The Man My Father Always Talked About • A CAPTAIN AMERICA STORY

23

~23~

     The second the jet landed, Clara rushed to the lab to make sure her brother hadn't thrown the world into more chaos. She was relieved when she saw Bruce begin to undo the process on the cradle. "Is it working?" She asked as she walked down a few steps to where the cradle was.

"I can work on tissue degeneration," Bruce replied. Tony walked around with his arms crossed as if he was thinking. "if you can fry whatever operational system Cho implanted." Clara nodded and was headed towards Bruce to help him, but Tony stopped her.

"Yeah, about that." Tony started, making Clara's eyes widen.

"Oh no no no," she turned around to face Tony and began to walk back to him.

"Before you get fired up, let me explain..." Tony held his hands out in defense.

"After everything that's happened, the mistakes that we've made, you want to do it again?" Clara said, pointing a finger at her brother.

"You have to trust me," Tony defended.

"Kinda don't," Bruce said with his arms crossed, having not moved an inch.

"Agreed," Clara nodded.

"Our ally? The guy protecting the military's nuclear codes? I found him." Tony brought up a familiar looking 3D program.

"JARVIS?" Clara's tough demeanor shifted when she saw that their original AI unit was still functioning. She stepped down to where the orange database of JARVIS's system was in the middle of the room, looking around it and seeing it was perfectly intact.

"Hello Miss Stark." His voice echoed through the room. Clara let out a relieved laugh, seeing as one of her first projects along with the help of Tony wasn't gone after all.

"Ultron didn't go after JARVIS because he was angry. He attacked him because he was scared of what he can do," Tony explained. The use of his name made Clara's smile of relief turn to one of annoyance as she remembered Tony's proposition. "So JARVIS went underground. Okay? Scattered, dumped his memory. But not his protocols. He didn't even know he was in there, until I pieced him together," Tony said.

"So, you want me to help you put JARVIS into this thing?" Bruce asked, pointing between JARVIS and the cradle.

"No, of course not! I want to help you and Clara put JARVIS in this thing." Tony said. "We're out of my field here. You know bio-organics better than anyone I know."

"And you just assume that JARVIS' operational matrix can beat Ultron's?" Clara asked, raised her eyebrow.

"JARVIS has been beating him from inside without knowing it. This is the opportunity, we can create Ultron's perfect self, without the homicidal glitches he thinks are his winning personality. We have to." Tony's eyes softened as he pleaded for his sister to help him.

"I believe it's worth a go," JARVIS said.

"No." Clara said, shook her head.

"Why not?" Tony asked, annoyed that his sister wouldn't help him.

"This is exactly where this all began! We can't make another mistake as big as Ultron." Clara protested.

"We're in a time loop." Bruce said as he rubbed his head.

"I know, I know. I know what everyone's going to say, but they're already saying it. We're all mad scientists. You gotta own it. Make a stand. It's not a loop. It's the end of the line." Tony said.

"You're doing exactly what you did less than a week ago. Something that you know has risks and you still hide it from the team." Clara said, her voice gradually getting more angry at her brother's stupidity.