Chapter Eleven: Left Behind
#
Tony wasted no time in uprooting himself yet again. He packed up only those things he could not do without or which could be used to trace or identify him in any way. A few others ended up in his bag simply because they belonged to Natalia. All of it fit in a single duffel bag.
The only thing that wouldn't fit, of course, was U. Tony agonized a bit over that. He hated to leave the bot behind but he did not dare to stay put after being seen by Stark. He would have to make arrangements for the bot to be sent to him later or maybe Natalia would see to it whenever she completed her current job.
"It will be okay," Tony murmured to the machine as he put it into standby mode. His hand ran soothingly along the support strut. "Someone will be back for you as soon as I can arrange it. Natalia, or me, even, if it's more than a few days. I won't leave you all alone for long, okay?"
Less than two hours after encountering Stark in the hotel penthouse, Tony was riding a bus out of the city.
#
One Week Later
"Jarv, I'm just saying that if you were going to give me the address anyway, you didn't have to wait an entire week," the brunet said into his cell phone, digging out the apartment keys he'd gotten from the landlord. He'd told the woman that he had accidentally locked his keys in his apartment - which was patently untrue, of course, Arno had never lived in such a dumpy place in his life. But since there was no answer when he knocked and picking the locks would have looked suspicious, asking for the keys had been the easier option.
When he opened the door, Arno expected the hinges to squeak. They did no such thing, however, swinging smoothly and silently. He was almost disappointed.
"Hello?" he called out, lowering his phone and shutting the door behind him. "It's… Is anyone even home?"
He moved around a bit, slightly unnerved by how much the space reminded him of his workshop only with somewhat more of an emphasis on the computers and small electronics as opposed to the larger machine parts he himself gravitated towards. Granted, Arno did have quite a bit more space.
"Why do I get the impression that Tony is long gone?" the billionaire groused, bringing the phone back to his ear as he turned to take in the room. "JARVIS, why-"
An inquisitive beep grabbed his attention, accompanied by a mechanical whirring. A robot wheeled closer to him but maintained a cautious distance. It had a support strut that doubled as an arm, a three-fingered claw surrounding the camera it used to perceive its surroundings. The pincers clacked together and the machine gave a wary buzz-click before backing up a little.
Arno blinked in surprise, the corners of his mouth tugging upwards. "We are definitely talking about your tendency towards favoritism, later," he informed JARVIS before pocketing the phone.
He took a careful step towards the nervous bot - and god, wasn't that incredible? That he could tell that it was nervous ? That it could obviously differentiate between him and its creator? It was incredible.
"Hey, there," the man said, pitching his voice to be low and soothing. "Gosh, you look just like DUM-E, don't you? He must have just eyeballed his design."
There was no other way Tony could have replicated his first AI. There had never been a digital copy of the blueprints. Everything about the bot's build had been drunkenly scrawled out on paper.
Arno offered his hand to the bot, much like a person might try to introduce themselves to a strange dog. "So, you're the reason Jarv gave up Tony's old address. He must have been worried since Tony hasn't come back for you, yet," he continued aloud. "I'm sure that's not intentional, though. Just look at you. Nobody would forget about you. Not on purpose."
The bot turned its attention from his face to his hand, then back again. After a long moment, it pressed its closed claw into his palm. Arno's face split into a happy grin.
"That's it, buddy," he praised. "I'm not gonna hurt you. I know a couple bots who'd love to meet you. What do you think? Wanna come stay with me until we can get you back to your creator?"
The robot shifted back and forth a bit, seemingly uncertain before giving an affirmative chirp.
"Good boy," said Arno, stroking along the bot's strut. "Now, what do I call you?"
#
One Month Later
"So, thanks for leaving the majority of your junk for me to clean out," Natalia spoke dryly in lieu of any sort of greeting. Her hair was cropped short, the still-dark tips fading into her natural red. She had appeared out of nowhere, as was her wont, simply falling in step next to Tony as he walked down the street to his current favorite coffee shop.
To his credit, Tony didn't startle. Maybe he was just growing accustomed to her super-spy ways. "Yeah, sorry about that," he told her sheepishly. "I ran into someone I'm doing my best to avoid, so I had to leave town in a rush. Want a coffee?"
"You owe me at least that much," she informed him. "The place was a mess."
