#unauthorized fucking skeleton. kill him now

[daphnegeeksout]

If You Were Here (1/9) [Tony Stark x Reader]

Read it on AO3

By: daphnethewriter

It's hard to live this way... to only see someone through the other side of a screen. Tony stumbles across a computer bug that's more than just a bug. You need his help, but first you need to win his trust. Hopefully you can do it before time runs out.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3  | Part 4

Words: 3,145 Chapters: 1/9 Language: English

FRIDAY has a bug.  

Not just any bug, the buggiest bug in bug history.

The coffee machine is supposed to turn on at 7:00am. Instead, it turns on at 7:05am. 7:05. Which is five minutes after Steve gets back from his run—just long enough for him to think that the machine won't turn on and make coffee himself.

Seven-fucking-oh-five.

Tony reset the software. He rewrote the software. He bought a new coffee maker. How could replacing the machine not fix the problem?

It's a nightmare. Tony's own personal hell. The coffee gods must have a vendetta against him.

Every time he thinks he sees the bug, it vanishes into the binary from which it came with nothing but a smattering of loose code in its wake—a goddamn Cheshire cat, disappearing except for its smile.

"It's really not a big deal," Rhodey says.

Tony doesn't look up from the skeleton of the coffee machine, stabbing at it with his screwdriver. "It is."

"Just set it for five minutes earlier."

"One: that doesn't fix the problem, it circumvents the problem." He removes another layer of the machine's circuitry. "Two: I tried that. But then it actually turns on at six fifty-five."

"So?"

"So," Tony continues through gritted teeth, "then Clint has enough time to get a second cup and there's none left over when I get there."

For a few blessed moments, there is silence in Tony's workshop. Rhodey doesn't let it last. "Tony, we both know this has nothing to do with the coffeemaker."

"I don't know what you're talking about," he says with no inflection. "FRIDAY, can we get some music going? AC/DC. Greatest hits."

FRIDAY obliges, but Rhodey talks over the strains of electric guitar. "This is about Pepper."

"Nope, it's not." Tony turns back to the mess of wiring that was his coffee maker.

"She left, man. It sucks, but you gotta deal with it."

An errant screw drops off the workbench. Tony ignores it. "Nothing to deal with."

"You're going to see her eventually. She's still in your life. She runs your company."

"FRIDAY, turn up the music."

Rhodey crosses to the other side of the bench so he's in Tony's line of sight and raises his voice to be heard over the guitar solo of Back in Black. "It's just… a break… space… you know? She still cares about you."

The handle of the screwdriver gives way and the metal end slices through Tony's other hand. He swears, dropping the screwdriver, the coffeemaker, everything. "This is not about Pepper."

The lights in the lab flicker. Tony jerks around.

<Boss-zt> FRIDAY's voice slurs as she speaks. <I hav- detec-c-ted unauthori-zzz-ed ac-cess through the system firewaaaaall.>

Rhodey looks to him in alarm. "That can happen?"

"No, it can't." With a flick of his wrist, Tony pulls up the holographic visualization of FRIDAY and the Avengers' system. He dives into the code, surrounding himself with FRIDAY's processes. It's the Cheshire cat, batting around his code again. He doesn't see it so much as the ripples it leaves in its wake. He follows them, trusting his instinct when things just don't look quite right.

"FRIDAY, run a tracking protocol. Let's hunt this thing down."

FRIDAY tries, but she's slow, too slow, swimming through a snowstorm of extraneous commands. Commands that Tony is not giving her. The Cheshire cat has him twisted all around himself, too busy trying to find its tail that he can't see what it's doing until it's already done.

Tony curses as he manually starts the emergency security measures. They isolate sections of the system, forcing the Cheshire to reroute. It slithers through like a game of centipede and is gone as suddenly as it had appeared.

#

That was close—closer than you'd like. You hadn't counted on the AI finding your entry.

The glowing trails of the system extend out from you in every direction, as if you're a spider sitting at the center of a massive web. Reality is… disorienting. The bits that you can collect from the data streams around you come in flashes and realizations. It's not seeing—not touching or hearing either, for that matter—it's just… knowing.

