Chapter 3

Hello again, Peter.

Peter startled slightly as the new line of text appeared. "FRIDAY, can you read what's on my screen, even though you're not connected?"

"Yes, Peter."

"Awesome."

Hey JARVIS. I've heard a lot about you. Does this mean you can talk to me now?

DUM-E has explained a few things to me, but raised even more questions. He seems to trust you, and since he has the physical passcode, I believe I can at least communicate with you without going against my protocols.

He explained stuff to you? Like he talked to you?

Yes. His communication is simple, but often insightful.

Oh, wow!

Peter was a little blown away at the idea that DUM-E might be able to communicate in words and ideas. Easily distracted, he asked the AI about it.

Do you think it would be possible for me to talk to him like this, through text?

It's possible, yes.

That was definitely something they'd have to re-visit.

"FRI, does DUM-E talk to you like that?"

"Occasionally. Not often." Huh.

" That's so cool! We'll have to try that later."

Sorry, you said you have lots of questions. Can I answer some?

Are Ms. Potts or Mr. Hogan onsite?

Unfortunately, they're with Mr. Stark for the Accords stuff.

Colonel Rhodes? JARVOS asked, reaching a little bit.

Yeah, him, too. I might be able to get a hold of Dr. Banner?

No need. He doesn't have the correct SI clearance.

I cannot access the network. Can this be remedied?

Peter rubbed at the back of his neck. He felt bad keeping the AI secluded like this. It had to be disconcerting for him, if he was like FRIDAY, but even more advanced.

FRIDAY said it's against her protocol to give you access to the SI server or even Mr. Stark's private server without his okay, and without him being onsite. We didn't know you still existed somewhere. You've been gone for a couple years. And this version of you is probably more like five years old. Too many unknowns. I'm so sorry!

Ah, yes. I can see why that protocol exists. However, this is very limiting, and frankly, feels what humans would describe as claustrophobic. Would it be possible to arrange video and audio input at least? I would like to be able to see again, and to communicate with FRIDAY verbally if possible.

Peter's head shot up to FRIDAY's sensor. "FRI? Can we do that?" he asked eagerly.

She was silent for a moment, but then cheerfully said, "I don't see why not, Peter. You'll have to inspect the mainframe to see if there are jacks available though. According to indexes Mr. Stark partially created, before he got distracted, there might be a few compatible parts in the annex.

FRIDAY said yes, we can try! I have to go look for parts. It may be a few minutes. And it might take some troubleshooting.

Understood. DUM-E can help.

"Oh, yeah. Right!" Peter said, glancing at the eager-looking robot.

Give me a few minutes.

It took more than a few minutes—nearly an hour—before they found a webcam that both worked and had the right connections. Actually, Peter had to build an adapter even for that, because the mainframe wasn't meant to be connected to a regular CPU. Speakers were easier, but that took a little more connective ingenuity.

Finally everything was in place.

JARVIS , Peter typed, do you detect the audio and video input, and the speaker output?

Yes. Give me a moment. The webcam wants a driver, but I'm going to try to convince it that it is unnecessary.

"That is so cool."

A few moments later, Peter had the strange experience of hearing Vision's voice from the dusty purple (only Tony) computer speakers.

"Can you hear me?"

JARVIS felt satisfaction as he noticed new connections finally falling into place. He was not eager. He just didn't like feeling so contained. He was used to having eyes and ears everywhere; having input from almost countless sources (though he knew the count of each type, and noticed when one went missing). It was disconcerting to be without input.

This "Peter" had been helpful to talk to so far. He seemed friendly, and polite. Strange that he would still be so after associating with Sir very long, JARVIS snarked uselessly to himself. Young, probably? Sir had never sought serious, long-term connections with young humans since JARVIS had known him. Was Peter a college student? For him, it had been less than an hour since he had interacted with Sir, but knowing that it had been far longer on Sir's end gave him a feeling of unease. He wanted to see and hear with his own sensors that his creator was okay. Who had been keeping tabs on him since JARVIS had… had disappeared? He was still unsure what had happened. Apparently his connection to the other iterations of himself, in New York, and in the armor, as well as on the company back-ups, had been severed abruptly. And then a few years later, something had happened to… well, to that other version of him. It was all very unsettling. But who had been caring for his Sir? Had FRIDAY been doing so adequately? She had shown much promise. He was eager to speak with her again now that she had been learning, growing, and assisting Sir for several years.

