44 Stark Exposure

Bokuboy

Using my spider-sense, it was surprisingly easy to break into the school. A loose window pane in the basement where the maintenance room was, including the furnace, air exchanger, and main sewage and water pipes, gave me access to the inside of the school. I set up the signal scanner and hooked it up to my laptop and waited.

I wasn't surprised when I easily found the frequency for the security system. I didn't have to spoof it and trick it into thinking I was someone else, because someone had left the administration login for the network as a basic default one without a password. I easily logged in and looped the footage, reset the logs, and let the loop run. I left the laptop and my things there in the basement and went to the robotics lab first.

I quickly gathered everything I would need for creating a small remote controlled robot and went to the mechanical engineering shop and used aluminum to create the frame of what I needed. It was surprisingly easy to quickly make several small fan blades and the protective guides they would need, too.

I retreated to the basement and assembled the parts into a small four fanned drone, which would be the most stable, and added in a wireless camera and one of the SHIELD earpieces. I plugged the tiny thing into my laptop and added a controlling program, put in the commands for responding to a remote controller, and also added one of the wireless connectivity devices I had made.

It would be essential for my plan to work and I nodded at the completed program, because it would be able to do whatever I wanted. I tested it and set up the video feed, then I returned the security footage of the school to normal, packed everything up, and left the school.

I was tempted to take more parts to make more drones, then I realized the teachers couldn't justify the missing pieces like they could while school was in session. I sneaked away from the school in the same manner I had approached it, so no one would know Spider-Man had been there, and made my way back towards Stark Tower.

I climbed a nearly pitch black building near it and tucked myself under a rooftop awning, which kept me completely out of sight, and took out my laptop, the scanner, a remote control, and the little drone. I sat there for a good half an hour before the scanner finally picked up an encrypted wireless signal coming from Stark Tower. I wasn't going to try hacking it, either. I was going to follow it back to the source.

I knew Jarvis was monitoring everything and I also knew that he would be too curious about anything flying around Stark Tower to ignore it, especially because of the connectivity my drone had. I chuckled at being so sneaky and loaded a simple bootstrap program onto my drone and set it to broadcast as soon as any foreign signal tried to access the drone.

I would use Jarvis' own protective curiosity against him.

The program was a very simple one. It caused a recursive loop in any computer that tried to run it. It was so simple that even just opening the file would cause it to run, so as soon as Jarvis detected the new signal, he would automatically try to decipher what it was. That would give me the opening I would need to slip right through his security protocols and gain access to his main program.

I wasn't a practised hacker or anything; but, I read a lot about computer programming and it seemed so simple to play around and manipulate code like it was a jigsaw puzzle with only a few pieces. I could assemble them in any way I wanted to make the picture I needed for it to work.

I hooked one of the untraceable cell phones to my laptop, connected it to the earpiece on the drone and the camera, and turned it on. My laptop now had a direct wireless connection to the drone and it also had a connection through the remote control. I tapped the cell phone and turned on the live feed with a one way communication from my end, then turned on the drone and the remote control.

It took me a minute to get used to using the cell phone view instead of watching the drone itself, then I sent the drone off at a moderate pace. The buildings were fairly close, so it didn't take long for me to have the drone fly up to the top of Stark Tower where there was a broadcasting antenna. I landed the drone right next to it, just as I received a ping from my drone that it had received a directed wireless signal.

Jarvis took the bait! I thought happily and started typing. I knew I wouldn't have long, because Jarvis was an advanced AI and he would defeat the recursive loop fairly quickly, even if it did chew up and fill a lot of his current memory. It didn't matter, though. Once I planted my own hidden authorization into his main program, he wouldn't even see me accessing the Stark computers.

I found the main administration file and ignored it, because it was usually a decoy, and searched for the hidden SYS or system file. I had to guess at the name, because only an idiot would use the default, then I chuckled, because an arrogant asshole would also use the default name. I found it under command.sys, and laughed out loud.

Idiot. I thought and opened the file, did a quick find and search query, and found the permanent access section. I added Ben Parker (Hidden) and selected all access, gave myself a priority code that was only one digit different than Tony's, and saved the file. I also gave it the command to back-up immediately.

Even if Jarvis noticed the different file size, which he shouldn't, if he copied the back-up to replace it, it would still have my access. I didn't wait for him to finish with the recursive loop as I used my new access code to establish a permanent connection and had him forget to report me accessing him or the computers. I also had him forget the drone and the loop he had been stuck in briefly.

