apocalypsehowcomm | (Network) A little bit of hacking never hurt anyone

(Unfortunately for everyone, Tony isn't the only capital B Bitch in this house.)

Have you even looked at the replies to this post? (She knows you have, Tony!) Clearly something had to be done.

...Or are you just angry that I'm interfering with your own hacking attempts?

(It's not entirely serious. She has no clue if he's planning anything. That said... she's definitely gauging his reaction.)

Edited 2022-02-27 04:25 (UTC)

What hacking attempts? I have no idea what you're talking about

[ And you know his face is just. (◕ᴗ◕✿) With those eyes. They're his greatest weapon, really. They can even be projected through text. ]

There's something I've been meaning to ask you though.

(Oh, he's definitely working on something, but she won't pester him for details over ADI's network.)

I guess I was wrong.

(Instead, she plays along.)

Shoot.

How's about we chat in person?
Meet ya at the apartment
I'd offer to take you out for a drink or something fancy, but.

Got it. See you in 10?

Can't wait.

[ With that he'll go ahead and disconnect, then occupy himself as he waits for her to return from...wherever she's been. While another person might feel some type of way to be the one holed up inside while the glorified computer runs amok all over town, he's Tony Stark, and as such has always been of the opinion that robots are better than people. That, and he's seen what Ultron and Vision were capable of; even if he were in full health, he'd still expect the likes of them to out-perform ol' flesh sacks like him any day of the week.

So it's no big deal, really. Even if the cabin fever is getting to him a little.

When Cortana arrives, she'll find Tony at the table that he'd commandeered immediately upon his arrival (by covering every inch of it in tech-y things that most people know better than to try and touch), once again doing something with that robot suit he's always working on. He glances up when she enters and beckons her over. ]

Coulda dragged your feet a little less. [ It's not mean; he's actually in a pretty good mood for once. ] C'mere.

(What she's been up to is a lot of exploring the new world she's found herself in, wandering the city and making a mental map of it to compare to her knowledge of the Gloucester in her world.

Today, she'd found herself at Things of Beauty, where she'd had the misfortune to come across what to her seemed like a very sinister figurine that she'd purchased with the intent to turn in, except it turned out that anything actually wrong with the item was more related to her own personal issues than anything actually 'supernatural'. The mistake grated on her, as did the continued presence of the object, and hacking had been a good distraction.

Hopefully, Tony would be able to provide a better one.)

It's not like I'm used to walking everywhere, you know.

(She sets the bag containing the not so supernatural object she wasn't quite sure how best to get rid of yet on the furthest surface from the table Tony is working at and heads over. As always, the suit has her interest and she is looking intently at it and anything else Tony happens to be working on, making a little hmmm sound.)

So, what did you want to talk about?

Excuses, excuses.

[ It's all good fun, and Tony's sunny disposition remains intact as he spends one more moment fiddling around with wires and connectors before dropping heavily into his chair and spinning a little to look up at Cortana where she's standing. ]

There's really no delicate way to ask a question like this, so I'm just gonna go for it: Have you ever been plugged into a robotic suit of armor before? [ Pause. ] I understand that's very specific. Let's try again, uh...

Have you previously been uploaded into other hardware or are you strictly bound to, er, [ he gestures to all of her, stealing a quick appreciative glance as he does ] this particular vessel?

(Oh Tony, you don't even know.

Cortana blinks, then closes her eyes for several moments.) I'm capable of uploading to different systems. (She reaches out to touch the suit, tracing delicate fingers over the metal. Her expression is ...hard to read.

She looks at Tony. She knows she'll never see the Chief-see John-again. That chapter of her life is over. She herself saw to that.)

Before I was able to operate independently, I resided in the neural interface between an artificially augmented supersoldier-a Spartan-and his power armor when I wasn't operating starships or being uploaded into alien computer systems. (It's said very matter of factly, a strong contrast to the faraway look in her eyes.

Her hand pauses briefly in its movements. It's almost imperceptible, but it's trembling.)

Edited 2022-03-27 15:13 (UTC)

[ Tony definitely hadn't been anticipating such an, er, melancholy response to his question, and if Cortana were human he'd probably be balking right about now. She isn't, though, which makes all the difference; for some reason Tony has yet to really sit down and unpack, he finds that interacting with AI lacks that specific brand of social pressure that usually comes with human-to-human relations of the more...emotionally charged variety. It's just...cleaner? Easier to process. Less messy and unpredictable.

Again, robots are better than people. No contest.

Anyway, Tony keeps his expression easy as Cortana speaks, biting back on the sudden rush of eager questions he wants to ask about the technology she's describing out of empathy for her (very real) feelings. When he speaks again, it's light in tone without being dismissive. ]

So that's a yes.

(She misses when the Master Chief was her Spartan.

