Moments later my black and green form was joined up with our Quinjet as we rocketed through the sky. I did a roll while Rhodey whopped in joy and Natasha smirked, the two piloting me back to the helicarrier.
“Hey,” Natasha asked suddenly as we flew. “How many environments can you survive in?”
I blinked a singular green eye. “What sort do you want me to survive in?”
Natasha pulled on the controls, guiding me to downwards. Curious, I went where she told me too.
“Uh... Natasha?” Rhodey asked.
There was nothing but blue ocean below us. Natasha had that confident smirk on her face as she pushed me to go faster until I broke the sound barrier, not letting up on our downward course at all.
“Natasha!” Rhodey yelled in a panic.
We slammed into the ocean. My surface adjusted to the impact with ease as we dived further and further down into the cold water. I took my radar and sensors and adjusted them for the ocean while turning my HUD into something that would allow Natasha and Rhodey to see in the dark of the sea as though it was lit by a Hollywood movie crew.
“...Wow,” Rhodey said in awe.
The bottom of the ocean soon came into view. Still flying at hypersonic speed, I took us to the nearest objects my radar could find. I slowed down and floated upwards when we came closer to the objects I sensed drifting through the waves. Soon, we were in view.
A pod of Orca whales drifted through the ocean, incredibly massive animals that glided in the water as I flew in to join them. The beautiful animals eyed us as I swam alongside them, the sounds of their clicks surrounding them. Their black and white forms seemed to glide with a grace that left me in awe.
The three of us watched for a moment. Rhodey rested his elbows on my dashboard while Natasha rested in her seat and let me pilot myself for a bit.
Soon though, I decided to look for something else thanks to a wish to fulfill an old dream of mine. With a bit of regret, I turned around, leaving the Orcas behind.
I headed towards coordinates after doing a quick Google search, moving through the ocean faster than the worlds top fighter jets. It didn't long for me to get where I was headed.
“Mahmoud?” Natasha said.
“Just... I've always wanted to see this,” I said.
“What?” Rhodey asked. “You find Atlantis or something?”
I chuckled at that. “No. But we're in the North Atlantic, and according to my GPS, this should be off the coast of Newfoundland at the right coordinates. I'll admit, maybe it's kind of stereotypical of me to think 'hey, I can swim to the bottom of the ocean at high speed, I want to go to see'...” I trailed off when it came into view.
A ship, resting on the bottom of the ocean. Well, the front of one. It was brown and rusted and cracked in various locations. The part where it had torn from its back section looked squashed, as though a giant had pulled it until it snapped. A metal pole rested across the top of it. Despite the decrepit look of the wreck, it had a sort of majesty to it. You could see the remnants of the great ship it had once been. The Quinjet being positively tiny next to it helped.
“Okay, that is cool,” Rhodey said, looking closer.
“That's...” Natasha added softly.
“The Titanic,” I clarified. “I've always wanted to see her. It's been a dream of mine since I was a kid. Granted, I wasn't the submarine in my dream...”
While I could easily see every bit of the ship with my robotic eyes even despite the darkness, I still shone a light across its surface, simply for how cool it looked. We flew around the ship, Rhodey taking photos on his phone and Natasha watching peacefully. After a while, Natasha spoke.
“Okay, time to go. Unless you have something else you've always wanted to see?”
I thought about that. Then I rose up, shooting towards the surface. As we slammed into the open air, I kept going, making it clear that my only goal was up towards the sky.
“Oh come on,” Rhodey groaned. “Don't tell me you want to see satellites or something?”
“No,” I admitted. “But I want to see the curvature of the Earth. See if those flat-earth people know what they're talking about.”
“Speaking as a former fighter pilot and current owner of flying power armor capable of going up that high, I guarantee you they aren't,” Rhodey said in the dry tones of the severely offended.
Passing the clouds, we were soon high enough that blue sky became black night. My rockets glowed green, pushing me through the atmosphere. The rotors in my wings twisted into engines similar to those one would see on fighter jets. Soon, we were out of the atmosphere, in the middle of true space.
From there, I turned us around. I could see the Earth's beauty below. I could sense satellites in the distance. The sun glowed with enough power to blind a person without protection, which made me glad I'd prepared for that by polarizing the window for Rhodey and Natasha.
And I could sense the moon in the distance. Reaching my sensors out until they were far more powerful than anything on Earth, I found what I was looking for. They were hiding pretty well, but they were there. I hid away that confirmation.
