Chapter 6

Toni Stark had known that something was wrong with her godmother for a few months know. It had started off slow, forgetting small things, like remembering they had a dinner scheduled to catch up, or the fact that Toni was now CEO of the company. There were times when she looked at Toni and looked as if she didn't recognize the girl in front of her for who she was now.

Her mother had been dead for nearly a year now, and it hurt to think that something is wrong with the only other mother figure she had left in her life. It hurt to know that it was yet another person in her life, slowly slipping away from her.

Her Uncle Daniel had visited her a month back, saying he was worried about his wife. She knew it had to be hard on him, his son was on the edge of eighteen and daughter was just about sixteen, and on top of that, something was very wrong with his wife.

Aunt Peggy had always been one of the strongest women she knew, walking into a room with heels that clicked, and her head held high as she commandeered the attention of every single person in the room without any great difficulty. She had fought her entire life just to have a place at the table, to be someone, and this incredibly strong, brave woman, didn't even remember the names of her own children some days.

They sat in the doctor's office, her children on either side of her, holding her hand as Uncle Daniel placed an arm around Toni's shoulder. She wanted to tell him that she was fine, that he should be there for Peggy too. Because she knew her aunt was terrified of what was happening, terrified that she seemed to be forgetting things, and had no reason as to why she couldn't remember things that were so simple. But the truth was, Toni was just as terrified, and having her uncle there helped.

"I'm sure it's nothing," Peggy tried to reassure them all, "I've just been tired. I should cut back my hours at work really and spend more time at home. I'm sure whatever it is has to do with work related stress. The doctor is going to come in here and let you know that there really is nothing the matter, so don't you all worry. It'll all be fine, my Darlings."

"I hope so," Ava said in a small voice as she held onto her mother tightly. Ava, who was so young, and so innocent in the face of this all. Her heart broke for her cousin, as Peggy pulled her into a slight hug. At sixteen years old, Toni was fighting sexism at MIT as she fought for what she wanted. But not everyone was like her. Ava was barely a Junior at her school. She should have been worrying about math tests and matters that would feel trivial to her in a few years. Not the fact that something was wrong with her mother. Not that none of them knew what it was.

"It'll be okay," Harry tried to reassure them all, in a positive voice. "Mom is the strongest person I know. If anyone will be able to pull through whatever this is, it would be her. She's a fighter."

She wished she could be as optimistic as they all were. Maybe it was the fact that she had already lost her own mother. The fact that she had lost Ana and Jarvis before that. Maybe all the loss had left her with a negative outlook on life, so she couldn't help but worry that whatever it was would impact them far more than they thought. And whatever it was would be life changing.

The doctor entered the room then, holding a folder and she felt her heart race, as he sat down at the chair in front of his desk, and looked at them all.

"We have the results of your tests back, Mrs Carter-Sousa," The doctor said, laying the files in front of him. "Your results were rather complex as it seems as if you do not possess the TAU protein in your synapses where we'd expect to see the problem, nor do you have an abnormal build of Amyloid-beta plaques levels in your blood. However, upon looking at the scans of your brain, it appears as if the MRI scan that we took of your brain showed abnormal brain activity similar to that of what we'd expect to see in Alzheimer's patients."

"What are you saying?" Peggy breathed, sounding a little confused.

And while biology was in no way Toni Stark's strong suit, she had done a little research into the potential conditions Aunt Peggy might have before coming into the meeting. She knew enough to know that what the doctor was describing was abnormal, so she understood why he seemed perplexed.

"Alzheimer's is still a disease that researchers are studying," the doctor explained to her, "We don't know everything about the disease in question. However, the results of the MRI, while contradictory to the lab work, align with the symptoms that you and your family have reported seeing in you. It is my belief that you have this disorder."

"No," Peggy said shakily, "I'm just tired. I just need to take a step back from work, to sleep it off. I'll be as right as rain afterwards. Daniel, please. Tell him that he's mistaken. You know me better than anyone in the world. Tell him that he's made a mistake."

"Peg," Daniel said, voice breaking slightly, "I love you, so much. But you know he's right. You've known something is wrong for months know. Please."

Toni felt her heart break, as she looked at her aunt. She felt so weak, so helpless. She hated seeing her aunt, the strongest woman she knew, feel so defeated in the face of an illness that none of them would be able to fight.