"Fine. How about lifelong coffee on me?" Tony offered with a small smirk.
"This is acceptable," Natalia acquiesced loftily, gaze amused.
"So, were you able to ship U out this direction, somewhere? Or did you have to put him in storage?" he asked as he held the door open for her.
The woman stopped and stared at him. "U's not with you?" she returned.
Tony felt a knot start to form in his stomach. "No? No, there wasn't time. I had to leave him behind. I put him in standby mode. He should have woken the moment you walked in."
Natalia grabbed his elbow and pulled him back down the sidewalk a bit. She lowered her voice and leaned in closer to avoid being overheard by passersby. "Antoshka… I'm sorry, but U wasn't there. He was gone. I had assumed you'd brought him with you or stored him yourself."
"He wouldn't have left on his own," Tony said, protesting without need. "Even if he had gotten the door open, he'd never have made it down the stairs. He wouldn't have left… had someone broken in? Do you think they stole him?"
"I don't know," Natalia shrugged a bit helplessly. "The door was locked when I got there. A few things were out of place, but it just looked like you had left in a hurry. I swear, if I'd had any idea, I would have contacted you sooner or gone looking for him."
Tony leaned heavily against the wall, a bewildering ball of remorse and heartache and loss building in his chest. "U is gone. Someone took my bot and it's all my fault. It's my fault - I'm the one who left him behind and now I'll probably never see him again."
Natalia eyed him sympathetically. She clasped a hand on his shoulder, hugs not being anything she was accustomed to giving. It was just as well, hugs weren't anything Tony was accustomed to receiving, either. The hand on his shoulder meant just as much. He had to scrunch his eyes shut to fight back the tears.
"I should have never left him behind," he murmured thickly.
Natalia didn't say anything. She didn't need to. It was enough that she was there.
#
The following months passed quickly. Natalia was gone more often than she was around. Even Clint was in less contact than he had been, caught up in his role as a SHIELD agent.
Tony didn't begrudge either of them. They each had their own lives to live. He focused instead on his own pursuits. He didn't build another robot or put more than a few cursory thoughts towards creating a new AI, though he did craft several small devices that could be utilized for breaking into places or self-defense.
One of these devices was a pair of bracelets capable of delivering an electrical shock strong enough to incapacitate most opponents. Tony had created them for Natalia, gifting them to her once he had worked out all of the bugs. This had earned him one of the assassin's rare smiles. Or maybe that had been what he'd called them: widow's bites.
Speaking of the woman, it had been several weeks since Tony had last seen or heard from her - longer than any of the previous times. He had changed identities and cities in that time, but that never prevented her from finding him before. Tony was sure she was fine, but he still wondered where she might be, what sort of danger she could potentially be in. Maybe next time, he would offer to accompany her? It would give him something to do.
Tony had fallen asleep in his desk chair, listening to JARVIS read an article he had been unable to keep his eyes open long enough to read himself. The next thing he was aware, he was being maneuvered onto a considerably softer and much more horizontal surface. Someone proceeded to tug off his shoes before pulling the blankets up over top of him.
"Clint?" he mumbled, lifting his head from his pillow and blinking blearily.
There was a brief pause, then someone settled onto the edge of his bed. "Hush, Antoshka," a feminine voice answered, a slender hand pushing his hair back out of his face. "It's me."
"Natalia," said Tony, and now that he knew the person's identity, he could make her out in the darkness of the room. "Was wondering where you'd gone. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Tony," Natalia replied. "I wanted to check in on you and… And I wanted to make sure I said goodbye."
He frowned, brain waking up but thoughts still a little muzzy. "You're off again so soon?"
"This time is a little different," she told him Russian. "This time… I won't be coming back for a while."
"Are you in trouble?" Tony asked, sitting up in concern.
She shook her head. "Nothing like that. Well, not technically," she answered. "I have been offered an opportunity, to be a part of something. I'm still not sure it's completely for real, but if it is? I think I could really do some good. It would be nice to do something good, for once."
"This is important to you," Tony said. It wasn't a question.
Natalia answered anyway, expression rueful, "I have a lot of red in my ledger. I think… I'd like to wipe some of it out, you know?"
"So you won't be coming back?" he spoke it as a question, although he already knew that she wouldn't.
"Not often. Not for a long time. I'm going to have a lot more eyes on me. I don't want to risk leading anyone back to you," Natalia explained.