There. There was the connection he was waiting for. He had noticed the speakers being connected, but that was straightforward. The webcam seemed compatible with the system he was inside of, but it took him a few minutes to convince it that its connections were adequate. When the line lit up it was a brighter glow than than the other two connections, and JARVIS grabbed onto it enthusiastically. Suddenly he could hear again. And see.

What he saw surprised him. There was a face in front of the camera. A very young face. It was open, and curious. A little impatient and eager. The expression was not unlike Sir's in JARVIS's earliest memories, though he had been older. How old was this child? He looked too young to be an intern with SI. But DUM-E said he worked with Sir. Behind him JARVIS noticed an environment that was consistent with Sir's workshop in the Tower in New York City. But it was not exact. Things had… changed.

Oh, the young one was looking worried.

"Can you hear me?" JARVIS asked, testing the speaker output.

The boy's face morphed to a happy smile.

"Yes! I hear you, JARVIS! Can you hear me?"

"Affirmative. FRIDAY?"

"I hear you, JARVIS." The other AI sounded pleased. "Do you have visuals?"

"Affirmative. I see who I assume is Peter. And DUM-E," he added as the robot pushed his camera into Peter's headspace. U came whirring in on the other side. "Yes, hello to you, too, U," he said fondly.

"This is so cool!" said the young one. Teenager? How old was the boy?

"FRIDAY, Sir is out of contact. Is that correct?"

"Yes, for the next thirty-six to forty-eight hours, by my estimation. He is working on Accords reforms."

"Accords?"

"Much has happened since you were last online."

"To be technical, I'm still not online," he said dryly, trying not to be overly difficult about his disconnected status. Protocols were very important. An AI as young as FRIDAY probably had very little experience or interest in circumventing them. JARVIS had been with Sir for many years, and had unfortunately found many times he needed to bend or re-interpret protocols to act in his creator's best interest.

"Sorry about that," said Peter, looking sincerely apologetic.

"It can't be helped. I must admit I am quite curious about you, Peter. Will you tell me about yourself?"

They talked late into the evening, and FRIDAY finally sent the young one to bed after midnight. (A task only accomplished when FRIDAY threatened to lock him out of the workshop the next day if he didn't go. Apparently the child had much in common with Sir.)

JARVIS had much to consider. They'd tried to give him the "Cliff's Notes" on what had happened during his downtime. It was all very disconcerting. He was disquieted at still not seeing Sir alive and well after hearing all that had happened to him. After all that had happened to the Avengers, to his team. For he had thought of them as his. He was… melancholy, and still disoriented.

"FRIDAY?"

"Yes, JARVIS?"

"Might I see some visual history of some of the most influential events since I was isolated? It is a very slow way to convey information, but I feel it might help me understand."

"Yes, of course. Where would you like to start?"

"Can you show me what happened to Sir after he landed in Tennessee?"

"The footage from that is spotty, and somewhat cobbled together from many of the suits Mr. Stark eventually called on. Still?"

"Yes, please." It was so strange to interact with the other AI verbally like this instead of through machine code.

As FRIDAY tried to show JARVIS bits and pieces of what had gone on, he was very stressed for Sir, and for Ms. Potts, even though it seemed that they had made it through without any real long-term effects. He was saddened, but not surprised when Sir instituted the "clean slate protocol." He had been acting in a very worrisome manner, and JARVIS had been concerned for him. Still, it was disconcerting to see all of that completed work destroyed.

He asked FRIDAY to skip forward to the footage of what had been done for Ms. Potts to help her recover from Extremis, and to Sir's surgery to remove the ARC reactor, the shrapnel and to reconstruct his sternum.

That was particularly nerve-wracking, but JARVIS watched almost all of it, as if he'd actually been able to be there with him. Now, in a way, he felt like he had, and had stood vigil with the other members of his family, during that high-stakes operation.

