unbeta-ed
Tony stared at the traces of unknown variables that FRIDAY detected on the extrapolator he borrowed.
"Are you sure they aren't any that we've encountered before, even from the Tesseract and Loki's staff?" He tried again, hand rubbing at his face. His system was advanced enough to even recognize foreign traces from Thor's hammer and Chitauri weapons, as well as his invented element, 'Badassium', as he called it, and yet this small Beyblade-looking thing was becoming like a puzzle that Tony has to solve.
A part of Tony's mind has been suggesting that maybe those two were telling the truth. The simplicity of the excuse was what Tony found difficult to accept. An accidental dimension traveler? Why now? Why now when The Avengers weren't in their original strength, when they were perfectly divided in two? The last time earth got unknown visitors, they wanted to invade earth. Tony's paranoia was borne from that, which led to Ultron, which resulted to certain events that put The Avengers, at least what remained of it, in the current situation.
It was so easy to believe Barry and Cisco's story, but at the same time the consequences should Tony trusted the wrong people with uncanny abilities would be bringing down another strain on the civilians.
"Boss, you've been awake for twenty-seven hours, and the last time you had eaten was twelve hours ago," FRIDAY reminded him.
Tony petulantly ignored the reminder, returning to his magnifier.
"I've called for Colonel Rhodes," FRIDAY chirped.
"What? No, abort!"
There was an elevator ding where Rhodey emerged, limping unnoticeably as he made his way to Tony's workshop. Tony crossed his arms, childishly sulking at Rhodey's shake of his head upon arriving and seeing Tony's messy state and added layer of eye bags.
"Hi."
"FRIDAY called me," Rhodey said, a bit exasperated. "You've been at it again."
"I promised her that I'll sleep once I'm done," Tony argued.
"Which won't be for hours since you're on a stump, boss," FRIDAY supplied.
"You? On a stump?" Rhodey raised an eyebrow, eyes darting at the object Tony was holding. "Is that a new feature you're adding to the suit?"
Tony shrugged. It would have been easier if that was the case. "This isn't even mine."
"What is it then?"
"Probably a shuriken, for all I know."
Tony threw the extrapolator to the nearby table, only for it to give a fizzling sound that he heard it produce for the first time before a bluish, plate-sized cluster of bubble-like thing suddenly appeared at the space above the extrapolator as if hovering.
"Alright, what the hell was that?" Rhodey exclaimed exactly what Tony's reaction was. He instinctually moved beside Tony's seat.
Tony stood, eyeing the bubble cloud thing in curiosity. Tentatively, he poked it with a finger; he wasn't sure what he was expecting to feel upon touching it, but there was nothing, like poking only an empty space.
Rhodey leaned closer in wonder at the thing as Tony absently grabbed a pen lying about. Rhodey stood away when Tony tested the bubble by throwing the pen through it.
The pen vanished once it passed through, and so was the bubble cloud.
Silence dawned on them that even FRIDAY wasn't speaking on the background. It was a full five seconds before a sound of something falling rang distantly.
"It was from your personal restroom, boss," FRIDAY piped up, making Tony rush immediately to the restroom.
There on the floor was the unassuming pen he threw and ending up meters away. He inspected the pen—nothing seemed to change in its composition at single glance. He ran a deeper inspection that gave him results of the pen having a trace of the of one of the components he detected from the extrapolator as if a residue.
"Was that a portal?" Rhodey asked. "Where did you get that thing exactly?"
"From people of another dimension."
"What, like aliens? That's Chitauri tech?"
"Calling them aliens sound so simplistic, Rhodey," Tony said, slumping back on his rotating chair. "Thor and Loki are aliens, from another planet entirely. No, the people I'm telling you has another set of universe for themselves," he explained in fewer words as possible, mind running back on the Multiverse Theory.
"And they're here in New York," Rhodey concluded. "Why weren't we alerted of their arrival?"
"One, they refuse to make a spectacle that will draw attention to them. Two, they didn't come here the same way Loki did. Three, these two are people who are obviously smart with or without their powers. One of them made that extrapolator that looks like a toy, except it can make doorways that can transport them to another dimension, and this isn't even their primary transport."
Rhodey's back found the edge of the table. "Should we be worried?"