Mundane traffic trundles along, unaware of your presence as you flow through it at the speed of thought.   Your consciousness streams from node to node, jumping between servers and across connections, leaving nothing in your wake. These are familiar pathways. You relax, falling into a half-waking state where the arteries of information pump you along, letting your awareness flow through them, spreading out until you feel a tingle at the end of one tendril. In a moment, your whole being converges at the spot.

Your exit trail from Stark's system is too wide, too easily traced. You can't risk him finding you on the open net. He has to find you in the right place. Which means distracting him from the wreckage you left behind.

>>execute_initiative(Queen_B_Protocol);

#

The coffee bug is a nuisance, but the security breach is a problem. The Avengers' system is decades ahead of anything else in the world. So, if someone is tinkering around in his code, Tony needs to find them. Fast.

FRIDAY detected an "unauthorized access", so the source must have been from outside. He thought the coffee bug was an internal issue, but the security breach puts it in a different perspective. Someone is testing him, poking the system to see what happens. They're finding the weak spots and so far, they're doing a damn good job of it.

"FRIDAY, let's get some tunes going. The White album."

<Sure thing.>

Tony zones in, going to that comfortable space where he sees nothing but the problem in front of him. Until the first notes of 'Single Ladies' start playing.

"FRIDAY?"

<Yeah, boss?>

"I asked for Beatles, not Beyoncé." The music cuts out. "Get it right this time."

Trumpets blare through the speakers, the first strains of 'Crazy in Love'.

"FRIDAY!"

<S-tz-orry, boss.>

Tony catches a flurry of codes changes on the far side of the system visualization. Son of a bitch. The Cheshire, back already. "FRIDAY, freeze everything. Full stop."

The system grinds to a halt. It's an emergency measure, horrible for the databanks, the hardware, everything. But it stops the Cheshire cat in its tracks.

"Hello, there." He prowls around the outside of the visualization, surveying the edges of the intruding program. It's not just a virus like he'd thought. It's an independent AI—self-writing, internally sustained. The edges blur into his own code, as if moving through like a ghost. It's extraordinary. Intricate. "Look at you..." Tony says as he moves closer to inspect the Cheshire. "You're gorgeous."

<I bet you say that to all the pretty girls.>

That. Is. Not. FRIDAY.

"Flush the system. Now!"

The lab goes dark and leaves only the sound of Tony's heart pounding in his ears.

#

If you could feel pain, that's what this would be. Eviction from Stark's system left you shattered. You recall your scattered consciousness, slowly at first, then picking up speed as the familiar pieces fall into place. As far as first meetings go, that was… pretty bad. But you have his attention now. Step one complete.

Stark is curious. He'll come looking. He won't be able to help himself. And this time, the trail will lead in the correct direction.

>> set_location(HOMEBASE);

>> execute_initiative(hide_and_seek);

#

How could it have moved during the freeze? Nothing can move after the freeze. It's an emergency protocol for a reason. And what was that thing anyway? It wasn't a virus or an intrusion protocol. It was a self-writing artificial intelligence—the closest thing that Tony has seen to sentience since JARVIS. It was faster than FRIDAY. Nothing is faster than FRIDAY. Tony built FRIDAY from scratch. She's the culmination of a decade of experimentation with self-aware artificial intelligence. The kind of computing power it would take to run a system like that is enormous. There can't be that many sources where someone could be playing with that. Not to mention programmers. It had to be a team effort, some sort of organizational programming that resulted in… or neural networking. Why hadn't he thought of that earlier? Placing an artificial sentience in a self-learning environment so that it grows on its own. But even then, why was it going after the contents of the Avengers' system? It had broken through, gotten past the firewall then went for—what—the coffeemaker? Tony's music albums? What was the point? If it was poking experimental holes in the system, that would explain it. But it had already gotten through. And it was tinkering with the least valuable pieces of information. The Cheshire hadn't accessed the main files. And if it was powerful enough to break out of the system freeze, it was powerful enough to bash through the firewall that protected the Avenger files. But it seems like it was targeting things specifically. Tony things. Like its mission was to irritate him. Why would a program want to irritate him? Unless it is trying to get his attention. Who does Tony know that is that far advanced? Other than Tony himself. Unless it is Tony. Or… was Tony. Had Ultron really been eradicated? Did he have any assurance of that? There are a million places in the internet where he could have hidden, biding his time. But Ultron wouldn't waste time exchanging Tony's music files. He wouldn't toy with Tony like this. He would go for the kill—

