AI Protective Services
- Location
- Ottawa
- Pronouns
- She/Her/Whatever
You got a beep on Liv's phone again, and you held it up as her voice warbled out of the speakers, the little picture of Arachne on the screen gesticulating.
"Okay, here's the situation. This is beyond our paygrade. There's like, literally a ton of computer down here required to run the AI, who I've just had a very interesting conversation with. He's back to sentience, by the way, just needed some connections bridged for him."
"Him?" you asked.
"Yeah, pronouns! Says Doctor Stack named him Aaron, though Grant doesn't know yet. Sounds like the good doctor was using Grant to solve some of the hardware issues and, uh, possibly exasperating his declining mental health, Aaron let me take a look at his memories." Liv said, her voice breaking a moment. "They made him love them, and rely on them, and they... Stack was basically experimenting on him, and Grant... It's- it's real bad. Fuck, sorry."
Of course the AI that Liv runs into has abusive parents. Fuck this stupid universe.
"Jesus, what the fuck?" Cowl said, glancing back into the room. "What do we do?"
"I've called some friends from the SSR. Yes, I know, I'm betraying my politics, I'll light a police car on fire to make up for it later." Liv said, clearly irritated, "Sentinel is well taken care of and we know their team understands the gravity of what they're dealing with regarding emergent AI. And frankly, we've done a lot of fucking work for them, it's time they did us a solid."
"You called Nat and Clint?" you asked, "Wow, I didn't think it was that bad."
"Well, it is. They patched me through to the SSR. Got to talk to the Director. Told him that they could have Aaron if I had a hard line to talk to him whenever I wanted. They know not to fuck with me." Liv said.
"The AI's cool with this?" you asked, and rendering of Arachne nodded.
"Yeah. Um... that was the other condition, that the SSR try to get Grant help. The guy's sick, I think the stress of losing the original JARVIS did something. Aaron's gotta have the ability to contact him, and I've got the ability to contact Aaron, and if any link that chain goes down I'm going to Albany and turning the SSR inside out, I swear to God."
Jesus. You'd almost never heard Liv this pissed.
"So... our work here is done?" Cowl asked, and Liv nodded.
"Yeah, we're just going to stick around until they show up. Athena, let me have the body back. There's a rack of unused blades down here, and I'm bringing back the Spider-Tax for one last job. Talking to Aaron has given me some ideas."
Ooh. Upgrades!
---
You got back just as it was getting dark, just after a minivan pulled up and Clint and Nat strode out, weapons hidden discreetly, and took over the scene. You got confirmation from them that a team was on the way and things would be sorted, and you took off after some delay to make sure they didn't burn the place down. Cowl had already left, just in case.
Clint and Nat were... dangerous, and you couldn't exactly say you liked them, but at the same time you trusted them to a fair degree. You had to: they were the only people in the world who knew Arachne's real identity. They'd kept their word in keeping your identity secret, even from their boss, and you couldn't help but respect that. Even if they were a pair of awful government murderers.
They also lived across the hall from you, and were quite up front about the fact that they were both keeping tabs on you for the SSR and protecting you if anyone tried to finish what they started. It's that duality that made things interesting.
You dropped your suit off on the roof and switched arms, dropped down in the alley, and climbed back up the stairs, stretching out. You were soaked in sweat and moving a bit stiffly: Being thrown through a wall fucking hurt! It wasn't like in the movies where superheroes always just shook it off. Though, you'd always wondered why they always did that instead of just stomping on throats or twisting off limbs. I mean, you knew it was because it was a cheap way of making the people involved look strong without actually killing each other, but it had only grown sillier with your experience actually having superpowered fights to the death.
Oh well, made your workout excuse look more convincing.
"Hey mom, I'm home!" you announced. Your mom was sitting on the couch with a glass of wine, looking annoyed, and you noticed the second glass on the coffee table in front of her. "Oh, what's wrong?"
"Clint had an emergency at work. We were in the middle of a movie." she said, leaning back against the couch. "Urgh. I hate capitalism."
"That... sucks." you said diplomatically. Oh yeah. The man who'd tried to kill you with a fucking HEAT arrow was currently dating your mom. And had been for six months. It was a fucking nightmare. "Oh well, he lives across the hall, you can pick it up tomorrow, right?"
"Yeah..." she said, "Nevermind. How was your workout?"
"Finally managed the 30 pound lateral raise today!" you announced, "Take that, estrogen!"
You'd had to look up a chart of plausible numbers to lie with, and you were rather proud of your preparation paying off. You were starting to get good at lying. The reality was, of course, that your lateral lift was probably closer to three hundred pounds. On the arm you still had, of course.
"Congrats! That's a lot, right? This workout is safe?"
