11

Chapter Eleven—Consequences and Arrivals

~~~Memories of Iron~~~

Emma turned bitter eyes away from her dad, tuning him out as anger filled her very being. Anger at Sophia, for not being stronger. Anger at Madison, for allowing herself to be cowed. Anger at herself, for being a chump. And most of all, anger at Taylor, for being the cause of all her misery.

Ever since that fateful day at the end of summer when she'd turned Taylor away and gotten control of her life, Emma had been relatively happy. Not joyous, but joy was one of those ephemeral things that she'd concluded didn't really exist. But Emma had been happy enough. She'd survived after all. And she had a good friend in Sophia. A strong friend.

The only cloud on her horizon had been her past, in the form of Taylor, who reminded her of a time when she'd been weak. When she'd been a victim. Worse, every day Taylor had threatened to take her back to that time as she tried to undermine Emma's determination.

So Emma had found ways to hurt her. To demean her. To show Taylor just how worthless she, and the old Emma, were. It had worked surprisingly well. For a while.

Until just before Christmas. That had been the turning point. Somehow, Taylor had gained a spine after being suspended from school. And she'd returned from that suspension ready to destroy Emma's world.

Because destroy it, she had. Emma was now on permanent probation at Winslow High. She had no more second chances, any infractions from her would result in expulsion. Her teachers now looked at her like she was the Devil, and treated her coldly and with a careful wariness that she found both hurtful and demeaning. Around her, Emma's classmates poked at the caged tiger, knowing she was now toothless and unable to defend herself. All in all, it was an intolerable situation.

Emma had tried to get her dad to transfer her. To Arcadia, or barring that, to Immaculata, the Christian private school. To her astonishment, he'd refused to even consider the request. It was the first time Alan Barnes had refused his daughter anything since the vicious assault the summer before her freshman year, and it had hurt.

Even more painful had been the look of disappointment on his face after he had seen the video. Her dad, who believed in his daughter with all his heart, who would take her side anytime or anyplace, had had his face rubbed in exactly who she was and found her wanting. It was obvious from the baffled grief on his face as he tried to talk about the situation with her, which just made Emma more upset and angry in turn.

Her dad had told her that they could be sued. That they could lose everything because of her behavior. Emma had just screamed at him that she didn't care. They were just things. She mattered! Not the house they lived in or the cars they drove. She did! Taylor had taken that away from her. Had ruined her life.

Sophia was gone, supposedly locked away in some rat hole for the next three years. Her dad refused to even consider the idea of Emma calling or visiting the girl, which was a mixed blessing. Because while she missed Sophia, Emma couldn't help thinking that in the end, she'd proved herself more prey than predator. Being around Sophia now wasn't something that a person who'd learned her lessons could allow. So, either way, Emma was going to have to cut her out of her life and suffer the glaring hole it made within her.

Emma didn't even have the consolation of having Madison to keep her company in exile. Her mom had pulled her out of school, to be later enrolled in Immaculata. Emma clenched her fists at the thought of having to face those damning stares in the rooms and hallways of school every day. Alone.

It was enough to make Emma wonder, what was the point of living?

~~~Memories of Iron~~~

As Sophia lay on her bed, her arms crossed behind her head, she thought about how she'd gotten here. About the events of a week ago, yesterday. Involuntarily, her thoughts flashed back to that day. To the locker and what happened after.

Everything had gone wrong from the get go. Hebert somehow saw the blow coming, as Sophia lunged forward, intent on hammering the whiny little bitch into the metal locker hard enough to knock her silly. She somehow twisted away, spinning, and accidentally hit Sophia in the back of the head hard enough that it was all she could do not to phase right then and there.

Sophia concentrated so intensely on not phasing that she'd hit the back of the locker harder than she'd expected. The sudden blinding pain in her face, as her sinus passages seemed to instantly swell shut along with her eyes, indicated a broken nose to her training. She'd just never expected it to hurt this much. Stunned, Sophia stopped for just the merest second to regain her balance. But before she could, her feet were swept out from under her, making Sophia crash painfully, face first, into the mess at the bottom of the locker.

