"Come on, we're getting drinks!" Thea pointed at a bar.
Vision and Scarlet Witch, still basking in the warmth of their happy outing, didn't hesitate. The chubby bodyguard could only follow, phone pressed to his ear calling his boss. Did tonight count as overtime? Nighttime New York was no peaceful place. God knew which villain might pop out of the woodwork. He felt the pressure keenly—afraid Thea's group would cause a scene, and equally afraid some local lowlife would embarrass their world in front of the visitors.
His luck held. Before long, Tony Stark arrived alongside Thor, the latter dressed in civilian clothes.
Scarlet Witch, who had spent years as a HYDRA test subject, and Vision, who might as well have been a robot, were both completely out of their depth in the noise and chaos of a human bar. Magic and precision computation hadn't exactly taught them barroom etiquette. The two sat rigid in their chairs until Tony and Thor walked through the door, and only then did they relax a fraction.
"Why'd you bring them to a bar?" Tony said, a touch reproachful.
Thea waved it off. "They're not children. What's the problem? You're a little old-fashioned, you know that?"
Tony nearly choked. Old-fashioned? Me? You're sure you mean me and not Steve Rogers? You couldn't find a more open-minded man in all of America!
Thea ignored the sputtering Tony Stark, flicked her right hand, and a glass appeared in front of each of them—even the bodyguard wasn't overlooked. She poured a round.
"Try the finest from our world. This is Dionysus's own vintage."
To show good faith, she and Diana drank first.
Thor grabbed his glass without a word and drained it. "Good stuff!"
Tony, the bodyguard, Scarlet Witch, and Vision each took a drink as well. Notably, Vision was a synthezoid; the liquid converted directly into energy and was absorbed by his body.
"Another round! To fighting side by side!" Thea refilled every glass.
The mood caught fire. The drinking table really was the great equalizer.
By the third glass, Thor was bellowing "For Asgard!" Fortunately, Thea had laid down a sound-dampening barrier laced with illusion; to anyone outside, they looked like a group chatting quietly.
Dionysus's vintage coaxed the joy out of everyone who drank it. They were all having the time of their lives. Nobody even knew where Asgard was, but they didn't care. One after another, they raised their glasses and joined in: "For Asgard!"
Tony Stark was still a baseline human. Five glasses of divine brew was his limit. Given that tomorrow's fight against Krona couldn't include a hungover billionaire, Thea sent the bodyguard to take him home. The rest of them could teleport or fly back whenever they pleased.
With the two normal humans gone, only the extraordinary remained.
The atmosphere finally loosened up.
"What are gods like in your universe?" Thor had clearly been sitting on that question for a while.
"We are gods. My father is the king of the gods. My mother was a blessed mortal," Diana answered without hesitation.
"What's your connection to Hela?" Thor asked Thea, dead serious.
Hela? Who? Diana's attention snapped over. That was a woman's name. Was there another woman?
"Don't know her. Never heard of her," Thea denied flatly. There genuinely was no connection.
"But your powers look similar. How did you crush my hammer back then? Were you already that strong?"
Thea frowned slightly. "Back then? What 'back then'? For you it's been years, but on my personal timeline, less than a day has passed..."
Thor looked half-lost. Before Thea could elaborate, a tremendous crash rang out—something heavy slamming into a wall—followed by the staccato bark of handguns and submachine guns.
They hadn't decided whether to keep drinking or go investigate when a hulking man came flying through the sound barrier like a cannonball. The barrier shattered. The man froze. The drinkers froze.
"Hey... the guy on the floor was punched over here by me. I really didn't know you were sitting here..." A short distance away, Spider-Man in his red suit called out an apology. Letting the visitors see his city looking like a mess wasn't exactly a good look.
"No problem." Thea booted the man on the floor back toward Spider-Man. The evening's drinking was clearly over. They flew back to rest.
"Their city isn't exactly peaceful either. Makes Metropolis look tame," Diana said through their mental link.
No kidding. Daytime New York was normal enough, harmonious even. Nighttime was a circus.
Over on the DC side, one city meant one hero. Here, every neighborhood had its own hero, and it still wasn't enough. Too many criminals.
Spider-Man had a battle tomorrow, yet his nightly patrol couldn't stop.
Daredevil was out fighting. Punisher was out fighting. Even that Iron Fist guy was out fighting. The whole city at night was like a festival, loud and chaotic.
Seeing nothing left for them to do, Thea pulled Diana back to their room and went straight to sleep. It had been an exhausting day.
On someone else's turf, they didn't spar or do anything else. They simply turned off the lights and went to sleep.
This perfectly casual arrangement drew a chorus of teasing jeers from the Avengers.
The other universe seemed rather... open-minded about these things.
Early the next morning, they were jolted awake by the clang of metal on metal.
They changed and stepped outside to find quite the show.
Batman was piloting his new Fenrir Armor against Thor, while Tony Stark had broken out his ace in the hole, a suit of armor he'd christened the Odin-Blessed, and was going blow for blow with Superman.
Thea's attention went straight to Iron Man's new suit. Gone was the usual flashy red-and-gold. Put simply, it was kind of black. Sharp, angular spikes lined the arms, shoulders, and thighs. When it powered up, deep-red energy coursed through the frame, boosting the wearer's strength and speed enormously.
The chest reactor, when run in reverse, could fire a massive wide-area energy blast.
"This thing is called the Odin-Blessed Armor?" Thea asked Vision, who stood nearby.
He confirmed. Thea found that amusing. Odin's blessing? More like Tony Stark stole Asgard's Destroyer and slapped his own modifications on it. Aside from the head, the thing was a dead ringer for the Destroyer in every way. Clearly the same unit Thor had wrecked on Earth years ago.
Superman had his usual habit of holding back against everyone, and for the moment, Iron Man was pressing him.
On the other side, Batman and Thor were going at it with enthusiasm. The Fenrir Armor's high magic resistance and heavy defense left Thor unable to bring his strength to bear.
Thea watched for a few minutes, then pulled Diana away for breakfast.
Along the way, she spotted several others running their own sparring matches—a natural enough impulse before a joint operation.