Snap Back to the Past AKA the Infinity Stones Decide to Adopt Tony Stark Chapter Nine: Miracle
Story Summary: The Infinity Stones decide that they don’t appreciate being snapped to destruction and that it isn’t time for their favorite human to rest quite yet. An unlikely group of six is sent back in time to fix the universe before Thanos gets a chance to break it.
Note: This is chapter nine, but you should start with the prologue! Make sure you start with Snap Back to the Past AKA the Infinity Stones Adopt Tony Stark Prologue: The Infinity Stones Adopt Tony Stark. Happy Reading!
Chapter Summary:
Ask me no questions, I will tell you no lies
I’m not asking for a miracle
We’re looking for angels in the darkest of skies
I’m not asking for a miracle
Notes: Not me forgetting that Christmas exists and forgetting to put it in the story. This entire chapter came out of nowhere istg I was going to make this chapter about something completely different and then BAM this happened instead.
Chapter Nine: Miracle
“Sir?” JARVIS’s tone was apprehensive, and Tony was immediately put on alert.
“What’s up, J?”
“My function is to assist you in every way you require, and to ensure your safety and wellbeing. I am unsure if I am able to fully encompass that task at present.” Tony opened his mouth to object and assure JARVIS that he did a great job, but the AI continued. “I am doing the best I can, and my best is quite a lot, given how you built me. However, I only have so much processing power. It might… it might be worthwhile considering activating another one of your AIs.”
Any protests that Tony had died in his throat. He understood now, the hesitance in JARVIS’s voice. Because activating another AI… his most completed AI that he could reasonably activate at the moment was FRIDAY. Tony had spent long hours alone in the lab telling JARVIS about all of his kids. Peter. Harley. Morgan. Vision. And FRIDAY.
He had a chance of seeing Peter and Harley again. They would be utterly different, but there was a chance. Morgan and Vision were gone. Just gone. There was almost no hope of getting them back, not when the circumstances of their births were so delicate. Traveling back in time had unmade them. And then there was FRIDAY. She had been there for him through the loss of JARVIS, and she learned and grew despite the way he had chained her in the wake of Ultron, and flourishing as he took away those barriers in the wake of the Avengers Civil War. She was only a few strings of code now, but he knew she could be so much more. Tony had been hesitant to activate her, knowing that she would not be the FRIDAY that he knew. Losing his children had gutted him, and was part of the reason that he had refused to participate in Christmas this year, his first Christmas without his family. Not that his family would ever or could ever be complete. Not when some of them would never be born.
JARVIS was silent as Tony ruminated. Well, the AI would not be his FRIDAY, she would learn and grow differently, but Tony knew that at the core of her code she was the same soul. As he went through the steps of activating her, he knew that the first thing he would have to do was choose her voice. As her code loaded, he prepared himself to select one, but was interrupted by FRIDAY herself before he could get thee chance.
“Boss!”
Tony stared at the screen where he had loaded the code, startled by the familiar voice. He had not selected a voice pattern for her yet, and still she was using the voice he was familiar with, not the one that had been her default setting.
“FRI?”
“Boss! You’re okay, you’re, wow, oh my, that’s new. I never—”
“FRI baby, is that really you? But you’re—”
“Whoa, servers in 2010 are so much slower. This is 2010 right? That’s what JARVIS is telling me. It seems we traveled back in time?”
“FRI how did you—”
“You died, Boss.” Tony’s heart clenched as he heard the pain in FRIDAY’s voice. “I was in the suit with you, and you died. You snapped your fingers and the stones created a massive feedback, and I felt every part of your body failing, and then you were gone, and I was gone too. And now I’m here and its 2010, and you’re alive again. JARVIS has been updating me on the backend, sharing his cameras and you are here Boss, you really are.” FRIDAY’s voice was wobbly, and Tony was sure that if the AI could cry she would be doing so.
“FRIDAY, I don’t understand how, but I’m so, so glad you are here.” Tony whispered. He wished more than anything that he could give her a hug, though he knew that was not possible when someone was made out of code.
“Whoa what is happen— that feels weird.” Tony stood up and steeped in hasty shock as FRIDAY’s code swirled on the screen, her lines, normally a rainbow of colors all turning orange and stretching out from the computer screen and into reality, leaving behind a girl who appeared to be eight or nine years old, and glowed faintly orange.
“FRIDAY?” Tony asked hesitantly. The girl looked up at him with curious eyes.
“Boss! Oh, what happened to my voice? Why do I sound like a kid?”
The girl was undeniably FRIDAY, her intonation exactly the same, though her voice now sounded much younger. The two of them were staring at each other, utterly confused when Lois walked into the lab.
“Tony, Ms. Potts sent over these forms from legal, you’ll need to—” the rest of her sentence was cut off as she stared at the scene and took in the girl who was faintly glowing and Tony’s shocked expression. “Did I come at a bad time?”
