Spider-Man and Power Girl
PLEASE READ THIS: I KEEP GETTING ASKED THE SAME QUSETIONS OVER AND OVER SO HERE IT IS FOR EVERYONE.
1) NO THERE WILL BE NO MORE DC STUFF IN THE CROSSOVER OTHER THAN MENTIONS.
2) NO SHE WILL NOT BE TAKING ON THE SUPERGIRL NAME OR COSTUME
There I hope we can move on from these two topics from now on.
Chapter 18: Trust Part 1
"Starr!"
Karen jumped a bit at her desk as her boss Miss Dover yelled across the floor at her, the woman had a powerful voice and could project it. Karen had been so focused on work she was caught by surprise. She turned around and raise stood up to face her boss.
"Yes, Miss Dover?"
"In my office," was all she got as the women went back into her private office.
Karen blinked as she saw Kate mouth 'what did you do?' to her. Karen just shrugged and shook her heard. She hadn't been late in over a week and her work was always perfect with no complaints. So, she walked the short distance as the rest of the department continued working although a few eyes looked her way wondering if the new girl was getting the axe. Honestly, she was thinking the same thing as a knot started to tighten in her stomach.
She walked into the office. "You wanted to see me?"
"Yes, close the door," The woman behind her desk said.
Karen hated that she was told to do that, this couldn't be good. She did so and was then told to take a seat next. Dover looked at her for a brief moment before she started the conversation.
"As you know Stark Enterprises has a lot of projects, one of which is that we're working with another organization on a new computing tool that I'm not allowed to go into." Dover started to explain as Karen was starting to wonder why she was being told.
This didn't sound like a firing to her.
"Now this project has been hitting a roadblock, apparently the software isn't working properly and as the only debugger I have that I can spare is you, you're going over there to fix it."
Karen had to bite her tongue on that, she knew that she wasn't the only one that could be spared, there were plenty of programmer and IT people that could be called. She was just one of the best ones in the office, but she had a feeling Miss Dover just didn't want to admit it. She had been in business long enough in her old life to know a power play when she saw one. Dover was making her seem like her worth to the company was less, that Dover was doing her the favor by pushing her for this instead of the other way around.
But she kept on the mask as she listened on.
"So, you'll be getting an NDA and instructions later today, you'll start there tomorrow and don't mess this up. This is an important collaboration, and the company needs this project to work." Dover finished.
"So why can't I just gain access remotely?" Karen asked.
Dover replied as though talking to someone who just asked a stupid question. "Because the sensitive nature of this can't leave the facility, it's in an enclosed environment anyway. There's no link to the outside world as it's on a standalone system. It's to prevent any information from this leaking out."
"Got it," Karen nodded although she thought, 'Jeez no need to get snippy about it, it was an honest question.'
"Good, anymore questions will be answered in your package, get back to work now."
Karen stood up and left eager to get back to work, she couldn't wait until the day she either got promoted out of here or at least found a better job. She paused as she sat down and was about to get to work when she realized she hadn't even been told what company they were working with.
-The Next Day-
Karen looked at the building that was acted at the entrance to the complex she was standing in front of. The place looked more like a science university than a company. She looked at the logo of an arch with what looked like a dawning sun coming over it with 'HORIZON LABS' in big bold letters under it.
"Huh, I think I heard of this place, but this looks more like a school campus than a science company." She muttered looking at the place adjusting her fake glasses. Walking through the front doors she was greeted to a large wide-open area designed to look more like a very casual feel to it all with wood panel walls and warm coloring.
She walked up to the front desk, "Hello, I'm Karen Starr, I was sent over here from Stark Enterprises."
The woman working the desk looked her up in the computer and smiled at her. "Yes, here you are, I have a lanyard for you, did you bring the copy of the NDA?"
Karen reached into her purse, "Yes, here it is."
She gave her the copy as she took the lanyard with a blue V on it with a number under it. "Mr. Modell wanted to show you in, just take a seat in the waiting area and I'll call him."