I did it just in time, because the drone pinged again and I checked it. It wasn't detecting a directed wireless signal anymore. I wasn't sure if it was because Jarvis realized what was happening or my command to forget it had taken hold. In either case, it didn't really matter because I was in.

I had full access to Tony Stark's computers. All of his computers.

I almost giggled like a kid at Christmas and I had to take several minutes to calm down. I didn't want to expose myself by being too obvious about what I was doing, so I carefully checked the most recently accessed files by Tony. Sixteen files popped up and I skimmed through them. Most had to do with modifying his armored suit, so I discarded them. That left two of them.

I wasn't surprised that one was the scan of my patent application and the other was Tony's modification of it and he actually patented it. When I read the details about it using containment foam, I shook my head. The foam would damage anything it touched because it would be hard to clean off of most things, which was the point, because it was intended to hold and not let things move.

Now I'm really glad I didn't submit the fluid patent at the same time like May wanted. I thought and saved both files, then I checked the security footage from when the files were created, and chuckled at it capturing Tony stealing my patent. I saved the video file and thought about what I was going to do with it. I think I need to wait until it sells really well, then I can release it anonymously.

I nodded at that thought and searched for Tony's schedule. I was very tempted to delete it and piss off a lot of the board members and shareholders when he didn't show up for meetings, then I remembered he ignored meetings anyway because he lets Pepper handle it all.

Pepper. I thought and smiled behind my mask. I searched for her personal schedule and it was pretty full. She works a lot harder for Tony than he realizes.

I checked it for a relatively free afternoon and smiled when I found a note for her to go to lunch tomorrow and then she had a shopping trip scheduled for several hours. I could intercept her at either the restaurant or anywhere along the main shopping district.

I chuckled, because I would have to stop at one of those shops to buy an outfit to wear to meet her, before I invited myself along on her shopping trip, which would probably take me right back to that same shop.

I nodded to myself and checked the projects folder on Tony's computer. The files were huge and he was working on and designing a lot of things. I checked a few of them and shook my head. He was severely over-engineering them and it wasted both construction time and resources. It also drove up the cost to a ridiculous level, which probably meant they were government contracts or things he was going to make for himself.

I knew I could raid his computer and take it all, except most of it I couldn't use. I would also be violating a dozen Non-Disclosure Agreements and probably several National Secrets. I chuckled at that, because Tony didn't care about those kinds of things. I mean, he even let the government steal one of his Iron Man suits and they armored it up and created War Machine.

I caught my breath at that, because I was sure that he wouldn't have filed a patent for it. He wouldn't be that stupid, because patents were available to be viewed by the public.

Could he be that stupid? I asked myself and then started searching. Patents, patents, where would he put... oh, he really is an idiot. I thought as I opened the folder.

He didn't patent the suit. He just patented everything inside of it. The hand repulsors, the boot thrusters, the electrical system, the folding mechanism, the holographic HUD technology, the airfoil system, and even the individual micro weapons.

I almost slapped myself on the forehead as I read through it. It was utterly moronic for him to give up his technology like that, even if he didn't actually patent the suit itself or the arc reactor... which meant that I could steal them and patent them myself... if he wasn't reviewing every submitted technology patent.

I copied the latest suit design, because it allowed for the most movement with the most concealment when it wasn't worn, and I copied the latest arc reactor design. I didn't have the elements to recreate it; but, Tony did. He had tons of it from all the weapons that his company decommissioned and doesn't produce anymore.

I was very tempted to take a copy of Jarvis, except he needed a mainframe computer to run properly. He was also nearly fully autonomous and could be considered a living being, except his personality could change with a simple command and his thought processes altered to think whatever he was programmed with.

Maybe a stripped down version? I asked myself and did a search for AI programs. I wasn't surprised there were none. Jarvis was it and that was all. So, Tony really does only do something once and improves it, then moves on.

I shook my head at that mentality, because he was intentionally causing his own stagnation. I remembered from the movie that he had a limited AI installed in Peter's costume, which meant Tony only made something when it was needed and not before and not after. He hadn't even made one for himself until after Jarvis became The Vision.

That reminded me to install some commands into Jarvis to completely discourage Tony from writing an AI to run the Earth's military defense systems and to immediately subsume it or destroy it before it gained sentience.

