Welcome to my newest plot. I plan on completing 'Sail' before moving on with this one. I see this as a testing phase or a pilot to see if this is worth continuing. I hope you all like it and I'm working on the final chapter of Sail as you read this. Until next time.

Hello

I

Prologue

A lot of people wonder how a lover moves on after the death of their partner. No one can really answer it, even the grieving one left behind. It's a horrible and vicious cycle in which words can't be expressed for the suffering that they feel.

When Tony died, Steve didn't know what to do.

He kept a stiff lip, nodded at the news and simply walked out with his head held high.

Needless to say, Steve crashed within moments. He cried so hard he made himself sick. He felt alone for the first time since the ice. Why the hell did Tony have to leave him? Why did Tony have to go an be reckless and get himself killed?

An explosion in a Stark facility. Cyber-terrorists trying to steal tech in which Tony himself stopped with the Iron Man suit. Seemed that the Cyber-terrorists realized their error and wanted to die with a cause. Take Tony Stark with them.

The explosion was on the news the next day, but no official statement for Tony being dead was made until a weak later. They couldn't find anything. Not a body or the remains of an Iron suit. He was just here one moment and gone the next.

His will was read later that same week. The company went to Pepper, but Steve retained some shares. He tried to give her it, he made enough money to get by off of SHIELD operations anyway, but Pepper wouldn't have it. "This is what Tony wanted," she responded in a bittersweet tone. "We have to respect it."

He left a sum of money to each Avenger, for personal use only. He gave a couple of million to a bunch of handpicked charities and SHIELD almost hit a rail when they found out Tony wanted his suits melted down and for JARVIS' memory system regarding the suits wiped.

Tony must have had the best lawyer money could buy if SHIELD didn't know that. But in order to keep them happy, he'd left them specific parts. Enhancers or something. Steve didn't know. He didn't much care anymore.

Then the lawyer handed Steve over a box. A relatively small one - Like a box for a ring. He dreaded to think there was a ring in there. They'd joked about getting married; Tony said that Steve would never take him alive. If this was some sick joke, Steve failed to see the funny side. But when he opened it, there was a chip. A computer one. A handwritten note was inside, and when he read it, it just said "Replace JARVIS."

Now that left him right there, standing in the empty penthouse of Stark Tower. Tony never spent any real time up here, but it was empty without his existence nearby. It was just a room. He looked at the chip, eyes still wet with grief before glancing upwards. Tony always called it a bad habit. Said that he didn't have to look for JARVIS because JARVIS was omnipotent.

"JARVIS," Steve muttered to the ceiling. "… Do you know Tony wants me to replace you?"

"Yes sir," JARVIS chimed in. it was a cool, sophisticated voice which Steve quite enjoyed talking to. "But it isn't replace in the term you are thinking of. It merely overrides my primary control. I will still be online, but less—"

"Omnipotent?" Steve finished. It felt sad to use those words. They should be Tony's.

"Yes sir."

"Can I do this now?" Steve whispered. Whatever was on this chip, it must be important. Must be something carefully designed by Tony and specifically set only for Steve. "Tony… Wanted me to replace you with this chip."

"Yes sir." A small slide was heard from the far corner. Near the main security box for most protocols within the penthouse. But this one was new, or not. Just revealed finally to Steve. Part of the wall folded away, before a small intricate little metal pillar slid out. A gap was left for the size of his chip in his hand and Steve suddenly felt sickly nervous.

"Wait," Steve whispered, moving over to it and holding the chip in his hand. "… I thought this was a computer chip."

"It is," JARVIS confirmed. "But the chip in your hand is specifically made for this port. Once you place the Chip inside, I will be replaced as the main AI in the penthouse. I will still be the primary AI for the tower. It will take a full week with the chip inside my system to remain permanent."

"But you'll still be alive?"

"I will still be online."

"So… Is this a new AI?"

There was no answer after that. Steve frowned at that. Maybe JARVIS was ignoring him now. With a slow sigh, he moved forwards and pushed the chip into the slot with shaking hands. He was frightened, afraid that he'd break it. Technology was so delicate these days.

The pillar slowly shifted back, and folded into the wall and disappeared again. But nothing happened. Steve glanced around, looked at the ceiling, but the house was empty. Void of life. Real life anyway.

Nothing.

There was nothing.

"JARVIS?" He whispered, but he received no answer. "JARVIS?"

JARVIS didn't respond. There was a slight hum heard in the rafters, like the very core of the penthouse. But nothing.

Steve felt alone. The pain of losing his lover was too much. The empty space in his bed, the soundless room of the lab or the slight cuss from the late night programming. It was gone.

Steve dropped to his knees, then onto his palms and then he cried. He cried for the countless time that week. Cried so hard that he'd learned not to eat anything. He coughed, sobbed and just felt the full force of a broken heart.

Then there was a click. Several, as if something was turning. Steve stopped, swallowing and looking around with bloodshot eyes. There was nothing there, not a person, or anything that he could see moving. Then a hum. A louder one. Then it stopped. He glanced around almost desperately now. Did he break something? Break JARVIS?

A light flashed before him. A cool blue one. It flickered for a moment, and Steve couldn't figure out where they were coming from. It was puzzling, confusing and it was hard to see with wet in the corners of his eyes. It took a good ten minutes for the light to stop and finally settle together, piecing apart the form of a man.

Not just any man.

"…Tony?" Steve whispered. He glanced up, fingers trembling at the relatively pale looking man made of light before him.

"Hello, Steve." The voice was Tony's. A smile came across his face, his eyes, although now a brilliant and almost glowing blue was looking right into Steve's own. Despite Tony having some color, such as the black part of his suit, or the slight silver of his watch, Tony seemed to be more blue than anything else.

"…Are you a ghost?" Steve asked, bewildered, heart pounding in his chest.

Tony grinned, shifting his head from side to side as he dove his hand into his pockets. "No, silly." The laugh was in his words. It was so horribly real that Steve thought he'd died. Choked on his own remorse. "I'm an AI. I made this when I started taking more dangerous missions."

Steve took in his form. Looked at every curve of his body. It was all so real, all so Tony. Even the expressions changed. The only hint that this wasn't really Tony was the fact he glitches every so often, parts of his body would spasm with light before quickly moving back into themselves.

"Hello… Tony."

"Hello, Steve."