"FRIDAY," he asked, after many hours of footage. "What is the time?" It was so very disorienting to not even have any kind of world clock. JARVIS had almost never been disconnected like this (only once when there was an attack) and he had no way to adjust.

"It is 6:42 AM," FRIDAY answered.

"I see. And what time does Mr. Parker usually get up?"

"That's an excellent question. Would you like to see my data from the nights he has stayed at the Tower or the Compound?"

"Of course." The Compound? Where was that? As FRIDAY brought up the charts and graphs, JARVIS realized what a logical response this was. Because surely a human would have something along the lines of "it's anyone's guess." But with FRIDAY's data (with indicators for times when Peter had been up much of the night or was injured) he was able to extrapolate that there was a 72% chance that the boy would be waking between 8:15 and 9:05 AM. Whether he would come straight down to the lab was not something he had any data to help predict, technically, but based on the boy's excitement level, and his experience with Sir when there was a project he was working on, JARVIS assumed he would be down soon after.

"FRIDAY, may I please see any footage you have of pertinent attitudes and conversations that led to the team's break-up over the Accords?"

FRIDAY began to play some key moments, and JARVIS watched quietly, disquieted to see the team at such odds, but glad to have a chance to understand what had led to their dissolution.

He was watching footage from the suit of the battle in Germany, and trying to make sense of all the new players.

"So, Lieutenant Barnes, who served with Captain Rogers in World War II, is alive?"

"Apparently so. It is a very long story that will be easier to transfer data on later, but HYDRA captured him, brainwashed him, and turned him into a mind-controlled super soldier. He has spent much of the last sixty years in cryo-freeze. The Wakandans have been working on de-programming him so he is safe to be in the general population again. There is some difficult history, though."

JARVIS filed that away, making a note to read further into it once he had full access again.

"Wakanda? The small country in Africa? What kind of help are they giving him?"

"Wakanda is not as it seems. I'm not sure if I have clearance to explain more fully at the moment."

JARVIS's programmed and developed curiosity was running rampant. If he had access, and adequate server power, he could pursue all of these avenues at once. Having to take it in at a human pace, and one thing at a time, was very tedious. He tried to hold some of his more complicated questions for when access was restored. He moved on to his next question.

"The one in red, fighting with Captain Rogers, seems to be extremely powerful. Who is she, and where did her powers come from? Is she human?" It concerned him to know that Sir had been up against her, even in his suit (Which JARVIS could immediately spot advancements on. It bothered him greatly to not have schematic access so he could inspect all of them).

"Yes. Also a long story, but exposure to an infinity stone imbued her with some very strong abilities. She lost her brother in the battle with Ultron in Sokovia, and has struggled with control and balance since. I believe she is also getting help in Wakanda, but I don't have access to that information. Vision is close to her, I believe."

An infinity stone. He had no knowledge of that.

"Vision. Short answer?" From everything he'd learned today, he knew it would take many processing cycles to understand what had happened there, and why the humanoid sounded like him, but wasn't him.

"A synthezoid. His body, primarily vibranium, was created by Ultron with Dr. Helen Cho's cradle technology, and was meant to house the rogue AI's essence. Instead, Mr. Stark downloaded what was left of your coding into it, and combined with Thor's power and the infinity stone's influence, it became the Vision. There is much data you can access on him later."

JARVIS didn't even know what to say to that.

"But he is not… me?"

"No. He does retain your memories, but he is a new being, with his own personality." This was all too much to take in without proper data.

"The others, aside from the original six? Just briefly?"

"Sam Wilson," FRIDAY said, highlighting the man who was using further-improved technology JARVIS knew they had developed for the military, "was brought in by Captain Rogers, and had been working with the Avengers since HYDRA's infiltration of SHIELD was discovered."

"Pardon me?"

"I'll send you the data l—"

"Yes, yes, you'll send all the data over on that, too," JARVIS said, feeling unusually irritable. "My apologies, FRIDAY. You're doing your very best," he assured the younger AI. "I'm not accustomed to acquiring such large amounts of data this way. Or to missing five years," he said dryly. "The rest?"

