Disclaimer: I do not own anything that I have written. Yep, that is right, I own not even one iota of the below work.

Warnings: Cannon violence, sexuality, and blood. Possibly worse language than the actual movie. Will contain homosexual relationships.

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Chapter Eight

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Oh universe, Tony was the lobster in cold water that got used to the heat as it was slowly brought up. Dead before it even noticed that it was being cooked alive.

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Tony was holding his breath as the tests were spinning away, and the information within being unwrapped and placed onto the genius' hologram screen. Before the information even came, Tony was spinning ideas around in his mind. What could he do if the new core was poisoning him in some new way, because he could not go back to using palladium. Options were few, really, the only feasible thing to do would be to ask SHIELD for help – Tony would need access to Alien technology, because Earth would not have an element that would work.

He really hoped that it did not come to that.

A type of X-Ray scan showed only the slightest of changes to his bone structure. Places that had chips were filled in, places that should be worn in ways that only age could have caused were healed. Even his ribs, which usually were in poor shape, forever weakened by the presence of the arc-reactor, looked as though they had strengthened and adapted to the metal heart. In general, as far as bones went, Tony just looked healthier.

Organs were hard to tell, as Tony wasn't a medical doctor, nor did that field particularly interest him, but there did not seem to be any worrying changes.

It was Tony's DNA that showed a worrying signs in that it seemed to be changing.

The DNA comparison chart showed interesting changes. That is to say, whole, completely different strains. Something that Tony could not understand because he had JARVIS run comparisons, and there was nothing on Earth that had those sequences. The closest that Tony could compare it to was the x-gene. It was an addition to his 'human' DNA, but what that addition was happened to be completely alien to this world, as far as current discovery of Earth stood.

This did make logical sense; he stuck an element in his chest that hadn't been created before... It should not have been able to bond to his DNA though.

Something like that was unprecedented.

Metal and Oxygen didn't change the DNA of organic matter that it came into contact with in a meaningful manner. Sure, some elements were damaging to humans, in fact, many of them were, but that didn't mean they changed the human genome. Yet, the element that Tony created did just that.

"It isn't often that I say this... but I'm utterly stumped. This is... beyond anything I could imagine." Tony admitted, though he didn't stop scanning the information that JARVIS was feeding him.

"How should we proceed, sir?"

"Isn't that the multi-billion dollar question...?" Tony mused, tapping a finger against his arc-reactor in thought, "...We do what all other inventors and scientists do when they have discovered something beyond their means. We advance and experiment despite that."

"I am almost absolutely sure that is not the typical protocol for this situation." JAVIS mentioned dryly, but did not object – Knowing well that his creator would simply do it anyway.

Tony ran his finger against the warm metal edge of his arc-reactor, looking down at the glowing centerpiece that kept him alive. A dangerous curiosity had taken him over, and he would not be removing the arc-reactor for a different core. The only other possibility was palladium, and between a core that wants to heal him, and one that wants to kill him, the billionaire would place his money on the one that healed him, thank you very much. It wasn't just that though, Tony wanted to know where this would lead, when the core would stop, and just what different effects it would have. There were no humans he would trust other than himself to test it, and animal testing surely wouldn't give him the quick and clear results that he wanted.

Perhaps the insane curiosity that drove him was part of why he did not make the best scientist, but made one of the best inventors this world would likely ever see.

"Right, let's get to work then. JARVIS, I want to redo these tests every week on the dot. Make note of healing rates whenever I am injured; keep close watch on anything you think might change. Keep track of all variables – and if you see anything particularly dangerous starting to happen, let me know. In the meantime, we go about life as we did before..." Tony paused in thought, "Perhaps we recreate the element one more time, and run several tests on it when the element is in its pure form..."

"I will have the bots prepare for the elements creation and do as you request." JARVIS agreed and there was a slight pause before he continued, "Mister Wilson just knocked on the door."

Tony could feel a wide grin stretch across his lips at the discovery, "Make sure that everything is put behind our most nasty firewalls. Wouldn't want SHIELD to get any ideas, now would we?"

With that, Tony jogged up the stairs and toward the front door. Upon opening it, there was a flash of red and black, before he was engulfed in a sea of limbs and spandex. Withholding the urge to lash out at the unexpected... hug... Tony huffed out a breath and tried to relax his muscles that tensed at the sudden contact. Especially the added pressure against his arc-reactor, not exactly the most comfortable feeling, "I missed your body against me as well, Wade, but we have to work on your manners."

"Manners, what's that word mean?" Wade muttered, but his voice was thoughtful.

Tony could feel a wandering hand suddenly groping at his ass, and snorted, "Woah big guy! Don't you know you should ask permission first?."

"Just making sure you did the homework." Wade grinned and pulled away, looking at the Stark approvingly, "Very nice, you want to give me a feel up too? I only give them out for free to my best buddies."

"Take me on a few dates first, then we'll talk" Tony stated dryly, but he did not think he could completely hide the relief he felt at the man's presence, "Now, I believe you dropped the mother of all bombs on me before you left, and its name was teleportation. Tell me everything."

