Chapter 12: What Hero’s Do!

The Fastest Man Alive.

Chapter 12.

What Heroes Do.

As soon as I walked into the warehouse I knew something had changed. I could feel a familiar power but I was unable to pinpoint its source. Ignoring that small tingle in the back of my mind I followed Alfred’s lead to the section containing Gwen’s Lab and my own work station/overwatch operations for the city. What Alfred had done could only be described as amazing. Gwen’s small lab of stolen Oscrop equipment no longer had all those loose wires anywhere to be seen. The two monitors she had were now replaced with six and there was a molecular sequence being indexed and was scrolling across the screen. The molecule had changed quite a bit but I could still recognize the OZ formula. But I had no clue what Gwen had changed in the thing. However, I could see that it was already at eighty-seven percent acceptable levels.

She only had the damn thing for half a day and she already made changes to the thing. Man, she can be scary smart when she actually solves crazy things like this. I wonder how Norman would feel discovering that Gwen had cracked his formula and made her own changes. I decided to let the gene sequencer do its thing and ignore the humming of the synthesizer. There was no way I was going to stick my hand into that OZ serum, that was going to make me go crazy far faster than making love to the Phoenix.

Ignoring my burning curiosity I made my way to my side of the workstation to take a look at the improvements made. The first thing I located was the advanced battery from Oscorp that I had taken during my first adventure into the city. It was glowing slightly blue and I could feel it. This was the familiar tingle that was nagging at me in the back of my mind. As I got closer to the power core my lightning reacted to it and came bursting forth from me. And as soon as my lightning and the power core interacted I felt Alfred on the fringes of my mind. This caused my eyes to widen and Alfred’s little Omni-drone body jumped and started to look around. 

Now I was positive that the speed force had created a connection between myself and Alfred or more like myself and the systems he is using but that’s something to explore later. This power core did worry me though, but it appeared Alfred had used it to power everything on our side of the warehouse. “Alfred why is the power core up here?” I asked him. “It is an unlimited power supply, Sir. From my scans and analysis of the device, it seems to be powered by your lightning. So it was only logical to use it to power our entire home, Sir.” This brought me up short, unlimited yeah, cause it’s powered by me, but I had no feeling of a power draw at all and he just said our home, “Does this include the warehouse also Alfred?” I asked just to have some clarification on the matter. “Yes, sir. At first, It was arrayed with the car batteries but they are unable to host the amount of power the core is giving off that is why they failed. So the capacitors and power coils were used to buffer the power output.” came his swift reply.

“Alfred I don’t want to knock your work but I don’t see any of the heavy industrial capacitors or power coils around here,”  I replied taking my eyes off the power core to find the large oversized industrial units. “They are still located in the basement Sir, it wouldn’t do to just move them so I drilled a hole through the floor and passed the cables through.” Great, he discovered sarcasm! At least he is learning I suppose. Ignoring the sassbot it was time to check in on the rest of my station.

My station was so beautifuly connected. On a free-floating metal rack were twelve functioning monitors. It was a nerd’s wet dream: the monitors were connected in a sequential setup allowing one to flow from one screen to the next. Yet, with a simple button press, each monitor can act as an independent computer. Each monitor was displaying something new or some other interesting things about the city. They had up an overlaying map displaying current traffic, current cop locations and radio stations. He even included the fire department radio channels. No big fires going on currently so I didn’t have to go running out to save people then show up at school smelling like smoke.

The weather was also up on display, we even had access to air traffic control and the Coast Guard’s sea routes and communications. Alfred had truly outdone himself with all this information. The communications array was connected into the systems and I also noticed my own phone showing up on the monitor.  “Alfred lets put in place some tracking on my mom’s phone and my dad’s phone. Also lets put in a protocol to track Benjamin Parker. And please locate a person by the name of Shang Chi he is a martial artist that lives within the city. And keep video surveillance on 177A Bleecker street. 
He hangs out there quite often but do use the cameras in the rest of the city to locate him. He is of Asian American descendant, not sure who his mother is but you can track-back to his father named Fu Manchu from China.”

