Alan awoke with a start. He'd gone down in a panic and woken up in that same panic, flailing a bit until a few things registered.
The smell of sterile cleaners and the beeping of familiar equipment.
The feeling of a soft mattress beneath him.
And a voice, trying to get through to him. "Whoa, kid! You're okay! You're safe! Calm down!"
Alan stilled, swallowing heavily and licking at dry lips. He tasted a bit of blood on his tongue, from where his lips had cracked and split. Blue eyes panned around to stare at the man standing at the side of the bed he was on, looking a little frazzled. The man was of medium height and wearing an old rock t-shirt with a blazer thrown over it. His jeans were stained with what looked like grease. His hair was graying, but still mostly dark and impeccably styled, and his face had a nicely groomed goatee. Alan couldn't see what color his eyes were, due to the sunglasses he was wearing. There was the faintest glow coming from the glasses, indicating an HUD of some sort, or similar tech.
"Where am I?" Alan croaked, wincing at the dryness of his throat. He ignored it. "Who are you? Where's my brother?"
"Slow down, chickadee," the man said, handing him a glass of water. Alan took it with a shaky hand. "Take small sips," the man ordered with a concerned frown. "You're in my tower. I'm Tony Stark, and your brother is in the next room over." Alan stared at him, not really comprehending anything other than the fact that they were both here in this tower. "Now, who are you and how did you get here?"
Alan took a shaky breath, looking around him, past the man. The room wasn't a typical hospital room, but near enough. And the large glass window to the right showed a heartbreakingly familiar scene.
New York City, as it would have been seen from the windows of Tracy Industries Headquarters.
Only, the scene was slightly wrong. The cars so far down below them were odd looking, and seemed to still run off fossil fuels, if the smog in the air was any indication. So, different world. Number four. He kind of wanted to cry.
Alan looked down at himself, a little startled to see that he was clean and dressed in a hospital gown. His arm had clean bandages on it, and HEMERA was missing, but he was still wearing the watch with the bio-reader. "Where's HEMERA?" he asked, his voice a little colder than even he'd been expecting.
"She's fine," Tony said, holding up a hand. He pointed to the beside table, where metal scales glinted in the light coming through the window. Alan gave a sigh of relief. "I gotta tell ya, though. I am really interested in taking a look at her."
Alan's eyes narrowed and he tensed a little. His bruises, the many of them that he'd collected recently, yelled their complaints at that tensing. "Why?" he asked warily.
Tony flapped a hand, plopping into the chair at Alan's bedside and crossing his arms. "Tech is kinda my thing, kiddo. And when two guys and a freaking dinosaur fall into my very secure workshop without so much as a 'please may I come in?', I want to know how. You gonna answer my questions, buddy?"
But Alan was having a hard time focusing. His brain felt fuzzy in the familiar way that spoke of strong medication. And the adrenaline high he'd woken up with was dying away and leaving him feeling exhausted and spent. And he could tell that he was still suffering from the general weakness that bad illness brought on. "The raptor shouldn't have been pulled with us," he muttered.
"The raptor had its claws in your brother and HEMERA didn't want to make a mistake, she said," Tony replied.
Blue eyes cut to him, Alan's brow furrowing in confusion. "HEMERA can't talk." She didn't have any tech that would allow her to make noise, although they had included some listening devices. They had wanted her to be able to hear what was going on and be able to process but hadn't had the ability to give her a voice of her own.
Tony shrugged. "Nope," he agreed, popping the p and slumping further into his chair. "But she can communicate with my own AI. Say hello, baby doll," he said.
"Hello," an Irish accented voice said, coming from somewhere near the ceiling. Alan started a little and then relaxed. This world had the ability for Artificial Intelligence. That was…comforting for some reason. "My name is FRIDAY. I have been conversing with HEMERA. She is worried for you."
"I…" Alan choked on the words. His code was alive. She'd gone sentient. They'd known that the possibility was there, but John's code hadn't turned into EOS until a few years after the fact. HEMERA had become sentient in a matter of a week and a few days. And not only that, but she'd then forced the charge and saved their lives.
Tony watched him for a long moment, still frowning. "Still haven't answered my questions, kiddo," he said. "You wanna explain how you, your brother, and the Jurassic Park reject got into my workshop?"
Alan flinched sharply, his breath catching. "Please tell me it's just a movie here," he whispered.
"What, Jurassic Park?" Tony asked, brow furrowing. "Yeah. Just a movie. Guessing that's not the case where you're from?"
"It's just a movie series where I'm from," Alan corrected softly, glancing up with big blue eyes. "But it was a reality in the world we just came from." He bit his lip, wincing at the slight sting from the break in it. This man, this Tony Stark, had helped them out. He'd admitted to wanting to study HEMERA but hadn't done so.
Could he be trusted?"
Alan didn't know but didn't think he had much of a choice. And the guy didn't feel like a bad guy. In fact, he felt rather trustworthy, all told. And while Alan didn't have the people skills that Gordon had—his brother being able to read a person from a hundred yards—he did know when to trust a gut feeling.
"We were on a rescue and a machine was activated that threw us, me and my brother, into an alternate world," he said softly, still a little hesitant. "We built HEMERA to get us back home, but we have to travel through a few worlds to get there."
Tony hummed, nodding to himself. "What's your name kid?"
"HEMERA didn't tell you?" Alan asked, curious. If FRIDAY had been talking to his AI, then she should have gotten their names at some point.
"HEMERA's responses are a little, hmm," Tony tilted his head, searching for the right wording. "Animalistic," he said. "She calls you Creator and your brother Medic." He snapped his fingers. "Name?"
"Alan Tracy," Alan replied absently, glancing around again. He hadn't coded HEMERA to be animalistic and now he was wanting to take a look at her code. He wondered if maybe the Replicators had something to do with that predicament, or if it was just because she was so young. "My brother is Virgil. How is he?"
Tony stared at him for a bit, frowning. "I'm gonna level with you, kid," he said softly, leaning forward to brace his elbows against his thighs. "Your brother lost a lot of blood and went into hypovolemic shock. His heart failed twice while we were patching him up." Alan's face paled drastically, and Tony quickly continued. "He's stable now, but he's not out of the woods just yet. It's why you're not in the same room as him."
Alan's face scrunched up, but he didn't cry like Tony had been expecting. Instead, he took a few steady breaths and focused on Tony again. "Can I see him?"
"Let's see what the doc says," Tony said slowly. "You've been out for two days yourself, Alan. You had a pretty nasty fever from an infection in your arm." Alan nodded, brow scrunching again. The fever didn't surprise him; he'd had that on Isla Nublar. But…he glanced over at HEMERA.
None of the lights were glowing. It had been two days and none of the lights were glowing.
Tony caught the glance and sighed. "She damaged herself getting the two of you here," he said, although HEMERA hadn't been able to explain anything more than that. "She probably needs some repairs."
Alan gave a shaky nod, still chewing on his lip. "I don't…" he faltered, not sure what he wanted to say.
"Let me call the doc, kiddo," Tony said, pushing himself to his feet. "And we'll see about getting you in to see your brother."