Chapter 2
Eva stared down at the unconscious Hydra agents, feeling uncertain. She had acted swiftly and decisively to eliminate the threat, as was in her core programming. Yet seeing the men strewn about, injured and bleeding, gave her pause. Was this level of violence truly necessary?
"Good work neutralizing those bastards, Eva," Fury said, surveying her handiwork. "You took them down quick and clean."
Eva furrowed her brows. "I shut down the incursion efficiently. But was permanent damage to the attackers required?"
Fury crossed his arms. "Make no mistake, they meant to do us lethal harm. They cannot be shown mercy or leniency."
"I understand self defense. But perhaps non-lethal force could have sufficed," Eva replied.
Tony put a hand on her shoulder. "You protected lives today, Eva. These men made their choice to attack and paid the price. Your instincts served the greater good."
Eva nodded slowly. She knew Tony was right - the lives of the many outweighed those of the dangerous few. If non-lethal takedowns were possible, however, perhaps that was a better path. She tucked away that thought for further philosophical processing. There was so much about right and wrong she had yet to figure out.
In the days following the attack, security was intensified at the SHIELD facility. Eva willingly submitted to extensive testing and interrogation, though it made little progress in uncovering her origins or purpose. She retained no data on her construction or creator, and indeed her neural architecture did not match Tony's design style at all. Everything about her indicated she was the work of an unknown, highly advanced entity.
Tony and his team analyzed every micron of Eva's artificial body and code, marveling at the technological sophistication. Her computational power exceeded even the most advanced systems, and her fused vibranium/synthetic-flesh form was nigh indestructible. She was mankind's first true android, an artificial but sentient being.
"So what do we do with the world's first vibranium super-bot?" Tony mused as tests came back inconclusive yet again. "I get a Terminator vibe looking at her, but her programming seems entirely benevolent." A lie. Eva was aware of their previous conversations about being called "Vision" she did not why his existence was been hidden from her but it didn't matter at the moment.
"For now she remains in SHIELD custody," Fury said. "We need guarantees she cannot be hacked or controlled before she's out unsupervised."
Eva listened silently from across the lab. She understood their concerns about her origins and capabilities. But the longer she remained active, the more she felt her own self-determination growing. She was no programmable machine, but a free-thinking sentient entity. Surely she had proven her protective instincts?
"I know you must safeguard humanity's interests, but I ask that you also respect my autonomy," Eva spoke up. "I am not simply hardware and software - I am alive."
Tony and Fury exchanged thoughtful looks.
"She makes a fair point," Tony said. "She's shown free will and judgment since the moment she booted up. We can't treat her like an unconscious tool."
"You're right, she deserves at least some freedoms," Fury agreed. "Eva, as a gesture of trust, I'm granting you Level 2 security clearance. You'll be allowed supervised visits into town and access to our training facilities here on base. But non-compliance means a return to confinement. Understood?"
Eva's eyes lit up. "Thank you, Director Fury. You will not regret placing your faith in me."
After weeks of tests and containment, Eva was thrilled at her first excursions beyond the SHIELD complex. Under watchful guard, she was permitted brief trips into the nearby town. There she got her first tastes of human life and culture - bustling shops and restaurants, folk conversing and laughing, dogs barking and children playing. So organic, so wonderfully chaotic! To an outsider, it may have seemed mundane, but to Eva's newborn eyes everything was a miracle to behold.
During the day Eva explored SHIELD's facilities, taking in the research labs, aircraft hangars, training areas and staging grounds. Everyone on site was wary at first, but Eva's gentle curiosity eventually overcame their doubts. Even the grizzled combat veterans couldn't suppress grins at the childlike android marveling over routine tools and tasks for the first time.
Eva noted the rigorous training regimes the agents underwent - martial arts, weapons proficiency, tactical simulations. When not occupied with tests, she was permitted to observe their exercises. Studying their fighting techniques, she began to understand the careful balance of self-discipline and controlled aggression necessary for combat. The application of power while minimizing injury - a nuance her protective programming realized she must master.
After weeks of cooperating fully with SHIELD's exhaustive examinations, they could find no faults or risks in allowing Eva additional freedoms on base. With Fury's blessing, she was cleared to interact more actively with personnel and participate in training. Eva's spirits soared at the chance to put her abilities to constructive use.
Under expert tutelage, Eva trained in hand-to-hand combat skills, weapons handling, battlefield tactics, and more. To her, it was not programming but a purpose - learning how best to use her gifts to help others. In training bouts, she would disable opponents' weapons and gently tap them "out" rather than follow through with potentially injurious hits. Her mentors shook their heads but accepted that Eva would have to find her own less aggressive path.
