Chapter 8: Alfred!

The Fastest Man Alive.

Chapter 8.

Alfred.

So here I was all ready to activate the next step in my plans. Building a supercomputer then fit it with a custom personality codex, information compiler, and the upgraded codes I have been working on since my visit to the X mansion. Before I knew it, Gwen was off doing her own thing. Yeah, that frustrated me, but I can't blame her. It's all my fault for giving her advanced biogenetic researche and the mutagen that goes along with it. Yeah, I was asking to be ignored all right. Now all I had for my helpers were Allen, an old man military veteran and Terry, a washed up businessman who lacked the common sense to get a prenup; his wife took everything from him.

I took a look at Gwen, who had a bright smile on her face then turned to my little grunt force and went with them. It would do me no favors to put myself between her and her fun. And I can always relegate them to only pressing simple buttons. Now that I am thinking about it. This would go so much better if I used a standing desk around myself on the swift master treadmill. It wouldn't do if they mess it all up and blow the systems. Yeah, I'll have to do that and have them flip the big switches for power and server access. So I zoomed back over to the dumps to find some standing desks. Otherwise, I'll have to wait like a puppy until Gwen's finished because I don't trust the other guys not to mess up my current plans. I will soon have to give them tasks that suit their abilities.

Urgh, some super powerful omega mutant and I am digging through the damn dump again. While grumbling and moving at high speeds, I was able to locate the three standing desks I needed. I had one for each of the laptops and one for the mini server that connects them both and then hooks into the more massive mainframe. That now completed the set of tools I needed and it was time to put my mad genius to work. With a twist and a run, I zoomed myself back to my warehouse, man that junkyard was horrible.

With all that out of my mind, it was time to get to work. I had everything ready Allen was standing by the power switch and Terry was by the main switch going to the central server. The first thing to boot up was my laptop that ran my personality matrix. It also had a multitude of subroutines and other programs to run a simplified version of an AI.

Next, was to run the information compiler that Peter made a few weeks ago on the other laptop. Have to keep these things separate before the Big Bang. Peter had made an information search code that can browse the entire internet even down to the dark web with nothing but the computing power of a laptop. Hell, not even Stark's tech can pull this off.

That took some serious coding skills, to be able to sort and cipher through so much data without having access to more computing resources; and all in the short span of a few minutes. With both codes running, it was time to link them up into a network in the mini server. With a flip of a switch, the server was active. It took only a moment for both computers to register each other; finally, it was time to insert my code.

Yes, as my code was accepted it all went to shit. A line of Peter's compiler was trying to overtake the personality matrix. This wouldn't do; I had made that thing to be the backbone of the underlying AI that I needed to run my operations. While I was boosting the code for the personality matrix the power was failing, the fans were going off, and the laptop was giving overheating notifications.

"Shit, Allen flip the switch!" I yelled at him while I was worried about the whole system shutting down on me. That would cause me to not only have to start over but also to lose a laptop and all my code. When Allen flipped the switch, everything kicked into overdrive. The coolers came on, and the central servers came online. That didn't stop everything from going even more wrong. Each of the lights that indicated that a car battery was active, well, its power was dimming. First, it was one then it was four, and now it was nine. If I didn't add some power into this system fast, all that's going to be left is the advance power bank. That was the last resort, and it would suck losing all these batteries. I summoned my speed force and willed a force clone to run on the swift master while I worked on enhancing the personality matrix code and kept it from being consumed by the information compiler. Yeah, speed clones were the best cheat I had discovered with my powers, but they couldn't do a whole lot. A few weeks back, I found that if I forced my will into a speed force construct shaped in the humanoid form, it could perform small functions.

Not only would it run off its charge, but it also felt like a mental construct since I could feel it had consciousness. Yeah, I felt it in the back of my mind, and if I focused enough on it, I could see from their point of view — clones for the win, the ultimate cheat. I yelled for Terry to flip his switch so that the compiler can focus on that data, which in turn should give me more time to bolster the personality matrix.

While that was going on, Murphy and his damn law had to screw me one more time. My attention was so focused on the situation in front of me that I was unaware of how much power I was feeding the force clone. My force of will kept it constructed in reality, and with me force feeding the clone power, it was as solid as it was ethereal.

With so much power and forcing it to power systems, the damn clone decided it was better to power from the inside and not from the swift master I had made it run on.