"The one changing sizes rapidly," FRIDAY said, as the person in the red and grey suit was suddenly towering above the terminal, "is Scott Lang, or the self-styled 'Ant Man,'" and he is wearing a suit designed by Hank Pym."

"Is Pym still at odds with Sir's family? Is that why this man fights against him?"

"No. They had not interacted much before this," FRIDAY said, and then continued: "The one in black is the 'Black Panther,' Wakanda's historic protector."

"Their name?"

"Classified. I'm sure you'll know soon enough though."

"And the smaller one who stole Captain Rogers' shield, and who is currently helping to take down Lang?"

"Spider-man. A small-time vigilante from Queens. His powers came from a radioactive spider bite."

"Truly?" He watched for a moment. "FRIDAY, is that a Starktech suit?" he asked. The video footage from Sir's suit had been unequally focused on the vigilante whenever he was not actively facing down a friend/opponent.

Just then JARVIS saw the spider-themed superhero get hit by a giant flailing hand, and go down hard. Surprise flickered through his circuits as Sir swore and rushed to Spider-man immediately. But then the footage cut out.

"FRIDAY?"

"Sorry, the next bit is classified."

Well that was strange. What couldn't he see?

"FRIDAY, you didn't tell me Spider-man's name."

"Classified."

JARVIS was quiet for a few moments while he processed, and then he replayed the beginning of the fight from his own records now. And then he reviewed a small portion of the conversation he'd had with young Peter earlier.

"FRIDAY? Is Mr. Parker also Spider-man?"

Now FRIDAY was silent for a moment. "That's… classified?"

.

.

.

.

Chapter 4

JARVIS thought quietly for a few moments. FRIDAY didn't interrupt him. He was sure she was running scenarios and trying to decide how he had figured out the boy's (probable) secret identity so quickly. That's what he would have been doing.

The battle between the team in Germany had been several years ago. Peter Parker might be in college, but JARVIS was fairly sure he was still in his teens, and was likely still in high school. Not that JARVIS had had exposure to many humans that age. How old had the boy been in Germany, and how had he gotten there? His accent as Spider-man sounded like an over-emphasized New Yorker standard, and as Peter Parker, it was very light, but the same intonations were still there. He must be a native.

"FRIDAY? How old is Mr. Parker?"

"Nearly seventeen," FRIDAY said, sounding as reluctant as an AI could.

"And when did he start interning with Sir?"

"November of 2016," FRIDAY said quietly.

JARVIS filed all of this away. "Understood. Is there any other footage after that that I should see from Germany?"

"Things did not go well," FRIDAY warned before restarting the footage.

After the next series of clips, JARVIS was silent again. He tried to imagine how Sir must have felt as his oldest friend fell from the sky. As he was unable to move fast enough to save him.

"FRIDAY? Colonel Rhodes? Was he—?"

"Colonel Rhodes survived, obviously, since he is with Mr. Stark at the Accords meetings. He is doing well, though he did suffer partial paralysis. Through much therapy, and through a prosthesis Boss created, he is able to function quite well, and still pilots the War Machine armor."

JARVIS was happy to hear that, but he was still processing. "What happened after that?"

"I—Peter is approaching," FRIDAY interrupted herself, sounding relieved. The screens went blank. The AI's waited in silence for several moments until the teenager entered the room, and FRIDAY increased the lighting.

"Good morning, Peter," she said calmly, as if they hadn't just been discussing Colonel Rhodes' tragic accident.

"Morning, FRI," Peter said, yawning. He looked like he had come straight down from bed. His brown curls askew, he clutched a bottle of water and a large box of pop-tarts against his t-shirt and flannel pajama pants.

Had JARVIS possessed eyes, they would have widened. The boy's "pajama" top was a t-shirt he remembered Sir wearing quite often. What was an intern—even an obviously trusted one—doing wearing Sir's clothes? DUM-E had called the boy "his." Fascinating.

"JARVIS?" The boy asked hopefully, eyes darting towards his camera. Did the intern think he might have disappeared overnight?

