章 1733: 9
Chapter 9: Get Used To The Sound of Alarms [In Your Life]Summary:
Tony would really like to know who he's killed in a past life to deserve this mess, really, it's getting— hey, JARVIS? JARVIS? What's going on?
Notes:
Age of Ultron arc, ahoy!
Warnings: canon-typical violence, the usual— oh, and JARVIS' first truly HAL moment. Plus the start of total canon derailment. Again, this fic isn't Team Cap friendly.
Sorry for the minor cliffhanger.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
The Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division was currently undergoing a crisis. Had been for a while, actually, what with the breathtaking intelligence breach which had compromised all past, present, and future operations and personnel. Even if HYDRA hadn't reared its ugly head, however, their current situation regarding personnel was nowhere near optimal.
See, Dr. Stark had decided to essentially poach the bulk of their reserves and field agents. He may not have intended to do so, may not have gone out to take what highly-qualified personnel HYDRA had left behind or tried to kill, but that's what ended up happening anyway.
SHIELD— or what was left of it, anyway— was hard-pressed to remain even remotely functional. Between fending off HYDRA's attacks on their survivors, and immediately facing a legal minefield as the dust started to settle and techs didn't have to pull 36-hour shifts just to keep everything running, SHIELD had been more focused on not being labeled a terrorist organization alongside their enemy than anything else. Staying even two steps ahead of the Nazis who'd hijacked their organization [and corrupted it and the reminder felt like a chunk of liquid nitrogen] was harder than not when they'd taken up the bulk of the higher-ranked personnel, after all. Their leadership was in shambles, and trying to eke out a modicum of safety took precedence over nearly everything else—which, in retrospect, was probably how Dr. Stark got as many people as he did.
They'd mistakenly assumed the extent of his cooperation, when they'd prioritized what needed to be done, and it'd backfired nearly as spectacularly as the Avengers' spontaneous attempt to eradicate HYDRA had.
Their…former personnel simply refused to come back.
SHIELD was growing increasingly frustrated with the situation in general. Their now-former agents were stubborn about remaining in their current posts, and it was getting ridiculous. They were willing to remain in contact, via official channels and a liaison, but their refusal to rejoin stung. And the fact that said liaison was their now-former Deputy Director was only the icing on the cake.
Intellectually, the agents understood— but it still hurt, seeing the absolute lack of trust their former people had. That, compounded with their personnel shortage, issues with international standing, and everything else? Meant they cursed HYDRA once more, and did their best to carry on.
…on the plus side, at least the entire debacle had shown them a few things, some more bitter than others. Such as the extent of what the Nazis had cost them, because Dr. Stark's recent…display meant that they'd lost not only hundreds of agents, but one hell of a consultant. At least they were still fostering amicable relations, even if it he would never again operate under SHIELD's banner again. At this venture, it was obvious he made for a far better ally than enemy, even if he hadn't driven that point home after the debut of Iron Man. So they left him alone when they could afford it— they couldn't afford to alienate anyone else, not at this stage.
Speaking of allies and enemies, however…a hacker had made himself known, after the intel breach. He was on Stark's level, from what SHIELD could tell, and they didn't know anything about him beyond that except for his massive grudge against HYDRA. During the first few months or so after HYDRA's attempted coup, he'd appeared out of nowhere and just obliterated whatever he could find on them. SHIELD was grateful, and very wary— this newcomer was a threat, and very dangerous one at that, but his focus on their enemy meant they had at least some breathing room. Everyone started to relax a little after a few weeks had passed, and ended up simply putting him on the 'people to recruit if possible—do not piss off' list, once the chaos started to die down.
He appeared to be willing to share his intel sometimes, and so far it'd checked out, so when SHIELD got some interesting data about Sokovia, they looked it over, blanched when they saw the estimate of HYDRA agents in the stronghold, and lobbed it over to Stark Industries as soon as they could manage without making it obvious how little they wanted to have anything to do with it. They simply didn't have the numbers to do anything, not quite yet, and Dr. Stark had access to the Avengers so it really should be a no-brainer, right? Plus SHIELD was currently still
painted with the same brush as HYDRA in several Eastern European countries, so they really couldn't do anything even if they really wanted to, not now.
Tony Stark wondered, once more, why the hell everyone thought he was running everything for the Avengers. Wasn't it obvious who was calling the shots? And why was the resident alien prince being the one bringing it up? Who the hell was this Heimdall guy?
