Disclaimer: I own nothing. Stargate Atlantis and the Avengers belong to their respective owners of which I am not. Though seriously don't we all wish we own something on here? Yeah that's what I thought.

A/N: Yeah so essentially the timeline/canon has been *poof* wiped from existence in this story though the story does follow canon to an extent for SGA as it takes place during parts of season 1 and could be interpreted as late season 2 or early season 3...For the Avengers all the movies have happened prior to and including the very first Avengers movie but nothing after that.

Also, this is a one-shot for now. I probably will come back to it at a later date, but this has been on my computer for years and I want to share with you guys.

Beta: LogicIsBoring44

"You've got a call from Sheppard Industries, sir," said the secretary.

"Who is it and what about?" asked Tony as he walked into his office that he visited occasionally. He knew who was calling, there was only one person who called him from Sheppard Industries.

"It's a David Sheppard and he said it's about something you both have in common, sir," said the secretary, looking at the pad in her hand.

Tony waved his hand carelessly and said, "Go ahead and put him through and I'll take it in here."

"Yes sir," said the secretary.

"Thanks, darling," said Tony and he ignored how the woman blushed as she left his office. It worked every time.

His phone started to ring and he picked it up after three rings – he was in no hurry to talk to the person after all.

"What do you want, Davy," said Tony into the phone with a grin.

"Don't call me that," came the sigh down the line and after a moment of silence on both ends he continued, "When's the last time you heard from him?"

Tony frowned slightly and said, "I'm not his keeper. Why are you asking?"

"Because he came to see me and our dad a few days ago and told me that he was going away on a new assignment," started Dave.

Tony's frown deepened as he remember his own visit but he didn't let it show in his words as he said, "You mean his stepfather."

"Now's not the time for semantics, Tony," snapped Dave.

"It's always the time for semantics," said Tony, mockingly.

Dave kept silent, knowing how much it would irritate Tony, who after a couple of minutes blew out an annoyed breath and admitted, "He came to see me too. He wanted to make up."

Dave was silent for a moment before he said, "Yeah, he wanted to make up with us as well."

There is something Dave wasn't telling him, Tony could hear it in his voice. He tightened his hold subconsciously on the phone. "David, what's happened?"

There was a heavy silence – Tony never calls Dave by his proper name – before Dave answered, "My father and I were visited by an Air Force representative."

Tony cut him off even as his stomach dropped out. "Stop stalling and just tell me."

"John's base lost contact a day ago and right now he and his entire unit are considered MIA," Dave answered bluntly.

Tony's brain, for perhaps the first time in a long time, stuttered but didn't stop, already trying to come up with a solutions.

"Where's he stationed?" Tony demanded.

"Didn't he tell you?" asked Dave, almost with a taunt in a voice. The two of them couldn't help it when it came to John. They always seemed to be in competition to see who could be the best big brother to him. Ultimately, though, they seemed to have failed.

"I said he came by wanting to make up. I didn't say we actually talked or made up," retorted Tony, and wasn't that a big kick in the teeth? The last time he saw his younger brother, he ignores him, and then a few short weeks later he's declared MIA.

Dave was silent as he digested what Tony had said before he let out a sigh. "Yes, I'm afraid that was the case with us as well."

Something finally clicked. "That bastard!"

"Excuse me?" asked Dave, and Tony could visualize the frown that had just appeared on the other man's face.

"Our brother!" said Tony, like that explained everything.

Dave's eyebrow quirked slightly at the too true insult. "What about him?"

"He knew! He knew he was going somewhere where it was likely he was going to get cut off from everyone and he –" Tony cut himself off.

"He tried to mend the fences in case it was a one-way trip he didn't come back from," finished Dave for him with a sigh. John seemed to cause him to do that a lot with actions that were just so John-like.

There was silence for several minutes on either end of the phone, neither of them worrying about a phone bill knowing it was on company time, and even if it wasn't they could both afford it.

Tony pinched the bridge of his nose and said, "He wasn't the one who had to apologize, you know."

"What?" asked Dave, not sure where Tony was going with his statement or where his sudden confession was coming from or why he would say it to him. They didn't have the best relationship to begin with.

"Try to keep up. You have some smarts in you. John. He wasn't the one who had to apologize to me. I was – I was drunk," Tony admitted, "and John was being John and I said something – something that I knew would hurt him and chase him away. We hadn't spoken in years, let alone seen each other, until about four or five weeks ago, and I didn't even listen to him."

Dave was silent as he listened to Tony's confession and it was eerily similar to John's visit to see him and their dad about five weeks ago as well.

"What happened when he came to see you?" asked Tony.