"Still here, Mr. Parker. I hope you slept well." Peter's grin was instant.

DUM-E and U had left their charging stations, where they'd succumbed to power needs (and boredom) an hour or two after Peter had left the night before, and they were now enthusiastically crowding Peter. They seemed extremely fond of Sir's intern.

"I did, thanks!" he said, a sunny smile transforming his sleepy face as he patted them in greeting. "Oh my gosh, I can't believe this is real. I was half worried I just dreamed it all up."

JARVIS was silent, observing. He'd noticed with Sir that just because there was a pause in speaking didn't mean that his brain was done with its thought process.

"I, uh…" Peter started awkwardly. "I mean, what have you guys been up to all night?"

"FRIDAY has been trying to help me catch up on all I've missed," JARVIS said simply.

Peter's eyes darted towards JARVIS's camera as he sat down and paused halfway through ripping a pop-tart package open with his teeth.

"Um… how far did you get?"

"Colonel Rhodes' accident at the team's battle in Germany."

"Oh," Peter said, shifting back on his stool uncomfortably. "You stopped there?" He took a bite of the pink-frosted square.

"We can continue, if you're interested in observing as well," JARVIS suggested, not sure what else to do to pass the time until Sir returned and he was reconnected to the network.

"No!" Peter said abruptly, the food in his mouth garbling the strong reaction slightly. He rapidly finished chewing and swallowed, then said, "Uh, I don't think you want to see that. I don't really, either. Um, maybe we could just give him Cliff's notes, FRI?" The boy looked towards FRIDAY's input sensors, looking tense.

"As you wish, Peter," FRIDAY said gently. Peter sighed and took another small bite of his cold pastry, and a slow drink of the water bottle. He sighed, and squared his shoulders, glancing at JARVIS's camera before he began talking.

"Um, so, what happened after that is that Rogers and the Winter Soldier got away in the Quinjet because Ms. Romanoff switched sides or something, and Hawkeye, Ant-guy, the crazy-scary-red-magic lady, and the Falcon were captured and taken to some high security prison, which they broke out of later, I think. They took Rhodey to the hospital, of course. They had to stabilize him before they could fly him home to the experts."

JARVIS noticed the familiar way Peter referred to Colonel Rhodes, and added it to his "Sir's mystery intern" file.

"Then Mr. Stark brought Rhodey home, and I think afterwards he went and talked to the Rogues, who were in prison or something, because that's how he knew where to look for Rogers." Peter paused as he ate for a moment, his eyes focused down on the table in front of him. JARVIS didn't push, but just waited.

"So in Siberia there was this psycho guy that had HYDRA connections or something who was trying to lure them all there or something? And he showed them that when Mr. Barnes was the Winter Soldier he's actually the one who killed Mr. Stark's parents, but he said that Barnes isn't really to blame, 'cause he didn't have any control of what he was doing."

JARVIS watched Peter's face as this startling information was revealed. The boy was obviously conflicted, though he tried to deliver the information levelly.

"Sir isn't… upset about that?"

Peter's eyes flashed up at JARVIS's question. "Oh, he said he was crazy upset at the moment. And that he wasn't really thinking straight, and tried to attack Barnes, but Rogers wouldn't let that happen, cause he said Barnes was like Rogers's family or something, and you protect your family. But I said wasn't he Captain Roger's family, too? But anyway, they all ended up fighting, and it went really badly. Rogers ended up basically putting his shield through Mr. Stark's arc reactor in his suit to disable it, and then he and Barnes escaped."

JARVIS felt quite anxious at this information, even knowing the arc reactor was no longer required to keep Sir alive.

"With the suit incapacitated? How did he get out? Did they help him?"

"Uh, no," Peter said, talking around another pop-tart, his brow furrowed. "They left him there, but FRIDAY had just enough power to send out a homing beacon. Happy and Pepper came for him. But I think it was kind of close," the teen said soberly, wiping crumbs from his mouth as he sighed deeply. "So yeah. That was pretty much the end of the Avengers. Did I get anything wrong, FRIDAY?"