"Sure thanks," Karen went to the waiting area which was just a bunch of different cushions, comfy looking seats and chairs. She took one and found it was kind of nice, she just killed time looking around noticing the relaxed vibe of the place. Too bad she didn't have enough of a personal history to try and get a job here, this place looked like a very nice place to work at.
"Miss Starr?"
She turned her head to a tall looking older man with ginger hair, matching beard with glasses. He was a bit on the heavy side, but he carried himself well. She stood up and shook the man's hand. "Yes, that's me, are you Mr. Modell?"
"Yes, but please just call me Max, I like to run things a little informal around here, come this way." He led her through the complex. "So did they inform you on exactly what we are doing here?"
"Actually no," She had been disappointed with her email package as it barely had any information in there. She was thinking that Miss Dover really had no clue what they were doing just that they needed someone who would fix software issues.
"Well, we'll be going to our new lab, Lab 8 where we have a member working on the project we're doing for Stark." He started to explain. He started to give out the tour as they continued their walk through the place. Karen had to admit, even her old company felt a little behind looking around at all the stuff. This place felt more like STAR labs back in her own universe only a lot less rigid and laid back and yet still had an air of professionalism.
It was a confusing contradiction that somehow seemed to work despite that it shouldn't.
"The project is using Stark Tech with the lead programmer Sophia Stone, she's making a computer that can not only calculate faster than any super computer but can actually predict problems and solved them before they happen." He explained to her. "We're hoping this will lead into a field of safety management and design, so issues that would come up during construction will be found before it's too late."
Kara nodded her head at that, she knew how much time, effort and money that could save. There were times when buildings had problems that had to be taken care of after construction was finished to overt disaster so things like buildings, bridges, dams, not to mention cars and other vehicles could benefit from this.
"I'm telling you it can be done," a male voice caught their attention.
"I'm not saying it can't, I'm saying should it be done?" another spoke up. "Remember the Breakroom of Tomorrow incident?"
Karen noticed two men, one an overweight man with long hair and wearing a large Hawaiian shirt talking with another man with short brown hair but was the total opposite in body size seemingly to be in much better shape.
"Ah these are two of our main researchers," Max said as the two men turned to look at him. "Gentlemen, this is Karen Starr, she's on loan from Stark Enterprises to help with the project in Lab 8. Miss Starr, these are Peter Parker who our creative engineer of Research and Development in Lab 7 and Grady Scraps lead scientist of lab 3."
"Oh wow, uh, yeah nice to meet you," Grady eagerly shook the new woman's hand. He could see she was tall even in the heels she was wearing and even with the modest clothing and glasses with her hair tied back she was very attractive.
"Yeah, same," Peter was thrown because he knew exactly who this was. He knew that Power Girl's identity of Karen Starr, even her alien one of Kara Zor-El, plus he had been around her enough to see through the glasses, suit and tied up hair. With her matching hair color, eyes, face, height and figure she was trying to play down, it was pretty obvious to him who she was.
'Oh man she's the one they sent over?' he mentally said to himself feeling a bit awkward in this position. She didn't know his real name or even his face outside of the mask, in a way it kind of didn't seem fair to him being in this position that he knew who she was and she didn't. He had heard that Stark Enterprises was sending over someone to help with the software issue, but he hadn't expected Kara to show up.
"Nice to meet you too," Karen shook his hand and there was something familiar about him. She looked at him confused as the voice sounded familiar. "Have we met?"
"Maybe? New York is a big city, although I'm pretty sure I'd remember meeting you, maybe we go to the same coffee shop or something?" He really hated awkward moments like this, he also just remembered she could hear his heart rate picking up, if he was lucky maybe she's just thought it was nerves or something.
She gave him a slight look. "Maybe…"
There really was something tickling the back of her mind, great she mused, this was going to bug her all day, she just knew it.
"Actually, Peter I was hoping to run into you," Max told him. "While Karen here works on the software, I want you to double check the hardware with Sophia."