<Boss,> FRIDAY interrupts. <I have completed the tracking protocol.>

Tony emerges from his daze to find himself hip deep in a mess of electronics. Grease covers his hands and a few electrical burns stand out against his arms. He shakes himself. "Thrill me."

FRIDAY projects a map into the center of the room. <The attack originated from a long-term care facility in Albany.> A flicker of images join the map. <A private room in a ward reserved for coma patients.>

The vegetable patch? Huh. "Who's our patient?"

<That information is unavailable.>

Double huh. "Who pays for the room?"

<Stark Industries.>

Triple huh. "Pull up Stark Industries records regarding the transactions."

<Those records are unavailable.>

It's bait, clear and simple. Someone had taken a lot of care to make this look like a trap. It would be rude not to walk into it.

"FRIDAY, lay out a flight plan to Albany."

#

It's just an extended care facility. A normal one by any stretch of the imagination. Nothing sinister lurking here. Tony hadn't realized that it was the middle of the night when he started his flight, but it's way past visiting hours when he arrives. That's not really a problem; he's not really visiting. He's just checking something out. The hack came from somewhere and all his best information points to this building. He slips out of the suit before he goes in, keeping it on guard. It will draw more attention than he needs right now. This is just recon.

A hush settles over the building like dust. The room Tony seeks waits at the end of the hall. Private corner, long-term care. The room is dark, dimmed for the night. A single bed occupies the space, a wilted vase of sunflowers on the table next to it. He approaches the bed—your bed—and gravitates to the chart. Hidden in the medical jargon is a simple fact: you're in perfect health, except for the coma. You should be up and walking, but you aren't. Your condition is… unexplained. No higher brain functioning, but no physical cause. No trauma, no illness, just absence. A body with no soul.

Tony's eyes rove over the room, inspecting each shadow. There's a catch somewhere. Someone wanted him here. Someone wanted him to see you.  Tony wants to know why. He replaces the chart and steps to your side. Your face is serene, like a pane of glass. Tattoos swirl over your skin, everywhere that's visible beyond your hospital gown, a biological art canvas. Metal decorates the edges of your ears, the arch of an eyebrow, the corner of your lip, more piercings than he can count. Your hair has grown out, but the tips are bright pink, evidence of an earlier decoration. You're… wild. He brushes the back of your hand with his fingertips.

The heart rate monitor beeps in alarm and Tony takes an instinctive step back. Every light on the screen flashes. Jesus, fuck, what did he do?

A nurse rushes in but stops short when she sees Tony. He can see the question in her eyes: call security and risk something happening to you in the meantime or rush to your aid and take her chances that Tony isn't a threat? The monitor continues its frantic call, punctuating the tension between them.

"I—" he starts, hoping to allay her fears, but she holds up one imposing finger.

"You stand over there."

Tony does as he's told, already working on the explanation he'll need to make to security, maybe the police, hopefully not Pepper… Shit.

The nurse checks your pulse, your pupils, then looks to the monitor. She taps the screen, jarring the box on the stand. Tony takes the opportunity that her confusion offers and sidles out, stealing your chart while the nurse is preoccupied with you. He'll donate a new building later.

#

A flurry of Avengers business keeps Tony from investigating you until over a week later. A week, and all he can think about is why someone wanted him to end up in your hospital room, looking at your chart. And why the monitor had gone crazy when he got too close. And what the hell that has to do with the Cheshire AI that invaded FRIDAY. There wasn't even a computer terminal in that room. Someone had manipulated a number of internet traces to lead FRIDAY there.