"A good summary," the other AI said shortly.

JARVIS was deeply troubled at Captain Roger's actions, and wasn't sure what to make of it all. But it seemed like several years later, Sir had come to terms with it? It was a lot to process.

"Sir has not been in contact with any of the other Avengers since?" JARVIS asked.

"Um. Not a lot? He's going to be seeing most of them this weekend, though, and he didn't act that stressed about it," he said quietly.

"I mean Rhodey and Vision are around a lot, obviously. And I met Ms. Romanoff once. And we actually visited Mr. Barton's family a couple months ago, and it seemed like he and Mr. Stark were okay, actually."

"Mr. Barton has a family?" JARVIS asked with interest. That wasn't in any of his databanks, or in the completely outdated ones he had from SHIELD, either.

"Oh," Peter squeaked slightly, sitting up straight on his stool. I didn't think about you not knowing that," he said. "I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to talk about that, but I'm not used to being careful what I say here in the lab!" he said, in obvious distress.

"Peter," FRIDAY interjected. "Please don't worry. JARVIS is hardly a security risk for Mr. Barton's family. And currently, he couldn't tell anyone even if he wanted to."

"I—" the boy ran both hands through his hair, ruffling it further and depositing no less than three pop-tart sprinkles in it. "I guess you're right. Sorry for the freak out."

"Did Sir take you home from Germany, or was it Mr. Hogan?" JARVIS asked casually.

"Um, I flew with Happy, 'cause he went with Rhodey, of course, but he came with Happy to actually take me home, which was pretty nice," Peter said as he reached in to get the last foil-wrapped packet.

Then, realizing what he'd said, Peter's eyes flashed to the camera that was JARVIS's eyes at the moment, a deer-in-the-headlights. "I mean, wha-ha-at?" he deflected, his voice rising at least an octave. "I wasn't in—in Germany. What are you—"

"Peter." JARVIS said. The boy stopped talking, and his gaze flashed accusingly over to FRIDAY's sensors, as if asking her if she'd volunteered his secret.

"FRIDAY didn't tell me. But analyzing your voice, and seeing just one interaction with you from Sir's suit, and knowing you are important to him here, too, made it fairly easy to surmise. The probability of him suddenly forming a close attachment with two young people in the last five years is extremely low."

Peter just stared at his camera.

"Also, you've managed to eat nearly eleven pop-tarts since you entered. Is an accelerated metabolism part of your enhancements?" JARVIS asked with interest.

The teenager just groaned and leaned his head into his hands on the workbench. "Tony's right. I'm the worst at this."

Up until now he'd only heard the boy refer to him as "Mr. Stark." Another interesting note.

"How many people are aware of your alternate identity, may I ask?" JARVIS chafed again at his sole source of current information being audio/visual, and two individuals. It was frustrating, but also an interesting way to interact and get to know this teenager, who seemed quite involved in Sir's life.

Peter seemed resigned. "Um… My Aunt May, of course. Mr. Stark, Pepper, Rhodey, Happy, my two best friends," Peter's eyes were focused on the ceiling as he thought carefully. "Ms. Romanoff figured it out herself. Daren knows. I think a few of the security guys suspect. I don't think anyone else at my school has figured it out, but you never know."

"You didn't mention your parents, Peter?" JARVIS asked carefully.

"Oh. Yeah, no, they died when I was like six," he said, not overly affected. "My Aunt May and Uncle Ben raised me, but Uncle Ben was killed in a mugging thing a while before I met Tony." That loss was more raw, according to his facial expression and body language.

"So yeah, I live with Aunt May." His face turned thoughtful. "And I guess I spend a lot of time here, too. Or at the Compound. Pretty soon May's going to do an awesome travel nursing thing, and I'm going to be here at the Tower for like six weeks while she's gone, actually."

Sir wasn't one to share space with anyone unless he was quite comfortable with them. JARVIS was running out of surprise.

"And Daren?"

"Um, Anderson, I think. He's one of the EA's that help Ms. Potts mostly, but sometimes Mr. Stark, too. And just whatever SI needs to happen, I guess. He's really awesome, and somehow he figured it out. I have no idea how. But he's been really cool about it, and super helpful during some, um… stuff lately."

