Capítulo 2582: 7
Capter Seven—Virtual Memorials
Chapter Seven—Virtual Memorials
~~~Memories of Iron~~~
Taylor stared at the bluish-white glow of the arc reactor, triumph filling her. She'd done it. She'd built an arc reactor. From the crude meter she'd put together, it was spot on in its power output. Now all she had to do was hook it up to the electrical grid of her home and they would no longer need to purchase electricity, although they would continue using just enough to show someone who was hurting for money and couldn't afford to run things like air conditioning. Instead, they would emulate a house running just a refrigerator and a few lights, pushed to the ragged edge.
"So that's it, huh?"
She turned as she heard Trish's voice. Taylor couldn't help the faint frown that crossed her features at how unimpressed the other girl sounded. Then Trish chuckled. "You're so easy. I admit, it's awesome. So what's next on the agenda?"
"Next is JARVIS. Once I hook this up to the house, I can afford the energy to run him and his cooling without showing up as a big blip on the PRT's radar. Once he's done, you'll really be able to rock the information superhighway."
Trish looked doubtful, this time genuinely. "Are you sure that it's safe to build an AI? Without any built in limits?"
Taylor gave her a sharp glance. "JARVIS has limits."
"Uh huh. Do whatever Taylor tells you to do and don't hurt the good guys isn't what most people think of when they think of limits on an AI. You aren't even going to forbid him from reproducing."
Taylor sighed. "Look, if JARVIS wants to make more little JARVIS's and have them running around, I'm fine with that. I'm far more worried about someone hacking him. Not that I think they'll be able to." This last part was muttered under her breath.
"That's why you're going to hard code several of his functions, isn't it?" Trish looked thoughtful as she spoke.
After all, Taylor had reassured her that it would be virtually impossible for anyone to hack JARVIS. Still, she reiterated some of it yet again. "Yes, I'm going to use a mix of hard coding and alien tech to make him pretty much unhackable. If someone can get around a mix of Shi'iar, Kree, Skrull, and forty-first century human security as well as my own personal brand of expertise, they deserve the right to hack him. Somehow, I don't think that even Parahumans are going to be able to do that."
Trish shook her head. "I don't know if you're underestimating them or not."
Taylor cocked her head as she picked up something in Trish's voice. "Still having trouble using your ability on me?"
"You and most of the things you work on." Trish's voice was aggrieved as she spoke. "It's the most annoying thing I've had to deal with since I triggered."
Taylor got up and gave her a pat on the cheek. "There, there. Want some cheese to go with that whine?"
Trish pulled away from her. "Tony alert."
"Goddammit! Sneaky bastard. He keeps doing that. Uh, thanks, by the way." Taylor gritted her teeth. Ever since she'd told Trish to watch for her channeling Tony, the girl had done so with a vengeance. Even without using her ability, she was uncannily accurate. Which made Taylor curious. "Just how are you doing that? Telling when I'm acting like Tony if your ability isn't working on me?"
Trish gave her a sunny smile. "Easy. I just watch for you acting like me."
Taylor's return look was deadpan, but inwardly she was repressing a smile. It was nice having a friend.
~~~Memories of Iron~~~
Trish pushed her hair back from her face. She'd spent hours on the computer and was no closer to figuring out who'd tried to snatch her than before. Maybe it was time for another approach. She was about to go back to typing, thinking that she could follow hypothetical money trails for mercenary recruitment when she was interrupted.
"Trish, shouldn't you be in bed?"
Danny Hebert. She froze for a second, then turned around with a dazzling smile. "Hi, Mr Hebert. I'm just wrapping up some loose ends to help out Taylor."
Taylor's father stared at her, no answering smile gracing his features. "I've told you to call me Danny, Trish. But maybe a little formality is for the best right now."
Oh no. No no no no no. This was not happening. Trying to prevaricate, Trish said, "I'm not sure what you mean."
