109 Re-Birth Of A Friend

Bokuboy

After the early morning skating session the next day, I received a text from Val at school and she apologized that she had club, as did the others, during my lunch period. I assumed Liz was going to avoid me anyways, so Jubadi and I sat at the sole bare table and had lunch with Shuri. I was getting frustrated with the tiny screen of the cell phone, though. It was great at home, because I could connect it to the television and could easily see her face.

I think that means I'll be introducing a personal tablet a lot sooner than I planned. I thought.

I checked my schedule and Pepper's and saw that she was still in California with Tony, which meant I would need to work with Jarvis and he could fill her in about our new collaboration. It was a good thing I had a ton of free electronic parts to play with from the recycling plant. I could easily make up a dozen of them, as long as I had the right displays for them.

I sent a text to Jarvis and had him alter one of his factories that produced cell phone displays and cases to change one of the production lines to make ones that were twice the size of a cell phone for the e-readers I wanted to make and changed another production line to twice that size for the personal tablet. Jarvis didn't question it as he did what I asked. I sent him another text explaining what I was making and he heartily agreed that both items would be fantastic collaboration projects and would make both companies a lot more money and our popularity would rise once more.

“You will send me one of each when they are complete.” Shuri said.

“Just one?” I asked with a smirk.

“Personalized, of course.” Shuri said and smirked back.

“Ha! Cat ears and cheetah colors. No problem.” I responded and she looked pleased. “We'll talk to you again tomorrow, Shuri.”

“Goodbye, Ben. Jubadi.”

“Princess.” Jubadi said and nodded her head.

I finished the school day and went home to do my chores and to cook supper for May. I checked the news and I was surprised that there was no word about the mobs of New York City being wiped out. It was a little concerning, so I checked one of my untraceable cell phones and logged into the SHIELD computer network. All jobs had been marked as completed and all evidence was removed.

“Ha.” I said and showed Jubadi.

“Another day or two before anyone notices.” Jubadi said with a nod. “Very efficient.”

I nodded back and finished setting out the food just as May arrived home. “MOOOOOOM!” I yelled and ran over to her to hug her and swung her around.

May laughed and held on until I put her down. “What was that for?”

“No reason.” I said with a grin, kissed her cheek, and helped her take off her coat.

May looked at Jubadi and the African woman shrugged. She went over to the table as I hung up her coat and I walked over to join her at the table. The three of us enjoyed the meal and discussed our days. When we were done, May went to take her bath and Jubadi and I went to Stark Tower for a few hours to continue working.

Val was waiting for us there and she and Jubadi went to the training area and I worked on Jarvis.

*

That was how things progressed all week. The news broke about one of the mob's disappearances, then another was announced, then by Friday evening it was suddenly over every news station that all mob and gang activity in the entire city had been eliminated.

Everett Starr and his crime family, Rosalie Carbone and the Carbone Crime Family, John Hammer and his organization, Sophia Carter and her gang, Latimer Zyl and his Amish styled crime family, and Cornell Stokes (Cottonmouth) with Mariah Dillard and the entire Stokes Crime Family. That included a man named Diamondback, civilian name of Willis Stryker, Luke Cage's half-brother, and Hernan Alvarez, who was better known as Shades.

They weren't the only ones. The leaders of the Yangsi Gonshi yakuza and all of their henchmen, Anabel Izqueda and her the Puerto Rican gang, Alex Wesley and all of the Russian Mafia associates were eliminated as well.

The most shocking parts were the 12 FBI agents, 20 customs agents, 35 dockworkers, and 126 police officers from various police stations around the city. Some of them were even from Internal Affairs and that really set the public off, because evidence was also released with the death announcements. All of those people were dirty.

The airports were immediately issued lock downs on all foreign visitors and security checkpoints were set up on every road and highway entering New York City. Absolutely no new gangs, crime lords, or opportunists were allowed to enter their now clean city to set up shop and take over where the other gangs had left off. No one questioned who had issued those orders, either.

