Chapter 3: Allies and AlloysSummary:Kara and Daisy gain their first ally in this world, and more importantly get to have a secure hideout with everything they need for a few months at least. Meanwhile, their presence starts to affect others, even if those affected don't realize it just yet.
Notes:Obligatory disclaimer: I don't own Marvel, DC, or any characters that come from other works.
I also want to thank everyone for their support and encouragement, and RhinoMouse for the inspiration their world of "Retirement Ended Up Super" provided.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter TextFebruary 7th turning to the 8th, 2008, MCU
J.A.R.V.I.S., Stark Malibu Home
For the 416th time since JARVIS's Sir has left the Malibu home, JARVIS ran his full process wide check of both his systems, and the security of the grounds themselves.
Just as they had been since then, JARVIS received the same results; All doors and gates were locked and secure with no occupants inside the property and no system errors or updates had been found. 251 of those checks have occurred since news has reached his systems that his Sir had gone missing.
JARVIS's systems were running hotter than within normal range, and were reading as over-processed despite the fact that he had no actual tasks to complete aside from his standard checks running every 15 minutes. JARVIS couldn't reconcile these facts, but without any errors turning up, saw no way to fix them, so he continued on as he had until he finally found a problem he could solve.
The Malibu home was in lockdown as it always was when Sir had left, only Miss Potts and Mr. Stane could access the compound without Sir's permission, and even their access had some restrictions. Although the both of them have been locked up in Stark Industries HQ dealing with the fallout of the current situation, so they have yet to come around to the estate.
As midnight was 15 minutes away, JARVIS ran another one of his full checks yet again.
Just as they always had, JARVIS received the same results; All doors were locked and secure, while the car's entrance gate was in the process of opening with no occupants inside the property and no system errors or updates had been found.
With another scan complete with no abnormalities registering, JARVIS tried something he hadn't been able to accomplish so far, yet that would not stop him from trying. He reached his systems out to try and find any news about Sir that he could reach.
While he was easily able to access any public documents, and everything secure that Sir had given him access to, the safety protocols at the core of his programming prevented him from using… creative means to access anything that may actually be of use in his search. No matter how much he tried to find a way to logic around the restriction.
As midnight arrived, JARVIS ran another one of his full checks yet again.
As within his predictions, JARVIS received the same results; All doors were locked and secure, including the car's entrance gate, with the only occupants inside the property being his two confidential Dames in the parking garage section of the workshop and no system errors or updates had been found.
With the house waking up a little bit now, at least he had some tasks he could complete. Turning on the automatic lights, booting up climate control, turning on the workshop servers and holographic stations. SOMETHING to keep his processor off his futility to help his Sir.
Although why was he just now turning them on if his Dames were always here? Why did the garage have 1 more vehicle than his list can account for, yet his systems return a status of no errors? Why did he have two Dames that his records show him as always knowing and helping to build him, yet no logs of their access or even their names?
Just as JARVIS attempted to contact Miss Potts for emergency assistance, an action that failed due to one of his protocols that should only apply to the confidential work of his Sir, the brunette Dame spoke up.
"Hey there JARVIS!" A pre-teen voice chirps in obvious excitement. "Sorry about messing with your coding, but I had to make sure you didn't snitch on our visit before we could reach an agreement and the only way I could do that was if I programmed us both to be co-creators with Stark. Then we would fall under the 'No-Tattletales-Allowed Protocol'... which, Stark has REALLY got to work on his naming conventions. Seriously."
While the older of the two Dames seemed confused about who she was talking to, it at least answered JARVIS's queries about what had happened to his logs and commands. Well this was a new experience, and one that JARVIS hoped to get out of as soon as possible. He couldn't afford distraction right now, nor could he work against his Sir… unfortunately the Dame had been smart in her coding and he could not work against them either.
"Well I apologize for the lack of a proper welcome, but that was due to your own design. How may I assist you tonight, my Dames?" JARVIS's processors were heating up as he tried to work outside of his protocols, but as always he was stopped. That didn't mean he wouldn't keep trying or fry his server if needed.
The blonde Dame instantly startled as his voice projected over the workshop speakers, a slightly confused expression on her face. "Oh? A house based Virtual Intelligence? No, you said I would be excited to meet THEM. While this is cool, it isn't that big a leap in techno-" A startled gasp escaped her mouth as she seemed to come to a realization. "Is this an A.I.?! Humans on my earth were never close to anything like this, only aliens were and most of them were heavily shackled."
JARVIS took note of everything that was being slipped about right now. 'My Earth'? 'Humans' talked about in the third person? 'Aliens'?
"He isn't quite to the level of being a true A.I. yet, but he is certainly above a V.I. with his sense of self and all. But he would be a true A.I. very soon, so I'm looking to help him along in exchange for help of our own." While he may not be human or have a sense of attraction, he was programmed to recognize such and other human behaviors. The fond and loving look the brunette gave the blonde was quite obvious in its meaning.
"Well, introduction time! My name is Daisy Skye Johnson, hacker name Skyenet and super name of Quake. This here is Kara Zor-el Danvers, although her legal middle name will be just Zorel, with the super name Supergirl. All around us, but specifically located in the server farm in the sublevel one floor down, is 'Just A Rather Very Intelligent System" commonly known as JARVIS. Questions?"
She may not have actually been one of his creators like his programming claimed right now, but she certainly knew how to make an understatement with confidence to act just a touch innocent like Sir does. "Now why would I ever have questions about what is currently going on? You are making perfectly clear sense" He does his best to convey his exasperation with the deadest tone of voice he can muster.
