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Chapter Seven
Wednesday, Day Four
Manny:
He stood in the middle of his friend's living room, trying to get his bitch daughter to shut up. She was crying loud. Too loud. His buddy wasn't home, but he knew that he would let him lay low there for awhile while things blew over.
He couldn't believe Valentina never told him that that little bastard was related to Tony fucking Stark. He coulda been loaded if he found out before Luis did. All he would have had to do was blackmail Stark using the kid and BAM child support galore.
Hell, he would have let the kid go meet his dad as long as he could come with to milk the situation for all it was worth. Eh, win some lose some. He'd still find a way to get in good with Val again, and then get in good with Luis. And if that didn't work, he could always beat his ass like last time. Damn that felt good.
He tugged on Marta's hair so she was looking at him. "Eh, shut up, okay? You want me to get angry again?" Her lip quivered as she shook her head. "Then shut the fuck up!" He said, raising his hands in annoyance. She looked down and he seen some more tears fall. He sighed and walked away, heading toward the fridge to look for a beer.
He didn't notice someone waiting in the shadows. Lurking and grinning. He didn't notice until Marta screamed.
"God dammit-!" He exclaimed, turning before freezing. A young man stood behind Marta, both hands on her shoulders, massaging them gently and whispering calming words.
"Shh, shh, shh, humming bird. Relax," He looked up to Manny, a sickeningly sweet smile spreading across his face.
"Hey! Get the fuck away from my kid!" Who did this guy think he was? The man raised his hands in surrender and Marta scrambled away from him and toward the wall. The man had to be in his late twenties with dark brown hair slicked back with a suit more expensive than his apartment. A gold ring glinted on his finger.
"I apologize. Let me introduce myself. I am Charlie Joplin*, and I think we can both help each other." He straightened his lapels and runs a hand through his greasy hair.
"What the fuck are you talking about man?" Manny took a step forward, cracking his knuckles.
"Relax," He repeats, "I hear you have a thing against Tony Stark's bastard. I've got a thing against Tony Stark and anyone close to him. Tell me about the kid and I'll make it worth your while when I kill them both."
Anika's POV
He runs off to answer his phone, and I'm okay with that because I know there are more important things than me. I'm not being self-depreciating, trust me. I just know how it is having a sick relative. My mom has been in and out of this hospital for two years all because of some stupid ass disease. And apparently his mom is in here because she got her ass beat.
I don't know which is worse.
I sigh and look my notebook. My Aunt left a half hour ago to go see my mother. She hasn't been back once in that time. I clutch the notebook tighter to my chest and bury my face in my knees. Tonight my mom got home from work and had, well, I dunno what you would call it, an attack maybe.
She's been living with HIV for five years and AIDS for two. We can all blame her dirty asshole of a boss. Here's the story: My mom works for this fat cat who makes all his money on Wall Street. Benjamin Backer is a well-respected man who donates half his money to kids who come from the projects, just like him. His wife is an ex-model who now hosts the best dinner parties in Manhattan, and his children are all on the honor role at the most prestigious schools in the city.
He's a high roller at casino's and has had Jay-Z and Beyonce to his house for dinner on multiple occasions. He's talked politics with Michelle Obama and took his basketball team to state three times in his college days. Benjamin Backer is the dream man, that's what my mom always said. He's not only a business man, but a man of color and that's very important in my community. If a poor kid like him made it, then anyone can.
Oh, did I mention that Mr. Backer also donates about a quarter of his money to the prostitutes of New York. Affairs that go on at night and his wife pretends they don't happen as long as she gets her Tiffany's and enough money to flaunt those jewels at her grand parties. Benjamin also has HIV from all these night time affairs. Yep, you guessed it, guess who he gave it to. My mom. Not that my mom is a hooker. She's a maid in his house, and apparently he's into that.
What a dick.
I don't know how it happened, frankly, I really don't care. All I care about is that my mother is trying to force some man in my life that wants only one thing from her. My real dad died when I was a baby. Rival gang drive by. Whatever. My mom sure can pick 'em.