Once I finished that, I logged out and flew my drone back to where I was hidden. I shut everything down and packed everything up, webbed my backpack to conceal it again before putting it on, then I crawled down the backside of the building to stay out of sight from Stark Tower. When I was low enough, I shot out a webline and swung away.

*

May was getting really worried, because Ben had been gone for several hours longer than a walk would normally entail and she wasn't sure what to do. He looked absolutely livid before he calmed down and she had never seen him that angry before. It kind of scared her, too.

Ben was always so nice and easy going, flirted a lot more than he should, and he seemed to treat everyone like a friend, even if he didn't know them. Having his dream stolen so blatantly had set him off and as far as she knew, it had been the very first time that he had raised his voice like that.

May had tried calling his cell phone and heard it coming from his room, so she knew he had intentionally left it behind. It made her a little sad that he didn't want anyone calling him while he brooded and worked through the horrible thing that happened to him.

No, to us. May thought as she remembered Ben's words. He stole our future. She took a long and slow breath and let that thought flow through her mind. She knew things were going to change when he got that patent. She just didn't realize it would also change if he didn't get it.

The sound of a key in the door lock of the apartment had May up from the new sofa and across the living room to wait by the door. She tried to keep the relief off of her face when she saw that Ben was fine. He must have seen it anyway, because he quickly put down a large shopping bag, took off his backpack, and then hung up his coat.

“I'm so sorry I left like that, May.” Ben said with a soft voice and then he hugged her tenderly.

May heard the sincerity in his voice and hugged him back as she rested her chin on his shoulder.

“I just needed to get away for a while and think.” Ben said and he lightly rubbed her back. “It took me a while to figure out what I was going to do.”

“What are you going to do?” May asked and leaned back to look into his eyes.

“I wanted to fight fire with fire.”

“Ben, he probably has a whole bunch of lawyers to handle things like this, even if we could afford one, no one in their right minds would take the case. He's Tony Stark!”

“Yeah, I came to that conclusion pretty quickly.” Ben said and then smiled. “So, I decided there was only one real way to get revenge on a billionaire genius for stealing my patent and ruining our future. I do it through the ones closest to him.”

May blinked her eyes for a moment. “Pepper Potts!”

Ben nodded. “I found out that she's going to be having lunch at Chez Perez and then shopping for the afternoon tomorrow.”

“How did you do that?” May asked.

“I tipped a barista twenty bucks. For some reason, they get really chatty when you do that.” Ben said with a grin.

May looked surprised. “Ben, I think anyone would be all chatty for twenty dollars!”

“Yeah, that's why it works.” Ben said. “I already bought a nice outfit to wear for when I just happen to bump into her coming out of the restaurant.”

May smiled. “You're going to have to dress up and show me. I can't let you meet someone so rich without checking that you look dapper.”

“Dapper? Really?” Ben asked with a laugh.

“Yes, and we're going to have to give that hair a trim, too.” May said and reached up to run her hands through it. “Although, keeping it a little longer might not be too bad, either.”

“If you like it longer, I'll keep growing it out.” Ben said and her eyes widened. “Until the bald patch grows in, getting my hair trimmed will only make it more prominent.”

“That's true.” May said and ran her fingers through his hair a couple more times before she stopped. “We can concentrate on styling it and making the mess look intentional.”

“Gee, thanks.” Ben said and rolled his eyes.

“It gives you a bit of a wild look.”

“Yes, that will get the attention of an older woman that I want to get into the good graces of.”

“You would be surprised how many like the look.” May said with a teasing smile.

“Probably.” Ben said and picked up his backpack and the shopping bag. “I'll grab a quick shower and you can help me with this, because I bought something for you, too.” He said and waited for a moment, because May's eyes kept darting from his face to the shopping bag. He grinned and handed her the shopping bag. “Go ahead.”

May let out an excited sound and took the bag, kissed his cheek, and ran over to the new leather sofa and started emptying the large bag. Ben went up the stairs, put his backpack into his room, covered the camera and brought in the gym bag with his Spider-Man suit and the drone in it from the fire escape, and stashed it in the closet on the top shelf.

Ben uncovered the camera and emptied his pockets, stripped off right there, and tossed the dirty clothing into the hamper in the corner of the room. He waved at the camera and grabbed a fresh pair of boxers before going to get a much needed shower.