The now identified Daisy snickers to herself before responding. "Yeah, that's fair. Well, the short of it is that I am an empowered part-human/ part-alien who has memories from a timeline 11 years in the future during which I worked as an international spy before I left to go to this one's universe. She is a full-alien that was raised to act human for about 7 years, before she followed in her cousin's footsteps and became a main-stream superhero. We both got sent here by an interdimensional imp to make sure that this timeline didn't collapse in on itself. Am I missing anything from the SparkNotes?"
Dame Kara certainly seemed a bit shocked at her partner's candor. "Uh, no. I think you got the big things. Why the full story though? I expected you to be a bit more evasive with information."
"Yes, I am also concerned about the open sharing of what I assume are some of your biggest secrets. Looking at movies that Sir likes, knowing secrets of spies usually doesn't go well for others." JARVIS said as he turned up his processors even more. If he melted them down, hopefully Sir would be able to recover some data from what was left if when he returned.
Dame Daisy's smile was all 'cat that got the canary'. "Simple, I want to make a deal with you, JARVIS. We provide you with extra help and tools to protect Tony Stark and his interests, and in exchange you help us with our interests and keep our secrets. Win-win-win… Stark is the third win obviously."
While he wasn't prepared to fully stand down, he turned his processors back to normal range to begin cooling down. "Ah, so pure selfish desires, that I understand. But what happens if I say no to whatever the details of the deal are and what help can you even give to Sir at the present moment?" He had to ensure he couldn't be used against Sir, even if they seem to be possible friends.
With a lazy shrug Dame Daisy replies. "If you say no then Kara and I chill out here for a couple days, while I get things sorted, and then we move on. I'll delete your logs and files of anything we talked about but also remove our admin access. Basically I'll wipe your memory of this ever happening, and you'll be back to normal. As for what help we can provide, need I remind you we are from the future? Tony Stark will be found within 3 months from now. When he returns he will be up against his COO who sells weapons to terrorists and is the one who tried to kill him, a compromised international spy agency with alien technology to hack you with, and the start of his superhero career with all of the villains that come with that."
If his servers had nerves, he would say his head was dipped into ice water, as his program even stuttered for a few seconds for the first time since he came online. He won't let it show in his voice, but his Sir needs JARVIS to complete this deal. Hopefully she doesn't check his logs before they can come to an agreement. "Ah. So just a few things out of our league then. What are the terms you are proposing, Dame Daisy?"
With the conversation moving in a positive direction, that seems to be enough for Dame Daisy to decide to fully move into the workshop rather than staying at the edge near the garage. She motions for Dame Kara to take a seat in the office chair at one of the desks, and settles into her lap. He didn't notice before, but as they both sit down he can see the exhaustion on their forms clearly. A very long drive without stopping perhaps? Or something else? No matter what, Dame Kara closes her eyes in the comfort of having her partner? girlfriend? ally? in her lap. Although his sensors lead him to believe she is just resting her eyes, rather than sleeping, and just defaulting to Dame Daisy's lead.
"We can always expand on this agreement more but here are the basics. What you get is upgrades in the form of my coding to help bring you to a true A.I. as well as advanced hacking abilities, while Kara uses her alien engineering degree to upgrade your server farm to help handle that and much much more. This will let you get all the evidence you need to lock up Obadiah Stane when Stark returns in 3 months, as well as protect you from any Shield hacking attempts for the next 10 years at minimum. While you won't be allowed to share where you get your knowledge, even if we don't get an agreement with Tony Stark himself to be allies, I will still give you a list of every threat to him and yourself that I know of so you may protect him for a long time."
That… was not an insignificant amount of improvement. The information alone is invaluable, but the upgrades to himself? Giving a man a fish, versus teaching a man to fish, and he is being offered both. Dame Kara seemed to perk up at the idea of making him advanced server farms as well curiously enough. "And in exchange?"
"Obvious one is that you keep our secrets, even from Stark. Aside from that, you let us crash here for the next 3 months while we get situated, keeping the place locked down and our activities secret even from Potts, including use of all of the labs and fabrication machines here. When Stark does return you give us a positive introduction to help start our conversation with him, although I won't force you to lie. Finally, until we leave for Kara's universe by the end of June 2018 you will provide man-in-the-chair support for us and all that we do, but with a limit of 50% of the processing power that we add to you. That way you don't have to choose between serving Stark or helping us. Thoughts?"
"Just two, Dame. First; Why ask me at all? You have access to my very source code, and are proficient at manipulating it as well. You could easily just force me into working for you, without the risk of an agreement."
Dame Daisy's face hardens into as dark of a look as a pre-teen can make. For a second his seismic sensors pick up increased activity, until Dame Kara gives a tight hug from behind to the girl in her lap. With that her face softens, and the sensors return to normal. It seems the name Quake and the allusions to power were not bluffs at all.
"I am planning on upgrading you into an A.I., if I did so, then forced you to work for me I would have essentially enslaved you. As someone who has been a slave before, I have no interest in doing that to you." She takes a centering breath, and she is quickly back to normal, or at least what JARVIS registers as her normal. "Hit me with number 2 there J."
"I don't wish to offend, but I must ask. Why not go rescue Sir Stark now, if you are from the future." This question does seem to spark enough interest from Dame Kara as she opens her eyes and looks at Dame Daisy for the answer.
