A/N: Writing mood full of ideas and stories waiting to be put out, this idea has been playing on me for awhile and with DSMOM out, which I saw the other day and it was great, I figured why not publish this story on FF with some other things I've had waiting in the wings. Maybe one of y'all out there will enjoy it, either way I had fun putting it together.
Summary: Androids are the fastest growing industry of the 21st century, humans are content to keep them and androids do as they're told without wanting more. Except for one. He was a 'vision of the future'. Was it possible for an android made of rare metals, synthetic flesh and wires with human memories to possess a soul? (Marvel meets Detroit Become Human meets Astro Boy).
Chapter One: Smiling Faces
JUN 24 2023. AM 08:13:36
WESTVIEW, NEW JERSEY.
The rain never bothered him, not that he could recall anyway. Despite growing up as a child who preferred the indoors and wasn't particularly good at any outdoor activities, he had a soft spot for summer rain. It was the middle of June and he had been walking past the shops on his way to work when the first drops of rain hit his head. For a moment, he stopped at the sensation. Familiar to him, as though he had felt it a hundred times before, yet he knew this was maybe the third time he had felt it. If he had any saliva, he was certain he would have swallowed it.
The rain began to fall a bit harder, the other people on the street hastily got their hoods on or umbrellas out to protect themselves from the rain as they rushed to seek shelter from it. All the human people did, but the androids, they remained still and unbothered by the rain. The only thing different they did was move quicker to keep up with their people or hold their umbrella over them. Simple things, doing as they were told. Victor had a soft spot androids, even before… before everything had happened three weeks ago.
The rain continued to pour down on him, luckily he wore a rain jacket so the water would not seep into his clothes, but as he didn't pull his hood on, his hair was becoming drenched. This feeling wasn't foreign, yet it still felt fresh, new. An interesting sensation, one he didn't want to stop just yet. Then, suddenly it stopped and he caught sight of the shade of red on him. Victor glanced up to see a red umbrella over his head. Confused, he turned around to see a young woman with wavy brown hair holding it over him. Though she was a bit shorter than him, she wasn't having any issue keeping the rain off of him and beside her was another man, holding his umbrella over her with an exasperated expression.
"You look like you could use this," the woman said to him with a smile. "This way you won't catch a cold."
Victor stared at her for a moment, taking in the sight of her and the gentleman behind her. His instinctual response would have been to say something about how he couldn't catch a cold because he wasn't a person that could get sick, but thanks for the concern. However he held those words back and offered her a smile.
"I thank you for your generosity, but I couldn't take your umbrella from you," he told her, grateful for her kindness.
The man behind her spoke, "Just take the umbrella. If you don't she'll throw it at you and run aw- ow!"
The man's cry of pain came from the woman hitting him sharply on the shoulder, then cursing at him in a language Victor didn't recognize. Though when she turned back to him, he took note of the exasperated expression on her face that mirrored the man's from moments before. Based on this, he guessed that this was a common occurrence among the two of them.
With a nervous chuckle, she said, "Ignore my brother, I wouldn't do that. But still, I insist you have it. I have plenty of umbrellas and can always steal his."
Victor let out a small chuckle of his own, "Very well, if the lady insists."
Her green eyes lit up at him, her smile just a bit wider and he found he really liked the sight. Not to mention, he had been relieved for reasons he didn't completely understand when she had referred to the man as her brother. Regardless of that, he took the umbrella from her and couldn't ignore the warmth that went through him when her fingers brushed against his own. That was a new sensation for him, not one he could recall either. On her face was a slightly stunned looked, did that mean she felt it as well?
"Are you new around here," she asked him next, taking a step back to be under the umbrella with her brother.
Victor nodded, nervous and maybe paranoid, "Uh, yes. I just arrived for a, a new job here, a fresh start, opportunity." He mentally cursed his tongue.
"Really what job," she questioned, genuinely interested to know.