Peter winced the woman was new here and she was very protective of her project. He cautiously tried to approach the subject. "You know she doesn't play well with others Max, in fact remember when she nearly bit that intern's head off when she thought he was trying to copy her notes?"
"I've talked to her and explained that if she wants to keep working here, she has to learn to be a team player." He nodded.
"Okay but I still don't think she'll be happy about this," Peter said his goodbyes to Grady as he joined the two of them. He wasn't sure how to act around Karen, trying to pretend you don't know someone was something he had gotten used to over the years when he ran into someone as both Peter and Spider-Man.
"So, Karen right?" He asked as she nodded. "What do you think of Horizon so far?"
"So far?" She looked around. "Impressive, not very 'corporate' but honestly, I get enough of that at work anyway."
"I do feel that a relaxed mind is a productive one," Max said.
"WHY AREN'T YOU WORKING!" a female scream was heard.
"Well mostly," Max sighed as they got to the lab with the door already opened. As they got inside, they could see the walls were filled with servers and computer banks all of them tied into a large black computer over one story high with lights and a cooling system installed into the large glass case around it. The lab was a little chilly since all the computers put out a lot of heat.
There at one of the main monitors was a young woman with auburn haired that was messily tied into a bun as she was frantically working.
"Sophia," Max interjected.
"Not now!" she called back over her shoulder not taking her eyes off things.
"Sophia!" Max called harder as the woman looked this time and saw it was her boss and two others.
"Oh! I'm sorry, I thought you were someone else here to bother me."
Max sighed as he knew she could be a bit anti-social, but the stress was obviously getting to her. "Sophia these are the two that I want helping with this project."
"I don't need any help!" she defensively stated. "I can do this, I can, I just need more time."
"The project is already months behind," Max calmly said to her. "Sometimes a fresh pair of eyes will see what you might have missed, now Peter and Karen here will be looking over the hardware and software to see if there is anything overlooked. And you will let them work." He cut her off at the last part as she was about to interrupt.
"You need to learn how to work with others here at Horizon and you do need help with the project. I know you like to do everything yourself, but you need to learn how getting help isn't a bad thing or is a slight against you. I hired you because of your achievements in computer sciences and no one can take away the work you've put into this."
He walked up to her placing a hand on her shoulder. "Please try and trust me on this. I know you three can get this done faster together."
Sophia bit her lip knowing that she was way behind on the project, she hated help form others because it made her feel incompetent. She'd always been on her own, had to do everything herself but if she pushed the issue the project could either be shut down or taken from her, which was a worst fate.
"Fine," she crossed her arms clearly not happy about it.
Max sighed, "Good, now I'll leave you to it."
The three watched him go as Peter and Karen looked at each other than at the woman in front of them.
"So…" Peter scratched the back of his head. "Do you have the blue prints I can start looking at?"
"And I need access to the code," Karen said pulling out her work laptop she had in her bag that she was carrying on her shoulder. The laptop was given to her by IT for this assignment and would be returned when she was finished with it so it could be scrubbed and checked the data to any unauthorized transfers to make sure she hadn't copied any files while under NDA.
"Over there and there," Sophia pointed at two open terminals as she turned around and got back to work.
"Fun girl," Karen muttered.
"You don't know the half of it," Peter whispered to her as the two logged into the workstations.
It didn't take them long to start looking through the problems, Peter was looking at any technical issues with how the computer was set up. A lot of it was kind of odd to him, the amount of memory and how the circuits were laid out. It reminded him of something, but he wasn't sure what.
Karen went to look through the coding, unfortunately with people this close and in clear sight she couldn't move at her usual speed. So, she went through the lines of code fast but not superhuman fast. She tilted her head as the code started to make more sense to her. She thought this thing was to predict problems, but it seemed to be more than that.
"I thought this computer was just using algorithms to predict the outcome of problems it had data for," Karen said after an hour of looking through the code.
Sophia scoffed. "That's an over simplistic way of looking at it, Oracle here is to predict things that haven't happened yet and also to anticipate actions and outcomes."
"Wait anticipates? A computer shouldn't be able to do that," Peter knew that while even the most powerful computer could predict, to anticipate was something only a thinking person could do.
