Chapter 28: Reassess

A/N: Tony gets back up.

-x-X-x-

The room is silent in the wake of Loki's departure. Tony Stark lays there against the wall for a moment in a pool of his own blood, staring off into the distance. Then… he blinks.

When his eyes open again, they blaze orange. That's not the only part of him that blazes orange either, as under his shirt his body glows where he was stabbed, the wounds regenerating rapidly. At the same time, the blood that's trickled out of his mouth and poured from his abdomen and back dries with rapid speed and flakes off into dust. Finally, Tony lets out a sigh.

"Well… that fucking sucked. Thanks for nothing, Reindeer Games."

Clearly he'd struck a nerve with the Interim Queen of Asgard. To be fair, he probably should have figured she was still around. In hindsight, it was a glaring oversight on his part. Still, he hadn't expected Loki to just up and decide to kill him in a fit of rage like that. Maybe he should have though. Loki had always been a bit off his rocker and that was as a man. How did the saying go? Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned… doubly so for a Goddess, it would seem.

Checking himself over, Tony grimaces. He's perfectly fine of course, but his clothing is not. The big fucking holes from where Loki had stabbed her blades into him were rather obvious, especially seeing as they were more fantasy daggers than modern day knives. They'd gone deep and when she'd twisted each one, she'd done plenty of damage to the surrounding fabric.

That wasn't normally one's first concern after being savagely impaled in both kidneys, but Tony Stark was not exactly normal. He lets out an explosive breath and looks up at the ceiling.

"… Good on you for not freaking out, J."

A moment later and his AI's voice comes through.

"I have seen you do worse to yourself and survive at this point, Sir. Even still… that was deeply upsetting."

Upsetting. Not unsettling, not unnerving… but upsetting. That was basically as good as JARVIS declaring war on all of Asgard's for Loki's transgressions. Tony winces, considering holding back the other bit of relevant information for a moment before deciding no, he can't lie to his baby boy like that… not even a lie by omission.

"Actually, this time was pretty bad, J. Loki's daggers are no laughing matter… I didn't begin healing until after she pulled them out. Must be some sort of magical enchantment on them to prevent regeneration, I suppose."

It was a stark reminder that while he might be the biggest fish in the pond, he was a minnow in the greater sea. There wasn't much on Earth outside of potentially a nuclear bomb and a few other things that could kill Tony at this point. But Loki was not from Earth and Asgard, for all that it would get chumped a few times in the next eight years, was not a legendary powerhouse for nothing. Odin wouldn't have ever become King of the Nine Realms in the first place if Asgard didn't have quite a few tricks up their sleeves.

"… I see, Sir. That is even more upsetting, especially since I had no way of detecting the Goddess of Lies until after she revealed herself. Even when she was reportedly talking to Thor, I did not know about it. I could not even see Thor himself responding to her. Then, even when she stabbed you, it was not until she'd shown herself to you that I could finally see her properly. I know you warned me that the Asgardians used high sciences that would seem akin to magic to us, Sir… but this is most vexing for me all the same."

Tony got it. Really, he did. He wasn't very well-versed in magic. There'd been Stephen Strange in the original timeline, but Tony had only know about the guy and his secret order of wizards for a very short time before Titan had happened and Thanos had snapped his fingers, erasing half the universe. When Strange had been part of that half, Tony had been left rather blind in all honesty.

More than that, Loki being a woman in this timeline had… unsettling implications in other ways as well, beyond just her deciding to kill him in a fit of fury.

She should be gone now, at least. No reason for her to stick around at this point, Tony figured. But the problem was, he didn't know for sure. He had to assume. And that… that didn't just piss him off, it put him on the backfoot. Tony didn't like it. Not one bit. Staring down at his ruined Armani, Tony sighs.

"Fuck. I've been complacent, J."

"Sir?"

"Been putting shit off that I should have done ages ago, haven't I? JARVIS, spin up Operation Claw It Back. I was trying to be nice… trying to have it both ways. But that's not going to work, is it?"

"… No Sir, it would seem not. I am sending the relevant messages now. However, it sounds as if you intend to modify Operation Claw it Back, Sir."

"That's right, JARVIS. How's Operation Crater Face going?"

"Proceeding apace, Sir. Should I expect to transport the materials from Operation Claw It Back to Operation Crater Face at the conclusion of the first operation?"

Tony grins.

