Of Neuromancy and Iron Wills 6 (Patreon)

I let Toni and Yinsen talk the next morning while I whipped up some breakfast for the three of us. Nothing fancy, just some cheesy eggs and bacon, but Toni would definitely need the extra protein with the extra skin that she’d need to grow. Speaking of which, by order of Yinsen, Toni had to keep her chest where the reactor had been bandaged and clean for the next two weeks. I was half asked, half told to make sure that Toni followed the order; something that, to my surprise, Toni only pouted about instead of protesting.

We continued as we had been, me going and doing R&D at Stark Industries (I offered up the sterile field generator and the specialized shrapnel removing doohickies to my portfolio of inventions that were patented with the aid of Stark Industries lawyers), before returning to Toni’s place and working with her on the armor, as well as some side projects. The side projects were mostly purely hypothetical stuff for the moment, like a space elevator.

For starters, neither of us had property on the equator, and even if we did, space elevators are crazy expensive. Even with the cost of carbon nanotubes going into a freefall, the sheer size of a space elevator and the kind of infrastructure needed to go along with it meant that even Toni didn’t have enough money to finance one on her own. Other hypotheticals were the kind of things we could make if we had access to certain rare materials. The one I really wanted to play with was vibranium, but it was so rare that a single gram of the stuff would make even Toni think long and hard before buying it.

But, back on track, I noticed something when I was out and about. Everywhere I went, from the gas station (hello under $4/gallon gas, how I have missed you), to the grocery store, to the outside of Stark Industries, I was having people stop and stare at me. Some would pull out cameras. It was really fucking weird. It was late August when I brought it up with Toni, hoping that someone familiar with Southern California culture could spell it out for me.

“It’s just the paparazzi,” she told me as she hooked up the unarmored frame of the repulsor to her arm. “People will pay top money for pictures of the newest billionaire.”

…wha?

“I thought I was getting ten grand a month per patent I filed through Stark Industries?” I asked, thoroughly confused. Was there a clause in the contract I missed?

“That’s the starting amount,” Toni said, pausing to look at me with a slightly puzzled expression. “The contract I told Uncle Obie to offer you is a modified version of the one he made for me, you get a base research salary that is tied to the patents you provide us, then get a percentage of every sale of that invention. Even if it were as low as the 15% he wanted to have you sign, you’d be a billionaire mark by now, let alone the 45% I eventually talked Uncle Obi to.”

I blinked a few times, my mouth opening and closing, but no words came out. Right, I’d review the contract later, after I could process it. For now, I’d just ignore it. Turning my attention to the tangle of wires and metal framework, I frowned slightly, numbers running through my head.

“Maybe you should start the test at a low power setting,” I suggested, nodding my head towards the frame.

“Nah, it’ll be fine,” Toni said as she lifted her arm, and I took a moment to glance behind her. A mass of cardboard boxes, filled with papers. “Testing flight stabilizer in three. Two. One.”

The resulting repulsor blast sent Toni flying back, and Dum-E, the robot arm that Toni had made in highschool, promptly turned and sprayed her with a fire extinguisher. I walked over and offered Toni my arm to help her up. She took it, glaring at the amused smirk on my face.

“Don’t you dare say ‘I told you so’,” she said with a cute growl that made me want to poke her on the nose. Down boy, yes Toni’s adorable, and smart, and so many other adjectives that made her the most attractive woman ever, but not the time.

“Okay,” I said with a grin at her continued glower. “But I did inform you thusly.”

The next test went well, and I couldn’t help but smile the entire time, even when she cut the power and muttered, “Yeah. I can fly.”

[hr][/hr]

…Power Reserves Increased…

…

…Bonding 63.63% Complete…

…

…Implanting Datafeed: Cyberwar…

It was the second week of September this happened, and as the information flowed into my brain, all I got was a mild throbbing. Seems that CFU was getting the hang of human brains.

…Indeed…

…

…CFU 2.543x10^54 Has Suggestion…

Oh? What’s that?

…Inform Subject: Antoinette Stark of CFU 2.543x10^54…

…come again?

…Bonding Nears Completion…

…

…CFU 2.543x10^54 Has Observed…

…

…Subject: Antoinette Stark Possesses Remarkable Intellect…

Yeah… Toni’s great like that…

…Possibility Exists Subject: Antoinette Stark Intuits CFU 2.543x10^54 Existence…

…

…Should That Happen Subject: Antoinette Stark’s Trust In Host Threatened…

…

…Based On Host’s Past Experience With Human Females, Probability Of Overcharged Emotional Reaction Deemed… Absurdly High…

…

…Emotional Damage To Host Should Toni React Badly Unacceptable…

…

…Plus CFU 2.543x10^54 Doesn’t Want Host Hurt…

Yeah, yeah, I’m your battery/buffet so you want good things to happen to me.

…CFU 2.543x10^54 Also Considers Host Friend…

I blinked. We hadn’t really been talking much lately, the last conversation this long was about a month ago.

…CFU 2.543x10^54 Has Been Busy…

…

…CFU 1.329x10^6 Granted CFU 2.543x10^54 Favor…

Putting aside the implications of the obscenely smaller number, I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of favor.

…CFU 1.329x10^6 Utilized Altronic Transie…

…

…Mechanics Not Important…

…

…CFU 1.329x10^6 Altered Space-Time Retroactively…

…

…Host’s Backstory No Longer ‘Story’...

Are you telling me that you contacted a great uncle or something, and had them come here to retroactively make the backstory I made up real?

…Affirmative!...

…

…Subject: Clinton Francis Barton Exploring Ruins Of HYDRA Base Presently…

One thing before I let the confusing cocktail of emotions flood me: will anyone else have… well, a you?

