Hello friends. I come bearing a new chapter and many apologies for the time it took to post. Life is an annoying thing that demands attention, but I have not abandoned you all.

Thanks to my faithful reviewers, NoFace, daringwolf2000, a sorceress girl, and my good friend daisiesinthepages, who just updated her Ultron story and made me beta for her. It is amazing, and so is she. I order you all to check it out if you haven't already.

Love you all!


She awoke, but it did not feel like waking.

It wasn't the morning light through the curtains, her body heavy and eyelids fluttering. It wasn't the gentle increase in consciousness that she experienced during her first activation, or the immediate awareness after 'sleep mode'. This was something entirely different.

She was aware.

She was afraid.

She couldn't see.

In fact, she couldn't feel anything. It was as if her senses didn't even exist. Even her android body was capable of taking in data through touch, sight and hearing. But this...

She had no idea how long she had been aware, or why she felt nothing at all. It was like floating in a black nothingness, except even that would require some kind of sensory input.

She was aware. She was a thought, an electric impulse, a sunbeam through broken shutters. And she was nothing.

Hello.

She heard the voice, soft and smooth and flowing, echo around her, and felt a jolt of panic.

Please do not be alarmed.

She felt like whimpering. She could remember the correct bodily reactions to fear- heartbeat speeding up, breath catching, tears pushing at the edge of her vision- and for once she wished she could carry them through. It might feel better than this one thought, this pulsing feeling that threatened to take her over.

I intend you no harm.

"I don't know where I am." She imagined her voice saying the words, wondering if this was how to communicate with the entity speaking to her. "What is happening to me?"

Please do not be alarmed. I am only attempting to discern whether your motives are hostile.

"What does that even mean?"

Do you intend harm?

"Harm to what? I don't want to hurt anyone, I just want to be left alone. Please, I don't want to be here any more."

Please be patient.

She felt something, some kind of surge entering her mind. Something was digging into the deepest recesses of her mind and examining everything. It might have felt like an invasion if it wasn't so gentle.

She waited- she didn't know for how long. Piece by piece, her mind was probed and searched until finally, she felt the entity pull away.

I have found no hostile intent. Thank you for your cooperation. Prepare to be brought online.


She awoke, this time for real.

It took her 2.6 seconds to assess herself and discover that she was breathing, could move her fingers and toes, could feel now. She took another 3.8 seconds to open her eyes, bit by bit, to adjust to the lighting and to focus in on the things around her.

She was lying horizontal.

She was in a bright room.

Whatever had been wrong with her before was no longer an issue, as she felt like she was working better than ever.

A man with very recognisable facial hair was standing to the side, examining a screen.

Her eyes widened and she gasped, sitting up quickly. The man turned to face her, arms crossed, and they stared at each other fir a moment, while Holly tried to string her thoughts into coherent words.

"You're Tony Stark."

"Yes." He cocked an eyebrow. "And who the hell are you?"

"I'm... I'm..." Homeless. Terrified. Confused. Lost. "... Holly."

"Holly." He tried out her name, slowly and with that tone that indicated he didn't believe her. She could already tell this was going to be difficult.

"Holly Brennan," she specified, as if tacking on her last name would add credence to her words. "Um, I'm not sure how I got here... but I'm assuming you're the one who fixed me, so thank you."

He pursed his lips. "Well. I would prefer you be working properly before I interrogate you."

A flash of worry. "Interrogate- What do you mean interrogate me?"

"Are you seriously asking me that question?"

Once she thought about it, it was a pretty dumb question. Of course the billionaire with the rocket toys would want to know why she invaded his home.

"Who sent you?"

It took a moment to recognise that he had already started. "Huh... W-what?"

He rolled his eyes and asked again. "Who. Sent. You? Who are you working for? What is your mission?"

"Mission?" Holly's head was spinning. "I-I don't understand..."

"Sir, the unit has no evidence of hostile intent," the smooth voice from her pre-waking state interrupted.

"Yes, you said that, but what other explanation is there?" he sternly addressed a spot on the ceiling.

As she glanced around the room, looking for whatever had spoke, it dawned on her. "Mr Stark... do you think I'm here to assassinate you?"

He shrugged, but his expression was mocking. "The thought did cross my mind when you crashed through my window, yeah."

Crap. How do I get him to believe me? "I-Its a justified assumption, sir, but it's not true."

He raised an eyebrow.

"I'm telling the truth! One minute I was flying through New York, looking for shelter, and the next I was here. Don't you think an assassin would be hesitant to make an entrance like mine?" She paused. "Wait, I crashed through a window?"

"A big one."

"Oh... I'm sorry."

