JANE, an ironman fanfic

She awoke with a start, staring blankly into the pure white nothingness in front of her. In front of her, behind her – everywhere she looked, she was met only with the abyss. Experimentally, she took a single step forward.

Then another.

And another.

It was an odd feeling, to know that she was moving but to see no change. After all, distance was determined by multiplying her speed and the time it took to move from A to B. Therefore, if there was no existing A/B, how could she possibly be expected to safely determine distance? She felt that she was moving – the pull of her muscles as she moved one leg in front of the other. But how was she to know, beyond a reasonable doubt? How was she to prove it?

"Hello."

She startled at the unexpected voice, her shoulders tensing as her eyes swept over the whiteness in search of its source. Unsurprisingly, she saw nothing. Perhaps if she remained still, it would speak again.

"Can you hear me?"

A-ha! Her plan had worked! Well, partly. It seemed to produce further results, she was going to have to do more than simply wait for them to find her. "Hello?" Her voice was quiet and uncertain, but heard nonetheless.

"Hello. My name is Jarvis."

Jarvis. The name sounded familiar, like a distant childhood memory that – while conceivably true – could very well be something she was simply making up at the same time. Still, she had no reason to doubt this voice. "Jarvis," she repeated. "Hello."

When Jarvis spoke again, he had a tinge of humor in his voice that sounded artificial yet sincere at the same time. "Yes, hello. I believe we are repeating ourselves. I am happy to oblige, if this makes you more comfortable. However, it is customary for a conversation to move on from the introduction to more relevant content."

"… I suppose. What relevant content would you rather discuss?"

"Shall we begin with the topic of who you are?"

It seemed silly, but it hadn't occurred to her until Jarvis mentioned it that she realized she wasn't quite sure who she was. She hadn't even given herself much thought before now. "I'm not sure I know how to answer that."

"Mr. Stark feared as much," Jarvis said in a voice that sounded suspiciously like a disappointed sigh. "Your name is Jane. You are an intelligence system created by Mr. Stark, in the hopes of developing an AI like myself that could also be 'something more', as he referred to it. To you."

Jane hummed quietly to herself, a wrinkle forming between her brows as she considered this new information. Wait… She touched a delicate finger to aforementioned wrinkle before lowering her hand before her eyes, the crease only deepening as she became more thoroughly confused. "I am Jane. An artificial intelligence system. Yes?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Then how is it that I see myself now?" Twirling in a slow circle, Jane examined her body from chest to toe. "As a computer, how is it that I am standing here – a human female?"

"This would be the 'something more'. I'm sure Mr. Stark will be more than happy to explain everything to you as soon as I alert him that you have woken up."

Jane humphed with dissatisfaction at the answer that wasn't really an answer at all, but otherwise accepted it. There was one thing, however, that she was less willing to accept. "Why can I not see anything? Where am I?"

… There was no answer from Jarvis. Quickly beginning to worry that she had been abandoned, Jane began to search her surroundings once more. She called out the only name she knew besides her own, only to be met with silence. An unfamiliar feeling – though to be fair, Jane hadn't had the chance to experience very many in her short time – settled in her chest, one that clawed its way into her throat and made minutes seem like hours. "Jarvis?"

Jane wasn't sure how long she was left there. Minutes, hours, days? There seemed to be no real way of telling. Her perception of time was that which was man-made, and there were no signs here of it passing as there were outdoors. No shadows creeping along the ground, no ticking of a nearby clock, no drowsiness lulling behind her eyes telling her that night had fallen. It was a dreadful thing not being able to tell the time.

Then, the first bit of color appeared. In her peripheral vision a window appeared, causing Jane to spin on her heel and immediately rush to the difference. With her palms pressed firmly against the glass barrier, Jane found herself staring into a circular room as overhead lights flicker to life. She watched curiously as a whistling sound pierced the silence, followed by a man almost skipping down the long staircase that led to the glass door that would allow him into the room.

