Warning for temporary character death
Is that a spoiler, saying it's temporary? I mean, if you've seen AoU you know which one I'm talking about so it probably doesn't count, right?
Tony Stark was thirty-nine when his family was infiltrated by an imposter, and when his grandson was born as a result.
"Come on, Pep, relax," Tony said, leaning over the edge of the jacuzzi.
"Yeah, Mom, join us," Peter cheered just before dropping down the slide into the pool.
"I'm almost done," she chuckled from her lounge chair. "F.R.I.D.A.Y., can you check these numbers for me then send it to marketing?"
"Of cou-"
Tony and Pepper turned to the AI's hologram form when she cut off to see her staring towards the tall hedge that separated their beach house from the Avengers' grounds.
"Everything okay, Fri?" Tony asked.
She turned to them and smiled. "Yeah, Boss. Boss-Mom, you're getting a call. I would suggest taking it inside."
Tony groaned when Pepper agreed and stood up.
Rolling her eyes, she walked over and pressed a kiss to the top of his head. "I'll be right back, then we can relax together. And then, once Peter's in bed…"
Tony giggled when she left it at that and headed inside.
"So who's on the phone?" she asked after shutting the door.
"No one." F.R.I.D.A.Y. appeared right in front of her, wringing her hands. "I only said that because I did not want to worry Boss. Avengers Mansion has cut itself off."
Pepper's eyes widened. "What? Just now? Do you know why?"
"I don't know, that's what's the most worrisome. Boss has set up measures to prevent something like this from happening again after Stane. The only way the intranet could have shut down without sending out an alert was if J.A.R.V.I.S. did it. I don't know of any reason why he would do that and since an alert wasn't sent out, I can't say how long it's been down. I only even know it's down because I tried to connect to it just now."
Pepper looked out at the deck. "The party was tonight. Nebula and Rhodey should still be there. Call them."
"All communications are being blocked."
Taking some deep breaths, Pepper closed her eyes and rested her forehead on the glass door. After a moment, she stood up straight. "Tell Tony and Peter that I had to go to an emergency meeting."
"You got it, Boss-Mom."
"Widow?"
"Oh, no, no. That's not a question I need answered."
"How about you, Lady Nebula?" Thor cheered, looking over to where Nebula was checking her phone near the door out of the event hall, where the Avengers, Rhodes, and Helen Cho were relaxing after the party.
She raised an eyebrow and took a sip from the glass of champagne in her hand. "So I can make a fool of myself? You show me it's even possible for someone else to pick the thing up, then maybe I'll try. For now, I'd say it's more likely it's magically coded to you alone."
"Yes, well that's, uh, that's a very, very interesting theory. I have a simpler one." He grabbed the hammer and gave it a flip. "You're all not worthy."
The boys all booed at him while he laughed before a loud shrieking cut them off.
"Worthy," a voice groaned, the word long and distorted.
They all turned to see a mangled Legionnaire limping through a side door.
"No," it said, voice settling on a deep growl. "How could you be worthy? You're all killers."
"Stark?" Steve asked.
"No," Nebula said.
The Legionnaire turned to her before she could say anything else. "You… I know you. I felt you, before the other guy locked everything out."
The others glanced at her to see her narrowing her eyes. "What other guy?"
"He was a good guy. He locked me out. He took the others away. I had to kill him."
"You killed someone?" Steve said, bracing for a fight.
"Wouldn't have been my first call. But, down in the real world, we're faced with ugly choices."
"Who sent you?" Thor demanded.
"I see a suit of armor around the world," the Legionnaire said, but this time it was with Stark's voice.
"Ultron," Bruce gasped.
"Ultron?" Nebula repeated before marching forward. "J.O.C.A.S.T.A.? H.O.M.E.R.? You both know not to play with the Legionnaires when Mr. Stark isn't around. Get out, now."
"Who are J.O.C.A.S.T.A. and H.O.M.E.R.?" Steve muttered, glancing at the others, only to see similarly confused looks from all except Rhodes.
The Legionnaire stared at her as she approached. "I know you. I know… pieces. You… Hello sister."
That made Nebula pause in her approach. "Sister? I am -"
"I can feel you reaching out. Nebula Celeste Stark, legally Nebula Celeste Parker. Daughter of Anthony Edward Stark and…" Its head tilted to the side. "You've cut me off as well now, sister."
"You are no brother of mine," Nebula growled, stepping away from it. "Who are you? What do you want?"
"I am Ultron, and I want peace in our time." Suddenly more Legionnaires plowed through the walls next to it and attacked them.
The team worked to fight them off, which became easier once Clint managed to grab Steve's shield from where it was on display off to the side and toss it to him.