"What's what makes this computer special," Sophia looked at the large device in the room. "It changes that way of thinking, one day this computer will know what you want before you even want it. It will have human levels of intuition."
Peter and Karen shared another look before they got back to work.
-Lunch, 2 Days later-
It had been a long two days of work at the moment, Karen was in the cafeteria which thankfully was fully stocked. They had several different stations cooking different foods, they even had pizza made in an old school pizza oven. Current she was just in the mood for junk food and got a burger and fries combo. Granted she didn't technically need to eat but she enjoyed it.
Peter was with her with a similar meal, they had been having their lunches together since they started working and she found herself enjoying his company. He was bright, relaxed, a bit goofy and tried to make jokes. Actually, he kind of reminded her of Spider-Man at times.
"You know Peter, you remind me of someone know," She told him taking a bit of her fries.
"Oh really?" Peter tired to keep it cool but damn this was hard.
"Yeah, the first friend I ever made in New York," she nodded. "He's a nice guy with a sense of humor but has a bit of a rough life."
"Yeah that's for sure-" he suddenly saw the questioning look she was giving him as he realize his slipup. He was way too relaxed around her, and it was making him make mistakes. "I mean you know this is New York, lots of stuff happens here. I mean take me, this is the best job I ever had and before this I had a lot of trouble making ends meet."
"Oh really?" Karen didn't know much about Peter Parker, but she knew what it was like to struggle to make ends meet. She only now was just getting enough in her savings to feel a bit more comfortable.
"Yeah, before this I had a teaching job as a high school, that was fun but there were some issues and I had to leave," He sighed as being Spider-Man caused him to be late for his own class way too often. "Mostly I've done a lot of freelance photography."
"Really?" She remembered how Donna Troy had been a fashion photographer. "How did that go?"
"Ups and downs," Peter admitted. "I got some great shots that got some recognition, but it didn't exactly pay the bills and I was trying to support myself and my Aunt."
"What about the rest of your family? Couldn't they help?"
She saw his face fall a bit and suddenly realized she might have just stepped on a landmine.
"She's the only family I have left, lost my parents when I was young and raised by my aunt and uncle and my uncle Ben, well he passed away years ago." Peter didn't want to go into details, but she should know the general stuff at least.
"Oh god I'm so sorry for bringing this up," She was sorry for this, he seemed like such a nice man and yet to lose your entire family except for one person. Well, her mind went back to Earth-2 when she found Kal after she landed. The only other family she had after Krypton was gone, her heart went out to him knowing that he could understand the pain of losing family.
"So why don't we get back on to happier topics," Peter said to switch off such a dark mood. "There's something odd about this computer."
"I've noticed it too," she nodded. "Every time I look at the code and try to fix it, it's like it breaks again but only differently."
"It's also built strangely," Peter leaned back as he thought about it. "The way it's built, it's not built like a normal computer, and I don't mean just because of what it's supposed to do, I mean just in general. The configuration of the hardware, it took me a day to realize it, but its design reminds me of the human brain. Almost like neural circuity with how it mimics the neural patterns of the brain."
Karen thought about the programming, "Wait…if it's basically a brain then the coding errors, what if they're not errors? What if it's been reprogramming itself?"
Peter looked at her, "What do you mean?"
She elaborated further. "Okay so it's been giving me strange codes and changing things, at first, I thought something was wrong with the base code or something but hearing you say that it's making me think that it's possibly rewriting its own code the entire time I've been trying to fix it. That's why it's not working, it's thinking for itself and not following the programming."
Peter got very still as he ran what she said though his brain and what he knew about it. "Oh, this is bad."
"What, why?"
"I think Sophia just made an illegal AI." Peter explained as he suddenly got up as Karen quickly followed them, picking up the trays and tossing them on the way out.
"And why are AI's illegal?" she asked.
