A/N: Thanks for the reviews. Here is another installment :-) We are almost done. Only two to three more chapters left.
Chapter 10: Fish in the Water
Steve felt awful. JARVIS' words still echoed in his mind and Tony's actions on the plane did nothing to soften the blow of his own shame. Twice in less than a day, he had misjudged Tony.
"We both know that, while you may be civil, possibly even kind, you cannot feel true regard for a person with standards and status unlike your own."
It was a terrible accusation, but he could not say that the AI was entirely wrong. He had proudly called Tony his friend to both Bruce and Bucky only hours before, but now he could not help but wonder whether this was true. Had Tony been a friend before the war? They had been brothers in arms, surely, but even that, something that Steve held in higher esteem than almost anything was only marginally present when it came to Tony: for Thor and the Hulk, yes, for Natasha, Sam and Clint, no doubt, for the Howling Commandos and Bucky? That was not even a question. However, being brutally honest with himself, he had kept Tony at an arm's length, had called him 'Stark' months after they had started working together. He had never truly trusted the man's egotistical mannerisms, or his tendencies to act before thinking of the possible consequences. He could not call a man a comrade who had no previous combat training ('We are not soldiers!'), especially not a man who had never even heard of the concept of moderation and modesty. Tony had so obviously reveled in being a hero it had rubbed Steve the wrong way. But then Tony was also a walking and talking contradiction, and had shown early on that he was not just the flashy Genius/Playboy/Billionaire/Philanthropist ('I would just cut the wire.') he had introduced himself as ('You know this is a one-way trip?').
He should have given more of an effort to get to know the real Tony Stark. If nothing else, once this mess was resolved, he would offer Tony an apology for his bigoted harshness.
"Anything?" Bruce asked the engineer who shook his head in response.
"I need my workshop. I know there is a solution, but it won't be easy," he then answered after Bruce prodded him some more. "I'll fix this."
There was the determination he had come to know and fear in Tony. As long as that iron will was not turned against your cause, he was one of the fiercest allies one could hope for. He had always known that. He had known that the second they had first meet.
They arrived in New York only a few hours later. It was 10 PM when they arrived at the former Avengers tower. Even after two years, it was still strange to see the building so dark and unwelcoming.
Arno was waiting for them by the entrance.
Tony spotted him first, and hugged him fiercely. Super soldier hearing allowed Steve to hear the older man's reassuring words, "Everything's gonna be fixed, I promise. Don't worry."
Arno's returning hug was no less fierce and, while he obviously enjoyed being in his brother's arms, he did not look assured. He seemed to gauge both his and Bucky's reactions, as if they could attack him any minute.
"Let's go in, shall we?" said Steve.
"Couldn't," replied Arno, "I don't know why…"
Tony interrupted him by simply opening the door without any trouble. Once they stepped inside, Steve could swear he saw the former billionaire smile in the darkness.
"Daddy's home."
The tower exploded.
Not literally, but it was like a giant beacon was lit. The normally near-silent tower was a buzz of electricity.
"Welcome home, Mr. Stark," said JARVIS, and Steve could swear he heard both the happiness and smugness in the artificial voice.
It was not just JARVIS, though. Ever since Tony had told them of his abilities, a part of Steve had been in doubt. Now? It seemed to the super soldier that the entire tower was full of life and excitement. It was impossible to miss. He did not need two automated vacuum cleaners bumping into Bucky as they tried to make their way to Tony. All he needed was the expression on the engineer's face.
This was not the look of a man who had returned to an empty house he had once called his residence. It was the face of someone who was reuniting with his family.
"Missed you too, kids," said Tony softly. "JARVIS…"
"Food has been ordered. The staff has already prepared your bedroom and the workshop is fully operational."
"What about the Avenger floors?"
"I am sure that Mr. Stark, Dr. Banner, Captain Rogers and Sergeant Barnes will find the couches in the Common Room comfortable enough, Sir. After all, Dr. Banner and Captain Rogers have used them on a regular basis for more than two years."
"JARVIS…" began Tony in a warning tone.
"Very well, Sir. May I suggest that you rest before you disappear into the workshop?"
Having watched the Space Odyssey with Clint and Sam, Steve suddenly thought that staying in a building that was fully controlled by a computer, which had sufficient reason to hate them, might not be the best idea.
"You are not going all HAL 9000 on us, are you, JARVIS?" asked Bruce obviously thinking along similar lines, but with an inexplicable if somewhat sad smile on his face.
"No, Dr. Banner, my programming would not allow such actions," said JARVIS, sounding only marginally warmer. "More importantly, hurting you would hurt Mr. Stark and that is not acceptable."
"That's a far cry from you forgiving me then," continued Bruce, unperturbed.
"While Mr. Stark has anticipated your actions correctly, I must admit that they managed to take me by surprise. I would have expected your loyalties, if not in favor of Mr. Stark, to be conflicted at the very least, but that was not the case."
"I'm sorry, JARVIS," whispered Bruce, looking chastised and about as guilty as Steve felt.