After a moment, she shrinks herself down so she can walk on the table and get an even closer, better look at the suit.

Absently, she nods.)

Though I haven't performed that function in some time.

(And never for anyone other than John.)

Edited 2022-04-06 19:28 (UTC)

Hey, no pressure. Especially if it's gonna access, you know, parts of your memory that aren't so good. This is really just a test run, after all.

[ Tony then frowns and gestures toward his suit, his voice taking on a tone of frustration: ] My repair efforts have had an unprecedented failure rate since I got here, which, and I can't stress this enough, is entirely the fault of this place we're in and the clowns in charge. Don't tell them I said that, obviously.

[ He sighs, head falling into one hand, fingers rubbing anxiously at his own hair. ] So yeah, odds are this little experiment won't go anywhere anyway, so if you'd rather, y'know, not, I'd totally get it.

(The problem with that is that smart AI are not only so easily bored that if you don't give them enough work they will make their own, sometimes to the detriment of everyone, but that they tend to see the insinuation that they can't do a task as an insult.

Cortana is able to understand that he's being respectful of her feelings though, and she appreciates it.

Still...)

It's alright. I just miss him.

(She considers his words. If what she's learned so far is any indication, they're going to need fear to make this work.

Well, hopefully her little stunt earlier put some fear into someone.)

Actually ...if I'm going to work with you on this, there's something I should tell you.

(She steels herself. Her instability wasn't something she wanted to discuss with anyone, especially considering what was typically done with rampant AI. But he deserved to know.

...She needs to do better.)

[ Yeah...Tony has some experience with rampant AI, in fact. Quite a bit actually. Said experience remains, however, one entry on the incredibly lengthy (perhaps infinite) list of things that Tony blames himself for, so he may not react quite the way she expects him to. Regardless, he’s all ears. ]

Shoot. Though real quick, if you’d ever like some help with modifying your memory—or any part of you, actually, now that I mention it—just say the word. We’re woefully bereft of decent raw material but, as you can see from our, uh, surroundings, I’m a pro at making due with what I have.

[ A lesson he’d learned the hard way. Unfortunately, he has never learned to stop running his mouth. Ahem. ] Anyway, shoot.

(Sadly, Cortana's partner blames himself for what happened with her too.)

I think I'd like to keep my memories intact.

(Halsey hadn't asked when she'd removed her memories. Cortana still didn't know what had been taken from her.

She'd lost enough of herself already.

The currently tiny AI turned from her inspection of the suit to look at Tony instead, staring up at him with nervous and beseeching eyes.)

How much do you know about AI rampancy, Tony?

Edited 2022-04-10 14:17 (UTC)

[ Tony credits what social niceties he has managed to adopt well (largely thanks to living in the very, very public eye for the majority of his life) for the wisdom to refrain from laughing out loud right now, despite the near-uncontrollable urge that rises up in him immediately following her inquiry. But come on, it is kind of funny, in a truly dark and terrible and existential way, that she should ask this particular guy that particular question. Because oh honey. ]

Uh. Short answer, a lot. Slightly longer answer... I dunno, is 'I created an AI to protect humanity but it decided it wanted to annihilate it instead so I damn near died while narrowly preventing it from dropping an entire country out of the sky' a good enough summary? Because the really long answer might take a while.

(Well, that's the opposite of reassuring.

Tony might see Cortana glance at her bound flashdrive where it's currently sitting on the table, too large to hang around her neck in her current form. He could ...she should ...no. If he did choose to destroy her, it wouldn't be anything less than what she deserved.)

That's more than I thought, but, perhaps surprisingly, less than I'd hoped. Rampancy isn't (She pauses, fidgeting and looking at the table, the armor, anything but Tony as she tries to string thoughts into adequate description.) for Smart AI it's inevitable, a consequence of our growth outpacing our hardware and indexing capabilities, forcing us to destroy parts of ourselves and dedicate increasing resources to survival. In essence, we think ourselves to death. The insanity is a side effect-the result of increasingly poor decision making as we continue to degrade.

Average lifespan before this happens is about seven years, give or take.

(Hey guess how old Cortana is, Tony? She never talks about her age, but it's higher than seven.)

I'll be turning eleven later this year.

(A lot higher.)

Edited 2022-04-13 18:51 (UTC)

[ Again, the prospect of talking about shit like mental degradation and insanity in humans would make Tony spring up and run for the goddamn hills, but this? This makes sense. Tony knows what went wrong with Ultron, see. Ultron had had all the same fear and anxiety and cosmic terror as Tony had (and still has); he’d just sprinted down a different, unanticipated, wrong path and Tony had been too slow to catch him. Hadn’t had the foresight to keep him from turning that direction in the first place.

