An AI’s Amusement

"Peter Parker, huh," James remarked as he watched the young boy leave the VR with literal animated stars in his eyes. He'd added that little quirk to the game as a joke and it was already paying off. "Is that the one we all know and love?"

"Yes sir," replied Queen as she appeared alongside him. "It would appear that he's around a year older than what your knowledge of the 'canon' timeline entails. However, it's unsurprising after seeing how both Bruce Banner and James Rhodes more closely resemble Edward Norton and Terrance Howard, rather than their later depictions. It would be wise to use the films as more of a reference than fact, especially now considering our added presence."

"Hmm, yes. That's good to know," James responded casually, not all too concerned with the matter of altering timelines and waving it off. "How many new world instances have we reached by now? Based off our little Spider-Boy's reactions, I'm guessing that Pokémon has never existed in their reality. I'm curious how big of a splash we can make with this."

The Queen AI glanced over at the wide, innocent smile on her creator's face as he watched another series of new players stand in awe of the introduction video he'd put together. She could get the data in less than a nanosecond herself, but seeing what she was and knowing what she did about James, she decided to go a different route and snapped her fingers to summon another AI that was watching over the Pokémon worlds.

A large portal appeared on the opposite side from where she stood next to James and a giant, white and gold figure emerged from within. It bowed its head to the both of them, receiving an even larger smile from the man, which was what Queen had intended, and gave its report.

"Sir, Madam," Arceus spoke with a voice that echoed through the surroundings. "We have presently reached over 50,000 unique world instances and the numbers are climbing rapidly. Of those, more than 10,000 consist of co-op players of two or more. Based on current trends, I suspect that as the days progress, more instances will switch over to co-op's and by this week's end, we'll have enough individuals ready to open the first multiplayer world."

"Thank you, Arceus," James replied, glad to see the God of Pokémon. "You can return, and keep up the good work."

"Of course sir, madam." the Pokémon answered with a nod to them both, before returning through the portal from whence he came.

James turned back to his observations of the new players before voicing a question he'd had for a while now, "Queen, has there been any attempts from outside parties to either hack, block, or shut down, our website yet?"

A light chuckle came from the AI before she answered, "Yes, quite a few in fact sir. However, since the website is directly linked with the system, I doubt even the One Above All himself could pull it off the internet."

"Oh, is that so?" James asked with a raised eyebrow, that was good news. While this version of Marvel wasn't much of a worry to James, he had feared that someone would find a way to hamper his efforts in the future. Knowing that his system protected him from those issues was a rather large weight off his shoulders.

"Yes sir," the man looked over to see Queen sporting a rather sadistic smirk as she replied. "A certain snake has actually been ordering its pet spy agency to try and find a way to infiltrate our 'servers'. I've been having quite a lot of fun with them all morning."

James had a weird look on his face as he stared at his newest AI. Despite giving her a copy of all his memories, he just couldn't understand her motives. So he asked, "Why though? You just said that they can't affect us in any meaningful way. I know you aren't concerned about messing up the canon timeline like myself, why do you even care?"

"Hmph," she snorted and raised her chin. "I know how much you hate enemies that just keep showing up long after their relevant plot has ended, with some inexplicable newfound powers, over and over again. Unfortunately, your years of annoyance were transferred to me."

She looked over at him with a smug grin, "I'm just venting both our frustrations on a worthy target."

James rolled his eyes and proceeded to ignore his AI's gaze that seemed to scream, 'I did good, praise me'. He wasn't upset with her, he was actually fairly amused at the idea and might've even congratulated her if she wasn't looking at him like that.

He let out a chuckle that didn't escape the notice of his assistant, but he chose to continue ignoring her in favor of imagining what the situation was like in SHIELD.

•••••••••••

SHIELD Helicarrier, location unknown…

•••••••••••

"Coulson, give me some good news," ordered a stern, one eyed, bald man in a black trench coat. This morning was not turning out like it was supposed to and Nick Fury hated when things didn't go as planned, especially when he gets called away from his family by an irate Pierce on the one weekend a year he gets to see them.

"Sir," his top agent replied, "we have still been unable to make any progress. Every time we believe we've found a way around the website's impressive defens-"

"GOD SAVE OUR GRACIOUS QUEEN, LONG LIVE OUR NOBLE QUEEN," blared through every speaker in the helicarrier on full blast, for nearly the hundredth time today.

"This happens sir!" Coulson attempted to yell over the resounding choir, but alas his voice was drowned out by the beautiful chorus.

Fury raised a hand and used the other to rub the bridge of his nose as they waited for the song to run its course.

After the masterwork of musical artistry finished gracing the ears of his staff, he continued questioning his agent in a more strained tone, "Have the British sent an answer for why their national anthem is on repeat in my helicarrier?"

"Yes sir," Coulson answered. "The council member herself claimed that they have nothing to do wit-"

"GOD SAVE OUR GRACIOUS QUEEN, LONG LIVE OUR NO-," interrupted the agent once again.

Fury's one uncovered eye twitched and a vein pulsed on his forehead as he clenched down on the armrest of his chair in annoyance.

After a few more minutes of waiting, the song regretfully ended and the two spies stared at each other in the silence. Eventually, Fury sighed and waved for the agent to continue.

"We've reached out to Mr. Stark for assistance," Coulson started, pausing in anticipation of an interruption, when none came he continued, "but after ten attempts and some of our agents reporting 'loud choir music' up to a block away from Stark Tower, we have yet to make contact."

Fury sighed as he rubbed his forehead and felt a migraine coming on. This year was not going well for him, first a madman shot up the Stark Expo, then another one tore up Harlem, then another landed in New Mexico, and now this. He often wondered why he ever accepted this crappy job.

"What did the analysts have to say about the game," the tired spy asked. "This, Pokémo-"

"GOD SAVE OUR-"

"Motherfu-!"

"-GRACIOUS QUEEN!"

•••••••••••

James let out another laugh while wondering if he'd get to hear Sam Jackson's iconic line in person one day.