Instead, I focused on the view, on the sight of the clouds on the planet below, on the sun, burning so beautifully, and the place beyond all that. My sensors became telescopes, and I showed Rhodey and Natasha close up views of the other planets.
None of us said anything. We simply watched the wonder around us in peace.
After a moment, we twisted back towards the Earth.
I didn't know what to think. The things we had seen... Few people on Earth had seen either the Titanic in its final resting place on the bottom of the ocean or the deep of space with the Earth rolling beneath them. I couldn't imagine many who had ever seen both. Somehow it felt... like a privilege. Something I had to earn now.
“Thanks,” Natasha said. “I... I never thought I would see things like that.”
“Me either,” I admitted. “I wish we had time. With aliens around, there are planets to visit. People we could talk to. There is so much to do out there.”
“Earth isn't good enough for ya?” Rhodey asked jokingly.
I barked out a laugh. “No, of course it is. Our planet is hands down the best man, we created the telephone!”
“Pretty sure other aliens have the telephone too,” Natasha noted.
“Well, we also made Cinnabon though,” I joked.
“So what?” Rhodey asked. “You eager to see the aliens your watch turns you into?”
Flying as the Quinjet, I felt glad I could hide my reaction.
“I mean, I'll be honest,” Rhodey said. “I would not like to fight an entire species that can turn helicarriers into their own personal death machines. Or unstoppable monsters like Rath or Diamondhead.”
I didn't answer. Natasha clearly noticed my lack of reaction, but I simply flew towards the helicarrier.
It might be time to give explanations to the group. Maybe not right that second, but after I'd had a moment to think.
------
“So Rhodey tells me you cheated on him with a giant woman,” Tony said a grin as soon as he saw me on the catwalk, staring down at the ocean. He walked up and sat next to me. “I mean what, you two join bodies one second, then you're hitting on someone else the next? You promiscuous bastard.”
“First off,” I said with a scowl. “You, of all people, calling me promiscuous-”
“He's devastated,” Tony said, still grinning. “I mean, you two were once one body, one soul, then a red-eyed tart comes along-
“-I've read the tabloids, I'm pretty sure not a single supermodel on Earth hasn't at least heard a crappy pickup line from you-”
“-I know you're young, but love like the one Rhodey and you share only comes-wait did you call my pickup lines crappy? Kid, I've been with more woman than you've ever stared longingly at-”
We were arguing in the room that had now become the hang out on the ship, someplace that had once been the clear dome on the bottom of the helicarrier. We stood on the catwalk that led to the tower in the center of the room. After a moment, we both ran out of insults, simply staring at the ocean below.
“Rhodey said you wanted to talk to me about something?” Tony asked. “I mean, I generally ignore requests, but if you put one in with Happy...”
I snorted. “It's about you replicating Upgrade. It's about X. It's about a million things.”
“Hmf,” Tony moved to sit on the catwalk, letting his legs dangle in the air. “Well, that's a lot. You want to start with how X is an AI?” When I gave him a surprised look, he smirked. “Come on, who're you talking to? Of course, I knew. I figured out he'd evolved almost immediately.”
“Is that possible?” I asked. “For an AI to develop in a single day?”
“Eh, depends on the AI,” Tony said. “I've been trying to make something like that myself, to run certain projects...” Tony waved for me to sit down. Once I'd done so, he spoke again. “Okay, so here's the thing. I want to bring you in on some projects me and a friend have been working on. Usually, you would be too dumb for me to even mention it-”
“I do my best,” I said offended.
“Losers whine about their best,” Tony said without skipping a beat. “Anyways, where was I? Oh right. Your watch is the most advanced thing I've seen. Hands down. And Jury Rigg can make some unbelievable things out of literal junk. But if we work together...” He removed one of the communications devices we'd made from his ear and held it out. “This thing is going to revolutionize how we talk to people, kid. I mean, quantum entanglement? The ability to talk to someone who is across the universe instantly, no worrying about lag or things like light speed? Once we figure out how to make these without Jury Rigg, and mass produce it... It'll change the world.”
I leaned against the metal railing, swinging my legs as I watched him put it away. “You use that watch to turn into mad geniuses, I help you make cool toys, you help me do the same, and I'll pay you. How's that sound?”
“...What about SHIELD?” I asked.