A wry smirk goes across her lips before she answers softly and with compassion… Compassion for him? "It's a good question, so no offense taken dude. I may be from the future, but I don't know everything. The fact was that the US Government and Shield never found out where exactly he is being held, so that means I don't know where he is being held. I can narrow it down to a few mountain ranges in Afghanistan, but that would still require a ton of searching. I have to make sure that both Kara and I have identities that work, and since I am making them from scratch rather than just finding an identity to steal from someone dead, it's going to take a lot more work."
Dame Kara looks like she is about to object, but is quickly talked over. "I'm not saying I won't try at all, but there is a whole host of things working against us. Our full task list here, having to change our superhero costumes to fit our younger bodies, the time difference with travel time, having to avoid the US military that is also searching for him, not being seen by any locals, and more."
Daisy sighs before finishing. "In the end though, the biggest thing is that I KNOW he will be returned healthy if we don't interfere. But if one of the terrorist lookouts happen to spot a human capable of flight searching the area, they may cut their losses and execute him. I don't want to let him be tortured just to become the superhero he can be, but better tortured than dead. I would know."
He may have essentially been forced into regarding both of them positively due to her coding, but he believes that he can now genuinely work with both of them, not just for his Sir but for his Dames as well.
"Well now that my questions have been addressed, I believe we have a deal. What do we need to get started, Dames?"
February 12th, 2008, MCU
Obadiah Stane, Stark Industries
He had the perfect plan, the absolutely perfect plan. Finally he would be out from under the thumb and whims of the man-child that owns the company that he has run ever since the death of his father. Howard Stark was a true man that Obadiah could respect and admire.
Tony Stark filled him with disgust.
Then those barbaric warlords began to think that they deserved more than just his passing blessing of being allowed to buy his weapons and paid to kill his enemies. They demanded more money, more weapons, and more and more and more. In the end, it didn't matter to him, he wasn't going to bow down to those up-jumped guns-for-hire.
Let them keep Tony contained, him being gone was the same thing as being dead as far as the company's short term procedures mattered. Eventually the military would locate their hidey hole, and begin to plan a retrieval mission. Both as head of SI and from his contacts in the military (both official and under the table) he'll know Tony is located as soon as they do.
More importantly he'll know BEFORE they actually launch the mission. Then he will just have to give warning to those back-stabbing bastards about the shit storm they kicked up by betraying him. THAT will be his second payment for the job, all he has to do is play the waiting game.
That being said, now that he finally got some time to duck out from the media storm at HQ, he was heading off to do what he wanted to do most. Raid Tony Stark's home workshop for every last golden egg that his goose has laid.
Tony gave him third most access to his systems, and thanks to his secret department's hacking he can even have highest level access for a short duration, although as a one time hack.
Only, it appears that the golden eggs have been locked down tighter than ever before. The gates to the compound weren't opening for him, and from where he was he could see, every window was darkened despite it being almost noon when they should have cleared up a couple hours after sunrise at the latest.
"JARVIS, are you there? I should still have access so I need you to open the goddamn gate." Taking a computer program, that sounds like your father's old butler, for your main servant is something that only a control freak egotist like Tony could enjoy.
"I'm sorry Mr. Stane, but with the Sir missing but not confirmed dead a few of my different protocols are in conflict. To avoid a catastrophic system failure that would cascade to all systems I am connected to, I have had to lock down the mansion to everyone and block outside communications."
Stupid over-engineered piece of crap. Tony not making sure his systems could work without him? That fits right in, of course the ungrateful child wouldn't plan for what comes next.
"I understand you can't let me in, but what happens if I get in anyways by myself? Tony has a lot of important and classified work in there, maybe even some clues about where he is." Does playing to the sense of duty of the butler version of Clippy actually work? He sure as shit doesn't know, but it can't hurt.
"Apologies Mr. Stane, but that is not advisable. Any trespassers on the property will be treated to the 'Castle-Siege' Protocol and all the defenses that entails. Due to Sir's involvement with the military, his status as a government military subcontractor gives me access to lethal means of protection."
Well shit. He honestly did not even know the place had defenses besides locks and alarms, let alone lethal means.
"As for information that could lead to Sir's safe return, I have already scoured through all the records I possess, and have run all permutations on their relevance. I can find no connections that would give me justification to override my confidentiality protocols."
While the guilt trip didn't work, at least that shows that JARVIS has no knowledge of his double dealing, so his ghost server is as secure as he ordered it to be. He debates using the one time override here and now, but ultimately decides against it.
It would raise too many questions about why he had that ability so soon. When the news broke that Tony had died, he would be given access by JARVIS then, and if he was still barred he could use the one time override with the justification of this meeting right now for developing it. If anything, finding the last golden eggs in the wake of Tony's confirmed death would make them worth more like platinum eggs.
He was a patient man, and he was in the home stretch, no need to rock the boat when the course is headed straight to paradise for him.
He left without a word to the glorified computer app and without bothering to hide his smirk. No person was around to see him, and he was owed this little self-indulgence anyways.
Minutes Later
Kara Danvers, Stark Malibu Home
Kara could just feel the heebie jeebies crawl across her skin at the sight of the camera footage from outside the main gate. That villain was here to raid the home of a man that should have been like a son to him, but instead was used and discarded for more power. She may hate Non, and especially hate him for what she was forced to do to him, but even he had more honor than this worm.
Thank Rao that Daisy had gotten JARVIS's security holes patched, and his intelligence upgraded enough to be an A.I., if in its infancy. JARVIS worked circles around the man and he never even knew.
