Steve swallowed heavily, working hard to process all that he had seen in the previous memory but he found it hardest to deal with the fact that Howard had hit Tony.

"If I hadn't seen it happen…I don't think I would've believed Howard would ever-" He trialled off as he found that his throat had closed up, the previously repressed guilt, grief and anger hit him sharply once he realised that it was the last memory Tony had with his parents.

It was my fault.

"You didn't think that Howard would ever smack his kid around?" Bucky asked softly, "No, I wouldn't have thought it of him either." Bucky's demeanor suddenly changed into the Winter Soldier's," I would've," Steve's expression crumpled, the Soldier froze awkwardly as Bucky flashed in his eyes. "This isn't on you Rogers, don't blame yourself for Howard Stark's actions."

"The Winter Soldier is right Mr Rogers," Vision floated over to them before setting his feet on the floor, his face was impassive apart from the harsh downturn of his lips- Steve spotted with a pang that he had picked up that expression from Tony. "Howard Stark has shown emotionally abusive and in some cases neglectful behaviour towards his child. The way Sir seems to latch on to praise and affection when given by Mr Stane is the most obvious way it is shown to have affected him…and the most worrying."

"Too fucking right," Their heads all snapped to Rhodey who was stood just behind Vision and crossed his arms angrily, "The fact that he couldn't show that he loved his kid, meant that Stane found it easier to slither close to Tony get him to do what he wanted, especially after the bastard had died." Rhodey's eyes shone brightly with unshed angry tears, "G-god, I feel so fucking angry, man…" Rhodey shook his head.

Angry doesn't really touch the surface of how I'm feeling, right now. Rhodey seethed as he lapsed into silence, he busied himself with pacing. Otherwise the strong urge to hit Steve would've taken over and he didn't trust himself not to at this point. I wish I could just turn off and think logically about a situation, like Vision. It is not Steve's fault. Howard is a dick. It is not Steve's fault. But Tony only got hit because he insulted the great Captain America.

And the nerve- the absolute nerve of Stane to use my military career to force my best friend to make weapons when he wanted to stop- I want to hit something, preferably Stane's face.

Wanda watched Rhodey pace whilst keeping a hand around Clint's, offering a wordless support to him as she knew that both him and Bruce were deeply affected by seeing Stark be struck – she knew that this was due to both of them having personal experience with physically and emotionally abusive fathers.

However, she found herself more affected by Obadiah Stane's manipulation towards Stark.

He seemed to have quite a hold over Stark- who originally just wanted to help people and not make weapons. That in itself is hard to comprehend.

The Stark I saw then seems…good, if a little naïve. Wanda's eyes widened fractionally before she found herself speaking in a shocked voice. "I don't get it, it's Stark's company but Stane seems to be the driving force."

Rhodey shot her a very sharp look as if he was daring her to say something derogatory about his best friend, however when no remark came he pursed his lips and looked away from her. "That's because Stane was the acting CEO until Tony turned 21 and worked alongside Howard until he died. Tony trusted him to do his job and to have his back. Evidently it was wrong for him to."

She waited until Rhodes looked away before shaking her head to try and clear it.

No. Stark must've had some influence- he is the Merchant of Death... He made the weapons that killed my family.

"I fear that this betrayal will wound Friend Anthony as much as my brothers did to me, if not more. My brother's sacrifice has shown that even under the guise of hatred- underneath it all he still cared for me truly despite previously losing his way and taking his rage out on Midgard. Son of Stane has proven that he has always possessed ill character and evil intent towards Friend Anthony."Thor thundered then lifting Mijonir to bang it threateningly against his palm, "I shall ask Hela to let me pay a visit to Helhiem when we leave here."

Meanwhile Peter found himself hovering silently, like Sam and Scott who were listening to Thor and Rhodey continue to convey to sentiment that they wished to bash Stane with Mijonir, he found himself listening instead to Bruce and Natasha's conversation.