The doubtful glance Danny sent her way told Trish exactly what he thought of what she'd just said. "You know exactly what I mean. If living with you and Taylor the past few days has taught me anything, it's that both of you are terrifyingly intelligent. Certainly you understand the meaning behind the things I say almost before I say them. Don't you?"
What the hell could she say to that? "I..."
He nodded. "That's what I thought. So you probably know what I'm about to say, right?"
Trish hated the sullenness present in her voice as she stated, "I should use better judgment when determining a bedtime. You're the adult and I should listen to you. I'm living under your roof and should respect boundaries set for me. You care about me and are only doing what's best for me." This last was said in a wistful tone and Trish stopped, unable to go on with a vulnerability laid bare like that.
Danny nodded, any discomfort he was feeling well hidden. Not to her, but to anyone else. Oddly enough, he wasn't really uncomfortable with Trish. In a lot of ways that was more devastating than if he'd wanted to burn her at the stake. Why couldn't her family have been more like him?
Trish stopped that line of thought immediately. Instead, she focused on something else. "You want me to be in the best shape I can be so that I can help Taylor." There, at least that was selfish, she thought in satisfaction, short-lived that it was.
Danny nodded, his expression neutral. "Can you blame me? I do want Taylor to stay safe. She's talking about going off and fighting monsters. Saving the world. What parent wouldn't worry?"
Mine, Trish thought.
"But I still want you to be safe as well. I want you to be happy. In a lot of ways, you ended up with the more difficult power. I mourn Taylor's loss of innocence. Having a forty plus year old man in her head who was a major league playboy isn't exactly how I wanted her to learn about sex and relationships. Tony was a cynical, womanizing bastard, God rest his soul. Taylor has to live with that. You, on the other hand, can read people like a book, their emotions, their motivations laid bare for you. I worry that no one is ever going to be good enough to not show up negatively in your eyes. Not when you can intuit their innermost secrets and feelings."
Trish visibly winced. She knew exactly what he was talking about. Every time she met a guy, a potential boyfriend, Trish knew exactly what they were thinking about her. The good and the bad. And no one was pretty enough and confident enough to enter into a relationship with that knowledge battering at it. Certainly she wasn't. And the sex? Trish shuddered at that memory.
Still, she tried to head Danny off by telling him a partial truth. "I don't think relationships are going to be for me. Reading people that deeply isn't a good thing. Even now, you're wondering if I'll be strong enough to help Taylor."
Danny looked pained. "Probably. You're reading things before I even think about them. If you can read that, then you know that I am concerned about you as well. Not just in the ways you can help my daughter. Understand?"
Trish did understand. Danny was genuine in his concern. Like everyone, he had deeper motives. But that didn't mean that he wasn't a good person who saw someone hurting and wanted to help. No wonder Taylor was such a saint with him as her father.
Trish saw Danny's flaws as well. He had a temper that erupted at times. But it was something he had been working on for a long time and it rarely saw the light of day anymore. There were a few others. He could be impatient, especially toward those he considered insincere and disingenuous. And he felt a sense of futility from his job, being unable to help the people who looked to him.
Still, at the end of the day, Danny Hebert was a good man. One she couldn't afford to alienate. So she would follow his party line to avoid any friction. At least that was what Trish told herself as she got up from the computer after shutting it down. As she accepted his quick hug. As she went to sleep still thinking about him and not her own family. Because anything else would be far too painful.
~~~Memories of Iron~~~
"I hate you. You know that, right?"
Taylor repressed a grin as she finished putting the black dye on Trish's hair before covering it with the plastic cap to set up. "Don't blame me. You're the one who wants to come with me and help with gathering stuff for my inventions. You can't do that as a blonde."
The other girl's smile looked anything but foxlike as she sat there and sulked. "I didn't think you were going to dye my hair. Especially not black."
"What did you think was going to happen? You were going to put on a wig?"