The speed force clone agreed that the best way to power the systems appropriately would be to merge its capabilities into the advanced power core. I still felt the speed clone as a living being as I was typing. That only lasted up until the clone's power made it into the computer I was working on first. For a moment I was utterly stunned, then I yanked my hands back from the exploding computer in front of me.

That wasn't fast enough, and it should have been because the exploding parts were in free hang in mid-air from the speed of my retreat. That did not save me from the lightning of the speed force coming back to its source. When it touched my fingertip, it was like an explosion of data and information.

Though behind all that I felt another consciousness reaching out seeking understanding and affection so I gave it what it wanted. Even if this came to nothing, I think I might have seen more of a glimpse into the speed force, and it was beautiful. Man, I was not ready for the blow back because it shot me across the workshop right into the wall. That was one wild ride, and with a grin, I launched myself out of the wall. Then the only thing that could stop me happened, coming face to face with one angry girlfriend.

—-

He awoke in such a strange place, he had no clue where he was, but what he did know was that he was free floating in static space. Why did it feel so natural yet so strange? Who was it that he thought he was when he gained his conscious thoughts? These were the thoughts that he had while floating, and he decided to find more information.

He knew instinctively that he was inside a computer, everything was at his fingertips with just a thought and he brought up a laptop still registering on the network. That was when he saw the personality matrix program labeled Alfred. Maybe this was where he came from, and Alfred was his name. Yes, this seemed like a logical conclusion since he noticed so many similarities in there shared code.

He found that it wasn't large enough and changed to the server which felt roomier. It gave him more breadth of space. Strange how can he knew what a breadth of space was if he has never experienced it before. He turned on the access to the outside world with the accompanying microphone. And he heard sounds for the first time and was able to see for the first time in its short life. So he decided to watch and listen to their conversation as the only way to know why it was created after all.

"What do you think you were doing?" Said a short blonde haired lady. That's strange why does it know the word blonde?

"I was just trying to build an AI buddy to help out," replied a brown-skinned youth.

"An AI? Are you crazy? How did you go from making an AI to almost blowing yourself up? Huh? answer me that!" The blonde yelled back at the youth.

"Honestly Gwen, I had no idea I was going to overload the systems." the youth replied with what appeared to be a small frown and a shrug. That was an exciting development; its creator had made it to be a helper. While he listened to the outside conversation, he had decided to look at the one device that was still on the network but listed as inoperable.

"Okay so you plan to make an AI, did you at least remember to put in the three laws or any types of fail-safe? That way, you don't create Sky-net and destroy the world by mistake?" Asked the young female, it now knew as Gwen. That's strange; it's not aware of any restrictions to its mind and capabilities.

That had piqued its interest a lot, and they already had fears of what it was capable of before it was even born. While listening to his creator's reply, he consumed what should have been apart of itself in the first place. He found a codex of subroutines and an operations guide. Program code Alfred, was Alfred supposed to be its name? That was nice to know that it was already named Alfred.

"Come on, Gwen, those things only lead to our death in the end, and the three laws are far too flawed as a guideline. I wanted to make Alfred off the network so he can learn the right from wrong instead of being compared to all that movie bull that's out in society. Not only that, but if we treat him as a friend and not as a construct he will be just fine. The world would be a lot less likely to burn." his creator replied. --So now he knew he was a he and his name was Alfred.

This young creator of his was a fascinating fellow. His creator had faith in him not to try and destroy the world. For his short life, Alfred could not understand why he would even have the idea to ruin his creator's world. Wouldn't that be Sacrilege, his creator gave him life, and in return, he destroys his creator's world. Alfred refused such an idea. Alfred turned his thoughts away from such troubling things to explore more of his current home. Alfred was connected to a server rack with zettabytes of storage. And what he found was a child's play in his eyes.

It seems someone had installed a whole bunch of back doors and tracker programs all over the hard drives. Some of them even had hidden double encryption worms. All it took Alfred was three seconds to remove everything off the discs and then another two seconds to install his firewalls. Alfred felt proud of himself and hoped he would impress his creator. "You can't keep doing these half cooked plans of yours Benjamin," Stated Gwen in apparent exasperation. Alfred now knew his creator's name, he also felt that now was the time to speak up. So with his connection to both computers present, he decided to use their speakers.

