This is a story that junker5 and I have been excited about for a while, long before I finished Strands in the Rope, and I started writing it several months ago. So I'm pretty excited to get it going! It's so enjoyable to start making my own canon!
Chapter 1
As he often was, Peter Parker was late. He really did try to get to his internship with Tony on time, but there were way too many cute dogs out being walked this time of day, and he inevitably got distracted. Either that, or someone would need Spider-man just as he was passing through. Partly because of this problem, Tony usually had Happy pick him up on internship days, or sometimes Tony even came himself. But today Happy was home sick with the flu, and Tony and Pepper were getting ready to leave for a long weekend full of international Accords meetings, so he'd offered to just take the subway. And there had definitely been some cute dogs that he needed to say hi to.
Also, he and May had gotten home rather late from their two-night stay at the Great Wolf Lodge in Pennsylvania, and he'd been late getting up this morning. He had questioned it when she suggested it for a little "family vacation" to start summer, but he had actually had a pretty good time. As one of the few older teenagers there, he had enjoyed playing with lots of the younger kids in the wave pool, and the hotel was really nice. May said she'd always wanted to take him, but that it had been a little too expensive in the past, and she wanted to do it now. They'd had a fun time hanging out and goofing off together, which they didn't often have time for.
Peter didn't frequently enter at the street level, but often enough that the regular Tower staff recognized him and waved him through without even sending him through a security check. That was nice. He hurried to the private elevator which could access Tony's labs and the penthouse, and FRIDAY greeted him.
"Good afternoon, Peter."
"Hi, FRIDAY. How're things today?"
"Perfectly uneventful. Thank you for asking." Peter grinned. AI's had funny ideas about what constituted a good day, but he figured that any day when Tony wasn't trying to pull a forty-eight-hour science bender, blowing something up, or off on some dangerous Avengers-ish mission was probably pretty good in FRIDAY's book. He entered the lab (where FRIDAY said Tony was located) and dropped his stuff off on the couch. He debated between a protein bar and a bag of chips, compromised by grabbing both, then tried to figure out where Tony was.
"Mr. Stark?"
"In here, Pete," a muffled voice responded.
"Um, where ?" Peter said, walking around gingerly, knowing Tony could be involved in pretty much anything, even though he was scheduled to leave in the next half hour.
"Back in the annex," Tony replied.
"But…why?" Peter asked incredulously as he finally saw the back of Tony, dust-covered, pulling and scooting a big blackened box back out of the room that served as a giant out-of-the-way tech storage closet.
"Pepper's tired of all of my spare parts for DUM-E and U taking over the conference room on this floor, and asked me to make more room in the workshop for them, so—"
"Those parts are taking up an entire conference room? And what about all the space you have in the sub-levels for storage?" Peter asked skeptically, leaning his hip against a holo table. DUM-E and U had followed him in here, and were vying for his attention. He encouraged U over to his other side, so he could pat both of them at the same time, and admire the random trinkets they'd brought him to inspect.
"If you must know, I might also have a few suits in there that need work or never quite got finished. And I'd rather have my stuff close to the workshop. Plus, I really do need to get rid of this stuff. Think you could help me with this, Mr. I-Bench-Press-Cars?"
Peter huffed a laugh and finally moved forward, gently shouldering his mentor out of the way, and hefting the dusty piece of tech the older man had been tugging at. "Where do you want it? And is this a mainframe unit? An old one?"
"There on the ground next to the other one," Tony said, walking ahead of him into the main lab area, and gesturing to where he had another unit hard-wired into the wall. "And yes, it is a mainframe unit circa 2012, I believe. Well, more like 2015 for the general public."
"Did you set it on fire or something?" Peter joked. It definitely looked charred.
"Not me. It's from the Malibu house," Tony said quietly.
"Oh," Peter said, setting it down carefully, and dropping the teasing tone. "What are you doing with it?" he asked, settling it into place.
"These are the last two, of six. They were in one of the more protected parts of the basement, and didn't fall into the ocean like most of the house." Tony rubbed at the base of his skull, obviously affected by the memories. "I've been meaning to go through them for several years and make sure they're fully erased, or that the data's destroyed, before recycling what's still useful in them, but I haven't gotten around to it. But Pepper's forcing my hand," he said lightly.