“What, you want to work for them too?” Tony asked. “Sure, we'll throw it in the contract. Just no sharing anything you make for me with them, not without them paying us a shit-ton. Deal?”
I thought about that for a moment. Working with whatever SHIELD was going to become, making money by creating things with Tony 'freaking' Stark. That sounded awesome!
“I'm in,” I said. “But one thing. We do everything, and I mean everything, to make sure not to create some sort of Skynet machine, okay? If some robot similar to Upgrade got out, we'd all be in some shit.”
Tony rolled his eyes. “All right, fine.”
“I'm serious,” I said. “I know making robots is cool, but if we do make them, let's make sure they're run by an AI we know isn't crazy. And that any we develop are on a non-networked computer. On the moon. While making sure it knows 'humans are friends, not fuel.'”
He chuckled, nodding. “Yeah, all right kid. Welcome to the Stark Industries R&D department. Bruce is going to love your paranoia.”
------
Later we'd arrived at the rendezvous. Sitting in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, with no land in sight for hundreds of miles, was the Iliad. It was kinda funny seeing her in the middle of the water with two Insight helicarriers flying over to join her. Sort of a mesh of the old and new. Quinjets and helicopters flew came from across the world, carrying SHIELD agents and personnel from bases everywhere.
Our helicarrier was where the proceedings would take place, so I watched from on top of the command tower as people began to arrive. Tony, Steve, and Clint were with me, all dressed in casual clothes now. I'd chosen to wear a SHIELD t-shirt and sweatpants as we watched the people come onto the ship in droves. Iron Man's good mood had evaporated by now as we watched a plane with rocket engines slowly hover to land on the flight deck. The black plane, called 'the Bus', was big enough that a parking space had to be set aside for it.
“I can't believe he was alive all this time,” Tony said.
“He wasn't,” I replied. “You saw the same files we did.”
“Whatever, temporarily dead!” Tony spat out. “Damn it, I... I mourned for that guy! I went to his funeral, I sent his girlfriend flowers and... shit.”
Steve placed a hand on Tony's shoulder, and didn't look offended when Tony shrugged it off. “He has a lot to answer for, but he did sacrifice everything for the world to try and stop Loki. For that, we should give him a moment to try to explain.”
“Explain why he lied to us?” Tony shook his head. “I'm not wired like that, Steve.”
“It wasn't anything personal,” Clint noted.
“Of course you'd say that,” Tony scoffed.
I sat down and watched as the Bus landed. Soon, the hatch in the back opened, and it's occupants came out. In the center stood Phillip J. Coulson, the target of Tony's ire. A man who had died, but was brought back to life in a project called TAHITI, one so secret I couldn't find out any specifics about it. With him were five other people.
Leopold Fitz, a young man with curly brown hair and a mind so brilliant it left me in awe. Standing next to Jemma Simmons, a young woman with long brown hair and a mind for biology that left me just as amazed as Fitz. The two geniuses stood close to each other. Apparently they were together so often people would simply call them Fitz-Simmons.
Melinda May, an older Asian woman with long black hair, and someone so famous in SHIELD that the personnel were constantly whispering about the legend of 'the Cavalry.' A lot of people were trying to find a way to get her with the other famous fighters of our little fleet to start a some sort of tournament between them.
Then there was Skye, last name not chosen. Jarvis had found information that she was actually named Mary Sue Poots, which... goddamn, no wonder she changed it. Mary Sue was bad enough to my writers sensibilities, considering the hatred connected with that name, Poots was freaking ridiculous. She was a skilled hacker, enough for Jarvis to acknowledge her, and was a recent addition to SHIELD.
Last was Antoine “Trip” Triplett, a skilled operative in his own right, and, interestingly, a descendant of a Howling Commando. He was a tall and extremely fit man, with a well groomed mustache.
The group seemed devastated, a sort of heavy sadness shared between them all, even the stoic looking May. As they walked forward, I saw Sharon Carter call out to Trip, who smiled. He walked up to her and the two hugged in greeting.
“Peggy Carter's great niece and Gabe Jones' grandson,” I noted as I watched them speak. “Guess it makes sense they know each other.”
“Huh,” Tony watched them meet with a complicated look on his face. So did Steve.
“I say its just what we need,” Clint said. “We're rebuilding SHIELD. It only makes sense for the descendants of the people who made it to be there for it.”
