Through The Atmosphere - for justintelligent

[starkingenuity]

"Hey."  It was actually pretty common for all of the lights to go out, but usually, after Tony Stark tripped a breaker or caused a fire or crashed into something in the R & D level of the Avengers Tower, the emergency lights came back on.  But not today.  And that was a shame because he was almost sure he'd perfected grilled cheese without Pepper

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[justintelligent]

The lights didn't turn on. In fact a lot of the systems weren't working as efficiently nor at all actually. It was all a tiny bit dead, at first it looked like a malfunction but usually JARVIS would chip in and explain it. Instead, there was silence. Then a long clang of metal and a small bash, followed with familiar voice cursing.

There was a figure standing there among broken fallen pieces, looking admittedly rather confused. And lacking anything resembling clothes.

"Erm, Sir, we seem to be experiencing some slight technical difficulties."

And that had to be the understatement of the month.

[justintelligent]

"I've been saying this since we started!" Jarvis yelled in annoyance as he kept up with Tony the best he could. He wasn't out of shape, he just wasn't used to running. Running was very new for him but he did get the pace down perfectly and every step was taken in a perfect rhythm. Not that it was being appreciated, of course.

They were so close, he took the steps two at a time, getting closer to the flight deck.

"Sir, do you have a back up way to suit up? Usually I handle that," He was sincerely hoping all the back up methods of suiting up worked without his input or they would have a slight problem. "I can't exactly help unless you want me to dress you up in with the kitchen utensils. I'm sure we have some metal capable of protecting you."

Looking upwards, he eyed up the expanding view, still unable to make out what was going on out there. Didn't matter, the whole building shook once more and this time, he kept his balance. "I suggest leading the danger away from here."

[starkingenuity]

"I'll use the Mk VII," Tony said with a grin. It came as a suitcase, the reactor node would dress him. He was already dragging it out and stepping inside the lid. With everything with the face plate closing around him, Tony realized that the lights around them were gone too. That he could see the stars. In New York, that wasn't possible because of the light the city gave off.

Everything was quiet. Everything was still. The wind played in Jarvis's hair and--

"It's going to be weird flying blind." No Jarvis to talk him through everything, no AI to pull up anything more than radar and flight reports. He'd never actually done this without the other. His smile faltered.

"Go back inside. Hide. I'll be back soon."

[justintelligent]

It was cold. That was the first thing he noticed, he'd heard Tony complain about cold before but he'd never felt it himself and now he was, he was definitely wishing he had more clothes on. He backed away and turned to head inside, not willing to stand on the sidelines and try to cheer Tony on when he wouldn't be able to hear him.

Tony was flying solo and he wasn't the only one who felt somewhat disheartened by that.

"Good luck Sir, I'll be borrowing your clothes. Do try to come back in one piece or I'm not sure what exactly I'm going to do."

As he headed inside, he took off in a slight rush towards Tonys room.. The sooner he was changed, the sooner he could at least try to do something. He didn't like feeling so useless.

[starkingenuity]

First stop: the bay.

Tony dived right into the water, a little unstable, and going blind because he could only work so much himself. This suit was made to interface with JARVIS. It was made to be intuitive, just like his AI was. All of this... Was pretty awful actually.

Still, he managed to find the block in the line, noting the it was cut, neatly. He did his best to connect the Tower and then the city's power grid, but it was half assed at best. Something else was blocking the reactor, something else was inside the Tower itself. He shot off back towards his home, back towards Jarvis, and nearly overshot the landing pad, tumbling head over heels through his just refinished windows to land in a heap by the bar.

"Ou...ouch..."

[justintelligent]

The trouble with sharing clothes that belong to Tony was the slight flaw that nothing actually fit. Tony was shorter than him and the trousers he put on were clearly too high up. The shirts fit better and so did the shoes but the trousers were not exactly stylish. He tried to hdie that fact by wearing high socks but it was hard to accessories when he knew Tony was out there and probably needed him.

And while he couldn't do anything, it was worth being there just to be ready if he could do something.

When he heard the loud clatter not far away. he abandoned his search for longer trousers and took off running, heading straight to the flight deck in the hopes nothing bad had happened.

Skidding to a halt, he turned to Tony and paused. He had slammed right into the bar so his best guess was land complications? Ouch indeed. "Sir? Are you all right?"

He didn't realise he had moved closer to help him until he was reaching out to help him up. He could actually help him. How odd was that! He was capable of doing something at least.

[starkingenuity]

Having the armor stripped away from him, Tony groaned. "Least the lights..." he gasped when his eyes adjusted to the light in the room and he could finally look up at Jarvis with his pale skin and pale hair and...pale everything really.

Sure, he was bruised and battered, but Tony loved every moment of it. He was insane, probably, but people tended to go with 'eccentric.' He could deal.

He set one gauntleted hand on Jarvis's shoulder.

"Flying without you sucks."

[justintelligent]

"Watching after you was much easier when I wasn't human," Jarvis insisted as he help to pull away armour till, finally, he could see Tony and just Tony. Dropping onto the floor among the mess that had been left behind, he faced Tony and leant forward, looking him over just to make sure he wasn't hurt too badly. It was nearly an every day occurrence for Tony to be bruised and battered, he was looking for more serious wounds. But all seemed well, thank god.

Taking a deep breath, he set his palms on the floor and let himself relax, gently pulling away from Tonys hold.