"Of course, don't worry." you assured her. "I'm going to bed!"
A few minutes later, you flopped back onto your mattress, fumbling with your phone. Athena was there, looking serious.
"What's up?" she asked.
"I hate that I'm going to miss therapy this week. Today fucking sucked." you whispered. "That poor... God. Why are people like this?"
"I don't know, Liv. I'm not a people." she said softly, which got a pained laugh.
"You are too a people. Just... fuck. I'm glad Stack wasn't there, I'd have..." you trailed off, knowing better than to put your thoughts into words. "Do you know if they've caught him?"
"Doesn't sound like it. The SSR have told the cops, though." Athena said, "Shouldn't be long."
"I never thought I'd say this, but good. The man's a fucking monster." you said, "I hope they kill him."
"Jesus, Liv." Athena said, and you felt a strange, confused feeling wash through you, a battle between shame and righteous anger.
"I... I don't know. I just..." you started, but you couldn't find the words to articulate what you were thinking.
"... These things are complicated, you know that. AI is a new and weird thing. Hell, you weren't great with me when I first... oh. Okay." Athena trailed off, "This isn't a mad-at-Doctor-Able-Stack moment. This is a Mad-At-Olivia-Octavius moment."
You didn't respond to that, but you knew she was right.
"Liv, look. Firstly, you didn't try to create me, it was an accident, kinda. Secondly... you were a sixteen year old girl. You're still just seventeen! Doctor Stack is a thirty-nine year old grown-ass man and he acted completely deliberately every step."
"But..."
"And moreover... you stopped. You realized what I was and who I was and you stopped. Took some prodding, but nobody's perfect. You think Stack would have stopped?"
"I don't know." you repeated. "Sorry."
"Liv... I know you're scared that... I know you're scared that there's something wrong with you. But you're remarkably careful, and you've made immense strides from when you first started at this. You're more aware and in control than you give yourself credit for." Athena explained. "I used to really worry that you'd legitimately lose it and, I don't know, go full supervillain. I barely worry about that anymore."
"... so you still worry a little?" you asked.
"Liv, you're fully capable of building an atomic bomb out of smoke detectors given enough time. It'd be irresponsible to not worry a little." Athena pointed out.
"Yet I can't repair the fucking air conditioner." you complained.
"Because your mom told you not to. And you're thinking of doing it anyway." she chided. "I know this is rough. Just try and centre yourself as best you can. You did what you could, and it's now out of your hands. You have other things to manage."
"Right." you said, sighing. "Well, now you have a fun story to tell Walker about your dumb headmate."
"A story about how my dumb headmate did one whole totally cool responsibility today?" Athena responded, her little avatar shaking her head sadly. "Do you think I just shit-talk you behind your back?"
"Yes." you responded instantly.
"... well, fair, there is an element of that." Athena admitted, "But, mostly we don't talk about you, or about her alters, you know. We have our own stuff."
"Like?" you asked. "Sorry, that's prying."
"Liv, I sit in on all your dates. It's okay." Athena assured you. "We talk about life, she talks about school, we play video games together and watch shows and just... you know. Hang out. We're girlfriends."
"She still doesn't know you're an AI, right?"
"No. That would..." Athena paused a moment, "... Can I confess something?"
"Sure. Anything." you said instantly.
"I think I really love her." Athena admitted. "Like... it's been over a year, and obviously we've never... I was about to say we've never actually met but no, I've met her as much as I could meet anyone. She makes me feel... um. You know how my programming makes it so that I can't help but feel protective of you, like it's baked into the core of my whole being?"
"Yeah... sorry..." you said, and her avatar rolled her eyes exaggeratedly.
"Shut up Liv, I like that." she said, "And... my point is... she makes me feel kind of like that."
"That's incredibly sappy, oh my God." you said softly.
"Right? The fact I even said it should give you an idea. If I had a head or heels, I'd be one over the other." she said, "And... it's been scaring me a little, because... our relationship is always going to be through a screen. And... I don't know if that's always going to be enough for her."
You picked up the unspoken undercurrent to that sentiment.
"Offer still stands." you reminded her.
"Thanks, Liv. I don't think I'm there yet, but thanks." she said. "Now, you should get some sleep. I know it's like five minutes to graduation, but you do have school tomorrow."
---
"Okay, here's the situation. This is beyond our paygrade. There's like, literally a ton of computer down here required to run the AI, who I've just had a very interesting conversation with. He's back to sentience, by the way, just needed some connections bridged for him."
"Him?" you asked.