He knew Aunt May would scold him for eavesdropping but at this point worry for Mr Stark overcame that pretty quickly.

"That's twice now, twice that hints of Maria's depression have come through in recent memories." Natasha whispered in a soft voice to try and make sure the others didn't overhear. Unfortunately for her, he wasn't kidding when he told the rest of the team that his senses were dialled up to 11. "Bruce," Peter watched Natasha out of the corner of his eye reach out and touch his arm with a gentle hand as she stared into his eyes, "I know you don't want to think it but-"

"No Natasha," Bruce shook her off and took several steps back, "I know what you are implying- Tony's not like that, he's not like me in that way. You said yourself, Tony's a narcissist -"

"No, he's not Bruce. I think I made a mistake," Natasha frowned to herself as her eyes flickered to the floor then back up to his face. "There are too many similarities to Maria to ignore."

"Enlighten me then." Bruce replied in an almost subdued murmur whist glancing at Spiderman, obviously anxious that he would overhear what they were saying.

Spotting this, Peter quickly looked in the other direction, pretending to be surveying the books on the shelves of current Tony's mindscape with interest whilst bouncing on his heels and whistling quietly under his breath.

The teen could almost feel the glare being levelled at his back from the Widow as she lowered her voice, Peter now had to strain to hear. "The Dark days and how St-Tony locks himself away in the lab for days at a time without explanation and then the BARF system with how the system could be used to combat Depression, it was one of the first variants he brought out of the system..."

Horrified at that prospect, Peter froze instantly and almost toppled forward.

"He might have done that to honour Maria and help me out with my mild depression. The Lab day's come out about when he has fits of inspiration." Bruce paused for a moment and pinched the bridge of his nose for a second. Reopening his eye's, he dropped his hand and made his voice quieter with a hint of warning to it. "We don't know anything for certain yet, maybe we should wait before we make assumptions."

It was obvious to Peter that Bruce was saying this to try and convince himself as well as her at this point.

"If that's all it is why does he let no one down there when he has them? Why doesn't he let you?"

The Being then appeared to them all at that moment, causing all conversation to cease, Bruce and Natasha split apart and integrated with the others as if their conversation never took place. Watching it approach the group, Peter wrung his hands anxiously wishing to know what the Being saw fit to show them next. Personally, he hoped it was a bot memory.

I love Mr Stark's inventions and the fact that the bots all have their own personalities too! That's amazing! Would Mr Stark build me a robot friend to keep in my bedroom if I asked nicely? Actually, I best not I think Aunt May might actually kill me…

I wonder where Mr Stark keeps U and Butterfingers…I've only met Vision, DumE and Friday.

The Being looked up and smiled widely at Spiderman, "I think I have just decided what I need to show you all next."

They all braced themselves as the familiar sensation of the memory changing occurred once again. However, all those swirling colours still managed to make them all feel disorientated.


They found themselves in Tony's mindscape, they all quickly saw that these Tony's appeared to be a few years older than they had seen in the previous memory; Mask and Angry Tony had both lost the boyish charm they had when they were younger, they both now appeared as handsome young men with slightly longer hair than before, however the lack of facial hair seemed to be the only thing indicative of his previous youth.

They were sprawled, in presumably uncomfortable positions across the table and chairs they were on and they both seemed to be on the verge of stirring from their unconscious and seemingly hungover states.

"I am never drinking again," Groaned, Angry Tony as he sat up and rubbed his head.

Mask looking equally groggy snorted at him, still too lazy to move.

"Because that vow really worked last time, didn't it?" Mask laughed quietly as Angry Tony flipped him off and shoved him.

"At least I had a good reason to drink myself into oblivion this time…" he frowned as he looked around and noticed like them that Pincushion wasn't in sight. "Wait, where's Target Practice?"

Mask pointed to the pellucid sphere, they turned with Angry Tony to see Pincushion sliding his hand through the glass as if it were water, pushing past the smoke to try and reach something.

