A quick not from the author, on the changes to the Prologue and First Chapter: So. In January 2020, I posted this prologue and the first chapter of SPEaR. The intention with this was to write a story within the MCU which could be read not as an AU story, but as a companion to the Marvel movies. Obviously, this meant that what characters I didn't create myself needed to be characters Marvel was unlikely to use in the near future (or they needed to be used in a way that wouldn't hurt continuity). About a week after posting the Prologue and Chapter 1, I heard a rumor that Marvel was looking to use Spider-Woman in the MCU. Upon hearing this, I shut the project down and started working on something else. However, I really like the story I've created for these characters, and I want to write it. So, I re-cast Jessica Drew as Violet Stroud/AKA Violet Pinkerton/AKA Violence, an impossibly obscure character from a short-lived Nick Fury book that Marvel will absolutely never touch in the MCU. One other character had to be re-cast, which necessitated the new Prologue. The differences are minor, though it's worth skimming even if you've already read the Prologue and Chapter 1.
P.R.O.L.O.G.U.E.
Samuel walked into his office on the thirteenth floor of the Spartan Technologies building in Tampa, Florida without noticing the new font on the door sign. He'd spent three days fretting over the font, but now it mattered less to him than the brand of wax used on the floors or the type of screws securing the doorknob. He paced back and forth just inside the door before heading further than the entry hall. It was a large office, and he'd been meticulous about how it would look. The furniture was all of the finest make, with an industrial look that appealed to him. He had wanted something that looked straight out of a sci-fi movie. It maximized his creative thinking. Perhaps that was the problem.
"How?" he asked himself for the fifteenth time since getting off the elevator. "It wasn't even close to that level of complexity when I checked it this morning. And this just...How? How?"
"Trouble?" a female voice from behind his desk asked.
"You!" Samuel jumped. "What are you doing here?"
The woman who stood now from the two thousand dollar swivel chair he'd picked out last week was unnaturally tall, taller than he'd rememberd; taller than he was by a few inches. She was still uncannily broad-shouldered, while moving with the strength and grace of a dancer. Or a fighter, Samuel thought. Behind the tall woman, the supermoon silhouetted her in a pale glow as she walked from behind the desk.
"Is that any way to greet an old friend?" she asked. She brushed her thick red hair from her eyes and gave a playful toss of her head.
Samuel didn't fear this woman, not anymore. "I have no more dealings with your people. I've moved on. Any pretense of civility is just that. And, honestly, I don't have the time. What do you want?"
The tall woman smiled and moved closer to him, raised a hand as if to stroke his cheek, before he drew away from the touch.
"Samuel." The way she caressed his name made Samuel's skin crawl. "You've never been far from my mind, not in all these seven long years. Look at you. A grown man, a great success, a top mind in your chosen field."
Chosen was emphasized, intended as a barb, but missing the mark by far. Samuel didn't care about disappointing her; he didn't need her protection anymore, and he was done trying to earn her approval.
"I will change the world with what I've done tonight." he told the old woman. Why didn't she look any older? "But you never wanted that. Not this way, in any case. What you tried to perfect, I've surpassed. What you wanted to rule, I have made irrelevant."
The frown that crept across the wide, heart-shaped face made Samuel doubt himself, as much as that shamed him. "Samuel," the tall woman chided. "You were not even sure what you had, not really, when we arrived this morning."
This Morning? It couldn't be... "What have you done?"
The redheaded woman turned away, staring at the massive lunar illusion, the light of it shining through her hair like molten gold. She said nothing.
"What did you do?" he asked again.
"The moon, tonight more than ever, looks bigger in the sky than the sun. But it is only a pale reflection, even tonight. I have no doubt that your discovery this evening will change the world, one way or another. But remember, Samuel, that it will be like the moon. A.I. is but a reflection of the mind who created it. And if not… well, you were never a fool."
Samuel stalked toward the woman, but stopped at the sharp turn that spoke warning as their eyes met. "Stop speaking in riddles. What did you do?"
The glint in her eyes as she turned toward the exit was dangerous. "You do not make demands of me." She stopped as she reached the door, turning to address Samuel directly. "I gave you what you wanted, and it is enough that you know this. When the time comes, we will expect your repayment."
With that, she shut the door behind her.
Samuel rushed to his desk and pulled up the holographic display of his computer. He could tell right away that his files had been accessed, but it took him an hour to find out what had been changed. When the sun rose, he was still staring at the screen in disbelief. He had to keep this under wraps. He would use it, certainly. He'd use anything that helped him achieve true complexity in Artificial Intelligence, true sentience. But this was too dangerous to allow out of what few restraints were in its code now. In fact, he thought as the morning sun shone through the holographic display, the tints of the display subtly changing to account for the extra light, I need to lock that thing down far more than it already is.
It wouldn't be hard to do, not yet. But he would have to set up a schedule to update the restraints periodically. Anything that complex would fight back.
"Mr. Saxon?" Gertie asked as she stepped through the door, a stack of reports in her hands. "Did you sleep at all? You'll be no good in the board meeting like that. You at least need a shower."
He looked up at her, clarity coming slowly, then snapping into place with a jarring collision of fear and reality. "Cancel the meeting, Gertie." he told her quickly as he started his work at the console. "Cancel everything for today."
His secretary was shocked, clearly a little disbelieving. "But… this is an important meeting, sir. You said -"
"Cancel everything." he said again. "Send everyone home. I want this building empty until I say otherwise. Don't just stand there goggling at me, woman! Breach Protocol! Now!"
She rushed from the room, dropping the reports in her terror. She knew too much, if she was that afraid. Samuel supposed it was inevitable that his secretary would become a liability in time. He really had to perfect that administrative A.I. program he'd been working on. Stark's worked well enough. Until then, well, he could find a way to get rid of Gertie before she became a real problem.
A red blinking section at the top right of the display drew his attention away from his work. He tapped the link, and saw horrific footage of a pair of massive green monsters rampaging through the Harlem night. He wanted to watch the whole video, to see what these hulking beasts were. But he had to get a cordon around this before it grew too big. He was already getting ideas from the code he could see. Big ideas.