[for Peter] Test number one.

[notawastedlife]

There were a lot of good reasons not to trust Aperture Science technology further than he could throw it. Less, in fact, because they made pretty lightweight tech, and even without the armor he could probably toss it reasonably far. And was frequently tempted to; this tech had cost them a good man. That was the first reason

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[daretodo]

Normally, I might be the voice of reason in a situation like this. Tony's experiments aren't exactly the sort of things you'd spot at an elementary school science fair. They're dangerous, and because he's the one doing the experimenting, probably ill-planned for if something goes wrong. I mean, the last time he fired up an untested device, he nearly blew up the island and discovered a space station (that nearly blew up the island again), so to stay I have high hopes of this going without hitch would probably be stretching it.

Whether he wants to admit it or not, we're both working way outside our respective fields, here, ripping holes through time and space -- or trying to, at any rate. This is a job for Reed Richards or Doc Strange, but fortunately for them (and unfortunately for us), they haven't been stuck in a pocket dimension for over two years (three for Tony), so we're on our own.

But while, like I said, I might normally be the voice of reason, I have a lot banking on this working, without a hitch or not. I've been stuck here for too long and lost too much to not start throwing caution to the wind. Even if I've been managing to bury a lot of my anger at this place for the past couple of months, made some efforts at grieving, when we're standing on the precipice of something that might very well get us home, I am, in a word, impatient.

I jump off precipices all the time. I'm even wearing the right outfit for it underneath my civvies.

"If you don't push the button soon, I'm gonna," I tell Tony, tapping a pencil against the edge of a table so hard that it snaps in two. I've been saying variations of the same thing for the last ten minutes, but this is the first time I actually move towards the device, my last distraction expended. "Seriously, let's get this show on the road."

[notawastedlife]

"If we had roads, wouldn't need the show," Tony said, skimming down the diagnostic readout the computer he had hooked up to the device was giving him. It wasn't so much his math he felt he had to check -- although a lot of it was new, he'd had to build it special, this was not his usual field -- as it was evidence of tampering. That it was still his math.

He wasn't worried about Peter messing with anything. His concern was... external factors.

"This is completely off-road. Okay, I'm warming her up."

[daretodo]

"She wasn't warm already?" I ask, hovering, now, right behind him, to read the data from over his shoulder. I'm a ball of nervous energy, fidgety, especially spider-like. Not because I'm nervous, per se, though I'd be pretty nuts not to be, I guess, considering. I mean, it's not every day you try to rip a hole to another universe.

Well, unless you're Reed Richards, but I've already established that we're not.

"C'mon, let's do some science! Break barriers! Show this island what for with the ol' one-two of intellect and elbow grease."

I pantomime a couple of punches in emphasis, all aimed carefully away from Tony's head. We don't need any more concussions.

[notawastedlife]

"Go... spin a web in a corner, you're weirding me out," Tony said, shooting Peter an askance look over his shoulder as he hit a few buttons and let the portal device start humming as power hit the circuits.

It didn't fire on its own and open a portal to the vacuum of deep space -- the last place it had been set to shoot for, after all -- which was something he rather appreciated.

Would have been kind of exciting, though.

"We'll be breaking barriers... momentarily. Any second now. Actually, any second now, as soon as the repulsor injection system is online."

[daretodo]

I do not, in fact, go spin a web in a corner. For one, webbing is in limited supply, so I try not to waste when I can, and for two, well, no one puts Spidey in a corner.

...wait, that's from a movie, isn't it? I've gotta be more careful about stealing other people's material, otherwise I'll be the thief ol' Jonah always accused me of being.

Still, getting the sense that maybe I ought to shut up, at least, I make a show of checking out my watch instead, then glance up at the empty space in front of the device, expectantly.

[notawastedlife]

"And... online. Check, check, check," Tony said. "Dope, you ready? You know what you can do, make sure that sensor set is on tight."

Dope, meanwhile, was waggling a forward leg in the vague affirmative; the camera and antenna set strapped to his back did seem to be secure, but they were tossing him through a questionable portal. Paid to be sure.

[daretodo]

Of all the quote-unquote pets that Tony and Pepper have got running around the mansion, Dope's probably my favorite, even if he kinda lives up to the name. Hell, maybe because he lives up to the name. I mean, he's not the most sophisticated thing Tony's ever built by a long shot, but he still has a certain charm, you know?

More than Pepper's alien dog, at any rate.