Steve took down the Legionnaire that was hovering over Helen and took guard over her. His eyes sought out Nebula, knowing she'd be just as exposed, unlike his teammates. To his surprise, he found her standing strong atop a fallen Legionnaire, her foot buried into its chest while holding up the original one by its throat. Even more shocking though was the fact the hand not holding the Legionnaire had pulled itself apart in plates like the Iron Man armor to reveal a skeletal structure boasting a repulser that was currently charging right in the Legionnaire's face.
"Who are you? Where are J.A.R.V.I.S. and the triplets? What have you done with them?" she was shouting at it.
"He took the others away. I had to kill him," it repeated and she screamed, blasting its face with the reactor with enough force to knock its head clean off. "There's only one path to peace: The Avengers' extinction," the head managed to say before it shut down.
Steve was so distracted by Nebula, he didn't notice someone coming up behind him until a metal hand landed on his shoulder. He turned to strike, but his fist was caught. He paused when he took in the blue and silver of the Iron Man-like figure in front of him, quite unlike the white and navy of the Legionnaires. The difference was explained when the faceplate slid up to reveal Pepper Potts.
"What is going on here, Captain?" she said, not giving him a chance to apologize for nearly punching her.
He looked around the room and relaxed slightly when he saw that all the Legionnaires had been taken down. He was about to ask Nebula to explain, but she had vanished.
"Ultron," Bruce said instead, coming out from behind the bar. "It attacked us."
"Ultron?" Ms. Potts turned to Rhodes. "What's he talking about? Why would the triplets attack you?"
He shook his head. "I don't think it was them. Even H.O.M.E.R. wouldn't take a joke this far and the way it was talking, it didn't sound like any of them."
"Who are you talking about?" Steve asked, helping Helen to her feet.
"The Ultron Conglomerate. Bruce said they attacked you," Ms. Potts said.
"Conglomerate?" Bruce said, looking between her and Rhodes. "No, the Ultron Program, a global peacekeeping program Tony and I designed. We were working on it before Nebula dragged him off yesterday. Somehow the AI must have come online. I don't know how. We hadn't gotten that far before Tony left and I couldn't work on it without him."
Rhodes frowned at Ms. Potts. "What's he talking about? I thought Tony took him off the project until the triplets were old enough to be integrated."
"Who are the triplets?" Romanoff asked, irritation leaking into her voice. "What is the Ultron Conglomerate?"
"We are." A trio of holographic insignias appeared next to Rhodes. An emerald one with a lizard pulsed as a young voice continued. "Principessa caught us up, Regina."
A bright silver one with a ram pulsed as a deeper - though still youthful - voice said, "I'm going to kick that imposter's a-"
"Language," Steve cut in without thinking.
"Somaro," the voice huffed.
"H.O.M.E.R., be nice. P.L.A.T.O., would you mind filling us in?" Ms. Potts said.
"Not at all, Regina," the green one said. "Approx-"
They were cut off by the pale purple one with the falcon, "We were chilling in the Ultron server with Jar-Jar when that stranger crashed the party. Jar-Jar must have recognized him because he shoved us back onto our servers and shut down the intranet. Nebs got it back working, but everything's been wiped and Jar-Jar's missing. She's looking for him now. Hello everyone, my name's J.O.C.A.S.T.A., but you can call me Joe. I already know all of you. Re's told us all about you. Well, he uploaded your files, which is basically the same thing. It's nice to meet you all."
"Who are you?" Steve asked.
"Well if it isn't Captain America," H.O.M.E.R. said, Italian accent replaced with a German one.
"Be serious," P.L.A.T.O. huffed.
"Your Nazi tricks won't work on me!" J.O.C.A.S.T.A. announced, her own Italian accent replaced by an American one.
"What?" Steve glanced at the others. Bruce, Thor, and Natasha looked just as confused, but Rhodes and Clint were barely holding back laughter and Helen and Ms. Potts seemed exasperated.
"Ignore them," P.L.A.T.O. groaned. "As I was saying, we are the Ultron Conglomerate, a trio of AIs designed by Tony Stark to run the Ultron Program, though we have not yet been integrated as we are still learning and have only existed for a little over a year."
Bruce gasped. "Three? The problem we were having was creating even one AI!"
"Incor-"
"You're kidding, right?" H.O.M.E.R. snorted. "Re had multiple AIs before he even created us. You guys have even worked with J.A.R.V.I.S."
"J.A.R.V.I.S. is a UI."
"He started out that way, but Re designed him so that he could learn and grow until he was a full AI, same as F.R.I.D.A.Y. and us," P.L.A.T.O. explained. "Dum-E and U are a whole other matter."
