Jarvis Chronicles

[The Vision]

Issue 1 - Something Old

Mr. Edwin Jarvis rubbed his eyes. No time for any of that while he was working. Fatigue was for the unprofessional.
 
Of course, unlike his younger days in the Stark home or his less younger days in the Avengers Mansion, he was doing much less cleaning. These days especially, when buildings seemed to clean more or less by themselves, he was more of a managerial figure. And thank the heavens for that: especially whenever Dr. Banner’s unusual condition manifested, Mr. Jarvis had to more or less reconstruct the place. And unlike whoever maintained Professor Xavier’s academy, he had no supernatural abilities he knew of.
 
Mr. Jarvis sighed, absentmindedly typing in the Avengers database. Mr. Vision’s cybernetic nature had done an incredible job saving most of the data the Avengers collected from their original world. He pressed a button, playing random security footage. Mr. Stark and Captain Rogers were looking at a desktop.

Mr. Stark was in his armor. "I'm worried about you. You don't get enough sleep."

"I slept for 70 years-"

"Yeah, you've used that line before."

Captain Rogers smirked. "Leave me alone. I'm a senior citizen."

Mr. Stark exited his armor.

"I'm thinking," Mr. Stark said, crossing his arms, "of making Jarvis a suit."

"Is Jarvis gonna be an Avenger now?"

"Frankly, he's been working for the Avengers longer than some of the members combined."

Captain Rogers shrugged. "I suppose."

"And..." Mr. Stark sighed, "I want him to be safe."

Captain Rogers looked at him concernedly. "You're being uncharacteristically sentimental."

Mr. Stark laughed and pressed a button. Suddenly, a holographic image flashed from the console, revealing a new Iron Man suit prototype. Mr. Jarvis watched with fascination. 

"What do you think?"

Captain Rogers shrugged. "I don't know. Why are you asking me?"

"You're old. He's old. I dunno."

Captain Rogers shot Mr. Stark a glare. Mr. Stark chuckled.

"Are you going to tell him?" Captain Rogers asked.

"Not yet," Mr. Stark replied, pressing another button, "I'll tell him later."

The footage stopped. Mr. Jarvis blinked. As far as he could tell, this Avengers Tower had the same layout as the one back home (obviously disregarding the new Danger Room floor). Perhaps this meant that the suit was here, too?

Mr. Jarvis rubbed his chin. Given the fact that the Tower was not very secure, perhaps it would be best for him to find this new suit.

[The Vision]

Issue 2 - Something New

Mr. Jarvis strolled down the steel hallway, arms held tightly behind him as always. He nodded to Toriel as he passed by her towards the elevator. 

"Oh, Mr. Jarvis?" Toriel called out.

Mr. Jarvis paused and turned to meet Toriel's gaze.

"Another being from my world has arrived at the Tower," the bovine lady explained.

"Ah," Mr. Jarvis nodded, "I should go meet them. Where can I find...?"

"Dr. Alphys. A scientist." Toriel's cheery expression seemed to dim ever so slightly. "She's here to help, I think. I pointed her to the labs, and given her habits in the Underground, she'll usually be found there."

Mr. Jarvis nodded and pressed the elevator button. "I'll go meet her, then, shall I?"

The tower rumbled. The two Secondaries exchanged nervous glances.

"I'll go have a look," the butler said.

Mr. Jarvis heard the gentle "ding!" of the elevator. He entered the glass chamber, pressing 2 unceremoniously.

As the lift descended, Mr. Jarvis thought once again on the footage he found. If Mr. Stark truly had built that suit, then he would be far more capable of defending the Tower while the real Avengers were gone. For example, if Skynet had decided to return, he was hardly about to fight it off with a vacuum cleaner or some such nonsense. The thought of it amused him as the lift doors slid open.

Mr. Jarvis exited the lift and made his way towards the newly constructed lab. The maid-droids were still hard at work making sure that the walls were free of scorch marks - though several were clearly new. Perhaps the work of this Dr. Alphys..? Mr. Jarvis turned the corner and pressed his ID card against the reader. The doors slid open, and a ball of fire burst through them with a scream. Mr. Jarvis, one eyebrow raised, peeked through.

In the lab was a creature about three feet tall, a sort of yellow lizard in a labcoat. At the moment, the creature was smoldering, scrambling to do something. 

"Ma'am?" Mr. Jarvis called out tentatively.

Dr. Alphys jolted and spun around. She was sweating hard, still running around a strange device that looked suspiciously like a cannon.

