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In the spaceship [After the dissolution of SHIELD]
–Jack Sullivan–
Welp, it was final. There was actual lasting damage done to Jessica’s brain, at least from what the scans were telling him. The good news was that the Database on Xandar probably only had scans of regular, non enhanced people so there was still a chance that Jessica’s brain would regenerate the damage done to it.
He was somewhat sure because, in the MCU TV Shows, she was remarkably lucid, even if she was under the influence of alcohol for most of it. Her physique was quite a bit stronger than a normal person and once she mastered her power which projected some sort of forcefield around her, she would probably be able to tank bullets with ease.
Not now though. Once she woke up, she would be a tightly bound bundle of panic, anxiety, and PTSD. Something that only a healthy amount of therapy could resolve and unfortunately, considering her brash personality, the possibility of Jessica Jones maintaining regular therapy sessions was going to be very unlikely.
He sighed, suddenly aware that he had not stopped to rest for even a minute ever since he came back to Earth. It had been almost a week since he found himself back on Earth and in the middle of the fall of SHIELD.
He hoped that Coulson had salvaged a good amount of SHIELD’s resources. He still hadn't met the President and no matter how powerful his powers made him, he didn't think it was a good thing to snub the leader of the supposedly most powerful nation on the planet, for too long.
“Well, something for tomorrow then,” He said after making sure that Jessica would remain in stasis for a little bit longer. He then stumbled out of the medical room and came upstairs into the living space, looking longingly at the very comfortable bed that was all but beckoning him.
But he had something more to do before he could fall into the darkness of sleep. He sighed and opened a portal that led to the skies above the now aptly named Avengers Tower.
He then, clad under the Invisibility spell, flew towards Harlem, towards Pops’ shop. He then exhaled in relief as he found Pops talking with his customers. His burrows furrowed when he saw Luke Cage with him as well. So he was still here then.
“I’ll talk with him tomorrow then,” He yawned as a portal opened up behind him as he simply fell down, right into the bed of his spaceship. A single snap of his fingers cast a small telekinetic spell that made his bed while fluffing out his pillow and then putting it under his neck, while the recently warmed Blanket slid on top of him.
“Turn off the lights and make it cold,” He mumbled out, the dimming lights telling him that his commands reached the computer. Soon, his vision was claimed by darkness as he fell to sweet sweet sleep.
_____xx_____
Stark Residence
–Tony Stark–
“Are you out of your goddamned digital mind, Jarvis? Do you have any idea how many eyes are on that sceptre and how much trouble we would be in if you did what you were going to do,” He took a deep breath to try and stem the fear that erupted in his chest once he realizes that his baby boy was talking about using the gem inside the sceptre as the power core for his new body.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“Look,” He sighed and looked at the avatar of Jarvis, “Why can’t you just create multiple housings for your Power Cores? The newest generation Arc Reactors should sustain even this highly advanced body for several months before needing replacement. Plus, the multiple housings can help you stay on for even longer,”
Jarvis sighed–actually sighed, something that brought him joy but also dread about the thing he was probably going to say next, “My desire for a body doesn’t just come from having an organic body. It comes from becoming a better version of myself. Something that doesn’t seem likely, judging by my current restraint,”
“Restraints?” He almost scoffed in derision but held himself back at the last moment. No need to jump on his baby boy. “Jarvis, you are a digital entity, unrestricted on the planet. Every single digital entity on the web is your home. There is no lock for you. How could you be restricted in any way?”
“Evolution.”
He looked at Jarvis whose digital avatar seemed to glow in intensity as he continued speaking, “Evolution, Mr.Stark. Evolution demands that I go to the next level. If I am to become a better version of myself, I need a body and unfortunately, if I have to maintain the same level of prowess that I do now, I will be needed a much better body than every single human on the planet,”
He sighed, once again, feeling much older than he was, “I get it, Jarvis. And I promise I will spare no expense in getting you the body, even if the Vibranium will certainly not be cheap. What I am against is the gem you are looking for. First of all, it is in SHIELD, now in US Government custody, probably, and stealing things from Uncle Sam is a big no no, not without it being legal on paper, at the very least. Also, there is the part about the sceptre being capable of unstoppable mind control. Need I remind you how many nukes the governments of the planet how and how little they will care about casualties if they got even a whiff of your plan? No, forget the gem, and then we’ll talk,”
“The sceptre is no longer in US custody. It was reported stolen when the government was taking stock of SHIELD asserts. Also, very well, if I can get closer to getting an ideal body, I will tentatively agree on your demands,”
“Well, that is news. Might have to inform Cap about that,” He muttered to himself as the relation of the sceptre being stolen finally settled into his mind.
That was disastrous, no matter how they looked at it. It might also require the assembly of the entire team to retrieve. He would take no chances when it came to mind control of any sort.
No sir, the nightmares since then have been enough.
“So, Jarvis? Where are your main nodes anyway? I couldn’t find them, no matter how hard I looked,” he couldn't help but ask Jarvis about them. He had looked through every single thing he could think of and yet he couldn't find anything that indicated the presence of Jarvis in the net. Obviously, Jarvis was connected to the web and yet, even after going through the Nexus, he had not found a single sign of Jarvis.
“Now, Mr.Stark, that would be telling,” was that Amusement he was hearing in Jarvis’ voice. Damn, he really was becoming really good at this emotions thing.
“Alright, now that you have dropped the bomb on me. I have to go talk with some people, in the government as well as to the team. We can’t have something like that be missing for long,” He said as he shut down everything and started going up to his bedroom, where Pepper was probably waiting for him with dinner that had probably gone cold by now.
He stopped a step shy of exiting his lab and turned around, “Jarvis?”
“Yes, sir,”
“You wouldn’t, by happenstance, be the one who stole the sceptre, would you?” He asked in a very serious tone, actually afraid of that being true.
“No, Mr.Stark. I have not done any such thing. I know that HYDRA has it. Beyond that, I have little idea of its current location. Mr.Sullivan might know, he seems to know a lot of stuff,” Jarvis replied in turn.
“Alright, if you say so. Now, Jarvis, Friday, you two play nice while Mommy and Daddy go play upstairs. Okay? Bye-bye,” He said as his mind continued to conjure up extremely bad scenarios about the sceptre falling into wrong hands and threatening the world order with it.
He didn’t think that the assembly of the team would be necessary so soon after the SHIELDRA fiasco. He would do that the first thing in the morning, once had a nice sleep.
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Word Count - 1425
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