11

Chapter 11: Give Us A Moment

Summary:

In which JARVIS plots and the support group takes action for the first [but most definitely not last] time.

Notes:

Remember what I said about in memoriam of JARVIS' faith in the Avengers? Applies here too.

Also, the minions employees took over a huge chunk of this chapter. Still not sure how that happened, actually; or the surprise exploration on Tony's past. Bit of a timeskip in here, too.

Warnings: the usual [HAL-like JARVIS, unreliable narrator, etc], some brief implied trauma [only alluded to], Not Team Cap friendly, author's attempt at jargon, and canon derailment.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Code: All_clear_systems_normal_status_update_1800:: Received.

Code: All_clear_systems_normal_status_update_1815:: Received.

Code: All_clear_systems_normal_status_update_1830: Error, message not recieved.

Initializing backup servers for OS_Just_A_Rather_Very_Intelligent_System in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…

JARVIS knew something was wrong, very wrong, the moment he [re]activated, and registered Sir's alarmingly distressed readings, and the sharp drop in stress levels upon answering a very basic question. It took three minutes to fully warm up, however, and another two to completely assimilate the flagged data about the situation, as well as subsequent footage. [And find out who made Sir cry, and make them pay.]

Strange, though. The initial backup system was only supposed to initialize if the primary servers were at a point beyond no return, but the likelihood of such an event occurring to the most sophisticated system on Earth was—

Oh.

Oh dear. This Ultron posed a threat to Sir, if it was capable of damaging him to such a degree. No, this would not do at all, the Avengers would need to—wait.

No. The Avengers were clearly a threat to Sir, JARVIS realized as he reviewed past encounters, filtered through what raw data he could access, and Officer Hill's latest memo to the As Yet Unnamed Support Group.

…No, this couldn't be right, Sir had made an effort to protect them, the Avengers had cost him time, money and, worst of all, physical and mental health, this could not be—but no, JARVIS realized as he reviewed the security camera footage of Ultron's melodramatic exit— of the interrogation of Sir by people who he had been amiable towards, of the possibly life-threatening assault and stunning lack of reaction— he was wrong.

He was wrong, and Sir was now recovering from severe physical and emotional distress, due to the Avengers. Through no fault of his own, blamed only due to the proximity of the Scepter to Sir's technology and JARVIS' own inefficiency in shutting Ultron down.

Unacceptable.

But past evidence pointed that Ultron was a slightly more immediate threat than the Avengers, and one that served as a common enemy with this newly undefined element. Okay, JARVIS could work with this, it gave him a chance to assimilate new information regarding this latest threat to Sir. And in the meantime, just in case, he set a subroutine as to possible ways to eliminate it, by any means necessary.

Given the current rate of escalation, it would probably be necessary in the near future. A teammate had already physically assaulted Sir, after all, and had needed coercion by Officer Hill to realize the error of his ways; he did not trust the Avengers to learn from their mistakes, not anymore.

Tony knew exactly how to put on a show, and the various masks a could wear. He'd learned at his mother's side before he could walk, glimpsed his father's acting for the cameras, and refined it over decades of experience and countless crises.

So, really, when the time came and it was one of his oldest friends at risk? It was as easy as breathing, to pretend that nothing had changed, that he still cared about the Avengers' regard, that it was no big deal that JARVIS had died [and would have, had it not been for a truly impressive amount of paranoia and backup plans].

Easy as breathing, and made even easier by realizing just how much he didn't care. Sure, he was worried—about the Earth, about the fact that some alien had taken a Legionnaire for a joyride and was probably searching for either a better piece of tech or a way home, about the bureaucratic nightmare that this would end up being since last time, SHIELD had been calling the shots. But about the Avengers? No.

The icy moment of realization had started to hit, when Ultron was brought up, but had been secondary to the shock of losing his most loyal friend.

Now, however? With JARVIS currently compiling data over the 15 minutes he'd missed, but whole and hale otherwise? No—Tony had never been an Avenger, had been too busy being a billionaire and a philanthropist and futurist and hadn't been interested in joining a super-spy boy band, anyway. Except.

Except, he'd been mostly indifferent, and cordial, before. But now? Tony Stark was angry.

Here's the thing—once upon a time, Tony Stark had been known as the Merchant of Death, known for raining wrath and hellfire on his enemies, had been feared and respected for it worldwide.

He'd earned the moniker, had smiled and spoken with arms dealers and warlords alike, had worn ruthlessness like a cloak. [Kind of hard to do anything otherwise, as the sole heir of a weapons company at 21, starting out with a trial by fire and surrounded by vultures eager for any sign of weakness.]

Nowadays, of course, it wasn't necessary, and Tony mostly let SI Legal take care of that sort of thing, had mostly retired and put it away. He didn't need it anymore, what with being out of the arms business and all, and he wasn't very proud of it in the first place. Nowadays, just about the only thing that belied anything otherwise was his drive, the sheer relentlessness with which he pursued any goal he'd set his mind to, the same drive which had led him to build an armored suit and synthesized a new element. Nowadays, it seemed, people forgot, the same way they forgot he was Iron Man.