Yes was the logical answer. "I met them the day before yesterday. One works as a chemistry instructor in Midtown and the other in a local computer repair shop."
"You met them alone?"
"I was with Peter."
"That's not the point, Tony. You said these are people with abilities too, and you blindly charged there with the kid."
"Because I asked for their story," Tony said. "And frankly, I wasn't worried because one mentioned that their powers aren't working in this earth, which made them stuck here in the first place."
"And the other?"
"The other is a vigilante, sometimes helping Peter. Some guy in red spandex that would have given Captain America a run for his money."
Rhodey's perplexed expression morphed into recognition. "Oh, you mean The Flash?" The look Tony gave him screamed 'you know him?'. "I often read on the internet, you know. The news could only entertain you so much while you're sitting or lying down most of the time."
"Of course."
"So one of them is that speed guy, huh. Is he like Wanda's brother?"
"Faster, actually. A little over Mach 2, and it isn't even his calculated top speed."
Rhodey whistled. "Well, he certainly knew how to keep a low profile despite that. Imagine Ross twisting his panties once he finds out."
Tony snorted. "He'll certainly come up with something for The Flash to sign."
Rhodey shook his head. "So what now?"
"One of them has to be called in as early as tomorrow, and you'll be there with me."
At the looming building of Stark Industries, Cisco couldn't help but be reminded of the day he applied for S.T.A.R. Labs.
Cisco felt wildly out of place at the men in corporate attires that he passed by. He was suddenly conscious of his ensemble of dark jacket hoodie, a faded band shirt underneath, dark pants, and white sneakers. Maybe he should have tied his hair to give a neat impression.
Even at S.T.A.R. Labs, he didn't feel this shabby.
Cisco awkwardly gave thanks as the receptionist directed him to his interview with a Miss Virginia Potts. When he arrived outside the door of Miss Potts office, he thought there was a mistake because the plated label indicated that it was the CEO's office.
He lingered around for a good three minutes, not sure how to proceed, when an attractive woman with a kind smile exited, immediately finding Cisco out there.
"Are you Mr. Francisco Ramon, by any chance?" she asked knowingly.
Cisco didn't dwell on how she could have known that. "Ah, yes. I might be lost, because I'm supposed to be interviewed by the HR."
She looked amused at the reply. "On the contrary, I think you're in the right place. Apologies, my assistant is currently out so there was nobody to guide you in." She opened the door wider. "The hallway isn't really the best place to conduct the interview. Come on in."
Oh, god, the CEO herself opened the door for Cisco. He almost missed when she asked him to sit down. He settled down the hard bound documentation that he compiled yesterday just as Stark asked him. Cisco expected the man to be present, but oddly enough, he wasn't here.
"You're highly recommended by Mr. Stark, actually. He said he saw your inventions and was impressed. That man is rarely impressed when it comes to inventions, I'll have you know, so I have high expectations of you as well."
Was Stark talking about the Flash's suit or the extrapolator that he nicked from them?
"Um, thanks."
She smiled. "Your résumé says that you're a graduate of Mechanical Engineering, and you have experience working on the field from the company you were previously employed, S.T.A.R. Labs. You've listed quite a number of projects that you've worked on. Among those, give me one or two that you deem memor—"
The door opened, with Stark breezing in with his sunglasses and a greeting of: "Hey, Pep!" There was another man following him closely, looking apologetic at Ms. Potts for Stark's unceremonious arrival. Ms. Potts, meanwhile, seemed to have taken it all in a stride like this was a normal occurrence. It probably was.
Stark laid a hand on Cisco's shoulder, patting him as if an old time friend. "If you don't mind, this young man will be joining Rhodey and me downstairs to do a bit of sciencing. You know, the usual men's night out. Cisco here is really good." He winked at her before turning to Cisco. "Right, buddy?"
Buddy? Cisco could only stare blankly before he was almost lifted by the shoulders by both Stark and the Rhodey fella, and boy, they were strong enough to pull Cisco up from his seat and out through the door without so much of a good bye to Ms. Potts.
"What 'men's night out'? It's not even evening yet!" was the first thing that left Cisco once he was let go outside.
Stark ushered him to the elevator before answering. "That's a perfect excuse. And I have the good colonel here. Pep knows I'll behave when I'm with him."