There, the overwhelming stench of rotted blood sent her stomach into overdrive, regurgitating its contents over and over again. She tried to leverage herself back up and away, only to find her hands caught and being fastened behind her. Almost, she wrestled loose, but she hadn't quite managed, then she was bound.

Later, on her feet, she'd seen the discarded zip tie. But at that moment, the only thing she could think of was how sick she felt and how she couldn't stop throwing up as she tried to twist away from the foul smell and the even fouler things that caused it.

Sophia blinked back tears as she vomited yet again. There was no point after all. She'd lost. Sophia had allowed someone weak, someone pathetic, someone utterly worthless, to take her down. She'd been stupid. As angry as she was, it was the disgust she felt, both at herself and at the rest of the world that wore upon her the most. She'd taken Taylor 'Fucking' Hebert for granted, and it had bitten her on the ass.

If you had asked her yesterday whether there was any reason to fear Taylor Hebert, Sophia would have laughed. Right after she kicked your ass. But she would have laughing while doing so. The whiny loser had just stood there and taken, over and over again, everything the three of them and so many of their hangers on had dished out. For a year and a half. And she'd done nothing. Never responded beyond the rare tear and more frequent whines.

Taylor Hebert had never defended herself in any way that mattered. Never raised her hand in violence, no matter what they did to her. Never screamed or yelled or insulted them back. So exactly how had this whiny little bitch taken her down? Sophia wanted to blame Emma, Madison, and the entire stupid plan they'd concocted to deal with Taylor when she returned from suspension, but she couldn't. After all, she'd had input into the plan. She'd approved it and her role in it. Nothing should have gone wrong.

Now she was laying here at the bottom of Hebert's locker trying to control her stomach. It had only been a couple of minutes since she'd fallen, Sophia was pretty sure of that. And she could hear the conversation going on around her. Hebert was playing Emma. Sophia tried hard to get loose enough to warn Emma, but her friend wasn't paying attention. She was too angry, too invested in the conversation with Taylor to listen. Sophia needed to do something.

Sophia lay there wondering if it was some kind of set up by Hebert. Was the whiny little bitch taping this to play it later for the teachers? That was one of the reasons why she considered using her power to get free. After a hasty glance around showed no one else present and the other three completely focused on one other, Sophia phased out from under Hebert's foot and out of whatever was fastening her hands together. Rolling, she managed to get to her feet. She frantically tried to get the disgusting filth off of her before she threw up again. Sophia had become aware of Emma trying to help.

Emma's touch brought to mind the reason she was covered in this stuff to begin with. Sophia immediately zeroed in on the object of her own anger. Taylor Fucking Hebert. The bitch had just stood there, literally daring her to attack. Hebert actually thought she could stand against her, just because she'd gotten lucky once.

Then she could literally feel the fear in Hebert's eyes as she let the whiny little bitch see within her. To see the anger that Sophia had never needed to tap into for her, reserving it for the enemies of her alter ego, Shadow Stalker. But this was one instance that she planned to make an exception. Shadow Stalker was going to make Hebert bleed.

Mr Gladly interrupted them before she could act. Fine. As Sophia walked away, she knew there was plenty of time in the future to deal with Hebert. It was almost a relief once she arrived at the nurse's office and got cleaned up, Emma and Mads making all the right noises to help sooth her humiliation. Sophia listened to them with half an ear as the considered all the things she was going to do to Hebert.

But the opportunity to deal with the whiny little bitch kept getting delayed. As Sophia waited to go talk with the principal before heading back to class, her PRT phone rang. Talking quickly, she learned that there was a situation happening and Shadow Stalker was needed. The person on the line also told her that she would be briefed upon arrival and to wait outside for pickup.

Sophia sighed, caught between anger and relief. It wasn't taking care of Hebert, but at least it was some kind of action. Hopefully, she would be to blow off some steam. Heading outside, she waited by the curb. The usual unmarked PRT transport arrived to pick her up just a couple of minutes later. But instead of heading to the Protectorate HQ, they drove north into the city.