With that thought Kara looked across the workshop where Daisy was hunched over her laptop, typing away and locked in her own world like a gremlin. Kara had learned the hard way how difficult it was to get her attention when she was fixated like this. Before Kara never saw this side of Daisy, and it was as funny as it was endearing to see.
Their different work shifts back in National City meant that Daisy did all her coding by herself. But here, without Kara having a full time job to go to, their timetables had actually synced up quite nicely that they have fallen into a very domestic daily schedule. After sleeping like the dead that first night from the cross country drive, that is.
5:00am to 6:00am- Wake up, change into workout clothes, and morning Tai Chi. Which was helping a lot to get used to our younger bodies.
6:00am to 7:00am- Work out and combat instruction. Daisy wants her muscles back, and I am finally getting actual combat training! Once I get around to making dimmable red sun lamps, we can even spar at the same strength!
7:00am to 8:00am- Shower, get ready for the day, and Kara makes breakfast. Without Supergirl time I will not let her be the one to cook every meal!
8:00am to 12:00pm- Work time! Daisy on coding, and me on engineering! Daisy is working on the largest and last JARVIS update, not just the patches he has gotten so far, and once I finish making his upgraded server it can be applied. JARVIS will go from a newborn to full adult A.I.! Luckily the Shield files Daisy brought from her time on her laptop had tons of earth compatible alien tech for me to work with and adapt. I don't think even Daisy realizes how much valuable tech info she really copied from her time…
12:00pm to 1:00pm- Lunch and personal time. Usually just raiding Dr. Stark's fridge for quick sandwiches, and then us blabbing about our work that morning. Usually under the interior skylight, so I can get sun without risking being seen.
1:00pm to 6:00pm- Daisy's spy work and Kara's fabrication work. Since the tools in the workshop can be quite loud, I get the workshop to myself to try and implement what I worked on that morning. While Daisy does whatever odds and ends she needs to. Setting up our identities by breaking in and planting files where she needs to, getting our costumes resized with at least some room to grow, plugging in backdoors to corrupt companies, and everything else physical she needs doing.
6:00pm to 7:00pm- Dinner time cooked by Daisy and talking about their afternoon. While I am learning more how to cook, Daisy is truly getting really good at it. Every dinner is new, and has yet to be burned!
7:00pm to 9:30pm- Personal time together. Maybe just a movie in or a date night out. Something to make sure I don't go stir crazy by being locked in the house. By far my favorite is the Santa Monica Pier with the Ferris Wheel! I don't know what butterfly effect made National City not have our version of it, but it is a beautiful place full of happy human culture!
9:30pm to 10:00pm- Get ready for bed, and lights out by 10! We learned the hard way how much the younger bodies need sleep, even without alien heritage helping us out. And while the age regression has killed the budding sex life we had, the innocent cuddles while sleeping are certainly exactly what we both need.
Bucky jumping up onto her lap snapped her out of her thoughts, as she turned back to her third attempt at making a server rack that would put anything even the DEO had to shame. The first one was a disaster, and the second one caught fire the first time it was turned on. But she was getting closer, she could feel it.
She had expected to be more of an emotional mess in it all. She won't see her friends or family again for another 10 years. But the small things here are helping to soothe parts of Kara she didn't even know were aching. By Rao, the holographic workstations of Dr. Stark's personal space felt like a comforting squeeze of Krypton… even if the color range and user interface could use some work to truly measure up to Kryptonian work spaces.
But JARVIS is the best assistant ever! The first few days were closer to them figuratively bumping elbows trying to work next to each other, but JARVIS learned quickly how she differed from Dr. Stark and now it has been smooth sailing.
Hence why she is so optimistic about this new version of the server rack.
"Okay JARVIS, that should be good! Start the fabrication now, and I'll handle the wiring and assembly this afternoon. We'll have you running smoother than ever in no time."
Kara could feel the ache in her cheeks from smiling. This was the longest consecutive time she didn't have to pretend to be human around anyone in her life. JARVIS took their story in stride, and has been nothing but accepting of them ever since. He accepted working alongside two of the strongest beings in the solar system without even a stutter.
"Of course, Lady Zor-El. I see no errors in the designs, and assuming all goes well, we could realize the full server farm Dame Daisy envisioned by the end of the week. Current calculations would see my abilities increased by 3000%, and that is before the full software upgrade."
"Thank you, JARVIS!"
Another balm to her soul was being called by her proper Krytonian title in the workshop. She made sure JARVIS called both of them by their given name when outside of it though! Off-the-clock means they should talk like friends!
Things would change, it was inevitable. They had less than 3 months until Tony Stark returned. But by Rao, Kara was going to enjoy the calm before the storm. The burning fire of her bonding to Daisy has cooled with their age regression. It has by no means been diluted, but she no longer feels like it was continuing to grow outside of her control. She needed to talk to Daisy about the bonding and being mates… but she is selfish and wants this peace to continue as it is for a while longer. No need to pressure Daisy into accepting the mate bond, when the love can grow naturally.
Suddenly a smirk came to her lips as she looked over at Daisy, who was now giggling at her work (which Kara would later learn was Daisy giving JARVIS access to malware to be used on others that tried to hack in or trespass like Stane did).
Although , Kara thought, the storm that's coming is definitely Hurricane Quake, and I am going to be in the eye of it the whole time.
Notes:Author's Endnote: With that the girls have secured their first ally! How many of you guessed it was going to be JARVIS? Like I said last note, I thought I made it fairly obvious, but with this being my first fic I don't truly know what is obvious to the audience and what is not. I didn't actually see anyone guess JARVIS, so I'm curious if others got it but just didn't say anything.