Tony didn't seem to know what to think of that, possibly thinking of his father as he watched his fellow members of the 'Descendants of Steve's friends' club. We watched Coulson and his team enter the ship. Next came the crew of the Iliad, flying up on a Quinjet.
Robert Gonzales, the captain of the Iliad, was in the center of his team. He'd only brought three people, none of whom I recognized, since I'd only checked Coulson team on Tony's behalf. One of them, a tall woman with long black hair, looked like Lucy Lawless from Xena: Warrior Princess though, and the blonde had the same looks as the First Officer from the show The Orville, one of my favorite TV shows in my world. They must have been fairly important in this universe.
“Jarvis,” I asked, knowing he was listening over comms. “Tell me about the three people with Gonzales.”
“Of course sir,” Jarvis said. After a second, he spoke once more. “The blonde woman is-”
“Bobbi Morse,” Clint said fondly.
I kept from flinching as I realized I was looking at Mockingbird. Then I realized something. “Ex-Girlfriend?”
Clint looked up at me, startled. I grinned at him, as did Tony. “Uh...”
“Oh my god,” Tony said with delight in his voice. “Two super-spies dating? Scandalous.”
“Glass houses, Tony,” Steve noted.
“Yeah, like I'd live in one again, but the last one is still rubble in Malibu,” Tony said, still grinning at Clint. “So what, you guys met while stabbing someone at the same time?”
Clint sighed in annoyance. “Can't you keep bothering Dial about his weird love triangle with Rhodey and a supervillainess?”
“Oh come on!” I yelled, annoyed. “I'm terrible enough with women without you guys spreading rumors.”
“Nah,” Tony said. “Girls like guys with a weird sexual history, makes them curious. Plus, can you imagine how useful some of your aliens would be for-”
“Okay!” Steve interrupted. He spun around to walk away. “Not going to be part of this conversation... Hey Natasha, hey Sam.”
We all spun to see an amused Black Widow staring at us with a very amused smirk on her face, Sam grinning madly.
“Catch you ladies at a bad time?” Natasha teased.
“Can you teach me how to flirt?” I asked, frustrated. “So I can somehow expunge the damage Tony is doing to my romantic reputation?”
“If anything, I'm helping,” Tony smiled innocently when I glared at him. “Hey, I'm just saying. Some ladies might be into a guy who can turn into aliens like Upgra-”
Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
“Please no!” I plugged my ears in horror. “For the love of God!”
Natasha rolled her eyes at our antics. Then she looked at me. “Dial,” I unplugged my ears when I saw how serious she was. “We need to talk. About everything.”
“Fury sent us,” Sam added. “Said it was time you told us where you came from,” he said apologetically.
“...Okay. But I'm going to need some stuff for that.”
------
Moments later, I'd gathered everyone in a room that had once been dedicated to conferences. Avengers only though. That meant Fury, Tony, Steve, Natasha, and Clint. A small group to learn something that could be earth-shattering.
The five of them watched as I worked in Jury Rigg form. I was creating a large ring in the center of the room, building it from one of the HYDRA armors Natasha had found, a TV, and a broken Quinjet ring. It looked like something I'd seen from a kids show once, just a metal ring as tall as Natasha with a bottom section attached to the floor, the armor piece stapled to the ring (literally stapled actually) and the flat screen tv broken and attached to the bottom. Soon, I was done.
“Fix, fix, fix!” I cried triumphantly, stepping away.
“Okay... so what is it?” Fury asked.
“You'll see!” I chirped.
“An entire machine just to tell us where you came from and got the watch?” Natasha asked skeptically.
“And why only us?” Clint added.
“Give him a chance to explain,” Steve said. “Mahmoud... go ahead.”
“One more thing,” I took a deep breath, then tapped the Omnitrix. My red skin became black with green circuits, and I grew far larger in an instant.
“Upgrade!”
With that, I joined with the ring. “This is called the Viewer,” I explained as I joined with it. “I needed the Chitauri parts-”
“Chitauri?” Steve asked, startled. “That's where HYDRA got them from?”
“They did look familiar,” Clint noted.
“Yeah, I can read their code,” I said. “But yeah, I needed them for their power. This... this is going to take a lot,” I said. “The only way this is going to work is for a couple of minutes. I'm using the arc reactor from this helicarrier to power it, and I need to be Upgrade to even work with that. I can't do it for long either, this thing is basically thinning the walls between universes just for a glimpse.”