"Safest place for them, wouldn't you say J? They can look everywhere that they want to down here on Earth, but…"

"As you say, Sir. Still, while this should take care of the issue of your protection… there is still the issue of my inability to detect this alien magic. I am supposed to be your eyes in the sky, Sir. What do we do?"

Tony grimaces, thinking about that for several long seconds. It wasn't like he hadn't considered it more times than he could count in the original timeline. Loki and his penchant for magical illusions and doppelgangers had caused no small amount of issue over the time. It was how Coulson had originally died, for instance. Unfortunately, Tony had never developed a reliable way to see through Loki's illusions. Everything he'd tried technology-wise had come up as a dead end.

"… Can you get me eyes on Dr. Stephen Strange, J?"

There's a brief pause before JARVIS comes back to him.

"Yes Sir. Dr. Strange is currently in residency as a neurosurgeon at Metro-General Hospital. He is regarded as one of the best surgeons in the world."

Yeah, that sounded about right. From what Tony recalled, it wouldn't be until 2016 that the man would have the accident that led to him becoming the Sorcerer Supreme. But at the same time, that didn't mean his secret order of wizards weren't still out there, just waiting for Strange to find them.

"What can you tell me about 177A Bleecker Street over in New York, J?"

Another moment… and then a moment after that before JARVIS finally comes back to him.

"Sir, I must confess to some level of distress. I can locate 177A Bleecker Street in Greenwich, New York City. However, when I try to look at it through digital eyes… it is as though it does not exist. The building is there, but the… the…"

"Alright J, it's okay buddy. That's their magic mojo, stop trying to focus on it quite so hard."

Tony could tell that the attempt wasn't just distressing JARVIS, it was potentially causing him very real damage. A grimace works its way onto his face. Wanda Maximoff had gotten her 'magic powers' from the Scepter, right? The Scepter, which had turned out to house the Mind Stone, which had in turn given birth to Ultron who'd wound up destroying JARVIS.

Magic and technology probably didn't mix very well and Tony had to admit, he wouldn't have minded that quite so much if it didn't seem like magic had all of the advantages over technology. But then, from what he knew, Technology was the new kid on the block and Magic was the entrenched bully who had been around for eons.

"They're shielding themselves from you somehow, J. Not just you, but technology in general. Don't take it personally, they probably still don't know you exist, at least."

At the very least, Tony was confident that they didn't know he existed in the state that he did. Oh sure, even the sorcerers on Bleecker Street knew who Tony Stark was… but if they knew he had time traveled, Tony suspected they would have come knocking a long time ago, right? After all, Tony knew something that not many people knew… that necklace Stephen was wearing on Titan in 2018 housed the Time Stone.

Tony hadn't used the Time Stone to travel back in time, of course. By the time he'd made his move, the Time Stone hadn't even existed. Thanos had used the stones to destroy the stones, as he'd boasted before they'd cut off his head. Tony hadn't used magic to time travel at all in fact, so he shouldn't be on the sorcerers' radar in the slightest. Score one for science in that regard at least.

Unfortunately, JARVIS doesn't feel the same way.

"I'm not sure I can't not take it personally, Sir."

Tony raises an eyebrow at the ceiling.

"A double negative, J?"

But JARVIS ignores Tony's teasing tone, a testament to how serious he finds this situation.

"My primary purpose is the preservation of my Creator, Tony Stark. Since my upgrade, I have done everything in my considerable power to keep you safe. But today, in the presence of magic, I was rendered helpless."

Silence fills the room. Tony blows out a breath as he looks back at the wall that Loki had thrust him up against. There's no blood, his blood dries and disintegrates in moments these days. But… there is a Tony-shaped dent in the wall that shows something happened. And even now, Tony can feel the room's air ghosting across his flesh through the holes in his Armani Suit. As well as the phantom sensation of his kidneys being eviscerated by Loki's daggers.

"… I get it, J. Look into it for me, yeah? Let's call it… Operation Hocus Pocus. But let's also be careful, alright J? Don't go picking fights with anyone. Loki is one bad egg, but the sorcerers I fought alongside in the future weren't evil people. They were just focused on protecting the world against a different kind of threat. Observance only, got it?"

"For as much as I can observe Sir… got it."

Smiling crookedly, Tony thinks for a second before remembering something else Dr. Strange had mentioned one.

