CW: past child sexual abuse, non-graphic rape/non-con, emotional/psychological abuse, self-harm, injuries, canon-typical violence, attempted assault
Toni was spending even more time on JARVIS then she had been in college. He was connected to the other bot's now and could help her communicate with them and keep them happy. On a less fun note, Toni kept being sent stuff from a secret admirer. It was an annoyance, so cliche and uncomfortable. She just wanted to focus on JARVIS. That was all she could think about, wouldn't let her mind wander to Howard, or the constant feeling of emptiness in her gut, or the serum, or the way she wanted to claw her skin off, or how lonely she was, or Obie.
It was nice that Obie was pleased she had gotten the Wakanda deal, and new gun design. And SI was in a good mood with sales and Toni's ability to just get drunk in her own house now. A pleased Obie was better than an angry one but he still wanted what he wanted and Toni always gave it to him no matter how much she hated herself afterwards.
It was harder to handle now, which was odd. It should be easier now that she was an adult. But she was having trouble convincing herself it was okay because now the idea of a grown man fucking an eleven-year-old was horrifying. So that part of her who knew something was wrong and bad when she was ten was screaming at her. She didn't even have the human Jarvis to clean her up anymore, it was just her trying in fragmented sweaty pieces. All she could do was just stay in the shower a bit too long trying to scrub Obie off.
Toni still loved Obie, loved him so much, he scared her but he was the only one who had never left her, never stopped loving her. He was there when she didn't have anyone, and he was real. JARVIS had no hands, Steve was dead, Bucky bear was just worn cloth, Rhodey was off fighting and the bots were so cold. Obie was also honest with her. He told her the truth, that she was good for sex, being pretty, even if her designs were good sometimes it would never be enough. He was straightforward, predictable, punctual and could be so kind and loving and more than anything he was just there.
Toni was throwing the latest present from the secret stalker dude in the trash drinking some Irish coffee and eating a pastry when JARVIS said;
"Ms Toni, Mr Stane is coming up."
"Oh okay," Toni said.
"Hello, beautiful. What are you having?" Obie called
"Coffee and a chocolate danish, it's super good I have had like three."
"You always eat like that?"
"Umm no?"
"You gotta remember to pay attention to how you look."
"Course Obie."
"Don't be sad, you take everything so personal. Let's have some fun, I need to unwind."
"Sure yeah." Toni slid off the stool following Obie to the room. She felt infinitely small standing in both his metaphoric and literal shadow.
~~~~~Obie left giving her a kiss running his hand through her hair. When the front door shut Toni got into the shower. Toni scrubbed hard, it hurt but it needed to. Hot tears fell but she couldn't even feel them mingling with scorching water. Till her mind went blank and her body numb.
Eventually, she wandered back into the living room.
"Ms Toni?" JARVIS said
"Yes," Toni muttered
"You told me not to keep videos when Mr Stane visits."
"Yes, I did."
" I have followed your rules, but I have to let you know. I am very worried about you."
"Don't be J. Everything is fine," Toni said, plastering a smile on her face.
"Ms Toni I must object you allow me my own emotions, it is not in my programming for you to dictate what I consider harmful."
"That wasn't a command just a suggestion," Toni replied.
"Good."
"But really I'm fine. Obie is just special, he likes our time private."
"Ms Toni I don't save the video files but I do read the other data. I found during these times I would assume you are having intercourse."
"Yes."
"But afterwards you harm yourself."
"I shower."
"I would suggest you look at your arms."
Toni glanced down and she had rubbed her arms so hard they were raw, even bleeding in one sport. God, how had she done that, she didn't even notice?
"You also seem unhappy, and I believe sex is intended to make one happy."
"Not always."
"He commented on your eating habits."
"So does Rhodey." Toni retorted
"Mr Rhodes and I comment to remind you to take care of yourself. Mr Stane was telling you to eat less, but by my calculations, in general, you ingest less than you require. I think he is hurting you" JARVIS explained.
"JARVIS I Promise, it's fine, it's been like this since I was like eleven, ten if you count like ya know groping, grinding and kissing..."
"Ms Toni, that does not alleviate my concern. In fact, it raises it. Those are harmful things he did to you. Would you allow me to talk to Mr Rhodes? He seems to be very comforting when you are hurting."
Toni felt a flash of anger"JARVIS you are forbidden to discuss Obie with Rhodey or actually anyone! Got it? You are not allowed to voice any concerns regarding Obie to anyone but me. You know nothing about him or what we do. JARVIS you just don't, don't understand anything about this."
"I understand," JARVIS replied
Toni was pretty sure JARVIS was sulking. She shook her head, nothing to do about a sulky AI he'd have to get over it.
~~~~~The next day Toni was looking at the display trying to work out the next step in her latest missile design when the doorbell rang and Toni jumped.
"JARVIS why didn't you warn me?"
"Oh, I didn't know, I wasn't monitoring the doorway. I can only follow orders. "
"Screw you sassy Skynet" Toni muttered
Toni opened the door and the post guy handed her a box. upon opening the box it pretty much fell apart as her heart flew into her throat she let out a strangled scream. She was holding a human heart, blood oozing everywhere.
Pinned to the bloody organ was a note reading you stabbed my heart
"Fuck Fuck Fuck!" Toni yelled, dropping the bloody mess on the floor.
