Chapter 2
It was hard for Tony to not feel like an asshole as he watched Stiles aggressively push away from the table, hunching over his legs as short, quick panicked breaths left his mouth. He felt even more like an asshole as he honestly could not figure out why the year seemed to send the boy over the edge, if he had known then he would have been more careful. (And maybe a little less snarky, he’s been working on that.)
He looked between the two teens and the rest of the Avengers, all of whom were watching with identical looks of concern, trying to decide what the best course of action was. In his unfortunate years of experience, Tony could recognize a panic attack when he saw one and he was sure that some of the other occupants could as well, however considering that the boys had just met them (and obviously deemed them as strangers), intervening may only make things worse.
Watching as Scott kneeled beside Stiles, Tony stood up and garnered the attention of the Avengers, “Alright, I believe I promised these boys a warm drink. Why don’t you guys go take care of that?” Questioning eyes landed on him and he could see the way Sam opened his mouth to protest, so instead Tony beat him to the punch, “Ah ah, cocoa won’t make itself and I’m sure everyone could benefit from a cup. We’ll rendezvous in the lounge in a few. Be gone.” He shooed them away, all but pushing them out of the door of the conference room.
“Mr. Stark,” Peter began, the last one to leave. As much as Tony wanted to be angry with the teenager for being out way past the agreed curfew, it was no secret that he had a soft spot and could only be mad for so long. Especially with the concerned puppy eyes the kid was currently sporting, Tony could only pat him on the shoulder.
“I got it. We’ll see you in the lounge in a few, kiddo.” He smiled softly at Peter, his answer satisfying him as the teen finally left.
Alright, so that’s taken care of. Now time for the bigger issue at hand. Scott was still in the process of calming Stiles down and while Tony wanted to step in, he still wasn’t sure what support he could offer. It was obvious that Scott knew what he was dealing with, the teen still knelt beside Stiles, so Tony just gave them their space.
“Boss,my scans are complete.” FRIDAY’s voice came through his ear, “There seems to be lingering traces of dark matter along with another substance that my sensors are failing to recognize.”
Dark matter? Tony watched the boys with furrowed brows as he connected the pieces in his head, his features slowly softening as he created a faint idea of what was going on. Dimensional travel was something he had been curious about, a few years back when he had been toying with the idea of Ultron and dark matter was among the materials that he thought could potentially work.
Stiles was now sitting up straighter, his head in his hands as he rested his arms against the table and Scott was now back in his seat. It was obvious that both boys were still on edge but it was a relief that Stiles’ panic attack had subsided. The more that Tony thought about it, the more he realized that he should have recognized that something was truly amiss here. More so than these kids just spontaneously showing up in New York when they were apparently from California. The fact that they didn’t seem to recognize any of the heroes in the room or, and this isn’t Tony being cocky, the fact that they did not seem to have any vague idea of who Tony Stark is.
“Hey,” Tony said, measuring the tone of his voice in an attempt to keep things calm. Where should he start? “Are you feeling better?”
His eyes were on Stiles however both boys remained silent for a moment before the teen spoke, “I…I don’t know why I freaked out like that.” All the snark that the kid had earlier had seemingly vanished and Tony’s question went unanswered.
“Hey, it happens to the best of us,” Tony offered what he hoped was a comforting smile, crossing the room to take the seat closest to the two. “Seriously, don’t worry about it,” He took a deep breath, now was time for the million dollar question. “You don’t have to say but what was it that set you off?”
Stiles’ eyebrow twitched as he sat up straighter, sharing a look with Scott that Tony honestly could not decipher. Damn teenagers. “You’re not going to believe us.”
“Try me.”
This time, it was Scott that responded, the boy looking at Tony with a nervous expression, “What’s the date today?”
“March 17,” Tony was a bit hesitant to add the year. “2018.”
“Okay,” Scott said slowly, “For us it’s March 17, 2014 .”
Fuck . Tony blinked, taking in the new information. No wonder Stiles freaked the fuck out, if Tony was in his position he was sure that he would have the same reaction. Waking up in a random place was one thing but waking up four years in the future? That was something entirely different.