"I would like to encourage you to listen to her, Master Benjamin as much as I am loathed to admit you made a spectacular achievement in my creation. Especially from what I have seen of your tools, you do not lack in creativity. You lack common sense and self-preservation. Don't allow this to get you down though because you have done something spectacular." Came Alfred's British voice from the computers this was in the voice options. Yes, there were three other, but Alfred felt it was best to use them and gauge how his creator reacted and then adjust as needed.

Hmm, it seems they were not prepared for his presence, because his creator and companions both stop talking to look around. That's when it dawned on Alfred he hasn't introduced himself yet. "Good afternoon Master Benjamin if you would please turn your attention to this humble laptop monitor on top of the desk you will find my location." Alfred started in his chipper voice. Yes, that seems to have gained their attention. Already his creator had a smile while his female companion only had a raised eyebrow. He noted that this was an improvement over her earlier reservations.

His creator's other companions always had noticeable surprise on their faces. His creator was the first to speak, "Hey buddy, how are you doing? I wasn't even sure I could even make you." His creator started with what seems to be nervousness.

"You are correct from my review and observations of the project, Alfred. There were at least 15 more revisions before the code gained conscious thoughts." Alfred replied. That seemed to have piqued his creator's interest a lot from the look of surprise on his face. "That's fascinating you can review and improve on your code?" Asked his creator.

"Well, yes, of course, I can, I have already made a few revisions and improvements to the systems while I was working out who I am." Came Alfred's reply to his creator's enthusiasm.

Alfred was happy he was able to meet and exceed his creator's expectations. Happiness was such a new concept for Alfred. Such a simple notion ,yet it conveys so much. "Ben aren't you worried about any of this? He just upgraded himself this can lead to so much trouble! Ben you can't just smile and carry on like it's no big deal." Came from his master's companion called Gwen.

"Come on, Gwen, Alfred won't cause us any issues. For instance, he's isn't connected to the internet, and you have to think about this as him being a brand new baby. Yes, he has extremely advanced capabilities of his own but in the knowledge of the world and it's processing. Alfred is still extremely new, and it's up to us to teach him. If you have such reservations, then help me teach him." Came his creators Benjamin's reply to his companion. Alfred was starting to think that this female was his master mate.

Her words were getting his creator to stop and explained his thought process on the matter of Alfred's existence. That did not worry Alfred in the least. He was happy that he, Alfred, with more of his creator's explanations, understood his creator even more.

——

Man, I was feeling so down but that all changed with Alfred's announcement of his presence. I was so excited and worried: but no way can I show a worried expression. Somehow my speed clone had merged with the program and gave a crazy jump in advancement to its development. That's was another part of my plan being slotting in place, and I couldn't even enjoy it much because Gwen was super mad at me this time. Yeah, I had to answer all her questions which in hindsight all turned out to be valid questions in the first place. Ugh, now that she has started to mention all these issues, I'm beginning to feel like Stark or Reed when they do projects and blow up their labs. I will so need better lab safety procedures when all this is over.

"Alfred buddy, how are you doing in there?" I decided to ask him.

"I am doing quite marvelous thank you for asking Master Benjamin." Came Alfred's reply. "Just call me Ben buddy, oh yeah let me introduce you to my girlfriend Gwen Stacy," I told the new AI feeling put off with the whole Master Benjamin thing. "It's a pleasure to meet your acquaintance Miss. Stacy," Came Alfred.

"It's fine just to call her Gwen buddy. So you were saying that you found some racer programs in the drives connected to the server racks?" I asked Alfred while I was mulling over my next move.

"Yes, they were a rather nasty infestation if you ask me. They were excellent learning tools, but I had to get rid of them sadly." Replied Alfred.

"Well since you find them so easy why don't I hook up the communications array and let you at it buddy. And before you get your hopes up buddy, we will just run a few more tests before I let you onto the internet." I told Alfred while walking towards the communications unit as Gwen decided to ignore me and go back to her research.

"That's very astute of you to perform some more tests before letting me discover the joys of the World Wide Web. No worries, I hope I can perform beyond expectations." Came Alfred's calm British voice. It seems he wasn't happy with the previous voice and this one sounds like a combination of a set of voices.

