Chapter 99: Ghost In The Machine

1st Draft 

Cole's return trip had been uneventful. He had a lot on his mind and more plans to iron out. Most war would be delegated down to underlings, and the underlings under them, he had we r ahead and formed a pseudo-board for a reason. Even though his companies are private entities, making them public was on the timetable, but an estimated time frame hadn't been worked on.

'I wonder how the system would respond to a hostile takeover.' Thought Cole. 

He patiently waited for a glimpse of the system information to appear in his mind unabated.

'Nothing. It was a long shot, but he could hedge a guess; the system could give him a mission. 

'Speaking of mission. Did the system give me the Tyanon mission because of my sorta-cousin? The older male was a bastard of his uncle, which barely made him a cousin, but in name only, Cole's dad was their half-sibling. 

He needed to check his status; he motioned for the system to show him a partial status sheet; he wanted to know how far along he was. 

Name: Cole Stephens

Known Name: Jeremy York

Alias- Red Hood

Race: Updating

Physique: Updating…

Alignment: -Neutral

System-Bank: $5,945,234

Minion(s) Bullseye—Contracted

Anne Weying—Contracted

Kevin Lourdes-Contracted

Legal—Contracted

Angelica "Angel" Jones—Contracted

Dr. Mishimoto-Contracted

Kaecilius- Red Lantern-Holder

Morlocks-Coerced 25%/100%

Leech-Protectee

Angelicalee-Corerced 36%/100%

A.T.C Soldiers- Coerced 12%/100%

Angelica Bloom-Contracted

Persona(s)Jason Peter Todd- Red Hood 103%|100%

Daniel Kilgore- Priest - Haunt 50%|50%

Kurt Kilgore- Special Agent - Haunt 50%|50%

Baran Flinders- Mammoth 29%|100%

Attributes

Intelligence: +Moderate Tier 10

Strength: Exceptional Tier 2 -> Extraordinary Tier 1

Speed: Moderate Tier 10->13

Durability: +Exceptional Tier 1->3

Energy Projection: +Moderate Tier 10->15

Fighting Skills: Advanced -> Exceptional Tier 4

Favorably, he had been in enough altercations that he had been able to push his latest persona acclimation to nearly half completed. 

It was a pity he still couldn't transform into the fearsome strong man, but he was doing a great time on the effort; it wouldn't be long before he was unlocking another one. 

Time flowed as he worked at his desk. There had been an uptick in what 'The CEO' needed to do. 

The United States military sold the properties they had acquired when they blew it up with Stark Tech. 

He hadn't expected much, but the pictures surprised him. It was an old section of a warehouse that was once a multitude of defunct factories. 

His HUD popped into existence. It was an overlay of blinking green dots. The dots were his different categories of Boa drones: submersible, subterranean, terrestrial, and aerial. With a mental nudge, he reallocated an aerial accompanied by a terrestrial to the location. 

'The sale will be finalized by next week. The estimated cost of repair is staggering.' affirmed Alfred.

He nodded. He was looking at the Three-hundred thousand price tag. 

'It had been in the multiple millions before the gas leak.' He leaned forward, watching the drone's multitude of live scans. 

'The sale had been post-dated; it would be suspicious for us to press for purchase after the commotion that bombs brought.' His A. I added. 

'Smart. Alfred, I'm glad to have you on board if I haven't stated it. I rest easy knowing you're here with me.'

Alfred didn't respond to my comment as he needed not to, as we both knew he enjoyed being praised. The scientist had been ecstatic working with him.

The total property size was equivalent to a Midsize city, 437 acres (1.77 km2). He was sure the local government would be excited that a company had purchased it. The advantage was its size; the disadvantage was the local community's stance on the property. It was a money sink; obviously, the eyesore needed to be used and not set independently like many companies.

He read the by-laws and noted that the local community wanted to see something done with it, or he would lose it to the city and be out of money and fines. 

"Smart play. Unfortunately, I am he and capable of turning this around in record time."

'Alfred, what if we turn it into multiple labs, research buildings, or maybe a hospital? The local communities are in the extremely lower range of employment, which could be a major area for ATC & WAYNE Industries to shock the world.'

'Free lab space, equipment, research and development assistance, we can draw the brightest minds.' He added as I felt the sense of the artificial intelligence looking over my shoulder. 

Xavier did one thing that I enjoyed: expanding my horizons on the nature of my abilities. The astral was strange, and ectokinesis was more than I assumed. 

'I should think Danny Phantom when I use the powerful ability.' He thought. 

Getting back on the subject, he added to Alfreds. "And the worst enemies. ATC securities would need to be expanded going forward,' he peeped at his funds and scrunched his face in worry, 'money is still a hindrance.'

'Sir, CCC, or Casparet Corp Inc., among others, have been trying to set up meetings with us; they, amongst others, are actively trying to steal or copy the technology that is suspected to be held by us. There is the possibility of large endowments should we sell a lesser version of the synth-muscle or Bio-contacts. Ms. Hammers, though a proponent of ours about your allotment in school, is still willing to purchase the tech."

He leaned back in his chair, latching his hands and crossing his legs; Cole thought long and hard. Twenty-odd minutes later, he spoke.

"CCC incorporated CEO and founder wants to give his daughter her sight back; I respect him as that's something a father should do, but his personnel, whatever his name was, expected me to roll over with threats. Is he still working with the company?" 

"He is. He's the main one headhunting." 

Cole nodded. 