Cisco missed the way Rhodey rolled his eyes. Cisco stood straighter and slightly wary out of his not so good experience with military officers. "Erm, sir."
"Hello. Tony told me about you," Rhodey said good-naturedly, but Cisco could see from his stance that he was on alert despite the apparent leg injury he has.
Wait. Military guy who is close friends with Tony Stark and was recently in an injury… "You're War Machine?"
Rhodey smirked. "You've been doing your research."
"I try to," Cisco mumbled as the elevator dinged, signaling that they were on their destination—the floor below the ground floor, seemed like. Underground?
"Welcome to the Underground Bunker," Stark said, allowing Cisco to exit first.
And… wow.
Calling it underground bunker was making it sound so primitive, but what met Cisco was a state of the art mini-robotics lab for a three-man team at most. Still, it dwarfed Cisco's tinkering space at S.T.A.R. Labs, making it seemed like a dumping ground for failed projects. If a small space as this was enough to be amazing at its own, he couldn't imagine what Stark's own lab looked like.
"Good morning, Mr. Ramon," a female voice that came from the ceiling greeted Cisco. It seemed organic, but at the same time there was a mechanical lilt in it.
"Was that an AI?" Cisco asked, turning to Stark. "That's so cool."
"Usually, they asked first where the voice came from," Stark said. "And, yes, that's FRIDAY, by the way."
"Oh, hello, FRIDAY."
Stark clapped his hand. "Now that pleasantries out of the way, let's get straight to the point." Cisco watched him move towards a table barred of any objects sans the extrapolator that he 'borrowed'. "I may have some questions about this thing."
"Honestly, I'm kinda surprised you haven't picked it apart yet," Cisco said dryly, walking towards the extrapolator to examine it.
"Did that and assembled it again. Wasn't difficult, nothing different inside."
"Except it can make a small portal," Rhodey muttered.
It didn't go past Cisco. "Wait, what? You made it work?" Mouth hanging open, he lifted the extrapolator for closer inspection.
"What do you expect?" Alright, Cisco would let that haughtiness slide. "It just took a few tweaks."
"It took boss twenty hours to tweak it, and seven more to analyze the traces of materials that we found. Unfortunately, they do not match any of our records," FRIDAY said from above. "Please direct your attention to the display, Mr. Ramon."
Stark complained on the background that she didn't have to say that, while Cisco was given the data results displayed on a huge monitor, mostly showing what he already knew the extrapolator has and remembered that most were unique on Earth-1. He helpfully listed the names to FRIDAY who graciously listened to him.
He pointed at the element that showed the highest percentage of presence on both the extrapolator and the pen that Stark tested through the portal. "That one is what we call Dark Matter. It's present on meta-humans and lingered on objects that their abilities touched. It doesn't really have any effect on things except when a meta-human purposely influenced it."
"So the Multiverse Theory and Dark Matter aren't hypothetical anymore from where you came from," Stark said, thoughtful. He was somewhat surprised that Barry and Cisco's earth hasn't fallen apart yet due to entities and variables that they have to account for. Heck, discovering the existence of aliens alone was a pain in the ass.
"How many earths exactly are there?" Rhodey asked, utterly perplexed. Last time he heard regarding space, there were different planets outside the Solar System.
Cisco helpfully gave him a rundown of what he and Barry explained to Stark and Peter a few days ago. He could see that Rhodey wasn't a man of science and discovery but was curious to know more about the universe he lived in. Cisco could admire that.
"It's only small, you said, but that's achievement enough to me," he told Stark. "You've given me a stepping stone to move forward, and that's something I could work on. Thank you," he said, sincere. Stark didn't make an impression to him with a pleasing personality, but he was an intellectual indeed.
Stark looked startled to be thanked at, though he composed himself just as quick, shrugging nonchalantly. "Sure. Let's make a deal: I help you as long as you work on it in here and working under my or FRIDAY's supervision. How's that?"
That… wasn't a bad idea. "Deal."
"That fast?"
"Could always use a fresh set of eyes."
Stark crossed his arms, glancing at his companion. "Fine."
Cisco couldn't really tell when it came to Stark. Oh, well, he might as well let it be. It seemed like they would be going home sooner.
TBC