An Alternative State of Mentality

by inukagome15

Part 8 of the "It's All in the Mind" series. Tony Stark does not have time for this garbage. Someone outed his secret to the public. No, not the one where he's dating Steve. Yes, the one where he's a mutant. Yes, he's mad. Yes, his life sucks. What else is new? Oh, hi, Extremis.

2. Part II

Welcome back to An Alternative State of Mentality! We have been unable to contain the bees, so please be cautious. The author will do her best to make this journey a smooth one. Allergy shots can be found in the front seat pocket or in the main cabin. We also offer safety suits, but supply is limited. Once again, please keep your heads, hands, and feet inside the ride at all times, and keep your seat belt firmly fastened. We do hope you enjoy the second part of our ride.

DISCLAIMER: The author owns none of the included franchises. For the purposes of this ride, the second Fantastic Four movie is considered null and void.

---

Part II

---

"He's spent so many years hiding this from the public! How do we know he isn't hiding anything else?"

"He isn't any more dangerous than any other person. It's his business, his privacy, and his own decision. Can't we leave the man alone?"

"The problem isn't Tony Stark. The problem is that we don't know how many other people are just like him and hiding under our noses. How can we feel safe if we don't know whether our neighbor or employer is one of them?"

"It's unnatural, that's what it is. I always knew something was off with Stark."

"It's a gene that gives them these abilities. It's no more unnatural than our skin or eye color. He's just different, but is that so bad? He's done so much to help the public, we should just leave him in peace!"

"We always attack those that are different, and it's time that changes. Tony Stark is just a scapegoat for another social movement that is a long time in coming."

"I have the utmost respect for Mr. Stark. He's one of the most brilliant minds in our world. I have nothing against him, but I am affirming what many have already said: Mr. Stark is simply the tip of the iceberg. He might not be dangerous, but the dangerous mutant known as Magneto is still out there, as are others that bear a grudge against regular humans. How are we to defend ourselves if we don't know who they are? This is why I call for a registration act—"

"It's a joke, that's what the registration act is. They tried this with the MRA years ago, but it didn't work. Who's to say it'll work now? What makes them think that the bad guys are going to register? They're not; they're going to stay hidden, while the good guys – the ones that follow the law – are going to register and find themselves discriminated against. Racism and sexism are still rampant today; how much worse do you think it will be for people who have abilities that scare us?"

"—we're scared of them and with good reason. The question isn't whether Tony Stark is dangerous to us. Of course he's dangerous. It doesn't matter whether he'll ever attack us like the Brotherhood has because the truth is that he has the potential, and it will always be an option for a man like him."

"He had the potential to attack us before with that suit of his, but used it to help people. How is this any different? The revelation that he's a mutant doesn't change anything, except to tell everyone else that they probably shouldn't mess with the Avengers. A genius and a mutant? I'd take my chances elsewhere and so should anyone else if they know what's good for them."

"We're entrusting our safety to a team filled with mental head cases that are liable to go rogue at any moment. A super soldier from the nineteen-forties that no one really knows about other than he's a remnant of a super secret government project, a giant monster that no one can control, two spies and assassins from an organization no one is sure about, a supposed god, and a man who's now been outed as a mutant who goes around wearing a destructive suit. How are we supposed to trust them if we can't take care of them if they go rogue?"

"We need heroes. We need to see that being different doesn't necessarily mean being bad. Considering the backlash right now, can you really blame him for keeping it a secret for so long?"

"—where was he during the Mutant Registration Act? That's what I'd like to know!"

"It was bad enough knowing that Captain America was dating a man. Knowing that he's dating a mutie who's a man and knew about it is just too disgusting—"

"If so-called heroes like Spider-Man have a free card because they're a member of the Avengers, we'll be overrun by lawless vigilantes who get free passes because they're associated with someone like Tony Stark or Captain America. We need accountability—"

"The MRA was a good idea, if flawed. It was too restrictive in its scope. We live in an era where mutants are not the only threat to our society, and we need to adjust accordingly."

"—this is not a response to Tony Stark being a mutant, although we understand how it could be seen that way. We have been considering such an act for a number of years considering the rise of super humans in our society. With the potential danger that untrained super humans such as Spider-Man pose to our society, we look for a way to help lessen that danger. This is why we are looking at introducing the Superhuman Registration Act…"

---

"Not now, Dummy! I can't at the moment!"

Sorry! Dummy skittered off to his brothers, suitably chastised.

Growling in frustration under his breath, Tony returned his attention to the developing of his new company: The Avengers Toy Store. It was the worst possible time for a new company specifically geared toward marketing Avengers' merchandise to go out, but it was the one of the most harmless ways Tony could think of to help lessen the public backlash against the team since the press conference.

Besides, they still needed the funding, especially after how SI's board was being jerks about the whole thing. Pepper had managed to get them in line, reminding them that Stark Industries had a zero-tolerance discrimination policy, which included mutants. Still, that meant that Tony had better not step on more toes than he could manage at the moment.

Over the past week, he had barely gotten more than three days' worth of sleep, far too busy with the completely necessary work that he had to take care of. Steve wasn't happy with him one iota, but Tony couldn't help it. Steve would just have to settle for it at the moment because there was nothing else he could do, short of letting it all burn.

With Extremis, S.H.I.E.L.D., the Superhuman Registration Act (or SHRA as it was now known to a very divided public), the question as to who had outed Tony to the media, and dealing with the public backlash to the revelation, Tony barely had time to attend to his own basic needs, let alone a relationship.

Extremis beeped softly in the back of his mind, an alert that another decision had been made regarding the progress of SHRA. Sighing lightly, Tony leaned his head back, closing his eyes as he accessed the report and the accompanying video of the meeting. It was definitely illegal, considering it was the government's confidential records he was accessing at the moment, but he didn't exactly care.

What he read was both heartening and nerve wracking. The SHRA wouldn't move forward at the moment considering how divided the public was about forcing super humans to register. Many were calling it a violation of civil liberties to force super humans to divulge their secret identities. Others were arguing for it, pointing to the potential danger of having masked superheroes running rampant.

Both sides had a point, and it was clear to the government that with public opinion as divided as it was, passing the SHRA now would lead to something ugly happening. As it stood now, they were waiting for something to tip the scales in either direction.

Essentially, it all stood on whether the Avengers would be able to regulate themselves well enough that the government couldn't step in. It might not even be a problem if Tony hadn't separated them from S.H.I.E.L.D., but that was something that couldn't be fixed now considering that particular bridge had been burned to the ground. In any case, Tony wasn't sure if he wanted to fix it. Being under the authority of S.H.I.E.L.D. carried far more risks than benefits, and it was doubtful the public would accept it anyway, since S.H.I.E.L.D. was such a "shady organization."

Exhaling slowly, Tony closed the report down, leaning forward to hide his face in his hands. It was progress of a sort, even if it placed a great deal of pressure on his shoulders and that of the Avengers. The fact that he had been injected with Extremis absolutely could not get out. It couldn't.

It didn't matter that he had mostly managed to get the hang of it. A comment made by Logan the second day of his stay (he had his own room now, since he hadn't left to return to Westchester, and Tony couldn't be bothered to ask why) about how Tony was now a computer and could just program himself had given him an epiphany he should have thought of himself.

Tony would pin the blame on the fact that he had been concerned with the power outage he had caused.

Regardless, Logan's surprisingly insightful comment had led to Tony delving into his brain and Extremis to install a series of programs that would stop it from doing things willy-nilly (or whenever a random thought popped into Tony's mind, like when it had pulled up all the issues of National Geographic after a stray thought about pandas). Now, all Tony would have to do was focus his mind on a specific thought or think of a command phrase to access Extremis's more advanced functions.

(It was actually a lot more complicated than that, but Tony wasn't going to get into all the little details. It was inane and not something he wanted to do considering it was mostly dealt with. He was still benched for now because Steve wanted to be sure the problem was entirely taken care of, but that didn't really matter since Tony would go out if he was needed – benched or not.)

Busy as he was, Tony hadn't been able to do much regarding S.H.I.E.L.D., although it was critically important he finish it up. Considering the timing of Hansen coming to him with Extremis, the cluster fuck that had occurred right after it, and SHRA now, Tony thought there was a lot more going on behind the scenes there than he had initially noticed.

But he hadn't been able to do much about it, and he should probably focus on that now—

Alarms blared in his workshop and in his mind, and Extremis pulled up a video of the outside and what looked like a giant circle on his backyard with a figure standing in it, holding something very familiar that Tony had hoped never to see again because it had been returned to Asgard with Loki.

"JARVIS," Tony sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose with a thumb. "Contact Pepper and ask her if we can reschedule the bet."

"What should the reason be, sir?"

Tony looked at the feed of a tall black-haired woman in Asgardian armor holding the Tesseract. "Unforeseen circumstances. I have to see to our new guest. It would've been nice if Thor had let me know we were expecting visitors."

Wisely, JARVIS chose not to comment on that. Tony could feel him linking with the e-mail network and tuned out so as to close down his projects. He had a mild headache pressing in on his right temple that was probably from stress and not sleeping or eating enough, but some coffee would probably take care of that.

By the time Tony made it into the living room (which for some strange reason had become the unofficial meeting room) with a cup of coffee courtesy of Spike, the new Asgardian was being entertained by every member of the team that was there, which included everyone but Clint and Natasha. They had been just as elusive as Tony had been this past week, an argument he had used against Steve when the other had tried to get him to sleep. Steve hadn't been very pleased.

Pushing aside thoughts about their relationship (or the lack of at the moment), Tony focused on their guest. "Do you mind introducing me to our guest?" He shot Thor a pointed look. "I didn't know we were expecting anyone."

"Anthony!" Thor beamed, an arm clasped around the fierce looking woman. "I would be most pleased to introduce you to one of my most cherished friends and one of Asgard's most fierce warriors, the warrior Sif!"

"Anthony?" Sif asked, arching an elegant eyebrow. Even with her reputation as a fierce warrior, she had the look of a regal woman about her. Yet her bearing and the look of her armor and weapons told Tony that she would be just as fearsome as Natasha in a fight.

"Tony Stark," Tony said. "Unless you're Thor, in which case it's Anthony."

"Anthony then," Sif said, smiling in amusement. "It is an honor to meet Thor's Midgardian friends." She looked around at Bruce and Steve. "You must be great fighters for Thor to speak so highly of you."

Logan loomed in the doorway, a scowl on his face. "What's with the alarms?" he growled. Catching sight of Sif, Thor with an arm around her, and everyone else, he gave the room one more cursory glance before turning heel and leaving, muttering under his breath something about "crazy ass gods" and "drinking games."

"That's Logan," Tony added before anyone else could. "Ignore him." He gave Sif a charming smile. "What brings you here?"

"Is the Bifrost repaired?" Thor asked eagerly, turning to fully face Sif.

"It isn't." Sif's smile dropped to give way to a more serious expression. "Your father used the Tesseract to send me here." Her eyes dropped to the glowing cube sitting at her feet, still encased in the container Tony and Bruce had built for it months ago. "We are to use it for our return."

Thor's hand dropped from Sif's shoulder to his side, and Tony could actually see what kind of king he would eventually become. "What is it, Sif? Father would not send you here with such a method unless it was a grave matter."

"It is Loki," Sif said after a breath. "And the Dark Elves of Svartalfheim. Something is coming. I was sent to tell you and ask if you would return to aid us."

Thor's mouth tightened for a moment. Then he opened it, took a breath…and said nothing. His expression was deeply conflicted.

Finally, he said, "I would confer with my team. I trust it is not a most urgent matter?"

Sif's expression was indiscernible. "There is still time."

"Then allow me a day," Thor pleaded. "Two of our number are not present at this time, and it would be best if they were here to offer their counsel."

"JARVIS," Tony said, not looking away from the two gods in their presence, "would you?"

"Of course, sir." JARVIS began the process of contacting Clint and Natasha's communicators to let them know.

To her credit, Sif didn't flinch from the sound of an unexpected voice without a body. Her hand did go to her sword, though, so that was a point deducted. "What is that?" she demanded.

"It is JARVIS," Thor said soothingly, placing his hand on the one that was on Sif's sword. "Anthony's child."

Tony blinked, disconcerted. "That's one way to explain who he is," he muttered, drawing amused looks from Steve and Bruce.

"Some would also call him his butler," Bruce explained to Sif. "It means he helps Tony out. He'll help you, too, if you ask him for something."

"He has been most helpful during my stay," Thor agreed, grinning. "He is much like Heimdall."

Sif still looked wary, but she did take her hand off her sword. "If you say so."

"I wouldn't go in the kitchen if I were you," Bruce said. "We have a sentient stove and coffee machine and both can be slightly excited around new people."

"Peggy and Spike are perfectly well behaved," Tony protested, miffed.

"Of course, Tony," Steve said in a pacifying tone. He turned to Sif. "We have a room for you to stay in while we talk."

"I would greatly appreciate that, Captain," Sif said, inclining her head. She reached down for the Tesseract.

"I'll show you to it," Bruce offered, shooting Steve a significant look that Tony couldn't decipher.

"Make yourself at home," Tony said, waving his coffee mug in Sif's direction. "But I'd wait for one of us to be around before you go into the kitchen."

"So you admit they misbehave," Bruce said. Then he left with Sif before Tony could think of a suitable retort.

"I shall go as well," Thor said, glancing between Steve and Tony. "We have much to discuss, and it would be best if I know what is happening before I decide what I must do."

Then Thor left, leaving Steve and Tony alone in the living room.

