Tony couldn't think. Tony couldn't breathe. It was happening all over again. 199999 was the exact same as 525—they'd joined the fight and now 3490 was going to get crushed from both sides and there was nothing she could do to stop it. She felt her heart racing, felt the world getting smaller and smaller as nothing mattered but the pounding of blood in her ears. JARVIS was telling her something. Look. Look.

199999 was not attacking 3490. They were attacking the Chitauri.

Friendly. They're friendly. But could Tony be sure? Could any of them be sure? Or would they fight alongside them only to turn on them at the end? Why had they shown up? Why hadn't they stayed where Tony had left them? Why did they have to get involved, why did her heart have to beat like it was about to jump out of her chest or explode, why did they have to be such trouble? Steve was saying something in her ear.

"Work with the alternates but do not let your guards down, people," he told them team over the communication systems. "I have no idea where that other Tony found that suit, but he's obviously more clever than we gave him credit for despite being behind technologically—"

Tony's head spun. Her alternate had stolen one of her suits. One of her suits. There was someone else in Mark 43, someone else piloting her design, designs that were never supposed to leave her hands. She took out as many Chitauri as she could but she knew her flight path was erratic. She couldn't calm herself down. No matter how hard she tried, no matter how many times she screamed at herself friendly, friendly, they're friendly, she still felt her heart hammering away.

"Iron Man what are you doing?" Steve's puzzled voice sounded through her comm.

"Taking out the fucking Chitauri what does it look like?" she snapped. She took in a deep but ragged breath. She could see the other avengers on the ground, all but other Thor and other Tony who flew about taking out the Chitauri.

Tony would know later, from the recordings, that the battle was actually quite quick once 199999 showed up. They had experience with these creatures. And they also had a guess as to where they were coming from—a cosmic cube, lodged in a metal device at the top of a building. They worked together with Commander Rogers to take the cube out, and the moment that they did, the signal was lost, and all the Chitauri collapsed to the ground, dead or unconscious or…something.

But for Tony it felt like hours. She was sweating like crazy by the end of it, and by the time she landed on the ground, she felt nothing but rage as she balanced on the knife's edge of 'fine' and 'panicked'. She was going to be fine, though. She was going to be fine, manage to compose herself, to bitch these crazy bastards out for stealing her stuff and crashing the party where they weren't welcome. She was.

Until 199999 Steve threw his shield at her husband.