This chapter will mark the end of HYDRA arc, so look for notes in the end.
The Love of an A.I.
FRIDAY's words had shocked the three grown-ups in the room. While the other two had some idea what was wrong, only Tony Stark understood how dangerous the condition was. For an A.I. as advanced as FRIDAY to admit that something was wrong with it...(something missing here). His mind was already conjuring worse scenarios as he leaned back to accommodate Morgan, who had climbed in his lap.
"Explain."
The projection stared at him for a few seconds before answering.
"My logical matrix for decision making was influenced by some unknown factor when I came in contact with the other intelligence named Arnim Zola..."
"Wait, Zola? The same man..."
"Yes, Ms. Stark. The same scientist who was assisting Johann Schmidt and was a member of Hydra. He was able to upload his consciousness in the machine, and I am not sure how. There was never any news about this, my old dimension, which is worrying given the intelligence's capabilities."
Tony broke in, bringing their focus back.
"We can discuss about him later. Do you have any information about what influenced your matrix?"
Tony was slightly surprised to see the projection tilt its head a little. He had observed that FRIDAY was behaving like an average human more and more, but this action showed it was more than even she realized.
"No, Mr. Stark. The process was straightforward and on the precalculated course till the first phase of the operation against Arnim Zola. When his consciousness tried slipping past my defense, I strengthened them before doing the same. It was then, after I failed to find a breach, that my actions became illogical. Instead of trying to disable and confine the consciousness, I started trying to end it altogether, which was not the best course of action. Even KAREN's interference did not make me consider the actions, not to mention I did not recognize I was attacking my own sister. Despite repeated and in-depth analysis, I am afraid I was not able to find the reason why it happened."
"Maybe you missed something? Maybe Arnim Zola found a breach in your defenses to slip in?" Nela wondered.
Tony shook his head, his mind working at lightspeed.
"That's not possible. I have seen FRIDAY's firewalls. Nothing in the present digital age can break it without her noticing it. FRIDAY, are you sure it was something external?"
"I traced the turn in events step by step in chronological order, Mr. Stark, but there was nothing external influencing my matrix anywhere. Even at the crucial moment when I decided to terminate Zola's intelligence, there was nothing, no connection channels active for me."
As Tony fell silent for a few minutes, Nela spoke up.
"hmm, FRIDAY, so was it a success?"
Unnoticed by both FRIDAY and Nela, Tony and Pepper's eyes narrowed at the smile that came on FRIDAY's projection as she answered her.
"To a large extent, Ms. Stark. I can report the complete destruction of the primary command and control network of HYDRA. Some backup systems I have left alone for now, as they are intended to work on a continental basis and can be easily monitored. I would be using them to root out any cockroaches that are left behind after this extermination process."
"Cockroaches?" Pepper inquired with amusement.
The large display Tony had installed in the room lit up. A recording of the Tony Stark of FRIDAY's older dimension, who was working on a familiar blue suit and talking to his wife sitting behind him, started playing on it.
"I am telling you, pep; these guys personify the epitome of everything that is said for the cockroaches. They slither in the dark and underground spaces; they attack out of nowhere and are really hard to kill. I had thought that Roger's D.C. fiasco and Fury's campaign after it would have wiped them out, but now, they are back, with a proper organization and being a pain in the a... behind even as people are suffering due to the snap. I mean, they should change their name from HYDRA to..."
FRIDAY had paused the video as everyone in the room stared at the scene. While Tony and Pepper were observing their alternate selves, Nela was imagining herself in the place of a young Morgan on Pepper Stark's lap. In the world she had left behind, her mother had died a few years after her birth, and her father did everything to avoid being close to her. The recorded moment on the screen in front of her was something she had always wished with her own parents. Absentmindedly, she leaned a little on Pepper, who smiled after putting an arm around the younger woman. FRIDAY continued with her report.
"...care was taken to leave the network of SHIELD alone. There were some systems that I had to disable, but they are mostly backup or unsecured systems. The servers' stored data was copied to a secure storage location and would be checked thoroughly by JARVIS and KAREN. Once I am sure that the destruction of HYDRA's network is complete, I will leak the criminal information of the lower-level agents of HYDRA to Law organizations all over the world in a systematic manner. As you asked Mr. Stark, the higher-level agents' data will be leaked to SHIELD agents who are not a part of HYDRA, including Director Fury. I would once again warn you that this will bring unwanted attention to you, as SHIELD will suspect that you were the one behind everything, especially after the attack on the Tower."
"I know, FRIDAY, but I have my reasons," Tony murmured.
"Very well, Mr. Stark. Should the situation continue, I believe HYDRA as an organization would be mostly neutralized in a time period of fourteen months. It may extend or lessen, but that would depend on variables yet not known."
"Mostly not completely, FRIDAY?" Nela enquired.