“We’re not in our world, are we?” Stiles’ question took him by surprise, the fact that the kid had taken the words right out of his mouth coming as a bit of a shock. “I mean, it makes sense. I think we would have heard of some guy flying around in metal armor and a spider-guy.”
“Okay, I’m actually called Iron Man, thanks.” Was that really what he was focusing on? He was met with identical unimpressed expressions, leaving him slightly exasperated. It was much too early to deal with this shit and it was definitely too early to deal with teenage attitudes.
“Okay, Iron Man, ” Stiles said mockingly, “So we’re just, I don’t know, world hopping or something?”
“Try dimension hopping. You guys make a habit of that?”
“If we did, you’d think we’d have said something.” Scott scoffed. “I didn’t even think that was possible.”
“You and me both buddy,” Tony sighed, standing up. “I think we need to share this with the group.”
“Yeah, I could really use that hot chocolate now.” Stiles followed Tony’s lead, standing up from his chair and raising his arms in a stretch before a shiver ran through his body, reminding the older man of the fact that the two boys were still in damp clothing.
Hot chocolate and a change of clothes, and then they could share their information with the rest of the team.
-
Scott fell back against the bed, staring up at the lavish ceiling as he took in the last two hours of his life. Funny enough, waking up in a random clearing was the least of his problems. Finding out that said random clearing was in a whole different dimension four years in the future was what truly disturbed him and Scott was starting to think that he’d rather be dealing with the deadpool right now.
That was a lie. Seriously, that was a lie.
The deadpool was absolutely horrifying and whenever Scott closed his eyes, the 25 million dollar bounty on his head was painted on his eyelids. It was no secret that he was terrified and sometimes, he wasn’t sure if he could handle the pressure of saving his friends and everyone else on that list.
Yesterday was something straight out of a horror movie. The feeling of the canine distemper virus running through his veins was something that he never wanted to experience again, the moment he lost his vision and the black blood oozing from his ears would forever haunt him. He shut his eyes tight, remembering the sound of the gunshot from outside the vault walls and the hysterical sound of Stiles’ voice as he begged for Scott to hear him, to get the mushrooms.
With a shaky breath, Scott stood up, running his hands through his hair as he began to pace the room. He couldn’t think about the deadpool or the assassins right now, he and Stiles were stranded in a different universe and they had no idea how to get home. Tony had been true to his word and got them some different clothes, both of them now sporting identical gray sweatsuits with ‘ STARK INDUSTRIES ’ printed on the left breast. As warm as his werewolf genes can get him, Scott was grateful for the warmer clothing as he hadn’t anticipated waking up in the snow in New York.
Whatever building they were in was magnificent. If Tony hadn’t told them that he was a billionaire, Scott was sure that he would have figured it out anyways. From the extravagant elevator to the fancy lounge, it was clear that a lot of money was involved. Not to mention that the room that he was shown to was bigger than his living room at home.
The conversation in the lounge went a lot better than the conference room. Thank god for that, as bad as it sounded, Scott didn’t know if he could help Stiles through another panic attack right now when he, himself, was barely managing to keep it together. Shockingly enough, delivering the news that they were from a whole ‘nother universe didn’t make the room freak out, if anything Scott was impressed with the way none of them seemed to truly react. Well, except for Peter.
“Sorry, you're saying there's a multiverse? I thought that was theoretical. That…that changes how we understand the initial singularity. We're talking about an eternal inflation system. How does that even work with all the quantum...? It's insane.” Peter’s mouth was open in awe, staring at Scott and Stiles with eyes full of curiosity.
“I think our school is too poor to teach us about quantum theory.” Of course that was Stiles’ response, the boy unperturbed (at least visibly) by his earlier panic attack. “I wish I could provide some answers but I have no fucking clue.”
Scott looked around the room, his eyes landing on the man with longer, dark hair- Bucky, that’s what Tony had told them. He was staring intently at him, something in his gaze completely different than the others in the room. Bucky was looking at him like he was hiding something, or at least, purposely not sharing something.