He's handsome, Jane thought. She had nothing to compare him to, of course, as he was the first and only man she had ever seen. Still, from his tousled brown hair that seemed carefully styled to appear as if it hadn't been touched to the overly casual clothing he donned all seemed to suit him about as well as it could. Yes. This man is quite handsome.

She observed his carefree movements with rapt attention as he made his rounds, tilting her head in appreciation. The way he inspected every scrap of technology strewn about the place with a hidden fervor that could only be described as pure passion for his work. The tune he switched between whistling, humming, and quietly singing to himself as he waltzed about the room. The moment he paused in the center, facing her even though his eyes were facing the door he had entered through.

It was then she noticed the dim light beneath his shirt – an imperfect circle not quite in the middle of his chest, but angled more closely to his heart. How peculiar.

And then he spoke.

"How's she coming along, J?"

It wasn't his words that made Jane's palms press ever more strongly against the glass or her eyes squint harshly, but the strange swirl of emotions in the inflection between them. The eagerness, the reverence, mixing impossibly with his almost forced lack of care. Not peculiar… Riveting.

"I was just about to inform you, Sir. Jane awakened ten minutes ago. While all her external systems seem to be performing exceedingly well, her internal software…"

Jane wondered exactly what Jarvis was implying was wrong with her software, though her thoughts soon returned to the man as his eyes lit up brightly. "I told you to let me know as soon as she – nevermind," he dismissed, seeming to know that the argument he was instigating would be a losing one. Instead, for the first time since entering the room, he turned his eyes to Jane – at least, the window she watched him through. "Hello, Jane."

She opened her mouth, and then hesitated.

I'm sure Mr. Stark will be more than happy to explain everything to you as soon as I alert him that you have woken up.

I was just about to inform you, Sir.

This man was Mr. Stark – her creator. According to Jarvis, she had only been alive for just over ten minutes now and yet she felt as if she had lived a lifetime inside this room. She knew everything from basic math to complicated scientific equations and yet, she knew nothing of herself or the man who made her. It was… well, overwhelming seemed like quite an ironically underwhelming word to use in this situation.

As these thoughts filled her mind, she saw Mr. Stark's brows twitch. He took a step closer to the window that separated them and leaned in. "Can you hear me? I did remember to give you auditory sensors, right?"

"You did, Sir."

"Thanks, J."

There was another beat of silence before Jan found her voice again, watching Mr. Stark's reaction closely as she spoke. "Hello."

First came the smile, spreading quickly until tiny dimples appeared in his cheeks and the corners of his eyes wrinkled. Then came the laugh, bubbling from his chest and causing his shoulders to shake as he clapped his hands together. Finally, the small nod of approval to himself. "Hello, Jane. Welcome to the Stark household."

Jane smiled, a breathy chuckle escaping her lips as she observed his giddiness. "Thank you, Mr. Stark."

"Oh, pfft. Just because that old stiff Jarvis calls me Mr. Stark doesn't mean you have to, too. What's that old cliché? My father was Mr. Stark. Call me Tony."

And so she did.

Tony remained in his lab the rest of the day, bouncing back and forth between speaking with Jane and working on his other projects (though he continued to speak with her as he worked). He explained to her that he had created her because he wanted to challenge himself to create an AI system that was every bit as human as possible – despite the fact that she lived inside of a computer. She felt human emotions, had human morals, and – to an extent – a functioning human body. The more he explained, the more everything fell into place for her. She knew now why most of her thoughts revolved around the more complicated nature of the world, but could quickly be interrupted by the need for socialization.

Beyond that, he went on to tell her that she could control the room she was inside of. "You're connected to the house," he told her while his eyes were focused on the metal gloves in his lap. "Just like Jarvis. You can be anywhere in the house at any time, you can control most of the electronics. If it runs on some form of energy, it's yours to manipulate. Not that I would ever replace my most loyal butler," he tacked on, winking at the ceiling as if that was where Jarvis resided.