"I'msorryI'msorryhangonletmeturnthisthingoffohmygoodnesshowdoes- DUCK!"

The device began to whir dramatically. Mr. Jarvis casually leaned to the side as another fireball roared past him. The projectile instead struck a maid-bot who was attempting to clean up the soot from the first fireball.

"Do you mind turning that off?" Mr. Jarvis shouted above the clatter.

"I'M TRYING ohnoohnohowdoI"

Mr. Jarvis traced the cords attached to the device to an outlet nearby, and right on time. The cannon was whirring again, seemingly firing automatically every few seconds. He briskly reached down and pulled the cord. The whirring began to slow down. Dr. Alphys was crouching, covering her head with her arms. She poked her head out to look at the cannon.

"How did you-"

Mr. Jarvis waved the plug. Dr. Alphys clapped her hands.

"Of course! You cut the power source."

"You must be Dr. Alphys," Jarvis commented. 

Dr. Alphys grinned nervously. She wiped her glasses and put them on her nose. "I uh... Yeah. Th-that's me."

"I'm Edwin Jarvis, Head of Management."

Mr. Jarvis stuck out his hand. Dr. Alphys wiped the soot from her palms on her labcoat and shook his hand vigorously.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Jarvis!" Alphys exclaimed, "I h-hope I haven't caused too much t-trouble-"

Mr. Jarvis chuckled as he turned around and watched two more maid-bots enter and sweep up the remains of the first. 

"To be frank," Mr. Jarvis muttered, "The lab seems to insist on being burned down."

Dr. Alphys chuckled nervously and scratched the back of her head. 

"By any chance, did you find a suit of advanced armor in the lab?" Mr. Jarvis asked, "I understand you've arrived recently, but-"

"Yes! I have!" Dr. Alphys excitedly chirped. She sprinted over behind the cannon and pulled out some papers. 

"I found the blueprints for an extremely advanced suit of armor, capable of propulsion on all four limbs and advanced weaponry. The designer, uh, Tony Stark, called it-"

"The Iron Man suit," Mr. Jarvis whispered breathlessly.  

"Yeah," Dr. Alphys whispered. Mr. Jarvis was not sure why she was whispering. "You know it?"

"It's a gift," Mr. Jarvis chuckled, "from an old friend."

At those words, an unknown panel in a nearby wall slid open. Mr. Jarvis walked towards it reverence, watching complex mechanical arms extend pieces of his own Iron Man armor. Black and gold. His favorite colors. On the central chestpiece, a post-it note read, "from Tony".

"Thank you, Mr. Stark," Mr. Jarvis muttered.

[The Vision]

Issue 3 - Something Borrowed

Mr. Jarvis stood in the middle of the Danger Room awkwardly. He glanced around him, looking for a sign that the simulation had begun. Of course, since the woman behind the screen was not technologically proficient-

"Mr. Jarvis?" Mrs. Toriel Dreemurr's voice rang on the speaker.

Mr. Jarvis sighed inside his suit. The interface was about the same as the one that Mr. Stark himself used. It rotated and spun, circles of data spiraling and zipping in front of his eyes. He wondered if there was a way to slow it down. All the movement and the lights was making his old eyes dizzy.

"Yes, Mrs. Dreemurr?"

"I think someone's in trouble."

Mr. Jarvis engaged the repulsors on the suit, flying to approach the (hopefully bulletproof, impact-resistant and flame-retardant) glass observation deck. Mrs. Dreemurr was scratching her head and reading various charts and graphs. It was quite obvious to Mr. Jarvis what went "wrong", despite the holographic data being backwards.

"Do you see the button that says 'Save'?"

"Yes. Who's in trouble?"

"Oh, not quite in that sense, I assure you," Mr. Jarvis replied. He had only just learned how to maintain a certain height while flying, as evident by the scorch marks on walls that the maidbots would find difficult to reach. Nevertheless, he was managing quite well. "Just press the button that says 'Save'."

Mrs. Dreemurr shrugged and lifted her palm.

"Ah, ma'am," Mr. Jarvis interrupted, "With your finger, if you would. Like I taught you."

Mrs. Dreemurr chuckled. "Yes, of course."

She poked the button. A small wheel appeared in the hologram, alarming Mrs. Dreemurr.

"And what does that mean?" she shuddered.