Scott paused for a moment, furrowing his brow at the memory. There was no possible way that the man could have recognized him as a werewolf, right? Like, there weren’t any werewolves here? He shook his head, clenching his fists at his sides. There was no way, he was just paranoid. He looked up, his eyes meeting his own through his reflection in the mirror.
There was no way, right?
The longer he stared, Scott could have sworn that his eyes were a deep, dark red. Different from the bright red of his True Alpha. His breaths picked up as he stared, the reflection’s claws growing from his fingertips except they looked different. They looked how they did when he was stuck in the school, they were sharper, more lethal. He opened his mouth, leaning in as his fangs poked out; however he was disturbed to realize that he had more. Was he evolving? If so, what was he evolving into? A killer?
“Scott?” Stiles’ voice startled him out of his thoughts. He blinked, his eyes flickering between Stiles and his reflection as he realized that nothing was amiss, neither his fangs nor his claws were out and his eyes were their normal brown. Scott cleared his throat, blinking again as he fully turned away from the mirror to face his best friend.
“What’s up, man?” He questioned, glancing at the clock. It was nearly four a.m and they both were still up.
“You okay?” There was a measured amount of concern in Stiles’ voice.
“Yeah,” He sighed, “Yeah, I’m fine.” Stiles stared at him for a moment, his eyes unbelieving and honestly Scott couldn’t really blame him. He didn’t even believe himself. Oh well. “Are you okay?”
His friend sighed, crossing the room until he was sitting on the edge of the bed. “This is all so fucked up.” He stated. “How does this keep happening to us?”
Scott let out a dry laugh, sitting beside him. “I wish I knew.”
“I mean, did you hear what he said? A wizard? A fucking wizard?!” Stiles sounded as exasperated as he felt. Scott thought back to the lounge conversation and honestly, the more they learned about this universe, the more distraught he felt.
“Interdimensional travel, that’s fascinating.” Bruce said, “And you guys have no idea how you did it?”
“How many times do I need to keep answering this question?” Stiles groaned, throwing his head back as Scott shoved his shoulder.
“No sir, we don’t.” Scott answered, ignoring how Stiles smacked his arm. “Is this something you guys are familiar with?”
“Well, not really us.” Peter trailed off, turning his head towards Tony. “But we do know somebody.”
“We are not calling the wizard.”
“A wizard?” Stiles gasped, his jaw dropping open as he sat up quickly. “You’re joking, there is absolutely no way.”
“We know a wizard.” Peter grinned. He kind of reminded Scott of Stiles, or at least how he was before the ritual.
“It’s hard to believe that this is the craziest thing to happen to us when we’re dealing with this.” Stiles said, pulling something out of his pocket. Scott glanced down, taking a seat beside him as he recognized the sheet of paper. After Lydia had cracked the third cipher key, she and Stiles had compiled all three parts of the deadpool into one list. Said list, Stiles seemed to have kept in his pocket.
Scott pursed his lips, his fingertips barely brushing the paper. “Why do you have this?”
“Sometimes,” Stiles sighed before taking in a deep breath, “Sometimes I’m worried that I’m stuck in another dream. I don’t know why, but it’s a reminder that this is a very real thing that we are dealing with.” The two stared at each other for a moment before they simultaneously threw themselves backwards onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling.
“Couldn’t sleep?” Scott asked after a while.
“The room’s too big,” Came the response, “And I didn’t really want to be alone. Ya know.” His hands waved around, extenuating his statement.
He could only nod, he was feeling the same kind of thing. He and Stiles had been through a lot together within the last, what was it? A year? Now they were stuck in a different universe and all they had was each other.
“I hope no one makes a big deal over me sneaking out of that room,” Stiles said, “What even is this place? Do they all live here?”
“ This is the Avengers Tower, all the Avengers have a space here.” They both shrieked, leaping off the bed as a disembodied voice came out of nowhere.
“What the fuck was that?!” Stiles cried.