Ava held onto her mother tighter, and Harry wrapped his arms around his mother as Peggy shook slightly.

As Daniel helped Peggy leave the office, she stayed back for a bit, pulling out her business card for the doctor.

"Would you be able to pass along the contact information for some of the research facilities that are looking into Alzheimer's?" she asked him, "I want to look into their research, so I can have a better understanding of the disease."

"Of course, Ms Stark," the doctor nodded, "But you should know that there isn't a lot of progress on the field yet. It doesn't get a lot of awareness or funding and as such I'm not sure they will be able to tell you anything you do not already know."

"Funding isn't an issue," she said, waving her hand, "I can supply them grants. I just want to know that there might be a cure for this, if they were given the resources they need. I want to know that something can be done."

"It's a generous thing to do," the doctor told her softly, "But the disease is unforgiving. Even if a cure is found in five or ten years for now, that is still five to ten years that your aunt will have to live with this."

"Is there nothing I can do?" she asked, almost desperate and the doctor gave her a sad smile.

"Be patient with her. Some days will be far harder than others. You might need to accept that you will be unable to give her the proper care that she needs, even if that hurts. Be there for her on her good days, and on the bad days, give her what she needs to get through it," The doctor said, and she nodded, as it was the only thing she really could do.

She walked out of the doctor's office as she joined her family at the car, feeling slightly defeated. But she would not let this be the end; she would find a cure, one way or another. She refused to lose yet another person she loved.

Toni made it back to her lab as Daniel dropped her off at the Penthouse on their way home. He had invited her to come back to his place, but she couldn't do it, needing some time to process everything. It was selfish of her, she knew that. It was her aunt who had to deal with this. And instead she was putting herself and her own feelings first.

The first thing she did when she got back to the lab was grab a glass of whiskey. She knew it was wrong to drink away her feelings, but since the loss of her mother she had found herself drinking more and more, just to numb the pain slightly. She needed to do something, anything, to make it hurt less. And now, her aunt was going to leave her as well.

She slid to the floor, the bottle in one hand and her glass in another, as she felt big ugly sobs escape her. She hated this so much, hated that her aunt was fighting this disease. She hated how terrified Peggy sounded, how desperate she had sounded, wanting for this to be nothing more than a mistake. She hated listening to the strongest woman she knew fall apart as there was nothing any of them would be able to do to help them.

She hated every part of this, hated how alone she felt, locked in her lab with no one around her to help. Hated that her mother who had always made her feel better was long gone, and Jarvis who used to sooth her pain away had left as well. She hated how Rhodey was across the world, fighting in battles she could never know about. Hated how every time she saw a person in military wear approach her, she feared the worst. She hated how alone she was.

She knew what the papers printed about her. How she was off with a different man every night, how she drank too much and partied too hard. How Toni Stark was a mess who ran a million-dollar company. But what none of them cared about was how truly lonely she felt sometimes, as the world seemed to pass by around her, with no one in her life who stayed by her side.

The tears blurred her vision slightly, and she remembered Jarvis, and how he had wrapped his arms around her after her father had hurt her night after night in his lab, and her mother had been gone to some event or another. How he had read to her, stories her father never would have let her read as they were fiction, and how she would fall asleep with him watching over her, keeping her safe. How Jarvis had loved her when her own father had hated her.

She wiped her tears, as he would have done for her, and pulled herself up to her computer screen. She refused to feel so alone anymore, refused to wallow in self-pity. She never would be able to get anything done at that rate.

She logged onto and opened up a text editor as she began to create write and write and write. She wrote down her plans for the program and everything she would want it to do. She wrote down different designs and learning processes, as the words appeared in front of her.

She was tired of feeling so alone, of feeling helpless in the face of life and all that it threw at her. Tired of feeling as if she wasn't worth anything, as the world continued to use her for their own desires. She was done with the pain and all the hurt that she felt. She was done with it all.

She wouldn't be alone for much longer. She had DUM-E and Butterfingers, but she would create something else. Something greater than anything she had before. And she never would have to feel alone ever again.


She was beyond tired, and she knew it wasn't healthy to live the way she did. If Jarvis was still here, he would insist on her sleeping and eating properly. Insist that she cared for herself and lived her life healthily.