Anyway, this asshole not only fired her when she told him, but he also refuses to pay medical bills. With her having no job and me in school, my Aunt Phaedra came up from New Orleans to help out. Thank God, because I don't know where I'd be without her.
I can feel how Luis feels. That's why I talked to him earlier. I saw him with that guy earlier. I could tell what he was going through because I'm going through it too, and it sucks. He's nice, though. It's nice to have someone to talk to at times like this. There's a crash somewhere down the hall, but I don't flinch. I've been here for hours so I'm used to it.
A woman wails from somewhere down the hull and I hunch up my shoulders so that they cover my ears. Inner turmoil makes my own inner turmoil seem more real. A figure stumbles into view, and for the next few moments everything passes by in a blur.
My Aunt collapses into the chair next to me, eyes red and tears dripping down her face as she screams and practically folds into herself. Dread fills me and my heart stops.
"What is it?" I ask, shaking her shoulder, but she just swats my hand away. "What's wrong?!" I'm screaming too now because everything is so horrible and I don't know what to do.
"I need to see her," I say, standing up so quickly the sketchbook falls off my lap and to the floor.
"No!" My Aunt grabs my arm and tugs me back but I jerk out of her grip, stumbling to the floor sobbing.
"Why?!" I shout as nurses only look on sympathetically. "Why me? W- Why me?"
I think the world has ended.
My mom's dead.
Luis' POV
After hanging up with Clint I wait outside on one of the benches. When I made to go back inside I seen Anika crying, and that can only mean one thing. Her mom's dead. I don't want to make things worse, plus, I just met her.
So, instead, I sit outside in the heat and watch ambulances pull up and usher people on stretchers inside the building. I lean, putting my elbows on my knees so I'm hunched over. I think over my plan in my hand. If I can rewire JARVIS' system so that I can have my own hack override I can access Tony's blueprints and make my own suit unbeknownst to Tony. I feel bad about it, but I gotta do what I gotta do, right? Right…?
Fifteen minutes later Tony walks out of the building looking unsettled and relaxed at the same time. "Your moms asleep. Want to get going? I'll drop you off in the morning." Usually I would insist on staying, but I got work to do so instead I stand and stretch slightly.
"Yea, let's get going." We begin walking to the car and Tony digs for his keys in his pocket. The parking lot is silent; the only noise is the city.
"You wouldn't join a gang would you?" Tony's question catches me off guard for a moment. As I slide into the seat of the car I watch him curiously.
"Why do you ask?" I raise an eyebrow at him.
He shakes his hand as he starts the ignition of the car, "Just something your mom said."
"Ah, I see. No, I wouldn't." I reply reclining the seat back so I'm laying down, "I'm too cool to be a gangbanger." I shut my eyes and lay my head on my hands.
Tony snorts, "Oh, what a relief."
I sleep the rest of the way back to the tower, only to be shaken awake by Tony when we've arrived. "Luis? Wake up before I leave your lame ass here."
"Lame?" I croak, "Old man's trying to use cool slang."
"Old man? Tell that to my 3 million Twitter followers."
I roll my eyes, slowly sitting up and getting out of the car. I yawn, "I think I'm gonna go to sleep." I state, rubbing my eyes.
"Me too, Pepper's probably pissed at me… Does it seem like she's always pissed at me?" Tony questions as he walks away from the car.
"It's because you're a bad person." I offer, rather unhelpfully as he enter the elevator.
"Wow, thanks." He says dryly. We travel to our floor in silence and say our goodnights as we part in the hallway. However, as I'm about to enter my room I hear voices on the other side. I press my ear to the door and listen.
"Clint, this is a bad idea," that voice is definitely Natasha's.
"You practically lied for a living, Nat. I gotta do this. You know how hard it was for me. I don't want it to be hard on him too."
"So, you think revenge is the answer?"
"What would you do if you seen the men from the Red Room? Would you let them just walk away, or would you do something about it?" Clint sounds exasperated.
Silence follows his words, confirming his theory. I choose to walk in at that moment to find both assassins sitting a little to close on my bed.
"Hey, no, none of that on my bed. I sleep there." I chastise as I walk toward them. Clint rolls his eyes and leans back on his hands. Natasha stands and paces, hands on her hips.