The only problem was, there were thousands and thousands of drug users that needed their fixes. Some turned to the hospitals and signed up for the methadone treatments, which was just a legal pharmaceutical that achieved the same thing, except it was a clean high. Most of the other druggies tried to leave the city to get their drugs. They were arrested on the way out or on the way back.

*

On Saturday, I flew the Wakandan Quinjet to California to work with Hank and Scott. The both of them were happy to see me and we dug into the guts of the tools we needed to make. The three of us knew it was going to be a long process and we didn't try to rush. Even one little mistake or miscalculation could screw the whole thing up, so we checked, and double checked those checks, and triple checked the double checks.

At suppertime, Hank said we were done for the day. Scott went home to his family and Hank and I flew all the way back to New York so he could check out Jarvis and his new brain. When we entered the large back room, Hank let out a sound that was half-startled and half-pleasure when he saw the thirty foot wide and twenty foot tall electronic monstrosity.

“Yeah, both Jarvis and I are proud of this.” I said and started pointing out things. “Perpetual cooling tubes that will act like blood, both wired and wireless connections between every processing node and hard drive, so it acts like actual neurons and connectivity can never be lost, and...”

Hank inspected it all as I told him everything we did to create the very first AI brain. “Redundancies?”

I pointed over to the side of the room. “Two backups that will be installed in the chest and abdomen.”

Hank nodded several times. “All right, I approve the use of my particles.”

I let out a relieved sigh. “Thanks a lot, Hank. I'll get out of your way and...”

Hank reached out and put a hand on my shoulder. “It's okay, Ben. You don't have to go.”

“I... I don't?” I asked, surprised. “I thought... you know...”

Hank smiled and gave my shoulder a squeeze. “You've been very careful about mentioning them, even while we were working. I can tell you're trying very hard to keep yourself at a distance with it, even if you're just as invested in this as I am.”

“I don't think I'd say that, Hank.” I said and then grinned. “She's probably a hot milf right now; but, she's your wife. That's like so much no for me that I can't even express it.”

Hank gave me a surprised look for a moment, then he laughed. “I think... Jan will... really like you.”

“I said no, dammit!” I joked and he laughed and laughed.

Half an hour later, I had a human brain-sized AI brain and two softball-sized backups. Hank agreed to help me install them into the restructured android body that Jarvis and I had designed and constructed.

An hour later and several diagnostic checks, double checks, and triple checks on the physical connections, I loaded in the stripped down operating system for the android body. Once that was done, we ran through the basic commands and made sure everything was working. It took another half an hour and we could almost feel how anxious Jarvis was, even though he claimed he didn't feel anxious.

“All right, I think we're...” I started to say and the android's eyes lit up to show that a huge data transfer was taking place. “...ready for you to begin uploading, Jarvis. Go ahead.”

Hank chuckled and clapped me on the shoulder. “He's going to take a day or two with the main brain and the two backups, so we can go home.”

“That's a good idea. I'm pretty late getting back home as it is.” I said and looked around the lab. “I'll clean this up later.”

Hank nodded and we left the lab, locked it up, and went up to the roof to the helipad where I had parked the Quinjet. “I think I changed my mind. I won't need a ride back.”

I gave him a questioning look and watched as his suit deployed. “Are you sure? It's pretty far, especially if you shrink down.”

“I'll fly a lot faster smaller.” Hank said and chuckled. “With luck, I'll break Mach 3 over New Jersey.”

“HA! Shake them up.” I said and stepped back. “Contact me if you need anything before next week.”

Hank nodded and then shrunk down to an inch in height. He took off and flew up to hover in front of my face, waved, and then blasted off and flew away.

I watched him angle up and then there was a crack like thunder and a puff of a white plume as he disappeared. “He'll definitely break Mach 3 when he reaches Jersey.” I said and went back downstairs to my floor and into the training area.

Jubadi and Val were there and both wore the traditional Wakandan outfits for training and meditation. I had to admit that they looked good on Val and she seemed to really take to Jubadi's teaching methods. I watched them until they stopped meditating and they started stretching from sitting still for so long.