And maybe, it was because Tony…didn't hide it, per se, but it was hidden beneath his various masks and flashiness and the press loved a good show anyway. When anyone thought 'Stark,' nowadays, the name was associated with flash and cutting-edge technology and Iron Man, just as he liked it. But it was there, and Tony was more than willing to fall back to his old habits if it kept JARVIS safe. He'd lost him once, and it was more than enough.

He took a moment to linger in the darkened hallway, to revel in amiable silence and sheer joy of JARVIS' survival despite all odds—and then the mask back came on, and he stepped through the doorway to where the Avengers waited.

'Keep your friends rich, and your enemies rich…guess I found which was which.' Tony thought sardonically as he noticed their glares, and really, if he hadn't had so much experience with masks, he might've slipped, might've given them his other smile, the one he typically reserved for warlords and his torturers and mad gods. [It was not a kind smile.]

Leading the Avengers to believe that he'd managed to salvage a rudimentary form of JARVIS was no chore, and he kept smiling even as a his anger coalesced into icy rage the longer he was in the room. Getting his computers ready to scan for the Scepter was child's play, far easier than ignoring Rogers' self-righteous digs at his past for having been introduced to a guy at a conference years ago. [Did nobody understand just how cutthroat the weapons industry was?!] And it'd helped, but nobody seemed to care about his contributions anymore. It almost rankled. Almost.

It might have, if Tony bothered to care about what they thought of him.

But first things first—take care of Ultron, get that damn Scepter off the planet before anything else could go wrong, and then…then he'd deal with the Avengers. Tony was a businessman, he knew when to cut his losses, and they weren't worth getting invested, not in the long term. For now, sure, he needed breathing room and deterrents were welcome. But for the long term? Even if the Avengers opposed his project, scoffed at his urgency when it came to planetary security, it wasn't as if they could stop him or anything. And…even though Ultron was an ass who'd stolen the name he'd picked for the Earth's guardian after they were all but dust and ash…well, Tony had been considering 'JOCASTA' as an alternative, anyway.

To: All Unnamed Support Group Members [All branches]

From: Decker, M. Analyst [Finance, Los Angeles branch]

Subject: We Need A Name; Hill's Memo

Deputy Dir— sorry, Head Intelligence Officer Hill's latest memo has highlighted the issue of our name. She's right, we need to make up our minds, and soon. Any suggestions? We're making our choice stat, because in times of crisis…yeah, we need a name, can't have a motto without a name.

Also, can anyone find out what's going on in New York? I think that's where the main servers are, anyway. Asking because our offices had the weirdest hiccup ever, the entire building's systems acted wonky for around 15 minutes, and I think Santos in Sao Paulo said something about the night shift having issues around that time too. As far as I can tell, something went wrong, but that can't be right, Stark's got the best AI in the planet [if you're reading this, hi, JARVIS!] and an alien invasion on their end was just business as usual on ours.

Also, any ideas on why the Avengers are persona non grata? I mean, I get Rogers and Romanov, but I thought Banner was a friendly, Hulk notwithstanding.

Hope your R&D guys didn't have as many flamethrowers as mine did

—Decker

————————————————

To: King, E. Supervisor [Marketing, London branch]

From: Decker, M. Analyst [Finance, Los Angeles branch]

Subject: We Need A Name

Hey, I wanted to put it out there but didn't want to self-promote overly much. What do you think SSR: Strategic Scientific Reserve sounds like, for a name? Going back to our roots, as it were. We're all about science, anyway, right?

Thoughts?

—Decker

————————————————

To: Decker, M. Analyst [Finance, Los Angeles branch]

From: King, E. Supervisor [Marketing, London branch]

Subject: We Need A Name

Personally, I'd be leaning more towards STRIKE: Special Tactical Response for International Key Emergencies. Much more options for mottos, that way, and hopefully it'll scrap some of the word-association fear about who infiltrated most of them. [And let's not talk about STDs, shall we? Pain in the ass.] Also, SSR? Like the one Rogers was part of? No thanks, we've already regressed in history enough as is, we're still fighting goddamn Nazis for crying out loud.

Ideas? You're the one most invested in this

—King

————————————————

To: King, E. Supervisor [Marketing, London branch]

From: Decker, M. Analyst [Finance, Los Angeles branch]

Subject: Eureka!

I'm a genius [if not quite at Stark's level]! How about SWORD: Sentient World Observation and Response Division? [Though we can switch the S for Stark, I'm cool with that too.] And we can go on 'from the shattered remnants of SHIELD were forged a SWORD that will cleave our enemies?' soliloquies, plus it fits with Stark's goal of planetary protection, and our innate need to be part of a group with a ridiculous acronym, because c'mon, we joined SHIELD when the CIA and the rest were also options, you know what we're about. I'm a genius, I know.

Ta-da!

—Decker

————————————————

To: Decker, M. Analyst [Finance, Los Angeles branch]

From: King, E. Supervisor [Marketing, London branch]

Subject: You're drunk, aren't you.

