Malfunctions

Aaron and Tanya watched the lifeless Sentinels as they awaited their final programming. A Large vice-like claw apparatus lowered itself from the ceiling overhead and onto The Waiting Sentinel's head.

The Apparatus generated a massive discharge of electrical energy which coursed through the internal circuitry of The Sentinel's integrated brain module and from there to the rest of its body, bringing its myriad systems and mechanical mechanisms online and imbuing it with artificial life as its entire head followed by the rest of it's body was enveloped in an intense electrical aura that crackled across the surface of it's metal skin.

After several seconds, The Sentinels eyes pulsed a bright red and they both spoke in unison, in a single deep, booming masculine voice:

"Sentinel X456788 Online!"

"Sentinel X456789 Online!"

"And now they are programmed and ready to deal with The SupraNormal menace.," Tanya stated proudly.

Aaron didn't care for Ms. Stark's apparent enthusiasm for the process but he did find it a fascinating one none the less especially when a pair of mechanical arms similar to the one before unfolded from the wall and lifted the freshly constructed Sentinels up into the air and set them done in a corner of the room where metallic tentacles crackling with electricity slithered out of the wall. Aaron watched with intrigue as sections of each of The Sentinel's armor retracted to allow the tentacles to connect.

Aaron turned to Tanya who responded before he even said anything., "They're undergoing a detailed diagnostic to determine any software or programming faults as well as any flaws in the mechanical or electronic systems."

"I see.," Aaron added absently, watching the process with interest.

Tanya turned back to Mastermold with a big smile plastered across her lips and said., "Excellent work as always Mastermold. How are you today?"

"I Am Operating Within Established Tolerances and At 95.7% of Expected Peak Efficiency. How Are You Today Ms. Stark?," Mastermold's emotionless voice boomed.

"Spectacular.," Tanya replied with enthusiasm., "I am Doing Extremely Well At The Moment."

"Who Is Your Guest?," Mastermold asked, It's head turning slightly in Aaron's direction.

"Oh...," Tanya looked slightly abashed., "Please forgive me Mastermold. This is Aaron from Omen Enterprises and a potential new partner for Stark International so you may be seeing more of his young Man around here so behave yourself."

"Always Ms. Stark.," Replied Mastermold.

"A pleasure to meet you Mastermold.," Aaron said as cordially as he could while looking up at the enormous face of the gargantuan machine in front of him.

"Likewise.," Mastermold gave a short and direct if unconvincing reply.

"Come with me.," Tanya Stark said as she pulled on Aaron's arm. Aaron followed after her and she lead him to the diagnostic alcove where The Sentinels were still being thoroughly examined.

Tanya lead Aaron to a bank of computers with close to a dozen monitors, some showing the internal mechanisms and electronics of each Sentinel in minute detail while others were awash with cascading streams of programming code that were being closely checked in real-time by both a team of technicians and programmers not to mention a trio of dedicated AI program checkers.

Aaron had to admit it was quite a setup, Not as grand as Knowhere but then of course, What Was?

Aaron quirked an eyebrow as he watched several unusual code strings on one of the monitors that the other Technicians hadn't seemed to have noticed yet. The more he watched them the more concerned he became then suddenly several of the monitors shorted out and without warning Aaron unthinkingly pushed Tanya Stark out of the way just as one of Sentinel's arms whipped up and released one of the electrified coils from its wrist, tearing a wide swath through the metal flooring right where Aaron and Tanya were standing just seconds before.

The Technicians screamed while Tanya fell to the floor., "Wha-What Are You Doing?!," Exclaimed Tanya, looking up at Aaron who was more focused on the troubles arising in front of him then on Stark International's CEO laying on the floor.

Aaron didn't have any time to waste as The Rogue Sentinel struggled against the system connections holding it in place which at the moment were the only things keeping it from going on a rampage. The Technicians weren't any help since they ran for cover as soon as things started to go wrong... Apparently they weren't use to their creations going haywire and trying to kill them. Go Figure.

"What Are You Doing?!," Tanya asked in a huff after managing to get up and make her way to Aaron who was busy trying to rewrite 3 million lines of code on the fly and bring the situation under control before The Sentinel could break free and tear the building down around him and everyone else.

Aaron's voice was eerily calm as he said., "Well Ms. Stark I'm trying to improvise a solution to this very inconvenient problem before we find ourselves on a slab in the morgue. I've avoided it this long and I'd kinda like to keep **** from ruining my unblemished record."

Watching Aaron's fingers dancing across the keys of three different key boards with blistering speed, It was difficult for Tanya to keep up with what Aaron was saying. She was so completely blown away by Aaron's skill that there was no room for fear.

"I've never seen code like this! Where Did You Learn THIS Code?!," Tanya asked in a husky voice as she fanned the collar of his blouse.

Aaron's movements were only getting faster as he raced the clock to avoid disaster., "I didn't learn it anywhere... I created it."

Tanya bit her lip., "Gods... He Should Be Working For Us!"

"Anomalous Genes DETECTED! Enacting Termination Protocols!," The Sentinel's deep, mechanical voice boomed. Aaron looked up briefly to see The Sentinel looking squarely at him as it fought to get free.

"Almost There!," Aaron growled., "Get DOWN!!," Yelled Aaron as he threw his arm around Ms. Stark and **** her to crouch down with him, Just narrowly avoiding being decapitated by The Sentinel's flailing mechanical tentacle. The tentacle sheared off about two inches from the bank of monitors causing the ones that didn't outright explode to melt or fritz out, luckily the primary monitor Aaron was using was only singed and severely cracked.