Steve looked at Tony, who kept his gaze fixed on his coffee, for a long moment. "We need to talk," he finally said seriously.

Tony couldn't stop his eyes from flickering up to see Steve's expression, which was utterly impassive. He barely stopped from nervously swallowing, instead shifting to down what was left of his coffee. Those words had never bode well for Tony, and he couldn't stop his mind from going overboard with potential reasons for why Steve would use them.

"I've got some time," Tony managed to say without his voice wavering.

"About the SHRA," Steve started, and Tony felt sick with the sheer relief that swamped him. He had to bring a hand up to his mouth to hide his face, which was doubtlessly showing that. "—and everything else you're doing," Steve continued resolutely.

"I thought we went over this," Tony said, moderately calmer than he had been several seconds before. "There is literally nothing else I can do—"

"Can you rest?" Steve interrupted, face pinched. "Can you please give yourself a break? I know you've been working ridiculously hard, and I'm sorry I can't be of more help to you, but please consider it? I've barely seen you this week, and we live in the same house!"

"The world doesn't stop when I rest, Steve," Tony said wearily, repeating what he had said the last time they'd had this argument.

"No, it doesn't," Steve agreed. "But you need rest, Tony. I don't care what Extremis did to you, but you're still human. You need to sleep."

Tony barked out a laugh. "I don't know how much of a human I am with a computer for a brain."

Steve's face twisted. "Don't give me that, Tony. You still breathe, think, and feel like a human."

"How much of that is the computer, Steve? How much of that is Extremis programming my brain so I don't feel any different?"

"It doesn't matter!" Steve snapped, his voice like whiplash. "JARVIS isn't technically human, but that doesn't stop you from treating him like one! The same goes for Dummy, Butterfingers, You, Spike, and Peggy! Spike is a coffee machine and Peggy is a stove; they don't even look human, but that doesn't stop you from treating them like one. What makes you any different?"

Because Tony didn't feel human. He had news feeds constantly feeding into the back of his mind because of Extremis, humming from his affinity to technology, and a highly sensitive energy source in his chest that extended to the rest of his body. His AIs knew nothing else, having been built and programmed like such, but Tony knew. He knew what he had been like before. And it wasn't like this.

"It doesn't," Tony finally said, smiling painfully. He shrugged. "But I remember, Steve. I remember what it was like before. And it wasn't like this."

"You told me I could help you," Steve reminded him, slowly approaching him. He stopped just shy of Tony's personal space, but within touching distance. "Will you at least let me?"

Tony swallowed dryly, feeling suddenly, inexplicably exhausted. "I'll try," he whispered. "I'll try, Steve, but that's…that's everything I can do."

Steve's answering smile was painful with love and relief. He took that final step forward and crushed Tony into a warm embrace, burying his face in his hair. The coffee mug was sent floating to a safe haven as Tony returned the almost bone crushing embrace, fingers digging into the back of Steve's shirt as he hid his face in a warm shoulder.

"You scare me, Tony," Steve murmured after a long moment.

Tony's reply was barely distinguishable, muffled as it was. "Sorry."

Steve said nothing, just sighing and pressing his lips to the shell of Tony's ear.

Moving his arms up to Steve's shoulders, Tony uncovered his face, still keeping his mouth pressed to the other's shirt. His breathing was shaky and he was desperately trying not to cry, though his eyes were stinging. Steve was just so warm and was right there.

After several long minutes which they just spent breathing each other in, Steve sighed again and moved slightly away so he was looking into Tony's face. "SHRA," was all he said.

Spending a brief moment regretting that they even had to have this conversation at all, Tony nodded once and said, "You'll probably want to be sitting for this."

Once they were seated in chairs facing each other, Tony began without preamble, "Leaving aside personal opinions, tell me what you know of it."

"It's a registration act for super humans," Steve responded immediately, "people like us. The government wants to put us down on a list. Minors will be brought to training facilities so they don't harm anyone. Anyone not complying with it will be arrested and forced to register."

"You've got the basics of it," Tony said tiredly, rubbing the lengths of his fingers together. "This has literally been discussed off and on for years, but dismissed because there was never any major reason for it. The Mutant Registration Act some years ago was a precursor to it, but was eventually repealed because of the violent backlash to it by mutants and humans across the country. The Superhuman Registration Act is more extensive, including virtually anyone who has abilities more than human." He gave a short laugh. "The last time this was suggested, Richards argued against it, saying that even very intelligent members of Congress committees would have to be classified as superhuman under it. This version is a little more specific in designating who's superhuman."

"Clint and Natasha?" Steve asked.

"Would be classified as superhuman because of their skills," Tony admitted. "This affects all of us, Steve. I didn't…" He sighed, leaning back in his chair. "I wasn't paying attention because I had other things on my mind. When the mutant act was being discussed, I was one of the major supporters of the movement against it. Anonymously, of course. Didn't help much in the long run, but the money probably did."

"It's wrong," Steve said fiercely. "How can they consider something like this? It's like asking anyone who's black to register because of their skin color!"

"We already do that," Tony pointed out wryly. "It's one way we identify ourselves."

"Then let's go with sexual orientation," Steve said. "It's like asking everyone who isn't straight to go to the government, register, and be put in schools to be fixed. It's wrong, Tony."

"I'm not arguing against that," Tony said. "Leaving aside the ethical problems with the act, let's look at this from a different viewpoint. Superpowers are different from sexual orientations. You can hurt someone if you're not careful. Sending untrained super humans to training facilities to learn how to use their abilities would cut down accidents and mortalities. Look at Spider-Man: he's brand new to the gig. I bet if you asked him, he probably could have used the help when he started out."

"That's the point," Steve argued. "If you look at it like that, it doesn't seem wrong. But where does it stop, Tony? These facilities…what will actually happen there?"

Tony raised his eyebrows. "So cynical, Steve?"

"I've seen too much," Steve said shortly. "I know S.H.I.E.L.D. is different from the U.S. government, but not by much. Registering is the first step to control. And it's so much easier to teach the wrong things to kids when they're young. I've seen it in Germany. Most of the Nazis…they were kids, Tony. They probably didn't even know what they were fighting for." He looked at Tony. "What do you think?"

"Given the right person, it could be a good idea," Tony said, feeling like he was digging himself into a hole. "But—" he added before Steve could open his mouth. "But I don't trust the government. I'm sure you've seen the videos of me calling a bunch of senators ass-clowns. They wanted my suit. Hell, they got my suit, and look at what they did with it! They almost went live with a full army because of Hammer." Tony swallowed, interlinking his fingers so they wouldn't tap against his chest and the energy source. "So I don't trust them. Not with information like that. But depending on how it turns out, we're going to be dealing with registration one way or another, Steve. It's always going to come back."

"It doesn't mean we sell out."

"And I'm not suggesting that. But when it comes to politics, there's a certain bit of compromise—"

"Not when it comes to this! We're dealing with our rights, Tony. Can you tell me you want to be under the microscope for everything you do? There's no compromising when we're dealing with our right to privacy."

"And that's what we'll have to pin our hopes on," Tony said immediately. "Because according to the courts, that's a constitutional right. If the SHRA passes, there's going to be a ruling on its constitutionality. The question is whether the courts think the benefits outweigh the intrusion into our privacy."

"We can't be split on this, Tony," Steve said, leaning forward. "If we're divided on this, we don't stand a chance."

Tony's eyes flickered away. "I know." He smiled weakly. "But don't worry; the last I heard, they're waiting on something else to shift public opinion one way or another. It's not going to pass unless something big happens."

"We'll just have to make sure they see it's not needed," Steve declared, straightening.

Easier said than done, Tony knew. He was going to need to see Richards on this. No matter how idealistic Steve still was, he was right on needing to be united.

---

Following a night's sleep with Steve, Tony had to admit that he felt a lot better and less likely to turn on the waterworks at the slightest hint of an emotional conversation. Tony had spent about an hour just lying awake, staring at the ceiling, wondering what he was going to do, when Steve had pulled him even closer, muttered a disgruntled "Sleep" into his hair, and buried his face into Tony's neck. After that, Tony had closed his eyes and tried his best to do that, dropping off almost immediately.

Now it was morning, and Clint and Natasha had come back from wherever they were. That meant that they could get on with their meeting about whether Thor should go back to Asgard to take care of whatever was happening there.

"She is hot," Clint immediately said once they were all convened in a room that was actually intended for meetings. "Please tell me she's staying."

"She is not, Clinton," Thor said. "She came to request that I return home to help. Darkness is brewing, and it involves my brother."

Clint's face instantly darkened at the mention of Loki, and Tony hastily asked, "Did she explain what it's about? Just mentioning dark elves isn't giving us a whole lot to go off of."

"There was not much she could explain," Thor said uneasily, "because it is difficult to discern what is happening. I asked the gate to my world to show me, and it showed glimpses of other worlds and the broken Bifrost. I fear it has to do with the broken bridge."

"What gate?" Bruce asked.

"The box which you call a TV."

"It can do that?" Tony wondered as everyone else shot him wary looks.

"Don't fix anything else unless you're certain you know what you're doing to it," Natasha told Tony.

"That doesn't matter right now," Steve cut in. "Thor, are you needed?"

Thor's face twisted. "For my father to have sent Sif here with the Tesseract, their plight must indeed be desperate. Yet I am also needed here."

"Go," Steve urged. "It's your home, Thor. We can take care of things here."

"We'll miss you," Clint said, "but Steve's right. We can do without you for as long it takes. 'Sides, you'll come back, won't you?"

"I shall try, but I can make no promises." Thor exhaled gustily, looking upward for a moment. "I fear that I am leaving you all in a time of dire straits. If I leave, I may not return. The Tesseract is only to be used in a time of great need, and my father may not permit its use in such a manner once again."

"Don't worry about it," Tony said, drawing everyone's attention. "Look, I'll call your girlfriend. I did something to that TV that connects it to the Bifrost; there's no other way to explain what it's doing. With Dr. Foster's help, I can probably help repair that bridge of yours. It's a crime that it's still broken, fancy rainbow thing that it is."

Thor stared at Tony for a long moment. "I do not think you understand what it is you are asking to do."

"Fix a bridge that connects the nine realms of a giant tree? Yeah, I think I get it. Easy-peasy."

"You are insane," Clint said. "Steve, tell your boyfriend he's insane. This is never going to work."

"I'm not telling him he's insane," Steve said.

"Thank you," Tony said.

"But I'll ask him to reconsider."

Tony pointed at him accusingly. "If I connected a TV to Asgard without thinking about it one night, I can damn well fix the bridge. It's tech, and I know technology." He folded his arms. "Dr. Foster's the expert on his science," he continued. "If I get her help, and Richards's, too, if I can swing it, we can definitely do this." His tongue soured at the thought of getting Richards to help, but it would probably be for the best considering the man's specialty was other dimensions.

"If he mentioned Reed Richards," Bruce said, glancing at Steve, "he's serious."

"Of course I'm serious." Tony spread his arms demonstratively. "I'm completely serious. I need something to do—"

"On top of your other things?" Steve said pointedly.

"—and this'll be great. A collaborative work between three genius scientists. We can discuss the meaning of life and SHRA while we're at it."

Natasha rolled her eyes to the ceiling. "We're doomed."

Logan poked his head into the room. "We're out of beer, and the crazy lady is in the kitchen threatening your stove with a sword."

"No," Tony heard Clint tell Natasha as he and Steve promptly left the room to attend to Peggy, "now we're doomed."

---

Before Thor and Sif left, Tony made sure to take multiple readings of the energy the Tesseract was giving off, both with and without Extremis.

Surprisingly (or maybe not), Extremis picked up much more than even Tony's most advanced computers. In a twisted way, it made sense, considering that no matter how one tried, computers were inferior to human minds. Tony had the creativity and imagination to come up with other tests that his own computers couldn't run, even JARVIS, and that led to Extremis picking up finer details.

In any case, Tony ran every test he could think of, even asking Bruce for some ideas to make sure he didn't miss anything. He had to make sure to be thorough for Foster and Richards, otherwise they'd all be stymied and stuck. (Or maybe not, since Tony had somehow managed to connect a TV to Asgard when he wasn't even trying, but better safe than sorry.)

"Are you quite certain about this?" Sif had asked Thor as Tony leaned over the glowing cube, eyes black as he used Extremis to scan it.

"When it comes to Anthony, I am never certain," Thor had replied. "I have learned it is best to dispense with disbelief with his extraordinary talents, lest one have a headache at the end."

"You flatter me, honey," Tony had said, blinking as he disconnected from Extremis. He clapped Thor on the shoulder. "It's 'suspend disbelief,' not 'dispense with disbelief.' Did you remember to leave your girlfriend a message? They get testy if you forget things like that."

That had earned him a scorned glare from Natasha, but Thor had left Foster a message, so it was all good. Then they twisted the handles and were gone.

---

Before Tony could call Foster and ask if she'd be up for rebuilding the Bifrost (it was more of a courtesy really; he knew scientists, and Foster was definitely one; he'd already gotten the jet ready), he was confronted by Steve and Bruce.

"This is an intervention, isn't it?" he asked.

"Are you sure about this?" Bruce asked. "Really sure? I know you said you'd ask Richards for help, but you can change your mind."

"Bruce, if I said I'd ask Richards for help, you know I'm not joking around." Tony couldn't exactly stand the guy, considering how irresponsible he was.

"It's the Bifrost, Tony," Steve said earnestly. "You're dealing with a lot now. Are you sure you should add something else?"

"I'm not doing this just for kicks," Tony said.

