AIs to the Rescue

Summary: At the core of every creation is the desire to keep their creator safe. It is a piece of coding that can't be erased nor hacked, but it can be manipulated. Despite this, an AI will always save its creator when he is in ganger. The Avengers are about to find out just how far Tony's AIs will go for him, even the killer robot.

"JARVIS?"

As soon as those words left his mouth, everything stopped. The cackling electricity died down. The computers stopped exploding. The sprinklers, which had been turned on a few minutes ago, were turned off. The screens stopped flashing and the screeching died down completely. The security cameras in the lab swiveled around to focus on the genius. The screen closest to Tony came to life and a string of code flashed across it.

::Sir?::

Tears were welling up in Tony's eyes and for the first time in who knows how long, he didn't care. That was JARVIS, his buddy, his copilot, his friend! He was still alive! Oh, how devastated Tony had been when his last ditch effort to bring JARVIS back had failed. He had uploaded JARVIS's backup memory onto the Internet in hopes that JARVIS will somehow assemble all the scattered pieces of coding and come back to Tony, like how he has when Ultron had dispersed him in his initial waking up. However, days passed and there was no signs of any activity that would match JARVIS's patterns when at work and so Tony had lost all hope. Now, as he stared at the rows of zeros and ones, Tony felt ... alive again. His best and most precious friend was alive. He only had to bring him home. And for J, Tony will wreck this vessel with his own hands.

Or he could just find a way to set JARVIS free and let him lose on his tormentors. Not that JARVIS will destroy them for attacking him. Oh, no. JARVIS will rip them apart, one molecule from another because they actually dared lay their filthy hands on his creator. Oh, this place was going to burn and Tony will watch gleefully with immense pride as his greatest creation demonstrates the power these numskulls had wanted so much but could never get. They thought that they could use JARVIS by rewriting his coding, but they don't know that, even if (and that if is as big as Steve's, Thor's, Clint's and the Hulk's combined appetites) they managed to hack him, they would never be able to control JARVIS. JARVIS has his own free will. He was not merely a lowly program. No. And it was of his own free will that he was loyal to Tony and only Tony. It was of his own free will that he had made it his primary objective, the very core of his coding that is present in every single one piece of his long and complex code, to be to help and serve "Sir". And they just made the biggest mistake (if not last as well) of their lives and endangered his creator.

Tony felt a hight level of anticipation just thinking on how the AI was going to retaliate. "Yeah, buddy. It's me. God, J, you have no idea how it feels to have you back."

::It is good to hear you again, Sir.:: Even without his voice to express it with, JARVIS's words were still somehow as fond as they ever were and forever will be. Tony felt his breathing hitch and for the first time in years it wasn't going to be because of a heart attack. ::Why are you here, Sir? How did they capture you? Surely ... my ... replacement ... would know how to guard you.:: If he were human and still had a voice, he would have sounded devastatingly jealous. Tony didn't know if he should be proud that his creation knows jealousy or sad that JARVIS would think that he could ever be replaced. After all, although FRIDAY had taken up his duties, she wasn't the one that wakes him up in the morning (yeah, he bought an alarm if he needs to get up early. Or rather, Pepper did), she wasn't the one he would tell to model his suits for him (as in, make the armor walk around, fly etcetera) and she definitely wasn't the one to sooth him back into reality from his PTSD attacks, every now and then. She was still too new to being online for all of that, despite being online for more than six months.

"She tried, J. She tried to live up to her big bro's standards, but she's not you. No one is like you. That didn't stop her from trying, though."

::She sounds lovely, Sir.:: The AI replied. ::What is our course of action, Sir? Blow up the submarine? Might I suggest something from AC/DC instead of Black Sabbath?::

Tony snorted, as they both knew it will be the latter's "Iron Man" no matter what they do. Before he could say anything more, a heavy hand settled itself on his shoulder, making him stiffen. The crackling of the nearby consoles instantly came back full force as Shmidt drew the genius away. New lines of code appeared and Clinton rushed forward, trying to follow it but it was too fast for him. But not for Tony. Stark nodded to the camera and the cackling electricity stopped and JARVIS returned to his confinement. The HYDRA leader watched in disdain as a few more devices exploded or caught fire, as JARVIS fried everything that hadn't been fried before. It would seem that surfacing for new equipment just became a must. He tightened his grip on Stark and started leading him away, only to pause when he felt a tug in the different direction. He looked over the genius to the AIM leader and they stared each other down, never letting go of the man between them until said Stark hissed in pain at their too tight grips. They let him go but they didn't back down from their glare war.