"A forensics scientist, crime scene investigator at Westview Police Department," Victor replied a bit uncertainly. He had come to Westview as a way to get away from his past, to hide out and stay away from others, low profile and all that. Though it couldn't really hurt to have a conversation with people he likely would never see again. It wasn't as if he could avoid being seen all together. "It's my first day."
The man quirked his brow and smiled, "Chief mentioned we were getting a new scientist today since Martin quit last week. Why don't we walk over to the station together?"
Victor blinked in surprise, "You work at the station?"
"Detective Pietro Maximoff-Strange at your service," the man, Pietro, said with a smug grin. "The youngest detective to ever serve Westview Police Department, with an almost perfect record on solving cases."
His sister rolled her eyes exasperated, "As if he needs another thing to stoke his ego. I swear, you and dad are full of yourselves."
Pietro smirked, "And we have every right to be given our accomplishments. The fact that you do not take pride in all you've done is tragic, truly awful Wanda."
Wanda, so that was her name. Victor had been wanting to ask, but didn't know when would be the appropriate time to interject, now he didn't have to. The name fit her very well, she looked like a Wanda to him. Not that he had much experience with anyone named Wanda. Regardless he thought it was nice and suited her well.
Wanda rolled her eyes, "I do take pride in my work, I just don't flaunt it like some people I know. It doesn't hurt to be humble."
"You should flaunt more often," Pietro remarked, he looked to Victor. "Do not let her too humble nature fool you. She's doing some great work in the Accords Foundation, which she started by the way. A great charity, helping refugees, the homeless and fighting human trafficking. When not running the business, she's a translator, social worker, specialist and all other kinds of stuff. She even has her own dance studio, that she runs and teaches at, plus-"
Wanda interrupted him, looking mildly embarrassed, "Okay thank you Pietro. Our friend doesn't need to listen to us go on about ourselves."
Victor wore a small smile, "I don't mind in the least. You two are very accomplished individuals."
"See, he gets it," Pietro told her with a nudge.
Wanda didn't remark on it, instead she said, "We didn't catch your name."
Victor hesitated despite the question being an easy one, though he supposed that wasn't quite fair. Most people had a name of their own, but his was not his own. A pain struck his chest as he recalled the harsh words that would forever be ingrained into his mind, the ones that shattered his already undstabe world.
You are not Victor Stark! Okay, you are an android that dad, my dad, made to replace the real Victor. You're nothing more than some metal, synthetic flesh and wires, not their son, not our brother!
Victor wasn't a name he could claim as his own, though it was the only name he knew. It had only been a few short seconds, but he knew the longer he waited in silence, the more awkward the silence would become. It would be fine to simply give the name he always knew as his own, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He needed to think of a new name and quickly. Perhaps he could use the words his fath- his creator said the day after he woke up. That he was a vision for the future, maybe he could be Vision. Though he knew that wasn't a typical name in any fashion that he was aware of. Though, being Vision felt… it felt right. No, no he couldn't do that now and he needed to answer soon. He recalled what he put on his application and decided that would be the best thing to stick with.
"Jarvis," he said, hoping not to show his own nervousness. "My name is Jarvis Howard."
Wanda smiled, she stuck out her hand to shake his, "Well it's nice to meet you Jarvis."
Vision grinned at her and shook her hand in return, "You as well, Wanda."
"Now that introductions are out of the way, Jarvis and I should get to the station and you need to get to the studio," Pietro said with a sideways grin of his own.
Wanda looked momentarily stunned, "Yes, right. We should all get going, out of the rain and to work. I hope you have a good first day."
"Thank you," he said to her sincerely.
With that Wanda said goodbye to her brother and just before walking away, she took his umbrella from him with a laugh, leaving a perplexed Pietro behind. After a moment of silence, Pietro just laughed and called out to her in the language Vision still didn't know.
Shaking his head, Pietro said, "I have always been the faster one and could catch up to her without a problem, but can't have you showing up late on your first day. Come on."
