Chapter 11
Two Weeks Later…
While initially living together as roommates had not been what anyone wanted, it was better to stay together while waiting for Fury to make his moves against HYDRA. He was probably trying to see if there was anyway to root out Hydra and save SHIELD but I seriously doubted that was possible.
Anyway being back in California felt weird. Mostly because it was so familiar and so different at the same time.
From what I could tell the problems from my time still weren’t problems here. Homelessness while still an issue was not as bad yet. The housing shortage was nonexistent. Gentrification was not something everyone knew about yet. The beach was still nice.
I hadn’t really ventured out of the mansion. Not because I couldn’t but more because I wasn’t sure I wanted to see it all again.
Being back also hadn’t helped out much with my insomnia. In fact I would even daresay it was worse. Lucky for me I wasn’t the only insomniac in the house.
After my fourth day of hardly any sleep I decided to visit Tony’s lab, aka where all the magic happened.
“Hey.” I said making Tony jump and drop his screwdriver.
“Shit!” He said. “Where did you come from?”
“Another universe.” I said. “Haven’t seen you in a few days.”
“I’ve been… here. I have a lot to fix.” Tony said.
“It looks pretty fixed to me.” I said.
“Well there’s always room for improvement.” He said smiling. “You’re up late.”
“You’re not the only insomniac here.” I said. “You’re having nightmares aren’t you?”
“What? No… I’m just…” He started and I just gave him a look. “You know I am because you saw it in a movie.”
“Yeah. Iron Man Three.” I said. “It’s the first one right after New York.”
“I’m fine.” Tony said.
“Yeah but it’s okay if you’re not.” I said. “New York was… a lot. Including me.”
“You’re probably one of the few good things that came out of that.” Tony said.
“You’ve known me for two week. It might be too soon to tell.” I answered.
“You told us about Hydra.” Tony said.
“Yeah but now things are different.” I said. “This may be a new universe but I think the rules of time traveling still apply to this situation. I changed this huge event and when it happened Steve and Natasha managed to stop them but now, you know ahead of time, things are changing, that might not happen.”
“We’ll figure it out.” Tony said. “There’s time. Is that what’s keeping you up?”
“No, I really am an insomniac.” I said looking at the third new suit I’d seen in the last two weeks. “Are you building everyone a suit?”
“No I just… It’s good to have back ups. And back up to the back ups.” Tony said. “New York was different. Before that I was just making things right. Cleaning up my mess, but that almost wasn’t enough. I wasn’t enough. I almost lost everything and all I have and am is this so I’m going to build everything I can for every possible thing that can go wrong and maybe next time it won’t be a near miss.”
“You’re have more than just this.” I said. “You have Pepper, Rhodey, Happy, everyone upstairs and apparently the universe also stuck you with me too. A very wise man once said if you’re nothing without this suit then maybe you shouldn’t have it. Just something to think about.”
“Who said that?” he asked.
“You’ll meet him one day.” I said smiling as I thought about the look on his face when he realizes he’s the one who’s going to say it. “Try to get some sleep.”
Tony just nodded before going back to work. I knew I wasn’t going to get any sleep so I went to the living room and watched some TV. Of course it being the middle of the night there wasn’t anything on except infomercials and some old sitcom.
I don’t really remember what it was but it was some family. Functionally dysfunctional. With ups and downs but somehow they managed to pull it together when they needed.
Totally my family, minus the functional part. Even when we had it together which rarely happened we were a trainwreck.
I hadn’t thought about them in years but now I kept thinking about them and there was this idea I just couldn’t stop thinking about.
I was in a parallel universe and the thing about parallel universes was that in each one there is at different version of a person, at least in movies and that was because that was the general theory behind the multiverse.
It might not be real, I mean the avengers didn’t exist in my world and the actors that played them in my world didn’t exist in this one but what if… What if in this world there’s another version of me or there’s another version of them.
I held my StarkPhone in my hand opening up the search browser. Tony had gifted me one after I asked if his was like an iPhone.