“You're really not making this clear,” Fury said. “Are you about to break my ship?”
“No,” I said. “The fact is, I've tried this before. Shut down the power in my borough for three days and only got static. But with the big arc reactor, my new experience, and Upgrade, all working together... I won't keep it up for long, and this thing will implode on itself afterwards, but it will be enough for me to show you guys. Besides,” I admitted. “I don't want this thing to last too long. I'm worried about who I'll piss off,” Now fully integrated into the ring, I took a breath for dramatic effect, since Upgrade didn't need air. “I am from Oregon. I was born in Oakland. But... not your Oregon, not your Oakland.”
“What?” Clint asked.
I activated the viewer. The sensation that followed was painful. I pulled in power from the arc reactor, and actually felt the massively powerful engine struggle to keep up with the demand. Even for all of Jury Rigg's genius, I felt the ring I'd made almost buckle inwards under the weight of the task. I adjusted myself, advanced the machine in a dozen different ways. I fought through a strange sort of pain, and I felt the energy pull at my nanite body. It was a struggle, but after a fight to stay in control, I was showing an image of Captain America speaking to Black Widow.
But not the ones I'd come to know and love. The Captain America here had his mask down, revealing someone very different under it. One I'd only recently become familiar with, but that one of us had known his whole life.
“Bucky?” Steve asked in shock.
“Whoa,” Tony said as he watched Natasha give him a very loving kiss that Bucky returned. “Natasha?”
“That...” Natasha stared. “That's me? But different?”
It was true. This was comic book Natasha. Slightly taller, with longer hair and a gold belt that held a familiar symbol on the center. She had gold bracers on her wrist.
Bucky was clean shaven, unlike the one getting deprogrammed in another room. His hair was cut, and he wore a blue and black spandex version of Steve's uniform. Well, unstable molecules rather than spandex, but still.
“This is another reality,” I said. “A universe where Bucky and Natasha ended up together, according to the scans I'm getting from it.”
I switched the view to the next place and felt the arc reactor struggle with it, but there was no danger of the machine disappearing on me. Tony uncrossed his arms when he saw himself as a teenager. “Is that... me? Rhodey? And Pepper?”
The three of them were standing around in casual clothes with an Iron Man suit in front of them. The teenagers were joking with each other, clearly close.
“But I didn't meet them until-”
“Not in this reality,” I corrected. “But there, you have been friends for much longer.”
Another one. This time, it was Clint. He winced at the sight. “Well... shit.”
Hawkeye was sitting in a chair, his head and limbs strapped to it. He was wearing only a white tanktop and orange pants. He'd clearly been tortured and was surrounded by men carrying guns.
“Is this happening right now?” Steve asked, worried. “Can we help somehow?”
“Hell, is this even real?” Tony asked, apparently fascinated.
“It is,” I answered. “But the way this works is that I'm only getting glimpses. This actually happened further back in this world's history. I wouldn't worry though.”
“Why not?” Clint asked, clearly disturbed.
At that moment, as some guy with a scar over his right eye leaned in towards Hawkeye to taunt him, Hawkeye flicked his right index finger. Scar guy suddenly grabbed his neck, choking on something. Hawkeye did the same with his left index finger, and a soldier had the same reaction. His left then right thumb flicked as well, and more men began to die until they were all done. As they fell, a scientist type who'd been watching the proceedings asked a question.
“What the hell?” he said in shock.
Hawkeye responded as a fingernail was held tightly between his fingers. “Shouldn't have left my fingernails in, dummy. Now be smart and get me outta here, or this goes right between you eyeballs.”
“...can you do that?” Tony asked his universes Hawkeye in shock as the group stared at the dimensional viewer.
“No,” Clint admitted. “Might be worth learning though.”
“Yeah, well,” I switched away. “The rest of that universe sucks.”
“How do you know?” Natasha asked. “How do you have those worlds histories?”
I felt thankful for my current machine form. It made it easy to lie.
“I'm scanning them,” I explained. “It's damn exhausting, but I can get summaries on what I'm showing you.”
“How the hell are you doing that?” Clint asked.
“Mostly news stories and the internet,” I said helpfully. “But it hurts like hell.”
“This is hurting you?” Steve asked, worried.