"Ms Toni please try and calm down. Can you answer me?" JARVIS said
But Toni was having trouble making any noise. She kept staring from the cardboard and organ to the blood running off her hands. She felt like she was being strangled to death, everything swirling in front of her.
"I'm going to call 911 " Jarvis informed the panicked deathly still Toni crouched behind her countertop staring at the blood but not really seeing anything.
Toni wasn't jostled out of her static state till a police officer placed his hand on her.
"Please don't hurt me," Toni yelped instinctually yanking back from the new person.
"Ma'am I'm not going to hurt you. I just need to ask you a few questions."
A few moments later Toni was more coherent and was staring at a young female police officer sitting on the ground in front of Toni.
"You with us?" She asked
"Yeah."
"Can you tell me what happened here?"
"I've been getting letters and stuff from some dude and now it escalated," Toni said.
"Can you be more specific?"
"A bloody heart in a box is a bit more dramatic than flowers don't ya think?"
"Well yes," She said with a nod and an upturned corner of her mouth "A medic is coming over now along with a tech to get some evidence from your hands."
"Yup," Toni said with a nod, flinching again when the lady patted her shoulder. People should really learn when touching someone is a bad idea Toni thought to herself.
A man and a woman came over. Toni sat completely still as the tech took scraping and swabs of the blood on her hands. The medic took her vitals and did a concussion test for god knows what reason. They took her clothes too for the trace evidence or whatever. Leaving Toni in her pyjamas her hands still pink from the blood she hadn't fully gotten to wash yet in her living room shivering like she was in the snow.
"Thank you. That's all we need for now." The tech said with a gentle nod, "We'll call you if we need anything else."
Oh, good they're leaving, Toni thought she didn't want to see any more police.
Toni spent the next few days wrapped in a blanket, watching the Bots running around her in circles trying to listen to JARVIS and make sure she at least had some Gatorade and crackers. She hated it, someone else trying to make her home hell.
Of course, knowing Toni things could always get worse. And that is exactly what happened as she was walking to the car taking JARVIS's advice and was "getting out of the house." A man came up behind her wrenching her hand around her back and kneeing her in the spine. Toni flailed her mind suddenly screaming at her to run but she couldn't, a fist came swinging at her face smacking into her eye.
He took hold of her neck, the pressure making it hurt to breathe. Tears ran from her eyes as she shoved her elbow into him making him let her go. But before Toni could stand up his fist knocked into the side of her head and grabbed her back into his arms.
"What do you want?" Toni spluttered
"You never respond! Nothing I do seems to get your attention!" He snarled
Toni only half processed his comment as her body went limp causing the dude to drop her, she might be light but holding up a human-sized rag doll was no walk in the park.
Once on the ground, Toni's mind clawed back some coherence as she swung a kick into his groin causing him to double over. Toni then kicked at his back causing him to fall. She staggered to her feet and landed one kick to his head so he stopped trying to stand.
"JARVIS get Rhodey and 911 I was attacked! I'm hurt," Toni said into her JARVIS earpiece desperately as she fell to her knees, her body giving into the pain collapsing on the ground.
An officer roused Toni helping her sit up.
"You were right about escalation." She said with a slight smile helping Toni sit up.
A short laugh escaped Toni's mount as she held her head in her hands. Any movement hurt. Toni then puked on the ground and felt like she was about to pass out.
"Medic!" The officer shouted
Toni was looked over this time it must have been bad as she was taken into the ambulance. Toni threw up again and she got stitches to her head, the blood on her hands making her feel panic but it drowned out from the blurry confusion. The nurse tried to administer a concussion test, or at least she thought it was. None of the questions made much of any sense. Who even was president and why did it matter right now? She never knew the date anyway! The ride to the hospital was black had she passed out?
CAT scans X-rays and other tests Toni was too out of it to register. But once they were done and she was looked over manually something Toni didn't much like. The noise and bustle were demanding and they kept asking questions but finally, they allowed her to sleep.
Toni was pleasantly surprised when on waking up Rhodey's voice greeted her. "Goddammit, baby girl we gotta stop meeting only when you're in mortal peril."
"My whole life is mortal peril" Toni muttered.
"Well, you must be okay if you have the energy to mock me," Rhodey said a weak smile gracing his lips.
"Rhodey I'm scared," Toni whispered.
"I know, I know. But I'm here, Obie was in here earlier saying you need a bodyguard." Rhodey leaned over the edge of the bed taking her hand in his, not wanting to hurt her but he needed to remind his girl he was here for her.
"When you find who won't sell pictures of me maybe."
"We'll figure it out. You should also equip JARVIS with a laser beam or something."
"Then he will really be our evil robot overlord."
A pain ran through her from her spine to her head. She gasped out in pain squeezing Rhodey's hand.
"They said you got some bruising but nothing's broken. However, you got a pretty nasty concussion. Someone is supposed to watch over you. Also, I am proud of you."
" I was not being abducted again, and he can't ya know, I didn't want him to take more from me..." Toni faltered, unable to get the words out.
"Yeah, I know and he didn't okay? Plus you gave him a concussion and hit him in the balls and that's pretty amazing. Deserved worse, but you beat him good."
"So do I need a bodyguard?"
"Of course you do, you're a danger magnet!"