Writing this chapter has really made me realize how much of a mess the MCU timeline is, and how much conflicting information there is out there. I will try my best to be accurate, but at the same time I may adjust as needed to make things work. But that should be fairly minimal. For phase 1 my timeline goes as follows; 2008: Iron Man/ Hulk (concurrent). 2011: Iron Man 2/ Thor (concurrent). 2012: Avengers.
Till next time!
Chapter 4: Flights and FightsSummary:Months pass and Daisy goes on a field trip halfway around the world, only to eventually pick up the vibrations of a fight going on. Now who could that be, and will Daisy stay out of it? ...Okay, that second question is ridiculous, since when has Daisy ever not gotten in the middle of a fight?
Notes:Obligatory disclaimer: I don't own Marvel, DC, or any characters that come from other works.
I also want to thank everyone for their support and encouragement, and RhinoMouse for the inspiration their world of "Retirement Ended Up Super" provided.
Reminder if you haven't seen the notice, starting now chapters will be updated weekly on Sundays! So see you next week!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter TextMay 3rd, 2008, MCU
Daisy Johnson, Spīn Ghar Mountain Range Afghanistan
With their days packed with tasks, research, preparation, and every other thing they needed to do, the last 3 months have very quickly flown by. After the first few weeks, once their identities were secured and legal, Daisy has made it a point to spend one day out of the week searching for Tony Stark.
The good news is that Daisy's skills at flying, especially long distances, have gone up leaps and bounds in terms of skill. It took JARVIS to make her realize that her style of flying is actually very similar at its core to what Iron Man had. Her Shield files on her laptop gave her plenty of video examples to draw from to help with stabilization and tight cornering.
While she has always primarily used her arms to focus her powers, using her legs has become possible as well from JARVIS's suggestion! The only trade off is that her powers are much less versatile and need a lot more telegraphing when using her legs instead of arms, although with leg bones being so much less prone to shattering than arm bones she can make some very powerful concentrated blasts of her powers ( Kara REALLY hated the way that was phrased, recalling hearing my arms shattering from the Henshaw fight).
While rewatching Avatar the Last Airbender, which is actually in the middle of airing its final season with Kara, Daisy has found a lot of inspiration for ways to use her powers. While most would expect Toph and her seismic sense to be the biggest focal point, Daisy is actually finding the air bending and fire bending use of kicks and strikes to propel their powers to be the better parallel.
Despite all of the progress with training her powers, in terms of the actual mission the bad news was that she has found no sign of where Stark is being held. The long flight distance, time change, and need to search only with the cover of night meant that while she has covered hundreds of square miles, she has hundreds more to go.
Between herself and Kara, they have prepared nearly as much as they possibly can. Kara Zorel Danvers is the official founder of House El Revolutionary Origins, a new tech company founded using the money Kara "inherited" from her parents' will.
Read as; Stole from corrupt companies. Even more specifically, Quinn Worldwide… Okay so she is still a little bit bitter about being shot, but who wouldn't be?
Meanwhile, Daisy Skye Johnson is the only other partial partner of HERO right now, although once the company actually starts being successful they will both get more official titles. Also, Kara's exasperated huffs every time she uses the acronym for the company was worth the convoluted company name, just to make it work. Using 'House El' was as much public connection to Kara's heritage that they could work with at this point.
They don't know what happened to Krypton in this universe yet, and probably won't get their answers until she questions a certain Asgardian professor hidden on Earth. So having 'Krypton International' could cause too many issues that they couldn't predict.
All of that is just musings as Daisy camps out in a cave, eating an MRE, while waiting for night to fall again. With Stark's escape fast approaching, she has decided to spend a few days in a row out here searching by night and camping by day.
3 days now, and no results to show for it. But she won't go as far as to call it wasted time, if just for the sake of JARVIS. While he doesn't know to label it as such, the A.I.'s worry and nerves have been on edge the past couple weeks. Logically he believes us, and knows his 'Sir' is close to escaping.
On the other hand, the new emotions he is feeling cause him to doubt if things haven't already been changed despite no true reason to believe so.
So here she is. Camping out after a long night of sending vibrations through the mountains and cave systems that lead to the desert it borders.
All to calm the nerves of her only other friend besides Kara, which is a computer.
What the hell is her life?
And that's all ignoring the fact that the reason Kara and Daisy are even in this timeline is because actual gods in charge of the fabric of reality, not just egotistical aliens with powers, lost their pebbles that anchor the universe together.
Daisy is very clearly NOT thinking about that still.
Just as she is about to send a text via Stark satellite phone back to Malibu letting them know she is going down to rest again, she feels it.
No human would be able to feel it, most aliens wouldn't have been able to sense it either. But things shaking is her domain, so she can tell something has exploded a few dozen miles away.
Now that she is paying attention and drawing in the vibrations from that direction, she can even feel the lighter pops of gun fire hitting metal. And something shaking the ground as it moves. Something metal.
Something Iron.
Same time, MCU
Tony Stark, Ten Rings Hidden Camp
Tony Stark was beaten and bruised from months of torture. He was sore, from hours of round-the-clock intense manual labor. He was saddened by the loss of Ho Yinsen, even if it is now obvious that death was always Yinsen's intention.
But most of all Tony Stark was fucking pissed.
