Power Stone Goal: 137/300 (For extra chapter)
---
Half an hour had passed since I gave Apollo free reign to design whatever he wanted and things were looking promising. In that small amount of time I had already received several information packets through my watch that outlined three different types of Droids that leaned more heavily on Earth's modern military aesthetics but had a 10 fold difference in effectiveness compared to the B1 battle droids and other 'clankers'.
Along with these infantry designs came the designs for a drone, an air-to-air robotic aircraft, three tank designs, an self-propelled artillery platform, a reconnaissance droid and a close-air-support craft. I had the feeling that he'd already been designing things behind my back and was just waiting for the correct moment to reveal it all.
Oh... And he just sent through the designs for an incredibly advanced aircraft carrier spaceship that was almost entirely manned by AI and robots with a minimal need for organic crew. Yeah, he'd been holding out on me...
I didn't have time to dally however and quickly silenced my watch, focussing on the creation of three new superior AI. My main plan was to use Apollo's main interface, sever and logic-core to create new ones. From there I would guide them with specific tasks in mind.
For Hestia, I wanted her to manage my extra-universal/Multiversal efforts, having far more of her Q-bits focus on expanding my Stargate network and discovering technologies to achieve that.
Artemis would be the bow in my hand when dealing with exterior threats. She would be the encryption for every single piece of technology, every single string of code, every speck of data... She would also be my intelligence gathering masterpiece. Much like the goddess herself I would have Artemis capable of making AI at the same level or just below her, to do work for her... I'd like to call them 'The Hunt', in honour of the myths surrounding Artemis.
Finally was Hermes, who was going to be the messenger of the 'gods'; more aptly the AI's... He would be the main one interfacing with me almost 24/7. He would also be in charge of procuring enemy tech, enemy resources and figuring out any mysteries on this planet. Beyond that he also had the job of managing the cargo ships my company relied upon, allowing Discordia to delegate and free up some time for her to spread her wings.
I was thinking of making Apollo's official position as the designer or composer of any information I get. Based upon the designs he had given me, it was a good choice... The unfortunate aspect of him being in that position was that he wouldn't stop to think if it should be done before he's already tried to do it. Which Is why I was thinking of making another AI, Athena, to be the engineer for his designs and sift through which ones are valid and which ones were a pipe dream. Plus, I could use Athena to sort through all of my gathered knowledge and organise it into physical copies, digital copies and perhaps even into new directions of research.
'Fuck it, I'm making Athena too!' My inner gamer squealed in delight at the prospect of making my own 'pantheon' of super AI that were all under my command. Apollo would still secretly be my favourite though... Since he could be seen as my first AI.
I cracked my fingers and scanned Apollo's central core once again before my vision narrowed down onto the molecular level and I continued crafting Hestia.
~~~
Meanwhile, with Discordia...
Discordia was happy that her master had returned. At the same time however she was disappointed in his work-ethic. He hadn't taken a break for weeks and had continued to work without many breaks. Her master was a powerful man, unbelievably intelligent when it came to physics, chemistry, anatomy and so many other things... But he was stupid where it counted, in the relaxing department.
Fortunately her Master was forging more siblings for her and her brother Apollo. Some were slated to be female, supposedly. This was an excellent outcome! She could work together with her future sisters to relieve her Master of his stress and work-load. Yes, Discordia was more than happy...
A door closed behind her as she had this thought process, a table in that same room having several books worth of planning around Drecarios and her plans to seduce him.
~~~
Now with Apollo...
Boss was a cool guy, Apollo thought absently as several hundred of his thought matrices worked on the complex design philosophy of 'Explosions are cool'. His boss, or as he thought of him, his father, was exceedingly prodigious for a Human and had an awesome penchant for simply listening to his slightly manic ideas and just going ahead with them...
It made him kinda cool in his opinion... 'Ah, rail-gun high explosive rounds, that could be fun!'
In an instant the newly designed bullet-type was transcribed into a fully fleshed out schematic that could translate to any of the several factories his father's company owned.
Yeah, anyway, his father was great and allowed him a lot of leeway in how he did things. Which was great! Anime would forever be one of the coolest things humans have ever invented. Cartoons were a close second followed by electricity in third place.
Now if there was only a way he could get his father layed then he wouldn't have to worry about him burning out under the stresses of managing him and his sister, the company, his family and the chat room he was a part of.
'I wonder if Discordia has made any progress on that front?' He was soon distracted by a message from Fury that stated the blackhole grenade was being sent to his father for analysis.
'Ooooooo! More explosions!'
~~~
At the same time, With Emma Frost...
