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“What do you mean you don’t know how that thing works?”
“Shut up,” Peter scowled at Clint, turning the Iron Destabilizer over in his hands. “I wasn’t there when Tony finished making it.”
“Here, can I see it?” When Peter nodded, Bucky took it from his hands, looking it over for himself.
They’d held off on doing this for long enough. First, of course, Peter had had to heal from the battle that had taken place just before he’d returned to his world–the broken wrists the other Peter had acquired were lots of fun to heal from, thanks, Peter.
And then there were other things to worry about. The Avengers had wanted explanations of what had happened in the other world while Peter had been there, while Peter had wanted the same from them. Not to mention that of course Spiderman had to help in the rebuilding of half of Midtown, after a freaking bomb had gone off in one end of the school. Again–thanks, other Peter.
Possibly the most devastating, though, was how much Peter tried to help with the clean-up of his favorite homeless shelter. He managed to track down all of the usual visitors to make sure they were okay.
Seriously. Would it have killed the other Peter to do what Peter himself had done in the other world and just laid low?
With Tony Stark dead from his injuries in the battle, they hadn’t felt as much of a time crunch, knowing that Stark wasn’t around to hurt people anymore. Hence how long it had taken them to get around to actually using the Iron Destabilizer to come and destroy the rest of Stark’s suits.
Peter had seen the body once. A year ago, he would have been overjoyed to see Tony Stark dead. But now–it just made him sad. The other Tony had chosen to do good with his life, to help people and make up for all the hurt he’d inadvertently caused. If only this Stark had chosen to do the same. Peter had seen for himself how great of a world came about when Tony Stark chose to do good.
But he tried not to focus on that too much. No good obsessing over a world that wasn’t his. The best he could do now was to focus on making his world the best it could be.
“Here’s a button.” Bucky pressed something on the bottom of the device, and it whirred to life. A second later, Peter heard a voice he thought he’d never hear again: Tony Stark’s.
“Hey, kiddo. I gotta say, every Peter Parker I’ve met is a genius, but you guys can also be pretty stupid sometimes. Just in case, I recorded these instructions for when you go back to your world to kick Iron Man’s butt, okay? After these instructions finish, press the button again and hold it down for three seconds. A confirmation will ask if you want to begin destruction, to which you’ll most likely say yes, and then that’s it. This bad boy’s got a range of about half a mile, and will destroy any Stark tech it can reach. Once shut down, nothing it affects will be able to start back up again. The Destabilizer should be able to run however many times you need it to, but if it doesn’t, well–it’s not like I can help you on that one, kid. Good luck, Peter.”
“Well, that was surreal,” Natasha commented. “Never thought I’d see the day Tony Stark talked like that.”
Peter shrugged. “You get used to it after a while. Come on, let’s do this.”
He pushed the button again; sure enough, a voice asked him to confirm that he wanted to begin the destruction sequence.
“Yes.”
“Destruction sequence confirmed; commencing now.”
Without Peter’s super senses, he would have thought that nothing was happening; that certainly seemed to be what the other Avengers were thinking. However, Peter’s enhanced ears could pick up the faintest disturbance in the air, spreading out all around them.
“Did it work?” Bucky asked after a minute.
Peter thought so. He was confident in Tony’s abilities, and his intentions.
He stepped forward. “Only one way to find out.”
The door–previously controlled by an automatic lock controlled by Stark’s AI FRIDAY–wouldn’t be able to open on its own. Instead, Peter gestured for Bucky to come forward and knock it open with his metal arm.
Everyone tensed once the door opened, their weapons out and ready in case the Destabilizer hadn’t worked and they needed to fight off a bunch of suits. Nothing happened, though.
Steve held his shield out in front of him, leading the way down. Peter almost told him not to bother, that he’d heard the device work, but decided against it. The others hadn’t met Tony, and had no reason to believe this would work the way Peter did. They needed to see it for themselves.
They passed Stark’s untidy living space, finding the door that led down to the basement lab. All was silent apart from their padding footfalls; no whir of machinery, no hiss of steam or blast of weaponry.
Iron Man suits lined the walls in order of when they’d been built, getting more and more advanced as they went along. Some stood in the middle of the room, plates removed and wires exposed for maintenance.
“I think it worked,” Peter decided. To test the theory, he shot a web at a nearby suit. As expected, nothing happened.
Thanks, Tony, he smiled.
Grinning, he turned to the rest of his team. “So, who wants to help me destroy this stuff?”
/*/*/*/*/
The crowd the Avengers’ next announcement brought made the last presidential inauguration look like a third-grader’s piano concert. Peter had never seen so many people in one place in his life, all come to hear the confirmation that the villain they’d feared for so long was finally gone.