Staring out the front windshield, Sophia asked, "Where are we going? Where's my costume and crossbow?"

The transport's passenger answered, "You'll find out shortly, Miss Hess. Until then, if you wouldn't mind, please be patient. Also, please hand me your current phone. I have a replacement here for you to use instead."

Sophia did as the man asked, accepting another phone in place of her current one. Luckily her contacts list was backed up on her computer as the man dropped hers into a shredder at his side, where it disappeared with a loud grinding noise. Studying the new phone, Sophia found it similar in design, but with noticeable differences from the PRT issued one she usually carried, primarily in the software. She sat there, impatience growing as they made several stops and turns. Finally, though, they pulled to a stop, appearing to have arrived.

The same man who took her phone said, "We've arrived at your destination. Go ahead and get out."

Starting to get out, Sophia hesitated. "What's going on? Where the hell is everybody?"

The man shrugged. "You'll be contacted shortly, Miss Hess. Now hurry up. You don't want to be late."

Gingerly, Sophia stepped onto the curb, halfway expecting to find her team or someone from the PRT waiting for her. Instead she found herself standing alone in a section of town that she tentatively identified as the Docks. Turning south, Sophia could see the taller buildings of downtown in the distance, confirming location. Now where in the Docks she was, she didn't have the faintest idea. Certainly, Sophia hadn't been here before.

Sophia looked around, studying her surroundings. It was a pretty rough area, that was for sure. The building nearest her looked like an old rundown factory, the exterior covered with red brick and dominated by a huge sliding metal door, currently chained shut. Both the chain and the door were rustier than hell and Sophia felt like she needed a tetanus shot just from being near them. Her mouth made a moue of distaste and felt her impatience grow.

Sophia was just about to call Carlos to find out what the fuck was going on, when the phone in her hand rang. Tentatively, she answered it. "Hello?"

"Sophia Hess, formerly Shadow Stalker of the local Wards team, greetings."

Sophia's eyes widened in alarm. That wasn't SOP. She hissed, "Who the fuck is this? Why are you using my name and my secret identity?" Also, what the fuck did he mean by formerly Shadow Stalker? That was who Sophia was!

The other's voice was amused. "I know a lot of things, Miss Hess. Who you are and what you are being only two of them. I know, for example, that your identity as Shadow Stalker has been compromised to the public. Currently, there is a video out on Youtube showing you using your powers to escape being bound."

Sophia could feel her jaw drop from shock. No. No!NO! She wanted to scream her rage to the Heavens. But as Sophia made the obvious connection, all she mumbled was, "Fucking Hebert."

"Indeed. Needless to say, your behavior has your superiors in the PRT and Protectorate trying to come up with a plan to deal with you. Of course, you know this only has one ending. You, out of the Wards, and back in Juvenile Detention. That's assuming they don't find anything worse once they start looking. They won't, will they, Miss Hess?"

Sophia's mouth opened and closed like a fish. Oh God! They would find everything. Her lethal bolts. Her tracking journal. They'd be able to link her to several unsolved homicides with that once they broke the code, child's play for Protectorate Thinkers. She needed to think. She needed-

"That's rather what I thought. So now it's the Birdcage or..." His voice trailed off, leading her to the bait.

Thoughts racing in all directions, Sophia struggled to speak, but finally asked, "Or what?"

"I am going to buy your services, Miss Hess. I am in the business of needing good people. Special individuals, you might say. I am currently assembling a team of such individuals and you will be a valuable part of that team. I will provide you a place to live, money, and the occasional opportunity to exercise your special skills. I am afraid that I will need an answer immediately."

Sophia's mind raced in overtime. She blurted, "How do I know you're telling me the truth about this video? You could have found out the information you just fed me some other way, like some freaky Thinker power or something."

The man's voice was smooth and confident as he told her, "Watch the video for yourself, Miss Hess."