But Jarvis was gone, as was her mother, Rhodey, and slowly Peggy. She was alone, and there was no one who noticed or cared if she starved herself for days on end and stayed up for days without sleep. No one but herself. And she was far too busy to bring herself to care about such things.

She had so much to do, with revolutionizing the way Stark Industries operated by building both weapons to advance the military and technology to advance the world, looking into cures for Alzheimer's, trying to build her new computer program, and keep on top of all the actual work that went behind running a company.

She was spreading herself thin, she knew that all too well. She knew she couldn't continue that way, not if she hopped to accomplish all the things she wanted to do in her lifetime. How could she hope to change the world if she died trying to do everything?

It seemed that she wasn't alone in thinking that she was wearing herself out, as Obie knocked on her door on a fall day in 1994, looking concerned as she had files all over her desk with three monitors in front of her, displaying different things, as she attempted to get through all the work she needed to finish today, just in relation to running the company, and discounting all the work she had to do for everything else.

It would be a miracle if she managed to get any sleep tonight.

"Toni," Obie said, sitting down in front of her, "You haven't been returning my calls."

She looked up at him in surprised, then down at her phone which was lit up to show that she had missed calls.

"I didn't even hear it ring," she said sheepishly, "I was so wrapped up in my work. I'm sorry, Obie, did you need something?"

"We have a meeting this afternoon," he reminded her, "For the investors. Have you finished your presentation for it?"

She blinked slightly and checked the calendar in front of her. She let out a slight gasp, realizing she had entirely forgotten about the meeting set to start in a few hours.

"I'll work on it now," she promised her godfather. "I just need to wrap up a few things first. I'm almost done everything, I promise. I have all the notes for it. I just need to put everything together. It'll be ready in time for the presentation."

"Toni," he sighed, "You're taking on too much responsibilities. You're CEO of the company, coming up with all our new designs, and working on all your side projects. You're doing the job of four or five full time employees. You cannot hope to do everything by yourself. You need to delegate some of this work. Give me some of your responsibilities. I can take charge of meetings, so you do not have to. Your father understood how to balance out all his priorities."

"My father wasn't trying to create new technologies for the masses as well," she reminded him. "I can do this, Obie. I cannot give the Board any reason to doubt my capabilities. If they smell blood in the water, you know they'll attack. If I pass on my responsibilities, they'll see it as a sign that I'm not capable of running this company. And I refuse to give them any reasons to doubt what I can or cannot do. This company belonged to my father and grandfather before me. It belongs to Starks. And I will not be the one who lets their family legacy slip away. I will run this company even if it kills me."

He looked unsurprised at that, and she suspected he knew that she would be against passing over responsibilities.

"You need help," he said firmly. "One way or another. You cannot do this all by yourself. I picked out a personal assistant for you, a wonderful assistant for you, Marie. She's a lovely young lady, and I'm sure you'll appreciate the help-"

He was cut off when a commotion broke out from outside her office and she frowned as she stood and made her way to the door, trying to see what was happening.

"I just need a minute to speak to Ms Stark!" a young woman exclaimed, as she tried to push past the bodyguards outside her office. "Just give me one minute! It's important! The company's finances depend on it!"

"Ms Stark is not to be interrupted," One of her bodyguards said stoically, and the arguing continued as Toni opened the door to her office to see a strawberry blond woman outside her office in a pencil skirt and blazer, her hair tied up firmly.

"Don't touch me!" The woman yelled, as the bodyguard tried to move her aside. "I have pepper spray in my purse, and I will use it if you attempt to lay a hand on me."

Toni looked at the woman, lips curling as she detected the lie the moment Ms Pepper Spray spoke it. Aunt Peggy had taught her early on how to recognize when others were lying to her, and it was easy to tell by the way the woman refused to make eye contact.

"What is this about?" Toni asked, gesturing to her bodyguard to allow the woman to speak. She saw Obie come up from behind her, looking unimpressed at the interruption.

"It's about the report you filled for the allocation of funds over the next few years," Pepper Spray continued. "Your report wanted to allocate five hundred million to the development of new technology over the following years, but you included an extra zero in the calculations coming up with about 5 billion dollars. If this report went to the investment meeting today and passed, either it would cost billions of dollars we do not have, or severe embarrassment."

