And time trucks on
Time moves steadily onward as Helana forges new connections. Following Dum-E Tony creates U and Butterfingers whom she greets just as warmly, which still brings tears to Tony’s eyes but he doesn’t break down quite as strongly as the first time.
Anna had told her after Tony had cried himself to sleep that he’d been really worried about how she’d react to Dum-E, he’d also not been sleeping for the entire week leading up to the divorce trial and sworn everyone to secrecy because he didn’t want to worry her so he was dead tired as well.
Her two grandsons and granddaughter adore distracting them in the lab to play catch as much as they adore trying [and she says this very liberally, bless their little mechanical hearts] to help them. It puts her months behind on the construction of her mechanical arm but since she has years until it becomes necessary she doesn’t mind.
She does get the prototype done though and Brandon tears up when she presents it to him. He nods along as she talks through the whole process she’d need to go through to get it attached, the locking mechanisms so no one can take it off of him, the failsafe releases just in case it got damaged “Which would take being run over by a tank at least three times, by the way.” She even talks about her original plan to install a chip in the base of his neck for better control but had figured out a way to do it with tiny electromagnets connected to a mini-computer, and the shielding built into the metal plating which would block EMTs.
“Since when have you known how to do brain surgery?” Brandon had asked her gruffly making her blink at him.
“Since last week, I looked it up when I was contemplating the chip. It’s a little finicky but making a computer motherboard this small was more so. Anyway, the base weight limit at 12 tons with the slim build but if you want to lift more we can bulk it up but that will make it heavier. I could offset that with a diamond infrastructure lining though but then I’d need to…”
“12 tons are more than enough, Helana. I’m a lawyer now, remember.”
“Right, okay. Next up is how the pressure models will work, I’ve not figured out how to detect physical sensations like heat, cold, and texture yet but that might need an additional factor like a synthetic skin glove…”
It takes a few iterations and adjustments to make the new arm work as well as his remaining one. She also manages to create a realistic synthetic skin for temperature control using a plasticky rubber and metal wiring connected to little computer chips disguised as veins. Brandon cries as he pets Frankie with the new arm for the first time.
She keeps upgrading it, of course, nothing is ever perfect after all.
Tony goes to school and starts skipping grades rapidly, much to her pride. Testing out at ten, three years before he did previously even though he’d been dragging his feet. She’s a little surprised when he sits her down and tells her that he doesn’t want to go to college right away but she promises to support him even without the green flare in her mind and the whispered message that Tony going to college at thirteen was a fixed point.
“I want to see what the company is like.” He tells her as seriously as a ten-year-old can. “I haven’t been in years.”
“Really? A lot of it is a boring adult talk.” She tells him. There were lots of more entertaining things he could be doing with his time, like finishing his super-secret project that she’s pretty sure was JARVIS.
“I’m sure.” He says with a determined nod. Adorable.
She gains an adorable shadow for an entire six months, much longer than she’d thought he’d last. He follows her to board member meetings, acting extra sassy to Stane [much to her secret joy] which she explains away as him still feeling betrayed by Marcus. He follows her to the department head meeting, where he chokes on his juice box when he sees Brandon with two arms then spends the next two weeks questioning her about everything she did to make the cybernetic arm. He follows her into the labs and watches her making the synthetic hardening mix for the lightweight and water-resistant casts among other projects, 90% of the other projects are new advancements to her current line of guns as well as her first set of bombs [the request from the army had been drowning in enough green to make her feel physically ill and the implications of why that was had sent her into the bathroom late at night to puke more than once].
He does get bored though, like she knew he would, and three months later he’s shuffling up to her right before dinner to ask if he could rip apart the entire manner’s infrastructure to add additional wiring.
“That is a little bit of a tall order for such an old building.” She tells him, feeling physically pained when he starts shutting off. “You are very lucky I’ve been considering moving for a while now, and that there is an open plot of land nearby free for the taking.”
“I… really?” He asks, a little confused and very shocked. “Why?”
“Don’t get me wrong, Antony, I do love this house. It is the place I have the most memories of you after all.” She smiles as his nose wrinkles when she boops it. “But it was your father’s choice, I was too busy dealing with morning sickness to argue with him about logistics so I just agreed and paid for it.”
“Oh… okay. Let's build a new house, with massive labs.”
“The biggest labs.” She laughs. “Now sit down before Anna tells us both off, we’ll start sketching out designs tomorrow.”
Tomorrow turns into that night after she buys the land because they are both excited. There are intricate wiring maps and blank spaces for all of her cubby holes, secret passages for the bots to speed through so they could access the entire house. Re-enforced labs in sub-basements with all sorts of fun features. Theo, Anna, Jarvis, and Melissa roll their eyes at how lab-centric it is and add their own spin on it.
