Universal Headaches

Chapter 7

Natasha continued her explanation.

"They deal with unusual national security threats. Ones that haven't ever been experienced or properly identified. I can imagine the energy given off by us being transported here set off their radar."

"So," Sutton dropped her head into her hands and closed her eyes.

Oh, sweet, sweet, sleep.

"They actually do believe I'm part of some terrorist plot. Great."

"Luckily for you," Tony piped in, "you have the cleanest record here besides Capsicle. Not so much as a parking ticket."

That woke her up a little bit.

"Did you dig through my personal records?"

"Just kind of, like, glanced. Thoroughly."

Some anger managed to lick up some of her exhaustion.

"That's none of your business," she snapped.

"Well, maybe not," Bruce cut in levelly. "But you do kind of have our lives plastered, well, everywhere."

It wasn't the same! It didn't- it didn't count. They couldn't hold her responsible for knowing things about them when last week it hadn't been considered...prying. There were some things about her that she'd rather keep under wraps if she could. If it wasn't too late already.

"You wrecked my toaster," she whined back. "I had just gotten the settings perfect and everything."

"So we're even," Tony concluded. "And speaking of your late toaster, I present to you, dessert."

And with a flourish that rivaled Vanna White, he gestured to his odd little creation and grinned widely. Sutton just stared at it blankly before her eyes floated back up to him.

"What is it?"

What was it indeed. It wasn't even that big, maybe the size of a large apple. And very, very homemade looking. Like, maybe Tony from fourth grade had made this. She could identify different bits of her toaster, some wiring, but other parts had her wondering where'd he'd secured them. She would have to do a thorough inventory of her electronics tomorrow.

"It's progress," Tony declared.

"With my toaster?"

Tony waved her off.

"We needed the heating coils and your house isn't exactly well equipped for genius work."

"What does it do," Sutton reiterated. And it looked like this was the devices first reveal, because everyone who wasn't Tony or Bruce leaned forward in their seat.

"Well, not much right now, admittedly."

"It's kind of...a prototype," Bruce offered. "We think that since there's so much that's identical about our universes, there may be a commonality that we can quantify. If we can do that, then maybe we can isolate the differences and reorder them."

It was quiet. Sutton had no idea what he was talking about. At all. The words swirled around her brain as she tied to grasp the meaning behind them. They had been in English, she was sure. She knew what they all meant by themselves.

Just...what?

She either said that out loud or her face spoke for her because Tony jumped in to dumb it down for everyone.

"What the Big Guy is saying, is that we think that maybe we all occupy the same earth, just on different frequencies."

It was quiet a moment longer.