I ignored him to focus once more. The next world made everyone blink. It was a white man with black hair going gray at the sides, sitting at a desk and smoking a cigar as he worked on something. As they watched, Maria Hill walked into view. Well, Maria with an expression on her face as though she'd seen a bad smell.
“Who is... Oh come on,” Fury said when the man lifted his face to reveal the eye patch.
“In this universe,” I explained. “You're the descendant, the Nick Fury Jr. to this guy, who has been kept alive since World War 2 by an experimental drug.”
“Enough,” Fury said. “How do we know this is all real? That it's not just some trick you've pulled off?”
“Why would I tell this kind of lie?” I asked. “I'm from another universe. One where superheroes aren't running around. Apparently, one of the few where that is true, according to my scans. Hell, everything I know about this world is from Google and hacking. I had to learn quick so I didn't end up making mistakes in casual conversation.”
I switched to other views. A man with a giant pair of angular sunglasses was watching the sunset with a sword on his back and a flame-patterned cloak on his back. A giant robot was standing behind him, with two figures walking towards him.
A redheaded man and woman in gender-swapped versions of the same brown shaded clothes speaking to a young woman with black hair and red lips, wearing a white blouse and blue skirt. When the three turned to look curiously at the view screen, I switched away hurriedly.
Another world, where three people were fighting against robots with skull shaped heads, dozens of the steel monsters surrounding them. One of them was a man who wore a red cape and a blue outfit with a “S” symbol on the front as he fired heat beams from his eyes. There was a woman carrying a sword she used to impale one of the robots, wearing an outfit with a large golden piece of armor over her chest shaped like the letter “W”, her beauty as clear as her talent in war. The last could barely be seen, more of a black shadow among his more flamboyant comrades, only truly evident by the destroyed robots he left in his wake, simply a mass of darkness that moved like death.
“We're just one universe of many,” I said, showing a world where a boy with white hair and green eyes in a black outfit with the letter 'D' on it fought against a woman who looked like a green female genie, belly dancer outfit included. “One of infinity, because the Multiverse theory is true. And it's kinda awesome, knowing how unique we are in all this infinity.”
“Then where is your world?” Fury asked.
“...I don't know,” I said in frustration. I didn't fake it. All the power I had now, even with the pain I was fighting through, and I just couldn't-
“You don't know?” Natasha asked, interrupting my thoughts. Feeling testy, I began to explain.
“Look,” I switched the view over to where, according to my scans, my world should have been, the world with my nephew, with my parents and my crappy room. Instead, all that appeared was static. “I got dropped into this universe, and now I can't find mine. Do you want to know something else? I can't find it at any point in its history. Any other universe, even the ones that are destroyed, I can at least view their pasts, but mine? It's just locked out to me! I've got an arc reactor, alien parts burning out, a device built by a mad genius like Jury Rigg, and Upgrade backing me up, but I can't pierce through whatever is blocking me!”
I shouted the last, enraged. “It's not just that I can't get home, it's that I can't even fucking see it! I can't see my family, my friends, I can't find out how my mom is taking my disappearance! But no, I can fucking see the Teletubbies in their goddamn house eating fucking 'pamcakes'!”
The group stared at me before I switched off the viewer. I separated from the viewer, looking at Fury, then turned into a human again. “So there it is Fury. If you want, you can try to arrest me or whatever. But I was given the Omnitrix and just dropped into this world like a bad habit. All I'm doing is making the best of a bad situation.”
Everyone looked over at Fury. He eyed me for a moment. “...I'm going to have you write a full report. And we're going to still strap you to the lie detector”
“Oh come on!” Tony said exasperatedly.
Fury ignored him. “You tell me everything you can possibly remember about your life, between your home universe and this one. I don't care if it's a girl who gave you funny feelings in middle school, tell me everything,” when I opened my mouth to protest, he stopped me. “The Council and others will have questions about you. Questions I'll have to answer. So I'm going to give them answers,” Fury eyed the machine. “And destroy that.”
“What?” Clint asked in surprise. “I wanted to see me being a badass again.”
“Or see yourself turning evil,” Fury said. “Or Steve staying in the forties and having a full life. Tony with kids. An infinity of possibilities, each as slightly possible as the next. Do you all really, and I mean really, want to spend the rest of your life staring into this thing, worried about the lives you might have had? The people you could have loved, who could have lived? Or to suddenly become suspicious of a friend because of the chance they might go bad the way some other version of them did? All the 'what ifs?'” I was suddenly glad I hadn't shown them the Ultimate Black Widow who had betrayed her team. “Having those worlds just out of your reach? People go insane from regular paranoia, hell I'm an expert at it. If even thinking about the possibilities can make people do stupid things, what will being able to actually see them do?”
