Not that they had much of a choice; a high whine was building from the machine, gaining energy and lifting the hair on the back of Tony's neck again. Maybe Wanda really couldn't be blamed for turning the thing on because it wasn't interested in being shut off. Unfortunately, Wanda didn't seem particularly enthusiastic about her singular problem, so Tony did his best to keep his twisted smile to himself, lingering by the counter while Wanda approached the machine. She could feel intimidated, he understood that, but he was overdue for a proper system shock after the spring cleaning of the zombie fallout and cooping himself up in his lab.
"Avengers time travel protocol," he reminded her as he strolled up to her side, and plucked the glass of water from her hands. "Nothing gets left behing. Butterfly flaps its wings, blah blah et cetera." If that map made any sense to him, he might know what to wear but all Tony could tell was they were headed for a -,+. They were probably going to have a hard time booking a room. Sliding a hand around Wanda's waist and guiding her forward with reassuring confidence, he pushed the water onto the control panel and took one last drag of his cigarette before dropping it into the glass and a final ring of smoke. It had hardly reached the lip of the cup when Tony pulled Wanda through the wormhole.
It was hot in -,+; a throat-scratching dry heat, not tropical vacation weather but inhospitable no-man's land. Tony squinted in the red light, then turned to see the nothing that was behind them. No portal, just more wavering heat, and the first stars of a new night peaking over rolling hills of sand. They were stranded in the desert, on a wide, flat plateau, and the sun was going down. That was all right, test the sand, map the stars and he could establish just what desert they were in, and Wanda could port them out. Only the reception out here was terrible; the sky was clear, impossibly clear, but none of his satellites had anything to say to help him solve this puzzle. So much for calling a car, either. "Look at that," Tony said lightly, shading his eyes and squinting at the rich, scarlet sunset reflecting off of the impeccably white sand.