Steve stood in front at the podium, the rest of the team at his side in their uniforms. Peter’s heart pounded looking out at all those people–not in nervousness so much as wonder at the knowledge of how monumental of a moment this was. To see the hope and relief in everyone’s eyes was an incredible feeling.
Steve held a hand, quieting the crowd. “I know there have been a lot of rumors going around that Tony Stark has died, and that Iron Man is no more. Well,” he allowed his stoicism to break into a little smile, “It gives the Avengers great pleasure to confirm these rumors, and assure you all that Tony Stark is gone for good, that he died from his battle wounds in a guarded SHIELD cell several days ago. And only yesterday, the team was able to put this, ” he held up the Iron Destabilizer, “into effect. This is called the Iron Destabilizer, and it was invented by our very own Spider-Man. It was able to shut down every Iron Man suit and Stark weapon in his lab, which we then destroyed. Iron Man can never hurt anyone ever again.”
With all the confirmation they needed, the crowd burst into a deafening roar full of cheers, hugging and tears. Hats were thrown into the air, strangers started kissing; Peter whispered for Karen to up the noise-blocking in his suit, the screaming crowd flooding his sensitive ears.
He wished he could hear it, though. Could hear the joy this news had brought to the people.
He turned as a hand was placed on his shoulder, looking up into Bucky’s smiling face. “We did it, kiddo. They’re all safe now.”
Peter only wished he could have been a bigger part of it. The other Peter had been the one to make the plan that killed Stark, and the other Tony had been the one to make the Iron Destabilizer. It didn’t matter, though; it all worked out in the end.
They answered some questions before heading back up to the tower. Peter felt so much lighter, so much freer with this all behind him. This was everything they’d worked towards for years. Peter was an Avenger–an honorary one, at the very least–and now he’d helped avenge everyone Stark had ever hurt, including Peter’s own Uncle Ben.
“Hey, Karen!” Peter greeted his AI. “Can you let my dad know I’m going to change, and then I’ll come down to the common room.”
“Will do, Peter. Congratulations on the announcement.”
“Thanks, Karen.”
His spidersense tingled faintly as he neared his room, but not in a way of approaching danger, just that he was approaching something. Confused, but shrugging off the feeling, Peter went inside.
“You know, I should press charges for you taking credit for my design, but something tells me trying that here wouldn’t go so well.”
Peter stopped, staring at the scene in front of him. When his spidersense had gone off, never in a million years would he have thought it was because Tony Stark was currently sitting on his bed.
“Wha-what–”
“That was a nice show out there.” Tony stood slowly, smiling at Peter and taking off his sunglasses. “We watched it from here; obviously it wouldn’t have gone down too well if I’d been at the confirmation of my own death. Well, one of me.”
Peter was surprised by a slight smile tugging at his lips. “I cannot believe you’re here. What are you doing here?”
“Dr. Strange did a little looksie into the multiverse to check on you guys, and he found out everything that’s happened since you came back, including this little announcement today. Figured we’d stop by for a little visit.”
We. That was the second time Tony had said that. “What do you me–”
“Sorry I’m late, forgot the bathroom was in a different spot in this world–whoa.”
Whoa indeed. If Peter had been surprised at the sight of Tony in his room, it was nothing compared to his shock at seeing himself come into the room.
The other Peter froze for a second, too, before smiling shyly. “Uh, hi.”
“Hey.”
“Oh yeah,” Tony said, as if he’d just remembered Peter had come along. “This Peter wanted to come along, too. Something about not being able to properly say goodbye before he left last time.”
“Sorry I got your wrists broken,” the other Peter said sheepishly.
Peter chuckled a bit bitterly. “Yeah, that sucked. I healed, though. Sorry we wrecked your aunt’s apartment.”
The other Peter smiled. “Apology accepted.”
“Hey, Pete, Clint was threatening to start the movie without you, so I thought I’d–” Bucky made a bit of a choking noise in the back of his throat as he came into the room with not only two Peters, but Tony Stark, the man they’d just finished pronouncing dead. Instinctively, he stepped to his kid–well, one of them–and pulled him closer. “What’s going on here?”
“Relax, Dad,” The Peter in his arms wiggled out. “It’s not Stark, it’s–you know, the other one.”
Bucky blinked as it slowly dawned on him what Peter was saying. “You mean he’s–” he turned to point at the other Peter “and you’re–”
“Yeah,” The other Peter smiled. “Hey, Bucky.”
“And it’s actually not just us,” Tony added, going over and knocking on the closet door. “Alright, guys, you can come out.”
And out of the small space eagerly burst two people who had probably not enjoyed being stuck inside together: Bruce Banner and Bucky Barnes.
“Dr. Banner!” Peter surged forward, wrapping his arms around the scientist. After leaving the other world, he hadn’t dared to hope he’d ever see his old friend again.