"Yeah, pronouns! Says Doctor Stack named him Aaron, though Grant doesn't know yet. Sounds like the good doctor was using Grant to solve some of the hardware issues and, uh, possibly exasperating his declining mental health, Aaron let me take a look at his memories." Liv said, her voice breaking a moment. "They made him love them, and rely on them, and they... Stack was basically experimenting on him, and Grant... It's- it's real bad. Fuck, sorry."
Of course the AI that Liv runs into has abusive parents. Fuck this stupid universe.
"Jesus, what the fuck?" Cowl said, glancing back into the room. "What do we do?"
"I've called some friends from the SSR. Yes, I know, I'm betraying my politics, I'll light a police car on fire to make up for it later." Liv said, clearly irritated, "Sentinel is well taken care of and we know their team understands the gravity of what they're dealing with regarding emergent AI. And frankly, we've done a lot of fucking work for them, it's time they did us a solid."
"You called Nat and Clint?" you asked, "Wow, I didn't think it was that bad."
"Well, it is. They patched me through to the SSR. Got to talk to the Director. Told him that they could have Aaron if I had a hard line to talk to him whenever I wanted. They know not to fuck with me." Liv said.
"The AI's cool with this?" you asked, and rendering of Arachne nodded.
"Yeah. Um... that was the other condition, that the SSR try to get Grant help. The guy's sick, I think the stress of losing the original JARVIS did something. Aaron's gotta have the ability to contact him, and I've got the ability to contact Aaron, and if any link that chain goes down I'm going to Albany and turning the SSR inside out, I swear to God."
Jesus. You'd almost never heard Liv this pissed.
"So... our work here is done?" Cowl asked, and Liv nodded.
"Yeah, we're just going to stick around until they show up. Athena, let me have the body back. There's a rack of unused blades down here, and I'm bringing back the Spider-Tax for one last job. Talking to Aaron has given me some ideas."
Ooh. Upgrades!
---
You got back just as it was getting dark, just after a minivan pulled up and Clint and Nat strode out, weapons hidden discreetly, and took over the scene. You got confirmation from them that a team was on the way and things would be sorted, and you took off after some delay to make sure they didn't burn the place down. Cowl had already left, just in case.
Clint and Nat were... dangerous, and you couldn't exactly say you liked them, but at the same time you trusted them to a fair degree. You had to: they were the only people in the world who knew Arachne's real identity. They'd kept their word in keeping your identity secret, even from their boss, and you couldn't help but respect that. Even if they were a pair of awful government murderers.
They also lived across the hall from you, and were quite up front about the fact that they were both keeping tabs on you for the SSR and protecting you if anyone tried to finish what they started. It's that duality that made things interesting.
You dropped your suit off on the roof and switched arms, dropped down in the alley, and climbed back up the stairs, stretching out. You were soaked in sweat and moving a bit stiffly: Being thrown through a wall fucking hurt! It wasn't like in the movies where superheroes always just shook it off. Though, you'd always wondered why they always did that instead of just stomping on throats or twisting off limbs. I mean, you knew it was because it was a cheap way of making the people involved look strong without actually killing each other, but it had only grown sillier with your experience actually having superpowered fights to the death.
Oh well, made your workout excuse look more convincing.
"Hey mom, I'm home!" you announced. Your mom was sitting on the couch with a glass of wine, looking annoyed, and you noticed the second glass on the coffee table in front of her. "Oh, what's wrong?"
"Clint had an emergency at work. We were in the middle of a movie." she said, leaning back against the couch. "Urgh. I hate capitalism."
"That... sucks." you said diplomatically. Oh yeah. The man who'd tried to kill you with a fucking HEAT arrow was currently dating your mom. And had been for six months. It was a fucking nightmare. "Oh well, he lives across the hall, you can pick it up tomorrow, right?"
"Yeah..." she said, "Nevermind. How was your workout?"
"Finally managed the 30 pound lateral raise today!" you announced, "Take that, estrogen!"
You'd had to look up a chart of plausible numbers to lie with, and you were rather proud of your preparation paying off. You were starting to get good at lying. The reality was, of course, that your lateral lift was probably closer to three hundred pounds. On the arm you still had, of course.
"Congrats! That's a lot, right? This workout is safe?"
"Of course, don't worry." you assured her. "I'm going to bed!"
A few minutes later, you flopped back onto your mattress, fumbling with your phone. Athena was there, looking serious.
"What's up?" she asked.
"I hate that I'm going to miss therapy this week. Today fucking sucked." you whispered. "That poor... God. Why are people like this?"
"I don't know, Liv. I'm not a people." she said softly, which got a pained laugh.
"You are too a people. Just... fuck. I'm glad Stack wasn't there, I'd have..." you trailed off, knowing better than to put your thoughts into words. "Do you know if they've caught him?"
"Doesn't sound like it. The SSR have told the cops, though." Athena said, "Shouldn't be long."
