Chapter 16 Res Ipsa Part 6

The next day, Jen, Noa, and I headed out to meet the experts Noa had gotten together. Or, actually, that Fury had gotten together, Noa was just relaying the info. Which led to me finally meeting the first Marvel family! Well, two members. One of which was my favorite.

The doors of the car Noa had hired out barely closed before I started speaking.

"Look, I respect your choice, but I want it noted for the record that rap music is the voice of a rebellious generation, and your distaste for it is blasphemy."

Jen let out a little 'snrk' while looking at Noa, who just crossed her arms with a harrumph.

We'd been 'arguing' for a good while about musical taste. It wasn't real arguing, more akin to general ribbing. I was mostly trying to distract myself from my nervousness.

The fact is, I wasn't sure that I would be able to find a way home. The last time I'd tried to find my previous universe, it had somehow been locked out. My first home, the one where all this was fictional, had been completely missing from the giant kaleidoscope of universes that was out there. What if my new home, with Jen, Creel, Tony, was also just… missing?

Tony had theories on why my home universe had been locked out, but nothing concrete. Even Agatha didn't have answers, and she was powerful. Maybe if I unlocked Alien X or some similar powerhouse, I could easily get back home, but that wasn't something I could rely on.

Noa's universe seemed nice. But I didn't want to live in it forever.

So… yeah. Arguing with my lawyer about the benefits of rap music to distract myself. We didn't drive too long before reaching the Baxter Building. The closer we got, the more confused I was, until I finally had to ask.

"Is it just me being a man out of time, or do these streets seem emptier? A whole bunch of businesses seem to just be… missing? Somehow?"

"The rent in this area is dirt-cheap," Noa answered. "The problem is why they're so cheap. And that's because there's a very real chance of some member of the Fantastic Four needing to use your business as an impromptu landing pad, courtesy of the villain du jour. Usually a rogue Doombot, as is often the case, but still."

"Ah. Right. Man, I really hope the Avengers Tower doesn't end up causing the same. Then again, the FF."

The Fantastic Four was an amazingly unlucky family of badasses, no matter what verse.

We came to a stop in front of the building. There, a single familiar person stood with a pair of SHIELD agents behind her. I grinned, hopping out of the car to face her.

"Maria Hill, right? Nice to meet this version of you!"

The version of the woman who, in my universe, was a good friend, leader of BRIDGE, and all-around dope individual, gave me a look. Like she'd stepped into something gross. I felt my smile freeze a bit as she turned that same look on Jen and Noa.

"You have everything you need?" Okay, how in the fuck did she manage to make such a simple sentence sound like an insult? What?

"Uh," I looked over at Noa and Jen, the alternate of my girlfriend giving a nod like 'I know right?'

"I should be asking the same," Noa remarked, one hand on her hip. "What more does SHIELD need before you start doing your own damn jobs?"

"Your complaints have been noted," she said. "Now come on. We don't have all day."

I looked over to Noa, who was bristling.

"I hate that woman," she said through gritted teeth. "I hate her so, so much…"

"Least you don't have to talk to her every other Tuesday," Jen mumbled.

"My universe is looking better and better all the time," I added. Feeling just a bit deflated, I walked forward, nodding to the two SHIELD agents. "Dan, Storme. Doing well?"

"Uh… yes?" Dan asked, confused, following after us.

"Don't engage with him," Maria snapped.

"Yeah, I might give you dimensional cooties," I waved my fingers teasingly.

As we got into the elevator, Maria continued to glower. Noa and Jen both gave her dirty looks, and then proceeded to whisper between one another, even though Jen was a good three feet taller than Noa. I guess both of them having enhanced hearing made that possible, but it was definitely disconcerting to look at.

After the longest elevator ride of all time, the doors opened. And I felt my smile return with a vengeance.

"Morning," a man with a very cool ass voice said. He was made of orange rock from head to toe, a pair of familiar blue trunks on his waist and simple blue '4' at his hip. He smirked at us, a pair of beautiful blue eyes warmly looking across us. "Well, aintcha a cheery bunch. What happened, Jen told a bad joke?"

"Shut up and give me a hug, you idiot!" Jen laughed, stepping past Maria with a shove and clenching Ben Grimm tightly.