“Hey, Peter.” Bruce smiled. “Long time no see. Well, technically.”
“We convinced Dr. Strange to bring them along,” Tony explained with a smile. “We were gonna bring the whole team, but the wizard said no. Something about ‘stretching the bounds of the multiverse too far’ or something stupid like that.”
His dad was staring at the scientist with his mouth hanging open, alternating flicking his eyes between Dr. Banner and his own alternate-dimension self.
Finally, he said, “How about you all come down and meet the rest of the team?”
/*/*/*/*/
The entire common room was silent for a good two minutes straight, before the other Peter finally broke the tension.
“So–congrats on Stark, and the Iron Destabilizer. Tony told me about it when I got back to my world; it’s pretty cool.”
Natasha smiled. “I cannot believe this is actually happening. So you’re–” she pointed at Tony “--the one the other Peter kept telling us about.”
“Guilty as charged.” Tony smiled.
Bucky turned to Peter’s Dad. “Peter talked a lot about you, too. Both Peters, actually; you seem like a pretty good dad.”
His dad smiled. “My Peter’s told me about you, too–apparently you didn’t do too bad yourself. And you,” He turned to Tony, “Thanks for helping take care of my kid while he was gone.”
“Right back at you,” Tony replied.
Things relaxed a bit more after that. The team, while instinctually wary about Tony, remembered all the stories the other Peter had told them while he’d been here, and knew that this wasn’t their Tony Stark.
To Peter’s utter embarrassment, his dad started exchanging stories about Peter with the other Bucky, much to Bucky’s amusement. The team was in awe over the other Bruce being there, and couldn’t keep their eyes off of him, eager to talk to their old friend.
A little while later, Peter found his other self in the kitchen, making popcorn. “Hey.”
“Oh, hey.” The other him nodded. “This is . . . weird to see, I know. But it’s cool to meet you. Meet me. I mean–you know what I mean.”
“Yeah. You, uh, really did a number on this world while you were here, didn’t you?”
The other Peter looked down at his feet, his tentative smile disappearing. “I really am sorry, you know. I never meant for any of it to happen like it did.”
“‘Any of it’ being my shelter burning down and half my school blowing up?”
He winced. “Yeah. That. I really messed up, I know.”
Peter regarded his other self. The guy really did look guilty; Peter knew that, if his interdimensional self were anything like him, he’d indeed be feeling awful about all the damage.
“I just–” The other Peter sighed. “Tony and Bucky have told me all about what happened with you back in my world. How hard it was for you to accept that Tony was a hero, and not like the one you grew up knowing. Well, that’s what it was like for me here–I just didn’t know how to accept that Tony Stark could be a villain. Not until I saw it for myself, obviously. Then it, you know, became pretty obvious.”
Peter supposed it did make sense when put that way.
And he definitely did remember how hard it had been to accept that Tony wasn’t a bad guy. But believing that the guy you looked up to for all your life, and worked with as a superhero was responsible for thousands of deaths worldwide? No way had that been easy to deal with.
They’d both been thrust into horrible situations away from their homes, and from their families. They’d done the best they could with the cards they’d been dealt. He couldn’t blame the other Peter for the mistakes he’d made along the way.
“It’s okay. I mean, you did save Callie. And Flash told me about how you sent the Avengers to at least keep one of the bombs from going off. I’m definitely grateful they only had to rebuild half of the school.”
The other Peter smiled. “Thanks. Although what I was really apologizing for was telling Ned who you are.”
Peter groaned. “Yeah, that part I have a little harder time forgiving you for. You’re lucky Fury was able to terrify Ned into silence. You’re lucky you don’t have to deal with him in your world, at least your Ned is nice.”
“Well, sure, but I’ve also got my Flash to deal with. Let’s face it, both of our school situations kinda suck. But speaking of school,” The other Peter smiled conspiratorially, “How’s it going with MJ?”
Peter mock-smacked him. “Yeah, I definitely won’t be forgiving you for kissing MJ before I could. You absolutely suck for that.”
“Oh yeah, my bad.” His other self shrugged. “If it makes you feel any better, I haven’t had much more luck with my own MJ. Turns out talking to your crush is a lot easier in another world.”
“Well, good luck to you, Peter.”
“You, too, Peter.”
“Come on, Peters!” Tony called from the living room. “We’re starting the movie without you if you’re not in here soon.”
“Coming!” The other Peter gestured for Peter to follow him. “Well, I’m really glad this world got its Peter Parker back.”
“And I’m glad you got your Tony Stark back,” Peter smiled.
Dr. Strange would probably not let this go on too long, what with his warning of “stretching the bounds of the multiverse too far.” But for now, this was nice. Peter had his team, his dad, Dr. Banner, and his other interdimensional self.
What more did a guy really need?