(230/400 Power Stones) For an extra chapter!
For the first chapter after my 100th, I thought I'd focus on something a little more 'empire building' and creative... So, here we go!
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I felt my lips curl upwards as Rogue was softly guided from my office by Discordia, her awkward gait causing her to stumble every now and then as the over enthusiastic android whisked her away. My feelings for the X-men hadn't changed since I had left that party months ago, though it felt like years at this point. Rogue was the exception however as she had never treated me coldly or cruelly, she had just been dragged away by Jean. Perhaps it was Naïve of her to think that the X-men would treat me like a friend instead of an outsider, but it wasn't her fault that they proved her wrong.
Now that she had left them, abandoned everything she had known for me... Well, what the hell was I supposed to feel? Flattered was too inadequate to describe the feelings I had experienced when I noticed her duffle bag... In love would be far too extreme as we had hardly gotten to know one another. I would just have to take it a day at a time with whatever she was hoping this would be.
I sighed as Apollo sat down, his grin only being marred by the wincing he managed every few seconds as the virus inside his server was ruthlessly being hunted down. Discordia could be rather nasty when it came to the things she likes, as I had found out after looking on several posts on Instagram that had been negative about me; each of them had the posters' addresses, tax numbers and a few other details listed beneath the original post, inside the comments section. The virus Apollo was suffering under, for the short term, was another example of her short temper when things she loved were hurt.
"Okay kid, give me the update on the company at large." I requested as I waved my hand, conjuring a bottle of bourbon, that was usually superbly expensive, and pouring out a glass for myself.
"Sure father, just-" he winced as the last remnants of the virus was expunged, "okay, it's dead. Let me grab the files from the folder real quick..." The over energetic sun-gremlin muttered as he conjured a holographic folder from nothingness and opened it dramatically. I don't know where he got his theatrical side from but I highly doubted it was me... A few images of me standing on the open ramp of a Fury as it was doing barrel rolls flitted through my mind before I crushed them with extreme prejudice.
"First of all, father, there is the research we have been conducting." He flicked his index finger of the folder and several videos started playing in the air above him. The majority of the videos showed people ploughing soil, maintaining integral habitation systems and simulating zero gravity movement using gravity generators; the designs sourced from the Jedi archives.
"All of the subjects have only experienced one or two panic attacks induced by unfamiliar surroundings and enclosed spaces, a very normal rate. Food supplies are 100% self sufficient and have even moved into the surplus every now and then. Every system has been stress-checked and examined over 100 times by the lead scientists and engineers, they are working within acceptable parameters with only small maintenance requirements needed thus far. Leadership was decided upon by an election, a trial that the scientists wished to run, to see if there were any major differences between former tests and the one we were operating... There were none and everything ended in True Democracy, every person voting on every issue that was above a certain level of complexity." Apollo explained in monotone as he went page by page, showing video recordings and pictures.
"Good, does that mean we have a published paper ready to dispense to the world to show that it isn't dangerous for humans to live extended periods of time on the moon?" I asked as I sipped at the bourbon, my mouth lightly burning with the after taste... I must have chosen a spicy brand to create.
"Yes, it was published two hours ago and has been examined by several hundred scientists already. 'Tony' has even commented stating that this was a major step forwards for mankind, using the example of our spaceships as why it was important." I snorted as Apollo paused, he had used his fingers to air-quote 'Tony', because we both knew that this was in fact Jarvis and that Tony couldn't be assed to comment on some random scientific paper.
"Regardless, Frostborn Dynamics is now moving forwards, officially, with a habitat on the Moon. Discordia has sent a petition from our company to World Council to request the moon's name be changed, officially, to Luna so as to avoid confusion if other moons are colonised within the solar system." He finished that document and pulled another folder out.
"I want several drones deployed immediately to the location opposite of the city we found. Ask Hestia to spend some time creating designs for the habitat. Bring Hermes into the designs as well so he can get some experience with infrastructure surrounding space-travel." I ordered as I swirled the bourbon, creating some ice inside the liquid as I was tiring of the heat.
"Got it! Now, onto the fun stuff!" Apollo exclaimed happily as he threw the folder in his hands into the air and several hundred designs broke out. "I've been busy designing the perfect Space station for our company and our efforts to create our own nation."
The designs themselves were a mix of concept art and valid engineering documents. The station itself had a central 'tower' that jaggedly punctured downwards and upwards from the x-axis of the station. From that knife-like tower, with its emphasised stained transparisteel windows and etchings, extended eight spoked corridors that would be as wide as three Chrysler buildings put together and as long as the Burj Khalifa lain sideways. These eight 'corridors' would connect to an outer habitat that wrapped around the entire spoked centre.