“Certainly, Sir. Would you like me to also track Miss Stacy?” “No Alfred, we can discuss that with her when she shows up; but for now I am very certain of her location and don’t have any fears of her being in danger,” I replied to the AI that’s going to help keep my family safe. And now that I have a protocol for Uncle Ben It was time to place trackers on all the movers and shakers of the coming future.

Peter was going to have his interview at Oscorp soon which I could bet good money on would lead to him getting a certain spider bite. I was silently watching as Alfred had all the cameras running software to bring up everything he could find on Shang Chi and it was a big fat nothing. I should have known. This man was the next level mystical and liked to hang out with Madam Web and the Ancient One. Of course, he wouldn’t be in any one’s systems. Well, that was a big fat bust on finding the best martial artist alive in the Marvel universe. I couldn’t give up hope though because I knew he would show up when shit was truly going down.

Unfortunately, my only back up for a teacher was Colleen Wing’s Chikara dojo in Chinatown but that came with some serious danger of getting caught up in the Hand’s issues. I needed a teacher in swords and other than Mystique she was the only notable badass sword wielder I am aware of unless I can track down Psylocke, Lady Deathstroke or break into SHIELD to get the Cavalry to teach me the sword.

I would have to worry about all this after school, “Alfred transfer everything from my computer to these systems please.”

“Already done sir.”

“What’s our online speed, Alfred?” I couldn’t help but ask. I checked before I asked and noticed that none of my documents or schematics were on the warehouse systems. Not even five seconds had passed and he had gotten everything. Shit, he even transferred all my porn. “Alfred delete all the video files that aren’t movies or research matters. In fact, Alfred delete all my browser history also.”

“Yes, Sir. Done Sir. Also, we are connected directly to the internet through my routing of our IP address. We are currently running with zero latency due to some upgrades I have done to the communications array.” came his fast reply. I should have figured he pulled some sort of upgrade on the systems. Let’s work on the schematics for your body. We worked on his spider bot body then went over the cryogenic coolant that would help my company break into the market. Yet, that wasn’t what I had my money on though. This universe didn’t have Apple because Stark Tech and Oscorp existed and I had plans to take full advantage of it.

While doing my studies under Dr. McCoy I had discovered that halo-projectors existed but no one was using them for anything great. They were expensive with very poor quality but with a word to Alfred he was able to help me locate inexpensive part replacements. This was going to be my big break into the tech industry and I was going to use it to have a stranglehold. My current schematic was a twenty-one-inch length base by one-inch thickness. The screen was only fifteen inches to start, with two projectors in the base two at the top and three down the middle I was able to create a rectangle shaped hologram computer. I had to add an eight-inch recessed dish to make sure there was hand space for the motion tracking and interaction with the hologram. So now it looked like a twenty-one-inch metal tube with a fifteen-inch tall screen with projector points along the back. 

Then I added a four-point motion tracking to make sure any and all hands are tracked within the space. This caused an issue since there normally was six second tracking latency so I moved it all the way down to two point three milliseconds of tracking latency to keep the lag down. I went with a five milliseconds response time to keep it snappy but still have room for improvements. I will have to have Alfred go over everything and remake some parts to improve efficiency and keep from having to buy out the other patents.

When Alfred ran the numbers it all worked but damn was it expensive. This one prototype was going to cost me a cool five grand. Next, it was time to work on the halo pad since the iPad was such an awesome invention of Apple and since they weren’t here, I might as well use them as an example. The halo pad tablet was made of a frame twelve inches long by ten inches across with the inside space empty. The outside shell was housing four halo projectors with the antenna on top and the battery located on both sides. A micro-processing unit was needed for this and the holo-projector monitor to work, but none were currently on the open market. Lucky for me I was already studying nanotechnology and I had my own solution to this little dilemma.

