"Wow, multiverse. Here I was thinking I'd check it out when I had time, but who would've thought it would come knocking on the door instead."
Luke said it casually as he moved across the room and dropped himself beside Tony like none of this was unusual, his gaze settling on the four visitors from the other Earth with open curiosity rather than caution.
"So," he continued, leaning back slightly, "what is it? Something strange going on in your universe? Thanos trying to wipe out half the universe, or Ultron going out of control and deciding the best way to protect peace is to erase humanity… or is it something else?"
The four of them went still.
Not dramatically, not loudly—but enough that the shift was obvious.
Because one of those things had already happened.
Ultron.
They had fought it. Stopped it. Survived it.
And this was supposed to be 2010.
That wasn't supposed to exist here yet.
Their eyes shifted, subtle but telling, as they looked at Luke again—not like he was just another powerful person, but like he knew things he shouldn't.
Luke didn't react to that look. He had already moved on.
"And by the way, Tony," he added, turning his head slightly, tone still light but carrying something underneath it, "Ultron is a messed up AI you create to protect peace. It decides the best way to protect peace is by eliminating all humanity, so if you've got any ideas like that… drop them."
That landed directly.
Tony didn't respond immediately. He looked at Luke for a second, really looked this time, measuring the certainty in his voice, the lack of hesitation, the way he said it like it wasn't a guess.
Then he turned slightly.
"Jarvis," he said.
"Yes, sir."
"Delete the Ultron program."
"Confirmed," Jarvis replied.
Tony leaned back, exhaling quietly. He had been thinking about it, about building something bigger, something that could prevent threats before they started—but hearing it laid out like that, seeing the reaction from the others, was enough.
"Yeah," he muttered. "Not going down that road."
The other Tony(Variant) didn't hide his reaction this time. He knew himself well enough to understand how difficult it was to abandon an idea once it took root, especially something as significant as Ultron, and yet this version of him had dropped it without argument the moment Luke spoke.
That wasn't hesitation or doubt—that was trust, and the realization made him look at Luke differently.
"By the way, Tony, you owe me," Luke said, shifting the mood as easily as he shifted his posture. "I helped Pepper and you didn't even invite me for a drink or anything."
"You can't pin that on me," Tony shot back immediately. "I called you. Multiple times. After Christmas. You didn't pick up once."
Luke paused for a second, actually thinking about it, then gave a small nod.
"Okay," he admitted, not even trying to argue. "That one might be on me."
The moment passed quickly, but the tension in the room didn't fully disappear. Steve coughed, bringing the conversation back to why they were here in the first place.
"It's none of those," he said, his voice steady. "It's us… from another universe."
That made Luke's expression shift—not shock, not disbelief, but something more analytical, like he was reassessing the situation from a different angle.
"So multiverse travel is that easy now?" he said, tilting his head slightly. "People just walk into other realities like they're crossing the street?"
"No," Tony(V) replied, his tone heavier now. "Not easy. Not safe either."
Luke's gaze sharpened a little.
"So your variants from another universe are attacking your world."
"Yes," Tony(V) confirmed, the word carrying weight. "And the first encounter alone nearly broke us. We managed to stop one… but the cost was too high."
Luke didn't interrupt. He just watched him.
"Who was it?" he asked after a moment.
Steve answered this time.
"Captain Hydra a version of myself."
The name settled into the room with a different kind of weight. It wasn't just an enemy—it was a version of someone they knew, someone who had taken everything Steve stood for and twisted it into something else entirely.
"He wasn't just stronger," Steve continued, his jaw tightening slightly. "He was… ruthless. No restraint. No hesitation. He used everything—strategy, power, manipulation—whatever gave him the advantage."
Luke absorbed that without reacting outwardly, then shifted the conversation to something else entirely.
"One thing I want to know," he said. "Where did you get the technology for multiverse travel?"
Tony answered.
"We didn't build it from scratch," he said. "We reverse-engineered it. The device Captain Hydra used… we took what was left and worked from there."
It hadn't been quick.
Or clean.
"It took time to even understand what we were looking at," Tony continued. "And when we finally got it working… we found something else."
Luke's eyes narrowed slightly.
"A message," Tony(V) said. "Not meant for us. But we found it anyway."
The room went quiet again.
"More are coming," he added. "Not just him."
Natasha from their side leaned forward slightly, her expression serious now.
"They don't just travel," she said. "They invade."
Wanda's gaze dropped for a second before she spoke.
"And when they leave…" she said quietly, "there's nothing left."
Tony(V) finished it.
"Entire realities wiped out. No survivors. No recovery. Just… gone."
They hadn't stopped with just one jump after that.
"We started searching," Tony(V) said. "Moving across the multiverse, trying to find anyone who could help—any version of us, any world with enough strength to stand against what's coming."
He looked directly at Luke now.
"And every path we followed… eventually led us here."
Luke leaned back slightly, studying them for a moment before speaking, his tone thoughtful rather than dismissive.
"Hmmm… didn't you think of using the Infinity Gems in your possession to deal with your enemies? That sounds far more reliable than jumping blindly across realities looking for help. With those, you could build something far more effective than this."
The question landed cleanly.
"They're gone," Natasha answered, her voice steady but carrying clear frustration. "All of them. Stolen. Right now, in our reality, we don't have a single one."
That made Luke's expression shift, not dramatically, but enough to show something didn't add up.
It was already strange enough that multiverse incursions were happening on this scale, but for every Infinity Stone in a reality to disappear at the same time… that wasn't coincidence.
His gaze drifted slightly, thoughts moving fast behind his eyes.
'That's too clean… too coordinated. And the Ancient One just lets that happen? Either something bigger is at play… or something is already interfering at a level they can't see.'
Then something else caught his attention.
The device on the other Tony's(V) wrist began blinking rapidly, sharp pulses of light cutting through the room.
Tony frowned immediately.
"Is that supposed to do that?" he asked, already knowing the answer wasn't going to be good.
The other Tony(V) didn't get the chance to respond.
The space in front of them twisted.
It didn't open cleanly like a portal—it tore, like something forcing its way through from the other side. The air distorted, folding inward before splitting apart, edges flickering like broken glass.
Luke's eyes narrowed as the tear stretched further.
Then it became clear.
A mass pressed against the rupture, crowding the other side so densely it was hard to separate one from another. Their forms were twisted, decayed, eyes hollow yet burning with something feral. Limbs overlapped, bodies crushed together as they strained forward.
For a heartbeat, there was only silence.
Then the sound followed—low at first, then rising into something raw and hungry, filling the air with a suffocating weight.
They were waiting.
All it would take was the tear opening just a little more, and they would come through.
*****
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