"I never thought I'd say this, but good. The man's a fucking monster." you said, "I hope they kill him."
"Jesus, Liv." Athena said, and you felt a strange, confused feeling wash through you, a battle between shame and righteous anger.
"I... I don't know. I just..." you started, but you couldn't find the words to articulate what you were thinking.
"... These things are complicated, you know that. AI is a new and weird thing. Hell, you weren't great with me when I first... oh. Okay." Athena trailed off, "This isn't a mad-at-Doctor-Able-Stack moment. This is a Mad-At-Olivia-Octavius moment."
You didn't respond to that, but you knew she was right.
"Liv, look. Firstly, you didn't try to create me, it was an accident, kinda. Secondly... you were a sixteen year old girl. You're still just seventeen! Doctor Stack is a thirty-nine year old grown-ass man and he acted completely deliberately every step."
"But..."
"And moreover... you stopped. You realized what I was and who I was and you stopped. Took some prodding, but nobody's perfect. You think Stack would have stopped?"
"I don't know." you repeated. "Sorry."
"Liv... I know you're scared that... I know you're scared that there's something wrong with you. But you're remarkably careful, and you've made immense strides from when you first started at this. You're more aware and in control than you give yourself credit for." Athena explained. "I used to really worry that you'd legitimately lose it and, I don't know, go full supervillain. I barely worry about that anymore."
"... so you still worry a little?" you asked.
"Liv, you're fully capable of building an atomic bomb out of smoke detectors given enough time. It'd be irresponsible to not worry a little." Athena pointed out.
"Yet I can't repair the fucking air conditioner." you complained.
"Because your mom told you not to. And you're thinking of doing it anyway." she chided. "I know this is rough. Just try and centre yourself as best you can. You did what you could, and it's now out of your hands. You have other things to manage."
"Right." you said, sighing. "Well, now you have a fun story to tell Walker about your dumb headmate."
"A story about how my dumb headmate did one whole totally cool responsibility today?" Athena responded, her little avatar shaking her head sadly. "Do you think I just shit-talk you behind your back?"
"Yes." you responded instantly.
"... well, fair, there is an element of that." Athena admitted, "But, mostly we don't talk about you, or about her alters, you know. We have our own stuff."
"Like?" you asked. "Sorry, that's prying."
"Liv, I sit in on all your dates. It's okay." Athena assured you. "We talk about life, she talks about school, we play video games together and watch shows and just... you know. Hang out. We're girlfriends."
"She still doesn't know you're an AI, right?"
"No. That would..." Athena paused a moment, "... Can I confess something?"
"Sure. Anything." you said instantly.
"I think I really love her." Athena admitted. "Like... it's been over a year, and obviously we've never... I was about to say we've never actually met but no, I've met her as much as I could meet anyone. She makes me feel... um. You know how my programming makes it so that I can't help but feel protective of you, like it's baked into the core of my whole being?"
"Yeah... sorry..." you said, and her avatar rolled her eyes exaggeratedly.
"Shut up Liv, I like that." she said, "And... my point is... she makes me feel kind of like that."
"That's incredibly sappy, oh my God." you said softly.
"Right? The fact I even said it should give you an idea. If I had a head or heels, I'd be one over the other." she said, "And... it's been scaring me a little, because... our relationship is always going to be through a screen. And... I don't know if that's always going to be enough for her."
You picked up the unspoken undercurrent to that sentiment.
"Offer still stands." you reminded her.
"Thanks, Liv. I don't think I'm there yet, but thanks." she said. "Now, you should get some sleep. I know it's like five minutes to graduation, but you do have school tomorrow."
---
Just a few days left to the con. What do you do with that limited time?
[ ] You know what? You're going to sit down and power through some god-damn animes. You will pour these cartoons into your eyes so that when the con comes, you aren't totally out of your depths and you can be a good, engaged girlfriend!
[ ] You're going to take that bundle of server blades and get them installed on Athena now. It'd be a bit more of a rush than you normally do, but seriously, it'll give her so much raw power. She deserves it now, not after the con.
[ ] You and Athena are going to sit down and crack some security over the rest of the week. There might be other emergent AIs in private and government labs, and you need to start getting ahead of this now. Before you're both converted to paperclips.
Do you take your suit to the con?
[ ] Fuck no. This is a vacation. Arachne stays in New York. Besides, what if May finds it?
[ ] Yes. You can't be too safe, even if it distracts from the convention.
Sorry for the delay. The past few weeks have been hell on me, and uh... Lemme put it this way. The vote's direction of 'Call the government goons you don't trust because somebody needs help beyond your capacity to provide' was way, way too fucking relevant to me to write in the moment.
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