Wade skipped, literally skipped over to Tony's couch, and laid down on it as if he owned the place, kicking his feet up onto the arm rest, and laying his head against the other, "Fuck if I know how it works. I just know I press the button thingy on my belt contraption, and I imagine where I want to go, and it takes me there. Of course, it does glitch out weirdly a lot... It's okay if I leave a few body parts behind, they grow back eventually."

"Right, so not advised for the normies like me." Tony said, giving a sage nod, picking a chair across from Wade, who had turned his head to watch the man as he swaggered over.

"The author has some interesting plans for you, shnookums." Wade mentioned, a sort of manic grin under his mask that Tony could barely make out, "I've only got the barest of ideas, she's being very secretive, but let me tell you, she's got a ton of things in the works."

"She?" Tony asked, and wondered if he sounded as alarmed as he felt

Wade waved the worry aside, "The author, although she is kind of tooting her own horn right now, she isn't completely wrong."

Tony let out a humming sound, and unconsciously his finger traced his arc-reactor as he thought over the new information. It there were theories of course, that fit everything Wade had mentioned. The idea that they were real was very startling, and if Tony wasn't confident in his own existence, he would fall into some sort of existential crisis at this information. The genius created something though, something that could feel emotions, was a real person, and if he was a creation like that as well, he certainly could not look down upon that. Not without being a massive hypocrite... Yet somehow...

"It's all very disconcerting, isn't it?" Tony mentioned a weary smile curled on his lips.

Thoughts of multi-verse and new healing abilities, arc-reactor stuff, lots of theoretical ideas and hypothesis' were curling at the edge of the genius' conscious mind just waiting for their turn to have the man's full attention, but Tony wanted to converse with his friend, not fall into a whole of science and thought. Not for now, at least.

Wade snickered, "Oh babe, if you think this is bad, you should see inside my head. It's like a... How did Banner put it in the movies...? A bag of cats. I have to say, you are one of the very small group of people across the whole multi-verse to ever believe me..."

"And you want to know why?" Tony asked, looking at the ceiling as he thought of what that answer would entail.

"Pretty much~ No one else has ever believed me, the second I mention anything about boxes of multi-verse they seem to think I'm insane, who really knows why, I mean clearly I'm just as sane as everyone else. Is this the face of a mad man, I think not. This is the face of a... Comic-Wade put it, Ryan Reynolds mixed with a Shar-Pei." Wade rambled, but sitting himself up and looking at the inventor with eyes that seemed to fix on Tony's very being. Even from within the mask, Tony could feel them lingering on.

That wasn't an easy question to answer, was it, Tony thought to himself, still fingering his arc-reactor. It was not enough to say that logically, it just made sense. It wasn't as though the regular man hadn't already come up with the theory, and with the existence of mutants and aliens, it was only a matter of time before real answers were found to those questions, "You aren't the first person to believe in multi-verse, and just because you have a sort of flimsy claim to truth considering the general state of your sanity, doesn't mean I should dismiss you offhand. As a scientist, I should consider all variables, and you are just one of a wider picture."

At the very least, believing Wade was far more logical than believing in an all seeing, all powerful God.

"Awwwwwh, this is proof, you love me, don't you! That's why you deal with my crazy, and why you want me around so much." Wade cooed, waving a finger at Tony.

Tony made a show of thinking that over, his thoughtful demeanor vanishing beneath a grin, "Oh my god,, how could I have not realized before this. That settles it, when Stark Tower is finished being built, you could squat at my place. After all, we're so close. And I promise a SHIELD free environment."

The billionaire wanted it, that companionship. He had the money to build a fucking tower that would have his name on it; he could house one of his friends there with him. There was a time when Tony had asked Rhodes to live with him, and was swiftly shot down with excuses of independence and privacy being sited. Something that Tony really hoped would not repeat now that he had gone and opened his big mouth and offered.

"Wait wait! Why? When?" Wade rambled, noticing the use of alliteration, as he always did when something unexpected or angering happened. He searched Tony's face for any sort of lie, or a cracking of a mask put on for a joke, but there was nothing, just some unexpectedly soft look in the billionaire's eyes.

Tony just shrugged, "I'm going to have plenty of space, and I will still need a sparring partner once I get to New York. Plus, and be ready to feel touched in emotional places you didn't even know existed within yourself; you are kind of my only real friend at the moment, and I sort of want you around."

Wade jumped up and made a show of cheering, "Woohoo! I get to live with a billionaire. Oh man, in your face Wolvie – Oh wait... Never mind that doesn't work, he lives with a billionaire too... HAHA! In your face Wolvie! I get to live with an even richer billionaire! I even get to kick his ass all day when yours just sits in a chair. I cannot wait to tell Wolvie that I have the better billionaire friend. In fact!~"

Wade vanished a second later, leaving Tony to stare at the spot he had been in rather bemused. Tony liked to think that his taste in friends was certainly getting better. Moreover, the look on Rhodes face should he ever realize that Tony was living with one of the best and well known mercenaries in the world... That was far too priceless to not take into account.

Project Proving gained a few new subsections, and despite the weirdness going on in general, Tony felt happier than he'd felt in quite some time.

Now to talk his friend into letting him study that teleportation belt... When the mercenary inevitably returned.

Tony even managed to not do more than look shocked when an hour later, Wade returned holding his own mutilated legs – That was a sign of just how happy he was, surely.