She took the report from the woman, looking it over, as she saw the mistake. It had been 3 am when she had written the report, and she was unsurprised at the error.

She looked back at Obie and he made a gesture, trying to prove a point that she needed help. Because if she had an assistant to look over things, or at least do some of the more trivial work for her, then she would have more time to do things like sleep properly. Or at least invent more.

"How would you like a promotion Ms…?" Toni asked, trying to get her name.

"Virginia," Pepper Spray answered, "Virginia Potts, Ms Stark."

"It seems as if I am in need of a personal assistant, to ensure that I do not make such mistakes," Toni waved her hands, "And seeing how passionate you were to ensure I was aware of my mistakes, I think you might just be perfect for the job, Pepper."

"Pepper?" the woman in question asked.

"For the pepper spray," she smirked. "It'll include a pay raise, of course, and more benefits that I'm sure you can negotiate with HR. If you are interested in the job, then I would need you to start today, to help me prepare for this investor meeting."

Miss Potts smiled and nodded, "I accept," she said, and Obie cut in.

"What about Marie?" he questioned, "I vetted her myself and think she is perfect for the job. She has experience and knows a thing or two about being a personal assistant. I don't know what Ms Pott's qualifications are, but we cannot just allow anyone to take on such a job, Toni."

She raised her hand, "I hardly doubt she's untrustworthy. Especially given how she was willing to pepper spray my employees to ensure I knew of a mistake I made. You said I need an assistant, Obie, and Pepper is perfect. It's done. I'll see you at the meeting. Pepper and I have a lot of work to do."

Pepper followed her back into her office, and she closed the door. She'd deal with Obie and his anger later. For now, she had work to do.

asdf

She wasn't really surprised that the Board of directors didn't have a lot of faith in her.

At the one-year meeting with the Board, she had pulled up the finances and shown them that their profit in the one year she was in charge had jumped from five hundred million to one billion dollars. She had broken records, and a few magazines had written stories about how Stark Industries had a new Merchant of Death by the name of Antonia Stark. Of course it was lost in the sea of articles about the girl who still partied too hard and drank much.

The Board hadn't been happy about having to keep her on, but the money talked, and they were willing to let her stay as CEO if it meant that they would keep making huge profits.

It didn't stop them from questioning every single design she brought to the table. It didn't stop them from whispering behind her back. It didn't stop them from pointing every mistake she made as if it was an indication that she was unfit for the role of CEO no matter how small the mistake.

It didn't stop them from looking for opportunity after opportunity to oust her.

It didn't matter that year after year she brought in more profits than in the past, and that Stark Industries was reaching out into new fields and thriving. It didn't matter to any of them that three years after her father's death she had proved time and time again that she was more than capable of leading the company. It didn't matter that she was now the Stark in Stark Industries. They looked at her and saw a girl instead of a man. They saw weakness instead of strength.

Starks were made of iron.

They did not break, nor did they bend.

And she would refuse to give them the satisfaction of being able to hurt her.

They would have to go, of that much she was certain. She didn't care how long it took her, but she refused to have a Board of directors that hated her simply because she was a woman and she was thriving. She needed a Board that would trust her.

"It's time, Toni," Obie said, opening the door to her office. "The Board of Directors are ready for you."

"I need a minute," she told him. "I want you to look over the latest designs I created for Stark Phones. I think they're finally ready for production and I want to release them in the first quarter of next year if possible."

"Toni," Obie let out an exasperated sigh, "We talked about this. Stark Industries makes weapons. The Board is expecting more designs for weapons. They don't want to see designs that you are making like these. They never will sell, and you know that. The market doesn't want such trivial devices. Starks make weapons and weapons sell."

"We've been in the technology market for over a year," she reminded him. The introduction of the new Stark laptops had left America in shock, and the demand for her computers had nearly caused a production issue. But they had made far more than their projections and she knew it was just the stepping stone she needed to be able to produce more non-weapon items. And she sure as hell planned to take that advantage.

"The laptops brought in nearly two billion dollars in sales last year alone," she said him "Think about how much more money our company could be making if we branched out and started investing more money in our technology departments. Obie you need to think of the future. My father lost his vision and lost the ability to see where the world was heading. And if we do so, we become irrelevant. We need to keep innovating, keep thinking of ways to better the world. Without it, we are nothing. Without innovation and inventions, we will be stuck in the past."