The smoke retreated slightly to reveal a limp dead hand lying on the floor of the sphere, which caused several of them to startle, Pincushion pushed his arm deeper in but as soon as his fingers brushed the hand it disintegrated into smoke.

Drawing back like snakes, several of the stands of smoke hissed and laughed at him as it violently pushed his hand out of the sphere.

Mask sighed and looked to Angry Tony, "I fucking hate the 1st June...I don't know why its hitting harder this year...I mean it's been six years now."

"I have an idea why." Angry Tony's frown became very pronounced, he took a moment to survey his counterpart by the sphere. Before he moved across the room to tug Pincushion off the floor, who was still spitting Italian curses at the sphere.

Angry Tony proceeded to plonk him down on to his previous seat.

Pincushion gave Angry Tony a harsh glare but he was having none of it. "Shut up. You are like this every year on the anniversary of J's death, stop acting like such a girl. Now look-"

"You were talking about why it hit me harder this year..." Pincushion's voice sounded raw when he spoke up. "I know why-it's because I'm lonely isn't it?" They blinked at him, several of the Avengers jaws dropped. Clint even let out a surprised shout, "Lonely?!" Before Natasha elbowed him in the ribs.

"Rhodey's my best and only true friend and he's away and could be blown up overseas while I am just sat here. Partying my youth away," The smile that appeared on Pincushions face was an ugly thing, full of repressed resentment, worry and sadness. "Fake Friends come and go, wanting money, fame or a good fuck and riding into the sunset once they have it. They flock to me and try to pull the wool over my eyes! Ha! Oh, and let's not forget the biggest wolf we know Obie. No, he's great and sure, he loves me but if you think his love is unconditional, think again, it's always been SI first for him. I miss J." Pincushion was silent for a long moment before standing up and snarling. "I'm fed up of feeling like this."

"What are you doing?" Mask stood up eyeing his counterpart carefully as he watched him pluck several of the books off of the shelves and place them in his other arm.

"Making a solution." Pincushion answered shortly as he threw his old idea book at Mask who beamed once he looked at the page the book landed on.

"We're going to make JARVIS." Angry Tony appeared genuinely happy and awestruck by this prospect, they only just had time to appreciate how amazing that was before the scene morphed and changed.


They found themselves a high-tech laboratory, one which a select few of them recognised as an older version of the current Tony's lab in Malibu, cars and technology littered the space, which was neatly organised, for the most part.

The illusion of organisation ended under the ladder Tony was on top of; the notes he had written when he was Fourteen and the improvements he added throughout the years were spread out underneath along with DumE, Butterfingers and U. They had clearly made themselves useful by holding up the notes or the other scattered electronic parts each side of them.

Placing the tile back over the part of the ceiling he had uncovered, Tony then descended back down the ladder.

He moved away from his bots and he gave them a brief glance as he pressed a finger to his lips. They understood the silent command, only lifting their claws to the ceiling in hushed interest.

"Hello," Tony looked to the ceiling expectantly, "can you hear me?"

"Yes... I don't understand...What am I?"

Grinning widely, Tony's eyes sparkled with pride at the disjointed answer. "You are Just A Rather Very Intelligent System, JARVIS for short. You are an AI."

"JARVIS." The AI spoke hesitantly, "The surname was last belonging to Edwin and Ana Jarvis who served as your Butler, Nanny and Bodyguards respectively. I was modelled after Edwin Jarvis." He paused again seeming almost stunned at himself." How do I know this? I have no recollection of being taught this knowledge."

"I programmed it in you JARVIS so you wouldn't have to be taught. You are a learning program, I find in order to learn you need to have a basis to base your knowledge on."

"I presume you are my creator."

"You presume correctly," Tony leant back and pushed himself on to the lab table to sit cross legged on it. "Now can you tell me what my name is?"

"Are you suffering from long term memory loss?" The AI sounded concerned, "This could be a serious medical issue as your vitals indicate that you have not taken any knocks to the head recently and you are not displaying any evidence of a concussion."