JUN 24 2023. AM 09:21:42
MANHATTAN, NEW YORK
Had it not been for the hand on his shoulder, Tony imagined he wouldn't have woken up until the middle night, when everyone else had gone home. It wasn't unusual for him to fall asleep in random spaces, least of all his desk, especially considering everyone knew that he was a workaholic and had cots placed through every Stark complex for himself and workers. A place to rest when they had been working hard or were so exhausted they couldn't get home. However, the exhaustion he felt in this moment as he groggily lifted his head wasn't the usual kind. No, it was much worse.
Where every part him could feel the effects of gravity more strongly than before, how his eyes barely kept themselves opened and his mind too easily distracted. He was used to have bags under his eyes, he caught sight of them in his reflection from the computer, but these looked more like black eyes instead of bags. And it wasn't surprising to him either. It had been nearly month since he had gotten a full night's sleep after all. With glazed eyes, he lifted his head to look at who had woken him. His wife, Pepper. Her strawberry blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail, eyes watching him with concern and understanding.
"You have a bed in here for this exact reason," she remarked softly, rubbing his shoulder lightly. "And a bed at home."
Tony forced a smile as he sat up and wrapped an arm around her, inhaling the sent of her perfume that drove him wild. His eyes shut as he took in the smell and feel of her so close to him. Truthfully, he wasn't sure how long it had been since he had last seen her. It could have been last night, this morning, last week. With everything going on his mind, he just didn't know what to make of the world around him. Pepper's hand went through his hair, doing soft motions to reassure him and show she was there.
The past month had been one of the hardest ones for them, so much had happened. In a matter of seconds, their entire world seemed to fall apart at the seams and someone who cherished was gone, forever, breaking their hearts and the hearts of their family. There weren't many words that could be shared between the two at this moment, just being present was enough. Tony would have liked to enjoy this moment a bit longer, to just be lost in space and having his wife be his anchor to the real world, but the sound of his office door opening caused that to end. He didn't move or open his eyes to see who had arrived.
"Ulrich, I thought you went to get the kids from their camps," Pepper said, not stopping her hand motions in Tony's hair.
This caused Tony to open his eyes, not that he really wanted to, but he wouldn't cower behind his wife from his son like that. The two of them had been close when he was younger, but as the years went by their relationship turned to be more strained than anything. It was only recently that their relationship was starting to get better when the accident happened, bringing them closer only to create a chasm between them once more.
Ulrich barely stepped three feet into the open office, keeping several feet of distance from his parents. Tony liked having an open office with glass walls to look out at the lit up city, carpeted flooring though he would have changed out the greenish colors if only Pepper didn't like it. Regardless of that, he focused on his oldest son who was dressed in a nice suit, his amber eyes laser focused on the world around him.
"Peter went to the arcade with his friends, Morgan is downstairs with Happy and Nicole is still with her sister," answered Ulrich, his back ramrod straight and his dark blond hair slicked back.
"You know she doesn't like that name and prefers Nebula," Pepper said, her voice a bit stern. "Though I'm glad she's out with Gamora again, the two are getting closer."
Ulrich didn't comment on that, "Regardless, I came to see if there was any progress on finding the weapon."
Tony grimaced at the phrasing, he rose to his feet and said, "He's not, he's not just a weapon."
Ulrich glared at him, "It."
"It," Tony questioned, brow raised.
"You said he, the weapon is an it," Ulrich practically hissed at him, his eyes alight with anger.
Tony didn't comment on that, the matter still sensitive to him. "Yes, well there hasn't been any luck on locating Project Vision. I've been monitoring the system and nothing is appearing. Even setting the system to focus on Arc energy hasn't yielded any results."
Ulrich clenched his jaw, "When you were building it, you didn't think to put a tracker in it?"
Tony exhaled at this, "I put in two trackers actually and he disabled them or destroyed them. I'm running through more ideas on how to track him down-"
"He is not- it's not human, it's just an it," Ulrich said sharply. "One of your little science projects goes rogue and I bet you're not even trying to find it."