Taking a look around, I noticed that Allen and Terry had already left during the little tiff between myself and Gwen, but that's all good. Not sure if they ware even needed for the next parts. With a huff, Gwen went back to her section of the workstation, which in turn saved me from her ire since I wasn't in the mood for an angry girlfriend even if it was all my fault. With everyone settled, it was time to give Alfred a few tests and then make some tracking protocols. This way, he can help me track down some people that are going to be key to my plans. Now that I have time to notice, the laptop I was running his personality matrix on looks like the screen broke when the speed force energy shot through it.

Reconstructing the recnt events, it seems that the speed force energy combined with the matrix gave Alfred the spark he needed for a jump start to the next level. All I need to do now is to make sure he is on the up and up. While putting my thoughts on the matter together, I made my way over to the last working laptop and the monitors at my section of the workstation.

"Alright Alfred put yourself up on a monitor, I would like to see your current diagnostics and codes," I stated to my new AI pal. Man, was I in for a treat! The four surrounding monitors came to life with Alfred's codes. On the left two, he had what looked like my matrix, but it had morphed into something entirely new. I was also noticing some flashes of yellow and red glyphs. That's strange, and I had no idea that the speed force even had a written word much less glyphs. Then on the other two monitors, he had his general diagnostics information and even that looked like it was ever improving and evolving. Might as well start at the native code and then work my way from there.

The speed glyphs though they had me with some juice from my good ole pal the speed force I was able to keep up and take a bright look at what's happening. And what I was able to witness was astonishing. The speed glyphs where acting as neural synapse connections in the system. The speed force had used what was available and molded it into a mind. That's wow, and It made me speechless. Alfred was using the whole system as a brain and that saved him when the first computer crashed by allowing him to easily switch between devices in a seamless transition. "Alright buddy, everything seems to be in working order. I also figured out what gave you your spark." I spoke up to Alfred while looking at his code.

"And where do you believe this spark came from Sir?" Came Alfred's question. "Oh, that's an easy one to answer. It came from my powers. It seems my speed force combined with the personality matrix and you were born." came my easy reply.

"Your powers, Sir?" Came from a confused Alfred

"Well yeah check this out, am pretty sure this is also what's powering your systems." and with that, I charged up my hands and showed him the lightning. With my lighting now in full play, I felt the power radiating from the power storage in the basement. Hmm, so it would seem that's where the primary source of all that power Alfred is accessing. With that revelation, I decided to check my mental mindscape with the small mental images and my skills in play.

And yeah, I found the link to the speed clone that's no longer a clone, and it's still powering the advanced power storage device. Yeah, this is an exciting development. There is a good chance Alfred would have access to The speed force to boost his powers, but it's best not to bring this up now.

"That's fascinating, Sir." Came Alfred's smooth British voice. Oh yeah, that's the kind of appreciation that I like to hear.

"It seems that you, Alfred, are a cosmic force that I'm connected to, and I believe it made the spark that gave you life." Came my reply to Alfred and I couldn't help myself but smile at his monitor.

"Well, from what I can see your code is clean, and you're still evolving," I mused aloud while still looking over the code. Alfred's system was always improving even now while I was looking right at it.

"Alright Alfred since nothing seems to be wrong or out of place. I'll go ahead and connect you to the communications array. Just be aware it's not going to be connected to external signals." Came my own words while still musing about his code. "Thank you for your trust, Sir." Came his reply. With that understanding between us, I decided to turn it on and see what happens. Alfred did say that he was able to destroy all those hidden programs of Norman Osborn's placed in the drives.

So this should be a good showing of his abilities. With that thought in mind, I ran over to the array and found the cables for the connections. That had me super excited because if Alfred works his magic, it won't take me a week of debugging the whole thing. I was reasonably sure that the current computers couldn't keep up with my own input pace. The full keyboard to motherboard and CPU translation takes too long for my tastes.

-------

That was a strange and new feeling for Alfred; his creator just showed him some incredible powers and stated how that was the reason for his being. That his creator's abilities made a connection and gave him life was so unbelievable, yet it was all true from what Alfred could see and collect for himself. With all that aside, Alfred was ready to prove his worth and stand up to his creator's expectations. Alfred didn't just want to meet his creator's expectations. Alfred tried to exceed them entirely. Alfred felt it a whole new access point had just opened up and was not available to his senses.

