Chapter Six: One Way Trip
In the center of the maze, there was a small, glowing portal with a sign driven into the ground next to it. Coulson knelt, reading the sign over and frowning to himself. " 'United, yet divided; united in purpose, divided in origin,' " he read aloud, glancing over his shoulder at the two teams, still wary, but standing closer to each other than before.
"One obstacle from each world," Clint drawled, leaning against the nearby wall and counting up her remaining arrows. "What kind, does it say?"
"It doesn't say anything," Scott replied, even as he pointed to a symbol right above the note. "But that is a hieroglyph for 'computer', at least as close as that language can come to 'computer'. I suspect that means that the two obstacles are computer based."
"Stark, you're up," Captain America decided. Glancing up at Mister Miracle, he questioned, "Who's your best computer guy?"
Blue Beetle waved, moving over to join Iron Man. "That's me, unless Booster wants to let Skeets take a crack at this."
"Nah, you're better 'n Skeets at this kinda thing, Beetle," Booster called, tossing his best friend a thumbs up.
Beetle grinned right back, restraining his gulp as he and Iron Man faced the portal. The fate of a room full of civilians…in the hands of two computer geeks. We're doomed.
Tony Stark laughed as soon as he got a good look at the computer defense from the Avengers world. "I could crack this in my sleep," he snorted derisively. "JARVIS, start the hack from the other end; I'll handle the beginning and middle right here." Glancing over at his counterpart, he asked, "So, how's it look on your end, Beetle Boy?"
"Looks like a Irons pain in the butt special," Blue Beetle retorted, a touch sore over Stark's chosen nickname for him. "I can crack it, but it's going to take awhile." The Beetle's hands flew over the computer keyboard, the inventor, tinkerer, and genius frowning as he worked as fast as he could, muttering under his breath as he started his own hack.
Tony whistled to himself as he finished bringing down the Avenger 'verse firewall. "Piece of cake," he remarked. "Actually, even easier than that." Which was true…between JARVIS and his own considerable experience, it had been a simple task, but somehow, it had gone even faster with a nudge here and a whisper there that Tony suspected came from whoever had donned the Iron Man costume before 'Loki' tossed his Halloween spell thing. He also suspected that the Blue Beetle hadn't gotten the same little nudges he had; Beetle Boy was still pounding away at his keyboard, looking increasingly worried and unnerved.
Ordinarily, Stark would have been mocking and haughty, and might have even tried to step in, but, with the clock running down and a number of innocent lives on the line, he didn't utter so much as a peep. "JARVIS, any chance you can help out the Beetled One?" he asked, keeping his voice down.
"I apologize, sir, but the firewall appears to be of such a different origin that I cannot offer any advice or aid whatsoever."
"Time left, J."
"Nine minutes and counting, sir."
Without looking up, Beetle snapped, "Shut up, Irons; I'm trying to concentrate here."
Iron Man was about to volley right back when the portal gave a shudder and began to slowly fold in on itself. "J?" he demanded loudly.
"The portal will close in 56 seconds, sir. I suspect Loki is attempting to stack the deck, as they say."
"Go," Beetle ordered, his hands still flying over the keyboard. "I'll get this done, Irons; just tell Booster I'm sorry."
"We stick together, kid," Tony growled, feeling, inside, his 'host' struggling to come through. "I'm not leaving you behind, Blue Boy." And then, before he could even think about it, another sentence slipped out. "Besides, your dad would kill me if I came back without you."
Beetle's head snapped up, meeting Iron Man's impassive gaze, though behind the mask, Tony's eyes were just as wide as the kid's. "It's breaking…it's really breaking," Beetle breathed, redoubling his efforts, a grin breaking out on his face as his fingers flew at near lightspeed.
"Seventeen seconds, sir," JARVIS announced solemnly.
"Come on, kid," Tony whispered, watching as his young counterpart typed furiously.
"Got it!" Beetle yelled, darting away from the keyboard. "Let's get out of here!"
Iron Man lunged, snatching the Blue Beetle up and hurtling for the closing portal. The two heroes hit the portal in the instant before it collapsed in on itself. Behind them, the computer whined as the instructions JARVIS had left behind took effect, releasing both spells in a cascade effect that destroyed the computer as well as the entire room. Fire roared for a split second, then went out, robbed of oxygen.
Far away, in his observation room, Loki howled denial. How could they have managed this? How could they have beaten him? Him? The God of Mischief and Trickery? His eyes narrowed in fury. They might have broken the two spells, setting in motion the magic to free the pathetic hall full of Muggles – and themselves – but they had yet to escape his maze…and he had quite the surprise for them…once he finished sabotaging the portal bringing the two computer techs back to their own.
"You will regret crossing me, Muggles," he hissed as he pulled his wand and began a new spell, the Latin flowing easily as a truly delicious spell came to him. He'd never encountered it before, but it worked just as he intended it to, drawing a smug smirk.
Tony sucked in a breath as the portal writhed beneath them, flexing and twisting as they fell through it. In the portal's light he saw his own tower, saw a non-descript building with an aircraft on the roof that the locals all avoided, saw a small firehouse with a Ghostbuster's sign hanging just outside, and so much more. Everywhere he looked, he saw glimpses of worlds, some large, some small, some so similar that just a single, tiny difference separated them, and some so wildly different that he was left wondering what held them all together.
"It's a portal between worlds," Blue Beetle gasped, his eyes wide behind his cat-like goggles. "We're seeing all the worlds out there, Irons. But where's our world?"
That was a very good question, because Tony wasn't seeing their combined team or the ballroom full of statues in any of the glimpses they were getting. "JARVIS?" he called. "Little help here?"
"I'…sorry….n…connec…ir…trans…ailing…"
Tony felt a chill up his back. "JARVIS? Come on, J, don't do this to me," he begged.
A roar filled the air, full of power and promise. A lion's roar, echoing in a place where there were only two humans, ringing in the space between worlds. And with that roar, the portal's writhing stopped. They were still falling, but now the portal had firmed, its twisting blue light steady around them. Tony's grip on the kid tightened as new memories surfaced and a name whispered in his ear. Clark Lane.
"Hang tight, Clark, we're almost there," he yelled over the noise of the portal.
"Spike?" Quavering, fearful, but still mostly the Blue Beetle.
"I got you, buddy, I got you," Tony/Spike reassured the young man. "We're going home and then your dad can kill both of us."
A moment later, the portal threw them out, its final force wrenching the pair apart. Spike, landing on Lou in his War Machine suit, decided it was fitting that Ed threw himself to the side and caught his son, eyes wide under Mister Miracle's gold and red mask.