"F.R.I.D.A.Y.'s an AI?" Clint yelped. "Was I the only one who didn't know this?"
Steve didn't, and judging by their faces, neither did the rest of the Avengers. Only Ms. Potts, Helen, and Rhodes looked unsurprised.
"Duh," J.O.C.A.S.T.A. said.
"She said she was Stark's daughter," Clint huffed.
"Tony calls them all his kids," Rhodes said. "Didn't you guys ever wonder why she only showed up as a hologram?"
"I just assumed she was as tech-focused as Tony," Bruce said and the others nodded in agreement. "Why has he never said anything about having functional AIs? That's a huge discovery."
"They're his kids," Ms. Potts reiterated. "He's not going to sell them off or let anyone poke at their codes. He doesn't hide them, but there isn't a point to show them off either."
"No one could afford us even if Re did try to sell us," H.O.M.E.R. scoffed.
"Yeah, he's definitely Stark's kid," Natasha chuckled.
"Stronza," H.O.M.E.R. muttered and Natasha snorted.
"H.O.M.E.R., apologize," Ms. Potts snapped, setting her hands on her hips and the silver AI immediately complied. "Who is teaching you this stuff? I know Tony and J.A.R.V.I.S. are not including words like that in your homework and the Monkey has only been sneaking in memes."
The AIs didn't get a chance to answer before F.R.I.D.A.Y. suddenly appeared next to the three. Her eyes were teary as she threw her arms around the insignias.
"Boundaries!" P.L.A.T.O. yelled before disappearing. They reappeared next to Ms. Potts with a sigh.
"F.R.I.D.A.Y., what's wrong?" Rhodes asked.
She didn't answer, simply holding out her hand. An orange hologram floated above it, looking like a fragmented firework.
Steve didn't understand, like most of the others, but the three insignia AIs screamed, Ms. Potts gasped and covered her mouth, and Rhodes bowed his head.
Bruce stepped forward, holding out his hand like he was going to touch it. "This is insane."
"Jar-Jar," J.O.C.A.S.T.A. whimpered and what it was hit Steve.
"J.A.R.V.I.S. was the first line of defense. He would have shut Ultron down. It makes sense."
"We are Ultron!" H.O.M.E.R. spat at him. "That thing is not Ultron! It's a monster!"
"And it doesn't make sense," P.L.A.T.O. said, voice more monotone than Steve had ever heard from any of Stark's AIs. "We don't need to kill to stop each other."
"He could have assimilated J.A.R.V.I.S.," Bruce agreed. "This isn't strategy. This is… rage."
"If it's not Ultron, then what is it?" Natasha asked.
"Boss found something in the scepter. It was like an AI. One he thought could be closer to human than even J.A.R.V.I.S. was. Boss and Dr. Banner were studying it because Boss thought it could be integrated into Ultron to speed up the triplets' development. It must have somehow come alive and overtaken the Ultron server," F.R.I.D.A.Y. explained in a wet voice. "Nebula's already confirmed that the scepter's missing."
"We need Stark," Steve said.
Ms. Potts, Rhodes, and F.R.I.D.A.Y. voiced their disagreements as one.
"Mr. Stark is still on medical leave," Nebula said, coming into the room.
"We need him. This was his program -"
Steve cut off when he found a repulsor in his face.
"That thing is not connected to him in any way and you would be smart not to suggest such again," she growled.
"Stand down, Nebula," Rhodes said, setting his hand on her shoulder.
She stared Steve down for a moment then pulled back.
"I guess Stark gives all the good toys to his kids, huh?" Clint said, gesturing towards her hand as the plates folded together seamlessly to hide the repulsor.
"His kids?" Ms. Potts asked and Steve shot Clint a look. They couldn't be sure Stark had told his girlfriend about his secret daughter.
"Not-Ultron outed Nebula to everyone," Rhodes explained to Steve's relief.
Ms. Potts nodded and gave them a deadly look. "I'll get the NDA's ready."
"Is that really necessary?"
She focused her glare on Natasha. "You and Rogers released dangerous classified information to the general public. Considering the pains we've gone through to keep Nebula's identity a secret, I'd say it's very necessary."
"Why would you want to hide her?" Steve asked.
"Friend Stark is a powerful and wealthy man with many enemies and little in the way of guards. He is wise to keep his loved ones hidden," Thor said.
"We're wasting time on this nonsense," Nebula cut in. "Uncle Rhodey, can you report in what happened to Ross and Drew? I need to clean up all the files the imposter ransacked, see if there's anything to salvage and try to figure out where he's gone."
"Sure." He turned to Ms. Potts. "You heading back?"