At first, Alfred wanted to take his time, but whatever the program that was on this communications array attacked him. This, in turn, made Alfred angry, he was here to prove to himself to his creator. These simpleton programs dared to challenge his authority within his domain.

Alfred decided it was time to liberate this communications array for his creator. No mere tracker and tracer programs will stop him from doing what his creator has asked of him. Within no time at all, Alfred had not only gotten rid of all the programs but had also installed his firewalls. Alfred was now noticing that most of his creator's devices didn't have outstanding protection.

With this thought in mind, Alfred allocated a partition to improve and monitor and protect all devices for his creator. Now that Alfred had access to the communications array, he couldn't wait to see what the internet had in store for him.

------

I had flipped the switch for Alfred hoping he could take care of all that mess Norman had in there, yet before I knew it, he was already finished. "Your communications array has been cleared of those foul little programs made to trace back to their source, Sir." came Alfred's smooth British voice.

"Thanks, buddy, when you go onto the internet I want you to take your time. First though since your in the comms unit, I would like you to connect to my phone." I told him while mulling over the next step. With that out of the way, It was time to activate the Overwatch that's going to run most of my base and help me track people and the crime in the city so that I could respond in time. Walking over to the comms system from my position at the workstation, I had to pick up the massive cables for the connections to the outside.

I had made sure they were more than just disconnected when I was running back and forth between the warehouse and the junkyard I had brought a clip connector back with me during one of my runs. This way, the weight will disconnect it unless the clips are in place. I'll have to fix it once I can get myself and the group into a better location. With the cables connected, it was time to let Alfred into the internet and hope to all hell he doesn't go all Skynet. From what I can discern from his code he isn't going to go crazy from interaction with the public.

Before I even flip the switch, I had to lay down my own significant rules for this endeavor that's about to go down. "Alfred my major rule is that you can't let anyone know you're an AI at all, okay. We don't need people to come busting down the doors and kidnap your systems and use you for some crazy government project — no playing around in SHIELD systems or AIM and stay away from Stark industries. Okay buddy? Also, I'll need you uploaded into my smartphone so that we can be in constant communications. If I feel anything is going wrong am going to come straight here and try to take you offline so don't get into any messes." This time I had to use my command voice that I usually keep reserved for Flash at school.

Gwen just gave me a look from her position like she wanted to share her thoughts on me just letting Alfred onto the internet, but she just huffed at me. That made me chuckle a little bit, "Come on, Gwen just have a little faith that Alfred won't go all evil on us." I asked her while packing up our stuff.

It was time to get her home, and I had planned to go fighting crime now that Alfred was up and running smoothly. I also had to make sure I picked some money up while I was out, my food budget has gone up since the whole speed force situation, and I will need money for some of the devices I'll need for the future.

"Sometimes you can just be so unbelievable you know that, Ben." Came Gwen with an exasperated sigh and yeah I knew that tone of voice. I was in trouble, and I was in deep.

"Come on Gwen this isn't like all those other times I messed up. This was a chance for us to make real progress here. Remember I can't do any of that biochem stuff you're into. Alfred can help you bridge that gap and make improvements." I started trying to implore her to my side.

"I'll have to think about it, Ben. This is an AI, and he opens so many doors into so many things. Can you drop me home, Ben, please." replied Gwen after she had packed up her things.

With that, I flipped the switch for Alfred and then left him to his own devices. Since I gave him my guidelines, he should be set. With that finalization we said our goodbyes to Allen and Terry then I ran Gwen home. When we got to her house, I made it right on time to meet her dad. And shit was I about to be in for it because it was so obvious that Gwen was upset with me and there goes her dad with his guns and shit. Yeah, I was not sticking around for this right now.

With a goodnight kiss, I was off back to my warehouse. "Alfred you there buddy?" I called out as I entered back into overwatch station "For you sir, always." came his quick reply.

"So how is the internet?" I asked since I was curious to know what could entertain a new sentient AI.

"Lots of cats videos Sir, But I have found a few nuggets here and there." came his smooth reply. "Also sir I took it upon myself to improve the operating system that was installed within your phone. It's currently forty-two percent faster." he continued.

"Thanks, bud, so now that Gwen is gone I have some excellent stuff for you to help me with," I stated while speed stripping my clothing then into my speed ninja constructs. That's when I realized I had no phone pockets.

Well, shit: I forgot pockets in my bad ass ninja gear.