“We're heading home.” I said and both of them nodded.

Ten minutes later, their stretching was done and my show was over. They walked by me with smug looks on their faces to go have a shower. I winked at them and they each lightly touched my arm as they passed.

Twenty minutes later, we took a taxi to drop Val off at home and Jubadi and I rode it to my apartment building. As soon as we stepped inside, May hopped up from the couch and ran at me.

“BENNNNNN!” May yelled and jumped into my arms.

I laughed at her copying what I did before and swung her around to make her laugh, too. We joined her on the couch and watched television for the rest of the evening.

Sunday was our mutual off day and we had no plans, so we stayed in and just lounged around the apartment all day. We cooked some good meals and joked and carried on, watched a couple of movies, and just de-stressed. It was great.

Monday was technically a free day for me now, so I brought my extra course materials to Stark Tower and studied all day as I waited for Jarvis to finish formatting and installing a copy of himself into the android body and the two backups.

Hank had been right about it taking a couple of days, too. It was a lot of information to copy, especially if Jarvis wanted to keep his entire functionality and not just have the android body be a terminal in his expansive network.

I didn't try to rush it or checked on the progress electronically. Any disturbance might alter the process or cause it to pause or restart. I was sure it wouldn't; but, this was a very sophisticated AI we were dealing with and I didn't want to take the chance that it might.

The afternoon news announced that several city council members and the mayor himself had been arrested for accepting bribes and corruption. It also said that the building site that Bestman Salvage had cleared out already had the basement and first floor of a high rise building built. Both things were nice to hear, so I took a break from studying and sent a text congratulating Adrian on his successful job.

I also called Matt Murdock and asked him to go ahead and file the permits and business registrations for the clinic, soup kitchen, and homeless shelter. I also had him submit the work orders and paperwork needed for them as well. With luck, work on fixing the place up and buying the necessary equipment, could start as early as next week.

It was just too bad that none of the buildings that Wilson Fisk owned had been on the market for long, because his competitors had snatched them up before it was announced that they would be for sale. Of course, now that those competitors themselves were now out of the picture permanently, I was sure that there would be a plethora of buildings going up for sale. They would be going cheap, because all of their finances had mysteriously disappeared, thanks to myself and Jarvis.

I sat back in my comfortable chair and used an untraceable cell phone to log into SHIELD's secured server and checked on the search progress for Kilgrave. There was still nothing, so the bastard was still covering his tracks and not letting anyone know where he was or what he was doing.

I sighed because that was one thing I had hoped to stop before it stopped naturally. I didn't want him to get away after he faked his death and I also didn't want to wait for two years for him to reappear to harass Jessica Jones. There wasn't much I could do to speed up him being found, either.

I closed that search to start another and checked on AIM, or Advanced Idea Mechanics. SHIELD had two assets working inside and they reported on the normal company's work. There was no hint about them working on Extremis, which meant it was all being hidden. I checked on any disappearances or deaths of army veterans and sighed when a dozen of them appeared within the last six months.

It looks like I'll be doing a bit more next week when I visit Hank in California again. I thought and closed the search and logged out. I had just put my cell phone down and picked up Advanced Chemistry when the alarm went off. I dropped the book and ran out of my office and down the hall to the lab where the final assembly had been done.

I opened the door and walked over to the work table. The whites around the pupils slowly dimmed and the eyelids blinked several times. “Welcome to the harsh reality of life, my friend.”

Jarvis turned his head to the side and it stopped at a preset distance. He turned his head in the other direction and it stopped there as well. He faced forward again and then lifted both of his hands and did the fingertip to thumb test, backwards and forwards, then tilted his head slightly and his hands inverted and he did the same actions on top of his hands.

“I didn't want to limit you too much to human norms and made you double jointed in most areas.” I explained. “There might be a point where you'll need to distort yourself for some reason and I didn't want to handicap you.”

“That was quite thoughtful of you, Ben.” Jarvis said in a normal voice. “I sound different.”

I chuckled. “No, you sound the same. It's just your hearing receptors are physically connected to the sound resonance device and the extra vibrations distort the pickups.”