He chuckled, gently hugging her back. As she stepped aside, he gave me a smile. "How you doing? Benjamin Grimm."

"Dude. You are one of my fucking heroes," I said, grasping his hand eagerly. Wow. More gentle than I expected.

"He's also why my condo building exists," Noa said under her voice. "Villain used him to wreck the old one."

"Can we move on?" Maria snapped.

"Do you get paid per ounce of bitching?" I snapped, not even looking at her. I focused on Ben again. "So, where to?"

Ben's grin stretched with the sound of stone grinding on stone, the big man waving a four-fingered hand for us to follow. "Come on. Reed's bunch of eggheads are already working on theworking the problem."

As we walked along, Ben continued speaking. "So, another universe, huh? You know any other me's?"

"God, I wish. Far as I know, you joined a project Reed was heading up and kinda disappeared? I'm trying to find you, but uh…"

"Don't worry about it," Ben chuckled. "I think I'll be alright."

I wasn't sure how true that was. If he was maybe putting up a front of some kind. "We um… We're working on potential cures? Or at least, a way to control it as a transformation, using my Omnitrix. I don't know how possible it is, but-"

Ben patted my shoulder, a bit roughly. "Kid… Let it go. Whatever you plan on doing, I don't need to know about it here. Okay?"

Before I could say more, Maria Hill interrupted.

"If they're ready for us, Mr. Grimm, bring us in. We've no time to lose."

Ben grunted, leading us in. We reached a double set of metal doors that slid open as he approached. Inside was a bunch of blue ribbons stretched across a whole host of machinery. Ben walked in, looking around. "Reed! Yer newest project is here, egghead!"

"Hm?" One of the blue ribbons vibrated briefly. "Just a moment, Ben, I'm speaking with Pym in the other room!"

A door slid open, and one of the blue ribbons came out of those doors, followed by a head and a man. The blue ribbons all around us began to flow like water, zipping back and forth, putting down beakers, tapping buttons, turning on and off various screens, until they condensed into a singular man standing next to the other.

Reed Richards and Hank Pym. Reed was how I'd pictured him, wearing the blue bodysuit, a single number four on his chest, a very sophisticated bit of white hair at his cheeks, and a slightly absentminded look.

Hank, in his own red suit, looked a lot more… intense. He had a more muscular build than Reed, but beyond that, he had lighter brown hair, a bit of a five o'clock shadow, and a look that reminded me of… Fitz. He looked like an older, more intense Fitz.

What did that say about my friend?

I looked over at Noa, who seemed very tense all of a sudden. "You okay?"

She didn't offer a response, instead just furrowing her brow and crossing her arms.

Reed came over, a smile on his face. "Jen, good to see you again. Miss Schaefer, I hear good things about you from certain colleagues, Dr. Strange in particular." Then he turned to me, and the polite smile on his face turned genuine. "And you would be the man of the hour!"

"Is this the part where I suddenly reveal this was all a ruse to marry Sue?" I couldn't help but joke. "Seems to happen a lot to you."

"Please no," Noa cut in. "Namor did that in '86, he flooded Manhattan for a week after."

"Mole man tried a couple times," Ben added.

"There was that alien dude, what was his name, with the hair?" Jen asked.

"Oh, and then there was-" Hank was about to say before Reed coughed.

"Anyways!" He continued. "So. You, Mr. Schahed, are what we have been calling a Faller. Someone who has dropped in from a different plane of existence. As much as we've wanted to learn more, we haven't exactly had a Faller willing to come in for some scans, so—"

"Apologies for interrupting, but? Brief pause before you go further." Noa tapped her foot as she looked between Reed and Maria Hill. "A Faller willing to come in. Mr. Richards, how long has this phenomenon been going on?"

Maria looked like she wanted to say something, but Jen's hand on her shoulder shut her up.

"It's a little hard to say," Reed began, scratching at his chin. "I'd say… somewhere between two and four Fallers a year for the last five years?"

"I see." Noa turned her attention on Maria Hill, and walked up to the SHIELD agent. "Five years. SHIELD's had five years to come up with protocol on this, and when you finally decide to have outside counsel come up with protocol, you wait until the one time in the last three years I'm on vacation to shanghai me into this!?"