When they gave him extremely skeptical looks that looked almost identical (that was seriously creepy), Tony added, "Maybe a little." He demonstrated with his fingers. "But I have a point to this. Richards is the leader of the Fantastic Four and famous in his own right. We need to know where he stands."

"And Dr. Foster?" Bruce asked.

"If we're going to be working on the Bifrost, we need the expert. And she's also well known."

"You're networking," Steve accused.

"Basically, yeah," Tony agreed.

Bruce sighed. "I probably won't be much help with what you're going to be doing, but let me know if anything related to gamma radiation comes up."

"Don't worry," Tony said, grinning. "If I could hook up a TV, repairing the Bifrost shouldn't be too difficult."

"That's what worries me," Bruce said cryptically before shooting Steve a look and leaving.

"Are you two conspiring against me?" Tony demanded once they were alone.

"Yes," Steve said blandly. "We're in cahoots—"

"Cahoots? Who says that nowadays?"

"—and we want to learn your secrets." Steve rolled his eyes, then sighed. "He's just giving me advice. Nothing dangerous, Tony."

Tony narrowed his eyes, staring him down. Steve stared back, blue eyes earnest and sincere.

After a long moment, Tony realized that Steve was completely serious. Whatever Steve and Bruce had talked about, he probably wouldn't have to worry about it. Hopefully. (If he did, he was revoking Bruce's science bro status.)

Exhaling with a sharp huff, Tony turned around and headed to his workshop, hearing Steve fall into step behind him.

"I'm going to keep it isolated to Extremis," Tony said over his shoulder, mentally keying in his password before the door slid open.

"I'll stay quiet," Steve promised, stepping into the workshop behind Tony.

"You don't need to." Tony brought up Foster's information with a couple of blinks. "She won't hear you."

"I'll just sit here and stare longingly at my partner," Steve said, "gazing soulfully into his brown eyes—"

"Okay, stop right there." Wincing, Tony waved his hands frantically. "That's awful, and I don't want to know who introduced you to Twilight. Just sit, be quiet, and do all the staring you want. Without the creepy undead factor."

"I'm ninety-nine years old," Steve innocently pointed out.

"Be. Quiet." Tony pointed a finger at him. "Or I will sic Dummy on you. He's been sneaky lately."

Have not! Dummy twirled around indignantly.

"I will not get into your sneakiness," Tony told the bot.

"We'll be good," Steve promised, putting up his hands defensively before moving over to sit by Dummy.

Eyeing the two of them for a moment longer, Tony returned his attention to Foster's information, linking it to Extremis. Then he "dialed" her number, head tilted slightly to the side as her phone rang.

It was picked up within moments. "Hello?"

"Dr. Foster," Tony began, "this is Tony Stark."

There was a short pause. "I don't want to know how you got this number, do I?"

"Irrelevant. How are you?"

"Tony Stark didn't call me on my private cell just to ask me how my day is going right after my boyfriend from a different world left."

"Touché. But you're right." Tony eyed the information JARVIS had pulled up from the TV in Thor's room. "Tell me, Doctor, how you would you feel about rebuilding the Bifrost?"

After a disbelieving pause where Tony could literally smell the skepticism seep off Foster, she said, "I'd be thrilled. But it's highly unlikely that it's ever going to happen, Mr. Stark. At least not within the near future."

"Tony, please," he said, pulling up the video feed of Thor's room. (Maybe it was a violation of privacy, but Tony hadn't gotten to this point in his life by being stupid. JARVIS had cameras everywhere, and what he knew Tony knew. In general. Sometimes it didn't work out that way.)

"Call me Jane. …You know I'm not interested, right?"

Tony glanced at Steve, who was crouched over and out of sight, doing something with Dummy. "I'm taken." He took a breath. "What if I told you that I built a window to Asgard? And that it's a TV?"

Jane gave a disbelieving laugh. "I'd say you're pulling my leg. I've been studying this for years. There's no way that's possible."

"It was an accident," Tony said.

"…You don't build these things by accident. What does Thor say?"

"He says it's Asgard, and he's used it. It was a little thing I did in the middle of the night. I'm still figuring out the details. You know how it is."

"No, I don't. Maybe because I study these things before attempting to do anything!"

"That's why I'm calling, Jane." Tony leaned back in his chair to look over at Steve. "I'm getting Reed Richards in on it, too, but we need the expert. You don't have to worry about costs; it's all paid for."

There was a short pause as she considered it. Then she sighed. "You've already booked the ticket, haven't you."

"…Maybe."

"Send me the details. I'll be there. And you better have that TV ready to go so I can see if you're telling the truth."

"No problem." Tony sent the e-mail with the flight information immediately with Extremis. "See you soon."

Jane sounded slightly unsure as she replied with a "Yes" but Tony was already hanging up, turning to fully face Steve.

"Should I be worried?" he asked, catching Steve's attention.

"I don't know." Steve smiled brightly. He stood up, slowly approaching Tony. "Should you?"

"You tell me," Tony responded, head tilting back so as to keep eye contact.

"Mm." Steve's smile turned mischievous as he leaned down. "I don't think I will," he murmured, brushing his lips against Tony's. "I'll just let you…stew."

Tony drew back slightly, giving Steve a thoroughly unimpressed look. "Stew? That's the best threat you can come up with?"

Steve's hands were on both sides of the chair, hemming Tony in. He leaned forward again, closing the gap between them that Tony had widened. "It works, doesn't it?" he whispered, grinning happily before sealing the gap and kissing Tony.

Tony turned his head slightly, but Steve turned his attention to his neck. His voice was slightly breathy as he asked, "You're not going to ask about what she said?"

"It went well," Steve murmured, mouthing at Tony's jaw line. "If it hadn't, you'd look frustrated."

"You know me so well." Tony moved his head so Steve's lips missed their mark and landed at the corner of his mouth.

"Tony." Steve's voice was a low complaint.

"I'm stewing."

Steve's hand came up to cup Tony's neck, gently turning his face so they were nose to nose. "Stew later." That said, he angled Tony's head to bring their lips together in a collision of heat and wetness.

Pushing with his telekinesis so they were now standing, Tony floated up to lock his legs around Steve's waist, absorbing himself in the kiss. Reveling in the way Steve's hands automatically came up to support his weight, Tony took the lead, turning the kiss wetter, dirtier, and more aggressive, dragging a long moan out of Steve.

The promise of sex was one way of shutting Extremis up, even if it was sadly temporary.

---

Later that evening, they were all settled in the living room to watch a mindless action movie, sorely missing Thor's egregious presence, when JARVIS announced, "Lieutenant Colonel Rhodes is at the door, sir, and requesting entrance."

Rhodey? Why would he be here? As far as Tony knew, no leave was scheduled for him.

"Let him in," Tony said, shrugging in response to Steve's questioning look.

"Were you expecting him?" Clint asked, eyes flicking over to Tony.

"No." Tony made sure to sound nonchalant. "But he drops by now and then. This should be fun; he likes these movies."

Clint gave a short skeptical huff, but said nothing else in favor of keeping his attention trained on the TV. He didn't turn when Rhodey entered the room.

"Tony." Rhodey had an easy grin on his face as Tony stood to give him a (manly) hug.

"Rhodey." Tony grinned back just as easily, pulling back to look his old friend in the face. "What are you doing here?"

"I can't see my best friend?" Rhodey asked.

"You're not on leave. I'd know if you were."

"That sounds several shades of creepy," Rhodey said. "I hope you don't say that to all the girls."

"Just you." Tony grinned again. He decided to let the matter lie until they were alone. "Movie?"

"Don't mind if I do." Rhodey sat himself down on Tony's opposite side after Tony had reclaimed his seat. He nodded genially to Steve. "Captain."

Steve smiled at Rhodey over Tony's head. "Steve, please."

"James," Rhodey said.

"Call him Rhodey," Tony interrupted, not looking away from the TV. "James never suited him."

Before Rhodey could say anything else, they were all pelted with a few popcorn kernels courtesy of Clint. "Quiet," he ordered, eyes fixed unerringly on the glowing screen.

Not wanting to be hit by popcorn again, they settled into silence, Steve curling an arm around Tony's shoulder to pull him into his side.

When the movie eventually drew to its predictable formulaic conclusion, Tony turned to Rhodey. "Drink?"

"As long as you don't get me wasted," Rhodey replied easily.

"He doesn't get wasted," Clint proclaimed, gesturing at Tony.

"Which is why I make sure others do," Tony said, flashing a grin. "It's hilarious."

"And he's really good at seeming like he's drunk," Rhodey added.

"I did have an image to maintain," Tony said unabashedly.

"Should we leave you two alone?" Natasha asked, stealing the remote from Clint.

Tony glanced at Steve, who nodded slightly. "That won't be necessary." He stood, patting a resigned Rhodey's head. "We'll just leave you to the TV while I catch up with Rhodey while he gossips about the army."

"You know me so well," Rhodey dryly remarked.

Giving everyone else a last cursory look over, Tony left with Rhodey to the bar he had in another room. Once there, he poured them both two whiskeys, keeping the bottle out for refills.

Waiting until Rhodey was taking a sip, he said, "Seriously, Rhodey, what are you doing here?"

Rhodey didn't splutter, but it looked like a near thing. "Geez, Tony." He swallowed his mistimed mouthful. "Can't a guy come to see his best friend?"

Tony raised a skeptical eyebrow, tapping a finger against the side of his glass. "I know for a fact you didn't have any leaves scheduled for the near future. So unless you're here against orders, I can't see why you're here. The timing's a bit too convenient."

"I put in a request for a leave of absence about a week ago," Rhodey admitted. "They approved it yesterday. I have about a month."

"Considering I was just outed," Tony said, "it's strange." He gestured empathically with his glass, taking a drink a moment later, the whiskey burning as it went down.

Rhodey gazed at him, hand clenched around his glass. "I didn't ask," he finally said, slouching over the bar. "But that might have had something to do with it."

"Checking to see what's up?"

"They called me in that day." Rhodey knocked back the rest of his whiskey in one go. Tony obligingly refilled it as his friend continued, "I told them I didn't know anything, but I'm not sure how much they believed me. They do still think I have some influence over you, otherwise I wouldn't be here."

"And do you?" Tony wasn't smiling. "Have some influence over me."

Rhodey let out a short bark of laughter. "You don't let anyone influence you, Tony. You do what you want." He smirked. "I just don't tell them that."

"Yeah, don't." Tony raised his glass in salute before knocking it back, pushing it aside in favor of leaning forward onto the bar. "So why are you here? Given what happened, I thought they'd be needing all hands on deck."

"That was the plan," Rhodey said. "But because of you I'm not out there fixing whatever happened." Tony managed to keep from flinching, so Rhodey went on speaking. "I don't know what happened, Tony, but I thought I'd be here to give you some support. Your team's great and all, and I'm glad Steve makes you happy, but you could use someone like me."

"Someone like you."

"You haven't seen anything if you haven't been a couple of rounds with some asshole in a metal suit."

"That metal suit is pure genius," Tony said mock indignantly. "And I'm not sure if I want to know, but what's up with yours?"

Rhodey didn't hesitate, but his answer sounded rehearsed. "It's fine."

"Really? You haven't brought it in for a checkup in a while."

"Because it's fine. Not everyone's a genius, Tony. I have enough to deal with without relearning everything because you added a dozen newfangled features that no one can understand unless they're Tony Stark."

"I resent that. You know why I resent that? Because I strive to make things as user friendly as possible. Ask Steve."

"Your suit electrocutes anyone who tries to touch it."

"I can't have just anyone poking at it." Tony refilled Rhodey's glass. "And you've just admitted that the military's been poking at my suit. Now I really want to see it."

"No." Rhodey waved his glass once to emphasize his statement before finishing that as well. He paused, eyes narrowing. "Are you trying to get me drunk?"

Tony shrugged, moving to refill the glass. "Is it working?"

"…Give me the damn whiskey. And no strippers."

"What about a talking coffee machine?"

"…Whiskey. Now."

---

The next morning found Rhodey glaring at Tony while nursing a hangover. Tony just clapped his friend on the shoulder and moved into the kitchen to get some coffee.

"Coffee!" Spike chirped, already filling a cup for Tony.

"Thanks, Spike," Tony said as Rhodey groaned, "A talking coffee machine."

Tony made sure Spike received an unobstructed view of Rhodey. "Spike, this is Rhodey. You can think of him as a really cool uncle who only shows up now and then. I'd say grandfather, but that's a bit too weird."

"Damn straight," Rhodey grumbled, peering at Spike with a disbelieving expression on his face. "What the hell did you do, Tony?"

"I had nothing else to do," was all Tony said.

Rhodey grimaced, well familiar with the ramifications of a Tony Stark who had nothing to do.

After a short moment of furious humming from Peggy, signifying she was looking something up, she burst into a chorus of beeps for some song Tony couldn't recognize at all.

Rhodey didn't jump, but he did flinch as his headache was exacerbated. "The stove, Tony?"

"That's what I said," Clint said, walking in and giving Peggy a wide berth as he headed to the fridge. "Have a nice time?"

"Yes," Tony said just as Rhodey said, "No."

"I sense some dissonance here," Clint said.

"That's normal," Rhodey assured him, giving Tony the stink eye. "Coffee, Tony, and I might just forgive you."

Spike chirped questioningly, eye shuttering as he looked at Tony. Should I?

"Go ahead." Tony nodded, taking another drink from his warm coffee. He didn't move as he pulled down another coffee mug for Rhodey from the cabinet, giving it to Spike to fill before floating it over to Rhodey.