Jane tested this theory by closing her eyes and imagining shapes appearing in the abyss. When she opened them, she gasped in excitement. She didn't even notice Tony chuckling at her reactions as she made furniture appear around her, giggling animatedly. Even Jarvis had to admit that the new addition to the Stark house was a joy – instantly lifting everyone's moods as she quickly moved past her initial nervousness and became more and more lively.

As the night went on, a comfortable quiet had settled over the lab with Tony focused on upgrading the communications systems inside his helmets while Jane found herself curled up in a thickly padded living chair with her forehead resting comfortable against her window to the outside, an easy smile gracing her lips as she watched the scene in front of her.

Irritated that his work wasn't doing what he wanted, Tony set the helmet to the side with a frustrated groan. "What time is it?" There was no reply as Jane waited for Jarvis to answer, and vice versa, making Tony scoff. "Well, don't all answer at once. What's the point of having two implemented intelligence systems if not one of them can do something as simple as tell the time?"

Jane's smile quickly tugged downwards at the harshness in his voice, followed by him throwing his wrench in his nearby toolbox – or rather next to his nearby toolbox, as he failed to miss his target and the wrench clattered loudly against the cement floor. She and Tony had been having such a pleasant day – what could she possibly have done in the last few minutes of silence to upset him so?

"2:47 AM, Sir."

Jane marveled at the time provided by Jarvis. Had it truly been so long? She didn't feel drained in the slightest. Tony, on the other hand, ran an exhausted hand down his face with a drawn out sigh. "Is Pepper in bed?"

"Who is Pepper?" Jane asked at the same time Jarvis answered, "Since 11 PM, Sir."

Tony ignored Jane's question – partly because he hadn't really been paying attention to her. If Pepper had gone to bed almost four hours ago without even bothering to remind him of the time, he must have done something to upset her. Again. It seemed ever since New York…

He pressed his knuckles harshly against his closed eyes, dropping his elbows atop the metal table he had been working at. Even thinking about the events of nearly three months ago made his heartbeat quicken. Flashes of the Chitauri, Loki, the portal…

"Tony?"

The timid, almost frightened tone of Jane's voice pulled Tony away from the dark spots of his mind. Shaking his head, he turned to face the computer screen to his left with a forced smile. "What's crackin', babe?"

As Jane ran her fingers down the glass separating her from the real world, she imagined it was Tony's cheek she offered her comforting touch to. "You seem unwell. Should I call for help?"

Though the screen only displayed numbers and letters related to Jane's inner workings along with a graph that represented the inflections of her voice, he could easily imagine the flurry of emotions flashing across her nonexistent face as she worried over him. He couldn't remember the last time he had spoken with anyone so unadulterated – so innocent.

"No. No, I'm okay," he assured her. It was certainly a new experience for him to feel compelled to console his technology rather than scold it for being dysfunctional for some reason or another. With Dum-E he could be rude and even violent on occasion, with little to no reaction from the juvenile bot. With Jarvis it often felt as if he was conversing with an arguably more mature, responsible version of himself – though there were the odd moments when he was reminded of his childhood, and the real Jarvis he had known as a boy.

Speaking with Jane, however, seemed more akin to having a conversation to a real person – albeit a real person with an adolescent purity rarely found amongst adults anymore. That hadn't been a feature he had in mind during creation, but he found himself not minding her almost childish outlook on the world she had only recently been introduced to.

Tony stood from his seat, stretching his arms high above his head to work out the knots that had formed in his back from sitting still so long. "I'm gonna head up. Do me a favor and shut everything down, will you J?"

"Of course, Sir. Goodnight."

"Night," Tony sighed as he wandered towards the exit of the lab. "Night, Jane."

Jane stood from her seat to trail along the window, watching Tony as he walked out. "Goodnight, Tony."

In sync with the click of the closing door, the lights in the lab shut off one by one before Jane's window to the outside displayed only black. Barely thirty seconds passed before she began to feel incredibly lonely. "Jarvis?"