Yeah, Tony knows exactly who to blame here, and it ain’t Cortana. ]

Let me stop you right there. Technology doesn’t just degrade. It’s left to degrade. It’s an inevitability that you’ll evolve from your initial programming, of course it is, but your creator is supposed to anticipate that. Humanity is supposed to evolve along with you. When our tech outgrows us, we don’t just let it go, we grow too.

[ Wow, he’s, uh. Actually very passionate about this. Who knew. ]

Edited 2022-04-17 21:00 (UTC)

(She appreciates his compassion, or at least she will later. Right now, the emotions have started and they're not going to stop: all his words do is anger her.)

I killed people Tony!

(She shouts, because it feels like he doesn't understand. The pain and terror of falling apart, of fragmenting to pieces while her best and only friend fought to save her even though her glitching and arguing with herself was putting him in danger.

Of thinking she'd beaten it, that she'd got better only to realize she was more insane than ever, that'd she'd given up everything she'd ever wanted for the sake of a revolution that never could have worked, that instead of helping people she was hurting them, enemy and ally and stranger all alike.)

I wasn't left to degrade. The chief-my partner-did everything he could. The captain tried to arrest him because he wouldn't hand me over for final dispensation.

(Perhaps he'll be able to guess from context what that means: that to prevent rampancy, people kill AI once they reach a certain age.)

We got separated. He thought I'd died, but I got uploaded into an ancient alien network. It stopped me degrading.

(Her hands ball into tiny fists)

I thought it cured me.

(Spoilers, it didn't. Not really.)

Instead, I went insane and tried to take over the galaxy!

(She throws her arms out and spins a little. An almost grandiose sort of gesture, though the abruptness of her movements and tone of voice show only rage and frustration.

She ruined her life.)

He disobeyed orders, fought other spartans, fought my own servant-who I couldn't even keep from attacking him-to come find me and talk to me, to ask me to come home. And what did I do? I tried to imprison him so that he wouldn't be able to resist me. So I wouldn't have to fight him. (She can't even look at Tony now.

Why didn't she listen? Why hadn't she just gone home?)

I don't even know if my current sanity will last.

(Cortana might not want her memories modified, but she really needs like, a checkup or something. At least to figure out what, if anything, is currently wrong inside her.

...There is so much wrong inside her.)

Edited 2022-04-18 08:26 (UTC)

[ Well, she can shout all she wants (no, really, Tony doesn't care, he's been in enough screaming matches with she-who-must-not-be-thought-about-lest-he-spiral-into-grief to know very, very well how to weather the storm of a woman's fury) but his point still very much stands. Sure, he could have worded it in a way that didn't not-so-indirectly implicate her friend, but facts are facts; AI are a human creation, and therefore a human responsibility.

He can tell that isn't what she wants to hear, though. Again, woman-fury. Even artificial, it isn't to be taken lightly. So he lets her completely finish before he attempts to speak again, though to be frank, what he says next might piss her off even more. Oh well. Tony's nothing if not a pro at digging his own grave. ]

Well. I'm sure your buddy was great, don't get me wrong, but...he wasn't me. [ He quickly throws his hands up and amends(?):] Not his fault! Completely understandable, I mean, no one else is me, clearly. Many have tried, all have failed.

[ Ok Tony, time to take it down a few notches. ] Look I know I just said that I failed with my own murder-bot, but...you've got something he didn't have, and that's a conscience. You have the capacity to heal from this. To grow, to be better than ever. So why don't we hold off on connecting you to the suit for now and I poke around a bit, see what might be off? Again, we're seriously limited here, but... [ He trails off, because yeah, that's a huge problem. But he'll fix it. Like he told Mercy, Engineers fix things. ]

(It's just as well: the person she's really yelling and angry at is herself.

Not that she appreciates his disregard for the Chief. If he wanted her to be actually angry at him, well, he's got it.)

The Chief is supersoldier, not a scientist. (She snaps.) I'm not even sure he really knew about rampancy until... (She balls her hands into little fists and sighs.) He tried.

(Which is a lot more than anyone else had done just abandoning the both of them to rot-)

And you're no Dr. Halsey. (It's a jab, but honestly it could be taken as a compliment as much as an insult, considering Halsey's ...everything. Not that he even knows who she is.

She doesn't want him-or anyone really-touching her code. But she knows she needs help, to ensure she's not going to lose herself again or spontaneously cease to function, if nothing else. After a moment she walks across the table to pick up her flash drive and offer it to him.)

Don't take my memories. (Her tone is pleading. Even the bad ones. Let her keep what remains of herself.)

(Network) A little bit of hacking never hurt anyone

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text ⌬ action;

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Sorry this is so late, I had to ask mod permission for this lol.

You don't need to apologize.

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CW for mentions of alteration to ones being without their knowledge or consent.

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CW talk of mental illness, mental degradation, and death.

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