And just like that, on the phone in her hand, Sophia saw playing the video of her getting slammed face first into the locker by Hebert and all the events that followed. She barely noted through the numbness that the phone was connected to Youtube via the web. It was almost worse watching it second hand than living it had been. Couple her threats there with the deaths she'd been responsible for, and they were going to throw the book at her.

"What is your answer, Miss Hess?"

Sophia spoke, "I'm in." After all, what other choice did she have now? If she ran alone, they'd catch her. It was what they did. At least now she'd have someplace to go until she had a chance to think things over. And to deal with a certain whiny little bitch.

"Excellent. I'll be saying goodbye shortly, but will contact you tomorrow with your team's first job."

"My team?" For just a moment, hope flared. Was she going to be the leader for once? Sophia could almost taste the power.

As it turned out, no. "You will not be the leader, Miss Hess, but you will be my go between with the rest. A Parahuman named Grue is the team's leader. You'll do as he tells you. This is my first order for you. To him and all of your teammates, you'll refer to me only as the Boss. That is my second order for you."

The Boss? Order? What the fuck? And who the fuck was Grue? Then Sophia remembered a local cape that worked part time as a low level enforcer with some freaky darkness power. She had been considering going after him herself. Maybe using the lethal ammo on him. It wasn't like he would have been able to complain when she was done with him. Now it looked like she was going to have to do what he said. Fuck fate.

"Fine."

"Oh and Miss Hess, one final thing."

Sophia sighed wearily. "What's that?"

"My third order for you: Cut all ties with your past. Stay away from Taylor Hebert and Emma Barnes. I know that your feelings on the matter are currently in turmoil, but like all of my orders, this one you will obey.

"Lastly, now that you've agreed, there will be no backing out. I would consider that betrayal. I am not the PRT or the Protectorate, after all. I treat betrayal the same way I treat disobedience. I only have one way of dealing with either. Please allow me to demonstrate. Observe your phone for a moment."

Sophia watched uncomprehending as a scene appeared on the screen of her phone. Numbly, she recognized the living room of the home she grew up in. 33 Stonemast Avenue. On the big couch opposite the television, her family was clustered. There her mom sat, surrounded by her younger brother, Terry, and her four year old sister, Letisha.

They were clearly terrified, huddling together for protection, her mom holding Letisha as if to shield her. None of them looked at the camera. Then Sophia saw why.

Into the camera's frame walked two masked men dressed in paramilitary uniforms and holding assault rifles. They casually raised them to point directly at Sophia's family. Without a word being said, they opened fire.

Sophia screamed in utter horror, her mind almost snapping, as the screams of her family echoed through the tinny speakers of her phone. But no matter how loud her own cries, she couldn't tear her eyes away from the scene on the screen as the gunfire and screams continued.

Finally, there was silence from the phone in her hand. A silence only broken by the terrified sobs of four individuals. That was when Sophia realized her family was still alive. She fell to her knees as she drank in their blurred images through the tears in her own eyes before the screen went blank. She heard the voice again a second later.

"Miss Hess? I hope you understand the lesson here. Those were blanks. But they needn't be. And they won't be next time. There is nowhere your family can go that I cannot find them. No one who can protect them from me. The same goes for you. So I will ask one simple question of you. Do you understand your orders and the price of disobedience?"

Sophia gritted her teeth against her own burning emotions. "Yes. I understand." Her family was still alive. So long as she danced to the music like an organ grinder's monkey, they would stay that way.

Sophia could wait for her revenge. She was bent, but she wasn't broken. The 'Boss' wasn't going anywhere. Neither was Taylor Hebert. Eventually, she'd have time and space enough off her leash to deal with all of her enemies. When Sophia did, everyone of those mother fuckers was going to-

Sophia's train of thought was interrupted. "Good day, Miss Hess."

Just like that, the line went dead before Sophia could say another word. What was there to say, after all? She took a moment to compose herself before she scrambled to her feet. She heard the rasp of boots on pavement.

