A knock on the door woke Steve out of a fitful sleep. His eyes didn't want to open. Ever since the serum, everything was better, including sleep, but he could stay awake for hours if he had to. His mind and body must have needed to sink deep into oblivion for a while. A person couldn't travel through space and time without experiencing some side effects.
"What the hell?" He called out, sitting up as light from the opening door streamed into the darkened room. It wasn't his normal way of greeting people but he thought that might be how the 'pushier' version of himself might have done it.
"Hey, Cap!" Sam always at his best and brightest in the morning, his smile even now radiating across the room. He was unperturbed by Steve's fake rudeness. I missed that. "Mr. Stark has arrived here, in all his glory and wants to meet with you, in his private Quinjet of all places."
"Mr. Stark. His Quinjet. Just me? He can damn well wait until I..."
"He wants to see you, Agent Romanoff and Doctor Banner too. And Colonel Rhodes. Might be he's ready to pull off his hit squad."
"Good. About time." Steve tried to sound both gruff and non-committal to hide his relief. Maybe now they would get some answers.
He found the Quinjet in a secluded location, a good distance from the palace complex. Tony stood in the opening, looking much the same as he had yesterday before they started this journey. He yawned as Steve stepped inside.
"You all look rested!" He said. The others were already there, waiting inside the plane. "Even though you stayed up half the night partying. I thought that was supposed to be my thing."
"You look like hell," Rhodey called out from the back.
"You would too if you'd just come back from tripping through the cosmos, twice. After that fantastical little experience with Wong's time tunnel, the first thing I saw was...myself. That guy, whatever he was, kind of faded. Peter was back, which is all that mattered, who claimed that I was the one who disappeared, had to put up with those bickering yahoos and then out of nowhere, Thor showed up, with the rest of the bickering yahoos. Thor told me some things were different here, and promptly sent me, Peter, and Strange home. Ever traveled through the Bifrost? Don't, we dropped Peter off, his Aunt was out of it, I don't even know if she'll remember us being there, reminded me of me during my college days…"
"Tony…" Banner said, the sound of a gentle reprimand in his voice.
"Yeah, Strange said things weren't coming together as quickly as he thought they would and for me to not hang around New York. Not to see Pepper, but to come straight here. Seems he thought it was dangerous for me...out there. So here I am. T'Challa seemed happy to see me and said I could stay for as long as I wanted because he was investigating...the phenomenon."
He stopped for a moment to stare at the rest of the team as if he'd lost his train of thought. "I keep thinking I'm forgetting something important…."
"You can slow down," Steve said. "We're not going anywhere. It's good to see you, Tony. Glad you're home safe."
"If we can call this home. It looks the same but… you want to fill me in?"
"Natasha, you have the floor," Steve said. She stood up in the center of the plane while Tony settled down in the pilot's seat.
"I was up late last night, after the party, gathering as much information as I could and it's incomplete. There are major differences here. To begin with, no Stark industries. Get comfortable and get ready for an information dump, guys," Natasha said. "Stark Consortium is a… a family-run syndicate."
"Syndicate? You mean like the mob?" Tony's head shot back in surprise. His wasn't the only one. Audible gasps made their way around the plane, adding to the already disturbed mood.
"Various consortiums rule the world, using totalitarian means and drastic forms of enforcement, usually, but not always, run by single families. The Stark Consortium is the largest and most powerful. An extensive and the powerhouse for the advancement of technology but the minute someone showed disloyalty they disappeared."
No one said anything. Tony stared hard at the floor. Steve sat down, stretching his legs in front of him. He might as well get comfortable. The idea of Tony running a mob-like organization would take some serious internal adjustment. Rhodey leaned against the weapons locker, his arms crossed, his eyes fixed on Tony. Bruce paced back and forth at the rear of the plane. Natasha allowed a minute for her words to sink for a few moments before continuing.
"The Asset, James Buchanan Barnes, assassinated Howard and Maria Stark many years ago. The Hammertech Consortium rented him out, and like The Winter Soldier in our world he was brainwashed and hyped up with super steroids," she said. "An eccentric member of their family found Bucky after he went missing in WWII. Experimented on him and froze him. A later generation of the family found him and thought he would make a good assassin for hire. Trained him, programmed him, the whole works. They made a lot of money off him. He was very good."
Steve took a moment to process the facts about Bucky. Was there such a thing as fate, or a destiny that his friend could not escape no matter where they traveled in the cosmos?
Natasha returned to her narrative. "Tony inherited the reins of power. I couldn't find out what happened, but he had a moment of clarity and cleaned up the family business. It's a big organization and he had had trouble rooting it all out. Most of the resistance came from the factions loyal to his parents. Iron Man exists, but his identity is unknown. They've not seen him for a while..."
Tony responded by spinning the pilot's seat back and forth. A silence enveloped them as they chewed over this bit of information.
"Were Bucky and the other Steve… friends?" Steve asked. Something had to stay the same here, anything.