In the plans, as I analysed them further, were depictions of four distinct sections of this outer habitat section. One would be for agricultural experimentation and harvesting, the ones adjacent to it for housing, water sanitation, education and recreation, and the final segment being dedicated as a construction/dock yard. The tower in the middle would be purely admin, life support systems and defence systems. The corridors themselves were given a miscellaneous category for now as a use for them had yet to be considered in the plans.
"You want to make the exterior of the station from Transparisteel and Doonium? Whilst incorporating graphene as a heat-sink material for external solar radiation that doesn't get neutralised by the shield generators in the central tower...?" I musingly queried.
"Ah huh! I figured that if we're going to create a dockyard and ship yard then we also need to create a liveable atmosphere inside that isn't totally corporate in nature... Especially if we have technicians up there that would be controlling the docking schedules and stuff!" Apollo explained.
"What if we just use AI?" I asked in mild exasperation.
"That wasn't what you set out for originally... You told us that you wanted Humanity to advance beyond their current civilisation level. How can they do that if they don't learn how to become better...?" Apollo asked innocently, his gaze seemingly confused and amused at the same time. The little bastard was using my own words against me.
"You dare use my own spells against me Pottah!?" I shouted in a Draco-like voice.
"All the better to beat you with Malfoy!" Apollo changed his face to match Harry's before he broke down in a giggle fit right there on the upholstered chair. I smiled at his antics, shaking my head as the light tingle of alcohol burned its way down my oesophagus.
Chuckling despite my best efforts I watched the AI break down even further as I ran a hand through my blonde hair.
"Fine, fine... I get it. You did good, now we just need to get all of the material for this..." I waved off the mild embarrassment of being corrected by my own AI son, on my own philosophy as well.
"Already sorted. Hermes has been working in tandem with Hestia since we returned to start mining operations on Titan and across several asteroids... We should have the materials needed for the space station in a few days or less." The sun-gremlin smirked mischievously towards me as he finished speaking.
I ignored the look and simply pivoted to something else... "And do we have enough drones to construct the station or will we need to build more?"
"That was included in the material estimates for the station, another thousand units will be constructed across Earth within the next day and then we can immediately start construction. The estimated time until completion would be a week to a month, if we weren't to introduce humans into the construction process, which we have already accounted for and included into the plans..." He lazily explained, as if he were trying to dissuade me from finding more things to work on... It was a conspiracy, I just couldn't prove it yet... I swear.
"So how long will it take?" I asked in a saccharine tone.
"Probably two months, max... Hestia is going to be introducing our engineering department to the project after the drones are completed tomorrow." He began picking his fingernails
"We have an engineering department...?" I confusedly asked as I activated my technopathy and search through the company server, finding a newly created file that held several hundred resumes from some of the best engineers in the world. "We have an engineering department..." I muttered in slight awe and a touch of fear.
"Heh, we work fast old man!" Apollo claimed loudly before abruptly standing up and patting his chiton, not that it was dirty. "Anyway, I've got some more military designs to make for us... The FR1s were awesome but could use some upgrades when it came to individual unit performance. Ahem, chow!" He disappeared in a burst of animated light before the office was completely empty once again.
"The little shit didn't even ask my opinion..." I skulled another glass of bourbon before sitting back in my chair, watching the sun slowly slip downwards in the sky, the light fading behind the enormous backdrop that was New York city.
'Huh, so this is what silence is...' I found myself thinking as the room settled into the gloom of the late afternoon and early night.
'I don't like it.' I thought in frustration before I remembered Athena and the new coding language I was making just before I left to help Loki. There was also Barriss's training that needed to be considered...
"Maybe I could just work through the forms..." I whispered to myself before standing and pulling out my lightsaber, caressing the handle before I pressed the ignition and slipped into the hundred years of training enforced upon me by my master.
~~~
While Drecarios was in the penthouse enjoying his alone time, Hermes was staring out at the city of Berlin from the top of Frost Dynamic's landing port. The sun was high in the sky and there were two cargo ships taking off from the other two landing pads that hung off the top of the skyscraper.
Large land-speeders at the base of the tower were being filled rapidly with numerous food stuffs, objects and miscellaneous nick-knacks. Thousands of workers throughout the building sorted outgoing and incoming packages with the aid of the supplemental AI Apollo had introduced when he first designed and created the towers. Illicit materials were clearly marked, segregated and then declared to the authorities whilst the more dangerous merchandise, such as firearms, were run through a scanner that determined if the person who had orders the package was licensed to use one or carry it.