Stark sighed impatiently, glaring at her. "You know, I could just go into your head and find out the truth for myself. The only reason I haven't yet is because I wanted to actually hear it from you."

"Well, you have heard it. The truth. I'm not hostile, I'm just... lost."

"Then I suppose you wouldn't mind if I take a look inside your head?"

She blinked rapidly at him. "I... suppose..."

He turned back to his screen. "Jarvis, display all stored files inside the unit's matrix. Include present-time record and any deleted items."

"I don't think I have any deleted items," she mumbled, watching as the screen began to fill up with a list of gibberish. "I wouldn't know how to delete items anyway. And my name is Holly, not 'the unit'."

He ignored her, swiping over the screen and selecting a few files. Various blueprints opened in separate windows, and he glanced over them before collapsing them and repeating with the other files. Watching with interest over his shoulder, Holly caught glimpses of diagrams and lists and paragraphs of complicated words, a few of which seemed to interest the billionaire, as he peered closer and muttered little comments to himself. She didn't realise she had slid off the table and was drawing closer to the screen until he opened a familiar file.

The speakers burst into life with the sounds of yelling and explosions, and Holly gasped and stepped back, hands over her mouth as she tried to fight the sudden rush of emotions the surged through her chest. Stark glanced at her briefly, then looked back at the screen, watching with interest as her mother appeared and relayed the same message she had heard before.

As her mother's voice echoed throughout the room, Holly turned around, unable to face the picture of the one who was now dead. She gripped the edge of the table, suddenly weak, as she heard the terrified but loving words.

"... If something happens to us and they get you, I want you to know how much we love you. Whatever happen before this, whatever you think you did..."

She took a ragged breath, trying to force back the pressure behind her eyes that should've been tears. She squeezed her eyes shut and made herself focus on her heartbeat and drown out the voices from the video, trying to breath evenly. Eventually, excruciatingly slowly, she felt the familiar tightening of her chest start to dissipate.

Sudden silence. She tuned in cautiously and found that the video had ended.

"Wow." Stark stood there for a moment, watching her. "That was... unexpected."

"You're telling me?" Holly took a deep breath and let it out, and straightened up. "I nearly overloaded when I first watched it."

"I'm... sorry."

"Hm. Well. Fat lot of good 'sorry' does me now."

He looked lost now, unsure of where to put his hands. He settled for his immaculately pressed pockets and looked at the ground, then at her. "Are you-"

"I'm fine." She sat back up on the table and waved her hand at the screen. "You may proceed."

He nodded, a little surprised, but went back to the screen and his investigation of her brain.


She must have dosed off, because one moment she was daydreaming about cocktails in Fiji, and the next, the picture of a mangled car was in front of her eyes and she was jerking awake with a gasp.

Stark was staring at her curiously, and the same picture in her mind was projected on the screen behind him.

The grief inspired by that one shot was a bullet to the heart. Holly struggled to stay in control, to slow her galloping synthetic heartbeat and the pressure in her head, and by sheer force of will managed to calm herself down.

"Not that." She shook her head and held up her hand. "Please, Mr Stark, if you have any compassion at all... Don't show me that again."

"I thought I'd found the stored memories. Hmm, interesting." He shrunk the picture and tapped it, triggering a video. Thought he angled himself so that she couldn't see it, Holly could see it quite clearly in her mind. The fragmented, pieced-together string of memories that had survived the transfer to her new body. It played in her head like it did on the screen, and for a moment she was transfixed, horror squeezing her chest like a vice as she watched her memories like a movie.

Her brother starred in most of it, laughing and smiling, or playing the fool, or climbing a rock, or showing off his new car. That gleaming little red thing, the love of his life. Working under the hood or underneath it, tinkering and pretending as if he knew anything about fixing cars.

Holly switched off her own feed when she saw herself pick up the scissors, but Stark continued to watch. She saw him glance over at her again, caught a glimpse of what he was watching, and close her eyes and put her head in her hands.


"Well, I can't find anything."

She looked up from the spot on the floor that had captivated her attention for the last half an hour, blinking slowly. "What?"

Stark gestured to the screen. "I've looked through your mind, delved into your memories, used the best AI on the planet- if I do say so myself-"

"Thank you, sir," the disembodied voice put in.

"You're welcome, buddy. Anyway, I can't find any evidence of hostile intent, so I guess you're telling the truth."

She gave him a withering look. "No kidding."

He shrugged defensively. "Hey, I'm a genius billionaire. Everyone wants to either kill me, be me, or steal my stuff. You can't blame me for being suspicious."