Before Scott had a chance to respond, the voice spoke again, “ My apologies for startling you, I am FRIDAY, Boss’ AI.”
“Boss?” He asked.
“ Mr. Stark.”
“Of course.” Stiles fell back onto the bed once again. “Why not?”
“Have you been listening to us this whole time?”
“I do not actively listen, Mr. McCall. I tend to respond when it is necessary.”
“Sounds like listening to me.” He mumbled.
“ I do not report anything to Boss unless it is in my protocol to do so.”
“You said this the Avengers tower? What does that even mean, is that a band?” Scott raised an eyebrow at his best friend’s question.
“ The Avengers are Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, they were formed of Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, the Black Widow, Hawkeye, and the Hulk in 2012 during the Battle of New York.” FRIDAY responded.
Scott and Stiles exchanged a look, the same thought crossing both their minds. If they weren’t able to sleep, at least they had some way to pass the time.
“So this Captain America,” Stiles began, “Tell me more.”
-
“Please tell me you’re finding this as awkward as I am,” Stiles leaned over, whispering as low as possible.
Scott stifled a laugh, shifting in his seat. The two of them sat in the backseat of a very expensive looking SUV with Peter occupying the third spot and Tony and Steve in the driver’s and passenger’s seat. They were both running off of very little sleep, having finally drifted off around 7ish (give or take a few minutes) only to be awoken by FRIDAY at 10. Stiles had been delighted when they were instructed that they were going to visit the wizard, humming the song from The Wizard of Oz until Scott begged him to stop.
“So are we being brought to a castle? A dusty old dungeon?” This time he was louder, directing his question to the other occupants of the car.
“Something like that,” Tony said after a moment and the grin on Peter’s face wasn’t missed by the other two teenagers.
“Sooo…how old are you guys?” Peter asked.
“I mean, technically, 21. If we’re going off of the fact that it’s apparently 2018 here.” Stiles said and Scott could only cough to disguise his laughter.
“I don’t think it works like that.” Steve turned slightly in his seat, looking at the two boys with an odd expression.
“We’re seventeen.” Scott cut his friend off before he could say anything else.
“Oh sweet, so you’re juniors, right? So am I! Except I’m sixteen, so…” Peter trailed off, pulling out his phone and rapidly tapping on the screen.
Stiles furrowed his eyebrows, leaning over Scott to get a better look at the kid’s smartphone. “What kind of phone is that?” He asked.
“It’s, uh, a Starkphone.” He responded, “Mr. Stark gave it to me.” Peter paused for a moment before handing the phone to Stiles. “I’m assuming your world doesn’t have StarkTech?”
Stiles took the phone, turning it over in his hands as he looked over all the external specs. “This is so nice,” He whispered, mostly to himself. “We only really have, like, Apple and Samsung stuff.” He shrugged before handing the phone back.
“I don’t think our phones work here anyways,” Scott added.
“Yeah, I have no reception. Like at all.” Stiles stated, having taken his own phone out of his pocket. “And I only have 10 percent battery left, I knew I should have plugged it in.”
“Wait, can I see it?” Peter asked, looking hopeful.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Steve caught their attention, “But we’re here.”
Both Scott and Stiles immediately turned to look out the window, expecting to see some big extravagant…something, however they were met with a regular looking building that read 177A Bleecker Street.
“Well this isn’t a castle.” Stiles grumbled, following the lead and getting out of the car. He snickered softly over the matching outfits that he and Scott found themselves in, down to the shoes and the coats that they had been provided. If Lydia had seen this, they would never live it down. They had accidentally worn the same shirt a few weeks back, and the teasing that they had suffered from both her and Isaac had been ruthless. As fond as the memory was, Stiles couldn’t help but frown as he realized he didn’t know when the next time he’d see his friends again.
He shook his head, standing beside Peter as he watched Tony knock on the door. He was honestly surprised that the older man had decided to come, considering the dramatics he put up last night over just the mere suggestion of “visiting the wizard.” The building was definitely interesting looking however he was definitely a little disappointed that it wasn’t a castle. He didn’t have time to stew on it as the door opened, an annoyed looking man with a funky looking goatee opened the door.