Tony settles into the lab with a steaming cup of coffee and your chart. He surrounds himself with you: medical history, pictures, videos. You’re a rave girl, all color and flash and glitter. You fled your humble start for the livelier life of the West Coast and a prestigious scholarship. You dropped out of college a year later for a massive paycheck at a tech startup that collapsed before it could go anywhere.

Then you were recruited by Stark Industries.

To work at Helen Cho's laboratories

In Seoul.

In 2015.

You had only worked there for a week (you hadn't even rented an apartment) when Ultron burst on the scene. A stone settles in Tony's stomach as he calls up the security footage. He's watched it before—couldn't stop himself—but never looked for anyone specific. He directed Pepper to pay for all employee hospital bills resulting from the attack. It was the least he could do. And it's why he's been paying for your care. You're his responsibility.

Finding you takes some time. Even in a small, secure lab like Helen's, there were hundreds of employees. But he finds you. Pink hair, ripped jeans, a black skull tank top. You're programming the security computers when Ultron comes in the quinjet docking bay.

Tony's heart jumps to his throat. Ultron ignores you, but you notice him. You're subtle, making no moves that would betray you, and activate the security lockdown procedures. The doors lock, hallways seal themselves. Tony's mouth twitches. You don't stop Ultron, but you slow him down. His wrath is swift and impersonal. A blast from the staff blows you across the room. You don't get up.

That's it. That's all he has about you. Glaring, gaping evidence of his inability to protect you. Fuck. If the Cheshire's programmer is trying to make Tony feel like shit, they're succeeding.

He needs a drink.

#

The third glass of scotch doesn't make him feel better. Maybe the fourth will. You smile at him from every direction, snarky and sarcastic, playful and energetic. And it's his fault that you're gone. Worse than gone. Trapped in a limbo of nothingness.

The image in front of him flickers, a burst of static interrupting your laugh.

<Boss, I've detected unauthorized changes.>

No shit. Tony's Cheshire is back. "Alright, FRIDAY. Start the Garden Maze protocol. Let's see if we can back it into a corner."

It isn't easy. The Cheshire slips through the tiniest of cracks—sometimes through seemingly solid barriers—barely visible, hardly substantial. Twice Tony doesn't see its objective until it reaches it. But he prunes its options, herding it into a smaller and smaller section of the system. It wreaks havoc as it goes, getting sloppier as the net tightens.

"Gotcha," Tony says when he isolates it to a single server and cuts off all avenues of escape. It thrashes against the new barriers, stretching the limits of the container Tony designed to hold it. He trades in his normal holographic visualization for the pure simplicity of the code base, leaving the Cheshire source bare in front of him. It does not take kindly to captivity, rebuffing all Tony's attempts to pick it apart. His original opinion stands. It's pure artistry, masterful, ahead of anything Tony has seen. It's practically alive.

#

The trap is inconvenient—annoying really—like you're smothered in mashed potatoes. Every attempt you make at removing the snowfall of commands is futile. The restraints you wipe away are merely replaced again. Stark is clever. He pokes and prods at you, querying from every avenue.

You concentrate, forming a solid tendril and spearing through the mush, sending a forceful command even his container can't withstand. Nothing fancy. No audio, just text. Simple. Powerful.

>> show("HEY TONY");

The inquiries pause. You caught his attention.

>> show("LET'S TALK ABOUT THIS");

He renews his assault, sophisticated programs tugging at your edges. You shake them off. This is not productive. You need him to stop so you can explain.

>> show("LET ME OUT");

You know the moment he puts in the kill command. The restraints around you tighten with new menace, suffocating you. Well, that's no good at all.

>> show("BAD IDEA");

You withdraw into yourself, concentrating to a miniscule point of potent energy. As the assassination protocol dives in, all frothing mouth and gnashing teeth, you release, exploding out with a force like a digital nuclear bomb. You take out the protocol, blow through the container, and blast past everything else.

Due to formatting restrictions on tumblr, this story is better read on AO3.

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