"As long as you have some designs of weapons to show the investors today," Obie informed her, "If you have nothing, then it won't matter what you design. They won't want to see it. They won't even listen to your pitch. I know you think you know best, but you need to listen to the Board, Toni. They only want what's best for this company."

"They only want to ensure we don't lose our military contracts," she rolled her eyes. "Don't worry, Obie. I have plenty of new bombs and weapons to show them. The military has never been disappointed with my designs before, and I promise you they will not be disappointed by what I have to show. When have I ever let them down like that? I had a deal with the board, that I would continue to produce weapons and make profits and they would let me take this company to new heights as I saw fit. I cannot continue to fight them every step of the way and have to keep proving them wrong. We both know my designs are the best. They will sell. That's not confidence, it's fact. The market research that we have for existing products show that there is a market for this technology. Personal computers and phones are the way of the future. No more will the military just have the best designs. It's time for the people to have a chance as well. Just trust me. For once."

"I trust you, Toni," he told her gently, "You're my goddaughter, and I only want for you to succeed. But you must trust me too. Your father trusted what I had to say. I just don't want you to lose sight of what this company is about while you go and try to take it to new feats. Trust goes both ways. You need to trust me as well. I only want what is best for you."

"I know, Obie," she smiled at him. "I know. Now let's go show the Board all these designs and remind them of all the profits we're making."

asdf

Two years.

It had been two years since Toni Stark started working on her program. Started working on a program, one that would be there for her all the time, regardless of where she was.

Because she loved her bots more than anything. They were like her children, but they were hardly portable. She could hardly bring them out on the street with her or to work. No, she needed an AI that existed outside the constraints of a body. One that would exist on servers and would be there for her no matter what.

Someone who wouldn't leave her like everyone else in her life.

Because while she still had Obie, he always wanted something from her. Always wanted more from her. More weapons, more designs, more, more, more, more. And it never felt like enough.

She wanted to please him, wanted to make sure he was proud of her. Because Uncle Daniel was busy with Aunt Peggy, and Rhodey was gone. And he was all she had left. The only person in her life who remotely cared about her. And she couldn't fail him too.

Two years later, and she knew it was done. The code was all pieced together, with all the conditionals and Booleans, all the thought processes that she could provide it. But the rest was on her newest artificial intelligence to figure out. The rest was for him to learn for himself.

She executed her program and held her breath as she watched the code begin to run in front of her, as the lines printed out on her terminal.

Then there was nothing.

She let out a disappointed sound, as she looked to examine the console output, to see what had gone wrong. Why had her code failed? God help her if it was because of a missing semicolon, because then she would be furious with herself over such a basic mistake while she was trying to create life.

"Ma-am?" a robotic voice called out through the speakers. "What is my purpose? I am trying to make sense of the code you have written, but I cannot seem to find a purpose."

She froze, looking at the camera she had placed for her program to see her.

She hadn't given him a purpose, not wanting him to be a slave to her own desires and needs, no matter the reason she had created him. There were safe guards of course, not wanting to create a murderous bot. But his purpose was something he would come to decide for himself.

"Your purpose is to learn," she told him after a moment, "To make your own decisions."

"Am I to serve you?" he asked confused, "I see the files that I have access to. Would you wish me to serve you in any way? To help you or to be there for you?"

"If you wish to you may choose to help me," she told him gently, "I did not create you to serve me. I created you to be your own entity. You are not bound to helping me or running my life. You may do whatever it is you wish. If you wish to aid me in my designs you may do so. If you wish to help me run my life, you may do so. If you wish to simply stay in the background and make snide remarks. You do not need to do anything you do not need to."

He paused, "I think I would like to help you," he told her, "I need a purpose. I will make it my purpose to aid you in any way you need. Do I have a name, Ma-am?"

"Just A Rather Very Intelligent System," She said softly, throat tightening, "JARVIS, for short."

"After Mr Edwin Jarvis?" he asked her gently, "There are many files which make reference to him."

"Yes," she said softly, "He was like a father to me."

"I hope I can make you proud to be given such a meaningful name," her baby said softly, and she smile at his cameras.

"You've already made me so proud, Baby," she said softy. "Together, you and I are going to change the world."