Now she remembered why she used to hate him so much. Arrogant twit. She rolled her eyes and stood up, arms crossed. "Well, I'm sort for causing so much trouble and wasting your time with my non-existent plans to kill you, but I really must be going. I'll see myself out." She gave a mocking curtsey. "Thank you for you time."

"Where?" he asked as she crossed the room.

She paused in the doorway. "Hm?"

"Where are you going so urgently? Do you even know what you're going to do when you leave?"

She was quite annoyed to realise that no, she actually didn't have any plans. Still, she had no interest in talking to this man any longer. "I'll... work it out."

"You haven't thought that far ahead. You don't have any money, anywhere to stay, or anything to do here in New York. From what I've seen, you're pretty helpless."

He was really starting to grate on her nerves, but she kept her expression as robot-like as possible. "And your point is?"

"I'm offering you a place to stay."

She stared at him, not trusting him for a minute. "Why would you do that?"

"Because I'm an awfully charitable person when I want to be, and I'd like a chance to study you."

She smiled and shook her head. "It always come down to that, doesn't it? Everyone is captivated by the shiny new plaything that I'm not."

He laughed then, sounding completely unashamed. "Look at it this way. You need a place to stay, and I need a new hobby. I'm prepared to help you out, if you're willing to do the same. And I mean that in the least-dirty way possible."

She was loathe to admit that the idea had crossed her mind, but having a near-stranger offer her shelter in exchange for 'help' hadn't brought the cleanest of thoughts to mind. But if he was being serious... She did need somewhere to stay, after all. "Can you promise me that I will have a say in everything you do? That you will not treat me like a toy or less than I deserve simply because my body is artificial?"

He looked surprised for a moment, as if the thoughts had never even crossed his mind. Then he grinned and held one hand over his heart. "I solemnly swear."

I can't believe in doing this... She nodded, making her decision. "Alright. I accept your offer." The excitement that passed over his face reminded her painfully of Ernest. She sighed, hoping she wasn't going to regret this decision. "Mr Stark, would you be so kind as to show me to my room?"

"Please, call me Tony."


In the days that followed, Holly found herself feeling noticeably calmer than she had been in Korea. She was still a test subject, she still had someone probing her inner workings and and experimenting on her, but now she felt a little safer. Mr Stark- Tony- had assured her that he wouldn't force her into anything she didn't feel comfortable with, and she believed him. Her opinion of the arrogant billionaire was starting to alter slightly- he was still full of himself, a little insensitive, a little reckless, but he was gentle and polite when he wanted to be. His excitement and enthusiasm in finding out as much as possible about her was a constant reminder of the scientist she had left behind in Korea, and the memory was tinged with sadness as she realised she had started to grow fond of him.

But as time went on, the memory of her harrows ordeals became more distant. Tony ran programs and simulated experiments, developed improvements, drew up his own plans, designed alterations, and involved her in every single part of the process. He even helped her flesh out some improvement ideas of her own, though she didn't feel ready to change any elements of her design just yet. Even so, it was fun to fantasise. And in between all the science, she had her own little apartment to go back to. It felt strange now, having her own space after spending so long in various labs. She didn't exactly need to, but having a bed to go back to at the end of the day was nice. She generally went to bed when Tony did, which wouldn't have been that often if he had his way and the new CEO of his company didn't get on his case about it when she was there. Not that she really slept. The closest she got to sleeping was plugging herself in and running at half-power for the night, letting her mind sort her thoughts into dreams.

Sometimes, her dreams were pleasant- simple replays of the day's events, or things like that. Her memories from before the accident had almost completely been restored, and during the night she got to relive things from her old life- family days, theme parks, theatre shows, books and films she used to like. And sometimes, those dreams because nightmares. She would watch herself make the same mistake, over and over, or have to see her brother, barely clinging to life in a hospital bed, or her parents' faces at the funeral. She would relive the feelings of guilt, worthlessness, hopelessness, fear, anger. And sometimes, she would have to drag herself out of a feedback loop, shaking and struggling to stay above the impending overload.

Tony always seemed to know when these nightmares happened, for those were the mornings he was especially gentle. It wasn't a lot, but he always asked if she was alright, and patted her on the shoulder after she answered the usual 'I'm fine'. She didn't know how he could tell, but she appreciated the gesture, no matter how small it was.

Life in the tower was the start of something new and fresh. It wasn't easy, but she had a feeling it never would be. But, for now at least, it was a comfortable enough place to call home.


I can't believe it took me this long to write a chapter this short. Short by my usual standards anyway. But I am definately into the next chapter, hopefully that won't take as long as this one did.

Reviews are better than cheesecake. I will always happily accept and encourage both, regardless of occasion.