We were back at Old Tony's base.
I was finishing up a much better teleporter, one that could actually get us home to my world without tearing reality in half. I'd switched into Uprigg again to speed things up, nanotech flowing through the machinery as I rebuilt parts on the fly.
"Omni… can we talk?"
I was standing on the teleporter platform when I looked down. The Avengers were gathered below. Natasha had been the one to call out.
I dropped down, reverting to my normal form before hitting the floor.
"I'm almost done with the portal," I said.
"This isn't about that," Steve replied. "It's about the Time Stone."
I already knew where this was going.
"We've talked," Clint added. "And we want you to hand it over to us. We can keep it safe."
"Sorry," I said flatly. "That's not going to happen."
Natasha crossed her arms. "And why is that?"
"No offense," I said, glancing at Tony, "but I'm about eighty percent sure Tony's going to try to mess with it. And I'd rather not have time being experimented on."
Tony opened his mouth, clearly offended.
"Besides," I continued, "my master can protect the Time Stone way better than any of us."
Tony scoffed. "Right. Your magic master. And why exactly do you think she's the best option?"
"Because she's been protecting our Time Stone since before any of us were born," I replied.
Bruce blinked. "Wait, what?"
"My master is called the Ancient One," I said. "She's the Sorcerer Supreme of Earth. She's been alive for a very, very long time, and the Time Stone has been in the care of the sorcerers for centuries."
I let that sink in.
"They've protected it successfully all this time. So yeah, I trust them with another one. If I leave with you guys, there's a chance it gets stolen… and I'm not letting an Infinity Stone loose in our world."
That shut the room up.
No one spoke for several seconds.
Finally, Tony broke the silence." Okay. Fine. Your master gets the Time Stone. But then why do you want Ultron's body?"
After the fight, I'd collected everything: his core, armor fragments, and limbs. Every piece.
"I'm not rebuilding Ultron," I said immediately. "If that's what you're thinking."
"Then what?" Tony asked.
"I want to see if the Omnitrix can control what's left of him," I explained. "If they can, it might be useful. With all the Infinity Stones destroyed, there's no real threat left in the body."
Ant-Man frowned. "It's still made of vibranium."
"Yeah," I said casually. "I've got plenty of that already."
"…Wait, what?"
"Anyway," I said, turning back toward the platform, "important stuff handled. Let me finish our way home."
I transformed back into UpRigg and returned to the teleporter, nanotech spreading as I resumed work.
Most of the Avengers eventually walked off.
All except Natasha.
She pulled up a chair nearby and sat down, quietly watching me work. I didn't acknowledge her at first; I just kept building like she wasn't there.
After a while, she started making small talk.
I could tell what she was doing, trying to learn more about me.
I answered politely, but I didn't give her anything personal.
Some things… stay on a need-to-know basis.
"So," Nat said, watching me work, "do you have any brothers or sisters?"
"Can't say," I replied.
She raised an eyebrow. "You don't know yourself?"
I snorted. "No. I just don't feel like giving a spy even a hint of my civilian identity."
"We agreed not to dig into who you are," Nat said.
"Maybe," I answered, still hanging off the side of the teleporter. "But you are a spy. Would you hand personal info to a spy?"
She considered that. "No. But it'd be different if I knew them."
I glanced over at her. "Natasha… we don't really know each other like that. I wouldn't call us friends. Acquaintances, at best."
She winced theatrically. "Ouch. That hurt, especially after we just saved the multiverse from a psycho robot."
"A couple of months ago, I saved the multiverse from almost being wiped out with the Justice League," I said casually. "Batman pulled something I didn't like. We were on bad terms for a while. We're not anymore, but things are still not fixed. I just can't forget what he did, even though he apologized."
I reached into a pile of scrap, grabbed a loose component, upgraded it on the spot, and locked it into the teleporter's frame.
"Saving the multiverse isn't really new for me," I added. "I've done it three times now."
Nat froze. "Wait… what?"
"Yeah," I said. "Second time was a crazy, insanely powerful zombie witch trying to infect the entire multiverse with a virus."
I adjusted the part, nanotech sealing it in place.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Natasha staring at me, quiet, stunned.
I didn't comment on it.
I just kept working.