"We're going to give you what you need to get into the system, but that's it. You'll have to figure out how to use the codes by yourself, but since you have some experience it shouldn't be a problem, and if it is, then we aren't going to help you." Natasha is right down to the point, and, hey, I got to admire that about her.
"Tasha," Clint's voice holds a warning note in his voice.
"No, it's cool. She's right, I'm already asking too much of you." I shrug and collapse on one of the chairs next to the window. "I'll start in ten minutes."
"Tonight? It's like two in the morning." Clint raises an eyebrow at me as I begin to shut my eyes.
"I'm dedicated, I guess. I'll only stay up till about five; I don't know when I'll get another chance."
"We have to go to SHIELD tomorrow with Tony to see Director Fury."
"Who? What the hell is SHIELD?" I crack open my left eye to peer at them.
Clint looks shocked that the words slipped out of his mouth. Natasha hits him on the back of the head and hauls him to his feet, swearing in Russian. "Time to go! Happy hacking, Luis." And with that, they're gone.
I shake my head once more before shutting my eyes again. "God, spies are so fucking weird."
I'm screwed.
I've been staring at the sheet of codes Tasha gave me an hour ago, and I've been stuck for about thirty minutes. I've managed to break into part of JARVIS' system. The half that holds security codes and blue prints for DUM-E and JARVIS himself. Useless, what I really need are blueprints for the suits, but the codes are too advanced. I'll never pass Tony Stark's data frame, and even if I did it would take twelve times longer to get into the right place.
Tony's computer is a maze and I'm only halfway through. I haven't even gotten into his workshop yet. I've been operating from the same security scanner I hacked into my first day here. I run a hand through my hair and let out a frustrated groan. I have to figure it out before Tony wakes up because I know JARVIS will tell if I don't get into his system first. His blueprints are no help because they only tell how to build him.
I don't need another snarky British robot that'll tattle tale on me first chance he gets. What I need is someone smarter than me that knows what the hell he's doing. I practically shoot out of my seat when the idea hits me. I don't know why I didn't think of it before.
I'll never sort through this data base by myself. What I need is JARVIS to do all the technical work, but JARVIS is 100% loyal to Tony. What I need is a robot butler 100% devoted to me. I practically run down the hall to my room. I almost slam into the Ipad looking thing on the wall. I take out the screwdriver I swiped from a drawer in the kitchen earlier and begin prying the screen from the wall. No need to be gentle. I'll fix it soon enough.
With a spark and some serious muscle power it pops off the wall with a loud screech. Wires lie underneath it. A whole lot of freaking wires. I look at JARVIS blue print, and reverse half the wires. I reset JARVIS' voice from the box and reroute his data base. By doing this JARVIS should only be gone in this room, and not the other ones. After what seems like an hour of rerouting and fiddling I press the screen back to the wall using brute force and will.
The screen glows dimly before a screen full of data codes pop up. I grin, "God I'm a fucking genius." I use codes on the paper, making my own simple virus, one that'll override systems at my command. Then I program my JARVIS using the second screen that pops up, probably the one Tony used to make the real JARVIS.
I make sure that only my hand will be able to wake up my system. Only I will control him, and he will only listen to me. I'm making it as loyal to me as JARVIS is to Tony. I go through the voice options (Yes, Tony actually downloaded voices like I used to download ringtones. Must have taken awhile before he picked the snooty British voice I've come to like.) After listening to examples I pick one that sounds deep and smooth (Imagine Lawrence Fishbourne's voice). I probably shouldn't be wasting time on something as stupid as voices, but come on, I do what I want.
Finally, one several final words pop up on the screen just as the sun is rising.
What would you like to name your new artificial intelligence system?
I freeze for a moment. My hair is sticking up every way and my eyes are ringed in dark circles and all I want to do is finish this, but it makes me think. I rub my eyes before a slow smile spreads across my face and I begin to type: Just an Extremely Extravagant and Very Excellent System. JEEVES for short. I hit enter and my screen turns a bright blue before a voice sounds through my room.