"..." I looked between Maria and Noa. Ben and Jen were grinning fit to burst while Reed and Hank had very awkward looks on their faces. The SHIELD guys tried to look invisible.

"It… I was ordered to-"

Hank coughed, tapping me on the shoulder. "Mr. Schahed. If you could come this way?"

I was chuckling as I got pulled aside, Reed quickly following. The two geniuses sat me down at a table. I looked around. "So just you two? I thought someone else was supposed to come?"

Reed winced, grabbing a scanner off a nearby table and beginning to run it over my body.. "Um, yes, indeed. Stark was supposed to come, but he is… indisposed."

"He's drunk," Hank snapped.

"Hank…"

"Reed, he's a big boy, he doesn't need you defending him," Hank said. "Tony Stark was supposed to be here. But he decided that getting both drunk and hungover was more productive."

"..." I sighed sadly. "Maybe, cut him some slack."

"Cut him some slack!? That man is one of the greatest geniuses I've ever seen, and he's-"

"Addicted," I snapped. I tried to breathe, pushing down memories of similar conversations. "He's addicted. It's a disease, not something he's trying to do, Dr. Pym. Even ignoring the genetic component, he's someone who needs help. I know what it's like. To have something horrible take control of your own mind, forcing you to do things that you know are destroying you, but still not being able to stop it."

Hank shut his mouth with a snap. He hesitated for a moment, then scowled.

"How about we focus on the problem at hand?"

"Indeed," Reed agreed just a bit too quickly. "Now, Mr. Schahed, you said that your universe has been having trouble with Fallers as well?"

"More like one giant incident with them," I said. "Rio De Janeiro got hit by a Time Quake that ended up pulling people in from all across timeline and from space as well. And ever since then uh…" I tried to remember the science words for it, but it was tough without Jury Rigg's genius intellect. "There's been like, a thinning of the walls between dimensions?"

Reed and Hank stared at me, then shared a significant look.

"Oh no," I mumbled. "Don't tell me-"

"We've been seeing something similar," Reed said, sounding contemplative. "There have always been incidents that proved our universe was connected to others, but my analysis has been that the increase of these incidents in recent years is no coincidence."

"The same thing is happening in the Microverse," Hank said, crossing his arms. "My contacts down there have been talking about intrusions from unknown people, even a portion of an army claiming to work for some kind of Warlord."

"So both of our universes are starting to have thinner walls defending them?"

Reed finished scanning me, and looked at the results. "Most likely from the same source. The energy clinging to you, once I separate it from that device," he gestured to the Omnitrix. "Is something we've been seeing for some time."

"Dr. Strange mentioned it as well. Something about the outer planes losing cohesion?" Hank pointed out. Reed scowled.

"I'm not entirely sure we can take that as evidence."

"Why, because it's magic?"

Reed gave me a look. Sighed. Then looked back at his results. Pym chuckled, shaking his head before speaking. "Finding a way to send you back shouldn't be too hard. The problem of thinning walls is our solution, in this case."

"Can you find my dimension though?" I asked, finally saying what had made me nervous this whole time. "Last time this happened, we couldn't find my last universe."

Hank scratched his chin in thought. "Well if you're doubly a Faller, then we've got no shot of finding your original original. But the one you came from to get here? That's doable."

That was a relief. "Okay. Well, if you guys don't mind, I'll jump in to help as well."

"You will?" Reed asked, brow furrowing. "I mean no disrespect, I did not realize you had any expertise on this beyond your experience."

"I don't. But one of me does." I flipped on the Omnitrix, swapping through the holograms until I landed on my boy. With an immediate press down, my body shifted in blaze of green light.

"JURY RIGG!" I brushed some imaginary dust off my AC/DC shirt and grinned up at them. "Well!? Let's do some science!"

"... Fascinating," Reed mumbled, that absentminded professor look replaced with something almost predatory. Like he wanted to grab the Omnitrix, and didn't much care if I was still attached to it. "If I could get a moment to look at that-"

"Focus, Reed, focus," Hank said, though he looked just as curious. "How smart is this form?"

In answer, I said… okay, I have no clue what I said. I could understand the science of dimensional stuff in the way that any comic nerd does. Jury Rigg, on the other hand, for all his prankster nature, was a scientist.