"Okay… I see your point," Nat said, taking a slow breath like she was pulling her thoughts back into order. "Trust isn't easy to build, and it's really easy to break. So… I'll go first."
I paused my work and looked at her.
"My parents are dead," she said calmly. "I never knew my father. I knew my mother for a while, though. I have a sister… but I don't know where she is." She hesitated, then continued. "I used to work for S.H.I.E.L.D. After the invasion, I joined the Avengers. Clint's my best friend, he's the one who brought me into S.H.I.E.L.D. in the first place."
I was honestly surprised she told me that much.
I knew she'd left things out, she always did, but still. That was more than I expected. I also knew the details didn't line up perfectly with what I knew: biological parents, adopted family, the Red Room, her sister still out there somewhere.
That was… something I'd deal with later.
Since she'd offered something real, it felt fair to do the same.
"My mom and dad died when I was a kid," I said.
She didn't interrupt. Just listened.
"I was mostly raised by my grandpa and my friend's parents," I continued. "I spent a lot of my time working on something important. Before all of this."
She tilted her head slightly. "Working on what?"
"A cure," I said. "For most types of cancer."
Her eyes widened. "What?"
"Yeah," I said. "I was already deep into it before everything went crazy. I've finished most of them, but the real problem is distribution. Giving it away for free to the public isn't something governments usually like." I shrugged. "I was thinking about asking the Justice League to help."
Nat leaned forward a bit. "Or… you could ask us."
I looked at her.
"Tony has multiple medical centers he's built and funded," she continued. "If you let him handle distribution, we could roll out the first batch safely and publicly. Promote it properly, too."
"You do realize you work with the government, right?" I said. "I'm pretty sure they won't be thrilled about that."
Nat smiled faintly. "They're always mad at us about something. This would just be another item on the list."
I went quiet, thinking it over.
Tony already had the infrastructure. The funding. The reach.
And yeah… it'd probably be faster.
I glanced back at the teleporter, then at Natasha.
"…That might actually work."
"Okay," I said after a moment. "Once we get back home and I deal with a certain situation, I can bring the cure to you guys in a couple of days."
Nat looked at me. "What kind of situation stops you from bringing the cure now?"
"Oh," I said casually, "just some aliens that showed up on Earth."
"…What?"
"Don't worry," I added quickly. "I'm handling it. I'm pretty sure, besides Superman and Green Lantern. I'm an expert when it comes to aliens."
She raised an eyebrow.
"I turn into them every day," I said.
Nat shook her head, half amused, half concerned. "Okay. But if you need help, you can ask the Avengers anytime."
I smiled at that and went back to work.
About an hour later, the teleporter was finally finished.
The reason it took so long was simple: after Tony used it earlier, most of the wiring had been fried, and several key components were ruined. I basically had to rebuild the entire thing from scratch, and the parts we'd scavenged weren't exactly in great shape.
I walked over to the computer and typed in a few commands, double-checking the coordinates. Old Tony's setup had been… let's just say optimistic. Random universes weren't really my thing.
Once everything was locked in, I hit the button.
The teleporter hummed to life.
I transformed back into my normal form and stepped in front of everyone.
"Alright," I said. "Portal's active and ready. This will take us back to our universe, the top of Stark Tower. Make sure you've got everything you want to bring with you, because this is a one-way trip."
I paused, then muttered, "I really should start using my Multiverse Gun more."
"What was that last part?" Tony asked.
"Not important," I replied.
I stepped aside, grabbed a large sack slung against the wall, Ultron's remains inside, and tossed it over my shoulder.
"Alright," I said, turning toward the glowing portal. "Follow me home."
I stepped through.
In an instant, I was standing atop Stark Tower. I turned just in time to see the portal remain open as the others followed, Avengers, teens, one after another.
Old Tony and Vision came through last.
Then the portal snapped shut.
I let out a breath I didn't realize I'd been holding.
"Glad everyone made it," I said. "I'm guessing you've got a lot to work out, with the kids and everything, so I'm gonna head out. I'll probably be back in a couple of days… and I'll bring Tony the cancer cures."
"The cure for what now?!" Tony blurted.
"Natasha will fill you in," I said with a grin. "Goodbye."
A green portal opened behind me.
I stepped through and vanished.