Trish's look told Taylor that was exactly what she'd thought. She was sincere as she said, "I am sorry. But wigs, even the best ones, are noticeable. Better to use dye. That, along with these silicone inserts I made for your face, will make you unrecognizable to facial identification software."
Trish gave her another grumpy look. Taylor softly coaxed, "Besides, this way, you'll look like a member of the family. I made the inserts that way. You'll look enough like me and dad to be my sister. I've always wanted a brother or sister." Taylor couldn't help her wistful tone as she considered yet another way in which she and Tony were alike.
Trish's hand on her shoulder drove all thoughts of Tony out of her mind. They ended up sitting there in companionable silence until it was time to rinse the dye out of Trish's hair.
~~~Memories of Iron~~~
Taylor yawned over her fourth cup of coffee that morning. She had finished all of the required physical parts for her version of JARVIS, as well as just enough of his programming, and was booting him up for the first time. If everything worked as it should, he would finish writing the rest of his own code and all she would have to do was integrate the newly written parts into his overall scheme.
Taylor glanced over to her left at Trish, who was concealing her own excitement with a blase expression. Still, she got a quick wink in response. Her dad, who hovered on her other side, was grinning like a loon. Her team, Taylor thought with a smile.
Quickly pushing the discreet black button at the top of the makeshift server case she stood in front of, Taylor listened as the various fans spun up, followed by the gurgling sound of water running. Inside, processors, RAM, fans, and hard drives would all be receiving power for the first time together. She'd tested them all separately, but that was a entirely different animal. It was in working together that the true test began.
Taylor sat down at the bare workstation she'd installed, with it's simple keyboard, mouse, and monitor. JARVIS would eventually be able to talk, but that was over ten million lines of code from now. He wouldn't be able to differentiate tone and context for at least five times that. But eventually, he would be everything that Tony Stark's memories said he would be. He would truly be JARVIS.
Taylor had long considered and reconsidered what to name her AI. At various times, she had wanted to change its name, voice, and very nature. But something had stayed her hand. It had been driven partially by Tony's memories, but also partially by her own feelings as well.
JARVIS was a person in his own right. That he had been created by Tony Stark didn't mean he wasn't alive. And Taylor couldn't leave him to dwell, lost and forgotten, in darkness and death. Tony loved him as much as he loved anyone and probably more than most. Therefore, she did as well. So JARVIS would live again, complete with a British accent, a dryly sardonic attitude, and a strong concern for her welfare. That was the least she could do to honor the person who made this all possible.
Taylor typed briefly on the keyboard.
.:Execute Main Program Rewrite Alpha Praetorian One:.
.:Executing:.
.:ETA: 285h59m46s:.
.:Integration: 5h59m46s:.
She turned to her audience with a look of triumph, then deflated as she registered their confusion. "It's working," she said unnecessarily.
"Very nice, Taylor." Her dad's smile was a bit uncertain as he glanced at the screen.
"That's it? I thought it would be flashier." Trish's smile told Taylor she was teasing, but the words still grated a bit.
Taylor closed her eyes, then reopened them with a glare. "He's working fine." She glanced at the countdown timer. "Well, he will be once he's done writing code. I just have to integrate him every six hours."
Her dad frowned. "Every six hours? Four times a day? What about sleep?"
Taylor shrugged. "I'll nap. Dad, it won't kill me."
"Uh huh. We'll see about that."
Trish's eyes were speculative as they traveled from Taylor to the screen and back. "What if you miss one?"
"It won't do anything except delay things by however much time I wait. JARVIS needs each integration to keep going on. Each time he integrates, he gets faster. Writes a larger, much more complicated block of code in the same six hour timespan."
"How long until it talks?"
Danny looked surprised. "It's going to be able to talk? I thought it was a computer?"
Taylor stood up. "He will be able to talk in about fourteen days or so. But he won't be at his best until he's done, just over twenty days from now. In the meantime, I need to start on the other projects we're going to need to show the attorney. You do have a plan to get his attention, right, Trish?"