I could google them. I could find cyber stalk them though does it really count as stalking if they made their photos and info publicly accessible?
It was a bad idea. It was a horrible idea but I didn’t put the phone down and I typed their names out and deleted them. And typed them again and so on and so forth. I did that all night. And the night after that. Until I stopped doing that just at night and during the day too.
Then early one morning, I realized I didn’t have to google them or look them up on Facebook because I knew where they lived. I knew where they would be so before everyone woke up and I changed my mind I caught the bus downtown and took another bus that would leave me a few blocks from my old neighborhood.
Not surprisingly this place was exactly like I remembered it. The rusted iron fences, the dead grass, old cars, shoes hanging from telephone wires. Even in another universe this place was still a real shithole.
I stood across the street from the apartment complex I had grown up, remembering all the times I fell in the front patio when I was on my roller-skates. My brother on his skateboard. My nephew playing soccer breaking the neighbor’s windows and my mom yelling at us from inside the house.
No matter how long I stood out there I couldn’t bring myself to go across the street and see them. I didn’t like seeing them in my old world and chances are I wasn’t going to like them here either but I still stayed and stared at the poop brown colored exterior.
Days Later…
“Breakfast is ready.” Steve called out. “Can one of you call Hanna?”
“She went out this morning.” Bruce said.
“She did?” Tony asked surprised.
“She’s been going out all week.” Natasha said. “Surprised you haven’t noticed.”
“I’ve been… busy.” Tony said.
“Any idea where she’s going?” Clint asked.
“Where else would she go? Everyone she knows if here.” Steve said.
“Well she is from LA.” Tony said. “Maybe she’s going to visit her old stomping grounds.”
“Is it a really good idea for her to be out on her own?” Clint asked.
“We don’t know if Hydra knows about her. She was in SHIELD custody for a week.” Natasha said.
“No one knows she’s with us.” Bruce said. “And she makes it back every night.”
“Chances are she’s probably at the beach or a coffee shop down the street.” Tony said. “She has Jarvis on her phone so if she’s in trouble we’ll know.”
The Following Morning…
After yet another sleepless night I found myself across the street from the poop colored building. One week later and I still could get a step closer than this. I’m pretty sure I was turning into that creepy strange lady parents told their kids to stay away from.
Except today I wasn’t alone.
“This is where you’ve been coming all week?” Natasha said standing next to me.
“This is…” Clint said not knowing how to say it.
“Total death trap.” I said. “You two followed me?”
Neither said anything.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” I answered for them. “It’s not really much to look at.”
“Then why do you keep coming?” Clint asked.
“Morbid curiosity.” I said.
“What so special about this place?” Natasha asked.
“This… this is where I grew up.” I said. “Well in another universe. I started thinking that pretty much everything in this universe with a few exceptions is exactly the same including people. Figured if this place was still here there might be a version of my parents. Maybe even a better one.”
“And are they?” Clint asked.
“No idea. I haven’t gotten farther than this all week.” I said.
“You’ve been coming here all week and you haven’t even tried to see them?” Natasha said.
“Once I knock on that door I know and I’m not entirely sure I want to.” I said.
“Were you close to them?” Clint asked.
“We haven’t spoken in years.” I said. “They weren’t the warmest people. Mom was controlling, overbearing, nothing I ever did was good enough. She said she loved me but most of the time she just said it to remind herself she was supposed to. Dad… well his parenting mantra was children are meant to be seen not heard even in their 20’s.”
“Yet you’re still here?” Natasha said.
“Different universe, different version of them, maybe a better one.” I said. “Or not.”
“What apartment are they in?” She asked.
“Not doing that.” I said.
“So we’re just going to stand here all day?” Clint asked. “Maybe creep out some kids.”
“They’re used to it.” I said.
“You’re never going to be able to let this go until you know.” Natasha said.
“You think I should go up to their door and say hi I’m your daughter from another universe how are you doing?” I asked.
“Maybe not that just knock and see if they’re there.” Clint said. “We’ll go with you.”
