Pumpkin- Tony Stark

Interlude

"You see, we were wondering how Strucker got so inventive. So I've been analyzing the gem inside." Tony picked up a screen and flung the digital picture onto the floor so the hologram hovered in midair, "You may recognize-"

"Jarvis." Bruce said.

"Doctor." Jarvis answered as the pulsing orange sphere.

"Started out, Jarvis was just a natural language UI. Now he runs the Iron Legion. He runs more of the business than anyone besides Pepper."

"Oh." Bruce said.

"Top of the line."

"Yes."

"I suspect not for long." Jarvis replied.

"Meet the competition." Tony said, putting up the scepters blue sphere next to Jarvis. It was twice as big.

"It's beautiful." Bruce gasped.

"If you had to guess, what's it look like it's doing?"

"Like it's thinking." Bruce answered. "I mean, this could be- It's not a human mind."

Tony agreed with that.

"I mean, look at this. They're like neurons firing."

"Down in Strucker's lab I saw some fairly advanced robotics work. They deep- sixed the data, but I gotta guess he was knocking on a very particular door."

Bruce turned and looked at him. "Artificial Intelligence."

"This could be it Bruce," Tony said, stepping close to Bruce, excited. "This could be the key to creating Ultron."

Bruce laughed in shock and smiled saying, "I thought Ultron was a fantasy."

"Yesterday it was." Tony agreed, feeling pleased. "If we can harness this power, apply it to my Iron Legion protocol?"

"That's a man sized 'if'." Bruce warned him, taking off his glasses.

"Our job, is 'if'." Tony argued. "What if you were sipping margaritas on a sun-drenched beach, turning brown instead of green? Not looking over your shoulder for Veronica?"

"Don't hate. I helped design Veronica." Bruce muttered.

"As a worst-case measure, right?" Bruce nodded and Tony continued, "How about a best case? What if the world was safe? What if, next time aliens roll up to the club, and they will, they couldn't get past the bouncer?"

"The only people threatening the planet would be people." Bruce replied.

"I want to apply this to the Ultron program." Tony muttered. "But Jarvis can't download a schematic this dense. We can only do it while we have the scepter here. That's three days. Give me three days."

"So you're going for artificial intelligence, and you don't want to tell the team? You want to keep this from Y/N and you want me to keep this from Thor?"

"Right. That's right." Tony said, putting his excited barriers down. "You know why? Because we don't have time for a city hall debate. I don't want to hear 'the man was not meant to meddle' medley. I see a suit of armor around the world."

"Sounds like a cold world, Tony." Bruce responded.

"I've seen colder. This one, this very vulnerable blue one, it needs Ultron." Tony walked away, pulling out his thin tablet. "Peace in our time. Imagine that."

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