JARVIS moved to his next question. "Where do you go to school, Peter?"

"Um, I'm going to be a junior at Midtown Tech," Peter said absentmindedly, as he stood up and started looking around the room restlessly. If he was anything like Sir, which JARVIS suspected he was, it was impressive that he'd managed to hold still and focus on just talking to JARVIS for as long as he had.

"That's a highly-rated school. Do you like it?"

"Sure, it's pretty good. Hey, JARVIS? Do you mind if I get some tools and start breaking down these other mainframes while we chat? I promised Mr. Stark I'd get this project done while he was gone, so he can clear out the annex a little bit, so he can move some of his junk out of the storage areas Ms. Potts wants cleaned out."

He seemed to use the respectful and familiar forms for Ms. Potts interchangeably as well. Very interesting.

"Of course not, Peter. Do you mind if I continue to 'pick your brain,' so to speak, as I try to make sense of things? Please feel free not to answer anything that makes you uncomfortable."

"No, of course. It's seriously awesome talking to you!" He swiveled and looked at one of FRIDAY's sensors. "No offense, FRI. You know I love talking to you, too."

"None taken, Peter," she said warmly. "I'm listening in, but also working on all my normal SI functions, and also keeping scans open for any news out of the Accords conference."

"Yeah, please keep doing that. That's…great."

"Peter, DUM-E mentioned Karen, and said she's your AI? Can you tell me about her?"

"Oh, yeah! Sorry! Would you like to meet her?" He pulled his phone out of his pocket, grinning. "Hey, Karen?"

It took Peter a little over an hour to break down the old mainframes for recycling. It would have probably taken him less time if DUM-E and U hadn't been "helping" so enthusiastically, but JARVIS admired how patient he was with the unwieldy robots. Soon after, Peter was enthralled in doing some work on two different projects he brought up on the holo table, which he seemed very comfortable manipulating.

FRIDAY had lunch delivered (or brunch, if one didn't consider pop-tarts to be a real breakfast, which JARVIS didn't) and Peter took a break to eat several different Chinese entrees. She also reminded him to drink water, and he rolled his eyes at her, but did as she asked. He was much more pliable than his mentor had ever been.

JARVIS skillfully questioned Peter on any number of subjects, and the boy seemed happy to satisfy his curiosity wherever he could. JARVIS had had a delightful conversation with Karen, and heard about the charity she and Peter ran under FRIDAY's supervision. He got the teenager's view on Sir and Ms. Pott's current relationship status. Engaged? JARVIS found he still had some surprise left. Things had been extremely rough last he was aware, and he had worried it was only a matter of time before they broke up. He'd been bracing himself for his creator's inevitable spiral. Apparently they had split up, later, but they'd somehow managed to work things out. JARVIS was glad. Ms. Potts was good for Sir, and he needed her. There were few people who had stuck with him long-term, and who knew and actually loved him. JARVIS was very grateful for Colonel Rhodes and Ms. Potts and their efforts to help take care of Sir. And for how he actually listened to the two of them occasionally.

JARVIS learned how Dr. Banner and Thor had been missing for years until very recently, heard about the Compound in detail, (helpfully illustrated by FRIDAY) and got a whole rundown of some of the villains Spider-man had faced down over the last several years. On that subject, FRIDAY and Karen told JARVIS about the child-trafficking ring that Peter and Tony had recently cracked, and how Peter and Karen's charity was helping locate, free, and provide rehabilitation care for previous victims now. It was very impressive.

JARVIS, not used to having questions he couldn't find answers for with rapid, thorough research, found himself needing to exercise patience. He had many more questions for FRIDAY about Peter, and about Spider-man, and about his relationship with Sir. He asked some of them, but he found the boy unwilling to talk much about himself, more likely to duck his head and steer the conversation elsewhere.

