(MCU) Forged Reality: Chapter 1 - Didn't see that coming

Chapter 1 - Didn't see that coming

Summary: Tony self-reflects during the Battle of Sokovia, and Friday reveals her true capabilities, leading to surprising events.

Tony will be the last to admit he wasn't in the perfect mindset right now, sometimes even to himself, but now he had to admit that what he was planning to do was nothing short of a suicide mission.

The last week was a turmoil of emotions for Tony.

First was the weird vision he had on his last visit to Sokovia. That leviathan reanimated was bad, but the pile of bodies in the middle of the room triggered something so deep in Tony, he couldn't even name it.

And when Cap blamed him, Tony considered those words seriously. Have his past mistakes been so big and far-reaching that he would never escape them no matter what he does?

The answer seemed to be yes when they learned about the twins. His past came to literally haunt his thoughts, but was it his past or was it Stane's?

For the past six years, Tony tried to gather his mind around what the hell was going on while he was getting drunk and letting Obie run the company. Was it really the fault of his COO, or was all the harm done from those weapons on Tony's hands as well for not realizing what was going on sooner?

Could he have saved the Maximoffs, both the parents from early death and their kids from the path they chose to take, if only he actually did his job instead of trusting a man that he was too foolish to notice was driving him to self-destruct?

And isn't that irony? Maximoff was hardly the first one to try and make him self-destruct; why was it so easy to achieve? While Nick, Aunt Peggy, and his Sherry-bear tried to build him up and failed because he refused to look past his next drink.

Tony snorted in his own head, and they called him the futurist.

JARVIS's death was a strong blow that Tony could never have seen coming, neither could he have anticipated the effect it would have on him. For Tony, it felt like losing the original Jarvis all over again, but this time it felt a little different.

Tony named JARVIS after the man who practically raised him alongside Aunt Peggy and Ana. He remembered the months he spent coding the base matrix for the AI and when he was finally up, the years it took Tony to teach JARVIS everything he needed to know to live his own life, as much as an AI can.

In some ways, JARVIS was like a son to Tony, and Tony treated him the best way he could. Losing him tore a part of Tony's heart away just like losing his mother, Edwin, and Ana did.

And Tony had to experience it twice in the last week.

Not to mention that just a little over a week ago, Pepper sat Tony down to talk about their relationship. They agreed that it wasn't working so well anymore (more so on Pepper's side than his) and that they better cut their losses and stay good friends rather than wait for an ugly ending.

So, Tony knew very well that going ahead with his plan to blow up the city had a chance to kill the other Avengers if they won't clear the city in time, but he also knew for certain and didn't say anything about the fact that Tony himself would without a doubt die doing it.

If the explosion itself won't kill Tony immediately—and let's be honest, Tony doesn't have this kind of luck—then the falling debris will kill him sooner or later.

But until that time came, Tony kept flying around, making sure people were getting on the boats Nick sent out. In the beginning, Tony was doubtful about helping Nick and Phil rebuild SHIELD in the shadows after the way the last one turned out, but if this is what they had in mind, then Tony is going to double down on this project.

Luckily there were very few of Ultron's sentries left, so most of them could focus on getting the people to safety. They left the Ultron crushing to Hulk and Rhodey.

Tony landed back on the ground and looked around for other people who may need help to get to the boats when a sentry began walking toward him.

Tony was confused by that; weren't the ones that left supposed to flee or hide so the AI could survive in one of them, or was Ultron so arrogant that he was sure he was safe enough to send one of his extensions to taunt him?

Nonetheless, Tony raised an arm with an open palm pointed at the direction of the metal man, the familiar whine of his repulsor filling the air.

But before Tony could take the shot, the sentry raised its arms and a female voice came out of it. "Boss, don't shoot—it's me!"

Tony reeled back, his arm dropping from the shock. His helmet folded back into his suit and Tony asked incredulously, "Friday?!"

"The one and only." The sentry didn't have any facial expression, but Tony could hear the smug smile in her voice, especially as she explained, "Ultron was so focused on escaping in a single unit that his hold on most of them weakened, so I managed to take control over this unit."

Tony shook his head with amusement and held not a single worry for Friday; she was, after all, trained for it.

Many people will think that Friday is a replacement for JARVIS, but she didn't mean to be it—she meant to be his little sister, to help him.

When the idea of the iron legion came to Tony, he knew it would be asking too much from JARVIS to be his co-pilot and pilot the legion as well, so he activated Friday to join their family. For the past three years, she was learning much like JARVIS did, and with an experienced AI as her guide, she grew up faster than Tony could ever believe.

While she was still young and acted like a teenager sometimes, when it came to capabilities, she was probably more advanced than JARVIS was, and before him is his proof.

Tony smiled at her. "Good work, Baby girl. Now go help more people."

There was a small hesitation from Friday, and the sentry stayed rooted in its place before the Irish voice spoke again. "Actually, Boss, I would prefer to send this unit to blow up the city while you provide aid for the people as long as possible. By my calculations, using this unit will provide a large chain reaction that will prevent further damage to the cities beneath us."

