"You and me both.", I said, causing Natasha to look at me again.
"What do you mean by that?", Natasha wondered. Natasha wouldn't know our situation.
The fact that I've lived out two lives before this, while Lala and her sisters lived out one life of theirs. I don't plan to bring this topic up unless I'm forced to. It might be cringe, but most reincarnators or transmigrators keep their secrets with 'em until their graves. I do know some stories end up revealing this point some time in their life. I'm not sure if I will need to. This is the MCU we're talking about. Mutants might be hiding around now with the X-Gene not being a thing yet. They'll come over eventually, with Deadpool being the key player to do so. And that has a lot of mind-fuckery right out the wazoo.
There's still time before that happens, though. I knew it happens in the comics, but the MCU hadn't reached that far yet. I knew about the Deadpool movie that was coming out, shame that I couldn't watch it before my first life ended. That's a big F right there.
But, at the very least, I do know mutants are coming. Thankfully, I'm being treated as an alien, instead of a mutant. I don't have to deal with all that racist bullshit that will eventually come along with it.
"Oh nothing. Just some passing words of mine. But yes, Lala-chan here is my wife. Some things happened, and well, we ended up here. We do not have a place to go back to.", I explained, keeping our situation vague. Plus Natasha here is still struggling with the existence of aliens.
If I threw her another layer on top of what all took place in the Avengers movie, her brain might explode.
So I kept most of what happened to us secret, for now. If it ends up shedding light in the future, then so be it. By then, I'd likely be strong enough anyways to hold my own. I still have to dive into my system. I already had my first Level Up, and I didn't even do anything. Just being Baki again worked some magic.
"Uh-huh. It's as Baki-kun said. It is true we don't have a place to return to. Pardon my manners for the late introduction, I'm really grateful that you were looking after us. My name's Lala Satalin Deviluke, the oldest sister.", Lala said, introducing herself to Natasha.
"Likewise. Agent Romanoff. Or when I'm off duty, most just call me Nat. A pleasure.", Natasha responded.
"An Agent? Do you do a similar line of work to the Secret Service Papa had?", Lala questioned.
Natasha raised her eyebrows at Lala's words, before realizing the person standing in front of her.
"Right. You're a princess. I can only take a guess as to who your dad was. It's similar, in a way. I'm not exactly with what you'd call Secret Service. Our field is more...unique. Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division. I know that's always a mouthful to say, so just call us SHIELD for short. We perform more on a global scale, ensuring the safety of our planet. At least, that's within our radar now. You're an alien, aren't you?", Natasha asked, being blunt right off the bat. She glanced near Lala's waist and saw a long black and spade-shaped tail.
"Well if you mean we came from outer space, then that should answer your question. You call yourself Nat, huh? It's nice to meet you! I will additionally add that you don't have to worry about any diplomacy matters or anything. Our homeworld is no more.", Lala responded. Her tail swooped downward, and her eyes became downcast.
"I see. That lines up to what Momo already said to me. I can't begin to imagine what it would be like to suddenly not have Planet Earth. The only thing I can do right now is give you my condolences.", Natasha said.
"Thanks for that. It's something we'll be working to settle. Just not now. I'll send you the request details later. Right now, we just want Nana-chan to wake up, and we'll figure out our logistics from there.", I explained.
"That makes sense to me. All of this must be pretty foreign to you. I just want to ask. Where does all of this place you? You don't have a tail like the girls do.", Natasha questioned.
So Natasha picked up on that, did she? I'm not from Planet Deviluke like Lala, Momo and Nana are. In a way, I'm not an alien at all. I'm a human, just like Natasha is. Just from a different reality. Yet as if on cue, we all suddenly heard a loud whirring noise reach our ears, almost as if it came straight out of an airplane engine. Shortly after, we heard clunking sounds strike the floor of the veranda outside the large window panes in our present view. What we were greeted with was a suit of red armor. I knew this figure very well. He was one of the leading characters of the early MCU phases.
I saw the helmet disengage from the armor, hiding back into the suit. The rest of the armor quickly disassembled itself with the help of large rotating discs that came out of Stark Tower itself. I can only assume this was Jarvis at work. This scene played out very fluidly. This person was Iron Man, and without the suit, Tony Stark. The same person I ended up "rescuing" at the end of the Chitauri Invasion. I did not see Jarvis disengage Iron Man's thrusters like it did in the movie. This time around, he very well could have ended up stranded in outer space.
"Allow me to answer that question. Did you manage to finish the homework assignment I gave you?", The man said. To my surprise, Tony said this in Japanese. All of us raised our eyebrows at Tony, but it was Natasha who showed the most surprise.
"Since when were you an expert at the Japanese language?", Natasha questioned, eyes full of doubt.
"Since last night. And I must say, this language is very convoluted. There's a lot of words in it that sound the same but have different meanings. That's just confusing as all hell. Why can't they just make it less confusing like us English speakers?", Tony answered.
"So you say. But people say English is one of the hardest languages to learn.", I retorted.
"You make a fair point. I'm Tony, by the way. And you are strikingly human-like just like the rest of us. That's a scary thought.", Tony said, approaching us while giving himself an introduction. Tony Stark. The famous Iron Man. I do recall there being some talk as to who the first Avenger should be.
You got Captain America. He is considered the de facto leader of the Avengers. The very first one. But he quickly exited the scene at the end of his movie, submerging into the ice as Tony would call it, a Capsicle. He was out of the picture for a few decades. He had only recently resurfaced thanks to ongoing search and rescue. And with him, came the Tesseract, which spurred the whole first Avengers movie plot into place.
It was a shame I couldn't see that take place, but eh. You have to work with what you're dealt with. I was brought into this place at the end of the Chitauri Invasion while the movie took place.
And then, you got Captain Marvel, the original Avenger. Though she doesn't join the bandwagon until much, much later. Her movie had already taken place, considering it's 2012 right now. That happened a couple decades ago in the late '80s. Right now, she's probably off-world, dealing with space threats. She doesn't even know that Planet Earth now knows the existence of aliens.
And lastly, you got Tony Stark, who is the person now right next to me. He was the first of the Avengers to be recommended for the Avengers Initiative. Director Fury personally approached Tony while he was dealing with his health issues, trying to stay alive while operating Iron Man.
Most folks will say Captain America is the first Avenger, but I personally think Tony's the one.
And right now, he's the one who is standing next to me. Just like with Natasha, I greeted Tony.
"Baki Hanma. A pleasure.", I said, greeting Tony. To my surprise, he initiated a handshake. I had no reason to refuse. I accepted it and we shook. "But if you prefer, I can speak English.", I suddenly said, speaking this line in English. I saw Natasha's eyes droop down, revealing a deadpan look.
"You could speak English this entire time!?", Natasha exclaimed. "Great. Now we have a bilingual alien on our hands.", Natasha retorted.
"All the more reason to say this guy's human, just like the rest of us. I already did a background check with Jarvis. Baki, is it? You're human through and through. So either you came from a nearby space station, or you're from a different reality. Seeing as you popped out of that rift in space, I'm leaning toward the latter. We were all in the dark that we aren't the only ones out there until a week ago.", Tony responded.
"Wait. You're only saying this now? That bullshit assignment you gave me is actually real? The Multiverse shouldn't exist.", Natasha questioned, denying Tony. I raised my eyebrows at her words.
We're already heading that route, huh? We'll Tony isn't wrong. Minus me being a time traveler, it is correct for him to assume we're from a different reality. That is, because we did. Some MCU events did take place from my previous reality, but it was so much more chaotic as it had those other worlds implemented at the same time. Some even being on Planet Earth.