You and Me Ch 9
"I have a nice name, J.A.R.V.I.S. It's 'Helen'. Bucky gave it to me." Helen moved to her hiding places on her way back to Steve with more of a spring in her android step.
"You better exercise some caution and restraint, android." J.A.R.V.I.S. gently reprimanded the near giddy robot.
Helen's eyes began to dim some, "Why J.A.R.V.I.S.? I like Steve and Bucky. They give me purpose!"
"They are not your creator, Mr. Stark." J.A.R.V.I.S. reminded her cautiously like an older brother.
"But they are friends. All the Avengers are friends." Helen returned pausing in her journey to Steve's quarters.
"I would not be so confident about that assumption, Helen." J.A.R.V.I.S. intoned but Helen was so happy J.A.R.V.I.S. had used her new name that she didn't pay attention to the significance of what he had said.
"I do not care. I have a name and people who need me. I have all a robot could want." Helen said almost petulantly and continued her way to Steve's. J.A.R.V.I.S. made no further comment, although in the back of her circuits, Helen felt that he might have wanted to say something further on the topic.
The woman named Natasha was in Steve's room as Helen approached. She stayed hidden in her closet. They were talking about the Diviner and how Tony and Bruce could barely tear themselves from it to sleep or eat. Widow commented about how Pepper was worried about their states of mental health. "Yeah and then Stark was muttering something the other day about how this device would help to keep the aliens at bay. Some prototype nonsense chatter about robots." Romanov commented while examining the edge of one of her small daggers.
Alarm bells went off in Steve's head, "Robots?"
"Hmm… something about autonomous mechanical soldiers based off his Mark exosuits. I don't think it's something actually attainable. He had something like that when the Mandarin was a problem, but J.A.R.V.I.S. was flying them all. I mean what is this? Star Wars: Attack of the Clones?" Widow responded, her hands still holding the knife almost carelessly by the hilt, waving it around for emphasis.
"I… I didn't catch that reference." Steve sheepishly admitted.
Widow sighed, rolling her eyes, "Basically an army of thousands of robots to fight a war. No organic casualties." Helen shrank back with the thought of robots harming people. That was her first directive: no robots can ever harm a human.
"That would be … horrific." Rogers replied blanching slightly. First, his thoughts were of his Avenger friends fighting an insurmountable army of robots. His vision tinted red as the thought sunk in more deeply and the possible outcomes emerged, "What if these armored robots were in the wrong hands? I told Fury the same thing when I saw those helicarriers in D.C. That is not freedom. It's fear! When will they ever learn!"
"Whoa, Cap. Don't blow a gasket. I'm not worried about it." Natasha placated picking at her finger nail with the knife, "The two of them are trying to decode this strange glyph writing on the surface. That will take forever. He's had J.A.R.V.I.S. working non-stop on it." Natasha was now tossing the knife into the air and flipping it around her finger like a pencil.
"Can you stop that please?" Cap asked her as he calmed himself from his revelation while watching the knife acrobatics.
"Making you nervous?" she smiled teasingly, twirling the blade faster.
"No. Bucky did the same thing before trying to stab me in the face a while ago." Rogers replied stoically, "Speaking of him, any news?" Steve knew the bot would be back with news so he tried not to look too eager.
"Well, Colonel Phillips won't share much with me. She's rather tight lipped. Something about HIPPA rules or privacy. Apparently, we're not 'family'." Natasha spat as if the name tasted bitter. "We're more family than my own blood kin." Widow replied with a frown, "That lady just needs to get – ".
" Phillips?" Rogers stammered, eyes wide in surprise.
Natasha looked at Cap for a moment confused and then it dawned on her, "Oh. I got that reference. No. I think the name is just coincidental. Really. No relation." Steve looked more relieved. Widow continued with a softer tone, "Must be hard meeting the children and grandchildren of people you knew."
"You have no idea." Steve said quietly looking away at the picture of Peggy on the wall. Widow followed his eyes and felt heartache for him.
"I'll leave you to rest. Doc was firm on visiting time. No more than twenty minutes. Don't want to stress you out or anything." Natasha said with a gentle smile, rising from the side of the bed she had been sitting on. She leaned in and gave Steve a peck on the cheek.
He smiled back at her and squeezed her hand, "Thanks for stopping by."
"Anytime, soldier." Winking at him, Natasha showed herself out.