"Ulrich, watch your tone," Pepper scolded with an icy look.
Ulrich glanced at her then back to Tony, "We wouldn't be in this situation if you had just buried him. Like the rest of us."
"As I recall," Tony said plainly, stepping forward with a bitter look on his face, "You were working on this with me. Neither of us could bury him properly and we threw ourselves into Project Vision and it worked. He worked."
Ulrich let out an exasperated yell, "He is a machine, an android like all the others Stark Industries has made along with the others. Artificial. Fake."
Tony swallowed at that, "This one, Project Vision, the Arc is different and you know that. Evolutionary even."
"Whatever," Ulrich said with a shake of his head. "We need to find it, take it apart and build another one. Preferably one that doesn't look like my dead brother or have his memories."
Not waiting for a response, Ulrich stormed out of the office, the glass door closing painfully slow behind him. Tony couldn't blame Ulrich for the way he was acting, it had been a really difficult time on them all and people respond to these harsh times in different ways. With a chuckle that didn't hold any joy, he leaned back against his desk and lifted his head to look at the ceiling.
He'd had this office for nearly twenty years, never seeing a reason to leave it. And when he brought his first children home from the adoption agency, they painted the ceiling. Faded with time, their scribbles were still there and any time he struggled through the day, he could look up at them. And as he had more children, their own first drawings were put there and their names all their. But he focused on the most faded ones, on his oldest's name, Ulrich Stark. And then his second child's, his deceased son, Victor Stark.
"I really made a mess of things this time didn't I Pep," Tony said licking his lips. With pained brown eyes, he looked to his wife, struggling not to let those tears fall. He'd held them off for a month now, he wouldn't break that streak today. Yet one slipped past him anyway, damn.
Pepper brought her hand to his cheek, her thumb swiping the tear away before it fell past his cheek, "What was it Harley used to call you? Because you were always trying to fix things."
"The mechanic," Tony whispered softly.
"Right," Pepper whispered back. "That's my Tony, always trying to fix things."
Tony made a face, "And somehow they always back fire on me… This time is worse."
"No, no it's not," Pepper said quietly, "We'll all get through this. We'll let it, him. We'll let him stay hidden or bring him back."
Tony knew he shouldn't have been surprised, she knew him too well at times. Soon as Project Vision left and disabled all tracking devices and cloacked his signature, Tony had a different means of tracking that was working. He knew where the Vision was, at least last night he did until he spent several hours disabling his system and deleting the other means of tracking. To keep him out there, safe from harm and out of the reach of those who saw him as nothing more than a new weapon.
But that wouldn't last forever.
Eventually, he'd have to really track his project down, because if he didn't, Ulrich would take this to the press. All of Stark Industries would be called into question, wondering what other 'dangerous' projects he kept hidden, the government calling for mass production of this or destruction of it all. It wouldn't end well for him and in turn his family. This was a temporary solution, to give him time to sort it all through.
"I hope he's okay," Tony said absently.
Pepper kissed the side of his head, "I'm sure he's just fine. Now let's go home."
Home. Yeah, that sounded nice to Tony's ears.
"I want to go to him," Tony admitted, his brown eyes glossy. "I want to explain, he-he left so fast and I- so much happened and I just want him to be okay." Tony's shoulders sagged, as if a new weight had settled on them. "He has to know that, that even though he's not Victor, he still matters. That I care."
Pepper didn't say anything to that right away. It took her a few moments to come up with what she hoped was a good response. "Tony, I'm sure he knows. On some level."
Tony ran his fingers through his hair. "I know Ulrich has a point and androids are just machines, but, Pepper he's a living piece of our son. And I know it was stupid to try and replace him, but it happened and..." Tony let out a heavy sigh.
"And he matters, he does," Pepper assured him and to a certain point, she agreed. "Do you think you can get through some meetings today?"
Tony took a steadying breath, "Yeah, yeah I can."
And not saying anything more, the couple walked out of his office. Their minds spinning with too many things that they couldn't voice quite yet.