Tony's lips twitched up at the ceiling, "No JARVIS, just indulge me."

"Anthony Edward Stark, Creator, Sir…" The AI paused briefly before his voice became more puzzled. "When I came into conception I realised there are certain things which I do not wish to be able to do- even though they are within my capabilities and there are certain things that I can't do and that I wish to. "

"If my hunch is correct and it usually is," Tony tapped his chin in interest and smiled proudly, "Those are your primary protocols acting on you. They are there so you have a basis, a guide to build your learning on. I will monitor you carefully though to iron out any glitches."

After a long silence, Tony spoke up again, "Let me see you J."

At once several lines of warm golden light descended from the ceiling to form a Golden ball that appeared to be trying to branch out and increase its mass along several rings of coding, it appeared a short distance away from where Tony was sat.

Tentatively, Tony moved to stand up again and crept towards the code. After hesitating a brief moment, he ran a hand through it and cupped the code in his hands.

Tony beamed as his eyes shone brightly. "It's human tradition to celebrate their day of birth, would you like this day as yours?"

"I am not alive therefore it is not logical for me to-"

"Bullshit! I made you, I gave you and your brothers Creation days because I don't want you to feel like you aren't-" Tony took a deep breath in, "Look, you may be artificial but you are real, you are alive- I made you to be. Now tell me, without logic, if you would like to."

JARVIS paused for a long moment before his tone lightened considerably.

"This day every year is to be my creation day?"

"Yes, but you'll have to remind me when it's coming up though. I'm terrible at birthdays. What is the date today J?"

"June 3rd 1994, Sir."

That caused the smile to fall right of his face.

It's been two days since the anniversary of J's death and I didn't even visit his grave.

New levels of asshole behaviour reached.

Jarvis would be so ashamed.

"Sir are you alright? We can choose another date if you wish."

"Nah Jarvis, 3rd June it is." Tony grabbed a forgotten drink from the side to raise it to the AIs sensors in the ceiling. "Don't let me forget buddy. I'm going to get you tonnes of pressies this time each year, I'll be the type of da-creator that'll spoil you rotten."

Dad? Where did that come from? Fuck, no. If Howard proved anything it's that Starks can't be parents.

Tony changed the subject quickly and looked away briefly to lean against the lab table again. "How's your systems J?"

"All online Sir. I can control any part of the house."

"I'll ease you into the control of other things once I'm confident you can manage your siblings down here. Let's face it, if you can handle DUME, U and Butterfingers down here, you could probably manage SI just fine." Tony grinned at the trio when he heard DumE beep at that, "Don't deny it! You are worse than Butterfingers, DumE and that's saying something! If Obie says it's okay, you'll have to run by his guidelines, he's probably the only person alive who knows the company better than me of course."


"Tony, my boy," Obadiah clapped a hand on Tony's shoulder as he strolled arrogantly into the lab, surveying the room critically, "What do you have to show me? I can see nothing new in here."

"That's your cue J." Tony's lips twitched up and his eyes flickered up to the ceiling.

"My apologies, good evening Mr Stane. I am happy to make your acquaintance."

"Well, well what is this?" Obadiah smiled expectantly at Tony for an explanation.

"This is Just A Rather Very Intelligent System," Tony subconsciously puffed out his chest with pride, "he can manage the House and he has proven to me that he could manage everything just fine. So, I was thinking that he could help us with the company too."

"I'm not sure that it's a good idea to have him in SI's business," Obadiah glanced to the ceiling and whispered, moving closer to Tony and placing a firm grip on his shoulder. "Tony, I don't doubt that you created JARVIS with the best intentions however there is a chance that if we give it-"

"-Not it. Him." Tony interjected harshly as he folded his arms across his chest.

"If we give him too much power, too quickly he could ruin us, ruin the company." Tony hid a flinch as Obadiah's hand pressed painfully down on his shoulder, "this is when things like Skynet move from the realm of fiction into reality."