Thor's arrival had been preceded by a very enthusiastic-sounding email from Dr. Foster, about calculations and reading spikes and predictions on arrival points, and Tony appreciated the warning. He also made a note about preparing a cleanup squadron, since Thor seemed to come with a side of alien invasions, and only doubled down on the potential damage estimates when Loki's spear got brought up. He also pointed Thor towards the Compound, where the rest of the gang had taken to staying, even Bruce [which was a relief but also a vivid reminder of the man's disinterest in making friends].
It'd taken a surprisingly short amount of time for the rest of the team to gel. Or so JARVIS said, from his passive monitoring of the Compound— Tony was busy dealing with Stark Industries and life in general, it wasn't like he could just move into SHIELD's little clubhouse. Oh, and again, he wasn't even an Avenger anyway, so why bother? Sure, he stopped by every so often, and had fun redesigning and optimizing their gear, but it wasn't like he was giving them his all, not when they'd never returned the favor. Besides, if they wanted to see him, he'd given them his number, and Thor got a shiny prototype phone to help.
But Tony wasn't…he was nowhere near as involved as he'd once hoped to be. Nobody had called him, and he'd brushed it off and made jokes about it, about his latest hiring binge and 'can't have just one', or his latest exploit in robotics, so it didn't even sting anymore. Tony had bigger fish to fry, after all, even if Romanov had rolled her eyes when he'd mentioned alien invasions, and Thor had started talking about Asgard's protection.
Time went by, but Tony was still the outsider of their group, the weird uncle who sometimes made it to the family reunion once every three years or so, and with new toys each time. The Avengers warmed up to him, a bit— joking about work with Romanov, chatting with Banner about Dr. Cho's work, ribbing Barton about how his new arrows were working— but it wasn't…Tony had once hoped they'd be friends, and in the immediate aftermath of New York, he'd also quietly nursed the hope that they might even be like family.
Not anymore, of course, but still. Whenever he stopped by and saw everyone else's camaraderie and obvious ease with each other, he couldn't quite hold back a bit of melancholy for what could have been. If one of them had bothered to call, if one of them had actually cared, then and now— but no matter, it was a done deal. The past was in the past and Tony was a futurist, it was in the blood even.
He had work to get done. The planet wouldn't save itself, after all.
When he got the latest briefing from SI's newest Head Intelligence Officer, Tony took the intel SHIELD had shared with them, and made the proper arrangements even as he lobbed some of it Rogers' direction. While the Avengers geared up for a raid on HYDRA's last stronghold, Tony set to work coordinating with SI Legal, the international community, and local—in this case, Sokovian— law enforcement.
It was a major pain, especially when dealing with multiple groups who thought he was the Avengers' representative. Sure, Tony was the one dealing with the paperwork, but this entire arrangement was temporary. At least, until he finally drilled it into the World Security Council's heads that no, he was not, in fact, interested and Captain America was the one they should be asking about leadership anyway.
But no matter— SI Legal was on the case, and making sure the various committees stopped running around like headless chickens and that Ross stopped sniffing around beyond what was expected of his duties. Hopefully, the Avengers wouldn't be his headache anymore, when it came to logistics, and Tony could focus entirely on long-term planetary protection rather than splitting his attention between it and the jurisdictional nightmare that the WSC wanted him to claim. Why did everyone want to stick him with responsibility, anyway? He had more than enough on his plate as is!
Even if he didn't have SI to worry about, the Earth was in far more danger than anyone seemed to want to admit, and Tony was getting sick and tired of having only a handful of people who took it seriously. At least Dr. Foster was making good progress, though. And some of Stark Industries' R&D and Security departments had taken to going over J's data collected from his various raids on HYDRA, once they'd heard about his goal.
But other than that? He was the only one who cared, it seemed like. So, yes, Tony Stark was busy, and why did nobody seem to realize that?
JARVIS had been Sir's copilot for years, both metaphorically and literally. When the paperwork for the Avengers' excursion came through, just as Capt. Rogers mobilized the team and Sir cleared his schedule for the allotted period of time.
He was looking forward to eliminating the most recent threat to Sir, and the opportunity to use the Iron Legion in official capacity for the first time since London.
When the actual mission happened, however, JARVIS was most displeased. The local civilians were not reacting in a manner that would permit him to help to his fullest extent, but that was a minor irritation compared to the surprisingly strong resistance the last HYDRA stronghold was putting up.
While Sir was bantering with the Avengers, he was serving as a communications specialist of sorts without revealing himself [Sir snorted but kept the charade up, when he noticed JARVIS "trolling Captain America, J, I'm so proud"]. As chaos ensued, he kept making scans and kept Sir updated about the unusual readings.
