Chapter 6

Tony Stark decided to confront SG-1 and his friends from SHIELD. He had the gear and uniforms that Steve found taken out of the apartments and brought to Stark Tower. One way of another he was getting to bottom of it. He then invited Natasha, Clint, Phil and the SG-1 for dinner in his penthouse.

As he set up the dinner his girlfriend, Pepper Potts walked into the penthouse sporting a short peach dress and spotted four large boxes with the uniforms and gear sitting a table. "Tony," she paused before the table.

He looked back as he set the dinner table by the large window, "Having dinner with us tonight."

"What's all this?" she asked.

"That's what I want to know," he told her.

Thor, Steve and Bruce stepped off the elevator next with the food Tony had them retrieve. Steve stated, "I think we got everything! Oh, hi Pepper. Good to see you again."

"Good to see you too, Steve." she told him. "What is going on?"

Tony spoke up, "Apparently, SHIELD has some top secret military team that has a Star Gate."

She stood flabbergasted, "A what?"

"A thing that makes a porthole to other planets," he then clarified, "a wormhole!"

"Should I come back at another time?" she asked concerned.

"Stay," he smiled. "I want you to hear whatever lame excuse they come up with." Tony felt betrayed that SHIELD would find a wormhole making device and not tell him and not ask for his input. Surely, he was one of the most brilliant inventors and yet they seemed to have not only ignored him but actively deceived him.

Pepper stood beside herself unsure if she should stay or leave at that point. The elevator door slid open to reveal Phil and his friends. He led them off and into the penthouse. He was about to great Tony when he spotted the four boxes before them. He then winced.

Clint looked upon the scene and took a breath, "That's not good."

Tony glared at him, "Oh' this is great! See, I even ordered Kentucky Fried Chicken for our dinner party. Nothing like a little birdie to tell me what is going on."

SG-1 found their belonging in the boxes before them. Jack looked at the Avengers, "You guys broke into our apartments and got our stuff?"

Steve crossed his arms, "You left your door unlocked…Colonel."

Daniel found his notebook lying on top in the box. He picked it up and looked at the men, "I take it you went through this."

Thor stated, "You have races listed in that book that the Asgard has not had contact with in eons. How did you make contact?"

Tony interrupted and sneered, "Let me guess. Something called a Star Gate." He held up one of the uniforms and revealed the patch, "This for Star Gate One?"

Jack told him, "Yup."

He threw the uniform down in the box, "When was SHIELD and the Air Force gonna tell us about this Star Gate? Here we are risking our lives and what…you guys got some secret space program we don't know about."

Phil held up a hand, "It's not that."

Tony barked, "I gave you my inventions. I gave you my suit, my sweat, my tears and my blood."

"Let me explain," Phil stated. "I wanted to tell you immediately but I had to keep SG-1 a secret. Most of SHIELD doesn't know who they are."

"What?" he asked in disbelief.

Clint stated, "The Colonel and his team came here through the mirror. They are from another reality. Right as Hyrda was gonna kill Phil they came through and save his life. The mirror was damaged in the firefight. They have the Gate in their reality and they just helped us find ours sitting in a warehouse for the last eighty some years. We don't have a secret space program. They have one. They are helping us start ours."

The Avengers all looked at one another baffled.

Clint stated, "Thor…They could pick up your hammer. Maybe the reason they could do that is because they are from another reality. Thus, the rules do not apply to them."

Thor stood pondering the notion, "Another reality! You came here from Odin's Mirror?"

"We call it the Quantum Mirror," Sam informed. "The reason we accepted your dinner invitation Mr. Stark is because we came to invite you to help us set up your Gate. It needs a computer to work."

"Really?" he perked up.

"Where is this Gate, Major?" asked Steve.

Sam replied, "It's on its way to Colorado Springs. Our program has been running for a number of years and we found the Cheyenne Mountain facility was safe place to run the program out of. Phil agreed and is having it shipped there. Your program will be run by Phil. We will be there as consultants. I think the Avengers should be part of the program."

Steve figured, "You came through Odin's Mirror and saved Phil from Hydra. In return SHIELD set you guys up with an apartment and jobs because Loki has the mirror and it's damaged. That's why you wanted to get the mirror back and fix it. So you could go home."

Jack told him, "You're smarter than you look, Rodgers."

Steve gave a peeved look.

Tony asked, "If you guys are all from another reality then is there another version of you here?"

"No," Sam shook her head. "The version of me in your reality died in a car accident as a teenager. Your version of Daniel died years ago. Your version of Colonel O'Neill died from a head injury in Iraq. We don't know what became of the alternate for Teal'c. He's Jaffa and not from Earth."

Tony asked Thor, "Know any Jaffa?"

"They are humans like you. They live in peace under my father's protection on one of the realms."

Jack pondered, "How long can one of your Jaffa live?"

"Average human life span," he told them.