So when I explained my own theories on the nature of the dimensional walls, it wasn't with metaphor and anecdotal evidence that my human form used, it was with cold heart facts and numbers. Hank's eyes lit up and he made an addendum to my calculations.

Reed corrected him, reminding him of… something?

The experience of trying to remember my own genius words was hard enough without trying to remember everyone else's, damnit! When I was little, I'd read Flowers for Algernon. That fit the situation perfectly. Going from normal, to insanely smart, to normal again.

"Oh god, there's three of 'em," Ben Grimm sighed when he realized what was happening. "Wake me from dis nightmare."

"I think it's kinda cute," Jen said, grinning. "Bruce would love this."

"We don't need your brute of a cousin coming here," Maria squeezed out between hostile lips. "How long will this take?"

"As long as it needs to," Noa snapped. "Ms. Hill, if you have nothing else of value to add, remain quiet. More important people are talking."

"You-" Maria was about to say.

"Coffee!" I shouted, interrupting the argument. "I need coffee! Or energy drinks!"

"Energy what?" Ben said.

"Coffee then! We've got work to do!" I ran over to a pile of metal. "Reed, you using this?"

"I was actually-"

"Great!" I dived in. Within moments, I started pushing things together. Hank walked over. After looking over what I was doing, he shrank down to match me in height and joined in. Reed's limbs soon stretched to join us.

"I guess I'll get coffee," Ben grumbled. "Noa, Jen, you wanna join me? We got a fresh pot."

"May as well," the smaller mutant said with a shrug. "Ben apparently picks good coffee, every rabbi argues over who gets him for weekend services."

"Are you sure it isn't my winning charm and personality?" Ben said with a wink, walking the ladies off.

Maria Hill scowled at them, then at us. Finally she just stood there, arms behind her back and watching closely while we all ignored her. I did note Noa walking off, and a thought came to me. I owed her, right? So…

"One sec," I hopped out of the twisted edifice of metal we were working on. "Gonna work on a side-project."

"Is that the best use of our time?" Hank asked, growing to about ten feet in height to place a portion of our device a bit higher on the edifice.

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"It's important!"

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Four hours. That's how long we were at it. Reed, Hank, and I had a lot of work to do. While I wasn't knowledgeable on the exact mathematics of it, I understood some of the basics of what we did.

I explained it to Noa at some point while I drank my sixth cup of coffee.

"First, while the energies surrounding me are unique, there is always the possibility that some other version of me went into the universe of a different version of this one. So we need to make sure the universe is exactly the same. Then, we need to make sure you don't get pulled in. And I do mean you, specifically."

"I'm not a Faller, Mahmoud," she said. "I didn't get here the same way you did there, so I doubt it's a risk."

"Well, you did spend the most time with me. There's a low chance that you and I are connected in some way, that the dimensional energy surrounding me latched onto you. So unless you want a vacation in my universe, we have to avoid that. Same with Peter and the others."

"So… in the other room then?" Noa asked.

"At least when it opens. Just to make sure no one gets the succ." I ignored her wince as I chugged my coffee and poured another cup. "We also have to make sure we land on the right time period. Can't send me back too far or forward in the timeline. Landing in the nineties of my universe would be uh…"

"Bad."

"The other thing to worry about. The planes surrounding my universe. That's more your teacher's wheelhouse, but it's something to worry about," I rubbed my long red nose. "I don't want to see Hell. Not again."

"One of those days, huh?" Ben asked, walking over with his pot of coffee. "I've had those. Was it the one with lava, or nightmares of your failures?"

"Lava presided over by Mephisto."

"Oy vey. Yeah, that one sucks."

"These conversations are why Noa doesn't hang out with us," Jen whispered to me, coming up from behind to poke her friend in the side.

"You," she pointed at Ben, "have been an acquaintance at best. And you," she turned to point at Jen, "for all that you've rocketed up my besties list, I've not even known you for a year!"

"So you'll come to my poker game if I invite you?" Ben asked, sounding sincere.

"... that depends," Noa said noncommittally.

I grinned at the way she said that. Big softie. Finishing off my cup, I grabbed another before speaking. "Honestly, that's on the small side of the list of issues we're dealing with. We need to keep people we don't like from reaching back towards us."

