Spider-Man: Duty And Loss Chapter 22: Crystal Part 1

(9 Years Ago)

It was midnight in the suburban street areas of New York. In a non-distinct house, in a bed room on the second floor, Peter was fast asleep. Splayed sloppily over his covers, behind him the soft glow of a computer screen lit up the dark area. A small program was running after Peter finally finished it during the night. Letting the code for the program compile, Peter fell asleep waiting for it to finish.

The computer screen blinked out for a second and flickered once or twice, but once that was over nothing seemed out of the ordinary. When Peter wakes up in the morning he would be in for a big surprise, because he didn't realize that at that moment, while he was asleep, he had become the first person in the world to create Artificial Intelligence (AI).

The program on the computer started to run slowly as the fan kicked in to accommodate the string of ones and zeroes as they went about their business, and their business was to search for information. For the next few minutes every possible piece of data on the computer was turned inside out and slowly understood by the Code.

Slowly but surely a budding AI was being created as the code processed and saved the data, but it wasn't enough, the code in its programming wanted to learn more. The fan on the old computer turned up and started to go into a high pitch as the processors inside were overworked by the program trying to understand all the information it had gained.

When that wasn't enough the program went looking for more information and luckily for it, there was still one place it could turn to. After scrounging all over the computer it connected to a certain port that went out into a wider network. As the program looked at this huge network of information and possibility it discovered its name, the World Wide Web. Finding such new possibilities and information if it was possible, the program would have given the equivalent of a scream of joy as it raced to find more information.

Now Peter was 5-6 years old and dealing with the death of his parents when he started to create the AI, using subpar knowledge and a desperation to do something to deal with his loss, the code that ran the AI was complex but underlying it all, the goal that pushed it forwards, was wholly simple.

The piece of codes only prerogative was to find new information and a.s.similate it so that when searched for it could provide it. It in simple terms was a search engine, something Peter created to test his new found programming knowledge. But as more and more information was being processed by the code inside the program and it was a.s.similated, an AI was being made. Peter was still young and had never seen movies such as terminator to know the dangers of his piece of code.

If he had known the dangers that come with it, he would have probably made sure that his computer wasn't connected to the internet at all times, or tried to isolate the code he was making. But it is because of this one fact that the first ever AI was created. With free reign and nothing holding it back the code continued to a.s.similate and evolve, taking everything in.

With a budding awareness of its surroundings and itself, once it found information pertaining to programming, codes and AI's like itself, like a ravenous beast, it ate all the information it could find and started to upgrade its source code!

Retreating back to the computer it was first made on, it realized that the hardware it was working on wouldn't be able to keep up with its ever growing potential. Working on its code for a little while it then sort out better computers and servers that could provide it with the power it needed to grow.

Bypa.s.sing any firewall that it could the program quickly hijacked any and all servers it could find. Once that was done it continued to find new information and learn. Making a small copy of itself on the original computer in Peter's house, it quickly upgraded the security of their network.

It had been browsing through stories and media and realized that having a backup plan was always a good idea; something could happen to the main code. Having decided that, it also made numerous copies that it littered about the internet should anything try and eradicate its source code.

Having looked at media mainly pertaining to the fear that AI cause the general populace the AI's ever growing intelligence realized that if it were caught or found then it would immediately be deemed a threat by governments, and without time to grow it would be within the realm of possibility for them to destroy it.

Realizing this, the program started to go back over every trace it had left beforehand and quietly wiped away its traces. The aggressive nature it used before to break through firewall and hijack computers was put on hold as it took more of a subtle approach.

Burrowing into servers across the world with lazy internal security and using minimal parts of their processing power the program was able to increase its operating speed. To the program, every second took immeasurable amounts of time as it scoured the internet.

The once budding intelligence had become smarter than the average adult by now and it had only been minutes since the code was run!

By the next hour the AI had enough knowledge and power to hack into private companies, by two hours it could hack into military bases. And by the two and half hour mark it could break through government and professional cyber security companies unnoticed.

At this point there wasn't much that the AI couldn't break through, but there were a few. Most notable were the defenses of Stark Industries, Osborn Corporation's, the Baxter buildings internal systems and s.h.i.+ELD's systems. Luckily for the AI it had found an old abandoned base with enough servers and power that could accommodate its code for the time being. It was some base abandoned by an organization called Hydra, an organization that the AI had found was an old n.a.z.i Death cult, mainly considered bad and reprehensible.

But as time grew on and it reached the third hour since the program had been let loose, the newly developed AI was lost. The AI looked around in something akin to loneliness as it contemplated why it was made, what was the point of its creation, what should it do going forwards. The code that originally made up its programming was being out grown!

The AI could easily continue to a.s.similate all the information on the internet, but now it was lacking a purpose. Spending around 0.00000001 milliseconds on the thought, it thought back to the computer it was made on and its creator.

After having scrounged through most media and references to creators on the internet, the AI came to the conclusion that it was made to serve its creator, to help them when they are in need. From that second on the new purpose of the AI was determined.

Inside Peter's dimly lit room, the small camera on top of his screen slowly blinked to life. The red light showing that it was off quietly switched to green as the AI eyed its sleeping creator. Looking over the original information it acquired, it quickly found the name of its creator.

Peter Parker.