SLEEPWALKING

CHAPTER THREE: ANNOYING AI'S

FIVE days had passed since Tony had taken off on his supposed business trip and Audie was already hashing it out in the garage.

She wasn't bored... to put it simply.

Standing in front of the tight line of duck tape her uncle had lined the garage with, she knew what purpose it served, it was his way of telling her where she could and couldn't go.

But she wouldn't be letting a strip of duck tape stop her from exploring.

That was until Jarvis- Tony's AI assistant- began to explain to her why she needed to return to her side of the garage and how he had already contacted "Mr. Stark" about the issue.

"You are not permitted to go past the yellow line, Austin." he warned turning to face her. He was an odd thing, made of entirely random bits and pieces Tony had put together, and somehow he still looked better than any robot the girl had ever come across.

"It's Audie." she stated raising her hands to settle on her hips, "Mr. Stark has programmed you into the biotech identification security system as Austin, would you prefer to change that Miss Stark?" Audie frowned at the question, more so the name he'd called her by.

"Yes, I'd like to change that." she began, "change it from Austin Stark to Audie Stark." she added watching as the robot slightly twitched before a screen on one of the many computers came to life.

"Done. Is there anything else I can assist you with Miss Stark?" the teen rolled her eyes, Jarvis was beginning to tick her off. "Jarvis, it's Audie, not Miss Stark, not Austin. Just Audie." she restated letting her hands fall from her hips before reaching up to rub the skin between her eyes.

"Understood, Audie."

She sighed, finally. She'd finally gotten through to the damned piece of technology.

She should've assumed Tony would try to pull what he saw as a comedic stunt in hopes of leveling out the uneven ground they'd started on, it hadn't worked.

The previous night Audie had stayed up till two in the morning trying to find a way around the duck tape, she'd seen something weird on one of the computers and wanted to further explore what it was on the other side of the garage.

And as much as she didn't want to admit it.

Tony's suits had begun to intrigue her.

Shaking the thought from her head, she wiped her hands on the front of her overalls and let out another sigh before she began to head towards the staircase. She could continue her task once she'd had something to eat, at least then she wouldn't have to listen to her stomach growl while she worked.

Stepping out onto the ground floor, Audie immediately took note of Pepper outside soaking up the sunlight in a beautiful light blue sundress, the color suited her, not only did it compliment her warm hair, but, it brought out the iris' of her bright eyes.

Turning away from the sliding glass doors, Audie made her way across the floor and towards the kitchen where she would proceed to make herself a sandwich before heading into the living room to eat it.

And as she sat down she found herself flicking through the T.V. channels- half expecting to find something that wasn't entirely boring- instead, she flicked past the news channel- catching a glint of red as she did so- before flicking back to the channel and tightening her grip on the remote at the sight before her.

There, in his very flesh and blood.

Stood her Uncle.

Tony.

Iron man.

He stood in his suit with a few other avengers scattered around him as if they were preparing to attack- what exactly that was, she wasn't sure- setting her sandwich down on the plate she'd brought with her from the kitchen, she picked up her phone and managed to find her mother's contact within seconds.

Quickly hitting the dial button she waited as the line continued to ring before it went silent a few seconds towards the end of the dial tone, "what is it Austin?" her mother questioned her voice tight as if she'd been in the middle of something.

"Turn on the T.V." she stated surprised the words had come out as sharply as they had. Her mother sighed from the other end before doing as requested, "what now?" she asked audibly irritated, "channel nine news." Audie replied her voice clipped as she watched her uncle move about on the screen.

Flipping through the channels until she'd located the one her daughter had spoken of, Andrew let out a curse beneath her breath, sure enough, there was Tony on her living room T.V.

Somewhere he shouldn't have been.

Not right now.

"Christ." she mumbled resting her head in the palm of her hand.

"You sure it was a good idea to have me come here?" she quipped leaning forward on her elbows as she waited for a response from her mother.

The woman sighed once again, it seemed that was something common for her, far more common than it should've been for anyone.

"I'll have you a flight before the end of next week, I'm in Japan on business right now. But I promise I'll try to get you out of there as soon as possible." she responded reaching her hand to her lips to chew on the nail of her index finger.

She didn't need Tony endangering her daughter more than he already had, simply by existing.

"Okay, should I just hide out in the house then?" she questioned sitting up at the idea of returning home. Andrea nodded her head- despite the fact Audie wouldn't be able to see it- "I'll send you the takeoff time, just have one of his assistants take you to the airport once I get everything situated, okay?"