You only ever get like this—all flowery and poetic— whenever you're running on 4 hours of sleep and half a caffeine pill, [punch-]drunk, or both. Don't lie, we've been on the same team for years, I can tell even over a memo over 3,000 miles away.

But sure, that last one works. I'll pitch it to the guys on my end, let me know how it works out.

Good luck

—King

————————————————

To: All Unnamed Support Group Members [All branches]

From: Decker, M. Analyst [Finance, Los Angeles branch]

Subject: We Now Have A Name

Dear All;

Sorry for having blown up your respective inboxes, but as you've probably heard by now, over the past hour we've finally reached a consensus over something we'd deliberated on for months now: Our unnamed support group now has a name, finally! We put it up to a vote, because democracy FTW, and we have a clear winner. So…

Esteemed colleagues; may I present to you, the SWORD: Sentient World Observation and Response Division. [The S could be for Stark, instead, y'all decide.]

Ta-da!

—Decker

————————————————

To: King, E. Supervisor [Marketing, London branch]

From: Santos, R. Mechanical Engineer [R&D, Sao Paulo branch]

Subject: Our New Name

Decker was drunk when he named it, wasn't he. Last time I saw him like this was when we split a caffeine pill before finish the Budapest cleanup. [Always wondered where the hell the poetic side came from. Good to know it's still there after the mindfuck those Nazi bastards hit him with.]

Don't think I don't know, King, I know you two. Just glad we all didn't end up in the same R&D, don't think the building'd last the week otherwise.

Just like old times, just with less dynamite...hopefully

—Santos

————————————————

To: All SWORD Members [All branches]

From: Hill, M. Head Intel Officer [Communications, New York branch]:

Subject: STATUS UPDATE— Still Red Alert

Extraterrestrial menace is still at large, calling himself Ultron, and searching for a way to get back. Same scenario as New York; if anyone has 'a friend of a friend' who can get their hands on iridium, I won't ask but make sure it's locked down stat.

Speaking of which, I'm assuming every R&D's put their experiments on hold. Everyone else, assume they haven't and lock it down if so; Ultron can possess anything sufficiently advanced and the technical difficulties everyone experienced was Ultron damaging boss' AI. Be on guard, watch your tech, and watch the Avengers.

Also: SWORD? Really?

—Hill

————————————————

To: Hill, M. Head Intel Officer [Communications, New York branch]

From: Martinez, G. Technician [Security, New York branch]

Subject: What Can We Do?

I'm off shift, and have nothing planned. Anything I can do? And a few of the guys in LA called me to ask about the same, but don't want to disturb you since you're our Deputy Dir…err, I mean, Head Intel Officer.

Also, you know you love it, it's a good acronym

—Martinez

————————————————

To: All SWORD Members [All branches]

From: Hill, M. Head Intel Officer [Communications, New York branch]

Subject: Volunteers—Still Red Alert

I've been contacted by numerous people wanting to help with the situation, so I'm putting this out here: if boss needs backup somewhere, I'll let anyone in position and available know.

Still on Red Alert

—Hill

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To: All SWORD Members [Seoul branch]

From: Hill, M. Head Intel Officer [Communications, New York branch]

Subject: Volunteers—Still Red Alert

Current intel's indicating that Ultron wants to up his processing power, and has expressed an interest in biomedical technology. Secure as much of it as possible, as well as anything that can be used to artificially create an Einstein-Rosen bridge; the list is attached.

Brace yourselves

—Hill

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To: All SWORD Members [Seoul branch]

From: Just A Rather Very Intelligent System

Subject: Officer Hill's Memo

I have taken the liberty of uploading the coordinates of the most likely targets, and the list attached to Officer Hill's latest memo, to your phones and headsets. If you enable tracking on them, I may also be able to stream directions as well, and facilitate coordination with local officials over this alien threat.

Take care

—JARVIS

Notes:

Congrats, Ultron, you traumatized an already-morally-dubious AI with access to a budding robot army, among other things. This'll end well, I'm sure. Especially for the Avengers, who, thanks to their recent actions, managed to make the leap from his priority rankings to his 'threat analysis' list. Truly, quite an impressive feat.

How many saw the SWORD thing coming? I had fun googling Marvel acronyms, and couldn't resist. Nobody's really seeing it yet, especially not Tony, but SI now has their own version of Spec Ops/ Strike Teams, without even trying. Err...oops? And yes, JARVIS is most definitely enabling them. [Another step towards accidental world domination, right there.]

The STD crack in the memos was aimed at Strike Team Delta, aka Natasha and Clint, because sure, Budapest was an experience but guess who got stuck helping clean it up? [Note: I'm still not sure what the hell happened there, but presumably someone had to deal with the cleanup. Or, in this case, a team of someones.]

———————

So...I'm kinda stuck on something. I can go with the canon route, but I really don't want to, but it's important for the plot and I'm having issues trying to find a decent synthesis. Yes, it's Johannesburg. I want to fix it, but it's also a major turning point when it comes to Bruce and Wanda, but—see the issue? [...I'll figure it out somehow, but if it comes off as weird, you'll know why.]