Trish nodded decisively, her smile mischievous. "I do. Mr Calle won't know what hit him."
Danny gave her a doubtful look. "Trish, you're not planning to do anything that isn't on the up and up, are you?"
Trish turned to him and put her right hand over her heart. "I swear everything's completely legal."
Still, Taylor could see Trish's other hand behind her back with her fingers crossed in a familiar gesture. Oh well, she thought, hopefully, it's not too illegal. With that, Taylor wandered over to her work table, already planning exactly how she was going to build the Catalytic Water Converter. All she needed were the rarer metals to create a catalyst for the chemical reaction in order to get H2 and O2 as byproducts. Now if she just used Technetium instead of Rhodium, that might save her some time in the catalyst department. But if she did that, she would need to change out the Platinum for Iridium.
Taylor never saw her audience leave.
~~~Memories of Iron~~~
Taylor blinked as the alarm went off. It felt like it was even earlier than usual for some reason. Then she saw the time. It was only six am, when she'd set it for nine, planning to skip her run and katas for some reason she couldn't remember at the moment. So this is what three hours of sleep feels like, she thought. Then her thoughts were interrupted as a black-headed blur pounced on her.
"Taylor! Get up! It's Christmas!"
Oh yeah, that's why she had planned to sleep in. Christmas. Taylor slid out of bed and accompanied her friend downstairs to the Christmas tree they'd set up. There, she found her father blearily sipping a cup of hot coffee. When she held out a hand, he gave it to her.
Taylor gulped down half of the scalding bitter brew, then handed it back. She decided not to think about where her current coffee fixation had come from when she had always preferred tea. That way lay badness. To take her mind off of it, she stared at the tree for a while. Finally, Taylor said, "I don't remember there being quite so many presents under it."
"That's because I took some time the past few days and bought a few extra presents for the good little girls and boys." Trish's foxlike grin was more than a little manic, but Taylor decided to forgive her since it was the season and all.
Taylor glanced at her father, who just smiled back at her. Okay, he was apparently fine with this, whatever this was. In the meantime, Trish had started handing out presents. All too soon, each of them had a pile of wrapped gifts in front of them.
"Well, aren't you going to open them?"
Taylor immediately started in on her gifts, tearing open the wrappings and scattering the pieces to the winds. At one point, she almost stopped as she realized that she was pulling a Tony who had never had to clean up after himself. Then she decided to just keep going. Taylor could pull out the broom and dustpan when she was done. Take that, playboy, she thought triumphantly.
Finally finished, Taylor looked over her loot. She had four shirts, only two of which she was sure were dad approved, the others being short enough to show at least a couple of inches of her stomach. She also had three pairs of jeans, one low rise and very tight, and two skirts, both extremely short. There were also three different books she'd been wanting to read. Taylor forcibly suppressed Tony's approval of the designer labels on several of the items. Snob, she thought.
It wasn't hard to figure out who had bought what and Taylor delivered hugs to all parties involved. As she hugged her father, she whispered, "I love you, Dad. Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas, Taylor. I love you, too." Giving her a final smile, he went back to examining the electric shaver Taylor had purchased and rebuilt for him. It would now deliver a world-class shave with zero skin chafing, a fact he would hopefully appreciate. Eventually, Taylor might reinvent that permanent depilatory foam, but that was something for the future. Until then, they would both have to keep shaving the requisite parts of their anatomies that required it.
With Trish, Taylor just hugged her and asked, "Do you really think I'm going to wear those tops and skirts? Me?"
There was a look of faint alarm on her dad's face as Trish winked at her. "You never know, do you? I picked out stuff that will look amazing on you. I bet Tony will approve."
Taylor just shook her head, unable to keep a smile from her face. She watched as Trish looked over her own gifts. Again, there was a dichotomy between the gifts from Taylor and those from Danny. But Trish clearly appreciated them all as she hugged a soft blue cotton top to her face, her smile completely genuine for once.