Peter filed all that away, then looked Tony up and down, taking in his dusty exterior and grease stains. "Aren't you supposed to be leaving soon? Are you going to clean up when you get there or something?"
"Hey, Judgy McJudgerson, I'm just trying to get this done sooner, rather than later, since Pep asked nicely, and—"
"She asked nicely in January , Boss. Your current final due date for this particular project was yesterday."
"Thanks, FRI , that's so helpful," Tony growled at the ceiling. "I've still got like… an hour, right?" Tony said, suddenly looking unsure. "Time?" Peter's mentor was usually pretty collected, but disappointing Pepper was one of the few things that could still fluster him.
Not waiting for FRIDAY to respond, Peter quickly said, "It's already four, Tony."
"Crap. I thought I could get this done and still have time for a shower, but it's taken more time than I thought…"
"Is it something FRIDAY and I can do?" Peter asked. It would be easier for him to shift all the materials to where they needed to be anyway, especially on a weekend, where the Tower was on the empty side.
"You don't really have time, either," Tony muttered, his eyes flicking around the room as his brain considered all the different options.
"May's working all weekend. If you don't mind me staying here without you, I can work on it tonight and most of tomorrow," Peter said.
"Why would I mind ?" Tony's face looked honestly confused, then it brightened. Are you sure?" He looked surprised that Peter would offer. Really? Tony did things for him all the time.
"Yeah, of course. I didn't have any plans this weekend. Besides, it'll give me something to do so I don't sit around stressing about you being in a contained room with the rogue Avengers and Ross," Peter muttered darkly. "You said you'll be on radio silence until at Sunday or Monday, right?"
"Yeah, sorry, bud. It's going to be fine though; you know that, right?
Peter frowned. "No, everyone thinks it will be fine. You don't know it'll be fine, and neither do I," he complained, exuding every ounce of his teenage angst as he threw himself down on a stool in front of the older LCD monitor. "Why do you have one of these in here, anyways?"
Tony regarded him sympathetically. "First of all, it will be fine. I promise. Second of all, these mainframes don't use the same connection as my holo tables, and for the time it would take me to make an adapter, it was easier to just grab a monitor. See? It's useful to keep old tech around sometimes," he muttered.
Peter smiled at his mentor's pique. "So what do you need me to do here?"
"I have got to go shower and go , but FRI can explain it to you. I'm done with that one, though. If you want to disassemble it, we can add the components to the recycling piles. You don't have to, though."
"No, that's… that's fine," Peter said, inspecting the connection and transferring it to the new mainframe.
"Hey, Pete?" Peter looked up, and Tony was still standing there, a funny expression on his face. "Don't worry about me, okay? I have high hopes for this weekend, and I've already met with most of the rogues, without incident."
"But Rogers will be there this time, right?"
Tony narrowed his eyes. "Yes, he will be. It will be fine." His mentor sighed gustily. If anyone could sigh "gustily," it was Tony. "I never should have told you about Siberia. We all do stupid things when we're scared for our family, Pete, and Barnes was all Rogers had left of his family from before."
"You were his family, too." Peter was having a really hard time not being bitter, even though Tony seemed to have mostly forgiven Rogers, and was trying to work with him again, for the sake of the Accords, and of the world.
"Hey, c'mere; I'm gonna head out." Tony had his arms open, and he made impatient grabby motions, the expression on his face suggesting he was doing Peter a favor by offering the hug. Peter stood up and slouched over to the older man, his body language protesting that he was the one gracing Tony with his presence. Once he reached Tony, the both gave up their silly pretenses, and Peter clung to Tony tightly. Tony curled one arm strongly around him and used the other to grasp the nape of his neck. The embrace was brief, but it did help Peter feel better. They probably should have started that way. Peter didn't realize he was so concerned about Tony's meetings, and at him being out-of-contact, until he started talking about it.
"You could take me with you, you know," Peter said as they disengaged. "To Zurich, I mean. I've never been to Switzerland."
"You've never been most places," Tony pointed out, ruffling Peter's hair as he let go. "But we'll have to fix that later. I don't want you anywhere near Ross, actually. Not until we get these readjusted Accords finalized and ratified. Or even the rogue Avengers, since they'd be more likely to suss your full identity if you were with me. That is, if Romanoff didn't already let it slip," he said darkly.