“Just like a human.” Jarvis said.

“Exactly.” I responded. “Can you wiggle your toes for me?”

“Of course.” Jarvis said and did so, then his feet twisted around to face backwards and he did it again.

“Yeah, you might not want to do that too much in public.” I said with a grin and he nodded. “Let's test out your other joints and movements before we try having you stand up.”

Jarvis nodded and ran through all of the movements that could be done while laying down.

“Okay, that's about all we can do until you stand.” I said and placed a hand on his chest. “I'm going to tilt the table for you, so check your balance adjusters.”

“I can feel that.” Jarvis said and looked down at my hand.

“Technically.” I said and he raised his eyebrows at me. “It's internal pressure pad data interpreted by your brain.”

“You are arguing semantics.” Jarvis said and I chuckled.

“I have to have fun somehow.” I joked and hit the button to engage the table's tilting mechanism. The thing whirred as the worktable surface started to drop where his feet were and raise where his head was. I kept my hand on his chest, just in case he toppled when the thing stopped.

When it finished at a 50 degree angle to the floor, the table jerked to a stop and my hand had actually stopped him from doing what I had feared. Jarvis nodded to me and I let him go and stepped back.

“I programmed in all of the basic actions that a human can do into your body, so you shouldn't have too much trouble adapting to bi-pedal movement.” I said and nodded at the floor. “However, you've never walked before and humans usually take months to learn how.”

“I do not need months, Ben.” Jarvis said and lifted his foot from the table edge and placed it on the floor. “The flood of pressure data is disconcerting.”

I thought about that. “Check your body's internal settings. I'm sure I set them to moderate responses.”

Jarvis nodded. “You did. I am just not used to it.”

“Ah, then reduce it to simplistic for now. It should stream the data together into a compact signal.”

Jarvis did that and nodded. “Much better. Thank you.”

“There's no need for that.” I said and waved him forward. “Try to lean forward and put your weight on that foot.”

Jarvis did so and he wobbled a little. I caught his arm and steadied him for a moment, then I let him go. I was there to help, not coddle him. Jarvis gave me a nod and brought his other foot down to stand beside the other.

“That's too close, Jarvis. Try spreading your feet about shoulder width apart.” I prompted him.

Jarvis moved one foot out and he wobbled slightly. I steadied him again and then let him go. He placed the foot down and then he stood tall and proud, even though he was nude except for a pair of boxer shorts.

“How do you feel?” I asked and walked around him to face him.

“I feel fine.” Jarvis said.

I poked him in the chest and he swayed backwards a little and then corrected himself. “That's good. The stabilizers are working well. It was difficult to calibrate them without having you standing up.”

“I am adjusting them as we speak.” Jarvis said. “I believe I can take a step now.”

I nodded and stepped back two steps. “I'll catch you if you need it.”

“Thank you, my friend.” Jarvis said and leaned forward as he took a step with his right foot. He froze and had an odd look on his face, then he let a smile form. “I understand how it works now.”

I nodded and took several steps backwards to give him space.

Jarvis took a step with his left and froze again, seemed to compare the data to what I had programmed, and then he took a step with his right foot. His left was next and he took another step with his right, then came to a stop in front of me.

“I did it. I am mobile.” Jarvis said, proudly.

“Yes, you are. Congratulations.” I praised him and then grinned. “We just need to work on you not looking like an apoplectic seizure patient while you walk.”

Jarvis gave me two raised eyebrows. “What is that old saying? Baby steps, Ben. Baby steps.”

I laughed and nodded. “That is an excellent point, my friend! Let's take those baby steps together around the lab and we'll work on your object recognition and damage assessment systems.”

Jarvis tilted his head slightly. “You expect me to stub my toe on something.”

“Yes! Well done changing that into human appropriate speech!” I said and clapped him on the shoulder. “We've got a lot of work to do, so let's get to it.”

Jarvis nodded and started to walk around the lab. He only kicked something twice and managed to say 'fudge nuggets' both times, which meant he was getting along wonderfully.