 A while back I had created a microprocessor that had two sizes. The larger B6 model was the size of a half dollar coin and the B4 model was the size of a dime.  They both function as both a CPU and GPU but unfortunately I didn’t have the funding to make it a reality. This was the perfect use for both of them.

With a suggestion for Alfred to keep an eye on Terry since he had to get the money washed today, it was time for school. I can worry about my tech later, pretty sure Alfred was going to make his own adjustments as well. I needed everything modular and inexpensive and I am sure he can solve that for me. Time to go face the firing squad and say I am sorry.

———————–

We were all at lunch and I had to listen as Peter and Ned droned on and on about the new Stark weapons he will be showing to the military over our summer break. It was bad enough having to be here in my own personal hell but I was currently having issues on the Stark kidnapping situation. In my mind, he needed to be kidnapped so he could stop being such a colossal asshole. But, I also needed him in my corner. His money and industry would make a major difference in getting my company up and running. Especially if he owed me one. This I had to be careful with because no matter how much of an asshole Tony can be, he will always stick by his friends no matter what. So I had to be very careful with the Stark situation, but I will have to at least show up for his escape. Peter has his Osborn internship interview in one month which means spiderman was coming soon. Yet, the person I needed was Samuel Sterns the big brain himself.
It would do me good to have Peter in the company with Gwen and myself but I needed him out from under Osborn’s gaze first.

So many plans and so many things that could go wrong the only thing going right would be the training and teachings from Logan and Dr. McCoy. That and the fact I was already friends with Jean Grey, though her powers haven’t shown up yet I was able to swing her and Gwen into a friendship. Now they both attend ballet classes together. 
I attend like the dutiful boyfriend that I am and it totally has nothing to do with the tutu and leggings that make that ass just pop. Yeah, I attended as just a dutiful boyfriend. I already had a few thoughts on helping her gain control and understanding of her abilities.

Think of the devil and he shall appear. I look up from my location at the lunch table to be greeted with a smile from Jean and a signature Stacy glare.  Ugh, she looks like her dad whenever she does that. Well, it seems like this is and isn’t the time to make amends I guess. “Hey Ben, why do you look like your about to face the firing squad,” asked Jean as she pulled up a seat. I was eyeing Gwen as she sat down next to me and decided to eat the lunch I had brought. I had made a quick dash to Subway when no one was watching and I relieved them of three-foot long sub sandwiches. “I believe I am fifty percent guilty and fifty percent innocent but the jury is out on that one.” “What did you do?” Instantly came Jean’s question and I noticed that both Peter and Ned were now paying attention to my dilemma. “Oh, I blew up a computer during an experiment and didn’t have any protections in place.”

Jean, Ned, and Peter all perked up at this, “How in the world did you blow up a computer?” they all asked me at once. With a grin and a shrug, “I was far too charming for it and the computer overheated from all this sexy chocolate goodness.” Jean laughed and so did Peter and Ned while throwing their fries at me. Gwen huffed at me but I did notice a small quirk of her lips and I knew I was in the clear but I wasn’t out of the woods. 

Now she was less angry and I was able to avoid some type of long drawn out talk. “Anyways the computer  exploded and it showed me I had to be better about proper testing procedures is all.” I understood where I messed up and it would not be happening again. It’s a known fact that I am no cat and I did not have nine lives to spare if some major experiments went wrong. “Yeah, it’s my fault for leaving the lug on his own. He might be smart but he is far too reckless for results.” spoke up Gwen finally.

That I actually had no answer for so I just went back to eating what was left of my meal since Gwen decided that what was mine was hers and she even invited Jean. I could only sigh as Gwen split my meatball sub with Jean and all I had left was a cold cut combo foot long sandwich. My body wasn’t living off of just the speed force yet so I had to make sure I kept my super metabolism at bay otherwise it would drive me crazy.