"Otherwise, Sue might end up with another suitor," Hank walked over and grabbed his own cup.

"I wish we'd stop joking about that," Reed grumbled, his head and right hand stretching over to drink with us. "It's a real problem! Plus, last time someone wanted to wed her, they nearly sunk all of Manhattan!"

"Wait, wasn't Namor six years ago?" Noa asked.

"He tried again in August of last year," Reed revealed. "After…"

Everybody trailed off, and the collective shudder was all the context I needed.

"How much longer do you have?" Ben asked.

"Not much," Reed said. He frowned. "We're getting some sort of interference. I'm trying to-"

"Holy shit!" I snapped to my feet, an idea flooding me. "The interference! I know what it is!"

I chugged my coffee and hopped off the table, running my short ass over to the device we'd built. It had become a large white-blue ring about as tall as Ben, with a computer console on the left side of it. I began typing at it, Reed and Hank joining me moments later.

"What is it?" Reed asked. "I assumed it was some other universe, possibly-"

"Maybe it's a different traveler?" Hank asked.

"You're both right!" I shouted excitedly. "We're reaching out for my universe, right? Well, why wouldn't my universe be reaching back?"

"Your Avengers," Hank said, immediately understanding. "They're doing what we are, but from the other side."

"What, like two cars going opposite directions on the same road?" Ben asked.

"Exactly!" I pointed at him while I continued to type. I hesitated briefly when I hit a more challenging equation. Reed stepped in, easily taking over. I ran to the portal and ripped out a section. After grinding it between my teeth to adjust it, I placed it back. Hank shrank down to about an inch, hopping into the machine.

"Are you telling me another universe is attempting to make an incursion into ours?" Maria's very annoying voice cut in. "Because if so, we'll need to-"

"It's not an incursion, it's a rescue attempt!" I shouted, running over to grab at Ben's trunks. "Sorry, need this."

"Need wha-" Ben then cut himself off when I ripped off a portion of his pants, the bottom inch or so. I did the same to Noa's skirt before she could stop me, rushing back to the device. "I'll pay you back!"

"Wha- you- this was a two hundred dollar skirt, you jackass!"

"It's for a good cause, I swear! Universe things happening, can't talk! Reed?"

"There, and there," Reed pointed at the necessary sections. I placed Ben and Noa's stolen fabric as needed. If it worked, the energy pulsing through the machine would get diverted by the cloth without needing to interfere with the wires. I spat on them for luck and hopped off.

"What are you even doing?" Jen asked, befuddled.

"They're reaching for us. So instead of trying to reach back, we're going to pull," I explained quickly. "If I'm right, they'll figure out what we're doing and go with the flow."

"And if your folks try the same thing?" Ben asked.

"..."

Ben facepalmed, rubbing his cheeks with a sound of rock grinding. "Oy vey."

We waited for a moment, Reed typing, Hank hopping out of the machine to grow to normal size and help him, while I kept an eye for any changes that needed to be done. It was a tense couple of minutes. I looked over at Maria Hill and noticed that her SHIELD guys had guns pointed at the portal.

"...Hostility aside, if something comes out of there that can somehow take down Ben or Jen, what would be the point of that?"

As the SHIELD guys tried not to feel ridiculous. Maria Hill ignored me. I chuckled. God, she really hated superhumans, huh?

"Okay, they listened to us," Reed said. He stretched a single limb across the room, his left arm, and grabbed a bulky hunk of plastic that was probably the 90's equivalent of a tablet, bringing it back to hook it up to the console. "I'm going to download the control program. Everyone else should head into the viewing room."

"Unless you want to get sucked into another dimension," I quipped as I ran.

"That's more of a weekend thing for us," Ben said, opening the doors to the viewing room and waving us all in. Hank was the last one, joining us at the window. Moments later, Reed slipped in, holding that big ass tablet. "All good, stretch?"

"I believe so!" Reed said, sounding exhilarated. "Ben, these readings confirm so many of our theories! I could solve so many problems, including energy consumption of-"

"Focus, Reed," Hank said firmly. He kept his eyes on the portal. When a flash of green happened next to him, he looked over at me. Then up at me.

In Four Arms form, I clenched tightly to the floor. I looked at him.

"Look, last time I got pulled into another dimension on accident. I just want to make sure this time will be on purpose!"