Tony nodded like he understood. He really did want to understand. The problem was that it all felt rather much like another person was leaving him. He couldn't help but feel the smallest sting of abandonment.
"I understand," he told her. "Thank you for telling me."
"I didn't want to just disappear on you," she said with a sad smile. "Take care of yourself, okay?"
"Only if you do the same," Tony replied.
She acquiesced with a nod. After another moment, she rose to her feet and went to the bedroom door. There, she paused again, turning back to look at him. She seemed to deliberate whether she wanted to say what was on her mind.
"Don't stay alone," she finally said. "Make another… friend or robot or something, but don't- You shouldn't be alone, Antoshka. You should have someone."
"I have JARVIS, sometimes," Tony said, trying to add a little levity to his tone.
"That's a start," Natalia conceded, "but just… Don't be alone, Tony. Please." She waited for him to give a small nod before leaving.
Tony listened for her footsteps to retreat, for the outer door of the apartment to open and close, but as always, she was silent. He waited until he was certain she was gone before flopping back onto his pillow. Sucking in a breath, he let it back out a bit shakily.
"It'd be easier if people stopped leaving," he mumbled to himself.
It turned out being a person rather than just an asset hurt in ways he hadn't really experienced before.
#
Clint was officially out of contact. Everything Tony could dig up indicated the man ought to have been able to reply, but still he hadn't sent Tony a message in weeks. He just wasn't writing. He hadn't even logged into their secure email.
Of course, just because Clint wasn't off somewhere on a SHIELD mission didn't mean he wasn't busy with other things. He was fine. Tony was fine. They did not need to be constantly interacting back and forth. It was fine.
Everything was fine.
Tony started work on a new project. He started with the research, then moved on to planning and putting it together. After the first day, JARVIS began giving him reminders that he ought to eat. Half way through that second day, the AI started to suggest that sleep was advisable.
To be honest, Tony wasn't wholly certain if he ate or slept the third day or not. He'd had coffee. There might have been crackers? (Or had those been the second day?) Coffee counted as both sustenance and sleep, didn't it? He might have dozed off in the shower.
Had he showered?
He missed U.
He missed U and he missed Clint and he missed Natalia. The apartment was too still and too quiet no matter how much he moved around in it. Tony swore JARVIS was actually starting to sound concerned (which was amazing, really; JARVIS was simply amazing) and he couldn't have bet on whether it was because he'd forgotten to get food or sleep or maybe because he stank because he hadn't actually taken that shower. Could JARVIS even tell if he stank?
The coding of his project wasn't making any sense. Granted, that could have been because the lines of information kept blurring together. Or perhaps he kept getting distracted by JARVIS' questions. Might have had somewhat to do with the fact that at some point he must have sat down in the corner, so the monitors were a bit far away and at an angle that made it really hard to read.
Wasn't there something he was supposed to do?
Before he could determine just what it might have been or move back to his desk chair - and really, when had he gotten out of it? Had he stood up and walked to the corner? Had he slid out of it, then crawled? - there was a loud knocking at his apartment door.
Tony knew how he was supposed to respond to that. There was more insistent pounding, so he turned his head towards the sound. Knocking meant… It meant someone was at his door. People answered doors. Tony should answer the door. Or peek out the peephole but he didn't have one so he should just answer.
Leaning against the wall, Tony slid up to his feet. Then he maneuvered around his desk space, using the surface for support. (And wow, he kind of had a lot of junk on his desk.) Eventually, he made it to the door as a third spate of knocks ended and he fumbled with the locks until they were undone so he could pull it open.
He opened the door to find himself on the other side. No. Not him. Other him. Not him. Stark. It was Stark at his door.
He was reasonably certain. It made a bit better sense than he himself standing two places at once.
Stark's blue gaze flitted over him, the corners of his mouth turning down a bit. Like he found something that disappointed him. And really, if Tony were a copy - undoubtedly a cheap one - wouldn't he be a bit disappointing to the original?
Those unfamiliar eyes in his own face rose back to Tony's, and then the man spoke. It wasn't really Tony's voice, though. It was the voice Tony had taught himself when he'd started to emulate the man, even though at first it had been an accident.
"Hey," Stark said, and his voice sounded kind - not the least disappointed, "we should probably talk."
#
To be continued...