Gwen and Jean had their ballet classes today and I totally wanted to go but I took up a mantle and had to be the hero after school. Though before we left the cafeteria Gwen let me know that she wanted to talk and I was pretty certain it was all about Alfred. Shame I was going to miss that ass in tutu tights but the upside would be I can make up for that later with some nice hands-on exploring.

While I was heading back to class though, a mega bomb was dropped on my head. Alfred had notified me he found Colleen Wings Chikara Dojo and that he also located Frank Castle. I wanted to run directly to his location of deployment to warn him of the situation but I couldn’t mess that up.  He needed to be back stateside but I had to put plans in motion to make sure his family doesn’t get massacred. If I can pull this off I would have the one man army himself on my side. That I had to put out of my mind right now because the other big news was the Chikara Dojo’s location in Chinatown. 
Now I had the location of one bad ass martial arts teacher and I had to make sure I took full advantage with the Hand Ninja’s teachings. Then Alfred made my day even better: turns out Terry actually had good contacts, my account was now thirty-five point six million richer. 

It took all of my self-control not to start dancing right there in the school’s hallway, Jean noticed my smile but didn’t say anything and left with Gwen. I let Alfred know to have Terry create a start-up company called Star Industries. Everything was perfect, I was in such a good mood I also noted we should send Turk a thank you gift of two hundred and fifty thousand just to make sure there weren’t any hard feelings and that we can still do business since he has some contacts I would need assistance with. Now that the moment had passed it was time to face my own personal hell: Advance Chemistry. Everything now was boring but this was something I had to suffer through.

I had started some notes on making my own spider fluid formula and the teacher gave me the bright idea to add in a graphene chain. I had already written out a protein chain that could be synthesized and spun out into fibers like spiders silk, but I had to scrap the thing and start over after I watched a demonstration on the tensile strength of graphene composites.This was going to take some work, Rome wasn’t built in a day and this Hero gig was a marathon, not a sprint. Now that I had some thoughts about what I would use to lock down criminals, it was time to design a pair of web shooters and a utility belt for myself . I was drawing away in my book when Peter decided to snatch it out from under me.

“Dude this formula is amazing. This will revolutionize adhesives for like forever. Check this: by changing this enzyme you can make it viable to close open wounds. If you do this protein with a synthetics polymer, it can be used as shock absorbing insulation.” Peter spoke up super excited from his seat next to mine in the labs. Fuck, it’s super hard not to feel inferior to Gwen, Peter and the rest of the geniuses I am aware of. They were born with such intelligence and I had to cheat to get where I am today.

Yeah, comic knowledge helps me to get where I am and my powers supercharged my intellect, but even with my new smarts, I am still distinctly aware of how smart people like Peter, Tony, Gwen and the rest could be. All it took was a glance and he figured out the web formula and was already making improvements to the bloody thing.

“I don’t know what am going to use it for yet, Pete, but it’s the cornerstone to something big I am working on,” I replied to him while getting my book back. “Come on Benny boy don’t be like that. What’s your plan with this formula anyway this is like next level stuff man you can’t just sit on it.” Peter instantly replied. 

“I’m not Pete, calm down! I have applied for some grants to build myself a start-up company. Remember those nanotech papers I wrote well they help get my name out but I still need some solid inventions. Otherwise, my Star industries will be a bust.” I told him while closing my notebook and keeping it away from his clutches. Damn genius bastard, when the comic says 270 IQ score you never really understand. That’s not until you meet the scary genius and he solves your own formula that you stole from him that he hasn’t even invented yet. “Star industries huh that’s so cool, wait a sec. Aye! why didn’t I get an invite.”

“Well, you have an internship interview at  Oscorp. I refuse to interfere with that, you’re doing your thing and am doing mine, Pete. You know I’ll always have a spot for you but your making your own choices and that’s a good thing.” I spoke while patting him on the back. Peter went back to grumbling about how I started a company and didn’t even invite him to the party. The damn genius just doesn’t get it. This could be him if only he had some confidence to do it. I’m sure he can do it so much better than I can, but then again I was cheating. And the number one rule is if your not cheating you’re not trying to win and this is something that I have to win at all costs. “Look if the Oscorp thing doesn’t work out I will always have a spot next to me and Gwen so stop your moping over there. You can even have free creativity.” Ugh, I can just feel myself being slowly swallowed by the Parker effect.  