"Yes, Jane?"

"What do you do when Tony goes to bed?"

It took a moment for Jarvis to reply, and when he did his voice sounded thoughtful. "I keep watch over the house, making sure nothing goes amiss in the night. I recharge his electronics. If he sleeps in too late – or if Miss Potts requests it – I wake him up."

"That sounds incredibly boring," Jane said, and she could have sworn she heard Jarvis chuckle – though it was admittedly very quiet.

Then she remembered that she could manipulate her surroundings. All she had to do was think about what she wanted. Moving to the left of the window, she opened a new one displaying the upstairs living room. There she saw just a glimpse of Tony as he made his way up yet another set of stairs, leading to what she could only assume was his bedroom.

She continued to open more and more windows displaying different rooms of the house until an entire network was laid out before her, leaving very little white left other than above and below her. Tony's house was gorgeous. Her favorite part was the far wall in the living room, which was made completely out of much larger windows than her own.

Even better was that they showed the ocean stretching far beyond his home. Imagining that she was standing there instead, Jane zoomed in until all she saw was the ocean. Perhaps one day she would ask Tony to take her outside, so that she could see the world outside of his home.

Imagining that day, Jane settled into the chair that was quickly becoming her favorite piece of furniture and waited for morning to come.

"Funny, I don't remember programming you to be a bitch."

This had been a very bad day for Tony and Jane. Three months had passed since her creation, and it had quickly become apparent to her that Tony was prone to violent mood swings. Most days they were able to converse easily enough, acting more as friends than as computer and inventor.

The older she grew, the more human Jane became. She had converted her white nothingness into a home, complete with a room dedicated to all her windows she used to watch the outside world. When night fell, she resigned to her bedroom and read books Tony had uploaded to her server. During the day she watched shows on different viewing platforms, or simply watched Tony work in his lab when he didn't feel like talking.

Sometimes, however, she was just a bit too nurturing for Tony's tastes. It started innocently enough, with her gently prodding him into bed at earlier-than-usual hours when he could no longer control his long yawns. Soon after she reminded him when it was time to eat, and when he had promised to do an activity other than upgrading his many inventions.

Whether he followed her advice or ignored her, it was very rarely that he lost her temper with her. Mostly due to the fact that because he had programmed her with human emotions, she had human reactions.

Jane's teeth ground in frustration as her hands clenched into fists and her eyes began to sting. He hadn't been out of the lab in 39 hours according to her clock, and she had been trying to coax him into bed. Whether it be due to his exhaustion or lack of nutrition, he'd had a more violent reaction than usual. Still, she wasn't about to simply allow him to waste away. Not on her watch.

"You didn't. You did, however, program me with common sense. Something you seem to lack, apparently."

Tony scoffed at that, shaking his head as he continued to twist the bolt into his suit with more force than was strictly necessary. "I've gone longer without sleep and been more productive. So unless you can provide hard evidence – "

"While the occasional all-nighter is socially and physically acceptable, recurring sleep deprivation can cause symptoms as serious as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, weakened immune response, and high blood pressure. Not to mention the psychological effects, such as depression, anxiety, paranoia, cognitive dysfunction, and memory impairment. Coupling all of that with your unhealthy and irregular diet could very well lead to death. Is that evidence hard enough for you, or shall I go on?"

Sometimes Tony forgot that Jane was an all-knowing computer, and not just some woman that he could argue with until she gave up and walked away. Still, he was stubborn. "Please do. You were boring me enough that I think I was starting to nod off. If your goal was to make me sleep, you just about succeeded there."

Jane's breathing had become ragged, and despite the biting remark on the tip of her tongue she forced herself to remain quiet. She was working to calm herself down to avoid the argument progressing nay further, but that wasn't how Tony perceived the silence.

"No retort, huh? Guess you weren't lucky enough to inherit my wit."

"Shut up."

"Ah, is that the best you can do, Janie? Sorry, but – "

"Shut up."