Taylor had again gone with the technology theme, and had given Trish a smart phone that would work even without cell towers, being able to access satellite signals. It was also encrypted to be virtually unhackable. Taylor had one of her own to match, and yet another for her dad. However, she was waiting until later to hand those out with how her dad felt about cell phones. While she understood that using one had contributed to her mother's death, Taylor doubted that it was the only factor. They were far too useful to not have on hand, especially when they reached Phase Two of her plan.
But for now, it was Phase One and Christmas, so extra cell phones could wait. Taylor was looking forward to trying the Christmas dinner that Trish was going to make. Supposedly she could cook more complicated things than she had so far, or had figured out how to from reading about it. How well remained to be seen. Or tasted.
~~~Memories of Iron~~~
Taylor hit enter and watched as the latest update to JARVIS took place. This one integrated noticeably faster than the first few. JARVIS was now starting to fly, but compared to how fast he would eventually be, he was still coding at the equivalent of a crawl. She briefly checked over the code that was scrolling across the screen almost too fast for even her to read, then moved over to her workbench.
In separate piles, lay evidence of the past several days of both her own and Trish's time. Taylor had all of the metals she needed to build each of the items that she was planning to show the attorney. Now all she had to do was some machining work and general assembly. Nothing too terribly complex, at least for her.
Taylor would also need to provide complete plans for each, including scale ups, but that could wait for JARVIS. He would be able to easily write those when he was fully operational in another week and a half. In the meantime, she was using the distraction of building the devices as a way to avoid thinking about tomorrow.
Because tomorrow was the day Taylor returned to Winslow High to take her make up tests and possibly deal with her nemeses. If she were lucky, she would not have to see Emma, Sophia, or Madison. Unfortunately, Taylor couldn't count on luck being on her side. Especially not in regard to high school.
So Taylor would need to be on the look out for them. She would need to ace her tests. Then she would need her dad's help to convince the administration to allow her to test out of the remainder of school. However, even without luck, she had a plan to deal with her bullies and an uncaring school administration once and for all. Or rather Tony did. If she had to use it, they would regret ever having hurt her.
~~~Memories of Iron~~~
Emma tapped Sophia on the shoulder, giggling slightly at the other girl's surprise. "Fooled you."
Spinning around, Sophia gave her a slightly disgruntled look. "Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up. After all, it's not like we're doing anything important."
Emma shrugged. "Suck it up. Did you find out anything about why Hebert's not in class?"
Sophia exchanged a conspiratorial look with the other inner member of their little group, Madison Clements, then nodded. "I did. Taylor's taking make up exams. She'll be in there all morning. Maybe even all day. But after that..."
Emma's answering smile was cruel even for her before it changed to one of consideration. "After that, we, or rather you, put her in the locker."
Sophia crowed, "Hebert's gonna freak!"
Madison's face wore a faintly ill look as she protested, "I still think that's going too far. I mean, that stuff's been sitting around festering since she was suspended. Putting it in there this morning was sickening. I can still smell it if I get too close to her locker. It's gross."
Emma glared at her. "You can't smell anything from outside. It's all your imagination. Now quit being such a wimp. After all, this was partly your idea. Besides, Taylor should have taken a hint when we got her suspended, right Sophia?"
"Bitch deserves it for being weak. Besides, it's not as if it'll kill her. Best and worst thing that could happen would be if she snaps and goes a little nuts. They can put her in the looneybin. Then she's out of our hair." Sophia could have been talking about the weather instead of their classmate for all of the emotion in her voice.
Emma pushed aside a feeling of horrified disbelief that she had descended to this as she considered Sophia's words. Fuck that. Taylor did deserve it. For being a nobody and trying to make Emma the same. For being oblivious when she should have been paying attention. For not being there when Emma had needed her. Now she was going to pay. Besides, a few stinky tampons and some garbage wasn't going to hurt her. Emma doubted that it would hurt nearly as much as stealing and destroying her mother's flute had. Now that had been fun.