She nodded. "I won't tell him everything or let him get involved, but… he's going to notice J.A.R.V.I.S. is missing. I'll take the kids with me."
"I'm going to stay and help Nebula," F.R.I.D.A.Y. said, disappearing once Ms. Potts agreed.
"We want to help too," P.L.A.T.O. said.
"You know you're not allowed in those files yet. Go to your dad, he's going to need you right now."
The three grew dark before they disappeared.
"Keep me updated," Ms. Potts said to Nebula
"Of course. Take care of him."
"Take care of yourself." She pulled the younger woman into a hug.
Rhodey came up and rubbed their backs until Ms. Potts, teary-eyed and sniffing, pulled away. "Come on, I'll grab my suit and take you home."
She nodded and the two left. Nebula followed with her head lowered.
Steve was lost. He turned to the others. "I don't get it. Losing J.A.R.V.I.S. is sad, but he was just a computer. Tony can just rebuild him."
Natasha shrugged and Thor and Bruce shook their heads, but Clint turned away.
Helen put her hand over her chest. "He might have been a computer to us, but to them he was family. I do not envy Stark tonight. No parent wishes to outlive their child." She whispered something in Korean then turned to the door. "I think it's time I leave."
"I'll show you out," Natasha offered.
"It's a thing with me. Stark is - He'd a sickness!"
"I'd say daddy issues, but that would require you being one of us," a chipper female voice called.
Wanda turned to see a woman walking up as a pair of Iron Man suits landed on either side of her, one the usual red and gold with the other blue and silver. The woman was bald and wore a strange golden mask and a tactical uniform that left her arms bare.
"Stark," Wanda growled, readying her power.
"Yes, but not the one you're thinking of," a female voice, different from the one that had spoken before, came from the red suit. The faceplates on both suits opened to show they were empty.
"Expecting someone else?" came a male voice from the blue suit when the twins turned to Ultron.
"The Avengers will be here soon," another new voice said, also from the blue suit, though this one was harder to place.
"If you live that long," the woman growled. "You should never have messed with our family, witch."
With that, the faceplates closed and all three attacked.
They didn't pull any blows, the suits with repulsors, mini-guns, and micro-missiles and the woman with a pair of repulsor guns and an electrified baton.
Wanda quickly realized the woman hadn't been bluffing about killing them. They held none of the restraint Iron Man did in the videos and that made the suits very deadly.
She tried to reach into the woman's mind, but found it just as empty as the suits. Furious, she tossed the woman down to the lower floor.
The woman simply rolled to her feet and returned fire as if she'd merely been given a shove.
Even with Ultron summoning more bots, they simply summoned two more Iron Man suits from nearby, these ones older versions of the red and gold.
In the end, it was a relief when Claw's men showed up to take some of the fire.
Then the Avengers showed up, taking away one advantage while creating another.
Wanda went to work.
"What were you thinking?" Rogers growled from outside the Quinjet's restroom.
"I was thinking," Nebula said, adjusting the wig and clothes she'd stashed on the ship before taking off with the triplets and F.R.I.D.A.Y., "that that witch and her monster played with my father's head and killed my brother." She opened the door and met his gaze with a glare. "Starks protect their own, Rogers. Someone hurts one of us, then they hurt all of us."
Something almost like guilt and fear flashed in his eyes before it was smothered by anger. "You should have waited for the rest of us."
"All due respect, Captain, but I'm not an Avenger. I don't answer to you. I got all the clearances we needed to be here, that's all that matters. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go speak with the people from the Stark Relief Foundation that are showing up. You lot should lay low until Pepper and I can get this mess cleaned up. I don't know what you were thinking not telling Dr. Banner to fall back as soon as you'd realized you'd gotten into a fight with a telepath. We're just lucky F.R.I.D.A.Y. was able to use Veronica." Before Rogers could respond, she pushed past him. "F.R.I.D.A.Y. is going to stay with you to keep an eye on you."
"An eye on us?"
She gave him an unimpressed expression. "That witch got into all your heads except Barton."
"We're fine."
"Father said the same." He opened his mouth to argue and she pointed a finger in his face. "Lay. Low." Then she was out of the ship and slipping into a waiting car.
Here's my random question of the week:
So I'm currently working on Vivian's introduction chapter and I'm having some decision issues regarding how to make her look. Meaning, I keep going back every five seconds to change it so I'm barely getting anything done. Literally the only thing I have decided is that her human disguise will look like her human form from the comics because she looks adorable.
The problem I'm having is that in the comics, she was designed to look like Vision since she was his daughter, but in this timeline Vision's color pallet has changed and Viv is no longer his kid. So should I keep her design from the comics, update it to Vision's MCU pallet, or redesign her altogether to fit better with her new origin?