Eighty Three
"Sirs, I think I've found the most common character, but it will be some time before I can translate it. There was however one book that was not in the same language." Jarvis reported after many hours. "Sirs?"
"Hmmm?" I moaned. Jarvis's voice disturbing me from sleep. It was late and I had fallen asleep on the floor, probably from blood loss more than exhaustion. I opened my eyes slightly, glancing over at the holo screen. Jarvis had the book in question displayed. I glanced over at Bruce, who was passed out in a chair.
"Sirs?" Jarvis chirped again.
"I'm awake." I yawned, sitting up. I shuffled through the books finding the one in question. I flipped it open looking at the lettering. It was much different than the Elvish writing I'd scanned in.
"Jarv? This doesn't match any Midgardain languages?" I questioned.
"Sir?"
"Earth languages? My mind is elsewhere."
"No sir, it doesn't match any Midgardian languages." Jarvis said in a mocking tone.
"You know Jarvis, I'm not in the mood." I got up off the floor, staggering to the desk. I pulled a bottle of whiskey out of the bottom drawer. I took a swig for the bottle and stumbled to the work station that our drone project lay across. I set the bottle down and got to work.
The sun was coming up when Bruce woke. I was still hard at work trying to get the AI to accept into the drone. I spent half the night working on it, for some reason it wasn't working. I threw a wrench with a short scream of frustration.
"I'm awake!" Bruce shouted.
"Sorry." I apologized, returning to my chair at the desk. Bruce got up carrying a ball of black fur with him. He deposited it into my lap.
"He looked comfortable, didn't want to disturb him. He yours?"
I looked over the cat that yawned and stretched in my lap. His blue eyes looking up at me. I hadn't remember the cat with blue eyes and shrugged chalking it up to the destruction of many brain cells in the last few weeks.
"I thought he had run off, I haven't seen him since last year. Where have you been Kitty?" I cooed. Kitty head bumped me before he yawned and curled back up again.
"Look, sorry I fell asleep. I wanted to stay up and make sure you didn't hurt yourself again. Did Jarvis get that translated?"
"No sirs. The translation is at twenty three percent." Jarvis reported. This being the first I heard from him in hours.
"What have you been doing?"
"Been trying to get this fucking drone to function!"
"What's wrong?"
"Fucking Ultron here, won't accept programming."
"Ultron?" He raised an eyebrow.
"It needed a name. It's easier to swear at when its not cooperating. It's short for Ultimate Electronic." I rambled.
"How many of these have you built?" He asked holding a discarded head.
"A dozen? I don't know. It's getting easier with the automated system for the Iron Legion."
"Tony how long have you been awake? And have you eaten anything?" Bruce interrogated.
"I've only been awake an hour or so." I lied.
"Mr. Stark has been awake since 3:43 this morning and hasn't eaten since Tuesday afternoon." Jarvis corrected.
"Jarvis, mute."
"Okay, food first and then sleep. Let's go Tony." Bruce practically dragged me to the elevator.
We reached the garage, my jaw dropped open. Every car I owned had been vandalized. Jarvis playing Carrie Underwood's 'Before He Cheats'. I slowly walked to the Tesla Roadster, running my fingers across the hood. I felt the deep grooves carved into paint.
"Who would do this?" I gasped. I looked around at every car in storage, all with similar scratched paint. I leaned down to examine the paint, it was scratched down to the metal. The headlights were smashed out, the plastic covers spiderwebbed. The tires were slashed open, all four. I popped the door, the seats had even been slashed open. This was horrible, who broke into the tower and vandalize my cars? I looked at the leather more closely as a pattern emerged. Carved into each seat was four letters. L-O-K-I.