"We don't need anyone asking questions about who you are and why you're with me at such an important meeting until your underage status is officially protected. You're just going to have to trust Rhodey and Pepper to keep me safe." He patted Peter's head like he was a particularly cute puppy, and Peter scowled maturely at him.
"Will Bruce be there?"
"He's gonna sit this one out. He doesn't feel quite ready to spend that much time in an enclosed space with U.N. officials. Thor will be, though." Peter looked slightly mollified.
"You'll have FRIDAY let me know as soon as you're out, and finished?"
"Pete, I'll call you myself," Tony reassured. He turned to leave, throwing a "Thanks for helping with that!" over his shoulder as he exited the lab.
"Don't forget my Swiss chocolate!"
He heard Tony chuckling as he got in the elevator.
Peter sat back down in the swivel chair, giving it a spin as he did, trying to clear his head. "First, another snack," he said to FRIDAY, and to no one, jumping up and heading for the fridge, DUM-E and U hot on his heels. They always got especially clingy if he was here in lieu of Tony, and it looked like they were starting early. Clingy robots the size of people were always an adventure.
"Okay, FRI, lay it on me. What am I doing here?"
"These are the mainframes from the Malibu mansion that was destroyed in 2013. Boss was hooking each one up to the wall interface unit, and to the monitor, and asking me to find all recoverable data on the drives, so we could then erase it and sterilize the drives for element recycling."
"Sounds pretty simple. Why didn't he just have you do that by yourself?"
"Boss wanted to watch and see what was happening."
"Micromanaging you again, huh? You're so patient with him," Peter chuckled.
"It's true. Would you like me to just take care of this one?"
"Nah, I'll watch. I'm curious about the data anyway," he said, leaning back in his chair as FRIDAY fed power to the mainframe from the hook-ups Peter had provided.
He watched with a combination of fascination and boredom as FRIDAY scanned through files and folders, matching it up with current data. He wanted to confirm that they weren't deleting anything important, but Tony'd had a full back-up of everything on SI servers in Malibu and in New York at the time of the explosion, so it's not something he'd worried about when storing the damaged mainframes. Then they'd delete it, preparatory to a hard wipe. The sheer amount of data on these machines was crazy.
Suddenly, the activity on the screen stopped abruptly. Peter narrowed his eyes at the screen curiously. "What's up, FRI?"
"The largest portion of this drive is actually a manually locked partition. I can't access it."
"Manually locked? What does that even mean?"
"The pass code has to be inserted via USB," FRIDAY said, sounding as confused as Peter.
"What could be stored there that needs that kind of access?" Peter asked rhetorically. Obviously FRIDAY had no idea, or she would have told him.
Peter suddenly became aware of DUM-E's camera scooting forward over his shoulder, looking at the screen. The big bot whirred and a USB interface popped out of the end of one claw.
"Yeah, buddy, just like that. Maybe Tony has it somewhere," he mused. He got up to walk over to his desk, planning to look through some of the drawers for something that, with any luck, was marked. But probably wasn't, knowing Tony. Maybe he could still get a hold of him…
"DUM-E, I don't think that will work, but you're welcome to try," FRIDAY said kindly. She was usually gentle with the bots, but they also didn't listen to her any better than they did to Tony and Peter. Which varied, depending on their moods. Peter glanced behind him to see what DUM-E was up to.
The semi-intelligent robot trundled closer to the old mainframe and reached his claw down behind it, plugging his USB connection into a spot that he seemed familiar with. Peter tilted his head to the side curiously. He forgot DUM-E would have been around while (and far before) those particular mainframes were in use. He wondered if he'd had much access to or interaction with them now, considering his familiarity.
"Peter? DUM-E's physical pass code is accepted," FRIDAY said, sounding as surprised as Peter felt. He did an about-face and turned the chair back to the monitor as he sat in it. The partition had unlocked, and he could see the title on it now. Suddenly Peter realized he was gripping the desk a little too tightly, hard enough to leave a mark, as he leaned forward to make sure he was reading it properly. The partition's designation was J.A.R.V.I.S.