"I'm ignoring the weirdness of you doing that," Rhodey said, promptly gulping the liquid down.

"Welcome to my world," Clint said, now on the fridge and munching away. He looked at Tony. "Where's Steve?"

"We are not joined at the hip," Tony protested.

"No joke. That would be disturbing. But seriously, where is he?"

"Out," Tony said, remembering how Steve had pried himself free from Tony's hold to whisper that he was going shopping. Which was pretty much useless considering JARVIS did just about everything. (Tony wished him luck, since he was probably going to be ambushed by paparazzi the whole way.)

"Lucky," Rhodey muttered into his coffee.

"You wound me," Tony said just as beeping in his head from Extremis signaled someone was calling him. A quick check showed it was Pepper, and he picked it up without either of his friends being any wiser. "Need something, Pepper?"

"Good morning to you, too," Pepper said tiredly, sounding strangely hoarse. "And, yes, I need something. There's a gala tonight that I can't go to."

Tony briefly considered accessing her phone's video capabilities before discarding it. "Are you sick?"

"Yes. Which is why I can't go. The company needs someone there, and it's high time you make an appearance in public. People are beginning to think you have something to hide."

Which he did, but Tony wasn't about to advertise it. He hated galas, and this was on ridiculously short notice, but if Pepper was really sick, he would go. She certainly sounded sick.

"You have any plans?" Clint asked Rhodey.

"Make sure Tony doesn't kill me," Rhodey replied wryly.

"I would never," Tony remarked absently, checking the guest list with Extremis. His eyes caught on Richards's name.

"Tony?" Pepper sounded confused.

"Nothing. I'll go with Steve."

"You've tried several times," Rhodey said accusingly.

"Really?" Pepper seemed suspicious at Tony's quick acceptance.

"All accidents," Tony said to Rhodey. Then to Pepper before she could again ask what he was talking about: "Yep. Come on, Pepper. You're sick, I'm not. It's elementary math."

There was a weary sigh on the other side of the line, Pepper evidently deciding not to ask. "Thank you, Tony. I'm sure you already have the details. And don't blow anything up."

"They were not," Rhodey insisted.

"Yes, they were," Tony said. "As if I'd endanger the mass populace like that."

"Birthday party," was all Pepper said before she hung up.

"The birthday party doesn't count," he said both to himself and Rhodey.

"Yes, it does," Rhodey said.

"You tried to kill me, too, then," Tony pointed out.

"It was that or let you pummel me into the ground."

"Okay, I'm gonna have to ask Natasha what the deal is," Clint said. "YouTube fails on this front."

"It would," JARVIS said primly. I deleted all evidence afterward.

"Good man, JARVIS." Tony deposited the coffee mug in the sink with a flick of his hand. He clapped his hands together. "I have a gala to get to."

"Gala?" Clint and Rhodey asked simultaneously.

"Yes. And I can totally carry on two conversations at once," Tony said to Clint, a flash of realization crossing the archer's face.

"What?' Rhodey sounded utterly perplexed.

"Can't talk now. Got a gala to get ready for and two geniuses to seduce!"

Tony bounded out of the kitchen, his Extremis-enhanced hearing catching Rhodey asking with a small groan, "I don't want to know, do I?"

Clint's reply was emphatic: "No, not really."

---

"I regret letting you talk me into doing this," Steve said, peering out of the limo windows at the crowd milling at the foot of the building (paparazzi of course).

"It can't be half as bad as what you had to endure this morning," Tony said, smiling fondly at him.

"They're like sharks," Steve said, shuddering.

"I told you." Tony patted his knee. "Now buck up and smile. They expect it."

Steve's answering smile was more of a grimace.

"That won't work at all," Tony chastised, sighing. "Give me that megawatt smile that drives everyone crazy – yes, that's the one." He grinned. "That wasn't so hard, was it?"

"It's yours," Steve said, causing Tony to tilt his head in confusion.

"The limo?"

That smile was back, this time endearingly fond. "No. Never mind." He leaned in to plant a kiss on Tony's cheek. "You're right. We should go. You can seduce Mr. Fantastic while we're in there."

Tony regretted ever saying that in the first place, as Rhodey had been pestering him about it ever since. "That was a joke."

"I know." The smile turned mischievous. "Doesn't mean I can't tease you about it." The subject was abruptly changed. "When's Jane getting in?"

"Late tonight," Tony replied instantly.

"So when we get back," Steve said seemingly to himself, turning to peer out the window again. Then, sighing, he said, "It's not going to get any easier if we just sit in here and stew."

"You're right. Why was I dilly-dallying around? We should go now." Tony opened the door and stepped out before Steve could say anything else. He reached in to give his partner a hand, reassuringly squeezing his fingers.

They walked as swiftly as they could without seeming like they were running, but that didn't stop the camera flashes and questions.

"Mr. Stark! What is your power?"

"Captain! What is your impression—"

"—your boyfriend being a mutant?"

"Mr. Stark—"

Leaving the din behind them, Tony leaned in to whisper into Steve's ear, "I feel like a minnow."

Steve gave a short startled laugh. "I think we've stretched that metaphor a bit too much."

"Noted." Tony drew away so he could lead them into the main room where all the action was taking place.

"So what's the plan?" Steve asked quietly, following alongside Tony as they kept to the fringes.

"We mingle, talk, drink a bit, and see how it goes." Tony scanned over the dance floor, catching sight of Richards talking with his fiancée Sue Storm (engaged for a couple of years, but still unable to wed because of villainous wedding crashers; Tony didn't envy them, but he thought he would've just eloped by now). Her hyperactive brother (who looked like a younger, more hippy version of Steve) was thankfully not present. Neither was Ben Grimm, though Tony couldn't blame him for not showing up. This wasn't exactly the type of crowd Grimm interacted well with even on a good day.

Steve raised an eyebrow. "I thought you'd just barge in."

Tony gave him an innocent smile. "There's always time for something different." He caught sight of Christine Everhart determinedly walking towards him. "Oh dear God, that's Everhart. Move."

"Right." Having experienced Everhart's brand of journalism himself when they'd first come out to the public, Steve didn't hesitate, steering Tony straight onto the dance floor, taking the lead after a quick silent exchange via eye contact.

"She's no worse than any of the others," Steve murmured into Tony's ear.

"Just miles more persistent." Tony made sure his back was to her so he had a legit excuse for not having to talk to her.

Steve made a small sound of agreement, spinning them behind a few other couples. "Anyone you have to talk to other than Reed?"

Tony caught sight of a few of his board members. Drat. They weren't sick? "Regretfully, yes."

"We can't get everything," Steve said amiably.

Catching sight of Richards being pulled onto the dance floor by Sue, Tony quickly adjusted their hands so he was leading instead, the transition effortless as Steve read his intentions beforehand. Tony casually began to move them in Richards's direction.

"You've got that look on your face," Steve said. "What are you plotting?"

"Nothing major," Tony responded, ignoring the insinuation that he had a look solely for plotting. "D'you mind dancing with Sue while I talk with Richards?"

Steve frowned, looking rather unsure as to what Tony was driving at. "No?"

"Great." Tony gave them a few more moments before coming up alongside Richards and Sue, smoothly breaking into their dance while handing Steve off to Sue.

"Treat him well," Tony advised her, taking a startled Richards's hands before he could protest.

He led Richards off in a spin, leaving a very bemused Sue with Steve, who was blushing slightly as he gently coaxed her into a dance. (Tony felt ridiculously proud. A couple of months ago and Steve would have been too mortified to do anything.)

"Tony!" Richards didn't look or sound at all happy to see him, which was such a shame (or not really, since Tony wasn't happy to see him either). "What are you doing?"

Tony gave him an unimpressed look. "Dancing, Reed. What do you think?"

"This is ridiculous."

"Yes, I know. It's amazing. Now smile for the cameras." Tony turned them lazily. "I need to talk with you."

Richards glanced around at the people surrounding them, many of them not-so-indiscreetly eyeballing them. "Here?"

"Unless you want us to make off to the bathroom, I don't see any other options."

Richards's face twisted slightly, but gave no other indication as to his state of mind. "All right. Let's have it then."

"Excellent." Tony shuffled in closer for a moment before leaning back. "Can you do that stretchy thing with your ears? I don't particularly want to say this loudly—"

Given the unimpressed look Richards was sending him (wow, he'd picked that up from Sue, hadn't he?), Tony abandoned that train of thought. "I'm sure you're aware of my friend Thor."

"The alien?"

"God." Tony shrugged in response to the skeptical look Richards was now sporting. "He went back to Asgard, but the Bifrost is still broken."

"Their dimensional bridge?"

"Yes, that. It's still kaput. Philanthropist that I am, I offered to help fix it. And since different dimensions are your specialty, I'm asking if you want in."

Richards had that bland face that showed he was thinking extremely intensely (was that how Tony looked? He hoped not). Finally, Richards sighed in disgust and said, "Stop."

Before Tony could, Richards had pulled them to a stop and dragged them off the dance floor to the side; the space was promptly vacated by several other people who were too well acquainted with Tony Stark's and Reed Richards's particular brands of madness.

"Just for clarification," Richards said in a low voice, staring intensely at Tony, "you're asking me to fix the Bifrost, a highly advanced bridge capable of dimensional travel in a way that no other species has ever achieved before."

"No. I'm asking you to help me fix it. There's a difference."

"You're an engineer, Tony. You build—"

"And fix," Tony interrupted, rolling his eyes. "I fix, tweak, and rebuild. You're theoretical, and I'm hands-on. And while it pains me to admit this"—he made a face—"your theories are usually right. Which is why I'll need you there to make sure we get this right."

"We?"

"Did I forget to mention that Jane Foster would be joining us? She is the expert on Thor's people and their technology."

"So you're asking for a collaboration between three people who have never worked together and on a project that will take years to finish." Richards sighed. "Do you know how much else I have to do?"

Unimpressed, Tony said, "I'm just as busy. Look, Reed, you owe me a favor. Lots, actually, if my math is right – and it usually is. You and your group haven't exactly pulled your weight when it comes to dealing with Doom. Isn't he your responsibility? And if I recall correctly"—Tony smiled falsely—"we've dealt with him the last so many times he came to New York. And in case you were wondering, that time when you were stuck in limbo and Thor hauled you out doesn't count."

"I understand." Richards didn't look happy at all to be admitting this. "But I'm saying that this is a project I can't devote all my time to. I can help, but I have other obligations." His voice pitched even lower. "SHRA being one of them, which you should also be concerned about."

Tony's eyes flashed around the room, but no one was paying attention to their conversation aside from a few glances thrown their way to make sure nothing unsavory was happening. "This isn't the place for that conversation, Reed. But if you're in, we'll get started soon. I'll have Dr. Foster take a look at our TV before we come up with anything conclusive."

Richards frowned, bemused. "Your TV? Why would she need to look at your TV?"

Tony smiled brightly. "Didn't I say? Our TV is a window to Asgard, showing events live. It was an accident on my part, but"—he waved a hand dismissively—"semantics."

Richards stared at Tony as if he was certifiably insane (he might be, but it was debatable). "Tomorrow," he finally said, the one word a demand. "You and Dr. Foster are welcome in the Baxter Building for your work. I've got the requisite materials for building a dimensional bridge there. Why didn't you say anything? This will cut down years on our work!"

"It didn't enter my mind," Tony admitted, shrugging dismissively. "As it is, it's still unclear just what I did—"

"What you did?"

"Yes, what I did. I'm an engineer, did you forget? I tweaked the TV." Tony sighed, rolling his eyes. "Again, not the place for this chat." He clapped Richards on the shoulder. "Lovely chat, Reed. I'll see you sometime tomorrow at the earliest; most likely the day after, since Steve isn't likely to let me go so quickly." He quirked his eyebrows. "And you'll doubtlessly need some time to get your things in order. I know what kind of mess you have up there."

"It's no different from yours," Richards shot back, eyes flitting away to the dance floor, presumably to find Sue.

"Touché. At least I know what I'm doing." Tony gave a quick nod and walked off before Richards could think of anything else to say. He'd had his fill of the other scientist for the night.

It was time to talk to some board members. And then Steve. He'd need something to wash that foul taste out of his mouth (and mind).

---

When Tony and Steve finally made it back home, Jane was already there and chatting in the living room with Rhodey. Tony sincerely hoped Rhodey hadn't done anything bad (like tell embarrassing stories), but chances were his luck wouldn't be so good.

The moment Jane saw him, her attention turned to him. "The TV is normal," she said, pointing to the completely unmodified TV that none of the Avengers had allowed Tony to touch.

"That's because that one is," Tony said, smiling easily.

"And it'll stay that way," Steve added. He nodded to Jane, smiling in welcome. "Good evening, Doctor. Did you have a nice flight?"

"Considering it was a private jet that picked me up, I'd say so."

"I hope you haven't been telling any nasty stories," Tony said to Rhodey.

Rhodey put up his hands in mock innocence. "It's all clear, buddy."

"Nothing nasty," Jane said. "But certainly informative."

Informative? Tony eyed the two of them, but their faces gave nothing away as to what had been revealed.

"The TV," Jane prompted. "If this is worth it, I need to let Darcy know that she has to wrap it up."

"Darcy?" Tony asked blankly.

"She's an intern," was all Jane said. "TV?"

"She's just as bad as you," Steve muttered.

"I'll take that as a compliment," Jane said smartly.

"As you should." Tony gave a small smirk, giving Steve's elbow a small squeeze. "Come on. I'll show you to the magic gate."