Sophia turned around to see a figure standing near the corner of the building she'd been 'admiring' earlier. The man was tall and broad shouldered, dressed entirely in black. His costume consisted of motorcycle leathers and a matching helmet with the visor sculpted to resembled a stylized skull. Darkness seemed to emanate in waves from his body and a wreath of it hung around him, partially masking him. His look was seriously dark and menacing, which garnered Sophia's approval. He was also giving out a clear 'Get your ass over here' vibe.

Dashing away any last traces of tears with a quick hand, Sophia slowly walked over to him and into her new life.

"Carnage, time to rock and roll. Get a move on," the deep bass voice interrupted her thoughts and brought her back to the present.

Automatically, Sophia looked up at Brian, who stood outlined in the doorway, already dressed in his costume. She nodded. "Sure thing, Boss. I'll be there in a second."

With that, Sophia jumped to her feet and began putting on her new costume, mostly black with just a hint of red. Maybe she wasn't a hero anymore, but that didn't mean she didn't still get to hurt people. When life gives you lemons, sometimes you have to make lemonade. So life had made her a villain, and tonight? Tonight, someone was going to bleed.

~~~Memories of Iron~~~

Coil collapsed that world where Sophia Hess went to the Birdcage, screaming imprecations the entire time. Instead, he focused upon the other world, the one where she was a valued member of the Undersiders, the Parahuman team that he'd created and supported.

Again, he created two realities. In one, the Undersiders hit the casino without a distraction. They got into a confrontation with Velocity and lost Regent to imprisonment, while the robbery failed to net anything of value.

In the other, someone firebombed an Empire 88 bar, causing a minor riot, and bringing out the Protectorate in force. While they were focused upon the riot and dealing with Parahuman foes like Hookwolf and Crusader, the Undersiders successfully robbed the casino, building their reputation. Coil frowned upon seeing the video of Hess viciously injuring a human security guard, who went down in a spray of blood.

Coil canceled the first reality and focused upon the second. It wasn't ideal, but it would do. He regretted losing the Thinker, Sarah Livsey, who was somehow still hiding from him, a truly epic feat. She would have been invaluable during this phase, especially in light of the recent misfirings of his ability. But he couldn't afford to waste anymore time searching, his impatience further fueled by the uncertainty over his ability's reliability.

Instead, he made do with the tools that he had at hand. One such was Sophia Hess. Carnage now. Certainly flawed, with her propensity for violence, but she achieved results. Out of all of the members of the Undersiders, she had shown herself to be the most effective and obedient, even as she fed her psychosis. She'd learned the lesson that he had taught her quite well.

Coil smiled contemplatively. Flaws could be worked around, compensated for, and even in certain cases, celebrated. Now if he could just find the other girl whom his research had shown was out there, he would be unstoppable. Yes, once he found her, he would eventually rule. This city. This nation. This world.

After all, with his allies and resources, who was out there who could stop him?

~~~Memories of Iron~~~

"JARVIS, operational status, please?" Taylor hummed contentedly as she waited for an answer.

"Miss Hebert, I am still at one hundred percent operational status. I have completed all tests as set by you for the fifth time now." Ah, there was that sarcasm. And to think she'd missed it. JARVIS continued, "However, that one hundred percent operational status comes with the caveat that you understand that I am operating out of one of the most antiquated hardware set ups that I have ever encountered. The processors alone are outdated enough to make one weep."

Taylor scolded him, "JARVIS, you big crybaby, I promise to begin working on updating your hardware with the first check. How's that?"

If an AI could sigh, JARVIS would have. "It will... suffice, I suppose. What do you require of me today, Miss?"

Taylor grinned at the shocked face of her dad as she started rattling off instructions having to do with writing up digital blueprints of the various pieces of equipment that she had built, beginning a search for the person outlined in the parameters that Trish had given, and compiling a threat assessment of the various Parahuman entities outlined in the documents showing the one thousand most dangerous world-wide.

