Day 15.
Tony was quite busy today. And for once, it wasn't actually sitting in the lab and crying. He was actually walking around the property and, surprisingly, outside! However, this outburst of adventure and socialization was for an obvious cause. Unsealing Quentin. He was never going to give up, everyone should have guessed by now.
Stark decided to start the furthest first, which would be outside on the beach to talk to Octavius and his quote to quote kids. Tony did feel guilty about only visiting the man when he needed something. It reminded him of how the other Avengers would treat him... and he didn't like it. He made a mental note to visit more before knocking on the scientist's door.
As expected, Otto was the one to open the door. He smiled brightly when he saw Tony. Those two were at each other's throats years ago, but after resolving all the manipulation and legal contract binding in The Sinister Six, they were able to put all that behind them. To this day, Octavius had no idea where Mysterio's contract was, and he was so glad for that. Tony had finally hid it somewhere, and hopefully it would stay that way.
"Hello Stark," The man greeted, "It's nice to see you, would you like to come inside?"
"Yeah, that would be great." Tony replied while greeting the mechanical tentacles as he stepped foot inside the vehicle and sat down on one of the sofas. Quentin's kid who was known as Jesse, had pulled his therapist through the small portal that Beck was making to return to their world, now, he appeared to be stuck, but he's been staying in the bus with the rest of the gang and seems to be doing just fine.
"I'm sorry to keep doing this, but I came by to ask you and the other members something." The playboy said with some guilt.
Octavius only smiled at him as Flo grabbed his cup of tea off the kitchen table before sitting in front of the Avenger. "It's quite alright, Stark," The man reassured, "What is it that you may ask?"
"I have another rescue idea. I know I already dragged you into one, but I have a hunch about this one... third time's the charm, right?" He joked.
Otto hummed as he took a quiet sip. It was true that he had already been asked to help with getting Mysterio back, and it was no secret that they failed the task quite quickly. Even if this wasn't up his ally or something he was technically good at, he knew how much Quentin meant to Tony. And to himself as well. "Why, of course, I'd love to. Do you have a plan?"
Tony was shocked at how calm and also how fast Octavius had agreed to a second fight with Fury. He was so sure that the man would say no and kick him out. A few blinks and blank stares later, he continued the conversation. "Uh, yeah, I think so. I'm kind of not done putting it all together yet, though, so... is it okay if I get back to you on that? I just have more people to ask."
"That's perfectly fine, Stark. It's good to take your time on something like this. After all, we saw how well rushing in went, hm?"
"Yeah... it didn't really... go as expected."
The tentacle known as Moe politely pat the playboy on his shoulder as a sign of understanding. "Once you can get me an update, I will go ahead and tell the other members. Even if they do not show it, I can tell they miss Beck, just as all of us." Otto confirmed while taking another sip, "I shall see you soon then, yes?"
"Yup!" Tony exclaimed while jumping up from the furniture. "Thank you."
The visit with Otto had surprisingly been successful. That's one group off his list, this next one he was a bit worried about as well, considering he didn't really interact much with their unusual planet crashers. He had met their alien friend, Bubble, and she was very nice. So nice, in fact, not a single cell of his had been triggered by the fact that she was an alien. Still, space was a sensitive topic. Hopefully, they shared a mutual relationship by seeing Peter as a son figure.
A short distant walk on the front of the property would lead to a huge ship. According to the kid, they called it The Intruder. Quite an edgy name, but he'd ignore that. Tony met the Major of the group when Peter had gone to him for help to see if he could help him by fixing his communicator to get in touch with the sergeant of the group. The ship was in rough condition those first few days. In fact, it was fixed now, what kept the three trapped here was lack of fuel. They were from the future, 2740 to be exact. While the year here was 2028. Needless to say, their fuel did not exist here.
Ignoring the boring stuff, he knocked and to genius' surprise the female government agent was the one to answer. The only time Tony and her had really been around each other was when she helped chemistry with curing Quentin from a disease that OsCorp had forced onto him. It was a long process, and he remembered internally stressing out when Peter three had quit on him after hearing what happened to his Harry. Thankfully, she was incredibly clever and even stopped the man from wriggling free of his restraints, which made curing him possible. Another chaotic moment the two had worked together was freeing his Peter, Peter one, from an old symbiote project that Doctor Octopus had made. Other than those, they were pretty much strangers.
"Oh hey I know you, you're Peter's dad, right?" The young adult asked. The sudden mention of the spider had made her partner's head perk up, who was chilling in the cockpit polishing some of his guns.
"Yep, that's me," Tony confirmed before continuing, "This is really short notice and I appreciate your support yesterday. I know you don't really know Quentin, but... I was hoping if you could help me with another attempted rescue?
Laureline had to think about this one. She had seen the mental damage that this man's absence was doing to the other half, and though she didn't agree with the constant battle, she had to empathize. She had broken all kinds of protocol when Valerian crashed his sky jet into the red zone, and to be quite frank... she would be in the exact same position as the man if the one in that box was her partner.