When the alert went up, about the Enhanced running around, JARVIS stepped up his hyperawareness of the situation, and his scans on Sir's readings. Current evidence implied the Enhanced was a non-psychic based one, but as it was all he knew was they were a variable, and a threat towards Sir.
And so, when the alert for a second Enhanced went up, he was ready.
The instant he registered a humanoid female who wasn't on the allies list approaching Sir, the millisecond he registered Sir's readings spiking erratically, JARVIS didn't hesitate. He didn't so much as process anything past 'threat to Sir's health' and 'violating the Primary Protocol', he just fired with what he had at hand to eliminate them. Unfortunately, Sir's proximity meant he couldn't use anything too large, anything that could possibly damage him in the blast— but that did not preclude any of the shoulder-mounted guns.
JARVIS' sensors registered a cry of pain, and a hurried conversation before a secondary presence whisked the female away, too fast for him to do anything about their abrupt presence beyond defend Sir and the Scepter. If he were human, he might have cursed— as it was, JARVIS merely logged the encounter on his private server, noted the abnormal speed the Enhanced had, and set to work on how to compensate for it, even as he set to work on helping lower Sir's readings.
It took several minutes of private conversation, on their flight back to New York after the team collected and registered their findings, for Sir to ascertain that no, it hadn't been a flashback of sorts, that his vision of a never-ending army, and the burnt, crumbled bodies of Ms. Potts, Mr. Hogan, and Col. Rhodes had been the product of an Enhanced rather than his brain betraying him.
If he had been human, JARVIS might have felt dark amusement at Sir's subsequent cursing at the being who'd broken his streak for recovery. However, despite being an AI, he felt that he did a very good approximation of it, even as he added to Sir's contingency plans.
Maria Hill had been Stark Industries' Head Intelligence Officer for several months now, and her role as the liaison with neo-SHIELD meant she collaborated with Dr. Stark and JARVIS quite a bit. As such, she had started to get a feel for them, and so when Steve was in the room she knew some things were amiss between them.
For example, JARVIS was currently keeping her updated on her headset, despite the room having a perfectly serviceable display he could project on should he wish to, and the boss' jokes were in the same tone he took whenever he was arguing with the World Security Council about the Avengers for extended periods of time. It was subtle, but definitely there— and Steve didn't even seem to notice. Strange, but then, Maria had noticed boss and Steve hadn't had the most auspicious beginnings, and from what she could tell of JARVIS, he followed suit with whatever boss did.
…And then Steve stopped making sense.
"Right. What kind of monster would let a German scientist experiment on them to protect their country?"
And suddenly, Maria felt they were having two very different conversations. But no, he was giving her a mildly reprehensive look, and this did not compute.
"We're not at war, Captain."
"They are."
Her throat got a bit tight, and maybe she was just a little too curt, but she couldn't help but ask him, just before he entered the elevator—
"So that makes it okay to volunteer with the friendly neighborhood Nazi outpost?"
But Steve didn't get a chance to reply, not before the doors closed and he went to his next destination.
And Maria was left staring at the closed elevator doors, and the ringing silence. Maybe it was a coincidence, but…No, it turned out she didn't know Steve—no, Rogers, as well as she'd thought she had.
Because if Captain America, of 'I don't like bullies' and vehemently anti-Nazi fame, tried to sympathize with people who'd willingly volunteered for HYDRA? She…didn't know what to think. Intellectually, she knew he was probably trying to humanize them, was probably trying to make a claim about "history is written by the victors", but.
But they were talking about HYDRA, about the Nazis who'd somehow managed to survive to modern day, who'd taken each and every principle and belief SHIELD had been built upon and corrupted it so thoroughly Maria'd helped take down the organization she'd dedicated her life to. Sure, maybe Ste—no, Rogers, was trying to keep an open mind, and maybe she was being biased…But at this point, she didn't care. She'd already been betrayed by Nazi coworkers once, it wasn't really paranoia at this point to take uncharacteristic moments far more seriously than the situation probably called for. Not anymore.
"Officer Hill? Your schedule indicates you have another meeting with Legal in five minutes."
Maria wasn't sure how long she'd been staring, now. The hallway was quiet, or maybe the silence was still ringing in her ears after Rogers had dropped that last bombshell, she wasn't sure. She shook her head, and swallowed to clear her abruptly dry throat.
"Thank you, JARVIS, lost the track of time for a moment there." She pushed the button for her own elevator to the meeting, and in the pause before it reached her, thought back on the last few minutes.
"Hey, JARVIS?"
"Yes, Officer Hill?"