"Hello, Sir. How may I be of service?" As the voice rings through my room I collapse onto my eyes, laughing hysterically. I did it. I may have only made him useful in one room, but that would change soon.
"Hey, man." I greet, grinning up at the ceiling. "How are you? You feelin' good?"
"I feel very well, Sir. Thank you for asking," JEEVES replies. JEEVES is different than JARVIS because he is basically a virus. He's overriding JARVIS' system right now, and if I put JARVIS back in control he wouldn't remember anything. JEEVES is fully equipped with a voice cloaker so if he's not asleep and Tony asks for something he'll disguise himself as JARVIS and fulfill the request unless it involves harming me. In ways, he's better than JARVIS.
"Let's begin then. How long will it take for you to spread to the rest of the tower?" I ask, as I strip off my shirt and pants leaving me only in my boxers. I begin crawling under the still tight covers of my bed.
"An hour, sir." JEEVES says, "Should I begin downloading myself now?" I'll be able to control the tower in an hour, I vaguely think to myself.
"Yea, but don't override JARVIS' systems. Only do that when I say. I want you to stay under the radar."
"Yes, Mr. Enriquez." Those are the last words I hear before I pass out.
I wake six hours later at twelve in the afternoon. I try and sit up, but when the sheets are too tight I revert to just sidling myself out of the bed like before. I run a hand through my hair, stumbling over to my mirror to look at myself in the mirror. An imprint of a cross is on my face from where I must have slept on my medallion and my hair is sticking up everywhere.
I sigh before jumping as a voice rings out behind me, "I am now lying under the radar everywhere in the building. I have not been detected."
"Nice job, buddy." I praise him even though he's not really there.
"Mr. Stark has informed JARVIS to tell you that he will be gone until five. He has a business meeting he must attend. Also, he says that there is a charity banquet held tomorrow night. As his son you are required to attend."
"Exciting," I drone sarcastically as I begin to put on a new white shirt with a pair of old ripped jeans. "Open up Tony's shop for me, oh, and can you begin making a new custom suit? You know how right? JARVIS can build them, I think."
"Yes, I am equipped with the blueprints for all the Iron Man suits. Would you like to make modifications to the suit before I begin building?"
"Yep, thanks." I begin making my way to Tony's garage, grabbing an apple from the kitchen on my way. As I reach the floor the door opens for me right away, not even asking for a code. I smirk, "JEEVES, you're a miracle worker."
"That means a lot, sir."
"Please, call me Luis." I say cooly as I make my way to the table. I pull up a hologram of the newest suit and study it. "I need this thing built for speed, man. Make it leaner with a flatter mask to make it swifter." I begin disposing things in the hologram I don't need. "The repulsers will need to be darker, like a black light. I don't need all of New York to know what I'm doing. Keep the weaponry, though, and add a machine gun to the shoulder like War Machine. All guns need silencers, and the phasers got to be dark, maybe white and not red. You getting all of this?" *
"Your wish is my command. Would you like to choose a color scheme?" JEEVES asks as I begin to hear tools working inside a metal tube. I assume that's where the suit is being made. No wonder Tony makes so many, he has to do nothing. A color palate pops up on the screen and I browse it for a second before settling on black and silver tones.
"Sir, I'm afraid you will be making the mask."
I pause for a minute before swearing, "Right, I forgot. Tony always makes them himself." It takes a while to get the shape I want, and even longer to make it look sleek all while wiring up the inside so that JEEVES will be in the suit with me. I add a face trace to the helmet so that I'll find Manny quicker. The whole process takes two hours.
I collapse into a chair by Tony's desk, exhausted. I don't know how he does it all. I reach into my pocket and pull out my phone so that I can call my mom. She answers on the second ring: "Hello, niño, Cómo estás?"
"I'm good. How are you? When are they letting you out of the hospital?" I ask, reclining in my seat as I fit Tony's bracelets onto my hands so that the suit puts itself on me. Seems easier.
"Not soon enough. They want to keep me for another day, and then I'll come home. Your sister is here now..."
My jaw tightens, "Only one, huh? Manny hasn't appeared yet?"
Silence follows, "I don't want to talk about him right now."