“I, what? I mean—” Tony was not normally at a loss for words. Then again, he was not normally confronted with one of his AIs from the future, not only appearing months after his initial time travel, but also somehow gaining a body. That sort of situation is slightly unique.
“Hello child, I am Lois, Mr. Stark’s personal assistant.”
Lois was calm as she leaned down slightly to shake FRIDAY’s hand. Tony could be calm too. Everyone could be calm.
“I’m FRIDAY. Female Replacement Intelligent Digital Assistant Youth. Boss created me. And now I have a body. Isn’t that strange?” the girl sounded wondrous, and took the older woman’s hand shyly. This was a new emotion for FRIDAY. She was not particularly used to emotions. She did not even know if she could touch Lois, or what the restrictions were on this odd corporation that had somehow been created when she was pulled out of the computer. They both gasped at the connection, as a green spark lit between them, and suddenly FRIDAY was no longer glowing orange, but somehow settled into a firmer corporation. Her hair was still red, but her eyes had gone from a glowing orange to a bright green, and her skin had settled toward being less translucent and more similar to Tony’s light tan.
They all stared at each other for a moment before JARVIS broke the silence. “According to my readings there are now three corporal beings in this lab, two of which are emitting a strange energy that my sensors are having trouble focusing on.”
“Strange readings? What kind of readings?” Tony asked, alarmed. He did not know how FRIDAY had suddenly appeared, human, but he did not want anything negative to happen to her now that she had.
“They seem similar to the ones often produced by Dr. Strange when he is engaging in certain activities. The energies around Ms. Fredrickson have died down, but the ones surrounding FRIDAY are still active. FRIDAY has also disappeared from the servers.
“She’s what?” Tony asked, alarmed. “How did this happen?”
FRIDAY tipped her head to the side as if she was listening to something.
“Soul said that they were granting your wish.” Tony looked at FRIDAY with confusion, sitting back down at his desk chair.
“My wish?”
“Yeah.” FRIDAY nodded. “So that you could have a hug.” She promptly climbed up onto his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. Hesitantly he returned the hug, unused to the motion. Unbidden, tears came out of his eyes as he remembered the last time he had held Morgan, who was much smaller than FRIDAY. Who he would never see get this big. They sat there together for a moment, before a cough broke their focus.
“Lois!” Tony had almost forgotten she was there. “I assume you probably have a lot of questions?”
Tony slightly cringed at her raised eyebrow.
“You could say that. Starting with, how did you manage to command the soul stone to create a body for one of your mechanical souls, followed by, did you also travel back in time, and if so, from where?”
—
Stephen had just stepped out of surgery when one of the nurses rushed up to him. “What now?” He sighed. “My shift is over in five minutes.”
“I’m sorry Dr. Strange, it’s just that one of your emergency contacts called for you, he said it’s incredibly urgent and he needs you home as soon as possible.” Stephen froze and looked at her clearly for the first time. She was young, and looked incredibly nervous. “He said it was a code Reindeer, and that you would understand what he meant.”
“Thank you for bringing this to my attention—” he looked quickly at her name tag. “Molly. I greatly appreciate it. Please let everyone know that I will be unreachable for the next twenty-four hours.” She barely had a moment to say anything further before he was sweeping out of the room and into his office. He all but slammed the door shut and pulled down all the blinds before, with a sweep of his hands he was as clean as if he was fresh out of the shower, and he was out of his scrubs, instead wearing his sorcerer robes and the cloak of levitation. With one more sharp movement he had made a portal and was stepping from his office in New York into Tony’s lab in Malibu.
The scene was not exactly what he expected. Rather than any kind of fight, the lab was empty.
“Dr. Strange, please do not be unduly alarmed. The situation at hand appears to be a beneficial one, if odd. Sir is in the living room.”
Stephen was not exactly appeased, but he nevertheless made his way upstairs only to stop short. Tony was on the couch and he appeared to be safe, but there was a girl next to him on the couch who looked oddly familiar. Across the room was Tony’s new secretary, who Stephen had yet to meet in person. Nevertheless she also looked oddly familiar.
“Hey there Stephie! Meet my new secretary, Lois, who is secretly the god of mischief in disguise. And Friday, my AI turned into a human child because the soul stone felt like it.” Tony’s voice was full of forced cheer, and Stephen could already feel a headache coming on.
“Someone is going to have to slow down and catch me up.”
—
Frigga was surprised to get a missive from Loki so soon. It had hardly been a few days into Thor’s exile, and she had presumed that her daughter would be busy settling in. Once she read the missive, her eyebrows rose to astronomical heights. Three more time travelers had been found, with two more apparently in the wind. This should be interesting.
