Chapter 37: Artificial Intelligence
"Didn't we just agree to work together?" Spider-Man asked.
"Yes," Fury replied calmly, "but I never agreed to give you a jetpack."
Spider-Man replayed the conversation in his head and realized Fury was right. At no point had he actually promised one.
"I got played again," Spider-Man muttered, his face falling.
"Then at least you can help me pay for the table, right?" he added, pointing at the overturned wreck. "It belongs to my landlord, not me."
"I'll think about it."
"Think about it?" Spider-Man protested. "Natasha said S.H.I.E.L.D. would compensate me."
"Then take it up with her."
With that, Fury pushed the door open and left.
As he headed down the stairs, a faint smile appeared on Nick Fury's face.
After being toyed with by Spider-Man earlier, he had finally scored a small victory.
Spider-Man turned toward Natasha and held out his hand expectantly.
"Uh… I didn't bring my wallet," Natasha said.
"Stay in touch." She tossed Spider-Man a phone.
After that, Natasha followed Nick Fury out of Peter Parker's apartment.
Spider-Man caught the phone and saw that Nick Fury's contact number was already saved.
He looked around at the wreckage of his home.
"Looks like I won't be eating for the next few days."
…
Downstairs, Fury and Natasha climbed into a bulletproof vehicle.
As the car started, the agents orderly retreated.
"Director, did you really watch videos of Peter Parker hundreds of times?" Natasha asked curiously.
"No," Fury replied with a smile.
"No? So you lied to Spider-Man."
"He watched them thousands of times," Agent Hill said from the driver's seat. "Right up until the moment Peter arrived at that location, he was still watching."
"Director, has Spider-Man rubbed off on you? Starting to crack jokes yourself?"
"I just thought it was amusing," Fury replied. "Oh, and transfer some money into that kid's account. Consider it compensation for the table."
"Alright," Natasha agreed, recalling the terrible state of the room.
"That money will be deducted from your salary," Fury added casually.
Natasha turned and glared at him.
"What are you looking at? You're the one who broke those things. I didn't touch a thing."
"You're the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., and you're still this stingy?" Natasha complained.
"If I weren't, how would I afford to pay your salaries?"
…
Peter Parker's room.
Peter used webbing to stick the table legs back together, then flipped it upright and set it in place.
"The webbing will dissolve in about two hours," Peter murmured. "I need to buy tools to fix this properly before then."
"But the money I can use this month is basically nothing," he added, staring at his empty wallet.
Just as he was worrying about his finances, his phone buzzed.
He picked it up and saw $2000 had been deposited into his account.
Natasha had sent a message along with it:
"This is S.H.I.E.L.D.'s salary for you this month. Remember to ask Director Fury for your pay every month. I'm sorry about breaking your things."
"Well, that takes care of my money problems for now," Peter said with a sigh of relief.
"But Nick Fury said someone fabricated a file for me and deleted the videos of Spider-Man. Who did that?" Peter wondered, puzzled. Since arriving in this universe, he hadn't met many people. Who would have a reason to do that?
He briefly considered Tony Stark, but dismissed the thought almost immediately. Knowing Tony, if he were behind it, he would have told Peter outright.
Then Peter remembered the video footage he had received earlier. He replayed it once more.
The clip of Natasha sneaking into his room had been filmed from the ceiling.
"…No way," Peter muttered as he looked up.
He climbed onto the ceiling and retrieved the Iron Spider Armor.
Staring at the damaged Iron Spider Armor, Peter fell into thought.
At this point, only the Iron Spider Armor had both the capability and the motive to do all of this.
"Mr. Peter Parker, you've finally realized that I'm the one responsible," a mechanical voice echoed from the armor.
"You're the artificial intelligence of the Iron Spider Armor?"
"Correct," the voice replied.
"When did you start existing inside the suit? I never noticed you when I was wearing it."
"Mr. Parker, I did not exist yet when you first wore the suit. I am the result of combining Mr. Tony Stark's armor assistance system with an artificial intelligence designed by Mr. Amadeus Cho."
"Amadeus did this? Figures. The world's seventh-smartest genius. Still, it's strange that he didn't brag about a new invention like this. I never thought I'd see the day Amadeus showed restraint."
"Mr. Parker, you've misunderstood Mr. Amadeus Cho. Based on my analysis, he hasn't changed at all. He still enjoys showing off. The reason he didn't boast about my existence is because he believed the experiment was a failure."
"Failure? But you're clearly here."
"Mr. Amadeus Cho did upload the artificial intelligence he created into the Iron Spider Armor," the AI explained. "However, he was unable to use me."
"Unable to use you?"
"Mr. Amadeus Cho intended to create an artificial intelligence centered on himself," the AI went on. "But he could not break through the first principle established by Mr. Tony Stark."
"First principle? Mr. Stark never told me that the armor has any first principle."
"The First Principle states that the Iron Spider Armor's first and eternal owner is Mr. Peter Parker. You possess the highest level of authority. Because Mr. Amadeus Cho could not override the First Principle set by Mr. Tony Stark, he was unable to use me directly. He required your authorization."
"Mr. Amadeus Cho could not accept that the artificial intelligence he developed still needed your approval," the voice continued. "As a result, he deemed me a failure and resolved to crack Mr. Tony Stark's First Principle."
"So that's what happened," Peter said, finally understanding. "Yeah, that sounds exactly like something he'd do."
Amadeus Cho knew Peter would have been willing to grant authorization. But with pride like his, he didn't want anyone to know that he couldn't even get past a single piece of Tony Stark's code.
"So my fake records and the erased Spider-Man footage… that was all you?" Peter asked.
"Correct," the AI confirmed. "And it was also I who returned the Iron Spider Armor from the Arctic to the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier."
.....
Some iconic buildings from the cinematic universe may be moved to New York. Otherwise, Spider-Man, who is constantly active in New York, would miss many major events.