Arc Eight. Chapter Two Hundred Twenty-Eight. A New AIM
"Oh please. I doubt anyone else would be stupid enough or desperate enough to implant an electromagnet in their chest. I can sense it, I can see it, and the mess it's making." Erik explained.
Pepper looked over at Erik, "Mess?" and as he sipped his coffee,
"Yes, mess. Heavy metal poisoning. I can't tell which one it is, as I don't know them all, but I suspect it's leaking from the magnet. So Mr Stark, Peter kindly healed my eyes to the best of his ability, and while I am reluctantly allowing him to date my daughter. What does the world's richest man wish to offer me in exchange for saving his life?"
Tony scoffed, "The blood poisoning is curable, Lithium Dioxide, and I'll find a surgeon to remove the fragments."
Erik shook his head, "I can see why you don't like him, Peter. He's just as annoying as you are." Erik raised a hand and Tony gasped as he felt pressure build on his chest. "I would say to hold still, but you can't move anyway."
As the group watched, thin black veins spread from Tony's neck up to his cheeks and then a ball of black fluid floated free from his mouth. "A demonstration. If you have any kind of storage equipment here. It's the metal poisoning him."
"Dammit," Peter swore, "hold that there, most heavy metals are toxic. Please do not spill that" and Erik tutted,
"As if." and Peter leapt, sending out a line and pulling himself up into the penthouse. As he rummaged around he found a storage cylinder, and leapt back off his balcony,
"Can you sense this?" and Erik nodded and the ball floated in and Peter sealed the top, sighing in relief.
Tony gasped, and clutched at his chest, feeling a lightness that had been missing before. He knew the palladium in his arc reactor was poisoning him, and as he pulled open his shirt, the skin around it was a healthy pink once more, and not a network of black lines and inflamed pus-filled blisters.
"What do you want?" he asked. "I can offer you a job, those powers are so amazing, you and the Legion, I mean-" but Erik raised a hand.
"Charles and I are working on a project. One that requires specific technology to accomplish. Visit me at the mansion, and we will discuss it there." and Tony buttoned up his shirt.
"So, uh, Erik right? So do I schedule an appointment or?" and Erik laughed, and with a wave of his hand smiled,
"There. All done. You might want to check with a doctor though, just to make sure, but I can guarantee there are no fragments left of a large enough size to threaten your life." and Tony visible sagged,
"It's over, it's over" and it seemed that even his Iron Halo was unable to cope with the sudden removal of his life-threatening condition, and the emotions that came with it overwhelmed him. As he lifted a hand to cover his eyes Peter already knew he was tearing up, and Pepper moved over and rested a hand on his shoulder.
"It doesn't change anything, but I'll take Tony home. If Friday wants to stay, we can always revisit that later." and helping Tony to his feet she shuffled him from the warehouse, as Vision followed.
He turned, "please allow Jocasta and Friday to remain here. If they are happy, then I must be happy for them." and he followed behind Tony and Pepper.
Peter doubted that Jocasta would be too happy to see that they had left her, but as long as Friday was here, she should behave herself. Given he could hear MJ and who he assumed was Friday giggling once more, she seemed to be in safe hands.
"Well, that was very interesting. Would you like to explain why you have several metallic people in the warehouse, or shall I just do what everyone else does. Roll my eyes and accept that you are one, very strange young man.
Peter looked at Erik, trying to think of a good reason, "Nope, can't think of anything believable. Blame Tony, nothing to do with me." and Erik laughed,
"Of course, Peter. Of course. And, as I have also been told, you have a bathhouse, and while Charles does have a similar facility, sharing it with several students is not my idea of a relaxing time. Do you mind?" and Peter shook his head,
"Of course not, I'll set the flags out, so you get peace. Oh, and uh" Peter reached into the fridge and clipped several metal rings around a few bottles, "If you want. You can sense them?" and Erik nodded and smiled,
"I can see now why you put up with him," he said and patted Wanda on the hand, "now dear," and several of the bottles Peter had just marked floated from the fridge, "I am going to have a very long soak and leave this mess for you to try and figure out."
That was Peter's problem. It was what to do with Friday though, teasing Tony was all well and good, but if she actually wanted to stay was a different matter. A symbskin mask? and he shook his head, they all wore masks, if she couldn't deal then that was her issue.
It would be nice though, if she could make it a bit more permanent. Vision was a strange mix of yellow and purple, but both Friday and Jocasta were shiny silver metal. He knew their creation was unintended, and it was the only reason he could think of for the lack of colouring. A form-fitting symbskin outfit should mask their metallic bodies, and Liv and Gwen had been working on a synthetic skin covering for the CLS.
Even if Clint didn't care, and was happy to have the robot hand, it would give them test subjects. If Friday and Jocasta could go outside without attracting attention, they would know their synthskin was successful. All he needed was for Friday to agree and Jocasta to stop thinly threatening to murder him.
He also had the problem of Pepper. Tony blamed him for a lot of things, but sleeping with Pepper was most definitely something he could be faulted for. He could have said no, but when the most successful and stunningly beautiful CEO in the history of the US offers to sleep with you, there was no way he was going to say no. It just set the tone for Tony and Peters relationship though, constantly trying to one-up each other, constantly trying to screw the other over, and while it was all fun and games it had hurt both of them and started to affect the people around them.