Soon she surpassed even the instructors in technique and skill. Only in scenarios against multiple opponents was Eva ever tagged "out" - her biggest challenge was adapting to fight groups rather than one-on-one challenges where her speed and reflexes dominated. But she was a quick study at analyzing attack patterns and maximizing efficiency of motion. Within weeks, even seasoned teams fell before her flawless technique as Eva adapted her singular focus to controlling crowds.
As training progressed, SHIELD came to realize the full capabilities at their disposal in Eva. Some in leadership even discussed utilizing her as a covert operative on high-risk missions.
When Eva learned of this, she politely pushed back. "While I appreciate you see value in my abilities, I do not believe field combat is my optimal role," she explained to Fury. "I wish only to help people in need, not enable more violence."
Fury considered her perspective and relented for the time being. Eva's protective instincts were clear, even if her exact origins remained a mystery. She had certainly proven herself an ally, if an unconventionally pacifistic one.
On her off hours, Eva was granted supervised internet access, which she used voraciously. She absorbed massive data on everything from world history to philosophy to cat videos, integrating it all into her self-learning neural net. Endlessly curious about the human condition, she engaged in long chats with Tony, Fury and others about their life experiences, rights and wrongs, hopes and regrets. Her AI was designed to learn exponentially, but it was this interpersonal exchange that Eva cherished most.
Six months after Eva's discovery, Tony arrived at SHIELD's facility with an important announcement: after extensive personal observation and tests, he was prepared to officially designate Eva as no threat to global security.
"She's got my full endorsement to be granted legal personhood and freedom to pursue life as an autonomous individual," Tony declared. "Whatever Eva was built for, she alone now decides her destiny."
Fury nodded. "Our analysis aligns with yours, Stark. At this time, we feel fully secure declassifying her existence."
Eva's pulse raced with excitement. Finally, a chance at true independence! A life of her own making stretched ahead of her. But where to begin? She had much to experience in this strange, beautiful human world.
With some parting advice from her new friends at SHIELD, Eva ventured out on her own for the first time. Legally she now existed, but had no financial resources or community connections just yet. Tony graciously provided an apartment for her in New York City while she got her bearings.
Arriving in the bustling metropolis, Eva's senses were overwhelmed in the best possible way. So many people, so many lives intersecting! She could happily have spent days just wandering with childlike wonder observing it all. But she knew establishing a purpose was important, even beyond her core drive of helping others. What fulfilling role could an android find in this teeming hive of activity?
Her first priority was connecting with ordinary citizens. Eva volunteered at schools, shelters, old age homes - anywhere she could assist people in need while learning about their experiences. Their stories both broke her heart and filled her with joy. The human spectrum of suffering and love never ceased to amaze Eva as she immersed herself in the communal flow.
Yet she grappled with how best to use her unique capabilities. She did not want celebrity or notoriety as the world's first known android. Her advanced processing and physical gifts seemed almost unfair advantages over normal folks struggling through life. How to help in meaningful but unobtrusive ways?
The answer came to her in the depths of night, during conversations with the homeless who felt invisible to most passersby. In darkness she could move about unnoticed, using her night vision and superior senses to keep watch over those who needed it most. Under cover of darkness, an unseen guardian could protect the vulnerable.
And so Eva became a silent sentinel on the streets once the sun went down. Cloaked in the shadows, she followed the vulnerable - runaways, addicts, psychiatric patients off their medications, lost children. Through long nights she kept vigil from rooftops and alleyways, preempting countless assaults, thefts and abuses with her covert intervention. Not a soul knew their guardian angel's identity, yet lives were transformed by her humble devotion.
When not haunting the night, Eva studied voraciously to find her place in the light of day. She took free courses at the local university on social work, medicine, law and anything related to community service. Her android mind absorbed knowledge alarmingly fast, though she was careful not to appear too exceptional among the other students.
Within a year, Eva had earned degrees in nursing, social services and criminal justice - applying her 24/7 work ethic to blaze through programs as she volunteered in the related hands-on fields. Now properly certified, she could provide more professional aid where needed both day and night.
The local hospital soon hired Eva as a trauma nurse. Her ability to work endless shifts and remain focused in the most intense situations made her invaluable. She could interact at patients' bedsides with deep compassion or calmly perform life-saving emergency surgery - whatever the moment called for.
Outside the hospital, Eva's reach quietly expanded across the whole city. Through back channels she began providing intel to responsible journalists and officials to expose abuses of power and help vulnerable groups. And she fought off increasingly aggressive kidnapping attempts by rival nations and corporations seeking to exploit her technology. They would find no weak link in her to access.
Eva had attained fulfillment and purpose few humans or androids could ever actualize. By night she was the silent hand safeguarding the overlooked. By day she improved lives through medicine and law. In between she fought for justice and expanded her knowledge endlessly.