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"Major, don't you have a message you want to send to anyone? I'm just about ready to add the messages and I didn't see one in there from you," said McKay as he and Teyla walked to where Sheppard was standing on a balcony looking at the ocean.

Sheppard shook his head. "There's no one on Earth who will miss me if I die."

"Do you not have family on Earth, Major?" asked Teyla, looking at her team leader and friend curiously as McKay stared at him, understanding on some level being estranged from family and wondering if it was a good idea to send his message to his sister after all.

Instead of answering, Sheppard just shrugged his shoulder and continued to watch the ocean. Sensing he would talk when he was ready, Teyla and McKay let him be for a moment as they stood in silence, looking out across the water.

"Where's Ford?" asked Sheppard, not looking away from the ocean.

"He went to get something to eat and then to make sure everyone who wanted to send a message had a chance to record one," answered McKay, trying not to think of all the things he had yet to do in preparation for the Wraith invasion.

Sheppard nodded his head before he asked the both of them, "What does it say about a person when two families can't even love them?"

"What?" McKay asked distractedly. He was rudely interrupted from his mental to-do list and could not even begin to properly anticipate the flow of the coming conversation; however, he had the terrible impression that it was about to do with feelings.

"I do not understand, Major," replied Teyla, a little lost.

Sheppard sighed and said, "My family is…complicated, I suppose the word would be."

"Everyone's family is complicated, Major," retorted McKay, crossing his arms. His time was being wasted. He had important preparation to make. He couldn't stand here yapping about feelings.

Teyla placed a hand on McKay's arm, gave him a look and said to Sheppard, "What is complicated in your family, Major?"

"Did you know my birth was an accident? It wasn't supposed to happen," admitted Sheppard without answering Teyla's question, though in an indirect way, McKay and Teyla supposed he did.

McKay opened his mouth to respond but Teyla gave him another warning look that he interpreted to be sensitive.

"How do you mean, Major?"

Teyla did not think Major Sheppard even realized he was talking to her and Doctor McKay. He still had yet to look away from the ocean.

"My parents were looking to…spice up their relationship, if you know what I mean," he explained and he finally turned to look at them, disproving Teyla's previous thought. She and McKay nodded their understanding.

Even though the Athosians themselves did not do any 'spicing' in their relationships, Teyla had spent enough time around the people of Earth to understand the meaning.

"Anyway, they got involved with another couple – it was only supposed to be just a one-time deal thing or whatever, and it was. Supposedly, my parents were fine in every department of life, their marriage, professionally, and they didn't fight any more than was normal for a married couple – for a total of nine months," said Sheppard.

"Until you were born?" asked McKay.

"Until I was born," confirmed Sheppard, "looking nothing like my father."

There was silence as both McKay and Teyla processed what Sheppard said.

"What did your parents do?" asked McKay, curiously.

"They passed it off as me looking like some distant relative, took me home, and contacted the other couple," explained Sheppard.

"They gave you to the other couple? Even your mother?" Teyla asked, shocked. If they did that, no wonder John had not made a personal video to his loved ones.

"Not quite." John gave a wry grin. "See this other couple had just had a baby about two weeks before and they weren't quite looking for another baby to raise."

"So what happened?" asked McKay, sounding angry.

"They came to an arrangement. My father – stepfather – whatever you would like to call him, was well off but he still wanted the other couple to help raise me, and so they did. I would go visit my real father – birth father, if you like – every couple of months after I started to walk and talk. It was an okay arrangement and it worked well for us. I got along with both sets of parents and both older half-brothers –"

"You're the baby of your family?" asked McKay suddenly.

"Yes?" Sheppard answered slowly, unsure what McKay was getting at.

"Huh. That explains a lot," said McKay and made a 'go on' gesture.

Sheppard looked confused for a second but he continued with his story. "As I said, I got along with both sets of parents and both of my half-brothers. At least, I did until both my fathers started pushing me."

"Pushing you?" asked Teyla, sounding somewhat confused.

"Placing unreasonable demands on me about what I wanted to do with my future," explained John further and Teyla nodded her head in understanding. "Both of my fathers were CEOs of their companies, they were chief executive officers, the highest-ranking person in their companies who make leader-type decisions," he explained further for Teyla's benefit, "and they each wanted me to work for them before eventually taking over their companies."

McKay made a noise that Sheppard wasn't in the right mindset to interpret as Teyla asked, "They were trying to divide your loyalty?"

Sheppard shook his head. "I'm not sure what started it. They were friends when I was younger, but eventually I think it turned into a competition about who I loved more – I would obviously work for and take over the company of the man I loved more as a father – and I wanted no part of it."

"Understandable," said Teyla, and McKay nodded his agreement.

"You're the only ones. Not even my brothers truly understood. It was like there was a competition between all of us," said Sheppard with a sad shake of his head.

