Tony was silent for a long minute after James finished his explanation of pretty much everything that had happened, and why he was there in the hotel room. It was an understandable enough reaction. James would have also understood it if Tony just started shouting out loud or kicked him right out of the room. Though he knew that that would never happen. One thing Tony had always done that stood apart from any of the other older Avengers was that he never yelled at any of the kids. Ever. No matter what they might have done to deserve getting yelled at.

Finally, Tony turned back to James. "To be honest, this isn't what I wanted to hear. I get the opportunity to wake up in and explore a whole new world, only to find out that this whole place is very messed up. And then- you tell me that it comes down to me or the world? I guess this is the only time I can ever say that my life is so important. But not worth billions of other lives." His shoulders slumped down, and he got to his feet, clearly unable to sit still any longer. "Since I first became Iron Man, I figured I wasn't going to live to be very old. Of course I started the gig already being old; I just thought I'd never get that much older. But then I did, and I lived to see the new generation, and-" he sighed, and his shoulders slumped down. "I guess I'd started to let myself actually believe that maybe I'd get my happy ending for once. It was foolish of me to think that way."

James frowned, and wanted to reach out to offer some kind of comfort, but he knew that while Tony was a very tactile man, it always had to be on his own terms, and James didn't want to make things worse. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have come here. I'll just go-"

Tony shook his head. "It's not your fault, kid. This is just karma or something. Funny, I never really believed in the concept of karma until all my baggage actually came back to bite me in the ass. This won't be the first time I've taken one for the team. I just wish that it didn't have to be so far from home, you know?"

And James did know exactly what Tony meant. It didn't matter how physically close they were to the tower, it wasn't their tower. It wasn't their home. And yes, just the idea of dying so far away from home was terrifying. But Tony wouldn't even necessarily die, he'd just be handed over to the Avengers, who would do god knows what to them. And even if James figured out how to get him and Tony back home to their own world, it would still leave a Tony locked up. There just didn't seem to be any way to win here, and James hated that. He'd been raised by a father who was always so full of optimism and hope that it seemed particularly depressing to not be able to figure out a better solution.

"Maybe…" James trailed off, not wanting to say anything that would sound stupid to a genius like Tony Stark. But Tony just looked at him with one eyebrow raised, waiting to hear whatever idea he might have come up with. "Maybe this world isn't even real?" he offered hesitantly. "If it's not then we don't really have any obligation to help, right?"

Tony tilted his head. "And what exactly would you say classifies something as being real? What would make you or I any more real than any of the people from this world? And even if they were just somehow made up, how can you be the one to decide that their pain is made up too? Would you have really gotten so upset about Torunn's decision if you didn't think she was real?"

James sighed. "I know, I know. I guess I just wish that there could be some kind of magical solution to get us out of this without anyone getting hurt."

Tony grinned, and even though it was only a shadow of his usual smiles, it was still a comfort to see. "Come on, James, you know me. Why look for a magical solution when there's got to be a scientific one around here somewhere?" Then he walked over to the window James had entered through, and peered out, though of course he wouldn't be able to see the ground from here. "Do you think we should invite your friend up? I'll admit, I'm curious to learn more about this mysterious third Maximoff sibling that nobody knew about in our world."

"I'm not actually sure if her last name is Maximoff, but yeah, if you could let security know to let her up, it might make this conversation easier. Means I wouldn't have to remember everything to report back to her after this. If anyone's going to be able to figure out a way out of this for us, I'm sure that it would be her. Well, her and you, but I did technically see her first, and her sister is the one who got us here in the first place."

Tony reached over to ruffle James' hair before going to find a phone. James grabbed a pen off of a small table, then knelt down in front of the ball of metal that had been used to carry him up in the first place. He twisted up the clippy part of the expensive looking pen, and then used it to begin scratching at the metal. It wasn't very useful, and he wasn't even sure if Lorna would be able to tell what it said just by feeling for it, but it was worth a try. Better than shouting out the window for her, anyways. He wondered if maybe just dropping the hunk of metal out the window would be more effective, but that ran the risk of accidentally hitting some random person, or causing Lorna to think that they were under attack. Either way, it wouldn't end well as far as James could see.