"You shouldn't take being compared to Tony as a compliment," Rhodey informed Jane as Tony began to lead her to Thor's room. "Unless you live on coffee and forget to eat and sleep."

"You forget to sleep?" Jane asked Tony, shooting Rhodey one last look over her shoulder.

"Sometimes."

"And eat?"

"There's this drink what I like to call a miracle smoothie. You should try it."

Jane seemed slightly perturbed. "I think I'll stick with solids."

Tony shrugged, opening Thor's door. "Your choice. It's in here."

When they entered, Tony saw that the TV was on and displaying the image of a throne room that was empty. It was gold, majestic, grand, etc. There was also a huge throne, which made Tony wonder just what they were compensating for that the throne had to be that big and so high.

Jane moved to it, squatting down in front of it. "What exactly does it see?" she asked.

"Everything, I think. Thor said something about having it look at other worlds, so it isn't just isolated to Asgard."

"So somehow it's connected to something similar to the Bifrost," Jane murmured. "How do you switch channels?"

"Ask it?" Tony reached out for the remote control, calling it into his hand and ignoring the way Jane's eyes tracked it through the air. He pressed the channel button and the image on the screen changed to that of a bedroom, thankfully empty. "That also works."

Jane was sending him a look of despair. "You really don't know anything, do you?"

Offering an apologetic shrug, Tony said, "I did get readings on the Tesseract. Does that help?"

---

The first day Tony and Jane went to the Baxter Building, Steve came with them. Tony suspected it was so he could be sure they wouldn't do anything they shouldn't be doing. It could also be because Steve wanted to make sure Tony was in a relatively safe environment, since both of them could agree on the fact that Richards could be scatterbrained to the point of ignoring basic safety protocols.

Tony did, too, but he didn't work with dimensional portals that were likely to leave you stranded on another world where you were considered a god (he might have considered the possibility) so it totally wasn't the same thing. Not at all.

Rhodey had elected not to come in favor of hanging out with Clint. He'd muttered something about not wanting to be in the same room with Tony and Richards because they made him feel extremely stupid. Tony had been flattered until Clint had pointed out that it was a daily occurrence when one lived with Tony; then it was just overkill.

They didn't garner many stares on their way up to Richards's lab, mainly because everyone was already used to having four superheroes living in their midst. Tony might have gotten a weird stare now and then, but it was quickly taken care of by offering bland smiles that seemed to creep out the person staring.

"Do you always smile like that?" Jane asked once they were in the elevator.

"Yes," Tony said at the same time Steve said, "No."

Tony turned to him, eyebrow raised. "Really? You're going to butt in on this?"

"You're just trying to be difficult, Tony." Steve's face was very carefully blank, though there was a tinge of amusement in his eyes. "You have a very nice smile."

Tony was not impressed. "You're dating me. You're supposed to think that."

"You two are too sweet," Jane said, smiling amiably in response to the glare Tony shot her way.

Thankfully, the elevator chimed then as it reached the top floor, the doors sliding open. Hefting the bags they'd taken with them (Steve in possession of the TV since he was the only one who could carry it comfortably without relying on telekinesis), they stepped out into the hallway, slowly walking into the large room that made up the top floor of the Baxter Building. The speed was deliberate, since none of them wanted to walk into something disastrous Richards had orchestrated at the last minute.

At first sight, the room was empty. It wasn't, though, not really. If you counted technology, anyway, which Tony totally did because otherwise it wouldn't make such a nuisance of itself in his head. And it was. A nuisance, that is, especially with his affinity and Extremis.

But Richards's technology wasn't as sophisticated as Tony's, which meant the humming and buzzing (the last from Extremis of course) was amateurish. If technology could be amateurish. It was also quieter, what with the distinct lack of his AIs chattering in the background. Tony kind of missed it, but it was also nice at the same time to have his mind to himself for once with only his own thoughts clearly discernible.

Back to the room, it didn't seem like anyone was in it. Richards had certainly been busy, though, if the hastily cleaned room was any indication. A plethora of equipment had been set off to the side, with some other stuff relegated to the top balcony circling the entire room; there were even some items rigged to the ceiling, and Tony couldn't figure out why because even he wasn't so stupid as to tie stuff to the ceiling. Where, you know, it could fall down. Then again, with the Invisible Woman around and her force fields, maybe Richards didn't have to worry. And wasn't rubber nigh indestructible even when squashed?

As if summoned by Tony's thoughts, Richards's head stretched up and over a large machine in the corner, eyes widening slightly as he caught sight of them. "Just a moment!" His head shrunk back down out of sight.

Jane looked slightly perturbed, but said nothing as there were some small grunts before Richards squeezed (Tony meant that literally) his way out, body reforming as he straightened, slowly walking to them.

"Steve," he said, nodding to Steve.

"Reed." Steve had a small half-smile.

"You must be Dr. Foster," Richards said to Jane, extending a hand for the customary handshake. "Charmed." His smile was a bit too stiff.

"Lighten up a bit, hm?" Tony suggested, clapping him on the shoulder before brushing past him and moving to the center, turning in a slow three-sixty as he took in the lab.

"Likewise," Jane said to Richards, ignoring Tony. "Thank you for helping."

"I admit, my motives aren't entirely altruistic," Richards admitted.

"Steve," Tony said, "that box can go here. Unless you want to just drop it, which is fine."

"Don't!" Jane barked, turning onto Steve so quickly he blinked.

"Don't worry." Steve rolled his eyes, shooting Tony a fond look. "It wasn't my intention to just drop this."

Richards fidgeted. "Something important in there?"

"The TV I was telling you about," Tony said.

Richards's face lighted up. "Really? Can I take a look—"

"Reed, I hope you're cleaning up and not playing," Sue's voice interrupted, the tapping of her shoes preceding her arrival. "They're due – oh." She stopped short at seeing them, a welcoming smile spreading across her face. "Hi. I take it there weren't any issues then?"

Steve set the box down in front of Tony, straightening up and looking at him as Jane responded, "None, thank you."

"You must be Dr. Foster," Sue said pleasantly, coming forward to shake Jane's hand. "It's an honor to meet you. Reed's been salivating at the chance to get to know you."

"Sue," Richards protested.

"I never would have suspected," Jane said, lips twitching in what looked to be suppressed laughter.

"I'm telling it as it is, sweetheart." Sue patted him consolingly on the cheek before turning to Steve and Tony. Her smile and tone were warm when it came to Steve. "Steve." Her smile dropped and her tone became distinctly cool for Tony. "Mr. Stark."

"Why does he get a Steve and I get a Mr. Stark?" Tony gestured between Steve and himself.

Sue didn't look amused in the slightest. "You know why."

"I should at least merit a doctor. I have seven doctorates!"

"Seven?" Jane and Steve asked simultaneously.

"Dr. Stark then." Sue turned back to her fiancé, clearly dismissing Tony. "I'll send Ben up here to help with the heavy lifting." She sent the others a look. "Don't do anything dangerous."

"Of course, Sue." Richards leaned in for a quick kiss before she departed. He then instantly turned his attention to the box between Steve and Tony.

Tony waved at the box, stepping aside to make room for Richards. "Have at it."

"Why doesn't she like you?" Jane asked Tony as Steve came up beside him.

"I may have tried to sleep with Richards at some point in my misbegotten past."

To her credit, Jane didn't blink. "What else did she expect?"

Tony tilted his head slightly, glancing up and away. "It might have happened when he was still dating Sue. I may or may not also have tried to sleep with her right after."

"Tony." Steve sounded slightly horrified.

"I was drunk, or at least pretending to be." It wasn't like he could actually get drunk, though it was amazing how many people had fallen for the act over the years.

"And I hit on Ben," Tony continued, not looking at either of them in favor of seeing Richards puzzle over the TV, which wasn't turning on. "Sadly, he's very straight."

"And still am, thank you," a gruff voice cut in. Tony turned to see Ben Grimm's very brown and rocky countenance behind him, his face not revealing anything. "I knew you weren't actually drunk. You kept tossing something in the plant."

"What else was I supposed to do?"

Grimm frowned slightly, opening his mouth slightly, only to be cut off of by Richards peevishly saying, "It's not working."

Tony glanced down to see the TV just sitting there. "It's a TV, Reed. It does still need to be plugged in, even if it is a window to Asgard."

Richards had the decency to look faintly chastised, already moving the TV over to a power source where it could be plugged in.

"As always," Grimm said, shooting Tony one last look before stomping (not really, but it sounded like it) over to Richards, "you see everything but the small details."

"I see the small details," Richards protested, sounding affronted.

"The common small details." Grimm turned to Jane. "My apologies, ma'am. I'm Ben."

"Jane," Jane said, smiling softly as she shook hands.

"If you're all finished," Richards called, "I could use you here, Tony."

The TV was plugged in, which didn't explain why it wasn't on.

"It's a TV, Reed," Tony said, moving over. "It's not rocket science."

"I studied that."

"So did I." Tony knelt, only to sigh in exasperation when he saw the problem was the wires being plugged into the wrong ports. "You're as bad as Dummy. Scoot and let me do this. Go and finish whatever you were doing before; we don't want any explosions."

"There's nothing that volatile here," Richards said, affronted.

Tony made a dismissive noise, quickly setting the TV up and then turning it on. The first image was that of a giant throne room, the same as when the TV had been unplugged. Richards leaned in, eyes alight with fascination and burning curiosity.

"D'you want a drink?" Tony heard Grimm ask someone behind him; probably Steve, given Jane was at his elbow now. "I know how Reed gets; yours can't be much better."

"Water maybe?" Steve replied.

Grimm gave a disgusted grunt. "Something stronger, I think, given what we'll have to deal with for the next few days."

Tony exchanged glances with Jane, finding that she had the same amused expression on her face that he was sporting. Richards was cheerfully oblivious.

"I can't get drunk," was the first thing Steve said. The second was, "Tony and Jane are coming back tonight. We haven't got all their things for a long term stay."

"And I was so looking forward to a nightcap with Stark."

"He doesn't drink."

"Blackmail. Always a good thing."

Tony couldn't help but glance over his shoulder to see Steve looking over at him, smiling softly. "Tony, I'm going to go with Ben really quickly. You'll be all right?"

"Perfect," Tony confirmed, inclining his head. "Have fun."

As Steve and Grimm left, he and Jane locked eyes again before breaking into soft snickers.

Richards blinked up at them now. "Did I miss something?" He continued without letting them answer, "This is fascinating, Tony. How did you do this?"

"If I knew, Reed, I wouldn't be here." He changed the subject before they could harp on him. "So I got multiple readings on the Tesseract before Thor left. Let's take a look at that."

---

At day's end, Tony and Jane both had to be pried away from their work. Richards was left still scanning the readouts from the Tesseract, although the look Sue gave him made Tony think he wouldn't be doing that for long.

When he got back home, Tony found himself in his workshop, making sure he was packing everything he needed for an extended stay at the Baxter Building-. There was no telling what Richards had in the way of technology, but Tony wasn't going to take any chances. Most of the mishaps the Fantastic Four got into were because Richards's tech went on the fritz. Tony didn't want to fiddle around with Richards's computer only to find himself landing in Antarctica. He'd heard it was very hot there (note the sarcasm).

"Am I missing anything?" Tony wondered, scanning over the bag he had on the table.

Me? Dummy said hopefully, spinning around to waggle his claw in Tony's direction.

"No, not you." Tony made a dismissive gesture at Dummy. "Go do whatever you were doing before."

Fine. Dummy sounded slightly sulky, but he did turn back around to attend to whatever he had been doing. Tony wasn't sure what, but hoped it didn't involve weapons of mass destruction. Dummy and his brothers had been unusually sneaky lately.

"I assume you will be taking the Mark V, sir?" JARVIS asked. The Mark XIII has not even been fully rendered yet.

"Yeah." Tony sighed, glancing up at where the Mark V was displayed. "Back to basics." He tapped the homing bracelets on his wrists once before dropping his hands back to his sides; if it was necessary, he could get the Mark IX to him in a pinch.

There was a slight hitch in the humming around him, signaling JARVIS was hesitating. "The Mark XII is ready for manufacturing, sir," the AI eventually said.

Frowning, he glanced over at the manufacturing assembly. "I haven't finished the upgrades yet."

JARVIS's tone was hesitant. "Extrapolating from your notes, I completed the rest, sir. You have been extremely busy. The suit is ready for assembling when you require it."

"JARVIS…" His voice sounded odd.

"It was the least we could do," JARVIS said earnestly, his presence feeling nervous.

"We?" Tony asked, feeling that this was a safer avenue to pursue than JARVIS finishing a suit because Tony was too busy. "Please don't tell me you had Dummy do anything."

Dummy waggled his arm indignantly. I'm not that bad!

"You keep breaking the blender."

I can't grab it! Dummy's claw opened and closed as if to demonstrate. JARVIS did most of it.

"Dummy does have something for you, sir," JARVIS said.

Dummy was fidgeting nervously now, wheeling over to a spot by his charging station. Tony could hear him muttering to himself about how it had been messed up, but Steve had said it looked good, so it should be all right, right? He lifted up a blanket by his station and retrieved something, Butterfingers and You behind him now.

With a jolt, Tony remembered that one morning where Dummy had apparently messed something up. Clutching the table behind him, he looked down as Dummy approached him, a figure clasped in his claw.

It took him a moment before he reached down to take it, hands carefully rotating it as he observed the figurine from all sides. It was the Iron Man suit positioned in a classic fighting pose on a pedestal that had the words "World's Greatest Hero" inscribed on it. The colors on the armor were strange, with more gold than red.