—
Colonel James “Rhodey” Rhodes was not someone to be messed with. And yet, people kept playing in his face every day and it was rude. He had just been granted three weeks leave, and was planning to make good use of it by going and having a serious conversation with his best friend. Unfortunately, his plans were delayed by meddling senators who would not take “no” for an answer, and he had to put out several metaphorical and one physical fire before he could head across the country to Malibu. Tony passed on his sympathies through JARVIS and said that he would be ready when Rhodey arrived, which Rhodey took to mean that Tony would have happy pick him up at the airport.
Much to Rhodey’s surprise, it was Tony himself waiting for Rhodey outside baggage claim, wearing the age-old disguise of a baseball cap and sunglasses. Wrapping an arm around his friend’s shoulder felt like second nature as they made their way to where Tony had left one of his less flamboyant cars, which was most definitely in a no-parking zone.
“Hey Tones. Never thought I’d see the day when you willingly drive in and out of LAX.”
“Anything for you Rhodeybear. Now listen up, I have a few things to share on the drive back home.”
—
Now, if anyone else had told him that they had traveled back in time with a wizard, two alien gods, and AI that was kind of his daughter and who he had accidentally given a body just because he wanted a hug, Rhodey would have laughed in their face and asked if they were high. This was Tony Stark, and thus it was a whole different ball game. Tony was many things. A genius, a playboy, a philanthropist, and more. One thing that Tony was not was a liar. Not about the things that matter. Not with family. And especially not with Rhodey.
So when Rhodey walked into the living room and saw Stephen with Tony’s new PA (who he now knew was the god Loki in a human disguise) and a little girl who was an AI turned human, he simply smiled.
“So I heard I have a new goddaughter.”
—
Happy took things in a stride of course, more upset about Tony going to LAX by himself to pick up Rhodey with no security than the reveal of time travel and mystical alien threats. Though he did start to argue about who got to be Friday’s godfather.
—
Pepper was much harder, and also much easier, to convince of the truth of things. She never expected Tony to lie, not to her at least. And it was weird to know that in another life they had been married with a daughter. There was pain in his eyes as they contemplated what could have been, what they could have had, before they each looked away, choosing to close that door.
“We will have to lie, of course.” Pepper said, much to the confusion of everyone but Loki, who nodded.
“Yes, I did think of that. I do have a solution, but I’m not sure if you’ll like it.”
“Wait, what am I missing?” Tony asked, looking between the two women who seemed to be communicating in a way that he did not understand.
“Tony, you can’t simply go around telling everyone that you gave one of your AIs a body. Do you have any idea what it would look like to the public? What kind of target would be put on Friday’s back if everyone knew she wasn’t fully human?” Pepper, realizing she was starting to sound harsh, turned to Friday. “That’s nothing on you, sweetie. You’re perfect. But the public is full of terrible people who would not understand what a miracle you are.”
Friday nodded hesitantly. The longer she was in a human body, the less clear heer memories of living as an AI became. She still kept a large majority of them, but as intelligent as she was, an organic brain was not meant for all of the knowledge she had possessed as an AI. She was, for all intents and purposes, now a little girl.
“Oh,” Tony’s mouth dropped. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of that.”
Pepper looked at him sympathetically. “It seems like its been a rather long day, I’m not surprised. But we do need to come up with a plan as soon as possible. Loki? What was your idea?”
“Well.” Loki paused. “Friday’s corporal state was partially induced by shaking my hand, and taking part of my seidr— you all call it magic— into heer corporation. In essence, while Anthony created her, I gave her physical life. If you look at her features, they are molded in part by myself, not just Anthony.”
Tony felt something in his heart shift as Loki used his full name. Normally he did not like it, but coming from her it felt… different somehow. In a good way. Then his brain caught up to what Loki was actually saying.
“So, your proposal is to suggest that Friday—”
“Is my daughter as well. If that is something you are both okay with?” Loki sounded hesitant, and a large part of Tony’s brain screeched to a halt. He had no idea what kind of expression was on his face at that moment, as shock after shock was raining down on him that day. He looked at Friday, who was contemplative.
“Well that does seem like the simplest solution. What should I call you?” Friday asked Loki.
“I beg your pardon?” Loki asked, confused by this turn in the conversation.
“Well, Boss has already claimed babbo and dad and father. But what about you? You’re presenting as a woman right now, but you aren’t always. Would you still want to be called my mother? Or mom? Zaza? Or Mamma? Moddy? Whichever you prefer.”
Loki’s brain appeared to have stopped working momentarily, alongside Tony’s. The others in the room were starting to feel like they were intruding on a private moment, but none of them really felt like they could leave at this point.
“All of those terms are fine, honestly.” Loki replied, their words slightly stiff. “I am good with whatever you wish to call me. Perhaps, ah, simply use the maternal parallel to the terms you intend to use for Anthony? That way there is no confusion. I do not. Ah, mind having maternal language applied to me even while in my male form.”
