when tony was 17 and missing his best friend, he decided he needed to have someone around to always keep him company. tony built his first ai, told his dad it was just a helper bot, but to tony dum-e will always be a friend.
when tony was 22 and busy with running a company, he saw the dejected way dum-e hung his claw low whenever was left alone in the lab. tony built his second ai and gave dum-e a brother, so he and u would always have someone even when tony wasn’t around.
when tony was 25 and his butler retired, he figured he could never be too old to have someone always watching his back. tony built his third ai and named him after the man who raised him. he couldn’t hug jarvis the way he used to hug edwin, but the system’s watchful eyes and gentle voice made tony feel warm all the same.
when tony was 30 and needed to take his mind off of the stress from his job, he thought it wouldn’t hurt to be overprepared. over the next several years tony built his fourth, fifth, and sixth ai’s – friday, jocasta, and tadashi – friends who would always be ready to help out if he ever needed to call them up.
when tony was 45 and suffering from panic attacks and nightmares of wormholes and aliens, he resolved to keep the world safe in the best way he knew how. tony built his seventh ai with a little help from bruce, a peacekeeping entity he could trust to watch over the earth and prevent threats from hurting humans. but there were outside factors that tony couldn’t control, couldn’t account for – a vengeful witch and a cosmic stone – and ultron became unlucky number seven, a murder bot that twisted around all the values that tony ever stood for.
tony decided he shouldn’t write another ai program again.
but then.
when tony was 46 and trying to keep his found family from falling apart, he met a brilliant and ambitious kid who had all the potential in the world. an enhanced teenage boy passionate about protecting his neighborhood, his people, his world, but was running around wearing a homemade onesie. so tony figured, what the hell, he could help. tony built his eighth ai, a companion for the friendly neighborhood spider-man, who could guide the boy along, watch over him, and act as another friend (because you can never have too many friends). peter named her karen.
when tony was 52 and about to set off on one last mission, he made plans for the future. a contingency plan, so to speak. he didn’t want his daughter to grow up feeling alone, like he so often did when he was younger. so he got to work, in case of an untimely death on his part. not that death at any time is ever timely. tony built his ninth ai, one whose purpose is to protect and support, take on the role of a paternal figure that he tried his best to fulfill in the little time he was given. he uploaded his speech patterns and named him after himself, so morgan will know, even when he can’t physically be there for her anymore, tony is still watching out for her, guiding her along, and loving her 3000.