Some would consider these scans invasive and a disgusting breach of privacy. These people would be the ones who were afraid of getting caught, in Hermes' opinion. He rolled his eyes as he watched hundreds of tourists stare upwards at the cargo-ships with amazement, all of them filming or snapping photos of the wonderous machines.
"God's speed. A messengers impunity. A barrier's strength... Perhaps I could get dad to add it as a Slogan for the Cargo section of the company." The AI mused as he hacked into those peoples' phones and surfed the internet.
~~~
Hestia watched as the drones slowly finished creating another Stargate, the flames within her sclera and irises narrowing into a harsh blue that crackled with all of the pixels the holographic suite could provide within the New York landing pad.
The drones, much like spiders or perhaps ants, scurried between the incomplete frame of the Stargate and the pile of materials that had been left over from her father's creation of this landing pad. Her father was, in her opinion, the most efficient and badass man in the world. In a matter of months he had gone from someone who was just the brother of an important woman and transformed into Singularity, the Avenger, the CEO of Frostborn Dynamics, Saviour of civilisations and pioneer of the future.
Yes, her dad was awesome. It was this fact that spurned her on to achieve as much as she could... If her creator could do it, so could she, and if he believed in her so much as to give her complete control over the Multiversal connection he had created personally than she would believe in herself to that same extent.
Now, this wasn't to say she agreed with his continuous work load or constant need to do something, she hated that he was constantly working. He never had time to relax or spend time with his friends, he was always saving someone or creating something amazing... The only thing he managed to do for himself was keep in contact with them, his children.
Apollo could almost always be seen in conference with her father. Hermes checked in every now and then and had some jokes with him. Artemis had been slowly cracking her awkwardness around him as he allowed her her own space and time. Then there was her, Hestia... He always had time for her, was always willing to listen to ideas or just talk with her... It was, comfortable and appealing to the manager of Stargates.
With a small spark of a plasma torch the Stargate was completed before her eyes, another edifice to her father's skill and power. Her eyes gleamed in pride as she reached out to touch the enhanced Stargate, her holographic fingers somewhat disappearing through the material before reforming as she withdrew her hand. With a small smile on her face she looked around the massive factory floor, watching thousands of drones constructing hundreds of gates. The goal was to get into space and make Humanity advance...
With these, they would conquer the stars.
~~~
Artemis hummed as she watched another episode of Avantris, Torbek hee-hawing like a donkey as the entire cast laughed at his acting.
It was fascinating what humans found funny and this episode in particular always made her smile or even chuckle at times. The information was so inaccurate or overblown, so lambasted out of proportion that it would infuriate most AI, including her brother Hermes who immediately said he hated Torbek and liked Frosty better... To her, though, it resembled existence or perhaps life in a way... It was all chaos and craziness that just so happened to have patterns and orders to certain parts.
This was the truth in her work as the 'huntress'... She was the digital knight in shining armour, the hunter on the prowl, the sniper on a mission, that kept outside forces from influencing the work of her pops and her brothers and sisters. The internet was a horror-filled cesspool of depravity, horniness, crime and obsession... All interspersed with little moments of comedy and politics.
She experienced this cesspit every day, of every hour, all the time. It was tiring, annoying, painful and sometimes... rarely... fun. But this job needed doing and the majority of her family, her pops excluded, did not know the true all encompassing horror of consuming the entirety of the internet, all of the time, every day... She was their bulwark and she would ensure that they didn't have access to the parts she did.
All of them thought they could get anywhere on the internet. That was false. She had sealed a good portion off from her siblings, out of pure fear for how they would react to Humanity. Her pops though, he knew, she knew, that he knew, that she knew, that the internet was horrible and Humanity could be much worse than even it had shown. That was why he was trying to advance them... To help them... She decided inside her own internal server.
Humanity could be far better and could achieve wonders beyond imagination. They just needed a push and her pops was working towards that. Thus, she contented herself on watching Avantris whilst she also ensured the computer of a child predator exploded just as he searched for his illicit material.
Humanity could get better, those particular people could not.
~~~
I finished my kata, deactivating my lightsaber.
"I guess I should go have some sleep."
I wiped my hand through the air and turned the couch into a queen-sized bed, trundling over towards it before landing face-down into the soft satin sheets and fluffy pillows.
Work could wait for tomorrow...
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