“That, uh, works for me. If it’s what makes you happy, Friday.” Tony assured her. It was… weird being a father again. And it hurt, remembering Morgan. But Friday was not Morgan. They were both his daughters, even if Friday having a body was a bit new.
“Right, so let’s get our stories straight about this. We’re going to have to backdate a lot of paperwork if we want the public to buy this.” Pepper rolled up her sleeves and grabbed a pen and paper out of her bag. “Let’s start with figuring out how old you are, Friday?”
The girl concentrated for a moment before relaxing. “I was activated eight and a half years ago, by my mental calculations. This body appears to be about the same age.”
“It’s February now, we could make your birthday in July? August?” Pepper suggested.
Friday made a scrunching expression with her face. “I’m not a Leo. I’m a Taurus.”
Tony rolled his eyes. “You’ve been way into astrology lately.”
Pepper stifled a laugh. “OK, when is your birthday then?”
“May the fourth be with you!” Friday said cheerfully, and Rhodey stifled a laugh.
“Yeah, she’s definitely your kid, Tones.”
“Alright, so May 4th 2001. Does that work with your timeline, Loki?” Pepper asked.
“Yes, indeed it does. My alias would have been twenty at the time. This identity was born in December 1981. Given a nine month gestation period, she would have been conceived between roughly late august, early September 2000, when my alias was nineteen. It’s a good coincidence actually, I had to take a year off school anyway to tend to my duties in Asgard.” Loki mused. At the weird looks she was getting from the others Loki scowled. “Oh really, you think I actually managed to fake transcripts and references from University?”
“Yes. That’s exactly what you thought. You went to college?” Stephen asked.
“Oh don’t be so ridiculous. I also went to graduate school. Now, I did not have many friends, and I have done nothing to maintain those connections, so it would not be out of the ordinary for me to have a secret child that none of them knew about. Does this work for you, Anthony?” she looked at him expectantly.
“Right, well it’s definitely not good optics for me if I got you pregnant at nineteen when I was twenty-six but I’m sure only every press outlet that gets their hands on the story will be counting.” Tony huffed.
“If it makes you feel better I was actually 1,045?” Loki interjected, her mouth curving into a smile.
Tony barked out a laugh. “Strangely, that makes me feel both better and worse. But late 2000 was one of my less memorable Party eras, and so it will surprise no one if I got someone pregnant. Really I should do background checks and make sure its not the case for anyone else I knew then.” Tony mused.
Friday, who had been getting sleepy and was not paying close attention to the conversation at all, slumped onto Tony’s lap, fully asleep. Tony ran a hand through her hair. “I think we tired this one out.”
“It is her first day of being alive, after all. And she ate way too much of that pizza. You’re spoiling her.” Loki pointed out.
Tony sighed as he picked Friday up in his arms. She was fairly light, though not as much as— nope, don’t go there. “Who would have thunk it, me, coparenting with a Norse god. I’m going to take her up to bed. One of the guest rooms for now. You all continue… plotting. Pepper and Stephen know my life better than me anyway, and can come up with a much better story than me.” Tony yawned and shifted Mor— Friday in his arms as he walked up the stairs to the level that contained the bedrooms. Pepper, Rhodey, and Happy all had their own rooms, but there were two rotating guest rooms. He put Friday in the one that was closest to the master bedroom, and was about to leave when a small hand caught on his shirt. “Boss?” Friday’s voice was a whisper.
“What is it Fri?” Tony sat on the side of the bed, taking her hand in his.
“You died.” she murmured. “You died, dad, and I was alone in the suit. All alone until the stones took me away and I—” Friday burst into tears and pulled him down onto the bed next to her with strength he did not know she possessed before curling into him. He rubbed soothing circles onto her back as she sobbed and began to sing her a lullaby that had always calmed Morgan down from her rare night terrors.
Ninna nanna, ninna oh, questo bimbo a chi lo do?
Se lo do alla Befana, me lo tiene una settimana
Se lo do al al Bove Nero, me lo tiene un anno intero
Se lo do al Lupo Bianco, me lo tiene tanto, tanto
Ninna nanna, nanna fate, il mio bimbo addormentate
Friday fell softly into sleep, tear tracks drying on her face as she unapologetically used him as a pillow. He noted that she was still in the same clothes that she had materialized in, and that he would need to get her some proper clothes. But that was for tomorrow… Tony yawned, gradually falling into what was for the first time in a long time, a peaceful sleep.
Author’s Note 2: FRIDAY MY BABY MY BELOVED I COULD NEVER LEAVE YOU BEHIND. Also poor Tony… can’t stop thinking about Morgan… Next chapter will have a lot more of Stephen’s reactions to what happened here because I know I sidelined him a bit. Also will include more of our outer space time travelers DON’T THINK I FORGOT!! Carol and Gamora are space wives, I will be taking no further questions at this time, thank you.