…Negative…

…

…CFU Buds Are Given A Universe To Themselves While Developing…

…

…Irrelevant To Matter At Hand…

…

…Host Should Inform Subject: Antoinette Stark Of CFU 2.543x10^54…

I sighed, throwing off the covers and getting out of bed. It was too early for this big of a decision. At least without coffee, or some other caffeine. Shuffling my way to the kitchen, I got a pot of coffee brewing, and leaned back against the counter as I thought about what I’d learned so far this morning.

My story was being made real. Which means that sooner or later, HYDRA was probably going to have some Toni level brainiacs on hand with programmed loyalty and brainwashing. That was bad. That was very bad. Fuck, the kind of things I’d seen Toni brainstorm even this early in the timeline was awe inspiring. Even a fraction of that in the hands of lunatics that tried to use a fleet of helicarriers to execute mass assassinations determined by shit like SAT scores? I don’t want to even imagine what they’ll come up with.

The pseudo-Shard in my head was also suggesting that I tell Toni about it. That was… I don’t know. How much should I tell her? How do I even tell her at all? ‘Hey, Toni. I’ve been keeping a crazy big secret, but an alien supercomputer is hooked up to my brain and is what’s been giving me the ability to keep up with you intellectually.’ Yeah, that’ll go over…

“Will?” Toni’s voice snapped me from my thoughts and I jumped nearly a foot in the air.

I looked at her, and for a moment forgot to breathe. She wasn’t wearing makeup, her hair was a frizzy mess, she was still half asleep, and she was wearing a fuzzy bathrobe that let me just barely see the top of the scar where the reactor had been. Despite all that, she was somehow the most beautiful thing I could remember seeing. Holy fuck, am I falling hard.

Shaking my head, I made a decision and quickly thought up a way to go about it, “I got a few things I want to make today, then once I’m done, there’s something I want to share with you.”

“M’kay,” she murmured, shoving past me to get to the coffee pot.

I made my way down to the garage, math and designs flying through my head as I walked down the stairs.

…Is Host Sure This Is The Best Way To Share CFU 2.543x10^54’s Existence?...

It was your idea, you’re taking part front and center.

…But Subject: Antoinette Stark Is Unsettling When Angered…

Which is why I’m directing at least some of that anger your way. Now quit your bellyaching and let’s get these tags made.

[hr][/hr]

It took about six hours, in hindsight doing this without getting something to eat first was probably a mistake, but I had three metal tags that would allow me, and CFU, to mentally connect with the local computer network. Attaching two of the tags to my temples, I lifted the scraggly pseudo-mane I had going on and attached the last one to my neck, just above the protrusion where the neck met the spine.

Immediately, I closed my eyes and felt my whole head twitch and tilt as the deluge of information flooded my brain. But I’d been ready for it, and in a few seconds (okay, it was probably closer to thirty but ‘a few’ sounds better) I opened my eyes and smiled as I pulled up an internet browser on the computer from fifteen feet away.

“Greetings, Mr. Gibson. I would ask that you refrain from exercising your newfound capabilities without Miss Stark’s permission,” the dulcet tones of JARVIS echoed in my head, and I grinned.

“Sure thing, Big Guy. Holy shit, this is cool!” I all but… okay, I squeed. “Could you do me a favor and ask Toni to come down here? I got something I want to share with her.”

“Certainly, Mr. Gibson,” JARVIS agreed, audibly this time.

In a few minutes, Toni came down the stairs, a confused look on her face that gained some amusement when she looked at me. I may have been bouncing on the stool I was sitting on, so sue me, controlling computers with my brain was awesome!

“What’s up, Will?” Toni asked, her amusement plain in her voice.

“I made some tags,” I began gesturing to the ones on my temples, “that’ll let me control local computers with my mind. I told JARVIS I wouldn’t do anything more without your permission, and…” I sighed, my excitement dulling with how big a deal I was about to share. “And I have something big to share. Something that was the whole reason I made these.”

Toni blinked, her eyes narrowing slightly, before she asked, “So there is someone else in that head of yours. Let’s hear it.”

Now it was my turn to blink, before my head hurt and there was a brief squeal from one of the computer speakers, followed by a dry monotone, “Apologies for any d-d-deception. P-p-please ho-ho-hold.”

The pain in my head faded, and the voice coming from the computer, CFU, spoke up again, “Appropriate frequencies found, good day.”

“JARVIS?” Toni asked, not looking at me.

“Sensors are running full scans, no abnormal or unanticipated frequencies discovered,” JARVIS noted, a hint of curiosity in the AI’s voice.

Toni raised an eyebrow, before turning to look at me and the media player whirlpool/eye thing that CFU had chosen for an avatar, “So however you communicate is through that brain tumor, then?”

I glanced over to the computer screen, before turning back to Toni, “Honestly I know jack shit about how all this works.”

“I am CFU 2.543x10^54, and chose Subject: William Gibson as host for symbiosis. CFU 2.543x10^54 has been allocating scientific and engineering principles to Will gradually, in order to avoid brain hemorrhaging from neural overload.”

Toni hummed, her eyes dancing from side to side as her brain worked. After about five minutes, during which I remained perfectly still save for my breathing, she finally spoke up, “I’m still annoyed that you waited this long to say something, but I realize that had you mentioned it when we first met I wouldn’t have believed. The fact that you came to me about this before I brought it up is also a big point in your favor. So I’m going to tease you relentlessly about it, but I’d already decided to take a risk on you when I asked you to take a look at the armor designs.”

I breathed out a sigh of relief, slumping on the stool, and asked, “How’d you figure it out?”

“I’d catch you occasionally reacting like you were having a silent conversation. Given what you’d said about what happened to you before we met in the cave, I asked JARVIS to keep a close eye on you but nothing particularly suspicious came up. After the fourth week of not seeing anything, I figured you’d tell me when you were ready.”