InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "there's trouble in Shangi-La"

Tony's labs were never quiet places. Even if there wasn't music playing, there was always the sound of things being fabricated or torn apart and remade. Layered over that was the usual chatter of the user interfaces he created, and somewhere underneath it all, CNN and other news feeds from a nearby TV screen. The music was off today, so it was clear as day when Tony heard Rhodey's voice calling out his name.

Nearly dropping the pad he was using to code a new configuration to his suit, Tony assumed that it was that universe's Rhodey dropping by. Avoiding his bestie was getting harder and harder to do. He didn't blurt out the truth about the whole alternate universe timeline wibbly wobbly timey wimey thing. Considering that universe's Rhodey was invited to their wedding? Yeah, it was hard times in BFF Land.

"Whatever it is? NOPE! Not it!" Tony called out with his mouth on autopilot. He grumbled under his breath, certain that Friday could hear him, "I thought I changed the biometric scans for the security door so only, like, seven people could come in here."

"I hate reminding you that you created a protocol not to remove Colonel Rhodes if you were your evil Mirror, Mirror twin. With or without a goatee," was Friday's hushed reply from a nearby speaker, in a tone that made it clear that he was being picky and impossible to please. "I also hate reminding you that Dr. Strange has portals, regardless."

Tony's thought process blipped and reset. Pep was on that list. Both Peters and Bruce, but Bruce had his own adjacent lab (for quiet time) and the clinic. Natasha, Steve, and Happy. Everyone else needed buzzed in with vocal permission. If not, they'd face his high anxiety security protocols. Everything would be locked tighter than Fort Knox, and the knock out gas, every available wide surface would go stun gun, and kill drones would deploy. What? He did tell Peter that EDITH was finished, after all.

Strange? Not on that list. Because that guy was an asshole and they had a glare stare off whenever they were in the same room.

"Fuuuuu...!" Tony didn't finish dropping that word bomb, turning on his heel to face the direction Rhodey was coming from. He smiled a little too brightly while mentally reminding himself: DO NOT BLAB ABOUT THE UNIVERSE BEING A MULTIVERSE COPY OF A COPY OF A COPY OF A.....


Rhodey had managed to contain himself so he wasn't running, but he did stop and just look at Tony: alive and well and in one piece, puttering around his lab as if everything was normal, and maybe for him it was. "Tony?" he asked, and his voice wasn't breaking because he was good at holding it in. And then he came in and threw his arms around his best friend.

Tony wasn't the biggest hugger in the universe. In general, he walked around with the whole lean away from other people's hands untouchable persona that was common of people who were neurotic edge lords.

However, this was Rhodey so Tony didn't lean away. He knew Rhodey back when his parents were alive, when things were a lot less complex. They roomed at MIT together, when he first convinced his friend to go to a strip club where he met Candice and....

"Bro hug. This is nice." It didn't take long for him to put two and two together based on his friends reaction, even if he wasn't exactly letting go. "Is this what I think it is? Either it's that romantic overture I've been joking about for decades...or me not being dead, and you being incredibly late to this party?"

"I just got here," Rhodey explained, giving Tony another squeeze and backing off to arm's length to get another look at Tony. "I didn't know. You got yourself killed, you idiot. Don't do that!"

"Other me, not here me...even if I'd do that again," Tony said, owlishly blinking back at Rhodey for a few seconds. He would in a heartbeat if it meant saving everyone, and particularly the people he cared about. He smiled so suddenly that it was like the difference between night and day. "You've got no idea of how glad I am to see you here. Do you know how freaky it was not to say hi, other universe you at my wedding? My brain melted a little bit."

Indeed, for Tony, it was like fingernails on a chalkboard. He was all about protecting the planet and everyone on it, though. So to keep things from turning into that meltdown scene from Airplane where everyone was screaming and going crazy, Tony refrained from blurting to outsiders. A monumental achievement, indeed.

"I don't get this whole other universe thing yet, but--I'm sorry I missed the wedding. I'll get you guys something later, if I--wait--there's another me? Is he here? Do I have to hide from him?" Rhodey had tossed aside the packet that Strange had given him without bothering to read it yet. The answers were probably in there but this one wouldn't exactly wait.

"Hey, don't worry about it. This is a good enough gift, trust me," Tony said, looking around the lab but seeing no signs of Dr. Freaky McAsshat around. "You kinda just stepped in for a while. Which is good, because we've gotten nailed with all sorts of crap over here. It's like an overlap or a displacement, or whatever term Mister Wizard used. According to him, there can only be one of us in a universe at the same time, or things get effed up. You don't need to go full hermit."

That pamphlet probably had more answers than Tony did, as far as getting to the point. With a lot less word vomit.

"I'll set you up here in the tower," he told Rhodey. "There's apartments for Avengers to avenge from. Pep's gonna be glad to see you. You can both nag at me."

"Oh good, because I don't think I can handle lying to her about it. Nagging you is easy, though. I've got a lot of experience."

Which brought up a whole nother question for Rhodey. (Well, he had a bunch, like what had happened to the other him. He hoped that one was in the paperwork Strange had left him.) "So," he asked Tony, a little more slowly, "if I didn't know about all this stuff, how is the military doing? The world governments in general? SHIELD? What about the Sokovia Accords?"

While the overwrite of that universe's whoever might be temporary, it was probably a safe bet to not ruin the bod you're in.

Tony winced like they weren't out of the woods there, with the political fronts.

"Fury's restarted SHIELD on the downlow," Tony explained. "World governments are the same. Ross is still around but the Accords were declared unconstitutional. That's only in the USA, so the rest of the world is side eyeing everything we do, so we're not on their turf. Everyone who was wanted for escaping The Raft is off the hook, except..."

Tony couldn't really say Bucky's name without feeling like everything inside him was snarled up in uncomfy ways.

"...'cept Barnes. He's still kinda wanted for all those hit jobs, by various government entities. So he's kinda laying low, I think."

Tony asked the legal team if there was something they could do about temporary insanity defenses, but the second that Bucky admitted he remembered everything, that might go out the window.

"Welcome to the semi-mess?" Tony said with a questioning smile. He pointed back at a wall of glass and steel tubes. "I got a java bot if you wanna yack some more. Might as well have a hot cuppa liquid crack to go with those new universe jitters."

Rhodey rolled his eyes at that particular headache. "I definitely need some more coffee," he agreed, and went to fetch some. "A lot of coffee. Oh, one more thing: where's my suit?"

"I moved it here to do a software upgrade," Tony said, following along since he hadn't yet gotten to a heart exploding level of coffee consumption today. He patted one hand on Rhodey's shoulder. "And I tweaked your prosthetics. Friday will get everything set up and you can be reunited with your suit. We can't live without your tank stories."

That all sounded really good. Rhodey grinned. "How long is it going to be before she's ready to fly? Because I think the best thing for getting rid of new-universe jitters is air time."

"It's insulting that you think a software upgrade takes me longer than a couple of hours." Tony squinted at his best bud while his regular coffee order roasted on the spot and was ground up. "Ready to go when you are, but you know I'm gonna be your wing man. Literally, not figuratively."

He wriggled his ring finger with the wedding band on it. "Can't help you get any more hot dates with supermodels and actresses."

Not that Rhodey had ever had a look in with any supermodels or actresses even when he'd been able to walk without help and had Tony's leftovers to pick through. "That's all right. I don't need another ex-wife. Just my suit and my friends."

"Sounds good, but you know who to call if you change your mind." Tony handed Rhodey a cup of coffee and a wink, without the elbow nudge. "In the meantime, better submit a flight plan so the FAA doesn't shit themselves."