Ugh, he is not a puppy Benjamin, we do not tolerate such behavior. I had to work on my web shooter designs. These weren’t going to be used to swing around the city. These had to be designed to just subdue people and work as a quick capture solution. 

I can always leave broken bodies behind, the police would not be happy about that. The versatility they Offer is far more than just another combat tool. Also, they are freaking web shooters and of course I want a pair.

Ring!!!

And that was the bell for the end of this period, now it was time for my free period which also meant it was time to go face the firing squad. I was wondering if she had told Jean about Alfred yet when I walked right into the pair outside the library where I had found Jean about a week after the start our freshman year.

I was in the library when I came across this shy little redhead with forest green eyes, they just seemed to suck me in and I almost lost myself in how beautiful they were. Jean stood at five feet six inches now, not too tall and not too short. She was nothing but a shy thing at the time but now she had transformed into this outgoing beauty standing before me. She reminded me of a Jena Lyn the cosplayer and there was no way I was just going to let her vanish once I found her. I knew the Phoenix was a possibility but I wasn’t going to let the Professor put some emotional blockers in. 

The plans for her ability training was already written up in my handy notebook. My own view on the whole Phoenix rampaging situation was like how the Jedi turn dark because of a loss. Cutting off emotions is a big no go because then you won’t know how to handle them once they surface. “So Gwen told me you played with yourself and now you’re a daddy.” “Well in my defense it was all Gwen’s fault, she left me unsupervised to play with myself,” Was my snappy come back to Jean’s dig. In my head that sounded so much better.

Jean laughed at that and I took Gwen’s bag while we all went for a table out of the hearing range of the other occupants. While we sat down I pulled out my phone and placed it on the table. “So Jean let me introduce you to Alfred.” “You there Alfred?” “For you Sir, always.” It seems like he is getting attached to that phrase. “So what he likes to live in your phone or something?” Jean asked while picking up my phone. “No Miss Grey, my main server is connected to a communications array allowing me to monitor and converse with my creator.”

“Hmm, Alfred it is just fine calling me Jean. Miss Grey is my mother, so what has your father taught you about the world and why shouldn’t we worry about some Skynet take over the world situation.” Asked Jean while eyeing my phone and pulling out her’s. 
Gwen was eyeing her phone but kept on looking at mine. I knew that look, she had something planned but wasn’t sure how to broach the topic. Focusing back on Jean’s grilling of Alfred or her attempt at least.

“I was advised to ignore the Terminator series and focus more on Kit from Knight Rider and Data from Star Trek. I am more partial to the Iron Giant myself, a robot made for war chose to become a being of peace.” “That’s actually not something I was expecting.” Spoke up Jean while still playing with my phone. Then she just straight up switched pace hard. “Alfred is fine but he needs a woman’s touch. I am more interested in you playing hero Mr. LightSpeed.” 

That shocked me because I don’t remember telling her, wait Gwen. I turned to look at Gwen but even she had a shocked look on her face. “Oh please, I can recognize that ass anywhere, even on TV with the camera zoomed in. It was so easy to tell it was you.” She spoke with a sly grin. I looked at Gwen and motioned her to say something because if I opened my mouth nothing profound was going to come forth. “Why are you checking out his butt Jean.” Asked Gwen. “Please if you can check out my butt it’s only right I get to look at that fine ass of his.” Smirked Jean from her seat.

This was my cue to keep myself silent and just let the ladies have it. No way was I going to blow up Gwen about her checking out ladies since I do the same thing. Yet Gwen failed at a comeback and started to splutter. “So why aren’t you upset that I created an AI?” I asked Jean, allowing Gwen to get some breathing room.