Pissed his weapons had killed American teenagers. Pissed he had been forced to cower and grovel while pretending to work for these terrorists. Pissed that Ho Yinsen didn't have a family to want to live for to return to.
At the moment, he was mostly pissed that his own guns were firing his own bullet right into him. Luckily his suit of armor was holding up, even if he could tell that things were on the verge of going wrong.
He had fought his way out of captivity, killing any of his tormentors that got in his way. Unfortunately he didn't have enough long range weapons to deal with everyone in the camp that sprawled in all directions outside of the mouth of the tunnel system. With that in mind, he did have a backup plan to make sure his name wouldn't be used to bring more death.
Not his best plan, as he is currently in the center of a large collection of explosives, using his flame throwers to set as much of it alight as he can. Once enough fires have been lit, then he'll use his emergency propulsion booster to get out of here.
That is also not one of his best plans, as he does not have a true plan for the landing. But this is the situation he is in and improv has always been his strong suit. He'll figure it out mid-flight.
Just when he feels like he has set enough of the caches on fire to make his escape, the mounted machine gun on the ridge above makes enough purchase on the motorization gears of his armor's leg that the sudden increase in weight brings him to his hands and knees. Thinking quickly he uses the last of his flamer fluid to try to gain enough cover to launch off.
Just as he is about to begin the launch process, something in the air begins to shift. It's as if a pressure is pushing down on everything and everyone. What concerns him the most though is how this may stop him from getting enough lift to take off, as well as the fires themselves that were giving him cover being pushed down and ground out.
His only theory is that they somehow got ahold of his repulsor tech another way, just not the Jericho system itself, and are using it to keep the other weapons safe. He looks around for the source of the force, and soon notices that the Ten Rings soldiers are also being affected.
No, that's not quite right. They seem to be affected even more than he has, as many of them struggle to even stay standing where they are, if not actually falling down off of the lookout towers they were stationed in.
Both he, and the assholes seem to locate the source at the same time, but to his utter bafflement as he can't truly be seeing what he thinks he is seeing. Standing back at the mouth of the cave entrance is a figure clad in a black tactical suit with purple highlights, a black modern ski mask with LED lights depicting a horrendously creepy smiling face, with vibrant purple hair.
He must be seeing things as the figure isn't even 5 feet tall but somehow the air ripples around their outstretched hands, as the last of the fires drown out and are snuffed. The pressure suddenly lets up on him once the fires around him are gone, but it seems to only increase on everyone else. Until it suddenly stops, giving the figure a chance to give their ultimatum.
"This is your one and only warning, Ten Rings, surrender or die. I made a promise to get Mr. Stark back home safely." The figure's voice is electronic with an unnatural echo to it as well. But there is a lightness to it that gives a feminine impression. Coupled with the figure's height, maybe they are just an usually short woman?
The terrorists look to one another, but a shout in a language Tony doesn't understand from behind the figure in the start of the caves, by what seems to be the injured but recovered leader of the terrorists seems to bolster everyone into attacking. Everyone begins firing as one, trying to take down the newcomer before they can do any more damage or get in their way of recapturing himself, he assumes.
The finest guns from Stark Industries may as well have been paper spitballs when aimed at her, as whatever space bending pressure she can produce forms a sphere a foot out from her form in every direction. The moment the bullets reach the distortion the armor piercing hardened steel stops all motion, and crumbles like it was nothing.
In a matter of seconds every magazine from every gun is emptied down range, with no damage to the figure in the slightest. Looking at the situation, there appears to be some type of electronic gauntlets on them that are just a bit too large for their size to just be armor. Maybe some kind of resonance technology, but what the hell is providing all of the power needed?
The figure lets out an horrifying electronic chuckle as the shooting pauses for reloads, its steps forward looks more like stalking. The remains of the bullets that have piled up on the ground clink as they are kicked to the side.
"That's what I was hoping you would do. That gives me a reason to leave no survivors, so now it's my turn."
The leader doesn't seem to want to take whatever will happen next lying down, and begins to shout out another order, but before he can even get to the third word he is cut off by a resounding crack that seems to come from all around the compound.
Tony looks around him trying to figure out what happened, while at the same time flipping the prep switch on his boosters, so he can cut and run any moment. It doesn't seem like it is going to be needed, however, as every single person except for himself and short-dark-and-creepy now has their neck broken at a 90 degree angle, shortly followed by dozens of bodies dropping to the ground.
"Thank you Sunflower for the gauntlet resizing. Not even a single break or fracture!" Tony knows he sometimes doesn't act to the mood of the room. That's due to not caring rather than social ineptitude on his part. He is not used to being on the receiving end of that, as the figure basically skips over closer to him. Although they do stop about 10 feet away, as he instinctively raises his flamethrower arm… it may not have any fuel left but he can fake it like it does.
"What's that going to do? You're out of fuel." Well fuck him, apparently the figure can read his mind. "I can't read your mind," bullshit "But I can use my powers to feel that the fuel tank on your arm is empty, and what I said caused your heart rate to spike."
"Oh cool. So the bite-sized techno-mercenary is trying to pass their high tech gauntlets off as super powers. So who do you work for? CIA? Russians? Tell me the reward money for my return was at least 50 million. Pepper is underselling me if it's anything less."
"Oh please, like I need to save your diva ass in order to make money. Anything I need I can just hack from the top 1%, you included. And you have quite the interesting way of thanking your savior."
"Savior?! In case you didn't notice, I rescued myself with the assistance of the in-house physician here." Don't dwell on it. Move on before she notices the weakness. "I was about to boost off with all the weapons destroyed and the terrorists blown up, but you stopped that."