Tony knew his AI better than that. After JARVIS... Tony sent and debated which AI he should install instead of his old... his son. Really, Friday was Tony's first thought, but Tony didn't want to throw too many responsibilities her way so soon after she lost her big brother. Now Tony is glad he made the right choice.

Tony nodded and the sentry began to turn in preparation for a flight, but Tony stopped her and said, "Jarvis would have been proud of you, Fri."

The sentry froze for a moment. Friday's voice was a little strained as she replied, "Thanks, Boss."

With that, the unit flew away toward the bottom of their flying island.

Tony was about to turn back toward the helicarrier when he heard the sound of machine gun firing constantly.

He saw Steve raising his shield to protect himself from the torrent of bullets attacking him, but the jet that was shooting those bullets just kept flying ahead while firing.

Tony looked down the path the jet was on and paled when he saw Clint standing there holding a little boy in his arms.

Knowing there was no time for him to escape, the archer turned around and crouched, protecting the boy with his own body.

From the corner of his eye, Tony saw the fast Maximoff catching on to what was going to happen as well, and he was already running forward to shield the two with his own body.

Because of the distance and time, the male Maximoff didn't have time to catch all the bullets, and all it would take was one of those to kill Clint or the boy.

Tony would not allow this to happen; he won't let anyone else pay the price for another one of his weapons.

Without a second thought, Tony launched himself into the path of the jet while firing a missile from his shoulder at the engine of the quinjet.

Tony could hear the metal of the bullets hit the metal of his armor; luckily his armor was built to withstand missile hits without a dent, so those bullets had no chance of penetrating it.

What Tony forgot to consider was the damage his suit sustained during the entire battle with Ultron and his extensions. One of the attacks Tony endured left a small piece of the armor out of place.

Unfortunately, one of the bullets managed to hit this small window. Tony could feel the bullet enter through his skin and passing through his chest into his lung.

Tony heard the loud explosion and could feel the heat from above him, just as he also felt himself dropping on the ground.

Tony was in so much pain he couldn't even bring himself to groan; his sight was already blurry and was turning dark, the last thing he heard was Friday's dismayed shout of "BOSS!"

Just before everything turned completely black, Tony's last thought was that he deserved this fate; after all, he miraculously survived one time—nobody, especially not him, could be lucky enough to do it twice.

FR FR FR FR FR

Wanda ran straight for the boats when she got the word from her brother that the city was clear and was about to blow up. Of course, she took care of all those Stark metal monsters in the temple before leaving.

Last week was an interesting one for her and her brother. Finally managing to escape Hydra was exhilarating.

She and her brother wanted to get out of there the moment they got their powers, but List and Strucker held them on a tight leash. After all, as Strucker was often boasting, he wouldn't have created power he himself couldn't defeat.

When the Avengers came in and took out the power so they could enter the force field around the base, they also took out the power that held her and her brother in their cells. The moment she felt the power go out, she ordered Pietro to get them out of there.

While they would have liked to get out earlier to begin their quest of revenge against the man who destroyed their home and family, she couldn't complain much when Stark was handed to her on a silver plate.

Tweaking with his mind and encouraging him to self-destruct was too easy in her opinion. While admittedly she didn't practice this ability much—Hydra focused more on her telekinesis than mind manipulation—she still was doubtful if her magic worked or not.

She was slightly surprised when they found Ultron and she learned that not only was her magic working but so efficiently too. A voice in the back of her mind that sounded like her mother's asked what the hell was going on in Stark's head to make it so easy to bring him to that point. Wanda was quick to silence this voice.

Their mother was one of the kindest people she ever knew, always trying to help. But Wanda convinced herself a long time ago that even her mother would like her to take revenge on the man who brought their home to ruin.

She was so absorbed in her revenge now that it was so close at hand that she dismissed her brother's uneasiness with the metal man they worked with. As long as she could torture Stark before having his head, Ultron could do whatever he wished with the rest of the team.

She was finally shaken out of that state of mind when she read the monster's mind and found out he wasn't just gunning for the Avengers... He was after the destruction of the entire world.

Even she wasn't selfish enough to put her revenge over the entire world's fate. So she swallowed the bitter pill and went to the Avengers, went to Stark's home, and agreed to work with him, for now.

On her way to Sokovia, Wanda was already plotting ways to resume her revenge on Stark after Ultron was dealt with. She should start with a nightmare or...

Her thoughts came to a complete stop, her mind going blank at the scene before her.

Stark was laying on the ground inside his armor sans his helmet. Blood was coming out from the edges of his mouth, his skin pale as a ghost, and his breaths were shallow.

There was a path of destruction leading toward his body. The ground was riddled with what looked like bullet holes, and very close around Stark were pieces of what looked like a quinjet.

Hawkeye was kneeling over him, his face full of distress and fingers on Stark's pulse point.

But what was troubling Wanda was the fact her brother stood a mere step away from Stark's fallen body, looking at the man with a pale face and wide eyes.

Wanda ran to her brother and asked immediately, "What happened here? Are you okay?"

Pietro didn't move his stare from Stark as he answered in a hollow voice, "I didn't see it coming."