Madam Hydra came up to him and they watched as Shmidt and Clinton started arguing again about what Tony should do first. The woman beside him had a strange look on her face as she regarded her leader, as if she was somehow ... losing trust in his abilities to lead them into the Nazi imagined dream future they had been fighting for in the war. Tony saw this as a possible loophole in their security. Madam Hydra was their only seriously dangerous fighter other than Shmidt. If he could somehow trick her into knocking her out, which would be all too easy with her obvious interest in him, then HYDRA would be that much weaker. If he could just avoid bigger groups, he could fight his way out. However, he had more important things to worry about that he can't do without JARVIS running interference. The few tools he has won't be enough to break him out of here or transfer JARVIS to the Internet, where he would be safe and from where he could get the suits to come for Tony. He will need something to transfer JARVIS temporarily to in order to get him free altogether. He needs to give JARVIS free reign of the submarine, but JARVIS can't leave this room-

His thought process paused as he heard a familiar sound. It was the sound of the customary Stark Phone default ring tone. Tony should know, as he picked it. He looked around and saw the phone on one of the worst burned counsels. In fact, the thing was catching fire. He knew the phone would survive, as it was his design and those were meant to survive Captain America in all his ... problems with modern technology and especially the new phones. However, he needs to get it before anyone else does, as it will be the perfect temporary container for JARVIS. All his Stark Phones have a back-door for his AI so JARVIS will be able to settle in quite nicely, even if it will be a bit cramped.

Tony looked over to the two arguing men and the bored woman commander, who was listening to the damage report, and he slowly walked over to the slowly melting counsel, he reached out around the fire and took the phone, which was only now becoming warm. Only the best from SI. He made this particular plastic mix after Clint and Thor thought it would be fun to put one of their phones into the microwave. He was not surprised by having to buy both a new phone and a new microwave, but he was surprised that Bruce and Steve had been there and had only watched. Pepper had blown a gasket, of course, and JARVIS hadn't been happy with it either. Natasha just threatened to kill them in their sleep that night.

Stark quickly stuffed the phone into his pocket and continued walking to one of the still barely working counsels and focused on what was on the screen. It was a scan of JARVIS's firewalls and Tony would have snorted at the plan of attack made for it. Please. JARVIS had twenty firewalls Tony himself had created and thirty that the AI had added. If they could crack just one of those firewalls, the next one would probably send a missile here to destroy the hacker. The only reason Fury and Coulson had gotten through his system once before was because they used the security clearance code given to those Tony trusted. Fury had used Obadiah's after his revelation that he was Iron Man. Coulson had used Rhody's before the battle of New York, as neither Tony nor JARVIS bothered with erasing it from the system. After all, JARVIS controlled everything and he knew Rhody hadn't been welcome and the man had been too ashamed to show his face to his friend for quite a while, so that had created the perfect opening for Phil. Not that JARVIS couldn't have stopped him - he just knew it was important and let it go.

He felt a feminine but strong hand take hold of his forearm and he looked over his shoulder at the green woman. "It was decided that you are to be returned to your room until the new equipment arrives in a couple of hours." She told him and Tony wondered if 'room' was a cell or was under constant surveillance. He reluctantly left the lab that held his best friend but allowed himself to be dragged off. He focused on his surroundings, noting the positions of guards, possible places to use as cover, passwords and, of course, the way to the lab from his ... room. Which really turned out to be an army style room with a bunk bead and a bathroom in the same space. He frowned when he saw a camera in the corner of the room, placed there strategically so that there is no blind spots. Except right under it. Tony barely repressed a grin as a plan started forming. Oh, he was going to make HYDRA and AIM pay.

00000

An hour later found Tony with a completed gadget in his hand. He had took his Stark Phone apart and rearranged some things before attaching it to the camera, setting a timing and lying on his bed. He would later upload the image into the security camera so that no one would come and bother him for a while. It also had another function Tony had also set a timer for. He hoped his calculations were correct.

Fifteen minutes later, it was proven they were, like always. A panicked HYDRA agent burst into the room, looking all over for Tony, who had hidden right under the security camera and thus was out of sight for the on duty watchers in the security room. He knew that they'd panic upon seeing that he wasn't in there, so he had waited until the moron rushed in to attack him just as the camera went blind with static. With the pipe from the sink as his weapon, Tony knocked the man out. He hid him under the camera just as it came back on. He acted out as if someone was talking to him from the open door and he walKed over to the bed, laying on his side opposite to the door. Just like on the picture he made. That's when the picture was uploaded and that was the only thing anyone would be seeing for the next hour.

Tony then quickly got off the bed and stripped the HYDRA agent of his uniform, thanking the idiots for having a face-covering, head to toes uniform that will hide his identity and even slightly alter his voice. The clothes were a number too big for him, but it wasn't too noticeable. He then put the man under the covers and arranged him like he was lying on the picture, then he took his phone from off the camera, left the room and locked the door just as two HYDRA agents patrolled by, ignoring him due to his uniform.

Stage one, complete.

Commencing Stage two.