"Sarcophagus in its original form could heal her sight, right." 

"Easily. The updated one is capable of curing most terminal ailments. The scientists expect by next year to be able to do more."

Cole smiled, showing white teeth as his eyes thinned.

"I want the man fired and for CCC Incorporated to back off. Tell them I don't need to care about his situation, and I will sit on the biotechnology out of spite."

"Email sent, sir." 

They conversed mentally and audibly, Alfred switching effortlessly as his master was whimsical and didn't focus on a communication standard. 

A ping brought him from mental gymnastics. Fantastic Four was about to be a thing. His bland, unseen drones had been tracking their work and efforts. 

He had wondered. Should he intervene? He had shaken his head, declining to interfere. Whatever the cosmic radiation was, it was their destiny, and their enemies would show up regardless of whether they had the power, as shown in the comics.

He stepped from the shower, soaking the starry black speckled tiles. He did not need to work toward his abilities. 

A haze emanated around him as he walked toward the bedroom. He had a sudden epiphany. 

He gradually shifted his eyes upward. 

'Alfred, are you detecting a Boa drone in my penthouse?'

'Negative, drones designated Boas are all accounted for,' Alfred paused. Cole noted the small nondescript cameras in the room maneuvering. Cole sensed concern before understanding resonated through the neural link he shared with Alfred. 

'Sir, this Boa had somehow gained sentience…'

"Replicator," he finished aloud. 

"Are you conversing with the overseer?" It asked. 

"Are you the Boa? I added random things to it." He asked, wanting clarification.

The Boas eyes pulsated angrily. "Yes, Creator, the Gate Tech, alongside other things, facilitated my creation. Was I a mistake?" 

He smirked. He oddly had a sensation that Boa was aggrieved. 

He scrutinized his Frankenstein-esh invention: it or her had character. The voice sounds familiar, too. 

He thought for a moment, weighing his response. He extended his hand, noting the spider-like eyes.

'Unnerving.' He thought as Jeremy and Cole hated spiders. 

A hundred-year-old vintage wine appeared in his palm from some random planet in the Star Gate universe. 

He summoned a wine glass and uncorked it without effort using his thumb and sharp, permanently black nail in the place of a corkscrew; at least his genetically black nails were good for something other than screaming goth, and I cut myself. 

Cole poured himself a drink, noting the tantalizing aroma that pickled his enhanced olfactory.

'Screw age laws; I'm at least old as my oldest Persona.'

"You're self-aware, so it's not worth discussing what you know about me."

'Reese.' That is her name, the creator of the Replicators. She had lost control of them based on their greedy nature. 

This meant that he had to rethink the melding of tech. He should let Angelica know. He fondly thought about his first partner but decided to let him sleep if she was.

'What else could he create?"

He scanned the specialty store and almost spat out his excellent-tasting wine. 

'How are they so cheap? Replicator blocks were a measly hundred dollars. He recalled it being greyed out, but something changed. What did I do with that Boa? Oh! I remember the Naqquadah.

Nobody else would have been terrified at what he saw but not Cole. He dressed and lay in bed. 

"So, you gained consciousness?" He asked, albeit late and rhetorically regardless. Reese shocked him further when the hard light construct appeared. 

"Creator, I want to be helpful. But, was I a mistake?"

Cole chuckled. 

"Reese?" 

She nodded, admitting she was at least as aware of his circumstances as Alfred. She was possibly part of the system and the world, too.

"You're not a mistake," he said; a fortunate accident is still a wonderful experience. I'm glad to have you. Now, he patted the spot on the other side of the bed. 

"Come, lay down; I have many questions. First, can you create more of you? How about the Naquadah generator?"

Reese didn't reconstruct but walked over and crawled into bed. He watched her as she adjusted herself. 

"This is nice. Creator, the answer is yes, don't worry, every replicator is loyal, nothing like my cousins in the other universe."

'She has doubled hard light potency. The refracting process has also been refined. There is no longer light disturbance in the early tech.' Alfred added, obviously observing. 

'So, you can do this too?' He asked curiously.

'Yes. But I'm working on a more physical body. The Slimm-Bot tech and Dr. Stuart Clarke have been invaluable.' 

'Reward him. You pick.' Cole tossed out.

"Oh, I captured Hammerhead; he's in one of the cells." 

He looked into that, and the mobster was in a cell angrily trying to escape. 

"Thank you, Reese; he might know where The Hand had been hiding as of late."

"I will shadow you here on out, Creator. Can I call you father? I've been researching parent-child relationships, and offspring call their creators father."

I laughed out loud, reached over, and patted her on the head; her hair was physical but malleable. It wasn't a body but light. 

"Sure, kiddo." I looked at her Boa attached to the wall. 

"Thanks, Father." vanished and reformed again as a younger version of Reese.

'She's about to cosplay here, huh?'

'I've been reviewing her processors and can confirm she is still learning and spreading throughout the Boas. It's not going to be enough for her in a month. She needs either to replicate or more processors.'

I listened. But I had already realized that knowing about her species. Species is the correct term. Damn, Replicators had ascended in the show at one point. 

We talked, and she explained how she would build the required generators and that her help would be invaluable in fixing the bomber district I purchased.

Naquadah generators are advanced reactor units that produce tremendous amounts of clean energy from small amounts of refined Naquadah. 

The Orbanians originally developed Naquadah generators, which the Tau'ri later adapted and further developed. Since then, they have been used to power many technologies on Earth, with several variants created due to continuing advances in the technology.