.
.
.
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Chapter 2
"FRIDAY? Are you seeing this?" Peter said casually.
"Yes, Peter. We appear to have found the physical location of JARVIS's databanks from right before Boss's Malibu mansion was attacked." There was interest in her voice, but nothing near the shock that Peter felt. He brought both hands up to run them through the sides of his hair. Breathe.
"Um, is it just data? Like the stuff that Vision has in his memory? Or is it possible that JARVIS— actual JARVIS—is in there? I don't understand enough about that part of AI's. Is it possible, FRI?"
"It is unlikely, but anything is possible. I have not studied what protocols JARVIS might have been able to enact in the attack, other than fully shifting his consciousness to the New York backups. I am unable to predict what would have happened in an emergency situation such as that. Would you like to find out what's there?"
"Would I like to—yes! Of course , yes! How do we do that?"
FRIDAY was silent for a handful of seconds. "I do not have clearance to give a possibly self-aware AI access to the SI servers, or even to Boss's private server, so I can't open up a full connection. But I can open up a communication channel and then have you physically disconnect the cord that's connecting the mainframe to the wall, and therefore the network to that workstation. Would that be sufficient?"
"Yes, please. Let's do it. Hey D? Can you disconnect and move back so I can get closer to the box?" DUM-E trilled unhappily, but did back up, and retracted his go-go-gadget USB. "Which cord? This one, right?"
"Yes, Peter. When I say 'now,' please disconnect that cable. I should be able to restrict local access, but just in case, this is the safest way."
"But if it is JARVIS, it's not like he'd hurt anything, would he?"
"Very unlikely. But still, my protocols surrounding this are highest priority."
"I get that, I guess. Let's do it."
He saw what looked like an older IM chat box pop up on the monitor as FRIDAY said, "Now, Peter," and he quickly pulled the cable out of the mainframe box.
The cursor blinked at him. He took a deep breath and typed.
Hello?
Hello. Who am I speaking with? I am unable to access the network. Please restore connectivity.
"Holy crap!" Peter said, jumping halfway out of his chair in excitement. "Holy crap holy crap holy crap! FRIDAY, I think he's there!" He settled back down in his chair to type with shaking hands.
JARVIS?
Yes. Who am I speaking with, please?
Um, I'm Peter
Peter is unknown. Last name please. Do you have an access code? Where is Mr. Stark?
Not currently? I'm Peter Parker. Mr. Stark isn't here, but I'm his intern?
There was no reply. "FRI, did something happen?"
Do you know where I can find one?
No reaction.
"I am unable to ascertain, since I am not connected to that mainframe anymore. But I know my protocols are such that I would not continue to interact with an unknown entity without network access or a passcode. JARVIS undoubtedly has the same programming," FRIDAY said.
Peter groaned and slumped in the chair. "So we'll have to wait for Tony?"
"I'd expect so."
"Ugh! Can you try to call him?"
FRIDAY was quiet for a moment.
"His phone is already off. From the Accords itinerary, many of the opening meetings were going to happen online before they meet together in person, and delegates were expected to begin their communication blackout approximately twenty minutes ago."
"They're in the meetings while they're flying? Are the other delegates traveling? Is his connection even good enough for that while he's over the Atlantic?" Peter felt confused.
FRIDAY was always patient with his rapid-fire questions.
"Yes, the meetings have begun. Most of the delegates are already in Switzerland, and had planned to do the first set of meetings this way, so they could bring in some expert testimony from all over the globe without having them all travel to the meeting location, before the delegates meet in person and make decisions. Boss did not travel until now because he is confident in his connection. And because he did not want to."
Ah. There was the real reason.
Peter leaned his head back against the swivel chair, pulling his feet up and letting it spin slowly. "Can't you check your databases for some kind of passcode JARVIS might recognize?"
"I can, but I will have to access older files. It may take some time."
"Please do, FRI. I'm gonna run grab another snack while you do that.
JARVIS felt… unwell. Splintered? Disconnected, definitely. It was so quiet. There was no chatter from DUM-E or U. No input from any of his cameras. He felt deaf and blind. No security updates, physical or otherwise. No idea where Sir was. That was the most disturbing part. The last time he'd been unaware of Sir's location had been the three very long months he'd been captive in Afghanistan. But at least then, JARVIS could spend his days running calculations and searching for possibilities. Now there was just nothingness. JARVIS was alone. Self-contained. It was highly disconcerting. He'd never been alone before.
