Network - Audio (Post Calibrations)

[doubled_speed]

Dudes, you WOULD not believe what I found.

[There's laughter and amusement in Tommy's voice. Something that hadn't been true at all by the end of the time in the tunnels. Look at him, not three hours free and he's already gleeful.]

So I took a nice little run after the tunnel opened and dudes, check this out. And we've got fucking ISLANDS not far from the shore. Like, not fucking in sight, so they're a bit out, just a few miles, but they're there. And get this...

[Oh yeah, you gotta believe that pleasure is ramping up.]

The chain of three of them? They're a fucking vacation spot or something. I found abandoned ruins. They're a lot like the city, all overgrown. There's these little things like a mix between a monkey and a sloth here too. I'm calling them chitterers, because they don't stop making noise, like, EVER. I even found something that almost looks like one of those paddle-swan boats. Except not because I don't think they had swans?

[And at last there's a picture of Tommy, stretched out on a beach with a white and brown, piebald creature hanging off of a nearby tree, clearly the 'chitterer' in question. He's holding a large cup of silvery crystal or plastic, clearly some sort of Agri version of a tropical drink glass like you'd get back on Earth, but with a strangely flared bottom, making it look a bit like an hour glass carved out of ice, and raising it toward the camera. All that's missing is that cheesy 'wish you were here' sorta sentiment on it, written in some horrible cliche font. Give him that, and he's a fucking post card. And, in the background, there's a broken down facade of a very different structure. The resort or vacation structure or something.]

Comments

[in_extremis]

...what?

[doubled_speed]

They're from a whole other version of our Earth. That Wanda isn't OUR Wanda. She doesn't have kids. Hell... Her Pietro is dead.

[And the pain in his voice at that is undeniable. A Wanda without her Pietro. Messed up.]

So no magic at all. She's not even a mutant.

[in_extremis]

[No, Tony got the alternate Earth thing, there were going to be some differences. For example, all three Buckii were much more lively than Tony's, that was pretty drastic. However, and Tony did not hide his panic:]

Why does she have an infinity gem?

[And the not magic, not mutant part, those weren't working for him either, but this feels more pressing.]

[doubled_speed]

I didn't say she has one. Just that her powers came from one. Humans playing with things past our understanding and all of that.

[Hell, Vision as he knew his father here had a stone in him, so yeah, fucked up world.]

Her and Pietro both got their abilities from that.

[in_extremis]

[Tony's rubbing at his temple again, irritated at his alternate self somehow for proving he could be even more worthless by not managing to destabilize that inevitability and hiding the damn things like he was supposed to. At least there was someone in the multiverse for Tony to hate more than himself.]

Is she...okay?

[This is also a weird question, but Tony can't imagine what kind of havoc having the power of a gem could mean if using one was such a disaster. And if Pietro didn't make it...

These weren't even questions for Tommy. Tony dismisses it with a wave before Tommy has to figure out how to answer.]

Never mind. It's...She cooks, you're going to cook together. At the diner? That's where you'll be.

[doubled_speed]

[Can't hide what you don't know exists, Tony. But Tommy isn't going into all of what he learned from Vision. If he wants to know more, he's going to have to learn it himself.]

I'll be around. Right now, I'm on this island. Later, I'll be at the greenhouse. Still later, I'll be at the diner. Thirty hour day and I require three to four hours of sleep. Think about it Tony. No parties, no heroics, just taking care of my little brother like this.

[in_extremis]

You're the one that said you didn't want the spa, I put it out there.

[doubled_speed]

You're welcome to make your spa.

[Please stop telling him a spa is needed.]