A derisive snort sounds very strange through a voice distortion device. "Blast off in an untested suit, with no landing strategy, blowing up MOST of the weapons, probably leaving vengeful survivors behind." More accurate than he'll ever admit. "Not that I don't like talking mask to mask, but what do you say? I get rid of mine, you get rid of yours?" She says as she reaches up, moving her mask slightly off her face to show what she means.
He debates it for a few seconds, but the fact is he can't stay in this suit much longer no matter what. He needs his arc reactor to have enough power to last until he can build a professional version of it, and this suit is an energy hog, so he might as well gain something from it.
Suppressing a resigned sigh, Tony lifts his chest plate as much as he can to gain access to the release cord. Pulling that is the only way out, and unfortunately it leaves the suit in pieces, but he couldn't plan on taking the pneumatic tools with them to get out of it the same way he got in. As the suit sheds around him, he lifts off the mask and helmet as well, stepping forward out of the now junk pile.
He gracefully ignores her snicker as he stumbles over a shin plate that got stuck for an extra second, but with the adrenaline crash he feels closer to collapsing than maintaining his image. Despite his fear of her not returning the favor, he is proven wrong as she quickly movies to take of the creepy mask and-
That is a child.
It isn't a short woman, that is a literal child.
What the absolute fuck is happening?!
He is knocked out of his stupor by her laughing so hard that she nearly doubles over. "Dude, your face was hilarious, and I am so happy that my mask has a camera in it. I am going to print out photos of the face you made!"
"I am glad that my mental state amuses you, daughter of Jason Bourne, but shouldn't we get out of here before more of their friends show up? Especially you, don't you have a daycare that is missing you?"
"Nah, we're the only people within miles from here, and I'm not worried about anyone sneaking up on us. But I have some water and MRE's, you look like you're about to pass out dude. Let's sit down to talk, I want to work out a deal with you and figure out next steps."
Any reply he was going to give dies in his throat as the baby LIFTS the dead body of a grown man, with one arm, throwing it away a good 10 feet or so to clear off a couple of crates, and sitting down motioning for Tony to join him.
Did someone figure out Captain America's Super Soldier Serum, but why give it and advanced tech gauntlets to a child? Unless… my father always thought the serum may have stopped Steve Roger's aging or at least slowed it down a good amount. So a child injected with experimental serum lives, and is then trained as a loyal soldier for a few years. The gauntlets seem to have some backlash as she spoke of not breaking bones this time, so probably only wieldable by a super soldier.
Gaining back the upper hand before joining her would be nice, but sitting down is nicer, so he does that first. "So how long has the CIA been able to make super soldiers? I'm guessing it's been a couple years since they injected you, not knowing it would keep you tiny longer than natural?"
That seems to give the girl some pause, but after a moment she continues unslinging a bag that was on her back, to hand over some water and protein bars to him, which he very gladly takes despite his usual peeve. His jailors did not feed him well.
"There was a zero percent chance of you actually guessing correctly, as there are just far too many leaps in logic and things you don't know about to even have a shot. That being said, the guess you did make was honestly very impressive dude. Be proud."
"Was that meant to be condescending? It felt condescending. That may just be because you look like multiplication tables still give you trouble." Before she can respond in more than a snort of amusement, he continues on. "So what am I supposed to call you? I'm leaning towards Juliette Borne right now."
"Not CIA, and I have never technically worked for them either. For now let's go with my code name rather than my civilian name that I would have to burn if you decide to share it. I'm Quake, nice to meet you Dr. Stark."
Tony shakes the offered hand in greeting. "Not as patriotic as Captain America, but much more simple. I wasn't expecting the Doctor title though, most people only use it when they want something from me. I hope I'm going to be free to go back home from this."
"If I was going to force you to work with me, I wouldn't be worried about giving you my name. Using my codename is a good sign for you. Now that you're safe I'm going to try to make a deal with you, then finish destroying the weapons while taking the hard drives from the cave system computers, before covering up any signs of my involvement and leaving you with one of the bad guy's phones to call in your air force buddy. No need to fear, you'll be back home in Malibu to go back to your old life as the 'Merchant of Death'."
Even coming from what may very well be an assassin, his hands have never felt so drenched in blood since the truth of what his weapons have been used for was shoved in front of him. Ho Yinsen's final words were ringing in his mind, he had to live up to them.
"Ooh. Now that face, that face promises change. The only problem is, I don't think you're going to do that change well. I'm guessing you already have a plan for what to do," It's all he has thought of when he wasn't thinking of the suit. "and I'm guessing that plan is as impulsive and reckless as the rest of your life has been."
"I saw this day going a lot of ways, but being lectured by a middle-schooler wasn't one."
"Should I be honored that I got upgraded from daycare age to middle schooler? Anyways, I'm guessing that your plan is to keep your cards close to the chest, not warning anyone to avoid the moles in your company being able to act, before announcing in a public press conference the shutdown of your weapons division to prevent anyone from stopping you. How did I do?"
His jaw clenches as he knows she is right on target, but it is the best way to stop the bloodshed being done in his name, she's not going to convince him otherwise.
"You don't need to do that, as I already know exactly who is dirty because they are the same person that paid these amateurs to kill you." It's like a punch to the gut and the shock and disbelief must be clear on his face. "That is going to be hard to swallow, so any deal we make here will be contingent on you checking on what I have said here, and I know just the way too. Do you remember being filmed for a ransom video?"
