If he only had a heart
"Jarvis!" she whined, hitting the switch on her bedside lamp. Eleven year old Evelyn Rogers glared at the ceiling. Once she had settled back into the covers, she had one brief moment of reading before everything plunged into darkness.
"Jarvis come on!" Her hand whipped wildly in the dark, searching for the lamp. This time, her fingers had barely left the switch when the light was extinguished.
"I am sorry Miss Rogers, but your father has requested that I uphold your 9-o-clock curfew. It is now 9:05."
"Come on Jarvis. I've only got one more page and I'll be finished!" At this point she was on the floor rummaging through her side dresser. Triumphantly, she pulled out the old flashlight. With a click the bluish beam penetrated the darkness and she was scrambling onto the bed.
"Miss Rogers," Jarvis began. "You are past your curfew. If you do not turn off the flashlight, I will be forced to contact your father." She put the book down exasperatedly. Her father was powwowing with the other Avengers in the common room about some sort of conflict. He only allowed her to stay up in her own room, instead of with Aunt Pepper and Elijah, if she promised to listen to Jarvis. If Jarvis interrupted dad, he might think she needed a babysitter-which was ridicules! She was too old for a babysitter. She was a babysitter for Pete's Sake! Aunt Pepper and Uncle Tony ask her to watch Elijah all the time and they always tell her how grown up and responsible she was. So it just didn't make sense why her dad wouldn't let her babysit herself.
"Please Jarvis," she pleaded with the AI. "It'll only take five minutes-tops! I promise!" Even though the trusty butler was only a machine, it was clearly capable of sensing Evy's award-winning puppy dog look, and if AIs could sigh…
"I will start a timer for five minutes." The pre-teen celebrated her victory silently, as her side lamp came to life once again. Jarvis could be all right sometimes, she mused. She didn't last more than 3 minutes before she dozed off, book serving as a rather uncomfortable makeshift body pillow. When she opened her eyes next, it was still dark but her father was kneeling beside the bed gently shaking her awake.
"Dad?"
"Honey, I need you to wake up," he spoke leaning forward to gather her up, blankets and all.
"Dad what's going on?" He didn't respond, but from the hall light illuminating her door she could tell he was wearing his uniform.
"Dad? I can walk," she told him, but he didn't respond and didn't relent. Instead, the captain carried her quickly out of the room, out of the apartment, and right down to the black SUV that would take her, Elijah and Aunt Pepper straight to the obscure safe house. He was able to stay long enough to buckle her seat belt, kiss her forehead, and tell her how much he loved her, before the door was shut and the car left the tower. Her eyes never left her father, the garage door effectively shutting off her view of him.
Every time it happened, she'd stare out at the tower disappearing in the distance and wonder if she would ever see it again. Would it still be there when she got back? Would other things around it be gone? She would watch it for a long time, turning round in her seat to gaze out the back window, ignoring all the protests from the driver. They didn't understand-it might be the last time she would see her home.
After she was ushered into the safe house, she took her usual spot on the bed by the basement window. She carried her blankets and plopped them on the bed. The Wizard of Oz fell out of the trundle of blankets, clearly caught up in the Captain's hasty gathering. Evy grabbed the book and replaced the bookmark. She didn't feel much like reading about the Tin Man right now. Installed she grabbed the tablet on shelf. With a touch to the panel, a screen lit and Jarvis' voice began to list off the movies he had stored. It figured. Jarvis was always her babysitter anyway.
"Evy?" Elijah appeared by her cot, his messy brownish red hair falling into his eyes and his hands gripping his Iron Man action figure.
"Yeah?" she asked, eyes locked on the screen in front of her.
"Whatcha doing?"
"Checing for somethin'." Her fingers swiped across the panes furiously, but she couldn't find what she wanted. They had locked out all wireless access. When her father learned that she spent the entire time in the safe house watching the newscasts of the battle and had seen one of her uncles get hurt, he made an ultimatum. No broadcasts of the battle; if there was something she needed to be told, she was to be told in person with her aunt by her side. Frustrated, she eventually pulled up the movie list Jarvis had dictated and began scrolling through; there was no way she was sleeping that night. Elijah clambered onto the cot next to her, watching her every move. She noticed he was abnormally quiet, definitely not his usual self. Still, it was nice not to have him mouthing off about how great his inventions were or complaining about which 'lame' or 'girly' movie she picked. She'd let him talk first if he needed to talk at all. Finally, Elijah broke her concentration.
"Evy?"
"Yeah?"
"Where's dad?"
"He's out with my dad. They're doing Avenger's stuff."
"Is it the robots?" He asked quietly, unnervingly meek.
"The robots?" She turned her head toward him briefly. "What're you talking about?"
"I had a nightmare about dad," he started. "And there was this really bad robot and he wanted to take over everythin.' Dad tried to stop him, but he couldn't."
"It sounds like a bad nightmare," she remarked sympathetically. "But that's all."
"How do you know?"
"Cause."
"Cause why?" he countered irritatingly. She set down the tablet with a sigh.
"Because if robots did try to take over, your dad and my dad would stop them. Okay? Sides, robots aren't taking over."
"How do you know?"
"Well how do you know they aren't?"
"Cause Frankie said they might!"
"Frankie told you that?" Evy shook her head. She hadn't seen her best friend very much since he had to go to that special school when he was like 13. Evy wished she could go to school with him. He was really funny and cool to be around, but sometimes he would say stuff and get paranoid about things. Her friend Lizzie told her that boys get that way when they turn 13. Evy really hoped that wasn't true because Neil was turning 13 in a month; she frankly didn't know how much more boy 'weirdness' she could take.
"Aw, Frankie says stuff like that all the time," she brushed off.
"So, robots aren't gonna take over the world?"
"I dunno…maybe? Maybe not. No point in worrying until we get there."
"Yeah. Okay, but I think we oughta tell my dad and your dad…just in case it's real. You know?"
"Okay."
"Evy?"
"Yeah?"
"What if the robots come now? Mom can't stop all of em' and dad and Uncle Steve aren't here."
"That's okay. Jarvis'll stop them," she reassured the 9 year old. "He's a robot too, so he'll know best how to stop other robots." She looked up to the ceiling.
"Right Jarv'? You'd protect us if bad robots attacked the house?"
"Of course Miss Rogers. I am quite prepared to take on such a challenge."
"Told ya." Elijah breathed a sigh of relief, feeling a little more secure about the situation.
"We're not watching that are we?" he asked with a hint of his usual snark. Still, Evy moved over, making room for her 'cousin.'
"Fine. We'll let Jarvis pick. That way it's fair. Jarvis, can you pick something for Master Stark and me to watch?" Elijah stuck his tongue out at the nickname.
"It would be my pleasure, Miss Rogers."
Sometimes Jarvis could be all right, she mused, nestling into her blanket.
The AI commenced playing the movie about the nurse bot turned protector. Jarvis 'liked' the concept a great deal. Just as that machine protected its 14 year old intelligent ward, the AI understood, deep in its coding, that he would do the same. He didn't need a heart to 'protect' and 'like' his charges unconditionally.
AN: My homage to Age of Ultron. I'm sorry for posting this late, but I'm hard at work completing Alter Ego. I'm going to stick to that September 1st deadline, so help me! As always, a humongous thank you to all who has viewed, faved and followed this story. I hope I can continue sharing these ficlets with you.