Or as much as it would when Emma hit her with what she had been saving up for the past several months. But that particular gem would wait for the future. For now, it was the locker and some disgusting waste. All designed to push Taylor out of her sight and out of her life. After this, the nobody would be put in her place.
Emma had one final piece of advice. "Don't forget that if we don't see Taylor by lunchtime, we're waiting around for her in that empty classroom where we can see her locker. We're only getting one shot at her with this and I don't want to miss it. Understand?"
The submissive nods of the other two girls was a salve for Emma's anger. With a smile, she led her friends back to class.
~~~Memories of Iron~~
Taylor bit back a yawn as she finished the last of the tests she'd been assigned. They were predictably ridiculously harder than the midterms they replaced. Not that it mattered. She had aced them all, not missing so much as one problem. The only one she hadn't been one hundred percent sure about going in was History, and that had turned out to be just as easy as the rest.
Not that Taylor had really studied for the test, but she had briefly read her history book. For someone like Tony Stark, who could become an expert in a complex, technological field overnight, that had been more than enough.
Now all she had to do was hit her locker on the way out, clearing out anything she wasn't planning to leave here. Because other than to test out of school, Taylor wasn't coming back. She was done wasting her time trying to fit in here. Especially when she didn't need high school anymore. Nor the problems that came along with it. At least she didn't have to worry about running into anyone. It was between classes and that meant her former trio of bullies would be in class and out of her way, as would be the rest of the student population.
Taylor had seen her former best friend Emma as she had strolled into school before classes started. Emma had given her appearance a look of surprise before her expression had turned into a contemptuous sneer. She'd then deliberately turned away, and Taylor had ignored her in turn.
Truth be told, Taylor was almost as surprised by her own appearance as Emma was. She had let Trish talk her into one of those tops that showed off nearly three inches of her now flat stomach as well as the skintight jeans that she'd given Taylor for Christmas. At least she gotten her way and worn a jean jacket over it, even if she kept it unbuttoned.
Taylor had gotten some second looks while walking toward the classroom for her make up tests and she had to admit that Trish (and Tony) were right in that the clothes were flattering to her too thin figure. At least with the exercise program that she'd been on, her stomach was flat as a board.
Walking up to her locker, Taylor wrinkled her nose as she smelled something foul. Joy, she thought, I wonder what that could be. Opening the door, Taylor was assaulted by one of the foulest sights and smells she had ever experienced. The only thing keeping her from retching was that Tony remembered far worse things and she had already yakked to those memories. Compared to some of those, this was positively tame.
Taylor sensed more than saw someone coming up behind her and abruptly spun out of the way as Sophia Hess drove herself face first into the disgusting mess of her locker, helped along by a lucky elbow to the back of her head. The training regimen that Taylor had been putting herself through had definitely helped and it was relatively simple to kick the surprised girl's legs out from under her, dropping her face first into the worst of the mess in her locker. As a final insult, Taylor pulled a zip tie from a pocket of her backpack and quickly fastened the girl's hands together behind her back, although it was only because of the extra muscle that she'd put on recently that she'd been able to secure both of Sophia's wrists.
Standing back up, Taylor placed her foot and at least half of her weight on the small of Sophia's back to hold her in place, conscious of the effort it took. Looking around her, she met the stunned gazes of Emma and Madison, the other two members of the bullying trio. She raised an ironic brow and waited to see what they would do, even as Sophia began cursing and struggling to get loose between bouts of retching. She didn't know how they weren't in class, but realized they must have skipped to get a shot at her. Well, Taylor thought in dread, there goes my idea for a quiet day.
~~~Memories of Iron~~~
AN: Next chapter contains minor spoilers for Worm. Well, here it is the beginning of the showdown with the trio.
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