Aldrich was a victim of that, Pepper was too, and now Jocasta and Friday had to shoulder some of that as well. MJ had come out unscathed but her whole career could have ended before it even began as Tony's vendetta against him seemingly knew no bounds.
Peter sighed and shook his head, staring at the cup in his hands. Steves advice echoed in his head, boys make mistakes, men fix them, and he hoped that he could fix things with Tony, and settle this stupid feud before it got a lot worse.
He glanced up and he heard MJ's door open and a bubbly and excited Friday danced out, with MJ in tow. Behind them, a completely different Jocasta followed, surprisingly shy and almost hesitantly peering around the warehouse.
Oh no, please don't, he thought to himself, and inwardly cringed when she did.
"Where has Tony gone?" Peter didn't need to be a mind reader to know what was about to happen.
"They left, Tony had an emergency and they left." and Jocasta's face broke, before she regained her composure.
"I see. Am I to remain here then?" and he nodded,
"With Friday, until Tony recovers. It wasn't serious, but it was serious enough." and as she remained still, he shook his head, "You don't have to, but I don't know how safe it will be to travel home." but she shook her head
"If I am to remain here, then I will comply. However, I must ask you to remain at least ten feet away from me. I am aware that you have sexual desire for this body." and as Peter looked at her in surprise he did take a much closer look at the work MJ had done.
Jocasta's hair was now black, but still seemed moulded rather than free-flowing, and MJ had given her dark skin, luscious blue eyes, a trait all the synthezoids shared and had used a bright red lipstick, which suited the thinner face. Instead of enhancing her cleavage MJ had left it alone, and chose a fitting blouse and trousers to cover her, and finished it off with a small cardigan,
"Who could blame me, you do look pretty" but Jocasta stepped back and tutted,
"Initiating 'Peterisapervert' protocols." and MJ and Friday laughed,
Peter just shrugged though, Gwen and Shuri were worse, "At least you called me Peter, and not Parker" and as Jocasta tilted her head
"You are correct. However, Tony objected to me calling you 'that dick' in polite conversation. So Peter, as slang for a penis, seemed more appropriate."
He sighed, but being used to it, just shrugged, "fine fine, ten feet. So, do you eat?" and both Jocasta and Friday shook their heads.
"Doctor Cho licensed the Arcstar reactor technology from Olivia Octavious. We are fully functional, with minimal energy requirements." Jocasta explained
Peter made a small noise, "food is more than for fuel. Humans eat as social experiences, and share their lives over food. You have network access?" and they both shook their heads,
"Tony taught us that infiltrating network security is considered a 'dick move' and therefore we refrained," and Peter rolled his eyes.
"Go ahead, might as well if you're going to be here, but I swear, no porn" and thinking back to Laura, he did not want a repeat of that happening with either woman. He already knew they were 'fully' functional from his earlier interface, and while curious, had no intention of exploring that avenue with either of them.
"I have accessed social events, and you are correct. Food is an important part of-" but Friday yelled,
"I want to try ice cream, and pancakes, oh and cake, and soda, and beer, and-" but it was Jocasta that held a hand over her mouth this time.
"We will try those with Tony, as research indicates that food is often shared with loved ones, at family events." Jocasta mentioned to Friday, "However, if your intentions to stay here are still your main priority. I will not stop you."
Friday whined and bit her lip, "Aww Sis, lay off the guilt trip okay. I'll wait."
Peter sighed "Jocasta. Tony was sick, and they couldn't wait. I have some reservations about letting you wander the streets of New York alone, but if you really don't want to be here, I won't stop you from leaving."
Jokasts straightened herself and shook her head, "I will endeavour to endure. If your memories are to be taken as fact, then I must admit that Tony is not as perfect as I was led to believe. However, there will be no defilement of my form." and Friday laughed,
"Not by Peter anyway" and he swore that if Jocasta could blush, she could have.
MJ tutted, "Friday, behave or I'll mention what you asked," and Friday crossed her arms and pouted,
"I don't care. Peter, I am interested in finding out what human relations are like, and asked MJ if she minded if you gave me the ole wham bam thank you ma'am." and Jocasta stared at her with her mouth open,
"Friday, that is inappropriate, we might not belong to Tony but we are his creations. You should speak to him first," but Friday huffed,
"So what? He can shout and grumble about how Peter is a dick, or any of the other names he calls him. No, my life, my body. Tony can go flying without his armour." and Jocasta gasped,
"You do not mean that. Tony has been more than kind to us. And you are also being rude. Peter might be a perverted sex maniac with the libido of a rabbit farm, but that does not mean that you should be encouraging him."
It was Friday's turn to slump her shoulders, and as she took in a breath, "NO. I don't care. You know what we are. Who'll accept us, except him, who'll look past that we're fricken Ultron bots and accept that we're more than just stupid machines, I want things, I want to see the world and have fun." and as she stared at the floor Peter imagined that if a machine could cry, she would be, "I don't want Peter and Tony to fight, I don't want anyone to fight sis. I want to stay, with MJ, who laughs, and Peter, and people who don't stare, and try on dresses and clothes, and-" and Jocasta, stepped forward and hugged her sister,
"You are not Ultron, and neither am I, nor is Vision. Tony accepts that, and even if my circuits burn to admit it, I can see that so does Peter." and she held onto Friday's shoulder, "Fine. I shall endeavour to treat Peter with some respect." and as Friday rubbed her face on Jocasta's shoulder she added a final thought. "However if I see a penis, I am removing it and inserting it into the garbage disposal."