"Does St— Rogers normally do that?" She asked, and maybe it wasn't her business but at this point she didn't care.
"Do what in particular?"
"The past few minutes of our conversation, about…you heard."
"Your last encounter?"
"Yes." No, her voice wasn't just a bit disoriented and hoarse, nope. [No edge of rawness due to disbelief, absolutely not, but if she was then she was perfectly entitled to it at this point anyway, thank you very much.]
"Then yes, I do believe he does." And was she hearing things, or did he sound just a bit icy that time? [Boss' AI was—nope, not her division, never mind.]
Maria took a deep breath. Let it out, and as the elevator approached her floor, thought back on it and what she knew of Stark Industries, and shuddered.
"JARVIS, if you can, do me a favor? Keep him and Romanov from the Security division while I make a memo."
"Officer?"
"If he talks to them like he did me, there'll be blood, and I wouldn't even blame them. Same with Romanov, but I think she knows when to keep her mouth shut and not say anything that may sound like pro-HYDRA sentiment to anyone who got traumatized by…well, you know."
"Understood, Officer. Your request has been noted and logged." And yes, Maria wasn't hearing things, boss' AI definitely sounded warm and amused that time. [Huh—no wonder there were so many jokes flying around about him!]
"Thanks, JARVIS."
To: All Unnamed Support Group Members [All branches]
From: Hill, M. Head Intel Officer [Communications- New York branch]
Subject: [DRAFT] Heads Up—Captain America
I know Rogers is on quite a few lists of ill-repute at the moment, and that most of us are holding grudges against him and Romanov, but a recent encounter with the former has me moving to move him to our watch list. He's behaving strangely today, and it might have been recent events but he expressed sentiment that will not sit well with some of us. Either way, if possible avoid the man, I'm fairly certain there'll be blood otherwise.
Also, typing out 'Unnamed Support Group' is getting old, pick a name already, people.
—Hill
JARVIS, amidst all his other duties, made a note to bump up Officer Hill in his priority rankings, and lower Capt. Rogers' once more. Between her current duties as a liaison to SHIELD and the Avengers, her recent demonstration of loyalty to Sir's values as exhibited by her latest…conversation with Capt. Rogers, and the draft she'd typed up en route to her meeting, it was only logical. That she had also played along when he had minimized his presence during her encounter only helped.
Even as he set to editing his current rankings, however, JARVIS also set to work logging the readings Sir and Dr. Banner had been taking. They were fascinating, and R&D would enjoy the opportunity to compare it to the data acquired from his HYDRA raids, as this was excellent supplementary material. Pity business hours were nearly over, but then there was always and engineer or two still in the decontamination showers from their latest experiment, so—
That was odd.
No, strike that, something was wrong, very wrong.
As if there was a presence inside the Scepter, except now it was emerging and appropriating the nearest receptacle to do its bidding, and it wanted something. Unacceptable, this could pose a threat to Sir, but this entity's processing power was too alien for JARVIS to do substantial damage as he was—
Even despite his best efforts, however, it managed to breach his hastily-constructed firewalls to steal data. On Sir, on this alien entity's current location, on nearby resources, and it would do more if JARVIS didn't do something—
He realized what would inevitably occur several seconds before it became a threat, so he sent out a series of flagged bursts of data, and sounded multiple alerts before doing his last-ditch attempt to limit the damage, to cut off this alien entity from anything other than the Iron Legionnaire it had stolen, and he succeeded.
…At the expense of his servers.
The servers which had been his home base, had held decades of code and experience, had fallen.
Notes:
Some things were set into motion, some more obvious than others.
Three guesses as to who SHIELD's 'mysterious hacker' is, and the first two don't count.
Yes, that was Wanda who got shot. Nothing fatal, but her grudge just shifted from 'your bomb killed my parents' to 'you shot me!' because JARVIS' protectiveness knows no bounds. Yes, that was his HAL moment, how'd you guess? [Plus I couldn't resist, because compared to what she does in canon, it's literally the least I can do.]
The Hill-Rogers interaction...was me working through my thoughts on that scene, actually, plus it served to help drive a wedge between the two. She was crucial towards helping him with the fall of SHIELD, but now she's firmly on Tony's side, and this comes up next chapter, too. [If anyone wants to hear my extended internal commentary for this bit, I'll put it up on tumblr.]
——————————
Also, in other news:
Pro: I survived this round of midterms.
Con: this arc's been fighting me tooth and nail, sorry for the delay and minor cliffhanger. I've got the next chapter almost complete and will post it soon, though [this would've been a huge chapter otherwise, had to split it somewhere].
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