We looked over at the viewer. I thought of all of that for a moment. Yeah. That was...
“I think you're right,” Steve said, sounding sad. “As tempting as it is... Dial. Destroy it.”
I went over to the dimensional viewer and looked over at Tony. “Nothing to say?”
Tony snorted when everyone looked at him. “No. I've got enough issues with my problems in this universe. Besides, I can always make one for myself now that I know it's possible at all.”
We all thought about that. A moment later, feeling very nervous about working for Tony now, I waved at it. "Well, I don't have to destroy it. I'm actually surprised it's still there, it should have-"
The dimensional viewer began to shake.
“Uh,” Hawkeye said slowly. “Should we leave the room, or-?”
The machine pulled into itself and imploded with a sound like gravel exploding.
“...Why is everything you make so weird?” Natasha asked.
I smiled just a bit. “They have personality,” I looked over the group. “So... we good?”
Fury smirked. “Not really. Not that I don't like you, but you just admitted you have no idea where you got the watch or who dropped you here, and I believe you on that. So I'll still keep an eye on you, simply because it's safer,” Steve, Tony, and I all shared an exasperated look. “But like I said. I think your hearts in the right place, and you're too useful to us not to bring in. And that's good enough for me.”
Well, if that was the best I was getting.
“So uh, that makes me an Avenger?”
Tony grinned at that. “There's the Fanboy we all know.”
“Is there even a protocol for new Avengers?” Clint asked.
“So far, no,” Natasha said. “But with Dial, Sam, and Rhodey in the picture...”
“We'll discuss it later,” Steve said, turning and opening the door for us to exit. “For now, I'd like to think on what we've seen.”
Natasha and Tony seemed to still at that, clearly thinking on that. Natasha's eyes flickered in the direction of where Bucky was being held before apparently dismissing the thought that prompted that. Tony rubbed his chin thoughtfully. And Steve sighed while we all filed out. “Time has a talk with everyone out there. We have ten minutes.”
“Yes,” Fury said. “We're in for the hard part.” He walked outside, his long coat flapping as the Avengers and I followed in his wake. Several SHIELD agents stepped aside, and soon an armed procession took spots along the wall. “You all know your roles in this conversation. Now get changed. I want the Avengers at my side when I meet them, and I need you in costume for that.”
------
Later, in the men's locker room, Sam had joined us to put his own clothes on. Tony and Rhodey weren't in with us since their armor would just wear itself onto them in seconds, leaving Steve, Clint, Sam, and me. I was putting on my boots, the last part of my costume to go on when Steve came up and tapped me on the shoulder.
“Hey,” he said. “I'd like to talk to you in private real quick.”
Nodding as I tried to guess what this would be about, I finished tying my boots and went to join him in the back. Steve looked around to see if we were alone before speaking.
“You said doing that, looking between universes, hurt. I wanted to ask if you were okay.”
“I'm good,” I said. “Just... doing that took a lot out of me. If it wasn't for the ridiculous power of the arc reactor, I wouldn't have been able to do it, and even then I drained the Chitauri armor pieces just to boot the system up. And holding open was like... you ever hold up an impossible weight while having a conversation?”
“A couple of times,” Steve said, reminding me just what kind of badass I was talking too. He sighed. “And what you said, about being from another world? I think, in some way, I understand how you feel.”
“...Yeah,” I realized. “I guess you'd be one of the few.” After all, I wasn't the only one who'd woken up in a world that was so similar and yet so different from home.
“It takes getting used to,” Steve said with a smile. “I'm still bad at it. But if you need help, I'm willing to talk.”
“Same,” I said warmly. “Hell, you ever want to catch up with pop culture, I'm sort of an expert by now.”
Steve laughed. “Well, I have been wondering about Anime. When I went on ice we were still having issues with Japan,” he scowled. “Not that I approve of how that ended of course.”
I winced at the thought of the two bombs that had ended that conflict. “Yeah, well... That's why were doing this, right? To stop anything like Pearl Harbor or the bombs from ever taking place again.”
He nodded thoughtfully at that.