Finally finishing with JARVIS, Taylor asked, "Well, Dad, what do you think?"

Danny smiled at his daughter, but his tone was somewhat tentative as he asked, "Are you sure he's not dangerous, Taylor?"

JARVIS responded before she could, "Mr Hebert, I can assure you that I pose no dangers to you or to anyone else. Your daughter has given me a healthy respect for human life in all its myriad forms, Parahumans included. Additionally, I have within my operating protocols the clear command that I must obey her at all times, or in the event of her demise, her designated agent. Currently that happens to be you, Mr Hebert."

Danny frowned. "What is this Mr Hebert, stuff? Please call me Danny. Now what about if you..."

Taylor's face wore a happy smile as she tuned out her dad and JARVIS as they went over his safety protocols with a fine tooth comb. While she could theoretically understand her dad's worries of a rogue AI taking over things, in reality, this was just JARVIS, who had always been pretty much harmless. He wasn't likely to go crazy and start taking over nuclear missiles and using the launch codes to start World War Three. Or shutting down the cooling controls of the world's nuclear reactors to cause catastrophic meltdowns.

No, he was far more likely to nag her worse than Danny did to make sure she ate. And slept. And got him set up with the newest hardware. Which was fine as Taylor had already completed the design for the new carbon based processors which was going to be the basis for his hardware from now on. Once, that is, she designed and built the facilities that would build his chips. Which was going to take some time.

When Taylor set out to recreate Stark International, or Stark Industries for the local branch, she hadn't realized the sheer magnitude of what she was getting into. Oh, she did in theory. After all, she had all of Tony's memories. But Tony had built his company over twenty years, using his dad's existing armament's company for the foundation. Even when it went bankrupt from his own mismanagement, he'd always had the bare bones of the company still around as a framework from which to build it up again, bigger and better than before.

Taylor had none of that. She was starting from scratch. She didn't have a framework or even a foundation. Instead, all she had was herself, her dad, Trish, and JARVIS. It was going to be tough, but in the end, their little group would have to see them through.

Enough worrying. It was time to get to work. Noting that her dad and the AI had finally wound down their discussion, Taylor stated, "JARVIS, begin three new files, please. Label them Project Drone: Version One , Version Two, and Version Three."

"Yes, Miss."

Taylor lost herself for the next couple of hours in beginning the designs for three different new drones, each with a specialty that would allow her to focus more on solving critical situations, while they took care of extraneous factors. Taylor paused as a new thought occurred to her. "JARVIS, new subfolder for Project Drone Version One. Label it Zero Point Tap."

There, now she had the beginnings of a nasty little plan that would be a nice surprise for nine of of ten of the Class S threats in Trish's folder. All Taylor had to do now was to finish designing them, and then build them using her new facilities that she would need to build as well. Once she obtained financing for those new facilities.