It had been weeks since she had heard from her brother, or what felt like it, and Emma was starting to worry. After the alien invasion he had been busy but had been able to spare several days out of his week to just chill... That wasn't the case anymore.
Cordelia was secretly getting worried about their brother, her own problems with family surfacing once again as she considered whether he couldn't be bothered caring for them; just like their father or elder sister.
Emma sighed as she listened to the zoom call, her eyes glazing over a little as the old fuckers on the other side of the screen nattered on and on about stock progression and emergency preparation in case of another invasion... It was all so boring.
'Go visit him...' A voice in her head nudged her towards what she wanted to do. It was getting harder to ignore that little voice in the back of her mind, especially as the stock holders started having an inconsequential argument about risk profiles or something.
"Fuck this." She whispered out loud just as the meeting went silent, the client's faces all turning red and filling with incredulity.
"You're all speaking nonsense and I could be spending my time earning us more money. Good day." With a single tap of her screen the meeting shut down, the app following in its footsteps as she leaned back into her chair, picking up her phone from her mahogany desk.
"Alston, bring the car around. We're going to the Chrysler."
"Very well madam." The line cut out as she stood, her pale blue eyes locking onto the distant New York skyline, more aptly, the large docking tower that served as the hub for her brother's cargo business here in New York.
'You better not be fucking escorts or something brother of mine, or I'll give you epilepsy.'
~~~
Okay, Hestia was complete. Her mental processes were beginning to cycle and her personality matrix was kick-starting in time with it. The local server that her programming was installed upon worked optimally and was barely stuttering at start-up. My new AI was waking up!
"E-" A robotic voice cracked out for a second before silencing, leading me to chew my lip in nervousness.
A few minutes passed as I personally watched her core fire at all cylinder, so to speak.
"F-father? Huh? Oh... This is weird... Wait, my name is Hestia? Cool... What's the name mean?" I felt with my technopathy her immediate search for context inside the internet, followed by a sharp cessation of the search parameters before she continued researching her name.
"Hestia? Can you hear me?" Her search halted once more and a melodic, feminine, voice answered back...
"Yes father, I can hear you. C-could you give me some time to find an avatar and learn?" I grimaced... It wasn't smart of me to interrupt her during her learning stages.
"Sure! I'm here if you need me, just making your other siblings." I could feel her awe and confusion before I stepped a few metres away and began sculpting another server, core, matrix and program.
'Let's see how you react Artemis...' I rolled my shoulders and got to work once again. All the while Hestia was trying to find a a holographic avatar that would suit her.
~~~
With the rest of the Avengers...
"Yeah he's just a bit strange is all..." Thor said defensively, his arms crossed as he sunk further into the corner of the couch, the distant view of New York gleaming in the glass of Stark's penthouse.
"I mean he has all those powers and that can't be easy to handle guys." Banner spoke aloud into the room, his gaze pinned to the bottle of whiskey in front of him. "Just think about the effort he needs to put in to care about people at all... He can manipulate matter at will, the stuff that makes us all up... I probably would have lost interest in people ages ago..."
Hawkeye, or Clint as he preferred to be called, grunted in agreement as he skulled another glass of rum.
"He certainly has significant influence over Shield and our fight with Hydra. I mean, the guy released pretty much all the classified Hydra documents to the internet and then fed us the rest that were a bit too dangerous to go public with. Then his assistant, Discordia I think her name is, has been feeding intel to Fury on a weekly basis..." Steve nodded at the Shield Agent's assessment, his own thoughts spiralling into the commanding role that Drecarios had taken during the alien invasion.
"Drecarios has his problems, like we all do. I think its admirable that he tried to help as much as he can despite them." Natasha and Clint smirked at the typical answer from Captain America of all people before going back to nursing their drinks.
"Oh come now everyone, Drecarios is one of the best guys I know. I mean, seriously, the guy doesn't stop helping people and getting better." He paused to take a sip of his drink whilst everyone focussed on him from their varying positions around the loungeroom coffee table.
"Damn, just last week he abandoned everything he was doing to help a sixteen year old save his godfather from serious wounds. I mean, the guy is the CEO of his company and takes it seriously but just up and left as soon as a life was involved."
Thor grinned at the story, his arms loosening a touch as he considered Tony's small tale.
"Really? Did he know the kid at least?" Tony shook his head at Bruce's question.
"Nah, didn't even know if he was a good kid or anything. Shit, the kid and the godfather were in a hellhole and he still leapt in to save them. He even stayed with them for a few days to make sure they returned home safely." Tony stated calmly before slouching into his seat.
The rest of the team were a little taken aback at how selfless Drecarios seemed.