Tony's nerves grew at her silence and judging stare, but the moment her eyes softened, and her lip curved into a smile, he knew her answer. "Sure, but seeing as Valerian and I are a package deal, you're most likely going to need him onboard as well. Care to come in?" She asked.
Stark quietly and politely accepted by stepping aboard the ship. His anxiety was high and started to show. He hated space, he hated wormholes, and he hated being on spaceships. A small sea of flashbacks from 2023 started to replay in his head, when he had been trapped in space with Nebula for five years. He'd never forget that. On the other hand, however, his ADHD brain was going wild with all the advanced tech that surrounded him as she led him over to the Major.
"What's all the discussion about?" Valerian asked. He didn't like to not be involved in things that Laureline had a part in. After all, him and her were a package deal, can't afford one without the other. Plus, he was curious why Peter had been mentioned.
"This is Tony," Laureline introduced, "He is the mentor of Peter." Valerian grumbled at that but stopped rather quickly when the sergeant shot him her stare. "He's requesting our help with freeing the other guy."
To be honest, Valerian wasn't considering helping. He and Quentin had gotten into a disagreement the first time they had met. The Major snuck down into his room and trapped him in alien goo with no warning but, in his defense, Mysterio was covered in blood and seemed hostile. Peter was the one to ask him to undo it, and after that they were at each other's heads. That did change though after the man had been cured. Quentin teleported Valerian to him to ask for help with repairing one of the Arc Reactors he had broke when he wasn't in control. In return, he got Happy Meals, and now they were on good terms but still... was it worth the trouble?
Tony's pleading eyes and his whispers of begs were enough to convince the soldier. After all, he'd be doing this very same thing if it were Laureline. Plus, he knew Peter would want him to even if he and Beck didn't get along... it was the right thing to do. When Stark heard that sigh, he could have celebrated at that very moment.
"I hope you have a strategy. A plan even. Not that it's no problem for us or anything, just for your sake." The Major said with snark.
"I have a pretty good run down. I just need to know who is confirmed in it, so if it's alright with you, I'm going to have to get back to you."
Valerian opened his mouth, only for Laureline to quickly interrupt. "That's okay, Valerian knows more than anyone that these things are delicate and takes some discussion. At least he should." She glared, causing her partner to smile in that dorky way, trying to get off the hook for his past stupidity.
As Tony was about to exit, a blue hand rested on his shoulder, stopping him from leaving.
"If it's not too much trouble... I'd love to help also." Bubble stated, "I've been kind of cowardly, and that's not really like me. I'd love to get out into the action if you can fit me into your schedule." She smiled.
The Avenger was going to turn her down, but then he got an idea. Yes... yes, she would fit in perfectly. He smiled with a nod before tapping her back on the shoulder.
"I'd appreciate that a lot, Bubble. Thank you." And with that he left The Intruder to continue on.
The next step of his plan was the easiest, as he was more familiar with the people he had to ask. He decided to start easiest to hardest for this last category. Firstly, he asked his kid, who agreed to help with no hesitation. Next he asked the Ned kid and his small circle of friends which consist of America, who was more Strange's kid, and their universe's Gwen and Harry. Just like Peter, Ned had no trouble helping, as did the other two. America was a little harder to bargain with but once she heard that Tony gave the green light on portal opening she was more than happy to jump on board.
Next he went to MJ, who had already said yes before Tony even got to ask her. Damn, she was good.
He then tried his luck with the other Peters and their people. Peter two and his Harry were more than happy to help. Harry saw it as something fun to do as Peter saw it as the right thing for a hero to do in a time of need. Peter 3 was more iffy than the other two. It might of been his morals or the fact that he and Tony were on a thumbs up, thumbs down kind of friendship. With some help from Harry the young hero had finally agreed to the terms in which Tony gave a firmful and meaningful thank you before he left to continue on with his recruiting.
Lastly was their shared kid's but more on Quentin's side. Stark hadn't interacted with them a lot apart from a babysitting gig when Beck went to go rescue Chris from Ravencroft's clutches. Thankfully, since they were already bonded with Quentin, it didn't take much convincing for them to agree to the idea. Even Lucien. Checking off his imaginary check list, that was everyone. It was time to now confirm that this thing was happening to the other two groups that he visted first.
Getting everybody in the lab had taken much more time than expected. The good news was that they were here now and with a giant digital whiteboard big enough for even the people in the way back to see, he could finally start to explain his vision. He just had to remember not to get too cocky, that's where he had failed both times. He had to be the leader. Tell everybody what to do and how to do it and even what time certain things should happen.
He had to be an adult.
Questions were asked and answered and some arguments took place between Harries and other variants but afterwards things were back on track. Notes were taken and pretty much everybody knew what their duties were. Stark glanced around the room to see if anybody was confused, he had to make sure they were all on the same page. Thankfully, his break down and explamation had been so good that after the short circle of questions, nobody was lost.
"Alright everybody," Tony exclaimed while crossing his arms and giving the flood of people his most confident look, "Rest up, we have a big day tomorrow."