“Oh great, it’s you guys.” The man sighed, his annoyed expression only growing harder.
“Hi Mr. Doctor Strange!” Peter greeted cheerily.
This is when the man’s expression finally softened, “Hello Peter.” He stated, his eyes falling onto Scott and Stiles.
“You’ve acquired another two wards I see, Stark.” He said simply.
“Yeah, they’re not mine.” Tony said dryly.
Before he could say much else, Steve cut him off, “However, they’re actually why we’re here.”
Mr. Doctor Strange (no way that was his name!) stayed silent for a moment before he sighed, opening the door fully, “Come in.”
The disappointment from earlier quickly dissipated as they entered the building, the entrance as grand as they could have imagined. It was definitely no Hogwarts but this having been the first wizard’s lair they were visiting, it was definitely impressive.
“This is the Sanctum Santorum,” The man announced, turning around and stopping right in front of him and Scott. “And I am Doctor Stephen Strange.” Stiles finally took in the man’s appearance, noting how he was dressed in regular civilian clothing except for the large red cape he was sporting and the…necklace (?) hanging from his neck.
“I’m Scott McCall,” He cast a look towards Stiles, nodding his head as if to say “go on.”
“Stiles Stilinski.”
“Your parents named you Stiles Stilinski?” Tony asked quickly.
Stiles fixed him with an annoyed glare, “It’s a nickname, Bill Gates.” He scoffed.
“I’m assuming you didn’t come here to argue names,” Stephen interrupted.
“That’s right, sir, they’re actually...” Peter paused, taking a deep breath, “They’re actually from a different universe.”
It was silent for a moment, Stephen looking at them intensely. Scott felt a little uncomfortable underneath the scrutinizing stare. “You’re being serious.” It was a statement more than it was a question.
“As serious as we can be,” Tony said, “We were actually hoping that something in that Time Stone of yours could tell us the why and the how.” Stiles looked at Scott, mouthing “ The Time Stone? ” before they turned their attention back towards the older men.
“As much as I’d like to Tony, the Stones are under immense protection now,” Stephen said. “While I am still the keeper of the Time Stone, its abilities are not free for me to just use anymore.” He gestured to the necklace he was wearing.
Although they were not one hundred percent sure what was being discussed, Scott and Stiles could read between the lines and they deflated at the realization that the wizard was actually a dead end. Peter seemed to be the only one to recognize their now downtrodden demeanors, the teen looking between the adults and the two boys before he spoke up, “Is there something else you can do?”
Stephen sighed, “Come with me.” He led the group to the library where he settled down in one of the chairs, gesturing to them to do the same thing. He didn’t necessarily have an issue with helping them, he could only imagine how the boys felt and he fought Thanos in space with two of his other visitors. He had no reason not to help them. In all honesty, he’s just never been great with people and he and Stark already had a rocky relationship to begin with. Well, he considered, the fact that Tony Stark, a man of science, came to him, was saying something.
“Can’t you just portal them home?” Peter asked, making the motion that Doctor Strange typically used to form his portals.
“Unless they belong to the Mirror Dimension, I’m afraid that won’t work.” He could’ve laughed at the incredulous look that crossed over the faces of Scott and Stiles.
“Are you being serious? You’re being serious. Oh my god.” Stiles muttered, “There’s no way this is real.”
Stephen didn’t miss the look of alarm that crossed Scott’s face, the young man only relaxing when Stiles shook his head. He furrowed his eyebrows, trying to decipher what just went on between the two only to have his attention directed back to Tony and Steve.
“Look, Doc, FRIDAY picked up on traces of dark matter and another energy that she couldn’t read.” Steve said, “We were hoping that it was something that you recognized.”