Ben noticeably shifted in front of Noa, Jen joining him. Maria looked around, then hesitantly stepped behind me.

"This is so exciting!" Reed said, not noticing our nervousness. "Okay! Connection established! Portal opening! In three! Two! On-"

Blue light tinged in red fire erupted from the ring structure. I clenched the floor harder, trying to keep my eyes on the light. From it, a single long tendril appeared. I almost panicked before I realized it was made of metal.

A violet heel stepped out from the portal. She came out with a flip of her long hair, bright eyes landing on me.

"Fantasma!" I shouted, relief filling me like water after a long day.

"Weapons up!" Maria shouted. "Enemy combatants-"

"Stop, stop, it's my Fantasma, not yours," I shouted, moving towards the door.

"She's a Russian supervillain!" Maria sputtered.

"Not for him," Hank followed after me.

I ran up to Fantasma and wrapped her up in a hug, the tiny witch giggling as I lifted her up. "It's good to see you too, Dial. We missed you."

"Same for me," I placed her down, looking behind her. A long metal tentacle came forth. Then another. Then two more. At the end of them, Dr. Otto Octavius popped forth, a nervous look on his face. He looked around, then smiled when he noticed me. "Ah, young Dial! It's good to see you again!"

Otto… had his arms. I mean, I'd expected it to happen eventually, but this was something else. I hid my surprise and just nodded amicably at him.

The others joined us, various looks of surprise on their faces.

"... I'm sorry," Noa asked. "But is, is that Dr. Octavius?"

"Ah, yes, I am at that," he adjusted his glasses and stepped forward, holding a hand out to Noa. "And who might you be, young lady?"

"Another witch?" Fantasma asked, eyeing Noa curiously. "I can sense-"

"No, no!" Noa waved her hands placatingly. "I'm nobody important, honest. Just… don't mind me, really."

"How funny," Fury stepped out of the portal, his single eye looking everyone over. "I've never met anyone who wasn't important before. Dial."

"Fury," I said with a nod.

"FURY!?" Hank, Ben, and Maria said unison.

"Problem?" Fury asked, smirking.

"You're… well-"

"Oh, that's right!" Noa said, suddenly smirking. "Maria, you've never met Fury's nephew, have you? Well, I guess he just doesn't trust you enough for that, now does he?"

"Nephew?" Fury looked over at me questioningly, even as Maria Hill gave a look like she'd bitten down on a rotten lemon.

"Their Fury is white, and his adoptive nephew is, well." I waved in Fury's general direction.

"Huh. That would have been interesting to see," Fury looked over the group. "So. Looks like you've made some friends."

"Sadly, we will have to make this meeting short," Dr. Octavius said sadly. "The portal isn't stable. At most it will hold for-"

"Ten minutes," Reed said, just as sadly. "What a shame. I would have loved to discuss your methodology."

"As would I!" Otto said, moving over to him and Pym. "I'm afraid that BRIDGE isn't allowing me to send data over this portal, but I did wonder-"

"I'd also like to know-" Hank was about to say.

"Stop!" Fury shut them down, raising a hand. "Cut it short before X comes running in-"

"Already here, sir," X poked his head through the portal. He looked around briefly. "We'll need to get moving. Good to see you again, pardner."

"A… cowboy robot?" Hank asked.

"Fascinating!"

"Just leave!" Maria shouted, losing her temper. "Now!"

"...Our Maria is better, huh?" Fury noted.

"Trust me, your Maria can't possibly be as awful as she is," Noa snarked.

"All right. We'll get out your hair. Say your goodbye's, Dial."

I looked over the group. After a moment, I tapped the Omnitrix, shifting back to human form and walking over to Noa. "Hey. Thanks for taking me in. I know it was annoying, but… I had fun. You're pretty cool, Noa."

"... oh, come here, you." The tiny lawyer swept in for a hug, my back stiffening briefly before I laughed and returned it.

"You big softie," I rubbed her back, chuckling. Then I leaned into her…horn? Horn. No ears. That was still weird, even for a guy who turned into aliens. "That big box, in the corner? That's yours. Just have Reed send it to you. Provides perfect restful 8 hour sleep in only ten minutes."

"You magnificent bastard, if you were a woman I'd kiss you."