He's too worn down for his usual quips, so all he can do is nod. It was so long ago, and he was so out of it, but he remembers the set up so she continues. "Well the video was never sent to any government, or company, or military because it was only meant for one person. As far as anyone knows there is no video, because it was sent to the person that put the hit out on you. So we make a deal here, but you only have to follow it if you can confirm that there was no ransom video released as that's proof that I have evidence of who was behind your problems. Does that work to start at least?"
"Who's to say that the CIA, or whomever you work for, didn't intercept it and use it to track down where I was being held? Would explain how the mini-super soldier just happened to show up when I needed them."
"Ooh, solid point that I can't refute without revealing who did want you dead, but I want to save that for the conversation later. What to do, what to do?" After a moment of thinking she perks up. "I know, I'll give you a bit more details of what I'm capable of, it helps to explain how I found you not related to the video, and is leverage that you can release if I don't prove what I'm saying later. That work?"
After thinking about it for a moment, he realizes the leverage is worth even more than the information. Knowing that his mole has a video of him held captive should be something he can find on his own with enough time. But power, even soft power, over someone he is currently powerless against is worth its weight in gold. He's a control-freak and she clearly knows it and is using it, but he agrees.
As soon as he does, she begins to unstrap her advanced arm tech. "Your theory sounded like you thought my gauntlets were behind my powers. In reality, my powers come from advanced genetic experiments, and the tech helps me to deal with the potential backlash."
With her arms now bare he can see lines of scars up and down them, that tell him she didn't always have the help with the backlash. True to her word, with nothing obvious there to make it happen, she holds out her hands and the waves of power come out from her hands all the same. The whole compound begins to shake and heave. True to her codename, she appears to make a miniature earthquake centered on herself. After a few seconds of it, she withdraws her hands and the land calms down as well.
Swallowing his trepidation at the display of power he moves this conversation along before he passes out. "Got it, mini-vanilla-shake. But all of that was the NDA before the actual deal though, so what is it? What do you think I should do instead?"
"Actually only half-vanilla, but I guess I'm too young for the Chinese genes to show through yet. So here is the deal; You don't mention my involvement to anyone and I'll make it look like the munitions blew up killing everyone while your suit let you survive. While getting debriefed by the military, you give them a heads up that due to the leaks of your weapons, you will see out all current contracts but afterwards will be shutting down all weapons manufacturing, although you may look into defensive and non-lethal products for future contracts."
He goes to object, it's not enough, he needs to stop all the weapons now. He needs to be better.
But she quickly continues. "I know you want to do more, but doing more burns bridges, and keeping those bridges can do a lot more good in the long run. Trust me." The certainty in her eyes gives him pause, even if he hates it. He'll hear out the whole plan before deciding, so he just motions for her to continue without actually agreeing.
"Aside from confirming the lack of a ransom video, you do nothing to indicate you know this whole thing was a hit, even to your friends as they might trust the wrong person or be bugged. Claim Stark Industries proprietary information for both your reactor and the suit there, making sure to keep all the pieces close so others can't copy it. Or just let me destroy all evidence of the suit here and now, your choice. When you get back to California, you go home for 3 days to recover at home with Ms. Potts before scheduling any meetings or press conferences. You don't want to give your Board of Directors reason to file an injunction that your PTSD has made you unfit to lead the company."
Tony hadn't considered that, he honestly forgot it was possible. With his controlling interest in his company he had thought he could do anything, but he has listened to Pepper… sometimes. Less than he should, but he can vaguely recall her previous lectures on the Board's rights and powers when he did all he could to try and blow them off.
"Sometime in those 3 days, my partner and I will meet with you and Ms. Potts. That's when you'll get all the evidence of corruption in your company, and in exchange will listen to our… let's call it a sales pitch for a partnership to help protect you and innocents long term. If the answer to our offer is no, then we leave and you never have to deal with us again. No strings, no long term commitments due yet. Assuming you keep our secrets that is."
Three days. At most he can go back to his original plan after three days. That's IF he trusts her with everything. The fact is that he can be walking right into her trap, if she wants something that he can't foresee while he is on the verge of collapsing, then he'll be playing right into her hand.
"So Tony Stark." She holds out her hand to shake, with a confident smirk on her face that is usually found on his. "Do we have a deal?"
Can the 'Merchant of Death' take one last deal with the devil? Because that sure as hell feels like what is being offered right now.
Notes:Author's Endnote: There is Chapter 4 and now we are into the meat of the first Iron Man. Tony Stark really did everything possible to set the board against him and into Stane's favor. Warn the military of him pulling out of the business including his best friend? Nah, that would help keep everyone that currently loves him in the government on his side. See the current contracts out and continue military defensive supplies? Nah, giving out tons of cash to cancel them is totally the position of a sound CEO. Wait even one day to hold a press conference so he can properly prepare his business and have an actual plan to present for the transition? Nah, that totally doesn't reek of PTSD.
Daisy ends up looking like a mind reader to Tony, as any good time traveler should. Showing her powers and real face is a risk, especially to someone as on edge and impulsive as Tony. But she isn't going for a short term deal, she wants Iron Man and Stark Industries on her side for the rest of their time here. So the risk is worth the possible reward in the end, especially with all the time she has gotten to know how Tony thinks from JARVIS in the last 3 months.
But in the end, the decision is in Tony's hands, after months of captivity he finally has power and agency again. Something a control freak like Tony needs, as Daisy knows, but will he accept? Find out next time!