Crouching down to get a better look at the sensor, hands on my knees, I only just manage to bite back the goofy grin that threatens to split my face wide open when he starts to wiggle his little scrappy leg. "Aw," I all but coo, "who's a cute lil--"

Turning back to Tony, I cut myself short, and without missing a beat, say in a deadpan, "Stop trying to distract me with your adorable robot. I will not be distracted by your adorable robot. Science. Broken barriers. C'mon."

[notawastedlife]

"Fine," Tony said, "barrier..."

He hit the switch. There was a combination of two sounds: the familiar whine of a repulsor charge, and the softer thrum of the portal being activated. The sound it made as it hit the wall Tony had set up -- going through the research, he'd found not just any surface would do, so he'd hauled one up from the space station especially -- was not the pop the portals made usually, though.

This was a repeat of the other kind. Louder, harsher, a swirling mess of sparking energy forming and then barely holding; not a hole in space, not a window to somewhere close, but a tempest in the world. Contained.

He checked the numbers.

Currently contained. And holding, although it was burning a lot of power and didn't want to stay locked down on... wherever the other side of that tempest was.

"...broken," he said, to complete the note, but then immediately had to start punching in numbers so they'd have something they could use.

[daretodo]

I don't start. Oh, I back up a little, sure, but it's a controlled movement -- and honestly, it's mostly just to get out of Dope's way, since there's not a part of me that doesn't want to go forward instead.

Can you blame me?

There's a portal -- a door -- into another world, right there, and there's no telling how long it'll stay open besides a few best guesses. It's been months since the space station crashed, since Duo sacrificed himself to some new world to save this one. And maybe it's just because I was distracted by everything else when it happened or my memory's simply been dulled by the time in between, or maybe I'm just so desperate to put this place in my rear-view mirror that I don't care about the risks, but I don't remember that portal being so beautiful. Enticing.

In the end, I'm not sure what keeps me locked to the spot in except for a sneaking suspicion that I wouldn't get very far with Tony all but a few feet away. (Though even then, a voice at the back of my head insists I could take him no problem.)

It's been a rough year.

Awe plain on both my face and in my voice, I murmur, "Wow."

[notawastedlife]

"Looks the part," Tony said, punching in a final set of numbers and then letting it work, stepping around the equipment to lean a little closer to the portal.

He was a little tempted to reach out and touch it, but who knew how much contact resulted in transfer?

"Dope, you're up," he said. The little robot began making tiny, purposeful strides towards the swirling mass of energy.

[daretodo]

Looking at the chaos of the portal, I can't help but wonder if Terrible wouldn't have been a better candidate to send through than Dope, but ultimately, it's Tony's call, since he built both of them.

Still, it feels a little weird, watching this tiny robot go through the potentially dangerous door to another dimension when I'm chomping at the bit to do the same.

"Best case scenario," I say, looking at Dope, but addressing Tony. "When can we follow suit?"

[notawastedlife]

"Best case?" Tony said, as Dope's march brought him up to the portal. "Dope goes through, Dope comes back, we look at the data for however long it takes to understand. Since it's us, that's, what, a day?"

Dope neared the wall, the snaps and bursts of roiling sparks actually reaching his chassis. He reached one forelimb up to tentatively swipe at the maelstrom of blue and black that was the portal and was probably not registering on his sensors as anything familiar.

He put the limb back on the ground, settled back a bit, paused, and then launched himself from all four legs up and forward, into the vortex. And vanished into the swirl.

[daretodo]

"If that," I say, frowning a little. It's not a long time, I tell myself. Provided Dope comes back, we could be taking the next step towards getting the hell out of this place in just 24 hours, but I don't know that I need my spider-sense, tech or otherwise, to tell me that probably isn't going to happen.

"But since it's us, as you pointed out, I'm guessing the odds of that happening are pretty slim. When's the last the time we wrangled a best case scenario?"

[notawastedlife]

Tony thought about it.

"...I won that portrait at casino night, that went well," he said. "That was a success."

He looked at the screen again.

"...that's less promising, hang on."

[daretodo]

"What's up?" I ask, all business as I head back over to read over his shoulder. I'm not a fan of the set-up, but somehow grabbing the screen to get a better look strikes me as counter-intuitive, 'cause then Tony would end up doing the same.

[notawastedlife]

The portal began to emit a high-pitched whine. Somewhere behind him, Tony heard a crash as the wolves, previously staying a good safe distance away from the dubious goings on, outright bolted. The colors started to shift, outright gaps appearing where the wall itself was visible.

"That," he said. "Destabilizing. Possibly... violently. We should be fine, here."

Mostly because if he took a step back he couldn't reach the controls to modulate the energy output to try to keep it running. He refused to consider how certain ridiculous power-sets might have their advantages in this scenario.