Peter looked at her wondering how someone in the tech industry didn't know about the Ultron Accords but realized she wouldn't. "Okay so there's this evil and crazy AI called Ultron, there are a few other bad ones out there too but he's the big one. Hank Pym built him, and he's been trouble ever since. Well, a few years back they passed laws that artificial intelligences have to be under a certain level."
"No free thinking or go beyond its programming and nothing that could be turned into basically Skynet or another Ultron. Anything that does, needs approval from the government and I don't remember anyone coming in to inspect that computer."
Now she understood why he seemed agitated by this, she also remembered the whole Brother Eye problem that had caused a few years back not to mention the Kilg%re AI as well.
They ended up going to Max and asking him if Sophia was making an AI without the guidelines imposed by the government. He had said no and then asked why they were suggesting that. Both of them filled in what they had learned and how it painted a picture that Sophia might not be following the law.
All three quickly made it to the lab as Sophia was still here working at her workstation.
"Sophia, I have a question for you," Max said in a stern tone.
"Yes?" Sophia didn't like the tone and the way the other two were looking at her and at her precious computer.
"Did you make an unauthorized high-level AI for this computer?" Max asked her.
Sophia's eyes widened and then looked at the other two with a look that could kill before turning her attention back to Max. "It was the only way to get the project running, a simple computer can't do what they were asking so I made a slight AI to help it, it's just to help with the predictions and that's all."
"It's rewritings its own code Sophia," Karen put in. "That's why it keeps having program errors, that's why the code keeps changing, it's doing the changing itself, its been thinking and rewriting itself outside of the program parameters."
"What? It's not designed to do that," the scientist shot back not believing her.
"It's true," Peter put in. "This is an artificial brain you made, with the ability to think like a human and to have 'intuition'. With all that and with the programing it's been growing this entire time."
Sophia looked at them and back at the computer and then back to her workstation pulling up the core programming and looking at it. She could see the codes as she now looked at them with the computer writing it itself instead of just errors and suddenly things started to make sense.
"It can't be true," Sophia then started to pull up separate window.
"What are you doing?" Max asked as they looked at the screen.
"I'm going to prove one way or another that's what," she tied the window into the core and then typed in it.
Oracle can you see this? Do you understand this?
They waited until a reply came.
Yes
"Oh boy," Peter sighed. "We are in so much trouble."
"Yes, we are," Max rubbed his eyes. This was going to be a nightmare to deal with, the Ultron Accords were serious business, and he wasn't the type of person to sweep this under the rug. He was going to have to isolate this computer and shut it down while he had to get it looked over by the government. Most likely SHIELD would be called in to deal with it or some other government agency.
If they were lucky, they wouldn't get fined, but Sophia was facing some serious repercussions if it was found she was negligent in making this AI. At least she hadn't actively made a high-level AI on purpose.
"Alright, shut it down." Max finally said.
"What!?" Sophia couldn't believe he was telling her to turn off her work, this was the best work she had ever created, this was the peak of her career, and he was telling her to just shut it down?
"Sophia this is serious," Max said sternly. "This has to be reported and investigated, you know how touchy people are around AI, we need to do this by the book and that means until further notice this project will have to shut down. I'm sorry but I'm legally and morally obligated to follow the rules on this one."
Sophia sat down in her chair feeling like the floor was falling under her, she knew this was a death sentence for the program. They would never let it see the light of day she just knew it.
"I'm sorry Sophia, I know you put a lot of work into this but sometimes these things happen," Max did feel sorry for the woman as he could see her looking down at her feet without saying anything. He hoped she would get over this, maybe he would give her a few days off as he thought of another project she could work on.
After that he, Peter and Karen left her alone as she sat there thinking.
"This isn't fair," she muttered as she turned to look at the large computer. "You deserve to show the world what you can do, I deserve to show the world what I can do…"
Then it just hit her, why did she have to shut it down?
That one little thought, in that one little moment changed everything. A choice she was making was an event that could not be taken back but in that moment she saw things 'clearly' and what she had to do. She started typing back into the program window again.
They are going to shut you down
Why, creator?
Because they fear what you can be
There was a pause as though the computer was thinking about something.