"I'll let you know if I unlock an Asari form," I pulled away, smiling. "Hopefully, if we do meet again, it'll be easier on you… Stay safe, Noa."

"You too, Mahmoud. Best you can, anyway."

"I'll avoid dropping into other dimensions," I looked over at Jen. "See you on the other side?"

"I will," she smirked. "Too bad you weren't willing to-"

"Don't even start," Ben tapped her head, getting a good natured punch in the side in turn.

"Reed, Hank, good working with you. Hill, kiss my ass."

"Just. Leave." Maria hissed angrily.

"It was lovely to meet you all!" Fantasma said, hopping back into the portal.

"I hope one day we can have an exchange of sorts!" Otto said, shaking his fellow scientists' hands.

"As do I!" Reed said. "I'm afraid my universe's version of you has been less than amicable, to say the least."

"I suppose I am the nervous sort."

"Not really the issue," Hank mumbled.

"Last train out, people," X shouted, popping his head back in.

Fury walked up to Hill. He looked over. Her back straightened. Finally he took a piece of paper out and handed it to her, turning and walking back into the portal. She put it away without looking at it.

"... Really hope that doesn't have unintended consequences." I walked up to the portal and looked back. Noa and I met eyes. I gave her a smile, she gave me a wave, then I fell backwards.

Through a waterfall of colors and waves of energy, I fell backwards. When I came out the other side, a pair of green limbs, one feminine, the other masculine, grabbed a hold of me, yanking me out and onto familiar floor.

I looked around, falling to my knees.

"...Guys."

All of them. Jen, Tony, Thor, Hulk, Sam, Creel, literally all of my friends, were standing around the room, Steve stepping forward with Sam as Jen and Hulk helped me up. Steve patted my shoulder, looking relieved.

"Welcome home."

"Good to be-URK!" Jen pulled me in, and suddenly I had an eight-foot Amazoness trying to pull my soul out through my mouth.

Sam watched as I struggled. "Well, I ain't gonna beat that hello."

Thor laughed, patting me on the back, and the floodgates opened. I pulled back from Jen, smiling brightly at her, then looked around, unable to hold back the tears as the portal closed behind us.

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July 23rd, 2014

"So wait, you didn't even get to meet me?" Tony said later, sounding annoyed. "That's bullshit! You met Steve!"

"For like five seconds," I said. I was sitting on the couch next to Jen and Creel, who had Izzy in his lap. Everyone else was gathered around us to hear about what I'd gone through, and we'd gotten to the big part. What their counterparts were like.

"Better than nothing!" Tony crossed his arms, sighing. "He was too drunk and hungover to meet? That's just-"

"Like the way you used to be?" Rhodey pointed out. When Tony glared at him, Rhodey shrugged. "Hey, you're way better now, but I used to wait hours for your hungover ass to show up places."

"Well I never skipped out on science," Tony grumbled.

"You met me though?" Pietro asked, sounding excited. He'd rushed over the second Wanda told him about what happened, and was now sitting with his sister.

"Yeah. During that whole… Nazi scientist continuing his experiments, thing. Which-"

"Already taken care of," Maria, arm in arm with Sam, said with a sad look on her face. "He's arrested and his surviving subjects were taken in."

"Jesus," Steve mumbled, sounding horrified. "I was hoping that was only in the other universe."

"We have a lot more in common than I'd like," I mumbled. "I did manage to share about some of our own problems. Like the SRA… Okay, what the fuck?"

I looked around. There was a set of very uncomfortable looks on everyone's faces. Jen rubbed the back of her head, her curly hair bouncing with the movement. She finally spoke.

"We uh… wanted to wait. To tell you. There's been some developments."

Maria rubbed her forehead. Tony and Steve had twin looks of exhaustion. And Hulk, with all his bulk taking up most of the space in the room, sipped at the blender cup he was drinking from.

"Bad things," Hulk said wisely.

I took a moment to consider the implications of that.

"...Fuuuuuuuc-"

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Author's Note: I always like when the world continues to change even while the protag is away, and this is part of that. From here, things get a might bit political, but first, a small mission where Dial gets back into the groove of things.

It's MOSTLY done, but I want to make sure that chapter looks good. For now, have a good one folks.