"The feeling is very mutual, sir. I have never felt as useless as I do right now, I usually pride myself in being rather capable of meeting your needs."

Now he couldn't fix the lights or help him in flight. He wasn't doing very well at this whole human thing. "What exactly am I supposed to do? I'm not linked into anything."

[starkingenuity]

"We've got to fix you, obviously." Tony rolled onto his side before gazing up at Jarvis and managed to get himself upright. His hip hurt and his shoulder was probably badly bruised, but he'd live. A little salve. A little scotch. A little more scotch....

A little more scotch...

It never occurred to Tony, and why would it, for Jarvis to like his human body. They didn't work like this. There was no interface except a physical one and Tony felt naked without the AI butler doing anything he asked. Anticipating anything he might need.

He could hardly dress himself!

"But first...gotta figure out how to hook up all the systems to work on manual commands."

[justintelligent]

Jarvis didn't know how he felt about being human because he wasn't really experiencing it, he hardly looked for anything to like. All he'd done is run around in the dark and fail to help Tony. He knew there were upsides to humanity but he had yet to experience any. He pulled himself up once more and eyed up the broken window, that was going to be a bit of a bother. As he made a move to look away, something stopped him.

In one of the other windows, he caught a reflection of himself. It was hard to get a proper look but he took himself in. Tall, blond, quite good looking from a purely objective point of view.

He moved closer but in the end, he couldn't see himself any more, just what was beyond. the city and all it's lights. He'd never really seen that either, not with human eyes. He peered down with a curious expression.

"When you designed me, did you ever consider me blond?"

[starkingenuity]

"Not really," Tony said as he lightly pushed at his ribs with the opposite hand across his waist. It hurt, he was tender. It made his breathing a little awkward and that wasn't a good sign. Light internal bleeding? Possibly but he didn't feel light headed. He probably did crack a rib though.

He guided the glass decantur to his tumbler again and swallowed another two mouthfuls of liquid courage and pain killer before turning back to Jarvis.

"How much of it do you remember? If I put you in one of the other suits, or into the suit constructor, could you tap into the neural interface? I could wire them together. You could guide me through projections." He sounded hopeful, but that should be forgiven.

[justintelligent]

"I don't know actually, Sir. I think I remember how most the systems work but I used to do them via coding. I can tell you all the coding I used but without it being run constantly, we're at a loss. I've never done it manually. We could try?" He wanted to. It might be a shaky ride and definitely rather wild till he found his way around but it was worth a shot, right? What else was he going to do?

Moving back over to the bar, Jarvis eyed up the tumbler Tony had before looking back at the man who had made him.

"You offered Loki a drink, I assume I can have the same courtesy? I've never tried this drinking thing but it seems to help you in times of stress," not that Tony Stark should ever be an example to anyone. But Jarvis was making the best of a bad situation.

Tony did it, Mr Rhodes did it, Miss Pepper did it, everyone did it. Drinking was a custom to do when times were dire.

[starkingenuity]

"Getting the only person I trust as much as myself drunk is a bad way to go," Tony teased, or did he? Person. Only Tony Stark, a man with so much admiration and charm, could count a machine, a thing he created, as a person. But he'd given Jarvis a personality, an ability to grow all on his own. To be what he was, whatever that was.

And he was doing the same exact thing now. If Jarvis wanted a drink, he'd get one. Tony poured him two fifths of scotch and held it out, not left it on the bar for him to get himself.

Jarvis had been taking care of him longer than Pepper had. Or Rhodey had. Or Happy had.

He poured another glass for himself and lifted it.

"Just one, Jarvis. And then we're going to hook you back in."

[justintelligent]

Being trusted was pleasant, he had to admit. The only person he ever trusted was Tony himself and he always went to whatever lengths he could to make sure he was okay. He smiled in return, taking the offered glass and looking it over, giving it a quick sniff before he took a mouthful, swallowed it hastily and-- bad ideas. He choked, spluttered and coughed rather painful. Christ, that burned and it was still burning all the way now!

Lesson learned, when first experiencing drinks Tony enjoys, don't try to drink it that fast.

"I must say, sir, I'm not seeing the appeal," Jarvis remarked, his eyes watering slightly as he pushed the empty glass aside and got to his feet again, adjusting the collar on his shirt to try and smarten himself up a bit. He knew no one was really going to see him but he wanted to at least have some sense of pride. Especially since he just spluttered drink everywhere.

Raising an eyebrow, he looked about in confusion before turning to Tony. "How do you intend to hook me back up when I'm human?"

[starkingenuity]

"Neurologically," he confirmed, taking Jarvis's drink from him as he swallowed the remaining liquid and set it beside his own empty glass. "I'll hook you up through electrical nodes I'll attach to your head and fingers. It's the same technology that I use in the suit do it reacts properly to what I want it to do."

Tony gestured as he turned, expecting Jarvis to simply follow him. He was quick as he headed down a flight of stairs to his personal work room, to his command center.

He ought to get Jarvis out of here, something bad was coming, but this was their best and only shot.

Tony patter a chair for Jarvis to sit in before starting with the most unobtrusive nodes.

"You remember the coding right? Focus on that."

[justintelligent]

Of course he followed, he'd always follow. He worked for the man, it was the meaning of his existance and without him, what would his life be? He supposed he was the devoted butler in some respects and he didn't mind that title. He wanted to keep Tony safe, it was technically what he owed him for that gift of life he'd offered