"Stop, all of you," interrupted Tony warningly. "I'm home for the first time in two years. The next person trying to rain on my parade will either face a cold shower tomorrow morning or be donated to a community college."
"Of course, Sir," JARVIS sounded amused. "Forgive me."
"That's more like it. See you tomorrow, oh and Baby Brother? The Penthouse comes with a guest bedroom if you wish to stay here overnight. Bruce, don't mind JARVIS' grumpiness. I'm sure your floor is prepared."
Tony did not bother to give any further instructions, and left the room. Arno hesitated for only a second before he timidly wished them a good night and followed the older Stark. Steve looked at Bucky who smiled wryly, "He didn't throw us out. That's something."
Steve suddenly realized how much he had missed the tower (home), as he walked through the lit halls and the communal rooms… There were so many memories in this place, most of them good, and a few spectacularly bad ones ('You should know better than to think you could outsmart JARVIS, Captain. I know you're here.' - 'Are you happy, Director Stark? Do you congratulate on your success? Goliath is dead by your hand!' – ' Sacrifices had to be made. We both knew that.' – 'Listen to you, Stark. Don't you see what you're doing? You are no better than the villains we fought.' – 'Rogers, the longer you talk the more likely it is that you'll get caught.' – 'I have more than enough time to beat the arrogance out of you, Stark.' – 'My, my! Captain America threatens with physical harm… Dear old Dad never mentioned your tendency to resort to violence.' – 'Don't you dare mention your father, Stark! He was ten times the man you are!' – 'No need to reverse-quote Scar on me, Cap. Get out of here, or I will suit up.'). Sometimes he wished he could change the past. There had to have been something to get Tony on his side. He wondered where they had gone wrong. The more he thought about it the more it dawned him just how inexistent their friendship was. The realization suddenly made him sick to his stomach. Numbly, he entered his floor with Bucky in tow, who whistled.
"Wow, Stark sure knows how to make you feel at home." His eyes observed the delicate, slightly old-fashioned furniture mixed with modern appliances and a few of Tony's rather unique designs (not trying to keep him in an isolated bubble, but with a slice of the past, present and future, so he could decide where he wanted to live). He knew what Bucky meant. The room was as warm as ever (in more than just the literal sense), and because of that, Steve felt even worse. Having witnessed how sensitive the super soldier's ears were, Tony had installed and developed appliances that were silent even to Steve, and the room was so well isolated, he only vaguely heard the busy streets of New York, feeling almost like a home he no longer had. Tony had made him feel welcome by giving him things from the past, but always made sure he did not become melancholy. He had appreciated the kindness back then, now it was like someone had stabbed him through the chest.
"Yeah, he really does," Steve whispered.
The next day, Steve and Bucky went to the Common Kitchen to eat some breakfast. Unsurprisingly, none of the other men were there.
"Bruce usually doesn't stay in bed this long," frowned Bucky. "Stark tends to sleep in, I would guess."
Steve laughed, "Only Bruce and potentially lethal threats are capable of rousing that man at 6 in the morning, but I bet my bike that they're already in the workshop."
On their way down, they encountered Arno who visibly flinched.
"Steve, I'm sorry, I didn't…" he began, and Steve did not even have it in him to be angry. He had spent far too much time being angry at Starks these past two years.
"You should have come to us when you realized you screwed up," he reprimanded the man under his command sternly but also resigned.
The intercom switched on, "Hey, Rogers, stop harassing my brother. What's done is done. No need to smother him with the 'I am disappointed in you' Captain America glare."
"I didn't…" began Steve.
"Please, even if I had not turned on audio, I'd have recognized that look anywhere. It makes us lesser men cry, you know."
To Steve's surprise, Bucky chuckled.
"You do have that look," he addressed Steve before he continued, "Believe me, Stark, it was even worse when he was that willful yet scrawny boy I remember."
"Hey!" protested Steve, glaring at Bucky, who looked entirely unimpressed.
"Wow, Sergeant, that truly is impressive," drawled Tony, but Steve knew him well enough to hear the amusement in his voice. The familiarity was painful.
"Get down in the workshop, you three."
"You have a solution?" Arno sounded both hopeful and disbelieving.
"Nope, but I got a couple of questions."
As they stepped into the lab, Bruce sat on a chair typing away, a smile on his face. He looked wonderfully at peace and highly amused by the manic whirlwind that swept through the room in the form of Tony Stark.
"Arno! Okay, so while I looked at the code I noticed that there are repeated sequences here," he pulled up a hologram and enhanced the part he was talking about, "here and here. Why?"
"Stabilization. The code became unstable unless I added the repeats," explained Arno before he went deep into programming land, to which Tony replied in kind, before he said, "Okay, thanks. Crutches, be gone!" He flicked his wrists and the sequences disappeared from the code.
"Wait, you are not creating a new code? Why take the old ones?" asked Arno, confused.
"You can strip something down and rebuild it, but the essence must stay the same," said Tony in a tone of voice that brooked no argument. "You can create, you can try to fix it, but you can't fix something you destroy."