A couple of hours later
Natasha POV
After we got the kids settled in the Tower, the Avengers gathered in the meeting room. We were supposed to be going over everything that had happened today, but honestly, I couldn't stop thinking about James.
I never imagined I'd have a son. I might not be the one who gave birth to him, but he's still mine. Somehow, some way.
I keep wondering how the other me did it. It should be impossible; Black Widows aren't supposed to be able to have kids.
Well… she's from another universe.
I guess things went differently for her. Maybe she escaped before the operation. Maybe her Red Room wasn't the same. There's no point spiraling over it now.
Still… explaining this to Fury later is going to be a nightmare.
"Natasha, are you with us?" Steve asked.
I blinked, pulled out of my thoughts, and looked around the table. "No, sorry. I was just thinking."
"About the kids?" Bruce asked gently.
"No. About Omni," I lied. "We learned a lot more about him today, and I've got to say… he's more than we thought."
I told them what he'd said to me, about saving the Multiverse twice already. That earned a lot of raised eyebrows. A few of them clearly didn't buy it.
"I still find it hard to believe he's saved the Multiverse," Wasp said. "That feels like the kind of thing every hero would know about."
"Maybe," I said, "but he figured out Ultron was a threat almost immediately. The kid was only in that world for an hour, but he nearly figured everything out."
"Okay, but he still got some details wrong," Ant-Man pointed out.
"Sure," Tony said, leaning back in his chair, "but he was still pretty damn close."
Ant-Man sighed. "Fine. Let's say we believe him. What about the part where he said he'd drop off cures for cancer in a couple of days?"
"Just like he said, he already made them before all the Multiverse stuff," I replied. "He wants to give them to the people who need them. I told him Stark's got the medical facilities to distribute it properly, and that the government wouldn't be able to shut it down."
Ant-Man stared at me. "So we're just casually accepting that a kid created cures for multiple cancers? And we're obviously going to test them before injecting real people?"
"Of course we're testing them," Tony said immediately. "But honestly? With the kinds of hyper-intelligent aliens he can turn into… I wouldn't be surprised if they work."
"And the reason he won't bring it today is that he said he's dealing with an alien problem," I said.
"An alien problem?" Steve asked, instantly concerned.
"He said it's small," I replied.
Tony let out a short laugh. "Man, the kid's having all the fun. Saves the Multiverse more than once, handles aliens like it's nothing, and apparently has vibranium too. We should really recruit him already."
I hated that I agreed with Tony… but I did.
Omni would be an incredible asset to the Avengers. Maybe even S.H.I.E.L.D. The problem is, he always talks about doing things on his own. And honestly? What could we even offer him that he couldn't get himself? Money wouldn't mean much to someone like him. He didn't strike me as the kind of kid who did hero work for a paycheck.
I pushed the thought aside for now.
"And let's not forget Ultron," I said. "We might've beaten him in that world, but he's still out there in ours. He's dangerous, just as dangerous here as he was there."
"That's exactly why we should've taken the Infinity Stone from Omni," Hank said sharply.
I raised an eyebrow. That wasn't like Hank. He was usually calm… measured.
I wasn't the only one who noticed. Tony and Janet were both staring at him, concern written all over their faces.
"Hank," Steve said carefully, "he told us his master has been protecting the Time Stone for years, our Time Stone."
"His master," Hank scoffed. "His magic master. Really? We're just accepting that magic is real now?"
"Maybe it is, maybe it isn't," Tony said. "But he knew more about the Infinity Stones than any of us. If his master taught him that much, I believe she can handle the Time Stone. And after what we've seen? I trust him."
Hank's shoulders sagged a little. The anger drained out of him.
"Okay… okay," he said quietly. "I'm sorry. I just, Ultron fills me with dread. If he gets all the Stones… he could do it here too. And I don't think I could live with that. I created him to save lives. Not destroy them."
"We're going to find him," Tony said firmly. "I've been running algorithms worldwide with Mr. Terrific and Reed Richards. We're tracking Ultron's code patterns. He's out there, but he can't hide forever."
I nodded, hoping Tony was right.
"Let's just hope we find him," I said softly, "before he takes even more lives.
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AN: I hope you like the chapter, and the next act is going to be about the X-Men.