“This is a bad idea.” I said.
“Maybe but we’re already here.” Natasha said walking across the street.
“Come on.” Clint said putting an arm around my shoulders leading me across the street so I wouldn’t chicken out.
So we made our way through the building until we got to the porch of the apartment in the back.
“This the one?” Natasha asked.
“Should be.” I said looking at the strangely bare porch. Mom had a huge green thumb, she was practically a plant hoarder.
“Achoo.” Clint said sniffling a bit. “Is your mom a cat lady?”
“No, the neighbors are though.” I said looking to the apartment next door where all the cats lived. “Something’s off.”
“It’s not going to be exactly the same.” Natasha said knocking at the door. I heard footsteps before the door opened without the chain lock being removed.
“Who are you?” He said.
“Uh sorry I think I have the wrong apartment.” I said quickly recognizing the man who opened the door.
“Can’t you read?” He said before slamming the door shut.
“Okay time to go.” I said turning and walking away.
“Do you know him?” Natasha asked.
“Yeah, he’s my high school pot dealer.” I said. “He dies about two steps outside of his door after pissing off the wrong people by trying to expand into their territory in about a year or so.”
“Oh.” Clint said.
“You want to check another apartment to see if they’re here?” Natasha asked.
“It’s the only apartment big enough for four people, six in about three months.” I said. “They’re not here.”
“You okay with that?” Clint said.
“I’m relieved. Not sure I can handle opening that can of worms.” I said. “You guys like tacos? There’s a good place around the corner.”
“Sure.” Natasha said.
That’s how we ended up by the taco truck parked in an empty lot.
“These are good. Come here often?” Clint said.
“It’s the only place around here open late. Good for the munchies.” I said.
“Didn’t know you spoke Spanish?” Natasha said.
“I grew up in LA it’s the unofficial second language.” I answered.
“If you still want to look for your parents I can make some calls.” Natasha said. “I know some people.”
“I know but I think maybe it’s better if I don’t.” I said. “Even if there is a Lillian and Grayson Marin in this world there’s no guarantee they’ll be any different than the ones I knew and besides with everything else that’s going on it might not be the best time to pull on that string.”
“So I’ve been meaning to ask. You said something about Ronin.” Clint said. “Does that mean you know everything I did when I wore that suit?”
“I know exactly as much as you want me to know.” I said. “Everyone has a past, it’s not my place to judge.”
“But you do know.” Natasha said.
“I know.” I said but they just gave me a look. They wanted specifics. “I know Clint’s hard of hearing. I know you lived in Ohio with Alexei, Melina and Yelena. I know Clint used to be an assassin for hire before being recruited for SHIELD. I know he was sent to take you out but he saw something in you that made him think you wanted out so he didn’t take the shot. I know the call you made in Budapest because you wanted to get out badly and you needed to be sure the job was done. I’m not entirely sure this applies here but you own a farm and your wife and 2 kids live there?”
“I have a wife and kids in your world?” Clint said surprised.
“You don’t here?” I asked.
“I was married when I was 19 but I got divorced a year later when she met her person.” He said.
“Sorry.” I said.
“It’s okay.” He said with a small smile. “Life got busy.”
“You know all of that and it doesn’t bother you?” Natasha asked.
“Does it bother you that I know everything about you and that I’m from another universe?” I asked.
“We’ve killed people.” Natasha deadpanned.
“Pretty sure Thor, Tony, Steve and Bruce have too.” I said. “Life is complicated, yours more than anyone I’ve ever met but when it came down to it you all chose to do the right thing. I don’t judge people by their worst mistakes.”
“And you’re okay with us being soulmates?” Clint asked.
“I’m still wrapping my head around the fact that soulmates are real.” I said. “Don’t you guys find it at all weird that the six of you have the same soulmate?”
“Stranger things have happened.” Natasha said.
“Can’t argue that.” Clint said. “Aliens… another universe. Life can’t get weirder than that.”
“Might be too soon to say that.” I said.