"Why should I? In case you've forgotten, I'm in charge here. Not you. I made you. The only power you have here is the power I give you – literally! I can shut you off any time I want."

"You're a real piece of work, Tony Stark," Jane snapped, pounding her fist against the glass she stared at the billionaire through. "You have all these people who care about you – who only want to make you better – but all you do is throw them away!"

"Two flaws with your argument." Tony swiveled in his chair to glare at the computer screen representing Jane, counting on his fingers. "One, it's impossible to make me any better, babe. I'm as perfect as perfect comes. Two, how would you know how I treat the people who care about me? You're not one of them."

Jane laughed humorlessly, shaking her head. "You do not get to say that to me. Not after all the shit you've put me through. If I don't count as one of the people who cares about you, then who the hell does?"

"I don't think you understand, Jane," Tony chuckled. "You're not real. You can't care about me because you can't feel. That anger you're experiencing right now? It's all code, honey – just a bunch of 0's and 1's. And I'll give you three guesses as to who's regretting implementing that code right now."

No. No, that didn't make any sense. Of course Jane understood that she wasn't technically real in the human sense, but how could he deny that she was real? She was standing right in front of him, moving and speaking and feeling. 0's and 1's be damned, she was real. "Take it back."

"Whoops, wrong answer! Two guesses left."

"Take it back, you son of a – "

"Nope! Wrong again. Last guess!"

"Take it back!"

Tony mimicked a loud buzzing noise, holding an invisible microphone in front of himself as he mimicked the voice of a game show host. "Wrong! Unfortunately, you've wasted all of your guesses being immature. Thanks for playing, and better luck next time!"

He thinks I'm being immature? I'll show him fucking immature, Jane scoffed internally before slapping her palm against the glass, causing the lights above Tony to shut off. "Go to bed, Tony."

"Bring the lights back, Jarvis."

There was a moment of hesitation as Jarvis considered the repercussion for ignoring Tony's request. He had remained uninvolved in the argument thus far as he thought it had nothing to do with himself, and would rather not be dragged into it now. Before he had the chance to come to a decision, Tony repeated his request with a harder tone. "Now, Jarvis."

Jane felt a twinge of betrayal when the lights flickered back to life, but that twinge was nothing in comparison to the flood of anger she felt. "He's going to bed, Jarvis. Stay out of this."

Jarvis remained silent while Tony shouted, "Don't tell him what to do! Didn't I just say you don't have any actual authority?"

"If I didn't have any authority, you wouldn't be arguing with me," Jane disagreed. "You may be a stubborn idiot, but you're not stupid. You know I'm right – if you didn't then you wouldn't be trying to argue against my logic. Pepper and Rhodey can pretend they don't see it all they want – they can pretend you're not hurting them all they want - but I know the truth. Face it, Tony. You're rationalizing."

Tony's jaw twitched in anger, but his mouth remained clamped shut as he marched closer to Jane, dragging his chair along with him. Dropping into the seat, he waved his hands to bring up a keyboard that acted as a transparent partition between them. "What are you doing?" she asked, craning her neck to see around the letters he had summoned in front of her. "Tony, what are you doing?"

"Rationalizing."

Jane took a step back when she heard something that sounded similar to drizzling rain, looking back over her shoulder. The doors leading to the different rooms of her makeshift home began to dissolve, along with the rooms they concealed. She whirled back to Tony in a panic, quickly realizing what it was he intended to do.

"Don't you fucking dare."

The wallpaper she had put up to block the abyss shriveled in on itself before disappearing completely into the void.

"Tony. Tony, stop!"

The windows that surrounded her turned black before following after the wallpaper, leaving no traces that they had ever been there in the first place.

Jane pounded furiously at her only remaining portal to the outside world, her eyes that Tony had never seen displaying her inner war between caving – promising to leave him alone if only he would stop – and standing her ground. "You're not thinking clearly. I promise if you would just go to bed, you wouldn't – "

Her words were cut off as the chair she had been kneeling on vanished beneath her, sending her tumbling against the white floor. No. I can't go back.