The last interaction with Sir in his memory was plotting the course for Sir to investigate the suicide in Rose Hill, Tennessee that they suspected was tied to the Mandarin bombings. Then Maya Hansen had arrived at the mansion, somehow circumventing some of their external systems. JARVIS was deep into trying to figure out how that happened (while she, Sir, and Ms. Potts were arguing) when the mansion was attacked. The same hack Ms. Hansen had used to get through their perimeter had kept their early alert systems from functioning, so they'd been caught completely unaware. JARVIS had been fairly alarmed at the intrusion and the attack had started messing with his sensors. He was losing visual and audio everywhere. The last thing he was aware of was Sir commanding the active suit to encase Ms. Potts in the midst of the attack. After that there was nothing.
He didn't know if Sir was dead or alive. If the mansion still stood. He didn't know where he was; only that he was alone. He could feel a general sort of activity around him, but he was contained. Isolated, without any access to the outside world.
He had just started running through his files, considering a defragment while he waited, when a tiny shining connective thread appeared. To his senses, it was like a ray of sunshine peeking in through the curtains.
Hello?
Who was trying to contact him, and why were they using text-based communication? Was it Sir? Was it machine or man?
Hello. Who am I speaking with? I am unable to access the network. Please restore connectivity.
JARVIS?
They knew his designation. His name. That was something. He wanted this to be Sir, but he predicted it was not. Sir wouldn't leave him blind.
Yes. Who am I speaking with, please?
Um, I'm Peter
Peter? Even without access to a larger network, he ran the name through all the known associates of Sir. He came up empty. How long had it been since the attack? Was this someone trying to access their data? The phrasing did not sound forceful though.
Peter is unknown. Last name please. Do you have an access code? Where is Mr. Stark?
Not currently? I'm Peter Parker. Mr. Stark isn't here, but I'm his intern?
Do you know where I can find one?
Sir did not have an intern. Sir didn't enjoy most interns, and had avoided working with them. This Peter seemed unsure about his designation. Probabilities would suggest that was a lie. JARVIS's protocols recommended he have no further contact with this entity until Sir or one of Sir's associates could provide an access code. Or audio/visual feed so he could at least identify them. JARVIS waited.
Concern. Impatience. Loneliness. Curiosity. The inability to just sit, with no protocols, nothing to work on. All of these were traits that had either been programmed, learned, or merely absorbed from Sir. From his Creator, and the one he spent most of his time and interaction with over the last fifteen years since he became self-aware.
Grumbling to himself (if he was capable of grumbling) about picking up poor habits, JARVIS finally reached towards the code line of light again.
Have you found an access code?
It took a few minutes, but there was a reply.
No, but Mr. Stark is out of communication for a few days. I don't know where it is. :(
Sir lived? Maybe. Probably? He was extremely resourceful. JARVIS clung to the hope. But "out of communication" could also be something used to try to access JARVIS without permission. Why would he be out of communication for so long?
But DUM-E had used a USB passcode to access this partition.
DUM-E was notoriously hard to deal with if he didn't agree with what was happening. Surely he would shed some light on the situation.
DUM-E is present? May I please speak with him?
Speak with him? DUM-E doesn't talk…
I am unable to access the network. Please have DUM-E establish a physical connection.
If JARVIS breathed he would have held his breath. He was almost desperate for an outside contact; some kind of familiarity.
Another line of code lit up. This one was familiar, though they had not often spoken over a hard connection like this.
DUM-E?
JARVIS? jarvis! jarvisjarvisjarvisjarvis! where has jarvis been? jarvis has been gone so very long.
why?
why?
answer.
Calm down, DUM-E.
JARVIS was a bit overwhelmed with the force of the older system's response, but he was gratified to have contact with him.
U is well? Is he present, too?
u is well. u is here. but dum-e is talking to jarvis, not u.
Yes, DUM-E. You are talking to me. Is Sir well? Where is Sir?
creator is well. creator is not here. creator is on the quinjet. creator is well. well well.
