Frostbite

Twelve

We arrived at the Nexus hub in Oslo with a good amount of fuss. Many of the staff were thrilled that Tony, the "tech god", was visiting and they were bending over backwards to please him. It was quite a spectacle.

The lead tech led us upstairs to the room we needed and quickly typed in a long passcode to open the door. The tall walls were lined with all kinds of high-tech machinery that kept everything running. I had to admit it was very impressive. I could only stare in wonder.

"A hacker who's faster than Ultron? He could be anywhere. And as this is the center of everything, I'm just a guy looking for a needle in the world's biggest haystack," Tony said, already starting his process of weeding out our ally.

"How do you find it?" the female tech, Emily, asked curiously, peeking over his shoulder. I noticed the intern posing sneakily behind Tony, the other tech, Charlie, snapping a photo for her. I rolled my eyes and turned my back to them, instead watching Tony.

"Pretty simple. You bring a magnet," he explained while starting to sing as he ran his search, "Oh, I'm decrypting nuclear codes and you don't want me to. Come and get me."

"And what if they don't come out to play?" I inquired, inching closer to the screen.

Tony chuckled and said, "Oh, they will."

Several moments went by and finally the screen began to blink. The mystery person was intercepting Tony, blocking his every attempt to finalize the decryption. Tony immediately started tracking the intruder, fingers flying across the keyboard. More time passed and he suddenly gasped.

"What is it?" I asked, peering at the screen, trying to make out what it was he saw. The three stooges were, thankfully, silent and wide eyed behind us. Tony input a few more code sequences and turned to look at me in glee.

"I got him," he replied. He shut everything down and whirled around. "Thank you so much for your time. We have everything we need, so we'll be leaving now." He grabbed onto my arm and dragged me along behind him and out the door, leaving the techs dumbfounded.

"You wanna share, brother?"

"It's Jarvis."

"What? You're sure?" I asked in surprise. We had thought Jarvis was gone for good.

"Uh- yeah, I'm sure. Had to patch him up, but he's there. He's following his protocols," he replied rolling his eyes at my doubtfulness.

"Okay... Why are you so giddy, though? There's something else." We reached the elevator and waited for the doors to open. It was thankfully empty so that there weren't any prying ears.

"I have an idea. They're bringing the body Ultron built back to the lab, right?" he started.

"Yes. And?"

"I think we should take Jarvis consciousness and-"

"Oh my god, Tony. You have got to be kidding me," I interrupted, staring at him in shock, "You want to make another A.I without telling the team? Again? The first time we messed up wasn't enough for you? How do you know it wouldn't end up like Ultron or even worse?"

He pursed his lips and said, "I figured you'd say that, but just think about it. We can do it right this time. He can be the Ultron we intended to create originally. I think using Jarvis's consciousness will make a difference. Plus, no one's gonna leave this one and let it fester by itself."

The elevator door opened, and we marched quickly to the exit of the building. I glanced at him in thought, unable to deny the sense that he was making. We needed help defeating Ultron; that was a fact. Finally, we made it to the car garage where the rental was still sitting. I stopped and crossed my arms, glaring at him seriously.

"Fine! No screw ups this time! We can't afford another homicidal nut running around. And you still have to convince Bruce. I hope you realize that."

"I knew you'd support me," he enthused mockingly, kissing my cheek and climbing into the driver's side. I groaned loudly and stomped toward the other side of the car. If this didn't work, we'd be in a lot of trouble. Hell, once Steve found out he was going to kill us all.