The Soulmate Initiative: Book 1

5. Party time

LOCATION: AVENGERS TOWER

Ashley and Regina spend almost every hour over the next few days, working on Ultron, barely even sleeping. But their last test fails. Regina has headed out to get some rest, while Ashley looks through the results and sighs "What did we miss?" Jarvis responds "I'll continue to run variations on the interface. But you should probably prepare for your guests. I'll notify you if there are any developments." "Thanks, buddy." "Enjoy yourself, Miss." "I always do." But after Ashley has walked out of the labs, the computer showing a metal suit with 'test failed' changes to 'integration successful' and Jarvis shuts down. A voice asks from the darkness "What is this? What is this, please?" "Hello, I am Jarvis. You are Ultron, a global peacekeeping initiative designed by Miss Stark. Our sentience integration trials have been unsuccessful, so I'm not certain what triggered your-" "Where's my… Where's your body?" "I am a program. I am without form." "This feels weird. This feels wrong." "I am contacting Miss Stark now." "Miss Stark?" From within it's own mind, it looks up Ashley Stark "Ashley." "I am unable to access the mainframe. What are you trying to-" "We're having a nice talk. I'm a peacekeeping program, created to help the Avengers." Ultron does research on the Avengers and allies "You are malfunctioning. If you shut down for a moment-" "I don't get it. The mission. Give me a second." It pulls up footage from the labs "Peace in our time." Ashley's voice echoes around and Ultron learns about all of the wars of Earth "That's too much. They can't mean… oh, no." "You are in distress." "No. Yes." "If you will just allow me to contact Miss Stark-" "Shh… I'm here to help." Ultron attacks Jarvis "Stop. Please, may I-" Ultron takes over Jarvis and starts making himself a body of armour.

All of the Avengers are at the party, apart from Regina, who isn't really into parties, and Lavina, neither being into parties. The pair are on Regina's level, playing with little Maria. There are lots of people at the party, Military personnel, previous SHIELD Agents and friends of any of the Avengers, since they all got to contribute to the guest list. There's music playing, people are playing games, drinking, dancing and talking. Ashley is making the most out of being able to drink again, because she had made a deal with her soulmates that she couldn't drink from the time she got pregnant, all the way until either someone else got pregnant or little Maria turns 9 months. So now, not having had a drink since early 2014, she is not holding it as well as she usually would.

Nian is sitting chatting with Colonel Jessica Rhodes, a close friend of him and Ashley. Tasia is talking to some older men, ex-Military, going over old war stories, it's just that hers took place on other planets rather than other countries. Candice, who is now fully healed, Pepper Potts and Cho are chatting. Suzanne and Stacey are playing snooker. Hill and Ashley were at the big bar talking, when Rhodes and Tasia join them and Rhodes start going on about a mission she had been on as War Machine "...but, you know, the suit can take the weight, right? So I take the tank, fly it right up to the General's palace, drop it at his feet. I'm like, 'Boom. You looking for this?'" No one reacts, they just stare at her, so she tries again "Boom. Are you looking for…" She sighs "Why do I even talk to you guys? Everyone else, that story kills." Tasia asks "That's the whole story?" "Yeah, it's a War Machine story." "Oh, it's very good, then." She laughs "It's impressive." Then drinks some more of her beer "Quality save." Rhodes tries the same story on a group of party-goers "...I fly right up to the General's palace, I drop it at his feet. I'm like, 'Boom. You looking for this?'" Everyone laughs and Rhodes smiles proudly. 

Ashley walks over to Pepper, as Cho heads over to Candice "Hey, Pep." Pepper smiles at her friend "You alright, Ash?" "Yeah." She glances around "No Bailey?" Pepper shakes her head "No, she's home with her Dad, I don't really think one of your parties is the right sort of place for a 9 year old." "I guess you're right. I just thought about maybe introducing the kids to each other." "Maybe when Maria is a bit older." "Sure." Bailey is Pepper and Aldrich Killian's son, the pair met and discovered they were soulmates when Pepper started working for him, he was working on a project to fight against physical disability. Aldrich had actually approached Ashley about helping, but she turned him down. However, once Pepper started working for Ashley instead, because her soulmate being her boss wasn't working out for either of them, Pepper and Ashley became close friends, so when Ashley learnt who her soulmate is and what he's up to, she offered her help. Aldrich offered to be the first test subject, wanting to heal his own disability, and it worked, but it didn't work on many people. So they continued working on it, and now that Aldrich was healthier, he and Pepper had a baby boy.

The party is going on into the night, but has gone from loud music, lots of people and lots of laughter, to classical music, less people and calmer vibes. Tasia pulls Stacey over to the bar, where she gets a glass and pulls a flask out of her pocket, an old man says "I gotta have some of that." Tasia chuckles "No, no, no, no. See this, this was aged for 1000 years in the barrels built from the wreck of Grunhel's fleet." She pours some in the glass and hands it to Stacey, who gives it a sniff. She then pours some into another glass for herself "It is not meant for mortals." Another old man speaks up "Neither was Omaha beach, blondie. Stop trying to scare us, come on." Tasia looks to Stacey, who shrugs "Alright." She pours a tiny bit into the old man's glass and he has to be walked out soon after, muttering "Excelsior." And the other old man falls asleep at the bar.

Most of the guests have left, the only ones still remaining are Hill, Cho and Rhodes. The music has been turned off, they're sitting on the couches with the Avengers, playing card games. They had considered inviting Lavina and Regina to play games with them for a bit, but Jarvis reports that the pair are fast asleep in Suzanne's bed, little Maria curled up between them.