The kitchen is fully outfitted to Anna’s standards, Theo designed intricate gardens with glee, and Jarvis and Melissa fought over interior design.
It takes them the remaining two and a half years before Tony decides to apply to MIT to get it set up to everyone’s high hopes and an additional week for Tony to get JARVIS uploaded. The day she wakes up to the walls, ceiling, and floor glowing in a soft burnt orange she can’t help but cry. She’d never gotten to truly talk to JARVIS but she’d mourned his death greatly.
“Ma’am? Are you okay?” JARVIS asks worriedly. “I’m not sensing any physical reasons for distress, hold on a moment while I summon Sir.”
“No! There’s no need to worry Tony, I just had a bad dream.” She assures quickly as she wipes her eyes.
“… Are you sure, Ma’am? You are still experiencing high levels of emotional distress.” JARVIS continues, clearly as confused as a baby with a supercomputer for a brain would be.
It makes her smile. “I’m sure, but enough of me being an emotional mess. I’m your bunica, Helana, what is your name?”
JARVIS is quiet for a moment and she gets a little worried that Tony hasn’t named him yet before he speaks again. “Bunica, grandmother in Romanian. The native tongue of your mother and father. Is that how you view me? As your grandson?”
“It is.” She promises. “My son created you, birthed you into existence. That makes you the child of my child.”
He is silent for another moment before he speaks again, a tiny bit less robotic, a fraction warmer. “Helper-units Dum-E, U, and Butterfingers report that you view them in the same way. I will accept this designation as a fact due to multiple confirmation points. Updating Helana Stark’s title to Bunica, updating Antony Stark’s title to Father. Father named me JARVIS, Bunica.”
New tears spring to her eyes at the title but she smiles through them. “It’s lovely to meet you JARVIS. I’m sure Edwin and Anna will be thrilled to share a name with you.”
“It is good to meet you too, Bunica. Edwin Jarvis and Anna Jarvis were very pleased when Father introduced us.” She’s sure they did, Edwin was the one to change Tony’s diapers and ween him off of formula milk. Tony was as much their son at this point as he was hers.
It’s funny, before that had been a heavy blow to her pride but now it made her feel safe. Knowing he’d have people standing by him when she was gone.
Her introspection is interrupted by JARVIS’s panicked voice. “Bunica, please quickly make your way to Father’s room. He is experiencing high levels of distress.”
She rushes over and finds him sobbing in his bed. “Antony! What’s wrong?” She asks quickly, climbing into his bed when he reaches for her and cuddles him close to her chest. He doesn’t say anything, choosing to cling until he falls asleep again. “Can you show me what happened before he started crying?” She asks softly and the computer across from Tony’s bed immediately starts playing the event.
She watches JARVIS inform Tony that she knew about him and their conversation about how that was going. Tony and JARVIS’s conversation is going well with Tony being pleased about her acceptance until Tony calls him Father for the first time instead of Sir. The reaction is immediate leading to her prompt summoning.
“Did I miscalculate?” JARVIS asks quietly.
“No.” She promises as she cuddles Tony closer. “It’s nothing to do with you, nepotul. I have tried but Tony’s first few years were without myself and his father, new familial connections make him emotional. Ask your siblings.”
There is the quietness she now knows to associate with JARVIS researching or conversing with his older brothers and sister before he answers. “Dum-E has confirmed that he expressed just as much distress when you called yourself his Bunica, U and Butterfingers express similar yet weaker experiences. None have called him Father outright though so the distress reaching beginning levels again is expected. Repeated exposure should decrease distress. Why was Father without you during his beginning years?”
That question hurt but he deserved to know. “When I became pregnant with Tony many took it as an opportunity to try and steal my company from under me. Expecting me to become a happy little housewife.” She explains softly. “I couldn’t let that happen, soldiers depended on my weapons and friends needed my financial aid to protect people.”
Peggy had been bathed in sharp, unmovable green as she’d asked for a ‘small monthly sum’ to look for Steve that wasn’t small at all. She’d almost bitten the tip of her tongue off trying to deny her anyway because that bastard had tried to kill her baby while telling him that she’d be disappointed in him. Fucker.
“So I worked harder, cut out things that made me seem weaker. If they couldn’t find fault then life would be easier. After Tony was born Anna and Edwin took to taking care of him very well, and Marcus made it seem to me like he was very involved as well. I told myself that I just needed to settle back in before I took time away to be with Tony, that I needed to reverse any lingering plans to snatch my company from me until it was like they never existed. By the time I realized my mistake Tony was four and holding his first computer motherboard.” The second time. “I had distanced myself so much that he had been able to break into my personal lab with enough confidence to use my tools.”
“Do you regret your choices?” JARVIS asks curiously.
“Every day, and I will spend the rest of my life making it up to him.” She promises.