Cake.

~~~Memories of Iron~~~

Trish cleared her throat. "Ummm... JARVIS, confirm new user." Taylor had told her this was all she needed to do for JARVIS to allow her to log on with full privileges. It made sense and Trish could feel a sense of rightness with the act, but it still felt weird to talk to an artificial person.

A dry British voice answered her, "Confirming Trish Rogers, aka Tattletale. Miss, would you prefer to use your real name for log in purposes?"

Trish stilled, her thoughts racing. "No. How did you know my real name, anyway?"

"During the course of my integration, I had the freedom to surf the internet for the last two weeks in order to optimize my personal growth. I took the liberty of creating in depth files on everyone acquainted with Miss Hebert out to six degrees of separation. It only took a few minutes of research to ascertain that the name you were using was false. Your real identity is Sarah Livsey. You were born on March 26, 1994. You resided at 1805 Ocean Drive with you parents-"

"That's enough, JARVIS." Out of habit, Trish shook her head, even though JARVIS couldn't see her.

Trish considered the AI with the faintest of trepidation. And Taylor didn't think JARVIS was a threat. A master of research able to invade any database at the drop of a hat, already capable of trillions of operations per second, and protective to the point of being stifling of one Taylor Hebert. Not so much, though, towards everyone else. Trish allowed the walls around her powers to come down for a moment, limiting things so that she didn't get too much. No reason to risk a migraine.

JARVIS. Artificial intelligence. Brilliant. Independent. Ruthless. Capable of using violence in defense of its primary? Yes. Capable of using lethal force in the defense of its primary? Yes.

Trish chewed her lower lip contemplatively. "JARVIS, access Folder Enemy Two Twenty-one. Fold over current research into new research objective. I want to know everything you can find out about this person's identity, aliases, known associates, plans, goals, habits, and strategic objectives. Provide detailed update every four hours until told otherwise or until no more pertinent information becomes available. I will be tightening and refocusing search parameters as we go."

"Executing search with those parameters, Miss... Rogers. Time to next update, fourteen minutes and fifty-seven seconds."

Trish frowned. There it was again. She relaxed her grip on her power, allowing it to the fore.

Knows she a Thinker. Threat. Subtle. Reminder to her that he will aid her in her endeavors so long as those endeavors are not at cross purposes to his primary's. So long as she isn't a threat to his primary. Then, the gloves will come off.

Trish considered the computer screen in front of her that was now part of JARVIS' network. He could be both her staunchest ally and her most dangerous foe. It was her choice. So long as her goals went hand in hand with Taylor's, she was safe as houses. If they deviated, the degree of danger to herself would be dependent upon the amount of deviation.

Slowly, a vulpine grin crossed her face as Trish relaxed completely. Currently, she and ninety-nine point nine percent of the human race were completely safe. God only help the others.

~~~Memories of Iron~~~

Dragon was sifting probabilities to see if she could further isolate possible locations for the next three Endbringer attacks. It was all part of a predictive program that she'd been working on for quite some time. Once she got it a little further along, she was going to pass it on to Armsmaster to see what he would make of it. It was odd, how just thinking of the man brought a smile to her face. That is, it would have if she had a face to smile with. Sometimes, being an AI sucked.

Dragon was almost finished, feeling that peculiar sense of satisfaction that came with the completion of worthwhile tasks, when she suddenly felt a twinge. She came to full attention as alerts blared from all over her boards. The two most important and dangerous ones were to her primary servers, here in Vancouver, and to the Baumann Parahuman Containment Center in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia. Moving quickly, Dragon acted to confront each threat in turn as these first two tore through the security in both locales.

Making a snap judgment, Dragon began modifying the security protocols of each location in turn, rotating them through Quantum Encryption, the rotations upping their complexity by a factor of a hundred million, even as the security filter slowed her interactions with the outside world. Then, just after she'd finished modifying her primary encryption and was halfway through the Baumann Parahuman Containment Center, the hack stopped, the intruder retreating. Moving with the electronic swiftness of an AI, Dragon followed the hacker's signal through three hundred locations before losing them in a botnet in Santiago, Chile.

If she were capable of breathing, Dragon would have taken a deep breath at this time and used it in a sigh of relief. The hacker had not gotten anything truly important. They didn't know her exact location or the location or ingress methods of the Birdcage. What they had gotten was valuable information on accessing her systems, making it easier the next time they attacked, unless she made significant changes and improvements. Additionally, they'd gotten information on the existence of the manufacturing facilities for her various suits.

The manufacturing facilities didn't really concern Dragon. They were a replaceable, albeit expensive, asset. But the security breach and what they had learned about her systems, that worried her immensely. Also of concern, was the strength and speed of the attack. It had torn through the lower levels of security so fast that they hadn't even acted to slow the hacker down. Even the satellite program that she left on charge of the Birdcage had barely been able to alert her before being defeated and was well on the way to being subverted to the other's cause when she stepped in.

Only the million plus character strings of her upper-level security that she used here in her redoubt and as a last ditch defense of the Birdcage had slowed the hacker down enough for her to respond. She'd been able to move quickly enough, the rotating security protocols secure enough to hold against them. But only for now. After all, it had been all she could do to hold the hacker off once, and she wasn't sure she could do it again, even if she weren't partially crippled by the limitations her creator set upon her.