"Yes, childhood friends, grew up together, fought in WWII which is the same here, but like everything else, a little different, and he lost Bucky during the war," Natasha replied. "They put Steve on ice on purpose. Remember those super soldiers created by Stark's serum in our world? That's what happened here. Steve was strong, a good guy but unstable so they put him in cryo until they could fix him. Tony found him and… fixed him. Been friends ever since. The other Steve was…more impulsive than you, side effects of the serum that Tony couldn't wipe away. From what I can tell, their personalities are the opposites of the two of you so keep that in mind. While helping Tony clean things up, Steve found the files on Bucky and became obsessed with finding him. Apparently that Steve couldn't be stopped once he set his mind to something. He...um...could be rather abrasive at times. Oh, they met Thor pretty much the same way as we did before. Loki, the whole deal, except he tried to work with one of Tony's rivals. Didn't end well for him." She took a deep breath.
"Steve found Bucky, confronted him, knocked some of his memories back in place which scared him to death and he ran away" she continued. "But here, he turned himself into the authorities. His handlers bombed the international jail where he was being held, trying to get him back but he saved the life of King T'Challa. T'Challa was there because of an errant relative who was causing trouble in his kingdom."
"King T'Chaka?" asked Bruce.
"Died of natural causes. The US Military granted Barnes the status of a Prisoner of War, then held a hearing. His defense team showed a security tape of him saving T'Challa. Everything The Hammertech people did came out and so the tribunal found Bucky not responsible for his actions. Colonel Rhodes was on the tribunal as the liaison to the new Stark Consortium. He didn't like the ruling. He thinks with the reveal about the Starks there should be another hearing. He was close to Howard and Maria. That's why he's kept on about bringing Bucky back into the authorities."
"Oh great. So I'm a bad guy here." Rhodey sat down so hard Steve imagined he could feel the plane shake.
"Colonel Rhodes wasn't a bad guy, just not very popular. From what I can tell, he had a similar military background to you but had a strict code of conduct, a stickler for the rules. No War Machine here, sorry. Tony allowed him to go on missions, but from what I can tell, and that's very sketchy, he impeded things. Kept wanting to take over, run things himself." Natasha said. She returned to her story.
"They allowed Bucky to work with the team," Natasha stopped for a moment to stare into space, allowing the others to digest this piece of information. "They took him on some missions and he did well, although they knew it was a risk. Tony Stark tried, but couldn't get the programming out of his head. While cleaning house, Mr. Stark discovered hints about who killed his parents. Bucky suspected he had done it, but with his disjointed memories, he wasn't sure. He shared this with Steve, making him promise not to say anything, he wanted to tell Tony himself if the memory returned, a huge deal to him although he wouldn't say why. Someone else, someone in a faction loyal to Howard Stark perhaps, who didn't appreciate Mr. Stark's efforts to turn the family business around, got close to the truth. This person sent messages to other displaced former Stark Consortium leaders about it. We don't know who did it. There are hints it might have been Colonel Rhodes."
"Sorry," Rhodey said.
"Steve believed he had no choice, but to tell Tony about Bucky's suspicions while he was out on a mission and somehow, the bad guys found out. They had the place bugged, perhaps Colonel Rhodes, told them, we're not sure. They are the ones who sent the operatives, not Tony, as revenge for the deaths of Howard and Maria. Later, someone bombed the team's Headquarters, Bucky lost his metal arm, so for everyone's safety, and he ran away to Wakanda asking for asylum. T'Challa's sister, Princess Shuri removed the remaining programming, and as you saw, gave him a new arm, but he can't leave, not while he's a target. Despite the conspiracy theorists, he's been one of Tony's biggest defenders but it caused a big rift in his friendship with Steve, they've been estranged ever since."
"He told Tony about his suspicions in this reality," Steve said, almost to himself. Tony got up to wander around the plane as was his habit when faced with uncomfortable truths. "It made no difference."
"Well, at least this time, it wasn't me trying to kill him," Tony said, his face turned away. They had never spoken of it.
"Guys, here, that never happened," Natasha said, bringing them back to this reality. She was right. They had to move on. "Rogers and Wilson met in much the same way, but he's a little different. More sparkly than prickly. He and Barnes became good friends, and he's tried to bring the other two back together. I think… he has a girlfriend here in Wakanda. Speaking of friends, the other team, I got the impression that they weren't… friends. Work colleagues, but you, Sam and Bucky, me and Clint, that's it for friendships. Wanda and Vision are just now reaching that point. That's why some on the team believed its Mr. Stark sending out the operatives. They don't know him. No living at Avengers Tower or the facility together. Everyone keeps their distance. I think that might have to do with the culture of the Consortiums. They were very formal, didn't like to encourage friendships among their people because hey, you might be called on to shoot your coworkers at some point, so it's best not to get to close. I guess it sort of evolved into a cultural norm for everybody else so that's why they all use last names and titles.
"So Natasha… and Clint?" Steve asked, needing the conversation to go anywhere else.