"What?" Three voices asked as one. The only person that did not chime in was the physicist.
Tony looked back to the monitor, but gestured at Bruce, who cleared his throat before he started to explain (they had obviously had this conversation only minutes before), "Remember Tony's mutation," Steve glimpsed at Arno, who seemed unmoved. If Tony had not told him before, they probably talked last night. "He can read the feelings and thoughts of all electronic life. Tony is an engineer. Think about what this implies."
"I…" began Steve, but he drew a blank.
"He can't just destroy things because they don't work the way he wants them to. He can modify it, he can repair it when it's broken, but he can't just kill it."
That made Steve shudder. The implications were actually quite terrifying. He directly addressed Tony, "So, you think you can just fix anything you don't like?"
That would explain so much about Tony who had this near-obsession about 'fixing' things. The Ultron mess was the perfect example for Tony meddling with things he should not. Did that come from being a technopathic mutant? Was that the cause for his God-complex?
All levity left Tony and he pressed his lips together, "The alternative is destroying it. To utterly undo it. Ask your friend how much he liked it and tell me again why I should do the same."
"This is different," contradicted Steve. "You write the code, right? You create their souls."
"If I may, Sir?" chimed in JARVIS, and Tony nodded, strangely hesitant about letting his own creation talk. "You make the mistake of generalization, Captain Rogers. From your manner of questioning I presume you believe that he views himself as God, but that is not remotely accurate. Setting the old discussion of whether a soul exists or not aside, Sir is just infinitely better at programming than any other individual on Earth, meaning that he can go deeper into the code than most, but unlike them," the derisive tone was cutting and Steve could swear he saw Arno flinch, "he is aware of the responsibility and would never create something that is damaged. DUM-E, U, Butterfingers and myself are to be considered unique and self-aware artificial forms of life. Sir has created us, taught us and served as our parent. However, our code does not make our regard for him an imperative, and as such, he gave us a choice." Tony's eyes softened and his lips twitched a little. "Sir is not our God, but he is a very good creator. I use this term instead of parent because he often builds things that serve a specific function, like a blender or a microwave. However, he would never write a code or create a system for such appliances that would make them self-aware, as it would be unethical. They are capable of feeling emotion, yes, but so are animals. I must remind you that some animals have been shown to be self-aware, but often the data remained inconclusive."
"So what does fixing mean in this particular case?" asked Bucky, ever practical in his approach.
"I looked at the code," Tony answered. "Right now, it doesn't care for anything but its own existence. I'm trying to teach it just that without giving it self-awareness or the ability to self-improve while simultaneously making it the best Stark technology ever sold on the market. No biggie."
Silence followed his statement, before Bruce said, "Let's get started, then."
Watching Tony, Bruce and Arno work was beautiful, even if Steve did not understand a word of it. The holograms danced under Tony's hands while Bruce and Arno worked the computers. It was the engineer who looked the most at ease. Bruce was as happy as Steve had ever seen him in the past two years, and Arno smiled occasionally whenever Tony said something in gibberish (it obviously made sense to other two men). However, Tony was different: he looked like he was born to do this, and like somebody who had spent time locked away and removed from the thing he loved the most.
To think he had played a major role in separating Tony from what was so clearly his passion filled Steve with shame, and he was just barely capable of reminding himself that he had been justified in his actions. Nevertheless, he wondered if he should talk to the authorities again. It would be cruel to withhold this from Tony again. The man seemed so alive, in a way Steve had not seen him in a long time. The man from Brooklyn feared that if they removed Tony from his element again, he would wither and die.
The former Stark heir was the only one who did not leave the workshop all day. Both Arno and Bruce needed time to recharge after working six hours straight. Tony simply muttered something about 'Bruce' and 'coffee,' which Bruce apparently translated into, "Sure, turkey sandwich, water and coffee coming up."
It was late at night, when Steve sat in the Common Kitchen drinking a glass of water, while Arno (ever the Stark) drank a cup of coffee. Bruce and Bucky were still in the workshop with Tony.
"I knew when I got the job that it would be hard, but I have no idea how Tony was able to uphold his Iron Man duties as well as his position as Stark heir, SHIELD director and R&D consultant for both SHIELD and Stark Industries simultaneously," Arno looked bone-tired and wary in a way Steve had never seen him. How could he have missed his teammate's exhaustion? "Reed was right. Tony is the world's greatest multitasker…" He smiled wryly, "Did you know that, on paper, I'm supposed to be smarter than him? I just wanted to create something that would blow his work out of the water. You cannot truly fathom the beauty of his creations unless you work in the programming field, but… The only thing that has always bothered me about them is their almost chaotic structure. I wanted to create something that is not so mindboggling and more clean-cut… perfect, I guess." He looked away from Steve and tightly gripped his cup. "It shouldn't have been this hard, but Dad was right all along, I guess. Tony Stark is a legend in the making, and replacing him is impossible."
The shattering sound of a coffee mug hitting the ground had them both whirl around. Tony's eyes were wide, and frighteningly furious.