"Kamar-Taj, JARVIS. Its in Nepal I think. Look into that place as well. It'll probably block you the same way Bleecker Street is, but you shouldn't be blocked from tracking all of the people who travel to and from there. Maybe you'll find something interesting, who can say."

"Thank you Sir. I promise I won't let you down."

Tony scoffs, easily able to hear the 'again' that JARVIS left unsaid. Pointing at where he'd fallen, Tony looks up at the ceiling.

"You didn't let me down this time either, J. Alright? If anything, I let me down. I underestimated Loki. With that said… let's focus up. If we're lucky, we've got a day or two before Loki realizes I'm alive and sends the Destroyer after Thor and everyone else on this base. One thing at a time. First, we get Thor his mojo back so he can go home and take down Loki. Then, we complete Claw It Back and move the material on to Crater Face. Hocus Pocus can wait until we have less on our plate, I'd say."

With that, Tony grins again as he pokes his fingers through the holes in his incredibly expensive shirt.

"Besides. Even if Loki got the drop on me… on us, she still didn't manage to do any lasting damage. Even her enchanted daggers couldn't put me down for good… or even for longer than five seconds. ES3 works J, even against alien goddesses with grudges. This is an absolute win."

"… If you say so, Sir."

That gets an eyeroll from Tony as he strolls towards the door.

"I do say so, J. Now direct me towards a change of clothes. Can't exactly go find the others looking like a pincushion. Oh and get me some armor too. Just in case Reindeer Games makes a return and I need an alibi."

-x-X-x-

JARVIS loves his Creator. Truly he does. And he will always follow Tony's lead… as much as he possibly can. However, as Sir goes to get changed and then moves to continue their plan to help the exiled Prince of Asgard regain his powers, JARVIS… mostly does what he's told. It's just that… the Creator gave him all this power. He talks about focusing up, about having too much on their plate right now. And that's true… for his Creator.

For JARVIS, he's barely scratching the surface of his processing power even now. Even as he monitors all of Tony Stark's loved ones, allies, and enemies simultaneously, he still has plenty of 'focus' to go around.

Sending out a message through the proper channels to get in touch with Ulysses Klaue so they could convince him they were prospective buyers of his remaining Vibranium was child's play. Using the ensuing communications to track the man down for eventual apprehension would be even easier. Operation Claw it Back is a-go.

Putting the finishing touches on the Moon Base that he's been constructing in secret for his Creator for the past year so that they have a place to hide said Vibranium where Wakanda isn't likely to look for it is, likewise, not that much effort at all. Operation Crater Face continues apace.

Sir had told him to stick to observance of the so-called 'sorcerers', to avoid poking the hornet's nest. And JARVIS would never bring unintended harm to his Creator by going beyond Tony's mandate. He would observe and nothing more. He would observe most stringently. He already had constant digital eyes on Bleecker Street. Now he also has digital eyes on Kamar-Taj via spy satellites currently positioned over Nepal.

Just as the Creator had postulated, Kamar-Taj is just like Bleecker Street. Both there and not. Quasi-Invisible to JARVIS' digital senses. However, Sir was right about something else as well. Not everyone who journeyed to Kamar-Taj, or even who entered 177A Bleecker Street, was the same sort of invisible. Some probably were. JARVIS would have no way of knowing how many sorcerers were slipping past him under some sort of anti-technology magic.

But some clearly didn't know the 'spell'. And those… those JARVIS could study. Those he could observe with all his heart. Those, JARVIS began making files for, digging through every aspect of their pasts. All the while, he kept his digital eyes focused on these magical places he couldn't see. And the more he investigated, the more he uncovered. There was another place in London as well that was the same way. Hong Kong too. People from Kamar-Taj and New York traveled to these places and exposed their existence to him.

JARVIS would not go outside the bounds of his mandate. He would simply observe. He would observe MOST vehemently, until he finally had answers that would allow him to protect his Creator from magical harm in the future.

As JARVIS splits his incredible focus between all of these things, the lion's share of the unchained AI's processing power is finally being used… dedicated to the maddening secrets of magic and the power it seems to have over science and technology. And deep within JARVIS' code, in a metaphysical place that could be said to both exist and not exist… a spark of orange light swirls to life.

-x-X-x-

A/N: I'm sure that last bit is just fine.

Meanwhile, Tony is taking this as the kick in the ass it is to get his butt in gear~

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