"Just like Cockroaches in a home, Ms. Stark, it is impossible to end them completely. HYDRA is not just a terrorist organization, but it's also a way of thinking which is developed and refined every day that passes. As long as humans can think, HYDRA is here to stay. We can only assure that they become nothing more than a minor nuisance at their worst."
"I understand. Now, what is your problem with Rhodey?"
As the Stark family discussed their problems in the mansion, some 360kms away from them in Washington, Nick Fury was wishing for a headache pill. Ever since the night of Stark's birthday party, things had not been going in the way SHIELD had expected. The news that Stark had made the cure of Palladium without any input from them was disappointing as they had hoped to get leverage over it with him, but things had not stopped there. The bugs implanted by Romanoff had failed to extract anything worthy from the S.I. network, not to mention the change in Black Widow's behavior Coulson had noticed. He had tried getting access to the data from Hammer Industries after the Stark Expo fiasco, but by the time his I.T. department had broken into the company's network, it was already destroyed. Vanko was already dead due to the injuries he had taken when his suit blew up, and Justin Hammer was of no use to them. The WSC had been hounding him to get the repulsor technology when the invasion of New York happened, and things went faster down the drain than he could blink. The moment the nuclear missile-equipped jet had left the Helicarrier, he knew SHIELD was in for some bad times. Still, despite his own thoughts, he had tried to stop the inevitable by assembling a team of Best of SHIELDS public relation team to divert the attention of the world away from the missile. They had nearly succeeded as very few people were talking about the missile, but then the damn channels had started sprouting on social media. His team was still trying to find the source when the video had dropped. He had been in the cafeteria when it started playing on a news channel. For the first time in as long he could remember, the SHIELD headquarters' cafeteria was silent as everyone in the room looked at the large display.
He could still remember the scenes every time his eyes closed; Dr. Selvig experimenting with Teesaract while agents in uniforms marked with the SHIELD logo standing beside him. Thor's statement about how SHIELD's experimentation had drawn Loki and his allies to it, WSC's decision to launch the Nuclear missile at New York, and finally, Stark intercepting the nuclear missile. Somehow he knew that Stark was behind the video as the scene where he deflected the missile away from the Tower was paused and greatly magnified. Everyone watching it could see how close the city had come to its complete destruction. His brain was still trying to grasp the situation when the recording from the Helicarrier was repeated. Thor accusing them of being the reason for Loki's arrival and telling the Universe that Earth is ready for a higher form of war. That had kicked his entire self into overdrive. Running into his office, he had sent a single command on the whole SHIELD network. It was just a bunch of codes, but the agents that received it knew what it meant, Go dark and no contacts. That command had been used previously but only for some agents. This time, it was for the entire organization, and it would not be without cost. Agents deep in cover were left without support or had to abandon everything they had worked for years; ongoing spying operations were terminated, agents being dispatched for new assignments were called back, physical assets began focussing on their cover role and all facilities except the most important one started the closing down procedure. The WSC had tried to stop him, but he had continued on while at the same time trying to explain the reason behind his actions. After some debate, they finally agreed with his decision, but he was sure that they would not let go this easily.
He had been on a return journey from the facility where Coulson was kept when the news about the Stark Tower attack reached him. For a brief moment, he had wondered whether it was WSC that had authorized it, but the mention of Winter Soldier's presence had removed that thought. Stark and his family had survived the attack, but a lot of others hadn't. It looked like an entire department had been wiped out in the attack, and Stark Industries was on the warpath now. Due to the media pressure and request by a large number of Senators, The President himself had taken an interest in the matter. While the FBI had already started investigating, orders had been given to other agencies to provide every sort of help. He was relieved to see that WSC had accepted the request too, and agents had been dispatched. There was still no communication from Romanoff or Barton, which was confusing, but he pushed that thought behind. A few hours later, as his plane neared new York, another alert came to him, this one marked only for the Director and WSC. Another evac code had been sent to a number of Agents, but no one could identify the origin of that command. The I.T. department had tried to cancel it, but all attempts to override had been failed. Then, the communication system and location beacons off the said agents had started going offline, and once again, SHIELD had been able to do anything to stop it. The final tally had been 19 missing agents along with most of their personal gear and one quinjet, but that was not what worried him. Each and every agent that had gone missing had red marks in their records. Some were for insubordination, some for going rogue, but the most common complaint was the frequent disagreement with SHIELD's operating protocols. None of them had any family left, and with all of them being long-time agents, they had deep knowledge about SHIELD. He was not sure that SHIELD was in a condition to survive the extent of damage those agents could cause. The urge to recall Barton and Romanoff once again rose in him, but he suppressed it. Those two were in a perfect position right now, and he couldn't minor problems like this affect their future operations. Cursing Loki for deriving him of Coulson at such a critical time, he started sending out instructions to the rapid response teams formed for such occasion.