While he spoke, Tony cast a hologram into the air from his phone, spinning it around. “The amount of dark matter is honestly a little alarming but it makes sense that it showed up with their multiverse hopping,” He waved his hand in the direction of the boys. “In fact, a few years back, I was looking into how dark matter could be used to…”
Stiles was paying attention, he truly was. He found the science talk to be fascinating, he was always interested in the theoretical and what the universe had to offer. Or at least, he used to be, before his world got turned upside and the theoretical became, well, his reality. He was even more fascinated by the technology that Tony was using, holographic technology not really being a thing in his world. However, as the three men discussed the possibilities of how they ended up in this world, he couldn’t help the way his eyelids began to get heavy. He was running off of barely any sleep and it was no secret that the stress of everything was taking a bit of a toll on him.
“I’m sorry,” A voice scoffed, startling him from his doze, “Am I boring you?” He opened his eyes, meeting the offended look on Tony’s face.
Stiles sat up quickly, rubbing a hand over his face, “No, sorry. Didn’t really get much sleep, or caffeine.”
The man’s face softened, looking between him and Scott before fumbling with his wallet. “There’s a cafe down the street, why don’t you guys go grab something?” He offered, extending his hand, a few bills tucked between his fingers.
“Uh,” Was the only thing he could say before Peter spoke up.
“I’ll go with you guys, there’s a better coffee shop a little further down.”
Stiles glanced over to Scott, the latter shrugging before standing up. “Thanks.” He said, accepting the money. Coffee sounded good and who knows, this may be his only chance to try New York coffee. He could only hope it was as good as Kira’s stories made it sound.
Ten minutes later, Scott and Stiles were following Peter down the street, the younger boy pointing out different buildings as they walked. He seemed like a true New Yorker, offering up random facts about the city. “Do you live near here?” Scott asked.
“Mmm, not New York City. I’m from Queens.” The boy said. “It’s not super far from here though.”
“Oh, so you don’t live in that Tower?” Stiles questioned, opening the door of the cafe once they reached.
Peter let out a surprised laugh, “No, not really. I just stay there sometimes. I live with my Aunt May.” The three of them stepped into the line as Stiles looked around the coffee shop. It was cozy looking, definitely better decorated than the single coffee shop that Beacon Hills had to offer. “You said you’re from Beacon Hills? Where in California is that?”
“It’s in SoCal, like an hour and a half away from San Diego.” Stiles shrugged.
Scott nodded along, “It’s a pretty small town, not a lot of people live there.”
“I’ve always wanted to go to California.” Peter stated before he turned to order. Scott was hardly surprised when Stiles ordered the largest size iced latte that he could and the three of them got the same order for a bagel breakfast sandwich.
“You were right,” Stiles said, leaning back in his chair with a content sigh, “This place is damn good.”
“Right? The other one Mr. Stark was talking about isn’t nearly as great. Their coffee is so watered down.”
Scott looked around, taking in the nearly empty coffee shop. He would’ve thought that as good as this place was, that it would be a little more busy. He slowly sipped on his coffee, taking in his surroundings while he listened to Peter and Stiles talk. They were seated at a table in the corner of the restaurant, farthest from the door. There were fairy lights strewn across the walls and the place had an overall good vibe to it. So there really was no reason for him to feel off, but he couldn’t help but sense that something in the air was wrong. In truth, he had been feeling weird since they left the Sanctum Sanctorum, something that he couldn’t quite place as they walked down the street.
He let out a sigh, standing up to throw away his trash. As he crossed the shop, Scott found himself lost in his thoughts until his shoulder collided with another person. He yelped in surprise, stepping backwards to keep himself from falling into the other man. “I’m so sorry!”
The man grunted in response, dusting his shoulder off in such a way that made Scott feel inadequate. “Watch where you’re going kid.” He said gruffly, walking towards the register.
Scott made a face, watching the man go, his weird feeling only growing more intense. He opened his mouth to say something when Peter suddenly stood up, alarm written all over his face. “Get down!” He yelled out, his voice distressed.
He barely had time to react, watching as Peter practically dove on top of Stiles, knocking him out of his chair, before an explosion went off. Scott cried out, flying backwards from the force of the blast, landing hard on the ground, barely able to bring his arms over his face before his world went black.