Jack thought, "You died years ago of old age, T."

"Not sure I follow," Thor admitted.

Sam explained, "The Jaffa in our reality were enslaved to the Goa'uld. They were modified to live much longer and be much strong than humans. They were originally human as well. Teal'c is over two hundred years old."

Teal'c removed his hat to reveal the symbol. He stood proud before the Avengers.

Tony squinted, "Is that thing burned in?"

"Indeed," he replied. "It's the symbol of Apophis who once enslaved my people."

Tony winced, "Ouch."

Steve asked, "The Goa'uld in your reality are not confined to their home planet I take it."

"They are not," Teal'c admitted.

"My father confined them to their home world when they attempted to take an Asgard as a host." Thor explained. "They have not been a problem here."

Jack had to admit, "That's good! They got a tad out of hand in my reality. You in my reality look totally different, Thor. Not that this isn't good but way different."

Daniel muttered, "And way smarter."

Thor gave him an angry look.

Jack warned, "Daniel don't piss of Thor. Look at him! He's huge!" He then tried to sooth Thor, "In my reality, Thor ole buddy, you and I are good friends."

Thor looked doubtful at the claim.

Jack continued, "Your father isn't around you are the Supreme Leader of the Asgard and you even named your ship after me."

Thor perked up, "I have a ship?"

"You do," Jack nodded.

Daniel got an idea, "If we could take a blood sample of this Thor back home with us our Thor could use that to help save the Asgard. It would fix the cloning defect and restore the Asgard's ability to reproduce. Our Thor would look like him…" he motioned towards the Asgard.

Jack winced, "No one will take our Thor seriously if looked like him. What Asgard looks like that? He's right out of the Mr. Universe pageant."

Sam admitted with a pleasing smile, "I wouldn't mind our Thor looking like that."

Jack did a double take and puckered in thought. Thor would be drop dead gorgeous, muscular and brilliant. Sam would indeed like that.

Thor asked, "My kind lost the ability to reproduce?"

Sam informed, "The Asgard resorted to making clones of themselves and transferring the consciousness into each new clone as the old clones expired. It resulted in a cloning defect which over time changed the Asgard appearance. Our Asgard are much smaller, have no hair, larger heads and gray skin."

"That sounds horrendous," Thor told them.

Jack countered, "But your brain is…" he held his hands wide. He then figured he better not continue and simply let his hands drop to his side.

The room went awkwardly silent.

Daniel then spotted Bruce and decided to change the conversation to save Jack from embarrassment. "You must be Dr. Banner." He held out a hand, "I'm Dr. Daniel Jackson."

"Nice to meet you," Bruce shook his hand. "You're an archeologist I heard."

"And linguist," he smiled. Daniel turned, "Ya know Phil, you will need a base chief medical officer. Dr. Banner might be an idea."

Jack asked amusingly, "He the guy that turns into the Hulk?"

Daniel nodded, "Yes Jack." He then became suspicious by Jack's enthusiasm and asked, "Why?"

"I wanna see him turn into the Hulk," he admitted.

"Why?" Daniel asked again.

"Turn him into the Hulk and send him after a big bad ass Goa'uld." he told him.

"The Goa'uld are not a problem in this reality, Jack." he countered.

"Maybe we will find one that is?" he cheered hoping to see a Goa'uld get squashed by a Hulk.

Daniel sighed.

Jack stated, "That chicken smells good. Let's eat. I'm starving." He then went to the table.

As the rest sat the dinner table as Tony asked, "Anyone want a beer?"

Jack raised his hand, "Me! Not the cheap crap either."

Tony grabbed the beer and brought it to the table. He couldn't help but asks, "Is there a version of me in your reality?"

"Not that I know of," Sam replied.

"That's a shame," he told them. "It would be cool to go to another reality and meet yourself."

"You can't," Sam warned. "There is something called cascade failure. Same matter cannot occupy the same space…"

He quickly figured, "I would die."

"Yeah," she nodded.

He took a seat before his plate full of food and sighed, "That's a shame. It would be so cool to find a room full of guys just like me who are smart as me that can actually understand what I am talking half the time."

Jack assured him, "Trust me…meeting yourself is freaky."

Sam told him, "I read your work, Mr. Stark. You're brilliant! I think you could increase the efficiency of your Arc reactor by ten percent with a few simple adjustments."

"You do?" he asked.

She nodded, "We can go over it after dinner." She began to pick at her friend chicken. "I think once you reduce the ionic particle transfer rate and plate out the proton vibration figure you could see a ten percent increase in power levels."

Jack asked, "Anyone have any idea what Carter just said?"

Thor shook his head, "No."

Daniel smirked, "Not my specialty."

Tony stated, "I understand what she just said. It's a very basic adjustment, Colonel."

Jack told Phil as he motioned towards Tony, "There is your chief scientist."

"I plan on it," Phil agreed.