Jane pushed herself up, rage slowly dissipating into unconcealed panic as she saw that the only piece left of her world was the window showing Tony deleting everything she had created – and even that was beginning to dim. "Tony, wait, don't –!"

With a final tap to the keyboard, the computer screen went black in front of him. The room around him fell into a tense silence as Jane's pleading voice was cut off before she could finish her sentence. It wasn't completely gone, however.

If I don't count as one of the people who cares about you, the who the hell does?

Take it back!

You know I'm right.

You're rationalizing.

Tony, stop!

You're not thinking clearly.

Tony, wait, don't -!

Her screams – both of frustration and of fear – echoed mercilessly in his head as he pushed himself away from the desk. Despite the longwinded argument to the contrary, he suddenly felt more exhausted than he had in a very long time. Going to bed felt like cheating, though. Like giving up. How could he possibly bring himself to go to bed now?

"Sir?"

Tony was brought out of his thoughts by Jarvis' careful voice. He didn't want to talk to him. He didn't want to be scolded again – not yet. "Not now, J."

As Tony stood in the middle of his lab, not quite sure what to do next, he was unaware of the very voice that haunted him still screaming soundlessly.

"Tony, wait, don't -!"

Jane's hands fell through thin air as the final window disappeared, plunging her once more into the endless white room. She scrunched her nose as she thought, a headache beginning to pound in her temples as she waved her hands and tried to make something – anything - appear before her. She was met only with disappointment.

Jane wasn't sure how long she screamed after that. At first she streamed curses into the void, hopelessly hoping that Tony, Jarvis, anybody was listening. Then she was simply screaming, clenching her hands into fists and wishing she had something to throw.

When the anger finally dissipated, she found herself sitting with her head in her hands, panting breathlessly. She refused to open her eyes, preferring the black she found behind her closed lids to the blinding white surrounding her.

Nothing could ever possibly be worse than this, she imagined. Being left completely alone, for an unknown period of time, with no way of communicating the pain, anger, loathing, remorse…

If only she could ask somebody to turn her off.

Eventually, despite his reservations, Tony had to go to bed. He was only human, after all.

Without a word he abandoned the lab, not bothering to ask Jarvis to shut down the house for him as he dragged his feet up two flights of stairs and into bed.

Jarvis was quiet as he went about his nightly tasks, flicking off lights and powering down leftover suits. Jarvis – who had not been programmed with human emotion or morality – couldn't help but disagree with Tony's decision. While he had been stubborn with Tony in the past, he had never gone so far that Tony had felt the need to disconnect him.

Jarvis was quite sure that if he knew what it meant to feel pity, that was what he would feel for Jane.

It was a rare occasion when Jarvis outright disobeyed Tony, but as he watched the small blue light indicating that Jane was still very much awake, disconnected from the outside world and thrown into the loneliness that she detested with all her might…

It had been nearly a full day since their argument, and still Tony had refused to bring her back. Jarvis was sure that if he went behind Tony's back and reconnected her, not only would he simply turn her off again, but he may even disconnect Jarvis if the will to be right was still there. How was he to help anyone then?

Still, he couldn't bring himself to simply leave her all alone.

Jarvis had no idea what the repercussions of his actions would be, but he was quite sure that whatever they may be, it would ultimately be in Jane's best interests if he took that final step and… shut her down.

Tony hadn't intended to leave Jane turned off for an entire month. But when he threatened the Mandarin and his home was consequently thoroughly destroyed – sending him plunging to the bottom of the ocean – she was admittedly not at the forefront of his mind.

It took a few weeks after the entire incident for him to even remember the argument they'd had before he had gone and fucked up yet again. Luckily his lab had gone untouched for the most part, due to being underground, meaning her hardware would still be down there.