Silence fell between the three of them before Sheppard continued.

"You would have thought though that the competition," Sheppard said the word like it was a curse, "would have ended the moment when my real father died along with his wife when I was twenty."

"But it did not," stated Teyla, knowing it was not a question.

He shook his head. "No. Unfortunately, my dad – stepfather – he still continued to push me even though by that time I had already made my decision to join the Air Force, I was just waiting to finish school. My dad apparently thought my brother, Tony, would continue where his father left off."

"Did he?" asked McKay, re-crossing his arms. If Sheppard's brother – this Tony – did, he would do something. He didn't know what or how – Wraith attack pending as it is – but he would do something.

"No. Tony – he was too wrapped up in his own grief about his parents, and then his own life, he didn't care."

There was something in Sheppard's voice that made them sure there was more to the story but they weren't going to push right now. Sheppard already told them more then he had all year.

"I eventually became estranged from Tony and Dave, my other half-brother, and my father – my mom having died when I was younger – when I joined the Air Force. I didn't talk to them for years, but it didn't stop them from giving me advice when they heard about what I was doing through the grapevine. I never tried to contact them, though, not until right before we left to go on the Atlantis mission." Sheppard shook his head and continued, "I wanted to make up, you know, in case we died. They didn't even want to hear it."

"Then the fault does not lie with you," said Teyla firmly, while McKay nodded his agreement somewhat uncomfortably.

Sheppard frowned. "How can you be sure? You've only heard one side," he pointed out.

"Because I know you," said Teyla simply. "They are the ones missing out on an amazing man, Major."

There was silence at that while Sheppard was uncomfortable with the praise, and McKay with the way the conversation went. Teyla turned her attention out towards the ocean, not at all uncomfortable.

The semi-uncomfortable silence was broken a few minutes later by McKay.

"Major, who was you real father?" asked McKay before he hurriedly added, "I mean, if I can ask. You don't have to tell me."

Sheppard grinned a little at that feeling a little bit back to normal, before he said, "Shut up, McKay."

McKay shut up.

"I don't mind telling you both, but please, don't tell anyone else. The only one on the base who knows is Elizabeth and that's because it's in my file."

McKay nodded his head while making a 'go on' gesture and Teyla inclined her head. She would keep his secret.

Sheppard was silent a while before saying, "My birth father's name was Howard Stark."

"WHAT!?" shouted McKay.

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"Tony?" said Pepper Potts coming into Tony's lab. He has been working on something secret ever since Afghanistan, and she's unsure if she should be worried about it or not.

Tony stopped what he was doing but he didn't answer her. She knew he was listening, however.

"You have a call from Sheppard Industry –" she was cut off.

"Take a message," said Tony and he went back to work, ignoring anything else that Pepper might have said.

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Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard eyed Ronon Dex slowly as they circled each other in the gym.

"Colonel Sheppard, would you come to my office, please?" came Doctor Weir's voice over the radio and it was in that split second that Ronon used it as a distraction to send Sheppard crashing to the floor before the other man even knew what had hit him.

He groaned into his headset and said, "I'm on my way."

"You should never let your guard down," said Ronon with a grin as he helped Sheppard up off the floor.

"Right," said Sheppard sarcastically. "Weir needs me." Ronon nodded his head once, and the pair of them grabbed their things and headed out of the gym.

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"Colonel Sheppard, please, sit," said Weir looking up from the report she was reading when Sheppard knocked.

Sheppard walked in, sat down in the chair and asked jokingly, "Am I in trouble?"

"Should you be?" asked Weir with a raised eyebrow.

"It was McKay," said Sheppard at once.

Weir's eyebrow went up even higher as she looked at Sheppard with suspicion as well as concern.

"What?"

"Never mind," Sheppard said very quickly.

Weir narrowed her eyes and said, "We'll get back to that, Colonel, but for now I wanted to show you something. There's a situation on Earth and the SGC think we'll be able to help. Specifically you." She handed the file she was reading over to him.

"If there was a situation on Earth, wouldn't the SGC be able to handle it by themselves?" asked Sheppard as he took the file and opened it.

"They felt you would be better suited for it, given your history," said Weir, compassion in her voice, as Sheppard froze minutely while reading the report.

"An alien attack in New York, and the SGC had no warning before it happened?" Sheppard asked, incredulously.

"Apparently, the SGC never had contact with the planet the aliens came from or the planet the one leading the attack was from, but get this – there was a warning," said Weir.

"There was? To who?"

"To the agency known as SHIELD."

"Really," said Sheppard putting the file back on Weir's desk. He had heard of SHIELD, and likely, so had Elizabeth. "And SHIELD didn't think they should put a stop to the attack before it happened?"