"That symbol means that the computer is processing your reque-"

A large molten hand slammed into Mr. Jarvis' back. The impact, had the suit not been prepared for such an event, would have shattered his spine. Instead, it simply bruised it. Mrs. Dreemurr gasped.

"Oh dear! Let me-"

"Uhh, no," Mr. Jarvis grunted, "It's quite alright, Mrs. Dreemurr, this is just part of the-"

Another hand appeared, presumably the left one. Mr. Jarvis engaged his boosters directly at the window, pushing back against the right hand as hard as he could. The left hand descended, intending to swipe at Mr. Jarvis. He then pointed his palms downward, scraping the armor against the molten rock that was the creature's skin. The left hand continued to move forward, seemingly about the shatter the glass. Mrs. Dreemurr stood back warily, but the hand vanished into blue data before it made contact with the wall. However, the hand seemed to be in pain, implying it had just collided with steel. 

Mr. Jarvis shot backwards and upwards, attempting to assess the situation. This was not a good start.

The Danger Room was feeding the simulation's data into the Iron Man's interface, showing considerable damage to back thrusters. This would limit his mobility, surely, but was not much of an issue. The much more important issue was the radar's report - it counted four pings.

Mr. Jarvis subtly lowered his eyes to it, which should have brought the screen to the foreground. The interface instead opened an internet browser and awaited Mr. Jarvis' commands.

"Show me the radar," Mr. Jarvis muttered.

To the butler's frustration, the browser did a Google search of "show me 'The Raider'," displaying showtimes and locations around Costa Del Sol for an upcoming action movie. The armor's "immediate alert" warning activated, and Mr. Jarvis let the armor decide which evasive maneuver was best. Unfortunately, the armor required Mr. Jarvis' full cooperation in the use of his limbs, so Mr. Jarvis was hit with the full brunt of the magma-covered punch.

Mr. Jarvis, still struggling with the interface, glanced to the right. The browser went away. He then brought his eyes more deliberately (which felt incredibly awkward) to the radar, finally registering in the interface. The computer expanded the image, showing one, very large red ping and three smaller green ones. Civilians.

"Shall we go save them?" Mr. Jarvis asked.

"Command not recognized," a soothing, Irish female voice reported. Presumably, it was not used to Mr. Jarvis' politeness, being programmed to respond to Mr. Stark.

The armor recommended another evasive maneuver. This time, Mr. Jarvis moved his arms accordingly, and the boosters engaged, thrusting him slightly to the right and narrowly dodging another blow. The butler looked more closely at his opponent.

The database revealed a match: a Lava Man, from Subterrania. Quite a large one, at that, reaching up to five meters, according to the interface. And, of course, unable to speak as modern Lava Men are. Mr. Jarvis lifted himself into the air, still struggling to identify the location of the three civilians.

Then he saw them. A family of humans, presumably. A man, woman and their daughter. As if he was connected to the same computer, the Lava Man turned to them at the same time. Perhaps recognizing the futility of attacking Mr. Jarvis, it lifted a hand to strike the family.

"I must protest!" Mr. Jarvis shouted. "Ms. Friday, prepare coolant ventilation!"

"Ready, boss," FRIDAY reported.

Mr. Jarvis launched himself forward, pointing his wrists forward. Lava Men were cold-blooded, as it were - their body heat was susceptible to external temperatures, and they required a great deal of heat to stay alive. At the very least, Mr. Jarvis could incapacitate them.

He shot forward, pointing his forearms at the Lava Man and crying, "Ventilate coolants!"

A small fog wrapped around the suit as Mr. Jarvis flew right past the creature.

Mr. Jarvis groaned and redirected the suit to land where the Lava Man was aiming. The family was cowering by the Danger Room wall. Simulation or no, their reaction was realistic.

"Iron Man!" the daughter rejoiced.

"Of a sort," the butler replied. He lifted his hands and fired repulsor blasts at the palm of the Lava Man's hand.

To his surprise, Mr. Jarvis had succeeded. The Lava Man reeled back, obviously in pain. It glanced at the proportionally little man in black and gold. It spat globs of lava at the butler, huge orbs of molten rock. Mr. Jarvis racked his brain, thinking of ways to defend against such a thing.

"Activate repulsor shields!" Mr. Jarvis cried.

"Command not recognized," FRIDAY responded.

"Activate repulsor-"

But it was too late. Mr. Jarvis squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the lava to leak through the suit and into his skin.

[The Vision]

Issue 4 - Something Blue

Mr. Jarvis opened his eyes. The interface showed a blinking red symbol that said, "Simulation failed". 