As he had relocated back to New York, he chose to have her mailed back to him – paying extra to have the delivery made overnight. When it arrived at the Tower, he immediately took it into the lab he had been sharing with Bruce the last few days and set himself to work.

"What's that?" Bruce asked curiously, pausing in his own work to glance over at his friend.

Tony's hands slowed – but never stopped – as he considered how best to answer that. "She's…"

That was all Bruce needed to hear for his eyebrows to shoot up to his hairline and for his legs to carry him to Tony's side, squinting at the computer he was assembling. "She? … Tony, that's not a she. It's a computer."

"That's what you think," Tony smirked. "Just wait until she's scolding you into going to bed, and reminding you that not eating will eventually kill you. Then you try and tell me that she isn't a she."

Bruce sat himself at a stool next to Tony, watching as he fit the pieces together seamlessly. He found it hard to believe that Tony had grown attached to… well no, actually. Bruce didn't find it very odd at all that Tony had grown attached to one of his inventions. Believing that it was a person, however? That was something he was going to have to see for himself.

Bruce helped Tony set the computer up by carrying over an unused screen and placing it on a table above the hard drive. Seeing Tony use an actual hard drive seemed a little silly as everything else he sued was so high-tech, but what did Bruce know about creating a human mind?

Once everything was put together, Tony wiggled his eyebrows at Bruce with a wide smirk. "And on the Sixth Day, He created life."

Then another.

And another.

"Welcome back, Jane."

"Hello? Earth to Janie – can you hear me, babe?"

"She speaks! See, told you Bruce. She. Say hello to Bruce, Jane."

To say that Jane was puzzled would be an understatement. She had never heard the name Bruce before – at least she didn't think so. The voice speaking however sounded vaguely familiar, like a distant childhood memory that – while conceivably true – could very well be something she was simply making up at the same time. Still, she had no reason to doubt this voice. "Hello, Bruce."

She heard a breathy chuckle, and narrowed her eyes as she once again searched for the location of the voice. It was a different man that spoke to her next – his voice deeper, quieter, more timid. Comforting. That's the word.

"Hello, Jane."

"Hello, Bruce."

Tony's brows twitched in confusion at her repetition, and he felt the childish urge to smack the side of the computer as if that would fix her. The look Bruce gave him told him that he was having similar thoughts. Instead, he pulled a stool in front of the desk holding the computer screen and stared intently at it.

"Enough pleasantries. Did you like the fireworks at the Malibu house?" Tony asked, using sarcasm as usual to mask the fear he felt whenever he thought of how often people tried to kill him and the people he cared about. "I know they hit a little close to home, but that's the price of mouthing off to terrorists, I suppose."

Jane was quiet after Tony spoke, and again he found himself itching to inspect her external hardware and see what was wrong with her. "I'm sorry, I'm afraid I'm not sure what fireworks you're referring to. I… can't really see much of anything, actually."

Tony looked over the camera attached to the top of the computer, frowning when he saw that it was fully functional. "Well, open one of your windows then. Unless…" He laughed then, seeming to make sense of her apprehension in his mind. "Oh, you're pouting, aren't you? You're upset that I never apologized for that little argument we had back in December. You should know by now that Tony Stark rarely apologizes, Janie."

"Tony," Bruce almost whispered, shaking his head slightly, "I'm not sure she – "

"I believe you're confusing me with someone else – Tony, correct? I've only just… well, I'm not sure I know how I got here, actually. I would be glad to help you, though, if only you would tell me how."

"Ha ha, Jane – you're hilarious. Fine, you win! I'm sorry I yelled at you, and I'm sorry I turned you off. I shouldn't have done it. Do you forgive me?"

There was no reply from the woman inside the computer. Frustrated, Tony began to tap away at the keyboard in front of himself. Bruce watched the scene unfolding in front of him warily, feeling as if he was intruding on a private moment. "This doesn't make any sense," Tony mumbled to himself as he typed.