I scoff, rolling my eyes, "Okay, well, I think Tony is hooking you up with a place to stay in some apartment close to the tower."
"I'm not taking his charity-," She begins, but I cut her off before she can rant.
"You'll be safer. Please, mama, for me?" I make my voice sound pleading. Don't get me wrong, I really want her to move so that Manny can't get to her before I get to him.
I hear a sigh, "Fine, fine, but only for a little bit."
"Okay, okay, that's all I ask. I'll come tomorrow to help show you the apartment with Tony." JEEVES informed me earlier of T's big apartment idea and I have to say, it might be his best idea yet. As the suit is finally set out and ready to be put on, I stand, "Okay, I gotta go mom. Love you."
"Okay, Luis. Love you." And with that I hang up, I set my phone down and lift my wrists, spreading my legs.
I flex my fingers at the suit, "Okay, come on, hit me." Two lasers shoot out of the wrists of the suit and lock onto the bracelets on my own wrists. I glance at them confused before the whole suit flies at me at once, knocking me off my feet and into the wall. My vision blurs for a second before all I see is black.
I panic, what if I did something wrong? Dammit. Why me? Those thoughts flash through my mind before everything glows and, finally, I can see. I get to my feet, feeling strange covered in armor. My movements feel heavy and I stretch, or at least I try to stretch, but my limbs are covered in metal.
"JEEVES, you there?" I ask, and soon his voice fills my head.
"Yes, Luis."
"Good, be on standby with a fire hydrant."
It takes me another hour to learn how to fly, and after about twelve attempts and one fire hydrant later I'm pretty sure I've finally mastered it. I'm ready to fly tonight. Unfortunately, as I'm in the middle of celebrating, no not with a victory dance. JEEVES alerts me that Tony has arrived back home.
"Dammit, dammit, dammit," I swear as I struggle to get the suit off, "JEEVES! Help!" I yell as claws prod me and rip the armor off me. "Ow!" I cry, glaring at the claws as they rip the chest plate off. As I free myself I scramble out of the room. "JEEVES, put the suit under the radar and take the rest of the day off." I call as I run into the elevator.
In the elevator I crack my neck slightly. I should add cushioning to the inside of the suit. As the door dings open to the lounge I see Tony collapse onto the couch.
"Bad meeting?" I ask casually, walking into the room. Pepper and Tony both jump slightly upon hearing me.
"Eh, all meetings are bad." He replies, sprawling on the couch in Pepper's lap so that his ear is next to her round stomach. He cringes for a minute, "Pep, the baby just kicked me."
"No, it didn't." She responds opening a book on his forehead, "Play nice with the baby."
I watch the strangely domestic seat from behind the couch before sitting on the armrest. "How was your day, Lue?" Pepper asks, and my eyebrow raises slightly. She shoots me an apologetic look, "Sorry, I was trying something new."
"No, it's okay. I like it," I smile at her and she smiles back. Tony has a strange look on his face, one of almost… Fondness. A pain stabs through me. The guilt surges through me. It's like I'm using him. Spitting his hospitality back in his face. No, this is all going to work out in the end. It has to.
"Anyway," I say, clearing my throat, "I pretty much just slept all day."
Tony snorts, "Asshole."
*Charlie Joplin in the fucking house bitches. Ugh, he's so sick and twisted I love it, but he's also a sickening excuse for a human and I hate him so much. Like I hate him, but I love how he's such a complex character. I based how he looks off of Sam Underwood, so if you want to see what he would really look like Google it.
*Ah, Luis' suit. Love that, too. It's also basically a modified version of Tony's Mark 40 suit which is badass. Google the Mark 40 suit if you want to see what Luis' looks like because wow it's pretty cool.
Anyway, here's the new chapter. I hope you like it cause I know it's a lot basically of tech talk, but I thought it turned out good. Plus I've been so excited to add JEEVES cause he plays a big part in the rest of Luis' life. If you have any questions about JEEVES' system just ask because I hope I didn't write it confusing. And tell me how you feel about Charlie, JEEVES, and Anika in the reviews.
Shit's gonna hit the fan soon so Review please! REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!