes and villains. He just hoped she wouldn't be too mad.