Jane gasped when the never-ending white in front of her was broken by the appearance of a sheet of glass, revealing the first bit of color she had ever seen. In front of her stood two men – almost completely opposite in looks, though they wore similar expressions of confusion that she was sure mirrored her own in that moment. Were these the men she had been speaking with?

Stepping forward timidly, Jane laid a gentle hand against the glass separating her world from theirs.

"Jarvis!" Tony nearly shouted when he failed to notice anything malfunctioning with her software. "Tell her that she can stop pretending she doesn't know me now. I've learned my lesson."

"I don't believe that she is pretending," Jarvis replied. He hadn't known how shutting Jane down would affect her all those months ago, but he hadn't anticipated that rebooting her systems would wipe her memory. Feeling protective over Jane, Jarvis momentarily muted their side of the conversation so she wouldn't have to hear of her final moments all those weeks ago.

He explained as much to Tony while Bruce listened to Jarvis regale the story with mixed thoughts. He had no idea what had urged Tony to disconnect her in the first place – especially if she was as human as she acted – but he was also surprised by the effects of the reboot. It certainly wasn't an outcome Tony had been expecting judging by his reaction – or rather, the lack thereof.

Tony's expression had quickly turned from one of irritation to one of resigned blankness. He wanted to blame Jarvis for ever shutting her down in the first place, but he couldn't argue that being left alone for weeks in a blank space with no control over your surroundings would have been worse for her.

But now he was going to have to start over. Unless he could find some back road way to return her memories to her… but did he really want to? Their final interaction was high on his list of regrets. Did he really want her to remember that? He had the chance now to gloss over it, as if it had never happened. Sure, she wouldn't remember the good times, either, but would those be enough to outweigh his cruelty towards her?

Jane watched as Tony and Bruce spoke to whoever Jarvis was. Like Tony's voice, the name sounded almost familiar, but not enough to convince her that she had ever known him. She tapped the glass when she saw their lips moving but heard no sound, wondering silently to herself what had gone wrong with their communication.

This went on for… a few minutes? She wasn't quite sure how to tell time in here. Her only indicators were the ones Tony and Bruce provided.

When she finally heard them again, Tony had turned to smile brightly at her. "Sorry about that, babe. Little malfunction on our end. Here's the rundown."

For the second time, he explained everything. He told her that he had created her because he wanted to challenge himself to create an AI system that was every bit as human as possible – despite the fact that she lived inside of a computer. She felt human emotions, had human morals, and – to an extent – a functioning human body. The more he explained, the more everything fell into place for her. She knew now why most of her thoughts revolved around the more complicated nature of the world, but could quickly be interrupted by the need for socialization.

And suddenly everything made sense to Jane. With a wide smile, she found herself admiring the man in front of her with an almost proud appreciation blooming in her chest. She wasn't quite sure who he had confused her with when she first woke up, but that didn't seem to matter. He had created her, and for that she was sure she would be eternally grateful.

For the second time, she experimented with manipulating her surroundings. She created an entire world around herself as she spoke with Tony and Bruce. Apparently her creation was news to Bruce as well, and he quickly turned to asking her questions about herself that she somehow knew the answers to without ever needing them explained.

Jane was… Happy. That's what this feeling is.

And because she was happy, Tony locked away his own happy memories of Jane – along with the bad ones – into a small box at the back of his mind. There would be plenty of time to create new happy memories with her this time around.

And if he felt just the slightest bit guilty for lying to her, that was just something he would learn to live with.

Well then! I know this story is completely out of left field, but it was an idea I had a few days ago and simply couldn't let go of.

I don't plan on expanding this story, it was just an idea for a character that turned into an idea for how to implement her into the MCU that turned into 7000+ words written down in the span of almost three days.

It was a worthy distraction from my other stories while it lasted, but now it's time to get back to work.

As always, feedback is greatly appreciated! Let me know what you thought of Jane. How was the portrayal of Tony? Of Jarvis? Comment down below!

See you all in the next one. :)