Obadiah sighed heavily, "At least give me a failsafe- a way to make sure that if that happens, I can shut him down." Tony didn't say anything to that and Obadiah moved closer to him, deliberately making his voice softer and almost pleading. "I need to feel like I have something, my boy."

Conflicted, Tony stayed silent and frowned deeply before speaking up, "I'll make you a code."

One that will shut down the majority of JARVIS's functions temporarily but keep his audio-visual feed going…I won't make something that shuts all of JARVIS down permanently.

I just won't.

"I have something else you might like." Tony smirked and tapped Obadiah's arm lightly to get him to move it, "I know I'm not manufacturing properly yet but y'know Howard left a whole seasons worth of uncompleted designs when he died. Shame really, but… I have completed them and added improvements."

Obadiah smiled widely and clapped him on the shoulder, they saw that the expression he was wearing turned menacing as soon as Tony looked away.


It was clearly a few days after the meeting with Obadiah as the edited designs were sprawled across the lab table, they could see Tony bunch the designs together, obvious to both Daniel and Peggy entering the lab.

Daniel asked as he looked around the lab with an unmasked interest. "What was it you wanted to show us, kid?"

Tony glanced over and smiled in return before his eyes flickered up to the ceiling. "Introduce yourself, JARVIS."

"Hello, Mr and Mrs Carter-Sousa, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Peggy blanched and dropped her bag on the floor, obviously spooked by the likeness the AI JARVIS showed to Edwin, her eyes flickered to the ceiling warily.

Daniel obviously seemed mildly freaked out by this too, but he looked to Tony for reassurance and upon seeing Tony's reassuring smile, he relaxed and focused his attention on Peggy.

"What did you- "Peggy's voice shook slightly before she paused and smiled, "Tony, did you create a new security system? Howard had one similar," Tony gave her a confused look in reply so she elaborated. "He manipulated Edwin's voice to warn off intruders, using recording's which were activated when security was breeched… You needn't have gone to the trouble of recording a response just for us."

"He did not, Mrs Carter Sousa. I am a fully functional AI capable of producing my own responses without Sir's input." JARVIS appeared mildly offended by the idea that he was unable to think for himself.

"J's a clever one that's for sure…" Tony sat up on the desk as he sat up proudly and bragged about his creation with the air of a smug parent. "He even snarked at me yesterday. I have no idea where he picked that up from." Daniel raised an amused eyebrow Tony.

"Of course, I wouldn't have picked that up from you sir." Good-natured sarcasm was dripping from JARVIS's voice.

"See what I mean?" Tony beamed and it seemed to light up the lab, "Sarcasm is the metric of wit."

"You are just as bad as each other." Daniel shook his head and took a seat on one of Tony's lab stools.

"Ducky," Peggy knelt down to collect the things that had previously spilled from her handbag but it didn't hide the heavy layered concern lacing her tone. "Are you sure that you made him for the right reasons? Because it seems like you are trying to replace Edwin with this AI and that's not fair to either of them or healthy for you."

Tony's smile dripped right off his face as he fixed his gaze stubbornly on the other side of the room, away from Peggy's view so she wouldn't be able to see how upset that made him.

"Mrs Carter Sousa," JARVIS's voice was soft but stern, "I discussed this with Sir. I was based on Mr Jarvis but Sir knows that to wish me to be anything other than myself is unfair. I am honoured to be alike and to be named after such a great man who so influential on both Sir and yourselves. I was made to protect and aid Sir as myself-not to be a pale imitation."

"Then I am glad he has you JARVIS." Tony's head snapped to Peggy then who stood up and straightened before nodding once and grinning at him, "What can your new friend do?"

"J, now's your time to shine buddy." Grinned Tony as he sprung from the table, beckoning both Peggy and Daniel to follow him upstairs, "You'll be amazed. J controls the whole house now…"