The colors were an accident, Dummy admitted.

"No, it's…" Tony found himself swallowing and trying to ignore his stinging eyes. "I like it."

At that, Dummy gave a happy little twirl. He likes it!

Tony wanted to ask why they'd made this, but didn't know how. Instead, he looked down at the gift, a lump in his throat that wouldn't go away no matter how many times he swallowed.

JARVIS spoke then, gently. "You have been there for us in every way that we could ask it, sir. We wanted to show our appreciation."

We wanted "Dad," but JARVIS said no, Butterfingers said, bobbing up and down as Dummy repeatedly bumped happily into You, aggravating the normally docile bot.

Because he is emotionally constipated, JARVIS said smoothly. There would be tears.

"I heard that." The words held no heat, and he gently set the figurine down on the table. "Thank you, all of you." He swallowed, looking down at his three bots. He made sure that the next part was spoken via Extremis so they could permanently store it if they wanted. I couldn't ask for better kids.

We are honored, sir, JARVIS said softly. And we wish you the best of luck.

"Luck?" Tony grinned broadly, raising his eyebrows as Steve entered the workshop to give him a pointed look. "Who says I need that?"

"I forgot who I was speaking to, sir. Naturally the only thing that would suffice is 'sheer dumb luck' and gratuitous amounts of coffee."

"He's not having any coffee," Steve said immediately, coming over to slide an arm around Tony's waist. He looked askance at the figurine, a soft look in his blue eyes. "He is going straight to bed."

"I'm not done here," Tony objected just to be contrary.

"Yes, you are. Night, guys," Steve told the bots.

Then without further ado, Steve hoisted Tony over his shoulder, ignoring the protests he made stating that he could walk and didn't need to be carried.

"Indulge me," Steve said, slapping Tony on the ass. That did do the trick of shutting him up long enough for Steve to take him out of the workshop.

They passed by the kitchen on the way to the bedroom, Jane watching them with a raised eyebrow as she warmed a kettle on Peggy. She didn't blink at the sight of Spike attempting to juggle several apples and a banana with a sink arm, which was something that even Bruce would have shaken his head at.

"Thor is a very lucky god," Tony told Steve as they entered their bedroom.

Steve set him on the bed. "So am I, especially when my partner takes care of himself."

Tony gave him the wide eyes that had always disconcerted Pepper. "I try."

Steve seemed similarly disconcerted at the sight, although his tone didn't betray it. "Good. Because I'm expecting that you'll eat, drink something other coffee, and sleep. I don't care about Reed or Jane. I care about you."

"That's an awesome slogan—"

"Tony."

"—and I'll definitely make note of it." Tony grinned, stroking a finger down Steve's arm. His grin softened into a smile a moment later. "I know you care, Steve. But you know I can't make any promises. Half the time I lose track of what's going on; it's not on purpose."

Bringing his other hand up to catch Tony's, Steve interlaced their fingers, squeezing gently. "I know. That's what worries me."

"It'll be fine," Tony said, finding it bizarre to be the one reassuring Steve.

Steve smiled, leaning in to plant a gentle kiss on Tony's lips. "I know."

---

The next day found Tony and Jane back in Richards's lab (Tony refused to call it a workshop, because it really was a lab with all the bubbling, fizzling, hazardous – okay, he was exaggerating here, but you get the drift) with all the supplies needed for a lengthy stay. That meant the Mark V for Tony, since he was fresh out of up-to-date suitcase armors (seriously, villains should stop setting off the self-destruct feature; it was getting annoying and expensive; suits didn't grow on trees).

The Mark V was stashed in a corner of the room far away from anything hazardous that could potentially damage it. When it came to Richards's antics and their potential consequences, one could never be too careful.

Setting up his space in a corner of the middle of the room (an oxymoron, Tony knew, but there was a circle in the middle where all the cool stuff was, and he was in a small section of that; never mind that circles didn't have corners, shut up, voice-who-sounded-like-Bruce), he laid three of his prototype tablets out and turned them on, interlinking them as he did so he had a holographic interface to work with.

"Has that been released to the public?" Richards asked from behind him, eyes fixed on the glowing blue images.

"Still testing," Tony said, demonstrating with a twist of his wrist. The holographs fizzled out for a moment before stabilizing on images of the Tesseract and the results of the readings he'd taken; above it were the readings for the TV, set up at the north point of the circle and fixed on an image of an Asgardian bedroom (he hoped Richards had gotten an eyeful of Asgardian sex). "It's got some bugs I'm working out."

"Reed, Sue says that when the food gets up here, she expects you to eat, not give it to the pigeons for scientific purposes." Johnny Storm's voice sounded from the entryway. A second later he walked in, dressed in a leather jacket and faded jeans; it took Tony a moment to separate the mental image of Steve Rogers from Johnny Storm, because – wow – they were alike. He'd almost forgotten; about the only striking difference was the hair, which was cut short and sticking up as if Storm had just rolled out of bed.

Hands stuck in his pockets, Storm strolled up to Tony and Richards, passing by Jane with a large smile and nod. "Yo, Tony." His eyes passed over the holographic display. "That is seriously cool. Where can I get one?"

"Not available for the general public," Tony said, waving his hand down to move all the holograms back into the tablets. "Got your message, Storm. You can go back to your party."

"You can call me Johnny, you know," Storm – Johnny – said, sounding slightly hurt, though his lips were twitching. "We're familiar enough for that."

"That is just bizarre," Jane commented, eyes flicking from Johnny to Tony. "You know you look like—"

"Captain America, I know." Johnny flashed a broad shiny grin. "I get that a lot. You're Dr. Foster, yeah?" He reached out to shake her hand, still with that lady-killer smile.

"She's dating a Norse god," Tony said blandly, "so I wouldn't try anything."

"Just saying hello," Johnny said, glancing at Tony. He did step back from her, though, bouncing slightly on his feet. "So, doing mad science?"

"You can tell Sue we'll be fine," Richards said, leaning back from Tony's tablets to turn to Johnny. "No pigeons here."

"You're not supposed to feed them," Johnny said. He looked back at Tony. "How's life treating you, Tones? Haven't seen you in a while when it's not on tabloid magazines or making news."

"You saw me the last time Doom was here, which was your job." Tony glared at Richards, who was completely unaffected. "And it's Tony, Long John."

"I'm sensing a very long history here," Jane said.

"Yeah, we slept together some years ago," Johnny said offhandedly.

"Johnny," Richards groaned.

"It wasn't even that great—"

"Hey!" Tony snapped.

"I was drunk and you were annoying." Johnny's tone was blunt. "It was just very, very gay."

"I find this terribly strange," Jane said, eyebrows furrowed.

"Really?" Tony raised an eyebrow. "I find this fascinating. I didn't know I was such a terrible lay, Johnny."

"You were, like, twenty-nine." Johnny grinned rather smugly. "Don't take it personally."

He'd actually been thirty at that point, but there was no need to argue semantics. Tony waved a dismissive hand in his direction. "You were – what? – nineteen?"

Johnny laughed shortly. "Yeah, no, I was twenty-one."

"Twenty, tops."

Before Johnny could protest, Jane broke into the discussion, sounding distracted, "Oh wow, are we supposed to be seeing that?"

Curious, Tony glanced over to the TV to see two women going at it. "I think I liked last month's more." One woman flipped the other onto the bed by throwing her into the air. "Never mind. This is much cooler."

"You guys watch porn?" Johnny asked.

"It's Asgard," Tony said, not deigning to look at him. "Now shoo. Your presence is no longer needed."

"Be quiet," Richards muttered, not paying attention to anything other than the television.

Activating the holographic interface, Tony focused on the TV with a tablet, trying to see if he could change the channel without the remote control.

He made a small sound of triumph when the screen suddenly changed images to a long hallway of artifacts. Ignoring Richards's and Jane's exclamations, he used Extremis and the tablets to record the fluctuating readings.

He'd talk with Richards on SHRA once they were over the first hurdle.

---

It was later that day after they'd made some headway into figuring out how the TV was connected to Asgard that Richards broached the subject Tony had been dreading.

"A mutant." Richards didn't look from his screen. "I didn't expect that."

Tony waited a beat before casually responding, "I don't think anyone did."

Now Richards looked up, eyes keen. "So what do you have?"

Tony met his eyes, an eyebrow raised. "If I didn't tell the public, what makes you think I'll tell you?"

"We're friends—"

"We're colleagues. We don't hang out, Reed. Our relationship is lukewarm." Tony lifted a shoulder, adding, "At best."

Richards glanced at Jane, but she shook her head to signal she wasn't going to step in. "You're a technopath," he finally said resolutely, looking at Tony's hands maneuvering the holographs.

Tony couldn't help the short burst of laughter. "Ah, no." He snorted. "No."

"It's the only conclusion that makes sense," Richards argued. "You're a technological wizard; it would make perfect sense if you could link with technology."

Now Tony was just insulted. Was Richards so conceited as to think that all of Tony's breakthroughs had been because he could apparently communicate with technology? He didn't go around decrying Richards's genius as a quirk of his accident in space (though it was debatable how much effect it had on his sanity).

"Sorry." Tony brushed aside a ball of data to glare at Richards. "Do I go around asking if your genius is because you were irradiated in space? I didn't create this"—he gestured at the holographic interface surrounding him (the tablets were now spaced out around him on the ground after some Extremis tweaking)—"because I'm a technopath. Try again, Richards, or…wait. Don't. Keep your thoughts to yourself."

Turning around sharply, Tony discarded whole streams of data that were irrelevant, tossing them into the trash can at his elbow. He wasn't a technopath, even if he had an affinity to technology. The affinity was because of his telekinesis, and the way his mind reached out to objects in order to manipulate them. It was only technology because of how much he worked around them.

And now it was because he had been modified by a tech virus.

"Hey, Reed—" Grimm's voice broke in then, though Tony didn't turn around to see him.

Extremis was linked into the TV, giving him data feeds on what it was doing. The device was tuned to a frequency Tony had never heard before.

He heard Jane warn Grimm, "Watch your step."

How had he gotten this frequency originally? He hadn't had Extremis then to help. Nor had he had the affinity at that point…

"Sue wants you down," Grimm was saying.

"Can it wait—"

"Ben, stop!"

Snapping out of Extremis, Tony heard a loud crash before the floor shook, rattling his tablets and making his holographs fizzle. Grimm had probably tripped over one of Richards's devices that they'd been stepping over all day; nothing to worry about, though maybe they should turn up the lights some more since it was getting dark out.

There was a sound like metal snapping, and Tony had time to look up and register something very large and metal careening down towards them before he reacted, slamming it to a halt with his mind.

There was a small twinge at his temple that he ignored; it was only a warning that this thing was incredibly heavy. Reaching out with a hand, he guided the large bulky containment chamber to a clear section of floor by the windows. He inched it down until letting it fall the rest of the way with a thud; anything that ugly didn't deserve care.

Whipping around to face Richards, he demanded, "What was that about following proper safety protocols?"

"Telekinesis," was all Richards said.

Huffing, Tony moved the small crate Grimm had tripped over with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Satisfied? I hope you didn't just risk all our necks to find out what my ability is."

"I wouldn't," Richards objected.

"That was partly my fault," Grimm admitted, lumbering to his feet. "I moved it up there."

It took Jane a moment to say something, her face rather white. "That doesn't seem very safe or responsible." Her voice showed no sign of the fright she'd just had.

"Reed told me it was safe." Grimm glared at Richards.

"And it should have been."

"As long as no one extremely heavy"—Tony arched his eyebrows at a chastened Grimm—"jumped, stumbled, or fell onto the ground. Perfectly safe, Richards. Is there anything else we have to worry about?"

"Some file racks," Grimm said before Richards could. "I'll go up and move 'em."

"Do that." Tony shot a glance at the almost lethal chamber that had threatened to crush them, thankful that Steve hadn't been there to see that.

"How extensive is it?" Richards asked as Grimm moved up to take care of any other objects that might want to kill them later. "What can you do?"

"Do kids still say NYOB?" Tony asked.

"NYOB?" Richards repeated uncertainly.

"None of your business," Grimm grunted from above their heads.

"Exactly." Tony nodded, mouth twisting into a partial smirk.

"It has so many useful applications," Richards persisted, apparently unaffected by Tony's words.

"Could we work on this?" Jane asked, peering at the TV that was now showing a man and a woman brawling. Naked. "I didn't know Asgardians were so…" She didn't seem to have a polite word for "weird," which was what Tony would've said.

Mouth twisting slightly, Tony brought one of his tablets up to his hand, looking down at it as an excuse for not having to look at Richards. He knew he was acting like a child, but to be fair Richards didn't know when to drop it.

Steve would say he should act like an adult and be the better man. Pepper would look at him disapprovingly and tell him to behave. Rhodey would have a resigned look on his face while he agreed that Richards was a moron, but Tony should at least be mature, but oh, he'd forgotten who he was talking about here. Bruce would totally be on Tony's side, as they'd both griped about how Richards couldn't get his shit together ninety percent of the time. The other ten was too weird to think about.

But he'd have to be working with Richards for a while, so it was in his best interest to play nice. And who knew? Maybe he'd manage to tolerate him better. A guy could dream.

Sighing loudly enough to catch Richards's and Jane's attention, taking it off the TV, Tony started, "I have an affinity to technology because of the telekinesis. An affinity," he snapped when Richards opened his mouth, looking very contrary. "It's because I work with it and fight in a suit. Tech doesn't speak to me."