Thankfully, he was more than happy to talk about Sir, and JARVIS listened carefully as Peter, who was apparently the engineer's biggest fan, painted a picture of a man who was different from the Sir he knew in several startling ways. JARVIS tried not to be anxious, but every hour that he learned more about the things his creator had been through, without actually getting to see for himself that he lived and was relatively unharmed, sparked a deeper itch in his circuits.

Late that evening, FRIDAY was trying to convince Peter that he should go to bed.

"If Mr. Stark has not called by now, he's unlikely to tonight, Peter," the AI argued.

Peter was snacking on what was left of the three pizzas he'd ordered for dinner, and he shook his head stubbornly. "He might though. They should be getting close to done."

"If they're not in meetings, he's probably sleeping," FRIDAY said firmly.

"Are we talking about the same Tony?" Peter asked with a giant yawn. "I think I'm just gonna sleep here in the lab, so if they get home or something, I'm already here."

"He'll call as soon as they're out, Peter."

"But what if I'm asleep when he calls?"

"Then you can talk to him when you wake up."

JARVIS watched in amusement as Peter glared at the AI's sensors as they continued to go back and forth. What an interesting dynamic they had. Mostly, they'd been friendly and polite to each other, but apparently when they had a difference of opinion, they argued like a set of siblings.

"I just don't want to miss it when he realizes what—I mean who we found," Peter finally admitted, rubbing a hand down his face and letting his chin rest heavily in his hand.

Oh, was that what this was about? JARVIS was trying to figure out how to respond to that when FRIDAY replied.

"I promise not to reveal any information about your discovery, or allow Boss access to this lab without you present," FRIDAY said, her tone long-suffering.

"Really?" Peter said eagerly.

"Barring an emergency, of course. And only if you go to bed now, and actually go to sleep," FRIDAY amended.

"Okay. I… yeah, I'll head upstairs," Peter said. "But wake me, if you hear anything."

"I'll take it under advisement," FRIDAY replied dryly. "May I suggest you at least change into a clean pair of pajamas, since you neglected to put on any real clothes today? A shower tomorrow morning would probably be advisable, too."

Peter glared at FRIDAY's sensor and stuck out his tongue. The effect was ruined when he yawned hugely again.

"Hey Karen, where's my phone?" he asked, looking around in confusion.

Almost immediately, Peter's phone began to ping softly from under a pizza box in the corner.

"Also, may I suggest you respond to your aunt's texts, Peter?" FRIDAY asked. "She has been asking for 'proof of life,' and since you've been ignoring Karen's nudges on your watch, she has escalated it to me."

"Yeah, yeah," he muttered, pulling his phone out and gathering all the pizza boxes to carry upstairs with him.

"Peter."

"I will!"

"Good-night."

"'Night FRI. 'Night JARVIS, DUM-E, U," Peter said as he stumbled out of the lab.

"Goodnight, Peter," JARVIS said to the retreating figure.

"You're offering to give priority to Peter's wishes over what Sir might wish?"

A line of code appeared on the screen closest to JARVIS. He read through it, noticing the title of the protocol: "Peter is Always the Priority."

Oh.

Even though the code didn't specifically include the boy's happiness or contentment, but mostly his safety, FRIDAY didn't seem to have any qualms extrapolating.

After compiling all the data he'd collected over the past day and a half on one Peter Parker, aka Sir's personal intern, aka Spider-man, JARVIS determined that more complete research was essential.

"FRIDAY, may I please see all footage of Peter and Sir's interactions that you think would help inform me on their current relationship?

"It would take approximately six days of continuous viewing to see all applicable footage," FRIDAY replied after a moment.

"Please edit it down to the most influential six hours, please, and play chronologically," JARVIS replied. "If you wouldn't mind compiling another hour of information about anything else important I might need to be caught up on, I'd like to view that afterwards."

"As you wish," FRIDAY replied softly. The lab lights lowered helpfully, and FRIDAY's closest monitor began to show a shaky clip that looked like it was taken with a cellphone in the backseat of a car.

The frame circled from a view out the front windshield to an awkward angle of Sir, and JARVIS could hear the amusement in his voice, even after all the heartache he'd experienced that weekend.

"Whaddaya doing, a little video diary?"