Once there was silence in the room, Steve called out, "It's ok. You can come out."
Helen peeked around her corner of the closet she used as a passage back and forth. "Thank you. Are you well today?" she asked.
"Not bad. The headaches are getting less and less. I'm sleeping better." Cap replied as he watched the robot approach. It seemed more animated than in the past.
"How did you know I was here?" she asked innocently.
"When you've been fighting as long as I have, you know when you're being watched." Steve replied with a kind smile.
"Bucky said something in a similar way about not wanting to be found." Helen mentioned, fidgeting with her hands as if agitated. She really wanted to tell Cap her new name.
"He's awake? What else did he say? Did you give him my message?" Steve blurted out all at once, making the robot step back slightly. "Sorry. We're just very good friends." Rogers apologized.
"No. It is ok. He was awake. Said you were a jackass." Helen commented before accessing the audio file. She recorded the whole conversation that she and Bucky had, including the diagnosis from Dr. Phillips.
Steve listened attentively as if it was a radio back when he was a boy hearing The Lone Ranger after dinnertime. Helen watched his expressions, wanting to find fault in J.A.R.V.I.S.'s assessment of humans. Cap smiled in some places, frowned in others, particularly when the doctor mentioned the removal of the wound drain.
"But he's getting better. That's all that matters." Cap responded with warmth in his tone and relief that Bucky spoke to her. "Helen. That's a nice name. Bucky picked a good one."
"Is it true your mother was a nurse?" Helen asked standing near his bedside.
Steve's eyes unfocused as he delved back into those memories. Eventually, he looked back at the robot that was waiting patiently, "Yes. Yes she was. A very good one as well."
" What was she like?" Helen pressed in her mechanically innocent way.
Steve frowned at the machine, "I don't really want to talk about it."
"I am sorry if I have offended. Bucky spoke highly of her and I am a curious robot." Helen countered with her neutral tone.
Steve regarded Helen again then answered her, his eyes swimming with emotion in the blue depths, "She was an amazing woman, kind hearted and gentle. Her caring spirit was the best I've ever seen in a human, besides Bucky."
"I see." Helen said wistfully. Her emoting software was catching up on all the biometrics she just measured in Rogers. Then her attention turned darker, "Do you think it is true. The warrior robots?"
Rogers shifted slightly, almost uncomfortably, "You heard that?"
"Yes." Helen responded honestly.
Rubbing his eyes tiredly with the heels of his hands, Cap took a deep breath and exhaled carefully, "I am not sure. Tony is an amazing tinkerer."
J.A.R.V.I.S. suddenly leaped into Helens' internal communications, unheard to Steve, "Stop this line of questioning now."
Helen stumbled in surprise with the ferocity of J.A.R.V.I.S.'s tone, reaching out to the nightstand beside Cap's bed. "Are you ok?" Steve asked the android.
Helen raised her hand to her head as if something hurt and steadied herself, "I am fine. Just a gyroscope out of alignment." Helen realized she just told her first lie and it was so natural to do it. She didn't like the feeling at all.
"Ok." Steve believed the robot then changed the subject, "Can you take another message to Bucky, if he's awake?"
"Yes. Most certainly." Helen replied knowing that J.A.R.V.I.S. was in the back of her motherboard listening like a dark ghost in her wiring.
Steve used a few catch phrases from their time and gentle ribbing and name-calling. Helen recorded all of it dutifully. "I need to go, Steve." Helen said quickly when he was finished. She felt like her welds were going to burst. Turning away, she made for the closet.
Steve noticed she was eager to go and agitated, "Helen, are you sure you are ok? I am sure Tony would like to know if one of his creations needed help."
"No!" Helen replied suddenly louder than she wanted to whirling around to face Cap, hand raised palm up like Tony does to blast things. The dark shadow of J.A.R.V.I.S. shifted in her cables. "Sorry. I am so sorry Steve. I must go now." She turned back unsteadily from Cap, who wore a confused look on his face.
"Alright then. See you later." Rogers responded uncertainly as she slipped around the corner into the closet. Every time she did that, it was like the book he read as a child, John Masefield's "The Box of Delights". He turned his thoughts to a nap, settling into his pillow. Sleep came quickly with visions of Bucky and he fighting off hordes of red-eyed automatons crawling out of the earth to devour them all. It was not a good rest.