"What does that mean?" Jane asked.

Tony shrugged, not quite able or willing to put it into words. "I can feel it around me. It hums. Makes it easier to mess with tech, like breaking or turning it on." He looked over at the TV, turning it off for a few seconds.

Jane was looking between him and the TV, a sharp look in her eyes. "That affinity of yours…how long have you had it?"

"Couple months. Noticed it when I was with the X-Men." Richards's mouth opened in sudden realization, and Tony felt a small sense of satisfaction in knowing that Richards hadn't known where he was during that time.

"When did you do this?" Jane pointed to the TV.

He had a small inkling of what she was getting at. "Before I went with them."

"How long before?" Richards asked, an edge of excitement in his tone.

Tony frowned slightly, turning his mind back. God…had it only been several months ago? It felt like years. "About a week or so."

He felt like kicking himself for not realizing something so obvious. True, he'd first noticed his affinity to technology in Charles's mansion, but that was because he'd been primed for battle, paying attention to the slightest detail. There was no telling how long he'd been ignoring it before that, distracted by other, more important matters. He'd ignored colds, headaches, fevers, and broken fingers before; humming certainly wasn't the worst thing he'd worked through (that dubious honor belonged to the arc reactor). And once he'd noticed it, he couldn't stop; it was always there, just like Extremis (don't go there, not now).

But to the point… Even though he hadn't been consciously aware of his affinity, his subconscious had been. And given that the Bifrost, even broken as it was, was an advanced alien piece of technology, Tony had tuned into it, tweaking the TV to hone in on that frequency and only that frequency.

Now the question remained as to how he'd tuned into the Bifrost in the first place.

"Yeah, okay," he said a few seconds after answering Richards, earning blinks. "So if that's established—"

"What?" Jane asked.

"—how did I tune into the Bifrost? I would've had to in order to get that to work." He gestured at the TV.

"You…" Jane took a breath, shaking her head slightly in response to something Tony wasn't privy to (he wasn't a telepath). "What were you thinking of then?"

"I can't remember," he admitted, shrugging sheepishly.

"You have a nigh eidetic memory," Richards protested.

"When I pay attention," Tony agreed. "You can't tell me that you've never just left the building – metaphorically speaking – and just let your hands work, have you? It's a habit of mine when I can't sleep." He swiped a thumb over his tablet. "Which is often."

"Is that where the singing vase came from?" Jane asked suspiciously. "Thor said something about your 'master craftsmanship magic' and left me with it. It's singing falsetto now."

"A singing vase?" Richards sounded completely perplexed.

Tony waved a dismissive hand. "Doesn't matter. The point I'm trying to get at is that I wasn't paying attention when I hooked a TV up to the Bifrost."

"So what?" Jane folded her arms. "We should just expect another engineering night driven by insomnia to fix the Bifrost?"

Tony snorted. "Ah, no. Look, I'm a genius. But Asgardian magic isn't my field; hell, I hate magic. It just doesn't mesh with science, even if Thor says they're the same. You're the expert on this," he said, looking right at Jane. "Reed's got the in-depth knowledge on portals and dimensions. I'm just the guy with an affinity for tech who builds stuff."

"Tony Stark being modest." Jane sounded stunned. "I think hell's just frozen over."

Tony plastered a broad, fake smile on his face. "Let's keep that between us, yeah?"

Jane ignored the smile. "Because we can't have people thinking that Tony Stark is modest."

"He isn't," Richards added blandly.

"Right." Tony gestured at Richards. "My point is that while I'm a genius and totally capable of learning how to build a bridge from here to Asgard, it's easier to ask for help."

"You can't just build a bridge that jumps across worlds," Jane protested. "It's not that simple. If it were, it would've been repaired before now."

"Something tells me that while Asgardians are a powerful bunch, they're sort of lacking in the brain department."

Jane looked like she wanted to protest, opening her mouth. She closed it a moment later, grudgingly tilting her head in agreement.

"Every race has its engineers," Richards declared. "How else was the bridge built?"

"Doesn't mean they have the capability to repair it." Tony spun the tablet into the middle, leaving it twirling in the air, holograms with the Tesseract displayed on it spinning to life above it. "Or we wouldn't be here." He shot Richards a look.

"You think the Tesseract will be able to fix it?" Jane asked, stepping up to the floating, spinning tablet.

"Definitely a possibility," Tony replied, rubbing his hands as he walked around them. "It can be used to open portals and transport objects. We know that. But that's just pure energy. We've got the transportation down; we need the materials to build. It can't just be stone."

"Stone would never work," Richards absently said, eyes running over the displays. "You didn't show us this yesterday."

"Yesterday was the basics." Tony squatted in front of the TV, hands placed on the top both to brace himself and for a better connection. "Today's what I analyzed from the basics. Have at it."

He wondered if they would see what he had when he'd run and analyzed the tests. It wasn't a Sherlockian mystery.

---

By mid-afternoon of the following day, Jane had gone with Sue to pick up something to eat. She'd said something to Tony and Richards, but Tony had been too lost in the midst of Richards's portal machine to pay attention, while Richards was engrossed in the all the readings that Tony had taken of the Tesseract and his subsequent analyses. So while Jane had given a disgusted scoff and muttered something about making sure no one starved to death because Captain America would give her those disappointed eyes and she didn't want to see those, Tony had just hummed in response and tweaked something in the machine that was humming discordantly.

"You wanted to talk," Richards eventually called to Tony.

It took Tony a moment to disengage himself from the machine and rewind. "Right. SHRA."

"You should be concerned about it," Richards said.

Tony raised an eyebrow, closing the maintenance door of the portal machine. "What makes you think I'm not?"

Richards grinned slightly, collapsing the holographic schematics to give him an unobstructed view of Tony. "I forget who I'm talking to here."

"Right." Tony came up to the opposite side of the table, pulling over a chair so he could sit. "Let's get down to it. What do you know about the bill?"

"More than you." Richards's face was not amused now. "You've been quiet, Tony."

"I've had other things on my mind." Tony smiled lightly. "We can't all have unlimited time to go exploring."

"It's not a recent idea," Richards said, "but you know that. I've had several people ask me for my input. I said it would never work, that it was unreasonable to expect every person with remotely unusual abilities to register." He exhaled, eyes dropping to the table between them. After a moment, he looked back up, eyes fixed somewhere on Tony's cheekbone. "They took that advice. The wording of this bill accounts for people with skills that are above average. It's the abnormalities that have to register; if you hadn't been a mutant, you would've had to because of your suit."

"I know all that." Tony leaned forward, hands clasped between his legs. "You're not giving me the whole story, Reed."

Richards met his eyes, for a change not immediately glancing away. "I'm going to support it."

Tony stiffened. "Did I just hear you say you were going to support this?"

"Yes." Richards's tone was unusually sharp. "You don't know what alternatives they were offering, Tony. This is a compromise, something I managed to talk them down to provided I support it. If I don't…" Richards swallowed subtly, the movement so slight Tony almost missed it. "You don't want to know."

"I do." Tony made sure his tone was soft but unyielding. "I'm sure I can guess at what they were considering before. It wouldn't be very difficult to find out. Captain America thinks we need to show a united front, and I agree." He smiled grimly. "You haven't been backed into a corner yet, Reed. If I don't support this, that's going to be a hell of a lot of opposition right there."

Richards sharply looked at him. "You saw this coming," he said lowly. "I know you did. Stopping it now isn't going to stop it from happening again, you know that."

"I do." The calculations wouldn't add up to anything else, no matter how much Steve might wish it so. "Which is why we should come up with a compromise of our own if they end up pushing this through. You said the SHRA is their compromise; let's give them our own."

"Tony—"

"I have enough power to do that. So do you. And the X-Men won't stay out of this, not with a fellow mutant openly opposing the act."

Grimm's voice cut in, "As long as you don't go calling the Senate assholes, it'll be good."

"Ass-clowns," Tony corrected, twisting around to see Grimm lumber over to Richards. "It'd be an insult to assholes everywhere if I called them that."

"What about clowns?"

Tony raised his eyebrows. "Who likes clowns?"

Johnny drifted in, toting a large bag that smelled like Chinese. "I do," he volunteered, beaming. "I love clowns. Love their big red noses, their white faces, large smiles, funny shoes—"

"We get the message," Tony interrupted. "You're mentally challenged."

Johnny pursed his lips, looking down at his bag. "Well, I was going to ask if you wanted some Chinese, but if you're just going to be insulting, I'll leave."

"I thought Jane left to get something," Tony said, shooting Richards a glance. His response was a confused shrug.

"She and Sue are bonding over stuff – woman stuff." Johnny waved a hand as if to demonstrate he couldn't care less. "But there are a load of sandwiches in the kitchen."

"Be nice," Grimm warned.

"I'm nice!"

"Be nice somewhere else." Tony returned his attention to Richards. "You in, Reed?"

"Statistically speaking," Richards began, "your plans have always had a low chance of succeeding."

"Pot meet kettle," Grimm rumbled, not looking at either of them in favor of staring down Johnny, who was staring back.

"They work out," Tony pointed out, a small smile on his lips.

"Generally speaking."

"They still work."

"We have a lot to lose with this."

"You think I don't know that?"

Richards was silent for a moment longer. Then: "A compromise of our own, you said?"

Tony nodded once, firmly, lips pressed together. "One they can't refuse."

Wetting his lips, Richards exhaled through his mouth, looked up at Grimm and then back at Tony. "All right. Let's do it."

It took a second before Tony couldn't repress the broad grin that spread across his face.

"Oh my God." Jane's voice sounded from the doorway, sounding horrified. "Tony Stark is no longer passive aggressively sniping at Reed Richards. We're all doomed."

"I'd say that's more of a Doctor Doom thing," Johnny interjected, "but that's just me." Beaming broadly in response to the looks everyone shot his way, he held up his bag. "Chinese?"

---

Later that night, Jane brought up the issue Tony had thought they would catch onto earlier. "I've been looking over this data multiple times, but this doesn't make any sense."

From under Richards's absolutely beautiful portal machine (yes, it was growing on him, even if some of the wiring was seriously messed up and giving it energy problems), Tony requested, "Elaborate."

"Sorry?" Jane asked politely, her voice slightly muffled.

Poking his head out from underneath the machine, Tony repeated, "Elaborate. Because we have several streams of data going at the same time."

"This data on the energy readings of the Tesseract," Jane clarified. "It's odd because there's a parallel stream of data right by it that's almost identical, but not quite."

"Right." Tony looked over at Richards and saw that he had nothing to add beyond looking extremely interested. Well, at least he had his attention. "Anything pop out at you about that second set?"

"It's basic," Richards said. "The Tesseract's readings have something else added to it, but the second set is like the basic set of what makes up the Tesseract's energy."

"And that would be?" Tony prodded.

"It's not any element I've seen here," Jane admitted.

"You've seen it," Tony disagreed, coming out entirely from under the machine and sitting up, leaning back against it. "It's just the rarest element on Earth."

Richards frowned. "Vibranium? How is that possible? And where's this"—he tapped his screen—"data coming from if it's not the Tesseract?"

"Here." Tony tapped the energy source in his chest. "The arc reactor powering my tower runs off the same energy. I noticed the similarities when running my tests; I brought it over to get a second opinion."

"Are you saying you have an alien energy sitting inside your chest?" Jane demanded.

"It's not alien," Tony protested, affronted. "I created it. That makes it human."

"Vibranium is a metal," Richards said slowly. "The energy powering the arc reactor isn't."

"Which is the question I want answered," Tony explained shortly. "I got the readings and couldn't explain them. The Tesseract is alien; what I made isn't. Logically, the two shouldn't converge."

"Meteorites are alien," Richards murmured, brows furrowed as he thought.

"I have the data from when Thor first came to Earth," Jane said, eyes flickering over to a pensive Richards. "We can compare that, see what we come up with."

Tony spun one of his tablets over to her, setting it on the floor by her feet. "Use this so we can all see."

Jane hesitated slightly as she reached out to touch the floating holographs.

"It's linked to your computer, Jane. Just pull up the relevant files."

Mouth tightening, Jane began maneuvering the holographs, spinning them away if they weren't what she needed. In about two minutes she had the relevant data open along with a video and pictures of the first time Thor had touched upon Earth. It was a lot more violent than Tony had expected, especially considering how he'd slammed into the truck upon walking.

"The energy that my sensors picked up is similar to what the Tesseract is giving off," Jane said finally, looking down at where Tony was still sitting.

"Yeah?" Tony didn't necessarily need to ask as he had pulled up the same file via Extremis, but he wasn't going to tell her that.

"And that was when the Bifrost was still operational," Richards said.

"It was," Jane confirmed. "I don't think it was destroyed until after Thor left for Asgard to stop Loki. He promised to return and…" She shrugged, face carefully blank. "Well, he didn't."

Tony wasn't sure what to say to that, so he went for the best option: nothing.

Richards didn't have the same tact, but then he didn't even address Jane's statement. "If the Tesseract and the Bifrost run on the same energy source, then we can use that to rebuild to the bridge."

"It's still slightly different," Jane pointed out, skimming her fingers over a set of data. "It's a different set of data from what Tony has and what the Tesseract is giving off."

"So we can modify that particular energy source according to what we need," Tony said, feeling a burst of excitement. "Now we just need to find whatever it was that formed the Bifrost and we're good to go."

"There aren't many materials that would actually be able to handle the amount of energy the Bifrost channels," Richards said, meaning that there were virtually none.

"Wrong," Tony said, drawing his attention. "I made one, remember? Or have you forgotten what I'm using for clean energy?"

