"Jarvis has been hacked?" Robert's eyes flashed with surprise. Though Jarvis's subroutines had proven ineffective against the central control system of a cosmic warship, and couldn't possibly match a super-intelligent lifeform, that was only on a cosmic scale. On Earth, even with advancements bolstered by various alien technologies, Jarvis should be unmatched in AI superiority.
After all, it wasn't just official institutions benefiting from alien technology; the Avengers gained and advanced the most with each extraterrestrial encounter. The current Jarvis was in a completely different league compared to the one Tony Stark had when he first became Iron Man.
Because of this, Robert had thought it feasible to try using Jarvis to infiltrate a cosmic warship's system. In his view, Jarvis had evolved to an interstellar-level super AI, and nothing on Earth should be capable of hacking it.
"Guardian! Open the portal! Coordinates…" Robert's surprise was interrupted as Tony Stark shouted, "I've found him! Let's capture whoever dared hack Jarvis! I want to see who's behind this!"
Clearly, Stark wasn't content to only defend against the intruder. Instead, he believed that tracking and neutralizing the threat was the best course of action. He decisively instructed Reed Richards to assist Jarvis with defense, confident that Richards could safeguard Jarvis's core database temporarily, which gave Stark the chance to counterattack.
In Stark's view, the intruder was overly bold. Not only had they hacked the Avengers' system, but they also hadn't withdrawn after realizing the Avengers had started defending. Stark assumed this brazen hacker likely wasn't even from Earth.
"No problem!" Guardian replied, activating the portal swiftly as the Avengers entered one by one.
With Guardian's support, the Avengers' operations became far more efficient, even surpassing the speed of the sorcerers of Kamar-Taj. Only Peter Parker, busy handling his responsibilities as New York's friendly neighborhood hero, was missing. The rest had gathered at the Avengers base, ready to tackle the Jarvis breach.
Aside from Miss Martian and young Brian, who had only recently gained control of his powers, the other Avengers stepped into the portal, all curious about who had the nerve and ability to hack Jarvis.
In a shadowy alley, a man with half his face encased in metal hid beneath a hood. Sensing something, the energy light on his brow dimmed.
"This is him? He's not using a computer—how did he hack Jarvis?" Pietro's puzzled voice cut through the quiet, immediately alerting the metal-clad man. His body, under the cloak, shifted into a combat stance.
"He doesn't seem like an ordinary lifeform; more like a half-machine, some kind of cyborg," Robert remarked, analyzing the man's energy and condition closely.
"Maybe it's an accident similar to what happened to Doctor Octopus? Only this guy's level of mechanization and ability are far more advanced. Doc Ock could only access the network when his tentacles linked directly to it, but this guy seems to have Wi-Fi built-in?"
Just then, the cyborg fired a sonic blast at Robert. Yet the attack hit Robert like a stone in water, without even causing him to flinch.
Realizing he was surrounded, the cyborg quickly decided to flee. Flames ignited from his feet, lifting him into the air.
Unfortunately, just as he rose, a figure appeared behind him, kicking him back down to the ground.
"Think you can run after messing with a Saiyan?" Mobius demanded, hovering above the fallen cyborg.
"He didn't really offend me; he hacked Tony and Jarvis," Robert interjected, waving dismissively. Though the cyborg's capabilities were unique, they hardly impressed him compared to cosmic-level technology.
In truth, the cyborg's attacks were so weak that even if Stark upgraded his suits tenfold, they'd still pack more power. Any Avenger with enhanced physical strength could shrug off the cyborg's sonic blasts. Steve and Bucky might feel some discomfort, but injury was unlikely.
"Let go of me!" the cyborg shouted as Robert finished speaking. Lorna and Susan Stone promptly restrained him with telekinesis, though the cyborg struggled, his body continually reshaping, tearing through his cloak.
"This cyborg?" Pietro commented, watching the metallic transformation. "He barely has a human face left; he's practically all machine!"
"Externally, maybe. But he seems to still have human emotions, so he's probably human in some way," Lorna remarked, disagreeing with Pietro.
"If he were purely robotic, I wouldn't sense any energy," Robert stated, gesturing for them to take the cyborg back. "I thought he'd be a formidable new foe, but it seems like a misunderstanding. Still, hacking Jarvis and tampering with the database has consequences."
The team brought the cyborg back to Avengers headquarters. Stripped of his freedom, the cyborg's body continued shifting, though he could find no way to escape. The network connection had been cut off after his capture, ending his intrusion into Jarvis.
"This is the guy?" Tony Stark said with surprise. "Someone's experiment, perhaps? Which agency decided to test their new project against us?"
"Doubt it. We found him in an alley, hacking Jarvis as though testing newfound powers," Bruce Banner explained, recalling the alleyway scene.
"An alley? Jarvis, analyze the recent events there and see if this half-face provides any leads on his identity," Tony instructed.
"Yes, sir." Jarvis quickly accessed surveillance footage from nearby cameras. Though some footage had been tampered with, Jarvis managed to retrieve key information.
"This individual transferred a significant sum into a woman's account nearby. It seems he goes by the name Victor Stone," Jarvis reported.
"Victor Stone, age 23, height 6'5", weight 385 pounds, former football player. Records show he was in a car accident with his mother, who sadly didn't survive…"
"I found information on his father, Silas Stone, a scientist at STAR Labs specializing in extraterrestrial and superhuman research. However, recent records show no new research projects, implying they don't plan further experiments at STAR Labs."
"No! My father is innocent! Don't go after him!" Victor Stone yelled, his face filled with panic.
Despite his strained relationship with his father, Victor was clearly terrified at the thought of the Avengers targeting Silas. He knew the Avengers' reach and resources far exceeded anything his father could withstand.
"Your father's not involved? But isn't he with an official agency? Didn't he send you to hack Jarvis?" Tony probed, studying Victor closely.
"No. My father and I have a poor relationship; I've never understood his work…" Victor avoided Tony's gaze, trying to keep his emotions in check.
"When I was still whole, I was an accomplished football player. But my father never came to a single one of my games, even when I saved him a seat. Each time I looked after a victory, that seat was empty…"
"My mom always told me he was busy and to understand him, but she was busy too, yet she still made time to support me. During a recent argument about this, she lost focus while driving, and…" Victor's remaining eye grew damp, the tears falling unrestrained onto the ground.
"My mother died instantly, without giving my father a chance. Still, he wouldn't give up on me. Even when the hospital said I was inches from death, he didn't stop. He wanted to keep me alive, no matter the cost."
"So he rebuilt you? Does STAR Labs have the tech for this?" Tony asked, observing Victor's continually shifting body.
"Not officially, sir," Jarvis replied. "Only a record of Silas leaving the lab hastily. The modifications must've taken place in a hidden lab I couldn't locate."
"It was at Red Room Labs," Victor corrected. "Not really my father's work, though. It was a Mother Box—a piece of alien tech—that healed me, absorbing all the Red Room's technology in the process."
"Then why hack Jarvis?" Tony asked, getting to the point.
"I didn't mean to. My father told me I was a ruler in the digital world. I'd never thought of using my powers before, but seeing a struggling mother and child, I… altered their account balance…" Victor explained.
"Afterward, I was drawn into the data ocean, hacking official databases and learning how people feared the Avengers."
"Driven by curiosity, I traced the data back to the Avengers and eventually encountered Jarvis…"
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