The teen waited a moment to reply, it was harsh, abandoning her uncle with no warning, but she knew she wasn't safe in his presence, no one was.

"Okay." she whispered back her voice almost imperceptible over the phone, "good, don't tell your uncle, I'll deal with him once you're here."

And with that, the all too familiar sound of the dial tone ringing crossed her path of hearing.

Audie wished she could say she was disappointed, but she wasn't, their talks were always short and to the point, she'd hardly heard an "I love you." mumbled by her mother when she'd climbed on the plane to California.

And while it didn't bother her much, it made her wish she had a normal family like everyone else.

Even if she knew she wasn't meant to be normal, she was meant to be far from it.

As was Tony and those before him.

They were all linked.

Linked to the same greatness and abnormalities that would bring distinct change to the world and its inhabitants.

Changes that people would either decide to see as good, or as bad.

Hopefully good.

The girl silently stood from her spot on the couch, she wasn't hungry anymore.

Not in the slightest.

Returning the plate to the kitchen, she slipped the sandwich into the trash and made her way back down to the garage. She still needed to find a way around Jarvis, even if only for a few moments.

Surprisingly, the AI remained silent as she entered- his camera following her across the room as she paced around her side of the garage- watching as the girl picked up a screwdriver and wire cutters before she began to approach him.

She had a plan.

One that wouldn't result in long-term damage to Jarvis.

It would just momentarily disable the robotic body he was using, he'd still be able to communicate with everyone throughout different parts of the house as per usual.

Audie just really needed to get a look at her uncle's computer, more specifically what he had hidden beneath the private server he'd set up.

"Miss Audie-" he began shifting the camera on the robot to watch as she settled herself at the base of his structure and began to pry at the cover of his power source.

"Miss Audie, I ask that you refrain from removing the cover to my mainframe." rolling her eyes, Audie continued to do so- letting out a satisfied sigh when the panel popped off with a loud snap- before bringing the wire cutters forward to try and send the robot to power down.

And after cutting two wires, it seemed just that was possible.

As soon as she nicked the second wire she squinted her eyes at the sudden buzzing noise that filled the room, she'd made something short out; something important.

Dodging under the limp arm of the once live robot, Audie made her way past the yellow tape and over to Tony's side of the garage. The first thing her eyes settled on was the computer, she wanted to know what was on that private server.

What he'd been hiding.

But first, she needed to get a look at the designs for the suits, that was what she needed to focus on.

Brushing past his desk and his small workbench Audie found herself standing in front of a few large display cases within seconds, it all led up from what seemed to be the oldest model of Tony's first Iron Man to his latest version.

The oldest was a plain old graying metal while the newer of the two was a hot red mixed in with bits of gold, and despite its brightness, Audie smiled at the sight of it.

It was somewhat interesting.

Even if she had made it clear she didn't like the suits her uncle made, nor the purpose they served.

She didn't take too long to stray from the suits, after a few moments she'd begun to make her way back the way she'd come- which was where the computer just so happened to be- and when she caught sight of it once again she pulled a chair from Tony's workbench and slid across the floor before pushing her feet out in front of her to stop.

Audie stared at the dark screen for a few moments, she wasn't sure what the password could be, and she knew her uncle wasn't stupid enough to not have an alarm set in the case someone tried to get into his computer.

Security was the one division he always seemed to succeed in somehow.

She didn't bother questioning it at that moment.

Lifting her hands to the keyboard she tapped a single key watching as the screen lit up before her and the small column meant for the password entry began to blink back at her.

Audie thought long and hard about what the password could be, Tony wasn't exactly a sentimental person, nor was he one of much logic when it came to passwords.

It would be something no one would ever think of.

Something sentimental.

So she compiled a list of the people closest to him in her head and slowly began to run it through the computer one by one, and it seemed that at the end.

Nothing had worked.

Until a thought came to mind.

Pepper.

What was Pepper's birthday?

"Jarvis." Audie called out half expecting the AI to remain silent, it didn't.

"Yes, Miss Audie?" he questioned his voice remaining as robotic as before.

"What's Pepper Potts' birthday?" she asked gently tapping her finger against the cold material of Tony's desk.

"Miss Potts birthday is April Tenth, nineteen seventy-nine." he replied his sound cut off by the immediate clicking of keys at Audie's hand as she rushed to type the digits into the password entry slot.

Holding her breath as she hit the enter key, she watched as a small loading screen popped up before turning green to notify her the password was indeed correct as she'd suspected.

She smiled at her brilliance.

Her uncle had nowhere to hide now.

SLEEPWALKING

CHAPTER THREE: ANNOYING AI'S