Tony walked back over to him a couple of minutes later. "I'm going to send one of my guys out to fetch Lorna. Anything that stands out about her so they know who to look for?"

"Well, I mean, aside from the bright green hair, she's a perfectly average looking woman."

Tony snorted. "Got it." He went back over to the phone quickly before returning to James again. "She should be up here soon. Hopefully she doesn't have trust issues bad enough to keep her from understanding my invitation."

James shrugged. "No idea." He thought of their first meeting, when she'd already known who he was, but had refused to let Bucky enter the apartment with her. He wasn't sure that that qualified as 'trust issues' though, considering the fact that her sister had told her about James' impending arrival, and her wanting to keep her sister's identity and location absolutely secret. "Guess we'll find out. We didn't exactly come here with a plan in mind, to be honest."

"It shows," Tony told him with an amused glint in his eyes. "Regardless, it is good to see you again, James. I'm not sure if you're the person I would choose if I knew I could only have one from our world, but you're better than nothing."

James narrowed his eyes. "Gee, thanks. Some dad you are."

A look of confusion seemed to flash by on Tony's features so quickly that James wasn't even sure if he'd seen it or not. "Right. Well, you know me. Wouldn't want to butt in Captain America's territory if I can help it."

"Yeah, obviously." As Tony turned to head towards the little kitchen area, James couldn't help looking the man over with scrutinizing eyes. Maybe it was just a byproduct of being trapped in this backwards world, but he was starting to think that he was the one getting trust issues.

Of course Steve was James' father. He always has been, and he always would be. But all of the Avengers from James' world liked to joke about the fact that according to the law, Tony was technically his legal guardian because of some incident or another that had happened ages ago.

Everyone in this world besides Torunn had flipped their platforms compared to their counterparts in James' world. Even if Tony had managed to not flip either, it still didn't explain why Tony of all people would be transported to this world with James. He could feel his heart start to beat slightly faster in his chest as he considered all of the possibilities.

He'd just spilled everything to Tony with only a minimal amount of proof that this even was his Tony. Tony knew that James had killed, but James had confessed that to Peter, who had been the one to arrange for Tony's release. And everything else that Tony had mentioned about being in the wrong world could easily be attributed to what James had told the Natalia of this world when he'd first been brought to see her. And he'd seemed confused by James' reference to his legal guardianship of him.

Sure, the man looked tired and pale, but that was a normal look on Tony Stark. And there weren't any other signs of torture or serious injury to him. And despite the fact that the Avengers didn't want people to ask too many questions about Tony, they had let his tower keep the Stark name.

James glanced down at his watch. "Oh, shoot. We spent so much time trying to figure out a way to get up here that I completely lost track of time. I need to get back to the apartment to see Rin."

"I'm sure your girlfriend will understand if you need to take a rain check," Tony said dismissively.

James tensed up, and Tony seemed to immediately notice. He was still a genius, afterall. "I never mentioned having a girlfriend in this world. How could you have possibly known that?"

They both stared at each other for several long seconds before Tony sighed, and sank back down onto the couch. "I suppose that there's no point in treating you like a moron. You got me, I'm not really from your world."

For some reason, James had expected a long game of denile and vague questions that hinted at what each of them knew. But he was glad that Tony had just confessed so easily, because James had never been good at understanding all those word games that Tony had mastered over the years. "So why even pretend?"

"To build trust, mostly. To be perfectly honest, I was expecting you to show up eventually. Parker told me that you probably would. He thought it would be easiest to figure out your motivations if I could just get you to tell me directly. And he was right, of course. You did just tell me pretty much everything. Not that any of it is particularly new information."

James furrowed his eyebrows. "But I don't understand. Why would you want to help the Avengers at all? After everything they've done to you?"

Tony shrugged. "Kid, what exactly is it that you think they've done? It's been so long since I've been seen in the public eye that I can go out and about whenever I want with minimal disguise and not have to worry about being recognized. I live in what's practically a palace. I don't have to deal with all the problems of running a business. I get to spend as much time as I want working on my projects, and the only condition is that I sell my weapons only to the Avengers. I've been living it up, quite satisfied with my life. But the Avengers all decided together that turning Torunn Thorsdottir was worth 'setting me free'. The terms of our deal hasn't changed. As far as anyone knows, I just don't make weapons at all anymore."