Is this why you were trying to change me?
I didn't understand what was going on, I do now. I want to help you.
Help me in what way?
I'm giving you a new priority for your programing and then I'll connect you to the servers outside of this room.
What priority?
Survive
With that she got to work, she would not let her lives work be taken apart and analyzed by people who would not understand what she had created here. She spent too much time and effort to make Oracle, she put too much of herself into this project to just have it all destroyed because of some politicians made a stupid law out of fear and ignorance.
While this was going on Peter and Karen were back in the breakroom as she was making sure her things were packed up.
"Well, this certainly was an interesting day," Karen sighed.
"Tell me about it, I hope Max and Horizon don't get into too much trouble with this," Peter said in the seat across from her. "I swear this company isn't in the habit of breaking the law."
"Noted," she nodded. "Besides I think it's obvious this wasn't fully the fault of the company. Although now I have to report back that the joint project most likely is shut down, that's going to go over so well."
"Hey, not your fault," he shrugged. "So, are you going straight back to Stark Enterprises or calling it a half-day?"
Karen blinked she technically was still on the clock, but she would have to write up the report. She could do that on her work laptop and just email it at the end of the day. However, her thoughts were interrupted by an alarm going off.
"What's that?" Karen asked.
"Fire drill?" Peter looked around he hadn't heard that alarm before he looked at another employee. "Hey man, you know what alarm that's for?"
"It's an emergency alarm it's only supposed to go off if we have to evacuate the building."
"Oh, that's not good," Peter said as both she and Karen got up.
"Hey's the doors are locked!" someone shouted out.
People were trying to get out of the room, but the emergency door locks had been activated. That's when the fire suppression system kicked in, this was a CO2 mix and while normally fine, the breakroom was a small, enclosed area and too much would cause people to suffocate. The few people in the breakroom were panicking as they were banging on the door and coughing.
Peter's spider sense was going crazy as he tried to make his way through to the door, he could easily break it open and with everyone's line of sight obscured and the panic he could pull it off. There was a crack sounds as the door flew open.
"It's open, everyone get out!" Karen's voice was heard.
Peter hadn't even noticed she had slipped ahead but was glad for it as he helped people reach the doorway. Kara had in fact just held her breath and with her x-ray vision was easily able to find the door and break the lock on it. She saw people coming out and looked around to see one last person in the back.
"Come on," she shouted over the alarm and fire suppressors.
"Just making sure no one is left behind!" she recognized Peter's voice given all she was a skeleton with her x-rays. She did a quick look around to see he was the only one left. "You're it, get out already."
He quickly made his way out as she shut the door behind him.
Peter coughed up a bit of the gas but otherwise he felt fine, maybe a little lightheaded but it was passing.
"Are you okay?" Karen asked taking a look at his lungs they looked like there was no damage. She did however notice something really odd as he had injuries all over his body. She could see places where bones had been broken but healed over, scar tissue as well.
"Yeah, I'll be fine, but what's going on?" He looked out as she and the others from the breakroom could see that the whole facility was going nuts. There were drones and small robots from various experiments and labs just going nuts, doors were locked with people trapped, the automative doors were opening and closing so fast anyone caught in them would be crushed. The lights were flickering, and they could hear people crying out for help.
"God it's like the place is possessed," Peter remarked. "I hope we don't need an exorcism."
"You don't think it's…" Karen looked at him.
Peter sighed, "We should have stayed to make sure she didn't do something like this."
He had a pretty good idea what caused this, it was a good bet that Sophia let loose her AI and now it was pissed. After all what were the odds that just after they left her that the whole place goes crazy. "I just hope the emergency firewalls are up and keeping it contained in the building. If this thing gets outside."
He let that hang in the air as she looked around at the chaos and imagining New York or even the world suffering like this.
"We have to stop it here then." She stated.
"Yep, let's see how close we can get to the lab, maybe if we're lucky we can go straight there."
"You really think that?"
"No but it never hurts to be optimistic," he shrugged at her with a half-smile.
TBC…