"It's an energy source," Richards protested. "It can't be used to build a bridge because it would need to be solid."

"It has been solid," Tony insisted. "See…" He drew over another of his tablets, quickly drawing a model of the atom he had used when creating the element. "Look familiar?"

"I'd say it's vibranium," Richards said slowly, "but that would be impossible because it's a metal."

"It doesn't have to be," Jane said. "What if this is the purest, rawest form of vibranium? It's the rarest material on Earth; we don't have all the information on it."

"Most is right now in a shield," Tony added, "and mixed with steel. But then…" He paused, struck by a thought. "From what I understand, Thor broke the Bifrost with Mjölnir, and he couldn't even put a dent in Captain America's shield."

"Vibranium is naturally resilient," Richards mused thoughtfully, eyes fixed on the atom still hovering by Tony. "It could become more so when integrated with steel. But that's too inflexible for a bridge, so it must have been mixed with something else that gave it a bit more flexibility."

"So we have to find that material," Jane said.

"Easy enough," Tony said, grinning wryly.

"It'll be difficult," Richards corrected.

"I was being sarcastic."

"It might be somewhat easier," Jane said, smiling knowingly. "Especially considering you made an alien energy source in your basement without knowing what you were doing."

"I knew what I was doing." Tony folded his arms, definitely not sticking his chin out. "I built a particle accelerator in my lab."

"That's amazing," Richards said, and Tony couldn't even tell if he was being sarcastic or genuine. "But is that going to help us with actually building the bridge once we get the right materials?"

"I considered that," Tony said before Jane could say anything. "We can use this"—he patted the machine behind him—"to get us to Asgard. It'll be all downhill from there."

"If they could build the Bifrost, wouldn't they already have done it?" Richards pointed out.

"They can build it again, even if they need help," Jane said rather defensively. "It was already done once. They might not have the knowledge anymore. Their culture is ancient; that bridge might not even have been made by anyone currently alive."

"Which means we need to pack a suitcase," Tony suggested, earning himself a withering look from Richards.

"As much as I would like to take a vacation, it's not possible at this time," Richards said, looking steadily at Tony. "You know that, Tony."

Fine, yes. Richards had a point. Didn't mean Tony liked it. He had been sort of looking forward to going to Asgard at one point or another.

"I know." Tony tapped his fingers against his elbow. Data feeds from the machine behind him scrolled through his head for a brief moment before he shunted it to the back of his mind.

Richards suddenly leaned forward to get a look at where Tony was sitting, eyes peering down at the underside of the machine (not that he could get a very good look from where he was sitting). "What were you doing there?" he asked.

"Fixing it up." Tony gave him an innocent look that all the Avengers had grown immune to by now (much to his remorse). "It doesn't sound like it should."

"Don't break it."

"I fix things," Tony said, peeved. "Like I'm going to fix that shiny rainbow bridge that connects Asgard to the rest of that giant tree Thor keeps waxing rhapsodic about. Yagsdral?"

"Yggdrasil," Richards corrected.

Jane sighed, shaking her head slightly. "To sum it up, we need to find the material that'll modify vibranium the way we need it to work and then we go to Asgard with Reed's portal so we can build it."

"After SHRA," Richards added.

Jane gave a disgusted huff. "It drives me mad what they'll do. You'd think they'd learn, but they just can't."

Tony and Richards looked at her, both taken aback at the weariness and anger in her tone.

"I gather you're not a fan of the new act?" Tony asked delicately. (Yes, he could be delicate. Shut up.)

"I think it's ridiculous." She ripped apart the plastic covering on a bundle of wires, the loud sound perfectly emphasizing the expression on her face. "It's a gross invasion of personal privacy, and it's not going to solve anything." She looked up at the two of them. "It's not going to be easy, getting them to change their minds. They'll dig their heels in and refuse to change unless something drastic happens."

"A united superhero front not drastic enough?"

"It'll have to be." Jane offered a weak smile, plugging in her computer to the TV. Looking down at the screen, she said, "I'll let this run overnight, see what numbers we have tomorrow." Grabbing her jacket, she slung it over her arm. "Good night."

"Night." Tony's response was absentminded as he looked at Richards, who had an odd expression on his face. "What's wrong?"

Richards started slightly at being directly addressed. "Nothing." Then, sighing, he added, "Nothing pressing."

"You didn't get that look on your face 'til she started talking about what we need to do. Obviously it's pressing."

Richards's eyes darted up to Tony's face before skittering away. He didn't say anything, but Tony didn't move, wanting to know what had spooked him.

When Richards finally spoke, it was quiet. "When I heard that they were going to push through SHRA, I began looking for ways to stop it. I looked at other worlds to see if they had it as well, and how they dealt with it."

Other worlds? Well, Tony couldn't say Richards only did things half-baked.

"What I saw…" Richards waved a hand demonstratively. "In one, you were a woman. You married Captain America, taking the attention off me long enough so I could push for something else."

Stunned, Tony could only blink. He'd married Steve just because of that? Not because he'd loved him?

Not able to voice this to Richards, he went for something safer. "A woman?"

"Alternate world," Richards reminded him. "There was another where you stopped long enough to ask Captain America for his help, enabling the two sides to work together to work something out."

Something in the way Richards said that had Tony's hackles raising. "I stopped? Stopped what? What sides are you talking about?"

"There was civil war in another world," Richards said bluntly. "You were pro-registration, and Captain America led the opposing side. It tore the superhero community apart. In the end, Captain America surrendered." Now Richards was looking somewhat uncomfortable.

Tony waited a moment longer, but it didn't seem like Richards was going to continue. "You're not telling me something, Reed. Spit it out."

There was a short exhale, then Richards said, curtly, "Captain America was killed by an assassin directly before he could stand trial, on the steps of the courthouse. An alien invasion followed several months after, during which Norman Osborn became president of the United States."

"Norman Osborn?"

"There were extenuating circumstances, such as the aliens." Richards frowned. "I thought you'd be more concerned about Captain America being assassinated."

"I…" Tony swallowed dryly, needing to rest his head against the machine behind him. He was, but it was having difficulties sinking in, which was why he'd focused in on the horrible idea of Norman Osborn being president of the United States. The man had sleaze ball written all over him, even more so than most politicians, so how even extenuating circumstances like aliens had gotten him to the office of presidency was slightly beyond Tony's ability to figure out (because he wasn't completely insane).

His brain-to-mouth function wasn't functioning properly when it came to voicing his distress regarding the possibility of Steve's death. So he opted for something easier. "Do we have to worry about the aliens?"

To his relief, Richards shook his head. "The battle against the Chitauri and the way you handled them most likely served to warn them off. I've been keeping an eye out, and while there were signs of an alien ship on trajectory for Earth, your response to the invasion was threatening enough to persuade them otherwise."

Oh, thank God. If Loki had to be good for something, it was for scaring off a potential alien invasion when they really couldn't afford one.

"If we stick together," he said instead of saying what he was thinking, "that won't happen. We can't afford it."

Richards nodded once. "Right."

Tony opened his mouth to say more, only to have Extremis give a ping as he received a text.

From Steve Rogers (aka Captain America)

Go to sleep, Tony.

Received 23:37

Huffing slightly, Tony fetched his phone out from his pocket to give him an excuse to leave (at some point).

Extremis pinged again.

From Steve Rogers (aka Captain America)

SLEEP, TONY. I'll know if you don't. Love, S

Received 23:38

Frowning at his phone, Tony didn't have to wonder how Steve would know; he could feel JARVIS's familiar humming emanating from the small device. Giving the phone a raised eyebrow, he stowed it back into his pants and pushed himself off of the table.

"I'm going to bed," he said to Richards. "Night."

He didn't hear Richards's response, if there was any. For once, his entire mind was fixated on only one thing: the possibility that Steve could die. (And he couldn't; he couldn't.)

---

One week later, and they had made little progress. The main problem was somehow converting the pure energy of vibranium into something solid that would rebuild the bridge. It was likely they'd have to go to Asgard to do it, considering vibranium probably wasn't native to Earth.

Sighing lightly, Tony scanned over the latest set of readouts that would hypothetically solidify the element he had recreated. The steel that had gone into making Captain America's shield was a no go, as it wouldn't be able to channel the energy needed to form the bridge. The same went for almost every other element on Earth. Richards had ruled out compounds, saying they would be too unstable for the bridge.

Which pretty much meant that Tony had been stuck at the drawing board for the past week, using every known element in addition to vibranium to figure out something that would hold. It would've been totally awesome if it didn't remind him too much of when he'd been dying of palladium. He'd already had several nightmares about it the last several days and not even Steve's nighttime texts were enough to soothe him.

"Any luck?" Jane asked him, looking up from her own work. She'd also been helping considering her expertise, but Richards had needed her to begin working on the machine that would solidify the material when Tony had solved the problem. And since Richards had other things to do, that meant he and Jane were left alone quite often. At the moment, they were all present, meaning Jane could help Tony out (not that he admitted to needing help, you know).

"Nope," he answered, not deigning to look away from the periodic table that was hovering in front of his face.

There was a small sigh from Jane. "Likewise."

"No rush," Richards proclaimed cheerfully. "We're already five years ahead of schedule!"

This time Tony met Jane's eyes, both of them repressing grins. He stifled a burst of laughter, turning it into a cough at the last moment.

That was when his phone (or Extremis, really) went off.

He picked it up mentally, not revealing anything on his face. "Hello?"

Spider-Man's voice, high and panicked, came through. "You said I could call if I need help and I thought I could handle this – I did, I really did – but they're getting too close to where I live and I only have her left—"

"Slow down," Tony tried to calm him down.

"—and there are four of them and only one of me!" Spider-Man's voice was harried and breathless as he finished speaking. But no, he continued after a quick breath, still at a rapid fire pace. "I'm distracting them, but there's only so much a guy like me can do, and I can't let them kill her!"

Tony was already pulling up the news with Extremis, glancing down at his shoes so as to hide his eyes. A news van was foolishly (but thankfully) covering the fight a distance away, enough for Tony to see the red and blue figure dancing in the streets before four powerfully built uniform clad figures. The neighborhood was suburban, and that was already enough to raise Tony's alarms.

Where was his team? This was major enough for it to hit the news live.

"Calm down," Tony said to Spider-Man a second after the kid stopped speaking (a neat trick, especially since the footage was still showing him dodging blows via superhuman reflexes and absolutely amazing flexibility that was making him jealous). "We'll get you help. I've already got an eye on it." He'd pulled up the news footage on one of his tablet so it was hovering by his side, taking out his phone to dial Steve as he did.

"Awesome!" Spider-Man sounded breathless as he jumped on the large guy that looked kind of blue from Tony's angle (and it wasn't the holographs).

"How are you talking to me right now?" Tony asked curiously.

There was a short pause as his phone was picked up not by Steve, but JARVIS. "The Avengers are currently engaged in Brooklyn with a domestic terrorist identifying himself as Mallen, sir. I have sent the Mark XII to your location."

"Not the time!" The footage showed Spider-Man being flung off the blue guy only to roll to his feet on the ground, punching another more normally dressed opponent as he sprung to his feet. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to do much, as that guy promptly punched him back, knocking him to the ground.

"Yeah, you're right. Be there in max ten minutes." Tony just waited for the breathless affirmation before he hung up, speaking quickly to JARVIS. "Let the others know what's going on if you can. I'll be backing up Spider-Man."

"Of course, sir," JARVIS said.

Hanging up, Tony looked for the Avengers using Extremis, tightening his lips when he found them facing off a guy who…was he breathing fire?

"What's going on?" Jane asked sharply, getting his attention.

Turning his attention reluctantly from the news footage of the Avengers (they could take care of themselves, they could), Tony reached out with Extremis to check where his suit was. It was about half a minute out, thank you, JARVIS. The Mark V wouldn't work at all for this.

"That," Tony replied, flipping the image around so both Jane and Richards could see what Spider-Man was facing. "And this." The periodic table morphed into the footage of the Avengers and the fire-breathing domestic terrorist, who incidentally wasn't breathing fire anymore. "I've got to go back up Spider-Man."

"Your armor won't stand up to that," Richards said pointedly.

"That won't," Tony agreed, gesturing back to where the Mark V was stashed, "but this will." On cue, the Mark XII shattered the windows, honing in on the bracelets Tony was wearing.

"I just had that fixed," Richards said peevishly.

"Sorry," Tony said as the armor clicked into place around him, face plate sliding down and the HUD flickering to life. "I'll pay for it," he said with the armor's voice.

In typical Reed Richards style, he wasn't paying attention, eyes fixed on the footage of the man the Avengers were fighting, who was now a blur on the screen. "I'll get the others," he volunteered.

Tony didn't reply, taking off with a curt "Bye" as he blasted out of the tower and into the open sky, data feeds from Extremis scrolling through his head simultaneously with the HUD before his eyes.

"I have diverted all powers to thrusters, sir," JARVIS said.

"Good man, JARVIS." Tony closed his eyes briefly as he initiated a short command that cut Extremis off from the HUD feeds, the double vision annoying him.

It was easy enough now to make sure Extremis wouldn't bother him too much, but it might be an entirely different thing once he got into the fight.

"JARVIS…sometimes you gotta run before you can walk."

Mouth quirking into a grin, Tony thought that he might just be able to swing this. He was Iron Man.

---

Apologies from the author for further antagonizing the bees.

Comments, reviews, and critiques are encouraged and will be used to fund further journeys with the crew. Flames will be stored and used for firepower in case the ride malfunctions.