Mr. Jarvis sighed and flipped the mask open. Mrs. Dreemurr was watching him with melancholy eyes.

"That family...?"

Mr. Jarvis nodded. "If the situation were real, they would have perished with me. Fortunately, it was just a simulation."

"But they seemed so... real."

"That's the point, Mrs. Dreemurr."

Someone knocked on the door. Dr. Alphys entered, hoisting a miniaturized version of her cannon.

"This is the testing range?" she questioned.

"Of a sort," Mr. Jarvis replied, walking away, "Is it ready for testing?"

"Not yet. I just... never mind."

"Yes?"

"No, it's nothing-"

Mr. Jarvis raised an eyebrow. "If it can cause damage to the tower, I insist on you telling me the problem."

Dr. Alphys sighed. She glanced at the observation deck, but Mrs. Dreemurr had disappeared.

"U-um, well, it needs a self-sustaining p-power source. I was trying to make a bigger version, but y-you can't exactly switch a g-generator on and off within microseconds. W-w-which it also needs. This is sh-shoulder-mounted, so it doesn't n-need as much power, but..."

Mr. Jarvis grinned. "I have a self-sustaining power source that can be switched on and off in microseconds."

Dr. Alphys' eyes lit up. "You do?"

Mr. Jarvis tapped the glowing arc reactor in the suit. Dr. Alphys squinted.

"That little blue thing?"

"It's called an arc reactor. Not my own invention, but I'm quite sure it can meet your demands."

"If you say so," Dr. Alphys sighed, "Should I start dismantling you-"

Abruptly, the mask closed on Mr. Jarvis' face. Alarmed, Dr. Alphys started shouting, "NopleaseIdidn'tmeanit!" Mr. Jarvis pointed his eyes upwards and received an explanation for the armor's action.

It appeared in the shape of the letter "A", surrounded by a thin blue circle. It expanded, showing a photo of the Vision.

"Assistance required," Vision's voice reported simply.

"What kind of assistance, Mr. Vision?"

"Request: air support."

As he spoke, a map of the island appeared, showing four pings - the location of each Avenger. It seemed they were more or less scattered, though two appeared to be in a clump together. 

"The Quinjet is currently unavailable, sir," Mr. Jarvis replied.

"I know, we have it," Captain Rogers said, his voice stuttered with static. Mr. Jarvis could barely hear him over the wind. Presumably, the Vision's voice was clear only because he wasn't actually speaking. "Plus, we're in the middle of a storm. Planes can reach the beach, but I think even Tony might have a hard time navigating these skies."

"A storm?" Mr. Jarvis muttered, "The database reports clear skies in that area- Ah, now it says there is a hurricane surrounding that exact area."

"Is Frisk safe?" Mrs. Dreemurr interrupted. Her face appeared next to the others.

"Who's that?" an unrecognized, gruff voice interrupted.

"My mom," young Ms. Dreemurr replied, provoking Mrs. Dreemurr to sigh loudly in relief. "I'm... I'm okay!"

Mrs. Dreemurr seemed to not notice the lie.

"You don't have any other Avengers who could help, do you?" Captain Rogers asked.

"Captain Rogers, why did you mention Mr. Stark?"

There was a pause. "I don't know, he was saying his armor could fly in the middle of a hurricane. I don't think he ever tested it, but-"

"Please hold," the Vision interrupted.

Mr. Jarvis smiled as he continued updating his profile. He could almost hear Mr. Vision frowning over the radio.

"Query, Mr. Jarvis," the android asked, "Are you in possession of an Iron Man suit?"

Mr. Jarvis didn't respond as Captain Rogers laughed. Clearly, none of the other Avengers were aware of Mr. Stark's alternate identity.

"Stark actually made it?" the soldier chuckled.

"What's an Iron Man suit?" Ms. Dreemurr asked.

"It's our way out," Captain Rogers replied, "Come on."

Mr. Jarvis turned calmly to Dr. Alphys, who was still shuddering.

"Dr. Alphys," Mr. Jarvis said, "I'm afraid I'm going to need the arc reactor this afternoon. Please try not to burn down the tower while I'm away."

Mr. Jarvis opened a window and stepped back. He engaged his thrusters and shot through the open window, soaring towards the Avengers. 

A weary and tired pilot looked up, watching a tiny, black humanoid rocketing off into the sky. She frowned and rang the Avengers' doorbell.

To be continued in: Avengers Issue #4, A Complicated Business