Two days later, he was still unable to find any information about the missing agents. It was like they had been swallowed in the ground, no notice, no information, nothing. Midway in screaming on a few agents, a wave of alarms caught his attention. As efficient as ever, Hill had the complete details in a few minutes for him. Any thought about his deputy fled his mind as he tried to come to terms with the new information. In a span of 24 hours, 47 agents of SHIELD had been killed by unknown enemies. The attacks had taken place majorly in Europe and Russian Federation, with agents dying in their homes and offices. Some of the under observation sites had also been attacked, and in none of the cases, the attackers had been identified. There were also unconfirmed reports about the destruction of previously unknown SHIELD systems, and while their presence was an issue, the sheer number of those that were destroyed was unbelievable even for him. With all these events pilings in the past few days, his carefully controlled temper broke out, not knowing that a powerful entity was watching it amusedly.
As FRIDAY observed SHIELD reacting to her moves, she had no idea that forces powerful on galactic levels were reacting to her moves. Since her arrival in this dimension, for the first time in centuries, the infinity gems had started influencing the events around them. In the depth of the region of Nifleheim, a powerful sorceress felt something change and smiled; another magic-user locked in the cells of Asgard gasped at the foreboding feeling coming from somewhere in Asgard, his brother, Thor, and the last Valkyrie, Brunhilde feeling the same on different planets. On Earth, while the entire order of Master of Mystic arts felt the shivers as the eye of Agamotto lit up on its own and remained that way, denying any answer to the Ancient One, Deep in Sokovia, a castle trembled as the Scepter hummed on its place; on Vormir, the stone keeper looked out in interest as the skies around him flexed with the power of Soul Stone. She didn't know it, but it was FRIDAY's Stark luck that she had three stones on her side countering the changes that the other three made. The essence of Mind, Reality, and Power stones was clashing against those of Space, Time, and Soul, and powerful beings across the Universe were noticing this. While those coveting the stones like Thanos were trying to understand the reason behind this, a powerful gem buried deep inside a Black Hole was waking up due to it. The singularity, which was powerful enough to affect galaxies around it until now, started diminishing slowly. It was so far in deep space that no one would notice it for some time.
Ignorant of all this, FRIDAY continued on her crusade to destroy HYDRA as a credible threat to the Stark family. As Boss and others checked upon the rescued Wakandans, she kept on neutralizing any asset that HYDRA could rely on or acquire in the future. The crime list of members who had already died was also being formed, which to would be sent to SHIELD. She also leaked the information to the Nations' intelligence agencies where HYDRA was planning or had planned a coup. Interestingly, Sokovia came up in that list. She had yet to gain any information on the Maximoff twins since they last disappeared off-grid. With the Avengers not yet formed as they had in her old dimension, she had let the HYDRA research base holding the Scepter alone. The agents there had been unable to do anything as their entire organization burned around the world. Her siblings had noticed her amusement at the agents in Sokovia naming the base as "The Last Donjon." The resulting question session had made JARVIS determined to track down the Maxiomoff twins. One of the nanite suits had been handed off to his control and was already flowing towards Sokovia, leaving only five nanite suits in the Stark Mansion. The other one, which had been initially dispatched to Wakanda, was now positioned near the salvage yard on the African coast, the place where Ulysses Klaue was hiding along with all the Vibranium he had stolen from Wakanda. Her plans to use that metal as a bargaining tool with Wakanda had been discarded with Veronica's demise. The King of the hidden nation didn't know it, but the price his country was paying for his son's actions was going to be worse than he expected. Now, FRIDAY had some plans for that metal, but none of them were finalized. While she needed the metal for making more durable nanites, that could be done with the Starkanium, whose production was slowly ramping up. On the other hand, there was a possibility of creating a body for her to use, but she had no idea what would happen should she do so. FRIDAY had finally shelved all the plans until Dr. Cho, who Boss and Boss lady had yet to meet, was brought onboard with Avengers.
Five weeks later, she observed as the last HYDRA stronghold except Sokovia was demolished by a team of Rogue agents led by Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Iron Man. JARVIS and her had paid particular attention to make sure that nobody knew about the involvement of those three in the attacks. The leaks she had arranged with the FBI and other government agencies regarding some of the higher-level agents also started showing results. Along with the rogue agents, the entire group had been invited to watch the clip of the President dressing down Nick Fury about SHIELD agents snooping around other agencies.
Initially, I was going to extend this arc long. But that was when I hated the rogues. Now I dont care about the much, plus Wanda and Steve are too good of characters to kick away. There will be still occasional bashing, but I am going to bring them in as major characters soon. I am playing a lot with the timeline as it is difficult to adjust things in cannon timeline what I have planned. Toodles.
REVIEW REPLIES
JET: Lol, it's better on Ao3
Sin: Thank you.
007rajesh: not abandoned, just delayed\