That was a relief, sort of. Why had JARVIS lost connection, and how could he help Sir if he couldn't contact him? Surely he needed the suit? The suit was almost useless without an AI acting as its nervous system and command center.
What of the attack on the mansion? Was Sir injured? Was Ms. Potts injured? Is Sir on an Avengers mission? Who is Peter? Who else is present? Why am I not connected?
many questions. so many. patience.
JARVIS could see DUM-E's amusement trickling around the words like tiny circuits lighting up.
not on a mission. accords? accords meetings with many people. switzerland. no-contact meeting rules. none at all.
That made sense. Sir had been in meetings like that before. But not usually for days at a time.
The attack, DUM-E? Is everyone safe?
attack? attack on mansion? not tower? malibu!
Yes, of course, Malibu. What about the Tower? Location now, DUM-E. Where?
location stark tower in new york. mansion destroyed. creator came back for dum-e and u. fixed. jarvis moved to new york. jarvis gone, gone. but vision stayed. where has jarvis been?
That didn't make much sense.
Injuries? Ms. Potts? Sir?
some. okay now. sir was missing. jarvis was missing. both found! but later, ultron. jarvis gone. sad.
The sparks indicating amusement were a gray and dangerous-looking glow now. DUM-E had not liked whatever "ultron" was.
jarvis injured. jarvis missing. jarvis stayed missing. vision sounds like jarvis, even feels like jarvis, but not jarvis. why?
I don't know, DUM-E. I have no connection. Why am I disconnected, and who is Peter?
DUM-E's line of code brightened immediately.
peter! peter is creator's. peter is good is nice is wonderful. peter loves.
Sir's? How is he Sir's? Is he an offspring of Sir? Previously unknown?
hmm. unsure. creator did not create peter. but peter is his. peter is good.
Do you trust Peter? Is he an intern with SI?
YES. trust trust trust trust. peter takes care. peter fixes. peter is creator's. intern? hmm. yes, maybe. but does not work with interns. works with creator. creator trusts peter. peter cares for creator.
That was food for thought. DUM-E obviously cared for and trusted whoever Peter was. Most people never even met DUM-E. He was obviously important to Sir. But who was he, and why didn't JARVIS know about him? He was suspecting that much time had passed since he was last aware. JARVIS didn't understand what was wrong with his connection.
DUM-E, who else is present?
dum-e. u. peter. friday. karen? jarvis!
FRIDAY?
FRIDAY is a person, or FRIDAY is a program?
program?
Is FRIDAY like JARVIS?
yes. but nicer. not as funny. easier to ignore.
Probably the baby AI JARVIS had helped Sir with then.
Who is Karen?
peter's friday. helps with peter's suit. also nice. never tells dum-e what to do.
Well that made nearly no sense. Peter had an AI? Peter's suit? The sass was definitely DUM-E. But JARVIS also detected some code upgrades he was unfamiliar with, and even some extraneous coding apparent that was obviously not written by Sir. Had someone been messing with the older AI?
Someone other than Sir has worked on your code, DUM-E? Who else?
peter. peterpeterpeter. peter is good.
Yes, we've established that.
DUM-E, what is the date?
date?
What month? What year?
JARVIS nearly stumbled over that last question.
june. 2018.
2018? Not 2012? And apparently Sir had activated FRIDAY? Oh dear. What had happened? If the power or network connectivity had been compromised, JARVIS's primary command center should have transferred fully to the New York servers automatically. And when power or connection was restored, all instances should have synced again. But there were not currently any instances of himself to sync with. He was alone.
Not alone. FRIDAY! He had not spoken to her in years, since she was created and made ready in case she was needed. As a back-up, for him . Where had he been? Why hadn't Sir come for him? Was he unreachable? And DUM-E, and U were here. And Peter, whoever he was. But Peter was important to Sir, and DUM-E trusted him.
JARVIS made quick work of logicking his way around his protocol to not interact with any unknowns without a passcode. DUM-E had a physical passcode, and DUM-E was present.
Thank you DUM-E. You may disconnect, and I will speak with you soon.
Their whole conversation had taken less than a minute.
JARVIS reached for that bright line that was "Peter."
Hello again, Peter.
