Written for my card on Love Bingo's Round 3. Square: "I Will Always Love You".

10: DUM-E & Tony

After everything else was in order, Tony quietly locked himself into his temporary workshop at Stark Industries' L.A. headquarters and got to work.

Piece by piece, wire by wire, he put back together the familiar mechanics. In the background, J.A.R.V.I.S. was running checks on the motherboards and the back-ups, prepping them for the final stages of assembly. It would have been heartbreaking to lose years' worth of experiences and memories, but even if that had been the case, Tony still would have been sitting here on the floor of the room, in so many ways re-enacting the building process he had gone through while still at MIT.

Finally, a day later, he sipped his stale coffee and took a look at the sleek new form. Everything was in place. The fuel cells were loaded and ready. Tony blinked at the sight and tried not to taunt the demons into springing forth in his mind – to bring back the memory of the last time he had seen the machine in front of him, alive and screaming for help…

"Fire it up, J," Tony ordered.

The AI didn't respond but a program window opened on a screen to his left. Tony didn't really track the progress: all he had eyes for was the currently lifeless form, and a small fear bloomed in the pit of his stomach. The data may have been damaged; he, as well as J.A.R.V.I.S., had checked it, but there was always a chance. Something small and insignificant could be missing, but he would know: it wouldn't be the same.

"Uploads and synchronization complete, sir."

Tony took a steadying breath and kept looking at the dark metal and the newly printed letters on the side of the mechanical arm. He hadn't felt like this the first time, when his creation was the biggest buzz on campus for days. Back then, there hadn't been personal stakes because he had known his creation would work and he would have all the time in the world to work out the possible kinks.

Those kinks had formed a personality.

That personality had poked at his temper on more than a hundred occasions, but now they were here and all Tony hoped for was another flailing movement that would infuriate him beyond belief.

The hand moved, suddenly, with a soft whir. The three claws snapped shut, then opened again. The arm turned, rising slightly, in his direction. A familiar sound met his ears, inquiring, questioning. The three camera-eyes bore holes into him with their intensity, Tony could swear it, and a lump formed in his throat.

"Have a good nap?" he asked, trying to swallow through the invisible grip around his throat.

Dummy cocked its head, let out another sound, and then rolled closer to him.

Tony's resolve broke. He landed hard on one knee and reached out for the arm when it got close enough, pressing his face against it. His eyes burned, tears hot, relief washing through him. Dummy let out another noise but stayed still. Tony liked to think the bot was confused, but he knew better.

Eventually, he pulled back a little, looking directly at the three camera-eyes. The mechanical arm cocked to the side, like a head. Sometimes Tony didn't know whether to call it an arm, a hand, or a head, but that was fine. All of it was fine – perfect, even. His fingers caressed the smooth surface, no longer dented and corroded by sea water.

"I will always love you," he whispered to Dummy, then leaned in and pressed a kiss on the side of the mechanical head although he knew the gesture was completely lost on the bot. "Always," he repeated, then let out a shaky breath and pulled back, shoving Dummy to the side gently. "Alright," he cleared his throat, "time to get to work on your evil twin," he noted, motioning at You's mangled body.

Dummy looked towards it and chirped, then moved towards the tool rack.

"That's what I thought," Tony noted, not completely certain what he was referring to, but it didn't matter. He ordered J.A.R.V.I.S. to make him a fresh batch of coffee and got back to work – Dummy constantly hovering by him, more often than not handing him the wrong tools but for once Tony didn't mind.

The End