"Just need to initialize the sequence.," Aaron said quickly as he stood up, finishing the final code strings before hitting the ENTER Key with so much **** that the entire keyboard literally shattered into a million pieces. Tanya was like a frightened child as she clung to Aaron's side with a **** grip.

It didn't take but a fraction of a second for Aaron's improvised software patch to begin overwriting and overriding the faults in the original programming and not more than a few seconds later The Sentinel powered down into safe mode. Something that Aaron was very thankful for at the moment, Now if only Tanya would relax her grip before she broke any of his ribs he would be set.

Eventually calming down enough to loosen her grip, Aaron breathed a sigh of relief and let out a small groan as his ribs settled.

"I don't understand what happened... Why didn't The AI'S alert us to such a Disastrous Problem?," A puzzled Tanya Stark wondered out loud.

"I hate to be the one to tell you this Ms. Stark but... You've been hacked.," Aaron stated without any discernible trace of emotion in his voice.

"WHAT?!!!!," Tanya exclaimed in anger.

"I noticed it seconds before The Sentinel began acting erratically... Embedded in The Sentinel's operating system was a polymorphic encryption I've never seen before that didn't match the rest of the system's operating code... It disabled the logic and diagnostic programs of all three AI's, preventing them from realizing there was anything wrong."

"Polymorphic? Then how did you recognize it at all?," Tanya asked testily.

"I've never seen it before but I have theorized such a code and that is how I was able to recognize it. The polymorphic code acted just like the theoretical model I imagined predicted it would.," Aaron flexed his fingers which had cramped on him half way through the programming., "It's a good thing I was here or you might be looking at something more than some minor cosmetic damage."

At that Tanya's stern expression softened and she offered her hand., "You're right. I'm glad that Vivyan sent you or we might be looking at serious casualties.... We might even have to scrap the program. Did you recognize the signature of the person who sent the code?"

"No, Ms. Stark but If you'll permit me access to an isolated server not connected to the primary network I can reproduce the code from memory and you and your Technicians...," Aaron practically spit that last word., "... Can examine it for yourself but I'd say it's fairly obvious that its from outside the system."

Tanya looked at Aaron thoughtfully then smiled., "I'd be grateful for any help you can give me and incidentally...," She blushed., "... How are your ribs?"

"Nothing cracked or broken Ms. Stark.," Aaron chuckled., "If it's not too much trouble could you loan me a laptop?"

"Of course, But whatever for?," Tanya asked confusedly.

Several of The Technicians began wondering back in to pick up the pieces and try to make sense of what happened. Tanya barely spared them a look while Aaron looked on disdainfully. Their cowardice disgusted Aaron and the fact that most of them were Men only aggravated him more., "No Wonder Men Are Looked Down On... With Examples Like That Littering The Gene Pool."

Aaron shook his head and turned to respond to Tanya's question., "I'll give you everything your Brother and I discussed. It might help you with your Arc Reactor Research. Call it... A parting gift from me to your Family. Once that's done I'd better get home.," Aaron looked at his watch., "It's nearly nine now."

Tanya left to make the preparations while Aaron watched The Technicians work, trying not to say something he would regret. After a while Aaron couldn't look at them anymore so he turned away and paced angrily back and forth while he waited instead.

It hadn't even been a minute, When Aaron felt a strange prickle on the back of his neck. Aaron whipped around and looked up, The remaining Sentinel which thankfully hadn't gone out of control was looking down at him with its bright red eyes flickering intermittently.

"Not Possible!.," Aaron thought as he stalked over to the rebuilt work station where The Technicians were busily running their checks., "The Other Sentinel Should Be In Safe Mode As Well." Even though The Current Sentinels weren't capable of facial expression Aaron got the distinct impression that it was smiling at him.

When Aaron rather unceremoniously shoved three Technicians to the side to make a couple of checks of his own, He saw that The Other Sentinel was indeed offline and isolated from the power grid just like he had intended.

"This Doesn't Make Any Sense.," Aaron thought to himself as he looked up at The Sentinel to see no light shining in it's cold, lifeless electronic eyes as it stared straight ahead., "Did I Imagine It?... An Adrenaline-Induced Hallucination... No I Remember It Clearly."

Aaron was going over his memory when he heard shuffling behind him and turned to see who it was, Only to see Melokuhle and Aasir.

"What's Going On?," Bellowed Aasir in his deep voice, Only for him to turn and look at his Brother when he grabbed his arm., "Ow, What You Doing?"

Melokuhle said something in The Brothers Native Language and Aasir shuddered, slowly and shakily turning to find Aaron staring right in The Brothers Direction. Aasir's eyes widened and his gaze trembled, He'd actually hoped the three of them wouldn't meet again so soon... The image of that Black Card and the almost sinister tentacles emblazoned on one side still haunted his memory.

Both Brothers stiffened when Aaron smiled at them and they felt their blood run cold and the hair on their necks stand on end. After a few moments of Aaron's eerie smile, Both Aasir and Melokuhle avoided Aaron's gaze as they slowly and as carefully as two lumbering giants could, backed out of the room.

"Well That Was Entertaining. I Almost Hate Myself For Enjoying It... Almost.," Aaron smirked to himself.