"They were unable to stop it but they were able to prevent it from being much worse than what it was," replied Elizabeth.

"Yes, with the so called team of superheroes, the Avengers. Elizabeth, I don't know how I'm going to be much help here. I don't know what happens on Earth since I'm not, you know, on Earth," said Sheppard, gesturing vaguely to Atlantis in general.

Weir frowned at him and said, "As you read, the Avengers are made up of several individuals which include an alien named Thor from the planet Asgard – though not in any way associated with the Thor the SGC and General O'Neill are familiar with.

"There is also Natasha Romanoff, who goes by the code name of Black Widow; Clint Barton, code name Hawkeye; and Bruce Banner with a code name of Hulk – apparently there was an incident in Harlem prior to his involvement in the Avengers, but no more information was provided.

"There is also Steve Rogers, also known by the name of Captain America, and finally Anthony 'Tony' Stark also known as Iron Man, as his identity is not secret."

Weir watched Sheppard for a reaction, but Sheppard stubbornly remained blanked faced and silent.

Repressing a sigh, Weir continued. "The SGC and IOA have decided to make contact with the director of SHIELD, a one Nicholas Fury, and the Avengers to inform them of the Stargate, and hopefully avoid future invasions of this sort again.

"So, John, are you still confused as to why you are wanted to be a part of the team that goes to make contact with the director of SHIELD and the Avengers?" finished Weir.

Finally showing a reaction, Sheppard crossed his arms, and asked, "Isn't there some kind of conflict of interest? Me being family – estranged though we are – and everything to one of the Avengers?"

"Apparently not," said Weir.

Sheppard let out a resigned sigh. "When do I leave for Earth?"

"Tomorrow morning, and the Daedalus is already on its back to the Milky Way, so you don't have to wait long to come back," replied Weir, trying to sound optimistic.

"Just three weeks in hyperspace," Sheppard said dryly.

"At least this time, we know the ship isn't infected by a Wraith virus," said Weir with a grin.

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Bruce frowned as he read the message on his tablet again.

"What's wrong? Your results not turn out as expected?" Tony asked.

"No, my results are still pending," replied Bruce, still frowning.

"What is it then?" asked Tony, moving closer to his science bro.

"SHIELD requested a meeting in two days for all the remaining Avengers –" started Bruce.

"About what? We sent Point Break and Reindeer Games back. What else do they want?" asked Tony in annoyance, now looking over Bruce's shoulder at his message.

"It doesn't say," said Bruce, worriedly.

Tony noticed, and clapped Bruce on the shoulder. "I'm sure they just want to take our statements again. It's nothing to worry about. I think your results are done."

Bruce turned his attention to the results of his experiment, though he was still slightly distracted by the message.

When Bruce was satisfactorily distracted, Tony said, "JARVIS?"

"Already working on it, sir," JARVIS said.

"Let me know what you find."

"Of course, sir."

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Sheppard stood a safe distance away from the 'gate, waiting for it to activate when he heard McKay's voice.

"Honestly, Americans! Arming and shooting a nuclear weapon at a major city! And these are the people we are going to go meet?" demanded McKay as he walked up to the gate platform with Teyla and Ronon.

"What are you guys doing here?" asked Sheppard as the 'gate started the activation sequence.

"We are here to accompany you to the meeting," said Teyla.

"Heard you could use some support," Ronon said with a shrug.

"Elizabeth already approved it. Besides, who knows what kind of trouble you could get into without us to watch your back," McKay replied with a completely serious face.

"I don't get into trouble," Sheppard shot back absentmindedly while looking at Weir, who was standing by the technician putting in the 'gate address. She inclined her head at him.

"Ha! Do you need a list of all the trouble you already got into and the potential trouble you could get into?" asked McKay.

He didn't wait for a response as he started rattling off his list of all the trouble Sheppard could get into by just breathing.

"Thank you," said Sheppard, his throat suddenly and uncomfortably dry, to Teyla and Ronon. Teyla inclined her head once while Ronon just raised an eyebrow.

"Number fifteen, you could get shot just by going into a restaurant to get food – because we all know you can't cook. How you would get shot in the restaurant would be simple to because, obviously, there would be someone idiotic enough to try to rob the place and you, Mister-I-think-I'm-bulletproof, would try to stop the gunman," McKay ranted.

"Are you finished?" asked Sheppard as the 'gate activated.

"I'm not even close to being finished," McKay retorted as they started to walk towards the 'gate.

"Really?" asked Ronon with a raised eyebrow in McKay's direction.

McKay stopped short. "Well, I – I could be finished – just for now mind you. I've been waiting years to tell you this, Sheppard!"

"Oh, I can tell," Sheppard replied with a grin as he stepped through the 'gate.