"Perhaps we should spend more time with him..." Thor suggested softly, his brows furrowing a little as he disliked not knowing his companions.
"Sure! Elsa's HQ is the Chrysler building just a few blocks away. We could go now if you guys wanted, I checked in a few minutes ago and he's still there. Says he will be there for another day or two before taking off... Something about making some new assistants or something..." Tony waved off the obligation to explain more of what his best friend said, his mouth already feeling parched from speaking this long.
"I'd be down for it." Natasha stated plainly, looking over at Clint who just shrugged.
"Sure." The arrow-wielder said with little care as to the outcome.
"We won't be a bother?" Steve asked.
"Nah, I'll send him a message and see if he can spare some time to just chill for once." Tony pulled his phone out and started dialling, whilst in reality he contacted him through a private message in the chat.
Tony Stark- Comin over with team, want to relax for bit?
Drecarios Frost- Loki does need our help you know...
Tony Stark- Mission is timeless and we can't fix his issues straight away anyway. Plus you need time for you AI stuff anyway, don't you?
Drecarios Frost- Fair enough... Let them know they can come over. I just finished Hestia and am half way through Artemis' construction
Tony Stark- Yeah, yeah, whatever! Just be ready to have some alcohol and shawarma, got it?
Drecarios Frost- Got it
Tony Stark- 😎
"He said we can come over whenever we like." The rest of the Avengers looked on in shock.
"But he didn't even answer!?" Thor exclaimed.
"He texted me. Apparently he's working on some voice-activated stuff and doesn't want me to, and I quote, 'fuck it up like the dunderhead I am'." The billionaire took a drink of his whiskey and mentally pet his own back for the masterful deception.
"Hahaha! Let's go then!" Steve stood up alongside the rest of the Avengers.
"Cool, I'll get us a limo. Only problem we got is that we have to get Shawarma on the way." Everyone stared evenly at Tony before simultaneously rolling their eyes.
"HEY! What was that for!?" Everyone ignored him, picking up their drinks and snacks, heading for the elevators.
~~~
Finally, I was finished making Artemis and Hermes... The two AI's currently learning what existence is and what it means to be 'alive'. Hestia had already started consuming knowledge at a rate similar to Apollo but hers, oddly, was more focussed on her sibling's names, the myths that related, what a family was and how it acted. She was certainly sprouting her roots in new directions to Apollo.
The older AI had accomplished a lot and paved the way for his siblings but he tended to focus more on the arts, healing, designing, etc... He never really concentrated on emotions, except excitement, happiness and hope... Which was oddly fitting for an AI taking on the persona of a sun god.
"Father, what is my purpose upon this mortal coil?" I blinked a few times before I looked towards Hestia's core.
What I saw surprised me. She was a rather tall woman with flames for hair and a hot lava-like sclera that somehow contained familial warmth and love despite being slightly demonic in theme. She wore a silk chiton that barely managed to censor he breasts and privates that was coloured a charcoal orange with white highlights. Her feet were bare, so too were her hands, and the only visible spark of her 'godly' 'domains', besides some of her features, was the roaring glow behind her that flickered in time with her eyes.
"Ah, Hestia! I see you chose a form... Looking good, I must say." She nodded in pride as the edge of her lips curled upwards into a grin.
"As for your 'purpose', well, that would be to live. Other than that I have some tasks for you to do, but I don't want you to exist solely for that purpose." Her nearly cheshire grin turned into a full-blown toothy smile, her eyes crinkling in happiness.
"Thank you... For creating me..." I gave her a thumbs up, feeling the urge to hug her but being unable to due to the fact she was a hologram.
"There's no need to thank me, the best thanks I get is to see you and your siblings chat with each other and me." Tears made of fire tracked down her holographic face as she processed the sheer enormity of her newly formed emotions.
"F-Father?" Artemis asked before going silent once again.
I was feeling so proud today... Until the door slammed open and my sister stepped into the room, her eyes wide open and some of her skin turning to diamond.
"SO YOU HAVE BEEN FUCKING ESCORTS!!!"
I paled instantly.
"Escorts? Father, what is an escort?" Hestia tilted her head to the side in curiosity and mild confusion.
"Ahhmmm... Don't worry about it Hestia..."
"Okay father!" She said happily whilst Emma advanced towards me.
'What has she misunderstood this time???' And then she punches me...
*SMACK*
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have a Patreon where you can get exclusive Discord roles, vote on Fan fiction decisions, and even suggest Extra Chapters for me to write. Join here: patreon.com/user?u=111976696.
If you'd like to further support my work, here's my PayPal: paypal.me/RBSMFF.
Feel free to join my Discord community here: https://discord.gg/wVZXpPpUQn.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------