"She did a lot of dirty work for a Russian Consortium in exchange for her parent's safety. They both passed away several years ago so she no longer had any motivation to work for them. Around this time Clint found her. She was ready to leave, he helped her turn away from her wicked ways, and they've been partners ever since."
"Partners in what sense of the word?" Tony asked.
"I don't think there's a Laura or kids." Natasha didn't break down often, but now she bit her lower lip, her eyes were blinking. She was holding it back. Laura Barton was one of the few women friends Natasha had and she thought of herself as Clint's sister and an aunt to his children. "I need to go see him as soon as possible, to see how he is, to see if he's changed."
"Maybe there is a Laura, but he hasn't met her yet?" Tony offered. "We can find her and get them together and…"
"NO!" Bruce broke his silence. "We can't go messing with people's lives, manipulating events. We have to just let things… happen. This was a bad idea."
"Well, we're here now, so I guess I should practice my scowl," Rhodey said.
"And you've got to stop cracking jokes, in public anyway. At least, we can fix at least this thing with you and Barnes," Tony said, directing his attention to Steve. "I'll tell him I'm calling off my… people and you can apologize. Wonder where I'm keeping my suits if I am Iron Man. I should be Iron Man… I mean who else is Iron Man?" He rambled as he often did when presented with a dilemma." How did I end up in space, if I'm not Iron Man?" He asked." I had to deal with Parker's chatter and that'll drive everything out of anybody's head because it's hard to keep up with him, then I came here right away. I didn't even notice I didn't have the suit until right now…that's what I felt like I was forgetting. How the hell do I forget something like that?"
"Maybe you got caught up in one of Doctor Strange's Time Portals here," Natasha offered. "And that's how you got taken up there."
"Or maybe it vanished when we merged our realities," Bruce mused, half to himself. He stopped his pacing to stare at Tony. "We're not really sure how all this works yet. Remember all this just happened. The history for this hasn't even been written yet. It's up to us to fill in the blanks."
"History was never my favorite subject," Tony said. "But like everything else I tried, I excelled in it. So what say we just make me the King of the World and have done with it?"
"You're tired, Tony," Steve said. "You should rest."
"Can't. T'Challa asked for a meeting. Seems he wants to investigate what happened. The disappearances, that is."
"Can they find out? Is that even possible?" Rhodey asked. "And if all the bad stuff in this other reality is still here, what came over us? Aren't we supposed to merge together somehow?"
"I think it's already merging but for whatever reason, these Consortiums are still here," Natasha said.
"We are blending," Bruce said. "Some things are just going slower than others, but we're at the top of the chain. Everything around us, everything to do with us, it all might be…waiting on us. I'm going to ask the Wakandans if I can work with them. There's a lot I want to know myself…"
"Do you think this was some kind of plot on Strange and Wong's part? They could 'see' this mess here and thought hey, this gang could straighten things out! Let's send them over there!" Rhodey asked.
"I never took you for a conspiracist," Steve said. "But we can't sit back and do nothing while these people are in power."
"No, but we don't want to go running roughshod over everything either," Tony said. He and Steve locked eyes and then looked away. Neither one of them wanted that argument here. "I still think we can tweak things here and there… I mean, who would know?" replied. He yawned and rubbed his eyes.
"TONY!" Bruce threw up his hands and walked to the end of the plane. "We can't go around sabotaging stuff!" Everyone held their breath for a moment but then he turned around to face them, his anger gone but replaced by a quizzical expression on his face. "Am I the same? Is the other guy…?" he asked.
"Yes, like everyone else, the same but different. He experimented with the serum. The Hulk exists here but apparently, no one knows it's you and I am assuming it's you. Like Iron Man, it's a secret identity. I don't know if he was able to control the other guy or what, but Doctor Banner is a respected professor. Quite popular, but when you get down to the basics, not much difference between the two of you," Natasha said. "I wish I had better news."
"At least I don't have to fake being someone I'm not. For once, I'm the lucky one," Bruce said. He and Natasha shared a brief glance before they both looked away.
"If you want my advice, and this is coming from someone who woke up in another world, we take it slow over the next few days. Watch and learn," Steve said. "To quote our friend Rocket, play dumb. Say as little as possible," His eyes went to Tony who threw up his hands in mock confusion. "Natasha, go ahead with your plans to visit Clint, see how he is, see if he's changed. I'm going to make things right with Bucky and get as much info from him as I can, and from Sam. Yes, I hate using our new old friends like this but we don't have a choice."
"Tony, you practice being a little more stoic and keeping your mouth shut… and you, Steve, could be a little more aggressive," Natasha offered, her serious tone overtaken by a mischievous grin. Rhodey let out a little chuckle and even Bruce smiled. Tony looked offended.
"Well, I might as well get started now and give everyone here a warning.," Steve said, "If in a few weeks' time, we don't see a change and these organizations are still in place, we should make serious plans to take them down. Maybe, that's why we're here."