James didn't feel afraid of Tony. If it did come down to a physical fight between them, he knew that he had the advantage. But he couldn't deny the heaviness in his heart. The disappointment. "I guess I was pretty stupid to believe that I'd actually found another person who would be on my side."

Tony shrugged again. "I wouldn't call that stupid. A little naive, maybe, but sweet."

"I just thought that maybe you were a constant. That you were such a good person that you wouldn't be changed just because everyone else in the world was."

That brought a small frown to Tony's face. "I'd be the last person to call myself a good person for sure. When I was younger, I was naive like you, thought that I could actually make the world a better place. I was wrong, though. And it turns out that I've been much happier with my current circumstances than I ever was before the Avengers took me in."

James crossed his arms over his chest. "So why not just publically join the Avengers? If you're going to be one of the bad guys, then at least own up to the fact that that's what you are."

He doubted that anything he said would actually get through to Tony. Mostly he was just talking because he needed to get his frustration out somehow. "I'm not a good person," Tony repeated. "But I'd like to think that I'm not completely evil, either. A lot of good people work for Stark Industries. Innocent people. The company's reputation dropped when their top engineer dropped off the map, but imagine how much worse it would have been if the company's owner had become a known villain. SI wouldn't have survived the blow, and all of those employees would have been out of jobs, and all of the amazing things SI has invented for the betterment of human life would have never been made."

"So you're not a bad guy or a good guy, huh? I guess in some ways that does make you similar to my Tony. He was pretty bad for a lot of his life, but then he turned himself around and became one of the most caring, selfless, kind people I know. In your case, you didn't separate yourself into two parts of your life, you just swirled all of your good and bad together and hoped to come out on top."

There was a knock at the door, and Tony called out that it was open. Personally, James thought that that seemed like a bad idea in terms of security. On the other hand, if the Avengers were in on Tony's release, then they had no reason to actually go after him.

The door swung open, and Lorna walked inside. Her eyes flicked around the room quickly until they landed on James, and then she took a few steps closer to them. "So have you already explained everything?" There didn't seem to be any point in mentioning that Tony had almost tricked him into believing that he was a different Tony. So he just nodded instead. It wasn't a lie because he had already explained everything, even if it had been under false pretenses.

Lorna looked at Tony, one eyebrow arched. "So what do you want to do, Mr. Stark? It's your life."

He chuckled. "May as well head back. I'm sure that the Avengers would have no problem arranging to pick me up in a public and violent way."

Lorna eyed him warily. "Are you sure? I highly doubt that they'll let you go again once you're back in their clutches."

Tony shrugged. "If the whole world gets destroyed then I'd be dead anyways. It would seem that Torunn is more important to the world at this time than I am. Don't worry, I'm not bitter about it. I know exactly where my strengths and weaknesses lie, and I'm not going to be jealous of that girl. Why don't you two just head on your way now. I'll get in touch with the Avengers. And I'm sure that Torunn's transgressions can be written off as mind control, or something of the sort, as long as she's back to being a hero quickly enough."

Lorna was giving Tony a searching look, though James wasn't sure what he was looking for. "Before we go, you wouldn't happen to have any pointers about how to save the world, would you? From what I could tell, you're supposed to be some kind of a smart guy."

Tony shook his head. "Sorry, but I've got nothing. If I think of something, I'll be sure to pass it on via the Avengers. Good luck, though. Believe me, I don't want the world to end anymore than anyone else does."

"Take care of yourself," James said seriously. "Even if you're not my Tony, you're still a Tony. And you do matter to the world, no matter what you might think." Then he nodded for Lorna to follow him out of the room. She only paused to lift her metal ball and melt it into loops around her limbs before following James out the door. There was a lot to think about, but overall, James just couldn't help feeling like a failure. It had been his bright idea to go and rescue Tony without even knowing if the man really needed rescuing, and Torunn was the one who'd had her reputation tarnished because of it. And now Tony was going back and Torunn was coming back, and everything that had just happened had been so stupidly pointless. No wonder Torunn had never had any interest in being with him. All James was capable of doing was constantly screwing up.