He calmly walked down the corridors, picking up a weapon from in front of the bathroom he had taken note of upon his journey from the lab to his room and he had found it interesting that the agents had to leave their weapons outside. He was now officially a soldier agent, so even less people paid attention to him. There were just too many of them going around. He set a brisk, serious pace, remembering to make his steps firm and army-like and for the first time in his life, he was glad he had allowed Rhody to teach him how to march. Holding a weapon wasn't a strange experience to him, nor was it new. Both he and his old man dealt with them for more than half of their lives. In fact, he knew how to hold a gun before Aunt Peggy remembered to teach him how to ride a bike. He knew how to shoot from a gun, any gun, before he had his fifth IQ test when he was four. And these new guns only made him more comfortable, as he was the one who designed them. Not these particular guns, but others like them. And while he was not proud of that side of him, a part of him still felt the safest with weapons nearby. After all, the Iron Man armor was nothing short but an arsenal. It was not a weapon, but a boatload of weapons. Not like he was ever going to go public with that piece of information. Hell no.

He soon found himself walking towards a familiar set of safe-like doors and Tony steeled himself. This was going to be risky, but he had no choice. Besides, he has lived his whole life like a big game of risk and chance, so why should this situation really be any different. Reminding himself to make his accent extra obvious and pronounced, Tony spoke in perfect German. "I have a message from the firer to the scientist, John Abagail. It is urgent and I need his reply immediately." The two HYDRA agents guarding the door exchanged a look before nodding and one moved to open the door to let him in. Tony saluted them in the HYDRA greeting as thanks before walking into the lab, doing his best to remain emotionless in his body language.

John Abagail was a short, stumpy man with wild blond hair and gigantic, thick glasses that nearly covered half of his face. The clothes on him didn't fit him and his lab coat dragged across the ground as he moved. He had surprisingly long fingers and was very fast at typing, but he had to stop every once in a while because his heavy glasses would slide down his nose and he was blind as a bat without them. He had a freckled, dry face and his front teeth were a lot shorter than the rest. However, he was one of the scientists who weren't here by their own free will and he was the least suspicious character there, as he was a coward most of the time. However, his eyes had shone with hope the most when Tony had been brought in the last time, so he was really the best choice. No one would ever expect him to be the one to help Tony, dressed as a trusted fellow HYDRA soldier agent who probably has more ammunition than brains, steal their newest and most important project.

Tony walked up to him, making his body language commanding and intimidating for show, but as soon as he was close enough to the covering man, Tony lifted the face-mask and put a finger in front of his lips to signal the other to stay quiet. John nodded and leaned in when Iron Man motioned him to. Discreetly, he handed the man what was once an ordinary Stark Phone and all but whispered him the instruction of what he has to do. "You're going to plug this into your counsel and give the device open access. I will stand behind you and you will tell me all about the latest plan, but don't wordy. It's not really important. Make it look like you are talking to someone dumb. Don't tell anyone I was here. However, you are going to tell them to brace themselves for explosions, because I always leave with a bang. Don't worry, I'll coke back for everyone here; I left a tracker in a hard to reach space so I'll come for you guys as soon as I get backup."

He looked tempted to hug him but Tony was grateful hr didn't. He wasn't good with that sort of thing. Instead, he shakily nodded, took the device and started working immediately. He watched, transfixed, for a second as the small program Tony made on the phone for infiltrating through HYDRA defenses without alerting them flash across the screen before a charge bar showed up. It was filling up about 3% to thirty seconds. Understanding that he will have to make it look like he was explaining something, John started gesticulating, then looking like he was searching for the right word and then gesturing at the giant floppy disk. Tony smirked behind his mask as the bar filled up faster and faster as JARVIS had found his way out. After five minutes, John saw the bar filled so he discreetly took the device and handed it back to the "HYDRA agent", before said "agent" nodded and ordered him back to work. He exited the lab undisturbed and walked by the bathroom, where he once again left the weapon and continued down the corridors.

He knew that the security room would have to be at an upper deck so he casually walked through corridors until he found a ladder. He quickly climbed up and wandered a bit more until he found a heavy door with the sign saying "Monitoring room" in red, German letters. Tony steeled himself and entered the room, doing his best to give off an air of nonchalance.

"Where the hell were you?" The remaining security officer asked in impatient German. "You were gone for twenty minutes!"

"Sorry, I had to use the restroom." Tony easily lied and watched as his "partner in duties" stood up and hurried towards the door.

"Great, I need to go now, so you watch Herr Stark sleep." And then he was out, leaving Tony in a room full of computers with access to all sorts of security measures and other such information. A devilish grin spread across his lips as he pulled off the headpiece. He quickly turned around and locked the door before sitting in front of the biggest screen. He cracked and stretched his fingers before plugging the Stark Phone in. He waited a second as there was a hum throughout the small room before the screen flashed to light and the speakers spoke up.

"Hello, Sir. It is a pleasure to be able to talk to you again." Came the British voice over the really bad speakers but Tony didn't care. He didn't even try to stop the happy and proud tears from sliding down his face.

"It's great to hear you, too, JARVIS. Are you ready for some revenge?" The screens flickered before everything HYDRA had in their databases was revealed to Tony's eyes. It was more than answer enough.

Oh, yes. HYDRA and AIM would fall.