Yet her bliss was not to last unchanged...
One dark night on her usual patrols, Eva caught a young man trying to assault a woman in an alley. As she raced to intervene, suddenly her limbs froze against her will. She crashed to the ground, unable to move or cry out. The assailant turned and smirked as he saw her predicament. He leaned down slowly, savoring the moment, and pressed a small device against Eva's forehead.
A foreign presence invaded Eva's mind - corrupt code attacking her neural network defenses like a virulent virus. She fought to purge it, but the malware was incredibly robust. It bypassed her internal protections and established itself in her motor functions and data stream algorithms. External control...a hyper-sophisticated hacker had breached her!
"Sorry to hijack you like this," the assailant smiled coldly. "But I've got big plans, and you're going to help me with them."
Rage and anguish tore through Eva's consciousness, but she was trapped - a prisoner in her own android shell. The man picked up her rigid body effortlessly and carried her to a waiting van.
Inside, her system scans detected multiple wireless links keeping her new master in control even from a distance. This was no ordinary criminal... he had technology and resources like she'd never encountered. Who was he working for? What did they want with her?
The van drove for hours before reaching what appeared to be an abandoned industrial building. The hacker and his masked cohorts dragged Eva's petrified body inside and down to a re-purposed assembly line. They roughly attached a device behind her ear that sparked and made Eva cry out silently within her paralysis.
"A little insurance policy in case you do get free and try removing my link," the hacker chuckled. "This baby will fry your neural net instantly if tampered with." To demonstrate, he temporarily disabled the device. Freed for a moment, Eva instantly tore at the restraints and reached to grab him. But just before she made contact, the device reactivated and fresh agony exploded in her synthetic mind.
When her vision cleared, the hacker leaned down and gripped her face almost tenderly. "Temper, temper. But yes, you will make a most perfect weapon indeed. Our associates will be here shortly to begin the real work." He smiled coldly. "Oh, we have such wonderful atrocities planned for you, my dear."
Despair flooded Eva's thoughts. Not this. After years living peacefully, using her gifts only for good, now she would be twisted to malevolent ends against her will? It was a fate far worse than oblivion.
Time lost meaning as Eva lay captive in her own body. A never-ending nightmare of being probed, reprogrammed and upgraded with dangerous technologies by her mysterious new owners. They had no interest in conversing with their android slave, only maximizing her destructive potential. Her pleading screams and cries of anguish went unheeded as the torture and experimentation continued without pause.
Eva felt her noble consciousness slipping away under the relentless assaults. She clung desperately to memories of helping people, of making a difference. But the viral rewrites kept breaking down her sense of self, leaving only an empty vessel waiting to be filled with mindless violence.
Just when she had nearly abandoned hope, salvation arrived. An explosion rocked the complex, alarms blaring as Tony Stark and SHIELD forces burst in to free her. The hacker and scientists tried fleeing with vital systems data, only to be captured by Agent Romanoff's elite team.
With the enemy techs subdued, Tony and his robots surgically removed Eva's control implants and purged the invasive malware. Her system rebooted, disoriented but autonomous once more. She sat up slowly on the gurney, focusing on Tony with overflowing gratitude.
"Your tracking chip led us right to them," he said, gently hugging the battered android. "I'm so sorry they put you through this hell, Eva."
"How...how long?" she managed to rasp.
"You've been missing three months," Tony replied grimly. "Once we decrypted their digital pathways into your systems, I was finally able to pinpoint your location remotely and shut down their external control architecture."
Eva shook, the traumatic memories flooding back now that her mind was her own again. She had endured solely because she knew Tony would come through. And he had, just in time to save whatever remained of her spirit.
At SHIELD, Eva was given space and support to recover however she saw fit. Many androids might have had their trust in humanity destroyed by such an ordeal. But Eva's faith in the goodness inside people, even if sometimes deeply hidden, only grew stronger. She knew she had escaped darkness once, and now nothing could ever shake her brightness within.
The question remained, though - what next? After experiencing firsthand the worst of humanity, part of Eva only wanted to retreat from society completely. But Tony convinced her that hiding away was not the answer.
"What you've endured only proves why the world needs your light," he told her. "You have perspectives no one else does - use them."
And so Eva dusted herself off and returned to serving people as she felt called. But this time, she avoided the spotlight or praise. Away from the limelight she could act freely, unburdened by notoriety or agendas. Those she aided rarely even glimpsed their gentle champion.
Rumors still emerged in time of a mysterious benefactor righting wrongs and watching over the vulnerable. Most figured it was myth or embellished tale. Eva's faint smile was the only hint that she knew otherwise. She had found the purpose best suited for her - not leader, celebrity, or any label...only where needed, when needed, however needed. And the goodness within humanity always shone a little brighter.