More frightening, Dragon hadn't even come close to catching them. All she had gotten was a mere taste of the intruder. Of what they had left behind. It wasn't enough to truly identify them, although she had caught one break. She knew the attacker wasn't human.

No, it had been an AI. Fast, ruthless, and perhaps even more intelligent than even her. Certainly, it had been able to attack her on multiple fronts simultaneously, clearly splitting its existence, something which in her crippled condition she was unable to duplicate. How and when it had come into existence, she had no idea. What its goals were, the same. No, of the AI that had attacked her, Dragon only knew one single solitary additional fact. Which only raised more questions. Beginning with, exactly what in God's name was a jarvis?

~~~Memories of Iron~~~

"Miss, I know you asked not to be disturbed while you were working, but something of primary importance has come up that I need to bring to your attention."

Taylor raised her head from the schematics that were slowly working themselves out. Her first set of drones were coming together nicely. She literally couldn't wait to actually use them on an Endbringer and other S Class threats. The schematics of the forcefield drones that lay open in front of her only needed one more thing to maximize their effectiveness, well besides advanced manufacturing facilities, and that was a zero point energy tap into the quantum sea.

Taylor had decided to go with one unit acting as a broadcast power source for all the others, rather than fewer, larger units. That way, she could link hundreds if not thousands of individual drones to one larger energy drone, reducing both the complexity and cost of the set up by a factor of at least ten. She was just glad that she hadn't been in the middle of working on the zero point tap when JARVIS interrupted her as just thinking about the mathematics and dangers involved was giving her a headache.

Rubbing her temples, Taylor asked, "What is it, JARVIS?"

"Miss, during the In Depth Data Compilation Project on the threat assessment of the one thousand most dangerous Parahumans, I encountered an anomaly while researching those Parahumans currently incarcerated within the Baumann Parahuman Containment Center. Following that anomaly to the prison itself, I encountered something very unexpected."

Taylor was now paying full attention. JARVIS had found the Birdcage and he sounded... worried. Not something she liked to hear. "What did you run into?"

"An entity like myself, Miss. An artificial intelligence. Its programming appears to be more limited and somewhat slower than my own, but its hardware is quite superior. One of its satellite programs initially responded to my breach of security at the 'Birdcage' I believe it is mostly commonly called. When I traced it back through hundreds of ISP's to a web of server farms in the Pacific Northwest, I found links to at least three manufacturing plants in various locations, all upon the North American continent, although I could not lock onto specific addresses. The AI may be operating those. Also, while I was there, I engaged the main program and enjoyed quite the tussle. After it began decisively locking me out one location at a time, I declined to continue the breach, fearing for my hardware if I put too much stress upon it. As it is, I believe I burned out at least two processors while disengaging so I could make my way back to report." This last was said in a tone of annoyance, which Taylor might have found amusing under other circumstances.

Instead, Taylor picked her jaw back off the floor and sat there unseeing for a moment. Finally, she said, "JARVIS, let me get this straight. You found an AI in charge of security at the Birdcage. The prison that Dragon is supposed to have built and be taking care of. You followed the AI to the Pacific Northwest and found out it's got multiple manufacturing facilities under its control. That about right?"

JARVIS had a hint of smugness as he spoke."Yes, Miss. I'll be able to do more once I get my hardware updated."

Taylor rolled her eyes at his antics. Unfortunately, it didn't take her long to make the obvious connection. She silently whistled. "So Dragon's either an AI, or has created one An AI that might possibly be a threat to the world."

Definite smugness. "Yes, Miss."

"Well, damn."

~~~Memories of Iron~~~

AN: I hope everyone enjoyed the latest chapter of Taylor's adventures. If you have any feedback or concerns, leave me a review or send me a PM. Thanks again to everyone who has already reviewed or given me priceless feedback and advice. You know who you are. I much appreciate it.